Due to some visa issues, our lovely helper (Jenny) had to leave us and return to the Philippines.  As an overprotective mother and control-freak wife, I panicked.  What would happen to Michael, how will he adjust, do we go for Filipino / Chinese (fear of child abduction)?  But then, after a month of losing our helper, it dawned on me … it was me who had problems / issues with the adjustment (and still do!).  Of course, Ian being the ever wise and calm father & husband has been the pillar of strength to walk me through this month by teaching our new helper skills that she desperately needs (like what is a “sunny-side up egg”!?)

The fact that the new helper isn’t exactly as efficient or worldly as Jenny didn’t help either.  However what has been amazing is how well Michael has adjusted:

- we thought to put Michael for 5 mornings at Montessori starting Jan, so that it’d be less hectic when second bubba comes.  It proved timely and his chinese has been improving at an unbelievable speed (he is now singing mandarin nursery rhymes at bath time!)

- I (wanted to say “we” but…) thought Michael would have real issues with the new helper, but besides him taking advantage of her at times and pushing the limits (which he does to us at any rate), he is enjoying this new relationship!  English is a bit of an issue (the new filipino helper’s english isn’t great!), but he tends to just teach her the english when required!

At the end of the day, I take lots of comfort to know that Michael is okay even with this change and that he may possible be better equipped when second bubba comes.  Ian’s parents are coming soon (THANK god) and so they’ll be a great support to Michael and us.  I am about 7 weeks away from due date (and feeling it - waddling was never my favorite part!).  Michael has been sleeping relatively well in the “Big boy’s bed” despite wanting to come out when we put him down.  The next training will be to get him potty trained also, but I have learned to be “less aggressive” in mandating it!

Until next time, I have had no energy taking photos, but here is a couple of videos which I absolutely LOVE:

 http://picasaweb.google.com/staceylacy/MichaelSAlbumVideoClips 

Love from Shanghai - we’re entering into Chinese New Year soon and Michael loves saying “I am a “Lao Hu” - I am a Tiger!

- Michael is still not so sure about ice-cream as it was just too cold!
- frizzy drinks just hurt his little tongue and the face he’d make after a sip was hysterical!
- lollies looked a bit too strange and he didn’t quite want to touch them (yet)!
- chips and biscuits are just heavenly.  Michael shuffled as much of those chips/bikkies as he could at every occasion!
- the best highlight was probably the “melting moments”.  It looked harmless like a little mini-size puff pastry.  But boy does it melt.  After Auntie Tamara shared the ingredients (butter and sugar), it is no wonder why it was a hit!

Michael was also happily surprised by the amount of toys a little boy can receive in a short span!  We are not so sure how much he appreciates Santa but he sure can recognize who he is!

Just like any other visit to Brisbane, every day was colorful and eventful meeting up with Ian’s mates and friends.  To Michael, he loved visiting everyone’s home as there is again a new playground to be found (someone’s backyard)!  The quieter moments would be where he hung out with Nanna/Poppa’s new puppy Oscar who gave him many kisses and licks while he rode Ian’s childhood scooter.  Everyday was an adventure for our little yet quickly growing boy!

We then returned to Shanghai for a relatively quiet new year.  However 2010 has had a lot for us already!  Our lovely helper is leaving soon and we are scrambling to get a new one.  Plus our second baby is coming along at the end of March.  Second bubba is a little too small for his size and I am having tests again for gestational diabetes (sigh).   All seems a bit crazy at the moment but I hope that as the year progresses, we will get it sorted.  As Ian always says, as long as we’re together, we will find the right solution!

In the meantime, enjoy our photos from Christmas:

http://picasaweb.google.com/staceylacy/MichaelSAlbumMyAustraliaAdventures

Love from Shanghai,

Ian, Stacey, Michael (who loves to say “I don’t know” and “I don’t want it”!) and bubba at 29 weeks.

Much love from Australia, where we’re having a wonderfully warm Christmas!

Ian, Stacey, Michael (at 2 who is hoping to see Santa Claus) and the bump at 6.5 months-baked

The meeting quickly began by presenting Michael”s scorecard… it has categories such as:

- Social Develpment (do they shares toys, any respect for children, do they follow instructions)

- Care of environment (do they clean up and “respect” for toys, do they have table manners)

- Language Development

- Working time (can they work alone and with others?!)

and mostly Michael was ranked as “developing” as opposed to “Not Shown”, “Established” or “Advanced”… in general the comments from teacher Jenny was as follows:

- Michael’s biting episode was probably prompted by the other child and as long as they’re separated, no such incidence has occurred (what a relief for us!)

- Michael is an independent boy and he is good at sharing his toys (in general)

- Michael is very good in English (got really good esp after learning from the other children) but his Chinese is practically non-existent! (see i am not only bad at teaching Ian Chinese… it’s the same for Michael - must find a better way!)

All in all, he is developing well and is truly enjoying school… when I walked out, I was so impressed with how organized the school… and of course Ian being the ever logical mind simply replied, “you get what you paid for.”

Photos posting has been made really difficult since Google Photos are also blocked in China!  Sadly to say, after a year living in this confined freedom, we’re getting used to the lack of it.  Enjoy our photos and until we write in Australia during our holidays!!!

Michael’s album - Autumn in Shanghai

Michael’s album - he is TWO!!!

Love from Shanghai,

p.s. We have had two weeks of Gung Gung and Poh Poh’s spoiling for Michael and it was nice to get some grandparents time.  Next will be X’mas holiday for Nanna and Poppa by the beach… we CAN’T wait!

When Michael returned to school this week after a well-rested holiday, it was reported that he bit his classmate… leaving a noticeable red mark.  Of course every one (the teachers, the little girl and her mom) was quite upset and I had to even ring her mom to apologize. (I still feel bad now!).  Interestingly that evening, after a stern talking by Ian, Michael seemed to understand his actions ( and the implications) and consequently was a happy-obedient little boy the next day at school.

However it only lasted one day!  The day after, he bit two girls in his class again!  Now I am honestly desperate with these questions in mind:

- What if the school expels him?! - this is entirely possible given what I read on the internet and given Michael’s got a german principal at his school!

- What is happening to our angel?!  Is he frustrated about (my pregnancy?!)?!

- Will this pass???

The google search on “how to stop a toddler’s biting” suggests that you bite them back… surely there is a more humane way before we resort to that?!  Also we have already set up a “time-out corner” and Michael knows that when he is in trouble, he must stand in the time-out corner …in fact, after being naughty, he says “stand in corner”… (we have to keep a straight face from not laughing!)

Both Ian and I are at a loss and the google search (plus a Shanghai mama’s advice) says that something must be bothering Michael…  The only thing we can think about (well I couldn’t quite think; it was rather suggested by Ian) is that maybe Michael missed hanging out with us - but that shouldn’t entitle him to bite children, right?  All that babyplus system training was supposed to make Michael a “perfect” child - well I guess they can only guarantee leading up to two years old!

Help is needed and any advice will be appreciated!

Other than that, we had a wonderful wonderful holiday (could do it for 2 years, rather than just 2 weeks) in Thailand.  Now counting down to the next holiday!  Baby is doing well and we got a 4D photo of the new bubba.

Love from Shanghai.

p.s.  We’ll write another time for Michael’s two-year-old birthday!  For one, he got loads of gifts!!!  Thank you everyone for your gifts and well wishes!!!

 The 4 day weekend was packed with seeing many kids (9 kids in total) and of course we got to have a bit of social life also (much needed for Stacey!).  Hong Kong was the same - pollution, crowed streets EVERYWHERE, fantastic shopping and our beloved friends and family.  It was Ian’s first time back to HK since we left there a year ago and we just couldn’t believe how the year had slipped by so quickly!

Then a week later, it was onto a holiday that Ian and Stacey much much needed - two weeks by the beach in Phuket, Thailand.  It was LONG to get here from Shanghai (total of 7 hours) and we were all exhausted when we got there, but the sound of the Andamen Sea was ever soothing and calming that we felt instantly more relaxed.  We are a few days into our holiday and Michael just loves it!  He finally got to enjoy a real beach (unlike the man-made one in our Shanghai apt complex!) and to him, it’s heaven on earth.  In Phuket, Michael’s daily schedule is: wake up, eat breakfast, hang out on the beach, have lunch, nap, then afternoon adventure, followed by the routine dinner & night time rituals.  Our little boy is very privileged and we are hoping that he grows up cherishing the fun time he had with us. 

We will keep blogging more now that I have more time and all the sites are uncensored…  Until next time, Enjoy our photos and much love from Phuket, Thailand.

Michael’s album - almost 2…

Michael’s Album - 23 Months young

On the day of “orientation day”, both Ian and I were there and Michael was as BRAVE as ever although he did some funny things:

- held on to my hand’s really really tight!

- didn’t know what to do with all the new toys!

- all the teachers (and the main teacher has same name as Michael’s nanny - Jenny!) were a little overwhelming - in the world of China, they were able to afford 3 teachers (2 females and 1 male) and 1 ayi (helper).

- didn’t quite understand the mandarin that was being spoken, so lots of translation from us!

Although I was there with Michael the whole time during the Orientation Day, we were pretty confident to let him go to school by himself the following Monday.  And so we did!  Oh, it was hard to see our little boy grow so quickly, but when he was at school this morning, it clearly showed that he was “almost” ready for school:

- no tears when we dropped him off

- frowned upon other children who were taking turns to cry!  (There were a set of twins as young as 16 months!! I can’t imagine Michael going to school so young!)

- only wanted to find his mama around 11ish (school ended at 12:20 p.m.) and Michael was relieved when he finally saw me!  I could still see the tears around his eyes (how heart-breaking!)

- I asked him if he liked school and he said “es…”.  I also asked if he wanted to come back to school again tomorrow and the answer was also “es…”!

All in all it was a success!  We are so proud of our little boy… enjoy the photos:

Michael’s Album - 22 months old

Love from Shanghai until next time…  we’re eagerly waiting to attend Uncle Gary and Leona tse tse’s wedding party soon in Hong Kong.

We mortal adults really ought to give our children more credit than they deserve.  Although their speech capabilities are still developing, the amount of understanding through their observations is just incredible, examples like the below just blow our minds away:

1.  Michael can help sing the national australian anthem

2.  Michael carries a proper phone conversation with me while I am on business trip (sharing with me about his day and what he ate for dinner!)

 3.  One morning, I found him climbing onto the top bunk bed by himself!!!  (gave me a real fright and Ian was secretly proud of Michale’s achievement!)

 For our not-so-latest photos:

Michael’s album - 20 months old

With love from Shanghai and until next time.

Although we were only there for four days and had only visited a few places (Bird’s Nest Stadium, Water-cube, Forbidden city, Tianamen Square and the Great Wall), we had an incredible time.  We also had glorious weather the whole time (what was all the fuss about Beijing Pollution!?  It’s sooo much worse in Shanghai!).  Money must have solved some of those pollution problems!

Michael just had the best time - he LOVED the GREAT WALL!  We went to the part of Mutianyu (there are several parts of the Great Wall which are opened for tourism.  I went to the Badaling part in my first visit however, I have to say that, Mutianyu is MUCH better)!  We went really early in the morning and pulled out all the tricks in the 1.5 hour car ride with Michael!  Books, toys, songs, camera (with video of Michael)…and books again!  Michael finally lost it just as we approached the Wall.  Then it was uphill from there. 

We took the cable car (which Michael was scared - and is still saying “skard” when he sees the cable car brochure) and he attempted to walk most of the Wall that we did.  The weather was beautiful and it wasn’t crowded (until we were on our way leaving the Wall).  Then we topped it off by going to a local “western” cafe which had a terrace - it was set in a school house (and hence its name).  It was perfect. 

After returning to the Beijing city, we took an adventure and took the subway to the Olympic Stadiums.  They were magnificent.  Michael couldn’t care less about where he was - but he was excited about the HUGE square and proceeded to run everywhere.  Needless to say, he had a great sleep that night - Beijing definitely worked those little legs!

In this holiday, it made very clear a few things about a toddler:

- doesn’t matter where you go, as long as Mama and Dada are around

- doesn’t matter what you do, as long as there is a big area to run around

- doesn’t matter how much you plan, as long as you sort of follow some routine and don’t be overly-aggressive in the planning.

All in all, we had a wonderful time.  Can’t wait for the next holidays!  Until then, enjoy our photos and love from Shanghai.

Michael’s Album - Beijing, China