One Beautiful Warm Saturday Afternoon

Just one day after Graham had wandered around in the sun, in a truly amazing turn up, the sun rose brightly the very next day. Craig had another one of his special Saturday classes. He was dropped off early in the morning, so Graham was free to play as much as he liked.

When Graham and Dad went back to pick Craig in the afternoon, up he wasn't very happy. Dad was just about the last parent to arrive and Craig had become very worried. To let him recover a bit, Dad told him to go and play in the yard and the boy soon brightened up.

Graham very quickly attracted a protector. Almost wherever he goes, some female will want to take care of him. This young woman works at the place where Craig's classes are held.

Craig quite likes walking across these bamboo sticks.

Graham wanted to climb up there too but his protector wouldn't allow it.

Then, there was a minor disagreement about who should hold the hose to water the organic garden.

Three's a crowd when there's only one hose.

The mother of the little girl was quite pleased with her daughter standing up for herself and insisting on taking a turn.

Craig didn't stray far. He was back in control of the watering in no time at all.

Meanwhile, Graham had become bored with waiting his turn and climbed inside a wheelbarrow under the watchful eye of a new protector. That prompted Craig to start a new game of wheeling Graham around.

Whenever Craig started to run with the wheelbarrow Graham's new protector would start to get nervous and tell him to slow down.

Eventually, she just had to slow him down by grabbing the handle of the barrow.

If she hadn't, Craig might have tested how fast it could travel across gravel.

In response, Craig started walking backwards.

He kept going backwards up a tiny slope.

It was quite a lot of work.

And he had to put in a lot of effort to get through the long thick grass.

And then, being the caring big brother that he is, he tried to push the wheelbarrow down the slope with his little brother inside!

So the wheelbarrow was put away but Craig wasn't ready to go home. He wanted to play some more.

Some other kids had Angry Birds toys.

One of the tiny green bird toys had become lost in the grass and everyone started looking for it.

The boy in the striped t-shirt was the owner and he was not happy about his toy going missing.

Craig placed a couple of the little green bird toys up on a tree so they wouldn't get lost. The funny thing was that with two adults and four kids searching, it was the youngest one, Graham, that found the toy! He was very pleased with himself.

Craig didn't care. He went back to finding things to climb on.

Craig wanted someone to open the gate and turn it into a big swing.

But no one obliged.

So he went back to the bamboo sticks......

Before joining some other kids up a tree. The boy in the striped t-shirt was first up the tree but he had been ordered down to go and put a jacket on.You can see him here in his orange jacket getting back up the tree as fast as he can.

The kids were all very quick to climb up.

At one stage there was four of them in the tree.

And a number of parents were below taking videos and photos.

While the kids just relaxed and enjoyed the view.

The other kids came down one by one and started heading for home.

Until Craig was the last one left.

Graham was starving hungry.

So the three went for dinner not far away. Craig was given a full adult-sized meal for the first time ever. He didn't finish it but gave it a mighty effort.

There was even time to play in a park after dinner.

Before it was finally time to begin the long train trip home.

January Events and Non-Events

The last time the boys were taken for a train ride on a rainy day they had plenty of fun. So, their parents tried it once again. They went in a different direction and had much less fun. Only one decent photo was taken.

On another occasion the boys had dinner directly upstairs with Great Aunt From the Fifth Floor. The view from her front balcony is much better than that two floors down where the boys live.

One night after dinner Craig wanted to take his bicycle out to the park nearest home for a ride. He insisted that Mum take over the pedaling when Graham wanted to ride on the back.

Graham had quite a good time.

And, eventually Craig wanted to get back on.

When the rain returned, as it frequently has of late, Mum has been good at playing cards and other games with Craig.

Graham isn't much good at cards yet.

But he's good at amusing himself in cardboard boxes.

Rare Sunny Day Out

Winters in Taipei can be very dreary and this one has seen plenty of cool drizzly days. So, when a proper warm sunny afternoon arrived Graham was taken out to Daan Forest Park for some fun.

And, for a while he did exactly that, have fun! There's plenty for a little bloke to do on the park's massive jungle gym and swings but after 40 minutes or so he refused to play.

The weather was too beautiful to go back indoors so Graham walked up to Daan Station to go for a ride on the MRT.

The boy's favourite tiny park (unlike big Daan Park), not far from Jiannan Rd. Station, had been partially taken over by a professional photographer and a gaggle of assistants. They were taking photos of two very well-dressed children who aren't pictured here. One of the rather androgynous assistants insisted on standing in the background of this photo. Hmmm.

Graham didn't care about the attention being lavished on the other kids.

He played quite happily by himself.

For no particular reason he decided to carry Dad's backpack around.

Perhaps a more considerate parent would have put the camera down and shortened the straps but Graham doesn't have that type of father. ;)

On the walk back to the MRT Graham stopped to take a close look at this poster on the wall of a "beauty" (read: slimming or weight-loss) clinic.The picture caused quite a stir on Facebook!

Back at home, Craig had finished his day at kindy and was experimenting with an old pair of sunglasses. Perhaps he was giving his parents a hint about where he would prefer to be the next time the sun comes out.