Happy Halloween!

As of Tuesday, I have 4 upper teeth; and as of yesterday, I have 4 lower teeth. My poor gums are itching quite a lot, and I just have to sink my teeth into anything I can get my hands on. So far, Rubber Duckie is standing up to the punishment, but I have destroyed 2 books and numerous scraps of paper. Auntie said she thought about getting me a Count Dracula costume.

It's all very topical, as today is Hallow'een. Aggie bought me a pumpkin suit. Papa says that I look like the pumpkin with my eight teeth; I love it because I can dress up and go 'trick or treating'. I'm looking forward to the sweets, and I'm also just dying to put spiders and stink-bombs through people's letter boxes for a trick.

I took a liking to Grandma's watch, so she gave it to me to wear :-) I can now tell the time: breakfast time, lunch time, tea time and dinner time ;-)

Auntie sent me some booties from England so I don't hurt my feet when I start walking. I still crawl around now much quicker than before, and am now quite stable on my two feet when I am holding onto something. I have started to cruise around the place that way hanging onto the furniture.

Goodbye, I have to go trick-or-treating now.

Standing up

Today was my two-thirds birthday! Great Uncle Frank came up to see me. He had a good look at my teeth. I showed him my new tricks, and he looked very impressed. Lulu and Ella came over tonight too.

Yesterday, I got to stay up late and met Uncle Abe, who invited us to dinner at the China Club. He was really nice and spoke to me all evening.
My workout routine continues to get more ambitious. For 4 days now, I have been getting to an upright position in my bed. I've worked out how to pull myself up using the bed frame to a standing position. Crawling around is still the only way to travel, but I I now like to stand so much that I do it at every opportunity. They all predict that I will walk before my birthday. On the first day, I was so excited at my latest achievement that I kept myself awake, sleeping little for most of the day. Papa helps me to walk, but I get confused: I have to remember to move my left foot and then my right foot..... Which is my right foot again?

Auntie and Papa wanted to avoid waking me at 11 o'clock at night for my last feed, and have changed my feeding routine. The timing has changed a little, and I now get a bigger breakfast with apple cereal and milk. Afternoon tea is simpler, and I have fresh fruit, but I get more to eat at dinner. For three days, I have been a little grumpy at times when I get hungry, and it has taken that long for the change because they had to tune the quantities each day.

But the joke is that they still wake me at 11 when they change my nappy! Except for that rude awakening, I can now sleep from 8 at night to 6:30 in the morning.

Teething

Wow, did I get some big big surprises this week! Hardly recovered from my cough, my gums started hurting on Thursday. Papa was wondering why I was still restless after my cough, and fortunately discovered that my upper front teeth had just come out! It caused me some discomfort for about 3 days, and I woke him up in the middle of the night. So Papa gave me some medicine so that it would hurt less. It was the same horrible red medicine which auntie gave me, but it tastes OK if it is put in my milk.

I've also become good friends with big duckie, and we play together not just in the bathtub. I now enjoy snacking on duck in between meals;-) You can see my duckie video here.

On Saturday night, Grandpa arrived from Hawaii! I am so thrilled. His suitcase contained several weeks' supplies for Teddy :-)

Grandpa was also pleased to see my new tricks: You see, I've been a busy boy since I last saw him. Not only did I learn to roll over and do push-ups, I can now also crawl a bit, and sit upright on my own. I got so excited when I succeeded in doing this on Sunday that I hardly slept. Since then, I have full rested, and can sit up with ease even in my bed. Click here to see my second workout video.

My first postcard

I've been up playing with Auntie all morning and was too excited to take my morning nap: Today is Auntie's birthday. I woke up early as usual, and handed her my pressie with both hands. It's a camera for when I go away, I will still see Auntie, and Auntie will still be able to see me from her computer.

Yesterday was also a special day: In the morning, Mr Postman brought me my very first postcard. It was sent by Auntie Helen when she was in Italy. Auntie even wrote "Teddy's first postcard" on it for me :-O Grandma, Papa, and Auntie were all sooooo envious, because they didn't get one! In the evening, Auntie came home with a big box - a pressie for Teddy :-) It is an Exersaucer - I can now play in an upright position, with my feet on the ground. Papa is getting worried, as Auntie comes back almost every day with something for lil old me. If he wins the lucky draw again when we get on the plane, he will be in trouble.

As I have been at home most of the time, I haven't had the chance to show off my lovely new clothes yet. I'm feeling full of beans now that my cough is almost gone. I still cannot crawl, but when Papa puts me on the play-mat, I can go walkabouts on all fours. My nose is still runny, but I'm eating and breathing normally. Papa promised to take me out again this week, a couple of days after my cough has cleared.

I am exploring different flavours of food. My favourites are sweet corn & potatoes, and vegetable korma. I am getting plenty of fibre with this diet, and so I am very regular. As I have been choking on my milk lately, Papa has decided to slow down the flow from my milk bottles. Today, Auntie gave be my first biscuit, made from rice.

I miss my swimming, but Grandma lets me stay longer in the bath to make up for it.

Recovering

Papa thinks that I've been going out far too much lately. "Too much excitement is not good" he concluded. So, this has been a quiet week. I've hardly been out, but I did go downstairs to see great Uncle Frank, who just came back to Hong Kong. I also met my cousin 'Uncle Colin' for the first time.

Papa and Auntie went on a shopping spree yesterday, and came back with lots of goodies, all of the for Teddy :-)). I now have lots of clothes to take me through autumn and winter. There are lots of T-shirts, long-sleeves, pants, socks. What's more, I now have a one-piece full-bodied swimming costume to protect my skin while I am swimming. I look forward to trying it on when I next go to the pool.

I've been swimming twice since last week, but Papa won't taking me again until I get better. I'm feeling poorly, you see. I have this cough, and it can be a bit uncomfortable for me now and then. Sometimes, it chokes me tight around my tummy and I feel sick. A few times, I've lost what I've eaten. I'm slightly hot in the head, but the worst is Auntie making me take some horrible pink-coloured medicine :-(. Auntie told me it would help make me feel better. My temperature's now back to normal, and auntie promised that my cough will go away soon.

None of this has stopped me from working out. I have been gaining confidence with my stretches and push ups. In trying to work out how to move forwards, I'm now doing bunny-hops.