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.

Tough Fist

Like a lot of parents, we want to capture the growth of Daryl with something "tangible". And while we have taken a lot of pictures and videos of him, trying to record his gradual growth each and every day, these pictures and videos are something "intangible", something you can't grab hold of, literally.

That's why we decided to spend some money for the molding of his tiny hands and feet, when he is still a toddler.

We went to an apartment somewhere in Causeway Bay for the molding, and our two-month old Daryl was extremely nervous, just as what we had expected. We wanted him to make a palm when making the mold, yet due to his nervousness and discomfort, he only made a fist, which was a little disappointing to us.

And more frustratingly, he fell asleep shortly after the molding and he was so relaxed that he had straightened all his fingers, making his palm lines easy to read.

By making a palm, we would have been able to read his palm lines clearly, thus giving us some idea about his characters and future development.

Yet by making a fist, we will only be reminded time and again that we had forgot to trim his fingernails before leaving home for molding on that special day.

Cries Baby Cries

Like all other babies and children, Daryl is highly vulnerable to physical discomfort. The only way out for them is to cry. That's why it is oh so common to see a baby crying due to hunger, tiredness and wetness in his diaper. However, the very first time you see your baby cry like that is a worrying moment indeed.

The other day, his godmother visited us and brought along a lot of toys. Everything was fine and perfect until around 9:30 p.m., Daryl suddenly woke up and started crying madly. We had never seen him cry like that before. He was crying so desperately that not even our hugs or a bottle of freshly brewed milk could comfort him. We were so worried that we thought of taking him to the hospital.

Then my wife decided to go through the extensive collection of our "library" to find out what's wrong with him. One of the books said that babies would cry madly if their tummy is in discomfort. If that's the case, we should massage his tummy in a clock-wise direction. We decided to follow the instructions and luckily, Daryl soon felt a lot better and was quickly asleep, as crying itself is an exhausting exercise for babies.

Lucky for us that we have the books pinpointing his problems and telling us what we should do.

And lucky for us that none of us is illiterate so that we can read. It is a huge blessing indeed.

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.

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 (in) the Boxer

Experts say that one of the reasons why many guys nowadays don't look or act like a man is that they had suffered traumas in their childhood. And that includes forcing them to wear blouses instead of trousers when they were babies.

We always want Daryl to be a real man, a man of commitment, affection, courage, bravery and manhood (in no particular order). That's why we gave him a new outfit the other day.

A pair of boxers.

Actually it's a pair of cotton boxer shorts (on top of, not underneath his diaper of course). I was told over the phone by Mommy to expect a surprise about Daryl's clothing. When I first saw him, I thought he looked exactly the same as I did, when I was wearing a white T-shirt and blue shorts at the P.E. lessons during my secondary school days a millennium ago.

With the continuous growth of his bones and muscles, Daryl has started to move his arms and legs around frantically these couple of weeks, as if to check whether they are functioning properly. (Question: How can he ask for a refund?) And whenever he moves his arms around, I have to make sure that I don't get too close to him as his left hook and right jab are powerful enough to knock me out cold.

And I also have to make sure that his powerful kicks would not hit me in the groin area, in case he wants to practise Muay Thai.

Bon Appetit!

I have no idea whether Guinness keeps any record on this, as Daryl achieved quite an amazing feat this Wednesday (August 2).

In a span of a little more than three hours in the afternoon, he took some 13 ounces of milk powder in total without spilling any.

And he promptly fell asleep soon afterwards.

13 ounces. That would be around 390 millilitres, a little more than a can of Coke. I know a lot of people can't finish a can of Coke no matter how much time they have. How on earth can his little stomach take in so many liquid in such a short period of time? Goodness only knows.

Actually he has been eating a lot more than the suggested serving. The can of Wyeth S26 milk powder suggests a baby of his weight take four ounces of milk powder per meal and some six meals per day. That means he should have taken around 24 ounces of milk powder per day. Yet he often takes eight to ten meals per day, and sometimes he would take up to five ounces per meal. We don't need to be a rocket scientist to tell that he has eaten too much.

Neither do I nor my wife has tall genes, and Daryl's drinking binge worries us in the sense that the growth of his body may concentrate mainly in his belly and hips. We don't want him to gain weight at the expense of his height.

Could anyone please tell me where to find a basketball team for month-old babies?

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?

One Small Step for Daryl, One Giant Leap for Me

To watch your child growing up every day is the most wonderful thing in the world.

When I go home after work each day, I would find him physically bigger, and look a little different from the time I left home.

One day, I noticed that his eyes were opening more, and becoming bigger and bigger, just like his mother. And the other day, I found that he could finally look straight at my eyes, as he has started to figure out how to control his eye muscles.

The other day, I found that he could make different noises. Not just "Meow", but also different kinds of groaning and yelling which, if you listen carefully, all sound different and can tell you whether he needs milk or whether he wants to be cradled.

And one day, Mommy would place him onto my chest while I was sleeping on the couch. He didn't cry or flinch at all, and enjoyed every moment while on my cushy chest, because he knows who I am, and it's a safe place for him.

I like it a lot, because I love him too.

Moving up the Weight Class

Daryl has reached a milestone today. A time to celebrate indeed.

His weight has broken the 10-pound barrier.

And compared with other new borns, Daryl is bigger, stronger and faster in all area. A giant among the boys, you may say.

One of the reasons is that Daryl has taken a lot more milk powder than usual. While the instructions on the Wyeth S26 can says that babies between two to eight weeks should have six meals per day (one meal once every four hours) and four ounces each, Daryl has been eating once every one to two hours, and sometimes up to five or even six ounces per meal.

By the way, our usual guys and gals held a lavish party for Daryl's one-month birthday yesterday, with lots of presents and a lovely cake prepared by his godmothers. All the beautiful gals fell in love with him at first sight, and being a great ambassador, Daryl is more than happy to be cradled by them, and kept his eyes wide open when taking pictures.

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?

Why Daryl?

So the question is: Why do we name our baby Daryl?

Well, I'm a huge Dallas Cowboys fan. And I always like Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Daryl Johnston, the three key players in their backfield in the late 80s' and early 90s'. Yet we can't use Troy (which sounds rather funny in Chinese) or Emmitt (which is a rather peculiar name itself and sounds like "Vomit" or "Emit") as his name. That's why we have chosen Daryl, a common first name in English-speaking countries but a rather "rare" one in Hong Kong.

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.

Finally, A Blog Belonging to Me!

For a computer illiterate like me, it isn't THAT late to finally have a blog of my own.

I didn't think of creating a blog in the first place. Yet when I started posting the email address and pictures of my new-born son, Daryl, through other on-line applications, my longtime friend, Paul, asked why not create a blog for Daryl as well. So here we go.

I, like many of you, am a busy man, and may not afford a lot of time writing stuff on it. Don't expect me to use it as a diary by writing and adding new stuff every day.

So you guys' contribution would be essential. I would like to hear more from all of you, and let me know what you're thinking. Okay?