last day of 2009

A couple of days ago, Binbin went to see his cardiologist. She listened for his heart murmur...



Binbin was very still and cooperative, earning Dr. Hourihan's praise. Everything checked out normal, and so...



we headed to the rock climbing gym. Here climbing with Baba on belay...



Here, bouldering



All in all, Binbin did great and is looking forward to the next trip to the gym!

Merry Christmas

Warm holiday greetings to one and all! We are all very grateful to be celebrating the holidays together at home this year. Santa was extra generous to Binbin this year (more on the loot and the loot sled later).

I did squeeze in a quick (too quick, really) trip to Los Angeles to visit my newborn nephew, Kieran Lee Xia'an Furlong. He's a keeper, even though he's keeping his parents up all night.



Debbie gave me lots of hand-me-downs, which is always an extra bonus. This lavender fleece hat was perfect for this year's snow man, made on Christmas Eve.



Also, on Christmas Eve, Ah-Gong and Ah-po sent a gift basket of crackers, cheese, and fruit. Binbin promptly took possession of the basket and transformed it into a nest for his many convalescing action figures (missing limbs and so forth).

snow, for real

Last night we had our first real snowfall of the year, about 6 inches. We came home after sauna and dinner at my friends Amy and Spike's place, and even though it was well past bedtime, we indulged Binbin's request for playing snowball fight. He woke this morning, and his first thought was to look out the window to see if the snow was still here. A resounding, yup! Even more than the night before. The sun was up, the sky was blue, and the white fluffy stuff had coated all the tree branches and trimmed all the rooftops and windowsills. Gorgeous! The perfect day to get our Christmas tree. We'll be heading over to Hummer (undoubtedly a name a pre-dates the gigantor gas-guzzling auto-beasts) Tree Farm just as soon as Binbin can change out of his pajamas...lickety split.

1 bedroom, 1 bath, split level in nice neighborhood on 1 square foot.

Binbin decided that with the arrival of the winter season it was time to build a gingerbread house. (Yeye and Nainai gave him one, but he's allergic to it and can't touch it or eat any of it.) After long discussion on how to proceed, graham cracker sheathing with cream cheese icing were chosen as the building materials, along with decorative sprinkles and candy. As you can see it's a sustainably built and designed house ready for move-in at any time. Only serious offers please.

The first snow of the year

The first snow of the year fell last night and this morning. Binbin and mama went outside to throw snowballs on their way to preschool. Hope you are all enjoying the winter weather.

Yeye and Nainai's house

Summer is almost over and just before school starts again for both De-nin and Binbin, we all trekked to Yeye and Nainai's house. For the first time, Binbin was very conscious of the traveling by plane and going to someone else's house. He was excited to see Yeye and Nainai because they are the providers of Lego. Here are some pictures of the trip.


Binbin did in fact wear his swimming suit for almost an entire afternoon. A first for him. Here he is on the island where we camped.


He soon decided that naked was better and spent most of the afternoon and evening in his birthday suit playing Jedi warrior with an extra tent pole. Mama and Baba lost almost every Jedi battle. They just don't have that strong an attachment to the force as does our little Jedi.



Even a Jedi must do their nebulizer when camping.



The next morning mama and Binbin sit and enjoy the morning fire and drink hot chocolate. As per his usual want, Binbin is wearing his long pants and long sleeves.




One of Binbin's great enjoyments at Yeye and Nainai's is riding the various vehicles that they have. His favorites were riding with Yeye on the riding mower and in the two-seater Morgan. He especially liked the fact that he got to ride in the front with Yeye and not in the back.



On our last day in Illinois we went to Rock Cut State Park and visited the lake there. Binbin was not impressed with the photo opportunity and refused to look at the camera when taking a picture with mama and baba. He said it was too sunny to look at the camera.




However, he was more than happy to take pictures with the camera. Here are two of his masterpieces. He is obviously working with more avant garde forms of framing.

Vacationland

From the Maine point of view, we're from away. Even Binbin doesn't really count as a Mainer. So, it makes sense that we try to live up to Maine's motto as "Vacationland" every summer. Here are snapshots of recent activities.

At Keena's "Little Ridge Farm," on the flat bed trailer with Amy. (Apparently absent parents and sibling are busy harvesting organic raspberries.)




With pal Robbie making sure the car is in order before we visit his family's "camp" (for you Minnesotans, that's "cabin" to you) in Boothbay.





At a campground at the end of Phippsburg, beyond Popham Beach.

l'oeuvre de l'artist Binbin

Alongside the passion for all things Star Wars, a healthy interest in the creative arts persists in Binbin. Here are a few recent examples:

Series of three abstract painting made with marbles on paper placed in a shallow box. Finished with glitter.





Pink and blue #1. painting on paper.




Pink and blue #2. painting on paper.




Untitled #1 and #2. ink drawings on paper.

my guy

he's so shy, and he almost never looks at the camera. But here...I got him!

summer? what summer?

We've had the rainiest June and July on record for the state of Maine, and summer just about got rained out. Fortunately, the skies have cleared a bit, giving us hope for warm weather fun before the long, cold season sets in.

Binbin was a brave little boy yesterday, as we went to see Dr. Tracy for his 4-and-a-half year annual check-up. He responded avidly to directions: open your mouth, stick out your tongue, say ahhh, and so forth. Neither he nor I expected a heavy round of...shots! While Binbin sat in my lap, rather worried and unhappy, two nurses, one on each side of him, delivered a ONE-TWO injection, making a grand total of FOUR shots. He did perk up for his reward: 4 stickers from the office, and a trip to Target (the land of toys). Before moving on to other matters, I should note that Binbin is now 3 feet 4 3/4 inches tall, and weighs just under 35 pounds. Skinny bugger, but then, he's probably lost some water weight due to a recent round of stomach flu going 'round the preschool.

Other matters...perhaps after so long a hiatus, a list of favorites would be a good way to sum up how Binbin is growing and what is going on in his life.

Things to do:
going to Kitty Korner story to buy penny candy
watching Batman cartoons
working on models with Baba
chasing Dora the Duck around Keena's farm
building stuff with Legos
playing with Robbie and visiting his camp in Boothbay
playing light sabers
visiting Sophie and Emmet and the "Common Ground House"
eating outside on the deck
picking blueberries off our bushes in the backyard
thinking of words that rhyme

Books:
Too Many Toys
Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant
Hank the Clank
Puzzlehead
Star Wars comic books

late spring update

The weather couldn't be more perfect: sunny, 70s, light breeze.

After several weeks of "cooperation", "helping out", and "being good," Binbin finally finished his chart of alternating alphabetic letter stamps (a-b-a-b, c-d-C-D, e-F-E-F, g-h-G-H)! Hooray! His big reward: a shopping trip to Target to pick out a new Mistika Bionicle put-it-together-yourself, Lego-style action figure! Binbin stuck to his initial choice: Tuma.



If you would like to know more about him, go to: http://shop.lego.com/Product/?p=8689

So, that was the super-exciting activity Friday evening. On Saturday, we decided to return to one of our favorite camping spots, Lake St. George. Binbin was helpful in the morning, as we had lots of stuff to pack: tent, sleeping pads, begging, chairs, food, campstove, and more. We don't travel lightly when we camp. Binbin added to the weight by insisting on bringing three of his action figures: Gali, Tahu, and Tuma. Of course, Monkey, Blanky and Blanky came. And we also brought books for bedtime reading. Jack included a surprise: a new comic book about Transformers.

On our drive up to Liberty, we made an annual pilgrimage to Liberty Tool (home of zillions of ancient and old tools for woodworking) and to Liberty Graphics (home of many cool T-shirts, which the print for the common ground fair and for patagonia, but importantly for us, home of one of the three shirts that Binbin consents to wearing). Jack snagged a chisel, and I a sweatshirt printed with the dinosaur motif that is one on of Binbin's three shirts. And, amazingly, Binbin *wore* the sweatshirt!

We had campsite #12 in the middle area, as the lakeside spots are reserved months in advance. But it was nice and private, as we didn't have immediate neighbors. There is a brand new bathhouse at the site, very nice. And the playground has been finished! We struck camp, played at the playground, built a fire, ate hot dogs, marshmallows, and smores, then crawled into our tent to sleep. On sunday, we went canoing on the lake, exploring several of the islands, bonking the buoys, and having an all around good time.

Winter seemed to last forever, then it seems we blinked and spring arrived. We've been taking advantage of the warmer weather, and getting outdoors to do lots more stuff. Just this past weekend, after Chinese school, we headed over to Dave and Irene's for one of their semi-annual hotwings parties. This one coincided with the running of the Kentucky Derby. Betting was done by way of drawing horses' names. $1, $5, and $10 pots of pure luck. Jack entered each pot.

Then we took a break to see a couple of games in the Robocup Open at Bowdoin college. Yup, the Robocup. where university computer science teams go head to head writing code to operate robots that play soccer. Bowdoin's team, the northern bites, didn't have much luck. Against UPenn, each of Bowdoin's three robots seems to have suffered a physical injury that prevented further play. That left three UPenn robots moving at molasses-in-winter speed to score the one and winning goal. There was precious little action (robots were prone to fall over and had about a one in two chance of righting themselves), but lots of drama!

Then a return to the hotwings party to watching the running of the roses and to see if Jack's luck paid off. Musketman was our horse for the $10 pot. He led much of the way, but fell off to place third. But, as our luck would have it, no one drew the winner or the second place, which left us $100 richer! Baby's gonna get new shoes! Or, a new bionicle toy!

Here are a few snapshots to fill in some of the gap since our last post. First, a record of Binbin's cake decorating skills.






by the time he finished, Mama's cake was covered with little colored star candies from the San Diego zoo, Skittles, and gummy bears. We bet we know what you're thinking: Deee-licious!

And, below, in a rare moment of being with the group is Binbin pictured with his "Snapdragons" Chinese school class.

our book club

It's seems like a good time for a "what we're reading" update, especially as Binbin's taste in books has changed dramatically over the past few months.

Binbin: graphic novels and comic books such as Spider Man, Bionicles, and Flight. Ricky Ricotta's Might Robot and their various adventures fighting enemies from outer space. Stories about Elephant and Piggy by Mo Willems. Dr. Seuss' "If I Ran the Circus."

Jack: "1942" and "Uncle Henry's"

De-nin: academic novels: "Stoner" and "Changing Places." for my Song Dynasty painting seminar: Valerie Malenfer Ortiz's dissertation on "Dream Journey", Lothar Ledderose and Peter Sturman's respective studies on Mi Fu and calligraphy.

I should also note that Binbin's favorite games have changed, or changed in character. Hide-and-seek is still fun; so is the "scary waffel" chasing game, but in the latter case, various weapons, such as swords and guns fashioned from screwdrivers and eggbeaters are necessary accoutrements. We also play with the blow-up bunny: you punch it against the refrigerator or toward an opponent, and wait for it to bounce back. Binbin also does "daredevil" tricks on the horsey, too.

Binbin's view

Is Binbin a budding artist? You be the judge. Here are a few snapshots that he took recently:


The Parental Units




Untitled (My Chair)



Untitled (Mobile Solar System)



The Parental Units, 2

winter's second or third to last hurrah...

I'm posting backwards in time. There are from February, I think. Winter lasts seemingly forever in Maine, and so you have to find activities appropriate to the season. These can range from making snowmen..



to shaking off branches heavy with freshly fallen snow..



to baking cookies and rolling chocolate truffles (yummy!).

in living color

Last Saturday was amazing...that first day that really feels like spring. We took advantage of the gift of sunshine and warm air, and headed out to the beach for a picnic.



Then, Binbin decided to look for snails. We dug a home for them in the sand, and gathered a mommy snail, a daddy snail, and a baby snail. There! Now they are all happy!



Binbin and Jack climbed across the rocks.



Sunday was nearly as nice, and we headed south to Old Orchard Beach. It has more of a California or Ft. Lauderdale feel. The crowds won't be here for months yet, and so the pier is closed and the carnival rides, too. But we had fun, playing our scary waffel game and throwing sticks into the surf.

coming to a monitor near you...

a new post about Binbin. We've been running here, there, everywhere, and have not paused to write a post. We haven't even paused to download photographs (127 and counting still on the camera). But when we do, and I promise it will be soon, we will have sensational stuff for your viewing pleasure.

This past weekend, for example, we went to the beach at Reid State Park and spent a gorgeous noon-hour clambering over rocks and gathering snails so that they could be a "family." The next day, we went to the beach again! This time to Old Orchard Beach, where the boardwalk was boarded up, but the sandy expanse stretched far to the horizon north and south, and people numbering in the tens jogged or strolled or sauntered about. No crowds to contend with. I remembered the meaning to a phrase I'd been uttering to candidates visiting our campus: Maine is a beautiful place to live.

When the big hand goes to the twelve, then...

the little hand will be on the seven. And then, it's time for nainai.

Binbin has now fully embraced the logic and truth of the clock. It now dictates when to have two sippy cups of warm milk (yes...he's four and still loves his warm milk), when to turn the TV off, when to have bath and put on pajamas. And, blessed be the dictatorship of the clock, it gets us out the door on time in the mornings!

Predictability and routine have us all a little calmer...or am I speaking for myself? At any rate, Binbin does sit down to have dinner with us, and can be persuaded to wait before transforming his lego racecar in a lego chopper. He's amazingly skilled at following the diagrams and getting that little plastic piece into just the right spot. Of course, it still takes Baba to keep the little guy on task. Then, after the collaboration, you can count on Binbin to say, "But Baba, I don't like the chopper. Can we make the motorcycle now?"

Other recent activities, given the excess of snow, include making homemade snow cones. Take 4 cupfuls of fresh, clean snow. Scoop into pot. Fashion a paper cone, tape, and place into a cup. Spoon snow into paper cone. Add potent mixture of lemon and sugar. Enjoy!

Binbin's other favorite recent activity is playing "Go Fish!" and "Memory." He is the hands-down favorite to win in "Memory", but for some reason, he still can't keep himself from flipping three or four or more cards when he knows better.

We've had a steady diet of non-fiction books: "Percussion" and "Brass" and now "Strings." And though Jack and I weary of reading about finger cymbals and digeridoos, Binbin's enthusiasm for musical instruments only grows with each passing day. Thankfully, he's recently embraced a new book: "Lobster's Secret."

Gongxi facai!

May the year of the Ox bring peace and prosperity to the planet.

Now that we've finished cleaning up the house, Binbin and Baba have turned their energies to the garage. We'll clean today, then hope for good fortune tomorrow and throughout the year.

This past week, Binbin spent several days at home, sick with a cold that brought on symptoms of bronchitis. He was, for the most part, cheerful, as he seems genuinely happy to be a homebody. Tuesday, he and Baba watched Barack Obama sworn in as our nation's 44th president. Wednesday, he and Mama baked gingerbread cookies. Thursday, Keena came over to play in the morning. Friday, we all drove up to Waterville to see Colby's installation of "Ink Tales," an exhibition of Chinese painting, curated by students of Mama and Mama's friend, Ankeney Weitz. You can see the web exhibitions at:

http://www.colby.edu/art/InkTales/ColbyExhibition.html