Mail time!

We went shopping the other day and I went a little crazy in ABC mart- I really needed a few new pairs of comfortable, casual shoes. All my shoes are either falling apart, or stained, or just plain uncomfortable, and ABC mart have a good range of comfortable shoes. Which, lets face it, is needed after I spend all day chasing after a little one and have to be able to take off at a moments notice to save him from dashing out in front of cars. 

Pichan's first, two syllable word was "mailbox". He loves checking our mail box. Maybe his fascination comes from when I was posting flyers for my classes last year. Anyway....

I thought, with his love of mailboxes, and the fact that we have three empty shoe-boxes (and we were bored inside, but I didn't want to get changed out of my lounge clothes to take him outside) I should make him his own mail box.

I really didn't go to much effort. Just cut a hole in the top, and then you pull down to access the mail (this is how our Japanese mailbox works). We also decorated them with crayons to make them pretty (and to kill time). Husband even wanted to join in the fun and get a letter from Pete. 

We started out with just a plastic shopping bag, and some random bits of paper folded like letters for him to post.

The is progressed to envelopes, and then to envelopes with drawn-on stamps, and then we printed out some stamps on the computer and glued them to the envelopes (I just printed out old US sample stamps with cats and dogs).  

We upgraded to a blue cloth bag for him to stick his letters in. 

He has been having great fun riding up on his pretend motorbike and posting the letters. And, tearing open the envelopes. 

What we like most about this new activity, is that it is mainly an 'imagination' activity. There are no fancy, store bought mailboxes or anything, so hopefully it will foster some good imagination skills. 

We also wrote "M"'s, "D"'s, and "P"'s on the envelopes, and will write them on the mailboxes so that the next game will be matching the letters with the right post box. He loves sticking things in tiny gaps, so playing 'mailman' is a great little activity for him.

Ice lolly recipe- Strawberry, dark chocolate and coconut 'icecream'

With the summer fast approaching, we thought we would get some new popsicle molds. I bought some from Daiso but there were no holes in the sticks (The popsicle stays on better if there are holes in the sticks).  I found some better ones at Ikea yesterday (249yen, including tax). I prefer popsicle sticks that have that little scooped bowl at the base to catch the drips, but beggars can't be choosers.



I thought I would create my own recipe this time. I was going to do banana flavored, but as I had lots of strawberries left over I changed my mind.

So, out of the ashes of my kitchen I created: strawberry, dark chocolate and coconut icecreams.

I made them toddler friendly- meaning no added sugar, and only a tiny bit of the bad stuff (chocolate). Pichan isn't usually allowed to eat chocolate (I know, Nazi Mum), but at least it is dark chocolate so it is more cocoa than sugar.

Recipe:

10 ripe large strawberries
200mls of milk (full fat)
5 heaped tablespoons of Greek Yogurt (I found it at my local supermarket- *I think Greek yogurt isn't as sour, and is creamier than regular yogurt- it has less sugar, double the protein and is much thicker)
2 tablespoons of coconut (bought from I-herb)
40 grams of dark chocolate




Mix in a blender, pour into molds, freeze for four hours and viola! Delicious, healthy, icecreams fit for a toddler.



They aren't supersweet. So, if you wanted to, add more strawberries, or chocolate, or even a teaspoon or two of sugar (gum syrup would work better).

Disneyland

For Pichan's second birthday, we took him to the happiest place on earth: a.k.a- Disneyland.

We decided to go on a Friday as my husband was able to take the day off. We got there bright and early for opening at 8am, but little did we know it opens at 8:30 (it opens at 8am on weekends, apparently). It was no problem standing in line though, as we could eat our breakfast and admire all the people dressed in costume or matching outfits.

I won't bore you with all about the day, but thought I would write some good ' Disney with kids' pointers.

1. Write your kids name and phone numbers on their arms. I really wish I brought a sharpie pen, as our regular ink pen rubbed off with the sunscreen too easily. A sticker or tag for their clothes with your mobile number and their name also would have been helpful. There was no issues with losing Pi, but better safe than sorry.

2. Eat your lunch early- or really late. We ate at about 11am, and were able to get a seat with no problems. We went to the Queen of Hearts dining room and though it was cafeteria food it was super tasty and not unreasonably priced. They also had staff there to help you carry your trays to the table (anyone who has had to do the juggle the pram and tray and drinks will understand what a boon this is).

3. If you go with more adults, get the 'fastpasses' and take turns looking after each other's kids. We went with my parents, and got a 'fastpass' for 'Space mountain'. You can find more info on the internet about fastpasses, so again I won't bore you, but it cute waiting in queue time down. I think it took about 40 mins for a ride- opposed to hours for the popular ones. So, if there is a ride you really want to ride- get one and take turns babysitting.

4. Rides for Pi:

Jungle adventure cruise: He loved it
Railroad: He enjoyed it, but as we spent two hours on the train GETTING to Disneyland, another train trip wasn't as thrilling for him.
Small world: I think he enjoyed it, but was probably overwhelmed.
Cinderellas Carousel: He was super stoked to ride it, but then seemed unsure after about 10 seconds.
Teacup ride: I think he thought 'meh' It was hard as I was holding him and was too busy trying not to throw up.
Goofy's fun house: Too old, and kinda boring.

We did all the rides really early, and didn't have to wait longer than 15 mins for most. However, after lunch it was much busier. He wanted to go on the Dumbo ride, but the wait was 40 mins, which is just far too long.

5. We brought our own pram. You can hire some there, but there was pram parking everywhere, and it beat carrying him around all day.

6. Bring a bottle of water. I can't remeber seeing any vending machines (but I didn't look). After we had finished our bottle of water, we noticed there was a water fountain in the Queen of Hearts restaurant, so we just refilled there while we had lunch.

Finally, don't forget the hats and sunscreen. :)