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.