Which Hand?

I am seriously wondering.... Is Reese going to be left handed!!! Everything he does seems to indicate that...

When given a pencil... he will use his left hand to scribble. When he eats... it's also left hand.... When we give him things to hold... he will use his left hand.

Even when we force him to use his right hand... he will automatically switch to his left hand....

So....can any tell me...is that a sign or what? Or still too early to tell?

mmmm..... need to do some research on it.

Had an interesting 'conversation' with Reese

Reading a book with Reese in the classroom. The picture of a cow came up.

Reese: Cow...cow... (pointing at the cow)
Mummy: Yes...cow....
Mummy: Reese cows say moooooo...... mooooo....
Reese: huuuurr.... huuuurr (looking eagerly at mummy)
Mummy: Mooo...mooo... Cow...
Reese: Cow...
Mummy: Mooo...
Reese: Cow....
Mummy: Moooo...
Reese: Cow...
Mummy: Cow....
Reese: huuur...huurr...... (his way of saying moo..moo..)
Mummy: Clever boy.... Cow.....
Reese: huuur...hurr... Cow....
Mummy: moooo...mooo...
Mummy: oink....oink....
Reese: Pig!!
Mummy: oink...oink...
Reese: Pig!
Mummy: mooo...mooo...
Reese: Cow!

See... he is smart...hahha....
At night, we repeated this conversation in front of daddy and boy..daddy was impressed!

Today's menu.....

Breakfast - milk and peanut butter bread - successful

Lunch - Mash potatoes cook in chicken stock with vege and fried fish - failure

*Reese ate mostly fish but very little of the mash and it took an hour to feed him again!

tea - Mango - successful

Thank God that he still likes his fruits!

mmmm.... tonight is going to be pasta I guess....

Reese my clever boy

Sorry.... all parents are proud of their kids, me no exception. :)

Reese's pronunciation is getting better and he can say some 2 syallabus words...and he is constantly practising his pronunciation... you can hear him repeating a word for more than 10 to 20 times at a go.... He knows more words now.... and he can recognise and say the numbers 1 (sometimes), 2, 3, ,5, 6 (sometimes), 7, 8, 9, 10. Still can't say zero... whenever we go to a shopping mall...he will point at the numbers on the carpark walls and say it loud... it's really nice to hear him say the numbers... now... from telephone to tv.... he will tell us the numbers he knows... cool eh?

Really proud of him.... :) he is almost 17 months... way to go...

Oh... he also started to remember lyrics of songs... well.. at least one particular song... Row Row Row your Boat.....

He will say row, row, row.......(pause) boat.... :)

He still likes to dance to catchy music.... plays with his toys in a more sophisticated way.... understand us better.... able to follow some instructions.... he likes us to participate in his play time... loves being chased...

Oh...and he knows how to pull you to wherever he wants you to go or push you away.... he is learning opposites... he knows cold and hot, up and down.....

One more thing... he is obsessed with Lanterns...... he will repeat the word lantern 20 to 30 or more times a day... in the car, in the shopping mall...at home...and even in his sleep! :)

Difficult!

Well, ever since I started cooking for my little king.... besides my tomato/fish pasta... he doesn't like the other stuff I cooked for him.

Second day I cooked chicken stew for him... didn't like it... ate abit of it with rice and rejected the rest. Then had to fry fish for him to eat with potatoes and carrots...

Another day... tried cooking cream pasta.... didn't like it either... force him to eat...ate about half...ate the salmon and some pasta..that's it.... again... failure... tried fish with chips.... ate the fish... didn't like the chips (when we are out at fast food joints... he will take abit of the chips!)

Another day... cooked spaggetti with shredded carrots and zuchinies and fish.... seems to be ok...ate most of it... I really don't know what to cook anymore... nothing seems to really work....

Today...I got up at 6.30am to cook 3 different things for Reese. Tomato pasta sauce, spaggetti with carrots and zuchinies and fish.. and I even fried rice ( he eats fried rice outside). And today lunch...gave him the rice.. rejected it!!! :( sadlah..... I really am not happy.... so he ate spaggetti..... That took an hour to feed him!!! I am trying to include as much vege as possible..but that seems to be harder than I thought. I am just worried that my Reese will become thin... which is not a pretty sight... now he is neither fat nor thin... just nice...very solid... I like it that way.....

Since not much vege, the only thing I can do... let him eat as much fruits as he can.... lately... he is taking yogurt again... which is good. Oh... he is also taking peanut butter with bread. He likes it very much.

His stool also not as soft as before... use to be like a very wet mash.... but now...it's like in a small rolls like most of us I guess... hehe...gross huh? but that's what is itloh....

Will have to crack my head for more recipes....actually there are many...just that... I don't have that much time to do it... I mean...I am working... and ....well...susahlah...but I will try my best...

Reese likes the pasta!

Yessss!! My boy likes my pasta...phew...was really afraid that he might reject it. He enjoys it so much that he will demand for it the moment he finished chewing and swallowing them in his mouth! He even directs my hand to his mouth when I feed him.... hehe...

It's so satisfying when you see your child enjoying his food.

Tomorrow I am going make fish fingers with tomatoes and spinach. Will write the recipe down the moment I figure out how I want to cook the dish. Hope he likes it! Can't wait!

Reese refused to eat his food!

Mmm..... finally... at 1 year 4 months and 17 days, Reese finally rejected his blended vege/fish with cereal and milk food. That means... I will have to really cook his meals for him. It also means a change in routine for me again and definately more work involved in food preparation but I am excited!! Already cracking my head what kind of meals I am going to serve my little king. Something yummy and nutritious as well. Not going to be easy...at least at the beginning... hehe..

Last night.. at about 9.40pm... I cooked pasta sauce for Reese. Today he is going to have pasta for lunch and dinner. What's in my pasta sauce?

Fish with tomato sauce pasta

1/4 onion

1/3 carrot

1 stick of celery

1 can of tomato paste/puree

a pinch of salt

a pinch of basil

a tea spoon of butter

a tea spoon of olive oil

a pinch of oregano

a piece of Kurau fish (marinate with salt/black pepper)

Dice the vegetables finely and boil till soft. Put aside.

Lightly fry the fish with olive oil and put aside.

For the sauce, lightly fry the onions.

Put in the vegetables and tomato sauce, Let it shimmer for 5 to 7 minutes then add in fish (mash it/cut it into small pieces), salt,basil and oregano.

Let it shimmer another 5 or 7 minutes.

Don't forget the pasta of your choice to go with the sauce.

Hope you like this recipe!

My Labour

I just read an entry from my friend's blog (www.2ann.blogspot.com) and realized that I didn't have an entry on my actual labour! Maybe it was because it was not a pleasant experience..... anyway..for the record... here it is.....

30th September 2006

I woke up at about 7am.... lazing on the bed and turn around and greeted husband.... I was suppose to have my baby shower that day... I was in a happy mood and was looking forward to it. After a while... I heard a 'pop' sound...something like a cork popping out from the champaign bottle.... I looked around but couldn't detect where the sound came from. I continued to enjoy my morning stretches for another few minutes and got up to use the bathroom.

When you are heavily pregnant..it's always very hard to bend and remove your clothing waist down. I suddenly had this urge to urinate! So imagine how I tried to remove my pants and underwear...hehehe... Next thing I know... there was a gush of water coming out of me... and then...more... more... As I wiped ... I could see pink stains on the toilet paper.. and my heart skipped a beat... Can't be right? I am like 3 weeks more to my due date! So I sat down again and another gush of water... then without hesitation... I realized that my water bag broke... and that explained the 'pop' sound I heard while still in bed! :)

I cleaned myself a little and excitedly told hubby this is it.... baby is coming... got to call the doc... It was about 7.30am and I called the gynae's office...told the nurse what just happened and she told me to take my time to have breakfast and then check myself in. I couldn't contained my excitement... and at the same time... disappointed that I won't get to attend my baby shower! So many things running in my mind.... packed a few things... hubby took along a few comics which we bought a few days back (Tintin-for Reese's collection) and off we go. I had to wear sanitary pad to keep the water from overflowing. The smell of the water is actually sweet smelling... :)

Once we were at Pantai Hospital, we went straight up to the labour ward. There are a few Staff nurses... they took us to one of the labour ward and after a while... told me to change into those patient gown... green I remembered. Feeling very uncomfortable because the water has overflown... not sure what to do... next they removed my underwear and it was soak with more water....

Next they stuffed something up my anus... not very pleasant... and after a while... I had to go to the bathroom... It was quite embarrassing considering I have never pee or poo infront of hubby...hehe.. and having him to take care of me while the nurses prepare for my labour... I mean... it's weird.. As I clear my bowels... the bloody pluck came out too... I tried my best to clean myself up and refusing to ask my husband for help... hehe.. after that... went back on the bed... one of the nurse stuffed some cloth to stop my water from coming out.. wondered how I can have so much water in the 'bag'. It was most uncomfortable.. First... they had to induce me... so there goes the needle... had to look the other way when it was nicely inserted.... then a monitoring belt on my stomach... to monitor the baby's heart beat.... imagine having to lie down on my back...with a super heavy stomach... my back protested badly...but can't do much... not to mention water continually comes out from below... and it's a mess down there... the nurses came in to change me every now and then..and at times...hubby did it for me... initially very embarrassed..but..after awhile... embarrassment was the last thing on my mind. :) Thank you dear.

Manage to get myself to rest as comfortably as I could... then came the staff nurse/midwife... told me that she was going to check for dilation.... poke me down there... not a nice feeling... then around 11am...my gynae came... smiled, ah... you are going to have a baby today... said that he is going to check me... next thing I know... I was surround by 2 or 3 nurses...can't remember..and my gynae.... I can't see much what he was doing...and then shock descended upon me... #*($^^#*^@#%#%#^#!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhh.... what are you doing doc??? It hurts sooooo much... ooouchhhhh... tears forming in my eyes... Gynae calmly said..it's ok... I am trying to STRETCH your vagina/cervix...not sure which one... but it hurts sooo much... the pain was sharp and intense... then it was gone. Pheww.... Immediately I was thinking... what is labour pain going to be like if I can't even take that stretching pain?

Anyway... Gynae said that I should deliver around 5pm...and I was 2 cm dilated at that time.... So rest Florence.... will see you later.... and he went out.

Nurses continue to come and go... told me that I am having contraction..and I was like huh? I don't feel any pain... maybe tiny bit of period pain like symptom... hubby tried to read his comics, sms church friends to cancel the baby shower, called family...etc.. while I tried to rest... but it was impossible when your back continuously protest and all the devices around you and that heavy monitoring belt around my waist.... water mess below me...gosh..it was horrible... so I drifted in and out of sleep, tried to turn to my side...and after a while the nurse came in and told me that I cannot sleep on my side! They can't monitor the baby's heart beat...gggrrr...but for the sake of my baby(what if baby is not breathing?)... I complied....

Then I was hungry! But cannot eat... tried drinking some water...and drifted in and out of sleep... always asking hubby what the time was... never in my life... had I felt that the time was almost static... It was only 1pm... around 1.30pm...I started to feel contraction pain... I told myself..I can do this... it's going to come for a few seconds..and then gone... and in between.. you have a few seconds to rest... haha... how naive... the pain became more intense... I was all curled up... turning and tossing...hubby was by my side...kept asking me..whether I wanted epidural injection. I kept saying no...I can bare the pain... eventually... those little seconds of pain felt like eternity! I remembered timing the contraction...every 8 seconds or so... It was really unbearable... and when the nurse came to check my dilation... it's still the same!!!! after so many hours... hai.. finally... I agreed to take the epidural.... next came a few nurses... they prepared me for the jab... did something to my back... and then they curl me up like a ball... held me really tight and then the doc gave me the jab...

Next thing I felt numb all over from waist down... it caused my back to protest even more...I can't move my lower body at all..and thus... I can't relieve the pain on my back..and with the epidural drip on my spine... moving was even more difficult... the only relief was...I felt no contraction pain at all... only backache and very uncomfortable... can't sleep and yet I can't fight fatigue... Everything was a blur.... don't even remember what hubby was doing while I was drowning in my misery. Around 5pm or so...Gynae came and still not dilated... hai..... later that night.. we started to hear cries of newborn babies(3 babies)... one after the other...and each time...I asked myself...when is it going to be my turn!!!! I hate to wait on things... and I had to wait from 8am till about 11.35pm before I got to see my son! What a long labour...

Finally...can't remember what time... maybe around 9 plus..after checking me...the nurse said I was ready to deliver!!! I was suddenly very wide awake!! hehe... finally... both of us felt so relieved. Then another 1 or 2 nurses came in with something like metal poles and black leather straps... at one point... I was thinking...what is this? Are we going to have some bondage fun?

They prep me up into a semi sitting position... strapped me in... I can feel the cold metal poles.. all of a sudden... I can feel the cold.... next...I was asked to push...I tried...but not successful... staff nurse claimed that I am not pushing right... I said I can't feel anything...they lessen my epidural dosage...and I begin to push again... just not working... according to hubby... he can see Reese's black head popping in and out under there.... the staff nurse even threatens me...if I don't get Reese out soon... Dr. Chew is going to clam him out! after a good 45 minutes... Doc came..and immediately...got the 'claws' and in less than 5 minutes... I felt something and out came Reese.

After the delivery.... I thought I would cry upon seeing my son...but....I waited for my emotions to pour in..and yet... still no tears... :) so I was not that emotional after all. I remembered Gynae commented...mmmm... he is not a very big baby ahhhh..... and then doc took out a very bloody baby...and I think he showed him to me... then he was in my arms.... he looked like "fat sui min bau" abit like a Eskimo!... I think he cried too...ah..nice.... then...they positioned him next to my breast and let him suckled.... it's weird...but I was just too tired... Sometime later...they gave Reese to Adrian to carry... and for the first time... Adrian actually carried a baby! and I just love that moment....

Oh...Sometime after my delivery... I remembered I vomitted alot..the side effect of Epidural.. much later in the night... when I was sleeping alone in the ward.... I felt scared, lonely and in a lot of pain... and some of my worse experiences started..... will tell you more in my next post...

Obsession with Vehicles and Flying machines

Who is obsess with them?

1. Reese Matthew Kam

2. Florence Wong

3. Adrian Kam

How bad?

Bad!

Few months back, Reese begins to recognise vehicles and eventually able to say the names of vehicles. These are the vehicles and flying machines he knows and able to say it:

Car, Lorry (oorriee), bike, bicycle (&*$&#..ke), truck (truk), bus (ba/baaas), crane, tanker (*#&#keker), cement mixer (murrr), helicopter (#*$&ker), train, plane, tractor (taktor), van, pickup (cuppa cuppa cup...), trailer (*&$#(*&#$)

Lately... he is into trains... we bought him a pull back train that comes with sound. He loves it...now... he plays with it all the time and makes the sound 'too too' with hand action like pulling on a bell... very cute...

As for us.. we went shopping for his vehicles (1 + hours or so on two separate days)... now in his collection, he got a total of 17 or 18 vehicles.... still shopping around for a nice and cheap helicopter, plane and bike... :) . We are also planning to get him a small bike to ride on...

Today I am really in the mood to blog! So many entries in one day.... hehe...

Lifestyle bags
Parents these days...are very particular and fashion concious about baby gears, gadgets and other baby essentials... not to mention they are much pricier and sometimes.. not necessary!

Gone are the days you see parents (in the city) using hideous looking bags...big foam containers for milk, plastic bags for small baby essentials..... etc...

For us..we are one of the guilty ones.. hehehe .... long time ago... we bought two backpack for travel use...one big and one small... so naturally... we don't want to waste money (and the bag looks nice) so we make use of the smaller backpack..which looks good on both of us but one fine day... due to my carelessness... the bag was stolen from my car. That's the end of the first bag. So now...we use the big backpack which is actually not very suitable..cause it's bulky... if we go to the shopping mall for a few hours... usually... I will just stuff all the baby stuff into my bag and it's heavy...so at times...hubby will help carry ....but...it's a ladies bag... so...don't look good on him... hehe...

Finally... we decided to hunt for a nice lifestyle bag that is unisex... but after some searching... the bags are either too expensive or not nice...(hubby very particular when it comes to style). So in the end, we agree on one from The Baby Loft. It's a Kapoochi Funny Gubby Satchel. I just got it in the mail today... and it looks good and very spacious too... not too big and not too small... comes with a changing mat (not that it's going to fit Reese...) and a thermally lined bottle bag. It's also reasonably priced. I am happy... hopefully hubby will like it too. :)

The best is when we go 'gai gai'... we don't have to stuff all the things into my bag. Now we got a stylish and yet practical baby bag to go 'gai gai' with! If I don't tell you it's a baby bag... you will never have guess it!

Relapse....

Hubby is sick again...vomitted last night...
Maid also vomitted last night and got bad headache...
I am still down with a bit of cold and signs of cough...

and

This morning... Reese got a runny nose and slight cough....

hai..... hope he recovers fast.... it's so tough to care for a sick child especially runny nose and cough.... I am fearful of it.... :(

Reese's first phase....

Mummy: Reese, see... lanterns...lanterns...
Kakak: Baby nah...lantern...lantern...
Reese: nantennnn...nannntenn...nantennnn... (x10)

After we pass all the lanterns....

Reese: neer mo...neeerr mooo...
Mummy: Huh? oh...no more! Yes...Clever boy! Clever boy....

Lately...Reese is beginning to say more two syllabus words and even corrected some of his words like Lorry- ree and now he will say norrriee...

Reese is a rocker!!



Ah! After being sick for a few days.... everyone seems to be ok now... but I am down with a minor cold. Last night.. forth day of Chinese New Year... we finally venture out of the house... went to One Utama to get some toys for Reese. He loves his new toys! Oh... and we also finally capture some of his 'rocker' moments on video! He likes catchy music like rock music... and he will dance... at times he even knows how to nod his head too... enjoy..

Lousy Chinese New Year

Haiiii..... I was looking forward to CNY sooo much... Yes.. I got to stay for reunion with my family, met up with my cousins and relatives.....BUT... It was not fun at all....

WHY you must be asking?

Haiiii.... Adrian suddenly got fever and not well that evening... so... had a quick dinner and went home... we were suppose to travel the next morning to Penang....BUT... had to cancel it. Adrian was still unwell and Reese's turn to have fever!! ....

I had to take him to my parents place to avoid contact with Adrian... we were afraid that Reese will get worse... hehehe...

Managed to spend some time with my cousins and relative onces again.... Reese slept most of the time... so all in all... we spent most of the time at home. It's tiring...

So glad that Reese recovered and so did Adrian... today we manage to make a trip to One Utama for some shopping... well..actually to shop for Reese's toys.... Got him a big tractor, a train and Doodle Pro (magnetic drawing board). As I am blogging here.. he is happily playing with daddy!

Oh... and I think.... I am coming down with a runny nose!... Hope it will go away soon... my nose is itchy..... What a New Year.... :)

Reese can recognize numbers!

After a little more than a week of card flashing, Reese can now recognize and say the numbers 2, 3,4,5,6,8,9 and 10. Given another 2 weeks I think he will be able to say all 10 numbers!!! Hehe...
Check out the video.. it was taken after 4 days of card flashing... I think... can't remember..

Yesterday we took him to Ikano for dinner... and then we went to Guardian to get his Scott's Emulsion... We gave him a blue basket to hold... and he was soooo cute..... Hubby managed to take a few pictures of him using the lousy camera phone but hey... it served its purpose anyway..hehe... At one point... I put in two bottles of Scott's... and my poor son... tried to carry the basket... He tried so hard until his face turned red for a second and simultaneously he let out a shout....hahaha... so funny. You know... like those weight lifter we see on TV ... when they try to lift up the heavy weights? Both hubby and I laughed so loud....

Oh... and last Friday night... we again went to Ikano to have one of his t-shirts exchanged.... He actually cornered a man and demanded for his balloon! and Reese got the balloon... it belongs to the man's son... hahaha.. Reese just kept pointing at the balloon..standing in front of the man.. and kept saying 'baboo' or something like that... funny..funny...