the cat in a hat

"the cat in a hat" parade and show!

sweeping her forest

picnic

Spring time!

Spring is really here! Trees have strated blooming and changing colors. Today is particularly hot, 24C. I took MM to the playground after school, but she prefered the "froest".

the kids at MM's school have been playing this game a lot, and Antoine was concerned about all these sword fighting. But as it turned out, MM was putting down some fire in the forest, it was not sword fighting at all.

women's softball match at UVA

warm spring day, we went to watch a women's softball game with Julian and his parents. rather unexpectedly, I really enjoyed the game. I learnt some rules and saw five homeruns (well, for the other team, not for UVA). The weather was really spectacular for early March.

MM pitching

Julian pitching

the spider man obsession spread to charlottesville...

Let's guess where the influence came from? Oscar? the outfit was already there in the museum but MM had never taken notice of it before, yet this time she specifically demanded this custom.

eating ice cream with two spoons!

calling popo

visiting papa's MBA school

papa teaching MM to sit like a lady

in the plane flying back.

museum of science and industry

Antoine and I took the two kids to a local museum in hyde park. People thought that they were sister and brother at the entrance. =)

friends!

Oscar and Ming Ming

They were looking at Max.

really into dinosaur eggs

put them in front of TV while the adults had dinner. great parenting!

waffle making

going out...

They were really happy to play togerther at the beginning. Although MM declared in the plane that she prefered Julian over Oscar now, she gave Oscar a big hug upon seeing him. The joy simply multiplies when she was with another kid.

But after the frist day they did sometimes get on each other's nerves. there were a lot of negotiations going on between them, sharing toys, trading toys (and spiderman cards), even deciding which song to sing. sometimes Ming Ming was aware that she was in the wrong, but still could not help it. At one point she told me "我是一個海盜" (I am a pirate) and to Antoine "je suis un tiroir" (I am a drawer, what she wanted to say was "je suis un tyrant" - I am a tyrant). =)

when we were about to leave, Oscar was upset about something and did not want to say goodbye. MM said to him: i am going, and you will stay here alone! I was really surprised how she can talk mean. and since this was said in English, i supposed that it was not me she was imitating.

dinner at U Chicago

Our departmental dinner. It was the first time I took MM to a departmental gathering. Everyone was surprised to see her. Most of them saw me being very pregnant, but had never seen MM before. It was quite a shock to see her being so big I guess. children are such literal representation of time.

MM was, surprisingly, very much at ease. Oscar was no doubt a big help, she walked around and played with Oscar and some other people like it was a familiar place. The two behaved extremely well, no whining or anything. Even though at the end MM was really tired.

Oscar playing with one of our professors. MM was too timid and hid under the table.

you don't see it here, but both of them were extremely tried, it was well past bedtime.

a day off - and a difficult month

I had been working a lot trying to meet a fellowship application deadline on March 1. It was almost done and then MM got pink eye. No school for two days because it was highly contagious. Argghhh, luckily the deparment gave everyone a grace period. MM did better the second day, we went downtown for some frozen yogurt.

These days I was really scared each time when the school called. It was always bad news: either it was MM having a fever and I needed to pick her up immediately or snow day and I needed to pick her up immediately. February was a difficult month with many sick days: fever, one more ear infection, fever, and then, pink eye. I also got a big flu that lasted for a whole week and another fainting episode that ended up in the emergence. In the follow up doctors' visit, one doctor said that I was having an anxiety attack, the other said that it was maybe my heart, so I am wearing a heart monitor now for a whole month. Now I am realizing how hard it feels to be wired up all the time.

PS: recevied a hammer on the head on Feb 26. someone was repairing our apartment roof and his hammer dropped, while I was stepping out of the building, with MM on my right. Cannot believe my luck, i walked out without major injury. and thank god the hammer did not touch MM. But i was freaked out for a whole day, simply can't get the hammer image out of my head.

During this busy month, I was really grateful that Ashley and Tom took MM in for two consecutive saturdays. MM had a great time playing with Julian, and I got an extra day of work. Antoine was also really good taking care of MM on Sunday. 7-work-day weeks are definitely more substantial than four-work-day weeks.

doctor and teacher

these are the two games we played over and over again these days. The doctor game is about MM the mommy bringing her sick kid (in her baby sling) to the doctor's office, the teacher game is about MM the mommy dropping her kids at school and picking them up again. It is a very elaborated game, she has to start from driving or biking her kids, park the car/bike, knock at the door, and everything. That said, mama and papa are getting a bit/very bored with these two games.

Photos from Bright Beginnings

with Eva

Seal class crazy hat day

MM's furry crazy hat