The things he do for curiosity!

Ever since Caleb has been very active, I have considered child-proofing the house. I used to put those plastic corners for my coffee table but it proved useless after buying 3 sets of that and each time, Caleb removes it with his mighty strength and fingers...and then takes it and hides them somewhere. That is my boy.

He is one active, strong and curious boy...very curious. He loves to go to the kitchen to open up drawers and takes things out. So I have considered child-proofing the drawers and cupboards as well so that they cannot open it up. There would be a catch if try to open. However, it takes drilling holes into the drawers which I am against as this is just a phase but if I drill, it will be forever. Moreover, we have no drill.

So, here's Vicky's idea of child proofing..



It's a great idea but just ugly. Oh well, at least I can take it out anytime I want to.

Do you know one day as I opened my cupboard to take out a pot to cook dinner, I found a CD inside the pot?? I really do not know whether to laugh it off or scold him. He just enjoys taking things and placing them in some inconspicious place.

Another thing we do not like Caleb to do is to always touch his belly button. Everytime he wakes up and lies in bed, he would be touching and digging his belly button. If we do not stop him, his belly button will soon turn red.

So in the day time, in order to prevent him from doing so, this was what we did!

We make him wear baby rompers!! Actually, since he was about 7 months plus, we have stopped making him wear rompers because it just looks too babyish. I prefer him to wear usual shorts and tees. But now, its the return of rompers- no choice!







Now, he is back to looking like a baby! I think Caleb has taught me a lot on how to improvise and to think out of the box by trying to tackle his problems so as to prevent him destroying the house and as well as hurting himself.

2nd visit to Hyang To Gol Korean Restaurant

Today, arranged with my colleagues to go to Amara Hotel again for their lunch set which costs only about $13 (inclusive of GST). Its nice to go with a friends as we share our food.

Brought Vicky and Caleb along as well.

Vicky ordered Doiji Bulgogi-pork in hotplate for herself. She ate that all by herself as she couldnt eat what we ordered because we ordered beef which she doesnt eat.

So me and my colleagues ordered Ojingeo Bokgeum (spicy squid in hotplate), Yookgaejang (spicy beef & scallion soup) as well as my all-time favourite (in this restaurant): Wookgeoji Galbi Tng (beef short rib soup).



What I love about this restaurant is that you can order extra appetizers(though it is a lunch set promotion) and extra cold ginger tea with pine nut drink with no extra charge. They are quite generous. Or maybe my colleague just know how to persuade them to give us for free.

Here's Caleb trying to "feed" himself.


He couldnt sit long in the high chair as he became restless. So, he got down and started running about. Even the waitress carried him and played with him. He also went out to the restaurant and hit the drums which even amused the receptionist at the entrance.



Had a great time. Total for 4 of us, costs us a total of $54 bucks. Very satisfying!

self-taught 'potty' ..

At 15 months, Caleb has been doing his poo poo at a regular place and nope, it's not the toilet. Whenever he wants to do his big business (or what we call, poo poo), he would go under the table and squat. Its really funny because there will be times when we call him and he doesnt come to us. We would be finding him all over the house and lo and behold, he's right under the table concentrating on his poo.

There will also be times when I would be eating my meals on the dining table and suddenly I hear poo poo noises coming out from him as he tries to poo. Then I realise, he is actually below the table. He does it so subtly that no one knows he is under until we try to look for him or he makes "umm umm" noises.

So here's Caleb caught in action..



One rule which we realised is that he cannot be disturbed. Once we noticed him doing it and force him to go to the toilet and sit on his potty, he wouldnt want to poo anymore. He is just comfortable poo-ing under the table (with no disturbance from any of us). Until he is done, he would come out on his own and then we would know to change him.



I find his behaviour really amusing as no one taught him such a thing and it just seems so natural for him.Am looking forward to the day he can pee and poo in the correct manner and place.

Having fun at my mum's place

When I went to mum's place for lunch, Caleb had a great time as my mum was busy entertaining him. Even took him on a speedy pram ride. Caleb loves thrill!





There's also this antique horse along the staircase and my mum made created noises to explain to Caleb what it is. Since then, Caleb has been imitating. Yes, he loves to imitate interesting sounds now..



After a long day,Caleb took a bath at the house and when Janine saw Caleb bathing, she begged my mum to let her dip together with Caleb as well. Haha..It was one squeezy small inflatable bath tub!

Wonder when will they grow out of this. But for now, its really cute and nice to see them enjoying bathing together. As for me, I dont mind because it saves water!

'Lost' Recipe 2- glutinuous rice wine

The next confinement dish which I love is the Chicken Rice Wine dish which my mum makes. Very yummy!

She actually ferments her own glutinuous rice wine one month before. So here's the recipe for the wine.

1) Cover glass bottle with newspapers to prevent any sunlight from entering.



2) Crushed the wine biscuit into powder form and place the powder as a coating at the bottom of the glass bottle.

Here's how wine biscuit looks like. It looks like 2 white balls. Mum got it from HK.


3)Add cooked glutinuous rice into bottle

4) Sprinkle with crushed wine biscuit on top of the rice.

5) Carry on Steps 3) and 4) - layer by later until about 3/4 of the bottle is filled.



6) Seal it tight and keep it in cool place for 4 days



(4 days later...)

7) Pour in one bottle of rice wine into the bottle. Seal it tight and keep it for 1 month untouched, in a cool place.



Leave it to ferment..
One month later, use the wine and cook it with chicken, pigs intestines, roasted peanuts, black fungus..and of course, lots of ginger! YUM!

'Lost' Recipe 1- Black Vinegar (for Pig Trotters)

Today, went to my mum's place for lunch as well as to learn how to make her famous vinegar pig trotters and chinese glutinuous rice wine. I have all along wanted to learn how to make because I can foresee that generations to come may not know how to cook these 2 dishes, which are typically meant for confinement (or at least, for Cantonese).

My mum prepares them one month in advance to store so that the flavours will all come out and the fermentation process will be complete.

So, this is my mum's recipe for making the black vinegar..

1) Peel and wash 12 big gingers (can keep the ginger skin to dry it and cook it with boiling water for bathing after giving birth)

2) Beat the ginger with a chopper to open up the ginger slightly so that the flavour of the ginger will come out

3) Add sesame oil to the pot and fry it with the ginger.

4) Pour one bottle of sour black vinegar and 1/2 jar of sweet black vinegar.





Here's a picture of the black vinegar (sweet) which my mum used- "Pat Chun" Brand.



And here are two bottles of black vinegar (sour) which my mum uses..can use either bottle.





Right now, it should look something like that- with ginger and vinegar (both sweet and sour type)



5) Cook hardboiled eggs with the shell still intact



6) Crack a little of the shell before placing them in the pot with vinegar.



7) Stir slightly to soak the eggs

8) Cover the pot and wait for it to boil.

9) After boiling, off the fire and seal the cover tightly with plastic wrap and masking tape and leave it for a month in a cool place untouched.

10) Only throw in the pig trotters before eating. (after giving birth)

Off to the farms!

I love holidays as they are days where I can plan for the whole day for the family without thinking about work. Arranged to go for lunch at my mum's place and dinner at my mum-in-law's place.

It was a long day as I brought Caleb to the Pasir Ris fish farm before heading to my mum's place for lunch as Caleb loves to look at fishes and I always wanted to change the soil in my fish tank.



I spent $45 bucks on the soil as its a good soil, GEX as recommended by my fish enthusiast colleague. I wanted to hide this amount from CT and give him a surprise when he comes home to see the new decorated fish tank but couldnt hide from him as I didnt have enough money on me. So I used NETS..and so, he found out from looking at the transaction history through the internet. Haha..

Here's Caleb pointing at the fishes and all the fish came crowding around his finger. Cute cute.



After that, dropped by at the animal place where there were lots of dogs. Yes, another pet that he loves. Guess its all influence from me as I love dogs and fishes.

You can see how happy he was when the dog barks.


We went to two dog farms. The other one was cleaner and it was mostly puppies. This was Caleb's favourite dog!



See what I mean when the other puppy touched his back, but he ignored it. Only had eyes for this cute white one.



Check out this short clip on Caleb scolding the dog as he points the finger at it!

Monkey on the loose!

Here's what Caleb has been doing now that he is 15 months! Yes, he is into climbing
my house gate!



And of course, can't do away with this cheeky look!



Even when watching TV at night, he would be climbing up on the coffee table. But I do prevent him from climbing all the way up, though he do try that now and then.



I just thank God no major accident has happened to him yet.

1st weekend without CT

Was looking forward to today because CT and I arranged to meet online at about 9am today as he had been travelling to US for about one and a half day!

Anyway, this morning as usual, I went for my supermarketing. Place Caleb down on the travelator and boy, I discovered this boy has learnt not only to walk on an inclined slope but run!



After my marketing, I quickly rushed home to meet CT online. He came online and was waiting for me. We chatted for quite a bit...even through a microphone. No web cam though. But its good enough that we can still communicate. He is freezing down there as its about zero degrees. He was telling me how ulu the place was. Anyway, we chatted for about an hour.

Caleb as usual went to sleep after his breakfast at about 10am. He would usually sleep about an hour in the morning. After waking up, this was what Caleb did. When I took this shot, he looked kind of mature and grown up!



He has been wearing one piece suit to prevent him from always lifting up his shirt to touch and poke his belly button. We hope that by doing tat, he would break the habit.

This was what we had for lunch...Shio Ramen.



Nope- I do not have the ability to do such authentic Ramen. This was given by my friend last night as he took away from his Japanese Ramen Shop along Robinson Road. He owns a small authentic Ramen shop at Robinson Towers, selling strictly ONLY few different types of Ramen and nothing else. Most of his regulars are Japanese as he airflowns almost all of his ingredients from Japan.

Though this has been stored overnight in the fridge, boy, the noodles is still springy and I was simply slurping down the whole bowl in a short amount of time!

After Caleb has woken up from his sleepy state, he is back in his usual 'cheeky' self.



That is my boy- messing things around the house. As you can see he overturn the sofa pillows and just sit on top of it!

Spidey duo!

Went Bible study tonight even though CT is not around. Vicky put on the spiderman costume for Caleb to Ophelia's house because her son, Asher loves Spiderman. So, it will be nice to see his reaction when he sees Caleb in a spiderman suit. Anyway, I cant think of any time that is suitable for him to wear.

The funny thing was that when Asher saw Caleb in the costume, he quickly asked his mum if he could wear his own spiderman costume too! He was very excited about getting changed to the costume as he's got company now!

Both of them really look so cute together!

It was not very easy to get both of them to take a picture together as Caleb still doesnt know how to keep still and understand instructions.

So as you can see Asher Korkor trying to grab him to take a picture together.



Look at how 'forced' Caleb face shows..



And finally, a decent picture.



(Pictures shown are a little dark as I was using my handphone)

Farewell lunch for CT

Today, CT is off from work because he would be leaving for the US this evening at 5:50pm. So, I drove to work and went back home before lunch time to have lunch with the family. Took family out to Kovan Hougang St 21 Blk 203 for beef noodles (right behind the Shell Station).

Its a traditional place selling dry/soup beef noodles. Very yummy! This place was recommended by my colleague who is 70 over years old! Initially, I was supposed to go with my colleagues but because they would probably take too long waiting for one another that I decided to go on my own and bring CT there.

Of course, Vicky didnt eat as she doesnt like beef. So, she ordered Chicken rice from the same coffeeshop.

I took dry beef noodles



while CT had the soup. We both gulped it down really fast even though there was so much noodles and beef in it! Each bowl costs me $4.50. For the dry version, can have up to 6 plus if you want.



What I like is they serve free flow of chinchalok and the generous amount of salted veggies and beef was so satisfying. The gravy also remained thick throughout the meal, unlike some stalls where it becomes like soup after a while.



After lunch, went over to the herbal shop nearby to buy lo han guo drink (with some added powder to heal sore throat as recommended by the stall owner)for me and CT as both of us were suffering from sore throats since last night.

Went home after that and spent time with each other as CT does his final packing. Left for the airport at about 3pm. Wanted to go earlier to walk around in Terminal 3. So after he checked in, we walked to the viewing gallery for Caleb to look at aeroplanes which he loves.



Then went down to B2 to the foodcourt area as there are lots of shops , fountain and a playground for kids. I bought a "Mr Bean" ice cream to let CT try as it is bean curd ice cream. I love it. Not all "Mr Bean" stall sells the ice cream. So once I see it, I would buy!

We also stopped by a place where we can do colouring. Quite interesting.



And finally, we sent CT off at the departure gate as he would go in early to enjoy the Kris Flyer Lounge with free drinks and food!




I will definitely miss CT. Hope he will have a safe trip to US and an enjoyable one!

CT's farewell dinner

Today, went my mum's place for dinner. She asked CT what he would miss most if he goes US...and so, here's a list of food which I told my mum as I know CT will love such dishes.

1) Bean Sprouts with Tau Kwa and salted fish
2) Fried Egg with Onions
3) Curry Chicken

As you can see from the list, you will realise what a simple and easily satisfied guy CT is. And that is what I like about him. Not extravagant and a sentimental guy who just enjoys good old traditional food. Haha..

So here's the spread of food we had as mum also cooked her specialty ginger duck dish and cooked a salted vegetable duck soup! Yummy!



And for dessert, mum cooked papaya, white fungus soup.


I felt so much love from my mum from this dinner. The love that she has for CT and I really feel so blessed. Thanks mum for all your effort and love put in to give CT a memorable farewell dinner before he leaves for US tomorrow.

What he does at home

I do not know if there are a lack of toys in my house that Caleb goes around looking for things to play with or what, but he sure has a creative sense of fun. I am not the kind of parent who would spend much money on my son. Most are hand-me-downs and I do not buy toys for him, as I rely on gifts. To me, anything can be a toy to him...why must I pay money and buy him something which he may chuck it aside?

Anyway, so here's Caleb with his idea of fun..



He would find anything from anywhere and just play with it. That's my curious Caleb!



He has also been lying on the floor after he wakes up from his naptime. This move takes after CT as CT still does it in his mother's place after dinner.





I once asked Vicky before if all babies are like Caleb or is Caleb really THAT unique. She said, her previous employer's kids all not like Caleb. Caleb is very different from most babies.

So I concluded that my boy is special. ;)

A fine and lazy Sunday

Today, Vicky will be on leave again. She had to go on leave as CT will be flying off this week. Caleb woke up wanting me to switch on the TV for him as he kept pointing at it and when I asked him," You want mummy to switch on the TV?" He would then nod his head.

Anyway, here's Caleb in his "nua" (inactive and lazy) state while watching TV!



For lunch, I prepared chicken feet stew, veggies and opened up a can fish. The stew turned out really nice as my colleague bought for me a whole box of ready-made chicken feet from Chong Pang market. It is already pre-cooked (just like the ones that you can steam and enjoy it as chicken feet dim sum)



I first put oil and then huge piece of ginger in. Then throw in black beans (which I took from my can of fried dace fish), mushrooms, tau pok, chicken feet, fresh lotus seeds, and bean curd skin. I love stew because its basically throw everything in and just let the pot do its own cooking.



Secret ingredient to add into the gravy is the fermented beancurd which will thicken it up and make it more tasty!

After boiling for so long, the chicken feet became so soft and the whole dish goes so well with rice.

In the afternoon, CT was packing his luggage for his US trip this Thursday. He would be going to Fort Dodge, Iowa and Victoria, Texas. How I wish I could go with him as I miss life in US and just enjoying the weather and spaciousness there...and not forgetting, my favourite Walmart!

When CT was opening his luggage, as usual, curious Caleb would come by and fiddle with everything. So CT placed him in and to my surprise, he could really fit in the luggage! Then CT commented that he could bring Caleb to US already.

Now you see him...




now you don't! (because he is inside!)


Caleb manage to sleep in the morning from 10:15am to 11:45am and in the afternoon for about an hour from 2- 3pm. I was very satisfied already.

Left the house at about 3 plus pm to buy cake for my sister-in-law, Ally whose birthday is today! Went Katong Mall to buy the banana chocolate cake from "Awfully Chocolate". Then dropped by my mum's place for bird nest soup as she cooked for me. After staying for a while, went to my mum-in-law's place for dinner and birthday celebration of Ally.

We also dropped by at East Point, Simei after dinner as CT wanted to take a look at the Winter Shop there to see what kind of winter clothes he should buy when he is there since his company gives him winter allowance to spend.

And who knows, Caleb feel asleep in the pram while we were pushing him. Its good cos he needed the rest, if not, he would be cranky.





Too bad Caleb wasnt awake to sing the birthday song and eat the cake!

The cake was so yummy and for once, there was no left overs.

All in all, it was a good day as Caleb could catch some sleep and he wasnt cranky. I always feel so accomplished when CT and I could actually manage without having Vicky around throughout the whole day since we have been depending on her for most of the things. Its really a sense of relief and pride.