Sunday Snapshot: Organizing & Little Red Spots

It all started last week. Becca woke up one morning and had several red marks on her back that were really bothering her. Since they didn't look like mosquito bites, I immediately thought that they were spider bites. And yes, we are still battling the mosquitoes. Fierce little monsters. So that day we cleaned out her bed, washed all the sheets, and thought it would be better.

The next morning she woke up with even more. And I was perplexed.

But then I heard that one of the other kids in the neighborhood had chicken pox.

Uh-oh.

Even though she had been vaccinated, Becca indeed has chicken pox. And I sent her to school during the most contagious period of time. Oops.

But on the thankful side, she has a mild case. No fever, doesn't really feel bad. Just really itchy.

Definitely not mosquito bites. I think of this face as her, "are you really going to take a picture of me. Really, mom?"

No, B! Don't scratch! She has one just below her eye that is really annoying her. And one in her ear.

But somehow, she doesn't look that sick.

Then on Friday afternoon, I looked closer at the mosquito bites on Tori's face. Hmm, and now we have case #2. Thankfully, Josh had it 2 years ago. How he got them then and the girls didn't is beyond me.

So Andy and the girls stayed in this Sunday morning. We went to IKEA the other day to buy Becca a desk and various home organizing things. I know that it was a definite hardship for him to hang with the sick girls and build the desk.

The end result.

Then when Josh and I got home from church, Andy and J built a new shoe rack for us. You can see the old shoe rack lurking in the background.

There is something truly wonderful about building something with Daddy. Or a home improvement project together. But we rent our home and are not even allowed to change a light bulb. Not exaggerating, we have to call a property management worker to change a lightbulb or even hang a picture. So opportunities to build with Daddy are limited and these projects are to be savored.

 I am almost embarrassed to show you the shoe area before. But in the interest of full disclosure, here it is. And there are even more shoes littered around my feet.

And the finished, much neater version. We can now fit all the shoes for this season on the rack. And as no household in China would be complete without it, there is the required basket of slippers for guests on the right.

I find it immensely humorous that on the shoe rack, Josh has 1 pair of shoes. Just one. Equally surprising is that I don't have the most shoes on the rack. Granted, I tie for that dubious right. Can you guess who ties me for the most?

Little T, my petite diva shares that honor with me. My littlest loves shoes. Boots. Sparkly slippers. She truly believes that a girl cannot have too many shoes. So I find them on discount and second hand, and she rocks them all. Particularly her cowgirl boots.

And my next organizational challenge? The toy room upstairs. Since I will be home-bound with the girls and their chicken pox this week, I know I will have time to tackle this.

Sunday Snapshot: Friendly Football

football - unlike in the U.S., in most of the world football implies soccer so this has become part of our vocabulary as well ;-)

Yesterday Becca and Josh participated in a Friendly Football Match where several International Schools competed against one another. The day was hosted by Dulwich, another school here in Suzhou. Eton House (our kids' school) sent 4 teams: 3 boys and a girls team. 

The girls team posing after one of their games. And just in case you are wondering, the girls are each wearing an E and H for, you guessed it, Eton House.

Josh moves in to steal the ball. Can you see his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth?

Closing in on the goal.

And celebrating after the goal. Yeah, buddy!

Getting ready to pass off to his teammate.

Back to the girls playing in the final for their division. The girls fought hard, but ended up with second overall.

These 2 girls from the opposing team were small and tough. As we saw them closing in on Becca, we held our breath. But our girlie stopped them and prevented the goal.

Josh has really gotten a lot tougher this last year. Check out the elbow. A year ago, he would have just yielded. So should I rejoice that he is throwing an elbow? I'm going with a yes on that one.

I love, love the determination on his face here.

 The girls getting their 2nd place metals. Josh was disappointed because even though his team did really well, they didn't place in the top 2. So therefore didn't get a metal. And Becca who would have been fine either way got a metal. Let's just say there were tears involved and leave it at that. I thought this was supposed to be a friendly football tournament.

Josh with his team. Can you see him still battling the tears?

But considering that the match ended after 1, I think that hunger played a factor. Food helped put him on the right track.

Well, food and a really BIG piece of chocolate cake. There are few things that chocolate cake can't cure.

He is worried that his cake is going to fall over. The happy cake feelings were almost ruined by cake stress. But don't worry, the happiness of chocolate cake prevailed in the end.

Chocolate cake happiness all around.

We had such a great day. Even with Josh's disappointment, the kids will talk about this day for weeks to come.

camp

Each summer as we come back to the US, there are things that are familiar to our children. These things and people mean more to me than I can express. Because our children's reality and norm is NOT the States. I wonder if it is strange and overwhelming for them to be here or comforting like it is to Andy and I. I know that since Becca remembers living here, for her there is comfort of coming back to familiar places and seeing so many people she knows. I am not sure that it is true for our younger two. Most of their life has been spent in China. But because this is not our children's norm, I worry about things that would not even be on my radar in Suzhou or if we lived here. As I drop Tori off for Sunday school, she gets worried. She told me: "what if I don't know anyone? what if they don't like me? what if they laugh at me?" And how can I as a Mom, not worry? But then a special friend comes along that she remembers and makes her feel right at home. And that means so much more than I can express.

Sunday I dropped Becca off at camp. This is a church camp that she attends every year and she knows some girls who attend as well. But when we got there, she discovered that one of her good friends who she was looking forward to being with was in a different cabin. And of course I worried. I mean, she only knew a handful of people there and it felt like others know one another so well. I even asked if she wanted me to talk to someone and see if she could be moved. And my girlie, so mature answered, "no, Mom. It will work out. I am disappointed that I won't be with Sarah, but I will see her and maybe even make some new friends." Yeah, message received: RELAX A BIT, MOM.

I don't think I will ever really let go and not worry about our kids. I mean, what mother can ever stop worrying? I will always watch them as we come back into this familiar-environment-but-not-quite-their-home. But at the same time, I will try to relax. To trust that this transition is not as big as I make it. Really, I will try to relax. Not making any promises though.

Sunday Snapshot: Celebrating 3 years

Can you believe it? 3 years. The time has gone so fast. But in the same regard, when we think back to living in the US, it seems so long ago. Back to when we owned a house. Days of carpool. Library story time. Instead our life is filled with other things. Saturday morning soccer in the neighborhood. Swimming afterschool. Interesting travel. Adventures on the bus. While we miss many things of our life in the US (really we mostly miss family and friends), we continue to rejoice in our life here. It seemed appropriate that on our China-versary of celebrating 3 years living in China that I had 2 events at the kids' schools. Think of this as a snapshot into their daily lives.

I started the day at Tori's school. She is so proud and pleased when I come to school. Her school had gone a field trip to a fire station earlier in the week. Then all the parents were invited to come to an open house on Friday as they showed us a typical day and then shared about the excursion. It is always an interesting experience for me to go to her school. Kind of never know what to expect or exactly what will happen. While I understand most of what is said, somehow I still feel that I am missing something that all the other parents inherently know and understand. I am sure that many immigrants to the US feel this way as they come to events at American schools where their children attend.

*If you want to find my kids in any of the pictures, just look for the blondies.

The teacher was explaining the order of events to the class.

But somehow my girl knew I was taking her picture. 

Typical morning exercises. In schools all over China, kids start their day like this. With movement set to songs so that their bodies and brains are ready to learn.

Such concentration!

After some more activities inside, Tori and I were off to the International school where Becca and Josh attend. You may ask why they are at different schools. But unfortunately that is a complicated question for another post. . .

At Eton House, they were having Sports Day. Much like Track and Field Day of my childhood. We always had it on the second to last day of school. When there was no possible way that learning was going to take place. But their last day of school is July 1st and by then it will be so beastly hot and humid here. I had missed some of the activities, but was able to get there in time for all the track events. Like many Australian and British schools, the entire school is divided into 4 houses. Much like the 4 houses of Hogwarts in Harry Potter, the entire student body is divided equally into the houses and families are sorted into the same house (though no sorting hat here). Throughout the year, they have House competitions and at the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded a trophy for the year. Different school have various names for each of the houses. In honor of our host country, each of the houses at Eton House are named for one of the 4 dynasties in China: Han 汉朝, Ming 明, Song 宋, and Tang 唐.

Josh cheers on his fellow Ming teammates.

What determination!

Becca and Silje proudly show off their second place medals. 

Look at those legs! Somehow she reminds us of a deer.

In tug-of-war, everyone was pulling so hard. . .

that they landed in a heap of giggles.

Travel stress

Becca is our worrier. In fact, I often tell people that I don't need to worry about things because Becca will take care of that for me. This is particularly evident when we travel. If our plane is delayed, she worries that we will miss our connection. If we are running late, she worries that we will miss our plane/train/bus/boat (as the case may be). When we were in Vietnam for Chinese New Year, the kids and I were going to return to China by ourselves and Andy was going to immediately start traveling for business. We got to airport to check in and were told that they had overbooked the flight and we were going to have to take a flight back to China the next day. Andy and I proceeded to argue with the airline representative, to no avail. If we were in the US or even China, I don't think that I would have worried about flying the next day. And while I had enjoyed our time in Vietnam, I was ready to go back home to China. As we were discussing things with the check-in attendant, she was fairly insistent that the kids and I were going to have to fly the next day. Suddenly, it proved to be too much for our girlie who of course had been listening in to every word. She burst into tears. And within minutes, the kids and I went from not getting on flight to being upgraded to business class.

This week we had a holiday (Tomb Sweeping Day) and we took the opportunity to go to Shanghai for the day. We enjoyed a great day. Took the bullet train in -- only 25 minutes from Suzhou to Shanghai. We then met up with friends for lunch. After lunch we went to the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. Finally, we finished our day up with dinner out. Truly a terrific day as a family. After dinner, we had a little bit of time. Andy wanted to walk down to the river, but B was worried about missing our train. Andy insisted that we had time, so we started walking. We got to the Huang Pu (the Pu River) and Becca was stressed out, feeling that we needed to go catch the subway to the train station. After less than 5 minutes, we left the river and started the journey to the station with Becca asking every couple of minutes what time it was. Our train was scheduled to leave at 9:04 PM. We arrived on the subway at the train station at 8:50 PM. We then sprinted through security, up the escalator, found our platform (keep in mind the Shanghai Train Station is HUGE), practically threw our tickets at the attendant. Just imagine our family running, and yes the kids were running as well. Tori was running and giggling the whole way. We boarded the train and it started moving. Seriously a close one. As Andy said later, "ok, going to the river might not have been the best idea. Not my finest moment."

Now most of travel experiences are not quite so extreme. Through all of our travel, Andy and I generally don't get too stressed about delays or other incidents. We keep waiting for Becca to get to that point. But for now, she just suffers from travel stress. Every time. But Andy and I think we are ready to audition for the Amazing Race. Cause at moments like those, it seems like we are in training for the Amazing Race - family version.

Wisdom according to Becca

Becca was watching me weigh all of our suitcases (because I ALWAYS run out of weight before I run out of space, we have some seriously BIG suitcases). She had a good thought: "Mom, why don't they let you check more weight in your suitcases if you weigh less?" Hmm, I think that she might have a good point.

Rite of Passage

Yesterday Becca got her ears pierced. Somehow that seems like a rite of passage. The beginning of body adornment, the road leading to jewelry and make-up. My little girl, my first born is well on her way to being a young woman. If I stop and think of the road that lies ahead, it can be overwhelming and scary. Things like dating and puberty. Boys and make-up. But then I pause and look at my girlie, and see her sweet spirit, her love and concern for others, and her integrity, then I think this will be okay. I know the road is still long, but I am encouraged by the young woman she is becoming.

She looks so worried!

On the second ear looking a little less worried.

My beautiful girlie.

Great anticipation

Becca had been waiting with great anticipation for camp for so many months. Now as I am going to pick her up today, I await with great anticipation to hear about her week.

Eagerly awaiting the time to go.

B with some of the girls from her cabin.

Goodbyes abound

Yesterday I dropped off Becca at camp for the week. I am so excited for her and the fun things she will get to experience this week. But my excitement does not even begin to compare to what she was feeling. She has been looking forward to this for months. She was all packed up and ready Saturday (honestly, if we had been in Cincy earlier I think she would have been packed up way before). Then this morning Andy boarded a plane to return to China. While I don't regret our staying longer, we miss him so once he leaves. But it is worth it to get extra time with family and friends. I mean once we have come all this way (and only returning to the US once a year), it seems silly to return after only 2.5 weeks. Right now the younger two are outside enjoying Josh's new rocket launcher. We are off to run one errand (I have promised the kids that it will be only one. I think we are just a bit done with shopping). Then we are off to enjoy this beautiful day at a park. Quiet days like this are the whole reason it is worth it to stay. So I hope that you too can enjoy this wonderful day.

Birthday girl

Yesterday was Becca's birthday. I asked her if it felt any different to be 9, she responded, "No, I'm still the same kid." Of our trio, Becca has adjusted to the move the easiest. Andy and I have often commented that it has seemed like she was waiting to do this "all of her life." She loves to travel, explore, and meet new people. During these last couple of years, we have seen her grow so much! She is a wonderful girl who shows compassion and kindness to others, but at the same time is very logical. Happy Birthday, Becca B! It is such a privilege to parent you on your journey to adulthood.

Packing diva

Over this past year, we have really begun to see Becca's individual sense of style emerge. She has definite likes and preferences. She tends to like bright colors and pairs things together that I am not sure that I would, but it works on her. We also find it interesting to see how her tastes have been influenced by her friends (which are from all over the world). As I was packing, I asked her to get out things that she wanted to take. Before long, she had quite the pile. But what surprised me was the amount of shoes! She had out 4-5 pairs. To go to the beach! I asked her why she needed so many shoes. Her response, "well, I want these flip flops for this outfit, my comfy shoes (van-like shoes) for the plane, these shoes for this outfit, . . . " She is 8 (well, almost 9, but still)! I finally told her: "You CANNOT pack more shoes than me." So we settled on packing 2 pairs and wearing 1. Is this just a bit of what is to come?

Dates with Daddy

While on a boat ride we saw some ocean kayakers and Becca was intrigued by them. Andy and I got to talking and he commented that it would be fun to do when the kids were older. I looked at him and said, "Why wait? Take Becca." So later that day, they set out for a trip to several of the islands and had a terrific time. The next day Andy rented a motorbike (something he really wanted to do) and took both Becca and Josh on rides along the coast. There is just something about a date with Daddy!