Renzo, Our Precious Babe (and maybe Channel 8's too !)

So I came home from a friend's place after catching Argentina's first World Cup 2010 game against Nigeria which, despite a disappointing performance, still produced a victory and woke up early from Renzo's calls for me.

"Da Da~ Da Da~," he called from beyond my vision as I slowly push away the bedsheets to obligingly greet this little weekend alarm clock of mine. My usual routine have me sitting in front my computer checking out my emails and doing all my geeky stuff, when i came across a Facebook page that Feli deliberately left opened on her Firefox browser (she uses Firefox and I'm a loyal Google Chrome user, we both gave up on Internet Explorer). It was a page displaying a "Channel 8's Precious Babes" event.

Being someone who hasn't watched local broadcasts since the introduction of cable TV in Singapore, I knew Feli was up to something so I asked about it. Apparently it was some contest held by MediaCorp Channel 8 showcasing cute babies island-wide posted by eager parent whom each felt that their little bundle of joy deserves the "Cutest Baby" throne.

As I lazily scrolled through the pics on the Facebook page, I came across a many adorable little ones and just as many pictures that I personally felt were just a waste of hard disk space (many a times, it is the problem of a badly taken shot with a bad camera). Before long, I came to a conclusion that if those pics can rally a strong support of some 50+ votes, there is nothing that Renzo's irresistible pics cannot top.

We followed the instructions from the Facebook page and within minutes, we have gotten Renzo's picture posted on the wall and onto the media world.

Hello TV Lovers, My Name is Renzo Chan and I'm ready to take over!
Kindly support me by clicking on "Like" in the following link!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4431556&id=628153620&subject=125686800797062

Thank You all Lovely Aunties and Uncles, Kor Kors and Jie Jies~!

Renzo's favourite "where is ..." game

For the past 1-2 months, Renzo has been learning a lot from all of us.

Every night when I reach home, I will ask him "Where is fan fan?", "Where is potty?", "Where is the clock? "etc, and it has became a daily routine for us to check on Renzo's progress. It is pretty amazing to see how many things he could actually remember at such a young age.

Let me count those objects/people he can identify by now:
Clock
Fan
Light
Cherry jiejie (he will look at Cherry's photo when we ask "where is Cherry jiejie?")
His potty
His hat
His alphabet poster (when we ask "where is A for Apple?")
His good behavior poster (when we ask him to "be patient")
His number 1-20 poster (when we ask "where is Kangaroo?" since there is a kangaroo on that poster)
Mickey mouse (a wall sticker)
Our house door (when we ask "where is xx-xxx" which is our unit number)
Computer
Diaper
Pillow
Car (his toy)
Apple (his toy)
Dog (a picture on our calendar)
TV Mirror
Fish (both the fake toy at home and the real one in my brother in law's fish tank) Daddy
Mummy
Aunt Ayeaye
Yiyi (my sister)
YiFu (my brother in law)
Cherry jiejie (haha can be confusing though as he knows where is cherry's photo also)
Grandma (through webcam on computer)

Of course when he is not in good mood, he will not bother to answer your "where is..." questions. But when he likes to play with you, he can really "answer" all your questions correctly by looking at the right direction, and when you acknowledge that by saying "smart boy, very good Renzo", he will smile and clap his hands.

Amazing stuff right? Nah.. to me, the most amazing thing Renzo has done so far is: in order to grab his shampoo bottle which we put on the floor during his bath time, he throws his toys (used to attract his attention and keep him sit still) out of the bathtub, so that he could pretend that he needs to pick them back up, but in fact he's obviously aiming at the shampoo bottle only.. LOL

I guess babies' brains are just like a sponge and they are willing to and able to absorb as much as possible, as long as you are willing to teach them. Early education and cultivation is extremely important, and that's why I am not surprised when I came across this less than 2 years old boy who has mastered all alphabets and even basic phonics. His mummy has done an extraordinary job in self-teaching him, and this nice lady has shared her secret with me - a set of Leapfrog learning DVD. I bought the set for both Renzo and Cherry, it is still early for Renzo but Cherry is benefiting a lot from it. She used to know maybe less than 15 alphabets but after using that DVD for less than a month, she knows all 26 alphabets and even knows how they sound like(phonics).

I am not forcing Renzo to study hard now, I just believe that early education can help kids understand that learning is fun, not stressful. And to properly teach your kids, do not rely on anyone else, especially school teachers, we parents are the first and best teachers for our kids ever.