Feeding Rania with love

I started feeding Rania -my now 11 months old baby girl- with solids around six months after her birth. And boy, how she refused….. I need to try several brands of instant baby food before I finally found her favorite. I've tried baby rice cereal, baby cornflakes, baby porridge, baby biscuits; all kind of foods that starts with the word 'Baby' in the front. I've tried all the flavor too: apple, banana, peach, chocolate, strawberry, vanilla even some strange 'exotic' flavor that even I'm not familiar with : peach with sweet potato (what a weird combination),fig with raisin (what?), pomello with beetroot (even I won't eat that). And the taste? They are either too bland or too sour for Rania, the picky eater.

I thought at first this eating-game would be much easier when she's bigger and more conscious, because, maybe, just maybe she starts to grow her hungry pangs. But hell no… the stuff that grow are her legs and tricky brain as her angelic wings and the HALO over her head shrink.

When she started to crawl, then the eating-game developed into a game of cat and mouse, hit and run. Whenever I come with a bowl and spoon and put her on her chair – yes, she has her own pretty yellow chair with cushion and straps – she freaks out. In some events I have to put her on my lap as an alternative. But just when I turn to fill up the spoon, voila, within second she's either half a room away or slipping under the computer table… or in some extreme cases, pressing the buttons on the TV side, changing the channel. The game ends up with me running like a frenzied zombie and scoops her up back to my lap. Not really the end, because I still have to 'swing the spoon' in front of her mouth and say ''aaaaaahhh open your mouth Rania please…", then wait for miracle to come. If she opens her mouth –that's the miracle – I spoon the food in. If not… well, this is where another game starts. It's called the "'Put the chocolate cookie in front of her mouth and when she opens up, scoop in the real food, quick!" And of course, Rania hates this game.

Not only did Rania learn about eating solids this past couple of months, I made some self discovery too. I never thought I have enough the much-needed patience, tolerance and perseverance to conform to a baby roadrunner like her. If she refuses to eat the homemade porridge I made for her and demands for the peanut butter sandwich that I'm having instead, then I need to be tolerant. If she doesn't fancy sitting in her crowning chair during a meal, then I need to be patient and let her sit on my lap. Moreover, if she runs - err I mean crawls - around the room when it comes to meal times, then I need to be firm. And of course, I need to develop a lot of imaginations to come up with mad games, like the "put the chocolate cookie" game. But at the end of the day, no matter how little vegetables Rania eats, we both laugh it out. I would watch her sleep with a smile on her face, have my sentimental cry and realized how much I love her.

Rania is now 11 months old and now she's more tolerable to food, though I still play the "put the chocolate cookie" game occasionally. Up to this day, I still haven't found the right formula to teach her to eat well but I'm sure I'll find one soon. I'm not going to rush it though, because no matter how mischievous Rania is she is only an 11 months baby. I'll have her whole juvenile years to teach her on being independent, let alone on finishing her vegetables portion; so I won't rush it all in the first year. Besides, she has taught me the greatest teaching of all: liberation of my inner unconditional love.

He loves me, he loves me not

Here is a writing of mine, a task from my recently finished Writing Class. It's a review of a movie called "À la folie…pas do tout" in which we all watched it together.

À la folie…pas do tout (2002)

(He loves me, he loves me not)

If you spot À la folie…pas do tout (2002) movie
poster
and assumed it to be a romantic comedy, well, you can kiss your assumption goodbye. It's actually a smart psychological drama with a twist, an imaginative French twist, that is.

Angelique (Audrey Tautou), the imaginative and talented art student falls in love with Loïc (Samuel Le Bihan), a cardiologist, and throughout the movie, we see her hard yet always-failed attempts to make him leave his pregnant wife, Rachel (Isabelle Carré). The first half of the movie then implicitly brings us the platonic love story from Angelique's viewpoint; her disappointments towards Loïc's attitude to her suicide attempt. But from there, it winds back and explains the same events from a different point of view. Then abruptly, the second part of the movie becomes a unique obsession suspense cum psychological flick instead of a regular love drama, with a twisting end that'll make your jaws drop. For that, we have to thank Laetitia Colombani as director.

The young French writer/director has an ability to build tension using arty setting; a brainy example is when a frighten Loïc found a stunning adult size mural of him by Angelique made from everyday items, including a dried rose he gave first time they met! Colombani, who also made the script along with co-writer Caroline Thievel, has cleverly presented a story of delusion and false perceptions in a thrilling yet entertaining way. It gets the tension of Fatal Attraction (1987) with the entertaining factors of a romantic comedy flick.

Tautou, forever known as Amélie in Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001), is pretty convincing in portraying the cheerful-yet-tricky-erotomaniac Angelique. Her big-brown eyes are the best camouflage to hide Angelique's lunacy. One loophole of the movie conversely, is the rather clichés performance and dialogues by Le Bihan resulting from a slightly unripe characterization of Loïc's (such as Loïc final meet up with Angelique). But this is only Colombani's first full-length movie, others being short ones. So we can expect more clever ideas coming from her, similar to her newest Mes stars et moi (2008).

Once the credit rolls, trust me, you'll be seeing crazy in-lovers in a new perspective. Next time your (girl) friend is in love; go ask yourself the same question as the tagline of the flick: "Is she crazy in love, …..or just CRAZY?"

Rating : ☺☺☺☺ (4 stars) Worth Watching

Honey, I really need a bigger closet, please…

I just made a blog entry about smart shopping, and boy… If I could only apply that to myself… on Fashion shopping. See, I'm so bad at fashion shopping, because I always think not once, not twice, but thrice when buying a clothing or any jewellery. And when I have made up my mind, it's either: a) they have run out of my size (which could be an M or XL or even XXL, depends on my body parts), or b) the items I want has just sold out. Or in other times when I don't think too much on something, I would buy stuff like a long glittery silver skirt that only looks good in the shop's mannequin but definitely will make my bum look one extra size bigger ( like my bum is not big enough already…).

A couple of weeks ago when I went to Bangkok (and boy, it was a heaven for shoppers), I went to places that were mentioned in shopper's paradise bible. But what did I buy? A pink rock-star-style shirt that's too short (again, not good because bum is not covered), 3 tights that are all too short or too small (those skinny Thai people!), 2 summer tops that are too revealing, and a gold summer dress that's too 'Goldie' (I didn't even dare to use it for a high tea event last weekend). Good buys? Yes. Wearable? No. To be part of unused-closet-collection and wardrobe closet filler? Definitely.

Have you seen this beer commercial where the homeowner shows her girlfriends a walk-in closet on her housewarming party? Well, if only I could have one walking closet like that then this problem will likely be solved. Because I could just throw in all my fashion items since I developed my fashion awareness 13 years ago, and I could have a huge collection of clothing that probably would fit an entire village in Malacca. Of course, if those villagers are willing to wear a 10-year-old extra-mini skirt from forever 21; or a 15 year old bohemian top from banana republic. Or, I can just make myself a personal fashion museum of unique-cum- weird and wonderful fashion taste. But anyhow, I have to live with the fact that there will be no walk-in closet , at least until the next 5 years -unless my cat's neighbour suddenly died and the owner becomes so sad he just left and leave his condo for me, THEN I can build my walking closet – the only problem is my neighbour doesn't own a cat.

So, instead of bragging about a bigger closet, or a closet filled with unused items, I'm thinking of to just be self-assured and wear them all, for the sake of 'reduce, reuse, recycle' concept. So next time you see me with a too-revealing top or a too-mini skirt, please don't be surprised, I'm just trying to force myself to be a smart shopper. (Blaaaaaaahhh).

Smart Shopping

In recession days like now, not only fashion-shopping budget needs alteration, grocery shopping too. You'll be amazed at how much you can save up. Some are tips I found on the net and some are based on my own experience.

1. If it's cheaper, buy non-perishable-every day-use items in bulk.
   

   This includes soaps, toothpaste, sugar, shampoo, oil etc. Even baby diapers. Some bathing items or toothpastes sometimes come in packet of several bottles/ tubes with of course, whooping discounts.

2. For meat, veggies, or chicken, (if you feel like it though) buy them in frozen form. I know a hypermarket than sells frozen chicken for 4.5 SGD…. For FOUR pieces of chicken! Yes the chicken is a bit small, but I think it's worth it especially if you only have a small family (and it's Halal too). Some hypermarket sells 1 kg bag of frozen mixed vegetable, I even found one hypermarket that sells frozen RAW SPINACH (though it's quite difficult to find them).
3. Why buy things in bulk and frozen state? To cut your (yes, I know you!) almost-daily trip to the supermarket. You see, each time we go to a supermarket we'll ended up with at least one item that fits into the category of so-called "useless buying." Like a pudding mix, or cake concoction that rots in the deep corner of kitchen shelf. So…. Fewer trips to supermarket, less useless buying … more savings. Capish?
4. Rearrange your kitchen shelf and food storage shelf to be observable. Once your food storage is visible and organized, you'll know which items you need to buy and how much. So you won't buy the wrong item, buy too much, or too little.
   
5. Need some household items but short of budget or just need some semi important stuff? Buy it in a two dollars store instead of a hyper mart and you will cut some cost. In Singapore, you can find this kinda store in 3 or 4 malls throughout the island. Yes, I know some of you will laugh at me when you read this.
   

   "Shopping in a two dollars store? C'mon! It's all cheap stuff!" Yes, it's true, it's cheap, but cheap doesn't mean it's not functional. Buy things here that are functional and unnoticeable. Most of the stuffs in the store are of good quality, but STILL you have to keep your eyes on. For example, you can buy some freezer bags in here but check for one with good material with more than 12 bags. Some boxes only contain 10 or even 7 freezer bags, but if you're lucky you can find a box with 20 freezer bags.
   

   Other stuff I recommend to buy here are storage or organizing boxes (see tips number 4), brooms and sweepers (but check the materials), and other organizing materials (cable and cords de-tangler, racks, small garbage cans, etc). But I don't recommend buying, for example, items of personal hygiene, like soap, toothpaste or face scrubber. For this kind of items, price talks honey.

End Hunger, Walk the World, Spread the Word.

Since Daddy is away this weekend, Rania and I don't have any specific plan to do. So when a good friend of us friend, Korin, informed us about a Free Walk charity event by UN World Food Programme (WFP) called End Hunger: Walk the World, I certainly don't wanna miss it. So there we were this morning, arriving at 9am in F1 Pit Stop Building, me, a baby, a backpack full of baby food and milk with a yellow buggaboo stroller. At first, Rania liked the Walk, but she cried at the end of it because she just can't bear the heat. Poor baby, she looked red, wet and crying, totally not a good view. But she smiled a bit after she tasted the free Conello ice cream provided by Unilever. Ha ha.
But the point that I want to share is about the objective of the Walk. It is to make efforts to build awareness of child hunger and raise funds for the WFP. Hundred of millions children in fact go to bed hungry everyday, and almost half of them are girls, who do not attend school. So WFP raise some money through this programme to provide them with free meals at school and some food to take home to, with an expectation that their parents might be encouraged enough to send their children, especially girls, to school. I just read the website, that it takes only 19 cents USD to help a child a free meal at school, and with 34 USD, you can provide a child with school meals for an entire school year!

Although I did not give a donation directly at the event ; the crying baby just keeps me occupied, I plan to do it online. For more info you can visit http://www.wfp.org/schoolfeeding. You can donate via this this link http://wfp.aidmatrix.org/

Imagine, 19 cents for a free meal, even our afternoon tea cost 10 times more! And next time if your about to spend some 40 bucks on a fashion belt that will only add to your collection of one-time-wear fashion items, think about a year supply of food to an underpriviledged girl.

Giggle giggle

Rania's acts everyday just mesmerize me. I would record or make picture of them from my phone and play it before going to bed and just laugh over it with my husband. Including this one where she giggles over small stuff. We played it back to her and she just pointed the screen and giggled back, like she understood that it was a video of her!

I just cherish them at the moment because it's probably the last time she would act like that, because tomorrow, she might do the same act differently :D

Kaypoh Aunties and Uncle

When I first saw the Kindness Movement Singapore commercial on TV a couple of weeks ago - about a girl who saw people do small stuff that helps others- I put a smirk upon my face. First because I think it's a unique campaign which I have yet to see in other countries. And second, because I believe this movement comes up just at the right moment.

Forgive me for saying this, but other than Hongkong, I experience most of my 'ungracious manner' nightmare(s) here, in Singapore.

Yes, almost 99% of people I met here in Spore are nice.

Yes, I do have met not so friendly people in other countries that I've visited, even in my own, Indonesia.

But here, in Singapore, those unfriendly gestures came from people that are supposed to help you. Take for example taxi cab drivers. My goodness, I can ask 100 people about any incidents involving cabbies and they would give 110 stories instead.

Other culprit includes Bus Drivers, Food Stall workers, Guard House officers and just this afternoon, a bathroom cleaner just made it into the list! I couldn't not believe it. Just this afternoon a bathroom cleaner literally SHOUTED to a friend who brought her baby in pram to the restroom "BABY NO THIS LEVEL, BABY LEVEL 3, BABY LEVEL 3!" So she, of course, explained that it was her, the mother who wants to go to the bathroom. So the cleaner, blushed, instead of saying sorry, replied back : "THEN QUEUE, QUEUE!" Which was actually a very foolish statement. Because there was nobody else in the bathroom!

Well, I discussed it with my hubby what to do should we encounter this kind of behaviour. In conjunction with the Kindness Movement (blaaaaah), I don't think shouting back would be the answer. I think what's best is to show them educated behaviour, talk to them in crisp - and not broken- English ..... and tell them ( as what I always do) : "Don't shout and be angry laaah, we're no foreigners here so we know the rules laaahhh."

Again, I'm happy that most of the Singaporean that I met are nice and genuine people, and some silly kay-poh aunties and uncles won't ruin my wonderful days here! :P

The feature writing class, and why I do look like a 4th year undergrad student

I've been blogging for like 4 years now. My first blog was a mixed blog of Bahasa and English, and was on blogspirit .com. But after abandoned it for quite a while, err like 5 months, the domain was taken by a new user. Then friendster came along, equipped with a Blog for its users. So for a couple of years I filled up my friendster blog with my daily log in Bahasa and English.
After moving to Singapore, becoming a SAHM - stay at home Mom with many stories and experiences of motherhood, I decided to give my blogging a twist. I made a new blog in Blogger, , added some ads to it, made it 100% in English, and updated it whenever I am off duty from mummy hood.
Then I became so drawn into, and realized that I actually have a 'thing' for writing. So when I noticed an ads of a writing class, I said, why not?

So starting early April until last week of May, I'm officially student of a Feature Writing class. The experience of coming back to study in a classroom with other students was very entertaining. As well as the course material itself. I had to research, worked on some specific kind of writing, read some columns for comparison... I even wrote down and print out my homework even when I know it was not for submission. Talking about stuff I wouldn't normally do in my previous study, ha ha!

The course was taught by a somewhat famous local writer and poet named Felix Cheong. He was nice and even gave us an opportunity to tail him off an interview.

A funny story actually happened on that occassion. Felix introduced me as his intern and one of his students so the interviewee and some PR persons on the interview assumed I was a final year student from NUS or NTU (he taught in one of the Unis). Therefore, when Felix told them that I was actually from his "adult" class and that I was a mother of a -then- 8 months old baby, everyone's jaw just just dropped! Some of them even apologized to me for the false assumption. But I was OK and laugh it all off. I mean, why would I be angry if people thought that I look younger that I really am? Which also means, that those Younger Looking Balm freebies from Clarins really do works! :p

Taken, Wolverine, The International: The review

April and May is actually the best time to go to the cinema. Because good 'not-made-for summer-blockbuster' movies usually come out at this time of the year. Typical of this kind of movie is an action or drama movie from big or semi-big studio, with somewhat well known actors. Taken and The International fall into this category. Wolverine however, fits into a 'pre-summer blockbuster' movie. Basically, it's a supposedly blockbuster movie, but isn't competitive enough to be released in the summer.

Anyway and anyhow, here's my review:

Taken

Storyline, OK. Actors : somewhat OK, Liam Neeson is the only famous actor in this film. The dialogue was in English and French, some also in Croatian and even Arabic. The story is about an ex CIA agent who searched for his kidnapped daughter in France, allegedly a victim of human trafficking. I vowed to sleep while watching this film - hubby tricked me into watching this one- because I generally don't like the idea of the movie, but in the end, the film had moved me. Not only that I was fully awake by the end of the film, my heart was pumping blood, hard. An OK background story, but nice Plot and twist. Good formula of action and drama.

Wolverine:

Talk about Franchise. The fourth installment of the X-Men Genre, X-Men has proved itself as a very powerful franchise. Meaning we know already what to watch and and what to expect from the movie, and yet, still willing to spend 10 bucks + booking fee to watch it at the cinema. The title of the film actually already explains like 50% of the story : it's the storytelling of the origins of wolverine, prior to joining X-Men. So we'll see wolverine in his usual charm, running around chasing bad guys half naked with claws coming out from his fists. Blah.

Storyline: predictable. Actors and acting: quite OK. Dialogue: cornish. But CGI, entertainment factor and all : Perfect.

The International

I really don't know where to start. Well, the story is about an Interpol officer joining forces with a New York Assistant District Attorney to bring down a powerful yet corrupt Financial Institution. Supposedly good, right? It's a conspiracy theory kind of movie, except that, it is lack of conspiracy and too much violence instead.

Confession of an economic hit man as background story : check. Die another day - James Bond attitude : check. A bad and open ending: check.

Even the big name of Naomi Watts and Clive Owen can not save this film from doom.

Advice: Watch Taken and Wolverine (or the latter, you can buy the DVD instead), avoid The International, AT ALL COST.

What makes a good mother?

What makes a good mother?

A stay at home mum? A mother who breastfeeds and changes nappies? A mother who always say 'yes' to her child?

What makes a bad mother?

A mum who works and has activities of her own? A mother who regularly watches TV and still has time to read books? A mother who didn't breastfeed her baby?

These questions have been running around in my head chasing each other's tails like crazy. And yet I couldn't figure out the answer. So I decided to rewind my memory just trying to seek out some 'aha' moments. (duh! I sound like Oprah don't I?)

Anyway, once upon a time, I had lunch with some bunch of girly mums. We talked and talked and reached a point of discussion of why my baby didn't like to be breastfed because I only produce so little breast milk. And out of the blue, one 'good' mum said that it happened because "You are not passionate enough in breastfeeding your baby." I of course, was left speechless with her statement. Other, told me how a good mother she is by not working and always brings her daughter wherever she goes, shopping, that is.

So a couple of week later, I joined again this group of mums for a shopping spree. I arrived at the scene to find a stroller with a crying –hysterically crying- toddler inside, while the mum – the so called good mum- was inside an fashion store, mix and matching some items. Then the procedure repeated itself in a few more stores. Mum saw a bargain / nice shoe / nice dress / nice earring; mum went in store, left the stroller till baby screamed; mom went to cashier, finished shopping, and strolled down with baby for a while. Then repeat. When I was about to go home, mum got shoes, dress and matching sets of earrings. And baby was in "temper tantrum mode: ON."

On a similar occasion, we, of course, discussed our recent days. I told them I am taking a writing course (stay tune for more stories on my writing course). Some of them became bug-eyed, like saying "what is she doing? Taking a course? In writing?" One of them told me, though, "a writing, a hand-writing course?" she said, "you should ask my daughter to teach you, her teacher told me she has a good handwriting." I again, of course, was IMPRESSED.

I saw moms who said she "did all things possible for her children, all on her own", and yet gained no respect from her kids.

I saw moms who stay home and do all the chores by herself and yet didn't have her words listened by her daughter.

I grew up seeing my mother doing tons of activities.

Some of my friends grew up watching her mother work from 9 to 5 and yet still be able to comment on her daughter's hideous outfits.

I know a mom who didn't breastfeed her daughter at all, but 15 years later spent a day off of work with her daughter to seek David Archuletta's autograph.

So what makes a good mum?

It's not merely about breastfeeding and changing diapers ONLY. It's not only about breastfeeding your daughter exclusively ONLY. It's also about what you "do" in your life and how she sees you as a person. Are you in a time warp that stuck on the day that she was born? Or are you developing yourself?

I guess it's about evolving. Yup, a good mum is an EVOLVING Mum. This means not only that you nurture your child while she grows; you nurture yourself and grow too. So one day you can answer her questions on herbivorous dinosaurs, instead of thinking that it's a new line of shoes by Todd Oldham. And growing and evolving, can only be achieved by being active, a process of learning and adapting. To go out alone without her (well, ONLY if you have somebody to take care of your child) is not a crime. That's what I call 'educated risk'. I don't' think you can do no harm going out once in a while, shopping with your girlfriends, take an art class, get that manicure. And even if you have nobody to take care of your baby, you can always count on the baby's father, right? For example, I know a mum who takes painting lesson during weekend when 'papa' is home.

A couple of hours a week will do, sort of having a lunchbreak from 'mummyhood'. I think it's better than pushing strollers down the shopping lane with a hysterical baby inside.