The baby is named

The naming of the baby has been decided!

His Western names will be Theo James Monk. It is a common practice in China to choose a Western name as well as a Chinese one these days so Theo is not unusual and he gets another one in honour of his paternal grandfather.

Theo's Chinese names will be Zhang Tian Shuo 张添朔. Zhang is the family name. The other names are usually chosen for their sound as much as their meaning as in Theo's case and pronounced TN Shwor. In Mandarin, Tian takes the first tone (of four), a flat sound, and Shuo takes the 4th tone, a falling sound but this still does not fix their meaning. Many different words can have exactly the same sound, but each has a unique written character. Specific characters have to be chosen so the name can always be correctly written and Sasa and Oliver have carefully chosen these for their aesthetic and semantic appeal. Tian is 添 meaning to add, increase, or even 'have a baby'. Shuo is 朔 meaning 'new moon'. It has been quite hard for Oliver and Sasa to choose these names across the two cultures but we are all really pleased with them.

Oliver and Sasa are continuing to get used to their family life, and it really is family!

Theo had his first bath on Sunday which Liz attended along with Auntie. Auntie put dried leaves in the bath that traditionally deter colds and other bugs. When his clothes were removed he was surprised but no complaints and when put in the water he positively cooed and seemed to love it. He has a very long body - bare baby photos withheld to spare future embarrassment but look at those legs! Could be tending towards Oliver's height!

We have been helping Oliver and Sasa to buy a pushchair/pram. They have come on a bit since Oliver's own baby days. Now they can have huge wheels for all those cross country hikes (?) as well as all kinds of adjustments and safety features. Shanghai has all the latest, including many Western makes - still made in China - at potentially huge prices. It is hard to see what you are paying for in some cases. However, we did find a model that looks very useful without breaking the bank.

Prices and availability of most Western goods in Shanghai are very little different from the UK. It is much harder to find the cheap goods we used to associate with China. Even food outlets are hugely infiltrated by Western products, which is great if you crave bread and jam for breakfast, but a struggle in some of the Westernised areas if you want something really Chinese for lunch.

Sasa's family continue to come and go in what is to us an unpredictable fashion. On Monday we went over to be there when Oliver's cousin James was visiting - He is also working in Shanghai, as online editor for "that's Shanghai" - it turned out many of Sasa's family were going to be there as well running up to a party-like total of 14 including us. All catered for of course. As far as I could tell there were, in (not accurate) relation to Theo:
1 great uncle, 2 great aunts, 2 grandmothers, 1 grandfather, 2 cousins, 2 once removed cousins, 1 Chinese cousin in law, 1 British cousin in law, 2 parents.