happy birthday hendrik!

Hendrik turned two yesterday! I want to say that I can’t believe it, but I can. Time is flying, but the last two years feel full of so much, and we’ve been so many places and done so many things that I wonder – has it really been just two years? What changes he’s gone through… and what changes we’ve gone through! We’re parents (!) of two (!!) kids, and I love them both to bits! Here are the birthday details:

We had a big birthday celebration on Wednesday night, after a full day of fabulousness. He woke up to balloons (“where did those come from?”), breakfast of choice (combo flakes), and then, after some hemming and hawing made it out the door with Gramps and Daddy, headed for the playgym. Steve hadn’t seen him in action there before, so he loved seeing how much Hendrik loved being there. Back home for lunch and then a nap and then in the afternoon he tackled some presents before a pizza dinner, cake and ice cream, a par-tay and more presents. Who was there? Grams and Gramps and Mom and Dad and Alana, Freddie and Shanti, Salvador, and Gwen and Arden – it was the perfect group.

And he was so well behaved all day long; the terrible two-ness that sometimes shows its colours stayed tucked away behind good manners, smiles and fun. One of the many tabs open one of two browsers is a (Pinterest) birthday interview; here are the questions I got to, with some interesting – and sometimes not-so-believable – answers:

who is your best friend? Gramps (said while colouring on Gramps’s lap)
what is your favourite thing to do? swimming
what’s your favourite colour? a pancake. orange.
what’s your favourite food? chocolate. (we don’t eat that much chocolate… really.)
what do you like to do with mommy and daddy? wash your hands
what’s your favourite game? pallavolo
what do you want to be when you grow up? be like daddy
what’s your favourite book? anybody at home? (other current faves – hippos go berserk, z is for zamboni, snail and the whale)
what’s your favourite number? two.
what’s your favourite animal? Dog (huh?)
what are some things that you remember? the spinny door (revolving door)

And that’s all we got to. And my take on the birthday interview? Unscripted? He is sweet and adorable, and so so so so huggable. He loves books and pallavolo and panda and ice cream and ipad time and dinosaurs and colouring. He is very independent, and sometimes quite stubborn; if he insists on doing something (“Hendrik do it Hendrik do it!”) he has to retrace his (or our) steps to where he left off, and do it all himself. He’s outspoken and has a massive vocabulary; he can say hello and thank you in four languages (English, French, Chinese, and sometimes Italian). He can use trainer chopsticks, do bumps and booms and blocks AND he knows the ready position. And here’s the most important thing: he is so so loved, by many; we……. are crazy about him! I want to bottle up his voice and hold on to and remember all of the sweet moments, the nuzzles and hugs and be able to recall them, always, as if they only happened a heartbeat ago. Sigh……. love! Happy Birthday Hendrik!

love!

my two favourite guys

a handful of pics

hendrik has a killer time at this indoor playgym, and i would too if i weren't too big for it. far right? zonked on the way home

I have way more to write about and post about than I have the time to do it - here a few pics from the past week (or so). Much more to come soon, including - including! - Hendrik's birthday; it's tomorrow! The boy will be two!

walking down one of the city's popular pedestrian shopping streets, wangfujing

new shoes! the basement of this kiddy store has more kids shoes than you can possibly imagine... it's crazy!

12 weeks old and poolside with dad

 

boooooooooks!

Hendrik has found my (biggest) weakness: nope, not cinnamon buns or cake - books. Reading in bed is now a part of our good night routine - be it at nap time or night time - and today, with cries for "more reading!" and "boooooooks!" (there were tears... there was crying) when I tried to tell him that reading time was out and sleep time was in and he refused, cried etc., I did not know what to do. Say no? "No! No more books!" Blasphemy.... evil! It took me three tries to successfully get him to be okay with more reading after his nap. Sort of. I mean, he was sort of (not really) okay with it, but I had to stick to my word (and Alana was overdue for some food).

This is going to be a short one even though there is a separate to-blog-about-today list that I'm not going to pay any attention to. They LOVE our kids here... love. Hendrik gets looks and his photograph taken all-the-time, and people are always glancing in (/up) to the carrier to see Alana the babe. It's certainly not too much, but then again, I haven't witnessed any women half losing their mind over Hendrik - Bob and Marg have. What else what else... oh - two articles I wanted to post: one entitled "How to Talk to Girls" - talk about reading! interests! as opposed to making comments on how deliciously cute they are; and the second one "The Busy Trap". Both worth your while.

hendrik makes the news

Hightlights from last Thursday's match - with Hendrik's interview... for real.
I love this
I love this
I love this

hodge podge

I had a three-pronged list of goals for the day: blog, workout, and make a grocery list for tomorrow’s trip to one of Beijing’s biggest foreign grocery stores, and it looks like I might just get all three accomplished. Every day that goes by brings more and more to write about - the cultural oddities, our every day activities and outings, and then there are all of the questions that I’m getting from different people (what are you eating? where in the city do you live? what’s it like?); how do I get to it all? Piece by piece. Today, I’ll go with the three-pronger again and write about BAIC’s last two games, Alana and mmmm oh, yesterday’s trip to the zoo. But first, a thought: I actually got down to the gym today (for the second time this week - !!) and while I was fast-walking in my only pair of athletic shoes (court shoes, bleh) and listening to some good blasty tunes I realized how much I miss moving. It made me want to run down the halls and run run run, though outside running here is pas possible; I’ll have to get in shape first, and then tackle running. Piano piano I’ll go – slowly slowly – on my way back to in-shape. Hopefully it doesn’t take too long…

So! We went to the zoo yesterday and it was epic; that place is HUGE! We were there almost all day (10-4 maybe?) and spent most of our time in the aquarium. We did see the giant pandas, which Hendrik loved. He also loved the not so giant panda that found his way into Gramps’s coat – it may be his new favourite stuffy (his name is Panda). The zoo is almost as much a park as it is a, well, zoo, and it would be a nice place to spend the day even if you weren’t into seeing lemurs or elephants or tigers; there are lakes and weepy willow trees all over the place, which makes for a very nice expanse of nature in the middle of a great big pollution-ridden city. We walked in, checked out the pandas, and then saw a few animals on our way to the aquarium. Hendrik LOVED the dolphins (giddy jumps and squeals) and I loved the jellyfish; feeding Alana in front of a massive massive tank full of big fish creatures, with dim light and relaxing music, wasn't too bad either. What was bad – in our opinions – was watching a mom hold a bottle for a little kid to pee in (he must have been six?) right around the corner from the washrooms… in the aquarium! Un-believable. We had lunch there, caught cabs home – we took the backroads, weaving through alleys ridden with transport of all sorts (a blog in itself – bikes, trikes, motorbikes, electric bikes, pedestrians, motor-trikes, piled high high high bike wagons, taxis (always honking), cars, buses) and didn’t get stuck in traffic. Dinner (pork tenderloin, beans, quinoa and tomato-balsamic sauce) was on the table in less than 45 minutes. It was a solid day!

Alana, 2 1/2 months

Alana. Alana is adorable, and Alana is changing so quickly. She’s started cooing and gooing more, and is showing more interest in toys and rattles dangled in front of her. She likes the mirror, and is holding her head up by herself almost all of the time – (almost) no more bobble-head! She’s getting up just once in the night, and sometimes it’s more on the morning side of night – 6ish… and those are the gooooood days! She’s in bed, sleeping, (usually) by about 10:30 – these longer stretches between feeds are signs of better sleeping days to come. I don’t think I ever posted her birth announcement pic, and here I go – finally! to talk about her name. It might be a bit anticlimatic for anyone interested, because there’s no great story behind it, really. Before we knew Hendrik was a boy, we’d honed in on Alana for a girl, and it ended up being our top choice for baby number two (picked out of a name book I think?). Her middle name, Lindsay, has more to it. Two of my very favourite girlfriends are Lindsays, and Steve’s dad was born in Lindsay, his grandparents lived there, and my mom’s mom went to high school there; there are some connections to the small Ontarian town as well. And that’s about it! C’est tous.

massive banners in the gym - love it!

And the volleyball! BAIC is on a role – they won last Thursday against the reigning league champs (Shanghai) and again on Sunday, a match that the whole gang was able to catch. We took the subway there – I had Alana in the Baby Bjorn and Bob had Hendrik in the Ergo – and, on the way to the gym, saw an area of Beijing that is much less glitzy-glam than the area we live in, and more real-world. Anyways, the guys won in three, and Hendrik was cheering and clapping and Alana was pretty content too. He played around down on the court for a while afterwards, and commanded a lot of attention; he had his first interview (really) and the team photographer was going crazy with his fancy camera from all angles. It was a bit of a late night, but so worth it to see the guys in action.

en route to the gym

watching the action

interview, photographs

And now I’d better shower, and go to bed.

reading in bed

a few snapshots of the goodies in the bookstore (six floors!) down the street

 So, get this. Last night I put Hendrik to bed with Bob and Marg's Chinese phrasebook (we "read" it before bed - he requested it), turned out the lights and closed the door. Fifteen minutes or so later, I go into the room and find him in his crib with the light on, feet up, legs crossed... reading. I tried to mask my surprise and told him that it was time to turn out the light and go to bed; his doe-eyed reply was, in the cutest of voices, "I can't sleep." I just about melted. So, this afternoon when he requested the Chinese phrasebook once again, I told him that he could read in bed for five minutes and then I'd come in and turn out the light for him. But then, at lights out, he wouldn't give up the book, so he's in there sleeping with it on his chest right now. CUTE!

Another notable quotable from Hendrik came yesterday at dinner, when he asked Steve for some more food: "Daddy, I'd like some more I'd like some more... " Pause... he tilts his head and looks up. "What was that called...?" Pause. "Sausage." It was adorable. (We went for a buffet dinner at the Hyatt and it was to die for. I think I regained all of my pregnancy weight - thank you very much dessert buffet.)

A few of the latest pics from my camera - I need to catch some shut-eye while both kiddos are sleeping...

Beijing by night

me and my girl!

dinner is served!

Hendrik (sort of) holding his baby sister

more from beijing

Every day that goes by brings more things to blog about; I could be filling this with new photos and stories and happenings on a daily basis but alas, there’s no time. Or, no time to do it all. I made a list a few days ago of things to blog about, and have since added several things SO… I’m going to get to those first six things here (I hope) and write about the rest the next time. On my list were:

1. Hendrik and Ellie Pics 
Jenny sent me these a while ago – she took them when we were in Vancouver visiting. Aren’t the two of them the cutest? I love them!

2. Split Pants 
Sigh… these things are for real! I posted a few pics on facebook the other day and received comments of all sorts, so here’s the story. (Well, actually, I don’t really know the story; this is my story of split pants.) These were used all across the board up until recently; now, many people – mostly city dwellers, apparently - are putting their toddlers in diapers, but many still employ the split pant as the prime potty training accoutrement, and we’ve seen the action first hand. Marg snapped this pic in Tiananmen Square, and moments later saw a mom holding her pooping two-year old over a garbage can.

Marg's pic on the right, mall group on the left

 I happened to see it first hand in one of Beijing’s many super fancy glitz-glitz shopping malls when, during a nice gathering of two-year olds (Hendrik plus three or four Chinese) one of them separated himself from the group, squatted and peed and then followed his mom out the doors with the other scattering parents. And the pee stayed there! In a puddle on the floor! And it may very well have been in front of the Diane von Furstenburg or Gucci shop… for real. That is the part that I find most shocking – that there was no effort to clean it up. And apparently the same thing goes for number twos; the kids are more often than not, not cleaned up after. Does the split pant speed up the potty training process? Probably. Is it more hygenic (for the child)? Probably. Is it cheaper? For sure. Is it more hygenic for everyone else? Definitely not.

3. Park Visit
My second park visit was exactly the opposite experience of my first park visit (remember? men lurking everywhere, tres smoky); Jingshan Park was beautiful! Bob and Marg and the kids and I bundled up on a windy day and hailed a cab from the hotel a few doors down, and enjoyed a Sunday morning walk outside. It was so lovely to see such a well-kept park, full of green spaces and gardens, and the views of the Forbidden City and the surrounding city blocks afforded by the hill-top pavillions were incredible. There were groups of people singing (complete with music, microphones, speakers, and mucho gusto - see video below, love it), groups of people dancing, and others gathered in rows of guitar or accordian players. Hendrik commanded quite a bit of attention, so when we passed by a group of men and women playing a sort of Chinese guitar (and he showed some interest), one lady offered him the pick and he saddled in to strum a few notes… it was the cutest! (As a side note (another one), the Chinese are very touchy with kids; they love to cuddle and grab and at times it’s a bit much (sometimes way too much), but other times, like this one, it is endearing. They love kids here!) Despite the wind (and low-ish temperature), it was fabulous – one of the best trips we’ve made so far!

with views of the massive Forbidden City

strumming! 

4. Advent Craft 
I was very briefly browsing through The Crafty Crow a few days ago and decided that it would be fun to make an advent calendar for Hendrik for his birthday… will I do it? Not sure. If there were a Michael’s down the street I might believe that I would and could and will, but I’m not sure that there are any crafty craft stores close to where we live (I’ll check the bookstore next door – and while I'm there browse the English section (complete with kids books, eek!)). Anyways, there are so many neat advent calendar ideas, so hopefully I can find time and supplies to commit to the project. Stay posted…

5. Crazy Shopping Malls! 
The shopping here is IN-SANE. If you told me that there is a city in the world that has more shopping malls than Beijing, I wouldn't believe you… there are malls everywhere! I need to find a stat on this, but there’s a mall attached to our building, a mall across the street, a mall one stop away on line one, and probably many many more in the close vicinity that I don’t know about I’m sure. We live at one end of one of Beijing’s main pedestrian shopping streets, Wangfujing, home to Zara, Forever 21, Nike, The Gap, C&A, Asia’s largest Apple store and more…. it’s cuh-razy! Crazy.

And that’s it, c’est tous. Steve has a big game tonight vs Shanghai, the league’s reigning champs. They won their first game (on Sunday) 3-1, so hopefully they can keep the wins rolling. I’ll stay home with the kiddies and watch the game on TV, but Bob and Marg and Shanti will head out just after dinner to catch it in person. Next up on my list of things to blog about are grocery stores, public transit, garbage and recycling and more…. hopefully I can get to it all soon – the list gets longer every day!

finally, with pics!

Steve and his team have made their way south for Sunday's first league game in Guangzhou, which is very exciting for them... finally, games that count! They arrived late last night, and Steve says it's hot and humid and dirty; it reminds him of Cuba - the place has the feel of a poor Caribbean country ( - interesting). Mapped out above are the teams that the BAIC Motor team will meet in round one. Check out the article on the Team Canada website, including an awesome photo of the three foreigners posing with a car; maybe they'll send us home with one of those?

Okay, updates. I really should write some latest-news regarding the kiddies, but it will have to wait until another time because I have too many little snippets and tidbits to share (including my first visit to a park, my first subway ride and my first grocery shop). So, the park: Shanti had scoped it out with us in mind - there's a kiddie play structure/section that's decent but... but - where do I start? The walk there wasn't bad - just a few blocks but down a very busy street; busy with cars, people, bicycles, buses, honking etc., which all added up to a shell-shocked look on Hendrik's face. We get to the park, and somehow the air inside the park is even more horrible than the air outside the park, and this is because there are people smoking everywhere. Mostly men, mostly dressed in black or dark clothing - nothing creepy or weird or anything, just drab colours and gross air, and it made the nice green of the trees and the patches of grass (first we've seen since we've been here) not really worth the while. The flash mob that we saw dancing to some poppy Chinese techno was entertaining, but the stares and people that started approaching us to gawk as soon as we stopped to watch made us get going. The stares, the air(s) and just general dirtiness (people spitting, men peeing) made us thankful for an interesting experience... but didn't encourage us to linger too long.

Next up, grocery store. (The subway ride doesn't get its own paragraph; it was crowded and much like a subway almost anywhere else in the world except Japan, where people are quiet and respectful. 'Nuf said.) Man oh man I love the grocery store experience of a new place! This might be the first time where there really is way more food that I can't recognize and don't know and don't know if I'd eat, than food that is familiar to me. This means goopy bins of prepared food, dried I-don't-know-what, and then things that I might know what they are, generally (dairy, milk) but since I can't read Chinese, I actually don't really know. The meat is out in the open, and people touch it freely, and there were so many different kinds of eggs, and people were lining up for huge bags of rice (on special). I could have taken a photo at every turn, but since I left Alana at home, there was a business time-clock feel to the outing; I had to get back before she decided she was hungry. A few photos...

Here are a few shots of the Club Oasis, and a few of our apartment too... finally. (I'll get a video tour up here one of these days.)

the pool ... amaazing!!

our apartment - the kitchen and main living room

views: to the left (first two) and right

our boy on our bed

I still can't believe that we have housekeeping services complete with fresh sheets and towels, twice a week! There's more to write about, but I'll get pictures up instead, and get out to the fancy-fancy mall for a walk... it's raining out!

in his new Team Canada shirt - thanks Grandma!

live scorpions - or seahorse? - on offer down one of the city's many hutongs

out and about - one of our first days in the city... it was chilly!

Gramps and Grandbaby

on my way to my first momsy group!

Alana, 10 weeks | wearing 9 month clothing!