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Mommy Q&A

Filed under General

From Parenting: Early Years magazine comes a little questionaire which they used to interview actor James Marsden about his life as a father. I decided it was pretty apt to ask myself the same questions, so here goes:

Describe your parenting style in one word
Discovering

Favorite TV family of all time (real or fictional)
Has got to be 'The Flintstones'

What's always in your refrigerator
Cheese

Last meal you made for your family
Bacon Mushroom Carbonara

Favorite book to read to your kid
My First Nursery Rhymes

Craziest thing you've done while sleep-deprived
Went to work wearing a full power suit and a pair of bright red Crocs.

Trait you hope your children don't inherit from you
Anxiety

Favorite kids' movie
He can't sit for an hour in front of the TV yet, thank God.

Kids' TV show you can't stand
Animal Mechanicals

Best piece of parenting advice you ever got
The moment he can sit up, train your kid to sit at the table, when you're having meals. Have him stay there until you finish your meals.

When we say “Mom,” you say…
Joy

Adventurous food tasting

Filed under General

While we're eagerly awaiting the day for Paul to take his first independent steps, we're already going overboard with the 'trying out new foods' bit. The strangest thing he took to has got to be chicken curry. Just the other day I was having some rice drenched in spicy chicken curry sauce and my kid just scrambled to the table begging to have a try of whatever it was I was having. Hoping that the spiciness would turn him away, I gave him just a very tiny taste – just two grains with some of the spicy curry. Alas the kiddo loved it and came back begging for more and before I knew it, I had to get another bowl and give him a good quarter of my rice, soaked in curry and all!

Perhaps by the middle of this year my baby would be asking to try sambal and assam laksa?

Dear Paul, when will you walk?

Filed under Parenting & kids

With Paul finally passing the 15 month mark last week and STILL reluctant to let go of the walls, chairs and tables, Eric and I both think he's going to require a bit of carrying around still. With over 10 kilos of weight and a huge tendency to squeal and bounce violently in your arms when you're carrying him, this child is not light, yah!

Paul can climb very well – he's very good at climbing up and down the sofa, our bed, my mother's staircase, and he's even better at climbing down all of these , he even knows how to climb down the staircase!

We think Paul actually knows how to walk, but being 'risk-adverse' means he won't let go of the furniture until he's very very certain he won't fall. The other day, at home, we saw him let go of the sofa unconsciously, and in a rush to get to his toy chest he took three steady steps. Out of excitement I jumped and clapped, and the kiddo had such a startled look on his face, he felt on his bump. That was the end of his 'independent' walking. After that he was down to all fours again,  commando crawling his way across the house.

I find it kind of amusing that Paul takes after me in terms of learning milestones – my mother tells me that I refused to walk until I hit at least 18 months. Every night I end my prayers with 'Lord please help Paul walk soon!' and when I head to church, and seeing babies younger than Paul already stumbling along in the mother's room, it worries me!

Anyway, we have now child proofed the house. Kitchen cabinets are now locked up, and soon I think, the fridge will be next – kiddo loves to kneel in front of an open fridge door, methinks he loves the cold gush of air that greets him everytime we open it. Dangling wires are now kept safely out of sight, and our room doors are closed all the time (lest he tumbles in and locks himself inside). And whilst the safe-for-kids bit is out of the way, I'm down to hoping and waiting some more, that today's the day when Paul finally takes his first steps.

Instant noodle nights

Filed under Just Me

I'm a lucky woman. Because I live so close to both my mom and my in laws, I'm guaranteed of a homecooked meal every night, if I do get home in time for dinner, of course. I try to join the family table but on nights when I'm late, there's always the reserved portion just for me, and homecooked leftovers are always better than stall-bought stuff.

Today was different. For some reason I woke up this morning with a strange craving for instant Maggi noodles, specifically the curry flavoured type. So when my mum in law asked, 'So do we keep dinner for you?' I quickly replied that it wasn't necessary.

I spent the whole day craving for this bowl… I added shelled prawns, a whole egg and lots of coriander, my favourite herb in the world!

It was certainly well worth the wait! And really, I think it's quite necessary to have always in the freezer some shelled prawns or sliced meat, eggs and herbs just to dump into that otherwise unhealthy snack.

Sigh… Even writing about it makes me think of the taste some more.

Cheeky little boy.

Filed under Parenting & kids

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Eric took this photo of Paul and me, after I stripped the little boy off his clothes, ready for his daily bath. Paul's personality is shining through these days, and boy, this kiddo is a cheeky little boy – almost all the time. His father was going, 'Hey, smile, cheese, hahaha,' and the kiddo scrunched up his face and this was the final effect!

Loved it so much this should go up on this long 'abandoned' blog.