The other day we were wondering what to get for someone’s birthday. As adults, we face a lot of indecision when making a choice for gifts, do you realise that? We just don’t know what to get.
But when you involve a kid, you could get some real good ideas because I find that kids do not have such a limiting mind. They may just make your life easier helping you decide what to get! 
Today is Ryan’s God-pa’s birthday, perhaps we should ask him what to get for God-pa. We with our limited ideas would probably think of stereotype ideas like mens ties, books or a picture frame…let’s see what the little one has to say about the gift! It’s also part of getting him involved in more things other than his little kiddie world.
I’m beginning to educate Ryan on going green. One of the things I started with is to teach him to save paper. He likes to draw with his colour pencils and we’ve got quite a large stack of paper for him to do that. After he draws all over the page, he would ask for another sheet of paper to continue drawing. So a simple way I teach him as a first step is to flip over the other side and draw there before using a fresh sheet of paper.
And I explained to him that the more paper we use, the more trees we have to chop down to make paper. He seems to understand that and he now will make sure he uses his paper to the fullest before asking for another.
Another way that I’m slowly educating him is to practise green shopping by carrying our own bags instead of using plastic bags from the shops. This is just for his info as he doesn’t really go shopping on his own so what does he know about cutting down on the use of plastic bags huh? 
I like the idea of starting him young to think and go green. At least it’s my part of the job to not only go green myself but impart the same values to him. Having said that, I’m not always a green person and it takes effort and reminders to do so. I’m just human and haven’t really gotten into the habit very much. But I try.
Teach your kids to go green and have fun while at it. It’s good education for them and you’ll be so proud when they do their part.
I remember some time back I used to laugh at Busy Bee when she told me that she won’t wear a dress that she likes because her Ryan told her she didn’t look nice in it. I didn’t think I’d take my Ryan’s opinion about how I looked to outdo me into wearing something that I like.
But last night, something similar happened to me. We were preparing to go out for dinner and I thought my skin was a bit dry. I found a pack of body care products that I was given as a gift set, with some body and acne lotion. I decided to try out the body lotion for the first time. It smelled kinda sweet.
I walked towards Ryan right after I’ve applied it and he looked at me one kind and said “What’s that smell?” I thought he smelled something foul so I said nothing. Then when I got nearer to him, he backed away from me and that was when I realised he was referring to the smell of the lotion! He thought it smelled bad!
Next thing I did was to fish out a couple of other lotions and asked him which one smelled good. I then tried to cover up the sweet smelling one with the one he picked. Haha. Silly right? Obviously it didn’t work…
See, I too succumb to what my kid thinks…so I shouldn’t laugh at other parents, huh?
Some time back during the Motherhood Expo at Mid Valley, I dropped by just to browse. Normally I don’t buy stuff from these expos simply because I only go on the last day when all the good buys are sold out. This time round however, I did buy something…it was a silicone toothbrush for toddlers.
I’ve never heard of it until then. I was told it’s safe and good to use on toddlers as the soft silicone is gentler on the gums than the normal bristles on the brush kind of toothbrush. It cost me RM10 for a toddler’s silicone toothbrush so I decided to just try it.
The lady also recommended me to use an organic spray disinfectant to substitute toothpaste. I wasn’t too sure about it so I didn’t get it.
So how did we find the silicone toothbrush? Well maybe I’m just plain stereotype, but I found that it doesn’t really get to clean well between the teeth. Of course I agree it’s gentler on the gums but if it doesn’t do such a good job at cleaning in between the teeth, it may not be all too useful.
Sorry I couldn’t find a picture of how the toothbrush looks like and I’m kinda lazy to go take a picture of the one I bought Anyone else using such a toothbrush for their kids? What do you think of it?
Since having a kid, I found that one of the challenges in dressing up is to keep the attire crumple-free. I am one lazy person when it comes to ironing. And when I’ve got a work shirt nicely ironed out, I find it hard to carry Ryan as it will surely ruin the straightened-out ensemble. How do you do it, mummies?
One of my solutions is to wear stuff that don’t crumple or at least don’t show when it’s slightly crumpled. I also tend to choose clothes that need minimal if not no ironing at all. Not easy to find these, I tell you! So when I do find them, I’m always tempted to get a few, maybe in different colours. Haha!
Speaking of dressing up, lately we’ve got quite a few functions to attend. And I find that even dressing up for functions with a kid to be carried every once in a while is also not easy. We’ve got a busy weekend coming up with some formal dinners to go for and I’m scratching my head what to wear. Not only must the dress be something that won’t get sloppy after I’ve carried Ryan, it also has to be able to “flatter” me by hiding what’s not supposed to show. Blame it on those late night suppers and occasional tea breaks I’ve been having lately. It’s too late for diets for quick weight loss which I don’t believe in anyway, so I just have to find something to wear that hides.
I find that I care more about my dressing now than before I’ve had Ryan…I wonder why that is. Maybe it’s the age factor. When age catches up with you, you may not get to wear all that pretty stuff anymore. No, I’m not out to be looking like a yummy-mummy, just want to enjoy wearing something nice every once in a while before I get labeled as “too old to wear them”, you know?
What about other mummies out there? Do you give up on dressing up or are you just starting now?
