Other guests

Forgot to mention we had another guest at our house.

Michael found him on the lane in front of our house. He's an Eastern box turtle (and by he I mean the turtle). The red eyes let us know that he is a he (again, talking about the turtle here). We (this time referring to Michael and me and maybe even T though she somehow missed the entire Mr. Turtle episode) were hoping we could add him to our pond but it turns out that box turtles can't live in ponds so we (see previous note) have put that plan on hold.

Bye Natalie

Today was Natalie's last day with us before taking off on a fast plane tomorrow. As she is pretty much our first guest who was not family, she had this strange request to see the city. We've been trying to get in all the necessary tourist activities checked off. Unfortunately for her, I was her tour guide and know pretty much nothing about Cincinnati. Luckily we had a GPS and a car and a (mild) sense of adventure. Among our successes were UDF malts and the exploration of Old Town Milford which had some good restaurants and this really yummy cupcake restaurant that will require another tasting or 2 or maybe 3. Then tonight, after stuffing ourselves silly at the Montgomery Inn we went for a walk along the Ohio river and came across this small amphitheater. The leaves have started to change and it was very peaceful even with the chasing of the squirrels.

Tourists

One of the unexpected joys of having Natalie visit is that she actually wants to see Cincinnati. While it is shocking that there is anyone who doesn't just want to spend the entire day basking in the glow known as Tovina it has been much fun to actually look around the city. We've been down to Fountain Square downtown Cincinnati and explored the main street of downtown Milford which I have driven through many many times and never managed to stop in. We've eaten some yummy food and checked out some little stores. Its been very educational. Who would have guessed that all of that was so close by?

Still...

We're still a household of unfortunate illness. What makes this timing particularly amusing is that we have a friend (who we met in China but now lives in the US) visiting. We have apologized for inviting her into our house of plague, but it is really too late to change anything so she is dealing - and with a smile which is really more than I could hope for.

Actually, even more than a smile, Natalie is cooking with us :)

Last night we had matzoh ball soup (in honor of the general level of malaise) and tonight we made peanut, sesame and spicy noodles with chicken and a side salad of cabbage and bean sprouts. Was quite yummy. Even Tovina liked it the 1st time she tasted it.

More about Pip - not Pico (updated blog)

Had a couple more shots of the little dog like creature who is now in his new home.

First, Sheila trying to help him stop shivering.

Then Roxanne looking down from the balcony trying to figure out if that new thing was either a) food or b) a toy. Since she out weighed Pip by about 3:1, it was really her choice. (That would be the other reason Sheila held onto Pip- trying to remove that choice.)

And here are T and Pip almost playing together. What I really think is going on is that Tovina is trying to decide if Pip will fit in the red box the way her other toys do. She likes that red shape shorter because it has a handle that she can carry around and put on her shoulder. It Pip does fit in it then T will have her own personal dog in a purse.

(Just in case you were worried, Pip never had to sit in the red box.)
Update: I just went back and changed Pico's name to Pip. Pip was the dog we brought to Ohio from Texas via gulf shores. Pico was a long hair chihuahua that I had the pleasure of taking care of while in Florida. He was not nearly as adventurous as Pip though also a rescue dog. So sorry for any confusion I may have caused!

Aunt Mari's in the house!

In preparation for picking Mari up at the airport, Tovina and I had been looking at pictures of Mari. We have also been practicing saying Mari's name. Though it took some time, it all paid off when Mari approached Tovina at the airport and Tovina enthusiastically started waiving and blowing kisses. She even insisted that Aunt Mari, and not Mommy, carry her to the car. Then, in a moment of crowning glory, Tovina topped the whole thing off by saying hello to Aunt "Mwaree"!

*The fact that Tovina will waive enthusiastically to anyone who waives at her first should in no way dimish T's reaction to Mari.

A cold for everyone

The whole family has been getting and recovering from various colds, most of which we attribute to Beijing air. Michael succumbed first and passed it to his dad just in time for our guests' flights back to the States. I've had a little something but it mostly just made me tired. Tovina was our most recent victim. (Don't worry though, she is almost recovered already.) Her only symptoms were an impressively runny nose and a certain exhaustion that made her slightly more cranky than normal.

Here she is discussing her displeasure with me.

Hats

Given that Tovina is so fair she is practically transparent, we try to make sure she always wears a hat when in the sun. She usually pulls it off after 10 seconds, so we put it on her again.
And she pulls it off and throws it somewhere
And we pick it up off the ground and put it on her
And she pulls it off and sucks on it and then throws it away again
I bet you can guess what comes next.

While Grandpa and Aunt Sheila were here there were a few new options added to this exciting game, usually referred to as "other people's hats."
It goes like this:

Grandpa: Tovina look at the camera


Tovina: Yup, I see Mommy with the camera


Tovina: But I see cameras all the time and your hat looks much more interesting. In fact...


Tovina: I think it would look much better on me! Here, Let me just borrow it for a minute.

Hi family

Yay for family visits!
In spite of a last minute plane delay that almost cost them their connection, Michael's Dad and little baby sister Sheila have made it to Beijing!
Tovina was especially glad to see them again and waved for much of the first hour we were all together.

*Random footnote: If your spouse has a baby sister then by definition that person is also your baby sister. If is completely irrelevant if that person happens to be older than you. I'm just mentioning this in case it comes up sometime in the future for some reason.

That's us he's talking about!

ImageThief is a friend of ours and we were at his 40th birthday dinner last week. In fact, we gave him the bag with the M&Ms, white rabbits, and peanut butter that he talks about in his blog.

Here is Imagethief, his wife, and Mari.
And here is Bob (who was visiting from the states) with Tovina. And finally, here is Michael with his little girl.

Bye bye Mari

It was time for my mei mei to return home so Tovina said goodbye to her auntie M today. Unsurprisingly Tovina was able to handle the separation much better than her mother - and this is allowing for the fact that Tovina cried much of the way to and from the airport.

(We are told that some kids like riding in cars but we do not have much faith in such crazy stories. Though sometimes, if we are very, very, very lucky, Tovina will eventually fall asleep during a car ride.)

Visitors from State College

I really like conferences that bring friends into Beijing. Here is Phyllis entertaining the wee one before all of us went gallivanting off around town. This included a some local shopping, a vegetarian Budist lunch and a stop at Bodhi for a massage of course .

Slinging the baby

We just received a baby sling which is especially good for a sleepy Tovina as she likes to be held tightly when falling asleep. Mari has become something of an expert of sling wearing. The tricky part is trying to prevent Tovina from burying her head so far into the sling that it almost disappears.

The instructions recommend that you practice with a doll before trying it on an actual living baby. We don't have many dolls around, but we did find something on which to practice.

Auntie in the house!

This is Cara's sister Mari for those of you who have not met her. Oh, and the other one is Tovina.

Hello from Ohio

Today we had the treat of extended family visiting with us while on a tour. Here is Lu, myself, Tovina, Michael and Barb after a lovely dinner which Tovina slept through.
Tovina prepped for dinner by taking a series of naps in the afternoon. We appreciated her effort.

Just pics

It turns out that I have a lot less available time now that my folks are gone - so surprising :)
So there were no new pics taken today, but I still have plenty of shots from before my parents left. Here is Tovina trying to avoid the paparazzi.

And here is a study of little tiny feet.

Back to the States

My folks left Beijing today. Not sure who is going to burp and change and rock Tovina back to sleep after I feed her now. Clearly my sleep schedule will be up for a shock

First Massage

As I make sure we do when any guest visits, today I took our group went to Bodhi for massages. They didn't have a chair small enough for Tovina, so she slept instead - but we all enjoyed ourselves (including the masseurs who were continually shocked by just how little and young Tovina is.

And to answer some questions:
Her hair seems to be light brown right now though when we have her in the sun it looks red-ish.
Yes her belly button thing fell off last week and she seems to have an inny just like her mommy.
Her eyes are still a lovely blue and we apparently won't know more for at least another 6 months. From our family backgrounds they could be anything from deep blue, to green, to dark brown. Many options!
And as for her name - Tovina is not taken from any particular family member. There are some nice meanings behind it, but I am saving that for another post.

2 weeks!

This is the second Shabbat (Sabbath) we've been able to share with our daughter. Last week we went to services and this week we lit the candles at home. Its so special sharing the day with her.

She has been doing just fine at home with Cara's parents while Cara is at class and Michael is at work. Here she is sleeping after a full bottle of expressed milk.

And here are the other members of our household checking her out. As I recall, the lions at the zoo seem to sleep a lot too when you go to watch them.

Roxanne is thrilled that we have created new snuggly spaces in which she can hang out.

So busy...

My next MBA class started today. Mom and Dad stayed home with Tovina while I spent the required 10 hours at school (plus 1 hour of travel and 45 minutes of buffer).
I still have to finish some papers for class so that is all the update for today.