Friday, November 6, 2009
Finally, an update!
Sorry for the lack of blogging. We can't believe it's been two months since we've been home with Tyler. It feels like he's been part of our lives forever.
Tyler is doing excellent. He loves to eat everything in sight! Especially chicken, spinach, strawberries (also known as straw-babies), bananas and ice cream. His English is excellent-- the most recent three word sentence being "watch out Jenna".
We've done a lot with him and most of the events are outlined in the six minute slide show below. For Halloween he dressed as Elmo-- one of his favorite Sesame Characters.
Tyler is doing excellent. He loves to eat everything in sight! Especially chicken, spinach, strawberries (also known as straw-babies), bananas and ice cream. His English is excellent-- the most recent three word sentence being "watch out Jenna".
We've done a lot with him and most of the events are outlined in the six minute slide show below. For Halloween he dressed as Elmo-- one of his favorite Sesame Characters.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Home
The last day in Taipei all we did was pick up our finalized travel documents and nothing inspiring really happened so we didn’t blog. I don’t want to fill this blog with average diaper stories and turn this into the last season of Seinfeld. The blog as of the time I am writing this has over 12 thousand hits. I realize that half of these are our parents, but still, that is a lot! When we started our second trip I notice about 4 thousand hits.
The week’s build up of anxiety over spending 24 hours traveling with a 2 ½ year old turns out was completely warranted. Two days later Sara is still pestering me about the 3 hours I got to sleep compared to her shabby 2. I’ll more than likely be hearing about this disparity for years.
Everything started out great. Our preferential treatment continued and United Airlines upgraded us for free to some middle tier seats. The extra 4 inches of legroom was amazing and easily turned what could have been 2 hours and 45 minutes of sleep into a solid 3 hours.
The trip could have been worse, but not much. Ty never wanted to sleep, fussed during every take off, refused to wear his seat belt, and was not at all entertained by the in flight movies. He did enjoy systematically navigating the plane isles and turning on most everyone’s overhead light. From time to time when he turned on the light of a sleeping passenger he would turn to us, put his finger over his mouth, and ssssshhh. Very polite, I must say.
Tyler also exposed himself and a nose picker with eating potential. When I first saw it go down I rationalized it away as an accident. The second incident was of substantial size and elasticity. The way he cleaned that finger off there could be no doubt.
We came home to find a giant welcome home banner with balloons across the doorway. The banner and the 4 hour nap are starting to make us feel at home again. Here is a recap with the pictures.
This is a view of Taipei from the train. Imagine some sections like Manhatten, toss in a little Central Falls, then a good helping of the Carribean when you leave your all-inclusive resort and you got it.
A look at Tyler’s going away party. Note the sweating back on the nanny to the right. I told you it was hot.
Day one…when the slinky was still fun.
Day two…typing in good form.
Carnie like skills. Circus Folk. Small hands.
Tyler was afraid to go in the water. In retrospect and in observing this picture it may have been my unruly chest hair that was scaring him off.
He seems rather smart despite this picture.
Sara got him onto the first step of the pool after me and my Austin Powers chest hair were removed.
If you look carefully you can see the spit up on Sara’s back. Good times.
Tyler and Sara in front of Taipei 101.
Obligatory brand placement.
Napping position.
Climbing on everything.
Time for some car shopping in the hotel lobby.
Pre-flight prep talk.
Let the fun begin.
For those that don’t know us that well, this is Sara’s pissed at Justin face.
See, I helped!
Tyler took a turn with the camera.
Back in the United States loving his first confined car seat ride. If you recall no seat belts, much less car seats for the most part in Taiwan.
Home at last.
The last day in Taipei all we did was pick up our finalized travel documents and nothing inspiring really happened so we didn’t blog. I don’t want to fill this blog with average diaper stories and turn this into the last season of Seinfeld. The blog as of the time I am writing this has over 12 thousand hits. I realize that half of these are our parents, but still, that is a lot! When we started our second trip I notice about 4 thousand hits.
The week’s build up of anxiety over spending 24 hours traveling with a 2 ½ year old turns out was completely warranted. Two days later Sara is still pestering me about the 3 hours I got to sleep compared to her shabby 2. I’ll more than likely be hearing about this disparity for years.
Everything started out great. Our preferential treatment continued and United Airlines upgraded us for free to some middle tier seats. The extra 4 inches of legroom was amazing and easily turned what could have been 2 hours and 45 minutes of sleep into a solid 3 hours.
The trip could have been worse, but not much. Ty never wanted to sleep, fussed during every take off, refused to wear his seat belt, and was not at all entertained by the in flight movies. He did enjoy systematically navigating the plane isles and turning on most everyone’s overhead light. From time to time when he turned on the light of a sleeping passenger he would turn to us, put his finger over his mouth, and ssssshhh. Very polite, I must say.
Tyler also exposed himself and a nose picker with eating potential. When I first saw it go down I rationalized it away as an accident. The second incident was of substantial size and elasticity. The way he cleaned that finger off there could be no doubt.
We came home to find a giant welcome home banner with balloons across the doorway. The banner and the 4 hour nap are starting to make us feel at home again. Here is a recap with the pictures.
This is a view of Taipei from the train. Imagine some sections like Manhatten, toss in a little Central Falls, then a good helping of the Carribean when you leave your all-inclusive resort and you got it.
A look at Tyler’s going away party. Note the sweating back on the nanny to the right. I told you it was hot.
Day one…when the slinky was still fun.
Day two…typing in good form.
Carnie like skills. Circus Folk. Small hands.
Tyler was afraid to go in the water. In retrospect and in observing this picture it may have been my unruly chest hair that was scaring him off.
He seems rather smart despite this picture.
Sara got him onto the first step of the pool after me and my Austin Powers chest hair were removed.
If you look carefully you can see the spit up on Sara’s back. Good times.
Tyler and Sara in front of Taipei 101.
Obligatory brand placement.
Napping position.
Climbing on everything.
Time for some car shopping in the hotel lobby.
Pre-flight prep talk.
Let the fun begin.
For those that don’t know us that well, this is Sara’s pissed at Justin face.
See, I helped!
Tyler took a turn with the camera.
Back in the United States loving his first confined car seat ride. If you recall no seat belts, much less car seats for the most part in Taiwan.
Home at last.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Use your words
Tyler seems to be picking up English words pretty quickly. The first words this two year old learned are “no, no, no”. He confirms his understanding by accompanying his mimicked renditions of “no, no, no” with a finger wave and a smile for defiant emphasis.
I would calculate generously that 75% of the time when we need to say no to him he stops on his own accord. The remaining 25% end badly in some shape or form.
Because we have been eating most of our meals take out in our room, Tyler knows me as the man that comes with bags of food. I am generally greeted with him smiling and running to me. There are a lot of food options nearby so we have been able to get a good taste of things. We supplemented one meal for him with some gold fish crackers. Dexterity is not a problem for this kid, he was able to use chop sticks to eat several little gold fish. We have some pictures we will post later to prove this to the non believers.
We did go out to eat last night. The table and surrounding five foot radius looked like a rice bomb went off. I think he tricked us during our first trip into thinking he was a neat eater who was very attentive to our wishes. Either way I bought a double sized bottle of Cabernet to take the edge off bed time drama. For me, not him, relax!
I would calculate generously that 75% of the time when we need to say no to him he stops on his own accord. The remaining 25% end badly in some shape or form.
Because we have been eating most of our meals take out in our room, Tyler knows me as the man that comes with bags of food. I am generally greeted with him smiling and running to me. There are a lot of food options nearby so we have been able to get a good taste of things. We supplemented one meal for him with some gold fish crackers. Dexterity is not a problem for this kid, he was able to use chop sticks to eat several little gold fish. We have some pictures we will post later to prove this to the non believers.
We did go out to eat last night. The table and surrounding five foot radius looked like a rice bomb went off. I think he tricked us during our first trip into thinking he was a neat eater who was very attentive to our wishes. Either way I bought a double sized bottle of Cabernet to take the edge off bed time drama. For me, not him, relax!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Taipei 101
The new room has a view and is directly across the street from Taipei 101 which I was excited to find out has a KFC as well as being the world’s tallest building. See the link below.
Worlds Tallest Building Link
At 10 o’clock as we are fighting Tyler, literally fighting, to go to bed, it sounds like bombs going off outside our window. I scramble to the shades to see that every tier of Taipei 101 has ridiculously large fireworks shooting off. Some of these explosions seem to be coming right for us because we are on the 16th floor of our hotel. It was really nice to watch and it wasn’t like the fireworks set us back on getting Ty to bed. We were losing the battle at the time anyway. Here is a youtube video from a different night. The display we saw was much shorter so watch the first minute but notice the hotel in the lower right and you can see the rockets heading right for us.
Taipei 101 fireworks link
I was able to hold off for a few days but Sara and I decided it was time for KFC. Taiwan KFC’s have calamari as a side order instead of mashed potatoes….how great is that!
Tyler is definitely having some separation anxieties. Luckily he has bonded with Sara. Ty followers Sara around like a puppy and cries if he loses sight of her. The first trip to Taiwan this was not the case but he definitely understands to some extent he is leaving his nannies and friends behind. On the plus side he only wants Sara to change his dirty diapers so it’s not like he hates me or anything.
Worlds Tallest Building Link
At 10 o’clock as we are fighting Tyler, literally fighting, to go to bed, it sounds like bombs going off outside our window. I scramble to the shades to see that every tier of Taipei 101 has ridiculously large fireworks shooting off. Some of these explosions seem to be coming right for us because we are on the 16th floor of our hotel. It was really nice to watch and it wasn’t like the fireworks set us back on getting Ty to bed. We were losing the battle at the time anyway. Here is a youtube video from a different night. The display we saw was much shorter so watch the first minute but notice the hotel in the lower right and you can see the rockets heading right for us.
Taipei 101 fireworks link
I was able to hold off for a few days but Sara and I decided it was time for KFC. Taiwan KFC’s have calamari as a side order instead of mashed potatoes….how great is that!
Tyler is definitely having some separation anxieties. Luckily he has bonded with Sara. Ty followers Sara around like a puppy and cries if he loses sight of her. The first trip to Taiwan this was not the case but he definitely understands to some extent he is leaving his nannies and friends behind. On the plus side he only wants Sara to change his dirty diapers so it’s not like he hates me or anything.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Saturday Adventures
We got a call from Grace, our translator from the first trip, that we were in one of the largest multi-city Taiwan newspapers. Apparently it is very flattering according to the concierge who tracked down the article for us. We’ll need to get it fully translated when we get home so that we can make sure that is the case.
Our 15 minutes of Taiwanese fame has scored us a free room upgrade from the Hotel. We are now in a large suite with the best view available where fresh cut flowers and little gifts for Tyler were left. The second big plasma TV is the den is not necessary but we will deal.
We spent the morning at the pool. Tyler enjoyed getting his feet wet and throwing toys at me in the water. However, he was not brave enough to get in the water even with Sara holding him. He definitely trusts Sara more than me at this point. When he is uncomfortable or tired he is all over her. Basically he is a tiny version of me.
He was clearly tired but refused to nap when we got back from the pool. After a good deal of coddling, Sara decided she needed a shower. He stared at her, face against the glass shower door, to the point that I was getting uncomfortable. I was half expecting him to start whistling and clapping. When I tried to explain to him that he didn’t have enough dollar bills for that kind of view and remove him he put up a good fight. He’s definitely a hand full and then some.
Note to other first time parents. Swim diapers that slide up instead of unfold like normal ones add an additional layer of difficulty for changing when they include a double sized deuce.
P.S. Sara forgot the cord to download the pictures to the computer. I haven’t been able to locate a replacement. We may have to wait until we get home to post all the pictures.
Our 15 minutes of Taiwanese fame has scored us a free room upgrade from the Hotel. We are now in a large suite with the best view available where fresh cut flowers and little gifts for Tyler were left. The second big plasma TV is the den is not necessary but we will deal.
We spent the morning at the pool. Tyler enjoyed getting his feet wet and throwing toys at me in the water. However, he was not brave enough to get in the water even with Sara holding him. He definitely trusts Sara more than me at this point. When he is uncomfortable or tired he is all over her. Basically he is a tiny version of me.
He was clearly tired but refused to nap when we got back from the pool. After a good deal of coddling, Sara decided she needed a shower. He stared at her, face against the glass shower door, to the point that I was getting uncomfortable. I was half expecting him to start whistling and clapping. When I tried to explain to him that he didn’t have enough dollar bills for that kind of view and remove him he put up a good fight. He’s definitely a hand full and then some.
Note to other first time parents. Swim diapers that slide up instead of unfold like normal ones add an additional layer of difficulty for changing when they include a double sized deuce.
P.S. Sara forgot the cord to download the pictures to the computer. I haven’t been able to locate a replacement. We may have to wait until we get home to post all the pictures.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Friday Morning
With Tyler still leery of us it was very fortunate that Nicole the founder to his charity and 3 other children were also planning to take the high speed train back to Taipei. We are staying in Taipei which is the capital and need to finalize his travel documents here. The two hour train ride was non stop action. Ty cried for a few minutes and then fell asleep. Two other children though were running up and down the train car. The coke we gave them seemed like a bad idea and proved to be as much. Don’t judge.
We got tours of 2 much larger facilities in Taipei. One of which Tyler has spent some time over the years when he needed to be in the capital. There are older kids there and lots of people working hard at providing a stable environment. A few blocks away they have a facility for adults who are very sick. I think we found our new favorite charity. This one is hitting close to home.
Because Tyler has had a cough for a few days, and even though he has already been to the doctor once this week, Nicole suggests she take us to a clinic one more time before we take him back to our hotel. He has no temp, just the cough and spit up a little food which ended up on my shorts. The doctor prescribes some oral medication and one other type. Nicole’s English is pretty good so she tells me it is to be used if he wakes up at night because of the cough. Here is what I hear her say phonetically. “You put it in his azz-ole.”
I smile and joke to Nicole that he has a cough and not hemmroids using my words and hand signals. Sara is now embarrassed of me. This is getting awkward. She is repeating “put it in the azz-ole”. In the end the pharmacist does give us some suppositories and azz-ole is exactly what it sounds like.
Nicole and her assistant Hanna bring us back to our hotel and see us into our room. Tyler seems to be comfortable so they sneak out and it’s just us. Reality time! A few minutes later Ty is crying and he is in no mood for comforting. My Ferber technique shows no sign of progress so Sara trys picking him up. The melt down lasts about 20 minutes. He and I both are both soothed by HBO (also known as Home Box if you reign from some parts of Western MA) so the day comes to a comfortable end.
Midnight…some coughing leads to crying. You can’t make this stuff up. It’s azz-ole medication time. I look at Sara and say “God bless you”. Without getting too graphic the first attempt is…ahhh… refused. Sara is successful on try number two. There is a minor celebration, no high fives though…she hadn’t washed her hands yet.
We all got a good night sleep. Today we head to AIT which is our American Institute in Taipei for Ty’s visa. Before we leave we give Tyler a big bottle of some kind of PediaSure Nicole gave us which he sucked down. Now, while I am enjoying deep fried toast at an elaborate breakfast buffet, Sara is getting reacquainted with some regurgitated PediaSure. Poor kid is clearly still not feeling well and we rushed it with the full bottle. He and Sara need to go back to the room and change their clothes. I’m able to shake off the scene and enjoy another deep fried toast. I realized at this moment I am transforming into Pepere Gladu slowly but surely.
We get to AIT and have to kill about a half hour in the waiting room. We meet another couple from Texas who are adopting two children. Around the time they are saying that they are school teachers I get a full frontal blast of the remaining PediaSure. I honestly can’t believe there was that much chunky liquid in this kid. I’m in complete denial. I don’t even move nor does Tyler. Sara takes an anxious lap around the waiting room and declares that there is no bathroom. I haven’t moved despite the fact that my shirt and shorts are covered in what is approximately 12 ounces of upchucks. I’m still just looking at myself and Tyler in disbelief. A woman in the waiting room offers me a single tissue. Offering a single tissue in this situation is something my friends Mark or Eric would do, nostrils flaring, betraying their mocking.
Someone more serious brings a trash can. I’m able to scrape the biggest portion off into the can. Sara has located a bathroom on another floor. Tyler has a spare set of clothes in our travel bag. I on the other hand am not so lucky. I decide the only sensible course of action is to wash the entire front of my shirt and shorts in the sink so it doesn’t look like I messed myself before our visa interview. This is turning into a real life National Lampoon’s Asian Vacation. They made us check our camera at the security desk so you will need to trust me that the entire front of my shirt and shorts were borderline dripping wet during our interview.
The interview went well despite my appearance and they are just waiting on a currier to bring one more document. We should be able to pick up all our documents on Tuesday.
By the time we get back to the room Tyler is feeling a little better. He is keeping down small sips of apple juice and a few crackers. Apparently while I was at the store getting a thermometer, ginger ale, and snacks Tyler and Sara were playing well and he is repeating English words again. I use the word “apparently” though because this is all hear say…they were napping when I got back.
We got tours of 2 much larger facilities in Taipei. One of which Tyler has spent some time over the years when he needed to be in the capital. There are older kids there and lots of people working hard at providing a stable environment. A few blocks away they have a facility for adults who are very sick. I think we found our new favorite charity. This one is hitting close to home.
Because Tyler has had a cough for a few days, and even though he has already been to the doctor once this week, Nicole suggests she take us to a clinic one more time before we take him back to our hotel. He has no temp, just the cough and spit up a little food which ended up on my shorts. The doctor prescribes some oral medication and one other type. Nicole’s English is pretty good so she tells me it is to be used if he wakes up at night because of the cough. Here is what I hear her say phonetically. “You put it in his azz-ole.”
I smile and joke to Nicole that he has a cough and not hemmroids using my words and hand signals. Sara is now embarrassed of me. This is getting awkward. She is repeating “put it in the azz-ole”. In the end the pharmacist does give us some suppositories and azz-ole is exactly what it sounds like.
Nicole and her assistant Hanna bring us back to our hotel and see us into our room. Tyler seems to be comfortable so they sneak out and it’s just us. Reality time! A few minutes later Ty is crying and he is in no mood for comforting. My Ferber technique shows no sign of progress so Sara trys picking him up. The melt down lasts about 20 minutes. He and I both are both soothed by HBO (also known as Home Box if you reign from some parts of Western MA) so the day comes to a comfortable end.
Midnight…some coughing leads to crying. You can’t make this stuff up. It’s azz-ole medication time. I look at Sara and say “God bless you”. Without getting too graphic the first attempt is…ahhh… refused. Sara is successful on try number two. There is a minor celebration, no high fives though…she hadn’t washed her hands yet.
We all got a good night sleep. Today we head to AIT which is our American Institute in Taipei for Ty’s visa. Before we leave we give Tyler a big bottle of some kind of PediaSure Nicole gave us which he sucked down. Now, while I am enjoying deep fried toast at an elaborate breakfast buffet, Sara is getting reacquainted with some regurgitated PediaSure. Poor kid is clearly still not feeling well and we rushed it with the full bottle. He and Sara need to go back to the room and change their clothes. I’m able to shake off the scene and enjoy another deep fried toast. I realized at this moment I am transforming into Pepere Gladu slowly but surely.
We get to AIT and have to kill about a half hour in the waiting room. We meet another couple from Texas who are adopting two children. Around the time they are saying that they are school teachers I get a full frontal blast of the remaining PediaSure. I honestly can’t believe there was that much chunky liquid in this kid. I’m in complete denial. I don’t even move nor does Tyler. Sara takes an anxious lap around the waiting room and declares that there is no bathroom. I haven’t moved despite the fact that my shirt and shorts are covered in what is approximately 12 ounces of upchucks. I’m still just looking at myself and Tyler in disbelief. A woman in the waiting room offers me a single tissue. Offering a single tissue in this situation is something my friends Mark or Eric would do, nostrils flaring, betraying their mocking.
Someone more serious brings a trash can. I’m able to scrape the biggest portion off into the can. Sara has located a bathroom on another floor. Tyler has a spare set of clothes in our travel bag. I on the other hand am not so lucky. I decide the only sensible course of action is to wash the entire front of my shirt and shorts in the sink so it doesn’t look like I messed myself before our visa interview. This is turning into a real life National Lampoon’s Asian Vacation. They made us check our camera at the security desk so you will need to trust me that the entire front of my shirt and shorts were borderline dripping wet during our interview.
The interview went well despite my appearance and they are just waiting on a currier to bring one more document. We should be able to pick up all our documents on Tuesday.
By the time we get back to the room Tyler is feeling a little better. He is keeping down small sips of apple juice and a few crackers. Apparently while I was at the store getting a thermometer, ginger ale, and snacks Tyler and Sara were playing well and he is repeating English words again. I use the word “apparently” though because this is all hear say…they were napping when I got back.
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