Something that actually made my day!
And if you don't understand Mandarin, maybe Cantonese?

More food photos. Since the shortbread incident, where we demolished a pack of butter in 2 days, I decided to make some Italian biscotti (cantuccini) in the hope that it wouldn't make us feel that guilty after eating it.

Puppy is really trying to crawl now. He kinda lifts his bum in order to get his knees off the ground, then propel himself forward. I gestured him towards a toy last night, and he managed to move about a metre to get to it. Does this mean I can't let him out of my sight anymore? He's also got a fascination with TV cables and feet!

He ate his largest amount yet yesterday.
Breakfast - 1 1/2 tablespoons baby porridge + 3 scoops Aptamil
- Petit Filous
*all eaten*

Morning tea - Digestive biscuit (OK, this wasn't in the plan, but the lady at the parish hall offered it to him and he took it)

Lunch - Whole pear
*2/3 eaten*

Dinner - Sweet potato mash
*3 spoonfuls*

Also still breastfeeding loads.

Basically, he's eating so much that I've decided to invest in some long sleeved bibs rather than overwork our poor washing machine.



His stroller arrived today - can't wait to put it in use!

So, Deepavali and Hari Raya Puasa have passed. I was wanting a curry, but can't afford a takeaway. So, the next best option....make my own.

Pappadoms

Chicken Mughlai

Aloo Gobi

Final result.....yum yum

Debbie Gibson - For Better or Worse

Watching this on YouTube brought back memories. Anyone who knows me (well enough!) will know I have a serious case of Gibsonitis. This is the first single from her fifth album. I remember going to the mall the first day the album was released and then locking myself in my room, playing it over and over again. I haven't seen the video until now - she actually used to date Chris Bruno (the guy in the video) - he came with her to Singapore and fixed her piano when she performed that song at Boat Quay.....ahh, it's all coming back really vividly now......and I'm really sad for knowing all this :)

That Boy Rooney

OK, I know he hasn't scored since goodness knows when, but hey, he's still a footballing genius.

So, I discovered that there is a baby clinic at the GP surgery in our village. Seeing that we didn't fall under the catchment area of our previous surgery anymore, I decided to take Puppy to baby clinic, and at the same time register with the new GP. Turns out that the HV at the surgery is actually based at the baby clinic which I used to go to. We bumped into Pamela who was from the council and had a good old chat with her. She remembered us from when we first saw her, and absolutely loves Puppy. There was another lady with her little boy who was there before me, apparently she was lamenting on the fact that there weren't too many baby boys in the village (hers is 8 months old). I didn't get to talk to her much, but as I was filling out the registration forms to join the surgery, other mothers came in with their babies - all girls! We started chatting with Tracy who had come with Halle (turned 6 months on 20th October), and she told us about some baby groups in the area. All being well, we might join her at baby signing next Monday. There was also a 10 month old, and another very mobile crawler who came in - it was rather amusing half watching (half filling in form) all the babies play together. The older folks who were waiting for their doctor's appointment certainly seemed to enjoy themselves - one elderly gentleman even came up to Puppy and played with him. As usual, Puppy seemed to take in all around him. He even cried when one of the babies had to go.....awww...

More cooking - made shortbread today. Really simple, and turned out brilliant. No more need to get any Walkers shortbread.



Puppy is also 27 weeks today. He's really becoming rather hyperactive! I managed to confirm his place at the nursery, and he's going in for some settling sessions in December.

Singlish Security Lecture

When in Singapore, speak as the Singaporeans do.

At 6 months, opting for a Baby led weaning approach has certainly seemed the way to go, as well as taken lots of time that could have been wasted on pureeing and mashing.

On a typical day

This is how he greets his food...


And the aftermath.......*burp*

X Factor vs American Idol (chicken factory)

Was watching YouTube, looking for last night's X Factor liveshow, but found this instead!

It's nice to know that my council tax is going to good causes like setting up the Essex Cloth Nappy Network. It's even more heartening to know that my wages are used to buy teddy bears. What better way to spend my hard earned salary! Maybe I should make a request that I only want British made teddies.


Puppy is 6 months old today.

The washer fluid squirter thing on our car hasn't been working for over a week now. Not a big problem, only that if it hasn't rained for a few days, I end up with a really muddy windscreen. So I called Citroen and told them of the problem. They gave me an appointment to go in, and I said I would need a courtesy car if I left the car with them, to which they replied if I was willing to wait. I said yes, but would still rather have the courtesy car in case something went wrong and I ended up waiting for ages (they said it would take 45 minutes, hah!). They then said it would ?12.50 for the car. 'What?!', there's noway I'm paying for the courtesy car, and as my car is still under warranty, isn't it Citroen's responsibility to provide such a facility to their customers? Clearly not. So I relented and said I'd go for the waiting option. The appointment's next Thursday, and I have to be there for 8am. Hopefully it'll be sorted out before 9am. Somehow I'm not confident of that happening.

Bringing Puppy to London yesterday evening was no mean feat. I realised that at 8.8kg, he was on the verge of being the maximum handling weight for my baby carrier. It was a fun evening though, we met up with one of DH's friends and went to Wagamama's, which was enjoyable. I really should get out more :)

As per request of Pris, here's a picture of the Christmas cake - gotta put the icing on it though, but for now, it will sit in a cupboard somewhere and be 'fed' until Christmas.

I've also made a banana loaf this morning. Have not tried it yet, so *fingers crossed*. I've baked three cakes since moving into the new house two weeks ago.

Think I'm ready to join the WI yet?

Coming from a country colonised by the English, yet receptive of all things American, Singaporeans have come up with a truly unique identity. Ruby Pan's act on YouTube made me breakout in fits of laughter, something I suppose only the Singaporean of the 'jiak kan tang' variety can understand.



Also looks like Singapore has hopped onto the UK's PC gone mad bandwagon.....but America still rules :)

25 weeks and 3 days old.

Puppy is 8.8kg (19lb 9) today. There was a lady from the council who was displaying reusable nappies at the baby clinic. When asked if I had thought about reusable nappies, I replied that I was already using them. She was delighted with my answer, and over the course of my time at the clinic, Puppy decided to chat to her as well. Absolutely delightful.

Puppy's sprouting another tooth, and can't get enough of things to put in his mouth!

I was at Ikea today, looking at their wardrobe systems. I went really early, because the carpet protector guy from Safeclean discouraged me from stepping on the carpets for 4 hours after the carpet protection spray-on. So DH suggested I go to Ikea. Anyway, go to Ikea I did. Puppy was on fine form, first screeching, then deciding to have a moan at why I wasn't feeding him. So I picked out a chair, and he fed for 2 minutes before deciding he had had enough. Off we went, and going through a narrow pathway between some furniture and a vase full of palm leaves, Puppy decided to tug at the palm. The vase came crashing down, and to my horror, it wasn't an artificial plant. Soil and water spilt out. Luckily there weren't many people around, and the staff I reported the incident to didn't seem that concerned, so I suppose it wasn't that serious. Puppy was squealing with laughter from the incident. His mother, on the other hand, didn't find that at all amusing.

Puppy also tried some Hipp Creamy Porridge for lunch. It was 1 tablespoon Porridge to about 5 tablespoons of infant formula, and a sprinkling of baby rice. I used Milupa's Aptimal Forward this time, and Puppy wolfed it down. I think it's because there was quite a bit of sugar in the porridge (tasted like Nestum, which I loved as a child, and still do).

Attempts to make my first Christmas cake were both successful and unsuccesful. Success in view that it was actually rather delicious. Unsuccessful, in that we ended eating it rather than wait for Christmas before doing so, and the cake tin I put the cake mixture in was too big. I'll try making another one next week.

While getting the ingredients ready for the Christmas cake, I made a rather interesting discovery. Noone had ever told me this before, but black treacle, I found, tasted very similar, although much thicker and more concentrated (and yummier) than kecap manis. At 70p per 454g tin at Tesco and 79p at Waitrose, it was a right bargain. That led to a char kway teow version of 'char spaghetti', which was surprisingly good. I'm glad to say that this solves the problem of having to find sweet soya sauce for popiah, char kway teow, chai tao kway in the future.

It looks like Puppy prefers being able to be in control and hold his food, rather than having a spoon shoved in his mouth. Perhaps it's because he's teething and so likes having something to gnaw on. I don't know. In any case, he thoroughly enjoyed the cucumber sticks at lunch and the mango chunks at dinner. He found the mango so yummy that he even pulled DH's hand towards his mouth and lunged forward for each mouthful. I must say I enjoyed today's weaning attempts as much as he did, especially since it didn't involve making up sloppy messy purees.