1st handmade toy!

Today, I made my 1st handmade toy for Caleb- a rattle! All thanks to Jo, whom I got the inspiration from. The last time I remember sewing was probably in Secondary School during Home Economics. That explains my 'interest' in sewing.

I was the one who preferred the cooking part to the sewing during my schooling days as I look forward each time to create a dish to bring back home for my family to try. I never enjoyed the sewing part as I would always fumble or never did understand why in the world must there be so many different types of stitches..

But nevertheless, I finally got down to making a toy for Caleb as I thought that it would be a good opportunity for myself to prove and show my love to Caleb by making him a toy since I dislike sewing so much. Prove to who? Well, basically, to nobody but myself. It's probably like a self-help kind of thing I do to improve on the areas I am weak in so as to function as a more wholesome person-more sacrificial of my time and more patience to sew this.

Anyway, this what I did. I first cut the felt pieces of the colours into these shapes..



Then I just stitch up the 8 pieces of felt one by one, and side by side...till it forms the rattle.



I changed a bit of the instructions that my friend, Jo taught me. I did not want the stitches to show in the rattle. So I hid it and left a hole on top to flip it inside out so as to hide the stitches.



Then I stuffed in polyfill into the hole with one chopstick to push it right in and dropped 2 bells in (for more sound) before filling it with more polyfill.



So lastly, I just sewed the top up. Thanks Vicky, my helper, who has also assisted me in making this possible. She was experienced in sewing as she took a sewing course before.



Ok, so how did Caleb react to his new handmade toy?

He was captivated with the colours as he stared at it. Then he tried to hold it and at the same time, suck his fingers.



He also dumped my rattle for his fingers..which is obviously more tasty.


Other times, he would treat it as an ice-cream.



So just within 5 mins, the rattle became quite wet from his saliva. Oh boy..

He was also studying it...probably got that from CT with his chem engineering background, figuring out how things work.



I do wish to make more toys for Caleb because its fun and inexpensive. Cant wait for Caleb to grow up a little more for both of us to make toys together. :)

Carrot and Potato Puree

The second 'solid' food that Caleb has taken so far is carrot and potato puree. I think its good for Caleb to start eating early as he is so small for his age. He needs more nutrients and food!



And here is my messy boy...(this picture was just taken a min after I fed him and his bib was already so dirty)



At certain times, he would stick his fingers in, thus causing his fingers to be so dirty..sigh. I hate mess but I have to live with it.

Here is how dirty it can get...



And the worse thing is that he can still be happy being dirty and messy.



Here is Caleb taking the spoon away from me to feed himself..or rather, he just wants to play with it and study what this little brightly-coloured stick can do.



Here is Caleb enjoying his food..



He actually finished all his food. So proud of him as I do not like to see food wasted..



Here is a video of Caleb eating his food messily. Watch out for his tongue too..

Visit to colleagues' home

Today, went to one of my colleagues' place as she gave birth to a newborn baby boy who will be turning one month soon. A few of us visited her today since its the school holidays.



Here are some of my colleagues who went...

This is Juliane and her son



Here's Shu Juan and Jed. (Not her son! :p)



Ok, so as not to confuse any of you, here are the mummies with their kid who went!



Esther, the one with the newborn, has a 5 year old son, who is standing behind all of us.

Caleb zonked out after a while...



Jed has really grown a lot since I last saw him...

I am really curious how they will turn out when they reach 1 year.

Here are my colleagues sitting around the table...



There were altogether 8 of us who went to visit Esther. I was quite surprised as initially, I thought only the mummies visiting..hehe..

Those who went were..
Juliane, Jo, Huei Jun, Shu Juan, Joyce, Ms Dai, Hana and myself!

We had an enjoyable time as I looked at what the babies were doing and all of them were each doing their own things. Esther's 5 year old son was playing with his cars with Hana, and her newborn son was sleeping for a while and then being carried around till he woke up..



Juliane's son was doing some drawing and reading on the table with Huei Jun, Jo's son was being carried around as he doesnt make a single noise...but he later fell asleep after his feeding, as for my son, he also dozed off for a while..



But he woke up just before we were about to leave.


What an interesting gathering...Have learnt quite a bit about baby dynamics from this visit. I cant wait for them to all grow up and start playing with one another.

My superhero...

What's next to amuse myself and Caleb?



As I saw a mask lying around in the house which CT got from his dinner and dance few weeks back, I quickly played it with Caleb as I wore it to amuse Caleb.

He just stared at me with that usual stunned look...Probably wondering who I was.

Here is Caleb, my superhero!!! Wonder what kind of superpowers he would possess..

BBQ with colleagues

Today, went to Aloha Loyang Chalet for a BBQ with my colleagues...and of course, I brought Caleb along since most of them told me that they couldnt wait to carry Caleb and play with him.

I picked CT up at Pasir Ris MRT Station before heading to the chalet. Was there early at about 6pm. Went to the beach with my family to walk and see the sunset.



And we took a family photo together.(Thanks to Vicky for taking this picture) Look at how CT forced Caleb's head to look at the camera. I didnt realise it until I downloaded this picture in my computer.



After the walk in the beach, we went to the swimming pool to let Caleb dip his legs in..Initially he was a little stunned and stoned...



But he got warmed up very quickly and started moving his legs to splash and his shorts and diapers became wet.



When we went back to the chalet, the fire was still not started. It was about 630pm then. Only a couple of teachers helped to start the fire while the rest of us just stood behind them to give them moral support. Haha..



Here is Sarah fanning Cindy while Cindy was fanning the fire....



Amidst the fire starting and cooking, Caleb was sleeping comfortably on the bed in the air-con room..



Before I came for this BBQ, I knew I would get yummy tasting good food as it is always so when we have BBQ together.

Check out the yummy food...



This was the best tasting crab sticks I have ever tasted because of the seasoning used. We also had mussels with garlic and cheese. This has always been the best dish!



We also had mushrooms which just melts in your mouth with a whole lot of flavours going on in there..



Then there was baby dou miao stir fried..There was plain with garlic or with mushrooms.. Whole lot of cooking going on in the small BBQ pit..



We also had stir-fried brinjal which I didnt manage to take a photo of it..

This next dish was also the highlight of the night. It was japanese beef bought from Isetan supermarket. Its so tender and juicy..Check out the marbling of the beef..



And here it is when we cooked it..



We also had squid..



What's good food without drinks right? Here is our table of drinks..(Orange Juice, Carrot Juice, 2 bottles of wine, a bottle of Vodka) It's up to you how you want to mix.. Well, I just stuck with carrot juice, orange juice and a sip of wine...



Oh..we also had lots of other food like mashed potatoes, stir-fried abalone mushrooms with garlic, mutton satay, otah...

We were just standing around and eating whatever that was coming out of the pit..



Here is Sabrina with Caleb, who looked so frightened. This boy ah..easily frightened. Must train him to be more used to people around him and carrying him..




Here is a group of us who just happened to be standing there..(there are a couple more teachers actually)-Thanks Sabrina for taking for us!



From L-R: Cindy Leong (Ex-Hai Sing Teacher now teaching in Maris Stella who is getting married), Shirley Ang (quit teaching, now working in bank), Anna (my good friend from Temasek JC and NUS who is leaving Hai Sing..sobsob), Irene (Subject head for Home Econs who is careful of what she eats and makes sure BBQ must have veggies! So the dou miao and brinjal was bought with her in mind), me! (who is still slogging in Hai Sing), Cindy Soh (who is now in CCA Branch under NPCC, and lastly, Juliane (who sits beside me and is also still slogging in Hai Sing).

I used the term slogging because it is really not easy being a teacher nowadays. I just wished being a teacher was simply teaching our students, like back in the good old days...(I sound like I am in my 60s..ha!)

Anyway, had a great time tonight with my colleagues. Very enjoyable!

Bad Habits...

Caleb has been adding more bad or quirky habits to his list he already has. Here is the list..

1) He loves to pull his hair..



2) He loves to suck his thumb and fingers



3) He loves to bite his fingers



4) Because he loves to suck and bite his fingers, he doesnt fancy his pacifier at times...And when I put his pacifier in his mouth, and take away his fingers from his mouth, he starts wailing...

5) He loves to rub his 2 ankles with each other such that they become red...More vigorously so when he is cranky and wailing. So, sometimes I would make him wear his shoes or socks at home to prevent him from hurting his ankles.



6) During feeding, he would still try to fit in his fingers or thumb into his mouth. So, its really difficult trying to feed him peacefully as he will end up wailing because I remove his fingers from his mouth during feeding...



7) He has not learnt to use his teether. So, he gets cranky when he cannot put it in his mouth to bite.



8) He bullies us by crying in the middle of our shopping and expect a feeding. So we have to stop and feed him on the spot.



9) He has recently been trying to slip down from his sitting position either from a pram or his bed. Here is playful Caleb intentionally trying to slip down as he arches his back for his legs to push himself down..



Here is another picture of him sitting down nicely on the bed and after a while, he starts slipping himself down intentionally..



Ok, he is trying to go down..



and down....(blurred image because he was struggling too much)



And then finally...



Here is a video of him sliding down...(nobody taught him to do such a thing. Where did he learn from?!)