2m 25d Way: Singing Baby!

Last night while cooing baby Way to sleep, I sang the Carpenters' "Close to You". I then had to change his nappy.

While he was in bed I continued singing the chorus, "Hahhhhhh, close to you..." facing him and he made cute baby sounds with me... the closest sound to "you" was "owww oooo"can hear him trailing off.. the way I fade off.

This morning when we were all still trying to sleep wistfully, or blatantly pretending to sleep, baby was cooing away by himself just like singing. Some long parts, some fading... before, he would only chat with us or call us to attention (if we do not respond soon he would deteriorate to crying). So this is a very pleasant change.

Sing, baby sing!

My Happy Anniversary message...

Yesterday, I posted this on Facebook with the cheeky caption: "A wefie with my clean shaven young man. Happy 13th anniversary, Lougong!"

And Lougong said to me...
If Ning is inside, then it's the best.

Sigh... you missed the tease, Lougong. Maybe I should have added "in bed" after young man. Get it now, Lougong? Am grinning.

Way's First Hair Cut/ Shave

Yesterday, we brought baby Way to Causeway Point to get his hair cut.

His cradle cap was building up quite a bit and it gets stuck on his head full of hair. Ning had some cradle cap (seborrhea) but he has quite a lot. And he was shedding a lot of fine hairs too. These often end up on his face making him scratch his face to no end. Mummy also finds the fine hairs on her nose once too often when carrying him over the shoulders. So even if it really pains us to have it shaven, we had to do it.

We had the option of the neighbourhood barber, salon or the $12 for 10 minutes hair dressers. We decided on the latter because we thought they could use the neat vacuum to suck away most of the cut hairs and make cleaning up after much easier.

At first we tried QB House in Causeway Point, to our disappointment, they told us to go to the hair salons as they do not do baby hairs. We reasoned we thought of them because of the above neat vacuum and shave method. Well, we tried to no avail. Next we tried EB House at Woodlands Civic Center, this time to success! Thanks to my brother-in-law (BroIL), Lie!

Mr Tenny Ng helped to shave our baby's head after waiting for an hour (husband queued, I fed baby in the library parenting room on 4th floor). When it was our turn, I was wearing baby, Mr Ng wrapped a child sized apron around his neck. I held Way's head still. Luckily the razor buzzing over and around his head mesmerised Way such that he kept still for most of the hair cut. Only when I shifted hands to let Mr Ng shave the back did he shifted a bit. Phew. Am very thankful to Mr Ng.

Yay! Now we can see the cradle cap clearly and we shall tackle that another day, which is today! Will write about it later!

Mobiles and Baby Gyms

These 2 allow me to finish my lunch or check some emails peacefully, well, for at least 30 minutes. Maximum was 1 hour. With some conversations with baby in between. Baby gym is from Ikea. We introduced only 1 item on the gym at a time. You could see how excited baby is because he wants to reach the hanging ring. Reminder to self, must get a video next. At 2 months baby hands cannot reach each other in the middle yet. Thus the challenge.

Should probably rotate the dragonflies mobile with something else. Baby Center newsletter actually suggests taping leaves to a ribbon as a mobile. Will try and see how that goes. Maybe Ning and I can make it as a project next...

Imagine moving to MJ's "Smooth Criminal"

2m 21d: Way is passing most urine & motion in toilet now

Well... really, he pisses over and around it. Mummy can't aim and is afraid of scaring him to a halt. So the urine blesses my legs, the floor, dustbin (for soiled diapers) and even my water bottle. Sigh.

Ordered a urinal (higher coverage), hope it's on it's way soon!

At this moment, Way passes motion between 5-7am once if Mummy waits the right duration, more if misread. Urine... I am amazed how much his bladder can store throughout the night... he needs to pee every 1.5 hours and passes at least 200ml each time or he will wet his diaper soon after.

How to tell if he needs to go? If passing motion, it's really easy. He makes these "uh  uh" sounds and pulls his legs up over and over again. Passing urine is more guess work. Am teaching him the toilet sign but he is using it quite excessively... so its try offer breast first then toilet. Hehe. Breast feeding advantage over bottle feed ;-)

Way, 2m: He said "Okay" right after me twice!

He had just passed motion and was fussing bout his soiled buttocks and nappy.

When I was done wiping and have just placed him on the bed with a final "OK", that's when he echoed me!

I said immediately, "Ok is good!", and he repeated another loud "OK!"

Wow! That's fast!

Baby Way (7w) coping with stress

Yesterday we were out having one of those Chinese New Year fancy meals at a restaurant. On the way back, we were stuck in a bit of traffic jam.

Way was uncomfortable in the sling and fussing. When calming him, noticed that my blouse was wet. He was blowing raspberries with his saliva to cope with the discomfort.

Sing Way loves blowing raspberries since he was 2-week old.

Fried Quinoa Chinese Style

Ingredients
500gm mixed vegetables
300gm back bacon, cut in strips
4 eggs
250gm bunashimeiji mushrooms
1 tbsp of oyster sauce

Cook in rice cooker
2 cups of red quinoa (4 cups water)
1 chicken stock cube

Chop til fine
1in knob of young ginger
4-5 shallots
5-10 cloves of garlic

Fry bacon in oil, till slightly crispy (I prefer Chinese sausages or charsiew, but none in stock today... sweep aside.
Fry mushrooms, sweep aside.

Fry ginger garlic and shallots til fragrant.
Then fry the rest of vegetables.
Scoop into quinoa.

Crack eggs in oil and fry til just before solidify, pour in quinoa and rest of cooked stuff and stir in high flame. Smell burnt? Turn off flame. Lunch is served...

After lunch, I will put it all back in the rice cooker to keep warm til family returns for dinner.

Okonomiyaki, simple

Today we had okonomiyaki simplified for breakfast.

Ingredients
1/2 cup of flour (self raising or plain)
2 eggs beaten
3 grabs of shredded cabbage
1/2 cup water
1 or 2 sausages, sliced

First fry the sausages on lightly oiled (I sprayed olive oil) non-stick pan.

Then whisk the wet ingredients til no lumps, then put in cabbage and mix til all cabbage has the batter but not runny or dripping fast. Then pour in the cooked sausages and mix well.

Pour batter and spread around to preferred thickness. Cook till light brown.

Spray / spread oil on top before flipping. I used my wok ladle and wooden ladle to flip it. Cook to your preferred brownness and serve.

On serving plate, draw squiggles with mayonnaise (kewpie recommended) and BBQ sauce. I don't know where to get the okonomiyaki sauce :-)

15 minutes breakfast for 3 (or 4 if you are light breakfast eater).

You can add shredded carrots and other toppings like cheese, pulled chicken, bonito flakes, etc. Have fun!

Steam-then-fried Brinjal with Bean Paste

Forgot to take this down the last time, had to search YouTube again.

Ingredients
3 brinjals, cut 1 inch quarters
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp ginger finely chopped or julienned
2 stalks of spring onions, chopped
100 gm minced meat (or more if you like)

1/2 cup water
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp black vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp bean paste (hot if preferred)

First soak the cut brinjal in salt water to prevent it from turning brown.

Steam for 8 minutes.

Dry stir fry mince meat until liquids evaporated. Push to side.

Pour 2 tbsp of cooking oil into wok or skillet.
Stir ginger, garlic and spring onions until fragrant, then add the bean paste. Stir and mix well.

Pour in the steamed brinjal and cook till the sauce is thickened and absorbed by the meat and brinjals. Serve with some fresh spring onions as garnish.

Girl with heart shaped eyes

23/5: Ning drew this at school yesterday. I didn't even noticed it as it was folded into a sailors hat. Lougong discovered it when he came home. And... haha Ning wants to show Mummy first. Yeah! I am still the favourite parent!

In this pictorial...
Ning is grown up and in love with some boy in her class. He is happy he is marrying her. They're in their home garden, with a pet cat and a caterpillar that crawled up to eat the apple on the tree.

I told her she can only do this at the earliest 18!

I asked her where did she see people with heart shape eyes before... she says on TV. Wow. I've seen it before but never used it in my drawings. Cool!

Salty muffins for breakfast

This one's simple with preparation.

Just distribute the sliced courgette, I used 1/3 of a large piece, ran it thru the Benriner slicer, some diced pineapples, chopped ham, shredded parmesan cheese, and 2 eggs beaten.

Made 6 muffins,  2 each.

Ning really missed the thousands and she's been understanding that she cannot eat the heaty foods for 1 week plus now. She asked if she could just put a tiny bit on her salty muffins and I agreed.

So voila!

Boiled baby kailan, steamed chicken and soy sauce mee sua

Boiled halved baby kailan in a bit of salt and oil. Added pepper, oyster sauce, bit of sesame seed oil to plates. Piled on the boiled mee sua and mixed. Marinaded chicken in salt, soy sauce, sesame seed oil and put to steam.

And we have tonight's dinner, voila!

And a whole sink full of dishes to wash up. Not recommended for a weekday after work meal.

Cover your head from the rain

Last Sunday, it was drizzling and we were on our way to Ning's gym. The only unsheltered path was crossing the road from bus stop to the complex. It was wet and slippery and the road was 2 lanes each side.

Baba carried her.

Mummy said, "Cover your head with your hands ah!" And I dashed across soon as there were no cars. Baba was still at the bus stop.

2 days later Baba told me, Ning thought for a while, then she covered her head with 1 hand and covered Baba's with the other hand because Baba was carrying her with both hands and cannot cover his own head.

I think Baba's heart must've melted.
Mine did just by finding out bout this.

Rainbow fried rice and chawanmushi

I didn't plan to fry rice today. All I wanted to do this morning was chawanmushi. I bought the hon dashi yesterday and saved some mushrooms from yesterdays batch.

When I woke, it came together, the corn, carrots and long beans can be fried with rice. So along with some chicken, garlic, onions, shallots and dried shrimps we have fried rice for tonight! Next time can add fried egg and some chopped mushrooms! Good for picnic or on the road.

This 1 pot dish isn't easy at all, loads of washing up to do. Ended up finishing only 7:30am. Finished my chawanmushi in lrss than minutes and off to work! Forgot to take picture of fried rice!!! Aargh. Tonight!

My 2nd organic box

Am not excited bout the greens...
But will take it as leafy vegetables are good for us right?

Tonight's dinner:
Fried kailan with dried shrimps
Mushroom mince pork potatoes
Lotus root soup

The secret of staying 'forever young'

Saw this at the clinic some time ago.
Recently shared this with my parents.
It's now on their table under glass for display.

起的早，睡的好
七分饱，常跑跑
多笑笑，莫烦恼
天天忙，永不老

Rough translation:
Wake up early, will sleep well
Eat 70% full, run around often
Smile a lot, will have no worries
Keep busy daily, stay forever young

Must get this in fancy calligraphy, print and frame it up for reference!

Do not judge a person until you've walked a mile in his shoes

I think I have heard this one a long time ago... back in secondary school.

At the time, I thought, what have shoes gotta do with your judgement? Maybe the shoes influence our behaviour? Literally. If the other person is wearing uncomfortable blistering shoes, would it make him work harder or steal shoes?

Now, bout 20 years later, I am thinking it's more about empathy and being non-judgmental, don't be too harsh on others until you know what the other person has been through.

The thing about the other person is, we never know the full story, what they've been or are going through.

For example, a person who seem distracted at work, may be going thru a miscarriage or having a difficult pregnancy, or even dealing with a untreatable disease.

Instead of giving the person a breather, you breathe down their neck, or even severe all amicable ties with them. If you knew about the miscarriage or disease, would you still have breathed down their neck?

We visited Haw Par Villa recently and we saw this outside one of the displays, the 10 courts of Hell.

What it meant was, roughly:
Kind deeds begets kind deeds
Unkind deeds begets unkind deeds
If you don't get your just returns immediately,  it doesn't mean it won’t get it at all
It's just that the time has not arrived

Gosh... a lot of times when I felt injustice,  I didn't have this to console me. Now I do. I can face any injustice and be rest assure that there'll be justice. Just not right now. Gosh, I am so mean :P

Hope I've done more good than wrongs, else there'll be hell to payback. Karma.

Baddies out there, the hardcore ones out to plot harm against others, not the accidental ones, beware! Your just returns will be served in life or in death!

Long beans fried egg

Protein and fibre packed breakfast!