beim Arzt

Today, we had an appointment with a pediatrician in the "German village". The German village is a well guarded compound where most of the Germans in Changchun (who work for Volkswagen, I think) live. In this 'village' there also lives a German doctor and twice per month a German lady pediatrician comes from Beijing to treat all the German children.
The doctor examined Auro for about 30 minutes and everything was ok.

Weight: 6,79 kg
Height: 66 cm (but I doubt that a little... I think he is longer...)
Head circumference: 44,5 cm (this was 33,5 cm when he was born)
We have a very healthy boy!!!

Risotto

Today, for the first time, we had a guest for lunch. Han is Remo's student. Remo is in charge of helping him with his research so he can graduate next year. But Han is much more than 'Remo's student'. He has helped us on numerous occasions with things that have nothing to do with physics. If it wasn't for him, we would not have mobile phones, we wouldn't know where the university cafetaria is and we wouldn't know how to get downtown. If it wasn't for Han, I don't know where we would be!

Movie Star

This afternoon, Remo and I took Auro to the university. We had told some of the staff that we were coming, so they were expecting us. What happened was like a scene from a movie: people literally ran out of their offices to see the blue-eyed baby. Cameras (=mobile phones) were flashing everywhere. And before we knew it, Auro was being passed from person to person. It didn't take long, though, before Auro lost sight of his mother and his bottom lip started trembling. And then the tears came.
Almost as soon as he was in my arms again, he calmed down and after some minutes he even felt safe enough to look around him and see himself surrounded by many unfamiliar, but friendly faces.

All the excitement made our movie star tired and on the way home he fell asleep. I didn't want to wake him, so, without taking of his coat, I put him on the sofa as quietly as I could and there he slept for another 15 minutes!

Indulgence

Yesterday, we went to Chonqing Road, the Changchun variant of the Avenue Louise in Brussels. This area is popular for shopping, but it seems to me that it's more the richer part of the people in Changchun who do their shopping here. The street literally begins at the Changchun Shangri-La Hotel. This is usually where we ask the taxi driver to take us, because whichever way we try to say 'Chonqing-lu', we never seem to pronounce it correctly enough for the taxi driver to understand. Starting from the Shangri-La Hotel and ending near the Banrou Temple all the way at the other end of the road (the picture of me and Auro in his stroller was taken in front of the temple walls), there are lots of big department stores as well as smaller shops, cinemas and food stalls.

Our goal yesterday was to buy a small food processor to help me make Auro's fruit and vegetable purees. (The past couple of days I've been pureeing his apples and pears by hand , which works too, but with a blender I can make bigger portions and freeze them!) However, before going to the baby shop (where we also bought the stroller before) , we first went to eat in one of the (as far as I know) only two Pizza Hut's in Changchun, right accross from the Shangri-La. Especially Remo, having some pride left as an Italian, would normally never step into a Pizza Hut, but since there are no other restaurants here that serve pizza, we have been forced to reconsider our 'standards' and have actually become real Pizza Hut regulars: about once every other week we go downtown and treat ourselves to (what we now consider to be) delicious pizza!!
So, after our little indulgence at the Pizza Hut, we walked to the baby shop where we were (as usual) warmly greeted by the whole staff, who , as soon as we had entered, moved all their attention to Auro and surrounded his stroller 'en masse' to talk to him, to touch his cheecks and to (yes!) rearrange his clothes. For some reason mama never dresses her baby properly: when his cap is on, it needs to come off and when he is not wearing it, it is neatly put on again... Anyway, we got the baby food processor, some extra bibs (it's amazing how so little food can make such a mess) and 2 ready-made baby purees for Auro to try (might be handy when we travel, so we need to find out which ones he likes).
By the time we were home again, it was dinner time for Auro, so we tried one of the jars of baby food. The pumpkin-puree looked quite good, but the taste (I tried it) wasn't all that great. Auro ate some of it, but I don't think he'll ever be a big fan. It nevertheless resulted in a very 'colourful' picture!

Auro in Japan

Auro and I have been back from Japan for 3 days, so I think it's time for a short update...

Last week Monday, Remo accompanied Auro and me to Changchun airport. From there Auro and I flew through Seoul to Osaka, where a taxi was waiting for us to take us to Kyoto. Auro was great during the whole trip, but by the time we reached Kyoto he was completely exhausted. Luckily there were 2 beds (one normal bed for me and a baby one for Auro) prepared for us in the guesthouse and we could go right to sleep. Being very tired from traveling and having to sleep (again) in a strange bed, Auro woke up 2 times during the night, but all in all we got a fairly good night's rest and by the next morning we were ready to visit my old work place and meet many of my old friends and colleagues. It felt really good to be back!!

On Thursday and Friday, the Institute was hosting the general meeting of the project (of which I am still a member) which was the main reason of my traveling to Japan. I was worried I wouldn't be able to listen to many of the presentations, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by Auro's exemplary behaviour. On the first day he was taken care of by our project leader's mother and except for the times he was hungry or sleepy, he didn't cry too much. The fact that he had a little friend also helped a lot, I think. Kati, my Estonian friend and colleague had brought her baby son, Jurgen to the meeting as well. Jurgen was born 1 day before Auro, so the boys seemed to have quite some interests in common (grabbing things and putting them in their mouths). So most of the time I was in the meeting room while Auro was in another room which the project had reserved especially for our 2 youngest project members. There were even 2 baby cots in case one of the two princes should get tired and want to sleep. Auro, unfortunately, wouldn't sleep in the bed and slept only on my lap. On the second day of the meeting Auro sat/slept on my lap the whole time. It almost seemed as if he was listening to (and understanding of course!) the presentations. There was one presentation about GIS databases that particularly seemed to have caught his attention! He sat quietly through the whole 50 minutes of it! In short, we only left the room when I needed to nurse him or when he needed his 5 minutes of crying before falling asleep.
On Saturday there was a fieldtrip to a museum and a temple, but I only visited the museum, because Auro was too tired (read: he was crying all the time). While everyone was inside the temple, Auro and I stayed on the bus and relaxed. And that wasn't so bad either! We did join for the dinner and there Auro had a great time grabbing everything on the table. Luckily for him Japanese meals are usually served on many small dishes which are easy to grab even with small baby hands!

On Sunday we went shopping! I took the stroller, but it was far from easy to get on the train with it. Luckily, Ilona, my Dutch friend, came along and she helped me carry the stroller up and down the stairs at the station. She also bought some nice clothes for Auro and a toy! Thank you again, Ilona;))) While shopping I also had the experience of breastfeeding together with 4 other women. In Japan, most department stores have special nursing rooms, usually equipped with a sofa or armchair, where you can breastfeed your baby in private (some of them even have individual cubicles where you can sit). Until that day I had never breastfed together with other breastfeeding women in the room and it felt great! I know it sounds ridiculous, but I absolutely loved it! Why don't they have nursing rooms like that in Belgium? Or here in China? It would make going out so much easier!

On Monday, Auro and I went all the way by bus and train to Osaka! It took us about 2 hours, but Auro was an angel, smiling to everyone who looked at him! In Osaka we were meeting mama-san, the owner of the bar where I used to work part-time, and Masha, a good friend of mine. As soon as we sat down for lunch, however, Auro decided he had enough and he started crying and screaming. We all tried for half an hour to calm him down, but he wouldn't stop. I finally gave up and went to nurse him. After that he was ok for about 30 minutes and then he started again, so I went to feed him once more. By that time, mama-san had left and my Belgian friend An and her 2 children had joined us. Together we then went to eat some cake and there Auro finally fell asleep on my arm. When he woke up, he still didn't seem rested, but at least we managed to take a picture together! So, from the cake-place we went back to the nursing room again and then Auro and I left for Kyoto. Strangely enough Auro was quiet during the 2 hours we were on the train.

Because our trip to Osaka had not been a big success, I decided to stay in the guesthouse the next day. Auro slept and slept and slept.... In the afternoon we went to the office one last time and weighed Auro. This might sound strange, but in China we went through 3 scales already and none of them seem to work properly or give an accuracy smaller than 500 grams. So, we borrowed a scale from the Institute and, on the 17th of March (Auro was exactly 6 months old), with diaper and clothes on, Auro weighed 6,95kg!!! We took some last pictures with everyone, said our goodbyes and headed back to our room to pack. The next morning the taxi was picking us up at 4:45h!!!

The trip home went well, but both Auro and I were very happy to be back in Changchun. Remo, who was waiting for us at the airport, was greeted with all the smiles Auro could muster up after such a long and tiring travel!

Auro's chairs

Auro is the proud owner of not one, not two, but THREE different chairs. Allow me to introduce them to you!

The first one is not really a chair in the strictest sense of the word. It is what they call a 'baby walker'. This chair should help him learn how to walk. It was given to us by a lady colleague of Remo and was used successfully by her (now 15 months old) son. Auro is, however, still a bit too young to use it properly since he can not sit up by himself yet. So, whenever I put him in it, he immediately falls forward onto the little table. Even though he looks extremely uncomfortable, he does not dislike 'hanging' like that and I can usually leave him there for a good 15 minutes before he tires of it.
Chair number 2, the 'aquarium bouncer' was a recent purchase. We ordered it from Amazon.jp and had it delivered to the boat in Japan. Remo brought it to Changchun 2 weeks ago. The chair works on batteries and has all the features to calm down a baby. It vibrates softly while bubbles of air are circulating in the plastic aquarium. The sound button gives the choice between music or 3 different kinds of water-sounds. We use it often during dinner. Auro then sits there quietly watching us eat!
The third chair is a high chair. Auro is almost 6 months old, so he will have to start eating solids soon. Last week Sunday I started him on 1 teaspoon of rice cereals (mixed with breast milk) per day. The first time we put him in his chair and tried to feed him with a spoon, he had no idea what was happening and tears kept rolling down his cheecks.(really heartbreaking!) As soon as he smelled the milk from the spoon however, he calmed down. He soon understood that he had to open his mouth when the spoon was approaching, but his thrust reflex was still there, so not much of the rice cereal made it to his stomach. Since last Sunday, I've fed him like this every day and he is getting better at it. From next week I would like to feed him 2 spoons per day, so by the time we are back in Changchun, we can start with vegetable and fruit purees!

Emergency passport and Chinese shoes

The past week has been a very busy one, because we needed to apply for new passports and get our Chinese visas extended. Usually these things just take time (and money!) and therefore, if you are not in a hurry, are not a big deal. However , since Auro and I are leaving for Japan next Monday, we were in an extreme hurry to get things done in time. This haste we were in was mostly my fault, since I didn't notice until last week that my passport was going to expire in March! With the expiration of my passport also my Chinese visa was about to expire, without which I would not be able to enter China upon returning from Japan. Usually it takes 3 to 6 weeks to get a new passport, and the extension of the visa another 4 or 5 days. You can imagine how I felt when I found out: panic, panic, panic!!
Luckily, after some phonecalls to the Belgian embassy and to the main police station of Changchun , we found a way to do it all in one week! First we went for the compulsory medical checkup, where we got our blood tested, lungs x-rayed, bodyweight measured (only 3 kilos to go before I reach my pre-pregnancy weight!!) and so on. Once we got the health certificate, the university had to issue (again) invitation letters and accomodation forms (still don't know what those are really) to complete all the documents needed for the application of the visa.
On Monday morning, the three of us then walked to the photo shop closeby to have our pictures taken. It didn't take long to take Remo's picture and mine, but Auro's patience was put to the test! The photographer was a real perfectionist and insisted Auro would look directly in the lens, which, as you can imagine is close to impossible. The whole staff of the shop and some of the customers got behind the photographer and tried with all of their might (waving stuffed animals and clapping their hands) to catch Auro's attention, but our little angel was much too busy balancing his heavy head! After a while though, he became impatient and after a sudden outburst of laughter (we are still wondering what made him laugh like that) that lasted for half a minute, he started crying and the photographer had to settle with one of the less than perfect photos;)

The next day, we got up early and flew to Beijing. Remo (finally) registered himself at the Italian embassy and applied for a new passport (which is still valid, but there are no empty pages left for the visa extension). In the Belgian embassy I applied for my new passport, but because that won't be ready in time, I also had to have them issue an 'emergency passport'. We had some time before our flight back to Changchun, so we checked out a shop I had found on the internet. It wasn't half as fancy as it had looked on the internet, but they had some really adorable children's shoes... Chinese style! We bought 2 pairs for Auro!

Anyway, based on the green emergency passport I should be able to get a temporary visa extension here in Changchun, so the day before yesterday Auro and I went to the police station to apply for that. Auro was not pleased with all the bureaucracy, so he cried and cried and cried and... until we were in the taxi again and I started nursing him!
Yesterday, someone from the university took some documents that were still missing from our file to the police station and in the late afternoon I got the news that our visas should be ready by tomorrow, Friday!

Hopla

It's still snowing today, but because there is some sun, it feels already less cold. While I'm writing this, Auro is sleeping.
I hope that he can sleep for another hour, because the longer his afternoon nap, the less he cries towards the evening.

Last night, however, we had one of those evenings where Auro was displeased with everything around him. There wasn't a place where he could sit/lie for longer than 2 minutes without crying as if the whole building was on fire. When my arm got tired of carrying him around, I put him in front of my computer and started one of the DVD's I brought back from Belgium. I chose for "Hopla", which is a 3D animation, developed by (as far as I know) a Belgian guy and starring the rabbit 'Hopla' as it's main character. It's made especially for 'very young children'. Anyway, as soon as I put in that DVD, Auro went quiet as a mouse an did not take his eyes of the screen for about half an hour!!! Auro was completely captivated by the colourful Hopla and his friends. See for yourself!!!

Waiting

It's cold today and it has started snowing again. And because there isn't the usual sunshine to warm up the apartment, both Auro and I had to put on something extra to keep warm. We were planning to go out for a walk to the supermarket, but remembering how Auro cried when the cold hit his face last time we went out, I decided against it and to wait for another day or two until the temperature rises a little again.

While we are waiting here in the cold for Remo to come home (next Tuesday!), we have managed to find a daily rythm quite agreeable to, I think, the both of us. I get up around 7 or 7:30, have breakfast and wait for Auro to wake up for his first feeding, which is usually around 8 or 8:30. Five (or sometimes four... or six...) feedings and a full day of playing, crying (yes!) and some occasional napping later, Auro is carried off to his bed by 9 (sometimes later) where he (most of the time) falls asleep until the next morning!
Now, I am aware how lucky I am that Auro lets me sleep during the night and I fully realise that by sharing this information with you I risk to loose this nice agreement I have with my baby son. On the other hand, I also know that most of you are reading this blog to know about Auro, so, please, do me the favour of hoping with me that many more undisturbed nights are waiting for me!

Boat and graduation

Well, now I am back in Japan. My last student left behind at the Osaka University has to graduate. It will happen on the 18th so I had to come here to check on him. But, of course, in Japan there is the lovely boat too. I had the plan to haul her out during this period but unluckily the crane which was supposed to do the work broke down. So no hauling and repainting until the next Summer when I will be back once again. Because of it I had to find something else to do. On a boat there are always hundreds of things which need to be checked/fixed and I had no problems to find a couple. For example the Sika-flex holding the front hatch came off completely so I had to reseal the thing. This time I have used 3M product which I consider better than Sika-flex. Also one of the winches was not working properly so I had to take it apart and fix it. Finally I have also decided to start working on the last part of interiors which are still missing in the boat: the table of the living area. At this moment there is no table but we need one. So I started to work on it: I got the material and I designed the lay out. Then I started to cut and saw. Little by little it is coming and I predict about 5 full days of work to have it done (plus 30% because I never get it right at the first shot). As always hand crafting is a pleasure and OP Dejima Harbour offers a great facility to do any kind of work. At night you can even turn the radio on and work while you are listening to some music. Nice way of making things. Here you can see a detailed photo of the cockpit of the boat: it is made out of teak and it was built inside the workshop of OP Dejima Harbour. Oh, my student is going to give his final presentation. I better running ;)

"prrrr" and "pffff"

Auro discovered a new consonant: the "p"! Actually he discovered it about a week ago, but the last couple of days he has promoted it to his favourite sound. So now, whenever he is happy, he "prr"s and "pff"s until his chin and most of his shirt are completely covered in saliva. His "pff"s are sometimes so well articulated that even my face gets some of his watery spit. I don't mind at all of course, but I hope that he is not just practising his newly acquired skill as an excuse to condone a certain unmentionable local custom here;)

Peace and quiet

According to the lunar calendar, yesterday was the 15th day of the new year. This day marks the official end of the New Year celebrations and provides the final excuse to light up the sky with extensive fireworks. Much to the delight of little Auro, whose eyes were as big as saucers, every window of our apartment offered a view of this spectacle of colourful fireworks last night. The deafening sound of firecrackers all around us just made him more excited!
Today, for the first time since we've been back, it has been a cloudy and grey day. The ground between the apartment buildings has turned red with the leftovers of the numberless strings of firecrackers. The spirits have gone back to wherever they came from and the usual peace and quiet has returned to Changchun (or at least to this part of the city). Believe it or not, but I actually feel a little sad. But not too much, because there will (hopefully) be no more sudden bangs of firecrackers waking Auro up from his (already fragile) naps.

Yellow water

Since not much new has happened since we came back to Changchun, I want to use this opportunity to dwell on some of Auro's more intimate moments of the day: bathing time! In an attempt to help him recognize the difference between day (when he is allowed to be awake and hungry) and night (when he should sleep and not cry for milk), we've worked out a sleeping ritual. Before putting him in bed for the night, for example, I always change him into his pajamas and feed him one last time. Bathing him before changing him into his pajamas is also a part of this evening 'ritual'. We usually bathe him every other day, but for the first 10 days, to help him get over his jetlag, we let him enjoy his bath every evening. And he really enjoys it! As soon as he is in the water he starts smiling and babbling. The fact that the rust in the pipes makes the water a little yellow doesn't bother him in the least!

20 weeks

Yesterday Auro was exactly 20 weeks old, so we decided to weigh him. We don't have the professional tools to weigh babies, but after some improvising with a spring scale from Walmart and an old curtain, we managed somehow. Auro didn't seem to mind at all and was staring up at us quite happily from within his curtain-hammock.

We don't know how accurate the scale is, but it read 6,4 kilos! So even if it is of by 100 or 200 grams, it still means Auro gained some weight since the last time he was weighed (which was on the 16th of January, when he was 17 weeks old... he was 5,9 kg then). Hip hip hooray for Auro and his big belly!!

Men with beards

The last couple of days Auro has been crying and screaming unceasingly. All the books say that 4 months and a half is a difficult period for babies, so I'm trying very hard to comfort and support him through it, but... Yesterday, after he had shown the usual signs of tiredness (rubbing his eyes and yawning), I put him in bed for his late afternoon nap. After one (yes!!) hour of angry crying I gave up and took him out again. He seemed quite happy that I did that, so after a while I tried to feed him. As was the case during many of the feedings over the past days, he drank and cried at the same time. In a desperate attempt to calm him down, I then started singing to him and almost immediately... he stopped crying!!! I could not believe it. Since there is only one song I know the words of, I ended up singing "Al die willen te kaap’ren varen" for more than 30 minutes! I just hope from the bottom of my heart that I will never have to calm him down like that when there are other people around, as I’m quite certain my voice would not have the same effect on them as it (luckily) seems to have on Auro.