Wednesday,

Today's a short movie of Eli reading to us...

About a month or so Eli started reading Calvin and Hobbes. I'd brought my collections with me when we came. He'd never shown much interest in comics before that, but I guess something finally clicked and now he's reading and re-reading them. He actually fell asleep reading the other night... He reads to his sister at night, too...

So that's reading... his writing is doing well. So's his math. We're wading into division, lately.

If anyone has any old comic books, graphic novels, or an abacus that goes to to 10 X 10, we're taking donations...

Not much else is new this week...

Well, off to have some dinner.

Sunday, May 24th

The weather's been rainy and grey here over the past week. It's blown out to sea now, but here are pictures from the week.

Eli and Rhiannon spent time either riding bicycles in the basement driveway or hanging out in the courtyard between rainfalls.

The movies are of Rhiannon this week;

The first is of her putting plants into plastic bags...
Why? because plants go in plastic bags...

The second is of her telling Eli a story...
She's narrating a story in which she battles a lava monster...

Eli and Rhiannon spend a lot of time with each other, and they balance each other out pretty well. They build castles of Calvin and Hobbes books and stuffed animals at bedtime and have a whole bunch of their own games. Rhiannon's hooked on the Magic School Bus TV series from the 90's. Her new role model is Mrs. Frizzle, and I think it's starting to show.

Thursday, May 21st

Well, there's a low pressure system moving through Taiwan bringing rain and humidity. I feel like my limbs are lead, which leads to poor typing, so I'm just gonna post a movie of Rhiannon with Calvin today and leave it at that!

Typhoon season's coming!!!

Sunday, May 18th

This afternoon we got some teas and went to the park where Calvin played on the swings. His balance is improving and it helps him with his holding on.

A few pictures of him out at the garden playing with a fern. He's in Rhiannon's play stroller... I have a movie of her pushing him in it that I'll put up Wednesday.

He's been semi-diagnosed (he won't get an official diagnosis until after 3) with Moderate to Severe Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy...

The movie at the bottom is of him chewing, which is a new step for him. Gosia's feeding him rice crackers and peanut butter.

His seizures continue, but it may be because of the teething. When he went on the anti-convulsants, it was because he was teething and wasn't eating due to seizures. Hopefully, after the teething is over, we can begin to wean him off the meds, which can become addictive and leave permanent side effects. He's on a new one now, but we think it may be spacing him out and effecting his personality. We can't be sure until the teething stops, so we have to wait and see.

Even with all his steps, he's still terribly far behind. His vision has definitely improved. His strength is increasing and he has good muscle tone. His sounds are improving, too. More complex... He has quite good therapy here, now three times a week over at the hospital, and they're happy that he keeps improving.

Hopefully by the time he's three he'll no longer be Quadriplegic, but we have to be patient.

Eli and Rhiannon are doing well... At the park, Eli made some friends and engaged them in finding dry cicada skins... he'd found almost a dozen by the time it was time to go, so he was pretty happy about that.

That's about it. Enjoy the movie!

Wednesday, May 14th

Here are the pictures from May Jam, the local music show held in a picnic area out in An Ping.

One of the draws is that it's just a few feet from the beach -- unfortunately, this year they're in the middle of a beach reclamation project!

But that didn't stop Eli and Rhiannon... sand is sand. They just had to climb down to the water... They just melt into the surroundings in a second like it's their second nature.

Or really, first nature. They're more at home on the beach than back in pavement and concrete...

So, these are just some pictures from the beach, and a couple of the surrounding area and the Jam at the bottom. We only ended up staying for a few minutes of music because it was too loud for Calvin, but the beach was good for him.

He loves water, so a good day out for him, too.

Pentecost Sunday

So, here are the pictures from Eli's first Communion, which we celebrated this Saturday.

There were a lot of people there, so he was a little nervous, but he got through the whole thing really well.

I actually got him into a button down shirt with little effort, but he got to spend Sunday up on the roof in traditional jungle-wear as trade off...

It was a long but very nice Mass. The bishop was there to celebrate the mass for the feast of the Blessed Virgin, since our church is named for Our Lady of Fatima.

The two girls sitting next to Eli were also receiving First Communion, and there were a number of Baptisms and Confirmations.



























































































































After the Mass, they shifted into KTV mode outside. Two big tents were set up for a catered party. These are the sorts of parties and tents that will be commonly set up in a street, sometimes taking up half of a rather busy street, for weddings and funerals. Especially in the summer, it's not unusual to be driving along and suddenly the road turns into an outdoor kitchen.

They're pretty cool parties, but we didn't stay because it was just too loud for Calvin.

























So, we ventured across the street to the junior high school where the car was parked. The junior high school let the church use it's parking lot for the day, so we hung out there for half an hour, eating the pesto we'd brought with us in a makeshift picnic.




















































In the junior high school's grounds, there was a resin replica of the Statue of Liberty, so I had to take a few pictures of that...



































Here's Eli telling his sister to be quiet during the Confirmations, because he's such a model of serenity....





Here are the kids at the junior high school, befriending one of the local wandering dogs... a lot of these dogs are surprisingly friendly, and I think that this one was being cared for by one of the school's caretakers. The kids gave it a bit of their food...



And here are the kids imploring us to let the dog come home with us. This is actually just the kind of animal the kids need-- something with strong bones...