Turning 2!

Another year has gone by. I can hardly find the words to describe the feelings I have. Part of me feels relieved I have an older child to deal with. In some ways I worry less but at the same time different worries crop up. Used to be I was worried about things like whether she was eating enough or whether she was hitting all her milestones on time. Now I worry about whether she's going to grow into the person I want her to be. Some one who is liked and respected but still true to herself. I guess it's a natural part of parenting. Now that all the basics are ironed out we need to move on to other things.

I read a book the other day by Tracy Hogg. She says that all babies can be categorised into a few types. After doing her quiz I realised that Meera is an 'angel' baby. *beam* And sometimes I really feel she is one. Overall she has been such an easy going baby.

Having said that I can also see the 'terrible twos' ahead of us. Lately she wants to do everything herself. I get a lot of "MeeNee!!!" (she still can't say her name properly but has no problem saying 'Loges' and Jing) and "self!!!" And God help us if I do it before she gets a chance to! Every day is like a constant battle. Some days I am just about ready to lose my temper. It's a good thing she still takes her afternoon nap so I can calm down a bit before the second part of the day.

But I think I rather enjoy this age compared to when she was younger. It's a lot more interesting (at least she can talk) and far more amusing. She loves attention and knows how to get it.

Schedule wise nothing much has changed. Potty training has not really progressed. Although she did manage to poop once in the toilet. But that was it. She went back to pooping in her diaper after that. :(

Lately I realised she can recite a number of nursery rhymes. Not the whole thing but if I start it of she can usually fill in the last word of each line. Like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Little Miss Muffet, Jack and Jill (her favorite), Humpty Dumpty just to name a few. Must remember to video this soon. She's also quite quite good with her colours and shapes. And she can count to 3 now (she can say all the 10 numbers but not in the right order).

My KitchenAid

After much extensive deliberation I am the proud owner of a KitchenAid mixer. *beam* I've been wanting one for ages (back in Malaysia it was so expensive...more than RM2000) But now that I'm in Australia, $619 doesn't sound so bad. Of course it's still ridiculously expensive if you consider that it only costs like $250 in the US! But better 619 than 2000. Psychologically it feels a lot cheaper if I don't convert to Malaysian ringgit...so I won't. ;)

I almost went with a Breville mixer as it was like $200 cheaper but if I were to buy that one, then every time I looked at it in my kitchen I would be thinking of the KitchenAid. And besides practically every cooking blog I follow (and not to mention Nigella) has a KitchenAid. So they all can't be wrong, right?

Plus the fact that David Jones was willing to let me have it for $619 (they price match their items and the sales guy seemed to think Peters of Kensington was selling it for $619. Although when I checked it was actually $632)... and he even threw in a box of KitchenAid Kitchen Utensils! Who can resist a deal like that!

Since purchasing it on Saturday, I have made a Madeira cake (from Nigella's recipe) which turned out perfectly but didn't taste all that great (not my kind of cake) and I also made a focaccia. I have great plans for this machine and hopefully they all pan out.