Monthly Archives

December 2012

Re: learning and child training

No show and Tele: a non-indulgent mother’s tale

December 14, 2012

Some people have commented that I’m way too extreme as a mother to regulate tv in the house and not allow my children to watch cartoons on regular tv programming. Some have even gone as far to accuse me of depriving them of a childhood. There’s a story behind such a decision. So here goes:

“Once upon a time, the kids got to watch Handy Manny, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and some other random cartoons on Disney Junior at a specific time every day.

Then epiphany hit. Fatherkao and I realised that if we had cartoons available 24/7 on cable, we might inadvertenly use tv to babysit the children, that there would always be the “tv option”.

That was something we decided we will not do.

We also realised that whenever the tv was turned on, the kids were often found in a transfixed state and oblivious to their surroundings; and when the tv was turned off, they would immediately kick up a huge fuss. It was like an addiction, and they would get visibly upset with one of us (usually me) for switching it off. For most times, and I would say nine out ten, Ben threw temper tantrums so bad we ended up having to cane him for his bad behaviour.

So we made the decision to cancel the cartoon cable channels, return the set-top box in the living room, and declared a tv ban for a while (plus the tv-only-allowed-with mom-supervision rule) and never looked back.

That decision did wonders for our time together as a family. Fatherkao now schedules play time in place of tv time and the kids are often found shooting with their Nerf guns, playing tug-of-war, hiding-and-seeking and riding their horsey father. On my part, I read and read and read to the kids. In place of tv time, we also tumble and roll a lot on the bed and play peek-a-boo with the baby.

On rare occasions, I would allow snippets of animal documentary programmes. I’d watch it with them and talk about what we’ve watched. Our favourite last month was the series on Wild Artic on Nat Geo Wild. We learned about seals, polar bears and penguins. Becks has always loved penguins and seeing the different species in the Artic got her very thrilled; Ben showed me his sentimental side by crying twice when the eagle ate the baby penguin and the elephant seal chomped the baby’s momma. Watching cartoons never taught them empathy and helped them develop such love for animals. Watching animal documentaries gave me a wonderful opportunity to witness the  emotions that could be stirred up within them, and how they could express these emotions in such powerful, emphatic ways.

I’m not one of those who think that tv is evil. I just feel that we need to use it with more discretion. I cannot control the cartoon content and I do not know its storyline most of the time. Plus, tv programming is something not within our control and that sucks (don’t you just hate adverts?). Oh, and I also have one self-serving agenda: I want them to love reading, and to love holding books, just like I did when I was their age.

This is the story of why the tv is usually not turned on in our house and how we have found so many things to do together as a result.

And we lived happily ever after.

The End.”

Reading a book together

Reading a book together

Playing with the Lettersaurus

Playing with the Lettersaurus

Fishing for ducks

Fishing for ducks

Christmas happiness Going Out! Invites & Tryouts

Learning recycling the Chuggington way

December 13, 2012

If you don’t already know, the kids don’t really watch tv at home and they don’t watch cartoons much either. Or rather, they don’t get to watch anything on tv unless supervised.

So when we were invited to watch the Chuggington Christmas Live Show at City Square Mall, Ben was like “What’s Chuggington?”

I figured it didn’t really matter if he did not know the various characters featured in the cartoon. I was told that the Live Show, ‘Clean up Chuggington Day’, will focus on an eco-theme, which aims to impart knowledge of being green and share tips on how children can learn to be environmentally friendly. I’d thought that it would be great to catch the show for the message it was spreading and for the kids to learn something about the environment.

We accepted the kind invitation and headed down to City Square Mall yesterday. We watched the live show which featured the three trainees, Wilson, Brewster and Koko, none of whom the kids knew. There was some sing-along and “chugga chugga” action at first and even soap suds “snow” at the end. Ben was a little lost with the songs and couldn’t sing along. When the trains appeared, the kids around him were all screaming their names. The boy was asking me repeatedly, “Who’s that, Mama?” and had to settle for the “red train”, “blue train” and “green train” to make sense of the story that was unfolding.

The three chuggers of Chuggington

It's snowing

But the best part of the show was that it introduced the concept of recycling to the kids. The three trains wanted to clean up Chuggington and realised that sorting out the trash into paper, plastic and metal was a good way to help save the environment. That was an important message to send to young children, something which stuck to Ben because after the show, he was like ‘Mama, recycling means you sort out the trash. You throw paper in the yellow bin, plastic in the blue bin and metal in the green bin.” He actually remembered what the Chuggington crew did in the show!

Learning to recycle

After the show, we were given an opportunity to meet and greet the chuggers on stage to take a photo with them.

Meet & Greet

In addition, we were also given two complimentary Chuggington Holiday Fun train tickets so we could head down to three different stations to enjoy colouring fun, receive a balloon and bring home a photo memento. The kids also received a goodie bag with a Chuggington tote bag and pencil case, much to Becks’ delight (this girl is into bags these days!)

Colouring fun for Becks

Colouring fun for Ben

All in all, the kids had a good time. Best of all, they learned something new. I’m going to see if I can colour code trash bins at home so they can practise sorting trash according to plastic, paper and waste!

Getting all sentimental now

Thankful

December 12, 2012

These kids came, and rocked my world.

I am thankful for the laughter thats fills the house every day. I don’t think there’s been a day without it.

I am thankful for happy, healthy children. I don’t think a mother can wish for anything more.

I am thankful that the three of them love one another and play a lot together. They can’t do without one or the other, and they know it. Which makes their bond so strong and the three of them so close, and so tight.

I am thankful for the opportunity to love them and watch them grow. I don’t think words can ever express how beautiful they’ve made my life to be. It is truly beyond my wildest dreams.

Going Out!

Hello Panda

December 11, 2012

The kids know that the giant pandas, Kai Kai and Jia Jia, have come and they’ve been asking, almost every day since the news of their arrival in September, “Is it December yet, Mama? Can we go see the pandas now?”

December’s here and they know it. We’ve put up the Christmas tree, gone shopping for Christmas presents and even watched “Home Alone” together as a rare tv treat.

“It’s December, right?” Ben would ask. “So can we go see the pandas now?”

So today, the kids skipped school and despite them having a cold and some rather swollen eyes, we headed to the zoo much to their excitement.

When we got there, we realised that we had to pay to see the pandas. At the entrance of the panda enclosure, the zoo staff explained that we have to purchase add-on tickets at the main entrance of the zoo. According to them, each giant panda preview add-on ticket is valid for one viewing and is limited to 15 minutes and all preview time slots are allocated and based on a first-come-first-served basis. The tickets are priced at $5 for adults and $3 for kids three and above.

We were allocated the 11.20 preview slot and went in to the enclosure with about 40 others. We walked past the completed River Safari enclosures (without the exhibits) and arrived at the entrance of the Giant Panda Forest. There, we were told not to use flash photography and not to startle the gentle giants. The zoo staff then told us to have a “pandastic day”, gave high-fives to all the children walking past them, and proceeded to follow closely behind – and we all know why – because we only had 15 minutes and they would need to gather us so we can exit together as a group later on.

The air in the enclosure was cool and a nice respite from the humidity outside. We walked past a golden pheasant and the Lesser Red Panda before arriving at Kai Kai’s side of the bamboo forest. The dude was obviously bored to his paws as he paced up and down repeatedly, before deciding he was thirsty and headed to a little water catchment to have a drink, much to the delight of everyone who was frantically snapping away with their cameras, yours truly included. At Jia Jia’s side of the enclosure, she came much closer to the crowd. The dudette was also pacing up and down repeatedly, oblivious to the crowd that was right before her eyes. Ben was thrilled to see pandas for the first time. Becks was like, “yea, panda, whatever” and the baby was fast asleep in the Beco carrier. I, on the other hand, was thinking of ways to make pretty Jia Jia eyelashes for a panda bento. The cartoon versions of these bears are way too cute not to make a bento!

Before we left the panda enclosure, Ben asked, “Mama, can pandas see?”

“Of course they can! Why do you think they can’t?” I quizzed.

“But their eyes are so black, how to see?”

Ah, perfect time to teach personification, as I have promised myself to do.

“Ben, look at my eyes. Are they black too?” I asked.

“Ya, quite black,” was his reply.

“My eye rings are black. But I can see. So surely the panda can see too.” I know I don’t make any sense, but I couldn’t help it. The kids need to know that any resemblance their mother has to the panda is not coincidental.

All in all, we had a pandastic 15 minutes indeed.

Invites & Tryouts Nat Kao Product Reviews

Yee-ha! [Skibz bib product review + giveaway]

December 8, 2012

I’m a Kao-boy everday but today I’m for real.

By jingo you’re right, I’m a cowboy today! I had some good ol’ beef porridge t’day and finished it all, the whole kit and caboodle, y’know.

And best of all, this Skibz bib cowboy jig is makin’ me look real macho! No more dribblin’, spillin’ – howdy pard! I could wear it all day!

And just so you can be a cool cowboy dude like me, my Mama’s gonna give away 5 Skibz bibs here on her blog to spread some Christmas cheer! Ain’t that swell? You can check out the cool Skibz designs here.

 

This is how you can stand a chance to win in 3 simple steps:

1) LIKE Little Safari Shop’s Facebook Page

2) LIKE Motherkao’s Facebook Page (if you’ve not already done so!)

3) Leave a comment telling us which design you’d like to win for the giveaway. Don’t forget your name and email address so we can contact you if you win!

Giveaway closes 20 December 2012. 5 winners will be picked at random!

UPDATE: We’ve picked our 5 winners! Congrats Jack Kie, Adeline, L Lee, Irene and Lydia!

More details:
  • Skibz, the ultimate dribble bib, is recommended for children aged 0-3 years. It’s made of 100% cotton, looks like a scarf but works like a bib, and is available at the Little Safari Shop.
  • Skibz retails at SGD$20. Motherkao’s readers get 5% off the retail price if you order before 10 Dec. Just quote “Motherkao” when you place your order.

** Disclosure: The Kao-boy received a Skibz bib from Little Safari Shop for the purpose of this review. All text and opinions are the Kao-boy’s (mother’s) own.**

Becks Kao Ben Kao Bento Attempts Milestones and growing up The Kao Kids The real supermom

Mealtime woes

December 7, 2012

I’ve been busy making picture bentos for the kids for almost every meal they have at home, but it’s been quite futile.

They.are.still.not.eating. They just go “yay”, pick the bits they like and very much leave a large portion of the box untouched.

So every day I try, and hope that more gets finished today than yesterday. Very humbling for the mommy ego indeed.

Motherkao's recipes

Breakfast staple

December 7, 2012

Pancakes are what we have on weekends if we’re not eating out. This is so easy to make you can do it in ten minutes.

Pancakes

Ingredients: (recipe makes 8 small ones)

100g plain flour
A pinch of salt
1 egg
300ml milk 

Instructions:

1. Add flour and salt in a bowl (I usually sift it). Make a hollow in the centre and crack egg into this

2. Stir and add milk gradually until batter is smooth

3. Add salted butter or vegetable oil to a frying pan and place on medium heat. When it smokes, place 3 tbsp of batter in it.

4. Turn and cook the other side when golden brown underneath.

5. Serve with maple syrup, strawberry jam, honey or bananas. Enjoy.

I usually double this recipe and make extra-large pancakes so I can use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes

Motherkao's recipes

The lovers, the dreamers, and me

December 5, 2012

I’ve been reading a lot about parties and cakes with rainbows and it’s making me want to try baking a rainbow cake. I looked up the web and found out that it can be really easy making one. Just two packets of Betty Crocker’s and six types of gel colour paste, and voila!

I would have loved to make it from the scratch but unfortunately I only had the luxury of two hours. Even with premixes, it took me slightly more than two hours to bake, mix, wash and repeat the process six times! I can’t imagine if I had to make the batter from scratch; it might probably take the whole day!

Rainbow Cake (Recipe makes 1 with 6 layers)

Ingredients:

  • 2 packets of Betty Crocker’s white cake mix (I couldn’t find white so I bought yellow and lemon and it worked just fine)
  • 1 pack of premix requires: 3 eggs, 1/5 cup of veg oil & 1 cup of water
  • Gel colour paste in your favourite rainbow colours
 
For the frosting, I didn’t want it to be too sweet (knowing that premixes can be very sweet!) so I whipped 240g of cream cheese with 180g of icing sugar.
 

You will also need: round 9″ baking tins (the more the better!), baking paper and small bowls

Instructions:

1) Follow the instructions on the premix. Divide batter evenly. One box of premix can be divided into 3.

2) Add enough of each colour of food colouring to each bowl, whisking, until desired shade is reached. Transfer each colour to an individual cake pan. (The whole time when I was baking I was reciting “Richard of York Gains Battle in Vain”! I skipped “Indigo” though!)

3) Transfer to oven and bake until a skewer inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean, about 15 minutes (working in batches if necessary).

4) Remove cakes from oven and transfer to a wire rack; let cool for 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto a wire rack; re-invert and let cool completely.

5) Start ordering the layers reciting ROYGBIV backwards; the first layer on the cake tray should be purple. Slab on some cream cheese frosting and repeat process with other layers.

6) Place last red layer on top, bottom-side up. Using a spatula, cover the top and sides with a thin layer of frosting (also use any of the excess frosting visible between the layers). Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.

7) Gather kids and prep the camera. Slice the cake and hear them say “waaa!”. Enjoy! (La da da dee da da do…)

Bento Attempts Food, glorious food! Invites & Tryouts Product Reviews

Boxing the kids’ dinners [Product review]

December 3, 2012

My new hobby of making picture bentos for the kids have been keeping me busy lately, both in the kitchen and online (shopping and learning from other bento blogs!), and it was timely that JED Packs! sent over a set of Tyrrell Katz Working Wheels Snack Boxes. Ben was into construction vehicles since he was two years old, and it’s been more than a year now since his love affair with trucks began. It all started with observing the multiple construction sites springing up all around us in car rides, and many trips to the library to learn the functions and purposes of each vehicle and how each truck works. By two half, this boy could name every construction vehicle he sees in books and at work sites, knows the difference between a steam roller and a backhoe loader, and can explain to us what excavators do and how cement is mixed in a concrete mixer.

So you can imagine how happy he was to receive a set of these. Opening these snack boxes of different sizes like Russian dolls certainly made his day.

These snack boxes are pretty and handy to have in my stash of bento boxes for the kids. Yesterday, the kids were a little under the weather. Becks was having a cold and a fever, and Ben didn’t seem to have much of an appetite.

I made the children some soba with a happy lion in these snack boxes and that cheered them up a bit.

*JED Packs! will be having their Christmas sale this Tuesday (10am-7pm) and Wednesday (9.30am-5pm) at the Orchard Hotel. You can find more Tyrrell Katz lunch accessories and snack boxes, and other pretty stuff there. Check out their fb page for more details.*

**Disclosure: We received a complimentary set of 3 snack boxes for this review. All text and opinions are our own.**

Christmas happiness Food, glorious food! Motherkao loves... Product Reviews

Eat well this Christmas: featuring Preparazzi [plus a giveaway]

December 1, 2012

[Product / Service Review]

It’s hard enough to be juggling a full-time job and minding three kids. It’s even harder if you expect a mother like me who’s trying to get her juggling act together to serve up piping hot homecooked food for dinner every day or host a party with homemade meals. Or ask me to plan how to celebrate Mother’s Day / Father’s Day / Mom’s birthday / Dad’s birthday / In-law’s birthday / whatever Day for the extended family.

So it’ll be great if someone could deliver healthy gourmet food to my doorstep (sick of pizzas and curry chicken in a bun already!); or better still, prepare the food, semi-cook it, and let me do the last minute heating up and garnishing so I can look good and get all the credit.

Enter Preparazzi. I’ve been calling them for help every time I need to have gourmet food delivered to my doorstep.

For Father’s Day last year, as of every year, the extended family stayed in the comfort of home and feasted away. Preparazzi did all the slicing, dicing and seasoning. All we needed to do was to pop the chicken and the accompanying sides into the oven. We ate healthy, fuss-free.

The birds were seasoned and the vegetables were prepped for us

There was also glutinous rice stuffing in the juicy chicken!

For my mother’s birthday last year, we had their signature roast pork crackling with caramel apples, specially seasoned with Preparazzi’s very own spice. For that one, we just reheated when we were ready to eat. Didn’t work up a single drop of sweat in the kitchen at all. Mom loves Asian flavours and this dish had the whiff of it fused to the aromas of the roasted pork and spicy apples. Absolutely mind-blowing.

Preparazzi’s Signature Roast Pork Crackling, photo courtesy of Preparazzi

When I lost my appetite in the first trimester while preggers with Becks, Preparazzi’s home delivery service brought me gourmet tingkat for a while every day. I could even make special requests – like if I didn’t want to have spices added to the mains that particular day, or when I preferred to skip fish and have chicken instead. It was like having a personal butler, and it was nice to be pampered this way, at least for a while. The only work I ever did was to pop the food into the microwave as instructed.

Chicken Rendang, photo courtesy of Preparazzi

Preparazzi offers a service that deals with all the fuss and mess so that you can enjoy the fun bits of cooking and entertaining. They prep the food in cooked or ready-to-cook options, just so you get to impress. Their goal is to help people cook, eat and entertain better, which is perfect for busy people! What’s even better is that they scour the region for the freshest produce and choicest gourmet foods, and blacklist preservatives and additives, just so you can be assured that every bite you take is of the highest purity. I can attest to that: I’ve had their food on many occasions and so far, I’ve not been disappointed. So if you’re hosting a get-together this festive season, or any celebration, big or small, you can just give these folks a call and they will show up with great food at your doorstep.

~~~

*Yay, it’s time to do a giveaway!*

This Christmas, be the star at your dinner party.  Preparazzi’s bespoke culinary services include a well-appointed delivery service, an indulgent bar and bistro dining experience and of course, a luxurious private chef service for a plush night in. Check out their Christmas party packages and other festive goodies here.

Gula Melaka Caramel Glazed Ham (1kg) $58

Roast Turkey with Traditional Sausage and Walnut Stuffing, Gravy and Cranberry Jam (4kg) $220

Specially for the readers of this blog, order from Preparazzi’s Gourmet Delivery Menu and get a 15% discount for your orders. Quote “KAO” at the voucher portion when you check out.

Preparazzi is also doing a giveaway just for Motherkao’s readers! Win their 2kg Signature Roast Pork Crackling (worth $80), redeemable only in January 2013.

This is how you can stand a chance to win in 4 simple steps:

1) LIKE Preparazzi’s Facebook Page

2) LIKE Motherkao’s Facebook Page (if you’ve not already done so!)

3) Leave a comment on this blog telling me how you would define eating well.

4) Leave your name and email address (only if you want to be contacted if you win!)

Giveaway closes on 16 December 2012. A winner will be picked at random. 

UPDATE: And we’ve picked a winner at random! Congratulations to Dominique! Preparazzi will be in touch with you shortly. Enjoy the roast pork crackling!

**Disclosure: I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post. All text and opinions are solely based on my experience using Preparazzi’s gourmet home delivery service and dining at their bistro.**