A few tidbits from Babyland, May 2013

These are more just a few random, insignificant observations, more appropriate for Facebook status updates than a blog, but, as usual, it's been a while since I've written anything here and I want to get something down.

1.  It's a good thing I am secure in the knowledge of Jonathan's absolute love for his mommy, because 9 times out of 10 when I ask for a kiss he shakes his head "no" and goes on being busy doing whatever it is he's been doing.  Vivienne, on the other hand, will lift her face to be kissed 9 times out of 10 when asked -- and she often lifts it up repeatedly for kisses.  The happy-joy dance when I got back from America, however, left no doubt at all about this little boy's love for his mommy.

And, of course, he loves his daddy, too.

2.  Maybe girls really are sweeter than boys.  This past week, Vivienne has been waking up with yet more mosquito bites each and every morning all over her face and body whereas Jonathan, who sleeps in the same room, has none.  Mosquitoes are more a winter thing here in Taiwan, but I've definitely still seen some around recently so I guess no one has told them that.  My poor little girl looks like she's been breaking out in adolescence pimples about a decade or so too early, but other than that, they don't seem to be actually bothering her at all.  (Jonathan's more a heat/diaper rash boy himself.  Ah, the joys of living in a tropical summer.)
(Update:  It now looks like the "bites" are pimples as Vivienne's skin re-adjusts to the hot and humid Taiwan summer after two dry, cold weeks in America.  At any rate, it's not bugging her at all and should clear up soon, and it's nice to know she's not being eaten alive every night.  She's still a super sweet kid, though.)

The sweetest face in the house, before the most recent
mosquito attack.

3.  Speaking of tropical summers, the rainy season is on us in earnest now, and Jonathan is not a fan -- at least, he's not a fan of the sound the heavily falling rain makes on the air-conditioning unit in his room.  If it's relatively early when the rain comes, he's allowed to sit up on daddy's lap for a while until it passes.  Last night, however, it came at 4 am (a time daddy and mommy would rather be sleeping), and even his music, Baby Giraffe & Co., pacifier, and overhead light were no match for the tears.  As a last resort, we put him to bed with the iPad.  Apparently, Mickey and Dora videos and various puzzles and games chase the fear of rainstorms away and everyone ended up getting the sleep they needed -- but I think it's going to be a long, long rainy season.
(While I'm doing updates, we managed two rain-wake-ups last night without iPad therapy, so maybe there is hope for the rainy season.)

The most spoiled kids on the block -- on our recent trip to
America, grandpa got Vivienne her own iPad (though mommy
gets most use of it).  Aren't I lucky.  Now I can listen to two
different episodes of Dora at once.

Travel plans ...

Well, no turning back now.  Last weekend, I booked a flight to America for me, who will be about six months pregnant, with a toddler riding on my lap the whole way -- and we're leaving in about a week.  Ahhh!  (That is meant to be taken as both an excited scream and a terrified one.)

Travel plans have been up in the air around here to say the least.  It has been probably 4 or 5 years since I've been back to America, and though my mother and brother have come to Taiwan, my father hasn't.  Originally, we thought that Stephen and I and the babies would go back in August to coincide with one of my cousins getting married, but "next baby" has decided that August was when he wanted his birthday to be, so that plan got scrapped.  Then, we thought we would coordinate with my brother's vacation at the end of April, still going as a family, but my father's health has been tenuous these past few months and they've been exploring various medical options and he didn't think he could take the chaos of two toddlers in the non-toddler-proofed house.  Although I want everyone to see everyone else, I breathed a little sigh of relief because Jonathan isn't cleared for an immigration visa into the US until November, and though Taiwanese have visa-free entry status now, we would need to bring all sorts of documents proving our ties to Taiwan and our intention to return with my Taiwanese son and British husband.  I did not look forward to dealing with immigration with two toddlers after a 15-hour or so flight, especially since we would also probably need to catch a connecting flight afterwards.  Then there's the fact that Jonathan is now over two and tickets are definitely not cheap at the moment, so that wasn't fun either.

Somewhere along the line someone (I think my husband) suggested that I go home by myself, which got modified to Vivienne and I going by ourselves since 1) People would get to see one baby.  2) Just Vivienne is much less stress on my dad than Vivienne and Jonathan would be together.  3)  Jonathan's going to dreadfully miss mommy and Vivienne since he's too young to understand what's going on, but he would do much better with just daddy than Vivienne would.  4) Vivienne would be much easier to handle traveling than Jonathan would be (except for that doesn't-get-a-seat-of-her-own bit). 5) As a "lap baby," her ticket costs a couple hundred dollars instead of well over a thousand like the rest of us.  and 6) She and I both travel on American passports, so immigration should be a cinch (which is good, because the flight we ended up booking really doesn't have much time between planes for the American connection).

Of course, things were still not decided.  My parents were still unsure of my dad's healthcare schedule, and I wasn't sure that I would be able to find travel health insurance that would cover me as an American visiting America and in the second trimester of pregnancy.  However, I mentioned this to my boss.  She had trouble once traveling while pregnant and is totally scared for me traveling while pregnant by myself with a toddler, but she came up with a solution anyway.  She could help me buy travel insurance from a father of two of our school's students, and it covered her when she was pregnant and had to go to the hospital.  I had her check if it would cover me since I'm not Taiwanese, and she sent me a message to say it would, so hopefully that's all set.  I'll talk to her about it on Monday or Tuesday.  (And oh gosh, I hope I don't have to use it.  Not only would it be bad to have anything go wrong with either Vivienne or me health-wise, I would have no idea how to actually file any reimbursement claims!)  Despite all this, I was still thinking it would be easier not to go, but my mom called last night and said that my dad's hospital stay would not be until May if it's going to happen at all and my dad said he thought he could handle us for a low-key visit, and so, I took the plunge and booked the tickets.

Since we waited so long, I am in a middle seat with a toddler on the first really long leg of the journey (from Taiwan to Japan to Detroit), so I am really not looking forward to that, but what's done is done and most likely we will all survive, as will those next to me -- though they will probably not be too thrilled about it, either.  I'm also a bit concerned about how Jonathan's going to take it all, but we'll FaceTime him every day if we can -- and hope he doesn't turn us off to use the other iPad apps as fast as he turns off grandparents.  I think he'll miss Vivienne as much -- or more -- than he'll miss me.  But he loves his daddy and we're leaving him the iPad (and the bubbles) and we'll pray for him lots, so I think he'll survive.

Our Adoption Story in a Nutshell

A Facebook page I like, the Archibald Project, posted a question: "At what point in your life did you decide to adopt? What were the reasons?! We want to hear from YOU!"  

Well, surprise, surprise, my answer was a bit long for a comment on a Facebook page (though I posted it anyway), so I thought I would post it here since it's our adoption story in a nutshell.  I'm still working on the longer version, but that may take a while.

As a child, I loved babies and younger children and knew lots of adopted kids, so it was pretty normal.  I also used to love the book, The Family Nobody Wanted, about a family who kept themselves opened to helping kids and ended up with a dozen or more.  So I think I was always opened to the idea.  My husband isn't really a kid person, but he's a theological one and knows that God loves adoption so we had talked about it as something we wanted to do.  However, we are from two different countries and living in a third so we didn't think it would be something for this period in our lives.  A pastor we know with four kids wasn't pursuing adoption, but his family said "yes" when asked and I always said it would be nice if that happened to us -- someone just said, "Here's a baby that needs a home.  How about you?" without all the paperwork and agencies, etc.  Low and behold, my husband preached a sermon on Ephesians 1 in our tiny English speaking church (in Taiwan).  In it, he mentioned our desire to adopt "one day," and a Taiwanese friend who visits from time to time came up to him after the service and said, "I know a baby."  He then came up to me with the same news -- and called the grandma and told her about us and called us back and said she wanted to meet us if we were interested.  And ... less than a month after that sermon, our "first born" came into our family at 4 months old (though two years later we are only finished one out of three countries' worth of paperwork).  So, maybe it was decided back a long time ago or maybe it was decided a week before we became parents and actually went through with it.  I'm not sure.  I do know we'd love to adopt again some day, though with a two-year-old, a one-year-old, and another on his way and an international move within the next year, maybe we'll wait it out a bit.

Baby ramblings, Part 1

Jonathan has recently taken off in talking.  He's not stringing words together yet so there haven't been many of those cute and funny baby talk moments yet, but he knows how to make the most of what he has.

Half an hour or so after putting the kids to bed tonight (and yes, they are now sleeping in the same room), I heard a plaintive little, "Mamma, mamma."  I went in to check on him.  Vivienne was in her crib, sound asleep, but Jonathan was standing up in his crib, wide awake.  The first thing he did was lift his arms to me and say "bao-bao" (the Chinese for pick me up and hold me).  Bedtime must be boring when your sister falls asleep first.  I turned on his CD and the little light mobile on the ceiling and told him that I wasn't going to get him up because it was time to sleep.  Immediately, he says, "da-da," followed by a really hopeful "ay-pah" (iPad).  When I said no to that, he went back to "da-da."  So I asked him if he wanted me to get daddy to come in and say "hi" to him.  He smiled and nodded.  I left and sent Stephen into him.  I'm guessing Jonathan tried the same "bao-bao" with daddy, because I could hear Stephen say, "No, Jonathan.  It's sleep-sleep time."  Immediately, "Mamma."  Finally, he asked Stephen for "book."  Last night I found a cheap little English book I had from my teaching days with Dora the Explorer (the love of his life, after Pocoyo and the iPad), and he wanted to go to bed with it last night and tonight.  Apparently, it had fallen down next to the crib, so Daddy rescued it and Jonathan is now contentedly "reading" to himself with sweet little murmurs.

Vivienne, too, is making progress on the linguistic development front.  She has been rather limited by the fact that she can pretty much only produce the "b" and the "d" sounds, so everyone is "da-da", including mommy, herself, Jonathan, and, of course, actual daddy.  It's usually pretty obvious from context who she is actually referring to, though.  Conversations with Vivienne go something like this.  Mommy will disappear into the bedroom, bathroom, or kitchen, and a voice will start up from behind the door, obviously calling to me.  "Da-da." 

I reply, "No, Mamma." 

"Da-da." 

"No, Mamma."  This usually goes on for several cycles before she gives up and goes back to Jonathan or daddy.

But tonight, it seems that Vivienne has doubled her phonemes.  In addition to, "da" and "ba," there were definite "ma"'s and "nah"'s.  I think at least once, she was actually saying "mamma" to me and not just randomly muttering.  Of course, she followed this immediately by pointing to Uncle Mike, who was over for a late-night visit, and saying "Mamma" quite clearly and distinctly.  Oh well.  It's progress.  She's definitely going to be a little talker like her brother (and her mother!) before we know it.

Now that they are both toddlers, daddy has his hands full!

About a boy ...

Originally, I wanted to post three times a month, but you can see how well that's going.  If I don't write tonight or tomorrow, January will be out altogether and then I may as well give up, so here it goes.

The babies are doing well, though I guess they are both clearly toddlers by now.  Jonathan's a little joy.

Our little joy of a boy

His new obsession is Dora the Explorer (which he calls "ba-ba" after the backpack character), but we only have one set of two DVD's (four episodes), so everyone in the house pretty much has them memorized by now.  And he's learning things from them.  Ever hear a two-year-old try to say "octagon"?  It's pretty cool.  "Oc-da-goy" or some such thing.  He mourns each closing credits, and does a happy dance of joy when the next opening song comes on.

My babies' new love

His vocabulary is definitely expanding, though you pretty much have to know what he's talking about beforehand to understand what he's saying.  There are a few exceptions.  He says the word "happy" clearly and precisely, which is a great word to know.  He's doing well on the important people in his life.  Nanny is "Nanna" (and, incidentally, so is "banana.")  Dada was the first person he could call, and every now and then he manages an actual "Daddy."  "Mamma" took him a while, but he's making up for lost time.  It seems he's gotten much more mommy-focused now that he can say my name.

Chinese has all sorts of words of siblings, depending on whether it's for a boy or girl and whether they are younger or older.  (If I remember correctly from our neighbors growing up, Korean is worse.  Then you have to take in account whether it's a boy or girl saying it.)  So, an older boy is called "gege" in Chinese, which is what Jonathan is called around the house and what he calls himself.  (To add to the confusion, though, he's "didi" -- younger brother -- to most kids on the playground because everyone uses family terms, not just actual family.)  It's not surprising that Jonathan has picked up on this as a self-designation, because "gege" is just so much easier to say than "Jonathan."  What's funny is that originally, he would call Vivienne "gege," too.  It took us a while to figure out that this was what he meant, but we have since gotten him to call her "mei-mei," the correct term for little sister.  I think he may have found it hard to distinguish his "mamma's" and his "mei-mei"'s at first, but he's doing better with it now.  Outside the family, he says "Ma-ai" for Uncle Mike, but that's pretty much it.  He likes the letter poster we have up in the living room.  For some reason, he knows the letter "Y".  He does seem to like that "ai" diphthong.  "Eye," "hi," and "bye" were among his very first words.  Anyway, we're waiting for any sentence beyond "Hi, da!" and "Bye, da!" (which are usually used for daddy but not always), but in the meantime, we're getting a kick out of Jonathan's ever-expanding vocabulary (though a few final consonants would be nice.)

Ge-ge helps his mei-mei with her coat zipper.

Escalators are one of his latest obsessions.  He's angry if we go to the mall and only one parent with a stroller is there so we have to take the elevator.  Actually, Stephen would just take the stroller on the escalator (even the double one) but mommy is not so brave.  (He started doing this because we would be in the MRT station and I would say "We need to find the elevator," but he would hear "escalator" since his British mind considers elevators to be "lifts."  Actually, he's only confused when they are both present.  If there are only elevators, he's fine with the term.)  The best place for escalators is the nearby department store -- which, thanks to Baskin Robbins, is also the best place for ice cream.  On a recent outing I took him there and let him choose his own flavor from the picture menu.  Now, Jonathan does not have a vast experience with ice cream flavors, but he zoned in immediately on the picture of the yellow scoop of lemon sherbet.  I tried to dissuade him since I wasn't sure the sourest flavor was really what he wanted, but he insisted.  I got him a taster spoon of it and he gobbled it up, so he got his own bowl of lemon sherbet, and I (and the lady next to me) got a kick out of watching him industriously eat the whole bowl.  Apparently, ice cream eating is serious business.  I feared we would learn what a "brain freeze" was, he was eating so fast, but he seemed to find only joy in that cup of sherbet.  (He also stole bites of mommy's mint chocolate chip since I was a slower eater, so I think maybe he's going to end up being an equal-opportunity ice-cream eater.)  It will be interesting to see if he still goes for the lemon next time we go or if it was a one-off deal.  It's watching how much joy he gets out of little things like lemon sherbet and escalators, pigeons and parrots, iPads and Dora, the moon and the stars, or even a simple little trip to 7-11 across the street that makes life with a two-year-old so much fun, albeit exhausting.  It's a big, beautiful world just waiting to be discovered, and it's nice to see it that way through his eyes.

Jonathan polishes off my mint chocolate chip (notice the
green on his forehead) after finishing his own lemon sherbet.

Well, I was going to write about Vivienne and the saga of trying to get her to sleep in a crib, but that will have to wait for another day -- or month.  Goodnight.

Birthday in a Box

It's a bit late, but, as promised, here's a glimpse of Jonathan's second birthday party at the Kaohsiung Cultural Center.  The camera got handed around and I ended up with over 400 photos, so I'll make this a photoblog.  It will be just as if you were there!

Vivienne and Jonathan rode to the birthday
party in style since their strollers were
being used to bring the "birthday in boxes"
 (and a few bags for good measure.)

Jonathan loves his bike, but it this picture he's really smiling
about bubbles.

This is my favorite picture of the birthday boy in his daddy's
favorite shirt.

Rachel introduces Jonathan to party blowers.

Jonathan shows his sister how its done with the bubble gun.

Emily tries out the bubbles from her goodie bag while Hope
masters the art of the party blower.  My boss Sophia, Hope's
mother, is in the middle.

Fawkes shows that he is truly the master
bubble blower.

Breanna gets to work on the balloons.

Little Katie grasps her balloon in one hand
 and her  goodie bag in the other and looks
on.  She didn't get to stay long and didn't
 really know anyone, but hopefully going home
 with her spoils, she considered the party a success.

Daddy and Uncle Mike enjoys the main course of pizza.

Most kids get cake with a candle for their birthday, but mommy
really couldn't resist Costco's pumpkin pie and whipped cream.
We did the more traditional cake thing on his actual birthday
at home.  Pictures of that may get up by Christmas or so.

Jonathan's not to sure what to make of his birthday pie.

Vivienne votes for us to add "bags" to
our list of fun things that begin with a
"B," but since bags are usually not round,
they didn't make the cut.

This one's round, right mommy?

Jonathan's Taiwan grandma got to come join the fun and
brought him a fun monkey backpack that was his birth
father's when he was little.  Somehow it didn't make it into
any of the hundreds of pictures, though.  Can't you see where
he gets his lovely eyes from?

Hope really caught on fast to the idea of party blowers.

Beautiful Katie!

Vivienne hangs with her favorite Uncle Mike.

Lucas couldn't decide which hat he wanted.

Fawkes the Tiger.

My kids got food from any and everybody.

And then there were gifts.  I brought a few of our own, but
I totally forgot that other people might bring gifts to a birthday
party.  Kids birthday parties are really not a Taiwanese thing
to do at all, so it's been a long, long time since I've been to one.

Jonathan managed to get the hang of
 unwrapping gifts pretty fast.

Mommy enjoys the Spiderman shirt she bought for Jonathan,
but Jonathan is still gazing intently at the Cars/Cars 2 DVDs.
He had only ever seen them on shirts and stickers and such,
but these were soon to become two of his favorite movies.

Yup.  Here he's still grasping his Cars
DVDs, but mommy presses on, enthusiastically
encouraged by daddy to keep going if we
want his presence during the operation.

Vivienne naps through the presents, thanks to Uncle Mike
who took her on a walk in her stroller when she started
getting fussy.

The birthday boy takes a little break
from all the festivities.

Eric and family even brought their own ball to the party.
Their gift fit in well, too -- BUBBLES!!

Andrew shows off one of Jonathan's
awesome birthday presents.

Jonathan found another fun, round thing
that starts with the letter "B" -- the BUTTONS
on the sweater mommy made him for his
birthday last year.

Getting chilly -- Breanna might still be in short sleeves, but
mommy made Vivienne put on her sweater, too.

So glad Cliff and Leanne got to stop by.

Jonathan returns in style from one last bubble session with
the guys.

All good things must come to an end,
even birthday parties.  The party is back
in the boxes and loaded up and ready for
the trip home.

A Baby Book at Last!

Well, it only took me a year, but I have finally finished Jonathan's baby book for his first year with us.  I think I started it before Vivienne was even born.  At very least, I remember sneaking into Jonathan's room at night before I got my laptop and working on it while holding a very tiny Vivienne.  It was one of the few creative things that could be done one-handed.  Vivienne did not make it very easy for me to finish up these last few days, because for some reason the little journal I write in for Jonathan from time to time was so much more attractive to her than anything else in the house and she kept walking away with it every time I tried to copy something from it, but I persevered (and pulled an all-nighter) and got it done in time for Shutterfly's Cyber-Monday sale.  It lasted until midnight Wednesday, but that's where living in a timezone 12+ hours ahead of America finally pays off.  (I'm not sure how it's getting from my parents' house to Taiwan, but that's for another day.)

Jonathan checks out his baby book on mommy's computer.

I loved adding in all the funny little animals and cars and things.  Jonathan will like them.  I can just imagine sitting down with Jonathan and showing him all the pictures and telling him the story of his coming to us.  Since I think we will leave Taiwan before he's very old, I want some way to help him feel connected with his beginnings here.  Now to start all over again with Vivienne's ...  Ay-yo!

(I can't get the link to the book to work, but when I do I'll put it up here.)