My li'angel.

We went for a photo shoot here in Singapore again (the same studio that did the previous shoot last October.)

The photographer captured some really great photos of Laetitia and out of the 165 that was taken, the ones in this post are three of my favourites. We had a hard time trying to select the photos in our package (we were limited to 10) and had wanted to keep so many more that it was more value for money to purchase all the shots taken during the shoot.

This is my current screen background.

This is Etienne's messenger avatar.

UMBRELLA!

YES! That's the new word that Laetitia said today, "UMBRELLA". I am so impressed and proud. It has been raining and my friend brought along a children's umbrella and as she was opening it, Laetitia said "umbrella". *eyes wide open, mouth gapping----->me.

Nothing to this post except to say that I am very proud of her. After all, she is less than 16 months. :)

Singapore Zoological Gardens.

The Singapore Zoological Gardens is reputed to be one of the best zoos in the world and we thought it will be fun to bring Laetitia there. Although it had been raining for the last couple of days and the weather did not look great in the morning, we decided to try our luck.

When we arrived, the weather was overcast but it was not raining. In fact, it was nice and breezy. We made our way to the Elephants of Asia show since elephants are one of her favourite animals. We were a little early (15mins before the show started) and after five minutes on the bench, Laetitia started to get a little restless. It was a bit of a challenge keeping her occupied before the show finally started. She was very excited to see the elephants and kept making the "elephant sound" (which basically is her going ahhhhhhhhh!) But, after 10 mins into the show, she started to fidget again. Anyways, we did manage to stay till the end of the show but realised that expecting her to be still in one place for 30 mins might be too much for her to handle. We quickly moved on as it had also started to rain. We made our way to the children's world area to look at miniature horses, cows, pigs etc. After another half an hour of pottering around, we decided that it was all too much for Laetitia and we should head home. As we are leaving the zoo, we came across a few more animals that she knows, the lions, zebras, giraffes and rhinoceros.

But the time we got to the car to leave the zoo, it was more than 2 hours after we arrived. It was a short visit considering the size of the zoo. We probably only saw less than half the animals there. Well, there's always next year when we plan our next visit to Singapore.



And some random pictures that we took of her.

Lego fun time.

Laetitia has been spending some time playing with lego bricks. My sister's kids have both the normal size lego and the bigger sized for smaller children. Her cousins who love lego have been building interesting things for her. So far, they have built three different chairs for her to sit on and many other interesting buildings and towers.

Her papa has joined in the fun in playing with the lego too.

Here's a sample of the lego creations.

The chair that her cousin Benjamin built for her. I didn't manage to take a picture of the other chair that Natasha built for her.



Laetitia playing with the "Incredibles" like robot that her papa and her cousins built together.

Fun activities in Singapore

Laetitia is having a fabulous time in Singapore. Her sleeping routine is getting more reasonable, 10pm to 8.30am. This means that we can take her out for dinners and also have some decent sleep. And the day can be filled with different fun activites for her. So far we have gone shopping and she loves to walk in the malls. The pretty marble flooring catches her attention. The loveliest ones are at Suntec City, they shimmers!

We have also filled her time with splashing time in the swimming pool (I think we have been about three times in less than a week). We also went to this place called Bambini where she met up with Auntie Michelle and the kids. She played a lot with legos and her cousins.

We're planning trips to the zoo, the botanical gardens, maybe the bird park, sentosa and the aquarium... Thanks to my good friend Jaimie, we have a car to use and it has made travelling around so much easier.

Splashing good time!


Dinner at Kallang Oasis No Sign Board restaurant with Grandma (and the rest of the family who is not in the photo)


A photo with her cousins Natasha and Natalia before going out.


An enjoyable time at Bambini with Auntie Michelle, Vanessa and Aaron.






Buidling or rather destruction time playing legos at home. In this case, she is pretending the lego is a phone while drinking on her play bottle.

In Singapore.

We finally arrived in Singapore on the 11 July after almost 18 of travelling (including 2 hours transit and 1.5 hours delay). It was a relatively tiring trip for Etienne and I as we took turns entertaining Laetitia. It was a good thing that for the second segment of the flight (8 hours), she slept for about 5 hours straight in the bassinet. This allowed us to catch our 40 winks and also eat in peace.

The tough part since being in Singapore is that our little girl is more jet lagged than the both of us for the first couple of days. On Wednesday night, she went to bed at 10pm and work up at 1am. She was hungry but even after we fed her, she did not go back to sleep until 3.30am. And on Thursday night, she went to bed at around 10pm again BUT woke up at midnight and did not go back to sleep until 4am! Finally last night, she went to bed at 10pm (I made sure she was given some nice warm cereal and milk before bed) and stayed asleep till this morning 8am. Hopefully she will soon adjust her internal clock and work her way through sleeping 12 hours straight through every night soon.

On a side note, apart from the jet lag, she has been having fun with her cousins (my sister's children) and enjoys playing with them. She loves the every other day swimming time too. We took lots of photos and I'll get to posting them when I have them uploaded into the computer.

Biker girl?

We bought Laetitia a tricycle during the week and finally managed to take her out in it when the weather was slightly more decent (a little sunshine and no rain).

She loves it and is constantly trying to get on it and then shouting "AU REVOIR" (goodbye) and pointing to the main door.

The only thing is, she is still a little short for the bike and therefore her feet could not reach the pedals. At some point as I was pushing her along, one of her foot would touch the ground and she would drag her foot along. I hated that especially when it is destroying her lovely shoes at the same time. So I was constantly telling her "Laetitia, your feet please. Lift them up!". Hopefully she will soon be tall enough to really learn to ride the tricycle by herself (before summer is over).

My adorable cookie.

Little drummer girl.

For Laetitia's first birthday, I got her a little band set. On and off she'll have some fun playing with them and just the other day, we were having lots of fun jamming together. I remember telling Etienne I would so love to learn to play the drums. Well, maybe my little darling will have a chance to do what I haven't done. I think her papa is keen to have her play the piano since that is his favourite instrument though it was the violin that he spent years learning (about 10 years or so). Anyways, I hope this gives her some headstart with drums and maybe she might want to start a rock and roll band when she grows up. :p

Check out the little rock drummer.

How will our lives change?

Or rather how will Laetitia's life change? How will my decision to go back to work affect the life of my little sweetheart? THAT is the big question that has been hanging over my head.

It's coming to two years since I stopped work. Of course in this time so many things have come to pass. We left Toronto and moved to Paris. More importantly, we had a baby! Now that Laetitia is 15 months old, it really is time for me to move on. I have always said that I will stay home for at least the first year and I have. At the same time, during this one and a half years, I realised that I might not be the material for being a full time stay at home mum. I need some form of adult interaction that DOES NOT revolves around babies/childcare etc. I also need the mental stimulation of work. In fact, I feed on it to give myself some form of personal satisfaction. I do not deny that seeing Laetitia grow up to be a joyful child is not providing me with pride but it is not the same. I LOVE my little girl with all my heart but I find I am not an effective mum if I have to be with her all day. Hence, the decision to go back to work.

Now, the BIG question is what type of work should I go for. Personally, after budgeting, family discussions with Etienne and what nots, we came to a conclusion that the pursue of a career developing job that requires me to work crazy hours is not an option. I do not want to spend all my time consumed by work and neglect the most important things/people in my life, my husband and my child. No money can substitute seeing my little girl grow up. No money can replace the closeness that can only be built through time spent together. And no, finances is not the focus of why I want to go back to work. I want to go back to work so that I can be happier, feel more fulfilled and therefore, be a better mummy and wife.

I must say that my job search seems to be going in the right direction. I have received calls (actually two) from headhunters for positions that I did not even apply for and at the same time I came across a position that I applied and interviewed for that could be the solution (fabulous vacation time offs and relatively flexible hours). Now, I just have to leave it in God's hands. I did what I had to do (the natural) and I am sure HE will do what he has to do (the supernatural). It is good, though, to know that I am marketable at the end of the day and people do find that I have an interesting profile. I know it should not, but it does make me feel valuable. :-) Yes, I know it sounds shallow, I should not be measuring my worth based on that.

As a final thought, I want to say no matter what the final job is that I take up, it is important to me that Laetitia continues to be able to spend lots of valuable time with me and that we will build on the closeness that we currently have.

Attack of the bacterial/virual infection of the stomach?

Arrrrggghhhhh...... poor baby and poor mummy.

My little pie is being attacked. Poor little darling vomitted four times yesterday. And she HATES it when she vomits. It makes her so upset that she cries more. And she had a fever to cope with at the same time.

I googled some information about vomiting and fever and from her symptoms, it seems like it's a stomach bacterial attack. But then it's only vomiting and fever with no diarrhea. Hmmmm... It did say it will pass in 12-24 hours and so far she seems to be better. We are also trying to avoid giving her milk though. She had some yogurt in replacement of milk for breakfast. I think we'll keep to light and small meals for her today.

I'm so tired as I was up trying to get her to go back to sleep till 1.30am. And she decided to get up at 8am this morning. Okay, I also know I should not complain considering that lots of mums of young children do not get 6 straight hours of sleep.

A sofa for Laetitia

Well, Laetitia seems to have this love for little seats that are her size. She loves to squeeze herself into a bouncy chair or sit on a small box that is just the right size whereby her feet would touch the ground as she sits on it. She is even happier when I push the box right against the wall so she has some sort of backing.

So, I decided to embark on a search for the perfect infant sofa for her. Boy oh boy is it hard. Well, there are many awesome ones but her mummy is feeling cheap after buying her the ergo carrier (which was 30% more expensive here in Paris than buying it in the US) so I am trying to find a good deal.

The question is always, do I just suck it up and buy a cheapie since she might not know the difference?

The NICE ones I like

Or the normal plain ones which are less than half the price!

Or something in the middle price range?

Well, her papa disapproves of the ones I like. PUI! But, he does have good taste sometimes and the one he prefers is quite pretty and is not as expensive as the ones I choose but not that cheap either.

So, here goes...
Well, my original thought was if I'm paying so much, then I might as well get the one I really like but he thinks the purple one looks too Louis XVI (he joked that we should get Lae a queen's crown if we get that seat). GGGRRRRRRR......

A day out and her new carrier.

In preparation for our coming trip to Singapore where I will be travelling alone with Laetitia on the return flight back to Paris, I bought the Ergo baby carrier (as she is almost outgrowing her Baby Bjorn carrier). The carrier allows toddlers up to 20 kgs to be carried on it and it seems to have a much better balance of weight support on the back. Anyways, we tried it out over the weekend when we went to visit Baby Alrik and his parents.

Here's papa and darling.

While we were at their place, Lae got to try on one of those jolly jumper/jumperoo things. She had quite a bit on fun on it but was too impatient to stay still in one spot. That's the thing with mobile children I guess.

Meal times!

A look at Laetitia's lunches during the week.

1. Steamed Garlic Ginger Chicken seasoned with sesame oil with carots, leeks and potato porridge. A slice of cheese served on the side. (followed by a pot of yogurt for desserts).


2. Beef balls seasoned with a dash of curry powder and soya sauce with carots and turnips porridge. A slice of cheese served on the side. (followed by a pot of yogurt for desserts).


3. Ham with steamed zucchini and mashed potatoes. A slice of cheese served on the side. (followed by a pot of yogurt for desserts).

All food served with her lovely cutlery set given to her from Sherren.

And she talks on the phone...

Here's a little video of my petite chouchou babbling away on the phone. She does that ALL the time when I hand the phone over to her. We might not understand what she is saying except for the initial "hello" (said in a very french way, with a silent "h"). My mum absolutely loves it when I put Laetitia on the phone whenever I call her.

And she walks....

She has definitely been walking more and more. Here's a video of her walking to get the telephone. Oh, the other thing is, she LOVES to talk on the phone. She is ever so happy to "chat" with her grandma who is in Singapore.

On a side note, I noticed that she has been having little tantrums spells lately. It's not outrageous but definitely more. In preparation for dealing with them, I bought the book "Happiest Toddler on the block". I would also be happy to receive recommendations on books that has worked for others so if there is a specific book that you (mummies) find is useful, please do not hesitate to leave a note to tell me about it in the comments section. I will definitely appreciate it.

What has Laetitia been up to?

The last week has been a relatively busy week. We came back to Paris around the same time on Sunday night from our respectively vacation spots. Monday was my birthday and on Wednesday, our friends from Toronto, Carolina and Luke, came to Paris. We are hosting them and they leave tomorrow morning.

Today they took us out to lunch (we wanted to go to this pretty little place at Passage des Panorama but it was closed so we went to Hippopotamus instead) and after that Laetitia went to Kylian's first birthday party. It was definitely a fun filled week. And of course tomorrow is Father's Day. Laetitia had to get to work with wraping the present and making her papa a card!

Here are a few pictures taken during the week.

In the halte garderie playing on the rocking horse.

Sitting on the little table/chair set while sipping her water in the Mason de Parents play area.

Playing in the playground near our apartment.

Laetitia off to the south of France again.

Yes, Laetitia is off in the south to see her grandparents courtesy of the fact that I am vacationing alone in Rome right now. Her papa decided that it might be a bit too much for him to handle her all by himself for the three days that I am away so he took her with him to his parents. :-) The good part of it all is my parents in law are delighted to see them too.

Well, we'll be reunited tomorrow night when we all go back home to Paris. Until then, ciao!

Typical menu in Laetitia's day.

It seems that I must be doing something right finally. After a few months of worrying about her apparent lack of weight gain, she is finally back on track. She put on 500g in one and a half months (She was 8.9kg on 23 April and 9.4kgs yesterday).

In a typical day, this is what she is eating.
_____________________________________________________________
Breakfast - at around 8.30am
1) 210 ml of fresh full cream milk

2) one piece of weetabix (she takes some dry and some mixed with the milk from (1)

3) Fresh fruits
Bite size pieces of fresh fruits offered in a bowl. She could finish about 1/4 of a banana.


Mid morning snack - at around 10am
1) A 100g size fruit puree

2) A small (1/4 piece) slice of bread/a piece of biscuits


Lunch - usually around 12.30pm
1) 200g - 220g of vegetables and grains
(I make them mushy. It used to be pureed but now I just mushy them with a spoon or fork.)

2) 30 - 40g of meat/fish (I vary between beef, veal, chicken, lamb, ham, seabass, salmon, pork etc. Once in a while, she gets something exotic like rabbit!)

3) 1 slice of cheese (kraft singles type)

4) 100g yogurt or cream dessert (I normally buy Blédicrèm chocolate/caramel etc)

Examples of some her lunch menu over the last week:-
- Zuchinni, spinach and potatoes mixed with brown rice served with veal.
- Carrots, leeks and green peas mxied rice served with seabass.
- Turnips, spinach and brocoli mixed with smelt served with lamb.
- Green beans and carrots with rice served with pork.


Afternoon snack - usually around 4.00pm
1) 100g yogurt
2) 130g of fruit puree


Dinner - usually around 7pm
1) 150 - 200 ml of soup puree (I usually put aside some of the vegetable/grain dish that I cooked for lunch as dinner but I will add into the puree one other vegetable mixed to vary the taste.)

2) One serving of cheese (Laughing cow fondant cheese)

3) 120 ml of fresh full cream Milk

4) One small piece of bread. (usually french loaf)
_____________________________________________________________

I reckon she has a very well balanced meal. And if anyone has any suggestions for interesting menus that I can use or improvise on, let me know. I am always happy to try new things for Laetitia.

Of course, it's hard to have a post without a picture of my darling... :-)

Fête des mères

Today is the French Mother's day and boy am I spoiled.

My little baby "bought" some delicious seafood for me so that I do not have to cook dinner. Although the oyster season is over, she managed to find some and bought them knowing how much I LOVE oysters. She got some prawns and crab pincers at the same time. Check out the delicious spread. I happened to make a scallop cake that afternoon too.


And here are the wonderful presents she got me. Tickets to take the three of us to the top of Eiffel tower and the wax museum (Musée Grévin) plus some vouchers for Galeries Lafayette. She knows mummy loves shopping. Nice. More importantly, she gave mummy a little masterpiece. That reminds me, I have to go buy some non toxic washable paint for finger painting and some non toxic washable markers for fun scribbling.

And finally my baby decided that she had enough for the day and she would like to leave the house to take a little hike. :p

All ready! Let me out Mummy!

We're featured in Canadian Family!

Our blog has been featured in the Canadian Family website! And I believe it is going to be in the magazine too. How exciting.

I uploaded a screen shot of the article on the website that mentioned this blog for keepsake. If you click on the picture it will take you to the article itself.

For readers who are directed here by the article (either on the website or the magazine), I hope you have as much fun reading this blog as I have when writing it. :-)

First taste of cherries.

It's cherry season in France right now. I LOVE LOVE LOVE cherries. I could eat a kilo of cherries all by myself anytime.

So, as I was feeding Laetitia her breakfast this morning, I was enjoying my cherries at the same time. Yes, I was having cherries for breakfast. My little pie was eyeing my lovely deep red fruit and I decided to give her some to try when she was done with her food (milk and weetabix).

I think she likes them. The only problem is, she makes a mess at the same time. There was bits and juice all over the place.

Hmm..... what is this taste?
I am not sure if I like it.

Let me take another bite of this strange fruit.

I LOVE them too Mummy. (What a BIG grin!)

14 months old and her language repertoire.

My little pie is becoming quite the little chatterbox. She talks a lot though we might not understand most of it. I try my best to speak to her using complete short sentences as much as possible. At the same time, I tell her about things that she see or name the objects whenever I can. I also use baby sign language with her for words that may be too complicated. And of course, I communicate with her in English (only) and Etienne would use French. There are times we might slip (I would include some French words in my sentences and he would use some English words when he speaks to her) but we do our best to keep to a "one person one language" thing.

The caregivers in the halte garderie (daycare) tell me that Laetitia loves recounting stories (their sweet way for saying that she loves to verbalise) and would sometimes whisper! Yes, we do that at home as a game, whispering.

So, here's her verbal repertoire.
PAPA - favourite word, repeated all the time thoughout the day. Declared loudly when her papa comes home from work.
MAMA - Used once in a while during the day. Sometimes she would look at me and say ever so sweetly "mama"
PAPOU - Said often when she was at my inlaws. That's how she calls her grandpa.
MAMOU - Once in a while when we repeat it to her
NANA - Short for banana. She loves this fruit.
NAINAI - Milk. Sounds like the chinese word for milk which I was using (bad mummy did not keep to the one person one language rule)
TER TER - Water but she seldoms use it.
BAIN - French for bath
PAIN - French for bread
MUM MUM - food

And her Baby sign repertoire.
Caterpillar
Cheese
More
Bye/Hello (same hand action)
Star
No more/All done
Elephant

I guess that's about all for now (or at least what I can remember). :)

I have been doing more shopping for Laetitia! Someone HAS to stop me. The summer sale is not even here yet!

So, more new shoes! A pair of Timberland


Some new summery clothes




We're all READY for summer. Now we just need the weather to cooperate!