Swim Swam Swum

Weather has been weird for this half of the year - winter was way longer making summer shine a bit late. With heavy rain for the past week, the sun finally got a chance to beam from yesterday but the weatherman says that we should expect more rain in the weekend. When you don't have much to talk about, you talk about the weather (as per Mum - she learnt that from the British).

There is not much to blog about as we are still recovering very s....l....o....w...l...y from the birthday weekend - yes! it was like 2 weekends ago and Mum has been busy finishing the pending errands which were on hold till the birthday party. Also, she has been thinking whether to close this blog to the public since many readers might think it as silly for a blog to be written through MY eyes...............

As she tries to make a decision for this blog, let me tell you a bit about the "title". It's a public holiday on 1 July for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day - it commemorates the transfer of the sovereignty of HK from the UK to the PRC. While lots of people will march for universal suffrage on this day, Mum will take me to the swimming pool instead - you can tell where her priority lies. Like any overbearing caring Mum, she has done all the research - which sunblock to buy? where to buy? which spf to use? which swimming diaper is the best? how to make my first swimming experience a good one? etc. etc. She contributes a LOT to the traffic on google!

Happy 1st Birthday To ME!!

OK - I'm just recovering from my birthday weekend now and what a busy weekend it was especially for Mum&Dad. They tried to make it a perfect birthday party for me (but that was just an excuse for them to party it up with friends and relatives). I didn't have a clue what was going on! Mum tried to be clever and put me to nap at noon missing my morning nap in the hope that I nap for longer but I woke up after an hour and by the time it was 7pm, I was ready for my bed. I slept as soon as we got to the restaurant. Guests dressed up to the nines started filling in the restaurant slowly and some kids woke me up by blowing horns next to my ears. Dad's clever idea to keep the kids entertained with the horns made it not-such-a-clever-idea-afterall!! I cried for few minutes when I saw so many people in one room. Helper took me out of the restaurant for a bit and I calmed down because I kind of knew that my crying wouldn't send them running home...this time!

At the chance of my opened eyes, we cut the awesomest and equally delicious Teletubbies cake (it tilted a bit because of the humidity) and guests started showering me with warm blessings and warmer gifts. I was cranky because I wanted to sleep and it didn't go down well with some guests but hey, I'm sure that they don't like getting their sleep ruined either! Out of the restaurant I go for some cool air and peace and there comes another guest who wants to kiss and carry me. She carries me back to the restaurant and all the attention is back on me. Mum&Dad were running around like headless chickens trying to see if everything and everyone was doing alright.

Party ended at 1am and finally we got to head home after making Dad's wallet a bit lighter. I slept like a baby (literally!) that night and the day after (Sunday). Monday was the horrible two-vaccinations day which I don't like to remember nor blog about and Tuesday was Mum's birthday so we treated her to a nice Thai dinner. Let me catch my breath now!

Fat means Healthy...?!

I'm eating varieties of food these days and drink lots of water but only if gripe water is added. I really didn't like gripe water in the beginning but now I can't drink without it! This is how a habit starts - good or bad! Same thing with the dummy. Mum is planning to wean the gripe water and dummy off me since I'm turning ONE in 4 days but all the best to her. She needs it!

Mum bought me a suit for my birthday bash and it is "meant" to be for a one year old but the shirt and trousers seem a wee bit tight on me. She can't exchange the shirt and trousers for a bigger size because the set (shirt, trousers, bow, waistcoat and a coat) comes in its own size and the shop doesn't want to have a set of a 18 month's suit-set without the 18 month's shirt and trouser.  Annoyingly fair enough!

Mum was fussing over the tightness while Dad had a smile on his face. For him, the tightness meant that I'm taller/bigger/fatter than a normal local one year old kid. When I drastically lost weight at the time I caught human swine flu, Dad was very worried and hassled Mum and Helper to feed me more more more. He commented on my weight everyday "Look at him! He is so thin! Only his head is big! Helper is not feeding him properly! I need to install a camera at home!". The weight started increasing slowly and Dad got happier. When people comment that I'm a fat boy, Dad swells up in pride. Mum told him that he better not be too happy when people make the same comment when I turn 10! His answer "Fat means Healthy!". "Not necessarily...!" says Mum. Pointless discussion, really. Did I mention before that they worry too much?

(Pic: This is how Dad likes me - I was 5 months old.)

The Devil does NOT Wear Prada

Mum and I was on our favourite playground at the weekend and the queue was long for the swings. There are only two swings in our area but we need more! Did the government put them up as a teaser or to encourage us to be more "active" than just hanging in the swing? It's nice for Mum when I'm not active for even few minutes and I get to enjoy the swing so it's a win-win situation. Back to the long queue, we are waiting while two kids are put into one swing and they start feeling uncomfortable after the first swing. The boy starts crying and the girl (who is a bit older) starts shouting at him and their granny tells them to stop crying/shouting/moving so that she can release them. Granny is having a hard time so another parent helps her. Mum couldn't help at that time because I was eyeing up the swing and getting all fidgety in her arms. Mum felt sorry for the granny but I felt happy to see that empty swing!

The regulars who frequent that playground knows that the boy and girl mentioned are a bit of a trouble-maker and their grandparents can't handle them. While on the swing, I can see them hassling a bigger kid for his tricycle and his dad carries the bigger kid and the tricycle and heads off somewhere else. Then they start on another girl who wants to play on the slide but both of them are sitting on it and teasing her so her mum takes her to the other end of the playground. Why are the parents not saying anything to the Granny or the boy and girl? I guess that it is more civilised to turn away from the problem but for how long can they do that? I'm sure Mum would do or say something if I was being bullied. Her weakness is not able to speak in Cantonese but her angry face is enough to scare anyone and I'm just talking about the adults here!

Mum is nodding "hello" to the other parent swinging her kid on the next swing and compliments how cute her kid is. The other parent just gives a smile...without a "thank you". There's a lack of common courtesy in Hong Kong and Mum should be used to this by now but she's not. She says a lots of "thank you, please and sorry" and she kind of expects other people to do the same and also nags Dad to take up the good habit but he says that "thank you, please and sorry" are for distant people - it doesn't have to be used with closed friends and relatives. Blame the bollywood movies especially "Maine Pyaar Kiya"..one of the movie's famous dialogue is "Dosti Mein, No Thank You No Sorry" which means "In Friendship, No Thank You No Sorry".  Mum makes the extra effort to tell my helper to say "thank you, please and sorry" when needed because I'm with the helper more than Mum&Dad. Mum even told her nieces and nephews to get into that good habit. She spares no one! God help me with my growing days!!