Thanksgiving

Last Tuesday, Albert and Jonathan were in a car accident. His old Camry slipped and he lost control. The car swerved into the coming traffic. The car was hit twice at the front passenger side and the right rear. It just missed the back row passenger door where Jonathan was sitting. Both came through unharmed but the car was totaled and Albert is quite shaken by the event. This was his first car accident. The event keeps going through his mind. He is afraid to drive now.

We are thankful to God that He has preserved both of their lives. So many times, most of the time, we take things for granted. We do not appreciate the saving grace of God when disasters or accidents like this strike. Then we come before God for a few days. When things get back to normal, we forget about Him again. I have had multiple accidents in the past. The first two, both cars were totaled. Another near miss was slipping off the road into a shallow ditch in a snow storm. Fortunately I was able to drive it out.

Woe is me if I am to forget God's preserving hand holding unto us. For each day I have life, I will remember that this life is from God and all I have are given by God, husband, child, car, health, abilities... Now to live life to the fullest in Christ.

大头大头

尊尊喜欢这首外婆教的童谣：“大头大头，下雨不愁，别人有伞，我有大头。” 我边念词，他双手抱着头，左右摇动。念完以后，他还会拍拍手。有时后要给他连续念几遍。今天在一个中国小姐姐面前表演了几遍，小姐姐也学会了。 另一个他喜欢的童谣是：“两只老虎，两只老虎，跑的快，跑的快， 一个没有耳朵，一个没有尾巴，真奇怪，真奇怪。” 念到 “一个没有耳朵” 的时候，有时他会摸摸耳朵。 （Jonathan loves this Chinese nursery rhymes my mom taught him: "Big head big head, don't worry about raining. others have umbrella, I have big head." When I read the nursery rhyme, he will hold his head with both hands, swaying left and right. At the end he will clap his hands. Sometimes he will do this a few times continuously. Today he performed in front of a Chinese girl several times. By the end the girl knows how to do this as well. Another one is: "Two tigers, running fast. One has no ear, one has no tail. How strange, how strange." When I say, "one has no ear", sometimes he will touch his ear.) He is now really interested in books. He will bring his books one by one and let me read to him. He now can wait until I finish reading the content of the page before turning it. Of course the lines for each page are not that long. Sometimes he wants me to read the book over and over. Other times one book after another. He won't go to bed if we don't read at least one book.

More to remember

I'm beginning to forget Jonathan's milestones. Can't remember when he got the top 4 teeth. For sure he had the bottom 2 at 1 year, but when did they come out? 7 or 8 months? I just looked up older posts. I did make a mention of this, 9 month. He is walking real well now. By 14 months he can walk without assistance but still needed to hold his hand up high. At the Thanksgiving dinner, he walked and walked and was quite the talk of the night among families with small children. He is just about to run. New words from two days ago: Ge ge (brother), nai nai (milk). His vocabulary at 14 1/2 months: Mama, dada, baba, deng deng (1- light), deng deng (4- chair), dan dan (egg), ball, bao (means book), ba ba (bath bath), ya ya (duck), da da (3, means tiao tiao, sticks snacks), ma ma (2, men, door). He can sing "Da tou da tou" song with actions, then clap his hand. He really likes music. He shakes and sways with the music and can clap to the beat sometimes.

New Skills

I am amazed at children's capacity to learn. Today Jonathan tried to climb on a small toddler chair. He tried a couple of times and succeeded. He managed to turn himself around and sat on the chair. Then he attempted to climb onto the sofa that was next the chair by standing on the chair. He failed the first time. Then he succeeded. After that he repeated the feat a couple of times and had a great time. Then he got tired of this new found skill. We'll have to be very careful now.

Thanksgiving

Jonathan turned 14 months this week. We went to a Chinese Christian family potluck yesterday for Thanksgiving. We heard touching testimony from an American couple. It was so open, honest, and humbling to hear their experience in Christ. Our lives are so smooth in comparison. Jonathan had a great time at the potluck. He didn't eat well but he walked and walked and walked with his arms held high in the air to balance himself. He had so much fun and was so excited that he woke up twice last night having trouble sleeping. His vocabulary consists of: mama, dada, baba, ball, boo (for book), deng deng (light in Chinese), yaya (duck in Chinese), da(3) da(2) for (tiaotiao, a stick snack in Chinese), ba ba with chest rubbing (bath bath), bao bao while patting his chest (treasure in Chinese). His favorite word is ball.

Milestones

I can't believe I haven't updated much about Jonathan's milestones. Now I can't remember what he did when he turned one. At 13 months 3 weeks, he wakes bye-bye very well rubs his chest and says "ba" for bath holds his head while singing a Chinese song called "big head" swings his arms when singing "Shoo flies" (he could do this a long time ago) puts his finger in his mouth to say "brushing teeth" kicks a ball, walks for a few steps independently touches his chest when singing "I feel like a morning star" today he starts saying "ga", not sure what it means yet says Deng Deng (light in Chinese), his first word besides mama and dada, maybe 2 weeks ago? says "bao bao" meaning himself, pats his chest as he says it - new today walks with push toys for a while now says "ball" indicating a ball -2-3 days ago

Food Connoisseur

Jonathan loves adult foods now. Our baby foods hold no attraction to him. Albert made some porridge for him but didn't put salt. He didn't want any of it. Once I added a dash of salt, he gulped it down. Normally he loves bananas but I gave him a semi-ripe one, he spitted it out. Today we went to a Mediterranean restaurant. He would not eat any of the baby split pea pasta. But once I mixed the oatmeal with the split pea soup I ordered, he finished almost 4 oz of it. I also found out that he does not like spicy food at the moment. I gave him a piece of carrot without knowing that it was actually spicy. He had this miserable cry. Always taste it first before offering anything to the baby.  

It is hard to keep up with his development skills. He now claps his hands really well. He can say "Da da" very clearly. He can say Ma ma even earlier. He knows how to take things out but not yet putting them back it. He is beginning to get the idea of putting things back. He is still doing the army crawl. 

Oh, he can climb stairs now. Scary. I have been taking him to the play area at the West Towne Mall. The first time he was afraid to crawl through the tunnels.  He did one after 10 minutes. Now he is pro at crawling through the tunnels of various lengths and size. Today he climbed up 3 steps of this toy car for the first time. 

Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See

This is Jonathan's favorite book. He will sit and let me read this to him over and over and over. I'm usually too slow in turning the page. The board book is nice in that once a page is turned, the next page tilts up just enough to separate itself from the rest of the book. Jonathan usually turns each page by himself. I'm amazed at how many times he can sit there and go through the book from beginning to end. Sometimes I leave him with a sea of books and he finds this one and flips through the pictures by himself. I never knew how much he "understood" the book and the reading of it until one day, I decided to hide the book from him to encourage him to read the other books. At first he didn't seem to be bothered by not seeing the book. A day went by and nothing happened. Then I said to him, "Brown bear brown bear what do you see." He quit what he was doing and started looking through the pile of books. He picked through the pile and gave a frustrated cry. I secretly took the book out and put it far away from him but within his line of vision. The moment he spotted it, he smiled and charged for it. Another time he saw me put it behind my back. He crawled around me to get it. His other favorites are "Goodnight Moon", "What Makes a Rainbow", and Dr. Seuss' ABC book. He is not into the "Touch and Feel" books. He is more interested in flipping through the pages. I will have to hide his favorite books so that he will start reading other books. Should get some new ones too. Any suggestions?

What he can do at 9 months

Jonathan started clapping his hands two days ago and he understands hand clapping and will clap them when asked, in chinese. He has figured out how to drink from a sippy cup a couple of days ago, but he does not like to drink milk from the sippy cup. His colon has matured also. He is now having daily soft BM in the morning. We took him swimming yesterday. He didn't like the cold water. He scoots really fast now. His first tooth came through the gum yesterday. Another one is just about to come.

Growing up

Jonathan turned 9 months yesterday. In the last few days I noticed a different scent when I kissed Jonathan's head. At first I couldn't figure out what it was. This morning it dawned on me that he has lost his new baby smell. He has "grown up". It has been wonderful to see Jonathan sitting in the crib waiting to be picked up in the morning. It is also heart wrenching to see him sitting in the crib crying his heart out at bedtime. For some reason, since he learned to sit up, he has cried more at bedtime. Instead of rolling and pulling on the bumper, he sits up and cries. He looks at you with such pitiful eyes that you just want to pick him up and comfort him. Maybe this is just a phase he is going through.

Sitting up

Today I found Jonathan sitting in the crib looking around when I went to pick him up. Somehow he had figured out how to sit up by himself. He hasn't done it on the floor yet. Maybe the crib bar helped. He managed to drink some water out of a sippy cup once. Then he couldn't anymore. I don't know how babies figure out how to use this thing. I tried it once and it took quite a bit of force the get the water out. Maybe I didn't get the right brand. He is crawling really fast now, not on all fours but he has learned to alternate the arms with the belly crawl. His favorite places to go toward are: the kitchen, the front door, and the closet. His favorite game is throwing a small plastic ball against the floor, see where it falls and then go get it. Then he will pick it up, throw it again and go after it. He can entertain himself a good while with this game. We just put up the gates now so we can let him roam at will. We also laid down foam play mat. He loves the bright colors. I still worry about him falling backwards from a sitting position but at least the impact is less. His two front incisors have been barely visible in the gum for a few days now. When will they come out?

Psalm 90:14-17

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.
17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.


We can be glad during our afflictions and trouble because of God's unfailing love. We can sing for joy all our days, the days of afflication and years of trouble because of God's unfailing love. This love will shown itself in deeds and splendor to us and our children. Sometimes we do not see them or recognize them until the difficult time has passed. May we rejoice and trust in His unfailing love when we don't understand. Time will come when we will see clearly.

Frequent comments

"He is so cute."

"He has a beautiful smile." Jonathan always smiles at stranger, no matter who they are.

"Is he always this well behaved?" He is content with being held or in the stroller during our tours. He doesn't make a peep usually and falls asleep when he is really tired, in the car seat or the carrier.

“He is too small" when we asked for a high chair.

"Is this a boy or a girl?" despite his blue outfit.

Psalm 89:13-18

13 Your arm is endued with power; your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.
15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.
16 They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness.
17 For you are their glory and strength, and by your favor you exalt our horn.
18 Indeed, our shield belongs to the LORD, our king to the Holy One of Israel.


What impressed upon me in this passage is the fact that to acclaim God is learned. It does not come naturally. I don't know what the Hebrew grammar is for this verse 15, but in my mind, to walk in the light of God's presence is also a learned practice. So easily we get distracted by the daily toils, disappointments, hurt, frustrations, work load, burden of raising children etc. We are often buried by our circumstances and can't see the light of God's presence, can't feel the power of his arm and the strength of his hand. Often we forget about his love and faithfulness in the midst of our struggles. We forget that God knows what we are going through, He orchestrates the events of our lives, and gently guides us. We must learn about His power and strength, learn about his righteousness and justice, his love and faithfulness so that in our trouble we can yet acclaim him, see the light of His presence, and rejoice in His name. One must practice to acclaim Him and to walk in His presence.

Jonathan is taking a nap. I hope he will sleep for at least 2 hours.

I feel like we were moving our house to the hotel when we arrived. We have two nearly 50 lb suitcases, a stroker, a car seat, a computer bag, a diaper bag, and my purse packed with things. I'm glad we did. There isn't a store near by where we can buy bottled water, baby formula/foods. There are a lot of shops a few blocks away but with the misty rain we didn't feel like walking down.

Taxi here is very convenient and cheap. Cheap is relative. It is cheaper than renting a car. One can really walk to most downtown historic sites but with an infant in the stroker and sometimes needs to be carried, eat, and diaper change, taxi serves us better.

Historical ignorance

I knew surprisingly little about Philadephia and its rich history. Everything I learned today in Independence Park were almost all new information. I didn't know that the Declaration of Indepndence were created and signed in this city. I hadn't heard of the Liberty Bell. I remember reading a book about Benjamin Franklin's inventions in English, a book given to me by two American girls visiting China with their parents at the time. I didn't have an inkling that Benjamin Franklin had any connection with Philadelphia until I saw a sign for Ben Franklin Bridge on my way to the hotel from the airport. I need to take a US history class.

Our first family trip

Our flight to Philadephia yesterday was uneventful. Jonathan did surprisingly well on the plane. The short flight from Madison to Detroit he was awake the whole time. Couldn't get him to take the pacifier at take off or descend. He didn't seem to be bothered by the pressure change. From Detroit to Philadelphia, he fell asleep while we were on the runway for take off.

After we got to the hotel he was very excited about the king size bed. He laughed and giggled for a long time. Then he fell asleep. After his nap, we went to a restaurant in China town. He fell asleep in the pack and play in a short time after we came back to the hotel.

This morning he didn't get up until 8:30 AM. We had breakfast. He wouldn't nap so we went on to tour the Liberty Park. He was very well behaved the whole time. He took a nap for about one hour. Albert called him "eyeball catcher"-whoever saw him commented on how cute he was. Most people gave him an extra look and smile. And he would smile back in most cases. Finally we came back around 5 PM. He got excited again about the king size bed. But I think he is over stimulated now.