Online Games For Toddlers

This is great fun. You should check this out and let your baby or toddler play with it!

http://www.sesamestreet.org/

They have games, videos and coloring pages which I think is very cool. My boy just love it.

Today we played these two games:

                                                ......boys will love this Dig for Dinosaurs!


Other websites I found which is of educational value for toddlers are:

http://www.pbs.org/parents/

http://www.seussville.com/#/games

Enjoy!

Greatest Mother's Gift!

I know it is not a very pleasant gift for anyone who doesn't know the true meaning of it but it means a lot to me. On the 10th May, 2011 my son finally poop on his own using the toilet bowl. Hurrrrayyyyy!!! no more diapers....

Now whenever he wants to pee or poo, he just calls me and I will lead him to the toilet. He is still not big enough to climb the giant bowl. So, he will do with a little help.

I was planning to train him right after we moved (last year, November) but I was so busy tidying the house to make it feel more like home that I put behind his potty training until recently. Off and on I do read with him a book about potty training to make him understand.

I know the quickest way to train him is to let him wear pants and let him have a few accidents. I wasn't prepared to let him poop or pee on the floor because I don't want the house to smell like toilet and it will be more work for me. I have enough cracked and rough fingers from doing all the washing, I just want to let them rest. So, finally when I read the book "Potty Train Your Child In Just One Day:Proven Secrets Of The Potty Pro" by Terri Crane, I brave myself up to let him put on the pants. But before that, I followed some of Terri Crane's method and that is to keep on repeating and telling him about how to use the toilet and when to go. I even have him follow me to the toilet to do my pee thing. But later we had an opportunity to go to a friend's house and their son showed us how he did his pee.

From then on, I just keep on telling him the same things and praise him when he pee in his potty. Finally, I think he gave in. I use "gave in" because I think he knew all along where to go for his pee or poo but because of the convenience of a diaper, he just took advantage of it.

So, to get a toddler to potty train himself fast you need:

1) Give him the knowledge. read to him books about potty training, seeing other toddlers do it. They are more willing to follow toddlers who go to toilet by themselves.

2) Once you feel you have feed him/ her enough knowledge. Then go ahead let him use pants. Good Luck!




Tags: mother's gift, toddler potty training, potty, diaper

Big O Doggy!

I don’t know what is wrong with me, first the push cart incident yesterday and now I had a huge doggy fright this morning. Ok read through my words again. It is “doggy fright” and not “doggy fight”. If it is a doggy fight, you won’t see me blogging any longer. I could be missing an ear or some parts of my skin.




I don’t know, is it because that now I have a child and since their safety is my priority that suddenly I have fear for dogs? Or is it because of the recent news of dog attacking human?



This morning is a perfect morning to take my toddler son to go to the park because he woke up very early today. So, after pointing to the sky, the birds, the trees and baby talk about things in the park, we set to walk back home again. The morning breeze is absolutely refreshing today. This is the first morning I took my son for a walk since we moved. Yep! I know I should have taken him to the park more often but I am still juggling with the new environment after 3 months. I am a slow learner you see.



I was walking back carrying my toddler when I notice a lady walking a dog with a leash on her hand on the opposite direction. I feel my hair fang out like the tentacles of an ant signaling that that could be an oncoming danger to my son. My eyes were hooked on that big giant golden retriever although I know that golden retrievers don’t have a history of human attack but yet I have to be cautioned. I mean that dog certainly look very gigantic to me that I feel so small and vulnerable.



All of a sudden the dog changed its mood and keeps on wanting to pounce out of the owner’s hand. Finally she released it and the dog charged towards our direction. In my heart I was thinking both me and my toddler will be a goner.



How could the owner do that? Turn out the dog wanted to greet the ladies walking behind me and not to pounce on me or my toddler. I had such a fright that I began to see the danger of walking to the park. The lady even have the heart to smile (I don’t know at me or her friends behind).



I should think that no matter how safe you think your dog is, never to let go the leash because it could pose danger to other people especially kids. I had a negative impression on that owner; that she is not considerate enough. But what can I say? Each and every one of us lived within our own world that we can’t be considerate enough to suit everyone. But isn’t this situation obvious enough for some consideration?



Oh well, there will be no more walking to the park. I think it will be better to drive there although it is such a short distance.




Tags: near dog attack, afraid of dogs, golden retriever.

Mosquito Bite. Swollen Feet.

Last Staurday night, Marc's two ankles were bitten by mosquito. I thought the little bumps will recover by itself after applying Mopiko (an off counter ointment to soothe mosquito bite). But it doesn't and Little Marc keep on scratching them until they got swollen.

Poor baby....almost the whole of his right foot is red, swollen and it feels hot in them. You know baby's skin are very sensitive but I didn't expect a mosquito bite could be this worst. I tried everything from Mopiko to Cherurub soothing gel but they don't seem to work. So, lastly I got an idea of slathering Manuka Honey UNF 15  which I have blogged previously. I never try treating a swollen skin with Manuka Honey before but I have done some research that they actually help. They are a bit sticky but at least after I applied it, Little Marc only scratched it once and I rinsed them later in the afternoon. By night I can see no more signs of redness.

Next day......

Wow the swelling is gone. Only a bit of bruising and scratch marks are visible. By Monday both feet recovered to nornal. This is great, I use food to heal my baby's feet!



Tags: Baby sensitive skin, mosquito bite, swollen baby feet, manuka honey, manuka honey healing

Guilt in Mommy’s Guild

I have been feeling very guilty lately because I haven’t been much around my Little Marc. It’s a busy month doing things around the house. I have not been reading and playing with him much. I am full of remorse and why am I typing my thoughts here instead of playing with him? It is because he is watching his favorite Elmo. I promise I will make up to him later.

These 2 months, he definitely shows some development in pronouncing words and vocabulary. He can pronounce Elmo correctly, unlike in the previous few months where he call Elmo as “Mou”.

Recently his father caught him a little spider and he learned a new word but can’t pronounce it correctly. He pronounces

                                           spider = piescher

                                 cat = miao

                                 Apple = pak

                                  Raisins = sin

                               Kite = guystch
                                                
                                                ……LOL

But he can pronounce book, peach, baby, milk , ball correctly
It is also a difficult week for me because I think he is having his second stage teething. So when he eats, he gets very messy and it is also a time where he dislikes his veggies. I hope it will be over soon!





Tags: Baby's vocabulary, mom's guilt, baby's speech

Talking about poo jumping out of…..

Oh dear, I know it is disgusting to talk about poo. But as a first time mom, dealing with baby’s “oops” moment can be a funny, messy and yucky experience. I wish that I can record videos on all the “poopy” incidences but it’s hard to capture those moments unless I have the video camera on the whole time. Makes me wonder what other moms experiences were on those baby poo poo accidents.


Here are some of the funny or yucky moments that I can think of:


1) First time Little Marc had a pebble size chocolate poo leaking out of his diaper; he picked it up and gave it to his father. His father thought it was a chocolate until he sniffs on it. LOL


2) That day (can’t remember which day) he must have an excellent bowel movement that he had to do the crab stand or the karate stand (bend both his knees) to hold the diaper from falling from his waist. The funniest is when I try to pick him up; he gave a shriek and refused to let me pick him up. So he ended crab walking inch by inch to the toilet.


3) I had just finished washing his bottom and putting on his clean sheet of diaper when I stepped on his pebble size poo. It felt cold on my feet and mashed beyond means. Yuck!

I thought maybe the diaper malfunctioned to have let these poops slip off, but on a serious thought I think it’s my boy who is fond of running away from me when I want to change him is the reason for the poops to slip off.

Now I think he is ready to use a potty because he always hides from me when he goes to poo and after the poo he will pout his upper and lower lips out and fanning his hands on the nose level to tell me he stinks. LOL . I wish I can have this expression of his recorded but again, it is difficult.

Hopefully, the next time he makes this expression I am lucky enough to capture them and post them here for all of you to see!





































Tags: baby poo, diaper, potty

Funny Baby................

On early Sunday (13th Sept, 2010) morning, Little Marc had just finished drinking his milk. While I was busy washing his cup and spoon, suddenly I heard a loud wail. And out the door I went and this is what I saw……

Guess what….. without my supervision, his long arms have reached for a milk powder canister and he had brilliantly turned the cap off. He thought it was milk and so instead of having his victory drinking another milk, he had himself his “oops” moment powdering himself with milk powder. Poor darling!

Tags: Funny Baby, milk cannister, milk powder

What diaper is my baby using?

Picture: New Petpet design

I am sure a lot of people would have given good thumbs up for Mamypoko. It is the best diaper in terms of absorbency and it is friendly to baby butts. But it is way too pricey for me. If given a choice I would have use the normal cloth diaper because it is environment friendly but sad to say I don’t have a place to hang the cloth diapers to dry.

Anyway my baby is going to be 2 year old soon and as soon as we move, I can toilet train him. I have used Drypers, Mamypoko, Huggies and Petpet before; and I find that Petpet is the best in terms of price, absorbency and it is friendly to baby’s butt. Drypers has got a strong fastening tape but generally it is ok. Huggies cutting is not suitable for my baby and it is easily leaked.


Now, my baby can sleep all through the night with Petpet diaper because it can hold a lot of pee. Although it is not as soft as Mamypoko from the feel of my hands but it will do. So far my baby didn’t have any diaper rash. I change him 5 times a day and if he poo 2 times then an extra 2 diapers.

Recently Petpet has changed its outlook, I still prefer the old diaper because the material feels more solid but I was surprised that the new ones have the same absorbency effect. But there is no more aloe vera as an ingredient to prevent rash. The previous sticky tape fastening has been replaced with a velcro fastening.

I have used this new packaging for over a month now and it has still the same goodness. No more green colour as they printed them in purple instead and the price is cheap. My husband bought the L44 and it costs below RM 30.

Picture: Previous Petpet design

Tags: baby diaper, diaper review, absorbency, baby rash

Oh no… he knows how to climb a chair (A year and 8 months old)

I don’t know whether to celebrate or to call it a disaster. Last Friday he just did it-- he climbed a chair and smiled broadly as if it is his victory. As if he had climbed the highest mountain in the whole world. I’m happy that he learned something new but then it is a disaster when he can now grab everything that is on the table. Batteries, multi vitamins, receipts, medications, mugs and tissue paper are all loosely scattered around the table will now have to be kept within his reach. He especially liked to play with the wireless mouse, imitating his parents when they are clicking the mouse surfing the net.


His victory means that I have to be extra cautious as not to let him accidentally fall off a chair or get hold of something that could be dangerous to him. He could poison himself if he accidentally taken his father’s pills or hurt himself if he broke a mug. Everything has to be child proof.

Fun with books and magazines

A month ago I picked up two Ladybird books from my parents house so that I can read to my son. I use to read them when I was young and they were there for more than 25 years already. Books are the things that were left in my old room because we use to move around a lot and most of my toys were given away.

I love children books because they are full of color illustrations and it reminds of my young and carefree life. I also have a queer habit of smelling brand new books, they just hike up my curiosity to read the contents of the book.

So, the titles that I brought back are “The Big Pancake” and “Lady and the Tramp”. The first time I read to my son, he just listens intently but after that he got impatient when I am halfway reading to him. So I change my strategy. I start to tell the story briefly in my own words and point the pictures as I go along and he is able to follow me.

I find that books like “Peekaboo” is well liked by my son because we are able to interact with each other more and he learns fast through this book. As you can see the book has lots of words given in the pictures.

 So, we treat it as a fun game. I throw him a few questions such as where the elephant, clouds, sun are and he is able to point to the pictures. Bring me smiles whenever he did it.

Women magazines, National Geographic magazines and any other magazines are just as fun too because they contain realistic quality pictures and it is easy for my son to learn about things in the world. So again I’m back with the “point and guess what” method. Whether it’s a bag, shoes, trees, zebra or monkey, somebody walking or a smile, they are all fun. My bubbly baby just babbles nonstop as if he is having a real conversation with me and I just play along as if I understand what he says.

Letter to my Son (Part 1)

Sometimes you make me laugh and sometimes you test my patience. Everyday you grow a little knowing what life uncovers you. I have to remind myself to cherish our every moments together as you are not the same as you are as weeks passed. Sometimes I even missed you when you were younger. I looked back to your past photos and videos and had wished I am there again. But I knew I had to be mindful of the days with you now or I will miss these moments with you in the future.

Flying Food.....

Yikes! He eats from his bowl with a spoon. Then he uses his fingers to mash the food in the bowl. He eat some more with his spoon. Then saw tiny bits of green vegetables, he picked it up and throw it on the floor.

After that it was followed by bits of food raining from his fingers and finally when he finishes with his food, he caps his bowl on top of his head. I have tried firmly to say “no” to him while looking him straight in the eye, but the more I say “no” the more he rain food on the floor. This disaster has been going on with my baby since he is 12 months old. He is going to be 18 months soon but the situation doesn’t improve. He is truly a rascal. Could he be bored with his food? playful? teething? Or could it be my food is horrible to him? Gosh!..i hope it’s not my food.

Then suddenly last Sunday it hit me that I have read once in a book that if a toddler plays with his food, the food should be removed immediately to make him understand that the behaviour is not tolerable. Then give him back his food when he asks for it again and see how it goes. It just worked. I was wondering why I didn’t think of it earlier and to think of how many times I have wasted wiping the mess a dozen times in a day. My fingers are all dry and rough from the amounts of washing that I do. All the mess took me half an hour to clean.

Well it’s for sure that the mess is cut down by 80% now. I considered it a good improvement after so many months of “flying food” adventure.

Watch me do the lizard thing......

This video was captured when my baby was about 9 months old. Hehe didn't know why he did that....it could be he is playful,thirsty or just plain silly.

We are so lucky that at this age we are blessed with so many advanced technological products. One of the most that I cherished is the digital camera where we can snap as many pictures and videos whenever we want to. Memories are priceless don't you think?

Getting my 18 month old son to drink water

Every time I pass my son his cup, he will immediately run away and hide his face on the pillow. I have to catch him and shove the cup into his mouth; when he tasted the water he will then find that he needed a drink. He knew that he wanted a drink but I can’t figure it out why he wants to run away. Could it be he wants to play with me? He is such a playful toddler. Well at least situation is improving comparing to the first time I introduce water to him (when he was 11 months old). The first time he rejected with both hands pushing the cup away and look away.

I admit I am a difficult mom myself because in order to get my son to drink water I don’t mix them with glucose or colouring for fear that it may not be good for his health or relying too much will get him addicted. So, to get him more fluid, I’ll make sure he eats his fruit everyday and I offer him plain water almost every hour. Sometimes he will drink from his father’s cup. I should think another best way to get him to drink water is giving him different types of cups; cups with colours and cartoons.

I did some google search and found that blackstrap molasses is a very healthy kind of syrup. It is best for anyone because of its richness in iron, calcium and magnesium.

Every alternate day I will offer him blackstrap molasses with warm water. If I add them with room temperature water, the taste is really awful but with warm water it is acceptable. Luckily he likes it.

Links to Amazon:

Naturally Healthy First Foods for Baby: The Best Nutrition for the First Year and Beyond

The Baby Food Bible: A Complete Guide to Feeding Your Child, from Infancy On

Dr. Paula's Good Nutrition Guide For Babies, Toddlers, And Preschoolers


Tags: Baby,18 month old, health, blackstrap molasses

My baby first words

You wouldn’t believe me if I told you that my baby’s first word is “bread”. It’s not “Papa” or “Mama” but instead it’s “Bread”. He speaks the word when he is around 1 year old. I assume that he must have love bread more than anything else including his parents.hah! Whenever we go to the bread store, he would open his eyes wide straying on different kinds of pastries; long, rounded, blueberry tops, smiley face, mixed fruits and those mouth watery cakes.

The other word that often comes out from him is “miaw miaw” to mean animals. Whenever he sees a cat or a dog or a panda toy, he will say “miaw miaw”. …I find it cute but I certainly have to correct him.

Now he is 18 months I am more at ease as he is getting better in communicating things he likes and dislikes. He shakes his head to say “no” and chuckle when he mean “yes”. But sometimes he shakes his head even though he meant “yes”. I think he just meant to show his power of making a decision when he shakes his head when he really meant “yes”. Funnily, he knew that nodding his head mean “yes” but never used it to communicate.

Although I would love to see my son saying a few more words but I’m not going to push him to learn. I will let him decide when he wants to read and when he wants to play. When he wants to read, he will choose his own books and bring them to me to read or sometimes I will start reading to see if he is interested. If he is not then, I will switch to flash cards or picture books. If he is still not interested then I will leave him alone and see what he wants to do.


I find the website, Brillbaby.com interesting, they have this flashcard method to teach babies to read words and even maths. The research was lead by Dr. Glenn Doman and I think his project is brilliant.

Dr Glenn says that babies from birth to age 3 is the most crucial time for their brain development. His reason is that from the moment of conception, the brain cells multiply faster than any other cells in a baby’s body. The rapid pace of baby’s brain development continues into early childhood. At birth, the brain weighs 25 percent of its adult weight; by age one, 50 percent; by age two,75 percent and by age three, 90 percent.

I find Dr Glenn’s method useful, I made flashcards numbers for my baby and within a few days he is able to tell 3 or 4 questions right. He can point to the right card when I asked him. So, babies are really born genius. I find it a bit hard to believe but it’s true. However, my baby doesn’t really like word cards, maybe because the cards I’ve made don’t have any pictures in them. So, he is more to memorizing those words and he gets bored with them. I dropped that practice already. Instead, I opt for books with pictures and words. Picture books are fun, I can ask him a word and he will point to the picture or vice versa. It’s like a game.

Brillbaby’s forum is even more interesting as you see parents sharing immense ideas of getting their babies to read and learn. No doubt starting to read early has a lot of benefits. It means our children get to understand words fast and they are able to read and learn more.

“Knowledge is power” as quoted by Albert Einstein.

Tags: baby first words, parenting, Brillbaby, flashcards, education, Dr Glenn Doman, baby reads

In the spur of the moment Art

Yesterday my husband used a CD to draw on our son’s draw board. Didn’t know how in the world he created such an art in the spur of the moment.


It looks like a person dancing or it looks like a face. What do you think? Hehehe..

Puppet Books

My baby just love puppet books. Me and my husband bought those precious books from big bad wolf sale at only RM5 each.Can you believe it?

When we first read those books to our son at one year old, he will smile and laugh. Maybe he thought those puppets are alive. He still love these books now at 17 months, he will smile and  kiss the puppets. Children are adorable don't you think?

My Baby’s Diet Timetable

At 17 months old, here is my baby’s eating timetable:


7.30 am :                      5 grain milk



9.00 am :                     slice of bread or banana



11 am:                        snack (biscuit/ raisins)



12.30 noon:               porridge / pasta



1.30pm:                    Baby’s nap time



3.30 /4pm:               slices of fruits



5pm:                       snack (biscuit/raisin)



6.30 / 7pm:            dinner



8.30pm:                 breast milk



10.30pm :             5grain milk

My baby doesn’t like water, so every hour I have to offer him some water to drink.

If he refuses, I will wait awhile before offering him again.

Some of my baby Marcus photos...

Finally I get my “me” time blogging when my baby is taking a nap. He is 16th month old now. Last week he had been clingy and crying a lot, I suspect that he is bored living in a room with not much activities. “Bad mommy not having more activities for baby.” Ok, so this week I’ve given him a lot of physical play such as cushion battling with him, arrange pillows on the bed as obstacle for him to climb over and sliding down, play him children songs and start with his flash card set to stimulate his right brain.


I have such enthusiastic to get my baby to start on flashcards after reading the website http://brillbaby.com/. Why? If I’m a baby now I would want to know how to read so that I can gain all sorts of knowledge. I love to read a lot. Hmmmm the smell of books just give me the ecstasy.

After he turned 15months he tried to show his independence, he tried to use the spoon to feed himself, running off in shopping centre, demand things and if not given he will cry and scream or sit on the floor stomping his feet. Oh how I miss him when he was 4 to 6 months old.

I just look at some of my son’s photos….. just want to share it with you all.

                                                     Hi! I'm just few days old.

                                           gurrrrr I can sleep all day...

                                            Oh no I'm wearing an oversize sunglass...mommy,why you cut my hair like that?

                                             duhhh ....i'm drooling...hanky please...

                                           *smile* I love you mommy , daddy

gurrrrr.... milk milk milk milk.......i'm dreaming lots of milk coming my way..

mucho mucho man .....after drinking my milk ...

Monkey see, monkey do....

i'm flying ....

somebody please hold down my hair..

you wanna piece of me...

coochi coochi cooo....heheheh

8th month old and going to be 9 month ....

My bubbly baby has grown again. He babbles the whole time and  grab everthing in sight. He will grab books from the shelves and plonk it on the floor, pull curtains, pull on my hanging clothes, knock plastic containers on the floor, punch on plastic containers, tear books or advertisement booklet into pieces, clap his hands, imitate melody, gets impatient when changing diaper and he wants to get away fast, dislike people picking his nose, scream when he likes, doesn't like to watch tv unless there are colours that fascinate him, blowing bubbles, clucking his tongue. He likes to play with water and he is still wandering what's that tiny peanut (his private) attach below his lower body when he looks at himself naked in the mirror.Playing with cords are his favourite too.Thinking that slapping his hands and telling him "no" to the cords will not make him understand, instead he will clap his hands or smile.Babies though they are naughty in our eyes, they are such very curious individual and I love them as they are. His common words are dedede, mama, baba, mimi (i think it's "milk"), mum mum (for food) , shzar (for star ) when I sing " twinkle twinkle little star " for him. At night he won't sleep in his cot unless he sleep with his mummy and daddy first then mummy or daddy move him to his cot while he is asleep. Likes people and love to play with people but no matter how I train him to be independent he will start wailing when I go for my shower and leave him in the room.