Many proud parents relish the opportunity to point out how extraordinarily gifted and advanced their child is compared to "average" kids. Some parents love to tell everyone they meet how they rank on various percentiles, their scores on internet IQ tests, their progress on cold-fusion research, etc... And while I am sure the IQ test for 6-12 month old babies developed by Fisher Price (seriously!) is completely legit, I did not want to score Collin's development based on some simple questions. I wanted hard, measurable science. (plus there was that whole Fisher-Price IQ-killing lead-coated-toy recall thing). So I developed my own, completely scientific, method for determining how gifted a baby truly is. While Collin still has room for improvement in some areas, I think it is obvious that he is truly exceptional. I'm already working on bumper stickers.
2009 Standardized Poop Assesment Test:
Output and Frequency: >97th percentile
Bouquet: 95th
IPFD Test: >97 (Immediately Pooping in a Fresh Diaper)
Containment Avoidance: 75-90
Self Removal: 25-50 (he hasn't figured that one out yet)
WIHT Test: 75-95 (The WHAT IN THE HELL IS THAT? Test)
On a slightly more serious note, it's official. Collin got his first word badge for consistently saying "juice" even though it sounds like "yoose" or sometimes, "ayoo" we know what he means. I can definitely see how he could have 40 or 50 words that would sound like complete nonsense to a stranger, but we would know exactly what he was saying.
We probably could have given him the badge sooner, but I wanted to be sure there was a repeatable cause and effect. He's been babbling for months now and has been saying mama and dada and even "addy" for a while, but we still can't tell for sure if he's talking to us, the cat or just making noise. "Hi" has also been around for a while, but with juice there is no mistaking it. He only says it when he is referring to the sippy cup and gets very happy with himself when he says it and we give him the cup.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
9 Months and a haircut
It's been a while since I've updated the baby blog but life and travel intervened. Here's the latest. He's 9 months, about 23 pounds and 27". Lots has changed since my last update and I now know what everyone meant when they said it would go by so fast. While the first 6 months seemed like about 2 years, the last 3 flew by in what felt like a week. He's growing and developing so fast I wish we could slow it down and enjoy it more. Birth to 3 months was all about surviving without sleep. 3-6 months was thinking that it should be getting easier by now but it wasn't and wondering if we could really do this and keep both of our very demanding jobs - we could not have done it without Amber (his awesome nanny) and tons of help from family and friends, but 6-9 months has been all about trying to keep up with him. We still need lots of help, but he's settled into something resembling a routine, we are both getting sleep and things get more and more fun every day. Evenings are the best. We feed him about 6, he plays until about 8, gets a bath is sound asleep by 9 and he'll usually sleep until 7 or 7:30. Amber comes at 8, takes him for a walk with the dog, breakfast, nap around 10, lunch around noon, play until 2 or 3, another nap, 4PM snack and then more play time until dinner.
He crawls and plays like a maniac now and that was the key. He wears himself out and needs more sleep. He's also standing up and walking as long as he has something to hold on to (I recently found out this is called "cruising"). He'll be walking soon.
He's not talking yet, but its coming. The other morning Andrea brought him into our bed as we were waking up, he looked right at me and said "dada" I was delighted and about to give him his first-word badge, then he looked right at the dog and said "dada", so no badge yet, but he babbles non-stop and he'll be talking soon. I know that once he starts he'll never stop so I'm not in a big hurry.
He also knows his name, we can call to him and he'll turn and look, unfortunately the dog now thinks his name is Collin too and while calling "Collin" won't get him to stop throwing books off the shelf, it'll get the dog to come right over.
It was also time for a haircut. He was starting to look a bit like Nick Nolte's mugshot, so we took out first stab at cutting hair. We didn't hurt him, but the hair will grow back. Here are some before pictures.
(sorry - no after pictures yet)
He also gets the giggles a lot. I'm not sure what's funnier - the kid or the dog licking the floor in the background. This time he was cracking up every time I would say "oops".
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Great Photos!
Collin is very to lucky to not only have a fantastic nanny, but she is also a great photographer. Here are some of the photos she has taken. You can see more of her work here:
www.ambersnowphotography.com
www.ambersnowphotography.com
Monday, January 26, 2009
Half a Year and Counting
Collin has reached yet another important milestone in his development. He has survived six entire months with us as his parents! That is half of a year and coincidentally coincides (within a day) to Andrea's birthday which is also our anniversary. He also has teeth! 2 of them. I'm pretty excited that he is going to have teeth, but I think Andrea would rather he didn't (at least for a while) since she now has to teach him not to bite certain things.
But the big news is that he is crawling. He scooched along for a long time, but it is a full on crawl now. For a long time we could put him on the floor, go off for a minute, come back and he would be more or less in the same place we left him. Now, if we were to leave him alone for more than a minute he may very well be at the neighbor's house - or in Kansas. He hasn't asked for the car keys yet, but it's just a matter of time.
I've learned that when babies start to crawl they immediately head for the most dangerous thing in their immediate vicinity. There could be toys everywhere, but he had much rather bang his head on the coffee table or chew on a door stop. (Why do they build houses where every corner and edge is sharp??? Couldn't they round some of this stuff off?) But anyway, I think I've figured out why babies do this. We parents have an instinctive urge to protect our little ones and in order to balance this out, babies are born with an instinctive urge to kill themselves. There is some sort of evil natural selection going on here. It's as if one day they wake up and think: "You know what would really hit the spot right now? Some drain cleaner!" So they spend the whole day searching for drain cleaner. If they can't find any they'll either order some online or find something equally dangerous, like: "Hey - I wonder what its like inside the fireplace." Or: "That electrical cord looks scrumptious!" Some aren't quite so dangerous - just gross. Cat food comes to mind. Or chewing on the dog's chew toy. Parents have to respond to this by moving everything up out of their reach. I hear that you just keep moving things higher and higher until they are teenagers and everything you own is in the attic.
Luckily we've been able to keep Collin away from everything other than the odd head bump, but I had no idea we lived in such a dangerous place.
We aren't really trying to contain him as long as someone is watching him and it is delightful to watch him crawl around and he loves it - he'll follow Andrea from room to room and untie her shoes every chance he gets.
But the big news is that he is crawling. He scooched along for a long time, but it is a full on crawl now. For a long time we could put him on the floor, go off for a minute, come back and he would be more or less in the same place we left him. Now, if we were to leave him alone for more than a minute he may very well be at the neighbor's house - or in Kansas. He hasn't asked for the car keys yet, but it's just a matter of time.
I've learned that when babies start to crawl they immediately head for the most dangerous thing in their immediate vicinity. There could be toys everywhere, but he had much rather bang his head on the coffee table or chew on a door stop. (Why do they build houses where every corner and edge is sharp??? Couldn't they round some of this stuff off?) But anyway, I think I've figured out why babies do this. We parents have an instinctive urge to protect our little ones and in order to balance this out, babies are born with an instinctive urge to kill themselves. There is some sort of evil natural selection going on here. It's as if one day they wake up and think: "You know what would really hit the spot right now? Some drain cleaner!" So they spend the whole day searching for drain cleaner. If they can't find any they'll either order some online or find something equally dangerous, like: "Hey - I wonder what its like inside the fireplace." Or: "That electrical cord looks scrumptious!" Some aren't quite so dangerous - just gross. Cat food comes to mind. Or chewing on the dog's chew toy. Parents have to respond to this by moving everything up out of their reach. I hear that you just keep moving things higher and higher until they are teenagers and everything you own is in the attic.
Luckily we've been able to keep Collin away from everything other than the odd head bump, but I had no idea we lived in such a dangerous place.
We aren't really trying to contain him as long as someone is watching him and it is delightful to watch him crawl around and he loves it - he'll follow Andrea from room to room and untie her shoes every chance he gets.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Collin's first Christmas (tree)
Collin had his first Christmas this week complete with a tree! He, of course will not remember any of this and we will always remember it as the Christmas when Collin thought it was just another Thursday except the house was full of people and his nanny didn't show up. This was our first Christmas with a tree. Andrea and I have been married for 10 (yes, TEN) years and have never had a tree. She just didin't want one. She felt there were other ways to decorate and celebrate, and even though I put up a fight most years, she won out every time. We wrapped the trunks of the trees in our front yard with lights and we would go to the tree lot to collect trimmings and spread them around the house and I think we even put up stockings one year. But 10 years and no tree. However this year I had leverage (a new baby). The exchange went something like this:
ME: "I want a tree this year. We have a kid and a bigger house now. There is no excuse."
ANDREA: "I don't want a tree. We don't have a good place to put it. It's a terrible waste of environmental resources and Collin won't remember it anyway."
ME: "We have a kid now. We have to get a tree."
ANDREA: "No. He's 5 months old. He doesn't even know what Christmas is. He doesn't need a tree."
ME: "In a few years he will demand a tree, so we may as well get used to it, plus I've always wanted to have one. Plus your family is visiting and they will expect a tree"
ANDREA: "We don't have anything to decorate it with."
ME: "We have lights (from decorating the trunks of 0ur previous trees) and I know where to buy ornaments. We start small and add to it every year. This is the best possible time to start - new house - new kid."
ANDREA: "OK, but is has to go in this room because the colors are better"
ME: "No, it needs to go in this room, because, ummmm, that's where I pictured it."
ANDREA: "It has to go in this room and we have to rearrange all of the furniture to make it work."
ME: "OK, but we are NOT listening to ANY Mannheim Steamroller."
ANDREA: "Good - I hate Mannheim Steamroller."
So I went and got a tree. We have 9' ceilings so I went for a 7'-8' noble fir, but in retrospect I could gone a little bigger (size is everyting), but it was a great first tree. I also got a base and headed home. Andrea let me bring it in, put it in the base, do a little a trimming and start decorating it. All without adult supervision. Collin helped and he likes lights. I like lights and we didn't have a singe ornament to our name - but we had LOTS of lights. So, of course, I went all Clark Griswald on it and just started wrapping it with lights. I started with one color and wrapped it from the top to the botton, then picked another and went from the bottom to the top. This went on for a while until I had used most of the lights that we used to use to wrap the trunks of 7 live oaks in our old front yard. I plugged it in, turned off the lights and went to get Andrea. Collin loved it, but the following exchange went something like this:
ME: "Well, what do you think" (hoping the breaker doesn't trip)
ADNREA: "WOW. That is very impressive! But what does it look if we turn on the lights?"
ME: "Ummmm.... Let'd find out" (Switches on lights)
ANDREA: "It's really nice with the lights out, but when the lights are on all you can see are wires everywhere."
ME: "Ya, that's normal - you need all those wires to hang the ornaments."
ANDREA: "But we don't have any ornaments and you can hang them from the tree branches."
ME: "OK - Should we just add more lights?"
Ultimately Andrea's logic prevailed and she took off every single light I had put on and put back on about 1/5 of them. Then we bought ornaments, then andrea decided it needed to be decorated with orange origami birds which she and our friend Katsumi spent an evening making. It looked very nice in the end we all had a great time and we have a good base to build on for next year.
On the Christmas front: We had a great visit from Andrea's parents and her brother Paul and his family. They have 3 kids (3, 5, and 7) so we got a good preview of what is coming. They are all wonderful and it's amazing how different they all are. Vivvy (Vivienne- 3) is all about pink, mermaids and her Christmas dress. Jeremy (5) is all about dinosaurs, chaos, legos and getting the most out of every minute. Ethan (7) is all about games, cash-money and non-stop excitement. They are a delightful trio and without a dull moment! Collin also got a ton of toys from lots of family and friends (which he needed).
Me? I got lots of SPAM (seriously-see previous post - I never should have posted that). But overall it was a wonderful Christmas and I wouldn't trade a minute if it - but I Will trade the SPAM. What I really wanted was a Wii!
ME: "I want a tree this year. We have a kid and a bigger house now. There is no excuse."
ANDREA: "I don't want a tree. We don't have a good place to put it. It's a terrible waste of environmental resources and Collin won't remember it anyway."
ME: "We have a kid now. We have to get a tree."
ANDREA: "No. He's 5 months old. He doesn't even know what Christmas is. He doesn't need a tree."
ME: "In a few years he will demand a tree, so we may as well get used to it, plus I've always wanted to have one. Plus your family is visiting and they will expect a tree"
ANDREA: "We don't have anything to decorate it with."
ME: "We have lights (from decorating the trunks of 0ur previous trees) and I know where to buy ornaments. We start small and add to it every year. This is the best possible time to start - new house - new kid."
ANDREA: "OK, but is has to go in this room because the colors are better"
ME: "No, it needs to go in this room, because, ummmm, that's where I pictured it."
ANDREA: "It has to go in this room and we have to rearrange all of the furniture to make it work."
ME: "OK, but we are NOT listening to ANY Mannheim Steamroller."
ANDREA: "Good - I hate Mannheim Steamroller."
So I went and got a tree. We have 9' ceilings so I went for a 7'-8' noble fir, but in retrospect I could gone a little bigger (size is everyting), but it was a great first tree. I also got a base and headed home. Andrea let me bring it in, put it in the base, do a little a trimming and start decorating it. All without adult supervision. Collin helped and he likes lights. I like lights and we didn't have a singe ornament to our name - but we had LOTS of lights. So, of course, I went all Clark Griswald on it and just started wrapping it with lights. I started with one color and wrapped it from the top to the botton, then picked another and went from the bottom to the top. This went on for a while until I had used most of the lights that we used to use to wrap the trunks of 7 live oaks in our old front yard. I plugged it in, turned off the lights and went to get Andrea. Collin loved it, but the following exchange went something like this:
ME: "Well, what do you think" (hoping the breaker doesn't trip)
ADNREA: "WOW. That is very impressive! But what does it look if we turn on the lights?"
ME: "Ummmm.... Let'd find out" (Switches on lights)
ANDREA: "It's really nice with the lights out, but when the lights are on all you can see are wires everywhere."
ME: "Ya, that's normal - you need all those wires to hang the ornaments."
ANDREA: "But we don't have any ornaments and you can hang them from the tree branches."
ME: "OK - Should we just add more lights?"
Ultimately Andrea's logic prevailed and she took off every single light I had put on and put back on about 1/5 of them. Then we bought ornaments, then andrea decided it needed to be decorated with orange origami birds which she and our friend Katsumi spent an evening making. It looked very nice in the end we all had a great time and we have a good base to build on for next year.
On the Christmas front: We had a great visit from Andrea's parents and her brother Paul and his family. They have 3 kids (3, 5, and 7) so we got a good preview of what is coming. They are all wonderful and it's amazing how different they all are. Vivvy (Vivienne- 3) is all about pink, mermaids and her Christmas dress. Jeremy (5) is all about dinosaurs, chaos, legos and getting the most out of every minute. Ethan (7) is all about games, cash-money and non-stop excitement. They are a delightful trio and without a dull moment! Collin also got a ton of toys from lots of family and friends (which he needed).
Me? I got lots of SPAM (seriously-see previous post - I never should have posted that). But overall it was a wonderful Christmas and I wouldn't trade a minute if it - but I Will trade the SPAM. What I really wanted was a Wii!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Hacking Cough of Death
Collin has his first cold and it's a good one - he's even managed to give to me. I think there is definitely some natural selection going on here because when he is sick he is 10X as cute, sweet and cuddly as normal. This prevents parents with a baby that has the hacking cough of death from leaving them in the woods to fend for themselves. Just today Andrea sat with him in the car, in the garage, for an hour because he had fallen asleep on the way home from somewhere and she didn't want to wake him. This is not normal behavior for adults, but normal for babies that have evolved to the point of being able to melt their parents' hearts while simultaneously hacking up globs of mucus with a constant stream of snot running out their noses and keeping us up all night.
We've so far managed to survive his first cold without taking him to the emergency room. I know that this is a typical response for sleep-deprived first-time parents, so we are doing our best. His evolution is so well tuned that the first night he had it, he slept through the night for the first time ever. We were ecstatic and couldn't believe it - colds are great! But he made up for it the next night when he wouldn't sleep unless one of us were holding him. Once we realized it was going to be a tough night I volunteered to take the brunt of it. Andrea had to go into the office the next day and I just had a few things on my to-do list working from home while the nanny was there. We took turns until about 3AM when Andrea handed him to me and said he wasn't hungry. I took him and started my usual ritual of trying to put him to sleep while Andrea was in the bathroom. I walked up and down the hall, I rocked him, I kept at it until he finally fell asleep while I was rocking him. Andrea had been in the bathroom for a really long time (not at all unusual) and I really needed to pee, so I put him down and used the one down the hall. When I came back Collin was crying, but still no Andrea. That was when I noticed her pillow was gone and knew that we were on our own. She had gone someplace else to sleep for a few hours without telling either of us.
This is obviously some highly evolved mothering instinct to trick the father into thinking she's right there ready to help. It worked and we all managed a little sleep. But next time I think I'll just stay in the car.
We've so far managed to survive his first cold without taking him to the emergency room. I know that this is a typical response for sleep-deprived first-time parents, so we are doing our best. His evolution is so well tuned that the first night he had it, he slept through the night for the first time ever. We were ecstatic and couldn't believe it - colds are great! But he made up for it the next night when he wouldn't sleep unless one of us were holding him. Once we realized it was going to be a tough night I volunteered to take the brunt of it. Andrea had to go into the office the next day and I just had a few things on my to-do list working from home while the nanny was there. We took turns until about 3AM when Andrea handed him to me and said he wasn't hungry. I took him and started my usual ritual of trying to put him to sleep while Andrea was in the bathroom. I walked up and down the hall, I rocked him, I kept at it until he finally fell asleep while I was rocking him. Andrea had been in the bathroom for a really long time (not at all unusual) and I really needed to pee, so I put him down and used the one down the hall. When I came back Collin was crying, but still no Andrea. That was when I noticed her pillow was gone and knew that we were on our own. She had gone someplace else to sleep for a few hours without telling either of us.
This is obviously some highly evolved mothering instinct to trick the father into thinking she's right there ready to help. It worked and we all managed a little sleep. But next time I think I'll just stay in the car.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
"Solid" Foods
Collin is 5 months old now and is well on his way to mastering the art of eating solid food from a spoon. Although I have no idea why they insist on calling it solid food. It is definitely mush and I am not giving him his solid food rating until he can eat Spam.
He started with rice mush a couple weeks ago, but broke out in hives and had little bumps all over his body so we stopped for a while then started back up with oat mush and now he's up to oat mush and banana mush twice a day. He's better with the spoon and will sometimes wait until we get it all the way into his mouth before he grabs it. He definitely likes the food and the percentage of food that makes it from spoon to stomach is going up steadily. He still makes a huge mess, but we no longer feel like we need to feed him in the driveway.
On another front, his nap routine has changed completely. I no longer have to go through the elaborate ritual I described in a previous post to get him to fall asleep. All I have to do now is hold him and walk around or rock him and he'll usually pass right out. He's also decided that there are 3 acceptable places to nap: the car, his stroller and laying on my chest. His crib did not make the list. I'll hold him for 5 or 10 minutes to make sure he is absolutely asleep, then I'll walk over to his crib and try and put him down. I can hold him 2" over the crib and he will be like a wet noodle, but as soon as his butt touches that crib his eyes pop open and a cry is soon to follow. I've tried patting his back, comforting him, everything. Pacifiers are useless - he'll just take it out of his mouth, look at it and then chew on the side. The only thing I can do is pick him back up and comfort him back to sleep. This goes on until he is obviously no longer sleepy or I give up and let him sleep on my chest.
He started with rice mush a couple weeks ago, but broke out in hives and had little bumps all over his body so we stopped for a while then started back up with oat mush and now he's up to oat mush and banana mush twice a day. He's better with the spoon and will sometimes wait until we get it all the way into his mouth before he grabs it. He definitely likes the food and the percentage of food that makes it from spoon to stomach is going up steadily. He still makes a huge mess, but we no longer feel like we need to feed him in the driveway.
On another front, his nap routine has changed completely. I no longer have to go through the elaborate ritual I described in a previous post to get him to fall asleep. All I have to do now is hold him and walk around or rock him and he'll usually pass right out. He's also decided that there are 3 acceptable places to nap: the car, his stroller and laying on my chest. His crib did not make the list. I'll hold him for 5 or 10 minutes to make sure he is absolutely asleep, then I'll walk over to his crib and try and put him down. I can hold him 2" over the crib and he will be like a wet noodle, but as soon as his butt touches that crib his eyes pop open and a cry is soon to follow. I've tried patting his back, comforting him, everything. Pacifiers are useless - he'll just take it out of his mouth, look at it and then chew on the side. The only thing I can do is pick him back up and comfort him back to sleep. This goes on until he is obviously no longer sleepy or I give up and let him sleep on my chest.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
To Bangalore we go
Once we were finished in Beijing we flew down to Shanghai for 2 days and looked at potential venues for another show. We didn't have much free time but did manage to get in a foot massage.
Once we finished in Shanghai it was time to make our way to India. Our flight took us through Singapore where we had a 6 hour layover. One of my lovely travel companions lived there for 2 years and gave me a whirlwind tour of the city. We went to a place where locals eat called a Hawker stall and had a great lunch.
We also walked down Orchard Road and took in some of the sights. I have to say it is definitely the most western city I have ever been too (outside of the West). We didn't have much time and I'm sure there is much more to see. So we headed off to Bangalore.
I must admit that I had pretty low expectations for Bangalore. In fact I don't think they could have been any lower unless I was going to Branson for a week of Mannheim Steamroller. Bangalore is way down in Southern India in the middle of the jungle and like most major cities it is over run with cows and monkeys. Cows are sacred in India which means they are allowed to eat from the huge piles of garbage that are also everywhere. The place is filthy and generally looks like it's falling apart. The power also goes out several times a day, so everything we did had to be run from generators. The hotel was very nice and as long as you stayed in your little bubble it was fine, but once you ventured outside you see complete abject poverty everywhere. I didn't venture far - just far enough to see the monkeys and cows. But we all survivied and no one got sick! I do have some nice things to say about it. The food (at the hotel) was great. They have the best tortillas ever (naan bread they call them) and the people we were working with were all fantastic. It's just not much of a place for tourism. Getting home was another adventure. I started a stopwatch when we left the hotel. We had to fly through Delhi. Normally when you have a connection you drop your bags off once, change planes in the middle and you're on your way. Not so in Delhi. They are 2 different airports. You claim your bags, wait in a line so they can check your name for international transfer, wait in another line to get on a bus (with your luggage) ride the bus for 30 minutes then start the whole check in over again. Once I was on plane and settled in the captain came on the intercom and said the words I had been dreading: "Our flying time to Chicago will be 15 hours and 50 minutes" AHHHHH! I did a pretty good job sleeping and it felt really good to get off the plane in Chicago. Quick 3 hour flight back to austin and I was home. 32 hours door to door! But anyway - it was a great trip and it's great to be home reconnecting with Andrea and Collin and I'm excited to turn this blog back over to the little guy! More to come...
Once we finished in Shanghai it was time to make our way to India. Our flight took us through Singapore where we had a 6 hour layover. One of my lovely travel companions lived there for 2 years and gave me a whirlwind tour of the city. We went to a place where locals eat called a Hawker stall and had a great lunch.
We also walked down Orchard Road and took in some of the sights. I have to say it is definitely the most western city I have ever been too (outside of the West). We didn't have much time and I'm sure there is much more to see. So we headed off to Bangalore.
I must admit that I had pretty low expectations for Bangalore. In fact I don't think they could have been any lower unless I was going to Branson for a week of Mannheim Steamroller. Bangalore is way down in Southern India in the middle of the jungle and like most major cities it is over run with cows and monkeys. Cows are sacred in India which means they are allowed to eat from the huge piles of garbage that are also everywhere. The place is filthy and generally looks like it's falling apart. The power also goes out several times a day, so everything we did had to be run from generators. The hotel was very nice and as long as you stayed in your little bubble it was fine, but once you ventured outside you see complete abject poverty everywhere. I didn't venture far - just far enough to see the monkeys and cows. But we all survivied and no one got sick! I do have some nice things to say about it. The food (at the hotel) was great. They have the best tortillas ever (naan bread they call them) and the people we were working with were all fantastic. It's just not much of a place for tourism. Getting home was another adventure. I started a stopwatch when we left the hotel. We had to fly through Delhi. Normally when you have a connection you drop your bags off once, change planes in the middle and you're on your way. Not so in Delhi. They are 2 different airports. You claim your bags, wait in a line so they can check your name for international transfer, wait in another line to get on a bus (with your luggage) ride the bus for 30 minutes then start the whole check in over again. Once I was on plane and settled in the captain came on the intercom and said the words I had been dreading: "Our flying time to Chicago will be 15 hours and 50 minutes" AHHHHH! I did a pretty good job sleeping and it felt really good to get off the plane in Chicago. Quick 3 hour flight back to austin and I was home. 32 hours door to door! But anyway - it was a great trip and it's great to be home reconnecting with Andrea and Collin and I'm excited to turn this blog back over to the little guy! More to come...
Gates of the Harmonious Divineness
I've been home from Asia for about a week now and have had ample time to reflect upon my travels to write an honest, heartfelt entry about how much I loved the Forbidden City in Beijing and the city of Bangalore in General.
After we went to the Great Wall we went to the Olympic Village. Which was so awesome I can't bring myself to make fun of it. Although it did look taller on TV. Seeing the bird's nest and the water cube was probably the highlight of the whole trip. I definitely recommend that everyone go there as long as someone else is paying for your travel.
The Forbidden City and Bangalore are a different story and will not fare so well on my blog. Let's start with The Forbidden City. They call it that because men are forbidden to enter unless they are either castrated or have the patience to wait in line and buy a ticket. Even though the lines can be quite long, tickets are still the way to go, but back in the day the men were castrated to protect the bloodline of the emperor. I also heard they had a lot combines around but I didn't see any (didn't see any crops either). The city was home to the emperors of the Ming, Ping and Pong dynasties dating back to 1410 where they carried out all of their imperial duties and hung out with the Eunuchs and Combines. Once you go through the main gate you are greeted by a big courtyard surrounded by big ornate buildings with sloping roofs. There are also lots of tour groups wearing matching hats and following someone carrying a flag.
Someone made a bet with me to try and get someone to say "Go Texas" or something similar on video and the most fun I had there was goofing with the tour groups.
Once you cross the courtyard you can walk up to a big building and if you want, fight your way through the tour groups and look in the window. You can't go inside because it is forbidden. As far as I could tell each of these rooms has approximately 3 vases and 2 chairs and based upon the number of people trying to look inside they are of extraordinary cultural significance. Or maybe everyone else was doing what I was which was thinking that there must be something really cool in that room because there are 200 people trying look inside, but then you make your way to the window its just more vases and chairs. There are about 900 rooms like this with names like "The Hall of Glorious Harmony" and "Place of Heavenly Purity" or my favorite, "The Hall of Mental Cultivation". What was hard to find was "The hall of the heavenly toilet" or the "divine place to sit down for a minute".
I'm sure there was some fascinating history and culture there, but I missed it. I did find the Imperial gift shop where the Emperor bought his T-shirts and Yao Ming snow globes.
Across from the Forbidden City is Tiannenmen Square, where the big student uprising in the 80's took place and the iconic photo of the person standing defiantly in front of the tank was taken. There weren't any tanks there, but you can rest assured that security is still very tight. We ran across this officer standing guard to quell any unauthorized protests.
But it was very cool to stand there and take in the sights. We also had the bizarre experience of having people want to have their phot taken with us. It probably happened 6 or 7 times, where Chinese people (most likely rural) wanted a picture with one of us.
We also got our photo taken with the world famous Peking Duck!
After we went to the Great Wall we went to the Olympic Village. Which was so awesome I can't bring myself to make fun of it. Although it did look taller on TV. Seeing the bird's nest and the water cube was probably the highlight of the whole trip. I definitely recommend that everyone go there as long as someone else is paying for your travel.
The Forbidden City and Bangalore are a different story and will not fare so well on my blog. Let's start with The Forbidden City. They call it that because men are forbidden to enter unless they are either castrated or have the patience to wait in line and buy a ticket. Even though the lines can be quite long, tickets are still the way to go, but back in the day the men were castrated to protect the bloodline of the emperor. I also heard they had a lot combines around but I didn't see any (didn't see any crops either). The city was home to the emperors of the Ming, Ping and Pong dynasties dating back to 1410 where they carried out all of their imperial duties and hung out with the Eunuchs and Combines. Once you go through the main gate you are greeted by a big courtyard surrounded by big ornate buildings with sloping roofs. There are also lots of tour groups wearing matching hats and following someone carrying a flag.
Someone made a bet with me to try and get someone to say "Go Texas" or something similar on video and the most fun I had there was goofing with the tour groups.
Once you cross the courtyard you can walk up to a big building and if you want, fight your way through the tour groups and look in the window. You can't go inside because it is forbidden. As far as I could tell each of these rooms has approximately 3 vases and 2 chairs and based upon the number of people trying to look inside they are of extraordinary cultural significance. Or maybe everyone else was doing what I was which was thinking that there must be something really cool in that room because there are 200 people trying look inside, but then you make your way to the window its just more vases and chairs. There are about 900 rooms like this with names like "The Hall of Glorious Harmony" and "Place of Heavenly Purity" or my favorite, "The Hall of Mental Cultivation". What was hard to find was "The hall of the heavenly toilet" or the "divine place to sit down for a minute".
I'm sure there was some fascinating history and culture there, but I missed it. I did find the Imperial gift shop where the Emperor bought his T-shirts and Yao Ming snow globes.
Across from the Forbidden City is Tiannenmen Square, where the big student uprising in the 80's took place and the iconic photo of the person standing defiantly in front of the tank was taken. There weren't any tanks there, but you can rest assured that security is still very tight. We ran across this officer standing guard to quell any unauthorized protests.
But it was very cool to stand there and take in the sights. We also had the bizarre experience of having people want to have their phot taken with us. It probably happened 6 or 7 times, where Chinese people (most likely rural) wanted a picture with one of us.
We also got our photo taken with the world famous Peking Duck!
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