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.

No park = cranky baby

Cranky day today, not sure what's up. No new teeth, no fever, no cough...Upset stomach? Possibly because it was pouring rain in the morning and so we didn't get to go to the park. The park has been a daily part of our routine. She missed her evening nap but then still played so nicely at church with her buddy Noah, so that was good. She fell asleep in the bike seat on the way home and so I just plopped her in the crib and its only 9:15. Yay for mommy time. Always lots to do.

Longshan Temple

A few pics of us at Longshan temple with the Hickeys and Chris. (Look at their blogs for more artsy ones; these are just Gemma specific) She is super into animals lately; her head is stuck through the bars looking at the fish. It was a busy day at the temple and she smelled like incense when we got home.

She isn't sick yet. Cross your fingers!

Oh, and we missed our dr. appointment again. We were already to go and then I realized I didn't have her health insurance card (like Sk Health Card - you need it to get anything done). So I searched high and low, but I knew I had it yesterday at that dr.s so I thought well, we'll trek out there and see if its there, but when I got to the MRT I remembered to check the clinics hours and sure enough, it was closed. So we went to the park instead. I know that more and more people are choosing against vaccinations now; maybe this is a sign. Yay for Andy, he called the drs office and yes they have it so tomorrow I will go pick it up and then next wed. Chris can take Gemma for the shot. Fourth times a charm.

Gemma Heart Chocolate

This is all we have for Easter photos, oops! It was a busy holiday as Daddy got ready to preach and as we both got ready for Tom's visit. I'm sort of worrying that Gemma (who am I kidding; all of us) is eating too much junk food and so the Easter Bunny just brought a kinder egg and one other treat for everyone. With the kinder egg one bite was enough; Gemma gobbled it up faster than Bugs eats carrots. And she is so smart, she recognizes the wrapper and so when Chris opened his today she saw it and darted over to him. I put all the rest of the treats away today because she sees them and wants them. I feel like we've had junkfood everyday for the last few weeks, and so it is time to cut back. (ha; I'm munching on nerds as I post this...this will be harder than I thought...)

What else is new? I wish I could remember stories, mostly I have just blurbs.

-Went to the dr. today; vaccination time. Actually, it was a few weeks ago but she had a cold so I waited and now I have a old so I want to go quickly before she gets it too and we have to wait again. We're on a bit of a time crunch because we need her to finish a series before we go home for summer. It was a bit of a saga, actually. We started buy going to the hospital across the street, but after waiting to register they said they don't do that there. So we went to the park instead. In the afternoon we tried her regular pediatrician with the irregular English (Did I tell you about the time he measured the 'circumstance' of her head?) and after waiting there for 25 minutes he said that if she got the measles one today she can't get the Japanese Enciphilitis one (she was supposed to go in January, too, but we missed that one). And since the measles one is more important he said to get that one. Except they didn't have any there that day. Doh! So then was like, uh, can you tell where to go? And so he gave me directions to the hospital in Yonghe, close to his office. But they are only open for vaccinations Wednesday afternoon. So hopefully third time's a charm tomorrow afternoon.
-She blew bubbles in the bath today. So cute :) She was also trying to catch the soap bubbles.
-Loving animals lately. She always points and laughs at dogs and cats we see on the street, and chases the birds at the park. She also loves the fish; there are some big koi ponds at a park near our house with hundreds of fish and we fed them today. Very cool.
-Teeth like crazy. Those four molars are all just through and I can already see the next ones coming up (I better write it down in the baby book)

More pictures tomorrow. We did some touring with Tom, and some other park pics.

The One Word Wonder

We were looking at a picture book yesterday and I right after I said 'puppy' she echoed perfectly, 'Puppy!'. It was so clear and immediate Chris spun around and I froze. Of course when we tried to get her to say it again she wouldn't say anything. It's like the time she said cupcake around her first birthday. Audrey and I were decorating cupcakes , not paying much attention to her, and she just walked past the table and said as clear as day, 'cupcake'. And she's never said it again. She is much more cooperative at completeing verbal requests such as:
Give me five
Give mommy a hug/kiss
Give this to daddy/mommy/Auntie, etc...
Where's your bellybutton/eyes/nose/mouth
Spin around (thats new as of yesterday)

She was very helpful this week, helping me make the cake and then by napping while I was making meatballs.

All four molars have come up in the last 2 weeks, it's a sea of white inside her mouth. She's woken up a few times crying in the night, I think that may have been why. She went right back to sleep after some Tylenol.

I haven't put too much thought into Easter for her... I guess I better find some eggs and hide them, dig the baskets out of the closet.

I don't care what my teachers say...

I'm gonna be a supermodel!

Chris and I decided that it was time for Gemma to start contributing to the family economy, so we put her to work..Ok just kidding, it wasn't really like that at all. We sent in a picture like 4 months ago and they finally called us, totally last minute; they called Friday afternoon to see if she could work Saturday morning. It was a nice short gig, three costumes for a Halloween catalogue. It took one hour start to finish, and was pretty fun. Although she didn't crack a smile the whole time. Doh! Of course, she smiled the whole rest of the day.

Another mom was there but her daughter was older, and she said that these pictures aren't even for this years Halloween, but for 2009 or 10. They take the pictures before they send the items for manufacturing, so when they are mass produced Gemma's picture could be the one on the front of the package. Maybe. Anyway, enjoy :)

How to get Mommy and Daddy's attention

1) Pick u a book and carry it over to me. I'm a sucker for reading my girl a story, I think reading is so important.

2) Grab the remote control. We're pretty strict about not playing with the remote control, so if we are not giving her enough attention or if we are careless enough to leave it at her level she grabs it and looks around triumphantly, waiting for us to come and get it form her. Well, today Chris was sitting in his office and I was out. It got quiet out in the living room so he looked out, and right in his line of vision was Gemma, sitting on the couch, waving the remote above her head laughing at him. Firstly, how did she get on the couch? And so funny that she knows how to get us. We're so well trained, aren't we?

Spicy!

We were at Subway yesterday for dinner, and Gemma was sitting on my lap as I was eating my sub. All of a sudden my firneds sitting across from me said "AHH! Take it out of her mouth!" She had picked a jalepeno off the paper and put it in her mouth. I got it out pretty quickly, wiped her tongue off with a napkin and gave some drink. Not before she let out a surprised 'AhhhHHH!' though. Yikes!

TCK

A TCK expert comes every year to meet with kids, teachers, and classes, and do a workshop with the seniors at the highschool in Taichung. I took teh opportunity to talk to her about our ownlittel TCk and asked what are the most important things that we should know about raising a TCK. (Do we have any TCKs in the audience?)

First of all, What is a TCK you may be asking? The acronym refers to Third Culture Kid, and the definition "refers to someone who [as a child] has spent a significant period of time in one or more culture(s) other than his or her own, thus integrating elements of those cultures and their own birth culture, into a third culture".[1] So it is the mix of the parent's culture, and the culture they actually live in. You can see why this comes into play in a missionary school, where most of our kids are TCKs. I'll skip the other info about TCK profiles, etc, and skip to the advice we got.

1) Take advantage of all the opportunities presetned in the host culture. (Which is good advice for kids in any culture, I think) Travel. Study language. It is very unique to live in a different coutnry and kids should be taught the value of other cultures.
2) Be deliberate in relationship building. TCKs have relational roots, not geographic roots, so be deliberate in building relationships with important people. Send pictures, write letters and send gifts, web chat. Kids can still bond with grandparents and cousins, etc, from overseas. It has to go both ways: A grandparent will never forget they have a grandchild, but a grandchild will forget they have a grandparent.
3) Tell stories. You know, the remember the time we did this, or went there, etc.. A kid at home will hear the stories from uncles and aunts whenever the family gets together, but the TCK parent needs to fill that role.

I am happy that we were doing the things she suggested already. We phone and chat with people regularly, we've sent packages, we've recieved packages. Gemma has a photoalbum with her family people in it and framed pictures of her friends in her room. Of course we want Gemma to feel close to all her family and friends. I know my grandma says this is impossible: "She'll never be close to her cousins like you kids were" (dare I ask if any of you beleive that?) but I think it is possible.

For my Dad

These pics are for my Dad. When we were shopping for her birthday present at Toys R Us I knew as soon as I saw this we had to have it. She carries it around the house, not really knowing how to fix anything yet but we'll see what Grandpa can teach her this summer in the garage.

Field Day

Today was out track and field day, so of course Gemma came to take in the excitement. She was very good all day even though she woke up two hours earlier than usual, and let people take her for walks and play with her. She was even in a race; a 4 year old and under race ;) I had to lead her the whole way and she got last but, come on now, she's only 1. Everyone was watching her and cheering and she got a huge applause at the end...It was all so silly and ridiculous I could hardly move at the end I was laughing so hard. Photos courtesy of an 8th grade student.




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