Baby Led Weaning

Saffron is still refusing being spoon fed, much to my displeasure. I have all these images of me happily feeding my babies home made purées and them smiling and lapping it up. I suppose that will never happen.

She has decided to follow in her sister's footsteps and go the messy way. The consolation is that she eats way better, is more enthusiastic about food and takes in more. It is quite a joy watching her eat and mess with her food.

Current favorites are kiwi and carrots. She loves broccoli and French beans too. Rice, pasta, corn and yoghurt are agreeable. Tomatoes seem to give her a rash although she likes them. We tried chicken and that is a hit or miss. I'm thinking of getting some beef next week.

How I feel sometimes

Cleaning a house with children is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos.

School

Violet just started school. It seems like she is late by singapore's standards. Makes me feel like an errant mother.

I spent a bit of time scouting for a school, preferably nearby. Most schools are child care centers, and there was a PCF within walking distance. None appealed to us, so I widen my search. By chance I came across Canossian convent kindergarten which is not too far away. It has huge grounds which we like. Plenty of space to play in. It offers quite a variety of after school activities too, like ballet, speech and drama and also
Gym classes. LIKE! Actually we were sold when we saw the huge grounds already.

She starts at this school next year. In the meantime, we had her in another school not too far away, thrice weekly. I would have waited until next year to start her, but she has been telling us about wanting to attend school on a daily basis. Also, it would be good to ease her into school life slowly.

She is starting to enjoy school a lot more now than when she first started more than a month ago. She would cry when we left her there, cry when we pick her up. She would cling to her Chinese teacher the entire time she is there. She would not participate in any singing or dancing. I expected her to be like that, given that she is shy and reserved around strangers. Also no surprise to me that she loved arts and crafts time in school. Great that there is a session every time she goes.

She has since stopped the crying, although she still wears a worried look on her face when the dad drops her off at school. She seems happy, is even taking part in the song and dance sessions now. I thought she would take a bit more time to warm up. She still cling to her teachers, but overall I'm happy she seems happy.

Can't wait til the younger goes off to school too. Then we can sneak off some mornings for some peaceful coffee.

Kindle

My Kindle in sunny Bali!

Have I ever mentioned how awesome the Kindle is??????????? Yes I bought a Kindle. Bought it a year ago. I wrote an entry on it 2 year ago. What made me change my mind about it? Mainly it is the price tag. It has dropped to below 200 USD. Of course I was tempted!

 After getting it, I became a book slut. Jumping from one book to another. Something that I never do when I read real books. I don't have a lot of books yet. A lot of parenting ones, which I am not all too keen to keep but still want to read those because I am such a clueless parent. Fiction I still prefer buying a hard copy. Nothing more romantic than a good old book in hand, with hours and hours to spare and a nice drink at the side. Sigh, gone are such days.

After a year, I am still as in love with it as I first got it. I was blown away by the e ink. It absolutely looks just like book prints! I wish I had it before I had kids. I will bring it everywhere with me. Sit down at a cafe and read to my heart's content. Soon... those days will be back. I just need to cart them both to child care. WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone who loves to read and thinks it will kill the reading pleasure - It won't! Go get it. It will be one of the best things that you can do for yourself. You can't carry The Odyssey or Ulysses around all the time right?

Another good thing? There are free classic ebooks to be had! Now, tell me that doesn't do it for you!

Focaccia

I just saw this on TV today and can't get it out of my mind. I LOVE FOCACCIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This video makes me so happy. The way it was made, the whole process makes me smile. I miss the focaccias I had in Italy. I miss making bread. :) This is food porn.  Another trip is due!

Update

Happy times

Time flies. It does. Saff is already 7 months and Violet is 2 1/2 years old. Things are a bit crazy at home on most days. The younger one is not sleeping as much, she just wants to play with her sister even when she is clearly in need of some sleep. She finally decided to turn over on her tummy. FINALLY. That lazy girl. I can't blame her, being as fat as she is, it isn't the most comfortable position to be in. We felt a tooth pushing through too!

She loves supermarkets

She is just like the sister, refused to be spoonfed. Argh... I will never get to experience the puree feeding phase.She will just her head and keep her mouth closed tightly when she sees me with a spoon coming. She loves to chew on broccoli and french beans. She absolutely adores pineapples. Finds apples meh. Fancies grapes and strawberries. Her grip is so strong, she mashes up carrots before any of that gets into her mouth.

Her trippy drawing she named 'Family'

Violet is in princess mode currently. I was wishing that she would skip this phase. But she is such a girly girl. We never encouraged it, never called her princess nor have we introduced Disney Princesses to her.(She still doesn't know them! Thank goodness!) But she knows what a princess is. She read them in books and seen them on TV. She knows about kings and queens and that they live in a castle. She is trying to be more independant too. Eating on her own, climbing into the car by herself. Walking a lot more instead of wanting us to carry her all the time. She does try to entertain herself a little more too. She would grab a book and do some reading alone She still likes to doodle and colour. Her colouring has improved, from scribbling all over the page to more controlled targeted colouring.

Good thing that they nap together. The only time in the day that I can take a breather. Or try to prepare for dinner. Sometimes I am so tired I will nap with them. Napping with them somehow makes them nap longer and more soundly. I wonder why?

Bali

It is without a doubt indeed, tiring to be travelling with a toddler and a baby. It is made worse when the toddler is sick. I asked myself why I even bother travelling at all. I came back more tired than I was before the trip!

Violet was feeling fine until 3 hours before the flight to Bali. She vomited twice. Once in the morning and again before lunch. We had to rush her to a clinic and found out that she probably had stomach flu. ARGH! 3 hours before the flight and we are told that she has stomach flu. Needless to say she was whiny on the plane and whiny on the first few days. She whined during meal times, she whined when I asked her to take her showers. Whined when I tried to get her out of the villa pool. She whined when I asked her to sleep. It didn't help that it was really hot and humid everywhere we went in Bali. I tried to keep my cool and gave her a little more leeway since she was not feeling too well.

Finally on the 3rd day I gave her a huge dressing down. Frankly I was very pissed off with the way she treats her father sometimes. She bullies him all the bleeding time! She goes to him when she needs a play mate and when she doesn't, she rejects him totally! I hate that! I blew my top and gave her her biggest dressing down ever. That worked. She was less whiny on the last 2 days.

The younger one did better than expected. She slept through the entire flight. She was fine and happy, if a little bothered by the weather. She seems to be more of a homebody, a creature of comfort who craves familiarity. I was worried that she would miss her cot or home. Much to my surprise she was fine and happy! I am glad I plonked down $80 for the foldable tub and lug it with me to Bali. She loved her baths and it is good that she was able to enjoy her favourite soaks in her tub even in Bali. I can't imagine trying to bathe her in the bath tub. Not only are babies slippery little things, I am paranoid about the cleanliness of the tub!

As for us, we didn't get to really relax and do nothing. I was pretty much going back and forth attending to my 2 children. I did get about 20 minutes by the pool reading and basking in the warm late afternoon sun while they were napping. Wished it happened more often though.

Travelling with young kids is very tiring. Would I do it again? As it is, I am planning our next couple of trips already. Am I nuts? Yes!( And I never learn )  But nothing, absolutely nothing is more satisfying to see than seeing your kids taking in all the new experiences with such dewy eyed innocence and unjadedness that I wish I possess. Besides I am a glutton for punishment.