Orient Xpress

The 'Chinese' issue rears itself every now and again. Surprisingly never from my mum or dad who being fiercely proud of their culture you would expect to nag me about heritage. No, I get comments from people like my chinese hair dresser or the old ladies in Chinatown who coo and aagh over Aimee and Dylan and then say why you no speak chinese to little one?
I did manage to get Aimee to learn 1-10 in chinese when she was quite young, I think maybe 18-24 months. She would mimic anything I told her so it was easy. It's much harder these days.
I don’t have the energy or will power. But hope is on the horizon. Most schools in London and maybe in Herts now offer Chinese as a language option for GCSE and maybe A-levels. I think you have to go to a specialist college for A-levels and it does depend on expert langauge staff, but it is something on offer that was never around when I was a kid. Heck, when I was at school, home computers were but a twinkle in Bill Gates's eyes and cookery and metalwork were 'important' subjects.
The environment in which kids grow up is different too.
Schools are much more multi-ethnic and politically correct, which reflects society at large. If Aimee and Dylan grows up not knowing any Chinese, then they'll probably not be alone amongst other BBCs (British Born Chinese) or half BBCs (HABEEBIES?). And it won't really be an issue as it was with me.
But with the internet, cheap travel, good teachers and other resources, if they want to learn Chinese, it will be pretty easy to do so in this day and age.

I Scream

Just had a really fun lunchtime sesh out with kids and my Mum at Toby Carvery. I can thoroughly recommend it as a family friendly gaff. Much much better than Harvester. cheaper too. Fiver for roast dinner and all you can eat sides and ice cream. Blimey guv.

...and in February, it snowed

Year of the Ox

Chinese New Year has come around again. Just like Xmas's and birthdays, they certainly come round faster each year. This year is chinese year of the Ox. Mum's birth sign. Ox's are hard working, caring, nurturing and kind. Isn't that right mummy?

Pop Aimee Idol Factor

Here's a little Xmas video I only just got round to posting online:

And here's something we're saving for the next X-Factor audition:

Top of the mornin'

It's not all sweetness and light. Sometimes being a top model can be a downer when you are not in the mood! to be fair, Cat took this picture first thing in the morning for work reference purposes, not for the family album, and Aimee is not at her best at that time. This actually is the best of the batch!

Good Lord and I nearly forgot to mention...Dylan now sleeps through the night, ta da!
Every night for 14 months the wee lad has yelled out at the top of his voice twice, sometimes thrice nightly and poor old mumma would drag her tired bones to tend to his whim. Not now. Oh no. And you know the trick? Daddy time.
Yep, all last week we switched from Cat putting him to bed to me doing it, and you know what? He must have thought, oh darn, no mummy time, might as well go to sleep properly...and he did, crossed fingers. maybe it was a coincidence of timing (Aimee also slept through at the same age) but I can;t help feeling a large sense of achievement on my part.
Mind you, our travails are nothing compared to many parents I speak to. One Mum reminisced at how her 8 year old (EIGHT) year old son finally went to sleep all night without waking and crying out for his mummy. That's not the worst, Cat's work mate's daughter would not sleep on her own until she left...FOR UNIVERSITY! Man, that takes some beating!

Diction

Aimee's chickenpox doesn't seem as bad as Dylan's, however her surface marks are nothing compared to her general emotions. So far since we've been back, she's been a lot more irritable, whingey, clingy and upset at the littlest things. She sleeps poorly and eats barely at all. We do our best to help her recover, with applications of 'magic' itchy cream and 'magic' biscuits. Everything has to be 'magic' or 'fairy' in order for her to accept them.

Oh yes, almost forgot to mention the biggie news of Dylan so far is that he can talk. Yep, I got witnesses to prove it. His first proper word came out over Xmas in front of Granny and Mummy. I fed Dylan some yoghurt and he blurted out the word 'Yo-Urt'. I was stunned. He said it again. And everyone heard. I got him also to say Grandma (gan ma) and then more words but by then he got bored and started fiddling with his straps. So far, Dylan can say just those words, plus mama and dadda, but I'm working on Nainai and yeye.

I also noticed that in between his squeals, screams and yelling, Dylan has started humming tunes. Yes, actually humming little dittys. How cool is that?

Aimee of course has a pretty staggering vocabulary now. But every now and then we giggle at her cute mispronounciations. Like; chickenpox is 'chicken pops', ABC is 'ab seed', the chinese cake ji-way-bao, is 'Jimmy Bao' and so on, too numerous to mention. It is so cute I am torn between correcting her every time and letting her continue with the error just as it amuses me so much. Evil dad eh?

Oh yes, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas 2008

Christmas for a 3 year old must be one of the most magical events of the year - easily better than a birthday. I mean you get loads of presents, loads of cake and chocolate, loads of attention, loads os going out to see cool Xmassy things, and there's Santa and panto and carols and zillions of other things to keep an active child wild with excitement. We think Dylan enjoyed his Xmas too with his constant cheeky grin and excited state of being.
Christmas is also a time for sharing, and what better present to share than that of chicken pox passed from brother to sister. Yes, as drove home after spending 3 fun filled days at the MacCallums, Aimee complained of an itchy stomach and feeling a bit unwell. When we got home and checked her tummy sure enough, the tell-tale mini-spots were all over her torso, exactly the same as appeared on dylan two weeks previous. Ha well, another New Year spent indoors - no different to any other year I guess.

A small Christmas surprise

Spotty Boy

They say chickenpox is mild in babies, but poor Dylan is covered head to toe in volcanic pox.

Most have scabbed over and dried up now and I can;t see any new ones, so hopefully he is over

the worst. Not a nice thing, but ultimately harmless. Mind you, it is interesting how many countries offer vaccination for chickenpox. In Germany it is an option, but in the USA I believe it is compulsorary before primary school. what are they afraid of eh? It's not like it's contagious is it? Oh.

Lurgy

Uh-oh, poor Dylan has the dreaded chicken pox.

It spread like wildfire at nursery. I think every kid in the baby room has it.

But Aimee appears so far symptomless.

The silver lining is that at least it will affect him over Xmas, which, in our selfish eyes,

means less time off work to look after him since chicken pox requires quarantine from

nursery.

Weird me watching you watching me videos

Dylan watches Oscar watching Dylan

Let's all clap hands with Oscar!

I'd like to say Hello!

Aimee's first written word. Very apt I think. You can just see the bit of the robot I drew along the top left corner and I wrote the word 'hello' above it (out of sight here), but Aimee copied it exactly, minus the 'h' for some reason. Oh and she drew the three-eyed smiley face next to it too. All the arty drawing presents she got for her birthday have really helped her refine her drawing skills, plus whatever they do at nursery she seems to be really learning quickly. Even Dylan wants to draw now, but the temptation to eat whatever pen or crayon he is given is still too strong and it all ends in tears as I end up confiscating said item. Soon my little man, soon.

Dylan headbanger

Sometimes you can only look on and wonder what goes through a small child's head.

In this case we know, it is a metal tray. sigh.

Birthday Girl

Wow, it was the society event of the year - Aimee's 3rd birthday party. All the food was made, balloons blown, banners hung up, and finally the guests arrived in their stretch limos (well, daddy's car) dressed in their bestest party frocks and the whole bash turned out to be an excellent and fun afternoon for kids and adults. Happy birthday Aimee!