Charlie deciding his future

Here is a Youtube link to a 3 minute video of Charlie deciding his future:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GayhBYqQtc

Depending on your Internet speed you may be able to watch it at normal speed or it may keep stopping and take ages to watch. If it is taking a long time to download I suggest that you just let it download in its own time, and press "Replay" after it has downloaded to watch it at normal speed.

If you are really keen here is a 1 minute video taken shortly after the one above:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKxPmKoYl7g

More pictures

Morning of Charlie's 1st birthday

As is tradition with a baby's first birthday in Vietnam weird things happen.

Not quite sure why the spread above was prepared, but it looks remarkably similar to one he had prepared when he was 1 month old.

After preparation of the above Charlie had to decide his future profession/talents/successes. Various bits and pieces were spread over the floor which are supposed to represent what he will do in the future. Items that were placed on the floor included: pens, money, gold, something that I was told was meant to represent a computer, a handphone and an array of other objects.

Charlie crawled straight for a pen so he is obviously going to be scholarly like his father.

Standing and walking

As always, Charlie is progressing well. A few days ago, Charlie started standing up by himself. Now, when he stands he usually manages between 2 and 30 seconds before falling over.

Bought Charlie a walker for Xmas and presented this to him on Xmas Eve. He immediately took to this and can walk around whilst pushing this. He can also walk about 3-4 steps totally unsupported before falling over.

11 months

I took Charlie to the local swimming pool a couple of times during the month and he enjoyed this very much.

Over the last couple of months Charlie has met a few like minded similar aged friends and last week he went to a babys' group that is held every Tuesday morning. This is quite a diverse group of both expats and Vietnamese and will probably be localised to just our area quite soon so Charlie may well be attending this on a regular basis. Charlie enjoyed this immensely.

Charlie is:

• getting more teeth now (about 8 so far)
• able to crawl to a wall and stand up by pushing himself up against it
• saying some things that sound like: ba (father), ba ba (father) me (mother), co (I have), da (father), troi oi (Oh my God!)
• developing at a prodigious rate
• teaching his maids how to clap their hands

Charlie went for his 11 month routine check up at FV hospital 2 days ago. His vitals were:

Weight: 10.5 kgs

Height: 77.5 cms (growth charts suggest Charlie will end up at about 181cm's, 5ft 11 1/2 inches)

He is doing very well.

Charlie will be having his first birthday party on 28 December and will be inviting all his friends. If you don't get an invite then you should understand that he doesn't like you.

10 Months

Charlie went back to the FV Hospital for his 10 month check up last week. His stats were as follows:

Weight: 10 Kgs
Height: They seemed incapable of recording this.

Charlie is doing well and it has just been the last week that I can say he has started crawling properly.

Standing up

Over the last few days I have noticed that Charlie has started to get to his feet with just the help of a suitable piece of furniture.

This morning whilst on his daily morning walk/push with me we sat on a bench together and he swivelled around and placed his two hands on the back of the bench and pulled himslf to his feet. This was the first time I had witnessed such a feat.

Charlie still seems quite unstable whilst standing.

Charlie's crawling ability is progressing slightly and now he crawls like a Viet Cong.

9 month check up

Charlie went for his 9 month check up this morning. His stats are as follows:

Height: 74cms (2 cms taller than last month)

Weight: 9.7kgs (only 0.1 kgs heavier than last month which Hien is not happy about)

The above stats do back up the feeling that Charlie had slimmed down a bit over the last month or so.

Charlie is doing just fine!!!

Charlie misses me

Charlie now starts to cry when I leave or say goodbye to him. Last night when I came home I didn't notice him and went straight to my room. He saw me and cried because I didn't go to talk to him.

Hien is very jealous as he only does this with me.

Charlie is standing up and jumping about much more everyday. Think it is for this reason that he appears to be slimming down a bit. He will have his monthly check up next week (9 months) and we will get his vital statistics so will know more then.

Charlie goes to the seaside

For some strange reason I decided that as September 2 was a national holiday we should take Charlie and a few of Hien's family to Vung Tau for the day. Knowing what traffic can be like and how bad Vietnamese can be at travelling I quickly came to the conclusion that I must have been mad to even suggest this, but within 2 minutes of it being suggested we had 16 people confirmed so there was no backing out.

We set out in 2 cars and arrived in Vung Tau at 11 am. Spent about 4 hours at the beach then had a 4 hour drive back to HCM City. Traffic was terrible and saw a few dead bodies along the way (nothing strange for a Vietnamese national holiday).

The day was much enjoyed by all. From the very outset Charlie has been over cared for and consequently has had at least 1 bath a day (most websites suggest that 2-3 a week is ample). Charlie has always enjoyed bath time immensely and kicks, splashes and makes sure that he leaves a mess everywhere. Despite his proven bathroom entheusiasm I was still very apprehensive about how he would take to being introduced to the sea at such an early age, especially as I had heard from friends that many of their children were scared at first.

I carried Charlie to the water's edge and sat him down on the sand where the waves could just reach him. He was very happy with this so within no time at all I picked him up and started dipping him in to deeper water. He was loving it- kicking, splashing and laughing all the way through it. For the next 15 minutes or so Charlie and I were playing in the sea together and he was having a great time. After 15 minutes of midday sun I decided enough was enough.

Charlie was a little grumpy on the way home, but it was a 12 hour day so it was hardly surprising.

My Birthday

On 1 September, my birthday, Charlie, Hien and I went to the Hyatt for dinner. This was Charlie's first formal dinner. Despite being fed foie gras and caviar before he was born he didn't take too well to the atmosphere and was pretty grumpy. By the time the main course came we decided to call someone to collect him and take him home so we could enjoy the rest of our meal in peace. The food was delightful and I had a thoroughly good time.

8 month check up

Charlie is exactly 8 months old today and went to the FV hospital for his 8 month check up.

His stats are as follows:

Height: 72cms

Weight: 9.6kgs

He appears to have not grown since last month, but as I wrote after the 7 month check up I don't trust their ability to measure Charlie.

Charlie is doing very well and has at least half a dozen teeth now.

While taking charlie out for his morning walks one can definitely see that Charlie has become a lot more interested in his surrounding and is generally a lot more alert. He can move around the bed much better than a few weeks ago, but his walking ability seems to be progressing quite slowly.

I am British

Charlie was delighted when I showed him his British birth certificate, that I picked up at the British Consulate yesterday morning. Not actually sure if Charlie was British before he got this piece of paper, but he definitely is now.

Next month we will be getting Charlie his British passport and probably a Vietnamese one as well. Under Vietnamese law it is theoretically illegal to have another nationality in addition to Vietnamese, but the government knows that this happens and doesn't appear to have an issue with it.

I wrote the above on the 23rd of August, but have had blog issues yet again.

7 month check up

Charlie went for his 7 month check up at the FV hospital this morning. All was fine and his vital statistics were as follows:

weight: 9.0kgs

According to this table this is just over 75th percentile:
http://www.who.int/childgrowth/standards/WFA_boys_0_5_percentiles.pdf

His weight increased by 0.4 kgs since last month and this also ties up with the table.

length: 72cms

According to this chart he is just a little over the 85th percentile: http://www.who.int/childgrowth/standards/LFA_boys_0_2_percentiles.pdf

One has to take in to consideration that his 7 month check up was actually after 7 months and 7 days.

I don't believe in the length figures that we have been receiving from the hospital. On 28 June they said he was 68.5 cms, then we took him in about a week later as he had a fever and they said he was 71 cms. He couldn't have grown 2.5 cms in a week.

I am in two minds at the moment whether we should change from referring to his length and start referring to his height. I actually think height is more appropriate now as when I usually see him he is either sitting or standing up.

When asked by the doctor to open his mouth Charlie apparently did so. I think this was a fluke or it was imagined.

Charlie is progressing excellently!

Recent pics

Charlie can now sit unsupported for long periods of time, but sometimes he still falls face first in to the mattress.

Last week I had to hold on to Charlie's hands so that he could stand up, but now Charlie can hold on to furniture and stand up by himself.

7 months old

Charlie will be 7 months old tomorrow. Pictures above were taken yesterday.

This week Charlie has progressed significantly. He can:

• stand quite well when I am holding on to his hands
• move around the bed much better than he could last week
• wave goodbye

It has been a very rewarding week for Hien and I seeing his excellent progress. Think his 7 month routine hospital visit is scheduled for the 5th of August.

Certainly not a crawler

Charlie is progressing well, however his crawling ability is not. When Charlie is on his front and he wants to go forwards he raises his bottom and tries to move like a snail. Unfortunately he more than often goes backwards rather than forwards.

During his 6:30am push around the block this morning Charlie sat up and started looking around much more than usual. I take Charlie for these walks nearly every morning and he invariably sees other children, who are no bigger than him, but are running around. I doubt that he realises these kids are 3 times as old as him. I believe that seeing this is a great motivator for him to get mobile as soon as possible.

Charlie seems ahead of his age in his standing ability and when being placed down he always tries to stand up rather than sit down. He can stand up if, being held on to, but after 30 seconds or so his legs usually give way.

Charlie sets a new PB

Charlie is becoming better at sitting unsupported. Yesterday he set a new personal best time of 29 seconds before he fell over. If Charlie is falling to the left or the right he can put his hands down to support himself and this usually works to prevent his demise. However, falling forwards is a bit more of an issue for him and if he is gravitating backwards his fall is quick. He is always sitting on the bed with pillows all around him so falling over isn't much of an issue.

One of Charlie's bottom teeth has emerged and it looks as if another 4 are coming soon.

Charlie gets high

Charlie decided it was high time he had his own chair so at the weekend we bought him a highchair. Charlie was delighted with his own chair and is now making a list of things that he requires to be purchased for him.

Listening to Charlie

Not sure of the best way to do this, but suggest that if you can be bothered to follow all the instructions below it may be best to print the instructions before starting. You will need to start by downloading suitable software to allow you to play the Charlie's sound clip. If you don't already have suitable software for this (I didn't have it) I suggest you click this link:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

Put in your email address and press "Free Download Now" Then press "save" and press "save" again. Then wait about 12 minutes, depending on Internet speed, for this software to download. Then press "run" and "run" again, then "finish" Once the above has been downloaded you should be able to listen to most sound clips and watch most video clips and you won't have to go through the above process again.

Charlie's sound clip:

Then click on this link:http://widgets.movedigital.com/127280

then download-save-save-open folder-left click on Ghi Am...-select the programme from a list-OK-then click on "Quick Time Player"-OK-left click on play button- listen to Charlie

Make sure you speakers are turned on and the volume is up.

Good luck with trying to get the above to work.

Progress

The above picture was taken earlier today. It is just about the first picture we have of Charlie smiling. When we take a picture of him using our camera a red light comes on just before the picture is taken of Charlie and this distracts him. Hence no smile. The above picture was taken with a telephone camera with no red light, but obviously lower picture quality.

Charlie can now turn from his front to his back as well as vice versa so now we have to be careful as this means he can roll. His legs are now becoming noticably stronger and he can now give his Mum a hefty kick.

He is progressing very well.

6 month check up

A few days ago Charlie was off to the FV hospital again for his 6 month check up. He is getting used to this by now so he wasn't fazed by it at all.

His stats are:

Length: 68.5 cm's
Weight 8.6 kg.s

You can see from this chart that 68.5cm's in length is somewhere between the 50th and 85th percentile: http://www.who.int/childgrowth/standards/cht_lfa_boys_p_0_6.pdf

His weight is also somewhere between the 50th and 85th percentile: http://www.who.int/childgrowth/standards/cht_wfa_boys_p_0_6.pdf

Charlie is in excellent health and hasn't had a day's sickness since he first left the hospital.

6 months old

Charlie was 6 months old yesterday and will be going for his 6 month check up tomorrow. Charlie seems to be hitting all his expected development milestones.

1-6 month milestones that we have been following are here:

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/development/milestonesfirst6months/

Charlie can only sit up for a few seconds unaided, but I would imagine that within a week or so he will be able to sit up by himself for a reasonable amount of time. He is just beginning to come out with consonant sounds and think I heard something like "baba" today. We have been teaching him "mummy" and "daddy" so am unsure who or what baba is.

Charlie's legs are strengthening so a couple of weeks ago we bought him the thing in the picture above. He loves it!!

Going to the Zoo

Apart from his 10 minute push around the block before I go to work every morning Charlie doesn't get out of the house much. Because of this, last weekend, I decided it was high time Charlie went to the zoo. The Ho Chi Minh City zoo is definitely nothing to shout about, but at least it was an outing.

By the time we got to the zoo it was already quite hot and Charlie was getting tired so I didn't have that high hopes for the success of this trip, but as it was only about 60 pence for the 3 of us to go in it wasn't going to be too much of a waste of money whatever happened after going through the turnstiles.

We were only in the zoo for about 40 minutes in total and during that time Charlie saw a few of the animals. He appeared to be interested in some, but not in others.

In hindsight I think he is a little too young to do such a trip at the moment so will probably hold off doing it again for a few months.

Didn't take the camera.

Birthday Party

A couple of weeks ago Charlie and Hien attended one of Hien's family's birthday parties. Pictures above were taken there.

Charlie the scholar (3 May)

These were pictures that I tried to post on the first blog on 3 May, but I was unable to do so.

As soon as Charlie was presented with the above book he reached out for it and started handling it. I think this was really the first time I saw him reach out for anything. When he is given the book these days he tries to stick it in his mouth.

He is pretty handy with the ball as well now and can really kick it very well.

Continuing on from first blog

After much perseverance with the last blog I just gave up on it as no matter how many times I tried, despite it saying I had only used about 1% of the usable space, it just wouldn't let me post any more pictures. As posting pictures was the most important reason for the blog in the first place I have decided to give up on that blog, start a new one and hope that this one serves me better.

The first blog can be reached here: http://mjgodwin.blogspot.com/

As the first blog hasn't been working for some time I have been decidedly lazy in taking pictures of Charlie, but if this blog works as I as I am hoping it will I'll be taking more pictures.