Two sides of the same coin...

 

I would love to think of Kecil as an eternally happy kid.

But the simple truth is that there are times when she would be quiet, pensive, and sometimes even very shy.

Just like the photos above, such a drastic change of mood, in the space of mere minutes.

For all that, this Mama still hopes for the best,

Still hopes that instead of indicating any mercurial personality, all these simply represents this complex person in her entirety,

This Little Person whom I am so proud to call my daughter

Whom a lot of people are so glad to know and be friends/family with.

Thank you again, Tante Rina, for having managed to capture the expressions so beautifully.

Outside in the rain...

The other day, Tante Rina caught this little Imp playing in the rain gleefully, refusing to wear her raincoat AND taking the umbrella along,
Just her pair of trusty yellow boots and normal clothing,
Running around in the rain.

 The full story was that .... well.. you remember me saying that we have a small depression on the street in front of the house that act like a second water path during rain? Watching all that water rushing by, Mama hit the brilliant idea of playing 'boat' using the water.
So we folded up some magazine paper (hoping that it would be quite water resistant than normal paper) to a boat shape, and sent of the Little One to launch the boat on the water.
Boy, did she ran away with the idea!

Given that it was raining, (and magazine paper is definitely NOT water resistant, DUH!) the paper boat quickly deteriorate to the point that it simply sat in water a lump of wet paper.
So.. Mama went back in, wrestled a cereal box into a rough boat shape, and sent the Kid out again to try it out.
Was pretty successful, but Kecil was getting totally soaked as well.
We called it a day after a while. With difficulty, obviously.
And during shower, we have to cajole her with water in the bathtub to stop her from crying.

The following day, another rainy day, Mama smack her own head for being so stupid
And simply sent Kecil out, after insisting that she put on her raincoat, with a simple, yellow plastic container. DUH!

She still get soaked, even with the raincoat. Must be the rigorous running around.
Well.. we just had to limit her time outside.
Still, it was a cheap, fun entertainment during a rainy day.
Just make sure it was simple rain outside instead of windy thunderstorm with lightning and whatnots.

The rains/storms ended on Sunday.
We highly suspected that the rain/storms went away with Tante Rina.
But that's OK. Kecil might be bored with the boat, and anyway, I am sure we can find all kinds of other things to do in any given weather.
Including Skool!
(Don't forget, we had at least 2 days of Skool canceled thanks to the storms)

So, here's hoping, not necessarily for good weather, but for the ability to make good of whatever weather that comes our way!
Have a great day!

This yellow raincoat...

was bought from the far far away land of Netherlands by Eyang for Daddy back during the time when Daddy was about the size of Kecil nowadays.
After about a total of 5 uses, I suppose either Daddy outgrew the coat, or the coat outlast its use in the hot and dry hometown of Daddy's.
It was lovingly cleaned and kept in the recesses of Eyang's house, waiting just for the right moment for it's second debut in the world.

And it's time did come at last, in the form of a certain cute little one, also known here as Kecil,
Daddy's firstborn, who also happened to be Eyangs' only grandchild for the moment.
So it just seems befitting, that Kecil should 'inherit' Daddy's raincoat

Well... ever since Kecil got the raincoat in May as part of her summer loot, it has certainly suffer through much more use than during its tenure as Daddy's raincoat.
From the first storm, to just simple daily rain, to a holiday in the mountain, complete with a horse ride, the raincoat has definitely proven to be very useful.
With the storms that just past us by last weekend, we actually managed to find yet some other activities that can be done during a rainy day:

... like exploring the backyard with a strange dog in tow...

... ensuring good drainage of the water...

... getting literally ankle-deep in water...

... rolling eyes at Mama for clicking non-stop. Ahem. ...

But of course we did not just stay at the back yard. Too many mosquitoes, not enough space... well.. Kecil apparently does not like the backyard too much during rainy days.
So we went to the front, and had a bit of fun as well:

But maybe we'll cover that in a different post.
In the meantime, any guest as to what Kecil did in front of the house that made her so happy?

Holiday in the Mountains

Some of you might have noticed some strange backgrounds in Kecil's photos with her Tante.
Well.. indeed, once Tante arrived, we only waited one day while Mama attended her classes before we whisked her along to a short getaway to the country's Summer Capital.
It so happened that it was a long weekend last week, so... even if it was not quite the season to visit the place.... why not, right?

So we open the map, check out some guidebooks, plan the trip, book some accommodation, pack our bags, shanghaied Kecil's tante, and off we went.

Checking that the bed is comfortable enough

Amenities check

As far the holiday went, it was pretty cool. After living so long in coastal area, it's so refreshing to see pine trees, shiver in the cool, fresh air, and even to go through foggy landscape.
Despite the continuous rain (no storm, luckily!), we all managed to enjoy ourselves.

Ready for the rain, of course we took along Kecil's yellow raincoat.
We went around sightseeing, visiting some touristy spot, got lost here and there.... that kind of thing.
The true, biggest highlight of the trip, however, would be the Mama & Kecil matching outfit:

Ahem... ow well.
It was NOT really about the matching outfit. Do you notice the thing that Mama and Kecil was sitting on? It's a horse!
You still remember how Kecil was riding the Dog at home, surely?
This time she got the REAL horse.

And THAT, was truly truly the highlight of Kecil's holiday in the mountain.
A week later, she is still talking about how she 'like. horse. black!'

I'm really glad we went for the ride, even through the light rain.
Not too sure if we are going back to the City of Pines, but am pretty sure that wherever we go, should there be another opportunity for another ride, we'll take it.

That's all on Kecil's latest (?) adventure.
How about you? Have you been on any adventure lately?

Skool Crafts

So... as mentioned yesterday, Skool has started again, and with it, a barrage of all kinds of result from the various arts and crafts activities have made their way into the house.
Would you like to see them?

 School name tag

Father's day card, complete with a hand print

Oh, and did you notice the 'decoration' on the chair?

Ahem.... apparently a certain somebody thinks that the chair is lacking in cheerful decoration.

Anyway... moving on to the rest of the arts stuff:

Learning to say 'my name is.."

It's so gratifying to see Kecil coming back home everyday so proud of her handywork.

Better still, given her new outfit, also known as the 'Skool Dress'!

Well... here's hoping for a good school year ahead, uniform, friends, artsy stuff and all.

Skool Dress aka Uniforms!

 I looked up from reading my book to be greeted by this sight.
My Little Girl in school uniform! EEeeeeksssss! How fast has time flown!
Was it not yesterday that she was still crawling around everywhere?
But then again she looks SOOOOO adorable in her uniform.
Girly girly, and so absolutely mischievous!
(and edible, delicious, scrumptious, nyum nyum... etc etc etc)

Unlike her first uniform in Toddler class, the road to getting Kecil into her proper uniform this time round was not as ... difficult.
Simply put, I believe Kecil immediately fell for the feminine dress model (she's very much into dresses nowadays), so.. upon receiving the 'Skool Dress' she was totally up to trying it out and even showing it off to Daddy.
Still, the journey was not without challenges.

For one, the uniform arrived slightly late, with the size slightly bigger
(Well.. actually we did go for a bigger size just so it would last longer on her)
Mama had to do some creative hand sewing to adjust the Dress to fit properly
And then there was also another delay in the form of storm, causing the school to be closed on the day that was supposed to be the first day in uniforms.
(We are already in the storm season now, so... yeah.. we are expecting quite a few days with school cancellation should the storm gets bad)

Pink socks!

Ah, for all the curious ones, the Skool does not really enforce strict rules on the shoe/socks, so... for the moment, Kecil is wearing her pink shoes from Tante Lia, the Mary Janes.
She's supposed to still wear her PE uniform (shorts and T's) on Fridays, during which, I suppose she'll wear her other pink shoes (also from Tante Lia).
Mama still struggles with the hair. Kecil does NOT quite enjoy having her hair tied/clipped in any way. She may not mind it for school, but usually she'll take them off once school is over. Like immediately once she spot Mama picking her up. Hmmppph.

Anyway, I do hope I have satisfied all cravings to see Kecil in uniform.
I have to admit, even Mama was pretty impatient to see her off to school in her uniform.
As they say again and again... cut as a button!

All images are courtesy of Tante Rina. Thanks a million for the pics, Tante. They are fabulous!

Holidays with Tante

The winds that have been blowing so much rain onto this corner of the planet has also brought something else for Kecil...
Her Tante had come back for another visit!

With Tante's last visit (together with the Eyangs) still fresh on her mind, Kecil was absolutely thrilled about having an extra person in the house to play with (and boss around)
Even taking into account the fact that she was literally 'kidnapped' from her sleep to go and pick Tante up from the airport...
She was still absolutely thrilled!

And then of course there are Tante's gadgets....

Oh, Kecil LOVES Tante's gadgets. She LOVES watching videos of herself (and Daddy and whoever happen to be present in the frame).
As for Tante's pocket camera?
Oh dear, Kecil was so delighted to find a camera that is more suited to her hands as compared to Mama's humongous DSLR.
Needless to say, the said pocket camera was declared Kecil's in a voice that broke no argument.
Seriously.

Whoops, I actually intend to release Kecil's uniform only later, in a dedicated post, but... well.. just consider it a leak, yes?

Back to Tante's visit, basically Kecil had a capital time with her Tante.
From the company, the gifts, the gadgets... I think it was non-stop fun for Kecil.
We do hope that this kind of visit would happen pretty often, indeed!
Thank you, Tante!

Tante still have more time with us till she has to leave on Sunday (yet another Kecil kidnapping trip, since it's an early flight).
It's hard to realize just how fast time flies since she arrived, but I think Kecil would be quite sad too, when it was time for Tante to go. Snif snif.

Days at home....

 With the wet season in full swing, we spend a lot of our days nowadays at home.
Well... you can also count the 'summer holiday' aka 'no school days' as yet another factor
But the point is basically that we have to come up with things to do at home
Something (many things!) other than watching the dreaded Dora/ Barney/ whatever current favorite cartoon on TV for the nth time.

So far, we had days when we just mop around the house in our pyjamas, pretending to be bunnies.
Then there are days when we dressed up in our favorite attire (like a certain Princess Flower Dress), creatively using completely mundane things from around the house to practice a feat like carrying bottles waiter-style.
And when Kecil got really bored? There is always the Dog. Ahem.

The poor, well-loved Dog, who got combed using Kecil's toy kitchen implements (the one which kind of look like a comb, I have to admit)
Decorated with necklaces...
Or maybe it was not really necklace as it was ....

... reins?

Ahem. So.. yes, I guess Kecil had already contracted the 'horse-craze' that many little girls seem to succumb to.
And to the poor Dog? I think it was a particularly stormy day, with storms, thunder and lightning.
The Dog is absolutely terrified of thunder in general, which might account for her tolerating Kecil riding on her back, just as long as the Dog can stay within the relative safety of her own corner.

Just another day at home this wet season.
We hope you do have good uses of your stay at home as well, no matter where you are!

Happy Father's Day

Another late greetings.. but heartfelt, nevertheless.
To all the Father's in our lives.... Happy Father's day.
We love you.

Skool: Day 2

It's day 2 of a brand new term!
After the long summer vacation, and the endless badgering on the subject of school, Skool had finally started again with Kecil now in pre-nursery.
With some new friends, new teachers, new faces, longer hour (minute increase of half hour!)...
Both Mama and Kecil are excited, me thinks.

Anyway, it was Day 2 today, and it was back to arts & craft,
The result of which was proudly shown the moment Kecil spotted Mama at the door, picking her up,
Together with all the 'very good' stamps from her teacher, reward for good behavior.

Kecil is growing up....

In full (temporary) 'regalia'

We are still waiting for her brand new uniforms. In the meantime, she wears her own dresses.

Please don't mind the funny expression.
For some reasons, despite being all cheer and eagerness in the morning to go to school,
Upon me picking her up, she's also all eager to go home ASAP!
The expression, I'm sure, is her begrudging Mama the time it took to snap this picture of hers on our way home.

Well... there are still the whole term ahead.
Here's hoping for a good term, more chance for Mama to study and do other stuff, and Kecil growing growing and growing!

Beautiful Pasta Princess

This Mama admits freely that consistency is not her strong suit
Once in a blue moon, however, thanks to strange alignment of planets in the sky, Mama would get all crafty and motivated and would do all kind of 'productive' stuff in the hope for the betterment of Kecil
Stuff like coloring pasta using food coloring.....

Of course, after the blue moon struck, the pasta just stayed in the container for days while waiting for another mood to strike, which happened right at the end of summer holiday.

A summer pasta crown! Why, of course!
Inspired by a crown made for Ami by her tutor, Mama and Kecil got down to work, cutting papers, glue-ing pasta and various shapes, and Voila!
Needless to say, it was a big hit with Kecil... or should I say the Princess?

It was such a hit that Kecil even wore it during our walkies that day.
Sad to say, the paper could not quite stand such rigor and the crown 'wilted' after just 2 days.
It is unfortunate indeed, that the only pink paper that Mama had in her stash was the flimsy type which could not stand too well under the rigors of Kecil.

The story of the Princess Pasta continued to include Ami as well, as Kecil showed off her crown to her best friend (of course!).
We resolved to make one for Ami as well, and just on Tuesday, Kecil had a playdate with Ami and another friend, where we made crowns for everyone, using a thicker pink card stock.
And just in case you are wondering, of course it has to be pink.
Unfortunately Mama was quite busy with the preparation for making the crown and did not bring a camera to the playdate. Will try to source the pics to be posted.

The inspiration (and some of the know how) for this project came from various blogs and sources through the net. But if you'd like, I wrote down some pointers after the jump for those of you who are interested.
As for the rest, here's just hoping for creative inspirations and great projects to fill your days and cheer up everyone.

For the curious ones, coloring pasta is easy peasy. You just need some rubbing alcohol, food coloring and some pretty shaped pasta.
Mix enough alcohol to cover the pasta (you can soak the pasta in batches to safe the alcohol) with some food coloring.
Basically the more food coloring you put, the darker/deeper the color will be.
Do not as well, that since the pasta is usually not white, you will not get true blue, more like tosca/dark green, but not blue.
I have not experimented with mixing the colors, not enough mood for that.

Once the pasta change color, you can take them out of the soaking liquids and let them dry on newspaper/paper towel.
Take care not to let the different colored pasta touch as they would leave a mark on the pasta.
Once dried... you can use them for all kinds of things: make necklaces, make crowns, decorate picture frames, etc etc etc.

Have fun!