update on Zuri!

Zuri is pulling up, cruising, crawling. I wish I could find one of those baby races because he can crawl so freakin' fast. His knees are sooooo bruised up and his little hands "stomp" when he goes. It's hilarious to hear. I can always tell when he's heading to the balcony (our doors are open this spring but he's not allowed out there) because I hear his little hands start stomping super fast over there.

He says six words now (five on cue) mamma, dada, Elias, Ezra, hi, and Nana when he's hungry.

He prefers everything to be on the floor. Our Wii games? Always all over the floor. Piano books? My stack of books I read when I'm nursing? His "downstairs" diapers and wet wipes? All of them ALWAYS thrown into the floor. We play a game where I stack up the blocks and he prefers to knock them down--and he does it viciously. I tried to teach him "in" by putting the blocks back in their box but he will have NONE of it. It gets dumped out immediately. He also loves to throw the blocks (as only a baby can).

He ADORES balls. If you bounce the ball, he cracks up laughing. If you roll the soccer ball on the floor, he chases after it. He tries to roll it back to you and laughs when he gets it right. I let him play with a ping pong ball and that's his favorite to throw and chase after, throw and chase after...

He eats ALL the freakin' time, but he NEVER sits still. It's hard to get him to sleep and he squirms the whole time he's in your lap, so he's still SUPER skinny. No kidding, yesterday he ate a banana, 2-1/2 peaches (these were BiG peaches, too), two plates of chicken/seafood gumbo, several cherries and 1/2 an apricot and he nurses ALL day long and ALL night long.

When I'm typing on the computer, he can reach it at the small table we have it at and he tries to type also. It's so annoying because he opens windows and makes me have all kinds of typos.

As I've said before, he also loves the piano. He crawls over to it and stands up. He can just barely reach the keys but he reaches up there and bangs on it for a while and then runs off to something else. As I type, he's pulling the strings on his daddy's guitar.

He still loves the vacuum cleaner and sneaks in the "ayi closet" to play with it.

"That's the last time you'll ever brush that one!"

Olympic torch came!

Due to the earthquake, the Olympic Torch was postponed coming through Suzhou. But it came today! :) This was a once in a lifetime opportunity; it was an electrifying morning.

(This was the best shot we had...with or without my big bum.)


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Oh, Mr Pizza! Why have we forsaken thee?

Oh goodness, I'll get back to blogging regularly soon.

Zuri slept for EIGHT hours straight last night. I was happy even though I didn't sleep well myself because he was sleeping horizontally in the bed. I didn't want to move him because I could tell he was sleeping really well. So I had about two inches of bed and almost rolled off at one point. That's the first time he's slept longer than three hours at a time (and usually it's only 1-1.5 hours before he wants to nurse).

We're all sick, although as usual, Elias has it the worst. He's on antibiotics because his turned into a deeper cough and cold. He kind of scared me when he couldn't walk because of his fever which was over 103. I had given him Ibuprofen but when it was time to go to the doctor and he couldn't get up to walk. I was at a loss because we needed to walk to take Ezra to school and then walk to get a cab. I scoured my phone book looking for someone to help, but everyone was at work or in America or too far away anyway. I was near tears. I then told myself to strap it on and loaded Elias into Zuri's stroller and just pushed Elias while carrying Zuri. Within a couple of hours of receiving the antibiotics, Elias' whole demeanor changed so I know that's what he needed.

I forgot to mention that I ate rancid chicken last weekend. We went to the restaurant beside Mr. Pizza called Simon's and I ordered some chicken curry. The first bite tasted a bit weird, but everyone knows I'm SOOOO picky about eating meat so I decided to try another one. This time, there was no mistaking the rotten flavor, especially when I was started throwing it up under the table. They tried to make us more food, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to eat it so we just left and went to Mr. Pizza. It was gross and as I write this, my taste buds are remembering it. Not pleasant.

Zuri now DEFINITELY says, "Ezwa" and "Elala" and "Mamma" and "DaDa" all on cue. When he's hungry, he says, "NaNa." As soon as I get out the video camera, he clams up, though. I'm sure I'll catch it one day.

Proud Mother. Must Brag.

Elias came home with an award earlier this week for integrity. I asked him what he had done to receive it and he couldn't remember when his teacher gave it to him. So I asked him to ask her and she wrote me a note back.

"The PYP attitude [award] was for him as members of his social group were getting involved in a bit of name calling and Elias told them that this wasn't right and that he didn't want to join in despite a bit of peer pressure."

I tear up every time I tell or read the story. What a wonderful boy!

Olympics and Pianos

We were rudely awaken this morning at 6:00 to the ting, ting, ting of people putting partitions together down in the street below our apartment. Why, you might ask? BECAUSE THE FREAKIN' OLYMPIC TORCH IS GOING TO BE RUNNING RIGHT UNDERNEATH OUR APARTMENT! I'm so excited!

I can't decide if we need to be down on the street, right in the middle of the action or if we should just keep our bird's eye view. Opinions and experience welcome.

I don't know if that's what woke Elias up or not (his window wasn't open) or if he set his internal alarm clock again, but he didn't go back to sleep. He stayed awake and played because he didn't want to miss my plan for the morning which was getting his teacher a "prize" from Starbucks. We rode my bike over, bought a scone and latte for his teacher and a muffin and OJ for him and rode back just in time for the bus to pick him up. He adores his teacher.

The Olympic Torch is coming by just when Elias should be having his piano lesson. So we've asked the teacher to come to our house. We would just cancel but he has a recital next weekend. He's got to memorize his songs and we're working hard. Unfortunately, it's true, I must also work hard.

Zuri loves the piano. He likes to sit in our laps and play while we play and he will sometimes crawl over to the piano and stand up and reach his fingers up and try to play if no one is around to let him sit in their lap. I caught him doing it yesterday and decided to set him up:


He was so happy! I think we're going to have one concert pianist in the house! He also loves to play Brad's guitar.

Yesterday, we were walking out by the lake and we passed two babies being pushed by their mommies. He's so curious: he rubber necked all the way around, almost falling out of his stroller (I didn't have him buckled in), to see what they were doing in their strollers! He was so curious. Also, as we're walking, he likes to stick his arm out the stroller so that he can feel the hedges as we pass. Reminds me of my grandfather.

Brad is going back on first shift next week which has me a bit sad. I enjoyed our mornings together and being able to watch any movie I deemed worthy at night. (He's very picky. Me? I just like to be entertained.) Of course, we've spent a lot more money the past few weeks because we eat out almost everyday for lunch...it also means that I'll have more time to blog.

I'll take lots of pictures of the Olympic Torch! :)

Put your seat belt on. It's gonna be a long ride.

1. A couple of days ago, Zuri was crawling along and Ezra came up behind him and picked up his legs making Zuri do the wheel barrow. Now, had the roles been reversed, I daresay Ezra would have squealed and then feigned tears. Zuri, on the other hand, as soon as he got a chance, sat up on his bum, turned around to Ezra and yelled, "Weh,weh, weh, weh, weh!" at him. I imagine a little index finger wagging in Ezra's face. That kid can take up for himself.

2. Zuri does "more" now in sign language although it's a clap. It's so funny because he'll clap for "more" and then clap when he gets a bite because he's proud of himself. He also tries to "roll it up" and "throw it in the pan."

3. If I say Ezra's name, Zuri will look over at Ezra. If I say his name, he'll look up. He also was saying "Ezra" yesterday. I know he was. It was coming out, "Efwa!" but he was looking at Ezra as he said it. (Actually, he was yelling across the way at him.)

4. Zuri prefers to eat things that come off our fingers. If I give him something in a spoon, that little chin goes straight down to his chest in repulsion. If I then put it on my finger and give it to him, he opens his mouth like a little bird.

5. We bought Zuri this, isn't it cute?



I first saw it when Ruthie visited last summer and I just knew I'd never find the store again. But amazingly, we walked right to it.

6. We went to soccer with some friends this weekend and on the way back, Ezra kept saying he wanted to lick a tree. I told him he could NOT lick a tree because the pesticides and paint they put on trees would make him dumb. "You don't want to be dumb do you?" *a little pause as he thought it over* He replied, "I don't care. I'm still gonna do it." When we hopped out of the car, he immediately ran over to lick a tree and later that night, it was the *big* thing as I watched all the children follow Ezra over to a tree and watch him lick it.

7. Also in the car, I was making fun of Ezra trying to get him not to lick the tree. I told him that he was like a woodpecker and he eats bugs off the trees. We all started laughing and joking about the bugs Ezra was going to eat. I expected him to yell, "NO, I don't eat bugs!" Instead, he said, "Yup. I eat spiders too."

8. Elias has decided he likes soccer. He's the second best on the team. A cute little girl took him to TOWN!

9. I am going to go back to school this fall. I can't believe it. I'm going to study Chinese, which will be a lot of fun. My friend only studied for three semesters and can read children's books to her children, so I'm pretty excited. (Although I probably won't be able to study for that long because we're going home.)

I know there's tons more that I'm forgetting. A really funny Elias story. I will hopefully think of it later. Have a good day everybody!

Later:
10. I put Elias and Ezra in bed last week and Ezra said, "I want to read for a little while." But Elias said, "I want to go to sleep straight away." I guess we can NEVER say his British teacher didn't teach him anything.

We're okay.

If anyone is worried about us, just thought I drop a line right quick and let everyone know we weren't hit by the earthquake at all. I should have felt something and didn't.

I think the kids just may sleep in my bed tonight.

Pictures from Embroidery Town.

I didn't get actual pictures of the "town," but this is what we bought. Not pictured (because it's in Brad's office), is a set of two canal pictures that are embroidered in shades of gray and black so that it looks like a pencil sketching.

I love the reflections in the water:


Up close of the flowers:


You can see our huge, tacky chandelier in our apartment. hehe. This is the boys' favorite:


A different kind of embroidery where they knot the thread:


I have always wanted one in this type of frame:


My boys:

:)

I thought I"d take advantage of Zuri and Brad both sleeping in and post quickly.

I took Ezra to school this morning and then rode my bike over to Starbucks for a cup of coffee. I'm addicted to a tall, 1/2 decaf, soy, caramel latte. In fact, I go there so often that they know what it is I want and I sometimes don't even have to say it! It is so beautiful today. I enjoyed my bike ride a lot.

Yesterday, I went with a friend to Embroidery town. It is amazing! I can't believe we've never been before. Just shop after shop of framed, embroidered pictures. We had a good time and this is my first extended time away from Zuri ever. He was attached to me the rest of the day because he missed me so much but I guess that's to be expected and accepted as the consequence of getting out of the house alone for longer than a trip to the grocery store!

Elias has swimming lessons today during PE.

Ezra is beginning to speak Chinese. It's different from how Elias is learning it. For Ezra, it's almost like he doesn't really know it and then he just up and says something and you're surprised. So we'll send him to a local kindergarten again next year (just have to find which one) so that he can get an even better grip on it.

Ooops, there's Zoobo awake. :) Have a good day!

The long awaited video of a laughing Zuri!

Finally, Brad brought the video camera back home. Please, please excuse the stupid noises I make.

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