Doctor, Doctor

Eugene imitating a doctor and pretending to use a stethoscope.

He's using one of a pair of dome shaped knob which I use to prop up my keyboard.

Let me check your back

 

Hmm.... your arm too.....

and definitely your toes ! .......

Earlier, he draped the tape measure down his shoulder like the plastic tube of the stethoscope but we think it's rather dangerous to have any long dangling string near his neck.

Handling Scissors

Eugene's getting better at using a pair of scissors.

I had started him on a pair of scissors with plastic blades which I had bought from POPULAR. But unfortunately, somehow after using it for just a short while, it was not cutting very well.

So I bought another with the normal steel blades with a rounded tip.

Of cos, when Eugene is using the scissors, it's under my supervision just in case he accidentally snip himself.

Remote Control Car 1

Uncle NCC or should I call him Kor-kor NCC? Well NCC had bought for Eugene a remote control car, I think, almost a year ago! But Eugene was too young to play it. I only took it out because  Eugene saw it and wanted to play with it.



Still too young to know how to control the car's movements .......................

But he knows how to switch on the car and the remote control and found out on his own which switch activates the music.

Age Appropriate

I am overhauling my wardrobe.

As with most gals, I like buying cute, lacy outfits to wear, you know, like those Japanese or Korean outfits, so kawaii, especially those lacy layered outfits.

Well, most of it are just hanging there, not worn at all.

I put it on at home and somehow it just doesn't looked right on me. The outfits just do not match this body and face of mine.

Yes, reality sets in finally. I feel and think young, but this body of mine is certainly not.

So now I have 2 big bags of too kawaii outfits, too tight outfits to fit in (gosh, how did I ever fit into those skinny jeans?).

Some will be donated to the church near my place where they have a sale every sundays.
And some will be donated to the poor gals in Cambodia whom my sis-in-law is actively involved in some charity works over there.

A House Is Not A Home

First, let me say that I am not comparing Chris Colfer's singing to Luther Vandross. Nobody can be compared to Luther Vandross.

So I am just commenting on Chris rendition of this song, that's all.

I must say that Chris (Kurt in GLEE) really nailed the emotion in this rendition of "A House Is Not A Home". Beautufully executed. I had goose-bumps and it put me in a melancholy mood.

The song was so haunting until ..................................





Finn sang! OMG, he sounded real bad in this one, what happened? It's obvious he couldn't hit the high notes.

Ok, die-hard fans of the two leading characters Finn and Rachel, don't bash me ok, but I feel that Kurt and Mercedes's voice are so much better.

Finn's voice don't seem to be that powerful whereas Rachel's voice is too powerful that at times, it seems that she's shouting out the song instead of singing it.

But I guess that Finn and Rachel are made the leading characters as hey, they are good-looking and figure perfect.

Ya, life's not fair isn't it?

 I leave you with the beautiful lyrics below .........

A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME

A chair is still a chair
Even when there's no one sitting there
But a chair is not a house and a house is not a home
When there's no one there
To hold you tight and no one there
You can kiss good night

A room is still a room
Even when there's nothing there but gloom
But a room is not a house and a house is not a home
When the two of us are far apart
And one of us has a broken heart

Now and then I call your name
And suddenly your face appears
But it's just a crazy game
When it ends it ends in tears.

So darling, have a heart,
Don't let one mistake keep us apart.
I'm not meant to live alone
Turn this house into a home.
When I climb the stair and turn the key
Oh, please be there
Still in love with me

Terrible 2 ?

Eugene was sent to the "Thinking Chair" today in class. What's a "Thinking Chair?" - in SuperNanny, it's called the "Naughty Chair".

Apparently Eugene started throwing things onto the floor. Even after he had been warned, he threw again and thus after apparently 3 warnings, he was sent to the "Thinking Chair" to reflect on what he has done. Of cos, the teacher have told him the reason.

What was Eugene's reaction? He cried a little and exclaimed "I Good Boy" which at this point, the teacher had to stifle her laughter. I guess Eugene must be thinking what he had done wrong even though it was explained to him.

Teacher said that sometimes the kids could be behaving this way because of things that might happened at home. Huh? Nobody is throwing things or fighting at home.

But this is not the first time he had thrown stuff, though it was the first time he did it outside of home.

Sometimes he could be playing with his toys or even just looking at something, and then suddenly he would take stuff and throw it onto the floor or even swipe his toys off his table with his arms. It came out of the blue!

I'm sure something might have triggered it and I can only guess. A sudden surge of energy? Fun throwing stuff? I read that kids at this age might do this kind of action as they discovered that they are able to hold things and do different actions with them, like throwing!

But this time, I am guessing that he's feeling frustrated  because of the phlegm in his throat and a slight runny nose. We had brought him to two different doctors but still the phlegm persisted.
He will usually wake up at around 1-2am coughing and we can hear the gurgling sound of the phlegm. Sometimes he even vomited. But after drinking some water, he will be alright.

Also when he wakes up in the morning, because the mouth is dry, the phlegm problem is worse. Like this morning, he was feeling angry as the phlegm was stuck in his throat and he doesn't know how to cough it out.

Anyway, hubby and I had a talk with Eugene and for our part, we will have to keep reinforcing what can or cannot be thrown.

Tip to Teach Your Child How to Hold A Pencil

I had just started trying to teach Eugene the correct way to hold a pencil when he's doodling away but it's so impossible. He will always hold the pencil in a fist-like grip. Maybe t's too early to teach him?(26months).

I'm not insistent that he have to hold it the correct way all the time, don't want to pressurise the kid so if he's doodling, I will just show him the correct way once. After, even if he hold it the wrong way, I will not correct again. That one time is just to show him the correct way.

Anyway, I was just reading "THEY GROW UP TOO FAST" and the mommy have posted "TEACHING YOUR CHILD HOW TO HOLD A PENCIL". Perfect timing! Exactly what I needed.


THEY GROW TOO FAST"'s mommy had gotten the tip from "ROCKS IN MY DRYER".


I reproduce below the article "TEACHING A CHILD TO HOLD A PENCIL" from "ROCKS IN MY DRYER" blog.


I cannot take an ounce of credit for today's little tip--my son's preschool teacher taught it to me years ago.  It's such a good one, I couldn't keep it to myself.
 
You probably know how hard it can be to communicate to a child exactly how a pencil should sit properly in his or her little hands.  My son's teacher told me to do it this way:

1.  Take a Kleenex and tear it two pieces (a full Kleenex is too large, so just use the half piece for this trick.)

2.  Have the child pinch the Kleenex piece in his/her pinky and ring finger, like this:

3.  While the child is still pinching the Kleenex in those two fingers, tell him to hold the pencil in the remaining three fingers.

4.  Remarkably, as long as the Kleenex is still "occupying" their 4th and 5th fingers, the child will naturally hold the pencil the right way. 

Ok, I tried the above method and it works!

Of cos Eugene is still not able to hold the pencil well but it got him out of that fist-like grip which he tends to automatically do.

He will still tend to go back to his fist grip but at least he can doodle for a short while in the correct grip.

Thanks to "THEY GROW UP TOO FAST"'s mommy for discovering this tip and posting it - it is an excellent tip!

YISH !

It's raining and we're late for Eugene's class.

So I carried him and walked briskly.

"yish, yish" said Eugene

I looked at him...?????......, ok, no time to decipher. "yish! yish!" and pointing his finger to the floor. I stopped to look and a passerby picked up one of his shoes.

I realised that Eugene is unable to pronounce SHOES and FISH.

It's shoes/fish.                 Yish, Yish.

Ok, look at my mouth and say shoes/fish .....

Yish, yish 

***alamak***

I brought this up to his teacher and she said that it's because the jaw muscles, tongue are still developing. She said to lightly press his cheeks together and have him make a smile showing his teeth. This should help to strengthen the muscles and later pronounciation. Pressing the cheeks together, try also to make him pronounce the words.

Teacher will also help during his lessons.

Potty Training

I had written about potty training Eugene in my earlier post here.

Well, training was stopped till recently as Eugene was kind of uncooperative.

I decided to use the bear potty (as Eugene calls it) instead of the potty seat over the toilet bowl. Reason being that I do not want to use the method where I have to constantly bring him to pee and I definitely will have to help him if he use the potty seat over the toilet bowl.

I wanted him to be able to know when he needs to pee and pee without my help.

Eugene started by wearing the training pants but it kinds of frustrate him as he is able to pull it down but not pull it up. So I decided to let him go butt naked, ha ha.

Well, since I'm training him on peeing, I will only let him go without his diaper only when he had pooed ( I don't want to clean up a poo mess also lah).

In the beginning, I had to constantly remind him, "you need to pee?", "remember to use the potty if you need to pee".

A couple of times, he "forgot" and peed all over th floor.

But he's getting better now, so far, he has gone to use the potty on his own with very minimal prompting from me.

Just woke up from his afternoon nap

Smile Eugene !

I want a smile with the eyes open!

This is what you get ****faint*****

Teochew Yam Paste (Taro) Orh-Nee with Coconut Milk

Orh-Nee as it's called here is a traditional Teochew dessert.

Frankly, I didn't like it so much as the original recipe calls to cook it with lards and lots of shallot oil. Ya, it was so oily that I can literally see a layer of oil floating on top of the yam.
It was really hard to stomach it after a few mouthful.


So, I didn't like the original recipe that called for too much oil and too much work and searched for a recipe that's simpler and easier to make and found it.


The below recipe was from the web but unfortunately I don't know from which website I got it from as it was quite sometime ago and thus unable to give due credit.  But if you happen to see this and this is your recipe, do drop me a line.

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

- 500g taro (weighed after peeling), peeled and dices

(I bought it ready peeled and packed from NTUC and exactly 500g. It's Thai Taro/Yam. Heard that Thai Yam taste better)

- 1 pack cooked ginkgo nuts.

(I bought the vacuum packed ones but it was still hard to me, so I boiled it in sugar water. The ginkgo nuts are bitter - you can boil it in sugar water or marinate it with sugar so that it's not too bitter. I remembered using the canned boiled ones and didn't have any problem with it)

- 250ml unsweetened soy milk or water

(I used coconut milk instead. If worried about the calories, low-fat coconut milk is available)

- 1-2 tablespoons shallot oil
(1 teaspoon is enough. But I omitted the shallot oil out today as hubby didn't like it)

- 4-5 tablespoons sugar, or to taste

(4 tablespoons was enough for me, just nice. I used castor sugar)


The recipe didn't call for the below but I like to add it in :

- pumpkin (coarsely mashed)

- coconut cream, to drizzle over the Yam Paste 
 (add a pinch of salt into the coconut cream for a better taste)



Method

1) Steam yam and pumpkin separately. Steam till tender when pierced with a fork. 

Coarsely mash yam and pumpkin separately.

2) Blend the mashed taro with the oil, sugar until smooth and creamy. 

(if you don't like it too smooth, then put aside some of the yam that you had manually smashed earlier. Add it in later together with the smooth yam for more bite)

3) Place the ginkgo nuts  (leave some out for decoration, which I forgot), soy milk in a pot and bring to a boil (if using coconut milk, do not bring to a boil, just gentle fire).

4) Stir in the yam puree, stirring slowly over low heat till the soy milk/coconut milk is blended into the yam.

(after it is blended, you can add in the manually smashed yam that you had set aside earlier)

5) Ladle the orh-nee into a bowl or plate with depth and arrange the ginkgo nuts (the ones which you had taken out earlier for decoration) around it and place the mashed pumpkin in the middle and drizzle with coconut cream.

Serve hot or warm.

Cooking the yam paste with coconut milk makes it so absolutely delicious!

(The New Hong Kong restaurant at Novena Ville does very good Orh-Nee. No oiliness  but good amount of coconut milk and pumpkin and not too sweet. Perfect!)

New Blogger Background - yet again

Yep, as you can see, I changed my Blogger Background again.

I was thinking whether I should switch to the new "Template Designer" and whether I should go 3 columns instead of 2.

But I decided to stick (for the time being) to my current one. Reason being that I can create my own background and load it. So far, it is tough to load your own background under the 'Template Designer". So till somebody is able to figure out the code to do it, I'll stick to my present one.

Think I'll stick to 2 columns too as this will give me more space on the sides to put in more designs.

Ok, this background size was created with desktops in mind, where the computer screens are bigger. If you are using lap-top, notebooks, unfortunately, the pictures/designs on both of the sides will be cut off. Can't be help lor, it can't conform automatically to the size of the screen that it is viewed on.
Well, you can "zoom out" your screen to see both the sides, but the text might be too small to read.


I love creating new backgrounds and when Eugene saw this "Sesame Street" background, especially with him in it together with Elmo, he squealed in delight :)

nana nana nana nana, Elmo's World........

Olivia Ong - You and Me

Ok, I've never heard of Olivia Ong till recently.

I was channel surfing and suddenly heard this great voice singing to this feel-good jazz song.

I thought she is a Taiwanese 'cos she was on this Taiwanese talk show. Anyway, googled her and the song and hey, our very own local gal!

And this jazz song was composed by our very own Dick Lee and lyrics by Olivia.

Some songs by Dick Lee, I feel, are quite cheesy sounding but he did a good job on this one. Maybe, I'm biase 'cos I like jazz.

Well done Olivia and Dick!

Ippudo n Arteastiq

04 Sept'2010

Our group gathering.

1st stop : IPPUDO at Meritus Mandarin Gallery

Long Queue! Luckily FJ was kind enough to go early and q and thus we didn't have that long to wait.

The main dining area.

When it came to our turn, the waiter led us towards the kitchen. 

Huh? why are we going to the kitchen?

Turns out there is a private room just to the side of the kitchen. Yay! we have the whole room to ourselves.

And here's the infamous noodle and broth. Ok, you can go and read all about it from their website here.




So how was it? Now taste is very subjective, so this is my own opinion.


Maybe there had been such a big hype about it and I guess I was expecting to be blown away - but when I tasted it, well, it's tasty and all that but nothing spectacular.


I had been to MARUTAMA RAMEN and RAMEN PLAY and both tasted just as good.


I am not a food connosieur and you can call me a 'mountain-tortoise' for not knowing the good from the mediocre but frankly, I wouldn't be able to tell which is the IPPUDO noodle and broth if I were to do a blind test.


So there, sorry IPPUDO fans - I'm just stating it from my own point of view, so don't bash me ok.

2nd stop : ARTEASTIQ at Meritus Mandarin Gallery

The front part of this place sells high-end furnitures and you won't know that there is a cafe behind unless you really look.

FY and I ordered the "MONET" which is rose tea with ice-cream (can't remember what flavour).

I like their presentation. You have a wooden tray with your main glass of tea. You see the round glass? It's an extra refill of the rose tea and the small glass cup is sugar water if you don't find it sweet enough.

Again, nice presentation and cake was quite big too. Unfortunately, looks nice but very ordinary taste and kind of a tad too sweet for me.

Unusual concoction.
Roti-prata with ice-creams, sprinkle it with coco powder or berry sauce.

This place reminds me of PS CAFE with their tall windows.

It is great to catch up with friends once in a while.


Usually to have a meal, dessert and sometimes karaoking.


See you guys soon! I look forward to our next makan session!

Oh, the above pic is the window display of 'Bathing Ape' store.
We had suggested that ahem, somebody get this and wear it - ok, this is our group's inside joke.

Lower Peirce Trail

29 Aug'2010

We came to know of this hidden gem at Old Upper Thomson Road quite some time ago when hubby used to go sailing with his friends.

Sailing as in remote control small sailing boat. You can only remote control the sail, there are no motor - that means you need to know a bit about sailing in order to steer it using the wind.



It is so peaceful and relaxing in the forest.

 Eugene picking up a huge leaf.

See how big the leaf is - it's as big as him.

This is my favourite part  - right up to the water. The water is shallow at this part, so no worries of falling in deep water.

Eugene getting wet from the rain.

He loves picking up sticks and leaves!

We would have taken our own sweet time to walk but it started to drizzle.

Maybe just a passing rain cloud? We carried on. By the time we reached the water's edge, it was getting heavier. Ok, better head back. Don't want Eugene to get sick. Ok, it's me lah, I don't like to get wet in the rain.

The entrance is not so visible but there is an entrance signboard - so you have to keep your eyes open for it.

There are also signboards detailing the kind of plants or creatures that you can find in the forest but Eugene wasn't keeping still enough for us to read. So maybe we'll go back again when he's a bit older.

After the walk, we went for our roti prata nearby.

Unzipping Net

A couple of months ago, Eugene had figured out how to unzip his cot's mosquito net from the inside.

I thought it was hubby who unzipped the net in the morning before he goes to work unitl hubby said that he saw Eugene unzipping the net.

So how does Eugene do it?

He could not reach the zip above him, so he pull the net down until he could somehow manage to use his finger to pull down the zip a little - a small space just enough to put one of his finger thru and then use his finger to slide the zip down.

Not pulling the zipper ring or what you call it, remember, he is on the inside. Ok, maybe if you watch the video below, you'll know what I mean.