b3 b0rn.. c0nf0rm, b3 si|3nt .. di3

in order to not to risk turning  loco on the locomotives, any rational parent would want to be prepared with things to amuse their kids when on long trips – be it on the car, plane or train. boats – i won’t even think of it.. there’s enough to worry about kids falling overboard, than worrying abt them being entertained.

of course, with the advent of technology – we can always fall back on the good old portable dvd player. but i’d like to keep that as my final recourse. some options available depending on how much effort needs to be put into crafting the games:

NO TOOLS REQUIRED

Here are some games that require no supplies and are limited only by your imagination!!!

Take turns with the oldest or youngest starting the game and the first person to guess or win goes next:

• I Spy with my little eye – give clues – can be done with letters and colours also
• ABC – each person picks an item starting with next letter in the alphabet.
• Old MacDonald – take turns adding an animal
• Guess the animal, person or thing – give clues
• Guess where I am – give clues
• Guess the Pokemon – just for kids usually – give clues including HP points and evolved forms
• Statue Game – last person to stay still wins
• Quietest the Longest – last person to remain quiet wins – this makes for a quiet train ride. *I use this a lot in the car muahaha.. and it works!*
• Spelling bee with age/ability appropriate words or backwards spelling to make it harder for older children.
• Domino Spelling – first person starts with a letter and the next person adds a letter and continues with each person adding a letter.  The person who cannot add a letter is out and a new word is started until only one player is left.
• Category Lists – these can be done randomly or alphabetically – eg – farm animals, states or provinces.
• A variation on the “I’m going camping and I will bring” game where each person picks an item to bring to the travel destination and each subsequent person must recite the entire list.  First person who forgets an item on the list is out.
• Video Trivia – make up questions about favourite children’s videos.
• Counting and shape game – have children count the number of a certain shape or colour item they see along the way.
• Sing-alongs are fun and increase oxygen intake while you play to reduce the feeling of fatigue while travelling, especially action songs like “The Wheels on the Bus”.  You can also have a christmas sing-along which is really fun for a summer holiday. *probably not – since you’d be annoying the other passengers in the coach – in your own car, this works of course*
• Sound contest – see how many different sounds you can make.
• Simon says clap your hands, etc.  when the caller asks for an action without saying “Simon Says” anyone who does the action is out.

PENCILS, PAPER AND COLOURING

These games require only a pad of paper and some pencils, crayons or washable markers to play.

Pens  can also be used

• Hangman – or you can use the format of wheel of fortune to guess letters that form the word indicated by the spaces on the pad.
• Tic tac toe is always a family favourite
• Many children just love to draw and a quiet time for this is a welcome respite *Definitely kakak’s thing*
• Spelling games can also be played this way.
• A visual scavenger hunt – make a list of things to see and kids can cross it out when they see it.
• Catagory list game can also be used this way.
• Keeping a journal either by pictures for younger children or older children can write down their adventures for a keepsake.
• Tracing – pick objects or hands to trace and colour.

now, with those lists – i should at least keep fidgeting kids at bay for at least 2-3 hours before we need to walk em

ashley:

bumped into her classmate’s mom (this classmate also went to the same pre-school as kakak) and she remarked on how much kakak has slimmed down. i attribute this to her needing to wake up early, the daily climbing upstairs to her school premises and also that the whole family rarely does dinner.

one of her classmates even greeted kakak with a ‘hi ashley cute!’ – her response? she remained unfazed by the apparent regard that classmate had for her.

she has also passed her 7th grade exams for taekwando and now graduated to her green 1 belt.. so don pray pray with my daughter!

tomorrow’s her birthday btw. more on that post tomorrow.

anaqi:

what more can i say of this handsome boy (as nenek repeatedly calls him.. he’s bound to get a big head from all that praise).. remember back when i was in confinement – i said i could understand 50% of what he says?.. it remained the same level to this date. kakak is invaluable as the translator..

am setting a bit more time with abang  to sustain the interest he has shown in reading. he’s picked up kakak’s real reader books and been flipping through the pages nearly every nite before bedtime. it’s a challenge though – as the time he wants to read is the same as aryan’s cuddling time but i must not neglect this middle child of mine..

aryan

he turned 6 mths about 9 days ago. new milestones reached since the last update are as follows:

• able to sit unsupported. he can also go from crawling position to sitting position and vice versa without any assistance
• have mastered the art of crawling properly (last update he was doing a combo crawl-lunge-tummycrawl)
• has started playing roll-the-ball with his brother. shall update the vid of him getting super excited that this very adorable growl came out of nowhere.
• able to pull himself upright to stand and have started cruising. will cry for help (very loudly) though when he’s super tired of standing & cruising as he’s not yet mastered the art of sitting down without tumbling over.

and… drum rolllllll… he’s started his solids since last week. i started off with farley’s rusks (original) which he likes. then introduced stewed apples (royal gala seems to soften better than the other kinds).

and last weekend, when we had an impromptu lunch at chili’s klcc due to some mix-up on wedding function date.. the kiddo looked so forlorn and famished while the family was filling up their respective tanks (even after having his EBM feed), i fed him the mashed potatos that came with my monterey chicken and he loved it.

that’s all for now folks.. i need to go and get myself immersed in work.

and i am psyched!

of course, us being the first time parents of a primary-one-er – went a bit crazy with buying  her new school stuff .. and she will be decked in all-pink – from her trolley-school-bag (good buy since the kids have like tonnes of books to carry), to her pencil case, to her art supplies and her drinking bottle + lunch box. nasib le skool regulates the color of the hair accessories, if not – am pretty sure kakak will be putting on her pretty pink head band!

as am typing this, kakak is already asleep as tomorrow is her big day whilst abang is still wide awake. since i have passed my 40-day mark in my confinement, am declaring myself fit to accompany her to school (with the whole clan of course!) and it will only be the 3rd time aryan & i will be leaving the home compound since 25th nov!

now to see whether i can sneak a few shots of her entering her classroom tomorrow

not much of a milestone arr… but the umbilical stump has finally detached itself from aryan..

in the early days after returning home.. somehow i was a bit blur and ended up covering his stump when putting on the newborn diapers.. but then came to my senses and recalled that it needs to be aired to encourage it to dry up.. so rectified that mistake.

kakak was quite fascinated by the fact that this was what connected her baby bro with me – and his source of nutrients and oxygen. she couldn’t get her head around the idea at first.. but then i explained that it was like a straw and directly feeds food to her brother..

abang is still excited abt the new arrival… every time aryan fusses .. abang will start demanding that i feed his younger sibling…. associating every noise made by aryan as a sign of hunger. oh well, better him excited than jealous eh?…. i try to make sure that i allocate abang some cuddle time before turning in for the nite…just so he still feels the lurve

note:

btw, today was supposedly my EDD for aryan.. am just relieved that the delivery is over… this time around, i can recall how tiring it is to do normal delivery… but it’s well worth it… plus the fact that recovery time post-delivery is comparatively much faster and less painful. amir ngilu when i told him abt the stitches