The laugh

I have been trying to figure out how to do this for some time, so hopefully I have managed to upload a video of Kirin. To view the video, click on the 'play' button, and you can adjust the volume using the control just to the left of the Google Video logo. If you are at work, this has sound so you might want to stick your headphones in - or at least make sure the boss isn't peering over the corner.

This was taken on the Easter long weekend, a day before we went away to Italy, and if you wonder how I can manage to be so consistently enthusiastic about being a father this will help to explain it. Your child's laugh must be the greatest sound in the world (by the same token, his cry is perhaps the worst).

If you like it, let me know via the comments link.

Mangiare e bere

My first holiday

Sorry it has been so long since our last update but we have been a busy little family. Over the Easter long weekend, from Sunday to Wednesday, we went to visit our friends Hanna, Giovanni and Sandro in Italy. Giovanni, who is Italian (just in case the name wasn't enough of a hint), has a family house in a small town called Cavi Borgo, on the beautiful coast of Liguria.

It was a great weekend, and Kirin fared pretty well for his first trip abroad. The flight was fine, the food was good, the house and company brilliant. Best of all for a baby, the weather was fantastic - warm and sunny, and barely a cloud in the sky. So, for the first time in his life, he was able to go outside without a hat, coat or chunky sweater and just hang out. It makes you wonder if raising a child in a warm climate isn't a bit easier than in Canada, the UK, Russia or Sweden.

Happiness is a massage

There are few guarantees when it comes to parenthood, but the closest we have got is that Kirin is almost always happiest at massage and bathtime. Perhaps it has to do with establishing a routine, but I also think Kirin has a hedonistic tendency.

The evening ritual for Kirin is pretty simple. After the evening meal, Johanna or I will take off his clothes, get out the olive oil (that's what they recommend in UK rather than baby oils, because it's natural) and work those muscles and creaky bones. And boy, does he love it and the bath that follows. A smile like this never lies.

Meeting some of the Sidhus

From left: front row - Bobby, Kaka, Kirin (in his sleeping bag), Sunita, Johanna; back row - Sundeep, Lee, Matt

With Pooa Bobby, on my first visit to Coventry (I was three weeks old)

On Saturday evening, we had dinner with some of my cousins (the girls in the picture) and their husbands and boyfriend (the boys in the picture). Sunita, Bobby and Kaka are the daughters of my mum's youngest brother, Lashkar. In Punjabi family lineages, your father's sister is called a pooa, so these are three of Kirin's pooas (all told, he probably has a few hundred but these are among the closer ones).

The girls grew up in Coventry, where much of my family ended up when they emigrated to the UK. Despite supporting Coventry City, each has managed to do fantastically well in life. More recently, Kaka and Lee announced that they are expecting their first child in August. I wonder what they will name their blog?

Sitting and smiling

For us Canadians, dental hygiene starts early

Quick, take the pic before I fall over

One of Kirin's most recent achievements is the ability to sit up. He is still a little wobbly - eventually, he slowly topples to one side a bit like a tree being felled - but in the bottom photograph, taken this morning, he sat without support for about a minute.

Self-portraits

Brown boy in the ring

Don't worry, I'll protect you

Kirin's ark

This is one of the recent additions to Kirin's play-time infrastructure - the ring. Although he looks a bit sad in these pics (he sometimes makes this face when looking at the camera), he actually likes it a lot - particularly when he is joined by his furry friends.