For you who may have read it before, you may know the history behind why Ikhwan has three strollers.
The other day, I managed to find this plastic cover for strollers, good for protecting Ikhwan from rain (see 2nd pic). Now, when it rains heavily, I no longer need to bend my body while pushing the stroller with one hand, while the other hand is holding an umbrella.
I remember one day, while queuing up at the counter, the man in front me was paying for a feeding seat (presumably it was for his own baby, otherwise he must be a very generous person). It was a fancy seat - with sturdy frames, (very) padded cushions, buttons to play songs, and other removable accessories.
When the cashier scanned the product codes, appeared the price of the seat - it was RM 599!!! Wow, how freaking expensive!!! Now THAT would be over-pampering your baby... errr.. I think :). Guess he really could afford paying that much, huh.
The one that we got for Ikhwan, On-The-Go Booster Seat, was less than 1/6 of that seat's price. Other than its affordable price, when we decided to buy it, we liked the fact that it was portable. When in folded/unopened state, the seat looks very much like a bag. Due to its compactness and lightweightness, it is easy to carry it around by its handle. When ready to use, we just need to pull out one valve and it will self-inflate into a sturdy (yes, it's sturdy too) booster seat. Just look at how comfortable and secured Ikhwan is (there are safety belt and restraint of course).
When it comes to meal times, yeah, Ikhwan knows he has to sit there. But there has been a few occasions where he would just simply refuse to do so, especially when his Ibu just gets back from work. He would prefer to sit on his Ibu's lap instead. Now, the seat has some unremovable stain marks already (from his dropped foods and spilled drinks).
Kids with meals and messes, they all come together! The seat's still usable of course, but come to think of it, luckily we didn't get him a RM 600 seat! Haha..
P/S: A lot of things can happen in a day, let alone in a week. Whatever they may be, just hope that your week doesn't end with tears in your eyes. Visit this blog again to find out about my encounters during THE WEEK.
Obviously, it's no longer suitable for Ikhwan to still be lying down on this bouncer for he may topple over. This picture was taken when he was only a few months' old, 'eating' his teether which was bought by his mother. The bouncer was a present from my parents to celebrate the birth of Ikhwan.
The car seat was a gift from my sister and brother in law.Other than sitting around or sleeping or drinking his milk while inside the car,Ikhwan loves other activities too. Among them is playing with his pelican, flipping through his black-and-white cards or 'reading' his cloth book.
Whenever we stop at traffic lights, if he's very much awake and active but still not yet engaged in 'reading', I would ask him "Nak buku?" (meaning "Would you like a book?"). Immediately, he would point up. Then, I would ask him to choose either the cards or the cloth book. He doesn't have any particular favourite. But for cards, it seems that he knows which one is the train, and for the book, he knows which page shows the blue fish.
This Fold & Go Diaper Changer is a changing pad, organiser (no, not meant for you to record your appointments, haha) and travel case in one! Whenever we go out with Ikhwan, we never leave this diaper changer behind. What a cool idea to help parents during those diapering accidents! :)
Whenfolded, it's very compact to fit into the diaper bag or to be hung on the stroller. When unfolded, it is a full size changing pad with easy access to other compartments. The see-inside mesh pockets can hold 2 to 3 nappies (although it can store up to 4 if you force it, like I usually do) and refillable wipes container.
The diaper duck dispenser is a separate item. Again, the small size of the dispenser makes it easy to fit into diaper bag or stroller pouch. The dispenser can store a roll of 12 durable and easy-tear bags. The idea behind this baby accesory invention is the same as pulling and tearing off aluminium foil or cling wrap out of its dispenser at perforation whenever we need one. One thing about the dispenser is that the duck makes it look too catchy to the eyes of Ikhwan. We just don't like him wanting to play with it! Now, here's one cool thing about the bags. Each bag has a fresh baby powder scent. Although of course, it's not scented enough to make you wanting to smell the bag close to your nose and forget what’s inside the bag, haha...
Nowadays, we use the dispenser and the bags only occasionally. The cost of buying the refill bags is of course more than buying those small sized non-scented plastic bags. The latter option is not just cheaper, but still serves the purpose of 'bag it, then toss it away', whenever we are on the go.
I've shared with you some of the Ikhwan's toys before. He now has quite an extensive collection of toys, the number of which has increased notably since we bought him his first toy. I'd definitely share more in the future.
Meantime, other than toys, Ikhwan also owns a number of 'fancy' and cool gadgets (or should I say, accessories). If toys are something that BOTH Ikhwan and I can enjoy playing with :-), the gadgets are more for his developments and safety, while at the same time, making his and his parents' life easier. I admit some of his gadgets are not really necessities, but heck, I love shopping them for Ikhwan. After all, these gadgets do amaze me in terms of their designs and functionalities.
Take the foldable drying rack here for example. Don't you think whoever came out with the idea of airing baby's bottles this way, brilliant? The rack allows bottles (even those very tall ones) to be placed upside down - what a quick and easy way to clean and dry the bottles! The rack also provides neat and easy storage for nipples, cups, valves, bottle covers and other accessories.
The one next to it is a microwave sterelizer. Pour in some water into the container, place the nipples and bottles (upside down) inside it, then put in the microwave. The power of microwave will heat up the water to create steam. What happens next, well, you get the idea....
I remember assembling Ikhwan's cot with the help of my dad - quite a tricky task! The cot is further accessorised of course - all in the name of fun and learning :)
So far, Ikhwan had only spent a few nights sleeping in the crib. Why? Being cheeky and cuddly, just before he sleeps, Ikhwan would want to play with our hands, fingers and elbows (gasp! he's like his dad). So, we thought it'd be difficult to satisfy his before-sleep routines if he were to sleep in the cot.
Nowadays, we put a mattress on the floor and all three of us sleep there every night. The thing about sleeping this way is that, sometimes it's hard to get him to bed. His parents may already feel drowsy and sleepy, but Ikhwan would still be active - crawling here and there, climbing up our bodies, playing hide-and-seek (he really enjoys doing this with me...) etc etc. Hahaa...
Hopefully, as he grows up more, he would want to sleep back in the cot - a 6-year old can still fit in there anyway...
For some of Ikhwan's toys, we noticed that he enjoyed playing with those more in the past than today.Likewise for his gadgets, there are those that no longer (fully) amaze him. This particular dreamshow, which we attach to the cot, used to occupy him before he dozed off. Or simply, we would switch it on to let him listen to any of the 3 soothing lullabies, while at the same time, he would gaze upon the characters, stars and moons which are projected onto the ceiling/wall.
These days, we, the parents who occupy him before he dozes off, hahaa. Other than that, the dreamshow also consumes so much battery power, and I suspect it's also already broken. So, until I get the batteries replaced and probably having it fixed, the dreamshow is hardly switched on anymore.
Well Ikhwan, Ayah would share more of your gadgets in the future, ok! :-o
These days, whenever I sing the nursery rhyme 'Itsy Bitsy Spider', Ikhwan would immediately looking where my hand is at. This is because, I would normally make it crawl like a spider, crawl around him and on his body. Of course, this would lead to him laughing, giggling and wriggling.
In the above video, as I sang the nursery rhyme while waiting (for my dinner) with Ikhwan in the car, I only managed to make him laugh towards the end of the song. Although he should have laughed a lot more, guess on that day, he managed to gain control of his tickle bones :-) Then, I was about to record the condominium block where we live in, I realised Ikhwan was trying to mimic my singing. How sweet...
By the way, in the middle of the video, you can see how his legs were spreaded out as he slumped in his car seat. That is his usual way of sitting in his car seat while enjoying the ride.'Cara duduk orang senang', as I commented to my wife one day (translation: The way how a worry-free person would sit).
Anyway, just for the sake of sharing, the lyrics to 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' goes like this:
The itsy bitsy spider, Crawled up the water spout, Down came the rain, And washed the spider out, Out came the sun and dried up all the rain, And the itsy bitsy spider Crawled up the spout again.
Now, here's just a short video on Ikhwan getting too preoccupied with his Birdie toy. Next to the Birdie is his one of his cloth books. That particular one is on 'Colours'. We sometimes hang the Birdie and the book on his stroller too whenever we took him out on it.
The Birdie comes with a teether that Ikhwan enjoys to bite on and the small fishes that are visible in the bird's 'tummy' sometimes mesmerizes him (it's a pelican by the way). The velcro fastening of thebook creates sound that Ikhwan enjoys to hear everytime he opens and closes it (he does flip other pages too of course).
Hmmm.... what else can you find in my car? Well, the spider-man is still there, then there's a Ronaldinho' jersey key-chain hanging next to it. This 'kaki bangku' father (meaning: lousy at playing soccer or as they say it in England, football), is hoping his son would master some soccer playing skills when he grows up.
Hanging on the rear-view mirror are 2 key-chains - one was given by my wife, with a list of characters of a Pisces and the other was given by my father, which shows the Ka'bah.
On the dashboard, there's a non-clock looking clock that has fooled a few into thinking it was just a dummy, an Air Asia airplane model and an alien head.
On one side of the back seat window is a car sign that shows a few fishes with the wording I'M FREE on it. The other back seat window has another car sign pressed against it. It shows a spider with large capital words that say SPIDER CROSSING.
On the rear window, I put up a sticker on Ayatul Kursi at the top part, which takes up almost the whole width of the window. On the lower left and right side corners, two more car signs on each side. Those people behind me may be able to read one sign that says DON'T HONK! BABY SLEEPING, BACK OFF!(wife thought this sounded rather harsh when I first got it, hehe..), while the other sign politely announces there's a LITTLE KALIFAH ON BOARD. There's also a tall blue Disneyland hat placed right on top of the third brake light, flanked by a couple of The Incredibles pillows and a monkey doll.
Now, don't ask me what's the monkey doll doing there. I'm a people's pleaser (as some of you might have already guessed by reading this blog....errr... I guess)... Even before Ikhwan was born, I was thinking, should my nieces ever ride with me (which they have, a few times before), at least, they have something to play with, you know, for them to occupy their time while in the car..
We entered the Anakku contest a few months ago. The contest required participants to submit either a photo or a video that showed times of intimacy between parents and their kids. The photo (or video) also needed to be titled and described in less than X number of words.
When I found out about the contest, I thought why not I gave it a try, or should I say, two tries to be exact. I submitted two photos - one photo with Ikhwan hugging his Ibu while the other depicted Ikhwan touching my face.
I'd have submitted a video as well, like the one where I sang a song that I wrote for Ikhwan. But the contest rule said the video should be smaller than Y size. Due to not having the technical know-how in video compressing and lack of time to tinker with softwares (plus not sure which is the best software to do the job in the first place anyway), I decided to just go ahead with the 2 photos.
Last week, I received a letter announcing that one of my entries had won Ikhwan a RM 100/- voucher (not a 1st prize though). The voucher needed to be picked up by myself at the Anakku boutique at The Curve. I enquired at the boutique which one of my entries actually won but the sales assistants couldn't help me. I don't feel the need to take the trouble calling up the Anakku HQ, so I guess it's best to just let it stay unknown. All that mattered was that the voucher had entitled our baby to a new stroller.
Actually, Ikhwan already have a stroller - it was a present given by my colleagues, and we are so grateful for it. But the stroller is quite a tad too big. It cannot fit into my wife's car boot and does occupy a large space of my car boot. It's also a bit tricky to fold and unfold it and its weight makes it incovenient for my wife to carry in the event that she travels with Ikhwan alone. Though we still use the first stroller once in a while, we found it to be more suitable to use when Ikhwan gets 'older' (the stroller can take a kid up to 6-7 years old). So, my wife bought him the second stroller - a much smaller one where once folded, it looked like an umbrella. But the stroller is no longer suitable for Ikhwan whose body is now quite big. So, it was time that we got him his third one and luckily, by using the voucher, we managed to find the perfect one that matched the criteria we were looking for.
Ok, enough about strollers....I shall talk more about them when it's time to share with you about Ikhwan and his gadgets :-)
Now, going back to the contest we had won, for the fun of it, here are the 2 entries (un-edited) that I submitted for the contest.Which one you guys think won? There's no right or wrong answer of course. Honestly, I don't have any preference, because I like both entries just as much and really enjoyed squeezing my brain, during the times when I tried to come out with catchy photo titles and descriptions.
Photo Title 1: My huggable and adorable boy
Photo description: Ikhwan knows where to focus his eyes on whenever he is photographed or video recorded. He, who loves to cuddle and being hugged, is all set here to be photographed with Ibu. After all, Ikhwan is indeed a very huggable and adorable baby boy.
Photo Title 2: Ikhwan The Explorer
Photo description: My baby Ikhwan is quite a natural explorer especially when it comes to faces. Here, as his hand-eye co-ordination helped him explore my face, at the same time, I was admiring his, envying how soft and smooth his complexion was.
P/S: Now that occasionally, I have more blog visitors (who also read hopefully, instead of just visiting) from the US than from my home country, Malaysia, I find that I need to be aware of my English. Better brush up on my grammar and writing styles huh? Hehehe.... Also, it'd be great if those non-Malaysians can say hi or comment or something... :-)
In this first part of the (more) coming parts to show the many selection of toys, gadgets and educational materials that Ikhwan owns, I shall start off with about 20 of his developmental toys.
The two photographs above show toys that come in three different sets (except for 'triangular' teether and Winnie The Pooh which were sold as individual units). The set with the mother duck and her two babies and the Winnie The Pooh in his buoy, are for his bathing time. I remember how in the first days after Ikhwan was born, he didn't really like the idea of being bathe. But now, bathing is like another play time for him (just like most of us grown-ups? haha). Whenever we place one of these toys in his tub, he'd splash it over and over again.
The Wheel Pals car toys is by Hasbro. The funny looking cars are soft and squeezable with free rolling wheels. Ikhwan's small fingers are big enough to enable him to grasp the cars in his palms, while at the same time letting him discover how things feel and move. I've been demostrating to him the purpose of the wheels and how he can push and pull the car to move. But at this moment, other than looking so intently at the cars, Ikhwan seems to be more interested to bite on the wheels, if not the car bodies. Everything is like a teether for him :-)
(Initially left out) The ball sets consists of, well, balls, of various shapes (tho' still rounded of course), textures and extra features. By features, I mean, one ball has a ringing bell inside it, the other has portions that can be turned around etc etc. We still haven't let Ikhwan plays with the balls without our supervision, to avoid any of them being rolled on the floor unnoticed, and thus risking someone falling over after stepping on the balls.
The teether in the 2nd photo is one of his favourites. He just loves to chew on those tiny ribbons. We left it at the sitter's house so that at least he has something to chew on/play with when he's at her house.
The JAWS toy was given by my sister. She got it from Japan when she was out-stationed there a few months ago.
JAWS is a very boyish toy, you might say? Now when looking at the doll next to it, you might think that, what, I give my baby boy, a doll? In my opinion, it's perfectly fine for boys to play with dolls, so long as the dolls are not too 'girlie'; they only play with dolls once a while and up to a certain age only and they have other types of toys to experience with (to avoid any unwanted attachment that the boys might have with their dolls, like in the case of Calvin and Hobbes).
If baby girls can play with blocks and trucks, I think that (baby) boys shouldn't be denied of playing with dolls too. Remember Andy of Toy Story, anyone? His favourite toy, Woody WAS a doll, plus there was also Bo Peep.
We should open our minds that not only does playing with a doll NOT diminish boys' future masculinity, it actually can have many positive effects on their development. Playing with dolls can help them develop their emotional intelligence and respect for others and gives kids a chance to learn skills of making friends and/or parenting.
The two-eyed toy is by Tinylove. Each loose eye can move from its respective left and right side to the center of the face. I really enjoy how my son observes the movement of the eyes whenever he rattles the toy. Oh yes, again, he likes to bite on those eyes too, sometimes he has both eyes inside his mouth!!
The phone is a cool toy/gadget with different sounds that are produced from each buttons when they are pressed. The clam shell phone also has Hello and Goodbye greetings and some music background that you can hear, when the phone is flipped open or flipped back to close. There are also three different cartoons that appear alternately on the phone screen, everytime the phone is opened (from its closed position). Despite how cool the toy is, I've stored it away since it's by Fisher Price. Although it's not listed as a potential hazardous toy, I prefer not to take chances of my kid's health and well being (unless it's really confirmed that it's safe).
The paint roller is another of his boyish toy. The roller has beads in it that rattle when it's rolled and has a light that lights up for a while. The soft texture of the handle, whether the one that can be grasped by Ikhwan or the one that connects to the roller, makes it suitable for Ikhwan to bite/chew on.
Stay tune for more of Ikhwan's toys, gadgets and books.... Ooohhh, I'm soooo enjoying buying and playing with those toys (not to forget, writing about them), just as much as Ikhwan is :-))
The Oxford Dictionary says "boulevard" means wide city street, often with trees on each side. As for me, "boulevard" is the path that I thread my way through in life. At times, the trees give me protection from the hot sun above. While at other times, no amount of trees can comfort me when it pours. Come rain or shine, the road continues to provide me with the journey of life until it reaches its destination.
People say I'm sweet, kind, a gentleman, caring, romantic and observant (let's just concentrate on the good attributes). I love those who matter to me, and care about things that count. I'm a Malay Muslim and proud to be one. I DON'T think Islam should be judged by those nasty followers. Islam should be judged by the religion itself; its teachings and the purpose behind them. I mean, humans will still behave like humans right? Usually, regardless of religions that they embrace. It is also in my nature to please, since I believe that TO PLEASE EVERYONE IS AN IMPOSSIBLE FEAT, BUT NOT TRYING TO PLEASE ANYONE OTHER THAN ONESELF IS A POSSIBLE DEFEAT (own quote). Apart from sharing the things I read, watch and listen to, I'd also share my thoughts and feelings, and express my views on certain issues. Last by no means least, I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM EVERYONE OF YOU OUT THERE ABOUT ANYTHING! If we knew each other 'in the previous life' and had lost contact, or we hardly contact each other nowadays, do email me or comment on my entries. Feel free to explore my blog & website (http://members.fortunecity.com/abdunmy/). Cheerio & Wassalam.
Sometimes, to boldly go (where no one has gone before) at warp speed may cause you unnecessary troubles.
Own quote, based on Star Trek
Lesson from the quote: Rushing to reach your destinations or goals may get you there fast, but may not always be the smartest thing to do!
"Note The Quote (Malay translation)"
Kadang kala, perjalanan (ke tempat yang tidak pernah ditujui) pada kelajuan maksimum boleh menyebabkan kesusahan pada diri sendiri.
Rekaan sendiri, berdasarkan dari Star Trek
Pengajaran: Terburu-buru untuk sampai ke destinasi atau matlamat hidup mungkin boleh membawa kita ke sana dengan cepat, tetapi langkah itu tidak semestinya yang terbaik!
You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don't have that kind of feeling for what it is you are doing, you'll stop at the first giant hurdle.
George Lucas (Film Director and Producer)
"Favourite Note The Quote 2"
A sign in a mosque on the need to switch off handphones:
P/S: Email me if you wish to receive a "Weekly Note The Quote" newsletter, a compilation of quotations that appear here in this column or in any of my blog entries within a particular week. Please put Note The Quote in your email subject. TQ.
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Penguin Rush
