Latest Craze - Fire Engines

Last Saturday morning, we brought Matt out to the fire station so he can see his latest favourite vehicle in real.

Night before at bedtime, I told him that we will bring him to the fire station to see fire engine. He flashed me a big grin, and got a little too excited to fall asleep. When he woke up the next morning, first thing he wanted was his 2 fire engine toys, and held on to them through breakfast, in the car, till we got to the venue.

Given his excitement, I thought he would be elated. But his response was completely anti-climactic. He looked up briefly in awe at the huge fire trucks, but mostly he just rolled his little fire engine toys along the big structures. Wasn't keen on climbing into the engine at all.

Most importantly, though, we all had fun. And he now has a little plastic red helmet, courtesy of the Singapore Civil Defence Force.

Makan Time

So what's on Matt's plate every day?

Without fail, Matthew has me or granma cook "liang zhai yi tang" (2 dishes, 1 soup) for him every lunch and dinner.

Like daddy, he loves his meats. So a lot of meat talk here.

1. Ngo he (threadfin) - most expensive of fishes we feed him. If it's purchased same day from market, I will steam it with ginger, tomato. The soup is sweet and delicious. More than 2 days since marketing day, it gets kinda fishy, not so great for steaming. Will then pan-fry it and cook it with ginger and black sauce. Recently, I discovered another wonderful way of cooking it - Nomu Seafood Rub - Matt loves it! The spices are also great for our BBQ. Can be purchased from NTUC.

2. Cod fish - another expensive one. Usually steamed with just tomatoes and ginger; or I add in some teriyaki sauce. Nomu Seafood Rub will work, too, I am sure. Will try it.

3. Salmon - this I usually use Annabel Karmel's salmon skewers recipe. Tweaked it a little to use slightly lesser honey as Matt doesn't like them too sweet.

4. All other fishes, usually my mother-in-law will cook for him. Pomfret, ngo he soon, garoupa, and all other fishes I don't buy because it's too big for me and hubs to eat on our own.

5. Beef is Matt's absolute favourite. I buy from the grocer 200g, it's enough for only 3 meals! Styles - with spring onion; stewed (my MIL makes a real good stew!); pan-fried in butter or olive oil after marinating with Nomu One for All spices.

6. Hainanese pork chop, stir-fried pork, chicken, minced chicken, minced pork, roast chicken, grilled pork, sweet sour pork. Meats - he loves!

7. Vege, I would say his favourite is brocolli. The rest - heng cai (Chinese spinach), English spinach, cai xin, xiao bai cai, etc - we hide them under the meat and rice.

8. Soups - potato/carrot, leng ngau (lotus root), watercres, pumpkin, sweet potato, corn, my MIL's many types of herby soups. All he loves.

I still cook separately for Matt, but increasingly I am trying to not do that. But that would mean food is really cold by the time hubs get home, so still working this one out ...

My Cute Pillar of Strength

The one who exasperates me alot sometimes, but also the one who gives me even greater strength.

He has taken to licking whenever I ask him to "try!" a new food.


cold cold, mama!

Just.So.Hard.

I have been feeling overwhelmed a lot lately. Been crying quite often, feeling alone somehow in battling the needs of daily living, caring for a toddler, training a maid, being the appreciative daughter-in-law, the good wife and the perfect mother, all by myself.

I miss my mom. Wish she could be here with me.

Sometimes, I get angry, even bitter. I feel like there's no outlet to vent my frustrations. When hubs come home late from work and feeling tired, I take it out on him. We quarrel. Which only makes me feel worse. Never better.

Each day, things have to continue moving. No time to stop and take a meaningful breather. Crying seems the only thing that make me feel momentarily better. And of course, seeing Matthew toddling around me. Sometimes, he sees me crying, and he'd scrunge up his face and give me "a big hug and a big kiss."

Sometimes, I would outrightly ask him for it. I trudge on. I am sure one day, things will become more manageable.

"Xiao Beh!" (Mad Horse)

Little Matt when excited. It's a no wonder that he can hardly put on weight despite eating a lot.

Where is Mommy?

One of Matt's favourite book is Where is Mommy? (Peek and Find) It's a really fun lift-a-flap book. I guess it reminds Matt of us playing hide and seek at home. He learns the many places that one can possibly hide - behind the curtains, under the bed, under the table; and also the many different animals under those flaps telling him to look elsewhere.

The Bigger Baby

This morning, we popped this frozen otah we bought from the market for breakfast, and left hubs to handle it while I fed Matt breakfast. He took it out after 15 mins, cut it into half and placed them onto slices of bread, walloped his portion and pronounced, "the texture not quite right, but quite good."

I finished feeding Matt, ate mine, it was cold. Undercooked definitely. It was still slimy-ish. I believe that's the "not quite right texture" he was referring to. Popped them back into the oven, and it was yummy alright, with the right texture.

Sigh. I am, really, living with 2 babies!

Corporal Punishment, High Pain Threshold

Whenever Matt falls, he doesn't cry. He would just look at me and calmly exclaim, "Matt-chu fall down!" Which is great, I think.

Sometimes, though, we worry. We witnessed many seemingly painful falls, but he doesn't even whimper. I would like him to be able to tell me where he is hurting so I can check.

For example, last week, he tripped and fell. He did not manage to break the fall with his arms in time, and ended up with his chin hitting the floor. The hard impact had his teeth sinking into his lower lips, and it bled quite a fair bit.

My little boy cried for all of 20 seconds, at most.

The cut eventually turned into a very nasty ulcer. I have never had an ulcer that big in my life. His appetite plummeted, poor chap. Each time that I fed him, he'd put his finger into his mouth and wince in pain, whimper a little, and ask me to "put lotion," his way of telling me to soothe any of his pain.

Then there were ocassions when I smacked his bottom really hard, till there are actually finger marks on them. He just scratched them cutely with his little fingers, then he went about his naughty ways. Makes me wonder if I rotan-ed him, would he feel anything?

Speaking of which, hubs and I think that we need to start using the cane soon. He is getting way too spoilt for his own good. While we do not want to ever use corporal punishment, we also do not want to bring up a brat. I don't know. I hope reasoning will work with him soon, but I am not hopeful looking at the state of things.

Honey Bun Sugar Bun

One day, when Matt is older, he may kill me for posting such intimate details of him. But for now, they are the cutest thing, in equally cute underwear.

Hope This is a Keeper

I timed the new helper, Amy, to join our household while Matt was taking his nap last week.

First impression - she looks (almost) nothing like the photo in her biodata. She is shorter than what she declared. She must've given a photo from at least 10 years ago, and perhaps grew a little shorter since ...

Ok, I am being nasty!

I am seriously maid-out.

But she mostly smiled as I talked to her. That helped ease my apprehension a little. But I was still on my guard.

I gave a quick tour around our home, and shortly after, we heard Matt whining, awoken from his slumber. He walked out groggily, had eyes only on me, and was completely unaware of Amy who was standing by his side. I said, "Hey Matt, meet Aunty Amy!" He held on to me, blinked and blinked and blinked, as I held my breath. Then to my surprise, he held her hand and led her to the living room!! Breathe out.

About a week has passed. All I can say is, she is not very clean, well, at least not to our standard, and does things very slowly. Attitude-wise, so-so, alright. A bit deaf, doesn't quite listen to instruction sometimes.

But, and this is a very big BUT, Matt seems to get along well with her. I think for now, that is all that matters. Whatever Amy is lacking in currently, is habitual; can be trained &/or changed. Ren yuan - this one is, as the word imply, fated.

Keeping my fingers firmly crossed!

Sell Newspaper

This is a father-son activity that hubs is very proud of.

Every few weeks on a Sat or Sun, dear daddy would listen out for the newspaper man sounding his horn and driving his karang guni lorry. He would excitedly shout for him as he passes by our house, and father-son wait on as uncle weighs the newspapers.


The little one patiently waits for uncle to give him money ...


.... so he can insert the coins into his piggy bank and hear the "oink oink" as they go through the coin slot. Sometimes, he gets dollars. Those go in through the piggy's nostrils.

Smiley

For a while now, whenever I carried Matt, he would lean back and look me in my face, and give me a big smile. When I smile back, he would chuckle and hug me tight and give me a hard squeeze.

Sometimes, he'd look up from whatever he is doing, and just smile at me. Just like that.

I love it, too, when he sits on my lap and I read something he likes, he'd turn 180 around to give me a warm smile.

When I drive to my in-laws to pick him up after work, I would creep up quietly into the house, and find him usually playing with his toys. "Baby!" He would look up, and a big grin would appear spontaneously on his face before he makes a dash towards me and jumps into my embrace.

Aye. It's wonderful.

Puh-Leeezzzz

.. let me have a good helper this time round.

So, it's good riddance very soon to the lazy helper-who-sat-with-Matt-for-45-mins-while-I-cooked-dinner-(for her, too)-and-did-not-realise-he-pooed-even-when-it-stank-so-bad.

The-helper-who-told-a-friend's-helper-that-she-has-no-food-when-she-has-put-on-weight-since-coming-to-our-household-one-month-ago.

It's a joke to say my house has no food. I almost died laughing when I heard this.

Anyways. By-gones.

Please let the next one work out.

Terrible Twos II

It seems that the terrible twos phase has gained grounds since I last talked about it.

"Dowan!" rules the day - dowan yeye house, dowan home, dowan shower, dowan sleep, dowan papa, dowan aunty, dowan rice, dowan whatever i-don't-fancy, dowan whatever-mama-wants.

This behaviour gets even more pronounced whenever I am around. No one can carry him, change his diaper, bring him to wee wee, put him to bed. No one can touch him. Period. Which, of course, are behaviours which we want to discourage. So, of late, we have countless episodes of hubs tearing him away from me, make him face the wall, him crying on and on, and me pacing nearby, dying to hug and comfort him but cannot!

He can really cry, goes on and on and refuses to apologize. He gets off when he is ready to say he is sorry. The moment he says it, he makes a dash for me.

Sometimes, I take a step back and wonder - surely he is not keen on protesting and making decisions that he knows will render mommy and daddy angry, and which will inevitably lead him to face-the-wall? I tend to be less harsh on him when I am sane enough to think like this. Most of the time, I am not as sane, not in the face of this little 2-year old tyke who goes on a serious meltdown when he doesn't get his way. But I am a softie, so facing the wall has, fortunately for me, been more of a hubs thing, much to his chagrin :p

I guess Matt is learning to make his own choices and asserting his independence, a phase of development that he (and I) must go through. I just wish that it didn't have to always involve him disagreeing with us in order for him to make that choice. Bedtime now .. Dowan sleep! We're going to a party. Dowan party, go airport!

*Deep breaths! It's a development phase!*