| | well, the 7th June was Kristin’s birthday and Tien-Long and I made pork-stuffed mushrooms with rice for dinner, and for desert, we bought watermelon. the weather’s been really nice recently (finally), and the melon really hit the spot... it’s really starting to feel like summer. it’s hard to believe that Kris and I have been together for nearly 8 and-a-half years! and now we have our little dragon… Happy Birthday, Mummy!
both of Kris’s parents had visited Tien-Long within two months of his birth. mine, living in different parts of the world, never had the time to come see our son, until recently. my parents are currently doing the long-distance relationship thing, until this summer when my father retires from his job as a professor in Canada, and joins my mother in China, where she has been teaching at a Canadian school. the only time they get to spend together is during holidays, and they chose to spend their most recent one-week holiday break with Tien-Long here in London, UK… I originally feared that Ong Ba’s (Grandfather and Grandmother in Vietnamese) delay in visiting was down to lack of interest, as my two nephews already live in the same town as my dad. perhaps once you’ve met one grandson, you’ve met them all, so you’ve become somewhat desensitised? I needn’t have worried. it was wonderful to have my parents over for the week, despite the cramped one bedroom accommodations of our flat. Ong Ba look really well. Ba brought over some truly lovely gifts for us, especially Tien-Long—he got a beautiful two-piece Chinese outfit with a dragon on it, and some squeaky trainers (sneakers for you those of you in North America!). it was wonderful to let Ong Ba play with our son, and Tien-Long really took to both of them. seeing my father laugh out loud and be so excited playing with our son really put my dad in a different light. not that my father was mean when I was younger, but I don’t remember him being so joyful (well, with the exception of some instances when my younger brother was a toddler), so carefree. guess that’s down to not having all the responsibilities of parenthood. anyhow, I was very sad when they had to go back. one cannot truly appreciate all the emotions and sacrifices parents make for their children until parenthood is experienced first-hand. that said, thank you, Ong Ba for everything you did and are still doing for your sons.
two weeks later, Kris’s Mum (Deb or Grannie) and Grannie (AKA Great-Grannie or GG) came to visit. Deb had already been over twice since Tien-Long was born, and GG once. despite GG occasionally reliant on a push chair, she is such an amazing trooper, and has never failed to tackle the flight of stairs leading to our flat. it was amazing to see how much Tien-Long how grown since the last time GG was here. also, at least this time it didn’t take a whole week for Tien-Long to greet Grannie Deb without getting upset. unfortunately, both family visits didn’t coincide with any of my holiday time, so I didn’t get to spend much time with everyone, although we’re hoping to make up for that this August. it has to be said that having four generations of a family in one room was quite a significant experience for us.
our little baby continues to develop. he’s really building up his repertoire of vocal techniques, squealing and screaming in delight, calling out, cooing, and use of consonants such as ‘B’ and ‘M’. it remains to be seen whether or not he’s deliberately trying to say words resembling Mama or Bo (Dad in Vietnamese), however we are convinced that when we say ‘Bye Bye’ he tries to mimic the ‘B’ sounds. his manual dexterity is really coming along, and he enjoys banging cups together, slapping tables with his open hands, and holding and drinking from his bottle. being a baby, of course he loves stuffing things into his mouth, including spoons and even other people’s fingers. unfortunately, since his two sharp middle lower teeth have come in, gnawing at fingers can be unbelievably painful (I feel sorry for Kris when she breastfeeds him…). he also loves drinking from cups, and has started eating apple flavoured rice cakes and baby pasta (non-pureed foods!). he also loves tugging at my face, yanking my lower lip here and there… ouch. he still hasn’t shown much interest in crawling, although he’s got really strong legs and keeps trying to push himself up. the past few weeks, he’s really learned how to sit up straight unassisted, and he LOVES being pushed in swings.
this past Tuesday, whilst at Waitrose (our local grocery store), one of the young cashiers, to whom I’d never spoken, was speaking to her colleague, and mentioned that she had been working at the store ever since Tien-Long was a newborn. it was wonderful to know that people recognise our son, and that he was being used as a reference point in someone’s life.
last week was half-term, and it was great to spend some quality time with my family, going to Regents Park, and catching up with close friends, including Tien-Long’s friends Charlotte (and parents Bec and Neil) and Connor (and mum Clare). we also played host to a family friend, Julia, who is the daughter of friends from our old residence. Julia, however, is no longer little, and is now entering her last undergrad year at Harvard!
Tien-Long had a special rendezvous on Tuesday 30th May. in my overexcitement about our little dragon’s looks, I decided to send to send some pictures to a few baby modelling agencies in London. I have to admit that this was purely a matter of satisfying my own ego, and Kristin had absolutely NO interest in doing this. I know that my opinion of Tien-Long’s looks is COMPLETELY objective and unbiased (yeah right…), and that parents are programmed to love their babies’ appearances (otherwise, there’d be a higher rate of rejection, I suppose). an agency expressed interest and invited our son for an interview, which would consist of a short photoshoot and a chance to ask questions. when we arrived at Hungry Tiger studios in South London on the last of four days of shoots, Tien-Long’s name wasn’t even on the list! however, the members of staff were great, and Jenny, the agency rep fit us into their busy schedule without even blinking. Michelle, the baby hair and make-up specialist, cleaned up his face and decided that Tien-Long’s spiky hair needed no tampering. Tien-Long got to practise his sitting skills on hard white concrete, whilst Dan, the photographer worked his magic and took some gorgeous digital pictures of Tien-Long which we could then see on the nearby laptop. Tien-Long was brilliant and so interactive, and the experience was lovely. regardless of the selection outcome, it’s exciting to think that our son is the first (?) Packer/Phi/Barnett family member to be considered by a modelling agency! and no, it’s not some dinky unknown company—they had four of their children feature in a recent Burberry worldwide campaign… we’ll let you know the outcome soon… stay posted.
this week has been very trying for Tien-Long. Kris has had to return to teaching from maternity leave, and so our son has had to attend nursery for the first time. this change of routine was quite traumatic at first, but he seems to be settling in better each day. however, he definitely knows when mummy’s leaving him in the nursery, and bursts into tears without fail. perhaps it is more upsetting for the parents. we are fortunate that Tien-Long is cared for by brilliant staff members, and that the brand new nursery is actually at Kristin’s school. this week, I’ve been rushing home ASAP in order to catch my son on his way home. and when I leap out from behind a wall with a ‘Boo!’, inevitably I am greeted by a huge grin. after a gruelling day at work, there is no better feeling than being greeted by your child with such love.
Thursday night I experienced a first: Tien-Long weed on me not once, not twice, but THREE times in the space of half an hour… first time was when I was preparing his bath, and he was sitting on my lap. the next time was when I came back with him to test the bath water. thinking myself clever, I decided to join him in the bath to clean off the wee, only to have him pee in the bath a few minutes later… ugh…
well, this entry has definitely gone on for far too long. I am off to bed, but first I shall do my nightly tradition of kissing Tien-Long’s ‘meaty cheeks’ as I affectionately call them. May you all get to experience the same unbelievable joy… |
