Stella and Her Boy Friends

She was about 7 months here.

I've noticed in the last few weeks that she really gravitates toward little boys around 2-4 years old. There are a few that live in the hotel. Tonight, we met Dan and his friend from high school, Neil, out for a quick happy hour. She and I rushed back into the hotel in time for 7pm bath time. I walked into the hotel holding her. She grabbed the doorman's hand (they always wave to her) so hard that he was drug inside the hotel and hit his head on the huge glass doors. He laughed and so did the concierge ladies. During the commotion, a little boy walked in the door with his auntie. Stella lept out of my arms and ran straight up to him. She is normally shy around strangers and there were a ton around because it was a busy time. Several people were coming in and out of the elevators so I couldn't quite see what she did. But, she got right in his face and grabbed his hand. She was looking longingly into his eyes and I'm sure he could not have cared less. He was very polite and humored her. She followed him right into the elevator. Luckily, someone held the door for me because I was lugging her stroller, Dan's coat and some other misc. She could have easily left without me and I actually don't think she would have cared as long as the little boy was there.

Also, last weekend at the LRC there was a little boy named Hugo that she loved. Actually, before Hugo entered the picture, Stella was riding in a Little Tykes car similar to the one we have in La Jolla. She had been hogging it for some time so Dan and I took her out as there was a little boy eyeing it. He got in. She ran right up to him and gently hung on to the car while swaying her hips back and forth. She was smiling and giggling while suggestively opening and shutting the car door. She was almost flirting and then Dan realized, "She's trying to hustle him out of the car so she can get it back." That's exactly what happened in the end. Part of me thinks, "Good for her." The other is bracing for trouble later on. So, after she was back in the car, sweet Hugo (maybe also 3 years old) came over and started talking to her. He carefully pushed her around the playground. I was upset to not have a camera. She smiled like crazy, honked the horn and loved every minute of it. Except that whenever Hugo stopped, she'd look back at him quizzically and motion for him to keep going. This went on and on for a while. We laughed a lot.

She has also inherited some of Dan's particular habits. She has decided that no pillow should touch the headboard so she arranges them exactly how she likes them toward the middle of the bed. If we happen to be laying on one of them near the headboard, she will grab us by our hair and pull us off the pillows. She likes to sit near the headboard. Evidently, some of her stuffed animals are allowed to be there but not Dan or I. We also colored for the first time today. I taped some paper to the dining room table and we used these big fat crayons to draw that Dan put in her Easter basket. They were housed in a plastic cup so they would not roll off the table when not in use. She would only arrange them in the cup with the tips facing up. She got angry if I put one in tip facing down and would immediately flip the crayon around. She probably took them in and out of the cup dozens of times and every single time she put them in tip up.

Some Funny Things

I think she was 3 days old in this photo.

Stella seriously soaks up all the attention from the staff here at the hotel. And, I can tell they genuinely love her. She's really in for a rude awakening when we get to the U.S. and not many non-family members will give a hoot about her. One of the concierge ladies, Mandy, always comes running when we enter the lobby. Stella blasts out of the elevator on the first floor and out the glass doors to the lobby where she expects (seriously) to be made the center of attention. Even the bellmen hold her hand and smile at her. It was very sweet today because she went to Mandy and tugged on her skirt which means that Stella wanted Mandy to pick her up. Stella does not do that very often to people who are not Dan or me.

But, the best is that once we've left the hotel and re-enter, Stella makes her presence known. For instance, if I'm carrying her on my hip, the second we walk through the big glass lobby doors she smiles, stretches out her arm with her palm turned up like a beauty queen as if to say, "I'm here!" It's hysterical and she only does it when we enter and leave the main lobby area where most of the staff are. I was pushing her in her stroller today and I nearly died when she did it. She faces me in the stroller so she's technically riding backward. The second those big doors opened she stuck out her arm to announce her arrival. She couldn't see anyone, because she was riding backward, but knew it was "time" to do that.

Food wise her palate is pretty funny:

1. Avocado is still #1:  She's eaten it every day since she was 6 months old except when we were in Bangkok because the Shangri-la had run out (???).

The rest are in no particular order:

2. Melon
3. Berries (all but raspberry)
4. Saffron bread (maybe because it's yellow)
5. Risotto:  It's such a pain to make, but she shovels it in because it's sticky (or I make it sticky) so she can pick it up.
6. Scrambled eggs
7. These really gross oatmeal millet pancakes from a kids health food book
8. Chicken pizza from the LRC
9. Sushi (we don't give her raw fish): I took her to the Japanese grocery store today and she almost (seriously) dove into the sushi counter trying to grab containers.
10. Pomelo: We have to ration it because it makes her diapers really, really gross.
11. Watermelon juice
12. Kiwi

She hates mango, papaya and strawberries that aren't ripe enough so much that she gets angry and screams at me.

I've also learned that whenever I say "mouth" she thinks I want her to spit out her food. It's because we say, "What's in your mouth?" when she sometimes puts stuff in it she's not supposed to. She's very good about spitting out stuff that is too big for her to chew or when she gets busted putting contraband in there. She also has learned to "dip." They have an organic baby ketchup here with no salt that we let her dip her scrambled eggs and whatever in to. She has to have a small bowl of vanilla yogurt to dip pancakes in. I discovered that on accident, but she loves to do it.

She doesn't eat any baby food anymore. In fact, we had coffee with some friends at a nice cafe so I got a sandwich for myself and a fruit salad for her since Dan was going to be home late. She ate my sandwich and the entire fruit salad. Dan asked how our dinner was so I had to say, "I don't know but I'm starving..."

Quite a Week

Still recycling old photos as the camera has not resurrected itself.

Last weekend, the three of us flew to Bangkok. We woke Stella up an hour earlier than normal and set off for the airport. She knew something was up. It was very early so she became fussy right about when we hit the security line in the airport. None of us had eaten breakfast or had a cup of coffee yet. We arrived at the Cathay Pacific business class lounge. Dan was cursing that he lost his American Airlines Executive Platinum status as he traveled less because of Stella last year. That allowed us entry into the first class lounge. I actually prefer the business class lounge, to be honest. For the non-Asian traveler, the Cathay Hong Kong lounges blow the U.S. Admirals Clubs and even all the ones I remember at Heathrow (including BA pre-terminal 5) just straight out of the water. Stella happily ate her breakfast there as she loves their congee. We boarded the plane and she was restless at first, but then slept the entire way. We had a car waiting at the airport. The new airport is really spectacular. The old one was very unpleasant. She was fine in the car even though it was past her lunch time and daddy refused to get out her DVD player and toys "just in case." We stayed at the Shangri-la, which I would highly recommend. We had a suite so she had her own room and it was one of the nicest hotel rooms I've ever stayed in. I hear the normal rooms are just "ok" unless you are in the new Krungthep wing. Anyway, bottom line is that is was a very nice vacation. Stella was in a GREAT mood the entire time and loved pretty much everything about the hotel, even though she already lives in a nice one. It was on the river so she saw fish jumping in the morning, there were older kids in the pool (we did a ton of swimming and she loved it), she devoured Thai fried rice and watermelon juice at every opportunity and then some. Dan joked today about how Asian she's become with her love of Thai pomelos (she would eat them all day long if it weren't for the fact they make her diapers stink like you would not believe), watermelon juice, fried rice and congee. I snuck out to do some shopping. We all had a great time and were very pleased at how easy it was. The hotel gave Stella a huge crib with 4 fancy pillows and Italian linens, so there was no way she could sleep poorly. She slept just like normal. The one-hour time change and occasional late bedtime (so mom and dad could meet friends out for drink) didn't bother her one bit. She fidgeted during the flight home but thank goodness for our portable DVD player because she never got fussy.

Then, on Monday, as everyone knows, we had an earthquake in Sichaun province near our favorite Chinese city, Chengdu. Dan and I traveled through Beichuan and some of the other little cities that are now leveled, in order to get to Wolong. We're both just gutted.

And then my 19-year-old cat, Fluffy died.

We land at LAX on June 6.

Who's Your Daddy?

We had a funny incident on the 59th floor. I take Stella out when housekeeping comes so the other day we went to the 59th floor where the pool and gym are. They have a nice reading area and the view is spectacular. Stella was running around like a bat out of hell, tossing newspapers off the table, etc. I was exhausted and about to take her back downstairs when the elevator "dinged" and a Chinese man walked out. Stella was in his path to the pool. She looked right at him and said "Dad-dy!!!" It was the clearest "Daddy" she's ever said. They guy replied, "uh, no..." and the other people in the reading area all laughed.

She's pretty clever. Today when housekeeping came, I took her to Caffe Vergnano where we have Thursday coffee because she slept until 4pm and we couldn't commit to going anywhere outside the mall as she eats at 5pm. They have nice leather sofas and leather cubes for chairs. I arranged some cubes to block her access to some electrical outlets and this space behind the sofas. She was desperate to get behind the sofas because there is a mini glass wall there that allows you to see down to the first floor. Because the tables next to us were occupied, I didn't want her going back there. She knew she was being denied. So she would drop her sippy cup right behind the cube and say, "Uh oh!" and look me in the eye with a very cute, innocent look. I would reach down and get it without moving the cube, which was frustrating to her because her plan was for me to move the cube in order to get it. That would be her opportunity to blast behind the sofas. After about 3 times, she started to toss it a little bit further away to where she thought I couldn't reach it without moving the cube. Same thing with the innocent, "Uh oh!" It was funny, transparent and pretty clever. Then, I could tell she was hurling it as far as she could over the cube. After a while, she gave up and decided to seriously soil her diaper in retaliation. I had to get the check and bolt home because she stank.

I am not at all sure if we're going to Bangkok this weekend because she's been really cranky. I can't tell if it's teething or an MMR shot reaction. She's had these white bumps on her gums for the last week or two but nothing has broken through yet.

More Parties

We had another busy weekend. On Friday, we saw the Olympic torch from the hotel reading room. We had a perfect view of all the drama. We saw it come across the harbour to the ferry dock and someone run it all the way down the waterfront. On Saturday, we went to Stella's friend Nivana's birthday party. It was at a very, very nice restaurant called H One which happens to be on the 4th floor of our hotel. It could not have been more convenient for us!!! The food was excellent and Stella was a fan of the mini quiches. She grabbed one off my plate and stuffed it in her mouth before I could get it from her. On Sunday, we had a group birthday party with all of her friends that were born around the same time. It was at JWT Kids gym which ironically originated in Solana Beach. Dan couldn't come, but it was exhausting as they had constant activities for almost 2 hours straight.

These are photos some friends took as my camera has not resurrected itself. We are off to Bangkok this weekend and I bought a few disposable cameras. I have not figured out why my Canon camera is 2x the price here in HK. We'll wait to get one on Amazon when we land in CA.

In the bottom photo, I think she's twisted her tummy a little funny as it does stick out but perhaps not that much in real life!

Jalopy, Part 2

Dan, half jokingly, calls our computer the jalopy because ever since Stella picked off the "o" key, it's just never been the same. It's only a matter of days until the entire thing crashes so we've already picked out a new laptop to order for immediate delivery after I land in CA. He's created a verb: jalopify. Stella is in the process of jalopifying his blackberry and cell phone regardless of how aggressive we are in trying to keep them away from her. I think he's given up, at least on the blackberry.

Anyway, there's quite a scare about bisphenol -A plastics going around in the baby world. How serious you take it is just up to you as some doctors and experts that think the thing is blown out of proportion. It depends on what you read. Stella has been more or less BPA-free since birth. She did use a few Dr Brown's bottles when she first started bottles until I read shortly after that they were "bad,'" even though it seems 80% of the people I know still use them or some other BPA-containing bottle. So, we bought the BPA free Born Free bottles which are $10 a bottle. That's a lot. Plus, the bottles as they are just plain suck so you have to use the Dr Brown's inserts which luckily are the only part of the bottle that are BPA-free. So that's about $15 per bottle and it's not like you can have just one or two. Then, she moved to sippy cups and we bought the BPA-free ones. They leak, but we used them anyway. Then, she moved to a straw cup. We used a Nuby, which was unfortunate since the almost exact model in the sippy cup form was BPA-free. I assumed the straw cup would be BPA free, too. Well, it is, except for the flip top that covers the straw. The baby websites say this is ok since the flip top never really touches the liquid. Stella loves this Nuby straw cup and it's by far the easiest for her to use. And, it does NOT leak under any circumstances. Not even one drop. I thought "well better be safe than sorry..." so bought some other crappy BPA-free straw cups that are "no-spill." We have tried 6 different straw cups and the Nuby is by far the best. She cries out of frustration sometimes because her other cups are terrible in comparison.

The "no-spill" BPA-free cup gushed all over my diaper bag and jalopified our digital camera. It's completely dead. So, no photos until we sort it. Bitter...and costly.