A Rainy Afternoon

It has been raining since dawn today and weather forecast says that the rain will continue till this Sunday. There goes my plan for shopping tomorrow and any Sunday family outing. Ry is so used to going out with me almost everyday either to grocery shopping, playground or playgroup that it is obvious that he was very bored today. He took out his toys in the morning to get me to play with him for a short while. After that, he just watched the tv the whole morning while I was busy cooking lunch.

To prevent him from spending too much time in front of the tv, I decided to get him to do some painting and doodling with the newly bought Crayola toddler pens. They should be called colour balls instead since they are round like balls so that they are easy for the fat chubby hands of toddlers. Ry spent a good whole 45 minutes doodling on the papers that were pasted on his new Ikea table. I thought the paint should be easy to remove from the table but I've forgotten that the exception is wood. So, the wooden edge is stained with the paint. I feel so sad and sayang as this is a brand new table that we just bought for Ry last Sunday.

One thing I've noticed recently is that Ry doesn't like things that are stuck to his hands and fingers. He would always try to shake off whatever that is stuck to his fingers or hands. If he cannot do so, he would raise his hands to us and whine so that we would remove it from him.

So obviously, he was fascinated by the paint staints on his fingers and hands today. The following video showed him examining his own fingers and it is really quite funny. I think I have a little scientist in my home from the way Ry examines, observes and tests himself with the paints - all part of the scientific process.

Naughty Corner

Ry has been getting more mischevious lately and trying to assert his independence more too. Like when I told him not to go to the kitchen or get out of the kitchen, he would refuse to follow my instructions. Unlike in the past, he would not step into the kitchen. The only person he is scared of / listen to now is his daddy. If his daddy is home, he would not step into the kitchen or bathroom because daddy has a louder voice and fiercer than me.

Also, Ry likes to throw his tantrum more whenever I refuse to give in to him. So I decided to start the time-out system. I've dedicated a naughty corner for him. So now, whenever he is naughty, I would say, "You naughty boy, go to your naughty corner now."

The first time-out, I had to drag him and carry him there while he stood there crying for a whole 3 minutes. The second time-out happened yesterday morning. He went to ransack my bagpack and took out a pack of tissue papers and shredded every paper in it while I was in the bathroom. So when I came out of the bathroom, I gave him a stern look and told him the to go to the naughty corner using the line above.

I expected him to stay put but to my surprise, he actually stood up and move closer to the naughty corner. Although reluctantly and crying while doing so, he actually stood in front of the corner, waiting for me to see whether I will pardon him. I told him no and made him stand with his back on the wall, crying for a whole 5 minutes before I hugged him and explained to him his mistake.




Bawling at the top of his lungs at his naughty corner.

What is surprising to me is how Ry managed to pick up the time-out system so quickly. I'm always amazed by how quickly a 18 mth old learns. This really keeps me on my toes not to display any bad habits to him so that he would not pick up those. As a teacher, I just have to be mindful of my behaviour but as a parent, I find that I have to be on model behaviour every minute :)

Pan Roasted Seabass

On Saturday, I've decided to be a little bit more adventurous with my cooking. After reviewing some recipes on Seabass, I've decided to try the pan roasted seabass recipe from http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/prseabas.htm However, I do not have a saute pan that can be put into the oven directly, so I modified some steps from it. Also, my recipe has more of a Chinese taste as I used Shaoxing wine instead of Marsala wine as suggested. But still, K and Ry liked the dish very much. Ry even wanted more of the seabass after he finished his portion so in the end, I had less of it. Here's the recipe and the picture.

Ingredients:
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs butter (I used margarine instead)
1/2 large onion chopped finely(can have more if one likes onions, K doesn't like the taste, so I used 1/2 only)
1/4 cup Shaoxing wine (for more western taste, use Marsala or white wine as suggested)
8 fresh portabella mushroom sliced into thin pieces
1/2 cup chicken stock / broth
salt & ground black pepper
1 tbs Canola oil (can be less, I feel, the dish was a bit oily as the fish itself was oily too)
about 0.5 pound of Chilean seabass with skin
Preheat the oven to 450 deg F.

1. Heat the olive oil at medium high heat and saute the chopped onion
2. Pour in the wine (remember to remove the pan from the heat first to prevent catching fire). Then return the pan to medium heat.
3. When most of the wine is cooked off, add the mushrooms and butter.
4. Cook until the mushrooms are tender.
5. Add the chicken stock.
6. Add a little salt and pepper to taste.
7. Let the mixture cook untol the sauce thicken a little. Set aside the mixture.
8. Season the fillet with salt and pepper.
9. Pan-fry the seabass with the skin down until the skin is nice & crispy.
10. Flip the fillet over and continue to pan fry them for about a minute or two depending on thickness of fillet.
11. Pour the mushroom onion sauce into a oven-proof dish and set the pan-fried seabass on top.
12. Bake / roast them for an additional 9-12 minutes depending on thickness of fillet. Always check on the fillet to see if they are cooked.
13. Set the fillets on dish and transfer the mushrooms and onions on top.
    

Note: If the gravy evaporates too quickly during baking, one can always top it up with more chicken broth.

My Little Assistant

According to experts, toddlers like to imitate the grown ups. One way to encourage that is to get them involved in your chores. Recently, Ry has also grown to become my little personal assistant. The first time I realised that was when I was doing my laundry on Tuesday. I have always bring Ry along with me to the laundry room. As usual, I called for him to sit by the door to put on his shoes. He came running to me and suddenly did a U-turn and ran toward the bathroom. He then came out with a bottle of laundry detergent. He had realised that I forgot to bring along the detergent. Throughout the whole journey to the laundry room, he held on to the bottle of detergent and refused to let go of it even when climbing the stairs. When we returned home, he even went to keep the detergent in the cabinet. Ry was so happy and proud when I praised him for his good job.

The same thing repeated today when I did my laundry. Ry has taken ownership of the task of bringing the detergent and he even refused my offer to help him with it when I saw him struggling with it.

Also, Ry has taken on the chore of helping me sort out items in my grocery bags after we come home from grocery shopping. It was funny when K came home just now and almost scolded Ry for stepping into the kitchen. I stopped him and told him, "He's helping me. He's my little assistant. Thank you Ry!"Ry seemed to understand what I was saying and came out all beaming with proud smiles.

Plimoth outing on Sunday, 15 Sept

Last Sunday, we drove more that 1 hr to Plimoth Plantation in our first family outing despite the slight drizzling and overcast sky since we got the car in Cambridge. For those who have been there before, one should know this is an outdoor museum where one needs to walk on rough grounds to visit the exhibits as in a 17th century reenactment. We decided to go ahead despite the bad weather because I have gotten a discount pass from the Cambridge Public library for an entrance fee of $5 instead of the $28. However, the visit was a big disappointment as we saw only 3 people role-play as 17th century Englishmen and only 3 Wampanoag (native Indians) as opposed to what they promised in their website where one can meet many of them. The exhibits were bare with little explanations. Both K and me think that Sturbridge Village which is a similar outdoor museum of 18th century American life in Boston is much better. At least, we managed to spend 3 hours there as compared to barely1 hr at Plimoth. No wonder, my friend, H felt that she was being ripped off when her family and her visited the place in May.

Taking a family portrait while waiting for the orientation film to begin.

Ry taking a walk while the sky turned clear for a short time.

The native Wampanoags who speak from a modern perspective, explaining their lifes to us.

Ry and daddy posing with the 17th century farming tool.

Fortunately, we had a wet weather plan. After a quick lunch, we decided to drive to Imagination Island, which is an indoor playhouse fitted with giant blown up structures for kids to bounce about and many different toys and themes for role-playing. Although we paid 11 bucks for Ry to enter, we actually spent a good whole 2 hrs there where Ry totally enjoyed himself and refused to leave after that. Too bad that I have no photos to show as the batteries in my camera went flat - my fault not to recharge the batteries beforehand. Following that was grocery shopping at Walmart opposite the playhouse.

Speaking about this, I must say the libraries here have a wonderful system to promote library awareness and family bonding. The libraries provide activities like toddler sing a long, baby lapsit and book reading to older kids. Also, members can reserve and sign out a museum pass once a month. Some of these passes allow a family to visit the museums for free like those for Children Museum and the zoo and some would offer a very good discount like the one I sign out for Plimoth. So one of our weekend activities for our time here is to go museum visiting once a month on these library passes.

After experiencing these benefits, I begin to wonder why S'pore libraries do not offer such services to their members to promote family bonding and also maybe greater art appreciation and more reading awareness. I see that Ry is getting very comfortable with books since I have been bringing him to the library every Mon morning before the toddler sing-a-long. Also, I realised that the museums here attract greater local visitorship and most locals I speak to can tell me about the special attractions in the different museums, unlike most Singaporeans, who hardly know about their museums. To increase greater art and culture appreciation, better English and stronger family bonding (maybe more babies), maybe the libraries at home should provide such services.

Not forgetting that Sunday was also the 15th of the lunar month - the Mooncake festival. Although we did not have any mooncakes and also no full moon to view due to the bad weather, we actually did a mini celebration with Ry. We brought out the Spongebob lantern, courtesy of my brother's fiance, C for Ry to carry around in the house as we dimmed the lights.

Speech delay or not?

We've just recently brought Ry to his 18 mth old check up at the Harvard University Health Services - a first time for him since we moved to Cambridge. Since this was a first visit there, it encompassed the routine Q & A session with the nurse about his health, his genetic history and his appetite which were absoutely easy questions for me to answer. But the one question that set me aback was "Can he speak 10 words yet?" I was getting worried, thinking that u mean there's a yardstick to measure toddlers too, besides the future exams and tests that he's going to go through when in school. Since Ry is always a pretty quiet child, I replied and said I don't think so, which followed by a series of more questions about his hearing and verbal skills.

The following examination was a pretty disastrous one, since now Ry is a capable, strong and squealing toddler who can struggle out of my hold easily. Ry ended up crying and pretty traumatised by the whole visit that he had nightmare at night later. The examination ended up with a referral to see a ear and throat specialist in 2 days time since the nurse suspected there was still some fluid left in his left ear due to his prior episodes of ear infection, which could be a result of his speech delay.

The following visit to the ENT specialist again was a pretty traumatising event for us. This time round, K went with us as he knew that in my current condition, I wouldn't be able to hold still the boy for his examination. When the ENT specialist poked his face and his equipments around Ry's ears, Ry struggled so strongly that K had to hold him with brute force. Guess what happened after that?

When I was bathing Ry later in the day, I found that his left eye was bruised due to the pressure from K's wedding ring and later more bruises around his body. Poor boy! The worse thing was the result from the examination was inconclusive to deduce that Ry was suffering from hearing loss and more test on his hearing ability was scheduled today.

I've always thought Ry was just slow in picking up speaking but he can hear pretty well since he likes to dance to music, any music, which was a pretty proud thing for me, especially when I bring him to Toddler sing and dance group as he would be the only toddler swaying to the rythmn of the songs while others are busy wandering around and pay no interest to the songs. Otherwise, he can also listen to instructions very well like throwing his diaper, picking up his shoes and toys when I told him to and responded to my questions too. So maybe, he's just slow in speaking as he is busy refining and learning motor skills like what the nurse predicted. Or maybe, there shouldn't be a yardstick to measure kids, which put the parents through so much pressure and paranoia?

Ry swaying to the music in the sing & dance session.

Librarians leading the song & dance in a room filled with eager parents and energetic toddlers.

So is there speech delay? I really do not know the answer but I know that I should let Ry develop at his own pace and not rush him. Also, maybe I will be thankful in the later days that he speaks more slowly than others like what the doctor and other parents tried to console me by saying, "you will wish that they speak less" when the toddlers are busily bombarding their parents with whys and whats. Maybe...

Life back in Cambridge!

Many friends have asked me whether I have a blog so that they can read about my life in the US but I've been too busy in the past year, juggling studies, motherhood and duties as a wife of a busy researcher to make time for keeping a blog. Finally, I've decided to start writing something although I've signed up for this blogsite 1 mth ago. I'll just start with what I felt and something that I did in my 1.5 wks back in Cambridge.

First, the past 1.5 weeks have passed though not as fast as I wished, probably because I am still nostalgic of the wonderful a 3 wk stay back at home with my beloved family members after being a year away with them and without my studies that I can focus my attention on. I find the time has been passing pretty slowly and everyday, I have been trying to think of ways to occupy my 18 mth old boy, Ry, who's having "withdrawal symptoms" from the attention and love he has enjoyed during the 3 wk stay.

It is sometimes heartbreaking for me to see him lying on the floor looking so bored and especially after I asked him, where is "gor gor" - his 7 yr old cousin, he'll suddenly scrambled up and start searching for him in the rooms, definitely a fruitless attempt. Recently, he even gave up searching when I asked him the same question and he just threw up his hands in a "I dunno" fashion. I finally agree with the old saying " It takes a whole village to raise a child", which in the past year, I've always denied it and said that all Ry needs is his parents' attention and love. This trip back home had made me realised that a growing 18 mth old also craves for company, which sadly me and K could not reproduce in our little humble 2 bedrm apt.

Enough of the whining though, I have also accomplished quite a bit within this short time back home. We have gotten a car - a 8 yr old Hyundai Sonata and so I have been driving around Cambridge and Allston to do a little grocery shopping on my own with Ry. Initially, I was scared since I was not familiar with left hand drive but the good thing that is driving in US is that drivers are more tolerant and they don't honk at u that easily, unlike back home. The other fortunate thing is that Ry gets used to sitting back alone at the car seat pretty easily, without any fuss, which therefore provides less distraction for me. It is a blessing that Ry has always been a good boy who seldom makes any fuss when we are out, which sometimes provides a problem for us as we used to miss his feeding times in the past as he never cry for his bottle. Will try to update more once I've figured out how to get my pics from my camera into this old laptop that I'm using now - dun want to crash this laptop since it has a low memory space.