John and Betsy

With all the move updates, I haven't done a good job of keeping you all in the loop about John and Betsy and all that they have been up to. You know, besides moving to China and all. ;-)

John is every single bit of almost 4. He is increasingly independent -- wants to do everything himself, all the time -- and has a freakishly good memory. Like yesterday, in a taxi on the way to lunch, he asked me if we were going back to the "restaurant with the elevators where we went with our friends." I was totally confused until I saw the tiny toothpick holder on the dashboard -- the one featuring the icon from the restaurant we went to last week.



Today we enrolled him in a school nearby called The Child Academy. It's a French-Canadian program, a little progressive (they teach yoga in the gym class!) but very well regarded and highly recommended. Even better, it's a fraction of the cost of the big international schools! :-) We toured it yesterday, and at the end of the tour, John asked me if I could just take Betsy home so that he could stay and play. I took that as a good sign. He'll go every day from 8:45 until 1, and will take a school bus from our compound. There are even uniforms! He'll start on Feb 2, after the Chinese New Year holiday.

So far his favorite parts of China are the indoor playground at our compound, getting to walk everywhere, his big bed, and a light switch that he can turn on and off by himself. He's waiting to give his verdict on the food.

And as for Betsy, our little Mei Mei ("little sister", as all the people call her here) is walking very well and is pretty much into everything she can get her little hands on. She seems very comfortable in our new place, and obviously likes the food, given that she is growing out of her clothes at an alarming rate. She is just so much fun! She's saying things like Dada, wawa (water), bah (bite), mimi (Ming Ming, of Wonder Pets fame), duh (duck), and bana (banana). And as Tommy reported, the other day she might have said "xie xie"!



They are keeping us very entertained, and we love them so very much -- I hope they are enjoying this as much as we are!