Sophia hiding

Lately Sophia goes to her play room area and backs herself into the corner and just stands there, thinking she is hiding. Here I am 'discovering' her.

Goodies from the US

A package arrived the other day with goodies from Poppy and CC. It was filled with all kinds of good stuff. So good in fact that a rat decided to help himself to two packs of muffin mix while the package was still at the post office. We were sad, but glad that everything else was fine. Thanks so much poppy and cc for sending Sophia her toys (this was their birthday gift to her, to send her toys).


The muffin mix was everywhere, can you tell, thats it on the bottom. It was a spectacle at the post office as they shook white powder out of the box, while I was assuring them it was a cake mix. At that point I did not know that a rat was the culprit so I was trying to get them to stop shaking it all out so I could salvage it, then they assured me I would not want to eat it!


Here, we call 'stuff' dongxi (dongshee), it is such a good word that we have replaced it for the english.

Also in the packages were some incredibly sweet cards from granddaddy Johnson, and Grandma Pinnie (Sophia's great-grandmother). Thank you so much!!!

can you tell she loved this card! Thanks Granddaddy!


As a side note, David and I love Indian food, we both have spent time in India and our first discussion ever was all about India. A month ago I found these two boxes of Indian food, they just happen to be our two favorite dishes, Dal makhani and Palak Paneer. I found these at the import store, no they were not cheap but they were worth it. We waited for the perfect time to eat them--Right on the down hill stretch of our language review sprint (we have just a few days left). It was delicious. We were commenting how glad we were we didn't live in India or we would be so fat!

Shoe fetish

She is becoming a real lady, lover of shoes and all. In the past few days she has started to really try to put on my shoes. The custom here is to take your shoes off right as you enter the house, so she always sees us take shoes on and off right by the door. She first started to try my shoes on from there (the door area) and it was a little unstable (my shoes are about an inch and a half or so high). She ingeniously decided to pick them up and take them in between the ottoman and the couch so she could balance better while she did this, and it worked. David says, very humbly: 'she's a hair shy of genius.' :)

Check her out:


a first try, a little unstable


much better

ah ha! I did it.

more cuteness

this is her look of contemplation turned to sheer determination, our goal as parents is to guide this determination wisely, so she will use it wisely, not foolishly. What a task!

Weary but progressing

We are exhausted. We are in the middle of a four week intensive language review/study. A series of wonderful events (Sophia's birth, Stateside, etc), has made our Mandarin somewhat slack, so we decided to go full steam and basically start over with our intensive method that works wonders. It has been so helpful, to review tones, hone in vocabulary, etc. But it takes its toll on the brain. I will post a daily schedule later. I have never done this with a toddler, so every minute of my day is taken, until about now (9pm). We will not go at this pace forever, but slowly taper off. David is busy with about a hundred different things, half of which are languages :), I am not sure how he is staying sane, but he is. On Sunday, we did take a break and had a family outing to the stadium, where we were able to watch our city's men's soccer team play another city's team. David inquired about playing (these guys were okay, but David is way better), they said he could join them and would give him a call, we will see if that happens, hopefully it will.

And what you have been waiting for....pics of our girly girl. She really makes us laugh so many times a day. She can throw a fit too, but she really seems to be a jokester, who loves to laugh and hide and talk, talk, talk. She has been fighting a cold, and now has a cough, so for a few days she was clingy, she would just lay on my chest and cuddle, I cherished this time because I know tomorrow she will be sixteen. She is so much fun, here is why....


The Peanut butter snack I dread, can you see why?


she kept her hat and shades on for a long time, it was an incredibly bright day


Hey daddy, I can see myself in your shades. I think we kinda look alike.


this pic is not great, but she looks like such a little girl, where is the time going?


(Sorry about the shadows) Sophia wooing her way to some free watermelon (which she did receive no matter our protests, along with two bananas)

Quakes Quakes go away...

The night after the earthquake we experienced another tremor, we ran downstairs again (we had our 'earthquake' bag ready), but people on the first floor hadn't felt it, our across the hall neighbors and others had. We stayed out for a little while but not long. This is actually helping us bond with our neighbors! The following night David got a call from his friend who lives in a village not far from here saying that an official had come out there and told them that an earthquake was going to happen that night and they were worried about the structure of the village homes. He called us to make sure we knew and would be safe. This freaked us (me) out, for three nights in a row, come on! We thought we had missed an announcement or something. We called a few people, talked to some neighbors, no one had heard this, we felt much better, moved Sophia back into our room and went to sleep (sort of).

Since then we have learned various things of what to do in an earthquake, like don't run down stairs. There are people here in our hospital from the town where it hit, mostly broken bones. Thousands of people have been affected, we are trying to see if there is any way we can help, we will see.

earthquake link

since this may not be making news over there here is a link to an article about the earthquake.

Earthquake

Last night was one of the scariest nights we have had. Ever. It was about 8:30 pm, K and I were studying together in our office while David was trying to catch the track and field relays. I felt the bed shake and thought it was K (to find out later she thought is was me), then it happened again. Then the entire room shook and things rattled. We immediately jumped up, ran out, David ready to go too, we grabbed Sophia and ran down the four flights of stairs, our neighbors doing the same. Everyone gathered around outside away from the taller buildings. We stayed out there for an hour or so. This was our earthquake. We heard things here and there that night and many things were confirmed today. The Epicenter was in a town about 3.5 hours over some mountains from us. The earthquake there registered a 5.9 on the richter scale. We heard some small houses had fallen, and that three people had died (in the other town). An official came from the provincial capital today to assess the situation. We also heard that the border town had an official evacuation between midnight and two a.m.

We are so thankful for so many things. We are resting in our Father's love and goodness, seeing life as a vapor more and more these days.
We moved Sophia's bed into our room, and I think she is the only one that slept. When we grabbed her (she had been in bed an hour), she did wonderful, no tears, no fussing, Just hanging out with us, while we waited for our legs to stop shaking so we could assess what to do next.
Anyway, that was our exciting, and thankfully safe night. hope yours was much less eventful.

Words....

Sophia is saying so much these days, mostly gibberish. But here is her word list (I am sure I am forgetting some):

-ball
-balloon (baroom, with a roll of the 'r' and lots of drool)
-baby
-bye bye
-ut oh
-owa (flower)
-lie (light)
-lala (Laura)
-cc (cc)
-peas (please, does not often say this, but does on occasion, and can sign it sometimes too)
-cheese
-shoes
-duh (dog)
-mama (rarely)
-daddy (rarely)

To see Sophia have a real conversation go to this link.
Sophia also waved to the gymnast on TV who was waving when she won the gold, too funny. Speaking of Olympics, I forgot to tell you that when Phelps was receiving his 25th gold medal, okay his 8th, we laughed again when the commentator said (in chinese): His smile is extremely cute!

For some reason, though are in the same time zone, we are still having to stay up late (late for us being past 9:30) to catch some key events like track finals, soccer games, and volleyball. But it has been worth it.

Forty Years

Today is Homer and Cynthia's (Sophia's Poppy and CC) fortieth wedding anniversary. What an example they are of a marriage centered on truth and love. We are so thankful for you guys! Happy Anniversary!

FYI, for their anniversary I created/published a book of pictures and anecdotes of our time in the states with them and titled it "Six months with Sofa Loafa," (thats Sophia). I did this using www.blurb.com and have to give it much props here! This program was so easy and the book so affordable! I highly recommend it. If you like scrapbooking you will love this. I have decided I will still scrap because there is something cathartic about using your hands and not sitting in front of the computer for forever, but I will definitely be 'publishing' more books with blurb.



Lately, Sophia has been running over to the dryer and squatting like this. She will just stare at if for a few minutes then leave. She knows this is a 'no touch' and she has actually never touched it (amazing), she watches it whether it is on or not, and she can't even see her reflection in the glass. So silly, that girl.

She jabbers all the time, especially when people are here, it is so funny, she has complete conversations with herself. Friends will ask us what she is saying, I should just make up something, then they would think she is a genius, but I always confess that I don't know.

Back to the Olympics, gotta go watch the US women's soccer team in the semifinals!!

Happy Birthday Poppy

Today is my Poppy's birthday, He is pretty old I think, though I am not telling. Here are some pics of us together. We always have so much fun!
Happy Birthday Poppy, I miss you!




Thanks for reading with me.


Thanks for taking me on your walks

Learning 'nose' and 'no'

These videos don't quite do her cuteness justice, but here is a glance. Click here to see Sophia pointing to my nose by actually picking it. The cackly laugh is hilarious and this is about how happy she is every day (not all day, but every day).
I promise to post soon a list of all the words she is saying, and her schedule and what we are doing these days, all in good time. But she just started saying 'no no' back to us, and we have to hide our faces so she does not see us laugh or smile, because it is so cute. She completely mocks our serious tone. Click here to see an okay capture of it, we will try for more later.

A meet in the street

We went out to a village to eat lunch with some friends, and had a little meet in the street, among other things these folks were saying, was how white Sophia's skin is, when a day goes by that we don't hear that, I will let you know.


It is custom in this area for the men and women to eat separately, but since K and I were the only women (and Sophia of course), some men joined us. Yes, they are toasting, and yes it is sprite David is drinking :).



part of the home where we were visiting


In someone else's home David, Sophia, and a new friend watch Phelps qualify for another Olympic race (see him on the screen?).

Chocolate Cheese and Olympic Craze

Yes, you read correctly. I went to buy sliced cheese the other day and they were out. I was shocked when she pulled out two other kinds I had never seen before: strawberry flavored and chocolate flavored cheese, sliced and all. Gross. But most people around do not like cheese, so I guess it would make sense to flavor it some. I would eat their moldy tofu dish that is so popular if they made it chocolate or strawberry flavored...

In other news, we of course have been following the Olympics, so blessed to be in the same time zone. We watched the absolutely incredible mens 4x100 swimming relay (and I am not even a fan), the comeback was awesome. Then today we watched Phelps win his third gold in swimming. This is actually good language practice as all the commentary is in Mandarin (and it is so refreshingly clear, unlike what we are used to hearing here in the boonies). We don't understand all of it, but we certainly understood the female commentator as she was talking about Phelps today, she said: "he is all muscle!" funny, David just commented the same thing. Let's hope he gets all 8 golds!

phone calls and falls

After letting Sophia talk to Uncle Herschel on the phone (who she hung up on, sorry),
she talked on the 'phone' all day.


who put the monkey on my back ?


I like to take all the toys out of the basket and then get inside. I like baskets, daddy says I am just like my mama.


I look so pouty and a little angry because I hit my head on the wall when I fell off of my toy car. Daddy put a bag of frozen corn on my head. I resisted at first but it did make me feel better.


Then mommy put this helmet on my head for protection, in case of future falls.
I walk around in it all day, and take it off for naps.



Just kidding, she was just playing around and wanted to see if I would keep it on my head or not. She says she still wants to wait a little while before I am allowed to ride in my seat on the back of her bike. I can't wait.

Heavy Hearts

Our thoughts and tears are with our friends, Dan and Casey in the loss of their son, Asher Daniel. He was born and died August 9th. We are so thankful that they have the whole TCC community surrounding them during this difficult time, we wish we could be there. Encouraging words from our Father:

Rest in God alone, my soul,
for my hope comes from Him.
He alone is my rock and salvation,
my stronghold; I will not be shaken.
My salvation and glory depend on God;
my strong rock, my refuge, is in God.
Trust in Him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts before Him.
God is our refuge.
Psalm 62: 5-8

Quiet in the Streets

We are less than half way through watching the Olympic ceremonies, already they are spectacular (though I am not sure I have ever watched this much of one). The streets here are the quietest they have ever been at this hour. This is probably the most watched of any event ever, being that a billion Chinese are watching. We hear no cars, some stores were closed, it was the talk everywhere today as I was out and about, this is a BIG DEAL.

Lest you think all she does is smile...

The pout that leads to the whiny wale...

Doesn't it just look a little theatrical (the word sounds better than 'fake' but you knew what I meant)?
Sophia rarely cried as an infant (age 0-1), this toddler stage is making up for it. Pouty some, clingy, she puckers that lip down quite a bit these days. She has passed the 15 month developmental milestone of "throwing a tantrum when she doesn't get what she wants" with no sweat, we knew she was advanced for her age :).


We took some friends out to eat that are moving away, We are sad to see them go.


Sophia is discussing why this pineapple is the best pick.


Lily and Sophia, precious girls.

Video

To see Sophia saying 'CC' for the second time click Here.

Check out the recipe

With our friend visiting it gave us the opportunity to go off of our diet or 'healthy lifestyle.' We had to take him out to eat all the foods he loves, we were just being good friends. That, and we had already decided that this diet doesn't really taste good. We are not giving it up, just admitting the truth. The 'tofu ranch dressing' (Napoleon Dynamite: 'sick') did it for me, it went instantly into the trash. So...while David was away for two days, I went way off the reservation and cooked a good tasting meal: Paula Deen's oven fried chicken, baked potatoes, and steamed broccoli (my blood pressure can stand to go up). This chicken was so good! I only marinated the chicken for a few hours and had to make the buttermilk (milk + vinegar), but it was still delicious. Now David is back and we are back to raw veg, no salt, no white flour, no sugar. But....he is about to go on another trip, hmm....what shall I eat then?

Summer fun

Here Caleb is giving Sophia a sweet hug as she continues playing nonchalantly.