Before the new Lunar Year begins,

Just want to update a post before the closing of lunar calendar year 2011. 

~ First and foremost, I think if jogging is one that will take a person's mind off for a moment, mine would probably be baking. Not that I always do it and do it well. I only realised it when I was trying to bake these pineapple tarts. 

Because it's already a method which I do not like and forgetting I am dealing with more amount of ingredient, the first batch of flour and butter went into the bin. Almost wanted to give up but I woke up like 6am to make them (because I have been dozing off with little Lucas that gives me no time in the night). Thus, patiently, I started working on the second batch. I was not sure how I manage to drag my tired mind and body to start right from scratch again, which is probably because I was not even thinking about it.

Thank goodness, I rubbed in the butter into the flour using forks, following the instructions obediently (like finally!). The dough was made. The baking went well, the pastry was awesome but the pineapple jam after bake is chewy.. like mentos (hard on the outside and soft on the inside). My mum still gave a thumb up for the pastry. For that, I shall find out what went wrong with the pineapple jam and try again next year. Recipe from her blog.

After the washing and cleaning, I flop back to bed for a good 30min. Zzzzzz

~ Some updates of Lucas in school. 

He is still crying when we dropped him, which the teachers told me it's normal that some children take a little longer to adapt especially when he does not attend school everyday. 

He is still not willing to participate in activity with other children. As usually they enter a classroom to conduct it, the teacher had to do it with him when the others are done. And, I was also told it was normal and that many children like to play on their own or more often comfortable with the adults especially when they are used to seeing adults faces at home. True enough as he was able to smile, waved goodbye and kissed the teachers when the school ends.

After all, the teachers deemed him as a cheerful boy when he starts to trust the teachers and gave me assurance that Lucas is doing fine. 

Like previously said, I was not sure if I was doing the right thing to send him to school at such young age. Well, after spoken to a humble father, I begin to further understand the learning process for Lucas and for myself, for now and for later. 

~ Back at home.

Lots of cleaning, packing and organizing. It still does not look neat. :(

With him, I tried some new stuffs. Awhile ago, I started to gather mineral water bottle caps. Idea attained from a website (which I have lost).

He was supposed to match the alphabets but he was only interested in the caps. It must have been difficult. We shall leave it till when he gets older.

However, another one caught his attention.

Do you remember the secret code game? We are supposed to guess the beads with the right color at the right position by the opponent? It struck me that we could try this, not asking him to guess the code, to train his princer grip or perhaps also to match the colors. And, he definitely had some fun with this new toy. 

On princer grip

~ Lastly, we are getting ourselves ready for this CNY. It has to be age. I am looking forward to seeing all the relatives whom we only get to meet on CNY or any family events. It's catch up time.

Happy Lunar New Year 2012!!

花开富贵！

吉祥如意！

恭喜！ 恭喜！