Post Easter party

It was another splendid party time for us, this time, it was a family thingy, mums, dads and babes were invited to Melissa's house.

They stay in a village at the outskirts of cambridge, Matt, her husband came to pick us up. It was about 15 mins drive away. So we had a slight tour in the village.

Their garden was beautiful. We ate food prepared by different nationalities and played games outdoors. I had so much to laugh about, my voice was sore at the end of the day.

Playing games seem a distant past during days of youth. So having them again here in cambridge is helping me reliving those fond memories, what a pleasure.

Check out our fun times...

http://s272.photobucket.com/albums/jj168/carisbay_album/EasterPartyMarch29/

Granchester Walk

Spring is here!

The sky was clear BLUE. So we walked to Grandchester. Nathan surprised us by walking more than half way there, about 3km. Well done, boy. Whenever there was a plane or flock of birds flew past us, he would stop and gaze at the objects ... made me wonder how often I have taken for granted some of these amazing moments, just watching the birds flying way up there. A tod is certainly more capable of admiring God's creation than adults, you think?

Who's reading the papers?

Perhaps nathan has watched daddie read newspapers and books enough times to model him in that. See how nathan flips and reads the papers like a man ... haha! Simple trash as such can imuse him and provide him with ample entertainment ...

Small man

Feeding dad

Reaching under

Balloon Fun

Balloon Craze

Recently we had some parties at home and we put up some balloons. Nathan had a lot of fun playing with them in his own ways, throwing, squeezing, bouncing, lying on his tummy and sitting ... all of which send terrors up LC's spine, cos he dislikes bursting balloons ... Nathan has no fear at all.

Noisy Car

munching on corn

munching on corn

From raisins, to cheerios, to pear, now corn knobs, how incredible. Nathan is surprising me everyday with new tricks of his own, i am just waking up to what he is capable of showing me each day, now nice, feel as if God is telling me, 'Caris, the adventures have just begun, yeah ...'

Flowers

Flowers are lovely around here. I seem to be getting alot of them from friends who visit for tea and meals. These are daffodils and blue hayacinth from my jap friends' gardens... how nice, they got them fresh from their back yards! Something i really appreciate about England's weather, you get more than just pale pink flowering plants hanging from the overhead bridges back home.

White Easter

It’s finally here – Snow fall.

We’ve been waiting for snow fall the whole of the winter season. And just when we were least expecting it to happen and about to welcome Spring, the wind changed its direction and blew the clouds from the arctic to Cambridge!

It snowed rather heavily for two full days, reaching 3 cm deep. That’s very good news for England, where snow is scarcely seen. We’re very lucky this yr.

Easter Party 08

We hosted an easter party at our place last Tuesday. We had finger painting for the 3 yr olds, and origami for the mums an younger children.

It was splendid!


http://s272.photobucket.com/albums/jj168/carisbay_album/EasterParty08/

tickle tickle

Ever since nathan recovered from his cold, he's been on an eating spree. He put on a good 1kg over a wk. seeing him eat his food by the mouthfuls always warm our hearts!

He started calling us now - daddie, and mimi. I'm happy with that for now.

He also understands no and yes perfectly well, and expresses these words by nodding and shaking his head, sometimes, he verbalises them.

now, i'm beginning to understand what it means by toddlers being sponges, soaking up everything around them - things they see and hear.

New found hobby

It's BAKING!

Back home, i had all the baking equipment necessary to bake, but I hardly had the chance to use them, and those few times I did, they turned up horrible - too hard, or uncooked, so i sort of gave up, thought that i simply lack the talent to bake anything.

This has changed since 2 weeks ago. many mums have inspired me greatly - they can really bake! From traditional cheese cakes to chocolates, muffins, buns, pies and quiches, you name it, they have it. So, I decided to try it out again, and perhaps I have a bit of beginning's luck, I did it.

My recipes are derived from Super baby food by Ruth Yaron. I have been following it consistently for Nathan's first yr for food, and now, pleasing a toddler's taste buds can be ever more challenging.

To date, I've tried butter biscuits, flap jacks (euivalent of muesli bars), pineapple muffins, peanut butter muffins and fruit pie.

There are plenty of opportunities to try out new recipes because of the many little parties we have at our place and around every other week.

Tomorrow, we have another farewell tea party at our place for a Japanese family. So, I'll be trying oatmeal cookies and carrot cake. Looking forward to it.

What has LC got to say about this new hobby?? He has every good thing to say - glad you have found a new feminine side of yourself. Hmm ...

The best part about baking is I find it very theruputic. Plus, nathan enjoys them, and my very friendly friends.

Nathan @ 22 Mths (24.02.08)

Here’s doing another update of what Nathan can do, and likes to do.

Nathan can

a) Climb up and walk down stairs unaided. We have 2 flights of stairs at our flat, which provides plenty of opportunities to practice. But sometimes lazy and tired boy refuses to conquer them himself, prefers to be carried instead.
b) Fix individual shaped puzzles – wooden and cardboard.
c) Recognise shapes and fit in different shapes in a sorter.
d) Doodle with a pen on paper or magnetic board. This is cool for occupying him while we dine in at restaurants.
e) Use crayons and colour on paper. But his attention is short for this activity. Somehow, he prefers writing with pen than colouring, no state of art maybe.
f) Pick his favourite vcd and put it in the cd player. He knows the right button to press. Hmm, not taught, this is learnt through imitation.
g) Sings ‘row row row …’ stops there, but he gets the tune roughly right.

Nathan likes

a) Playing with his 4 wheeler plastic red fire engine. He brings it with him wherever he goes.
b) Playing with any 4 wheelers – truck and bus and car.
c) Finger puppets. He talks with them and likes putting each one on our fingers too. Great for pretend play, and we can bring them wherever we go.
d) Watching cartoons – wheels on the bus, sesame street, barney.
e) Climbing up the sofa. Often claps his hands when he gets up there.
f) Eating raisins, cheerios, plums, pears, corn, yogurt (anytime). And drinks water from his new red bottle.
g) Lying and rolling on the floor. Sometimes to show his frustration, but most of the time just relaxing on the carpeted floor.
h) Opening and closing drawers and cupboards. Won’t take No for an answer.
i)

Some attempts at developing his interests:

a) Prepared a biscuit dough and have him play with it, but he has absolutely zero interest in baking … oops.
b) I love crafts – cutting and making cards. So I’d hope Nathan would enjoy a bit of craft too. At play groups, they always have time set aside for craft for kids. But all Nathan does is mess up other people’s work, or dip his fingers into the glue. Sigh, perhaps I should put craft on hold for the moment.