It started with a set of free black, white & read cards from a milk powder Company and I started flashing (stimulation) when Ivan was about 1.5mths old. During the stimulation, I notice the alertness in him.

Then, I got bored with the same old 10cards and I purchase another 30cards from popular. Being a full time mommy, I flashed the cards to him as and when I think he is ready.

Very soon, it bored me again with the same stuff. One day, while I was tidying up my baby drawer, I came across a brochure "Born to read, Read to bond" from the NLB. Ah ah! We can visit the library!

At 2mths old, Ivan got himself a library card and visited the library too. I would say, he was a special baby and enjoyed the quietness in the library. No fuss too. Next was the selections of books which I remember the titles.

It became a fixed routine that we visit the library once a week and bag home with 12books each visit.

From then on, I invested in books, a very wide range of books that I'm so proud of them- touch & feel books, board books, flip flap books and many many.

He was considered an early talker due to my non top talking. At 8mths old, he called "ma ma"...

When Ivan was 12mths old, I decided to invest in GD Maths cards for a start due to budget constrain. On the day of delivery, the sales lady brought along and introduced me Wo Hui Du- the very 1st edition that consist of 15 books. Before that, I hardly touch on Chinese books as I find them too "chim" for babies.

After browsing thru Wo Hui Du, I decided to purchase my very 1st set of chinese books for a start at $96! Yes, $96! Not forgetting the GD Maths cards too.

From the next day, I started my routine training and followed closely to the teaching instructions. We started with 5cards everyday and the rate he absorbed was simply too amazing and I move on with 8 and eventually 10.

I-papa was doubting the effectiveness and during one point, I picked out 2 cards randomly and asked, "Ivan, which is two"? And he pointed to the correct card from then on, usually after the flashing, I gave him a little "test". :D

Now, back to Chinese. I flashed after the Maths. He doesn't want to stop at 5 words, which was the recommended number of words everyday. So, I simply flashed and read the whole book. For the next 2days, same book. Then I move on without testing. We finished Level 1 x 15books in less than 15 days time. Meaning average 150 chinese vocabulary.

At a Cousin's wedding dinner when Ivan was 13.5mths, I brought along papers and markers to entertain him. While he was playing with the markers, I wrote "爸爸" and asked, "Ivan, 这是谁?" He responded "爸爸"! and nodded his head. We were all caught by surprised and even asked him to point to "爸爸". Next, i-ah gong cannot lost too. He quickly wrote "爷爷". Again, Ivan responded and also point to ah gong! Not only that, there was one time, i-papa was flipping to him and stuck on this word, "乳酪"，he immediately add on by helping his daddy. Hee hee...

From then on, we know HE can read! His reading on Chinese improves day by day and completed level 5 before 5yo and move on with Reading Lads and now, TaoShu. He also completed a range of Novum & Index readers. Now moving on with chinese fairytales and others.

He loves books and loves reading too! Always finished them the next few minutes to touch on. From 1 pathetic 3-tier bookshelf before turning 1, to a total number of 8, 3-tiers bookshelves full of books and have to even make use of the top of the bookshelves space!

As i-ah gong reads chinese newspaper, he always kpo next to him and as him new words or words he never came across!

Now, turning 6 in July 09, my boy is consider an independant reader and into science and storybooks for fluent readers. So far so good as I always put him in self learn mode and he do enjoy that too!

Before I end, a good friend of mine recommended A-star interactive "Jumpstart to Phonics" CDroms. That's how he started phonics at 4yo and also exposed to e-learning at 4yo.

From here, hope you have enjoyed Ivan reading journey where it started when he was a baby. The road to learning was a fruitful one as there were only joy and so much joy and we are still doing it now!

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