Chinese New Year - We never got a card out but...

When we say we're overwhelmed with the amount of love and support that the three of us has received--we mean it. Although we have been meaning to send cards out proclaiming our gratitude and flaunting how cute CJ is, we just couldn't get to it.

This year is the year of the golden pig, which only happens once every six decades. It is an especially auspicious year to begin new ventures -- or families.

So please accept our wishes for a happy and healthy new year through our blog. And if you would like, you can click on the image to get a photo with large enough resolution to print out.

Chinese New Year

On Sunday, the Chinese New Year, CJ went on her first visit to the hinterlands of Brooklyn. We went to the home of Wendy, our Mandarin teacher, for a huo guo (hot pot) feast. Joining us at Wendy's table were her fellow social work students at Columbia. Wendy is in the front on the left; Li Zhu, one of our Mandarin conversation buddies, in in the middle on the far side of the table.

This is what huo guo looks like in action:



You basically boil water on a burner, which runs on a can of butane, and then drop all sorts of raw things in the water. We had shrimp, fish, squid, oysters, fish cakes, bok choy, watercress, noodles, and tofu. Quite tasty!

Meet the cousins, part two, plus bonus video footage of first phone conversation!

Many apologies for the length of time between updates. We are, frankly, way behind.

This past Saturday, CJ met her cousin's on Meg's side of the family, Grace and Jay. Grace is one month younger than CJ (who will be 15 months on the Feb 20) and eight pounds heavier. The two girls got along famously:





Jay is five, and was real keen on playing catch with CJ. Only she doesn't throw the ball back or even roll it, she just hands it back nice and politely:





The day before this momentous meeting, CJ had her first phone conversation with Aunt Lisa, Sara and Alyssa, the stars from "Meet the cousins, part one." We recorded the conversation (which may or may not be a violation of anti-terrorism laws):



Coming up next will be photos from Chinese New Year Dinner...

Meet the cousins, part one

CJ met her cousins Sara and Alyssa today. And before that, CJ attended a Black History month reading given by our friend Caroline (and also met Linwood, Caroline's husband, and their son Ben). And then we met a whole bunch of people from the local Ethical Cultural Society parish. And yesterday CJ met Aunt Annie, and got to know Uncle Frank a little more. Yup, it's been a whole lot of meet and greet lately.

Anyhow, here's CJ and Meg with Alyssa, Sara and Aunt Lisa:



And here she is, crawling around after temporarily defeating my efforts to put her to bed:



Not to gloat or anything, but I eventually won.

--Dan

New high chair

On Sunday, CJ got a new high chair, with cool toys to distract her from eating...



We've had a lot of fun eating this week. Here she is eating her first bagel:



After the bagel, she wasn't as keen about eating a peach:

When CJ met Bogey...

Bogey is Dan's parent's dog, a hyperactive yellow lab. That's Dan's mom (nainai, Mandarin for father's mother) holding Bogey.

No photos in this post -- some things are best left undocumented

Glad tidings all!!

We visited the pediatrician's office yesterday, and CJ was pronounced to be not only cute-as-a-button (which we knew already), tiny, but otherwise quite healthy.

The blood work and other tests have to be completed before she receives a clean bill of health, but while we were thrilled with the results of the exam, CJ was not quite so jubilant. In fact, she was pretty pissed off.

The only way the doctor was able to draw enough blood from CJ was with Dan holding her body, me restraining her arms, and an intern holding her head. Even then, CJ did a great job reprising Linda Blair's role in "The Excorcist." (Confined as she was and with little time to prepare for her theatrical debut, CJ was darn convincing. The doctor was impressed.)

Getting her to lie down again to be weighed and measured was like asking her to lie down on a bed of hot coals. Had she started to levitate, we wouldn't have been the least surprised.

The parting shots (pun intended) she received at the end of the visit merely added insult to injury.

I had brought a camera to record a thumbs' up shot from the doctor with CJ, but after the ordeal no one had the strength to lift a finger. Sorry folks.

CJ is a tough little cookie but also a sensible one: after one valiant attempt to stay awake -- arching backbend with head almost touching feet, arms extended (degree of difficulty 8.6) -- rather than starting to wail, her head fell gracefully forward and she was out like a light. And, btw, she's the only one still asleep this morning.

Rock on, xiao hai!!

-- Meg