Comparison

scenic spots in Taiwan

sister Chenxxx,

glad to know you all are doing well!

wow!  brother Chaoxxx and you had a long and enjoyable vacation here in Taiwan!  how wonderful!

i took Yuching and Su to Chi-tou too last November.  but honestly, Chi-tou now is a bit far away from what i thought.  i went there couple of times and i did like it.  last November was the first after i came back from Texas.

i thought we could bring Su a good experience in a decent natural setting with many trees.  however, at Chi-tou, we still saw trees, mountains, many tourists (especially Chinese), beautiful sky from the forest, but very few birds, bugs, many cars, high room charge of hotels with bad quality (in terms of their efforts for environmental protection).  with our traveling experiences and observations in those national parks in the U.S., we don't think Chi-tou with current way of management is on the right track of environmental sustainability.  yes, she was originally an afforestation place, and yes, she was NOT protected under the national park scale, but just NOT managed to a better direction.

your trip trigged my thought on Chi-tou, which was so full of disappointment after our November trip.  i guess Ching-Jing Farm faces similar problems too though it's been years i did not visit there.  i saw many commercial Big Parties held there with 7-11 and Starbucks, so i assumed it that way.  i expect Shei-pa is way better than those two (i have never been there).  do you and brother Chao think so?  we hope after months, Su is old enough and we could take him to a good natural place.

come visit us next time you all are back to Taiwan!

(The photo of Chi-tou is taken from http://www.wretch.cc/blog/raoultatw)

conjunctions of two

Mom took Su to the roof this afternoon, playing his remote control toy car.
they bumped into neighbors with their big dog.
Su said,
"大," "驚驚;"
"小," "無."

1. is Su good enough to speak to make conjunction of two major meanings?  what's more important, make a comparison between big and small, and his feelings towards them.
2. since the Small does not exist when the Big is seen, he has an abstract thinking.
3. or, he was just saying "the Small is NOT here" instead of "Not Scared?"
(this inference was already rejected by Su's mom.  She repeated Su's saying, adding extra meaning words, and asked for his confirmation.)
4. what is his motivation to express this comparison since no one asks?
5. why this expression is such important to speak out when he is experiencing an emotion of threat and scary?

Prepare for You

Babies resist to go to bed because the world is so much fun for him/her.
They will always wake up smiling, so eager to see the world and even push you up if you sleep aside.
Babies grow up, shaped by the world.

What is the world preparing for him when he wakes up to see, to touch, and to learn?
What does Taiwan prepare for him?
What is the society preparing?
And, what do we, as parents, prepare for him?

sleep problem

這段時間Su容易夜驚，且在深夜起床活動。

整理Marc Weissbluth的Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
相關資訊如下：



為了建立睡覺習慣，父親或母親可以暫時地陪睡一段時間。
成年以後睡眠的問題，可能都是來自於現在小時候睡得不好。

1-5 yrs old
bedtime routine 要少於三十分鐘

2-3 yrs old
testing, 不合作、反抗、striving for independence
夜間比較常醒的小孩，比較有可能有較多傷害（例如斷骨或刀傷）

五步驟
1. 良好紀錄， even protest calling, fussing, crying
2. 觀察late afternoon或是early eveing孩子是否守規矩
3. 宣佈新規矩：
    down is down.
    silent return to sleep
    explain is also verbal attention, negative is still attention.
       (You want to avoid discussions or lectures at the time the problem is taking place
        because your reasoning calls attention to the problem and thus reinforces it.)
    silent, unemotional, disinterested, mechanical
    no nitghttime social interaction
4. 自己睡在可以清楚她動靜之處
5. 每天早晨，讚美孩子因為他的配合

bedtime star chart: behaviorism, she could choose a treat later that day.

當你覺得問題已經解決，問題可能又浮出表面。 this is called a "response burst."

while bottles given early in the morning may help the child return to sleep, give him only water.

in the morning, don't go to her until the wake-up hour.

sound sleep habits relate to being friendly, expressive, outgoing


為甚麼孩子在睡夢中醒過來？很多家長歸咎於：過度緊張或腹絞痛(0-6 months)、長牙(6-12 months)、分離焦慮(12-24 months)、"恐怖的兩歲兒"(24-36 months)、恐懼(36-48 months)...Don't hide behind excuses!