London haul

What makes a married man & a father different on business trips is the speed in which each trip is conducted - the "quick in-quick out" type of business travels. If one had to be gone slightly longer than his preferred modus operandi, then, one would essentially be plagued with guilt.

Lots of guilt.

So much so that one would go on a guilt-buy to make up for time away from home :)

Louis was away the last week in London for training. Of course, yours truly here would forever have a list of things for him to bring back, seeing that we had limited luggage space on our last trip. Additionally, some things are perishable, so, there's only so much you can bring back.

Faith had the largest haul of stash that her daddy bought for her becos he disliked the time apart from her, even though it was a short one week trip away.

Since she's still not quite at the stage where she's able to hold a conversation with him over the phone, you can bet that he missed her a lot more than he did his wife ;)

To be fair, while she did not held up her end of the conversation, she enjoyed hogging my cellphone when Louis called. She would plaster it to her ears and scream if we tried to take it away from her. Louis kind of had to maintain a one-sided conversation the entire time. She would just smile into the phone and it takes lots of coaxing before she would even utter shyly "Papa", if at all.

Thankfully, she's capable of giving smacking kisses and she gave that willingly over the phone, bringing the cellphone to her mouth and giving it a smacking and resounding kiss whenever we told her to kiss Louis goodbye.

Aside from the many clothes and a set of Speedo swimming costume that Louis bought for her, he also hauled back a few Green & Blacks chocolate bars, 2 canister of cocoa powder (these were about 1/3 the price of a canister sold at NTUC Finest), chorizo sausages, organic sweet potato chips, organic prunes, nuts and a few other sauces.

The most precious thing that he brought back for me was the third series of Gordon Ramsay's "The F Word" DVD. Yippee!!!

As for the chorizos, some folks are going to be treated to chorizo sandwiches over the Hari Raya Puasa public holiday on Wednesday. That is if I don't screw up the simple process of cooking it!

DIY Mozz Away

Since being prone to mosquito bites is in both Faith's and my blood, it was time that something be done to ensure that the 2 disastrous incidences of Faith's mosquito-biten face do not repeat itself.

Not only do our hearts bleed to see her face covered with red ugly mozzie bites, even my FIL couldn't bear the thought of her having yet another such experience again.

Hence, the #1 DIY guy in the family took it upon himself to brainstorm and hit upon the idea of installing a mosquito netting at the window of our room. Yeap! The family's #1 DIY man is no other than my FIL. The #2 DIY guy in the extended family is my elder BIL, who's currently away overseas for 2 months ;)

Anyways, just a little digression from my main topic, these 2 men are the key guys that Louis and I can count on for any DIYs in *our* house, in that specific order ;) I am eternally grateful to these 2 men as they are always more than willing and would go the extra mile to help us out whenever we need a handyman for problematic quick fixes in our home.

Last week, when my FIL was over at our place, he measured the length of our window. A few days later, he returned to us with a piece of pliable wire mesh/netting and a cloth masking tape, saying that he would need a little bit more time to resolve the issue of how to place the netting neatly on our window so that we can open and close the window panels without any issues.

This morning, he called to say that he's popping over to our place to put in the mosquito netting. My FIL had found the solution to keep out our pesky and unwanted night visitors from the house.

Bringing along his drill bit, screws and 2 long metal bars, my FIL measured and drilled the 2 metal bars to the side panels on each side of the last panel on each side of the window. Next, we fitted the netting in between the metal bars and the side of the window panels. There's some slight excess material at the top and bottom of it, but we decided to leave it as there weren't any gaps for the mosquitoes to fly through.

Taa-daa... there you have it! A home DIY solution and it looked pretty neat. You almost can't see the netting if you don't look closely.

Most importantly, the netting should be able to keep out the mosquitoes, yet allows light to filter through and air to be ventilated.

Thanks very much, Pa!

To our ocassional nocturnal visitors: "STAY OUT, YOU UNWELCOME MOZZIES!"

Family trip in the planning

Australia! That's our next travel destination.

The flight tickets have been booked for 4 adults and 1 toddler to head to Sydney and Gold Coast in mid Feb 09. Both my in-laws would be travelling along with us.

The occasion? Partly becos our friends from Louis' Insead days are getting hitched in the bride's home city, which is in Sydney. The wedding ceremony and reception would be held at the Sydney Opera House to boot. How interesting is that!

It was timely that the email from L&A came this week. Louis and I were deciding where to go for our next travel destination. We were debating between Japan and the US becos we thought that Disneyland might be enjoyable for Faith.

With that email, it cemented and finalised our travel destination.

We added Gold Coast so that there would be something of interest for Faith. We figured themed parks would be more the kind of thing to appeal to a nearly 2-year old toddler than visiting vineyards and the Blue Mountains.

Between now and then, we'll have to do our planning. In the meantime, I'm slowly trying to train Faith to be able to eat adult food. I'm hoping that I won't need to lug my usual mini-kitchen for the trip Down Under.

If she is able to eat off our plates, we would have a bigger window to go sightseeing, instead of rushing to go out and returning back to the hotel to turn on the switch for her slow cooker to cook her porridge.

Thinking about that possibility makes me all excited for the trip :) Yippee!

Big enough to eat rice

Today's the first time that Faith had a full serving of rice for her dinner. After nearly 9 months of eating porridge.

Its not that we didn't try giving her rice before. Faith would be able to eat small servings of rice whenever we go out for dinner with the extended family on weekends. For a full meal, its rather daunting for her in the past becos she didn't have her molars to chew. Chewing rice was tedious and frustrating.

For the last 2 Sundays, we had home-cooked food at my in-laws' place. As the adults sat down for dinner early (around 6.45 pm), Faith wanted to partake of whatever we were having. Initially, we thought to give her some bit of rice, drizzled with soup and some mashed beans. She lapped them all up and asked for more, especially the soup. Like me, Faith is a soup lover.

Thus, for the previous 2 weekends, she ate whatever amount of rice that she wanted and we topped the remaining meal with her usual porridge.

Today, I was making soup for Louis and myself for dinner and thought that we might as well let her try out eating a full meal of rice and soup.

It took her twice as long to eat. It took 50 minutes from the start to finish. She had to chew every mouthful compared to swallowing them whole as she does with her porridge -- she'd developed this lazy habit of not chewing but swallowing every spoonful of her porridge.

Her jaw muscles had to work harder becos the rice was a mixture of brown and red, not the normal soft white Thai jasmine rice that she had at my MIL's place or at the restaurants.

Nonetheless, she did finish the entire serving of rice :)

Lesson learnt -- next time, cook the brown/red rice with more water so that its softer.

Mid-Autumn Festival

I was on IM with a good friend this evening and he commented that my posts are getting longer these days. I gather that he meant to tell me I'm long-winded in a roundabout way ;)

Since such is the case, I shall KISS (Keep It Short & Sweet) this time around and let the pictures do most of the talking.

Little Family's 1st Mid-Autumn Festival celebration with Faith

Sunday, 14 Sept 08, Bishan Park

Special thanks to my dad for buying the 2 lanterns for Faith. They became the favourite of all the kids, especially the dragon with the broken wing and crippled leg -- all the kids were fighting to hold on to that one.

Music

Louis and I both have had very brief interludes with musical instruments, coincidentally, the organ.

He learnt it for all of 2 years and to date, is unfortunately unable to serenade any musical pieces with the organ.

As for moi? Well... my "love affair" was even more brief than his. I was totally clueless about what the teacher was teaching, had to stand up in order to reach and touch the pedals and after a few brief lessons, stopped altogether. My excuse was that I was too young and it was a chore after a while for someone to bring me for lessons becos of the distance -- we lived in Toa Payoh then and the school was at Yamaha in Clementi.

Needless to say, I can't play any single song even if my live depended on it.

Nonetheless, Louis and I pray that Faith would not be handicapped by her parents' lack of musical inclinations and harbour hopes that she might one day develop sufficient love of music to want to learn to play a musical instrument.

For now, let's just say that Louis and I unanimously have a soft sport for a particular instrument and it is most certainly not the organ :)

Since the time she attended Kindermusik, I have slowly built up a mini collection of music instruments suitable for her age. For now, the modest assortment of instruments and make-shift instruments comprise of drum, maracas and various shakers. Very very modest indeed.

We are also of the opinion that a nurturing environment coupled with the alignment of the heaven and stars might steer her on the path towards music appreciation for a start and eventually, towards the successful mastering of a musical instrument.

If after all has been said and done, and should she have the misfortune to inherit the tone-deaf genes of her parents, all is not lost. It is heartening to know that Faith enjoys music and can minimally shake, dance and "sing" to the songs in her favourite Barney, Sesame Street, Fun Song Factory and Wheels on the Bus DVDs/VCDs collection, using her assortment of drums, maracas and shakers.

This is in part thanks to the time spent at Kindermusik, learning about the use and different types of instruments and the sounds they can produce.

Just last night, we were watching her current flavour of the month, The Wheels on the Bus DVD and Faith was pulling Louis and myself up from the floor to dance with her in the living room.

She would stamp with one of her little feet, bob her head up and down, swing it from side to side and clap her hands joyously. Louis and I were more than glad to jump around and dance along with her too.

Inspired, she started scrounging around her toys to look for her shakers and some of her make-shift instruments, passing them around to us back and forth and at times, asking for them back again so that she herself could rattle, shake and dance in tune to the catchy tunes.

What makes me most proud is that she employs some of her toys creatively to make music with them.

The blue box cover was what I used as a make-shift drum in London to tap and bang. The hatching egg ring with the tiny beads inside was what I used to shake along with music in the beginning before we bought our very first set of bell shakers. The green and yellow balls were meant for another toy but she used them like the shakers that were given in Kindermusik.

The three of us had such a blast dancing around our living room for half an hour, shaking our assortment of instruments to the beat of the songs. Faith was laughing and dancing with the innocence and pure delight that only a child would know.

We kept her favourite CD from Kindermusik in the car and even though I get so sick of hearing the songs, it is what we play for her whenever she's in the car. The same CD that lulls her to sleep, perks her up and gets her doing her little jigs, pacifies her when she's bored and tired of being cooped up in the car.

And if she's super cranky and starts screaming and crying, the most effective way is for Louis and I to start singing to the songs in the CD and pretty soon, she would be swaying and clapping her hands in tune.

Even though we've only been at JG for a few weeks, the teacher and the assistants in class all know that Faith's favourite time is the singing sessions at the start and end of the class. Its when she would shrug off her inhibitions to clap and dance spontaneously.

My only regret thus far was that I had to stop her music class becos she was already going for 3 days of classes weekly. Yet, I know that Faith loves music very much. More than just the singing and dancing, the music lessons taught her to make music with different types of instruments.

I am seriously considering if I should put her back into her music class even if that means she would be out for lessons 4 times a week. At the back of mind, I am always conscious to not be the typical "kiasu" Singapore parent, sending their kids off for every conceivable class that might put them ahead of the rat pack.

However, seeing that music is clearly something that she enjoys, its really a catch 22 situation that we find ourselves in.

Brain boosters food

This morning, I received an SMS from my FIL to turn to Page 10 of today's Mind Your Body section under The Straits Times on the list of 8 brain boosters food.

I was curious indeed to see how many of the food items that I regularly give to Faith would make it to the list. So, here we go.

#1 - Fish
Checked! Faith eats fish on a daily basis. Another favourite of hers that we introduced about a couple of months back was cod liver emulsion oil. Remember that icky yucky smelly emulsion that kids were forced to eat in our youth and which I bet most of us hated it? Its something that my daughter llooks forward to after her bath every day and actually asks me for more.

#2 - Eggs
Checked! I try to give her steamed egg custard (chawan mushi) either for her breakfast or to accompany one of her meals between 1-3 times a week. The article said soft boiled is better than frying or hard boiled and I figured steamed egg custard qualifies as soft boil. Don't dare to give her half boiled eggs becos of salmonella.

#3 - Nuts
Nope... they are currently too scary to give it to her whole unless I grind it. However, I'm afraid that grounded seeds would have a tendency to run rancid if I don't consume them quick enough. Just a couple of days ago, I've given her some home-roasted sunflower seeds which she seems to like. Perhaps I should start giving them to her more regularly.

#4 - Colourful vegetables
Checked! Apart from green leafy vegetables like chye sim, xiao bai cai and baby spinach, Faith also consumes lots of carrots, broccoli, zucchini, red bell peppers etc. For the bell peppers, I usually put them in the toaster to roast and char the skin off, before dicing them and adding them to her porridge. Roasted bell peppers are really nice and yummy.

I am tempted to introduce aubergines too, but each time I suggested that to my mom, she gives me a weird look and said that no Singaporean babies ever eat aubergines at this age. She said the same thing when I gave Faith zucchinis and bell peppers too ;)

#5 - Wholegrains
Checked! Porridge are her daily staples still (I'm planning to start her on rice soon) and she eats porridge cooked from brown and red rice at home. In fact, I've been using a combination of white, red and brown rice for the adults at home for quite some time now and have recently switched to brown rice becos Louis and I like the nutty taste.

Once in a while, Faith also gets oats for breakfast too.

#6 - Berries
Doubled checked especially since I just posted a blog about her being a blueberry queen. Along with the weekly pack or two of blueberries, I also try to add raspberries or blackberries into her daily post-breakfast fruit servings.

Since the opening of NTUC Finest at Thomson Plaza, I've been a frequent buyer of organic berries from there becos there's usually a particular organic berry that is having a special price for the week. Sometimes, the prices of these organic berries are about the same price as non-organic ones. Other regular-priced organic berries are also much cheaper than if I had bought them at supermarkets like Cold Storage, Marketplace etc.

#7 - Beans
Errr.... I've tried to add them in her diet months back. Unfortunately, she hasn't developed her molars yet and they cause her to gag. Now that some of her molars are out, I should look into re-introducing them back into her diet.

Hmmm... does tofu count though?

#8 - Yoghurt
Errr.... when she was younger, she didn't like the taste of the unsweetened yoghurt becos they were too tart. She seems to be more amenable to unsweetened yoghurt these days though, so maybe I should give her more regularly.

However, she's been taking probiotics in droplets and capsules forms daily for a long time now. I gave it to her mainly to boost her immune system.

The Tally
5 out of 8. I consider it not bad.

I also took the opportunity to show the man of the house the newspaper article and bragged about my little achievement. After all, these little things add up to justify my existence as a SAHM and reinforce our convictions about the benefits of me being one ;)

The follow blog has a post reproducing the Straits Times Mind Your Body article in its entirely. To read the article, click here.

Pock-marked blueberry queen

Here's a picture of Faith eating her blueberries. She's turning out to be a blueberry queen these days, going through packs and packs of blueberries. Blueberries are usually very tart but this period, I've noticed that they are actually very sweet and juicy.

I've found that its very convenient to give her blueberries cos they are of the right size for her to put in her mouth. Plus the fact that blueberries are loaded with lots of nutrients and are one the 129 listing of world's healthiest food.

She's developed this rather bad habit of eating though. I'd usually put about 12 blueberries for her in a little dish each time. Faith would take one, bite a little off it and put it down. She would pick another blueberry from the dish, bite a little chunk off, put it down again and repeat with yet another new one.

Once in a while, she would pick up one that she's bitten off and bite off another small bit before putting it back down again. That's how she would go through all the blueberries in her little dish until she's finished with them.

Rather unfortunately, one would also noticed that the size of the blueberries in the dish is about the same size as the red dots on her face.

Yes. They are the result of mosquito bites. Sigh....

She's got all of 5 mosquito bites. All on the face!

Two are situated on the right side of the face, near her ears, 2 that you can see on her left side of the face - one prominently on her cheek and the other just slight under. And the biggest and most prominent of all...

Yep! The one on her nose.

She got the mosquito bites in the wee hours of Thur night. I know becos I woke up and discovered that I'd gotten bitten on my legs too. Faith's bites are all on her face becos she wears PJs that cover her from the neck all the way down, leaving only her hands and face exposed. Hence, one can imagine where's the "logical" point of focus the mosquitoes would choose.

Irony #1

There were notices posted at the lift lobby of our block that the town council would be fumigating the rubbish chute areas on Fri. I was all prepared to put out the mosquito repellents on Fri night and shut the windows.

My mom said the mosquitoes must have some six sense that their death warrants would be signed on Fri, hence, they decided to make a strike one night earlier.

Irony #2

Our little family was supposed to attend a wedding on Fri night. So, one can guess how Faith must have looked at the event, going to the wedding with all of her 5 big red mosquito bites, dotted with pinkish-looking dried up substance as well - which was the calamine lotion that we applied to sooth the itch and reduce the redness.

Irony #3

Its been a rather long interval since she last had so many bites. And its also becos we've been keeping the air-condition on becos of the hot weather. Becos she's down with runny/stuffy nose the past week and also that the weather's turning a little cooler, I had thought it would be best to turn off the air-condition wherever possible and have the windows open to let in fresh air.

Irony #4
I'm not sure if its really a coincidence. The last time she had some rather prominent mosquito bites, it was some time in May this year, around the same time that my younger BIL was getting married. So, I'm not sure if the mosquitoes think it would be amusing to decorate her face with some bite marks at the times that she's supposed to attend weddings.

The daddy said he would look into some solutions that we can take to resolve this rather pesky mosquitoes issue. The mosquitoes usually surfaced in our house becos they were triggered by some event e.g. fumigation at or around our block. Hence, the solution would have to be better than the reactive actions that we are taking right now i.e. turning on the mosquitoes repellents only after we've all gotten bitten.

Poor girl. Her mosquito bite marks would take at least a week to recover.

Monkey see monkey do

Or rather pig see pig do - both my mom and her are born in the year of the pig.

Faith has a habit of imitating things that we adults do. She has another habit of pawing her mini DVD and VCD collection, resulting in scratches and fingerprint marks left on the flipside of the discs.

My mom was using the bottom of her shirt to clean the back of the DVDs. Faith went over to take the DVD from her grasp and imitated my mom's action in cleaning the disc with her t-shirt too :)

Other acts that she tends to imitate includes sneezing, coughing, wiping the floor with any cloth within sight if there is water spillage. We really have to be more mindful of our actions in case she picks up on our bad habits too ;)

Yicky yucky mucous

Faith had a one-week term break for both Julia Gabriel and Little Gym. I had originally signed her up for a summer camp, however, she came down with a runny nose and some low-grade fever, which lasted 2 days, since last Sunday.

Its been more than a week since she exhibited first signs of the runny/stuffy nose. Since I usually do not like to bring her to see the doc if its only runny nose, I've chosen to self-medicate her with the usual slew of medications that she would have been given, except for the antibiotics. As a result, the progress of it has been rather slow.

Let's hope she would recover soon, cos classes start this week and I doubt the schools would let her in otherwise.