ghetto of our mind

Ode to our slow cooker

2012-01-27T22:06:00.000-05:00

How do working parents who arrive home at 5.45pm every evening get dinner on the table by 6.30pm? No, not take out. Or delivery pizza. Or make everyone eat crackers, cheese, and salad. I'm talking a hot, home-cooked, healthy, and delicious meal.

Answer: the slow cooker. It rocks. Really. It truly has been the best kitchen purchase we've made since... oh I don't know... our microwave? Jude got ours for my birthday last year and since then, we've made everything from congee to carnitas. I love the fact that I can just turn it on in the morning and almost like magic, 9 hours later, we return to a house that smells as if someone had been slogging in the kitchen all day. It's especially comforting during these winter months when all you want when you get home is something hearty and warm.

Most slow cooker recipes require some element of prep- some chopping, searing, seasoning, etc., and so what I do is get everything ready the night before, throw the ingredients into the slow cooker insert, and put it in the fridge. And then in the morning, as I'm waiting for my coffee to brew, I add the liquids (if they're called for), or simply put the insert back in and turn the cooker on. Voila! I've even put frozen meat in there and it still manages to turn our wonderfully tender by the end of the day.

It helps that our particular slow cooker insert is made of stainless steel and goes on the stove top so I can sear and sauté first and then move the whole insert into the slow cooker- no need for a separate pan for the pre-cooking. And then when we come home in the evening, all I have to do is to make some kind of starch (rice/pasta/potato) and/or veggie and we're all set for dinner, like last week when we made BBQ baby-back ribs. I followed the suggestions of the reviewers and made some adjustments and it turned out beautifully. All it needed was a salad and some sweet potato fries, and we had a $50 meal on the table for a fraction of that price. Sophie would not touch the meat but she was more than happy with the fries and some chicken I quickly cooked up for her.

We may never eats ribs outside again.

Some of our favorite slow cooker recipes:
Beef, leek, and barley soup (adapted for slow cooker)
Bean and kale soup with ham
Chicken congee
Whole "roasted" chicken (yes, you can cook a whole chicken in the slow cooker!)
Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic
Teriyaki chicken (made with store-bought teriyaki sauce)
Beef stew
Sausage lentil soup
Bolognese sauce (a.k.a. dinner tonight)

恭喜恭喜 everybody!

2012-01-22T22:30:00.000-05:00

Sophie wishes everyone a happy lunar new year from frosty Ann Arbor! She may not have any idea what she's missing, but her Mama and Dada sure are missing those pineapple tarts and kueh bangkits!

Everyone goes potty

2012-01-19T14:03:00.000-05:00

So about our potty training weekend...

I don't think it was a complete failure-- Sophie actually did manage to pee in the potty a few times (see star sticker chart below), but I think it was more out of attrition-- we made her sit on the potty with a book for about 15 minutes-- than her actually telling us she needed to pee.

Five stickers- that's the total number of times Sophie
went to the potty all weekend. It's a work in progress...

Intellectually, she knows she should poop and pee in the potty- she can say to us over and over- "When I need to go potty, I have to tell Mama and Dada." or "When I need to go potty, I run to the potty NOW!"; but physically, I think she's a little afraid to do it without the security of the diaper. In fact, there were a few instances when she told us that her bottom was hurting because I think she was holding it all in.

We used all manner of bribes-- snacks, juice, videos and even threats-- no snacks, no juice, no videos, and that worked to varying degrees of effectiveness. But I think the most resonant (though not yet successful) incentive is the prospect of preschool. Sophie is constantly fascinated by the preschool classroom next to hers. The kids are only a year older but to Sophie, it's like a whole other world, and she talks about the preschoolers and what they do with the kind of awe and reverence usually reserved for deities or Thomas the Tank Engine. And so we've been telling her that until she's potty-trained, she can't go to preschool (which is only a partial white lie- she still can, but the daycare won't provide the diapers like they do now- we'd have to do it).

In the end though, it was not to be. She had a couple of accidents which made her cry (which I guess is a good thing coz that means she knows she wasn't supposed to do what she did), she developed a fever that just wouldn't go away, and on Monday, woke up with a bad case of hives. For a moment there, I was convinced she was experiencing some potty-training post-traumatic stress disorder, and I felt horrible. But then it turned out that it was a virus of some sort that went just as soon as it came.

So we're going to try again in a couple of weeks and told ourselves we're not going to be too stressed about it this time. I think a bit of our anxiety might have rubbed off on her over the weekend and the last thing I want is to have her associate going to the potty with something negative. In the meantime, we got her a bunch of books about the potty (see here and here) which have been heartily received. I don't know why I didn't think about this sooner- we only just got the books yesterday and we've already read them at least four times each. Because we've read them so many times plus they're fairly simple (I mean, there's only one message), Sophie's got parts of the books memorized and is able to relate the narrative to us. Let's just hope that translates into action when we try this whole thing again next time.

How was your weekend?

2012-01-17T23:09:00.002-05:00

Potty training #FAIL

This pretty much sums up ours, together with Sophie running a 103F (39C) temperature, her body riddled with inexplicable hives, night wakings for everyone, and tantrums all round (yes, the grown ups included).

So yeah, exciting stuff.

With great power comes great responsibility

2012-01-14T12:33:00.001-05:00

Last night, as Jude stood in front of our coat closet looking in vain for a hanger to hang his winter coat:

Sophie: Dada, do you need some help?
Jude: Thank you, Sophie but it's okay.
Sophie: I can help you, Dada. I have super-powers in my ponytail.
Jude: It's alright, Sophie.
Sophie: Tell me! Tell me! I can help you.
Jude: Okay- can you help me find a hanger to hang my coat?
Sophie: Oh. I cannot help you. [walks away]

Even superheroes have their limits...

Random daycare daily report #22

2012-01-12T17:04:00.002-05:00

One of our favorite photos of Sophie during our trip

Sophie is still so proud of her trip to Singapore. Today, a parent was saying to Lucy, "Lucy, you're a big sister now?" and Sophie came running over and saying, "I went to Singapore!" Also, all of her friends take pretend trips to Singapore together. I even heard someone say they wanted to play "Singapore" today. What a sensation our little jet-setter has started! :)

Incidentally, yesterday, as we were picking Sophie up, one of her classmates' mom said to us, "Payton's been wanting to take a helicopter to Singapore. We've had to explain to her that we're probably not going to take a trip to Singapore any time soon..."

Sophie loves books

2012-01-10T12:30:00.000-05:00

One of the last things we did before leaving for Singapore last year was put together Sophie's new bookshelf in her room. Until then, she had one bookshelf in our living room downstairs and a whole bunch of books we read at bedtime stacked (ok, strewn) on the futon in her room. We decided it was time to tidy up her room now that she's getting older and more in need of her own space and so when I saw this display bookcase on sale online, I grabbed it without thinking twice. And I have to say, it's been great. Even the books on the highest tier are within Sophie's reach and she can see all the book covers at a glance, which allows her to pick the books she wants with ease. We rotate some of the books with those downstairs so there's always a new variety for our bedtime reading, but there's also a core set of favorites we always seem to revisit every now and then (the original Madeline and Harold and the Purple Crayon have more or less never left her room).

And so these days, our bedtime routine pretty much unfolds like this:
7:30- Finish up whatever we're doing downstairs-- reading/ playing/ post-dinner fruit/ post-dinner TV treat-- and get ready for bath time.
7:45- Bath.
8:00- Get Sophie dressed in her jammies while listening to either The Muppets or the Sesame Street channel on Pandora. Sometimes, she'll ask for some milk during this time.
8:15- She picks three books from her shelf that we bring to the futon with us to read. Often, she even has a specific order in which she would like them read.
8:40- We're usually done with books by this time but she'll almost always start whining and ask for one more. Depending on how long Book #4 is, I may or may not give in (I Want My Hat Back- yes; Owl Moon- no).
8:45 (at the latest)- We snuggle for a bit, put her in her crib, and say goodnight. She's been asking us to leave the door open as we walk out- I think it's just so she can hear us as we jostle about downstairs. It probably lulls her to sleep.

I love that Sophie enjoys reading so much- she'll pretty much give up anything to listen to a story or look at a book. Even breakfast...

Madeline's Rescue at breakfast this morning

Random daycare daily report #21

2012-01-06T22:29:00.000-05:00

Sophie with Erin on her first day of daycare almost two years ago

Sometimes, Sophie just melts my heart. I returned from my lunch break today and Sophie yelled, "Erin's back!" like she hadn't seen me in months :) Then Sophie came up to me and said, "We love you so much, Erin." What a great feeling! I must say, the feeling is mutual too :)

What did you do in Singapore?

2012-01-05T16:04:00.000-05:00

In the car on the way home from daycare:

Me: So Sophie, can you remember what you did in Singapore?

Sophie: Err... I play with Yiyi Sam. And Uncle Sam.

Me: And what else?

Sophie: I smoochy kiss Baby Julianne so she won't cry anymore.

Me: That was nice of you, right?

Sophie: Yah. Baby Julianne is so tiny. She needs a floatie. Like Sophie.

Me: When you go swimming?

Sophie: Yes, I have a Shamu floatie.

Me: What else did you do in Singapore?

Sophie: I eat SO MUCH tau sar pau and I see the Merlion.

Me: What was the Merlion doing?

Sophie: Spitting water from his mouth. Are you supposed to do that?

Me: Are you supposed to do that?

Sophie: No. You cannot do that. I was 'fraid of the Merlion. But Gong Gong protect me.

Me: Do you like Singapore, Sophie?

Sophie: Yah. We stay in Singapore tomorrow ok? We take the airplane and go to Gong Gong's house tomorrow. That's a good plan.

First family photo of 2012, last family photo of our holiday

The last 10 hours

2012-01-03T00:05:00.000-05:00

1) Arrived in Ann Arbor after a fairly eventless flight although we did have one meltdown on the Tokyo-Detroit leg (which involved fellow passengers and one flight attendant actually offering us assistance. Thanks for asking- yes, our daughter does scream like a Tasmanian devil on steroids when she's throwing a tantrum, no, she's not having a seizure-- that's how she wails-- and no, a glass of milk isn't going to make it better...)

2) Was welcomed by a light dusting of snow, a forty degree Centigrade difference in temperature, and a 40% dip in humidity levels.

3) Made a quick instant noodle lunch for Jude and I and some oatmeal for Sophie. For the last 30 hours, with the exception of a bowl of udon at the Narita airport, Sophie only ate toast, pretzel sticks, her new favorite fishball crackers that we had packed from Singapore, and some fruit from her otherwise untouched airline meals. Jude and I weren't that lucky- we actually ate our airline meals.

4) Watched as Sophie reunited with her play yard and all her toys in there like family reuniting after years of being separated by the Berlin Wall or the Korean straits. I really think that was the only thing keeping her from giving in to the exhaustion and falling asleep at 4.00 in the afternoon.

5) Took our first showers in 36 hours.

6) Restocked our empty refrigerator with a Trader Joe's run. We gave Sophie her own kiddie cart and license to pick 5 things to put in it- another attempt to keep her up and awake until a reasonable bedtime. She chose bananas, dried cranberries, dried stuffed ravioli (even though she can't eat it), a bag of onions, and a jar of bruschetta spread (don't ask... it was at her eye-level. She also claimed she needed it.)

7) Put together dinner in a semi-haze- veggie and miso soup with pasta for Sophie (I had made a big pot of it before we left for Singapore and portioned it into freezable bags) and take-out BBQ for Jude and I.

8) Watched as Jude fell asleep in the middle of reading Sophie her bedtime story. Before 7.00pm.

9) Watched as Sophie fell asleep before she could even realize that her Dada had fallen asleep reading her her bedtime story.

10) Fell asleep myself after 8) and 9).

New Years Interview 2012

2012-01-01T10:17:00.005-05:00

Here's my project to take a New Years Interview video of Sophie every year to be able to watch and remember her at each age. I think it'll be pretty neat to hear how her voice-- and her answers to the questions-- change over the years :)

So, as of 1 January, 2012:

Favorite book: Meet the Muppets (a spin-off of the movie, and a book that I've been reading at bedtime every night since we bought it two weeks ago)
Favorite color: green or purple
Favorite place: Singapore/ dinosaur museum
Favorite food: cantaloupe
Favorite drink: apple juice
Favorite toy: rubber duckie

Happy New Year everyone!

My Top 5 memories of 2011

2011-12-31T10:10:00.000-05:00

5) Starting a new job that I really enjoy:

4) Jude successfully defending his dissertation!

3) Sophie turned 2 in August:

2) We welcomed my beautiful niece, Julianne, into our world :) Such joy!

1) Spending Christmas at home, surrounded by family, basking in much love :)

Farewell, 2011...

Little chums

2011-12-30T22:04:00.000-05:00

Sophie's always been sort of a parallel play sort of kid- we'll have play dates with friends and for the most part, she'll be playing along side other children but not really with them. We're not really worried- her teachers tell us that most of the toddlers in her class do the same and it's a developmental thing that she'll outgrow soon enough.

So it was really nice when we found Sophie playing wonderfully with her little friend, Sean, at a play date today. Sean is my brother-in-law's nephew and just a week younger than Sophie. We had a little meet-cute for them the last time we were home but back then, it was more an excuse for the grown-ups to have a popiah party... :) This time though, they were old enough to actually interact with each other and it was such a joy to watch them together! Maybe it's because we had prepared Sophie for the play date beforehand (she actually woke up in the morning reminding us that Sean was coming even though she has no memory of who he is...) but there were no meltdowns, no possessive grabbing of toys, lots of good sharing, and tons of happy squealing and chasing around the house and garden. Basically, loads of fun was had all round. It definitely helped that Sean is such a sweet boy with such a gentle disposition- every time Sophie was out of his sight, he would call out "Sophie!..." or jie jie ("big sister" in Chinese, which was what his mom asked him to call Sophie). On her part, Sophie would happily call out, "Sean! Oh... Sean!"

Here's to more play dates with Sean every time we come back- he seems to bring out the best in Sophie!

Cousins

2011-12-29T10:39:00.003-05:00

I grew up being really close to my cousins on both my paternal and maternal sides. In fact, we remain close till today and one of the joys of coming home is hanging out with all of them again. Sophie has no idea what or who cousins are yet-- I think the whole concept of family is something she's only beginning to grasp. But in the past two weeks, she's spent some time with both sets of cousins and if nothing else, she has developed a real affection for them and enjoys their company a whole lot. On my side, she's become really fond of showering Julianne with smoochy kisses whenever she can and gets really concerned when Julianne starts to cry ("Why is Baby Julianne crying, Mama?"). She also likes watching my sister and brother-in-law give Julianne her baths, which is really quite sweet.

On Jude's side, even though she's technically met Amelia and Aiden once before when we came back two years ago, it wasn't until Christmas that she really got to interact with them properly-- playing with playdoh together, attacking the Christmas piñata with gusto, and hitting the playground with equal relish. They even had a blast at the beach together yesterday, where Amelia schooled Sophie on the finer points of sandcastle architecture while Aiden modeled the proper way to enjoy the seawater splashing about you...

Being so far away-- at least for now-- may mean that Sophie won't get to play with her cousins as much as her Mama did with hers; but I'd like to think that familial ties are stronger than geography. I love my cousins dearly and-- if she doesn't already-- as she grows older, I want to believe that Sophie will love hers too.

I miss her so much...

2011-12-27T10:24:00.002-05:00

This hasn't been an easy post to type. I started three times and had to stop each time because my eyes just kept welling up. Not being in Singapore when my grandmother passed away will always be one of the saddest moments of my life. She was peaceful at her deathbed, I am told; and for that, I am grateful. But it didn't make visiting her grave any easier.

It was important to both Jude and I that Sophie was with us. She obviously didn't grasp the gravity of where we were and what we were doing, but I think she understood that we were there to visit my Por Por (what she calls my mom) and was uncharacteristically quiet as she laid the flowers at my grandma's grave. She doesn't remember meeting her exactly two years before of course, but she'll have pictures. And my memories.

26th December 2009

26th December 2011

How do you take a Christmas family photo?

2011-12-26T21:51:00.000-05:00

1) Negotiate the terms of agreement with a tantrumming two-year-old (I believe it was a bowl of udon soup in exchange for getting up for the family photo)

2) Mill about while everyone gets their act together (a.k.a our Modern Family moment)

3) Make the best of the slightly blurry but otherwise really festive seventh take:

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

It doesn't matter what the climate

2011-12-24T02:46:00.000-05:00

A beach is a beach whether it's almost freezing cold in Saugatuck, Michigan or tropical humidity in Changi Point, Singapore...

For picking up sand and shells

For playing with sticks

And for pictures with Mama...

Ode to Parkway

2011-12-19T03:18:00.002-05:00

It had been the one unchangeable I could always count on, the one shopping mall I've always been able to find my way around virtually blindfolded since I was allowed to visit it by myself when I was twelve. But I guess two years is a long time to be away and in my absence, my beloved Parkway Parade has finally succumbed to the metamorphosis that seems to have beset so many familiar locales around the island. Having lived in the East of the island all my life, this shopping center has always had a special place in my heart, even with the fancier, shinier, brighter malls sprouting up in the city. In its own modest way, it had (well, still has, I guess) everything I need in a mall-- sundries, groceries, food, shopping, and services like my optician and watch repairman.

And having spent so much time there these past twenty some years, I knew exactly where everything was- every shop, how most of the owners and vendors looked like, even how competitors' prices matched up (particularly amongst the mall's many optical shops). So imagine my utter discombobulation when Jude and I popped by for what I thought was going to be an easy (and quick) errand trip. Armed with a list of things to buy and Sophie happily napping at my parents', I was certain I could get everything I needed within the two hours of Sophie's nap. In fact, I was convinced that if we were strategic enough in our shopping, we might even be able to do it all in under an hour, with time leftover for coffee and a snack. Clearly, I didn't factor in 1) the Christmas shopping crowd; 2) the many makeshift shopping carts that have sprung up in every available space all over the mall; 3) an expanded basement food court that I had to meander through just to get to the elevators; and 4) all the shops that have newly opened, expanded, shrunk, moved, changed names, or closed down. It actually made me feel a little sad-- disappointed almost-- like having an old friend change on you... In the end, we did manage to get our shopping done, but in two hours instead of one. There was coffee-- but to go-- and no time for a snack.

Five years ago, I blogged about something similar; five years later, I pretty much still feel the same way. Like I told Jude as we sat in an inexplicable traffic jam in the middle of the day along Orchard Road last week, every generation of Singaporeans has-- and will-- grow old in a Singapore that is nothing like the Singapore in which we grew up.

Christmas isn't Christmas till

2011-12-18T21:46:00.000-05:00

This.

Now that, is what you call a Christmas tree

And we're baaaack!

2011-12-15T01:56:00.000-05:00

In the end, the journey was more forgiving than anticipated- there were a couple of sort-of meltdowns, but they were mostly because Sophie was just really tired from her sleep schedule getting messed up. She did really well on the flights, mostly because we were *very* liberal with the whole watching videos on the iPad thing- basically, for 18 hours, we allowed our toddler's brain to turn into Kipper mush. Oh, and consider this my public service announcement to our vegetarian/vegan friends out there who are going to fly Delta in the future- because I love you, I'm just going to tell you right now to stock up on whatever you can get at the airport to sustain you throughout your flight, because you're not going to get anything (sustenance, nutrition, flavor) from the vegetarian meal option. The only things Sophie (or I) would eat were the fruit platters, a cold bagel, and a side of plain couscous. She basically survived on packets of the airline's complimentary pretzels.

But putting that all behind us, we're home now, and that's what matters. Sophie's been thriving on all the attention she's been getting from family, and really having a wonderful time. She's still a little jetlagged and she literally starts perspiring just sitting still in the living room, but I don't think it bothers her at all. Everything is just so new and exciting for her that every second has been spent just asking and learning about new things. Like chicken rice :) And wild monkeys at MacRitchie Reservoir (where we found ourselves early this morning when Sophie decided to wake up at 5.30). But most importantly, Sophie got to meet Baby Julianne in person, and it was really sweet:

"I give Baby Julianne a kiss."

Two weeks. At home. With family. And friends. Christmas. Good food. I say, bring it!

Last hurrah for the year

2011-12-10T17:48:00.001-05:00

Why, hello there!

I guess it's fitting that two days before we leave for the sunny, warm, and humid tropics, we should spend the morning frolicking (and I mean that fairly literally) in the wintry snow and bracing cold. It had snowed a couple of days ago and even though there isn't that much snow out, it was enough for one last sledding attempt for the year. The last two times we tried sledding with Sophie weren't the greatest of successes (the first of which was almost exactly a year ago actually...), but today, what with being much older and even more fearless, Sophie had a whale of a time and couldn't get enough!

Click for more photos

When Jude brought her down the first time, I swear the entire neighborhood could hear her squeal of delight :) And all the "wheeeee!"s that came after too, of course... She tried to make a snow angel like what she's seen in one of her books but we had to tell her there wasn't really enough snow to see the full effect.

This time Wednesday morning (Singapore time), we'll be basking in 90F/33C weather in a city 2 degrees north of the equator. Snow and cold will almost literally be half a world away.

One more week

2011-12-07T09:32:00.000-05:00

Sophie loving her new headphones

This time next week, we'll probably be sound asleep in Jude's parents' place in Singapore; we would undoubtedly still be reeling from jet lag but relieved to have survived the 25-hour journey from Ann Arbor to his parents' doorstep. And that's what worrying me the most right now- that dastardly flight. It's actually making it a little hard for me to get excited about being home because all I want is to get the flight over and done with first. A combined 21 hours on the plane with a rambunctious 2 year-old who *needs* her fresh air and run-around time (even in winter), and for whom only a fine line divides pure euphoria and a total and epic existential meltdown. If that doesn't send shivers of dread down any parent's spine, then I don't know what does.

I know the flight is only going to be as stressful as I allow it so we're going to try to be as prepared as we can, but also not to get hung up about it too much either. Sophie's actually traveled well on planes the last two times we've traveled recently, but they were only 2-hour long trips and we timed them during her afternoon nap so she slept most of the way. This time though, we're going to have to make sure we have enough to occupy her with or she's just going to go all banshee-crazy with cabin fever... So this weekend, we're going to the Dollar Store to get a bunch of cheap chachkies, wrap them up in newspaper, and give one to her every hour to just unwrap and play with. Hopefully, the novelty will be fun. I'm also packing crayons, a coloring/sticker/activity book, and a couple of "search-and-find" books that usually occupy her for quite a while (like her favorite of the moment, In the Town, All Year Round).

Between Jude and I, we have two iPads with a combined battery life of 16.5 hours, identical sets of kiddie apps, all three Toy Story movies, and as many Kipper episodes as I could download from YouTube. We got Sophie her own kiddie headphones (which she LOVES) so she's all set in the entertainment department. I know, three movies and a whole load of cartoons might seem a little excessive but I've reconciled myself to the notion that a long-haul flight is NOT the time for interactive intellectually-stimulating books or carrot sticks. Sophie's going to get all the mind-numbing animation and whatever snacks she wants/needs to stay calm. Thankfully, her dairy allergies mean that the snacks she loves are mostly crackers and gummies, so they're not even really that bad for her... I'm also packing her favorite snacks because I'm not holding my breath on the vegan meal option I got for her as part of her ticket. I dislike airplane food enough as it is, I can't imagine what the vegan version is going to be like... I'm thinking, what's the worst that can happen? That she has nothing but soy milk, saltine crackers, chocolate bunny rabbit crackers, fruit gummies, and a bowl of udon during our transit in Tokyo over the course of the entire journey? I mean, honestly...

Café Sophie

2011-12-06T15:41:00.000-05:00

So we found out a little too late that all Sophie wants for Christmas is carrot. Thankfully, what we did get her isn't too far removed from the vegetable. On top of a second hand lemonade/vegetable stand we had gotten her a while back and a tea set she got for her birthday, Sophie also has various varieties of toy food that have been gifted to her over time. And so for the longest time, her favorite thing to do has been setting up picnics and tea parties with Jude and I and her soft toys. Then when we were at our friends' place for a play date one day, we noticed how taken Sophie was with their play kitchen. She would be all engrossed, talking to herself about what she was doing ("Be careful, the oven is hot." "I put some carrots in the pot." "I'm hungry. I'm cooking."), and playing independently of us, which is something we've noticed she's doing quite a bit of lately.

So we thought it would be a good idea to shop around for one for her for Christmas. We had several criteria: 1) it has to be made of wood; 2) it has to be fairly compact to fit in Sophie's play yard (which is basically all of our very small living room); 3) it has to be reasonably priced; and 4) it has to be well-designed. And we found it all in the Educo My Creative Cookery Club.

Early Christmas present

We decided to set it up early since we'll be spending Christmas in Singapore and there is no way we are going to haul the kitchen set all the way across three continents just so Sophie can open it on Christmas morning. It's been a couple of weeks since she's had it and she LOVES it to bits. Even her teachers at school know about it because apparently she talks about it all the time. She has a field day putting all manner of toy food into the pots, stirring and frying, putting things into the "oven" and "refrigerator", checking to see if they're cold/hot enough, and taking them out. We've also been using it to teach her new words like spatula, salt and pepper shaker, and temperature.

And even though she's more than happy to play with the kitchen set by herself, it's actually been a lot of fun playing along with her. She asks us for our orders, we tell her what we want (Jude always gets a sandwich with everything and I have a burger with red peppers and onions), and she'll make it for us. Of course, service is not always the promptest at Café Sophie- Jude's been waiting on his last order for six days. Every time he asks Sophie where his sandwich is, she'll open the "oven", peek in, and tell him, "Be patient, Dada, it's in the oven. It's hot."

Meeting Santa for the first time

2011-12-04T14:11:00.000-05:00

So- guess who we bumped into at the farmer's market yesterday?

I'm quite sure Sophie doesn't comprehend exactly who Santa Claus is or what he represents but she was excited enough to see him nonetheless. We didn't know he was going to be there and I guess no one did either because we barely had to wait 5 minutes before it was Sophie's turn to sit on his lap. Maybe because there was none of the hype or anticipation that sometimes accompanies the first Santa meeting, Sophie was actually really comfortable being held by him. She duly answered his questions (What's your name? How old are you? What would you like for Christmas?, which she breezily answered with "carrot"- I wish we had known that earlier coz it would have been much easier than what we've gotten her- for another post...) and was more than happy to give him a hug and snuggle.

She was still talking about her little tête-à-tête with Santa later in the afternoon and so I think it did mean something special to her. We haven't decided if we're going to do the whole "Santa brings children gifts on Christmas thing" but if we do, we know she at least likes the idea of the guy... :)

Got milk?

2011-12-03T23:45:00.001-05:00

We were listening to The Muppets channel on Pandora when Rufus Wainwright's version of "Hallelujah" came on (don't ask- I haven't yet figured out which music gene in The Muppets is somehow related to this track...). About a minute into the song, Sophie asks quizzically, "Why is the man sad?" Now, while I appreciate her sensitivity to melancholy, anyone who's heard the original (or better yet, Jeff Buckley's version) would tell you that Rufus Wainwright emphatically does not sound half as sad, but what does Sophie know? She thinks Elmo is the paragon of normal... Anyways, before I could suggest that she have a conversation with Leonard Cohen about his songwriting, this is what she offers as a solution:

"Maybe he needs to drink some soy milk."

Now if only she were right and epic heartache could be cured by a dairy substitute...

Random daycare daily report #20

2011-12-01T00:04:00.000-05:00

I've never seen a child more excited about playing in the snow than Sophie was today. All morning long, she kept going over and trying to put her snow boots on. Then we were finally getting ready to put on snow clothes, we had a hard time convincing Sophie that her boots has to go on last. She was excited about those boots! :)

Incidentally, at drop-off this morning, Sophie basically burst into her classroom and shouted out loud, "ARE WE GOING SLEDDING??!!" I guess they sort of did :)

Are you smiling?

2011-11-30T10:10:00.001-05:00

How about now? :)

Counting down 14 days

2011-11-28T22:39:00.000-05:00

A week ago today, Anthony Bourdain's new show, The Layover premiered on the Travel Channel, and for the second time, he launched a new series/season with an episode on... you guessed it, Singapore (read about our excitement over his No Reservations episode on Singapore here). You've got to give it to the guy, I've not met another non-Singaporean who is as passionate about Singaporean food as he is. And I'm not talking about the chi-chi, often pretentious, marked-up-by-a-1000%, white-table cloth, reservations-only experience; he loves-- just as much as we do-- the food that put Singapore on the foodie map of the world. We're talking sup tulang, bak chor mee, pig innards soup, chicken rice, fish head curry, etc.- street food, hawker fare, that lies at the heart of our culinary heritage.

And so, inspired by the episode (and by our recent success with char kway teow), Jude and I spent the Thanksgiving long weekend cooking up a trifecta of Singaporean hawker favorites: chai tow kway (fried carrot cake-- which bears absolutely no resemblance in any way, shape, or form, to the carrot cake here in the U.S.), laksa, and mee siam. Admittedly, the latter two came from premixes from the good people at Prima Taste, but they tasted as authentic enough as we could get them with whatever ingredients we could find here in our little town in the Midwest (laksa leaves in Ann Arbor?- c'mon, who are we kidding?...)

1. Mee siam, 2. Dark fried carrot cake (chai tow kway), 3. Laksa

Maybe it was because we really needed a break from all the turkey and stuffing we were regaled with over the weekend (although bowlsful of coconut milk, spice, and fried carbs aren't really detoxifying by any means...) or maybe it was our bodies' way of getting ready for our impending homecoming, but those three meals awoke in our tastebuds sensations that have laid dormant for too long (two years to be exact, if anyone's counting). We're not just talking about spiciness here (many cuisines in the world relie heavily on spice as well), but that complex and rich amalgamation of sweet, savory, spiciness, and of Chinese, Malay, and Indian flavors I associate only with Southeast-Asian cooking. It's food you can get no where else in the world. It's the food of my soul.

We leave in exactly two weeks. I. Can't. Wait.

Life's a happy song

2011-11-26T14:46:00.001-05:00

I guess technically, it's not really Sophie's first movie (see here), but I doubt she has any memory of herself at 9 months old, so as far as she's concerned, she went to her first movie today :) We've building up her excitement for The Muppets movie since showing her the Mahna Mahna video and app and so when she woke up this morning, the first thing she said was, "I so excited! I go to the theatre and watch mahna mahna!"

We knew ahead of time that there was going to be a sensory-sensitive screening of the movie early in the morning and so had already bought advanced tickets. These screenings are specially designed for young kids or children with autism or ADHD which means that the house lights are left on and the sound volume lowered so that children aren't scared and/or overstimulated. Also, the theatre informs everyone before the show begins that during this screening, the audience is free to sing along or move about, which is just perfect for the little ones.

And because of that, Sophie had a blast of a time without even coming close to a toddler meltdown as we had feared. There were parts of the movie during which we had to let her walk up and down the steps or run along the seats but she wasn't fussy or noisy, and no one minded at all since that was the whole point of the special screening. She loved the big song-and-dance sequences and didn't need any prompting to start dancing and bopping along when they happened. And she was completely mesmerized when her favorite "Rainbow Collection" came on, basically sitting still in her seat, watching the screen in pure awe. And by the end of the grand finale, she even gave a huge applause and a loud cheer :)

1. During previews, 2. She just bounced off her seat and started dancing along, 3. At the edge of her seat. Literally. , 4. Mesmerized during "Rainbow Connection"

As for Jude and I, we grew up with the Muppets and loved that we were reminded of the self-depreciating, affectionately clever humor of the characters. Then there was the army of cameos from celebrities like Feist, Sarah Silverman, Neil Patrick Harris, Emily Blunt, David Grohl, Jim Parsons, etc., that we had a field day identifying. Most importantly though, it was the deliriously infectious soundtrack that had us completely sold. Three songs were written by Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords fame so we knew we weren't in for run-of-the-mill kiddie movie songs. Bouncy, fun, but also witty and sort of deadpan in true Flight of the Conchords style, till this morning, all three of us are still humming the theme song from the movie, "Life's a Happy Song". In fact, as Sophie was moseying about her play yard setting up a pretend picnic, I overheard her singing, "...everything is great, everything is grand..." over and over again ;) Listen for yourself and I dare you not to start tapping your toes to what is surely to become the next great Muppet song.

You know what, listen to the entire soundtrack. You won't regret it, I promise.

How did your Thanksgiving meal look like?

2011-11-25T00:39:00.001-05:00

Sophie's dinner (from top-left): dried cranberries, chicken nuggets, sautéed green beans, plantain chips, pasta, honey-roasted sweet potato, steamed peas, (repeats), and chicken-turkey sausage

Not like this, I bet... :) I take no credit for it, though- I came up with the idea to serve Sophie's Thanksgiving dinner in ice-cube trays after reading about something similar on one of the mommy blogs I follow. There's much in Thanksgiving foods that Sophie can't have (all that butter, milk, and cream) so I knew I'd have to bring Sophie-friendly foods up with us to Lansing where we spent another gastronomically successful Thanksgiving with Rick and Emilee (more photos here). I wanted to do something festive and fun, but also with variety so Sophie could enjoy a "spread" just like the grown-ups. And so I filled the tray with different things that she loves (pasta, peas, and chicken nuggets) and also some dairy-free versions of Thanksgiving favorites like sweet potato, cranberries, green beans, and turkey. We later refilled it with "dessert" options of banana and apple slices, and chocolate bunny rabbit crackers. Simply ingenious, if I should say so myself... Emilee was so taken with the idea, she asked Rick if he could pack her lunches in ice-trays from now on :)

It does take a little effort to prep the different foods but we're more than happy to do it for our own Thanksgiving meal, so why not for Sophie's? Besides, it was all worth it when we set her personal buffet in front of her- she was so excited to tuck into her meal, picking and choosing the different things she could eat. She never once asked to eat off our plate-- why would she when she had something so fun all to herself?-- and actually sat in her seat for almost the entire hour it took us to eat because she was so pre-occupied with her food.

This was so fun to put together and really such a brilliant idea, we're definitely going to do it again for play dates and maybe Sophie's next birthday party (although probably with just fruit and snacks that don't require cooking).

What we're thankful for

2011-11-24T10:15:00.000-05:00

Your fearless invincibility

Your laughter

Your loving nature

Your sense of wonder for all things around you

Your silliness

Your endless curiosity

We're thankful for YOU!

Mahna Mahna

2011-11-21T21:15:00.001-05:00

It doesn't matter how old you are, the Muppets' Mahna Mahna will always be rib-ticklingly funny. Always.

Sophie watched this clip for the first yesterday and she laughed from the very first viewing (yes, there were multiple viewings, of course...). Because there's just something so intuitively delightful and joyful about the whole thing. There are no words, no narrative to parse apart, and it's not meant to teach you anything; just a simple, repetitive melody and a bunch of adorable muppets. Just hilarious!

As part of the publicity for the new Muppets movie (which we're seriously considering bringing Sophie to), Disney has rolled out a Mahna Mahna app on Facebook. Watch Sophie in action! Click here.

Be duly warned though- you-- and the toddler in the house-- are going to be humming the tune for hours after, if not days... ;)

Sophie_isms omnibus

2011-11-19T21:59:00.001-05:00

Girl with Balloon

The firemen are going to the farmers market too! To buy some onions and pears.

I just woke up! I was hibernate. I slept for a looooong time.

Mr. Squirrel is hiding the acorns in the tree. He doesn't want Sophie to eat them.

Did you call me 'pumpkin', Mama? I'm not a fruit. I'm a sweet girl!

I want to be the owl. Then I can go hoot-hoot...

Cookie Monster's favorite food is watermelon.

Sophie and rubber duckie are swimming in the bathtub. We're going to Canada.

Bob Dylan gives Sophie a guitar. He has no guitar anymore. He's sad.

Random daily daycare report #19

2011-11-17T22:48:00.001-05:00

1. Spreading the sauce, 2. Yay Erin!, 3. Erin flipping the pizza dough!, 4. Helping to slice peppers

Sophie was so excited to make pizza this morning. She spent a long time cutting up green peppers and mushrooms. Then she helped spread the sauce and sprinkle the toppings. She was very proud of her work and was excited to share her pizza creation with the other classes :)

Sophie reads Madeline

2011-11-16T22:09:00.000-05:00

In an old house in Paris, that was covered in vines
Lived twelve little girls in two straight lines
In two straight lines, they broke their bread,
And brushed their teeth (and went to bed)
...
And the smallest one was Madeline
She was not afraid of mice,
She loved winter, snow, and ice
To the tiger in the zoo,
Madeline just said, "Pooh-pooh!

What a difference a year makes...

2011-11-15T22:25:00.001-05:00

Earlier last month, I posted something about how stoked Sophie was for Picture Day at school. Considering the catastrophic FAIL that was last year's class photo, we were just holding our breaths that this year's would turn out at least half decent so we can frame a couple up for the grandparents.

Fortunately, thanks to the excitement drummed up by her teachers and her heightened familiarity with cameras thrust into her face (thanks to the bigillion photos her parents take of her), this year's photo was a resounding success. Have you seen a child more happy and adorable? No. No, you haven't.

Oh, and about that picture from last year... See for yourself.

Counting down 30 days

2011-11-14T23:28:00.001-05:00

It's exactly a month until we arrive in Singapore.

And in preparation, Jude and I have been talking ourselves into a frenzy about the food we're going to be chowing down during our 3-week trip (as always...). It started with this list that he stumbled upon (which I barely agree with, but then again, we haven't been home in two years, so who knows what's come and gone in the Singapore hawker food scene?...) and then tonight, in a spur of inspiration, Jude decided he was going to make char kway teow, a much beloved fried noodle dish from home. Greasy, sweet, savory, and pungent- char kway teow encapsulates all things yummy about Singaporean hawker food. I was beside myself with anticipation...

We had to adapt the original recipe a little to suit Sophie and also the ingredients we could (or couldn't) find. Which means 1) no fresh cockles and 2) spaghetti as a substitute for egg noodles because of Sophie's allergies (no scoffing, you purists- it worked brilliantly). It was actually quite easy to find fish cake and preserved Chinese sausage so we at least managed to preserve the integrity of most of the main ingredients.

Chef Jude hard at work at the wok

Jude made two batches of noodles- one Sophie-friendly version with no egg or chili paste and the other with the works, i.e. extra garlic, stir-fried egg, and a pungent, spicy chili paste. And both were equally A-MAZING. I was literally standing right next to him, picking up the noodles with my chopsticks as he was still stir-frying... It was that delicious.

Our grown-up version

We weren't sure how Sophie would take to char kway teow- she hasn't actually had anything quite like it. But clearly, being a Singaporean foodie is in her blood and she practically inhaled the noodles from the moment we set it in front of her. When I asked if she could share her noodles with us, this was her response:

Shielding her char kway teow from her parents

Best of all, throughout the evening, Sophie called out several times, "Thank you, Dada for making me the noodles!"

Singapore hawker food, watch out- we'll be unleashing Sophie Yew on you!

The Flip!

2011-11-10T23:34:00.000-05:00

It snowed today. Yup, first snowfall of the season. Brilliant.

And just in time for that, guess what skill Sophie learned at daycare today?

Our daughter is officially the coolest person in this house.

The week after Halloween

2011-11-07T11:41:00.000-05:00

It's a little like buying Christmas wrapper on Boxing Day except that you don't have to wait a whole year before using it again. What happens when you walk into Target and find out that all Halloween costumes and candy are now going at 70% sale? Well, buy your daughter her own dinosaur costume to add to her dress-up collection, of course.

ROAR!

Winter's just round the corner and we have to find interesting ways to keep Sophie occupied during those snowy months when spending too much time outside will just become unbearable. If yesterday afternoon/evening was an indication, our new dinosaur friend is just the perfect thing to help with that- Sophie was so excited to step into the costume (even though it's still a little big for her) and was happy simply "riding" it up and down the living room and going about her normal play routine dressed as a dinosaur. She even kept the costume on as we read together on the couch. Best $9 spent!

And as for Jude and I, we were just happy with our bag of discounted snack-sized Kit-Kats :)

What is Dada good at?

2011-11-06T22:36:00.000-05:00

At Oval Beach, Saugatuck

This afternoon, as I was changing Sophie's diaper, she suddenly declared, "Dada is good at changing my diaper." It was a funny moment- I wasn't sure if she was trying to make a statement about what now appears to be my less than stellar diapering skills or if it was just an observation about the things Jude is good at. So I asked her, "Sophie, what else is Dada good at?" And what did she come up with?

Poking my nose.

Shaving his pokey chin.

Rockabye baby (Sometimes, she still asks Jude to carry her like a baby in his arms.)

Do the dishes.

and my favorite...

Hugging Mama.

Bye bye Sophie the Giraffe

2011-11-03T11:29:00.000-04:00

Over breakfast this morning, we introduced Sophie to Julianne by going through all the Flickr photos my brother-in-law has been posting. Sophie has known about Baby Julianne for as long as she could see my sister's growing belly and was so excited to finally see her cousin- "I want to see Baby Julianne on the compooter, Mama!". Sophie was of course adoring of Julianne-- "Oh Baby Julianne shooooooo cute!"-- and we're really looking forward to the two cousins "hanging out" more when we go home for Christmas.

Later, on the way to daycare, Jude asked her if she would pick out a toy as a gift to Julianne- not something new but something that belongs to her so that it would be special.

Jude: Sophie, when we get home tonight, can you choose one of your toys so that we can give it to Julianne as a present?
Sophie: Errr, ok.
Me: Pick one. Something that you play with.
Sophie: And then we can surprise Baby Julianne!
Jude: That's right, we can surprise Baby Julianne. What will you pick? Which toy?
Sophie: (after thinking about it for a while). Squeaky giraffe. I give my squeaky giraffe to Baby Julianne so that she can surprise. Yah, I can give squeaky giraffe.
Me: Are you sure you want to give Julianne your squeaky giraffe?
Sophie: Yah. I think she will like it.

At that point, I couldn't have been more proud of our sweet, thoughtful Sophie :) Not only did she not balk at the prospect of giving away one of her toys (although whether she will *really* give it up is still questionable, but still...), she chose one of her most beloved ones.

Sophie at 4 months with her Sophie the Giraffe

My mom bought Sophie her Sophie the Giraffe chew toy when she was 6 weeks old (we've actually never called the giraffe Sophie just because it would have been too confusing) and it has always been one of her favorites. The giraffe played a huge part in helping Sophie develop her grabbing skills, it was always available for her to gnaw, chew, and suckle during those dastardly teething months, and even now as she's outgrown it somewhat, Sophie the Giraffe is still a constant fixture in Sophie's play repertoire. Just yesterday, she set up a picnic with her dolls, stuffed animals, and Sophie the Giraffe and thoughtfully fed it a hunk of pretend steak. I didn't have the heart to tell her that giraffes are herbivores.

But now, she has decided that it's her cousin's turn to play with the giraffe and tonight, we'll put Sophie the Giraffe aside, give it a good scrub down, and put it in a bag for Julianne. My sister already has a brand new Sophie the Giraffe but maybe that Sophie will appreciate having a companion giraffe from real Sophie and Julianne will have double the grabbing, chewing fun :)

And because she's just that gorgeous, here's another photo of Julianne fresh off my sister's Flickr feed :)

Hush little baby

[Sophie the Giraffe got its own article in Slate earlier this year. Read it here.]

Julianne

2011-11-01T10:07:00.000-04:00

And she's finally here! It took a little cajoling but my sweet niece, Julianne has arrived and she's beautiful!

I'm so happy for my sister, Sherri and brother-in-law, Piao Zhou! I can already see them being such loving, doting parents- Julianne is so blessed! And my parents and Sam were finally able to partake in the whole exciting anticipation of labour and delivery. Since we had Sophie here in the U.S., they never got to experience it firsthand. So even though Julianne is technically their second grandchild/niece, it probably feels like their first in a way, and I'm so happy that they got to share in that.

Welcome to our world, dear Julianne! We love you so much already, and can't wait to see you in December!

Sophie the Pig

2011-10-31T23:57:00.000-04:00

We've been reading Olivia to Sophie for as long as I can remember. I used to read it to my preschoolers all the time and when our friend, Christine, got the book for us for our shower, I was more than thrilled. I remember reading it to Sophie while she was still in utero, those early months when all she could do was sit in her bouncer and stare intently at my efforts to read to her, and now, when Olivia makes a frequent appearance on our rotation of bedtime stories. The precociously sassy pig who loves building sandcastles, museums, and books and who tires out everyone around her - it's like Ian Falconer was describing Sophie :)

And so, during one of her more tenacious Olivia phases, Sophie and I decided that she would dress up as Olivia for Halloween. I wasn't about to pay an arm and a leg for a custom made costume, and so went about figuring out how I could put one together (see post from last Halloween- there was no way I would be able to sew the entire thing on my own). Thankfully, we already have a pair of black and white striped tights and matching shoes (not intentional); after much scouring, I found a plain red dress at our local children's resale shop (you can't believe how hard it is to find a simple red dress that doesn't make it look like Sophie's dressing up as Santarina); bought the ears from this lady who makes the entire outfit but sells the ears separately, and... wait for it... sewed the collar. By hand. I followed this tutorial and actually managed to make it work even without a sewing machine. Yes. I rock.

I'm pretty proud of myself- it's not exactly like the Olivia in the book, but for how much I spent on it (ears + dress + fabric from Joann's = $12, maybe? $15 at the most), I think it came together fabulously :)

Most importantly, Sophie had a WONDERFUL time. According to her teachers, she's been talking about dressing up as Olivia for weeks and today, she was so excited to go trick-or-treating, she sat so still and quiet as I put on the layers of clothing on her (it was really cold out), and patiently waited for everything to come together. And the moment we got outside and the parade started, it was like we couldn't stop her. Oh, she didn't bolt and run every which way like we thought she would. In fact, she was extremely purposeful and methodical, making sure she hit every house that had candy available ;) At the end of it, even though she could only have the lollies and gummies in her haul (which just means more chocolate for Dada and Mama...), she was such a happy little camper, I suspect we'll be talking about Halloween for a long time to come :)

1. Lolli!, 2. Pig on a mission, 3. Hanging out with Andrew before the parade, 4. Walking the parade with Dada

Birthday weekend getaway

2011-10-30T23:38:00.000-04:00

To celebrate my birthday-- and because we found a Groupon for a bed and breakfast there-- we took a quick trip to Saugatuck this weekend just for the fun of it. It's about a 2.5 hour-drive away and right on the coast of Lake Michigan.

On Oval Beach

We didn't have a set itinerary and just wanted to relax and see something different, and it was different alright... Apart from gatecrashing the town's Halloween parade, the highlight of the trip was our little jaunt to Oval Beach. Consistently voted one of the most beautiful coastlines in the country, I hear it's a bustling beach in the summer. But being the end of October, it was pretty much empty save for us, a few hardcore joggers, and some other tourists who promptly bundled back into the car from the cold. This time of the year, it's probably not everyone's idea of a pretty beach, but Jude and I loved it. There's a sparse, stark beauty to it that reminded us a little of the Northern Californian coastline. Looking out across the expansive waters, it was actually hard to imagine that it's Lake Michigan before us and not an ocean.

And as for Sophie, she basically treated the beach as one giant sandbox that she didn't have to share with anyone. It didn't even matter to her that it was 38F (3C) with windshield- with a warm jacket and fleece hat, she was oblivious to the elements and more focused on the structural integrity (or lack thereof) of her sandcastle, of which she built several.

What's a bit of cold?

She also had fun climbing up and down (and sometimes, through) the smaller sand dunes surrounding the beach.

Sand dunes rock!

It was soft, fine sand and so we had no worries that Sophie would fall and hurt herself. Besides, honestly, it was so wonderful seeing her embrace the natural surroundings so fearlessly and gleefully that we didn't have the heart to stop her even after her nth climb. She probably carted half the beach in her shoes and backpack after we were done building more sandcastles, picking rocks, and chasing the waves but it was worth it seeing how happy that made her :)

Favorite photo of Sophie from the trip

See rest of photos here.

I know we're early, but...

2011-10-28T23:08:00.003-04:00

I take my holiday cards very seriously. I used to make them by hand way back when chasing a two-year old was merely a speck in the horizon of my imagination. And there were no e-cards then and so sending and receiving Christmas cards in the mail was a huge part of the whole holiday ritual for me. These days, most people send e-cards or post on each other's Facebook walls when the holidays roll around, and I suppose that's the eco-friendly thing to do. And yet, mailing out paper cards is still something I hold on to doing. I don't handmake them anymore of course, but it matters a lot to me how the ones we send out look.

Before Sophie came along, I had (and still have) a soft spot for the letterpress holiday cards from Elum Designs (I love letterpress anything!). But since we had Sophie, we've turned to the photo holiday cards that are so popular with families here in the U.S. I guess they're a nice way of putting all your favorite pictures together and to send loved ones a holiday greeting while you're at it. There are tons of websites out there that do this, of course- Shutterfly, Snapfish, Tiny Prints (where we got Sophie's birthday invites last year), just to name a few. But this year, I discovered MyPublisher.

And what makes MyPublisher different than the bagillion other photo card sites?
- FREE shipping
- FREE envelope liners in a variety of colors and patterns
- FREE return address printing (which I love because this means I don't have to write our names and addresses over and freaking over again...)
- FREE deluxe envelopes
- FREE paper options — satin, matte or linen — and they’re all much thicker and luxe than most photo card sites. Some reviews have said they feel almost letterpress-esque (yay!)

Basically, it has better design options (colors, fonts, layouts) than any other site I’ve used. Here are some of my favorites:

I love the clean lines and uncluttered format- nothing too bright and fussy, but still festive and fun. Best of all, I found a discount coupon on a mommy blog. If you're interested, use the code Babble30 to get 30% off your entire holiday card order. This discount is only valid until Nov 5 for the first 1,000 readers of the blog so I'm not sure how many discounts have been claimed by now. I know it's still a full 2 more months before Christmas, but guess who's already put in an order for her holiday cards? :)

"May I have more chippy chip chips?"

2011-10-23T01:14:00.000-04:00

My snack today

I'm not a natural vegetable lover- my family can attest to this. For the most part, I eat veggies because I know they're good for me, not because I love them. But today, for snack, I couldn't stop eating one of the sturdiest, heartiest, greenest, veggie-est of all vegetables-- kale-- not because I ought to, but because I actually liked it. A lot.

The reason? Kale chips.

Basically, you de-stem the kale, cut or tear it up, toss it with a bit of oil and bake till crisp. An amazing alchemy takes place in the oven where something densely leafy...

turns into something impossibly light, with a nice depth of flavor from the oil and salt. It was amazing...

Of course, the greatest test was whether or not I could get Sophie on board. We actually don't have problems with Sophie eating her vegetables (except maybe raw salad, which I can't imagine any two-year old getting excited about anyway), it's just that she has her days (as with all things toddler). On some days, she'll happily eat her green beans and broccoli as they are on her plate; on others, the only way I can get any vegetable into her is if I hide butternut squash in pasta sauce or drown spinach in her favorite miso soup. So who knows how well she'll take to crunchy kale?

Thankfully, well enough to ask for seconds, actually :)

Child labour

2011-10-21T22:29:00.000-04:00

How do you make your toddler earn her keep?

1) Tell her you have a very special project that you need her help to put together.

2) Omit the fact that it's assembling a shoe rack.

3) Try to sound super enthusiastic.

4) Clap loudly and praise effusively every time she does something right, even if it's just handing you a bolt. And especially if she manages to hold on to anything without flinging it across the room or putting it in her mouth.

5) Watch her beam with pride when she knows she's made a real contribution to a tangible, usable product.

Seriously though, it was amazing to watch Sophie and Jude put the shoe rack together. There was no complaint, no tantrum and she intently listened to every one of our instructions. It sounds silly but it was quite a special thing to see. And best of all, she was *really* a great help to Jude who managed to put the rack together in less than 20 minutes. We were so proud of her and I think she knows it. And now, every time we get ready to leave the house, she looks at our shoe rack and declares proudly, "I help Dada do that!" :)

Pumpkin patch kid

2011-10-15T23:28:00.000-04:00

Click for album

I guess we could have just walked into the supermarket and bought a pumpkin for Halloween, but what would be the fun in that? No walking amidst pumpkins of Brobdingnagian proportions in the blustery autumn wind; no watching Sophie try to stay standing on said pumpkins and then laugh at herself for losing her balance; and no seeing her try to hug, push, shove, carry, hide behind, and climb over those crazy giant pumpkins.

Visiting the pumpkin farm was as much an experience for Sophie as it was for us. She got to go on a hayride round the farm which she really enjoyed while Jude and I marveled at how incredibly ginormous the pumpkins were. I mean, Sophie could barely see over the top of some of the really big ones! At what point of the evolutionary process was it advantageous for pumpkins to grow this big??? All the better to be harvested and carved? I don't think Sophie appreciated the sheer size of those things- right now, I have a feeling that as far as she's concerned, those pumpkins are how real pumpkins look and the "regular" ones at the store are probably miniature in her mind :)

"I love you, pumpkin."

Random daycare daily report #18

2011-10-11T22:39:00.000-04:00

Practising her "cheese!" for Picture Day today

Sophie sure was ready for Picture Day today. When I asked what we'll be doing, she said, "I say "cheese!"" And later, as we were waiting to have the pictures taken, Sophie turned to me and said, "Erin, we have to show our happy face!" Yes, we do Sophie!

Ballerina explorer

2011-10-09T22:56:00.000-04:00

Don't you have one of them in your house?

I hear they come in particularly handy when one finds a safari in the middle of a dance recital. Because you know, that happens all the time...

[The costume's from the Olivia Dream It Be It Role Play Set Jude found at Target in the clearance section. Dada score!]

Random daily daycare report #17

2011-10-06T00:20:00.000-04:00

With Uncle Piao's headphones when the family visited over Christmas

Today, we put some new noise-reducing headphones in our classroom. Sophie LOVED them! She put on a pair and I said, "Sophie, can you hear me?" After that, every time she put them on, she would come running up to me saying, "Erin, can you hear me?" She looked like a little D.J. with them on! :)

Shamu love

2011-10-05T21:39:00.000-04:00

Showing off her new Ann Arbor whale tee

It started when we randomly showed Sophie a video of a killer whale show at SeaWorld. She was completely fascinated (even more so than usual) and wanted to see it over and over again. In passing, I told her that it was the Shamu show (even though the real Shamu died in 1970, SeaWorld retained its name for the show), and ever since then, she pretty much uses 'Shamu' and 'whale' interchangeably. When we were in the aquarium in Boston, all she wanted to see was a whale, but because the whale tours were closed because of Hurricane Irene, the closest thing we saw was a whale skeleton that hangs on the third floor. Still, that made her happy enough.

Since then, we've read books about whales, borrowed a BBC documentary about ocean life from the library and watched some of that with her (without any of the prey and predator bits), and as you can see from above, populated the house with all things whale (bath toys, stickers, books, t-shirts-- she now has TWO, a puzzle, and even a hair clip).

Sophie's favorite Shamu item is a whale bath toy that she carries around everywhere with her. Apart from being her bath companion, it is also often her picnic guest and food taster. Oh, and she talks to him all the time:

Please don't squirt me with your blowhole, Shamu. I getting wet!

Shamu, would you like some cow's milk? [gives him a toy milk carton] I cannot have cow's milk. You drink.

Shamu, are you a good helper? But you have no fingers!

I bring you to Gretchen's House, Shamu. Don't get lost!

[What she was saying as I took the photo above] Good morning, Dada! I wearing Shamu shirt. With blowhole!

Even her teachers at daycare know all about Sophie's Shamu love. According to them, they found out about her obsession last week when the kids were taking turns listening to one of those spiral conch shells. The teachers asked, "Can you hear the ocean? Can you hear the waves?" And when it came to Sophie's turn, apparently she said, "I hear Shamu! I hear Shamu!"

Thank god Sophie's-- ok, with some goading from me-- already decided what she's going to be for Halloween. I'm sure if it was completely up to her, I'd be figuring out some way of sewing a whale costume for a 2 year old...

Schmaltzy maltzy

2011-10-03T22:37:00.000-04:00

Bye bye 12-18 month clothes

This weekend, I cleared out Sophie's wardrobe for the season. I brought up her Fall sweaters and long-sleeve tees from the basement (when sales roll around, I buy things for her up to two sizes bigger and just keep them in the Too-Big-For-Now box) and sorted out what she's now wearing into piles. What you see in the picture is what was left after setting aside everything else that could possibly be re-worn, re-sold, or passed on to my sister as she expects her baby girl in a few weeks (!!). You can't really tell from the photo but these pieces have been lovingly and thoroughly worn through. They're all faded and/or stained but still I'm having a hard time discarding them. Call me schmaltzy and sentimental, but I actually viscerally reacted against the thought of putting away the dress she wore on her first birthday (which she has long outgrown but that I still put on her as a blouse). And I can't possibly throw away the pajamas she wore when she took her first steps, right? Right? Her first steps, people!

It's probably the time of the year (leaves falling, colors changing, etc.) or maybe an overall pensiveness as I approach (in mere weeks) my mid-thirties. Whatever it is, putting away her used clothes just reminds me that Sophie is really no longer a baby. And yet in so many ways, she is still our baby. This is the girl who, after I tuck into her crib, will sometimes-- with all the pluck she can muster-- say, "Mama, can you go outside? I sleep all by myself." But she is also the same girl who on other nights, will plaintively ask Jude, "Dada, can you stay in my room with me?"

I'm keeping the dress she wore at her first birthday. Maybe I'll make it a thing and keep every dress/outfit she wears at each birthday. It'll probably start getting a little creepy when she's ten (or maybe even earlier), but for now, let's just all agree that it's me being sentimental as opposed to borderline obsessive...

What do you mean it's October 1 already?

2011-10-01T14:08:00.001-04:00

Oh, did I mention it's also 47F (8C) outside?

Who loves Kipper?

2011-09-29T20:55:00.000-04:00

One morning earlier this week, before I could fully open Sophie's door to wake her up, she looked at me sleepily from her crib and said, "Duck play in the playground. Like Kipper." I had to smile- I guess this is what it's like to be a 2-year old, when you go to bed and dream of your favorite orange cartoon beagle :)

We started to let Sophie watch Kipper on our trip to Boston when we knew we had to occupy her with something during the flight and long drives. Our friends Amy and Eric recommended the series glowingly and now I see why. It is exactly what you would hope for in an animated show for toddlers- soft, warm colors; characters who are gentle and loving and who speak slowly; sweet and simple plot narratives; and the greatest trauma any of the characters have had to endure is losing his sippy cup- something any 2-year old can identify with. Kipper and his buddies Tiger, Pig, and Arnold (Sophie's favorite), amble about in a genial, self-amused manner, often chuckling infectiously to themselves about their mildly mischievous adventures. There are occasional moments of slapstick comedy but it's high on cuteness, and like I said, low on angst and violence.

Although speaking of angst, we did have a moment yesterday when Sophie was watching an episode she had already seen before, about Kipper being visited by a baby goose. As the video ended, Sophie suddenly burst into tears. And I mean a full-fledged wail, complete with giant globs of tears streaming down her cheeks. I turned to see what was happening on screen- Kipper's new friend was flying away and Kipper was waving goodbye. Sophie was inconsolable.

Later, as I was putting her to bed, I asked her why she cried earlier. Sophie's answer? "Because goose fly away. I sad." Our sweet, sensitive Sophie... This makes me think to never show her the first 20 minutes of Finding Nemo or the second half of Bambi, for a while at least. Until she is of suitable age, Sophie will believe that Finding Nemo begins with Nemo's first day at school and that Bambi ends with the whole family escaping from that first hunting expedition intact. If a goose flying away reduced her to tears, I don't think Sophie can handle watching someone losing a parent on screen. You can watch the full Kipper episode here, complete with the traumatic farewell...

Random daycare daily report #16

2011-09-27T21:19:00.000-04:00

Converse Cat in the Hat high-top sneakers, or what Sophie calls, "my fancy dancing shoes"

Sophie is sure excited about her new** shoes. She's been showing them off all day :) When we transition from one activity to another, we'll always ask the kids how they want to move (like a bunny, like an airplane, etc...) Today, when we asked Sophie, she said, "With my new shoes!" :)

** Even though Sophie's had these shoes for a while, they've been a little big for her and so she didn't get to wear them very often. And she never wore them to daycare till today, so as far as she's concerned, they're new :)

In case I ever forget

2011-09-26T00:34:00.000-04:00

After her bath tonight, Sophie threw herself into my arms and gave me a hug. And as she nuzzled into my neck, she said, "I'm happy, Mama. I'm happy."

I asked her why.

"Because Mama is hugging me."

An apple a day

2011-09-25T00:21:00.000-04:00

Eating her weight in apples

It couldn't have been a more beautiful Fall day for the quintessential Michigan apple-picking experience- sunny, crisp, and just chilly enough to make fresh donuts and warm cider the perfect treat after all that walking and foraging. The Cooks, Cooneys, Sophie and I (Jude was doing a bike tour in Detroit) visited Wasem Fruit Farm where the Fall picking season had just begun two weeks ago. MacIntoshes, Cortlands, Jonathans, and Honey Crisps were ripe for the picking and Sophie for one, couldn't wait to sink her teeth in almost each and every apple she managed to either pick from the tree or off the ground.

Chomp chomp chomp

She had a wonderful time running about with the big kids, stomping through the apple trees, crawling under the foliage for lower-hanging fruit, and just basically reveling in the experience of being able to pick something off a tree and then putting it straight into your mouth without having Mama take it away from you because it wasn't edible (for instance, a quarter or a bulb syringe...) It didn't matter that her pants were getting wet from the dew-damp grass or that she kept falling over the apples strewn all over the ground- she could RUN and there were apples to be eaten, and that was what mattered :)

There were raspberries too and those were even more fun for Sophie because unlike most of the apples which were too high for her to pick on her own, the raspberry bushes were the perfect height for her to look at, touch, and pick.

Sweet raspberries

Squishing it in her hands

Sophie also had apple cider for the first time. I wish she could experience fully the whole warm-donut-with-hot-cider-after-apple-picking experience, but she didn't seem too bothered that everyone was having donuts except her. I think she was just happy to have done something new, fun, and exciting. And the fresh cider was also probably tasty enough to distract her from the fact that she didn't get to have any fried dough.

More importantly though, she got to spend time with friends (both the kids and grown-ups) and so couple that with being out in the wide open orchard with copious amounts of apple literally within her reach, it was just the most perfect way for a two-year-old to spend a beautiful Fall morning.

Julianne and Finn- the best babysitters-in-training ever!

More pictures here.

Pizza vs. Cereal

2011-09-20T23:36:00.000-04:00

And so we made pizza for dinner tonight :) No cheese, of course.

Thanks to pre-made fresh pizza dough from Trader Joe's (vegan, yay!), all we had to do was to prepare a bunch of toppings:

Broccoli, thinly sliced potatoes (tossed with olive oil and garlic), sliced ham, sweet peppers, and caramelized onions

Sophie was super-excited about pitching in- every time I told her she was going to help me with making the pizza, she'd add, "And Sophie will eat it!" She's not the most refined of sous-chefs, I have to say and her preferred method of topping the pizza was of the throwing variety...

Sous chef at work

And in the 15 minutes that took us to assemble the pizza, she ate her fair share of toppings- mostly the caramelized onions and sliced ham.

Sneaking bites in between "helping"

Caught red-handed!

As the pizza was baking, Jude came home and Sophie declared excitedly, "We have pizza! You'll love it, Dada! It's delicious!"

And it was really tasty, although in the end, a little too adventurous for Sophie's palate, I think. I rolled the dough fairly thin and so it wasn't the chewy crust she's used to at school or what she's eaten from a proper pizza place. Plus she got frustrated picking out the broccoli and sweet peppers that after about 10 minutes of fiddling with her plate, she was ready to call it quits. People say you shouldn't prepare anything else for your child if they reject their meal but I just couldn't bear to send her to bed with just four bites of pizza crust and a handful of ham slices. So while Jude and I polished up the rest of the painstakingly assembled and gorgeous looking (if I should say so myself) pizza, Sophie happily scarfed down two portions of cereal with cold milk.

*Sigh*... we will endeavor again...

Herman the Worm

2011-09-18T01:20:00.000-04:00

Having a sister who's 17 years younger than you (and therefore spending pretty much most of my late adolescence and early adulthood babysitting her), and teaching Sunday School for six years and preschool for a little more than two, I'd like to think that I have a fairly extensive repertoire of children's songs and rhymes.

Then, moments like this come along to prove otherwise:

Sophie randomly broke out into this song after dinner and I had NO clue what she was singing/saying. I was giggling so hard at her enthusiastic rendition (you don't hear me in the video because literally, this was the fourth time she was at it- I was still grinning from ear to ear though...) plus you have to admit, she looks so darn precious singing it (channeling Debbie Gibson/ Tiffany circa 1988 with that side pony-tail), so I had no choice but to look the song up online:

Herman the Worm

I'm sittin' on the fence post,
Chewin' my bubblegum (make chewing sound)
Playin' with my yo-yo (do-whap, do-whap)
When along came Herman the Worm
And he was this big
And I said "Herman, what happened?"

According to the various websites, there's more to the song, but it involves Herman eating all manner of things ranging from a ladybug to his own sister (??!!) so maybe Sophie's daycare-- which is the only place she could have learned this- stopped where they did to avoid the macabre aspects of Herman's genocidal tendencies...

Random daycare daily report #15

2011-09-16T22:14:00.000-04:00

Busy painting with Wesley

Sophie enjoyed large group painting today. She sat down at the table and asked, "May I paint, please?" She's been using such polite words lately! Later, she wanted a toy a friend was using and she said, "May I have that toy, please?" Sadly, her friend didn't appreciate her courtesy enough to give up their toy, but what a pleasant way to ask! :) Then, during clean up time, I heard her on the "phone" saying, "Have to clean up- bye bye!" She's too funny!

Photo booth in your living room

2011-09-15T21:00:00.000-04:00

Maybe I’ve watched Amelie one too many times but I really love the look of the black and white prints taken with an old school photo booth. Sadly, the only one I know of near us is at the mall and we rarely make a trip out there. Which is why I love the site Photoboother that turns any of your uploaded photos into that familiar strip we all love. Check out some of the printed results below. They look so genuine!

How to get to Sesame Street

2011-09-14T22:51:00.002-04:00

HomeGrown Ann Arbor

2011-09-10T23:37:00.000-04:00

Usually, it takes Sophie about 20 minutes or so to fall asleep. She lies in her crib and me on the futon next to it- I tell her stories, or she rattles on about everything and anything that goes through her precious little mind (last night, she pretended that her teddy bear had a poopy diaper and enacted the entire diaper-changing routine, complete with asking me for wipe wipes, diaper cream, and a clean diaper...). But tonight, her head barely hit the mattress and I think she was out like a light, although not before declaring, "I'm happy, Mama. Are you happy?" :)

And that's because we had just spent the last 2 hours at the HomeGrown Festival in Kerrytown. Basically a celebration of local farmers, growers, food purveyors, and makers of all things local, it was a wonderful event filled with good food, music, dancing, and just a vibrant atmosphere of community and cheer. Whether it's turkey, tomatoes, or tofu, all the ingredients used by the vendors came from local farms (see links to specific farms here) and so there was a definite sense that we were supporting the people who grow our food. Between Jude and I, we shared duck confit and BBQ brisket sandwiches from Tracklements and a chicken/chorizo/okra stew from Grange- astoundingly good. Sophie wasn't as concerned about the food (although she didn't complain about her slice of vegan pizza and chocolate chip cookie) and alternated between riding on my back on the Ergo and running around with Jude. What she enjoyed most- the dancing :) There was a music stage set up and different local bands played throughout the night. Sophie LOVED the music and spent most of the night twirling, spinning, jumping, hopping- basically grooving to everything that was playing. She especially liked Saints of Soul playing James Brown- in the words of Jude, "She's getting her mind blown by Soul..." :) She-- and her parents-- was also enthralled by The Appleseed Collective, an Americana-jazz-folk foursome whom we've actually heard playing at Selma Cafe when my parents were here over Christmas. A little gypsy, a little dixie, they've got a wonderfully eclectic sound that got all three of us quite smitten. This video doesn't do them any justice but Jude felt compelled to record down a little of what we were enjoying (not in video- Sophie kicking her feet and bobbing her head to the music as she sat on my back on the Ergo):

Speaking of all things local, today was our first pick-up from Harvest Kitchen, a prepared foods CSA that we just signed up for. Two years ago, we signed up for a farmshare with Tantré Farms (see here), and while it was a great experience, it also got a little overwhelming during those weeks when we were just overloaded with too much produce (there's only so much sweet peppers I can handle over a 2 week period, or all those tomatoes and basil!...) What Harvest Kitchen does is to get around that by preparing meals for you using the same locally-sourced, organic, and sustainably-grown ingredients you might otherwise have gotten through your CSA. Everything on their menu comes from local farms so you know that you're supporting community agriculture. Every week, you get enough food for about 3 to 4 meals which really helps us since both Jude and I both now have full-time positions and making good, healthy dinners has become tricky business. We're hoping that with Harvest Kitchen, we now need only to plan dinners for a few nights per week, or make something simple (like a carb or salad dish) to augment what we've gotten from them. Best of all, the food tastes like what we would make for ourselves anyway- curries, stews, pasta, soups, etc. We didn't get a full share last week but we did buy a portion of lamb curry which was delicious. You could tell that it was definitely homemade- the flavors were fresh, delicate, not too salty/sweet/aggressive like what you would get at a restaurant, and there was the plus of knowing that everything came from Michigan growers. This week, our full share consists of black bean corn salsa, chicken chili, baked beans with pork, verde rolls, beef and potato stew, and corn griddle cakes.

Our share this week

Every week is inspired by a different cuisine-- 2 weeks ago was Italian, last week was Indian, and this week's Southwestern. We haven't tried anything from this week's share yet, but as I packed the food into the fridge (photos here), I got really excited just reading the labels of what each box contains.

And it's things like this-- and like HomeGrown-- that make us grateful for Ann Arbor :)

Yup, that's our Sophie alright...

2011-09-08T17:00:00.000-04:00

Feeding Nicky the guinea pig at Liz's in February

Sophie's daycare was closed for three days last week and our friend, Liz, and her daughters, Hannah and Divya, wonderfully agreed to help us babysit Sophie for a couple of hours while Jude went to school for an important meeting. Hannah had a riding lesson and so Liz brought Sophie along with them. Here's the email we got from Liz that night:

"While Hannah was in the barn caring for her horse, Sophie wanted to roam about. Instead of keeping Sophie on tight reins, I let her go on her own, wondering when far would be too far. I'm afraid I never got to see that. She kept going and going and going. Finally, I had to protect her from falling in a pond, so I kind of tried to redirect her away from the hidden pond and that's when she started in earnest - "I want to see the ginny pig!" She had a couple of moments where she laid on the ground face down, but thankfully I saw that at your place last time we visited and knew that she'd be fine. I would pick her up and tell her that she could cry on Auntie Liz's shoulder - and she would manage the funniest "crying" face but would forget to make the crying sound.

After Hannah was done with her lessons, Divya got a turn riding the horse. When Divya came close to us, Sophie informed the instructor "It's Sophie's turn to ride the horsey." So we put her on the horse, and she demanded for the helmet. I'm glad Sophie cares a lot about protection of her head. She was brave enough to even feed the horse, though she didn't seem too fond of them at first.

On the way to and from lessons, Sophie would join us in many sing-a-long songs. She didn't sing "You Are My Sunshine", but she did lead us in "Head and Shoulders".

At home, she did have the orange and would have eaten two or more if I let her. While she was eating oranges, Divya was sitting on a chair in the playroom eating a peach. In a bit, Sophie managed to tiptoe and reach an apple that was sitting on the kitchen counter. Before I knew it, Sophie was sitting in the same chair Divya was sitting in and had her little teeth marks in her apple. She wanted to eat a fruit just like Divya was eating a fruit.

I didn't realize Sophie was expecting a report of the day, til she got in the car and started reading to Jude her notes from Gretchen's House and said, "I had a great time at Auntie Liz's house"."

And that, ladies, and gentlemen, is totally our daughter in a nutshell :)

Cantaloupe love

2011-09-07T16:29:00.000-04:00

Thirteen months ago, Sophie discovered how to use a fork and began her love affair with cantaloupe:

It has turned into an enduring love...

It's so lovely that even though she's grown so much in 13 months, so much of her still remains the same... Oh sweet, sweet child :)

Let's just say, we ate well.

2011-09-06T16:13:00.000-04:00

Not everything on our Boston trip was for Sophie, of course. Specifically, her parents are too consummate of foodies to let her dictate their meal choices (if she did, we would have spent the week eating various permutations of cold pasta, chicken nuggets, miso soup, rice, bread, green beans, french fries, tofu, corn, hotdog, chicken noodle soup, and cantaloupe). There were several places we knew we wanted to (re)visit and some others that we stumbled on a little more serendipitously. Like a Korean restaurant in Westborough we just decided to go into on our first night because it was next to the grocery store we went to get Sophie's necessities. Imaginatively named Westborough Korean Restaurant, this placed serves hands-down the best Korean food we've ever tasted. Even though we only ordered the soondubu jigae (seafood tofu stew) and pork bulgogi, they were enough to blow our minds. Oh, and did I mention the ELEVEN side-dishes that came with our meal?...

Count and weep...

Breakfasts were basically a wash on the trip since 1) we wanted to take our mornings easy and rushing out to get in line for breakfast somewhere just didn't make sense; and 2) we had bought one of those single-serve variety pack cereal for Sophie and she wasn't going to be able to finish a 12-pack all by herself.

We lucked out for lunch our second day when our friend, Jenn, helpfully told us that Flour Bakery, one of the places on our list, is conveniently located next to the Boston Children's Museum. And so after Sophie had all her fun, it was her parents' turn to indulge. Even though the roasted lamb sandwich and chicken burger special we ordered were delicious, it was the sweets that had our hearts a-singing.

Behold the swoon-worthy crème brûlée and sticky bun at Flour

We didn't forget about Sophie- we got her a vegan chocolate muffin as a tea-time snack that I then had to fight her for because it was SOOOO delicious. I nearly took it away from her because I didn't think there was anyway something so moist and rich could be vegan...

Obliterating her chocolate muffin

That night, dinner was with Jenn at Summer Shack, where we all ordered a lobster roll each (except Sophie, who had chicken noodle soup, a butter-less corn on the cob, and several dinner rolls...). The lobster roll wasn't anything to write home, which only made Jude and I even more determined to have a good lobster roll before we left New England.

Our next good eat after that was not a meal so much as a treat. It was the day of Hurricane Irene and we stayed in most of the day (and ordered room service for lunch). By the evening though, everyone was going a little stir-crazy and we decided to go for a walk/drive around Cambridge. Pretty much every other shop was closed, but thankfully, not Toscanini's, and so in we popped for yummy gelato while Sophie got a strawberry sorbet. The last time we were here, I got a honey lavender gelato, the memory of which still lingers in my mind. They didn't have it this time, so I settled for a combination of burnt caramel and malted vanilla. So different, but still oh so good...

Yummmmm...

Our rather rich room service lunch (fish & chips and a steak sandwich) on top of that gelato meant that we didn't really need a heavy dinner. Jude suggested some kind of soup and as I searched Yelp for recommendations for good soups in the area, I found several good reviews for Le's in the heart of Harvard Square. Jude and I never came across a bowl of pho we didn't like but we were still really full and so we decided, just one large bowl for the three of us. We ordered it to go, together with a couple of desserts from Finale, which we knew we wanted to return to after our last trip. The verdict? If our daughter had her way, she would have finished that bowl of pho all by herself. It was flavorful, hearty, and thoroughly satisfying- perfect for a stormy, rainy day. And the desserts, I think they speak for themselves:

Crème brûlée

Ultimate chocolate cake

And testimony to how good they were? We bought the EXACT same ones again the next night!

We satisfied our lobster roll craving the next day when we finally made it to Alive and Kicking for their lobster sandwich. Nestled in a tiny neighborhood, this fishmonger is located on the same street as where our friend, Terence used to live when he was at Harvard and when we visited him in 2007, I trudged 2 long city blocks to get to it. But they turned me away because it was too early in the morning. Let's just say it was worth the 4-year wait... It doesn't look like a lot of lobster nor does it appear to be as impressive as the stereotypical New England lobster roll but this is the REAL DEAL, folks. Fresh, succulent, and nothing added to it but just a tinge of mayo- no fillers or celery. Jude and I chomped our sandwiches down in complete silence. It was OUTSTANDING.

So worth the wait...

One thing we knew for sure we wanted to go back to was Sapporo Ramen in Porter Square. Oh ramen- how you have a hold on our hearts- the one noodle dish we love more than pho... Thankfully, they had onigiri on the menu for Sophie- I don't think we would have given up eating there just because Sophie can't have egg noodles (we would have just bought her something from one of the other Japanese food vendors). I was enjoying my Tan Tan ramen so much I didn't remember to take a photo until I was more than half-way through.

*slurp*

That was our last dinner in Boston. Our flight was at noon the next day and I figured we probably won't have time for any foodie excursions in the morning. But a combination of efficient packing the night before and an early rise for everyone meant we managed to squeeze in one last excursion to Flour on the way to the airport :) We got Sophie a vegan cinnamon-cranberry muffin and we bought a sticky bun and sticky bun bread pudding for the flight. But what got a resounding, "Holy cow!" from Jude at 9.00 in the morning was this ingenious creation:

Flour's idea of a breakfast pizza

That, ladies and gentlemen, is a breakfast pizza with smoked salmon, herbed cream cheese, roasted peppers, capers, and get this,... a half-baked whole egg. Yes, you read that right. And it tasted as amazing as it sounds and looks. Crazy good, that's what it was.

Crazy good...

"It's a nice day!"

2011-09-01T23:39:00.000-04:00

Which is what Sophie said as we strapped her into the car seat after Stan and Susan's wedding. The girl had a blast of a time during our vacation and everyday was a special one for her in one way or another. Jude and I have done the whole tourist/history thing around Boston (see here and here), and so this trip, apart for celebrating Susan and Stan's wedding, was pretty much for Sophie.

We've been really lucky in terms of air-travel with her. Thanks to our CARES harness, we don't haul Sophie's car seat with us but she still gets to sit safely and comfortably in her own seat. She was so excited, she announced to everyone within earshot of us, "I going on holiday! I go to Boston!"

All strapped in and ready to go!

We make sure to time our flights to coincide with her nap time (between 1.00 and 2.00) so every time we've flown in the past year, she almost always falls asleep within 30 minutes of take-off. I think something about the vibrations of the plane lulls her.

We didn't get to do much that first day since by the time we got our baggage, picked up our rental car, navigate through peak-hour traffic and the MANY toll-stops along the Massachusetts freeways, and stopped by a grocery store Sophie's necessities, it was basically dinner time (subject for another post...). Sophie was just a little trooper through it all. She gladly rode on my back on the Ergo carrier through the airport so I could have my hands free in case Jude needed help with the luggage and was happy to let Kipper and her many apps entertain her on the iPad while we drove an hour to the hotel.

Fast asleep after a long day on the road

The next day was totally Sophie Day. Not only did she get to spend an entire morning exploring the Boston Children's Museum, she woke up from her hour-long nap in the car (as Dada took Mama on a scenic drive around Boston) to find herself at the Boston Public Garden where she saw for herself the ducks of "Make Way for Ducklings".

Fun at the Boston Children's Museum

She ran to sit on the ducklings all by herself

Sitting on Mrs. Mallard

Honestly, I think if we had gone home right there and then, Sophie would still have been one happy child. But we changed her into a t-shirt and let her splash in the tadpole pool in the Commons (with our friend Julie), and it was like the Special Day that Would Not End for her :)

Wading in the Tadpole Pool

Saturday was an exciting day for our friends, Stan and Susan. But it was one exciting day for Sophie too. She's been to a couple of weddings with us, but not one recently where we could talk to her about what was going on. She knew it was a big deal coz she got to put on a nice dress and her "fancy dancing boots", as she calls them. More importantly though, she got to dance. Sophie LOVES to dance. Nothing coordinated, of course, but she loves to spin and twirl, flail her hands in the air (it comes across more like flapping, really...), and just groove to the beat. It didn't matter if the DJ was playing the Stones' "I Can Get No Satisfaction" or The Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling", Sophie wanted to get in on the action on the dance floor any way she could.

Glee on the dance floor, even without the music playing!

Converse Cat in the Hat high-tops, just for dancing

Slow-dancing with Mama to Jack Johnson

That night, we braced ourselves for what the weather reports told us would be the beginning of Hurricane Irene's onslaught of the East Coast, and we knew that Sunday would be spent mostly indoors. Sophie didn't care where she was; as long as she had her parents with her, her books, puzzles, and PBS ;) Conditions actually got significantly better in the evening and we managed to take a walk/drive around Cambridge. Most shops were closed because of the weather but people were out and about so the places that were open were actually quite crowded. Like Toscanini's, where Sophie enjoyed a strawberry sorbet and Jude and I split a salted caramel/ malted vanilla gelato (like I said, for another post...)

Strawberry sorbet

To work off the cabin fever from being cooped up all day, we found a public playground next to an elementary school where we let Sophie just run about. A bunch of other parents and their children were out too and no one seemed to mind the fact that everything was wet and there were bits of fallen branches here and there. I think they were just as relieved as us to have found a place to let their stir-crazy offsprings unwind after a day of being house-bound thanks to Irene.

When Monday rolled round, you wouldn't have been able to guess that just 24-hours ago, this city had just been caught in the bands of a hurricane. The sun was shining, it was all clear blue skies, with a crisp morning breeze. Sophie's going through a whale craze right now (well, a Shamu craze, specifically), and so we thought she might enjoy the New England Aquarium. And she was enthralled. Even though the whale-watching boat tours were cancelled, there was still plenty of sea creatures for her to gawk at. She learned all about shallow water habitats, was mesmerized by the large penguin exhibit, saw a jellyfish properly for the first time ("It's like an umbrella- open, shut them, open, shut them..."), and got to touch a beach crab, sting ray ("It so slimey!"), and starfish. Yup, she was a happy child :)

So much to see

Touching a beach crab

Giving the baby sea lion a high-five

If you asked me what my earliest memory of a family vacation is, I'm not sure if I can tell you (Kuantan, Malaysia, maybe?...) and even though I know Sophie might not remember this trip beyond the next few months, I have a feeling it's actually the first holiday of which she will have any recollection. She truly had a wonderful, wonderful time, and at the end of the day, hurricane or not, that's what truly matters...

Bye bye, Boston!

Thanks, Irene...

2011-08-28T13:04:00.000-04:00

We're all safe- thank you everyone for your emails, text messages, and calls. We've been in the Boston area for the past 3 days and now caught in the wide bands of Irene's path. We had plans to visit Cape Cod today and tomorrow but that isn't going to happen by a long shot. We're staying put in our hotel in Westborough (about 45 mins outside of the city) until later this afternoon when there might be a pocket for relief from the wind and rain, and then make it out to Boston itself. Things are nasty, of course, but actually a little better here away from the coast than forecast.

Let's hope the airport won't be too insane on Tuesday.

You can't curry love

2011-08-22T15:58:00.000-04:00

The new-found social and political symbolism of the dish aside, I embraced Singapore's National Curry Day yesterday as an opportunity to recreate one of my favorite things from home. My mom makes the best curry I know and nothing I've made has ever come close to her hallowed version. I guess it doesn't help that in the years we've been here, I've only ever relied on pre-mixes. But this time, I promised Jude that I was going to do it old-school, from scratch as much as possible.

I used this Violet Oon recipe as a starting point: first point of order, a whole chicken from Whole Foods properly chopped up (they're one of the few places in Ann Arbor where you can request to have your chicken chopped up into fairly small pieces as opposed to the typical 8 portions). Next, the aromatics:

Shallots, ginger, galangal, garlic, and chillies- all ready to be ground

I didn't take a picture of how they look like ground (sort of a speckled indistinguishable pulp) or of the curry paste I made by mixing curry powder my parents had brought from Singapore and some water. The next step was to marinate the chicken, which I think was key to the flavorful meat and robust richness of the curry:

Chicken marinating with curry paste and ground aromatics

The house really started to smell like my mom's kitchen when I then fried up the remaining curry paste and some bruised lemongrass. Adding the marinated chicken and coconut milk only heightened that to a whole other level. When people talk about sense memory, this is what they mean- when a smell can literally transport you to another place, and with that a whole host of associated memories- home, love, warmth, comfort...

Frying curry paste

In goes the marinated chicken

With 3 cups of coconut milk

In the end, it still wasn't quite my mom's curry, but it was about as close as I have ever gotten it- really flavorful, palate-coatingly rich, pungent, and deeply satisfying. Unlike the anaemic pre-mixed curry pastes we've used in the past, this curry had soul... Maybe it was just the fresh aromatics, or maybe because I was thinking of home a lot when cooking, but it was a definite Like Water for Chocolate moment when cooking and eating became jumbled up with a whole bunch of other emotions.

Dinner

Mom, you should be so proud of me :)

Do you know the muffin Mama?

2011-08-21T00:23:00.000-04:00

Nothing like a warm homemade muffin for breakfast

I've lamented before about how difficult it is for any of us to have a proper breakfast on weekdays (well, except for Sophie, who gets a nice breakfast at daycare every morning...)- cold cereal, toast, or some fruit is about as substantial as it gets for us on most days. On the weekends though, I try to do something special and today, it was vegan banana chocolate chip muffin. After baking Sophie her moist chocolate vegan birthday cake and sampling the various vegan baked goods we occasionally treat Sophie with (zucchini bread, chocolate chip cookie, etc), I'm now totally sold on how good they can taste when done right. And all the vegan recipes I've encountered so far have been so unfussy, easily put together with things we already have in our pantry, and with none of that sometimes anxiety-inducing creaming, folding, and beating that come with conventional baking recipes.

And so Friday night, armed with this well-reviewed recipe, I mixed up the batter for the muffins-- which literally took me 10 minutes (including mashing the bananas)-- and threw the muffins in the oven for 30 minutes. By 11.00pm, the whole house smelled like it was 7.00 in the morning at a bed & breakfast- warm, comforting, all banana-y and chocolatey, thanks to the delicious "I-swear-you-can't-tell-it's-vegan" dairy- and nut-free chocolate chips we got from Plum Market :) I let the dozen muffins cool overnight and it was just the most perfect thing for breakfast this morning (after lightly warming it up in the oven again).

And how much did Sophie enjoy the little surprise for breakfast? This much...

Muffin glee!

Oh, and after the one she had for breakfast, she clamored for another when she woke up from her nap for afternoon snack too :) "Chocolate cheeeeeeeeeeep!"

Do you need some Vitamin D today?

2011-08-20T23:33:00.000-04:00

Here you go...

And, you're welcome :)

Why you shouldn't take medical advice from a two-year-old

2011-08-18T22:21:00.005-04:00

In an overzealous effort to kill a fly this evening, Jude snubbed his toe against our dining table. Badly. As he hobbled around the house in pain, our daughter dispensed this sound medical advice :

Jude: Dada has a boo-boo, Sophie.
Sophie: Maybe I give ice-pack?
Jude: Thank you, Sophie. But I think Dada's toe might be broken.
Sophie: I fix it. With the tape.
Me: No, Sophie. Dada is really hurt. He probably needs to go see a doctor.
Sophie: Then the doctor give you a lollipop, Dada.

Why shouldn't all medical emergencies be treated with duct tape and candy? :)

Things that make me ache for home

2011-08-16T12:56:00.002-04:00

Missing out on moments like this.

A bowl of bak chor mee.

Long bus-rides around the island- going nowhere, seeing everything.

Durians.

Friends who knew me when I had braces, permed hair, and/or bangs...

My inexplicable enthusiasm for Cook-a-Curry Day this Sunday, even if we are participating from afar.

Parkway Parade.

This.

‎"The landscape you grow up in speaks to you in a way that nowhere else does." -Molly Parker

"I itchy, Mama..."

2011-08-15T15:15:00.005-04:00

This is pretty much the scene at our house most evenings these days- Sophie holding a tea party with whichever toy and/or parent who happens to be closest by. It's all very elaborate, involving her brewing the tea/coffee, adding milk and sugar, stirring it with the teaspoon, standing in front of the fan so it'll be cool enough to drink, and then there's all the food- sausage, salami, cheese, crackers, carrots, a chicken leg (don't ask...).

This increased interest in food has actually been a really good opportunity for us to start talking to Sophie about her allergies and teaching her about the things she can and cannot eat. Especially now that she's actively asking for specific things to eat-- both from us and at school-- she needs to learn that there are some things that she can't have. In particular, she's been quite taken with a toy carton of milk from her Melissa & Doug toy food set. She knows it's "cow's milk" because there's a picture of a cow on it, and we've been teaching her that she can't have cow's milk.

Me: Sophie, can you drink cow's milk?

Sophie: No.

Me: What happens when Sophie drinks cow's milk?

Sophie: I get itchy.

Me: So what kind of milk does Sophie drink?

Sophie: Soy milk. I can drink the soy milk.

We got the results back from her last allergy test and it's not good news- both her milk and egg allergy indices have actually gone up and a particularly bad reaction to soy cheese-- I found out the hard way that even though it says it's soy cheese, there's often some kind of dairy by-product in these cheeses that Sophie clearly reacts against-- means that she's nowhere near outgrowing her sensitivity to dairy. We're teaching her to also not ask for egg or cheese which we think she knows; but what's harder are things that have egg/milk/cheese in them that she can't see. Like Goldfish crackers. Or certain baked goods. Her daycare is really good about keeping these foods away from her but it doesn't mean that accidents don't happen- more than once, she's touched the cream cheese on her friends' bagels just out of curiosity...

These days, I read food labels like a hawk and have learned to be sensitive to words like whey, casein, and any additive that starts with lact- which all suggest the presence of milk; when we eat out, my first instinct is to see how many items on the menu are vegan or dairy/egg-free; and when we cook at home, we try to avoid those foods altogether so that there's no need to make something separate for Sophie. Having a child with allergies is not stress-free by any means, but with some planning, and a lot of care, it thankfully hasn't been that stressful either...

Anatomy of a toddler birthday party (Photos)

2011-08-12T21:12:00.006-04:00

Shopping list

2011-08-10T22:02:00.000-04:00

I go to the supermarket, Mama.
Yes, we did.

I buy some vegetables.
Yes, we did.

I buy some broccolis.
No, we didn't.

I buy some carrots, Mama.
Yes, we did.

I buy some fish.
Yes, we did.

I buy some bread.
Yes, we did.

I buy some strawberries.
No, we didn't.

I buy some salads.

No, we didn't.

I buy some Mama!
...

Happy 2nd Birthday, sweet girl!

2011-08-08T23:50:00.004-04:00

Until I gather my wits about me after throwing a birthday party for a now two-year-old, whittling 218 photos to a manageable 55, and playing temporary single-mom as Jude attends a workshop in Colorado, a proper party recap post is going to have to wait. Till then, here's a series of my favorite photos from Sophie's party. It took her a while to realize that the cake was hers for real and that she was actually going to be blowing out proper (instead of imaginary) candles. Once she did though, you could not find a happier child anywhere in Ann Arbor... :)

"Join us for a cherry picnic?"

2011-08-04T23:41:00.001-04:00

How do you say No? :)

Another memory to bottle and remember for always

2011-07-31T22:31:00.009-04:00

It took Sophie 45 minutes from the time I put her down in her crib to her actually falling asleep. It was like she had so much to tell me about her weekend as if I hadn't been around for any it...

Sophie: We went to the bookstore, Mama.
Me: Yes, we did, Sophie.
Sophie: The bookstore is open. We took the escalator. Like Courduroy.
Me: Yup, the bookstore was open. And we read many books.
Sophie: Shall we go to the bookstore, Mama? To see pigeon? (We had read Pigeon Wants a Puppy this morning when we were at Borders.)
Me: Would you like to go to the bookstore again tomorrow, Sophie?
Sophie: Yes. Maybe the bookstore open.
Me: I'm quite sure the bookstore will be open tomorrow.
Sophie: Sophie will be happy!

[Just as I thought she had fallen asleep...]
Sophie: Where is our car, Mama?
Me: It's in the parking lot, Sophie.
Sophie: Where is Sophie's carseat, Mama?
Me: It's in the car.
Sophie: Our car clean. We car wash.
Me: Yes, we took it to the car wash yesterday. Remember, we gave it a vacuum and a shampoo?
Sophie: Yah. It's not dirty anymore, Mama.
Me: No, it's not. It's...?
Sophie: It's clean. It's so clean. That's good, Mama.

I vaguely remember her saying something else about playing in the sandbox but by that time, I was starting to drift off to sleep. I think when she realized I wasn't responding anymore, she just turned around and went to sleep herself. I probably should just pretend I was sleeping right from the get go just so she would go to bed, but I was actually really enjoying our little tête-à-tête in the dark- the two of us lying on our backs- she in her crib, and I on the futon next to it, chit-chatting about everything, but really, nothing, like girlfriends having a mini pajama party :)

[Sophie rocking her fedora on our way out the house this morning.]

Highlight of my day

2011-07-28T22:57:00.007-04:00

Time: Evening
Soundtrack: The Weepies
Activity: "Look at me, Mama! I'm twirling. I'm twirling, Mama!"
Mood: Much in love

Here comes the sun

2011-07-26T23:11:00.003-04:00

What do you get when you add a Dada who has successfully defended his dissertation (yay!!), long summer days (sunset at 9.30), and scorching hot temperatures?

Well, evenings at the swimming pool and picnic dinners after, of course!

No fun

2011-07-24T23:07:00.005-04:00

For the third time in her life, Sophie got her blood drawn :( It was time for an updated allergy profile and the only way to get an accurate picture of that was to do a blood test. She had one done when she was 7 months old and then again about six months ago, neither of which were pleasant experiences, of course. Having your blood drawn is no fun, whether you're two or twenty... But according to Jude, Sophie was really brave this time. We had talked to her about it beforehand, telling her that she was going to see the doctor's and that she might get a little boo-boo. Apparently, she gamely offered her arm to the nurse when asked, didn't fuss when they prepped it for the syringe (swabbing, tying the rubber tubing, finding the vein, etc...), and really only cried when the needle poked skin. That didn't last long either and as a treat, Jude got her an entire bottle of orange juice just for her alone that he bedazzled with stickers the nurses had given her :)

We won't know the test results for a while, but we're hopeful that we'll see lower allergy indices. Her milk allergy index has been falling steadily since she was an infant which means she might eventually outgrow it altogether. Her egg allergy index was still fairly high the last time we checked though, and if it hasn't gone down now that she's almost two, it might be something she will have to live with for a while :( So far, it hasn't been too difficult keeping her diet dairy-free- she's never had dairy or egg and so she never asks for them (except for cheese, which I suspect she sees her friends in school eating, so it's something of a curiosity for her). She gets vegan baked goods (zucchini cake and cookies) once in a while, and Jude and I eat dairy-free whenever we can so she doesn't get exposed to it much at home. But still, we would like Sophie to eventually have as broad a palate as possible, and not being able to eat dairy or egg means there are so many things she may not get to enjoy (a classic thin-crust pizza, any Indian dishes made with ghee, all pastries, basically, and Grandma's delectable hae cho-- prawn rolls-- all come to mind...)

The upside-- for the day at least-- was that she got to bask in a Madeline moment when she went back to school after her allergy appointment brandishing a "scar"-- really, it was just a dot that has already healed-- she could show off to her friends ;) As her teachers wrote in her daily report:

Sophie had a terrific day. She showed off her "boo-boo" to her friends a little (and some of them were very envious), then let me remove the gauze to put sunscreen on. We did some water play and Sophie was in heaven! There was a big pool of water in the sand box and Sophie sat in it the WHOLE time. Smart girl!

Counting down two weeks

2011-07-23T14:40:00.001-04:00

Dear world,
Let it be known that Sophie has some very definite ideas about how her birthday should be like:
Me: Sophie, what would you like for your birthday?
Sophie: Helmet.
Me: A helmet? Just a helmet?
Sophie: Ya, purple helmet.
Me: Alright, a helmet. Anything else?
Sophie: Helmet and the bicycle.
Me: Oh, you want a bicycle too?
Sophie: Yes, bicycle too. And scooter?
Me: No, you can't have both.
Sophie: Just the bicycle. And party, Mama?
Me: Yes, we'll have a party for Sophie.
Sophie: Sophie blow the candles all by self. Yay!!!! [blows imaginary candles] Mama sing. Sing "Happy birthday to Sophie."

I think we're going to be having this conversation everyday until August 8...

Narrative or complaint?

2011-07-19T23:07:00.004-04:00

As part of data collection for research, I go into schools and ask young children to tell me stories. And I always tell them, "Remember, a story has a beginning, a middle, and an end." Basically, we want them to be able to create a narrative that has an introduction, an exposition, and a conclusion. Today, in the middle of bath, out of nowhere, Sophie said to us,

"What happening? Wesley hit Sophie toe. Sophie started to cry. Boo boo. Ice-pack."

Our daughter just told us a story.

Tartine

2011-07-17T15:08:00.009-04:00

Tartine Bread
Originally uploaded by ghetto of our mind

It's been a little over a year since our summer-long sojourn in the Bay Area, and till today, we talk about our time there fondly and longingly. And one of the reasons for this was just simply some of the most wonderfully interesting and just downright delicious food we've ever had the privilege to try. From ramen to ice-cream, oysters to sausages, nothing we ate in that three months disappointed us. But one of the things that lingers most vividly in our memories is Tartine Bakery. Oh yes, the Tartine of luscious pastries and earthy breads- how I miss you...

So Jude came back from a short trip to the Bay Area on Friday, and boy did he come back bearing sweet gifts for both Sophie and I. For the little one, he bought a fairy garland dress-up set from Paxton Gate in the Mission District (the moment Sophie puts it on, she starts pretending to fly- it's quite delightful...) But while it's really adorable and Sophie does love her gift a whole lot, I think I'm the one who's more spoiled by my gifts- Tartine Bread and four pastries lovingly smuggled in his suitcase across 2000 miles. Like I told Jude as a bit into the Frangipane and Berry Tart, nothing that has traveled that distance should still taste this good... And don't even get me started on the Chocolate Hazelnut Tart.

But it's the book that has gotten my heart all aflutter. It's not a recipe book- it's a bread bible, a Tartine bible if you will. You will not find exact formulae in here- but what you will find is a love story written by a man about how he came about making the perfect loaf of bread. It's about the most elemental and visceral aspects of making bread- the yeast cultures, fermentation, the kneading, etc. There's nothing frou-frou or pretty about breadmaking per se, but the black and white photos-- all taken while flooded in natural light-- make it seem like the most alluring process in the whole world. Reading through the book, I can almost imagine the smells of the bread wafting right through to me (yes, "smells", plural- if you get good bread, the croute, in French-- or crust-- smells different from the inside-- the soft mie or crumb).

I've been slowly savoring the book- reading about the painstaking journey towards that perfect baguette or that country loaf, and am looking forward to the later chapters of the book that features a few recipes for sandwiches and other uses for bread (croutons, bread soups, involtini, etc.). I will probably never make every single thing-- bread or otherwise-- or even a quarter of the things highlighted in this book, but for now, I'm loving the memories it's bringing back and the love it's reviving in me for a simple, soulful loaf of Tartine bread.

Is your tummy noisy?

2011-07-14T10:42:00.006-04:00

Sophie only took a 15 minute nap at daycare yesterday. Yes, you read that right, 15 minutes. When she usually takes a solid 2 hours... She's not ill (maybe a bit of a sniffly nose) so no one knows why she just refused to sleep. She was in a great mood when I picked her up though, so I don't think anything's wrong with her. But a minuscule nap meant I had to give her dinner the moment we got home so we could start her bedtime routine early and bundle her into bed before she would lose it and go all Tasmanian Devil on me. We usually do dinner between 6.30 and 7.00 but she scarfed down her porridge at 5.45, was in the bath-tub by 6.15, and in her jammies, on our bed with a sippy cup of milk and Corduroy by 6.30.

As expected, she was really sleepy and was starting to get cranky. And because of that, she actually had a hard time falling asleep (I know, it's counter-intuitive, but many children fall asleep better and faster when they're not overtired)- I had to read How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight twice and sing "You Are My Sunshine" on loop for at least 20 minutes before she fell asleep soundly.

And Sophie slept right through- 12 hours straight. Not a squeak from her till 7.30 this morning when she woke up howling, "Water! I want water!" When I went in with her sippy cup of milk, she looked up at me, patted her stomach, and said,

Sophie: Tummy noisy, Mama. Tummy, tummy...

Me: Are you hungry, Sophie?

Sophie: Yes. Cheerios? I want the Cheerios. I want the crackers too. Please, Mama?

And that is why, if you had walked into our bedroom at 7.30 this morning, you'd have found Sophie and I sitting on the bed in our pajamas, not having brushed our teeth or washed our faces, listening to the Sesame Street station on Pandora, with Sophie plowing through half a dozen crackers and a pile of Cheerios...

Backseat driver

2011-07-12T21:04:00.003-04:00

It's been tricky business driving with Sophie in the car these days. Don't get me wrong, she's the model passenger- she never makes "helpful" comments about my driving skills, she doesn't tell me which route she prefers to take, and she always keeps her hands inside the moving vehicle (being strapped into a car seat helps..). What makes driving difficult with her around is how hard she's been making me laugh with the things she says. It's not that they're particularly funny, but taken in the context of when and how she's saying them, plus the realization that she's picking up so much language just from listening to us, it's just been sheer delight!

[To everyone whizzing by us in their bike, whether or not they're wearing a helmet] Where's your helmet?!!

Firetruck, you hungry? Want some bunny crackers? It's tasty!

It's windy, Mama. Trees waving at Sophie.

Where's sun hiding? There he is! Hiding the clouds.

This our car. Our car is good.

Mama no criss-cross applesauce. Mama is driving.

[To joggers she happens to see along the sidewalk] Have a good jogging!

And my favorite thus far:
[As we turned into our parking lot and I told her we had arrived home] Good job, Mama! Good job!

Of course, in 12 years (or less) when she's burning through her college tuition in phone bills (or whatever form of communication her father and I are going to have to pay for), someone reading this right now will surely remind me that there once was a time when I was proud of and celebrated her chattiness...

What $25 buys

2011-07-11T23:35:00.000-04:00

8 cups of Tall iced vanilla latte at Starbucks

2 movie tickets (weekend) and a medium Coke

1 (yes, one, as in half a pair) Toms Red Classics

This skirt

A hunk of fancy cheese and some organic strawberries at Whole Foods

The complete second (and best) season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

2 priceless hours of fun at the Ann Arbor Summer Carnival where your daughter-- you may call her Sophie the Fearless-- went on several rides by herself, including one which involved being in an elevated "helicopter" the whole time. Did I mention that she took that ride THREE times? By herself? Alone? You could not find a happier kid at the carnival that day :)

1. Yes, it went up that high..., 2. She was so excited to be riding by herself, 3. Jumping Jumbos, 4. First ride by herself

What happens in 23 months

2011-07-08T08:43:00.001-04:00

Sophie turns 2 in a month.

For some perspective, here's the first video we ever took of her, barely a week after she was born:

And here, countless photos and videos later, is Sophie last week, dancing at Top of the Park:

How did that happen??

Thankfully, not too hair-rowing

2011-07-03T23:08:00.005-04:00

After almost 23 months, Sophie has gotten her first haircut. Even though she was born with a full head of hair (see here), by the time she was 3 months old or so, she had barely much to speak of (see here). Even after she turned one, we put hair clips in her hair more as an accessory than for any real functional purpose. So for a long time, we've never had to think about cutting her hair. Until lately that is. In the last month or so, Sophie's hair has really been in a perpetual state of "look-I-just-rolled-out-of-bed" (and you should see her when she really just rolled out of bed...)- sticking out every which way, long at all the wrong places, and wisps getting in her eye even with a hair clip holding her side bangs aside. And with the weather getting increasingly warmer, the long-ish ends at her nape were starting to annoy her.

And so, armed with a glowing recommendation from our dear friend, Amy, we headed off to Larry at A2 O'Hair for Sophie's first hair cut. He was WONDERFUL. He's been cutting kids' hair for years and knows exactly how to deal with squirmy little ones. Even though I was holding Sophie in my lap, she didn't quite always keep her head still. But Larry was like a ninja (or a really light-footed boxer), skipping around and snipping skillfully and effortlessly. At the end of it, even though it wasn't like he took a lot off, he did enough in all the right places. The huge plus: he refused to charge us for the hair cut! Because it was Sophie's first :) Such a sweet, sweet man!

Watch out world...

2011-07-01T22:44:00.006-04:00

Sophie wants a bicycle for her birthday. Actually, she's more interested in the helmet and just mentions the bicycle because she figures they come together.

[Trying on bikes and helmets at REI]

She would have rode out onto the street if she could actually move with the bike on her own....

Sophie = Madeline?

2011-06-27T22:04:00.008-04:00

Sophie's new favorite book these days is Madeline, both the original story and Madeline's Rescue, all about the courageous pooch, Genevieve. She loves Madeline not just for her daring escapades on the bridge or for her bad-ass appendix scar; there's another big reason why Sophie loves Madeline- she anticipates the one moment throughout the entire story, barely containing her excitement as the twelve little girls ice-skate all over the preceding page...

To the tiger in the zoo, Madeline just said , “Pooh-pooh.”

Sophie almost always erupts into a giggling fit, breathlessly begging “again, AGAIN!!”

[Being goofy at Top of the Park]

I'd like for Sophie to have Madeline's sass and gumption. Just none of the whole falling off the bridge and into the river thing please...

Have you ever wondered how a monster sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"?

2011-06-21T22:39:00.004-04:00

Wonder no more...

Daddies are for...

2011-06-19T14:57:00.003-04:00

Teaching a girl all about Drunken Monkey Tai Chi!

Happy Fathers' Day, Dada!

Random Daily Daycare Report #14

2011-06-17T22:16:00.004-04:00

More photos here and here.

Sophie had a really busy and fun day. This morning. she *loved* painting with fly swatters and making the paint splatter everywhere :) Sophie also did a great job with a fire drill this morning. She didn't get upset at the loud noise and marched right out to the preschool fence with her class. She's happy for any excuse to go to the Preschool playground :) Have a good weekend!

"Oh elephaaaaant!"

2011-06-13T22:12:00.008-04:00

Sophie's been singing a lot lately. A lot. And anywhere and everywhere- in the car, in the shopping cart, in the middle of dinner, brushing her teeth (yes...), as she's falling asleep, etc. Sometimes it's because I start singing and she sings along but lately, it's more her bursting into a spontaneous tune, and into songs I had no idea she knows.

Like this weekend- we had just driven by the fire station near our house (it doesn't matter where we're driving to or coming back from- we *have* to drive by the fire station each time) and were doing this thing where we pretend to look for different vehicles. I didn't want Jude to miss it and took out my phone thinking I'd just be capturing her playing the game. Then out of no where, Sophie's starts singing her version of "Three Elephants Went Out to Play". They probably sing it a lot in school but I had no clue. Which is why I was so tickled! I'm also floored by the fact that it comes with hand gestures and varying pitch :)

[It's a little soft at parts so here's a rough transcript]

Sophie: Car, where are you? Looking for you...
Me: Who's looking for you?
Sophie: Firetruck looking to you.
Me: Is Sophie looking...
Sophie: Oh elephaaaaant... here he comes, here he comes. Shhh... Listen.
Me: Listen. What?
Sophie: Here he comes!!
Me: Here he comes!!
Sophie: Three elephants went out to play. On a sunny day... Oh elephaaaaant... Here he comes.
Me: Here he comes.
Sophie: Shhh.... Excited. Listen.
Me: Excited. Five elephants went out to...
Sophie: Play. Shhh... Here he comes.
Me: Here he comes.
Sophie: [beautiful smile]

I hope this makes your day, because two days later, it's still making mine :)

C is for cookie

2011-06-11T15:07:00.004-04:00

Sophie has finally had her first cookie :) Giving her any kind of baked goods has always been tricky because of the whole milk/eggs/butter business and she didn't even like the vegan cupcake we got her for her birthday last year. It's not something essential to her diet and she never asks for it, and so we don't feel like we need to push this one. I gave her a slice of zucchini bread a couple of weeks ago and she liked it well enough that I felt inspired to find a good recipe (this one comes highly recommended), but apart from that, she's been perfectly happy with her huge snack trove of crackers, pretzel sticks, rice crackers, fruit, and cereal.

But after swim class today, as we wandered around Mark's Carts like we always do, we thought it might be nice to get Sophie a cookie from The Lunch Room, a vegan food cart that we've heard really good things about. That everything is completely vegan meant we didn't have to worry about possible traces of egg or butter in things or cross-contamination even when some non-vegan vendors claim things are dairy-free. We chose a classic chocolate chip cookie-- I mean, if it's going to be her first cookie, why settle for anything less?

Her first bites were a little tentative, like she wasn't quite sure what to make of the texture.

But a couple of bites later, it was like she's been eating cookies all her life:

In the words of our friend, Jenn, it was like she's was drunk on cookie!

You can't really tell, but the cookie was literally the size of Sophie's face, if not larger, and our daughter obliterated it entirely by herself in under 10 minutes. If not for the fact that a crumb fell on my lap, I don't think either Jude or I would have managed to snatch a taste. It was really quite yummy- a little chewy like a oatmeal cookie with a nice molasses flavor. It didn't taste vegan at all and I wasn't surprised that Sophie demolished the whole thing in one sitting (and still had room for her usual post-swim soy hot chocolate after. And all this BEFORE lunch...). Since Sophie took to the cookie so well, I asked Phillis, the owner if they made cakes or cupcakes in anticipation of Sophie's birthday in August. They haven't officially sold any other baked goods apart from cookies and gingersnaps but they have been planning on putting cupcakes on the menu for a while so that's something she can definitely help us with! Yay!

Happy birthday, Dada!

2011-06-08T09:53:00.003-04:00

It's hard that we're not celebrating your birthday with you but it helps to know that you'll be back tomorrow! We miss you and love you!

Random Daily Daycare Report #13

2011-06-07T23:58:00.004-04:00

1. How much fun do you reckon our little water bug is having?, 2. Just letting the water shoot up her back ;), 3. Sitting "on" the sprinkler, 4. Sprinklers rock!

Sophie had so much fun doing water play today. She walked over and stuck her hand right on top of the sprinkler and got herself soaked! And that she decided it would be even more effective if she just sat on the sprinkler :) Such a clever girl. Then, of course, she went directly to the sand box afterwards.