Today was a special day for Maddie because it was her portfolio sharing day in class. I took a half day off of work so that I could spend the entire morning in her class and it was just special from beginning to end. When we walked into the class, Maddie immediately discovered the chrysalis had opened up and that there was a butterfly in the cage that she and her classmates had been watching for several weeks. The fact that the word, “chrysalis” came out of her mouth just about floored me. What three years old know that word and can recall it from the file banks in their brain?

Maddie and her classmates have been making books in class. Over several months, they were given folded paper, made a cover page, drew pictures in the middle pages and drew on an end page...

Have you ever seen a child sing the Alphabet Song to their cat? Have you ever seen a cat sit there and endure the entire song without scratching or jumping out of the way?

I have!

Maddie loves Lester, our well travelled, very expensive, free cat. We originally got Lester to keep our dog, Jake, company during the day when we lived in Saudi. Lester is a Saudi cat with a long, long tail and a pointy nose. We were going to leave him with a nice family in Saudi, but my heart got the best of me and I insisted we bring him to Shanghai with us – via London – via Chicago – via Tucson – via Portland – via San Francisco. Well, he was free when we originally got him in 2002!

Maddie does love him though and he is VERY patient with her. He has never scratched her and lets her pull his tail without...

Maddie has a hollow leg lately. She ate three pieces of pizza the other the night PLUS a huge bowl of watermelon. She then turned around the next day and ate about the same amount for a brunch Sunday morning. When she gets home from school everyday, she’s super hungry so Ms. Zhou gives her a snack. However, since she has a hollow leg lately, she gets another snack before dinner when we get home at 5:00. So this was today…

Andy drove Maddie and Ms. Zhou to the Links office where Ms. Zhou catches the shuttle bus home and then Andy offered to buy her ice cream. Who could turn that down, right? So she ran inside the house, screaming at the top of her lungs… “I’ve got ice cream – I’ve got ice cream...

Warning: This one is REALLY long but I had to catch you up to where I started writing Maddie’s Minute!

We’ve already established that Maddie has STATUS. But I got to thinking about how she has this super-duper special Miss I Fly A lot status. I remember when I used to get a plane with her and say, “This is fifth time she has taken off on a plane.” I know that I lost count when we got into the mid-twenties. It was a nice way to waste some time on the plane though between her dad and I. “How many flights has she taken now?” we would say back and forth to each other.

I think we’ve got it about right for Maddie though. Youngins do crave consistency, but I think it’s healthy to push the envelope a bit...

Maddie’s got STATUS ya know.

Maddie’s got STATUS because she lives in Shanghai……

Maddie’s got STATUS because she thinks bunny ears are cute……

Maddie’s got STATUS because she eats at restaurants where they give you a flashlight if you can’t see……

Maddie’s got STATUS because she stays at hotels on famous rivers around the world……

Maddie’s got STATUS because she spends much of her life riding around on luggage carts in airports…..

We bought plane tickets for summer travel today and used our complimentary vouchers to upgrade to first class. This is how the conversation went today:

Nice United Lady: Your three year old won’t have any vouchers.
Me: But she has had her own number for a year and a half.
Nice United Lady: But she doesn’t have STATUS.
Me: Have you checked? Look it up!
Nice Unite...

Chinese Fun Day!

I have to giggle a bit because at Maddie’s school, they plan days focused around all things China. I think the parents expect this too. Sometimes I just want to say, OPEN UP YOUR DOOR, but a lot of expats surprisingly aren’t comfortable really getting in there.

Admittedly, we are about 50/50 when it comes to experiencing the China around us. It’s not because of desire though – it’s because of time! When Maddie’s Grandma Barbara and Grandpa Earl visit us in China, they remind us quickly what it’s all about. We’ll head off to school and they’ll head off to the most excellent adventures around Shanghai. Oh The Places You’ll Go!!! (A most excellent post by Maddie’s Grandma! – Go to Friday, May 11 on her blog!)

Maddie has a great day at Chinese Fun Day! Though I think sh...

Maddie found out today that she will have a baby sister in September!

When I was pregnant with Madeline, Andy and I chose to NOT find out what we were having. She kept us guessing up until the very last minute and I will never, ever forget Andy screaming, “WE HAVE A GIRL!” as I was in my daze. What a joy it was to be surprised! We wanted to be surprised like that again this time, but Maddie is convinced that she is going to have both a new brother and new sister! So we decided to find out and talk up the new peanut with Maddie. The most amazing thing happened when the Chinese ultrasound guy told us we were having a girl – we were so surprised and delighted – just as surprised and delighted as we were with Maddie.

Amelia Mabel is set to arrive in September and I’m sure she’ll arrive st...

I lied… er, um, okay I fibbed.

Maddie attended her first PROFESSIONAL golf tournament a few weeks ago. She actually attended her second EXTREMELY IMMATURE, er, um… I mean, Amateur golf tournament today! SAS holds an annual golf tournament for its staff and parents every May. This was actually Maddie’s second SAS golf tournament! So, I fibbed kinda sorta a few weeks ago when I wrote about the BMW Classic.

Maddie and I took Andy to the clubhouse around 11:00 so that he could “practice” (aka: sit in the clubhouse and do some serious male bonding) and then came back home to grab our camera because we were the official picture takers for the tournament. How I got roped into that one, I don’t know, but all of the men thought it was pretty funny seeing the pregnant lady on a golf course! M...

Maddie is addicted to bugs right now. I’m actually quite amazed because she is such a girls girl. She loves make-up, dresses, tea parties, nail polish….. and spiders, worms, and bugs! Ever since her class went on their first field trip to the Insect Museum, she’s enthralled with starting her own collection.

Malin’s mom is a first grade teacher at school and ordered some silkworms with mulberry leaves for Maddie’s class. The kids have been watching the worms for the past week eat and eat and eat and eat. Finally, today they came to class and one of them had started to build its cocoon. It was actually even fascinating for me to see the little guy through the thin cocoon working diligently inside to make it stronger and thicker.

Maddie is even collecting bugs at home to take into class...

Cold.

I, personally, am a wimp. I’m either “boiling” or I’m “freezing” and the “just right” range is quite small. Maddie, on the other hand, is a kid and most kids don’t care too much if it’s boiling or freezing!! The weather is turning quite gorgeous in Shanghai and thankfully it’s not “boiling” in my mind. This is “just right” as far as air temperature goes! Water temperature though? In my book – it’s FREEZING!

Maddie came home today and heard her friends screaming in what I think was delight over at the swimming pool. Maddie was waiting by the door with Ms. Zhou when we came home around 4:30 with her swimsuit in hand...

This week at school was China Alive, which means that all middle school students go to various places around China for a week long field trip. The 8th grade trip is quite grand with kayaking, rock climbing, caving, mountain biking, traversing through the air 100ft up along a rope. Basically, it’s everything a pregnant woman should NOT be doing so I was lucky/unlucky enough to stay home and work on the middle school schedule for next year. What this means though is that I don’t have kids staying after school everyday so I’m able to come home at a good time that leaves lots of play time with Maddie.

Today we sent daddy off to the driving range and just played across the street at the playground. There is a trampoline over there that Maddie simply loves...

May 1, 2007

Dear Diary,

WOW! What a day this has been as Maddie’s mommy and daddy. Today is a “special” day for us in that this is a day we celebrate all of the wonderful things in our life. No matter what is going on, no matter what comes our way, we celebrate and quietly remember what happened three years ago today. As much as we try to stay positive, it’s inevitable that our nerves are on edge just a bit and I think that Maddie picked up on the vibes the very minute she woke up. The picture to the left is just one of the many time outs that happened today!

Two things to note that are special: She gave up one of her words today… you know, it was one of those baby words that we all think are so cute...