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!!!