Cannelloni

First go at spinach and ricotta Cannelloni with Bolognaise and white sauce.
The filling shrunk a little (too wet?) but it was delicious if I may say so myself:)

Black eye Lara

Lara was playing in the lounge near the coffee table like she did hundreds of times before. I left the room only a few seconds when I heard the cry. It looked like Lara fell and hit the table drawer knob. It must have hurt a lot as the bruise and swelling lasted quite some time, so was the crying. Thank God it just missed the eye!

Wedding anniversary meal

There are a few things that warranted celebration recently, wedding anniversary (nine years!!) being one of them. Lack of time to think about where to go, we booked the first restaurant that came to mind and not too far from the city - Kobe Jones. The food was unforgettable a couple of years ago. It seemed to be have gone downhill after that. Anyway, we thought we would give it another try.

One of their signature dish "Special No 1" was magnificent 2 years ago. It's the kind of dish that could keep me awake at night thinking about it. There was this melt-in-your-mouth crab salad and fish wrapped in seaweed and baked in an amazing cream sauce. A friend told me the cream sauce tasted like a "Nobu" sauce. Well, it definitely looked like they have changed hands or chefs. "No1" is still nice tasting but definitely less creamer and the seafood taste is more prominent. There also seemed to be quite a lot of empty tables, though it was not too late into the night, it was not a good sign.

We did enjoy a leisure meal just the two of us and got to see the sunset at Darling Harbour before the meal. What more could you ask?

[1 year 8 months] Yes Mom No Mom

Lara's development is pretty close to the milestones described in Dr Green's "Toddler Taming" book for 18 months/2 years olds. For example, Lara refers to herself by name, and she claims ownership of everything - everything is Lara's. Needless to say, sharing is not a strong point. She scribbles in a circular manner (and tells me she's drawing an "apple") and starts to show discomfort when wet or dirty. (she told me "poo poo" and pointed to her nappy before she actually pooed occasionally) In fact, Mother-in-law tried Lara on a toilet training seat the other day, Lara called it "poo chair" and was quite happy sitting on it for a long time.

Lara's 'specialty' this month is stringing two words she knows together. For example, "Lara shoe", "Da da hat", "Mom hair", "Lara feet", "Ta Mom", "Bye bye Grandma", "Come Honey" etc. When Lara says yes or no to me, she says "yes Mom" "No Mom". Sometimes she gets the names wrong, for example said "Ta da da" to me then corrected herself.

Lara loves to eat ice cream. Still loves fruit too. She tells me "na na" when she wants banana. Generally, if Lara won't eat banana, she's not hungry. She hasn't said "no" to oranges, kiwi fruit or strawberries. She tells me when she want's water too.


Lara loves swing and slide in the park too. She wants to be pushed higher and higher and can stay in the park for a very long time!




Lara knows the names of most simple body parts. I can't say if Lara is right-handed or left-handed ('Taming Toddlers' says hand dominance is established in most 2 year olds). She uses the left hand a little more when drawing, but it's a very close call at the moment.

Lara seems to be able to "count". When she see both of her pink blankets, she says "two blankets". When she put her blocks in the box, she sometimes counts "two four six"(sounds like). Grandma thinks she's a genius, knowing her times table already.

I was "told off" by Lara several times this month. The first time was in Grandma's when I put the teddy bears Lara took out back to the toy cot. Lara looked cross and pointed her index finger at me and said "NO! MOM!". You could tell she was imitating someone (not sure who). I know I shouldn't laugh, but it was very funny. It also happened at bath time. I had a Band-Aid on my finger that day. It came off during the bath. I didn't want to leave Lara, so I put the Band-Aid at the side of the bath. Lara wasn't happy with that. She told me "No Mom" (finger-pointing) and pointed to the toilet "bin bin" she said - she wanted me to put it in the bin! I also saw her did something similar to her bear too.

Lara stopped hitting her head on the floor when she was not happy, however, she cries a lot more this month, especially when we say no to her, take things away from her or stop her from doing things. I am trying what I did before - ignore her or walk away. Hopefully this is another phase she's going through. I guess they are not called "terrible two" for nothing!

Lara loves to to baby puzzles. She can do it quite fast (possibly faster than me!)

Neighbourly orchids

A knock on the door.
A bunch of beatiful orchids.
From the garden of a Greek lady 2 doors up.
Whom I gave a lift to staion a couple of times.
They brightened up our week!!

New chapter

New chapter in life.


Lots to do in the next few weeks. Finding a day care for Lara and a house for us to live in are the two immediate "tasks" that spring to mind.

The worrying part of me is wondering how Lara and we will handle the new environment. An older and wiser day care teacher reminded me that Lara would probably not remember anything to do with this move. Yes, stop worrying I tell myself. Everything will work out fine at the end. It always does.

ps A strange coincidence was that next door also decided to sell their place. Apparently, they've been thinking about it for at least a year but decided to wait for spring and we just beat them to it. They knocked on the door one night and spoke to us about whether to put off their sale or go ahead with their original plan. We encouraged them to do whatever they felt right. They went ahead with their original plan. Our house was sold just before their first open home. What a timing!

21st Party

We went to Niece's 21st birthday party this weekend. We weren't planning to go because of sickness and Lara but that really upset the young lady. Luckily at the end we got better and manipulated Lara's sleep a little so we were all able to attend. The party had a mask theme and it was nice to see some really stunning masks. Mother-in-law bought and painted our masks and saved the day again! Lara wasn't keen on the masks but tried them on for us...





The party room (a private function room in a restaurant) was nicely decorated with lots of objectives that interested Lara, especially those colourful balloons. Even with lots of exciting people around (cousins, uncles/aunties and Grandparents) and exciting things to do (steel stairs to climb and fresh air outside), Lara was ready to go at 9 pm. I had to gobble my main meal (portion was huge so I was full before I finished it) so we could leave. We heard the ice cream birthday cake was nice!

I can't believe the little girl I met 10 years ago is 21!! She is beautiful, intelligent and very capable. We are looking forward to seeing many great things from her. One thing Hubbie got from the party was to buy a video camera so he will also have lots of interesting (or embarrassing) clips to show at Lara's 21st birthday!