And then there were eleven

Another three, THREE teeth on the bottom, all very pointy and just poking through, but through they are. There is a canine on top that has been lurking for months and surely must pierce that tiny layer of skin in the next few days. Er pupo is being remarkably good about the whole thing, although has had his temperamental moments. No more than his mother, however, and I don't have the teething excuse. Shall have to think up something good though...

Getting very excited about the whole Beijing adventure. We are staying (and I will be teaching) in Haidian which is not far from Beijing zoo and I believe we will next to the first stop of the new line of the metro. Just a short tube right to the forbidden city, tianamen square and, my personal hotspot of excitement, the silk market. We've read the guidebooks and found out where the baby superstore is, just in case we forget anything. We are staying in a hotel (not self-catering, unfortuately) which makes things a little harder with er pupo, but I think I will put him on ready-to-drink formula milk to make sure he is getting his vitamins and so that we can always have it when out and about. The tap water is best avoided and of course we'll have nowhere to sterilise.

And apart from that... shopping, sites, shopping, sites, shopping at the sites, and a bit of Beijing duck in between. quack quack

oh, the shame, the shame of it

I spent all week complaining to anyone who would listen about how difficult er pupo was being and how i didn't know how to cope with him. He was whining constantly, wouldn't eat, wanted held continuously and was generally bad tempered...

... fast forward to saturday, when he laughs and i see 2 new molars on the bottom of his mouth. the wee soul was in pain all the time.

Bad mummy for thinking satan had possessed her child.

since he likes to keep me entertained

he has now decided to be allergic to eggs. So off we rush to get the medicine that has joined him on all his travels to discover that the bottle has been lying smashed at the bottom of the change bag for some time.
Just as well he "only" suffered from hives which then went away (till they reappeared on his butt when he pooed. Almost funny come to think about it).

So now, a 2 week wait for the paediatrician and we hope for the best he doesn't take a more serious reaction in the meanwhile. Then we need a letter explaining why he has to cart the medicine with him constantly and for the bottle to be less than 50mls, in case we ever decided to fly through or to the UK again. Which until they do something about these damn restrictions isn't looking too likely...

Strange things happening back home

It is very possible that I am sleepwalking as I type this, because credibility is most definitely stretched... but last time I looked, Scotland was topping a European Championship qualifying group containing France and Italy. Having scored 8 goals in 2 games.
Italy was languishing on 1 point.

Scottish football is a well known tease. Mostly you hang about knowing they are duff and yelling "my granny could do better than that, and she's been deid for 20 years" and then, out of nowhere, they pluck a win against Germany or Netherlands and a draw against Italy and we think.... "oooo, just maybe... dare I hope?" and the fever takes over and we all think: "we're going to actually qualify for a proper tournament!!!"

And then... they lose at home to the Faroe Islands and we all crash back to earth with a bump.

So this time, 6 points and 8 goals or not, in a group containing both Italy and France, when only 1 teams goes through automatically and 1 to the playoffs, I'll not be booking my flight to the main event just yet. But... i suppose... I could buy the TimeOut guide to Austria and Switzerland. Just to look, mind....

Beijing is asking

And I'm dancing!
We've booked our tickets and got our jabs, so there is no turning back now! (especially since very expensive tickets are nonrefundable!). Briefly, I was invited to teach for 3 weeks in Beijing and hubby and er pupo have invited themselves along. Well, hubby invited himself, er pupo doesn't quite know yet that he is going. Hubby will play au pair and we will see China! Soooooooooooo excited :)

Anyone expecting Christmas presents this year can anticipate a "theme"!

Unbelievable

Nappy rash came as no surprise as er pupo was on antibiotics and it seems to be the way. So he gets some cream from the doc here, but we decide to use something from Scotland that had worked before (my fan club will recall the 2 month epic battle with nappy rash when er pupo was 2-3 months). So the rash starts to clear up, but before it has completely gone, the cream runs out.

Being cautious parents, we then turned to the icelandic cream to finish the job. To which er pupo has taken the most awful allergic reaction and now his bum and "front bottom" looks like it has 2nd degree burns. He is so sore. Yet again, we turn up at the hospital (it's a Sunday) to get yet more cream (now 2 different kinds) and I get to spend the rest of the day mopping up the bathroom as he runs around with a bare bum.

He seems a little better this evening though we're not sure if it's the air, the new cream, or the lack of the old evil cream. He has to go to daycare tomorrow, where he has to be in his nappy, but I'll try to pick him up early so he can have some time to run around.

The whole experience does rather bring to light why we battled for 2 months when er pupo was little - seeing as the cream we got to fix him was what was causing all the trouble in the first place.

poor poor baby :(