Sunday, November 30, 2008

Carousel ride



I am amazed by how a simple amusement ride of a rotating platform with seats can attract children so much. Chloe is attracted to the carousel at an outlet near our place. Each time I go there with her, a carousel ride is something not to be missed.

It is a nice horse carousel near children's outlet and she will ride for a few minutes before allowing me to buy new clothes... replacing her unfit clothes which I will be mumbling because she outgrown her clothes in 2 months.

A ride will always makes her smile. No wonder I always give in each time she wanted a second ride.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Making Fall Leaves Craft



I just found an interesting way of making fall leaves craft from Kids Craft and I was attracted with it. I am a conventional mother that believe expensive toys can't replace the valueable time that I spend with Chloe. I am not a crafty person but for Chloe, I am learning creative ways to play with Chloe.

Check This Out!

How we make coffee filter leaves:

1. Cut leaf shapes out of basket-type coffee filters.

2. Fill an ice cube tray with water and then put a few drops of food coloring in each of the sections (orange, red, yellow, and brown). Make each section a different color.

3. Flatten out each of your pre-cut filter leaves and use an eyedropper to make designs on them. Each color will spread and run into the other colors.

This is a lot of fun for the kids (and the grownups) and makes a good lesson for what happens when you mix colors. Let the filters dry completely and don’t forget to put down some newspaper or your table will likely be stained.

Then you can use these pretty leaves in any other Thanksgiving project, tape them to windows, or in a pretty Thanksgiving display.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you had a great one. I am suppose to post about turkey for Thanksgiving but unfortunately the trial turkey was burnt and I decided that I don't want to ruin this year's Thanksgiving by burning another turkey again. Will be having pizza instead.
Anyway, Chloe loves pizza more than turkey so I am fine with pizza but my hubby.... hopefully he won't be making a fuzz about it.
It is Thanksgiving and we should be thankful right?

Thanksgiving quote to share:

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

W. J. Cameron
It is literally true, as the thankless say, that they have nothing to be thankful for. He who sits by the fire, thankless for the fire, is just as if he had no fire. Nothing is possessed save in appreciation, of which thankfulness is the indispensable ingredient. But a thankful heart hath a continual feast.

J. A. Shedd
He who thanks but with the lips
Thanks but in part;
The full, the true Thanksgiving
Comes from the heart

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Disney Friendship Stories



I was cleaning the book shelves when I noticed this book. My husband bought it for Chloe when he was on business trip in Hong Kong. Disney Friendship Stories is a great book to teach family and friendship.

The part that I love most is Lilo and Stitch. The story was so warm. The beginning about how Stitch made life harder for Lilo and Nani may not be a good start for some. The trick is to teach us that no matter what happened "Nobody gets left behind" in a family. In good times or bad times.

As a family, we need to stick together through thick and thin. I am learning to become a better mother and wife and I learned a lot from Lilo.
"This is my family. I found it all on my own. It's little and broken but still good"

Friday, November 21, 2008

It's a toy



Spring cleaning time for Christmas. Or rather I will call that winter cleaning time. Vacuuming the dust under the bed, finding all the missing pieces of Chloe's toys and making sure that she doesn't go hiding under the bed playing peek-a-boo.

This time, she did something out of ordinary. She made a slide climber out of the mattress that I took out and put on the sofa. Initially she was mumbling something that I couldn't hear due to the loud noise of the vacuum cleaner. Then she started to climb up and slide down. She was having fun and her laughter was so loud that I stopped working and watched her playing.... Just to make sure she didn’t fall off

Things seem easy with kids. They never bother about how busy you are or whatever you are doing. They can just play and make toys out of anything. Do you call that creativity or naughty?

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Preparing Christmas



Christmas is just 5 weeks away and I am looking forward for the celebration. I had made a sock for Chloe to hang on the Christmas tree which we will be decorating it together. This is the first time we celebrate Christmas at home.

Last year, we spent Christmas in the hospital. I remember clearly that how I get a shock in my life worrying that something might happen to Chloe. It was Christmas Eve and I was preparing lunch.

Chloe who just woke up from morning nap cried for me and suddenly vomited. Thinking that it may be due to indigestion, we just calmed her down and changed her. After changing her, she vomited again and this time, her face turned white. Quickly we rushed her to the hospital. Thought-out the whole journey she will just threw up and become unconscious by the time we reached the hospital.

The MO in charge quickly put her on drip and I was so heartbroken. I was so worry if something bad happened to her. She just slept there and I am so helpless. Doctor said that it may be due to bacteria infection but need to monitor her for a day. The next day when she woke up, she just smile at me and called mama. That is the best Christmas present I ever had.

This year, I am looking forward to celebrate Christmas with her at home and hopefully it will go well. Keeping my finger cross.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Playing piano



Me: Chloe is playing with my keyboard again!
Hubby: Maybe she is just talented or she loves it. Do you want to consider sending her for piano class?
Me: She is just a kid! (ha, it is time for me to use this phase against my hubby)

Whether Chloe is a genius or not, I don't like to force her into learning something when she is not ready. Ok, except for number recognition. I know that with the rapid development, the pressure for kids to reach a certain milestones is high. But what is the fun of learning when they cannot learn at their own pace. I will try to keep that in mind.

Birthday Party Theme



I am planning for a Christmas party this year and thought whether it can replace the fun that Chloe at her first birthday party. As she was too young during that time, I wanted to keep it short and simple but memorable. A few pointers that I noted when I was organizing the party:
1) Invite the number of guests that match your child's age so that they can mix around. At least that is what Chloe did.
2) Fewer guests can make for a more manageable party.
3) Kids love to play with their food. Lucky for me, I had a friend who suggested me to this nice restaurant where they allow people to held party. After the party, it was a total disaster in the restaurant as the kids throw their food around, knocking things down etc. Sorry to the restaurateurs for the mess
4) Don't hire a clown if there is infant/toddler around. I make a mistake here. In the midst of joyful party, the clown turned up to give away balloons. A handful of the kids started to cry when they saw the clown. I quickly have to ask the clown to leave so that we can have a peaceful party.
Do leave a note about your experience organizing your child's birthday party.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Kindermusik

Since Chloe loves music very much, I explores a few classes that teaches music for toddler until I found Kindermusik.

"Kindermusik is a music and movement program and each week, toddler and parents will play, listen and dance together to music that will impact you and your child in profound ways." Extract from kindermusik.com

I am not sure whether the class is as good as it sounds but since they provide free trial, no harm trying right? So yesterday, I went to their trial class with my hubby and Chloe. There are a few other babies and parents around. Chloe with very strong stranger anxiety just stick with me.

The instructor was very friendly trying to play around with Chloe but she refused and sat with me quietly. Surprisingly, I never saw her so quiet. Nevertheless once the music started, she started to swing her body. She loves the musical instrument that they have until she doesn't want to return it back.

Right now I am wondering whether I should enroll her to the class or not. What do you think?
http://www.kindermusik.com/

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Jumping into the pool



Chloe's vocabulary has grown tremendously since the past one month. I am so happy that she can express herself very well. She is so talkative that she will sing and talk all day.

When we bring her to the park, she will show me flower, tree, coconut, ball etc. There hasn't been any challenge bringing her to the park until now. There is a public pool near the park that we stay and sometimes we will bring her in to watch other kids swimming.

Yesterday when we were getting closer to the swimming pool, she kept saying that she wanted to swim. I am not a good swimmer and my husband does not swim at all. Worse still, she didn't want to go home unless she can go into the water.

I was speechless and nothing seems to be able to stop her from going into the water. I gave in as always.... Admittedly I am too soft with her.

Since it was not too deep, I let her got used to the water by putting her feet down and hope that she will back out due to the cold water.... arggh but she enjoyed the cold water so much that she decided to jump into the pool!

So there she was, wet and cold but happy. For other swimmer that uses the pool, sorry that she wasn't wearing swimming suits. Will bring along next time.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Gardening with Chloe

It's gardening time! Or rather 'leaf/flower picking' time for Chloe. I know how much kids likes to try out new things and that is what this blog is about. They love to play in the dirt, water plants and watch their favourite foods growing right before their little amazed eyes.
Tips to help your toddler with gardening
1) Choose foods they like
Tomatoes, Apples.... As long as they can pick the tomatoes or apples before it is even ripe
2) Child-size gardening tools
Err... You can skip this part because whether it is child-size tools or not, they will still grab the tools that you are using.
3) Start your garden with seeds
This is a must because they can throw the seeds in the garden (if you are lucky) or in the house
4) Garden care and upkeep
Oh, they will always look forward to this time because it is the time when they can play with the water in the garden
5) Time for pickin'
You don't have to tell them when the time is. From my experience, everyday is a good day to pick. Leaf, flower you just name it....

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Countdown to Christmas

It is time to prepare for Christmas. After all the fun and mess making bread with Chloe, I was thinking about allowing her to try out making Christmas cut out cookies. Baking bread and cookies with kids are very different. I am not particular about how the bread looks like but I am very particular when it comes to cookie. I mean who would want to try a cookie that looks like shit. Ok, there should be a warning sign that I need to be aware regarding baking activities with toddler.

WARNING: Baking with toddler is not for parents who likes clean kitchen, who dislike flour in their hair or who are actually trying to make cut out Christmas cookies to give away or serve to people!

Duh?

A Toddler's Guide to Making Christmas Cookies

Tip #1: Taste the Dough Whenever Possible
"I am going to shove a piece of cookie dough in my mouth to taste whether it is yummy or not. If not yummy, maybe I can spice it up with my saliva"
Tip #2: Make a Play-Doh out of the cookie dough
“I was thinking about pressing the dough with my Play Doh pump”
Tip #3: You Can Never Have Enough Flour
"There is never enough flour on the table, on the dough on the cookie cutters, on mommy, on me, on the floor...... I am going to make sure there is plenty of flour everywhere."
Tip #4: Cookie Dough and Play-Doh Are the Same
"I am going to decorate the cookie with my Play Doh. It will be very delicious”
Tip #5: Use the Roller to Make Music
“I can make really loud music with the cookie roller"
Tip #6: Cookie Cutters Don't Work

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Homemade paint

Lately there has been news on how China made products (milk, cookies and even eggs) being tainted by melamine. It is so sad to see that because of certain adults so eager to make more money, they risk the life of a child. After all this news, I told my husband that we are not going to buy any made in china product for Chloe.
Ops... how am I suppose to let Chloe learn how to paint. I mean kids love painting and I was hoping to let Chloe mess around with paint so that she can master fine motor skills.
I guess I need to use DIY paint

Homemade Face Paint

Materials
Small jars or plastic containers
1 teaspoon cornstarch per container
1/2 teaspoon cold cream per container
1/2 teaspoon water per container
Food coloring

Directions
In each small container, mix cornstarch and cold cream until well blended.
Add water and stir.
Add food coloring one drop at a time until you get the desired color.
Paint small designs on face with a small paintbrush; remove with soap and water.
Store covered

Monday, November 10, 2008

Easy Bread Recipe

I was browsing throught a website of a preschool near my place that is based on Rudolf Steiner's education method when I found an idea to spice up Chloe's life. In their daily activities, the children will make breads for their snack. I let Chloe tried with it and guess what? She make a mess all over the kitchen and was having so much fun that she keep on saying the word bread. For Chloe bread making is a wonderful sensory experience. The smell of the yeast, the stickiness of the dough, being allowed to help out and knead the dough. The anticipation as it rises. The increadible smell as it bakes. And the extra treat of that first slice hot out of the oven.

INGREDIENTS:

Dough -

6 cups of plain flour
1 packet of yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup of olive oil
2 cups of warm water
saucepan of boiling water

METHOD:

This is really quick and easy! In a large bowl, pour in 5 cups of the flour, the yeast, the salt and the sugar.

Stir in the warm water and the olive oil and start bringing the dough together. Then stir in the rest of the water to make the dough soft.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, floured with the left over cup of flour, and knead until soft.

Put the dough back into the bowl. Fill the saucepan with the boiling water. Stand the bowl over the saucepan of water and cover and leave the dough to rise.

While the dough’s rising, grease your bread tin or your baking sheet.

Turn the dough out back onto floured surface and work it into the piece(s) you require or ready for a bread tin.

Place the dough in the tin it will be baked in and one last time, stand the tin over the saucepan of boiling water, cover with a tea towel and leave it to stand until the dough rises again to fill the tin.

Bake until golden in a hot oven.

Lovely served warm with some butter!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Radio-controlled car

She should stop playing with cars. She is a little girl! I say to my beloved hubby.

I don't know when I begin to think that car is for boys only. Admittedly I shouldn't stop Chloe from playing with her favourite toys. Regrets that I threw away a radio-control car that I got from a friend because of Chloe's obsession, I bought a radio-control car from Tamiya's Lightning McQueen (from the cartoon 'Cars').

The moment I brought it home, she asked me to let her play with it. It was rather a plug and play car where you need to install the wheel and casing. Since I was a dummy when it comes with problem with the car, I decided to ask my husband to install the machine.

Chloe patiently watched while I just continued with my household chores. Initially Chloe was playing with the controller and maneuvers the car around the living room. Then she started to play with the parts by dismantle and install it again.

I was amazed that she shows such a strong interest with the car. I guess I need to let her grow by her interest.

Potty training - she did it!

Today is just my day. Chloe ask me take the potty out and she sits on it. This time with positive result. I had known that she started to feel her bowel movement a month ago but due to her phobia whenever she saw a potty, she will just run away. I had read many articles about how to potty train and patiently I waited for the time to come. Not to forget the Japanese animation that I shared before for potty trainer.

Some ABC of potty training extracted from ParentCenter
A. Assess your child's readiness — and your own
B. Buy the right equipment
C. Create a routine
D. Demonstrate for your child
E. Explain the process
F. Foster the habit
G. Grab some training pants
H. Handle setbacks gracefully
I. Introduce night training
J. Jump for joy — you're done!

Right now, Chloe is celebrating her success by humming the Japanese potty training song.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Number recognition

Lately financial crisis has been surrounding us so much that I started to be worry about Chloe's future. I decided that I should start to financial education until my husband reminded me that she is just over 18 months!
Ok, then I shouldn't be giving her financial education. I should start with numbers... Yes, counting 1, 2, 3. I started to test out a few activities and right now, she is able to count to 10!

Method 1
Introduce the song 'Ten little Indians'. While you are singing, show her 1, 2, 3 etc using your fingers



Method 2

Get a count and stack cubes for her. I got this for Chloe when she was 6 months and till today, she loves to play with the cubes. Initially she loves knocking them down and trying to build them back but now she will say 1, 2,3 whenever she stacks it up.

Method 3
Play number games in the bathtub. Using a plastic shovel and pail, count the number of water scoops you pour into the pail.
Blow bubbles and count the bubbles. Count fingers and toes as you wash them

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Is my child happy?

OMG. This is the toughest question I had been asked as a mother. Thought out these years, I had tried to make sure that Chloe is healthy, organized activities that will stimulate her and loved her unconditionally.
Of course in the midst of educating her, sometimes I may be strict at her; for example not allowing her to go into the kitchen when I was cooking. I always tried to balance up work and family. I tend to spend more time playing with her when I am free. Nevertheless, is my child really happy?
'The best predictors of happiness are internal, not external' says Edward Hallowell, psychiatrist and author of The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness.
This is a short note on how to raise a happy child
1) Learn to read the signs when something makes him happy or sad
Chloe will throw tantrums and become clingy whenever she is upset
2) Make room for fun
Play with them. Connect with them.
3) Help them develop their talents.
Ok, I must admit that I am not good in this. Chloe (a little girl) is very keen in cars. Everyday she will ask me to let her play with car and today, she just dismantled the wheel. I never like the idea of her playing with a boy's toy but I guess I need to let her do what she is best in.
4) Healthy bodies equal happy children.
Lots of sleep, exercise and healthy diet.
5) Let them struggle with problem.
This doesn't mean children shouldn't ask for help if they need it, but your role is to help them find a solution, not provide it for them. Learning to deal with life's inevitable frustrations and setbacks is critical to your child's future happiness.
If your child develops a sense of independence and confidence, it can lead to greater self esteem and happiness. One way to help your toddler develop these qualities is to have him practice playing alone for ten to 15 minutes several times a day.
6) Allow them to be sad or mad
It's simply part of life.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

It is not an issue

While making pancake for Chloe, I am discussing with my husband how happy I am that Obama is now the President of United States. In the media, many mentioned that Obama created history by becoming the first black President in the states.
However for me, it had never been an issue. I was born and raised in a multi-racial country mainly Chinese, Indian and Malay back in Singapore. Not only I am proud of my upbringing, I always wish that one day other countries will follow the same diversity as well.
I had heard from my close relatives that migrated to other Western country how the people there discriminate those that doesn't have the same skin colour and religion. I am so upset when I heard about all this. A doctor told me before
'Baby smiles to stranger without considering their skin colour because they are colour blind'
If only everyone in this world are colour blind, there will be no war. But I hope that tonight, we will be able to bring change to everyone that skin colour is never a problem.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Sound of Music

I was chatting with one of my girlfriend today and I just realized that it is time for me to introduce Sound of Music to Chloe. I know, it sounds very old but remember about the song do-re-mi that Chloe is singing nowadays? It is one of the songs from sound of music... I have never thought about that...
I love this movie because of its nice scenery and songs that they play. I am not a Broadway fan but Sound of Music is not something to be missed. Maria character is something that I adore. Her soft voice and character is what is missing in today's world. In the real story of Captain Trapp, his rejection to Hitler's empire is to be saluted.
My wish is for all voters out there to vote wisely and reject war for world peace.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Injection day

Yesterday Chloe went for routine medical check-up and guess what? Injection time... At first she was very excited to go to the hospital coz they have a nice playing area. Moreover every time she went to the hospital, she will get all the attention from the nurses and patient... Chloe likes to attract attention from strangers. She will smile and wave at them until they notice her.
However yesterday was different... By the time we are in the hospital, not only she didn't greet strangers, she was sitting on a table and play on her own... ops maybe because there were a lot of people in the waiting room. Then came a big size girl and snatch away the toy that she was playing with... how rude. Nevertheless my baby didn't give in and push the girl away. Ok, that is enough. I pull Chloe away from the table so that she won't hurt herself in a fight.
Suddenly the nurse called out Chloe's name. It's her turn! I pushed her into the doctor's room and the doctor just said
'She is 19 months now. Time really flies. Ok let's give her 2 injections today'
Huh? 2 injections? Can she handle it? What injection is that?
'Well I would recommend her to take prevenar and Hib booster this time since she miss one of it last month'
Well, yeah, she misses it because she was hospitalized for high fever and right now she has to take two
OMG....