Made For Mommy

Mama: Dudu, kamu didaftarin workshop bikin sandwich sama Tante Wieny tuh.
Dudu: Sandwich itu apa, Ma?

Ya ampuunnnnn anak gue :(

Mama: Roti bakar Mama. Tapi yang ini ngga pake dibakar.
Dudu: Ooo...
Mama: Nanti kamu bikinnya buat Mama ya.
Dudu: Baiklahhhh.

Kenapa bikinnya buat Mama?
Soalnya di meja workshop sudah tersedia selada, saus tomat, mayonaise, timun dan tomat yang ngga akan disentuh sama anak saya. He's not into vegetables... not the ones that obvious anyway. 

I peeked behind him as he was asking whether I want mayo on my sandwich or if I prefer heart-shaped cheese to the star one. Then the MC kicked me out, telling all moms to let the children be creative. Sebelum saya pergi, Andrew sempat ditanya sama kakak pembimbing. Saya cuma dengar jawabannya, "soalnya roti aku buat Mama, Tante. Makanya aku tanya-tanya terus."

Ternyata hasilnya enak! 
Punya saya ada selada, tomat, keju, sosis dan lain-lain. Meriah!
Dan Andrew sempat bikin untuk dirinya sendiri.... isinya cuma keju. Persis kalau saya bikin "Roti Bakar Mama" kesukaannya.
Dasar.

Post-sandwich conversation...

Mama: Gimana seneng ngga?

Dudu: Nggak seneng.

Mama: Kok nggak seneng?

Dudu: Kotor. Susah potongnya.... tapi aku senang nyetaknya jadi hati sama bintang. Sama boleh pake pisau juga sama tantenya.

Best (Hollywood) Dad Ever!

While many other Hollywood Dads qualified for the title, my pick goes to Orlando Bloom.

I first saw him on The Lord of The Rings as the Elf, Legolas. Who knows behind the silvery long sleek hair is this curly brown haired guy. Since then, he had gone to play Will Turner and marry (and divorce) Supermodel Miranda Kerr. He has one son, Flynn... who seems to adore swashbuckling as much as his dad. 

Pictures are taken from Justjared.com... I'm thankful for whoever paparazzi snapped the beautiful moments. 

Seandainya Anakku Main di Chocokid Littletown

Saya dan putra saya, Andrew, tinggal di apartment Mall of Indonesia. Dan setiap ke mall kita selalu penasaran buat masuk ke satu store manis di depan karusel. Udah ngintip-ngintip tapi belum pernah kesampaian bermain di sana. Soalnya… anak saya ngga suka coklat.

Saya juga bingung kok ada anak kecil ngga suka coklat.

Anyway… Ngga suka coklat bukan berarti ngga suka “bermain” dengan coklat. Anak saya paling heboh kalo ketemu chocolate fountain. Sibuk menusuk buah dan marshmallow untuk dicelupkan ke air mancur berbentuk coklat tersebut. Siapa yang makan? Ya saya. Hahaha… Makanya saya jadi mampir ke website Chocokid Littletown (http://www.chocokid-littletown.com), saya langsung senang. Soalnya ternyata di sana bukan hanya coklat, coklat dan coklat, tapi banyak juga aktivitas lain. Good news buat Andrew (yang tadinya ragu-ragu masuk tempat bertuliskan “coklat”) bahwa dia bisa bermain di sini.

Jadi, seandainya Andrew dapat kesempatan main di Chocokid Littletown saya yakin yang pertama dia samperin adalah si SAPI. Kapan lagi kita yang tinggal di apartment (and ngga punya kebon) bisa memerah susu dan langsung minum susu segarnya. Then, he’d go straight to the ice cream van. Meski ngga suka coklat, Andrew suka es krim dan mendekorasi. Apalagi kalau dapat chef hat dan apron seperti chef beneran. Hasil karyanya? Tentu saja biasanya diberikan untuk Mama-nya (saya) untuk dimakan.

Cow Milking

Ice Cream Van

Zombie-fied for Halloween

For those who had known Andrew, this choice came as no surprise. There's only one option for his Halloween costume: ZOMBIE.

I don't bite...

Indonesia isn't a Halloween-type of country. Instead of the traditional trick-or-treat celebration, we have costume contest. Lucky for us, this year, Gandaria City held a trick-or-treat around the mall fot Halloween. I went from indifference to costume hunting within days. 

The Zombie Day

The trick-or-treat is quite simple. We arrive at the mall in costume (the parents are tempted to wear costume as well), then we sign up at the registration desk. As we sign up, we receive a color-coded card with a list of restaurant to go trick or treat to. Bigger kids go with their friends while the smaller ones go with their parents. It was fun, for me and for my son. I basically just follow him as he runs around the mall, doing his own trick or treat.
"This restaurant is over there Mom..." Then off he goes out of sight, asking the waiter for candies. 

We didn't go for the costume competition. It's the trick-or-treat that matters. 
and we love how Gandaria City arrange the event.

"It was fun, Mom. Let's do it again next year."
"Okay. What do you want to be next year?"
"Zombie!"

Oh my...

Scorecard

Trick or treat bag

How to be a (kid-friendly) Zombie:

• Don't use new clothes. You're going to get it dirty with fake blood and dirt... and ruin it with scissors if you want to go all out
• Choose dull over brights. Plaid works too. Jeans is your best option. 
• Use dark eyeshadow to create deep eye socket. Use baby powder to make your skin looks pale.
• Mess up your hair. Even better, wash your hair before you sleep and hold the already messy hair steady with hairspray or gel when you wake up.
• Smear fake blood all over your mouth, clothes and hands. Get some dirt too.

How to make fake blood? Well, you can go the harder way (as in following The Walking Dead recipe) or simplifying the already simple version you found on the internet (like what I did). Mix honey and chocolate syrup with red food coloring. I did 1 tbsp honey and 1/2 teaspoon chocolate syrup with 3 drops of red food coloring and 1 drop of green food coloring. Some recipe suggests corn starch but I just used what's in my kitchen. It's a bit sticky but it works. It's honey based so it was fine for children.

Reminiscence

Once upon a time, Andrew posed for a magazine.
It's a magazine I loved when I was in America... and I love when I returned to Indonesia.

browsing its website, I found articles with his pictures as the article's illustration. It's funny to see him grow through the pictures.

KIDS MEAL: Thai Alley

Arriving at Thai Alley one afternoon (late lunch it is), I was surprised to be handed a kids meal list. Last time we ate there… I don’t quite remember what they had. I just remember that THAI ALLEY has the best curry in town haha.

On the list there were 4 choices (I don’t get the names cos they’re quite a trouble to pronounce)… and my son picked the bottom one (priced at Rp. 69.000 while the others are R. 59.000). The menu is: fried rice, fried chicken cutlets, breaded shrimps (or squid), jelly, and orange/strawberry juice. My son lobbied the waiter and he got his favorite apple juice instead.

And here’s what arrived on our table.

Andrew says: “Mom, this is the tastiest kids meal I’ve ever tried.” And he finished it all, including the apple juice.

Thai Alley is at Gandaria City

Poney Enfants

An Afternoon Store Opening

It's been a while since Andrew walked the runway. This time an invite came from Poney Enfants. 

Poney is a fashion brand specializing in children wear. Its simplicity and classic French-inspired concept easily warms everyone who passes the store front. Came to Indonesia earlier this year, Poney opened a store in Plaza Indonesia on October 19, 2013. It's all about cute stuffs: cupcakes, flowers, white carousel decor... even the clothes are lovely and elegant. The kids came off the train before starting to walk on the green runway.  Like a late summer in France that anyone will always remember. 

Poney Spring/Summer and Autumn Collection

Poney Enfants Miniapolis - Plaza Indonesia

Little Mr. Inventor

Andrew has tons of imaginations. This one scored him two tickets to a movie screening.

Dua minggu lalu waktu terima raport, saya ditegur (lagi) sama wali kelas Andrew bahwa anak saya suka melamun dan berkhayal. Yup! Penyakit lama dari TK di mana pensil dan penggaris bisa jadi monster dan Power Rangers. Anak saya susah konsentrasi karena kebanyakan berkhayal dan berusaha menciptakan sesuatu. Minggu lalu akhirnya saya mengikutkan dia ke trial science class di Kidspace dan he likes it so much! He couldn’t wait for Saturday and “invent” something in the class. With a teacher wearing a lab coat like professor, he apparently feels like one too. “Call me Professor Andrew,” he said after his trial class, showing off the soap he reshaped in the class.

This time his imagination brought something else: movie tickets.

I came upon a quiz on XYKids website, with a question I thought he would like:“Kalau kamu jadi penemu, kamu mau menemukan apa dan apa alasannya?”


Ini jawaban Andrew:

Aku mau menciptakan batu yang bisa melayang tanpa dipegangin orang dari bawah. Kenapa? Soalnya aku mau susun batu itu jadi banyak, trus kita bisa bikin rumah di atas batu-batu itu dan dunianya jadi ngga penuh. Terus kalo ada tsunami juga ngga akan kena... kan kita di atas. Kalau ada tornado, batunya ikut muter-muter dan pindah ke tempat lain.Andrew / 7thn / Depok

That answer scored him a movie screening ticket for Cloudy With A Chance of Meatball 2, a movie we both enjoyed watching.

We didn’t watch the first one and I didn’t expect to like this kind of movie. No dead people, no crime and predictable ending (well, it’s a kid-animation movie). Tapi saya salah soalnya film ini bagus banget. Berkali-kali saya bahkan lebih heboh dari Andrew yang serius banget nonton. Strawberry-nya lucu!

Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs 2 menceritakan tentang kelanjutan petualangan Flint Lockwood dan mesin pembuat makanan (yang namanya FLDSMDFR or kurang lebih seperti itu). Bergabung dengan LIVE Inc, tempat para penemu berkumpul dan bekerja dibawah idola Flint, Chester V, Flint harus kembali ke hometown-nya untuk menemukan si FLDSMDFR yang ternyata masih menyala. Di sana dia (dan teman-temannya) menemukan bahwa rumahnya sudah dikuasai makanan: mulai dari Cheeseburger yang memakan orang dan buaya taco yang menakutkan.

Flint yang bertekad menyelesaikan misi untuk mematikan FLDSMDFR itu tidak menggubris pendapat teman-temannya (termasuk Sam Sparks), dan menemukan kekecewaan bahwa idolanya, Chester V, ternyata orang jahat.

Adegan favorit Andrew: “Waktu mereka tahu kalau LIVE ternyata EVIL, Ma.”

Yah, kalau untuk orang dewasa, itu sudah terbaca dari awal hehe. Tapi jalan ceritanya menyenangkan dan banyak makanan/hewan lucu sepanjang cerita, terutama si Strawberry N Woo dan timun yang suka mancing.

A fun Sun-Date after all.