Back after 5 weeks!

After a long hiatus, this blog is back :)

The last 5 weeks had been eventful. First stop was Singapore for the Lunar New Year, followed by nearly 3 weeks in Victoria, Australia. And when we came back to Chengdu, I'd (and still have) my mum with me. Only now after a week of settling back in, did I find the energy, will & time to blog. But more about the holiday later...

A recent development with minibeanie is that he has all of a sudden decided to use his spoon full time. I remember the precise moment. We'd just arrived in Singapore after a 7 hour flight from Melbourne and I decided to give him a fried egg for supper. Instead of feeding himself with his fingers like he usually did, he insisted on using the spoon and from then on, it was the spoon all the way :) I'm so glad he's feeding himself now because he's back to lapping up oatmeal porridge (with jam!) for breakfast.


minibeanie is 1 year, 6 months, 4 weeks & 2 days old

A holiday coming up

We're leaving for a month long holiday to Singapore and Melbourne! :)

Quite miraculously by God's grace, dada managed to get a work trip to Singapore just when we're scheduled to go to Singapore again. So our Singapore accommodation and his air ticket are sorted out. After a week or so, we'll be visiting my cousin and her family in Melbourne for some R&R. Looking forward to it!

But before that, a 101 errands to run in Singapore...

Little monkey

Thankfully there isn't much of an issue brushing minibeanie's teeth. The trick is to make it a fun thing to do and it especially helps if either dada or me shows just how much fun we have doing it ;) After all, he's at a monkey-see-monkey-do age.

Enough of brushing for tonight!

And no, he hasn't learnt how to climb onto the table from us ;)



minibeanie is 1 year, 5 months, 3 weeks & 2 days old

To be or not to be

The dilemma on hand is minibeanie's Singapore citizenship. Apparently, he's able to hold on to his Finnish citizenship until the age of majority, 21 in Singapore. Upon reaching his 21st birthday, he will then have to decide whether he prefers chicken rice or reindeer stew, durian or lingonberry :D

I think having a choice is always a good thing. Besides the luxury of choice, the pros are if we decide to stay in Singapore for awhile, education and medical services are always a lot cheaper for citizens. Then there's the government's Baby Bonus scheme. S$5000 from the government for daycares, kindergartens or even insurance policies. But $5k is not a princely sum. I loathe to think that I'm committing minibeanie to 2 years of servitude for that sum of money.

The servitude I'm referring to is the compulsory National Service (NS) that every Singaporean male has to submit to at age 18(?). We've nothing against NS. In fact, we believe it builds character and changes boys to men, as the cliche goes. However, my bugbear is that minibeanie apparently has to serve NS even if he decides NOT to become a Singapore citizen. I guess timing is the key here. He cannot renounce his citizenship until 21 while NS is served at 18. Then the second issue is the loss of freedom in living in another country after he passes a certain age without posting an exorbitant sum called the bond. I'm not sure what is this age and the amount but I remembered it was a 'choke-choke-gasp-for-air' figure. A search at mindef.gov.sg was futile. Does anyone know??

Decisions decisions....


minibeanie is 1 year, 5 months & 3 weeks old

Behind the Great (Fire)wall of China

Last year, we posted our frustration-then-triumph at having overcome China's firewall. To date, like so many inconveniences or quirks to put it mildly, it hasn't bothered me too much. Blogspot was once blocked and so was wikipedia but with the Olympics in August, they were suddenly accessible again. Recently, the Chinese threatened to block Google if it does not remove objectionable sites from its search engine. Good grief!!

I don't understand how the Chinese bureaucrats decide which websites should be blacklisted. Pornography...yes. Proponents for a free Tibet..yup. Sympathizers for an independent Taiwan... I think so too. Pediped.com, a US children's shoe company?? Unbelievable but true. I can't access Pediped unless it's through a proxy server.

And here's another incredible example. Valleyfarm.com.au - an accommodation at Australia's Yarra Valley. Go figure. I wonder how does a website make into China's infamous blacklist? Pencil pushing bureaucrats deciding they don't like its name? Throwing the dice? Spinning the bottle? Forgive me for my cynicism but its arbitrariness baffles me. Actually, the reality is that I've stopped wondering the whys, wherefores, hows etc. Many things in this country are done contrary to common sense (which goes to show it isn't that 'common' after all) so it's just easier to shrug it away with what a friend said the other day, "TIC - This is China".


minibeanie is 1 year, 5 months & 2 week old

Telling a Fib

It's inevitable, I know. But I'd no idea I'd be facing this issue so early on. Child development experts say, "Lying Behavior Begins Early - Children May Lie as Early as Age Three". Ok, but minibeanie isn't even 1 and a half!

This evening after dinner, he was bending over at his waist in obvious discomfort so I asked if there was kakka*. No, he replied by way of shaking his head. And lo, a few minutes later when there was an unmistakeable pong, he had massive kakka. Maybe he didn't understand, u may think? In fact, he'd answer in the affirmative 'Ugh' when there wasn't kakka. This had happened more than once with great predictability now, which suggested he had done so wilfully. Washing his bum probably counted as his least favourite activity as I always had the impression I was running after a chicken gone amok when it was time for the sink.

So, any suggestions on how to deal with this phase?

Where's your belly button?

A Happy New Year to everyone!

minibeanie is 1 year, 5 months & 6 days old

* Finnish for poop

Babe

Something fun.



minibeanie is 1 year, 5 months & 4 days old

Fusilli & Meatball

My mantra is "crumbs are my new best friends". Even more so now when minibeanie's feeding himself 2 out of 3 meals a day.

Since he almost never uses a spoon, typical Asian food such as rice or porridge hardly makes its way into his mouth. Hence I like pasta or mashed potato because they offer a convenient 'vehicle' for other bits of food such as meat and vegetables. He manages a fair bit with these foods so I'm not too worried he's not getting enough. Besides, he gets regular snacks like bread with cream cheese ("cheesy toast") and banana. And did I mention that having him feed himself frees up 1 hour of my time? What can you do in an hour? PLENTY.

Read more about self-feeding in this post.


minibeanie is 1 year, 5 months & 1 day old

Christmas 2008

We decided to have a Christmas Eve lunch due to minibeanie's feeding schedule. Might as well because he woke up from his nap past 3pm and the turkey was just about done then.

The 4.6kg turkey took about 3 hours - much less than the 3.5-4 hours suggested by conventional cooking wisdom. And I'm glad I listened to my instincts because it'd have meant a tough chewy bird had I cooked it longer. (hmm, of course a meat thermometer and the fail-safe test of cutting it to see if the juices run clear helped ;) The salmon from Ikea didn't work as Gravad Lax because they were cut into 2cm portions and came without their skin. Well, I'd 2 jars of pickled herring* in the fridge so those would do as the fish platter :)

Here are a series of pictures leading from decorating the tree in early December to the Christmas Eve lunch.

My little helper...

... not

Christmas Stollen

Lots of puns surrounding this one ("It's stollen". "Oh no, who stole it?"). This Dresden stollen is buttery and laden with golden and dark raisins, currants, slivered almonds, candied orange peel & lemon zest. I would use less butter and more milk the next year though!

Christmas pyramid

This cost a little bomb but as it would stay in the family as a Christmas tradition for years, I thought it would be worth it. It was handcrafted in Erzgebirge, a mountainous town in Germany. Christmas pyramids, or the unpronounceable "Weihnachtspyramide", use the rising heat currents from candles to turn the impellers and the platform below. This particular pyramid was of the Nativity scene; unfortunately, baby Jesus in a manger was at the other end. See the little devil at one end of the platform? I couldn't resist getting that piece ;D Of the many Erzgebirge sculptors, I liked Christian Ulbricht's style best :) For those in Singapore, there was a fantastic collection of Christmas pyramids & nutcrackers at Das Erzgebirgen Haus(?) in Raffles City.

The Spread

Finns celebrate Christmas on the Eve. On the table, we had turkey, traditional potato and carrot casseroles, 2 types of pickled herring and a selection of salami (that I bought from Singapore!) accompanied with Danish blue cheese & French camembert. minibeanie was eating a piece of camembert in the picture above.... which was amazing because even some grown-ups in Finland wouldn't touch camembert.

Time to open the presents!!

First taste of chocolate

I got a box of Belgian truffles from minibeanie's mummi (my MIL, if anyone is wondering) and guess if minibeanie threw a tiny tandrum when he wanted to have a bite as well... I guess I could strike chocolate off the list of 'Things to withhold from minibeanie until as late as possible."

To everyone, may you have a blessed Christmas!


*I have to thank Ikea for making a Scandinavian Christmas possible. Besides pickled herring, they have made it possible to buy cloudberry jam and Glögi. ...Actually, I do know the wife of the Ikea guy who runs Ikea in this region. minibeanie & their 15 month old son are playmates. I think I'll invite them over this Christmas.


minibeanie is 1 year, 4 months, 4 weeks & 1 day old

Kitchen challenges

How exasperating. Salmon is totally out of stock at the supermarket so I ended up with frozen salmon from Ikea Which came pre-cut into portions And de-skinned.... so totally unsuitable for making Gravad Lax. So I've learnt my lesson. Buy a whole fillet next year and freeze it ahead. That's the problem with stuff in Chengdu/China. You NEVER know when certain items will be out of stock. A French import manager at Carrefour told me that he won't know when milk for instance is coming in because that's the way logistics go over here :# A common saying among the expats here is, if you see something you like in the supermarket, grab it. Because you don't know when you'll next see it again!

The turkey was great. It came delivered on the day and in the condition I wanted. This butchery is run by a foreign couple but just to be sure (since this is China) I asked if it was gutted and beheaded :D It's no laughing matter. Many times I'd bought whole chickens from supermarkets and they always still had their heads and worse, their entire system of internal organs intact. It's like these chickens were meant for a biology dissecting class rather than for the oven. I digress. So, our Christmas turkey is "cleaned of its guts and head etc. It is prepared to Western standards" end quote ;)


minibeanie is 1 year, 4 months & 4 weeks old

2 days to the EVE!

2 days to Christmas Eve! Where did the whole of December go??? It seemed like yesterday that I was looking forward to the Finnish Independence Day cum Christmas party on December 6. Then, I recalled rushing to make the dough for the Gingerbread men, baking them another day, making and freezing the Christmas casseroles, wrapping Christmas presents & mailing a couple of them out to the mothers east & west...... And I still haven't had time to make a Christmas Stollen which is a buttery bread with almonds & raisins sprinkled with icing sugar, the German answer to Italians' Panettone. Hmph!

Monday - buy salmon (hopefully, they'll have dill too!) to make Graavilohi/Gravad Lax, Finnish/Swedish salted salmon.

Tueday - a 4-5kg turkey to be delivered. Make the stuffing for the bird.

Wednesday - Roast the Big bird (don't let minibeanie hear that) for 4-5 hours.

Finally, sit down for a Christmas Eve dinner that can feed the whole school! And since there are only 2 adults and a little bean, it'll be a dinner followed by 3 lunches & 4 dinners :D Let's see how creative I can get with leftover turkey...


minibeanie is 1 year, 4 months, 3 weeks & 5 days old

Rendang for lunch

At 7 this morning, the babbling from the crib quickly degenerated into a crescendo of screeching. And so at 7:30, I made my way downstairs with minibeanie in toll. At least I think it was 7:30 because it was still pitch black outside; I'd slept barely 4 hours.

We had a party last night that began with lunch at 2pm and ended around midnight. We invited a couple of Hungarian friends over for mutton rendang, grilled lemongrass chicken and bread & butter pudding. minibeanie also had a friend over - 9-month old Viktoria. That's right. Finally, there was a representative of the fairer sex. Where are all the little girls??


Both children seemed to like each other. In fact, minibeanie even gave Viki his toy car, pointed out its parts to her & babbled in Babyish. Heh, I've a hunch somethings won't change even after 18 years ;)


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

A Typical Day

Every evening when dada comes home at 7pm, it's crazy hour in the house. I'm glad someone is there to 'take over' because by 7, a) I'm usually cranky from hunger & tiredness; b) there's only this much running commentary I can give on making a meatloaf and c) I can't play ball or cars any longer :P

And if anyone wonders what minibeanie can be up to during the day, here's a typical example.

He loves playing in my larder. He takes out cans, jars, tupperware boxes, stacks them up, puts some away although more often than not, he leaves them strewn on the floor. Yes, there's a child-safety lock, but he loves to play there... So, as long as he's not hurting himself or breaking anything, I let him have his fun. One day, I filled a bowl with pasta destined for his lunch and guess what happened when I let him finger the twirly-whirly curious looking things?


Oh, and he has a really guilty look whenever he does something naughty. The most recent incident was yesterday when he was playing in the larder (again!). I turned round to check on him and lo and behold, he had that "opps" look. He had smashed 1 of my century eggs :D No biggie, I just need to cook it in an omelette or fry it with sliced green chillis Sichuan style.


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

Self Feeding

Like going without the night feed, having minibeanie feed himself seems like a milestone to me. With the exception of oat porridge for breakfast, he'd been feeding himself lunch and dinner. He's still a total klutz at using his spoon; most times, he just gives up with the spoon and uses his trusty 10 fingers to do the job anyway.

We have the routine down to a pat. He'd bring his plate and bib to the dining table while I bring the rest: placemat, cup & his food in a separate bowl. Then, we would sit him down in his highchair, he puts on the bib himself and I proceed to arrange his plate, cup and placement and aportion half of his food into his bowl. From then on, I could leave him and he'd let me know when he wants a refill of his plate. Then when he's done, we have an "all-done" signal, he raises both hands in the air. At this point, I usually give him his share of fruits to avoid having to wash his hands a second time and besides, he usually picks up a few more pieces of broccoli or mash potato together with his strawberry or mandarin bits. Ha! cunning me...

Then, when he has his fill of fruits, we proceed to wash the grimy boy not just his hands & mouth but often times, his hair, nose & forehead. And once or twice, his pants need to be changed as well. How does one get pasta everywhere??

The morning milk feed

Last Saturday, I decided to make banana pancakes for brekkie. I guess the boys liked it.

Someone has morning hair