Our First Movie

Lil Joy does not have much interest in television programmes. It could be due to the fact that we seldom use the TV. She spend most of her time messing around in the house. If I have time to sit down with her, we try to do fun play.

She usually watches the TV program for 5 minutes or so and ran off to do other stuff like climbing on her mother.

Last Thursday was a dream moment. The Tigger Movie was showing on Fox Family Channel and me being a Winnie the Pooh fan must watch it. So I called lil Joy to sit on my lap and we started watching mommy's favourite movie together. I supposed it is easy for her to relate the movie to her favourite soft toy and we had a great time watching our first movie together. It has great songs, great animations, great imaginations and good morales stories inside. I am pleasantly surprised that lil Joy sat with me all the way to the end of  movie minus off the 30 mins that we have missed at the beginning.

I think my greatest joy is to find lil Joy adoring the same cartoon character as me. I am like reliving my childhood again..hahaha.. am I weird to find such a simple thing to be such a happy occasion?

Sharing here.. the pooh collections (one baby pooh is missing though) we have in our household at the moment which I expect them to expand their family in the near future.

Water color painting

I try to do water color paintings with lil Joy as often as possible. I have tired it on the easel but soon realised that the area to be covered seemed to be too big and tall for her at the moment so we are back to painting on the table.

So it's a single color painting session while I teach her how to say red. I mix the paint in an old milk bottle cap and lil Joy happily starts to paint.

It is always fun to see her looking so concentrated on whatever she is doing.

It did not take her long to discover that markings can be made using the back of the paintbrush.

Most parents cringed at the thoughts of cleaning up after every painting session. I try to extend the painting activity buy including the cleaning. Thankfully, lil Joy enjoys wiping out the marks on the table.

And it amused me even more when she runs to the play kitchen to wash the wet towel at the sink. It seems like she is starting to do imaginary play.

So while lil joy paints, I thought I might as well give watercoloring a try. This is my first attempt. I wished I could do better but the difficulty of painting has been levelled up when u have a little toddler doing the activity with you.

Here is my little red ridding hood.

Baby's basic puzzle review 童悦坊图形拼图

I wanted to get more puzzles for lil joy and after the experience with My Learning card series, I decided to try out the baby puzzles by the same company which is sold at $12.90. It is mainly in Chinese because this is produced in Taiwan.

Here is the front of the packaging.

The back of the packaging.

And to be honest, I was disappointed that the cardboard were not thicker. They have mentioned that it is for 0 - 3 years old. If the cards had been this thin, they would have been destroyed before the end of the days or maybe this only happens in my home. I feel the manufacturer had attempted to make the false impression to parents that the said 24 cards are thicker than it actually is. Just look at the height of the box, it is almost twice the thickness of all the cards.

I was able to open the box at bookshop and get a glimpse of the first card on the stack which is nicely shrink wrapped to the box. The manufacturer had put cardboard at the bottom of the box to raise the cards to the rim giving you the impression that the whole box is filled up. It is like eating Pringles in the olden days when you reach to the end to realise that they have risen the chips with this plastic packaging, giving you the false impression that you had more.

Other than that, the printing are bright and clear. they look fun and the shapes of the puzzles are varied which makes it an interesting play.

My Thoughts on the baby puzzle

I still find the puzzles relatively interesting for lil Joy. I let her play with 2 puzzles at a time for the moment and has to closely supervise her play with them because they are relatively flimsy for her rough handling. I would not have recommended these puzzles for older kids because they are too simple for kids above 3 years and again I am perplexed on why the manufacturer would think that it is a good idea to print these on such thin cardboards for small children.

A mental note for me to double check the thickness of the puzzles in the future before purchasing them.

Maped Kidi Cut Scissors review update

I have put Maped Kidi Scissors to use and I am glad that lil Joy's first pair of scissors are these.

Maybe I have started the scissors activity too early and the way lil Joy handle the scissors made my heart skipped many beats despite knowing that the scissors are relatively safe.

It took her a while to get the hang of holding the scissors and who knows that seeing your kid using the scissors for the first time can be such a happy occasion?

Here is lil Joy holding the scissors the right way after I have shown her how I use it. She have seen me using my scissors many times and have tried to steal my pair on too many occasions. I can imagine how proud she feel when I handed her own pair of scissors to her.

 One must plan before she cuts.

And make the smallest cut possible...

Using 3 fingers do the job better.

 My thought on Mapped Kidi Cut Scissors

They are not the scissors that you want to use for real crafts but they are the scissors that you want your child to use for practice to hold the scissors. I noticed that it only cuts at a certain angle but for the purpose of lil Joy at this moment, I feel that learning how to hold the scissors safely and confidently is the goal for the moment. I will upgrade her to a real metal scissors after more practices with Mapped Kidi Scissors.

Progess update: Perler beads alphabets

About 2 years ago, I was ordered to rest in bed for a short period of time. I cannot comprehend days of lying in bed and watching my days goes by while my brain is actively thinking of things to do. So I started making perler bead alphabets thinking that they will be useful as educational tools for my future kid. But alas, I stopped at the letter M and never went further than that since.

Recently I have pluck them off from the wall and try to round them up and aim to complete the army of 26. Unfortunately, letter C & D have gone missing but I proceed to make 4 more alphabets and hope letter C & D will turn up before I reach Z..

Here is another view of the alphabets and my messy table..

My First Learning Card Series Review

Not long after lil Joy was born and after I have gotten into the groove of caring for her basic needs, I realised there is not much I can do with a newborn lying on the bed. It was then when I decided to do flashcards with lil Joy.  I started out by making number dots flashcards for her in the earlier days. I did attempt to make word cards but the results are not satisfying and that was the end of my flashcards making days.

Recently I came across My First Learning Card Series at the Popular Bookshop and was happy that for the price of $7.90 I can get 40 picture cards with photographs instead of cartoon drawings. The cards are of good size and have both Chinese and English words on the back of the pictures. I got the vegetables and fruits and animals series first and soon realised that they are such good cards that I went back to get the rest of the series except for the 123 and ABC series.

I have already discarded the boxes of the first 2 series but is sharing with you the front and back packaging of the rest of the series I have just gotten. Ya, it seems long winded but I had wished that I could read these online instead of trying to figure out what is in the box at the bookshop with a young toddler in tow.

Front of the Transport series

Back of transport series which is in Chinese.

Front of Food series



 Back of Food Series

Front of Daily Necessities Series

Back of Daily Necessities series

All the boxes come with a plastic handle which makes it easy for you to carry it around. However this feature was not very useful to me which I will let you know why shortly.

The flashcards are brightly coloured and the words are big and clear on the back. As stated on the box, these flashcards are meant for 3 years old and above so the cards used are of not thick enough to withstand the rough handling of lil Joy who is less than 2 years old.

And so.. I laminated all of them painstakingly. i have laminated two of the series which means 80 cards. There is no laminating pouches that is the size of the cards and so I have used the A4 pouches and cut them out by hand. But it is totally worth all the hard work because the quality flash cards seemed to have levelled up after the lamination and I have no worries about them being chewed, crushed or drawn on when I am using them with lil Joy.

Only thing to take note is, never leave these cards with young children because it will not be long before they get thrown onto the floor which is the perfect formula to slip and fall.

Here is the comparison of a stack of cards before and after lamination. This is the reason why I have discarded the boxes because the laminated cards does not fit anymore.

My thought on My First Learning Card Series

The fact that I have gone back to get the rest of the series shows how much I liked them. The colours of the photographs are vibrant and clear. If I do not have a laminating machine, I will just deem them as cheap and flimsy cards. Considering that I have having the plan (without action) to print pictures and laminate them as flashcards on my own, these cards have been a shortcut for me. In a nutshell, the cost for each of the card cost about 35 cents plus the time I spend on laminating them.

Now I just have to go back to laminate the rest of the 120 cards that I have just bought.

Maped Kidi Cut Scissors review

Lil Joy is coming to the age of using scissors to cut papers up. As a first time mom, I have great concerns about her safety even if I am going to supervise all paper cutting activities personally.

It was a pleasant surprise to me when i came across Maped Kidi Cut Scissors while searching for children scissors. It uses plastics instead of metal for its blades.

Here is the scissors in its original packaging.

In case you are wondering, I got it at Popular bookshop in Singapore at the price of $1.95.

Here is the front of the scissors.

Here is another close up of the scissors when it's opened. I love the little rabbit's paw prints on the blade.

For the sake of safety, I tried cutting my finger with it. I am happy to see no harm was done onto my fingers which means, I do not need to worry about lil joy getting her fingers cut.

Next, I tried cutting straight cuts on the paper and is amazed that it made such a clean cut on the paper.

And then i tried cutting a circle and heart which was successful but did not yield amazing results. I get torn off effect at curved edges of the cuts. I conclude that a 21 month child most probably would not fault it.

My thoughts on Mapped Kidi Cut Scissors

It seems like a great First scissors for young kids when safety is a big concern. I suppose as long as it cuts thru the paper and gives the little ones a kick start to their paper cutting skills it is doing the job well. It comes in cute designs and I see light green and purple on the shelves for selection.

For first impression review, I think it is a pair of great scissors for very young children and the price is very reasonable.

I have yet to let lil Joy tried these scissors but will share with you soon on the activities that we are going to do with it.

One must reach for the door

It is funny what parenthood does. Small little things makes your day.

This evening, hub caught lil Joy trying to reach for the door with the help of a stool. He got the pictures and was so amused by it.

I suppose we might have to start to lock our doors soon.

Progress update: The beginning of my quiet book

I was very tempted to make a quiet book and of course it meant a lot of planning and making.

Months back.. I made a start for page one. Here is the little rabbit in bed and it has been left like this since then.. I did not even sew it onto the first cloth page and it ended up as a soft toy for lil Joy for the time being.

Really looking forward to more quiet time to make my quiet book and the day when I complete it for lil Joy to have some quiet time of her own.

Here is my bunny all stuffed. I have added velcro onto the pillow and snap buttons on the blanket for fine motor skills training. Yes, my rabbit has no clothes at the moment and I am planning a wardrobe for her.

Here is the little bunny sleeping in her cozy bed.

Really looking forward to more quiet time to make my quiet book and the day when I complete it for lil Joy to have some quiet time of her own.

A not-so-bright morning with a Sunny Outlook

It is not a bright sunny happy morning.. it's a cloudy morning and I am woken up by my girl forcefully. I did not get a good sleep the night before as lil Joy had a slight cold and she could not sleep well with her blocked nose and ended up crying a lot in the middle of the night.

Anyway, I woke up and started my day.. cloudy day always make my heart sink a bit. The thoughts of not having happy sunlight throughout the day and clothes will take ages to dry dreads my heart. While I continue to reorganise the toys of lil Joy because it has hit my limits of seeing toys piling up on her desk.

After gulping down my morning coffee.. I happily retreat into my office and is still contemplating if I should start my work, blog or laminate the new flashcards that I have gotten for lil Joy. It did not take long for me to glance at the clock to see how much time I have before lunch time and realised that I am out of ingredients and I MUST go marketing NOW.

Suddenly all the thoughts in my mind has to give way to meal planning IMMEDIATELY because the sky is threatening to rain any minute. It is really not fun to bring a toddler out in the rain. 

All these happened within the first waking hour of my day and it makes me a very unhappy person. I cannot understand why there are so many things that need my immediate attention. I start to think if there are anyone else who is in the same boat as me. 

After my marketing, on the way back in the drizzling rain, I met a friend who is back from her marketing too. She was cheery to see me and my girl, we continued our way home separately after a quick chitchat. 

My thoughts starts to brighten up after seeing my friend. She was like the sun on this gloomy day because she is doing the same thing as me for a even longer period of time. She works from home, nurture her kids, cook for the family and do all the marketing and most importantly, live her life happily. She once told me, do not fret when your family needs your attention, it's a blessing to be wanted by your family.

I am so thankful to have met her on this cloudy morning because she had turned it into a sunny day for me. 

Today has been a good reminder for me to manage my thoughts more positively so that I can live my live fuller and have a more positive impact on others. I should also spend more time on planning my time better and have more discipline to avoid this kinda of last minute marketing incident from happening again.

Birth rates of umbrellas

When I first moved into my house, I was very cautious with inviting umbrellas into my home because I do not want an army of them. It seems unavoidable that they will multiply...

2 of them were free gifts and 1 of the was adopted from my mom's home as backup umbrella when there was only 1 umbrella in my house then.

The latest umbrella was store bought because it had rained on the day when I bring lil Joy out. The greatest joke after the purchase of the umbrella is, the place that I was going to was fully sheltered.

I could not help but wonder if umbrellas have the mystical power to multiply when ever I see them.

Here is the growing army of umbrellas at my house, there are still some fold up umbrellas which are kept out of sight in the shoe cabinets.

Washi Tape Paper Clips Tutorial

When I saw Washi Tapes in Daiso Store, I could not help but grab a whole bunch of them. Before long, I have a small collection of the Washi Tapes and of course I must find a practical use for them.

So I made them into Washi Tape paper clip. They are such quick and fun projects with practical use to color up my life.

Things you need:

1. Washi Tapes
2. Paper Clips
3. Scissors
4. 5 mins of your time

Cut your washi tape to the length of about 4 inch (10 cm) long. It's your own personal preference how long you want the washi tab to be on your clip.

Pinch slightly at the sides of the tape at centre of the washi tape.

Then loop the washi tape onto the paper clip and arrange all the sticky side to be facing up. The washi tape has to be placed at the top end of the clip when you clip it on to the paper. It will be shown in the next few pictures.

Now you fold the washi tape into half. Do you see the tapered ends of the tape near the clips that we have pinched earlier on. This will help to prevent the sticky side of the washi tape to be exposed.

Finally, snip the ends of the washi tape and your washi paper clip is done!!

You can use them as bookmarks, page markers for your planner or just clip this happy colored tapes around your desk.

My thoughts on the Washi Tape Paper Clips

They are fun and colorful and very useful when I need to mark my documents. It is easier to spot where I have stopped because of the tape sticking out instead of the usual rulers that I have been using. Give it a try if you have Washi tapes in your drawers :D

Key holder frame tutorial

Keys finding has been taking up my time.. to the extend that I have guests and delivery men standing at my door for minutes while I look like a fool searching for my keys.

So a key holder becomes a wanted item in my house and I still have tons of painted frames left over so a key holder frame it shall be.

Items needed

1. Photo frame ( I have used an IKEA frame painted in black)

2. Photos or picture of your choice ( I have chosen printed a quote on plain paper)

3. Adhesive or nails to put up your frame

4. Screw hooks

5. An hour or less of your time

And you will need tools like scissor, pencils, pliers and such to screw in the hooks.

 Here is a close up of the quote that I have decided on.

And I trace the size of the photo frame out and cut the paper to size.

Next, I marked the place that I want to place the screws.. I have divided the bottom of the frame to fit the 5 hooks.

Then it's alot of screwing.. this is the first time I am using screw hooks and I tried to screw them in with my hands.. and by the third hook, my fingers are starting to hurt a bit. I realised.. using an awl to push a hole in the frame helps to kick start the installation process easier and using this monkey wrench makes the turning much easier. Only note.. be cautious not to over screw which seems like common sense but for a woodwork newbie like me, I made this mistake which results in cracks on my frame.. I hope this key holder can endure at least a year of key holding with those cracks.

Then I stick my trusty double sided tape to the frame and find the perfect spot for my keys home.

And here it is, my DIY key holder in less than an hour. It and quick and and practical project.

My thoughts on the key holder

It's a quick and fuss free project and for the price of less than $3, I have my own personalised key holder which makes my heart warmer.