Sitting Pretty at 6 Months!

Can you even believe that our little Ara turned 6-months old yesterday!? It's amazing how far we've come: through the "loud" first 6 weeks, then through the serious next 2 months, and finally the jovial last 2.5 months. In this time, Little Ara has travelled to two countries other than her native Hong Kong (world powers USA & Japan), and has mastered the art of flipping over, passing objects between her hands, fine motor control with thumb and forefinger, blowing bubbles, gurgling (melodically) and of course, eating toes. We were, however, a little concerned about her sitting. It really didn't look like she was going to catch up to mommy, who (as shown in hipster 70's photo on left) did manage "all by herself" sitting at 6 months (nearly to the day). That was on an Easter visit to my grandmother's house. Imagine how proud she was that I reached this milestone thanks to her intervention! Well, it seems like grandmotherly visits are the catalyst to uprightness, because lo and behold, two days after my mom's arrival, and just two hours before the 6-monthiversary of Ara's birth, she achieved Alone Sitting! As with flipping over, Ara just needed the right motivation. And what was that motivation? Once again, taking after mommy, it was Ara's new found love for technology, specifically, Digital Cameras. Ara was hanging out, leaning back against me, when grandpa-Essy held the camera out in front of her. Would you believe she sat right up, using her arms for balance when she threatened to topple over, and then tried to grab the camera for herself! Up to this point, Ara had been comfortable enough when propped in a sitting position, with her arms suggestively placed in front of her for balance. But up until last night, she was content to let her arms slowly but surely bend, and would lower herself face-down (in an enviable yogic forward bend) onto her mat and start licking it! Either that, or she would overcompensate for her descent, and would frantically arch her back so that she fell backwards instead! But no more! Now she's busy practicing all the things a baby can do from a seated position, including reaching for something placed right in front of her without losing balance. This usually involves a comic amount of arm flapping, as though she's trying to achieve flight in order to maintain her seat! Keep trying to soar, little one!

Ara of Dune: She IS the Quizatz Haderach

Well, I guess it was only a matter of time before the shock of motherhood wore off, and poor Ara was doomed to become the victim of my extensive fashion experimentation. I suppose it all began with Halloween, that fateful day, when the sewing machine was dusted off for the sake of floral adornment. In my search for said machine, I ran across, you guessed it, my old knitting needles, and became ever so slightly obsessed with Getting Ara Ready For Winter. This of course involved a very determined trip to the local mall (home to 2 million people, or something like that) to try to convey the words "NATURAL FIBRES" to the cantonese-only, acrylic-clad but good-hearted sales women. Finally, they got it ("Ah so! WOOLY!! WOOLY!!!!") and they directed me towards, if not the purest stuff in the store, definitely the most expensive. What you see above is without a doubt the priciest single foot-square of knitted material ever produced, but which I am proud to say is "Mostly Merino! Cashmere! Hai Ya!". The styling of the arms, in case you're interested, was somewhat unplanned, but seemed appropriate once they'd got going. They're futuristic sleeves for a futuristic baby! Okay, so she looks like something out of a Frank Herbert novel, but she still manages to keep it real, and stay down to earth. Sadly, this little number will probably have been outgrown by the time that it's cold enough to wear it, but I'm sure, as past experience tells me, this is just the first of a number of insane sweaters that dear Ara can look forward to covering in goat-milk. [PS: The little circle-bandaid on her thigh is the last reminder of her latest set of innoculations, obtained during a visit to the new (better) doctor, who claims that she is "Very Aware!" and "Incredibly Strong" for her age! That's our girl!]

Halloween I

Around 5PM, we realised that we were about to miss Ara's Very First Halloween!! So, like all good parents, we left the baby with the nanny, and rushed to the store to buy tiny candies to help rot the teeth of the neighborhood kids. All the while we brainstormed about how we could dress poor Ara up to welcome the ghoulish young'uns. "A Lima Bean?" "A Businessman??" "A Fake Burberry Bag??". We finally settled on the one thing I felt I could make in a reasonable amount of time (10 mins): A flower. Awwwwww!! So, after some frantic sewing, and some yelps from Ara (who had NOT napped well that afternoon), we received our first spooky callers: a surgeon, a bat, a princess, about 5 pirates, and a "japanese girl". Ara was so freaked out that she puked on her petals. Time for bed! Later, after our little flower had wilted for the evening, more "grown up" and judicious spirits graced our hallowed .. um .. stairwell: a rocker (not right for our band, most probably), captain jack sparrow (as androgynous as the original), a very laid back pair of Scream ghosts who showed definite lack of commitment to murdering teens, but who knew to take the toblerone over the fruit&nut, and a couple of nerdy and ungrateful ghosts who surveyed our chocolate offerings and opted to decline. Definitely the best visitor of the night was a tiny little boy from a neighboring communist apartment block. He was obviously in a pillow case, with a face cut out, and ruffles at the bottom. After much prodding, and many sadistic demands and manipulative bargains from us such as "tell us what you are, and we'll give you candy!" his mother saved the day: "I'm a Running Pillow!", she said, while the little one nodded solemnly. Of COURSE you are darling! It made sense once she'd said it.