Wysing up the kiddos

Wysing Art centre held a 'Den building event' in the communal green area right opposite our house. Excerpt from their website;

"Wysing Arts Centre is a research and development centre for artists set in 11acres of rural Cambridgeshire. At Wysing we support artists to practically test out new ways of thinking in contemporary visual art. Artists working from studios or undertaking international residencies are encouraged, alongside visitors, to take creative risks in a supportive environment in which the exploration of process and collaborative ways of working are paramount..."

Kids from around participated to build tents/dens together and had a picnic under it right after. Parents can help too. I didn't call to book a place for Tobey, thinking that he's still too young to help erect tents and such. But since it was held right outside us, FIL just too him there and they allowed him to join in. He was the youngest participant. The older kids kept an eye out for him too. I don't know whether he acquired the skill of "working in a team" or anything artistic, but he sure had lots of fun!

Here are several pics taken by FIL;

The wee-wee story

A few months back, we tried taking the diaper off Tobey whilst he was running around the back garden. He wee-ed on his shorts whenever he felt like it. I don't blame him really. Our theory is, because he's always been on disposable diapers, he seldom felt wetness (unless it's overfilled), hence he seldom felt the discomfort that deters cloth-diaper users to wee so often. This is a disadvantage, simple because he will not be motivated to learn to "hold" his wee in.

Anyways, we knew he wasn't ready then, but at least he experienced the consequences of wee-ing on himself and how uncomfortable it felt. Following that, when the weather was good, we took his nappy off once in a while for the same purpose. I put him on the cushioned seat on the toilet whenever I can and asked him to wee. He always co-operated and tried his best to wee. More often than not, he always managed to produce some. I've also tried asking him to do a poo, but I got a feeling that he's almost afraid to poo into the toilet bowl. He asked to squat on the seat to poo, but he still wasn't comfortable doing his big business there. Anyways, I decided to leave that till a later time and just concentrate on the wee-ing.

Two weeks ago, I've decided he's ready to be trained seriously, as he's already 2 and the weather was sunny enough to wash and dry 10 shorts in a day . Also whilst my in-laws are here to help motivate him. I got my gloves, cleaning rag, carpet stain remover spray and handwash powder all lined up by the utility sink. I was ready. I took it off after his morning bath until after his evening bath. Only put it on during his afternoon nap. He also wears diapers when we are out and about, which was quite alot for the past two weeks. This time we use the potty. We placed it in the only tiled area in the house, which is the kitchen (yup, my whole house including the bathrooms are carpetted). How it works is that we will ask him whether he wants to do a wee every 30 mins or so and he would answer "yes" or "no". If yes, we'll ask him to go to his potty, take off his shorts/trousers and sit on the potty to do a wee. After a few days, he insist that everyone within his sight has to go "shhhhh" before he will start to wee. He's quite good at that. In the beginning, he would only wet his shorts once or twice a day (especially near nap time when he was too tired to "hold" it in). It also happened when he as over excited or engrossed over a toy/game/show. He would only poo in the evenings, when he has his diaper on. Only once he poo-ed on the carpet and oh boy, he was so grossed out by it and froze on scene.

He got better each day.

Today (23rd July 2009):

He was out at the front of the house building tents with other children on the little field opposite my house (It's another eco-hippie-ish program they often have for kids around here, will blog about it later). He was out with FIL. According to FIL, midway he went to him and said "WEE WEE"...He quickly took him in and he did a wee in the potty. I am overjoyed. I am so proud of my little boy. I know it's still a looong way to go before he can do that more often, but at least he got the idea now.

Updates

SK was on leave for a week. The first few days were spent painting the garden fence with FIL. Myself, MIL and Tobey also helped.

The painted fence brightened up the garden alot.

Before:

This is the first pic we took of the garden

After:

Picture taken just a few hours ago

The vege patch has grown! We've been having fresh salad and lettuce straight from the garden. We literally walk out, select and pull. Really can't get any fresher than ;P
We've added another apple tree to the garden (So now we have cherries, pear, plum and apple trees) Plus two bushes of blueberries.

Tobey kept plucking them and popping them into his mouth, when we were not looking, even before it has a chance to ripen.He stopped doing it lately...maybe because they are still too sour to be eaten.

Hopefully by next season we won't have to buy much fruits from the supermarket anymore..hehehe(fingers crossed).

In terms of vege addition, this pumpkin plant has the spotlight at the moment. Its facinating how fast it crawls along the ground.

the yellow bit is it's first flower...I think it will eventually grow into a pumpkin

Flower wise, these are the newbies..my favourites!

Roses and Lilies

What else..oh

Several nights ago, Tobey "made" his own lemon drizzle muffins. Actually, it was a premixed from a box. We just needed to cracked an egg in, add water, stir, spoon into the casings given and bake. I let him cut the packaging, pour the flour mixture, cracked the egg, pour the water and stir. He really enjoyed himself very much. He kept asking me to carry him to look into the oven whilst they are rising in the oven.

concentrating and following instructions given to him...if only he obeys me so willingly at other times

so proud of his own creation. The muffins are placed not in neat rows simply because Tobey insisted the muffin casings to be placed that way.

That's all for now folks ;)

Visit to Colchester Zoo

This would be Tobey's first visit to the Zoo. We figured he's old enough to appreciate a zoo outing since he quite enjoyed petting animals during our Mudchute farm visit the previous weekend. Colchester Zoo has a good child-friendliness rating and nearest to us. So we just packed a picnic (actually SK spend an hour playing gourmet sandwich chef that morning, making his version of the perfect sandwiches..kekeke) and went off, even on a raining morning (once again the weather forecast failed us). As we reach nearer, it was raining even heavier. SIGH! But once we parked the car, it STOPPED. Literally stopped for the next 5 hours. Thank God again.

Anyways, we were quite impressed by the size of the zoo and how well-planned the layout was! It was so well kept,leafy and peaceful, with several water featurus along the paths. The zoo is segregated into the Beginner's area, Aquatic area, Lakeland area, South America Area and lastly the African Safari area. There were many picnic tables and sheltered areas for families with packed lunches. Playgrounds/areas dotted along the routes and many child-friendly restaurants. Antibacterial foam wash dispensers were easily available as well.

Here are some ofthe pics taken;

Feeding the elephants

Feeding the goats

Watching the feeding of Penguins

Petting the horses

Lunch break!!!YAY!!

This is the first time Tobey had a sandwich for lunch. Nowadys, he rather drink his water from cups and plastic bottles!

Train ride with daddy

Wallabies (the white one is the one with Albino)

I can't remember what this animal is called, but huiyo, they really fought!

African Safari section..There were Giraffes, Zebras and Rhinos, Ostriches...we spent the longest time there, watching in awe...

Beautiful Tiger

resting before going home..we couldn't feel our feet anymore

At that point in time, SK rate this as a "Definite-venue-to-revisit" UNTIL he discovered his whole shirt was enveloped with some kind of black tiny bugs with wings. We spent the next 30 minutes trying to get rid of them. I even changed Tobey's clothing, but the bugs came back. Luckily they don't bite. When in the carpark, we saw other visitors busy brushing off bugs from their bodies and clothes...My guess is that the smell of the Zoo penetrated into the grain of our clothing, making us smell like the rest of the exhibit, hence attracted those bugs... :P So this zoo is now marked as a "No-wayI-am- going-back-to-this-place" venue.

Cambourne Fun Fair

There was a funfair in our village from Wednesday to Saturday last weekend. It created a kind of buzz amongst mothers at the local playgroups. Of course, we paid a visit on Friday evening. Many of the rides are targeted towards teenagers(or trill seekers). Just several to keep toddlers like Tobey amused.

Cars and train rides.

Can you see how happy he is in those pics??? He just loves driving. Usually, he'll climb onto the driver's seat of mine or SK's car and can spend forever and a day pretending to drive....

At times, he would insist that we shut the doors and leave him alone to his driving. Of course we can't. So we get into the backseats and just wait till he gets bored of his "toy". We must have looked so silly to passer-bys. SIGH. The things we do for our kid.

Mudchute Park Visit

Over the weekend we headed down to London for good Dim-Sum (we have yet to find any nice Chinese food in Cambridge) and visited to the Mudchute Park and Farm, recommended by Tsulin. Tobey really enjoyed himself, visiting each animal, feeding them leaves and try to immitate the noises they make. He wasn't afraid of almost all of them, except the pig with slimy nose.

Feeding himself lunch and enjoying the lolli given by one of the waitress.

Tobey got a chance to meet up with little Shean Wenn again at the restaurant.

Both coincidentally were dressed in white tops and brown bottoms

Park entrance

Tobey visiting all the farm animals (mountain goat, pigs, chicken, birds, Guinea pigs, etc)

my favourite are these chicken with puffy white-hair.They look as if they blow dry their hair for our viewing pleasure. SK called it JUDGE CHICK

Tired..."Let's go home daddy"

Water Fun

We've been having sweaty and humid heatwave for the past week. It's just like Malaysia minus the air-cons! Here's making the most out of the situation