It's official, Sammy is finally able to completely turn over. He did his first full turnover today. He can't fully lift his head for more than a few seconds, though, so we need to keep watch over him, just in case he flips over and presses his nose into the bed preventing him from breathing.
Trying to attract the attention of Domu and Pia, I said out loud, US-Marine-style, "Listen up boys and girls!"
Pia replies: we are not poison girls!
I was admiring how pretty Pia's face was, and I asked her to turn her face so I could look at her profile.
Me: You're so beautiful
Pia: No! I'm not beautiful
Me: Ok, you're ugly
Pia: No! I'm not ugly
Me: Then what are you.
Pia: I'm angry.
Yesterday Sammy started trying to roll over. He could only manage to turn halfway, so that he's lying on his right shoulder. I don't know how he will lift his head once he succeeds in turning over.
Also today, we applied for a replacement for his lost passport. He met quite a few people today, with everyone remarking how nice looking he is. Sammy actually smiles at strangers when they greet him.
A woman and her child tickled Sammy's feet at the immigration center today, while at the tram, a few Chinese ladies were doting over him, talking about him. I couldn't understand what they were saying but it has something to do with Sammy looking like a Westerner.
Pia wet her bed again last night. The extra bad thing is that she was lying beside her mother, who woke up with a third her shirt dripping wet with Pia's potion.
As I bent down to clean away bits of food on the floor, I noticed Domu's shorts smelled of urine (he has been trying to hold his wee wee, and it seems to have been leaking out). I reminded him for the hundredth time: "Don't hold your weewee. As soon as you feel you want to weewee, go to the toilet. Look, your pants smell like weewee."
PIa, ever striving to be better than her brother, butts in : "Daddy, smell my panty, it doesn't smell like weewee."
It's been two months since we started weaning them from pampers (diapers). We've been waking up the two elder children at around 1am every morning to let them take care of wee-wee business, so that they won't do it in bed.
There are ways when we miss by a few minutes and it's too late.
One night, I went over to their bed and touched both to see if they are still dry. Both were. I picked up Domu and brought him to the toilet. When we came back to bed, I picked up Pia, and she had already done her thing. In bed. Since then, I've started to pick up Pia first.
Current score since we started the program:
Pia : has wet the bed 6 times
Domu: 1 time.
How long will it take?
We enrolled Domu in a painting class at his school. It's his first time to use watercolors and he's enjoying it. Meanwhile, so that Pia doesn't feel left out, we bought her a coloring book.
They're both attending music class, singing Cantonese songs, which I'm sure they have no idea what it's all about.
Sammy got another round of immunization shots. This time round it's for polio, and DPT (Diptheria, Pertussis, and Tetanus). They advised us to expect some fever. So far, he's alright, although he seems to lack appetite. He used to finish 6 oz fairly easily. These days, 3 oz is enough for him.
Sammy is only eight weeks old and he's already saying his first word.
Probably.
We always greet him 'Hello Sammy! Helloooo' , and being the sociable baby, he smiles the cutest gummy smile possible and tries to reply back 'whooo' or 'whaaaugg'.
Recently his reply' becoming more and more clearer. He's saying "hewoo".
Domu and Pia started attending their extra-curricular English class. Their former teacher was Mr. Marvin, who we understand has left for the Philippines. So we were curious who their new teacher is.
Q: What's the name of your new English teacher?
Domu and Pia: Mr. Snake.
Pia received a special card on her birthday.
The photo doesn't do justice to the card's stunning craftsmanship and very finely detailed work. How was it done?
We don't believe it was made on earth; we think some kind of alien advanced technology was used to build it.
Really unbelievable.
And now we wonder if the rest of us will receive similar cards on our birthdays.
Thanks Auntie Thelma and Uncle David.
We were remarking about the difference in feeding styles of the 3 children. Domu was the most frustrating to feed, taking up to an hour to finish 30 ml of milk. He would fall asleep between each ml.
Pia was easier, even knowing (even during her first days!) how to pause and regain her breath while trying to finish 30 ml.
But Samuel is the fastest, now finishing up to 150ml in just 15 minutes.
One Sunday not long ago, I brought Domu to Mass. When the time for collection came, I found out that I had forgotten to bring any paper bills -- all I had was a single one dollar coin. Situations like this are embarassing, especially during those days when the collectors happen to be the teens we teach at catechism class. Oh, look teacher Trump is donating a whole dollar! Wow! A Guiness record!
So I passed the coin to Domu. Hopefully he knows enough to be discreet when dropping donations into the collection bag.
Wishful thinking.
As the collector passed by our pew, she starts angling the bag towards us, but way too soon Domu tosses the coin at the bag like a basketball player attempting a 3-pointer...and failing to hit anything.
The coin misses the bag, falls on the marble floor with its distinct '1-dollar-donation-from-a-cheapskate' CLINK!, then the rules of physics kicks in and rolls the coin under other pews to the spot where it is hardest to reach.
People all around started looking and bending trying to look for our super-generous donation.
We went to Mass last Sunday. Domu has a former classmate who is always present at Mass, and she and Domu are always at play during Mass. It's fun to watch them play because they don't really speak to each other. Domu doesn't speak Chinese, and the girl (Mei mei) mainly speaks Chinese, although she knows English and Domu knows a little Chinese.
When the two play, they can really get going. At first, they quietly run from the back of the pews to the middle aisle almost halfway to the altar and round the pews back to the back again. Sometimes, they get carried away and become noisy, and we remind them with a stare and a Sssshh!
There is a section at the back that is partly enclosed. If they spend their playtime there, they're most unobtrusive.
In last Sunday's Mass, the consecration bell dingding'ed at the wrong time. Usually it will do a ding-ding-ding at consecration, but this time the dinging was in the middle of the homily. A soft, but audible dingdingding.
I looked at the back, and as expected, Domu had the bell in his hands and ringing it softly. I gave him the stare and he let it down softly.
A few seconds later it was ringing again. Dingdingding It was Mei mei this time. Nothing I can do about that. She's not my child.
Domu pronounces 'candles' as 'candols'. I've been correcting him for over a year now, but he forgets. Pia, not wanting to make the same mistake, overcorrects herself and mispronounces 'candles' as 'kendals'.
We've been teaching Pia and Domu how to spell. The first word for them to spell is PILLOW. They were quickly able to recall.
Last night, we taught them how to spell TRUCK. Pia had a hard time trying to recall the spelling. Just after she'd spell T-R-U-C-K, I would ask her to spell again and she would forget T-R-C-D.
To help her focus on the task, I told her to stand up, and that she won't be able to sit or lie down until she's able to spell TRUCK.
It took a while. When she finally remembered the spelling, I asked her to repeat it ten times, to seal it into her memory.
Once she knew the spelling, I showed her the word truck and she was instantly able to recognise it. She can pick it off very quickly now from paragraphs.
Tonight the next word will be RAIN.
While researching for techniques on how to teach reading to children, I discovered www.starfall.com, a site that offers lots of games that help teach reading skills.
At lunchtime today, Pia came to visit the office. I showed her one of the screens. On the screen is a drawing of a tin can, and the incomplete word _AN. The child is supposed to pick the correct letter from a group of four letters, to complete the correct word 'CAN'.
The selection of four letters are: F, P, C, and R.
I asked Pia, which letter is the correct one?
Pia: (Confidently, and pointing generically to the screen) 'B' !
We told Domu and Pia we will be moving to Australia in December. (Both of them we know prefer Hong Kong).
Domu : Are we coming back to Hong Kong?
Me: No.
Pia: But we want here in Hong Kong
Me: Why?
Pia: (Trying to find a reason) Because there are many c*ps here. (I could not figure what she meant)
Me: c*ps?
Pia: Yes, there are many c*ps here. There are no c*ps in Australia
Me: Oh, cups? For drinking?
Pia: Yes. And we will be tired if we go to Australia.
Samuel applied for his Hong Kong ID and passport today. He's qualified to obtain a Hong Kong passport because he is Chinese. How did we end up with a Chinese son when both parents are non-Chinese? Was there a mix-up at the hospital?
The rule in Hong Kong is that anyone born in Hong Kong who is of Chinese descent is automatically Chinese (whether you like it or not). If the parents aren't Chinese, the burden is on the parents to prove Chinese lineage, if they want the government to recognise the child's Chinese nationality. In our case we believe it is beneficial, so we like that arrangement.
Our family can trace its roots back to China, therefore Samuel has Chinese descent and is Chinese.
Pia enjoying herself in front of the camera.
When she's in the mood, she's a joy to photograph. When she's not in the mood, it's impossible to get her to produce a simple smile on a normal face. You'll get all sorts of facial contortions that she can come up with.
Taken at Castle Hill.
To celebrate our wedding anniversary last month, we decided to bring Dominic and Pia to the movies (Samuel also came along as well but didn't see much since he was still inside his Mommy's tummy).
It was their first time to go to the movies. Choices were limited as the family-oriented shows running at the time were only Superman Returns, and Cars. I decided that Cars might be the better choice, although we were worried that at 128 minutes, it's a bit too long. We didn't know how they would take to sitting in the dark for so long.
Dominic and Pia have just been introduced to Superman via old Superman videos available at archive.org and, very recently, the original Superman I movie, starring Cristopher Reeves, which was shown on Sunday TV movies.
We went to UA Cinema at Windsor House in Causeway Bay. Being cheapskates, we went for the 10:20am showing. It costs only $30 at that time. All other shows for the day was at $45.
The ticketing lady looked at Pia and sized her up as less than 1 meter tall, thus she gets to go in for free. That was a pleasant surprise. We picked the seats we wanted and then proceeded to go inside.
But when we were about to enter the section where the theaters were, the young teenager who collects tickets stopped us and said she thought Pia should have a ticket. When we tried to explain in English, she backed off, probably it wasn't worth the trouble of talking in English, and just let us pass.
It was the children's first time in any theatre, but it was the first time for the adults to this particular theatre. Compared to what I recall of theatres in Manila, this cinema was about half the size, perhaps even only a third.
The theatre had two columns of seats, divided by only one aisle . Each column had only 6 seats, I think, so the theatre was only about 12 seats wide, plus the aisle. This was only 1 of two theatres showing Cars in its original English. The rest were showing the Cantonese dubbed version.
Domu enjoyed the show and was able to follow some of the story, laughing at the appropriate places. I tried to explain the important points. Pia looked bored and just concentrated on eating the snacks we brought in.
At just the worst possible moment, Pia declared it was time for her to visit the toilet. My wife missed the climax of the show (the final moments of the final race) because she had to bring Pia (I had brought Domu a little earlier -- I can't recall at which point so I wonder how much I missed).
All in all, it was an ok movie. Perhaps a little too long. A few scenes had me bursting out loud: the punks playing mellow music while Mack was trying to stay awake come to mind. The cow tractors were enjoyable.
After the show, they were pretty happy at the experience.
When Pia and Domu watch cartoons, some scenes will cause them to burst out in guffaws of louad laughter. Sine their outburst comes at the same time, I presume they both find the scene funny, and for the same reason.
But I have my doubts.
Because in the middle of their outburst, while still laughing, Pia will ask Domu: "Why are you laughing?"
I don't know how to understand her question. Which one does she mean?
"Why are you laughing?"
"Why are you laughing?"
"Why are you laughing?"
"Why are you laughing?"
I downloaded several old Popeye and Superman and Betty Boop videos from archive.org. I wanted to see if my children will take to it. Surprisingly they did, even though the videos are grainy. They just spend their summer vacation days watching these shows over and over. Spinach has become a by-word to them. But just as in previous generations, children aren't big fans of spinach.
Pia's question is fascinating: What does Bluto eat?
They also particularly enjoy a rather macabre Cinderella version of Betty Boop. I didn't see Betty Boop when I was a child so this is a first time for me as well.
I spied Pia and Dominic up on a chair and trying to open an elevated cabinet, which they are not allowed to do.
Me: What are you doing!
Pia: W'ere going to Australia by ourselves!
A feeling of dread rises up each time we face the prospect of having to deal with the bureaucracy of our old home country. The same dread surfaced again particularly in my wife when she tried to register the baby and acquire his birth certificate.
Because of a minor clerical error in my marriage certificate, the births registrar would not accept the marriage certificate and indicated that we need to get this typo amended first. The error involved my year of birth. Just a year off of the correct one.
After consultations with the consulate, the Manila parish where we got married, and the local civil registrars, we determined that we are facing the prospect of going through a torturously tortuous ten-steps-from-hell procedure :
http://www.census.gov.ph/data/civilreg/ten_steps.html
(To the clerk who made this typo nine years ago, thank you very much.)
We decided to instead appeal to the logic and common sense of the immigration officers here. If they reject this marriage certificate, then my son is an illegitimate son, but then how about his brother and sister? Will their status be changed from legitimate to illegitimate, since their own status, already established earlier, are based on exactly the same set of documents? If their status will not be changed, then how do we explain the paradox of having two legitimate children and one illegitimate child based on exactly the same set of documents?
Fortunately, we did not have to try argue all these as we faced a different registrar who had enough sense to know that this particular clerical error is rather petty. This officer focused on serving us even though the procedure went past the official office hours.
In the end, finally, our baby has acquired his new official name: Augustine Samuel.
Dominic and Pia's baby brother arrived in Hong Kong on July 24 via Cesarean airlines. The original plan was to arrive by Normal air, but it is already three days overdue, so the doctor decided to proceed with Cesarean section. Of course, the mother was given enough time to decide on such a major decision: two hours.
The operation went smoothly, taking just under 30 minutes. Baby was delivered by a female Dr. Han, a name which sounds like she came from the mainland. We were both apprehensive and hopeful. Apprehensive because, well, she's from the mainland, and mainlanders were considered rather backward in Hong Kong. Hopeful because if she's in Hong Kong, then she must be among the best from the mainland. Anyway, those are all conjectures, we don't really know where she comes from.
The mother tries to breastfeed but at this time there's not much milk, so the baby's food is supplemented by formula. The hospital uses Frisolac Advanced.
A day after delivery he has already been vaccinated with BCG. Just before being discharged from the hospital he was given oral polio vaccine, to be followed up a few weeks later with another polio vaccine. We were given warning that his feces and urine may contain traces of the weakened polio virus, so proper precautions have to be taken, especially if any member of the household isn't vaccinated.
While teaching Pia how to read:
Daddy: This word is 'said'
Pia: Said
Daddy: Spell said
Pia : S-A-I-D
Daddy: Good! What's this word? (Pointing to exactly the same word)
Pia: Vampire!
Daddy I want to ride a hose, says Dominic. I know he means 'horse' but it just dawned on me that he's been saying 'hose' ever since. "Horrrrse", I said, "Hosssss" he says, trying to say 'horse'.
Pia chimes in, trying to better her brother, "Daddy look at me, "Herrrse"
Pia loves to sing. She sings while eating. She sings while sleeping. She even sings while sitting in the toilet bowl. She sings whatever new song she's learned, and some old ones.
Yesterday she started singing the children's classic "Old McDonald had a farm..." and mixed it with another children's classic. "Old McDonald had a farm...and Bingo was his name-o...B---I---N-G-O, B---I---N-G-O and Bingo was his name-o."
Elmer Fudd is famous for mispronouncing his r's into w's. "Sshhh...I'm hunting wabbits" is perhaps his most recognizable sentence. Well, we recently discovered that Elmer sleeps and eats with us.
Dominic says 'woof' instead of 'roof', 'floow' instead of 'floor', 'wist' instead of 'wrist'. The mispronunciation is not immediately obvious -- we just recently noticed it. But once you've been alerted, it's pretty clear. I'm trying to get him to overpronounce his r's so he'll get used to them. So far, he's amused by his mispwonunciations.
