Gemma helping

Gemma was so cute yesterday! I was washing a few dishes and she wanted to "clean". So I put a chair up beside me and would give her the washed and rinsed dishes to put in the rack. It's amazing watching their little brains work. I put in one spoon the way I like them in the rack, handle down, eating part up. And she started to put one in the wrong way, saw what was already done, and switched it. She stacked all the bowls together nicely. She struggle to lift the big pot up, she's little too short yet, but it was so cute.

Then we were in her room listening to her 'songs' as she says (on her CD player). I have a wee sing tape and we LOVE it. I do the actions and she totally imitates me. Itsy Bitsy spider is her best one, she does it so well. It was just cute watching her try to do all the actions.

She spent the whole day with Daddy yesterday; 6am-6:30pm. I was away in meetings. Of course they did fine. Daddy painted her toes with nail polish. "toes..pritty!!"

Other vocab:

peeSA (pizza)
back (her back, and going backwards)
uhside dow (upside down)
money
toes
chin

The sicko recovers

So Thursday she threw up once and had diareah once. Friday she had diarreah 3 times, so I took her took the dr. again. He said as long as she is active and eating then not to worry yet, give the medicine a few more days. So that was good news. Today is Tuesday and only one diareah sonce the weekend, so I am assuming we are on doing ok.

Gemma is underweight. The dr. commented on this in April, just saying that her weight gain was really slow and we should watch it. It continued slow all through the spring and summer. I never really paid much attention to the growth chart thing a) because it was in Chiense so I didn't know what I was looking at, b) she seemed proportional; yes, she is light but she is short. Her face is still round, her belly stuck out like a pudgy baby belly, etc c) her development has been normal. She walks, plays, etc. So when we were in the doctor's office this week, after throwing up 7 times he said she is very underweight. So when I got home I looked her up online on the growth chart. She isn't even on the growth chart! Her height is in the 13th percentile, but her weight doens't even get onto the chart.

So I started doing some research on what to do. Obviously we don't want to fatten her up with just junk, but we want to ensure her daily requirements are being met. Especially with being sick so much lately; I want her to be as healthy as possible. Here are some things I learned

ok, I've been working on this post for three days and will never finish if I get started with that...moving on...

So what is our plan?
1) Keep better track of what she actually eats in a day
2) limit sugary snacks (which we mostly do, but more strictly) Sugar fills up without providing real calories. Also, too many snacks fill kids up and then they don't eat real meals properly.
3) adding new healthy foods to our diet. (ok, who am I kidding; HER diet) On the list to try is avocado, kidney beans, prunes, and cream. Yes, cream. I read that for underweight kids you should add cream, butter, or mayonnaise to whatever you can. I don't fully subscribe to that and will not be going crazy but adding a bit of butter to noodles or peas, or cream peas...we'll try it.
4) Pediasure. I bought a big can and will try to give her a glass a day.


Anyway, I hate being anal or over analytical and charting what she eats, etc, but we'll try for a few weeks and see what happens.

So as I said before, I've been working on this post for a few days so I can already give you a small update: She hates pediasure. Of course she does, it was like 20$ for the can. So instead of giving her a whole glass every day I am mixing 1 1/2 scoops with her milk. So in a day she is getting 3 scoops instead of five, but I can't figure out how else to give it to her covertly.
I also bought an avocado and mashed it up for her tonight for her chips (she loves nachos). Would she eat it? No, of course not. She had one bite.

UGGGGG!!!!!! How frustrating. Oh well. I am not going to make food a huge battle and give her all sorts of eating issues. We act very normal at meal times and don't force her too much. (More than we did before, because I've realized she quits eating before she is really full. If I insist on a few more bites she always puts them down easily.)

Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

Trip back to Taiwan

Here is a pic of Gemma cruisin' in the boat this summer. I will try to go backwards through the summer and give you some highlights through the next few weeks, but we'll start with the trip back to Taiwan.

Our trip started good. She slept great at Kala's, woke her to put her in the car at 3:45am, and had an uneventful drive in. Customs was busy but we were there early enough so it was no problem. (Calgary airport is EXTREMELY busy on those flights to LA, SanFran, etc. Not enough customs agents working and a tonne of flights al leaving at the same time) As we were standing to board the plane, right at the plane's door, she threw up. What a great way to start the day I thought, drat. Wrapped up her sweater, got on the plane. with a half hour left on that flight she threw up again. This time no salvaging the outfit. Stripped her down to her diaper, went to the bathroom and got as cleaned up as we could. I didn't have any extra clothes on hand because all oversized carry on had to be gate checked and put under the plane, so as soon as we were off the plane we got our bag and got her dressed again. Had a major cleanup in the real bathroom at the airport, rinsed the yucky clothes, etc, and waited around for our next flight. We had chicken noodle soup for lunch, trying to think of what would be healthy yet not hard on her stomach and she ate ok. Got on the next plane.

Well, those 12 hour flights just get longer and longer and longer. She slept a lot, which was good. I saved her some dinner, because I figured she would need to eat and she had just the carrots. After that she threw up 4 more times. She didn't even seem upset. She was acting normal. She would jut look at me weird, cough, and then blah. No crying or anything. By the time we landed she was in her last outfit. One more time and she would have had to wear her jacket and leg warmers off the plane! And, for good measure, she threw up in the car on the way home. Fortunately I was prepared and the beautiful car Chris had hired for us was spared (unlike the airplane pillows and blankets...)

She seemed ok at home, asking for milk, etc, and I cooked her some plain pasta. She had diareah twice. (can't spell it, sorry) Then at 8am she had the HUGEST puke I've ever seen (sensitive readers stop NOW). It was like a fountain. First it covered our Poang chair. Then she opened her mouth and more came out, all over her body and feet, till she was standing in a pool. It was very very very disgusting. Fortunately I had my loving husband home to assist me, so we got everything cleaned up. Since it had now been almost 48 hours without holding anything down it was off to the doctor for us.

He didn't have too much to say. He asked if she had had any recent illness and typed frantically as I relayed the last month for him. With all the visiting, other kids, hospital visit, traveling.... it was hard to pinpoint what the exact problem could be. He gave us lots of medicine and said to come back if she still can't eat later, or if she gets a fever. When you only weigh 20 lbs not eating for 2 days is a bit of a problem.

We bought some baby cereal, as Dr. recommended, and she has eaten a bit. Had some oatmeal this morning, and soda crackers, so my fingers are crossed. One runny diaper last night, but thats it, so hopefully she is on the mend. We so badly want to go visit Elias and Andy and Audrey but am too scared to contaminate with whatever bug she's got .

Now that we are back I will update frequently. Welcome back, loving readers!

Playing with Dora stickers on the plane.

Anyone recognize this famous person? Hint: Canadian music. Put your guess in the comments.

Hi Ty! Nice to meet you!

Whoa! Big doggie!

Welcome to Canada!

We made it back safe and sound. Gemma was a great traveller, praise the Lord, and everything went smoothly. She slept a lot, played and colored a lot and enjoyed yummy snacks.

So far we've seen my sister and bro-in-law, and my nephew Ty. They met us at the airport in Calgary for dinner and some play time. We landed in Saskatoon at 11:30ish, saw Baba and Grandma and Grandpa, played at Baba's until 1:30am and then Gemma slept until 3:30 this afternoon. She conked out in the car on the way home from a friends house now (about 8:40) so hopefully this will be her bedtime and not just a nap. Ha, we'll see. We were at Shelen and Mat's place, checked out the Flames room and played with Ian and Kaitlyn.

Gemma is looking for playdates, we'll begin making our rounds here this week as we want to see as many of you as possible. Call us at Brenda's!

Funny New Word

OK, Gemma's funniest new word is... K. It is so funny how she has begun to talk like we talk. Like I'll say, Ok, put your shoes on, and she says, "K". Or, Let's go to Auntie and Uncles house. "K" She says it all the time and it is really hilarious. She just loves to be a part of things.

Last night we went to a friend's birthday party, and she had to bring her toolbox and sunscreen. I think Chris got a picture of us leaving, we'll see.

Big Girl Bed

So Gemma has transitioned into big girl bed with no trouble. The legs aren't put on so it is very close to the floor. She really likes it, actually, she likes to go into her room and sit on it, read there, pretend its sleep time. And at night she doesn't even want to be rocked in the rocking chair; she wants to lay in her bed. She has slept through the entire since she's been in it. well, last night she woke up crying, but I just went in and sat beside her, patted her for a minute and she went back to sleep.

And before you think its amazing that she stays in her bed, I lay with her until she is almost asleep. And she has a late bedtime; by the time we put her in bed she is pooped and wants to sleep:)

More doctor visits...

We had the most frustrating day, good thing I had Gemma to keep me calm!

We rushed to the dr. afterschool for her last vaccination (for this year, anyway). The way the system is here, you show up, wait to see the dr., he checks the baby makes sure she is healthy enough to receive the vaccination, other health check stuff (height, weight, routine questions, etc...) prints you off a piece of paper which you then take down to the cashier, pay, then go back up and get the shot. So we wait to see the dr., go downstairs to pay and DOH! I am short like 125NT. (Less than 5 dollars!) I couldn't believe the vaccination was so much, it was like 2000NT. Anyway, I was super TO because its a 20 minutes MRT ride, wait to see the dr., just to find out we can't get the shot today anyway. So we go home. 2 hours down the tube. AND now I have to go back next Wednesday. Also, Gemma has developed a heart murmur. He noticed it last time and heard it again this time and so wants her to have an echocardiogram. Of course, the heart guy only works Thursdays. So now we will go next Wed. and Thursday. I had booked a babysitter for 5, well we were still at the hospital at 5 so I had to call Andy to go find the babysitter and tell her to wait for us at school (Chris was playing b-ball downstairs where there is no cell phone reception) and anyway, the day turned out OK. Gemma and I had fun together, she shared her cookies with the kids in the waiting room, and was just very cute. She was wearing her Laker's jersey and so people thought she was a boy.

She's learning a lot lately. Like Chris said she started doing some of the baby signs off of her baby einstein video, just from watching it. She said 'giraffe' when she saw a giraffe at the dr. office, and we haven't really practiced giraffe. She sees dogs and fish all over the place and points them out. She brings us lots of joy, that little one, and I can't wait for all of you to meet her!!

Also, she is hardly gaining weight, and the dr. is a bit concerned. She's gained like .2 kg since her last checkup, and only .2 the checkup before that. Any ideas for HEALTHY snacks? I don't want to just fatten her up with sugar and junk.

Gemma's Week

This week Gemma was awesome. She is so fun and she makes me smile so much.

She went to her Auntie's house so I could shop for the baby shower.

She said the words beep beep, baby, car, and more. Also bee-tz (nose).

She used a fork to feed herself (a little bit; this still needs considerable practice)

She learned to line dance. This was very cute. Forward step back step, side to side. It was really funny.

She took me to the waterpark for Mother's Day, and we had a blast (so we got to use those free tickets after all). We also went out to the park on Monday and had ice cream. Forgot to take a picture of us together though. Oopps.

Future shopaholic or race car driver?

Here's a video I took of Gemma a couple weeks ago. She did this of and on for probably an hour, it was super funny. She's so much fun these days as she gets more and more interested in the world around her. Every day she learns how to do something new and it just opens up a world of possibilities for her and Dad to play and interact.

Bummer

We got free tickets to the waterpark near our house for this weekend, and since tomorrow we have a friend's wedding party I was so pumped for a hot sunny day to take Gemma to the pool. And instead it's pouring rain. Drat. It is only 8am so maybe it will shape up.

In Gemma news she is really mimicking a lot this week. She still has her favorite words though, and uses them a lot. Ball. Fish. BuhBye! Xie Xie. GoGo! (dog in Chinese) She also has certain sounds that she uses a lot, for example 's'. You tell her, Gemma say please. And she goes 'sss'. Gemma, say yes. "Sss". She likes ss and shh the best. Her other cute almost word is up She says it sometimes but most often she just moves her mouth open and close, with this little popping sound.

Gemma's Baby

It's very cute how she plays with her 'baby'. She feeds it and gives it water, lays down with it at night. Until she gets bored with it and drops it on its head.

Music Festival

We were in Taichung all day Saturday for Music Festival and Gemma did very good. Thankfully Adrienne was there with the 9th graders and had time to watch her during my working hours, so that was perfect. She was not so good for my Friday night concert, though, and Daddy and herwatched Barney instead. Oh well.

There are also new park pictures up on flicker, in the April set. I'll post a few this week.

Ride your horsie!

This video is ok, she gets camera shy. But there are some good facial expressions at the end if you hang in there the whole way.

New Shoes!

Gemma has grown into her crocs (well, Dawgs actually, but same difference). Also found two pairs of sandals that fit now, so thats good. Ready for summer.

Cold!

So we are experimenting with things that are cold lately. She gets the different feeling of cold items and makes the surprised ooh! face when she touches cold things. Like yesterday we were playing with the cold milk cup right out of the fridge while she was eating her snack shirtless. She would put the cup right next to her bare chest and then pull it away and say oooh!. Then out it on my neck or arm, or belly. And so o and so on. It was pretty cute how she would hold it against herself for a few seconds, waiting for that tingle and then pull it away.

Today we went to Taichung to watch Seussical and well, lets just say if the 2 hour bus ride was any sort of foreshadowing for our long flight home, we are in big trouble.

And one more park pic, until we get some new ones off the camera. Biker chick checking her rear...

Bad Baby

So I got home at lunch and she had written on and in one of library books with pen. (My fault; I left both in easy access) The books she wrote on? "Don't make me count to three; a mother's guide to discipline." ha ha...

Animal Lover

Gemma loves animals. She doesn't know that many but the ones she does she points to all the time. Fish is her big one, 'cause she can say it. It's more of a f-sh sound, but when she goes into the science lab at school that's what she says. (cause there is a fish there). In her story books, who cares about the characters adn the plot, what matetrs is what animals are on the page. For example in her Bible Heroes book on the Adam page she first points to the fish, then the moneky, then the birds. Then the fish again for good measure. The its flip flip flip until we get the Joseph and the coat of many colours page. Why that page? Because standing beside Joseph is a puppy. And she points to it before the page is fully turned. I think its really cool how she she can find those animals in places she has never seen them before. Like we were walking home one day and she looks at the ground and says, fsh. So I look down and sure enough, imprinted on the metal man hole cover is fish. You can show her a book she has never seen before and she can find those animals. Last night at church she was pulling random books off the library shelf and she found one, I think it was the little mermaid, but there were so many fish on it she was in heaven. The picture above shows a mural painted on a wall near the park we like and she loves to go see the birds as much as she likes playing in the park. (She had great fun chasing a pigeon last weekend. He was just the right size and ability for her, too ;) And puppies and cats on the street, well she points and laughs.

She also loves leaves.

Speaking of vaccinations...

... I just saw an ad for the pneumonia vaccine. It's in the Finding Nemo font and it says Finding Pneumo. Hee hee.

There was a small baby who swallowed a...

stone. Well, I thought she swallowed as tone. She was palying with one of those decorative glass pebbles, and then I hear this faint 'click click', the sound of stone on teeth and so I grabbed her face right away to get it from her and...nothing! Her mouth was empty. Her right hand was empty. Her left hand was empty. There was nothing on the floor. I checked her mouth again. Nothing! I thougth she must have swallowed it for sure, but I had no idea how she got it down so easily. A is-it-worth-a-trip-to-the-doctor debate began in my head (all the moms at church were like 'it will go through, don't worry', but I wasn't so convinced.) Anyway, later I was cleaning up around that area and pheww, found the stone on the floor against the chair leg. Yay, close call.

Made it!

A successful trip was made to the doctor yesterday!
1) I made it to the clinic when they were open to get her health card
2) we found the hospital where they do the immunizations.
3) we found the right floor in the hospital
4) the receptionist was VERY helpful and helped me with all the forms, and led me to the different rooms
5) The doctor was friendly and spoke English and did what I think to be a throrough checkup.
6) I didn't lose or forget anything
7) Gemma only cried a little bit

And she got tp have two shots (oh goody, right gemma;) MMR and the first of her Japanese Enciphilitis. We go back in two weeks for the second one of those.

Weight 8.6kg (almost 19 pounds)
Height 76cm (29")

The doctor said she hasn't gained much weight since her last checkup, but is still ok.

So she loves her belly button, and loves to find it when you ask. It's really cute then when she is wearing one piece pyjamas and you ask her "Where's your belly button?" because she pulls up on her jammies (of course they don't go because they are on her feet too) and tugs and pulls and feels trying to find it. Ways to tortue a 1 year old.