Ander @ 18 months

If I were being honest, part of why Ander has been M.I.A. from the blog lately is because he is way too busy to sit still, let alone smile and look towards a camera. When I try I end up paying for it:

 Why does he look giddy? Because he just whacked my keyboard as hard as he could, a favorite past time of his. And yes, he always is that proud of himself after.

 And otherwise I get a lot of shots of him running this way...

And running that way... Riveting stuff, ya know?

**Overall, at 18 months Ander is a really great kid. A few things that I've found to be atypical is that he doesn't play with toys. I mean, occasionally he will play with a hotwheels car at church for a few minutes, but inevitably that turns into hurling the surprisingly heavy piece of metal at the Chinese guy's head, sitting in the pew in front of us. 

**Which brings us to the subject of throwing and kicking, most of the time, balls. But if he has the phone in his hand and he decides to to pitch it, you can kiss that phone good bye. Because this boy can throw, and kick, and he does it all the day long. 

**As I mentioned he doesn't like toys. So that leaves house hold items. He wasn't fooled by the fun little tyke-ish phone he got for his birthday, he only wants the real deal. He doesn't leave the phone alone for anything. He turns the answering machine off and on constantly, makes our IP phone beg for mercy and/or retirement. He runs from cupboard to cupboard taunting us that we haven't put child safety locks on them, and he really enjoys rearranging the kitchen while I'm cooking. I do hope our belongings can hang on until he moves on from this stage!

**Ander is a rough-houser and a wrestler. If any of the kids are sitting on the floor he will come up from behind and jump on their back, hoping to get something good going. We've been told they have to watch him in Nursery because if Ander sees an opportunity (so, any poor babe sitting on the floor) he will try to climb on their back. Kohen will indulge this kind of play anytime, anywhere so Ander lucked out there.

**One problem is that Ander figured out how to tackle Aly, and in the beginning he even got Kohen a couple times when he was caught off guard. But Ander comes up behind Aly, hugs her around her waist, then drops his weight and twists to one side, taking Aly down EVERY, SINGLE time. The thing is, Aly usually falls right on top of him so we've had occasional tears over that but it doesn't seem to stop the kid. 

I've tried several times to get video of this but it happens pretty spontaneously. Kennedy was being a good sport one night and letting him "get her" and you can get an idea of his tactics. 

**Another thing I'm hoping is just a phase is recently being accident prone. Nothing serious, but I have glued his eyebrow shut twice in two months, and he also fell and bit into his lip pretty badly. It took several weeks to heal (which seems a long time for a cut in the mouth) and is the first time I really waffled about him needing stitches. Of course all of these things seem to happen when Nathan is not home. Let's hope it's just a phase, shall we?
**Talking? This subject should be easy- Ander doesn't speak. "Dad" is the only word he will say consistently. He knows a few signs regarding food and he seems entirely satisfied with that. He is capable of saying about 10 words but he just won't. So there you go.
**Lastly, Ander is a serious mama's boy and I adore it and eat up every second. I've never had one of my children be this old but still climb up in my lap and snuggle in to watch 30+ min of a movie. He just plugs his fingers in and snugs and I eat it up, willing these moments to stamp into my memory! There is just something about a person who goes 100 mph all day who will only stop for a snug from you.

**So to overcome the picture problem we've been having, I took the camera into his room when I went to get him up, because he is super happy and gloriously contained! Wahlah!

PS- contrary to what this post would have you believe, Ander does in fact own clothes and even wears them on occasion.

HK Asia Women's Conference 2011

Last weekend I was able to go to Hong Kong to attend the Asia Women's Conference again. It is kind of like a Time Out for Women but specialized for expatriot women in Asia. Since I have spent the last 9 months, at least, chasing after Ander during church and never getting to hear more than two sentences strung together, it was so nice to get to choose which classes I got to go to and what I wanted to learn about. It was great. 

We had one lady who spoke, tell us all about this orphanage up in the mountains outside of Cheng du, China. She had video of the children and some of the English songs and things they have taught them. I felt so humbled and privileged to be able to do a service project while at the conference, for these sweet children. We spent quite a bit of time making alphabet cards (among other things) so that each child would have their very own set. I love how living over seas seems to bring more opportunities to be involved in things like this. 

What was not cool, however, was the frantic text I received from Nathan shortly after 5pm on Friday. He had tried to call but for a time all of the lines were busy. After the earthquake hit in Japan it was only a matter of minutes before Nathan received multiple texts and emails from TAS and our car leasing company etc. warning us of the tsunami warning that had been issued for Taiwan. 

There was also one for HK and Nathan new that our plans likely involved being somewhere around the harbor that evening... Thankfully we were able to confirm shortly thereafter that although Japan was just beginning to understand their crisis, we were in no real danger in HK or Taiwan. 

Largely unaware of how bad things were in Japan, we headed out for a girls night in HK.

Ahh, there is just so much to love about Asia. Here are two puckered examples.

 This is a store we found in a night market that had all these wigs and hair pieces...

 I would've pimped out my girl's dress ups if the stuff hadn't been so expensive. It was almost like they were selling this stuff to be worn seriously...     Curious.

 Aly saw this picture and told me that our hair looked "lovely".

 One thing about Asian Night Markets is that your poor nose will be subjected to all manner of offensive smells. By far the worst offender would be Stinky Tofu. That stuff will burn your nose hairs out. And it's unavoidable. So at dinner that night I received a special gift in the form of a lemon wearing panties. The original purpose of the "panties" is to keep the seeds from falling in your food when you are squeezing the lemon juice onto your food.

 But, because I am resourceful I brought the lemon wearing panties out on the town with us. Every time there was an offensive smell, I sniffed away unabashedly. It worked like a charm. Except with the Stinky Tofu. The lemon didn't even take the edge off.

 Saturday after classes we headed to the Hong Kong temple. It was a great way to end the conference.
Nicole? Um, how is it that this is the only picture I have of you from the whole weekend?! Not okay!

Me with Lori, my roommate this trip. You know, if you stay up late enough in the night you really get to know your friends a lot better. You are welcome to use my lemon, Lori ;)

PS~ Nathan gets the father of the year award because two of the kids had the stomach flu while I was gone and the other two had nasty cough/colds. The flu resulted in a lot of carnage. It was gory and Nathan was exhausted- but I still came home to a clean house and children in bed. How is it that he does my job as well as, if not better than me?! Thank you and I Love you Nathan!!!! xoxo

Kohen's Angry Birds

Are you familiar with the new craze that is Angry Birds? Well, shortly after Nathan discovered it, our children were introduced. In the game the birds are angry because the pigs stole their eggs and so now you sling shot different birds at different structures with pigs inside, and try to knock it all down. It's fairly addictive.

 Last week when Kohen was home with a cough/cold I came upon his own home made version of Angry Birds. Everything was there, the different sized and colored "Birds" ^....

And then his elaborate structures with "pigs" (represented with knights) that he would then try and knock down with his "birds". He spent forever setting it up and knocking it down over and over.
You can accidentally waste a lot of time playing Angry Birds on your phone or iPad. Turns out you can do the same playing it in real life. Somehow I'm fine with that.

Moments

I looked out the window the other day to check on the kids and look what I found. One of those moments, those rare moments in parenthood where you let yourself think, hey, we might actually be doing alright.

Aaand then those moments eventually melt into some sort of sibling scuffle, so I was grateful to have captured this one for my own memory.

Curls and a Quote

 *Curls are thanks to Curlformers. Love em.
    (view courtesy of our farmer neighbors)

A recent conversation with AlyCat at dinner:
Aly:   Mom, where did Sammy go? You know, the one from Child's World?
Me:   She lives in China now, remember?
Aly:   (Horrified) They put bandages on her toes and bent them off?!!!


(I believe she would be referring to a time when she overheard me explaining what foot binding was to Kennedy... woops)

Never Quite...Right

This picture is the perfect visual of expat life in Taiwan.
In the mood for some good ol Nachos? Too bad. This is as good as it gets.
I saw the real nacho cheese first and I was thinking, no way, real nachos? What are the chances that cheese isn't disgusting? Mmm, slim. But I decided what the heck, and ordered some.
Imagine my horror surprise when they loaded them up with Doritos.
What? Why?! I know there are tortilla chips on this island so why can't I have some with this (not so bad) cheese?! Where is the disconnect?
It's like they almost get it... but just not quite.
What don't they understand about the definition of Nachos being tortilla chips and cheese sauce? Did they think it was fine cuz they are the same shape? Or did some one think the cheesiness of the cheese sauce just wasn't enough? That using Doritos would take things to the proverbial next level?
Because it doesn't.
Not only does it not look right- therefore I was already prejudging on the taste- but the cheese sauce is almost canceled out by the taste of the Doritos.
THIS IS A CRIME AGAINST NACHOS, nay AMERICAN FOOD, even AMERICANS!

Moral of the story: Never get excited about comfort food from home (or anything). They don't "get it" here, therefore, neither do you.

Kohen Quote of the Day

Tonight during Friday Night Movie Night there was a preview for The Man From Snowy River. It was an emotional, moving preview. Kohen was entranced. As soon as the preview ended Kohen jumps up and says to me, "Can I be a man like that?!!! Can I be a man like that?!!!"
Surprised by his excitement I say, "Yes, of course."
Without hesitation he follows with, "But where will I find my horse?"

Strawberry Farm

 Kohen recently had a field trip to a Strawberry Farm and I was able to go with. I was curious about said farm seeing as Strawberries are really quite expensive here. I brought over all this Sure-jell thinking I could continue making delicious strawberry jam only to be bitterly disappointed to discover they are hard to find and super expensive.

 The farm was really well kept considering what we are used to around these parts. I was impressed. There was a pig that Kohen had no problem communicating with, he'd snort and the pig would snort back, endless fun.

 Not the best pic (he had his neck all scrunched down) but this bird was with chickens who had laid eggs recently, and it strutted around just like a rooster but that's as far as I am willing to venture in my guess as to what it is.

 When it was Kohen's class's turn to pick they were each given a little pair of scissors and a basket and they started out. While I was trying to help Kohen's buddy get the right number of the right size berry that he had chosen to pick, Kohen was clipping happily away. Before I could barely turn around he had clipped a dozen of the smallest, most jaundice looking strawberries. Luckily I knew when it came time to eat them,  Kohen would be up for it.

There really were some gorgeous berries, and they were delish. I ended up picking 12 large strawberries and by weight they cost me 200NT which is somewhere around $6. And though I felt fine about it at the time, upon reflection, it was not an amazing deal. About average, though I have never seen such large and red strawberries in the markets. 

But it's the experience we're supposed to remember, right?! And I think being out of school, eating good food, and being with Mom, is always a good time for Kohen.

Gone Shrimpin'

 On one of our days off we decided to look into "Shrimping". We had heard about it before and decided we needed to try it out. On this one random road there are a whole bunch of little shrimpin places. Apparently, the one we went to was the nice indoor one.

We got a couple of poles and some ^ bait, which was disgusting. Little dried baby shrimp and some sort of liver... or other... part. I dunno, but gross.
I will say though, that of the families that came with us, Nathan was the only one man enough to bait the hooks. I was proud of my Idaho Boy, not gonna lie. Do I want any part of baiting the hook? No. Does it kinda turn me on that my hubby just digs in with both hands? Disturbingly, yes. It must be my Idahoan roots behind that attraction.

 Anyway, after your 2 little hooks on the end of each line are baited by my Man, you simply throw your line in, sit back and wait. and wait.... aaaand wait some more. It was a very full house the afternoon we were there and I think that had to do with our lack of luck. But after a while, Nathan of course snagged one.

 Dang these are ugly creatures. Can I get an "AMEN!"?

 But it was still really exciting to pull one up out of the water. Kohen, of course, was absolutely in the middle of the action without hesitation.

Aly experienced some... hesitation. 

 To illustrate the classy- ness of the joint, I had to get a picture of the owner puffing away like a chimney right next to the giant "No Smoking" sign. Unfortunately, actions speak louder than words as the patrons had no problem lighting up either. Yuck.

 In the end, at two different times I had a shrimp on the hook but right as it came out of the water it escaped. Dang! Nathan caught two and our friends son caught six. He was the Shrimp Whisperer. In the end he was just showing off when he pulled up a shrimp and there was a second shrimp just hanging onto the first shrimp! It was crazy.
But that was it. No one else in our group had luck.

 The owners must've felt bad cuz they just gave us some more shrimp before showing us how to rinse, skewer, and salt the still live shrimp. eew.

 Kennedy was surprisingly okay with this portion of the process. I think she was glad to finally get her hands on some shrimp one way or another.

 We threw the shrimp on the barbie (said with my best Australian accent) and let em roast for a while.

 Pretty soon it was time to dig in....
Or was it?
Let's just say they also got a firsthand lesson on when a shrimp is not fully cooked. I say "they" because I  had no part in the eating. Shrimp and I are tentative friends and I only can handle them under certain circumstances. Eyes and antennae still attached is not one of them.

 Eventually the shrimp were fully cooked and a small shrimp feast took place.

 Though his face here may lead you to believe otherwise, Kohen LOVES shrimp and even ate his fair share of these questionable ones.

At the end of the afternoon there was only crustacean carnage left to show for the whole adventure. I think next time we will come back when all the Chinese are back at work and we will catch them but pass on eating them there.
I mean, it's not exactly a Bubba Gump caliber operation but it made for some memories.

Swimming at the "Spa"

On our CNY break we did lot's of fun stuff just hanging around town. We went to the high school to cheer on our team in the Rugby championship games- can I just say, that is one brutal, physical game? Honestly, I'm not sure I'm even man enough to watch the games- the way they just crash into each other with out pads or helmets *cringe* But I loved learning all about the game, I like it a lot.

Tangled also came out in theaters here (FINALLY) so we obviously went and completely loved it. The fact that it only played in English and 3D is a vent I'll spare you but hello! way to rip off the foreigners. 

One afternoon our friends invited us to go swimming at an indoor place they had some passes to. The warmer pool where the kids could pretty much touch was where we spent our time. It was the pool with all the spa/water features.

As 5 kids cannon balled into the "spa" pool, I'm sure the quiet relaxation for the other patrons quickly drew to a close. Our kids had to try out each of the water features, of course.

They had fun with all of them but I tried to steer them clear of the one at the far left of ^this picture because, frankly, I was suspicious of just what the water was massaging. 

After a while the newness of the pounding water features wore off and they enjoyed themselves just swimming around.

These bubble bath bed things were the favorite and were how they finished off their swim. It was a great afternoon with friends.

The Year of the Rabbit

For Chinese New Year the Kindergartners do something called The Red Market. Lot's of fun food and all sorts of activities in all of the different rooms. I got to work in the "Beauty Booth" and I did lot's of little heads of hair which was fun.

As usual Ander was an amazingly good sport. I was asked to do hair at the last minute so Ander had to just hang out in his stroller for a looong time. He entertained himself for quite some time with Kohen's hat, and Kohen would bring Ander a piece of pizza every 15 min or so and that helped a lot.

 Each class had made a dragon out of all of their hands which looked neat I thought.

 They had Chinese character painting, dragon tatoos, Fishing, musical chairs, a chopstick and M&M game, face paintings etc. I was impressed, it was really well run and the kids made some good memories.

Fun to see the different outfits, and I especially love Kohen's impromptu "Rabbit paws".

We have this week off for Chinese New Year so there will be more to come. But for now let me be the first to wish you Happy Chinese New Year, the year of the Rabbit. Xin nian kuai le!!!!