Muaks!

Christmas Rap: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! off to holidays...

This is it?

I heard about it... but I wish, I wish, I wish... this is not the beginning of terrible twos.

No one looks forward to the terrible twos. I read that the terrible twos is a development stage characterized by toddlers being negative about most things and often saying 'no', and having frequent mood changes and temper tantrums.

Gracelle has always been a happy baby since birth. She seldom cries... Last saturday, she started crying uncontrollably for 15minutes. Cried and cried and cried until she was so tired and fell asleep. The same happened yesterday, she just cried cried cried and cried, and refuse to listen. Ask her to go to bed, change diaper, drink water, she will say NO by shaking her head. I think her symptoms matched the above mentioned -> "often saying "no" and temper tantrums. Sigh!

What is the most effective way to get out of her negative "no"? Offer her favorites - milk, bread, barney and backyardigans. I am sure she will say YES. But, this is not the long term solution.

She is only 21 months, not even 2 years old yet, but she is already demonstrating her terrible twos "power". Well, let's deal with it. The expert says:

• Remember that tantrums usually come from lack of understanding or control.
• Don't try to fix things while emotions are high.
• Look into your child's heart. Try and see things from your child's perspective.
• Help your child identify the emotion he is feeling.
• Consider your options.

She will grow up while we learn to tackle it.

Bread Roti 面包

I am an avid bread lover! I still remember 3 years ago when we went for our honeymoon trip to Europe, my favorite place to be is the bakery! I simply loves the aroma coming from the freshly baked bread. I also picked up the skill of baking bread and started baking my own very simply bread, i.e., cream cheese bun, tuna bread, potato bread, hot cross bus and even a loaf of bread...

My darling likes bread. In fact, "bread" is one of the very first few words she spoke. Give her a slice of bread and she will be as happy as a bird. Bread is good for our diet, a reasonably cheap food source and source of protein. I enjoy breakfast with slices of bread/sandwich instead of the a bowl of noodle. Don't you think bread is a healthier choice? Of course, a healthier choice meaning we choose multi-grain over white bread.

See, she just picked up a bag of buns from the bread section in a supermarket!

Gambling

I am blessed for I was born and raised up in a Christian family. I DISLIKE gambling and do NOT enjoy any conversation on gambling. My brain is automatically adjust to "hibernate or shut down" mode whenever the "statistician" starts their conversation.

At times, I am surrounded by some "statistician" who enjoys talking about betting on numbers (i.e, 4D, toto), betting on soccers, casinos, jackpot, etc. and these "statistician" can talk about it whole day long! I mean, literally talk about it the ALL the time when they are awake! And.. actually even in their dream. "Statistician" can talk about what they dreamt about last night (maybe a car plate number, animals, etc.), and interpret their dreams (the animals) to a particular numbers. I have even heard of "statistician" asking the children to pick the lucky numbers for betting during birthday. They are not just creative (in the wrong way?), but also addicted to gambling!

I am sure you have heard of parents leaving children in the car while they go in a casino to gamble, or parents were busy gambling inside the casino and children were left outside for hours. My thoughts - if parents have so much time to spent in casino, why can't they spend some quality time with the children instead?

Parents, who are experiencing gambling-related problems are often unable to provide their children with adequate attention because of the amount of time they spend gambling. They are also blinded and not able to see gambling as a behaviour that can lead to serious problems. Is hard to imagine the impact of parental problem gambling on the children and a child growing up in a home with gambling addiction and not being affected. Research has shown that children who grow up in a household where there's problem grambling have a higher risk of facing the problem themselves later on.

I was rather disturbed by the gambling conversation over the weekend. Anyway, if you are rather disturbed by family and friends of a problem gamblers. Do reach out to National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG). Casino exclusion can stop the problem gamblers from entering the casinos in Singapore!

Lift the veil

The weather is so unpredictable, especially for the past few weeks. Because of the rain, Gracelle has to stay indoor, and no outdoor activities. It was a gloomy raining weekend, she decided to drag her favorite blankie along, just like the Charlie Brown. And play her favorite peek-a-boo. She will cover her head with her blankie like a veil, stand still and wait for me to lift the veil.

I have to say, this is definitely not the best way to have a game of peek-a-boo; what if she trips and falls? I prefer not to kill the creativity inside my child. She enjoys it, so I can only take extra steps to make sure she don't walk or run away with her "veil" on.

Where is Gracelle?

She never fails to keep us entertained with her intelligence and creativity. Thank God not just for His creation, but for people's creativity.

The caddy or the golfer?

In golf, a caddy (or caddie) is the person who carries a player's bag and clubs, and give insightful advice and moral support (source: Wikipedia)

How to be a good caddy? I guess first of all, it helps if you play. A good caddy will certainly make the golf more enjoyable. How to be master or perfect a skill? According to Malcolm Gladwell, he mentioned the "10,000 hour rule", claiming that the key to success in any field is, to large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours. Wow! If you only spend 2 hours a day, you need 14 years to master it!  That is indeed a  huge investment! To summarise it, it simply means, practice, practice, practice! That's how Tiger Woods became a championship golfer.

Gracelle just got her first golf set. A gift from her daddy. She is so in love with it and she even wants to bring her golf club to bed. She really enjoys "swinging" (I mean "sweeping"?) her club. Okay, here's a post of my future championship golfer? Pleasant look with a great smile :)

Baby and Egg

The one most common question asked:"When can my baby eat eggs?" My baby was first introduced to egg after 12months of age. By God's grace, she is not allergies to egg and she loves egg. At times, the creative side of me just simply beat an egg into her porridge. I am glad she enjoys egg.

I talk to her, all the time. I often tell her what am I doing, where am I going, what is the items, etc. Whenever she is with me, especially in the kitchen, we will have our very own "show and tell" session. I show her the egg in its original form and tell her - egg. After I crack the egg, I will throw the egg shell into the bin. She often peep into the bin, point or even grab the egg shell; she will then get a firm warning not to pick up the egg shell! When I feed her porridge or rice, I will show her the cooked egg and tell her - egg. After a while, she can point out egg in our rice bowl. It seems like that she is in love with egg.

One night before she goes to bed. She just grabbed a story book and started "reading" them on bed. She flipped to page one and pointed to the picture and she said EGG! I am thrilled! My "show and tell" effort pays off :) [happy] I requested her to show papa where is the egg? And she flipped to page one of her book, showed and told her papa, EGG! [happy]

Oops.. How many times is the word "egg" being mentioned?

Time

Looking back on the year, didn't it seem like it flew by in the blink of an eye? Time, this is the one thing in life you can give, and you can't get it back. It is easy to find excuses for time wasted, opportunities passed you by, and many other things. Time, just slipped through our hands.

Who or what deserve the very best of your time? Don't give your leftover time to people and things that matters; otherwise, you may turn into the person's leftovers some day.

Time of reflection - you will always make time for the things that are important to you?

Even more long lasting than Duracell bunny

Question. What is a Duracell bunny? Well, if you know what is a Duracell bunny, we are probably born in the same era. Duracell bunny is a pink rabbits powered by batteries, used to promote Duracell brand batteries. Here's a glimpse of the advertisement. The advertisement shows that a bunny powered by a Duracell battery can continue to function for a longer amount of time.

I have a "Duracell bunny" at home - baby Gracelle. Sunday morning, she woke up at 8am, get ready and went to church. She don't need a nap in the nursery simply because there are many 16-24 months babies around and also toys around, she will just walk around and have fun. Back home, she was supposed to take her usual nap at 2pm. I always make it a point for her to take a nap, otherwise she may be grumpy and cranky when she is sleepy. Having spent 1.5hours with her in the room, she just REFUSED to sleep. Failure to get her to nap, I let her out of the room and she happily ran off to the living room. And... and...  and... and she started dancing.

Baby Gracelle has endless energy!

To me, she is even more longer lasting than Duracell bunny. The one person who will agree with me - the daddy! We entertained her till 9pm before she finally knocked out and sleep.

Talking about sleep. Baby Gracelle is a light sleeper. She is easily woken up by noise. Recently, she also refuses light out during bed time. The minute the light  is off, she will make noise, the minute the light is on, she is alright. She is like mummy, can sleep with light on, but not the daddy. Having said that, we are happy as long as she falls asleep before 10pm.

Do you have a baby with endless energy too who refuses to nap?

Toddler refuses to eat vegetables?

Parents often heard about toddler will not eat any vegetables. Studies suggested to disguise the vegetables in all sorts of ways - puree it, "hide" it in pasta, etc... Have you ever thought of stop offering veggies? Do you have face a similar problem? I am glad to say - I don't! My 19months+ baby simply adore veggies.

During one of the dinner, she finished all the carrots from daddy's bowl, and the daddy shouted:"Mummy, she ate all my carrots!" (What can I do? Cook more carrots? I just couldn't stop laughing!!!) She also adores the broccoli, is like a dessert to her. She eats her broccoli like how we enjoy our ice cream. Having said that, we are having a hard time trying to enjoy our dinner in peace. Every time during our dinner, she will come and stare into our bowl and wants to have a share of it. We gladly share our veggies with her in her very own small bowl. She understands most of the thing we said, when we are done with our dinner, we will show her the empty bowl and said:"Finished, no more." Baby Gracelle will reply:"No more." It does not end here. She will goes about prying open daddy's and mummy's mouth.

She creates a mess during and after dinner. She either dropped bits and pieces here and there or leaf the remaining on the sofa or the floor. Is messy, but rejoice anyway, simply because she is just a baby and she adore veggies!

Kiddie ride

If you have a kid, you will agree with me, most kid loves kiddie ride! Am I right? Kiddie ride is the coin-operated amusement ride for small children, frequently seen in shopping malls.

My 3 years old niece, Rachel, always requests for a minimum of 3 rides to satisfy her needs. Doesn't the ride feels jerky and makes one feel uncomfortable? I don't know... I am just guessing. My baby is no exception, she is attracted to kiddie ride too.

For this particular one, I wonder if she is attracted to the kiddie ride or the purple dinosaur? Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination... By the way, Barney is one of her best friend.

Melting in Woodlands Waterfront

Is been such a long time since the last update. Mummy was away... No guest blogger (the daddy?).

The weekend before I was away, we brought Gracelle to Woodlands Waterfront, one of the newest facility in Woodlands. We reached there around 9am+ and the weather was HOT HOT HOT! Thanks to the daddy who took his own sweet time. Personally, I prefer to go to the park earlier or latest by 8am, because I simply don't like to be "melt" under the hot sun. Besides, my baby is an early bird, she don't sleep past 7am.

In Woodlands Waterfront, you can have the view of Johor Straits and also to check on the causeway traffic. First impression when we arrived, how come so many motorcyclist? I guess is the traffic diverted from the custom. Second, quite a far number of motorcyclist stop by at the park for "relief", I mean for toilet breaks. This place feels like those Malaysia highway Rest & Relax (Perhentian) toilet break. Personally, I am not attracted to this park, partly because there was no trees, the fishing jetty was filthy, the river was dirty, and maybe is just not natural like Bishan Park. The mega playground structure is not suitable for children. Having said that, Gracelle seems to enjoy the children's playground very much.

Rock! Rock!

ROCK harder!

Will I be back again? Hmm... Let's see.

Sweet tooth

I enjoy eating ice cream as a child, and I still do. I don't have a sweet tooth, but I enjoy ice cream. Hubby does not have a sweet tooth too. And the strange thing happened... Gracelle seems to have inherited our good health habits, she does not have a sweet tooth. But, is a sweet tooth inherited or is a learned behaviour?

Baby Gracelle has not tried bottled puree off the shelves. Since 6 months old, mummy only gave her homemade puree, be it apple puree, pumpkim puree, or even vegetable puree. 100% homemade, no salt, no sugar. Even her porridge, mummy will put in more vegetable to make the porridge tasty, no salt, no soy sauce. The good habit is best cultivated since young.

The other day, mummy was craving for ice cream and bought a waffle ice cream from NTUC. Let's give Gracelle a taste of the ice cream.


Excited for the ice cream!

The verdict - Kid loves ice cream!? Kid scream for ice cream!? Look at her, she looked excited, isn't she? To our surprise, the very next minute, there is a total change in her expression.

Ewwe... awful?!

Well, I am not sure is it because of the taste, the sweetness or the coldness of the ice cream? It seems like she does not have a liking for ice cream.

One thing I know for sure. With that expression, she can go for the tooth sensitivity advertisement by Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief advertisement.

The Laundry

95% of our laundry are machine washed. Sometimes, baby Gracelle's clothes are hand washed by her mummy. She is only allowed the sit outside of the toilet when mummy do the washing. Sometimes, I wonder, what is the joy of sitting and watching mummy with the laundry?

Many people hired a part time helper who comes around during the weekend for the chores. Most people will hire a full time domestic helper. How about me? [*drum roll*.......] Introducing my part time helper who comes during weekdays night and full day weekends. She helps to throw rubbish into the bin, and best of all, she hand wash baby Gracelle's clothes. She does not have experience;  sometimes, she observes, like what Gracelle did - observed mummy doing the laundry. She also got a weird habit, she will observes the rubbish in the bin. Weird? Maybe she is thinking what is recyclable? I supposed, she learnt from observation.

Everybody say" WOW!" I am so lucky to have such a great helper :)  [*grinning from ear to ear*]

She is cheerful, diligent, no food restriction, training may be needed to perform a good job.  Here's a glimpse of my helper diligently washing the clothes.

Sorting the clothes.

Brushing the clothes.

Rinsing the clothes.

Oops!!! Child labour!? NO! I did not torture her. Despite the uncomfortable ulcer, she is still energetic. She dragged the pail, and stool by herself, and started the laundry process.

Daddy and mummy were AMUSED!

Cried cried cried ... and more crying

It all started when she was having trouble sleeping through. She toss and turned in bed, and just couldn't sleep! It was 3am, and her temperature shot up to 38.5 degrees. Thank God we got spare paracetamol in the refrigerator (leftover from vaccination). Tips: a good practice to keep a spare bottle of paracetamol for emergency. Not much of concern because by dawn, her fever had subsided.

All is well until ....

Saturday morning, she refused her favorite milk milk! She cried profusely!!! She had never cried so much and so profusely since birth, not even during vaccination jab. What HAPPENed? Because she was crying louder and louder, mummy took the opportunity to look inside her mouth and my Oh my, she got a BIG ulcer underneath her tongue!

Despite the uncomfortable pain.. she is still active. Is a good sign, isn't it? It means she is not too sick, just uncomfortable. Doctor say no medication for her, because her mouth is as tight as a clam, it will be difficult to apply medication too, let it heal by itself.

Gloomy girl counting cornflakes

I pray that her ulcer will heal soon. She will be less fussy, less cranky and back to her usual self. Please say a prayer for Gracelle too.

I have wavy hair

K-style. The korean wavy hairstyle. Much less is known about the genetic basis of straight and wavy hair; wavy hair is all about our complex yet unique genes. Gracelle's hair is not curly by any means, just a slight wave.

Many people asked about Gracelle's wavy hair genes. Many also said she does not need to spend money to perm her hair. Nowadays, rebonded hair is so common and is the latest hair trend among women, God knows whether 10 years down the road, will wavy hair will be the latest hair trend?

Back to my subject. Why does Gracelle have wavy hair when both her parents hair are straight? Thanks to hair straightening technology, rebonding is the new age major breakthrough to transform your wavy or curly hair. I had rebonded my hair, so it looks straight. Truth is -> I have wavy hair, but, definitely not as wavy as my daughter's. I guess, the wavy genes comes from ME?!

Give thanks, because Gracelle got wavy hair and not frizzy curly locks like an afro. I am hoping that her hair grow longer and looks prettier instead of the messy look (the wake up look?!)

Milk time

Warm milk is part of Gracelle's bedtime routine. Having said that, it does not mean she will go to her dream land immediately after her milk. More often than not, she needs to finish her milk at one go, once the teat is out of her mouth, she will not have "second serving".

What do you do with the leftover milk?

............

........

Gracelle thinks her friends need some warm milk too.

Milk milk time!

I feed you!

There goes my 55ml of leftover milk = 1 scoop of milk powder =  waste of $$

Mini cheese cupcakes

I love baking, but not the cleaning up. Sunday afternoon, I was in a mood to bake. I wanted to bake a simple tuna buns, but I ran out of bread flour, and so, I needed something that needs very simple ingredients and little preparation. I baked mini cheese cupcakes.

Recipe adapted and modified from Happy Flour. I modified it due to limited ingredients available at home. The recipe call for parmesan cheese, I replaced it with cream cheese instead. And, I added cream cheese in the middle when filling up the cupcakes. The cupcakes smell so good when they were baking. Is a right choice, the cupcake tasted just nice! I flopped many times attempting to bake a muffin, I am glad I got it right for my cupcake at the first attempt!

This is the first time Gracelle eating home baked stuff, and many more to come, I hope. I have baked quite a fair bit of stuff in the past (before the arrival of Gracelle), various buns, japanese cotton cheesecake... I love home baked bread and cakes, it's fun, easy, and heathier to make them from scratch. And the aroma from the oven that fill up the whole house!

Verdict:
I love it. Gracelle loves it. Daddy said is good (he was afraid is another failure muffin product).

Late boomer

Gracelle is a late boomer in terms of teething. At 11-12 months, she still has no sign of teeth in sight. We totally enjoyed her toothless grin. She didn't cut her first tooth until 13-14 months. At 18 months, she has just 4 teeth (2 top, 2 bottom). Her milk teeth is developing at her own pace and I guess she won't have a mouth full of teeth by 24 months. Nothing to worry about, she is fine with it, so does the mummy, as she is eating almost anything, everything with her 4 teeth.

Maybe she is a late boomer in speech too? When she had her health assessment at 15 months, the pediatrician asked the parent:"Can she speaks 3 meaningful words?" We paused and said yes, if you consider "no more" as 2 separate words - "no" and "more", and  her favorite "cheese". I think the pediatrician is not very satisfied with our response. The pediatrician gave Gracelle a tick in the "No" box :(    Oh well, it doesn't matter, as the health assessment was meant to be completed between 15-18 months.

Every child is different when it comes to milestones. Some babies are just naturally early boomers and some late boomers.

When Gracelle was younger, the uncles and aunties in our church group were quite amazed whenever Gracelle say "no more" .Gracelle's first word is "no more", and not the usual "papa" or "mama" or "neng neng (milk)". She picked up the word "no more" because every time when she finished her bottle of milk, we will say finished and no more.

At 17 months+, coming to 18 months, she can say, bye bye, papa, mama, "gai gai" (baby language - meaning: jalan-jalan [in Malay]),  dog dog, etc... Her bye bye will melt your heart! Check out the video! [specially dedicate this video to uncle Andrew in Melbourne who is my faithful reader]

I believe everything has its own time. I am always thankful to God for baby Gracelle good health and everything, the big and the small ...

Bishan Park

A full time working mom = A full time stay-at-home child [after office hours]

The above "formula" applies to a typical weekday for me and Gracelle. Typical weekdays morning are spent in rush hour. Weekend and public holiday are my "sabbath day". No need to rush and am able to enjoy a morning walk at the park or the beach. I am glad there is a park in the vicinity of our "pigeon hole".

Our wonderful weekend usually kick off with a morning walk in the park. The fresh air, the space [instead of being confined in our "pigeon hole"], it just feel so much relax and ease. Gracelle loves to walk and run around in the park, pick up dried leaves, look at the dogs (nowadays, she can point and said:" dog dog.") and wouldn't mind sharing a McDonald breakfast with mum and dad. For the McDonald lover out there, YES, there is "i'm lovin' it" here in Bishan Park. [Did I just gave you one more invalid valid reason to come to the park?]

See the various activities at the park. The old lady was reading Bible devotion to her partner, the elderly enjoying the relaxing view of the revamp riverbank, the elderly and toddler relaxing at the suntan benches like swimming pool type, the children on bicycle rides, the jogger (training for the upcoming marathon?), the interest group having breakfast, the inline skating group, the badminton team, the little kid on scooter, the couple walking the dog, the brisk walker, and the loving daddy walking with daughter.... and many many more activities.... e.g., the Bishan Park Tai-Chi group exercise (sorry, not in the picture, I was late and they have dismissed :( ), etc.





Great are the works of the Lord. I hope Gracelle loves the green green grass, the blue blue sky and the cotton candy clouds. By the way, it is the Parks Festival 2011, join in the celebrations at a park near you!

Enjoy!

Brush my hair

Gracelle is coming to 18 months and I can't brush her hair. It seems like she doesn't like her hair to be brush. I tried letting her brush her MESSY hair; sometimes, she takes over and brush on her own, sometimes, it just goes haywire; sometimes, she just ran away.

I tried giving Gracelle a dolly and explain to her about brushing hair. Thanks to Gracelle's generous uncle 舅舅 (my brother), she got her first Barbie doll. Shh...Barbie is mummy's childhood dream doll. Uncle's generousity blessed not just Gracelle, but also all her cousin sisters; sorry, the boy don't get it. Ooops.. sorry, diverted. Back to her dolly, one of the accessories that comes together with the Barbie is a hair brush. The Barbie has long straight blonde hair. Since the addition of Barbie, Gracelle learnt how to brush her "her" hair, I mean "her" - the Barbie, not her - Gracelle . Look, Gracelle is brushing Barbie's hair.. brush brush brush...

She got carried away and started brushing her daddy's hair with her Barbie's hair brush. HAHA! (laugh out loud)

With the way Gracelle brush the Barbie's hair, one day (I mean sooner rather than later), I might have to google and search how to fix or detangle Barbie's hair.

Rabbit Farm @ Bukit Tinggi

A BIG thanks to my bro-in-law for the free accomodation in Meranti Park Suite (not recommeded unless you are on low budget). Because of the free accomodation, we went to the famous Bukit Tinggi for the first time! This is our first family trip with my 9 adults and 6 childrens (age range from 62 years old to 15 months old baby). A family trip with elders and young children is tiring but memorable.

Bukit Tinggi is just an hour's drive from Kuala Lumpur and lies some 2,500 feet above sea level. Other than the famous Colmar Tropica, which is a replica of a collection of buildings from a north-eastern village in France dating back to the 16th Century. Is a relaxing attraction with great weather.

One of the main attraction is the Rabbit Park. The entrance fee to the Rabbit Park is RM3/person, children under 2 is free. There is an open area which the rabbits are allowed to hop around. Is fun to bring the kids here. You get to feed the rabbit and touch the rabbit. Baby Gracelle is too young to feed the rabbit, she is not afraid of the rabbits, she is daring enough to touch the rabbit. See my daring baby Gracelle "sayang" the rabbit. [I think the rabbit is more afraid of baby Gracelle, haha..]

We spent almost 2 hours+ at the rabbit farm including feeding the childrens. By then... the 3 youngest children were so tired and doze off.. Zzzzz....

两个不同时代的童年 - 我的童年，我孩子的童年

我的童年的梦想。。。曾经那么期待拥有一个芭比娃娃（对芭比娃娃的印象 – 漂亮，高挑，长腿，一头金黄色飘逸的长发，亮丽的衣着（还有那许许多多穿也穿不完的华丽的衣裳），五颜六色的高跟鞋）。

过世了的父亲只有中学学历，是一名“吃不饱，饿不死”的公务员，以往称之为“铁饭碗”。家里的经济能力有限，哪有能力买这么昂贵的芭比娃娃？芭比也许只活在我们的童年记忆中。对娃娃的期待只能转移到我们熟悉的纸娃娃。有玩过纸娃娃的请举手！对了，就是那个由硬纸皮勾画出的纸娃娃，拥有不同的衣裳（衣着上都有至少两个折着的“小勾勾”以便“穿”在美丽的娃娃身上）。除了纸娃娃，如果还有一个眼睫毛长长，蓝眼睛，胖胖的，金色卷发的中国娃娃（就是那个躺着就会关上眼睛的蓝眼睛娃娃）就已经很满足了！

时代不同了，娃娃的风采，真是今时不如往日。就拿芭比娃娃来说吧！现今的芭比有宠物医生，滑雪高手，工程师，等等。。。如今的小孩，不再是玩家家酒，跳绳，弹珠，飞机棋，纸娃娃。。。 我的孩子的童年好想都是 Ipad 不离手。说说我3岁的小侄女，馨惠。一早起床上幼儿园，出门前就叮咛父亲说：“爸爸，等一下把 Ipad 放在楼下的桌子上哦。我放学回来要玩。”

时代的进步带来了什么样的改变？小时候，爸爸妈妈会拿起图画故事书和我们一起翻阅；现今，只要手指动一动，掌上电脑的某个软件就会替爸爸妈妈代劳，说故事给孩子听。以往掷塞子的飞机棋，须一步一脚印慢慢地迈向目的地；现今，只要手指动一动，触摸控制弹弓，就能让愤怒的小鸟一飞冲天，完成射击。

如今，亲子关系似乎是建立在了掌上电脑 （tablet PC）。爸爸无意识不停的拨弄智能电话，孩子也一样无意识的拨弄掌上电脑。我们都不需要和孩子沟通和互动吗？我不抗拒科技发达所带来的便利，我善用科技与孩子建立亲子关系。我善用会说话的汤姆猫 （Talking Tom Cat）鼓励宝贝敏绚说话，我先说一句，汤姆猫仿照我所说的，接着宝贝敏绚也有意识想跟着说。很有趣吧？善用科技的进步，建立而不是疏远亲子关系。

我的童年虽然和孩子的不同，但我与父母共同度过欢乐时光的童年是不可磨灭的，更盼把这份温心互动的时光传承下去。

I WANT to SLEEP!

Sleeping, is not something you can force a baby into. Forget about "sleep-inducing" methods to get baby to sleep better. Just remember 1 important thing: start a bedtime routine. Having a routine would help make sure that baby gets into the routine of going to sleep each night at a certain time on her own.

Here's a simple routine:

1. Warm bath
- warm bath is soothing and calming, this gives baby some time to relax, during and after the bath

2. The requisites to promote sleep - quiet, dark
- block out distracting noise, turn off the television
- dim the lightings or turn off the lights

3. Familiar or security object
- place baby's familiar or security object on the bed, be it a teddy bear or a blankie
- security object can have a calming effect on baby

I cannot force baby Gracelle into sleep, but I can set her up to feel that sleep is expected to follow after all the above routines.

Our joyous moment when we see baby Gracelle "posing" like this.

Can you guess what is she doing?
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No! No! No! She is not posing for the camera! She is "saying" - I want to sleep! Every night, she will switch off the television on our behalf (assuming everyone is going to bed) and "tell" (with her sign language) - I want to sleep!

Good night! ZZzzz...

Talking Tom 2

Tom is your cat that responds to your touch and repeats everything you say in a funny voice. Is it so cute and hilarious, no wonder this app is one of the top app to download.

I love it, so does Gracelle! I never thought that Talking Tom can be educational. Talking Tom taught baby Gracelle what it means by "No! No! No!" (touch his feet) and encourage baby Gracelle to speak.

Gracelle is a baby just starting to learn to talk. She enjoys Talking Tom Cat 2, because the "copycat" mimic her voice or "word". See how engross she was!

Have you heard of "The Backyardigans"?

Can you identify and name the cartoons in the pictures?

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You are right, is Barney!

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You are right again, is Thomas the Train!

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Congrats! You got all three answers correct, is Elmo from Sesame Street!

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HUH??? [What is this???]
Let me introduce this cute little penguin, Pablo, to you :)

The Backyardigans

is an animated children's TV series, which features five animal friends, who imagine that their backyard becomes an adventure place. Thanks to our wonderful neighbour who passed us our very first copy of The Backyardigans DVD. Since then, the Chan family is addicted attracted to it. Sadly, we searched high and low in Singapore and could not find any merchandise of The Backyardigans :(

We chanced upon The Backyardigans in Johor Bahru! We were so excited and we bought the DVD series immediately without hesitation. And... and...and.. my guilty US online shopping.

"TaDa!" Introducing Gracelle's new friends. She adores each one of them and give each of them a BIG warm hug :)

Curiosity

No matter what age we are at, we are always curious about the world around us.

Baby Gracelle is a learning baby who needs to explore, SEE, FEEL and taste everything in her way.

Let me check out who is standing behind mama?

What is this? A leaf? Let me feel it.

Tired. Let me sit down and explore the leaf further.

Someday, she will grow up and realize the beauty of God's creation.

P is for Porridge ... and PASTA

Porridge is the next natural move for semi-solid after cereal. Porridge time was fun in the beginning. I wish I could say the same for now. Imagine, how bored will it be if you have to consume porridge (same porridge, different ingredients) for the next 365 days?!

Have you heard of law of diminishing returns? It simply means the tendency for a continuing application of effort or skill toward a particular project or goal to decline in effectiveness after a certain level of result has been achieved (source: The Free Dictionary). I have tested and proven this law on Gracelle. When she first started taking solid food, she finishes her porridge within 10-15 minutes. Now that she is on solid food, she has porridge from Monday to Friday, and as the day goes by, her interest level for porridge has declined and she is taking 2 minutes... 3 minutes ... 5 minutes...... longer, approximately 20-30 minutes to finish.

Thank God for pasta. I cook pasta for Gracelle once in a while. See, I have star shape carrots and alphabet pasta to attract my darling. Guess what? I faithfully feed her spoonful by spoonful, she gobble up eat mouthful delightfully and would scream if the next spoonful came too late. Phew! She finished 1 bowl of pasta within 15 minutes! That's it, fuss free!

Pasta is ideal for baby learning to chew. It is a quick and easy recipe to cook for your baby. So, ditch your spaghetti and pick up alphabet pasta today!