Josiah can walk!

Whatever concerns that I had for Josiah over his inability/unwillingness to walk have finally been dispelled. He has been walking on his own for a couple of weeks now albeit not completely stable as he sometimes stumbles because he walks very fast. I'm happy with his progress. He's got many pairs of shoes too although they are not expensive/branded ones.
And I'm happy to note that his top left incisor has finally began to show. This happened when we were in Vietnam. Mom told me that a piece of his gum came off and was hanging from his gums! Must have been quite a scary sight.
Our trip to Saigon was good. It is not your typical holiday of sightseeing, relaxing and shopping. It was  an eye opener. I was sad because we got to see the after effects of the Vietnam war in the 1940's-70's. A lot of children are handicapped beyond imagination due to the chemical 'Agent Orange'. Not to mention that most of the people there are very poor too. The main mode of transportation is motorbike. It is a common sight to see a whole family of 4 on the motorbike. They also drive very precariously and it is no surprise that a lot of them succumb to road accidents. The only consolation is that the country is fast developing in the industrial sector and lots of factories are blooming. This trip once again reminds me of how blessed I am, to be living in a peaceful and thriving country. I'm going to get my hands on these books to read more about the war:-  The Girl in the Picture: the Story of Kim Phuc, the Photograph and the Vietnam War by Denise Chong and Ten Thousand Day War: Vietnam by Michael Maclear.
PS: We missed Josiah so much while we were away. Everything reminds us of him. I bought him 2 pairs of cheap shoes and 4 t-shirts. Sadly, I was told he did not miss us.

Vacation in Vietnam

Hubby and I are going to Saigon this Friday. I'm so excited as we have not been for a vacation together since we had Josiah. The last time we went for a holiday was to Hong Kong and at that time I was about 4 months' pregnant with Josiah. It will be the first time that both of us are not around with him and I hope he will be alright under Mom's care over the weekend and night time. Initially I thought of bringing Josiah and in fact paid for his fare which is only a minimal amount because children under age 2 do not need to pay the full fare, but decided against it in the end because we would be walking a lot and he is still on porridge and cannot adult food yet (because he still only has his bottom 2 teeth).
I hope it will be a fun vacation. I wonder how we would cope being away from him for 5 days. I won't be surprised if most of our souvenirs from Vietnam are for him.

Flashcard classes

Josiah has been attending flashcard classes for a month now. The method used in the class is pioneered by world renown Dr Glenn Doman. I'm not sure if he enjoys it. Everytime we send him there, he will scream and cry at the door even before entering the classroom. The only time he did not cry was during the first class when I attended with him. He thoroughly enjoyed it and made new friends with the older children there. But after that, it was all screams and cries. I wonder if it because the teacher is strict or he has somehow developed an attachment to us. Even in church nowadays he doesn't want to be carried by other people and prefers to be with hubby or me. I do hope he will grow out of it soon. He used to be so people friendly and anyone could carry him.
Josiah still has only 2 bottom incisors. I'm getting a little bit worried about his teething progress though I know I shouldn't. It will come eventually. He's also been vomiting and we don't know what is the cause of it. He seems to understand more things now too. Whenever I say 'call me' he will promptly reply 'ma ma!'. It is the most wonderful words to my ears. Even when hubby asks him to call him, Josiah will reply 'ma ma!'. He also recognises spoon, plate, cup, lantern when we ask him to show it to us. Whenever he sees fish on the TV or books, he goes 'shh' and he also goes 'woof-woof' whenever he sees a dog. He is getting smarter:)