It seems like we have been spending time with lots of different people in varying situations, all of which has been equally fun.
It always takes Kien a little bit of time to get started at being comfortable and "himself" when we go anywhere, but once he has warmed up it is delightful to watch.
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I don't know what my aunt and Kien were playing but it does looks like they were having lots of fun.
There are many families living around here with kids around the same age as Kien. Luckily I've bumped in to a couple of them enough either at the park or just being outside playing to feel comfortable in exchanging e-mail addresses and arranging play-dates. So on Tuesday we met up at Victoria Park playground.
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It was freezing cold although the sun did show itself from time to time, but that didn't bother the kids as they raced around and did what 19-21 month old children do - which pretty much is running around playing by themselves.
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We were invited to come along on Sunday morning to a parent & child baking thing. I'll see how sociable I feel this weekend before accepting.
We left a little later than I normally would for a morning outing and Kien chatted all the way home. He points at objects and calls out the words/nouns i.e. bus, car, truck, tree, leaves, stairs, manhole cover (approximations are good enough as far as I'm concerned). When we got home I put him to bed with all his soft toys, and his toy phone which he insisted on having there too. For half an hour I heard that phone ring, chime and say the strange sentence in Chinglish that sounds something like "all of you"(???), and Kien mimicking it. When all was finally quiet I was able to sneak in to watch my baby sleep for a bit. Watching a sleeping baby is truly beautiful and heart warming.
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Favourite sleeping toy this week is Koala.In the afternoon we went for a walk to Grey Lynn park.
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Favourite snacks are now seaweed crackers and dried cranberries (which he calls raisins).As the sky threatened to provide rain for an unprepared mother, her son decided to get wet regardless.
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He discovered that stepping off rocks was a lot of fun, so he did it over, and over, and over. It wasn't exactly a small rock, relatively speaking.
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We spent a fair bit of time at the park because I couldn't get Kien to leave. After I finally got him to say good bye to the park we headed back along Richmond Rd.
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Cats are such a novelty for Kien to see, and he just gets so excited when he encounters one. He scares them away with his excitement so he doesn't get to pat cats too often.
There is a quaint little park between Brown St and Richard Rd which looks like someone's grandmother's old-school back yard. I like it a lot, and we often stop by just for quick swing.
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Kien can get immensely giddy on a swing, and the other day when we were at Coxs Bay playground he actually flipped out of the chain type swings because he kicks his legs and leans backwards and giggles uncontrollably.
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I had to push him very gently on this swinging episode, and as you can see he still couldn't contain himself. I had to hold him so he wouldn't slip out.