Father's Day

Today is Father's day in America; we went out for lunch today like most Sundays. The restaurant we went to was busy and noisier than usual. I was dressed up nice, and I put on a new pair of trainers with flashing lights which grandpa bought me. What a lovely surprise to find that Lulu and her whole family were also invited. We ate some char siu baos and had lots of fun together, and I also made friends with some people on the table next to ours.

Papa started going to work, so I did not see him at all during the day except today and Monday. As I am usually the first one up in the house, my job starting this week is to sound "the reveille", to make sure Papa isn't late for work. I call out to him. I would take him a cup of coffee if grandma thought I could hold it that far without spilling it. Papa took me swimming on Monday, and it's been Grandpa's turn to take me swimming otherwise. Grandpa reports that I'm still making good progress.

I finally overcame my fear of a brightly coloured beach ball which Gugu bought me: It's been sitting in the store room for 2 months but I was afraid to tackle it, yet I've been to take a peek at it every now and then. One day, I finally plucked up enough courage to pick it up. Now I often grab it with one hand, and throw it around the house. I've seen gugu use her big green ball for pilates, so I also use my beach ball just like her. I was also afraid of balloons, so Papa put one on each chair so that I would stop climbing them. It did work to start with, but it wore off over the next few days. I was soon back climbing the chairs again, much to Papa's chagrin.

I'm now 81cm tall, and I weigh about 26 pounds (11.8kg). It turns out once again that my sleep patterns have swung back the other way. My morning and afternoon naps have been quite long this week, so luckily Grandma has some breathing space during the daytime.

I still like to spit out my food sometimes, but I am now allowed to drink water from a cup on my own. Papa is pleased that I am finally starting to drink more than I spill. I learned a good trick from 'Wobble Bear Says Yellow'. His word is "yellow" but, mine is the Chinese word for "lamp". I like its sound, so I say it often. For me, it means anything which is attached to the ceiling.

Summer's here

Papa took me swimming three times this week. I was a lot more relaxed about letting go of Papa's arm than last week. So I didn't disappoint him: he said that I swam once again like Mark Spitz.

Papa now has a job, so it looks like I'll be staying in Hong Kong a while longer. I just hope that Mommy can come here soon too, because I miss her lots. Mommy and I have chatted several times already. She watched me walking around, having my dinner, showing off some of my new tricks. I showed her how I can dislodge a bunny rabbit stuck on the underside of Gugu's desk by prising off the suckers which attached it to the glass.

I'm now enrolled for baby gym once a week at the Y, starting next month. Papa sent me some sunglasses through Little Gugu a while ago, which I kept taking off. The grown-ups thought I didn't like wearing them. In fact, it just hasn't been sunny enough up till now :-0. Now it's thirty degrees outside, and sunny almost every day. I put them on when I need to stay cool.

Gugu often brings me back clothes and other things I like. She bought me some house-clothes, and she also found me a few more episodes of Pingu, currently my favourite programme. I've watched all the episodes on the 2 discs I have already several times, a couple of episodes every morning after breakfast. I identify myself with him and I chuckle at the mischief he makes.

This week, I'm sleeping less in the daytime than before. For three days, instead of sleeping, I just sit in my bed, play on my own and sing to myself when I get put in bed for a nap. I'm not more tired at night. I still go to bed and I wake up at around the same time. Gugu thinks maybe I'm just in need of less sleep than before because I'm growing up. Ha! Grandma will be pleased - her games of golf have just gotten longer ;-)

Papa's back again

Papa surprised us all last Sunday when he arrived unannounced. It's been a whole month since I saw him. I was very pleased to see him, I ran up to the door and he gave me a big hug.

We all went out to lunch that day, and I was allowed to roam freely in the shopping arcade afterwards. I saw some other children like me, and also lots of people window shopping, and it was fun to do the same. Last week, Gugu saw a cute little red sofa with a checkered pattern in the same arcade, and she couldn't resist buying it on the spot. Now I have my very own sofa from which I can watch 'Wheels on the Bus' and 'Pingu'.

Papa plays with me around the house, reads to me, and takes me to the swimming pool every other day. He's upset that I've forgotten to swim: I just look around at other people swimming, and I drink the water. I'm a bit scared to let go of Papa's arm when in the water. I clutched him so hard that I left traces of my fingers on his forearm.

I'm now walking around with increased speed and stability, and I don't crawl very often now that I get around faster than on all fours. I showed off to Grandma that I could even walk across a room backwards. Now, I also enjoy head-butting: I butt my head against the big green ball, the doors, but my favourite is head-butting Papa and Gugu. I continue climbing chairs in order to get onto the tables. So far, I haven't got onto a table yet.... The grown-ups always manage to pick me up just when I put my knee on the table.

This week, my dog-teeth are breaking through, but it hasn't discouraged me from giving the grown-ups love bites, and I have a good giggle each time they howl.

I now weigh 26 pounds, big and strong enough to haul myself up my high-chair. I know when it's time for meals, so I climb up and wait to be served in my high-chair.

It's Grandma's birthday today. I gave Grandma a card in the morning which I signed with my palm. Papa, Gugu and I celebrated with her in the evening. I dressed up like a grown up, wearing long trousers and a new designer shirt which Papa bought me.

Kitchen = OB

Mummy and Papa have just left after spending a few days here with me. I missed them because I haven't seen them in a few months.

While Mummy and Papa were here, I preferring to spend time at home, showing off my newly acquired skills. What started off as short wobbles ended the week as much longer wobbles across half the room. All my toes used to be the same length, but now my big toe is out-growing the others. I figure that since I started walking, my big toe helps to propel me in each step I take.

As the grown-ups have become tired of me making for the kitchen, Grandma decided to install a barrier to stop me from getting in. Without that for a challenge, I like to reach for what's on top of the sideboard and the dining table. Since I have learnt to climb up and get down safely from sofas, I have started climbing the chairs too. From a chair, I can reach for what is ordinarily put out of my reach on the dining table, or on Grandpa's desk :-) Another challenge is climbing out of my bed. My bed is now surrounded by cushions just in case I get the urge to go sleepwalking ;-)

Although I weigh much the same as I have done for a couple of months (11.5kg/25lbs), I have now grown to 79cm in height. This is pretty obvious from my clothes, which seem to have shrunk in size. My appetite is growing, and I now get hungry before my normal meal times, so Grandma has started to add a dessert of fruit compote to the end of each meal which I particularly like:-).

Tonight Mummy and I had a mega-giggle together. They have just gone back to Paris, where I was born. It's supposed to be my home too but I don't remember it any more! I know Mummy and Papa were sad to leave me behind, I saw tears in Mama's eye. They promised to come back to get me soon, so that we can live together as a family again.

Wobble Bear

This week, the flat seems very full with Little Gugu (Aunty Helen) here and with Big Gugu taking a well-earned rest from work last week. I took my first steps on my own during this week. I performed for Mama and Papa when they logged on for a video-chat.

Little Gugu has become my shadow, she gets up every morning when she hears me sing along to Wheels on the Bus so she too could sing along too ...she doesn't know how funny she looks when she's bobbing along with the music ;-). When we are finished playing we sit and read together. Sometimes, I bring a particular book for Gugu to read to me - my current favourite is "Lets make a noise". She read me this a couple of times this week. I enjoyed this so much that after both sessions I would push the book towards Gugu with the pages open for an encore.

Gugu likes to read Wobble Bear to me as she thinks I look like Wobble Bear. I like Wobble Bear cos I'm wibbling wobbling all over the place at the moment. Gugu's promised to send me more Wobble Bear books when she gets back to London.

Everyone is horrified that I put everything in my mouth to chewing: chairs, my playpen, my books - poor Thomas & Maisy :-( , shoes if they are left out. Gugu had to put her foot down when I tried to eat the skirting board. It's been so much worse at the moment as I'm growing more teeth near the back, and my gums are sooooo itchy. Apparently, I now have my pre-molars, whatever they are (?)

I have been a lot more active since Gugu arrived from London. I enjoy rushing around here at home, repeatedly climbing the sofa, playing throw and catch with my balls, playing bricks and playing combat underneath the dining table or baby-gym. With all the activity, I now need to eat more. When we were at dim sum yesterday after I'd eaten a big lunch of my own, I still managed to eat two char siu baos - without the char siu :-). Then I had a whole jar of tropical fruit for pudding at dinner. Grandma is thinking to adding fruit to my dinner menu going forward, yummy ;-O