Oh Girls!

Luckily Daryl is a boy. Otherwise I would have suffered a massive heart attack when I saw what happened to Daryl on Children's Day.

It was a dinner gathering at the neighbouring Cityplaza for us with his two godmothers and, after enjoying a good meal, we took Daryl to the ice-skating rink. Daryl had been there for a number of times, but that was the first time we went close to the rink. I bet when Daryl saw such a big piece of white ice on the floor, he must have been wondering, "What the heck are they doing on my spilled milk?"

Anyway, as we were watching the boys and girls circling the rink time and again, three girls (I bet none of them was more than 10-year-old) suddenly came straight at Daryl and started yelling at him. They were visibly excited (as the Plexiglass around the rink blocked what they said) and were trying their very best to capture Daryl's attention. They waved and jumped and yelled and spun, and the only things they didn't do was to flash their body and moon him.

I thought Daryl must have been the provocateur by making some obscene gestures to them, so I took a look at him. But he was just sitting there, taking everything into his eyes as if he had seen them all before. (And I don't mean I have flashed my body to him or mooned him.)

I am not sure what had happened to the girls (like whether they were on drugs or stuff like that), but as we were leaving the rink, our conversation was filled with words like "bold", "Oh my God" or even "(bleeping) b_tchy". And luckily their parents were not around as they would have spanked us hard after hearing what we had to say.

But Daryl was just enjoying the ride in his pram, not a bit flinched or disturbed by his crazy and adoring fans. And for a baby who has never produced any albums or starred in any blockbuster movies, the girls' action falls somewhere between childishly funny and plain ridiculous.

I wonder what the girls would have done had Daryl been really a Hollywood star. They would have flashed their bodies to him, mooned him, and then some.

And their parents would have spanked them, hard.

And so there goes my plan of giving birth to a daughter (at least for the moment).

Delicate Touch

There are so many tricks that men can use to soften the toughest of hearts of women or loved ones. Well, don't ask me which of them works the best. I've been married for so long that I have forgot all those naughty tricks (I have to say this because my wife always watch this tiny little thing called "Blog"). But for Daryl, he has already mastered one of them at the young age of seven months.

We have learnt for quite a while that Daryl loves moving his arms around, no matter he is sitting on his own, or being carried by us. A couple of weeks ago, when I picked him up to my eye level, his arms moved above my shoulders, and I started to wonder what he was going to do next. (I was so scared that he would slap me as I'm not the best daddy in the world.)

He then proceeded to touch my face with his soft and tiny hands and fingers. And he looked at me with his big round eyes while doing so, kind of like wondering who the heck I really am.

I was really surprised. I was surprised not only because he managed to do so, but also by the tenderness and warmth of his tiny hands. I can tell you, it's one of the most wonderful feelings in the world. My heart simply melts when he moves his hands along my face.

The more his does this, the more I understand why he is doing so. Daryl is curious about our face, especially the big clumsy metal-cum-plastic thing which we call spectacles. But unlike the maddeningly unpredictable ways his arms are moving when he is sitting alone, he is always very gentle and slow when touching my face, as if he knows my face is a work of fine art (by God of course).

And when I found out that he does the same thing to anyone who is holding him, no matter it's a man or a woman, I wasn't jealous at all. I said to my wife, "I think Daryl is going to do the same thing to all the girls he's going to meet, and the girls will love it." To which my wife responded, "You've lost your mind!"

She cannot be more right. Daryl's hands are really driving me crazy.

Hanging out

Believe it or not, Daryl likes going out a lot, even though he's only seven-month old.

Apart from visiting the clinic for regular check-ups, Daryl's first "official" outing was to his maternal grandparents' home when he was just over a month old. And he started having tea with us on a regular basis the following month.

One day when we were shopping at a department store with him, we went to one of the many children's wear shops and, amazingly, Daryl was clearly on a high. How high was he? He smiled and even laughed very loudly when we asked him whether a certain piece of clothing is pretty or not, and whether he wanted it. It's obvious that he still doesn't understand that there is no free lunch in the world, but when we saw him that happy and excited, we decided to buy fewer clothes for ourselves but more for him anyway!

Recently, we decided to have a crazy shopping day at a far-away shopping mall. We spent nearly seven hours there and had bought nearly two dozens pieces of clothes for us altogether. But the thing to note is: When we were shopping and wheeling Daryl around, we could hear him yell extremely loudly. He did it not just once, but many times instead. When I first heard that, I thought he was complaining that he was bored and wanted to get out of his pram for some much-needed walking exercises. But when we asked our expert (who happens to be our domestic helper) about it, she said that Daryl was not bored, but was excited and liked the place instead!

I am worried that he may soon become the youngest shop-aholic in mankind history.

But having Daryl in the mall has other perks too. I have quickly lost count on how many people have stopped and looked at his pretty face, and I can even hear some of them whispering that how much he looks like one of us (most of them said that Daryl is like my "Mini-Me"). But it's a shame that we haven't been offered special discounts because of him though.

Yet judging from the steady increase of his loveliness over the last couple of months, the odds are we will finally get the discounts or even freebies very soon.

He Walks the Walk But Doesn't Talk the Talk (Yet)

I know I have talked about it before, but I just can't resist talking about it again.

Yes, I'm going to talk about Daryl's attempt to walk.

As mentioned in a previous entry, we started teaching Daryl how to walk a couple of months ago. At first he was like a budding tree, who was so weak and fragile that any tiny force (or even breeze) could make him fall and even topple over.

But when he was four to five months old, we noticed that his bones and muscles have grown stronger. And just like Eason Chan, he has very strong and stocky legs. So we started to teach him how to walk.

We would pick him up by his armpits and let him walk along our couch. At the beginning he had no idea what we were doing, perhaps thinking that we wanted to pick him up but didn't have enough strength. But then we patiently taught him how to lift his legs and, magically, he could lift his legs one by one by himself!

It is such a wonderful feeling to see him walk. We can see that his eyes were focusing on his knees and legs, and every step he would lift his knee high, as if walking along a knee-deep quagmire. His steps are huge, as if he wants to cover the width of the couch in as few strides as possible so that he can take a rest, as he is often seen panting after such walk.

And I can tell you that we have just got the letter from the Guinness officials congratulating him for setting a world-record time in walking along our couch. Sweet.

As for talking, he still hasn't mastered the muscles and vocal chords yet. But judging from the huge strides (no pun intended) he made when learning to walk, I suspect that he will be a chatter-box once he learns how to talk.

And that is not necessarily a bad thing, especially when his Daddy has long been criticized for being dumb and laconic by his friends.

He Got Flair

Daryl was born six months ago to this very minute (5:28 p.m.). So first of all, happy six-month birthday to Daryl!

We have heard oh-so many times that Daryl looks and behaves more mature than his age. When we tell people that he is only six months old, people would look at us in disbelief, saying that he looks like a one-year-old. In terms of weight, he isn't that heavy. Many babies of his age are heavier than his weight of 18 pounds. And in terms of height, he isn't very tall as his parents are, sadly, both vertically-challenged (no, we're not suffering from dwarfism).

It's from his behaviour and demeanor that we can see his "maturity". He has been able to sit up by himself for a couple of months now, and a little over a month ago, we could pick him up by his armpits and help him walk. Amazingly, Daryl is able to swing his strong and stocky legs one by one, as if imitating the walking motion.

Although he still can't master his vocal chords to produce any meaningful sound, he certainly displays his fondness of talking (unlike his parents) by often being the noisiest person at home. Very often he would "Er", "Ee" or "Ah" the entire morning, as if waking us up and inviting us to play with him.

And he loves to smile. Sometimes he would smile by himself for no particular reason at all. But more often than not, he would smile when we play with him. He is particularly excited playing the drummer or driver on my lap, or read his "Puppy Book", and smiles the brightest. And when we make some funny sounds in front of him, he would simply look at us and, after a brief moment or so, start to smile. His smile has been so attractive and mesmerizing that everyone has fallen for him.

Many people believe that boys nowadays don't have a clue on how to deal with girls. Some may say that many boys are simply like girls. Judging by the number of girls surrounding him since his birth, and by the flair and poise he has been displaying in front of them, we are not worried for Daryl in that regard at all.

Mindless Daddy, Joyous Baby

I was so careless that I didn't remember a very important day.

Yesterday was Daryl's two-month-old birthday!

Being occupied by my work and stricken with sickness yet again, my mind was all over the place and I simply didn't remember this very special day for him. Now talk about a bad father: I didn't buy him any present when he was a month old, and now, I almost forgot this special day had Mommy not reminded me in the morning.

And this blog entry would not have existed had one of Daryl's godmothers not asked me to write it!

Daryl doesn't look like a two-month old baby. If I bring him down on the streets and ask the passers-by how old he looks like, I suspect most of them will say that he looks like five or six months old (and that I am a lunatic).

Looking back, time really flies and I still remember everything when Daryl was born. Mommy's admission to hospital, me waiting outside the ward, more waiting inside the ward, and the entire birth process. It seems like they all happened yesterday.

To me, Daryl's major achievement this month is that he has learned how to smile. When I see him smile, well, all my troubles will really be gone.

Watching and Listening

Daryl has big, black and round eyes just like his mother, which is good news to us because if his eyes were like mine, I wouldn't be able to find them!

And some seven weeks after birth, he can finally capture the movement of the things moving in front of him, and can even manage to tell us that he can finally see them clearly!

I wasn't around when the magic moment came, but Mommy told me that Daryl could finally watch the Combi toy rotating above his head and follow their movement. And even more amazingly, when the toy's music stopped, he uttered some sound, which is markedly different from the sound when he's hungry or having wetted his diaper, as if he wanted Mommy to restart the toy and play the music again.

We always wanted Daryl to utter more sounds, as he has the most wonderful voice we have ever heard. Hopefully he will master his vocal chords soon, be articulate enough and to become the official spokesperson of our family.

And with his great voice, is he a broadcaster in-the-making?