Bathtime, Digger

One of George's favourite books is the Little Yellow Digger.  Needless to say, the word "Digger" features about a thousand times, and George absolutely loves it: .

Yesterday, munchkin grabbed the book, then started crawlthrowing towards Rachel (he can't hold a book and crawl at the same time, so he crawlthrows - crawl a bit, throw the book a bit, crawl a bit more, throw the book a bit further...)  The crawlthrow culminated in one last book fling and him proudly yelling "DIGGA!" to Rachel.  So we can now add "Digger" to the list of words he sort of understands (the others being "cheese", "yay!", "cats" and "uh-oh").  I know it doesn't sound like much of an achievement, but knowing that he's associating words with actions and objects is pretty cool (given that he calls anything and everything "mummy" or "daddy"...)

Anyway, to celebrate the new (rather manly) word, his very proud daddy bought this for him at lunchtime yesterday:

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It's not yellow, but it is little

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Other than that, the only real news is that George's first haircut is tomorrow.  I'll take photos, I promise.

Ending the working week with a few photos of his lordship in the bath last night:

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Almost... almost...

I wasn't going to post this, as it's not actually that interesting... but it does mark the moment when George *almost* ditched his training wheels.  He was playing by the coffee table and decided that he wanted a book sitting on the ottoman. He turned around and you could see the thought floating through his head.  He was clearly considering letting go of the coffee table so that he could wobble to the ottoman... but it was not to be.  Despite supporting calls from his parents to walk a few steps. he dropped to his knees and crawled over. But damn, it was close.

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Weekend photos

A bit of weekend randomness (although admittedly there are a few photos from today in here as well): .

Left:  George and Rachel with pals Rory and Alexander  |  Top right: Concerned about something...  |  Bottom right:  Sticks are awesome toys

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Top left: In the bath tonight | Bottom left: Storytime with Rachel yesterday | Right: Avoiding Mummy's kiss in the elevator

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Random 8x10s

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Perched on the coffee table, pondering the meaning of life. Or when his next meal might be.

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Saying goodnight to May after Friday's bath (taken from inside the kitchen)

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Because you need more photos of me.

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Bathtime busy boy

It's been a while since  the George's last bathtime photos - although now that he can stand up in the bath, I had to be a bit more discerning about which photos I uploaded.  Parts of him that used to be pretty well hidden are now... slightly less well hidden when he's standing up and moving about (I think you know what I mean).  Nevertheless, here are a few shots of his lordship... .

Yup - this is what unwound curls look like

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A slightly disapproving parting look for Daddy

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Odds and ends

Lord Bunky of Hong Kong had a lovely weekend (as always).  He watched his first rugby game with the boys yesterday and then went to his mate Milo's 1st birthday party just across in the other block.  Then he slept obliviously as his parents went and got amongst some fine dining at the Football Cricket Club for Kate's 50th birthday dinner (seriously - Tempura Artichoke? It kicked ass). The weather was a bit bleak today, so we headed down to the local toy shop (Wise Kids) which has an indoor playground - just perfect for crappy weather days. The little man had an absolute ball down there - it was really lovely to see.  He was absolutely over the moon climbing through tunnels, hiding behind walls, and just generally being a little boy.  There's no photography allowed down there, but I did manage to take a few stealth photos on my phone (under the pretense of sending text messages):

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In the afternoon, G's godparents (the UK-based ones, Sam and Katy) came over with John and Kate to visit the little man before taking off back to the UK.  After a 5 minute warming up period, he was quite happy to play with his visitors and he even kindly let them read stories to him.  He's so generous.

Not much  else really - although I should send a big Happy Birthday out to George's other godmother, Ang.  Happy Birthday Ang! (From your favourite godchild...)

A few photos that I had sitting in the camera - a black and white one that beautifully shows off the little man's afro and the eyelashes, and another set that shows you what George's foot does during his "Oh look - a sheepskin rug... I must put my head down" minibreaks.

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I cannot think of a title for this entry

. A collection of iPhone photos from Sunday - we wandered down to the grassy area at Cyberport and let Bunky tear around and eat grass (the usual routine).  Ok, so maybe not a lot of grass eaten this time - the focus was on teaching him to go down the little concrete steps backwards.  He's still not crash hot at it, but he's getting there:

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And one for the "Only in Hong Kong" file.  This "cordoned off" area was just outside the supermarket. I did look up at the ceiling to see if there was a leak or something, but nope - nothing out of the ordinary up there.  The mind boggles at the thought process of whoever set up this cordon:

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Morning shenanigans | The Poochess Bride

. Just a few photos of Little Mr Curlytop from this morning:

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The local English language newspaper prints Pooch Cafe - it's a great little comic strip that I only discovered when I arrived in Hong Kong in 2004.   Anyway, the latest comic was brilliant...

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...particularly if you realised where the dialogue came from:

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Inigo: I do not suppose you could a-speed things up?

Dread Pirate Roberts: If you're in such a hurry, you could lower a rope or a tree branch or find something useful to do.

Inigo: I could do that. I still got some rope up here, but I do not think you would accept my help, since I am only waiting around to kill you.

Dread Pirate Roberts: That does put a damper on our relationship.

Inigo: I swear, on the soul of my father, Domingo Montoya, you will reach the top alive.

Dread Pirate Roberts: Throw me the rope.

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Indeed - today's strip was a wonderful little tribute to the awesome 1987 movie, The Princess Bride.

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More visitors, more photos

Michael and Andres came to visit us for a few days - they arrived on Wednesday (kicking Katy and Sam out in the process) and left about half an hour ago.  We had a great time catching up with them, and they seemed to enjoy their time in Hong Kong (I assume they weren't lying about it...) We took them to one of our favourite places, Bistro Manchu in Elgin St, Soho - great food as always:

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Michael and Rachel

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Andres

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Crikey the food at this place is good

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We were going to go for a bit of a wander around the streets, but Rachel suggested that we all head up the Peak Tram to try and get a look at the city.  Although the tram ride was awesome (it's the world's steepest incline for a cable car), the city was shrouded in a thick fog - and we saw pretty much nothing...

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Walking through the deserted wet market on the way to the tram.  That's Andres in the foreground, with Rachel and Michael just ahead of him.

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Andres' reflection in the window of the tram on the way up

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The fog at the Peak was ridiculous - Michael, Rachel and Andres were about 5 metres from me when I took this photo

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Not a lot else really - George coped admirably with the second wave of visitors and happily destroyed any Lego towers that Michael or Andres dared to build.

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Naturally, I'll leave you with a few photos of his majesty:

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Storytime with Rachel.  Note the super casual crossed legs.

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He still hasn't worked out how to get into the kitchen, thank goodness.

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Under the couch | Dancing Paddy

Katy and Sam arrived on Saturday afternoon and George wasted no time in making Sam the "go to guy" for getting his toys out from under the couch: .

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And now, just because I can... I give you "Dancing Paddy on a Swiss Ball" (I have maintained a level of pixelation in order to protect the innocent):

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