Our Little Star

Waiting Patiently

Tristan had his first modeling gig today, which was for a clothing catalog. He was such a champ, and in his mother's honest and totally unbiased opinion, he was absolutely adorable. He smiled on command, flashed the photographer his little smirk, and pretty much made anything nearby look fashionable. Amelia also had her first shoot 2 weeks ago, for a toy company, but it was so quick I forgot to get my phone out and take pictures. She really enjoyed it and is hoping to do more in the future, so I'll take some next time.

This is one of those things we never would have considered at home, but when you stand out in the crowd as much as we do over here the unique factor is in high demand. And since the kids were excited for it and the hourly rate is higher than Dan's salary, we figured we would give it a shot. We don't expect careers to develop out of this, but for the time being the kids are having fun and we hope to get some pretty great professional photos out of the gig.

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

Not only was it warm and sunny in Shanghai, but I got to go with my beautiful family to the zoo for a picnic, followed by a treasure hunt set up by Amelia, a nice massage, and dinner out. What a great day.

Amelia in particular wanted to make a special day out of it for me. When I suggested on Saturday night that we go out to dinner she pouted and said she didn't want to. Usually she loves restaurants, so when pressed about why she didn't want to go out she replied "Because I want to go out tomorrow for Mother's Day."


Here is some of my Mother's Day loot:

By request

A friend really wanted Tristan reading "Pete the Cat" so here is another video. This boy cracks me up. Especially when he side bars during the middle of the story "Pete is drinking tea, it is hot, he has to blow on it."

Tristan Reads "Go Dog Go"

Tristan has been "reading" his bedtime books a lot lately. It is pretty cool how we can read a book to him only a couple of times and then the next time he picks it up and gets most of it himself. He has been reading this one for a few months, but the video camera battery needed replacing and I finally got around to it and made this video to share:

Big Boy Bed

Tristan has been asking and asking to switch to a "big boy bed," so I decided to try it this week and see how it goes. The very first night it was about every 5 minutes he would get up and come downstairs and say "Mommy, I'm awake." I would respond "Yes, you are, but you need to go sleep in your big boy bed." Tristan would say "Oh, OK," and run back upstairs. Rinse, and repeat, and repeat, and repeat for 1 hour and 10 minutes before he finally fell asleep. Night two process was shorter, but he was coming down every 2 or 3 minutes. Similar results the next few nights. Tonight he only came down a few times, but when Dan went up check on the kids Tristan was not in his bed. So he turned on the light and found this:

Shanghaied

shanghai [ˈʃæŋhaɪ ʃæŋˈhaɪ] Slang

verb 1) to force or trick (someone) into doing something, going somewhere, etc.

2) the act of moving to Shanghai against ones better wishes

   

Okay, we weren't forced or tricked, but after only 9 short months months to call Nanjing home, I really am not ready to be leaving. Of course 95% of that is the wonderful community of people that we met here and immediately clicked with. Something that I did not feel even after nearly 5 years in Portugal, it took all of 2 weeks to find here. I will really miss the amazing ladies I met who go out of their way to befriend and support each other. For the last few weeks I have been playing ostrich and pretending that if I don't do anything to prepare for the move, then the move won't happen. That strategy apparently didn't pay off, because tomorrow the movers are coming to do an inventory, and then will be here again on the weekend to pack up our house and take everything away. Luckily I don't have far to go, and plans are already underway to see several good friends next month on a girls get-away weekend.Yea!

Chinese Halloween???

Purple Octopus!

 As you might expect, the Chinese don’t celebrate Halloween. But it is an excuse for all the expats to get together, dress up the children, having a party and trick or treat at each others’ homes. And there is the added element of seeing the expressions on the Chinese faces as a pack of young witches-devils-ghosts lǎowài walk by.

Katrin and Clare working at the NIS Autumn Fest

After last year’s Halloween Amelia declared “next year I want to be an octopus” and, Amelia being Amelia, when the time came this year and we asked her what she wanted to be she said “I told you, I am going to be an octopus.” So Katrin did what she does and fashioned a great octopus costume. The first Halloween party at her school didn’t go so well as Amelia was a bit freaked at anyone wearing a scary mask. And the first trick-or-treating house didn’t go so well either as the German couple that answered the door went a little overboard…eerie music playing, the wife creeping out of the corner of the porch in a witch costume, and the husband growling from inside the house. Amelia claimed she was done trick-or-treating after that, although we enticed her to a few more homes with the lure of waiting candy. Next year will hopefully be a little smoother, although by then maybe it will be Tristan’s turn, since this year's lion wasn't too cowardly.