There are times in everyone’s lives when they wish their memories had failed them and nothing was registered. This has been definitely one of those months for Henry, as he spent nearly the entire time battling an off-and-on cold, cough, fever and throat infection. He’s gone to the hospital five times, each time for more medicine – a veritable cocktail of drugs – and as I write this he still coughs badly. Doctors say that if we hadn’t given him all the medicine, he would certainly have developed pneumonia by now.

This was a big month for Henry, and for us too really because playschool was a go-go! We love Henry, but we have been dreaming of getting some days to ourselves for a long time. The good news was that Henry seemed to have a lot of fun too and although he cried after realizing we had gone, he apparently soon perked up and made some friends. This was a Friday. Starting from Monday the next week, daddy had to take him on his way to work. For a few days Qilin cried when he was being left but within 3-4 days he was in control, often after talking himself into it on the journey there.

This was an extremely eventful month for us all. With a new job for daddy came a new flat, and for Henry, a completely new set of rules. In the flat Qi Lin is treated as a boy, not a baby, and among other things is given the chance to feed himself. This control over his food is actually very useful because we now have a separate living room, meaning that we no longer eat in the same room as a TV. The bargaining chip has gone, but ‘Hen’ doesn’t seem to mind.

As a mixed-race child in Beijing, knowing who you are might be difficult. So daddy is putting a touch of British flavour into Henry’s life by getting him ‘into’ tea and biscuits. Every evening for the last couple of weeks, Henry has had a small cup of tea (really just a mouthful) and a chocolate biscuit. He loves it, looks forward to it, and probably even dreams about it.

Once again Henry is obsessed with spicy food. He will take on any challenge, regardless of the extreme warnings we give him. He especially loves eating pickled chillies and anything with an obscene amount of the red firecracker. Interestingly, he seems to enjoy the challenge more than the actual food, because he often cries for water afterwards. But still he comes back for more, just like his spicy mum.

Henry loves ‘The Wiggles’! In case you don’t know what or who this is, they are a group of four men from Australia who make programmes and songs for young kids.  A work colleague recommended them, and after only watching a single YouTube video, Qi Lin was hooked. So now there are endless requests for the ‘wig-gle-ser, wig-gle-ser’ DVD all day long. He knows the dances, the hand movements, and can even dance like a turkey with the DVD remote in one hand and the TV remote in the other. Needless to say, it’s pretty cool.

Henry has an absolutely awesome dance style. We don’t know where he learnt it, but it is certainly unique; let me describe. Imagine a slow kung fu fight using only the hands, whilst at the same time bending his knees as far as possible and holding a look on his face like he’s trying not to laugh. Qilin prefers to strut his stuff to the slow songs, or when daddy sings, but so far we haven’t been able to catch the moment with a photo. Check the November album and there might be a nice surprise.