Colours Everywhere

A few days ago, I tried applying J & J oil on Sophie because her skin was a little dry from constant exposure of air-conditioning while she slept. The first 3 days went smoothly (literally), in fact, there was even a rosy glow on her face. Little did we realise that it was actually a warning sign of an onset of skin allergy. Well, On the 4th day, early morning, Papa saw a couple of red spots on Sophie's upper torso. By afternoon, her entire torso was covered with angry red bumps that quickly fused to become huge itchy patches. I applied her steroid cream (whatever that was left after I hammered it several times) and some water-based moisturiser (super expensive kind from the clinic).


Of course, we had no choice but to see our dearly beloved pediatrician for some more cream. We could not buy it from the clinic because our last visit was more than 3 months ago. So... we waited 2 hours for a 5-min consultation that was mainly about me telling him what happened to Sophie and what we needed from him. Nothing surprising. To make sure I would not run out of medicine so soon, I bought 3 tubes of each cream even though that made him frown a little (not too easy to earn consultation fees from us). In the end, we spent $45 on consultation (just because he has a medical degree and licence) and $81 on the cream (just because I could not buy it anywhere else...).


As a result of our little visit to splurge on our pediatrician, we did not have any time for craft today. However, I did make a manipulative for learning about colours and motor skills for Sophie. I have seen it on one of the websites before, but I was too lazy to make it. Today, I finally did it while Sophie was napping. I think it would probably be nicer if I had used paint rather than markers, but I wanted it done quickly and hassle-free. It is actually quite useful, if only Sophie would not take the wooden pegs apart all the time! What else is new, right? Well, we shall see if it can last as long as it takes Sophie to learn about colours.... Hahahaha...

Surprise Papa!

Tomorrow is Papa's 40th Birthday so Mama wanted to surprise him with a present he would like. Papa has been raving about custom-made guitars lately so Mama decided that he would get one tonight... Well... as a decoy anyway. Papa thought that would be the only "guitar" he got for his birthday.

Custom-made Guitar By Mama

Actually, I had already arranged with Uncle Simon to deliver Papa's LL16 in the evening. I asked Papa to make a trip to the provision shop after dinner so that Uncle Simon can send the guitar here. So naturally, Papa was super thrilled to see it when he returned with the groceries. Fortunately, Papa also appreciated my effort in making a "guitar" for him. I have never made one before and it took me a while to figure out how to make it and gather all the recycled materials from home. Although Sophie did not participate in the making of this guitar, I hope her DIY gene (from my side of the family) could be activated and she would learn to create and express herself in more than just words and gestures.

Princess Sophie

I took out a strip of cardboard from my music CD/book set and Sophie started playing with it. when she wore it over her head, I thought to myself that maybe we could make a crown today. The simple idea soon became an elaborate project which took us the whole day to complete, not to mention the materials we used. That is my main problem... I rarely have any clue to how the end product would look like eventually. I just create with a rough idea in mind and see how it would turn out. For Sophie's sake, I have consciously plan what to make and even do sketches sometimes. Anyway, this was one of those crafts that I regretted doing the moment we started.

I did not take any pictures of the pom poms but I used them for the crown. I also used foam to make the crown itself because cardboard might not be sturdy enough. I even left room to loosen the crown or increase the size if it could least that long. And all that was done while Sophie was napping. The problem with foam - you have to put a lot of white glue and hold on to the pieces until the white is almost dry.

When Sophie woke up, I let her paint on the cardboard I prepared for her. She was not very good with brushes yet, but I was glad she did not abused them. Towards the end, she became very interested in the palette. She reminded me of how I used to paint in school while teaching... Actually, I prepared a few more pieces of cardboard template but I decided to scale down the project aka "lazy lah".

Sophie's End Product

Next, I helped Sophie as she applied glitter glue on the crown and the cardboard templates. She also placed the pom poms on after I put white glue on each circle. Such moments made me wish I had another hand somewhere to do filming. After that, I pasted the rhinestones on the crown with super glue... too impatient for white glue. Of course, Sophie was far far away...

Left to dry... for hours... and hours...

It was dinnertime and the crown was still wet and sticky. I hate to deprive Sophie her fun, so I took the semi-dried crown (just the ring) and attached a plastic sheet at the back (with sticky tape). And of course, Sophie became a princess... The moment I put it on for her, she dashed to the mirror in our bedroom to look at herself.

I could resist no more... I wanted to finish the crown and let Sophie wear it. So, I hurried and secured everything with sticky tape. It was worth the rush... Sophie seemed to really love wearing a crown. Too bad the cardboard was not strong enough to hold the glue and pom poms... it kind of made the princess crown looked like a jester's crown instead. But who cares, Sophie seemed to like it! She paraded around, kissed herself on the mirror and found a "throne" to sit in... What a comedian!

End Product - A Crown For Princess Sophie

Jellyfish

I bought sandwich bags from NTUC thinking that they were paper bags... but they are actually made of plastic. Thus, I had to make last minute modification to our craft today. Determined to make good use of the plastic bags anyway, I cut strips from them to make the tentacles of the jellyfish. I wanted to keep it simple so I would just use sticky tape to attach the tentacles and glue for the eyes and mouth. And of course, glitter glue is a must for the jellyfish's body.

I let Sophie do painting on the Ikea highchair because the height is perfect for her to work on the dinning table (more space) and there is less cleaning afterwards. As shown in the video clip, Sophie seemed to have better understanding of how to handle the bottle and apply paint (rather then eat it).

However, she still likes painting on her hand and then satmping on the paper. I am happy regardless how she paints, so long as she does not eat the paint. I still had to guide her on where to apply paint by placing the empty spaces right in front of her. I think she has not learnt to utilise space yet.

I have to admit I love it as I watched how Sophie handle the paint bottle. It was as if she knew it had to be placed upright on the table or the paint would spill out.

It was wonderfully easy to manage today's craft, as least the painting part, because Sophie was relatively cooperative and there was no major clean up required. Even the glitter glue was applied well enough.

Sophie's End Product (With and Without Glitter)

The challenge was getting Sophie to paste the tentacles on the jellyfish. Initially, I thought of doing it myself but when she saw what I was doing, she wanted to "help" very badly. So, I had to hold her and her hand while she pasted the tentacles on. She was quite thrilled to see the tentacles dance in the wind. In fact, I had to rescue the poor jellyfish and put it up on the wall before she ripped out all the tentacles.

Big Shoes To Fill

Pour Me A Cuppa

Last week was a tiring one for Papa and Mama... By Friday morning, we were zombified. As usual, Papa led Sophie out to the living room for her breakfast while Mama made coffee and milo. Mama then absent-mindedly left the two mugs on the dinning table, took a glance at Sophie (reaching for some toys a couple of metres away) and walked to the windows to open them (hot hot day). Suddenly, Papa yelled and grabbed hold of Sophie at the dinning table, who was apparently trying to grope for the coffee mug. Although Papa managed to push the mug away from Sophie, the hot coffee spilt all over her upper body. It was about that moment I turned and saw my little girl all shocked, teary and drenched in coffee, standing in her papa's arms.

Instinctively, I rushed to her and carried her to the bathroom to wash off the coffee and assess her injury. It was only after I saw the her scalded neck and chest that tears began to roll down my own cheeks. I think she was not really in pain but she was more shocked and frightened by our reaction. By the time I dried her body and applied Hazeline Snow on her body, she was already giggling cheekily. Both of us took longer to recover from OUR shock though... I was still shaking from thoughts of what could have happened to her instead... if not for Papa's quick move.

Spread The Word... Not The Infection!

I am sending Sophie to Kinderland childcare for a half-day programme in July so naturally, I worry that she would fall sick often once she starts attending childcare. While there is no way of preventing her from getting infections, there is however good practices that can minimise the spread of infections and ensure speedy recoveries. No, no miracle drug or super booster for the immune system... Just common sense and civic-mindedness.

Let's begin with common sense. We need time, rest and proper diet (sometimes medicine) to recover from any common ailments and infections. During this period, our body is also very vulnerable to secondary infections because our immune system is weakened. So, it is only logical not to overstress the body and unwittingly prevent a full recovery. Full recovery means the body is now able to fight similar infections in the future. Of course the viruses mutate faster than we can learn to fight them.


Thus, Papa and I have decided that we should keep her home whenever she falls sick at the childcare (touch wood). We are lucky to have the option since I am not working and I can take care of her if it happens. We also agree that during the rest period we must avoid crowded places or let her overexert herself. That would prevent secondary infection. And of course, stop the spread of the infection to others.


Let me stress the importance of not spreading infections to other children. Once you let a sick child roam around at crowed places aka shopping malls, you are guilty of spreading infections to others. Then the same infected children would bring it back to their childcare centres and cause an outbreak. And thus begins a neverending story. I am more lenient towards parents who cannot keep their sick child at home due to work. However, a sick child must be kept away from the rest of the children in the childcare centre if possible (depends on the practices of individual childcare centres). If need arises, let your child wear a face mask or something! So, for heaven's sake... be civic-minded!

I have witnessed children and adults alike, sneezing and coughing without covering their nose and mouth, thus generously "sharing" their germ-infested droplets. People must be taught to be considerate enough not to spread their diseases so carelessly. Remember SARS? Bad enough you are out in public when you are sick, you do not even bother to cover your nose and mouth as you sneeze and cough! What kind of person are you then? Therefore, ever since Sophie got her first asthmatic cough due to infection (thanks to Pats Schoolhouse - Baby Haven!), we have made a conscious effort to avoid exposing her to crowded, air-conditioned places for too long (only a couple of hours).

We also invest in nasal spray and washes her nostrils as often as possible. This helps to keep the inside moist (air-conditioned places drys up the inside, causes irritation and leads to mucus production) and remove germs and dirt that is stuck inside (if accumulated, the stuff can breed germs and cause infection). Above all, preventing an outbreak is as important, if not more important than dealing with one. I keep washing Sophie's hands and face because she tends to touch everything, everywhere and then "eats" her fingers and even toys. I also bathe (at least wash up and change her clothes) her once she comes home from outside.

Call me paranoid, but I do not want to see her breathing heavily and choking in her mucus and phlegm again. As she grows older, I must teach her to wash her hands and wash up whenever she comes in contact with someone who is sick. Personal care and hygiene is a good way to keep germs away. As for those health products that promise to boost your immune system... Well, if they work, then the doctors would be a lot poorer than they are now, wouldn't they? Have you seen the queue at your Pediatrician lately?

Of course, I have no medical degree or authority over how people should lead their lives. I just hope that my little girl would not be falling sick so often simply because of the lack of common sense and civic-mindedness of others. As it is now, with everything that we do, Sophie still falls sick once in a while. Nowadays, I will skip western medicine unless she needs antibiotics, skin remedy or emergency care (super touch wood).

Plan B

I had intended to do "blow art" today with Sophie. But as it turned out, she did not really want to blow through the straw (although she can... ), she preferred to chew on it. Oh well... another time then!

I did not want to waste the paint, so I let her do stamping. I was quite happy to see that she has finally grasp the idea of "picking up" paint from a palette and "applying" it onto a surface. Wish she could use the paper more often instead of her hands, MY hands or the highchair tray as the surface though. Having said that, it is perfectly fine for young children to paint any and everywhere (if you can tolerate it lah) so I may end up creating a space (or wall) for her to get messy with paint... Fingers crossed.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Again

As promised, I picked a craft from the books I bought yesterday, made some modifications and did it with Sophie today. Finally, I know how to make a caterpillar! I started off hoping to coincide the craft work with Earth Day, but I could not find any toilet rolls (the cardboard is very hard to cut and punch holes). So, I cut and rolled up construction paper, then I taped the shorter ends together using double-sided tape. The original craft required yarn to join and connect the rolls, but I only have twine... Well, not pretty but functional still.

I thought since Sophie loves to paint her hand, I should let her have something to hold in her hand so that she would paint it. And it worked! For a while anyway... Then she started painted the highchair tray and I quickly got her to roll the paper on the paint to achieve another sort of painting effect.

Not too bad... by the time she was done, the paper rolls seemed pretty colourful. However, they took really long to dry because I used fingerpaint instead of tempura paint.

After a couple of hours, I threaded the twine through each paper roll and created the caterpillar. It actually looked better than I had expected, especially after the pipe cleaners and plastic eyes were attached. Even Sophie likes to fling it around and play with it... Of course she does!

End Product - The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Now, the caterpillar sits on my window sill...

Back To The Books...

Although I would not say I am artisitic or creative in any way, I must admit I enjoy teaching art and craft to children while I was still teaching. Ever since I turned my back on my profession and adopted a more humble position at home as a SAHM, my art materials have been left to rot in my cupboard. I am now trying to revive some of them to do craft work with Sophie, my sole art pupil. My ex-colleagues would say I am "very good in art" but I am not talented or trained formally as an art teacher. I learnt through books.

First Art : Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos by MaryAnn F. Kohl, Renee F. Ramsey, Dana Bowman, Katheryn Davis

Even then, my knowledge and skills are limited and I am more familiar with teaching older children. I am pretty dumb with children below 6 years old. So, I ram going back to the books to upgrade myself. Even though they might be costly, I figured that it would still be cheaper than sending Sophie to enrichment classes. Also, I do not want Sophie to be expose to infections unnecessarily. Above all, I hope we can learn and have fun together while we are at home most of the time.

Sing! Play! Create!: Hands-on Learning for 3- to 7-year-olds (Little Hands Books) by Lisa Bonston

I mean, I only send her to MIM-Jumpstart because the class size is small (less than 6) and I am atrocious when it comes to music... I am clueless about nursery rhymes, chants, songs and fingerplay. Therefore, I need to put in a lot of effort to learn... Another area for improvement would be my cooking. I find it hard to put in effort on food (the end product would be the same mah) so I go for convenience and speed in cooking. Clearly that has to change, especially since Sophie is starting to yearn for better tasting and visually appealing food in her plate.

Cooking Art: Easy Edible Art for Young Children by MaryAnn F. Kohl, Jean Potter

I love the idea of learning the alphabet using crafts and play. However, I am not going to teach her the alphabet so soon... I may start introducing "Letter Of The Week" in June.

Alphabet Art: With A-Z Animal Art & Fingerplays (Williamson Little Hands Series) by Judy Press

If anyone wants to buy the books, you can approach Kinokuniya or buy from Amazon. I think I saw a few at Forum and Paragon also. If not, you can wait for me to do the craft with Sophie and read about it on our blog... BTW, a very big "Thank You" to my sponsor, Loy Chee Kiat! Without him, nothing would be possible for us...

Bluebird

I read the short article on "Bobby the Bluebird" to Sophie from her March issue of Wild Animal Baby Magazine. She seemed to like the bluebirds and the blue eggs. There is usually some craft ideas and book reviews on the last page of the magazine, so I decided to adopt and modify the "bluebird" craft today.

As usual, I let Sophie scribble on two pieces of blue paper and smear glitter glue all over before cutting 4 circles and 4 triangles out of them. Next I stuck 2 triangles back to back (body) and then the 2 circles for the head. I also pasted a yellow beak and plastic eyes before leaving it to dry. I intended to do 2 birds, so I repeated the process. Finally, I cut a slit on each of the birds' body and slide blue tissue paper through for the wings.

After that, I realised I could not display 3D craft work on the wall or the window. So, I used pipe cleaners to create a "hanger" and attached the 2 bluebirds onto it. Now, I have a bluebird mobile on Sophie's door frame.

Fun to do, cool to display... but not too fantastic for Sophie because she did not get to do much. Having said that, she seems to love looking and touching the end product though... she kept asking me to carry her at the door. And yes... yes... yes... she pointed to the bluebirds and said, "bird".

Singapore Roar

Sophie learnt "roar" today after I repeatedly tried to teach her "lion" using a hand puppet and books. Instead of saying "lion", she uttered "roar" when I roared "roar" like one frustrated lioness (after failing to get her to repeat whatever I said). It seemed like she would only repeat "fun" words so she could also make sheep sound "mie mie" (in Mandarin from her Chinese storybooks).

Today, I must have irritated her to her limits (I have 20+ NG video clips) with my attempts to make her utter "roar" and "mie mie". So she gave me a "mie mie" reluctantly and a "ROAR" like a real lion... hahaha... My funny girl!

Have A Cuppa

Sophie enjoys play pretend... Lately, she pretends to drink from cups and she would say "ahh" after that. So, I tried to put a little bit of water in her bottle cap and let her practise drinking water from a cup (rather than a straw). It started well but I did not take any video clips of her. By the time I seated her properly in her highchair and grabbed my camera... She turned into a "drunkard".

I think she might have got my "acting" genes...

Naenae's Card

Naenae is going to have an operation at SGH so I let Sophie make a card for her in hope that it would cheer her up while she stays there for the next couple of days. At first, I did not know what I could do with Sophie's scribble (they all look the same...) and I did not want to just give Naenae an art piece. But, ideas flooded my mind as Sophie painted.

I forgot to switch off the TV programme so Sophie was quite distracted by it. However, I think she would have done better if I had left it running... The moment her attention turned to the paint, she began painting her hand and "eating" it from her fingers.

Now, the blue paint is difficult to wash off so I had to smear her lips with fingerpaint (red) to help remove it (it worked!). It must have been really uncomfortable for her because she held back when she wanted to "eat" the paint again later on. Meanwhile, she became very curious about the caps and tried "screwing" them back on. While I loved her obsession with learning a new skill, I really needed her to finish the picture soon... And it did not help that she enjoyed painting my hand as well!

I tried my best not to let Sophie paint my hand but eventually I still gave in... as long as she was happy... and finish the picture before her shower and bedtime... Did she just gave me a high-5? Nay...

Papa came back from SGH shortly after Sophie had finished painting so I took pictures of them. I love the way Sophie laughed with her papa... So candid and warm... That prompted me on which pciture to use on the photo frame card for Naenae.

By the way, I let Sophie wear a smock because I was super tired washing off the paint stains on her clothes. However, I think it really made her feel hot and uncomfortable. She kept tugging and scratching... Poor girl! Maybe I should just let her wear an old t-shirt next time.

End Product (almost anyway)

I took her art piece and pasted it onto a piece of red cardboard. Then I cut out two "flowers" and added the red circle. Next, I pasted Sophie's photo on one piece and attached the two pieces to make it a photo frame cum card. I figured that Naenae might want to look at Sophie's cheeky face and irresistable smile at the hospital since I could not take her there for a visit.

Sophie's First Kiss

At MIM-Jumpstart today, Sophie kissed her classmate, Daryl, on his lips... not once but thrice!!! Although I was not there, I could imagine how it could have happened. I am starting to worry she would kiss everyone she meets...

Madam Butterfly

I finally gave in and bought The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle for Sophie. After reading it to Sophie, I thought it would be good to create a caterpillar or a butterfly for our craft today. But, I do not really know how to make a caterpillar and the board book came with a caterpillar plush toy. So... A butterfly it shall be!

While Sophie was napping, I cut out the butterfly's body from a piece of foam. Then I gathered all the materials and let Sophie apply glitter glue on the butterfly's body. When everything was dry, I stuck the pom poms, plastic eyes and pipe cleaner on it using super glue.

Then the finished butterfly's body was put aside to dry completely. Meanwhile, Sophie did hand prints for the wings. For today's craft, I decided to print my own hands as well... for the upper set of wings. I just let Sophie print on a few pieces of paper because I did not know how they would turn out. Well, Sophie had a "taste" of how messy hand printing could be... Sigh!

Fortunately, there were a few good hand prints for me to work on. It would have taken me a fraction of the time she took to make hand prints... And mine were exactly how I wanted them too... minus the mess on everywhere else!

Using a green marker, I outlined each "chosen" hand print and cut all of them out. By now, the glitter glue had dried pretty good and I gathered all the pieces I need for the butterfly.

The rest was simple enough. But Sophie was no longer in the mood for craft work (Handy Manny was on...) so I had to finish it myself.

End Product - Butterfly

Madam Butterfly...

What happened to the leftover hand prints? I used them to make flowers... This time, the hand prints were done by her and I used pipe cleaners for stalks.

Mirror... Mirror...

Scrub

Ever since I started doing craft work with Sophie, I have not got much time left for household chores. Thus, I decided to catch up on some cleaning up today... especially Sophie's toys. There was a layer of dust on them. But in order to wash Sophie's toys, I have to put her in the play- yard and nowadays, she hates it inside. So, what could I possibly do? Get Sophie to wash her own toys, of course!

I wanted to remove her clothes before letting her wash the toys, but I need to protect her modesty. I used her body wash instead of detergent because it was a little more gentle on her skin. Instead of a normal sponge, I used her painting sponge (less direct contact with the soapy water). And of course, non-slip bath mat was a definite must-have! I had to limit her washing to keep her interested... In fact, Sophie enjoyed it so much that she cried in protest when I tried to keep her sponge.

It took a bit of practise, a few teary moments (soap got into her eyes) and a lot of verbal encouragement (hehehe!)... but I think she got the idea in the end!

Don't you just love the way she scrubbed the cup long and hard?

Point To The Colourful Dinosaur (Part 2)

I gathered the materials and went ahead with the remaining part of the craft we had started yesterday. I was so glad Sophie is finally grasping the concept of pasting something (tissue paper) onto something (paper) using glue. She did not attempt to remove the tissue paper after we had pasted them onto the paper.

Final End Product

Point To The Colourful Dinosaur (Part 1)

We were on a hunting spree for books and art materials for the past two days. At Thomson Plaza on Friday, we found a small but good shop that sells art materials, books, CDs and toys (some directly imported from overseas). The shop assistant was quite informative and knowledgeable as well, so we had a nice discussion about the use of flashcards and phonics training on young children. I bought many Crayola products again, but the set of Mini Dots & Doodle is the best investment I have made so far. It consists of 6 bottles of washable paint (I did not use the black and pink today) with non-spill tips that are meant to be used directly. End result - Pointillism! It can also be used likea paint brush... How ingenious!

So armed with our new "toy", I let Sophie paint on a piece of paper (with the outline of two dinosaurs already drawn). I was quite surprised that she did not hold the bottles awkwardly. In fact, she looked as if she had done this before. I love the way she "violently" stamped the paint onto the paper...

Actually, I have prepared four different kinds of dinosaur outline but we could only do one. This was also Papa's first experience with doing art with Sophie. The video clips were taken by him (Phew!) so they were slightly longer than usual. I even had time to laugh (evil) when she kissed her own hand and ended up with paint on her mouth...

The effect was quite good on paper I must say... although it was slightly harder to wash off from Sophie's face and hands than I had hoped. In any case, I cut the dinosaurs out but I think they would look nice if they can be pasted on a separate sheet of paper with some collage around them. I will let Sophie continue with it tomorrow.

End Product (Dinosaur)

To Be Continued...

After the "speed art" we did, Sophie was quickly sent to her morning shower and put to bed for her nap. She woke up after an hour and we headed for Naenae's place for lunch. In the car, I read her Dinosaur Roar and Dinosaur Colours by Paul Stickland. I love the benign and colourful dinosaurs in his books. Unlike another set of Dinosaur books by Jane Yolen that I have bought earlier - the illustrations are more realistic. I shall read her those before we continue with our craft tomorrow...