I'm a full-time mummy

Just yesterday I was playing with Ben and all of a sudden, I had a flashback memories of my childhood... and in that instant, I remembered one childhood memory which I had totally forgotten all about... it was a horibble, horrible one... I still couldn't remember much in details but enough to write up a post of it so that I can and from now on will remember such thing happened to me long, long, long ago...

What happened long ago (I think I was about 8-9 years old) was I cleverly shoved something into my nostril and it got stuck inside. YEAP... SHOVED into my NOSTRIL and cleverly got it STUCK. Up until 5 minutes ago, I don't even know the name for the object that was stuck in my nostril, so with a little bit help from dear Google and its image search, I finally found more info to put into this post.

My dearest blog readers, that object that I shoved and then got stuck in my nostril is what we called in Malay - biji saga or the saga seeds.

This is how it looks like from the tree. You can read more about it from this link: http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/plants/saga_tree.htm

And when you plucked off the seeds, this is how they look like:

(*Both photos taken from Google image search)

Look at that bright Ferrari red colored seeds!

How can one resist from shoving it into their nostril, right? . . . .

Ok, ok... thought I could  try and  justify my stupid act or something...

So anyway, I remembered my mum always brought me back to her hometown whenever I had school holidays and I love spending my holidays in her hometown cos I get to see my cousins and we always had this wild crazy adventures during the daytime.. like cycling all over the village, playing cooking (or what we called 'masak-masak' in Malay), catching grasshoppers and wading into the rivers to catch TADPOLES and small fishes... crazy huh?

So anyway, one time I brought home these lovely red saga seeds and I'm not sure what I was intending to do but I ended up with one of the seed in my nostril. Heh... I have no idea how I managed to get it out of my nostril but I definitely DID NOT call for help from anybody else.

I mean, yes, at the tender age of 8-9 I am THAT naive and stupid to shove the saga seeds into my nostril but I do have the tiny bit of wisdom NOT TO humiliate myself further (or probably scared of getting scolded by my parents for my heroic evil kenievel act or something) I do remember trying to press my nose bridge in order to push the seed out and also blowing my nose hard. Am not sure whether any of this method works cos I guess part of this horrible childhood memory was still being supressed by my brain... Sigh... what a memory... 

Of course, now that I remembered part of this memory, I do get worried that Ben might one day do this and shoved something into his nostril. Gulp...

The product I'll be reviewing this time is:

Yeap! A board book by the title of “Alternative ABCs”!  I  have  been  given  this wonderful opportunity to review this board book through the Business2Blogger program and the contact person, Ms. Sara DeGonia is a wonderful person to work with! She has been providing me updates and help all the way from the point I submit my request for the book review until the book was delivered safe to my hand half way across the globe!

(Excerpts from the website): 
This “Alternative ABCs” board book features original, colorful, and graphic illustrations and typography by Southern California based designers Eric Ruffing and Dave Parmley of 13THFLOOR. 

Aesthetically borrowing from street, surf, skate, and music subcultures, the custom design and typography beautifully spell out this unique alphabet. From Calligraffiti to Pin-Striping, and from Goth to Punk, this little book crosses genres and is sure to create a buzz.  Further details of the board book:

* ISBN: 9781934429396, Dimension: 6 x 6 inches and number of pages: 56 pages

The moment I read about the opportunity to review this book (without even seeing the pictures of it!) I was hooked!  I mean, how often you get to see something other than the normal A for Apple, B for Ball, C for Cat type of board books?!! I’m not sure about you but this is the first time I read about this concept! Just look at the pictures of Ben below enjoying the book when it arrives!

The book also instils a sense of responsibility in us, as you can see, R is for Reduce, Reuse and Recycle! How uber cool is that?! 

Ben flipping to the next alphabet for more!

Picture above of Ben, obviously intrigued with the vibrant colors used!

What I like about this board book?

* A different concept towards getting your child to learn alphabets

* Vibrant colors used for each alphabet which attracts and caught your attention

* Creative illustrations used where some of them actually helps instil preservations and love towards environment and our planet earth!

* The thickness of each page is just right (flimsy and thin books always get chewed by Ben and doesn’t last more than 1 week)

* The dimension of the board book is also just nice, not too big that I get tired holding them for Ben or too big for Ben to carry around. 

You can go to  http://www.ammobooks.com/books/altabcs/  to order a copy.

Similarly, you can also order from Amazon by clicking at this link: Alternative ABCs (Chunky Edition)

*** Btw, I am in the midst of liaising with AMMO Books for a giveaway copy to one of my lucky blog reader (yup! Could be YOU!!), so watch out for this OK?

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a free product by AMMO Books in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

Few days ago, we started having our evening strolls at one of the playground cum park cum football field near our house, well, about 5 minutes walk from our house but we decided to drive there and then walk around the park since we're bringing the small market trolley to carry Ben around hehehe...

Picture below of Ben in the market trolley which MIL normally used when she does her marketing once in a while. It's clean, don't worry... and the 'wet' spot at the bottom in between Ben's legs are not his piss stains... hubby actually poured some of the organic lemon grass or some herbs concoction to prevent mosquito bites. In our place, there are a lot of mosquitoes when it's past 6pm+ so we came prepared even though we started our strolls at 5pm+.

Hubby left me with Ben and started his walking exercise, only to be stopped by a bunch of fallen tree brances and stuff, blocking the pathway. Picture below taken from afar where hubby along with an older man clearing up the fallen branches. There are a few other people standing near them but just looking and not helping

Once the pathway was cleared, hubby and the old man continued their walk and they actually striked up conversations and throughout their walking exercise, they both were just walking alongside each other chatting non-stop!

So, since my hubby abandoned us, I pushed Ben in the trolley to the nicest looking seesaw and propped him on it. And then I just pushed the seesaw up and down, letting Ben have a feel of the seesaw.

Then I went to the nearby swing, sat on it and put Ben on my lap and started swinging... Ben seems to enjoy it cos he just sits quietly and looked at the view around. It's kinda painful for me cos the swing seat was a bit too small for me but it's better than nothing...

And this is the view right in front of us... who can resist it??!! So, I stop the swing and walked with Ben slowly to the playground. That's like 15 feet from the swing.

Ben immediately climbed onto the platform and started flipping the Tic-tac-toe game...

And the opposite of the Tic-tac-toe game was this blue capsule window which Ben immediately slammed his hands over it... guessed he was intrigued with the blue color window and the fact that I looked blue over the other side hahaha...

Then I noticed this guy walking out of the park... he actually carried his cat and was previously walking his cat in the park! Cool! First time I see someone walking their cat instead of a dog!

After a while, I was tired (have to watch Ben like a hawk cos he was really active, moving and running around)  so, I took him to the badminton court at the side of the park and let Ben drinks and rest while I tried to flag hubby to stop and go home.

The sky was getting dark (almost 7pm) so we decided to head home. All in all, it was a nice family outing in the park for us... a first to many many more to come!