CNY -- 1st Day Festivities

I was dreading the thought of CNY before it arrived, wondering how I was going to lug my huge self around the island the whole day. But as it turned out, I actually quite enjoyed it when it finally arrived, tiredness notwithstanding.

Possibly it was the fun of dressing Noey up in his CNY outfit.

Noey in his ching-chong-china outfit of the day! I'm determined that he'll be in Chinese outfits every year until he protests! I was quite pleased with my find from OG, where I also got last year's outfit. As anyone with boys would know, the choices are soooo much more limited than for girls!

Altogether, I must say that I was quite proud of my little man. Aside from the fact that I ended up having to feed him raisin bread for lunch because he totally rejected the lap cheong rice that my MIL made, he otherwise sailed through the rather busy and hectic 1st day of the Lunar New Year like a model child. He greeted all Uncles and Aunties when asked, obligingly trotted out his Chinese greetings (though his 身体健康 kept coming out as 身体快乐), did the 恭喜恭喜 hand actions willingly, handed out oranges and thanked folks for the ang pows he received.

Learning to 拜年 for Gong Gong and Popo. He didn't have the patience to listen to all their well-wishes for him though, and kept going "Amen! Amen!" and trying to run off.

Noey discovers the honey tea, and it was goooood. (He kept going back for more.)

With Gong Gong in the garden, carrying his zodiac mascot. For some reason, Noey is very fond of mice.

He was also our most enthusiastic lo hei-er. This has always been one of Noey's favourite CNY rituals. Only this time, he actually got to taste the stuff, helping himself to some of the vegetable when he managed to hook some with his chopsticks, and he loved it! Of course he also loved the crisps from the yu sheng which the grandparents merrily plied him with. Ah well, we close an eye on such occasions.

Lo Hei! Not content with the chair we had got him, Noey climbs on the table to join in the action.

I think he would have got right into the plate if I wasn't holding him back.

Really NEED that last drop to drop into my mouth...
(The cup was empty, but he still tried.)

Even though we were constantly on the go, he still managed to take a decent 1.5 hour long nap at my Uncle's place, and upon waking up, proceeded to play happily with my cousin's kids for some time.

In this shot, he really reminds me of a travelling coolie!

Isabel patiently tries to get him to blow on the roll-up-streamer-toy-thing. (What are those things called anyway??) She was amazingly good with him.

Thereafter, it was home for a quick shower and rest before rushing to our final stop for the day -- DD's grandma's place. Noey had fun playing with cousin Sanjay and Sanjay's toys, though I think after a while, Sanjay got a wee bit tired of Noey taking his stuff. Hah.

The 2 boys, slightly over a year apart, still playing happily together at this point.

Trying to get a good shot of 2 active boys with great-grandma is really difficult!

Noey certainly made his great-grandma's day by obligingly giving her a big hug before we left. Like I said, he was really on best behaviour that day! Thank God for that as it made having to get around just that much easier.

I heaved a huge sigh of relief with the 1st day over. It was the one with the most family obligations and I was glad to have it over and done with. Into the Rabbit year we go!