There Is A “Better Fathering Index”?!

Posted on January 17, 2013 by admin

There is, or soon will be, a Better Fathering Index. I shit you not, this is from non-profit Centre for Fathering in Singapore. I think I kena marked down already, using s- word. Oh yeah I’m not a dad – probably kena marked down further. I know I’m late to post, but it’s kinda hard, between The Tyrant Who Does Not Nap and you know, having to sleep, eat, shower and basically be a human. But anyway lemme try:

Daddy M was not pleased. Nor was Kelvin. Nor this dad at Blogfather.

So….. This is an index to measure the quality of fathering?

Sorry guys, I know you’re pissed but – THIS IS DEM FUNNY!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Sorry. No no cannot.  <snort> <ducks head> HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

This is like when they had that book “How To Avoid Being Abducted By Aliens” and it was funny because it wasn’t meant to be. But then I couldn’t remember the exact title of the book when I was googling to mention it on my blog. Instead I found this. Can also:

How To Make A Thought Screen Helmet That Stops Space Aliens From Abducting Humans. It says they have a flow chart linking alien abduction to “the autism epidemic.” (Crap, on second thoughts I un-linked it – you can google search it yourself, the site is stopabductions.com. It says they had one failure from usage of helmet i.e. someone still got abducted in 1998. I have no idea how serious or not these people are but after awhile I get scared.)

Hang on. 

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) posted How To Prepare For Zombie Infestation. (For real, the idea being general guidelines for preparing against an epidemic.)

So Singapore has a Better Fathering Index, arguably first in the world. I can’t wait for it to come out, can we send in suggestions? I would like to ask for heavier weightings for:

1) watching nonsense slapstick Stephen Chow-type stuff while supposedly “taking care of” the kids (or in my case The Kardashians)

2) telling your kid all kids are supposed to like ice cream when your kid asks what the big deal is about eating ice cream when he is offered ice cream and doesn’t finish it

3) forgetting to feed them

4) overfeeding them

5) losing one

6) buying them an Xbox and thinking “but he wanted it, what” is an acceptable reason

Me (to The Mens vegging belly up on bed): Hey. D’you guys know there is a Better Fathering Index?

Kings: <frowns> tsk. Wha-aaat.

Me: They want to better measure the performance of fathers on an index.

Kings: <frowns> tsk. Wha-aaat.

Rockstar: I’m watching you, Dad. 

End of conversation.

Yay fathers! Exhausted and all!

Ok but seriously. How long ago since weather derivatives came out and people were Huh? Like dat also can? Now there is BFI my turn to be really? Not serious right… 

When asked about family duties and bread winning in the past, I once described Kings and I as a team. On a team, there are different parts to play – you have strikers, you have goalie… Each member of the team is in that position on the team because of their strengths – whether it’s stay at home dad or super overworked dad or somewhere in between, or…… (And when you want to score you have to learn to pass the ball along.) Kings and I agreed long ago I would be the main stay-at-home parent. So? I’m not about to judge his ability to be the non-goodtime parent on our family team, that is simply not the position he plays.

Anyway it’s kinda why I’m so flippant, I can’t imagine the actual index as a real performance measure (instead of a conversation starter) because it boggles my mind how to quantify (feel free to take the shot about the state of my mind 🙂

Some writings are praised, others are read… You’re telling me this isn’t just a little tongue-in-cheek to get a conversation going? I mean, the actual CDC has zombies. 

ps: I hope this isn’t taken the wrong way, I mean no disrespect – there are times when I miss living in Singapore and there are times when I enjoy being in HK. Rockstar and I used to follow Kings over regularly, some of my besties are there, so we got the best of both worlds…. We haven’t been able to do that recently, so laugh about it, hate it, hearing about BFI made me miss Singapore. I remember the jokes about Singapore government-led dating (“Got quality control or not?” Actually got ok!!), buying lotsa chewing gum in JB for your colleagues….. <wistful>

And I have friends living here who would probably be quite happy to playfully measure “fathering abilities.” Mostly, they’re still praying to get to be fathers one day.

They want to have an index? Fine, let all the fathers tell em how, based on their own positions on their family teams. How about an ongoing conversation, fleshed out by some voices of experience? It can be cool, or it can be annoying – and it’s the fathers who get to decide that, right? After all, fathers are more involved today… (and thank you, Andy for supporting Mummy vacations!) We’d love to follow the dialogue. (Sigh, wish again we could visit…)

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How To Feed A Baby On Your Bed (Guest post by The Little Miss Rockstar)

Posted on January 15, 2013 by admin


Guest Blogger

Dear everyone,

It is very easy to feed a 7 month old baby on your bed. Just make sure everything you offer the baby is so yummy she will not want to spit anything out. I have had some experience, so trust me on this one.

However, it is possible your baby hasn’t totally learned not to have “tongue reflex” from bottle feeding – that annoying (and rather embarrassing) little habit of pushing food out even when she doesn’t mean to. But with Yummy Food, you will find that your baby so wants to eat it she will try her very best not to spit. In fact if she does, she may work with you to stuff the towel/ feeding bib with the food on it right back in.

Conclusion (in the style of Animal Farm which Mummy claims is not really a kiddie book – like, whatever): Large Towels or Blankets That Cover Everything – Goooood. Things That Can Come Off In Small Pieces – Baaaaad. I mean, if they taste bad…

Guest Blogger In Action With Authentic Yummy Food, Feeding Bib, And Last-Use-Before-Wash Blanket

Next tip: Baby bath books are your friend. You see, babies will require something for their entertainment pleasure as they better enjoy Yummy Food, and Inane Nursery Rhyme is an insult to our intelligence. Mummies of Newborns may be forgiven this oversight because they really have not had much experience, but all other mummies please note – when your Newborn grows up into an Older Baby, you will need to consider more intellectually stimulating offerings. Personally, I would recommend PSY’s Gangnam Style – you have only to play it where there are Older Babies and see the Pavlovian reaction induced, to realize how popular it is. Too bad for the artist he only became famous when he was ancient.

(And, it’s obvious to me whoever wrote Twinkle Twinkle must not have been an Older Baby because it is the Dumbest Song Ever, and one of the reasons for the popular misconception that stars really do twinkle (they only look that way to us here on Earth because of the planet’s atmosphere – I was fortunate enough to discover this early on, after licking one of Ko Ko’s I Wonder Why books. Mummy and Daddy however were ancient, before they learned of the subterfuge). Moral of the story: Be aware nursery rhymes can serve up the Biggest Bullshit Ever. (More on that someday I get invited back here because Aileen has no time to blog when I don’t nap during the day.)

There comes a time when your mummy discovers iPhone Apps that allow you to listen to Class 95 and Power 98 right here in Hong Kong. You might have come across another Older Baby known as The Flying Dutchman who thinks he would not look pretty in a baby diaper and to that, let me just say: ALL BABIES OF DIAPER-WEARING AGE KNOW THIS – YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL.

What? The FD is not really an Older Baby?

Sicko.

Guest Blogger Illustrates Turning Of Pages With Grubby Fingers

But back to baby bath books – when consuming Yummy Food, babies may occasionally put their fists in their mouths to keep from aforementioned “tongue reflex”. This poses a new problem: How can we turn pages with grubby hands? What if food drops on the book, necessitating our stuffing part of it in our mouths? Heck, sometimes, you just feel like eating a book.

Yes, dear reader, now you begin to understand. Baby Bath Books. Obviously made by someone in the know <turns book over> there I knew it – Baby Einstein. Before he became ancient and discovered the Theory of Relativity, there were Baby Bath Books.

Guest Blogger With Riveting Read

Sometimes, Older Babies get caught in a riveting read and stay glued to the pages all the way into our paddle pool. Mustella Sensory Baby Bath is a wonderful way to relax after a fruitful mealtime, because it just smells so scrummy, and you can finish up your reading and loosen any leftover little bits of food that escaped wiping in the bath, before your Mummy does a final rinse-off in the shower. That takes only a minute or so – for both you and your bath books.

Here’s some of my readings being dried
And a closeup Of Picture At Right

(Btw here’s a closeup of that picture at right – it’s Ko ko as an Older Baby of almost-12 months, showing off to a Perth resident on his first overseas trip, that he can stand up. He also used to show off that he could yell “Bee!” at the top of his lungs. He was such a smug one, wasn’t he? Fortunately he has now mellowed in old age and so I adore him.)

Of course, no blog post is complete without a pretty, model-y picture. So here you go:

Guest Blogger In Best Pensive Model-y Pose

Remember, dear readers: Baby Bath Books Are Your Friends. Your parents will thank you. And Older Babies Of The World Unite! Against The Mind-Freeze Of Inane Nursery Rhymes Everywhere!

Signed,

The Little Miss Rockstar.

(Because I happen to know stuff.)

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Another Weekend In Photos

Posted on January 13, 2013 by admin

(Or, When Not Doing Anything Of Note Can Still Produce Blog Posts)

Our Saturday morning started like dis:

Dis is a punctured Nespresso capsule

Yes, hole in capsule was made by Ms Rockstar in a matter of seconds, when I passed her the capsule to hold. Way to show off two tiny little milk teeth stubs. Frantically wiped off every trace of coffee grounds on her face and freaked out that she wasn’t going to be sleeping for the next few days. She found it totally hilarious – and shortly after, had her first >1 hour nap (90 minutes!) in days.

The Mens Do Babycare 

(We have vowed not to replace this broken down sofa that has lived through JD’s puppy years and Rockstar’s crazy baby/ toddler period til everyone in the family is old enough not to ruin the next kick-ass sofa I dream of getting, so help me God)

Guess who’s holding the baby and who’s assembling the baby toy. (Hey, you guys follow my blog at all, this shud be easy.)

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Yup you guessed it.

Rockstar says it’s like what he does in school Structured Play “except for the screwdrivers.” I think he meant because they are supposed to build things following instructions they’re given, “kind of like Lego, but with Duplo. Big pieces.” Kings is happily holding the baby (only) because he’s on a vegging out break in front of the tv…

The Rockstar And The Alan Key

(No, it’s not for kids, it should be assembled by a grownup – probably the basis of its appeal to Rockstar – we did supervise the tightening of screws and wheels, but Rockstar read the assembly instructions by himself. He made me type that.)

Finished product..

Ms Rockstar's hard at work too...

 Especially after watching the Ko Ko assemble that for her...

And then that night we had a double date at a nearby sushi restaurant (where Rockstar discovers he also likes soft-shell crab):

Hurriedly snapped pic of Me and My Date (who nonetheless tries to show everyone what he's eating)

Other Couple sitting across from us (Kings' hand is there because she eventually keels to one side)

(Swung by Park n Shop before making our way to the restaurant, to pick up baby banana biscotti so she could eat with us – a good half the pack would end up on the table or floor – the restaurant didn’t have enough baby bowls and spoons for her though they produced a high chair (meticulously cleaned the table top and chair, germ-freak that I am), so after she almost dropped her porcelain plate I ended up reaching over and popping biscuit bits in her mouth upon lowing request… She still does a low “Nngggggg….” sound like a little cow, when she wants something…)

 

And because of the marathon not-napping, Her Highness fusses towards the end of our meal, then cuts off mid-cry, fast asleep. NGGGGEEE-zzzzzzz. Post-catnap and happily finding she was now home, she was happy to do a little “modeling” before bath and bed:

 

 

 

Took those pics despite rushing to bathe and put her down for her nighttime sleep because I don’t know if she’ll be able to wear that dress/bubble for much longer, it was a gift from friends when she was born… I love the subtle pink-and-grey, somehow Ms Rockstar’s personality doesn’t strike me as one for loud colors… (She’s also wearing cardigan from Jacadi (for newborn – 3 month old!), can’t remember re tights but I got them b because of the little pink bird print; they were on sale at Gilt.com, as were the Portolano cashmere booties with suede “paw pads,” almost the only “footwear” I’ve ever bought her cos we were gifted lotsa cool socks and booties and even a pair of tiny flip-flop style silver sandals….)

And then Sunday morning Kings found this on his Facebook:

Pic from Themetapicture.com. According to William C. on the site, “The lines over the circles are color coded. notice the single red line and 3 blue lines representing “13” group together while the single green and 2 black lines take their own group. [Simply] draw your first group of lines in one direction then your second group of lines going over the first, count the groups of intersections and there’s your answer.”

Have you heard of this? We hadn’t, and Kings was all intrigued and Cannot Be Cannot Be so then he tried it:

15x15

(For 15 x 15, drawing lines in the same way as the orig pic, you get:

1     10     25

1+1=2; 0+2=2; and then 5

so 15 x 15 = 225)

Haven’t found one where this doesn’t work… Quite cool right? (Yes we showed it briefly to Rockstar but he got a bit annoyed because we hadn’t really explained any multiplication to him before, he got the lines but found multiplication without the lines “really hard” on his first try… Not wanting to turn him off Math, we left it…)

Then I felt bad because I don’t walk JD over and above her regular 2 hours daily with our helper, so the circus went to the Peak – it’s not always sunny and warm enough to go up there so I can walk the dog on the 2.8km trail…

JD sits in front as usual...

(Yes this pic was really taken today on the way there)

We get there and I rush to set up so Rockstar can do……… this:

Guess what Rockstar's doing?

Crush 2 rusks……. check!

4 teaspoons squash…….. check!

3 teaspoons sweet peas……….. check!

30 ml breastmilk……….. check!

Oh look at my elder child preparing a meal to feed his pet human

We’ve gotten to the point where if Rockstar’s home, we’re not allowed to prepare the baby’s solid food meals, he wants to do everything.

Wolfed my beef burger (endeavor to eat a bit of meat as I’m nursing, but otherwise I’m not a carnivore) and quickly took JD for her walk. Coming back and as I’m nearing the restaurant, I hear Ms Rockstar’s cries and hurry in to find:

NOW what are they doing?

Kings is distracting her with Youtube

(To be precise, it’s usually either Gangnam Style or Papa Penguin in German or whatever that language is on the multi-million views video – both Rockstars loved that vid as babies)

And that’s all she wrote for our weekend, baby.

ps: I picked the Imagical toy from Bumps to Babes because it had the busy board I wanted, complete with finger labyrinth, and a bar for Ms Rockstar to support herself standing, under supervision (she’s very keen to stand up all the time though she isn’t crawling)… Considering it was HKD 800-something however, I wasn’t very pleased with it – there was a sharp edge on the mirror, still a few wood splinters, one of the shapes on the shape sorter fits too tightly, AND a wheel keeps coming off. YES we checked that Rockstar had followed the assembly instructions correctly – but one side simply does not screw on properly. It still was the only thing with everything I’d been looking for, but for that price I expected better.

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Another Friday the 2013

Posted on January 11, 2013 by admin
Dis is an orgy.

1) Hope for those who haven’t taken down their Christmas trees: Elephants eating Christmas trees. Ok maybe not.

I thought this was very sweet though

2) “thank you for spreading happiness” – Dale Carnegie, your job is not safe.

More Cute Kid Notes.

3) More cool optical illusions.

Like so

And so.

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4) How blind people take iPhone photos. By blind movie critic. (How Do You Explain The Color Blue To A Blind Person? What’s your answer? I’m just saying…)

5) Speaking of movies:

Oscar Nomination Shockers. Wow that’s a lotta movies I haven’t seen.

50 Must-see Movies of 2013. Wow more movies to not see.

6) Kid gets arrested (technically not for drunk driving) after posting he had been drunk driving on his Facebook status. I stopped being very active on Twitter after finding that post where Xiaxue takes down some food bloggers via record of their Tweets. I mean, it’s not like I was tweeting anything like that anyway, but I didn’t want to be caught in a careless, offhand remark made months ago and potentially even taken wayyy out of context (not that xx did that here, I just mean the way in which some of those bloggers had been caught illustrates they were either idiots or tweeting way too freely. At least I can remove the possibility of my tweeting too freely :D)

Some of my HK readers are very cautious about commenting and instead I will get emails with like, a dozen looong, detailed comments, suggestions and questions which they don’t want to put on the blog (glad to see they are at least not on pseudonym with me 🙂 – “in this post where you said this it’s something I can relate to because……” “in that post may I ask…..” “and then in this one………” I initially wanted to ask for permission to cut and paste some of the comments back up here, but when comments come all in one go and too many for me to be able sort in a short space of time, I file them carefully and try to take note of the input – I take it as a compliment, that there are readers meticulous enough to do that, I have to say it on the blog for The Rockstars to read that I hope it’s because kids can bring out some of the best in us. Oh, shurrup, I said I hope 🙂 (Remember this famous post?)

Anyway, score another one for social media changing the way the world works – it’s old news for a potential boss to check your Facebook. How about NY police regularly checking MySpace for criminals who post photos of themselves with stolen goods?

Dis is an actual criminal posting cash he stole on victim's Facebook page. Yes, you now know what he looks like.

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7) 15 things Twitter tells us about humanity. Marketing people, dis is goods:

Top food tweet in the study is a McLobster. Ok, maybe not so goods.

There’s a lotta information out there about say, what kind of products people tweet or Instagram the most. In the link above is also an article about how Twitter employs real humans to handle some of the data because what machine can understand the true meaning of Mitt Romney’s infamous “binders full of women” (nerd alert – cheap thrill for me, I watched that comment being made live on tv!)

Sorry ah, How Come Still Got Graphs – it’s there because it illustrated to me how language and data tell important tales. Like, the only time I’m gonna say Accounting degrees (go NTU!) can teach you something cool – one of my gofer jobs when I first got out was translating P/L and Balance Sheet statements off the Bloomberg into numbers inputted in a default probability software. It then occurred to me the extent to which the concept of “language” encompassing everything is quite trippy – if you move your definition of “poor people” to say, people who make less than USD 12k a year instead of USD 10k a year you then have a gadzillion fewer people qualifying as being “poor” without actually doing anything to help poor people.

Now, think what you can do when you define profit, loss, assets, grades in the classroom that way. Technically, a government could really go Yay, under our watch there are now fewer poor people! We’d like that pat on the back right…. there.

Very The Matrix, right. Nothing you see is…. real. Thought for the weekend…

But……………………………….

Lemme just say this mess is real:

She likes spoons now.

Spoon = Deliverer of Yummy New Foods. Spoon good.

  

Yeah I barely made it Friday. Her Highness decided since last Tuesday that instead of total 5 hours daytime napping, she would be doing 1 hour. Seriously. She has only stayed asleep a collective total of 1 miserable hour every day since Tuesday. She’s not cranky, so long as we stay home and she sits with familiar toys and books, just Not Asleep. I’m still ?! What Gives? Now How Do I Have A Life? 

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Fell Short Of The Joneses There…

Posted on January 10, 2013 by admin

We got totally beat on the “trendy mummy/baby” track today… Under her blanket, Ms Rockstar’s just in her home jammies, and I didn’t even remember a hair clip…

Would've parked a little closer, but the Jack Russell was a bit excited - her handler was all Nooo! Baby - Not dog! But I think it was the dragon... (Yes, Ms Rockstar Fan, that's YOUR dragon! Superloves!)

“Our coats and ride are better than your coat and ride”

The Yorkshire Terrier with the daisy hair tie –  is she wearing faux-fur? 😀

 

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You Know You’re In Hong Kong When…

Posted on January 9, 2013 by admin

…you have difficulties buying milk powder.

How come this is easily available? Because it's for Stage 4 (older babies/toddlers)...

Since Ms Rockstar takes predominantly breast milk, this isn’t as big a problem as we otherwise would’ve had, but using formula does have its upsides – for e.g. it’s much easier with those single-feed powder dispensers to swing a sleepy late night feed than to warm a bottle of icy breast milk from the fridge. Especially in winter.

Kings finally hit gold...

So we do eventually run out – you are only allowed to buy a maximum of 4 tins at a time here, and fairly often they don’t even have 4 tins left for you to buy… In Ms Rockstar’s 7 months, we’ve run out twice. The second time was last night, when Kings eyes the half-tin we’ve got left and decides to try picking some up from a “Ma and Pa shop” in Pok Fu Lam. When maybe 3 shops turn up nothing, we start wondering if it’s that season again in HK. You know, that season where another contaminated milk powder scare in the Mainland has brought hoards of milk-powder buying Mainland mummies over here. (Recall also that our former batu api driver, when Kings let him go, asked if he would like to put money in a milk powder-supplying business…)

It’s not like we use some fancy-wancy powder btw, we just carried on using what the hospital was using, bringing home a couple tins when we brought the baby home. And I’d originally requested the hospital use formula for the midnight feed, hoping the baby would stay asleep longer in the night… With Rockstar however I was still working, and vaguely remember an RM of mine recommending a Japanese (I think) powder called Hohoemi – available off the shelf at Great for under HKD 400 per tin thereabouts, but if you bought direct from a supplier in minimum orders of 10 tins, you could get it for about HKD 250 per tin… Back then I didn’t produce enough milk, so Rockstar was about 50% formula fed despite my determined regimen of rising 90 minutes earlier and sleeping 90 minutes later around regular dealing room hours for almost a year…)

Hohoemi

Wow this packaging brings back memories – a former pediatrician once told us you’re not allowed to put real pictures of healthy, happy babies on the tin (hence the cartoons) because it might encourage more mums to not breastfeed, because they want similarly healthy, happy baby….. Which reminds me my former RM recommended Meiji Hohoemi because it was the closest to breast milk I think she said…

Anyway back to Sunday night. Kings eventually finds himself across the island in the North Point area before finding the 4 tins. He’s queueing, and I ask him to take a few pics if he isn’t too grouchy because of the running around already.

Kings obliges - that's our 4-tin ration making its way out of the store

(By now he can’t remember which store that is, but it’s somewhere across HK Island, about an hour’s drive from where we live…. because all the shops he tried in our vicinity that night were out…)

Random store he tried at night

Watsons' and property agents' still open at 9-something...

Ps: Ms Rockstar’s day-time schedule abruptly dramatically changed yesterday; trying to type with her wriggling on my lap… more in  bit – when Ms Boss allows it 😛

The boss wears butterfly clips

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Come On Baby Girl, Poop For Me

Posted on January 7, 2013 by admin

So when we started Ms Rockstar on solids, and by “solids” I mean a tablespoonful (two, if she likes it) of plain baby rice cereal in breast milk, she was a fast learner. She learned to hate spoon feeding just like that *snaps*.

Ms Rockstar: Mummee. Think. I have been asleep for the last 3.5 hours, after which we had this long, leisurely diaper change just because I happened to poop in my sleep, topped off with, for entertainment pleasure, something about a little star who apparently has nothing better to do than twinkle. Ko-Ko has been Gangnam-Styling all over the apartment and on your bed every day but me, me I get Twinkle freaking Twinkle? 

No sustenance has passed these sweet lips in almost FOUR HOURS. I am STARVING. And now instead of umm, feeding me, you expect me to muck around with you and Spoon and something that is just so incredibly yummy because it has the thing going for it a.k.a. it is not just milk? 

Did you fall down? Did you fall down and hit your head on something very hard? GET ME THE BIGASS MILK BOTTLE NNNNNOOOWWWWWW!!!

Umm, yeah. So since she’s a small (and lightweight, like I was) baby, I added more milk to the mush, watched avidly by Ms I Have An Opinion About Everything And It Shall Always Differ From Yours Because I Happen To Know Stuff, and she doesn’t stop til that empty “swoosh” on the bottle indicates she’s taken in every last drop. That was our first try at the rice cereal.

Would she like more milk?

No thank you, Mummee. From now on I shall only consume Things From Bottle With Rice Cereal In It. And just to make sure you don’t skimp on the cereal, I will watch you mix it in, while arching my back in impatience. No baby chairs, please – just as well mine hasn’t arrived yet. Because why shouldn’t you be able to hold me close when I’m hungry and need a cuddle, while attempting to mix cereal and pouring it in my milk bottle as I remind you I’m a-waiting and a-starving by carefully timing my back-arching just when you’re pouring?

Also, that lowing sound you hear which sounds like a little cow is my perpetual disapproval at your slow-ness.

Not Our Pediatrician

Sigh. I call our pediatrician.

“Did you try tricking her? Letting her see you mix it and then giving her a bottle without the cereal in it?”

“Yeah. She stops feeding immediately she finds there’s no cereal in the milk.”

“Well… technically there isn’t really an upper limit to how much cereal-in-breast-milk she can have, as long as her stomach’s fine with it – she’s not constipated, having hard stools or even having diarrhea from too much new food.”

So for a couple days I put a tablespoonful of cereal in each four-ounce (120mil) bottle of breast milk in the afternoon (thank God Her Highness hasn’t demanded cereal for sleepy night feeds. Please let her not start.) I also try letting her play with the spoon, stirring the cereal flakes about, in an effort for her to like spoons. (Spoons are great for making interesting noises, Mummee. I just don’t see what they have to do with eating.) 3 days later she hasn’t had a bowel motion in as long. Usually she goes once, occasionally twice, a day.

Hmm? What's that?

I watch her carefully for signs of discomfort at being erm, clogged up. Bloating. Fussiness. Nothing. Just her usual hate campaigns against Car and Feeding Spoon. (How would you like it if I kept shoving Spoon in your face after you already explained nicely you would not be having any interest in eating with Spoon today?)

Come on, Baby Girl. I’ll even smile in the dead of night if you so choose to have your poop-fest then, just do it. Poop so I don’t have to bring you down to the ped where you may come in contact with <shudder> other germs navigating through the crowded streets (just so happens the clinic is at this perpetually crowded, polluted, dusty area of Central and you have to navigate said crowded, polluted, dusty streets to get there)……

And finally, after the 3rd day, we have a breakthrough. Major. And so everything’s right in the world again. Just because my baby has pooped.

And so she had a bath. And so she had a beard. Everything was right in the world again.

Ps: Ms Rockstar’s up to 6-8 teaspoons pureed organic veggies, 3 heaping tablespoons of rice cereal and a large Farley’s rusk along with  20-24 ounces (600-700ml) milk a day, 4 ounces (120ml) of which is formula while I freeze a feed. She loves green beans. She’s decided after 3 jars that she’s had enough peas. Per ped’s instructions to limit fruit and juice (to avoid encouraging a sweet tooth), the only “sweet” thing she’s had is sweet potatoes. In general I think local kids do get lotsa veggies, I’ve seen mums open flasks of boiling hot congee for older babies/toddlers and the entire mixture would be green.

My anal retentive in this case is less about sweet things however, it’s about cutting down the risk of developing an allergy as much as I can. If unavoidable then so be it, but if I can otherwise avoid it then well, I thought being a little stricter now was less work than monitoring the diet of a child in future who had say, a scary nut or seafood allergy. That was the main reason Rockstar had virtually only veggies and rice and some bread (plus breast milk and formula of course) in the first year of his life – I hoped to be have a better chance at being able to relax and let him eat every darn thing (nuts, seafood) when he was older…

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Guess What Rockstar’s Doing…

Posted on January 6, 2013 by admin

Have a guess?

Hint: That’s his ‘optical illusions” kaleidoscope from Metropolitan Museum Of Art in his hand…

Happy Face

Rockstar is…………………..

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Ta Da.

Crushing a Farley’s Rusk to mix with breast milk for the baby! Uh, yes on the bed <sheepish> otherwise it’s harder to keep JD away – she loves those baby biscuits too.

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(And Ms Rockstar’s first two teeth are just cutting through, can you see the little stubs…!)

Thank You Ko Ko (Pic from another day they were doing that)

 

 

 

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First Friday of 2013!

Posted on January 4, 2013 by admin

 

The contestant in yellow won. All 4 times.

1) 2012’s most heartwarming moments that will inspire you on to 2013. Ellis Challis lost her hands and legs to meningitis (something else that terrifies me in its unexpectedness and destructiveness) at 16 months. Aged 5, she then challenged Olympic Semifinalist Oscar Pistorious to a race.

I love how young children know they can’t be beat.

Also, that’s Olympic Semifinalist. Not Paralympics Semifinalist. Us with the legs. Yes, us. He makes our legs look like our handicap to achieving greatness.

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This just a happy husky pic (note “will pose for treats or tips” sign):

(from Huffpost)

2) A US Senator gets sworn in while carrying his baby on one arm. Been there seen that? How bout the baby also raising his hand with the dad, when VP Joe Biden swears them in?

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3) 13 quotes inspiring fresh starts and new beginnings. Here’s one:

Which sounds a little like a paraphrase of Galatians 4-5:

“4 Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. 5 Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life. “

Galatians was taped to my file cabinet when I was a rookie in my first big bank job. Later, when I got a stack of Bible cards that have followed me to all subsequent places of work and sat with me on every dealing desk thereafter, I forgot about this one, until now. And yes I have always underlined “Don’t be impressed with yourself.” You can achieve far more when your ego doesn’t get in the way. Do you want to achieve, or do you want to protect your pride? Remembering we serve Him (not our pride) actually helps with the achieving. At least, it’s helped me…

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4) “When she told me that her husband had died in October, her mask slipped and for an instant I saw her grief. It was big. She said she was glad he went first because she knows there’s no way he could have lived without her.”

That was from Edenland, about this 81-year old lady Noelene. I had to put this here because………… “she was glad he went first because there was no way he could live without her.” Old Love. Am I the only one who thinks Old Love is one of the most amazing achievements in life? And then I read Eden’s post and thought it Wow This Is What The People In “Love, me” by Collin Raye actually look like.

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And one for the road:

If you want to be happy this year, be happy this year.

I mean, if you must…

An email to a beloved uncle early on New Year’s Day, in response to his query, was an unexpected eye-opener. He had last really heard from me during my babymoon around the end of my second trimester, partly because as a semi-retired heart surgeon who has operated on some seriously famous people and now in his 70s, he leads an exceedingly glamorous life doing things like being a ship’s doctor on an expedition to Alaska, or teaching “crisis management” at hospitals, whereby they deliberately simulate medical emergencies in mock surgeries to train staff  reactions…

In recounting the last few months – my freakout when our ex-batu api driver goes off with Rockstar and the daft helper. My unexpected bleed and emergency C-section days later. The two months the apartment directly next to ours went thru major construction works. The two plumbing and one landlord and countless building management visits when our bath leaks into the downstairs neighbor’s bedroom because the initial plumber said there was nothing wrong. The heavy-loan-requesting driver. The shark nanny – it suddenly dawned on me Wow, Our Second Half Of 2012 Kinda Sucked. There were times I felt terrible, and yet I never realized it Kinda Sucked That Bad. (Then again there is the whole beautiful new healthy baby.)

So Goodbye, 2012. I won’t miss you. But boy did you teach me things that I hope’ll stay with me for awhile. So maybe I won’t miss you because you won’t totally be gone.

Regardless.

When you train perpetually with the weights on – when you practice living while you have construction and a new baby, and stress and depression, both yours and others – when you finally take the weights off – you fly.

Hello, 2013. 

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Rockstar’s Gangnam Style

Posted on January 3, 2013 by admin

I wish we had time to do our own. Every time we head down to the car park, Rockstar and I re-enact the “famous” walking-backwards-Gangnam-horse-riding-forwards scene… But this little site Kings found one night was a lifesaver while I’m still nursing a bad cough/cold recovery:

Rockstar’s gotten lotsa laughs out of subbing his head for the baby’s head, JD’s, and the red Angry Bird’s. But well it’s USD 7 a pop to save these things, so we only got Rockstar’s:

http://youtu.be/skg9PQpCfos

To make your own, click on “Gangnam Style” on Jibjab.com. Have fun!

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