goodies

We have been very lucky and have received some lovely gifts in the mail recently. This, despite having become post-apathetic over the past two months. We promise to improve in this regard and have postally orientated plans in the pipeline this very moment.

Last week Ji was thrilled to receive a big package from his Aunt Katy and Uncle John in the mail. It turned out to contain two of his most favourite things in the whole wide world: new duds and DVDs. It was a dream come true. First, he got a great new Leafs sweatsuit (as modeled below) and then he also got a Wayne Gretzky retrospective DVD and The Princess Bride. He's now decided that the goldfish he's going to buy this weekend will be called Gretzky. Jeez, I hope I'm spelling that right. I think I mis-spelled it last time I mentioned it. Here's the marvel of a suit with Ji inside it trying to look tough for the camera:

It was cute; we went to the local park two days ago and Ji met up with his new buddy, Liam, who happens to be Canadian, and Ji was in his Leafs suit and Liam was wearing an Oilers jersey. Heh heh.

Ji is also very, very much enjoying the blow up chair that his Gramma ordered for him. Every night now he wants to lounge in it and watch Pingu on the ipod. And since Phet's not around, and I'm tired at, like, 8 o'clock, I let him do it. Here he is, kicking back:

Ji is continuing to enjoy school for the most part. He's now made a couple of friends, and he's been invited to a birthday party tomorrow! We went and got some little gifts for Mark today and at this very minute Ji is painting the wrapping paper for the presents. Although I joke a little about Ji's school (really, it's more of a daycare, especially in comparison to Ji's old school in Bangkok which was madly academic), the teachers are very nice and they do some cool things. One thing I like is that the teachers write up a little "what we did" paragraph everyday and post it in the vestibule. So as Ji and I leave, we read it, and then he tells me all about his day. In the past two weeks, they've gone on three field trips: to the zoo, to the police station [Ji boasted that they'd never be able to lock him up cause his wrists were too small for the shackles], and to the fire station. Pretty sweet! Also, every two or three days they give us an update sheet on what Ji's been doing. And once a month there's a nice newsletter that comes out. Check out the infants' report (3 - 14 months):

The infants were all excited this year as they all were making an attempt to walk, isn't it exciting! Wow! Whenever the sister [the infants are watched by a nurse, and nurses here are always called 'sister'] says 'sleeping time' its exciting to see them all lying on their beds.

I bet it's exciting! And here's the report from Ji's class:

The month started with the New Year celebrations, all the children came in beaming and happy. The children loved the Lohri celebrations and they danced around the fire with the teachers. Alexy, Vittalic, Angad, and even our shy Yashasvini danced a little. There was popcorn, peanuts, and rewari to eat. Vitallic and Dorsa did not want any help from their teacher in the winter animal booklet and they did it on their own. Yashasvini, Rahul [from Montreal!] and Zaid liked the penguin rhymes and liked waddling like them. Indoor fall and winter gardens were created by all of them and Niket and Aaron wanted to know every morning if their plants had appeared. Alexy, Angad, Sehaj and Vitallic were very protective of their eggshell garden as it was very fragile. The children learnt the parts of plants and did art work with lentils, soil, sticks, and real leaf prints. Zahara was especially good. Ji said he had never had pink lentils and tasted some, and he actually liked the taste. The doctor came to the class and gave Erfan and Hussain medicine and injections. During the republic day celebrations Rahul and Angad were dressed up like Dr. Manmohan Singh. Ji was the Canadian Prime Minister. Sehaj was our Army man and the rest of the children were dressed in orange. In the theme celebrations at the end of the month we had some parents putting in a lot of effort and we had Mark, Ji Hong, Ronnit and Maahi dressed up as penguins and everybody sang their rhymes beautifully. [Emphasis added by me for Phet's benefit]

Lastly, today, Seung Yi asked me to post a photo of her with Iaimon. Iaimon is her super nanny and boy are we ever appreciative of her help. Not only does she take lovely care of Seung Yi, she also cleans everything spic 'n span at our house, she peels and chops up fruits for Ji, and she keeps me cheered up with her exciting stories from her village in Assam.

[Ji Hong-23-February-2007]