Month: February 2018

Well Edda still seemed under the weather at 6:30 am, though she slept peacefully without any meds through the night.  Ning had already shown up for work and we both looked at Edda with concern.  She still seemed slightly warm.  She measured 37.5 C which is the lowest low grade fever. (We are C for fever temps in the house.  It’s easier to remember and we did our most of our fever measuring in Singapore.  36 = no fever, 40 = high fever).  I gave her a Motrin, sent a text to the bus cancelling pickup and emailed her teacher for another day off and asked Ning to stay an extra hour so I could give Vince a ride to school and head to the gym for a quick run.  By the time I got back, Edda was recovering from a bloody nose and laughing and laughing.  She laughed for a long time and I thought I got tricked into letting her stay home, but it was just the Motrin talking.  I took her upstairs and she took two long naps today, both in the morning and in the afternoon.  I did take the day off of work, I kept her company a bunch and napped with her at times.  It was, again, a quiet day for both of us.

Jeremy doing his thing in Olympia, fighting the good fight.  Though he texted me in the afternoon saying that he is afraid that he’s coming down with Edda’s cold.

******

I took a sick day today and spent all day with Edda.  She is snotty & a bit warm & tired – but this isn’t a terrible illness (thank goodness).  She ate well and slept a good bit of the morning.  I kept her hydrated with a squirt bottle and we watched a lot of movies.  I cancelled all the care.  I sent out 5 email/texts in total – morning care, morning bus, school, aftercare and evening care.  Can I say it was a relaxing day?  It was a day of recuperation, not only for Edda, but also for me!  I spent the afternoon looking for signs that she’d be ready for school tomorrow.  At about 7pm, she started laughing at her TV shows.  It was nice to hear and I think it means we are good to go. 

Saturday night, my parents hosted a feast for our Chinese visitors.  We got a selfie.  Whoops, Edda is a little drool-y.  No matter.

******

Sunday, early am – Jeremy made his way to Seattle and then Olympia.  This trip was a little unpredicable because the legislative session dates were a moving target.  They are not a set date, even just a few weeks ago.  When he was buying the airplane tickets, he used this Google flight cost predictor thing-y that told him the $350 round trip ticket was probably going to go up to $800 in the next twelve hours and he quickly pounced on the tickets and got them for under $400.  Then he watched the alerts from the flight cost predictor ping him as the price went up to $1250.  He told me that this three (four?) day business trip was to make a 2 minute speech.  Two minutes?  Really?  You gotta calculate the per second cost then. 

He met up (and is staying with) Dennis & Leslie.  They are in the midst of a ton of lobbying to be done during the legislative session as well.

******

Meanwhile, while he was flying across the country, we spent the morning listening to many, many speeches about the differences between Chinese & American education & family life.  The ice water is a big thing.  OMG, the poor Americans who go to China hoping to get an ice cold Coke.  Pretty much impossible.   Mom got to pose with the whole cohort.  She was super pleased.

Yifan (Irving) giving his talk:

******

I’m sleeping with Edda tonight, she’s under the weather and I think we can both use the company.  I’m hoping not the flu, so far the fever has been mild but the past few nights she’s woken and needed some Motrin to go back to sleep.  But she has the shivers and slept most of the afternoon which is rare for her when she is well.  I spent the afternoon curled on the couch reading a book, listening to her crinkled breathing.  I was on the fence about sending her to school tomorrow, but I just sent the morning caregiver and the bus driver texts to forgo the morning routine.  I think she’s spending the day with me tomorrow.  I’m trying to keep Vince away from her, I’m hoping that we can limit the spread of the germs.

I should not only brag about Vince, I need to brag about Edda who perseveres everyday against her many challenges without complaint, I got this email from her teacher a few days ago.  My Edda!  Feel better soon, love.  xoxoxoxo

Maybe this guy is getting a little tired of posing for pictures?  Vince photobombing in the background.

Trying on  $200 shades at Coach.

I went to the girls basketball game last night (undefeated!) where the Chinese students & host students were honored during halftime.

******

Yesterday Vince found out he got into the IB program at RM.  Most kids start their freshman year and apply from around the county.  They reopen the program up to kids whose home school is RM so they can participate their junior/senior year.   Vince, despite his applying on his own with very little said from me (it’s one of these things where if I push for it or express too much interest/attachment, the resistance builds and the opportunity gets shut out without consideration), is leaning away from joining the program.  It’s a complicated algorithm of what the program emphasizes (not STEM and therefore you have to (gasp!) read more world literature and do more writing) (minus) and the students who are already in the program (minus) and the fact that they get gift bags and pizza Fridays (plus).  I don’t get it.  What the heck?  You get into one of the most coveted programs in the county and it’s right here and the extra work that you’ll have to do is maybe 7-10% and you are going to turn away from it because of an extra book reading assignment?  But then maybe you are going to go do it because they have pizza twice a month and a free sweatshirt?  I am so practical – it looks good to colleges, you just do it, esp if you are a 0.5 Asian male interested in engineering in a wealthy school district.  Anyways, I’m not making him do anything, he gets to decide.  He knows if I had the choice, I would do it, but I’m not him and he isn’t me.  (Though historically, I did apply for the Takoma Park/Blair magnet program in the 7th grade when I was living here.  The school was all the way on the other side of the county.  In 1984?  Sheez, so long ago.  I got in and then…turned it down.  I remember my parents letting me decide and I stayed up two nights thinking about it. I turned it down because I would have ended up having a Beltway 495 commute when I was 12.  Thus began a lifetime of picking things because they minimize the commute. And I did just fine w/o the magnet program.) Though I did convince him to take another year of (non-required) Chinese class.  Jeremy watched that interaction last night with some amusement.  Vince protesting, me cajoling, back and forth, back and forth.  Me holding my ground, yet! Trying! to! keep! the! conversation! light! happy! jokey! Jeremy sighed and said – you two! 

Chinese exchange student week continues!  No waiting on new purchases – going to school with new kicks!

Wed night, my parents hosted a dinner at Matchbox and invited another family who is hosting two exchange students.  This is Isaac’s family, Vince’s pal.  Vince & Isaac co-founded the Beyblade Club which meets Thursdays at noon.  Come and join them, donuts monthly!  I haven’t spent much time with Isaac’s parents, it was fun to get to know them.  The mom is 1/2 Chinese and the dad is 1/1 Chinese, so the kids are 3/4 Chinese.  I asked Ben, the dad, what they are feeding their exchange students and he said the he reverted back to Chinese breakfasts!  Rice porridge, buns, soy milk.   I was aghast!  You’re not serving them American breakfasts?!  They don’t like American food, he replied.  I said that we didn’t even ask, we served, for breakfast, pancakes, cereal & one-eye giants.  I’m sure the enchiladas for dinner the first night were confusing.

This was a fun dinner.  My mom & dad had a blast, it was nice to see.  It’s gotta be a little weird for the students to come all the way from China to see what America is about and land at a dinner table full of Chinese people.  Or maybe it’s comforting.