More milestones

My daughter is almost one year old.  This week, she continues to amaze us with more 'firsts':
- learned to sign "all done" (it's so cute watching her tiny hands pivot on her little wrists)
- started to wave hello (and goodbye)
- learned to feed herself little bits of finger food (like bits of bread)
- started to get her two upper front teeth (she only has 2 lower front teeth so far)
- learned to play "peekaboo" using a napkin

Friends with "benefits" - not that kind of benefit

We are truly thankful for many friends in our lives.  Aside from the pure friendship and support our friends offer, we often rely on our friends for many practical favours.  Just for this HK trip alone, many friends have helped us in various ways.  For example, we got an amazing place to stay, we borrowed an appropriate stroller, we got discount tickets for both Disneyland and Ocean Park, and we have gone to fancy, members-only, places to eat and play.   We can only hope that, someday, we can return the favour.

8 year wedding anniversary

Today we celebrated our 8-year wedding anniversary by circumnavigating Hong Kong Island on a yacht.  We visited the largely uninhabited Tung Lung Island and hiked to many beautiful scenic points.  What a special day!

Photo Book

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Woo Family Photobook

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Milestones

It seems like my daughter just had a growth spurt.  Over the past 2 weeks, she's been more interactive than ever.  She learned how to clap while we were at the cottage in early Sept and can now clap on command.  She can also sign 'milk' which my son was never able to do.  She smiles when we smile at her and she plays with us by tilting her head or sticking her tongue out.  Her crawling has improved; she is fast and is no longer gimpy with her right leg.  This past week, she has been pulling herself up and standing.  She even took a few steps with assistance.  I wonder if she'll start to walk while we are in Hong Kong, just like my son did when he was 11.5 months.

15 hours

We decided last minute to take a vacation to Hong Kong to visit my family.  I was dreading the 15 hour flight but it wasn't too bad.  My daughter slept for 1 hour in the beginning, was awake for 6 hours, then slept another 1 hour, was awake for 4 hours, then slept the rest of the 3 hours.  My son slept about 6 hours on the floor.  I was able to watch some movies: Something Borrowed (okay), Kung Fu Panda 2 (okay but only watched 20 minutes), Midnight in Paris (bad), Fast Five (good), X-Men (good).

The food on Air Canada was gross but we were able to manage the space situation by ordering special meals for me and my son so our meals came before the regular meal service.  That meant when my food came, my husband was able to carry our daughter and vice versa.  It worked out much better than last time when we traveled with my 11-month old son and both our meals came at the same time but one of us was not able to eat because there was not enough space for 2 trays of food and holding the baby.