Back to school

It is back to normal tomorrow...school again. We went in this morning to pick up our stuff for tomorrow and get sorted out with schedules and all that. I was thrilled to find out i don't work Saturday's this semester. Dylan came in with us and turned my classroom upside down in the time that we were there. He had great fun playing with the toys and i don't think there was a marker or crayon left in its container by the time he was done. He had a good nap this afternoon but then woke up soooo grumpy!!!! still getting over this sore throat / teething or just the grumps!! The pics are from the art museum we stopped in there the other day and as always Dylan loved running around the park.(these pics won't upload so will post them next time.. )We went shopping for his birthday pressie!! Don't think he suspects anything:) Can't believe he is almost two. And on that note here are some old pics of Dylan...

The first pic ...3rd March 2005 in the Jen ai hospital NICU.

Opening pressies on his first birthday. 3rd March 2006.

Our little one year old!

Dylan at play

We went to the play area at Carrefour on Wednesday. Dylan loves it there and gets very excited. It got a bit hectic with loads of people still on vacation but he had fun. He loves playing with the kitchen set , perhaps he will be a great cook like his dad!

The holiday is winding down...

The holiday is slowly coming to an end. I have not posted for the past few days so here is the news in pictures.
Dylan and Ivo on the piano at Ivo's. Oh how we wish they had never found the volume button

No rest.... Dylan loves to wrestle. He has also been enjoying his books and trying to mimic the sounds. The other morning he woke up and passed us one of his story books. On the correct page he burst out "No, its kang-roo" very clear...but has not said it again... we wait!

I made some of my gran's "famous" cookies and Dylan (like the rest of us as kids) loves them!!!! So much that I had to hide them from the cookie "monster".

Happy New Year

Happy Chinese New Year to all. It is now the year of the pig and from what i have read that is lucky for those born in it but the actual year could be tumultuous! We shall just have to wait and see. It has been so hot the last two days 27 and 28 degrees. This morning in particular the lethargy set in and i think it was heat related. It is February!!!!!!
News from home: Ian started his new job on Friday and it seems as though it will be a much better thing for them as a family.
Dylan seems to be really enjoying this holiday time, he is being so animated, at the moment his favourite movie is chicken little and he loves playing with his jumping dog..although still wary of it..he switches it on and runs to the doorway to watch it from there. We have unleashed war on the mosquitoes and so last night was much better although the bites from the other night are still pretty visible on his face.

I was anticipating lots of fireworks last night as the new year came in but there seemed to be more firecrackers and less elaborate fireworks. Took a panorama view of the city from our balcony though.

Dylan loves getting into things, even though he can't always get out. He enjoys sitting with a book quietly sometimes.

In the school garden and the closed piece of road in Dong-hai. He loves running along the yellow line

Very busy making calls on Daddy's phone.

Taipei

We got back from Taipei yesterday. Just went up for two nights. On Monday we got there in the afternoon and were going to check out the Taipei Children's recreational center only to find that , like most things in taipei on mondays, it was closed! So headed for the old favourite ...the zoo. Dylan loved running around and at least it was fairly empty so we could ride on the "train" and he had plenty of space to run. We did get to the rec center on Tuesday though, which was GREAT!! It covers a huge area. There is a cultural centre which consists of old houses set up to show case the way life was in old taiwan , there is a science center (which we left out, looked a bit advanced for Dylan) and then the amusement park (which is all Dylan cared about). There were a few rides for little ones and then about three or four different play areas with slides and swings etc... there was a larger selection of rides for older kids too. Dylan did his usual shaking with excitement at all that lay before him when we came down the hill towards this section. Needless to say we had a lot of fun and he was tired out enough that we managed to walk through the fine art museum with a fairly contented tod. Later that night we met Peggy and Vincent in Shilin for dinner and as we were leaving saw one of the jumping, barking dogs (like Ivo's) couldn't get passed it, he had to have one. A good time was had by all. I think that i am catching up on the sleep i have lost over the past semester, passed out with Dylan last night and have been struggling to wake up and get going today, one of those days where you wake up and start counting the time till naptime and then till bedtime!This too shall pass.On the rides at the Taipei kids rec center.


Running in the park close to Zhongshan market.

At the Art museum, they had a room set up with felt walls and lots of these purple feet (big and small)that you could use to create pictures. Dylan got the idea at first but then decided it was more fun to empty the whole box on the floor!



With Peggy and Vincent after a very long day. With the VERY noisy puppy!

At the zoo, there was a cat in the area between the zebras and giraffes, seemed to be quiet at home there, so strange. Bought ice creams, Dylan wanted to eat the cone before the ice cream...the law of gravity intervened.

Mummy really likes ice cream.

Dylan was born in the year of the rooster!

Time to go home.

New camera..

Pics of Dylan , Ivo, Sandy and Gail in the yu ku island at Carrefore

Finally went and got my new camera today! Hoping to post lots more pics now --once i have read the manual of course.. After we got the camera, we met Sandy, Gail and Ivo at the play area in Carrefour (hyperrmarket )the boys ran around and had loads of fun playing which meant Dylan passed out nicely while we did some shopping. Sandy is due any day now, we are all eagerly waiting for baby Burl to make his appearance.

On the home front, forgot to mention last time. Ciro is now oficially a European citizen, very excited about the news and we can now begin to process the paperwork for his passport. We are heading up to Taipei for two days tomorrow looking forward to this break.

I was playing around with some of the software that came with the cam. Dylan in "oil "

Winter Vacation starts

Finally!! winter vacation has begun and as i say this we are all sitting around in T-shirts in a sweltering 27 degrees....so much for winter. Murphy's law i finally get zips put in to the sweaters i made Ciro and Dylan and the weather turns cold. This morning we had a very slow start to the day as i had to go into work , but only for a few hours in the afternoon, so we went to the park by the temple. They were rehearsing for a puppet show which held Dylan's attention for a little bit then all he wanted to do was climb up the very big slide!!!

He is teething again. So biting into everything he can get his hands on or should i say anyone. We all went on an outing to the Earthquake museum on Wednesday, fascinating place documents the big "921" quake. It is built on the site of an old school that was on the fault line. The sports field is raised 2m along the line. Dylan had loads of fun with the bigger kids and when we got back to school he was playing with them all ..big and small. In fact he wrestled a 7 year old to the ground for a soccer ball...oh dear!!

A hectic week

It has been a crazy week. I worked all day and so Dylan went to the babysitter and his schedule was all confused. Consequently he slept most of the morning away today, because there was no need to jump out of bed and do anything.This coming week is better and then our vacation starts on Friday..yay! Good news from the family back home. My brother got a new job so things are looking up for them! Congrats Ian.
I am posting some pics i got from Sandy from Dec and Jan. Dylan and Ivo really enjoy playing (co exisitng ) and it seems especially if we stay on the sidelines. Ivo's little brother Burl is due any day now , hopefully in the vacation.

Dylan loves this barking jumping dog at Ivo's house!!

Having a chat over some juice when Sandy and Ivo came to spend time with Dylan. Ciro and I had to be at school so Sandy very kindly offered to babysit! We are so lucky to such great friends! Will really miss them if/when they move back home.