Feeding is a battle -- Petit Bowl

It's true, BB K doesn't like her food! Strange when her father is such a glutton and I'm quite a foodie too. Since 6months of age, after the first 5 spoons, it'd be a battle to feed bunnikins. A mommy at her playgroup once expressed her views on my incapability and said: don't you let her watch her favourite show while you feed her? My son does that else it's impossible to feed. HA! Good luck to you! The rule in my house is that no TV exposure till the age of 2. Ok , i tried at least. At home, it' s really been a while since i've switched on the black box. Perhaps it might be a good idea to sell of the 42inch LCD TV since it's now a white elephant. The only time K gets to watch is when i'll play 5mins of Wink & Learn DVD and that is only because i needed to pee! the hub hasn't been all too coorperative in this respect as the bro and him frequently hogs the googlebox after dinner on a wkend. Can't help that but thankfully, bb k isn't too interested and would rather play with her toys or rummage the drawers!

So what am i doing wrong in terms of food? I pride myself for my culinary skills and sincerely feel that the food I'm feeding her isn't all that bad. It's really upsetting that i spent effort preparing and elaborate dish like Fish Stew only to end up eating it up myself. Perhaps it's the exposure of sweet (think blueberry bread) and salty stuff (think Sakae Sushi's chawamushi) over at the granny's place. Once again, that's beyond my control. Yet, it's infuriating to hear from them each day that the lil one is eating so little. Who can I blame? Effort had been made to educate the old foggies but to no avail. Thankfully, bunnikins love her fruits. Particularly Blueberries. I honestly can't comprehend that as personally i think these berries have an acquired taste. On one occasion, the granny proudly announced that bunnikins finished an entire packet of blueberries! Imagine the shock that was written all over my face! How can a little toddler be allowed to take in so much at one time! there's something called Vitamin C poisoning/ overdose you know. Her reply to that: I can't help it. she kept asking for more. hmm. wonder who is the adult here. 

Lately, i began reassessing bb k's food and realise that it's time i expose her to more textures and taste. I mean seriously, no matter how tasty those cereals or porridge are, it's kindof mundane if you have to eat them everyday! And for me to whip up something interesting is not too economical as i've to buy a whole lot of ingredients only to make that wee bit. End of the day, we'd be freezing a whole lot of the same kind. Thus, i decided to try out Petit Bowl located at Siglap. It has garnered several good reviews and since it's just a stone's throw away, i thought why not! Mindblown! a click to their website revealed a galore of food! the variety is amazing and puts me to shame. Delivery is a little steep (at $10 per trip), thus fortunately it's located this close else i'd be suffering a hole in my pocket. The ingredients used are good quality and no salt or msg is added. All natural! Nice. They aim to provide a feeding alternative to children age 4months to 6years. It's really great for those:

1. Who are travelling
2. With busy schedules
3. Whose kids are picky eaters
4. Who wish to lighten grandparents’ care giving load
5. With domestic helpers who do not know how to cook the child’s meal well.
6. Who wish for alternative meals to complement home cook food for their little one

So yeah, I got a whole truckload of stuff from them and was grateful i did coz during CNY period it was busy busy busy! It's so convenient. All you need to do is to steam the frozen delights and serve after 15mins. the portion are friendly--4/6oz. and coz bb k eats so little, we could do 2 meals with a 6oz portion! Economical! However, not all stuff i've ordered are a hit with bb k. She particularly hates the guava and orange yoghurt for some strange reason and upon eating The Green Bowl for the second time she puked. The MIL says it's because these are veg and when blended and frozen, it has "wind" which makes the kid uncomfortable. 

A real time saver!

Some mummies have expressed their disgust that I'm feeding the baby frozen stuff, but i suppose in this modern age, it's really quite an alternative and life saver! For the record, those who have criticized my actions are mostly SAHMs or have a helper at hand. Not trying to condemn anyone but to each his own. A little hyped up here because i was lectured by a relative recently for not offering FRESH food to my baby. Geez...I work like a cow in case she doesn't know!

BB K is currently in the 3rd-10th percentile for height and weight. As much as i hope she'll grow a little taller, i suppose it's good for a girl to be petite and most importantly, to be healthy!

Learning through play

Growing up in the little island Singapore is one mean feat. Children from as young as 0 years old are subjected to the obstacles posed by the education system. When i first heard of pregnant mommies signing up to be on the waiting list of famous pre schools like Nanyang Kindergarten or St James, I was speechless! In fact, if you are reading this and your kid is already a year old, you can jolly well forget about enrolling in the aforementioned schools because the chances are darn slim! Having said that, all these have made me anxious and being an educator myself, I have to ensure that my child gets into a decent school with good culture. that does not necessarily translate to a school located along Bukit Timah Road. =)

New Year resolution no. 1 was to ensure that I was on top of things for lil bunnikins and one of which was to get ourselves enrolled! So yup, that has been done. We are now on the waitlist. Now I can only hope and pray that she gets accepted for I'm certainly not keen in searching and mulling through the process again. Meanwhile, to groom her into the first female prime minister of Singapore, I've embarked and panned out our learning journey. I'm a big advocator of learning through play. Maria Montessori said that by the age of 3, the child has already laid down his personality as being human. In other words, his brain is 70% developed. In my own words: OMG! There's not enough time now that bunnikins is close to 2!!! Red Alert! Ok, chill. We should never translate our fears and stress to the child. My aim to to enable bb k to grow and learn in a stree-free environment. Well, at least before she hits upper Primary when I'm so sorry, due to the impending PSLE, you'll have to be drilled by your mommy dearest unless MOE decides to scrape PSLE altogether which in my opinion isn't that great an idea. I've never quite revealed to friends, for fear that they may think i'm an overtly kiasu mother, that BB k has been in a playgroup since 9months of age. My main motive is for her to interact with other children and to socialise instead of facing her grandparents the whole time and watching some Mandarin variety show and listening to old songs! No grudges against them for their influence in Mandarin is essential too. But, the move was necessary as I needed more exposure towards English coz I'm the only one conversing in English and that certainly isn't enough! Being in that particular playgroup also enhances my chances of getting into the kindergarten which is a stone's throw away from my home, so that kills two birds with one stone. As much as I hate the early morning traffic to our destination, I guess this is the choice I've made and I'd better zip it. 

At home, I try to do my part by providing her as much opportunities to learn as possible.  

“The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences.”

 Afterall, they are like a sponge! Of course there were days when I felt really lethargic and lazy, I would just leave her to do more free play. That seems to happen pretty often. GUILTY MUCH! Not that easy to strike a balance between work and baby. Anywayz, below are some of the stuff which did:

Mirror Play. Discovering herself. Of late, she has been enjoying this activity particularly during lunch time!

Paint work. This time on a paper plate snake. She absolutely loves texture and getting her hand messy.

Things don't come cheap these days and seeing the absurd prices of toys, I decided to make my own to train her gross/ fine motor skills. It kept her entertained for minutes! But cleanup is a nightmare!

Bunnikin's latest favourite activity- FISHING!

Dot dot dot dot dot....this activity is particularly good for their fine motor skills. Bb k gets easily frustrated however when she's unable to stick the dots. I've a fiesty lil one here who doesn't seem to have the patience. hmm wonder where did she inherit that from? But I can only sit back and watch her frustrations coz that's the whole idea. She need

“Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.”

With that, I appeal to you to cast a vote for bunnikins on http://www.facebook.com/pages/Thinkers-Box/262872183484?v=app_471354186257500&app_data=entry_id%3D18672431%26gaReferrerOverride%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.facebook.com%252Fl.php%253Fu%253Dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fa.pgtb.me%25252F7p1cDp%25253Fapp_data%25253Dentry_id%2525253D18672431%2526h%253DzAQFitW6b%2526s%253D1 

Thank you!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Finally having the time to sit and blog! It's been a great start to the year of the snake with family bonding being the highlight. The hubs is in town and mil is away thus bunnikins has been hanging around with us! Which explains the lack of blogging. We have been going around visiting relatives (namely mine) and friends and this has taken a toil on BB k's schedule. The poor thing has been napping on the car but this has translated to good nights. In fact, since the start of the Snake year, she has stopped waking up in the middle of the night and I do hope this is here to stay! She has been sleeping at 11pm and waking up at approximately 630am for a dream feed and will pop back to bed all the way till 8/9am if we are lucky. Keeping my fingers crossed! But due to the crazy schedule which we have been doing, it's been quite a pain to get her to nap at certain hours. Hopefully this will change once the intensity mellows.

Here's a pictorial on what has been happening (clearly i've only got 10mins of ME time):

CNY is a time to bond with the family and i'm really glad that dear is able to interact with my side of the family. First time ever we did a KTV session at 3rd uncle's place. Coolbeanz. Had great fun and was quite impressed with everyone's singing prowess. Bunnikins however was not too impressed with daddy's rendition of BEYOND. But when mommy croon to the tune of Sammi Cheng, great applause was given by Baby K. She sure has taste! and i think she's more inclined towards sentimentals than rock.

I'm obsessed with colour coordination. This is taken on Day 8.

Ever since bunnikins started walking (on 初一), she has been exploring new terrains. At times, doing dangerous stunts like climbing of stairs without assistance. I foresee a very back backache looming.

Adoring our new PJs worn on the first day of new year. Baby K is in Carters whilst I'm in Forever 21.

Day one's ensemble. Oriental set from China and Nike Shoes. East meets West. Isn't she a darling?

Nope, we are not on a magazine again. It's just a very interesting app which I'm using called Photofunia. Really cool frames and pictures to superimpose your pix in it!

Another App which i have been playing with called Line Camera

Baby, say ROAR!

Really enjoyed my afternoon with the SIL and CIL at TWG Taka with bunnikins sleeping in my arms mostly. My arms almost broke at the end of the day! But the relaxation it brought together with the sanity away from the hustle and bustle of work life is so serene.

As much as most Feng Shui masters and horoscope prediction says that this Year of the Snake isn't exactly great for my horoscope, I hope they are all bogus and I'll live in denial. I'll take each day as it comes and pray for a better tomorrow. 

Have a HUAT-Y NEW YEAR!!

The many faces of baby k

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