CNY Highlights

CNY was gruelling; as I'm sure it was for every family with a young child/ (horror x 100) young children. We managed to make most of it fun for Chubbs; which is the key for all that we do. Here are some of the highlights.

Fiddling with saxophones at my parents'.

My brother, Niel, has countless saxophones because he plays for a band, which travels around playing for music festivals, gigs, etc. Anyway, Chubbs took to playing with a 60-over year old tenor sax and later, a gold alto sax. He loved his music class!

Climbing the slopes at Siglap.

Fuzzy used to climb these same slopes when he was Chubbs' age. Things haven't changed much in this house.

Playing with Ver at Pandan Valley.

Every year, our Uncle Bob has a CNY kebab/ Indian food buffet at the function room of his condo. Last CNY, Chubbs slept through most of the feast in his infant pram. This time around, he ran around the lawn outside, making fast friends with an adorable 3-year old girl, Ver. He chased her around, throwing hugs at her at every opportunity. The poor girl had to fend him off quite a bit. Then they started playing "catch". Well, at least that was what Ver wanted to play with Chubbs. She kept going, "Throw to Jie-Jie." But my boy took that as a cue to run away with the ball, as fast as he could. She gave up after a while, and deciding to play "catching" instead. It's all just grammar anyway :/ The cutest part was when the kiddos took a snack and water break. I packed Chubbs' lunch with me, and Ver thought she would help Chubbs finish his food (even though he started eating). Funny thing was, when he saw Ver attack his food (she was a very hungry girl), it suddenly became hot commodity, and appeared much yummier to him. He ate with much gusto. Before I knew it, his lunch box was empty. Needless to say, I was a happy Mommy.

I'm fatigued just thinking of next year's CNY. Maybe we will really hold true to our plans (every time the festivities roll around) of skipping the local madness, and head abroad to "visit our relatives" there! Woot woot!

Feeling Low

I haven't written in a while. Wouldn't exactly call it a rut, but I'm definitely feeling low these days. Maybe it's because I haven't been able to sleep for the past few weeks; amongst many more reasons. The teenage-hood insomnia seems to have come back to haunt me. I lay in bed for hours everynight, with Sarah McLachlan's lyrics playing over and over, "I'm so tired, but I can't sleep. Standing on the edge of something much too deep. It's funny how we feel so much, but cannot say a word. We are screaming inside, but we can't be heard." Songs are musical poetry; and I love how I can always find one that perfectly sings of how I'm feeling at anytime.

Nonetheless, I have lots of writing to catch up with, because we've had quite a few exciting days over the past week, and Chubbs has had a ball; even though he was very fatigued from the events. I'm thankful for this blog because it pushes me to get off my *ss and do something productive even though I have so much on my mind, and I feel like doing nothing more than lie in bed and wallow. Until I get my act together, here are some CNY shots.

Playing with his young aunts at reunion dinner.

Climbing the slope at Fuzzy's Godparents'.

Durian tree at Fuzzy's Godparents'.

6 Rackets

I'm so proud of my hubby for suggesting to Shan to book a court for some post-dinner Thursday night tennis. Great start to getting back in shape! We know it's been a long time since Fuzzy stepped on court because he couldn't find his racket, his tennis shoes, nor his socks. Ahem.

We rushed through dinner to make it on time, and brought along 5 rackets for us (Fuzzy claimed this was necessary because we didn't know the integrity of the strings), and one for little Chubbs. Shan was kind enough to do some pro bono coaching for me, and Fuzzy helped me refresh some basics. Shan's golden nugget of advice for the night was, "You have to move so that the ball gets diagonally in front of you, before you hit it." I said, "Does that mean that I have to run?" The answer, "Generally, yes." Oh well :/

Chubbs had a blast watching his Daddy and Sam-sook hit back and forth, and whacking the tennis balls with his little green racket and sometimes with Daddy's racket too.

His favourite part though, was being a water-boy. And he did a great job at that, constantly fetching the rather heavy Coleman for Sam-sook and making him drink even when he wasn't thirsty; just because he found the idea of someone drinking from a spout, novel. We coined it water-torture.

A great, healthy night it was! And I can't wait to be able to play again because I need a lot more practise. Right now, I don't consider myself playing tennis yet; I'm just hitting balls. But don't fret, by next year, Chubbs and I will be able to play doubles with Daddy and Sam-sook :)

17 and a Glorious Day!

Chubbs turns 17-months old today! He now points to himself when he sees pictures of toddlers/ bigger boys/ babies/ and even monkeys. Why monkeys? I don't know. We haven't called him that, but I think he kind of catches on that he is rather mischievous.

Let me just tell you, the phrase "terrible twos" is completely out-dated. Chubbs is now very proficient in using the word "no", climbing onto furniture, pulling things down from the table, opening doors (he's 90th percentile height-wise, so he can reach knobs and keys), tearing tissue paper out of the boxes, and basically doing the exact opposite of whatever we tell him. All this at 17-months!? I'm keeping my fingers crossed for when he actually turns 2!

Well, the good that comes with being his age now, is the speed at which he acquires and stores knowledge. We have come to realise that the associations he places with objects are amazing. He connects concepts, toys and words in ways that are beyond our imagination. He surprises us everyday with what he knows and the new stuff he's recently learnt; a lot of which we don't consciously teach him. He just picks it up while listening in to our conversation, or watching our actions. He's started counting 1-5 with us, stringing sentences together, and is now able to join the characters on TV in actions and activities such as jumping, dancing, singing, counting, etc.

We also gave him cod liver oil for the first time today, because he hasn't been eating well and is steadily losing weight. He was intrigued when I fed Fuzzy a tablespoon of it and was willing to try one teaspoon. But that was it. He didn't want anymore. I'll persist and try to give him at least a small bit of it everyday.

Anyhow, Fuzzy was on leave yesterday because the Superbowl was on at 7am, and it was his team, the Indiana Colts vs. the New Orleans Saints. Drew Brees (who went to Purdue with Fuzzy) helped the Saints to their first victory in a long time. Go New Orleans. I'm happy they won, because after suffering Katrina, they deserve to have something good happen to them. A couple of Fuzzy's college buddies who'd also like to relive the good old school days, came over to cheer their teams on, and we tucked into a pot of chili that we cooked the day before, and with corn bread and potato chips. Beany, beefy, tomatoey, onioney goodness!

After the morning's excitement, and lunch, we headed to our ice-cream haunt for a scoop again, and Chubbs had the usual waffle cone. He was a happy boy.

With our tummies filled, we headed to West Coast Park for some fun in the sun. It was a glorious sunny and windy day; perfect for kite-flying. After only a few attempts, my hubby got the Ladybug in the air, let out all the string, and Chubbs got to hold on to the reel! He was well-chuffed and very proud of himself.

Most of the time, Chubbs just ran around excitedly, 1) picking up dead leaves (his favourite park past-time), 2) playing with long grass, and 3) checking his shadow out.

1)

2)

3)

We started packing up once we got bored. I loved how Chubbs sat in the shady comfort of his stroller, pigging out on snacks when Fuzzy laboured to tidy the kite up.

Chubbs got his first Happy Meal toy from Mac's afterwards, and that weird French bulldog toy thrilled him to bits. To cap everything off, we strolled to the car while watching a lovely amber sunset. What a perfect way to end our successful kite-flying excursion.

Conversation with Chubbs

From 10.45pm to 11.15pm, I had one of the first proper conversations with Chubbs.

Chubbs: Daddy. Mommy.

Me: Yes, love. I'm here. Daddy's in the toilet.

x 100

Chubbs: Buck-eat (asking for buckwheat puffs).

Me: It's time to sleep now, love. We have it for breakfast tomorrow, ok?

x 100

Chubbs: Bis-eat (asking for his vanilla cookies, complete with the ASL for biscuits too).

Me: You've brushed your teeth. If you're a good boy tomorrow, Mommy will give you some, ok?

x 100

Chubbs: Daddy. Mommy.

Me: Yes, love. Daddy's still in the toilet.

x 50

Chubbs: Milk-milk?

Chubbs: Mmm-wah. (Kisses me on the lips, like his does everytime before he nurses.)

He finally falls asleep on his own at 11.30pm, after I hummed the same song to him too many times over. Although I didn't discuss any ground-breaking topics with the little one, moments like these are still so precious. Makes everything we do, worth it.

Common bedtime scenes.

Situation Formula

From the forums and websites that I've read so far, babies of the West, i.e. USA, UK, etc., take regular/ fresh milk after the age of one. They no longer drink infant formula or breastmilk. However, things are a little different here in Asia. I, for one, am still doing total, direct breastfeeding, which, for varied reasons, comes as a surprise to many. Personally, I don't think I will ever trust any man-made product enough, to have my child's main source of nutrition/ growth/ development to be dependent on it. All companies are run on profit. How many babies died after drinking the China milk poisoned with Melamine? 6. Plus, 860 babies were hospitalised. And four years before that, in the same country, 13 babies died from malnutrition because of watered-down milk. Despicable bottom-feeders! I get so riled up everytime I think about this! Nonetheless, I fully respect mothers, who for very legitimate reasons offer their babies formula from birth or later. It's hard-hitting on the pockets too, because these little milk vampires easily bottoms-ups a large tin per four days!

I've been speaking to parents regarding this Asian phenomenon (some of whom are doctors too), asking why they give their toddlers formula instead of fresh milk (which Chubbs loves). And do they really believe it's better for the kids? The most common answer, "Don't know. I'm not 100% convinced that the stuff they add in formula is better for them/ critical for development, but everyone else feeds their babies that, and I don't want (my baby) to lose out... in case it is truly beneficial." How amazing is the power of marketing. Kudos to those in the marketing departments of brands manufacturing the aforementioned product. Quit your day jobs! You guys should be writing books.

I'm not sold on the formula-case, after reading for days on both sides of the coin. Moreover, Chubbs loves fresh milk- I give him Meiji full-fat milk with his cereal, in his pancakes, baked in muffins, etc. Anyhow, we are still trying to give him some formula because Chubbs refuses any fish we feed him, so he has no DHA in his system at all. Chubbs totally hates EnfaLac, which has the highest DHA content amongst the formulas, which mean tastes/ smells the "fishiest". Next, we tried Nestle Nan. He wouldn't drink a sip of it neat, but tolerated it a little better when I gave him 50% fresh milk, 50% formula. Trick is, I have to make it ahead, keep it in the fridge till it gets icy cold, so he can't smell the difference, and feed it to him in a shot glass. Yes, a shot glass. Tequila anyone?

So there we have it. Moderation wins the prize (again). I don't know how long we can ride on this wave of success; it could be over tomorrow. But in the meantime, Chubbs is happy with his tea-time snack, I'm happy (because I don't need 30min of frustrating bribing and begging to get him to drink his 60ml), and Fuzzy's really happy because he can now more effectively "encourage" Chubbs to drink up.