Tag Archives: toddler activity

Books, books & more books!

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Okay, mummy is a bookworm, therefore she will try to instill the love for reading to the boys.

So far, so good! Ollie loves “reading”. And when I mean reading, I mean him going through the pages quietly, and maybe some reading if he recognises some words. I started him off with a couple of board books that I got from the Popular book fair, and then from Book Depository, to a mad crazy book spree when we went to the United States last year…and then discovering Amazon.

Oh Amazon, oh Amazon. Thou art an evil thing, especially when you introduced free shipping to Singapore when you spend USD$125 and above on eligible items. Argh.

Anyways, Ollie’s recent favourite books are the Look & Find series.

Look & Find books

Look & Find books

Basically, you will have a panel of items that you are supposed to find in the picture. They are usually themed, like places of interest, festival, colours..etc.

An example of a theme in the books.

An example of a theme in the books.

Ollie would spend ages on the books. And it is a great way to engage with Ollie, and teach him new stuff, like telling him what a fire hydrant was, and what it was used for. It was brilliant! When he got the hang of it, I could pretty much leave him to his own devices to look for the items himself. Not sure if he memorised it but hey, it would be A LOT to memorise, going through the whole book.

There is a deviation to the series as well, where the reader would have to spot the differences between the two pages. I tried it with Ollie but he didn’t seem to interested or it look him a really long while to spot the differences. Too long that he lost interest in it. Hahaha..too advanced level. Maybe later eh?

So this mummy….went online shopping again and we’ve got another book on the way! This time it is the Nickelodeon: Team Umizoomi: First Look and Find book. He loves watching Team Umizoomi on tv, so I reckon he is going to be stoked!

If you are a Singaporean and are looking to purchase these books, the following are eligible for free shipping (only if you hit the USD$125!):

1) Sesame Street: Elmo Look and Find Series
2) Elmo & Friends (My First Look and Find)
3) First Look and Find: Elmo’s Potty Book

Enjoy!

Category: Daily | Tags: , , ,

Christmas Tree

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An Ikea Christmas catalogue came in the mail today, in all of its Christmassy goodness. Can’t believe it will be Ollie’s second Christmas in slightly over a month’s time!

Christmas is a big thing in my family. When I was young, we lived in a flat with over 10 people. We would have a tree and once the tree was up, the wrapped presents would go up. I could remember peeking around for presents with my name on it.

Now, Donald doesn’t celebrate Christmas (think Chinese Scrooge). He sees it as a day off, a festive holiday. But to have him fork out money for pressies? Bah humbug =P okay, he will buy presents for Ollie and me, but that is the extent of his generosity.

It also means no tree at home. Hey, I am okay with no tree, I remembered everyone was happy to put the tree up, but taking the tree down was another story altogether. Tree “leaves” everywhere on the floor and the tree never went back properly in the box again. We all know that scene. Haha.

I wanted Ollie to get into festive mood at home too, since he picked up saying “Christmas tree” after we last went to the airport and the decorations were up. I sure as hell wasn’t getting a tree so we needed an alternative that wasn’t costly, could involve Ollie and would last for a while. I had considered making an advent calendar but figured he was too young to understand it as well. So tadaaah, eco friendly tree on paper, using recyclable materials!

I drew an Ollie-height tree on a huge piece of paper, and then got Ollie to stick torn pieces of magazines that had some green tinge or patches on the “tree”. Once it has been filled up, we will probably cut out some “ornaments” from magazines and stick them around. He seemed to be getting the hang of it, giving it a “pat pat” to make sure the double sided tap on the magazine pieces stuck to the “tree”.

It also gave me some sense of satisfaction, being able to do something with him. Heh. I reckon this could be a permanent activity in our family in time to come =P

Category: Special | Tags: , , , ,

Detox week

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It was one of those moments where I felt our family (Donald, Ollie & myself) needed a time out. A week off for us.

Let me explain why.

Every week, my parents come over on a Wednesday for dinner and Donald’s come over on Thursday for dinner. Saturday and Sunday evenings are spent at Donald’s aunt’s place and either of my grandma’s place for dinner.
I was adamant that we should do so initially cos I wanted Ollie to know his relatives and be close to the family that we are close to.

Now that Ollie is familiar with them, I feel that we needed to take a step back and take a breather. Technically speaking, we only have 3 nights with Ollie, Donald gets half a weekend with Ollie and I don’t get uninterrupted time to cook and do some of the things I want.

With half my family away in Perth on a holiday for the week, I took the opportunity to tell the in laws we are taking a breather for the week. The detox week started yesterday and it was awesome.

Donald had a bit of a sleep in, I had a nap after Ollie woke Donald up, we headed out to grab oxtail stew ingredients, Ollie had a nap whilst I cooked & Donald went on a hunt for a bicycle to take Ollie cycling. We had a simple homecooked lunch, took Ollie out and then had a homecooked dinner. We finished the night off with Ollie in bed by 7.45pm and a movie.

We had more time to do stuff. It was a pleasant pace. I missed having the time to do some cooking at home at a leisurely pace. Donald decided that with a bicycle, he could take Ollie on Sunday morning bike rides. It was hard to do so previously cos with Ollie’s nap times, we have less time to search when we had to be at our relatives’ houses by a certain time.

Our parents are probably puzzled by the “week off” thing..afterall they think they are giving us a break when they come over to play with Ollie. I don’t deny they are giving us a break and I do appreciate that break. But just sometimes, we need to some stuff as a family too.

I am looking forward to this week’s detox already. Heh.

Category: Daily | Tags: , ,
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