Kai's world

The second week

2010-11-03T10:35:00.008Z

In Mum’s eyes:

Kai seems to have got used to the life in the new nursery. No more tears in the morning, and more happiness in the afternoon. Now we begin to walk home through the massive park on clear days. He really enjoys walking hand in hand with me. On most hot afternoons he can get an ice cream, and sometimes some fish food to feed the already overweight goldfish in the lake. Kai likes to walk on the square drains beside the pavement. Some of the drain covers are not perfectly fitted, and Kai likes to hear the funny noise when walking on them.

I normally pick Kai up at 4:30 pm, when the sun is still hot. A long walk in the park gives him better appetite and better sleep in the evening.

In the teacher’s eyes: (more photos from the teacher)

Kai has got a very good friend, called Ming. Kai is doing almost everything with him in the nursery.
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(The boy in the orange T-shirt is Kai)

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Kai is having a nap. Two or three hours after lunch every day in the nursery.

Kai’s first three days (Some photos Kai’s teacher took)

2010-11-03T10:10:00.002Z

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Kai’s nursery provides two meals a day, plus two snacks, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The snacks are often fruit, and melon is Kai’s favorite. Kai likes the nursery meals very much. Now he even sometimes says that mum’s cooking is not as good as the teachers’. I feel a bit jealous, but on the other hand, I feel assured that Kai is enjoying his eating in the nursery, which is good for his growth.
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Kai looked completely immersed into the new nursery life from the pictures the teacher took, which explains why he is always happy when I pick him up.

2010-09-24T10:36:00.000+01:00

The first three days in the new Kindergarten

2010-09-22T10:07:00.000+01:00

Just two days after we returned from the UK, Kai began his new kindergarten. He was still having jetleg and didn’t fall asleep untill 2 am the night before his first day. I was worrying if he would fall asleep in the kindergarten.

The kindergarten isn’t very close to our home. It’s about 15 to 20 minutes walking distance. When we arrived there, many children were having breakfast. Some of them were crying, even screaming, and other children, who were not crying, looked very puzzled. Not a very welcoming environment for the first day! I had to leave after Kai went into the classroom., though the overwhelming noise of children still rang in my ears. Many children were probably having separation anxiety from their carers when they started the new life in the kindergarten. I knew Kai didn’t have the problem, but I was anxious about how Kai would react to such an unusual atmosphere – in his old playschool children began every day with playing indoor toys, only very few children would cry for their carers.

My worries eased when I came to pick Kai up. He looked very pleasant, not only because he saw me, but also because he was in very good mood. The teacher told me, he was the first one who finished the lunch before I came. Furthermore, he sang English songs to the teacher and the children there, and they all liked it. So, Kai must have a good time there.

The teacher must have worked a wonder on the children, especially on the screaming ones. How they did it, remained a secret to me.

On the second day, the same crying story went on, and this time, the screaming from other children sounded even more unpleasant to me when I saw tears well up in Kai’s eyes upon my departure. But again, when I came to pick him up, he was more than happy. Really weird. The teacher told me, a child kicked over a chair naughtily, and Kai went to pick up the chair, and was going to throw it onto that child. I was very surprised that Kai had done that.

On the way back he mentioned his old playschool, and he told me he wanted to go back. But when I asked if he liked the new kindergarten, he nodded his head as well, how bizarre.

On the third day, Kai nearly cried again when I left and was cheerful when saw me again. On the way back he was singing some songs learnt from the kindergarten. This time no praise or blame from the teacher.

I look forward to seeing what will happen next week. Probably some of the children will begin to get used to the new kindergarten and cry less?

An update (August 2010) Kai's bit

2010-08-25T22:26:00.024+01:00

Kai loves singing and dancing mainly thanks to his teacher Miss Jian in the playschool. Miss Jian is a lovely lady, she is kind, patient, energetic and enthusiastic. Kai has never had any problem with going to the playschool, as he knows he can see Miss Jian there.

Kai likes singing to show his happiness. It's great fun to watch him singing action songs in front of us.

Kai has made a lot of friends in the playschool, as well as in the neighborhood. He goes to the playschool at 8:30 in the morning and comes back at quarter to 12. (Only recently he started to go full-time, from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm when mum is at work) After lunch and a nap, he plays with the little neighbors. We have a big fish pond in the communal garden. Kai's favourite activity in a summer afternoon was fishing baby frogs with friends.

Kai's friend has a little white dog. Kai loves to see it, but is afraid to go anywhere near it.

Kai loves books as well. Bedtime story is one of his most enjoyable times. We read some fairy tales to him, as well as some English nursery rhymes. His favourite fairy tale is Frog Prince, and his favourite nursery rhyme is "Pussy cat". When he is asked "Where have you been?", his answer is probably "I've been to London to look at the queen."!

Kai's Chinese is better than his English - he can beat his Dad on speaking Chinese. His listening in English is pretty good, he can understand most of the things. With speaking, he can say many words, but he is not so advanced in complete sentences. He does need more practice on it. In China, the most asked question is probably "Can he speak Chinese? What about English?"

Kai had been modelling for mum's little taobao shop (online shop). His image did attract some buyers for mum. Many of mum's favorite photos of Kai came from clothes photo shooting. Kai also had two more modelling jobs done for corporate use.

Kai is a very typical boy. He likes all the stuff other boys like, for example, Toy Story, Thomas and friends. He also showed very much interest in cars. He currently owns several car models, including Morgan, Lamborghini,VW, Mini, Mercedes. His father succeeded in teaching him many car symbols. Every day on the way to and from playschool his enjoyments are singing loudly to me and recognizing all the car makes of the cars parked on the road. He is very familiar with Honda, Toyota and VW, as we see them most on Chinese streets.

At the end, Kai is also a warm-hearted boy. He seldom asks me to carry him if he is not on a pushchair. One morning, after I woke him up, I felt like that I wanted to carry him out of the bed. He rubbed his half-opened eyes, and asked me:"Mum,is your back not painful today?" I nearly broke into tears when I heard it. How sweet is he at that moment.

an update (August 2010)

2010-08-23T23:07:00.001+01:00

Dear all,

I still can't use facebook in China, so every time when i come to the UK, I write a short update, so that you know we haven't forgotten you, and at the same time, to make sure, that we haven't been forgotten either.

Jenny's part:

I started teaching German in a language school in Guangzhou, China, one month ago. I do enjoy teaching. Although I haven't spoken or read German since I left National, I did pick up the language very quickly. My students are mainly university graduates who plan to study in Germany in the near future. The big advantage of the job is that I don't have to sit in an office 8 hours a day, which is good for my back, and furthermore, I finish work at 3 pm if I have a class in the afternoon, so I can pick up Kai from the nursery myself and then have enough time to prepare the dinner, which is perfect.

I developed the hobby of photography from some point. My current gear is Canon EOS 450D. It's just an entry level digital SLR (Single-lens reflex) camera. I was exchanging skills with a professional photographer. I taught him English, and he taught me photography. We met once a week for a three-hour exchange session. We have been doing this for quite a while until he was far too busy with his job. I am still very interested in photography, and hoping to find a way to learn more when Kai goes to proper nursery this September.

I went to India with Jonathan in April. He was on a business trip and spent most of his time in the office in Gurgaon near Delhi. I travelled to Delhi, Rishikesh (the Yoga town), Haridwar (a holy town) and Agra (where Taj Mahal sits). Most of the time I travelled on my own, and I did enjoy staying in those beautiful places. Most of the people were very friendly, and I was always lucky to get help from others, while some of the people were dishonest and trying to take disadvantage from tourists, which is fairly typical. India, as a country, like their sarees, is very colorful in scenery and culture. Many people are having a hard life, but they seem to be very happy. I think I will go back again, and travelling alone, is not a bad thing to me.

(to be continued...)

It has been a long long time...

2009-12-30T11:35:00.020Z

Hello, everybody, it has been a long long time since we last saw each other, right here, on the Blogspot. The Orton family (Jonathan, Jenny and Kai) didn't mean to do that, but we couldn't help - Either Blogspot or Facebook "happened" not to function in China. But you know for sure, we have been missing you a lot. You see, as soon as we've got a chance, we tried to catch up.

From the photo below you may notice how much Kai has changed since April, when I last updated Kai's blog.

Kai hasn't only got the appearance of a proper young boy, he's also got the attitude.

Below is an extract from our 2009 Report to the family in the UK.

"Kai began walking unaided just before his first birthday and quickly found that was far too slow so moved on to running. He is very active and insists on going out and about every day.

Since August Kai has been attending a local nursery for 2 hours per day, 5 days a week, which he enjoys very much. We think he will start full-time from next summer.

The swimming pool of our estate is open from spring to autumn and Kai enjoyed splashing and wading around in the children's pool. He's not yet ready to learn to swim but hopefully in the next couple of years.

He seems to be a bright boy (he even had an IQ test at his nursery to prove it!) and is learning to speak both Chinese and English, with very good pronunciation for most words. Chinese is dominant since that is what he hears for the majority of the time, but quite a lot of words he knows in both languages.

Kai's favourite activities
Drawing (or scribbling, more precisely)

Galloping around like a horse
Looking at books
Riding up and down escalators(and making impression of others, especially his Daddy)

Watching DVDs
Climbing
Wearing other people's shoes
Singing and dancing("Twinkle twinkle little star" is Kai's favorite song. He can sing in both languages, but strangely he is only willing to dance to the Chinese version)

Playing on slides
Making himself dizzy

Kai's favourite food and drink
Formula milk
Cow's milk
Soya milk
Yoghurt
Ice cold beer (Yes, I am serious. Pretty much like a typical English man, right?)

Raisins
Most fruits
Cereals
Rice
Bread
Noodles
Dumplings
Fish
Most meats
And of course anything sweet
(Unfortunately he doesn't like most of the green veg at the moment, he may decide to like it again later though.)

Misshaps of the year
1. Fell off the bridge and into the pond in our communal gardens
2. Pushed the glass cover of a tabletop off and smashed it
3. Broke a Ming Dynasty flower pot in a restaurant (pretty sure it was fake though)"

PS: I did miss writing Kai's blog. It's nice to keep track of his growth. I think I will find somewhere else to accommodate Kai's World. Hopefully we will see you again soon.

professional photos again

2009-04-01T23:04:00.001+01:00

Kai had some professional photos taken (AGAIN, Mum) when he was around one year old. I thought it was quite nice to have some nice photos, but Jonathan didn't quite agree on it, when it came to the cost of it.

The photos were taken in the park near our home.

I think that's the end of spending money on Kai's professional photos, so the next, Mum needs to continue learning taking good photos.

P.S. It's a quite big market of kids' photography in China. The parents are willing to pay money to have professional photos done when their children are 3 months old, 1 year old, and when they are a bit older. Some parents even take the children to photo studio every year.

Earth hour 2009

2009-03-28T22:32:00.000Z

During Earth Hour 2009 Kai was playing basketball with a 4-year-old boy in the lobby of our block.

We planned to go out, but it was raining, so we decided to stay in the lobby. Kai was lucky enough to meet a boy playing basketball there and he was very happy to join the boy.

The boy's father was so kind to lower the basketball stand for Kai, so Kai scored several goals on his own.

We didn't completely avoid using electricity, but trying to use less energy was the aim of the campaign, and most importly, Kai had a lot of fun during the hour!

a fun day in the countryside

2009-03-22T11:49:00.000Z

Kai, Jonathan and I, and hundreds of Jonathan's colleagues, had a fun day in the countryside.

It's a peaceful natural park with some activities. We started with planting trees in groups. On the way to the site, Kai had a lot of fun walking with his new friends - Kai was popular among Jonathan's young female colleagues.

We were among the first groups who arrived the site - half way up the hillside. The hole to put trees in were pre-digged, and the only things we needed to do were: putting the young tree in, covering it with soil, and watering it, that's all done!

When our group finished, there were still loads of people getting onto the hillside to plant their trees.

Everyone seemed to enjoy planting trees - they don't normally get the chance in the city. After about 2 hours all the people were ready to leave the planted trees behind and marsh to the restaurant, which was several mountains away. It was really tricky to get there with all these obstacles:

The last obstacle was a very long, completely dark tunnel. It was so dark inside that we had to use mobile light to see a bit better, not really very child friendly though. But Kai was brave enough to go through it in mum's arms, without crying.

When we got out, the scenery was spectacular, although a bit foggy.

But that was not the end of the journey, we still needed to walk up and down, up and down hills, before we could sit down and eat. Look, what Kai has found on the top of a hill: a neglected swing!

Finally we arrived at the restaurant,

it is an open restaurant beside a lovely field.

The food was in countryside style, but very delicious. We all enjoyed the lunch after the adventure.

The after-lunch was exciting too! The tug of war was the highlight of all activities for adults,

while the little ones found a special train ride more appealing.

That was the day full of fun and adventure.

P.S. The colleagues in China have more private contact than UK ones. They sometimes go on day trips or even short holidays together, and most of the trips are organized by companies. That's part of the benefits they get from the company.

The little model

2009-03-21T21:50:00.000Z

I am trying to run an online business instead of going to a normal job.

Working from home is always something I would like to try. At the time when Jonathan's wage is enough for the whole family, I am tempted to give it a go. I started with selling Japanese style children's clothes on Taobao (a similar website to Ebay in China), and Kai is my model. I thought those funky clothes wouldn't suit Kai, but the result was to my surprise.

Kai was quite cooperative with his modelling job. He played happily in the park near our home while his mum was taking photos from some distance. The only thing which bothered him was that he had to constantly change clothes.

The online shop is open to the public, although it's not well decorated or not much selection yet. The first week of the opening wasn't bad at all - I sold 16 items, including 3 to the neighbours. The money I earned was not to mention, but I know the tiny business is going to grow.

P.S. If you have interest, here is my shop address to look into: http://shop57556011.taobao.com, and any suggestions are welcome! I will keep you informed with my little business.

the naughty toddler

2009-03-20T13:26:00.000Z

Hide and seek, isn't unfamiliar to Kai. His favorate place is behind the wardrobe door, with his hands busily sorting Mum's clothes.

Kai thinks he is a big boy now, so he volunteerly took the responsiblity of sorting everyone's shoes as well, but he often forgot to put them all back into the cupboard.

Mum, look, I did a good job!

The wall paper under the window is off. Not Mum, not Dad, it must be Kai!

Push, push, push

2009-03-14T05:13:00.014Z

Even before Kai could walk independently, he showed much interest in pushing things along the floor. The things can be a stool, a dust bin, a small chair, or even a big cot...

Even his own big heavy pushchair, he was trying to push, in different ways...

Those pushing activities built up his strong legs and arms, so as soon as Kai could walk on his own, he tried to push things even heavier, like pushing a doll, or a real baby, for example.

Kai's friends

2009-02-28T14:49:00.011Z

Kai has many friends, so has his Mum.

Nearly every day after 10 am in the morning till lunch time and after 4 pm in the afternoon, there are baby-and-mum (or baby-and-grandma) meetings. The babies range from 1 month old to 2 years old. They share toys and play together.

Where we meet

The baby team and their mums

It was not easy to get a photo of nearly all the babies standing in a line. Especially Kai, he was the one who protested the most!

the big face: give me the toy!

We hope the little boy won't mind that we call him the big face. We are not being rude, but that's the easiest way to remember him. He is only 6 months old, and his face is double the size of Kai's, and he is even heavier than Kai.

Kai: Can I have a kick as well?

Occasionally there are older boys playing around or cycling around. Normally they are not willing to play with the small babies or toddlers.

Kai: I got badminton racket, can we play together?

The little girl is called Tongtong. Normally she is generous, and she shares toys with other toddlers.

Kai: Let me push you!
The boy in blue has a very traditional pushchair, which his mum purchased
in the countryside. I think it's great for summer, as toddlers can sit upright in it without harness, with a lot of leg room, and it's quite safe. It even has a fit-in music board for toddlers to play with.

another good friend of Kai

The little white dog, one of the family members of the big face, is called Laiwang, which means "Luck is coming". Kai especially likes this friend. Every time when Kai meets him, Kai calls out GAO GAO (Chinese for doggy) from even far away.

snap: I just had a bath!

2009-02-09T17:49:00.003Z

Snap: Cheerios, not bad!

2009-02-09T17:28:00.002Z

- Heard many people (including children of my age) eat Cheerios in the UK, Mum bought me some to try.
- Hmm, the crunchy rings go quite well with cold milk, yummy. I want some more.
- Mum, stop feeding me like a baby, I want to feed myself, like a big boy.

Snap: All good things come to the bin

2009-02-09T17:08:00.003Z

A new toy, I like it, to the bin; Mum's T-shirt, I like it, to the bin; my socks, I like them, also to the bin.
Whenever Kai finds anything he likes, he throws them to the bin. To avoid the trouble of constantly washing Kai's favorites, I close the kitchen door when I cook or put a clean, empty bin for him to play.
Kai must be copying Mum when he bins things, but he needs to realise, bad things to bin, good things to keep. Hope it doesn't take him long to get that.

Kai has got a new cousin!

2009-02-08T10:26:00.000Z

Welcome Clement, to the gang of boys of family Orton! (There are four of them now). Can't wait to see them all playing together!

Happy first birthday, to the boy with two birthdays

2009-01-31T15:13:00.001Z

Kai is ONE!

Birthday 1: 16th. January, 2009, his lunar birthday, in Shiyan

We had a so-called party in a function room of a restaurant. Kai's grandma couldn't wait to see what Kai is going to be in more than twenty years, so she went for the superstitious, yet traditional way to find out. We placed a variety of objects in front of Kai, on a Mahjong table, which is just big enough for Kai to sit on.

Obviously Kai's grandma wasn't serious enough, she just grabbed things she could find, which might mean something. We brought a book, a toy horse, a pen, a spoon, a calculator, some baby jar food, several candies and even a shuttlecock! So right from the beginning I deeply doubted the accuracy of the result - no matter what the result would be. Fortunately Kai didn't disappoint his grandma - he first picked up the calculator which laid right beside his hand. A cheer of joy. Would Kai be an accountant in 20-year-time? Soon he got tired of the calculator and picked up the baby food jar. He raised the jar proudly like a strong man. I was curious which occupation adults can associate raising baby jar food with? Hard, hmmm...

Kai's cake aroused another cheer of joy.

the lovely fruit cake

Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Kai Kai, Happy birthday to you!

Mum blows the candle for me

I guess Kai's favorite part of his birthday party was eating noodles. He loves noodles. The noodles people eat on birthdays have a special name: longevity noodles, simply because noodles are long, so it's like a good omen for health. May Kai good health all life long!

birthday 2: 28th. January, 2009, Kai's solar birthday, in Guangzhou

Early in the morning at 6 am on his birthday Kai and I arrived Guangzhou after another 21-hour-train journey. It was chilly too, here in Guangzhou. At lunch time, Dad came back from America. We had lunch in KFC. Kai got as many potato chips as he could imagine and played in the kid's club of KFC as long as he wished. That was nearly the day, as dull as the weather. We three had an early night.

On the second day, Kai was showered with presents and cards, mainly from the UK! So many lovely books and toys, piled up in front of him. He was overjoyed, threw jigsaw pieces around, and soon was distracted by the "Noisy Noisy Grrr!" book, and then began to touch the fluffy Carterpillar. For the sunny afternoon we went to a small nearby open park for Kai's favorite train ride.

I'm the little train driver

The day was too much (fun) for him. He couldn't even sleep at bedtime, and kept pacing back and forth in his funny zabra pajamas.

Thanks to everyone who gave Kai two lovely birthdays with party, cards, presents, love and big kisses.

Kai's first walk

2009-01-20T16:31:00.000Z

Today Kai first walked. By walking I mean taking several steps without holding on anything.

I started to pay much attention to the playing boy when I found he was standing beside me without holding on anything. He has stood there for about 10 seconds and was smiling at me. He has never done that before! Then he started to walk towards his Grandma wroblingly, smilingly, and with slight confidence. I was overjoyed and called my mum for her attention. She clapped her hands to encourage Kai to go further.

Kai was really interested in walking and practiced it several times after.

The good boy started his first walk several days before his one year birthday. Surely Kai was thinking of how to surprise his dad on his return.

Snap: freezing cold

2009-01-18T16:30:00.003Z

It's a freezing cold morning in Shiyan. With the precious sunshine, we still feel cold. Here is at least 10 degree cels colder than Guangzhou.

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Kai is tired of staying in for the whole morning. He is very pleased to breathe some fresh air, although cold. He loves running around in walking rein, to chase a boy on wheels.

PS: Jonathan is on his business trip in USA now, for the long long 18 days. We came back to my hometown Shiyan, for the Chinese New Year without Jonathan.

Aaaachoo! (Turn down the volume, it could be a loud sneeze)

2009-01-08T17:11:00.005Z

Kai began to copy adults, "achoo" is his favorite one. He also found clapping hands funny, and often copied his Mum or Dad.

He began to understand quite a few things. On hearing "Feiji" (air plane), he would look up into the sky; on hearing "Xiao Gougou"(little dog), he would look around for a lovely doggy. Not only that, he began to pronounce "Ga, ga, ga", for Gou gou (doggy), as Mum always calls "Xiao Gougou" when we see dogs.

A good sign of language development.

Jonathan's first contribution (the report "our 2008")

2008-12-31T16:47:00.001Z

Apart from his funny comment about Kai's ELEPHANT LEATHER shoes, Jonathan made his first contribution to Kai's blog - actually it is a letter Jonathan wrote to the family and friends in the UK. I am posting it here, because it's a pretty accurate summary of our 2008.

We hope you won't mind receiving this rather than a Christmas card!

This year began with Jonathan and Jenny separated by a distance of 5900 miles, but
Jonathan returned from China for the birth of Kai on 28 January. All too soon after the happy event Jonathan was on his way back to Guangzhou (GZ) again, and it would be another three months until the family was reunited when Jenny and Kai made the trip to GZ - after attending Helen and Laurent's wedding.

Kai's first year on Earth

Xiao KaiKai (Little KaiKai) as he is known in these parts has made great progress in
his first year. In the early months he was waking up in the nights but soon began to
sleep through and give his parents a decent night's sleep. He was soon able to stand up and also began to drag himself around on his belly. That was his preferred mode of locomotion for a long time as it was so easy on the smooth marble floor of our apartment. But he really liked standing up and began to "cruise" around as much as possible - that is, walking along with the support of a sofa or other furniture. Walking with hands held was soon to follow, then a month or two ago he finally realised how to crawl on all-fours. But he doesn't resort to it very often - he seems to think it's beneath him! Right now he is able to take a few steps unsupported before falling over, so he should be properly walking in the next few weeks!

Kai's favourite activities:
1. Walking with one hand held (not two hands - that's for babies)
2. Riding out in his pushchair
3. Pushing buttons (light switches, remote controls, phones, kitchen appliances, lifts)
4. Playing football
5. Tearing tissue paper to shreds
6. Having a bath
7. Opening and closing (doors, cupboards, drawers, wardrobes)

Kai is less proficient at speaking, but we think that is normal for bilingual babies; it's confusing to be hearing two different languages every day. Although he can say a few words which sound about right we don't think he really understands what they mean. He will probably be slower than most babies to develop speech but hopefully will be rewarded later with the ability to speak two languages well at an early age. He now has six teeth and is eating a lot of the same foods we eat.

Kai's favourite foods:
1. Noodles
2. Rice
3. Oranges
4. Pumpkin
5. Fish
6. Tofu
7. Apple
8. Rusks/biscuits
9. Mashed potato
10. Steamed bread

Jenny's parents have been staying with us for most of the time and have been a great help taking care of Kai. And Kai has already taken two long (20 hour) train journeys to Jenny and her parents' home town Shiyan. The first time was in May when he had a severe haircut and then had some nice photos taken and the second time the whole family attended the wedding celebrations of Jenny's sister in September.

Kai's favourite toys
1. Mum's mobile phone
2. His fabric football
3. Empty plastic bottles
4. Any other packaging
5. A plastic fan from KFC

Jonathan's bit

Jonathan's job is going well and he is enjoying life in China. He hasn't made very much progress in learning Mandarin so far must try harder next year! Jonathan's friend Darren came to visit and they went o Macao (the Las Vegas of the East) for a weekend to play poker. Jonathan lost money on the first night... but won back an equal amount on the second. After that it was a week in GZ and the three of us watched the Olympic opening ceremony in a packed local pub, which was quite an experience! Then they both flew to Shanghai for a week of Olympic football, taking in five games which included two matches featuring the eventual champions Argentina.

The weather in GZ is oppressively hot and humid from March to November and then here is the brief respite of a very mild winter with no snow, nor even frost. This year September was the hottest, with temperatures in the high 30's Celsius. The summer months are extremely wet, whereas in the past three months we have had only one or two brief rain showers. Jonathan hasn't got used to the climate here yet - hopefully next year!

Jenny's bit

Jenny is now thinking about getting a job, but it is easier said than done - China certainly is not immune to the current world economic problems. Her health has improved dramatically this year since moving to GZ. Her back problem has eased due to a combination of medicine which she couldn't take before (Kai's fault!) and yoga. The Chinese doctor initially put her on a course of "traditional" Chinese medicine: a medieval concoction which had to be brewed in a cauldron-like pot on the stove every night, it included an assortment of herbs boiled up with dried centipedes and scorpions! It tasted even worse than it sounds, yet it did seem to work! But now it's a much more palatable combination of "Western" medicines and yoga classes almost every day for Jenny.

Our bit
At the beginning of December we moved to a new apartment in a relatively quieter area of GZ. There is no construction noise within earshot (at the moment) which is a rarity in GZ, and we are just across the road from a huge park which is great for Kai.

The weather in GZ is oppressively hot and humid from March to November and then there is the brief respite of a very mild winter with no snow, nor even frost. This year September was the hottest, with temperatures in the high 30's Celsius. The summer months are extremely wet, whereas in the past three months we have had only one or two brief rain showers. Jonathan hasn't got used to the climate here yet - hopefully next year!

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, we will be thinking of you in China. This Christmas we will be thinking of Grandad especially, and recalling the many happy memories of Grandma Collidge.

Love
Jonathan Jenny and Kai

We shall leave you with Kai's first encounter with Father Christmas!

PS for the full story of Kai's development go here:
http://jjorton.blogspot.com
and for more on life in GZ go here:
http://jonathaningz.blogspot.com

odds and ends, snap shots

2008-12-29T09:13:00.001Z

Odds and ends, about the Sanya trip.

I specially bought these Crocs for me and for Kai. I like mine a lot, and I am still wearing them even after I was back to the Guangzhou winter. Cool, a pair of hot pink shoes among all the black or brown shoes. Kai also made much use of his - he filled them with sand again and again, but not wore them, as they were a bit loose for him.

I am sure these Crocs would look even better if wore on the beach, instead of being placed on the iron board for a picture. What a pity, we haven't got any picture of three all wearing Crocs on the beach!

Kai was on the couch of the B&B we stayed for the first night.
Kai has definitely grown much hair since the last hair cut in September, and has got enough teeth to show off. His lovely elephant leather shoes from Sue and Don have now retired after nearly 6 months' loyal service - they are now too small for Kai's growing feet.

A beautiful tropical fruit tree we have never seen before. We found it in a garden by the sea. Later I looked up and found it's called "Crescentia alata". It's said that the fruits are very hard to break open. No animals can do it except horses and humans.

Yummy watermelon juice!

Explore the hotel room: The kettle is now on the floor, so is the base. What else to play with?

The gingerbread (or biscuits) house in the hotel lobby, very Christmas!

Catch the ball, mum, stop playing with the camera! (In the Kid's club of the hotel)

Sleeping on mum's belly in the hammock, the real hammock, not the towel hammock dad uses to rock me sleep.

What a wonderful day! What a pity, our holiday is nearly over, and the sun comes out! Hey, the sun, you are far too late!

Imagine swimming in that pool and watching the sea ... I had the urge to swim in the pool when the sun came out, but it was too late, we had to check out. so, next time.

Bye bye, the Resort Horizon, bye bye, Sanya!

The sea breeze

2008-12-28T15:36:00.018Z

Over the Christmas we went to Sanya, a tropical city in China, for a short break.

The beautiful Yalong Bay of Sanya has remained live in my memory for many many years. I always would like to see the mirror-like blue sea and the pure white sand again. I went there when I was a university student nearly 10 years ago. At that time my role was an interpreter, and now I am a holidaymaker. The sea should be the same blue, I suppose so.

But unfortunately it wasn't. The weather was rather cloudy and gray. What a waste that I shopped around for 50 SPF sunscreen in the winter of Guangzhou.

Anyway, it's still warmer than Guangzhou (Oh yes, 25 degree is warmer than 20 degree). But it's much windier.

Kai still liked to be on the beach. It was his first time to see such "big water", much bigger than the swimming pool in our estate. The big water had unlimited bubbling waves for Kai to catch.

Kai looked serious when walking in the sea, but looked very peaceful when playing the sand with Mum and Dad lying beside him. Keeping a distance from the moving gray monster, he probably felt safer.

Kai loved to watch the fine white sand falling from between his fingers and filling his little Crocs. When the Crocs were filled, he emptied them and filled them up again. He just sat there and played for ages without getting bored. The crowd on the beach didn't seem to disturb him at all.

P.S: Looking at Kai's photo, I thought of a poem.

A Grain of Sand

　　　　by William Blake

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild fllower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2008-12-25T14:13:00.000Z

May this Christmas be bright and cheerful and may the New Year begin on a prosperous note!

Love from Jonathan, Jenny and Kai

Where we live now - Lido Hill

2008-12-10T07:59:00.011Z

Where we live now is called Lido Hill. It's just as normal as other apartments in Guangzhou, with big blocks of building,

and a nice garden,

and somewhere for children and mums to gather,

and some children's play ground, and some traffic noise.

Inside is a Chinese style apartment with man craft wood furniture.

But, as soon as we think of the pretty park steps away, we are happy.

Kai is ten months old (2)

2008-12-06T14:37:00.027Z

Kai, the daredevil.

Kai is possessed with walking. For him, sitting is boring, crawling is ok (on his knees), walking with two hands held is fun, walking with one hand supported is superb. Walking has opened a new horizon to him. Once he found he could get to somewhere on his own feet, he is overwhelmed. From the moment when he wakes up, he tries to grasp any chance he can find to stand and walk, even on the bed. So every morning we need to constantly stand him stepping on our arms (occasionally on our face)while still sleeping.

With fairly strong legs, Kai can use almost any big stable objects as support to build his play area. In front of the TV stand, in the cot, by the chair, by the coffee table, anywhere can be a fun paradise.

Kai is adventurous, as his father. He dares to do many things which seems to be beyond his ability, like jumping,

like trying on huge shoes,

like undoing Dad's shoe lace when he is not paying attention,

like climbing the cot bars,

like getting off the highchair in an unconventional way,

like playing FOOTball with Dad.

Kai is ten months old (1)

2008-11-26T15:11:00.025Z

Times flies. Kai is exactly 10 months now. Kai is a big boy now.

Kai has got 5 teeth, 3 on the top and 2 on the bottom, with others still pending to come out. Kai eats the same food at the same table with everyone else in the family. Ok, not exactly the same - he can't eat hard things yet, but, we don't need to cook a special meal for him. He is very happy to sit as equally high as everyone else.

Kai is mad on plain boiled rice. For us Chinese, plain boiled rice is like plain (untoasted) toasts. You would think plain toasts are boring, right? I would think so too, but Kai doesn't. He can eat loads and loads of plain rice without getting tired. Kai's other favorites including steamed pumpkins, steamed eggs, soft carrots, Farley's rusks, however cooked tofu. Kai also like eating noodles, no matter what kind, how it has been cooked. Kai likes the feeling of sucking a long piece of noodle from the bowl into his mouth.

Mum, don't take photos. I look messy!

Eating Carrots
I bite, bite so hard, only got a little

How about the carrot end? Probably it's softer.

No, it's even harder.

Kai: Dad, can you give me something soft to eat, Please?
Kai got a piece of orange in his mouth.

Now we know what is going to happen to the piece of orange in his mouth...

the move

2008-11-25T06:09:00.008Z

After days of searching for a new apartment and looking for jobs, I finally find some time to write new posts on Kai’s blog.

Yes, we are going to move, move to an apartment near a huge park – Tianhe Park. Then when we look out of the balcony, we can at least see a big area of greenery, not just an forest of high buildings with narrow streets snaking around them.

From

to

Moving will be a big change, not just the height of our home to the ground. We live on the 33rd floor. It doesn't mean that we "really" live on the 33rd floor, as the building where we live doesn't list any number which contains 4. So there are no 4th, 14th or 24th floor, because 4 sounds like death in Cantonese. But even so, it's still MUCH higher than the 4th floor we are going to move in. It's also a change from a superstitious building to a non-superstitious building, in the same district.

Moving would mean something to everyone. Jonathan will be able to lie in the bed 5 minutes longer in the morning, Kai will have a big park to play in, and Mum and Dad will have somewhere to do exercise. We are going to leave many nice memories behind, and create more happy memories in our new home.

Kai's first visit to the zoo

2008-10-12T16:33:00.016+01:00

These lovely birds were what Kai missed in the zoo.

Kai always liked to watch doggies and chicks, so we thought he would enjoy a zoo, but we were a bit wrong.

After buying the tickets, when we were about to enter the zoo, Kai fell asleep in his comfy pushchair. We felt like disappointed hosts who prepared a feast for guests, who didn't turn up. We decided to enjoy the feast ourselves.

It's a beautiful zoo with nice woods and cool lakes, of course also many unusual birds and animals. When we were watching the birds and taking photos, we thought of Kai. Poor boy, you missed this and this ...

At the end of the birds area, Kai woke up. He was happy to find himself in a complete new place. He looked around at the beautiful birds in the cages, sometimes talk to them, in a language we don't understand, probably the birds do.

Kai quite liked the monkey area. He liked to watch the monkeys leaping skillfully between trees, grooming each other, or simply having a rest in the sun. He also found the golden monkeys from China interesting. The two monkeys were quarrelling to each other, with golden fur shining in the sun.

Walking past the tigers, lions, wolves, wild boars and many other beasts, Kai fell asleep again. It was not his fault. The zoo is huge. I was disappointed again, as I wanted to show him pandas. He has never seen pandas, but he should love pandas. Everyone loves pandas. However, it's possible, Kai wouldn't be impressed by pandas if he was awake. Look, the real panda wasn't as lovely as the artificial ones, was it?

The real panda

The artificial one

sweet memory: September in Shiyan

2008-10-11T16:55:00.021+01:00

Kai and the neighbours

Kai was super popular within the estate where my parents live， not only because he is half a foreign baby， also because he could get on well with everyone。He smiled to everyone he met。 He allowed anyone to hold him if they wished。 In the summer afternoon，the retired ladies liked to gather together in the central yard， do some knitting， have a chat。 If they were lucky， they can even enjoy some precious summer breeze。 Kai brought laughter to them， almost every day，so did Kai‘s new friend ”Little Piano“， a baby girl only one day younger than Kai。

the hair cut

Kai had his hair cut again, this time in a salon. He's got his own chair to sit on, a lovely red chair. At the beginning Kai behaved very well. He even got compliments from the hair dresser for his cooperation. But, it didn't take long until he realized that it was the hair clipper that was making the buzzing noise. He began to follow the hair dresser for the hair clipper. With Kai's constant interruption the hair cut was finally finished. Looking into the mirror Kai didn't seem to be impressed by his new hair style. In the evening at the time when he was taking a bath he became pleased with his cool head.

Kai's favorite places

Kai liked to play at several places in my parents' home. He liked to stand on the sofa and play with his toys on the back of the sofa. He liked to crawl under the tea table and play with the artificial flowers. He liked to climb onto the balcony and look at the people outside. Kai also liked to open grandparents' wardrobe and pull out the clothes.

The first skype chat with the UK

2008-10-11T15:33:00.005+01:00

Kai's grandparents Linda and Frank have got a web cam and they tried it out today to see Kai at 8 pm, China time.

We rushed to finish our dinner, and got the laptop out. Kai was excited to see the laptop, as always, and started to bang the highchair tray. No, it's not for you to use yet - Jonathan had to emphasize it again. It was also the first time for Jonathan and me to use Skype. The sound was OK, but too quiet, so Jonathan used a headset, and the video quality was not as high quality as I was anticipating either. Lips and voice were not synced. Motion was not full and fluid. Kai was curiously watching us playing with the laptop and urged us to get him out of the highchair in his own way. He excitedly swang his arms and legs when we finally got him out. Jonathan put Kai onto his lap. Kai found the headset interesting and tried to grab it. Soon he became distracted by the video on the computer screen - there were two people talking and waving to him. Kai was overwhelmed. He kept jumping up and down on his dad's lap and never stayed still.

It was a nice chat. Kai looks forward to the next time.

mosquito attack

2008-09-25T18:02:00.004+01:00

Kai is very vulnerable to mosquito bites, because mosquitoes like young babies, and also because he is in a tropical area of a huge country, and also because he is English. It was Jonathan's conclusion that Chinese mosquitoes like English food, as he himself has suffered from it for a long time. The worst scenario for Kai was that he woke up in the morning with 3 mosquito bites, two around his ears and one on his head. The one on his head was so big that we suspected that Kai got it from hitting something. But recently Kai seems better with mosquito bites. Has Kai developed immunity to mosquitoes or mosquitoes have grown tired of Kai? Anyway the bites don't seem to bother him, he doesn't scratch them, and he has had all his immunisations.

He is a tough boy, as many people said.

What Kai likes and dislikes about food

2008-09-25T17:50:00.003+01:00

He likes: steamed pumpkins, steamed carrots, dumplings, fried young luffa, rice soup, sesame paste, fish

He dislikes: any baby jar food and instant baby rice

He is not sure about (that means sometimes he likes it, sometimes not): mandarin

Hmm, Kai's got healthy taste, like his mum, dad and grandparents.

Kai has got one tooth

2008-09-25T17:32:00.003+01:00

We knew that before the tooth even came out. We noticed it because he bit off one big piece of banana when we fed him, and when we touched his lower tooth bed, we could feel a little hard tooth. Several days later, the tooth came out completely and became more obvious. Kai didn't even have any teething pain to have his first tooth.

With the tooth Kai can eat harder things, but banana is still his favorite. Now we don’t need a spoon to cut off banana and feed him, he can bite the banana himself. He is a little banana monster - He can eat two bananas each day and finish a whole banana at one time. He chews the banana very skillfully, and after finishing eating one piece, he opens his mouth waiting for another feed.

(I will upload some photos later)

Kai is safe from the tainted infant formula scandal in China

2008-09-23T17:53:00.005+01:00

It was a shocking news for the world, and for everyone around me. We couldn’t believe that such things could ever happen. How can the offenders ever think of making money by causing suffering of small babies?!

When it comes to the government, my reaction is that such things should not happen in the first place. Especially the action of covering up the issue till the Olympics was over, I feel, it’s typical for Chinese government. Who cares how many medals China has won? In comparision to thousand babies’ life and health, the glory is nothing. I really feel shamed for the government. However, the recall of tainted milk powder, the punishment to related officials, is proper, but it comes to late. The government is doing better than we thought, but still not enough. I hope, through the lessen of this scandal, the government should really do decent work to improve the people’s life.

We feel lucky that Kai wasn’t affected. We have been using imported milk powder on the Chinese market, as many other families who are a bit better off than some. When the day comes, when all the people in China, no matter poor or rich, feel safe about what they are eating, we should say we learned today’s lesson well.

Kai looks a little mean

2008-09-11T17:57:00.003+01:00

This photo stood out immediatly from loads of photos of Kai being lovely and innocent. What was he thinking?

Kai, the little swimmer

2008-09-11T17:06:00.011+01:00

Kai likes water. Every time when we bath him, he splashes water with his two little palms excitedly. We thought he would definitely like swimming. We had wanted to take him to the lovely open swimming pool within our estate for a long time, but only really did so after Jonathan brought back some swimming nappies from the UK.

The first time when we went to the pool, it rained a little bit and wasn’t very warm. The weather on that day wasn’t normal for Guangzhou’s boiling August. We hadn’t got any swimming aid for Kai, and Jonathan insisted Kai swimming without any aid. So Jonathan and I took turns to hold Kai's arms playing in the water. Kai didn’t seem to enjoy it, just kicked his legs in the water clenching his toothless mouth. He was trying to get used to the feeling of being partly weightless in the water, we think. After about ten minutes, his lips became a bit dark, we knew, he was cold and took him out of the pool.

The second time in the pool was on a warm evening. Jonathan wasn’t at home. My dad and I took him to the pool. He had his inflatable swimming neck ring. The ring wasn’t easy to use. Kai’s neck was a little smaller than the ring hole, so I had to keep adjusting the ring, so no water would go into Kai’s mouth. This time, Kai seemed to be much more relaxed than the first time. He used backstroke with me holding his back. He enjoyed floating on the water and peddled the water happily. Kai had instinct of protecting himself by holding the ring tightly. He did well and even sometimes I could release my hand from his back for a short time. He was happily swimming and cooed out of joy. Some people were attracted by Kai’s swimming and watched him curiously - In China the people don’t normally let small babies swimming in the pool.

From then on, we take Kai to swim more often. When we put on his swimming nappy, and take him out of the home, he realizes that he is going swimming and becomes really cheerful swinging his arms and legs and can’t wait to go into the pool again!

P.S. an interesting article about baby swimming in China

The Olympics Inspiration

2008-08-22T14:38:00.004+01:00

Right on the second day of the 2008 Beijing Olympics games, Kai impressed us with his first crawl forward. China and GB are both doing well, and surely Kai has got inspiration from that.

Before this he always loved to pivot around in the pushup position. He tried to crawl, but he didn’t know that he had to move his arms forward when his legs budged forward. Probably in his little brain he thought he would move a little bit if he pushed legs harder, but often he ended up with buttock high in the air with four limbs pushing hard into the ground, very much like the “Downward facing dog” pose mum often does in her Yoga course.

Just all of a sudden he realised how to coordinate his arms and legs to move forward.. He uses one arm to drag his fat body along the floor and then the other to move even more. The whole crawling is done on the floor. His tummy has never moved off the floor, so it’s not the proper crawl yet, but we were very happy about his pre-crawl. He is also very delighted and keeps practicing it. With practice he can crawl quite far and often wanders off when we are not watching him. So we removed all the sharp objects Kai may encounter on the floor to make his crawl even more smoothly.

the baby milk trouble

2008-08-03T14:06:00.005+01:00

Jonathan's best friend Daz came to visit. Jonathan went to HongKong to pick him up and they came back from Macau after staying there for two days. There was a problem when they went through the customs. The troublemaker was the baby milk Daz bought from the UK for Kai as requested by Jonathan and me.

A customs officer was suspicious about the cream-coloured, powderlike substance stored in crushed infant milk boxes. He stopped Jonathan and took his passport to check for criminal record, and took some sample from the milk box. The result was of course that the milk powder is MILK POWDER, not herion. But Jonathan and Daz missed their bus, and Kai had to wait one hour longer to see his Dad.

The first sentence Daz said when he arrived was "We were lucky enough to be the 'International Terrorists Baby Milk Dealers'".

Kai's new bed and new high chair

2008-07-31T16:03:00.006+01:00

Kai has got his new bed and new high chair two days ago. Kai hasn’t had his own bed and a high chair until two days ago.

He seems to like the two items a lot.

When he first sat in his high chair, he was slamming the plastic tray out of joy, later he looked around the high chair and was fascinated by the lovely green bear on the back, he also liked to look down to play with the harness. Now we don’t need to hold him or put him onto the floor mat when we have dinner. Kai just watches us eating, very curiously. He cues, copies us to move lips when eating, and smiles at everyone. Occasionally we piles up toys in front of him, he picks up each of them and throws them all onto the floor. When we picks them up, he smiles. A naughty boy!

We currently use his bed as a playpen, as we still need to buy mattress for Kai – the current mattress is a little bit hard for him. He can sit skillfully alone and play with his toys for a long time. Later he is not satisfied with sitting there any longer, he always tries to stand up. If we sit him facing the bars, he would hold the horizontal bar and wobbly stands up. Nobody has ever taught him that, I think it’s the urge of getting off the floor made it happen. After a few seconds of standing, he may lose balance and falls sitting, but the little determined standing-learner will try to stand up again. With such standing exercises, Kai has become a more confident support-stander. Well done, Kai.

Something about Kai's mum

2008-07-18T16:21:00.005+01:00

Have you tried scorpion and Centipede soup? I have, and I eat it every day, three times a day.

Scorpion and Centipede are the two extreme ingredients of the Traditional Chinese Medicine I am taking. The medicine consists of several kinds of herbs, insects and even some toxic ingredients. Chinese medicine believe in “using poision to cure poision”, so my doctor used some strong ingredients to cure the poision in my body. The medicine is prepared by first soaking the ingredients in a clay pot for half an hour then boiling them for another half an hour then straining the liquid and drinking like tea. The taste of the medicine is very unpleasant. I had to pinch my nose to block the smell of the medicine and drink it fast. I am also taking western medicine to prevent the progress of Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) and kill pain. As I am taking Chinese medicine and western medicine at the same time, so I can’t really tell which one is effective, probably both.

For the disease I have, keeping active is even more important than medicine. I enrolled for a yoga centre near my home several weeks after I came to China and go there every day. Some of the yoga teachers are directly from India, and they are really professional, caring and helpful. I mainly do Hatha Yoga and some yoga streches under the instruction of the teachers. The poses were difficult for me at the beginning. Now I still can’t do some of the poses due to my stiff spine, but each time I can find improvements, each time I can do two or three poses a little bit better. These improvements build up a better me. My back is much straighter, and the natrual curve of my back is slowly reappearing. I can walk quite fast now, and my body is stronger and more energetic. I feel very happy about the change, and is determined to make Yoga an important part of my life.

I was quite frustrated about my health condition, but now, I am taking good care of it. Although the doctor said, my back can’t go back to normal, but at least, I am satisfied with my current health condition, and I know it will even get better with time if I carry on medicine and yoga.

Kai will be affected by the attitude I have about life. I am hoping he sees me as a strong mum.

More photos of Kai in Chinese outfit

2008-06-23T01:26:00.012+01:00

The photos were from Kai’s first professional photo shooting.

We didn’t plan to have an album of Kai made by a photo studio, but to have his hair shaved. In China people shave their babies at one month (some places at 100th day) and using the collected hair to make Chinese writing brushes.

We didn’t intend to follow the tradition, but we did feel it necessary to have Kai’s hair shaved, so we went to a special shop. The lady in the shop shaved Kai’s hair very carefully and Kai looked brilliant with bald head. What shall we do with the shaved hair? Throw it away? No, it was Kai’s first hair, as precious as his first smile. The idea of making a Chinese writing brush became attractive to us, as it would be a nice way to keep Kai’s hair. We thought Kai would be impressed to see the souvenir from his first hair cut when he is old enough.

the writing brush

Kai in bald head

Before we went out of the shop, the lady gave us a voucher of two free professional baby photos. Well, two professional photos for free, why not? So we went to the photo studio nearby. The sales lady in the photo studio showed us several kinds of album, and tried to persuade us to have one album done. The album making sounded expensive to us, so we refused the album and only wished to get our two free photos. The photo shooting began. Three staffs of the studio worked together, one was taking photos, another was holding Kai if needed, and the third was playing rattles above the photographer’s head to draw Kai’s attention. Kai was really relaxed in front of the camera and was wriggling, smiling, playing all the time, as if he was at home. The photos were so nice that we changed our mind and decided to have one album done.

The whole thing sounded like a trap, but, as we are happy with the result, we didn't really mind it.

The blog is resuming

2008-06-20T15:32:00.007+01:00

After such a huge break, I, Kai's mum, finally resume Kai's blog. A lot of things happened during the break, e.g. we lost our camera in HongKong, so we can't show the photo of Kai on top of a big luggage mountain when we came to China; Kai had a month of mixed feed in his fourth month, and I had to give up breastfeeding completely from the fifth month when I began medical treatment; Kai can roll over very easily onto his belly and has fun reaching his toys; Kai has slept through since 4 days ago. Kai is a big boy now, pretty fat. It's accurate to say he is fat, when you look at his arms and legs, his belly and neck full of folds. It’s nice to reunite with Jonathan. Three of us, is a complete family. Kai also enjoys the time with Dad a lot. He enjoys playing with Dad on the bed, taking bath and splashing his chuby legs into the water and laughing a lot when Jonathan tickles him. Kai is so different from 2 months ago when we were in the UK: He is such a happy and lively boy.

Smiles made it all worthwhile

2008-04-02T22:00:00.014+01:00

Kai is a happy boy smiling a lot.

His grandpa saw his first smile on the second day after birth. I missed it, and was watching for his next smile. Not long after that, I captured another smile of his.

I would believe it was smile, although baby experts define it as “I think they’re smiles but I’m not sure” grimaces. It’s true, in the first month, Kai often smiled after a feed. The smiles were fleeting, and appeared for a few seconds. But I did see him smiling to his great-grandma, who was simply smiling and would not have triggered Kai’s “automatic reactions to an inner feeling of rightness”. So I believe in the first month Kai had a mix of reflex smiles and real smiles.

Later I learned to play smile games with Kai. We both love such games. They need to be at right time, normally after a feed, when he is very alert. I place his head on a cushion resting on my lap, and hold his body. I look at him and talk to him, with smiles. Kai smiles back, sometimes wiggles a lot with delight, from one day, he spurts out his first coos and gurgles. Now he smiles even more and makes sound of eeeh, oooh a lot. Watching him flashing his pearly gums and toothless grins when smiling, I tend to forget all the broken nights and tiredness.
Ready!
Steady!!
Go!!!
Did I make you smile?!

National Visit

2008-04-02T21:29:00.002+01:00

On the 26th of March (sorry, exactly one week ago) I visited the company for the first time after I gave birth. It was lovely to see the old colleagues: Ewa, Anna, Joanna, Anne, Victoria, Cindy and many more. Janet wasn’t there, what a shame, but I heard she was having a rest after a knee operation, which she has wanted for a long time and would definitely sort out her problem. Kai was good and didn’t embarrass his mother by crying all the time, as he usually does when I visit Jonathan’s family. On the contrary, he smiled a lot when entertained by all the new people. The only naughty thing he did was pooing on the way to the company, and half of his trousers leg was spotted yellow by JANET PAXTON, how embarrassing! It was the worst nappy leakage found ever!! I should have complained to Pampers!!!

Couch Potatoes

2008-03-24T22:28:00.014Z

Mum and Dad missed Chinese soaps a lot. I don't have satellite TV, but I managed to borrow several Chinese soap videos for them. Since then watching those soaps has been their main past-time.

Accurately speaking, those soaps should be defined as Chinese television drama, similar to American drama, like Desperate Housewife or Lost, but often longer in length, and portray a story too lengthy to be made into a movie. They often have 30 to 50 episodes and each episode ends in Cliffhangers. Among all kinds of dramas the historical fictions are the most popular ones. Well, no wonder. China has a history of 5000 years with 308 emperors. Each emperor himself had a very colourful life, plus the life of his hundreds of officials and the life of his thousands of wives. Such large number of story sources will certainly keep Chinese drama producers extremely busy and Chinese viewers extremely addictive.

Even one day, Mum and Dad found some similarity in appearance between an emperor and Kai, due to watching Chinese television dramas too much.

Kai is also affected by his grandparents. He has been sitting on the couch and watching TV for about 20 minutes.

Even when we change nappy for him, if the television is on, he would automatically turn his head to it.

From Mothering Sunday to Easter Sunday

2008-03-23T16:51:00.006Z

From Mothering Sunday to Easter Sunday, Kai hasn't had an easy time.

First, he got red spots all over the face. I was anxious, and made an emergency appointment with the GP, but we had been seen for one minute and were prescribed some pure moisturiser. Then every day we need to apply several layer of moisturiser for him. Later, he got sticky ears. Again, I was anxious, and bothered the GP again. This time some antibiotics were given to Kai. Since then I have had to watch his poo carefully and look for any sign of side effects. But Kai, didn’t seem to be bothered by all these nuisances. He could still smile a lot with his red spots and sticky ears.

His face and ears became fine soon, but another sign of not being well became the new agony. Almost every evening, no exemptions, from 6 pm to 9 pm, he always had some crying time. We could not find the reason of crying, and it was difficult to comfort him. I didn’t believe it when the health visitor told me it was colic. Well, I read much about terrible stories of colicky babies and I believed it would never happen to Kai. But it did, unfortunately. The good news about Kai is that he got mild colic, I would say. In his un-happy hour, he didn’t scream, but fuss. We could still comfort him, but not easily. We found lying him on our palms facing down was a good way, and sometimes carrying him on the shoulder with his tummy against the shoulder can also help.

Apart from those two inventions, another wonderful thing is Gripe Water. Kai absolutely loves the taste (as all the other babies since 1851?) and I absolutely love the resounding burp Kai gets after taking Gripe Water. Now colic and wind still comes and go, but to a weaker extend.

the Mothering Sunday message

2008-03-01T23:01:00.006Z

It's the first Mothering Sunday with Kai. I know the good boy would say "thank you" for all the delicious milk I have given to him so far and bribe me for the future supply of the delicious milk if he is old enough. : D
I am old enough, so I will say "thank you" to my mum, for all her hard work during my late pregnancy and Kai's first one month. Without her, I couldn't do well. Mum and Dad have taken over all the cooking and washing tasks, and some of Kai's nappy changes, and some of Kai's entertainment needs, and many other things. Thanks to mum, I could often have a lie -in in the morning and some spare time to write blogs. I am really lucky to have my parents helping me.
I would like to thank Linda - my mother-in-law as well for always being supportive and helpful.

THANK YOU, MUM!

Events on Kai's one month birthday

2008-03-01T19:58:00.010Z

According to Chinese lunar calender, on the 27th Kai is one month old.

THE EARTHQUAKE:
the UK's biggest in 25 years happened this morning. Around 1 am, I woke up. The biological clock within my body reminded me of Kai's feeding time, but Kai was still asleep. I felt a sudden shake of the wall above my head, which lasted about 3 seconds. What happened? It wasn't until the next day I knew it was an earthquake! Dad said he was waken up as the bed simply jumped up! What an experience!

THE BIRTHDAY MEAL:
In Chinese tradition noodles are commonly served at birthday celebrations, as long noodles symbolize a long life. My parents are traditional people, so we had noodles for lunch on Kai's one month birthday. What did Kai have? Of course the warm and delicious milk from mum!

THE PASSPORT:
Kai got his passport today. It's a brand new biometric passport with an electronic chip inside. The technology is getting much more advanced compared to many many years ago when we were born, isn't it?

THE VISIT:
Kai's great grandparents visited this afternoon. The pleasant visit began with a discussion about Chinese lunar calender and ended with the discovery of the functions of our ever loved BBB (the Big Blue (Gym)Ball). Was Kai listening to our intelligent conversation? No way. He was asleep most of the time. Well, a "great" birthday boy - for such absence of mind!

THE COMPARISON:
It's a good opportunity to review how well I and Kai have been doing. Kai has grown nearly a head length over the last one month. Here is the photographic evidence:

before

after

Take a bath!

2008-02-28T23:45:00.005Z

Kai likes to take bath. He is always so peaceful in the bath and he always cries when we get him out of the bath. It's interesting to see the two videos of him taking bath when he was 4 days old and when he was 29 days old. You MAY notice his body fill up with strong muscles, and possibly also the controversial man boobs. : D

Hint: Take a careful look at the second clip and watch out when Kai raised his eyes and became more alert: exactly at the moment when he heard the word "Dad". Was it because of my raised voice or Kai's bond with his father? : D

Why was I born so entertaining?

2008-02-28T20:43:00.014Z

For me, Kai is the perfect entertainer. It's so lovely to watch him making faces.

I don't like it!

I told you I don't like it!

What?

What did you say?

I'm tired!

Don't wake me up!

I told you not to wake me up!

(I am getting better with Blogspot. You see, now I can add captions to pitcures and drag pictures to wherever I want. A small progress!)

Kai's man boobs

2008-02-18T20:43:00.002Z

Kai is developing perfectly. On the 18th day, he weighed 3.32 kg (7 pounds 5 Ounces). He has gained 5 ounces after a slight weight drop during the first few days. The weight gain didn’t sound much, but it was good enough to remove the terrible thought from my head that my breasts were not producing enough milk or I was not doing well. Well, a real relief!

Kai looks much fleshier now. Over the last days, we have been watching his body grow bigger, like a balloon slowing blowing up. His breasts are slightly swollen. I call them “man boobs”. : - )

Sorry Kai, mum is showing your topless body now. No wonder, you were not happy in the picture – you must be protesting against peeping into your man boobs. : - )

Mum tells the untold story – Kai’s birth story

2008-02-08T21:04:00.000Z

After endless waiting, I gave up and relied on Tuesday’s induction. Funnily, on Sunday night, just two days before the induction, I began to have more and more regular contractions. I was not sure if it was the real thing. The admission of the hospital told me to make the way in, I still couldn’t believe that I was going to have a baby. Right there and then!

Having difficulties in coping with the contractions, I was examined by a hospital midwife. She transferred me directly to the delivery suite, as I was 8 to 9 cm dilated already! The delivery room I was using is my dream room with a large birthing pool. The midwife’s words broke my dream “It will take about half an hour to fill the pool. You would give birth by then.” What a miss! All the breathing technique I learned from the yoga course was useless too – I simply skipped a great deal of the first stage. Before the midwife told me to push, I coped all right with Gas and Air, which made me really dizzy and left me wonder where I was. The push bit was dreadful. I made such an effort to push, but still hadn’t had any success. The baby’s head was just not going to come out!!

It turned out the baby became distressed and needed to be got out quickly. A surgeon with Romanian accent came in and conducted the Ventouse delivery for me. I didn’t escape from the fate of episiotomy either, which I always feared.

Jonathan was such a great supporter. He caressed me, held my hands when I was in pain; gave me praise when I really pushed hard; reassured me when I was in doubt. The midwife, Kerry Foot, and the surgeon were also very nice and helpful.

After two to three hours’ fight in the delivery room, the baby came out. He was such a handsome young boy. I loved him straight away. From that moment on, I realised the boy is worth all the waiting.

Kai's first mission

2008-02-08T19:00:00.000Z

Jonathan is off to China tomorrow.

Jun was sitting in the armchair in the dimmed light and feeding Kai who was sucking vigorously. Thinking of being apart from Jonathan for the next 3 months, Jun felt blue and cried some tears. Jonathan noticed it and came to give his wife and child a dear cuddle, then he began to talk to Kai gently:

"Kai, take care of your mum when I am away. Take her to China to see me in 3 months."

From 07.02.08 19:00

Dirty nappies; Sleepless nights

2008-02-08T12:34:00.001Z

Dirty nappies: TRUE

From day 4, when I began to have mature breast milk, not colostrum, Kai started poo and wee a lot. I was a little bit overjoyed at the beginning, as yellow poo means Kai had been fed well, which I was hoping for. With the time, when Kai got more and more poo in his nappies, and the interval between nappy changes seemed to be shorter and shorter, the happiness starts to wear off. At one point, when Kai weed and pooed on the changing mat when I was changing nappy for him, I felt disgusted. Fortunately until now, there hasn’t been such an instance that Kai wees “fountains” into my face, the worst scenario so far is that Kai weed onto Grandma’s trousers.

Not nice to talk or hear about wee and poo, is it? But generally Kai is lovely. He doesn’t complain about dirty nappies at all. It has been always others who spot his dirty nappies.

I found a really cute Japanese cartoon potty training video, which I could use for Kai when he starts potty training. http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2007/japanese-toilet-training-p1.php

Sleepless night: FALSE

The first night with Kai has been a disaster. After giving him a feed, as soon as I put him back into the Moses basket, he started to cry. It seems that he didn’t like to be left alone. The first night was awful and made me really feel miserable about the future nights with Kai.

From the second night, I put him onto my bed, under different cover though. After finding out that Alex is stilling doing the same to Tara, I was really relieved and didn’t mind to be a rebel (Almost all midwives hate the idea of sleeping with babies). At night whenever Kai needs a feed, I give it to him, so he has unlimited access to my breast milk. It works really well. Kai is definitely happy, I am happy as well, so does Jonathan. No nasty baby cry at night any longer. Frankly speaking, I get some precious sleep at night, but not really as deep as before. As in my subconscious I am not only a sleeper, also a mum who needs to be available to my baby whenever he needs me. As a result, I have vivid dreams throughout the night. I like adventurous dreams, so from this point of view, I am happy too.

May I introduce myself?

2008-01-31T21:42:00.000Z

Hello everybody,

May I introduce myself? From today on, I change my name from JJ to Kai Orton, precisely Kai Jonathan Orton. I am the son of Jonathan and Jun Orton. According to my family's tradition, I inherited my father's first name as my middle name. Regarding my first name Kai, it's a really multi-national name. Do you know that in German Kai means Fort, in Hawaiian it means Ocean, in Native American it means Willow Tree, in Scottish it means Fire and in Welsh it means Rejoicer? The most important, in Chinese it means Victory. You see, my mum and dad did do much research to find such a nice name for me.

I am four days old now. My birthday was the 28. January, 2008. I was born at 4:43 in Leicester Royal Infirmary. As you could see from my previous blog, I was born 12 days later than expected. Do you know the idea of induction really horrofied me, so I decided to come out "spontanuously"? The labour wasn't very smooth, but better than an induction, wasn't it?

Mum said, I am a good boy. I don't cry for dirty nappies or boredom, but only for food. Visitors said, including my grandparents, greatgrandparents, I don't have newborn wrinkles, but lovely chubby pinkish cheeks.

A picture is worth thousand words. I am going to show you SEVERAL photoes of me. Bye bye for now.

Kai Orton

Mum says: 41 weeks

2008-01-24T00:07:00.000Z

Sorry, still no news today. I have been to the midwife today for a membrane sweep. After that, apart from feeling sore down there, nothing happened. Or am I too impatient? It was said that the sweep could take up to 48 hours to work. So, either I will have a baby by the weekend, or I have to wait till next Tuesday to have an induction. Or I can still expect the baby to show his face in a surprising way?

It is agony to wait. I am fed up with waiting for so long. I just want to see the baby and hold him in my arms. I am so looking forward to hearing the first cry my baby will make. Jon feels the same!

JJ, Mum and Dad know that you will come out when you are good and ready. You will see how fascinating the outside world is, and surely you will be over the moon when you eventually come out.

Mum says: Chinese tradition about childbirth

2008-01-21T23:17:00.000Z

Fancy staying in bed and doing no housework for a month after giving birth? Move to China! The Chinese tradition states that a new mum must rest at home for a month after the birth, with an attendant, usually her mother-in-law, to do all the housework and take care of her and her new born baby. The new mum must not take shower, wash hair or brush teeth during the one-month-rest. The reason was said to avoid the risk of catching a cold, therefore have better recovery from delivery. The first one month after delivery is called "sit the month".
(Mum says: the Chinese tradition still dominates in rural area, but in modern cities its impact is starting to wear off. I may try to avoid catching a cold by wearing warm clothes in chilly weather, but definitely not obey the rule of not washing myself. In my opinion this tradition originated from the bad living conditions of ancient China, but with today's modern shower and central heating, I don't think new mums should pay attention to such nonsense. No housework, staying in bed for the whole month, it's not me!)

The Chinese Zodiac plays a big part in the new baby's life. The year, month, day and hour of his birth represent which Zodiac character he's born under - which is thought to determine his future success.
(Mum says: For instance, the people think the pig year is luckier than the rat year. Well, understandable, probably because pigs don't need to worry about food, but rats do. Pigs are also thought to be lucky in Germany, aren't they? Before 06.02.08 (the Chinese New Year's Eve) it's still the pig year, so JJ will be a baby of pig. How lucky, Huh...)

It's considered unlucky to name a Chinese baby before he or she is born. Baby boys are often given plain names so that spirits overlook them, while girls are given more beautiful names.
(Mum says: Alex, fortunately you are not in China, otherwise you would miss much fun of choosing baby names for Tara before she was born. )

On the baby's one year birthday, Parents place a variety of objects in a basket -- a pen, silver, official seal, needlework and some toys -- and offer the basket to the child. The object the baby grabs signifies the child's future.
(Mum says: I often watched scenes on TV that Chinese historic figures grabbed a pen (if he became a famous writer later) or an official seal (if he became a politician). How could a one-year-old recognise the meaning of different objects. I believe most of the babies would pick up a colourful toy!! I am sure JJ will also. Will you, JJ? Hang on a sec, how about a baby who doesn't want to pick up anything and just starts to cry, what does this mean?)

40 weeks, 4 days

2008-01-20T17:37:00.000Z

4 days has gone past the due date, I should be out there now, but Mum's womb is so comfy, I decided to stay in a little bit longer. Mum told me, the wardrobe is full of baby clothes, the hospital bag is packed, the car seat is installed, just wait for me to kickstart, but ... let me stay in for longer. I know it's chilly now, I am waiting for a sunny day! ...
Recently Mum and Dad seems to become impatient (they often nag about my coming out). I can feel the tension, as weird things happened: yesterday noon Mum ate some really really hot Vindaloo, too hot for her to bear, later she told me Dad ate most of it and froze the rest, for him to eat on another day! (I am sure the Vindaloo was not intended for him!) Yesterday afternoon Mum, Dad and the grandparents went to Market Bosworth Country Park for a walk. On such a rainy day, with such muddy ground, they have walked for 2 hours!! Really weird, isn't it? Today Mum and Dad were trying to get some Red Raspberry leaf tea from Holland & Barrett, but, the shop was closed on Sunday. For lunch, Mum ate some super hot pizzas from Papa John. (Has she forgotten the unbearable Vindaloo?) The spicy food made me dizzy for a long long time. I nearly decided to come out, but, I have my own idea, so I am still waiting, waiting and waiting...