Wednesday 12 January 2005

Kid’s Meal

Before we had our child, DH and I were not really child-friendly persons. As the second youngest child in our respective families, we were never trusted with the responsibilities of an elder sister/brother. More often than not, we behaved like the youngest ourselves. We play with our nieces and nephews and take them out to the malls, but our involvement never extend beyond the fun part.

So we were kind of clueless when we had DD. To remedy our ignorance, we read books, surfed the nets and asked family and friends as well as the paediatrician. When it comes to feeding, we followed the paediatrician’s advice to start solid food when DD is 6 months old. Starting with soft-textured food, we could gradually introduce a wider range to the baby as she grows older, or so we were told.

I found that my DD never really liked soft food. After a couple of months on porridge diet, she decided that she had graduated from baby food and demanded coarser-textured food. Soon enough she began to eat what we eat, though her methodology is a bit different.

An as example, she prefers her rice without any gravy or lauk (dish complementing the rice). Yes, she takes them plain. My Mother was aghast when she saw this. Perhaps she thought I was trying to starve the child. But soon she calmed down when she saw that my DD eats the lauk too, it’s just that she does not eat them with the rice. She will eat her rice first, then followed by lauk, or vice versa.

Or sometimes when she feels like having a little gravy, she will scoop the rice and dump them in a cup which is filled with plain water. After soaking the rice in water for a while, she will scoop it and proceed to eat it. Then she will drink the water. My husband is disgusted whenever she does this.

Recently she started drinking milo. It’s so cute when she tells me, “Nak milo, nak milo.” It sounds like “Nak bido, nak bido.” She also learnt to dip bread or crackers in the milo. She likes the idea of dipping so much that she starts to apply the concept to other foodstuff as well.

For example, the other day, we were having dinner and my DD had a piece of fried chicken. Applying the dipping concept, she dipped the fried chicken in plain water. She finished both the chicken and the water. Disgusting, isn’t eat? It’s amazing how much DH and I tolerate her lack of table manners just so that we could have a little peace to eat our dinner.


Last weekend we went to American Chili’s for lunch. The waiter gave us a kid’s menu as well as the normal menu. I perused the kids’ menu but then decided not to order anything for DD. We figured that DD could just share our food. I know, I know, we are stingy.

The waiter took our order and asked what we wanted for DD. The conversation went something like this:

Waiter: (After taking our order) And what would you like for your baby? (Note: my ‘baby’ is 21 months old.)

DH: Err nothing.. she’s going to share our food.

Waiter: Oh OK. But I thought you might want to know that with every main course, you get one kid’s meal free, sir.

DH: And the Chicken bla bla bla I ordered is a main course, is it?

Waiter: Yes. You’re entitled to one free kid’s meal.

DH and I exchanged looks.

Me: Oh we might as well order something for her then.

We ordered pasta for DD but she did not eat it at all. Instead, she had DH’s meal which comprised chicken, potato chips and corn on the cob. The pasta ended up tapau’ed (take way) home.

Now we know why we always see families having meals at Chili’s.

5 comments:

Ummu Auni said...

yey, found your blog..can i just add a link to it?

aida said...

It is actually quite easy to find your blog through Google, I suppose.

aida said...

And anyway, btw, I think if Yasmin's Mommy want to change the blog layout, the twin will be happy to help :)

Yasmin's Mummy said...

Yes yes pls help me O' Mighty Ones :)
yay I managed to remove haloscan.. fuhh

aida said...

Yasmin's Mummy, Haloscan is much easier to use rather than the blogger comments. You can try http://blogskins.com and search for new layout. Aini or me can do the 'testing' part.