Burl's Communication Book & Beyond

We are so lucky that teachers at Baby World are such loving and experienced teachers. They all go way out of their way to help our boys learn Chinese as well as all the important socialization and self-care skills that happens at day care. They are excellent and both Burl and Ivo like going to school – they agreeably get out of the car and walk in. Burl’s communication book entry for today:

“Burl is very like ba(2) wa(4) zi(3). Zi(4) ji(3) de(5) ba(2) diao(4),
huai(4) qu(4)ba(2) qi(2) ta(1) xiao(3) peng(2) yo(3) de(5) Ha!”

Translation: Burl likes to take off his socks. After he takes his off he goes around taking off the other kids’ socks. Ha!
Funny!

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Pic of Olivia hawking baby gear on the wall at a local pharmacy on Tai Yuan Road.

Ivo n Burl at the Park Today

Ivo the train.

Through the tunnel.

Burl found (and lost) a friend.

Boys exploring.

Portraits.

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Ivo's still doing excellently using the toilet - even out of the house.

Burl discovered his belly button and keeps showing us with a mixture of concern and pride. Burl also enjoyed his first ice cream tonight. He's tasted it before but always has been horrified and indignant. Tonight he liked it and wanted more!

Ivo n Burl Sunday

It's kinda quiet time. At least for Burl. We had an excellent morning playing at the park and an equally excellent time at Olivia's bday party yesterday.

Pics coming. I'm uploading videos and doing some pics on facebook.

Link to Happy Bday Olivia video.

On Friday in class, one of my 4th graders came int HUNGRY. Not hungry for knowledge, hungry for FOOD. Poor kid. She usually drinks a pint of milk and a small loaf of white bread right before class, but on this day she had forgotten money.

During vocab work, she was assigned to write a sentence for "at least." She read it aloud,"We don't have eat dinner, at least give we some bread."

Win and win.

Ivo on the Potty Train

On March 4th, I posited my hope that we'd be over the potty training hump by the ides of March and we so are!

YAY IVO!!! He only had 1 accident this whole week. He's still wearing a diaper overnight, but he no longer saves up for it and he's eager to take it off in the morning to use the toilet.

Ivo can use squatter and western-style public toilets. He can use public toilets!!!!!

Ivo's awesome!

These pics are from last Saturday (March 8th) at the ball game. I asked Ivo to stand near the garbage can cuz of the name "Schaefer" stamped on it. It's not quite quite the same spelling we use but, according to a phrase ingrained in my head like a family motto, "It's close enough for government work." So perfect!

Coveralls and Ratzinger

Ryan proctored exams this morning so he had the afternoon off. After a little rest, we headed downtown to buy some coveralls, aka a spacesuit, for Ryan. Success!

Pics of Ivo and Burl watching Elmo's Opposites on the computer.

Pics of happy Ivo and Burl in the car.

And: downtown after a fire.

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Yesterday at work, Bob and Jerry told me that the Vatican has updated, added or replaced the 7 Deady Sins. This is amazing to me. I've been doing very cursory googling and/but most of what I found is kinda jokey...

• Recycle or go to Hell, warns Vatican from the Telegraph
  
• Wrath, Lust, and Littering? The New Seven Deadly Sins
  Vatican Official Says Old Sins Don't Cut it in the Modern World from ABC News


• Countless jokes about littering and/or failure to recycle one plastic bottle. That's not so funny to me since it detracts from the real and irreversible environmental degradation perpetrated by corporations and private business. It also distracts us average upper- middle-lower-class-types from the host of significant lifestyle choices we can make which would be better for the earth...

Har, har har! All the hilarity in mainstream media has certainly taken the wind outta my sails, cuz I wanted to be all jokey. But, seriously, what/how...? What's going on? Maybe a 21st century Dante can write a new Divine Comedy, set on Lamma Island where Hong Kongers have fled to wait out the new plague, the new mystery-flu that's killing and causing school closures... According to Catholic doctrine, you go to hell if you die without having been absolved of even 1 mortal sin through the sacrament of reconciliation/penance/confession - whatever it's called now. Hell.

Here they are according to Bloomberg:

The seven additional newly minted social sins are:
1. 'Bioethical' violations such as birth control (I've also seen this include abortion and artificial fertility treatments)
2. 'Morally dubious'' experiments such as stem cell research
3. Drug abuse (I've read elsewhere, "taking or dealing")

4. Polluting the environment
5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor
6. Excessive wealth
7. Creating poverty

I've also read pedophilia is now a mortal sin - FINALLY... but where does it fit in? Wikipedia conflates the above #'s 5-7 to just 2 entries with #7 as "Violation of fundamental tights of human nature."

These are the new mortal sins according to the BBC:

• Environmental pollution


• Genetic manipulation


• Accumulating excessive wealth


• Inflicting poverty


• Drug trafficking and consumption


• Morally debatable experiments


• Violation of fundamental rights of human nature

Kinda vague and it sure doesn't seem like the Church is trying to be clear.

The original deadly sins:
1. Pride
2. Envy
3. Gluttony
4. Lust
5. Anger
6. Greed
7. Sloth

Burl n Ivo at the Park Today!

Burl, Ivo and I went to the Science Museum - Caves area this morning. We had a little picnic and played in the water.

Unbelievably, Burl never fell or slipped. His pants got wet cuz he MEANT to sit in the water. After I told him NO, he refrained from sitting. Next time I'll remember his crocs (from Mary).

Burl was snacking on little sweet "ball cookies." When he wanted one, he pointed and said, "Da!" I love his little pointing fist. He has now shifted to using his index finger not his middle finger for pointing.

Before we left the house this morning, the boys and I cleaned up and vacuumed. Afterwards, Ivo sat at the big table playing with his train set. Burl brought over a bamboo stool to stand on so he could play/interfere too. Ivo nicely - but in great distress - told Burl "NOOOOOO!!!!!" I was cleaning the bathroom, so I popped out and moved Burl and the stool. Immediately, Burl went and got the stool, brought it back, placed it next to Ivo's chair and started, "TOUCHING MY TWAAAAIIIN!!!!!" This happened a couple more times, me moving and trying to distract Burl from Ivo and Burl plugging away towards his goal of playing with Ivo - or at least with Ivo's stuff - on the table. Eventually, Ivo screamed, "OWWWW! HE BITING ME!!!!" Burl had finally had enough of working so hard and not getting to play, so he left a perfect circular set of teeth marks on Ivo's forearm. Ivo was still nice to Burl about the whole thing, though in a very sad and hurt voice he moaned "You dammit Burly!!!" I have put our bamboo stools high up and away.

Ivo had 2 self-initiated pees this morning! The first was while he was still in his overnight diaper... he told me he wanted to pee in the toilet. This is great! He no longer automatically pees in his diaper and he doesn't want to. At the park, sitting and playing near the running water fountain, Ivo had an accident. No big whoop - Ivo says that now!

Ivo narrates his action-hero play, "It showtime!" Also, when he's playing with his spiderman dolls, he describes spiderman, in sentences lifted from the spiderman theme song. He often tells me about spiderman's abilities and proclivities by reciting individual lines from the song. Cute.

"My name is Ivo. I live in Canada. I punch da big guy. I 'fraid da big waves." Ivo says this as if he's being interviewed for a documentary... a la Surf's Up.

Google/Blogger claims to be aware of the video-embed problem. I assume that means they're working on it. Here are 3 supercute vids of super cute Burl.

Burl Run

Burl Laugh

Burl Cookie

Exclamation Point Heavy Posting

Another accident-free day!!!!!!!!!!!

Ivo and Burl were at school from about 1:30-5pm. No accidents!!!!

Ivo's first 3 toilet experiences were self-initiated!! At one point he told me he wanted to go to the potty but I thought he said party. We laughed over it then ran like the dickens to make it to the potty. Success!!

Ivo is 2 days for 2 days - a streak!!!! I'm sooo happy, proud, relieved and a little bewildered. I'd figured potty training would give me lots of woe-is-me-pity-the-fool blog fodder for weeks, so I've gotta post this little story now...

Over the weekend, Ivo took about a dozen baths. They weren't meant as punishment, just as the consequence of being covered in pee (and the other two/too). Anyway, these pics are from Sunday night. He was happy. Until potty-training came along, baths were Ivo's #1 loathed event, that loathing was transferred to forced potty-sitting. Baths have been rehabilitated - he likes them now!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Before these become forgotten memories...

• All last week, Ivo saved up peeing til bedtime diaper - the kid who almost always woke up scarily dry, became the guy who could barely walk under the weight of his diaper!



• Pooping, too, was delayed, often till morning.



• Ivo was insatiably thirsty at night - it seemed he'd figured out restricting his drinking would solve some of his trouble.