The Bub in the Belly

Ryan had his last PlayClub session today. It has been a wonderful year (4 terms), filled with fun and good cheer. I did mention in a previous post that I'm not convinced that PlayClub adds much to Ryan's development but it's all good because he had so much fun and there's no doubt that he received tons of love from the teachers. We definitely have nothing but fond memories of good times.

As usual, we were told to dress up for the class, according to the theme, which was The Great Outdoors. The teachers said that we could choose things from the garden, like a butterfly, a tree, ants, etc. or any animal, but we were uninspired by those choices.

Here's what we came up with.

Ryan receiving his graduation certificate and acting the part by showing a fierce scowl.

I'm back! Touched down at Changi International Airport at 3.25 pm and re-united with my two boys shortly thereafter. It was such a great feeling to have Ryan run up to hug me at the arrival gate! Actually he was pretty subdued - no squealing plus he didn't say anything - I think it was because he was tired. The past two nights without me have been tough on the two of them and they haven't gotten much sleep. Still, there was a little smile on his face and he was happy to have me carry him so I think he was happy to see me! I sure am happy to see my boys!

I'll write more about our family's experience with me being away in another post. Here, I want to show you Ryan's end-of-term costume for Playclub. The theme for this term was "Things People Do" and I decided that we should make Ryan a cowboy costume!

The outfit is comprised of a vest and a pair of chaps (the leg coverings that are worn over the pants). It was pretty simple to make but quite time-consuming. It took about three hours, and that's with minimal sewing involved.

I had to do quite a bit of research on the chaps to understand what they were supposed to look like but once I got the picture, the design was quite straightforward. Here's a close-up.


Material is suede (with backing) from Spotlight. The fabric does fray a little but I think it adds to the authenticity of the look so I didn't bother to hem it. Richard cut out the stars from felt and glued them on. For the front waist clasp, I used a side-release buckle over which we slipped on a metal Levi's buckle covering. The chaps are secured over the pants legs and back using velcro on the ends of suede straps which I sewed on. This will allow us to use the chaps over any width of pant leg.

Here's a close-up of the vest.


The orange fringe on the front and back is cut from felt and glued on. The sides of the vest are tied together with strips of suede. No sewing necessary. Richard cut out the star for the back from felt and he also made the Sheriff badge from cardboard. The badge is attached using velcro.




I was toying with making a holster or a lasso, but decided against it because I thought that Ryan might fiddle with it too much and it might obstruct his movement a little. In this outfit, he was climbing up and down the playground equipment, sliding down the slides and doing his slam-dunks comfortably.

According to Richard, the outfit was a hit with the teachers and even Ryan's teachers from last term came over to check it out. Apparently, Ryan has got a reputation for turning up in home-made costumes, so the teachers were looking out for him.

Most of the parents are "new" so there wasn't much reaction from them because they thought it was store-bought! I think Richard's cardboard Sheriff badge was too professional!

Anyway, I'm very happy with how it turned out. I really like it and I hope Ryan had fun wearing it. Yee-Hah!!