Nice Weekend Weather at Last!

She loves upside down time
The hard couple of weeks that SAM and I had to survive are now finished, and we can now relax a bit and focus on the upcoming Chinese New Year Holiday.

As a result, the weekend really started after work on Friday with SAM and I both deciding to just chill out at home and R-E-L-A-X after the couple of weeks we both had.

Margaret was in a great mood as we took turns getting her completely riled up before bath and bedtime.

Giggle giggle and more giggles
As you can see, she especially likes being upside down.

She's learned to signal for us to flip her over by backing up against one of us with her back to us, then bending over in half at the waist until her head touches the ground. This means, "lift me up at the waist, please!"

Usually we are happy to oblige, with the results that you see here.

Bath time is happy time
Of course, having set the scene by getting M all riled up, we were of course, responsible parents and handed her off to Daisy to settle down for bed after her bath while we enjoyed a relaxed dinner catching up with each other over what we had missed over the past couple of weeks.

Bed time was notably early as we both collapsed into bed exhausted.

Walking the mean streets...
The next day was Saturday and we had a busy day planned.

The morning was spent mostly trying to get to the bank to deposit a cheque and get cash for Chinese New Year Red Envelopes. This task was made longer by M's new habit of not wanting to ride in her stroller but to instead walk all by herself.

This new found independence is surely wonderful for her developmentally, but it makes for some long errands as she rambles up and down the sidewalk (and sometimes into the street) with the direction and urgency of a curious golden retriever puppy. No leaf is left unturned. No stranger unmet.

Speaking of puppies, every time she saw one on the street, she would stop and try to communicate with them in what she surely thinks is "dog-ese" which is her enunciating a very clear, very high pitched, "woof-woof."

It's terribly cute to her smitten parents.

...with Mommy
In the walk photos, you may notice a certain floral patterned something draped around her neck.

This is because Margaret now is exhibiting a pronounced preference for what she wants to wear which at times is at loggerheads with what her parents want her to wear.

Before we went out on our walk, after she was fully dressed but not yet out the door, Margaret decided that she didn't like the plain white onesie that we had put her in, and instead, preferred the floral patterned one that she had worn the day before and which (in truth we agreed) matched her outfit much better.

She signalled her preference for a swap by constantly trying to put the other one on and draping it around her neck.

In order to make it to the bank before it closed, we opted not to completely undress her, but so as not to precipitate a total meltdown, we brought the onesie with us stuffed into the bottom of the stroller.

While walking around on the sidewalk with Daddy pushing the stroller, Margaret rediscovered the onesie (of course) and after draping it around her neck as one would a scarf, would not allow us to remove it from her for the rest of the morning.

Lunchtime joy
After the two hour trip to the bank (okay, okay, we stopped at Starbucks for the grownups, too) and a short nap, her chastised parents finally put her in the floral onesie and took her to lunch with the Koos.

Thankfully, the cool morning developed into a gloriously warm and sunny afternoon so we ate poolside at the Hong Kong Country Club and enjoyed the rather wonderful outdoors.

Margaret had a blast, enjoying shares of her father's fried rice, her mother's noodles and all the time receiving visitors (mostly Sarah's ex-students and their parents as well as Joy's friends) who would invariably stroke M's ego by cooing over how cute or how large she had grown.

No Manhattan socialite lunching at The Pierre has ever enjoyed a better time seeing and being seen.

Snuggling with Mommy
By the time we dropped M off at home and headed out again, it was 5:00 pm and we had a mission.

We were headed out to find ourselves a potty. Yes, a potty.

We are aware that it is likely much much to early to potty train at 14 months, but we've seen some behavior that leads us to want to familiarize our little girl with the mechanics of how big kids eliminate waste.

You see, a couple of times now, M has purposefully, urgently and determinedly (against her mother's best efforts), climbed out of the bath tub and peed all over the bathroom floor. Both times, when SAM tried to stop her, she protested violently at being in the tub, and both times, after relieving herself, she returned to the bath happily.

In addition, she has been very curious about the toilet, always wanting to lift the lid and look inside.

And finally, on more than one occasion, she has unwrapped a length of toilet paper from the roll and tried to wipe herself.

So I suppose that the theory is that if she's interested in the toilet, can understand when she wants to pee and knows that there are certain places where she doesn't want to pee and knows about wiping herself, then we might as well see how far this adventure will take us.

With the Koos at lunch
So we got a potty. A special potty with a lid that converts to a stool and plays music when it detects that the user has tinkled.

We're talking high-tech.

And the best part of it is that it fits perfectly in a corner, out of the way in our tiny and very cramped bathroom.

"I want this vest on!"
Then, to continue our date night evening, we shared a dinner of sandwiches and ginger ale before a enjoying a couples foot massage session courtesy of my sisters.

Thoroughly relaxed by this point, we headed home to relieve Daisy and were in bed by 9:30.

"Hmm... let's try this sitting down."

"OK, around my neck is fine..."
...And the next day was Sunday again.

We had a breakfast date with some friends and so we went to the Excelsior for yummy hotel breakfast with N and A and their son A who is about M's age.

After we were all (including the kids) stuffed full of omelet, pastry and fruit, it was to the park for some good old fashioned play time.

As usual, there were swings involved, playing on the jungle gym and today, we even brought her favorite yellow ball with us.

There was a bit of struggle with A at times for the ball, but for the most part, they were both able to play with it.

We finally decided to bring the ball because recently, whenever we've gone to the park, if there are children playing with balls, M will stop and stare.


At around 11:30, A had to go home which was our cue as well.

M went down without a peep, and SAM and I then spent the next few hours (until 3:00 almost) in quietude, she reading the paper, me watching TV and blogging while the sun poured in and we just took time to gather ourselves and catch up.

SAM even managed to start packing for our trip.

At about 3:00, good 'ol M woke up and after getting out of her crib, this is what she looked like.

Sleepy head
SAM and I had a good laugh at the wild hair and the cheerful, smiling M.

We fed her a late lunch before getting her dressed again for another trip to the park!

Wandering around the park focused on wandering
This time, we decided to forgo the play park area and instead headed for the "Great Lawn." We decided to make it even more of an adventure and let M walk there on her own.

Remember my earlier comment about walking with her being like walking with a new puppy? Yeah.

On the way there, besides somehow finding the ladies rest room at the park and going with mommy for an exploratory jaunt (and demanding to wash her hands), she also wanted to examine every bench, watched a few games of tennis, played with (and ate some) dirt, stepped up and down some uneven pavement over and over again and found and turned over countless leaves and twigs.

Stealing fruit from picnickers (actually, they gave it to her)
Then, when we finally found the great lawn, there was plenty of wandering from group to group of people on their blankets waving and flirting and making new friends. One nice lady even gave M an apple which she tried to take, but which Mommy and Daddy made her return.

But alas, the journey to the great lawn had taken up most of the time, and before we knew it, it was time to head home.

With a quick stop to pick up some veggies and McDonald's for dinner, it was to home we all went, for some dinner (which involved French Fries), and a bath.

Now, as I write this, M is in her bedroom with S trying to settle her down to sleep.

It's been a very full weekend in the very best of ways.