Mommy Thoughts

Hello from BI Hang Lekir

2010-06-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

*_*

Korean Chocolate Cake

2008-10-12T22:51:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine gave me a box of Korean Chocolate Cake last month, which my sister and I instantly fell in love with it! It's similar to Hostess Cupcake, but we like the Korean version better because it is more chocolatey and not as sweet as Hostess.' My sister bought me a box from KL, but I think you can also buy it at Korean grocery stores in Jakarta.

Hmm... yummy!!

My Little Buddha

2008-08-16T21:09:00.001-07:00

Nick spots a new hairdo!

Hellen Keller

2008-08-13T23:52:00.000-07:00

One of my Grade 2-3 students, Dea, recently read the biography of Hellen Keller. She was so taken by Ms. Keller's life that she shared it with her classmates and class teacher, Ms. Vivid. Soon everyone wanted to know more about Ms. Keller's life. Once they learned more about Hellen and her teacher Annie, they decided to perform a skit based on Ms. Keller's life in front of the school.

Reading is contagious... and great reading materials are the germs :).

Haiku

2008-08-13T23:38:00.000-07:00

Today I introduced Haiku poems to my Grade 2-3 students. First, I showed them a few haikus that I made:

Good morning sunshine!
What a bright and beautiful
day you bring to me.

My fair ladybird,
watch out, watch out! The spider
is coming to you!

Then, I asked them to calculate the number of syllables in each line. After that, I asked them to spot the similarities between the two haikus and came up with the rules for haiku (3 lines, 5/7/5 syllables). Finally, they were given some time to write their own haikus.

Here are some of the haikus written by my students (age 7-8):

Good bye, Salma. See
you tomorrow in the school
bus. I'll wait for you.
-by Mazaya

Ferrari car is
my favorite racing car in
the world's greatest race.
-by Alvin

Iron man is a
person that wears a hard cloth
and can make gun.
-by Pras

Sushi is yummy.
In the sushi there are rice,
seaweed and salmon.
-by Intan

Synchronized Yawning - Olympic 2012

2008-08-07T18:59:00.001-07:00

Mama's Fave Kidz

2008-08-07T18:55:00.001-07:00

Mama meets lots of kidz everyday, but it's no secret that her favorites are Nick and his cousins Marco and Grace!

Shopping Mama

2008-08-02T19:56:00.000-07:00

I can't resist these cute pairs of pants when I stopped by the GAP at Grand Indonesia. They were 60% off and with BCA card we got a 10% additional discount! Mama *heart* GREAT bargain.

One Hectic Morning...

2008-07-23T03:20:00.000-07:00

... before Mommy left for work ^_^!

Lunch Date

2008-07-17T00:52:00.000-07:00

Henny and Lulu came over to our house with their little ones in tow. It was hectic, but Super FUN. Here are a few pics of us... three hot mamas and four cheeky monkeys!

My Cheeky Monkey

2008-07-17T00:48:00.000-07:00

Nick's Reading Corner

2008-07-17T00:38:00.000-07:00

We want Nick to grow up entertained and, hopefully, enlightened by books. So we create a reading corner (a.k.a. the bottom shelf of his changing table!) for him.

Loving It! The New “Times” bookstore in UPH Campus - Lippo Karawaci

2008-07-02T00:07:00.000-07:00

I read an ad in Kompas a few days ago that there’s a new bookstore in town. And it’s not just any bookstore… it’s the biggest one around! So I HAD to go there yesterday! And it lived up to my expectation! In addition to the large numbers of books available there (yeah, no surprise here!), this is the nicest and coziest bookstore in Jakarta! I love the carpeted reading areas next to the glass walls and the nice café run by Imperial Cakery. This is definitely a perfect Sunday afternoon hangout place for our family.

Also, they have a decent selection of children’s books. I say decent because they stocked mostly popular flash cards, baby’s vocabulary books, and teenage series and didn’t have the classics that I was hoping they’d carry, such as The Tales of Peter Rabbits, etc… Then again, I did find one children book, The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson that I really loved and ended up buying.

On the downside, yes, 90% of the books on my list were not available, but to be fair, I couldn’t find any on my list elsewhere in Jakarta. They were a bit flustered when I asked them the possibility of ordering the books from their Singapore branches so I decided not to pursue it further. While browsing the literature section (yeah, right!), I stumbled upon Momzillas by Jill Kargman and decided that I HAD to buy it (otherwise I'd end up thinking about it at 9:00 PM every night during my nightly reading hours). I had a blast reading it well into the wee hour yesterday. It's not something that would go on my recommended list, but it was entertaining. At least now I am so thankful that in my 1.5 years as a mom, I haven’t met any serious-case momzillas hee hee hee…

Pictures from Taman Safari

2008-07-01T23:08:00.000-07:00

A Trip to Taman Safari Cisarua

2008-07-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we went to Taman Safari Cisarua. We left the house at 8:00 AM and got there around 10:30 AM. The traffic was quite bad, and it was a challenge to keep Nick and Grace (Nick’s cousin) entertained throughout the journey. However, once we got there both of them couldn’t take their eyes off the animals! We bought some carrots and the kids took turns feeding them to the the animals (we weren’t supposed to, but since everyone was doing it and the guards didn’t seem to mind… hee hee hee…).

It took us 2 hours to see all the animals. By the time we hit the parking lot, everyone, except the kids who had eaten in the car, was starving! We went to the food court and ate fried chicken from SFC (Safari Fried Chicken) - there used to be a KFC outlet there, but apparently the owner of Taman Safari decided to serve their own brand hehehe...

Once we’re done with lunch, we hopped on the ferris wheel… looking back, it was probably one of my bravest acts in the past years. The thing was small, dirty, and didn’t look safe at all. But because Grace wanted to be on it, we took her. Next, she wanted to ride the cable car, but after the ferris wheel experience we had to decline her request. Instead, we took her on a few other rides that looked safer and didn’t require us to be hundreds of feet off the ground. After spending some time in the mini amusement park, we went to take pictures with the baby tiger. Grace was a bit scared, but she finally agreed to be on the pictures after we told her that a baby tiger was as harmless as a big cat hee hee hee…

Right before we left, we went to the mini bird park and saw many kinds of birds from owls to the flamingos. As we exited the bird park, we saw two white tigers in a cage. They looked very graceful and tame. Next, there was a baby orangutan in a glass cage. He was very cute. Nick must have thought that the orangutan was a little boy like him because he started chattering and “high-fiving” the orangutan. It was a pretty hilarious scene! Some strangers even laughed with us! Hee hee hee…

On our way home, we stopped by a small marketplace and bought some corns, sweet potatoes and other veggies. They were so cheap! The sweet potatoes was sooo yummy! Oh, we also stopped by Cimory, Cisarua Mountain Creamery, and bought milk, yoghurt, sausages and lots of snacks. The place was really crowded and the food looked tempting, but we refrained from sitting down at the café because it was getting late the kids looked very tired already.

Overall, it was a great trip! Despite the horrible traffic that we had to sit through on the way there and on our way home, it was well worth it when you saw the sparkles in the children’s eyes throughout the trip.

Who says you can’t dress up a little boy?

2008-06-12T00:06:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I don’t buy a lot of fancy clothes for Nicklaus. Most of his nice clothes are courtesy of his shopaholic auntie, “metro” uncle (who recently bought him a super cute T-shirt from Small Paul by Paul Frank!), my thoughtful students and my friends. But… fancy clothes aside… you can’t help but to dress up your little boy if he’s this cute! Hehehe…

A Trip to Sea World Indonesia

2008-06-11T22:02:00.001-07:00

Nick went to Sea World in Ancol with Mama, Ie2x, and Nanny last Tuesday. We left very early in the morning because we had to drop Papa off at his office and then picked Ie2x up at Omi’s house. Thankfully the traffic wasn’t so bad and we managed to arrive at Ancol around 10.30 AM. We went around to a few fish tanks and saw the baby crocodile before we headed toward the main aquarium to see the fish getting their breakfast (hmm… shouldn’t it be brunch?). After the show, which lasted about 15 minutes, we went into the glass tunnel and saw thousands of fish swimming back and forth. Nick was still too young to tell us which was his favorite one, but Mama loves the stingrays!

We were glad to go early on a weekday because the place wasn’t too crowded and the entrance ticket is half of the weekend price. Too bad the place was a bit dark so we didn’t get any nice pictures there.

Nick and Marco

2008-06-09T02:14:00.000-07:00

Craving Sour Sally

2008-06-05T02:43:00.000-07:00

I am officially addicted to frozen yoghurt from Sour Sally. They opened their first store in Senayan City a few weeks ago and I've been going there every weekend to get their yummy (and super sour!) yoghurt. They come in two flavors, green tea and plain. I love the plain fro yo with almond and strawberry toppings. The green tea isn't as good IMHO, it doesn't have the bitter green tea taste, instead it's kind of milky and it reminds me of Nick's baby formula.

Welcoming the Dry (or Hot?) Season

2008-05-20T03:28:00.000-07:00

The rainy season has come to an end! Here is Nick playin' ball in our front yard!

SLIDES

2008-05-10T19:26:00.000-07:00

Finally, after much procastinating, I assembled Nick's Little Tikes slide set yesterday. He played with it all afternoon yesterday and this morning he figured out how to use the slide properly (he was sliding down head first yesterday!).

SPLASH!

2008-05-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

Fun Playdates

2008-05-09T07:29:00.000-07:00

We had the perfect weather for outdoor swimming today so we went to Emma's apartment today and spent a few hours there. Nick went swimming with Mama (Mama even did a few laps on her own - way to go Mama ^_^) and then played with Emma for a while. They also ate their dinner together (yummy fried rice made by Mbak Mul - no chilli and MSG, a bit plain for mama, but perfect for Nick and Emma).

We haven't met Auntie Lulu and Emma for a few weeks and Auntie Lulu said that Nick's face has changed a bit. She seems to think that Nick's face is getting longer... moving toward a more oval and less square-ish shape. Also, he's taller (which is true because Nick has grown 2 cm in the past month). But then, the other day Omi and Ie-Ie Mei2x said that Nick was getting "rounder" (both face and body). Mama is a bit confused now... hee hee hee...

Happy 16th Months!

2008-05-08T00:52:00.000-07:00

Nick is 16 months today! Mama took Nick to High Scope Book Celebration Day where he met some of Mama's students and fellow teachers. Nick was very shy so he refused to shake hands with them. He saw half of the show and played for a while in the playground. Here is a pic of Nick at HS playground.

Storytelling and Puppet Show at HSAI

2008-05-08T00:44:00.001-07:00

We went to High Scope Alfa Indah Book Celebration Day. To end their book celebration month the students put up various performances based on the books that they read this month. Parents and teachers were invited to come and they also held a book fair in the school compound. The students did a very good job and put up a very nice performance (oh, they made all the props, too!).

When Momma was away...

2008-05-07T20:48:00.000-07:00

Nanny put Nick in a cupboard!

Lunch @ Sushi Tei

2008-05-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

Nick loves the Japanese sticky rice, grilled fish, and chawan mushi at Sushi Tei. Here is a pic of Nick on our last trip there. Last week I also took him to my fave restaurant, Beautika, and confidently ordered Tinutuan for Nick. Unfortunately, he didn't like it. I was a bit surprised and a teeny bit disappointed coz' I craved for it during my pregnancy (so I thought he would love it!). There were times when I HAD to stop and get it every time I passed by the restaurant. I would eat the porridge in the car and regretted that I didn't get two portions instead of one. Hee hee hee...

Book Review... Again!

2008-04-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

Here are two cute books that are currently available at Aksara:

Let's Pretend Rose's Doll's House (Let's Pretend) (Board book)
by Roger Priddy (author)

I saw the cutest book that popped up into a dollhouse at Aksara. It comes with little cardboard dolls and I think it was for Rp. 279k (Amazon price: $11.21). It's a GREAT prop for a little girl's pretend play. Too bad I don't have a daughter… still it took tremendous amount of self-control to walk out of Aksara without that super adorable book.

Clackers: BEE (Clackers) (Board book)
by Luana Rinaldo (author)

My friend gave rave reviews on this one (she even remembered the lines by heart ^_^ ^_^). The book is shaped like a bee and makes clacking sounds that babies love and the story is very cute. I think this is a great baby book and they still have a few copies at Aksara. So hot mama, hurry hurry… go get ‘em! Price: Rp. 55k (Amazon price: $4.99). Oh, they have another title called FISH.

One Fine Day

2008-04-20T05:16:00.000-07:00

Cute Baby Snapshots – Anyone?

2008-04-20T04:57:00.000-07:00

Motherhood brings me a new interest… photography! I love love love taking pictures of Nick, especially during the first few months of his life (it’s harder to take his pics nowadays since he always tries to grab the camera from me). I have to admit that I was not really big on taking pictures and I didn’t even own a camera until a week before Nick was born.

To my own surprise, I was really really proud of my early snaps. I guess my expectation was pretty low because I was just using a low-end digital pocket camera (it never came across my mind that skills and equipments are secondary when you have a mega cute object like Baby Nick. Ha ha ha!). However, I’ve been noticing more and more “flaws” on my shots lately. I mean, no one really comments on my photo taking techniques when they see my work, but I feel something is missing (aha! I even claim photography as a productive hobby now! – you should really see my husband’s face when I refer to the pics as “my work.”).

So, anyway, I went back and reviewed my snapshots, went online to lots of baby photographers’ websites and came up with a few good tips and tricks and ideas for better results.

First and foremost, planning is everything and these are the things that you may have to think about ahead of time:

Lighting. Natural light a.k.a. sunlight is best according to one photographer. Another photographer thinkst that the best time to take pics are in the morning before 10AM and in the late afternoon around 4-5 PM on a sunny day. I totally agree with this because the best pics I’ve taken are taken during sunny mornings and/or late afternoons under lots of sunlight.

Background. Don’t forget to remove the mess: bottles, burp clothes, piles of laundry, etc… Place your baby on a clean blanket… for a contrasting look, you can dress your baby in solid bright colors and put him/her on a white blanket and vice versa. You can even create your own “backdrop” by taping a cloth to the wall. Something that I am planning to try next week (let’s pray my son will cooperate)… using batik as a backdrop and have my son in diaper only.

Clothings. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the styles and colors. You’ll never know until you see it in prints (or computer screen – if you use a digital camera like me). For example, one photographer specifically says NO NAVY because it just looks bad. You know what, my son looks gorgeous in navy! However, I can’t say the same thing when it comes to yellow. Then again, I didn’t notice this until I saw the pics.

Experiment with the “photojournalistic” style. Shots some pictures when your son/daughter is busy playing/eating biscuit/swimming while keeping in mind the lighting, background, and clothings.

Last but not least, HAVE FUN!

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-04-10T23:02:00.001-07:00

My Playlist

2008-04-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

Future Race Car Driver

2008-04-02T06:34:00.000-07:00

It's Potty Time!

2008-04-02T01:35:00.000-07:00

We started potty training when Nick was 9 months old. Some may argue that it's not really potty training because we never ask him to tell us when he needs to 'go.' Instead, we just take him to the bathroom every once in a while and encourage him to pee. As for the 'number two' goes, we just wait for the 'signs.' Although Nick is still far from being potty-trained, at least he is very comfortable on his potty booster *_^.

Alun-Alun Indonesia

2008-03-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

I went to Alun-Alun Indonesia in Grand Indonesia last week. I was very impressed with the place and the merchandise. I think it’s the best high-end traditional Indonesian arts and crafts shop in Jakarta now.

As a born again “shopaholic” I define their collections of modern batik clothing as the MUST VISIT and MUST BUY of 2008. If you are like me, a frequent shopper of mass produced clothings at ZARA, MANGO, and the likes, you can get limited edition styles at the same, or even cheaper price.

My favorites are the short dresses. Most of them have simple lines to make up for the bold batik colors, sometimes adorned with ruffles and flower applications.

Oh, they also have super cute collections for kids!

Stroller Training

2007-10-01T21:46:00.000-07:00

Nick used to hate sitting in his stroller. So we decided to have stroller training at home.

Primary School Bloopers

2007-09-26T19:29:00.000-07:00

In the last few weeks, Mommy has been working as a part-time teacher at a primary school. She has never taught primary school before so at first it was a bit overwhelming for her. Nonetheless, she has a great time there.

Here are some of the witty comments her students made... Mommy hopes you enjoy them as much as she does...

1. I wish they never invented Kumon and Mandarin Language School!
2. Why can't we lie when our parents lie to us all the time?
3. Miss, are you 19? You are so old!
4. My mom asked me to go on diet... but I am always hungry... that's why I always pick up food from the floor and eat them.
5. When I grow up, I'll go to the office with my twin brother. He'll work so I can play video games.

Mommy's Cover Boy

2007-08-08T09:40:00.000-07:00

Happy 7th Month, Nick!

To: All Moms

2007-08-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

MA AND GOD
By Shel Silverstein

God gave us fingers – Ma says, “Use your fork.”
God gave us voices – Ma says, “Don’t scream.”
Ma says eat broccoli, cereal and carrots.
But God gave us tasteys for maple ice cream.

God gave us fingers – Ma says, “Use your hanky.”God gave us puddles – Ma says, “Don’t splash.”
Ma says, “Be quiet, your father is sleeping.”
But God gave us garbage can covers to crash.

God gave us fingers – Ma says, “Put your gloves on.”God gave us raindrops – Ma says, “Don’t get wet.”
Ma says be careful, and don’t get too near to
Those strange lovely dogs that God gave us to pet.

God gave us fingers – Ma says, “Go wash ‘em.”
But God gave us coal bins and nice dirty bodies.
And I ain’t too smart, but there’s one thing for certain –
Either Ma’s wrong or else God is.

To All MAs out there… go easy on the “Don’t…!” ^_^ ^_^ ^_^

Look... I am learning how to sit!

2007-07-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

Hands-Off Dad

2007-07-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

We went to visit someone who just had a baby last weekend. When I arrived, the Mom was resting so the Baby was with the Grandma. At that time, the Baby was pooping… and for some reasons, this baby continued to poop for a good 15 minutes. In the middle of the process, while the Grandma was holding the diaper and cleaning his bum-bum, the Dad walked in and took a quick glance at the baby.

The Dad: Oh, he’s pooping (walked out of the room)

Later on, The Dad brought out a box of learning cards and showed it to us.

Us: Wow, these are great! You should use them with your 3 years-old.

The Dad: Oh, she’ll run away when she hears the word “learn.”

Soon, the Mom came out from her room into the Grandma’s room to look at the Baby. The Dad was nowhere to be seen, leaving the little girl with me in the living room. It was 5 PM, the Little Girl was drenched in sweat, her hair unruly and wet, her soles were black from running around the house. She was playing by herself so I called her to sit beside me.

Me: Hey, let’s play with these cards. Can you tell me what this is? (pointing at a giraffe)

Little Girl: ilafe (her pronunciation was far from perfect, but she got it!)

Me: That’s right! How about this one? (pointing at a monkey)

Little Girl: Onkey

Me: Great! You are so smart! Let’s give you a round of applause.

Little Girl: (giggling and clapping her hand enthusiastically).

This continued for a while and, surprisingly, the Little Girl was very responsive to the questions I asked her.
Well, I don’t think I have any right to judge, but I can’t help but to think… If you don’t want to raise children, why have them?

Nick’s Baptism

2007-07-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

Nick was baptized on Sunday, July 22, 2007 at St. Thomas the Apostle church. Aunty Lulu was his godmother. Oma and Aunty Deline were also present during the ceremony.

On the way to the church Nick fell asleep and didn’t wake up until it was his time to be annointed by water and oil (good timing Lil’ Fella!). Nick was a real trooper, he didn’t cry during the whole process. Congratulation Nick!

Play Time!

2007-07-24T13:09:00.000-07:00

6 Great Books for A Great 6 Months-Old - Part 3

2007-07-23T12:12:00.000-07:00

Non-Board Book #1:

A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kasza– Bilingual (English-Indonesian) version
The story is about a little yellow bird named Choco who was on the quest to find her mother. After many rejections from different kinds of animals, he found a perfect mother.

Why we love it: This book contains many acts of love that babies can relate to, such as hugs, kisses, and dances. Also, we can introduce many kinds of animals as they are part of the characters of the story.

Publisher: PT Wortel Books Publishing Indonesia (http://www.wortelbooks.com)

Price: Rp. 27.000,-

Where to get it: Aksara Bookstore (Kemang, Plaza Indonesia, CiTos) and TB Gramedia throughout Indonesia.

Non-Board Book #2:

Just Keep Swimming by Melissa Lagonegro
This book is part of the STEP into READING series published by Random House Publishing. We received this as a present from a friend who recently visited us from the USA. The characters are based on Disney’s Animation Movie Finding Nemo.

Why we love it: This book is targeted for preschoolers who are learning to read. However, we find that this is also a great book for babies because the sentences have rhymes (Mommy can get Nick’s attention when she reads it in a sing-song way). In addition, they are also short, simple and repetitive – perfect for our little ones!

Publisher: Random House (http://www.randomhouse.com).

Price: USD 2.50

Where to get it: Aksara Bookstore (Kemang, Plaza Indonesia, and CiTos).

Non-Board Book #3:

The Sounds of Morning by Lulu Wijaya– Bilingual (English-Indonesian)
This book describes and illustrates nicely various familiar sounds and activities that little children experience in the morning.

Why we love it: Little children will enjoy this book immensely because they can relate their mornings to Eva’s, the main character in the story.

Publisher: PT Wortel Books Publishing Indonesia (http://www.wortelbooks.com)

Price: Rp. 21.000,-

Where to get it: Aksara Bookstore (Kemang, Plaza Indonesia, CiTos) and TB Gramedia throughout Indonesia.

Nicknames

2007-07-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

Our center of attraction, Nicklaus Alexander Panji Ramadani, has many nicknames.

From Mommy and Daddy: Nick
From Jie-Jie Emma: Baby Nick
From Jie-Jie Cheryl: Kiki
From Omi and Akung: Hua Hua (short form of Ren Hua, Nick’s Chinese name)
From Oma: Niki

Hmm… Nick, don’t get confused, ok? ^_^

Food for Thoughts

2007-07-20T15:07:00.000-07:00

Nick’s been eating solid food since he was 4.5 months. We’ve introduced him to various fruit, vegetable and grains since then. So far, he doesn’t have problems with any of the food we’ve given him, with the exception of Gerber’s Peach.

Grains:
At 5 months, Nick started eating Gerber’s Mixed Grain cereal. We also gave him Dumex cereal, but Nick seemed to like Gerber’s better.

At 6 months, Nick started eating homemade strained porridge (rice/brown rice/mixed).

Fruit:
Fruit was the first group of food that we introduced to Nick. We started with fresh papaya and banana. Nick loves banana, but he’s not too fond of papaya. So we mix papaya with baby orange juice, which works very well so far. Nick has also tried Gerber’s Applesauce, Peach (this one didn’t go very well because it’s too sour), and Pear.

Vegetable:
At 5 months, we gave Nick Gerber’s vegetable, such as spinach, carrot, potato, winter squash and peas. All went in without resistance. Currently, we mix fresh vegetable, which are carrot, soft tofu, green bean, and broccoli to his porridge. Every week we introduce new fresh vegetable to Nick. We plan to give him yellow squash, spinach, corn and potato.

Poultry:
We use homemade chicken broth and ground chicken breast for his porridge.

Fish:
We mix salmon with his porridge and use some ginger and lime juice to get rid of the strong fishy smell.

Sample Menu:

Breakfast (7:00 or 8:00 AM): Gerber’s/Dumex’ instant cereal

Lunch (noon): Fresh fruit (banana/papaya with baby orange juice)

Supper (5:00 PM): Strained Porridge: brown rice/white rice/mixed, chicken broth, ground chicken/salmon, mixed vegetable (maximum 2, choose from green bean, carrot, broccoli, and soft tofu).

Insensitive Comments

2007-07-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, many people may think that these are trivial - somewhat petty - issues, but hey, so are most things that irritate us daily, right?

*These conversations happened during dinner at a restaurant when Nick was 3 months-old*

An insensitive relative: “Why didn’t you take your son to dinner tonight?”
Mommy: “Well, Nick sleeps at 7:30 PM every night and I don’t want to take him along since it’s going to screw up his sleeping patterns.”
An insensitive relative: “Yeah, just let him sleep in his stroller. We want to see him.”

A few months later (by the same group of relatives):

An insensitive relative: “Where is your son?”
Mommy: “Well, he’s sleeping at home. It’s past his bedtime.”
An insensitive relative: “Yeah, that’s the best way to take your kid around, when he is sleeping.”

Yet again, another version of this (by the same group of relatives):

An insensitive relative: “You know, this is the best time to take your kid around. He’ll be just sleeping in his stroller and won’t bother you.”

Alright, what’s wrong with these people? The baby has no business in a restaurant at night and I, the mother, don’t want to let him sleep uncomfortably in his stroller. If you want to meet the baby, you are more than welcome to visit us at home.

Back to School!

2007-07-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

This week is back-to-school week. That translates to:

Traffic Jam! – More time on the road for Daddy

Daddy hasn’t complained too much about it, but he has to leave work earlier and comes home later. That means, he spends slightly less time with Nick on weekdays. Well, don’t be discouraged Daddy… as long as you spend Quality Time with Nick, he won’t forget about you! ^_^ ^_^

Other Mommies calling Mommy to schedule lessons – More work for Mommy

Luckily Mommy works mostly from home so Mommy can still spend lots of time with Nick. Also, Mommy is dying to meet Mommy’s students… during school holiday, Mommy’s been shopping for books and preparing lesson plans for them. Can’t wait to use ‘em! Not to mention, Nick gets to meet Jie-Jie and Ge Ge who adore him. As an added bonus, we get our “splurge money” back! Oh, the joy of working from home! ^_^ ^_^

Nick’s First Swimming Trip

2007-07-17T15:26:00.001-07:00

Nick went swimming with Jie-Jie Emma at Jie-Jie’s apartment today. Because Nick and Jie-Jie were still too small even for the kiddie pool, we used the outdoor heated whirpool instead.

At first, Nick looked uncomfortable, but that only lasted for a few minutes. After that, Nick started moving his legs in the water. Mommy let Nick tried different positions, the Superman Style and the Backstroke Style.

The swimming session lasted for 30 minutes. Then, Aunty Lulu and Jie-Jie Emma introduced Nick to Elmo THX, which was very funny. Nick, being a serious baby, didn’t laugh when Elmo did his flips and jumps, however, he was very fascinated by it. Nick touched and held Elmo and he cried when Jie-Jie pulled Elmo away from him ^_^ ^_^.

Too bad Mommy forgot to bring the camera… but we’re going swimming again next week and we’ll definitely take some pictures then.

Lunch Time!

2007-07-17T13:28:00.000-07:00

6 Great Books for A Great 6 Months-Old - Part 2

2007-07-16T14:36:00.000-07:00

Board Book #2:

Peter Rabbit’s Colors – based on the works of Beatrix Potter
Mommy picked this one from the on-sale rack many years ago. She wasn’t even married then, but she loved the book so she bought it. It turned out that her hunch was right. Nick loves this book!

Why we love it: This book is quite big for babies (20 x 21 cms), but it is very sturdy and colourful. Peter Rabbit and his friends are cute and there are little flaps on the pages which helps Nick practice his motor skills.

Publisher: Penguin Group

Price: MSRP USD 6.99

Where to get it: We’ve never seen it in any bookstore in Jakarta. However, there are alternative books for similar purposes. For example: Little Monster’s Book of Numbers and Little Monster’s Book of Opposites from Wortel Books Publishing Indonesia (http://www.wortelbooks.com) . They are bilingual books (Indonesian-English) and the price is Rp. 35.000,- each and are sold at Aksara Bookstore, TB Gramedia and TGA.

BoardBook #3:

When the Elephant Walks by Keiko Kasza– Bilingual (English-Indonesian) versionKasza is a genius children books writer – We think that her books are must-haves for all children. Her stories are very clever and original, easy to understand and contain funny twists at the end. They are also entertaining to not only the children, but also adults. In When the Elephant Walks, Kasza tells us the movements around the forest when the elephant walks. The story starts with, well, of course, when the elephant walks… and ends with Kasza’s trademark witty twist.

Why we love it: This is a very children-friendly book. It is small and sturdy and it contains pictures of many animals that children love. The story is presented in simple and short sentences, which are perfect for children who are learning to read. We also love the price! At Rp. 39.000,- , it is by far the best bargain in its category.

Publisher: PT Wortel Books Publishing Indonesia (http://www.wortelbooks.com)

Price: Rp. 39.000,-

Where to get it: Aksara Bookstore (Kemang, Plaza Indonesia, CiTos) and TB Gramedia throughout Indonesia.

To be continued...

6 Great Books for A Great 6 Months-Old

2007-07-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

Mommy’s Maid of Honor got married last Saturday, July 7 2007 (7-7-07) and Nick’s cousin was also born on that day (at 7 AM!). And, Nick turned 6 months last Sunday. So, in the spirit of repeated numbers… we will give you reviews of 6 great books for A Great 6 months-old.

In general, we found that boardbooks are better than regular books for 6 months-old for a few reasons. They are sturdy (can withstand licking and light chewing), easy to handle (easy to flip and the baby size ones works nicely with those chubby little fingers), and FUN (bright colors, fun pictures, and bold letters). However, there were a few non-board books that we love as well.

Again, in the spirit of repeated numbers, the reviews are divided into 3 board books and 3 non-board books that Nick adores.

Board Book #1:

Little Mouse, I Love You by Caroline Anstey – Bilingual (English-Indonesian) version
This books begins with a question posed by a little mouse to his grandmother. “What is love?” Little Mouse said. To answer his question, Gran (grandmother) took Little Mouse for a walk around the forest. There, Little Mouse witnessed mothers of different kinds of animals nurtured their children. At the end of the day, Little Mouse figured out that all the actions by those mothers made up love.

Why we love it: The story is so sweet and the book is amazing. Beautiful, embossed pictures and lift-a-flap pages keep Nick’s attention while Mommy reads the story to him. He loves touching the embossed pictures and flipping the lift-a-flap pages.

Publisher: PT Wortel Books Publishing Indonesia (http://www.wortelbooks.com)

Price: Rp. 89.000,-

Where to get it: Aksara Bookstore (Kemang, Plaza Indonesia, CiTos) and TB Gramedia throughout Indonesia.

To be continued…

Mommy’s Top 5 FAQs regarding Normal Childbirth

2007-07-11T14:47:00.000-07:00

A lot of people have come to me and asked me questions regarding the experience and this is the summary of our conversations.

Q: Was it painful?

A: Yes. But I believe there is no such thing as a pain-free childbirth. Okay, I am using a bit of assumption here, but I think I have a pretty strong case since everyone who’s gone through it (including those who had a c-section) that I’ve spoken to agreed with me. My sister and my niece weren’t very happy with the information and decided that adoption was the way to go (they’re single, by the way *_*)

Q: Was is VERY VERY painful?

A: It can get to that point… Mine wasn’t so bad until the very end (when I was almost fully dilated), but as my Ob/Gyn puts it… if you can’t bear the pain, don’t hesitate to ask for painkillers… a.k.a. epidural.

Q: Epidural… what is that? Is it safe?

A: Epidural is a spinal anaesthesia… it’s injected to your spinal cord. Yes, it may sound scary and they do supersize the needle,but when you are already in pain, it’s not bad at all. For me, spinal anaesthesia is one of the most amazing inventions for moms-to-be. For more info on safety, risk, etc… Web MD (http://www.webmd.com) has comprehensive information on epidural.

Q: Did you have an episiotomy? How fast did it heal?

A: Yes, I did. I took oral painkillers (Ponstan) for a day, the swelling was gone within a week, the sore and discomfort was gone by the end of the second week. From then on I could still feel some tingling once in a while until the end of the second month.

Q: If you could turn back time, would you do it again?

A: Absolutely.

We Love Baby Bjorn Sling!

2007-07-10T14:45:00.000-07:00

Nanny had an emergency family matter so she took Monday and Tuesday off. Nanny left after Mommy gave her morning lesson and Auntie Wina ended up teaching Mommy’s class in the afternoon. Since it’s still school holiday season some of Mommy’s students were on vacation so it wasn’t that bad.

One small problem, though… Nick was going through the “please don’t leave me alone!” phase. So Mommy had to carry him around the house while performing housework.

Thankfully, Ah Yi Lulu and Jie Jie Emma lent their Baby Bjorn sling to Mommy and Nick! Mommy could carry Nick safely while she’s washing his bottles and utensils, preparing his food, and even when she’s typing her lesson plans (this didn’t last very long, but Mommy managed to some work while babysitting Nick).

Now that Nanny is back, Nick is back to the old-fashioned batik sling… ^_^ ^_^.

Six Months in Snapshots

2007-07-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

Happy 6 months, Nick! Mommy and Daddy love you!

Playing in the Dark

2007-07-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

We lost power at 11:30 PM last night. After checking that all circuit breakers were in place and discovering that none of our neighbours lost power, we called the electricity company. Surprisingly, they came over to our house within the hour and by 2 AM the electricity was back on.

However, during the 2.5 hours of darkness and heat (our backup generator was out of gasoline… *duh!*), Mommy was so afraid that Nick would wake up and fussed. Sure enough, he was up by midnight. However, Mommy was pleasantly surprised that he did not fuss at all! At first he just tossed and turned in his bed. So Mommy changed him from his long sleeves jumper into shirt and short pants. When Mommy put him back in his crib, he continued playing with his hands and feet in the dark until the lights came back on.

Once we turned on the AC and the temperature got cooler, Nick drank some milk and fell back to sleep.

Nick, Mommy is so proud of you!

Our Favourite Baby Stores in Jakarta

2007-07-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

Lido’s at ITC Mangga Dua
Mommy buys most of Nick’s essentials at this store. They carry good quality baby products at reasonable prices. The shop attendants are friendly, honest, and very knowledgeable.

Toko Bahagia at Ruko Taman Palem
In addition to selling regular baby products, this store also sells baby formula and fresh milk. Mommy buys Nick’s staple food, Enfamil A+ Formula, and SebaMed products at this store. Formula prices are generally cheaper than Giant and/or CarreFour (this only applies to baby formula). They deliver with no minimum order (delivery charge is Rp. 5000,-).

The Children’s Store, Senayan City
They sell high quality baby gears. Maclaren, Quinny, and Combi strollers, Baby Bjorn slings, and Bumbo chairs… need we say more? We really love some of the products that we bought from this store. We found “Be Free” baby bottles that solved Nick’s colicky behaviour here. We also love the Combi’s feeding set... they are very sturdy and easy to use and clean.

Mothercare, Pondok Indah Mall II, Senayan City, and Mal Taman Anggrek
Mommy has to fight the urge of buying all the cute little T-shirts, jeans, khaki pants, onesies, socks, shoes… well, that’s pretty much everything, huh?! Our favourites are the sleepsuits. They are very comfortable, durable, and, ohhh… soooo cute! *_* *_*

Growing Pains

2007-06-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

Finally, after many weeks of waiting, Nick’s first tooth makes its appearance. It’s a thin white strip above Nick’s lower gum. Thankfully, Nick doesn’t experience any fever or diarrhea at all.

However, Mommy and Nanny can tell that Nick is in pain as he gets cranky easily and constantly puts his little fingers inside his mouth. He also wakes up a few times at night crying, which is unusual for him since Nick's been sleeping through the night since he turned 4 month-old. When this happens, Mommy has to sing Nick's favourite nursery rhymes to help him get back to sleep. Usually, "Old McDonald" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" will do the job. ^_^

Sneaky Nick

2007-06-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

Nick has an interesting habit that Mommy’s been observing lately. He likes to “practice” new motor skills while he is sleeping at night. He managed to rollover for the first time when he was sleeping and last week Mommy saw him doing it backward in his sleep! Mommy’s never seen him doing a backward flip during the day before so she was ecstatic. To confirm, though, Mommy asked Nanny if she’d seen Nick did a backward flip before, and of course she hadn’t!

Sure enough, a few days later, we began to witness Nick doing his backward flip during the day. Today, Nick is already a pro in flipping back and forth.

Nick’s First Social Event

2007-06-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

Nick was invited to Kak Dea’s first birthday party last Sunday. He was the youngest guest, but that didn’t prevent him from having a good time.

Nick really enjoyed the colourful balloons and streamers. He helped Mommy hold the fishing rod and caught a few plastic fish from the fishing pool. Then, he watched Abangs and Kakaks jumped excitedly on the jumping tent.

However, Nick didn’t get to join Kak Dea when it’s time for her to cut the cake. Nick wasn’t comfortable with the loud music from the speakers. So, we had to stay at a distance away from the speakers.

As usual, Nick fell asleep on the way home.

Hooray! It's Mealtime!

2007-06-22T00:23:00.000-07:00

Nick had his first solid food, which was papaya, when he was 4.5 months old. After a week or so, Mommy introduced banana followed by Gerber’s rice cereal and a variety of Gerber’s baby food to his menu.

Most of the time, Nick is very curious about the different tastes and textures of his food and so he is a willing participant during mealtime. However, there were days when we had mealtime disasters when Nick refused to swallow his food and fussed impatiently. Luckily, Mommy and Nanny managed to translate those cranky moments to the following:

“Please, not papaya AGAIN!”
Just like everyone else, Nick needs variety in his menu. Since we started to alternate his fruit between fresh papaya, fresh banana, and sometimes Gerber’s applesauce or peach, we’ve been having great mealtime moments.

“Can we eat later? I am sleepy.”
We now schedule Nick’s meal half an hour after he wakes up in the morning (it’s breakfast time!) and right after his nap in the early afternoon. We find that these are the best time for Nick as he is fresh, fully awake, and hungry.

“When is this going to end? I am bored”
The first few spoons usually go very fast. However, sitting around without any entertainment is B-O-R-I-N-G! So, we usually put on some music and have some rattles around to make mealtime more enjoyable and fun!

Cheers to Shel Silverstein!

2007-06-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

Mommy came across a really cool poem by Shel Silverstein...

NO DIFFERENCE
By Shel Silverstein

Small as a peanut,
Big as a giant,
We’re all the same size
When we turn off the light.

Rich as a sultan,
Poor as a mite,
We’re worth the same
When we turn off the light.

Red, black, or orange,
Yellow or White,
We all look the same
When we turn off the light.

So maybe the way
To make everything right
Is for God to just reach out
And turn off the light!

It no doubt beats the regular:

God creates us as equals, so, stop judging people based on the color of their skin, the amount of money in their pocket, the size of their brain, yada yada yada ^_^.

Trip to the Mall

2007-06-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, Nick went to the Mall with Mommy and Daddy. At first he was pretty contented in his stroller… he played with his hands and hummed excitedly. That didn’t last very long, though. Nick got bored and wanted to get out of the stroller. So, Mommy and Daddy had to take turns holding him. Luckily, Nick didn’t mind sitting on Mommy’s lap while Mommy was eating. He was fascinated by the Japanese Curry Rice, which he tried to put his hands on.

Later on, Mommy and Daddy took Nick to see the open kitchen of a Noodle restaurant where Nick couldn’t take his eyes off the steam coming out of a large cooking pan.

Nick was so tired from his excursion that he fell asleep immediately after we hopped on the car.

Choco… you look sooo sweet… I can’t help but to lick you!

2007-06-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

Since Nick was a few weeks old, he has regular storytelling sessions with Mommy. At first, Mommy just read softly from a storybook. When Nick began to show interest in colorful pictures, we started to have the reading during tummy time.

Now, Nick are familiar with a few characters from his storybooks. Among his favourites are Choco the yellow bird from “A Mother for Choco” by Keiko Kasza and Moon the dog from “Moon and Star: A Christmas Story” by Robin Muller.

Lately, Nick has shown even greater interest in his books… it always starts with Nick staring intently at the pictures and ends with him licking the page! ^-^

Lil’ Nick: A Coffee Addict?

2007-06-12T23:04:00.000-07:00

We’ve been giving Nick a teaspoon of black coffee twice a week since he turned three months. It started when we found out that coffee can help reduce the likelihood of seizures due to fever.

Apparently, he loves the taste of it. He squirms and chatters impatiently everytime he sees Daddy drinking a cup of joe in the morning. He does the same thing when he sees Mommy holding a white mug (Nick: white mug equals coffee *_*). When that happens, we have to remove him from the coffee-drinking scene or he’ll start to whine and eventually try to reach out for the coffee mug...

“Hi, my name is Nick and I am a coffee addict…” ^_^ ^_* *_*

Greetings!

2007-06-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my Blog! This is a big achievement for a notorious procrastinator (a.k.a. ME!) to finally set up and WRITE SOMETHING on my blog. I admit that I am a ferocious reader, but I am soooo slow when it comes to writing. But, I’ve promised myself that I’ll start writing and posting regularly… so expect more to come. Cheers!