This Toddler Packs Away His Toys

Yep yep yep yep!

Finally, my 21 month old has learned how to pack away his toys. It happened last Wednesday, July 25. I tried the trick that Faye shared in my earlier post. And it worked! I was so excited that I forgot to take a picture of the very important milestone. When I said his toys are also sleepy like him and need to be returned to the toy box so they can sleep, he picked them up one by one and put them away. My jaw fell to the floor. After the clean up, I showered him with hugs, kisses and thank you’s. When we were about to go up the stairs, he noticed that a small ball was behind the legs of his study table. Picked it up and put it in the toy box. Am so proud!

This is Aki putting away a toy last Thursday night. Not sure if he did it again last night because I came home late.

Aki Short Stories

As I mentioned before, Aki is very affectionate. He gives kisses, hugs and flowers  without being asked. About a week ago, he freaked out /charmed the neighbors, when he decided that he would bless the hand of each person who will pass by. So he blessed the hand of jogging lolos, construction workers and grade school girls. At first, they could not understand why Aki suddenly approached them and asked for the their hand. As soon as Aki blessed their hands, huh’s became aaaaaaaaaawww’s.

Yesterday morning, when he saw the construction workers who were working on a nearby street, he looked at me and did his baby sign for blessing of the hand. He wanted to stop the car so he could bless the hand of the workers. God bless my boy!

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Last last weekend, when we ate lunch together as a family peacefully for the first time, was also the first time Aki jumped. As in he bent his legs, push himself up and got both feet off the floor. If there is one aspect of development that I don’t worry about, that is his gross motor development. In fact, he has very noticeble calf muscles that are sometimes rock hard. Buti pa siya may muscles.

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Here is Aki, happy as soon as he opens his eyes in the morning.

I know I should be happy but sometimes I wish Aki is not malambing as soon as he wakes up. Here he is, 13 kilos plus a heavy diaper, sitting on my ribs at 6AM.

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In this photo, Aki is happily playing inside our empty ref. Sometimes, he will just open the ref door and sit. In this picture, Aki is poking the eggs so they would move from one egg hole to another.

When we still had Meiji chocolate and strawberry chips, he guarded the ref  until we gave in and gave him some.

Aki also likes to get the salad dressing bottle and pretend that he is puttingg some onto our plate.

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A bad habit that I am happy he broke is hugging us from behind and then biting our ass. At first it starts as a lambing hug which turns into a gigil hug  which turns into a gigil bite. It is a funny scene actually unless you are the unlucky human teether.

Water + Herbs =

= pretty ice cubes!

Pretty Abstract Puto

We love making puto. It is a lot easier to make compared to cupcakes but it is just as filling.  All you need are flour, water, coconut milk/butter , puto molds and a steamer. If you want them pretty, you can put food coloring. We love pretty things so we used lots and lots of food coloring.

After mixing all the ingridients minus the food coloring, we transferred the mixture into three bowls because we wanted to make three kinds of pretty puto.

Here is Aki putting food coloring. He also helped in mixing and in transferring  the mixture into the molds

This set reminds me of earth day.

This reminds of  a Van Goth painting

Not Sew Easy Flower Pillow

I could have saved energy and time by buying the No Sew Fabric glue but no, the frugal one in me won. I could have finished the entire 180 peso bottle in just one project.  Because frugaliciousity is the name of the game, I opted to hand stitch everything.

First, I made the pillow case last Friday night. I left one side open so it would be easier for me to sew the petals into the fabric.

Saturday morning, I used scratch paper to estimate the number and size of petals that I need. There are several tutorials online  onhow to make a flower felt pillow but all of them used fabric glue and my pillow is smaller than most. I was left to plan on my own.

I then cut 16 petals – 8 big for the outer later and 8 small for the 2nd and 3rd layer.  Then I folded and sewed the sides.  It might have been easier if I had a pair of sharp scissors.

Family Ref Magnets

When I was growing up , I always looked forward to seeing my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Of course, I want Aki to be like that. After our one week vacation in Elbi last Holy Week, Aki has been really sweet to his Lola Do, Ate Jyl and Kuya Rock even if he saw them only twice since April. My worry is that if he doesn’t see them for a long time, he might get uncomfortable around them again.

These magnetic photo frames from Uncle Bills will help him remember that he has a loving lola and two sweet cousins.

Here is Aki “blessing the hand” of Lola Do. He also likes to kiss Ate Jyl and to high five Kuya Rocky.

Since we are on the topic of ref magnets, I would like to share that I did some editing on my collection. I got rid of the magnets that does not have a special meaning to me. I only kept the ones that I got from my trips and the pasalubongs that I got from friends and family.

Running Aki + Rough Pavement =

Scraped lip!

It is snowing in Paranaque!

I wish our office shredder shreds this finely so I can bring home enough shredded  paper to fill a family size inflatable pool

Aki does not look happy in this pic but i justh ave to post. So pogi, right?

Or better yet, why not buy my own shredder so I can make confetti anytime. We will throw confetti everytime there is something to celebrate like when Aki lets me brush his teeth or  when Franco successfully changes his son’s diaper without using up all the wipes.  Or maybe we will throw confetti  as soon as a birthday girl or a birthday boy wakes up? Yeah, having our own shredder will definitely make our home a happier one. Whatchathink, be?

So far, we played with shredded paper by

– putting the confetti on a batya and hiding small items like crayons and toy cars.  Aki’s goal was to find the hidden treasures.

– using a small container to scoop and transfer  shredded paper from a big basin into a smaller one.

Teaching Shapes thru Tofu

My first ever sewing project

I have had this extra large pillow since I was in high school. Because of its unusual  size (23×23), we can’t find extra pillow cases for it anywhere. When I was younger, I thought this pillow looks sosy because of its velvet cover.  Now, I just find it so 90’s. My first sewing project will give this boring pillow a makeover.

First step is getting the measurement.

Next I bought colorful canvass cloth from Cotton Depot in Glorietta 5. One yard costs pesos 120. For this project, I only got 3/4 of  yard. The needle set and thread are from Carolina’s.

I sewed the sides using back stitch.

After sewing the sides, I wrapped the cloth around the pillow and used safety pins to mark the areas that were to be sewn together.

 

Roses in the Garden

Franco never needs to buy roses for me ever, provided that my new plants will not wilt and die.