We're Moving

We've had it with Blogger.

That's not fair - we've had it with Blogger in China.

Too unpredictable, too hit and miss.

So we're moving.

Check us out at http://www.hossacksthree.com/

We hope to see you there.

#*?&#*! China

We are experiencing lots of technical difficulty here in China with the blog.

WHY is blogger banned here? I have no idea!

We can get to our blog, but it is tricky, and quite honestly a pain in the butt.

Here's hoping things will be resolved quickly and I can start posting pictures again.



16 school days to go.

Blowing Bubbles in the Bath

Blake loves the bath. It is a sweet, laughy, splashy time of day!

This weekend Blake added something new to our bathtime fun. Scott held up water in his hands and blew bubbles in it. Then he held up two hands full of water for Blake to blow bubbles into. Blake pushed his hands aside, leaned over and put his whole face into the bath water and blew bubbles in the water.

We can't wait to get to Canada and play in Grandma and Grandpa's pool!!

My Fairy Princess

Last weekend Blake and I went to a baby shower. It was super fun. There was lots of food and lots of people to play with Blake. Everything was wonderful for a while.

And then it wasn't. Blake started getting bored and fussy right when Glynis was opening her presents. I wanted to see all the lovely gifts so my friend Sharon offered to look after Blake.

Thank you Shaz!

She took him to the neighbour's apartment where two wonderful little girls with many wonderful toys live. They played on the piano, in the toy kitchen, on Abigail's bed, AND Sharon found a fairy dress to dress him up in.

It didn't slow him down at all, but he sure looked funny.



Thanks to Todd and Joy for the photos.

Rituals

When I was about seven or eight months pregnant my friend Sharon and I went to Hong Kong on a shopping trip. When we were there we found a store that sold some really lovely stuffed animals and she picked out a soft, fuzzy bear for Blake. He showed no interest in this bear for months and months.

But that has all changed.

When we take Blake into bed at night he reaches for his bear and gives him a big cuddle, before he settles down for the night.

And each morning when we go into get him, he gives a big smile and then he passes up bear to us. We give bear a cuddle and then pass him back. Blake gives one last snuggle and then he is ready to start the day.

This is the reason we started this blog. These are the things I never want to forget.



We tried to stage a photo this afternoon, but instead of bear cuddles we had a fun game of peek a boo.

Bubbles

Blake LOVES bubbles - not the bath kind, those get in his way when he's playing with toys, but the bubble wand kind.

A couple times a day, Blake will lift the bubble bottle down from the shelf and hand it to you. Then he will watch in complete awe as the bubbles float around him.

After several moments of watching he will try to grab them and pop them. Then it's back to whatever he was doing before.

In other bubble related news - last night in the bath he blew bubbles in the water!! Scott showed him how and then held up a pail of water and Blake blew bubbles in it! Clever, clever baby!

Another Glorious Weekend in Shanghai

The weather has been fabulous in this part of the world! Weeks and weeks of sunshine, warmth and no humidity. I get nervous about checking the weather report, because this is really too good to be true and I'm sure it will all pack in before we leave.

We even turned our air conditioning on for a little while this afternoon after a certain baby woke up from his nap drenched in sweat! But mostly it been windows and doors open and fresh air!

We had another terrific weekend filled with walks, bike rides and play grounds. We also went to a baby shower, and skyped with Grandma, Grampa (Happy birthday Larry!!!!), Aunt Peggy and Uncle John. We ate lots, played lots and slept lots.

Here's Blake getting ready for a day outside - hat on and sunscreen in hand ready to slip, slop, slap.

Our compound has drained all their ponds and streams again, so no boots necessary.

Hope your Mother's Day was as happy as mine was.

Somebody call Aunt Reta...

...and tell her how cute Blake looks in the hungry croc outfit she gave him!
But you'll have to look quick because he's off again to slide down another slide!

One more reason to love Ling Ling

Yesterday afternoon we got off the school bus - no Blake.

We walked home expecting to see him inside the apartment - no Blake.

This is pretty unusual so I called Ling Ling to find out where they were - no service.

I kept thinking I could hear Blake in the foyer, but every time I checked - no Blake.

Finally I went outside to talk to our neighbour & was sure I was going crazy because I thought I could hear Blake again!

Then I really did hear Ling Ling calling my name. From inside the elevator!

Blake and Ling Ling were trapped inside the elevator just below our floor and had been there for awhile.

Ling Ling was awesome - calm, cool and collected. She and Blake had a pretty good time in there. One more reason to get down on my knees and thank heaven for Ling Ling.

Water Play

One of things Blake likes to do inside is play with water. He enjoys splashing around in the bath tub and sink and, I'm sorry to say, the toilet.

We often throw out some towels and some buckets of water and cups and spoons and let him make a big, wet mess.

It's awesome to watch how hard he concentrates moving the water from one container to another.

He was having a play on Monday night and I remembered my sister's desperate plea for some new video. Look how wet he is already!

This is for you Pegasus.

Baking with Blake

Today we made muffins together.
Blake stirred the bowl and put the muffin wrappers in the tin.
I burned them but the top halves were really yummy.

Yes Sharon, we washed our hands before we started.

Gumboots 2

The youngest of the Hossacks 3 woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning! All of the usual distractions were no help at all. He wasn't interested in cuddles, food (!), playdoh, crayons, blocks, puzzles or wooden spoons.

As a last resort we gumbooted up and headed outside. Thank goodness for outside! Blake is always happy exploring.

We got ready in a bit of a rush so as not to wake the neighbours at 5:45am. Blake still has his jammies on under his fleece and we accidentally put the too big boots on. It didn't slow him down much. We just had to stop from time to time and put the boot back on.


The boots were a big hit! Walking in the creek was wonderful. Blake and I came home wet, dirty and happy.



I shudder to think how many of these guys we stepped on. There were thousands! The grass was alive with little froglets or toadlets.

Gumboots

We have a shallow little stream in our compound that Blake has been dying to get into. It's only a few centimeters deep, but too wet to wear sneakers in so Scott and I have been on the lookout for baby gumboots. An article in Shanghai Parents and Kids sent us to the underground market at the Science and Technology Museum - a place I normally avoid like the avian flu. We found the store straight away and they did have lots of lovely little boots .... for girls and one pair of boots for boys. So we snatched up two pair - one that fits now and one that will fit later.

According to the side of the boots - these are Thomas the Tank Engine boots. I will bet my right eye that the good people at Thomas have never seen these boots. You can't read the little trucks on the boots so let me tell you what they say. Cram Cream. I'm not sure what Cram Cream is, but it just doesn't sound good.

Blake had a lot of fun trying them out in the apartment and we can't wait to wade in the stream tomorrow.

Drinks with Friends

Tomorrow is the first day of a long weekend. Three glorious days ahead of us with absolutely nothing to do but throw rocks, play with playdoh, slide on slides, go for bike rides and look at flowers. We celebrated by having friends over tonight and the kids played (and ate) so well together.

Somebody I love loves strawberries A LOT!!!!

Playdoh with Dad

A few weeks ago Blake visited our downstairs neighbor Jacob and the two boys played with playdoh. I was a bit freaked about the possibility of his eating the dough but I watched carefully and none was ingested. So the next time we were near a Toys R Us we picked up some playdoh of our own.
We brought it out tonight and my two boys played for ages with the blue and the orange. Oh how I love these two guys. And watching them play together fills me up.

Ping Pong Balls

Mom sent a big birthday package that arrived on Monday.
Thanks Mom! We love presents from home.
There were goodies inside for all. Including some ping pong balls for Blake.
Blake thinks it's fun to put the ping pong balls in shoes.

Not All Playgrounds Are Created Equal

This morning we went to a new playground at a local school. It looked great - and I'm sure it is great for older children, but there wasn't much that Blake could do on his own.

He did spend a lot of time playing in the rain water left in these steps.

Blake

Yesterday Blake had his 15 months well baby checkup and all is well.

The nurses & receptionists at the clinic told me how much he looks like his daddy. People all over China tell me how much he looks like his daddy. Friends, strangers, family... it's a pretty common topic of discussion. Usually after they tell me that they quickly say they can see a little bit of mum in him too. As if they are worried that my feelings will be hurt if I'm told he just looks like his dad.

And I know that physically he is a complicated little mix of all the family members that came before him. And I know that his temperament and personality will also be influenced by us, our family and friends.

But to me he is just Blake. He is his own little wonderful self.

Let me tell you what I see when I look at my son.

I see a happy, laughing kid who smiles easily and often.

I see bright blue intelligent eyes that are curious to see everything there is to see.

I see little hands that reach up to grab mine on the rare occasion when he needs help over uneven terrain.
Little hands that reach out to touch and feel everything he sees.
Little hands trying hard to discover how everything around him works.

I see a boy who loves to explore, play, read, catch, throw, investigate, laugh, smile, shout, slide, look, stir, eat, drink, dance, laugh, spin and tumble.

I see Blake, the most amazing, incredible kid.

Wordle

I've been wanting to fool around with wordle.net in my class blog, but it's been banned in China for a long time. It's a little toy that reads all the words in a text and arranges them in a 'cloud.' The words you use more often are larger.

It's finally back up and running so I thought I'd try it using this blog.

Here is the word cloud for the Hossacks 3 blog.

It would seem I write a lot about Blakie.

Here we go again...

We got through the biting and the pinching phases of Blake's young life relatively unscathed.

Blake's newest thing? Eye gouging.

Ai - ya!

Possibly the Cutest Hat Ever

Spring is here and sunny days have come to Shanghai. Yahoo for me who loves the sun! But it also means the beginning of worrying about sun protection for the Big Gunner.

Our friend Colleen calls Blake the Captain of the Pale Force. And she's right - sun screen is definitely something we need to be concerned about.

I went out on the weekend and bought Blake the cutest hat ever! I then took 34 photos trying to get one with the hat still on his head. 34! He's pretty fast. This is the only one that I caught before he ripped it off and threw it down.

Maybe we'll have to resort to using duct tape this summer.

Puzzling

Blake has discovered puzzles in a big way. Our active little guy will sit and play with his puzzle for many minutes at a time. He takes all the animals out of their holes and then move them around on the mat. Next he'll place them really close to where they belong and slide them around a bit in the hopes of getting them in the slot. See how close purple hippo is to where he belongs? Clever baby!

Climby McClimberson

These days Blake is a climber. He climbs stairs, he climbs rocks and he climbs people! Here we see him beginning his acsent of Mt Scooter.

He has a little step stool that he uses to step up to the bench behind the couch or to reach the top shelf of his book case. Sometimes he just climbs to the top to be a little bit taller.

We are so proud of our curious little guy and excited to be part of the adventure as he explores this fascinating world around him, and above him.

Weekends

I can't tell you how much I look forward to weekends. I love spending the whole day with Blake! Especially warm, sunny, outdoorsy days.

On Friday night a bunch of teachers headed to a local pub to enjoy the lovely weather we've been having. And celebrate that there are only 8 weeks til summer. Here's Blake with Malin and Riley.
On Saturday we went for a big long bike ride. We started here, at the bike shop for a tune up, and ended up at Slice for a smoothie. We biked all over Jinqiao, up and down the canal, and through some local villages. Blake carried this flower the whole way!

Peekaboo

This video is a over a month old. I took it on Scott's camera awhile back and forgot to post it. Or maybe I tried and it wouldn't load.

Anyway, here it is.... my broccoli eating boy playing peekaboo.

Feeding the Fish

As I understand it, the word for good fortune and the word for fish are very similar in Mandarin. Naturally fish are very lucky and you see them everywhere - stuffed ones and the real deal. At the shopping complex across the street from us there is a fish pond and today Blake and I went to have a look. We bought two little canisters of fish food and fed the RAVENOUS fishies. They were jumping out of the water to get to the food! Blake wasn't really interested in the fish, but he did like the containers. Lid on, lid off, lid on, lid off.

Pretty cool that he was very his big gunner, big fish shirt for the photo - not even planned. It was pretty hard to get good photos because I was too worried he would topple in to the pond when I was getting the shot.
Later on, we went grocery shopping. I guess Blake likes cottage cheese - he put about 12 packs in the trolley.

Chucking Rocks

Today has been so beautiful! Warm and sunny!!
We have been outside all day - walking, running, shouting and, Blake's favorite, throwing rocks into the river.

We (I) collected dozens of rocks and then we (Blake) threw them into the water. It was super fun. We're home for a nap now, but plan to head out again as soon as the big gunner wakes up.


It was fun to watch where they landed even though it freaked mum out a little bit.

Some black and white pics.

Ben came to play for a little while, too.

Sick Baby at the Doctor's Office

Yesterday I took Blake to the clinic.

He's not been sick, sick, but he's not been himself lately. He's been running a low grade fever for 4 or 5 days now, a bit whingy, and not eating very much. We know at least 3 sharp teeth have just popped through the gums, so maybe that is what's been bugging him, but I just wanted to check that everything is okay so off we went to the doctor.

My sick baby was HILARIOUS at the doctor's office and not acting very sick at all. He began by running over to the pamphlet holder and grabbing two large, illustrated hand outs about Self Breast Examinations and ran around the waiting room to show everyone.

Next he walked up to each person, arched his back and lifted his shirt and showed them his big belly and then ran away laughing.

Finally, when he got up on the scale to get weighed, he started dancing and wouldn't stop.

Not surprisingly, the doctor said he was fine. Must bring my camera next time we go to the doctor.

Playing Around the House

Blake is pretty physical kid. Sometimes it seems like he is in constant motion.
One of his favorite games these days is to stand up on the bench behind the couch and then throw himself over the top and land on the cushions below.
We are constantly amazed by the number of times he can do this without getting tired and how much joy he gets by simply tumbling over the sofa.
As an added bonus for mom and dad, he stops from time to time to play peekaboo with us behind the cushions.