Museum vist 2

We decided to pop over to the Peranakan Museum over the holidays. I will not advise this place for young kids (1-4 years old) like Kris unless its a school program as they are too young to understand the rich culture behind the community.
The exhibition halls did not catch her attention rather it caught my attention as I 'wowed' over the elaborate design of the batik cloths and the traditional wear over the years or centuries. The museum isn't filled with much young kids friendly stuff and on many occasion, we had to run after her to prevent her from smashing into some important artifacts.
The most interesting part of the museum for Kris seem to be the staircase located in the main hall to connect you to the second floor. She also has her share of excitement as she pondered over the bronze status located at the entrance of the Museum and tried to pull them apart.

Sweetie, we will bring you here next time when you are much older.

Let's take her home.

Second pair of shoes

Kids grew up too fast. In less than 6 months, Kris grew out of her first pair of pediped pre-walker shoes. We decided on a more hardy rubber based shoes this type round as her walking skills improved tremendously and we guessed that she will soon be running and would need more grip.

When we were in HongKong for Kris first birthday, we went to Dr. Kong  a HK based company that is known for producing healthy and comfortable shoes for all ages. We looked at the selection of shoes that they carried for kids categorized by pre-walkers, walkers and older children. 

As alway, I would take each shoes and studied them very carefully in terms of comfort such as flexibility, in-sole thickness and comfortability, wideness of the shoes. For walkers, I would add in security and anti-slip function for the shoes.

As Kris is constantly on the move, a pair of shoes that provide total security for her ankle and feet are necessary and the anti-slip function of the rubber soles are also important as she started to venture into malls or parks with flooring that can be pretty slippery if she is still in her pre-walker shoes and as you know kids don't walk they RUN.

My husband, A decides on a sporty Brazil series this time round to compliment Kris's fair complexion. 

At 16 months, we are happy to introduce her her new shoes which she has no problems adapting and did not even resort to unbuckling her shoes during car ride. We have her first pair of shoes nicely washed and kept in storage.

Learning to Walk

Kris started her walking journey by cruising from one area to another. As she muster enough courage, she soon uses her highchair and our chair as aids to help her perfect her skills. Who needs pre-walker toys…

Puzzles for kids

As Kris approaches her 16 month, I decided to purchase some  2 piece puzzle to train her sensory skills. I came across GALT baby puzzles where they have different themes such as jungle animals, farm animals and transportation.

After much deliberation, I decided on the jungle theme as we had recently introduce Kris to various zoo animals and she can recognize some pretty well.

Upon reaching home, she pointed to the box indicating her interest that we opened the puzzle for her. The box came with a handle for easy holding. what a brilliant idea! This saves me a box for storage stemming for being tidy.

Inside the box, there are 12 pieces of chunky, colourful and hardy pieces that form six animals. The materials are anti-water in a way that if there are spillage of water or gets droplets of saliva, the pieces will not get all soft and breaks off.  There is also a gloss finishing on both sides of the puzzle to prevent discolouration or creative drawings from the kids.

As I formed the first animal, Kris shout 'fern'. Is she telling me that is an elephant, I wonder? She repeated and pointed to the puzzle. That's indeed what she was saying! I'm speechless. Next, we formed a lion and I decided to teach her how to roar like a lion. Soon we were both roaring and laughing.
 

Morning smile

It always brighten our day when Kris greets us with warm smiles every morning.

Good morning sunshine, always remember to smile.

The smile that melts our heart every single morning

Museum visit 1

As the government grants greater access to citizens and Permenant Residents, access to National Museums and Heritage Instutions are now free. Over the weekends, we bought Kris to Singapore Philatelic Museum which is the custodian and curator of Singapore's treasure of philatelic materials.

The museum collections range from stamps and archival philatelic material of Singapore from the 1830s to present day.

Verdict
The place is not only rich in history but is also interactive for kids. The galleries are brightly colored and some of the exhibits are arranged in different compartments which allows inquisitive kids or adults like myself to explore. Although, Kris is too young to understand the history behind the materials, she absolutely has a wonderful time opening and closing the different compartment.

There is a gallery room filled with stamps from all over the world and are arranged in an atlas format. Kris saw an elephant in one of the stamps for South Africa and pointed to me. Who say that learning needs to be rigid? Having fun is part of learning.

There is also a "Stamp" photo booth located in the museum where you can create photo stamps for yourselves. We absolutely had a wonderful time posing.

Heritage room that showcase Singapore in the 19th century. Kris had an amazing time re-arranging the clogs, drumming on the different types of traditional drums and resting at the stone table something that kids do not see or do these days.

Grocery room that showcase how Singapore trade its food and items in the 19th century. Kris adored this room as its filled with plasitc fruits and vegatables which she can relate to. As some of the fruits came loose in the exhibtis, she had fun re-arranging some of the fruit items while I had fun teaching her the names of the different fruits and vegetables.

Spice room that showcase how spices trading has helped transform Singapore from a trade port to a bustling city like today. The exhibit in this room is arranged like a partial ship which caught Kris attention.

We spent almost an hour here going through the exhibits over and over.

Some of these exhibits rooms are permanent while some will be changed every few months which makes it more interesting for visitor or family to visit this museum again and again. We will be back for more.

Understanding simple statements

Much to our delight, at 15 months Kris is able to understand and carry out simple tasks. Although, these took lots of trial and error but it succeeded. These indeed bought smiles to both my husband A and my faces.

Some examples

Mama: Do you want to read this book?
Kris: (Reacts by nodding or shaking her head)

Mama: Can you bring this bottle to papa?
Kris: (Took the bottle and walked over to her papa and handed him the bottle)

Kris: (Walked over to the dinning area and started pointed to the table)
Mama: Do you want some biscults?
Kris: (Reacts by nodding or shaking her head)

Today, we sat together as a family and cuddled together for some BabyTV program. To our amuse, Kris is able to laugh and point out the various animals on show, and sway with the music. Who say TV programs are not advisable for kids? I beleive rather its too much non-kids TV programs are not advisable for kids.

Welcoming year 2015

As year 2014 comes to an end, Kris and I suffered a strong bout of viral infection. Kris was down with high fever, bad cough and throat infection while Im the luckier one with just bad cough, throat infection and body aches.

Our plans for celebration have to be shelved as we nursed one another back to health.

Advise

Patient. As Kris cries out of misery, neediness and frustration, I had to cradle, stroke, pat and sing to her to calm her down despite my scratchy throat and weak body.

Letting off the steam. It's ok to let the child cry and let off their misery for about 5-10 minutes. I left Kris crying to herself at her bed as singing, stroking does not work. After 5 minutes, I carried her up and I guess she got tired from crying and decided to sleep on my shoulder.

Super mommy. Despite my own sickness, I had to be strong and carry Kris, my 9kg weight around the house as she becomes clingy ONLY to me not wanting her father or the helper.

Diet. It's prefectly alright if the kid does not have appeitate. Kris only had about 1 tablespoon of porridge each meal for the first 2 days, her milk intake decrease by half. However, it's important to keep the kid hydrated. I'm thankful that Kris liken water to liken her own teddy bear.
By the day 3, she regained almost her usual intake but need much coaxing during meal time.

Sleep. It's important that the kid catchs up on sleep as this is the only way the body recharges and fight off those harmful batercia. The body release "sleepy" signs when you are sick so that you can rest. Kris spent most part of the 2 days sleeping however waking up yelling periodically due to discomfort.
Night sleep also includes lots of yelling and frustration as she needed her rest yet constantly being 'distrub' by her scratchy throat.

Outdoor air. Once Kris gets slightly better (without the fever), we carried her out for fresh air and a change of scenery. By day 3, she was able to walk by herself to our void deck and explore the mall by herself.

Rest and Rest. While I cared for Kris, I'm deprived of good sleep and so I outsourced the caring to my husband and helper during the day while I catch up on sleep and recharge. Many times, I have to harden my heart and not get off the bed despite Kris yelling from outside our room. After a while, she realized that mummy is away and spend the next few hours happily with my husband and helper. The moment she saw me, her neediness appear.

Messiness. Expect lots of vomit and spits during this time.

Get well soon both of us and Wishing all a healthy 2015.

Rest is good

Misery and needy cry