Why I Flood Our Balcony...

~ Posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 1:51 PM ~

I love our room's balcony! Ever since Ben is old enough to walk and venture around, I've opened up the access to our room balcony for him. We normally use it for Ben to play water and lately, sketching.

But we recently found another use for our balcony! And for that, I have to flood it...

This is how our balcony looks like with a quarter inch height of water...

Noticed the blue plastic cover that I use to close up the sink hole in order to flood the balcony...

Some of the things I used for Ben to play with...

A red ball, some plastic foam and an already wet and crumpled paper origami boat folded by my hubby... hahahah...

Ben walking around...

My regular blog readers will know why I took this picture...

Oh well, just in case you want to know, I do have a habit of taking pictures of Ben's chubby thighs and legs...

You can click here to oogle more pictures of Ben's chubby thighs which I posted in my old blog few months ago...

Ben fascinated at his own shadow...

Oh I forgot to mention the stick-on rubber ducky...

We played until the sun starts to set. I think this is a nice change compared to the normal water splashing activity that we do for Ben.

Just in case you go thinking I waste water by doing this, oh well, it's not that much compared to people who have swimming pool in their house right?

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Putting On His Sandals...

~ Posted on Monday, July 19, 2010 at 12:32 AM ~

Look what I discovered a few days ago...

Yeap... At 16.5 months old, my little man is trying on his sandals...

It was a hand-me-down sandals from my ex-colleague (*Thanks Winnie!) but still looks brand new! Anyway, I kept it for sometime now cos' I thought Ben is not ready for it yet. I mean, he does wear his shoes (Velcro type) when we bring him for walking or when we were out during our family outing but Ben has never try on a sandals. One that he has to slip his own foot into it and press with his toes to keep the sandals from sliding or coming off his foot.

A milestone I would say!

I just stood behind and let him fiddle around with the sandals..

I wanted to see whether he can figure out which is for left foot and which is for right foot. Hehehe...

Obviously, my son is very intrigued with this new sensation and discovery...

Else he would be running off elsewhere playing other things instead of still standing there trying to put on the sandals...

When he managed to put on one of the sandal, he lifted up his foot to examine it.

It's like he's wondering what is this new 'toy' on his foot...

Before I managed to compliment and praise him for what he did, he gave me his other sandal.

And then he limped off with the sandal which is still on his other foot and continued playing with his other toys.

The day after this incident, Ben is pretty much still comfortable with wearing only one of the sandal. My theory is he felt more secured and safe if one of his foot can still touch and feels the ground/floor, hence the reason why he only wore one of the sandal.

But after a few more tries and 1 more day passed, Ben got used to wearing the sandals, and voila!

Ben wearing the sandals correctly and walking around at our porch.

Now if we mentioned 'Let's go! Get your sandals', he'll run off and looks for his sandals and quickly put it on so that he can go out with us.

Cute!

** Read: Psalm 86:11, Proverbs 4:12

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How To Exercise Your Toddler's Brain?

~ Posted on Saturday, July 17, 2010 at 10:05 AM ~

Just because I have a very active toddler who is constantly running around doing mischievious things, it doesn't mean he's getting enough exercises. Especially exercises to his brain. Yeap... I'm talking about the human brain.

So ladies and gentlemen, today, I present to you a step-by-step visual guide performed voluntarily by my now 16.5 months old toddler on How to Exercise Your Toddler's Brain™ (*I wonder whether I can trademark this hehehe...) :

VISUAL GUIDE

INSTRUCTIONS & REMARKS

Step 1: Start by slowly lowering down your upper body.

Try to slowly make your body bow down to a 90 degree position - kinda like you are bowing down to somebody. 

Ensure your legs are straight and your hands should be slowly lowered down and touching the floors as you bow forward and downward.

For a first-timer, you can use a small stool or anything that you can sit on temporarily while you slowly adjust your body to the right position.


Step 2: No cheating by bending your legs!

Your legs must be STRAIGHT! (Or at least almost straight!)

Get up & try again until you got it right!!

Look at the picture of Ben on the left trying to cheat his way out of this.

Now, his hands positions are correct but the legs like I mentioned MUST be at least almost straight.

Step 3: Once you achieved the right position, stay still and hang on as long as possible.

Look at the hands and feet now both touching the floor, while the head is gently resting on the floor as well. Now back to this, what we're trying to achieve is to get the bloods to go down to the brain. According to this website,

"Although the brain represents only about 2% of the body's weight, it utilizes about 20% of the body's oxygen. Normally, oxygen is carried throughout the body via the bloodstream. When the flow of blood is reduced or blocked, cells which depend on that bloodflow are deprived of oxygen (and other nutrients)"

Which is why this position is so ideal to get the blood to go to the brain! More blood = more oxygen!

Step 4: Why not throw in a face exercise too?!

While you are still holding up from step 3, why not throw in a face exercise as well? Just smile or laugh while you are trying to hold still to your position for as long as you can.

According to this website:

"Laughter generally increases activity within the immune system. It also decreases stress hormones that constrict blood vessels and suppress immune activity."

Step 5: Rest

Just like in yoga they have a resting pose, we too need to have a resting pose after exercising the brain!

So, just do what is shown on the left by Ben.

Rest all you want! You deserve it after such a hard workout to the brain! Laughing

(**Note: Parents should always be around at all times to supervise your toddler regardless what stunts he's trying to perform... and yes, this post is just to poke fun of the silly antics by Benjamin, please don't take it seriously, OK?!)

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