Bye Bye

Although we have been waving his arm since the beginning, the little boy never showed any single sign of being able to do it on his own, not even at ten months.

Then suddenly, on Christmas Day, he decided to.

So now he can wave bye bye to you when you go off. : )

He Understands and Responds to...

Bus (top of the list)
Taxi/ car
Christmas tree
Lie down and sleep
Sit down
No!
Milk (violent reaction on this)
Where are your socks?
No no and wait wait
Wait
Please let go
Gai gai (go out)
Mummy help (to pull the shirt over his head, etc)
Who's in the mirror?
Cold (he'll reach for the cup)
Hot (he will not reach for the cup)
Change pampers
Counting (he'll start getting excited and expect you to start)
Alphabets (he'll start getting excited and expect you to start singing)
No no sek sao ji i.e. no eating of your fingers (which he now refuses to obey)

He also recognises the names of some of his toys i.e. when I say the name of a certain toy, he will turn his attention toward it.

He's also starting to experiment with speech! How time flies...

The Mobile Child

Gabe has transited to the next level of mobility: crawling. Add this to the ability of pulling himself up to/ along most surfaces, it's one undesirable situation we have at hand. Being alone with him at home, I can't really watch him round the clock, so I have to rely on dashes into the kitchen or the rooms, or instructions to stay where he is, or increasingly, just me getting used to a steady pace of life and leaving him to fiddle with his toys.

But whatever the case, this boy has been busy. Busy touching everything, tugging at everything, crawling everywhere, trying out stunts like weird turns from crawling to sitting position, bending over to look at things below. So it is not surprising that he's now the king of injuries. He got his first bokok last week, trying out a crawling-forward stunt. What exactly the stunt is, I really don't know. I only remember stepping out of the threshold of my kitchen and watching his head kok the floor.


Thereafter, it seems that he must have some encounter everyday. The object of the encounter varies. His other major bruises came from the dining table chair, the coffee table, the day bed and of course, the master bed. The common and less serious ones can be from the interior door of a car, his cot and the floor. Yesterday he really looked like he got beaten up by some gangsters, with three bruises on his face, one near the eye.

The most queer phenomenon is that he doesn't seem to develop a phobia towards the objects that give him his blue blacks. He'll just gamely repeat the stunts as if those crying episodes never happened.

So if you next see him with battle scars, you won't have to ask me what happened ;p

Horror note: He can reach the top of the dining table!! Just the edge, of course.

The Milk History

1st month: Bm + supplementary Fm when necessary

2nd to 4th month: Exclusively on Bm

4th & 5th month: Bm and cereal

6th month: Bm and porridge

7.5th month: Half Bm, half Fm, porridge (due to tonsillitis)

9.5th month: Exclusively on Fm, porridge, and whatever other solids he's moved on to. Baby-initiated weaning.

Interestingly, the chubbiest point of gabe's life was when he was exclusively breastfed.

Update on Japan: The Remaining Part of the Trip

We left Fuji City and headed for Tokyo, a huge feat for the family. You see, we had to lug three pieces of luggages (two with wheels), one baby and a stroller. The journey involved a ride on the bullet train, transfer to the local train line in Tokyo, and three lost souls attempting to locate the hotel, which was supposed to be a ten-minute walk from the Shinjuku station. Derod had to lug all three pieces across not very smooth pavements for about 20-30 minutes, an act he describes as what he'd do back in the army, which he said he'll never repeat.

At the Shin Fuji station. The model is obviously not very happy. One sure can't tell how much effort it took to take this picture. The mother was lifting the near9kg boy but had to squat so as to avoid being seen.

We arrived too late to enter into the Imperial Palace Gardens in Tokyo and so had to contend with walking the perimeters of the grounds, which is still very beautiful. We were freezing... only gabe was nice and warm in his stroller with blanket and plastic shield.

Chomping huge takoyaki balls at Asakusa

At the Tsukiji wholesale fish market. Hope the "scale" is good enough to let you appreciate the size of the tuna ;p

After the trip to Tsukiji market, we found a tremendously long queue for hot char siew soba. Man, the wait was SOOOOOO worth it. It's the yummiest hot bowl of noodles I've ever tasted.

A disappointing trip. We had hoped to see the 300meter path strewn with red autumn leaves. Alas, the time has not yet come.

A shot of a night scene in Shinjuku

The "exercise" I was telling you about. Most times, we'll share the load but derod volunteered to do it on his own as I was having quite a bad backache.

First thing we did upon landing on home ground: a family dinner to celebrate derod's 31st birthday. It's his first birthday as a papa.

Update from Japan Part 5: Hakone

Derod had a two-day break in his schedule so we took a trip to nearby Hakone. Some highlights of the trip to share.

Finally arrived at Hakone Yumoto Station after a ride on the very expensive but fast Shinkansen.

At the Botanical Wetlands. Here we saw the majestic mountains backing the different types of vegetation.

So tourist. But can't help it la. Autumn is here and every street tells you so. Isn't it beautiful?

At the Glass Museum. Yes, the christmas tree is made of glass.

Family picture at the traditional ryokan.

Pictorial evidence of the eagerness of my son, when it comes to food.

We took a walk along a road of Japanese cedar trees. Lovely!

On a sight-seeing boat across Ashinoko, with full view of Mount Fuji. In fact, you can almost always catch sight of the famed volcano at major tourist areas of Hakone.

On the ropeway towards the volcano Owakudani.

Owakudani. The winds were so strong the stroller almost got blown away. I had some trouble myself.

Hakone Open Air Museum.

Foot bath in the Open Air Museum.

After two very cold days, we were heading back to Fuji City. We had to buy gloves along the way just to stay a little warmer.

And the little one? He was like a little dumpling. Half the time, he was snugly covered up in his stroller plastic sheet so the wind didn't get to him. Will get a picture of that up soon.

Update from Japan Part 4: Papa's Work Place

The World Skills Competition held in Shizuoka Japan this year is an event that is highly publicised where we are. From notices all over train stations and visitor centres, to news coverage and even blocking out underpasses for shuttle buses, this event has hit the prefecture with a blast. In fact, the competition village is erected specifically for this purpose. It is open to the public, so they can visit the halls where the competitions are held, and there are specific sections of this village dedicated to showing the culture and practices of Japan. On the last day of the competition, I visited the village with gabe.

It was so crowded. We took a stroll through the entire village and met derod near the cultural exchange section, ate some food, peeped at some of the booths, grabbed some freebies and gave gabe his milk at the lake. We didn't have the time to go through the halls to take a look at the various types of skills in action. According to derod, some of them are really interesting, ranging from hairdressing to robotics to landscaping to floral arrangement to web design (derod's specialty) to cooking to sewing to caring (nursing and emergency skills). You can check out the details here. I have the privilege of daily updates and pictures from derod though.

The excitement of this event can be felt as we walked though the premises. It's good to be here.

Had lunch at this soba shop at Mishima train station. It's the kind where you stand, slurp up your noodles (highly welcomed in the cold) and leave.

At the Japanese garden just across the street from Mishima station. They were having a chrysanthemum festival.

What's a garden without a pond? Gabe's current favourite is moving water and the ducks here just add to the appeal.

Help desk at the wrong side of the station to direct you to the shuttle bus on the other side. These Japanese, they think of everything. It's rather impossible to get lost finding the competition village.

Flags line the way to the shuttle bus.

Huge floral arrangement of the logo of the competition.

Family photo at the lake, at the competition village.

So shiok. Warm milk on a cold afternoon.

Gabe attracts. This is the expert judge from Australia. Think I should start charging fees soon.