Pinyin

Nathan and I are very excited to start learning Chinese.  I won't lie, though.  We are also intimidated and a bit nervous.  It's like the hardest language in the world, right?  Nathan doesn't start language training at FSI until July but we are trying to get a head start taking a peek at Pinyin.  Pinyin is the official system of writing out the Chinese script into Latin (English, ABCs) script. It's useful for knowing how to pronounce Chinese, since it's not a phonetic language.  Spanish and Korean are soooo easy in this respect.  I taught Tron how to read and write in Korean in one night, no joke.

We found this little gem on Youtube and had a date night yesterday reciting it along with the video.  I had to keep reminding myself that I will not be speaking Chinese in a little kid's shouting voice...

 

The fact that it takes 6 minutes to learn all the sounds in Chinese Pinyin (in song, anyway) should tell you something about this language.  For those of you who are familiar with Pinyin, any tips would be greatly appreciated!!

This little guy...

...is 18 months old.  I cannot believe it.  He is just growing leaps and bounds every day, physically, mentally and emotionally. 

He loves to be outside.  He loves his Mimi (lovey/blanket) and sucks his index finger for self soothing and comfort.  (I've never known a little one to do this.  Thumb, yes, but index finger?)  He loves to dance, climb, run.  He is starting to recognize some of his letters: A, D, Q, O, S, V, X, and his initials J, R, L.  He loves to watch Baby Einstein, Blues Clues, Veggietales, Signing Time, and BBC's Planet Earth of all things.  Thankfully, he continues to be a great sleeper.  Still takes 2 long naps (lasting about 1.5 hours each) during the day and sleeps 11-12 hours at night.  His favorite songs are The Wheels on the Bus, The ABC song and the William Tell Overture.  His favorite toys are cars/trucks and blocks.  Such a guy.

His eating habits are hit and miss.  Sometimes he will eat everything I give him and sometimes all he wants is a banana.  Some of his favorites are applesauce, mandarin oranges, blueberries, apples, grapes, rice, noodles, especially yakisoba, bagels, waffles, grilled chicken, ham, sausage, pork tenderloin, fries, cheese, yogurt, pizza, ravioli, Korean chicken porridge. Some things he does NOT like are mashed potatoes, peas, veggies in general.  I usually sneak some veggies into smoothies.  Spinach works well.

He is saying a lot of words now.  Mommy, Daddy, night night, car, beep, hi, bye, star, tree, go, no, and will pretty much parrot what we say.  He also knows many animal sounds and some sign language.  Some of the words he says are in his own language but we've been able to translate.
Googoo: Blues Clues
Nana: Banana
Gecko: Cracker
Gogo: Bagel
Si-side: Outside
Vee: movie
Phew: I love you
Mengdong: Help (not sure how he came up with this one)

My new best friend

I told you, things aren't really going to get exciting until we get ready to leave for Shenyang.  In the meantime, a product endorsement.

This is my third pregnancy and while the first two were pretty comfortable, I found that this time around I have had a harder time getting a good night's sleep.  The problems were that I couldn't get comfortably settled and that I couldn't stay asleep.  I had heard people rave about maternity pillows but felt skeptical.  Really?  A $50 floppy W-shaped pillow really could make all the difference in the world?

Then I remembered that I had an e-gift card to Target that my wonderful friend Angie had gotten for me for my birthday back in November.  So I decided to put it to good use.

For the record, yes, the floppy W-shaped pillow makes all the difference in the world.  And it was worth every penny that I didn't really have to pay.  I have had the best sleep ever.  As soon as I get all snuggly, (N asked, "Hey! Isn't that what I'm for?"  To which I responded, "Yes.  But you're not fluffy enough.") I fall asleep almost immediately and don't wake up until the morning.  I get such a deep night's sleep that my body doesn't even shift or turn in the middle of the night.  This is my only complaint; that my legs are sometimes sore when I wake up because they've been in the same position all night.

I don't think I'll be putting away my new best friend after I have this baby. It might just have to come with us to Shenyang.

Sworn in

N and his 166th A-100 classmates were sworn in on Friday.  It's official!  This ceremony marked the end of the general orientation.  He and his colleagues will start their job/language training this week.  We, along with the kids, N's parents and my parents celebrated at Uncle Julio's (again) for dinner.  Yes, crazy pregnant lady is still craving tamales.

Flag Day!

It's finally here!

We are going to Shenyang, China!  It was one of our top choices, one of the ones we added late to our list of highs.  We won't be leaving until April of 2013, which is great.  It's that much more time to get us prepared and spend time with family.  NJ will have a good year of Kindergarten here and we will have plenty of time to have the baby and get settled as a family of 5.  Plus J will be 2.5 years old by then, much more manageable on the plane, I hope!  Baby girl will be 9 months old and NJ will be 6.5.


What an awesome experience.  It only lasted maybe 45 minutes but the energy in the room was contagious and it was so encouraging to see everyone genuinely excited for one another.  They flashed the picture of the flag of the country on the screen, announced the job title, and revealed the name of the FSO who will be going there and presented to them a mini flag of the country in which they will be serving.  I think a lot of people got their high choices.  I am thrilled for everyone.  I even got teary eyed several times because I was so happy for these people whom I don't even know!  Crazy pregnant lady...  Even J had a blast, despite the fact that he was sleep deprived and recovering from an ear infection.  After each person was called, he clapped and said "Yaaaaaay!!" and said "Byyyyyyye!!"  It was nice to have Mom and Dad Lindsey and Cousin Neely join us.  We all went out to Uncle Julio's afterwards to celebrate, since crazy pregnant lady was craving tamales.

We are excited.   The more I research and think about it, the more excited I get!  I've been reading a few blogs written by expat families who are there.  Shenyang is a big industrial hub and there are many international corporations there.  So in addition to meeting Chinese people, we will be interacting with expats from all over the world.

The diplomat and the diplotots

This blog probably won't get THAT exciting until April of next year.  I might have to fill in with stories of the kids and the new baby.  But I'm sure there will be mini adventures along the way as Nathan and I start learning more about Shenyang, start our Mandarin training (can't wait to see my blonde husband busting out in Chinese!) and as we handle the logistics circus.

I love gluten...

...and I love that my baby boy can enjoy it too.  Wheat!  Barley!  Rye!  Soy sauce!  Yes, soy sauce (the good stuff, anyway) contains wheat.  J was having tummy troubles for some time and combined with anemia which just doesn't seem to be getting better despite the iron supplements and his love for red meat, the doctor recommended that we run some tests, starting with food allergies and Celiacs.

The prospect of J having a food allergy didn't really scare me so much.  After all, his big brother NJ was diagnosed with dairy, egg, soy, peanut and tree nut allergies at 7 months.  I cut all of that from my diet as I was nursing.  It was hard finding things to eat, but I tell ya, I lost a lot of weight.  No dessert, basically. At age 1 NJ had outgrown all but the peanut and tree nut allergies.  Trivia: did you know that peanut is not a nut?  It's a legume.

I can live with that.  I will never know the joys of the convenience of PB&J and will have to reserve my love for PB and chocolate combination, especially in the form of frozen desserts, for when we are eating out. It's not the end of the world.

But when I faced the possibility of J not being able to tolerate gluten as found in wheat, I was a bit overwhelmed.  We had him on a gluten-free diet for a few weeks while we waited for the results to come back and it was difficult and expensive.  $5 for a box of 6 gluten- free waffles?  They weren't even tasty.

I am happy to report that the Celiacs test came back negative as did all the other food allergies.  So we are back on full-strength soy sauce and Eggos.  Yes!  I am especially relieved as I was anticipating having a hard time finding gluten-free options when we go abroad.  It might be tricky with peanuts and tree nuts depending on  where we are, but not as hard a gluten.  One less thing to worry about.

I just hope that J's iron levels have gone up when we go in for his 18 month check up.