16 months

16 months, originally uploaded by L'Aubergine Grillée.

Happy Nawruz!!

Sign of spring, originally uploaded by L'Aubergine Grillée.

Even it is late. My soul still celebrating Nawruz!
The colourful flowers are blooming, the trees are showing off their green leaves, sweet smelling parfums of the plants, we never see the blessing so real after the winter season.
Sometimes we take advantage of being in tropical country where everything stay the same. But being in the country with four seasons we appreciate the difference of weather. It tickles our body and senses towards cold, hot, windy and frozen.

We are still enjoying springtime! 21 March is the equinox day where the sun is vertically above equator!

Happy Nawruz!

Eat for Goodness sake!

They say if we have the kids on your own, we will know more about ourselves well. I understand why there are so many Dummies books sold out in the bookstore about the preparation of toddler's life for mommy and daddy. Many mothers or professional chefs and pediatrician write some recipe books for toddler's meal and how it is important to watch what they're eat.

I am not too sure how my mom had raised me when I was a kid. Did I push the food away that my mom had prepared? Those spinaches that I was forced to gulped down the throat, did I throw some tantrums afterwards? Those soft boiled eggs every morning she prepared, how did I start to like it? I remember how I felt I wanted to throw up after she forced me taking a spoonful of cod fish liver oil. But hei, thanks to her I escaped from many sickness like asthma, eczhema, rashes, TBC, earache etc.

These days I am waking up to most mornings thinking " What the hell I am going to cook for her today?" A little latter in the day I text my husband "What are we going to eat for dinner tonight, honey?"I planned the food chart list for the well-balanced diet before she even popped out. I have done some research and still doing it to give the best for kid (who doesn't?). Sometimes I think I should just become kids nutrition if I ever re-born again.

She is beginning to test my patients sometimes with the foods. I need to be freaking creative with the menu. She pushed the foods away or simply looked away not interested with it. I leave her for awhile and offer her the dessert (at least it is fruit she loves) and finish the session without main course. At least she respects the manner to sit on the chair at every meals! No, I can't imagine myself running after her just to spoonfed her bowl. And strictly not in front of TV (why? so she can appreciate the variety of taste and respect the foods. I am an old fashioned one) She now understands to wipe off her mouth after each meals. For the meals she love means she will feed herself, I am just supervised her. I used to let her experimenting to touch her food. It was a messy business, it is her learning! No, there's no violence during mealtimes ( or yet)! I managed to bottled up all the emotions and leave it. It is part of our growth, oh yes physically and mentally.

I don't leave her to decide what to eat. She still needs nutrition from good vegetables and meats which means I am trying not to give additional vitamins. I used to be a little bit frustrated if she doesn't eat much but I understand that she has the right to do it. It will be worse for her physcology to forced her to eat at every meal, for my good sake too. It is okay not to finish her plate (seldom...) because forcing them may cause obesity or bulimia in the later age.

There you go the typical breakfast for our toddler;

• Brekkie 0730 am --> Oatmeal with fruits (banana, kiwi, milk, avocado) or 2 croissants
  (gosh, she's so frenchie!) or toasts with homemade jams or crepe with fruits
• Lunch 0100 pm --> chicken pie or courgette and potato gratin or salmon with spinach and
  potato or le boudin noir with potato (gosh, I am raising a french baby !!) or pasta with brocolli or beef with rice porridge
  Dessert consists of plain fruits like kiwi/yogurts with fruits/vanilla rice milk/strawberries, she no longer like apple and pear puree!
• Snacks 0500pm --> toasts, oatmeal biscuits without sugar ( I am limiting her sugar intakes!), crepes
• Dinner 0730pm --> soups! Potato, leeks, and carrots/ lentils with carrots/ and sometimes
  no idea! Just anything I could get from the stock in the fridge.
  
  I never know how toddler's meal could be so elaborate. I am obliged to change the menu every weeks! How lucky she has the private chef! No creamy sugar, no cheap US cereal (Nestle etc, they are chemicals and contains too much sugar), not so much fruit juice boxes, not so much salty food.
  
  Honey, that's all the budget spent every months!
  
  I should be able to read Zen Parenting next year! Yeah...I should do it while listening Björk.

Beautiful

A sweet thin lips
Blue eyes
Fair skin colour
Blonde long hair
smooth long legs

Not everyone is Paris Hilton!
But I do hope to explain the meaning of 'beautiful' to my daughter someday. But before knowing the beauty from the (stupid) teenage magazine on how to dress like a rock star, I hope i can introduce the image of nature beauty such as a waterfall cascading over mossy rocks in the forest or a stunning orange setting over the lake. I choose to equate beauty to something that moves my heart and cause me to smile. Beauty doesn't fit into logical equatation. It is poetic, natural, visual and emotional. I find the most attractive physical beauty on the person is the freckles on the skin, the wrinkles on the face, the clear eyes, the tears and smiles.

These days if we turn on TV and chose a channel, we'll see the same image of beautiful women. The beauty pageant, "beautiful" women in their ideal body promoting the products in the ads, mini series, video clips etc. As an Asian woman, I know exactly what the women do with their body to get lighter skin and hair, taller, big butts and boobs. I used to ask by a staff in the spa to lighten my skin colour with their products or even to straighten my lovely locks.

We are not created the same. Beauty is humility, happiness, creativity, tolerance, and all virtues which should be our adorning.I am not banning Barbie dolls, Disney musicals, Prince and princesse stories at home. But I will never let the kids alone playing and figuring it without some guidances. I hope I am not a control freak mom. Also, I am not buying those stuffs too (soon)! We should be able to see the uniqueness because it is beautiful!

At the moment I am happy to see her sleeping, holding Lapinou (Teddy Bear)...

La Crepe

La Chandeleur, Crêpe day, which happens today on 2nd February. I like crêpes so much and that's why I wrote about them now.If you happen to visit France, you will see many crepe stands and creperies all over. That is the indication of popularity of this delicate pancakes which they make it sense to dedicate a whole day to celebrate it. It is called "La Chandeleur" the holiday that celebrate the return of spring. It is also known as Crepe Day.

The thin pancake is made of flour, eggs, milk, sugar (options), and butter. The difference between pancakes and crepe are the thickness, the size and the way we serve it. Personally, I am not a fan of pancakes (especially US MacDonalds breakfast) because that maple syrup to go with them is killing the taste and you get full easily. Meanwhile, crepe is much more versatile and can be eaten rolled with just butter and sugar, ham and egg, cheese and vegetables. One of my favourite dishes is crepe suzette, which are filled with orange sauce and flammed.

On my the recent trip to La Croisic (Bretagne Sud), north-west of France we saw many creperies around. This is where crepe originated, savoury versions called "gallette" are popular.

Today I made a couple of crepe with eggs and ham for lunch. It took a couple of minutes for Noelia to acquire the taste but she finished her portion. I do not give salt and sugar for her food, but I encourage the variety of foods such as vegetables and herbs. Because I believe eating is not only to make us full and satisfied, but to enjoy the diversity of taste and knowledge.

A day in Paris with the stroller and a baby

It's been almost 2 months that we are here in Paris. I have not been around so much like I used to. It could be because I have Noelia that I choose wherever it is convenient for her to go. Most of the time I get a little bit nervous going around in Paris with Metro. There are too many stairs up and downs which could be difficult to go with the baby stroller. I choose to stay in the house or visiting markets or shops atound the neighbourhood. We do not stay in Paris, a little suburban called Meudon which is south west of Paris.

Yesterday, my in-law would like to go to Printemps Magazine to look for canape. I decided to go to Paris with Noelia together with them. They drove us until Saint Lazare Metro and Noelia was asleep. I was thinking at the moment, it was pretty alright and ma poulette was looking okay. So, I had to decide whether I want to go to Bonpoint children boutique in rue de l'universite (Metro Invalides) or Le Poussette Cafe at rue Pierre Semard (Metro Poissonniere). These days, my priority is to ensure Noelia is content at least for the whole day. And it is getting near lunch time for Noelia and I really need to rush before she started to scream in the metro. When the baby screams could be cute and her mama is used to it but not the ears of other adults.

I thought I made a good choice being in Le Poussette Cafe. Noelia ran around and greeted the other babies in that spacious cafe. It is rare to see cafe or bistro which has some space dedicated to children to play. The front of the cafe is the boutique where they display children winter jackets, toys, accessories for the little room, etc. The cafe is further inside with the walls full of cute decoration but it really looks neat and sweet. There are baby changing room attached to toilet and next door is where we park the strollers.

I ordered a homemade baby food in the menu, I think it was vegetables de provencale. It costs 4.40 euro a meal! Yeah that much...And I thought I am going to skip lunch, just tea will do me good. It was a delicious meal for Noelia (darn, she's lucky!). She met a couple of other kids around her age, and she had a good time. There was a boy who is around the same age as Noelia who keeps running and touching the products they display. His mom screamed 'Non, ne touch pas!', 'Non, fais pas ca', 'Non, je suis tres fache'...I could see that her nerves were out. I don't usually do that, because I trust Noelia to explore as long as it is not life threatening activities. And I think I would make her nervous by saying 'No' all the time. She touched some products but not pulling them, she observes the babies and touch their faces or hands, she smiled and flipping the books full of pictures. I am lucky not running around too much after her.

I got really hungry and decided to buy some food somewhere else cheaper. I bought a decoration cat in colourful fabrics around 42 euro because I always wanted to do some deco stuffs made out of fabrics. That bloody expensive cat deco made in vietnam could be a sample of what I really want to do later in Singapore.

We're off to Saint-Placide. Pffhh, we were lucky because there is l'escalier roulant for stroller. If I stopped in Montparnasse, it would be a long walk with stairs up and down inside the tunnel. Noelia was still asleep in the stroller until we were inside of Fnac. I bought 2 children books, 'Une souris verte' and 'Tous les pipis', they are cool! Noelia started to get a little cranky and we stopped in La Brioche Doree. Voila, at 4 pm my lunch cost 7.50 euro with the boisson + dessert tout compris!

Back home in Meudon after we got in transilien sncf train from Gare Montparnasse. The day is almost gone, I quickly prepared Noelia to go to bed. I am pleased that I can go around Paris with the stroller that day. I probably would like to go again to visit museum with her someday.

My day out alone ...

Charming clear blue sky in Paris, originally uploaded by L'Aubergine Grillée.

Yes, I was in Paris today and took the metro everywhere. I went to register for the French course in La Sorbonne. I managed to find the way to the building that I used to visit everyday a few years back. I got off Metro Jardin du Luxembourg and went all the way up to rue de L'Estrapade. It was such a nice feeling I have! Especially when I was alone and had a good long walk.

Noelia was with her grandma for half-day. She is very kind to volunteer herself to do it among her busy schedule. We had tried to call La Halte Garderie in the neighbourhood to keep Noelia for a day or two in a week. But they are full until September 09!

In France, La Halte-Garderie is a children daycare for non-working mother. This is to give the moms a break for a couple of hours or a day without having the children around. This service is completely free of charge. La Creche is for the day care that is permanent for working parent to leave their children for a full day in a week.

Early before I left the house, I became a little bit nervous to leave ma poulet with her grandmere. I am worry that she will cry and break something in the house full of everything. I used to leave her at home with her nounou for half day, but now we are staying at my parent-in-law. Although they themselves have take care of other grandchildren, but I am still worry. So, I quickly ran back home after I finished my pita bread lunch in boulevard St. Michel.

How my life has changed since I have a little girl. Those clear blue sky to watch, sitting in the bench of the park or window shopping around town and even enjoying a cup of coffee are seldom in my agenda right now. I choose to quickly run back to kiss my little poulet. Sometimes I feel like I'd like to go back to my singlehood. But I said No, my life has been so colourful and rich right now by building a family.

I always thinking that if I am single, I would probably be the fashion conscious woman who wears Prada shoes, Louis Vuitton bag (like rich Indonesian ladies), twice a week to hair salon, drinking a cup of coffee and smoke Marlboro Light. My nights would be full of pretentious friends in the clubs or bars who wants to get recognized around the community. I am not sure if I could be happy, but I will be shortsighted to just live for a day.

I am still enjoying those clear blue sky now ...