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.