toys Toys TOYS!

When I was in elementary school, I used to go to an American church during the week to partake in a girls' program called Missionettes.  I've never been in a girls' program aside from that and am not familiar with Girls' Scouts other than their cookies, so I have nothing to compare it to, but in retrospect it was very much gender-biased.  We learned about women in the Bible, to cook, to craft, among other things.  It was okay though because my curiosity has supplied me well in the male-oriented spectrum of life.  I generally know most tools, know how to fix a toilet (even if it is just temporary), know more about cars than most men would expect me to know, and whatnot.  I have many many fond memories of my time in Missionettes and one of the most grateful things that I have learned through the program is crafting.  My parents both worked very hard to provide for our family and so teaching me to craft wasn't exactly their priority, but there at Missionettes, I made things that to this day I completely cherish.  It wasn't anything fancy or intricate.  Sometimes it was a sewing-with-yarn kind of craft you would probably find at a dollar store, and sometimes it was revamping a cheap plastic photo album with lovely printed material, lace, and buttons. I can confident say that it was the introduction to crafts at Missionettes that has made me into the crafty person that I am today.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I am by no standard a pro at anything I do.  In fact, my work is rudimentary at best, but I believe that God has given me the interest in wanting to make things and a talent to work with my hands.  Also, I don't believe in having to pay inflated prices for things that I can easily make with the time I have at home.

This brings me to my current and on-going interest in toys for Luna.  Toys in general are super expensive.  Toys in Korea in general are like three times the prices back at home.  sigh.  I do not have the money to satisfy my want for toys for Luna, especially when I'm looking for toys that are specific to her developmental stage right now.  This is where my crafting comes in.  Also, being a teacher by profession helps me to think of toys for her that would be beneficial to her stage.  So, here it goes.

One day I noticed that she was starting to use her fingers to pinch objects.  Also, she liked putting stuff into containers.  So I saved my plastic cup from the coffee shop and brought it home.  One man's trash is another man's treasure, is it not?  haha  Then I got the scrap ribbon I had in the house and sewed up the ends to make little balls out of them.  This was the result:

 

Luna likes to shove the ribbon ball into the hole in the cup.  I initially thought of buying pretty little pom pom things at the craft store, but there are no mega craft stores Michael's in Korea.  I'm sure I can find them if I looked, but the ribbon was already at home.

Luna really likes to do this.  It's really amazing how focused she is when she tries to finish this task.

For a while, I didn't have any other inspiration to make a toy for her.  Finally I found something to make.  I'm still in the middle of the project though.  What am I making?  I am making a ring stacker for her.

I don't know why, but Luna loves that blue ring holder!  And that's not even the intended use.  The blue thing is actually the rack for the Avent bottle parts sterilizer. lol.  Luna loves to go in the corner where I have stored it, open the top and bring out the rack.  She just carries it around.  So, I decided to make some rings out of felt and stuffed it.  I've made three rings so far and need to make more.  I just haven't had the energy or the mind to do it lately. We've only had this for a week now so she hasn't mastered getting the post through the ring.  But, she will.

Also, I made some puppets with felt.  My mom sent me a Tweety bird puppet during the summer and Luna was super amazed by the puppet.  It's a simple puppet too; it doesn't have a moving mouth, but just a giant head and arms.  I made three friends to go along with Tweety.  The first one I made was of a rabbit.  When I cut out the body in accordance with the width of my hand, I forgot to account for the thickness of my hand. Oops.  I worked to fix it, but it means that it only fits my hand.  Then I made the frog so that Husband would be able to fit his hand.  This time, I made it too big where it is real comfy for him but I can't use it very well because my hand is much smaller.  The most recent one I made is the owl, and it happens to be my favorite.  I saw this owl on Pinterest and I think it provided a template, but I didn't use the template.  This time, the size is just right where both of us can use it comfortably.  (This is starting to sound like Goldilocks.) I've included the measurements for those of you who want to try it out.  Note that the rabbit is the smallest in width and height as well.

Of course, with the green felt I had, I made a felt CHRISTmas tree.  Felt stick to felt so I cut out "ornaments" that Luna can stick and unstick onto the tree.  She isn't toooo interested in the tree, but its there for when she is.  This idea wasn't mine, but a fellow mom on a fb group I am a part of.

With some fabric that I bought at Dongdaemun last week, I've made some bibs.  Koreans don't actually use these as bibs, but as scarves for the babies.  Koreans have this thing about always having to keep the neck warm to keep the cold away.

This took a little more work because I'm hand sewing them.  I left my sewing machine back in California though I'm sure using the machine wouldn't cut down on time too much because I'm not too skilled with the machine either. haha  But, after cutting the two fabrics, I ironed the edges down so that it would be easier to sew them together.  I ended up having to adjust the ironing twice in the middle of the sew because the two triangles weren't lining up right.  In the end, the green side came out a little lumpy but you can't tell once the scarf is around the neck.  I also attached some snap buttons so that I wouldn't have to tie it.  The snap buttons can easier be bought at Daiso too.
(Looking at the pictures now, the green print looks similar to the play clothes that Maria made for the children in Sound of Music)

A while back, I also made teething pads for my ergoBaby carrier.  Again, I had the cloth at home already. so i just sewed it up instead of paying the $10 for it.

 I used one of the numerous brand new washcloths we had at home.

The one on the left is the ergoBaby teething pad and the one on the right is the washcloth. 

I just sewed up the ends and sewed in the snaps and voila! I've got some more teething pads. 

Last week, Husband and I went on a Dongdaemun haul, picking up some goodies at the toy alley and the fabric/craft mega building.  Like I said, toys are expensive.  Wooden, Montessori-like toys are even more expensive!  Holy moly! If you know the toy alley, there's a store on one of the corners that is gigantuous.  It's two floors and it holds many many toys of brands that you know.  It also holds many Montessori toys and wooden toys that I would love to buy for Luna.  The problem is the price.  Even at Dongdaemun, the prices are ridiculous.  sigh.  BUT there is a toy store I found that hold wooden toys at a much cheaper price!  I bought a wooden puzzle for 5000 won.  yay!  I forgot the take a picture of the store front, but hopefully someone can help you find it if you decide to go check it out. They also sell lamination stuff.

The prices I saw there were comparable to the prices on Gmarket, so if you're not into actually playing with the toys before purchasing (like I am), then I say utilize Gmarket instead of making the trip to Dongdaemun.

You can find directions and additional info on the the toy alley on this blog, Kids Fun in Seoul: Dongdaemun market


Back in May, I posted info on a baby cafe near my apartment.  They've actually changed their name and their prices/policy a bit.  It used to be that a purchase of a drink will get you two hours of play, and a food purchase will get you three hours.  They have actually started charging an entrance fee of 1000 for the adult and 2000 for the child in addition to the drink/food purchase (the drink/food prices haven't changed).  However, there is no time limit.  It's still a pretty good deal.

This is a lot of information and there are still two more topics I wanted to cover, but I think I'll leave it for next time.  Leave me some love please!


Next: soap making/packing supplies and stripping diapers

Luna's First Birthday Party

We did the whole crazy big Korean first birthday shindig.  And yes, it was quite crazy, only because I'm the mommy and I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to greet all the guests; keep Luna occupied, fed, and happy; and still keep my composure in a dress, too-much makeup, and heels. Overall, it went fairly well despite my crazy and pitiful rantings about how I wanted to do it my way and whatnot.  I was pleasantly content with what I was given and Husband was fairly satisfied with the service of the venue.

My little princess was indeed a princess.  She was dressed in a white dress (as all little Korean birthday/mini-wedding protagonists should be) and stomped around in matching shoes that were all provided complimentary by the venue.  Her little pigtails and her big personality were no match for the numerous tables and chairs that dared to stand in her way.

From food, decorations, Masters of Ceremony (MC), to slideshow, it was all provided by the venue. All we prepared were birthday favors, photographers for the event (our friends), giant paper mache letters of LUNA, her booster chair, and mommy adornments. In weeks prior to the event, we went to a self-studio where the studio provides the studio, clothes, and camera (at a price, of course) and Daddy took the pictures.  It isn't professional photography, given that we are not experienced photo-takers but it was good enough for us.

Luna did the traditional doljabi the non-traditional way since Koreans like to use their space efficiently.  That means that Luna didn't crawl or walk up to one of the objects to grab it, but little miniature versions of the doljabi was placed on a tray for her to pick up.  For those of you who are not Korean, doljabi is a traditional event during the birthday party where different significant objects are placed in front of the child.  The object that the child picks up will be determinant of what the child's adult life would be like.  Normally, the objects are money for wealth, a ball of string for a long life, stethoscope or a medicine bag for becoming a doctor, book for becoming a scholar, some sort of musical instrument for becoming a musician, and whatever else you want to add.  You can add a ball for an athlete, a kitchen utensil for a cook, etc. The sky is the limit really.  Some choose to go a totally different route where they print pictures of famous celebrity women for a birthday boy to choose as his wife. lol

We are not superstitious whatsoever and actually wanted to go with Bible characteristics but that meant that the MC would need to know the Bible well in order for him to MC well, so we ditched that idea.  We are also not one of those parents that practice the doljabi for weeks at home to train the child to pick up a certain object. haha So when it came time for the doljabi, Luna was essentially given a bunch of strange objects (from her perspective) that doesn't belong to her.  Luna is a smart, careful baby.  She doesn't grab at things that she doesn't know.  In fact, she pussyfoots A LOT. At the doljabi, she kept touching the things, poking it quite a bit, but not grabbing any of it.  After two tries, we propped up the money on its side so its more visible and that's what she went for--she went for paper. hahahaha Paper is something she is very familiar with. She plays with it everyday! She loves flipping through her books and sometimes even ripping out pages.

Alright, so where did we hold our birthday party?  We booked a place called BOM Party in Bundang (Sunae Stn) like three months prior to the event.  The woman thought I was crazy for booking so late.  Apparently, parents book birthday venues when the kid is like three months old.

BOM Party is a small venue with two banquet halls, one seating from 60 to 80 people and the other seating from 70 to 100.  They really do have the place set up to look like a wedding and you can easily do a wedding there because it is quite pretty.  The flowers are all fake though.  I actually stood in front of the flowers and even stuck a little bit of tulle in between the flowers without noticing that they were fake!  Goes to show how much money they put into these fake floral arrangements. Their buffet is set up within the banquet hall so you're not going to a buffet line with the other party's guests. And their food is quite okay.  It's not hotel food, but good.  There is no minimum number of guests you have to pay for; you pay for the number of people that show up for the party so that's really great too.

 I got the makeup and hair done by a place called SuDa at Sincheon Station.  I swear, if I had the time to do it myself, I probably would have done a better job...and I am no make-up artist!  In some of the pictures, it looks like I have a lazy eye, which I don't.  But, that's how they did the make-up and in some pictures, my left eyelid looks droopy.  The makeup or eyelashes must've moved around or something.  Never again!  Also, I should've gone with my instincts and worn glasses.  By the end of the day, bags underneath the eyes and the puffiness comes out and so I look really really tired in the photos.  Also, the lady didn't know what the heck to do with my hair.  A seasoned stylist will know what to do even if the person getting the hair done doesn't.  Because my hair is short, the woman was at a loss and when I said, do something cute, this is what I ended up with.  I specifically told her that I was not wearing a hanbok, and she put my hair in a fashion where I should've been. ugh. Whatever.

We got the self-studio photos done at BeBe Story.  The place was close and the facilities were pretty good, though I have nothing to compare it to.  The clothes that are available aren't phenomenal but you're not there to take phenomenal photos of the clothes, but of the phenomenal child in those clothes.  The rates were decent, but I would definitely recommend taking your own camera because trying to use a camera you're not used to all within an allotted time is not cool...that is of course, unless your camera isn't a DSLR.

LISTEN UP!! I'M SPEAKING!! 

 BUTTONS!! 

 I am definitely getting use out of my shoes...for my wedding and this mini wedding for Luna.

I don't know if I'm leaving anything out, but at this point, I'm too tired to think of anything else. Bah. Time to sleep.  

P.S. the links page has been updated

Next up: Home-made toys for Luna

DAY 365 (plus 2)

AHHHH! My baby is now a year old!!! (plus two days)

I've been quite the busy body stressing out about her birthday party because there's nothing for me to get ready for.  WHAT?! I know.  I'm stressing out because I have nothing to stress about.  I'm such a weirdo.  But my stressful most favorite hobby is event planning and this is  MAJOR event and I want to do everything and bend over backwards for my baby's first birthday.  I suppose the reason I'm so stressed and upset, really, is because I feel like I have to do something for her birthday for me to feel that I am expressing her specialness to me.  I've really been contemplating on why this has been bothering me so much.  I've narrowed down the root of the emotion.  I think it's my love language.  I've never really known what my love language is.  I always feel like every single one of them makes me really really happy and I do every single one of the love language, I suppose depending on the person on the receiving it.  But for me, at this moment, for my precious Luna, my love language must be acts of service.  I feel like because I'm not throwing this huge birthday bash myself and essentially just busting out my wallet, I'm not doing anything special.  I'm not laboring to throw her a birthday party. (ha! LABORING!) Also, it goes to show that spending money and gift giving/receiving isn't one of my love languages.

Now that I've sort of figured it out, I'm trying to come to terms with it.  Just because I'm not losing sleep over assembling some sort of figure and running around like a crazy madwoman decorating a place doesn't mean that I love her less.  In fact, she won't remember a darn thing, will only have pictures to see, and then her siblings (unformed at the moment, I think) will be jealous that Luna got the most attention to detail for her first birthday.  Another thing is that despite the fact that everything is prepared by the venue, I'm still assembling something (her giant block letters) and will still be running around like a crazy madwoman anyway.  So I'm sitting here trying to convince myself that she's no less special, or that she'll think that I love her less, or that she'll be upset that I didn't prepare for her birthday just because Luna didn't get a pink and purple explosion birthday with a big bounce house she can't jump in, with streamers, a matching balloon arch, a magician, paper cups with her name decorated on it, and people in furry costumes dancing about.  She'll just get all that for the first birthday we celebrate when we get back home....given that her (once again, unformed) siblings aren't old enough to remember.