Interactive Books

Was at the recent popular expo sales and found some interactive books on sale. Interactive not in the electronic form but with the books there are some blocks given. So as the story unfolds, there are instructions in the book to teach you how to build certain things relevant or mentioned in the story... Alot of room for imaginative play I say... So I bought 2, one for my Ah Gie and one to keep as birthday present for my nephew.

We read the book 比比熊遇上许愿小精灵 in the evening and this is what we made...

I guess the boy finds the book fun... The next morning he took it out and tried to build something by himself while referring to the book.

This is what he came up with... Good job trying to follow the instructions in the book for a 4yr old. And with some help from mummy... this is what we end up with...

For those of who are keen to buy this book. There are a total of 4 titles in this series. If you buy from TB, you may get them from this seller.

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.62.A42dxr&id=39821152146&ns=1#detail
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.3.w4002-5948115239.10.JmSlsw&id=39791398469
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.3.w4002-5948115239.11.WgK42O&id=39791522155
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.3.w4002-5948115239.10.Du2B96&id=39791542337

Alternatively, I believe you can still find them at selected popular stores.

The very hungry caterpillar

One saturday morning, mummy decided to make mini pancakes for the kids coz daddy was away in the morning to take part in some annual dragon boat rowing competition. Remembering that just the day before, ah gie's teacher was sharing with us how much he loved the book by Eric Carle, the very hungry caterpillar. So with that I decided to turn it into an impromptu caterpillar session with the kids.

First, the kids had caterpillars for breakfast.

Then we read the book 'The very hungry caterpillar' by Eric Carle. After which the kids played with dot a dot markers to draw their caterpillars. I like to do same activity with both kids if they are together with me at the same time. However to make it age appropriate for the both of them, usually I will prepare the activity in 2 tiers. If ah Gie is willing to challenge himself, he can participate too...

For Ah huan, we moved on to using this dot a dot markers with the help of this and this Ed Kimberely book to let her do some doodling...

And this is it, before we realised it. Daddy is home with lunch. Time flies when you are having a good time!

DIY Teething Pads...

One of the things I enjoy alot as a mum is baby wearing. I love to wear my baby in a baby carrier. Hold them close to my heart... let them hear my heartbeat, something that they are very familiar with since the time they are in my tummy... I have always choose to wear my baby instead of having them in a stroller. 

So Ah Gong is now 5.5 mths, he has since mushroomed out of my baby carrier... You see when he was really young like 2 mths old when i first put him in the carrier, we can only see his little turf of hair above the carrier. And now at 5.5 mths, his face is almost out of the carrier. Note I used the word 'almost'... Well, he is now at the level where his mouth is just nice at the strap of the carrier I use. And u guessed it... he is biting it the whole time I put him in there except when he is asleep. I dun wash the carrier everyday, usually after the weekend. Which makes me feel that I need to put something over the straps so that he dun chew on the dirty parts of the carrier... given that I will use the carrier over 2 days before I wash it. So I thought of buying the teething pads for my carrier. And well, none of these baby stuff comes cheap... so I decided to give it a shot and see if I can DIY it. 

With some luck from google, I came across this post by Fuel my family... I cannot sew except for straight lines. So this tutorial seems simple enough... Plus I have all the materials needed. Read: Crafter = Hoarder?

  Things you will need: 
1. Fabric of your choice
2. Old towels
3. Snap buttons eyelet style or sew on type are both fine
4. A short piece of ribbon that matches the fabric of your choice

According to the post, what i did was to pin my fabric and towel together and proceed to mark and draw the dimensions I need as per the diagram here. Note: I am using the Ergo original carrier thus I did not bother to re measure my own carrier and assumed that the straps should be the same.

Pin the fabric and towel together front to front. Then cut it out. Mark out the narrower 9 inch top.

Sew the sides and leave out the marked 9 inch top edge. It should form a pocket. Flip it out.

Fold down half a cm and pin them together.

Fold ribbon and insert at the edge

As you can see. I have sewn an added edge around it so that it looked uniform.

Initially I wanted to set the buttons then I realised that the combination is too thick then I changed to sew on snap buttons.

I sew 3 buttons for each side of the teething pad and then here u have it... The ribbons are loops for hanging some toys to keep baby entertained... 

And here is it... Ah Gong and me testing out the carrier with the new teething pads. 

I am now making another set so that I can have a set for interchanging and wash :) Now that I have completed this simple project, next up I would like to try sewing a little taggie blankie for Ah Gong... Stay tuned... 

A typical weekday evening...

As a FTWM, weekday evenings are very very precious... From the time we get home to the time the kids are in bed we have only about 3-4hrs including shower time, meal time, TV time or story time.

As Ah Huan is going to Primary school next year, we are very particular about preparing her for it, Ah Gie is is now in N2 and we remember the culture shock Ah Huan had when she was in K1, we also feel that we need to prepare him for it.

So typically, every weekday except Mondays. We will sit down together to do some home learning. These sessions will stretch between half an hr to 1 hr depending on the cooperativeness of the kids. Including Ah Gong. Why is Ah Gong included? Don't worry, I am not a mummy-zila that even enforces learning on my baby at 5mths old. Its just that if Ah Gong starts fussing, I will just have to throw all my plans into the bin.

So what goes on at home usually?

Here is Ah Huan working on her math worksheet. 

Ah Gong here self entertaining on the baby bouncer... 

So usually, the kids do their learnng on my crafting platform... There are 2 short tables that are placed side by side. I will start one kid on a written assignment that he or she can manage on his own and coach the other kid. Ah Gong should be napping in the room. But if he wakes up, he will join us on the platform in his bouncer or bumbo chair. So as you can see, I have started Ah Huan on an assignment that she is supposed to work on her own and Ah Gong has settled in his bouncer. Now where is Ah Gie? I am revising his Dolch words with him. And I am happy to note that he has already remembered all his Pre primer words!

The reappearance of the mitten

Over the weekend... The princess made a wonderful SSS (spoken like a true civil servant... HAHAHA) when she saw her bay brother stuff his fist into his little mouth. She said to wrap his fist in a towel and he will not stuff his fist anymore.

So mummy took her suggestion and improvised it thus we wore the mitten on the baby's fist again...

So here is ah gong, all jolly not realising what is about to happen.... So finally the gloved fist attracted his attention and he stuffed it into his mouth...

What?! u meant its going to taste different even though its cuter?!

Hahahaha... anyway, babies has this need to suckle on something to soothe themselves so since mummy refuse to be his pacifier, he rejected the pacifier we bought for him so now he has to suckle on his gloved fist... My main objective is to prevent him from eventually learning how to suck his thumb which I believe is a harder habit to break compared to the pacifier.

This is what I saw when I eventually removed his mittens on the way to grandma's house... See how wrinkly his little fingers are? The mittens were only a step short of soaking wet...

Happy Mail!

What you have just seen is like a graveyard of food picks... LOL... I have just received my happy mail from a few blog shop that sells bento stuff... Aren't these picks cute? They totally transform an otherwise plain lunch box into a cutesy bento. The kids love them so much sometimes I worry that they dun keep it back into their boxes after they are done with the food. You know, hold it in their hands and play instead. So far my bento picks have suffered some fatalities... like lost 1 or 2 here and there, once there was a fork that was bent and near broken coz the princess was chewing on it... The wonderful thing about making cute bentos are that the kids look forward to their breakfast every morning. For a FTWM, this is something I want to do for them given that they are going to spend so much time in the day away from me. Just to share, something simple I made this morning for the kids...

Will share about my storage solutions for these cutesy picks and bento cutters as well as a few of my fav pick set soon...

Getting Ready

Received my iherb loots yesterday and the baby food I ordered has arrived. Ah gong turn 5 mths last week and as per recommendations, I am waiting for him to turn 6 mths before introducing him his first semi solids. This time I am going to be more practical. Given that I have to juggle between 3 kids... I am going to cheat a bit by introducing him pouch puree instead of making my own. Sometimes, as much as we try to be super mums, give our kids the best. The key word or phase to remember is 'within our ability'. Recognize your own limits and set realistic expectations then it will make your life easier. When you are not spread too thin, you are a happy person, you will be a happy mum to your kids. And in turn they will be happy kids too.