Not yet walking

I am now 13 and a half months old! Grandma & grandpa think I should be walking by now, but I won't. Why should I when I can get across the room on all fours at top speed? How else could I have slipped into the kitchen unnoticed several times?!

These days I prefer to practise my climbing skills. I can climb onto the sofas and chairs AND get off them safely now. One day I managed to climb onto Grandpa's desk :-)). I'm hoping to get on top of the sideboard any day now because I think there are lots of goodies there ;-). Grandpa can't keep up with me, so keeps putting me back in my playpen.

My feet are very big now and the sheepskin slippers are getting small. Last week, Gugu bought me my first pair of proper shoes, made of very soft white and beige leather. So now I wear it for half an hour a day, just in case I feel like walking. Gugu says I'm a big boy now, so has started cooking me grown-up foods. I love the wild salmon kedgeree and beef bolognaise with pasta. Can't understand why grandma says "Ai Ya" everytime I spit my food into my hands, squish it around my fingers before putting it back into my mouth.

Grandma reads to me everyday. Gugu didn't believe Grandma when she said that I know how to hold a book the right way up, so she tested me by deliberately giving me the books upside down and back to front. I flipped them back correctly everytime! Ha! I'm going to really practise my skills hard this week so that I can show off to small Gugu and Papa when they come to HK next week.

MMR

Although I celebrated my first birthday last week, only now I am now officially 1 year old!

It's been less fun since Papa left for Paris. Grandma took me on my second visit to Dr Bean, a children's doctor. She noted that I weighed 11.1kg, and measured 78cm tall. She also gave me an injection called MMR with a very big needle. The injection mad me feel poorly for two whole days. Gugu says that my body was hotter than usual, and she gave me plenty to drink. Gugu made me drink this medicine which she put in my milk, and makes it taste strange.

My second birthday

It's turned cold again, Hong Kong has not been so cold for over ten years, and I have to wander around the house in a quilted jacket. I'm not so numble when crawling around, but at least I keep warm. It's too cold to go swimming, according to grandma.

I'm chuffed to bits at a present given to me by a friend of grandma's: My very first Mercedes Benz sportscar (of many, I hope) revs, runs and stops all automatically when I push the start button. I particularly like the little man who I can pull out from the driver's seat so that I can drive it myself ;-).

This afternoon, Papa and Gugu organised a birthday party for me, and invited all the family, plus Ella and Lulu. They put up balloons, and banners which said 'Happy Birthday Theodore'. Gugu made my chocolate birthday cake herself, decorated it with a bear, chocolate icing, and put one duckie candle on it for me! I'm sooo lucky: not many a child these days has a cake made personally with so much love and care! Gugu also prepared lots of other goodies for me and the guests, so we all had a wonderful time. I love my gugu!

I said goodbye to Papa before he went back to Paris tonight. He gave me a big hug and made me promise that I would be good while he was away.

Playpen

Gugu took off the glove on Wednesday. My hand looks uglier than it feels. It doesn't hurt any more, and most of the old dead skin has already fallen off.

Grandpa and Grandma went shopping last week, and came back with a playpen for me. It now lives in the living room. It's fun in the playpen coz papa lined it with foam tiles with numbers from 1 to 9, and I'm surrounded by lots of toys. On top of that, as Gugu has put some of my toys in every room, I'm gradually taking over the whole apartment. I think this arrangement suits the grown-ups because they don't have to put my toys away every day any more. Also, I can play unsupervised, and without me going touching radiators and knocking things over. The air temperature has gone back up this last week, and the heaters have been put away.

Every day now, I try standing without support. My legs are not strong enough for walking, but I can support my full weight for a few seconds at a time. I still go around on all fours like greased lightening. Grandma's 18 holes of golf have been upgraded to 22 ;-) !!!

One day, Papa showed me Nemo, said 'fish', and I was able to repeat it after him. My 'F' sound, right now sounds like "tsch". Being proud of this achievement, Papa clapped, and so did I. I feel more words coming, so watch this space.

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.