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.

Because this month Daddy has either been ill or looking for work, Qi Lin has had the chance to spend a lot more time with him. Normally daddy will only see Henry in the mornings or evenings. Weekends are treated like regular work days, so Henry spends a lot of time with his mum. With more daddy-time comes a lot more play, and Henry genuinely seems happier and less naugthy. Daddy always wakes up a couple of hours before mummy and Henry to do some extra work, so Henry has formed a habit of going to find him upon waking. He usually drags him back to bed with mummy, and wants to be stroked softly into the morning sun. It’s a very touching and sentimental display of need and love.

But the need for mummy to be around is equally as strong, if not stronger. Recently, mummy and daddy tried to sneak off to go to the visa building for official business. We wanted to leave Qi Lin with Uncle Bill, a friend of ours. Despite valiant attempts by Bill to coax Henry with sweets, Qi Lin cried at the front door non-stop for ten minutes. In the end we came back and took him with us. He needs to be around one of us, or as a great alternative, our friend Lily (uncles Bill’s girlfriend and our Portuguese friend). He has grown up with seeing her and she always brings him cakes and sweets. Plus, she never shouts at him. He even cries when she leaves, happy to send mummy out shopping so Lily could stay. So Lily is a great help to us when we need to get something done. What we will do when Henry approaches playschool is anyone’s guess. Come back in September to read about that one.

Qi Lin looks like a real bruiser this month because he cut his mouth after walking into the corner of the table. But he also looks insanely cool, and he knows it. Mummy bought him a green zipped jumper, like something out of a ‘Blur’ music video. He always walks around with his hands in his pockets, stopping now and then to admire himself in the mirror. He can say ‘cool’ in both languages, and he thinks he is the epitome of the word.  We noted that he has a weird mix of 20’s funk on the top half of his body, with a 2-year-old nappy squaring his bottom through thin trousers covered in teddy bears. Not quite a Fonz level yet.

So Henry continues to grow and figure things out for himself. We may treat him hard sometimes and other times let him get away with everything, but he is turning out to be a fantastic little boy. He is the centre of our world and we love him with all our hearts.