The short history of Mountain Man

When he was a baby....

A lot of people say Mountain boy is a mini version of his dad, now you can see for yourself. If only i had my baby pictures on hand, you'll see that Mountain boy is a lot like his mommy too.

Isn't daddy cute?

A few nights ago, Mountain man and i were discussing possible activities for Mountain Boy's 1st year party.

Mountain man: *enthusiastically* Let's play musical chairs!

Me: Uhm...

Mountain man: You know the i first played musical chairs was also the first time i won at something. I never tasted victory before that...

I don't know if it's funny to you but we both burst out laughing hysterically. He must have been about this big then.

Siblings are...

...probably the best part to growing up. This is one of my favourite pictures of the brothers.

And this too. Mountain man still has the same smile today. But luckily he is no longer the big fat bully.

Boys to Men

National service is probably essential in whipping pampered boys into real men. Mountain man can take quite a lot of physical crap such as:

1. Carrying 2 backpacks on a back-packing holiday.
2. Sleeping on the floor, soundly.
3. OT the entire night and still go back to work looking fresh.

Why is his hat so big?
Graduating

Mountain Man did sometime in Australia, followed by an exchange programme in the University of Illinois.

I always laugh at this picture. It was the time when everyone thought curtain hair and chokers were cool.

Special thanks to my mother-in-law who put together Mountain Man's photo album for Mountain Boy.

Excuse me are you a robot?

I've been getting random comments and i'm not sure if it's sincere readers or robots. So i've added a "word verification" step before comments can be made. =)

Models INC

Pardon my lack of posts recently. I've been plagued by a mountain of work, I've started doing some freelance work to keep myself relevant should i decide to rejoin the work force one day. So yes, i've been so busy that i've pretty much cut myself off from the social world (except for the occasional facebook comments) and i ALMOST forgot that today is my niece Shannon's birthday. Luckily my telephone alarm reminded me.

SHANNON IF U ARE READING, AHKOH MISS YOU VERY MUCH! HAPPY 8 or 9th birthday. You've grown so big now that i don't even remember how old u are already.

Anyway, back to the point of this post. About 3 months ago, Mountain Boy and I went for this Kindermusik photoshoot together. It's not those super major Top Model type, we just attended a class together and the photographer took pictures of the session in progress. So here's some choice pictures of Mountain Boy! I look quite fat but luckily i am not the star. He was only 8 months then but he was interacting quite well with the facilitators, he laughed and played and did all the actions.

I have yet to find out if they'll use his pictures in the promotional materials. But he was the youngest and the only one who was pure chinese (all the other children were mixed caucasian/chinese), so maybe he didn't have that "international" appeal. But whenever he goes for his classes at kindermusik which is not that often, the facilitators would always recognise him as the boy who came for the photoshoot. I guess it's good to leave an impression!

Sometimes silence speaks more than words

I used to be one who always want the last say. Make my stand known, bring my point across, argue down to the last minute detail just to prove that i'm right, was always right, and will always be right. Ironically winning the argument doesn't mean you win the situation. In the process i'd get angry, i'd fume, i make others angry, nobody really wins.

Mountain man has taught me a whole lot about conflict resolution. Sometimes keeping quiet says more than actually saying anything. When others expect you to lash out them, there's nothing more deafening than silence. And not saying anything prevents further "mistakes" or hurtful comments, it also gives all parties a chance to get away from the line of fire.

I have made enough people angry in my lifetime, likewise others have made me combust to tears, so now i'm gonna stick to my new method.

11 month update

My little boy is one month away from the Big One. Seriously this month has been the most fun of all the months.

"Hello? Xiang kar pager?"

The biggest milestone of all is that he has started walking, quite steadily too!

Another big achievement for us this month is pooing and peeing in the potty. One thing i've learnt is that it's never too early to toilet train. Kids in China practically go diaperless since day 1. Getting Mountain Boy to sit on the potty was a challenge at first, but i bought him a book with pictures of older boys sitting on the potty and next thing i know he made his first potty poo the next day!

Daddy always says, "make the sound of your surname, NG....."

Developed a preference for certain foods. He used to eat whatever i feed him, but now he knows that he has the option of spitting it out if he doesn't like the texture. When he is full, he'll clap his hands because that usually signals the end of his meal. I've also started introducing him to more table food now.

It also seems that he has my kaypoh (busybody) genes. He always wants to see what we're cooking, what we're typing on the laptop, and he likes to open cupboards and rearrange things. And when he wakes up in the morning, he'll take us on a tour around the house, gesturing to the things he knows. The clock, the aircon, the robots in his room, the tv, the telephone. It's just amazing how much he absorbs these days.

I need to start child proofing.

Some of the other little stuff he does...

• Willing to hand me things if i say the magic PLEASE.
• Can point out his own hair, mommy's nose (but somehow not his own nose) and his ears.
• Finally drinks from a straw!
• Knows how to play the stacking rings, but gets very frustrated when he fails.
• Likes cars and wheels. It's a boy thing.
• Other than bababmamamdadadanana, he said his first word. it's DA! It means DOG.
• Trys to kiss but can't make the smoochy sound.
• Likes to shake his head when i say "nonono", or "yes yes yes".

These shoes are made for walking

Remember the shoes from 4 months ago? Mountain boy has apparently outgrown most of them. Mountain man and i like to joke about having a hobbit for a son because he has such big feet (13.5cm long). Albeit the fact that shoes were pretty much decorative for the first 10 months of his life, he resisted them. Putting them on was a real struggle because i never could get both sides on without him kicking one side off.

To my relief that changed recently. My little walker decided that shoes are cool, perhaps even necessary to pass off as human being (versus being a real hobbit). So yay! TIME TO GO SHOPPING. Ok I didn't literally GO shopping, i went to the trusted taobao and searched for 学步鞋 (shoes for new walkers). Came across some pretty cool designs and bought a couple. The first 2 pairs came and they were 1 size too big so i bought 2 more at the right size. And then another friend told me about Stride Rite so i went back to taobao and bought 1, it was again 1 size too big so i bought 2 more at the right size... One thing led to another and i ended up with 8 pairs of new shoes for Mountain Boy. I don't think he goes out often enough to do justice to all of them so i make him wear them at home. kidding.

These shoes are made for walking.

Did you know Camper makes baby shoes? I couldn't resist. It's not SUPER comfortable but dang they are cute!

Mama's handsome little boy before our little outing today. Running here, there and everywhere.

Here's a funny picture of Mountain Boy running away from a certain scary Mountain Bear...

Picture of the week

This proves one thing. We don't really need to teach our kids anything.

No more iced drinks from here on...

I went to see a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) doctor for the first time since I came to China. Not the sinseh type who rubs sprained ankles that we see in Singapore medical halls. This guy had an MD in western medicine and practiced as a surgeon for a number of years before he decided to delve into TCM. According to him a surgeon's career is short lived, they usually become useless after 50 when Parkinson's set in.

My girlfriend who recommended me to see him said she saw a tremendous improvement in her own health after just 1 week of treatment. He claims that his body is so pure and intuitive that he could tell how much something weighs with his own bare hands, accurate down to the milligram. I was impressed.

So i went to see him feeling super hopeful that he can solve a bunch of problems that i have- recurring eczema, a bad neck and the occasional tightness in the chest. And more importantly, i was more excited about asking him to help me LOSE MY PREGNANCY WEIGHT, and remove my dark circles. Haha. Vain mama i am.

He took my pulse. Predicted a few of my habits quite accurately, and gave me some cool insights into TCM.

1. The right hand pulse represents the congenital state of our body, what we were born with.
2. The left hand pulse represents 后天, not sure if the characters are right but essentially it means what we have done to our body.
3. Dark circles is not a reflection of some organ failure (i always thought otherwise). It simply means that circulation under the eye is not good. A good remedy is to put a few stalk of saffron in roughly 100ml water and dap it under the eyes for 20 minutes each day, repeat dapping when dry.
4. Pearl powder is good for most women because it is high in calcium and has strong beautifying effects.
5. Confinement is not a myth, we are not like caucasians because of our genes, the water we drink and the weather we endure. Childbirth will wreck some of our bodily functions and confinement is necessary to whip it back in shape.
6. Mother nature may have bestowed a healthy and wide pelvic bone to yours truly, but most women after childbirth will develop a layer of fat around the hips because (LISTEN THIS IS IMPORTANT) when we drink cold water, the womb is "cold" and therefore the body naturally reacts to protect the womb by surrounding it with layers of fat. Damn those iced lattes. And damn you hot weather!

So there you have it. I hope this was insightful.

Anyway back to his diagnosis. I am supposedly the healthiest client he has seen in months, i didn't believe him. I am the physically the weakest laziest person on earth! Of course my body is not perfect but he said my problems are not serious and can be easily regulated with a few doses of medication.

So let's check back on my progress 1 week from now! I am going to down my bowl of rancid blackish triple brewed medication now. WISH ME LUCK.

A look into the Deep Blue

Over the weekend, we took Mountain Boy to the Blue Zoo. Being an avid scuba diver (or maybe i should use past tense because I can't even remember the last time i went scuba diving!) I had to give Mountain Boy a taste of the underwater world. I want him to appreciate God's marvelous creations in an up-close manner, and i wanted to make sure he knows what a fish is!

The mandatory tourist pose with scary shark shark.

Hey fishy fishy...

Father and Son in the crowded tunnel.

I think Mountain Boy was pretty confused when we pointed out the "wugui". The only "wugui" he knows of is fuzzy orange with colourful polka dots and vibrates to the tune of Baba Black Sheep when pressed.

Now that's a real shark shark.

After the visit, I really ached to plunge into the deep ocean so badly that i dreamt i went scuba diving that same night! And it's not the first time.