Kicking and Screaming

Went for a taxi ride today (alone!). It went well. Thought is pretty funny that during the drive, the taxi driver pulled his seatbelt across his lap and chest, but never locked it into place, so it was just sitting there. My assumption is that it’s the law to wear a seatbelt in the front (definitely not the back as most taxis don’t have working seatbelts if at all) and he doesn’t like it so to fool the cops, he just lays it in his lap. Great idea, huh?!

I went to a baby consignment shop run by some expats here out of their apartment. It was interesting – lots of good stuff, bought a baby monitor and some other little things. That means I can now lay Ryken down during the day and leave the room to do other things and not keep checking on him. That will be good. Maybe he’ll start taking some good naps in other places besides his swing or someone’s arms.

Ashley threw a monster of all fits this morning. Wednesday is baby playgroup here at the complex. Ashley woke up with very stuffy nose and wasn’t feeling very well, so I decided she should stay home (she’s also way older than all the kids in it). I told her she could watch a movie and that Liz and I were going to playgroup. She freaked out and when I say freaked out, I’m not kidding. I carried her kicking and screaming up to her room to let her settle down and I sat on the bed next to her on the floor, just watching and waiting. She seriously seemed possessed. She was kicking her legs into the bed and flailing her arms and occasionally hitting herself with her arms. It was not a pretty sight to see. I felt bad for her, but knew that any intervention I tried would just hurt either her or myself. After a few minutes, I calmly explained that I would talk to her when she finished screaming. She did manage to calm down eventually and I explained that she was sick and we didn’t want to get anyone else sick and that Liz and I were going regardless of whether she threw a fit or not. I told her that she had gotten to go to IKEA with me and play and have ice cream and Liz didn’t. Of course, she didn’t really care about that. I ended up leaving and she was crying (but not freaking out) and she watched us go – then when we got back, she was asleep on the couch. Poor kid tired herself out completely. It’s rare that she has a fit that big. It’s so hard to see and deal with as a parent. Staying calm is so key, but often very hard to do – when snot and drool is hanging out their mouths as they grunt and cry and scream in frustration and anger. I can only imagine what she’s gonna be like as a teenager! OH MY!

Ryken hasn’t been sleeping very well – he’s been eating a ton – I am seriously beginning to feel like the milk cow. I know that’s normal when nursing – but it seems even worse now that we have a helper – since Xiaoshu seems to get all his good/happy attention and I get the “I WANT FOOD” attention. He has been quite happy lately when he’s not hungry or tired. He smiles, coos, squeals and attempts to talk. It’s so cute. If only he would sleep more, that would be good. I told Anthony it’s all his fault – he was sleeping so good when Anthony was away, but now, no more – maybe because he doesn’t have as much room in the bed to stretch out! He’s been waking up every 2 – 3 hours at night to nurse. Argh.

Oh, I forgot to post about last week when I took ALL the kids in a taxi up to meet Anthony for lunch one day. I had the address of the restaurant (TGIF’s) and told the taxi driver what it was in Chinese. Off we went, girls were in a good mood, Ryken was sleeping. Ah, it was going oh so well. Then, we get to the place and the restaurant is not there anymore, it’s been closed down. Oops! Luckily, Anthony was meeting us there and arrived at the same time and hopped in our cab to tell the driver another place to go.

Also, last week, I met Anthony at work and we headed off to the nearest place to get passport photos taken (nearest according to people at his work). We took a cab to the place and got some photos taken of myself and Ryken for our visas and country club membership (I swear this country has about 20 photos of each one of us for all their documentation!). It took quite a long time, they were trying to be really exact on our photos – touching them up, making them look better. We told them to just print them. I noticed that another lady was getting some pictures done and they were touching up things she asked them to – basically airbrushing the photo so she looked great. I think that is so strange! Anyway, we finally got our pictures and went back to Anthony’s office complex to eat some lunch. On the way back, I saw a Kodak picture place RIGHT ACROSS the street from his office. Argh, we could have just walked over there.

I am using a lot more Chinese than I ever did in Taiwan. It’s weird, I lived there for 18 months, took lessons every week (well, almost every week) and hardly ever actually spoke Chinese. Here, I’m forced to speak it with Xiaoshu everyday and with taxi drivers. Anthony will also speak it and then I’ll have him translate for me. The written Chinese here is so much easier than in Taiwan, because for streets and other things, the English pronunciation of the word is written below the Chinese character, so I can say them using that instead of having to know the Chinese character.