BB - Sofi is 4

Sofi turned 4 last weekend ♡

We celebrated at my mom's in Nilai to cater larger crowd that we invited (but mostly none came, hah hahaha). From now on, Sofi's birthday party is family-only party until she gets her own friends that she wants to invite ok - no more open party. I was so bitter last weekend I felt like canceling the event, but it was not 'my' party and we did have fun eventually. Seriously, I can't believe now I had to care whether I have friends or not just so Sofi has same-age friends to play with. 

Anyway, it was not my day, it was Sofi's day and I'm glad she had so much fun.

Thank you to my ma & siblings for all the homemade foods ♡- I requested a potluck party so we each had to make something ourselves. I woke up at 5 am just to make trays of macaroni + cheese, Aja made quiche and peach strudel, ma made mi kari, bubur jagung durian and prepared fruits, Azmi made the cake, the tarts and the cupcakes, and Azura made the sandwich. 

We all wore Ma's purple Zanubah shirt, so it coincidently match Sofi's Twilight Sparkle theme. This is the year she 'requested' for her little pony's birthday party. So we all played along with the purple theme as well. She was so excited to be the main character of the event - she wanted to wear 'the party hat', or 'the cape'. She knew it was her birthday, her cake, her candle, her spot. All, quite interesting for me to watch because she is my total opposite and she's developing her own personality that is alien to mine. She is so expressive and she voices it out, while I'm timid and I don't say much in public. I'm figuring out a way to guide her the best that I can but she always surprises me. 

Look, look, look, all the homemade foods :

These are the little achievements or changes for the past year between 3 and 4:

• she started talking
• she started kindergarten
• she got friends at her school
• she improved in night sleeping (this took 3 years..) 
• she stopped wearing diapers altogether (no more night/poopoo pampers)
• she got obsessed with My Little Pony
• she chooses her own clothes nowadays
• she can ride her scooter up to 2+ km while I'm running
• she has her own 'makeup' routine before she goes to school
• she knows her ABC and 1-10 (in 3 languages)
• she can write her name
• she's very clingy to me (she used to be clingy with Af)
• oh, she exchanged her best friend 'baba' for the new pony plushie 

She has 2 more years before starting school, and yes, the toddler years went by quite fast once she gained more confidence in doing things herself. Lately, she's been saying that she is no longer a 'bb' (baby) and she is a 'big girl'. She told Af not to pokpok her to sleep because she wants to sleep herself or she will take the weighing machine, weigh herself and show me that she is now 'big'. I don't know where this obsession with 'growing up' came from, because I never really pushed her if she is not ready. 

Anyway, she's my darling and I hope I will be her best friend as long as she needed me to be.

Happy birthday, bb.

Kids : Sofi and her Arts/Craft Activities

As an artist, I have many sponsored art materials, and I know I don't really make as many artworks so I shared most of my art materials with Sofi. For the past 2 years, she's been playing a lot with various colour materials: pencil colour, water colour, crayons, markers, highlighters, acrylic paints, poster markers, poster paint, etc.

I know it's a bit too much for a 4-year-old, but most of the art materials are mine but she loves them to be on her table instead:

She started colouring around the age of 1.5 years old, and she loves to do it almost daily. By the time she is 3, there are so many fully-used colouring books around. We can't even catch up in buying more colouring books. One thing I make sure of is that she needs to finish colouring the whole page before turning to the next page. So there's no unfinished page.

Perhaps I also need to start teaching her to use blank A3 paper to draw from her imagination instead? 

Links to my fav art materials for toddlers :

• Stabilo Woody - love the chunkiness and the vibrant colours
• Stabilo BOSS Highlighter - yes, I know most people use highlighters for studies, but these highlighters set is so much fun to use with a toddler, chonky and vibrant, easy to clean
• Unicorn Poster Paint - also chonky, so easy to fill up a large paper, feels like crayon but more buttery, more colours here

One thing I noticed about toddlers is they have a small attention span so using tiny-tip pencil colours is a bit too slow for them. Use chonky colours instead. Also, painting is also fun for them (not for us to do the clean up later though). 

I learned that making them do art is good for strengthening their attention span. Imagine looking at a 3-year-old painting at her desk for 30 minutes straight, undisturbed. It's, an amazing view. I never thought she can be that focused while painting.

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Anyway, for the latest 3 weeks of her school holiday, I bought her a set of Kumon's first-step workbooks. Sofi is almost 4, so I want to hone another motor skill which is to cut paper and paste. She tends to be more crafty & artsy so using scissors would be a great skill to add. As an anxious parent, I started with basic kiddy scissors without the blade (but she manages it just fine).

In this set, there are 12 workbooks suitable for toddlers 2+, mainly on these topics: Let's Color, Let's Cut Paper, Let's Fold, Let's Sticker & Paste. Each book contains 40 sheets. It is a nice school holiday activity for toddlers >> Kumon Workbook Set Here <<

In the first few books, all activities were guided. I need to explain, help, and guide her in the learning process. The Kumon's colouring book section is a bit too easy for her so she didn't like it that much.  I think she loves cutting using scissors the most (probably because it's a new tool for her) and she took a few weeks to master the skill. Now she can do all the activities in most of the books by herself. She will sit in front of the tv, watch Peppa Pig, and do the cutting activity all by herself. She can also cut and use glue to paste. She doesn't like the folding part yet so I'm keeping those Kumon's folding books for the time being.

These are all the books that she already finished in a month :

And here are the paper activities that she cut, paste and stick (I put them in a box) :

I also don't force her to do activities that she doesn't feel like doing, for example remembering the alphabet, or tracing them. She has her own desk and art supplies, so most of the time, she chooses which arts/crafts activity to do herself. 

Other tips : She also has a big file that I use to keep all her artwork from school so she can see them back when she wants to (so I don't have to stick it on the wall). I also bought her cute luggage, that's where she can put all her stickers. So she won't stick stickers all over the place :

Links to more activity books :

• Gakken Activity Books (useful & visually nice, but too fast and only can be used once)
• Usborne Wipe-Clean Activity Book (this is one of Sofi's fav, she reused this so many times)
• I Spy Learn & Go (nice illustration but less activity than the Usborne one)
• Busy Book (locally made, nice illustration, not Sofi's fav)
• My First Sticker Book (nice to play, until they stop sticking up on the pages)

As you can see, I love buying her books. I always experimented with different kinds of books: colouring books, sticker books, busy books, activity books, etc. Personally, I think by 2 years old, kids are ready for their arts and crafts activity - fully guided. 

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As for reading, I try to make it a habit to read before sleep time or downtime (around 6 pm+). I let her choose her books and read for her. I started reading to her when she was 3 months old, and I always surrounded her with books so I guess she's used to it by now. At this moment she is still in the 1-5 simple lines per page era. I bought a lot of books that are too advanced for her, so usually, she isn't interested. Picking up the right book is also a learning process for me. 

 

Moving-forward :

• I think having a cellophane tape dispenser will help her in cutting the tape, instead of having to rely on me to cut the tape for her
• Plus, I think I can now upgrade her kiddy scissor to a proper kid's friendly scissor (with blade)
• And I will buy a blank A3 paper for her to draw

Little Story 241 : Surviving Sofi's first Flu

Sofi had her first viral flu - her first cold and cough. The last time she had fever was more than a year ago. We aren't fully equipped in managing Sofi while she's sick because she hardly fall sick (Alhamdulillah), so it is expected for me to deal with this with anxiousness and worries. She's 2.5 years old and we are so glad that it took this long for it to happen (I've been anxiously waiting for the time). She needed her body to react and create antibodies for the future :F

She was weak at times and active when the medicine kicked in. She was fussy, clingy and very picky when it came to her food intake, but she still drank her milk. We fed medicine through her milk and yogurt - it was not ideal but at least she won't throw up.

There were nights when we hardly sleep and I was in alert mode, catering to her needs and uncomfortableness. The night when her nose was stuffy and she can't breathe. When we can hear her fighting over her phlegm and fever. 

On day 4 of her fever, we went to the doctor, got her blood and covid test, got cleared from dengue, covid or bacterial infection. So the doctor said it was most probably a viral infection.

What helps other than her medicine :

• Kool fever baby (refreshing mint) - to help her breathe and reduce the heat
• Nasal spray (Sterimar Baby) - to unclog her nose
• Nose aspirator - haven't used it yet, at this moment the nasal spray helps a lot
• Essential Oil (Eucalyptus, peppermint, lemon, tea tree) - to diffuse throughout the day
• Vicks Baby Balsam (the pink one) - also to help her breathe
• Small napkins (a lot of them) - to use for snot and what not, wash daily

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It took 6 days for the on-off fever to go away and today is day 11 of her cold and cough. 

She is still on medication (twice daily), I'm still using the nasal spray twice daily to help her unclog her nose and I gave her honey when she cough too bad. 

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Our go-to children clinic is Klinik As-Salam in Bangi (24 hours).

First visit : RM 164 - Consultation, medication, blood and Covid test.

Second visit : RM 96 - Sofi's fever spiked to 38.9 °C at 3 am , so we went straight to the clinic, doctor inserted suppository (anal paracetamol). I also bought the nasal spray and aspirator there.

There is no clinic more friendly, more welcoming than Klinik As-Salam, in handling worried parents after midnight. I went here twice after midnight and I'm always thankful for their hospitality. 

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She hates to cough so much because it made her puke and so she always restrains herself from coughing by clenching her teeth. It is odd and uncomfortable to see her so determine to not cough, we can hear her breathing through her phlegm. So I always tell her that it is okay to cough it out, and it is okay to puke. We are still using the nasal spray to help dissolve thick mucus. She only refused to get her nose sprayed during the first 2 days, then later she seems like she enjoyed it (like a game).

Here are all the random toys I bought to bribe or calm her when we had to go to the clinic, or asked her to try the medicine, or when she puked all over.