Friday, April 25, 2008

Tiramisu & lasagne


Finally made my first tiramisu about 10 days ago, after years of hesitation. 

Though it is my favourite dessert, I have a silly thought that once I can make a delicious tiramisu on my own, I will be making it too often. If I can't make it, I can only eat it when I am at an Italian restaurant. Silly reasoning I must admit. Oh well, it is true I guess as since I made it over a week ago, and finishing almost the whole cake on my own, except for a slice which I gave to helper, I have been dreaming of making it at least 3 times this week. Each time I had to remind myself of the calories I will be piling on if I make it as my neighbours are often too polite (or waist conscious) to accept any cake and since it contains rum, they won't give to their kids either. E doesn't eat it, and I won't give to Marcus. So I would have to eat it all by myself. Ohhhh... that would be so tough on me! Haha!

I also made a super yummy beef lasagne few days ago. Instead of following traditional recipe, I adapted by adding ricotta cheese to the sauce. It was so divinely creamy and delicious that E ate 1/3 of my lasagne for dinner, as he mumbled "woo.. very nice" in between mouthfuls. Nice appreciation for my effort. I had always made spinach ricotta lasagne instead of the beef version and the past few attempts with the beef fared only average in my opinion. Not this time. It was perfect! I am sure the hubby will be requesting it for dinner very soon. 

Crown necklace

Eva made this specially for me. A crown necklace for the Goddess, according to her!! I will post pictures once I have a well-taken photo of the piece.

It is so beautiful and extraordinary and I am so touched by her thought and gesture, especially considering we only got to know each other for a couple of months. But then again, as we mature, I think we just don't need a long time anymore to know which new acquaintances can become good friends and it may take just a few moments to really hit it off with a stranger.

It was like this with Eva. I liked her the first time I met her, especially her easy laugh and cheerful disposition. There is just this 'something' in her that seems to sparkle wherever she goes. She is soft-spoken and yet has a big laugh. She seems so gentle and demure and yet I suspect a gregarious and passionate soul lies within. There is a quiet maturity and sensitivity about her and yet she seems to know a lot about having fun too. It is so easy to talk to her and I always enjoy and look forward to our time together. Over the years, I think great friendships are harder to come by as I always believe in quality over quantity. But I must admit I have been truly blessed with the great friends I have who always stand by me and the new good friends I make recently. How can I not say that life has been great to me!! :) I am grateful.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

One is NOT enough!

After months of trying to encourage sharing, we tend to buy a similar toy or an exact duplicate so each boy can have their own. We think we are being fair to the baby. Being #2 and of the same gender as #1 doesn't mean that he can't have his own favourite toy taxi or train or car etc..

So when the boys fight daily over the battered old blue Comfort taxi toy from Toys R Us, I decided to buy Nicholas his very own when he turned 18 month! When he brought back his shiny new vehicle from Vivo City, Marcus looked at it eagerly and compared with his old toy for a moment and offered to exchange his old taxi with his little brother's new possession. The baby may be younger but he is not to be bullied. He held on tightly to his new taxi, refused Marcus' offer and briskly ran away. Marcus wasn't going to give up so easily so he changed his tactic. He played hard ball.

First a fuss just enough to catch my attention - 'Err.. mama, I want the new taxi. Chipsy can have the old taxi." When I told him baby didn't want to exchange, he tried again, and this time louder as he tugged hard at my arms! 'But I want it! That is my taxi. He took my new taxi. His is the old taxi! I don't want the old taxi!' Didn't work on me.. so again he went, and with more tears and hugging my legs.. "I want 2 taxis. One is NOT enough! Chipsy can play with other toys, not the taxi!" and all failed, he went after Nicholas and snatched the new taxi from the baby and threw him the old taxi!

Hmm.. I watched his sly behaviour cautiously and wondered how best to tackle the new battle that I can see arising. What to do except to brace them the same ways as we always do with every "fight" they have. With some guts, plenty of love and patience and huge doses of understanding and a small prayer to keep our sanity. :)

Recently Marcus would say things like "I don't like all my old toys mama. You can throw them into the garbage truck. I want to buy new toys. I NEED new toys. A lot of new toys. We go Toys R Us later, ok?"

I just can't help but wonder how could a young child place so much value on possessing new vs old toys. He doesn't watch commercials nor did we discuss anything like "new is better than old". I wonder if we are programmed genetically to fancy newer things over older possessions. Perhaps we are programmed to look out for novelty which anything new will present, so a new toy will strike the interest of a child more obviously. Hmm.. there is a lot of educating to do in this area.


We bought another Piglet for baby, though Marcus didn't fight with him over it. Papa came home with the duplicate one day so that we could wash the first one which was turning yellow from weeks of sucking and chewing. Yikes!


Friday, April 18, 2008

Cheeky innocence

Brought Marcus to Eva's house with Kyoko and her 5 y.o. Kana for playdate yesterday afternoon. When we arrived at Eva's, Kana announced loudly that she has something yummy for Eva and presented a bag of bread from Breadtalk. Marcus was standing behind Kana watching her and as he walked into the house, he announced with the same loudness to my embarrassment and amusement - "I didn't bring you anything!", and threw his arms up in the air as he speak. All the adults couldn't stop laughing at his innocent yet hilarious comment.

The boy was oblivious to the roaring laughter and just skipped to Nelson's room with Kana and simply helped himself to the heaps of toys Nelson has with no shyness, though that was the first time he was there.  Well, that was great for me as Eva baked a bunch of muffins that contained chocolate buttons and we adults could just eat and chat while the 8 month old baby Elvis sat in the high chair next to us. Sometime later, the adults left the table for about 5 min to visit the loo, attend to Kana who had a crying episode and left baby Elvis alone. When we came back, we were horrified to find Elvis chewing on a piece of muffin paper with crumbs on the high chair. Someone must have fed the baby the muffin and there were only 2 possible candidates - the 2 playdates!! So I had to ask.

Me: Marcus, did you give the baby the muffin?
Marcus: yes. (and continue to play without raising his head to look at me)
Me: Marcus, he is a baby. Cannot eat muffin!! Why did you give him the muffin?
Marcus: Because I don't want Kana to eat it.

He gave the baby a quarter of the muffin which Kana left behind on the plate. Oops! It was actually incredibly amusing and horrifying at the same time. But I must admit that I can't get enough of my son's cheeky innocence. I hope this cheekiness stays in him forever.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Toys R Us in Vivo

If I ask Marcus on most days what he wants to do, he would either say he wants to stay at home and play with his toys or he wants to go to Toys R Us at Vivo City.

So I took Marcus to Vivo City on a bus today and left baby at home with maid so I can bond with my first born. He was such a sweet self the whole time. He asked for yong tau fu for lunch, so we headed to the food court and he picked his pieces. Ate most of the pieces and after lunch, snacked on cashew nuts and seaweed which I brought along while I ate my lunch.

It is great to head out with him alone nowadays as it is so easy to feed him when we are out and I don't have to bring tons of stuff like before. And he is quite easy going most times when he is out with me and rarely throws tantrums or disagree with me. After lunch, we walked around a bit and then went to Toys R Us for a good hour and half. That was the boring part for me as I could only stand around and watch him move from toy to toy. Oh well, like E said, it is all for the sake of love, so for love it is that I stayed at the store for the maximum amount of time I could endure and just chewed my thumbs and smiled at him from time to time. He said he had fun when I asked him in the end, so I guess it is all worth it. 



Marcus comparing the two sets before announcing to me which he preferred. It was funny to watch him reading the small prints on the packaging too. Like mother like son.

Expressing himself









He likes to pose for the camera sometimes and would insist on admiring his photographs after they are taken.

Nowadays, he tells us he is angry if something or someone upsets him and would display an appropriate body language, gesture and facial expression which is very amusing to watch. Yesterday at the pool, E used a water spray (short of a better name) and playfully shot water a couple of times at Marcus. The boy was not the least bit amused. The first two times annoyed him enough and he just brushed his clothes, face and hair with a frustrated 'Ay, who is doing that to me? Stop! Stop doing that to me!' and went back to playing with the pirate ship by the pool. E laughed and did it shortly after and it really angered the boy this time. He stood up and threw his hands up in frustration and repeated his 'Ay, stop spraying water on me! Stop doing that to me! I am angry! Hmmph!!' and stomped away from what he was playing with a facial expression that looked like his feelings got hurt. Poor little boy! I thought he probably felt he was bullied and had to chide his papa for bullying.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Swimming

Brought the boys to the Caribbean for a get together with C's family and as usual, it was a wonderful way to spend the Sunday morning. Outcome - a big toasted family!! Despite covering the kids with so much sunblock, I still managed to get a really brown baby. Chipsy always browned up so quickly under the sun and I must admit he looks so cute tanning up. Though I must add that he is also super adorable when he is pasty white.

Marcus didn't want to get into the water initially and just stood next to the shallow private pool playing with the Lego pirate ship for a long time. Once in the water, he didn't want to get out, except for two times to see the cobra spotted in the condo facility with E. Two hours later, we stuffed ourselves with pizza from Pizza Hut and Nicholas ate a whole sweet potato I brought specially for him. By 130pm, we could feel the heat on our skin dehydrating us and sapping all our energy and we had to drag our feet out of the condo into a cab. Nicholas fell asleep in the cab and slept for a straight 3 hrs at home. E and Marcus took a bath together and napped straight after. So did I. Now I am sipping my coffee while typing this and soon after I need to start working on my business plan and attack my to do list. Yoga at 630 and then chill down for the evening. E has taken the day off tomorrow, so it's Yippeeeee!!! Always nice to have him around on a weekday as it somehow makes me feel like it is an extra day of weekend. :)

That reminds me.. I really have to start scouting around for proper swimming lesson for Marcus. Hmm..

Strumming & singing

It was a really fun idea to have the Wincklers and Browns over yesterday. The kids had so much fun with each other playing together and learning to take turns and share and be nice to each other and the adults had lots of fun eating and have some good laughs. The theme tonight was to have E and R play the guitars and Ev and K sing along since they are both veterans in singing and K was a professional singer before. I heard them tonight and they are really good and very entertaining. I always think it is very sexy to be able to sing so well.

Well, I used to think that there is something very sexy about having a husband who can strum very well too and E is a very competent guitarist. According to many of our friends who play or learning to play, I have been told numerous times of highly skilled and impressive my hubby is in this department, so I am naturally very proud of him. And yes, I still think that he looks very sexy playing his guitar.

I must admit that I used to be so confident that he would compose something and name it after me since it is such a romantic idea. Hmm.. and I had also thought that during our courtship, he would seduce me with his guitar playing skills, especially with a piece that he had composed specially for me. But that still hasn't happened after our 5 years of marriage, not counting the amount of time we spent together pre-marriage. Hmm...

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Chipsy is 18 months old



He is really growing up too fast! I look at him everyday and can't stop remarking just how adorable he is, in every way. Babies may be cute in some ways the moment they arrive into the world, but they just get cuter as they grow and I think they are the cutest between 12 and 30 months.

Before that, they are more like a helpless heap and cry too much but after 12 months, their individuality and personality begin to emerge and antics developing and we get a super cute tot. After they turn 2.5, they start to appear a bit 'grown up' and just not as cute as before anymore.

Well, Chipsy is at this cute stage and I wish we can stop time somehow though concurrently, I can't wait to have him grown up so that we can enjoy him in different ways. He is such wonderful fun to play with right now.

Today I took him out on my own for a full 8 hours and I had so much fun! We took the MRT and he charmed the passengers with his big round innocent eyes and bashful looks while sitting in the stroller. It was so pleasant to ride all the way to Vivo City with the charismatic and well-behaved baby who would occasionally reach out from his stroller to hold my hand.

He spent a few hours there walking around the open compound at Vivo, in Toys R Us and other parts of the mall and sometimes just exploring. I bought him another Comfort Taxi toy similar to what Marcus has which made him happy. Now there would be no more need to fight over the one and only toy taxi we have at home.

I looked at the little boy today and decided before we left home that he would have his own Taxi to play with. It is only fair.

I do try to keep an eye out for interesting things that Marcus never had and buy them for Nicholas but these things are hard to come. As a first time mum, I did my research well and anything worth having for our precious, we bought. Even enrichment classes and experiences are the same. Marcus went to all sorts of paid trial classes before but we were mostly unhappy and dissatisfied about them. So I decided not to take Nicholas for those unsatisfactory trials which seems like a sensible and smart thing to do. But I can't help feeling bad about the differences at times.

I got to agree with E though that he is #2 and the fact is, there will always be an older sibling who has done it before. So we can't compare them and their experiences. #2 has a constant playmate which #1 didn't have, so that in itself is a very valuable daily experience that Marcus missed out, and which was made up for differently for Nicholas.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Back to drawing


For the last 2 weeks, Marcus' little folder from school was packed with sheets of writing that he had done in school. Not just the ABCs, but also the numerals and chinese characters (for the number 1 to 5) and some drawings which Marcus did. I sat with him and excitedly asked him to tell me more about what he did in school and it was so much fun to hear him describe and tell me what he wrote and drew.

Teacher S briefed me few days ago of how Marcus is now doing so well in the writing and drawing and he has come a long way, as far as holding the pencil is concerned. He has finally mastered the correct way of holding a pencil for drawing and writing and is now doing it with ease and confidence. He has on several occasions excitedly pointed out to me at home that 'I can hold the pencil the right way myself now!' And I am sure he could appreciate my reactions as I beam in pride of my 3 yr old.

He is now back to daily drawing and is starting to draw more subject matter other than vehicles. He loves to draw for mama and papa and without fail would label each drawing for the respective honoured recipient and announced proudly to us accordingly. There are some remarkable ones recently too, like a barn with wheels for Papa, a train on a sunny day for mama and I think I got another colourful drawing that has a pretty multi-coloured bus next to a house, some flowers, bird, trees and a sun! I am seriously looking forward to signing him up for his first art competition when he turns 4. Next, is tons of encouragement and inspiration for him to draw some animals! I can't draw animals to save my life, so I am counting on the grand dad when he comes in 3 weeks to bring out my son's artistic talent to the next level.

Superfamous at the House!!

It must be a good start to a week when we head out for drinks and dinner with gorgeous company on a Monday night. Met E and friends at the Superfamous for the fantastic happy hour drinks and burger deal. I simply can't stop talking about how delicious the Wagyu burger tastes and that comes complimentary with my glass of bubbly for only $10! Two glasses and burgers after, we proceeded to House at Tanglin Village and had more yummy appetisers, Tiffin Punch, wine and desserts! We just weren't hungry enough for the mains, so decided on some really tasty appetisers to share. The sheer advantage of knowing the owner of House is a platter of complimentary incredibly mouth watering and melt-in-the-mouth desserts. The warm chocolate toffee cake, butterscotch apple cake and lemon macadamia tart are definitely divine enough to kill for. I am definitely returning for desserts and drinks with more charming company in the very, very near future.

A superb evening of stimulating and intellectual conversation with lovely company can't go wrong anywhere we go to begin with. These are some of my favourite people on Earth, so to top that with good wine and food for a few hours, and we get a very happy Me! My mood was incredibly good, and even though I couldn't sleep till 3am after due to a splitting headache and had to wake after 3 hours of sleep, I am in good mood this morning, albeit too tired for my full day today. It is a good start nevertheless and now I am looking forward to returning to being the superfamous at the House again, really soon.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Baby talk, baby play

The baby plays all day long, talks all day long too.

He plays very similarly like his big brother and really picks up super fast. We see Marcus do one new thing in the morning and a few hours later, Nicholas is doing the same thing. Marcus plays on his road map a lot, parking and moving his large variety of vehicles around and arranging them in all sorts of crash and rescue scenarios. We see Nicholas play the same way, moving a double decker bus (which he excitedly calls 'decker') along the roads on the map and making the same "brrrm brrmm brrmm' sound that Marcus makes.



He does plenty of pretend play. Sometimes with Marcus. Sometimes with me or helper. He pretends to cook and feed us with the kitchen set toys, and does a lot of highly animated acts with us whenever Marcus is in the mood. He loves to be in Marcus' company, so whatever the bigger brother does, the lil one follows. He placed an empty plastic container on his head and pretended it was a hat and walked around like a chubby comedian in the '60% mummy, 40% daddy' romper E bought. That was hilarious to watch as he amused himself with the new hat on his head. He saws and screws and drills with the tool set toys we have and loves to hide every piece of the nuts and bolts whenever he gets the chance.




He loves shape sorters and starting to play with 2 piece puzzles. He has played with all the different shape sorters we have, of varying levels of difficulty and seem to enjoy the challenge of the more difficult ones as well as the ones that he has mastered.



He talks non stop with whoever playing with him. At home, we all speak non stop to him too, so I guess that encourages his talkativeness which is great. His voice sounds like music to us and even the helper, who has developed a real fondness and love for the baby, is very self-motivated to teach him new words and talk to him all the time. It always makes us laugh when Nicholas talks to Marcus as he is highly animated and sometimes he sounds as if he is asking plenty of questions with his accompanying hand gesture.




It is comforting to see him learn new skills and take on new challenges with the same easy hunger and confidence as Marcus and rewarding to watch him excitedly showing off a new game he has learnt, new word he has picked up, or being able to point to the correct picture of a word I read out. That is the beauty of parenting and one of the ways of being appreciative of being a stay-home mum is I guess, celebrating the moments he does something for the first time.


Saturday, April 5, 2008

Adrenalin rush

I am so hooked on yoga now. Just went for an absolutely killing Power Yoga session after spending the morning with mum and sibilings. I lurve it! Yogalates tomorrow morning and gym run in the afternoon if I am not hurting too badly. :) The crane pose and headstand are just too challenging at this point, but challenges are what I love, so they are small goals to set for the next month.

I am definitely running on a "high" this week - signing up for Shape Run with girlfriends and probably embarking on 2 businesses of my own! How can I not get more excited?!! The adrenalin rush is amazing and I feel so positively charged up!

Later this evening, we had a lovely and intimate family-only BBQ at the condo. The boys decided the didn't want to eat anything besides buns, while they strolled around the compound with our helper. That made it convenient for E and I to have an intimate, 2 of us only BBQ and we fed each other marinated beef and chicken and a healthy leafy salad which was washed down with yummy NZ pinot.

After bath and bedtime for the boys, E headed out for boys' night out while I stayed in after my long day to watch Red Dragon with my big glass of NZ pinot, Macbook on my lap while I surfed and ordered US$250 of babelicious Vic Secrets stuff!! Hah! What a great way to chill and end the fruitful day, on a 'high' note, I must add!

Now I can't wait to receive the goods from VS! Woo la la...

Friday, April 4, 2008

The price of beans & beancurd

When it comes to eating out, Marcus' favourite hawker food has to be Yong Tau Fu! Has been his choice of selection for the past 6 months or so and we are very encouraging when he tells us his meal decision. He loves to select the pieces himself, though handling the thong is still too challenging for him. So usually the papa will pick up the pieces that the boy pointed at and place the order for 'dry, extra soya beans and no noodles please!'.

My 3 y.o. can eat up all 7 pieces at one sitting which always include at least a fishball (and sometimes 2), fish cake, triangular piece of tofu, tau pok of some variety and the rest a mixture of whatever that he fancies. But no, he still doesn't choose the greens. But it is ok. That will be too much to expect of him right now.

Lego Creation







Marcus has started to build his own creations with the Lego sets he has. All the different sets are now mixed up on purpose into one big box of large and tiny parts and the father and son team just sets about assembling their own different inventions almost everyday. E is working hard on encouraging him to be creative and it is showing some promising results. It is awesome to watch Marcus working earnestly on his new creations. This little boy may be only 3, but his determination and concentration would be simply remarkable to most. 

1st picture: He worked all on his own for over 2 hours straight to create the Police Snow Plough truck, as inspired from one of his Thomas Tank Engine stories.

2nd and 3rd pictures: Police station - Marcus' own design.

4th and 5th pictures: The boy followed instructions to build the digger. 

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Baby and Papa




Hmm... the last picture kinda looks like the baby is trying to clear the papa's nose...we certainly didn't allow him to!

Nicholas the Explorer!





Jacobs Ballas


Leon with the stunt baby! It made the baby laugh. :) 



The chase! 



My baby and his sandy affair! 






Went to Jacobs Ballas with some friends and their kids 2 weeks ago. Surprisingly, Nicholas is not fussy about the sand anymore, unlike in October when he refused to put his feet down on the sand at Sentosa. Marcus, on the other hand, completely avoided the sand and insisted on being carried by E most of the time.  

Above 2 pictures: courtesy of Karen's hubby.. thanks! :) 

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

All through the town

Sometimes the simple pleasures of taking a bus ride with the boys make me remember why we need to take it easy and to smell the roses, so to speak. It is a nice experience hopping onto the first bus that comes outside our place and just take a leisurely ride on a scorching hot afternoon that is too hot for strolls. To the lil ones, a bumpy ride for half hour before alighting at Clarke Quay for a free-for-all exploration is some adventure in itself. That is what we are going to do in ten minutes after Nicholas finishes his milk and Marcus is done redecorating his craft from school. By the time we come back, it will be just in time for a quick bath for the boys, snappy dinner in the tummy and tuck them nicely to bed, all before 8pm. It shall be a hectic 4 hours from now but all worth it.

Edited to add: As usual, Marcus fell asleep on the bus ride there and missed the whole fun. He only woke in time for the bus ride home. Nicholas had tons of fun chasing and being chased by a almost naked caucasian girl draped in only fuschia underpants around the fountain area of Clarke Quay. He was totally drenched by the end of the hour of rinsing himself and hopping around the jets of water sprouting from the fountain.

Mumm

Chipsy says that all day long when he sees one of us chewing. He will come to us and loudly say 'mumm' or 'urmm' while looking intently at our lips. It is very adorable to watch him do that and always make us laugh, but when we offer him little morsels of our food, whatever it is, chances are, he will spit it out at the same instant the food touches his tongue. He dislikes most food, and are not adventurous when it comes to new tastes. His favourites are potato and sweet potato and occasionally he tolerates salmon, cod, chicken, rice and some plain tasting crackers. He rejects all forms of fruits and vegetables and even the easily acceptable bread or toast doesn't always make it past his lips.

Well, we just remind ourselves that he grows well and we take the pediatrician's advice to heart - some tots just prefer milk and will outgrow this soon. I look at Marcus and remember the struggle we had feeding him before he was 2, but now at 3.5, he can eat like a horse and on some days choose to eat like a bird too. It doesn't matter and we, as parents, learn to take it easy and remind ourselves that toddlers eat like one and we should be glad for that.



Self-feeding himself sweet potato. He can self-feed very well with spoon or fork and successfully place the food into his mouth in 9 out of 10 tries! Needless to say, 100% success rate with hand!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...