Ups and Downs *Updated*

On the upside, I attended Jia's preschool class today to do a segment on Chinese New Year. The students were really enthusiastic and it went very well! It was especially fun because another class happened to also be celebrating and they paraded through Jia's class carrying a large dragon over their heads while drumming and shouting "Gung Hay Fat Choy!"

Now for the downside, my dad just went into the hospital with what appears to be sepsis. They're doing lots of tests and hopefully we'll know more soon.

Update - They identified at least one of the bacteria which entered his bloodstream, and have put my dad on new drugs to attack it. So we're moving in the right direction!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year!

To celebrate, Jia made a little felt Ox. (And yes, if you think she looks shaggy, we're growing out her bangs.)


I'm doing a Chinese New Year presentation in Jia's preschool class this week, and here are a few of the things I'm bringing for the kids to do, along with mandarin oranges, books and music:


We also had an early new year's dinner with some good friends. The girls got special candies from the staff and we all had a great time! Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Crunchy Munchy Honey Cakes

Anyone else have kids who listen to the Wiggles? We listen to the CD that this song is on all the time. I promised Jia that we'd make Crunchy Munchy Honey Cakes once our new oven was installed. Our kitchen isn't totally finished yet, but the moment the oven was put in Jia insisted that I sit and read the manual on how to use it. After shopping for the ingredients (and doing some converting from grams to ounces), voila!


On a side note apropos of nothing, yesterday Jia took her worst tumble down the stairs to date. She was at the top of the stairs on the main floor and literally somersaulted all the way into the basement. Shockingly, she came away nearly unscathed! She got a nosebleed from landing on her face at one point, but that was it. From my view in the basement, she looked like an acrobat doing a performance because she made such perfect circles when she somersaulted down the stairs. Not that I'll be encouraging that again though!

And I have to post pics of Willa's new look:

New Orleans pics

Here are a few photos of the lovely ladies that I spent time with in New Orleans. I had to laugh when I saw them because I thought, "Wow, everyone is looking at the camera and smiling!" Then I remembered that we're all adults. (Can you tell I'm used to taking photos of children?)

Here we are at Mulate's listening to live zydeco music and eating Cajun food:


Eating beignets at Cafe du Monde:


And drinking Hurricanes on Bourbon street:


If you add shopping, that pretty much describes our weekend! I had such a good time on this trip and definitely hope to make it an annual event!

Weekend in New Orleans

Wow, was it great to catch a break and meet some new friends as well! The women I met with in New Orleans have all adopted, or are adopting, through the same Taiwan program we used. We met via a Yahoo group, so we'd never actually met in person.

(When my sister heard that she said, "You've never met them? Watch out! They'll harvest your organs and leave you in a bathtub!" Thankfully that wasn't on the agenda.)

We had a fantastic time experiencing Bourbon street, taking a trolley through the Garden District, eating beignets and chatting late into the night. I also got to see a friend that I've known since I was five and it was lovely to see her. All in all, it couldn't have been a better trip!

I didn't bring a camera but some other folks took pictures so perhaps I'll post them once I get some. For now, I'll post the girls modeling the gifts I brought home.

Nesting

Jia, sadly for everyone, gave up her naps long ago. We immediately instituted quiet time instead, and she generally does very well with it. She plays in her room for an hour. I write down the time for her so she knows when to come out (her idea) rather than having me come get her. She watches her clock like a hawk and always comes out on the minute. When she didn't come out today, I opened her door and panicked because no one was in the room. Then I heard heavy breathing coming from the closet.


On a totally separate note, I am off to New Orleans on Friday for a girls' weekend! These ladies have adopted from Taiwan through our agency (or are in the process). Can't wait!!

A lover and a fighter

Willa was supposed to be my mellow and easygoing kid. Somehow she didn't get the memo. She is a lover and a fighter.

First the fighter side. Let me give you a scenario. Jia is happily playing on the floor in the living room. Willa is interested in what she's doing. I tell Jia that if she's in the middle of the floor she needs to share with Willa. So Jia shares with Willa. But it's not enough for Willa so she continues to grab at Jia's stuff. Jia leans on Willa to get her out of the way, and then Jia eventually pushes her away. Willa then shrieks, pulls Jia's hair and tries to pinch her. While I separate the girls, Willa keeps coming at Jia trying to grab her and pull her hair!

I try to intervene as fast as I can but things seem to evolve quickly. The other day I wasn't fast enough. Jia shoved Willa away from her stuff and Willa shoved Jia right back! I was sort of surprised because she's so young (13 months) but apparently she's decided it's time to be aggressive. I'm glad that both girls stand up for themselves, but I have the feeling we're going to have some big brawls in our house. Jia, of course, reserves this pushing just for her sister, as she wouldn't ever do it on a playdate, and Willa is learning some not-so-great behaviors in the meantime and is moving her aggression level higher and higher. I read Siblings Without Rivalry and clearly need to read it again.

Willa is a relentless one. I couldn't interest her in a single toy yesterday. She spent the entire day trying to climb over the barrier to get into our construction area. She's able to scale the barrier with ease now, and we have no idea how to make it any taller. She gets to the top and then smiles and says "hi" non-stop to all the workers. When I moved her to another room she would scream at me in frustration and start throwing things. She did this the entire day. Without ceasing.

Now for the lover side. Willa loves to give us smacks and blows kisses at us when we leave. She frequently runs up to us and falls on us and nestles in. She also kisses all the characters in the books we read. She especially adores our cats and runs after them trying to kiss them all day. Thankfully they are very tolerant! Willa loves to share her food and she is utterly gleeful when we allow her to feed us. And throughout the day, the girls hug and kiss each other a lot, particularly before bed. That warms my heart and makes me feel slightly better!