Bernard's Little Adventures

Tuesday, 2 November 2010

growth spurt

At the moment it seems (touch wood) that Bernard is opting to include food as part of his lifestyle. He is eating a lot. This morning he consumed half a bagel, then at lunch a plate of pasta, a bowl of baked beans, a banana and a slice of cake. For dinner he had a large bowlful of peas and more bagel with cheese and tomatoes. Yesterday I watched him eat most of a 3,000 dong serving of sticky rice. Most adults can only manage 4,000 for breakfast. I'd intended it for two meals but he just kept on eating, making happy xoi noises and stuffing it in. Last week he consumed 3 bananas in a day. The day before yesterday I had to limit his tangerine consumption to five per meal. But shhhh, as it may well not last.

Bernard, sitting in his high chair: "Poopoo."
I check his nappy. Nothing in there.
Bernard, again: "Poopoo."
We try giving him everything on the table: jam, juice, milk. Nope.
Again: "Poopoo."
Bib off? We take it off but he still points at the table. "Poopoo."
Oh. Finally I get it. "Peepo!" I lift the chosen title from a pile of books right at the end of the table.

I'm off to attempt quiche. Wish me luck.

Friday, 22 October 2010

Thailand 3

Nicholas took a great number of these pictures trying to capture the beauty of the spider and the drama of its conflict with the ants.

Should this child be modelling for John Lewis?

Our squawky, biscuit-crumby, wriggly journey back to Bangkok. There was a misunderstanding regarding AM and PM at the park HQ, so our pickup didn't arrive at 5am. However, despite the late start, the long bus ride and slow taxi ride to the airport, we still JUST made our plane. We only sweated a little bit - we must have had a good holiday to be so relaxed.

Thailand 2

Our bungalow was 1km from the HQ. There were a number of semi-domesticated animals living there including this spectacular giant hornbill. As you can see it's not very shy.

This was not the only creature that lived there. We also met sambar, porcupine and macaques who frequented the litterbins outside the bungalows. On the last night, Bernard and I were outside the bungalow getting ready to eat takeaway Pad Thai. Bernard had just had his bath and was stark naked. Suddenly the cute monkey sitting on the hill started striding purposefully towards us. I called to Nicholas but he was in the shower. Before I knew it I had retreated with Bernard into the bungalow and locked the door. One of the packs of noodles happened to be in my hand but I had left the other on the table - the monkey casually jumped onto our deck and ran off with the noodles, the next-door-neighbours in hot and noisy pursuit. It was rather frightening and I was glad to be inside our cosy hut with at least half our supper intact.

Getting ready to go out took a lot of time and patience.

Bernard likes walking along roads but doesn't always like holding hands. "Khong", no, is our favourite word at the moment.

A challenging method of getting across the ''wet'', as Bernard calls it.

Thailand 1

Playing in the Discovery Mall. It's getting late and there is nowhere to eat. In the end we have Dim Sum. Bernard likes the pineapple juice and the noodles but makes a huge mess and a gigantic noise. He's terribly overtired and it's only the first day of our holiday. Nicholas has an upset stomach.

Hooray, we found something Bernard likes to eat: yellow tofu. We're at Chatuchak market where Hannah got a whole hour to shop. The best stall was the imitation Birkenstock stall. It's definitely time for a nap.

AAAhhh! Bernard does not like the wind in his face on our pickup ride to the national park HQ.

But we saw monkeys!

Thursday, 14 October 2010

Aubrey, Bernard and the Doggy Cart

This is the kind of thing Bernard gets up to when I'm at my Wednesday staff meetings

Sunday, 3 October 2010

elephant or giraffe?

Bernard argues with his daddy about the definition of various animals quite a lot. In this clip Bernard decides that a giraffe is actually an elephant, and then has something very important to say about a hippo.