Xin Nian Kuai Le

Okay, so before I get to the Chinese part, thank you so much for all your comments/encouragement about my Cub Scout tool lesson.

I pretty much walked in and told Jason he was in charge. 

Then, one of the dads ran out to his truck and brought in more tools than I've ever seen.

So, as you can imagine....

A bunch of tools.

Boys and dads getting to use said tools.

 It was a very successful evening.

And now that I'm finished with the tools (thank goodness!)

I'd like to give you a big jazz hand flourish as I wish you

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Year of the Rabbit

This is our first Chinese New Year in Durango without an actual Chinese person living in our house, so I guess we'll be crying on our empty dumpling plates tonight.

(Homemade dumplings are the best part of CNY.)

Boo-hoo!

Cultural Awareness

So here's another little lesson in Chinese culture for you.  Of course, as with most anything that comes from me, this isn't a hard and fast documented rule, just something Jason and I observed.

Chinese people don't like to eat with their hands.

Think about it.  Can you name any Chinese finger foods? 

 And fortune cookies don't count.  There's no such thing as a fortune cookie in China.

It does make sense. In a country with a billion people spitting, going to the bathroom, and blowing their nose tissue-less right there on the street, it would be healthier to never even put your hands near your mouth.

KFC is a big deal over there, but the whole eating chicken with your hands thing just throws them for a loop.  Jason and I have watched them eat it while holding it in a napkin, wearing their own personal disposable gloves, and our fav...with chopsticks.

So I wasn't surprised at all when I found Kyle enjoying his breakfast of Lit'l Smokies like this:

Counting Down Some More

Well, since we Ingys haven't been doing anything funny/injury-inflicting/interesting/ blog worthy lately, I have another countdown for you today. And this one is a GOOD one.

*A-hum. A-hum* (That was me clearing my throat for dramatic effect.)

In one week from today.....

JR's Ayi* will be here!

And if that's not amazing, fabulous, or exciting enough....

She's staying for three (that's 3) months.

WOOOO-HOOOO!

*JR's Ayi: She was JR's nanny in Beijing, and she is a-may-zing. Besides making the most delicious Chinese food you will ever put in your mouth, she loves us as much as we love her.

Spring Festival Continues

Some spring sure would be nice right about now, but I'll just have to settle for celebrating Chinese Spring Festival (AKA: Chinese New Year). Since we already celebrated New Year, I figured we'd call this celebration Spring Festival. (It ends February 28th with the Lantern Festival.) Harry's parents have been here visiting this past week and came over to make jiaozi (dumplings) for their last night here. And sure dumplings are a huge mess and totally labor intensive, but it was fine by me since I have no idea how to make them. That being so, my assistance wasn't needed or asked for in the kitchen. (Just like I like it!) JR has always loved helping his Ayi make dumplings, so of course, he wanted to help Harry's mom. I think he's pretty good at it. He claimed about a dozen were completely made by him.


The babies lined up at the counter to try and help too, but they were better at wearing Year of the Tiger costumes. (And although Tigger, may or may not, actually be a tiger this is as close as we had to tiger paraphernalia.)




There were over 100 dumplings made last night. So, as you can see, I have a few leftovers. But Harry and JR can seriously put away the dumplings, so I'd guess these will all be gone by the end of the day.

Inner Mongolia

*If my calculation are right, we should be home soon. But since I haven't mentioned Jason much, I thought he deserved his own story. This is about Jason's trip to Inner Mongolia in the summer of 2005.

Jason was getting bored in Beijing while JR and I were still in Texas, so he decided to take a weekend trip to Inner Mongolia. Knowing I would have no desire to go along, he took the opportunity to go see "miles and miles of grassland". As soon as he landed in Hohhot he figured out it was going to be an "interesting" trip. Upon arriving, he learned he was the only Western person that had ever been on this specific tour, and that his tour guide wasn't actually a tour guide. He was just the only person in town that could speak English and would agree to go along! So a Chinese driver took Jason and the English speaking non-tour guide about 3 hours outside of town to a Mongolian camp. The first night in camp they slaughtered a sheep that they would eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the rest of the trip. Jason also figured out that the water situation was going to be a problem...the only water they had was warm and tasted like dirt, not a good sign. He spent the first night in a traditional Mongolian tent called a Yurt (which was one of the things he wanted to do). The next day they rode horses that were "about as big as dogs" into the grasslands to a neighboring village. Jason swears up and down that the people were about "3 feet tall" and had some "serious inbreeding going on". They then rode back to camp to watch horse races, traditional dancers, and Mongolian wrestlers. The wrestlers had also never seen a Westerner before, and they wanted Jason to wrestle them. Of course he did, and although the wrestlers "only came up to about his armpit" he still couldn't beat any of them. Which they thought was hilarious. The next day he was getting pretty dehydrated and sick of mutton so he told the tour guide, "I'm done. Take me back to town." Now you might be wondering why I don't have any pictures of Jason with Mongolian wrestlers or horses the size of dogs. Well, while Jason was visiting a museum in Hohhot his Ipod and camera were stolen. After two hours with police who had also never seen a Western person, Jason gave up and came on back home to Beijing. And I'm pretty sure Jason won't be taking c eevb2weekend trips back to Inner Mongolia any time soon...or ever!

Mrs. Rainbow

*We're still on vacay. Here's another Mommy and Me story taken from an email I wrote in 2005.

JR did the funniest thing at Mommy and Me today. To begin with, he HAD to wear his Bob the Builder house shoes. I told him to go get dressed and he opened the drawer and picked out those and his Elmo sandals. I told him he had to pick, and he picked Bob. Nana tried to get him to wear tennis shoes, but he threw a fit...so he wore Bob, which everybody thought was really cute. When it was art time they had to make a "Mrs. Rainbow" (I think that was her name, they said she is a character in a book). So JR painted Mrs. Rainbow and then they gave him a cut out of a dress with pink paint on it. He was supposed to finish painting the dress pink and then glue it on her. He stewed around a bit with the pink paint so I finally said, "JR, paint the dress pink." Well, he was having none of that. He took that dress, wadded it up, and threw it across the table. He really is all boy! After the dress fiasco they gave him eyes, a hat, hair, and a mouth to put on Mrs. Rainbow. JR got the hair in the right place, but he put the hat over her whole head. He then glued her eyes on crooked and put her mouth above her eyes! After he finished I went to pick it up so we could hang it up to dry, but JR got excited and accidentally ripped half a leg off. You should have seen it, all the other "perfect" Mrs. Rainbows hanging next to JR's naked, half legged, mouth above her eyes Mrs. Rainbow. And you can only guess what Jason was most excited about... JR not wanting anything to do with the pink dress!

And here she is...JR's infamous, naked Mrs. Rainbow. I'm still not sure how that one lone sequin got on her. There must have been sequins to glue on her dress. The big red thing where her face should be is her hat, the purple part is her hair, and I guess her mouth (that was above her eyes)got lost in one of our three moves since then.

The Crocodile Hunter

*As we enjoy our vacay in Yellowstone, please enjoy this post about JR's first day of Mommy and Me. This is taken from an email I sent to my mom and Sherry, and was written sometime in January of 2005, which would have made JR about 20 months old.

Let me just start by saying JR was the only boy in the class, so that should say a lot about how the class went. We got there about 10 minutes early so JR got to play before class started. They have this big, deep table thing that they've filled with beans. The kids dig in the beans with shovels and are supposed to pour them in buckets. So besides JR trying to pour the beans on his head, he handled that fine. When everybody got there we were supposed to get on the mat in a circle (here comes that pesky circle time again). All the little girls circled up in their moms' laps and I brought JR over to the mat. JR sat in the middle of the circle. Honestly, I was just glad he was on the mat. Apparently these teachers are used to girls who listen and behave because they tried to get JR to sit in my lap. JR, of course, was having none of that, and ran off to play with the toys across the room. The teachers would try to get him to come back and engage him so finally I told them, "he won't sit on the mat at Gymboree, and he's not going to sit on the mat here." He finally came back over for the sleeping bunny song since it involved jumping, and then he was quite excited about the crocodile song. But at the end of the crocodile song he really came to life. They brought out a big (as big as the kids) stuffed animal crocodile for the kids to touch at the end of the song. All the little girls looked at it and barely stuck their hands out, one was even crying she was so scared. JR jumped on its back and started wrestling it like Steve Irwin! At one point JR was laying with his head in its mouth kicking his legs like he was being eaten. I was just sitting there laughing thinking he's hilarious while all the other moms look at me in pity. Next they gave the kids little umbrellas and told them to use their umbrellas to keep from getting wet. They started blowing bubbles on them and all the little girls stood under their umbrellas while the bubbles fell on them. JR looked at the umbrella like it was useless, threw it down, and started trying to catch the bubbles. Thankfully snacktime was uneventful and we moved on to art. Their craft was to paint a sled and then glue it on a little snowy mountain. JR took his paintbrush and went to town painting that sled...of course he also painted the table right along with it. The teachers just oohed and ahhed since they'd finally found something to ooh and ahh over JR about. I felt like he was a professional artist the way they went on and on. Finally class was over and I got JR all cleaned up (paint was all over him). Needless to say he loved it, and was asleep on the back of my bike by the time we got home!

TCM

*While we are vacaying at Yellowstone, please enjoy this post on Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Okay, so I pretty much know next to nothing about TCM. But with a history of over 3,000 years, I'm convinced some of it has to actually work. And since it was so cheap, (in China, not here) I gave most of it a try, including taking herbs that tasted and looked exactly like dog food. Truth be told, I only took the Dog Food Herbs for a few days...and by all accounts they probably were dog food. Those were "prescribed" (and by 'prescribed' I mean the receptionist handed me a baggie of herbs as I walked out the door) by a TCM doctor my friend, Anita, found. He was the doctor that told us if we would squat for 15 minutes a day we would loose 30 pounds. Always happy to be the guinea pig, here are some of my experiences with TCM:

Acupuncture

Best I understand, acupuncture works to "reprogram" your Chi energy. You can get acupuncture for just about any ailment you might have, including weight loss. I had a "doctor" come to our house when one of my knees was hurting. I told him my right knee hurt so he started by putting needles in my left elbow. He then did "something" back there (I'm still not sure what he did) and I felt like a rush of air. It was enough to make me squeal out a little (not in pain, just an odd feeling) and he said, "That's your energy." Well, whether it was my energy or not, it did seem to make my knee feel better. After the elbow stick portion, he loaded my legs up with needles. You can see they were just about everywhere, but it didn't hurt a bit.

Yes, I had blue toenails that day...when you can get a weekly $5 pedicure it's okay to be "cool" every once in awhile.

Foot Reflexology Massage

Needless to say, this is the one I miss the most. I've written before how we'd get the full body massages which included "butt flaps". We called those massages the "Shuka-Shukas" since that's the sound the bottle would make when the masseuses would shake and squeeze the lotion out. Foot massage or Shuka-Shuka? Such a tough choice. I do think there really can be health benefits to foot massages. And those that have studied Foot Reflexology can at least make you think they're diagnosing your ailments. When my dad had a foot massage his masseuse told him "bad stomach". Maybe he tells that to all his Western clients, but he had my dad convinced that he knew he (my dad) was diabetic.

Cupping

I had seen cupping on TV and really wanted to try it. I was scared it would hurt, so I always badgered any of my friends that had done it to show me their backs and tell me about it. Cupping is supposed to make you feel better by drawing out your impurities. The "blacker" your bruises appear, the more impurities you supposedly had in that part of the body. Or as Jason says, "No, they just got a better suction there." When I finally got up the nerve to try it, they put alcohol inside a cup, lit it on fire, then stuck the cup on my back. Obviously it didn't burn me, but I could definitely feel the heat. They left the cups on for about 10 minutes, and although I wouldn't say it hurt, it sure didn't "tickle". Now to be fair, I didn't try cupping when anything was wrong with me, but all I can say it did for me was make my back sore for about 3 days. It took about 2 weeks for all the bruises to all go away. And, yes, that's me...the most naked I ever hope to be on the Internet!

Terry Fox Run

*I'm not able to update the blog while while we are on vacay in Yellowstone, so please enjoy this China adventure from September 2004.

I noticed an add for the Terry Fox Run (7 K) in one of our local expat magazines, and saw that you could be a corporate sponsor quite cheap. I showed it to Jason, and he decided to have his office be a sponsor. Jason explained to his staff what a "charity" was, and why it's good to participate in charities. He also told his staff of 5 at the time (which included our Ayi and driver) to invite some friends to do the run with us. Jason told them they'd get a free shirt and we would take them to lunch afterwards. We were hoping to get maybe 10-15 people to participate. FIFTY people later, Jason finally cut them off and told them they couldn't invite anyone else! But wouldn't you know it, we had to add just one more. The Plant Man (yes, that would be the man that came to water the plants in the office) asked Jason's secretary if he could come. When she told him "no", he then asked if he could just come and be our photographer. Never ones to turn down paparazzi, we gave him the okay. (On a side note: The Plant Man became our personal photographer. We had him take pictures at every party or event we had after that. He started handing out business cards at parties, and to this day, still has a great photography business going in the expat community. One of our friends gave him the English name, Jeff, but he'll always be The Plant Man to us.) So now 51 people later, we showed up at Chaoyang Park (where the beach volleyball games were held at the Olympics) the morning of the run. Now I say this next part in the nicest, most nonstereotypical way possible....The Chinese aren't really known for their fashion sense. So what you and I would consider appropriate dress for a 7K run, certainly wasn't being worn. Thankfully, they had to wear the Terry Fox shirt that had been given to them. (The organizers make the participants wear the shirts so they can see who is really supposed to be there. If not, thousands (yes, thousands) of people would show up just to see what was going on.) With the shirt taken care of, that only left them the bottom half of themselves to dress. People were wearing slacks, skirts, blue jeans, and dresses (with the shirts over them). Most men had on their dress shoes; ladies had on heels. The woman running in front of me carried her purse the whole way (which says a lot about how fast I can run since a purse carrier can go faster than me). And most every man smoked cigarettes as they ran...including our driver. Everybody in our group finished the race, except JR and Ayi, who didn't make it past the merry-go-round. And as promised, we took all 51 people to lunch after the race....Chinese food, of course.

JR and Ayi's version of the Terrry Fox Run

Guards to keep out onlookers, and keep us from getting too rowdy.

People who wanted their picture taken with JR (Jason and I were just a bonus).

Snow and Sleep

Jason's quote of the day, "March snow showers bring May flowers." It has been beautiful here the past few weeks, getting up into the 60's most everyday. The whole time my mom was here she kept saying, "Next time I'm bringing short-sleeves for sure!" JR was excited to see the snow and ran outside to "sled". When he figured out there wasn't enough snow for sledding, he did his next favorite thing....shoveling snow off the driveway.
Don't forget to set your clocks ahead tonight. Ugh! This is one of my least favorite nights, I hate the thought of "loosing" that hour of sleep. But Jason and I certainly know the importance of Daylight Savings Time and time zones. China doesn't have either one, so during the late spring and summer it gets light in Beijing at 4:00 A.M. When we'd have visitors during the summer we'd say, "Now be sure and close your curtains tonight because it gets light at 4:00 A.M." Of course nobody ever believed us (I guess that's what Jason and I get for being so dramatic). And it never failed that the next morning the first thing people said was, "You were right! It really does get light at 4 in the morning!" So, as much as I hate "loosing" that hour of sleep, it really is better than a 4 A.M. sunrise!

Happy Niu Year

I was reading that's the way the young Chinese that speak English are greeting each other this year..."Happy Niu Year". It's the year of the ox, and "ox" in Chinese is "niu" which is pronounced almost identically to our "new". I got a giggle out of that one, and was wishing it had been the year of the ox when I was there, because "Xin nian kuai le" (Happy New Year) is almost impossible for this Texan to get out of her mouth.

JR and Ayi were traditional Chinese last night and spent Chinese New Year's Eve making dumplings. JR really does like to help cook (must get that from Jason). And yes, in case you're wondering, it's also tradition to wear a Batman costume while you work. Okay, I made that last part up, but the Chinese have so many traditions they won't notice if I throw another one in there...besides, we were just happy he was wearing a shirt!


During part of the dumpling making process I was downstairs and heard all kinds of banging upstairs. About that time Ayi came and got me and told me to bring the camera. To my horror I found JR chopping onions with the giant butcher knife only Ayi uses. I quickly took a picture hoping not to freak out or faint. JR and Ayi were both so proud I couldn't bring myself to use common sense and tell them "no", but I think she could tell by the look on my face that there needed to be some extremely close monitoring going on.


Getting them all "wrapped" up.


Ayi and I went to JR's school today and talked about Chinese New Year. I read Tiki Tiki Tembo to the class and then the kids all ate the dumplings JR and Ayi had made. We taught them a few Chinese words, and as you can see, I brought in some Chinese costume pieces (hats and vests) for them to try on. You can't tell from the picture, but JR looked super-stylin' in his Chinese PJ's with Spiderman snowboots! JR is sitting on the floor behind the blonde girl in the pink ski bib.

He's Got Tricks In Him

One of Ayi's favorite things to do when we lived in China was to show off JR's Chinese skills. I think I've mentioned before that JR didn't really talk until he was 3, so Ayi found other ways to make sure everybody knew she was teaching JR Chinese. When JR was about 15 months they had a whole routine worked up. He would point to his eyes, ears, head, etc. as she would call out the body parts in Chinese. But really, what's a routine without a big finish? And it never failed, JR and Ayi's big finish always brought the Chinese people watching to tears of laughter. Jason and I never understood why she taught him this, or exactly why it was funny, but the end of their routine went like this:

Ayi: JR, Késou. (translation: JR, Cough.)

JR: Acugh-Achug (JR makes fake coughing sounds)

Chinese laugh.

Ayi: JR, Mā-mā Tìpen . (JR, Sneeze like your mom.)

JR: Achoo-Achoo-Achoo-Achoo-Achoo!

Chinese laugh and laugh, run over to hug and kiss JR, then give him candy or anything else they might have in their pockets.

I guess JR's now too old for their big fake sneeze routine, so Ayi has started working up new routines for the babies. Kyle's not yet ready for his debut. But as you'll see by the video, Reed's on his way!

Army Men

The great thing about visiting China is that every touristy thing you'd ever want to see is conveniently located in Beijing. All except the Terracotta Army, those are in Xi'an (pronounced She-an). We made two trips to Xi'an to see the army/soldiers and Ayi went with us both times. Part of the tour is a movie where they reenact the soldiers being made and then destroyed (or how they think they were made and destroyed...they date back to 210 BC and the Chinese didn't even know they existed until 1974 when a farmer accidentally discovered them). JR always got super excited about the movie and would say "Bīngmǎ Yǒng! Bīngmǎ Yǒng!" (which to me sounds like Be-I-Own) everytime he would see one. If you've ever been to our house, you know we even have a 3ft. one standing outside our front door. Knowing how much JR liked the Bīngmǎ Yǒng, Ayi brought him 4 soldiers that he could "excavate" himself. It's actually quite cute. I took pictures of the excavation process, and now JR is the proud owner of 4 more Bīngmǎ Yǒng(s) to add to his collection.

Each solider is "buried" in it's own block.

Add some water...and get to work


Keep "digging"

Brush him completely clean

Another soldier "discovered"! (I know it's hard to see since everything in the picture is brown, the soldier is sitting on the counter to your left.)

Put Us On The Prayer List

No, this isn't a picture of Kyle and a random Chinese lady...It's JR and his Ayi! Can you believe JR was so little when we moved to Beijng. AND we'd already been there a couple of months because I think this picture was taken in May 2004. JR's Ayi from China is going for her US visa interview December 22! She got to come see us for a month last summer (07), and we've been hoping to get her back ever since. Her boss said she could have a month off around Chinese New Year to come see us. So if she can get her visa, she's good to go! You'd think getting a visa would be an easy process. People get confused and say, "Why won't China let her come?" It has nothing to do with China. China's got 1.3 billion other Chinese to worry about; it's the US that's the problem. The first time she tried she got denied. The second time she tried is when she came. The problem is that if she gets denied this time, she'll probably never get to come back because once you've been denied twice you really have no shot. I understand the whole visa process, but I get aggravated that terrorists can prance right over and fly planes into buildings, while fabulously wonderful Chinese ladies can't come visit families who loved them for 3 years. When we lived in Beijing and things seemed impossible we'd say, "Remember, God is bigger than the Chinese Government." This time I just have to tweak it a bit...He's also bigger than the American Government too. Prayers lists please!

A Bit of China in Houston

Our Bosnian/German friends from Beijing, Sunny and Mirsad, arrived yesterday to spend the week with us. Their daughter, Melissa, and JR were BFFs. Melissa talked WAY before JR ever did and she would always call for him in her Chinese/Bosnian accent "JAY-RRRRR". When JR finally started talking he called Melissa, "Mei-Mei (May-May)" then was finally able to say "Miss-A" by the time we moved. JR has been so excited about Melissa coming to see him. He's been counting down the days and even told us, "I'm Melissa's girlfriend." Jason was quick to correct him on that one. When he woke up yesterday we heard him over the baby monitor say, "It's Sunday! Melissa comes today!" It's so great to have them here, and even though it's been 2 years since we've seen them, we picked right up like we had seen them yesterday. It's funny to hear Melissa speak perfect English without any accent. And she has been speaking English the whole time they have been in the U.S. She told Sunny, "Mom! Speak English. We are in America!" JR was a little taken aback by Melissa's little sister, Uma. When we left Beijing Uma had just turned a year old, now at 3, JR wasn't quite sure what to think of her not being a baby anymore...As you will see by the video.

Yes, I am 25

My birthday is June 14, 1983, and I have a government issued Chinese passport to prove it. Jason and I are being asked daily what we think about the Chinese gymnasts. Do we think they're really 16? Of course we don't; we see the same thing the rest of the world is seeing. Bela Karolyi put it best (and how hilarious and fabulous is he this year?)
"We are in the business of gymnastics. We know what a kid of 14 or 15 or 16 looks like. What kind of slap in the face is this? They are 12, 14 years old and they get lined up and the government backs them and the federation runs away. There is an age limit and it can't be controlled."
Bela also went on to call them "half-people" and to say, "These people (the Chinese) think we are stupid". In this day of political correctness how refreshing it is to have somebody call like it is. Thank you, Bela!
So will these girls be found out? Will they be stripped of their medals? Will they admit their real age? No, No, and No. The only way they can prove these girls are 14 are through government records. Why would the government admit they are lying? They wouldn't. They won't. The Chinese culture is built on "saving face". By winning gold medals these girls brought honor to their country and to their families. The government will see to it that they and their families will be taken care of for the rest of their lives. These girls are "16". Case close.
There's a great article in Time called China's Sports Schools. The article talks about how the Chinese are going into villages, hand picking children, and then training them to win gold at the Olympics. Not just for gymnastics, but for every sport. I have mixed emotions on this. If you're growing up in a Chinese village would you have a better life spending your childhood training for the Olympics? Sadly, maybe so. The Time article blasts China for taking away the opportunity for these children to receive an education. Truth of the matter is, if you're a Chinese villager, you're probably not going to get much of an education anyway. China doesn't have a public school system like we do, parents have to pay to send their kid to school. If your picked to be an athlete, at least you can be assured you won't go hungry, you'll have your own bed to sleep in, and if you actually do win....Well, then you and your family are set for life.
But, as Jason would say, "Just because that's the way it is, doesn't make it right." No, it doesn't make it right. But, it is what it is.
I end with just one last thing: Katie, the next time you're at the Pearl Market, could you pick me up a new passport? My "birthday" is listed at the top of this blog.

Talkin' China

I had the chance to practice my pitiful Chinese skills again tonight. 2nd Baptist in Katy is hosting 250 kids and teachers from Chengdu. The kids are here to learn about American culture, and they go to school or on field trips each day. They also go to youth activities and church with their host families. Our friends, Mike and Emily, are hosting 3 super sweet girls. They are enjoying their time here, except they didn't like their school lesson today...American geography. They said it was boring, too hard, and too confusing. I know how they feel. I never knew where any of the provinces in China were located. They are getting to do some really neat stuff, like tomorrow they're learning how to play baseball and then go to an Astros game. The girls are so cute, and just like all Chinese girls, they thought our white, bald-headed babies were pretty neat. Here's Dani, Sally, and Helen...and Mike and Emily's son, Jack. Jason and I love any chance to "talk China", so we really enjoyed tonight!

Then and Now

Last night our friends Katie and Andy from China came over for dinner (yes, Andy's the inventor of the Candy Pony Store). It was fun for us all to see how much the kids had grown, and to see the kids that have been born since we left China.

Here's Madeline and JR in June '05 and then last night.

And here's their daughter Ella with Kyle and Reed. Ella's a native Beijing-er so when I tried out my (pitiful) Chinese on her, she looked at me like, "Umm, Miss Jan, your accent is way off."

Fear Factor

Jason's company has started 9-80's (you work 80 hours in 9 days, so you get every other Friday off) So, to celebrate we loaded up the fam and went to the Children's Museum today (just how Jason had pictured his day off, I'm sure.) It was nice; JR enjoyed it...I guess I had built it up in my mind to be some big museum extravaganza since everybody kept telling me I HAD to take JR. They did have lots of things JR loves, that would be any exhibit where falling, rolling, or bouncing balls are involved. And he spent lots of time at those. But, there was one he stayed far, far away from. JR's nemesis. The thing he hates more than all others. The thing that strikes fear through my baby's heart...face painting. Yep, I said it. Face painting. We don't know what it is, but JR will avoid face painting at all costs. His face painting loathing all started back in China during Halloween. His school would let them wear their Halloween costumes and then they would have a party for them. So, to be nice, the teachers would paint their faces. The first year JR went to school he went as Clifford the Big Red Dog. So, they painted his face all red. I'm guessing if I was doing the painting I would have given him some whiskers and a black nose, but being that the Chinese have no idea who Clifford is, they probably thought painting him red was the best bet. And just so you get an idea of what I'm talking about here's a picture from that day. All was well for awhile that day, they went trick-or-treating as a class, put on a cute little show for the moms, and JR was his normal, happy, good-time guy self. It wasn't until we got home that the mass hysteria started. We got home and I'm not sure what his Ayi said to him, but I think the general gist was something like, "JR, you look cute, I love you, run away with me and I'll raise you as my own, and oh by the way, your face is all red." After that he went and looked in the mirror and completely freaked out. I had to not only wash his face, but I believe he demanded a full on bath. He talked about his red face for weeks; he just couldn't get it off his mind...and when I say "talked" I use that term quite loosely. As you all know JR didn't say much of anything until he was 3 so I think it went something like, "Baby Da Woo-Woo Hong Su Boo How" That would be English, Chinese, and JR's own made up language mixed together, which literally translated would be "JR big dog red bad." Ever since that day he hasn't gone anywhere near face painting. Every kid at the museum today had their face's painted, except JR. Jason and I even tease him about it. Well, say, "Look, JR, it's your favorite...face painting!" And he'll start saying, "No! No! No! I don't like it!" Yep, we all have our fears and phobias, and looks like JR's is here to stay...the dreadful art of....face painting!

Going Postal-The Final Chapter

Now check out this face. Can you believe it?! Me neither. JR and I were upstairs moving his stuff into his new room and I looked out the window and saw a package by the gate.
Me: "JR, there's a package by the gate."
JR: "My package is here! My package is here!"
Me: "JR, I don't think it's for you. They told me they can't find your package." It's probably for the babies."
JR: "It's not for the babies, and it's not for you. It's MY package from MY Ayi!"
Me: "Well, don't get your hopes up, but run outside and get it."
JR comes through the door with package.

JR: "Mommy! It had my name on it!"
Me: "It does?!"
And then I saw it. Chinese writing. I guess packages do just turn up after a half a month of being lost...or maybe it has something to do with Jason making a phone call to the post office yesterday. Either way....It's here!!