Growing Up

Annie and I took Mimi to get a haircut on Tuesday. She has been needing it for a while but we have been putting it off because taking Mimi to a kids haircut place is kind of a challenge. Mimi’s last haircut was 6 months ago and when we took her then every time the hair stylist gets near Mimi starts crying a lot, kind of like whenever she goes to see a doctor. This time however we talked to Mimi beforehand saying that we are going to take her to get a hair cut, and she shouldn’t cry, it doesn’t hurt, and she needs to be brave, and afterwards we will go to the mall and play. Mimi said ‘ok, mei-mei won’t cry’ and exactly like she said she didn’t cry. She sat perfectly still and was very good. The hair stylist said that that’s when you know a child is growing up, when you can talk and reason out their fears. Anyways we were all very proud of Mimi and we took her to McDonalds to have her favorite chicken nuggets and fries even though we forbid her to eat too much of it. Here are some pictures of Mimi getting her haircut from before to afterwards.

Unladylike

Mimi is a very funny girl. She loves to laugh and play. She also loves to joke around and do things to get a reaction from you. Some of the things which we initial laugh with her at we wish we can go back in time and correct her from the very beginning. For example, Mimi tends to sit on the sofa and chair in a very…let’s just say unladylike…manner. In the beginning we fake shock and try to correct her sitting habits and she will then revert back to her original position and laugh because we will fake shock again. Now it has become a game to her to provoke us even though now since she is older we really REALLY want her to be a little more ladylike. There are a couple of these games that she plays which I cannot share pictures of. Of course Mimi never listens to me when I tell her to stop. However this last time I have decided that I will get revenge on her. I have recorded her during 2 of her such ‘games’. One which I cannot show but my sister have already seen and has agreed is very gross (but cute). The other is this one. I told Annie that I will show them at Mimi’s wedding years from now just to get revenge for the hell she put me through at times:-).

In Sickness and In Health

Mimi caught a little cold today. Yesterday she kept on saying she was really tired and this morning she slept until 11:30 am and woke up crying because her nose a little clogged up and her throat hurts. Annie just took her to the clinic and the doctor said Mimi is fine and just needs rest and fluids. Mimi cried a lot when she saw the doctor…poor baby. It wasn’t a really scared crying but just one of those in which she knows she has to go see the doctor but won’t like it. She still knew her manners and said bye-bye to the doctor when leaving all the while crying out loud.

I think one of the hardest things for me, being a first time parent, is when your child is sick. Mimi, thank god, is a relatively healthy child. There were only a couple times in her life in which she got really sick. The first time was in Singapore when she got the Roseola virus (baby measles). That was really strange one, her fever spiked to about 102 degrees however she acted perfectly healthy. She was still eating and drinking milk and playing like normal. The fever took about 2 days to break and when over she got these splotches over her face and body.

The second was just this year February in Taipei during the winter. Mimi got a really high fever of 104 and it took 3 days for it to break. The big problem was that Mimi hates drinking medicine and it took a lot of coxing in order for her to swallow it. That time I barely got any sleep the 2 nights, constantly worrying and checking to make sure her fever doesn’t run too high. Mimi cried a lot, was unhappy and uncomfortable, and cried big time when seeing the doctor. I don’t really understand why Mimi is scared of doctors so much, she loves playing doctor, pretend giving and taking shots, and feeding me and Annie our vitamin pills.

In the end, everything turned out ok. These are just one of those things we all need to go through when raising a child. I still worried a lot when Mimi gets sick even though I know that it will be ok. It’s that helpless feeling you get when you see your child suffering and there is very little you can do but wait. The only good aspect is that getting sick is just a natural part of building up the body’s immune system.

Taking Classes

The whole last week, Mimi and Annie were at Hsinchu because Annie’s mom was on a business trip so they needed to help look after the house and store. Me, having to work, was stuck in Taipei by myself. So how did I spend my time? Calling Annie and Mimi a lot and playing video games. Yeah I got pretty good a Soul Caliber 4 last week. And I was planning to update my blog last week but I couldn’t figure out what to write because…well all I was doing is calling Annie and Mimi and playing video games. Now that Annie and Mimi are back things are getting back to normal and my video game playing has moved back to the 1 hour after Mimi falls asleep and when I need to go to bed.

So lately, besides Gymboree, we have been trying to teach Mimi some things individually at home instead of letting her run wild. About every day Annie and Minnie will take turns to do some fun activities in English, Chinese, or art. Most times Mimi is quite attentive and takes to the classes real well. Sometimes she is naughty and restless at learning but you know kids are like that.

Mimi’s favorites are the art classes. She gets to draw, cut, glue things together. Mimi can draw circles and for some reason the art teacher said drawing circles at her age is really good. I tend to think it isn’t anything special because Mimi’s circles aren’t exactly perfectly round however Yankee, Mimi’s cousin, can’t draw circles yet so there must be something to it.

After Mimi is done with a drawing we put it up in her room. Right now there are only a couple drawings so far but the wall will get pretty full soon.

Fatty Liver...Fatty Body

Taiwan has this pretty cool health benefit in which companies pays for a detailed health exam for their employees once a year. They allow their employees to take time off to complete the examination which usually takes around half a day. My examination was last Friday. Up to the examination I was feeling quite good. I lost a total of 33 pounds this half year and even though my body fat is still high I was on the way out of the obese category.

So I went and did the examination. It was pretty through in which they X-rayed several parts of your body and check your eyes, cardiovascular system, and did blood tests. The worst thing they did was make you drink this nasty nasty stuff which makes your stomach bloated with gas while they check your intestines. It wasn’t too bad and they do provide lunch while you wait for the results.

So I went into the doc’s office to review the results and the first thing he pulled out was a picture of this.

With a circle at the bottom right picture, the one which looks like the shadow of the Incredible Hulk. I think the picture is a bit too excessive, I mean, come on…I weigh 165 pounds I know I am not quite ‘standard weight’ yet but I know many many people who are my height and around 200 pounds. I thought I should at least be like in the bottom middle or something. There should at least be 1 more category above me shouldn’t there? Sadly it is not so, therefore I am in the ‘worst’ category which the doctor pointed out and that I need to exercise more to get to my ideal weight of 136 (he said if I can get to 150 that will be good enough). Then he pointed out that I have fatty liver also which is another sign to say that I am still obese AND I am getting old because it affects older people more then kids.

Alas it seems that I am not quite there yet. Therefore I guess I have to keep on going and see how this body holds out on this diet. 33 pounds down…15 more to go I guess?

Happy Birthday to Annie!!!

Today(9/5) is my dear Annie’s birthday, she will be ?? years old:-). This year planning for her birthday was a bit harder then usual. Usually I suck at giving gifts, so I compensate it by doing what I do best, eating good food. However this year since Annie and I are on this diet (165.11 pounds and dropping!), we are limited to basically eating things that don’t taste good, like lots of raw lettuce. So even though I know Annie would just be happy with anything, there is more pressure I put on myself because…well…you want to make the people you love happy on their special day.

When it comes to gifts, I don’t give clothes or jewelry, apparently I have no taste in fashion and accessory. So after raking my brain for a couple days I finally decide to fall back on my expertise…electronics, experience, and exploiting Mimi's cuteness.

For electronics I know that Annie has been complaining a lot about her cell phone which Mimi has gotten hold of several times and now it’s functionality is only half working. Also Annie and I have fought over the camera usage a couple times. So I decided to get her the newest LG Camera Phone, the KC550. It is a 5.0 Megapixel Camera which is also a 3.5G cell phone. I was really amazed by its functionality. Annie really liked it because it is pink.

For another gift I relied on my experience that spa treatments is always a gift women love even though it lasts only for that session. So I got Annie a session in Asiaworld which is apparently very famous. Annie liked that too, the session is tomorrow.


Lastly I have been preparing Mimi to sing happy birthday to Annie. Mimi knows the words well enough but requires some lessons in tone and melody. I managed to record yesterday afternoon session when we were practicing. Here is her singing happy birthday with a little bit of twinkle twinkle little star (in Chinese) as warmup.

Kiddy Gym

As an attempt to foster social relationships with other people besides Mimi’s immediate family, and also a way to expel her excess energy, Annie and I have decided to start taking Mimi to a kiddy gymnasium once or twice a week. Mimi for being such an active kid is actually very shy with strangers. When she meets someone she doesn’t know she will hide behind my legs and peek out at them. It usually takes her about a day to warm up to you and 2 days to really wanting you to start playing with her. We think it is because she only interacts with the same people everyday…me, Annie, Minnie, and Annie’s family. The only kid she gets to play with is Yankee. So going to the kiddy gym will get her out more and get her to be around other kids.

Yesterday, in Hsinchu, we took Mimi to the gymnasium for the first time and she had a riot. There were many activities, many things to play with, and also had her favorites blowing bubbles and hand puppets. She had a really really good time. After it was done we told Mimi to go and thank the teacher and she did and when the teacher asked for a hug Mimi then hugged her which is something she never does with a person she just met. So tomorrow Mimi will go to the Taipei class, I won’t be there unfortunately but I am sure she will have fun without me.