Baby Yule log 小寶貝的隨手記

For the last 5 days, I’ve been stuck in Mackay memorial hospital with a rather nasty bout of pneumonia. Although we didn’t realise it at the time, it seems that I’ve been suffering from mycoplasma pneumonia for the last month; at some point this became complicated by me also catching a viral infection (adenovirus) of […]

Just outside the concert hall at the CKS Memorial Hall are a set of about 50 little fountains which you can walk (or run) between and play with. They were very interesting, but I soon found out that peering into the fountain hole just before the water starts spurting out can be a mistake. After […]

We spent this weekend on the East coast of Taiwan in Toucheng(頭城), Ilan. We had booked a house which overlooked the ocean for the weekend which 4 families could descend on (with children aged 1, 1, 1 & 4).
After everyone had a splash in the ocean (with some people getting wetter and dirtier than others), […]

This weekend we went on a little expedition down to the centre of Taiwan. On Sunday we inspected some old railway lines, and visiting the world’s biggest producer of wooden ducks (where Mummy showed her artistic ability … with some help from me) in Miaoli county. Then on Monday we visited the ‘Flying Cow Farm’.
Unfortunately, […]

To celebrate my first birthday, we had a very excting party. Because we’re near the mid-Autumn festival, we had a barbeque - the weather was OK which meant that there was plenty of opportunity to run around outside in the communal garden.

Since the first day that I was born as a ‘giant baby’, my father has been confident that I have a bright future in rugby as a prop - he seems to think I have the right physique. However, my mum thinks I’m too handsome to be stuck in the middle of a scrum, […]

去年的這個時候，都過了預產期了，你這個小傢伙還賴著不出來，龐大的身軀壓的我實在喘不過氣來。 最後只好開天窗把你請出來， 4080g ；沒錯，你的病歷表上如假包換的寫上「巨嬰」兩個字。
爲了照顧你，我請了兩年的育嬰假，當起了全職媽媽。你媽我也算跑過江湖，轉戰過大江南北，到英國唸書到美國工作，換過兩隻手不夠數的單位公司，但是說句老實話:「這全職媽媽真不是人幹的，我這輩子從來都沒這麼累過。」
對吃，你有絕對的天賦。什麼都吃，來者不拒。六個月就已經突破兩位數，重達10.2公斤，身上的肉層層疊疊的，用力一夾還有乳溝；手和腳都肥肥短短的，臉上的兩大塊腮幫子，狂笑起來還會抖。成天賴在我身上，兩隻腳順勢緊緊夾著我的腰，又名「亞歷山大剪刀腳」。阿公說這名字取壞了，因為叫「亞歷山大」所以才這麼大隻，要是叫「亞歷山小」i”?1/2i”?1/2我ㄌㄟ，這能聽嗎?
或許因為營養過盛吧，你的發育好像比別的寶寶快一些，五個月長牙，六個月會爬，九個月會站，十個月就會趴趴走了。你的世界觀也從此不同了，馬桶是你的最愛，垃圾桶次之，遙控器是你的磨牙器，媽咪的手機完全符合你嘴巴的大小，你喜歡趴在廁所外面偷窺，你最愛襲擊無辜的電腦，你會無來由的笑的花枝亂顫滿屋子亂跑，你會伊伊阿阿的說「方言」(註:不知道是哪一個地方的)，但聽起來都好像在罵髒話。
帶你出門，總有驚喜，也是苦樂參半。你長的似乎比較像爸爸，頭髮是金黃的小麥色，輪廓明顯而立體，皮膚更是白裏透紅，路人總會多看你幾眼，忍不住一再逗你玩，嘴裏還直呼「好可愛」。然而，連帶看到媽媽時，總是一臉狐疑，不太相信你是我的寶貝，我被問過的問題，真可以出一本笑話大全，「他是混血兒!那是爸爸外國人，還是媽媽外國人?」，「他長的真的很像爸爸!」(他根本沒見過爸爸，言下之意就是完全不像媽媽)，一些老奶奶更是直接「這麼可愛，你幫人家帶的吧!」，一群大學生還說「混血兒ㄋㄟ，那你是混哪裡的?」，「這麼小，你就給他染頭髮哦!」；還有一個阿媽更扯，衝著我就一直講英文，因為她以為我是菲傭，不會說國語。雖然我是你的台勞，但遇到這些狀況總是讓我愈哭無淚。
親愛的小斌寶，你就要滿一歲了，當你趴在媽媽身上，甜甜的睡著時，媽媽爲你許下一個個心願，「願你走路不跌倒」「願你游泳不感冒」「願你大吃不拉肚子」「願你一覺到天亮」，媽媽不奢求，只要你慢慢來，慢慢長大，你是我們最大的幸福，我和爹地都愛你。

Well, a pretty lifechanging event happened today … as I’d been threatening to do for a while, I took my first proper steps today.

I had my first proper holiday this month, with two and a half weeks in England.
Apart from the excitement of seeing my Granny and Grandpa (and 4 uncles and aunts, and 4 cousins) for the first time, lots of trains, cousin Megan taking her first steps, I also managed to stand by myself for […]

To celebrate the start of the 2004 Fantasy Cricket Competition, I put on my best cricket jumper and let Daddy explain to me how to bat.

As you can see, I’ve recently been taking even greater interest in my website - working hard on my laptop.
Mummy and Daddy think I am obsessed with out coffee table. In the last week, I’ve slowly been honing my mountaineering skills on the table, until I’ve now got to the point where I can pull […]

On the 11th of September, in preperation for the Rugby World Cup, we bought 15 fishes (8 ‘mickey mouse’ forwards, and 7 ‘golden sun’ backs). Daddy carefully named each and every one after the England rugby team. All 15 survived past the final on the 22nd November, but now only Martin Johnson is left.

Today was Daddy’s birthday, so Mummy and I went over to see him in his office. Of course, the main attraction for me were the two chocolate cakes that appeared just before us. It was my first proper taste of chocolate - and I think it’s the beginning of a lasting relationship.
Just to keep Daddy […]

Now that I have started crawling, and am on the road to walking, nothing is out of my reach!

We’re just about to apply for my Taiwanese passport, so I went to the local photo shop to get a suitable photo.

To mark the February 28th national holiday in Taiwan, I joined in the ‘Hands Across Taiwan’ event.

We went back to the maternity hospital today for my 4 month checkup. I’m definitely in the heavyweight division weighing in at 8.8kg and 65cm tall.

I’m 4 months old today. A common Taiwanese tradition for this day is 收涎 (’Shu Noire’ in Taiwanese) which approximately means ‘remove saliva’ (sounds lovely doesn’t it?). As you can see, this is a tradition that has been passed down from Mother (photo on the right) to Son (photo on the left).