Milestones!

As we near Justin's first birthday, he's been reaching a couple of milestones in quick succession. Over the weekend, Justin began standing on his own without pulling onto anything. He can now stand on his own for a minute or two or three. In celebration of this milestone, we excitedly went out and bought Justin his own walker which he is absolutely thrilled about. You should see him push this walker and manouver it around, swiveling it around when he hits a wall, it's so awesome! And then today, Row took Justin to the park and our little boy took his first 2 steps....and I wasn't there to witness this momentous occasion.

Check me out!

U..u...up!

Justin has a thing for musical instruments so we bought him bells, a pair of maracas and a harmonica. Ever the busybody, he doesn't know what he wants to do so he tries to do them all at the same time.

11 months old!

Today is Justin's 11 month birthday! 11 months of having this little person in our lives, watching him grow, developing a personality and sense of humour, growing independent and wilful and most of all, filling our lives with so much love and happiness. We can barely remember what life was like before Justin came along.

Justin now has 8 teeth; 4 on top and 4 at the bottom and still loves his food. He really tries very hard to feed himself but ends up getting most of the food smooshed all over his face, in his hair, in his ears, on the floor.....He's now drinking water out  of his sippy cup although he sometimes just likes to pour it all over the floor even though it's supposed to be a "non-spill" cup.  Justin loves pushing our wooden chair around the apartment, practicing his walking skills and has been standing on his own for short bursts of time. Another favourite past time is emptying out cupboards, drawers, bags, the dustbin! We try take Justin to the playground as he loves other children and gets very excited when he sees them but he has yet to warm up to the swings. He would much rather just crawl around, waving at the other children or sticking his tongue out at them. 

Can't believe my little baby boy is going to be 1 next month! We're planning on having a little party for him and wish everyone could join us for this milestone :(

Justin's First (Aided) Steps!

On the weekend, we attended a  first birthday party of the daughter, Samantha, of some old family friends. After the party they invited us over to their home. Justin found Samantha's hippo walker that he loved and my son took his first steps. Awww, he's growing up too quickly!

Happy Easter!

Our first Easter weekend in Sydney has come and gone in a flash. Hope everyone had a good Easter and for those who traveled, hope you got home safely.

My cousin and her husband from HK came out for a holiday and arrived on Thursday night. They're staying with my brother so we were invited over for brunch on Good Friday. Brunch turned into lunch which turned into a session of mah jong which turned into dinner. In between, we were able to take Justin out to the park to enjoy some fresh air and sunshine. On Saturday, Justin had another first birthday party to attend, his little friend Samantha. Her theme was Hello Kitty and her mum baked a Hello Kitty cake, Hello Kitty cupcakes and Hello Kitty biscuits. The pressure is on and the bar has been set!

Down the road from us is a place called Entertainment Quarter that has a Kids Central and markets on the weekends. We decided to head over there (unintentionally) and check it out. It was a huge fun fair and stalls with games and lots of food to sample. We'll definitely be going back there.

                                                Fun in the sun on Good Friday

                                      Look at Justin's naughty but very cute smile

                                                        Eating a cracker

2nd Day at Day Care

We were a bit worried about Justin settling in at day care since his day to be there would fall on Good Friday and that would mean a 2 week break. Thankfully the day care was accommodating and understanding and offered to have Justin in on an alternate day.

Early Wednesday morning, Row changed and washed, changed Justin, fed him breakfast, packed his bag and got him ready for school all while I lay in bed trying to recover from a tummy bug. Hats off to dad as he still managed to leave home at his normal time of 7:30am although he did miss his own breakfast. Thankfully I wasn't that sick and managed to get a lot of things done while Justin was at day care and this included a nice leisurely breakfast. Row called to say that Justin was happy enough when he left but wasn't sure how he was faring but since the school hadn't called neither Row nor I, we assumed Justin was fine.

Seeing as it was only Justin's 2nd day and he has a week's break between, it was another half day for young master Ming. At lunch time, I made my over to North Sydney to collect my little munchkin. On arrival, the room leader cheerfully informed me that Justin was a happy little chappie who even succumbed to a half hour nap (not long, I know, but good enough for his first nap at day care ...and better than him standing in his crib, stamping his feet like his first day!) While I was talking to his teacher, Justin was busy playing with the toys and a few other kids, all girls! The teachers were very happy with Justin, saying he had his morning bottle, was about to have his lunch bottle, tasted his lunch but didn't finish it, although he finished his dessert, he had a nap and he reached out to the other children and got 'involved' in the activities. His teacher also commented how affectionate Justin is, very generous with his kisses, both with the other children and with the teachers.

At the end of each day, the teacher puts together a daily diary which is a powerpoint presentation of the day's activities and Justin was in a few pictures....him eating snack; him pulling his face at the lunch; him playing with the building blocks with another girl,;him listening to story time....oh too cute!

Although Justin was happy to see me, he wasn't too happy to be at home with just mum as his playmate and his few, boring toys! And he made sure I knew all about it by being very hard to please...but I managed to get a smile out of him....eventually!