10/10

Thursday was Taiwan's Independence Day (October 10th -- 10/10) so Stephen and I were both off work.  We decided to take it easy, for the most part, but I did convince him to come with me and the kids to the Cultural Center in the late afternoon/early evening.  I like them running out their energy in big open places from time to time as opposed to jumping on parents and each other and off furniture, etc. in the living room.  I also like taking pictures of them playing somewhere a bit more interesting/with better light.  I've been taking lots of outdoor photos recently, in part because I really do want to improve my photography skills and in part because I missed a month or so of outdoor photos staying in with David when he was first born.

In the basket of recently rediscovered clothes, I found this white dress handed down from my bosses' daughter.  It's pre-stained but really pretty, so perfect for a day of play.  I had actually tried it on Vivienne once when she was really little and got some good pictures with that classic old fashioned baby feel to them, but then I put it aside until it actually fit.  When I found it last week, I decided we had better try it out or we would miss wearing it entirely.

It's crazy how grown up my baby girl is now!

So, I dressed the kids up, nursed the baby and put him to sleep in the stroller, got myself going, and three hours later we were out the door. (OK, maybe it didn't take quite that long, but that's how it feels most of the time.)  In trying to get everyone ready, I didn't remember to order my coffee from across the street (oh, how I'll miss that place when we leave Taiwan!), so once we made it to the Cultural Center (less than a block away), I settled with the big kids on the wall/bench there and off Stephen went to get my coffee.  (I love that man.)  Vivienne discovered a bad of freeze dried apples straight off, so she started snacking on them.

While Vivienne snacks on dried apples,
Jonathan snacks on his fingers.  Ay-yo!

Annnddd ... by the time Stephen got back (all of five minutes after getting out the door) there were already a few big drops of unforeseen rain, and of course, we hadn't brought the umbrellas.  He opted for going home, but I convinced him to hurry over to the Cultural Center's building where there are a lot of covered outdoor spaces.  First we hung out underneath for a bit outside the art exhibit where Vivienne finished her apples

For not having much hair, this girl has some crazy curls.

and Daddy and Jonathan had a game of tag.

Stephen was nobly trying to help me get some shots with Jonathan smiling,
a notoriously difficult task.  Someday, I'm going to have to learn a thing or
two more about photographing moving targets.

Here's some proof that mommy was there, too.

We  then took the elevator up to the upper courtyard, where several different groups were honing their hip hop skills in front of the large practice mirrors there.  The cacophony that hit our ears as soon as the elevator doors opened almost send my husband Stephen running for the hills (or home, at least), but I convinced him to get out of the elevator and follow me through to the back of the Cultural Center where there was no music blaring.  The rain let up a bit, so on the way, we paused for another game of daddy/Jonathan tag in the big, open courtyard in the middle of the building.

We then went through to the back where the rain held off long enough for some step climbing adventures.

The real "Stairmasters."

Daddy used this opportunity to find a vending machine and stock up on some liquid energy of his own, which he was nice enough to share at the request -- read, instance -- of the little people.

We tell Jonathan "Just a little," so he passed that 

advice along to his sister.  Vivienne isn't too

 skilled at drinking out of cans, though, and

 most of her first sip ended up down the front of her 

dress, so daddy helped her with sip number two.

  Jonathan got to drain the bottom of the can.

And once, the Coke was finished, the real fun began.  Those corridors were made for chases!

To the victor goes the empty Coke can!

Catch me if you can, Jonathan!

By this point the rain had begun again, so we watched it a bit
from the safety of the overhang.

Of course, there's only so long you can stand
around and watch the rain.

Vivienne did occasionally stand still to see and be seen.

Vivienne is studying up on how the big girls play.

I have no idea how I am going to teach this child that the
world does not revolve around her, as my father would say.  Ay-yo.

Although the rain didn't stop, it did let up a bit so we made a run for home.  I then went to the stationary store (by myself) to pick up some mini whiteboards for the Crayola whiteboard crayons and markers we have at home.  While there, I found some cheap, decorative tape.  Jonathan is a bit obsessed with "tape tape" and I am pretty much resigned to living with tape on my walls, doors, chairs, and tables, so coloring, cutting, and taping were a perfect way to end the day.

While Jonathan was actually pretty good at cutting and
sticking, Vivienne didn't actually ever figure out how to
use those scissors.  She sure had fun trying, though.
(Eventually we just gave her stickers.)

Jonathan and mommy both drew suns.  I bet you can tell
whose is whose even without the label.

The End.

My Big, Sweet, Not-So-Baby Boy

So what is going on in the life of almost-three-year old Jonathan, one might ask.

Well, right now, Jonathan has just gotten up from a nap and is screaming at me because his iPad app isn't working the way he wants it to.  It wants him to match the red balloon with the red balloon -- a concept totally within his grasp -- but he's being an ornery little guy and getting upset that it won't accept the green balloon.  What has caused this crisis?  Waking up.  Both in the morning and after naps it takes him a while to reconcile himself to being awake, though at other times, he's usually a happy kid.  His sister, on the other hand, usually gets over the trauma of waking up quickly and is her cheery self within minutes.  I definitely am looking forward to getting her up for school more than I am getting him up down the line.  (It reminds me of when my bosses' oldest daughter was young.  They used to tell me that they would take turns waking her up because she would get angry with whichever parent woke her up and would want to cuddle with the other one.)  On the up side, even if I am the parent that wakes him up, what he really wants when he's sad is snuggle with mommy.  It's nice to be needed, and I enjoy the cuddling, too, most of the time (as in, when he's not screaming.)  Tonight, however, even mommy is not enough.  He needs to disagree with something.  I'm just glad that it's his iPad app and not his sister.

As I wrote a little bit ago, we started sending Jonathan and Vivienne to a local nursery school/day care for a few hours every day.  It helps break up their day and gives them lots of exposure to Chinese.  It's a little odd sending children that young to school because they aren't quite at the linguistic developmental stage where they are able to tell you what they did there.  Additionally, I can't really communicate with the teachers/directors because it's limited by my Chinese, and the nanny is usually the one to pick them up and hear about their day.  Sometimes she tells me stories that they passed on to her -- like how neither of them really eat the school snacks (no surprise there -- I'm not actually sure what my kids DO eat, but they keep growing).  The other week, Vivienne came home from school with this tiny ponytail in her hair.

It's not much of a pony tail yet, I have to
say, but it's cute!

The teachers/aunties at her school put it in her hair and kept saying "Swee, swee," which is the Taiwanese (not Chinese) word for "pretty."  (I'm pretty sure she's the baby doll of the school.)  Now, in this house at least, all ponytails and rubber bands holding them and bows and flowers added to them are called "swee"'s, much to Stephen's chagrin since he's trying to get us to use "proper English" with them.  The first day, it was just Vivienne who came home with a "swee" in her hair, but the next day, Jonathan came home sporting one, too.  Apparently, he wanted one and cried until they put his hair up, too.  At home, he refused to let daddy take it out until bedtime.  So yes.  My son's been walking around Kaohsiung with his hair in a ponytail.

Why should girls get all the fun of getting
their hair done?

I guess it was our fault, really, for not getting around to that
much-needed haircut.

Mommy took this boy to get a haircut this week.
Let's see them try to ponytail that!

Jonathan is beginning to figure out the difference between English and Chinese, sometimes with hilarious results.  Today he insisted on "reading" me a book in "Chinese."  It went something like, "Sha fa sh fa she pa..."  Nope.  For those wondering it was neither real Chinese nor real reading, but it sure was real cute.  (The English teacher in me is cringing at the grammar of that last sentence.)

Ever since he started going to school, he has become more polite -- in English, mostly, so I'm not sure how they are related.  He is always saying "Thank you" for things, and if you say "You're welcome," he'll often repeat that back to you, too.  He also says "Sorry" at times -- like right after he's accidentally soaked you with water from the shower hose.

He loves to count things in English.  I'm pretty sure he can get up to about 14 or so.  He used to refuse to count in Chinese, but he's doing it more and more these days -- at least up to 10.  He also marches around saying "yi-er-yi-er," Chinese for "1-2-1-2."  I've heard his nanny do it with him, but I am guessing they do it at school, too.

Recently, I have begun to brave taking all three kids out and about on occasion by myself since some days I'm the only one around to get the older kids from nursery school.  Last Tuesday we made it all the way to the MRT (Underground/Subway/Metro/etc.) near the department store that's about a ten minute walk from the house since they have a cheap haircut place.  While there, Jonathan learned another important lesson: While mommy is feeding didi (little brother) and not paying attention, it's not a good idea to push the red button in the handicap restroom.  And I learned that, thankfully, the $50,000 NT (over $1,500 US) fine for pushing the button is not applied to almost-three-year olds.  The sounds of the alarm reverberated throughout the station and the speaker went on and on in Chinese, but no one seemed phased by it, except my kids who were all crying in the hallway by the time to workers got around to checking it out.  (I'm pretty sure didi - a.k.a. David - was just crying because his nursing session was cut short and he was still hungry.)

Last Saturday, I convinced Stephen to take the kids and I to Kaohsiung Harbor to see the giant, yellow rubber ducky (as seen in my last post) since a parent to baby ration of 2:3 is really nicer than 1:3 for trips afield -- especially in a land without cars.  I really wanted to get some good pictures with the giant duck, but we didn't get there for the best light, and the kids were really more interested in looking at the duck and the boats than turning around and looking at mommy.  When I finally did get Jonathan up on a box in front of the ducks (and the girls behind him to sit down), all the pictures I managed to get were like this:

He tells his didi (little brother) "Don't eat
hands," but he is incapable of following his
own advice.

The rest of the photos were all along this line,
accompanied by a soundtrack of "Cam-a, cam-a,"
by my budding little photographer/technophile.

Thankfully, I managed to get at least one or two decent shots of his sister with it.  After braving the crowds at the stalls set up nearby to get dinner, we ended the evening with a merry-go-round ride at the request (read "insistence") of his sister.  Although perfectly fine with it at first, Jonathan was not too sure about the horses once they got going.

There's a face that says, "Um, I'm not too
sure about this up/down thing..."

... so this is how he finished out the ride.

He's my cautious one, just like his Uncle Jonathan was as a child.  It must run in the family -- or go with the name.  But what a joy that little boy is, and we wouldn't trade him for the world.  God knew exactly what he was doing by blessing us with him.

As for tonight, a batch of churros definitely helped cheer up our little blessing, and though the nap threw off bedtime (again), at least he's happy (until tomorrow when I have to get him up for school, at least!)

Churros=happy.
(Though this is borrowed from an earlier churros evening,
evidenced by the long pre-haircut bangs/fringe)

And now, some bonus pictures from our day of the duck, just because I can't leave these two out entirely:

Vivienne chose this cookie herself, and
boy did she enjoy it. 

This little one has none of her brother's caution.
It wasn't easy getting her off after her ride.

Even though David slept through the actual giant duck part,
he still ended up with a souvenir of the evening.

Microfashion, cosmology, theology ... This post has it all (without actually saying anything)

Proof of my pathetic (but wonderful) life ...


I'm so excited. Tonight, Vivienne wore her pretty pink dress to church ...

We made sure to get a picture of the dress
a week ago while it was still crisp and clean.
The chances of mommy ever ironing it so it
looks this good again are slim to none.

... AND HER LITTLE BLACK CARDIGAN. Yes, I'm excited over a sweater. Pathetic, I know ... but before you judge too harshly, let me explain. (I don't expect you to be excited by the end but hopefully you'll understand why I am.)

I am a bit obsessed with baby clothes. I have been ever since I was a little girl and my practical mother wouldn't let me buy expensive baby clothes for my baby dolls. Therefore, in my baby-filled house, I'm livin' the dream -- especially with a baby girl sandwiched between my boys. It's probably a good thing I'm not living in America during Vivienne's baby years because it takes a little more effort to find cute clothes at reasonable prices, but by now I've scoped out every day market and night market and everything in between and I am a baby-clothes-shopping pro. Still, there are some quirky things about baby clothes in Taiwan that I've had to work around. For one thing, despite the fact that it never gets below freezing, it's difficult to find girls' winter clothes that don't involve quilting or fur at times. It's also really hard to find unadorned, solid colored things, which you want from time to time. Therefore, last year when I was home in America, I was overjoyed to find a solid black cardigan in one of the winter clearance sales.

Because you really wouldn't want to pair
a dress like this with polkadots.

We also found a great navy blue one (albeit with a fairly bright yellow flower) at Old Navy, so I figured I was set for this year.

When Stephen's parents came in July, I packed both these sweaters as well as her little navy polka dotted jacket because a typhoon was coming and I didn't know how cool it might get near the water.

Vivienne making good use of her jacket
at the beach.

When we got home, I remember very clearly folding up the cardigans while unpacking the babies' clothes in their bedroom, and then ... they, along with the jacket, disappeared into the clothing black hole that exists somewhere in our house. Yes, we have a black hole with a taste for fabric, apparently. I first noticed it when Jonathan was a baby. I bought him a few onesie/pants sets from Costco. One of them had a pair of camo pants with a white shirt. I cut them off the hanger at the same time and put them in the drawer -- and never saw the shirt again. Same with two long sleeved onesies I bought a bit later. I took them out of the bag at the same time and never saw the yellow one again. He wore the blue one at times, but that has since gone MIA, too. Over the years, an increasing number of articles of clothing have vanished in dribs and drabs. Sometimes, of course, they are lost in the Clark family chaos. Occasionally, they turn up again. But quite a few items (many not-yet-grown-into) seem to have vanished completely, and I have been through most corners of the house since the early ones went missing, so if they are still here, they are in some really strange and unused nooks and crannies. (It's a smallish city apartment. As cluttered as it is, there aren't really that many nooks and crannies.)

Over time, I have grown accustom to losing a certain percentage of the children's wardrobe over time, but it confuses me.  I have several theories as to why this happens, the first being that Jonathan periodically throws things in the trash that we don't notice. Now, this would be an excellent theory except that he only really has access to one or two trash cans which I peek into from time to time, and the clothes started disappearing before he could crawl. Then there's the theory that the nanny is a kleptomaniac with a secondhand baby clothes business on the side, because really, little else goes permanently missing from the house. My last non-blackhole theory is that some day, when we finally get around to packing everything up and moving, we will find a colossal pile of outgrown, never-been-worn baby clothes in some corner of the house we never knew existed and we'll have to have a couple more kids just so we get some wear out of them.

And then there's the blackhole theory, but I had not yet resigned myself to that in this case. For one thing, I knew they were together and things rarely disappear as sets. And so, I've been tearing apart the house searching for them ever since getting back in July. It really annoyed me because I knew they made it back from vacation and because that was basically all of Vivienne's fall-weight sweaters/jackets except for her fancy little white one. But, I had no luck finding them. So, when the wind from the typhoon (that didn't hit) cooled things down this week, I had to bring out that white sweater. Two wearing later and half a bottle of stain pre-treat, it's sitting ready to be washed. Let's just say, little white sweaters are adorable on toddlers; toddlers stains -- not so adorable on little white sweaters. They should definitely be saved for Christmas, Easter, and the occasional photo shoot or Sunday, not be worn to nursery school.

Yes, yes, that is a giant duck in Kaohsiung Harbor.  And a
little white sweater.

And then, yesterday I found a bag with our Christmas stockings and went to put them with the other Christmas stuff under the top bunk in a cabinet behind Vivienne's bed (let's just say not a very high traffic area). What should I find but a whole basket of random clothes put up on a shelf there -- including both cardigans and the jacket. I know it was NOT Stephen or I who put them there but a little elf named Jonathan. I have been losing the battle of the disappearing baby clothes for years. It's nice to have a victory from time to time.  It's totally my modern-day equivalent to Jesus' parables of the missing coins/sheep (and proves my life these days is rather dull).

So tonight, Vivienne wore her black cardigan to church, and I was excited. What was really, really nice was sponging off milk tea at least twice from Vivienne's cardigan and knowing that I could go home and hang it right back up in the closet. Even nicer? Knowing that it will never, ever need a stain stick applied to it!

On a related note, I was going through Vivienne's clothes drawer tonight when Jonathan walked up, pulled out a shirt, and clearly and distinctly said "trash can" while headed for the diaper trash behind me. Yeah. I really, really want to nanny cam the closet.

Brother and sister

One of the best things about Jonathan and Vivienne's developing language skills is listening to them communicate to/about one another.  Now, both being toddlers, they have plenty of moments like yesterday morning where their wants and desires end up being at odds with each other.  Jonathan had woken up happy and looked ready to greet the day, hanging with mommy and daddy.  But then, we heard Vivienne wake up.  Now, usually Jonathan loves to have Vivienne up and about -- so much so that at times we lock her door while she's taking a nap so he can't go in and wake up his favorite playmate before she's ready -- but for some strange reason, when she woke up yesterday, he got really weepy and started moaning, ""No Vivienne wake up.  No Vivienne down."  My only guess is he thought he could get some one-on-one mommy and/or daddy time and was disappointed to find out that wasn't the case.

On the other hand, both being toddlers, they also have plenty of the other kind of moments, the ones where they are completely on the same wavelength and absolutely delight in each other's presence.  Last night was such a time.  Jonathan was climbing on and off the changing table.  At one point, he stopped just a step from the bottom and said, "Stuck."  Now, there was no way he was actually stuck, but then he said, "Vivienne, help."  I offered to help him, but he insisted it be Vivienne.  Vivienne put out her little hand and held his hand like I do when they need just a tiny bit of help getting down from a chair or some such place.  Jonathan grasped her hand and proceeded to get down all by himself and then said, "Dank ooo" or some such toddler version of "Thank you."  They both laughed and then did it all over again.

I love seeing the two of them together -- that is, when I am not negotiating who gets to play with what toy when (the idea of "my turn" definitely comes before the idea of "your turn" in child development) or trying to convince him that it wasn't nice to push her down for no reason at all or her that we shouldn't hit people even if they take our stuff.  Stephen wondered the other day how Vivienne would be different if she had been the oldest child, and I wonder the same thing at times.  I am so glad she wasn't.  I am so glad that God not only gave the kids to us but that He also gave them to each other.  I love my Taiwan twins and I love seeing how God's plan is unfolding in our family as a whole, no matter how crazy and disorganized we might be.

They had so much fun playing peek-a-boo together the other
day.  That is to say, they had so much fun once the debate of
who got to use which blanket had been resolved by mommy.

And that's one of the most exciting things about baby David, too.  It's great for me to have another baby to love, but I am most excited to see what these three will be to each other as they grow and come to know each other.  I pray that they will be a blessing to each other now and always, just as I was blessed to grow up with my brother Jonathan.  (Yes, we named our son after my brother.  No, it hasn't been a problem to date because other than a few weeks a year and a half ago, they've been on different continents all of little Jonathan's life.  We shall see what happens when we finally make it to the U.S., but I'm guessing we'll manage.)

They both adore their new little brother already -- so much so
that is was a miracle I managed to get this shot amid the squabbles
about who got to lie next to the baby.

Summer Summary

Well, so much for posting once a month.  The whole summer has gone by since my last post, a summer filled with lots of fun things and milestones.  The biggest is our new addition, but that's for the next post.

Cupcakes, markers, and sunglasses = lots of fun at home.

And, of course, finger painting is lots
of fun, too.  Jonathan wanted to stop
and wipe the paint off his fingers and
body after each attempt.  Vivienne
didn't mind the mess and had more fun
painting herself than the paper.

There's been a whole lot of talking going on in the Clark home as both kids have become more and more comfortable with language(s).  We're still a bit away from full, spontaneous sentences, but they definitely know how to get their points across -- most of the time, at least.  (I still have no idea what he was asking for and wailing about at bedtime tonight, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't compatible with bedtime anyway so he wouldn't have been happy even if I did understand.)  If you want to be truly entertained, listen to an almost-three-year-old who doesn't know what at least half the words mean in the Veggie Tales theme song try to sing along to it.  Vivienne thinks that she is as old as Jonathan and should be able to do everything he can do, so her language development is almost as far as long as his is, though his vocabulary is more extensive.  They now carry on wonderful little conversations with each other and keep each other entertained better than ever.  On the other hand, over the summer, Vivienne has really grown from being a baby to being an out-and-out toddler, complete with toddler tantrums from time to time when she doesn't get her way.  For the most part, however, the girl is an absolute sweetheart, charming all who come her way, but sometimes Jonathan gets caught off-guard when he discovers that his little sister isn't quite as much a malleable pushover as she used to be!

Being pregnant with two toddlers was rather wearing, but despite there being a bit too much iPad and DVD use, we still managed to have some fun.

Jonathan and daddy enjoy our fried rice picnic before church,
Vivienne finally learns how to swing by herself, and when there's
a stroller involved, Vivienne doesn't mind being pushed around
by her brother.

While the big people watched a super-late night Wimbledon
final, the little people thoroughly enjoyed a rousing game of
peek-a-boo curtains at Uncle Mike's school.

We also had some special visitors from England.  Stephen's parents and brother came and spent a week with us as part of their trip to Hong Kong for his cousin's wedding.  The kids had a lot of fun getting to spend time with grandparents and Uncle Tim.

We got to go down to the south of Taiwan and spent time at a missionary retreat center there with yummy food and a huge play room.  We also spent a day at the beach.

Jonathan loves the ocean from a safe distance, but he's still
not too keen on the water or the sand up close and personal.

Vivienne was a big braver from the safety of mommy's arms,
 but it will still be a while before either of them are beach lovers.
  They did like playing in the sand from the safety of the beach
 blanket, though, so that was a start.

One of the highlights from the trip, for me at least, was getting to take the kids to the Aquarium.  We took them there a year and a half ago when my family was in town, but though Jonathan appreciated it somewhat, Vivienne was too young for it.  This year, they both thought it was great.  Jonathan loves fish and sharks and all things water in his books at home, so I really wanted him to see them for himself.  He slept through about half the first afternoon there, so I thought that it would be fun if he and I got to have some special time together and go back again, just the two of us.  We had a blast, even if he was too afraid to wade in any of the water features by himself.  He especially loved looking for the sharks and the whales, though his favorite things were the gift shop, the ocean view on the walk between buildings, the sunglasses and bubbles we got in the gift shop, and -- best of all -- a sink just his size he got to wash his hands in several times (in a row).  And, of course, he loved the ice chocolate and the chicken nuggets.  All in all, it was a great day just hanging out with my sweet boy.

The biggest change this summer (apart from the newcomer, of course) has been SCHOOL!  When we found out that Jonathan's immigration will probably be keeping us in Taiwan longer than we initially had planned, we thought that it would be a good idea to get as much Chinese into him as possible since we have this great learning opportunity being here.  (We're still not sure how we're going to keep it up when we go back, but that's a question for another day.)  As it so happens, the parents of some students at the cram school where I teach run a school just two blocks away from our house that does everything from infant day care through after school for elementary school.  Our sleeping schedule as a family pretty much goes with the afternoon/evening schedule of Stephen and me and any attempt to get kids or parents up in the mornings has failed miserably, so we aren't really good candidates for traditional nursery school schedules.  However, my boss helped work it out with the school and our kids go for just a few hours in the afternoons after the other kids get up from their naps.  It works out great for us, and we really aren't worried about actual class time since Jonathan's just there to be immersed in Chinese.  We figure he knows his alphabet, can count to 14 or so, knows his shapes, and knows his colors -- but all in English.  At not yet three, we figure that's doing pretty good.  We were initially just going to send him, but they have classes for Vivienne's age since they start with little babies, and her language skills are almost up to his since she doesn't actually realize she's a year younger than he is.  Also, they do better together so it makes getting them off to school so much easier.

Although they screamed and cried a lot the first week, the school took it all in stride (because I am sure they were not the first toddlers to have a bit of separation anxiety) and both were always playing happily when we got them.  We started a couple of weeks before the baby came, so they were used to it by the time he got here.  By now, they go off each day with few complaints, and we have noticed a bit more Chinese working itself into their language.  The other day, I got Jonathan a cup of water and he told me "xie-xie ni" (thank you in Chinese), so at least he's learning his manners there!

These fish live outside the wedding photo shop across
from the school and are quite popular with the Clark kids.

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.