Creamy the Leaper

No, we haven't forgotten Creamy, our lovely, loyal and hyperactive schnauzer. At age six, she is still a good jumper, which is exactly why we are worried that she may accidentally knock down Daryl. I just hope that Daryl would grow up big and fast and we could bring Creamy home again.

Yeah, We Did Go Hiking!

During the Easter Holiday, we decided it was time for us to go hiking with Daryl and Creamy.

While all of us were exhausted and tired by the walk up the "steep" hill, Daryl was the one who had the easiest ride. The theories of quantum physics and relativity say that we don't need to be physically strong to be pushed up and down the hill while sitting in a pram.

The trail at Mount Parker isn't the most physically demanding one, but was hilly enough for the Fab-Four, oh no, the Fat-Four (my wife, our domestic helper, Creamy and myself) to be panting like horses and swearing like sailors while at the very bottom of the hill. And when we saw many elder people running past us with absolute ease, we knew that we should have cut down on our snacks.

But none of us said anything, as we still madly in love with our snacks.

Speaking of snacks, we had a simple picnic and our helper had prepared some delicious chicken and cabbage sandwiches for us. While there wasn't that much food, we had made a serious mistake in our choice of beverage.

By bringing along three cans of regular Cokes (not Coke Light or Coke Zero) with us, we had definitely taken in far more calories than what we had burnt.

It was the best time of the year for hiking and picnic. The weather was fine and it was neither too cold nor too hot. That's why we also saw so many people hiking and picnicking with their babies or pets. But then I suddenly realised that we were the only ones to go hiking with a baby AND a pet, as if their babies and pets are estranged and cannot stand one another, and as if they'd rather have a chubby pet than a lovely child.

It was also the first time our domestic helper had met Creamy. Probably it was an outdoor settings, Creamy didn't bark and seemed to welcome our domestic helper with open arms, or front legs to be exact.

Creamy was obviously exhausted afterwards, as she once again refused to walk occasionally to take a breather on our way home. Just when I was about to scold her for being lazy, I found myself sitting comfortably in the couch, with stinky sweat covering my body, and another big can of Coke and big bag of chips in my hand, and not willing to move or do anything (taking a shower included) at all.

And what did Daryl do after the picnic? He had a huge dinner with rice and congee, and then went to bed immediately. Hey, at least I was still moving a little bit (i.e., picking up the remote controls) after having all the snacks.

Talk about like father, like son.

Hey, We Went Hiking!

Details on our hiking trip coming soon ...

When Daryl Meets Creamy

Like Harry and Sally, my beloved Liverpool and the evil Chelsea, and the almighty God and everyone one of us, Daryl and Creamy are destined to meet each other.

As many of you may have already known, before Daryl was born, my wife and I have a little (shall I say "chubby"?) companion at home. That's Creamy, a lovely little, er, chubby Schnauzer whom we treat as our own daughter (which is not to say we GAVE BIRTH to her, for Christ's sake).

Following the so-called professional advice by a number of medical practitioners, we decided to separate them after Daryl was born. And on the very day my wife went to the hospital for delivery, someone (my dad) broke into my house and kidnapped Creamy (so that she could move in with them) and asked for a huge ransom (to buy food and snacks for her).

And being as ignorant and careful as many of you may have been, we decided to follow the professional advice by not letting them to see each other before Daryl's six-month birthday. Once Daryl is more than six-month old, we decided to lift the embargo and let them meet.

You may say that we have been preparing for this day for quite a while. But the truth is, we didn't do anything special. We just wheeled Daryl to my parents' home in his pram, and voila, they had their first encounter.

Being as naughty and energetic as ever, Creamy was so curious about Daryl that she tried every trick she has learnt to reach Daryl. No, she didn't want to bite him. She just wanted to take a sniff at him, as if to see if he's got illegal drugs in his possession, as every dog will do by nature. And as if merely taking a sniff wasn't enough, she even wanted to kiss Daryl, just like a crazy fan dying to inch closer and closer to her superstar idol. But she was swiftly blocked and turned away by Yours Truly's dad and Yours Truly, the rookie tag-team bouncers.

However, that wasn't Creamy's first encounter with Daryl. Creamy always loves sleeping with us on our bed, and sometimes would kind of cry if we didn't let her to. Yet long before we were aware of my wife's pregnancy, Creamy one day suddenly decided that enough is enough and jumped off our bed, most probably because, I thought, of my seriously annoying snoring problem. But judging from the timing and her reluctance to get back onto the bed afterwards, we have every reason to believe that she knew of Daryl's existence long before everyone did. Talk about a really smart and caring dog.

Technically speaking, that wasn't their first encounter. Daryl had already visited Creamy when he was a month old. Yet he was sleeping all the way through and didn't even notice her existence. So that doesn't count.

As for Daryl, we never imagined how excited he would be when he saw Creamy. While sitting in his pram, he suddenly moved his upper body towards the front, as if he wanted to have a closer look and touch her with his hands. We had never seen him done that before, probably because nothing in our home, including us, is as attractive and lovely as Creamy to draw his full attention.

Fast Observer-cum-Learner

Again it's something I didn't witness.

Mommy told me that whenever I leave home for work, Daryl would start to cry and make a lot of noises, as if he wanted to go to work with me.

It's really fascinating. No matter how sweet Daryl has been sleeping early in the morning, when I wake up preparing for work, he would also wake up, as if he wanted to become a personal alarm clock for me.

And Mommy also told me that no matter how sweet Daryl has been sleeping late in the afternoon, he would always wake up sometime around six o'clock, as if preparing to welcome me home from work.

Wow!

I didn't realise how much my influence was when I started keeping Creamy as a pet a couple of years ago. Many people say that pets behave like their owners, and for sure a lot of people say that Creamy is wonderfully lovely, mesmerisingly stunning, and fantastically clever.

And now when I look at Daryl, I finally realise my every single move is etched into his mind forever. He already knows when I wake up, when I leave home and when I will be back each day. He's such a smart baby.

And I am sure he will very soon figure out when I have to pee.

First Encounter

One thing I should have talked about earlier is Daryl's first encounter with Creamy.

My wife and I always believe that Creamy, our pet schnauzer, was the first to know the presence of Daryl in Mommy's tummy more than ten months ago. And we often told Creamy that Daryl will be a little brother for her and asked her to take good care of him.

Yet since we were worried that Daryl may be allergic to Creamy's fur (allergy for babies can be serious), we decided to relocate Creamy to my parents' home and planned to take her back when Daryl is at least six months old. So Daryl and Creamy had never met.

On July 9 (that's before the start of this blog), they met for the very first time. Creamy was excited to see us just like before. When she saw Daryl, she kept on jumping (just millimetres short of the world record), hoping to smell him and lick his tiny feet.

This time we were well-prepared. We never put Daryl down and carried him high into our arms, just in case Creamy got a little too excited. As expected, Creamy kept jumping tirelessly and was obviously very curious about him. However, we refused to allow her to get too close to Daryl. That's why Creamy sounded like complaining when she made some funny noises. ("I really wanted to smell and lick his smooth skin," she said through an interpreter afterwards.)

As for Daryl, he remained calm, collected and asleep throughout, without being disturbed or scared by her jumpy canine buddy.

Daryl the Cat

It surprised us a lot when we heard Daryl made some noises while we were having dinner last night.

We were surprised not because he made noises, but the kind of noise he made.

No, he didn't speak any words.

He MEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWED.

Now Creamy, our family pet, is a Schnauzer, and we have never had a cat or kitten before. Why the heck did he imitate a cat?

Daryl's Pictures

Some older people believe that taking pictures of a small child will damage his eyes or even capture his soul! Nevertheless, my wife and I love taking pictures. That's why we have taken thousands and thousands of pictures of our month-old Baby Daryl. Some of them can be found here, our online album. More to come. Stay tuned.

By the way, this isn't Daryl. She's Creamy, our lovely little Schnauzer.