Today was another busy day filled with adventure (depending on how you define “adventure”).  It was also a major day for learning a big lesson about planning ahead with a baby.

The thing that is special about the little guy is once you strap him into the Baby Bjorn, he is pretty much happy drifting between sleeping and looking around for long periods of time.  But even if he is happy doing this, you still have to plan some natural breaks to take care of his needs and not put too much pressure on him to “hang in there” (no pun intended).

Take today for example: We left the apartment at 12:15, went to a shady iphone repair place, then walked up Nathan Road and made our way to Tai Kok Tsui to meet my wife by 14:00.  By the way, I found all sorts of wonderful places to buy random things.  Think of them like “districts”.  For example near where we currently live is an area where all the stores sell bathroom sinks and mirrors (the “bathroom sink and mirror disctrict”).  There is also an area where all shops sell lamps.  Another with just kitchen stuff.  So along the way today I also found the “shower head district” (my own title, surely it does not exist officially) and the “broken and repaired flat-screen tv district”.  And I also looked at baby clothes at a street market.

Anyway, we met and then we went to Discovery Bay, where we then fed the little guy at 15:00 (right on schedule), played a little and were back on our way.  But then we met with the realtor (we are looking at moving to Discovery Bay, and they use realtors to find rentals here), and we were going for a while looking at apartments.  Finally when we got done, it was 18:00 and we needed to eat, the little guy was sleeping and would need to eat soon, and it was also rush hour on friday.  Not a good scenario.  So we had a choice to make: 1) stay and relax, eat dinner, feed him, and change him, then make our way home once we are all satisfied.  Call this the “Take it easy” plan.  Or, 2) get moving NOW during rush hour, go home while he is sleeping, and feed and change him at home – and in the process, pray to God that the little guy doesn’t wake up and get whiny.  Call this the “Test Your Stress Tolerance” plan.  Of course we went with option 2, he got whiny on the metro, and naturally that led to my wife and I experiencing more stress than necessary.

To make our lives easier, when planning our day, we could have said, “ok, after the realtor, we will change and feed him and go out for a nice dinner and discuss the housing options (or return home).”  So that was a lesson learned – plan ahead, think in 3,5-hour increments, because our little guy is on a 3,5-hour cycle thru the afternoons, usually.  Don’t wait for him to scream, be proactive and fix things before he gets whiny – set him for success, and it will be good for everyone.

By the way the other lesson learned was always save a receipt when you get your cracked iphone screen fixed at a shady place in HK.