reading

It didn't come as such a surprise when, aged 2 years and 5 months, Bernard learned to read.  He has been obsessed by letters since the age of 18 months, and has been able to identify initial letters for some time now.  Last week he read all the animal sounds in his animal counting book: moo, quack, squeak, woof etc, on the page which has no pictures on it (though he may of course remember which sounds are likely to be written there).  But yesterday morning we were fooling around with letter sounds and I said, "What does M-U-M say?" and he said, "Mum," and then I said, "What does D-A-D say," and he said, "Dad," and then we carried on that game in the car, all the way to nursery.  "More letters," he kept saying, and he was able to do phonemic blending on plenty of three-letter words such as "peg", "bed" and more.  That was a step he hadn't taken before.  And so yesterday evening, we read the page in his alphabet book which has three letter words in it, and he was able to read about half.  Well done, little one!

at college

Nicholas and son visit Darwin College, where Nicholas is doing his PhD.  It's so nice there I'm surprised he doesn't spend any time there.

We met up with him for lunch and had a snack from the Snack Box Van, and took it to eat on the lawn at Darwin College.  Bernard has just learned to JUMP and it was very amusing to watch him jump like a kangaroo all the way over the wooden bridge and back.

at the green man

in grantchester.  ong ba ngoai came to visit, and Fenton, and we had lunch at the Green Man.  Must get the fridge more prepared for family to drop in at random moments!

nursery school

17 Oct was Bernard's first day at nursery.  His teacher is called Andrea and his nursery is a tiny Montessori on a farm slap bang in the middle of nowhere.  It seems to be one of the most beautiful places on the planet.  I drive ten minutes away from town and I am there.  There is no sign on the entrance.  Sometimes you can buy farm fresh eggs for £1 a box on the driveway.
Bernard said he had a nice time at the nursery, and he played with a boy called Alex.  The toddler class is also the toilet training class (!), so often when I arrive one or more of them are running around without trousers on.
Bernard is learning to sit on the potty now, and he is doing very well; I was very impressed at how much easier it was this time round.  He is quite proud of his peeing prowess and he has had a few al fresco pees in fields too: all very challenging for the first timer!

solar panel

Sorry about the sideways photos lately; it's my phone - but hopefully I have managed to rotate this one of the brand new solar panel on our roof.  It works along with a spaceship-like installation in our airing cupboard, and hopefully it will reduce our reliance on the oil in a way that won't require a lot of maintenance.   The cylinder is well insulated anyway so it seems I just put the hot water on once in the day and it stays hot all day and night with the help of the solar.  Jolly clever.

progress

autumn is here.  the house martins have flown.  and the last storm blew most of the remaining apples from the tree.  we have three huge tesco bags full of apples ready for crumbles, juices or compote.  there is an increasing amount of furniture and we have lots of boxes to unpack.  a healthy state of moving house.  i keep thinking that if we hadn't bought this house earlier in the year, we'd be still agonizing over houses.  now we are almost functioning in the new place.  it feels good.

queen of hearts

Bernard has been enjoying his nursery rhymes so much that we decided to make jam tarts.  He had one for dessert served with a petit filou. 

new house

we arrived in convoy with ong ngoai who installed a curtain rail and a stair gate.  Then we tuck in to a meal served on an upturned wine crate. 

out and about

Since arriving in England we have been visiting a lot of parks and Bernard is getting more and more confident at climbing, swinging and balancing.  When we arrived, he had never been on a swing.  Now he loves swings and asks to go higher and higher!

at the park

We are in the kitchen. Bernard is playing with his blocks. Temperature is probably about 36 or 7 degrees but it is cloudy as we are building up for a storm. And so humid you break out in thick sweat just changing a nappy or washing up. This morning I brought playdough out of the fridge and the atmospheric humidity turned it horribly slimy. Bernard is doing fine with the heat but has a rash on hbiggbhhhhhjhfdzsfm,vbxctf jnhsgdxfdcfbnv vbbbggbddffxf bbvczzxcbbggnhnnhhhhjhrqghjk,kjmmjjjmjhgdaaaqwertuyuukiiooopppsadfhhhjkk.llzxvccvbb mm,,. Ah yes the joys of trying to do anything on a computer when he is awake. We have had to stick to cotton reusables because the plasticky disposables are making the rash worse. he loves the cream, though, and asks for more every time!
Today was a happy day as we did our usual Saturday routine of going to the market then to a cafe to play. We had a long nap and then Bernard, refreshed, played beautifully with his toys until we went to Tiniworld. An older child adopted Bernard and took it upon herself to guide Bernard round the soft play climbing frame, which he loved.
Just a few more days to go and I have a complex plan pinned up on my fridge. It looks like I may have found a few more hours for the nanny so am happy about that. Everything is falling into place. Glad I had all this time as it has been a relaxed process so far. Advice please on entertaining an alphabet obsessed toddler on the plane!

Sent from my iPad

Bye bye daddy

Nicholas' last day today before he heads off into the jungle.  We won't see him till September.  Yesterday Nicholas and I went to see the Matrix at the cinema followed by a delicious Japanese meal at Ky Y restaurant, just a stone's throw from the cinema.  The aubergines topped with bean and sesame paste were amazing.  Today we celebrate by having lasagne at home followed by chocolate mousse.   The chocolate mousse went wrong just the same way as last time and i guess I need a lesson from someone in whipping eggs to soft peak - I never get it right.  However, un-risen chocolate mousse is... refrigerated chocolate!  The lasagne also went slightly wrong as I got all the sauces ready and switched on the oven, to find that the second half of the lasagne sheets had gone mouldy in their tupperware box.  I tried rinsing them under the tap to get the mould off, but they still smelled kinda mushroomy so I went for penne bake instead.  Our mini-mart is having a holiday.
Anyway, the passport is here hooray hooray, and I have hired this super guy to help me with all my last minute bureaucracy.  He's called Quan and he is helping me to get a police check, without which I cannot work with children in the UK, I believe.   He also offered to come with me to the immigration department to apply for a new visa in my new passport.  I was extremely glad he was there, even just as moral support, as the officials were corrupt and irrational beyond belief.  The guy behind the desk initially refused to serve me because he said I should apply through my company (now on summer holiday).  Then he didn't want to because I didn't have a police certificate detailing my loss of passport, which I was unable to obtain as I lost it in an area about 2 hours drive from Hanoi and my local police refused to issue a certificate outside their area.  We pleaded politely and he said he would ask his 'boss' (actually his employee, as he was just messing with us).  Eventually they accepted my application.   The guy who was also in the laughable 'queue' with me was Canadian, and they refused his application because he could not remember the phone number of his guest house in Hanoi.  He remained remarkably calm considering the circumstances.

leaving Hanoi

The crib is sold.  The playpen is sold.  The dresser is sold.  The fishtank has been cleaned out.  The bookshelf is clear but there are boxes and baskets all over our room.  We're nearly ready to go.... I just need a passport.
We're having a relaxed time and it's like a holiday.  Yesterday I took Bernard to Kinder Park in the morning (a kind of kiddy theme park) and we went with Izzie and Sally to the Water Park in the afternoon.  What, no photos? you ask.  I know, it's really lame of me but I've got out of the habit.
It remains to be seen what form this blog will take when we hit the UK, if any.  Friends and family will be much closer by then.  And really, as Bernard gets older, the changes are few and far between.   He is obsessed with the alphabet.  He can recite it forwards, backwards and upside-down.  He will take a tune and sing it to every single sound in the alphabet, and then start back again at A.  The latest fave song is Ten Green Bottles.  Bernard prefers to sing it thus: "One green bottle, standing on the wall... and if one green bottle should accidentally fall, there'd be two green bottles, standing on the wall."  This is excellent language - but someone needs to teach him subtraction!!!
I am looking forward to the flight.  Honestly.  I feel Bernard has matured so much that the flight will be a positive pleasure.  Hopefully I won't be disappointed, but in comparison to previous flights it could barely be worse.  I am packing sheets and sheets of stickers, and will purchase myriad toys to keep him occupied.  Having mum so close, he will be happy and play whenever he is not sleeping, and he has a guaranteed seat to himself.  What could go wrong?  Watch this space.

fun at the Trade Union Hotel pool

Bernard singing - with words

growing up

Mrs Nhung said very self-deprecatingly "I smiled too much"

Bernard is now big enough to brush his teeth ALL BY HIMSELF. "Baby do it," he says.

At the pool today.

Flapper

Bernard has developed a tendency to flap his arms with excitement. An unusual development where everything else is remaining constant. He steadily bilds his language every day. This morning Bernard was learning to count up to 29 with his daddy. When I got home from work he was still hard at it, re arranging the magnetic num ers on the fridge.
last weekend was wonderful but tinged with regret at leaving so many friends before we had sufficient time to get to know them. Nicholas returned from a three week field trip on Saturday morning (I won't miss those!) and we had the baby brunch group at our house. Aubrey, Blake and Luc were all there, as well as Izzy, an adopted child. She currently has pneumonia but they are very relieved because they thought at first it wa TB.
On Saturday evening we went to a goodbye party for Sarah and Simon. they spent a while in the jungle looking for rhinos, and unfortunately ot is now extinct in Vietnam. Tabitha somewhat untastefully made these amazing rhino head shaped cupcakes, with jelly sweets for eyes. They were somehow fitting as a farewell gesture ... They also happened to be delicious. Sarah said she wanted to eat the very last one.

Hong Kong 2

A random lady on the tube

Central skyline

At a tea house where we had dim sum

Hong Kong

In the Walled Garden, Bernard borrows my hat

Our room at the Royal Plaza. Bernard enjoyed playing with his trucks, as above.

It is a shame none of us knew how to read Cantonese or we could have taught him some. I think he would have been quite good at it!

hanoi united

Ong Ba Ngoai have been keeping me busy....  sorry about the bloglessness.....

Soupe au pistou

I lucked out and found some fresh basil in my corner shop.  I made this soup which transported me to another dimension of taste.

1 leek, white only, sliced (I substituted spring onion)
4 celery stalks (I omitted)
1 onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 kg seasonal veg (I used carrot, potato and su hao but the recipe suggests aubergine, zucchini, green beans, turnips)
1 can white beans
Provencal bouquet garni (I used oregano instead)
1 lit water

For the pistou
2 garlic cloves, de germed and chopped
Coarse salt
1 ripe tomato, finely chopped
20 fresh basil leaves (MUST be real basil not Thai basil, check by smelling carefully and it has round leaves not pointed) Veggies do it or call Hung Long 0437196220
4tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
8tbsp olive oil (I used much less)

Heat the oil in a saucepan and stir in the leek, celery, onion an garlic.  Stew slowly, stirringg frequently until tender, abt 10 mins.  Add salt and pepper, seasonal veg, beans and herbs and cook for five mins then add the water.  Bring to the boil and leave to simmer for 30 mins.
To make the pistou, pound the garlic and coarse salt in a mortar until smooth.  Add the tomato, basil, Parmesan, oil an work to a smooth paste.  Or whiz in a spice grinder or blender.
Ladle the soup in to serving bowls and garnish with a generous spoonful of pistou.
Serves 4.

Where's Bernard?

Bernard and company

Here Bernard chills with his friends on Aubrey's sofa.  Bernard, Blake and Aubrey.  We will miss them!!

Brunch

Bernard got very good value from his free brunch at the Melia today! He started with the kids' section, i.e chips and pasta, then branched out into a little paella, then consumed a respectable amount of smoked salmon, saying, More Hammon, and then a bowlful of fruit and a choc biscuit, then a banana, and outright stole the feta cheese from my plate. Wahed down with plenty of apple juice. I had a rather sub par effort, though I enjoyed a choc and banana pancake very much.
I felt very proud of him.On Friday we also lunched at a hotel, it being the only place open. The two waitresses were astounded at the grown up way Bernard ate his lunch, and nearly fell over backwards as they watched him primly dip his chips one by one into ketchup. "Cham!!" "Dipping!" they exclaimed. Going into the Melia brunch today, I asked if the baby went in free, to which they replied, "Oh yes, he is free. he can only eat a little bread and fruit, very little.". I smiled to myself, thinking, wanna bet? Babies in Vietnam are fed a lot of milk so they don't have much appetite, and they seem mostly to be intolerant of any lumps so can only eat rice porridge up till at least 2 years old. That's why Vietnamese people are currently so impressed with Bernard's eating. it wasn't always so, though - remember how behind he was in eating mushy green purees? This time last year we were in Ba Be and our hostess was convinced our force feeding technoque were sorely lacking.

Sleep.... What's that again?

Whatever is bugging Bernard at the moment? he has been waking virtually every hour and been impossible to soothe. certainly, he is teething, but tooth 12 is through now and the canines are not much more than slight bumps. We tried, and failed, on the Pat Pats. Then we tried the Super nice Mummy technique, which meant B was able to doze while mummy sat up for hours soothing, or got wriggled on on the carpet. Now mummy's tired, and the super nice persona is gonna have to stay in the cupboard for a few days.
Wish me luck. This is the last trick in my book, and my book says it gets worse before it gets better.

Holiday day 4

Today was a delightful and joyful day. B and I both slept very well last night, waking only at two, after which we slept together on the floor. In the morning we went to Al Fresco's, where they have a baby menu and a kids' play area, and every tablecloth is a big colouring sheet with craons provided. We were the only people there. There was a pool table with numbered balls. Bernard can now read all his numbers 1 to 9. He figured out the 6 - 9 confusion today: he was standing in front of his 6 flashcard and I said "6", and he said "9", so I turned it round. Then he got it and started walking around the flashcard,saying "6" on one side and "9" on the other. Up until then he thought there were two 6's in his set of numbered fridge magnets.
We had a big nap - B slept for nearly 3 hours - and a quiet afternoon at home. It was too cold for our usual outing to play football anyway.
Bernard has discovered Cake Doodle, this cool iPad app where you can make and decorate your own cake. Try it and see! I will try and upload his creation. I think we left the camera cable inEngland.

Brownies

Brownie recipe

Makes 16-20
140g butter
200g good-quality dark chocolate
225g sugar
60g good-quality unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
60g plain flour

Preheat oven to 160C/gas mark 3 and line a baking tray (about 15 x 25cm). Melt the butter, chocolate and sugar together on a medium heat, being careful not to burn the chocolate, and mix well. Sieve in the cocoa and remove from the heat. Cool slightly and add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one. Add the flour and beat until well combined and glossy. Pour into the lined tin, spread evenly and bake until a wooden skewer comes out almost clean but not quite, about 20 minutes. Cool and cut into slices.

Holiday day 3

Last night the Pat Pat policy came unstuck, as Bernard cried and cried, totally unable to get to sleep. My book on sleep warns against this policy as it is vEry difficult to be consistent in the middle of the night, and th is was true for me as I was at my wits' end after spending twenty minutes sooThing Bernard, hoping to get more sleep if he weren't screaming,Managing to get him to sleep, creeping out of the room, climbing under my warm duvet, only to have him wake up again five minutes later as i was dropping into a blissful slumber. That was the point at which I had run out of soothing resources, and i phoned Nicholas while he was at his mum's birthday dinner. "I can't go in to him," I said. We just talked for twenty minutes, and it calmed me down. However, Bernard continued to scream, making it a total of 1. Hour and 20 minutes th at time, and that was after a previous hour of screaming. He did not settle at all. I went in to him, finally summoning the energy, and he was asleep within a minute or two. I stayed, slipping into Nicholas' sleeping bag and lying on our wondrous checked carpet. A short while later Bernard was sleeping with me on the floor, and we got maybe 3 or 4 hours like that, till we woke at 7.30
So today Bernard was sleep deprived and behaved terribly badly all day. He managed lunch in two sittings beca use his attention span was affected, but for dinner he could only choke down a few olives, some pieces of cheese and a handful of raisins, throwing his pasta on the floor.
We went to Joma in the morning and met Preston, 3, who very kindly let Bernard play with his Tonka Trucks, but he really wanted them back so we had to leave in a hurry. We got a short nap and then I made a delicious minestrone soup. After that we went to the park, but Bernard mainly sat on my lap when we were there so I didn't see much point in staying long. He practically put himself to bed at 7, he was so exhausted.
Tonight I have no policy. lets just get as much sleep as possible. If I End up on his floor again, it doesn't matter. He must be teething, I guess.

holiday day 2

 i am  sitting on the floor with a bundle of sleeping baby on my lap.  last night was an ugly sleepless night again as i try to retrain b in his sleep routine.   i am trying a new policy i call the Pat Pat Policy.  Meaning,  I go in and cuddle him and settle him down,  pat him a few times and then leave.  i think it may be disastrously misguided.  Last night he woke at midnight, 2, 3, 4 and 4.40.  At midnight it took him 46 minutes to get back to sleep.  At 2, 3 and 4 he only took 1 minute or so - but he could not settle untill I went in for the cuddle.  After his cuddle at 4.40 he cried solidly for an hour till 5.50.  That is understandable for him as he cannot eat enough to last himself through the night, so always screams till rescued early in the morning. 
I am not sure what to do.  The wake times are more or less regular to the minute every night - he has what is known as a night waking habit.  So much so that I often wake before him.   That's very familiar from the days before I started weaning him at night.  What has changed is that he is finding it much more difficult to get back to sleep, and he is crying for hugely long periods without self-settling - in fact the crying seems to make him so hysterical that he cannot calm down without help.  On the other hand, if I try to stay with him until he sleeps, he often misbehaves and refuses even to lie down in my arms, let alone in the cot.  He used to have this problem but soothing him to sleep if he woke in the night did not cause problems, provided he could cry himself to sleep when going down for the night:  it was as if he had to learn how to self soothe but could apply the skill during the night.  Now this has come unstuck. 
Should I leave him and not go in for a cuddle - let him cry it out?  Or camp on  his bedroom floor and soothe him every time he wakes until morning?  Or keep on with the Pat Pat Policy?

Holiday day one

Tet in Hanoi this year. I went to the market as usual this morning but it is not a usual Saturday. Our nearest market backs onto the flower market, which is normally finishing business by 9 am but this morning it was ten times the normal size and spilling over into the roads, and humming with people. Lorries were parked up along the road to the market and there were piles of ice on the street. Long bundles of vegetation were being unloaded from carts. The fruit stalls were abnormal, too: selling Tet fruit for offerings and gifts. Pink pineapples. Pale papayas wh ich looked as if they had been grown in darkness, they were so delicate. Red apples polished to a shine. Inside the market, The stalls bore produce which had been carefully prepared for the day. Ginger had been scraped and scrubbed clean, onions had almost no skins and were half the normal size (the stallholders told me the farmers could not wait for them to grow and had knocked off early for Tet), everything clean, beautiful and twice the price. The old lady who sold me tomatoes for 25,000 a kilo said 'Vua ret, vua Tet.' Meaning, it's cold so nothing is growing, plus it's Tet, the season of price hikes, so expect me to double rip you off. The other veg lady didn't charge nearly so much.
Bernard has a cough and neither of us slept well last night. he also refused his nap today. So it is a good sleepless start to what was meant to be a week of concentrating on the sleep routine. However, I am optimistic. Also we have a number of friends here this year.
The sun came out this afternoon, and I honestly had forgotten what it felt like! We went to the baby parade and saw a lot of UNIS kids with their parents and grandparents, and very few Vietnamese kids. It is a very busy time of year in Vietnamese hiuseholds right now.

Bed rest

This week has certainly been more interesting than last week. Up until yesterday, I was popping in and out of SOS clinic feeling pretty sorry for myself. The frequent sessions of lying on a clinic bed with an IV in my arm were, however, not without benefit as I was able to relax and enjoy playing with my new iPad in a way I hadn't had time to so far. But things were quite bad at home as moving was painful and I didn't feel like doing any cooking. Then yesterday they lanced the abscess and I immediately felt relief. It wasn't just the painkillers : I called Mum in quite a chattery state of shock. The relief turned into a genuine euphoria which is still with me the following day. I must have been in some level of pain, without really noticing it, for some time.
Bernard has been dubbed Hoa. Sy Bo Nat because he is such a mad artist at the moment. He is crazy about drawing and will happily draw for most of the day. He enumerates each colour as he draws and enjoys putting on and taking off the pen lids as much as the scribbling itself. This weekend I will certainly go out and buy him some more art supplies. He also like my iPad, especially the Baby Hippo program, which is a real baby hippo which imitates what you say. It can be tickled, fed carrots etc.

How do I make this sound in any way interesting? The week has not gone well with a combination of jet lag, chest colds, teething (teeth 11 and 12 came through today I think), weaning and its consequent mastitis, which by the way Hurts A Lot, change of routine and the surprisingly unpleasant cold weather in Hanoi. Add to that the fact that the power company has decided to brown out our area which means power cuts lasting up to three hours every night just as I am about to try and put b to bed. It is not really surprising, given the above, that this week has been below average. In fact it has seemed at least twice as long as it ought to. I am breathing a sigh of relief that the Tet holiday is in 2 weeks and we are not going anywhere at all. It will be a lovely return to routines after a very exciting time with very little sleep. Last night I slept through Bernard's screaming and feel much better for it. Most likely he will sleep even better tonight as a result of not being pandered to. It seems to work like that with him. good night; sleep well!

glamorgan sausages

It is totally freezing at home.   I've decided to sleep in Bernard's room so we can run two heaters simultaneously and keep warm at night.
I made Glamorgan sausages with baked potatoes, peas and beans for our 'tea'.   After preparing the dinner I took Bernard to the park for football.  He loved it and didn't want to go home even when it got dark.  He said, "More!"  Then we returned home to eat our feast.  Bernard didn't like the sausages but I thought they were awesome.
150g breadcrumbs, 75g cheddar cheese (grated), 1tbsp chopped fresh parsley, white portion of one small leek finely chopped, salt, pepper and 2 eggs plus one yolk, beaten and added to the mixture.  Brush with egg white and coat with further breadcrumbs, then fry.   Makes 12 sausages.