December 10, 2008

Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. -- Mother Teresa

Sweet Alayna continues to do well. She is a content and smiley baby all through the day. She can go with the flow and nap in a snuggly or in my arms in the car. Her only fussy time is at night; however last night was much easier on her than Monday night. We are making progress.

Amelia, on the other hand, is struggling a bit. She is a child that needs a schedule and routine…and consistent sleep. She is getting none of that, and in addition, she is not always happy sharing the limelight with her sister. Each day, Tom or I is spending a good hour of one on one time with her. We hope it will help. However, to my pleasant surprise, her behavior “mishaps” have been taken out on Tom, Grandma, or I, and not Alayna. With Alayna she either ignores her or is loving all over her. For her part, Alayna tracks Amelia all over the room. When she is approached by her big sister, she is all smiles. The two of them are very cute together.

We had the morning free and after breakfast took a nice walk over to a large park. Taipei is full of great parks-some big, some small--all very clean and loaded with friendly people. Alayna seems to enjoy being outside as much as Amelia does. (Of course it helps that it was sunny and 75!) Amelia made friends with several children. As I listened to Amelia talking non-stop, I wonder if she even realized her new friends were speaking Mandarin. No matter to her, she had someone to play with. At one point, her “new friends” grandmother came over and washed Amelia’s hands and gave her a piece of apple with the other kids. I couldn’t believe she sat still for the washing and then actually ate her snack. (I know, I’m a naughty mom. I seriously didn’t want to insult this woman as people here in Taiwan have been so helpful to us. She was genuinely happy to include Amelia in snack time.)

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a nearby bakery and bought some lunch. Not totally sure what it was, but it had chicken and cheese and some sort of seaweed--told grandma was spinach--so let’s go with that. It was yummy! Of course, couldn’t go into a bakery without cookies for dessert.

After lunch we went to the National Palace Museum where over 600,000 of China’s artwork and relics are housed since they were taken to Taiwan during the Cultural Revolution. There are so many artifacts that the displays are changed every three months. I could have spent all day in there…if we didn’t have two kids with us. Amelia lasted less than 10 minutes before Tom had to leave the tour with her. Grandma and I completed the tour, but it was difficult since a baby with stroller and stairs don’t mix. It was also very crowded with school children.

Before dinner, Tom took Amelia to pick out her “Asian snacks” as she calls them for her sleepover with Grandma. I was going to start packing, but Alayna figured nap time was not as fun as playtime. Trust me, I was happy to oblige…I will pack tomorrow.

Tom wasn’t up for dinner, so he watched the kids while Grandma and I went out for a traditional Taiwanese dinner. It was good, and Tom scored with the leftovers.

We are really enjoying Taipei with its quaint neighborhoods and warm, friendly people. I am sad that tomorrow is our last day, although we are anxious to get home. Nick-a-boo, we miss and love you! (Sorry, but I get some tiny, little pleasure out of embarrassing you from afar!)