Malcolm is becoming pretty vocal.

My brother can make all sorts of sounds now, he can coo, babble, squeal and even shriek. Roger and Tracey are only getting up once throughout the night now, which is a marked improvement. I don't bother to get up, cause it's just too cozy in bed. I've learned my lesson... after all they just come back to bed as soon as they feed Malcolm anyway. Roger is taking a vacation day to stay home with us today. Tracey is going out with Irene, I think I overheard that they'll be going to a movie. Anyway, here's a sample of Malcolm's vocalization.

Dietary supplement.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Roger has been adding a yummy homemade supplement to my regular kibble. He told me that it's made from 1/3 protein (boiled chicken), 1/3 rice, and the last 1/3 made up of boiled/mashed sweet potato and organic probiotic yogurt. Roger makes a batch and adds it into my meals twice a day. He said that for the first time in a long time, I've been finishing my whole portion without a scrap leftover. That's what's probably attributed to my weight gain. As you can see from the picture, I'm VERY FOCUSED and am waiting for the magic release command! C'mon, Roger "okay" already.

Here's a picture of Malcolm at the controversial Olympic clock in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery, only 1090 days to go....

Malcolm is 15 weeks old today.

He's been sleeping longer, we're almost afraid to mention it to anyone cause it's been going so well; after all we wouldn't want to jinx anything. Last night he slept from 9:30pm to almost 5:30am (with an 11pm dream feed)... then decided to sleep until 8:30am so we could all catch up a bit. Here are some pics:

He looks like a red jedi in this one:

Longest sleep ever!

I'm happy to report that Malcolm enjoyed an extended sleep session last night (the first time ever!). Tracey and Roger put him to bed at 9:30, he had a dream feed at 11:00 and he slept until almost 5:00am this morning. Whoo hoo! The dream feed idea is advocated by Tracy Hogg in the popular book, The Baby Whisperer. It is called dream feed because you don't actually wake the baby. You basically take the baby out of the crib and give it a breast or bottle and don't even change it unless he's really soiled and then put them back to sleep. The dream feed has been working really well so far. Malcolm drains the bottle and drinks at least 3.5 ounces every time. We've also been using a great swaddle blanket, called the "Miracle Blanket" that swaddles him very snugly so he can't wriggle his arms out. Most night we've found that Malcolm gets his arms free and wakes himself up because of all the flailing. Here's a picture of the "Miracle Blanket" (a special thanks to Janey and Bill for loaning it to us) Roger is actually bidding on another one on Ebay so we can have a backup, just in case.

Malcolm's Baek-il party.

February 13th, 2007 marked Malcolm's 100th day. To celebrate the occassion we took Malcolm out for dinner with the whole family.


Here is some history behind this auspicious event in a baby's life:

In premodern Korea infant mortality was high because of a variety of diseases and other health problems that did not respond to herbal medicines. Newborn babies were treated with extra care in an effort to preserve their lives. This generally included taboos against visits by outsiders for the first 21 days of the baby's life, and not formally recognizing the new family member until it was fairly certain that the child was going to survive.

A long time ago it also became customary for families to wait until the 100th day to officially celebrate the birth of a new child with a baek Il (baek eel) or "100th Day Party," making this one of the most auspicious social events in Korean life. Relatives and close friends were invited to participate in the happy event. Baek il parties are still the custom in Korea, and continue to be one of the more important social events that take place regularly throughout the year. Many families, in fact, stage three baek il - one for the father's family, one for the mother's family, and another one for the father's school friends and work colleagues.

Baek il are marked by feasts that include a variety of special foods and drinks. Guests are expected to bring gifts. Families generally take platters of rice cakes and other specialities to their closer neighbors, who respond by bringing gifts for the infants. "100th Day Parties" are always occasions for taking numerous photographs that go into family albums. (In earlier times it was customary to take frontal pictures of baby boys in the nude as a public record of their maleness.) The second milestone in the life of a new baby is its first birthday.


Excerpted from the forthcoming book, "NTC's Dictionary of Korea's Business and Cultural Code Words" (NTC/Contemporary Publishing Company), by Boye Lafayette DeMente. DeMente is an author of more than forty books and currently works as a consultant on Korea, China, and Japan. For more information about his currently available work, check out the Internet site (http://www.dancris.com/~phxbooks/).

By Boye Lafayette De Mente

Funny!

I think Grandma Nan is trying to turn Malcolm into a garden gnome. She made him a hat and I swear that he's the spitting image of a garden gnome I've seen before, what do you think... separated at birth huh?

It was Grandpa Mel's birthday on the weekend, the family enjoyed a Chinese dinner feast! Grandpa Mel got a nice wallet and tickets to a show from Roger and Tracey. He received a gift certificate for the Casino from Glen, Manjit, Nicole and Joseph. I was a bit naughty at the dinner, it was a perfectly laid plan actually. I told Malcolm to distract the family by smiling and looking cute and I sneakily jumped up to the table and got a few good licks in on the cheesecake. I must have licked the cake about three times until Grandma Nan and Tracey noticed, next time I'll have to get Malcolm to distract them for longer... he and I are going to be a great team!

Weight watchers?

Tracey said that I've lost three pounds. My stomach has been feeling a bit strange lately, but as for the sudden weight loss, I'm not exactly sure why? Roger did mention that he felt that I've been eating less and that I've had less appetite. Roger has even gone to lengths to upgrade my dinner by adding some chicken, yogurt and rice to my kibble. I managed to scarf all that down no problem. With the dietary supplements, they hope that I'll gain back the weight soon, cause I know what the consequences are... another trip to the vet. Tracey took Malcolm and me on a big walk to the park, it was nice to get outside and run around, she even let me run around in the tennis courts.

Malcolm is doing well. He's a little chubster, here's a picture of him trying Roger's ice skates on, a little big don't you think?

upgrades to blogspot.com

You may have noticed a bit of an upgrade to the site, well some aesthetic changes anyway... don't fret all the information is the same just packaged a bit differently.

I was trying to write the number 7

Roger and Tracey were wondering what I was trying to write on the stairs again.. I was trying for the number 7, but got distracted when I heard a cat outside. Now that I see the picture, I think the number is backwards? I hope I'm not dyslexic. Here's a pic:

Oh, Roger, Tracey and Malcolm, went to visit Janey, Bill and Ty on Saturday afternoon. They discussed Malcolm's eating, activity, and sleeping schedule with them. You see Roger and Tracey are trying to put Malcolm on a better routine so he'll start sleeping through the night. It hasn't worked yet, but it's only been a couple of days. We're all hoping that he'll start sleeping for longer stretches soon. Here's a picture of Malcolm and Ty together.

Don't see what the big deal is?

Roger and Tracey were impressed that I positioned my kibble in such a way that it resembled a perfect square. I wasn't too happy with it, because I was trying to position the kibble to look like the star constelation; little dipper. Maybe I'll blow their minds next time and write out something, like "STEAK PLEASE", bet you that would freak them out! Usually Roger isn't so impressed that I bring my food bits to eat in the living room and on the step, but this time they were more amused. Here's a pic of the food:

Oh, here's my favorite picture of Malcolm, Tracey took it the other day.. doesn't he look happy?