Tarzan

minibeanie is 16 months old today. While he has limited his verbal communication to grunts (and babble that only he could understand), it was amazing that we are nonetheless communicating. The grunt "ugh!" accompanied by a heave of the shoulder signified "yes" to the question I was asking. And if he really really wanted the banana/teddy bear cookie/watch Sesame Street, it would be a vapid bounce up & down :D

He's also keen to exert his growing independence by wanting to feed himself. Hence, I've adjusted my mindset on 2 fronts. #1, it's ridiculous to expect him to use a spoon - fine motor skills is still somewhere in the distance. So, he now feeds himself most of the time with both hands a la Tarzan. #2, the natural consequence is that he makes a royal mess each mealtime. (the Baby Bjorn rubber catch-all bib has paid itself back many times its Euro 11 investment!) I've therefore stopped being anal because I'm hoping that with all this practice he'll soon learn how to feed himself and besides, my capable Ayi, who comes 3 times a week, simply makes all the grease and crumbs vanish :)


On the Chengdu front, it has been nice. We visited a couple of hotpots recently. One of which was 粥底火锅 ; basically, instead of a broth, everything's cooked in a base of porridge. At the end of the meal, the porridge steeped full of flavours and nutrients is eaten. Wonderful... if not for the lack of baby chairs in the restaurant so I guess the chances of us heading back there is rather slim :P

We also tried a fancy restaurant, 8 Trees, owned by a Singaporean. It boasts of a good selection of wine and a menu with entries like foie gras etc. But we went for its selection of Singapore food - chicken rice in particular. It was good! ..... but they've only got the taste 90% right. The chicken was juicy and done just right. But the rice wasn't aromatic enough and the defining chili lacked that garlicky punch. It was ok by chengdu standards but at SGD44 (ok, we also had a Thai beef salad that was way off the mark & a glass of house red), it must be the most expensive chicken rice meal we had. Again, I don't think we'd return. Not just because of the chicken rice but because they didn't have baby chairs!!! What's with these restaurants?!

Eating out with a toddler has now made me view restaurants entirely different. Obviously, imho baby chairs should be de rigeur but if they've got baby-friendly utensils such as melamine plates, that's a huge plus. And a really big plus will be if they've a play area in the corner for parents who wish to indulge in a little coffee after the meal. No no, I don't mean parents drinking their coffee in the play area but little tykes being let loose there; thought I'd clarify that. And I'm already beginning to look at McDonalds' and KFC in a different light ;)


minibeanie is 1 year & 4 months old

Update: Bye bye night feeds & other developments

It was 9 days ago on November 6 when we went without night feeds. Most nights we slept through (hooray!) but there were some when he would still try to get something. Those times if the bottle of water doesn't help, we usually play possum when he cries until he falls asleep, not more than 5 minutes thankfully. I reckon that's 1 way how babies keep testing their boundaries & your resolve until they Get It. Consistency is key here. As my fav shrink, Dr Phil, says, children have to know with 100% predictability the consequences of their actions. Most times, parents cave in because it's the 'easier' route. And I know that because some nights I just think it will be easier to just give him some milk so that all of us get some sleep. But persevere, I must (and Yoda, I've become).

Then there have been other developments that signal that minibeanie is not a baby but a toddler by now :) He has begun playing with cars! He pushes them around making funny 'car' sounds :D So cool!

And speaking of toys, I bought minibeanie a picnic set of wooden tea cups, 'cut-able' fruits & cakes. I wondered if it was too 'girly' but dada said "why not, don't I drink tea?" Good point. This is another instance of the struggle against gender stereotypes. See 'Pink is for Boys'. Anyway, so I got 1 of Mother Garden's tea & picnic set that's all made of wood with drool worthy delicious yummy cakes, ice cream, doughnuts & fruits.

Honestly, I think I derived 90% of the joy in playing with the playset :D I think it is the little girl in me still who still goes ga-ga over cute pink tea cups. Anyone wants to play masak masak?

Muffin

Christmas is looming up and the temperature is already in the low teens and somehow that combination triggers this 'gotta-bake-something' streak in me. I've been making the occasional bread but somehow chives & potato bread just doesn't cut the sweet tooth in me :P And being the (grateful) recipient of a couple of pumpkin/blueberry cheesecake muffins recently from a friend only makes that little sweet tooth cry for more, along with my dentist I'm sure.

Hence I made a batch of banana-walnut & banana-choc-chips muffins from a basic muffin recipe.

Basic muffin recipe
300g/3cups self-raising flour
125g/0.75cup castor sugar
1.5cups buttermilk
2 eggs
150g butter, melted & cooled slightly

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Mix dry ingredients together & make a well in the center.
2. Whisk together liquids and pour into dry ingredients and mix gently until the mixture is just combined.
3. Add whatever fillings/flavours you want at this stage.
4. Spoon mixture into muffin cups and bake for 20-25min or until risen & golden.

* In this batch, I chopped about 2.5 large bananas into large chunks and pre-roast the chopped walnuts just a little. It made about 19 8cm large muffins. And obviously, since we can't eat all within 3 days, I froze half of them for an emergency sweet treat or when I have house guests over.

minibeanie likes the banana-choc-chip muffin

minibeanie is 1 year, 3 months, 2 weeks & 6 days old

Bye bye night feeds

We heard a horror tale of how a 3 year old would still be screaming for "maito!*" at 3am. I thought if we didn't do anything, that would be US 2 years down the road. And knowing how entrenched toddlers could be in their habits the older they become, I felt it was time to bite the bullet. It was all too easy to sail along and take the path of least resistance but like I said, better to tackle the issue now with a 15 month old than a 3 year old!

It has now been 3 nights since minibeanie got any milk at night. The first night happened rather accidentally or perhaps it was my subconscious that didn't allow me to get up when he fussed a little for his supper. It wasn't too bad; he fell asleep after a short while. Friday night (#2), dada got up at 2hour intervals to put the tutti back in when he fussed. Likewise, minibeanie fell asleep without much ado. Night #3 last night, Saturday, I got up about 3 times but thankfully he fell asleep quickly without much fussing.

Is this it? I hope we're training his little tummy not to expect food during the night. Despite the amount of milk he drinks some nights, I'm convinced it's more of a habit than real need. After all, he's now having 3 square meals & more a day so there's no need to wake up for food during the night. I know how it is, I get 'addicted' to a nightly mug of warm milk & half a cookie/muffin (that's bad, I know!) before bed myself... Here's to an uninterrupted night of sleep?

* milk, in Finnish

minibeanie is 1 year, 3 months & 2 weeks old

Serious play

We were on the party circuit yesterday. At 10am, it was a 2 year old's birthday party, then at 4 it was a 5 year old's pirate-themed birthday party. Thankfully they were both within our condominium compound. The first party consists of the playgroup from the International Women's Club. Toddlers ranging from the youngest at 13 months to the oldest, a set of 3 year old triplets (super mum!), roam the apartment. I say "roam" because at this age, they do not play cooperatively. Instead, they play independently or "parallel play" as child psychologists put it. So, tiny toddlers flit from room to room leaving trails of muffin crumbs for their mummies to find. And so I found minibeanie rummaging through a cupboard of intriguing papers when we had to leave.

It was quite different at the 4pm party. Raucous children behaved like well, children. They moved in a pack screeching. Yet somehow, the adults are able to sit serenely on the side having their tea, cakes & cheese. I discover that the one constant between the toddlers & children is the mess (big surprise there) ;)

I suppose the parties did minibeanie some good. I checked out Gymboree today with a friend with the purpose of letting minibeanie socialize with his own kind. Instead of clinging to the back of my jeans for the first 10 minutes like he did previously, he was all over the toys the instant I put him down. He had lots of fun with the indoor gym which he discovered all on his own accidentally. Yet somehow, "structured play" (which is what Gymboree is about, isn't it?) seems like an oxymoron to me. Play is supposed to be free of rules. And isn't 15 months a little too young to be in a classroom environment? As my main objective is for minibeanie to build socialization skills, (being the only kid at home can build a rather skewed view of the world) I think the weekly playgroup would be a much better avenue. The playgroup has the use of a preschool's classroom & playground (Etonhouse actually) and I heard that the classroom is well-stocked with toys & books. An added bonus is that we get to see the same kids & mums every week which allows for rapport to be built. This on its own is a huge advantage over Gymboree. And finally, each Gymboree session costs Y200 - that's a freaking 20 euros and S$40 each 45-minute session! I'm reluctant to be paying good money for play at 15 months.


minibeanie is 1 year, 3 months, 1 week old & 4 days old

Mormon boy

I couldn't bear to cut minibeanie's hair at the back of his head. Especially since they curl most adorably outwards so that his profile is that of the omega sign should anyone make a papercutting of this boy. But I had to. I had to because he perspires so much during play that it may be giving him a rash at the back of his neck. So during yesterday's bathtime, when we were splashing about in the tub, I cunningly whipped out my salon-grade scissors and made the first snip :(

I thought I did quite a good job until dada remarked the next morning that minibeanie has become a Mormon boy from Goldilocks. He also said something like... "pot head".


minibeanie is 1 year, 3 months & 2 days old