Don't You Just Love Hand Me Downs?

I hated them as a kid.

But as a mom I LOVE them!!

Another teacher family has a boy about 5 months older than Blake and we get all his old stuff, which is fabulous because his mom is a super shopper. This means we get nice clothes and lots of them!!


This little beauty, however, didn't come from our normal source, it came from our friend Kimbra and her lovely daughter Mimi. Before that it belonged to the fabulous Tara and her awesome baby Sojo and I've had my eye on it for months.

Kimbra brought it over on Blake's birthday and I couldn't wait for everyone to leave so I could plonk him in the bath and dry him off in this froggie robe.

Which is exactly what we did and then grabbed the camera to take some of the cutest photos ever.

I am very sad to report that it is waaaaay to small. This is the only photo out of the 25 I took that doesn't display his boy bits for the world to see. It just looks a little too Hugh Hefner-ish as he strolls around the apartment.

What a tragedy!

Our Little Vegetarian

Blake has been eating solid food for a while now. He took to it like a pro!! For a few months it looked like he might turn into a sweet potato. Next, he couldn't get enough of green peas. Most recently it was those little oranges that he loved!

Blake was eating every fruit and vegetable we did plus lots of cereals, and as you can see from the pictures, he is thriving. So Scott and I made the decision to hold off giving him meat. We eat meat, lots of it, so it wasn't a save the animals kind of thing. We just don't know what is being fed to the animals here in China or what conditions they are being raised in, so we thought we would wait until we got home to Canada to introduce meat.

Then last week I called home during the day and spoke to Ling Ling and she mentioned how much Blake was enjoying his dumplings, his pork and shrimp dumplings!! Apparently our little porker can eat up to 7 at a time!

Scott and I had a little laugh about it. The best laid plans of mice and men.....

I had such a clear picture of what I would and could do during pregnancy, child birth and then child rearing. And my plans have gone awry time after time. The good news is I'm getting better at rolling with the punches, going with the flow, and any other cliche you might care to insert here. If Blake is happy and healthy then everything is great.

Here he is, our little vegetarian, hoeing into some delicious pork jiao zi. YUM!

Hanging out with Sam

Today Blake and I spent the afternoon playing with Sam and his owners.

Sam is a brand new, very lovable red poodle who belongs to our friends Marypat, Karl, Cam and Matthew. They live in Green Court like we do, but they have a first floor apartment. On a beautiful, sunny day like today, the first floor with it's decks and yard looks pretty good.

Blake enjoyed wandering around the backyard following Cam and Sam. Now that he's mobile it's hard to slow him down.

Sam seemed to enjoy playing with Blake too.

Just Two of the Many Faces of Blake

There are two photos I want to share with you today.

The first one is a new trick Blake has been doing for the past couple days. We call it the chipmunk trick and it's impressive! He packs a large amount of food into his mouth and holds it there for a long time. This particular photo is slightly more than half a banana that he swiped off a table.

The second photo is less adorable.

It occurred to me today that folks at home only see the smiling, gorgeous boy that he is most of the time. And truly he is a very happy, smily guy. Except for when he's not and then he looks like this:

I'd like to retract my earlier comment because smiling or screaming, he's always adorable.

Xin Nian Kuai Le

This is the most important holiday in China, today is New Year's Eve. It is celebrated by families coming together from all over the country & maybe world, eating special foods and the most amazing displays of fireworks you could ever imagine!

Blake was born in January, 2008 at the beginning of our western year and at the end of the Chinese Lunar year. Little Blakie was born in the Year of the Pig. It was a special Year of the Pig too. I don't understand why, but every 60 years, it is known as the Golden Pig. So Blake is a Golden Pig and our friend Dean is one too.

Three weeks after Blake was born, the Year of the Rat began. Tomorrow ushers in the Year of the Ox. Some lovely friends, Julian and Kristi, gave Blake this terrific ox bank and it has been a big hit!

Happy New Year Everyone! Peace, Happiness & Prosperity to you and yours!

Making Soup

Chinese New Year holiday week is here and I have to tell you being around all day with Blake is a lot of fun!

For months his main focus has been taking stuff out of other stuff. His absolute favorite was to pull all the tissues out of the box, but he also enjoyed taking nappies out of the basket, pulling books off the bookshelf, grabbing toys out of the basket, pulling pots and pans off the shelf, getting cans out of the pantry, taking socks out of the drawer, etc, etc, you get the picture.

In the last few weeks, Blake has begun to put things into other things. This is exciting because it might mean our house looks less like a small bomb has gone off in the toy area by Sunday night. Today I watched him take a photo of me from when I was a kid off the ledge, have a look at it and then put it back. Well, he tried to put it back, but his efforts actually knocked everything else of the ledge too. His heart's in the right place.

Today he carried a pot around the lounge all afternoon and from time to time put stuff like toys into it. Here he is making golf ball and Chinese Lantern Soup. We had it for dinner and it was delicious.

Crazy, Crazy Hair.

Blake's hair is getting long and kind of crazy. When wet, it comes right into his eyes. After taking a hat off things are wildly out of control.
I think a lot of babies have too long hair because parents can't bear to cut it. I've seen way too many baby mullets (bullets?) when the hair grows long in the back and nobody cuts it. Another reason people don't cut baby hair is because of gorgeous curls - definitely not a problem that Blake has.
But we do have a problem because someone is going to have to cut Blake's hair someday soon. Which means somebody is going to have to put scissors near his eyes. And he is the wriggliest boy ever!
What we'd really like to do is get to Canada and let Aunt Reta cut it for us. Only 5 months to go!

It's cold in Shanghai

Shanghai weather!!
Yesterday was balmy and today it was absolutely freezing! From 15 C to -2 C overnight. Brrrr.

Not Canadian winter freezing, but much, much colder than we are used to, or have clothes for. Blake doesn't even have a winter jacket. He does have a lovely warm, fleece lined sweater with a hood. He also has terrific hats knitted for him by Gaye and Ling Ling.

But that wasn't enough on a day like today. So when we went outside we really bundled up.

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah...

I seem to spend about half my time chasing Blake and half my time being followed by him. Or maybe the ratio is more like 80 - 20. One place he loves to visit and isn't allowed to unless there is very strict supervision is the kitchen. And I have to tell you, having Blake bang pots and pans at your feet makes preparing dinner a lot more bearable.

Today I watched him put the lid on a saucepan, take the lid off a saucepan, and then put the lid back on the same saucepan again for over 20 minutes. From time to time he would shake things up a bit by lifting the pan to his face and give a really big shout, but mostly it was lid on, lid off. I'm not saying he's a genius, but he's a whole lot of fun!

Introducing the Wonderful, Amazing, Incredible YOU!

The doctors told me you would be coming on the 29th of January.

Everybody else told me first babies are ALWAYS late.

But ten days before we expected, you came into this world on the 19th of January 2008, all 7 pounds of you, in an emergency C-section and changed our lives forever.

Our obstetrician checked you out and she said you were perfect and you were, you truly were. Even your little purple feet were the most perfect purple feet that I had ever seen.

I want you to know that your mum loves you more than you could ever know or she could ever begin to express.

You are one of the neatest kids that this world has ever seen, and I thank God for you every day.

You rocked my world to the core with your arrival and I have never been the same.

I am better, thanks to you.

Happy first birthday, baby Blake!