One of my favorite children stories is Pete Seager's AbiYoYo. Somewhere in our past, Tina and I were exposed to an animated version of this with Pete Seager telling/singing the story. We have a paperback copy of it in our library from when Cam and Ben were little and Kai and Shen both love it. When I read it to the boys I do my best to imitate Pete Seager's style as I believe he tells it perfectly. It's nice because the song (even though it's about a terrible monster) is a lullaby, so at the end I just repeat it over and over, lowly and slowly.

Before I read stories to the boys at night they have some time to look at books themselves. Lately Kai has been fascinated by a series of books by Scholastic called "First Discovery Books". We have the The Earth and Sky, Weather and Pyramids. Kai is quite interested in the mummies. Another favorite right now, which is perfect for Halloween is The Ghost Eye Tree.

So this is a video of the boys reading books. I shot it mostly because I just love the way Shen repeats AbiYoYo over and over.


And this is an old video of Pete Seager telling the story on his TV show from the early '60's. I love the way he tells this...

Cam and Brittni came for dinner tonight and stayed to help us carve the pumpkins. Kai has been hounding us since we got them, almost three weeks ago, to carve them. Of course tonight when his wish finally came true, he pretty much wanted nothing to do with the project. Pumpkin carving is messy and gooey, and that's all just a bit much for Kai. He did enjoy watching, and was very excited to see the finished products. Shen, on the other hand, loved digging into the guts for the seeds. He mushed and mashed at the stuff as long as we would let him.

Yep, got kicked out.
Not Kai and Shen - Tina and me.
We are fortunate, in that we have a good Chinese language school here in our community. Kai attended last year, but we felt that the structure was a bit too formal for him and Shen this year. It also meets at a challenging time for us on Sunday afternoons. As it turns out, the teacher Kai had last year, Sunny, has her own little tutoring program, and is teaching a preschool class on Thursday evenings in a little space she's rented in an office building downtown. This has turned out to be a great fit for us. There are only a few other kids, and the parents always stay for the class. This has actually been a bit of a distraction for Kai and Shen. For while we can help them with the activities, they also compete for our attention and test to see which of us adults is in charge of discipline.

So last night at class we were the only ones there for the first half. Sunny had an activity out for the boys when we got there, they were sorting different size beads onto sticks: small, medium, and large. I mean xiao 小, zhòng 中, and da 大. As we finished this activity, Sunny says, "I wonder how the boys would do with just me?" At first we thought maybe she was just joking, but then she said, "You guys could go and have a cup of coffee and a little time to yourselves for a few minutes. Wouldn't that be nice?" And then Tina and I thought maybe the boys would do better with her if weren't in the way. But then we worried the boys might get upset if we left. And what about the whole bonding issue with Shen? We still have so far to go with him and we haven't left him with anyone other than Cam and Ben for a couple hours once. Then Sunny said she thought it would be good to try. So we told the boys we were just going to go upstairs in the building for a few minutes and would be right back. Kai was a little unsure at first, but Shen was more than happy to say goodbye and see us out the door. This of course didn't help our concerns about attachment, but then we were out the door. We ended up walking down the street and going to a Starbucks for a cup of coffee. We sat down for a few minutes, then headed back to see if everything was okay. From outside the door we could see that another little girl in the class had arrived, and apparently Sunny had chased her mom off too. She was reading them the story of Little Red Riding Hood in Chinese (and English at the same time), and the three kids were all just fine. We quietly waited in the hallway until the story was over and Sunny was transitioning to the next activity before going back in. There were only a few minutes left, so we all got in a circle and sang a couple songs to finish the class. Sunny said the the kids did really well on their own and that maybe we should try it like this again next week.

So that's how the boys' teacher managed to very tactfully kick the parents out of class. I have mixed feelings about it. I was learning in class too, and I miss that, but I think we were getting in the way of the boys learning. I don't know as Shen is actually "learning" Chinese in class, as he speaks it already, but it gives him an hour a week with a native speaker, and he seems to really enjoy that.

This is the first season we've tried to watch Survivor. It was the China hook that sucked us in. I take the blame for this. Watching some mindless TV and getting to see a bit of China at the same time sounded good.

Good God It Was Bad!

I pushed myself through three whole episodes. It was three too many. Ugly Betty is such a better use of the Tivo. I used to be so proud of being able to say I had never seen Survivor. I blew that one. All I can hope now is that the memory will fade.
The Horror.

All of us here at the Chou-Chou Shu head office have been following the news of the Dalai Lama's recent award of the Congressional Gold Medal. We're huge fans of the Dalai Lama. In fact, just last week Tina picked up his little book "How to Practice : The Way to a Meaningful Life" which we've both been reading. I've got to admit, I still have a lot to learn. Somehow, the pictures of his Holiness hanging out with George Bush are a bit disturbing to me. I have read that the Dalai Lama considers George Bush to be a good friend. How does someone as enlightened as the Dalai Lama tolerate someone who is so... so FAR from enlightenment?

But I guess that's just it isn't it? It's that compassion thing of his. The Dalai Lama loves everybody, even George Bush. Enlightenment must be really really hard.

Being an avid "China watcher" now, I am also concerned by the PRC's public response to this award being given to the Dalai Lama. I wish I understood their point of view better. I hope that they take to heart the things he said in his acceptance speech. I hope George Bush does too.

This is now an official tradition for our family. We did similar things a few times with our older boys, but by the time this sort of "Tourist Farming" had caught on, they were getting a bit big for it. But this is the 3rd trip for Kai. See HERE and HERE. It's interesting to look back at those links and see how much he has grown.

We actually did this two weekends ago. It was a cold, wet fall day, which meant the farm wasn't too crowded. It wasn't the kind of weather one usually associates with an enjoyable outing, but it seemed just right for getting a pumpkin in the pacific northwest: gray and misty, with that fall bite in the air!

Shen's language usage is really interesting. He has learned, and uses, a lot of English. He has the essentials of course: "no", "that's mine", "all done", "more". But he hangs onto his Chinese too: he always refers to himself as "wo", Kai is "ge ge", dogs are always "gou". But a lot of the time he babbles away in pure gibberish. We've had a number of native Chinese speakers confirm it's NOT Chinese. Usually when he does this he's just "play-talking" (it sounds like Ewok to me), but he has a few "words" he's made up that he insists on using. The best example of this is what he often says when he wants a drink. He says, "Wo yu gwo fi." Now, "wo yu" is "I want", but "gwo fi" isn't anything. Again, we've had a couple different native Chinese speakers, hear him say it, and confirm for us that, no, "gwo fi" is not a word in Mandarin. But he insists on using it.

The other one he started using is "go jee". This is what he calls his favorite stuffed animal - a large plush monkey. Monkey in Chinese is houzi. We call it monkey, and we call it houzi. Shen insists on calling it "go jee". But then Tina had a flash the other night and realized that why he is most likely calling it "Go Jee" is because this is how he says George. As in Curious George. PBS has a morning TV show based on Curious George and the boys watch it every day. So this isn't one of his made up words after all, it's a name. Meet Go-jee, Shen's equivelant of Stinky Mouse.

"Time is too slow for those who wait,
too swift for those who fear,
too long for those who grieve,
too short for those who rejoice,
but for those who love, time is eternity."

I used to think that was written by David LaFlamme, because the first place I heard it (back in my college days) was on the It's A Beautiful Day album. Turns out David borrowed it from Henry Van Dyke. Either way, it's a quote I really like, and one that's been on my mind this last week.

Yesterday, Friday the 5th, we marked the two month anniversary of receiving Shen. We did not officially observe the day with the boys in any special manner, if anything, we did our best to hold the day to our standard routine. Routine is what it's all about with us right now. Keeping the routine, and marking time. It has become clear to us that these are the two things that Shen (and us) need most. I hate the thought of trying to rush the days, because I know how fast time really does pass, but I was really glad to hit this mark. Each day we fit together a little bit better as a family. It's not a magical "just add water" event, it's a process, a process that takes time, and yesterday we got to mark an official milepost on the journey. Tina wrote out a list of things we love about Shen and posted it on her favorite Yahoo group, and so I want to share that here too:

He is funny. I mean REALLY funny! (and he knows it!)
He has the greatest, infectious laugh!
He is incredibly aware of the people and things around him.
He is tenacious.
He has the sweetest smile and puppy dog eyes.
He loves books.
He loves to help.
He is incredibly independent and self sufficient.
He is incredibly cuddly and wants to be babied.
He is outgoing and very friendly.
He loves pre-school.
He can be incredibly kind.
He likes to solve problems and make others happy.
He talks A LOT and is already using 2 and 3 word sentences in English.
He sleeps like a log.
He eats cherry tomatoes and green salad.
He is fully potty trained.
He is very bright. Very, very bright. (don't pay too much attention to those dev. tests on the medicals)
He lets you know how he feels!
He is happy 90% of the time. (just watch out when he's not!)

Most of all, we love that he is our son!!

Monkey is right, There is someone, it's Jenny Bowen,
Executive Director of Half the Sky Foundation

It was brought to our attention by our good friend Karen on her blog, To Sing And To Dance, that Jenny is trying to get enough online votes to be chosen as one of the torchbearers. Here is the email message that Jenny sent out:

Hello again-
Our volunteers in Wuhan had a great idea. It may be possible for some of our Half the Sky children to carry the Olympic torch next year. I've entered a contest sponsored by the China Daily Newspaper and, if I can get enough votes from netizens all over the world, I may be able to have that honor. If it happens, I will run with 8 children from 8 orphanages in China. Believe me, I am no runner. But I would dearly love to give the children a place at the party.
Please take a moment and vote for me right now:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/torch_page.html
We need a LOT of votes. Please pass this on to your friends and family.

Thanks and love,
Jenny
Jenny Bowen
Executive Director
Half the Sky Foundation
www.halfthesky.org

Half the Sky was created in order to enrich the lives and enhance the prospects for orphaned children in China. We establish and operate infant nurture and preschool programs, provide personalized learning for older children and establish loving permanent family care and guidance for children with disabilities. It is our goal to ensure that every orphaned child has a caring adult in her life and a chance at a bright future.

We think this would be a great honor for the children living in the orphanages in China, and for our children who used to. Please CLICK HERE to go to the web page where you can vote for her. CLICK HERE fore more information about the contest, and CLICK HERE for more information about Half the Sky Foundation.