Down to the Doctor

Recently, while Craig's Dad's computer was refusing to work, Craig had a cold. Luckily for his parents they found a very good doctor just down the street. He's only a young bloke and we've assumed that the assisting nurse is his girlfriend or wife. (I'm not a great gossip, no really interesting details.)

Unfortunately, we weren't able to get photos of the little crowd that would sometimes develop around Craig when he was there waiting for his turn to see the doctor. There were times when it looked like a celebrity had come to see the doctor. It was a bit funny. Anyway, Craig is much better now. Maybe next time.


After returning from the doctor on this particular day, Craig and his Dad were very tired. Lying on the sofa together soon turned into a quick nap and Craig's Mum couldn't resist taking a picture.

Dinner at Great Aunt's Place

Craig's Dad's computer has been fixed! Thanks to Clyde our local computer expert Craig's blog can now be updated again.

A few days before Chinese New year we were invited over Craig's great-aunt's place for dinner. Craig has two great aunt's living nearby: one downstairs on the second floor who we call "The Second Floor Aunt" and the other we call "The Aunt With Glasses". Dinner was at The Aunt with Glasses' home.

Aunty Suprana's dog, Goldy, and Craig were the onlt two guests that couldn't sit at the table.

Craig received plenty of attention. Aunty Bess practised her baby holding skills before dinner began.
And, every time Craig made a noise like he was unhappy he recived more attention than one baby really needs. From left to right: Aunty Suprana, Aunty Bess, and The Second Floor Aunt.
We had to eat and run because Craig's Mum had a student coming to our place at 9pm.

Computers Are Unreliable

Apologies dear readers as once again computer troubles have stifled news about Craig's life in Taipei.

Craig's Dad's computer has developed a wonderful new problem where it boots-up, then crashes, then re-boots and then crashes ad infinitum. It never stops nor does it ever actually become useful.

Meanwhile Craig's Mum's laptop can only be used for about 20 minutes before it overheats and crashes. The underside of the computer next to the exhaust fan becomes so hot it could burn the skin off your fingers! So, it needs a trip to the nearest service center for Benq products but with Chinese New Year approaching no quick-fix is in sight.

The only news in Craig's life worthy of reporting is that he has a cold! It's the first time in his life that he's been sick but he's been pretty good.

His Mum and Dad found a clinic within walking distance of home that has a young paediatrician who seems quite thorough. Craig has been there several times now and almost every time he is the centre of attention. All the other parents of the sick children want to see the "foreign baby". He's very popular!

The only unpleasant part for Craig is that the doctor has a little machine that removes mucus from his nasal cavity and, not surprisingly, he hates it. However, his breathing becomes much easier after treatment and his parents reckon the doctor is very gentle about using the machine. So poor Craig will either have to get rid of his cold or it will happen again.

All the best to everyone for Chinese New Year.

A Day Out at Taipei 101 (again)

After Craig's Mum had spent the morning playing squash (!) with Craig's Auntie Bess she was ready to join in with Craig's Dad and Craig (of course) to head over to Taipei 101 for lunch. After a fairly ordinary lunch down in the food court the little family headed upstairs. They stopped to take a picture on the 5th floor. Down on the next level you can see the coffee shops where they had breakfast on Saturday morning with Uncle Guapo. You can't really tell in the picture but all three of us were wearing out kangaroo t-shirts.

The next picture is a slightly successfull attempt to take a picture that does justice to the height of the atrium roof. In fact, the roof is still much higher but this is about as good as it gets for a photo taken with a mobile phone camera. If you want to see how high it really is you'll have to come to Taipei.

Craig's Dad wanted to go downstairs to have coffee and cake for dessert. On the way, Craig showed the world that he'd learned a new trick. He can now suck his own thumb!

Craig's Mum and Dad found nice comfy sofas to sit on at the Haagen Daz cafe but the prices reflected the comfort-level. Is it just me, or is having coffee and cake really becoming an extravagant thing to do. NT$500 for two drinks and two pieces of cake. Hmmm.

Craig didn't care though. He had finally fallen asleep after a long walk around.

When they arrived home there was a very strong smell of cooking. Craig's Auntie Bess had made beef noodles for everyone (except Craig of course.) In the picture below you can see Craig's Auntie Suprana playing with Craig while his Mum and Auntie Bess eat the very spicy beef noodles.

Going Out in a Papoose

One afternoon, Craig's Mum took him out in the carry thing that I sometimes call a papoose but is really a bit too modern to deserve the name. It was a cold day so she put a jacket around the outside to keep Craig warm.

That idea worked really well, perhaps too well because Craig became so comfortable that he fell asleep.

Later that night Craig's Mum and Dad took him out to McCafe. This time he travelled by the more familiar transport mode, the pram. At first, he was nice and lively. He insisted on receiving attention so his Mum talked to him and that kept him happy for a while.

But he was wrapped up very warmly and the pram must have been very comfortable. Soon Craig was doing more of what he does best, sleep.