#2 can crawl ... well ... a little

Finally ... my boy has made the effort to crawl a little bit ... other than just kicking his legs in the air, flipping on his back and crying for help ... it wasn't the leopard crawl, more like the caterpillar crawl, but it's good enough for me.

His butt will go high up in the air first, and then slide his body in front, followed by his legs kicking in the air. Cute, especially if you remember he got quite a "bak bak" butt.

His first 2 bottom teeth is also out, he's happily gnawing away on forbidden things as usual. I cannot understand why he will pick the tags from the toys which I disallow, over a specially sewn cloth with LOTS of ribbon tags *argh* The Vice Versa milk bottle I received for a Christmas present works well - have you seen it before?

Actually there is a story behind this bottle too ... I had wanted to get it for V, but when I emailed online to enquire about it, they said it was no longer in production. Right then, my heart broke *sob sob* There were some crazy comments about the designs "what makes you think babies must be fed from formula made from cow's milk" ... allo ... I am a human cow, and is that anything wrong with using cow to describe myself as a breastfeeding/ pumping mother?

Anyway, when I got it (well, we opened the present late - we saved some christmas present and allow V to open some from time to time to keep her entertained), I was so excited ... IT IS THAT BOTTLE!!! #2 is happily drinking water from it now and using the udders as a chew toy. That's what I call "smart design" =)

$130 merlion act

V did the merlion act in the car, when I was on the way to the market. Originally she was sitting at the back of the car, and after the hubby dropped off to work, I insisted that V be siting in front with me. She didn't seem v OK to me but I wasn't sure if she was just sleepy.

Anyway, always trust a mummy's instinct. Within a few minutes, she did the merlion act, and I had to stopped in a carpark to clean her up. I did what I could, and I gave her a clean tee to cover her wet tee and skirt, and drove home as quickly as I could (and safely too). We cleaned up the car and the car seat while the other helper cleaned V up. She seem OK but she starting coughing and within a few minutes, she did another merlion act. I was amazed at the amount of liquid her stomach could hold :P I called up the PD clinic and I was told I had to be there by 12 noon.

Well, the traffic was so bad ... jam to enter the PIE, jam to leave the PIE and jam to get into the building. Thankfully they still offered valet parking (till 2pm) since we were very late (12:15pm!!) so I just grab the valet coupon and ran off.

I had expected to be ticked off by the nursing staff since I was 18 minutes late! But thankfully all I heard was "wah! why you so late! lucky you arrive in time, he's going off!" then the manager turned to her colleague and said to her "quick, tell him last one before he goes off!". For all the times we have been to this clinic, this was the FASTEST visit I ever had. Within 20 minutes, the PD saw V, collected the medicine, paid and left the building. I am so thankful for the help from the nursing staff and the PD, which well, did cost me $130!

V seems to be better now ... after her second merlion act, she looked so pale and greenish. Normally even if she was not feeling well, she would be her cheeky self. But this time, she was sad, quiet and just seem really uncomfortable. I gave her some porridge I made for #2 (I made more somehow, again mummy's instinct) and to entice her, I added in some chopped picnic ham. It did the trick and she finished 80% of the porridge and 100% of the ham. We also gave her water, but little by little. She's now fast asleep (finally!). I hope she feels get better when she wakes up. Poor jiejie.

little mosquito

I have a nickname for #2 - little mosquito, or in cantonese, mun zi jai. The "story" behind the nickname? Well, he tends to emit high pitch "mmMmmmMm" sounds when he wants attention or mummy. Just close your eyes and imagine a mosquito buzzing by your ear ... the sound is quite similar.

I recalled vaguely, when V was at the same age, when she was in a good mood or happy, she would kick her legs. Well, #2 is doing the same now ... he's a lot more "fun" now since he is quite responsive to little games we play ... like running away from jie jie, jumping on my bed, kicking his legs with jiejie on the bed, peek-a-boo, and funny faces ... He is also choosing who he will allow to carry. If he does not turn away from the person, he may size up the person by looking up and down at the person a few times, and then leans forward to bestow his hugs.. If he turns away almost immediately, it is quite obvious he doesn't want that person.

V is still just as loving, and she has more or less getting used to her routine of going back to school. She now wears her school uniform without a fuss *phew* When we drop her off her the school, she used to cry and say "no one to look after me!" Now she happily decides who carries her to the class and who she wants to play with.

We also changed the seating plan in the car - now V sits in the back row with helper a and #2 sits in the middle row with helper b. We sit in the front row, but occasionally I will squeeze into the middle row, depending on what kind of "looks" #2 gives me. I do miss our little sessions in the car, so I try to make up by spending a bit more time with him at night. So far, he is happily taking to the "jumping party" on my bed each night =)

Food at 8 months

I made porridge for #2 over the weekend - basically it was just porridge made with pork broth and the flavour was hardly apparent. In anycase, #2 lap it all up, and one big bowl too. So much so that V insist on having the same thing after seeing her little brother gobbling down the porridge.

This weekend I will start him on chicken broth porridge and see how it goes.

V is very fussy about her porridge these days. If there isn't enough flavour she will reject the porridge outright and complain it's yucky. She will only recognise the usual Pigeon porridge as the very nice one and refuse to try others. For her, the soup stock needs to be much more richer - so I figured out the only way "enrich" the flavour for the pork or chicken stock was to add dried scallops. I have tried adding kombu seaweed but she didn't like the taste. I bought bonito flakes to experiment with, so let see how she will take to it.

Pig Trotters Vinegar

Made "zhu jiao chu" yesterday - needless to say the whole house was "perfumed" by the sour smell.

had to made a few trips to get the ingredients, especially the black vinegar (we use the bulldog brand).

Saturday - made a trip to the market and all the pig trotters were sold out. Didn't know it was part of the offerings for "Tee Gong" (pardon me if I spelt it wrongly, my hokkien is v bad) on "ren ri" (people's birthday) which fell on Saturday (7th day of the CNY). So I just bought ginger.

Came home and realised I was out of the black vinegar *grr* so I used whatever I had, the ginger, the stock of vinegar held and eggs to start the process.

Sunday - went to market at 7 plus to grab my pig trotters (actually I want the "pig's hand" or foreleg plus the meat of the shoulder. Then I realised the market's provision shops were all closed - they were told to move and so they closed after appeals to extend their lease were rejected. Then, last minute, they were OKed to stay but it was too late by then. Drove to Shop N Save, nada, no deal. So I had to go to my mum's place and asked if they had any. Only 1/4 of a bottle. OK so I grabbed that too and made another trip to one of the last provisions shops around my area. PHEW. they have both - the single and double vinegar (don't ask me to explain it!)

So finally the pot of the pig trotters vinegar taste right ...

The ingredients and method of cooking is based on "agaration" - I cannot remember the exact measures and some of us may like it sweeter and some more sourer ... so adjust to your own taste!

Ingredients

1. 1 big bottle of double vinegar

2. 1 small bottle of single vinegar (basically just half of the double vinegar)

3. water - same amount as the single vinegar (just use the same bottle after you empty it into the pot).

4. 1 X pig fore-leg plus meat from shoulder - approximately 1.5 to 2kg. The butcher should help you to remove all hairs and cut into appropriate sized pieces (he does it FOC for me!)

5. some rock sugar (I think it's about 150g)

6. 1kg old ginger - skinned, cut into medium blocks and bashed

7. some slices of ginger, a bunch of spring onions and a tablespoon of salt

Method

1. Prepare a pot of water - when it boils, throw in ingredients listed in (7). Leave the heat on high, add the pork. Turn down the heat once it boils. Remove the pork after 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. Panfry the ginger with a little bit of oil. Throw into the pot (no stainless steel or aluminum - use claypots like tanyu pots) and add the ingredients (1) to (3) + (5). Bring to boil.

3. Add the pork and let it simmer on low heat for 2 hours.

4. Adjust to taste by adding sugar or more vinegar.

Optional: Add eggs - you can use hardboil eggs without shells or just add cleaned fresh eggs into the pot directly.

CNY Lion Dance

One of my neighbours splurged on the CNY Lion Dance - he invited them to perform at his place today - there were a total of 6 lions and 1 dragon! Wow, I wonder how much he spent on it!

V refused to go downstairs so I brought #2 down to the garden ... once the "noise" started, I immediately covered his ears and he was ok. But when I tried removing my hands, he burst into tears and clung on to me like a koala bear. V came down with daddy shortly after and she also clung on to him - refusing to walk on her own. I moved further away, at the fringe of the area and the noise was slightly more bearable. #2 was quite fascinated since there were lots of bright colours (red and gold), and there were also lots of other kids running around.

Well, here's wishing everyone a Prosperous and Peaceful Chinese New Year!

V & A

A is this little boy in V's school ... whom their teachers and I have on multiple occasions mistaken for each other.

For a while, they could be identified seperately as their haircut was different. But with his current hair cut (V cut her hair some weeks back), they are back to almost being identical twins again.

They are both of the same size, same height, same tan colour, same black hair, same shape of the head, and wear almost the same type of clothes - the only distinctive difference now is he has much bigger eyes than her. And to complicate it further, they always play together. In the morning when she arrives in school, she will look for him. When she's not around, he will ask for her. Yes, they are play buddies in school too.

Yesterday when we arrived at her school, V had already stopped crying. However, A was crying because he wanted his daddy. So I try to distract the sullen V by asking her to go "sayang" A, which she did, by giving him her sweetest smile and patting him. Then when she happily settled down to eat her breakfast with him, suddenly she burst into tears when we waved bye to her. Needless to say, we scooted out immediately.

Last night, when we were chatting, I asked her why did A cry? Her response was initially quite baffling because she didn't speak in complete sentences.

V: Because, because, A cannot find his *mumble mumble*

Me: what? A cannot find his girlfriend?

V: Ya, no girlfriend.

Me: A cry because he cannot find his girlfriend?

V: Ya, because must go home.

Me: who must go home?

V: me.

Me: A cry because you must go home????

V: Ya.

Well, I was trying to ask her why did A cry in the morning. Now it seems that he cried in the afternoon too. I am not sure if she made this up, I will have to check with the school on monday.

Me: why did A cry in the morning?

V: Because want mummy.

OK, so she got that part correct, but I need to check if she is fibbing about A carrying when she left in the afternoon ...

*hmmmmm*

Tweet #1

Woke up to find V hugging my hand while sleeping. Sweet =)

P/S: and no, I have no idea how to tweet using a twitter account.

Fish Maw Soup

Today the in laws came over for lunch ... and since one of them didn't particularly like herbal stuff, I couldn't quite just boil water and throw in a pack of the ready-to-cook herbs.

I went to hunt for my "nourishing soups" recipe book and I figured out my best bet was to get the bamboo fungus since I had the rest of the ingredients.

Ended up, CS didn't seem to stock that so I bought fish maw instead.

My base soup stock was very idiot proof - just made sure it was rich enough so whatever else I throw in will made it taste better.

The soup was enough to feed 9 adults and 3 kids ...

Ingredients

1. 500g lean pork

2. 300g of pork bones (I used bones from my spare ribs - the meat was cut off for another dish)

3. 1 chicken breast (remove skin)

4. a big handful of dried scallops (mine was the broken pieces, so I guess 6 pieces of whole medium sized dried scallops) soaked in a cup of water (for about 2 hours) after a quick rinse. Throw the water into the pot with the dried scallops.

5. 1 medium size wong bok or chinese cabbage, sliced.

6. 2 packs of fishballs (you can use meatballs if you want to)

7. 2 packs of dried fish maw. Soaked in hot water for about 15 minutes, and then squeeze dry. Rinse and squeeze dry again. Cut into small to medium pieces.

I actually cook the soup base the night before, using the pork, bones, chicken and dried scallops. I used my vacuum pot so that saved quite a fair bit of gas for me :P.

In the morning, the ingredients 5 to 7 were added in and then cooked a further 2 hours. My vacuum pot were too small to hold all the ingredients so I had to change to a bigger stock pot.

I also threw in the "brine" that contained an abalone which we used for the "yusheng". I think i forgot one ingredient, which is ginger. I think if I had added a small slice of ginger, it would have tasted better. But overall the soup is good enough for me, sweet without having to add sugar, and flavourful enough without having to add salt (typically when I make soup, I don't add salt, and to do this, I usually add enough ingredients to give the required salty taste).

Sorry, no pictures :P

Also, just wanted to add a small note about "yusheng". I had bought the "SingLong" ready to go pack from CS, plus the ready shredded carrots, radish and cucumbers. I omitted the perserved onions (wasn't too keen on it) and bought extra "bo chui" or crackers. I also had to add oil, since it was not provided in the pack. The "extra" ingredients would be of course, the fish, but I used abalone since I didn't like raw salmon and it would be an hassle just to make a trip to buy sashimi grade salmon (I could used smoke salmon but no thank you!). I wanted to add pomelo too, but they didn't have the "ready" peeled pomelo for sale so I cheated - I added canned mandarin oranges instead and it really made a difference to it. Then again, I love canned mandarin oranges and I would be more than willing to fork out $4 to buy a small cup of japan-made mandarin orange jelly (which was a staple during my last trip to japan - the brand had a cute picture of a cat on it!). I added the juice of 1 lemon and well, it was probably one of the most yummy yusheng I had!

Next year, I will be adding canned mandarin oranges!

Pretend Play - cooking and eating

V was pretending to cook dinner for her daddy - she even arranged the "food" nicely on her food tray, which included a cup, jug, and plates of food.

However, after she announced to her daddy that "Dinner is ready!", she insisted on carrying the tray into the bedroom, in which I was doing "da pump". She laid the tray carefully onto the bed, climbed up and then shouted for her daddy.

After the daddy came in and proceeded to take his "dinner", she also ate together with him. Now, this is the "amusing" part.

V scope her "rice" from the plate and pretend to chew her rice.

She went "PTUI" and announced "I don't like vegetables!"

This mummy went ?!?!?!?!?!

First tooth!

#2 officially has his first tooth out! It's the bottom right front tooth =)

doe a deer ...

#2 went to bed at before 8pm but I could hear him fussing in the bedroom for a long while. #1 was colouring in her hello kitty book and she was OK for me to check on her didi.

I went in and saw #2 was fussing with his eyes closed! Basically he was more or less asleep, but emitting the "eh eh eh" sounds (fake cry). So I took over from the helper and he was uncomfortable in any positions I was carrying him in. In the end, we fed him his favourite beverage - WATER and he settled down a little.

I sang his favourite song, "doe a deer" and he opened his eyes a little to check me out. He gave me a smile when he recognised me and then closed his eyes. I continued singing and rocking him to sleep, while V was calling for me outside the bedroom. Thankfully when she decided to come in to check on me, #2 was fast asleep. She refused to leave the room without me, so I put #2 in his cot, and he grunted, rolled onto his side and continued sleeping. This shorty mummy had to tip toe to lay him on the bed, and more or less, had to "throw" him unto the bed since I couldn't quite reach the bottom of the cot (about 5 cm away). I probably need to place a short stool in the bedroom soon!

#1 wanted to hug my arm to sleep ... she fell asleep together with me I think - we both were pretty tired out as she only napped a little this afternoon while I didn't get around to it at all.

Sweet ending for the weekend, with both kids wanting a piece of the mummy. I should be doing something right =)

new record!

#2 has finished 220ml (almost 8 oz) of milk at one go ... he's be 8 months old in about 2 weeks time ...

I pumped out about 540ml (3 bottles of 180 each) at 2am and there were already 1 bottle of 180ml in the fridge. When I opened the fridge at 9am this morning, there were ONLY 1 left ... which means that 7 hours I was sleeping, he finished 540ml??!?!?!?

and he's a TV addict ... if we are watching TV and whoever carrying him turns him away from the TV, he will COMPLAIN loudly ...

hello ... kitty cakes!

For the hubby's 3Xth birthday (he claims to be forever 21 - even alan tam had more modesty, he only claimed to be always 25), I booked a parent and child baking session so that V can bake a birthday cake together with him for him. The clincher was that it would be a hello kitty cake for this session, so I couldn't resist, I added myself to the class to.

We were running late as I had to be at work this morning. Anyway, the other parent and child attendees were nice enough to wait for us, so everyone started together. There were only 5 of us plus 1 instructor so it was nice and cosy.

It took V a little while to warm up but she was soon doing little tasks (like measuring the flour and breaking the eggs - with help of course). She got so comfortable that she found a little space to sit while watching her daddy mixing the cake batter with the electric mixer. The hubby was pretty good at it, I was actually impressed ... given that his non-interest in all the baking activities at home (other than to eat the final product).

We had to wait while the cakes were baking in the oven, and we got to prepare the decorating cream. They used this whipping cream (the carton type, not the dairy cream type) and added colouring to it. Then we had to wait another 20 mins or so before the cake was done. Since we had to pipe the cake with minimal cooking time, the cream kinda melted a little.

Still, it didn't distract us from the taste, the cake is actually VERY yummy. V actually finished her share! I'll post up the pics once I download it ... we still have 2 in the fridge but we will bring one to my mum's place tomorrow so the other kids will get to enjoy it too.

I think the hubby enjoyed the session. I asked him if he enjoyed it and he gave a non-committal shrug. Then I asked if he wants to come again, he said we can do it at home. Sounds promising =)

in 2 months' time...

I was just looking at the computer date and I realised that V is turning THREE in 2 months' time. Panic mode hit me because I hadn't really sat down to think what to do for her birthday party. Then I reminded myself "Hey no party this year right?", when another thought flashed through "Won't she be upset if #2 gets his BIG FIRST birthday party?" "ARGH" "argh" "ARGH". Well, that's my train of thoughts early in the morning.

Well, guess I just have to reminded the hubby to book the function room first, then I decide what to do ... There are too many things going on now at home(CNY and Feb birthdays - that include the hubby's) and at work to really sit down and start planning. Got to stick one BIG to do list on my headboard.

Maybe I will BAKE a cake for her? I still have my brand new hello kitty cake moulds which my brother and his family kinda brought back for me from HK. Hmmmmmm ........

Why is Papa's face so dirty?

Decided to give the hubby a simple facial (meaning just apply masks for him) since he seems to be having a slight outbreak.

I showed V how to apply the mask and told her to watch her daddy. If he moved, she was to remind him he's not to move. So everytime he twitched a little, she would yell out "Papa cannot move!" She also helped me to sponge off the mask after it dried. She kept asking "why papa's face so dirty!" as she wiped.

Later I applied another mask (peel off if you must know), she asked again "Purple mask then green mask? why?" Yes, she is into her "why" stage now ... so I explained that the second mask will help to remove even more dirt, and she went "Papa's face very dirty?" She kept touching it and asking for the sponge. I promised her that I would let her help to peel it off, but she's fast asleep now (my ploy worked - got her to rest while the mask dried).

In time to come, it would be "why mummy's face so dirty!" but I would probably enjoy her cleaning my face up for me =)

V says ... even more

Me: *argh* backache ... pain pain ...

V: Why pain pain?

Me: Maybe becuz mummy is getting old?

V: Then V have to buy new mummy?

Me: !!!!!!

*****

V: Why your leg like that?

Me: Becuz mummy is getting old? Then maybe you have to buy a new mummy?

V: *stretches her arms to indicate BIG* I want a great big mummy!

Me: Har? What kind of great big mummy?

V: *touches me* This great big mummy!

Me: *dunno whether to laugh or to cry*