Christmas in Nanjing

This week, Mom and Papa took me on a trip. Now I have some more chops in my passport :-) We spent one whole week in Nanjing, where Mommy grew up. We did some sight-seeing, and I visited a place dedicated to the worship of my direct ascendant Confucius. We stayed in a hotel, where they prepared a very comfortable Teddy-sized bed for me :-) in the same room as Mummy and Papa. Luckily I sleep so soundly, and Papa's snoring didn't bother me very much.

I met my [other] grandparents, who looked after me for quite a lot of the time during our stay. My Grandmother was so pleased to see me for the first time that she picked me up and hugged me like a bear. She also asked me why I said 'baba' so much of the time and 'mum' when I'm hungry. Of course, I forgive her for not understanding baby-talk. In fact, 'ba' is the sound I find easiest to make, and 'mum' means food.....

My grandparents wondered if my skin was yellow in colour because I liked so much to eat pumpkin, carrots and sweet potatoes. They were also surprised that I wore my Huggies, because most babies in China run around without wearing them.

On the night before we left Nanjing, they held a dinner party to celebrate our home-coming, and invited all their relatives. There must have been about thirty people if I could count so far up... All the relatives were fighting for a turn to hold me. I was a real hit, as I smiled all the time whilst being passed from hand to hand. Fortunately, the evening ended early, and I was taken back to the hotel to bed.

We're back in Hong Kong now, and it's good to be home. I've missed not having a room to myself. What's more, it's tiring being on the road, because it's difficult to keep to your routine.

Papa and Mummy are back

Mom and Papa have been here in Hong Kong one week already!

Papa has been impressed with the way I am now cruising all over the place. So fast, so furious;-) I can crawl around, and pull myself up to a standing position with ease every now and then. Occasionally, I catch the adults unawares, and send cups of water tumbling down onto the ground.

I blow raspberries quite a lot. The big people think I'm spitting, but in fact I am trying to see what different sounds of the alphabet I can make. We have a good deal, as I enjoy making sounds, and everybody is amused by the process.

I was so chuffed to receive a card from England from my auntie Helen. I love it firstly because it said "baby's first Christmas card" on it, and secondly because it tasted delicious. Papa laughed loudly when he noticed that I had demolished one of the corners.

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.