Chicken stock and ABC pasta

Poor RaeAnne started a low grade fever early in the morning. Around 4am when she cried, felt that she was a bit hot so we took her temperature, it was 37.9. Must be side effect of her MMR jab as she had the jab last Monday, exactly 1 week ago. Luckily in the morning, she was fine, hot and sticky when she woke up at 9am so we went to KFC for breakfast. Was late leaving the house cos hubby had to go through his morning ritual, while I had to cook porridge, and check in on my FB games. Hee. ;)

We went to KFC but ended up missing the breakfast cos they were processing it so slowly close to 11am (probably trying to delay serving any more breakfast). In the end, we ended up at Hans, bad choice cos the breakfast set comes with butter toast, nice for adults but a bit hard for RaeAnne.

Decided to let RaeAnne try more homecooked adult food today. Since she is feverish, decided to make chicken stock (chicken soup supposed to nourish the body right?) and make ABC pasta soup for her and macaroni soup for ourselves so went to NTUC to buy ingredients. Ended up buying a lot of food stuff but total only $12+, I was surprised, haha.

To me, the chicken stock was a success (I'm not a perfect chef, hee), cos it smelt exactly like the chicken soup that they serve at hainanese chicken rice stall. Now, I know why my mum's chicken soup always taste very bland, she never add any vegetables when cooking, only ginger. But I think she'll faint if she saw me trying to debone the chicken drumsticks. Hee. :P

RaeAnne woke up just as I was starting to prepare the ingredients for the chicken stock at 430pm. She cried and cried in hubby's arms cos she wanted me to carry but my hands were full and messy trying to deskin and debone the chicken drumsticks I bought. I had to carry her after washing my hands before she calmed down. As usual, she is very excited when I was cooking, she can't see so she keeps wanting me to carry her, so hubby had to do the honours cos I can't cook and carry her at the same time mah.

Made her ABC pasta soup with small bits of brocolli and chicken thigh meat. Next time, must throw in the brocoli first, they take quite some time to soften even though I already cut them so small. :P Gave RaeAnne a piece of carrot that has been cooking in the chicken stock, it tastes so sweet and soft, she loves it.

Left the feeding of the ABC pasta to hubby cos I had to continue to cook our own dinner. Hubby said she ate quite a lot. :) Under estimated our dinner, cooked too little macaroni but hubby was still stuffed cos I had lots of extra 'liao' for our own macaroni. Hee.


Recipe for chicken stock
1 chicken carcass ($1 from NTUC)
3 drumsticks bones (next time will just buy another carcass, and buy chicken breast for the meat, easier and faster)
1 large Australian white onion (but I only used half)
Left over carrot (almost 1 stick)
1 knob of ginger (thumb size)
i) Put everything in a pot of water, making sure the whole chicken carcass is covered and bring to boil in high heat.
ii) Once it boils, switch to low heat and let it continue simmering for another hour.
iii) Can add salt and pepper to taste, I added just a pinch of both since the chicken stock is the base for RaeAnne's ABC pasta.
* Photo was taken after scooping out the soup for RaeAnne, and after taking out our portion for our pasta, I'm just left with 1 bowl of chicken stock for tomorrow's porridge. Will definitely increase the portions so that I have some stock for freezing purpose.


ABC pasta
i) Boil a handful of ABC pasta in water (can add some salt) and drain off once the ABC pasta looks soft.
ii) Strain the chicken stock with the sieve and pour some to the ABC pasta.
iii) Bring to boil, then add the broccoli to the soup. I also added 2 pieces of cooked carrot.
iv) Once it boils again, add the chicken thigh meat into the soup. I pre-seasoned the cut thigh meat with 1 drop of sesame oil for fragrance but it's optional cos actually the chicken stock is already naturally oily. :P

P.S. Her fever came back in the night, 38.2 degrees so we gave another dose of paracetemol before her last milk feed. :P

First Zoo Outing!!! Long long post... :)

Finally fulfilled one of my "to do list" items to spend quality time with RaeAnne during hubby's school holidays. Yup, a trip to the zoo ranked no. 1 in that list because I think it'll be fun, educational and a trip Mummy and Daddy have been saying for the longest time (even before RaeAnne was born) that we will make in the 4.5 years that we've been married but we never made the trip. :P

It was a very good outing. :) First of all, RaeAnne woke up early at 7.18am. Sidetrack a bit, Kudos to our gal for being so cooperative cos she actually woke up around 1+am crying cos the mosquito bites on her feet were too itchy. We already applied mopiko diligently since we discovered the mosquito bite on Sunday morning but she still scratched till the skn broke. She kenna 4 mosquito bites on her left foot and 1 on her right foot. The only worry was that she didn't poo on Sunday, and she only pooed a grape size poo in the morning before we left the house. I was worried that she had constipation. :P

We took quite some time to pack the stuff to bring to the zoo though (should have done it the night before) so when we finally went over to pick up Nai Nai and RaeAnne's porridge, it was alread 845am. We left Nai Nai house at 9am. Luckily the ride was quite fast going by TPE then SLE. We reached the zoo at 930am. Hubby and I got the adult saver ticket ($25 which included the tram ride and 1 boat ride) and MIL was lucky cos the ticket gal allowed us to buy the senior citizen admission ticket at $9 even though she forgot to bring her IC. Tram and boat tickets cost another $10. So, altogether, we paid $69. RaeAnne's ticket is FREE cos she is below 3. :)

Since it was still quite cool in the morning, we decided to do the hard part (walking first) before it gets hot. Looking at the zoo map, we decided that the must see animals are polar (bear), zebra and giraffe (in that order) and elephant because these are the few animals that are on RaeAnne's bumper mats so she knows what they are. ;)

We were lucky to catch the polar bear feeding time which was at 10am though it was already 1008am when we reached the polar bears, having made a stop to see the Maned Wolf. RaeAnne was very fascinated to see the polar bears (Sheba and Inuka) swimming, eating water melon and catching fish. :) Next, we saw lions, zebras and giraffe, she was more in awe of the giraffe cos I had told her many times about giraffe's long neck. Also, it was feeding time so the 3 giraffes were busy eating 'dried leaves' hung up on a tree. RaeAnne is also interested in 'um um' (food). ;)

We took a short walk to the tropical garden, saw mangosteen tree, gourd vines, lime shrubs, etc but it was less interesting for her since she didn't recognise the fruits and everything just looked green. There was also not much shade there. MIL suggested feeding her at the small pavilion but hubby decided that it's better to find a restaurant with air con so that RaeAnne can eat in peace and comfort instead of sweating away.

So, we walked back to Ah Meng Restaurant, located near Tram station 1. We nearly started feeding her at the al fresco dining area, not knowing that the 'real' restaurant is in the air con area. Luckily, the staff told me when I asked them for the menu. Off we went to the cool comfort of Ah Meng Restaurant. Hubby fed RaeAnne her porridge, we didn't want to order our food first cos if RaeAnne sees our food, she won't want to take her boring porridge anymore. After 2 servings of porridge, even hubby gave up cos RaeAnne was eating very slowly even though I gave her 1 straw and 1 plastic spoon to entertain her. :P

It's time for the adults to eat so MIL order curry chicken naan set, I ordered the bbq chicken leg with fries set while hubby ordered the hot dog with fries set. We fed RaeAnne with bits of chicken, naan and hot dog bun. So she was very happy. :)

After lunch, we went for the tram ride and got off at station 4 so that we can see some exhibits and make our way towards boat deck 1. Enroute, we managed to see kangeroos, Emus and poisonous snake and lizards at the Australia Outback exhibit. The entrance was quite hidden, we nearly missed it. :P We also saw the pgymy hippos (they were all sleeping) and RaeAnne got a close up view of big big fish in the huge aquariums. :) We saw the white tigers (also sleeping) and wild boar before reaching the Boat Dock 1.

From there on, it was a long, long wait. Frequency of the boat ride was supposed to be 15-20 minutes but it felt like at least half an hour cos there was nothing to do there and there were not enough benches for us to sit down while waiting. A mother feeding her baby son bottled milk and me squeezed on the same bench with 2 caucasians. Luckily RaeAnne was distracted enough by the baby so she didn't make any noise. When the baby cried, she was so cute, she kept kissing my tummy (thinking it's 'mei mei' crying). When she understood that it's not Mummy's baby crying, she even wanted to stretch out her hand to 'sayang' the baby. Luckily, the mother was only amused at RaeAnne's actions. :)

RaeAnne pooed while we waited for the boat so we quickly changed her, luckily it was the solid poo not the mushy type so we could change her diaper standing up. The boat ride was nice and cooling, can see that RaeAnne was a bit sleepy but luckily we knew she will 'wake up' at the next stop which was the Rainforest Kidzworld (with waterplay), one of our highlights of the trip. We packed so much stuff because we knew there was waterplay (thanks to all the forum mummies who tipped us off cos they already brought their kids to the zoo many times).

So, RaeAnne was well prepared, we changed her into her Konfidence wetsuit, luckily with the velcro fastenings, she can fit in though it was meant for 6-12 months. She had an extra set of thicker clothes, a big bath towel, and even a swimming dress robe. We even brought hubby an extra set of clothes so that he can accompany her into the water. She was a bit apprehensive in the water initially, when hubby put her in the water, she just sat there with her hands and legs reached out, not daring to move. But once she warmed up, there was no stopping her, she was splashing water at hubby, hitting the water, playing with the water pipes and sprinklers. She had so much fun in the short 20 minutes, the waterplay was definitely the highlight of the zoo trip. We took her out as her fingers were already wrinkly. :)





She was very cold after the waterplay and the shower in the changing room is very cold, not much help. So, we just rinsed her, quickly took out her wetsuit, and dressed up. Her hair was still very wet so I'm glad I bought her hooded swim robe (only $7 at Ehub). :) RaeAnne has been imitating adult behaviour and one of the things that she does best is cleaning. She'll copy us, take tissue, wet wipe or towel to clean the table, floor, babychair, etc but the ultimate today is taking the wetwipe out to clean the glass door outside the toilet. See our little Ninja door cleaner. ;)

After the waterplay, we went to Kfc to have a snack. A mini burger for MIL, cheese fries for me and a bit of mashed potato (without gravy) for RaeAnne. Wanted to let RaeAnne take the horse carriage ride but hubby is unwilling cos need to pay $6 for child and $6 for adult. So only managed to take a photo in front of the horse. :(

After eating, we took the tram ride back to the start and that's when I realised that RaeAnne smelled bad. True enough, she had pooed again, mushy type this time. :P
Since we were on the tram ride, we laid her down to change her diaper and she was very cooperative (probably also tired out). By the time we finished changing her diaper, she fell asleep in MIL's arms. It was 350pm, way past her usual nap time of 1+, 2pm. And she slept all the way so we skipped the elephant exhibit, past the cockatoos/parrots, even when we shopped in the souvenir shop, selected the photos from the zoo photographers, back in the car, all the way until we were nearing Tampines. She woke up at 5pm, it was a good 1hr 10 mins nap for her. We went straight to ILs place cos we had already called FIL to cook her evening porridge.

What a long day and she slept earlier at 945pm today, she had a tiring day but hope she had fun and happy memories of the zoo. Told hubby that we should bring her back to the zoo before RaeAnne turned 3 and no. 2 is 1 yr old so that admission is free for both kids. :)

Kids Friendly Dinner :)

Decided to cook a kids friendly family dinner today, first time cooking rice with dishes for RaeAnne. It's been really long time since I cooked (exclude RaeAnne's porridge of course), almost 2 months in fact cos I stopped cooking ever since morning sickness set in. Can't stand the smells of cooking, still can't actually.

Even though MS still has not abated (why? why? why? Gynae said if not ok by 12 weeks then it may take up to 16 weeks. :( ), I decided to be brave cos RaeAnne is taking lesser and lesser of her porridge. Doesn't help that we always get ingredients from ILs so she always end up eating the same stuff, pumpkin, carrot and baby corn. ILs tried feeding her rice added with soup (with bits of fish, veg) for her before but the rice and the small amout of soup they cooked cools too quickly, they end up reheating the soup so many times that they gave up feeding her rice as a main meal. :P

I bought minced chicken, egg tofu, local spinach from nearby NTUC and I have leftover carrot and chinese mushroom. Can't put much seasoning since it's meant for RaeAnne as well. I chopped the carrot and chinese mushroom finely and mixed with the minced chicken to form a paste and put it on top of the egg tofu to steam. Only added 3 drops of soy sauce and 2 drops of sesame oil to the meat paste.

Next I fried an omelette using minced chicken (gotta maximise my ingredients mah) and sliced chinese mushrooms). Cooked a soup using ikan bilis stock (wash the ikan bilis twice to get rid of some salt), local spinach, sliced carrot and tomatoes. Ended up adding meatballs too cos I had leftover meat paste and hubby said throw everything in, don't keep. ;)

The verdict? RaeAnne was quite excited over dinner, kept pointing to this and that so that we can feed her. Her favourite dish is the tofu and she loves the meat paste. Hubby had to 'bribe' her by putting the meat on top of her rice before she would eat it. An even BIGGER meatlover than mummy.

BUT the downside is, she ate very little rice. Less than 2 tablespoonfuls. Much much less than her usual portion of porridge. Fortunately or unfortunately, depends on how you look at it, she had a very late nap close to 5pm (she ended up taking 2 milk feeds in the afternoon) and woke up around 6pm so she was not so hungry when she woke up.

Hubby didn't enjoy it as much though, even though I already warned him that everything will taste bland, ask him to dip the food in soy sauce if necessary. He still commented that the egg had no taste, the soup had no taste. Think the only thing he liked was the tofu since he didn't complain about it. Like father, like daughter. Faint! :P

But in hindsight, I think our pace of eating was too fast for our gal. When she realised that all the food were gone (we finished up her leftover cold rice and her favourite tofu). She kept pointing to the empty plates and said 'Boh', 'Boh'. She probably wanted to eat more. End up hubby had to feed her some bread to fill her up. :P

Put her to bed at 915am and she only slept at 1020pm. She was too busy babbling to sleep. Haha.

P.S. I had ultimate heartburn and super bad MS after rising from the bed (had to lie down for 1 hr to coax RaeAnne to sleep. Baby no. 2 doesn't like the food (must be the spinach and mushrooms, the 2 food smells that I can't stand). I even throw out a bit of the dinner which I cooked myself, what an insult to my own cooking. :P

MMR jab, Tampines1 and Oscar results

Backdated posts...:)

1 June
First day of school holidays, and we brought RaeAnne for her overdue MMR jab. She cried for so long inside the clinic, it started the moment the dr put the cold stethoscope on her tummy. She hates that. She is 9.9kg and 78cm tall. PD said 50th percentile. Actually, Dr Lee suggested Hep A jab on the same day but I thought since Hep A's an optional jab and she's not taking any shellfish, we can delay the jab. Got to watch out for fever 5 days from MMR jab.

2 June
Hubby had to go back to school but when he came back in the evening. We decided to bring RaeAnne to Tampines1 together with MIL who has also not been there. RaeAnne loved the toy shops, she'll run around and touch/pull out everything. When we were at Cold storage, while hubby, MIL and RaeAnne were waiting for me (outside Cold storage) to pay for my items. Hubby 'instigated' RaeAnne to go take an apple for Nai Nai, she'd run there, touch a fruit then run back again, shaking her head. Haha, clever gal, never fall for Daddy's trick. I always tell her must wait for aunty to scan (di di di), we pay $$$, then the item is ours. If not, it's aunty's, cannot take otherwise aunty will scold. ;)

3 June
Finally, ACJ clinic called me bright and early at 9am about my oscar risk. RaeAnne was already up at 830am, today I let hubby sleep in, she was babbling loudly when the clinic called. So all I remember is for my age group, it should be 1:350 but my oscar results show 1:9668 or 1:6998. Didn't write it down at that time, by 930am when I woke hubby up to tell him, I already forgotten the correct order liao. Cham! memory failing. :P We went to LJS for breakfast today, as usual, left the house late, came back even later. But today is the first day, I sat in the front passenger seat while RaeAnne sat in her car seat and she didn't make any noise. Yeah! finally, my chance at freedom. :)

Hubby fed RaeAnne porridge at 1:15pm, shower at 2pm, and she didn't want to sleep, finally napped from 4pm - 530pm. 1.5 hrs only, no wonder she was grouchy when she woke up. The porridge which I asked hubby to prepare at 430pm still wasn't ready as he didn't use freshly boiled water (hotter), so we finally left the house at 7pm to go for our dinner after feeding RaeAnne. My stomach was protesting and feeling pukey so ate a nutella sandwich in the car. Went to compasspoint so that hubby can check out some toys at Metro Sengkang. Ate at Sakura cos the other restaurants all long queue. After dinner, we went to Metro, RaeAnne has a really fun time running all over, playing peekaboo with us from the racks of clothes and peering at herself at mirror and pushing changing room doors open. Aiyoh! Hubby had to physically grab her and carry her out of Metro cos she kept running back to the store. ;P

Was too late to bathe her proper as we got back around 10pm so we just wiped her face and hosed her down with warm water once without washing her hair. I went to shower while hubby gave her last milk feed. Naughty gal, she always leave a lot of milk behind when daddy feeds. So I added some hot water and fed her myself after my shower. My hair was still wet and she felt it. Immediately gestured for me to blow dry my hair, told her I'll do it after she finish her milk milk. She drank a bit more only (maybe cos she had 2 spoonfuls of rice at Sakura). After her milk feed, I told her she must lie down and sleep then mummy go and blow dry hair. She really guai guai and put her head on my cushion (her impromptu pillow) but she will go to 'push up' position. When I catch her doing it then she quickly guai guai lie down again. She finally slept at 11pm. What a long day for her. :)

Oscar Scan

Went for my Oscar scan, hospital tour and gynae appt at TMC today. Had to reach there at 830am this morning cos I didn't have appt (Sat appts are fully booked) so we left RaeAnne to sleep over at ILs place today. MIL has appt with friend at 2pm so we must rush back before that. Everything was back to back but baby was guai guai (already told BB in the car to lie down in nice position for the sonographer to scan) so the Oscar scan only took 10mins. Also took blood so results will only be out next Tues.

The TMC tour was ok, the delivery suites did look in need of renovation, tired looking but the wards were very nice esp the newly renovated Super Deluxe rooms, suites etc.

After that, went back to Dr Joycelyn Wong's clinic to see dr. Decided to sign the package so that she can scan for me again. The sonographer was a woman of few words and very minalist. So, I didn't get a chance to ask if she saw bb's gender. Dr Wong said she will try and check for me. BB is 6.5cm long, heart beat 154 and looks like I'm going to have another princess cos scan showed nothing in between the legs.

Hubby insists he is not disappointed at all. Already broke the news to ILs, didn't want them to harbour any false hopes (if any). They are ok as well, said gals good, no need to go through NS and worry about sudden death!?! Hah, so extreme meh? Actually, I think RaeAnne will be happier with a sister (can play together, next time go shopping, share clothes, etc). I always wanted a sister, asked my mum many times when I was young why she didn't give me a sister. Esp when I quarrelled with my bro. Hee. Well, looks like we save $$ cos really nothing to buy liao since gal again. :)

Just a bit disappointed that the Chinese gender calendar predictor didn't work this time. Hee.

Pagi Sore & playground playdate

Brought RaeAnne to TM for BK's breakfast, tired of Mac and wanted to try BK's bf. Compared to Mac, BK is cramped and not enough Bb chairs, Hubby had to ask from another family before RaeAnne got a seat. Dressed RaeAnne in her purple polo dress and this time, a little boy half a head taller than her beow her when we were walking to BK. Too bad I couldn't take any photos cos the camera was flat, forgot to recharge batteries after yesterday's outing to the beach. :P

Been wanting to go back to Pagi Sore for lunch or dinner for a long time. First ate there when I was working in a PR agency way back. The job sucks but I had fond memories of this restaurant. Now, they moved to bigger premises at Telok Ayer Street. Today the opportunity came up because after we came back from TM around 11+am, RaeAnne knocked out in the car. No amount of cajoling would make our gal wake up, she did open her eyes to peep at a dog when Daddy kept telling her got dog dog when we walked from the carpark back home. But she was just too tired cos she woke up early at 7am and after milk, refused to go back to sleep. :P So, we decided to change plans, take the porridge (already ready in the slow cooker by the time we came back) and bring her to ILs place so that she can continue her nap while hubby and I can go to China square central. Hubby can go 'beow' his toys while I can eat at Pagi Sore again. :)

We ordered the fish with otah sauce, tahu telur and the fried kangkong. It was too much for us esp the fried kangkong (which the waiter recommended that we take the medium cos small is too little for both of us). He must have thought we were gluttons. Anyway, the fish is a bit overdone but still goes well with the sauce, talu telur was big and the fried kangkong tasted very nice, nice smoky fragrance. Too stuffed so we could not order any dessert, their chendol and avocado dessert were supposed to be good. ;P

Today, RaeAnne got to play with Carrie Mei Mei (XY, Feb08 mummy's gal) at my mum's playground cos XY and my mum stays at the same block. So coincidental right? ;) Both gals were a bit shy but Carrie looks so girly with her big big eyes, wavy long hair while mine looked like a tomboy (I am not responsible for her dressing this time as she was at ILs place with minimalist Daddy). I went up to XY's place to collect something from her sister who organises BPs for kids stuff.

Even my bro agreed that the two gals look so different and mine looked like a tomboy when we were going back to my mum's unit. RaeAnne looked a bit downcast and sian when 'gu gu' said that. She must have detected the tone in voice. Quickly reassure her that Mummy and Gu Gu still love you lar. Hairstyle and clothes is not something that she can choose for herself at this age after all. And it is a very hot day and Daddy and Nai Nai doesn't know about this impromptu playdate so didn't bother to dress you up. ;)

Carrie Mei Mei :)

RaeAnne Cheh Cheh? :)

Love ya, you'll always be Mummy's darling princess! :)

First outing to the beach :)

Was busy chasing BOF (boys over flowers) Korean dramas for a few days. But today, I did break away from the laptop so that hubby and I could bring her to the Pasir Ris beach. The outing was cut short though cos she hates the sand. She didn't cry when we took out her sandals and set her on the sand. It was more like, the more she felt the grainy stuff between her toes, the more she don't like. The more she realised she can't get rid of them cos they are everywhere, she'll start whining and want us to carry liao. I let her step on my bare feet to walk to show her that sand is ok plus hubby making sand moulds for her but also no use. Look at her grouchy face at the beach and how she put her heel onto the ground so that her toes don't touch the sand. Haha.

Hubby said she's a city gal. Luckily, we were well prepared, brought talcum powder (actually prickly heat powder) to apply on her feet so that the sand can be easily dusted off. Had to carry her and dust off all the sand from her toes and let her sit on my lap before I could get this photo. Told hubby that's why important to expose her to more things when she is young because 'chu sheng zhi du bu pa hu' (ie. a new born calf does not fear the tiger cos it doesn't even know what is tiger. haha.) ;P

After the beach, we went to E hub, "New York" for dinner. Hubby had the bbq ribs while I had the brawurst wrapped in bacan and cheese. Food was ok, service was slow, got to keep repeating my requests to the waiter and waitresses. But the fun thing was that they had a cotton candy making machine so you can request for cotton candy for free. I let RaeAnne had a taste of it (let it touch her tongue and upper lip) and she wanted more. Of course no lar. Haha.

The funniest thing that happened while at the New E-Hub (at Downtown East) to have our dinner and feed RaeAnne's porridge. And an Indian Lady with her husband and 19 month old gal (Asha ree?) approached me and said. "Hi, I read your blog a few times. Your gal's name is RaeAnne right?" I was like dumbstruck. I told the lady yes but asked her how she found out about my blog. Turned out she was googling about bumbo seat and was directed to my site cos I had a photo of RaeAnne on her purple bumbo seat. Haha, told hubby I suddenly feel so famous, and honestly very flattered.

At night, when we were preparing RaeAnne for last milk feed and bed, when hubby mentioned 'sand', RaeAnne was so 'traumatised?' that she immediately started wriggling her toes as if trying to get rid of the sand between her toes. I had to remind her that she already bathed, no more sand. So cute. :P

P.S. To the Indian lady who stays at Tampines St 21 who read my blog, thanks for reading my blog and calling out to me. Sorry I didn't catch your name and the correct spelling for your gal's name. ;)

RaeAnne is 16 months today!!! :)

RaeAnne woke up at 630am and slept again until 945am after milk feed. After I changed her wet diapers and put her pyjamas back on then I realised that today is 22 May so she's 16 months today. Decided to dress her up 'mei mei' in a nice sleeveless dress and her new white Clarks shoes since today is a special day. She refused to smile until I gave her my camera case to play. Finally managed to get a good shot at home and at Nai Nai's place when she was busy eating porridge. She was like a pretty doll today, even a uncle on bicycle turned to look at her while we were waiting to cross the road at the pedestrian crossing. ;)

So, what is new in the past month?

1) She can now undo the zip of my camera case. Last time, she don't know how to open the zipper and will make a lot of noise until we unzip for her. Oh no, another barrier removed for her to open and explore things. :P
2) She can say 'Na2' or 'Nay Nay' (sounds like Nai Nai). Most of the time, she will say 'Bye' upon request too.
3) She can now stand on the weighing scale herself but don't know why when she's alone, she's lighter, 2 days ago, her weight was only 9.5 kg. Hmmm...?
4) She can slide down a low slide on her own, I tried it 2 weeks ago, let go of her at the top and she slide down fine. Didn't cry when she reached the bottom even though I was not there. I quickly slide down to pick her up before other kids crash into her. ;)
5) Can understand conversation very well. Even though she can't speak yet. Eg. when Nai Nai complained that she 'man3 tou2 da4 han4, she immediately went to fetch a paper fan for me to fan her. When I started flipping her wet hair (after Nai Nai bathed her), she immediately went to pull her towel hung over the dining chair so that I can dry her hair. Will pull or push the chair so that she can climb and get access to what she wants eg. kitchen cabinet, kitchen table, dining table. She's not the least worried and doesn't give up even if she is hanging of the table with only her hands like tarzan. If she wants, means she wants. Very determined gal.
6) Throwing tantrums still no improvement. Will throw away things and scream when her requests are rejected.
7) Sleeping through the night, nope except on lucky nights. Most nights, she'll wake up to cry for no reason and want us to carry her. :P She still loves to poke and lie on my belly although I keep trying to stop her by telling her 'cannot, wait baby pain pain'. Loves to kiss and babble to my tummy too. If she does this at night, I'll tell her that 'baby sleep already, don't disturb baby, bb not listening to you' But she'll only get angry and babble more. ;P

KP sale & Music

There was a storewide KP sale for GSS. Took the opportunity to go and buy the stroller hooks that I've been meaning to buy for the Maclaren stroller for a long time. Also bought a 'xylophone' for RaeAnne. This mummy keeps buying musical instruments for her cos I never had a chance to have music or piano lessons cos my parents didn't believe in such things.

Hubby has a flair for music cos according to MIL, his teacher actually told MIL to send him for piano lessons but he was already taking art lessons and taekwando then. FIL was not keen to send him to too many enrichment lessons, also cost was an issue as FIL was the sole breadwinner as a secondary teacher. Even now, hubby can bang out tunes of Chinese or English pop songs using RaeAnne's 8 key Fisher Price Grand Piano. Hope RaeAnne inherits Daddy's flair for music. :)

Sunday, when we were at TM, I especially let RaeAnne go into Yamaha to 'play' with the pianos/organs. She likes it so much. She keeps wanting me to carry her so that she can continue banging on the keys (the Yamaha shop was very clever not to provide any stools for the display organs). But I was too tired after a while and hubby didn't offer to take over as he wanted to go to the CD shop. Think I got to start looking for music appreciation lessons for RaeAnne since she'll be turning 18 mths in July. I'm sure Yamaha doesn't offer cos I enquired previously, before she even turned 1 year old in fact, kiasu mummy. :P

Some forum mummies were discussing on what kind of adult food they have allowed their toddlers to take. Some kids have even tried ice cream, coffee, curry etc. Till now, we don't dare to let RaeAnne try ice cream and packet drinks. Our rationale is ignorance is bliss, don't let her try, she'll make noise for sure but at least it's limited, distract with some other food she CAN eat but ok liao. But once she tastes it and knows the taste, there's no stopping her liao. As it is, she scream the house down if she wants something and we don't want to give it to her. Her favourite word now is "Beh Beh Beh". No, it doesn't stand for something as innocent as Bear, that's Bear Bear. "Beh Beh Beh" is her own short form for "O-PEN. A word I taught her, hehe, and she picked this up the fastest cos it's such a useful word to her now. :P

Oh ya, went to Challenger and decided against pre booking Sims3 ($74.90) because I'm not sure if I'll have time to play leh. :P Hiaz. Also checked out Canon Ixus 110 IS recommended by Jan forum mummies that it's fast and reactive, a Point and Shoot camera that is good for taking kids' photos. The salesman offered me $499 instead of $549, a 8 gb card, camera case but I'm more keen on the free batteries. Actually, I've been eyeing a DSLR for a long time, nothing can beat the DSLR in terms of shooting portrait shots (face in focus with blurry background kind of photos) but I'm also having doubts because with 2 kids, there'll definitely be a lot of things to carry in future, will I bother to lug a DSLR out and have time to take the photos esp when hubby is not a photo enthusiast? Duh... :P

First puke

Sigh, had my first puke today. Had left over pizza (from lunch) for supper just now but felt so miserable. Took antacid around 9pm and gastric pills at 10+pm but it didn't help. Actually I didn't puke much but it was a relief to get something out of my system when it was making me feel so bloated and painful. :(