Gong Xi, Gong Xi, Gong Xi Ni

Ian says "Happy Lunar New Year!" to all the readers of HelloLavender.

We spent the day visiting both our families, and then the rest of the afternoon at Ikea to settle our dinner and shop for a high chair.

The crowd at Ikea was very comfortable and for the first time, it was a breeze to find a table at the restaurant. It was also not difficult to find the high chair we wanted: affordable, and fully plastic (= easy to wipe).

The famous Ikea high chair - $29 for the chair and $4 for the tray. Nice.

We also gotten a feeding set for Ian. The main item that attracted us to buy was the bowl with the suction base. Hubby tested the suction on the tray and it was OKed by Hubby. Although it would still come off with some force, it would not move easily with gentle pushes.

Ian - get ready for self-feeding lessons! :)

Quinoa - A Super "Grain"

I have been pondering over what new food to let Ian try over the CNY weekend, and finally decided on the quinoa. It is not a grain. It is actually a seed, but has been used like a grain and is a staple food of the ancient Incas Indians.

For a tiny seed like this, it is power-packed with nutrients! It offers more iron than any other grain, more protein than meat (it has many essential amino acids), and has high levels of potassium, riboflavin, magnesium, zinc, copper and folacin. This is indeed a super food for babies!

I used the slow-cooker to cook the quinoa porridge for Ian, unmilled. Before cooking, the seeds omit a strange smell - I would not call it a fragrance. However, when it is cooked, there are many small curls within the porridge which is kind of 'cute' and the fragrance is rather unique.

Verdict: Ian loves his new super food!

A Daddy's Little Boy Indeed

Early last Saturday morning, Ian woke up at his usual hour and cruised around his playpen as usual. To our surprise, he started saying "Daddy" a few times. Today, while Hubby was bringing Ian for his bath, Ian called "Daddy" again although he was looking at me. Till now, we are not sure if he is calling Daddy for real or it is just his baby talk. However, what he said was unmistakably the word "Daddy". He truly lives up to his name of being a Daddy's little boy!

Perhaps, my new year resolution is to work doubly hard to make him call Mummy!

Ian's Shopping Cart

Fisher Price Shop and Learn Walker.

Ian has been cruising since about 2 months ago, but he is still unable to make his first steps forward. He has been stepping on his own feet when he tries to move forward, and that seems to be a habit that he has learned from cruising.

To encourage him to walk forward instead of sideways, I bought this shopping cart for him during the Robinsons sale (again!) last weekend. According to a forum friend, it has helped her baby walk around the house although she is only a few days older than Ian.

Ian has been playing around with the little toys in the cart, but he is still unable, or rather, uninterested to walk with it. Hopefully, he will learn how to do so one day.

My Baby Can Read?

Today, I picked out a few words on body parts to show Ian. Just for the fun of it, I showed 2 cards at the same time and asked Ian which card is which. To my surprise, he picked the correct cards. Is it just a fluke? I really hope that our efforts on teaching him for the last few months is starting to show results.

We started his Little Neuro Tree lessons today as well. Not one but two accidents on CTE caused us to be very late for the class. But we were grateful that the Japanese sensei still taught Ian for 1 full hour. It was much more enjoyable because Ian was the only baby in the class! No more wailing babies making us distracted, and the teacher focused 100% on him.

Angpow packets from LNT

New Food for 9 Months

Let's see what new food has Ian been eating this month?

#1 - Wheatgerm: The heart of the wheat kernel, packed with protein, fibre, polyunsaturated fats, vitamins (E, B1, B6), minerals (manganese and chromium). Just sprinkle over his food.

#2 - Organic Baby Spinach: The vegetable that Popoye loves. I have been waiting for this month to start Ian on this super healthy leafy greens.

Without elaborating too much on the nutritional benefits, take a look at the food label yourself...

A box allowed me to cook only 5 portions of 30ml baby cubes. One of them has been added fresh into Ian's lunch.

Ingredients: Brown rice, pork, sweet peas, spinach.

I was afraid that Ian might reject the strong taste of spinach, but thankfully, he finished it all.

Clothes for Ian

This is yet another belated post...on Ian's new wardrobe-to-be:

2 sets of 2-pc pajamas from Nissen. Jshoppers was having a free shipping campaign over Xmas and so, I could not resist buying something for Ian. They cost approximately $10 per set - not a bad deal, eh? But they are very kawaii.

A bundle of new clothes in various sizes, for stocking up. Thanks to a lobang from my friend Mic, we caught the Gimmil annual clearance sale, and all these cost only $50. What a steal! We went there on Saturday early afternoon, and by then, many designs were already gone. No more Carters rompers, though we managed to find Oshkosh shirts. The pants were selling at $1 each - unbelievable!

This gift is not for Ian...A Belated Blog Entry

My good old Dopod which has followed me for 2 years....



...has transformed into this! An iPhone!


This is a gift from Hubby a few weeks back. Is it a gift for our pak-tor anniversary, or is it my Xmas present? Either way, Thank You!!!!

Review: No regrets getting the iPhone, for it has solved all my frustrations with the Dopod.

Singer...

...Is the brand of the sewing machine that Hubby has bought for me today.

I have been thinking of getting one for a while as my Mom's antique machine is going bonkers, but have not acted upon it until we happened to see a promotion at Courts on New Year's eve. After some contemplation and with hubby's blessings, we visited Courts at Causeway Point today and bought a set.

My new sewer @ $199

It is definitely easier to use than a traditional sewing machine, and also much more versatile. You can adjust the speed, the length of the stitch and also do many cool things that my Mom's dinosaur cannot. You can sew a hem, sew a button, do some simple decorations, etc.

Let's see what I can sew for the house? Hmmm....

Ian Wishing You A Happy New Year

Ian & Family wish all the faithful followers of Hellolavender a Happy New Year.

May peace, happiness and prosperity always be with you.

Happy Shopping

Ian has a shopping cart cover! Chanced upon this item from Babycenter store and bought it for Ian, because he loves to chew the metal chain on shopping carts, and also put his fingers into his mouth after touching the public carts.

According to some studies, the shopping cart handle has X times more germs than your public toilet!!! No wonder that the Babycenter store has classified this under the hygiene category.

Besides fitting into shopping carts, it also fits into high chairs. What a great invention!

Food, Glorious Food

I have been so busy with work recently that it has been hard to get in front of the PC to blog. But as far as Ian is concerned, we still strive to give him food that are good for him. What new food has he been eating?

*Drum roll*

Ian's super porridge! Finally, now I can cook porridge with the correct texture for Ian. What are the ingredients? Brown rice, carrots, peas, broccoli, ikan bilis powder.

The Bellamy Organic Toothiepegs. Unlike the Heinz version, the teething biscuits from Bellamy are not identical - some are short, some are tall, some are thin, and some are fat. (Anyway, teething biscuits are a mess, so we have switched to Gerber puffs.)

Pears from Japan.

Prunes.

Cook 1 piece with some water for 5 mins, and blend. Ian loves it when mixed with the Frisocream cereal.

Grapes. We happened to buy a box of red grapes from NTUC and let Ian try it. Firstly, we chopped it into small pieces, but Ian did not appear to care for it. He was more interested to chew it with his 2 front teeth, fed by Daddy.

A very nutritious grain - millet. The organic variety bought from NTUC.

Washed, dried, and milled into powder.

Millet porridge (with carrot, broccoli, tofu and ikan bilis). Doesn't this look like sharksfin soup? Millet porridge actually has a very fragrant smell. Yum, yum.