Elgarmummy.com

Category: play

Playing is important for growth

  • Mum and Dad Restraunt Menu

    Mum and Dad Restraunt Menu

    I came home today to find El busy colouring something. He told me that he was preparing a menu for my husband and me. He said it was for Mum and Dad Restraunt(sic). After that, he came to me and showed me his menu.
    SCN_0002

    I was greatly surprised when I saw the wide array of food, which he had drawn everything himself and coloured them.

    There were all sorts of fruits, such as watermelon, banana and apple. There were other of his favourite food, such as pizza, sushi and his favourite vegetables, such as pumpkin, cauliflower, broccoli and celery. There were meat, such as chicken drumstick, duck, goose and fish. On top of that, there were drinks, such as milo, orange juice and coffee.

    menuApparently he asked my husband how to draw a drumstick, and he thought it was for the drums. After clarification, he drew a nice one for him.

    I placed my orders, and I mentioned I wanted milo. Immediately he rushed to the kitchen and wanted to make a real cup of milo for me. I was still having my real dinner, so the other family members stopped him. I had to convince him that I merely wanted pretend drinks and food.

    Next, he told me to go away from a corner, where he prepared food. He kept bringing ‘food’ to me, but refused to let me eat. Thank goodness I had a good memory, so I remembered which receptacle was for which food, which he tested me on. For example, he made me drink milo three times, and he had a special ritual. I had to knock twice on that shaker toy, and then drink it in a certain manner.

    Gar saw all the food, and kept trying to snatch them away. He saved the day by snatching that milo toy away and throwing it somewhere else.

     

  • Gar And His Kiddy Rides

    Gar And His Kiddy Rides

    I seldom spend much time with Gar, but since I can work from home today, I decided to spend a little more time with him. In the morning, he woke up pretty early.

    At around ten in the morning, I played with him and he took his books to my room. We went through sounds made by alligators, monkeys, and elephants. There was another book with pandas and snow leopards and how we can help to conserve them.

    He climbed up to my bed, and took my handphone to play. He likes to play the keyboard app, so he made me play a few notes after he played some. He had his bath already, but when I showed him a picture of him and his brother in the bath tub, he suddenly decided he wanted to bathe again.

    Immediately, he started trying to remove his shirt. When that failed, he moved towards the part of the bed where we would remove his clothes to get him ready for the bath. When I refused to do that, he jumped off the bed and went to the bathroom and pulled the plastic bathtub out. The shower area had glass panels, so he just kept trying to push the bathtub in, without realising he had to slant it a little to get it in.

    Crying Over His Bathtub

    For the next minute, he was screaming ‘Mimi’ and whining, and slamming the bathtub into the glass panels. Finally, he gave up and then found interest in my keys. He played with that for a while, ran out of the room, ran back in, and headed to the wardrobe. He insisted on opening the wardrobe, so I did that and lifted him up. He spotted his yellow Barney polo t-shirt, and yanked the clothes hanger off the hook. He insisted on changing his clothes, so I did. He was happy as a lark at that moment.

    In the late afternoon, I felt like taking him out to the playground. He took his penguin bag with him, something he did whenever he could go out. I thought of going to a sand playground in AMK, but when I reached that area, rain started to fall, so I took him to AMK Hub instead.

    He spotted the kiddy rides, and we spent half the time at various rides, such as Garfield and Barney. Initially he refused to leave the first ride he was on, but after some time, I was able to coax him to go away.
    garfield1

    Then he spotted a Barney ride. He spent some time there. I got him to say ‘bye’ and he was able to understand the concept and he left willingly. When we went up the escalators, he spotted more kiddy rides, and thank goodness he did not kick up a big fuss when a boy was hogging Barney.

    barney1When we went to the opposite end, a mother asked whether Gar wanted to share a Hi-5 ride as she was going to put the coin in for her daughter. Gar only wanted to sit in a car with a steering wheel, so we left. That same kid from the Barney ride jumped up the revolving ride. So fast, where did he come from?

    After that, we went down to shop and I bought a pair of socks with cars on them for him. There were cute bagpacks for children, and he wanted to touch every single one. He saw a black toy coach and shouted ‘bus’ and was very interested in it, but I did not let him get it.

    We walked past a football merchandise shop, and we went in to see. I wanted to get him a small ball, so that he would not fight with his brother over it at my parents’ place. However, there were only Liverpool and Chelsea balls. I would not buy any other club’s footballs. I am already facing the fact that there is a Manchester City ball in my house, courtesy of Gar’s uncle. Oh well.
    barney2
    When we left the shop, Gar spotted the Barney ride at the level above us, and he dragged me there again. This time round, there was nobody at that ride, so I let him play there for a while.

    I was getting bored, so I decided to show him his next favourite things – buses. AMK Hub is connected to the bus interchange, so we watched passengers queue up in the lines, and then go out of the air-conditioned mall onto the bus. He kept saying ‘bye bye’ to the passengers, but everyone looked down or straight, and he was too soft anyway. We walked by here twice, so the second time he was here, he just ran straight to the door to watch. I guess I should take him on a bus ride one of these days.
    Bus Interchange
    We also looked at the MRT trains since the MRT station was just opposite the shopping mall, and the overhead train tracks allowed Gar to spot the trains. Earlier on our way, he was attracted by the trains in the depot too.

    Finally, I decided to head home. He refused to be strapped initially. It took me some time to convince him to go back where he could meet his brother. I ought to really spend more time with him before he grows up.

  • Sand Playground

    El had just finished his piano lesson, and we decided to head over to Bishan Park. It had rained earlier, so the sand pit would be wet. That was the only way to build sandcastles.

    I was quite surprised that he remembered the place was red in colour, because the last time we went there, it was dark and I did not see the colour.

    The moment we reached there, El jumped over the concrete waves and when he reached the last wave, he tripped and fell. He kicked up a big fuss and I quickly pulled out a plaster from my bag and stuck it on his skinned knee after washing his wound.

    There was a bunch of teens hanging around that area. We went to another side, and started digging and filling up the containers. Gar was having fun as he tried to use the spade.
    Brothers Playing Together

    El also suddenly wanted to pee and he would usually tell us only when he absolutely had to go and could not hold it any longer. There were no toilets nearby, and we had no choice but to do the unthinkable.
    Sandcastles
    We managed to make two castles before their father told us to get ready to go. The grey clouds were looming over at Ang Mo Kio just across the road, and he smelled the rain. El looked up to the sky and kept asking where the grey clouds were.
    Kwa Ti

    I wanted to go off quickly because those teenagers had gathered at the spider web playground beside us and were cursing away.

    Suddenly, Gar stuck his hands in the sand pit and gleefully showed me his sandy hands. Immediately I got him to shake the sand grains off.
    look at my hands

    El insisted on finishing his sandcastle, and we kept hurrying him. Not sure why, but he refused to let the sandcastles remain there. He jumped on them and flattened them.
    sandcastles

    Probably in too much pain, he refused to walk. I had no choice but to carry him. I had to walk briskly with him in my arms and a big and heavy bag as well. We headed back to the shelter where some scouts were resting, and washed their hands at the taps.

    Then, we had to walk even more quickly to the car park, but it started raining. I had an umbrella, but Gar was slightly drenched.

    Our trip was cut short, and I felt a little sad that the March holidays were coming to an end.

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