A Valentine's Day Surprise (cont'd)

“Wow! This hotel is nice!”
“The bathtub is super huge!”
“I haven’t had such a relaxing bath in a long time.”
“I think you should try doing this next time. You’ll like it.”
“You’re the best!”

If you haven’t figured it out by now, yours truly was able to convince the wife to stay at the hotel and judging by her comments afterwards, she was probably glad I had forced her to go.

After all, most of her fears were unfounded. We were able to buy the furniture we needed and have them assembled at our new place, I was able to pack away most of our things in the days leading up to Saturday, and the baby was fine with just me. I don't mean to humble brag, but I was right as usual and she was wrong. In other words, In...your...face...woman!!!!

Along with this small victory, we’ve gotten an unexpected surprise from Caitlyn. Ever since my parents left, we’ve noticed that she’s done a complete 180° and has, seemingly out of the blue, decided to let people start holding her. She’ll even reach her hands out to be held by them, something that you wouldn’t have seen her doing a mere week ago.

Am I dreaming? Somebody pinch me! I thought happy endings only happen in fairy tales. Maybe being in constant contact with my parents for such an extended period of time has finally made Caitlyn comfortable enough to be with other people.

Looks like having a date night with the wife is slowly becoming more and more of a feasible possibility!

Happy baby, tired Grandpa

Posing at the park

 

An extremely happy baby

First time eating a a cereal puff

 

Is there anything Grandpa can't do?

But I don't wanna crawl anymore!

Go go go! 10 more push-ups!

Can't you just hold me?

A Valentine's Day Surprise

My parent’s visit has finally come to an end with them leaving early this morning. To show her appreciation for all they’ve done for her, Caitlyn decided to give them a farewell present. While the wife and I went to take care of some business at the bank and post office yesterday, Caitlyn happily stayed at home with the grandparents for over an hour. Wowo!

So, apparently hope is not all lost with our little one. It just takes about a month. And with his mission finally accomplished, my dad can go home with his dignity still intact.

Recently, the wife stated that she wished she could have eight uninterrupted hours of sleep. That gave me an idea for a Valentine’s Day surprise – booking a weekend getaway by herself at a hotel so she could relax without having to deal with the baby.

My main criterion was that it had to have a TV in the bathroom so she could have some entertainment while having a soak. It took two days of searching and deliberation before I finally settled on my selection – a very nice, chic, modern 5-star hotel for Saturday night. The deer head that’s mounted on the wall in the lobby was what sealed the deal for me. Now that’s what I call classy.

I haven’t gone out and done a poll or anything, but I’m assuming that most women would be ecstatic over a gift like this. Who wouldn't like a little r&r? However, this is the wife we’re talking about and I had a good hunch that she wouldn’t be so keen about my little surprise.

Sure enough, she goes off about how we still have a lot to do like buying furniture and packing our things before we move to our new apartment next Saturday, how she’ll keep worrying about the baby when she’s gone, how she’s afraid of staying at a hotel by herself, and how I never discuss things with her before making plans like this.

Of course, knowing the kind of reaction she would have, I already had my responses ready to go. First, we still have two weeks to pack. I can slowly pack things at night when the baby’s asleep. Second, we can go to IKEA this Friday to buy furniture, and have it shipped to and assembled at our new place Saturday morning. Third, she needs to get used to not having the baby constantly at her side and have faith in my babysitting skills. Fourth, she can take a friend, her mom, or her sister to the hotel with her if she’s scared. Fifth, there’s a reason it’s called a surprise.

However, none of my answers seemed to calm her worries. She insisted that I cancel the reservation or see if we could take a rain check on it or at the very least, have us all stay in the hotel. I stubbornly refused to budge. After all, this is for her own good. Call it an intervention. She’s been running herself ragged taking care of the baby and playing host to my parents. She really needs some time to recoup.

This just made her more upset and she accused me of always trying to force her into doing things she didn’t want to do. Uh, you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t feel sorry for you, but it’s not like I’m forcing you to eat broccoli or kill someone. I’m asking you to go to a nice hotel (with a deer head mounted on the wall of the lobby) so you can relax. Is it really that hard to say, “Wow! Thanks for the awesome surprise! I can’t wait to go and see the deer head mounted on the wall!”

So, the question remains, will she go or not? I suppose we’ll all find out together on Saturday! How exciting!

Working on her crawling skills

Great posture!

 

Trying to do a headstand?

Showing off her skills to Mommy

Quality time with Grandma

To be Held or not to be Held, that is the Question

While Caitlyn usually doesn’t let anyone (even people she see on a consistent basis) hold her for very long, she sometimes lets complete strangers hold her.

For example, when we were looking at apartments a month or so ago, the landlord’s wife offered to hold Caitlyn while we looked around their place. My wife told her that Caitlyn’s a bit wary of strangers, but the landlord’s wife insisted. Surprisingly, Caitlyn didn’t cry at all. She must have been held for at least 30 minutes. In her world, that’s an eternity.

Then, the other day when I went to go buy a new pair of glasses, the shop owner’s wife also offered to hold Caitlyn. Again, Caitlyn seemed perfectly content in her arms. The only hiccup was when she tried to feed Caitlyn some cake. What the heck! Who goes around feeding other people’s babies without asking for permission first?! Thankfully, I caught this in time to get it out of her mouth.

What would compel Caitlyn to be held by these two complete strangers for such a lengthy amount of time, while other people that she sees more frequently, like my parents or in-laws, can barely hold her for more than a minute?

I’ve been trying to figure out how she determines which strangers she lets and doesn’t let hold her. Does she have a mental check-list of criteria that she goes through before making a decision? I mean, is there a particular look, smell, or feel that she likes better than others? This mystery is very puzzling indeed.

My Vacation Begins

Now that the Chinese New Year break is over and it’s time for me to head back to work, it can only mean one thing… time for my vacation to begin! Haha! Just joking. Well, maybe only half-joking. Work is definitely less time-consuming than taking care of a baby. And I can go to the bathroom whenever I please, without fear of the baby going into a fit.

My parents’ visit is almost over, with only a week left in their stay. Unfortunately, the majority of their trip has been marred by cold, rainy weather. However, this has given them ample time at home to try and win Caitlyn over.

By consistently sticking to his guns and not giving up, Grandpa has finally lengthened the amount of time Caitlyn allows him to play with her to 30 minutes, though most of the time, she’ll still whine for Mommy after only a few minutes.

Grandma, on the other hand, either thinks that babies need more sleep than playtime or has a low threshold for the constant whining of a baby. Here are a few of her favorite things to say to Caitlyn.

“What?! You’re up already? I think you need more sleep!” – right after a nap

“You look tired. Why don’t you go take a nap?” – 10 minutes after a nap

“Someone sounds like they need a nap!” – whenever Caitlyn yawns

“Oh, oh! What’s the matter? Do you want to take a nap?” – whenever Caitlyn whines, which is like every 5 minutes

“Are you going to bed? Ok, good night!” – whenever Caitlyn goes into the bedroom to change clothes or diapers

“Now that your belly’s full, you can take a nice nap!” – after each feeding

Bath time is happy time

Splish splash!

 

Eating can be a messy affair

Finally, the sun comes out!

 

Spending the day outdoors

Calla lilies in Yangming Mountain

 

Happy to be outside

Enjoying the scenery

 

How come only the wife's smiling?

Family shot minus me