Home Again

Taipei was super fun. Wet. Mostly cool with one too-warm over-dressed outing. Us on the MRT.

Also, Page One bookstore is now half the size it once was - and it's less than half as good:(

Passport apps went great. High Speed Rail was excellent - only 50 minutes from Taipei to Taichung when there's only the Ban Qiao stop - An hour when stops are made at Hsin Ju, Tao Yuan and Ban Qiao. Also the Taichung Station is a great place to play. When we arrived, we stopped at *bux for a snack and to let Ivo and Burl stretch their legs. The station is huge, clean, surrounded by an enclosed outdoor mezzanine which Ivo and Burl ran around on and played their chasing-bao-bao game.

Ivo really needed to run and play cuz he didn't get to in Taipei before the train trip. Even though the park we walked through was wet, the boys were happily playing and then Ivo was running fast and far ahead, not really listening too well but we weren't worried cuz we were in a quiet park around a temple. All of a sudden a scooter, loaded with produce sped into the park, just barely missing Ivo. We put him in the stroller after that. Poor Ivo, his exuberance mixed with the unpredictable motorized traffic IN THE PARK grounded him.

All was remedied at the Taichung HSR Station where I'm thinking we might take the shuttle out there just to play.

Burl and Papa.

Today Gail, Ivo, Burl and I did a little shopping. Burl upgraded to a big boy car seat, Papa gave Ivo a HSR train set which he loves. Ryan beat Gail in Scrabble - there was some discussion over whether "el" and "thready" are real words. They are. I'll find out the count - Ryan and Gail are playing some kind of scrabble world series...

Ivo said "Actually..." Burl's teething hard again:(

Ivo n Burl : Ferris Wheel

Almost nothing is as EXCELLENT as doing stuff with Ivo and Burl.

We 3 went on a ferris wheel - caged - yesterday. Getting to be there with them while they experienced such height and view and fun for the first time...man, just great and fun - with the added bonus of years of therapy in an instant...



When I'm with the boys, I instantly lick phobias I had as a kid; dogs, height, bridges... because I don't want to scare or panic them. When the ferris wheel crested the top of its arc, I felt woozy but let it go... and, my g-d, not focusing on my every idiotic notion and sensation is such a relief.

As I grow with Ivo and Burl, I realize more and more what a weird and annoying kid I was, crippled by shyness and riddled with fear. Yikes!

Ivo and Trains

The other day, I found a small plastic train set of Ivo's which I'd put away in the pantry months ago due to toy overload and/or normal toy cycling.

I gave it to Ivo and he was overjoyed. He's had 2 similarly cheap train sets in the last couple weeks, and they've both broken. After he took it out and started playing Ivo kinda asked me, "What dis was in dere for?" He was a little angry, a little betrayed. I didn't know what to say...



We spent this morning/afternoon at the amusement park section of the Taipei Children's Recreation Center - Ivo rode the ferris wheel, the teacups, merry-go-round and something else - but by far his favorite was the train. He rode it 4 or 5 times. After his last ride, he said to Ryan, "Umm, I wanna buy dis train, Papa."

If the embedded video doesn't work click here.

Burl on Taiwan High Speed Rail - 11 Months Old

This is what 350 km/hr looks like...

Burl Is 11 Months!!!!

Burl is 11 months old - I can't believe it! He's wonderful. We love him sooooo much! He's hilarious and super social. He says "doh" a lot. It may mean "that" or him/her. He ate his first chocolate last night - a hershey's kiss. He loved it! So we know his taste buds work - I was beginning to wonder, since he refuses ice cream. Burl ate his 2nd chocolate today - 2 m&m's. Burl loved them too. Also he likes buns, seaweed crackers, cheddar cheese and cream cheese. He's still not crazy about apples - no matter how we fix 'em and he seems to like the taste, but not the texture, of bananas.

Burl laughs and chatters a lot. He's very lovey and burrows his head into my or Ryan's chest when he's feeling shy. The 4 teeth he had been working on are all through the gums but have a ways to go before most folks can see them. That makes 8 teeth - and I think I saw a couple impending.

Ivo Overheard:

• "quack-quack tape" for what he thinks is called "duck tape." He made this up all by himself!



• "But WHY?" in response to almost anything; whether he knows why or not, whether "why" is an appropriate question or not... This why is a nice complement to his previous, though slightly less employed "I want/need to beCAUSE..." often followed by "...I want to" or ..."I like it."



• "dis a good dinner, mama/papa/grammie."



• "Take the high speed rail a (to) Taipei 101, buy batteries for my flashlight."
  

We're in Taipei. Burl is finally sleeping - He neapped only 30 minutes, cumulatively today and has run around for hours yelling at the top of his voice. This is not a figurative remark - he runs! He does not crawl anymore. He walks. He falls. Gail calls him a "high-stepper!" The boys are having a great time and all we've done is get to the hotel! Shuttle bus to HSR to MRT then walked to hotel - quite a journey. The HSR from Taichung to Taipei only took an hour - we were going 350km/hour!

Ivo, Ryan and Gail are out eating dinner. Tomorrow Ryan and I will head to the Canadian Trade office to renew Ivo's and extend Burl's passports.

Taiwan's High Speed Rail!!!

We'll be riding THSR tomorrow - heading for Taipei! Ivo has always liked trains and recently his interest has spiked.

AND Burl will be 11 months old tomorrow! I can't believe it! Burl has totally embraced walking and just about never crawls anymore. When he falls down,he no longer just crawls to his intended destination, he now stands back up, wobbly, and goes, fast. Sometimes so fast that he falls repeatedly in the space of a minute. He is undeterred. And when not tormented by teething, the happiest happiest guy:)












These pics are from last Thursday the park. It's been wet, rainy and cool since then... we're relishing winter this year.

Mostly Ivo

Ivo Overheard:

• "ta-daaaa!" Whenever something nifty happens or he finishes a puzzle.


• "Tasty" - he picked this up from Grammie Gail:)


• "mei li mao!" at school to a kid who took a toy from another without asking... Ivo also says "ke yi wan ma?" and "yao niao niao"


• Ivo sings "Liang Jr Lao Hu" which is a Mandarin version of Frere Jacques - The other day he was singing to himself, "Liang jr lao hu, liang jr lao hu, pao de kwai, pao de quai. Yi jr mei yo... ...EYES... Yi jr mei yo... ...TAIL. Jen qi guai, Jen qi guai!"

Also Ivo's SOOO into puzzles. He can do 60-piece puzzles ALL BY HIMSELF!

I like this version of Frere Jacques too...

Chinese Dynasty Song
Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han; Shang, Zhou, Qin Han;

Sui, Tang, Sang; Sui, Tang, Sang;

Yuan, Ming, Qing, Republic; Yuan, Ming, Qing, Republic;

Mao Zedong; Mao Zedong

K2, Caves & on the Way, Today, a Dark Grey RainyDay

On the way to Caves, we saw a car park along the canal. The driver got out with a big handful of stuff, including something (an animal?) with a big yellow ribbon and a big circular bamboo rice sifter. She walked onto the bridge and something seemed off so we watched her. She stopped halfway across the bridge and dropped the stuff into the canal.

...So many questions, what did she dump? and why did she throw it from the bridge instead of from the side rail? Quite a wind today, there's no way dropping it from either place could ensure where the stuff would land...

This is her car and her walking back from the scene of the crime!!!!!

Chung Ming Middle School is being GUTTED...

Ice cream at K2 soooo great. Burl wouldn't eat any. Ivo says, "'member, don't eat my ice cream."

Ivo and Grammie Gail read a few books and Burl walked around talking and pointing at everything. Burl points with his third finger.

Burl Browses Books at Caves

After a short nap following Burl's vaccinations today, Gail, Ivo, Burl and I walked to K2 for ice cream and Caves to look at books.

We all had fun but Burl had the best time ever.

How Cute Is This?

That's what Grammie Gail asked about a couple chairs at HOLA yesterday.

That's, now, what Ivo wants to know about stuff too!

How cute is this? Ivo asks of himself sitting in the mod side table.

Alison and Tessa came over on Thursday for a little child care swapping. Yay!

We just got back from the doctors. Our mission was 2-fold. First, Burl got vaccinations for polio, hibB and hepatitis B... We are still late on shots cuz of our autumnal colds. The 2nd reason was to get the dr to sign Ivo's pics and passport application as a guarantor. The only sad news is that somewhere on our way to the dr, Ivo dropped/threw his touque (I just heard someone call such hat a toboggan - that just can't be right) - and we can't find it!!!! He's wearing it in the pics from yesterday's post.

Article from NYT: Seawater Seems to Beat Medicine in Fighting Colds

Bit o' Burl

All's well. Nice and cool (18-22ish degrees C).
We did sooo much today. Got Ivo's new pics done for his passport. Took down the xmas tree (sniff). Shopped for food an browsed HOLA. More words soon. Exhausted:)

Ivo n Burl Briefs

Our park has been taken over by a winter break anqinban (daycare for gradeschoolers on winter break)!!! It's a little bit sucky. In the afternoon, there have been 50 grade-school-aged kids. In the mornings, maybe half that. Ivo likes some of the attention, Burl too. But if Gail weren't here, we'd not be able to go. The kids engulf Ivo like a bee-swarm, forming a big clump of kids with Ivo, invisible, in the middle. And Burl, fuggedaboudit, he loves watching the kids and wants to be right in there but he requires constant protection from both the interested and the oblivious.

Cathy's on her way back to Ox, I mean Oz, hee hee hee. Accents, they're many and varied. Too right. Yeh. Boo hoo. We took her to the bus this morning. By "we" I mean me and Burl, whose motto is, "First up and last to sleep!" He came with me, giggling and squealing all the way down the street, to Spoon last night where Cathy and her peeps were farewelling. Ivo used to go out a lot at night, but Burl apparently didn't realize such a thing was possible. He's hooked!

Ivo FINALLY got a belt this past week. He loves it and is soooo proud!

Grammie "I-don't-wanna-see-a-picture-of-me-scrubbing-the-floor"Gail can be seen behind Burl if you click this pic:)