Dirt!

I love how Mateo loves to explore the world around him. I want him to experience the outdoors, including playing with dirt! Okay, just gravel, soil, and sand, and grass, rock, water, or whatever it is that makes his face light up. At one point I started to allow him to play with shoes because I was just too tired trying to stop him from rummaging through our shoe rack😀.

I couldn't stop him. He picked and rummaged through the dry leaves, grass, dirt, everything on the ground. I had to forcibly move him to a more grassy area.

I believe in giving him almost free reign to explore his surroundings in order to expand his experience and nurture his developing brain. Babies and toddlers learn by playing, anyway. So Mon and I take any chance to go out of our house so we can catch more pokemons Mateo can have more opportunities for these "explorations." It started when we went to Gardens by the Bay and allowed him to crawl on the grass. It was like unleashing someone restrained for a long time -- he was THRILLED! Living in an HDB unit even with an adjacent park simply isn't enough.

My desire to expose Mateo to the outdoors more started with this. He definitely loved our trip to Gardens by the Bay with his cousins last May.

So a couple of weeks ago was another day to explore the world (or Singapore). With his lola, tita, and ninang (and of course, mommy), Mateo once again went out for an adventure. This time in Chinese Garden. It took us a while to find a decent patch of grass, but it was worth it. He loved the grass, even the dirt. There was also a large rock he climbed. He had so much fun that I had to carry Mateo back to where the titas and lola were taking rest. He just did not want to stop, but it was getting late and we had to go home.

Happy :)

As a side note, I'm simply happy and thankful that I'm now doing good. My doctor thinks I'm doing good, and the pain is slowly getting milder and less frequent. My only concern now is my weight, even though the doc's okay with. He said I had gotten really sick so it surely takes time to fully recover. Keeping up with Mateo makes it difficult to gain weight (I burn calories fast and more than I usually eat) but makes me fit at the same time (unintended exercise). Though I have to thank Pokemon Go, too, for that extra motivation to go out and keep walking.

My little rock climber. Obviously, I couldn't let go. 

Singapore has a lot of green spaces, and we will take advantage of it. Time to keep our shoes (and hands?) dirty!