New Year

This year is the Year of the Tiger, and we're in the midst of a full week off (from language school, preschool, seminary, etc.). It's nice to have the break, although I've felt seriously unmotivated academically for several months now. It may be that without Christmas to recharge I just never really recharged. So here is hoping that our batteries will be back to full by the weekend.

For us, it is hard to get on a new schedule--to move from full speed to full stop. Sam is becoming a true toddler, and so he is starting to become insistent about things which drive us nuts. For example: not wanting to bathe, not wanting to sit in his chair for meals, wanting to watch TV when we don't want to, etc. Standard toddler stuff. But it's a bit of an adjustment for us to deal with it 14 hours a day, rather than 6 or 8. We're missing the kind, patient eyes that have been watching him for much of the day, Monday through Friday. I love nursery school.

The upside is that we are getting a lot of togetherness time. We took two long walks together on Sunday, played with the neighborhood kids today, saw a bunch of Presbyterians for New Year on Saturday and are getting a lot of time at home. Last night I read perhaps 10 books to Sam, since he was slow to fall asleep (having seriously exasperated his mother, who first tried to put him to bed). Today I gave up on him, and Emily put him to sleep at lunch time. He's now three hours into a serious nap. It's nice to be able to trade off.

There are small dashes of grace sprinkled throughout all of this forced togetherness. Last night Sam went to his bath willingly, and played for a long time with ducks, dinosaurs, scoopers, and bath books (he has a new book with animals in Chinese and English). I've also enjoyed wandering around campus with him. I think the neighbors tired him out today, which was quite fun for all of us. On days like today, Sam is my exercise equipment.

The sun is setting on this rainy Taipei day. It's jacket cold and misty, but there's the promise of more fun in the days ahead. We'd had hopes of a shopping trip tonight, but aren't quite sure whether it will work. I'll try to write another post or two this week and perhaps post more photos on-line.