Have You Seen This Boy?: Connor turns 100 days old, more on Christmas and other fun!: Dec 9-21

Everyday Fun!

Connor almost covers his head (a game time favorite) with his
hooded blanket while playing with his Freddie the Firefly
Dec 13

Connor loves to play and explore his surroundings. After turning 3 months old he became more active in his play as he began pushing the limits on what his limbs could do.

He also started rubbing his gums in advance of little teeth!

Below, you'll see Connor wearing a pair of blue knit pants which were made for him by one of the 阿姨 ("a yi" or "auntie") who works in our building.

Connor with his hand in his mouth rubbing his gums.
Dec 19

Connor trying to roll over. Dec 19

Connor chomps on the teether attached to his
Freddie the Firefly toy. Dec 13

Connor swipes around at his book, Jacob Lawrence In the City.
Dec 11.

Connor explores Dad's hand. Dec 21

Connor "climbs" on Mom. Dec 12

Sometimes we like to hang out and play on the bed.

Connor is in a new phase where he loves to explore Christian's hand.

Connor is almost as tired as his Mom... Dec 17

Not sure how this happened, but Connor grabbed his owl mirror's wing
while asleep. Dec 18

Dec. 16th: 100 Days Old

On December 16th, Connor turned 100 days old.
The day a baby turns 100 days old is a very special day in Chinese culture.

When a baby turns 100 days old here, usually people get some professional photographs taken and they may give their baby some special jewelry that they will start to wear around 6 months of age. (What people in China do for the 100 day's celebration varies from place to place).

We didn't have time to do the professional photographs when Connor turned 100, but we did take these fun photos of him. He's wearing a cool embroidered dickey we were given by a teacher in Jiaozuo. It is hard to see in these photos the image is of a dragon because Connor was born in the year of the dragon.

(We plan to do some professional photographs when he is about 6 months old.)

The baby jewelry set includes two silver bracelets
(worn one on each wrist) and a necklace on a red cord.

Us: "Connor, you are 100 days old today!"
Connor: "Oh my goodness, that's today!
I'd completely forgotten!"

More Christmas Prep!

Dec 9

Amidst our every day activities (including Christian's job which keeps him pretty busy but is never documented in photos...) we continued to decorate the house for Christmas! Everyone was getting into the Christmas spirit, including our very own Master Yoda! As always, with Yoda's guidance, we can never go wrong!

Thought of our friend
Jenny when we hung this
door decor!

Dec 10

One of the great things about our apartment is that it has really huge windows. Kim extended decorating for Christmas to them with some cute paper snowflakes. Though there are some original designs, many are taken or modified from ones that are available online.

We really aren't sure how well these snowflakes were received. In China the color of celebration is red and the color for funerals is white...

Dec 10

<--- This snowflake design is actually Kim's name.
And this snowflake design --->
is actually Christian and Connor's initials!
Below: A view from outside the apartment!

Dec 11

Kim and Connor geared up for an outing!
Little Connor is already conked out...
his favorite activity when facing Mommy
in the carrier!
Dec 9

<-- A shot of Kim and Connor geared up to go out standing in front of a newly decorated Christmas tree! (More shots of the tree in a subsequent post!)

Many of the ornaments on our tree are made and bought in China. While most Chinese people don't celebrate Christmas it is catching on in popularity as a fun celebration (many here don't celebrate it as anything to do with a religion - it's simply for the fun of celebrating), so there are some Christmas related items available. However the quality of the ornaments is pretty low. While we use some of the low quality ornaments to decorate our tree, we also hang traditional Chinese knots and charms to our tree - and we have a few American (or other non-Chinese) ornaments in China that have been gifted to us.

There is a certain "不知道" (which means, "don't know") when it comes to Christmas ornaments. Some, certainly not all, hold special meaning. Here are just a few of the ornaments we have in China that are special to us. Dec 17