Golden Kiwi

There were some golden Zespri kiwis kicking around the house, so I thought I'd let Chubbs try them to see if his appetite would perk up. They were nicely ripened and sweet; the perfect way to up his Vitamin C intake and fight that dreadful viral infection (kiwis have three times more Vit C than oranges). One thing to note before giving this to a baby; although kiwis are not highly allergenic, they are very acidic. Sensitivity to the fruit could appear in the form of rashes around the mouth.

I strained the fruit to get rid of the seeds, mixed in some breastmilk and vanilla custard cereal. Chubbs actually fancied the dish and ate heartily. Oh joy!

"Yum!"

Then I got all smarty pants and thought,"Maybe I can trick him into eating some spinach by incorporating small quantities into the kiwi mix." Clever. Chubbs clamped his mouth tightly shut the second he smelt the spinach. We tried to amuse him by sillying ourselves in the hopes of him smiling so I can shovel some food into his mouth. But my son has deviced a way of smiling and chuckling with his lips pursed. That was the end of the meal.

"I don't want no more!"

"I'd rather be eating my apple."

Worry

We brought Chubbs in to the PD today because he has been rejecting all semi-solids for almost a month and has developed a husky voice over the past week. We suspect a throat inflammation, and the pain could be the reason why he's not eating, more listless than usual and crying a lot at night.

Patiently waiting his turn.

I got a shock when the nurse weighed him. The reduced amount of sleep and food intake has affected his weight. He did not gain any in a month! This is bad. The PD agrees that the lack of weight gain is worrying, but a small consolation is that he is still of average weight for his age.

The PD diagnosed Chubbs as having voice box inflammation. She prescribed some meds to numb the pain so he feels less discomfort when he eats, and gave him some multi-vitamins to be fed first thing every morning. No medication for the viral infection itself though, as she says it should go away on its own. Meanwhile, Chubbs has taken a slight liking towards cold fruit purees; probably because it's soothing for his throat. I will give him more of that and hold off new food introduction for the time being.

Let's Try the Sippy Cup!

Chubbs has started holding his milk bottle on his own and drinking from it.

So we brought out his sippy spout attachment and fixed it to his bottle. Babies can start sippy cups from 6-months and slowly transition to drinking without it, straight from the cup. The sippy attachment that we got from Avent is good because the liquid will not flow out unless Chubbs sucks on it; thus preventing choking.

He was excited about his new "toy" and felt his way around, mostly chewing on the sippy spout and smashing the bottle on his tray table. He didn't actually drink any water, but I think it was a good introduction. Hopefully, after a few more dates, they will be better acquainted with each other and he'll start drinking :)

Steps 1-3...

Popeye Loves Spinach, but...

Chubbs doesn't! This seems to be a recurring theme, no? :(

I made him his very own creamed spinach for lunch today. We found some locally grown, hydrophonic, pesticide-free Chinese spinach at NTUC Finest. I washed and trimmed them before steaming them for a few minutes. Then they went into the blender to be transformed into a smooth puree. Some breastmilk and brown rice cereal were mixed in to make Chubbs' meal yummier.

The first taste.

Bleh!!!

He unwillingly ate a couple of small bites and made a face everytime. He was not impressed by Mommy's efforts :/ This is discouraging...

"Can you tell that I had spinach?"

The usual post-meal twiddling of fingers.

Chubbs' Boxing Ring

Chubbs' cot now resembles a boxing ring.

We had to pad the ends because Chubbs has been crashing head-first into everything (and strangely seems to feel no pain). The last straw came today when I left him in his cot to do some washing, heard a loud thud when I was in the bathroom, heard him whimper, and hurried out to find a bruise on his forehead. This (again) will not do!

Seeing stars...

Fuzzy threw up his arms in desperation, dug out some old mattress protectors and wrapped them round the wood. The cot looks like it has been bandaged :/ Sorry buddy, but this has to be the arrangement until you learn to be less gung-ho ok?

We shook off the bump with a big family dinner at SICC to celebrate my in-laws' wedding anniversary. No. 36, I think? His doting GrandAunts and Great-GrandAunts got a kick from playing with him.

Preparing to leave.

The feast included live prawns, roasted goose (mega yum!), roasted chicken, claypot fish head with roasted pork and home-made tofu, stir-fried fish slices with spring onion, black pepper beef, double-boiled pig's tail soup, fried mee sua, braised mee sua and more... Chubbs watched us from his pimped stroller most of the way.

p.s. His bruise turned a cool shade of purple and swelled up as the day progressed. Sigh.

Hawaiian Papaya

I requested for my F-I-L to buy Chubbs some Hawaiian papayas the next time he sees some because I don't see any in the supermarkets. I choose to give baby these as opposed to the bigger-sized cousins because I think they are more hygenic to prepare. Just cut open, spoon out and discard the seeds and slice with a paring knife; minimal contact with hands. For Chubbs' dinner last night, I mashed the sweet flesh and added some warm water to it.

Chubbs started out strong; taking a few cautious mouthfuls. He might have thought it was squash because it was a pale orange colour, just like butternut squash. After the third bite, he decided that he has had enough, and proceeded to purse his lips and drum on his tray table.

Abort plan! So I offered pureed apples with milk and vanilla cereal instead, to which he greeted with an open mouth. Sigh.

"I win!"

Challenging Days

Lately, I've been feeling low. Maybe it's because I've been ill since Friday. Nausea, fever, runny nose, sore throat, giddiness... the works. Fuzzy has been plagued with the same symptoms too. The sticky air and oppressively hot weather does not help. Or perhaps it's due to Chubbs' refusal to eat his semi-solids. It's been a losing uphill battle, feeding him his mini breakfasts, lunches and dinners. I've gotten food flung in my hair, in my eyes, splashed on my feet etc., it's sticky all over, and I've probably used more kitchen towels over the past week than I have in my lifetime. He has also tasked himself to figure out how to unfasten the buckle on his high-chair and what the back board of his high-chair tastes like. Or maybe it's the entire hour I take to walk Chubbs to sleep, pacing the room, while carrying a 9kg load over my shoulder (the only way he wants to be carried nowadays), three or four times a day, everyday. I've read that some babies cry hysterically when they are left alone to fall asleep, and yearn to be picked up. Not my boy. He's happy if I leave him in his cot instead, because he is then free to crawl, roll, rake up the mattress, chew on his blankie, pull up his bedspread, wrestle his bolster, untie all the knots on his bumpers... The past couple of weeks have been seriously exhausting.

A much-needed rest.

The highlights of my day come when I play with Chubbs or when I watch him master a new skill. He has just perfected the art of going from crawling to sitting. The very first time he accomplished this, he steadied himself after landing on his bum, put both hands on his hips and gave me a beaming smile. It's no wonder he's tremendously proud of himself. The sit-from-crawl manoeuvre is something he has been practising for months, rocking back and forth on his knees.

From crawling...

To sitting!

Fuzzy and I recently bought a new set of toys at a sale. A safari animal stacking set that makes elephant, monkey and lion sounds. It's been adorable watching Chubbs play with them. He loves turning the wheels with his index finger and crashing into the animals, making them fall after I stack them up.

"This is a monkey..."

"And this is how I eat it!"

I can only pray that Chubbs is just going through a phase where some things excite him more than food and rest. A consolation is that he is still maintaining his milk intake, which should be his main source of nutrition for the first year. Meanwhile, I'll just take each day as it comes.

Sunday Happenings

We've been sleeping in the guest room on the tatami mats because Fuzzy has taken on the job of painting our room a lovely shade of cream and pastel blue (as part of our renovation plans), and we needed to air the room out. Chubbs didn't sleep too well because we put him in his Ikea play cot, which is too small for him width-wise. Since he turns a lot in his sleep, he found himself stuck many times through the night. With the interruptions, he woke up a little later than normal, but still cheery as ever in his AC/ jailbird jammies.

Sunday breakfast for us was chwee kueh from Bedok, Lana chocolate cake and coffee. After eating his apple puree with milk and vanilla cereal, Chubbs spent some time catching up with his nation-serving Sam-Sook.

"Look! Same hairdo!"

When Chubbs woke from his long nap, I visited my grandma in the hospital before heading to SICC for a late family lunch. Chubbs settled down in his special seat between Fuzzy and I and proceeded to smash his toy to bits. That evidently made him very happy.

He later got bored of our company and moved to sit with Grandpa, armed with his teether. He was mesmerized by the waiter taking our dessert orders. Mr. Waiter interpreted this as a sign that they hit it off and then made audible plans to kidnap Chubbs :/

Fuzzy and I over-ordered as usual. We shared fish and chips, seafood pizza, laksa, ice cheng teng and ice jelly :/ The pizza was surprisingly tasty, with a thin, wood-fired crust and ample cheesy goodness.

We trudged on to my parents' place for Chubbs to play with his GongGong and PorPor, and as if we haven't eaten enough, to have some sweet potato soup dessert. But the day proved too long for the kiddo already and dozed off in the car as we played his baby CD, filled with silly tunes about colours.

He took a proper nap when we got home, just before our farewell dinner for Chubbs' GrandAunty Jan, who was flying back to Vancouver after visiting for more than a month. It was a lavish spread, which featured black pepper and chili crab. Finger-licking good!

Chubbs took his third bath of the day before settling down for bed. We decided to let him sleep with us on the tatami mat instead of in the too-small cot. Fuzzy was very worried he would squash baby. Frankly, I was too. Anyway, we were gung-ho and gave it a shot. It worked beautifully for Chubbs, who slept through the night with nary a whimper. The fear of pancake-ing our son got the better of Fuzzy though :(

Casa Roma

For April's family dinner out, I suggested to try the Casa Roma, just down the road. We live 5-minutes away, and have driven past this place a million times, but have never tasted the food there. And since one of Fuzzy and my death-row meals is pizza and wine, we were really looking forward to it.

Our previous pizza haunt was a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant at Buona Vista. Fuzzy and I shared many a pizza there when I was expecting Chubbs. It has unfortunately moved to (literally) greener pastures, beside Colbar at Portsdown. That departure upset us greatly and we've been on the lookout for a good pizzeria since. We usually make our own at home (Fuzzy kneads the perfect dough), but after Chubbs' arrival, finding the time for homemade pizza nirvana has been trying. We like Valentino, but reservations are hard to get, there are two seatings per evening (so you either eat late or feel the need to rush), and the prices are a tad steep for it to qualify as a weekly joint. We were hoping Casa Roma would be the anti-dote for whenever a pizza craving strikes.

I like my pizza simple, with one or two toppings, besides cheese. My favourite is the classic buffalo mozzarella, sliced tomatoes and fresh basil. Fuzzy's pizza of choice is an acquired blend of anchovies, pineapple and mozzarella. Sounds bizarre, but it works! Casa Roma didn't offer either, so we settled for the next best thing, Quattro Formaggi. It was a decent pizza, with a thin, crisp crust and a heavy-handed scatter of cheeses. I detected gorgonzola, mozzarella, probably parmesan and some other melty cheese. Delicious!

Together with the pizza, Fuzzy ordered mushroom soup, which was nothing out of this world. I picked a salad of rocket, semi-dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms and parmesan. It was a substantial serving of lovely, crisp, and well-dressed leaves. The other thing we liked was that Casa Roma serves President butter with the bread basket. We love French butter! We also had our usual order of wine, which was a special house-pour red that was not on the menu. It was delicious and went very well with the food. Unfortunately, being not able to understand our waiter, we could not make out what wine it was, despite him repeating trice.

The only disappointment came with the desserts. With only a handful of options, you'd expect each dessert to be fantastically done. We chose tiramisu, and creme caramel (one of our all-time favs) because we thought no Italian restaurant should get these two wrong. Fuzzy very lovingly remarked that I make better tiramisu (thank you, Love) and there was RESISTENCE when we cut into the creme caramel. A BIG no-no! Creme caramel should be wobbly, smooth, melting and completely succumb to the steel of the spoon. Enough said. I shall ramble no further.

Chubbs fell asleep just before we left the house. So he slept in his car seat until we were halfway done with the pizza. When he woke up, he was happy to play with his teether in the seat for a while but got restless just before the sweets arrived. Sitting on my lap, he entertained the Japanese couple beside us and played with my watch as we finished up and prepared to leave.

We will be back for more pizza!

Me Lurves Tatami!

We unfurled a king-sized tatami mat as Chubbs new play area. We wanted to upgrade him from playing on our bed because we realised that Chubbs loves to fall over backwards on purpose when he's sitting up, because it doesn't hurt when he bonks his head. This will not do!

The tatami mat is good training grounds before we let him play and crawl on the floor. It's firm, flat and cool to the touch. Hopefully, he will soon learn that bonking his head on the floor is not fun to do! We covered it with a sunflower bedspread to match his romper and laid Chubbs' colouful Ikea activity mat on it. He rolled around for a good hour, squealing in delight and spit marking the whole area while he was at it :/

Nectarine

My F-I-L bought some nectarines as Chubbs' next fruit flavour. Last evening, I blanched the fruit, plunged them in ice water, peeled the skins off (very messy), pitted and chopped them up. Just before feeding Chubbs his dinner, I passed the pieces through a fine sieve and mixed in some warm water to dilute.

The strained fruit had a lovely pink hue and were very sweet. Chubbs liked them so much he had half a nectarine.

By the way, Chubbs seems ok with bananas and apples now. He's been having mashed bananas or pureed apples with milk and Vanilla Custard for brekkie. Most days he licks the bowl clean, but sometimes he pushes my spoon away and refuses to open his mouth. It's a love-hate relationship, I tell you.

Balls

For play-time today, I created Chubbs very own ball pit; a miniature version of Ikea's. Yesterday, Fuzzy unearthed a black trash bag full of colourful balls, that belonged to Chubbs' twin cousins, Ollie and Zac. We washed and towel-dried one of each colour, and I tossed them into Chubbs' cot together with his beach ball, and a new ball that his grandaunt (Yee) bought; dinosaur print with an inflatable dinosaur and bell in it.

When Dino and Chubbs first met.

Chubbs didn't know where to start playing. He was looking excitedly from one to another, and finally launched for Dino and then his big beach ball.

It overwhelmed him at times :/

So he took frequent breaks.

I'm tempted to wash the whole bag of balls and fill Chubbs' cot to the brim with them. Only thing missing then, would be a slide :)

Easter at House

For family (Easter) Sunday lunch this week, we gathered at House at Dempsey. It's the spa/bar/restaurant that was converted from old army barracks. To echo it's history, some of the dishes on the menu are served in mess tins.

Because the weather was cool enough, we dressed Chubbs in our favourite outfit of his. Levis bloomers and a RJ-rugger-esque (to my chagrin) hooded shirt.

He sat in his special seat and alternated between playing quietly with his toy (a 19 year-old rattle that belonged to his Sam-Sook) and looking through the window at the pond and drizzle outside.

He lasted there until we finished our main courses. Then he proceeded to play with water glasses on Grandpa's lap.

Fuzzy ordered their "sliders" i.e. mini burgers with truffled fries and sweet potato fries, and I had the skinny pizza topped with anchovies, rocket, boccachini, pesto, yellow cherry tomatoes and parmesan. We had the metre-long sausage to share, and ended with three desserts; warm chocolate toffee cake, strawberry shortcake and flourless chocolate and almond cake.

The burgers were your regular beef patty, bacon and bleu cheese affair, perked up with fancy fries. The pizza crust was akin to a cheese cracker that was impossible to use cutlery on, and was messy to eat. In retrospect, not a wise choice considering my fingers were dirty and I had to handle Chubbs. But overall, it was a light, tasty lunch that will go very well with beer. The desserts scored major points by being satisfying yet not cloyingly sweet.

We like the concept of House, and I especially appreciate the different old chairs and tables that they use, the lush greenery surrounding the restaurant and the relaxing feel it lends. A clear winner as a Sunday brunch spot to catch up with family and friends, although the rather steep prices won't allow us to be there every week :/