Week 78 – homemade games/activities, 18 months old, first lego

Transferring elastic bands in water between containers

Week 78:

Mar 17: Bb picked up the shape sorter blocks and I showed her how to insert the blocks through the specific shaped hole in the box. She now knows how to play with the shape sorter! She can recognize the star shape consistently (as the hexagon and hexagon, etc, are too difficult/look very similar). I pointed out and guided her to put the shapes into the holes and she did it consistently!! She was so eager to play that she played it three times before I had to bring her up for her nap.
DH and I went out for dinner by ourselves. When we had our coats on, bb saw and thought the three of us were going to go out lol. She said “chay chay” (car/stroller) to want to get in the stroller and also said “hai hai” (her shoes). Got a bit upset when we left the house.
Unwilling to let us change her diaper again. I came across an IG post — so timely — that said potty training can start when toddlers are between 18 to 24 months and one of the signs is that they are unwilling to let you change their diapers. So I guess the potty training will soon commence..but on her count.
Mar 21: Started attending an open-ended play online workshop and gained further insight into what and how bb should be playing. We already let her have open ended play for the most part but it’s good to have a refresher. It helps that I have a teacher background so I kinda know how she should be playing/what to play.. Can only imagine how kids with active teaching parents teach their kids even better.
Started playing a DIY game today with her and she was focused for 25+mins! That is a long time in the toddler world. I grabbed a handful of elastic bands that we had, put them in a basin of water, and asked her to scoop them out one by one into another container. She was so focused and kept moving the elastic bands from one container to another.
I need to find and make more of these age-appropriate games for her. She enjoyed it so much and actually didn’t want to stop. But by the 20-minute mark, I could tell she was starting to get bored so I slowly took it away. Next time we play this, I will have a blanket ready since there was lots of water spillage happening.
She can identify a number of animals in Cantonese from her story books as in I say the animal and she can point it out and also name it if I point at it: Giraffe, dog, elephant, cat, dog, rabbit, turtle, snake.
Lego calendar: DH has a larger-than-normal Lego play set that is intended to be a calendar. He gave it to bb and she is able to manipulate the bricks by taking it apart and putting it together. She stacks it like a tower.
Over the weekend, we took her to get her first passport photos!! With borders starting to open up and who knows how long the passport application process may take, we decided to get started on hers. Our Google searches led us to take the photos at a Pro Passport booth located inside of a Gateway Newsstand inside of the mall. It’s more expensive to get toddler passport photos done because of how physically hard it is. Bb was processing her new environment and didn’t feel comfortable to get into the high chair for the photo. It took some coaxing but we did it. The photographer kept saying she had to tilt her head up straight, but it’s hard for a toddler to know what to do. Yay, first photos!
Mar 22: Scooping balls activity. I’ve seen this Pinterest/IG-happy activity online and on a spur decided to try it with bb. I grabbed a large aluminum bowl from the kitchen, a spatula, and a large muffin tray. I gathered all her plastic balls and put then in the bowl. I demonstrated to her how to scoop a ball out of the bowl and into the holes of the muffin tray. She caught on immediately. However, once the activity was in motion, I noticed a distraction (much like when I was a student teacher and the activity didn’t go off to how I had planned it in my head) — bb accidentally hit the spatula on the aluminum bowl which caused a loud echo sound. She got excited by the sound she created and was distracted from the true activity I wanted her to focus on. She banged the spatula to make the noise again until I could steer her direction to the task at hand. It turned out she also had trouble putting the balls into the narrow muffin holes (she did get a couple in though), but it wasn’t as easy as I imagined. The activity was a dud when she handed the spatula to me and wanted me to do it instead. Boo
She sees the animals on her play mat and tells them to come out (“chut lay”).
Random thought: Really miss yoga and being able to cleanse myself spiritually and mentally when attending those hot yoga classes in 2019
Mar 23: She was so clingy to me today.. tried to get her to hang around grandma after dinner so I could finish eating my food. She kept clinging to my leg. When I coaxed her enough to sit on the play mat and she went to get a book from the bookshelf, I tried to escape. When she turned around and saw me leave, she burst into ugly crying lol. So of course I had to sit back down 😇. Read a few books together before she lost interest and then she went to grandma lol.
She knows to put away the books back on the bookshelf after reading 🙂
We had someone come in the house to round out our kitchen countertop edges. Bb identified the stranger as a “nam yun” (man). She also got scared when the tool went off. She said “gen” (scared) and scampered into my arms. This one is easily scared.
When it is time for her to nap, she eagerly takes my hand and she walks upstairs with me and gets to her room. It’s such a nice easy process now 🙂
She’s been sleeping through the night 6 times out of 7 now. Yay!
Brought her out to pick up garbage with us on our first cleanup in this neighbourhood (one of my favourite outdoor activities to do). Bb didn’t complain as she sat in our stroller with either DH or grandma and watched us pick up garbage along the paths. She went out of her seat to do a little strolling too.
So funny but she is actually afraid of the pebbly path in front of our house. She refuses to walk on it and needs to be carried in..
She enjoyed eating blackberries today but since she doesn’t like to wear a bib, she got a lot of the blackberries on her top. I had to change her (or actually DH bc she didn’t let me) and immediately wash it since blackberries stain.
Learned that puzzles and shape sorters are actually closed-ended toys! But if she uses the blocks and animal puzzle pieces themselves to play with, then that’s open ended. Wow, then I’m going to stop myself from getting her to play so much with the shape sorter and puzzles. I rather she use her creativity and imagination!
So then in extension, the so-called Montessori activities that I make for her are also closed-ended?! 🤔
I finally found the Minnie Mouse apron/overalls that I had wanted her to wear from before the move. Need to wear all the “just-right” clothing before she grows out of them! Some of the 3T tops fit her but if she wears them too early, she won’t have new-ish clothes to wear when she’s two/three!