The weather is....CLOUDY!

Bless my husband - this has been his view the whole trip since Monday and he has been a trooper! No complaints from him although I'm sure he must be hot as heck with Colby pressed up against him all day and his back is probably killing him from wearing the carrier constantly. He's such a good dad.

I had a few comments before our day actually begins and since the boys are still sleeping, I thought I'd start today's post and then I'll maybe a. not forget to say these things later and b. perhaps actually succeed in posting today's post today! (I failed - it's now Saturday morning here. I was too tired last night to finish.)

It's cloudy again, and I hope the rain will hold off. I guess we'll see.

The boys are snuggled up together in the bed and if I could take a picture without waking them, I assure you I would. This is priceless time and it makes me fall in love with Steve all over again. I always knew he'd be a great dad and every time I see it play out it makes me so thankful to be so blessed. Now if I could just get him to wear cute jammies like his son, they'd be a matched set!

It's been chilly here without the sun and damp, too. I wasn't expecting this and as I'd wasted valuable suitcase space for China on longsleeve stuff and pants that I never wore, I didn't do it this time. Mistake. My poor blue sweatshirt, worn on the plane and nearly every day since is getting a little worse for the wear. I'm terrified to try to wash it, though, as it's the only warm thing I have and the t-shirts that I washed 2 days ago in the sink and wrung out WELL are still not dry. I think I'm going to have to take the hair dryer to them later on.

++++++++++++++++++++

There was NO NEED for a warm sweatshirt today! It may have been cloudy, but chilly it was not!! It was balmy today - sultry perhaps. Sticky for certain. Very little rain, though, and we were all glad of that!

The boys slept til 8:15 and I let them, so we were scrambling to get ready in time to meet the Echols for breakfast downstairs. Steve got Colby ready while I showered and then I decided to take him while Steve showered. I figured plan A was to take him downstairs to breakfast (as much as the boy loves food, it takes him a year and a day to eat it) and plan B (with a screaming contingency) was to return to the room and get the carrier and an umbrella and head out for a walk with him. I am THRILLED to report that Plan A worked out just fine for me and there was not a peep out of him as soon as I closed the door to the room! We even did great when Steve arrived and then he asked to go to Steve and I let him of course. HUGE steps! Emma was keen on taking photos of us all at all stages of breakfast this morning, much to our amusement. She is a 4 year old photographic prodigy, I think. She's enthralled with the camera and is having a ball taking photos of everything in sight. She is just the cutest little girl.

After a leisurely breakfast we caught the bus to the MRT station and the MRT to another bus. Ha. We needed to recognize the characters for Wuali as the bus was not labeled in English. Taxi drivers were everywhere offering to take us up for $400NT (the bus was $160NT for the four adults), but we were steadfast (and besides, it's always nicer to be able to splurge on a cab coming home when we're all tired than to waste it on the way there). While we were waiting, several young women approached us and were just enamored with Colby. They commented on how handsome he was and asked his age and asked if we were from America and told us they were from Taiwan. And then they went away for about 17 seconds and were back to ooh and ahh over him again. They were sweet. We waited in line through a couple more buses and several more taxi offers and finally boarded the bus. The Taiwanese are fantastic about giving up their seat to anyone with a small child (even the teenagers!) so we all had seats in a matter of seconds. Buses here are definitely geared toward transporting as many people as possible at a time, so there are relatively few seats - to get one is a rarity.

As soon as we headed out of the city, it was green everywhere. We went up into the mountains and they are just covered in lush, green foliage. Between being in the city all week and coming out of winter at home, I don't think I realized just how much I've missed green trees until today! The bus rumbled up a windy road toward Wulai and eventually came to a stop in a parking lot. We paid our fare, hopped off, and snapped some quick pictures of this cool bridge. It was then that we noticed it - a strange warm feeling on our skin and a flood of bright light into our eyes.... THE SUN!!! Of course we'd brought rain coats but neglected a hat for Eight Ball.

We walked a ways up the road and came to a long road full of shops and food stands. Steve's eyes lit up like wildfire when he saw.....foods on sticks! We found some really cool beaded hats and I thought we might get one for Colby. I tried one on him and he immediately plucked it off with delight (mental note to self - getting hats with chin straps when we return home!). We walked a little further and decided to get some lunch. The woman at the front of the restaurant we chose assured us there were pictures on their menus. Not so much. Eric knows how to order two things in Chinese - beef and beer. They didn't have beef. So we ordered beer and chicken and some veggies for Emma. The beer was good, the chicken was good, but the chicken was literally just the cleaved up hunks of a whole chicken. Interesting presentation for certain! We ate and chatted and had a great time. We could see the bathers in the hot springs behind us (down on the banks of the other side of the river - not directly behind us -- that wouldn't be very appetizing at all!!). We could tell for certain that we were in a tourist town when we got the bill. $20 for a small plate of cleaved up chicken, some glutinous rice, 2 beers, and the veggies. WOW. We did sit at table #8, though, and I wish I'd taken a picture of the table number - it looked just like an 8 ball.

We walked to the end of the street, all the while Steve drooling over foods on sticks, and crossed a beautiful bridge. We attempted to decipher the tourist map and then we attempted to look confused. Neither one worked out for us. We spotted a sign for a tourist train and started up a flight (using that term loosely) of stairs. At the top we found more shops and the ticket counter. $50NT for a one way ride on the train up to the waterfall. Bargain if you ask me. Well...if you asked me before we rode it. Just kidding. It was a true experience!!! We went rattling along in these tiny cars - jostling and jolting the whole way. Suddenly we whipped into a dark tunnel. We joked that it was Six Flags over Wulai. It was a little like the zoo train on crack to be honest. About 5 times faster and joltier at least! Colby slept through the whole thing. I said we should write a book entitled, "Colby "8 Ball" Gannaway eats and sleeps his way through Taiwan". ha ha.

The waterfall was very beautiful! It's the tallest waterfall in Taiwan - so now we've seen both the tallest building and the tallest waterfall and we joked that we are probably some of the tallest people, so we're on the tall tour. Ha ha ha. Okay, bad joke, but it was funny at the time.

We stopped and Steve saw....foods on sticks so we decided it was high time he had some. One thing looked like a corn dog so I said he should get that and he said that was no fun - it was a corn dog, but I gave him a sly look and said..."but what if it's not? duhn duhn duhn...." His eyes lit up a bit and he walked right over and ordered one. It was a corn dog. BUT it did have strange orange sauce on the outside before they were done and who'd have thought you could go half way around the world and order a corn dog from a street vendor? We walked a little ways further and I saw some popsicles and decided to have one (heck, my hands are free...why not? ha ha). I picked a random color and got guava. YUM! Nicole got a mango one, though, and hers looked really yummy too! Emma got something that looked a bit like a cross between a push up and an ice cream cone and it came inside of an egg. Strange.

We took a closer look at the waterfall and then some clouds came up over the top of the mountain and it started to sprinkle, so we headed back toward the train.

The ride down was rougher than the ride up, if you can believe it - much faster and much more rocking. Colby was awake for this one and got quite a charge out of it! When we got down to the bottom of the hill, Steve said he'd like to have at least one more food on a stick before we left. No problem - they abounded. Colby needed a diaper change and I noticed that the women's room had a diaper deck in it. We decided to tempt fate and Steve unfastened him and handed him over (after much shuffling of umbrellas and our "gear" and the help of Nicole and Eric). Not a peep. I walked away, changed him, and walked back with no huge tantrum! I love it! I am always a little trepidatious about taking him in public as we are already a spectacle as two Caucasian people with an Asian baby, but a further spectacle that I make no effort to take care of him - so to then add an enormous tantrum when I hold him....no thanks. Luckily, we've actually seen tons of dads carrying their babies in carriers just like Steve is, so that's been nice.

I found a beaded bracelet I liked and bought it for myself at about the same time Steve noticed that they had coke in glass bottles (I have a Pepsi bottle from Egypt and another from somewhere else, although I can't place it right now) with Chinese on them so he bought me one of those as well. A little ways further up the street we saw some candy being hand pulled and bought some. We thought it'd be like taffy, but it was actually a lot more like delicate peanut brittle with the taste of cotton candy. YUM. Not much further (and not wanting to travel more then 8 feet without eating....) we saw a steamed bun "factory". It was really neat - about 8 people working in cooperation to have a little steamed bun assembly line and as Colby hadn't eaten much at lunch and was now very fussy we thought we'd get a couple. They were big - probably about 3" in diameter and only $0.50 each (US). We got two with the local special - bamboo and pork inside. We all scarfed them down (the cleaved chicken bits long having left us) and then saw the next food on a stick purchase - a gelatinous yellow looking stuff that might have been custard or possibly pineapple...certainly dare worthy. We bought some and learned that it was millet cake - another local specialty. We got ours dipped in peanut and it was actually very tasty. Colby was beyond fussy, so Steve moved along to meet up with the Echols and I dashed into one last shop to get hats for the kids. Colby got a black one that I think will suit him (if he'll ever leave it on!) and Kailin got a pink one with some little bells that I think she'll like a lot. The kids were both tired and cranky and we caught a cab back to the MRT station. It was a nice one with a double back seat, so we weren't so cramped. We hopped on the MRT and then caught the bus back to our hotel. We stopped at a little "junk store" on the way home and picked up some Chinese spoons and some melamine plates I'd seen there the day before and got Kailin a Minnie and Mickey apron that Steve found. I bet she'll love it!

We decided that 8 Ball needed some time out of the carrier, so we went back to the room and Steve stayed with him while I went to Mary's for burgers again. It's not inventive, but when you're looking for take out sometimes it's easy. I got Colby a couple of fried eggs since he likes them pretty well, but he still preferred our dinner over his. We had a great time playing, though, and I can tell that we're making strides. (The picture on the right is him laughing and giggling - I realize now that it looks a bit like he's having a fit!) He shared his bink with me on the bus ride up to Wulai and we played several games of "heads together" on the MRT. He actually came over and laid against my legs for a bit at one point. We'll get there. I can see the improvements and it does my heart good.

Soon it was time for him to go to bed and he did a lot better - much less fussing! He ended up staying in the pack 'n play until 4:30 (when he decided to get up for the day. We had other plans. Now it's almost 8 and he's still sleeping peacefully (in our bed, though)). For those who have been asking me about sizes for Colby, I've been holding off since I'm trying to get a good idea myself. We've been layering him as he's accustomed to it and we also don't want to get a scolding from the granny police like we did in China. The 24 month pants I brought are way too big and the 12-18 month (Old Navy) fit exactly now, but won't in a few weeks (length wise). So.... my best guess is that he's a solid 18mos now and will likely be 24 mos by summer. Does that help? I apologize for not being a lot of help, but he's not going to let me try clothes on him at this point - that's for certain. If anyone is dying to get him something truly useful - what we could use are cute hats with STRAPS or some other mechanism by which to keep them on his bald head! I brought some baseball hats for him, but he won't leave them on.

Okay, time to shower and get ready for the day. We're touring Keelung today and it's the Echols' last day. We've invited them to join us and we're so happy that they've accepted!!

AIT and 101

We actually got up and got going on schedule this morning and managed to allow Colby to sleep until the last minute, as planned. He went to AIT (American Institute in Taiwan - sort of a consulate equivalent (since Taiwan is not recognized as a nation by the UN)) in his jammies.

The front desk called a cab for us (the staff here are so very helpful - they've been nothing short of great!) and off we went. We thought it'd take nearly half an hour for us to get there, but traffic must've been light and we were there by 7:30. We followed our directions to proceed directly to the guards and show our passports to be granted admission to the building. Not so fast there pardner. "Do you have your appointment letter?" We must have looked confused and alarmed enough after telling them that we didn't have it (I believe it was probably sent directly to our agency), that they just let us in anyway after we assured them that we did, in fact, have an appointment for today. We checked our camera at the desk and walked through security (with my pocket full of change, I later realized) and up to the third floor for US Citizen services. It wasn't long and we were called to present our papers for inspection. No problem. Then we were called to another window to answer some simple questions about our forms. Then sent down to the 2nd floor to pay our $400 visa fee. Whereas China only wanted crisp new $100 bills for fees, apparently AIT would prefer smaller bills. They had to photocopy my bills and then I had to print my name and give a phone number (I'm presuming in case any of them turned out to be counterfeit). Back up to the third floor to show the receipt at yet another window and then wait to be called to a final window for the actual exit interview. It all went off without a hitch and Colby (after having been changed into his clothes shortly after we arrived) napped through most of it. We will go back on Monday to pick up Colby's passport and Visa. I know that we'd been told that the building isn't marked for security reasons, but it's really really nondescript! I was shocked at how "ordinary" it looked.

We had plans to meet the Echols outside AIT at 11:45 (they were picking up their visa today) to head over to Taipei 101. Well... we got done quick at AIT and found ourselves with about 2.5 hours to kill. We started walking with the intention of finding someplace to sit down and have some breakfast along with Colby. We walked and walked in the rain and mist and didn't find anything suitable. Finally, with a cranky baby on our hands, I stopped and bought some plantains. I think it's safe to say that Colby had never had bananas before - the face he made was priceless, but then he ate half of one, so I guess they're a hit! We walked some more and again he was getting restless, so we decided to give up and hit Starbucks for breakfast. No sooner did we get our coffees and croissants than he pitched an all out fit and we decided to let the other patrons have their peace and keep moving.

Back out on the pavement, we found a quiet little street lined with beautiful trees. I'm not sure if it was that their bark was wet or if it's always that dark, but the color contrast between it and the bright green leaves was quite striking. It wasn't too long and we realized we were very near the jade and flower markets! They're parking lots during the week! Who'd have guessed?

About then it was time to turn back and head for AIT. It was cold and windy or I'd say it was a lovely walk, but we were trying hard to keep Colby's little legs and ears warm and not doing a very good job of it, I'm afraid. Steve keeps calling Colby "8 ball" because his foster parents gave him the nickname of "little black" and because his head is pretty bald. I joked today that Steve's dad would love his "mafia name" (Steve's family is Italian and we kids joke about the mafia all the time) and that no one would suspect him of being Mafia because Colby "8 Ball" Gannaway has an Irish last name and is Asian to boot. We had a good laugh over it. Steve struck this pose to mimic Colby's mood as the prince had to be awoken again this morning to go to AIT.

We ran into the Echols while we were still wasting time and together we made for the MRT station. Steve needed to use the restroom, and we successfully transferred Colby to me (albeit he was sleeping) and I carried him in the carrier peaceably for half an hour before he needed to go back to Steve (20 mins or so was awake time). We got off at the City Hall stop and were supposed to find a shuttle over to Taipei 101. We waited awhile and tried to look confused, but no one offered help (ha ha ha - this is our new inadvertent tactic for getting help except that sometimes when we don't need help we apparently looked confused and are offered help anyway! I truly cannot say enough about the generosity of the Taiwanese people when it comes to helping.). Finally a smaller bus pulled up and had a bunch of Chinese characters and 101. We loaded on. We figured worst case scenario, we'd get a good ride and then get off somewhere and hail a cab. It took us right to Taipei 101 so hooray for that! Bus route craps shoot - the game sweeping the nation!!

We headed straight for the food court. I wish I'd thought to take a picture of our lunch. I ordered from two different places and we had enough food to stuff ourselves FULL for about $8. We had two different types of noodles and they were both fantastic. The food court was expansive. I'd guess maybe 75-100 places from KFC to whole chickens (cocks comb and feet and everything) hanging in the window. Colby was smitten with me during lunch and we played games of peek-a-boo (another way to my son's heart other than food), "heads together" (ow!!), and I even got him to reach for me. I took him onto my lap and he sat for about....5 milliseconds before reaching for Steve, but hey - it's progress!!!

After lunch we went up to the 5th floor and bought our tickets for the observatory. We were wishing for a clearer day, but with none in sight, we paid our money ($800NT for two of us) - by far one of our more expensive touristy things. We had to leave our backpack downstairs and hope that the prince wouldn't need anything more than his bink while we were up there. They crushed us into the elevator - seriously - just when we thought that no more people could POSSIBLY fit in the thing, they shepherded 3 or 4 more on! The elevator goes about 1010m/minute which is about 3000ft/second. It took us only 37 seconds to ascend from the 5th to the 90th floor! CRAZY! Our ears popped more than a few times.

Once up at the observatory we discovered we could see for....FEET! Just joking, but the cloud cover on some sides of the building really did white out EVERYTHING. It was amazing to see how small everything looked and interesting to hear via the audio tour about all the things we could've seen if it had been a clear day. We learned about the huge building damper system and watched it move with the winds. VERY interesting. It was well worth the price we paid to see all of it and to experience the tallest building on Earth (for now). We did go up to the outdoor observatory, but it was raining a good bit by then and Colby was sleeping, so we didn't stay out more than a couple of minutes.

It was raining pretty good by the time we got back downstairs and both kids were pretty tired, so we decided to split a cab back to the hotel. Even expensive cab fare (read $10 - nothing compared to home!) isn't so bad when you split it.

Colby was really in a great mood when we got back to the hotel, so we were playing with toys on the bed and Steve pantomimed to him that he'd throw him up (Colby LOVES to be thrown) if he came over. They played that way for awhile and then I thought I'd give it a try. He screamed bloody murder at me and it broke my heart (only for a minute, but I still wanted to cry and nearly had to go in the bathroom). We have made a lot of progress today and I am grateful for it. It gives me hope that it's only a matter of time.

Eric and I decided to make a run to Carrefour. They need another piece of luggage for all of Emma's belongings and we are having a dickens of a time finding Colby's formula - even over here. His foster family gave us a can and a half, so we might just be transitioning him to milk earlier than expected since we're into the second can already. We also needed bottles (he won't even consent to hold the American ones I brought) and more binks. The bink is a huge deal. He can't be without it. I know I've said it before, but Colby unplugged is Colby unglued. And he will not take an american one. He thinks it's a fun toy, but that's it. We already bought 3 replacements, but I'm going to try to slip an orthodontic one that looks just like his other in and see if he'll take that before we buy any more. If not, then I'll be stocking up on the other kind because I've never seen them before. On the way to Carrefour, we stopped at a key shop that the desk said will do a chop for you.

I got a lesson in preconceived notions because there was an older woman waiting in the customer area and a younger woman behind the counter. The younger woman didn't speak any English and we then assumed that the older woman didn't either until she jumped in to help out with some translation. Ooops! They were both sweet and commented on the meaning of Colby's name - "better (or more) luck." I think that's quite a gift from his birthmom. The chop we got him is carved on the side with the characters for "a turn in life". I thought that was pretty fitting. Chops in hand we set off for Carrefour.

We cabbed it back so that Eric wouldn't have to lug a suitcase for a mile and then I ran over to Mary's to get some hamburgers and fries since it was now 6:40 and I was sure Steve had an unruly toddler on his hands. I was right. Colby had already had some carrots and plum, but snarfed down fries and hamburger as fast as we could shovel it into his little mouth. He perked up a bit after dinner and was playing with us, but then, much like his sister, hit the wall and needed BED! Bedtime was another trial for us, but he went to bed in the pack 'n play and ended up in bed with us again, but is still sleeping peacefully at 7:30 as I type (although he was up for a diaper change and bottle around 2:30).

I guess I'd best close because I know this was a monster post and also because I need to start getting ready - we're off to Wulai today with the Echols family. It should be lots of fun!

The things I continue to forget....

I keep forgetting to mention (more for my own benefit than for anyone else) that poor Colby is getting all four of his 1 year molars in addition to dealing with all this "stuff". They're all four pushed through, but not all the way and he's clearly bothered by them. Thank Heaven (and Jeri) for Hyland's teething tablets! They seem to help him enough that we can just medicate him at night with Motrin.

I also keep meaning to mention that if we thought that scooters were ubiquitous in China, we were either unaware of the meaning of ubiquitous, or we just had no idea about how many scooters there could be in Taiwan! They are EVERYWHERE here!! And they gaggle up at intersections and look like giant moped gangs when they shoot off as the light turns green. It's kind of funny to watch (until one almost runs you down as it comes careening around the corner). This is a small group of them at an intersection the other day. I haven't been able to get a picture of the true masses!

Yesterday...the sequel

Okay, before I start where I left off I should say that our little prince was up til 2am night before last (probably due to the fact that we had family 3 hour nap into the early evening) and was quite displeased to be woken at ~8am to begin the day. We vowed not to let that happen again!!



Picking up in the Subway.... This child will eat nearly anything you put in front of him UNLESS it is a food that should appeal to a baby. He has rejected rice cereal and all add-ins there of (who wouldn't, come on - have you tasted that stuff??), yogurt (which he made a horrendous face about and then tried to remove from his mouth with his index finger. I really wish I could give you the whole picture on that one - it was nothing short of HYSTERICAL albeit a heroic effort on his part to rid his mouth of the foul stuff!), and other assorted baby type snacks. He loves cookies (so we know that he truly is my son) and other sweets, rice, noodles, and SUBWAY. He ate every part of our sandwiches - bread, meat, cheese, all the veggies... I was impressed especially given that his info sheet indicated that he'd only ever had steamed buns and fruit mashes outside of baby cereal.



Anyway, our plan was to ask someone for directions to either the handicraft or fabric market (which is another reason we picked Subway - the chances of finding someone who speaks English is greater), but when we finished our lunch, all of the attendants had gone elsewhere. I gathered my courage and asked a young woman sitting at the counter if she spoke English. She turned and said, "Yes, but I'm afraid it isn't good enough!" I asked her if she would mind if we gave it a try. She agreed. I showed her our taxi cards and she was deep in thought for a moment before determining that we should actually take a taxi rather than walk or take the MRT. (As it turns out it's right near the next MRT stop from where we were, but this woman was trying so hard and was so helpful that I couldn't care less if it cost us $2 more to go by taxi!) She then proceeded to abandon her lunch and go out in search of a taxi so that she could talk to the driver and tell him exactly where we needed to go. All the while apologizing that her English (which was far better than a lot of English I hear spoken at home!) wasn't good enough. I finally told her that it was FAR better than my Chinese and that she spoke very well! We loaded into the taxi and a few short minutes later arrived at the handicraft market.



I wish I'd been able to take pictures in the handicraft market. They had some beautiful things!! It's 4 floors. The basement is pretty much kitschy souvenir type stuff with a few nice things thrown in for good measure. The second floor is stoneware, jewelry, and some glass - BEAUTIFUL things. There are a couple of things I'd like to go back and get if we have money left to spend at the end. There is something called rainbow jade and it's dark green with a mix of pinks, yellows, and blues swirled into it. There was a blurb about how it's formed, but it's escaping me for the moment. They had beautiful vases made of this stone and I would love to have one. Then there's another stone native to Taiwan that is pink with black and grey veining in it. There are some beautiful framed pieces of it with calligraphy where the thin slice of stone actually looks like a landscape. I would love to have one of those as well! The third floor is a lot of artwork and there again - I could go hog wild. I saw a few scroll paintings I really liked as well as a painting of two men who appear to be preparing for battle (I know - doesn't sound like my style, but it's a soft water color and I love the colors and it's not overtly vicious or anything - they're kind of crouched down...hard to explain). There are tea sets galore and that's one thing I regret that I didn't get in China. I got a tea set for Kailin there, but none for myself (a space concern). The fourth floor is mostly fabric items. I found a purse I really really liked, but it was $30(US) and I wasn't convinced that it'd be a good "mom purse" so I put it back. We'll see. The place is easy enough to get to via MRT, so I think we'll head back on Monday or Tuesday and see what we can pick up. We did get a hand puppet for Colby for later that is something unique to Taiwan culture. They had some really nice ones for $60, but he'll have to make do with a "sedan" model instead. ha ha. I could seriously spend everything we brought between there and the jade market (although we haven't made it to the fabric market yet so we'll see!).

Colby was getting pretty restless so we decided to skip the fabric market and head back to the hotel. We asked at the information desk and found out that the MRT stop was not far at all from the handicraft market, so we set off. We had no trouble negotiating the MRT and when we got back to the station nearest our hotel (it's still a good piece - not walking distance, and surely not so with an infant strapped to one of us and a 40lb pack strapped to the other (maybe a slight exaggeration there...)) we asked at the desk for the right bus. They gave us the same bus numbers as we'd had in the morning, but then directed us to precisely the same stop where we'd arrived. Hmmm.... With no alternative but to trust the information (and with no bus stop visible on the other side of the road) we embarked on what will be referred to as "the bus odyssey" from now on. Of course we were on the wrong stop - the bus we boarded was indeed bound for Tien Mu, but only after it toured the rest of the city to the tune of an hour or so. We saw a lot of interesting stuff and thankfully Colby slept, but there was one mystery that remains unsolved. When we boarded the bus, I plunked my change into the paybox just as I'd done in the morning, but the driver tried to slap my hand away. I was confused, but then noticed that most people were paying as they got off. Okay, my cultural faux pas. But then about midway through the route, he started INSISTING (loudly!) that people pay as they got ON. So I'm totally mystified as to how one would determine when to pay the bus fare. Any guesses??

Got back to the hotel and found a note from our friends the Echols accepting our invitation to meet up for dinner, so we gave them a call and decided to head off to Fang's together. It was raining lightly and we had 2 umbrellas between the 6 of us, but we were fine. Dinner was fantastic - the steamed buns are just phenomenal there! They brought us some complimentary tapioca and taro soup (it was actually pretty tasty) and we were joking that they said, "Look! Those fool Americans got some kids - and boy do they look haggard! Better throw 'em a bone..." We really don't know why we got the soup - but we were glad of it and enjoyed it all the same. Poor Steve didn't get to eat a single bite for having to feed Colby the whole time and keep him in the high chair (no straps or tray). We had to bring his share back to the hotel.

We decided to wimp out and take a cab back to the hotel as it was pouring down rain by the time we finished dinner and we knew that some of us would be soaked by the time we got home if we hoofed it. It was only $2 and split between us - well worth it!

Colby was deep in grief, I think, and had a rough day. He had a rough time falling asleep and a rough night overall. He was very restless no matter where he was - in the pack 'n play, in our bed, or even on Steve's chest. Finally about 3 he had a dirty diaper and we gave him a bottle and he and Steve were able to get some rest (this rejection bit has it's perks....guiltless sleep for me since there's not anything I could do anyway!). All too early the alarm went off (5:30 am) and it was time to begin a new day....

(Thanks everyone for your words of encouragement. I truly have felt at peace with things after praying about it and giving it over to God. I know that Colby will come around in time and that this will all be a distant memory, but your words of support have helped me through for certain.)

A fool in Taiwan...

A fool in Taiwan by any other name would be - some other fool, but this fool is me.

Colby is firmly rejecting me and I'm surprised none of you have heard what happens when I take him or Steve leaves the room. Seriously. I'm truly surprised that you can't hear it from there. It's been harder emotionally than I thought it would be and I feel a strange guilt about letting Steve do all the work. I decided this morning that I was giving it all to God and letting go. I'll be the pit crew and be cheerful about it. So far, it's working out pretty well although I did feel pretty guilty when Steve had to bring his entire dinner home to eat because he spent the entire thing feeding a very squirrely Colby.

Going back in the day, though.... We decided that I'd take Colby out for a walk this morning and get us all some breakfast (we've since learned tonight that what we need to do is ASK for our meal tickets. I'm not quite sure why that is. If you are going to ask for them, then why do they require them at all? Why not just have you show your room key or something? Or else just have housekeeping leave them in the room each day.). He protested down the stairwell to the lobby and then chilled out. It was raining lightly (shocker there) so we started out along with our trusty pink umbrella. I decided to give Steve some decent time off and since Colby was doing okay, I thought we'd head to the "far" 7-11 for drinks and then just choose a bakery along the way. There are several stretches of overhangs along our route and they provide welcome relief from the rain...but they also provide the perfect opportunity for me to be the local fool. I can't seem to remember to lower my umbrella when we're under the overhangs and I think I'm giving the locals a good laugh every day. I'm not sure why this logic eludes me.

There is at least one more fool in Taiwan, though, because Colby and I were nearly taken out by a man who apparently felt the need to back half way down the block and then around the corner! Okay, guy, time to just go all the way around the block if you need to back up that far!!

It was warm and very muggy this morning so Colby and I were both overdressed and very sweaty by the time we made it back to the room. We all enjoyed some fresh bakery and guava juice. Colby sucked down a good part of Steve's in a hurry! I guess I'll know to buy 3 next time!!

We packed up and headed out. It seems to be taking us a significantly long period of time to get out the door. I guess that comes with not knowing your own child and also a return to a child in diapers.

We asked at the front desk about our destinations for today and learned that the handicraft market and the fabric market are close to one another, but not as close to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall as we thought. The clerk also gave us the number of the buses we could take to catch the MRT (a much more economical option than taking a taxi).

We arrived at CKS Memorial Hall and didn't have too much trouble finding it from the MRT station. It's enormous!! I wish we'd have had a clear day, but no such luck. It is a massive structure and there's a giant statue of CKS inside, but other than that, everything is pretty much in Chinese, so it didn't offer too much for us and Colby was getting anxious so we headed out. We were walking around the grounds and found a beautiful little natural area with a pond where we watched fish, turtles, and birds. We saw one I think was a bittern and another that looked like a cross between a chickadee and a wood pecker. We decided to call it a chickapecker. The chickapecker was convinced I was going to feed it and was sorely disappointed when I didn't.

Lunch was sorely needed, so we set out in search of someplace to sit down and some food that Colby could eat. Where we ended up was....Subway. Subway - can you believe that? That's neither inventive nor remarkable. We felt a little out of our element in Taipei and the safety of Subway was a good thing in this instance.

Alright - I'm going to have to finish this tomorrow. I'm beat and we have a very early wakeup to get to our AIT interview.

Oh, and I finally mastered the faucet in the bathroom!

A brighter day!

The boys woke up at about 6:15 this morning (although I found myself awake at 4:30 again)to MORE rain and clouds. We played a little, I blogged a little, and then we called home a little. By the time it was all said and done and I'd showered, it was time for the little man to take a nap. I ran out and got us some breakfast at another bakery we wanted to try while Steve stayed back since he'd gotten Colby to agree to lay in the pack 'n play to sleep.

I think that the agreement to sleep a bit in the pack and play was a telling one as it seems he is a lot more accepting of us today. He's still a daddy's boy, but mommy's okay today as well.

After Colby woke up we decided not to let the rain get us down, so we packed up and trucked off to a grocery store to see if they'd happen to have some new binks for Colby. They didn't, but we did get a giant jug of water for just over a dollar and some yogurt for Colby to try. They had an amazing selection of orchids and other flowers. The fragrance was intoxicating!

Poor Steve had to schlep the jug of water on the rest of our excursion (not fantastic planning on our part). We walked a little ways (wish I could insert a direction here, but I have no bearings - should've picked some up at that market with Sunnie and Bill I guess!) past Fang's and found a drugstore which decidedly didn't have any baby supplies other than wipes and shampoo.

Colby fell asleep in the carrier, so we decided to keep on walking to get him a good nap. Moving on, we walked through the charming neighborhood we found by accident on Sunday. There's an open air fresh foods market down one of the lanes there and it was neat to see all the fruits, vegetables, and meats. I'll have to take some pictures when we visit again, but we forgot to take a camera with us today(after I vowed NEVER to be without a camera again after the ox in the street incident in China). I saw a little variety store and decided to give it a go for binks. SCORE! They had two and we bought them both! We also bought a cheap knife so we can stop saying "That fruit looks soo good - if only we had a knife!"

As we walked along we saw several restaurants we'd like to try. We looked for ones with either a picture or English menu and the picture menus far outnumbered the English ones. We actually don't really care if we know what we're eating, but we figure that if there is no picture or English menu, we might have difficulty actually placing an order!

There's a covered traditional market (with a department store on the second level) not too far from there, so we headed there next to get out of the rain. Colby woke up on the way. Short nap. The fragrance of lilies greeted us, but was quickly replaced by food smells as there were tons of stands with all sorts of cooked and raw foods, vegetables, spices, meats - just about any culinary item you can think of. Colby started to get restless and we figured he was getting hungry, so we decided to stop back sometime to check out the department store. We picked up some "take out" from one of the stands (fried rice, noodles and veggies, and a favorite green veggie of ours) and walked home. We gave Colby some rice (which he snarfed down with glee), but he also dropped a fair share and then tried to pick up each grain and stuff it into his mouth. That's all fine and good, but in the process, he dumped out about 8x as much as he was trying to get in. As a result our room and everything in it (not cleaned again today because for some reason they didn't do it while we were out) is covered in rice. Lovely!

He's definitely coming out of his shell today. He laughs frequently, holds eye contact, and is playing more games with us. He's chatty today as well. He loves for Steve to do a "Colby press" and throw him up. Daredevil child! His info sheet said he likes to play "heads together". We weren't sure what that meant. Now we know. It means he loves to ram his head into yours - or your shin or whatever is handy and then laugh wildly. The weather is still dreary, but I'm so thankful that today is a brighter one in our family!

I wrote that earlier while Colby was chilling in the pack 'n play. He laid down for a nap (as did we), but woke up not quite an hour in just screaming, so I picked him up and he railed against me. I held him close and he fell asleep again on my chest. I managed to move him to the bed at some point and "family nap hour" turned into "family nap 3 hours". We just woke up before 7, so although he's clearly pretty tired yet, I'm wondering when (or if) we'll all get some sleep tonight. Colby didn't wake nicely. He railed and railed against Steve and we assumed it was all temper (this child can give Kailin a run for her money on temper!!) and he does come around slowly after sleeping, but it turns out that in our own just awake stupor we neglected to think about the fact that he was starving or detect that he'd pooped through. No parents of the year awards for us today! Ha ha.

Tomorrow I think we're going to try to head out to the Chiang Kai Shek memorial and a handicrafts market I've read about (since we won't need to spend half the morning calling home and blogging - ha ha ha). They're in close proximity to one another. It's supposed to rain again, but it's supposed to rain through Friday and if we put off all of our excursions waiting the rain out, we simply won't get to see everything we want to see. Putting something off because Colby needs to go slow is fine with me, but weather's not going to keep me down!!

A little role reversal...

The ride back to the hotel was pretty uneventful and Colby fell asleep near the end. It was raining (again), so we decided Steve would slide out and try to keep him sleeping while I held the umbrella and then I'd run back and unload all of the luggage. Not so much. He woke up. I carried the 5 bags and Steve carried Colby and we retrieved our key from the front desk and headed up. That was pretty much the last sane moment of the day.


We got back to the room and I think the enormity of things hit Colby. He was in a strange place with strange people (little does he know that we're always strange!) and he needed to cry. And scream. And cry some more. And arch his back and kick and flail. I loaded him into my Moshi carrier and he calmed down a bit. Finally he gave in and laid his head on my chest and in that moment he was mine. I smelled his head and felt the warmth of his breath and he was my child.



The call back to reality came quickly when I decided to lay down with him on my chest because I knew he needed to sleep more. It was NOT a good idea in his opinion. He screamed and wailed some more. Eventually, he did give in and fall asleep on my chest. Unfortunately for me about an hour later I REALLY had to go to the bathroom and we shifted him over to Steve's chest with no problems. My hope was that we were seeing what we did with Kailin and that when he awoke from his nap the world wouldn't seem quite as horrible.


He woke peacefully enough, but took one look at us and his new reality came rushing back in and he resumed the screaming and wailing. We were able to get him to calm down enough that we could try to play with him a bit and we did get some smiles and giggles out of him (but we're still waiting for that all out belly laugh). It looks like his favorite hobbies include flinging things with glee and dumping things off the edges of other things.

Colby is a Daddy's boy. Through and through. He's 180 from his sister who was a "the mommy show" addict. Colby loves to be with Steve and wailed and wailed if Steve even went to the bathroom. I drew the line at "family bathroom time", though, and he had to cry those out in my arms. I'm okay with the role reversal, though, as I know he'll come around in time and I know that Steve is soaking it up.

Colby unplugged is Colby unglued. Unfortunately, the only pacifier we got with him is nearly chewed through and is definitely becoming a choking hazard, so we'll go out in search of new ones as soon as possible. I tried an american one to no avail.


We all hit the hay at about 8:30 and despite our efforts, Colby wouldn't sleep in the pack 'n play. His foster parents told us that he had his own crib at their house, but he was firmly and deeply entrenched in needing contact at all times. Kailin went through it too, so we thought we'd just let him sleep with us. Not good enough. He insisted on sleeping only ON Steve. Poor Steve had to sleep on his back on our one pillow (each) with a 25lb heat box on his chest while I had the rest of the bed to myself. Sometime in the night I woke up and looked over to see that Colby's legs were on the bed, but he was nearly sitting up with his torso on Steve's body. Steve said he'd tried to shift him off his chest and Colby scrambled back up as far as he could. By morning he was laying between us sleeping peacefully. He slept about 9 hours without waking which was far better than we thought we'd fare when we all went to bed (I was truly beat that early, but the real reason we went to bed is that we thought we were all going to be up all night given the length of time he screamed before he fell asleep.). We hoped that the morning would have Colby more accepting of his situation and of us.