Little Dollies

Maya has started her collection off little dollies after falling in love with mummy's humble collection. Within a span of 2 months, she has collected quite a number of them. Her recent 3 favorites are these little Japanese dollies we bought from Singapore. Instead of playing cliche dress up with her dolls, we decided to have swimming / bathing sessions for them instead. With a small bowl of water placed on top of a huge towel, and a few dollies and accessories, Maya was ecstatic. She likes it so much, we have played this game 3 days in a row now.

Plastic Safety Pin Jingles

While we were in Singapore, we stumbled upon a nice art shop near the La Salle art school. Lots of fantastic stuff in there. I was so excited, looking more like a little child in a candy store more than Maya. Maya was running around being chased by daddy while mummy was busy grabbing and putting everything on the counter. Sales man, well, was happy. One of the prized item I got from there was these plastic needles. Huge ones, and much safer to be used by kids for crafting purpose, and provides endless fun with little imagination needed. And the plastic safety pins, I got them from bakery shops. There are many other types of accessories there, just pick the ones you love with hole big enough for the needle to go through. Thread a string through the needle. Do not cut the ends so that all the accessories threaded through will not fall out from the other end. :) It's a great activity for kids, and for building synapses for young minds.

 

Dinosaur Pet

Maya, like her father, has a soft spot for dinosaur. As luck would have it, while on one of our trips down to KLCC Petrosains Centre, we stumbled upon this. A dinosaur that grows when submerged in water. On top of that, we got a simple plastic aquarium from our favorite RM5 shop, Daiso. While Maya was pouring water into the aquarium, I explained to her that this dinosaur needs a lot of water to grow bigger each day, therefore, like her plants, she has to water it daily. She smiled, and said, " STRONG!" So now I know my little princess associate growing up with being stronger as well.

 

Little Gardener

Maya has been helping me with watering the garden since she was a tad bit younger than now. Yesterday, out of the blue, she said she wanted to plant flower like mummy. So after lunch, both of us went out and did some shopping for a simple pot, premix soil, and some seeds. She looked through the whole rack of seeds and in the end we settled for birds eye chili instead of flowering plants. Throughout the whole drive home from the mall, she kept reminding me,"Maya plants seed." Had to assure her that we will do that once we get home. Maya was all excited when I got everything ready behind our house. She clapped her hands so excitedly when she managed to pour the soil into the pot. My heart warms up at moments like this. With the seeds planted and watered, she promised mummy she will water her chili plant daily. :) Cross my fingers, I hope they will germinate well.

 

Growing Crystals

We have been back for a few days now and I am nearly done with spring cleaning the house. Just a little more to go and I guess all will be back to normal. Today, finally, there's finally some sense of normalcy. It takes a little challenge to get Maya back into her usual schedule but as she gets older, it gets easier. I am very exhausted but as a full time stay-at-home mum without any maid, I get no rest. Am just waiting for the day Harry comes back so I can have a little time off to do my pedicure. That's when I get fully recharged with a magazine within an hour.

During our vacation in Singapore, I managed to stock up a few things for Maya. One of it was this crystal growing set. Took it out from the box and we had some fun. Maya was entertained, amused and very absorbed in what she had to do. She had the most fun from wearing the safety goggle and stirring the mixture. It will take some time to grow the crystal garden.

After that, we did some painting by using stamps. I let her do what she wants, explore and create. From using the stamps, she took her own paint brush, and when she got a little more curious, she used her hands. That's when she shouted ,"STICKY!" and wanted to clean up. And toddlers will be toddlers, after I cleaned her hands, she decided to take out all the wet wipes from the packet and stacked them up. It's a joy to see the amount of happiness simple things bring into the life of a little child.

Right before she went into slumberland, a little cosplay for a sweet dream tonight.

 

Hi5 & the Remaining Days in Singapore

Maya officially turned 2 in Singapore on the 7th June. Other than mummy, daddy could not celebrate with her as he was going to have a major exam on the 8th. So, as promised, mummy went around aimlessly into many 7-Eleven shops searching for Donald Duck and Daisy Duck. My gosh, I just cannot recall how many 7-Eleven I went into and sadly, none of them carried the duo. But just as funny as life itself, we stumbled upon 3 shops that sold party items. By luck, they had many pirate accesories, and Maya was esctatic! We bought a few things and then continued our search for the duck as daddy was busy studying back in the hotel room. In the end, we walked all the way to Illuma and back to Bugis Junction where we finally found Donald Duck and Daisy Duck in BHG. As bonus, Care Bear Friends were on sale as well. Oh what a day we had! By then, Maya was all exhausted and so was mummy, but I had to lug back all the shopping in one arm, and a newly turned 2-year-old kid in the other. Tired arms...painful arms...Back in the hotel room, daddy decided to take a quick break, and we had some fun with the new pirate accesories while singing ,"Happy Birthday" to Maya. We had a few other plushies joining in the celebration as well. Ahem..

The day after Maya's birthday, mummy decided to bring her to United Square Mall to meet her idol, Hi5. The first ever disc she watched as a baby, and the group she so adore. Mummy being socially awkward at most times, and least friendly of Maya's parents decided to brave the situation and let her meet them. I am so glad they are all so friendly and warm. Even the new comer, Dayyen, who replaced Fely, is most friendly and chatty. Maya has even learnt to chant, and yes, I repeat chant, Stevie's and Tim's name, though she only does it when they are not around. She's really very shy in front of them. She actually, patiently waited for more than 2 hours to watch their show. I am so proud of her. Mummy went with her in the morning and was only able to attend the meet and greet session. So when daddy was back from his exam, Maya sprang up from her nap, and in her limited verbal language, told him about Hi5, and seeing her enthusiasm and spirit, daddy decided to bring the whole family down to the mall and watch their live show before our flight back to Malaysia, tomorrow. And what luck we had, when we bumped into them while we were waiting for our taxi. Being ever so kind, Tim Maddren, the musician from New Zealand and a member of Hi5, sang the song from Toy Box and did the pirate ,"Arrr" for Maya. Thank you to all Hi5 members and crew for making Maya's 2nd birthday, an awesome and absolutely memorable one.

And as usual, Maya did some crafting and free play while she was in the hotel room on the many days daddy was studying. :)

Plushies

My little girl adores soft toys as much as her mummy, if not more. Everyday she will take one of her soft toy, and it will be her baby for the day. Up to date, this is her current stash of plushies from Singapore. How are we going to lug it back? Hmmmm... A great question for me to ponder on today while Maya is having her afternoon nap.

Singapore Zoo

We finally got to the zoo and Maya was sleeping. She woke up on the wrong side of the bed and was in a foul mood. We let her sleep for a while longer before we started touring the zoo. She was all excited as we have told her, Boots the monkey from Dora can be found in the zoo. Throughout the whole trip, we were searching for different species of monkeys.

Love the zoo, but I must admit, Singapore is one humid country! It wasn't hot, but there was no air and the steam vapor from the rain just stayed stagnant in mid air. It felt like as though I was in perpetual sauna.

Maya in Siloso Beach, Singapore

Maya has always wanted to see a nice beach, similar to the one shown in Dora the Adventurer's episode. We did attempt to bring her to one in Moorib, but she didn't like it as much as Siloso beach. Beautiful sand, beautiful people, a nice ambience all together. Oh, and we managed to take a picture with an albino snake. As you can see here, I was petrified, but braving it for little Maya. She wasn't afraid of the snake, in fact, she was trying to squeeze it.... Which made mummy even more afraid.

Found this nice sand castle while strolling by the beach.

Uncle Yasser the ever excellent and patient tour guide.

Underwater world. Sadly, Maya was more interested in the beach than the underwater world.

 

An Early Birthday Party for Maya

After much thought, we decided to celebrate Maya's birthday slightly earlier due to time constraint. This time around, we were a bit more ambitious and cooked everything by ourselves. Luckily, Harry's mum was ever so kind and offered to cook the fried rice, salted egg crabs and some pickles. Other items made by yours truly on the menu were; vinegar pork trotter, BBQ pork ribs, honey drumsticks, quail eggs mung bean dessert, steamed prawns, garlic boiled pork belly and hello kitty strawberry konyaku jelly. The madness and whirlwind rush to get everything ready in a day reminded me of the days when I was still working in Pavilion but just that, this time it revolves around Maya's nap time, and breasfeeding demands.In the kitchen, every single stove top had pots boiling, the steamer was in use, the oven always had food cooking and the blender was whirring until the motor was hot, but all the effort was worth it as every guests went back with smiles on their face and a full tummy. Thank you to everyone who came and made Maya's birthday an extra special one! Happy birthday to my dearest daughter, mummy and daddy love you!

Jkids at Paradigm Mall, Kelana Jaya

Mummy finally needed a little time off to do pedicure and daddy became the babysitter for Maya. We decided on the new mall at Kelana Jaya; Paradigm. So far, we are loving it. Maybe it has partially to do with their great baby rooms and nice tenant mix, though they do need to brush up on their operations and visual merchandising.

So, mummy went to the "Nail Parlour" while daddy and Maya checked themselves into a very nice looking indoor park. I must add, this park looks quite whimsical and packed with loads of fun! Mummy was a bit apprehensive in putting Maya in Jkids at first as there were lots of mechanical moving parts but daddy had no qualms about it. Thanks to daddy, we found out Maya is indeed ready and a little bit more grown up already. :)

Baby Girls and Blythe

Maya has been sick these few days. Actually everyone in the house is sick. To cheer her up, we decided to introduce Maya to mummy's small collection of baby girls. Her interest in them grew a little more each day and we ended up getting her a few mini Blythe dolls from "The littlest pets" collection. The great thing about these dolls, they keep her in the trolley while mummy does grocery shopping.

Expressive Balloons

We decided to do a quick and fun activity a few days ago. Initially, it was supposed to be facial expressions on the balloons, which then turned into doodling on balloons. Maya kept asking daddy to blow more balloons for her. She had fun, and daddy.... well... out of breathe. :P

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

My first ever attempt at red velvet cupcakes!