Happy Second Birthday, February 2009

Unfortunately, we don't have photographs of our birthday dinner together... just the two of us, Little Nio and his Daddy. His Mommy had gone out to the temple to make merit and give some special offerings, but wasn't able to join us in time for dinner because of the traffic.

Little Nio and I were able to enjoy a great spaghetti dinner together at S&P Restaurant at Central Lad Phrao. We also had some chicken wings and shared a big chocolate milkshake.

My wife, Kanittha, joined us after dinner and we all went shopping for more birthday gifts. We got him some clothes, a life vest for when he goes swimming, a little musical caboose and a combination xylophone and piano.



Here he is back at home, already playing with his birthday gift even if it's still in the box. Actually he was already playing with in the car... banging on the keys all the way home.



Finally unpacked.



Little Nio up on his high chair with his piano-xylophone combination birthday gift toy.



We also bought Little Nio an ice cream cake from Swensen's for his birthday.





Here he is enjoying the ice cream cake, and the chocolate dipped candied cherries on top.



With his Mommy on one side, his birthday cake in front of him, and his aunt, Pa Kut on the other side.



A very generous and giving boy, here's Little Nio sharing some of the cherries on his cake with his Mommy.



A quick shot of the reusable decorative canopy we set up over our dining table. With the environment in mind, it doesn't hurt to have party decor as a "renewable resource". Too bad that his aunt and Mommy forgot to blow up some balloons for him. Better luck next year, son, maybe your Mom will remember by then.





More cake eating for Little Nio. It's a 2-pound cake, so you are bound to see a lot of it featured in this blog.





After the birthday cake, all cleaned up and ready to start banging away at the keyboards again.





Little Nio takes his musical act to our family room on the second floor. You can see here that he plays with a lot of energy and much gusto. He's a natural performer.







Slowing the set down a bit, Little Nio plays some mellow tunes that involve a slightly less frenzied banging on the keys.





Taking a load off his tiny feet, Little Nio plops himself down on the sofa, but continues to tap away his music on his brand new piano-xylophone birthday gift toy.

It's anyone's guess how long the toy will last. I give it a month at the very most, but it will be all worthwhile if it kindles in his heart a passion and a penchant for music. One can only hope that this early introduction will lead to the development of a talent.

Still Growing, February 2009

Taken a few days ago, here's Little Nio back in action at KiDO.



Here he is running down a ramp...



Playing in a small pool of plastic balls...



And here he is with a nice soft colored ball...



This is one with his Mommy. She's been complaining that there are not enough photographs of her here on our blog, so we definitely have to do something about that. We've moved Little Nio's play sessions at KiDO from Saturday lunchtime to Sunday at 3PM.



After KiDO, I had to go check on site progress at the Embassy of South Africa. Work is nearing completion. Here's my wife trying to strike a pose in front of the Consular Section entrance with the flag of South Africa displayed. Unfortunately Little Nio is prancing around in the foreground, effectively stealing the show.



Another attempt at a decent photograph of my wife, Kanittha, in front of the Consular Section. Here Little Nio is trying to see how strong the secure glass of the embassy really is — it's bullet and shatter resistant, but it's definitely not smudge and saliva resistant.



Inside the embassy, near their pantry and break-out area, Little Nio is trying to strangle one of the giraffe art sculptures on display.





Back at home and fast asleep, Little Nio is such an angel. Do you know the feeling you get watching your child sleep, wishing you had a camera handy so that you can try and capture the moment? Well I did have a camera on hand and I was able to capture the moment.





After a quick and short haircut back at "Dotty Cut", we all sat down to have dinner together at The Terrace, located on the third floor of the Central Lad Phrao department store. Here's Little Nio going through the menu with his Mommy.

Weekend Work, February 2009

The nature of my work sometimes means that I have to go and check on a construction job site during the weekend. Not for very long periods, just enough time to check out that milestone tasks have been achieved and that the work is in progress.

This weekend was scheduled for visiting ongoing work at the Embassy of the Republic of South Africa.



Here's Little Nio and his Mommy posing in front of the secure entrance of the embassy.



While most construction sites are not exactly what one might call a child-friendly environment, this site is an interior fit-out and it's nearing completion as well so there's not too much that isn't safe about the place and the construction pollution is negligible.





Here's Little Nio inspecting a bucket of paint on the job site. You can see that he's put on quite a bit of weight. While he might not look too chubby, he's very densely packed so Little Nio is really heavy. I really like this shirt he's wearing — a tribute to the Special Air Service (SAS).





While his Mommy was doing a bit of grocery shopping, Little Nio managed to convince some sales clerks to give him a balloon from their display. Here he is running around the retail mall near the embassy with his new balloon.







More running around with the new balloon. Little Nio has fully recovered from the bout of sickness following our trip to Manila and the colds that were floating around Bangkok in recent weeks.



After the embassy, we passed by Bon Marché to buy food for dinner and some snacks. Here's Little Nio doing a bit of window shopping at one of the shops there. I think he saw something particularly interesting, so he spent some time looking at it.



Here he is with his Mommy, making faces for the camera.

Even though some of our weekends have to accommodate my work, we try to create an opportunity for adventure so that we can all have fun together.

Pre-Two Period, February 2009

It's a popular epithet to describe the period when a child is two years old as "The Terrible Twos". They do also say that "forewarned is forearmed". However, putting these two sayings together doesn't necessarily mean that anyone can be fully prepared for this childhood chapter.

So what exactly are we, as parents, so worried about as our kids move into this age of activity?







Here's Little Nio demonstrating his skills at climbing stairs. He's been climbing stairs for several months now, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's any good at it, or that he's mastered this task. We live in a 3-storey row house, which means lots of stairs — which in turn translates into lots of opportunities to fall down.







As if climbing up stairs is not enough to worry about, there are the various pieces of furniture that offer the same opportunities. Specifically the opportunity to climb... and the possibility of falling down. Here's Little Nio clambering up our couch in the family room. Now we don't mind that our Little Nio falls down and learns what it means to pick yourself up again, but there are some falls we learn from and others we might not be able to get past.



And then of course there is the attitude. It is best seen in that spark of adventure, mixed with a dash of mischief and a streak of defiance. Little Nio has all these qualities in generous measures.





Another worry is that kids at this age will want to touch everything and test how strong they are... and more often than not these tensile strength tests result in some things getting broken. Here's Little Nio sitting on top of my computer workstation, with lots of stuff he shouldn't be touching... all within easy reach.

I figured that if he's able to satisfy his curiosity, he might not be too inclined to explore this place too frequently. I may be very wrong in this assumption though.

And then there are the social skills of two-year-olds, which are still very much in their formative years.



On Makha Bucha day, we decided to take our son to visit a temple. Above is photograph of a temple very near to our village. Even though Little Nio is baptized a Catholic, there is absolutely no reason why he cannot pay his respects in a Buddhist temple. We thought that it would be good for him to imbibe a spirit of calm within the walls of a holy place.



Here's Little Nio with his Mommy and his aunt, Pa Kut. It looks like he's more curious that anything else.



At the first opportunity that presented itself, Little Nio decide to start climbing up to the Buddha images. We were able to pull him down before he got too high up and before any offense was made, or even before anything got destroyed. I guess he thought he would get closer to his Buddhist roots.

One skill that our young man has been able to master is the art of stuffing face. Little Nio has never been picky with his food. He eats fruits and vegetables, and will try anything at least once just to find out what it tastes like.







After the temple we all went over to this community shopping area called Bon Marché, where we sat down to enjoy some snacks at Daddy Dough. You can see that Little Nio has no problem devouring doughnuts.

Another worry we have as parents moving into the terrible-twos, is that Little Nio has no fear. So things like going very fast and the possibility of a nasty spill are no deterrent at all.







Here's Little Nio on his little red toy car zooming past the dining table, he takes sharp turns at every corner without flipping over and makes this room a mini racing circuit.



The weather is getting warm again, and we find ourselves drawn to the poolside in the afternoon. Little Nio loves the water and he is not at all afraid of getting wet or the possibility of swallowing too much water.





Little Nio can be quite a handful, but he has good fun in the swimming pool and really enjoys himself. The exercise is good and it helps tone his muscles and starts to give him better coordination.

Later in the evening, we went out to dinner to meet up with visiting Fraternity brothers from the Upsilon Sigma Phi.



Here we all are gathered around a table at Silom Village, from left-to-right: Franco Navarro '87, Nio Navarro (Batch '25?), Tong Puno '65, Louie Kierulf '68, Ray Orozco '65, Benny Fulgencio '65 and Doy Santos '75.



As you can see here, Little Nio is more interested in dinner than in the fellowship with our distinguished visitors, comprised of the the incumbent president and board members of the USPAA (Upsilon Sigma Phi Alumni Association).



Here we all are again, this time joined by my wife, Kanittha. We had a great evening together, but unfortunately Little Nio was distracted by the dance performance on stage that I was unable to fully enjoy the fellowship with my brothers.

So those are the things we have to be aware of as Little Nio grows up and into the "Terrible Twos".