In Leaps and Bounds

Abigail has had a very busy week.

First, she learned how to roll over in a limited capacity last weekend, which means that she can roll in a single direction and only from back to front. It actually took awhile to confirm this since she only seemed to do it when we were out of the room, but the fact that she was on her back when I walked into the kitchen and on her front when I got back seems to point to the obvious.

She has actually rolled from back to front at least once that I know of, but she doesn't seem inclined to repeat the performance. Instead, she prefers to roll over (very quickly and with skill) and just let us know when she's ready to get back over (loudly!). We're looking forward to her working the rest of that little trick out.

In the meantime, instead of perfecting that little maneuvre, she has instead moved on and found her feet. As of this afternoon, she officially has feet which she loves to wave around in the air and grab onto with a very smug look on her face.

If that wasn't enough, she also made a new friend named 'Snooshy'. She didn't actually name him of course, but that's what her little 'hand-combed Tibetan yak-down' friend is called for the moment. Complete with shorts and a hat and very edible feet, I suspect he will feature among her favourites for awhile.

BBQ on the 22nd Floor

Abi enjoyed her first 'American'-style BBQ cook-out last week. We joined friends at a colleague's newly renovated 22nd floor apartment. Sounds ridiculous, I'm know but I assure you that it works. So not only did we BBQ, but we did it on a small classic Weber charcoal grill recently 'imported' as checked baggage from the States.

Greg, our host, grilled a meat-tastic meal complete with pork ribs, rib-eye steak, chicken wings, legs and roast peppers. We thoroughly enjoyed ALL of it, especially the amazing view of the sun setting over the city of Shanghai behind us.

Fashionista in the Making

Abigail certainly has displayed a love of accessories. She can't quite stand the bright sunlight yet so we've started investing in 'shades' for her. And she is loving it.

For the record, the pink cat is not part of the ensemble (and it isn't eating her!)...that's just 'jelly cat', one of her current favourites.

Moganshan Lu

We took Abigail for her first real 'cultural' experience. We had a family outing to the arts district on Moganshan Lu along Suzhou Creek.

Basically, they've renovated a cluster of old warehouses and created artist studios and galleries. There are a lot of very good professional exhibitions alongside young artists selling their wares. As you would expect, there is some beautiful artwork and there are some real duds.

Regardless, Abigail seems to have enjoyed it and was a bit of an exhibition herself. She was a major draw along the way, making lots of new friends. Below is a perfect example of a time when I finally got Abigail to settle down and go to sleep, and some complete strangers wandered up and started playing with her. At least she's always entertained when we're out.

And she always enjoys bouncing along strapped to Daddy.

a