Austin Powers aka. Mini Me

We have been having a busy couple weeks since Drai learned how to walk. He started doing it about a week before he turned 8 months. He then pretty much mastered it a week later and has since then kept us on the run constantly. No longer can we plop him in a chair or put him in a Jolly Jumper. He isn't having any of that. He just tears off at high speeds until his legs can't go any faster and then belly flops. This doesn't deter him though and he is up in seconds to do it all over again.

Beds are no obstacle for him now. He can climb in and out as he pleases. Which makes it all the more easy to slap my face or body slam me when I am trying to take a nap. It's pretty fun for the most part though. I took him to the park yesterday and got him up on the jungle gym for the first time. He found that quite fun but was already finding the more dangerous ways to play on things. Why sit on this when I can stand? Why go down this when I can climb up? He's definitely related to me.
Doh!

As most of you know from Facebook, I also gave him a haircut. Things started going awry almost immediately. Trying to cut an eight month old's hair wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. He kept moving his head to see what the buzzing sound was and I kept accidentally shearing off more than I wanted to. (We had decided to cut it because he was always really hot and sweats like crazy.) Finally, one side was so messed up that we thought, "Let's shave it into a Fauxhawk for fun." That was going well until the battery died on the clippers. So half-shaved we had to wait for the battery to recharge. That night, we got back to work but I forgot to adjust the setting on the razor and ended up bucking a huge patch right off. Long story short, he ended up with a real mohawk.
My mom was pissed when she saw it. She was ready to cry. I thought he looks bad ass. After her comments, I was terrified to hear what my father would say when he saw it. Much to our surprise, it didn't seem to phase him at all. So he has officially become the cool grandparent. Actually, everyone here really likes it. When I walk into a 7-11 they all call him the "cool baby."

I surprised Jenny with a new bike a couple of weeks ago, so she has been taking him around on that lately. I roller blade next to them and Drai seems to love it. When he gets in new situations though, he looks really intense. Not scared but totally taking everything in. We go to this market once a week which is just insane. Even for me it often sensory overload. Drai just sits on the bike checking everything out. People come up to him and tell him in Chinese that he is cute and he gives them the most hilarious dismissive facial expressions. I have never seen a baby make adults feel so stupid. They make all these cute clicking sounds and noises at him and he just rolls his eyes, cocks one eyebrow and tries to see what is going on behind them. Or he will look at me with a look on his face like, "Who the hell is this clown?"

If he knows who you are though, he is all smiles and hugs. These pictures are of him wearing an outfit that the neighbor gave us. Apparently he thinks I am British.