I-KEY-AH

Ikea is probably the greatest place on earth and it seems like little Ethan agrees. We had to get some furniture for our new place and after going to a million furniture stores and visiting Ikea twice in the process we finally just decided to go ahead with Ikea. In other words, yes, we are pretty cheap people. =P I figure it's affordable and looks nice and while it's not terrific quality we will be moving in two years so if we want we can just toss the furniture without too much heartache.

Once of our items was on back order and finally came in stock the other day so we had to visit the store to pay for the item and get it shipped to our house (apparently they do not allow you to pay for furniture in advance and you have to go in person to buy an item which is probably my only complaint about the furniturappolis). We decided to make the trip late in the afternoon and since Ethan usually goes to bed by 6:30 PM we had basically 3 hours to get there and back. While Ethan has gone to bed past his usual bedtime without problems he is like a rooster and wakes up with the sun no matter what time he makes it to bed. Asleep by 5 PM? Asleep by 8:30 PM? It's still at 5:30 AM wake up. So while it's not the end of the world for him to sleep late, he does wake up a bit cranky because he is not as well rested. So a 3 hour trip to the outside world is no problem you say? Uh, it was like mission impossible. Here is why:

• First a walk from our house to the ferry pier (15 minutes). We could have taken a bus but see above for the aforementioned disclaimer that we are cheap and actually the bus just whizzed by us just as we were leaving the house.
• Next a ferry ride to Central on the HK island. (25 minutes). Ethan loves the ferry and looking out at water and boats.
  

• A stroll from the dock to the MTR station (10 minutes).
• Metro ride to Causeway bay - shopping mecca and home of the greatest furniture store on earth (10 minutes). Ethan's first metro ride!
  

• Walk from MTR station to Ikea (5 minutes).
• What was supposed to by a quick chat with costumer service regarding payment of our item turned into a brief perusal of the entire store since they force you to walk through it to get to customer service. Sneaky! Ethan was enamored by some puppets they had on display and lunged after the toy. After laughing uncontrollably at it, we of course had to buy it for him. (15 minutes to speed walk through Ikea + 5 minutes for Ethan to ogle and play with puppet + 10 minutes to go through checkout to buy said puppet + another 15 minutes at customer service).
• Return trip back home (65 minutes).
• Factored in wait time for public transport between legs of the trip (10 minutes)
  

Whew. Did we make it? Yes, barely, but then we had to have dinner, a bath, some milk, a story and then Ethan was off the bed at record time.

Here was Ethan playing with all the goodies glommed from Ikea the next day:

You mean, I can use this to create a breeze that will keep me cool? Mommy, you are a silly one.

Whoa, weird sea creatures magically appeared on Daddy's hand!


How come when the dragon talks the sound comes from your mouth?

Duanwu Festivus

Yesterday we celebrated the Duanwu Festival (aka the Dragon Boat Festival) by heading down to partake of the festivities in the DB plaza. We ate tons of yummy food (including the requisite zongzi - sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaf), watched some dragon boat racing, and checked out the different food and clothing booths that lined the plaza and beach.

Hmm...so which food booth should we hit on next?


Cute dog balloon (which after Ethan got a hold of it, unravelled in 20 seconds flat).


Avert your eyes, it's a double butt shot.


Dragon boats (way way in the background. My camera does not zoom in well).

Yes Yes No No

Ethan has learned how to shake his head no. We've never shook our head at him so I don't know where he got this from, but he started to do it on his own and then later equated it to the words 'no no'.

If we say 'no no' to him, he will shake his head in response and then smile and proceed to do whatever we told him not to do (usually crawling to an area that is not childproofed and unsafe or trying to ingest something that is not food). He is cute though so he gets away with it. At this stage he is still easily distracted so we can just show him another toy or read him a story and it usually does the trick.

What does Ethan say 'yes yes' and 'no no' to? Let's find out!

Getting Scrunchy!

An ode to Ethan's scrunchy face. He has been doing this face for the last few months but it has slowly evolved - before it was just a furrow of the brows (I mean, that was the face I was greeted with on the day he was born) but now he has added a pursing of the mouth as well. This is not an unhappy face - actually far from it. I think he actually does the face to make us laugh. He will periodically pause from eating or playing with his toys and make a scrunchy and when we make the face back at him he starts laughing.

Singing in the Rain

Over here the umbrella is used year round - to hide from the hot mid-day sun and of course to shield from the rain as well. It was icky and rained the entire weekend (boo...but I suppose it is typhoon season after all). We decided to risk getting soaked and walked to the plaza to have brunch anyways. Whenever we use the umbrella, Ethan absolutely insists on helping us hold it the entire time. He holds it with an iron clad grip and if fact only very reluctantly relinquishes it when we make it safely indoors and have to put it away. I suppose he thinks he is being chivalrous - what a considerate 9 month old. ;)

We had brunch at Zaks and it was shockingly good. A salmon and brie omelet for Bob and a spinach, ham and egg ciabatta for me. Yum! Ethan of course ate his own lunch (red lentils and rice followed by some yogurt melts) and then tasted the better part of ours as well. I think we might make have to make this into a weekly tradition.