Friday, May 18, 2007

Going To America

Happy to report Chase and I are heading back to America for the month of June. I can't bring myself to think about the mega plane rides without Brian (one from Dalian to PDX - then another from PDX to Jackson, MS). Just thinking about taking the walking, willfull, little Miss Lolly on a super long plane trip makes my eye twitch. It's not that I don't want to spend every hour of the day with her - I do. It's just that I'd rather spend that time in a place where she can walk around and play.

I asked one of the teachers at Gymboree if she had any suggestions (I was thinking playdough, decals, stickers). She said many parents give their kids something to make them sleep. For better or for worse, I am not one of "those" parents. So I will arrive in Portland with bags under my eyes, totally frazzled and strung out - or, in my dad's words, "like the sleepy man is standing on my face."

All this just in time for my 15-year high school reunion. Is it too late to start a diet and excercize regime? (I'm sure most of my classmates have been fasting since January to make sure they are a size -0 for the reunion.)

Should be interesting - it better be! Otherwise I will have a hard time staying awake.

Newest Playgroup

This morning we went to the most organized playgroup I've ever been to - it was awesome. It is from 9-11 a.m. The group meets four times per week (too often for me) and is run by a preschool teacher and a gal who works at Gymboree. The kids range in age between 18-24 months. Of course they are all Chinese. The hostess and the gal from Gymboree are the only folks that speak English. The hostess is the same woman who invited us to go strawberry picking.

I get the feeling she thinks Chase is too young (c'mon, she's 14 months today!) for her playgroup and is trying nicely to revoke the playgourp invitation. She keeps saying, "maybe the kids are too old for Chase." And I keep saying, "it is so great to let Chase have an opportunity to play with older kids."

I think we've said this to each other four times already.

Maybe I should take the hint (although I must admit I got the hint the first time. Whether or not I decide to take the hint is another subject entirely, as I think it is extremely important for Chase to interact with slightly older children).

Maybe we'll just rely on three days of Gymboree and our playdates with Ho Di, Joshua (when he returns from Beijing), and Nicholas (when he returns from Germany).

Bird Is The Word

Last night Chase signed "bird." Talk about super cute. She can now sign fish, hat, more and bath. She could probably do more, but I must admit I am slacking on the whole sign language thing (bad Mommy, bad).