I'm a full-time mummy

Ever since I started kindergarten at 6 years old, I have been attending public schools (main language is Bahasa Malaysia) and during my earlier years, I mixed around with a lot of Malay friends and even spoke Bahasa with my elder brother at home (he also attends public schools), even to this day. So Bahasa Malaysia used to be my main language other than Cantonese and later on English (brushed up more when I met my hubby then boyfriend through snail mails, I had to practise and brush up my English as he doesn't speak Cantonese) Anyway, I think it is fun to be able to practise back and sharing what I know with those of you who are interested.

And so, here goes our next lesson: Iced Coffee

For those of you who are more often on Facebook, you can also find the tutorials on my Facebook fan page. I have created a "Let's Learn Bahasa & Cantonese!" album to store the phrases. Enjoy learning!

 ** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

I had previously written about how we make use of technologies to parent, educate and learn together as a family, shared our family's guidelines on technology usage for our children and also recommended some favourite Windows apps and utilities.

As mentioned before, I'm very blessed to own a reliable Windows computer with the fast processing power of Intel processors that does magic in our everyday lives and so for today's post, I will share with you on some of our recommended Windows games that we use in our family. Here we go, the list in no particular order:

Minecraft

(** Click icon below to download the app for free) 

You would have to be living on another planet if you have not heard of Minecraft. Minecraft is a game about placing blocks to build anything you can imagine. You chopped off trees, gather the woods and materials, build your shelter, hunt for food and more. You can play in free mode or survival mode (it gets dark at night and zombies and monsters came out so you really need to build/find a shelter fast!) You can play on your own or join other networks/servers and play with your friends.

Some might think it is quite costly to purchase this game, I mean, hubby and I had the same thoughts too prior to our decision to purchase the app. In fact, we delayed for almost a year thinking it through and happy to say, no regrets so far with our decision to get this game. Our 6.5-year-old boy loves Lego, he loves building stuff so to see him blossoming more after playing on Minecraft, just magical.

Just look at what he built when he was 5-ish... I am not kidding you, all these were done by himself without any help from us except when he needed help to spell some words (he started kindergarten at 5 years old) so that he could type them onto the sign boards to place into his Minecraft worlds.

You can research more on this game for the pros and cons, don't need to take our words blindly. For us, this game really does wonder in our boy, he learned a lot from it, building and securing his shelter, sourcing for materials, mining for resources and minerals, combining materials to create new tools and stuff. On the rare occasions where I played together with our boy on our server, I was very impressed as I see him getting straight to source for materials to build his shelter while I was still fumbling around trying to get my direction LOL. Even from time to time as I read news articles to him or share something new that I learned, he will suddenly tell me 'Yeah, yeah I know. In Minecraft we have that!'

Agent P Strikes Back

(** Click icon below to download the app for free) 

In this game, you have to guide Perry aka "Agent P" and try to locate the other missing agents while battling robotic guards and double jumping your way through Doof's complex. When our 6.5-year-old boy first started playing this game, he was quite frustrated as he was not used to playing games like this. Having had to learn to manoeuvre left, right, up, down all of a sudden is quite a shock to him. I mean, for a child who has absolutely no problems playing Minecraft (twirling around 360 degrees you know!) and suddenly had to slow down to control the directions and to achieve some goals in each level is a challenge but after a few attempts, he got the hang of it and loves the game.

I am glad to see him being able to manipulate the controls on our Acer Switch 12 device and was amazed to see him whizzed through levels after levels.

Plumber 3

(** Click icon below to download the app for free) 

This is an interesting game that I like. In this game, you need to rotate the pipes to form a path from the valve to the end to let the water flow. Once you complete the path from begin to end, you will go to next level which will be more challenging than previous ones.

I used the opportunity from this game to let our 6.5-year-old boy tried out, to see whether he can have a bigger picture and solve puzzles like this. He managed to solve one level all by himself without any guidance from me!

Princess Memory

(** Click icon below to download the app for free)

In this Princess Memory game, you get train your mind matching with the Princess characters alone or you can challenge a friend. I like that our 2 girls can play this game together at the same time (awesome way to avoid the girls fighting to play with their favourite Disney princesses LOL). I also like that the game tested our girls' memories and enjoy seeing them trying to recall the pictures being flipped as they tapped each one and tried to find the matching ones.

Candy Crush Saga

(** Click icon below to download the app for free)

I am addicted to this game!! Argghhhhh... I can't stop playing this game! It is so addictive and fun to match the candies and solving each puzzles and journey through the game. So so so fun! I'm not even sure I should recommend this game but it is a favourite of mine so I had to share this LOL! This game is completely free to play but some in-game items such as extra moves or lives will require payment, so if you do not want to spend any money, just wait it out and keep annoying friends and players on the game asking them to give you live and chances like what I am doing so far hahahaha...

There are other games which we use for our family of course but the above are the regularly used ones that can be found on our Acer Switch device, computers and smartphone. I hope my recommendation is useful and helpful to you guys!  In the meantime, you can learn more at the Make Magic website. 

Make magic. Every day.

#makemagiceveryday

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

I came across this article which I must definitely share with you guys. For your convenience, I have copied the excerpts from the article here:

Teeth that a baby is born with are medically known as ‘natal teeth’, while teeth that erupt within the first 30 days after the child is born are called ‘neonatal teeth’. Presence or eruption of teeth immediately at or after birth is a rarely reported phenomenon. The chance of a baby being born with teeth - or them erupting in the first month after birth  - is between one in 2,000 and 1 in 3,500. Such teeth usually develop in the lower gums and have little root structure meaning they are often wobbly. Often, they are removed after birth as there is a danger the child might choke on them.

Personally, I have known of some mothers whose babies are born with teeth and one consulted me for advice on breastfeeding matters as she had worries that her baby might bite and even shared that the old folks in her family displayed negative opinions on her baby having born with teeth, saying that it is abnormal and should be extracted out.

Just so you know, breastfeeding does not have to hurt even though baby have teeth (regardless the age of them having the teeth) - I'm talking from my personal experiences of having breastfeeding all three of our kiddos. Sure, none of them were born with teeth but we have gone through the teething process while breastfeeding, also just so you know, I've not stopped breastfeeding since March 2009. With a little practise and guidance, your child will be able to nurse and suckle without causing any pain to you.

I personally don't feel that the teeth should be extracted but that is my own opinion. If you happened to be in this situation or know of someone in this situation, it is best to consult a pediatrician who is breastfeeding-friendly and see what they say on this matter.

What do you think?

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.