I am Kah Yen. It's my birthday

Kah Yen's birthday is on next Monday, it's going to be her first birthday celebration in school. And she is probably the last one to celebrate birthday in her class since she was born in November. Almost every month she brings back birthday goodie bag from school from her various friends.

I have been thinking of a grand celebration from the beginning of the year. You know - with 3-D cake that wows all the children, and goodie bag that is unique and special! But then the second baby came and he has just celebrated his full month 2 weeks back. I am exhausted from all the feeding and rocking and waking up at night (I can have another 10 posts on this but I haven't the time to write even one). Daddy is also adjusting since he has to take care of Kah Yen all by himself now. It's only a few days away from her birthday and we haven't done anything. Guilty? Absolutely.

Thankfully Daddy has come out with a simple idea with his creative genes and managed to put the pieces together by sacrificing a few nights' sleep. Here it is! We did an activity book for Kah Yen and all her friends. The book will be put in the goodie bag together with other things we have bought.

Not sure if other children will like it. But one person loves it for sure - that is Kah Yen. She started coloring and scribbling the moment we passed it to her and couldn't get enough of it. We haven't gone through the text with her so she is scribbling random things on it.

Sibling time

Big sister Kah Yen likes to be around with Baby brother Kah Soon, because baby brother makes her feel like she's a BIG GIRL, a title she is mighty proud of these days.

My birth story (VBAC)

One of the best decisions we have made during my second pregnancy is to change gynae at the last month of pregnancy, in order to try for VBAC - Vaginal Birth after Cesarean. Though it has cost us a big sum (Our prenatal expenses almost tripled since we had to pay penalty to the first gynae for canceling the package), we had no regrets.

I had a successful VBAC and delivered my baby naturally 3 hours after checking in the hospital, without epidural. Though the pain of natural birth was horrible (Yes, it is!), it was an amazing experience I will remember for a life time!

27 Sep 2013, FRIDAY

My due date was 28 Sep 2013, Saturday. On Friday, I felt slight tightening of lower stomach. I didn't think it was the starting of labor as it was nothing regular, and there was no pain. I still went out for a walk in the morning with Kah Yen. In the evening there was a planned church seminar to attend. So I went. During the seminar the tightenings came and went a few times. I had a feeling my body is getting ready, cervix is probably dilating. But I knew it was still early. Thank God I was able to sit through the seminar, there were tightenings about 10 minutes apart, I managed through them by practicing deep breathing and drinking a lot of water.

27 Sep 2013, FRIDAY NIGHT

Friday night turned out to be a sleepless night. I developed a mild headache. Stomach muscle was still tightening, still not very frequent, so did not bother to time them. But it seemed more persistent than in the day, it came back every 8-10 minutes. I dozed on and off in between. By 3am it hurt a little to lie down, so I decided to get up and walk around the room for the rest of the night. Drank a lot of water and went to the toilet multiple times to empty the bladder. By the early morning contractions came at 5-6 minutes interval, felt like this could be the active labor stage, but still not very sure. Found some brown color discharge when I went to the toilet, it must be the mucusy discharge that blocks the cervix. So cervix was opening! This could be the day! 

28 Sep 2013, SATURDAY

Saturday morning contractions still came on and off, not very intense, can be managed by deep breathing and bending forward. I had my breakfast, then continued to walk around in the master bedroom while husband played with Kah Yen. He knew I was feeling uncomfortable, but he had no idea how far away I was from labor either. 

The rest of the day was spent alone in the bedroom. I continued to walk around. I tried not to lie down even though I was feeling quite tired. Firstly, contraction was more unbearable when lying down. Secondly, contraction was less frequent when lying down. I would like to speed up the contraction so I walked as much as possible. When the pain came I leaned forward on the edge of our bed and breath deeply. By the evening contraction was very regular and 4-5 minutes apart, and VERY INTENSE! I am pretty sure I was into action labor! But I am not sure how much I have dilated so I thought I'd wait until dinner was over to decide if heading for hospital.

Turned out, I had no appetite for dinner at all. Contraction was almost 3 minutes apart and was PAINFUL! That very night my mother in law was supposed to go out, I told her to cancel her appointment, and when husband and Kah Yen came back from playground for dinner, I announced "That's it! I need to go to the hospital!" which sent everybody into a hyper mode. Husband tried to have a quick bite after booking for the taxi, but he was too excited to even chew his food before swallowing. I went in for a quick shower - my last shower for a few days! Husband grabbed the bag and his DSLR, we told Kah Yen where we were going and gave her lots of kisses and hugs. And down we went.

I had 2 strong contractions inside the lift, and a few more inside the taxi. I managed through them silently.

28 Sep 2013, SATURDAY NIGHT

We reached the hospital at 8pm. I was sent to the observation room straight away and nurse came in to hook me on bed to monitor baby heart beat and my contraction. The pain almost doubled once I was lying down, I asked to come down and walk but was rejected by the nurse, who checked my dilation and announced I was 3cm dilated. Only 3cm! I was disappointed! I thought after a whole day's hard work (walk) at home I should have dilated to 9cm! They called my doctor to come in, who said a few words then left, probably thinking I won't be ready to deliver my baby till the next morning!

My contraction was still coming strong. At 930pm, they transferred me to the birth room.  Pain was so UNBEARABLE it was impossible for me to come down and walk. They won't allow me anyway. I screamed for half an hour and decided I couldn't take this any longer. So I ordered the nurse to check my dilation again. I was thinking if my cervix was only dilated to 4-5cm then I will ask for epidural right away. Good news! Cervix was dilated to 7cm - that was surely fast. And bad news? It was too late to admit epidural. But I was pretty encouraged by the speed of dilation, and it kept me going for another half an hour or so. Then I felt my water broke. And I started to have the urge to push. I shouted to the nurse while screaming in pain "Quick! I feel like pushing. Baby is coming out!" I was worried they have not gotten themselves ready and my baby was going to drop on to the floor!

They called the doctor right away who came in at around 11pm. They popped my legs up and the next thing I knew, after 3 rounds of pushing, baby was born at 1111pm.

It was amazing! I thank God for a fast, easy and problem-free delivery.

Growing up to be a big sister

Words can't say enough how happy I am to see Kah Yen doing a great job as a big sister. 

Back when baby was still in my womb. She would touch my belly, kiss my belly (her way of kissing the baby) and sing songs to baby when I asked her to. Every night at the end of our prayer she would put her hand on my belly while I say a quick prayer for the baby. She was already fond of her baby brother before he was born.

Take away the first awkward encounter at the hospital when she was not sure what to do with her baby brother sleeping beside me, I'd say she is adjusting really well back at home to the arrival of her baby brother.

She touches him and kisses him whenever he is popped up on my lap and awake. She says to him "I love you baby. You are my baby." She helps me to take diaper and wet wipes when baby needs a diaper change. She is the first one to inform me when baby cries in the room. When I am breastfeeding, she tells baby "Don't bite Mummy's nipple, Okay? It's very painful." 

We are so glad she is so sweet, helpful and understanding.

We bought a new DUPLO Lego set for her as a gift from baby brother to her. She liked it very much. With the new Lego set she can build more things such as house, truck, fishing boat and aeroplane. Her favorite? - Houses.

At first she would ask us to build a big house for her and then a smaller house for her baby brother, because she is a big girl and baby is very small, according to her. We are happy that she always remembers to build a house for her baby brother, despite being smaller.

Then a few days later she suddenly declared "I am going to build a big big house so that I can share with baby brother!"

Big progress for a big sister!

Welcome to the world!

Baby Teh Kah Soon (Zheng Jia Xin) was born on 28 Sep 2013, 2311hrs, exactly on his due date. He is a 3.09kg healthy boy.

Welcome to the world!

Last day of work

Today is my last day of work!

No, I have not quit my job, and I am not going to be a stay-at-home-mum forever. It is the beginning of my 5-month maternity leave.

5-month is the longest break I am going to have ever since I started work some seven years ago. Though I will be busy at home wiping backside and changing diapers, and it is probably a little messier and dirtier than my 9-6pm office job, I seriously don't mind at all.

I am going to spend a lot of time cuddling my new born baby. I finally can be there to say "Good morning" when Kah Yen wakes up in the morning. I look forward to husband and Kah Yen coming back home every evening with meals on the table. And I can't wait for our family of four spending quality time together in the evenings before I send the kids to bed one by one.

And there will surely be more me-time and couple time too comparing to when I work full time. I hope to do more reading and journalling during this period. I hope to pick up something new too, probably art & craft so that I can do more meaningful activities together with Kah Yen.

How exciting!

When mummy is not at home

My 3-year old girl is having mood swings pretty often nowadays. She can be happily playing and talking all by herself, but when she is tired, bored, or when she knows it is time to stop playing and go to bed, she will either become very quiet or start whining. I am still not sure how to handle her mood swings. Honestly sometimes I get really annoyed by it. Thanksfully it usually does not last for very long, it doesn't take much effort for us to get her back to her cheeky self again.

Daddy captured these series of photos of her when mummy was not at home one day. She is so used to me welcoming and hugging her at the doorstep every evening when she comes back with Daddy, she was clearly not very happy that day when she found the house was all empty and quiet.

Despite Daddy buying a new smurf for her and building a big castle for all her minions and smurfs, this was her expression when Daddy asked her to pose for a photo.


"OK, I will give you a victory pose. Please get it done quickly."

"I am really not in the mood for any photo. Just one more we are done."



"I said no more photos! If you want you can have my back."

"OK. Take whatever you want. I am too bored I am going to shake my backside a little."



And finally, this cheeky girl was amused by her own actions and started laughing, saving Daddy a tough evening.

VBAC (2)

Finally, we have decided to change to a new gynae who is pro-natural and thinks I am a good candidate for VBAC - Vaginal birth after Cesarean.

So I am officially going for VBAC for my second child.

It feels so good after we have made up our mind.

I have been actively reading about natural childbirth, the signs of labor, the stages of labor, and the techniques to prepare for labor and ease labor pain. Though this is my second child I feel like a first-time mom when I am reading up all these, because my first child was in breech position and we have scheduled for Cesarean way in advance, hence all I did was getting myself rested for the operation day.

Reading about labor excites me. Everything about labor is so natural, no, actually is supernatural. God has designed the woman's body to be able to stretch and deliver a 6-8 pounds baby through the birth canal. It is amazing.

The more I read from internet and books, the more I realize I am a believer of natural way of birthing. I believe induction to start contraction early is not necessary unless there is complication threating the mother or baby's life. I think epidural is not perfectly OK to use and it is not a God-given gifts to mommies. I believe using breathing and relaxation techniques to ease the pain of labor instead of medications. If I have known earlier there is HypnoBirthing classes and Doula services available in Singapore, I would certainly have signed for one.

My new gynae, as I mentioned, is pro-natural and makes me feel very comfortable after each visit. He said he will not induce me even if I go past my due date, he doesn't believe a baby will be too big to be born. He will not hook me on bed with IV drips and monitors the minute my contraction starts, instead he asked me to labor at home through the early stage and only when contraction is strong and unbearable, I should check in hospital. He thinks if my cervix is able to dilate fast we can go without epidural. All these give me much assurance.

Of course, a VBAC is still different from a first time vaginal delivery. Fear does come back to me once in a while, but I choose to have faith in my own belief. I trust that God is going to help me deliver this baby beautifully.

My due date is 28 Sep 2013, so I am in the waiting game now.

I came upon this website which contains mommy's first hand sharing of birth stories, covering all different types of labor and of course VBAC. I was very encourage by the stories. The people behind the website provides childbirth class, labor supports and postnatal services. I will surely check out them when I have my next child. Enjoy reading!

http://www.parentlink.org/pregnant_singapore_birth_doula/06stories/categories/doula.htm

The new cook in the house

Kah Yen is very much into pretend cooking these days, ever since I brought a hand-me-down kitchen set from a colleague home, making me mighty guity that I have left it in my office for nearly 2 months before finally brought it home. I thought, it is just one of those plastic toys that she will play for a while and dump in the corner of the house.

I was wrong. She liked it so much she has been cooking dinner for everybody almost every evening. Husband and I are then invited to her dinner after she finishes cooking.

I love to observe how she play. And through this cooking game I discovered a lot more about her.

(1) She is super organized

More than the husband, more than me! I was actually thinking maybe I could train her to run the whole household by the time she enters primary school. No kidding. The way she cookes her food, the way she lay her plates, fork and spoon, soup and tea. She meticulously puts everything in order before inviting us to her dinner.

(2) She is imaginative

All children are, aren't they? There aren't a lot of ingredients for her to play with, but she can come out with vegetable with egg soup, chilli soup, half-boiled egg soup... (I wonder how do they taste!)

When I take the vegetable soup, she will say "No, Mummy, you must wait, the soup is still hot." When I take the chilli soup, she will warn me "Mummy, the soup is very spicy, you must drink slowly OK?" When I eat the chicken with my fork and spoon, she will stop me "No Mummy, you must use the knife to cut, this chicken is a little bit hard." Sure, you are the chef, whatever you say.

(3) She is imitating good behaviors from us

Sometimes when she calls us for dinner, Daddy is still busy with something. I'd sit down and try to grab the food first, she'd say "No, Mummy, let's wait for Daddy to sit down, then we eat together." Good one. Then when we all sit down, she'd say "OK, everybody, let's pray first before we eat." She will go ahead to say prayer for us. When I ask for water, she replies "Mummy, you must say 'Can I have some water please?'" When I take the whole bowl of soup, she jumps in "No, Mummy, we only have one bowl of soup, you must share." Hmm... Looks like I am the one need to learn my table manners from her!

This is a snapshort of her dinner prepared for all her minions and smurfs. Impressive isn't it?

A simple Teacher's Day gift with a little personalization



Being a parent means doing things you have never done before almost everyday, making a teacher's day gift for your 3-year old daughter to bring to school is one of them.

Both my husband and I are not a "gift" person, we don't know what to buy when it comes to buying gifts for others, even for each other. Hence, we have been procrastinating until last weekend. Then we decided we will just make something simple and personal at home.

My initial idea is to write the "Thank you teacher who and who" on the chalkboard, get Kah Yen to pose for a photo with it, print the photo and insert into a photo frame. That's it. We are done. But we don't have enough photo frames at home, so we decided to make cards instead, in this way we can also involve Kah Yen more in the making of the gift.

It turned out to be a 2-hour art & craft session. I love that all of us are involved. My husband helped to write the "Thank you" message on the board and take the photos. Getting an active 3-year old to pose for photo is not easy, so we decided to just get one nice photo and photoshop with the rest of the messages.

I pasted the photo on the cover of the card and also added the Wasi tape to brighten up a little bit.

Kah Yen pasted the 3D flower stickers and the shining beads. We also let her put some fingerprints on it, later Daddy drew eyes and wings and legs on them to turn them into buzzing bees. Don't ask me why bees. There is no logic. Just for the fun!

Inside the card, we wrote a simple message to each teacher. Then we let Kah Yen decorate it herself. She added more fingerprints and her favorate stamps on each card.  

We love how they turned out to be. And most importantly, we love that Kah Yen participated in it and she was mighty proud of herself.

Baby No. 2 anxiety

Tomorrow marks the entry into the last month of my pregnancy. My due date is 28 Sep 2013. A lot have been going through my mind recently. I am excited - we are going to have another baby soon, a baby boy, God's perfect gift. I am worried - who should be the caretaker for the baby when I finish my maternity leave? We still have not made up our mind. I am nervous - with a toddler and a baby I am not sure if we can cope with the morning and evening routines without any help... ... Above all, I can also get really emotional at times.

I don't know how to be a mother of two.

I don't know how the arrival of my new baby will affect my daughter Kah Yen, and my relationship with her.

I don't know if I am able to love both of my children, wholeheartedly, and 100%. Or do I need to divide my love between them?

......

For almost three years, Kah Yen has been the center of my life. (I know all parenting and marriage books will tell you - No, your children should never be the center of your life.) She has brought me so much joy and laughter. We have spent so many memorable moments together. And whenever I am with her, I always make sure I am 100% with her, my body, my heart and my mind. But soon, the arrival of our new baby will take part of me away from her. I have no doubt I will not love her less because there is a new baby in my arms, but my energy, my attention, my time and my patience will all be divided. Oh how much will she be affected! And how much the thought of it is affecting me now!

It didn't help if I were to go for C-section, (We are still deciding on this and we are going to seek a second opinion before we make the final decision.) I will need more time to rest and recover which means for at least two weeks I won't be able to bath her, carry her and just play with her, something I am doing now everyday.

I have heard mothers of two or three shared how their heart grows with the number of babies they have, making room for each new life. I have not experienced it yet. Maybe I will experience that moment when I finally hold Baby #2 in my arms. Maybe by then I won't need to worry about Kah Yen anymore because my heart has grown, it will love Kah Yen not less, but more, and it will still have room to love my new born baby, wholeheartedly.

I am waiting.

For that magical moment of motherhood.

EURO Fun Park

We went back to Ipoh during the long weekend and had the chance to visit the EURO fun park which will be there for two weeks. According to our family stay in Ipoh it has been years since the last time they had the fun park. I doubt it actually comes all the way from Europe, but it is so rare these days it becomes a big draw for families with young children.

I was quite thrilled to bring Kah Yen there, though at the back of my mind I knew she would be too young for most of the rides. Turns out, this girl is certainly more brave and daring than I thought.  She went ahead to take rides with children mostly older than her.

She went up the big wheel with Daddy and Grandma. It was so high I myself didn't have the courage to go up, of course I used the big belly as a perfect excuse. She was not scared. She just enjoyed making funny faces in front of camera nowaways.

This is her on the aeroplane ride. The thing turns much faster than I expected. I am glad it did not scare her.

This is her on the high way train. This train has 5 to 6 cabins, is fast, goes up and down terrains, and horns each time it comes down from the slope. It is obvious her favorite. She took it twice.

  

This is me and her on the animal train. This is more like the kiddy version we sometimes see in outdoor carnivals in Singapore.

There are other exciting rides too, but I'd be crazy if I allowed her to take these two below.

 

VBAC

I was quite disappointed when my new gynae told me during our last check up to choose a date for Caesarean. He did not bother to ask us if we'd like to go for a normal delivery. The way he brought it up is as if normal delivery is not even an option to consider.

Ever since the beginning of this pregnancy, I have been mentally preparing myself for a normal delivery for this baby. I wanted a normal delivery for my first baby too but her position was breech, which left us with no option but an operation.

I have been reading about VBAC - Vaginal birth after Ceasarean. It is highly possible and many people have done it. And I think I should be a good candidate for VBAC, given that my first operation was due to baby's position rather than birth complications. I am still relatively young. I am healthy and active. And so far there isn't any complications throughout this pregnancy.

But, my gynae seems to prefer to avoid risk. When I asked him if it's possible to go for natural delivery. He simply brushed it off saying "There is risk.". Certainly there is risk. There is risk in everything we do, even for a completely healthy person to give birth through normal delivery for the first time, that could be risk too. From what I read I know the biggest fear of VBAC is uterine rupture, where the scar tissues of the uterus opens during pushing, which calls for an emergency C section to save mother and baby's life. This of course sounds very serious, but statistically the risk of uterus rupture is less than 1 percent. Every day you drive on the road there is risk of accident too but do people stop driving because of that?

I was so torn. Should I insist on trying normal delivery, or should I listen to the doctor? Or should I go back to my old gynae to have another opinion? I changed gynae not because of anything else but distance.

I am not trying to be a super woman, wanting to go for a natural delivery and show the world what I can do. No. I just want a shorter recovery so that I can be more attentive to my daughter Kah Yen during the transitional stage. She is already being robbed most of me due to the arrival of her baby brother, I will feel really bad if I have to be bed-rested for 2 weeks and couldn't bath her and play toys with her when she comes back from school.

I have a toddler in the house, that's why I want a natural delivery. Not out of my selfish desire, but out of a mother's love for her children.

What should I do?

Art Garden

After hearing so many mummy bloggers taking about Art Garden, we decided to bring Kah Yen there as well. Museum is also a fun place for family outing. What's more I have been in the "doing more art activities with Kah Yen" mood recently, hence I am visibly more excited than her about our outing.

We went two weekends back. We had a fun time drawing and taking photos in the Enchanted Garden, I personally think that's the best exhibition among all. It is bright and vibrant. There are round table at children's height for drawing and coloring. There is this magic mirror to display each child's art work. And the rainbow bridge right in the middle is a big draw for the young kids.

We went through the rest of the exhibition pretty fast. They are either too abstract or too creepy for Kah Yen's age. 4-5 years who are interested in physics, science and experimenting might enjoy the exhibition more. There are more art activities on the second and third floor too, but it is more suitable for older kids. Kah Yen was not able to focus very long for the 3D cat and the watercolor project, the husband and me were the one busy drawing.

She did enjoy making the hot air balloon with color paper and glue though.

All in all, it is a good place for a Saturday morning out. I'd love to go back and visit the art museum more often in the future.



Children drawing at the Enchanted Garden



Our art work displaying on the magic mirror

 

Kah Yen and the magic tree house



On the rainbow bridge



Making a hot air ballon to travel around the world

Oh did I mention that she is in the "I am the photographer" mode? The moment I mention we are going to the art garden and we can take a lot of nice pictures. She went to her toy shelf to grab her toy camera!

Kah Yen the young photographer



Kah Yen's turtle

I was preparing dinner in the kitchen, Kah Yen was dooddling on her sketchbook on the sofa. A few minutes later she ran to the kitchen and called me "Mummy, come and see, I draw a turtle."

I responded the way a typical parent would respond to a toddler "Oh, really? You have drawn a turtle? I can't wait to seeing it." then ran out of the kitchen with an exaggerated excitement.

Honestly, I was expecting probably an out of shape circle, with some random dots, then a few twisted lines. That's how her drawings look like most of the time. At this age she can't really draw anything recognizable yet, and I think it is perfectly normal.

I was really surprised when I see this. Though at first glance I thought this looked more like a wild pig than a turtle. But...Hey! It is at least some recognizable shapes and you can see her finger gripping and coordination is improving.




Kah Yen's drawing of a turtle

 This is the original picture she was looking at from a coloring book we bought.

The two aren't exactly the same but we are still mighty proud of her. We are not in any way trying to train her to be an artist but we certainly enjoy seeing her grow through her drawings. From dots which she called "ants" to lines which she called "rivers", to finally this turtle with mouth, eyes, patches, and legs (way too many though!), how much she has grown in the last two years!



Our family time after dinner

From Monday to Friday, since both of us are working and Kah Yen goes to full day childcare, the only family time we have is after dinner. It is usually between 8pm to 830pm, latest by 845pm I will have to rush her to shower and bedtime routine starts.

Usually it is a time of free play. We don't do any teaching of ABC or 123 at home. She is not even three years old after all. I don't think I will do any coaching or schooling at home till she goes to primary school. For now she has spent the whole day in school, there is a lot of structured learning there. In fact too much for my taste, I always thought they should have more playing than learning for children of this age.

TV is totally out. We try not to switch on TV when Kah Yen is awake. Not that we are trying to be Nazi parents, we have learnt out lessons a tough way. We have never let her watch TV for the first two years, then slowly Daddy felt guilty and brought back DVDs from the library occasionally, Sesame streets, Finding Nemo and Madagascar. They are all fun to watch, the content are not bad at all. In fact we enjoyed watching together with her and seeing her all excited. BUT, we are almost never able to switch off the TV and get her to shower without a meltdown from her and much scolding from us.

It usually takes me two minutes to get her to the shower room, but if we watch TV, it takes fifteen minutes. TV is a devil.

Most of the time Kah Yen plays with her toys, and we try to join in, from cooking to building blocks to Lego to picnic. Sometimes I switch on the kiddy music, and together we sing and dance to our hearts' content. Almost every other day we read a few pictures books together. I did not set aside reading time with her every night like what we did in the past, since now her bedtime is getting later, we usually do with the kiddy bible before lights off. What makes me glad is Kah Yen will almost always pick a book or two towards the end of her play to ask us to read to her. It is also a perfect way to end playtime and transit to shower.

Daddy loves to engage Kah Yen in drawing and coloring, especially when seeing her not able to focus playing with her toys. Drawing and coloring is a perfect way to train her attention span, of which she is quite lacking from our observation.

I'd usually leave the two alone when they are doing drawing and coloring, I love to watch them from the side.

Her coloring skills has improved a lot as you can see from the Nemo and the Seaweed, she is able to color within the lines finally. Dory is colored by Daddy.

Sometimes I am not sure if we have done enough with her, for her learning and development. Especially I have friends with children of her age signing up for music classes, mandarin classes and doing a lot of home schooling. But that thought only came to my mind for a second then to my relief, it is gone. I know exactly what we want to give her for now - our time, our undivided attention, and our love, lots of love. Our family time, though it is very short, is the best part of my day, and I know for sure it is Kah Yen's too.

The (lack of) art activities in our house

I have always hoped to do more art activities with Kah Yen at home, despite the fact that I am totally not artistic and I have no experience playing with most art materials when I was growing up. It is totally a new area for me to venture into, but I am all excited to learn something new myself and provide a space for Kah Yen to explore, learn and have fun.

I have been very slow on this though. Before we moved into our new house, all she had played with are magnetic white board, paper and crayons. Recently we have finally set up the activity corner at our new house for her (though it is still very bare, I am yet to come out with a place to display art works), and we bought an easel from Ikea. She has been drawing on it with markers happily once a while, especially if we draw together with her.

Here are some photos of her using the Easel.

That's all about it though. The other side is a black chalkboard but we have not bought any chalk yet. We worry about the dust making the space messy and aren't sure if it is healthy for a todder to breath in too much. Mostly it is the messy part I am worrying about.

We have not started any painting with her for the same reason - the fear of a messy house. We have bought a table for her which is on the opposite side of the wall. There are color pencils, crayons and large notebooks for her to freely draw on, but no paint materials.

I chanced upon "The Artful Parent" blog recently and I just can't stop reading it. It is such an inspiring blog. The amount of art activities they do at home is such an eye-opener to me. Here are but a few useful links:

Making Space for Kids' Art

Forget crayons: 11 great art materials for toddlers

10 simple art activities to set up after school

I am now more determined to create an art space at home for Kah Yen and to source for more variety of art materials, even though it means a messy house for us.

Our art endeavor will start soon!

The way we play with playdough

Kah Yen has a simple playdough set as a gift from a friend. It comes with plastic pizza and bread molds, plates, forks and spoons. Hence naturally, we have been using it to make pizza and bread all the time, then cut them into shapes and pretend-feed everyone in the house.

I have never played with playdough myself as a kid. So I thought that's the only way we can play with playdough, making things using the molds given. When we grow tired of making pizza and bread, I thought of buying Kah Yen a more complicated set with a big machine that twists and swirls and makes ice cream and cupcakes! I saw it on the toy store and I was very impressed.

Magic Swirl Ice Cream Shoppe (Photo credit: Toys R Us)

The husband, speaks as if he has all the wisdom of the world sometimes, said "What? Why do you need a machine to play with playdough? Playdough is supposed to be played with bare hands!" He simply dismissed my idea with a look, that kind of look.

Oh really? With bare hands? So far Kah Yen and I always use the spoons or knives and plates come with the playdough. We have never dirtied our hands.

So the husband went ahead to show us "the correct way to play with playdough", using his own words. And these are what we have made together:

Animals made using playdough

And we had loads of fun making the shapes and put them all together. Kah Yen helped rolling the crab legs and pasting the ladybug's purple dots. I can't believe we have never thought of making animals using our playdough!

I just couldn't help thinking how toys sometimes limit the way our children can play with their own imagination and creativities.

So we are just going to buy some more colors and hopefully one day we can make things such as these:

Playdough ideas from Google image

And I am very much inspired to DIY make our own homemade playdough soon!