21 months, a 2nd Christmas, a New Year Approaching

It's been a good month for us. We've seen our fourth month come and go, spent a Christmas in Taipei, and wrapped up some work, with much more remaining.

I always struggle with the work load at this time of year. I finished one paper based on a lecture, delivered a sermon, and have much of another paper done. I've had other things crop up--grading papers for a student who never finished them last semester. We've tried to stay on top of newsletters and the like for back in the States. But it's hard to stay on top of it. In brighter news, Emily now has a dissertation committee and a paper she proposed was accepted for a conference in the summer.

Sam's enjoyed a great month. He often says "xie xie" (thank you) with great gusto. He smiles and giggles, he kisses and hugs, he's developing a little jog, and he's just a lot of fun. He sleeps fairly well. We're not sure when weaning will happen, and he's still on the binky, but all things being equal, we can't complain. For Christmas, he got a variety of presents: clothes, toys (beloved cars, ducks, puppets, a push teddy on a tricycle, Rupert the Bear DVDSs, the movie "Up," etc.). He can't really open presents yet, and is not speaking as much as we would like, but actually he communicates a fair amount and is very expressive. We're hoping that the next six months will bring some more fluency, mainly in English, but also in Mandarin.

Our overall attitude is fairly good. There are several crunch times living abroad. One at the first month, another about three months in, etc. So far we are feeling pretty upbeat about Taipei. The weather in winter is colder than we remember, but we can always enjoy walking around during the daytime, which is pretty nice. This is just a very beautiful place, and we enjoy the food, the kindness of people, the work we have to do. It helps that in another month and a half we'll get a Chinese New Year's break. I only had Friday off and there's been a crush of work this last week.

We both skyped a lot with family. I feel caught up on the goings on back home. Dad retires at the end of this week, which is a big step. Emily's little brother finishes high school this year. Cousin seems pretty happy with DC life and has gotten into a new program. Everyone seemed to be getting a long well. We miss home, but it was nice to have a break from long car trips through the midwest. We really don't miss that.

I'll get more Sam pictures up soon. He's very cute lately. He wakes up ready to go. He has entirely reoriented our lives, but happily so. Here's wishing you all (you few?) a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

20 months and going strong...

We actually passed the 20 month milestone without much excitement, but it's been some nice weeks.

Our main excitement was our retreat/day off / meeting in a week ago. It was a lot of fun and we were both fairly cranky in coming back. It was just really nice to have a few days all together, with no cooking or cleaning, in places that were new to us. The Nantou pictures are up, and I will try to do Taizhong this week.

Sam is really a charmer. We stopped by the Taizhong library and he made friends, we went to the park and he made friends, we walked through the hotel lounge... He's a very charming guy. His newest trick is kiss-blowing, which he does whenever saying goodbye. Whenever we go to dinner at the cafeteria, he talks someone into playing with him. He enjoys turning the lights on and off, walking up and down ramps, and playing the piano. If you try to play with him, he will move your hands away.

He stills says "car" a lot and seems to be adding other words, especially "go!" We've heard "yellow" at least once and we think he's said some Chinese words: xie[xie] (thanks), kai (open), etc. His Chinese teacher wrote that he allowed her to feed him this week, which made her ecstatic ("this is progress!") but just made us giggle. I know Sam's behavior is often culturally transgressive (eating with your hands, crawling on the floor, etc.), and yet he is such a happy kid.

I know I need to get back into the blogging groove. Hopefully I'll do so here soon...

A Healthy Sam is a Happy Sam

Now that we are cold free and Sam's been at daycare every day this week, our life is looking up. We had a really fun day on Saturday, visiting the local library, shopping, and spending some time together. Sam was excited to get a "car" book. Don't ask how us he became enthralled with cars--it just seemed to happen along the way. The library was fun for Emily also and we both have cards now.

This week Sam has been really giggly and happy. He's say more words. In addition to his Chinese words last week, this week he is saying "rock" more clearly and has also added "up" and "down" and probably a few other words. We're excited about what the next months will bring.

There's not much news on the two of us. I'm now maxed out on technology we got an LG tv this (a Taiwanese brand) and I've been able to take more spontaneous pictures on the iphone. I've downloaded some flashcard programs and hope they'll help me with a Chinese test I'm taking in a few weeks. It's still a big adjustment, but little victories help to give us that sense of momentum. I met with another teacher this morning, and then a student/classmate who I really admire later in the morning. It's fun to have these chances for collaboration and shared work.

Not a whole lot else to say. I will update as possible.

19 month update

Here we are at the park. Self portrait of father and son.

He looks like he's disco-dancing here

Here's a brother-sister combo that enjoyed meeting Sam and wanted their picture taken with him.

Today was a notable day so it seemed worthy of a post. I realize I am slowing down lately on the blogging, and I think the challenge is that I am now putting my time more directly into family, Chinese, school, church, etc. The blog is a good way for me to think things through and file away memories, but I have trouble keeping it up when time is flowing more quickly.

Yesterday was our two month anniversary of life in Taiwan. We are still going strong. We should be out of or moving out of the honeymoon stage, but I don’t think we’re feeling any strong negativity. The next few weeks will bring more showers and cooler weathers and the transition to fall or winter. It helps that the sun still shines here and we can spend time outdoors and explore and enjoy new things.

We still have a visible sense of progress in our lives. Today Sam turned 19 months and his teachers report that he said two Chinese words “open” (kai) for some food he wanted to eat and “come here” (lai / laile) to a teacher or classmate. These are probably words he hears a lot. It was an encouragement to us. Sam’s very verbal, but even in English he has a few words he says a lot (momma, dada, car, no, again, all done), some sounds he’s made regularly (for pigs, dogs, and dinosaurs) and other words he’s said only a handful of times (water). We’ve never really worried about him, but it’s a relief to know that his brain has been working hard on Chinese also. We feel lucky to have brought him to Taiwan at this age: he doesn’t fear anyone, he isn’t frustrated by the language gap because he doesn’t know it exists, and he’s not alienated by new tastes and experiences since they are pretty much all new to him anyways. He loves fish, which kind of baffles us, and will eat pretty much anything. He is through his first few colds, which were a challenge this last month. I think Emily has also stayed pretty happy. I can tell her Chinese is really improving rapidly and she’s managed to stay on top of all of the transitions and challenges (including periods of sick husband/kid).

All in all Sam seems happy and that means that our life is generally happy also. I feel like we’re holding our own on language, acclimation, and set up, and that we need some more work on communication with folks back home (especially churches), doing our own academic work, and buying the things we’d like to keep us organized the next few years. It’s still all peaks and valleys, so it can sometimes be hard to get objectivity about how we are doing.

Many new pictures are posted online here. I’ll try to be a better correspondent.

Sam updates

• I’ve been AWOL on this blog. Chock it up to the new move and a fair amount of transition. Here are some Sam updates:
  He’s still his normal charming self.
  He loves reading. Some favorites are Baby Baluga, Baby Toes to Baby Nose, etc.
  He’s made friends at church and GA, on campus, and elsewhere.
  He’s loving nursery school (“Three Jade Nursery School”), which is part of a local community center close to our language school. He has three or four classmates and three teachers. He’s pretty excited to be there.
  He’s been home with a cold the last few days. We both had the same thing. He’s been sleeping odd hours, however, and we wanted to give him time to adjust before we send him back.
  He gets fussy when: anyone leaves and he doesn’t get to go along, when he’s tired, when he’s sleepy
  When he’s sick he prefers to sleep on top of one of us.
  He can made some new noises now. He has a “pig” sound, a lip buzzing sound, and an artificial sneeze and cough (which make him laugh).
  He doesn’t say a lot of actual words but is throwing in some new ones now and again (“juice,” “again”). Pretty much fun to watch. We’re curious how Chinese learning will interact with this. We keep hearing that initially language learning can slow things down, but that in the long run the kid will learn both.
  He makes some pretty fun movements. He dances, stands up and down, stomps, walks backwards, and can turn in a circle.

Bubbles

I keep meaning to post, and actually started writing a week ago, but it didn't take. We've been through a LOT of changes. We've done the 24 hour trip, the arrival, car trips and walks in the city. I think that we are slowly finding our way.

I'm a little slow on the pictures. Here are some pictures I took on our last day in Cinci:

Visiting Family

Fun times in our last weeks in Ohio. Sam has been bonding with his first pet. We've had lots of walks and play and hanging out. He was especially enamored with some colored eggs my mom had around. Great times...

In Chicago

This is Sam teething--not happy at all

Here he is practicing his newly acquaired seat-climbing ability

This is his grandfather's baby chair, bought by his great-grandmother in Mexico for $1.

More climbing

Hanging out (early in the morning) with great grandpa

Sam versus the ottoman

Week 1 Orientation

We've now finished week one of orientation for our time abroad. Below are three pictures taken of Sam by one of the childcare providers.

He did very well in the program. He is still a pretty low-fuss baby, especially if he gets lots of time around others and playing. He liked following the two older toddlers around and talking to them. The other older kids also looked out for him. It was nice as times to be able to park his stroller next to a table of fellow orientees and dash off to get food at breakfast, etc.

I am sleeping very strangely. Tonight I slept 9-1ish and then just woke up. I think this is a consequence of life on the move. I find that I do this either (1) when I have a looming deadline or too much work or (2) when I am in the middle of something I need to think about. So far we are having a great experience.

Some more Sam updates. He is signing words more. In addition to "all done," "bye-bye," "high five" or even "shaking," Sam's adding in "more," which he does when wants more apple slivers. He's a pretty expressive baby. He continues to make his usual range of sounds ("dagedagedage," "oooooh," "doiy," "dadadada").

He's adept now also at getting up and down out of a chair, a skill he's been practicing on the hotel ottoman. He was willing to drink out of his sipicup this week, something he has steadfastly refused in the past (maybe this is the benefits of peer pressure). He received a pair of crocs from one of the couples who have a kid the same age.

Sam helps us pack...

We are now totally out of the apartment. It is not a proud chapter in the family history, and is probably best forgotten. Nonetheless, we're glad that we survived and we did complish a lot:

• Most of our things did make it out
• We left "clean"--out of my college office, out of our apartment, out of NJ
• We are basically surviving. Emily met advisor. I am at conference.
• We are all still talking to each other

Sam was probably the bright spot in the move. I know that other babies are disoriented by moving, but Sam did very well. He liked walking around and inspecting everything. He loved having barriers to his movement packed away. He expected the same applause getting off the airbed as the regular bed. He gleefully ate the remants of our fridge. He would sometimes "mimic" our packing. So, as Emily looked through papers, he would be throwing handfuls of them in the air. (I am sure this is what packing looked like to him--us throwing our stuff around.0

Some lowlights: packed my social security card and put it in a box to Ohio (I would ideally have used to send on my I9 today). We didn't get totally out of the apartment until 9:30 last night. We gave away--actually this felt kind of good. It helps that our meagre used possessions were going to people who appreciated them and will use them. I told Emily that somehow it is more fulfilling to see someone enthusiastic about taking, say, your boxing gloves from ten years ago which were very expensive, than, say, offering you $2 for them.

I slept last night. I think I will sleep well tonight. The paper will get delivered tomorrow. The documents will be signed. Things will, hopefully, get better and better from here.

Yet another sampling

Sam continues his charming ways. A new list of things:

• For about the last two or three weeks he's been able to get out of our bed on his own. He lies down and scoots backwards. He gets his legs over the edge and holds on to the sheets. then he (relying on gravity) slowly, slowly inches backwards until he slides and lands on his feet. And then he smiles ecstatically and claps and laughs. I'm sure tying his shoes in a few years will be cool, but this is pretty fun.
• We think he's said "nana" a few times for Emily's mom, Barb.
• He does a lot more motions with his hands. He flings them back and forth, stretches, waves, claps, high-fives, etc.
• We have new dvd we've rented from the library called "Noodlebug." It's pretty interesting, designed by a PhD in childhood development and does lots of songs and musics. Sam loves it. He now dances his way through "wheels on the bus." One of the songs has movements and Sam can do some of them, although at a 15 month's level, of course. The one that cracks us up the most is where he puts his hands on his tummy and leans back. We saw the dvds are on sale for $2.50, so we may buy a bunch.
• Today is Sam's 15 month at the doctors. We also fill out his form for the Taiwan embassy.

That's the news from here. We are whittling down our remaining possessions. I foolishly posted a "free stuff" listing on Craig's list and have received about 100 responses. I have no idea how to respond to all these people. Write the first ones? Offer "open house" times? Blech. Any craigslisters who can share advice?

We also have a return x-ray tomorrow at Rutgers. Emily had something that looked a little funny--99.9% chance it's just shadows or a "bone island," but still aggravating.

Our timeline is: Friday at Rutgers, Saturday and Sunday working working, Monday Em meets with advisor and I probably head to NYC, Tuesday clean out of apartment and Wednesday start our trip back to the midwest.

Friends indeed

One of the pleasant surprises of the last week has been the chance to connect with Mieke and Shannan, first at Shannan’s installation, and then last night. Here’s a picture of the two watching Rick’s sermon. It was a lot of fun. I also saw Bryan, a friend of the two, who is a local pastor and has done some work with Chinese congregations, and met some of Shannan’s Rumson folk.


Last night we went to Shannan’s parents’ house. Here are some pictures of Sam enjoying an antique fire engine toy. He is such a happy guy. At the restaurant he did several laps around, first with Mieke and then later with me. What 15 month old (birthday tomorrow, timed to coincide with Father’s Day) eats, sits on laps, and plays happily for hours in a crowded restaurant? Lots of fun.

Our stress level is still fairly high as we move. Emily is working back into her topic. She meets with her adviser June 29. Pray for her. It’s hard to write as your house disintegrates and your belongings disappear. Today we got rid of the loveseat, coffee table, recliner, an office chair, etc. We were supposed to get rid of more, but the people didn’t return. We’re basically giving things away—no yard sale (no time).

Packing

We're again at that in-between packing time. We sent off a huge load of things on Tuesday. I'm hoping this will help us to get settled more quickly. Having all of our stuff shouldn't make such a big difference, and yet it is nice to have 10 pots with which to cook instead of just 1, and it is great to have a personal library, books, and computers and printers to get started on the academic work. Last time I felt like I did a fine job getting started, but parts were rocky because I only had what fit in two suitcases. This time: three of us and many, many boxes.

Barb remembered an old George Carlin routine about stuff that's been a prophetic voice to us in this time of change also. I'm trying to find the balance between preparing and realizing that there are some things for which you cannot really prepare.

Ohio

We're returning from Ohio in waves. I was back last week and have been starting on packing and pluncking on other projects. Today I enjoyed Shannan's installation. Tomorrow is all manner of preparations.

We did have a good time and a change of pace, and this period of quiet for me is also a change of pace and a rest.

8

Today we picked up "A Book of Eight" for Sam. It's a small, counting boardbook, which he likes primarily for the pictures.

It's also our eighth wedding anniversary. I was always a big fan of the number eight. I think I liked the symmetry of the number--two circles placed on top of each other. Eight is like the model train tracks we had as a kid. Eight never ends, it just keeps circling. I also remember looking forward to vague promises from parents attached to being eight (I could have a pocket knife and start karate lessons at eight, which sounded pretty adult to a six year old). Sam was born in 2008.

Now we've been married since 2001. There have been leaner and fatter years (figuratively and literally). We've travelled to Paris and Geneva, Taipei and Hong Kong. We've lived mostly in NJ, and I now consider this my "home state," although I'm not that particularly loyal. Three more degrees in those eight years. At least a dozen jobs collectively, probably more. 75,000 miles on the Saturn, and probably another 10,000 on the car before that. Reams of paper. One large, much-loved cat, and one baby so new that he's still under warranty. Four departed grandparents. Two nieces (well, one was born just before we married). Innumerable computers. Much laughter.

It was a quiet day today. We went out to lunch at an Indian restaurant--alone!--as the grandparents babysat. (Sam went to the pool for the first time, practiced his marching, and worked on dribbling a whiffle ball.) We did some lite shopping and hung out together. I took a nap. It was like lazy summers past, when it was just the two of us.

It was a good day to remember a challenging year. After being dandelion seeds this year, we're looking forward to landing and putting down deep roots. I'm looking forward to a place, and friends, and babysitters and daycare. And: a congregation we love, diligent students, great public transportation, excellent medical care. We're hopeful about language study and jobs and dissertation and all the other things that have made up our life.

This eighth year was a good one, but it really pushed us. I'm hopeful about number nine.

Ohio Tripping

We're enjoying a break--at last!--from the hustle and bustle. I have to confess that I've viewed this summer with some trepidation: a May-June trip, two conferences, two sets of packing (boxes to Taiwan, for orientation and then the plane), a three-week orientation, and many small projects. The flip side of all of this is that it really will be a change of pace and we're getting a wonderful chance to reconnect with people.

We've just spent 72 hours with my parents and are on the way to Em's family. Then wedding. Then Em's family again. It is really great to check my e-mail and see only one or two e-mails a day which I need to do anything about. I am so glad that the grading is over, and presumably I won't have so much grading to do for another year or two. I also am just really enjoying the change of pace.

The trip with my family was mostly Sam-watching. He's at a fun stage right now. His teething has resulted in two more little tips. These are numbers #9 and 10, not bad for the little boy who has just turned 14 months. He learned some new techniques under his grandparents' tutelage, in particular stomping and marching. Their house is pretty baby proof, but there are no gates, and Sam over the period of a few days leraned to go over, under, or between any barrier we could construct. Truly he is a free range baby. He understands, and sometimes obeys, "no" now. He is a real ham, smiling, dancing, laughing, singing, and moving his neck around. He enjoyed some piano "duets" where he crooned along with my dad. Fun times... Among the joys of academic and parish work are periods of togetherness like this. Two or three weeks of vacation just doesn't seem like enough.

A May SAMpling

We're going full speed here, in part because we have to regularly chase down a sprite baby. There's not so much new to report, but:

• Sam is getting faster, and better on his feet.
• No new teeth--no huge developments.
• Still the same words, although every so often he throws out some that might be words (dog, duck, yeah, etc.). Always hard to tell.
• He's still doing his goofy smile where he closes his eyes.
• He's taken to making a little "ahhh" noise after drinking something. I taught him this accidentally not expecting he'd take to it with such alacrity.
• He's very giggly. Except for the occasional nap where he wakes up and wants to be held, he's pretty eager to see the world.
• After giving us the illusion he might start sleeping to 8 or 8:30, he's still pretty much a 6-7:30 baby.
• He likes throwing things now, mostly just a few feet in front of his feet. This is usually some little balls we've given him, but he also has a big plastic supermarket ball he likes carrying around and throwing.
• We did a grocery trip this morning at 9 and he likes being around people.
• He pretty much eats everything we eat--nothing new to report. He does like veggies, deli meats, whatever.
• He gets the cat's food periodically--usually just a little piece that he carries around in his mouth like gum. This hasn't happened a lot, but it's pretty gross when it does happen.
• He is getting fast. He can tear through the kitchen now and get over to my office area in a few seconds.

That's the sampling. More to follow, when we have some news or pictures.

Sunny Day Walks

Nice weather today...
Fine father-son bonding...
Walking tall.

Of computers, pictures, and baby

Self-portrait

Fenced in

Swinger

I have totally wiped my old desktop, an Aopen small desktop pc I bought in Taiwan. It is now running Ubuntu 9.04, which came out today and is a free operating system. So far I'm reasonably happy. Picasa, skype, and other programs all seem to work. I'm not having great luck with raw photo images, but my camera shoots raw and jpegs together.

Here is a photo album I just made.

I'll try to update as I shoot. I haven't found good editing software, but hopefully that will come with time.

He's still got his winning personality. He's been waking a little earlier (not great), but plays well, is very sociable, and is pretty fun to be with (great).

Goofball

Sam's a little bit of a goofball lately. He's a very fine walker, he dances, he laughs and claps. He sometimes likes to walk around with his hand held out in front of his face. He's also started making this expression: a very happy, shut-eyed, smile, which Emily says looks like Ray Charles.
Here's a belated Easter picture.
We are discovering the joys (and challenges) of parenthood. Beginning parenting between two big moves and several large projects may not have been the best choice, but it was clearly worth it. More to follow...