Category: Family

We had a lot of fun with the Tomlinson side of the family this afternoon bonding over turkey, stuffing and side dishes.  As I mentioned in a previous post, this Thanksgiving has special meaning as we are able to celebrate Elspeth’s second birthday at the same time.  With it being Thanksgiving and all of the family (save me) being big fans of pumpkin pie with whipped cream, Glenn and I decided that instead of cake we would have a birthday pie for Elspeth.  She was confused by the whole candle and I ended up blowing them out for her.  Then we gave her a piece with some whipped cream.  Inspite of her reluctance, we managed to get her to taste a small bite.  Her face said it all.  Now there are two of us who don’t like pumpkin pie.  With it being a birthday celebration, we gave her a bowl of plain ice cream.  Hopefully, Monday’s birthday cake will fare better.  Enjoy the photos and turkey weekend and I will update you on the fate of the cake.

Okay, finally posted Elspeth’s citizenship application today.  Now we wait.  We are not planning any huge trips right now which will help to decrease our anxiety about when it will arrive so that we can apply for a Canadian passport (learned with Katirne just how much of a pain it is to travel with a kid on a Chinese passport that requires Visas).

Now for some fun photos.  The first is our earliest photo of Katrine that we were allowed to take a photo of while at Katrine’s orphanage.  Then there is are cute photos of Elspeth and Katrine from yesterday.  Enjoy!

By the time most of you read this it will be fall so happy season of beatiful colours followed by moldy leaves. (As you can tell it is one of my all time favourite seasons)

Elspeth had her check up today.  Blood work looks good so far.  Got her first two vaccinations (poor little mite doesn’t realize that this is only the beginning).  We are still waiting for the results of her lead level test but things are looking good.  Most impressively, she has gained 1 1/2 pounds and grown 5 centimeters since we got home!!!!  Yes, the door on our fridge now hits her in the head.  She is exactly the same size as Katrine was at 18 months but she turns 2 in roughly 2 weeks.  Still not on the growth curve but at least we are going up.

My parents got back from Scotland and brought with them the cutest pair of purple wellies.  We put them on yesterday and she had a lot of fun jumping (sort of) in the puddles.  Heard that it is suppose to rain again tomorrow so I suppose that we will be back outside in our boots splashing around.  I am so glad that they sell rubber boots for super small feet in Scotland -the land of rain- because it appears that in Canada children are not suppose to walk around and get wet until their feet are at least size 5 or you are willing to pay waaayyy too much.

I am going to end this post with some random cute photos to make you smile on the first day of fall.

Here is the summary:  Katrine loved the moon cakes, Elspeth not so much.  Elspeth loved my spherically round moon like meatballs (oh so chinese I know), Katrine not so much.  They both agreed that the lanterns rocked.  Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone!

Tomorrow is the mid-autumn moon festival and Katrine could not be more excited.  We had some friends over to visit today and they brought her moon cakes.  She is thrilled.  When we were in Nanning, she ate half a moon cake each morning with breakfast (yes, very healthy).  She is also looking forward to introducing Elspeth to the joys of staying up late and walking outside under the stars with your muscial lantern.  Yes, this holiday necessitated a trip to Pacific Mall for the sole purpose of procuring a musical lantern for Elspeth so that they could match (by the way, you should be looking forward to matching Halloween costumes as this is a theme in our life now).  Dinner?  Round meatballs, round carrots, round glasses of beverage all served on round plates.  The only chinese thing that will be part of our meal will be the moon cakes that Katrine loves.

When we were in China, particularly Nanning, it was interesting to see all of the preparations for the moon festival.  We asked our guide what she did with her family and she said that they went outside and sat under the stars together eating moon cakes.  She also told us that it was traditional to give moon cakes to family and friends this time of year.  Well, we will not be buying all of you a box of moon cakes.  Put it down to my thrifty scottish ancestors.  Instead, we are offering you these images from China and tomorrow maybe some photos of the girls with their lanterns.  Happy Moon Festival!

Katrine had a great first day in Grade 2 and loves her teacher.  She was also tickled pink when we gave in to her plees and got her sister a purple outfit so that they would be a matching set.  I think that Katrine going to school was harder on Elspeth today.  You could see the fear and anxiety in her eyes as the school bus pulled away with her big kid going who knows where.  Just what she needs, to lose another.  Then the sheer joy when Katrine got off the bus at the end of the day was priceless.

This evening provided early signs that we might not have a skater, dancer or hockey player on our hands but a gymnast.  Front roll anyone?

Mainly a photo update for you to ponder.  These signs beg you to come in to enjoy the taste of love or have a good knosh.  Would either appeal to you in a restaurant?

Okay, I just have to do this post as this has been on my mind.  You see, I have been trying to get things away that we brought home from China.  One of the things that we had bought were a pair of split pants.  Elspeth would have been wearing split pants in her orphange.  If you have never seen split pants you can look at the photo below.  Basically, when a kid needs to go they crouch and go.  When we were in Nanchang you would often see kids go right there on the street.  Their parent or caregiver would stop, wait for them to finish and then clean it up.  In Beijing, you would see parents holding their child over the garbage can so that they could do there business.  Now if you have ever potty trained a child you know how frustrating it can be when they have to go and you don’t know where the toilets are.  From toilet training Katrine I learned where the bathrooms were in grocery stores, drugstores, heck even the teacher’s store.  If you have a boy you can walk them to a bush and it is socially acceptable, well tolerated, for them to pee and then go back to playing.  Maybe all of us who have to toilet train girls have something to learn from these pants.

Anyways, then I got to thinking about all of the different types of bathrooms and signage that we’ve seen.  Totally not Canadian.  Once you get the hang of squats they are not too bad…if you pretend that any liquid on the ground is simply water from the floor being washed.  I think our most interesting visit to a squat on this trip was when the ducks who were eating beside the path to the squat tried to follow us inside.  Have you ever tried to shoo away a duck while needing to pee at the same time?  I hadn’t until this trip.  I also particularly liked the small pot the hotel gave us when we asked for a potty (just in case). Now granted, the hotel actually had a potty where here it is definetely BYOP. But really, can you imagine trying to sit or even squat over that thing…especially when you are Elspeth’s size?

Okay, I know that you are all really reading this to find out what is up with the kids but I need to start by saying “I’m not going back to school!!”  Okay, I love to teach and see kids master new skills but this year I get to do just that here at home.  Katrine is getting excitted about going back and seeing her friends again which is good.

What have we been up to?  Well, I will let the photos speak for themselves.  If you look carefully, you will catch a glimpse of that rare creature – the Elspeth smile!