Conversation with Shern @ 4 Years 11 Mths

Latest conversation with Shern, my talkative boy.

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(this one's actually before we went to Hong Kong in March 2014)

Popo: Shern, you need to hold onto my hands at all times when we are in Hong Kong, ok? If you get lost, then the bad people will catch you and you will not get to see mummy or daddy again.
Shern: Is ok. Jesus will take care of me.
Popo: No, no, Jesus cannot take care of you if you get lost. (said this because she didn't want him to be careless on this thinking that it is ok)
Shern: Why not?
Popo: Erm, because Jesus won't know who is your mummy and so you need to be very careful ok. (just thinking up a reason to tell him)
Shern: Dear Jesus, let me introduce to you; this is my mummy (while pointing at me!)
Popo: "_"

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There were rain flies all over the place where we were dining in a restaurant. And suddenly Shern said this:-
Shern: I think I ate a bug.
Me: (I was a bit shocked since there were rain flies everywhere.) Why did you say so?
Shern: Because I have stomach ache, so I think I ate a bug, which make my stomach ache.
Me: lol.

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Shern: I also want a wife.
Me: Ok, but then you need to stay with your wife.
Shern: But I don't want to stay with my wife. I want to stay with mummy
Me: Then why do you want a wife for?
Shern: So that I can call her 'dear'.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shern: I wish I am a baby. Because I want to be like Yiu-Khye and don't need to do homework.
Me: But you were a baby before. You were 1 year old before and you didn't do any homework.
Shern: Is not fair, because I don't remember I was 1 year old. I only remember I am 4 1/2 years old.
Me: lol.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shern loves trains, and he was talking to my sis about buying more trains.

Shern: I want to buy a new train.

Wen Yee: You have so many trains already, and mummy and daddy need to work hard to save money before buying you a train when you are a good boy. Look at your Polar Express (he got that for Christmas last year), mummy and daddy worked so hard to buy you that.

Shern: But that one no need money wan. That is from Santa. The elves made it!

(lol, don't know whether is a good thing or not he believed in Santa!)

Khye Knows His Transport

Just like how his brother Shern could identify the different modes of transport, Khye now also knows his transport, from the exact same booklet.

Khye @ 20 mo - 21 May 2014

Just like his brother, Khye loves vehicles (influenced by his brother perhaps!), and would always point to vehicles whenever he is seated in his carseat.

In this video, Khye can identify the tractor, aeroplane, tipper truck, fire engine, train, bicycle, sports car, motor cycle and yatch! Quite good since I just taught him all these 2 days before. lol.

And I guess this really sums up Khye's 20 months update, together with the previous post!

Yiu-Khye @ 20 Mths - Motor Skills and Vain Pot

Khye @ 20 mths - 13 May 2014

Yiu-Khye is now 20 months old. How time flies. I'm always shocked that Khye is now a toddler, but he will always be a baby to me.

Khye surprised me this week when I noticed his motor skills increased by leaps and bounds.
I suddenly saw him being so good in playing with his Playskool Busy Poppin' Pals activity toy.

Khye @ 20 mths old - 19 May 2014

This classic activity toy is one of his favourites (and mine too!). Besides teaching him motor skills, it also teaches colours and numbers, as he presses, turns, flips and twists the different switches and buttons to get the animals to pop up.
The pop ups are labelled 1-5 on the top to teach numbers, and the colours are bright and fun for little kids.

When he first played with this toy about 6 months ago, he only knew how to push the yellow button in the middle.
As for the rest of the switches, he couldn't do it because it is not so easy. It needs some strength and a significant push to be able to flip it. And that was like just a month or so ago when he still couldn't do it.

But then suddenly this week, I saw that he has progressed and learned all by himself how to flip the red, green,and blue switches. And he could also twist the pink key.
Khye gets a kick by being able to pop out all the animals by himself, and slamming them back.

Look at Khye popping up the animals all by himself!

Khye also love the animals when they pop up and can now identify the elephant, giraffe, panda bear, lion and monkey. So it teaches Khye different animal names too.

I'll say this activity toy is a good buy because this toy doesn't require batteries.
It is now rather difficult to find a toy in which engages a kid without requiring any batteries. I like that this toy is simple and yet engaging. It makes click sounds when the buttons are pressed or when the key is turned. It also makes a pop sound when the animals pop out. It is not too noisy, and yet has a sound effect in which I think Khye appreciates for a sound effect.
So all in all, I am pretty happy with Khye's motor skills progress.

Last week, we went to Gurney Paragon. While Shern konked out in the stroller, Khye woke up from his nap and had a grand time trying on different shades in Debenhams. (yes, he requested to try them on!).

And when I took out my mobile phone and asked Khye to smile, he would lean on one side to try to 'pose' for the camera. Haha, really funny. He is quite a vain pot, huh.

 

And this is Khye showing us his index finger, which means 'Good' to him.

 

 And Khye in his many expressions.

 

And so, this sums up Khye at 20 mths old. ;)

***Please take note that this post is NOT sponsored. I am a very satisfied mother of a toddler who loves the Playskool Busy Poppin' Pals Activity Toy. I purchased this with my own money. All text and opinions are of my own and represents my honest opinion of the product(s).

Shern's First Piano Recital

Shern has been attending Yamaha music class since end of last year. It is actually piano class using the Yamaha syllabus.

Initially I found Yamaha to be a bit too academic and was reluctant to enrol him there.

But when we attended the trial lesson there, we found that it was actually pretty fun! 

His teacher is really a very good teacher, often giving the children small treats, such as stickers as a motivation, and yet is strict enough to mantain discipline in class.

And he makes the lesson so fun and interesting, with lots of actions and drawings! 

The only thing is that for 4-6 yo class, you need a parent/guardian to accompany the children during the 1-hour class. 

I can understand that because if without, there would be much banging of the keys on the electones.

It can be rather tiring to accompany Shern to class every week, but I choose to see the POSITIVE side of it.

It is actually bonding time for me and Shern. It is the only time that I am really 'Khye-free' and could concentrate on Shern, so I appreciate the driving journey there and back where I get to talk about lots of interesting thing with my very talkative son. 

Another is that I consider it as 'Buy one get one free' class. I pay for Shern to learn, but I get to learn as well! Hehe.

Anyway, Shern had his first Mini Piano Recital last Friday. It was nothing big, just his class performing in front of us parents on a real stage.

It was actually just for the kids to experience how performing in a recital/concert feels like.

But you could see all parents there feeling so proud of their kids, with their cameras, tablets and mobile phones clicking away.

So I was also there, with my camera in hand, proud of my son.

I'm proud that he can actually play with 2 hands in such a short period of time.

Here is Shern's first ever Piano Recital, him playing 2 short songs - Honeybee March, and Going On A Picnic.

Although with a 'lil hiccup at the beginning, I think Shern did a wonderful performance, and I was mighty proud of him!

After the recital, the children got a balloon each, and also a little gift from their teacher for being so brave and a job well done.
The children were all happy with their balloons and gifts!

Here are Shern's classmates, but here I obscured their faces as I am not too sure if the parents are keen that their kids' faces are on my blog. ;)

After that Shern got to try to play on the mini grand piano. Grand indeed!

 

It was a good night, and I am so proud of my big boy.
Way to go Yiu-Shern.
Well done!

Kid's Art & Craft: Personalized Decorated Candles for Teacher's Day!

Shern came home from school earlier this week and told me that he wants to make something for his teachers for Teacher's Day.
To tell the truth, I didn't even know when is Teacher's Day and I needed to ask Mr. Google. Found out that it is on Friday. So I had 4 more days to prepare.

I went to my favourite Pinterest site for ideas, and I knew I wanted something easy and yet personal. And I wanted Shern to be part of it instead of just buying a gift for the teachers.
And then I saw this brilliant pin on Pinterest - on how to make decorated candles.

First of all, I asked Shern for how many he wanted to make. He started listing out all the teacher's name in his school, and I needed to limit him to only the teachers that teaches him.
"But I like Miss Khoo, and she was my teacher last year."
"OK, and Miss Khoo".
We narrowed down to 5 teachers.

We went shopping on Wesak Day and I bought some white candles for RM5 each from Daiso.

I figured Shern can make one or two each day and should be ready by Friday.
But when we got home, Shern was so excited that he wanted to draw and decorate the candles straightaway.

I took out whatever markers we had - Sharpies, Stabilo, Magic Pens.
And he started drawing on each candles.

As you can see, he drew 3 train drawings (he loves trains), 1 with flowers for his 老师 and a house for his Science teacher.

We found out that Stabilo works well, and magic markers don't write that well. As for Sharpies, colours are strong but you need to scribble on a piece of paper every now and then to make the ink 'flow', and to get out the wax on the pen nib.

So this is the front where his drawings are.

 And this is the other side, where his teacher's names and his name.

I was looking for a nice plastic wrap, but I didn't have any at home. So I just put it inside Ziplock bags to protect them. (if you accidentally scratch the candles, the wax will come out and thus erase his drawings!)

 And then I punched some tags on a pattern paper and wrote 'Thanks for helping to make my future BRIGHT!' on them.

 

And he finished all 5 on the night itself!
Good job Shern!

 

You can try this out. Is easy for kids to make, and is very personal and versatile too.
You can even make this for other occasions such as Mother's Day, or even Valentine's Day!
I'm sure everyone would love a personalized decorated scented candle!

And Happy Teacher's Day tomorrow!

***Read more Teacher's Day gifts here:

Teacher's Day 2014 - Shern's Personalized Candles
Teacher's Day 2015 - Shern's DIY Green Tea Body Scrub
                                 - Khye's Apples with Apple Tag 
Teacher's Day 2016 - Shern & Khye's Kit Kats for Teachers Who Deserve A Break

Review & Discount Code & Giveaway: SUPPORi Baby Sling

1 Dec 2013 - babywearing Khye in a SUPPORi Baby Sling

When mummytoon contacted me to do a review on a baby carrier, it was the first time I heard about SUPPORi.


Who is Mummytoon?

Mummytoon.com is a Singapore-based online store that sells quality and essential products for babies and mummies.Their humble beginning may be traced to 2010 when they decided to bring the California Baby range of products to Singapore at decent prices. They enjoyed the products and wanted to share our good experiences with newly-minted parents. Now, they carry a diverse range of products from numerous brands that numbered 4400 at the last count



What is SUPPORi?

Originating from Japan, SUPPORi is an award winning, innovative baby sling, and is one of the top selling baby carriers in Japan. It is a fitted sling worn close to your body so your baby will feel safe and secure.




PACKAGING & FIRST IMPRESSIONS

 

The SUPPORi baby sling came in a little transparent plastic zippered pouch.
It has a nice little handle just in case you need to hang it or strap it somewhere, which I feel is such a nice little touch to its packaging. 

I can see so much other usage for this pouch, making it my toiletries bag when I travel, or to stash some money and cards inside for a quick outing or something, all these made possible because it is secured with a zip! Love this multi-purpose pouch. 

  

I chose the Bright Blue colour, because I prefer a bright colour so that it doesn't attract mosquitoes. Ok, that's just me. 

When lay down flat, the SUPPORi looks like this: 

 The SUPPORi logo/brand proudly stitched on the sling.

For safety, SUPPORi baby slings are made with the best choice.

• Material: ultra-durable yarn which is used in automotive vehicle applications. In addition, we triple three plied thread to achieve maximum strength.
• Production: latest weaving machines are used.
• Inspection: all parts are made in Japan and inspected in order not to pass small defects. 

 

The SUPPORi is also air-permeable, which is perfect for our hot and humid climate.
It's triple thread, triple woven mesh structure allows for air flow.

Some conventional carriers and slings lack air-permeability and may cause heat rash. Air Permeability releases baby's heat ensuring comfortable wearing for wearer and baby does not get sweaty

There are also a wide range of colours and patterns for you to choose from.
No more plain and boring black and white, so mothers and fathers can still be a fashionista while carrying your child!
Look at the wide selection and you will be spoiled for choice!

REVIEWS and FEATURES

Very easy to use - just 3 simple steps!

Your baby straddles the side of your body. To ensure comfort and safety, make sure that the SUPPORi covers your shoulder and your baby's back and hips.

I've always love simple carriers, which was why I love my soft structured carriers which are simple to wear and to take out - just buckle in and out!
So this one even easier, just wear the sling across my body and plopped in my baby, making sure baby's back and hips are covered.
This simple baby sling looks really sleek and easy, just my kind!


But when I received the SUPPORi baby sling, Khye was 11 months old, and weighed about 10kg.
To tell the truth, I was at first a bit hesitant on whether such a small piece of cloth can handle my baby's weight. And also Khye is rather big sized for his age.

Upon trying it, I was surprised that my big baby could fit into a teeny SUPPORi.
The baby sling somehow stretches and moulded itself to fit Khye.

 

Wearing it was pretty comfortable - no stiff shoulders and other related baby carrier injuries.

Conventional baby carriers support baby's weight with the trapezius muscle. This muscle is not strong and has lots of blood vessels, making it weak in terms of carrying a baby's weight. Wearers will suffer from stiff shoulders and related discomfort soon.

SUPPORi supports baby's weight with the deltoid muscle. This muscle is very strong, thus more comfortably carry the weight of your baby for longer periods. In addition, the knit structure can stretch over your shoulder snugly, thus staying in position.

Although carrying a 10kg baby on just one side of my shoulder, I felt nothing when I first tried it on my deltoid muscle. The baby sling somehow stretches and then hangs and support Khye's weight steadily.

 

SUPPORi supports the C-curve of the baby's spine. One of the best features of SUPPORi is its elasticity. It does not extend longitudinally, but it extends horizontally. When you carry your baby by SUPPORi, the net fits snug maintaining baby's C-curve.

Legs are flexed, the hips joints sit securely in the socket. SUPPORi also helps maintains the orthopedically ideal position of the legs - the M-shape. Knees are higher than their bottom keeping legs supported up close to the knee area.

 

When Khye was fussy at home, it was easy to whip out this light and airy SUPPORi to babywear him at home. My other baby carriers are a bit too hot to be worn at home if I don't turn on the air conditioning. So SUPPORi was perfect for home.

Look at Khye's grumpy face. He wasn't too happy and clung on to me and wanted me to carry him, so I babywore him to ease my back and my hands.

 

Shern wanted to take a photo too when he saw hubby taking photos of me and Khye. So ok 2 photos of Shern with us. 

 

See Khye's lemak face when at last I babywore him and he was happy and gave me a big smile!
Sometimes all he wanted was to be near to mummy. Sigh. What to do.

  

And when he got sick, he was a super clingy baby, and that time it was necessary to babywear him. If not, I think I would have sore hands and back. Khye was such a big baby.
And previously I did babywear him using my Ergobaby because he was admitted to the hospital. But then it was not so serious this time so he just stayed at home to recuperate and no aircond at home, so SUPPORi did the job. Airy and yet make babywearing breathable and easy!

 

 

October 2013

And then we also tested it when we were out, like during our visit to Occupy Beach Street.
It was an outdoor mid-morning outing so I knew it would be hot. And since we brought the stroller and Shern's scooter along, I didn't want to carry a big baby carrier, so I just took the SUPPORi in case Khye didn't want to sit in the stroller halfway.
I was right. Khye was fussing and so I needed to babywear him.

A photo of me and Khye and Shern at Occupy Beach Street.

I love that the SUPPORi is so light and compact, and only weighs about 80g. 80g is a barely there weight, believe me. Hold it in your palm, and I think it is lighter than many of our mobile phones.
With a gazillion things in my diaper bag, I'm grateful that this baby sling is so light and compact and fitted easily inside my diaper bag, or even my handbag, or my palm.

It was a breeze using it outdoor to carry fussy Khye. No buckles to snap and nothing to wrap. Just popped him into the sling. He was sleepy by then and thus wanted me to carry him. And he slowly drifted off to sleep with my walking pace rock. 

 

 

And I could still do sightseeing and shopping with me babywearing him, and still got 2 hands free!

I babywore him for about an hour plus and it was still alright for my shoulder. No pain or strain. But when it reaches the 2nd hour, I could feel a bit uncomfortable. And it would be better for me to change sides (from left shoulder to right shoulder or vice versa).

So I should say 2 hours is the max for me to use this sling on Khye. 

I think everyone's different, so you need to test it out yourself. 

But basically, this SUPPORi baby sling is meant for shorter usage, and not whole day usage.  

Ok, so now what is the downside of SUPPORi?

The only downside I could think of is I noticed some red line marks on my baby's thighs after I removed him from the baby sling. 

It is nothing serious, but some red marks from the sling. Khye doesn't make uncomfortable noise or cry (believe me, he will if he is uncomfortable!) so I think he was not in pain or anything.

Just like sometimes I do get red marks from wearing an elastic band shorts, and I don't feel uncomfortable or anything, so I think it is the same.

  

So how do I solve this problem? 

Easy. Just let him wear shorts/pants before babywearing him using the SUPPORi. 

Then, no more red marks on his chubby thighs!

Another thing I like about it is how easy it is to wash and dry. It can be both hand washed or machine washed. I tried both.

Firstly, I hand washed it. The colour bled a little, so remember to wash it separately. And it took just a few hours for it to dry even without the sun! ho ho ho!
(note: you need to lay it flat and to dry it in the shade)
No more waiting a day for my carrier to be dry.

I also tried dumping it into the washing machine. I put it into a laundry net, and chose gentle/delicate wash function. It came out alright and just need a little re-shaping once it was out from the machine.
(note: do not use the dryer, or the oven)

And please note that SUPPORi Baby Sling follows the size of the wearer, and not the size of your baby.
I fall in between size, and usually the smaller size is recommended, as a snug fit is optimal. But for me, as Khye was rather big, I was more comfortable to get the bigger size.
(If you have any questions on sizing, you can always contact Mummytoon, and they will be pleased to help you out)

Below is the Sizing Table Guide.

Although I did not try it myself, I know this baby sling would be perfect for pool/beach use. Its mesh material is so water-friendly and dry easily. And it won't weigh you down although wet. Perfect, right?

Overall, I'm more than happy with my SUPPORi baby sling. I like to use it for the just-in-case scenario if I needed to babywear, since it is so light and portable and could fit into my handbag easily. As long as I don't use it for too long, it provides me a fuss-free babywearing experience!



TO PURCHASE

Please visit The Mummytoon's Website to purchase the SUPPORi Baby Sling . Browse around as they have quite a wide selection of mummy and baby essentials listed on their website. 

For Singapore readers - There is FREE SHIPPING for orders over SGD$100 to Singapore addresses. 


TO PURCHASE WITH DISCOUNT CODE

More good news! Thanks to the kind people at Mummytoon, you get: 

- 5% off any regular-priced items STOREWIDE with a minimum purchase of SGD$50 at their Website, valid until 31st August 2014, using discount code MTMD5% upon checkout. 
- FREE SHIPPING still applies if meet criteria.



GIVEAWAY (CLOSED)

I am pleased to announce that Mummytoon is sponsoring 1 piece of SUPPORi Baby Sling  to a lucky winner!
Win for yourself, or maybe for your friend. :)

This giveaway is open to my SINGAPOREAN and INDONESIAN readers. (or if you have a Singaporean or Indonesian mailing address!)

Giveaway ends on 28th May 2014 (Wednesday) 11.59pm Malaysian time. 

Please fill up the Rafflecopter below to to be eligible for a chance to win this giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway  



For more info, you can also visit Mummytoon's  Website. 
Or you can visit the official Website and Facebook Page for Singapore and Indonesia.

To read about my other reviews on babycarriers, click on below :-
a) Soft-structured Carriers (SSCs)
- Pikkolo by Catbird Baby

- Boba 3G

- LÍLLÉbaby® Complete All Seasons (Part 1, Part 2)
- Ergobaby; Ergobaby Performance, and Ergobaby 360.

b) Wraps
- Ergobaby Wrap

- Pittari Wrap

c) Slings - SUPPORi Baby Sling
- SUKKIRI Ring Sling

* Disclosure: I received a SUPPORi Baby Sling for review purpose, but no monetary incentive was received. All text and opinions are of my own and represents my honest opinion of the product(s).