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Friday, December 18, 2009

On diet?

Last week, we spotted the all-too-familiar whitish edges on Rosabelle's upper and lower gums, which can only mean that she is sprouting four new teeth at the same time. Thank goodness she isn't cranky or crying through the night (touch wood!).

So since a few days ago, we've been trying to remember (at times we forget, as it's a new routine...) to clean her teeth and gums with the Combi wet wipe (meant for hands and mouth, and explicitly states that it can be used for teeth/gums). She seems to like it, though I have to make sure my finger is thickly wrapped, as she likes to bite on it. Probably, when all her 12 teeth are out, we'll need to get a toothbrush (and some non-fluoride toothpaste?) for her.

However, the nanny and I have been having a headache with Rosabelle's meals these days, as always the case when she's teething. She does not like to chew, and does not like the spoon, so we can only give her finger foods (but remember, she does not like to chew, so the food bits can't be big/hard) and even allow her to use a straw to drink her soups and pureed foods. Yikes! When the nanny wanted to give her tofu, or any other foods for that matter, Rosabelle will indicate with a mouth-sucking action that she wants the straw, aiyo!

For two days straight, she refused a single mouth of porridge or pork, and seemed to be like she was on a liquid and/or vegetarian diet - sigh! Oh well, at least her spirits and energy levels are up, and she does not go on a hunger strike at every single meal time, so we're really hoping this phase will pass soon.
I read that from the age of one, kids' appetites will actually diminish, and you have to attract them with fun-looking foods. We tried letting her eat dried bean curd (tau kwa) the day before, but she only took one cube and refused to eat another. I figured it's slightly too salty (as it's preserved), so we'll just stick to tofu for her now. She also tried a bit of snake gourd (丝瓜) on the same day, but again, did not like it...or maybe it's the nanny's way of cooking it.

Wayne and I have an issue with the nanny's cooking. It is bad. Seriously. The nanny cooks dinner using Rosabelle's left-over food every Tuesday (when it's grocery day and we buy fresh foods for her for the week), and Wayne and I do not look forward to dinner time. Nowadays, we end up drinking abit of porridge and picking at the foods (vegetables overcooked, cut too big/combination of meats and vegetables don't go together...). Last night was the ultimate - we took only a bit of what she cooked and thereafter sneaked out for a McDonald's supper, bluffing the poor lady that we were meeting a friend!

Oh well, at least Rosabelle is at that stage where she does not need any fancy cooking...yet. But I've advised the nanny to vary the way she cooks things, and even use the cookie cutters I bought to attract Rosabelle with cute shapes of her foods. Hopefully she will take this into consideration, as I get pretty exasperated at times reminding her to do certain things. Like today, I again caught her adding water into a bag of raw chicken meat to defrost it. I'd already told her apart from adding hot water, this is the most wrong and unhygienic way to defrost uncooked meats, as there will be alot of bacteria build-up and it'd lead to food poisoning. I told her to either take it out earlier and put it in the fridge, or if she's in a hurry, to use the microwave defrost function. Grrrrr....

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