Mimi Dance!

A somewhat tiring aspect about raising a toddler is that they tend to have a lot of energy then you. This is of course not counting the preemie years when they are sleeping 15 hours a day. Mimi have been an active toddler for about 1 and a half year now and I don’t think there was one time in these 1.5 years that I thought ‘Boy I wish Mimi would play more with me!’. Mimi will play and play and play till you are ready to collapse and you have to find that hidden reserve of strength and creativity to pass Mimi off to the next person to play and play and play. That is why there is at least 2 of us to take care of Mimi at all times and not 1 person is left with her for a period of more then 4 hours.

So active Mimi likes to run, jump, and dance! I don’t think I have actually ever seen Mimi walk slowly. Active Mimi also has a very bad habit of jumping on the bed like a trampoline. Despite several bruises and crying sessions from hitting the wall or tumbling off onto the floor, she still does it because apparently it is very fun. Lastly, I have to say Mimi is quite the dancer. She has learned several dances from watching her favorite programs. Here is a list so far of her dances

Dora – ‘We did it!’ song at every episode end
Pocoyo – Pocoyo dance
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse – ‘Hot Dog’ dance in end of each episode
Shaun the Sheep – the intro song
Pingu – The Pingu dance from the intro

The Pingu dance has been the most recent dance which Mimi learned. My sister was actually the one that taught her it. It is short but very cute. Here is what the original Pingu clip looks like and Mimi dancing it looks like (along with other performance art).

A Thousand Pictures

My sister left last night to fly back to San Francisco. She was here for a little over 2 weeks. While she was here she feasted on Taiwan’s fine cuisines, went on trip to Cambodia, and took a thousand pictures of Mimi (I am in a total of 4 of them). From Mimi playing, Mimi eating, Mimi taking a bath…Mimi’s life was pretty well documented while Barbara was here. Here are some of the pictures Barbara took. Mimi had a great time posing and playing with her Aunt Barbara. She was very happy these 2 weeks because so many people were around to play with her. I am sure that she will be asking about her aunt tonight.

The Typical Taiwan Guy

On Wednesday morning when I step on the weight scale I was feeling quite proud of the result. I logged in at 78.6 kg which is 173 pounds. That means I lost total of 26 pounds or 12 kg. So I was feeling quite good going into the nutritionist appointment Annie scheduled for me that afternoon.

I went to the nutritionist, weighed myself and went in to talk to her. She asked me the usual what is my goal and I say about maybe around 160 pounds which is about 73 kg. She said that is good goal. So out of curiosity I asked her what is the ideal weight for a person like me. So she took out her calculator and basically did this calculation.

For a typical Taiwan Man –
(Height in centimeters – 80 ) * 70%

So for me it would be
(168cm – 80) * 70% = 61.6 kg = 136 pounds

136 pound!!!! I think the last time I was 136 pounds was like 16. I think if I actually weigh 136 pounds again I will be half dead. Well, I guess I am not the typical guy in Taiwan. For me if I can get to the 160-165 range I think I will be happy. Just 13 more pounds to go!

Feast for the Ages

When Barbara decided to come to Taiwan to visit us, she told me that of all the good restaurants and good food in Taipei, there are 2 restaurants which she has to eat at during her visit, the Korean Barbeque Restaurant and Mitsui, the premier Japanese restaurants in Taiwan. And at Mitsui, we have to go with our cousin Wai because she knows the people there and can get the special dishes with the best ingredients. Well tonight Barbara’s wish came true and we went to Mitsui (or San-Jin in Chinese) with our cousin and I have to say even I was pretty impressed. Mitsui is always good but having someone who knows how to order or can get the specialty dishes makes a world of difference. Got to say this is the first time in quite a while I ate this much and this good. By the way the crabs on the left, it’s fresh, it's alive, and it's called Hokkiaddo Hairy Crabs. Check back next Monday for 'Feast for the Ages' part 2!

Hey Dad! See what is waiting for you when you come in January!

Back to Singapore...again

Annie and I just got back from Singapore last night and still a little bit on the tired side today. It was a good trip overall (minus work of course). We got a chance to walk around Singapore and see the places we saw a long time ago, this time we were prepared with a camera. Annie spent most of the day when I was working with Sophia at Orchard Road. At night I was able to meet up with them for dinner with KC and An-An. An-An is only a little more then 1 month older then Mimi but they are so different in personalities. It will be interesting to see how they interact the next time they get together.

So Annie and I found a way to prove to Mimi that she once lived in Singapore. We had a chance to visit Allan and Linda who ran the maid agency downstairs from our old apartment complex. On their wall are several pictures and one of those pictures was this one of Jennifer was Mimi’s nanny for 3 months before we moved back to Taiwan. Allan has kept that picture up for over 1 year now. So maybe, just maybe years from now we can take Mimi to Singapore for vacation, take her to Allan’s office and show her that very same picture to her. Of course she might not believe it is her…

Dinner and a Show!

Eating with Mimi is always an event…literally. It is probably the hardest thing about raising Mimi besides getting her to sleep…getting her to sit still and eat. It’s tiring, frustrating, and taxes your concentration, creativity, and will power. The problem isn’t that Mimi doesn’t want to eat, it’s that she wants to play while eating. If there is no playing…there is no eating. There is a cheat in which we can put her in front of the TV and feed her but that is not something we want to enforce on her for the future. Therefore lunch and dinner involves some sort of play or show which keeps her occupied and get her to sit still and eat.

For example…the picture above is a cake and Mimi and I are pretending that it is her birthday cake and she is blowing out the candles. Another example is the clip below, it’s the show from yesterday when Annie, mom, and I went out to lunch. It’s a only 1 minute clip but it’s gives you an idea of what is going on….for 1 and a half hours (and that is only lunch)!