Mom has a blue step stool she uses in the kitchen to reach the upper shelves. It is made out of a cheap plastic and weighs next to nothing. Mia has recently learned she can carry this step stool around and climb up on top to get to things she shouldn't be playing with. The past few weeks it has basically been attached at her hip. Wherever Mia goes, step stool follows. It's like she's uncovering a whole new world.

The other day I had just exited the bathroom and saw her running towards me, step stool in hand. I thought she was coming to give me a big hug. But to Daddy's chagrin, she proceeded to run right past me to her bedroom door. Now mind you the door was shut to keep her in the main living room where Mom could keep an eye on her. I watched her as she carefully placed the step stool down in font of the door and climbed up the stool to grab the handle. (The door handle is a lever type you pull down to open). Luckily, the handle was too stiff for her to move. I sat there laughing, amazed at her determination for about two minutes while she tugged on the handle with all her strength.

Then she suddenly decided to jump off the stool while holding onto the handle. Sure enough, her body weight forced the handle down and the door popped open. Mia marched right in like nothing had happened and grabbed her blanket, which is apparently what she was after the whole time.

Hong Kong recently had a big art fair here that drew in galleries from several major art centers around the world. Reviews said it was primarily focused on Asian-themed art, and our friends told us the cheaper of the items were probably going for a couple grand a pop.

We've seen some baby pop-art on other blogs, so we decided it was time to try our hand at it. Yes the styles are knockoffs inspired by some rather well-known artists, but I figure if these had been ready in time for the HK fair they surely could have sold for at least a gum ball or a red paper clip something.

a la Andy Warhol:






a la David Hockney:






If you want to have a go at your own masterpiece check out fd's Flickr Toys at Big Huge Labs.

Just a little motivational thought for Mom...

... it's the sudden stop.

A few of you mentioned you felt the earlier post with Mia's favorite corner of the house (staring straight out the apartment window) was a bit disconcerting. So I just thought we'd point out the pool is quite make-able from up here. :)

And yes, window bars are in our very near future.

The shot was not staged.

Like mother like daughter. Apparently Mia has already taken after her Mom with a slight shoe addiction. Guess I should just be thankful she didn't go straight for the Prada. Daddy better keep his day job.

First, a word on the title above.

We stumbled across another Hong Kong blog named Siu Ying the Small. It follows the childhood happenings of a cute girl, and the blog posts range from factual to hilarious, but very Hong Kong through and through. The parenting methods don't always mesh with a Western mentality but we thoroughly enjoy keeping up with the latest adventures of Siu Ying. (She now apparently has her own Facebook application so I guess Mia has already fallen behind the times!) So in homage to Siu Ying the Small, we figured we'd better rebrand baby Yanyan as Mia the Mini.

Mia the Mini had her passport photos taken the other day for her HK passport. And while she normally is thrilled at posing for the camera, I think she found it difficult to strike a pose with such a boring white background. So she has a cute, but very serious attitude! She's all business here. ;)

Had a great annual dinner with the office tonight. It was a traditional Chinese banquet with plenty of Mah Jong, shark fin soup, abalone and fat choy. Mom got lucky picking a nice lai see envelope in our lucky draw. Mia got to see plenty of fish in aquariums, although these ones were all destined for the wok! Ssshhh, don't tell her.

Let's play find Mia... she's not wearing a Waldo outfit but she is in red and white.

Mia is 8 moths old today, and wants to send her Grandpa a big happy birthday hug on his birthday today as well. :)

Mommy had to share her roses with Mia this year. Thankfully they were both good sports about it! (Actually Mia was a bit more interested in the plastic wrapping than the flowers.)

"Some people think I like an adrenaline rush. Don't know where they got that idea."

Daddy came home this week to find our family had grown even more. Apparently Mia had passed by a pet shop and really enjoyed watching the fish, so naturally Mommy had to buy her a new tank and stock it with some fresh water fish. Now I must admit I have always been keen to eventually have a nice aquarium, but I was planning for that to occur once we had a housekeeper or I had someone else on the payroll to handle the cleaning and upkeep. Mom says I should be thankful the added responsibility was just a fish and not a new dog. I'm just thankful she's staying away form the Gucci and Prada shops thus far.



P.S. To reduce the loading times this front page will only display the most recent posts. All previous posts can be accessed in the archives by selecting the link for the corresponding month displayed on the right panel.

Mia hacked out her first email at the begining of this week. (Perhaps something about me telling her she needs to start paying rent soon.)

Dear Grand Uncle Bob,

+{ =s’}\

dzsxeszx;[=e8\
321[]arp/5q0
4*lrrp/ 54
rl698*/,l.l*kjl63

//jh90?

Love,
Mia

His response...

Dear Mia;

Thanks for the correspondence;

Uurehslseifiefhlesiw
Wegojweg;wejg;owejg;woejgew
Nwegewng;ewlkng;weg
Mgwe;ogwejgw;eojgo;ew


Wwwrewrgregdngbbfre

Love,
Grand Uncle Bob

Baby Yanyan has already been compiling quite a stash of jewelry. (I think her loot has already grown bigger than mine.) But the other day she received her first personalized piece: her name on a grain of rice. The English name was not an issue- but the Italian shop workers were a little hesitant to try the Chinese characters on the reverse side. Thankfully they gave in with a little bit of the old reverse psychology. ("Yeah I thought all along it would be pretty tough for you to do... I figured you couldn't write Chinese characters that well...")

We brought Mia home for good today! Mom and baby seem quite content...

It has been well worth the wait. Here is our announcement shared with family and friends.

(click image to enlarge)