Sightseeing & recent milestones

My parents were here from the night of December 23 through the morning of January 5. That gave us a chance to do some of the local sightseeing that we hadn't gotten to yet. We spent the first day showing them around in Stanley and popping into the American Club. And they got to open the Hanukkah presents from my parents. They got quite a few clothes and toys...and Leah especially loved her princess costume.On Christmas day, we spent some time exploring Wan Chai and Causeway Bay and ate some good dim sum there. The next day we took the Star Ferry to Kowloon and explored TST a bit, including catching a dragon show and playing in the playground in Kownloon Park. A few days later we went to the Big Buddha in Lantau. It was fun to see it - and the 25 minute cable car ride up and back was nice. We showed my parents around Ocean Park. We spent most of a day there and got a chance to see a couple shows, check out the animals, and ride the kiddie rides.

We had New Years Eve dinner at a French private kitchen in Wan Chai called Le Blanc - it was a nice meal but no major NYE festivities. Then on New Years Day we did a self guided walking tour in the Western District (Sheung Wan). It was fun to see some of the dried seafood shops, the Man Mo Temple, and the Central-Midlevels Escalator. We had several other good meals during their visit - mostly Chinese food. And we went for a drink at the Intercontinental in TST to watch the light show in Central.

After 2 weeks of winter break, Leah was glad to go back to school. We also signed up for gymnastics and ballet at the American Club...both are big hits.

In other news, Will is getting very good at standing - even standing alone for a couple seconds at a time. He still shows no interest in tummy time or crawling but wants to be on his feet all the time. He loves to take steps while holding someone's fingers and can now walk quite a distance that way. He has starting feeding himself finger food - loves Gerber puffs. And we've been beefing up his diet with more protein - including congee with broccoli and fish - which he likes - although still seems to be getting used to the texture of a non-pureed food.

I took him for his flu shot on December 30 and he got weighed and measured at the doctor's office. He's now 9.55 kg (21 lbs), 76 cm (30 in) tall, and 46 cm (18 in) head circumference. That puts him above the 95th percentile in height, around the 75th percentile in weight, and also around the 75th percentile in head. He's definitely filling out again - he had been slimming down for a bit - but now he's got a cute belly, nice chubby arms and legs and a full face. The boy does love to eat! And along with that - he's sleeping better. He does wake up a few times a night and make a bit of noise, talking or fussing, but he puts himself back to sleep. Last night he officially went 6:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. Let's hope that continues!