Today was, once again, parent teacher conferences at Elias' school. He is performing well and learning to stay on task. His reading has come a long way. I asked about the spelling words but she didn't sound to concerned about them either. His teacher said he needs to work on his handwriting...which he now takes pride in just beginning this week. His music teacher is helping him work on reading music and in ICT, he's already learning to type without looking.

The only downside was when we went to the Chinese teacher. I'm afraid we were a bit hard on her but I had a lot to say...like, why they were watching Teletubbies in Chinese when they hardly speak any English (in the English version). She did explain that in a way that I was happy about. She also said he speaks the best in the class...so I requested that he move up a level. Well, she then said something about his behavior needs to improve before that can happen and that made me angry because why should his behavior have anything to do with what level he's on? She said they would retest him in 1-2 weeks and see if he can move up. Brad was also hard on her. He implied that he could teach English to Chinese kids faster than they're teaching Chinese to English-speaking kids. He didn't imply it. He actually said it.

So...that's where I am with this.

Zuri was awesome the whole time and Ezra was at school. Zuri spit up on me yesterday. That's not unusual but I mean he spit up thick, acidy, old milk--all over my face and mouth. I've seen that happen on America's Funniest Home Videos but it's not too funny when it happens to you.

My complaint for yesterday was about bananas in China and how they bang them around and they're always bruised up and if you're picky like me, then you end up throwing away half the banana. However, when they have Dole bananas down there, I always get them and they're mostly perfect.

They canceled trick or treating yesterday evening so all the kids are going tonight. There's a reason we don't use watermelons for pumpkins to make the jack-o-lanterns in America. They rot a whole lot faster. I'm trying to decide if it actually adds to the season to see an old, rotting "jack-o-lantern" sitting outside our door on a table? Just a few more hours.

Elias and Ezra are going trick or treating tonight around our apartment complex. Elias is Optimus Prime and Ezra is "Megatwon." I ordered their costumes from ebay a while back. I paid a pretty penny for the things when shipping was included but it'll be worth it since they love Transformers.

We'll be coming home in June, now. We've given the company until Elias is out of school for the year. That'll mean he will have a REALLY short summer since school starts so early in America. In fact, he'll probably just be getting completely over jet lag. I guess Ezra will start pre-k this fall. And I do believe we'll have some visitors this spring as well. YAY!!!

I've really picked up learning and teaching the kids Chinese now. It suddenly occurred to me that they can't really speak and it made me sad that this was such a waste of time in that respect. So I looked up online how to do it and have been working on it with them. Ezra actually gave me the idea. He just up and counted to ten in Chinese one day. No one's actually worked on that with him for a year and he never did it then. It suddenly occurred to me that he MUST know more than he lets on...after all, he was with an ayi (albeit a poor one) for 6 months straight all day. So, I've started working on the basics with him (colors, body parts, etc). I've also bought movies and music in Chinese. I really hope it works. But we intend to continue our lessons when we move back so this will NOT be a waste of time for me no matter HOW you look at it. I've even thought about hiring a Chinese ayi to speak to the kids after schools when we get back. I bet there's an old woman somewhere who'd like to make a bit of extra money. :)

My ankle is out of joint AGAIN. I'm really sick of this happening. I guess I watch too much XFiles. I've now decided that I MUST have a tumor in my ankle that is causing it to come out of joint. Or maybe some kind of parasite. It seems that it happens more frequently when I'm tired so I think the parasite must wake up and move my ankle bone around when I'm overly-tired. Yes, everything is a conspiracy theory to me. I found a little bug in my rice and the first thing I thought was that I needed to go look at it under a microscope to be sure it wasn't alien. Okay, after that incident, I stopped watching for a week and now I only watch 1-2 episodes before bed. My brain is better now. But there's still something wrong with my ankle.

Zuri still has a bit of a cold and is sleeping a lot. I think he's going through a growth spurt. He is such a happy baby and he's easy as long as we're holding him! He's really the most beautiful baby. I think he looks a lot like Elias when Elias was a baby, except he has blue eyes.

In the great news events of the day: Ezra actually put on his pants all by himself TWICE yesterday. We're really working on him becoming a bit more independent. He also takes his pants and underwear completely off when he has to pee and it's quite annoying to have to put them back on 100 times per day. He drinks a lot of milk.

I have had something on my mind all morning that I need to write about and I can't think what it is. grrr...I hate when that happens.

another weekend come and gone.

Don't you think the weekend passes too quickly? I can't believe it's over!!!

Elias is loving piano right now. Not quite sure why the change.

I went to yoga this evening a couple of minutes late and they had already begun. We did 15 min of abs and they then started relaxation...and then I remembered that they start 45 min earlier on Sunday nights! hehe. She worked our abs so hard that at first I thought she was doing the relaxation early b/c of it, lol.

I managed to make it to Auchan this evening so I don't have to do it tomorrow morning. WHEW! I hate that grocery store when I'm alone, but it gets extremely difficult when you're wearing your son! Who, incidentally, constantly sucks his hands. He occasionally finds his thumb and I'm afraid it's only a matter of time until he doesn't need a pacifier anymore. That's not something I desire, even though I've heard it's easier.

Pumpkins are very expensive so we just bought a watermelon and Elias and Ezra and Brad carved it. Elias designed it with stars for the eyes. It's really cute.

Zai jian!

One more

Update to my two last posts: The teacher and deputy head had a talk with all of the students and warned them of the dangers of rough housing in the water and told them that it was unacceptable. Also, when Elias got off the bus, Mr. Taiwan tried to give him a piao-piao from his own stash. We respectfully declined it. :)

Since writing the previous post, Brad and I watched Elias perform today on stage with another grade 1 class. They sang "Them Bones" song and put together the human body to the song. Elias held the feet of the skeleton. This was the ending to their inquiry into the human body. I forgot to mention that they got to touch real cow lungs, cow eye balls and a cow heart as part of this unit. I think that's cool although personally, I'd like to have been warned about it. ANYWAY, Elias got to welcome the students to their presentation. The best part is that he was a Golden Chair Winner for this week. We were so proud of him. It just means that he stood out this week in class.

They are now "Looking Back In Time." I need to put together a lot of old family pictures that I brought back this summer as well as transcribe an old letter from 1839 that my grandfather gave me a copy of when we first moved here. It is from a relative of ours. One of the first Christian schools created in China was dedicated to this man. I don't know if the school is still standing but we do have pictures of it. This will go perfectly with one of the themes which is how they connect themselves to the past and it was totally by accident that I remembered I even had it.

Ezra fell asleep about 5:00. Zuri's been asleep since about 5:00 as well. (it's 9:30). They had an exhausting week...as did I.

It's not the soccer field...

Nope. We mothers in China don't have the soccer field to get mad about. But apparently, anyone who doesn't want to have their child to play soccer because of the parents, well, parents will find a way.

Elias loves piao-piao which is the Korean form of Pokemon. You buy these little discs and throw them at your opponents' discs trying to get them to turn over. If you turn them over, you win the disc. It's like baseball cards. Kids are constantly trading them and looking at them to figure out their "strengths" even though in reality, there's no difference between which one will flip over another one.

Elias got off the bus yesterday and told me that he had given one of his piao-piaos to a Taiwanese kid to trade and that kid never gave him one in return. So, I told him to go over and ask the kid for it. Stupidly, I went over and helped. The mother and I looked in his bag of piao-piaos but Mr. Taiwan didn't have Elias'. Elias said, "Oh, I saw him give it to someone else." I was kind of angry and asked him why we were asking THIS kid about it then?

I just said okay and walked away. I told Elias that I was DONE with his piao-piaos. he took them to school at his own risk and if he lost one, I didn't want to hear about it and I wasn't going to help him. (We had another instance where his were all stolen by an older kid.) I'm so tired of these things!

So, this morning, Elias and I were standing at the bus stop and Mr. Taiwan came up and said he was sorry. What? And THEN I noticed another mother (we'll call her Kevin's Mom) get off the bus yelling, "If you don't have it then..." And I realized that something was up...and I wasn't sure what but I had a feeling it involved that silly piao-piao. So I asked her, again, stupidly. She was extremely upset...ANGRY. She yelled, "We don't have it! I beat my son this morning because we couldn't find it! We looked everywhere!" Up until that moment, I had no clue that THAT particular family was even involved.

Turns out, after a talk with Mr. Taiwan's mom, what Elias had said was perfectly true and Mr. Taiwan had just forgotten what he'd done. Elias does the same thing so I understand perfectly. It seems that at this age, it's difficult to get the time line straight. Anyway, since Kevin lost the piao-piao and had gotten in trouble earlier in the year for spitting on Elias, this mother was more than upset...probably a bit embarrassed that her son would do something AGAIN and that's probably the real reason she lost her temper with him.

I told all the mothers that I was done with piao-piaos. If my son gets all of his taken, I don't care. He shouldn't bring them to school in the first place. Now, let's just hope I can stick to that.

Elias's swimming lessons

Argh. He got off the bus and immediately told me that another kid was pushing him under the water. Unconcerned, I told him that it was called dunking, if you don't like it, move away from that kid. Elias then proceeded to tell me that the kid held him under the water so long that it hurt because he couldn't breath. I got extremely mad. Elias is young for his grade and some of the kids are old for the grade because they oftentimes will place them in a grade lower if their English isn't so good. So he is pretty small compared to some of the kids. I'm afraid Elias took it that I was mad at HIM because my voice became my "teacher voice." I told him to tell that kid very sternly that he did NOT like it and to tell the teacher. I told Elias, "Use the same voice I'm using. Let him know you're not kidding." lol. I stopped short of telling him to punch him in the face if he did it again but I felt like it.

So this morning I called the deputy head of primary to let her know what happened. She was very concerned. I know they have requested parent volunteers and I'm incapable of getting in the pool with both Zuri and Ezra but if need be, I can walk around the edge and help monitor their behavior. She is to call me back so I'll find out then.

Lots about the kids

Will life ever slow down? I have THREE high-maintenance children. Well, actually, Ezra isn't high maintenance, but because the other two are, I try to over-compensate with Ezra. Otherwise, he would get no attention at all.

I have discovered that he has a knack for memorizing songs. You just have to sing it a few times and bam he's got it. He can sing "You Are My Sunshine", Anne Murray style from top to bottom, including "the other night, dear" and "so let the sun shine in" parts after only hearing it for a few days. He learned in about five minutes this morning how to spell his name with sign language. I was proud. The kid HATES his letters though. Refuses to learn them. He's not rude about it, he just won't try. He's silly about it (for instance, everything will be an "A") although I suspect he knows more than he lets on. He is also starting to speak Chinese. It makes me mad, however, the way that some people ignore him when he's trying to speak. They don't even give him a chance. He doesn't speak ENGLISH clearly and so his Chinese is also a bit garbled. If they would give him a chance and would stop interrupting him, then they would understand it but they always look to me to "translate" even before he's finished. I don't.

In the meantime, I'm also dealing with the fact that Elias' Chinese department is awful. They've placed him in beginning Chinese where he is just learning how to say "Hello." That's ridiculous. P/T conferences are next week and I'm having a little talk with them. If he went to the school last year, then why is he in beginning Chinese this year? What does that say about THEM? Also, I think it's silly that they are teaching him Chinese letters. Yes, it's cool, but who learns to run before they can even walk? No one. They should concentrate totally on spoken Chinese and start learning to read/write Chinese once they can carry on a decent conversation. Okay, off my soap box.

Ezra "fell up" the steps two mornings ago. Poor boy came to me in the shower with his hands over his face. i could tell something was wrong but didn't see the extent until I opened the shower door and saw blood all over his face from where he'd rubbed it. (Brad was still asleep.) I just put him in the shower with me, got him cleaned up. He has a busted lip. He was only whining a bit. He's turning into a big boy. School is helping him.

Elias played the piano for me yesterday. I honestly thought that his piano lessons were getting him nowhere so I was surprised when he was conscious of rests and beat. I wish his teacher could make it more fun because he is bored. A Chinese mother gave me the following advice: "I just made my daughter practice for two hours everyday for the first three years. Now, I don't have to make her practice anymore." I guarantee that she meant it.

Zuri has the cold now that I had last weekend. Not really a runny nose, just a sore throat that I attributed to the pollen. Felt like a coating over my tonsils. When he cries, it is so pathetic and so cute at the same time. He reminds me of my friend Julie in the mornings...just hoarse. Poor baby. Brad got a dose of what I put up with everyday when I went to yoga yesterday. Elias, Ezra and I work on homework, read, cook dinner and play in the afternoons all without TV and WITH a crying baby. Now, Brad is usually magic with him. Pops the paci in and puts him in "the position" and knocks the kid right out and then puts him in the crib while I'm gone. Not last night. Zuri wanted to be held the WHOLE TIME--not unusual for me but very unusual for Brad. Anyway, he put a movie in for the kids.

So Elias didn't read from his reading book yesterday and since he was ready early, I asked him to go get his reader and read to me while I got ready this morning. Instead, he laid down on the bed and read to Zuri. It was really sweet. He said "Zuri smiled when I finished." Today he has swimming lessons and tomorrow just swimming (he's in a swimming club on Thursdays). November 3 there is a swimming carnival and I'm looking forward to seeing how well he swims now.

When Elias HAS something cool, he has to announce it to the world, which drives me crazy. It sounds like he's bragging and I've learned in my "old age" that people take it that way when really, it's just excitement bubbling over. I'm like that too. BUT, he refuses to show how "good" he can do anything. I'm not quite sure what his problem is. It's the reason he's in the beginning Chinese. He does NOT like to perform to his best ability. I'm not quite sure why but it drives me crazy that he seems mediocre when he's really so much better than that. I told him this morning that he was making Zuri smarter when he read to him and he said, "Smarter than me?" I said, "yes, even though you're a genius you should try to make him smarter than you." A few minutes later he said, "Do you think Ms Jill will be surprised that I'm that smart if I tell her you said that?" I know Ms Jill will take my comment for what it's worth but I wonder what that says about Elias' opinion of himself?

Anyway, just some meandering thoughts this morning.

I've got my eye on you

It seems like every time I turn around, someone is in need of some help. Somewhere. Right now, Zuri is not happy with me on the internet. Ahhh, finally, maybe I'll have some time. Ezra is "reading" to Zuri from his favorite pop up book.

Time passes so quickly and I forget I haven't written in a while. Zuri is now three months old and he has already doubled his weight, believe it or not. Elias' homework has ME bogged down much of the time. Especially his spelling words. I've decided not to worry too much about his spelling words. I help him everyday but if he doesn't get them right, I'm not concerned. I do, however, tell him he needs to study them if he wants to get a scholarship to Harvard! (This week, some are: railway, painful, hearing, sense and hailstones.)

I've started taking yoga now. I'm not used to being the biggest one out there nor am I used to not being one of the best. This is weird. I'm not fat, it's just Chinese women are all so tiny. And as Brad put it, the ones that are overweight would NEVER get out there because they lack the self-confidence. I enjoy it...it is TRUE yoga and my body aches from it. They don't speak English so I just watch and I miss all of the relaxing parts but I kind of have an idea what they're saying so I just do my own thing during that part.

Well, the book isn't working anymore, Zuri is on the verge of a fit and so I must blow this joint. See ya!

Just random from the week.

Last week and this week have passed so quickly. Seeing as it looks like we're coming home around February, we spent all of last week sightseeing. It can sometimes be so hectic around here. I spent all of Wednesday morning at the neighborhood center shopping and putting money on our phone. I really wish I would just receive a bill at the end of the month so that I could just go pay it. Instead, we just randomly run out of money on the phone and the internet goes off and we have to make a special trip to get it turned back on. Such a PITA.

Yesterday, I decided to go on Elias' field trip. It was to Suzhou Park. All of the English tourist maps and the EAS taxi cards list one place as being Suzhou Park. A park I've been to before, in fact. So I went there. Guess what? They didn't actually GO to Suzhou Park. They went to some other park and didn't know the name of it and just called it Suzhou Park! I was angry enough to cry because I kept thinking about how I was going to surprise Elias. (I didn't sign up to go because I don't want to be in charge of a group of Elias' friends and my own child(ren) so I usually just show up on my own. I felt like I was doing the responsible thing by not signing up, kwim? It would pi$$ me off if someone was supposed to be watching my child but had to watch their siblings instead.) I'm not sure how to approach this at school...they should have been more specific but I understand they/we don't speak Chinese either. Any opinions out there? I'm thinking I'll tell them what happened and ask them to put an address on the parents' part of the permission form...what if there had been an emergency and I'd gone there instead of to his school?

Anyway, I actually enjoyed yesterday morning walking around with Zuri in Suzhou park. It was beautiful and even though there were a gazillion old people there, so peaceful.

Zuri fell asleep in his car seat. I put him in there on a fluke and BANG he went right to sleep. The only reason we have that is because we used it on the plane on the way over (most taxis don't have seat belts). Apparently, you don't need to be in a car for it to have the same effect. I'd been playing with him for a while so he must've been tired.

Ezra told Brad the other day, "Daddy, I have a present. Elias has a present. Now let's go get you a beer."

Elias is swimming twice a week at school right now. I'm so happy that maybe that will be one less thing I have to worry about! I would love to be in the pool with him but three children sure does change life, doesn't it? I can't even figure out a productive way to help Elias with his homework and still give attention to the others. Zuri and Ezra can't stand it if I sit down with Elias for homework.

Spelling words this week: place, plate, face, spade, taste, sight and one more I can't remember. YIKES!

While Zuri is asleep, I think I'll get some stuff done around here. Cheers!

We've had a good weekend and Monday. Brad is off this week and since we decided not to do any traveling, I've decided we are doing something every single day that we have been wanting to do and have not. (And going to the Pearl Market one more time is one of those things.) After all, we've only got until February.

Saturday, we went to Singa Plaza to eat and walked back. I couldn't believe Ezra walked the whole way back. He was very tired by the end of it and barely complained. I was wearing Zuri and Elias and I acted out "Yankee Doodle" while I sung it. He thinks that song is so funny, especially when I "gurgle" it. If you've never heard me gurgle, that's a treat that I reserve only for special occasions. Taught by an expert at the tender age of 13, I am an expert in my own right. I should have pursued a career in gurgling but unfortunately for my family and our finances, I prefer to keep this hidden talent just that...HIDDEN. I'm afraid of a paparazzi.

Anyway, Brad had to go out to eat with work and so the kids and I decided to go down to the Folk Culture Fest at Center Park. Brad called right as we were about to cross the street and we waited for him. It was interesting and the kids enjoyed it. We got to see some traditional Chinese music and singing and acting

Sunday, Elias and Ezra played over at M&C's house ALL DAY and as usual, they had a great time. We enjoyed it as well.

Today, we went to the Arborarium with them and played for a couple of hours.

Not much else is happening around here. Zuri's crying for his Mamma, so I need to go feed him. The camera's battery is now charged so hopefully, I can get more pics this week.

Cheers!