Day 278: Knee Walking

December 3, 2015 Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

The little guy at 1 week short of 13 months, is still not walking. No rush as far as I am concerned, but you can see a lot of steps towards walking in the works. For example, he is walking around while holding my hands (which he does not really need), and he will stand while eating a snack, looking around while playing, or whenever. If he forgets he is standing, he will do it without any aid.

A funny thing he does is walk on the knees. So, lets say he wants to bring me a toy car, which he did tonight. He went and got it, and started crawling back. Then, he must have realized it is not that easy to crawl while holding something, so he went up on his knees and carried it back to me, walking on his knees. He is already happy to sit like a prairie dog, which is kind of funny, so seeing him “walk” like this is a funny, and probably very short lived, phase.

Day 277: The Quirks of a 1 Year-Old

December 2, 2015 Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

The little guy has virtually recovered 100% from being sick last week, which is awesome. This has also brought his real personality, which is lovely, back into the front row, so I have been able to enjoy being around him more. Below are a few things that he has done over the last few days, and/or are just part of who he is in this phase.

Playing Jokes: He has a bunch of jokes that he will play on me and my wife; most of which involve the sticking out of his tongue (something I taught him 2 months ago that he still does). However, things are getting more advanced.

Today, when he was waking up, I heard him moving around in his bed. When I went into the room, he was sitting in the bed, playing with his pacifier. He put his arms up to say, “hey, pick me up!” And when I reached into the crib, he put his arms down and crawled to the pillow and hid his face, while laughing. He did this same thing over and over again to me for about 5 minutes 🙂

Telling Us When He Wants a Bath: He will decide when it is bath time, not us. He does this by crawling into the bathroom, then into the shower, then pointing at the tub and babbling words.

Telling Us When He Wants to Eat: He now does more than crawl to the table. He is starting to crawl up his Tripp Trapp height chair!

Telling Us When it’s Time to Leave the House: He crawls up onto his stroller, turns around and sits there, waiting for us to clip him in and get on with it.

Everything Goes into a Package: Everything gets “put away.” If there is a bigger thing, and smaller things, those smaller things will end up in that bigger thing.

Waving Goodbye: He will wave goodbye to a shadow, a dog, people, friends, me, trees, buses, and even his books.

Shrugging: My wife had been shrugging and putting up an arm while saying “gone” when he dropped his water or food on purpose. Now he does it whenever he drops something, and he will also do it when things he expects to see are not there. For example when I brought him into his bedroom, where a visitor was staying last week, he just shrugged and put his hand up, and babbled a word (I think it was “gone”).

Pointing: At anything and everything. And if he and his friends are all in the strollers together, they are all pointing and babbling and having a great conversation about it.

Surely there are many more things I could add to this, but at the moment those are the prominent ones at the top of my head 🙂

Day 276: The Best Toys in Hong Kong: Fuk Wing Street, Sham Shui Po

December 1, 2015December 1, 2015 Pappa on Leave2 Comments

Today I finally took a moment to take some photos when I brought another person to a place where I love to go for awesome kids stuff. It’s Fuk Wing Street in Sham Shui Po.

Basically the part of the street I like to go to is about 1 block long, and goes from Pei Ho street to Nam Cheong street. The easiest way to get there is to go out mtr exit B2. Or if you look for it on google maps and need an address, use 93 Fuk Wing Street (that’s where the best part starts).

So why do I love it so much? I like that the stores have tons of great stuff for kids. They have stores with games, remote-control cars and helicopters, balls, and so on. They also have stores with little toys, stationary, and other fun and cute things. As I write this I am realizing it is really hard to write about it – it’s just best to see it.

The stores are all seasonal in the outside, but once you get inside there is usually their normal assortment. For example now there is Christmas stuff outside, and then inside once you push past the santas and Christmas lights, you find the toys.

I always enjoy going, so if you are up for an adventure and don’t want to spend a lot of money, check it out!

Day 275: He Loves to Read (or He is Smarter Than We Think)

November 30, 2015 Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

There has been a really cute thing happening with the little guy lately. He will go, find a book, and bring it to us and have us read it to him. For example, the other morning, he was laying in our bed with us, and then he went down to the floor, crawled over to a book, and brought it up to bed.

Today, me and him spent at least 1/2 an hour in the afternoon reading different books, which was quite cozy because he not only brings me a book, but he gets into my lap and nestles in for me to read, points to pictures, turns the pages, and so on. Then, something else happened.

He started to point to the kitchen. At first I thought it was the table, which had his water cup on it. Not it. Then, I thought he wanted a toy. Nope. Ok, ok, it’s the kitchen. Hmmm, ok. So we went in there. Then, he pointed immediately to the drying rack where we put his bottles. (only his bottles).

He does not get a bottle during the day; only at night. But when he is sick, like he has been the last week, we will occasionally give him a bottle so he gets some nutrients. But today, when he pointed to a bottle at 17:00, I was not cool with that (bedtime is 2-3 hours later). So, I said no, we only have a bottle at bedtime. I offered him other food, and as he had eaten a snack just 1 hour before, he was not interested. He only wanted the addictive contents of the formula. So, knowing he was not hungry and just wanted the bottle, we had a stare-off. Or a cry-off. It was not much of one: he cried, I let him, and eventually we came to an understanding.

Could it be possible that his 12-month-old logic has developed so that he knows the sequence of events at bedtime (reading, bottle, sleep), so he thought that if we read during the day he will also get a bottle? Could that be? I am starting to think it is the case. As a toddler, there is a lot of learning going on, and they have no shame built into them about doing whatever they can to get what they want.

So, as it is, he is either super into reading and having cozy story time, or he is trying to find a day-time shortcut to a bottle. Let’s hope for the cozy story time 🙂

Day 274: Put Yourself in Their Shoes

November 29, 2015 Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

I’ve written a lot the last few weeks about how challenging it has been with the little guy. It has been no picnic with various developmental things going on at this age, and then a bit of sickness adding an element of discomfort.

As the little guy has a sore throat and is coughing a lot now, today I realized how hard it must be for him. Think about it: he can’t say what is wrong with words. He only has one way to communicate to us (crying). He is in real, legitimate discomfort right now, and he is really confused mentally and emotionally with all the developmental changes he is going thru. That’s a lot to handle! Talk about frustrating, right?

So I guess this is a call out to all parents to be compassionate and “long-fused” with their little ones, especially toddlers. After all, if we had the same circumstances even as adults, we might just act the same way 😉

Day 273: The 6 or 6x Bus from Central to Stanley, Hong Kong

November 28, 2015 Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

If you are in Hong Kong and you want to do something great with your day, go to Stanley. It’s a wonderful place to visit (I wouldn’t want to live there), and it gives you a nice getaway from all the hustle of the city.

To get there you can take the 6 or 6x bus from Exchange Square (Central). Basically if you take the 6 bus, it means you are going over the hill, and that will take a little longer, but the views are nice anyway. If you take the 6x bus, you go thru the tunnel. I appreciate taking the 6 bus there, and the 6x bus back, but to be honest we always take whichever bus is leaving first from Exchange Square when we are there.

The ride takes maybe 45 minutes, and you have the most spectacular sea views along the way as you pass by Repulse Bay, for example. On the way home, it’s hard not to drift away into sleep as the sun is setting over the ocean and you hear and feel the rhythm of the bus.

photo taken from the bus on the way home today

Day 272: The Little Guy Connects an Illustration to a Real Object

November 27, 2015November 27, 2015 Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

Today we went into the Kowloon side of the city, which involves a 20 minute bus ride. We have found that if we do not do something to keep his attention, the little guy is a maniac on the bus, so we have a stash of small board books that we read to him. And today something really cool happened!

We have a book that has little illustrations with the word. Like, “ball,” “duck,” and so on. And today with the one that says “pacifier” (it’s a Swedish book so it says “napp”), he took his pacifier out of his mouth and tried to give it to the pig on the opposite page of the pacifier. Cool, huh?

We always show him that this pacifier in he book is the same as the one in the illustration, so it was cool that today he saw it and drew the connection of the pacifier in the image and the one in his mouth. Very cool how quickly he learns and how much he absorbs!

Day 271: Giving in to the Screaming

November 26, 2015November 26, 2015 Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

The little guy was not having his best day. Still a bit sick but with just a little fever, we brought him to Kowloon. We did the Kowloon Park, which has a great playground, so he got his playtime, but that was not enough.

Later in the day, at Sham Shui Po, outside of one of the shops selling toys, he started freaking out. Basically I was buying a mini soccer ball for a friend and he saw me interacting with the balls, and he couldn’t handle it. After all, he is obsessed with playing with soccer or basketballs.

So, with the family visiting from Sweden at my side, I did something I am not proud of. I bought him the ball he wanted. It wasn’t to stop him from screaming, it was because I wanted to get him one anyway, but I am already worried if I taught him a lesson: “scream and get what you want.” If I was alone I think I would have bought the ball and hidden it until we got home, but this time I gave it to him immediately. And he got bored with it just as quickly.

Super important to me going forward is that I basically do the opposite of giving in to the crying or whining for things. If it happens, he doesn’t get anything. But if he is good, then I will positively reinforce this behavior by asking if he wants something. Let’s see how that works 😉

seriously, this was the ball he wanted. look at that detailed paintwork

Day 270: playrooms / play dates or not?

November 25, 2015 Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

The little guy is sick again (or it could be teething – you never know). He’s got a fever and a runny nose, and not much of an appetite. If he is sick, basically the only plausible explanation is the playroom that we sometimes go to in our local clubhouse – this place is always being blamed for sickness despite cleanings every few hours. I think it’s more the sick kids that people bring to the rooms than the rooms themselves.

Before my son was born, I was talking to a friend who had a 1,5 year-old at that time. I asked if he had been going to play groups or play dates, and he said no, they didn’t want the kid to get sick, so they did not have him meet other kids. I thought that was the weirdest thing ever, because my philosophy is that children learn a lot from other children, so it is good for both their physical and social development. Also, as a parent I need social time too, and playgroups help me meet other people in the same boat.

Now that the little guy was sick a lot this summer, and is now sick again, it makes me wonder about this philosophy, and if it is better to keep them away from all that physical sickness. It’s not fun for him to be sick, and it’s not fun for us, his parents, either. If we didn’t go to the playrooms, he would not get that social element that I think is so important, but he also wouldn’t get sick.

Some people say it is good because they will get sick less often later. I hope that is true; after all this, he should have the strongest immune system ever 😉

Day 269: Tien Yi Chinese Restaurant, The Peak, Hong Kong

November 24, 2015 Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

When we have visitors, there is one place I always go to with them: The Peak. I really enjoy the views – even taking a coffee is a breathtaking experience; as you look over the massive city below you, you can’t help but feel small.

What about restaurants at The Peak? I have been to a few, and today we are dim sum at a place called Tien Yi. It was truly fantastic food, and I genuinely thought every dish we had was excellent. And then if you combine that with the wonderful views, it was really amazing. Prices were a bit high: our meal cost a little over 200 hkd per person, but I ordered a lot of food for us, and people also had beer. But considering that you are getting a high quality meal with a view of a lifetime, I think it’s worth it 😉