Song of the Domestic Monkey

The canon of married life

[domesticmonkey]

3 years 7 months

September has been a crazy month of non stop action. I made the boys indulge me in too much and as ever they willingly go along with my schemes. Including cycling 2.5hours from home to work with the kid in tow, in conjunction with world car free day. I must say it is totally doable. Then the next day I made them join me at kampong glam for park(ing) day where we converted carpark to public spaces and the kid gamely helped me distrusted postcards of old kampong glam to share awareness of the heritage of our historic districts and get feedback for my colleagues. I also dragged the kid and all to Joo chiat to support popo's calligraphy exhibition and we ended up on a walking tour of yet another conservation area. On a day when school was closed we visited a national monument at the central fire station heritage gallery. Somebody say work overload?

The kid has also been sick a lot this month so we dropped out of swim class. We decided to start bringing him swimming ourselves. Well, that's the story for October to tell. Mummy has been sick too. Overwork, anyone?

I had also been doing a bit of craft with our handmade fabric bookmarks to our own homemade lanyards to his upcycle A&W bear lantern. We had fun. Been also doing a lot of crazy shenanigans at home.

Toilet training has become easier. We also go public toilet now. Kid just has to get over his discomfort standing to pee.

He reads and write and draw and I feel bad work has been so busy I find little patience to read to him. Luckily daddy has stepped in and finds the most amazing books from the library to enrich the boy.

He has also taken a suddenly attachment to owl. Some people have bears or dogs. My son of all his soft toy, loves owl from Ikea. Maybe because it s a puppet that took on mummy's personality when we first introduced it to him but we are glad he finally found a friend at 3 years old. He loved it so much he sleeps with it and vomited on it one day after choking on his phlegm. Alas, now it's clean and back on his bed again. Attachment. He is definitely developing emotionally and socially. Also more daring and bold, grabs snacks without permission. Gets into more trouble than before. Bites his fingers and digs his nose concurrently with the same hand. It's amazing.

Growing up so fast. Mummy and daddy 好不舍得啊~

[domesticmonkey]

3 years 6 months (42 months). 101cm. 14.5kg. Toilet training in progress. Have started to recognize words and read. Can play one or two exercises from the Thompson book on the piano. Can swim well by himself using the swimming float. Memorizes the name of all the mrt stations en route to school. Makes his own bed and loves helping with chores (but no guarantee on seeing them through 😂) just 6 months more to 4 years old and growing up too fast. 3.5 years old was the best time of my own life and I want it to be the best for you too! You can slow down now hb. Mummy would love to keep you like this forever.

[domesticmonkey]

Teachers day, made with love

For toddlers in child care, teachers day is as much an appreciation by the child as much as it is a show of appreciation by the parents. With gratitude in my mind, I found this awesome fabric bookmark tutorial and upcycle some rosettes and made some for the teachers at the son's day care.

I'm really addicted to making these rosettes and it has given me a purrrrfect way to upcycle my old clothes and I'm ready to turn them into everything under the sun like bracelets, hairbands, necklaces, etc. So. Very. Addictive.

I also have a habit of buying fat quarters or end of a reel in shops, and have left over fabric from other projects so this tiny 4x8 gave me a chance to use my fabric stash without depleting them and leftovers can be made into.... More rosettes! Haha this is endless fun. Try it and you'll be hooked! Fabric glue is like mayonnaise, once u start u can't stop 😂

[domesticmonkey]

41 months and 2 weeks. Goodbye red shoes, you have served us very well. Hb has worn you threadbare. We have put you in the recycling bin, hopefully you won’t end up in the incinerator straightaway. Fingers crossed.

[domesticmonkey]

How to maximize ROI on your IKEA curtains

Disclaimer: I am not a good sewist. I can barely sew straight lines. So if I can do it, you can too.

A while back we bought 2 pair of curtains from Ikea, each costing $14.90 (it was the cheapest on offer). As it was too long, I snipped off the ends to our desired length ourselves (saving some cost. It was pretty and I didn't hem it after but it works. Yet to put the unhemmed edge to the test of wash)

Since we had a considerable amount of cut offs, (we have a half height window) I decided to upcycle them.

1. 4 x Bolster covers (savings: approx $30)

I don't know about you but it's a real pain in the ass to have sufficient Bolster covers for two person when both the husband and I each have a bolster. If you are lucky the bedsheet set you choose comes with Bolster covers but some sets we buy comes with none or just one. It's a pain and it cost a bomb to just buy Bolster standalone so it was a blessing in disguise that there was more than enough fabric for a bolster cover per one piece of curtain cut offs. It's not 500 thread count but we like it. I've always used thick curtain fabric to make Bedsheets and experience tells me that after regular use and wash for 5 years or more, the fabric can become just as thin as your regular bedsheets.

I only completed 2 but there's enough fabric for 4. Assuming if you buy Bolster covers in Ikea it would cost about $7.90 each.

2. Kids Slippers bag / case (savings: approx $5)

It's a tad small (due to my poor measurement) but even a China factory made fabric bag will cost something. And this sure beats tons of disposable ziploc we usually use for the childcare. Now we have something we can wash regularly instead. Minus the cost of the Kam snaps, I think we are saving about $5 worth of ziploc a year before we outgrow this shoe size)

3. Sewing machine dust cover (savings: approx $8)

When I bought my Brother sewing machine it doesn't come with any case and the kid loves to fiddle with it every time he is reminded of it so we always have to cover it up. I've been using an old duvet bag to cover it but now we need the bag to store the duvet, I actually need a cover! While I'm at it, it also helped that I had a square of batik hack we did at work that I just couldn't find a place to display. I don't know about you but I have a lot of these knick knack crafts that are just piling up and the best way to display them is to sew them on! Save on new frames and hook and a dust cover!

Cost: $30

Savings: $43

Nett savings: $13!

Wow not only do we get curtains, we saved extra to recoup the cost of the curtains and still got extra! Best buy ever. As paw patrol's Rocky says, don't lose it, reuse it!

[domesticmonkey]

It's my sister's birthday and a milestone day for us. The little boy is made to change his own diaper henceforth, we gave a Preloved piano a new home and we removed the safety barrier on the kiddy bed. We played our first game of old maid / memory game and realise the kid needs more game socializing. 7 days to our long awaited family vacation and packing luggage, staying in on a Sunday, a very rare day indeed.

[domesticmonkey]

The comet spent a garden theme birthday on his 3rd birthday in sch w friends, then his last cable car ride for a while, and wrapped up with dinner and another cake with popo. Mummy has been on a sewing spree and made my first set of fitted rilakuma bedsheets for the kiddo. The son also astonished mummy with lots of bad behavior, testing boundaries incessantly and amazing patience and improvement at times like coloring the whole picture of the hungry caterpillar. Alas, he never stops to amaze me. Happy 3 year old kiddo and many more to go!

[domesticmonkey]

Slipper pouch for school made from left over Ikea curtain scraps. Hope the teacher won't try and give this away too. Thinking if I could unload and then bring it to office with me. Definitely less easy to lose than a ziploc! And can wash every week with laundry and won't feel icky. I am on a roll, what should I sew next! (I already made two bolster cases from the same curtain scraps, photo to follow when they are washed and changed then I'll take a photo of the curtains w the bolsters haha)

[domesticmonkey]

The comet spent a garden theme birthday on his 3rd birthday in sch w friends, then his last cable car ride for a while, and wrapped up with dinner and another cake with popo. Mummy has been on a sewing spree and made my first set of fitted rilakuma bedsheets for the kiddo. The son also astonished mummy with lots of bad behavior, testing boundaries incessantly and amazing patience and improvement at times like coloring the whole picture of the hungry caterpillar. Alas, he never stops to amaze me. Happy 3 year old kiddo and many more to go!

[domesticmonkey]

Less than a month to 3 year old and today I shed my first (?) tear of pride. My son, who cried till he vomit at his first swim lesson, just 2 session ago, today went bravely by himself and went from trepid to swimming using a swim board. I wondered what that moisture around the eyes were... And he got such a work out today that he actually have serious tan lines and jelly legs! But daddy was smart and brought him to the library after that and he was calm enough to read many books with mummy, and helped to wear him down too. By the time he finish his tea break, drank his milk, he fell asleep immediately. Success!! So many proud moments today.

[domesticmonkey]

Almost 35 months. I learn my son can read and spell about one or two dozen words. All because I was drinking apple cider and he managed to decipher that the can contained his favorite fruit and decided it must be apple juice. Wow. I proceeded to "test" how much he knew, and if it was by phonetics or by memory. So it was all pure memory, some letter recognition triggered (lucky guesses), and some legit memory. He can tell me what word it is by hearing the letters or reading the letters. He can also reverse by spelling the same words, esp tho legit ones. Then he got bored so it's hard to tell which he serious about. Then we decided to do it this awesome search activity in the ecda magazine. We had a lot of parent-child fun. I was very impressed with his ability to check off the items he found, following my instructions. He tried to write the numbers himself but still need help... He tends to flip the numbers mirror image. Still I was v impressed with his writing.

[domesticmonkey]

This has been an amazing morning with my 34 month old. He spent the morning listening to Julia Donaldson audio books from Eryi. He built a duplo heartfor the first time by himself looking at a picture in the box. He wore his monster jacket that he is normally so afraid of and he managed to zip himself up and told me he wants to practice! We practiced what he would do if he get into a lift without us. He stopped and posed for photo nicely. He tried to get out of eating his breakfast by telling me somebody else likes it more. Hah! Kid learning manipulation skills bonus. This one is not a patient kid but damn his eyes are sharp. I must remind myself to impart clear steps and principles. For the duplo, he observes that I look at the box and start at the bottom. I search for the appropriate piece and work my way up following the picture. In the last 3 time I did this with him, I got him to source the pieces for me and tell him where to put it according to the picture but he had never been very compliant with following the picture. So I'm really glad that without mummy's interference, he manage to do it just fine :) I learn too that I should let go a little. I normally enjoy his tweaking and creative changes from the picture and allow him to do so. But knowing he can also follow and replicate is a wondrous knowledge too. 🌟

[domesticmonkey]

What a Christmas with this 3 year old. 34 months and counting to his next birthday. What a difference a year makes. Last Christmas he was still struggling with his new found mobility. This year he is overwhelming us with his new found speech. Everyday is endless amazement for me. I am grateful for everyday with you and tireless daddy. You do not cease to amaze every one around you, even if they are just amazed by the gadgets and toys mummy and daddy shower you with. Be it your camera or your aquadoodle cards. Your dancing of Gummi bear or your recounting of puffin rock characters to everybody. Even if I forgot to bring you to one of the too many parties we went this year, people asked about you. This has felt like a rehearsal for cny 2018 but it has only made me realize life is fragile. One must treasure time on earth with friends and people I care about. Am I trying to do too much? Yes! Because there is just not enough time.

[domesticmonkey]

Happy 33 months old my little storm trooper. Happy Thanksgiving y'all

[domesticmonkey]

Making dumplings together. Our first shared cooking experience Yay! The toy dumpling gyoza maker from Bandai toys was originally mummy and daddy's toy but now we are glad to share it with you hb. I'm glad you were able to participate! http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/07/bandais-gyoza-dumpling-maker-japan.html

[domesticmonkey]

The amazing difference a base plate makes. Hb had the same duplo set since one but we never had a base plate for him to play the bricks on (out of stock) and slowly he grew tired of his bricks because he felt he could only make walking sticks and the like. But recently we found a base plate for him on Lazada and Oh wow he could not get enough of his bricks. We didn't even show him the new bricks we got him and already his imagination ran wild with the amazing number of pattern permutations he could come up with. I think we won't even need to give him his new bricks! He use it for math, for 3D alphabets and building engineering wonders like this bridge haha best buy ever.

[domesticmonkey]

Almost 33 months old and my son drew his first stick man and I love it so much. He loves singing and drawing, a bit of daddy and a bit of mommy. He can spell a few words and speak a few dozens but Chinese is still foreign. He can spend hours with his few duplo bricks just because we bought a base plate. He tucks his cars to bed and says goodnight to them. He plays pretend with his cooking set and share strawberries with his imaginary tea party. He loves the zoo and the cable car. He tells mommy the police will catch me if I don't get out of bed and have lunch with him. He has so much love for the world, so much curiosity and so much to share. Oh he is growing so fast it makes me scared. Scared of change, scared of not doing a good job, scared that if I don't pay enough attention it will be over before I hop on board.