My Rotisserie Chicken

From imaginary flutters to real tiny kicks and nudges, Mini Bum has now up a notch in her mode of reminding me of her presence. At 22nd week, it has dawned on me that this over isn't baking a bun, but rather, a chicken.

I am really a conventional oven roasting a rotisserie chicken. Every night, before I drift off to sleep, I sense her movements in my belly, and it feels like the rotations of a rotisserie chicken. Flip! Flip! Flip! She goes, rotating over and over again.

Makes me crave for some Kenny Rogers.

Walking her 'pet'

Anya has a 'pet caterpillar'. It was the last of her birthday presents stash, lovingly gifted by Aunt & Uncle G. This couple has taken great pains in selecting gifts for her each and every time. On Anya's 1st birthday, the gifts from them were all caterpillar-themed in accordance to Anya's pet name.

So, a few days ago, Anya lay hands on Caterpillar for the first time. She was intrigued by how she can walk it like Daddy and Mommy walk Muffin occasionally. Within 5 minutes upon their introduction, she has gone around the whole flat with Caterpillar trailing behind her twice!

Yesterday, we brought the new 'pet' down for a walk around the neighbourhood. It was really because The Helper was vacuuming the flat, and I wanted to get Anya out of the way. However, given my big belly, I know I will not be able to carry Anya much should she refuse to walk. Thus, Caterpillar came in really handy! The Tod willingly walk on her own with Caterpillar in tow throughout most of the walk. It was only when we neared our lobby at the end of the walk that she was drenched in perspiration and asked me to carry her and her wooden toy. Here's snippets of her walking her pet (pardon the poor quality of my iPhone camera):

In the lift

Here, I asked her: "Anya, can you let Mommy take a nice picture of you and Caterpillar?"
In response, this was what she did:

Is she trying to mirror Catty by showing me both of their hineys?

Mommy hold you; you hold Catty

Going up-slope

Trudge, trudge, trudge.

"Ball!", she says, seeing two children kicking a ball.

An overturned Catty, visibly exhausted.

Unfortunately, I could not bring The Furkid along (just in case I cannot handle both of them alone). Wouldn't it be neat to have both Mommy and Baby together walking their respective pets? :)

Laundry Basket Fun

As most parents will agree with me, it seems that our kiddos often derived most fun out of the most inexpensive toys. And then, there is the use of some creativity / imagination and some of the common items lying around the house.Cardboard boxes, old wallets and blankets, just to name a few.

On this particular hot and humid afternoon, it was impossible to take a walk in the neighbourhood. Yet, we have exhausted the TV, play-yard, blowing bubbles, books, and Anya's regular toys. I was running out of ideas to keep The Tod occupied when I eyed an empty laundry basket. The laundry basket became our saviour for the next hour or so.

At first, Anya went into the basket while I pushed her around. Next, The Furkid went in while Anya and I push her. Lastly, out came The Furkid and in went her random stuff toys (including Larry, the cucumber that came in the form of a boardbook). It was great! Both she and I had tonnes of fun!

Ah Gong's birthday

(I completely forgot about penning this!)

A few weeks ago, we celebrated The Father-in-law's birthday. It was a simple affair at one of those coffeeshop's tze char stall. The in-laws are folks with simple taste who do not care much for ambiance nor class. What matters most is to have a nice dinner with the complete family. Having the two grandchildren by his side and knowing that there will be another two more in the following year to enough to make him beam the whole evening.

Another two grandchildren in the ovens

When the time came for cake-cutting, he chuckled happily as Anya leaned forward to give him a birthday kiss. Her gorgor (cousin) who decided to ham up on being macho, stood at a safe distance and watch. 

The light and fluffy black forest sponge cake from Pine Gardens

Furkid's dinner

The kitchen, which is also Muffin's official sleeping and eating quarters, is out of bounds for Anya. It is for safety reasons, and if she does enter the kitchen, she must be accompanied by adult. The only exception everyday is during Muffin's dinner time.

She (Anya, not Muff) has somewhat picked up the pattern that we will feed Muffin her dinner at 9-ish every night. One evening, the tod charged into the kitchen out of the blue when everyone else were in the living room. She was happily yelling "Ni-nerrr!" as she did so. Interestingly, The Furkid scurried behind her. Puzzled, The Husband and I followed them into the kitchen, trying to decipher the situation. It was only when both tod and dog huddled around the doggy bowl that it dawned on us. She was mimicking our usual announcement of dinner to The Furkid.

It amazes us, how she seems to have an internal clock, and the amount of things around her that she has observed. Oh, and after a couple of weeks of close observation at how Muff's dinner is prepare, she has become our little helper. In return, she gets a nice slobbery kiss from The Furkid after her meal as a show of gratitude every now and then.

A night of a hundred booboos and then some kicks

Alright, I exaggerated. Maybe not a hundred. But then, we lost count after two since once Anya has more than two consecutive boo-boos, it is like reaching a point of no return where even the tiniest flicking of her hair will trigger her off.

It was a birthday dinner for a dear friend.It started off just fine, with Anya settling down happily with another two older kiddos. Then, at her highchair eating her pasta, she was somewhat distracted by something behind her in the restaurant, causing her to whine. Very quickly, the whining turned to crying and we had to pick her up to soothe her. Then came the boo-boos which involved her falling face down, bumping into things and what-nots. It was somewhat peculiar as to what exactly set her off in the first place. To add on to the peculiarity of the evening, there was the diaper leakage when I had changed her ten minutes earlier.

The last straw came when The Husband was walking with her outside the restaurant when she suddenly turned to her side and walked off in that direction. Before The Husband could reach out for her, she knocked her head onto an escalator railing. That set off another bout of pathetic howling and a visible bump. Both The Husband and I were rattled and decided to call it a night. Just about time too. The gang were finishing up with desserts and we all decided to leave together.

We all could not help but think that place was perhaps jinxed for toddlers that night (though other than that, I really enjoyed the food and company!), and I was sighing in relief that all should be good hereon as we made our way to the basement car park with Anya in my arms.

Well, I was wrong. The Husband was opening the car door to Anya's carseat while I was standing right behind him (next to the side of the car boot). Remember, at this point, Anya was still in my arms.

A big fat lizard suddenly shoot out from the opened car door towards me. Now, for those who do not know me, one of my greatest fear in life are lizards. In fact, that was one of the reason why I married The Husband. He is my lizard-captor hero in shining armour. Instinctively, I yelped and leaped away from the car. The impact resulted Anya and my head to bump into each other. Inevitably, that set off another round of crying which I am glad to say was the last for the night. For as it is, my baby has was already emo-wrecked and has turned into an accident-prone humpty-dumpty.

For the rest of the night, The Husband and I were careful hold her as she toddled around the house while getting ready for bedtime. Still, we were not surprise that she woke up crying in the middle of the night a couple of times last night - some thing that we observed whenever she had a bad day. So at 3am, The Husband carried her into our bed so we can soothe her and hold her.

The bruise visible on her forehead this morning.

Now, so what about 'some kicks'? That takes on a much happier note. Last night, as I lay down in bed, I felt Mini Bun kicking away! Now, I am not referring to those fluttering movements that makes you wonder whether you imagined it or whether it is the baby or the pizza you ate for dinner. Not those. I have been feeling those for one-two weeks now (I think). The movements I felt last night were those that I could feel around with when I put my palm on my belly. This is the one thing I miss the most about pregnancy. The intimate feeling of knowing that there is something alive and kicking inside you and it is beautiful.

This time round, it is especially beautiful, for at 3am in the morning, as I recall, I have one hand cupping my belly feeling the little one wriggling inside, while my other arm cuddled the bigger one as she snuggled close to me. This, is one of the many pictures of what love looks like to me.

Who is that in the picture?

Anya adores looking at these photo frames. Everyday, without fail, she toddles over to the TV console where the photo frames are placed, bring one over (usually the one that in front that houses several photographs) to me, asks to sit on my lap or sits down beside me on her little sofa. Together, we will flip through the photographs, pointing at this person and that person, identifying them. Every now and then, she will even give Daddy or Mommy in the pictures in loving smooch. :)

"Ii lwuff you"

The routine of tucking Anya in bed for her first nap-time of the day usually goes like this:

1. After getting dressed from her shower, I carry her to her bedroom. 
2. Give her a drink off her sippy cup. 
3. Tell her that it is nap-time. Give her a hug and a kiss, asking her to hug & kiss me back.
4. Put her down in her cot.
5. Pass her Eeyore to cuddle in one arm. Sometimes, Rabbit in the other arm.
6. Pass her her hankie.
7. Pass her dummy.
8. Pull her blanket over to cover her legs. 
9. Send her flying kisses and waving goodbyes as I exit the room, closing the door behind me.

From Point 8 onwards, I will go on in a string of repetitive "Have a good nap, Anya.", "Sweet dreams", "I love you.", and "See you later.", while sending my flying kisses and goodbyes. Usually, it will elicit one or two waves of goodbyes  and smooching sounds in reciprocal from her. Recently, she said "Bye!" on a couple of occasions.

Just now, she did more.

There I was, at Point 9 sending my kisses and goodbyes saying, "Sweet dreams, Anya. Have a good nap. Mommy see you later. I love you. Sweet dreams!"

And then she piped back, "Ii lwuff you.."

My heart skipped a beat. Unsure if I heard it right, I asked, "Honey, what did you just say? Did you say 'I love you'?".

Upon which, she smiled through her dummy, signing "Please" (her way of saying "Yes".).

"Oh honey, thank you so much... Mommy loves you too. Sweet dreams." *Closes door*

I think I floated out of her room.

How kiddos get into trouble and yet get away with it.

Here is an example of how little ones get away with mischief as executed by my tod:

On that fateful Saturday that I was made to reorganise our walk-in wardrobe. The Husband went out for twenty minutes  to pick up something from The In-laws. I was assigned to sort out my cosmetics drawer while keeping an eye on Anya.

To keep her occupied and close to me, I gave her a couple of my bracelets to play with. She willingly stayed under my nose in the wardrobe, looping the bracelets in and out of her wrists, studying herself in front of the mirror while I set to work on throwing out some dubious-looking long expired cosmetics. I must have been concentrating hard at those darn cosmetics that I did not even realize that Anya had wandered off to other parts of the house.

I was roused to check on her by the rustling sound of plastic bag. I walked out of the wardrobe, back into master bedroom and was greeted by this sight.. ...

Yes, my innocent-looking tod sitting on the platform with two conjoined buns in her hand, with her widen eyes staring with sheer bliss at her newfound treasure.

She must have saw the leftover buns from breakfast on the dining table and reached for them. As you can see, when I saw her, the buns were already out its plastic bag and firmly in her hands. When I asked for the buns back from her, she shook her head vehemently, screeching in protest. I was debating whether or not to try on a sterner voice but decided to give in, for she looked so adorable with those ridiculously big buns in her little hands, joy apparent on her face.

Pleased with her find

Laughing with us when I narrated what happened to The Husband who came back

I used to read / hear anecdotes on how children get away with mischief by looking oh-so melt-your-hearts cute/silly/innocent and now here I am, getting first hand experience. Not that I am complaining. With reference back to that Saturday morning, The Husband and I were still smiling fondly as we sweep away the crumbs that she left behind on the floor and our bed after that. Seems like we are not going to make good disciplinarians any time soon.

GUSTO home visit

Yesterday, the GUSTO research team came down for Anya's fifteen months home visit. For once, I remembered to take pictures of what goes on during the 30-60 minutes session. Incidentally, it was the last of home visits. The last three sessions at 18 months, 24 months and 36 months will be done either in KKH (where Anya was delivered) or SACH (St. Andrews Community Hospital).

The first part of the session typically consisted of the ladies doing Anya's measurements as well as collection of her saliva samples. The measurements taken include her circumference, waist, arm and thigh, weight and height. Which means that they are always lugging the necessary equipment (including a baby/toddler weighing scale) all over Singapore, taking public transport. Now that Anya is older, I was apprehensive as to how she will respond to the close contact with these strangers. I was relieve to see that they came prepared this time round, with a bright orange ball that they toss around with her as they do all the necessary stuff. 

The GUSTO ladies were amused that she docilely obeyed when I told her to lie down.

74cm @ 15 months

In case you are wondering what she is doing, she just tossed the ball.

Scissors, paper, stone? Anyway, 9.6kg @ 15 months.

Scrapping the inner walls of her cheeks

The second part involves more of my participation where they ask various questionnaires from baby's diet, doctors' visits, behavourial-related stuff to mummy's sleeping patterns and diets. Over time, I find myself answering "cannot remember" more and more. Hmmm... Wondering if I can blame it on pregnancy forgetfulness?

Mommy, I earned these.

A bloodied booboo

Last night was a night of solo-parenting as The Husband ran out for a work appointment. Planning to have an easy and quiet evening, I had planted myself and Anya in front of the television.

Well, the first twenty minutes or so was indeed peacefully quiet with The Tot sitting on my lap, our eyes glued onto the set. Thereafter, she stood up and pranced around the TV area, her attention periodically goes back to the TV set when songs comes on. That was when the booboo happened.

She had lost her footing and toppled off sideways which happens now and then since she started walking and usually she would simply pick herself up and continue with whatever she is doing. The unfortunate difference this time round was she had a snack in her mouth. She must have been in the midst of chewing her kueh tutu while toppling off, resulting in a puncture right in the center of her upper lip.

Thankfully, it was a shallow puncture. Still, she howled and screamed for the next couple of minutes till she threw up all over me. Interestingly, she calmed down after that which was good since I needed to go clean up myself.

After getting her permission for me to go away to take a quick shower, I went into the bathroom leaving the door opened so I could see her. To my amusement, The Tot came up to the bathroom and tried to close the door for me (because The Husband and I have been explaining to her that Daddy or Mommy is bathing whenever one of us closes the door after entering the bathroom). When I came out of the bathroom, she has happily settled herself back in front of the TV set, helping herself to The Husband's share of kueh tutu. Hmm.. Isn't it a blessing how quickly children get over things?

An improved home and newfound admiration for The Husband

After a few weeks of having contractors and workers coming in and out of our flat, packing & unpacking, cleaning, dusting and moving of furniture around, our minor home improvement project has finally come to an end!

Anya has moved to her new room (the old study) where she will sharing with Mini Bun in time to come. Presently, she is still sleeping in her baby cot as we thought a new room is already a drastic change for her. This morning, two workers came in to install ceiling fans in her room as well as the TV area which marks the end of our project.

The open-concept sliding door has been replaced by a wall and a wooden door

Upon entering the room.

The wall has been given a new coat of paint.

Her current room has retained its purpose of being her changing room and storing her wardrobe. When the domestic helper comes in (after two rounds of postponement by the agency, we try not to pin too high hopes that she will be in any moment soon), she will be sleeping in here. 

In replacement of a proper study room, we have make space in our master bedroom for a desk area for both The Husband and myself. Which comes The Husband's greatest nightmare of placing some form of electronic entertainment device (in this case, laptop) in the bedroom as it tends to make his wifey go nutty and somewhat ill-disciplined when it comes to bedtime. Heh. I have been trying hard NOT to go near the laptop after 930pm. 

During this home improvement project, The Husband took the opportunity to make me clear out my our wardrobe too - which is my greatest nightmare. Actually, up to two years ago, the wardrobe was one of my favorite corner of the house. After all, it houses all the things that makes me pretty and feel good. My clothes, my accessories, my cosmetics and my bags. Then a series of events happened to me: I fell pregnant, gave birth, nursed for a few months, then got back my pre-pregs figure before going through the whole cycle all over again. Being not exactly the most organised person in the world, I got confused having to compartmentalise my varied sizes of clothings. Soon, the nooks and corners of the wardrobe became deep, dark holes that are filled up, every shelf and drawers crammed full of  stuff. On a few occasions, I had tried to reorganise the wardrobe but gave up simply because I didn't know where nor how to start. So imagine my dread when The Husband announced that enough is enough. 

Now, after the whole reorganising-the-wardrobe business, I had renewed admiration for The Husband. Between he and I, he has always been the more organised one. But I must have somewhat under-estimated exactly how good he is. He simply has solutions to all my headache-inducing problems. I conclude that he will make an excellent professional organiser should he decide to leave the financial sector some day. The whole afternoon, he basically gave me instructions, explained how things should be sorted and packed as well as ways to avoid storing cans of worms while I did accordingly. Unsurprisingly, he made me gave away heaps of stuff to salvation army and friends and then threw away some. Woohoo! I love my wardrobe once again! :)

Her Vocabs

As I have mentioned before, I am terrible at figuring out what toddlers are saying. So not surprisingly, I only came to realize that Anya has a whole string of vocabs after only God knows how long it has been since she mastered them.

Well, at this point, she only knows to say a handful of words or maybe I have only figured out a handful of what she is trying to say. I even exchanged notes with The Husband and The In-laws for confirmation. So like a proud mother hen showing off her newly-hatched chicks, I shall hereby show off what she has learned to say.

What it is (how she says it):
Daddy (Daddy ./ dee dee / da da)
Mommy (Momma)
Ah ma (Ma)
No more (mo more)
Anya (eh-yah)
Muffin (arh-finn)
Go (goa)
There (dere)
Byebye (bye)
Bird (birr)

Honey, keep it going! Daddy & Mommy's so proud of you.

Newton Hawker Fare

Since pregnancy kicked in, The Husband has doubled up as a fairy godmother, ferrying this big-bellied wifey to places to satisfy my cravings. Unlike the last pregnancy where I had specific repeated preferences for bee hoon, bee hoon and more bee hoon, this time round, a particular dish / cuisine will keep coming to mind. After that one dish is satisfied, another random dish will then pop out from nowhere a few days later.

For a couple of weeks now, I was craving for "Or luak" (oyster omelette). However, as I was nursing a sore throat after Bangkok trip, I did not raise it until earlier this week. So, a couple of days ago, my fairy godmother brought me to Newton Food Centre to satisfy my craving.

In the past, eating at Newton had always been a "tikam tikam" experience. Given that most of the stalls serve up similar local dishes, we were always confused over which stall to order. So we'll end up choosing random stalls and keep our fingers crossed that their food will turn out good. The last couple of times, I decided to make it a point to remember the stall number when the food turns out good. So here is it:

Hup Kee Or Luak

Everything about this stall's or luak is just the way I like it. Right amount of bite and crispiness, right proportion of egg and flour mixture, freshness and sweetness of the oysters (I was careful to avoid those that appeared raw), and also importantly, the amount of vinegar added to the chilli sauce that comes with it. Yummys!

Order from the stall on the right of Hup Kee Or Luak. The meat of the satay were well-marinated and juicy and the peanut sauce was well-prepared too. Not the best, but definitely above average. One point to look out for though: beware of the Chinese lady stall helper who tried to shortchange us when we paid for our food but was pointed out by The Husband.

Stall no. 66 (Sin sin something something). Their blend of spicy-ness and sweetness of their sambal sauce is just nice for us. We always ask for more sambal sauce from them which they gladly put in. A little downside this time was that they have raised the minimum price from $10 to $12, yet the serving seems to have shrunk. Hopefully, it was a one-time off. 

His boring usual choice of Hokkien Mee :P

Well, I shall not mention the stall here since The Husband The Fairy Godmother said it is no longer nice.