Baby as boss

Waiting on a baby is as good as serving a boss who NEVER appreciates your efforts, no matter what you do and how much efforts you put in.
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Friday
It was Pumpkin & Sardine Soup with Semolina Pastina last evening for AN's dinner. Instead of adding salt/ sugar for taste, I added a little roasted garlic & herbs. The sardine was wood smoked and came in spring water. It was a little salty by itself, and with the natural sweetness of pumpkin, I saw no need for salt. Plus I cooked it with beef stock, so it's supposed to be busting with flavor! Of course if it's for ourselves, it'd be better with a little salt. But for baby, not necessary.

As expected, AN turned her head away from it. ANYTHING that doesn't resemble noodle soup or porridge (and lately, rice), she will not give it a second look. Mr Liow & I had to coax her quite a bit to get her to try before deciding if she would consider eating it or not.

While she kept turning away from my offer, Mr Liow suggested if I would want to add a little sugar. hmm...It didn't sound encouraging to me there and then. Was I suppose to take it that he meant the soup didn't taste good?

He tried it and said it tasted bland. It was made for baby. It was meant to taste like everything that's in it. Ok, I know I was too sensitive. The disappointment just kept building up, you see..

After AN finally took a spoonful, and a second, she decided she quite like it and finished everything. The portion was rather big, I must say. I was glad she finished everything.


Saturday
I really put in effort ok? Of all the pancake recipes I retrieved, I decided to start with a simple one. It was just flour (all I had was all purpose, so I used it), egg and milk: Pancakes for breakfast.

The recipe did not call for salt or sugar, and I figured it'll really taste bland if I did not add anything in the mixture, so I pinched a little salt, and threw in a teaspoon of sugar.

It still tasted bland, and looked nothing like the hotcakes in Mac.Donald's :'(

The recipe said it was for 2 pancakes but for whatever reasons, I came up with 5. So I kept 2 for Mr Liow and 2 for myself. If AN could just finish ONE (or part of the) pancake, I'd already be very thankful.

I drizzled honey on all of ours, including AN's (just enough to have it taste less like plain cooked flour product).

Again, AN rejected the pancakes, no matter how we coaxed her.

Mr Liow, again, meaning well, suggested "I think she doesn't like it."

That was the last straw... You know, the baby's rejection is bad enough. To say anything else will only be just adding on to the already piling disappointment.

So, I gave up feeding her. I ate her portion and my own. And not being to control myself, I teared..

That was so sissy, I know. She's a baby, and doesn't understand what's going on. Besides her, I have this nagging thought that Mr Liow also thinks the food I make for AN taste nothing like human food.

He did and still does try very hard to help coax, nag, 'force' AN to eat tho. I appreciate that. I guess it's more of my own negative thoughts that drove me to tears.

We lunched out at Miss Saigon in the afternoon, and she had some noodles, to my relief. Not as much as she always does tho. Mr Liow & I then came to the topic of making AN's food tastier. I will, but not with salt and sugar. Let me see what else I can do.

Dinner at home was Broccoli & Sardine with Bee Hoon Soup. That was the usual type of dinner (soupy noodles/ porridge)she gets when it's nothing fanciful (not that her past few day' menu was fanciful, just that they were food combinations she's had for the 1st time). She wasn't too keen too... WHY??

I fed her more soup since she wasn't keen. At least she finished a tiny portion of the bee hoon and most of the soup. Again, better than nothing.

Monday
Bread dipped in milk. I can't take more rejections, so it was a simple but nutritious breakfast. I got her Hi-Iron bread (for kids. It's also high in clacium & fibre).

You guessed it, she wasn't interested. Took a few pieces and that was all.

I still have more on the list that I have in mind to give her but...

Ok, I'll persevere and try till she's gotten used to eating new stuff.

Baileys' Entry: A playful afternoon

It's been a long while since we've posted any videos of ourselves.

Mummy got some tips on how to take pictures of us in action but knowing mummy, she'll not likely be up to standard with a good camera, so she better stick to taking videos for action. *rolls eyes at mummy*


And here's Maen pretending to be a bookworm.
Mummy's little babies thought hard at:

AN's feeding time

Anyway, it was a simple lunch just now.

As a between meals 'snack', I made red bean soup. sigh... She shivered and looked pitifully at me. Then she went "orrrrghh" as if she was about to throw up. In case she really did, I stopped feeding her red beans and gave her only the soup (sweetened only with a bit of honey).

She wasn't really keen on the soup as well.

All in all, she had only 7 baby spoonfuls of soup, and 5 red beans. As advised, I'll not let this get to me and feel de-motivated. Am going to prepare this for her again.

For dinner, she's getting Pumpkin & Beef Soup with Semolina Pastina. Let me see if I can get a picture of that later.

*Scratch head* What next for tomorrow? Let me flip through my cookbook again & stick a finger in.

About fussy eaters

The following is comforting to know (^_^)
Taken from : http://www.dumex.com.sg/feeding_and_nutrition/toddler_nutrition/article fussy_eaters

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Picky eaters

Just when you've finally found a food you can count on your toddler eating they begin to reject it. That's typical for a toddler, but mealtimes can become a real ordeal when your toddler is fussy.

Approximately half of all toddlers have fussy eating habits, which means there's a one in two chance of yours becoming a picky eater. So remember this is normal - and you're not alone! These tips might help you through these 'trying' times!

Some tips to encourage fussy eaters

• Initially, organise your toddler’s meals around the times of the day they are hungry. A natural pattern will develop which you can then begin to set a routine to.

• Let your child eat at their own pace and don’t try and insist that the plate is cleared. Rushing your toddler through a meal puts pressure on them which can reduce their appetite and come across as fussiness.

• If your toddler has refused a food once, don’t give up. You can try reintroducing it again in a few days time. Some new foods need up to 15 tries before they’re accepted.

• Make sure their eating environment is kept calm and they’re concentrating on their meal – so no TV (I feed AN in front of the TV many times precisely coz I wanted her to be distracted and eat more..oops. No more, no more) !

• Stick with small portions to start with and only give more if they’re still hungry.

• A vegetable aversion is one of the most common food fads in toddlers - and one that causes parents a lot of stress. One quick fix is to ensure that you include lots of different fruit in their diet.

• Having family meals with your toddler can really help if their natural hunger pattern co-insides with your regular mealtimes. Even though every toddler is different, some young children copy the behaviour of other people, so if you are enjoying a healthy meal, your toddler may well watch and learn from what you’re doing.

• Give your toddler praise when they finish a meal or enjoy a healthy snack. It’s also a good idea to talk about the food you enjoy. Things like ‘yum yum this apple is gorgeous’ or ‘this spinach is great’ to emphasise the foods you’d like them to enjoy.

The most important thing is to try to be patient! It might seem like your toddler’s tastes are changing by the day, but it’s important to persevere and make sure they get a healthy, balanced and nutritious diet.

AN loves Maen, AN says goodbye

While 'complaining' about AN not reciprocating the lunch I made for her a while ago, AN secretly went to do something to Maen again. I thought I saw her try carrying Maen and before I could react, Maen screamed out in pain!

I took AN's palms and smacked her. I do not allow her to carry Maen coz she'll hurt Maen, and Maen can also hurt her. She can cuddle, stroke, hug Maen if she wants, but no trying to lift Maen off the ground!

AN started to look like she was going to cry. Tears started welling up in her eyes, and she kept looking at me. I am, of course at this point, more concerned that Maen wasn't hurt. All the while tho, I was observing how AN would react to the smack on her palms. I was surprised she still wasn't crying.

Maen looked fine & ran off after a while. AN did not cry afterall.

Concslusion is, I think, AN loves Maen and knows that she hurt her. She was more probably more shocked at Maen's squealing than upset about the smack on her palms. hehe.
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AN brought me her shoes and pleaded for me to put them on her feet by sticking her feet in front of me. After I put them on, she went to fetch her bag of mega blocks, hugged & kissed Maen, waved to Baileys, then loudly exclaimed "bar-bye!" before lugging the giant bag of building blocks towards the door.

At the door, she turned back towards BM, put her palm to her lips and gave a loud muack as goodbye kiss to them both. Then she pretended to disappear (by going into the kitchen with the bag)..

Baileys & Maen did not know what she was up to and couldn't be bothered to find out as well.

AN then resurfaced from behind the wall next to the kitchen with bag and all, walked back to them and repeated the routine of kissing Maen, waving to Baileys, and ending it all with the loud "muack" goodbye kiss.

She was 'going to work' I think.

Talk about repetition and de-sensitizing Baileys & Maen to rid them of separation anxiety, I think AN's really doing a good job. So good that Baileys & Maen seriously do not care that she's 'leaving the house'.

hehe. That was quite a funny sight. hee.

Baby's lunch into mummy's tummy

Inspired by a blog I was reading, I started sourcing for recipes of toddler age-appropriate meals and took notes of what I'd make for AN next week.

For lunch today, I thought I shall make her something western. Fish and spinach pasta!

While she slept, I started preparing. Boy, this one meal was about as much work as cooking dinner (2 to 3 dishes-and-rice Singaporean dinner) for 2 adults (+ AN who shares food with us lately)!

Of all the fish I've bought since we came, Sea Bass is the only fish that tastes good and surprisingly fresh for frozen. In fact it tasted almost exactly like Cod back in Sgp (and the Cod here tastes like my idea of long gang fish). And it tastes salty when cooked, even without seasoning.

So there I was, chopping up spinach, boiling water, cooking pasta and waiting for it to be done.

Meanwhile, she woke up (to my horror! She's been really sticky lately, screaming and crying for as long as I'm away in the kitchen preparing dinner...). Thank God everything's almost done.

Since she had to STICK to me, I had no other choice but to carry her while I pan-fried the fish, and then stir fry the spinach and pasta.

This was how it looked.


For all the efforts, I was hoping that she'd eat more than usual.

Sadly, she did not. She was more interested in feeding me. "Poke! Poke!", she said. She wanted me to put pasta on her plate so that she could poke it with her fork and feed me with it. And she watered the pasta with the bottle in her hands. Can you believe a mother can actually eat tablescrap-looking food like this when her baby feeds her this? Poor me...hehe.

Daydreaming...she reserves daydreaming for meal times to keep herself entertained. When not daydreaming, she'll be demanding to "Poke!"

-___________--"

She probably finished only 20% of the pasta. And coz fish is good, I gave up feeding her more pasta and kept giving her fish instead. Was glad she finished almost all the fish. Oh, that tiny portion of chopped spinach at the side? She finished those. The portion was only about the size of a lady's thumb by the way.

I wanted to give her diluted apple juice (she doesn't like apple juice...), but she rejected me flat after the 1st sip...

So, so, so....

I was disappointed :(

But on a more positive note, she is getting better at 'poking' the food on her plate and feeding me. If it's Cheerios, she will feed herself and is also getting better at directing food into her mouth with fork & spoon.

What then happened to the rest of the pasta? Answer is somewhere in this post. No prize for guessing right. ;p

List of recalled products from China

What a list!!!

I'm still munching on Dove chocolates & still have a giant pack of M&Ms in the cabinets while typing this! I shld probably dump all these away.

AND AND AND, AN is a fan of Baby Bites!!!!! OMG!! Thank God it's been a while since she had her last piece...

goodness gracious....

Rabbit Milk Sweet 150g
Youcan Unusual Multipack 4s
Youcan Stawberry Multipack
Youcan Traditional Sesame Multipack 4s
Youcan Passion Multipack
Youcan Masterbean Multipack
Youcan Silk Sliced and Passion Strawberry
Monmilk Breakfast Milkmalt 6s
Monmilk Breakfast Milk Walnut 6s
Monmilk Breakfast Milk Malt
Monmilk Breakfast Milk Walnut
Monmilk Chocolate Milk 6s
Monmilk Coffee Milk 6s
Monmilk Hi Cal Low Fat
Monmilk Pure Milk
Monmilk Hi Cal Milk
Monmilk Hi Cal Milk 6s
Monmilk Pure Milk 6s
Monmilk Hi Cal Low Fat Milk 6s
Monmilk Hi Cal Low Fat Milk
Monmilk Pure Milk
Monmilk Milk Deluxe 12s
Yili Pure Milk 1L
Yili Hi Cal Milk 1L
Yili Hi Cal Low Fat Milk 1L
Yili Pure Milk 6s 250ml
Yili Hi Cal Milk 6s 250ml
Yili Hi Cal Low Fat Milk 6s 250ml
Want Want Flavoured Milk 250ml
Snicker Candies Funsize 240g
M&M Chocolate Candies Plain 200g
M & M Chocolate Peanut 200g
Lotte Koala Cocoa Funpack 210g
Koala Cocoa Biscuit 40g
Orion Fresh Pie 138g
Orion Tiramisu 138g
Vitasoy Q Soya Milk 4s 125ml
Vitasoy Chocolate Drink 4s 125ml
Vitasoy Melon Soya Bean Milk 4s 125ml
Dreyers Rocky Road Ice Cream 887ml
Dreyers Strawberry Ice Cream 887ml
Dreyers Toast Almond Ice Cream 887ml
Dreyers Choc Cake Ice Cream 887ml
Dreyers Cookie & Cream Ice Cream 887ml
Dreyers Mint Chip Ice Cream 887ml
Dreyers Vanilla Ice Cream 887ml
Nestle	Nes D/Stick Mini Vanilla
Nestle	Nes Distick Mini Choco
Meiji	Ujikintoki 2978
Meiji	Umakabo Chocolate
Meiji	Family Pack-Green Tea
Meiji	Chestnut & Redbean
Bairong	Grape Cream Crackers
First Choice	Calcium Sesame Crackers
First Choice	Calcium Saltine Crackers
First Choice	Calcium S Onion Crackers
First Choice	Calcium Seaweed Crackers
Ginbis	Party Animal Butter Bisc
Ginbis	Party Animal Seaweed Bis
Ginbis	Party Animal Cnut
Ginbis	Animal Biscuit
Kraft	Oreo Wafer Sticks 18s
Kraft	Oreo Wafer Sticks 5s
Kraft	Oreo W/Stick Wh Choc 18s
Kraft	Oreo W/Stick Wh Choc 5s
Nabisco	In A Biskit Chicken
No Frills	Wafer Blueberry
No Frills	Wafer Chocolate
No Frills	Wafer Peanut
Pei Tian	Cream Biscuit
Silang	Natural Oat Cracker
Dove	H/Nut Alm & Raisin Choc
Dove	Hazelnut Choc
Dove	Milk Chocolate
M&M	Choc Candies Plain%
M&M	Choc Candies Peanut%
M&M	Choc Candies-Plain
M&M	Choc Candies-Peanuts
M&M	Funsize Milk
M&M	Funsize Peanut
Mentos	Bottle Yoghurt Promo Pk
Mentos	Bottle Yoghurt
Snickers	Peanut Chocolate%
Snickers	Snacksize Bars Pnut 5
Want Want	Milk Candy
Take One	Baby Bites 24s
Take One	Baby Bite Ck Vg
Take One	Baby Bite Carrot
Nestle	Milk & Berry Stars Crl
Dutch Lady	Ster M Lf Banana
Dutch Lady	Ster Mk Lf Plain
Dutch Lady	Ster Mk Lf Choc
Dutch Lady	Ster Mk Lf Sberry
Dutch Lady	Ster M Lf Hnydew
Dutch Lady	Ster M Lf Hnydew
Dutch Lady	Ster Milk Plain
Dutch Lady	Ster Mk Lf Choc
Dutch Lady	Ster Mk Lf Sberry
Dutch Lady	Ster M Lf Banana

Baby talk: Mo mo

AN kept chanting "mo mo, mo mo". I didn't respond, thinking it's just another of her own baby chit chat with herself. Then she came to me and pushed her water bottle into my butt insisting "mo mo".

Took me a while to get it. Mo mo = No more

Maen's Entry: Naughty baby deserves discipline

Mummy was blogging her entry about shopping for baby and I was lazying by her feet. AN was doing her own stuff and barking loudly at times (mummy says that's 'screaming').

I felt a tug at my collar. I couldn't see what was going on coz something was going on behind me. Gor gor came over and got a little excited. Then I heard giggling.

Mummy was too engross to realise that I'd been taken away from her feet. -____-"

I felt relieved when she finally did. I think I was suffocating!

So it was AN dragging me by my collar.

Mummy was angry, told AN off for dragging me by the collar, and then AN started bawling. We never bawl when mummy ticks us off. Maybe we should?

Anyway, mummy told her that we are "living creatures, eat, sleep, breathe, suffocate and die". Doesn't sound that pleasing to me. Seems to suggest that we are lazy bum bums who do nothing except eat, sleep, breath. Glad she fell short of adding that we pee & poo as well.

AN tried a couple more times to take me by my collar but mummy knew she'll continue to try her luck again so she wasn't too successful the next few times after.

Mummy says she's glad that we are so tolerant of AN's new ideas & moves. We understand that a growing baby can be hazardous to us and mummy understands that we too, when stretched too taut, may also snap back. She says she loves us for being so forgiving and promises never to let AN hurt us.

Have I mentioned that I've started to fall in love with AN too? I can't speak the same for gor gor coz he doesn't confess it.

That day when AN woke up from her nap on the sofa while mummy was watching the TV, I felt the urge to say hi to the baby, so I did. AN, having had enough sleep and not have regained full baby power yet, was so adorable.

I went up to her and she started to stroke me from under my neck like mummy always stroke me. I liked it (^___^). She started to talk to me in a language that I've not heard before but it sounded nice. So we enjoyed ourselves for the next 10mins or so in that position.

Mummy said we were bonding. Gor gor should too, try allowing AN to give him a massage. It really feels good you know?

I'm starting to go to AN for massages more than I am going to mummy, or papa, for massages. If only she hasn't learnt to drag me by my collar...I sure hope she forgets how to do that after she wakes up later.

Mummy's little babies thought hard at:

Shopping list for a growing baby

Toddler cup
AN has started drinking from a cup but hasn't earned herself the trust that she will not pour water all over herself on her own. This is an alternative.
Click HERE


Snack catcher
Cheerios, AN's happy biscuit, comes at a price. Either mess, if she's eating that off a usual bowl, or at the expense of my time. I've got lots of time when I'm not cleaning the house or cooking for either her, Mr Liow, or grooming BM. This seems like a good idea.
Click HERE


Stay Put Cutlery & Bowl Set
AN baby insists on feeding herself now and she sure makes a mess out of it when she does. I've only had the courage to let her hold her own cutlery and with probably a biscuit in the fork at most.

It's dry, so if she ever dumps the cutlery or food on the floor (carpet), it isn't that much of a mess to clear. With this, even the cutlery stays off the floor.
Click HERE

Maen's Entry: After a long time, OUR LOOT

Mummy's started shopping for us again! She bought us heartworm preventive tablets online.

The practice here is such that we have to have a vet prescribe heartworm tablets for mummy to be able to purchase that online, or anywhere else for that matter. We have no prescription, so mummy hasn't been able to get us anything, till she decided to try her luck on 1800petmeds. No harm trying, she said.

She was asked to fill up details of our vet and mummy input Northwest Animal Clinic, which was where we had our jabs when we 1st came. 1800petmeds said they will get the prescription on our behalf. By that, we understood it as them retrieving an existing prescription which did not exist.

Then mummy received an email confirming the shipment of the items! So, they actually meant that they would literally 'GET THE PRESCRIPTION' for us. Din know it was so easy!

Bad news is, instead of ordering Heartgard (which we've always been on), she ordered Iverhart. It is a 'generic equivalent' to Heartgard and she thought she could get Iverhart without a prescription, unlike Heartgard. Only after paying up did she realise Iverhart, like Heartgard, requires a prescription! If only mummy read the details carefully, we'd be happier with Heartgard.

Mine comes with a bone *sniggers happily*
We did not really like Iverhart as much as Heartgard. U know, Heartgard is rather generous with their 'tablet'. Heartgard smells, and looks like a treat! Iverhart looks like this. A typical boring looking pill. Even tho it's flavoured like Heartgard, who on earth will bother to chew such a tiny tablet, right?

What else have we got?

More Greenies! Lite version, lower in calories, healthier.

And Greenies, biscuit which the store lady strongly recommended.
1st, she was impressed

Mummy always reads labels and regretted getting the biscuits for us coz she only noticed what it says on the labels when they got home.
Seriously, I do not mind and I am very sure gor gor will not mind corn grits, gluten, poultry fats.

It's been a long time since we've uploaded pictures of ourselves. Mummy always likes to take pictures of us sleeping. She said pictures of us running around always turn out looking blurred. We think she's not so skillful..There are people who take pictures of running animals beautifully, are there not?

Sharing spaces




We don't always have to sleep near each other. I'm grown up!


That was an exciting moment when baby brought out our food container, till we noticed it's an empty container *rolls eyes* Not very effective...


Mummy's little babies thought hard at:

Screams!!

The baby can really scream!

We decided to ignore her cries to be taken out of the baby car seat today and for that, she screamed all the way home. The whole 20mins of the journey back, she went from "ARGHHHH!" in the highest possible pitch of her voice, to "EEEEERGH!!!" to "HERRRRRRRGH", taking breaks in between only to breathe.

Sigh....

Aiyo...

What's with all the gantries?? USA so big, toll booths are like so far apart. Some day, total number of our ERP gantries will surpass the number of toll booths in the big continent..


This one contains subtitles that are a little vulgar, so keep the little ones away.

AN recognises!

I was showing her a video of herself taken when she was 4mths old. We came to this part where I pulled the tail of a musical toy in that video, and then there was music. The musical toy now hangs by the playpen in our living room. AN stared hard, and then walked over to her playpen to tug at that toy, telling me "See?"

That was unexpected. It did not even occur to me that the same toy was hanging by her playpen. hee.

A day in the life of a baby

Had a slideshow done for Baileys & Maen on my friendster some time back. Time to do the same for AN. This is one effective way to post many pictures at a go. hehe.

This is the 1st time she laid herself down in the playpen. Her playpen is as its name suggests, for play.

And then it was time for dinner. It was Souped Purple Cauliflower & Green Beans Soba.

AN at 17th months

Some of the following may come across as no big deal/ a little bo-liao/ unrelated etc, but to me, it's simple amazement how a baby grows from not being able to control a single body part, to doing certain things we adults have been doing, seemingly our whole lives.

AN has been eating...
Little AN seems to share my taste for spicy food. She looked interested in my curry last week, so I dipped her spoon into curry and touched her tongue with the tip of the spoon. She looked like she was about to cry, but she did not. Her eyes welled up with tears and she started to turn red (hehe. I was waiting for smoke to rush out from her nose & ears like we see in cartoons). Then she smiled and pointed to the bowl of curry, telling me "See?". I asked if she wanted more and she nodded. I dipped the spoon into the curry and gave it to her like I did the 1st time, again. She had the same reaction but did not cry. I dared not give it to her a 3rd time tho. Better not push it too far.

So, yup. She's had:

• Curry (wee bit of it)
• Fried rice (with egg, or fish, tou fu
• Fried & Souped Bee hoon (with shredded chicken/ minced pork/ fish)
• Souped assorted noodles (Vietnamese rice noodles, Xin Zhu Mee Fen, Dong Fen, Mee Sua etc)
• Spaghetti
• All sorts of vege that we can find in supermarkets here (except for lettuces/ salad vegetable)
• Whatever else we adults eat that's easy enough for her to chew on her own

AN has been saying:

• Papa
• Mama: She's starting to call me "Meee" too.
• Mam mam: B-milk.
  
• "See?": Everything that she doesn't have a word for, she will point to it and say "See?", or if she really wants us to see something, it's "Seesh?" which is actually "See this?".
  
• Cheeosh: Her version of Cheerios.
  
• Popo: When the phone rings, she will tell me "Po po", meaning it's grandma- my mum, calling. My mum is the only person who calls everyday. hehe.
• Pong pong: Bathing time, her favourite activity of each day.
• Pers: Pampers.
• Ter: Water.
• Too/Two: I wonder if it's coincidental but she had twice pointed to the number 2 while identifying it verbally on her book!).
• Shir: Sure. Whenver I ask if she's sure something was what she wanted, she will reply "Sure"..hmm...ya, sure..
• Slib: Sleep. When she's sleepy, she'll climb onto the sofa/bed, tap on the pillow and tell me "Slib". That happened when we were at the hotel & in Neigi's home too. She says that when she, for no particular reasons, wants BM to sleep too.
• Sig: Sit. When it's mealtime, when she's watching the TV from too close a proximity, when I need her to sit, for some reason or other, she will do so and repeat "sit" after me. She's since who-knws-when, cultivated her own habit of sitting at this particular spot on the sofa when it's mealtimes, and insist I feed her there by pointing that direction and telling me "sit" at the same time before she makes her way there. And like "sleep", she will instruct BM to "sit" too.
• Shoo: Shoe. As and when she feels like putting her shoes on, she will bring them to me and tell me "Shoo". Sometimes she will attempt to put her shoes on her feet by herself.
• Mei Mei: Maen. She says that very clearly. haha!
• Bag!: Back. On our behalf, to Baileys & Maen when she wants them to get off the sofa. The actual command is "off".
  
• Bao bao: When she wants us to carry her.
• Bay bay: Bye bye, while waving goodbye. It's starting to sound like how it should sound.
  
• Baby
• Bays: Shorter and easier pronunciation of Baileys' name.
  
• Bear: From the pictures of Care Bear on her pillow case.
• Boog: Book. When she wants me to read to her, or just flip through the pages with her.
• Dog dog
• Goog ger: Good girl.
• Gang doo, Dang doo or variations: Thank You.
• Gai gai (oh yeah! Shopping!)
• Nag nag nag: I'll say "nag nag nag" when she whines. Now she self confesses "nag nag nag" when she wants my attention
• Keep: When I need her to keep her toys
• K (okay when she really means ok, or simply repeating after me)
• Uh-oh: Whenever something doesn't seem right

No wonder people keep telling us to talk to her a lot. She repeats after us very well, except that she doesn't always remember how to say it on her own the next time round. So, talk a lot to your kids, ya? hee.


AN has been helping...

• She brings the cordless phone back to its charging station. She ENJOYS doing this so much that I don't even have to ask her to do it sometimes. She will bring it back on her own accord after I've hung up. Else when I ask if she could help mummy to "put the phone back", she'll nod her head and do the rest. Once she accidentally pushed the charging station off the table. She picked it up and tried for quite a while, to put it back the same way before it fell off. hehe.
• She keeps her own toys (many times back to the wrong places but she's learnt which drawer keeps what, so if she kept her things in the wrong place, I just have to remind her and she will re-organise her stuff)
• She helps fetch me diapers when I ask, sometimes. When she doesn't think she needs a change, I'll have to get clean diapers on my own, and then go catch her back to the sofa to change her -___-"
• She puts things back to where she last knew it came from when we ask her to "put it back", with a plea, "please" (to also teach her to say "please")

She's generally very helpful whatever I ask her to help me with. I wonder if it's only temporary, that she's only happy to show off her newfound ability to understand us better. hmm.


AN has mastered..

• sipping directly from a cup. I've not allowed her to drink from a cup without me helping coz she still over estimates and pour water all over herself.
• sipping from straw (since many months ago, but I've not made a mental note yet, in case I forget when she's older. hehe)
• opening her own Mag Mag sippy cup and drinking from it (this one no big deal coz it opens easily. Thought I'd note it down coz I found it cute the 1st time she did that.)
• putting her hands into sleeves and feet into pants when I dress her up, not on her own yet tho. hehe.
• sending flying kisses (I thought this is one of the 1st things babies learnt when they are really really young...she's a little too slow in this wor)
• opening twist-caps. Since the day she opened my Dior blusher, she's got better at it. Mineral bottles and anything with twist-caps are no longer safe in her hands...

AN has learnt body part like:

• Ears
• Belly button
• Feet
• Hands

She's supposed to be familiar with 5 but still gets confused with where her eyes, nose & mouth are. *Makes a mental note not to be too bothered abt minor details!*

Yup, that’s about all. For the benefit of mummies with young kids, or mummies to be, you can track your baby’s growth with Dumex’s Baby Steps Journal here:
http://www.dumex.com.my/parents/post_natal/index.php

Do take into consideration that not all babies grow at the same speed though and it’s just a general guide (^_^)

Can you play my videos?

Is it just me or are u guys also unable to play my videos?

Cooking woes

I've lost faith in food quality here, from frozen food stuff, to canned.

I have no idea how to make breaded meat. Do I coat the meat with egg 1st? Or flour 1st? What's the procedure like? I tried to make my own fried chicken. Tasted quite alright but the crumbs keep falling off till the chicken looked rather bare.

So I thought I shld just give up and get ready coated meat. And I did. I got a pack of breaded Catfish fillet, which tasted soooo strongly of alkaline when I tried it just now *faint* I've dumped the remaining.

And canned straw mushrooms too...

I dared put stuff from cans back in Singapore into my tummy without cooking them 1st. Might not be a good idea but I've been fine this far. Yet I lacked the courage to do so here. I did muster up a little courage to try the straw mushroom from the can a while ago, only to find it tasting wierdly bitter. Canned straw mushrooms in Singapore tasted a little salty.

HELP!

I can't cook :(

Baileys' Entry: Maen the escape artist

Some time ago, Maen escaped from behind the baby gates while the adults were out. The smart alec found saw that the gate was not totally shut one day and pushed her way out. We all know that the gate will bounce back and shut tight with force right?, Without informing me, she went ahead out of the kitchen and then I was trapped inside -_______-"

It happened again last night. Papa was on night shift and we were sound asleep. I knew he came back but I doubt Maen was aware.

The next thing I knew this morning, Maen wasn't in the kitchen with me! I thought papa & mummy took her out and forgot about me :(

I scratched hard at the gates to be let out and then I heard my scratching on the gate, echo upstairs! It never happened that way.

Mummy open the door, exclaming "What are you doing here? Back!"

I then saw Maen scampering down the stairs.. Was she sleeping with them all? That was unfair..but then again, if she was permitted to sleep with them, mummy wouldn't have asked her what she was doing at the door, right?

That made me feel better.

We had no idea how Maen got out of the kitchen. Mummy thought papa left the gate open last night but he did not. Did she jump over the lower baby gate at the other side of the kitchen? I doubt so coz that gate was also quite a height to jump over..

She refused to tell me how she got out. She did say she squeezed herself out between the gaps but come on, she's too broad for the narrow gap.

Probably I could try squeezing myself through to get out huh? hehe.

Mummy's little babies thought hard at:

AN in action since birth

Videos of AN that I've found while transferring the files from the laptop to the external HD. It's such a pity Baileys & Maen did not have videos like these taken of them when they were puppies...My poor Sumsung phone had produced only VGA photos back then and even worse videos, if any...Maybe if I search further, I may find some? hehe.

I know I've posted pictures of AN from birth. I was wondering where all the videos had gone to. So they were hidden somewhere. hee. It's a pity there was only 1 video taken of her in April 2007 when she was born. Shldn't have been the case coz I shoot anything and everything..probably she was overwhelming beyond my notice.

Never liked to have people meddling with her bum since birth


Happy when finally left alone


Newborn back home


Slightly less than a month old in May 2007, before haircut


May 2007 after haircut


June 2007


July 2007.


August 2007


Sept 2007


Oct 2007


Nov 2007


Dec 2007


Jan 2008


Feb 2008 at Phillip & Joan's place during CNY, laughing at Hannah & Mercia playing WII


March 2008


May 2008 (She didn't look or behave very differently in those 2 mths, so I'm leaving April'08 out to save some bandwidth. hee)


Videos from June & July 08 have been posted in previous posts ;p

June 2008 (clickable): http://littleflower-in-a-land-far-away.blogspot.com/2008/06/ans-video-gallery-14-months.html

July 2008 (clickable): http://littleflower-in-a-land-far-away.blogspot.com/2008/07/random-videos-again.html

Aug 2008 (Baby Shrek)


Sept 2008 (clickable) in recent trips: http://littleflower-in-a-land-far-away.blogspot.com/2008/09/movie-clips-central-park-niagara.html

People keep telling me that one day, before we know it, she'll have grown up and we'll see less and less of her. I was waiting for her to grow up and be less dependent on me before this...I shld probably think twice about waiting for that to happen ;p