A break in the clouds

Some days, we would wake up to a gray, cloudy, rainy day,
A depressing kind of day, the kind that keeps us indoors, away from the flowers and sunshine,
But those days often comes with breaks,
An opportunity to be quickly taken, for a quick walk, a quick refreshing stroll, a chance to grab a few flowers, and some exercises for the body.

After so many days away, we actually managed to make it to the play ground the other day, play at the swing, climb the wall, and of course, Mama practicing some framing exercises.

It was fun, it was stimulating, it was just what we need to face more bad weather days.

Some days, life might seem like a repetitive, boring motion.
Which is why you should keep your eye fixed on the horizon, for that precious break in the cloud, no matter how small,
Jump at your chance, grasp the opportunity, go out, have fun, take chances,
At worst, you'll get wet.
(Of course, some proper planning, like bringing along umbrella, would keep you from getting wet!)

So... have your jumped on that break in the clouds lately?

Selamat Idul Fitri 2011

After 30 days, yet another wall to go through in the form of indecision on the part of the authorities?
Here's Kecil giving you a hand should you need one to persevere for yet another day.

Selamat Idul Fitri 2011
Mohon maaf lahir dan batin.

This weekend ...

 

After the beautiful weather we had last week, we are back to stormy weather with torrential rains, gusty winds, and of course, various debris from the trees.

So we went back to raincoat and boots mode to do some exploration at the back yard.

The good news? Kecil manages to enjoy herself, no matter the weather.

I sure wish Mama can say the same thing about herself.

Well... at least there is always Kecil's antics, not to mention pictures of good weather from the previous week.

We do hope the weather will get better soon. After all, it's a long weekend over here, as is in many other parts of the world.

But then again, I guess bad weather is also happening in many places in the world (Hi, Irene!), so... I guess we will all cross our collective fingers for better weather soon.

Good luck to all of us!

A few things to be thankful for ...

Beautiful, sunny weather early on a Sunday morning ...

The sound of two little girls giggling, chirping, joyfully welcoming the day with its wondrous finds...

(uhmm.... remains of a butterfly stuck on the car machine, actually)

 

The convenience of having a friend next door to share your toys and play together with ...

Not to mention to compete against ...
(Kecil was taking some shots with Mama's camera, so obviously Ami wants to do the same)
(This one is Kecil shot:)

In the end, it turned out be a good morning after all, even if Kecil had to drag Mama half asleep from the bed (It was Sunday! An opportunity to sleep longer, no?)

Just saying, this Mama thinks that Daddy did a real good job in choosing the house that we live right now. Between the relatively fantastic condition of the house, the quiet neighborhood, the neighbors, it is truly our own little corner of heaven where Kecil can safely play and make friends.
And as I said earlier, now with even more emphasis, we are so thankful.

How about you, is there anything you are really thankful about? Your house location? A really good friends? Wonderful parents?
Once in a while, it's always great to count our blessings, and be thankful.

Techie Baby

It is NOT that Mama got direct criticism on her stand about Kecil and technology,
And it's NOT that Kecil has her own gadgets either,
But Kecil most definitely seems to have a free access to a lot of Mama's gadgets,
And there is a part of this Mama who always seem to say "Are you crazy?" kind of stuff at this,
So we'll use this chance to hopefully address that voice while also hopefully creating a map into the future regarding our uses of technology.

If we were to point fingers, Mama would freely admit of being responsible for Kecil's techie inclination, by introducing to Kecil the joy of watching Baa on Mama's computer. Honestly, Mama was just so bemused by Kecil's reaction to Baa (she loved it!), and anyway, playing Baa is a pretty effective diversionary tactic when Mama is too tired to play with Kecil at night.
Still... the result was that Kecil was hooked.
And by the age of two, she was pretty used to Mama's computer.

And then of course there was the blog, for which Mama have to provide visual documentation, which means... LOTS of photo session. Uhmm.. not quite a big wonder why Kecil got used to the camera and started wanting to take her own pics, yes?

There was a time when she was actually OK with the camera phone while Mama kept the bigger camera. Those were the days. Nowadays, she's just grabby about anything that Mama does.

VERY grabby, indeed!

While the possessive Mama really would prefer to keep her camera in her hands, thank you very much, Mama the parent was slightly at loss on a proper reasoning to deny Kecil the permission to learn to use it. Saying that the camera is too sophisticated for her does not seem to make sense once Kecil showed that she managed to find the shutter release button all on her own through copying Mama in action.
Even saying that the camera is too heavy is no longer true (see photo above).

It so does not help that Kecil can look like THIS when she's campaigning for something that she wants:

Coupled with quite a few decent shots, like these and those below, let's just say this Mama ran out of arguments and give Kecil some chance under very close supervision, that is.
Oh, and the admonition "And for goodness sake, don't. Ever. Drop. The camera. Yes?"

Kecil's love affair with various gadgets was also fueled by her gadget-loving clan. Check out Kecil playing with her Eyang's iPad and her Tante's nifty camera (I think Kecil secretly thinks the camera should belong to her since it fits her hands so nicely!)

This Mama believes that even a young child is already her own person, with her own opinion, wants and needs. Children often understand so much more than they are being given credit for, and you'll be surprised on how reasoning your decisions with them can often result in a much better compromise than simply enforcing your will by using your position as a parent.

This Mama had given Kecil access to Mama's gadgets with the condition that Kecil really knows what she was doing and will not willfully damage the said gadgets. Also Kecil is only allowed access under close supervision, with consequences for not following rules.

With regards to computers, this Mama is inclined to think of it as a wonderful tool, one that can be so useful for learning as well as entertainment. While Kecil definitely gets her daily fix of Baa, we also often browse Google Image for visual trips of animals, fruits, etc. There are also times when we play just using TextEdit to familiarize her with alphabets using fun colors (it helps that choosing color on the said program was also visualized using crayon colors rather than the usual color wheel).
Not to forget that Kecil had seen the usefulness of computers in keeping in touch with her extended family using Skype.

Technology would continue to evolve as we move forward into the future. Rather than shunning technology, this Mama is more into embracing technology. Likelihood is that we would continue in the same thread of letting Kecil explore the various gadgets around the house while keeping a close watch nearby. Hopefully her explorations would also inspire her parents to continue moving forward, keeping up with the latest innovation (not same as keeping up with the Joneses, mind you), both in the interest of keeping ourselves up to date, as well as keeping up with the Little One.

This Mama can see soon enough into the future where Kecil would be able to find her own way on the internet, browsing YouTube, having her own Facebook account (not for another 10 years, actually!), even writing her own blog! We would definitely like her to be able to do all these, but more importantly, benefit from them, rather than becoming a victim of fads.
These are the things that we will keep in mind as we move forward.

Added 25/08/11:
After all, it's been a while since she did this:

 
How about you? What is your stand on your Little Ones and technology? Do you let them perch on top of your printer as well? Apparently it's the latest trend ;p

Sunday Rice

Between getting splashed by Kecil's gargle water, Kecil's peewee, the Dog's bathwater, not to mentioned getting jumped by both of them, dealing with a cracked frame thanks to Kecil's latest adventure... it is always good when Mama manage to come up with something that entertain Kecil for a while. No matter how short a while.

Kecil is showing a lot of interest in eating rice lately. Coupled with a certain preference for eggs, and even okra! She has funny taste, that one.
In any case, so I let her wash the rice the other day, and boy, did she have fun!
Not that her definition of washing rice is necessary similar to common definition of 'washing rice', of course, but at least she does not go on and put soap to wash the rice. Haha!

Seriously, we do try to get her a more sophisticated palate, but I guess sensitive little girl's taste buds and Indian curry simply do not mix. Still, I guess if Mama is going to continue to be a short-order cook for Kecil, it is indeed good news that she sticks with the simple stuff, like eggs, and okra. Or Japanese noodle.
Man, sometimes her taste runs into the expensive stuff!

How about yourself? How are you feeding yourself?

Monkey sightings

Among other things, the one thing that we need to contend with around the neighborhood includes also a big tribe of wild monkeys always ready to ransack your rubbish bin in the search of edible stuff.
These fellows live in the trees surrounding the housing complex, and you would often see them visit different areas of the complex, especially those areas where the rubbish bins are not very well secured.

Of course, while these fellows are definitely pests for homeowners, for kids they are definitely more in the line of: cute, furry animals, fascinating tableau, potential pet, etc etc. I trust you get the gist, yes?
So when we came across this tribe of monkeys on our walkies yesterday without the Dog (the Dog is unwell. Hiks!), Kecil was obviously delighted, fascinated and slightly afraid as well.

The funny part was that, just as we spotted the monkeys, a car on the road actually stopped behind us, the occupants apparently equally fascinated with the sight. Well... the boy in the car was maybe just slightly older than Kecil, so her mother was obviously giving in to the boy's demands to 'see the monkeys!'. As for Kecil and Mama... haha... you are welcome to guess which one of us are more interested. Hint: Mama has her big camera with her.

The boy in the car (and his Mama) did not stay for very long since the care was blocking the way on the road. But he apparently had a banana which he then threw out from the window, to the delight of the monkeys. Only one monkey got it, and I guess they are not that big on sharing bounty. Haha. I should use that line when Kecil refuse to share next time.

The group we photograph are the nursing mothers who stayed on this side of the road while the rest crossed the street in search for more food. I guess these made a more interesting sight with their babies on their stomach, hanging while the mothers moved around looking for food and away from the weird humans and their big lens.
I think Kecil was equally fascinated. She actually designated the monkeys as: Mama, Baby and Daddy.

We stayed for a while to watch (and take photos), but we left once the group of mothers went off to climb up the trees. The other group (the male/female adults) came to the site not long after, but I did not want to stay since the patriarch looked kind of aggressive. Indeed we have been warned to be wary of these fellows as they are not really afraid of humans and might be provoked to attack at times.

So.. that was our story from yesterday's walkies. I do apologize for the lack of Kecil's pic. But trust me, I have a good reason. Check it out:

Oh yeah, she's so rocking it!

Uhm... unfortunately her current level have yet to make a good picture. Monkeys are pretty demanding, you know! So.. maybe we'll start on zoom and focusing soon and I can share some of her pics next time.

Your turn, seen anything interesting to write home about lately?

Sunday ...

There are Sundays that we spend going out, dining, shopping, exploring, ....
There are Sundays spent as a family, collectively chilling at home, doing nothing much, just resting, lazing around,
There are yet some other Sundays when Daddy has to work and Mama is left alone at home with Kecil and the Dog.
Last Sunday was one such Sunday.

Thankfully Kecil does not seem to mind. Well.. she asked for Daddy a few times, but then she moved on to her usual stuff: the ever on-going construction of her castle/house/cupcake whatever thing.

Such seriousness, such beautiful eyes!

And then it was time to build the cake stacks

Cut the cake, and eat it too!

At the end of the day, on a Sunday, this is what we would be left with:

Just the usual, late Sunday update from Mama, because photos need to be downloaded, uploaded, sorted, edited, and the likes.

How's your week so far?