Picture Perfect Time!!

I lost my digital camera more than a month ago, so didn't do a lot of snapshots for some time until I got a new Nokia N86 phone with 8 megapixels camera. It's good enough to take the place of a live camera for me, so it's snapping time again!



Charis, just 9 days before turning 10 months.



Charis likes to tug at the car seat safety belt or "dig" into the buckle as if she's trying to release the button and set herself free. She doesn't like to be strapped ever since she started crawling :)



She likes to lift up her leg as well...



And put her feet into her mouth whenever she feels like it..



A leisure afternoon on her favourite Fisher Price rocker.



Charis playing with daddy's lanyard. Citing my mum's experience when she took care of Charis a few hours when I'm out with my friends from time to time, Charis can only play with one item max 10 mins and she'll throw it aside. That's so true! We got to keep coming up with something new to keep her interest going.. In fact, she'll end up having remote controls, mineral bottle, note books and stuff in hand instead of her toys. Ha ha..:)



Charis with Ah Gong. See! Another remote control!



Charis holding mummy's bottle of cleanser. "Hello, hello, anyone there????"



One of mummy's favourite picture, the "cool baby" look.. Ha ha :) Charis, 10 months and 2 days..



Charis is now very into grabbing support - whether objects or mummy or daddy and lift herself up. Here's the demonstration. So Charis says, "First, hold on to a support tight, as tight as our little hands can grab.."



"Then lift up your butt and pull yourself up to a stand. You can also try to get to a kneeling position and pull yourself up from there. No hard and fast rules, just always ensure safety first!" :)



"And voila! I'm standing up! Remember to turn your head and look at mummy or daddy, cos they may be waiting to snap this moment!" Ha..ha..



A satisfied Charis shaking her hands :)

Charis Is Now 10 Months Old!!

Oh I've been away so long! And so many additional milestones to Charis's little life, so I shall do a little catching up...

Charis has been biting on her fists to ease her itchy gums for quite a while, but one fine day on 9/6/2009 ~ 8 months 15 days, the much anticipated teeth sprouted out of her gums! It was the 2 lower front teeth that came out first, and now she has a grand total of 5 visible teeth - 3 lower and 2 upper front teeth :) I read and heard that babies may commonly experience diarrhoea or fever during teething, but for Charis, a few days before her first teeth emerged, she screamed in her sleep!! As soon as she screamed, I immediately ran to her rescue only to find her still asleep??!! Amazing, isn't it? :)

Her first crawl or slither, I should say, happened on 28/6/2009 ~ 9 months 4 days. She suddenly started doing "breaststroke" on daddy and mummy's bed when she woke up in the morning. We laughed as she made those raw attempts to push herself forward using her knees and belly. Gradually with much practice, she is now able to move faster and she is now gaining enough strength to pull herself up to a standing position while holding on to a stationary object. With these new accomplishments, she is even more curious and active these days and refuses to sit still like before. Gone were the days where she will lie quietly in my arms except when she's sleepy.. I kind of missed those days, but honestly I will be very worried if she stays that way still :) Nowadays, she will throw herself downwards when I am carrying her as if she wants to walk, and then she will go through daily obstacle course of climbing over stuff like pillows and bolsters, practically anything and everything in her way! Even in the car, she will climb over my thighs to reach for the car latch and up my belly to reach for her toy at the back of the car! Changing diapers is also increasingly challenging as she always fights to roll over on her belly. Now she is also able to roll herself in the sarong while rocking her. Whew, its WWF - World Wrestling Federation, Baby Episode.

We also have been trying to train Charis to wave bye-bye, and finally on 5/7/2009 ~ 9 months 11 days, she did her golden wave to Ah Gong and Ah Ma! But till now, she still prefers her favourite clapping and only "flaunts" her bye-bye on rare occasions. Oh just 2 nights ago, she suddenly shouted, "Bye bye" while tucking her to sleep and I was shocked! Isn't she supposed to learn to wave but not the speech yet? Hee.. hee.. But nonetheless a pleasant surprise :)

Another favourite activity for Charis recently is singing and screaming!! Her favourite advertisement on television is the Ribena drink advertisement "A Perfect Match" where Ms Lemon meets Mr Blackcurrant, following scene of them running towards each other across the pond, and finishing off with a classic swirl on a Hindi tune. Whenever this ad appears, her body will freeze and her eyes will be glued to the TV. Then seconds later, she will start clapping happily and make sounds as if she is trying to sing to the tune :) She also seems to be mesmerized by how loud and sharp her voice can be and she would scream a few times then stop and repeat them till she is satisfied. Her Ah Ma would put her index finger to her lips and say, "Shhh...shhh" but Charis took it like a game and screamed even more enthusiastically in response to her.

Ah Gong, Ah Ma, daddy and mummy had a good time laughing!! :)

Charis Is Now 8 Months And 16 Days!

At 8 months, Charis can now sit up very well. My mum also taught her to clap her hands when we encouraged her by clapping our hands together with her and repeating, "拍手, 拍手, 拍拍手!....". Charis always makes it a point to look at us whenever she claps her hands and when we laugh, she will clap even more enthusiastically with a hearty smile and sparkling eyes, totally immersing herself in our affirmation at her new feat :)

During feeding, I have also noticed an increasing interest in her wanting to participate in the feeding process. For example, she will try to grab the spoon from me and when she succeeds, I will exclaim a big "Ai yo darling!!" simply because the cereal will splatter onto her clothes but she remains unaffected by the messy sight and continues to "fight over" the spoon with me, leaving a frustrated yet amused mummy by her side. The word "messy" is certainly not in her dictionary yet! Ha ha... Same goes for bottle-feeding. She will try to grab hold of the bottle but instead of holding the bottle upwards, she can only pull it downwards so its mummy vs Charis - I am pushing the bottle upwards and she is pulling the bottle downwards! When this happens, I just got to pull out the bottle from her mouth and try again :) All these are part of her learning process to develop control.

So Charis says,"Mummy, I want to eat and drink by myself!!!"

And Mummy says,"Ok, be patient cos you need to learn to do it right ya?"

Here's some recent pics at 8 months:



This is a view taken from the inside of her sarong when she woke up from one of her afternoon nap. Started introducing sarong only when she's at 7 months to give her a longer sleeping time:) But during night time, it'll be back to her good old playpen.



"Look this way darling, and smile!"



We bought a jumbo walker for Charis to practise her walking, and the design is supposed to be an aeroplane. "See, I'm controlling my airplane!", says Charis.



Me having fun!



"Mmh.. The steering wheel is interesting cos I can turn it left and right, but the advertisement also very interesting lei. How ah?"

Outcome : Distraction!



A leisure time on daddy and mummy's bed..



Charis's favourite alarm clock in hand. In fact, she doesn't really fancy toys and she will get bored after playing for a while. But she likes real "toys" like this :)



"How can I dismantle this?"



Another favourite "toy" of hers - remote control! She's always aiming at it whenever I put her on my lap while sitting on the sofa, and before I know it, she will throw her body sideways to reach for it :)



At our dinner outing to New York New York... Daddy and Charis girl.



Mummy and Charis girl.. The hilarious part behind this pic was when we were taking this shot halfway, Charis suddenly turned her head back towards me and the moment our eyes met, both of us burst out laughing! All within a split second!! She sure knows how to amuse her mummy :)



The waitress was trying very hard to get Charis's attention, but to no avail :) Well it's ok, one more family potrait to our collection!

Home-Made Baby Food

Home-made food is always better than processed food!

But I guess we adults many times struggle with the idea of home-made food for ourselves. Processed food are quick and easy to prepare, and we hardly think about the actual nutrition value when buy what we need off the shelves. Convenience is the key. But for the sake of our children, mums can go great lengths and pay extra money to buy the freshest organic greens, fruits, fish and poultry and whip up the food just to ensure our little ones get all the nutrients that they need to grow..

I bought a packet of sweet peas at NTUC the other day so I thought I'll do a demonstration on how to do a home-made sweet pea puree!



Firstly, wash the sweet peas thoroughly and steam it for about 5 mins till it is cooked soft.



Then you can peel open the pocket to remove the seeds onto a strainer.



After gathering all the seeds, you can use a pestal to pound lightly so that the bigger seeds are mashed coarsely.



Now for the finer touch. Use the back of a spoon to press and scrape the sweet peas till the skin is totally separated from the fruit.



And after all the scraping action... you'll find all the sweet puree underneath the strainer!



You can prepare the puree in bulk and transfer them into ice-cube trays or a Baby Cubes container like this and store them in the freezer. Once they freeze as puree cubes, you can just remove them from the freezer and add them into your baby's favourite cereal or porridge anytime!



This is how it looks like in my freezer! I've got puree cubes of potato, chinese spinach, sweet potato and pumpkin :) It takes some effort, but certainly more cost-saving and nutritious.. and convenient too!

"Pah Pah... Mah Mah"

"Pa pa!"

"Ma Ma!"

These 2 words that I have uttered countless times in my life to my dear parents suddenly become so precious and something to die for... when I become a parent myself. These simple words instantly became music to the ears when it is uttered from the mouth of my own child.

I have interviewed a couple of mummies and they told me that their children learnt to call "Pa pa" first.

And Charis is no exception too :)

On 6th May 2009 ~ 7 months 12 days, Charis lunged out "Bu.. Bua.. Ba.. Pah.. Pah!" We were first taken surprise, then got excited over her new found baby language. Daddy was beaming with smiles of satisfaction from ear to ear as she repeated those words, swinging her arms and legs. Mummy was happy too, and at the same time wondered when will be her turn?

Well, Charis didn't forget her mummy.

Last night on our way back home in the car, Charis was hungry and kept crying out for milk. I was trying to keep my composure and mixing the formula as quickly as I can in the midst of the commotion when suddenly Charis screamed out in frustration,"Mah.. Mah.. Mah!!!" Hey wait a minute! Isn't this supposed to be a picture pretty moment when I hold her in my arms, and then our eyes meet while she lovingly utters,"Mah.. Mah"??

None of that sort! Yet the imperfection didn't overshadow our excitement and laughter as she continued screaming for mummy... Ha ha... It's not fun when a full grown adult loses control and screams out at others, but it's cute when a baby does that cos that's who they are... No fear, no control, and they will always be free to display any kind of emotions or do anything they want anywhere and anytime :)

Becoming a parent allows me to understand what is thanksgiving in a new light - I am thankful for a smile on my child's face, thankful that she drank well and ate well, thankful for a good night's sleep she had, thankful for the sparkle in her eyes as we gazed at each other, thankful for those special moments when we lie beside each other and burst out laughing as soon as we turned towards each other, thankful for the babyish giggles when I tickled her.. Thankful that she knows how to utter "Pah pah" and "Mah mah" though she may not yet fully understand the meaning of it.. And many more.

There's a price to pay along the way cos life is never quite the same when I become a mother, but it also comes with a volume of joy and satisfaction indescribable.

That's parenthood. It's a unique blend of tears and joy :)

I shall bookmark this special day : 22 May 2009 ~ 7 months 28 days

Stuff I call Charis

A funny yet spontaneous thought crossed my mind a few days ago.. Hey, why not summarize all the affectionate names that I created for Charis so that one day when she's old enough to read it, she can have a good laugh about it?

Ok, i'll do just that!

Actually I think I am pretty good at giving names, and of course, nothing crude, just clean fun :) Used to give my sister, my dad and dear lots of nicknames which were inspired by different occasions and stuff I see. It's really fun :)

Stuff I call Charis on a daily basis, and each has to be uttered with a unique tone and pitch :-

1. Charis girl-girl

2. Girl-girl Charis

3. Darling girl-girl

4. Ling-Dar (reverse order of darling.. Hee)

5. Dar-Ling-Dar

6. Ling-Dar-Ling

7. Dar-Dar-Dar !! (you need to exclaim for this!)

8. Ling-Dar-Dar !!!! (you need to exclaim twice the intensity for this.. ha ha)

9. Daily "poem" that I talk to her, "Darling girl-girl, girl-girl Darling, Darling girl-girl, girl-girl girl-girl girl!!!"

10. I'll kiss and whisper this in her ear everyday, "Mummy love you, Daddy love you, Jesus loves you, everybody loves you!"

11. I'll ask her everyday, "How are you my darling? Are you a happy darling?"

Just a few days ago, when Charis was crying while I was tucking her to bed, I suddenly remembered the tune of "London Bridge Is Falling Down" and I changed the lyrics.. Hee hee

"God is watching over you, over you, over you
God is watching over you, my Charis girl.

Jesus Christ is holding you, holding you, holding you
Jesus Christ is holding you, my Charis girl.

Holy Spirit's touching you, touching you, touching you
Holy Spirit's touching you, my Charis girl."

Hope this will form part of your childhood memory, darling. May it be fun, memorable and heartwarming.

Daddy and mummy love you!!!

Pre Mothers' Day Celebration

On 3rd May 2009, we had 2 pre Mothers' Day Celebration.. Yes, we celebrated a week earlier to avoid the massive dining crowd almost everywhere on one of the most celebrated occasions. Heard on the news that the sale of flowers and chocolate for Mothers' Day never dropped during this economic downturn. Woah.. it certainly showed that mummies are worth spending on.

With our car sent in for major surgery?? - i mean engine overhaul, we were back to the good old days of driving our beloved "Ferrari", my father-in-law's pickup which had aged quite a bit in its performance since we drove more than a year ago. We were back to lane 3 and 70km/hr, but this time with Charis girl girl :)

So we drove to pick my mum and sis up at 1215pm and headed down to Lao Beijing restaurant at Tiong Bahru Plaza.

While waiting for the food, we started snapping away...



Since Charis can sit up relatively well, we asked for a high chair for her.. Doing pretty well.. but darling, what are you looking ha??



Now in Charis's 7th month, she is practically curious about everything, and touching everything! Actually there is a cute cartoon plate in front of her, so she's trying hard to get it :)



Taking a short break from all the busy hand movements. Anything yummy for me? I am salivating.. :)



Po po and Charis..



Po po, Mummy and Charis... Hello! Look at the camera, please.



Po po, Ah Yee and Charis..



An enthusiastic Ah Yee with Charis in her arms!



Close up shot!



I like this one :)



And it wouldn't be complete without a family potrait :)



Must also introduce the food... This is Claypot Fish Toufu with assorted vegetables. The fish is really blended in the toufu, very smooth texture and not too salty. Yummy :)



This is supposedly one of their signature dish "Three Cups Chicken" or 三杯鸡. It's really good, unlike the foodcourt version.



This is an appetiser, but arrived as the 3rd dish?? Never mind :).. I tried this garlic pork slices or 蒜泥白肉 years ago at Novena Square branch and it tasted fantastic! But not this time though, cos i found it a bit too salty. Prefer the garlic sauce to just thinly coat the pork slices and it will be so much better.



This is "French Beans with Minced Pork and Dried Prawns". Really quite tasty and go very well with plain rice.. 很下饭噢!



We also ordered "Xiao Long Bao" to try. Not bad, but not as good as 鼎泰丰.



There you go! Our maternal pre-Mother's day lunch!



Let's tuck in!



Just when the above seems like a food blog, we see Charis finally grabbed hold of the wet tissue. How to open ah? Po po, can show me?



This is how 小"大姐大" drinks her milk. One leg propped up on the high chair and glancing sideways with an attitude :)



A dedicated Po po who quickly finished up her food so that she can take over from mummy to feed Charis.

A short while later, Po po brought Charis out for a walk cos she was getting restless in the restaurant. After settling the bill, we then walked around the mall and ended our first part of celebration :)

After dropping my mum and sis, we then headed back home for a short rest and we went to pick up my in-laws for the second round of pre-Mothers' Day celebration.

We arrived at Sakura International Buffet Restaurant @ Admiralty Park at 630pm. Thinking we were early, we happily walked down the stairs to the restaurant entrance to see a queue forming at the "reservation" line. Dear and I exchanged glances and in our hearts, we said,"Oh no, we didn't make any reservation!". We had to queue at the "walk-in" line and were told we were 5th on the waiting list, and that's not all, the expected time we could get in was 730pm to 8pm!

Dear and I quickly called the nearest outlet to see if we can make any reservation in time but they were all full. We were so concerned if an hour may be too long a wait when my Father-in-law suggested that we all wait at the park upstairs since everywhere may be crowded too. So we headed up the park and got a nice time enjoying the breeze, watching families having their day out..

And of course, we started snapping again..



We managed to catch this naughty look on Charis's face while sitting on Ah Ma's lap:)



Wah darling! What made you so happy? :) I suspect it has to do with daddy..



See that rattler in Charis's hand? It's a brand new toy bought by Ah Ma :)



Ah Ma happily feeding Charis girl..



Oh and where's Ah Gong? He had walked to the far side of the park already! We were so amused that we got to take a picture of this.. Ha ha..

In the end, thank God for His favor! With great persistence, dear and I went down to check on the seat availability again and the senior staff decided to bypass 4 other people on the waiting list and gave us 2 empty tables. It pays to stick around!!