Here's Leah on the way from the Shanghai Pudong airport to our hotel. In the car, she started singing and doing this silly thing with her hands, which went on for several minutes, so here's just a sampling. In another video, she puts her hands to her chest and then up high while she sings. The driver was cracking up and thought she was really funny.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
2/17/10 at Damon's Restaurant
Leah just loves going out to restaurants. Here she is being silly and funny at Damon's, the evening that the movers emptied out the house.
Leah hanging around 2/17/10
Here's Leah at the hotel in Ohio having a lot of fun swinging on the hotel luggage cart. She does this every chance she gets.
FYI: I am not able to post to my blog from here in China, but will bring you some videos this way until we acquire access.
FYI: I am not able to post to my blog from here in China, but will bring you some videos this way until we acquire access.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Moving Day Saga
It's been a crazy week around here. A few days after our things destined for Shanghai were moved out of the house, we had a major change of plans. We decided to go ahead and have the rest of our stuff moved into storage. This, of course, created a ton more work for ourselves as we suddenly had to plan a second round of moving and get rid of our cars, but we hope to be able to rent out the house while we are away. Getting ready for the movers this time was a little tough. Since our air and sea shipments were already gone, we knew that whatever does not fit into our luggage will have to sit in storage for 3 long years.
Yesterday, the movers spent the whole day packing, and today they'll finish with packing while some other guys come over and crate the large fragile items, like standing mirrors and glass-tops. Then in the afternoon, they'll start emptying out the house. Of course, doesn't it figure we always seem to move house in the middle of a snow storm. I don't know how that happens.
Leah did great again during moving day #1. We had actually investigated the idea of putting her in daycare for these two days, but ended up not having enough time to make the arrangements since the movers came a day early, to our surprise! Like last time, we parked her in her booster seat in front of the TV, (thank goodness for the Sprout channel. She gets so engrossed in it!) and that kept her busy and occupied for the first half of the day. After lunch, John took her out for a drive so she could get a change of scenery and take a little nap.
Here she is hanging out in her booster seat. She calls it "seat" and loves sitting in it.
And here she is helping to clean...
So anyway, starting tonight, we'll stay in a hotel while we tie up loose ends around here. We still have so much last-minute stuff to do before we leave. On Saturday, we will begin our very long journey to our new home. I'll keep you posted.
Yesterday, the movers spent the whole day packing, and today they'll finish with packing while some other guys come over and crate the large fragile items, like standing mirrors and glass-tops. Then in the afternoon, they'll start emptying out the house. Of course, doesn't it figure we always seem to move house in the middle of a snow storm. I don't know how that happens.
Leah did great again during moving day #1. We had actually investigated the idea of putting her in daycare for these two days, but ended up not having enough time to make the arrangements since the movers came a day early, to our surprise! Like last time, we parked her in her booster seat in front of the TV, (thank goodness for the Sprout channel. She gets so engrossed in it!) and that kept her busy and occupied for the first half of the day. After lunch, John took her out for a drive so she could get a change of scenery and take a little nap.
Here she is hanging out in her booster seat. She calls it "seat" and loves sitting in it.
And here she is helping to clean...
So anyway, starting tonight, we'll stay in a hotel while we tie up loose ends around here. We still have so much last-minute stuff to do before we leave. On Saturday, we will begin our very long journey to our new home. I'll keep you posted.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Say Cheese!
Here's a little video from last Saturday of Leah dancing, jumping forward, saying "there you are!" when she finds her camera, and then saying "cheese!" when she's trying to take a picture.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Jumping Jumping
Just a quick update to say that Leah has finally achieved something she's been working at for the last week or so: jumping off her step stool! She did this a few times today and was really excited.
Also, before now, she could only jump up and down, but now she can also jump forward over and over, 7 or 8 times in a row! Go Leah!
Also, before now, she could only jump up and down, but now she can also jump forward over and over, 7 or 8 times in a row! Go Leah!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Smooth Move
Well, to our surprise, moving day went pretty smoothly. The movers were here bright and early on Thursday morning to pack up the stuff we're bringing to China. They showed up with two trucks and two containers, one for our air freight and one for our surface goods. We had to be pretty organized and prepared before they got here so we could tell them what stuff was going where. It was a pretty busy morning with the whole house in disarray, as you can imagine. Since we're moving into a furnished place, we're not bringing any furniture, except for a chair and a side table. But still, it was a lot of stuff! Leah's toys and clothes alone were quite a load. We managed to get most of her stuff in with the air shipment, except for the big stuff.
While we were planning for the day, we were not really sure what we would do do with Leah while the movers were here. We imagined that with the stair gates removed, the basement door open, boxes and packing material all over the place, and the whole place torn up, she'd be really in the way and would become a hazard to herself. Our plan was that if necessary, John would take her out somewhere for the whole day and leave me to make all the last minute decisions.
Would you believe that she sat happily in her high chair watching kids' shows for the entire 3.5 hours? All that couch potato training really came in handy! She never got scared of the guys or worried about all the noise and commotion. There was an occasional "Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!" when she saw her toys being packed up, but other than that, she did great! In fact, we almost even forgot the high chair and it was the very last thing we threw in the truck. Once again, Leah amazed us!
While we were planning for the day, we were not really sure what we would do do with Leah while the movers were here. We imagined that with the stair gates removed, the basement door open, boxes and packing material all over the place, and the whole place torn up, she'd be really in the way and would become a hazard to herself. Our plan was that if necessary, John would take her out somewhere for the whole day and leave me to make all the last minute decisions.
Would you believe that she sat happily in her high chair watching kids' shows for the entire 3.5 hours? All that couch potato training really came in handy! She never got scared of the guys or worried about all the noise and commotion. There was an occasional "Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!" when she saw her toys being packed up, but other than that, she did great! In fact, we almost even forgot the high chair and it was the very last thing we threw in the truck. Once again, Leah amazed us!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Another installment of Leah's Latest
In three short weeks, we'll say goodbye to all things familiar and board a plane to Shanghai, which will be our new home for the next three years. Until that time, there's still so much to arrange, but hopefully, with good planning (and very little sleep), we'll get it all done. The movers are coming this week, so we'll be very busy organizing and separating which stuff is going by sea, by air, in our luggage, with us on the plane, and which stuff we'll leave behind.
All of Leahs' toys will disappear and she'll have nothing to play with for another two weeks, except for a few things we'll bring with us on the plane to keep her busy during a 20-hour travel day. We have a feeling she won't let her play kitchen go without a fight. We feel really bad that she might not see it for another 2-3 months. It'll be a crazy week, especially since nothing is easy when you have an active toddler around.
So for now, here's my latest installment of what Leah's been up to lately. She's actually been doing many of these things even before I even went to Shanghai, but I haven't had much time to blog since then.
Jumping - Her jumping is getting better and better. She jumps all the time, and even did a double jump once. Oh, and when she's mad and trying to get her point across, she will not only stomp her feet, but she'll jump, too!
Singing and dancing - Leah loves music. She sings all the time now. She sings along with music in the car, and to herself whenever she feels like it. She loves to sing and dance together. And we have even seen her playing her xylophone like a piano while singing along.
Here are a few clips of her singing today.
Pretending to sleep - Something she likes to do is crawl into bed and lay on a pillow and pull the covers up and go "shhh" and close her eyes. She even does the motion for turning out the lights. If only it were that easy getting her to sleep!
Pretending to read - She runs her finger along the words in a book and pretends she's reading. Or she pretends to spell words. For instance, when I wear my Gap sweatshirt, she points to each letter and sounds like she's trying to spell the word Gap.
Oh no! - Her favorite expression nowadays is "Oh no!" and this has pretty much replaced "Uh oh". She's always exclaiming "Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!" every time she sees something is wrong. If she sees something has spilled, or the notices something in a book or on Tv, etc., she shouts this. One funny example, I had a zit on my nose for about three days, and she noticed it right away. Every day, she would come right up to me and point at it and go "Oh no!" with great concern.
Hug your ba-ba's - Whenever we say this to Leah while she's eating in her highchair, she goes crazy and thinks it's just hilarious. She grabs her sippy cups and hugs them really tight and laughs so hard!
Laugh and smile - She knows the meaning of these words now. When I say "laugh", she'll giggle. And when I say "smile" she'll do a big cheesy grin.
Cheese! - She has her own camera (an old one that no longer works right), but she loves to turn it on and take pictures. Usually she has it pointing toward her face, which is cute. The last few days, I've noticed her saying "cheese" when she's trying to take a picture. And also when I'm taking a picture of her.
All done! - She says this in a sing-song way with the arm motions, the way we learned it in Kindermusik, whenever she's done eating or taking a bath or at the end of a book.
There you are! - She says this all the time whenever one of us reappears or when she sees something she's looking for, and it really does mean "there you are/there it is". Her version sounds like "day yee ah".
I'm fine - I've been teaching Leah how to answer when I ask "How are you?". So now, when I ask, she says all by herself "I'm fine". She usually tries it about 10 times in a row, and sometimes it's very clear!
Phone calls - Her phone calls are getting better and better. We get such a kick out of watching her on the phone. Stay tuned for some good videos of her making calls.
Here she is a few weeks ago in the car right after she woke up from a nap. This went on for about 10 minutes straight and I took a bunch of videos, but here is just one.
Her step stool - Leah has discovered how handy a step stool can be. She carries it around with her all over the house to get a better view of things on the countertops and over the safety gates. So now, we have to be even more careful about what is on the counters because she's grabbing everything she can off of them. Note to self: hide the step stool.
She also loves trying on her santa hat.
All of Leahs' toys will disappear and she'll have nothing to play with for another two weeks, except for a few things we'll bring with us on the plane to keep her busy during a 20-hour travel day. We have a feeling she won't let her play kitchen go without a fight. We feel really bad that she might not see it for another 2-3 months. It'll be a crazy week, especially since nothing is easy when you have an active toddler around.
So for now, here's my latest installment of what Leah's been up to lately. She's actually been doing many of these things even before I even went to Shanghai, but I haven't had much time to blog since then.
Jumping - Her jumping is getting better and better. She jumps all the time, and even did a double jump once. Oh, and when she's mad and trying to get her point across, she will not only stomp her feet, but she'll jump, too!
Singing and dancing - Leah loves music. She sings all the time now. She sings along with music in the car, and to herself whenever she feels like it. She loves to sing and dance together. And we have even seen her playing her xylophone like a piano while singing along.
Here are a few clips of her singing today.
Pretending to sleep - Something she likes to do is crawl into bed and lay on a pillow and pull the covers up and go "shhh" and close her eyes. She even does the motion for turning out the lights. If only it were that easy getting her to sleep!
Pretending to read - She runs her finger along the words in a book and pretends she's reading. Or she pretends to spell words. For instance, when I wear my Gap sweatshirt, she points to each letter and sounds like she's trying to spell the word Gap.
Oh no! - Her favorite expression nowadays is "Oh no!" and this has pretty much replaced "Uh oh". She's always exclaiming "Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!" every time she sees something is wrong. If she sees something has spilled, or the notices something in a book or on Tv, etc., she shouts this. One funny example, I had a zit on my nose for about three days, and she noticed it right away. Every day, she would come right up to me and point at it and go "Oh no!" with great concern.
Hug your ba-ba's - Whenever we say this to Leah while she's eating in her highchair, she goes crazy and thinks it's just hilarious. She grabs her sippy cups and hugs them really tight and laughs so hard!
Laugh and smile - She knows the meaning of these words now. When I say "laugh", she'll giggle. And when I say "smile" she'll do a big cheesy grin.
Cheese! - She has her own camera (an old one that no longer works right), but she loves to turn it on and take pictures. Usually she has it pointing toward her face, which is cute. The last few days, I've noticed her saying "cheese" when she's trying to take a picture. And also when I'm taking a picture of her.
All done! - She says this in a sing-song way with the arm motions, the way we learned it in Kindermusik, whenever she's done eating or taking a bath or at the end of a book.
There you are! - She says this all the time whenever one of us reappears or when she sees something she's looking for, and it really does mean "there you are/there it is". Her version sounds like "day yee ah".
I'm fine - I've been teaching Leah how to answer when I ask "How are you?". So now, when I ask, she says all by herself "I'm fine". She usually tries it about 10 times in a row, and sometimes it's very clear!
Phone calls - Her phone calls are getting better and better. We get such a kick out of watching her on the phone. Stay tuned for some good videos of her making calls.
Here she is a few weeks ago in the car right after she woke up from a nap. This went on for about 10 minutes straight and I took a bunch of videos, but here is just one.
Her step stool - Leah has discovered how handy a step stool can be. She carries it around with her all over the house to get a better view of things on the countertops and over the safety gates. So now, we have to be even more careful about what is on the counters because she's grabbing everything she can off of them. Note to self: hide the step stool.
She also loves trying on her santa hat.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Mission: Almost Impossible
Well, I spent 3.5 days in Shanghai on a quest for a suitable furnished apartment that we can live with for three years. It was not an easy task. As you may remember, John and I made separate scouting trips back in November, and based on what we had been shown then, thought we had found the right compound for us.
So for this trip, our realtor basically picked out several apartments in that compound for me to choose from. Problem was, none of them even resembled the cool, hip, stylish ones we had seen there before, which it turns out, were owned, managed, designed, and decorated by a major property investor. The apartments I was shown this time around were landlord-owned and much cheaper, and not nearly as nice.
But I asked about another compound that I had heard about, and even though the agents kept saying it wasn't as child-friendly, decided to take a look, out of curiosity and desperation. Turns out these places were much bigger, brighter, newer, and nicer overall. And I didn't think the compound was child-unfriendly at all. It has an indoor and outdoor pool, a wave pool and a sandy beach, an indoor playroom and an outdoor playground, and lots of green areas to stroll around.
So the very last apartment I saw, right before I had to leave Shanghai, was the one I liked the best. The big question is what the furniture actually looks like, since the current tenant had taken the place unfurnished and was a major collector of Chinese antiques and had the place packed to the rafters with furniture. If we get it, we'll have to agree on the place without actually seeing the condition of the furniture, but they did show us pictures of the furniture and it looks fine. I liked the space itself. It was bright and had great river views, and it had beautiful bathrooms and floors, and a nice kitchen. So we're putting in a bid on that one and really hope we get it. Fingers crossed. If not, we're going to have to start from square one when we arrive in Shanghai next month.
Back at home, John and his mom, who we flew back in for the week so John could continue planning our relocation, kept Leah busy. According to their reports, even though they all had a great time, Leah really missed me. And I certainly missed her. When they picked me up at the airport, it was so cute seeing Leah running towards me as soon as she saw me. And ever since I've been back home, Leah has turned into a velcro-baby, who won't let me put her down and do anything.
I got back in time to go to Leah's last class at the Little Gym. I didn't want to miss that. She's so good at everything these days, that people are calling her a little gymnast. We're definitely planning on finding gymnastic and dance classes for her in Shanghai.
Oh, and Leah now has a passport! The day before I left, we made a trip to the passport office and applied for it in person. We had it expedited, and received it just a few days later. Her social security number is also on its way soon, and we'll also apply for her Certificate of Citizenship this week. So things are starting to come together.
So for this trip, our realtor basically picked out several apartments in that compound for me to choose from. Problem was, none of them even resembled the cool, hip, stylish ones we had seen there before, which it turns out, were owned, managed, designed, and decorated by a major property investor. The apartments I was shown this time around were landlord-owned and much cheaper, and not nearly as nice.
But I asked about another compound that I had heard about, and even though the agents kept saying it wasn't as child-friendly, decided to take a look, out of curiosity and desperation. Turns out these places were much bigger, brighter, newer, and nicer overall. And I didn't think the compound was child-unfriendly at all. It has an indoor and outdoor pool, a wave pool and a sandy beach, an indoor playroom and an outdoor playground, and lots of green areas to stroll around.
So the very last apartment I saw, right before I had to leave Shanghai, was the one I liked the best. The big question is what the furniture actually looks like, since the current tenant had taken the place unfurnished and was a major collector of Chinese antiques and had the place packed to the rafters with furniture. If we get it, we'll have to agree on the place without actually seeing the condition of the furniture, but they did show us pictures of the furniture and it looks fine. I liked the space itself. It was bright and had great river views, and it had beautiful bathrooms and floors, and a nice kitchen. So we're putting in a bid on that one and really hope we get it. Fingers crossed. If not, we're going to have to start from square one when we arrive in Shanghai next month.
Back at home, John and his mom, who we flew back in for the week so John could continue planning our relocation, kept Leah busy. According to their reports, even though they all had a great time, Leah really missed me. And I certainly missed her. When they picked me up at the airport, it was so cute seeing Leah running towards me as soon as she saw me. And ever since I've been back home, Leah has turned into a velcro-baby, who won't let me put her down and do anything.
I got back in time to go to Leah's last class at the Little Gym. I didn't want to miss that. She's so good at everything these days, that people are calling her a little gymnast. We're definitely planning on finding gymnastic and dance classes for her in Shanghai.
Oh, and Leah now has a passport! The day before I left, we made a trip to the passport office and applied for it in person. We had it expedited, and received it just a few days later. Her social security number is also on its way soon, and we'll also apply for her Certificate of Citizenship this week. So things are starting to come together.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Jumpin' Jin-Ri
In the past few days, Leah has started hopping and jumping. I think her jumping butt-plops were the preparation for this. These have also gotten a lot better since that one video over the holidays, and in addition to the ottoman, she now tries it on the floor (carpeted, thank goodness), in the bathtub and made a big splash! (fortunately with a cushioned bath mat), and on the beds. She really throws her legs out from under her and plops down.
But nowadays, she is really starting to jump. And whenever we even say the word "jump", she'll do it. You can see how proud she is of herself! And we are too.
But nowadays, she is really starting to jump. And whenever we even say the word "jump", she'll do it. You can see how proud she is of herself! And we are too.
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