End of Term 3 Party

This has been a busy week for both Faith and I -- Faith having to attend 4 classes and me busy being a chauffeur-mom. Its the last week of the term for both Little Gym and Julia Gabriel. We needed to make-up a class for Little Gym, hence, the additional day of lesson on top of the 3 classes that Faith goes to weekly.

Friday marks the end of the Term 3 party at JG. I had no idea what to expect of the party since it was my first time but I signed up to bring some home-made eggless chocolate and banana mini muffins for the party. Turned out that there were lots of food at the end -- the kids don't eat that much really :)

It is also the last day for Sugita, the teacher in Faith's class, as she has resigned from the school. Even though we'd only attended 5 classes towards the tail-end of the term, I really liked and enjoyed Sugita's classes. She obviously loves all the kids, is extremely perky, very patient, fun-loving and a great and interesting story-teller to boot, making her classes a great deal of fun.

The children were told to dress in their party clothes, which I gather to mean to dress up. The teachers were all togged up in their best gears too, instead of the usual JG t-shirts. The big nice toys were all hauled in to provide lots of indoor fun play, followed by some welcome songs, party snacks, more play and then out to the playground.

Having taught Faith to shoot the hoop with a round ball, Faith had a blast dunking all sorts and sizes of balls into the basketball hoop. She also had a turn riding her favourite toy car and also pushing Ria (the other girl in the picture) in the same car later.

As Faith seems to settle more comfortably to the routine, environment and new playmates at JG, I'm also starting to enjoy myself too. I too have made friends with a few of the mothers there.

In fact, two of them remarked to me on separate occasions that they were "envious" that Faith is such a well-behaved and calm girl in class. Hahaha.... yeah.... my little one takes on a slightly different persona in class, especially the way she eats.

At home, give her some biscuits and crackers and she would be busy stuffing them into her face like there's no tomorrow. Yet, for the last few snack time at JG, while all the other kids would similarly be cramming their biscuits into their already filled mouth, Faith would take dainty little bites out of hers. She would slowly and patiently finish each biscuit, wait a while or take a sip of drink before she takes another one. Eating it with the same exact slowness.

She would be one of the early ones to arrive at the table for snacks and yet, the last to leave -- taking her time to "savour" the snacks. The funniest thing is that when all the kids and moms have left the table, she would surreptitiously cram a few biscuits into her mouth!

Give her another few more classes at JG and perhaps, she might show more of the exuberant behaviour that she exhibits at home.

A troubling incident

This little incident troubled me a great deal.

Evening time, we brought Faith out for a swim at the SAFRA Yishun pool before dinner. I was with Faith in the changing room to clean her up after her swim.

As we were finishing, a maid walked in with her charge, a little girl that looked to be around 2 years old, plus minus some. She immediately proceeded to remove the girl's clothes and diapers, telling her repeatedly not to pee and to let her know if she needed to "shh-shh".

Out came the clothes and diapers and as the maid was digging in her bag for the swimming diapers and costume, the little girl let loose with a volley of pee. She peed some onto her shoes (which the maid had yet to remove) and a little onto the bag as it was very close to her.

The maid immediately exclaimed loudly, starting to scold and smack the girl on the feet, all the while saying "You naughty girl! I told you not to shh-shh... if you want to shh-shh, must tell me!".

As I contemplated telling her off for smacking the girl, she finished dressing the girl in her swimming costume and headed out of the toilet.

I passed Faith to Louis, who was waiting outside, and headed to shower and change myself. All the time, I was pondering in my mind about the little incident that I had just witnessed.

After I was done, I left the toilet and took a peek at the pool area to see if I could spot the girl and the maid. I saw her and the maid, together with what must be both the girls' parents. The mom was pregnant and both the mom and dad were already in their swimming costumes.

As I continued with my internal debate whether to approach the parents, I decided to ask Louis for his opinions. In the end, we decided to leave things alone. Becos they didn't witness the incident, we wouldn't know how the parents would interpret the situation even if we had recount it factually to them. We wouldn't know how they would handle the issue with the maid either.

What troubled me a great deal was that the maid was so quick to smack the girl for something that wasn't even a behavioural transgression. Why didn't the maid prepared the swimming diapers readily on hand when she took out the normal ones out? Why didn't the mom went in with the maid? Does the maid have a habit of smacking the girl for little wrong-doings, warranted or otherwise? Would the little girl be able to articulate to her parents if the maid hits or smacks her too hard?

To give the maid the benefit of the doubt, I have no idea how well-trained or untrained the girl was in toilet training. She might not be aware either that the ability for bladder control requires certain maturity of physical development in the child.

It would be so easy to dismiss the entire incident and say not to ever leave your kids with a maid. Yet, I know that there are some maids who are the kindest and most loving care-givers to their charges. For some, a maid is an indispensable help or even part of the family.

This incident highlights yet another reason why I'm ever thankful that I am a SAHM and fortunate enough that both sets of Faith's grandparents are more than willing to help out with the caring of Faith too.

I hope for the little girl's sake that this was one of the rare occasions that the maid lifted her hands to smack her and that there would not be many situations in which the parents would leave the girl alone with the maid.

And I hope too that I did not make a wrong decision in not telling the parents.

Having fun learning

While waiting for Louis to knock off from work, I happened to see this cute posters at the ground floor of UE Square Shopping Centre.

I've been meaning to get Faith some posters. Partly to conscientiously remind myself to teach her things - be it alphabets, numbers, body parts, animals etc - and also to spruce up and brighten the room.

She seems to like looking at them. Now, she's able to pinpoint more parts of her face e.g. teeth and tongue :)

24 Aug 2008

Today's my actual birthday. I woke up as usual to find that Louis has left for his weekly badminton session. Checking that Faith was still fast asleep, I tiptoed out of the room to prepare and start Faith's porridge in the slow cooker.

There sitting on the kitchen counter top -- where Louis knows it would be the first place I head to every morning -- was an envelope with a card.

A birthday card from him and Faith.

Its been such a long time since I've received a card from Louis. So long that I don't even remember when was the last time. Then again, Louis and I are fairly down-to-earth people, not given to romantic gestures. Still, its nice to receive a card. Especially when he has managed to get Faith to scrawl her "signature" too :)

Having turned on the slow cooker and read the card, I headed back to bed with a nice, warm fuzzy feeling.

The plan for the night was for the three of us to go for a semi-buffet dinner at Cafe 2000 @ M Hotel.

In the end, dinner was packed noodles (for Louis) and vermicelli (for me) from the coffeeshop downstairs :)

Hahaha... don't feel sorry for me. It was what I wanted.

Let me explain why...

After our usual routine of feeding Faith her lunch, we brought Faith over to my MIL's place, intending to leave her there for a few hours while Louis and I go have our lunch and perhaps catch a show. However, Faith didn't want to let go of the either of us when we reached my MIL's place. She insisted on holding either Louis' or my hand at all times.

My FIL suggested that they (my MIL, Faith and him) head to AMK hub along with us. While they bring Faith to the NTUC and distract her, Louis and I can then head off for lunch and movie. Louis and I decided against watching the show when we reached the Hub as was only half an hour left for us to queue for the tickets and eat our lunch. We rather have a leisurely lunch.

After lunch, my PIL called us to inform us that they were heading to Queensway Shopping Centre. My FIL wanted to buy a badminton racket to replace the one that he lost recently. We decided to go along too as it was near to Ikea and I had been meaning to buy some stuff from there but haven't had the time.

We spent quite a bit of time at Ikea. My MIL bought some kids' plastic bowls and utensils -- I believe some of them will end up being Faith's toys, stored in a section of the TV console that my MIL emptied just for her playthings.

I bought a plastic high chair for her, even though I already have one at home. I've been wanting to get Faith to learn to self-feed for the longest time but have always procrastinated becos I wasn't looking forward to getting the floor and her clothe-lined high chair smeared with whatever food that falls off her spoon or mouth. With the plastic high chair, I could simply line the surroundings with plastic and haul it to the toilet and spray with water when it gets dirty.

I also ended up buying an assortment of stuff that I didn't particular need but thought they would be useful for the home :)

By the time we were ready to head back home, it was past 5.30 pm.

Like the previous day, the sky kept up with a steady stream of rain since the early afternoon and I knew it was the kind of rain that wouldn't let up but would just pour non-stop till the night.

I didn't fancy rushing home to change, dress up and get drenched in the rain from our house to the open-air carpark. Hence, I had suggested to Louis on the trip to Ikea that we should just have something simple for dinner.

By the time we reached home, prepared and fed Faith her dinner, the prospect of buying up our dinner from the coffeeshop downstairs sounded most appealing.

So, while I didn't do anything that was "wow" worthy on my birthday, I actually enjoyed the simple and mundane things that I did today, especially when it was spent with my loved ones.

It is interesting to note that my perspective on what makes my birthday a good day changes with age.

It used to be that when I was younger, birthdays were a big thing that I would always look forward to. It was a day that I get to do what I want with the adults closing both their eyes to indulge me on this special day. It was a day where I get my birthday cake, red eggs, sweets and presents. It also signifies that I'm one year older and can thus get to do the things that I've been prohibited from doing the year before becos I was "still too young".

As one age, birthdays are not something that I look forward to as eagerly as I did in my youth. It hasn't yet come to the stage that its a day that I dread for fear of the creeping digits signalling that I'm way over my prime.

For the last few years, I deem my birthday to be a good one if I spent it doing simple things or even nothing as long as nothing bad happened to put me in a bad or lousy mood.

Who knows? Maybe in another 20-30 years from now, I might deem my birthday to be a good one if it was done with a big bang -- elaborate dinner, birthday cake, presents and having all my children (and maybe grandchildren) to pay homage to me on my special day ;)

Eve's Birthday :)

It was with little fanfare, but a lot of warmth that we celebrated Eve's birthday. While this isn't Eve's first birthday we are celebrating with Faith, this year, we mananged to get a shot in of Faith with mommy's birthday cake (thanks again to Astee for the yummy cake). Unfortunately, Adrian wasn't able to join us as he was overseas...Adrian - here are the blown-up pics of the family doing what we do best - eating and celebrating :)

Little Miss Helpful

Louis and I have given up on eating at our main dining table for the longest time. We typically prefer hauling the Ikea children round table in and out to the living room every time we have our meals. That way, we can keep Faith company while she's eating her meals and watch some TV programmes too.

Lately, Faith has been tickled with helping us to carry the round blue table in and out to the living room whenever Louis or myself are hauling it out.

She likes to help out the teachers too at Julia Gabriel... helping to hold part of the washable trays as the teachers brought them out to stack them together for disinfecting :)

Picture blog 2 - The many faces of Faith in class

We introduced Faith to her first class just after her first birthday. From learning how to climb down "feet first" from the bed (Little Gym), to clanking her two ringing bells in tune (KinderMusik), and just having fun dancing (Julia Gabriel), she has shown many of her sides in class. There is of course one side of Faith that reminds us that she is still a child at heart - just wanting to do whatever she wants - regardless of what everyone else is doing in class.

Picture blog 1 - The good news and the bad news

Its a perennial question that people ask: does Faith look like Daddy or Mommy? After one year, it is quite clear, to me at least, that the verdict is out....

Gastric flu or teething?

I'm a bit confused now about Faith. I'm not sure if she's having gastric flu or is her diarrhea attributed to a major bout of teething that she's going through.

Yesterday, she had a record number of diapers changed. We're talking somewhere in the region of more than 10 diapers in the day. She had her usual poops in the morning and there after, it seemed like she had diarrhea every half an hour or so.

I don't mean to be graphic on the blog, but by diarrhea, I meant that she's mainly "discharging" very liquidy, pooped stained diapers, with maybe a few "strings" of poop.

But on Sunday night, after the whole episode at KKH and as we were changing her for her bedtime, I suddenly saw that her left molar on the lower jaw has cut through her gums. And I could also feel bums where the remaining 3 incisors (two on the upper and the right on the lower jaw) around the areas where they are suppose to be coming out.

So, she might be having some major teething activity going on and that might be the reason for her diarrhea and milk strike.

She still squats down when she's pooping these days -- making us think that she might be ready to be toilet-trained -- but I don't see her pulling at her tummy or straining so hard anymore until her face turns red. Neither did she have any further fever apart from the one on Sunday evening. Which is why I'm thinking she might not be having gastric flu.

The other thing is that she's having a great appetite. In between her meals, she would be bugging either my mom, me, or louis (if he's at home), holding our hands and pulling us towards the main table or the kitchen cupboards where she knows where we put her cornflakes, rice crackers and biscuits, and asking us to give her some.

I'm certainly not complaining about the last point. Cos she eats her snacks but still finishes her main meals. So, maybe its the medication that's making her hungry...either that or she's got a bigger appetite now. Either ways, I'm glad. Now, what would make my day is if she would gain more weight! She eats and eats but she's still so tiny and weighs so little :)

Gastric flu

Yes, Faith has gastric flu. That's what the doctor @ KK Hospital told us after we brought her in yesterday after seeing that she's got some traces of blood in her stools and she's been having diarrhea, and perhaps some some amount of tummy ache. We think its tummy ache becos she would squat on the floor and refuse our attempts to carry her up, or you can see her entire body straining when she was pooping.

I checked my AAP book and also called her paediatrician for advice. He said that I should immediately get her checked with a doctor that's open the weekend and not wait until Monday to bring her in.

We didn't know what could have been the cause of it. She might have gotten it from anywhere or even the public pool that we went to yesterday morning. The doctor said it might spread in the pool if someone who had serious gastric flu had been in it, and the speed in which it spread could be almost instantaneous.

Thankfully, Faith ate moderately well yesterday even with the diarrhea. She was active and alert and still strong even with the bout of gastric flu. The last we know with great authority becos she was screaming her lungs off, and my ears too, when the doctor tried to touch her to examine her. Even the doctor remarked on the strength of her efforts to struggle out of the her [the doc's] reach.

We were given medications for fever, stomach pain and some probiotics for her diarrhea. Although she didn't have fever at the hospital, she developed a low grade one near dinner time and we gave her the paracetamol.

Nonetheless, we were grateful that she slept well through the night, with no further signs of fever.

Today, she merely had her normal poops -- twice -- and otherwise seems back to her usual self. But we have kept her food light and more liquidy still for the day, although she seems to have a good appetite -- been asking us for all sorts of snacks and fruits throughout the day.

I think we were lucky that she either had a mild gastric flu or that we caught it early on.

Trial @ Julia Gabriel

We were exploring other options and activities for Faith, and decided to let Faith attend a trial of the Playnest class at Julia Gabriel. Rohini has been raving about the class earlier and had asked if I was interested to join, as Partha had been going.

Now that we're back from our trip and it seems that we might not need to travel for a while, we thought we would try out some other activity. Also, this is in view that Faith would be having her last class at Kindermusik this Friday. Not that we're unhappy with Kindermusik, but we wanted to explore other options and see how the different activities stack up.

The playnest classes run twice a week for 10 weeks. We would have preferred to sign her up for the Mandarin classes but at her age group, it requires her to go for 3 classes per week. Faith's already going to Little Gym every week, and we felt that if we sign her up for the Mandarin classes, it would be too many classes that she's attending.

I liked the class and I think Faith does too. They seem to do a little of everything in the one and a half hour class, but I figured that given the kids' short attention span, there's just about enough time devoted for each activity to pique their interest and move on to something else before they get bored.

The class started with some free play, followed by the singing of some songs to introduce everyone in class, a mystery activity -- which was reading for this session, followed by some simple art & craft, snack time, free play indoors, outdoor play and finally, singing and dancing to end the day.

Faith seemed to enjoy the snack of organic teddy cookies. Towards the end, she stuffed all the remaining teddies into her little mouth, making herself look like a puffed up hamster hoarding her seeds :)

Ohhh... she really enjoyed the outdoor play. They were given the free rein to run around the outdoor playground.

The activity that she enjoyed the most while out in the playground was sitting in this little car, which I would then push her around.

When the teacher called for all the kids to head back to the class, she was reluctant to go in. In fact, she grabbed my hands and motioned that she still wanted to sit in the car some more. When I told her that we needed to head back to class, she bawled and cried :) Still, I managed to coax her to head back by telling her that daddy was waiting at the classroom for her.

Thank goodness her daddy saved the day. He was standing outside the classroom indeed when we made our way back to class. All her tears were forgotten as she gave a big wide smile and ran into his embrace to greet him.

And she held his hands and led him back to her class to join her in the closing activity, which had the teacher and assistants playing the keyboard, doing some upbeat dance and song. Our little girl perked up at her favourite activity of singing & dancing. She stood up and did her little jiggle, bent and clapped her knees and clapped her hands enthusiastically.

Overall, I found the class to be lively and spontaneous. The teachers were well-spoken, loving and great with the kids. And they seem to be rather multi-talented too, being good story-tellers and singers at the same time :) The school were also careful with the hygiene of the toys that the kids played. After every activity, the teacher and assistants would go around collecting the toys in separate trays, stacking them up to be cleaned and washed.

After the class, we signed her up for the remaining 2 weeks lessons. We'll see if we could sign her up for the next semester at the end of it, i.e. if Louis is not expected to travel. The key reason is that we would not be able to do make up classes (except if she's ill and a medical cert is produced) and the school does not provide any refund if we were to go away on a trip midway.

Milk strike

For the past week or so, Faith has been on a milk strike. Well... technically, its more a "formula milk" strike, rather than a strike against all milk. She likes her breastmilk just fine, preferably, served at source.

Frankly, I don't have a good idea what really makes Faith ticks when it comes to drinking milk of any kind other than BM. She was drinking well -- at least by Faith's standard -- during the trip to London. When we first came back, she wasn't drinking all that much, but we chalked it up to jetlag. Yet, the jetlag came and went and she still wasn't drinking much of her milk.

Faith gets her daily dose of formula milk twice a day; during the mid afternoon feed (120ml of formula and 60ml of BM) and another small amount which I give her before her bedtime feed.

Since our return from London, there would be days when she would drink about 100ml for her afternoon feed. During the not-so-good days, she would drink about 50ml or less.

No amount of coaxing, cajoling, threatening or bribery would my mom or I be able to get her to drink any more. She would wriggle out of our grasp if we try to grab her, push the teat right out with her tongue if we try to wriggle it into her mouth or simply just shake her head left and right.

We tried pouring the milk out of her milk bottle into all sorts of cups that might usually attract her to drink but to no avail. We had varied successes in trying to put some of her all-time favourite cornflakes in it to get her to eat/drink her milk. It worked once but not the next.

I'm not sure if she's protesting against the specific brand of formula. After all, I've read that toddlers at this age may suddenly develop a distaste for some food that they used to eat or even enjoy eating. In the event that this might be the case, I've requested for other brands of formula milk samples to test out the hypothesis.

I've also bought some full cream fresh milk and yoghurt. For the milk, I've been giving it to her along with cornflakes for her morning breakfast for the last 2 days. I've added in more of her cornflakes cos I figured it would soak up much of the milk too, allowing me to sneak in whatever precious millimeter of milk into her little body.

The yoghurt is on standby in case she still drinks a pitiful amount of her mid-afternoon milk. In which case, my so-called "Plan B" would be to make her a banana milkshake.

I have no idea why Faith's milk drinking behaviour has been so erratic. Then again, it shouldn't surprise me given Faith's long history with formula milk. However, given her small frame and her weight, I am always fretting about her meals, snacks and milk intake. Thankfully, she enjoys and takes her solid well -- although that's getting to be another challenge these days becos she just won't sit still long enough to finish her lunch and dinner.

I've read that its not unusual for toddlers to eat lesser now as their growth rate is slowing down and they don't need as much as before to keep up. But most of what I've read online and in books are toddlers who are on food strike. I've hardly come across cases of kids on milk strike.

Nonetheless, I am grateful that she's still eating her solids well, although I feel that milk is still an essential component of her diet too. At the very least, I am able to supplement the calcium in milk through other food like cheese, yoghurt etc.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to keep calm and not get too hang up about the fact that she's not drinking her formula milk.

New washing machine

Barely two and a half years into its life, our washing machine up and went kaput on us. The drum just wouldn't spin.

We called the service centre to have their repair man take a look at our machine and his diagnosis at the end of it was to go get ourselves a new one. Not becos it couldn't be repaired but it would cost nearly as much to repair it as to get ourselves a new one.

The cost of replacing the worn out drum alone was nearly $300. As the suspension holding the drum at the back of the washing machine was worn out too, it would cost more than $100 to replace. Plus GST, the total bill for the repair would be in the region of $500.

Desperately, my mom and I beseeched him a few times to try to do something to get it to spin another one or two load as we had a lot of laundry to clear. He must have thought the two of us to be some numbskull cos he repeatedly told us that machines are a strange lot -- they either work or they don't work. You can't get them to work temporarily. True enough, he was right. We tested the machine again after he left, but the drum just wouldn't spin. Sigh...

It was also partly our fault that our washing machine had such a short lifespan.

We tend to overload our 6kg load washing machine. And when it was packed, we would still push in more clothes. Every other day, we would set the machine to spin at least a load of clothes.

Louis and I went to Audio House last Saturday to check out the range of washing machines. After speaking to a well-versed salesman, we decided to buy the Electrolux 7 kg load washing machine that was on offer for the weekend. Our old one was a Brandt.

Our washing machine was delivered today. Just in time for us to try it out with yet another load of Faith's clothes :) Over the last 4 days without a washing machine, we had to hand wash most of Faith's and Louis' office clothes, and hauled the rest of the clothes to my MIL's place to "spread the load" -- see... another good reason why its good to stay close to one's parents :)

The new washing machine is performing great. In fact, it was so silent that you don't really hear the machine washing and spinning. This time around, we would be more careful not to overtax our washing machine, so hopefully, it would stay alive longer than its predecessor.

Breast milk is the best

Page 4 of the Mind Your Body section of the Straits Times dated 6 August 08 featured an article written by Dr Peter Chew, a senior consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician at the Gleneagles Medical Centre titled "Breast milk is the best". In it, he expounded that breastfeeding is the natural way and human milk - made specifically for this - is the best source of nourishment for the infant with many benefits to the mother. He further quoted that the WHO recommends a minimum of 2 years of breastfeeding, with exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of an infant's life.

Reading this article, I feel vindicated. At the same time, I am tempted to shove this article in front of the people who have looked at me incredulously in the past when I tell them that I'm still breastfeeding Faith beyond the age of 1 year. I feel the need to cut and safe keep this article in my wallet so that I can flash it in the face of whoever else that will give me that same incredulous and judgemental look should they learn that I still am and would like to continue breastfeeding Faith for as long as I could.

Sadly, some of the people who judged and thought that I'm mental for continuing to breastfeed Faith instead of giving her formula milk are friends and even people close to me.

Most people recognise that breastfeeding is better [than formula]. Unfortunately, the unspoken time frame in which they think it is acceptable to transit from breastmilk to formula milk lies somewhere between the age of 6-12 months of an infant's life.

It is all good and fine to quote WHO's statement on breastfeeding for a minimum of 2 years. What I felt the article failed to articulate further was why breastfeeding beyond the age of 1 is beneficial for toddlers.

What a lot of people, even some mothers who have breastfed their kids, do not not know is that the important immune factors present in breastmilk increase in concentration in the 2nd year. That makes a whole lot of sense becos that's the age that children gain independence with greater mobility. Their curiosity is boundless, their eyes are so sharp to see what we adults would miss, and the little fingers so quick to pick things up from the ground and put it in their mouth before a single exclamation could be uttered.

There's also the other benefit that kids who wean themselves off breastfeeding instead of being forced to before they are ready tend to be more secure.

I've been asked by mothers who breastfed kids before if it was painful to continue breastfeeding when the baby has teeth. I've been questioned and ridiculed (in a nice way) for my desire to continue breastfeeding despite my telling them the benefits of extended breastfeeding.

I feel indignant. I feel frustrated. I feel trapped. I feel exhausted from having to defend my decision to do what is medically proven to be the best and right thing to do for my baby.

Why should I substitute my best and what nature had intended for formula milk? Pharma companies have been trying unsuccessfully for years to replicate all the beneficial components in breastmilk but failed to accomplish. They cannot reproduce in formula milk the immune factors that protect my child as she is growing up.

Please do not mistake me. I have nothing against formula milk. In fact, when Faith was 10 1/2 months, I introduced a serving of formula milk for her in the day to replace breastmilk for a slot. Neither do I think lesser of any mom who chooses to give her child formula.

Having gone through the daunting and difficult period of having Faith learn to latch on properly after birth, I know how stressful it is to have to breastfeed at a time when one is coping with post-natal depression, hormonal changes, recovery from delivery and a totally different lifestyle and responsibility. It didn't help that well-meaning friends advice to to persevere with breastfeeding made it worse for me.

The thought of giving up then and there was so strong. Each time I entertained thoughts of that, I feared I would be labelled a failure as a mom for failing to persevere. I gritted my teeth and things got better. I told myself that I would do the requisite 6 months. Six months came and went. Then, I thought again that I will let her hit the one year mark before switching her to formula milk.

Fate [or Faith] has a habit of intervening. At nine months, Faith still has a distaste for formula milk. Given her pint size, I was determined that she should still drink her share of milk, even though she eats her solids well. Breastmilk was the answer becos she never refuses breastmilk. In fact, she loves it.

Thus, the 1 year mark came and went. Even though she continues to have her once a day share of formula milk, she gets to latch on for the night and early morning feeds. As I plough the web and read more information on extended breastfeeding, I became fully convinced of its merits and why I should continue breastfeeding.

Nonetheless, I yearn for the return of my boobs to its former size. Seriously, an increase bustline and cupsize is over-rated. I have scores of tops in the wardrobe left hanging forlornly becos I either can't squeeze them past my chest or zip them up. I've got to buy all my tops one size bigger or go for loose-fitting tops to accommodate my new boobs.

Yet all this inconveniences to me will come to pass in a matter of 2-3 years, maybe more if a second one comes along. However, the benefits of breastfeeding will serve Faith well, even for the rest of her life.

I once held similar incredulous views about extended breastfeeding. My little one taught me otherwise. I hope that as more people read such articles, they would be encouraged to not view extended breastfeeding negatively.

I made no judge of any mom who chooses to breastfeed her child for whatever length of time, or even not at all.

I only ask for the same consideration to not judge me and to respect my decision in bringing my child up the way I deem best for her.

Jacob Ballas Children's Garden

I've read on some mommy's blog about the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden near the Singapore Botanic Garden. Now that Faith's older and more mobile, Louis and I were thinking that we should bring her out more often, either for a swim, to the parks or whatever.

Faith, fortunately and unfortunately (depending on situation), is not an early riser. She sleeps pretty much a 12-hour cycle and usually wake up between 9-ish to 10-ish in the mornings.

By the time we feed and bath her, there's not much time to do anything before her lunch. In the afternoons, she sleeps anywhere from 1 to 2 hours at around 3-ish or 4-ish pm. Her timing kinda makes it difficult to have any outings becos we either hit the hot afternoon sun, or else, the timing would be too tied to bring her out and clean her up in time for our weekly weekend dinners.

Still, since her routine has been messed up becos of the jetlag, we thought we might go check out the Jacob Ballas garden with her. Call us crazy but we headed there on a sweltering hot Sunday at 2 pm -- admittedly, not the best time to be out in the sun.

We dropped my MIL at the swimming pool nearby and parked at the garden. Upon entering the lobby, we see a cafe on the left and it was speckled with a gaggle of parents and young children. Walking into the park, we followed the sound of some distance noise and came to a sheltered area where a private party was ongoing.

Retracting our steps, we walked the opposite direction and soon approach a water-play area where there were some kids in their swimming costumes playing with the water fountain. Further on, we saw a science and discovery area, a suspension bridge, some empty classrooms and a pond.



As the weather was really hot and we didn't want to risk Faith getting a heatstroke of any kind on top of the jetlag, we decided to head back to the little cafe at the lobby and have a cuppa and some snacks.

I ordered some drinks for Louis and myself, a cup of chocolate ice-cream to share among the 3 of us and a plate of fried fish fingers. As expected, the prices at the cafe was sky-high... I paid $10.50 for all of the items.

Lesson learnt - next time, bring my own snacks and drinks.

By the time we were nearly done with our drinks and food, my MIL called to say that she was done with her swimming. We drove off to pick her up and headed home.

I like the garden, but most certainly, not at the timing that we went. Would try to find a time to go there another weekend... most probably in the late afternoon. Maybe the 2As could join us then, cos I think they would enjoy playing at the waterplay area.

Chorizo sandwich ala Borough Market

Remember my bountiful purchases from London's Borough Market? Well... I finally put the fresh chorizo sausages that I bought to good use: replicating the chorizo sandwich that we bought from the Spanish store.

Seriously, the only difficult thing about putting this sandwich together is finding the right chorizo. Maybe becos the first chorizo that I ate were the ones from Spain. So, all the other types of chorizo that I find here in Singapore seem to lack in taste and oomph.

I bought some multi-grain ciabatta breads from Delifrance, which I lightly grill on the griddle. I also charred the skin off 2 red bell peppers, which I promptly put in a plastic bag and tied it up, waiting for it to cool before I peel off the skin. Grilled red peppers are really very sweet and juicy.

Just before eating, I heat up the griddle pan, add the cut chorizo onto the pan to sizzle over medium heat on both sides. When done, simply assemble by:

1) Drizzling some olive oil onto the bread

2) Dropping some rocket leaves on top

3) Adding the red bell peppers

4) Adding the grilled chorizo

5) Topping it up with the remaining slice of bread

I accompanied the sandwich with a salad made from the remaining rocket leaves, pear slices, roasted sunflower seeds, and finally, drizzled some balsamic orange syrup (again bought from the Borough) and olive oil.

The hubby said "Yummy!" :)

Sleepless in Singapore Part 2: More Nocturnal Activities

As predicted, Faith needed a few days for her body to regulate and adjust back to the 7-hour time difference.

Night 2

After trip to McDonald's on the first night of our return, we psyched ourselves for yet another night marathon on Thur. Faith woke at close to 1 am, drank milk and sat up in bed and looked around the room in curiosity. Louis and I roused ourselves up from bed. As we resign ourselves to yet another few hours of entertaining our bright-eyed kid, Louis said that he felt like having some porridge.

I suggested Oasis Taiwanese Porridge at Toa Payoh Gardens as it was opened 24 hours. He called the restaurant just to ensure that its open. We changed Faith our of her pyjamas, got changed ourselves and headed out of the house for the second night for the drive to Toa Payoh.
It took us only an hour to drive there, eat and return home. We did some winding down activities after that, reading to her quietly in the room, followed by milk and then putting her back to sleep.

The 2nd night, we were all awake from 1-4.20 am. Not bad. An improvement of nearly 1 1/2 hours from the previous night.

Night 3

Faith woke at 2 am.

By this time, Louis was thoroughly exhausted, surviving only on 2-3 hours of sleep and having to put in a full day of work the last 2 days. Having told him to go back to sleep, I brought Faith out to watch some TV and we shared some cornflakes with milk.

We had been advised by both my MIL and elder BIL not to venture out at night becos of the lunar 7th month's Hungry Ghost season. After an hour of TV, I ushered her back to bed and spent the next 1 1/2 hours trying to cajole her to sleep.

Countdown for Night 3 - We were awake from 2-4.30 am. Total waking time was 2 1/2 hours, which is 1 hour less than Night 2. Again, an improvement.

Night 4

All was quiet. Having slept till nearly 4 pm that day and going without any afternoon nap, Faith was dead beat. She slept at about 10 pm that night and didn't wake up for any nocturnal activities, although she did roused from her sleep a few times, which I easily patted her butt and got her to go back to dreamland again.

So, it seems that Faith has gotten over the worst of the jetlag by the 4th night.

Hallelujah!

Airport send off and new car seat

Even though she has jetlag and slept only around 4.30 am the night before, we still woke Faith up at 10.30 am. It was an important day. Her Dua Peh (my eldest BIL) was leaving for an overseas assignment for 2 months. The whole family was headed to the airport to send him off and wish him a bon voyage.

Thankfully, we made it to the airport in time to have lunch at the Kopitiam foodcourt, before sending him off at the departure gate. After Adrian left, we headed to the toilet to change Faith's diapers. While in the toilet, Anders cried becos he missed his dad. I asked Faith to kiss and hug him which she did twice :) Poor Anders. Hope he would adjust well to Adrian's time away from home.

Looking back nearly 2 years ago, when Anthea was about the same age (4+ yrs), she too cried at the departure of Adrian when he went away for a few weeks of assignment overseas. Which leads me to wonder if that's the age when they suddenly realise the significance of what it means when someone departs for an extended period, yet, they are still too young to control their emotions at the thought of their love ones leaving.

Nonetheless, travelling, especially for long periods is always disruptive for everyone in the family. Unfortunately, in today's time, we all need to do what we need to do in order to earn our keep.

As it was still early after the send off, Louis and I decided to head to town with my MIL to check out the child seat for Faith. She's outgrowing her infant rear-facing child seat. We have not moved her to a forward-facing one becos she's only reached 9 kg. So, even though her legs are scrunched up becos the seat is now too short for her legs, we have kept her in the smaller seat.

At Mothercare, we decided to buy the Britax Combination seat (which faces both rear and forward from birth to 18 months) after consulting with the sales staff and much deliberation on our part. Compared to Mothercare's in-house car seat and Concorde, it was roomier and had more cushioning support.

After paying for our purchase, the sales assistant kindly offered to help us set up the car seat in our car.

Faith seem to like her new car seat very much. Its elevated and she can now look out of the window to see the passing cars and view instead of facing the back of the car seat. The other thing is that its also cooler cos the rear-facing car seat blocks the air circulating from the front of the car. Lastly, she's now able to see everyone in the front of the car.

Given that she seems so comfortable in her new car seat and that she's not making a lot of noise (fingers cross on that one), I decided to move myself up from sitting at the back of the car to sitting next to Louis at the front.

Hurray for front-facing car seats!!!