Ben Gogh in the Making??

~ Posted on Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 1:05 AM ~

I know I'm bad. I called my son names...

One moment he is Ben, the Ben-pire.

Then he is Ben, the Ben-blebee...

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to:

Ben, the Ben Gogh! Cool

Hmmm... ever since Ben picked up some color pencils and started scribbling around during one of our recent family outing to our close friend's house (their daughter is 2 months older than Ben), I decided to take out the Sketch and Etch toy given by my brother during Ben's 1st birthday. I still kept the shape magnets as I think they are still a bit too small for Ben to handle for now.

So, during our usual balcony time, instead of playing with water, I decided to let Ben sketch or scribbles whatever he wanted on the Sketch and Etch toy. At 16 months old, Ben is still not very good in holding the stylus but nevertheless, it's better than the first time I let him tried it. He just stuffed the stylus into his mouth (which is why I kept it until now). I took a closer look at what he came up with... not bad, not bad... at least there's something! Everyone's gotta start somewhere right?!

And I noticed he loves sliding the magnet eraser left and right. And he only does that after he scribbled on it. Clever!

Ben pausing for a while... looking for inspiration??

Picture below of Ben taken from the top where I stood over him heheheh... (Btw, unlike the superstitious Chinese customs which is to shave a baby's head bald when they turned 1 month old, we did not shaved Ben's hair at all since he was born. And yet, Ben had a headful of hair, smooth and soft, just the way we love it!)

Ben starting his weird antics... am not sure whether he's looking for more inspiration for his sketches or he needs that rush of blood to his head or something...

Ben got distracted by our dog barking at the people walking past our house. And yeah, him standing on the sketch board... sigh... will try again next time...

I wonder whether my son is going to sketch something like this for me one day?  Just thinking... Cool

A Day at the Park...

~ Posted on Monday, July 12, 2010 at 1:09 PM ~

Here are some of the latest pictures of our recent family outing at the park again:

Ben getting all excited the moment we stepped right into the park area. And yeah, he's in pink again hahaha... (* Note: For those of you who don't understand why I say this, read my previous post on "Pink is for Boys, Blue is for Girls!")

Ben hinting he wants to play in the slide. What we always do is put him right at the top, hold him by his armpits and slide him down.

I don't know the name of this but you're supposed to hold on to the metal handle and sort of slide yourself to and fro the railings...

Ben having a go at walking on the field...

And he runs off further in and hubby had to chase after him to stop him from walking further as we realised there are dog poos all over the field. Yeah, some really irresponsible people who walks their dogs in the park but don't have the basic manners to clean and bag up their dog poos. Sigh...

We left at 7pm, before the mosquitoes started their blood sucking missions. Nice sunset sky huh?

Pink is for Boys, Blue is for Girls!

~ Posted on Friday, July 9, 2010 at 12:30 AM ~

Yeah you read that right! Finally I can use this post to answer people who like to ask me why I often dressed Ben in pink clothings and not get shot with weird looks as if I concocted up an answer just to reply them. Oh well, before I stumbled into these articles, I just want to explain that I think Ben's complexion is better enhanced when he wears pink shirts. And I am not the type that goes by pink is for girls, blue is for boys.

So without further adieu, in this round of "Today's Awesome Discovery", I would like to share with you the following excerpts from this 2 posts:

Post #1: http://www.colormatters.com/colors_pink.html

"In almost every culture, one stereotype emerges: pink is associated with girls, blue with boys. Unfortunately, there is no consensus of opinion on its origin.

According to Jean Heifetz, for centuries, all European children were dressed in blue because the color was associated with the Virgin Mary. The use of pink and blue emerged at the turn of the century, the rule being pink for boys, blue for girls. Since pink was a stronger color it was best suited for boys; blue was more delicate and dainty and best for girls. And in 1921, the Women's Institute for Domestic Science in Pennsylvania endorsed pink for boys, blue for girls. (When Blue Meant Yellow. pp. 20 -21)

One could argue that contemporary color symbolism confirms these associations. Blue is considered a calm, passive color, hence feminine. Red (pink derived from red) is considered active hence masculine.

On the other hand, the idea of associating blue with male babies may stem back to ancient times when having a boy was good luck. Blue, the color of the sky where gods and fates lived, held powers to ward off evil, so baby boys where dressed in blue. In Greece a blue eye is still thought to have powers to ward off evil. The idea of pink for girls might come from the European legend that baby girls were born inside delicate pink roses.

Another theory states that the sexual origins can be found in ancient China. At a time when certain dyes were quite rare, pink dye was readily available and therefore inexpensive. Since blues were rare and expensive, it was therefore considered to be more worthwhile to dress your son in blue, because when he married the family would receive a dowry."


Post #2: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7817496.stm

"How different it was in the early 1900s, when blue was for girls and pink for boys.

The Women's Journal explained it thus: "That pink being a more decided and stronger colour, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl."

DressMaker magazine agreed. "The preferred colour to dress young boys in is pink. Blue is reserved for girls as it is considered paler, and the more dainty of the two colours, and pink is thought to be stronger (akin to red)."

What prompted the switch is unclear, but it had been made by the time Adolf Hitler ordered the classification of homosexuals. Those deemed "curable" were sent to concentration camps and labelled with a pink triangle. This suggests that by then, pink was associated with femininity.

But some commentators now believe pink dominates the upbringing of little girls, and this may be damaging."

Shocking huh?! I didn't even know of this before! But even if I have never come across these articles, I still love to see Ben wearing pink clothings.

He just looks absolutely handsome and dashing in pink! Don't you think? Cool

Ben @ 8 months old...

Ben @ 9 months old...

Ben @ 16 months old...