I'm a full-time mummy

Singing, praying and dancing... Man swallowed by fish...

Coloring papers and cutting out shapes... Eating biscuits, buns and snacks...

These are the things we've been doing for the last 2 Sundays at our church's toddler's Sunday schools. Our church has different rooms and buildings for different ages of children. Any child younger than 18 months will be with their parents in a special room at the main hall - confined to a glass wall where we can see outside and hear through the speakers in the room. The next stage (which is where Ben will be) is for 18 to 36 months. Didn't take note of the other age group though.

Although Ben is 2 weeks shy from reaching 18 months old, we joined the 18-36months classes anyway just to get a feel on how the classes are conducted and what goes on in the classes. Below are snapshots and summaries of the 2 Sunday schools classes Ben attended so far:

1st Sunday school (15th August 2010)

I forgot to take the pictures earlier but in general what happened was, we were a few minutes late and when we entered the class, everyone was dancing and singing midway. The teacher then proceeded to tell the story of Jonah who was swallowed by the whale. They even made the whale's mouth using paper box. How creative!

I noticed all of the children there were accompanied by either one of their parents or the maid. I think we were the weird ones where both hubby and I were in the class with Ben.

So anyway, after the story telling ended, the teacher told everyone to wash their hands (there's a sink about 10 metres outside the class for hand washing and the parents will accompany their child to wash their hands) and get ready their water bottles.

Every child has a tissue paper placed in front of them and the teacher's assistant then went around each child and distribute a chocolate bun for their light snack.

Needless to say, my dear boy happily walloped the bun. I'm still trying to look for this bun as I can't find it at the supermarket we frequented.

Next, everyone got ready for the activity time! Each child was given a piece of paper with the picture of a pair of glasses pre-printed on it, and everyone was told to color in the glasses using the magic color pens. Ben happily scribbles away...

After that, hubby proceeded to cut and punched 2 holes at the ear piece of the glasses and I tied rubber bands on each side of the glasses.

Once a child finished their artwork, they will queue up and show the teacher their finished work. And the teacher in return will give the child a sticker as a reward!

Look at Ben checking out his Pooh bear sticker...

This is Ben's 1st artwork! I'm so proud I'm going to keep it for memories!

2nd Sunday school (22nd August 2010)

This time, we're early. Waited for a few minutes before the class started. Noticed there are 3 teachers now instead of 1 last week. The class started with everyone praying for a blessed day in the class, then moving on to dancing and singing. The teacher then proceeded to tell the story of Jonah who was swallowed by the whale (again...). This time, other than the whale's mouth which was used last week, they added in a hand puppet. I'm liking it already!

Here's Ben looking at another child who is fussing during the class. I just realised Ben's T-shirt matches the story telling for the day! Hahahahah...

So anyway, after the story telling ended, everyone went to wash their hands and got ready their water bottles. Every child has a tissue paper placed in front of them and the teacher's assistant then went around each child and this time, they distribute 2 long biscuits and 1 small cracker.

After the light snack, it's the activity time again! We were given 3 pages of pre-printed pictures related to Jonah in the story.

Look at Ben trying to grab the crayons! I've never exposed him to crayons before (we don't have any at home you see...) so it's understandable for him to be excited and fascinated with them!

However, Ben didn't seem to be interested in coloring today as it was his nap time actually and he was feeling pretty fussy and less energetic throughout the class. So, hubby ended up coloring most of the pictures! Although at one point, Ben was so excited and keep passing the crayons to this mummy on our right who can't reach the stack of crayons way in front of us. How helpful and sensitive of Ben!

Hubby busy coloring all the pictures while Ben looked on.

The funniest thing is when hubby finished all the coloring, Ben went: "YEAYYYY" with 2 arms raised up... as if he's the one who tirelessly completed the artwork! Cheeky boy! And this is Ben's 2nd artwork! Or should I say hubby's 1st artwork? Heheheheh...

I'm starting to get used to the idea of Ben attending the classes now. After the 1st class last week, I felt sad thinking "Oh boy, Ben is growing up so fast! He's attending Sunday classes now and in a blink of an eye he's going to kindergarten then school, then college, then work, then get married and so on...." Waaaaaaaaaa....

Of course, I have to slowly learn to let go and accept the fact that Ben is going to school one day and have his own circle of friends and no longer be sticking to me 24/7...

It's the circle of life and I hope when that day comes, Ben will know that his mummy and daddy will always be there watching over him no matter what happens.

Everytime we go out to any food shops or restaurant, the following routines will ensue:

1. Hubby carry Ben

2. Secure a baby high chair for Ben

3. I took out baby wipes from my diaper bag

4. Start wiping every nook and corner of the high chair - front, sides, seat, legs

5. Took out another baby wipes and start wiping the table area right in front of the high chair (in case Ben decided to smack and swipe the table with his hands)

The above also applies to shopping carts, chairs, paed clinic and whatever that we are placing Ben in. I used to do that even to those machine kiddy rides that we're going to put Ben on/in!

Of course I do worry about the germs at other places such as when we are at Sunday church service and Ben is playing with the toys in the baby's room...

I sometimes wonder whether baby wipes are clean enough... and whether we missed out wiping anything else?

Maybe it's just us who are paranoid with all these germs... or do you do the same too?

If yes, mind sharing what are the things you clean up as well before getting your child to touch it? (so that I can take note to do that next time too!)

(*Note: I previously wrote a similar topic in one of my previous posts from my old blog. Feel free to read my old post on "Eeekk... Germs!" if you like.)

Have you ever wondered how much nutrients is your toddler getting in his daily food intake?

Well, wonder no more!

Go and try out the "Tot It Up" tool to get a general overview of your child's diet and analysis of the balance of foods needed.

Based on Ben's meals today, I keyed in the portions and below is the analysis report:

Looks like everything is fine and dandy except I need to increase the intake under "Milk, cheese & yogurt", "Fruits & Vege" and possibly look into the water intake for Ben. My boy guzzles water like nobody's business! But then he's always running around and up to something and active all the time, so I guess it justifies the amount of water he had daily.

As for physical activity, there's not much choice given in the list, though I'd love to add in reading, drawing, playing at balcony, listening and dancing along to music to the activities.

Go and try out the tool now!

And let me know the results you got!