Coming Out!

This week has been quite a doozie. Yesterday, we went out to central. And when I say "out", I mean "OUT". As in, Out Of The Sling! Formerly, excursions to Central had always involved insane marathon sling naps for Ara, where we had managed, somehow, to get all the way from The Cloister to downtown, have manic coffee, and then get back, without the little one making a peep! But, now that Ara is nearing the 100-day mark, we decided that it was time to try the next phase. An Awake Ara Outing. As you know, we'd already managed to do this at the Chung Chi staff club, but honestly, having her out in a noisy chinese restaurant was small potatos in comparison to going to the expat enclave and threatening to be those annoying parents who think their child's shreaking is no big deal. I remember all too well how much I loathed people who brought small children into adult spaces. And now I am that person! Good god. So off we went. The idea was that the commutes would be done with her sleeping, and the awake time would be us bjorning around central. Little did we realize how exhausting the whole thing would be. Here's how it actually went: NT->Central: Ara asleep (this part was according to plan) IFC for coffee: Why is Ara still sleeping? Princes building for forced breastfeeding: She'll never sleep tonight if she goes on like this! (how unfortunately precient) Okay - what the hell to do with her now? Walk around Princes building where we meet a lovely little family with their baby Nicole. Nicole, who was 6 months old, and incredibly silent. We felt quite smug that Ara was smiling and batting at her while Nicole just sort of stared at her. This soon turned to envy as Ara's adorable social smiles and coos turned to shrieks and agitation. New scenery was obviously required. Eighth beverage of the day consumed at Mix until 2 hours later: why is Ara not sleepy??!! Ara finally asleep -- we head to Page One where I find a New Kate Atkinson novel! I did a little dance, I'm not too proud to say. Yes, right in the Page One. Central->Kowloon Tong: Ara asleep (what a good baby) Kowloon Tong->University: Ara Awake! On The Train! This was most exciting and nerve wracking. And it elicited more overt stares than even Ara in the sling! People were totally enchanted, which was cute, until the vomiting began. Now, after that amazing day of inadequate naps and lots to see you'd probably assume that she'd sleep like a log. Not So! I fear that we jetissoned her into one of the famed "mental growth spurts", because we woke up this morning and lo and behold, she now needs to be actively entertained. Rattles work, pictures work, smiles work. But, if you'll notice, ALL of these require a considerable amount of energy, which neither I nor Ryan had, considering Ara slept all of 5 hours last night in lovely compact 1.5 hour segments. Other amazing feats this week included mini-situps (shown left) and Feet Discovery! Oh, she'd seen her feet before, but never actually reached out and grabbed them. Way to Go!