Kidnapping in Singapore

When I read this article on the recent attempted abduction of kids, I find it hard to believe that such things are actually happening in Singapore.

I mean, I grew up in Singapore. The clinically clean, harsh law, no-chewing gum nonsense, safe haven Singapore. A very safe place to bring up kids, with very low crime rate. The only crime story I remembered till today which scared the hell out of me when I was a kid was that Adrian Lim story who murdered kids and cooked them in curry.

For days on end after the news and after watching an episode of Crime Watch covering the case, I was actually quite scared to walk to school (I did not tell anyone of my paranoia; I put up a very brave front), for fear that some stranger would abduct me and make me into some sort of holy curry!

Hence, to read such news report on kids almost nearly get abducted right under their parents' nose is quite scary. Being a parent myself now, I cannot imagine the anxiety of a parent if a child got lost while they are out together. Imagine MY anxiety if that ever happens.

On the hind sight, I also wonder if parents are just being paranoid. I am saying this because, in Thailand-baby-crazy country, babies and kids are touched by strangers all the time. Sometimes, when parents dine in a restaurant, the staff or diners at the restaurants have no qualms "taking your child away" to mind them for a little while for as long as you let them.

I have always been a little antsy when random strangers tug or touch Spud when I was carrying her, especially when she was a little baby. While I try to let it go, such inconsiderate act made me angry sometimes especially when I tried to get Spud to nap! She was a terrible napper when she was a baby, and there were times when after trying for several hours in trying to lull her to sleep, and when she finally was about to doze off, there was then some random strangers who could not just keep their hands to themselves; waking Spud up all over again!

But I digress.

Back to the topic.

Now, even though I am a little bit more lackadaisical about people touching her, I still refuse to let strangers mind her - and sometimes, I do wish I have eyes at the back of my head.

Truth be told, I can actually understand why parents use the toddler harness when they are out and about with their kids. Such stories about kids getting kidnapped are really not funny.

New blogger interface

OK.

So.

Apparently blogger has this new feature for a new layout, and not knowing any better, I just randomly clicked on it out of curiosity. I did not see any previews or anything, and thinking that I want to go back to the previous interface I was familiar with, I just logged out without saving anything.

And so. I logged in again, only to be met with a completely new layout when I start a new post.

Accckkk!!!!!!

And I can't seem to go back to the older interface. When I clicked on "preview" it does not seem that the main layout of my page has changed a lot. I only noticed that the text area is now a little bit more narrower.

I also have a little bit of a hard time trying to navigate through my older posts.

Boy!oh! Boy! This sure takes a while for me to get used to. Being the technical idiot that I already am, I find this to be a pain in the ass. How bloody annoying!

Indulgence of the week

.Freshly-made waffle cone.

.Crushed up Oreo cookies.

.Mixed in with creamy Mint Ice-Cream.

 This is just the perfect recipe to cool you down in the sweltering Bangkok heat.

That first bite into the icy-cool creamy, minty ice-cream is truly sensational. The Bangkok heat is just an excuse. In fact, go on, have a mint ice-cream at any time of the day and, if it is a good ice-cream, you'll melt away with it,

Trust me, I know; for I am the mint ice-cream monster. :)

Tail-gating woes

One of my biggest pet peeves is when a salesperson at a department store (or any stores for that matter) decided that the only way to make him/herself helpful is by tailgating right behind me, a few inches away from my butt, as I browse the product aisles.

What I don’t understand is that why can’t they just stay put at one place and pay attention to me in the event that I need help  instead of following me around callously while paying attention ELSEWHERE.  And usually, when I really do need help, most often than not, they were not able to.

That, I tell you, is.just.so.bloody.annoying. So annoying that I would like to smack the crap out of their heads, especially when they start answering “Yes!, yes, yes” to ALL my questions when I know for certain that the answer to some were clearly nothing but no!

Perhaps it was a case of miscommunication, and perhaps it was a case of language barrier, and the only desire they may have had is just to sell crap to me without me asking questions.

But whatever that reason is, I still don’t see the need for them to tail-gate me at a fart’s away. It is absolutely unnecessary, and really, please just let me browse the aisle peacefully. I don’t need you to follow me around when I’m just browsing and I will let you know when I need help.

This happened the other day when I wanted to buy a non-slip bathtub mat at a nearby department store. I have already had a few things in my hand, and jolly well intended to purchase it as I continue browsing somewhat similar stuff at a different aisle. Lo! And behold! This guy suddenly just popped up and followed me every frigging where. Not only that, he also went on to give me a sales pitch in Thai for every product I happened to pick out from the aisle. 

Thinking that he may be knowledgeable, I then asked him in my pidgin Thai on the stuff which I had in my hands. All he could do was stared blankly at me, and went on with “yes, yes, yes”, and then started to bring out more stuff from the aisle. I regretted opening my mouth. I should just have shooed him away and grab a fly swat nearby! 

He really was more of a hindrance than a help. And right there and then, I decided to not purchase anything. I promptly gave him back what I had, thanked him and walked away.

So yeah, I was royally annoyed. For me, just following me at my tail the moment I walk into a store is enough make me flee. And it makes me wonder if these moronic salesperson, wherever they are in the world, actually realize that. Or perhaps, that was their main intention anyway – to just annoy the crap out of their customers.

In any case though, I got to pat myself on the back for being able to save a few thousand baht from not making such a purchase.

End.of.rant.

Quote of the day

Here is me sharing a little wisdom imparted to me just a few days ago:

"Never bow to injustice in work or in life."

There is a deeper meaning to these words. Profound and inspiring in its own right.

Thank you, JS for your words of wisdom.

Steak for dinner

Our simple dinner as a result of a combined effort of Silver Bullet and me consisting of oven-roasted vegetables (my doing), pan-grilled beef steak (Silver Bullet's doing) topped with a little home-made steak sauce (mine!).

It was one of those days where I happened to be thinking about having steak, and as soon as I put my thoughts out loud, we both had the image of juicy steak playing up in our head all day to such an extent that it became a case of  "we REALLY have got to have steak tonight!"

Ahh...such is life's simple pleasures...a simple meal whipped up in less than 25 minutes right in your own home!

Funny sign

Sign at a local coffee shop caught on camera:

My brains really do hurt trying to figure out what "ancient Thai coffee is applied" means. The scary thing is that though,  I think I know what it means - probably a method of brewing and straining coffee done in a traditional way of using socks-strainers.

Or at least, I think so; I can't be sure!

My head still hurts trying to understand what I read.

Buying for Baby Checklist

Before Spud was born, a good friend of mine, Aunt Antsy,  nagged me to start shopping for a new baby for months on end because, when I was about 6 months pregnant, we still had not done jack-shit of what to buy.

Both Silver Bullet and I were so blase about the whole thing, and we did not really start panicking till I was 7 months in. And in that mode, what saved us was actually a list of essentials which Aunt Antsy shared with me at the earlier stages of my pregnancy.

Truly, I cannot thank her enough for that.

Looking back now, it was one of the most useful thing anyone could ever given us, and I thought I'll share it with you readers out there who are expecting a new born in your family. Although the list is by no means exhaustive, pick and choose to what you think are must-haves or nice-to-have.

My personal absolute basic must-haves are indicated with a **

Baby Bedding & Nursery Accessories:
Comforter/Quilt (we did away with this due to the potential suffocation hazard)
**Cot mattress sheets(s)
Diaper Stacker/Pocket
Lamp
Pillow & Cradle set (we did away with this too for the same reason. Spud still does not use a pillow) 

Nursery Furniture
**Cot Bed and Mattress
Dresser
**Changing Table
**Changing Cushion/Pad
**Comfortable chair for feeding/nursing
**Baby Monitor
**Chest Drawer

Infant Feeding Supplies
**High Chair (from 4-5 months onwards when baby can sit upright)
**Bibs
Booster seat
**Sterilizer Kit
**Bottle Brush
**Bottle Warmer
**Plastic Bottles
Extra nipples for bottles
**Breast pump set
**Nursing pads

Infant Health & Safety Products
Nursery Monitor
Air Humidifier
Nasal Aspirator
**Digital (ear) thermometer

Infant Bathing Needs
**Baby Bath Tub
**Bath Sponge
Bath Ring
**Towels
Wash cloths
Safety scissors
**Nail clippers
Brush/comb
**Basic toiletries - nappy wipes, cotton wool balls, cotton buds, a good nappy rash cream
**Moisturiser

Infant Travel Product
**Infant Car Seat
**Diaper Bag/Tote Bag
Stroller
**Baby Carrier 
Portable changing mat

Infant Clothing
**Diapers (cloth - if you want to use reusables)
**Diaper (disposables)
**One-piece outfits (or called onesies)
Sleepers
Play wear
Booties
**Socks
Soft shoes
Mittens
Receiving blankets
**Swaddles

Miscellaneous
Activity Quilt
Activity Gym
Muslin Squares
Toy chest
Toys
Hanging Mobile
Day cot
Record Book
Photo Album
Playpen
Toy chest
**Bouncer
Portable stacked-shelf

This is by no means, just a  guide and I hope you find it as useful as we did. And really, while we did not get all of the items in this list, knowing just the basic essentials  saved us quite a lot of headache in trying to figure out what to buy from scratch.

The next headache for new parents I reckon is then try to figure out the different types of monsters available within each and individual items!

Mashed-up Banana Balls

What happen when you suddenly have a whole lot of bananas which are turning a bit mooshy from getting a little over-riped, and got a little too much for you to eat at one go, but are too wasteful to be thrown away because they are still quite edible and you just did not have the time to eat them before they rot?

I turned them into these:

Back in Singapore, we call them "Jemput-Jemput Pisang" - I don't know how to translate "jemput-jemput" and "pisang" obviously means banana in Malay.  These, my friends, are nothing but those bananas mashed-up to death.

Add a little bit of vanilla essence and mix in some rice flour, I then tossed them into a frying pan filled with hot oil and deep fry them for a few minutes till they turn golden brown.

It was as simple as that.

It is one of those comfort food, and these banana balls make a great appetizer or dessert at the end of a meal.

...or for when you have the munchies and an itchy backside, and you want to whip up something in the kitchen "just because". Just like I did the other day.

"Lawwie"

As I was scrolling through the pictures in my digital camera the other day, I was compelled to share the moment with Spud, who is, as always, just too willing to kaypo around with the contents of the digital camera.

By now, she is very aware of herself being the (main) subject of the pictures, and so whenever she sees herself, she never fails to mouth off her own name. The pictures in that camera took us to several months back, and one of the series was this when we were in Holland back in January:

Now, I was not quite prepared for her reaction; but as soon as she saw the photos, her eyes lit up a thousand watts with a look of some serious recognition in her eyes. When I asked if she remembers, she gave me a look like she just can't quite place it, a little confused. So to jig-it up a little, I started talking about the time we were there, and who she was playing with at that time.

She certainly recognised the pirate tent, and to help her along, I mouthed off Little Dude's first name. As soon as I did that, she lit up much more and with a wide grin, she shrieked "Lawwie!"

Almost immediately, she then took the camera off my hand, and started flipping through the pictures herself rather excitedly (and clumsily!), and never wiping that smile off a face as she went "Lawwie, Lawwie" each time she saw his picture in it.

To see her lit up in such an unbelievably strong recognition seemed so surreal to me.

And you know what -  I am shamelessly declaring that it must have been one of the cutest thing I have ever seen!

Nostalgic memories

 

 When I came across this piece, I immediately resonated with it. It brought back some great memories growing up with what then was considered the "in-thing". 

I remember my walkman days. I remember having to run from one end of the room to the other or just sitting down next to my radio for hours on end to be able to record my favourite songs in time when they went on air.  I remember those giant version of cassette tapes called VCRs. I remember watching Mickey Mouse cartoons in black & white. 

I certainly remember learning how to ride a bicycle and crashing and bouncing off the walls, only to come back home with bent wheels and broken chains. I remember that it was fun having real friends from the neighbourhood as company when I was allowed to go outside and play.

I remember that annoying dial-up sound the modem makes whenever we need to hook up to the internet. And goddammit! I certainly remember dot matrix printers and the loud noisy sound they make whenever they start printing away. 

With no mobile phone, no continuous internet access, no 99 channels on TV, I cannot ever remember being completely bored out of my head. There were not a lot of high-tech things but, there were other things in life which kept me occupied one way or another.

Those were the days!

Chocolate chip cookies

Baking has gotten into me and invaded my system lately, prompting my itchy backside to make some chocolate chip cookies as a form of stress therapy.

It must have been a good 3 years since I last baked my mom's chocolate chip cookies, and I forgot how heavenly they could be. It was worth the exhaustion.

They turned out just slightly over-browned, just a tad, but they turned out well for a good dose of weekend and after-dinner indulgence.

Here is the recipe:

• 800g self-raising flour
• 2 eggs
• 10 oz sugar
• 16 oz butter
• 2 tspn bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tspn cream of tar tar
• 2 tspn pure vanilla extract
• 2 packets of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use Hershey's)
• 1 and a half cup of cocoa powder

Method:

1. Combine butter, sugar,  eggs, bicarbonate of soda, cream of tar tar, vanilla extract in a mixer and mix well.
2. Add in cocoa powder, followed by chocolate chip cookies
3. Lastly, add in flour bit by bit till you get a cookie dough
4. Use a cutter in any shape you like
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes in 180 degrees Celsius oven

Spöka Night Light

We have been searching for that perfect night light to put in Spud's room for ages now, and truly, I cannot imagine that night light could be one of the hardest thing to find in this country.

By now, we have been through several night lights, and none of those lasted long enough to warrant a decent mention.

Recently, we came across a rather cute-looking, decent night-light when we trolled into IKEA, and without bothering to test it prior to purchase, we bought it.

What we didn't know was that the light changes colour from purple to red. And,  when I first saw the colour turned to red, I thought the red hue made that little cute thing appeared rather spooky.

I thought it was just me and thought nothing of it.  On its own, it actually is quite cute. By the time we remembered about the night light we bought earlier in the day, Spud was already fast asleep. While I was cautious about leaving the night light in Spud's room for her to discover it when she wakes up, Silver Bullet thought that actually, Spud may just be intrigued by the vivid colours, and thus, more likely to be fascinated by it when she's wide awake. Which, in my mind, is a valid argument as it could be me who was just being paranoid.

So, left that little thing in Spud's room we did and soon forgot our little deed.

Lo and behold! Spud woke up screaming her head off in the morning. As I opened the door to her room, I saw her pointing to the corner of the room and crying her guts out as she inched well away from the Spöka night light we forgot about. 

I guess my initial instinct as a mother was quite spot on! It wasn't until I turned off Spöka and kept it out of her sight that she finally calmed down.It turned out that she was pretty terrified of that thing.

Later, Silver Bullet had it in him to check what "spöka" means in Swedish as he thought "Spook" (pronounced as spoke) in Dutch actually means "Ghost".

It turned out that Spöka actually means "to haunt".

Spöka in an off mode

Spöka in an on mode

I had to laugh when he told me that. Isn't it ironic?

Funnily enough, a few days on, Spud is starting to get curious about it. She is still not sure, but she has dared herself to touch it and kiss it lightly, but not liking it very much when Spöka is being turned on.

She calls it "Lampje (pronounced as Lampi-er in Dutch) the Lampu" (as in lamp in Malay)" .

She still does not want it to be turned on when we put her to bed at night.

I wonder how long this "exposure therapy" will last. And, as I found out, Spöka is recommended for ages from 3 years old. While t he light changes colour, one can press the switch down to lock it at one colour.

Ahhh...! Good to know.

Tragic

I don't know what it is with Thailand lately as, in the last few weeks, there had seemed to be more occurrences of tragic stories reported in the news.

From deadly road accidents, to bomb explosions , to buildings on fire...I swear that I came across at least one of these tragic stories a few times a day.

Last week, 2 stories caught my eyes - one was when a Russian dad was electrocuted in a pool of a 5-star resort, and the other happened a day or two later where a hotel on Soi 22,  right-smacked in the middle of Sukhumvit caught fire, killing 2 foreigners.

The story of the Russian dad was a pretty sad one - not only was he due to leave the next day, his kid could have also been a casualty.

Negligence for safety is so rampant here in Thailand and safety, in itself is just taken for granted. 

Stories like these sent shudders down my spine...especially when I am always so paranoid about safety. I will never look at any five-star hotels and pools anywhere here in Thailand the same way again.

To readers out there, just be careful where you thread your toes. 

A matter of taste

It has been a long, long while since I last bought us a DVD, and truthfully, I am ashamed to admit that I have kind of lost touch with the movie scene for a while. tsk..tsk..tsk. I am so out of it that I am even more ashamed to call myself a movie buff!

Anyhow, a few days ago, I decided to go kaypo at the DVD corner shop near our office and so, I came home with not just one, but three DVDs. Actually, not so unusual considering that I would usually be hoarding more than 3, but this time I hauled 3 DVDs that weren't really for me: Happy Feet, Curious George and Looney Tunes.

Okay. I love Looney Tunes, and it was more of an after-thought than anything else. But to have bought Happy Feet (a silly penguin movie which I had disliked before just because I find the characters a bit annoying) and Curious George..? Gosh! What was I thinking!

For some reason though, the movies meant for adults in that shop I went to weren't so interesting, and then my eyes just darted out to the cartoons that they have.Given Spud's intense liking for penguins and monkeys these days, I figured, oh well! if it gives her some sort of education to appreciating animals, why the hell not!

Needless to say, Spud is loving those silly penguins and she is also now asking for "watch monkey" pretty constantly. She has, miraculously, stopped asking for Gruffalo when she discovered Nemo and so, we actually have not been watching that for a while.  Which is okay, I guess.

But because she now knows she has a choice of movies before bedtime, she can't seem to make up her mind, and sometimes I just wish she's just be happy watching that damn Gruffalo!

How not to speak Engrish

This one cracks me up! ( I did spell EngRish on purpose...)

19 months update

Spud has been full of surprises these days. Besides the ever popular No word to everything,  her vocabulary is expanding like anything,

These days, I hear her trying to string words together into small sentences. Her pronunciation is still crap, and we still have trouble trying to understand what she is trying to tell us which makes her even more frustrated, but she is getting better at letting us know what she wants, when she wants it.

Last week, she surprised me with a, "Mama. Why? What happened?" when I was dressing her up. Not that anything happened. I just happened to dress her after her morning shower and I thought I heard it wrong the first time. I then repeated what she said, only to have her repeated the same back to me. I thought it was hilarious and I just played along with her by blabbing on of "what happened".

Just the other day, she surprised me when we were in a taxi as she mouthed off  what sounded like "eight". I could not really figure it out at first, and then she pointed her little finger on the license plate on the door of the taxi which actually had three number 8 on it! I had a "wow" moment. Then  I figured, she probably recognises the number from the daily elevator rides to our apartment since we usually let her be the one to press the button and then tell her what the number is.

She has been nicer to me too. Now, every time I sit down anywhere at home, Spud will come to me and then goes, "Sit down. Sit down with Mama" - which she then plonks her ass right on my lap.  The "with" used to be silent, but after days of repeating back what she said by just including the word "with" in my sentence as a way of acknowledging her, I can hear it slightly more clearly now.

Although,  the "sit", tends to sound more like "shit".

Like I said, her pronunciation is still crap, and when she says "frog", she leaves out the "r". I have to pretend I did not hear what I hear when she gets excited on seeing a frog in her books and starts mouthing of  "frog" on repeat mode without the "r"...

She also has a habit of completing the last words of a sentence in the books (which apparently shocked her nanny) we read her before going to bed - I reckon this is a function of us reading the same book to her at bed time, day after day, after day for months on end. (We tried other books, but she won't hear of it)

She chatters , she sings. A lot. And, mostly to her self.  Sometimes it is just funny to watch her and a couple of weeks ago, as she sat in the child seat behind me while Silver Bullet was driving, this little chatterbox went, "Spud...OK. Enough. Mama. Enough.". And she said "enough" pretty much in a similar stern tone I would usually use on her if I mean business, that is enough is enough.

I had to laugh.(I also think she meant to say "Mama said enough", but could not figure the word "said" yet)

Who would have thought that we now have our very own private label of a super absorbent sponge in our hands!

Sweet treats

Silver Bullet came back from his business trip from India last weekend bearing goodies of Indian's sweet treats. These things are just bad-ass BAD.

Years back, I  have had Indian colleagues introducing them to me and it was such a bad discovery that I remember banning myself from the office pantry for a while. They were bad for me because they can be so, so, so good! Eating them is like inviting an immediate diabetes to happen.

I don't know what exactly they are called, and I vaguely know that they usually are made of pure ghee and tons of sugar...They are so darn sweet that the moment we put them out on the table for after-dinner desserts, the ants somehow found their way to these Indian goodies within SECONDS!

They melt in your mouth and you can just go on and on and on and on, because after several bites, you stop tasting anything else because the sugar just kill your tastebuds.

A cat's life

The sight of a sleeping cat taking up a fair portion of the couch with the remote control next to her makes me feel all warm inside. It is such a peaceful sight, and I cannot resist snapping a picture of Fudge.

It must be nice to be a house cat...living life with no worries, and knowing that you are safe.

A humble beginning to discipling a toddler

Sometime ago, I mentioned something about "putting Spud in her place"  which I thought was a rather interesting piece of story to share after experiencing a violent rejection from my own child.

I am not sure if "disciplining" is the appropriate word to use, and, it almost seemed absurd to have to put that label on a child who was barely 18 months old then. After all, an 18 month old does not know or understand anything right?

Well. We thought so too, initially. Guess what! We were wrong. We underestimated Spud and she certainly understood more than what we gave her credit for. Because, from what we gathered, she understood us. And she understood us very damn well!.

If you have read the story, you would have a background as to how Spud behaved towards me for a rather long period of time. It got worse when we were on vacation in Holland; and after several continuous days of giving in to her whims, letting Silver Bullet handle her as I watched from the sidelines because she absolutely did want to have anything to do with me when Silver Bullet was around,and at the same time watching Silver Bullet getting torn apart while she continued to violently reject me  (she was sick, so it was an easy excuse), I decided that enough was enough.

It was time to take charge, stop her nonsense and this was what we did in our attempt to establish some boundaries with a very strong-willed child:

Now, here's the thing: Spud tend to behave rather well with me when Silver Bullet was not around, and she acted up only in the presence of  Silver Bullet. While I sometimes indulge her whining, I very seldom cave in to her. I have noticed though, that the more I gave in to her, the more she tend to act up and the more she pushes my buttons.

Me being me, I don't have as much patience as Silver Bullet. So, when she gets a bit too much to take, I usually would sit her down, put her to my eye level (a tip I got from Super Nanny series!),  raise my voice  - enough to stop her in her tracks, and in a very stern voice, tell her enough is enough without having to scream my head off at her.

This is the bit when she would (usually) wail out in distress after being "scolded". If she is only with me, then , she would tend to cry out for a few minutes more, and I would usually be holding her shoulders firmly and stroke her back while telling her repeatedly to calm down in a very calm voice. She would then put her head down and sobs quietly. More often than not, she would stop crying and soon enough, without warning, will likely to flash me a sheepish smile.  It is then I know that she has calmed down. A kiss, followed by a hug and a sorry is then in order and we are good to go again.I tried this tactic several times, and I found that it worked very well each time I am alone with her. 

However, this technique does not work very well if there is someone else in the room. I am always the impatient, stern one, and Spud, bless her,  KNOWS how to work the system. 

It used to be that she would immediately go to Silver Bullet for comfort, and without a doubt, Silver Bullet has a lot more patience to deal with her, and so would usually pick her up almost immediately - mostly to stop her from prolonged wailing because when Spud cries, she cries her bloody lungs out and wake the dead. 

So, on that one fateful morning, after watching Silver Bullet from the sidelines in trying to get some food in her while handling her unreasonable temper tantrums, and sensing that Silver Bullet was getting supremely frustrated, because nothing worked, I intervened and told him that I'll handle this my way by just forcefully removing Spud from Silver Bullet. While others believe that she was just a little kid who was a little under the weather, I was convinced that she was just pushing it.

She was strong - she screamed her piercing screams , deafening me in my ears and she kicked and she pushed me away while I held on to her. At that point, Silver Bullet just removed himself from the scene for a few minutes as he has HAD it.

Spud was none too happy, of course. I kept my cool and I applied the same technique I mentioned earlier. Silver Bullet then re-joined us, and this time what he did different was instead of trying to comfort her and taking over from me so I could get a breather so-to-speak, he too, had that stern voice telling her, "Spud, enough!". Then he calmly told her several times to listen to her mother as I tried to keep my grip on her. He flatly refused to pick her up when she reached out for him several times, and,  every time Spud cried bloody murder when she did not get her way, he maintained his stern tone of voice and kept her at arm's length while I continued to be the one holding her. 

After what seemed like hours of a crying fit (actually within 20 -25 minutes), she finally "got it". She kept her head down and started sobbing on my shoulder. And, after a while, even gave up trying to reach out for Silver Bullet when she realised that Silver Bullet would not cave. I then managed to calm her down and even managed to feed her 2 jars of food!

I think that episode convinced Silver Bullet that Spud being sick was just an excuse, and she just needed to be put her in place. Spud did try the same trick a few more times later that day, and instead of me being the "bad guy" this time, Silver Bullet kept up on not giving in to her, using the same technique.

These days, so far (fingers crossed, touch wood), a low, stern voice and saying "enough!" with some punch of authority is enough to give her the message that unless something is terribly wrong,  her whiney behavior will not be tolerated.

It does not work all the time, but it does work most times. On our end, both Silver Bullet and I recognise that we need to work together on this, support each other and be consistent with her. We also just need to be conscious that we don't over-use the technique and only use it when push comes to shove.

So, if parenting is tough love, so be it. For us, we recognised that she is a strong-willed child and for a tough child like Spud, she just needs tougher parents to will such measures in place.

It is amazing what that little change in technique has done. She has since been nicer to me - a LOT nicer, and  she seems to get it when we mean business.

I guess the discipling has already begun; albeit a little bit too early in mind. God knows that I hope we did the right thing in raising this little rascal of ours.

Life's simple pleasure...

...is me sipping a cold, cold, cold glass of coke filled with ice in the sweltering heat. I got high from the unexplained sensational satisfaction that comes with it.

It was, one of life's simple pleasures, indeed.