Saturday night Tovina learned to play some classic tunes with my classmate Hsiao at Wuminosachi's Japanese restaurant in Shanghai.
Unfortunately an actual piano was not available during filming.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Nice Hat
To keep the blazing Australian... ur... dimly seen Shanghai sun off her scarcely protected head, Tovina is now sporting her fancy newly borrowed hat. You can't see, but there is a great flap in the back that covers not only her head but also the back of the neck.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Almost ready
Tovina and I are heading to Shanghai again. As you can see, she is all ready with her outfit and jacket. If I was just a little quicker, she would also have been wearing socks in this picture.
Weekend retreat
The retreat was at Mutianyu, a nearby section of the great wall. We had outdoor services Friday night and Saturday morning and night as well as an outdoor Torah trup (singing) lesson. We didn't actually have services on the wall itself, but many people hiked over and then back at some point during the day.
One of the fun things about this weekend is how many children attended. Here are some of the girls sitting around after dinner Friday night.
`
And here is Tovina coveting Sophia's hair. There was a hair pulling incident at one point and we tried to explain that Tovina was 1) unaware that she was pulling because babies don't always know what they are doing and 2) just jealous.
Gabrielle and Tovina are involved in some serious Torah study.
Judy and Tovina ignoring some serious Torah study.
One of the fun things about this weekend is how many children attended. Here are some of the girls sitting around after dinner Friday night.
`And here is Tovina coveting Sophia's hair. There was a hair pulling incident at one point and we tried to explain that Tovina was 1) unaware that she was pulling because babies don't always know what they are doing and 2) just jealous.
Gabrielle and Tovina are involved in some serious Torah study.
Judy and Tovina ignoring some serious Torah study.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Expat Show
There was a vendor fair at the convention center across from our apartments today.
We stopped by and Tovina came home with this cool balloon.
The fair had also set up these 4 HUGE stuffed mascots for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. (There are actually 5 mascots for the games, but only 4 made it into the picture.)
What was extra fun was that after I sat Tovina down for this picture, a rather large crowd formed from passersby who all took her picture with the mascots. I am just waiting for her to appear on the front of some local Olympic magazine.
We stopped by and Tovina came home with this cool balloon.The fair had also set up these 4 HUGE stuffed mascots for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. (There are actually 5 mascots for the games, but only 4 made it into the picture.)
What was extra fun was that after I sat Tovina down for this picture, a rather large crowd formed from passersby who all took her picture with the mascots. I am just waiting for her to appear on the front of some local Olympic magazine.Thursday, April 03, 2008
Tomb Sweeping Day
Today is tomb sweeping day. a federal holiday. We are about to leave on a weekend retreat so I just copied the following from the embassy newsletter to give you something to read while we are gone.
On each Qing Ming Festival, all cemeteries are crowded with people who came to sweep tombs and offer sacrifices. Traffic on the way to the cemeteries becomes extremely jammed. The customs have been greatly simplified today. After slightly sweeping the tombs, people offer food, flowers and favorites of the dead, then burn incense and paper money and bow before
the memorial tablet.
In contrast to the sadness of the tomb sweepers, people also enjoy hope of Spring on this day. The Qing Ming Festival is a time when the sun shines brightly, the trees and grass become green and nature is again lively. Since ancient times, people have followed the custom of Spring outings. At this time tourists are everywhere.
People love to fly kites during the Qing Ming Festival. Kite flying is actually not limited to the Qing Ming Festival. Its uniqueness lies in that people fly kites not during the day, but also at night. A string of little lanterns tied onto the kite or the thread look like shining stars, and therefore, are called "god's lanterns."
The Qing Ming Festival is also a time to plant trees, for the survival rate of saplings is high and trees grow fast later. In the past, the Qing Ming Festival was called "Arbor Day". But since 1979, "Arbor Day" was settled as March 12 according to the Gregorian calendar.
On each Qing Ming Festival, all cemeteries are crowded with people who came to sweep tombs and offer sacrifices. Traffic on the way to the cemeteries becomes extremely jammed. The customs have been greatly simplified today. After slightly sweeping the tombs, people offer food, flowers and favorites of the dead, then burn incense and paper money and bow before
the memorial tablet.
In contrast to the sadness of the tomb sweepers, people also enjoy hope of Spring on this day. The Qing Ming Festival is a time when the sun shines brightly, the trees and grass become green and nature is again lively. Since ancient times, people have followed the custom of Spring outings. At this time tourists are everywhere.
People love to fly kites during the Qing Ming Festival. Kite flying is actually not limited to the Qing Ming Festival. Its uniqueness lies in that people fly kites not during the day, but also at night. A string of little lanterns tied onto the kite or the thread look like shining stars, and therefore, are called "god's lanterns."
The Qing Ming Festival is also a time to plant trees, for the survival rate of saplings is high and trees grow fast later. In the past, the Qing Ming Festival was called "Arbor Day". But since 1979, "Arbor Day" was settled as March 12 according to the Gregorian calendar.
First day in Bangkok
On our first day in Bangkok we were not only astonished by how friendly the people were towards babies, but also by how unfriendly the city was towards strollers. There were 6-10" high curbs every 5-15 feet and 
in some places the sidewalk was even less useful, as shown here. Our first day out was absolutely exhuasting as we hauled Tovina and the stroller up and down and over one obstacle after another. This included the 2 flights of stairs up to the sky train. Luckily it wasn't hot out so it was no big deal. Oh, wait, it was 94°F (34°C)!
Tovina felt the heat too but she mostly reacted by sleeping more.
Here you can see her enjoying her first day in Thailand.
in some places the sidewalk was even less useful, as shown here. Our first day out was absolutely exhuasting as we hauled Tovina and the stroller up and down and over one obstacle after another. This included the 2 flights of stairs up to the sky train. Luckily it wasn't hot out so it was no big deal. Oh, wait, it was 94°F (34°C)!Tovina felt the heat too but she mostly reacted by sleeping more.
Here you can see her enjoying her first day in Thailand.Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Giggles
Yay baby laughter! Tovina has started giggling and laughing at things and, simply by acting like a complete goof for a few minutes, we were able to capture some of her laughter on tape. Enjoy!
For a longer version of this, checkout http://www.youtube.com/user/shamrockjews
For a longer version of this, checkout http://www.youtube.com/user/shamrockjews
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
No fluoride, Only heavy metals allowed
We don't drink the tap water here because there are some cleanliness issues (gotta love the bacteria) and there are some heavy metals which don't have much of an effect for a short visit but over 3 years could build up in a body. Instead we drink (the probably better) bottled water. One consequence is that Tovina doesn't get fluoride which is added to the tap water in the States. To make up for this, we get to feed her half a dropper of fluoride each day.
She has been taking the drops for about a month now and while they are sweet and supposedly tasty, it was only this week that she started to decide she likes them. She still purses her lips and turns her head away when I take the dropper and bottle out. But after I smear a drop on her lips (while restraining her head with the other hand of course) she now remembers that this stuff is good and actually opens her little mouth up and then sucks on the dropper.
This is a huge improvement over:
1) Tovina spitting the stuff back at me - which was when I learned that if I only gave her 1/4 of a dropper at a time there was not enough volume in her mouth to spit
2) Having to sneak the dropper into her mouth while she was breast feeding. Not only was this really awkward, it was also sort of pitiful when Tovina realized something tasted funny and would give my breast a very confused and hurt look.
She has been taking the drops for about a month now and while they are sweet and supposedly tasty, it was only this week that she started to decide she likes them. She still purses her lips and turns her head away when I take the dropper and bottle out. But after I smear a drop on her lips (while restraining her head with the other hand of course) she now remembers that this stuff is good and actually opens her little mouth up and then sucks on the dropper.
This is a huge improvement over:
1) Tovina spitting the stuff back at me - which was when I learned that if I only gave her 1/4 of a dropper at a time there was not enough volume in her mouth to spit
2) Having to sneak the dropper into her mouth while she was breast feeding. Not only was this really awkward, it was also sort of pitiful when Tovina realized something tasted funny and would give my breast a very confused and hurt look.
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