Flashcards

We brought Alicia for a trial class at Baby Jumper Gym last Saturday. We were expecting a gym lesson so we were kinda shocked when we were led to a classroom instead. As usual, we were late for class so the teacher had already told a story (fortunately, that was the only segment we missed out on). When we first entered the class, it was already flashcard time. We were SHOCKED at the speed at which the teacher flashed the cards! I mean, I was aware that flashcards are flashed pretty quickly but i really had no idea it was that fast! Anyway, I think Alicia was shocked too... haha.. Photography's not allowed in class so we couldn't take any photos or videos during class. Not that we could have had a chance anyway since the class was jam-packed with short 5-minute activities (except for the gym segment where they had a bit of freeplay for awhile).

The teacher actually after flashing the cards to the class, went round to each individual toddler and asked the toddler to point at the flashcard she asked for. We were stunned and speechless that Alicia got them right! Well, she didn't get all right, she only got the first one wrong coz i guess she didn't know what the teacher wanted and she was new to flashcards. I only introduced flashcards to her after the class upon witnessing the power of flashcards on the toddler's mind! But anyway, it was really stressful coz we kept worrying that Alicia would answer the questions wrongly coz the other 2 boys in the class seemed quite used to flashcards. At the end of the class, we realised that Alicia was placed in the wrong class! She was placed in the Walkers 2 class instead of Walkers 1. No wonder the 2 boys seemed more advanced... haha... oh well, it's hard to be a parent these days!

Anyway, we bought 2 packs of flashcards from Borders: one for numbers 0-20 and the other for alphabets. Alicia is simply amazing coz i only started on the alphabet cards 2 nites ago and when her daddy was just casually playing with her last nite, she managed to pick the right flashcards when she was asked! And it wasn't just a one-off thing and actually my hubby made it quite difficult by asking to choose among 4 cards and not just 2 (which is what the teacher did in class). A toddler's brain is simply awesome!

Below is an attached pic of alicia's favourite flashcards from the alphabet series:

Alicia will make eating noises when she picks up the pictures of food! And somehow she thinks all animals go "moo"! She used to only go "moo" when she sees pictures of cows...

In love with Ronald

Been meaning to post these cute pics of alicia on the blog but just couldn't find a chance to. These photos were taken at Changi Airport when we went there for an after-dinner walk. :)

See her fascination with Ronald McDonald!

Doodle Art

I have been very keen to let alicia start on some form of art coz she has be doodling on her doodling board for quite a while. I thought that it might be fun for her as an activity and possibly fun for me too to see what my little darling can come up with.

I started her on her first art piece last Sunday at my mum's place. Passed her a baby paint brush with a bit of water colour and just let her doodle on the paper. The water colour and brush are from a children's book we bought from Borders which actually has step by step illustrations of how to paint some really simple pictures. Actually I wanted to wait till we got Crayola's nontoxic fingerpaint from a supplier (cheaper than at the stores!) but I was so excited that I decided to just go ahead with the book's paint. Hehe.

Here's a pic of the book:


And here's the first work of art. Ok, those wiggly lines and all were done by me when i was bored as alicia went off for awhile but the random strokes are all hers. I helped her sign off since she doesn't know how to do it yet. hehe....

Finally, I got the nontoxic fingerpaint and crayons from the supplier last night so I got Alicia started on the crayons first. Went to buy drawing block from Popular last night too... haven't bought drawing block for the longest time! haha... Anyway, here's her masterpiece (she broke the pink crayon when she threw it and got smacked for that) and the art materials that i got for her. I haven't started her on the fingerpaint as hubby says that he can't imagine the mess so i'm just holding it back for now... heheh...

Alicia's first class!

On Saturday, just before we brought her to the clinic for her MMR and chickenpox vaccination, we brought her for her first class of any sort! This was a free trial class at Staccato (a music school at Horse City). I was introduced to this place and given the opportunity of the free trial as I'm a reader of Brenda's blog and this music school happens to be her friend's. Thanks Brenda! :)

We had trouble locating the place coz we kept thinking it's at Turf City but it's actually next door at Horse City so we had to drive back down the road and look for the place all over again. It's really an interesting place where there are small little houses all tucked away at a really serene place. From being early to just on time, we became late for the class coz we had trouble locating the little house in the rain. Finally there was someone in sight who spotted us having trouble locating the place - a yoga teacher who only communicated with us through hand gestures through an open window. And finally, we were at the music school! It's pretty new I guess coz there are no pianos in sight except for the one at the reception and the rooms/studios are still pretty empty, except for the room where Alicia's class was conducted.

It was the first time she's attending a class and I thought that she would immediately jump in and join in the fun coz the class was playing with scarves and using the scarves to draw shapes in the air while music played in the background. As we were late, the class had already commenced and coz the studio was quite small, daddies were asked to leave while mummies stayed with the little ones. Thinking that Alicia would wanna join in the fun, I removed her shoes (coz shoes weren't allowed) and placed her on the carpeted floor for her to join the rest of the kids but she kept turning back and clinging onto me. But my brave little one didn't cry despite the stranger anxiety and she just took a little while to warm up and in no time she was happy to let me hold her hands as she followed the rest of the kids to walk around in a circle. After playing with the scarves (which I believed she was hardly interested in), it was time to play with the ball. The kids were given a ball and asked to throw/roll the ball to a partner. But as the kids were all too young to have the concept of passing the ball to the partner, the professor decided that all should have their own ball and just play around with it. Hahaha... Here's a short video of Alicia playing with a ball. You can still see the apprehension on her face at this point in the lesson:

After playing with the balls, it was time for flashcards and after that they were introduced to an African percussion instrument - which I can't, regrettably, recall the name. They all had a chance to touch the instrument with their little fingers and make a few sounds with it under the guidance of the professor. Eventually, they were given a small piano but there weren't enough to go around I think coz Alicia had to share it with a little boy who shoved her aside so he could have a go at the piano. We graciously let him play on the piano for awhile while I entertained Alicia with a tambourine that happened to be lying on the floor. After that, the boy's mummy let Alicia have the piano and here's a video of my little one enjoying herself:

I didn't sign up for the class after the trial, not because I didn't like the class or the professor but coz this is the first class that Alicia's attended and I'd like her to experience a few more classes by different enrichment centres before signing up for a term. We wanna make sure that it's a class that she really enjoys before we commit to it. :)

My musically-talented darling...

Dancing, shaking and tapping to the rhythm... just a few things Alicia is fond of doing since she was young. Musically-inclined she is, or at least we hope. :) I've been teaching her to move, groove and clap to the rhythm all this while and looks like she's picked something up along the way! :)

She was ill when we took these videos... I had just put in the suppository for her just awhile before the videos were taken and her high fever had just subsided (for the moment).


Watch her animated dance!

If you know this Sesame Street song well enough in the next video (it's her favourite song), you'd know that she is tapping to the beat (almost perfect timing!):

It is stated in the milestone chart from babycenter that only the more advanced toddlers at 17mths will be able to dance to music. Well, it just makes me wonder what is considered 'real' dancing in the toddler's universe!

Stocks and Cooking porridge via slow cooker

New to cooking for your baby? Not sure where to start and how to make yummy stocks that satisfy your lil ones' tummies? Don't know how to cook (very soft) porridge for those who have just started weaning?

Fret not! Here's sharing what I used to do for my little girl after she turned 8 months old!

All you need are a soup pot (for the stocks), a tiny slow cooker (for cooking porridge), gather your ingredients and you're good to go!


Vegetable (and fruit) stock

Ingredients

• 1 deep soup pot of water
• 2 corn cobs (IMPT note: some babies are allergic to corn, so if baby develops any allergic symptoms, stop giving the stock to the baby)
• As many apples as you like (skin and seeds removed, chopped into pieces: you can leave the skin on if you bought organic apples and washed them really really thoroughly. Personally, I wouldn't risk it so I always remove the skin although it is said that the skin adds nutrients to the stock)
• Carrots (only suitable for babies above 8 months due to nitrates)

Method:

1. Boil on high heat till the water boils then simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours.
2. Sieve the ingredients from the soup and pack the stock into small portions to be frozen.

Meat and Vegetable Stock

Ingredients

• 1 deep soup pot of water
• 2 chicken breast bones (washed clean, fat removed)
• About 6-7 pieces of pork ribs (more if you like; washed clean, fat removed)
• 2 corn cobs
• 1-2 carrots (depending on the size of the carrot)
• 2-3 pieces of garlic (to 'remove' the smell of the meat)

Method

1. Put the chicken bones and pork ribs in a small pot of water (just enough to cover them).
2. After the water starts boiling, turn off the fire. This is to remove the dirt and possibly some blood from the meat and bones. Remove the chicken and pork from the water and discard the water.
3. Clean the corn and chop it into a few pieces.
4. Peel the carrot(s) and cut into cubes.
5. Put in all the ingredients into a fresh batch of water in a deep soup pot.
6. Once the soup starts to boil, you can turn down the fire and simmer for at least 2 hours. Normally I will simmer till I have about half a pot of soup left so that the stock is sweeter. The longer duration you boil your stock, the sweeter it will be.
7. Let the stock cool and portion into small servings to be frozen for future use.

View other types of stocks/ soups here.


Directions for cooking porridge using the slow cooker
• Wash 1 tablespoon (15ml) - I used a measuring spoon - of whole brown rice grains thoroughly to remove dirt. If you're using normal white long-grain rice, you may need to add about 20-25ml of grains instead.
• Pour in three ladles of stock (about 150ml) and the rice grains into the slow cooker
• Warm the stock and grains on the stovetop till the stock is boiling hot before placing the slow cooker back to cook
• Leave it to cook for about 2hours. After 2 hours, check the consistency of the porridge in case the porridge becomes too thick and dry. (If it does become too dry, add some hot water to it and let it cook for a little while.) the consistency of the porridge should be mushy enough for beginners to porridge

She fell ill... again... (fortunately she's well now)

Well, I haven't been able to get down to blogging about anything lately coz Alicia fell sick again. Within a fortnight of recovering from her previous bout of flu, she fell prey to another throat infection. She had really high fever this time round (39 deg!)but fortunately no other flu symptoms like the last time. The doctor said that she had little ulcers near her throat but coz she had no rash on her hands or feet, it's just a throat infection and not HFMD.

Coz of her high fever, doctor suggested giving her a suppository at the clinic to bring the fever down. The suppository worked like magic and in no time the fever subsided and she was back to her usual self. But as expected, the result of the suppository was short-lived and the fever returned next morning. The paracetamol had little effect on her and she started burning up again so by noon I had to insert another suppository. Unfortunately, after awhile I realised that she shitted so I had to look through her shit to make sure that the suppository had been absorbed by the body and not purged instead. What gross things a mother has to do... Still paranoid, I called the clinic to ask if the suppository's been absorbed by the body and the nurse on duty said as long as I didn't find it in the poo it means that it's already been absorbed. Phew!

The really strange thing about this illness this time is that she can still eat heartily, as long as her fever has subsided, but after the fever cleared up totally, she started to eat less! Hmm, I'm still wondering why at the moment.

Fun with cookie cutters

So busy lately with so many things... finally got to write about this new craze of mine. Ok, I didn't bake any cookies but just decided to have fun with cookie cutters anyway by trying to cut just about anything that can be shaped with them. Hehe.

I first experimented with bread by making little sandwiches for alicia. I spread a very thin layer of sardine on the bread and here're the sandwiches I made from the first batch of mini cookie cutters (set of 3) I bought from Daiso for $2!

My lunch and her breakfast!

She was very happy to see the cute little pieces of bread that she was in a frenzy and tried to snatch them all off the plate. When they fell off the plate, she quickly snatched one and popped it into her mouth! I kept telling her that they were all meant for her but she was just too kiasu... Such a cutie... Actually making sandwiches with the cookie cutters was just to entice her to eat bread, which she has refused for quite a while, for whatever reason. I didn't quite succeed coz she only agreed to eat 2 of the 4 sandwiches...


After sandwiches failed, I decided to use my cookie cutters on sweet potatoes. hehe... I figured that's the only use I have for it since the other food in her diet are not suitable to be cut by cookie cutters. Here's the first batch of sweet potatoes I cut using the Daiso cookie cutters:




Subsequently when we went shopping at Takashimaya, I chanced upon this set of cookie cutters that costs $8.50. Since we were using vouchers to purchase stuff that day, hubby agreed to let me buy this whim of mine. Unfortunately, these cutters are quite big and the Japanese sweet potatoes are quite small so I didn't manage to use all of my cutters. Anyway, here they are:

Alicia likes her new sweet potato cuties: bears, hearts, pigs, penguins, elephants, cats, dolphin (only managed 1 but she ate it before I had a chance to take a photo of it). Didn't manage to use the dog-shape cookie cutter coz it was too big for the sweet potato. I also realised that it's really tough to use the cookie cutters on purple sweet potatoes coz they crumble easily... as for orange sweet potatoes, Alicia isn't really fond of them nowadays. Her current favourite is the yellow Japanese sweet potato so I try to make more of that for her these days and less of the purple and orange ones. :)