this one is about everything

argh where to start?  so much has happrnned since i last blogged that i can't even remember... anyway b is still into his feet but he has a new craze in taandem with that:  chomping on big things.  the bigger the better: arms, legs, doors, tables, chairs.  i keep having to re-configure the bathroom because he is getting more mobile and left alone will flip himself over and start grabbing stuff and trying to launch his open mouth onto it.  he's not crawling yet but he will stand on hands and knees rocking back and forth for  a second.  it is funny how quickly he can roll over no considering it used to take him ages of tugging and frustrated squeaks to pull his arm out from underneath his body after rolling over - now it's automatic. 


the conservationist has been paid!  we have just been out to the new japanese. Saru,  in our neighbourhood to celebrate a near doubling of our monthly income. it was supposed to be extravagant (prices were in dollars which is always a bad sign)  but we ate very well for 17.6 dollars.  the chef had worked at the Hotel Nikko and knew his way around a sushi knife; the waitresses were new and stressed out; they kept calling us "anh chi tay", the Western couple, which is a funny thing to say in our area.  b behaved very well, licking only his tree-shaped chew toy until the end when we gave him a piece of banana to lick.  now he is fast asleep on my lap.

feeding b solids has not been as successful as i had hoped.  at the weekends i try giving him his russian barley glopp but most of it ends up in the bib.  we (baby, mummy, frog chair, kitchen etc) all have to take a bath afterwards!  pureed carrot did not help to persuade him that solids are the way forward.  he likes the new tastes i think but he is just not ready to swallow efficiently from a spoon. it's not worth the effortse of cooking and blending. the nanny gets a whole bowl of glopp down him every day without spilling a drop, but i thunk she just lies him down and pours it down his throat. i'm not gonna stop her since she's the only one who can get it down him.  that daily bowl i think makes it easier to express enough for the day, and helps him to slepp better.  though he still is feeding at least 3 times per night,  we've found a kind of rhythm now though with the feeding, pumping, working and sleeping, so we'll stick with it for the moment. 

i want to eat my feet

this week bernard wants to eat his socks!!!  he is confused why, unlike other toys, his feet don't come to his mouth easily and he finds them fascinating.
winter dropped on us suddenly and our house has gone from cool to draughty.  i have one of those watery colds where warm salty water just flows from eyes and nose as from a tap.  i have employed a yellow muslin.  i always thought hankies were too small.
the novel is a sprawling mess.  i am thinking of hiring a ggost writer.  appropriate as i am on the  letter g.

cot antics

i have been non blogging bcos b is hard to get 2 slepp.  he is waking every 5-10 mins all evening after his bedtime feed, and we've been trying all sorts of tadtics and learning a lot. nothing helps, although if he spends time screaming he doesn't wake often - but then he's awake screaming.  we have decided to relax and concentrate on being really present with baby while we can - most people i spoke to at work about it said they didn't bother with strict routines, and nobody said they got it sussed by 4 months.  so he wakes up a lot - it's hardly naughtiness!  otherwise we are doing remarkably well:  there is a routine there already and baby feels happy and secure.  he is slooowly getting used to the cot.  and he is waking less in the night, maybe 3x.

head skiing

swan boats for a picnic

Tui takes a bite

squealing

HELP:  the squeals are back!!!!!!

ghost story

So we're at home with a ton of stuff on the bed, passports on top, and downstairs is a beautifully packed picnic.  But suddenly we've called off our plan to go to Tam Dao.  We're just too tired!  Not sad though, as we're still relaxed from last weekend. 

At the minimart the other day, I came in looking for tortillas and Tuan was giggling by the door.  A Western guy was talking in rather good Vietnamese, and purchasing a huge bunch of bananas, costing him over 100,000 dong.  He was asking if he could buy half but they were saying no, no, you can't cut it, it's bad luck.  This sounded very strange to me as they are very honest in the shop and would never bamboozle someone into buying a huge bunch of bananas like that - they'll sell you just one banana if you prefer, or one yoghurt, or even one battery.  Tuan explained in a stage whisper that the man's house is haunted.  The electrics are up the pictures, lights flickering on and off, a bad feeling in the house and all housemates suffering from bad luck in their daily lives.  On advice from a friend, he was buying things for an offering table, which would consist of fruit and a whole boiled chicken with a rose in his mouth.  It's bad luck to offer anything partial or cut, so the bunch of bananas had to be whole.  When the man passed over the bananas they noticed one of them was bashed and black so they had to exchange the bunch for another "more beautiful" (and even more costly) hand.  He had also arranged to have a shamanic exorcist visit the house.  All the talk of ghosts made me feel shivery, so of course Tuan crept up on me while I was paying for my tortillas and I jumped a mile.

Nicholas has a minimart story too:  he was shopping today and a Vietnamese guy walked in and said, "Have you got that thing...?"  "?"  "You know, that thing?"  "Sorry, sir, what thing?"  "Er, I'm not sure..." 
Apparently the precise nature of the thing was not clarified before Nicholas left the shop.

vocals

i am wasted - exhausted - whacked etc.  just staying up so i can pump for tomorrow.  wanted to update on the latest developments:  when we were in Tam Dao Bernard did nothing but squeal. squeal for happy, squeal for tired, squeal for bored, squeal to get attention, squeal just anyway because it's really fun to make such  a loud and piercing noise.  The video i took is actually the moment when this squealing phase began: we had got bored of it by the evening of the same day.  We were wondering how long the squealing phase would last:  when i got home from work today, he had suddenly started experimenting with repetitive sounds like yayayayaya and ngangangagn occasionally, and the squeals had receded.  whoo hoo!

more tam dao pics

setting off

waiting for daddy to try and find the binoculars he dropped off a cliff

this is a leaf

hiding in the hammock

tam dao pics

having a laugh with the locals whilst waiting for a bus to Vinh Yen

our taxi driver became a member of the fan club

enjoying our hotel room

hiya!