Baby Burl is 3 months old today!

Ivo likes Taiwanese sausage on his first try

Joe Cash's bbq.

Ivo and Burl in Tainan

"Hi Papa. Want go hopital? No. Want go 'tarbuck? No. Burl sleeping. Candy, want have candy. See soon."

"Hi Bob. Burl sleeping. Burl having booby. OK. Later."

Ivo's talking on his Buzz Lightyear phone. Pretty cute. "That Buzz Yightyear. Ivo-Dash call Buzz Yightyear."

We are recovering from the crazy fun weekend. Burl's nursing. Ivo's playing. I'm going thru pics from Sat and Sunday.

Dylan and Heather were over this morning. It was pouring in Dong Hai but sunny down here...
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These pics are from our trip to Tainan for Joe Cash's man yue party. That means he completed his first month of life - a limbo-like existence for his mom. "Lots of rules" with tv, books and
computers forbidden. Emily and Joe Cash had just come home from Nanto that same day - so they were tired and made only a limited appearance at the party. No pics of Joe Cash, Emily or John, whom Ivo called "green sock baba."
The boys and I drove down with Karin. It was a great party! Tons of food. First, Ivo and I played in the kids' pool. We were joined by a little boy - very fun kid with nice parents. Ivo and he played for hours - til the boy went home.

Burl Ivo Big Weekend Friday night

Burl and Ivo began their big weekend on Friday. After shots, gym, lunch and a brief nap we went to the Wen Xin Carre Four and played in the kids' land for a couple hours. First time we've been there since Grammie Gail went home.

There was a really nice 3-1/2 year old boy - we don't have a pic of him but we spoke with his mom, exchanged phone numbers and may see them again. His mom hasn't decided whether his English name will be Brandon or Maxwell. I like both. There was one kinda ada kid with a very attentive mother and 3 kinda not nice kids whose mother was awol and when she returned was on the phone the whole time. Maybe I'm too sensitive but they kept telling Ivo they didn't want to play with him, in words and actions. They kept all the loose toys and carried them around like nomads. Eventually I could take it no more and told them they weren't being nice. In response, they gave Ivo a couple toys to play with.

The baby pictured with Burl is one month older than Burl. The woman holding Burl works there and was very excited to see us after so long!

Ivo Burl blah blah blah

Friday morning began with inoculations for Burl (5-in-one) and Ivo (Japanese encephalitis). Ivo screamed from beginning to end, punctuated by teary proclamations of "Ivo-Dash all done." Burl smiled at the dr and didn't even flinch when the needle went in. Neither knew he was getting a needle. All they knew was that we were going to the gym to play which we did right after riding the giraffe in front of the dr's office.

Burl weighs 6.4kg (b/w 50-75th percentile). He is 64.5cm long (b/w 90-97 percentile). His head circumference is 41cm (b/w 75-90 percentile). These percentiles are quite rough - but I'm not gonna probe deeper - no time.

Ivo weighs 12.5kg. He wouldn't go for having his height measured.

Ivo used the word "mistake" several times appropriately to mean accident. Once to mean, something which shouldn't have been done, ie, "gege throw the truck upside down. Mistake."
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We met Rayne at Finga's for lunch. We saw Sean, Bob and Donna - Yay! At lunch, Ivo spoke seriously, wrist cocked at right angle, rhythmically emphasizing his points, "blah, blah, blah," he said.

Burl and Ivo busy schedules

Pics from 5/22








On Tuesday, Burl, Ivo and I went with Dale (the famously "not pictured") to the Nike outlet and Tom's World Arcade. Ivo had an awesome time - in both places. It's possible that he was shriekier and runnier at the shoe store...Let's just say, he napped when we got home!

We bought 2 pairs of shoes for Ryan - both of which we took back and exchanged on Wednesday. A repeat visit to the arcade was almost as thrilling but not quite as fun w/o Dale.

Today we went to Toby and Heidi's house for playgroup and it was a blast! Lots and lots of kids and mamas - even a baby Burl's age! Her name is Shea. She was due 2/27 and was born on 2/21. Sort of a flip of Burl, due 2/22 and born 2/28. I haven't started taking pics at playgroup cuz I feel like I should get Mama consent - plus my hands are full with baby or snacks...

Other fun fun stuff: Ryan took Ivo to meet Bret at a baseball game last night but it was called due to rain. Kevin and Kaia came over later that night. Today, Bret came over for lunch.
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When I play guitar, Ivo says, "That nice, Sandy." He's interested in the Statue of Liberty and thinks it's in Canada. Bret taught him to say Ryan is full of "hot air"!

More soon. Ivo didn't nap today even tho... so many things that I'm exhausted!

Ivo holds Burl

Ivo often asks to hold Burl. He's pretty patient about it too. Usually the holding is mediated by a couple pillows - Burl's a big baby!

The holding lasts about 2 minutes maximum. Pretty quickly, Ivo starts grimacing and squirming, "Mama hold Burl."

Burl's shirt says, "I didn't do it." The silliness of it cracks me up. Paul sent it to Ivo when he was born - so it's been cracking me up for years. Burl doesn't do anything to deny, can't read, doesn't comprehend the words. He doesn't even know he's wearing a shirt or sporting a motto. He's not in on the joke. Maybe that's why I'm so stuck on it - it's perverse!

Monday Trash

We are waiting for the garbage truck; Ivo, Burl and I. It's a pretty nice day out. Our tatamis are drying in the garden after a coffee spill.

I get the US edition of Vanity Fair every month. I have it on standing order at Caves. The VF website is good too. This month they've published their annual essay contest winners. The topic was "to define our national reality." Here are a few of my favorite bits from the winning essay.

So today, nearly 200 years later, America continues to boast about its "exceptionalism" while Europe continues to resent hearing lectures about freedom and justice from a country founded on slavery and genocide.

This sort of contrast between one's self-image and one's public image has always been the stuff of comedy, but it's getting harder and harder to laugh about the gap between appearance and reality in America. The gap has widened into a chasm of make-believe that approaches schizophrenia. Hypocrisy is only part of the story. Ignorance plays an important role, too, as does sheer brutality. Together with greed and complacency, they feed our truly astounding capacity for denial. In fact denial, more than Christianity, is probably the true American religion. You need nothing short of religious faith—untainted by godless fact and logic—to slap a no blood for oil sticker on the bumper of your S.U.V. and fail to see the irony.

Meanwhile, the terminology has changed in step with our increasing greed, which even Mrs. Trollope, who considered us money-grubbing, would find shocking. The American people, once deemed citizens, are now "consumers," consuming the lion's share of the world's resources. Old-fashioned imperialism operates under euphemisms such as "globalization," "outsourcing," and (my favorite) "spreading democracy," justifying situations in which Asian and Latin American slaves who are not called "slaves" sew our clothes and assemble the television sets that transmit the American Dream, a vision of universal prosperity that somehow always excludes images of the ubiquitous sweatshop.

I really like the updated Orwellian doublespeak; globalization, outsourcing and spreading democracy all standing for a kinder gentler 21st century imperialism. I'm gonna be working this into as many conversations as possible this week, like with the Scandinavians and their lactose.

Pizza Party

To the best of my ablility - which was low, I took pics at AJ and Sian's.

Kids: Hallie, Ning Ning, Kaia, Jade, Amber - all girls. Ishmael, Ivo and Burl were the boys.

AJ has a punching bag in his bedroom and some of the kids - including Ivo LOVED it. Even if you can't punch it - you can swat at it and dance around underneath.

SpiderMEN or SpiderMANS?

Friday, we went to gym with Dylan and Heather. 2 strange and terrible things there. First, we played with the boys in the kids' room - that was great. But the machine I used , I'm thinking a sick person must have licked the handles. The handles were greasy, wet. And I'm so lazy and stupid, I didn't move. More on that in a minute.

After we finished on the machines, we checked on the boys before stretching etc. Burl was kicking up a storm in his stroller, so we went in to check if he needed to be fed. The room stank of smoke. It was awful. Something wrong with the ventilation, I guess, but my god - why didn't they get us so we could take or kids out of there? So we left right then.

Burl, Ivo and I went to RT Mart. On the way, Ivo told me he wanted his T-Rex. I told him I'd get it for him when we parked the car, but I couldn't look for it while we were driving. When we got to RT Mart, I couldn't fing T-Rex, Ivo told me he was at the gym! He remembered T-Rex was in the tv room not the ball room. So we went back there after shopping, T-Rex was waiting for us.

Friday night we were invited to a pizza-making party at AJ and Sian's. Lots of kids. It was pouring rain and because of parking over there, we took a cab. When Ryan went to get the cab, my legs were achy. It felt like the kind of aches you get when you have the flu. But I figured it was probably somehow due to not stretching after exercising. And there's no way I can or could have ducked out at the last minute - for too many reasons to write.

I felt worse and worse. At the party I used nursing as an excuse to lie down on their bed - a position I maintained long after Burl was asleep. When we got home I had a 38.5C temperature. So, until I get more information, I'm blaming my fever/flu on the machine at the gym.

Anyway, Saturday I stayed in bed all day with Burl and Ivo and Ryan hung out together. On their first walk, Ivo fell into some poo-poo. Ryan took him down to the market to buy a new shirt. On their 3rd walk, Ivo fell and scraped his elbow. It's like a big boy scrape. Very exciting!

Burl: It begins

Burl just turned over!
From his back onto his tummy! Yay! It's a project he's been working on for a while now - and just 5 minutes ago, SUCCESS!

Great work, Burl!

I was cleaning up. Ryan and Ivo are upstairs getting Ivo to sleep. I just talked to my mom, who's getting the Cleveland posse ready to go to Tim and Sascha's wedding in NYC. Yay!

Nice night.
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Last night Ivo looked at dinner, a baked ziti and bread with cream cheese, and said, "chicken... coming?" Poor guy, chicken was not coming.

Today Ivo had his first playgroup at his house. Super fun. Great kids, neat moms.
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Pics from yesterday at Dylan's house.

Ivo talks to Ryan March 2007

Ivo called it Funday

After the gym this morning Ivo, Burl and I met Karin for a snack and a search for Spiderman shirts. We had bookended success. At the first shop we found one that looks good but says "Sport Man" and "Middle." It's made of crushed-up dinosaur parts - not comfy or good for skin. But I figure Ivo can wear it in a/c. The last shop was packed with glorious bright recognizable characters including 5 different Spiderman shirts. We were so excited. Alas, the shopkeep informed us that his is a wholesale, not retail, establishment. Karin asked him, ok-who do you sell to so we can buy from them. He wouldn't tell us. It was strange and heartbreaking. Ivo doesn't know from wholesale... and there are all the shirts right in front of our faces. Finally, the guy relented and sold us one. I'd asked if I could buy five - Ivo's friends all have the spidey bug too. He wouldn't do it. So, we're lucky to have it but sad too.

Taking a break at 85 coffee. He took the pic of Karin and me. Also, does anyone know how to clean mango smoothie off the carpet floor of the car? I'd taken out the liner last week cuz Ivo spilled sunscreen all over it...



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Baby-Burl is getting more and more proficient at sucking his skinny little thumb. These 2 pics are from last night.
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After rest time (Ivo slept 10 minutes in the car), Ivo played with Papa and then we went to the park. Ivo was soooo excited about his Spiderman shirt. Ryan lifted him up to the mirror and Ivo kept checking out the sleeves and holding the shirt front out in front of himself, like he really couldn't believe it. He was so proud and pleased. He wanted to go to the park, we think, to show off his new shirt.

Ivo's such a good, patient, smart, sweet guy. Initially when he wanted to go, Ryan told him later (baseball). And he just accepted that. He told me "Ivo-Dash go park later."