Om nom nom nom!

A few days before DS turned 6 months old, I really couldn't wait any more I started her on solids. After thinking about it for a while, I finally realised why I find weaning so fun. It's like masak-masak! But way better because the baby is REAL! *chuckle* This time, the baby will REALLY eat the food. Sadly, the baby will also really poop. *sigh*

And that's the one thing I wasn't looking forward to. Babies on breastmilk have, erm, okay maybe not exactly "pleasant", but "acceptable" smelling poo, which actually adds to their innocence. It's like they can do no wrong. When they start on solids however, they become... sinners just like us. The good thing is though, you can now start blaming them after you've let go some nasty gas. Ha!

Okay, back to weaning. In the beginning, DS was more interested in the spoon than in the baby cereal (we started her on brown rice cereal just like DN). But after a while, she got the hang of it. She's not a natural greedy one gourmet like her brother though. I remember DN just taking to feeding like a fish to water, but not his sister. She doesn't really seem that interested in food. Okay, that she definitely didn't get from me!

DN was a dream to feed. He would open and close his mouth like those little birds in their nests. I also remember him craning his neck forward, waiting for the next spoonful full of pureed pear / apple / carrot etc. DS doesn't do this at all. I've tempted her with papaya, pureed apple and avocado so far, but she's not super keen on them. I mean, she will eat them, but only because it's being shovelled into her mouth. I hope this one doesn't give me problems later on!

She's almost cross-eyed here... kept staring at the spoon!

Mmtftpht... what's this muck you're... mmftphtt... stuffing in my face?

I think she likes it???

 Can't really tell huh? This is one of those smirk-smiles. Don't know if she's laughing or growling.

Intruder Alert!

Because it's been so hot recently, we've been leaving our windows open to ventilate the place when we go out. So our windows were left open when we went out for dinner two Saturdays ago.

When we got home, my mom went into the kitchen without turning the lights on. I was just outside the kitchen taking my earrings off, PF was just about to walk into the toilet and DN was sitting on the couch in the living room, all of us within eyesight of each other. Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream erupted from the kitchen. My goodness, I'd never heard my mother scream before, and man, did she let it rip.

Now what do you do? Do you drop your earrings and run to her aid, not knowing what lies in the looming darkness? Do you run to turn the lights on to frighten away whatever has caused your mother's distressed state? Or do you whip your head towards the kitchen, stand rooted to the ground and then let it rip as well?

I'm sorry I chose option 3 mom. (I think I screamed louder than her.) In my defence, immediately after my mother screamed, I heard loud scratching on the floor moving in my direction, LIKE A GIANT RAT WAS RUNNING TOWARDS ME. At this point, let me share with you this fact : we've had a rat problem before (PF actually caught a rat in a cage!) and we had to renovate our kitchen and change the roof to flush them out. So now you understand why I screamed right?

At this point, the only thing I could think of was a big grey thing (the scratching was getting closer to me!) with a thick, long pinkish tail whipping around behind it, running over my feet, its long whiskers brushing my shins, depositing germs everywhere.

So I continued screaming. Now of course, all this happened in 3 seconds, but in rat years, that's like what, 3 days?

Anyway, I finally stopped screaming when I realised it was not a rat. It was a cat! And I think the poor thing was more scared than my mother and I put together. You should have seen it shoot across the living room and leap out the window. I swear, it lost one life there and then.

After 3 seconds of shocked silence, my mom turned the lights on and discovered the reason for our little intruder's entry. I'd left a box of food (1 polo bun and 1 egg tart) on the table. The critter had eaten half of each!

Then I remembered DN. What was the poor little guy thinking, hearing his mother and grandmother screaming their lungs out, and seeing a grey cat dash just across him and spring out of the window??? Not a word or whimper he had uttered throughout this whole debacle. But he did have this look o_O on his face.

I kicked myself for frightening him with my shriek and ran over to comfort him. "It's okay DN, are you alright, I'm sorry for scaring you, are you okay, don't be scared DN..." Suddenly, he burst into tears. Of fear I assumed, and kicked myself harder. Then, through his tears, I deciphered what he was saying.

"Cat ate my bao! Cat ate my bao! Der Nen's bao! Der Nen's bao! Cat ate my bao!"

LOL! Der Nen Der Nen, you never fail to make us laugh!

ps : DN carried on talking about HIS bao for days after it happened. LOL.

DN hearts Breakfast

My little popadum is a funny one. Here are the top 5 phrases (arranged according to frequency) he says in the morning when he wakes up. Honest to goodness, he doesn't say anything else.

#5 : Good morning Mummy/Papa!
#4 : Mummy/Papa wake up!
#3 : Mummy/Papa stand up!
#2 : Why can't the two of you just wake up already?! I want to go downstairs!

... and the number 1 phrase...

#1 : I want cookies!

So yeah, DN wakes up ready to eat breakfast. For breakfast, he always gets a cup of soya milk, fruits, some carbo (bread/cereal) and protein (ham/eggs). All pretty easy to throw together in the morning because I can't really be counted on when I'm in my zombie state. I mean, I have served guests salty coffee before, and once I made french toast with 2 tablespoons of salt instead of sugar. :p

Here's what I made for DN's breakfast on Saturday morning. Hee! From L to R: Cereal, Quail Eggs (with a small bottle of soya sauce), Dried Fruits (apricots, raisins) and Ham and Apple Chutney Sushi Sandwiches.

On the bottom layer (L to R): Pear Stars and Flowers, Seedless Grapes, Mandarin Oranges

DN ate the quail eggs first. Then he unrolled ALL the "sushi" and ate only the ham. -_- The mandarin oranges were a bad idea because I totally forgot about the seeds in them. He chewed on one slice and spat it out when he got to the seed. And that was it, he refused to touch the rest. He ate some grapes and pears, nibbled on some cereal but left the dried fruits alone.

This bento thing is quite fun buuuuut... honestly, I don't know how long I'm going to last!

Bonkers over Bento!

For the past few months, I've been avidly following some bento blogs (my fav ones are listed below) when I should really be writing my essays, planning my workshops or taking care of my child and not let him rummage in the fridge, find the bottle of chilli flakes, take out my pots and pans and start sprinkling chilli flakes like snow into all the pots and pans. Er... ooops.

Anyway, I couldn't stand it any longer and finally dragged the 2.5 year old to Daiso with me yesterday. It was such a fruitful, well-planned and well-executed 2.5 hour trip! Excuse me while I inflate my ego and pat myself on the shoulder. *PAT!*

We reached Plaza Singapura at about 11am, which meant 2 things - one, no ERP (awright!) and two, we could hit Daiso before the lunch crowd swarmed the place. And hit it I did. I'm a mature individual with more than 3 decades of life experience and yet, I still get into this oooh-everything-is-only-$2-it's-like-it's-almost-free trance whenever I'm in Daiso. I just dump stuff into my basket with reckless abandon. I don't get it! That's $18 worth of stuff you see down there!


After Daiso, both of us headed to Ichiban Boshi for lunch. Again, the timing worked out perfectly. *PAT!* We got there just before 12pm and got a great booth seat by the conveyor belt which meant 2 things - one, the food rolling past will be a constant source of entertainment for DN and he wouldn't get bored so easily and two, the food rolling past will be a constant source of trouble for me because I have to stop him from piling our table with sushi, or lifting the covers to "wahhh!" at the sushi.

DN just lurves sushi. He finished a plate of vegetable sushi - 2 pieces (fillings included julienne carrots, sea kelp, avocado, cucumber, mayo) and had 3 pieces of california roll with his BARE HANDS. So yes, our table and my son were both covered in orange roe. If I hadn't had that last piece of california roll, he'd probably have eaten it too. I figured he had had enough carbo, so I ordered a teriyaki salmon steak to share. He ate about half of the steak, so *PAT!* I congratulated myself on making the right choice there!

We finished lunch just before 1pm, and we RAN to the car, hoping that we wouldn't cross the hour and have to pay an hour's parking for 2 minutes of lateness. Guess what? We got out within 2 hours and parking was only $1.05 because the first hour is free if you're there from 10am-6pm. Oooooh... *PAT*PAT*PAT*!

While DN was napping at home, I set about making my first bento. After unwrapping all my bento gear, I wiped up the drool on the table and set about happily washing all my paraphernalia. Then I dug out my cookie cutters and made apple stars and flowers. (I dipped the apples in diluted lemon juice to slow down the browning.) Grapes went into a soft little cup and I added 2 picks and 2 dividers of smiling vegetables for colour. Ta-da! The bottom layer of DN's snack bento. :)

The upper layer was the dry layer. Here we have baby ball cookies, banana chips and some dried fruits (apricot, cranberries, blueberries and raisins). Another pick and 2 more dividers for colour.

When DN woke up, I couldn't wait for him to see his afternoon snack bento. When he first saw it, he said "wahhh!" very loudly as his mother beamed from the corner. *PAT!* (Okay okay... I made him show me the 'good' sign here.)

This is what he ate - he finished all the grapes and the baby ball cookies. He ate half of the banana chips and later finished all the dried fruits. He only ate ONE piece of apple. ARGH! And those were the ones that caused me the most grief! Inside I was shouting, "EAT MY LABOUR OF LOVE! EAT!" but of course I didn't. I ate my labour of love instead.

I'm going to try another bento tomorrow. This time, a lunch one. ;)

Milk-Free Orange Honey Muffins

DN's milk allergy is really strange. Sometimes, he can take cakes or biscuits with traces of milk in them and be perfectly fine. Sometimes, he eats a chocolate wafer biscuit and bursts into rashes. Up until now, we still don't know how much he milk he can actually take and we're not going to feed it to him bit by bit until he reaches the tipping point either. But thankfully, his allergy is really not that serious. At least he can take traces of milk, and even a little bit of butter.

Until he gets over this allergy (when he was 7 months old, his PD said some babies outgrow it by the time they're 1... I guess DN is not one of them!), this means no ice-cream, no yoghurt, no milk chocolate, no cheese and not too much butter. This also means we have to be careful with food when we eat out : no pizza, no creamy pasta, no cheese baked rice, no cream-based soups, no mashed potatoes, no scrambled eggs , no milky fish soup noodles. As you can probably guess, we never go Italian.

So before we baked muffins on Sunday, I surfed around for a milk-free muffin recipe. I rejected many recipes because they called for way too many ingredients. Gluten free soy compound? Err, I don't think my NTUC will have that. Rice milk? Who's going to drink the rest?! Apple cider vinegar? Eeep!

Finally I found this easy recipe that called for 'normal' things like honey, orange juice, sugar and flour, whoopee! The only thing I did differently was add 2 eggs instead of the egg substitute, used real butter instead of soy margarine and added banana chunks into each muffin. DN had a ball mixing all the ingredients together...

... adding (or flinging, at one point -_-) the banana chunks...

... and staring at the muffins as they baked in the oven.

They finally came out, nice, brown and smelling delicious! And we all sat down with some cold barley tea (soya bean milk for DN), butter and jam.

Try the recipe if you like light, fluffy muffins. If you like your muffins dense like cakes, then this is not the recipe for you. It's very light and tastes really healthy because it's not oily or sugary sweet. And it works as a basic muffin recipe because I can see it working with fillings like raisins, cranberries, apple chunks or chocolate chips. This recipe is going to be a permanent fixture on my fridge for sure. :)

But all good things must come to an end... and we can never escape from the bothersome washing up. *sigh*

How we spent our Christmas Day

It wasn't a white Christmas (BIG phew) but it was an unexpectedly sunny one. This was a pleasant surprise because when you look up at the sky over here, you usually see something resembling an elephant's bum - grey and threatening.

So we happily headed out to the New Forest to see the ponies and deer. By the way, the New Forest is anything but new. It is in actual fact terribly old (trust the English to confuse us all... think 'Reading', the city and 'reading', the verb) because it was created in 1079 by William the Conqueror. It was the only place we could go to because it's a complete shut-down here on Christmas Day.

As I packed a light lunch for all of us, I thought of the nice little picnic we would be having in the bright sunshine. And I was so proud of myself because I didn't forget the cutlery! Nothing could dampen my spirit.

DN's lunch? Check.
Our lunch? Check.
Vegetables for all? Check.
Fruits for all? Check.
Cutlery? Check.
Assortment of beverages? Check.

Nothing could go wrong! ... Right?

Wrong. It was too blinking cold to eat outside! We ended up retreating back to the car for lunch. -_- Oh well.

DN's lunch
Main Box :: fried rice (with egg, mushrooms, yellow pepper, carrots, beans)
Sweets Box :: 1/2 granola bar, dried apricots and blueberries, almonds, multi-vits
Vege Box :: broccoli, apples

Our Lunch
The same as DN's but with more chilli and salt! (not on the apples though)

It's time to diet

I thought really long and hard before deciding to blog about this because it's kinda embarrassing. But I figured, "Everyone's already seen my son squatting like a coolie and his pink thermals, so bugger it!"

Look at the amount of food PF and my mom brought up! I've now got my very own Asian provision shop in the store room. Sweet. We've got mixes for nasi lemak, chicken rice, laksa, sayur lodeh, bak kut teh, rendang, herbal soups, and we have dried hokkien noodles, dried soba noodles, (low-fat!) coconut milk, tau kee, mee sua... and erm, *whisper* lap cheong.

DN said, "Mmm... nice!" after he tried to take a bite of the lap cheong.

We've feasted on nonya chap chai, bak kut teh, chicken curry, char siew, wan ton mee, suai gow... I can't fit into one of my jeans anymore. :(

Bento Box

DN's Grandma Wee bought him a new bento lunch box/plate.

He's been having a great time with it and demands to have all his meals in it now.

Here are some of the meals he's had in it so far.

Bento #1 :: Breakfast
Chewy Multi-Vits, Potato Omelette, Grapes, Egg Burger with some ketchup

Bento #2 :: Breakfast

Toast with Strawberry Jam, Grapes, Cereal, Crackers

Bento #3 :: Lunch
Shredded Chicken with Red Peppers, Soup, Tofu, Egg Noodles with Spinach

Bento #1 :: Dinner

Onigiri, Brussel Sprouts, Braised Chicken, Tofu Soup

Wonder Dad

PF took care of DN when I left in September. His parents looked after DN during the day while PF worked, and he (sort of) flew solo at night and on weekends. You know how all superheroes have one special ability right? Superman - flight. Wolverine - regeneration. Hulk - superhuman strength. Well, Wonder Dad has one too - DN translator!

DN : "Me chain ku, shey yi!"
Me : "What???"
DN : "Me chain ku, shey yi, shey yi!"
Me : "???"
WD : "He wants to change (chain) his pants (ku) and wear his pajamas (shui yi)."
Me : "!!!"

DN : "Bi roar ree dair, bi roar ree dair!"
Me : "Hah???"
DN : "Bi roar ree dair, BI ROAR REE DAIR!"
WD : "It's a big lorry there."
Me : "What the..? How did you..?"

DN : "Me tui show rer, me ti show rer!"
Me : "Translator!!!"
DN : "Me tui show rer, SHOW RER!"
WD : "He wants to push (tui) the stroller (show rer)."

Me : "Yeah yeah. Show off."

What would I do without the DN-translator?

Tonight, Wonder Dad figured out how to use the onigiri mold and made a fancy Shinkansen onigiri for DN's dinner. DN's mouth literally dropped open when he saw his dinner. He was so pleased!

You would smile like this too if you had such a pretty dinner.

And he surprised me one morning when he gave me this. I decided not to pose with my onigiri like DN (above), because come on, I am a mature individual with poise and decorum. *TSK!*

But look! My onigiri has Christmas trees on it! I'm SO going to show off during lunch. I bet I'll have the best lunch in class. Hee hee heeeee!

My Lunch Bento (clockwise from top) : Sesame Snaps, Cereal, Special Onigiri, (half) Ham sandwich, Apricots, Almonds

What do you do with YOUR broccoli stalks?

I googled "what to do with broccoli stalks" and got this - soup, pickles, stir-fry and nutty mash. And I found out on this website that broccoli stalks are 64% carbs, 10% fats and 26% protein. Of course, the next thing I do is check "krispy kreme doughnut (glazed)" and immediately regret it - 240 calories, 40% carbs, 55% fats and 5% protein. Do I learn my lesson? No. I check "krispy kreme crueller", "krispy creme chocolate doughnut" and "krispy kreme jam-filled doughnuts" next. All I can say is, thank goodness my favourite ones are the original glazed ones! Because we all know that carbs turn into fat if it's not burned off, so technically, eating a krispy kreme doughnut is equivalent to downing a vat of lard.

:(

Okay, back to broccoli. How many times have you thrown these away?

Well, don't because they are perfect for Kinpira, a very popular Japanese side dish. Kinpira means "saute and simmer" and that's how you cook the vegetables, by sauteing them over high heat and then simmering them to tender perfection. According to Just Bento, hard vegetables are the best for making kinpira because they lend that added crunch. Yums. Think cabbage centres, celery and turnips.

I decided to try it out.

- First I sliced up carrots and the stalk into strips.

- Then I added some olive oil (use sesame oil if you have it) into a pan and started tossing them about (4-5 mins).

- Next I added some soya sauce (1-2 tsp) and tossed some more.

* At this point, Just Bento recommends adding some red pepper flakes too, but I'm sure you can add whatever dry spices / flavourings you want too. I only added soya sauce.

- At the end, I added the sesame seeds.

And that's it. Sweet!

Verdict? I'm definitely cooking this again when DN is here because I know he will LOVE this.

Yew Char Kuay Thief

Remember when DN sneakily ate some yew char kuay that was sticking out of a plastic bag? (See this post.) Here's the culprit!

DN's Report Card #3

This is my mom's report card for the last day DN was with her.

"DN has taught me some mandarin words.

* xi shou = wash your hands
* shui = water
* kai = open
* xie xie = of course I know this

But, DN's greatest achievement was teaching me how to use your camera!!! Just now, I was looking through the photos with him. When I got to the photo with the fish, he kept saying, "Fish move!" and waved his hands. I moved onto the next photo but he kept on saying, "Fish move!" We went back and forth a few times. Finally, he said ,"Me PRESS!" So he did. And it was a video!

(I'd taken a video of some fish swimming when we went to the Botanic Gardens in September.)

He kept laughing when he heard you saying, "No no no."

(We were at the edge of the pond as I was taking the video and DN had actually lifted his foot and was suspending it over the water!)

We laughed a lot when we got to the picture of the Yew Kwai (his exact words) Thief.

(Yew char kway thief. Read previous post)

He had his bath at 8.30pm and was as fragrant as freshly washed laundry. Soon PF came. There was a plate of sliced pears (5 slices) meant for PF. DN put his fingers together and asked for a little. So I gave him half. Then he asked for a 'BIG' one. He got it too. Next he asked for a last one. This time I put my foot down and told him that it was meant for others. In typical DN style, he offered everybody a slice.

One for Cho Cho - "Cho Cho eat"
One for Papa - "Papa eat"
One for me - "Ah Ma eat"

I was thinking, "Such a nice kid. Respecting others so much and being so considerate." Then I realised DN 's craving will only stop if the dish is empty.

He really lit up our weekend and I don't mind him spending more weekends with me."

Awww, thanks Mom! :) Great! Now PF and I can take little weekend holidays!!!!! HAHAHAHA...

DN's Report Card #2

This is part 2 (of 3) of the "report cards" from DN's grandma. She looked after him for 3 days.

"We went to Tiong Bahru market this morning and a lady approached me and said he recognised the bag I was carrying (that's DN's diaper bag). It's June's! She told me she was Reubern's mom. At that moment, DN knocked down a bowl of soya bean. Mama and I were so engrossed with cleaning the mess I forgot to take a picture and worst of all, I couldn't find the tissue paper in your famous bag.

Josh , DN and I waited in a corner whilst Mama went to get some vegetables. I was holding a plastic bag with some yew char kuay in it. DN was next to me. While waiting, and unknowing to me, DN had spotted the yew char kuay and bent down to take a bite of it straight out of the plastic bag! Josh caught the culprit on camera. I'll get PF to send you the picture.

He didn't sleep the whole afternoon. I did try to put him down for a nap. I dozed off and DN didn't. When I woke up, minutes later, I saw him holding a marker pen and drawing on the pillow. He had marks on his nose and hands. Of course I gave him a little slap on his wrist and he teared up like a hound. P I T I F U L.

He didn't sleep until 8pm. He got up at 9.45pm pleading to speak to "Papa". Well that didn't last long and he finally slept.

I confess, I denied him his beloved "NYAR NYAR" (that's what DN has christianed his pacifier). That's why he couldnt sleep.

"YOU WIN. Ah Ma gives up. Take it!"


The evidence was telling.

The Little Foodie

Amazingly, I still remember the first time I had this thought, "Wah biang, this boy can really eat." It was Christmas 2007. We had a little X'mas gathering for the little ones and DN was eating eating eating non-stop for about 2 hours. Crackers, fruits, snacks... he kept asking everyone for food!

Well, our suspicions have been confirmed and DN has turned out to be a real little foodie. He loves food and he loves eating. I must say, we are very very lucky. It's quite easy feeding him and he eats almost anything - sea cucumber, bittergourd, leafy vegetables... the only things he can't eat are cheese, yoghurt and anything with milk in it.

But we didn't do anything to raise, or create, a little gourmet. And honestly, it's definitely NOT my cooking that did it. If anything, my cooking should reverse it!

Strangely enough, for the amount that he eats, DN is not chubby at all. In fact, he's still the smallest (and shortest -_-) amongst all his little friends. Okay okay... I know what you're thinking... Fine! I'll take the blame for the short part! Sadly, *sniff*sniff* I cannot take responsibility for the high-metabolic rate part. *sob*sob* When I eat apple crumble, I can feel the crust travel through my veins and to my ass. :(

Sorry, back to DN!

PF and DN were invited to Brenda's and Arianne's for dinner last night and B sent me this video this morning. So funny! I've watched it like twenty trillion times. :)

Stuart Little

I have a very strange eating habit, and everyone I know HATES it. I eat like a rat. I love to nibble my food and I eat reallllly slowly (unless I'm bloody starving, then I inhale my food). I think the sloth-like eating doesn't get on people's nerves as much as how I sometimes take days to finish one snickers bar.

For example, when I visited my sister in Hawaii, she brought me to this amazing old-school bakery, Liliha Bakery, with the most insane chocolate cream puff. Insane, I tell you. Anyway, I ate my cream puff over 3 days. I know, it's gross, but I loved it so much I had to prolong the eating process! I couldn't bear to finish it in one sitting because that would mean... the END OF THE CREAM PUFF. *sniff*

Anyway, PF annointed me "Stuart" (after Stuart Little, the mouse) when he kept finding half-eaten buns/chocolate bars/cakes in the fridge. When I hear, "Stuart has struck again!" coming from the kitchen, I know he's found the half-eaten mooncake/fruit/bazhang.

Today, DN earned the title of "Stuart Little".

I made pumpkin and leek soup today so we picked up a Delifrance baguette from an Esso station and drove home. PF and I were sitting in front talking. The baguette was sitting in the back, with DN. We were talking so we must have missed the first few rustles. Then, during a lull in our conversation, there was a rustle from the back. And a few satisfied smacks.

???

I turned around and saw this.

DN had done away with the scotchtape taping up the top of the baguette, torn aside some of the paper and was happily hugging and nibbling on the baguette!



Baguette + Baby + No Supervision = This!

Oishi !

You seldom see me blogging about cooking because, let's face it, PF didn't marry me because of my fried rice. I am the same gormless soul who made french toast with 2 tablespoons of salt. (In my defense, it was 5.30am and I was 13. I was SO disappointed when I took a big excited bite on the school bus and almost threw up on my sister.)

My mom came over for dinner yesterday and she made sushi for DN! It's pseudo sushi because we didn't use Japanese rice and we didn't have a sushi mat. But who cares? DN scoffed them down (he ate 10) at a supersonic speed.

Oishi!


I bought "snack seaweed strips", the kind that comes in 1-inch pieces. It was $2+ and we got it from Kimisawa.





Just put some rice in the middle and roll it up. Easy! My mom also put a small piece of asparagus inside. You can add whatever you want - egg, cheese, pork floss, ham, whatever!


DN, the resident fan tong (rice bucket), absolutely loved it. :)

"I want to do it MYSELF!"

DN just lurvvves to self-feed. By self-feeding he can control what goes into his mouth, and most importantly, at what speed. Sometimes, when I'm too slow in feeding him, he paws at my hand (the one with the fork/spoon), grabs it and pulls it towards his mouth. If he was more eloquent, he'd probably say, "Get with the programme, Mom!"

My little DN is like a little cro-magnon man when it comes to food. Think caveman grabbing chicken drumstick, holding it up to his face, elbow in the air and ripping the meat off the bone with his teeth. *smack*smack*

When DN eats rice, he's as glamourous as a hippo in a tutu. When he shovels rice into his mouth, he uses his palm, like your good ole neanderthal. There's rice in his hair, on his cheek, on his pants, in his chair, on the floor...

So we decided to get this bib...


... the Kiddopotamus Bibbity Rinse-and-Roll Bib! It's made of silicon, so you just clean it with soap and water and - tadah! - it's ready to use again. No more waiting for bibs to dry. Also, because it's silicon, the catcher sticks out and catches everything (almost). Way better than those cloth catcher bibs.


We used it for the first time at dinner last night and it worked great. Actually, it worked "better" than we thought. When DN saw all the food that landed in the catcher, I bet he rubbed his hands in glee. He was helping himself to the food in the catcher all night long. He probably thought, "Hey! I get a second chance now! Cool bananas!"

Dim Sum... Dim Sum...

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love the depth and breadth and height
Of carrot cake, oh let me take a bite!
Har gow, siew mai, char siew bao,
I love thee like I love my pacifier,
by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, steamed pork dumplings!
I love thee purely, fried wan tons!
I love thee with a passion unashamed,
Chee cheong fun, hum sui kok and chicken feet.
I love thee with a love I reserve
For water play on hot hot days.
I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears of all my life.
And, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better for lunch.

I hope Elizabeth Barrett Browning is not rolling over in her grave. :p

DN really loves dim sum. I think it's because there's a constant stream of food arriving at the table. Oh dear, he looks like a bao in this pic.


There are so many things wrong with this picture I don't know where to start. The giant baos? The pink trishaw dressed in tulle, lace and feathers? The fluffy pink stuffed heart cushions?
The fact that DN seems so at home in this monstrosity of a vehicle???

DN hearts food

We brought him to my colleague's wedding lunch last month and he impressed table 19 with his eating prowess. He sat down for the entire 8-course lunch. I brought him for 1 walk, but only because he was having a meltdown. Cause of meltdown? No more suckling pig. *faint*

So DN had a taste of all the courses - suckling pig, soup, sea bass, braised vegetables, glutinous rice and even sea cucumber. Yes. You read right. DN loves braised sea cucumbers, those worm-like creatures that live on the sea bed and breathe through their anuses. (I think you can guess my stand on sea cucumbers.)

DN is a real trooper when it comes to food. He's game to try anything and has a true-blue Singaporean palate. He likes durians, satay and zi char!

For a little guy like DN who loves his food, one must always have snacks on standby at home. Right now, we have...

1. Grapes
2. Healthy Times Teddy Puffs
3. Want Want Baby Bites
4. Healthy Handfuls Chocolate Chip Cookies
5. Fruit & Nut Granola Bars
6. Muesli

and his favourite...

... Xiao Wan Jian Bing, or Small Ball Cooked Biscuits. (heh heh)

He absolutely LOVES these. We now have to hide them from him because he demands to eat them once he spots the packet. If he doesn't get them, put on your radioactive suit and prepare for a meltdown.

I bought them on a whim at a petrol kiosk along Bukit Timah Road. The crackers looked the perfect size for little toddler fingers and it came in little packs, perfect for diaper bags. And at only $1.95? What a steal!

DN likes the crunchy bite to them and I like how they don't turn his fingers sticky and mucky like some other "creamy" baby biscuits. They also don't flake like rice crackers, so DN doesn't look like a walking bird food stick after a snack. Want to know what else is great about them? They are only lightly sweetened, great for toddler tummies. :)

Small Ball Cooked Biscuits

Never judge a cookie by its name.

Got milk?

The first time we realised that DN was allergic to cow's milk was in April last year. According to my MIL, it was BAAAD. The few gulps of formula milk (FM) he had made him break out in blister-like rashes. For hours.

Dr Keoy (DN's PD) said some babies would outgrow it by the time they turned one, but DN hasn't. He's had "accidents" with cheese, ice-cream and salad dressing (?), accidentally eating a bit and then turning red (usually the area around his mouth). Because it's just a little bit, like a lick of ice-cream, the redness goes away in 30-45 minutes.

Qn : What would happen if he ate an entire ice-cream sundae?
Ans : He wouldn't. I would!
*cue : pitiful laughter*

Okay, I digress.

Because of this allergy, DN cannot drink almost all FMs because they're mostly cow's milk based. So we tried soya-based FM and hypoallergenic FM, but he didn't like the taste. I don't blame him, crap probably tastes better. So we tried goat's milk. As luck would have it, he's also allergic to that. (Damn you, Murphy!) A drop that touched his skin turned it red immediately. Oh well. We might try rice milk or hemp milk next.

Because of his cow's milk allergy, I kept up with the whole rigmarole of breastfeeding and expressing in the office for about 19 months. Last month, I decided to stop breastfeeding so DN doesn't drink any milk at all now. He does gets cereal (with NAN HA mixed in) twice a day, but that's it for his FM intake.

Now what's the first thing a mother does when this happens? Panic right?!?!
"No milk!? He's going to be 80cm tall for the rest of his life!"

So I did some reading up and what I've found out is, it's okay for kids not to drink formula milk. I guess it's such a norm in our culture that it seems essential, but it's not. As long as they get their calcium from other sources (700-800mg a day for young toddlers), they're fine. Phew. :) So here're some calcium rich foods that have got to be staples in DN's diet.

1. Salmon
2. Tofu
3. Broccoli
4. Calcium fortified orange juice
5. Soya bean milk
6. Spinach

Dr Keoy suggested giving him tau huay jui, so we tried it out. He drinks it! Yay!

(But the paranoid me still dilutes it with some water first.)

(And yes, we still haven't thrown away our CNY love letters. Ack.)