Lovely Sunday

Yesterday evening we had a bachelorette party for Nicole. She's not getting married for 3 more months but Lieke is in town now ;). We had a great time at a Japanese restaurant and later at karaoke. I lasted until a bit after 23.00. Lieke walked me out of the karaoke and got me a cab straight away. There were two (drunk) guys before us but she asked them to let me go first, haha, cool! She said: "excuse me my friend has a baby *grand gesture at my belly* can she have this cab?". The guys immediately agreed and were very happy I said "xiexie". Ah, so easy to please!

Car seat: approved!

An uneasy night followed as I was super tired but awake at the same time. Little one no.2 was not very impressed with me dancing and singing at the karaoke so she only woke up during the cab ride home. Then she had her own little party for a while. Lexie woke up very early so we put her in our bed to sleep a bit more. She was very restless so I didn't get much sleep.

Cool swing seat

This morning we headed to Shamian island to enjoy the nice weather. It was the first dry and sunny day in a while. All of a sudden it was 28C this afternoon. Big change after 13C on Thursday! We went to a place called Rose garden and chilled out for a while. It was great to be outside.

Yeah!

Lexie was happy to be outside too as you can see. We had an early lunch and headed back home. I dropped Lexie off at grandma's place where she refused to sleep. You see, grandma is on a 'no more pacifier' saga........ *sigh* If you give it to her she'll be out in 5 minutes or less. BUT it is not 'Chinese' to use one so it has to go right now!!!! They won't give it to her at kindergarten either so nap time has been a struggle. I think they are just being silly and stupid. Come on, she's 1,5 years old and her life just changed a lot. Why change everything at once? Obviously nobody listens to me, since I'm just her mom........ 

Bread!

After the allotted nap time, in which no napping got done, we headed to Hommy's. Lexie was happy and played with everybody. She got super tired though (how strange, huh?) and she fell fast asleep in the car on the way home. I think that the nap schedule has been really messed up now but grandma feels it's progress that she slept without the pacifier..... *sigh* Like she is going to fall asleep at school around noon from sheer exhaustion (me thinks not).

Hi!

It is very frustrating and it is so annoying that such a major fuss is being made about a tiny little detail. The way I see it is very simple: give her the pacifier, she sleeps, she's happy. When she notices the other kids don't use one she'll want to try sleeping without it soon enough. But hey, who am I??

Car seat: also great for naps

Haiwen and Lexie are at grandma's for dinner now. I still have some leftovers here. I decided that my 'in law meter' is more than full for this week, haha. Now I also have some time to write a blog and share todays pictures with you ;)

Tomorrow I'm teaching in Shenzhen. I hope I have enough energy for that. Haiwen is dropping me off and I'm coming back by train. The guy who arranges the classes is a bit chaotic to put it mildly. I told him I don't want hour long gaps in between students so I hope he arranged the times well.

Interesting day!

16.11 and had a full day already!! Lexie got car sick this morning, the poor thing. Traffic was bad due to rain so it was stop and go for most of the way. She made a gurgling noise and then 3 huge gulps of curdled milk came out. You can imagine the mess that made. 

When we got to the Kindergarten I carried her to the toilets to get her cleaned up. Good thing that there are always fresh clothes in her back pack! Three teachers and grandma came to help and it was like watching a pit stop at the formula 1. I held Lexie while they took off her clothes, washed her and put clean clothes back on. It was super quick. While grandma and I gathered the dirty clothes the teacher took her to class. I sneaked a peak and she was already happily munching on a bun. She didn't see me and we quickly left.

Picture by teacher Li

Haiwen dropped grandma and the headmistress off at the hospital close to school. The headmistress knows a doctor there that can help grandma's brother. He's got a clogged kidney artery that needs to be opened up again. In China you need you guanxi (connections) if you want to get something fast!

Then Haiwen's taxi duty continued as he dropped me off at the Canton Club for the GWIC morning coffee. It was nice to catch up with the ladies and I also met a newly arrived Dutch girl. Her boyfriend works for the competitor of Rokatec (where HW works).

Canton club is very posh so you can ask them to get you a cab. They also make sure that nobody cuts in line so to speak, very handy! Nice to wait inside on a big plushy sofa instead of outside in the rain. I got one quite quickly and went to Ersha.

Wagner rehearsal 

David Stern is conducting this week and Michael arranged for us to meet at Starbucks. Some more nice catching up followed and we decided to go to dinner tonight with a few orchestra people and the singers. I stayed and listened to the rehearsal for a while. I noticed I left my scarf at Starbucks so I went back to get it. Little one no. 2 seems to like Wagner, haha. During the break I talked to some ex colleagues and then it was time to head back home and rest for a bit.

Last Friday I went to listen to the Stuttgart Symphony with Stephan Deneve at the opera house. His wife Asa arranged tickets for us, very cool! I didn't get to see him after the concert but we had a quick drink on Saturday whilst skyping his wife and daughter. They were just waking up in Scotland ;)

Yeah, mommy still has a life too :P

Day 3 at Kindergarten

It's Wednesday today and it marks day 3 of Lexie at Kindergarten.

She is doing great and mommy is doing much better too. It is amazing how much 'wiser' she seems in only 2 days of school. She's got this very bright look in her eyes and her posture is tall and proud! She is talking a lot, even compared to Sunday when she was happily mumbling away and saying 'mamma baobao' a lot.

The afternoon nap is is a bit difficult because they don't allow her to have a pacifier. I don't mind letting her have one for now since so much has changed in her life recently. She's only been getting it for sleeping for a long time already. If they want to deal with a frequently waking up Lexie, that is their problem. Come on, she's 1,5!! I do give it to her in the evening because she keeps crying and that's just too sad as she is completely pooped and in need of sleep. I'm guessing she is smart enough to get the difference soon: at school no pacifier, at home yes. And who knows, maybe she'll think sleeping without one is cooler soon.

Some pictures Lexie's teacher sent me

I've been let down by technology in our house because the DVD-player that will play the original(!) Dutch DVD's has died on us. Our stupid Philips DVD-player keeps claiming that our area codes are wrong. Do you have any idea how annoying that is?? You buy original stuff and then it gets blocked! Yes, some people do move around the globe and do not stay put on one continent. Almost enough reason to buy fakes only! So now Lexie only wants to see 喜洋洋 (xiyangyang). In Chinglish that is Pleasant goat and Big big wolf.

Nothing wrong with smart sheep never to be eaten by the stupid wolf but it is in Chinese...... She needs more Dutch input and I feel very responsible for that. I've put hubby on the case and I'll also ask grandpa for help. We can see episodes on digital TV so that is quite convenient. It is good for my Chinese but that is not the point here ;)

Lexie understands me perfectly fine but her only response in Dutch is 'nee!!' She will speak Chinese to me on all other accounts. 'Mamma zuozuo' which comes down to 'mommy come sit with me'. I repeat back 'mamma zitten' waiting for her to say it. Not very successful yet but I guess I'll have to keep it up. 'Mamma baobao' which means 'mommy I want a hug'. 'Gao gao ju' (Cantonese) is used when she wants to sleep. The list goes on with a mixture of Cantonese and Mandarin......

OK, my student is here, gotta go!

First day at Kindergarten!

Little bit sleepy at 7.30

So Lexie just left for her first day at school. I almost managed to be happy for her when she was still here. A few sneaky tears escaped, but nothing major.

Mommy putting on a brave face

We woke up at 7.00 and Lexie had her morning milk. Then it was time to put on the school uniform. That is required on Monday's and Thursday's. I believe they raise the flag on those days. So much going on that I don't really know about yet!

Monday's and Thursday's are 'uniform' days!

Lexie has been in a completely mommy focussed mood for the last week. She said 'mamma baobao' at least 20 times a day. That means 'mommy I want a hug'. Of course!! Lexie is an excellent hugger so I happily obliged. Too bad my pelvis hurts like hell at times so I needed to divert some baobao's to daddy. Lexie did not always agree with this. If we were walking outside I couldn't do much for her but as soon as we are inside I can sit down and hug her. Lexie happy, mommy happy and pelvis happy!

Showing off her new backpack

Grandma spent a lot of time last week sowing Lexie's name tag into all of her clothes. Her name needs to be on every item she wears at school.

Looking very cute (her speciality)

The backpack and the uniform are standard school issue. She also has a school issued blanket for her afternoon nap, together with her class. They sleep in the classroom on a plank system with some cushioning. They eat breakfast at 8.30 and lunch is provided as well. She will be picked up at 16.30 today. I hope that she really likes it there. I think she will as she is very open to new things and she loves to explore and learn new stuff.

 

Bye bye!!

It's been a bit difficult for me because I'm the only Westerner here with a completely different background. What do you mean by going to school at 1,5 years young? What?!? Go until 16.30, are you nuts?? Where are the half days of getting used to school?

My plan is to see how Lexie responds. If I notice that she's too tired or unhappy I will take action and make her go less. If she's happy and looking for her backpack in the morning I'll play along in the Chinese game. Multi-culti really sucks at times!!

Pic overview!

25,5 weeks

Lunch with auntie Nicole on Qing Ming festival

'Helping out' auntie Qiang at Hommy's

Rain and mist......

First clear day in weeks!!! Only 16C but gorgeous :)

Gimme those rackets daddy!

On the run!

Playing at Aeon (Jusco) near Hommy's

'Abdminal' belt for support in the operational phase!

No milk today?!?

Hommy's

Qiang with the coffee machine

The new coffee shop is open! The Chinese name is 小熊家 that means 'home of the little bear'.

It is located in the mall opposite the East railway station, on the side with the waterfall.

Near Ikea, so to say. There's a Fine Foods and a KFC on that side. Go downstairs behind the KFC and you'll see it right there!

Welcome!

The coffee is good, no Chinese water crap, so to say. The coffee machine is the same one as used in IN cafe before. They also sell some small snacks and refreshing cold drinks. There are some seats outside and a few inside as well.

I went there today as well. Grandpa was home in time to watch Lexie so I didn't have her here for her nap. Since it's a bit boring to be home alone on Easter I asked Haiwen if he had time for lunch. Since the office in Holland is closed today, he had some time to spare. We had lovely dim sum at the Hilton and then went to Hommy's.

Fly away!!!

I took the bus home and it took a bit too long.... That meant I really had to pee when I arrived at ZhongHai. I went up to grandma's because walking home wasn't going to work ;)

Lexie was awake and came with me. We played with the swings for a bit and then went to get coffee. Well, water for Lexie and coffee for me. She did  great. I gave her some leaves to tear apart and walked around with her a little bit in between.

Terrace training went very well :)

She wanted to sit in one of those baby play cars on the way home. I gave her a 1 RMB bill and told her to go change it for a coin. She walked right into the shop and came back with a coin. Smart girl!