At Eight Months, October 2007

Don't look so surprised to see him. Little Nio is back in action! At eight months he's really grown so much taller, but he hasn't gained too much weight. He's just a little over seven kilograms here.



Here he is wearing his bear cap, sitting with his mommy in front of daddy's computer gear. He's having a look around and starting to plan how he can disconnect stuff when he gets a bit older.



Last October 17th, we were delighted at the opportunity to have dinner with Little Nio's Tito Rene (at left) and his Lolo Mon (at right). The funny looking guy carrying him is Little Nio's dad.

They were visiting Bangkok on a business trip, and we were able to catch up with them at a restaurant across from the Ambassador Hotel where they were staying. The name of the restaurant is "Rotsabieng", which translates as the dining car on a train and the restaurant is similarly themed — even having a modestly sized miniature train set running in the middle of the restaurant.



Chewing string beans while under the watchful supervision of Tito Rene.



Lolo Mon is lifting Little Nio up to get a better look. Both of them were pretty curious to get to know each other better.



After all the walking around, chewing on veggies (with most of them falling all over the floor) and getting picked up a lot, here is Little Nio getting a quick chug of beer from his mom's mug. He's not really drinking the beer, but is actually drooling into the beer.



Sitting down to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, "Samsen Tavern", located right across from the hospital where Little Nio was born. The food is excellent, the prices are very reasonable and Little Nio is a favorite with their friendly staff. He even has his own high chair there, which he sits in very well behaved... for a few minutes.



More recently, Little Nio has begun standing up in his play pen... and he has started walking around! Supporting himself on the edges, he drags himself, hand over fist, clockwise around the perimeter. That's the interesting thing though. He can only now go in a clockwise direction. If you try to call his attention to come back he only blinks at your location as if to spot it in his mind and off he goes the long way around. We're hoping that counter-clockwise becomes part of his skill set later on.



Now here's an interesting photo. See if you can spot Little Nio hiding in that pile. If he doesn't move, it's almost like camouflage and he blends in with the surrounding cuteness of all his little stuffed toys.



He moved. There... you've spotted Little Nio.



Here he is carefully examining the tail of his kangaroo (given to him by the paternal grandfather and grandmother of his maternal cousin, Alisara Rose Wood). It's a bit complicated... my wife, Kanittha's sister, Somkid, is married to an Australian, named John Wood. Their daughter, Alisara, is Little Nio's cousin. Johnny's parents, John Senior and Rosa were the ones who gave the kangaroo to Little Nio.



We'll close this post with another priceless smile from Little Nio, who has only two bottom teeth right now. He may have only two teeth, but he's not afraid to use them.

Seven Months, September 2007

How very quickly the time passes. Since our last update here a month has passed and Little Nio is now seven months old.

Here we are again at KiDO, playing with their special toy of the day... and that day they brought out the "octagon".





At first our son was a bit apprehensive, but with his fuzzy friend, "Vincenzo" (given to him by his Lolo Jun), Little Nio really starts to enjoy himself.



Here he is spending a bit of time with his Daddy.



One of the things they have at KiDO that Little Nio really enjoys is an area with lots of little colored balls. The colors overwhelm him and he really has a grand time.





Here he is again with his nanny, "Pa Ohm". Little Nio absolutely adores her and they are very good friends. More than his Mommy or his Daddy, he spends more time with his Nanny.



Not sure if you've all noticed, but Little Nio can now sit up all by himself. Major milestone in his development. He seems a bit bewildered by his own achievement here. Either that or he can't figure out what all the fuss is about.



Here we are in our car, with Little Nio sitting on his Mommy's lap, on our way to his last play session at KiDO. He has a long term membership fee with KiDO (until he turns six years old) that allows him free use of all the facilities, but we only signed up for ten play school sessions.



Once again with the balls at KiDO, but this time we've tried to pick out only the blue balls for Little Nio.



Since he can now sit-up and practically stand up, we've gotten him a walker.





Here we are at Vichaiyut Hospital for Little Nio's regular doctor's visit. He's waiting anxiously sitting in front of his pediatrician's office. Dr. Wanasiri.



There's a little play area in the hospital at the pediatrics ward. Here Little Nio and his mommy decide to take a ride on one of the play animals there.



Busting with confidence he decides to ride solo.



You can tell he's really having a fun time. His expressions are priceless.





Back at home, almost ready for bed, he plays with his favorite rattle that came with a set that was given to him by a colleague of mine, Haydn Thomas.



Here he is in his play pen with his buddy, "Vincenzo".

Getting Stuffed, August 2007

Our son just turned six months yesterday. Just wanted to share a quick sequence of pictures of Little Nio enjoying his meals. As they go in... and sometimes when they go out again. He's really putting on a lot of weight, but because he's growing tall he doesn't look like he's getting fatter.







Now here's a really great photograph of Little Nio and his mom, wearing matching outfits!

Fun with Fries, August 2007

There's really not much I can say to describe this series of photos... no excuse for this really. We just wanted to see what he'd look like with a bear hat and some cute blue sandals with his little toes sticking out.



He's not quite annoyed, but not really excited about it.



And then there's this inexcusable shot...



Somehow the red outfit, the red floppy hat and the little red booty shoes... not to mention the yellow football, made this feel like the right thing to do.



And then of course there are those moments when you get really lucky to have a camera around. Like the time we went to "Triple O's" and gave Little Nio his first taste of french fries.



The dangerous thing was the threat of him sticking it up his nose or poking out his eye. Fortunately, he's a smart little man and he knows what to do with a piece of potato.



Drool on it.

Eating and Bouncing, August 2007

Well it looks like Little Nio has gone further along in his adventures with food. Here we have his mommy trying him out on a bit of Nestlé Cerelac.







It almost looks like the "3-Stages of First Foods", starting with "curiosity", followed by "experimentation" only to climax in "rejection". Despite all appearances, Little Nio does manage to get more food into him rather than just on his face.

Aside from his forays into the realm of solid foods, our son still manages a healthy regimen of exercise at KiDO. Here he is parading around in a "onesie" given to him by his Tita Tessa (or was it Tita Via), from Manila.



It's definitely an outfit with attitude, and Little Nio definitely has enough of that to back up the statement on his chest which he shows off proudly.



The knit cap is an add on to heighten the "tough guy" effect.



Here we are again, at Banana Beach restaurant, waiting for the food to arrive. It looks like our son can't wait to try the seafood, so he takes a bite out of his blue dolphin stuffed toy named "Penguin". That's a long story right there.



Little Nio with his mommy, looks like he's attempting to whistle here.



At KiDO with one of his older classmates "Nong See", she is three months older than Little Nio, but as you can see not too much bigger.



Here they are all in a row, three of the toddlers in the KiDO class. Little Nio in center with his mommy, "Nong Patin" on the left and "Nong Jaya" at right.



And finally here's a shot of our son getting intensive training on how to become a "bouncing baby boy" with the assistance of a miniature trampoline. Don't worry about the slumped KiDO mascot at the back.



You have to admit that these new teaching methods are very thorough.