Kris: Let’s go get PRATA.

After the disappointing Jln Kayu prata breakfast sometime midweek, we needed to go to Ah Mei, to appease our rioting tastebuds.  And in classic Kris must-eat-till-very-full fashion, we had 2 teh-tariks, 2 pratas, 1 upsized fried chicken briyani (or however-it-is-spelled) and 1 serving of mutton rendang.  The chicken briyani at Ah Mei is to-die-for.

We never quite go to Ah Mei if Isla’s around, because they don’t have baby chairs.  Which is baffling. And since the buzz topic now is <how to help Singaporeans have more kids> (the official URL is hilarious — www.heybaby.sg), maybe they should make all eateries provide baby chairs. That are clean. =)

There, my nation-building contribution idea.  Come to think of it, many times, we’ve to eat either at cafes, restaurants or fastfood places because these places have baby chairs.  How to save money for diapers and milk powder liddat?

Isla’s first PRATA experience

And so Isla had her first prata. And since it’s un-nutritious junk food, we gave her the parts with a lot of egg. Because egg is a nutritious nutrient alright. (Technically egg is a few types of nutrients put together.. but.. never mind.)  And Isla’s a true-blue Thorbjornsen.  Cos she loves Ah Mei as much as we do.

Now Ah Mei, could you just place a few baby chairs and have an auntie go around giving out balloons (ala Macs) on weekends? That would make the baby girl happier and be able to sit in the seat long enough for us to gulp down our teh tarik and stuff the pratas down our throats.

Finally… Yummy DHA!

Every time I pray at 四马路, I ask that Isla is happy, healthy, safe, 快高长大, 乖 and smart.  So I try to do my part.  Like I always say at my talks, DHA is so crucial to our cognitive development, yet our body cannot produce it.  Infants’ brains triple in size in the 1st year, and continue growing (at a slower pace) in childhood.  Fats (a big portion being DHA) make up the main component of the brain.  When we don’t have enough DHA, it limits the development.

That’s one of the key reasons why we’re now encouraged to breastfeed.  Cos the main fat in cows milk is body-building fat (not brain building fat like DHA).  Cos cows don’t need a lot of thinking to survive. Hahahahah. They need to be strong, fit and muscular to survive.  Breast milk however, has got DHA that is passed on to the child. Woo hoo!

And so, because Isla was on a 70% breast milk 30% formula milk diet in the first 6 months, and 100% formula thereafter, we chose to buy the most expensive formula milk in the market. Enfapro. Just cos the DHA amount super high.  Even when she turned 1, we continued giving her Stage 2, cos Stage 3 has a much lower DHA content.  But when she passed 18 months, we decided to switch her to Stage 3, as Stage 2 is for 6 – 18 months.  I can’t figure out why, even though I scrutinised the Nutrition Facts panels.  Anyway, I decided to follow manufacturer recommendations.

So the hunt began for DHA supplements, since Stage 3’s DHA is much lower.

We started off with this.

Fishy burstlets

Verdict: Yucks. She wouldn’t go anywhere near it.

Then we tried this.

Lured by the promise of ‘delicious longan flavour’

Verdict: LAGI YUCKS. When I poured it onto a spoon, I already retched.  Isla just frowned and pretended to vomit.  She’s a dramatic girl, this one.  When we say ‘brush teeth!’, she’ll imitate her granddad and after brushing, she’ll pretend to ‘urrgggghh’ (semi-vomit-spit-phelgm sound).

Then there was this…

Yummy DHA

Verdict: MAJOR NICE. Qian first gave to Isla to try, and she just kept asking for ‘sweet.. sweet.. sweet..’.  Yes, DHA amount is a lot lower than the other supplements, but at least we get some in, without making her retch.

Evidence as follows:

New fave sweet

AAAAAAAHHHHHH

So we’ll let the DHA go to the brain, and the sugar go to her thighs for now!

Fun for Isla, Not-so-fun for Mama

We decided to go to Polliwogs after the successful playground session at Singkids. (Truth be told, I didn’t know how the playing was. It was successful cos I got to shop outside while Kris stayed with Isla.) Polliwogs.was.a.fatal.mistake.

The moment we saw the tunnels, Qian & I were flabbergasted. What the @!#$ did we get ourselves into?

What did we get ourselves into?

20 mins in, I was ready to throw in the towel.  But Isla and Chloe were having a lot of fun.  Albeit not having fun together.

Isla still has no idea what this is..

Baby Chloe — see how far behind her dad’s lagging?

1 hour 10 mins later, we really gave up.  (We’d paid for 2 hours.)  All 3 adults were shagged out, and bruised from crawling on fours.  And greatly envious of the parents who were chilling at the cafe cos they had kids old enough to dash about independently.

Would we go to Polliwogs again? Probably not.  It was way too crowded, and brimming with screaming kids.  Possibly cos Polliwogs charged cheapest among the indoor playgrounds.  Just $13 for 2 hours (<24 months kids).

I’d go to Singkids again though.  We went to the United Sq one, which was nice.

Wheeeee… fake swimming

Flying balls!

Much bigger tunnels!

This is a lot more suited for younger kids, preschool age and below.  And looks a lot more sanitary and calm.  But both times, Isla had a lot of fun. Or so we think.

Till the next time!

What lights up your day?

Two Thorbs Up

Sometimes out of boredom, I scroll the albums in my phone and some of the pictures just make me feel so…. HAPPY. This is an all-time favourite.

And I’m glad that Isla’s so different from me. I don’t display my emotions publicly, I try to keep under the radar, but Isla… she’s not like this. She’ll laugh out loud, and when we are laughing at something, even if she doesn’t understand, she pretends to laugh aloud too. She’s brave and adventurous. Like the first time I put her on a slide, I insisted that she sit on my lap. Then I realised she was well capable of sliding down herself and perhaps enjoyed it more.

Sweetie, Mama’s so happy to have you, even if you give me bad sleep at night, and worsen my dark eye rings.