Speech development

It is so cute now that she can utter a few words : Flower (Fwawa), Book (Bookk) and Owl (OWL, yes the nocturnal bird), amongst them.

Everywhere she goes, anything she sees that resembles a flower, she will point to it saying "Fwawa" - flowers on her dress/mine, flowers in the park, flowers on TV, a photo of a flower, etc etc.

"Fwawa, fwawa", she says, looking at me while I nod approvingly. Then, she stood up and proceeded to stomp on them!

She also understands commands/sentences :
> Do you want nen-nen (milk)?? She will usually nod her head many times and walk towards the kitchen to ENSURE that I make it there and then.
> Do you want biscuit/mum-mum(eat)? (she can understand both) Again, it's a nod to this question.

But there is one command she will conveniently ignore - "NO!" - she can even imitate me doing the "No" (shaking my index finger side-to-side). I find it very funny when she does that!

Sometimes she will "sign" that she wants to eat (mum-mum) by pointing her index finger towards her mouth, sometimes she will say "mum mum", sometimes without it. When I see her doing it, I will usually ask her if she wants to eat/mum-mum. She will nod.

I don't teach her to sign alot (she will do it only if she wants to), but there is a programme on Cbeebies which she likes to watch where they will teach the babies to "sign". I am not sure if she picks up any signing from there, but she watches it intently.

Tried Recipe : Pan fried Chicken with Mango

I have been wanting to try this recipe since reading it (and salivating looking at her foodie photos) from this blog I frequent - Rojak Rendezvous. She was featuring this simple recipe : "Pan Fried Chicken with Mango".

I substituted a few of the ingredients as I had fogotten to get them from the shops (Olive oil to substitute butter and dried Parsley for the fresh ones)! We chose a relatively good white wine to cook this as it could also be used as an accompaniment to the chicken. Also, instead of using chicken with skin and bones, I used skinless and boneless chicken.

Verdict : Easy to prepare and cook. Tastes delicious - the mango added a nice tanginess to the white wine, which would have otherwise be a little bitter. I would definitely make this if they continue to sell those mangoes as sweet as the ones I got! I believe if I had used butter and used the chicken with skin, this dish would be even more flavourful.

Nonetheless, it was yummy yummy in my tummy!

(The photo does not do justice to the dish)

London Aquarium

Date : 23 Aug 2008

Hubs thinks it's a good idea for us to visit the London Aquarium on Saturday as Sunday (today) is when Central London will be packed to the brim because of the Olympic Party happening at The Mall. And tomorrow (Monday), there is the Notting Hill Festivals, another traffic-stopping event.

We parked at hub's office and make the short walk to London Eye, passing by Shell Centre. We saw the queue to go up the London Eye - a 30mins 2km long snakey queue! We didn't know where to get the tickets so I asked a Marshall if I could get it at the "Fast Track" queue, he said yes. Little did I know that in order to get my "Oyster 2 for 1" ticket, I had to queue up at the London Aquarium entrance. So I spent about 20mins queueing for nothing! We then had to join the right queue and that too, was for about 15-20mins (it was about 1km long).

(Lunch at "The Fire Station" on the way to the aquarium)

Upon getting our tickets and entering, Shean Wenn was totally fascinated by the display of fish and marine wildlife.

(Totally fascinated by the fishes)

We allow her to look at the fishes and wildlife up close (at the tanks) and she kept pointing at them saying "Fish/Bish/Ish/Wish" (depending on her pronunciation).

(Koi Carp - so beautiful. I wonder how are my dad's Kois doing?)

BELOW : Moray Eel, I believe

We arrived at the Aquarium at about 2pm (by the time we queue up and entered, that is) and we saw on the board that there was to be a Shark Feeding at Zone 9 at 2.30pm. Which means we had to cover 8 zones to reach there. It was nearly impossible (we didn't want to backtrack) so we just took our time looking at the displays and tanks before reaching Zone 9 - The Pacific Ocean (where the Sharks are).

ZONE 9

ZONE 10 - CORAL REEF

Shean Wenn is so absorbed looking at the Tangs (the big yellow fish below) @ the Coral Reef section. Zone 12 is my favourite bit - looking at the Piranhas. I remember at about 4 or 5 years old, I went with my cousins to their church which was showing the movie "Piranhas" and was so scared for many nights after that because everytime I closed my eyes, the images of the man-eating piranhas eating their preys kept replaying in my head!! Haha. I am glad to say I did not get scarred for life though (same goes for the movie "Jaws"), phew!

TERRAPINS : Here is where I got "excited" debating and correcting the hubs when he pointed to one Terrapin and told SW "This is a turtle". I have always thought that turtles, tortoises and terrapins are quite distinct. Can you tell the difference between a turtle and a tortoise?

Turtle : Lives in the ocean and spends most of their time in the water, has webbed feet (for swimming)

Tortoise : Lives on land, does not have webbed feet but instead have round and stumpy feet with claws for walking.

Anyway, after searching around the internet, it seems that "In a biological respect, a tortoise is a kind of a turtle, but not all turtles are tortoises." (Source : Wisegeek)

And apparently, "turtles and tortoises are common names usually refer to differences in where the species live and how they use their habitat. But the names are also used differently in other parts of the world." (Source : Sandiegozoo)

So perhaps the hubs isn't that far wrong! (I should go tell him that later)

Zone 14 - The Rainforest!
Ahh, something familiar to end our tour in the Aquarium. I spotted this Arowana (from Amazon) - it was a huge one of about 2 feet long! Must be worth alot if sold to the Asian businessmen. (Many asian businessmen believe that keeping an Arowana will help them prosper in their business. I would know because I know many petrol station dealers keeping one in their offices!) Ok, so perhaps this one isn't the expensive species that people pay hundreds of thousands for.. . but still.

(Family portrait)

Shean Wenn pondering about her day out - by the Houses of Parliament

Overall, I really enjoyed the trip there. Barring the queuing, it was quite a smooth trip, and educational one for me too! But if you plan to go there, bear in mind that although they say this is "Not weather dependant", it is too - you need to anticipate the queuing (mostly outdoors), unless you can get there early when they open their doors.

The hubs's verdict : Not as fun as the Seaworld in Brisbane ( he cited there there wasn't any dolphins!). Well, it can't be as fun as Seawolrd because this is an indoor AQUARIUM and not a SEAWORLD, dear hubby.

Psst....

* Edited *

(Unazukin Clover and Momiji Mika sharing a secret)

It's Bank Holiday Monday this coming Monday, so it's a long weekend for us. Yayy!

Ours will be one filled with visits to the London Aquarium, some sight-seeing, and some spot of shopping (mostly grocery shopping I foresee, since the broken fridge has been regas-ed and repaired temporarily). I hope I get to eat some cakes too. BTW, they will be sending us a new fridge soon. Thanks Hoover (thanks insurance, phew)!

(BTW, if you are visiting London Aquarium, don't forget to bring your Oyster Card - 2 for the Price of 1 paying adult.)

What will your weekend be like? No matter what, have a safe and great one.

PS : "Models" are my latest craze for Jap dolls - I found out that they are retailing the Nina Zimmerman designed Momiji Dolls at the local retailer and got my first one. Meet Mika (She can keep a secret). The Unazukin doll, on the other hand, is from E-Bay, my first successful bid.

Little Miss Vain

From the diary of Miss Shean Wenn (aka Miss Vainpot) :

TIPS : ACCESORIES

There is a reason why they say your hair is your "Crowning Glory" - a hairband is great way to accesorise the hair.

Look how I am transformed!

And how your eyes are the windows to your soul - and to preserve the beauty and sparkle of these "windows", do keep a pair of sunnies in your bags (or in my case, my mummy's bag) to shield it against the harmful UV rays of the sun!

If you can, please invest in a good pair for protection and it'll be a bonus if it matches your outfit! **wink**

Wishing you everyday of good-hair-day and eyebags-free,
Shean Wenn
Style Guru

Credits : Layer masks by Katie Pertiet

This post is part of the "Little Miss" Series

Broken again...

I can't believe it: our fridge, with the replaced compressor, is broken again.

I had noticed the smell (probably the gas of the compressor) earlier last evening but thought nothing of it. We just bought our weekly grocery shopping - about £80 of stuff. This morning, the hubs confirmed my suspicions. We hauled most of the lot to Alicia's place in the afternoon. She had trouble finding space in her own fridge to accomodate the stuff we brought over :P (I hope the ice cream can still be eaten)

My hope is that Hoover will replace this with a new unit (new fridge, that is, not a compressor) so that we don't experience another episode like this. Especially when you have a young toddler to feed.

Now, I am so full from dinner - having to finish up whatever that's left in the fridge - ALOT of fishballs. *burp*

Anyway, after lunch with Alicia and her housemate, I headed out for a haircut. Shoulder-length again so I can perm it end of the year, hopefully!

* * * * * * * *

Two weeks ago, Shean Wenn attended a "Teddy Bear's picnic" held by Gymboree.

Before the picnic, I asked Shean Wenn to pick her bear to bring along for the "picnic". She chose her "Pooh Bear Bear", which was given to her by my cousin, Vivienne.

(Enjoying herself in the ball pool, with Pooh Bear Bear)

The picnic : There were alot of kids (and their moms), and it was alot of singing. Shean Wenn enjoyed herself by rummaging through stuff/toys, singing and dancing by herself (to the music and even without the music). There were some snacks provided by gymboree, not much variety - but for £2 entrance fee (with gives you a Raffles Ticket too), I can't complain. They have this chocolate roll which tasted pretty awful - filling were too sweet and the roll was a tad dry. Our asian version is definitely better (even without effort) - those pasar malam ones taste so much better than this!

Anyway, during Raffles Draw, we won ourselves a consolation prize - an inflatable Gymboree ball.

After gymboree, I brought SW to a nearby park and I reckoned she enjoyed herself on the swing more!

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"

The ten of us

My friends and I, together with some of our spouses/other halves have created a blog to kinda keep in touch amongst the group. Although most of us have our own blogs, there are some who does not, so this is a great place to rant to the targetted other nine who will listen. For me, I blog there on matters not relating to SW since over in TsuLin ++, it's almost mostly about SW.

Hop on to ALL OF US, if you have time on your hands. It's tagged to Boon's blog.

Backdated : Redbull Air Race

(A plane flew right past infront of the balcony - my ONLY good shot of the whole event)

Two weekends ago, Patrick and wife invited us to their swanky apartment for lunch and also to watc the Redbull Air Race live in their balcony.

We arrived amidst gloomy weather, it was cloudy and windy as we parked the car and saw that the area was cordoned off to the public since this is a ticketted event. Patrick managed to cook a feast - green curry mussels, asam fish and sambal belacan vegetable. All spicy stuff to whet our appetite. Shean Wenn fell asleep in the car on the way here so the four of us sat down for lunch while she slumbered on the long couch even with the loud roaring of planes flying past.

After a hearty meal, we headed down to watch the air race. It was quite eventless - it's the finals.. there weren't many planes in action and they just seemed to zoom past some between some poles situated at various points in the Thames River at the shortest time possible without knocking over them.

Somewhat like this - look at the trail of smoke behind it.

Drizzling when we went down.

(SW and daddy posing with uncle Patrick)

(Three of them against the O2 backdrop)

We headed back up again since there isn't much activity going on, plus it was raining. Me, I was eyeing the pool and thinking how wonderful if I could be soaking in there sipping my margherita. Hey!

Back upstairs, Shean Wenn toddled around the place as though she owns it. Truth is, she is almost always excited to see, feel and venture around new places. She climbs up and down the sofas, table even. Peer through doors into rooms, stared at herself in the big mirror in the hallway and happily want to go out onto the balcony. Daddy and uncle Patrick had to escort her back in a few times ... tssk! My little girl.

(Sitting still with daddy)

We spent the whole afternoon with them and by the time we went home, we were so stuffed from lunch, dessert, after-dessert dessert (there was Konnyaku Jelly followed by Ice-Cream) we had a very light dinner. Such gracious host. Thanks Patrick and Amy!

Confessions of a bookworm

(Click here for credits)

She really loves her books..

She will read them first thing in the mornings, or when she is bored during the day, and the last thing before going to bed.

This morning she woke up at 6am, I carried her out from her cot and lay her down next to me on my bed. Usually she will read by herself, babbling incessantly along with the pages. Today, she poked me with the book - my eyes almost went blind, my nose mercilessly being hit a few times. She wants me to read her a story. I am not a morning person, certainly not so between 5.00-7.30am (just let me sleep!). I grudgingly took the book (for fear of being blinded) flipped through it and mumbled "Doggy Wooow wooow and Bear Ggrrrrrr were playing ball on the beach" (I always teach her the animals by accompanying the sound that the respective animals make)- I hear her grumbling, as though unhappy. I opened one eye - OOOOPS, the book is upside-down. I flipped back the right side up and continued the story which I now know by heart... she happily responded with every of my word. After 2 pages, I fell back asleep and she left me alone, reading on her own again.

(Her favourite books - "In the Night Garden"'s Makka Pakka Washed Faces & All Aboard the Ninky-Nonk)

Sometimes at night, she will even hug her book to sleep! -_-"