Miles with a new bike trick--May 7, 2010 (3 yrs old)

Boys & Their Bikes

Swim

These are fresh photos of me from today's swimming class. I've had about 8 classes now and I am very comfortable submerging in the water. I used to hate getting my face wet and cried for a couple of classes but no choice, everyone was doing them...such peer pressure! But I guess it's not so bad. Mommy asked the teacher when I will be able to swim (isn't she an impatient one?) and she said that by the end of December, she should be able to release me in the water and I should be able to paddle a couple of meters. How exciting is that?

First Day of Nursery

It was my first day in Nursery class today. Much to mommy's surprise, I did not cry as much as she thought I would. She tried to prepare me for this big day with Sesame Street's "First Day of School" book and CD, which I couldn't get enough of....but, can any kid ever be prepared for such trauma??? She dropped me off with my new teacher Josh and said "goodbye, I'll come back soon, Mommy always come back, right?" The tears came rolling and when Mommy sneaked a peek at me 10 minutes later, I had already stopped crying because I wasn't getting much attention from the teacher or the 2 teaching assistants who was busy tending to other kids who were wailing much louder and more dramatic than I was! The school has a camera installed in the classroom so mommy can keep me under close surveillance, even from home! She found that I wasn't a very mobile student--I kept sitting at the same desk for 25 minutes!! Should I be praised for long attention span on my puzzle? Or fear of migrating to another part of the classroom? In any case, when mommy came to pick me up 3 hours later, I cried my heart out again. But my Mandarin teacher told her that I was one of the more 'stable' ones who was good at sitting still, ate well at snack time (you knew that was coming, didn't you???), and communicated well in getting what I wanted. Ta da! Is that a successful first day or what?

The second picture I've put up here is not from school, but I wanted to share it with you anyway. Instead of scribbles, I'm painting lines now!

Ocean Park

Now that Mommy is big and heavy due to her being in the last trimester of her pregnancy, she is not up for active activities like Ocean Park anymore! Daddy has also begun taking Fridays off too to spend more time with me so we spent some quality time together there today after days and weeks of urging them to take me there. Usually, we spend our time looking at the aquarium and visiting the pandas, but today, there was a new pink train ride. Pink is my favorite color so I requested to go on it twice. I also went on a tiny ferris wheel and merry go round, followed by an acrobatic show. Normally, these colourful people would scare the wits out of me but after their incredible performance, I thought their acrobatic talent would rub off on me if I pose for a photo or two with them. Jumping has never been the same again.

Yuen Long Fire Station July 26

I had the privelege in seeing a real fire station in Yuen Long with my friend Conner today. Uncle Willie's patient is a firefighter there and arranged for us to see everything inside in person! Just like the books I've been reading, I got to sit and steer a fire and ladder truck, come down the poles like real firefighters, and even sit on a fire rescue motorcycle. There are only 2 of these in HK and it weighs 900 lbs each! There were no real fires to rescue during the time of our visit so all I got to see were firemen playing volleyball in 32 degree heat, which I suppose is not that hot compared to the hot, fiery, burning buildings they are used to!

Salon de Milo

After a handful of people asked in the past month where I get my haircut (they all made an obvious guess that a bowl had something to do with it), Mommy reluctantly took me to a new hairdresser where he 'corrected' my previous haircut. I still prefer to get my cut while sitting on Mommy's lap but as long as you give me some snacks, I will sit still and not fuss like I did before. After returning home, I showed my flair for hairstyling working on mommy and daddy's hair.