first teeth

yesterday morning, 24 september 2010, alan's first teeth popped out!

he pulled my finger into his mouth to chew as usual, and yesterday, i felt something different, something sharp!

i'm still breastfeeding him, so i hope he doesn't bite...

what? playing with bras already?

do you see what alan was so happy playing?  em...  it's embarrassing to tell, because his favorite toy yesterday evening was, my step-mom's bra!  and see the hand in front of him that's holding the bra?  that's my grandma.  they were playing my step-mom's bra together.

when i asked my grandma, "why do you let him play with bras?"  my grandma replied, "it's early education, it'll be very useful."  i was totally speechless.

alan's first word

yesterday, 16 september 2010, alan said his first word.

he said, "baobao, baobao", which meant "baby" in chinese.

we've been calling him "baobao" since his birth.

when will he say "mama"?

we eat and we read

alan loves food!

not only does he eat every puree i cook for him, he stares at adult's food every time we eat - breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks.

i was having my plum and he demanded to taste it.  it was a bit sour, but alan didn't seem to mind at all.  my grandma found it very funny that alan loved food so much.

here's some of the books we're reading.  all chinese so far, but i'm getting him these two english books from amazon.com: "the very hungry caterpillar" and "brown bear, brown bear, what do you see".

they have very good customer reviews on amazon.  i'll be collecting my books from the post office tomorrow.  can't wait!

tough alan & his cheesy fish cake dinner

yesterday, alan let me cut his fingernails when awake.  it was the first time he let me cut his nails when being awake!  he didn't struggle or even move much, he just looked at the nail clipper as if it was a toy.  so good!

can you see the drop of tear just below his lower eyelid?  

that's because he fell backwards and his head landed on the glazed tile floor.  i didn't pick him up right away.  a boy has to be strong.

  

a big smile soon returned to our chubby face!  that's right, alan's a tough boy!

this is what alan had for dinner last night - cheesy fish cake

ingredients:

1/2 potato, 1 tbsp cheddar cheese, 2 tbsp fish, 1/4 onion, 2 tsp olive oil, some water

how to make it:

1. finely chop everything;

2. heat the olive oil in a small pan;

3. add the onions, simmer for 5 minutes;

4. add potato, fish and water, and cook for 10-15 minutes;

5. turn off the heat, and add the cheese, stir to mix;

6. pureed using a liquidizer.

nutrition:

calcium, vitamin c, vitamin b6, omega 3 & 6

alan loves fish.

apple porridge

this morning, alan had apple porridge for breakfast.  he loved it and finished his meal in no time at all!

what you need:
1 apple, 3 tbsp oats, 1 egg yoke, and some water

how to make it:
puree and mix everything together in a liquidizer, and cook the mixture slightly. that's it, done.

nutrition:
it's got plenty of dietary fiber, vitamin c, vitamin b, minerals (esp. lots of manganese) and protein.

some variations:
sometimes we use 1 tsp of sultana instead of egg yoke.  it's a bit sweeter with the sultana.

"an apple a day, keeps the doctors away."  yeah!

let's blog about being together

i was having a facial at a local salon the other day, and somehow i started chatting with the girls about being a mom and raising baby alan.  it seems i do have some “expertise" on this topic!

so i decided to blog about being a mom and being with alan.  it should be fun.

for starters, if i want to be in the photo with alan, it's more often than not that i have to hold the camera myself.  em... wonder why...

and here alan was caught grabbing his great-grandpa's mouth (and nose, too).   doesn't he look a bit startled, "oh sugar, mommy caught me being naughty!"