Days 3 and 4

Looks like we’ve solved Caitlyn’s jet lag problem. On Tuesday, we decided to wake her up at 1 p.m. instead of letting her sleep until 4 or 5. She had a nap around 3:30 and then we didn’t let her go to sleep until 10:30 p.m. She woke up a few times during the night, but always went back to sleep right away, and woke up at 10 the next morning.

We tried the same routine yesterday night of putting her to sleep at 10:30 and once again, she didn’t wake up until about 10 this morning. With a few minor tweaks, we’ll have her sleeping earlier and waking up earlier in no time!

The past two days, we’ve been sticking pretty close to home as Caitlyn and the wife slowly adjust to things. Here are some things that we’ve done.

Mornings consist of going outside to pick the veggies and fruit we’ll be eating for the day.

Here's the tomato!

Let me help you

 

Where to next?

Can I have my own garden?

We introduced Caitlyn to Texas bbq. People who worry that she’s too skinny, fear not. We’ll soon have her up to the size of a baby heifer with this diet of beef and more beef.

Let's chow down!

We visited my former principal whom I used to work for. He’s generously offered to let us use his pool while he goes on vacation this month. We might take him up on that, but I warn you that Caitlyn just might leave a brown nugget in the pool as a thank-you gift.

Cheese!

In the evenings when it’s cooler, Grandpa takes Caitlyn to the park to play on the slide and swings.

Wa-hoo!

Faster, Grandpa!

 

I'm going in now!

Peek-a-boo!

The grandmaster has also decided to take Caitlyn under his wings and teach her the way of the warrior and the art of kendo.

The Force is strong in this one

Attack!

 
Finally, the shopping sprees have commenced with four hours of shopping yesterday and likely to continue on into today and the near future. I fear I may not be able to survive this insanity. God help us all.

Days 1 and 2

I’ve got some good news and some bad news. Good news is that we got through our flight to America without a hitch. Caitlyn behaved perfectly, or at least as perfectly as a 2 year old can be. Sure, she had ants in her pants the entire time and kept wanting to leave her seat, but that was to be expected. At least there was no crying or tantrums.

Bad news is that she has jet lag. At first, I thought we got lucky because we arrived in Houston at 2 p.m., and she didn’t go to sleep until 8 pm like she normally does. She got up once in the middle of the night, but shortly thereafter, went back to sleep. However, she didn’t wake up until 3 in the afternoon the following day.

Our second night here, she just flat out refused to go to bed and because my mom frowned upon my Iron Fist Policy, I couldn’t just leave her in the bed to cry. Therefore, I stayed up until 4 in the morning playing with her. Assuming she sleeps at least 12 hours, she’ll be getting up at 4 in the afternoon today at the earliest. Actually, that’s pretty smart on her part. Sleep during the day when it’s at its hottest, and then wake up to play once it’s cooled down. Too bad there really isn’t much to see or do in the middle of the night though.

Time with Grandpa and Grandma has been great. Caitlyn still remembers them and there was no shyness on her part. Three cheers for Facetime! It also didn’t take her long to get accustomed to the house. Now she’s running up and down the stairs and playing with all the toys Grandma amassed for her. She seems particularly intrigued in the backyard as we don’t have one in Taiwan. There are squirrels, dragonflies, lizards, and all sorts of bugs to look at and plenty of fruits and vegetables for her to pick.

So far, her favorite activity is riding her tricycle. She insists on riding it inside and outside the house, which my parents are more than happy to comply with. I think by the end of this trip, she’ll probably never want to leave here. It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what Grandpa and Grandma are hoping for!

Trying to keep busy

Sleep time

Happy Reunion

First order of business

 

Toys and more toys

Vroom vroom!

 

Bitter melon

Tomatoes!

 

Drawing on the wall

Eggplant

 

Choo choo!

Three Amigos

 

Ahh! Shark!

Where's Nemo?

 

Best buds

It's been a good 2 days

Coming to America

Ready or not, America, here we come! Tomorrow will be Caitlyn’s first trip to America and my first in about 4 years. I have no idea how she’ll fair on such a long trip, but it should make for an interesting post later. We’ll be making a short enough flight from Taipei to Japan first, and then a doozy of a 12 hour flight to Houston for a 3 week visit.

We’ve got snacks, coloring books, sticker books, song books, along with the always trusty iPad filled with videos and games to hopefully keep her busy and happy. Personally I don’t see how people do it. I’ve seen friends with kids younger than Caitlyn take overseas trips. Why would you want to do that to yourself unless you’re a glutton for pain and suffering? I don’t think I have the kind of testicular fortitude to try it with a baby less than two. No wonder airlines offer free tickets for children under two. It's called compensation.

It will be interesting to see how Caitlyn reacts when she’s no longer around people who look like her. I have a friend who is black, who said I needed to slowly acclimate Caitlyn to people of color by showing her videos or books that have black people in them so I wouldn’t traumatize her for life when Caitlyn meets her and other black friends for the first time.

While this is sound advice, I admit that I did not have time to show her classics like “The Color Purple,” “Friday,” or “Big Momma’s House,” read “Little Bill,” or share one of my all-time favorite shows, “That’s So Raven.” However, she does love watching these Mother Goose music videos on Youtube that has a black actress dressed as a teddy bear. Does that count?

Anyway, I know Grandpa and Grandma have been counting the months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds until their precious little angel arrives. They’ve already stocked the house full of toys and even told us not to bring any of her clothes as they plan on taking her on a huge shopping spree. I’m pretty certain the wife wants a few shopping sprees of her own as well. Me? Just give me some of that Texas bbq and country cooking and I’m good to go!

Check me in!

Are those presents for me?

 

Can I come too?

Here I come Grandpa and Grandma!

The Terrible Two's

We are now officially in the terrible two’s stage. Tantrums and outbursts whenever Caitlyn doesn’t get what she wants have increasingly become more frequent. I’d like to enact the Way of the Iron Fist method of discipline where ‘no’ means ‘no’ and there is zero emotion shown for tears that are shed. However, with the wife staging a filibuster, it’s been a bit hard to get this passed through.

My ideology is pretty simple. “Say what you mean and mean what you say.” I learned that on the first day of teaching in a classroom. Kids are smarter than we give them credit for. They know who they can and cannot manipulate around. As long as you stick to your guns and you don’t cave into their demands, they’ll respect what you say and do.

The wife more or less accepts this notion, but where we begin to stray is how to apply this when we’re out in public. I could care less if Caitlyn decides to throw a fit in a restaurant because we won’t give her the phone to play with. ‘No’ means ‘no’ in my book. I’ll take her outside to calm down before taking her back in as many times as it takes for her to realize this. However, the wife would rather have a quiet, stress-free meal, and will thus give Caitlyn whatever she asks for.

I don’t believe there should be two sets of rules that govern behavior in the house and outside. If you don’t cave-in to demands in the house, why would it suddenly be ok outside of the house? There needs to be consistency across the board.

However, I can understand where the wife is coming from. After all, the screams and cries of a baby in tantrum are enough to drive most people crazy. And as an added bonus, you get to be subjected to the stares of others as they look at you struggling with your kid. But to me, this is just a short-term fix. Yes, the baby is quiet and behaved because you’ve given her what she wants, but that doesn’t solve the long-term problem of listening to and respecting what you say.

Caitlyn is a pretty stubborn baby and doesn’t give-in so easily, but thankfully, I am just as equally stubborn and unwilling to cave-in. Now I just need to get the wife onboard so we can tag-team up and crush out the terrible two’s. Maybe giving her some earplugs and a disguise to wear in public might just be enough to sway her my way!

Hey, no pictures!

Hi-ya!!

Born to be wild

Special delivery!

Birthday Extravaganza

Last Friday was Caitlyn’s second birthday. After last year’s lackluster effort, I had vowed that I would step things up this time around. However, it was still difficult to fight off the feeling that birthdays right now are a bit pointless because Caitlyn’s still too young to understand what a birthday is and doesn’t have any "real" friends yet to invite to the party.

Birthday parties at this age, it seems, are mainly for the parents. But I figured this would be a good warm-up leading up to an all-out party in the future. Therefore, while we had some decorations this year, they were still toned down by my standards. After all, you’ve got to have something to work up to. Party themes, invitation cards, breaking pinatas, and party favors can all come later.

We had two parties for her. One with friends and one with family. I think Caitlyn is truly blessed by the people that surround her. The importance of family and friends can’t be stressed enough. I know that there will always be people that will care for her and love her. And I’m sure Caitlyn feels blessed as well. Especially since the amount of toys that she has, has probably quadrupled.

Now that she’s two, Caitlyn’s been steadily developing in several areas. She’s saying two or three-syllable words and can string words together. She can put on her own shoes and now sleeps in a big girl’s bed instead of a crib. But the biggest accomplishment for her thus far is finally being weaned off her pacifier. A few days before her birthday, we just stopped giving her a pacifier at night, held firm, and now she’s stopped asking for it. Hallelujah! One less thing to wash!

Blowing out candle

So yummy!

 

I want the biggest slice!

Gramps and the grandkids

 

Clowning around

Let's get the party started!

 

Chowing down

Auntie Nina making a wish

What did you wish for?

A very hungry caterpillar

A very hungry baby

More presents!