Potty Training 101

It’s been exactly three whole months since I pledged on Earth Day to potty train Baby O. In the last three months, I have been on and off going about looking for the first item you need to potty train - a potty. Little did I know that it takes a bit more effort than anticipated. The potties that I have spotted are either waaaay too expensive or not suitable for Baby O’s age. The branded ones cost an arm and a leg - BabyBjorn (RM179), Fisher Price (RM169/ RM199). I am certainly not going to spend RM199 for a ‘throne’! Next in line will be the Mothercare potty at RM70. The local brands like Sweet Cherry around the range of RM20 seems great but they are too small/ low for Baby O’s age. I was excited when I spotted Jusco’s 'seat' potty. It is affordable but seems to be a tad too shallow? That means the bum and the base are only a few centimetres away from each other. Hmm...

While trying to get some reviews online and hopefully direction to where to get a decent potty, I found out that Mummy's Reviews™ is currently doing a giveaway. And it comes as Bouncy Baby One Size Cloth Diaper! This cloth diaper is proudly made locally in Malaysia by Tiny Tapir - a company that promotes eco-friendly lifestyle changes! You've got that right! Made locally, cloth diapers = GREEN! I have never used cloth diapers before but using all those disposable diapers really made me feel guilty about contributing to the landfills. So I am hoping that I win this giveaway to try out cloth diapers while reducing the number of disposable nappies used as I trying to get Baby O potty trained! Fingers-crossed!

Food Strike

Ok, it's not really a strike but Baby O has been EXTREMELY fussy with food these days especially after her bout of flu. She used to eat everything under the sun! Meal time used to be so easy! My pride swells each time someone comment on how easy it is to feed her. Recipe books for babies and toddlers made me snicker thinking 'I don't need that!'. Oh, how things have changed!

The most drastic would be her formula milk. She absolutely refuses to drink any milk now when she used to gulp them down. I feel so sinful throwing all the expensive milk down the drain! I tried concealing it in scrambled eggs, cooked with oats, made banana milk shake but nothing worked. Hang on, the one time it worked was when I put the milk in the fridge in order to keep it from going bad so that I can try it on her again later. She actually drank the lot! Hmm... Anyway, I have meanwhile made sure she has enough calcium in her diet by adding cheese into my cooking or giving her a pot of yogurt. We bought Kraft's Cheezels Biskitz for the first time as an alternative snack to just cheese alone because it says it is made with read cheese. Baby O seems to enjoy them.

Baby O is also currently not into most foods she used to eat - carrots, pumpkin, brocolli, sweet potato. I suppose she had too much of a good thing? These were kind of like her staples since she started solids. Maybe she got bored? On the bright side, she still gladly eats plain steamed rice and plain toast and will gladly take 'Na-na'  (bananas) or other fruits - 'Pa-po' (apple), 'Pa-po' (yes, they sound the same but this time it means pomelo!), 'Gwaek' (grapes) and 'Sss' (raisins).

Meanwhile, this Mama has a lot of homework to do to search for recipes for the little one! Let's start with some all time favourite - pasta!

Baking project no.2 - Footballer cake

 

Two more sleepless nights (and black food colouring spilled all over my white top - thanks to Baby O for helping) to get this done for my bro’s mini family celebration over the weekend. Plus another few nights tossing and turning in bed before that thinking of a design. He’s a *cough* ManU supporter as well as a Simpson fan. I was torn between a Bart Simpson figurine or a footballer. Somehow went for the footballer since it was World Cup fever and all...

My footballer (only one attempt this time! Yay!) ended up looking a lot more proportioned and satisfying compared to the previous beach girl figure on my beach-themed cake. I think the head and hair looks better too! However, fondant is SO difficult to work with as it is a lot softer so they will melt and make the figure sink down. I had to add icing sugar and corn flour to harden it as much as possible but too much of it causes cracks. 

I used the same carrot cake recipe but kept it in a cool place and not in the refrigerator this time. The carrot cake tastes softer when not refrigerated. However, the cream cheese frosting this time is too sweet and too liquidy to spread on.

As usual, I loved the part where I put on the details. The footballer's eyes look better than the beach girl's, I think. I added ears this time too. I molded the football, details of the jersey the night before putting them on the figurine so that they will harden which makes it easier to handle. I also thought of crafting a goal post initially but ran out of time which was probably a good thing since it was only a small cake say about 6 inches in diameter with not much space to play with. And since it was a small cake (we don't really eat a lot of cakes at home and the seven of us couldn't even finish this one), there weren't many details I can play with vs the beach-themed cake.  That meant I could spend more time 'perfecting' the footballer itself. Fun! Fun! Fun!

We had to ferry the cake back from Penang to Ipoh for the celebration. Sadly, Mr Footballer didn't arrive in one piece. His right foot fell off and this was later followed by one of his arm. He also sank a little into the cake. Need a solution to this. I suspect it is because of the amount of icing and corn flour added to stiffen the fondant to prevent it from sinking. Too much causes cracks as mentioned and this leads to a higher risk of things falling apart after being put together as in the case of Mr Footballer. The icing/flour also makes the fondant looks matte instead of glossy like some of those cakes I see online. Hmm.. Need more excuse to practice!

More compost update

I went to check on my compost two weeks ago to see if I should turn it again. When I remove the cover this time, I discovered tonnes of big, fat (ok, this is not for the squeamish!) maggots!!! They were all having a big, fat maggot party! Ewww!

Well, I sort of expected it as I have read somewhere before that a compost heap that is too wet may attract some of these creepy crawlies. I must have incorporated too much vegetable peelings and fruit skins in there without adding enough 'browns' such as dried leaves, twigs and branches. The other possibility is I may have watered the compost more than I needed to in a humid country - I have yet to search for a composting site from a tropical country for help in this area. One last cause could be due to the addition of egg shells. Some suggests to wash the egg shells before crushing them into the pile while others say just dump them in. I did the latter which might explain how I created maggot haven!

On the other hand, I did also read that maggots help with the decomposing process and their by products are actually great addition to the compost! We went back to our hometown over the weekend and when we got back, the compost heap has reduced in height quite obviously thanks to all the action going on! So the question is, to keep or not to keep our little friends (or foes) the maggots??

Anyway, I have stopped watering the heap of compost and added more dry fallen fir tree leaves into it and gave it a little stir (sorry to be such a party pooper, Mr and Miss Maggots) to dry the heap a little. I actually prefer the heap decomposing without the sight of these wriggly stuffs. I haven't seen them today after changing the moisture level of the composition. Let's see if it is bye-bye maggots in the next few weeks!

Note: After writing this post, I did a quick search and found Composting in Singapore, a great sight for beginners starting a compost with tonnes of pictures and info. They mentioned that our hot and humid weather is perfect for composting (thus I shall stop watering the heap and let it decompose under our brilliant tropical climate naturally). They also mentioned that the larvaes of Black Soldier Flies (BSFs) are compost friends! Ok maggot-y thingys, you can stay. But can you like remain at the bottom of the compost heap so I don't get goosebumps every time I need to remove the cover and throw in more materials to feed you? Oh, and bravo to Composting in Singapore for their effort in starting a compost bin even though they live in an HDB flat in Singapore as well as sharing all the great info on their site!

Note 2: Sorry no pictures as I can only bear to lift the cover up, dump more materials in and close it back. Maybe when I gather more guts next time round!

Ooooohh... This Mama can't wait!

I have since 5 minute ago watered my first crop! In three separate pots are the seeds of okra (ladies fingers), chilli and pumpkin. And planted in the garden plot itself are ten garlic bulbs! I didn't know it was that easy to plant garlic! Just put a bulb every 10cm or so of compost mixed soil somewhere with plenty of sun, water and wait! Just wished my compost was ready to be used. I am just hoping to see some shoots sprouting out of the soil soon!!! Fingers crossed! Watch this space for updates!

Baby-O Talk

Baby O started saying words like Mama, Papa, Mum-mum, Nen-nen since she was about nine months old. At 14+ months now, she is in a different phase of life yet again as her vocabulary swells. Nowadays, if something drops on the floor, she’ll go ‘ak, oh!’ in a very deliberate manner which makes me smile all the time.

Her favourite words are probably:
‘More!’ - She says this after every single song playing on the CD and when she is ready for the next spoon of food.

‘MmOi’ (Don’t Want in Cantonese) - This word came naturally to her as we don’t usually use much Cantonese around her! Nowadays, if you ask if she wants something, she’ll either respond ‘MmOi’ or nod. Makes life a lot easier though she doesn’t always mean what she says!

‘Aik!’(Lights) - She’ll shout excitedly ‘Aik!’ when we come to a stop at every single set of traffic light. And she expects us to respond to her excitedly too! Otherwise, she’ll keep harping ‘Aik!’, ‘Aik!’, ‘Aik!’ till she gets a respond!

‘Aahh!’ (Water) - Previously, water was ‘Ter’. After observing how her gung-gung (grandpa) drinks his water and goes ‘Aaahhh!’ after that, she has ‘Aahh!’ down now as water, or anything liquid including washing liquid! Yikes!!!

‘Pa-pau’ (I want to be carried in Mandarin) - She says this while clapping her hands and then opening her arms up to be carried.

‘Mou-more’ (No More) - Said while shaking her hand to indicate that something is not there or has finished.

‘Ma-men’ (Amen) - This is one of my favourite! Said after we finish saying grace before our meals while clasping her hands and with opened, eager eyes.

‘Nen-nen’ (Breastmilk) - This is probably the mother of all words! Especially when she hasn’t been well lately and relied a lot on it for comfort. If she gets a cent for everytime she mentions this word, her university fees would have all been paid for!

‘Muck!’ (Milk) - Another one of my favourites! Because of how it sounds coming from her. Regardless whether it's in a cup or its powdery form in a container.

She can also fill in the blanks to songs and words in her books which amazes me at times. I will deliberately blank out a word at the end of a sentence and Baby O usually surprises me when she fills it up with a word that sounds like the omitted word!

Other than that, she is always grabbing her toy phone or our mobile phones and goes ‘Pa-po’ (Grandma in Cantonese) or ‘Ou’ (Hello), before continuing her pretend chat which goes something like this ‘Ou, oh... aau,.. oh.. ou...’

On the baby sign front, I wonder if it has benefited us at times. She started saying most words that she has been taught to sign since she has been more vocal. So she has never really used the signs. However, there were occasions when she did sign to communicate to us like when she wanted to tell us there were fishes in an aquarium or pants when she sees a dog and recently ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ when prompted. I feel that it was more through communicating to her all the time since she was a baby, telling her things from a mundane house chore to our whole life story and by repeating the words and songs that she has picked up these words. Wonder what other moms out there have to say about baby signs?

Egg Omelette

Baby O is almost back to her old self after being down for more than a week! I am so glad to see her gaining her appetite back and with a vengeance as well! She is happily gobbling up her usual rice/porridge with veg, fish/meat/tofu and sometimes asking for more! But before that, I had to ‘trick’ her into eating just that little bit more to keep her nourished through this period.

My Cheesy Toast was a success but the Egg Omelette was hit! What I used this time:
One tablespoon each of onion, wholemeal bread, broccoli, tomato, and chicken meat all chopped finely.
One egg - beaten
30ml formula milk
One teaspoon unsalted butter
One slice cheese - cut into pieces
A crack of black pepper

The milk, bread and black pepper were added into the beaten egg. Melt butter in a non-stick pan (perfect for omelettes and pancakes!) on low heat. Fry onions till fragrant before stirring in the broccoli, tomato and chicken for a quick fry. Pour in the egg mixture and give it a little stir till the egg forms pieces here and there. This is to ensure the omelette cooks through without having the outsides burnt and insides uncooked. Sprinkle the cheese on top. Flip the omelette over to cook other side. If you can’t flip the omelette over without it hitting the ceiling and landing on the floor (like yours truly!), try sliding it onto a plate (should be easy-peasy with a non-stick pan) and then cover the pan over the plate before flipping it. The other side should cook in another 5 minutes or so.

The result is a savoury egg omelette packed with wholesome goodness and a little twang from the pepper even a sick baby can't resist! Baby O ate more than her portion of it and I gladly finished up the leftovers! Mmmm.....