I'm a full-time mummy

Attention everyone!

Do not discard or throw away your old calendars! You can recycle it for something else! If you have a toddler or know of any friend/relatives with a toddler, let them know of this creative idea! 

You see, over a month ago when I had my personal workspace makeover, hubby gave me this old calendar when I told him I'm looking for something to put on the table underneath my in-tray so that my papers and stuff from the in-tray doesn't fall into the crack between my table and the wall (I reserved about half an inch space for the cables and wires) And today, I realised I should've removed the calendars and just retain the hardcover back of the calendar. So, I took out the whole calendar and tear away the calendar pages leaving the hardcover back.

As I was about to throw the calendar pages away, I realised the empty space between the calendar pages and I was like 'Hey.... so much space for Ben to draw on!' Currently, Ben uses this ledger book to draw on (I like it cos it keeps all his drawing in a book neatly)

And so, that's how I got the idea to recycle old calendars! Muahahahahah... Maybe other people would've long thought of this idea but hey, this is pretty much an awesome discovery for me!

Ben warming up to drawing on bigger paper...

Pausing to play with the oil pastel...

Pausing and showing mummy his artwork so far...

What do you think? Cool idea eh? What are you waiting for?!

Start looking for old calendars or start keeping the current ones so that your toddler can use for his drawing!

I love lift-the-flap books!

Whenever I see one of these books, ESPECIALLY those with Christian messages or for children, I would be almost 100% buying the books for Ben. It also depends on whether the illustrations are cute and realistic enough or not...

Yesterday while we were out shopping, I went to this big book store at a mall nearby my house. And then I saw this book:

A Lift-the-flap book? - CHECKED!

A children's book? - CHECKED!

A Christian book? - CHECKED!

Cute and close to realistic illustrations book? - CHECKED!

Awesome! There are 2 other titles (Moses and life of Jesus) but I chose this first. I thought a book with animals will be easier to start off with Ben. At night before going to bed, Ben pointed at my bookshelf and nodded when I asked him whether he wants to read this book. So, I'm happy to say, this book is going to be a favorite for now... He already started saying 'eh-nye-nye' while pointing to the elephants in the book.. Cute! Hahahah..

Pictures below were taken just half an hour ago before Ben took his afternoon nap.

And this is Ben, holding on to one of the flaps and checking out another flap. Curious boy!

I have a few others lift-the-flap books like this which Ben loves too. You can also check out this video of Ben pointing out the things from the book. Way too cute!

So what about you?

What sort of books you use with your child? Or when you were a child?

After my successful first attempt at baking Shortbread Chocolate Chip Butter Cookies without using premix, I have decided to attempt butter cookies WITHOUT relying on premix again and this time, I used cookies cutter for the added special touch!

This recipe was adapted from Sara Lewis's "Healthy Home-Made Food For Babies & Toddlers" book. Because of this recipe, I actually bought the cute mini cookies cutter! So without further ado, here goes:

SHORTBREAD SHAPES

PREPARATION TIME: LESS THAN HALF AN HOUR

* About 5 minutes to mix & prepare the dough
* About 15 minutes to cut out the cookies
* 12 minutes for baking process
*  The recipe makes 60 cookies but because my cookies cutter are much smaller, I made about 100+ cookies

Ingredients / Tool Required:

What to Do?

* Preheat oven to 180℃.
* Brush 2 baking sheets with a little oil (I used 1 baking sheet and 1 wire rack instead and I used baking paper instead)
* Put together the flour, cornflour and sugar in a bowl.
* Cut the butter into pieces and rub into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
* Mould to a dough with your hands.
* Knead lightly and roll out on a floured surface to a 5mm thickness (mine is thicker, almost 1cm).
* Stamp out shapes with small cookie cutters.
* Transfer to the baking sheets, sprinkle with extra sugar if liked (I didn't do this as I don't want Ben to be eating too sweet stuff).

First batch on baking paper using baking sheet

Second batch on baking foil using wire rack

BAKING PROCESS

* Set oven to 180℃ and bake for 10-12 minutes until pale golden.
* Loosen with a knife and leave to cool on the baking sheets and then transfer to a wire rack.

THE RESULTS

REACTIONS FROM MY "GUINEA PIGS"

ME	"Yummy and oh-so cute looking! Crisp, taste all are just nice!" (giving myself a pat on the back again.. hehehe)
BEN	"Ammm! Ammm!"
HUBBY	"Hmmm, taste good! Very cute shapes too!"
SIL	"Mmmm... taste very nice! The sweetness is just ngam-ngam (perfect in Chinese). Bonnie (her 11 year old daughter) also said very nice and she's not a butter cookies person you know..."
MIL	"Delicious, but I prefer to see it more brown - try baking it a bit longer - give it the burnt look."

So there you go.... my SHORTBREAD SHAPES BUTTER COOKIES 2nd attempt without using premix (1st attempt at using cookies cutter)! Overall, I'm very happy with this attempt and I have additional 2 guinea pigs (my SIL and her daughter) to test on as we're out for a family dinner just an hour after I baked this cookies! To view my other recipes, feel free to hop over to my Recipe Library page for more info!

I leave you with a snapshot of my cheeky little man taking a bite of the cookie while watching his Donald Duck cartoons (his gobbling record stands at 5 cookies in less than 5 minutes)...

Brought to you by: Mama Baker wannabe aka