Potty trained

I still keep asking SGG and the grown-ups, “where’s Grandpa?”. Grandma says it is because I miss Grandpa. I still think Grandpa is in hospital but SGG tells me that Grandpa has gone away. She also told me that Grandpa is in my heart and if I love him, Grandpa will be with me always. I automatically piped up, “I yove him, I yove Grandpa” which for some strange reason made SGG cry.

Today, I told SGG I wanted to do a big doodah in the potty. I tried for what seemed ages and SGG said I could go play and try again later, but I told her, “No, I will do it” and I did. SGG was very proud of me :-).

Where's Grandpa?

I have been asking everyone “where’s Grandpa?”

Grandma, Big, SGG and Papa tell me that Grandpa has gone far away. Papa told me that Grandpa was very sick and “all the King’s horses and all the King’s men, couldn’t put Grandpa together again” :-(.

Today, we went to Sai Kung with Uncle Joe and Auntie Christine and took a boat out to give Grandpa a send-off. It had been raining all weekend, and it rained while the boat motored to the special spot Grandma had chosen. The rain then stopped and we threw roses and rose petals in the water for Grandpa. Afterwards we had lunch at a restaurant next to the pier and saw Marvin and his family. What a coincidence!

Goodbye to Grandpa

Grandpa fell ill again and went back into hospital on the day of my birthday. Grandma, Papa, Big and SGG all spent a lot of time with Grandpa but made time for me also. They would take it in turns to take me to school or bring me home, have breakfast, lunch and dinner with me and at weekends would take me to Happy Valley Jockey Club to have lunch and play. The Jockey Club is close to Grandpa’s hospital.

Grandpa went away on the 24^th. Everyone is very sad but I know Grandpa is now “high up in the sky” and would “love me forever” :-)

Barney at New Year

Chinese New Year was on the 29^th this year. I put on the silk jacket Sai Gugu bought me and did lots of party tricks with Great Uncle Frank and Grandpa.

Then Papa and SGG took me to see “Barney’s Magic Castle” today (Big bought the tickets). I really enjoyed myself and sat very still. I sang along to the songs I knew and hummed along with the tunes I didn’t know; I had such a good time. I cried at the end of the show as I didn’t want it to finish :-(. SGG said I was just like Papa.

Double birthday

We celebrated Papa's birthday on the 18^th and Grandpa’s on the 22^nd. We had my favourite Happy-Birthday-To-You Cake - fresh fruit and fresh cream, and I helped blow out the candles :-).

Christmas

Grandpa went into hospital at the end of November, and spent over three weeks there. He has a broken tummy, which doctors are trying to fix. The doctors took good care of him. Grandpa came out of hospital in time for Christmas.


SGG and Grandma came to my Christmas show at school on the 22nd. I was very good and SGG took lots of photos of me.

Great Uncle Frank, Uncle Des, Auntie Kinnie and Uncle Colin came for Christmas lunch; and Uncle Darren, Auntie Aggie, Ella, Lulu, Alex Popo and Auntie Margaret over for Boxing Day.

House is back to normal

The house is back to normal: the furniture is back in its usual place; Papa comes home most nights now; Va left hospital only after being there a few days. The doctors took some black bits out so Va would feel better, but he's still on a liquid diet.

Today was the last day of term. Papa took me to school, where we had a Christmas party. We all took along some snacks to share, and I grubbed up well (as usual). A big fat guy with a white beard and a red suit gatecrashed. We were all slightly bewildered, but I was the first one to get a present from him :-).
I then spent most of the afternoon wearing Papa out around the house. I also waddled around in Va's slippers like they were a pair of skates.

I'm still a man of few words, but "Dub-a-dub-a-dub" has been a favourite phrase for the last two weeks, while "ehn, ehn" has fallen off the top slot. Of course it means "Stop it, Stop it!", from when the grown-ups see me throwing things ;-).

I can now identify belongings : cups, bottles, shoes.... etc. One day, I burst into tears when I saw one of the helpers wearing Grandma's slippers. Grandma told me she had given them up to her, but it didn't make me like it any less :-(

A little cockney thug ;-)

Since my last diary entry, my hair has been cut very short again. I was having a laugh with Gugu and Va in the bathroom when heard this buzzing sound around my head. Next thing I knew, there was hair in the tub behind me and my neck started to itch, I realised that it was too late :...-(

My vocabulary has grown quite a lot. I can identify many objects and say a lot of everyday words now, but always dropping my aitches: I say " 'ead", " 'at", " 'and" and " 'ot", so I sound a bit Cockney. I am very strong, and I like moving my furniture about in the house. My favourite is tipping the tables and chairs over, sometimes while Bear is sitting in the chair in question. With my skinhead cut and behaviour to match, Gugu is now calling me "a little thug".

The house is in a state because we have all had to decamp into half the usual space during renovations, so Papa has been sleeping over at the hotel where he works; I miss Va because he is in hospital for an operation.

Discovering Thomas the Tank Engine

It's half term this week. Papa went out and found me a lot more episodes to watch, so I've become quite obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine and have forgotten about Pingu at the moment. I even dance the choochoo [movie] to its music. Gugu bought me a new kitchen set, so I'm learning to be the new Paul Bocuse.

I do magic tricks by hiding objects or making them disappear, then I say "where?" a few times, and it amuses the grown-ups immensely. I can also say "what?". This week, Papa declared me officially bilingual when I was able to say the words 'cup' and 'spoon' in both Chinese and English :-). I also learned my first French word 'pomme'.

Just when I thought I was getting better, I started coughing badly on Friday. You see, Va (Grandpa in Teddyspeak) has been home for a few weeks now. He had a nasty cold on Wenzday which Teddy picked up. I woke up this morning with a slight fever. Despite that, Va's impressed I'm in good spirits, unlike him when he's ill.

Papa took me out to meet Auntie Miranda for lunch yesterday. She came all the way from France with her daughter Cammy to see me. We last saw each other a whole year ago. She was most impressed by my good behaviour, and says how much I've grown ;-).

Gugu's visit

Grandma has been extra busy lately. Grace has left and Grandma is training up a new helper; Grandpa got admitted to hospital three weeks ago with tummy problems. So little Gugu flew back from London to see him. The doctors say they can fix him, but he's got to go on a diet before they can do anything. Today, he was allowed out of the fat farm for the day, and I have never seen him looking so slim and fit.

I had a cough which has been getting better, but last week I got ill again and threw up once, so I went to see Dr Bean. She says I probably picked up a tummy bug at school. Luckily it's school holiday this week :-).

Gugu left on Saturday after staying two weeks. During that time, she and grandma took turns to look after me. The two Gugus have been spending quite a lot of time with me, and I have been learning a lot of new things. I still love bottles, so they taught me to say "bottle" and "cup" in Chinese. I also know a lot of animal and fruit names now.

I have grown to 86cm, but my weight has hardly changed. I can now reach over the top of my cot with my foot. I tried to climb over this morning, but fell out and bumped my head. Ouch!

Radiator burns

It's been so cold this week, and Grandpa has put the heating on at home. I've been wearing two sweaters at home too. I now wear the moccasins auntie sent from England, which fit me perfectly, and are soft enough to let me feel the floor while climbing around.

Gugu went shopping and came home with a Tweety-Bird, Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore to decorate my wall. Papa put them up for me, and I love it now that I have somebody to talk to when I lie awake in my bed.

Chinese new year's day fell on Thursday, and co-incided with Grandpa's birthday! I made a card specially for Grandpa, just like the one I made for Papa last week before I managed to burn my hand on a radiator on New Year's Eve :
I was playing in the living room while the grown-ups were taking their turns eating breakfast. While nobody was looking, I grabbed the radiator panel with my right hand. There are now several big boils on my hand. Luckily there is a doctor in the house (gugu), who gave quality first-aid immediately. I screamed and cried all morning from the pain and the shock. I wore a bandage for 5 days to keep me from breaking the boils and contaminating my injured hand. It's drying up nicely now, and the bandage has been replaced by a glove (a sock in disguise). In the meantime, no swimming until the wounds have healed up properly.

On New Year's day, I got several red packets of lucky money, which made me feel a lot better after the trauma of the day before. On Saturday, Papa and Gugu took me sight-seeing at lunchtime, and then to the fun-fair at dusk. I was taken round in my push-chair. It was extremely busy and noisy, and I enjoyed looking at the people in the bustle. I have never seen so many big soft toys and bright lights before.

Today, I amused Gugu by playing a new musical instrument - I call it the "rubber duckiephone". I found out that I can blow through the hole I created when I bit off duckie's beak, and make a sound.