Author: Tia

Tia http://koasantochronicle.wordpress.com Welcome to the University of Toddlerhood, everyone! Tia and Alia here. We recently received our diploma from the College of Infancy and are excited to embark on this new stage. This blog is basically a way to share some stories of our learning experiences, and we hope that you'll enjoy learning as much as we do!

Traveling solo with a toddler – challenge accepted!

1 Comment

I wrote awhile ago that when you travel with a baby/toddler, you can no longer travel with them with only a backpack. I mean think about the number of their “favorite” toys that you have to bring on the trip… But I did it last week – well, I brought a backpack, a small tote bag, and a stroller with me. Not bad, huh? :p

Day One 

So last week, Alia and I took our first overnight trip together to Bandung. We took the morning train from Jakarta. I brought along our usual survival kit – stickers, a set of coloring kit, a notebook, and a ton of snacks.

Once we got to the station, we got picked up by Pak Tono. He’s the driver that we hired through a car rental company. He was our driver during our previous trip to Bandung with Alia’s dad, and he was great! Very knowledgeable and helpful. So this time I specifically requested him again (ask for Pak Tono if you need to rent a car and a driver in Bandung). We’re off to Lembang then.

Continue reading →

Bye bye, diapers! – Potty training 101

1 Comment

If you’re wondering what we’ve been up to this past month, well now you know… The whole month of May was all about potty training… Since then, our life has revolved around whether Alia pees or not – “Has she peed yet?” “Make sure she gets a good pee before we go” “Oh no, not another accident!” :p 

I thought that I’d share our experience of toilet training… 

If you subscribe to one of those parenting emails or read parenting books, one of the discussed topics of toddlerhood is toilet training. They usually give you a list of signs of readiness for toilet training such as this or this – can walk steadily, remains dry for a few hours, knows words for urine and stool, etc. I started reading such a list when she turned 16 months old and trying to check things off. I also began to read the “how to do toilet training” online. Honestly, the whole thing seemed confusing and overwhelming. 

Some parents in a parenting forum that I follow suggested the book “Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right” by Jamie Glowacki. Oh crapThis book has officially become our guide and kept us sane all throughout the process. Jamie (she has become my friend, so we’re on a first name basis now hahah) believes that the ideal age to start is between 20 – 30 months old (although she talks about the how to if you decide to do it earlier or later). She breaks down the process into 6 blocks (I’ll share our experience with some of the blocks later) and the possible drama in each block. She doesn’t believe in using rewards like stickers, toys, or candy during potty training – just a simple “yeah, you peed in the potty” dance or cheer. She also has a whole chapter on POOP. Yes, that smelly poop! Apparently, this is a big thing for kids when they’re in the process of toilet training. She also has a chapter on what to do if your child is in daycare. And another thing I like is that Jamie also teaches parents the kind of language to use with your child during the process (how to prompt, how to reprimand, how to motivate, etc.). I can’t say enough about how helpful this book has been to us! I’m going to start giving this book at a baby shower heheheh… 

So back to our experience… These are our toilet training tools:

Potty 101

Continue reading →

Your child turns 1! What to get? Toys for 12-18 months old

3 Comments

One of the things that I do when Alia takes a nap is online shopping. Hehehhe, I know, such a productive way of spending my precious me time, right? :p Anyway, yesterday I came across this under the kids category on Zulily.com – Fun for Year Two: 12 to 18 Months

Screenshot (14)Alia is closer to becoming 2 years old, but I was curious what they’re selling. Honestly, despite the discounted price, I wouldn’t buy most of the toys there because I think many of them are overstimulating, short-lived, and serve little benefit for a child. 

So I thought that I’d give my share of opinions of things to get for children at the age of 12-18 months old. I get most of Alia’s toys either at thrift stores, consignment sales, or online (Amazon and Zuliy) when they’re on sale. And I look for these things when getting toys for young toddlers:
– purposeful: the toys that could be to enhance gross or fine motor skills, color and shape recognition, etc.
– open-ended: there are many ways of playing with the toys, using their imagination and creativity — I call these toys “passive toys” since it requires and makes an active child for the toys to come alive
– have good shelf life: the child can grow with the toys
– wooden toys (if possible): they’re more durable, have textures that feel good on a child’s hands, and since they’re naturally made things, they can be recycled. 

Here are the toys that we love and recommend because the fit some or all of the criteria above. Alia still plays with many of them, so they’re still in our toy rotation! YEAH! 😀

Continue reading →

No more Cling On: Independent Play in a YES space

4 Comments

Note from yours truly: It’s a special post coz you get to watch clips of Alia play! 🙂 

Do you also have (or had) a Cling On at home? Wait, what’s a Cling On? It’s a term my husband and I came up with to describe Alia when she’s super duper clingy! We went through a phase where she wanted to do nothing but attached herself onto me, literally! I couldn’t leave her side without her crying. Forget about leaving the room to cook or go to the bathroom, she’d cry if we’re a few feet apart. And there were days when she’d play with her toys WHILE holding onto my shirt. I’m not kidding… On Cling On days, I was very exhausted by 11 a.m.! Forget about naptime, I was definitely ready for bedtime hehehe! 

This happened quite often when Alia was around 11-13 months old. I asked around (aka Google “Why is my child very clingy?”), and people said that it’s a phase. Honestly, for awhile I thought that this Cling On thing would never ended… 

Not only it was physically and emotionally draining, but this Cling On phase got me worried that she wouldn’t develop the ability to play independently. Independent play means that a child is able to  explore the objects and space in his environment without an adult assistance. In other words, the ability to entertain him/herself. Let’s be honest, we all need some downtime during the day, and it’s almost impossible to have one when you have a clingy child who decides to strap him/herself onto you all day. Sigh… 

Continue reading →

Learn through Play with Baby Alia 9-12 months old

Leave a comment

Another super late post by yours truly :p I just finished going through our online photo albums to look for pictures to use in this post, and wow… We sure were busy during this time of the year (thus a very long post)! A lot of outdoor activities and “jalan-jalan” aka sightseeing to new places, plenty of (very messy) sensory play, the beginning of self feeding, more #diytoys! 

IMG_20150630_095116

Baby-led weaning (by accident): Why by accident? Well, we didn’t start off with baby-led weaning (BLW) when Alia started solids at 6 months old. But for whatever reason, around 10 months old, she refused to eat puree and took more interest in self-feeding. I did my reading homework, online and using this book, and we said goodbye to all the purees. For those of you doing BLW, you’re familiar with the process – super messy hahah! At the beginning, she mainly used her hands (she still does now) and slowly we introduced utensils. When we went out, we brought disposable placemat like these ones, a bib, and her utensils (we use the ones from OXO till now).  

She only became an enthusiastic eater recently (since we stopped nursing) – YEAH!!! Before that? Continue reading →

Toy Review #4: Knob Puzzles

1 Comment

This past weekend, I felt so accomplished for finding three large knob puzzles for Alia at a consignment sale, specifically these vintage ones from Melissa and Doug. Aren’t they beautiful? With real animal pictures as supposed to the animated, cartoonish images like the ones sold these days. 

My eyes twinkle when I see jigsaw puzzles, and I think I’ve become a puzzle hoarder. Hehehe… There are so many benefits of playing puzzles for children such as developing fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, attention, and concentration (more on the benefits, click here). Plus, isn’t fun when you’ve put all the pieces together? Well, I’ve seen that big smile on Alia’s face whenever she completes a set. 😀 

To accommodate those tiny hands of her, we buy large knob puzzles from Melissa and Doug. It’s also recommended that they play with puzzles that have one piece per separate hole. This was her first puzzle which we bought when she was 10 months old. 

knob puzzle -1

Continue reading →

Learn through Play with Baby Alia 6-9 months old

1 Comment

Obviously this post is long overdue… I mean Alia is two weeks away from becoming 20 months old :p But hey, it’s better late than never right?

So things were slightly different between February and May of 2015 since I had to go back to New York during the weekdays to finish grad school. Yes, I was a loyal customer of the Chinatown bus every Friday evening and Sunday night. Alia was with her paternal grandparents for the first two months, and then we put her in a daycare center for the remaining time .It was definitely a long semester, very exhausting, physically and emotionally. But we all survived! All because of the support of Alia’s dad and her grandparents, and because of my resilient lil’ Alia! 😀

I got through my days being away from her because my dearest husband sent me this kind of picture in the morning. Boy, I miss those chubby cheeks! Hehehehe

IMG-20150224-WA0000

This was the story of my life every week – carrying a storage box full of gold liquid from NYC, followed by making a week worth of meal for Alia.

In between grading students’ papers, making lesson plans, and catching up on some sleep, we still did many explorations over the weekend.

Finger painting using yogurt for baby and food coloring (be sure that your child isn’t allergic to any of the ingredients)

Continue reading →

Learning using a #diy Light Box

Leave a comment

Have you ever seen or played with a light table? If you see one, try it. But wait, what is a light table anyway? It’s essentially a table illuminated with light. Many people use a light table or light box to do photography, drafting, and art work. But it’s also beneficial for children as it becomes a source of visual input and it offers a different means of discovery and learning. More info on what a light table is and its purpose, you can read here.

Light table is one of those things that I learned while browsing Instagram for ideas during night feedings :p After reading about the benefits and the different engaging activities to do on a light table, I wanted one. But they’re quite pricey $$$ like this one for example.  Thankfully, there are many parents who have shared their #diy light table or light box. I followed the directions from this website. It’s super easy…

light box

– 67 Qt. storage bin with a transparent lid (I think it was around $35 at Home Depot); you can easily store this underneath your couch/bed.

– LED string light ($8 from Amazon)

– aluminum foil

– tape

(pardon Alia’s light box manner then :p)

 

Continue reading →

Water play goes indoor!

1 Comment

It’s been almost two months since my last post — I guess I’d blame the cold weather for this hiatus :p So it’s officially winter here in Massachusetts. We had a strangely warm December… We were out in sweatshirts on Christmas Day; many were in shorts and t-shirts! We’ve had a couple of super cold days since then and it leaves us with no options but to stay home. OK, I’ll be honest… Staying home all day with an active toddler can be challenging. It’s no longer about sipping a hot drink and watching Netflix all day hehehe…

One thing that we like to do is to do water play. No, I don’t have an indoor swimming pool (although if I did, you’re all invited to my pool party :p). I bought a water table from Amazon during one of their Black Friday deals, and it’s one of the best purchases ever!

All you need is basically (lukewarm) WATER!

Continue reading →

Learn through Play with Baby Alia 0-6 months old

2 Comments

I was recently asked by a friend who’s expecting his first baby whether we got any sleep when Alia was a newborn. My quick answer was: We’re still not really sleeping :p And we miss sleeping in on weekends heheh… So when you have a newborn, feeding the baby and getting enough sleep are the main priorities of many parents. While I was on leave for the first 6 months of being Alia’s mom, I missed teaching my students. So in between nursing and taking some catnaps, I decided to be Alia’s very first teacher! 😀 

Here’s a glimpse of our lives then… Feel free to ask me any questions about the activities or materials that we used. 😀 

Water play: our very first messy play

Alia has always liked bath time so I thought she’d like to play with water in some other way. So I created a super mini and shallow pool for her.

Continue reading →