Friday, July 12, 2013

The Hair Experiment

You may have heard that shaving a baby's head will promote faster, stronger and thicker hair growth. In an (admittedly controversial) attempt to either prove or debunk the theory, I shaved the left side of Ashley's head when she was just over 5 months old. Here's how her hair growth has progressed over the past 3 months. I wonder what will happen in the coming months?

Day before the half-shave. Happily, Ashley doesn't know what's coming...

Ashley's new look. She doesn't seem to mind it at all!

Until other people started asking "What the heck happened to her hair?!"

The back view. Yup, it's completely half gone.

Ashley's hair at one week post shave.

At 10 days.

10 days.

2 weeks.

At one month - the front is still noticeably different.

At one month - the back, however, is catching up fast!

1.5 months - Still uneven at the front.

 8 weeks - The very front is beginning to show some growth. Well done, front hair! 

8 weeks - The top is coming in.

9 weeks - the back is almost totally caught up.

9 weeks - from this angle, both sides look even! Hard to believe that less than 3 months of growth on the left side managed to catch up to 8 months of growth on the right side! Maybe there is something about this theory...

2.5 months - I've finally stopped getting comments from random strangers about her hair.

2.5 months - looking good! Almost even at the front, too.

 2.5 months - front hair is still slightly more sparse. The back almost looks longer on the left...

2.5 months - back of the head is totally even

 3 months - The hair has all caught up! Arguably, the top left actually has more hair than the top right (especially near the front). 

3 months - left side (shaved side). She sleeps on her tummy and sucks her right thumb so usually sleeps on the left side of her head.

3 months - right side (unshaved side)

3 months - the back is almost totally even. Now the real test is... will the left side grow faster or thicker than the right side? More updates to come...

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Full zoo alert!

It's the beginning of summer which means the kids will soon again be attending summer camp in Toronto.  Before we fly off, we enjoyed five fun days with cousins Nicholas and Michael, and Carol yee-yee and uncle Dave in Hong Kong.  Of course, this meant FULL ZOO in the house on the weekends :)  Here are some last snaps of our time in Hong Kong before the summer.

 Full zoo alert!

First, a play date at the Manhattan with Susannie and her kids Clara, Peyton and William.

Look what arrived for Lauren and Natalie - their first magazine subscription with National Geographic kids.

There's something dwelling under my desk.

 Full zoo descends on Funzone.



For a little guy (only 2.5 years old), he sure is a bed hog!

Breakfast of champions.

Turtle watching.

Ashley snuck in her 9-month check-up at the doctors.  Look what I caught her doing.  Yup, she's at the age where everything goes in her mouth first, no questions asked.

Carol gets a sweet good-bye leg-hugs from Michael, Nicholas and Lauren.

At Central library, the younger kids were busy pulling books off the shelf and directly piling them around the return-book-bin. 

Lauren has developed a real affinity for her lovely Carol yee-yee.

Taking a break before dinner.

Michael can make Ashley giggle.

One early morning, after Natalie went off to school, I took the kids to the park and brought my coffee and breakfast with me.

Michael is a brave climber.



Washing their hands in the pool water drippy thingy.

Vicky and Ashley at Funzone.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Out and about, face time snapshots, and more Ashley photos and videos

Video 503 - Baby Ashley has learned to wave "hello" and "good-bye".  In this video, you can see she loves doing it so much still sit-up and use her new-found waving skills to interact with me and her big sister Natalie.

Video 504 - Lauren was naughty again and got yet another time out.  See how curious Ashley is as she crawls up to her big sister and tries to pat her.

Video 505 - Ashley has become very proficient at pulling herself along the floor.  She's so fast, I'm not sure she will ever learn to crawl "properly" on hands and knees because I'm not sure whether crawling properly would be any faster...

Ashley looking sincerely cute.

Ashley loves bath time.

Ashley with her two favourite things -- her thumb and blankie.

Ashley curiously visits big sis Lauren during her time out.

Me and the three girls taking the mini-bus to town.

Natalie and Lauren watch the sushi chefs make their dinner.

Natalie loves to read!  We went to the public library and she loved it.

Big sister Natalie helping Lauren to brush her teeth. 

While in Beijing, I missed the girls and we FaceTime'd together every day.


Ashley was sad whenever the iPad was taken away from her. 


Back home, the next day, look who made "breakfast" for me :)