18 Months Old

At playgroup

Yesterday was the first time Tobey and I ventured into our new city centre without SK. It was easier than thought, but I had to constantly mind those bicycles zooming by the sides and front! There's bicycle lanes on almost every busy road, hence made the road narrower for cars. My objective was to try to score some bargains at The Pier, who recently went into administration. When I was there, I realised all dining sets were sold, even those on the shop front. I wanted several mirrors, but they don't do delivery anymore and expect me to carry it out of the shop on my own! Obviously it's not possible as I have a stroller and an active toddler to care for. Their staff were rather unhelpful and rude. I know there's no incentive for them to be nice as they were about to loose their jobs (one of them told me it'll be before Christmas), but it's not the customers' fault. Anyway, I only managed to grab some coasters, hooks and Christmas wreath. I guess it's good anyway, since the recession is on. It's best to spend frugally.

Anyway, after lunch at Giraffe (he refused half his home-made lunch, but ate the small bowl of fries I ordered for him), Tobey had a jog around the park separating the 2 shopping areas. We went home soon after that.

"hai yah! This mommy ar, so cold also want to snap pictures"

"I'll pose for you anyway"

Today my darling is 18 months old already. He is growing up to be a boy with a rather strong personality. Wants to do things for himself (for us too) and participate more in household chores. For example, when it's time for his evening bath, he wants to get his own towel, turn on the bathroom lights and open the bathroom door. He wants to put the lid back on his flask, bottles, jar and such. If I were to describe him in words, they would be happy, giving, sociable, insistent/stubborn and loud but with a very gentle soul. Sometimes when he's annoyed with us, he would not look at us and not speak to us for quite a while, which is so funny to watch. As parents, we try to stay as firm (but kind) as we can in terms of discipline. I am sure parents out there would agree that it's easier to spoil a child than to keep him/her grounded. Quite challenging as he changes each week. He's a fruit and vege addict now. When in the supermarket, he would scream if I don't add his broccoli, carrots, grapes, satsumas and bananas into his shopping cart. Which is a good thing :) At least my effort of incorporating vege in his daily meal paid off.

"not again! I am eating, go away!"

"ahhh...bliss"

"Yum yum"

"All gone!"

Happy 1 1/2 years old my baby. You've brought more joy and meaning to our lives than you can ever imagine. Lots of love.

New Beginnings

The real Master of the house

Above are pics of Tobey in his new Tigger jacket. He outgrew the China jackets. This is the only jacket he willingly tried on, just because there's Tigger on it.

We've been here for 2 weeks already and loving it. Enjoying the open spaces and the safe, child-friendliness quality of the village. That explains the high birthrate here. He now attends 2 music classes, 2 playgroups and will enrol him in a Tumbletot class for after Christmas. They are all 5-10 mins walk from our house. Tobey just blended in. It helps that he's used to these classes and playgroups from his activities back in Northampton. Honestly, I was abit worried on him settling in. But kids adapt really well! I have made many new friends too from all these activities, which has really been good for the soul :)

SK on, what must be the most photographed spot, the bridge over the canal

In the new Grand Arcade

Ventured into our new city centre over the weekend. Weather was wet and windy, but we persevered and managed to get a feel of the place, such as the city boundaries, the wheres and whats. The city centre basically comprises of two shopping areas ( an upmarket one and another standard one)separated by a lovely park. Of course there are the grand old buildings Cambridge is famous for.

Wearing his paper hat and smooching himself in the mirror

I haven't got Internet access for the last 2 weeks, me and Tobey have been spending alot of time trying new things. I've started some Arts and Crafts activities with him. We tried collaging and cutting. He was more interested in the material and equipments used rather than the end product...haha....

Lighting mad

I like the round one in the last pic...

New Home

Fan Pics ;P

The New President

Something amongst the sea of post-election news stood out to me today. It was a scene of President Barack Obama's paternal grandma and brother celebrating his victory in Kenya, East Africa.

America has indeed been united.

5th November 2008

SK has been overseas for work for a couple of days now. As expected, Tobey misses his daddy and best friend. On the first night he's away, Tobey asked for his daddy before bed. It's part of Tobey's bedtime routine for SK to play chase with him a little in his bedroom before saying goodnight to him. The nights after that he stopped asking.

Instead, during the days he reached out for his daddy's framed picture (that he can reach and grab from the book shelves)

stares at it for the longest time, point at him in the picture and says "tati"...

...And then KISSES the picture.

To distract him from missing his dad too much, I've been bringing him out daily after his nap. SK told me to shower him with toys :)

Few weekends ago, we saw this from mothercare that has a price tag of £54.99.
We liked it as it has got a parental steering bar. It gives us the option to push him around during our walks. Since, Tobey still can't really reach the pedals yet, we decided to wait for the January sales, hoping to get it on discount.

But as I was loitering in Tesco today, looking for a small ride-on toy (he's been sitting on his remote control cars and pushing himself with his legs), I came across this. It was on half-price, only £17.50!

Can't wait to open the packaging

Happy! (look at where he placed his legs)

There were just 3 left and I grabbed it straight away. Brought it home and promptly assembled it all on my own! It was a bargain!

********

5th of November is also Bonfire night. The fireworks have been going off in the neighbourhood since 5 pm till now. I carried Tobey out into the front and back garden to look at some. He was mesmerised. But I realised later on that he's actually afraid of the loud noises they make, as he cried frightfully when I went off to do some chores.

Evening fireworks over lake originally uploaded at flickr by fensterbme

Autumn Snow and Winter Hat

I've never seen snow in October before until a few days ago

28th October 2008, back garden

Tobey hates wearing a winter hat. The usual beanies or knitted ski-caps for children wouldn't work for him as he pulls them off straight away. SO, here's the solution;

warm and toasty in another "made-in-China" jacket and winter hat

He's will only wear it out in the FREEZING cold.

Updates

cheeky boy

Lately I've been spending alot of time eyeing Tobey. He pulls out new tricks overnight. For the past week, we were stunned to see him climbing on the dining chair and sat on it as if he's been doing it all his life.

Look! I don't need the high chair anymore!

Then the next day, he climbed onto the dining chair to get onto the dining table, where we kept all the dangerous stuff away from him. I screamed inside when I caught him on the table holding a cake knife, before I swiftly took it away from him. Now we stacked away the dining chairs.

The following day saw him raiding the book shelves.

Hello there!

I wonder what tomorrow brings.

Chubby feet

my little darling

Chinese Steamed Sponge Cake

Stumbled upon this super baking blog and tried one of her recipes today. Chinese Steamed Sponge Cake is SK's all-time favourite. Everytime we were back in Malaysia, he would go to SS2 Medan Selera and buy tonnes of them.

Ingredients:
250 gm top flour
250 gm caster sugar
2 tbsp milk powder
6 large eggs
60 gm corn oil

Method :
Sift flour and milk powder together.

Beat the eggs and sugar together till light pale in color and the ribbon stage. (If you lift the beaters up and do a figure of eight on the batter, the figure of 8 must be visible for about 3 secs. before disappearing).

Gradually fold in the flour mixture and oil and batter till well mix using a spatula.

Pour batter into a 8" square baking pan lined with greaseproof paper.

Cover the top with aluminium foil.

Steam on high heat for 30 mins and check if skewer comes out clean.
If not steam for another 5 to 10 mins.

Both SK and Tobey loved it (it's a very very satisfying feeling to see Tobey stuffing his face with what I baked). I was generally quite happy with it a tad bit disappointed as it didn't came out as fluffy as I hoped for. After reading the comments on the blog, it's confirmed that's because I used normal self-raising flour and not "Top" flour. Maybe next time I'll add additional baking powder and cover the cake tin with a looser foil lid so that the cake can rise more.

Obsession

His craze for "driving" is out of control! Every time he sees one of these coin guzzling machine, he would get on and wouldn't get off! Even when we refused to slot coins in, he still steered and accompanied his action with "vroom voom" noise for ages. We literally had to dragged him away, with him crying and screaming, when there were other kids waiting for their turn!

Actually, it's my fault. The first time he encountered and noticed one of these was a few weeks ago. It was a Barney themed one. I popped him on and slot a coin it just to see how cute he looked. It was only on for 10 seconds, but he was taking his "driving" very seriously throughout. That experience was enough to send him to car heaven. An unforgettable car heaven.

I think in a long run it would be more sensible to get him one of these ride-ons.

Happy shoppers!

This cool car-trolleys are new to my local Tesco. This is the second time Tobey got to ride in one. They've got like 5 in total. The first time was on a weekday, we chanced upon it by luck. It was right in front of the 'parent and child' parking bay that we parked. Today being Saturday, we thought no way we could get hold of one. As SK drove into the parking area, we happened to saw a parent vacating his groceries and kid from one. Immediately, SK screamed "Go get it!". He stopped the car midway on the road and I hopped down and RAN towards it! But unfortunately, I was 3 steps too late. I lost to a toddler with a dummy in her mouth. She was too short, I didn't realised she was running faster than me. We were so disappointed. SK gave me a look from the car as if saying "How can you loose to a kid?!!!". But I lingered in the trolley bay a little longer, hoping to spot another and lo and behold I saw one parked right near the main entrance, around 20 metres away. I made a dash for it. I look silly when I run fast. Several shoppers around me stopped to make way for me. They probably thought I was being chased by someone. I was not bothered. Then I got hold of it!!! When SK brought Tobey towards the store after parking, both of their faces lighted up. Tobey quickened his steps which soon turned into a sprint towards the toy car. I felt so proud and happy. SK gave me a pat on the back saying "well done". We were actually there just to buy some sandwiches and snack for our picnic at the park on the day. But we strolled around more in the busy supermarket anyhow, just so that our little F1 driver get to take his toy car for a good spin around the aisles.

Sigh, Parenthood makes us do the silliest things.

Noodle reading

After a long day out, we were both dead tired

Me: can you fry-up those leftover noodle for dinner?
SK: Sure, tell me how.
Me: Just fry garlic, throw in some cabbage and prawns, fry-fry, then add the noodle with a round of dark soya and light soya. 5 mins job. Then we can rest.
SK: Ok.

30minutes later, this was the result

It tasted so darn good. Instead of just cabbage, he thinly cut carrots, capcicums, AND cabbage.
This plate of noodle says alot about my dear husband. He's unlike me, he's unable to do it the easy way.

16 Months Old

Pictures taken on the move by SK. He was running around the house wearing his wellington boots and bib (was eating biscuits)

At 16 months, Not sure how tall is he now. He just can't stand still for 1 minute for me to do so. Must try again tomorrow.Measured: 80 cm. Weight wise, it's stabilising. He's probably around 13-14 kgs. He sleeps on his own in his darkened room. Still wants me to give him his milk before he sleeps at night. I prefers it that way, as I love watching him fall asleep. Sleeping pattern changes every few months. But he mostly sleeps from 2-3:30pm for nap and night sleep from 9pm-6am, have his milk, continue sleeping till 8am. Can feed himself pretty well, but still needs lots of practice. Eats everything. Still takes 20-21 oz of milk everyday. We (as in me then him) brushes his teeth every morning. He loves washing his toothbrush under the tap and putting it back into the holder.


Understands us more. For example if I say "Tobey, please can you get mummy the fish from the box on the table?" and I'll get the fish, or "Can you check whether there's a bird on the tree?", he would try to do so. Learning to drink from a normal cup. Loves to dance to any music and still big on self-congratulating (clapping after he's successfully done something) He is getting more daring in his play. For example, he would overturn a stool and sit in the hollow part, as if it's his little boat. Any round lid will be turned into a steering wheel complete with him humming the car "vooom-mmmvroom" sound. Loves playing with my pots, pans and wok , usually imitating me cooking, complete with invisible pinches of seasoning. Also beginning to be the one that initiate play with other toddlers. If a supermarket cashier did not notice his goodbye waves after I've paid for groceries, he would scream "Ei!" to get his or her attention to his Queen of England waves.

Vocab wise, still babbling tongue twister words. Recent semi-proper word is "mato" (for tomato) and "uh-oh" when something fell on the ground. Tried potty training him. Took off his nappy and sat him on the pot. He kept shaking his head, and wanted to get up. As soon as I put his nappy on, he would immediately do his business. SO, my boy is not ready yet. Now the potty is just another toy. He sits on it like another chair. I am allowing that, so that he won't associate it as something to be afraid of. Can be bribed. Before I take him out, I would insist that he help me put his toys back into the toy box, and he would do so. Reading, getting more interested. We are still visiting the library on a regular basis.

Made in China

This winter jacket is part of the 2 jackets given to Tobey as a gift, from a relative who bought it from China. It was handed to me even before he was born. I remember thinking to myself "No way my kid gonna wear such a Chinese looking garment". Yup, I snubbed it. I was heavily pregnant and grumpy, so deserves forgiveness. They were way too big for a newborn, so I kept them away deep in the cupboards.

For the last few weeks, I've been looking for a winter jacket for him but couldn't find anything suitable. I am not fussy. I just want something that is soft, warm, doesn't come with cold metal zips, not jeans material or plasticky windbreaker material, and most importantly not restrictive to his movement. Looked in all the high street shops. NOTHING!

Then I thought of those Made in china jackets I snubbed before. Took one out and put it on him. PERFECT. Just what I wanted. It's like being wrapped in a duvet. Although I still thinks it looks like a marshmallow, so what? Comfort comes first! (spoken like a true old-fashioned mother ;P)

Lessons learned. No more snubbing.