USANA Supplements Malaysia

Hello everyone.. Hope you guys are happy and healthy as always. This post has nothing to do with Little Reya's activities.  It is more on a supplement that i recently came accross that can help us to stay active and energised to carry on with our day to day chores/work.

USANA supplements slowly getting attention of those who longing for supplement that gives out full benefit, goodness and at its highest quality.

One set of the supplements that is too good not to try are the Essentials. It contains vitamin, mineral and antioxidant. AO Pro Vitamin and Antioxidant Supplement and Chelated Mineral- Multi Mineral Product. Every Adult can take this to complement a healthy diet.

RM 202/84 tablets

As we grow older antioxidants and minerals are most crucial elements that our body needs. Human bodies naturally produces free radicals and antioxidant to counteract their damaging effects. However, in most cases, free radicals outnumber the naturally occurring antioxidants. in order to maintain the balance continual supply of external sources of antioxidants is necessary in order to obtain maximum benefits in neuralising the body.

Antioxidants plays important roles to skin health and immune system support. Good amount of these vitamins, mineral and enzymes must comes for one's daily diet. Boosting your antioxidant can help to provide added protection for the body against heart problems, memory problems, mood disorders, immune system problem and eye problems.

So parents out there please do take care of health for betterment of the family. 

Drop an email to iswari_101@yahoo.com for more information. 

Kuala Lumpur Butterfly Park

Little Reya wanted to see a live frog, euww. I was curious, why on earth does she wants to watch a frog and particularly a green one😩??

Ok where could I find one, a frog display?? I'm not sure whether they might have it in a zoo or other animal farm but remembered various types of frog kept as exhibit in Kuala Lumpur Butterfly Park ( I have visited this park last when I was in secondary school). The park used to have the world's largest frog.

This park is located in vicinity of the ever beautiful Lake Garden. It's main entrance is at Jalan Cenderasari. Here is the location map:

Though settled in the heart of bustling Kuala Lumpur, it was serene and cool place to visit. Paradise in city i would say. There are thousands of butterflies and other small insects kept in an environment that is as close to its original habitats.

Little Reya was so happy to get to see so many colorful butterflies around her and continued to ask when she can see the frog.

The park was very well kept and its tranquility was marvelous. They do have some other animals kept in large aquarium, such as long neck turtle, alligator fish and Malayan Horned frog. We walk around the park and they do have ample seating area around the park if one wish to sit back to enjoy nature and butterflies.

For Reya it was an educational trip where she gets to see unique insects, butterfly life cycle and lots of colorful butterflies. They do have frog but only one type which is the Malayan Horned frog. Not the green colored frog that Reya wanted to see, but some how its a frog thus wish full filled ;-)

Kids can learn on world of insects at the educational display room that houses variety of insects alive and the framed pictures of it.

The admission fee:

Adult RM 22
Children RM 11 (2-12 years old)
Video Camera RM 4

Malaysians

Adult (mykad) RM 11
Children (mykid) RM 6
Family RM 34 ( 2 adults & 2 kids)

Identification card (myKad/ myKid) is needed to get discounted rates. Below are some pictures taken during our trip there recently.

Lecturer on work during our trip (he's my bro) explaining Life Cycle of Butterfly

Curious on the Man Faced Bug in the Container 

Thank you for reading

Pretend Plays: The Good Side

Pretend playing is Reya's full time job nowadays. She starts her pretend play the moment she wakes up and gets her partner (daddy) ready to play. It is often funny and joyful to watch but how if it goes beyond few hours non-stop (frustrates and tiring ;-(). She often plays cashier, mommy who drops son to school, teacher and traveler. Yeah, she drags her luggage bag and create a waiting area before boarding the air craft. Since this is at beginning stage and we rarely encourage her to play she creates her own props and we just participate in the play as per her instructions on how to play.

Pretend plays are the most valuable learning experiences a child can have. Pretend plays or imaginary plays make the child to be like some one else. It is a huge leap to their understanding and learning experience. After all it is not just ABCs, Maths and language. It is something beyond, that helps to build their confidence level and creativity.

Lets check out the benefit of pretend plays:

Thus embrace it and trust me some where it will stop and you will be having a child that has grown up and has their own busy world. But how much pretend plays actually they need is a huge question at our home.. I swear that we do get tired easily with the non stop hours of pretend plays but it definitely pay off to know that our little one is working very hard to grab new learning experience through playing. Here i came across an useful article about pretend plays:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/on-parenting/tired-of-playing-pretend-with-her-daughter/2014/02/04/9ff29360-89d3-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html

Cheers!!

Big Bad Wolf 2015 (#BBW 2015)

Big Bad Wolf #BBW2015 book sales has started since 4th December 2015 till 14 December 2015. It is time again for us to replenish our reading and activity materials. BBW 2015 is truly a book heaven and letting me alone there, I might have ended up buying lots of books.. Hmmm I just love reading.. Same goes to little reya. Since she is a baby we used to read for her various bedtime stories and Grolier's I Wonder Why Series using the talking pen.

All this reading activities certainly has cultivate love for reading and books deep in her. She were super excited when we arrived at the sale and pulled the trolley by her own while browsing her books. We vet thru all the books before proceeding to the counter. BBW has certainly made shopping with a toddler a breeze. They provided lots of trolley, counter for storing your books before proceeding for payments, play area and restaurants to get a quick bite. They do have amazing discounts for stationery as well, near the entrance.

I don't have enough of it but had to stop shopping when little Reya starts to feel sleepy. Definitely worth it and money on books is not a waste;-)

I see it as an asset.. Way to build our home library! Below are some photos of the sale and our catch on the day!

Yeah!! it is only in Malaysia 24 hours shopping of books.. no one minds you even you are on your pyjamas..:-) 

Reya @ Bukit Merah Laketown Resort

Bukit Merah is a small lake town located in Perak. Merah is a Malay word and it means red; Red Hill. We did a quick trip there over Diwali holidays. It was my first time up there and the view was so fascinating. Bukit Merah Laketown Resort as its name offers many attractions and facilites.

They have waterpark, orang utan island and an eco-park. We went there quite late and did not make it to the orang utan island and an eco-park. The waterpark it self is so huge and we did not managed to explore all the attractions there. They also have accomodations ranging from waterfront villas, water village and hotel if you wish to put up a night with loved ones and continue to explore the gem the next day. List of accomodations are as below:

1) Laketown Hotel at Bukit Merah
2) Kampung Air (Water Chalet) at Bukit Merah

Reya was super excited to get to play in water.. her most favourite thing is to bath. She will be very happy to be in water for hours. They have childrens and adult's slow river rides, kids water playground, giant wave pool and flume rides which we did not discover during our trip.

There were also plenty of covered waiting areas with table and benches for those who wish to only wait by the pool side to relax and watch their children having fun.

Eco-park is an eco-tourism and educational place where children and adults get close and experience animals. Below are the list of parks:

1) Nature Trails/walk- enjoy he fascninating mother' nature and bird watching
2) Skycycle- enjoy 200 m mid air tour across the tropical forest
3) Pets Park- get to touch and feed small and domesticated like rabbits
4) Predator Park- Watch the reptiles cobra, vipers snake and python in safe enclosure
5) Many other attractions like, crocodile enclosure, sun bear and deer enclosure also tropical trek to obesrve gibbons and binturongs.

I would say that this place is reasonably rated and most of the facilities are safe. The entry price for the water parks is as follows:

to get more information on this exciting place visit:http://www.bukitmerahresort.com.my/

Reya gets to enter for free as children below (90cm). I personally loved the experience as the facility provided were not so bad for the price we paid and the experience Reya got in a water theme park.
They also have changing rooms and lockers to keep things safe.

It started to rain when we decide to leave the park. Definitely can visit again to cover other places here.

Ear Piercing Ceremony

Ear piercing is an important ceremony in Hindu traditions. It is another milestone, sacrament and believe that piercing of a hole in the lower lobes of the ear have benefits of acupuncture. 

Ear piercing usually performed on 10th, 12th or 16th day after child's birth.  Some choose to perform it during 6th or 7th months after birth. The ritual is also performed on odd years after birth of a child, for example on 3rd or 5th year. During this age it is believed that the ear lobes of a child is soft and the pain will be mild. There are two methods sought after for ear piercing, either by a needle or shooter/ piercing guns. I have done some reading and gathered experience from other moms on both methods.


Here are some pro's and cons of piercing with a gun and needle:

Piercing Gun

Pro's

a)  Almost painless and quick; 

b) Child will almost not realise because of the numb spray will be applied  immediately after piercing; and 

c) Earrings are often pre-sterilise and packaged

Con's

a) Uses low quality jewellery (studs only) that often leads to skin irritation and prolongs the healing time;
b) Higher chances of infections; and
c) uneven piercing

Piercing with needle

Pro's
a) Also a quick process;

b) Healing is faster as less tissue trauma on ears as needle is often sharp; and

c) Various choice of earrings that can be used with needle piercing (especially for hindu custom where we will be using gold jewellery) 

Con's

a) Most of the time it is done without a numb spray; often leads child to painful ordeal and second ear piercing will be a struggle

Back to little Reya's ear piercing ceremony. My hubs has long planned for having Reya's ear piercing ceremony and prayers in Butterworth which my parents had agreed immediately. A chance to visit mom's hometown is always an immediate yes for them, includes my brother who longed for a break.

Initially we planned for getting her ear pierced using a shooter/ piercing gun. But after weighing all the pros and cons we resorted for needle piercing. Reya's ear pierced by an experienced goldsmith on 30th August 2015 (Sunday), 11.10 am. It was so joyful to see our 3 years old girl with an earring on for the first time. She cried during the piercing and after awhile almost didn't realise she was wearing one and plays as usual. 

Reya's excited look before the piercing done.
Beautiful Maha Mariamman Temple in Butterworth as background here.

This photo was taken at evening on the same day during our visit to Arulmigu Balathandayuthapani Temple in Penang

Thank you for reading!!

Raising Smart Toddlers

It is every parents dream to raise smart children so that in future they will be able to achieve success and contribute to the community. Often said that every child is born as a brand new white canvas and we as parents will color and mould them with correct attitudes and habits. I have did some research on how to raise a smart kid/toddlers and came across various tips:

a) Building a child's spirit by asking to try harder. Praising in each effort tend to make them work harder and build their confidence and they learn not to give up easily;

b) Reading to a child helps build vocabulary. The more new words a child hear the better the brain development. Exposing a child to various diversified word help them in reading, writing and spelling skills later on;

c) Guiding children according to their social emotional development cue. As parents we need to support our children to identify and help to express the emotional cues. For example when one of Reya's friend accidentally bumped on her and both fell down, we can say "ops it was an accident" to help them overcome negativity. Same goes when the child do some thing good like sharing on toys or wait for turns while playing patiently, give out lots of praises so that the child keep up with the good habit.

Some of their social emotional developments milestones are as follows:

** more information on social emotional development can be obtained from https://www.virtuallabschool.org/preschool/social-emotional/lesson-2 and http://www.cdc.gov/NCBDDD/actearly/pdf/checklists/All_Checklists.pdf

d) Encourage curiosity and continuous learning at home even your child is going to a preschool;

e) Giving some opportunity for the child to be independent (only for things that are tolerable) ex: choosing a dress, an activity during a play time or which story book to read during bedtime. Healthy independence will help them to build their decision making skills; and

f)  Sometimes unstructured activities is good for children. So now and than skip that routine and indulge in fun activities together with your child. This will create strong bonding and they are at their best when they feel valued and loved for who they are!

Thank you for reading and share with us on what your tips for raising smart toddlers.