Toddler Activities: Bubbles Play

It is our decision not to send lil joy to school until she is 3 years old. In the meanwhile, I try to incorporate different kind of activities that help her to explore her tiny world.

Part of our weekend morning routine is tending to the potted plants at our corridor. This weekend, hub wanted to add new soil to the pots which made quite a mess and so I took a pail of water out to wash the floor.

It did not take lil Joy very long to discover the pail of water. 

And she found her own form of entertainment but chucking her new sandals in for a wash.

Nothing beats a pair of clean sandals while daddy does his gardening works.

While everyone was out at the corridor, I took out the bubble gun for some bubble fun. It was months since I last took the gun out. I recalled lil Joy being hesitant about the bubbles then. Now she runs after them gleefully. 

She also discovered that bubbles bursted when her fingers touched them. So it is another round of fun to be poking around.

It is really amazing to see how children grow up. I love this precious moment when lil Joy and I play with the bubbles together.

Play date at National Museum - Masak Masak 2014

We had a playdate with Cayce on a weekend at National Museum of Singapore. It had been a long time since we visit the Museum. This trip reminds me to make more trips like this.

There is a Masak Masak: My Childhood exhibition going on till 3 Aug 2014 and we are bringing our 1 year olds.

We are greeted by the joyful bouncy playgrounds which are inspired by the old playground that the older Singaporeans are familiar with. But it rained at the earlier part of the day so the bouncy playgrounds are wet which dampens the mood a bit. There are 2 playgrounds, one for the younger kids and the other for the older kids.

Lil Joy checking out the small kids bouncy playground.

And she decided that she prefers the big kids playground which is too tough for her to climb. So her dad plonk her up the slide instead. Only allowed because she cant climb the 'stairs' and there are very few people at that time. There are very nice coordinators manning the playground who let lil joy 'jump' the queue so she will not miss out the fun.

Next we go indoors to those childhood games inspired exhibitions. Again.. all the exhibitions are manned by friendly coordinators. Here is the marble throwing game.. Imagine many kids throwing plastic balls around. We met a very helpful boy who kept getting balls for the kids around. So sweet of him.

Here is lil Joy concentrating with ball throwing.

And she soon realised that the balls will come out at the bottom and decided to check that out.

During the playdate, we ask her to give her 'boy friend' a kiss.

Next station is the 'pick up sticks' which is velcro on felt sticks. It seems like a very safe and fun game for toddlers.. And it inspires me to make some at home too.. So the game turn into.. baby L tearing down all the sticks, parents sticking it back and lil Joy picking them up.

Next station is the massive Five Stones area. They are too big for lil joy but again a reminder for me to make big bean bags at home for lil Joy.

Then we move upstairs to find a cardboard tube art exhibition. I was real excited to see these in life. How imaginative and patient the artist is. I have snapped almost all cardboard tube arts but shall not bore you with all of them. These is one of my fav.

At the same place, there is a color and craft area.

2 levels up, there is this light and sound exhibition where u can 'draw' on the screen with a touch light and random music will be played according to your 'drawings'. I find this exhibition a bit eerie though.

Finally we visit this room that is like a house. There are different activities in the different rooms of the house. So here is a giant puzzle which is just nice for lil Joy.

And some pretend cooking at the kitchen area.

My thoughts on the Masak Masak exhibition

I am surprised that the exhibition is free of charge. The activities are fun for young children and reminds parents about play. The exhibitions are well managed and interactive. I feel it is worth a trip down for those with young children.

Sewing pants

Found these flannel at Spotlight on discount at SGD5 per metre and I cannot resist but bought one and a half metre each with the intention to make a top and bottom.

But I soon realise that I do not have the patterns for top of the PJs so I made 2 pants each from each design. Of cos, the repeated pants got out of my house as gifts.

Lil Joy loves this pants and kept pointing at the animals when she wears the pants.

I love the one with pink dolls more.. just because it is pink.

Here are both pants together

And to make wearing easier, I marked the back of the pants with cotton ribbon.

I love sewing for my gal. These pants must be cute looking because hub actually requested for pants to be sewn for him too.

DIY foldover elastic hair ties

Have u seen those hair ties that claim that it will not leave indentation marks on your hair? They come in a lot of colors but at a very high price at SGD10 for 3.

I nearly got a pack but I recall seeing somewhere on the internet that we can easily make ours using foldover elastic. So I start my journey to search for the specialised elastic in Singapore. I read that Spotlight might have them but was greeted with disappointment when the shop assistants tell me that there is none in the shop.

By chance, I was at chinatown square looking for some notions and found just 1 roll of it, selling at SGD1 per metre. I got 1 and a half metre of it and feel motivated that I should be able to find more of these in other shops if I had more time to shop around. Shall keep you all updated if I should find more of them.

End of my little search for the foldover elastics and here is how I make the hair ties...

You need foldover elastics, scissors, ruler and candle

Cut your elastics to size.. foldover elastic is different from the usual elastics, they do not stretch as much, so you need to trial and error how much length is suitable for you. I have more hair and need abt 9 inch of elastic to tie a ponytail. After cutting the elastic, singe both ends with the candle flame to prevent fraying.

 Then tie a knot like this.. and you can use your hair tie

My thoughts about the hair ties

I have trouble getting all my hair into 1 pony tail with my first tie which I had cut it to 8 inch long. It was a hard realisation for me that it's not a one size fit all hair tie. 

The hair tie does not give you a very tight pony tail but good enough to hold the hair up for the whole day. The greatest part is when I remove it at the end of the day, there is no indentations on my hair where the hair tie was. My hair is slightly wavy so I am not sure about the results on rebonded hair. 

After using it for several times, it gets slightly stretched but still works well.. Shall see if it last longer than the normal hair ties.

Why I choose to be a Work at Home Mom?

When i quit my job 3 years and decided to start my own freelancing business, there are people with mixed responses. Some are supportive, some are skeptical and some are complete wet blankets thrower or they prefer to see themselves as the more practical sect.

The initial start up was tough and slow, I would need to survive on air if not for my hubby's support. We have made this decision with the hope that things will work out and I will be able to stay at home to look after our kids in future. It was depressing that as time pass.. Business is still slow and there is no baby in near sight..

Supportive people became fewer but I am real fortunate to have people who are really supportive and had guided me towards the right direction. Skeptical people starts to think that they are right that things won't work out and wet blankets thrower are gloating with the 'see.. I told you that it would not work out.'.

Just when I am left with no hope and having lots of people commenting that I should look for a full time job instead of bumming around at home, my hub asked me to perserve on for another half year. Things took a turn and business started picking up. When i was getting busy, I had the good news that we are expecting. Unfortunately my pregnancy was not a smooth one and I had a very hard time trying to keep up with the workload. Alot of times, I wished I am an employee so I can take proper medical leave from work instead to struggling to work on my bed.

When our little bundle arrives I am glad that I have endured the challenges in return for the flexibility to be at home most of the time to be the primary caregiver of my little girl. Yes, it's harder when you have to take care of your baby in the day and work at night and I have chosen to be the the 24hr standby milk supplier for my little precious. Lots of times, I wonder if it's worth it. Lots of time, I lament over the fact that I do not have the 9 to 10 hrs of time slot to be myself if I have taken the normal career path. Sometimes, my husband and I wonder if we would be having a car or considering a private property if I had taken a full time job. Of course we will be richer financially but I will never be as rich as I am now, not in dollars and cents but in life.

Even more times I am thankful that things are able to work out and I am able to to be at home. I have given up some things but had gotten something else which meant much more to me instead.

I love to hug my girl every moment. I love to watch her smile and laugh. I love to be with her when she do her first. I love to be the one to comfort her when she needs it. I love it when she burst into laughter whenever she sees me coming into the room. Most importantly, I have the peace of mind that the most suitable person on this earth is doing the job of looking after her. I might not be the best mom in the world but I believe there is no one else in this world who would care for her as much as this.

Why do I choose to be a Work at Home Mom? Because I believe that my wealth is to be with my girl during her growing up years. Money can wait and I can have lesser of them but I will never be able to have my girl's childhood back in the future.

I am really thankful to Our Lord for the blessings and the supportive people around me.

Blog hop – writing process!

Tagged by Cayce

Cayce was a classmate cum colleague of my hubby who is now a great friend of mine. We have gotten to know each other better after we became mommies. She has been a wonderful companion in my 'mommy' journey and had been supportive when I have doubts. Her love for beautiful things inspires me to be more creative and reminded me to spot those small beautiful happiness in my life.

1. what am I working on?
I have lot of things that I wanted and planned to do. But due to the tight schedules, I am currently working on only these at the moment.. a rainbow ripple crochet blanket at a very slow pace and carving an eraser stamp for my lil sis. I am also preparing for my Grade 4 piano exam (I started my piano lesson at the age of 24). I am currently in the process to restart my youtube channel fidesfloris with new uploads.

2. How does my work differ from others in its genre?
My work is like rojak, a mix of all random thoughts and happenings. I hope to share more of the things I do with my girl, food that I cook and the things that I have made.

3. Why do I write what I do?
Because my brain seems unreliable.. I want to keep a record of the little things in my life that have helped me to grow up. And of cos, also the growing up of my little girl.

4. How does my writing process work?
I document the snapshots that I wish to share on the camera and write before I start my day's work because that is the only time I get to sit in front of the computer. It is currently the new routine of mine and I hope it works.

I have no one to tag as I do not know many of my friends who blog. Nonetheless, if you happen to drop by and is interested in answering the questions above, please feel free to do so and drop me a message because I would love to know about them.

Tiny blessings

My blessings are healthy family and friends around me.

Tiny blessings of the day..

1. Feeling awake

2. Working at home with nice music, aromatherapy and undisturbed time

3. DIY terrarium with a plant that still looks very happy after 4 days.

If anyone thinks they need more blessings in their life.. my advice is.. start counting what you have and be thankful for it. That was how I pull thru the rough patches of my life. 

A refreshing trip

I finally had a holiday trip after three years. Just me and my friends which was a refreshing break for me. Despite missing my hub and lil Joy at home, I am really thankful for the trip. It was filled with laughters from great friends, tons of rest and undisturbed sleeps and it's 5 days without being needed by anyone, no acts of service required, no hugs to give, no clingly koala bear climbing all over you while you try to read a book.

The place that I was visiting is Philippines specifically a small island call Malapascua at the tip of  Cebu Island (or at least that is what I thought). The Journey requires a 3 hours flight, 5 hours bus ride, a half hour boat ride and 10 to 15 mins of walking on the island. There is no fresh water supply on the island so we bathed with salty water for 3 days. Drinking water is precious. Nonetheless, Malapascua is still a nice quiet island with great diving sites. It does not have the best beaches but the people on the island are really friendly and helpful. We got lost so many times and almost everyone we asked took the trouble to walk out of their house to show us the way in pitch darkness.

Unfortunately, Malapascua was affected by the hurricane a few months back and it was a shock to me when I see the plywood houses. It's really very different from seeing it on TV on the news when they were newly built and seeing them in real after a few months of staying in. Their rubbish collection point is a hole dug in front of their house and they just burnt it off. In the midst of these, there are dozens of kids running around bare footed in the sand with broken glasses and rusty bits of nails and fence. This is a pic of the living area outside one of the better houses. Cock fighting seems to be a big thing around the island.

I could not help but make this decision that I will bring lil Joy to Cebu when she is older. I want her to see it for herself, the lives of other kids in another country. I hope to teach her to be generous with her time and resources to do what she can for others when she grows up.

Singaporeans complains about transportation? Really? Look at this. Remember our 5 hours bus journey on the first day? We had a bigger bus but it was packed during the last hour of the journey, we are all squeezed up like sardines but the ride is still happy. Everyone moved in and squeezed further in so all can fit (apparently there are no ghosts at the back of the bus in Philippines.. which Singapore buses have). Bus conductor was so helpful with everyone, young and old. It was a very happy 'bus-squeezing' experience but we did not attempt it on the way back due to time constraint and I do not do very well with the fumes on the road of Cebu city.

All in the all, the trip has given me a good break and a clearer perspective of life. Of all things, nothing is more important than health and love of our love ones. I came back recharged and ready to continue with my old life with a refreshed attitude.