Baby Mee Sua

I made mee sua for Caleb to try on Sunday. He took it as ducks to water, and finished the whole bowl. Hopefully he'll eat it when my MIL cooks it for him.

I didn't weigh the ingredients that I used, so below is an estimate:

Ingredients

A bowl of stock (I used chicken)

1/3 carrot, tiny dice

A bunch of spinach leaves, chopped

1/2 bunch of mee sua

Sprinkle of ikan billis powder

1 hard boiled egg yolk 

Method

1. Bring the stock to a boil and cook the carrot till soft.
2. Add spinach leaves and cook for a minute.
3. In the meantime, bring a separate pot of water to a boil and toss in the mee sua. Stir quickly for about 2 minutes. Drain and add the mee sua into the soup.
4. Add in the ikan bilis powder, stir, and turn off the fire.
5. Pour the mee sua into a bowl and crumble the egg yolk into the the mee sua.

Notes
* Ikan bilis powder was added for calcium and taste. It can be omitted if you do not have it.
* You can use water as the soup base if you do not have any stock.
* Mee sua is salty. Hence it is better to cook it in a separate pot of water to wash off some of the salt.
* The soup in the picture looks a bit pinkish due to the red spinach that I used.

Yummy mee sua at 11.5months

Our Weekend Pictures (29 - 30 Oct)

A fun-filled Saturday followed by a relaxing Sunday. How better could a weekend get?

Fun at Peekaboo! Caleb was a little scared of the balls and trampoline,
but enjoyed himself with the toys in the open space.

Daddy with baby @ Peekaboo

At least it was restful for the baby.
Mommy was not able to catch a nap in the afternoon. :(

Peekaboo was the start of Caleb's interest to pull things along as he walk. He looked so funny and cute doing that. These push toys are not really good, as the wheels do not have any traction and babies pushing them could just lose balance and fall flat on their faces. I really wonder why toy makers tout these as toys for kids to practice walking. Practice falling will be a better term. Anyway, I guess I have to start renting pull-along toys for him. :)

Diva - Help! My son, 8, is in a ‘relationship’

Diva - Help! My son, 8, is in a ‘relationship’

Kids these days are so exposed to matters that we were ignorant about when we were their age. They can read up about stuff that they do not know from the internet. They can watch "instruction" videos about things that arouse their interest. Gone are the days where kids have to ask their parents about things that they do not know. Gone are the days where we parents can give them vague, dismissing (don't ask; go and play with your toys) or weird answers (isn't "we found you at our doorstep one day" weird?).

I have a colleague with a 5 year old child, who already "likes" a couple of girls at his kindergarten! How early is that?!

I don't believe that we should dismiss their questions, but should answer them truthfully in a manner that can they can understand at their age. Haha! I don't know what I'll do when Caleb asks about the birds and the bees. But I do hope that he'll be at ease enough with me to ask. I hope that I do things right enough that my son will want to share about his 'relationship' with me.

Because it is only than that we as parents can check their growth, give them the right information, and hopefully, help to steer them in the right direction.

Caleb's First Birthday Preps

A big one or a small cozy one? Or to pass on it? That's the question that many of us go through when our little one is turning one. It's a small number, unlike the 60 years old or something as grand. But it's a year of hard work from both parents and child.

Parents, especially first-timers, have to endure sleepless nights, countless fears, tears and bickers with partners.I always wonder if I'm doing things right. If I'm giving him enough nutrients to grow, if I'm giving enough space to grow.

A baby is expected to triple his/her weight by the first birthday. That's already a tall order. Added to that, babies have to learn how to flip, crawl, stand, walk, eat solids, understand simple words, it's a wonder they have any time for sleeping!

With all these achievements, it's no wonder many parents decide to make the first birthday celebration a splashy one. But for us, a simple one with close family and friends means more to us than going all out. This page chronicles the things that we thought of and did, to commemorate Caleb's first birthday.

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We're going to hold it at Somerset Grand Cairnhill, where I get to book units at staff rate. We were thinking of a BBQ, but decided to change it back to the usual buffet instead, as we didn't want to be at the weather's mercy.

After searching on the internet and asking around, many people seem to engage Pine Garden to bake the cake. Kiasu Parents actually made a list of the different bakeries that we parents could go to. How cool is that? We also went to Bengawan Solo, Prima Deli and Rive Gauche. We gave a passing thought to the current cupcake trend. Our main aim is to have a cake and eat it. Some children birthday cakes are so rich in icing and cream, that after scraping those away, guests are only left with a couple of mouths of cake. Bi likes the Orange Zest Chocolate Cake from Pine Garden. After some negotiation, we decided on Mango Chocolate Cake, as a way to combine the 2 of us. I love mango and Bi loves chocolate. Combine our likes, it's Mango Chocolate. Just like the 2 of us combined gives us our little boy. :D

These are the party supplies websites that we went through (and are currently deciding on theme and budget)
Kidz Party Store
The Party Stuff
Singapore for Kids
Party with Us
Party City
Bugs Party

We settled on Kidz Party Store and I've just ordered some simple decorations and balloons online. It's going to be so exciting!

Our Weekend Pictures (22 - 23 Oct)

Our cousins came over for pizza, PS3, basketball and fun. The babies had fun with one another and the toys too!

Sunday started slow, climbed to an exciting & wonderful afternoon and ended in a disappointment. We had a leisure dimsum breakfast at Zi Yuen Restaurant at 56 Lengkok Bahru. Caleb tried chee cheong fun (without the sauce of course), and he rather liked it! After breakfast, he had fun walking around the neighbourhood.

He refused his morning nap when we got home, and was rather clingy and grumpy throughout the afternoon, until his afternoon nap. The exciting part came from the Rugby World Cup final - France vs New Zealand. All Blacks WON!!!!!!!!!!! YES, YES YES! Les Bleus, we've paid you back for the insult last RWC. I did not get to watch the post-ceremony though, which was a disappointment. I so wanted to see McCaw lift the WE cup. Caleb was very clingy and kept refusing his dinner unless I'm with him. *signz*

Disappointment was for hubby, as Man U disgraced themselves 6-1 in their match against Man C.

Till the next weekend, or rather Wednesday, as it's a PH!

Restful Sunday started with Caleb taking his own bag to go to breakfast! hehe~

Diva - Teaching kids about money

Diva - How to teach kids about money

Diva - Teach your child about dollars & cents

A lesson that will cultivate a very important aspect of life. And it's a lesson that I have a few more years to plan. For now, let mummy splurge on the basic necessities and indulgent wants for you. :P

TV Discouraged for Babies

US doctors discourage videos for babies under two - Channel NewsAsia

No TV for you baby~ Doctors say so. :)

What Is The World Coming To?

These Heartless Chinese. I simply can't imagine how anyone can just walk around a little child who's lying on the ground, bleeding away. For god's sake, she's just a little girl. The people who walked by her didn't even take another glance at her, as if she's just a pile of rubbish on the floor.

I didn't want to watch the video at first. However, morbid curiosity egged me into watching, and boy, did I regret watching it. Having a child of my own, it's hard not to imagine my own being in the little girl's shoes. It's not hard to imagine how the mother feels right now. How helpless and angry at the driver and passerby the parents must be feeling now. Hit and run is very common. But being heartless enough to ignore a bleeding baby? I guess it's also very common in China, since almost 20 people did that in the video.

Critics said that the passerby may be afraid that they will be implicated if they help the little girl. Is calling for help or the police that hard? If they don't want to touch the girl, fine. Call for help! But no, they are just too busy passing by.

A quote from Martin Luther King, Jr - “Morality cannot be legislated but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.” If they can't educate and instill morality in these people, add/change the law. The passerby are as guilty as the drivers.

Our Weekend Pictures (15-16 Oct)

Good times always fly by just so quickly. Some parts of the weekend may be a routine, but it's never boring!

Saturday @ Home, PD, Sakae Sushi and Mac for dessert

Daddy & Baby - ice cream sharing
Daddy & Baby looking at each other while Daddy is eating
Baby: "I want that too!"
Daddy, blocking the dessert: "No, it's mine!!!!!"
Lesson learnt: Never come between a man and his hot fudge sundae.

Antics at Vivocity, Soup Spoon

Love Letters - 11 Months

I always tell my hubby, that we couldn't ask for a better kid.

You are (at least to us) the cutest little thing. You're funny and incite much laughter from us through your actions or "conversations" with us.

A darling who eases us into parenthood and let us take all credit for your good behaviour. I can't tell you how many times my friend, Diana, said that you are a good boy. You've adjusted well to each routine change and took to sleeping through the night with minimum protest when we introduced it. Even when you are sick, you'll smile, laugh and put us at ease.

A couple of weeks ago you started a habit of hugging us tight with your head resting on our shoulders before sleeping. You'll hold us close and kiss us at the end of your bedtime routine. It makes me feel all tingly and that I'll slay the world for you.

Thank you for being our baby. We love you very much. Happy 11 months!

Our Weekend Pictures (8-9 Oct)

Weekends passed just too quickly. Before you know it, it's time to prepare to sleep to go to work on Monday. But while it last, weekends are lovely. Be it a visit to the market after breakfast at the hawker center, or early Burger King breakfast at Jurong Point, or a stay-at-home-&-rest-all-day weekend.

This weekend, we tried a new dimsum place at 56 Lengkok Bahru. It was pretty okay, and there were no queues, unlike Red Star. We dropped by Ikea to buy a new high chair for Caleb. On Sunday, it was a restful one at home after the usual morning breakfast and marketing.

Looking forward to the next weekend! (or not, as we'll be bringing Caleb to the PD for his injection :X )

Caleb is as tall as his coconut tree!, Dimsum place, Ikea and Sleepy @ Anchorpoint

A stroll along Chinese Garden after dinner

Wordless Wednesday

Past photos of Caleb

14 Nov 2010

One Month Old

2 Months Old

2-3 Months Old

Favourite 3 Months Old pic

3.5 Months Old

4 - 5 Months Old

5 - 6 Months Old

6.5 Months Old

7 - 8 Months Old

8 - 9 Months Old

Diva - Managing your child's temper tantrums

Diva - Managing your child's temper tantrums

It seems that Caleb has started this early. Although it's not those terrible lie-on-the-floor-wailing-away tantrums, it's still a fuss/cry when he don't gets what he wants. It's still very easy to distract him with other toys/activities now, but I wonder how it will be like in the future. Long (my hubby) and I did talk about this before. His stand is to walk away from Caleb. I wonder will I be able to handle it calmly or be those screaming-my-head-off-at-the-kid-mom.

Hopefully the article in the link will save me and for those who are reading!

Our Weekend Pictures (1-2 Oct)

 

Great friends, good food, loving family. What more can you ask for for a great weekend?

YES u can do it! NO, stop pressing the button

Isn't it funny that we adults will encourage babies to do one thing, only to reprimand them for doing the same a couple of years later?

When our child is a baby, we will encourage them to press buttons, pick things up, stand n walk, etc. But a few years later, many of the kids will hear "stop pressing the button!", "put it down!" and "don't move!".

Why do we start to discourage them and bury their curiosity? Why do we stop their experimentation? Why do we stop them from being kids?

I hope that a couple of years later, I will still encourage my baby to scale new heights n experiment. I hope that I will still let my baby be a child. I hope that my child will enjoy his childhood.

So go ahead n press all the lift buttons. I'll just enjoy the longer lift ride home.