raining all day today. i went out at lunchtime on a mission to discover the new location of The Kitchen restaurant, which is now down a steep slope and has outdoor seating, but is otherwise identical to when it was in its old location. I knew everyone who was sitting in there, but nobody said hello; guess they were in their hangover antisocial mode. It was raining pretty hard but was only dripping when I left. When I got home, I met the landlord's wife in the front yard. She told me off roundly for taking the baby out: "Raining and you still go out to play? Well I never." I couldn't even reply with the required baby's greeting; I was too annoyed. I went out later and was relieved that the people in Hung Long Minimart didn't criticise or blame; however, they did suggest that baby ought to be wearing his bootees. I'd taken them off earlier because his feet were hot, but forgotten to put them on before we went out. Advice is actually supposed to be seen as kindness in this country and it's so easy to take it as criticism; in fact I sometimes get really upset by it. At the minimart one time Bernard had to wait outside with one of the shop ladies while I went in, and I got caught in conversation with the checkout girl about finding a nanny. When I finally extracted myself he was all sweaty in his buggy, and the shop lady was very disapproving. "You shouldn't take him out in this hot weather," she said, and I said hotly, "If I don't go out I'll go crazy!!" But I felt bad.
Bernard has been chewing on stuff all day. He's in his cot now and keeps waking himself up, chewing on his hand a bit and going back to sleep. I've been criticised by our housmates for letting him do that; they say he'll become addicted to it, but what else is he supposed to chew on? He's rapidly learning to hold things and put them in his mouth but he hasn't quite got the co-ordination to put things where he wants them yet. He's working on it but meanwhile I'm letting him do it; it's only fair.
At some point you have to make your own decisions about how to bring up your kids. "'Western' kids get a lot more freedom" - is this true?
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