Week three down

We hardly left the pool today, given 110 degree temperatures. Every time we ventured somewhere, we found ourselves headed back after an hour or so. Right now, Ben is singing to George, who is singing to the boys before bedtime. That's been a tradition since Day 1 with Zach. Ben has his own song to share but he sings it so fast George can't quite catch it. I have no doubt he will.
The boys racked up a bunch of stars in recent days for positive behaviors: working toward that trip to the toy store. Tonight, they put helmets on before using their skateboards and we didn't even have to remind them! Zach was very helpful with Ben in the pool, as well, watching out to make sure he didn't take off his water wings without checking in with me.
At one point the other day, they were both lying under their beach towels poolside -- enjoying a carrot and hummus snack. Ben was going on and on about something, in Mandarin, of course.
"That's mama's problem," Zach said in response!
I asked Zach what Ben said but he couldn't tell me.
"Brush your teeth," Ben told Zach tonight. More three-word sentences coming along.
Yesterday and Friday, my sister Mary was at a horse ride at the state park near here. We went out to her campsight and the boys had fun petting the horse, leading it on a short walk and picking up horse pooh with a pitch fork. Ben remembered Mary from Taiwan and gave her a big hug. Of course, Auntie Mary is Zach's favorite too. The whole event was a wonderful success since Mary and horse finished strong -- despite the heat.

Yippee Day!

It's 2:06 p.m. and I don't feel 110 years old! What a great day.
No fights between the boys this morning (yea!) before they went to camp for two hours. A little fight immediately after. (not bad. miscommunication related) But then a good 90 minutes of fun play at a neighborhood park. The park had one of those things that slides back and forth and the kids hang on it. It's tough for the little ones to swing all the way across so I usually have to give Zach a push. But today, he and Ben worked out a system where they helped each other: giving little pushes or guiding legs onto the landing pad. It was awesome. Then four "tween" girls with really large hair came to play. For a good 10 minutes, all the boys could do was look at that hair, which was really something. Blonde afros? Then, back to more play. It was so great we celebrated with a trip to the Yogurt Shack. I told them we were going because they played so nicely together and Zach told me all about how he and Ben helped each other. Each day is getting a little easier. It's sort of like herding cats and intercepting Bighorn sheep hits at the same time. Lots more language coming from Ben. "How are you?" he said, without prompting when we met some friends the other day. "My turn," he screamed today. He's quite the helping little guy. Both he and Zach are making beds in the morning and Ben is proving to be very considerate of his new friends. The other day, he dove into the pool to retrieve a rocket for his friend Jack. He's telling me now: "Hungry. Hungry." So gotta go.

Daddy Day

Here are my boys, hard at work making my "Daddy Day" cards. What a special treat! They each painted a picture of a house, a rainbow and a sun. Each signed his name, Zach and Ben. How special!

Daddy Day was great. Julie gave me the most precious gift of all, the gift of time. I was free to go to 2 hour Yoga and have coffee with my friend afterwards. We had friends bring us brunch, Thanks Michelle and Jeff! We went to the pool for the boys' swimming lesson and watched them both dive and do "big arms". They're making great progress. Then visited with friends and swam a bit. I ran home and Julie made a special dinner, Daddy Day at its finest.

Tomorrow will be two weeks since we got home. Zach and Ben seem to be getting along fine , even though they have their moments. Ben is very affectionate and is starting to say small phrases in English like, Thank you Momma, I want water . Amazing progress compared to our progress in mandarin.

I feel very lucky. I have two great boys, a caring wife and a pretty nice life. Its days like this that make it all worthwhile.

To all of you Dads out there, Happy Daddy Day! Be sure to give all your family an extra hug tonight.

George

Saturday night

Today was the day we knew would come. Zach said he wants Ben to go back to Taiwan! I said, "oh oh, sorry."
The honeymoon is over, but that's not surprising. When they're not battling over something -- the seat in the car, the book in the car, the quarter on the ground, -- they're having fun. Tonight, they were conspiring against us in the backseat of the car. I took that as a good sign.
We've had a couple of restful days of late. Zach has been sick, and Ben is fighting off a cold. So, long afternoon naps have been key. The weather has been oddly cold.
Ben's language continues to improve. "This is purple," he said, while pointing to a figure. "That is pink." He says "I love you," at night time but it's just the words, so far.
Before falling under the weather, we enjoyed a couple afternoons of swimming in between snacks and drinks! We also did a couple of mornings at summer camp. Ben mingled right away, getting into the Legos; Zach was more hesitant.
We haven't mentioned the dogs much. Ben is so fearless of dogs that we took him to a dog park today. Ellie and Painter have been patient and kind and it's paid off. No scratches from Stan either! Happy Father's Day to all you dads.

First times

Today, several wonderful things happened.
---Ben spoke in English for the first time to get what he wanted: "Bananna."
---He fell asleep seemingly content.
---He lost again at Candy Land and so stormed off into his room and slammed the door.
Zach: "He never wins."
Julie: "Well, he's only played three times, but yea, he hasn't won yet."
Zach: "I think he just wants a little time away from me."
George: "Sometimes people just need a little time alone."
Zach: "Can I watch TV now?"
Julie: "Sure."
Zach: "I think I'll go ask Ben if he wants to watch something with me."

Anniversary Day

Today is anniversary day in the Anderson Schmit household. Its one week since we arrived home with Ben and its Julie and my 6th anniversary. In true celebratory fashion , we had Zach's pizza and a special trip to the Yogurt Shack downtown, followed by a trip to the dog park......... Life in the fast lane!

What a great pleasure to see the boys getting along so well. Today was my first day back to work and Julie's first complete day soloing with the boys. She handled it magnificently combining biking, scooting, game play and swimming and successfully keeping them amused. While they have their moments, they seem to be really connected and truly enjoy playing with one another. Zach and Ben are perfecting their own language, dubbed Manglish(Mandarin/English) by

Julie's sister Mary, and are communicating on their own plane.

Each day seems to be a bit easier and a routine will soon develop. Once that rhythm gets established, we're confident that Ben will speak more English and we'll speak more Mandarin as he is teaching us. ( For those of you who are interested, the mandarin word for Pizza is pi- zza).

Anyhow time for all to go to bed for tonight, five year olds and their parents tire easily.

all of love,

G, J,Z, B, E,P &S

Sunday Sunday

Tonight, Ben ate mashed potatoes with chopsticks. So, we all had to try. They were even more delicious.
Our hopes of not becomming "Swim Team" parents dimmed today. Both Zach and Ben swam for a good two hours. We've spent hundreds of dollars over the past three summers trying to get Zach "water safe," and he hasn't gotten above the lowly Polliwog classification.
Suddenly, he's putting his head under the water over and over, holding his breath for seconds and swimming. Today, he started diving off the steps and gave up float wings for good.
"I learned to swim in Taiwan," he told the lady at the pool. Not many of us can say that.
Ben is all over jumps, dives and head firsts but can't stay up without wings -- although he forgets on occassion and I had to fish him out twice!
In addition to learning English, Ben is teaching us Mandarin.
"Va-toe," he says, referring to, I believe, a ball.
"Va-toe," we say back. He shakes his head in disgust, points to his lips and says again, with much expression: "Va-toe."
Well, you know the rest. Finally, we either hit on it or he gives up.
Today, we made it out of the pool and to the bathroom before it was too late. We're getting quicker at picking up that one! Later, he did pick up a toy chest and place it back down on his toe for few seconds before we understood what was wrong. Poor little guy. His courage is relentless.
Good night. We're feeling very lucky and as long as we each get out for a run or a yoga class on a daily basis, we'll be good.
Love, Julie, George, Zach and Ben Chia-Wei

Settling In

We've been home since Monday and everyone finally seems to be recovered from jetlag. They boys slept til after 9 this morning

after only one middle of the night wake up. They had a day of bike riding, swimming , scooting and a new first for Ben ... a play date at the community center park.

They seem to be doing fine and Ben seems to be understanding most things we say to him. His language is starting to come but it will take some time. He does seem able to communicate his needs. What we don't pick up, Zach does so language is less of a concern but it certainly will be easier once Ben can say what he wants. He's pretty good a trying new foods and tonight enjoyed Zach's favorite dinner , spaghetti and meatballs.

Tomorrow Zach's going on a day trip to the Monterey Aquarium with Dave and Grandma so it'll be fun to see how Ben handles having to cope with his parents on his own.

I go back to work Monday so it'll be Julie's primary responsibility during the day. CATS camp starts on Wednesday for both of them so that'll be a help.

Julie and I seem to be adapting well but at least for me, I have to say bedtime is a relief. They are nonstop action but I love it .

Bye for now,

G, J, Z, B, E,P,&S

Not quite one week into it and....

Ben Chia Wei and Zach were on the patio this afternoon. My back was to them as I cut up some strawberries. I assumed they were putting on bike helmets.
Ben spoke in a loud, agitated voice to Zach. Something along the lines of: "Punte mi tian e mi ya eee si ny aaah."
Zach responded: "I know."
And off they went.

We've been home for 3 days now and there is the beginning of some"normalcy" as a routine is beginning to develop. We 're learning to keep things moving and to provide lots of snacks to keep the boys happy. Sleep is still a bit of an issue for us all, but Ben is suffering jet lag the most. We kept them up tonight hoping to get them on California time at last. Wish us luck.

Ben also seems pretty comfortable in new situations. I pulled over to say "hi" to our neighbors and before I could stop, he was leaning out the window to greet them. Great progress!

Zach seems to love having his brother and the energy between them is high. Hopefully, Julie and I can match the energy level.

Hope you're all well and enjoying our story. For those who haven't noticed, we have pictures on all the entries now that we're home if you care to check them all.

Bye for now,

George, Julie, Zach, Ben, Ellie, Painter and Stan

Fortunate

We went out to dinner tonight at a Chinese restaurant. Ben Chia Wei's fortune was: ""This year your highest priority will be your family." Zach's fortune was: "A chance meeting with a stranger may soon change your life." I didn't get a fortune. George's fortune had something to do with work. Go figure!
Ben Chia Wei and Zach were awake to take photos of the sunrise this morning. In fact, they were up at 2:15 a.m. We played everything: trains, darts, cards, etc. By 4:30 a.m., they were happily chowing down fried eggs and noodles. George took them to the park at the Reservoir after that and Ben Chia Wei had his first encounter with the curly slide, the monkey bars and a modern day water fountain.
Right now, 8 p.m., they're riding their new bikes back and forth along the deck. We've all had a great day. Zach doesn't want to do anything now without Ben, and vice versa.
We're all still tired. We took naps today and hopefully will get back on U.S. time soon!

We're Home

We're Home!!!!!!!!!!

The boys were real troopers throughout the trip and really did a great job. Eleven hours of flying and nary a complaint. Our friend Peter ( Father of 2 boys and our Dad on call), picked us at SFO and brought us to Lafayette. Ben got to experience his first San Francisco rush hour but more importantly, his first day in California.

He was a bit hesitant to go into our house even though he'd seen pictures and videos. Once inside, Julie gave him the tour and he quickly seemed comfortable. He and Zach played with every toy they could pull out and even took turns riding Zach' bike.

Stan has accepted Ben and later tonight, Ben met Ellie and Painter for the first time. Ellie's exuberance may be a little much for Ben but we're sure that within a few days, they'll be fine.

Any how, we're kind of tired and nee do settle into our new time (15 hour time difference may take some time).

Again , thanks for all your love and support. We'll add more pix in the next couple of days.

Good night to you all!

George, Julie. Zach, Ben, Ellie, Painter and Stan ... All in Lafayette at last!

Home soon

We've found a groove. Breakfast at 6:30 a.m. before every other guest is awake: Fast taxi to the park. Zach and Ben Chia Wei love the slides and monkey bars. We also play catch with the football.
Yesterday, we visited the main memorial and Ben showed us the fish food dispenser so we fed fish for quite some time. We also went shopping for some new clothes. Ben has very little, just a few rather worn out shirts and shorts and shoes that are too big. He ran immediately to the Nike sandals. Loves them! Zach wanted different ones, of course.
The competition is fierce. Who gets to open the room? Push the elevator button? Play with the red car? By the end of the day, though, they're giggling and snorting like pigs as they refuse to fall asleep.
We're catching a slightly earlier flight home so will be home mid-day Monday as opposed to at night. We're very ready! See u all soon...

Still Kicking!

June 6, 2009
Saturday night: 8:44 p.m.
The other night my sister coined what may be a new phrase: "Extreme babysitting." She was referring, I believe, to what she thought we would need in the future, which she considered a combination of "The Nanny" and "Extreme babysitting." We laughed until we cried over that one.
Ben Chia Wei is no shrinking violet. Today, I took him to the pool and, within minutes, he was talking to me loudly in Chinese and pointing to the deep water. I said: "The answer is no, to whatever you just asked." I knew, just knew, that he wanted to dive right in. Shortly after getting into the pool, he had me take the float wings off, even though he can't really stay up, but he could sort of touch. He was all arms and legs, flapping and kicking. No problem sticking his head under the water, over and over. He'll entice Zach to make that leap in no time. He absolutely loves the water.
Zach and Ben are already big competitors. We thought it would be unlikely that we'd get another kid as competitive and strong willed as Zach, but alas, within minutes of meeting Zach, Ben was measuring who was taller. Zach still has him by a tiny bit, and a good 10 pounds, but they're not far apart otherwise. They're also both win-at-all-cost Candy Land players. As soon as Ben got "peanuts" this morning, which meant he was probably going to lose, he quit playing. He communicated perfectly. (That language barrier thing is really overblown.)
Speaking of that, we do seem to be doing okay. We ate lunch today at a food court and he pointed to a picture of what he wanted. He didn't like it, as it turned out, but he got to choose. We also walked through a market, and he picked out grapes, chips, more chips, more chips and guava slices. We also can eventually figure out what he wants. Today, it was gum. Yesterday, it was water. You know, the essentials. We seem to run into turtles everywhere, in books and ponds, so he's got that ever important word down. And when we go to the Club Room for breakfast or cold drinks in the afternoon, he says "good morning" like he's been saying it forever.
Speaking of the Club Room, it's awesome. We go there for breakfast and it's open all day for cold drinks, cookies, double-double espressos, etc. At one point between afternoon cookies today, Zach leaned back in his chair and said: "I love this place."
Zach can't swim for six more days. OUCH. That was our plan for the hotel: pool, pool, pool. But his wound needs to stay dry. He was a real trooper again today, going back to the hospital to get it checked. He cried very loudly as he, George and Mary left the hotel and all of the hotel attendants surrounded him to try comfort him. When he returned, they welcomed him with big "Hi Zachs."
We've made a few trips out of the hotel: to a playground yesterday at Memorial Park and to a park today to play catch with a football. Venturing out is a little scary since we don't know if Ben will slip out of our hands and dodge into a busy street or something so we keep our trips short enough that we don't get too stressed -- and even that's hard. We'll be glad to be home where we're more familiar. Two more days, then we fly home, as planned, on Monday night.
We had a glimpse of things to come tonight when we settled down to watch "Kung Fu Panda." The question was: "Do we watch it in Mandarin or English and Zach said "Mandarin." Mary left tonight for home. She was super to have here and we're forever indebted.
That's it for today... Good night! Julie

The Journey Continues....

Today was our day to go to the American Institute to get Ben's paperwork processed and get the Visa we need to come home. We arrived at 7:45 as appointed and bypassed the huge lines of Tawainese applying for US Visa's. Once upstairs, we went to one line, waited for another line , reviewed the paperwork, went downstairs to pay the fees , then back upstairs to be interviewed. Sounds fascinating, doesn't it?? Imagine if you' re Ben and don't speak English and no electronic toys are allowed.

Well, he was a trooper and waited through the the 2.5 hours like a pro. Have to say we're pretty lucky to have met a great family from the Maryland who were there with their 5 kids and helped keep Ben amused.

Unfortunately, we won't get his Visa til Monday so we 'll have some more time to explore Taipei.

After the trip to the Visa office , we went to Taipei 101, which was the tallest building in the world at the beginning of the 21st century and celebrated by buying more toys and chicken nuggets. Five year olds know how to live!

Zach is doing better, antibiotics work. For all you Health Net folks, the ER visit, minor surgery and Meds cost about $50 US dollars.

Anyhow, life is exciting and challenging. Ben is doing great and Zach is thrilled to have a brother. As we suspected, the boys are communicating pretty well and fights are at a minimum. Those days won't last.

Sorry there aren't pix but Julie's computer is dead so we're using the Hotel computer and can't down load. We'll put some up when we're home next week.

Til tomorrow, have a great one and thanks for all your support!
George, Julie, Zach, Ben and Mary in Taipei, Ellie, Painter and Stan in Lafayette

All are sound asleep

This will probably sound a little flat -- only because we're quite tired and the day was so stupendous. It'll take me days to process all that occurred. Let me start with this: Zach and Ben Chia Wei and George all fell asleep as I read: "The Giraffe Who Couldn't Dance." They were down by 9 p.m. Right on schedule.
Zach was the first. In addition to getting a new brother today, he got a visit to the Emergency Room given an abscess on his back that started out as a bug bite. It grew rapidly in the past day and a half and sat right at his pants line. He was so uncomfortable this morning that he walked like "an old man," he said.
We had to meet Ben Chia Wei at 10: a.m., so we couldn't take Zach to the hotel clinic until after we returned to Taipei around 4 p.m. The clinic suggested the emergency room as he needed lancing and antibiotics. He's fine now. But it hurt very much. We had to hold him down and he was so scared. "Doctor can I be done now?" he said over and over. This happened once before in a different spot about 18 months ago. He obviously remembered how much it hurt so the 20 minutes leading up to the emergency room was very trying.
While George and I took Zach there, my sister Mary had Ben Chia Wei for 90 minutes in Room 2141, which is still standing! (We did have the hotel remove the very nice pottery display.)
Ben Chia Wei is adorable and if our computer hadn't broken, or whatever is going on, we would have all kinds of wonderful photos to show you. But alas, words will have to suffice.
Our first encounter happened before it should have. We walked up the steps of St. Lucy Center to meet him and he poked his head out of the door and stood there with a big grin before someone summoned him back inside. I knew then that everything was going to be OK.
He bounced back into our room shortly thereafter and tore open a bag of stuffed animals for us, with one especially for Zach. Zach, in turn, gave Ben Chia Wei a new Transformer -- the red one, unopened and everything. Good boy. Another good moment.
We visited with the center workers, as well as Ben Chia Wei's foster mother, and also his birth mother, for several hours. Ben and Zach played with the toys, sometimes together, and we quickly picked up how to help Zach say "My turn" in Mandarin. The goodbyes were very teary. We promised both moms that they would see him again.
Once we got on the train, we could take deep breaths. For one thing, he's a boy who can obviously run fast and it felt good to get off that train platform. He is a happy, funny, engaging and competent boy. We had DVD players for each of them, with videos for Ben in Mandarin, and the boys sat and watched their shows, ate nuts and drank apple juice all the way home.
While we were at the hospital with Zach, Ben Chia Wei dove into the hotel bathtub. Mary said she was lucky to get there to get his clothes off before he jumped in. We'd brought little submarines. For the rest of the night, he wanted to go back to the bath to play. We also have soft balls, and we played catch. He liked that, too, and he seems to be a natural at Hide-and-Seek. Overall, no punches were thrown and any verbal jabs -- were there any -- were missed.
Oh, and also, Ben Chia Wei's first words in English were "up high," from a High Five game my brother taught me that seems to be a big hit with kids of all ages. Thanks Peter.
One of his favorite foods, his foster mother said, was chicken nuggets. So we did dinner in. Chicken nuggets for the boys -- and my sister -- and french fries and ice cream. They both ate everything. That's it for tonight....Be well...

Yea! One photo. Zach outside the Hyatt, by the pool, feeling very uncomfortable, you can tell.

Second day here

It's hard to know what was more exciting today: Zach taking his first swimming strokes without his float wings or buying Ben his first toys!
We'll meet him tomorrow morning. Zach woke up today talking about it.
We spent the day at a huge Monastary about an hour from town. On the way home, we drove through Ben's village of Pingtung. It is a bustling place with shops, more shops and loads of motorbikes. We took photos of City Hall, parks, the streets. If he doesn't have photos of his own, he may enjoy looking at those.
The monastary was built into a hillside. We climbed hundreds of steps and enjoyed many wonderful gardens. The nuns loved Zach. Two of them brought him little gifts. We've had trouble trying to post photos, so will try again....

Taiwan,
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
We're on the bullet train from Taipei to Tainan, where we will meet Ben Chia Wei two days from now. We arrived Taipei on Monday, on schedule, about 10 p.m.
The flight went very well. Zach started to fuss about six hours into it. "I've changed my mind. I don't want to get Ben. I want to go home," he wailed.
He cried for a few minutes and fell asleep as soon as we stretched him out on the floor in front of us. He slept most of the rest of the way, another seven hours. Once at the Hyatt, he slept for two more hours and then he and George cruised the hotel, all night. They met every security guard, rode every escalator, many times, and looked at every closed restaurant.
We hit the outdoor pool by 7:30 a.m. It was lovely, on the fifth floor veranda. Below us, the computer elite gathered for the computer tradeshow of the year in Taiwan. A Microsoft banner hung on the building across from us. Made us feel at home.
Zach has already claimed the Leapster game machine we brought for Ben -- even though it is exactly the same as the one we brought for Zach. More of that to come, we suspect. All in all, Zach has been a wonderful traveler: pulling his own suitcase, following us like a pro through the train station, chatting up the taxi driver.
"Where's Ben?" he'll say, out of the blue.
Right now, Curious George is occupying him on his portable DVD player. The Taiwan countryside is passing by. It's very green, with houses, sheds and apartments sprouting out of what appears to be rice paddies, corn fields and sugar cane.
We're all a little tired now, but on track to shed jet lag by tomorrow. Until then ….