These days, Jethro, he cries alot. What I think, he is
1. frustrated
Can't walk properly, cries when he falls. Can't get into the walker properly, cries when both legs are in the same hole, or when the knees go in first and get stuck there. Can't reach for things he can see. Being withheld from touching things within his reach. Pushed by Ethan. Blocked by Ethan. What a lot of frustrations for a single day!
2. angry at
a. lack of attention
I am always not around. Ethan is hardly a good soother, though he does entertain sometimes. Jethro is quite neglected.
b. being forced to eat
Spits out food if fed too fast. Appetite reduced by one third and it has become very hard to get him to complete his meal, as compared to the days before 'these days'. One meal now takes twice the time to finish (or for me to accept defeat).
3. a fussy eater
Started introducing more lumpy, more adult-like food for him as he turned one. Then he had a regression and now refuses to eat things that need much chewing. He spits them out. Back to porridge, back to 10, 11-month-old days.
4. bored
He sees his brother moving among the various rooms freely, and he's stuck in this one room. The toys in this room never change! He's bored after a morning of them. He cries.
5. tired
Usually waking up at around 7-8 am, he only takes one afternoon nap now. But that makes him rather tired around late morning and evening. And grouchy. And frustrated. And clingy. And easily bored...
6. sick
He's been sick - had a temperature a few days ago, is still coughing. Nose is less runny, but seems to be having diarrhoea now. Maybe this can explain some of the bothersome behaviours above? Dare I hope that he'll be a nicer baby when he's well?
Like his brother.
Ethan's been almost a ray of sunshine. He also had his fever, diarrhoea, low appetite, whiny moments for a few days. But now he seems well, eats a lot, and is in a good mood most of the day. Of course he has his tantrums and characteristic misbehaviours still, but on the whole, he has been most co-operative, most joyous and rowdy, and not too fussy about food.
Oh, children! They do take turns, who says they don't?
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Saturday, 12 September 2009
The Road Goes On and On...
I lashed out at Ethan twice, two days in a row, in public, under the watchful eyes of the Scottish adults, who no doubt wondered if they should report me for child abuse. And for almost the same reason.
Incident #1
I went to fetch Ethan back from the nursery. He wanted to play with his new-found friend, Jay, in the nursery garden, and wouldn't leave till Jay also began to leave. Then they ran together along the pavement, hiding at the shop front doors, playing hide and seek with their mothers (one of them is me, but I don't play). At a corner, Jay turned left and continued running, stopping now and then to hide. Ethan ran with him, sometimes running further ahead. I called to Ethan to come back, we are going home. I smiled resignedly at Jay's mother. I wanted to stop and wait for him to discover that I was gone, and panicked. But a hunch told me that wild as he was then and in the company of a friend, this would not work until they were far, far away. Alright for Jay, he's running in the right direction for going back to his home. Not so Ethan, not so me-who's-chasing-after-Ethan. Finally, I could stand it no longer and started to run. Jay's mother started running with me, pushing the buggy with her younger son, who has the same birthday as Jethro. Carrying Jethro in the sling, I ran past Edinburgh Bargain Store, past the butcher, past the fish monger, till I nearly reached Ethan, and screamed, "靖恒！Stop!" I was angry, I sounded furious. Ethan burst into big tears. Behind me, I could see Jay's mother talking sternly to Jay. Maybe she was also shocked at witnessing this terrible side of me. Oh, I didn't care. I had Ethan turn round to face homeward at last. A subdued Ethan walked back with me, a puzzled Jay waved goodbye to him and he's still sobbing. I scolded him a little, threatening him with no more after-nursery play if he does not listen to me next time. But, somehow, I could not bring myself to be that angry with him. Maybe I recall a little how it was like to be his age.
Incident #2
I took Ethan and Jethro to the playgrounds at The Meadows. There, he met his 'long-lost' friend, Lorien. Both seemed excited to meet each other. Lorien was full of things to do, and Ethan happily went where she went.
He even tried the Flying Fox which I had to persuade him a lot to get on at Dalkeith Country Park's Adventure Playground. Lorien got onto the standing platform while I wasn't looking, but Ethan just couldn't climb up! While I was debating whether to go and help him, Lorien stretched out her hand and said, "Come, I'll pull you up!" Ethan did and sure enough, he very nearly pulled Lorien down with him. Luckily she was agile enough and held onto the railings. I quickly went over. I wasn't very keen on his trying out this time because I was holding Jethro and did not savour the notion of helping him onto the seat single-handed, and I couldn't possibly run with him this time. But this was a smaller one and it was quite easy to get him onto it. He went off by himself without calling for help but fell off at the rebound. It looked like an ugly fall, despite being on soft ground, but oh, how could he cry in front of his favourite girl?
He also climbed onto the rope pyramid cum merry-go-round though he did not reach the pinnacle as Lorien did. Good enough. He also told a boy to stop spinning the merry-go-round as they were getting down.
They sat at one of those little chairs under the slide structure and talked. He ran to me when he somehow hurt himself and had a bleeding tongue. But he drank a bit of water and was soon gone looking for Lorien.
They ran about on the grass and he came to me holding two yellow daisies, one with yellow petals and one with dead petals, to give to me. (How sweet the influence of little girls!) I passed the wilted one to Jethro and he threw it on the floor, then looked at the yellow one with interest. I picked up the one on the floor and passed it to him. He took it, threw it on the floor, and looked up at the yellow one. I picked it up again, passed it to him, and he took it, threw it and looked up again... Anyway, you get the idea. My life was definitely much less interesting than Ethan's at that point.
There is this thing about the playpark that makes me wonder about the mind behind the design of this place. There are two 'official' gates and then, at one point in the fence or hedges surrounding the little haven, there is a tunnel made of metal. It allows children to scramble out of the fenced area by burrowing through the tunnel. Towards there Lorien and Ethan gravitated, and the second time they went there, they were out when I next turned my head. I began to trace the occasional appearance of their clothes through the hedges as they ran along the perimeter, on the other side. A friendly man pointed to me where they were and thanking him (though his help was not needed), I went to one corner of the playpark to call them back. But by the time I reached there, they were running further away, past the toilets and towards the big gate of the Meadows, leading out to the roads.
You may wonder, at this time: where was Lorien's mother? She was around, somewhere. She appeared to me to be a rather laid back parent, only interfering a little at the Flying Fox. Most of the time, she sat around, though she changed places, no doubt to be near one of her two children. While Lorien and Ethan were running out of the Meadows gate and into the great wide world outside, she was nowhere near me.
So, I bellowed, then and there, at the top of my voice and pitch: "靖恒！靖恒！Stop! Get back here!" Ethan turned around. He probably could sense me fuming. So he started crying. Lorien seemed oblivious and ran on. I shouted out a weaker "Lorien!" But she ran out of the gate. Getting really worried this time, I ran towards the gate (of the playpark). By the time I was out of the gate and could see Ethan again, Lorien was out of sight. The friendly man proved to be invaluable this time round. He climbed out of the fence that I had not the physical ability to do while carrying Jethro. I was running, carrying Jethro, holding Ethan's hand, towards the gate, not knowing if I would be able to get to Lorien in time before some mishap occurs. The man offered to run after her. I reached the gate and saw him pick up Lorien, crying for "Mummy". He carried her to me, put her down, and told her to hold Ethan's hand. Together, holding hands, we went back to the playground. I attempted miserably to console Lorien.
I couldn't see her mother. I started wondering if I had to bring her back to our flat or somehow, with her help, bring her home, when, with great relief, I saw her mother coming towards us, with Lorien's brother at her side. In a voice that bespoke she knew nothing of what had just happened (or might have happened) to her daughter, she told Lorien they were going home. "Say goodbye to Ethan." Calmly and quietly.
I debated whether to tell her mother about it. But Lorien had calmed down by then and since I did not know her mother, I decided not to. Lorien handed a branch with three big leaves to Ethan. Then, probably deciding she really couldn't bear to part with those leaves, she took them back while showing him which was the the back and which was the front of the leaves. She was walking away when she plucked one leave off the branch and gave it to Ethan.
We were walking back when Ethan asked about the flowers he passed to me earlier. (It's my fault, I had asked him where his leaf was first, and he showed me where he had placed it - in the basket under the buggy.)Proudly, I showed him the one with the yellow petals. He then asked about the other one. I had to tell him the truth - it was wilted so I let Jethro play with it and it was left at the playground. He was not convinced that being wilted justify my giving it to Jethro. Fearing a meltdown, I made myself sound righteous. Then, somehow he got to talking about the flowers Lorien gave to her mother, and a danger was averted. Hey, shouldn't he be the one cowering in fear of me, for landing himself in a dangerous situation a second time? But somehow, again, I couldn't bring myself to remain angry after the instance was over. I can be irrationally angry with him for touching the metal strainer in our toilet sink, but not this.
Anyway, we reached home, I breathed a sigh of relief, and then another one to catch my breadth.
Incident #1
I went to fetch Ethan back from the nursery. He wanted to play with his new-found friend, Jay, in the nursery garden, and wouldn't leave till Jay also began to leave. Then they ran together along the pavement, hiding at the shop front doors, playing hide and seek with their mothers (one of them is me, but I don't play). At a corner, Jay turned left and continued running, stopping now and then to hide. Ethan ran with him, sometimes running further ahead. I called to Ethan to come back, we are going home. I smiled resignedly at Jay's mother. I wanted to stop and wait for him to discover that I was gone, and panicked. But a hunch told me that wild as he was then and in the company of a friend, this would not work until they were far, far away. Alright for Jay, he's running in the right direction for going back to his home. Not so Ethan, not so me-who's-chasing-after-Ethan. Finally, I could stand it no longer and started to run. Jay's mother started running with me, pushing the buggy with her younger son, who has the same birthday as Jethro. Carrying Jethro in the sling, I ran past Edinburgh Bargain Store, past the butcher, past the fish monger, till I nearly reached Ethan, and screamed, "靖恒！Stop!" I was angry, I sounded furious. Ethan burst into big tears. Behind me, I could see Jay's mother talking sternly to Jay. Maybe she was also shocked at witnessing this terrible side of me. Oh, I didn't care. I had Ethan turn round to face homeward at last. A subdued Ethan walked back with me, a puzzled Jay waved goodbye to him and he's still sobbing. I scolded him a little, threatening him with no more after-nursery play if he does not listen to me next time. But, somehow, I could not bring myself to be that angry with him. Maybe I recall a little how it was like to be his age.
Incident #2
I took Ethan and Jethro to the playgrounds at The Meadows. There, he met his 'long-lost' friend, Lorien. Both seemed excited to meet each other. Lorien was full of things to do, and Ethan happily went where she went.
He even tried the Flying Fox which I had to persuade him a lot to get on at Dalkeith Country Park's Adventure Playground. Lorien got onto the standing platform while I wasn't looking, but Ethan just couldn't climb up! While I was debating whether to go and help him, Lorien stretched out her hand and said, "Come, I'll pull you up!" Ethan did and sure enough, he very nearly pulled Lorien down with him. Luckily she was agile enough and held onto the railings. I quickly went over. I wasn't very keen on his trying out this time because I was holding Jethro and did not savour the notion of helping him onto the seat single-handed, and I couldn't possibly run with him this time. But this was a smaller one and it was quite easy to get him onto it. He went off by himself without calling for help but fell off at the rebound. It looked like an ugly fall, despite being on soft ground, but oh, how could he cry in front of his favourite girl?
He also climbed onto the rope pyramid cum merry-go-round though he did not reach the pinnacle as Lorien did. Good enough. He also told a boy to stop spinning the merry-go-round as they were getting down.
They sat at one of those little chairs under the slide structure and talked. He ran to me when he somehow hurt himself and had a bleeding tongue. But he drank a bit of water and was soon gone looking for Lorien.
They ran about on the grass and he came to me holding two yellow daisies, one with yellow petals and one with dead petals, to give to me. (How sweet the influence of little girls!) I passed the wilted one to Jethro and he threw it on the floor, then looked at the yellow one with interest. I picked up the one on the floor and passed it to him. He took it, threw it on the floor, and looked up at the yellow one. I picked it up again, passed it to him, and he took it, threw it and looked up again... Anyway, you get the idea. My life was definitely much less interesting than Ethan's at that point.
There is this thing about the playpark that makes me wonder about the mind behind the design of this place. There are two 'official' gates and then, at one point in the fence or hedges surrounding the little haven, there is a tunnel made of metal. It allows children to scramble out of the fenced area by burrowing through the tunnel. Towards there Lorien and Ethan gravitated, and the second time they went there, they were out when I next turned my head. I began to trace the occasional appearance of their clothes through the hedges as they ran along the perimeter, on the other side. A friendly man pointed to me where they were and thanking him (though his help was not needed), I went to one corner of the playpark to call them back. But by the time I reached there, they were running further away, past the toilets and towards the big gate of the Meadows, leading out to the roads.
You may wonder, at this time: where was Lorien's mother? She was around, somewhere. She appeared to me to be a rather laid back parent, only interfering a little at the Flying Fox. Most of the time, she sat around, though she changed places, no doubt to be near one of her two children. While Lorien and Ethan were running out of the Meadows gate and into the great wide world outside, she was nowhere near me.
So, I bellowed, then and there, at the top of my voice and pitch: "靖恒！靖恒！Stop! Get back here!" Ethan turned around. He probably could sense me fuming. So he started crying. Lorien seemed oblivious and ran on. I shouted out a weaker "Lorien!" But she ran out of the gate. Getting really worried this time, I ran towards the gate (of the playpark). By the time I was out of the gate and could see Ethan again, Lorien was out of sight. The friendly man proved to be invaluable this time round. He climbed out of the fence that I had not the physical ability to do while carrying Jethro. I was running, carrying Jethro, holding Ethan's hand, towards the gate, not knowing if I would be able to get to Lorien in time before some mishap occurs. The man offered to run after her. I reached the gate and saw him pick up Lorien, crying for "Mummy". He carried her to me, put her down, and told her to hold Ethan's hand. Together, holding hands, we went back to the playground. I attempted miserably to console Lorien.
I couldn't see her mother. I started wondering if I had to bring her back to our flat or somehow, with her help, bring her home, when, with great relief, I saw her mother coming towards us, with Lorien's brother at her side. In a voice that bespoke she knew nothing of what had just happened (or might have happened) to her daughter, she told Lorien they were going home. "Say goodbye to Ethan." Calmly and quietly.
I debated whether to tell her mother about it. But Lorien had calmed down by then and since I did not know her mother, I decided not to. Lorien handed a branch with three big leaves to Ethan. Then, probably deciding she really couldn't bear to part with those leaves, she took them back while showing him which was the the back and which was the front of the leaves. She was walking away when she plucked one leave off the branch and gave it to Ethan.
We were walking back when Ethan asked about the flowers he passed to me earlier. (It's my fault, I had asked him where his leaf was first, and he showed me where he had placed it - in the basket under the buggy.)Proudly, I showed him the one with the yellow petals. He then asked about the other one. I had to tell him the truth - it was wilted so I let Jethro play with it and it was left at the playground. He was not convinced that being wilted justify my giving it to Jethro. Fearing a meltdown, I made myself sound righteous. Then, somehow he got to talking about the flowers Lorien gave to her mother, and a danger was averted. Hey, shouldn't he be the one cowering in fear of me, for landing himself in a dangerous situation a second time? But somehow, again, I couldn't bring myself to remain angry after the instance was over. I can be irrationally angry with him for touching the metal strainer in our toilet sink, but not this.
Anyway, we reached home, I breathed a sigh of relief, and then another one to catch my breadth.
Friday, 11 September 2009
Horses and Fireworks
Last Sunday, we were crazy enough to bring Ethan and Jethro out at 9pm to watch fireworks (courtesy of Bank of Scotland Fireworks Concert). We were not near the Ross Theatre in Princes Street Gardens where the concert was performed, so we could only watch the fireworks in the absence of the music. There were a few places which gave good views of the fireworks and also broadcast the concert, such as Inverleith Park, Calton Hill and Waverly Bridge (which was close enough to hear the concert without broadcasting), but as it was the boys' bed times, we didn't want to make the uphill walk to Calton Hill or back from Waverly Bridge (Inverleith Park is just too far). So we watched it near The Mound.
Ethan had been very excited about the night outing when we were getting there. Half an hour later, he was wearing a sleepy look. Another 15 mins later, having two sleeping kids, I felt I have fulfilled enough of my desire to see the fireworks. So we made the journey back. I had the easier job of pushing Jethro in his buggy while Jianming carried Ethan, definitely not a light task now!
Earlier in the day, we did the saner thing of watching horse riding around St Giles Church and seeing them pile off back to their stables. This was the Edinburgh Riding of the Marches, a festival dating back hundreds of years but only revived this year after a hiatus of 60 years. We only saw the end of it because the earlier part of the day was spent in church and then lunch and then well, just plain deliberation as to whether to get out to see it or not.
I'll put up the photos in chronological sequence.
The octopus was made by a 'Puffin' man when we stopped by Grassmarket. He did it for free, but I wonder if the Grassmarket Group might have paid him to do this, since they were rather elaborate balloon sculptures. We saw him make several crowns, with swords, two swans in a ring, flowers, and as we were about to go, something that seemed like it would turn out to be a dolphin.
Ethan had been very excited about the night outing when we were getting there. Half an hour later, he was wearing a sleepy look. Another 15 mins later, having two sleeping kids, I felt I have fulfilled enough of my desire to see the fireworks. So we made the journey back. I had the easier job of pushing Jethro in his buggy while Jianming carried Ethan, definitely not a light task now!
Earlier in the day, we did the saner thing of watching horse riding around St Giles Church and seeing them pile off back to their stables. This was the Edinburgh Riding of the Marches, a festival dating back hundreds of years but only revived this year after a hiatus of 60 years. We only saw the end of it because the earlier part of the day was spent in church and then lunch and then well, just plain deliberation as to whether to get out to see it or not.
I'll put up the photos in chronological sequence.
The octopus was made by a 'Puffin' man when we stopped by Grassmarket. He did it for free, but I wonder if the Grassmarket Group might have paid him to do this, since they were rather elaborate balloon sculptures. We saw him make several crowns, with swords, two swans in a ring, flowers, and as we were about to go, something that seemed like it would turn out to be a dolphin.
Sunday, 6 September 2009
It's Been A Year
八月的爱丁堡是很热闹的，有许多庆典。我们带靖恒观看了三个儿童戏剧和两个讲故事/谈故事书的节目，也看了一些街边表演。
八月底和九月初庆祝了两个小的的生日，仍然觉得他们没什么变到。靖恒还是老样子，吵啊冲的。靖恺还是爱到处摸，到处咬。靖恒开学换了教室，虽然交了新朋友，但仍忘不了他的好朋友，有点不适应。靖恺可以站得比较久，偶尔还踏出一小步，生日那天更尝试走了几步，表情喜滋滋的。两个小瓜在一起的吵闹声更多了，我就更加凶啦！不过，靖恺也开始会跟靖恒玩，有时候笑着听靖恒跟他讲的大道理，好像听得懂似的。
1/8: Busy Grassmarket fair:
Playground, where Ethan fell again and Jethro tasted a variety of things:
One each so there's no need to fight:
2/8: Jazz at Princes Street Gardens
Ice lollies
Captain Two-Skulls and his crew of one:
8/8: The evening after a visit to the swimming pool (not a particularly enjoyable one), Jethro fell asleep at the Meadows, Ethan had his wish of a picnic dinner:
What's with that look?
This is better:
13/8: The crocodile is the result of an attempt at some quality time with Ethan, but I ended up doing most of it and boring Ethan to tears. He liked the result though. Now, where is the crocodile?
Not contented with putting stuffs into the drawer, he decided to Put himself in:
不雅观：
Reach!
Looking down Victoria Street (Grassmarket):
A tight squeeze:
Rummaging the cupboard:
Jethro's Tower of Pisa:
Up and Down:
Not relaxed?
22/8: International Book Festival (15 - 31/8) at Charlotte Square (Ethan went to 2 story telling sessions (by Marie Louise Cochrane and Mini Grey). Here we have a serious pose and a silly one. No prizes for guessing which is which.
Hmm and Zzzz:
I can't imagine what they were doing:
Reverse parking!
Birthday treats for Ethan:
30/8: Ceilidh at the museum and exploring the Garden Detectives exhibits, and Jethro found a new friend:
(Hee hee, I like these:)
(There, that's him! The friend, silly!)
And onto Jethro's birthday special:
It's the month of festivals. We took Ethan to watch 'Burglar Bill', 'Treasure Island' and 'Miss Googiepants and Cat' at the Fringe Festival and also to two 22 Aug events at the International Book Festival. Of course, there were also the free jazz weekend during the Jazz and Blues Festival and the entertainers for the Fringe Festival performing extracts of their shows at the Royal Mile.
Ethan adopted an alter ego this month. He's Ethan Super Hooper. According to him, a super hooper is really fantastic. He can:
1. fly
2. do complicated acrobatics without falling down
3. be excused from being bad
4. help people
5. fight bad guys with a sword that goes 'splish! splash!' (??)
And the list goes on.
As for Jethro, besides the usual biting things, he also loves to:
1. put things in a box, container etc. (if only he doesn't turn it over at the next instant.)
2. clap hands
3. close and open window shutters (but mostly he likes to keep them closed)
4. sit between the door and the barrier, where he cannot see anyone (and so probably rightly thinks no one can see him.)
5. thwart our attempts to keep things out of his reach (such as raising the shelf level higher - he only grows taller and stretches further; covering drawers with empty rice sack - he only manages to find out how to pull it off)
6. push the walker to and fro the short length of the room, laughing gleefully as he does it, even if he sometimes falls to his knees and ends up using his knees to move forward (confounds me every time he's still so adamant about continuing pushing)
7. crawls away very fast when he sees that you are going to change his nappy
Also, I find I am getting more and more of a nag each day, as Ethan just blatantly ignores my requests/demands unless I threaten him with something. It can really blow my top off.
But children do have their endearing moments. Like how Ethan can still catch us by surprise in the 'sensible' things he says. One recent morning, when Jianming complained that Ethan woke up too early, Ethan said, "That's why you need to have a good night's sleep." Very wise indeed. Like how Jethro seems to understand your yes/no questions by shaking or nodding his head with a pensive smile. Like how Ethan lectures Jethro on how 'things are done', often amusing the adults unintentionally. Like how Jethro nods or shakes his head and waves his hands to the music he likes. Like how Ethan sometimes, in that rare burst of insight, does things just the way you would want him to, without your asking. Like how Jethro waves goodbye to you in his own way when you wave goodbye to him, then cries as he sees you leave.
八月底和九月初庆祝了两个小的的生日，仍然觉得他们没什么变到。靖恒还是老样子，吵啊冲的。靖恺还是爱到处摸，到处咬。靖恒开学换了教室，虽然交了新朋友，但仍忘不了他的好朋友，有点不适应。靖恺可以站得比较久，偶尔还踏出一小步，生日那天更尝试走了几步，表情喜滋滋的。两个小瓜在一起的吵闹声更多了，我就更加凶啦！不过，靖恺也开始会跟靖恒玩，有时候笑着听靖恒跟他讲的大道理，好像听得懂似的。
1/8: Busy Grassmarket fair:
Playground, where Ethan fell again and Jethro tasted a variety of things:
One each so there's no need to fight:
2/8: Jazz at Princes Street Gardens
Ice lollies
Captain Two-Skulls and his crew of one:
8/8: The evening after a visit to the swimming pool (not a particularly enjoyable one), Jethro fell asleep at the Meadows, Ethan had his wish of a picnic dinner:
What's with that look?
This is better:
13/8: The crocodile is the result of an attempt at some quality time with Ethan, but I ended up doing most of it and boring Ethan to tears. He liked the result though. Now, where is the crocodile?
Not contented with putting stuffs into the drawer, he decided to Put himself in:
不雅观：
Reach!
Looking down Victoria Street (Grassmarket):
A tight squeeze:
Rummaging the cupboard:
Jethro's Tower of Pisa:
Up and Down:
Not relaxed?
22/8: International Book Festival (15 - 31/8) at Charlotte Square (Ethan went to 2 story telling sessions (by Marie Louise Cochrane and Mini Grey). Here we have a serious pose and a silly one. No prizes for guessing which is which.
Hmm and Zzzz:
I can't imagine what they were doing:
Reverse parking!
Birthday treats for Ethan:
30/8: Ceilidh at the museum and exploring the Garden Detectives exhibits, and Jethro found a new friend:
(Hee hee, I like these:)
(There, that's him! The friend, silly!)
And onto Jethro's birthday special:
It's the month of festivals. We took Ethan to watch 'Burglar Bill', 'Treasure Island' and 'Miss Googiepants and Cat' at the Fringe Festival and also to two 22 Aug events at the International Book Festival. Of course, there were also the free jazz weekend during the Jazz and Blues Festival and the entertainers for the Fringe Festival performing extracts of their shows at the Royal Mile.
Ethan adopted an alter ego this month. He's Ethan Super Hooper. According to him, a super hooper is really fantastic. He can:
1. fly
2. do complicated acrobatics without falling down
3. be excused from being bad
4. help people
5. fight bad guys with a sword that goes 'splish! splash!' (??)
And the list goes on.
As for Jethro, besides the usual biting things, he also loves to:
1. put things in a box, container etc. (if only he doesn't turn it over at the next instant.)
2. clap hands
3. close and open window shutters (but mostly he likes to keep them closed)
4. sit between the door and the barrier, where he cannot see anyone (and so probably rightly thinks no one can see him.)
5. thwart our attempts to keep things out of his reach (such as raising the shelf level higher - he only grows taller and stretches further; covering drawers with empty rice sack - he only manages to find out how to pull it off)
6. push the walker to and fro the short length of the room, laughing gleefully as he does it, even if he sometimes falls to his knees and ends up using his knees to move forward (confounds me every time he's still so adamant about continuing pushing)
7. crawls away very fast when he sees that you are going to change his nappy
Also, I find I am getting more and more of a nag each day, as Ethan just blatantly ignores my requests/demands unless I threaten him with something. It can really blow my top off.
But children do have their endearing moments. Like how Ethan can still catch us by surprise in the 'sensible' things he says. One recent morning, when Jianming complained that Ethan woke up too early, Ethan said, "That's why you need to have a good night's sleep." Very wise indeed. Like how Jethro seems to understand your yes/no questions by shaking or nodding his head with a pensive smile. Like how Ethan lectures Jethro on how 'things are done', often amusing the adults unintentionally. Like how Jethro nods or shakes his head and waves his hands to the music he likes. Like how Ethan sometimes, in that rare burst of insight, does things just the way you would want him to, without your asking. Like how Jethro waves goodbye to you in his own way when you wave goodbye to him, then cries as he sees you leave.
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