Typhoon Day

This has nothing to do with the post below.  I just think she's cute.
I would have posted it at the end, but having tried 3 or 4 times unsuccessfully
I am just giving in to blogger which seems to think this picture should be at the top.

 When I was little, we looked forward to snow days.  Now here in Taiwan it's typhoon days that give that little extra, unexpected holiday.  Kaohsiung doesn't usually get the worst of the typhoons and all the building here are strong and safe, so mostly it means holing up inside or going over to a nearby friend's house and enjoying the fact that you don't have to go out in the rain -- or, if you do venture out to visit someone or pick up some food, there's a comfy snug living room waiting at the other room and not a room full of noisy little kids who have been cooped up inside all day.  Yeah, it means a day's wages down the drain, but snow days meant an extra day at the summer end of things so nothing is without its price.

Jonathan hangs out in his basket on this typhoon day and enjoys his
very own milk tea (bought so mommy can enjoy her latte in peace).

Of course, here in Babyland, Typhoon Days mean family days.  Often they involved a few tears (infant and parental), but usually they are more fun then not.  Today hasn't been too bad so far.  Jonathan and daddy had a good round of "Ah!  You got there first!" which involves daddy's computer chair.  Jonathan runs up and sits down in it and daddy makes a big deal about it and then bodily removes the boy.  While daddy is making his way back to the chair, Jonathan runs by and sneaks on, thus prompting daddy's response of "Ah!  You got there first!"  Of course, the only problem with this game is the dispute over regulation length between the player and the daddy.  One thinks it should go on indefinitely, whereas the other things 6 rounds earns him a break -- and I bet you can figure out for yourself who is on which side of the debate.  Jonathan, of course, got really angry when daddy actually managed to get there first and wanted to remain seated.

(And now, a message from Vivienne Irene, who really, really wants to type -- or, at least, to sit on the laptop's computer: 
vrb           y µ© ÷ºπ f
What a precocious child.  Even mommy doesn't know how to type half those symbols.  I wonder what keys she sat on.)

The best part of the typhoon day was that the kids' free toy arrived at the nanny's house and she made a special trip out in the rain just to bring it to them.  I'm not sure how it is in the US or UK, but in Taiwan, if you buy multiple packs of diapers/nappies at a time (or cans of formulas) most stores have free give aways, often fun little battery operated made-in-China toys, which are fun in their way, but having bought A LOT of nappies and formula cans this past year and a half, we're rather drowning in them.  And so, a few months back I was very excited to notice what I thought was a really good deal at Costco.  They were selling Huggies Gold (our favorite brand) in huge boxes of three packs, and it looked like they had a special offer.  Now, since everything is in Chinese, I can't always tell with these things, but it looked like if you bought six huge boxes of diapers, you could send away for a really cool, well-made free toy worth having.  I figured that Costco has good prices on things and regardless of whether or not we managed to get the toy we would have to buy the diapers anyway, so we would give it a go and if it didn't work, all we would lose in the deal is a few extra cheap, made-in-China toys, which I could like with.  Of course, only having a scooter meant multiple trips to Costco and some creative bungie cording over the course of a month, but I did it.  

Just some of our nappies
waiting to be used.
(We bought six of those big, red boxes.)

Then came the fun part.  I collected the proof of purchase cards from the six boxes and asked the nanny to help me figure out how to send away for it.  She can read Chinese but couldn't figure it out.  She sent me to Costco to ask.  I didn't understand some of what they were telling me, but it looked like they didn't really know much more than what was on the card either.  So I went back to the nanny who then took the cards to Costco to ask herself.  Finally, it seemed like she figured it out, but the special was just while supplies lasted, so who knew if we were on time or not.  However, the nanny persevered and eventually she told me to expect the toy in a few weeks.  I wasn't going to get too excited until I actually saw it, but sure enough.  She called me up today saying it had just arrived, typhoon day and all, and that she was going to bring it over.  Which she did.

Jonathan got pretty excited when the nanny brought in this big, colorful box.

The nanny shows Jonathan how to use
the steering wheel panel.

It's called "Grow and Go Ride On" and it's designed to be used from 3 - 36 months, making it a pretty useful toy.  The top steering wheel panel has different songs and lights and phrases and can be detached, making it good for little babies.  Jonathan, however, gets really worried if it's not on the handle bars of the main body.  The two yellow curved parts on either side can be used either to make a rocker or to make a little bike out of it.  All the attachments are really easy for parents to change around (though I haven't yet gotten the hang of securing the side curved bits on the other way around to make it a rocker so we're just using it as a bike for now).  It doesn't really roll that well, but they have nothing else to compare it to, so they think it's great.  

Hey, Jonathan, can I see, too?

Even the box is cool, mommy.

It does pose the same problem the walker does.  Every time Jonathan sees Vivienne using it, he wants to try it, too, and this is NOT a bicycle built for two, so she sometimes gets a bit squished and upset.  However, she had her turn with it when he went down for a nap.

Vivienne gets her turn with our awesome
new typhoon day toy while Jonathan is napping.

Vivienne is demonstrating how the parts can be used separately.

Let's just say we had one pretty exciting typhoon day around here.