Hiccupy birthday preparation

The run-up to Keston's birthday was pretty rocky.

Weeks before his party, I'd bought a Mickey Mouse singing balloon cos (a) he loves Mickey Mouse (b) he loves silly songs. We'd already planned to have the balloon inflated at the florist in Far East Plaza on the day before his birthday-do. The florist was closed at 5pm so we went in at 4pm to fill the balloon with helium. The florist had never seen this type of balloon before and insisted there was a tube missing from the mouth of the balloon and it cannot be inflated. We panicked, thinking the balloon is faulty and we didn't have time to buy another balloon! Luckily I managed to get hold of the seller of the balloon and was assured that the design was correct and would inflate correctly. However, we were still abit scared that the florist would burst the balloon. In the end, following instructions from the seller, we managed to get the balloon inflated. Problem came, problem solved.

I'd ordered some profiteroles for the birthday-do and arranged to do collection on Saturday night as we'd have to be in that area to pick up Keston's birthday cake. Just before we set off, I checked my email and got a msg that the profiteroles seller had something urgent on and would not be able to meet me. Panic again cos there's no way I'd be able to make it to Seng Kang on Sunday morning and be back in time for the do. Luckily the seller was apologetic enough and agreed to deliver on Sunday morning.

And then came the journey to Punggol-Sengkang. We have never been on the KPE. We have never been to Punggol-Sengkang area and it might as well have been a completely different country. HW was nervous bout getting into the KPE because he's basically an angsty driver. He needs to know exactly where and how to get to places. I thought I jotted down precise instructions but when we reached a fork, we were stunned . I believe 1 side said Tampines and the other Pasir Ris-- which to me, sounded like the same place. Thankfully we decided on Tampines in that instantaneous moment and it proved correct. It didn't help that the movement- activated singing balloon keeps bursting into song throughout the journey. Gave us both a few heart attack....after collecting the cake, we thought we knew exactly how to get back onto the KPE but ended up lost again!!! Haiz...

Sunday morning, I left $68 with HW to pay for the profiteroles while I went to shower. I came out of the shower and HW says the seller came to deliver and collected only $28 from him. I was suspicious, went to check and realised the seller delivered eclairs instead of profiteroles!!! Arrghhh...quickly sms-ed her to inform her of the error but she never replied. Hmmphh! But thankfully the eclairs were yumz!

I will blog separately about the birthday itself.

Mommy's cooking dinner

See, the thing is I can't cook. I don't mean I can't whip up a gourmet meal. I simply can't cook. I can go as far as instant noodles and at the very best, spaghetti with instant meat sauce.

When Keston was due to start on his solids, I began looking fervently for exact instructions on how to cook porridge. I mean exact as in the number of grains, the amount of water, etc. Eventually when mil offered to cook his porridge on weekdays and my mum on weekends, I simply shelved my cooking plans.

But now that Keston's turning 1 already, I decided I should do my part and cook for him. Part of the reason is mil brings over his dinner in the morning and I've heard how terrible it is for anyone to eat porridge that's been sitting there for a long time. HW was not v supportive of me cooking...he's convinced I'll make something inedible and he thinks it's better for K to eat stale porridge than my cooking! Hmmphhh!

Anyway, I put my foot down and decided I MUST cook for Keston whenever I'm home. So, armed with detailed instructions on how to make Pork Stock from Catherine, I prepared the stock 2 days ago and froze the lot into my babycubes. First mistake there, I should have just froze them in plastic bags so I can throw the bag away. The stock made my cubes so oily that I'm tempted to throw them away. Probably because I didn't sieve out the oil properly :P

The next step was to find the most comprehensive, detailed recipe for porridge. I followed some basic steps from littlegastronomy and improvised a little myself. And voila! I made porridge! Not bad if I say so myself :) Made a mistake of not mashing the peas first. I'd thought they'd be all soft and mushy by the time I'm done but nah, they were still quite crunchy.

I used 2 (and abit more) chinese soup spoons of grains and got about 1.5 bowl of porridge. Keston wallop everything, even some of the peas which I managed to mash up. He didn't eat most of the peas though cos he's too impatient to wait for me to mash them.

Fallen angel

A few months back, there was 1 night when Keston was sleeping with me on my bed. A loud thud woke me up in the middle of the night and I leaped up to find Keston lying on the floor, and still sound asleep! It's not as bad as it sounds because mine is a platform bed and there are basically 2 steps to the floor. What is amazing is that he managed to bump bump down 2 steps and remain sleeping.

Last night, K was on my bed again. I got jolted awake in the wee hours and panicked cos I couldn't find K beside me. I kept patting the space beside me to make sure it wasn't just the short-sightedness.....eventually I widened the scope of my vision and found him lying with his head by my foot and his legs near my tummy.... close to the edge of the bed where I didn't put any pillows. Not wanting to wake him, I went back to sleep with 1 hand on his leg. Awhile later, I felt his legs sliding away from me. I sat up and the most incredulous thing happened. I got to see how he rolls off the bed and remain sleeping!!

I swear this happened in slow motion. First his head lolls off the edge and ended up 1 step down...then his shoulders slumped over and drops down as well...the momentum (or gravity) causing his back to roll over and his tummy lands down...lastly followed by the clumsy tumbling of his limbs. And instantaneously I see him tucking himself into his sleeping position and continues sleeping on the floor! Soo funny!

PHOTO updates!

Photo intensive post because Blogspot had not been allowing the posting of photos for some time now!

Graduating from another term in BJG
Keston with Teacher Grace

The Kawasaki incident
Bathing with his favourite turtle
At the playground
Playing Air Guitar
K loves to play peek-a-boo with the curtains-- by himself!
Deep in thought, probably scheming something naughty!
The night I caught a burglar
Getting a haircut

Sedated to do his heart scan. He's totally concussed here, which is why we could put his sunglasses on. Just for fun :)

Eating, Clapping and a Heart Scan

When Keston was in hospital, he was a fussy eater and refused to eat his porridge most of the time. We ended up stuffing him with Pigeon and Gerber's baby snacks to fill him up. At the same time, I made my Mum 'teach' him to feed himself. It worked. He finally learned to pick up his food and cram it into his mouth after a day or 2.

A few days ago, Keston suddenly looked at his plastic ball and said 'Voll Boll' and then proceeded to pick it up. He's repeated this a few times now but not consistently yet.

Yesterday evening, Keston also started clapping his hands. I tell you I've been trying to teach him to clap for months! I'll sing 'If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands...' and either clap my hands or clap his hands. And he'd just laugh and make no attempt to try it out. I'd randomly say 'Yay! Yay! Clap Hands!' and attempt to get him to clap to no avail. Then yesterday evening when I was trying to get him to take a nap, he started clapping! First he stared at his left hand and brought his right hand over to slap it. Then again and again...I was trying to quietly get him to sleep but could not help smiling and commending him. I said "Clever!" and he laughed and clapped harder. I kept going Clever and he kept laughing and clapping more and more enthusiastically, bringing both hands together at the same time.

He repeated this again when I was trying to put him down for the night. The weird thing is, he REFUSES to clap hands when I'm not trying to get him to sleep...I think the naughty fella just doesn't want to nap and tries to distract me. Nevermind that he's only clapping at 11mths+, he's super proud of himself! His face lights up as he stares at his hands. He seems to be thinking 'OMG I am so clever!' lol! Now the problem is, he starts clapping everytime he's supposed to nap or sleep...and I need to encourage him so he will not stop doing it. In the process, we both get a little too loud and inch further away from sleepyland. Sigh!

On another note, we went for K's 1st heartscan yesterday. He had to have his pulse taken (I think it's the pulse they're after) via this little stapler look-alike on his toe. He hated it in hospital and when he saw it again, he started screaming. Seeing how 'unstable' he is, the sonographer suggested we get him sedated. This is damn strange. He took the oral sedatives and fell asleep about 30mins later. And no power on earth could wake him up!! It's not a GA or LA, just a sedative but damn powerful! The scan went well, or at least the Sonographer says it looks fine. But we had to wait for K to wake up before we can leave the place. I kept poking him and pulling his toes but he wouldn't budge. So I took a hospital mask and wrapped it around his mouth/nose and put sunglasses on his face just for fun. He looked so funny that people were staring when we strolled him around the hospital grounds...

So anyway, the good news is the heart scan looked ok. We will get a more detailed explanation during our doctor's appt end of this month (a day before K turns 1, so please let it be good news)..and we have another scan to do in 3mths time.

The bad news is, K lost weight again!!! He's shrunk to 8.4 - 8.5kg (we got different measurements each time we put him on the scale). I don't understand why as he's been eating well since we got discharged. The only thing different is he had his hair cut the day before. But how can his hair weigh 500g!?