Kong Hei Fatt Choy

Shad was in Australia for a week on business so Ryan and I were left to our own devices this week. Whenever Shad's away, we seem to fall into a familiar routine. We keep our days busy with school and playdates, we find fun ways of entertaining ourselves during our indoor play time in the evenings and of course bedtime is a lot earlier (much to Ryan's dismay, but on these days when the night relief staff is not around, by 8pm Mama's about ready for bed too!).

Thanks to the company of good friends, our week passed by very quickly. Sunday dinner at Dee and Alex's started off with all of us giggling at Ryan's attempts at bowling on the Wii. It was hilarious just to see him run up to the tv then look expectedly at the screen waiting for the ball to move even though he did not press the button on the handset! We'd promised to buy Ryan a play cooking set for awhile now, so before Shad left, we finally went to Toys R Us and got him one. Unfortunately neither of us thought to check the colour of the toy before we bought it. So now we have a "very pink" stove in the middle of our living room! For the rest of the week, Ryan had loads of fun wearing his chef's hat and cooking "pretend meals" for us and also all his little friends who came over for playdates.

Our friends Chris and Sharon gave Ryan a digital camera for Christmas last year. Ryan's gotten quite good at using the camera and goes around the house capturing all his favourite toys as well as all kinds of funny pictures of Mama and Daddy.

Eerr, who's having more fun???

Here's to a meal well cooked!

Chinese New Year party at school. Those little hands just couldn't resist all that sweet yummy treats laid out infront of them!

After a last minute change of plans, we decided to postpone our trip back to Melbourne. So instead of being surrounded by family and friends, Ryan and I had a very quiet Chinese New Year (I guess we should feel even worse for poor Shad who was stuck in Dubbo on his own). Despite missing out of the big feast back home, we still managed to have our own yummy reunion dinner with our friends, the Yings. Christine, Alex, Maria and Jaden joined us for a lovely hot pot dinner at our place. The adults ate until we couldn't move while the two boys got reacquainted again (they haven't seen each other since November). For me, Chinese New Year has always been about getting together with family, eating endless amounts of cookies and "long yuk" (dried bbq meat), and of course the lion dances and the loud fireworks displays. This year Ryan saw his first lion dance performance up close and I got the chance to explain the significance of it to him. This may sound a little silly, but for me, it was a very special moment. Even though he may not fully understand the significance of it, I felt like I was sharing an important part our culture and who we are with my son.

Reunion hotpot dinner with the Yings

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Lion dance at the AMC

Three lions bringing good luck to the residents of the Belcher's

Our little boy loves music. He sings himself to sleep, he sings to himself when he wakes up, and he sings when he plays. And thankfully, he can hold a tune!