Sebastien at TWENTYONE months

Sebastien stays still just long enough to have his photo taken... and then he's off!His Council of friends has Thomas the Tank Engine as permanent members - and really, we should be including his cars and trucks that are semi-permanent extensions of his arms.
Here is Alex (with Daddy) at the same age:
He still has those baby blues, though they are grey in some lights. He is not yet at the stage of posing for photos although he is aware that phones take photos as so many people take his photo with their phone cameras and then show him the pictures.Just like his sister, he has taken to wearing Mummy's hair elastics as bracelets. Unlike his sister, he doesn't insist on pushing them right up to his bicep (and risk cutting off the circulation) - he is content to have them around his wrists.
Still adores his sister and will insist on joining the hugs and kisses line at the door each morning as she and Daddy head out to school. His hug needs a little work though as it's more like a "lean in and headbutt"... He does offer his check to you to kiss,should you so desire.

Also like his sister, he is a fan of the sound of high heels. His sister has inherited two pairs from previous Fulbrighters and so there is no need to fight...
Along with the baby blues is a crop of golden curls that really spring up in the humidity. Mummy remembers that Alex had curls too...until her haircut. But we will need a trim at the back soon as it is getting rediculously long - though nothing on top.
Sebastien is delighted whenever the crayons come out and utilises a "two fisted" approach to his art. We guess that this is the best way to achieve maximum coverage.He is existing on a 'white diet' - oats and milk and fruit for breakfast (his bowl is bigger than his Daddy's, no lie), a sandwich of (usually) jam for lunch with some more fruit and rice for dinner. We're slowly introducing different tastes with the rice but it has been a real struggle.

His routine has started to change, with the (sometimes) merging of the morning and afternoon naps into one mega-long midday nap (of sometimes 2.5 hours). He will bring you his shoes to let you know that he wants to go outside and now that it's summer, will point to his cap and sunglasses (and Mummy's cap) to make sure we're all suitably attired for the outside world.

At long last he will let Mummy or Daddy finish brushing his teeth though he hasn't got the "teeth together so we can brush the outside" bit quite yet. He has been sitting on the potty morning and night (because he's started saying "Pooh" after he's done one) with nothing happening - other than getting straight off the potty and doing his pooh in the empty and dry shower 5 minutes later...

He talks up a storm, in his own words, but also uses american sign language, english and chinese words to communicate - oh, and the more-than-occasional grunt'n point! He loves story books and will often get his sister's books and "read" them to himself.

His routine for bedtime includes dinner, shower, pj's, teeth, story, nursing and bedtime (complete with song chosen by his sister). And he knows what the routine is - turning around from placing the book back on the shelf, making the sign for milk whilst saying "muhlk" and running straight for Mummy on the couch, launching himself those last two steps so that if she wasn't ready to catch him...

Nursing is slowly being reduced, this is one kid who would not self-wean. Mummy doesn't want to cut him off completely until after his operation (by 18 months Alex was weaned) but he is down to twice or three times each day.

When he's tired, or just wants to be held, he'll jam his hands under your armpits - not nice if his nails need a trim. He still sleeps on his tummy and insists on being covered by his version of his sister's cool quilt. He still goes to bed at 7pm but has started waking a little later than 5 - 5.30am which has been nice for his parents. We are trying to train him to wait until the alarm goes before getting out of bed - and setting the alarm a little later each time.

Hmm, let me think... he's not really one for songs though "If you're happy and you know it" is one that he'll ask for again and again. He's definitely an action boy, always out and about. He's started walking backwards and trying to balance on whatever is around. He knows when he is doing something you asked him not to as he'll look sideways at you, start to smile a cheeky little smile and shuffle in the direction of trouble. Usually that is Mummy's computer in her room. Which leads me to him having a "thinking" time out in his room - which he hates. Just wait until the minute and a half gets boosted to two minutes in September! He still has a tendancy to hit when he isn't getting his way, although 4 out of 10 times he'll just stand there with his arm straight up in the air - paralysed - because he wants to but knows he'll get taken to his room.

I can't believe he's almost two already! The past couple of years have definitely passed quickly (possibly aided by an insomnious-induced haze). Hopefully we can get him to sit still long enough to get some vital statistics for his birthday!

Learning Chinese V

Mummy and Daddy's mandarin has taken a back seat as life takes over - but Alex has still injected some mandarin into our everyday lives.

Here is a smattering of vocabulary we have learnt over the past few months:

come here - go lai (have to find this somewhere)
there - nar (narr) 那儿
hold (my) hand - tens wo (have to find this somewhere)
careful! - xiao xin! (she-ow shin) 小心
adorable - ke ai (ker-eye) 可爱
doll - wawa (wah-wah) 娃娃
candy - tang guo (tang gewoh) 糖果
I don't have -mei you (may-oh) 没有
a little - you dian ( )有点
yes - shi (shuh) 是 in answer to a question say shi de (shuh de) 是的
no - bu shi (boo shuh) 不 是
left -zuo ce (dzwoh chuh) 左侧
right - you bian (yo been) 右边
now - xian zai (shi-en z-eye) 现在

Alex's words IX

Alex with her new comb for school - using it like a phone after a conversation about this really cool Barbie phone she'd seen that made all these neat noises...

Mummy: are you talking on the phone?
Alex: takes the comb away from her ear, looks at it, looks at Mummy and says with a smile "no silly, this is a comb Mummy. I'm just using it like a phone."

Silly Mummy.

Alex's class has been learning english a few times a month at XiaDa Yi Er Yuan and she loves it - mainly because a lot of it is dancing and singing but also because her parents are derelict in their english teaching duties (they aren't sending her to english school either, shhh) and aren't teaching her any - hrmph! She came home last week telling us that they were learning animal names and one of them was "dun-key"...ah, no Alex, that would be "don-key". With a stamp of her foot, a hand on her (nonexistent) hips and a shake of her head she said "No Mummy, teacher said it is 'dun-key'!"

Silly Mummy.

Sebastien at EIGHTEEN months

Sebastien passed the eighteen month milestone in March - around the same time as Alex turned four. Alex was eighteen months in September 2006. Here is Alex at eighteen months first with Aunty Chelle going down the curly slide at Scotts Head caravan park/beach and then on her own in the best t-shirt I ever bought her - I don't do pink! She has enough hair to have little pigtails on each side of her head.Sebastien on the other hand is still pretty bald. He has a smattering of curls at the back of his head which really spring up in high humidity and a tuft that refuses to lie flat on top. Here he is (briefly) with his Council of friends (which Thomas the Tank Engine is a member of).Sebastien is much more steady on his feet - he's even running now though usually it's in conjunction with a chasing game. He loves wearing necklaces, especially Mardi Gras beads. He has had four back molars come in and now canines are starting to make their appearance. He seemed to be much more affected by teething than Alex was.

He has very many more words and perhaps because we are in China, "car" has become his most spoken word - be it in ka-che (truck), ni car (kan=look) or just plain car - which he will follow up sometimes with qiche (tchee-tchur) in case you didn't understand.

He has taken to hitting if he doesn't get his way - something that Alex had started doing when she first started at chinese preschool - but we are hoping that will stop soon. He has twelve teeth (four front top and bottom plus four rear molars) with a few canines starting their way through the gums on the top. He also has discovered the delight of biting - usually clothes but recently when in a tantrum this was the result.He also loves his "car" which is stored on our balcony when not being used in the courtyard.He really loves his belly which he calls "beyey", and gets upset if he is in a onesie and cannot lift his shirt to put his hand on his belly.He loves his big sister and comes running to the front door when she gets back from school each day. We will usually happily do whatever she is doing - which works out great for her.He is slowly working out how the world works. The chinese have these electric children's rides everywhere and Sebastien loves to get on them and spin the wheel. One day he saw someone else put some money in the slot and the ride actually moved so he asked Mummy for some money - all I had was half a kuai in a note and here is the result.Yes, trying to swap it for a coin!

It is hard to get him to sit still. He will bring his shoes to you to go outside and loves walking on different uneven surfaces - he has discovered the sound that metal covers make when you walk over them and makes a beeline for any that he sees. He is able to go down one step without holding on - a problem when that one step is at the top of a flight. He still holds your hand wo go up stairs and leads with the same foot for each step - sometimes he just gives up and drops to all fours to get up the steps. When he is a happy boy his laugh is infectious - but he has yet to really wake up happy and we usually wake to him crying in the mornings. He is still waking at 5.30am so Daddy has taken to running several mornings a week at that time as he is up anyway. He still naps twice a day though is trying to convert to once a day. He is happiest when he is driving his cars, trucks or trains around the coffee table or floor and has just worked out the magnetic hook-up between Thomas and Percy.

A guest post from 黄柏学 (Huang Bo Xue, Porter)

While Lys and Seb were in Australia, I bartered my English skills for some babysitting with a Chinese family. Every Saturday morning I would help the two children of the family to learn English and on Sunday morning they would look after Alex while I lectured. Porter has been kind enough tell us all about Alex's adventure on Gulangyu, a small tourist island just a 5 minute ferry ride from Xiamen.

On Sunday morning my family and I went to the Gulang islet. When we got off the boat, first we just walked around the island to see everywhere. Then we took lots of pictures of many places. When the time was near 12 o’clock, we looked for a place to eat lunch. We found the famous place to eat lunch in Gulang islet. We ate the fish ball soup. When we took the boat back to Xiamen, we had to buy the tickets first. When we got on the boat there were so many people. Alex was tired, she couldn’t stand properly.

Being a laowai in China

Now that we're coming up to our one year anniversary in China (13th August) I can honestly say that it's been intense. Apart from the first couple of weeks and finding a place to live, life in China has been confronting a lot of the time.

Here are just a few examples for the blog record.

Shopping. As a laowai, everyone is interested in you. More so when you have a child with you but there still is a little curiosity when you are alone as well. I still cannot enjoy the shopping experience here - most shops are small (around 3-4m by 4-5m) which means that just looking or browsing is difficult. Although I have perfected "Wo yao kankan (看看)" - I want to (only) look - I still get followed around by shop assistants. It appears that they are at your shoulder to jump to your assistance at a moment's notice but I can't shake the feeling of being watched for shoplifting. Maybe that's a product of my western shopping experience where that would be the reason you were being followed by a shop assistant. Also, when I go food shopping at a large store such as the chinese version of Walmart or Trustmart I constantly have curious people glancing in my trolley to see what the laowai is buying. Perhaps they think it strange because it is never meat or vegetables (we rarely cook ourselves) so it makes me wonder what they are thinking.

Bus. Although quite rude, as perceived by western eyes, because they don't believe in queueing and make free (and frequent) use of elbows to get "there" first, they are surprisingly defferential once on the bus. Young people will stand for older people to sit (even in seats that aren't specifically designated for older people as well as for pregnant women and people with young (say under 6 years old) children. When a bus is standing room only, this is one time I am happy to have Alex or Sebastien with me as we get offered a seat. Conversely it is difficult to get people to accept that you might not want a seat (if you are only going a few stops).

Market. When we go shopping for fruit at the local market it is usually just Sebastien and me (unless it's on the weekend) and he loves it. Often we are surrounded by grandmothers who aren't backward about coming out to let you know that your child is wearing insufficient clothes, too many clothes, no hat, that you should be doing something about those mosquito bites, etc etc. They are very intrigued with the clothing choices we make as chinese seem to wear long sleeves and trousers (and even a sweater/jumper) well into when I'd call it summer and the weather is hitting the 30s(90s) with humidity building. Very often they will finger Sebastien's outift and count the number of layers and shake their heads firing off a rapidfire sentence, the gist of which is he should be wearing more.

There are other ways that being a laowai in China is intense - I'll not start on childproofing - but I shall leave it here for this post.

Sebastien at FIFTEEN months!

No official doctor visit to work out stats so a comparison is in order - if only for nostalgic reasons. For Alex, fifteen months was June 2006 whilst for Sebastien it was December 2008. The most obvious difference is the amount of hair either of them had - pretty amazing to me.

Alex was still sleeping in the pack'n play - and hadn't yet worked out how to climb out of it. Sebastien was sleeping on a mattress on the ground in China but we were visiting Australia so it was a pack'n play for him too - and he hadn't worked out climbing either.Alex and her Council of friends at 15 months:Sebastien and his Council of friends (and sister) at 15 months:Both apparently have fetishes - Alex's was shoesSebastien's is cars (though shoes will come in the next quarter year).Alex spent time as a singleton with Mummy and Daddy - and was a great helper whether with the shopping or the crossword.But Sebastien has little interest in helping unless it is to bring a book for him to be read.For both this was their last time in the carrier - Alex in Alaska Sebastien even got to ride on the back - Sebastien in Xiamen China.Alex was more of an accomplished walker by now - Sebastien is still finding his feet. Alex was not interested in climbing (except for the 29 steps to our apartment) whereas Sebastien is up and off!Both of them prefer "real" books to board books.Verbally, Alex was using more american sign language by now - we were reading board books that reinforce that. Sebastien hasn't had that exposure. Sebastien is still a clingy child comparatively speaking. Where Alex was happy to go with whomever, Sebastien still prefers Mamma. Neither of them had a pacifier but Alex at this age still had "cloth" and took cloth with her where-ever she went if possible.

And now for some video:

I think I'll do another walk down memory lane next quarter.

Here's Alex walking and the Sebastien climbing.

A TCM adventure

Our friendly Fulbright family is due to go back to America in a week - we are very sad.

I decided it was time to take Ellie out to experience a traditional chinese medicine foot massage - Brett's colleague Linlin had taken me there almost three months ago. It is a highly regarded traditional chinese medicine place that offers many different treatments including different types of body massage, foot massage, herbal baths, and cupping. Perhaps one day Iwill be adventurous enough to try fire cupping.

So I dropped Sebastien off with Daddy and Alex at the West Gate bus stop and left amid tumultuous crying from Alex who just knew Mummy was doing something exciting without her.

And so it was that I led an apprehensive Ellie up a couple of flights of escalators - we had been met at the door by a lady kitted out in a baby pink nursing outfit complete with starched hat - and used my rudimentary chinese to convey that we wanted to have a foot massage and that I would pay for a VIP room.

We were then shown to a VIP room which had a western toilet and a wooden bath in two small cubicles, two chairs and footrests in front of a big screen television, and then behind a partial screen were three massage tables complete with face holes. Being a VIP room meant that we were also served tea and slices of fruit (it had been a plate of juzi (橘子 joo-tse: oranges but more like mini mandarins) on Mummy's last visit). Here's Ellie having changed into room slippers and awaiting the arrival of our masseuses. The two masseuses that gave us massages brought in wooden buckets of heated water - the temperature was bearable. The water also contained some herbs and other unidentifiable items. We were happy that the wooden bucket was lined with a plastic bag as there is always a hygiene concern.Once both feet are fully submerged in the water, we moved across to sit on the footstool and receive a neck/shoulder and arm massage. Our massages were different according to what muscles needed work. Then it was time to move back to the chairs and take our feet out of the buckets. The buckets were removed and the foot massage began. I was asked whether I had high blood pressure - possibly because my feet/ankles were a little swollen from the hot water - but nope, not that had been previously diagnosed, so we were good to continue. There is a list (in hanzi) of the conditions that, should you have them, mean you shouldn't have particular treatments. I had asked Linlin previously what they included and thankfully none applied to me.The massage was different to any I've experienced in the West - part of the time they used this little device, holding the wooden part in their hand and using the metal on your foot,which was run around the tops of the toes and up and down various parts of the sole of the foot. If you are ticklish this would be difficult to endure although sometimes it can be quite painful. The massage extended up the shins and calves - with the shins being the most painful part of the massage for me. Then our masseuses left for a few minutes leaving us to enjoy our fruit and tea.
They then returned with two small bags of heated stones wrapped in a towel which we placed the soles of our feet and achilles on. Then they were used to massage the legs. Finally our masseuses brought in some smaller buckets of plain heated water - still lined with plastic - to rinse off the creams and lotions used in the massage. And we were done! We both sat there for a few moments just enjoying the feeling of looseness of our feet. All up it was about an hour and a quarter for 80 kuai each - very reasonable.Then we headed off for dinner at the Coyote Bar - and a margarita - to finish off the evening. This is definitely something I will be doing again and perhaps I will venture to have a body massage too!

Out with the ladies

Recently Mummy was invited to come along on an expat adventure. Her friend, Ellie, has been regularly getting together with other expat mums from the school her two eldest attend and heading out to see different places in and around Xiamen. They have had some interesting times indeed and today I was to join them. The itinerary (well actually that is a pretty loose term for it as Ellie explained) was to see a flower exhibition place followed by Tenfu's tea museum and be back in time to collect children from school. As Daddy has finished his face-to-face teaching for the semester, he kindly worked from home so as to look after Sebastien for the day.

Mummy took Alex to school (of itself a terrific treat for her) and then went to the Marco Polo area to meet up with the group. We were to be a large group of twelve in two cars - some expats who are here working for international companies have the use of cars and local drivers which they kindly shared for the occasion. The driver today, Scott, was a gem in that he also spoke good english. We set off and the discussion was lively and informative - usually on different trips that people had been on, the good and bad of them.

Pretty soon (after an hour and a half) we arrived at the flower exhibition. The entry price was 80RMB each which we baulked at and Scott negotiated a 50% discount for the group - in part because there was no electricity at the site today and, presumably, we'd be unable to ride in the ajoining amusement park. We were offered the use of electric golf carts for a further 10RMB but declined in order to walk around for the hour or so a tour would take. The guide spoke in Mandarin - and the group was fortunate to include several ladies who speak sufficient Mandarin to translate for us and were happy enough to do so.

The tour took us through several sections of the exhibit which were showing signs of neglect.

The first part included this rockgarden - a little different to what Mummy is used to.

The trees here were mainly bonsai-ed with this particularly old tree revered as it is perceived as being lucky. If you look closely (and half turn your head and squint your eyes - as the joke went) you might see the bottom of the trunk looks like a sea turtle with the head out the front and the front flipper to the side with the tree sprouting from its back.

And a poem wall that was hanzi written top to bottom in strips.The second section consisted of planted plants - including a shade area with pond. Here's Ellie checking out a plant that provides water to drink - in the desert.I wasn't sure what was planned for this planting bed - it looked as though empty glass bottles were being used to "beef up" the soil to create a wall?We did come across a little bit of Chinglish - Your choices areWe weren't able to work out what rubbish constitutes "assaulter" other than what one lady suggested - batteries - although I figure recyclable and non-recyclable works just fine.

We didn't really get to see the third section - to be production glasshouses of plants (flowers and vegetables/fruit) - as the doors were locked. We passed some miniturised houses of various styles on the way back to the entry. By then we had seen enough and it was time to head on to the Ten Fu tea museum and perhaps some lunch.

We knew that we didn't have a long time to see the tea museum - and not enough time to do so and also eat lunch - if we were to make it back before 4pm. Part of the group had lunch at a small restaurant whilst the remainder got started on the museum. The museum was wonderful - they had an english speaking guide as well. First we went upstairs to see the many displays on tea and tea making. How refreshing to see displays that included pretty good english in the descriptions as well as the headings - and it was also better than the usual chinglish seen at many tourist spots.

There were many displays and our limited time meant that we really only scratched the surface. Of particular interest to Mummy was the museum section which showed how tea had been preserved in the past. Sometimes as medallions with images or names on them, or as pieces of a chinese game, and

sometimes as a giant disc that was displayed in the hall.

There were static displays of various teapots and tea cups among other displays - here are displayed two dynasty's different tea habits.

A sample of the displays we passed.

Discs of tea were dried over coals whilst on metal rods.

I'm sure that at a different time we would have had a chance to take a closer look at this intriguing set up next to the stairs.

The museum grounds were very well landscaped and we appeared to be the only tourists there. Signposts showed the way and many tea trees were planted around. Once we'd finished at the tourist center, we also went to see the on-site calligraphy gallery (not as interesting to Mummy) and both the Korean and the Japanese tea houses. Unfortunately we were too early for their scheduled tea ceremony performances and weren't able to convince them to change it (or stay to see them).

By then it was time to leave - though we did have time to sample some pu'er tea (tastes a little too earthy for Mummy) and a cold flower tea. Some of the group purchased some tea from the shop. On the way home we passed a "Tea College" where students take up to two years to learn the art of tea production.

Ellie and Mummy caught the bus back to Xia Da with her two eldest children, not something that they like her to do - it's kind of embarassing to have your mom come along for the ride. Mummy said her goodbye's and thankyous and then went to collect Alex from the West Gate school bus stop. What a great day!