"I'm lovin' it"

Stomach flu, work, high fever, work-travel, family-wide cold, death of dear friend and more work. All of the above and more occupied most of our last few weeks - hence the absence from this space. It is not unexpected that my return to full-time work will leave me with little time to report to family and friends the little fellow's rapid growth.

And swift it has been! Since he started at the creche (and turning 19 month old), Craig's social and verbal development have embarked on the express train. He is stringing two to three words together to form simple sentences and even picked up a few Mandarin words from his teachers. He is loving his time at the creche - always full of anticipation in the morning. Like most babies and toddlers, he loves the routine at the creche. This is a great relief for me, especially, to know that C's time away from us at the creche is so positive for him.

See him in his uniform:

It is hard to believe that it is the crazy time of the year again when my travels for work will be back to back the next few weeks till we make our annual pilgrimage to see Brian's family back east (of the US). But till then, I will be away at least three days a week from this week on. Meanwhile, I can't wait till November...

Last week C brought home his first handicraft project - a lantern for the Mid-Autumn festival. He is rather proud of his "handiwork" as he's been swinging it around at home rendering it its demise soon:

Self-service

Before Craig started at the creche, my fear of mess (especially those which require soapy clean up) had been a deterring factor in Craig's delay to acquire the skill to self-feed. Other than using the fork on his eggs (for breakfast) and cheese squares (for snacks), he was not intentionally encouraged to learn how to use the spoon to feed himself. Besides, everyone tells me that the tots will soon pick up these independent skills when they see how dexterous their classmates are. In addition, mealtimes are happy and easy affairs for C and for us who feed him as he loves his food (his teachers at school never fail to be impressed by his appetite).

However, last evening C decided that he will no longer tolerate being held captive in his high chair and insisted on using the spoon himself. So, after attempts to assuage the hellion's ardent and feet-stomping determination failed, I decided to let him have his way with the spoon and his dinner. I had expected mess and a turned over bowl but the little boy surprised us all by his deft spooning - leaving very little for me to clean up. So I guess a toast is in order as we celebrate this significant milestone of our fast-growing toddler! Congratulations, little boy! You are growing too fast for us to catch our breath!

Post-dinner happy spoon-dance - obviously pleased with his feat: