Weekend crafting: Choo choo train

We've been saving our tissue paper rolls recently as I discovered that there was so much that you can do with them (thank you, Pinterest). I like that we are able to re-use these items and help save the environment too :)

This week, we made a choo choo train. I basically followed this blog to make this train. Theirs is so much prettier than what the boy and I made. We did not have a lot of mineral water bottle caps so I just cut off paper circles from another tissue paper roll to serve as wheels. Other blogs I saw used buttons instead of the caps.

Here are the materials we used:

7 tissue paper rolls
glue
super glue (I'd use glue gun if I had one)
scissors
yarn
water color
puncher

How to make the train:

1. Paint the tissue paper rolls.

2. Cut the edges of three paper rolls to a semi-circle. These make the top of the engine.

3. Cut one roll so that you can straighten it out to cut out the wheels. I used a five peso coin as guide. I made a total of 12 wheels and put 4 on each cable. The boy helped me paint everything.

4. Punch holes on each cable, two on each edge.

5. String the cables together using yard.

6. Glue the wheels and the engine tops. I made a mistake of using regular glue which turned out to be a real mess. It took too long for it to dry and the kid kept removing them. Use a glue gun if you have one. I remembered we had super glue at home so I used that on the engine tops.

I don't know how long this toy will "live". The caterpillar we made a few weeks back only lasted a few days. It was fun to make and I love how my boy's face lights up once we finish an activity.

Weekend Crafting: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Summer classes ended a few weeks back. Since then, the boy and I have been trying to work on his fine motor skills by doing worksheets I would get online. To change his routine, I decided to do some crafts. We started to save the paper rolls and made this caterpillar.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Everything we needed, I bought at the nearby bookstore. I cut the tissue paper roll in to 3 rolls using a cutter. You can make a shorter caterpillar using just 2 rolls (6 segments).

toilet rolls, googley eyes, yarn and glue

The boy and I took about an hour to finish painting all the rolls. I did most of the painting. He asked me to paint over some of the rolls he did. It was a fun activity for the both of us.

Painting time

I used gel glue to stick the googley eyes and the mouth (yarn). I would have preferred using glue gun, which would have been less messy but mine is missing. Note to self, try looking for it. Who am I kidding? I'll probably buy a new one soon.

Caterpillar's head

Once the paint was dry, I went ahead and attached the rolls one by one. You can use glue but I went with staple wires. It was easier and less messy for me. For the antennae, I used those twisty wires. I punched two small holes on top of the would be head and inserted those orange wires and voila! It turned out pretty cute if I may say so myself :)

In action

The boy enjoying his new toy

The boy seemed to enjoy his new toy. 

Dungis Mr. Caterpillar

The glue I used for the eyes and mouth made a mess, I think I put too much. 

To make the experience complete, I thought of telling him  Eric Carle's story about the very hungry caterpillar and I found this video.

I did not stop there, I had the brilliant idea of printing out the whole story to make it more interactive for the boy. He enjoyed it so much that we read it 10x in one sitting. Who thinks it's a good idea now? Lol. Really, I am happy that he appreciates it so much. I just hope telling the story 3x would be enough for a day.

I got my free downloadable printouts from here. I hung it to the wall using yard. The kid had fun putting the caterpillar through each food. This one got him busy for a few hours.

How about you, any crafting activities you enjoyed doing with your kid?

Kid activity: Kidzoona at Robinson's Galleria

My kid is a little ball of energy. He loves to jump and run and slide. He has ruined our bed and sofa in the process. Kids will be kids. I remember loving to jump on our beds when we were smaller but I do not remember destroying our beds or sofa. I guess things were built to be more sturdy during my time.

To burn some of the kid's energy before bedtime, we normally bring him to the nearby playground to slide and run around in the afternoons. We also bring him to the play places at the mall so he can jump his heart out in the bouncy castles.

One of the play places we frequent is Kidzoona. The one we always go to is at Robinsons Galleria  but it has several branches around the Philippines. Yes, even in the provinces like Laguna, Pampanga and Davao.

We love going to Kidzoona because there are a lot of things to do for kids of different ages. There's the ball park, the giant slides, puzzle area, the bouncy lane where even adults can jump your heart out (this is the kid's favorite area) next to the puzzle area. We also saw Rizza Mae here once too. She was with her handler and there were a lot of people asking to take a picture with her that she can't play in peace. Poor kid.

There's this giant yellow slide. I tried this with my kid once and he didn't want to do it again. He loves going down slides at the playground where we lived so I thought he'd love this. Then again, it was good that he didn't like it as much as it was a bit of a challenge to climb to the top and I am kind of afraid of heights (lol). In my defense, it is a steep slide.

The giant yellow slide.

Some bigger kids would race in the bouncy lane sometimes. I get a little worried since they might bump into the smaller kids who are just happily jumping mindlessly.

The bouncy lane.

The pretend play area. There's the market, post office and fire station.

The ball pit and smaller slides.

The Galleria branch is at the 4th floor near Greenwich pizza. As you enter you will see the arcade first. Datu will run around this area first while one of us parents fill out a form before queuing up to pay. Fee for an hour of play is Php 200. This covers both the kid and one guardian. You will pay Php 100 per extra adult guardian. 3 hours of play is Php 400. The fees aren't so bad compared to other play places like Gymboree where the play area isn't as big as Kidzoona's. However, if you have younger children who are just learning to walk, I think the peace and quiet of Gymboree is better suited for you.

Admission fees (source:http://www.aeonfantasy.com.ph/)

Source: http://www.aeonfantasy.com.ph/

source: http://www.aeonfantasy.com.ph/

What's also nice about Kidzoona is that there is an area where adults can hang out and rest too. There are couches in this area and a water dispenser. If you do not have your water bottle with you, you can just ask for a paper cup from the reception. 

The only thing that I hate about Kidzoona at least the one at Galleria is that there is no restroom inside even just for the kids to use. For kids like mine who tend to hold there business in until the last minute, you need to make a mad dash to the restroom which is pretty far so accidents can happen so be sure to be prepared for this and bring extra clothes too. 

Kidzoona opens at 11 AM and can get cramped and hot easily especially on weekends and holidays. Better be there early so kids can enjoy the place more. Do not forget to bring socks for both kids and adults. You can buy a pair at the mall too in case you forget but better to bring your own to save some cash.

Kidzoona, Robinsons Galleria

Level 4 Space 4339 & 4339A Robinsons Galleria,

Ortigas Avenue, Brgy. Ugong Norte 3,

Quezon City, Philippines 1110

Sun to Thu 10:00 - 21:00 / Fri to Sat 10:00 - 22:00

Contact Number: Landline +63-2-6319830 / Globe +63-977-8017464
http://www.aeonfantasy.com.ph/

Of first haircuts and traditions

I had this post in my draft folder since October when my son had his first haircut. Last January, he had his second cut three months after the first one. Due to insistent demand from Mr. S's family, I finally agreed to have his head shaved in hopes he'll have thicker hair. 

Anyway, below is my post about his first haircut drafted four months ago. Hehe!

My son turned a year old almost two months ago. His hair has gotten pretty long on his first year but was still relatively manageable. We rarely experience the dreaded knots that are so tangled you need to cut them off.

He lost all his hair at around three months (around the time I also lost a bunch of mine) so it's really just nine months of outgrowth for him. I wanted to keep it growing until it reached at least chin length before we got his first haircut. See, he is genetically predisposed to be bald. I just want to give him a chance to experience having long hair while he can. Mr. S started losing his hair in his mid 20s so if he follows that time frame, it's not a very long time for him to enjoy his hair.

Mr. S does not agree with me on this. He wants to get our son a haircut soonest time we can. Still following tradition, we waited for my son to turn one before we had his first haircut. Our son has thin, fine hair. People say that if you cut the baby's hair really short (read: skin head or semi-kalbo), it would grow fuller and thicker. I suggested we take it slow and cut his hair short instead of just getting a trim and then we'll go from there.

One Sunday morning, we trooped to Cuts4Tots at SM Megamall. The shop is at the 5th floor near the chapel. We were there a little after 10 AM and we were second in line. Mommies, try to be there soon as the mall opens if you're planning to have your kid's haircut on a weekend. Other customers started pouring in at around 10:15 AM and it got crowded. Babies wailing stresses other babies (and mommies) out so it's best to be the first and get the haircut done as fast as possible.

We were there about 20-30 minutes since there was only one barber at that time (the other one arrived as we were leaving though) so we had to wait for the other baby to get his haircut first before we got our turn.

We chose Cuts4Tots since we live nearby. Also, read good reviews about the service plus the fact that they print certificates and attach a lock of baby's hair with it. They took before and after shots of the baby's cut which they draft into the certificates too. This service costs Php 525. You'll have to come back after a week to pick it up.

While waiting for our turn, Datu was oblivious to the other wailing child. He sat in the (car) barber's chair and was busy playing with the steering wheel. He very rarely cries and has almost zero stranger anxiety so I was confident that there will be no drama here. Boy, was I wrong. He started crying soon as the barber started on his razor. I ended up having to carry him for him to stop crying and I got his hair all over me. Mommies, bring extra shirt or make sure before you carry your baby, ask for a cape (or whatever that is called) so you won't get hair on your clothes.

That's where the babies get to sit. There is also a regular chair for bigger kids. Stations have a monitor where you can request your kid's favorite show to be played to help calm him down. This didn't work with my baby though so I had to resort to carrying him.

There are toys in the waiting area your kids can borrow to occupy them while waiting for their turn.

Before the barber started to cut D's hair, we made sure to follow one tradition, to have an intelligent person cut the baby's locks. They say that if someone intelligent gives the first haircut, the child will also grow smart. Not sure where that came from and obviously, there was no scientific basis to that but it won't hurt to follow. Who got to cut his hair first, you ask? I was the designated person. I guess I was the smarter one. I got Mr. S to marry me after all :p

How about you, what traditions did you follow when your baby had his/her first haircut?

Here are my son's before and after photos.

I was kind of emotional while my son was getting a haircut. He felt like a different kid to me. As if he suddenly grew up. I don't know, I guess I was just being sentimental or hormonal or both. Doesn't he look so grown up after the haircut? Oh, babies grow up too fast.

Datu's first birthday: Supplier review

We celebrated my dear son’s first birthday one rainy Sunday afternoon. August is the monsoon season and it was inevitable to celebrate one of his birthdays with stormy weather. They say rain during one’s birthday is a blessing. That would mean amazing blessings for my baby, then. We almost were not able to get home as we lived in a flood prone area. We really felt the love of our family and friends who braved the stormy weather to be with us to celebrate our son’s first year.

Let's get on with my supplier review, shall we?

We learned from Datu’s baptism that we need to book venues early to get the date and schedule we wanted...much like weddings. Di ppwedeng tatamad tamad. We booked our venue in June and then got our other suppliers nearer our date. More on the supplier ratings below.

Venue: Jollibee, Sheridan 

The birthday celebration was not extravagant at all. We wanted it that way since Datu will not remember any of it so we didn’t want to invest too much money and time for it. We plan to have a bigger celebration when he is older (if he chooses to do so and if our wallets permit). Contenders for our party venue were Jollibee, McDonald’s and Max’s. The only reason why we chose Jollibee was because it was cheaper than the other two. The theme we chose was Batman. We did not buy our cake there since I wanted a more personalized one. If you bring your own cake, you won’t be able to serve it to your guests though. That was explained to us when we made our reservation. We paid Php 1700+ for the party fee. The venue, host, Jollibee’s appearance, prizes and the balloons (30 pcs) are part of that fee. You have to pay extra for the party hat, place mat and invitations. I think that’s Php7 per set which isn’t that bad. We only got 30 sets, mostly for the kids. At this age though, I recommend not to get the invites anymore since we do most of our inviting through FB anyway.

It was a breeze working with the Jollibee staff. They catered to most of our simple requests like making sure that they don’t serve melted sundae ice cream. I attended another birthday party a month back at another Jollibee branch and we were served sundae slush.

By the way, you can also book the party online which makes things easier. We wanted to check the place out first, since we have never attended a party at the Sheridan branch before. And so we went there and made our reservations on site.

The day of the party, we met this guy Rain who said he was going to host the party. He made the event lively. There were times when I felt I was at a comedy bar. I am just glad that our guests took the host’s jests good-naturedly. Everybody had a good laugh.

We were asked at the start of the party if we wanted to have Jollibee stay for the games. I felt cornered so I said yes. For Php 550 extra, Jollibee hung around with the kids during the games. In hind sight, it seems to be 500 pesos well spent.

Why did I give a 4 instead of 5? There were few parking slots which made it difficult for our guests. We were told that someone was going to assist with the parking but some of our guests said nobody assisted them. Not sure if that was because it was raining really hard (yes, habagat level! It was starting to flood outside). The up selling attempt, though ended up to be a good thing, took me by surprise since that really was not in the budget and I felt should have been done when we signed the contract.

Overall, I think it was a good day. We had fun, the guests had fun and we didn’t spend too much for the party.

Rating: 4 (out of 5)

Budget: about Php 18,000 for 80 adults and 20 kids

Cake by Sweet Avenue Cake

I have been looking for cheap suppliers when I came across a deal in Ensogo. I read good reviews about this shop. I saw their final products in their FB page and decided to purchase a voucher. Our cake had a Batman design. We went to their shop in Malate to talk to Lawrence (the owner/baker) about how we want the cake to look like. He made a sketch and I think he delivered on the design.

We had to pay Php 500 extra for the delivery fee. They came on time but I still feel that the charge was a bit expensive.

We couldn't serve the cake to our guests due to Jollibee policy so we took it home and ate it the next day on Datu's actual birthday. It was a simple chocolate cake with caramel icing in between layers. It was not too sweet, which is good but it was dry. I'm not sure if storing it in the fridge overnight caused that so I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Rating 2.5

Budget: Php 2999 + Php 500 delivery charge

Photographer by RAS Photography

I found out about Ras through N@W. He had good reviews and had the cheapest package so I decided to book him for our party. 

This was a last minute thing.  I have a photographer friend I asked to take pictures at the party but he said his camera had problems and can't do it for me. I don't want to have to think about taking pictures while entertaining guests so I decided to hire one. 

Ras said he was not available on the day of the party but could send someone else who was also good. I had another choice but she was more expensive by Php 2000. I looked at the guy's FB pictures and they were ok so I took the chance.

What I liked about RAS photography is that he tried to enhance as much of the photographs taken unlike with the others where they only take 20-40 pictures to edit. However, this effort takes time and it took almost a month for us to get copies of the photo. Although, from time to time, he'd text us to say that he had posted some of the pictures on his FB page.

After a couple of weeks, we finally got our copy of the pictures burned in a DVD with our family picture as cover. It was a nice touch and was a pleasant surprise. He even made a video montage for us, which again was a freebie. To be honest though, I felt that the pictures could have been taken better. There were a lot of candid shots but only a few actually told a story. Even the posed shots were somewhat lacking. Even my husband said so (he said he had a feeling that would happen when he saw the photographer--who was Ras' sub). 

Looking at the photos, I almost wish that I booked the other photographer instead. But to be fair with Ras, he gave us a free outdoor shoot a week after our event. He said that it was to make up for the fact that he was not the one who covered our event. There were a lot of good pictures that came out of that shoot. 

I would still book Ras in our next event but will make sure he covers it himself.

Rating: 3

Budget: Php 3000

Balloons

This was a gift to us by an officemate who does party planning.

Rating: 5

Budget: NA

Outfits

Baby's Batman Costume - Baclaran

Parents' shirts - SM Department Store

Budget: Php 1000

Overall, I think it was a pretty fantastic party. We stuck to our budget and everyone had fun.

Play and Learn at Gymboree

Last year, when I was still pregnant with Datu, we got a Gymboree voucher specially for Dragon babies. I got it from one of the Mommy Mundo events. The voucher gets us a Free trial class, 50% off the Membership fee and 50% off on the child's first enrollment. The caveat is that it must be used before the child turns 10 months.

Datu is turning 10 months in about two weeks so we decided to use the coupon to avail of the discounts if we decide to enroll him. Serendra and Greenbelt 5 were the nearest branches from where we lived (nearest was Rockwell but that branch isn't open yet). I called both up to check for class schedules as those were not posted in their websites. The Greenbelt schedule worked best for us. I reserved a slot for Datu for their level 2 class on a Saturday.

Gymboree's Play and Learn are their most popular classes. There were several levels depending on your child's age. Datu is at Level 2 (6-10 months). It goes up to Level 6 for toddlers 28-36 months. The activities are play-based that stimulate your child's motor and sensory skills. The activities are all done while singing. The classes last for an hour.

Class schedule for Gymboree at Greenbelt 5

For Level 2, there was a segment for parent sharing. We were asked about feeding our children solid foods. It was more of a question and answer thing. It would have been nice if we were actually asked about best practices but I guess that may take too long of a discussion and will take away time for the actual baby activities.

I think Datu enjoyed the activity with bubbles best. The teachers would blow bubbles in the air while singing, the babies were so cute looking and touching the bubbles. The bubbles are safe as they were not made of soap. I remember the teacher saying it had glucose and something else (which sounded safe...sorry, I'm kind of forgetful with these things! Important to note is that these are safe :) ) He also liked the soccer activity and mostly anything that involved lifting him. The activities also allowed him to interact with other babies his age in that kind of environment. Honestly, I enjoyed the activities too. I think I enjoyed it more that Datu did. (lol)

We did not enroll him just yet as we feel that he can't fully appreciate the classes at this age still. Also,since we live in an apartment complex, Datu is able to interact with other babies too. In our complex, Datu has two kabarkadas who are the same age as he is. Then, there are toddlers below three years old. However, if your baby does not have a regular playmate he/she can interact with, I say go for it and enroll your baby to start developing social skills.

Below are their current rates in case you decide to enroll your own kids. Both parents can join the classes with the baby. Especially if you are not in your best physical state, activities can be tiring   and it provides equal opportunity for both parents to get involved while the other takes pictures and videos :)



Hubs and I decided to enroll Datu for Level 3 onwards when he is older. We feel after a few months, he will be able to participate better in the activities.