Sand storms! (aka French toast)

I think sometimes I underestimate the boys’ culture shock and adjustment to food. Isaac often gets a gag reflex when he gets upset and often spits his food out (but don’t worry he is still eating plenty and is still more chubby than Ethan!). A couple days ago I made them French toast for breakfast and they were sooo excited. Isaac came back for a second piece, declaring “sick all gone!” This was followed by “I like French toast”. (Everything is about “I like xxx” now – “I like apples’, “I like rice”. However, it took me a day or so to figure out that when he was saying he wanted “sand storm”, this meant French toast. Now he’ll wake Jack up to make him some when I tell him it’s too early. Jack tries to make him say it in Chinese and he will repeat but then asks for “sand storm” again.

They are getting a little better with the Chinese. They will try harder to say things rather than just reverting to saying “grandma” when it’s too difficult. The other day Ethan shocked me when we were washing hands and he said “xi shou” (wash hands) spontaneously. Isaac also impressed an old lady by putting on his shoe when she told him to. There is one little girl they are especially friendly with since her granny is with us and we call her meimei for little sister. So when Ethan sees her he will say “meimei’s here”. The other day he wanted to invite meimei to the park, but Jack says that’s not a very Chinese thing to do!

Yeye went home yesterday. The boys were finally starting to warm up to him a little. Still, it’s nice to have our tiny place back to ourselves. The funny thing is people like him (much also like Jack!) who annoy them constantly they try to avoid, but yet we had a friend over last night who is not really a kid person who they were immediately climbing over and poking at his face and annoying him. Yeye tried hard and I like him and I could tell he was very happy to spend time with him, but I could also tell he didn’t spend a lot of time around young kids (including his own, but that’s another story!).

Meanwhile we took the boys to the Beijing Disney (knock-off) for a special treat. We spent more time walking though trying to find rides they would both like and were big enough to ride. They had a great time though.

And speaking of special treats, the big day is tomorrow! I think though they’ve actually given up on their birthday actually coming since we kept telling them to “wait, wait” for a long time. Now when I ask about their birthday, they will say “wait birthday” or tease that it’s “taxi birthday” or “book birthday”. This morning Isaac saw a picture of a robot or something on the computer and when I asked if he wanted it for his birthday, he said “no, too much money”. But Ethan got excited and declared “too much all gone!” But we bought them each some fun presents and party supplies. Coincidentally, there is another birthday party today in the same place we will have ours today. That one will have greater attendance so we will go say hi to old friends and the boys will have fun I’m sure, but they will be very confused by their own party tomorrow I guess!

More coming after the big day!