Merry christmas!

Hope everyone had a great holiday. My confinement nanny left so I've been swamped!

Botak doll

We shaved her bald yesterday. Unfortunately the electric shaver died halfway so she looks a little patchy in this picture. But no problem we charged the shaver and she's all good now. The shaving actually revealed some rashes which became little pimples today, scary. But I'm glad we did it else the rashes would have been hidden for longer.

She looks so much chubbier with her hair off!

Eh....lephant...

Being silly at home as usual.

Lilybuff

Dear Lilybuff,

1 month into this world and already you've brought so much joy into my life. Your coos, and aas and the girly noises you make when you suckle. You are eating well, in fact so much that you never say no to more milk You were born so tiny but it seems that you are thriving well outside.

My love for you grows each day. We are going to spend so much time together in the coming years and I just can't wait.

Happy First Month my beautiful Lilybuff.

Mother of 2

When did I become a mother of 2 its unbelievable! It really didn't hit me until I saw 2 of them together like this. I'm so blessed.

Equal isn't always fair

The confinement lady commented today that I've only observed Lilybuff taking her bath once. From her tone of voice I'm guessing its a rare occurrence in China, given that most parents fawn over their only child. I'd like to think that they are afforded the time and energy to do so because there's no older child to fight for their attention.

Honestly, I've no guilt over this. Neither child is favoured or neglected. Time in this household is divided according to individual needs, not according to meticulous calculation of 12 hrs each day per child. The priority is given in order of importance and urgency. I would love to observe Lilybuffs bathtime, be a bystander and do nothing but watch her being bathed by a perfectly capable nanny but I think Mountain Boy would benefit more from the evenings that we spend together. Similarly, I tell Mountain Boy that breastfeeding time is important to Lilybuff because she needs to eat and grow, and he respects it and backs off.

In a nutshell, the aim is to learn to respect each others needs (including parents') instead of always calculating how much time I spent w child A versus child B. In all fairness, the only way to give each child equal time is to neglect them both totally.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone
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First pets

Mountain Boy has been watching Finding Nemo over and over again. To our surprise(maybe not so surprising since I consider myself to be a beach/scuba diving enthusiast) he has no interest in Cars 1 and 2 so I've been spared from buying all the related merchandise and having to memorise all the names of vehicles.

On the flip side, we now have a fish tank! We promised him a fish yesterday and I didn't expect Mountain Man to come home with 9! I'm not looking forward to them dying on me because I don't want to explain death to a 2 year old, and I feel very eeky about dead fish. I may have to just keep buying and replacing before he realises.

Anyway, he was very excited about being a first time pet owner.

Ayi(addressing me): 今天去超市要买设么？
Mountain Boy: 买鱼！买鱼！

Bulk Purchase Begins!

log on to http://poptotsshop.blogspot.com to find out how you can order this pair of hand knitted shoes for only $9.90.

Snow in Beijing