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.

The big event this month was when a helicopter flew into Henry. To be fair, it was a toy helicopter, but it still made a nasty little cut on his forehead. Our stomachs were in our mouths as the blood poured out, and we rushed off to the Beijing children’s hospital. He had a mighty two stitches and was forced to wear a bandage all week. Qilin was very brave, although he really hated the experience of going to the hospital. When we asked him about it, he said ‘dudu pa,’ meaning ‘tummy was frightened.’

Just when we thought things were improving with his apparent desire to sleep alone, a new habit formed which put us back to the start. Qilin is now unable to go to sleep without holding our hands, and if he wakes in the night, he might ask again. Friends and family have told us to be firm and get him sleeping alone, but we want to enjoy the moment while we can. It won’t last forever.

It’s funny when you kiss him. He used to take them without much notice, but these days he acts just like a teenager. After a kiss from daddy in particular, he will usually wipe his mouth and says “urgh!” Still, he also knows when to give praise. Once when daddy was trying on a hat, mummy asked whether daddy looked good or not. Henry replied ‘piaoliang,’ meaning ‘beautiful.’ And later in the lift when asked the same question, he said, ‘daddy hao piaoliang,’ meaning ‘daddy is really beautiful.’

Going outside the flat is one of the most enjoyable things Henry can do. We usually walk to Xie Jie (West Street) to buy Barbequed Arabian Pork and Spicy Hunan Squid. He loves all types of food, but spicy and savoury treats are his favourite. However the walk can often take some time as he tends to stop for a wee in his nappy, shouting at us to ‘bie dong,’ or ‘don’t move.’

And whenever we go anywhere, Henry continues to attract widespread attention. It’s impossible to make it through the campus without someone commenting out loud how beautiful he is, how long his eyelashes are, or even worse, how white he is. He soaks it up, and returns it in bucket loads to all the young and pretty girls. Old grannies get slapped and men are of no interest, but beautiful women aged between 3 and 20 are special. He will hug and kiss as many as possible, and they love it as much as he does. Qilin will certainly be a charmer in later life with all this practice.

But it isn’t all play. Henry is learning very quickly, memorising the names of animals, vehicles and colours in both languages. He learnt to recite a 12 character poem from a dvd without being taught it, and loves taxis because he can look out of the window and practice his English. ‘Big car, red bus, casina (taxi),’ and every other possible combination are all versed with endless fervour. But his main achievement is putting words together into short clauses, and conversation is starting to flow between us. This is largely due to mummy’s persistent efforts in teaching Chinese, and he seems to have a vocabulary that’s already larger than daddy’s!

New Chinese words

Qi chuang (get up)
Da xiang (elephant)
Xiong mao (panda)
Lao hu (tiger)
Bi (pen)
Nan qiu (basketball)
Xianzai (now)
Goula (enough)
Xiang lian (necklace)
Huai daddy (bad )
Piaoliang (beautiful)
Shuai (handsome)
Qi lin (his Chinese name)
Ying han (his best friend)
Ke nan (a Japanese cartoon character)
He tang (drink soup)
Kan kan (have a look)
Dian chi (battery)
Dian hua (telephone)
Dian shi (TV)
Gai pian (calcium tablet)
Kou shui (saliva)
Xiang jiao (banana)
Cuo cuo (jab)

New English words

No more
Colour
Big one
Red
Hello
Spicy
Bus