Life of a yummy baby ... and now there are 2!!!!!

Recently, Morgan's becoming more interested in more than a few words. He is really keen on knowing and naming objects, animals and people. Thanks to 婆 婆 for freighting those Mandarin flashcards over as they came in real handy on a rainy day! Now he can respond to naming and pointing to various parts of the body like the nose, the eye, the ear, the mouth ... but also the 眉 毛 mei mao or eyebrow which he repeatedly touched and called out to while having his bath! If you ask him to point out family members to you, he'd name his daddy, mummy, his Welsh grandparents - tadcu and mamgu, and his Singapore grandparents - 婆 婆 po po and 公 公 gong gong. Actually he's just learned to say Morgan today for the first time because he's always called himself Baby!

Lately Morgan is obsessed with a new word which sounds like "pa-poose" when he says it. And he goes around saying "pa-poose, pa-poose!" for the whole week, which left me to wonder - what sort of animal or thing is this "pa-poose"? I looked through his animal toys, books and stuff and tried to see if anything matched the name. Then I thought, I don't know any animal vaguely by that name - he probably meant something else! So I looked up in wikipedia and found this, which isn't helpful is it!?? I mean Morgan can't know that - it's not even a real word!
FINALLY - the answer dawned on me yesterday morning. While I was seated in pensive mode on the throne, a little voice rushed in and interrupted my thoughts. It was Morgan holding a bottle of soap water - and calling out "papoose, papoose!". I then realised that he wanted me to blow him BUBBLES!

It came down with snow-flakes for the first time on Sunday night. The next morning ... everything was covered in plain white and quiet snow. Although it didn't last very long, it had a very calming and contemplative effect on Morgan. The snow wasn't enough to make proper snowballs or go sledging but we tripped about in our snow-white garden for a bit. Malvern might have been the coldest spot in Britian that day!

By the afternoon, the snow had melted away enough for me to experience ample vision through the windscreen and move the car out of the driveway.

As I approached my friend's house, I found Morgan happily fallen into a nap in the car, holding onto his book upside-down - and thought, just as well - let sleeping babies lie!

Chocolates, beer and mussels - that seems to sum up Brussels pretty well for the happy tourist. Armed with 2 bicycles, a map, our baby and couple of empty panniers, we adventurous ones were heading to visit a lovely Spanish-half-Welsh couple and baby Aran whom we got to know in Wales over the summer. As much as a getaway, it was the perfect opportunity to work on our Christmas shopping. Our 'lovely' weekend was covered mostly in wind and rain, plus a couple of cycling hazards - nothing serious. Thanks to Ana & Dafydd, our exceptionally kind and hospitable hosts - we had a chill time indeed!

Starting from Malvern Link on a Thursday evening on the train at 5pm, we got into London Paddington by 8pm which was half an hour later than expected. We were put up by cousin David who chaperoned us around the city before arriving at his posh pad in Pimlico. As this will be Morgan's first proper cycle ride, he was very excited!


FRIDAY - From Eurostar to Brussels city

The Eurostar is a comfortable and affordable ride. We paid about £148 return for 2 persons (bicycles need extra fee of £40 return each) and had booked this at least 2 weeks in advance. It takes only 2 and a half hours from London to Brussels direct and is also a way of minimising one's carbon footprint. Once again, the French trains put British trains to shame with their cleaner seats and better service. Everything just looks well-kept and better maintained.

Once in Brussels, we went into a random cafe called Walvis by Rue de Flandre. While Lewis went to search for a cash machine, I was left to watch for our bikes by the window and to order cafe au lait for 2, in French. I then vaguely pointed to some Danish-looking pastry that a lady nearby was having. Having a flustered baby in arms perhaps warrant more sympathy than I expected. I was pleased that we eventually managed some smiles from the waitress despite my non-existent French!













In the evening, we had the luxurious company of our lovely hosts who took us around the city. In true European style, cobbled streets lay everywhere leading to quaint little shops and grand old buildings and churches.

Little alleyways lined with sweet shops selling Tintin chocolates, authentic cafes and cosy galleries ..... it all seemed so romantic until Morgan signalled us for a nappy change!













SATURDAY - Art museum and frivolous shopping

I picked to visit the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts (Royal Museums of Fine Arts) and managed to catch the Rubens exhibition. It's been such a long time since I've looked at any great master's work that my eyes could not stop feasting! There were lots more to see but we simply didn't have enough time to get around, oh nevermind.













More trivial shopping snapshots ....



Traditionally-baked stone-shaped biscuits and chocolates galore!








Display of the popular Manneken Pis cockscrews and the famous Tintin character endorsed on an expensive chocolate metal box.






SUNDAY - Cafe Horta

For lunch, we stopped at this fish-bar kind of place where I had yummy escargots soup for the first time. Lots of people were crowding around here to make their orders though its cold and there were no stools to sit on, the food must be good then I thought! Actually I think escargots taste quite like abalone. It has a rubbery feel to it.


Following on, we thought of taking a leisure ride to the Horta Museum.
I must say - cobbled streets don't make for easy cycling especially when there are tramlines too. After riding on many pavements and against the traffic of various one-way streets, we finally arrived at the art nouveau museum only to find it closed! Suddenly the weather looked like it was brewing a storm and we lounged in a nearby cafe all afternoon instead.


MONDAY - Home sweet home

Some last-minute shopping with baby Aran before we headed back to Blighty.

Despite what you see here, bikes and cycle-seats are despatched seperately from baby ....

*ahem* Excuse the singing but we hope grandpa enjoys it anyway ......
yn arbennig i tad-cu!

Before I could tidy away daddy's cycle pedal clip-ons lying on the table, Morgan took to them as though they were his toys. When he held them up to play, our conversation went like this....

Mummy : '这 个 东 西 是 谁 的？' (Who own these clip-ons?)

Morgan (happily) : 'Daddy!'

Mummy : '这 个东 西 是放 在哪 里 的？' (where do they belong?)

Morgan (rather confidently) : 'beic!' (spelling of 'bike' in Welsh)

For a moment, Mummy looked rather astounded. Well let's just say I wasn't quite expecting him to actually understand my question but more than that, even if he did I wasn't expecting him to answer me correctly if at all. He obviously knew where the pedal clip-ons belong - somewhere on Daddy's bike! Having later checked with Daddy that he had never pointed out to Morgan where those metal bike parts go, we were convinced of Morgan's fascination with daddy's bike.