New Food Introduced @ 10 Months

After the scare last month (rashes all over Isabelle's body), we slowly introduced new things back into her diet. What we had added this month:

• Fish Oil - Left: Nordic Naturals Baby's DHA for Isabelle.  (On the right: Children's DHA for Ian.)

• Wheatgerm - A very nutritious grain filled with fiber, iron, magnesium, manganese, protein, omega-2 fatty acids, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, vitamin E, zinc, B vitamins, and calcium.  I had bought a packet of this about 2-3 months back and kept it in the freezer until I could find a good time to introduce to our girl.

• Beetroot - Another super nutritious food, filled with fiber, antioxidant, iron and vitamins A, B, C, and other minerals.  It was a regret that I did not manage to include this super food into Ian's diet when he was younger.  

Beetroot puree in porridge

 Beetroot stained lips... just like wearing lipstick?

Good thing that she loved the beetroot.  It looked yucky to me!

I had also started to let her share my food (she was always glaring hungrily at my food), such as bread, rice, and the milder tonic soups from my Mom, like si shen soup, wolfberries soup, and sheng di tu fu soup that was meant for detoxifying.

I had also introduced the egg yolk back into her diet.  Thankfully, there had been no adverse reaction this time.

Other supplements that she had been taking: Childlife vitamin C and multivitamins, probiotics with colostrum,  and Eu Yan Sang Si Shen Powder.

Isabelle @ 11 Months

Isabelle is still cruising for the past month and has not been courageous enough to take an independent step alone.  She is starting to inch her toes around though.  Gambatte to our little girl!

This month, she has also learnt to put things into a container.  Finally, she can play the Busy Ball Popper toy on her own, by putting the balls back into the machine if they fall outside.  She has also learnt to push the knob on the ball popper and also press tiny buttons on toys, the aircon remote control, and the DVD player.  

She has shown us her ability to copy actions - from us, or from the TV.  I have been teaching her a few signs, such as milk, water, eat, drink, daddy, mommy, hello/goodbye, more, again.  She has been able to hand-sign "milk", and "more" quite frequently.  Although, sometimes I am not sure whether she really means she wants to drink milk when she shows me the sign.  She has also attempted to sign "eat" and "water" after watching us do it.  

Everyday, after her bath, I will let her see herself at the mirror and show her how to wave hello and goodbye.  Now she is quite an adept at it, whenever we passes by the mirror.  She can also clap her hands in joy, and hold up her arms when she wants us to carry her.

She appears to be recognising books that have been read to her before.  Everyday, one of her routines is to rummage through the bookshelves.  She loves to pull out the paperbacks that are meant for Ian, until I rearranged the shelves to bring the board books to a lower level within her reach.  Now, her favourite activity is to pull out the board books and throw them onto the floor.  When she sees something that she has been read to before, she will bring it to me to read to her.  Or, she will flip through the books on her own.

Her favourite books now are:

• Moo, Baa, La La La (Sandra Boynton)
• Peek-a-Who? (Nina Laden)
• Pat the Bunny (Dorothy Kunhardt)
• Blue Hat, Green Hat (Sandra Boynton)
• Chinese flashcard book

She is also not one to be bullied.  About 2 weeks ago, when Ian grabbed a toy right out of her hand, she retaliated by chasing after him, beating him on the back, screaming at him, and also grabbing his leg and attempting to sink her teeth into his flesh.

Oh yes, she has 4 teeth now, 2 middle incisors and 2 bottle incisors. I am not sure why, but she loves to bite my legs when I am wearing my black and white pajamas.  She has also bitten me on my tummy once.  I don't recall Ian ever biting us!

Her favourite word now is "ma ma" or "mum mum".  She will say "ma ma" when I come out from the shower.  I am not sure if she is actually calling me, but it sure makes me a very happy mama!  She will say "mum mum" whenever she wants to eat something.  

She is also showing greater independence now.  I can leave her alone in the room with Ian and my Mom for a few minutes without her crying for my presence.  She is also crawling around the house even when we are not inside a room or following her.  There was once that I had to search around the whole house, and found her in my master room toilet!

How time flies! In a month's time, our little girl will turn one year old!

Make-A-Bear Workshop

Thanks to a deal site, I grabbed a voucher to let Ian have his hands on "making" a bear.

We dropped by the branch at United Square right after his piano class.  He was very excited over it.

The shop assistant gave him a ready made bear without stuffing.  She brought Ian to the machine where Ian was to step on the pedal to "pump" the filling (polyester, maybe?) into the back of the bear.  Then, Ian had to choose a "heart" from a little box, gave the bear a hug, before she put the serial number tag and the heart into the bear, pulled the loose threads to close up the opening, and tied a knot.

Next, Ian had to give the bear a spa treatment, where he was to brush and clean the bear.

When he was done, we went to the computer to enter our details.  We named the bear, Blue.  Then, the shop assistant kept the bear into the Cub Condo carrying case, made Ian swore to treat the bear well before he could bring it home.

Ian and Blue

A Birthday Treat

A birthday treat from Hubby, to Todai.  We had a very memorable feast in Hong Kong a few years ago, at Todai.  There were lobsters, uni sushi, a super nice agar agar, and etc. Hence, I was pretty excited that there was going to be a Todai at MBS here.

Hubby chose to have a lunch buffet there on my birthday, to satisfy my craving.  The sashimi there was fresh, but I had to go a few rounds, each time just managing to collect not more than 5 slices.  A pity that they did not serve oysters and lobsters at lunch.

The dessert section was not too impressive, unlike the selection we had seen in Hong Kong.  

Anyway, it was a satisfying feast on sashimi and sushi alone.  Thank you, Hubby!