Toddler's Poem

June 10, 2007 (8:03 AM, Hong Kong Time)


What does a toddler look like? The following poem provides the answer.


Toddler's Poem

Author: Unknown

Two little eyes

Discovering what's new

Two little hands

Touching everything in view

A sweet little voice

Asking you why

A mischievous smile

And a whimpering cry

Two little feet

Jumping on the floor

A toddler's mission

is to explore

Large Windows, Glass Sink, and Sliding Doors

June 10, 2007 (Sunday, 7:22 AM, Hong Kong Time)


Large Windows

Lydia has always been fascinated by windows and mirrors. For instance, at the Lakeview Hotel in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China, she often stood in front of the closet’s sliding doors, whose exterior surfaces were essentially two large mirrors. In our home, she frequently asks us to lift her up onto the sofa so that she can stand on it to look at our neighbors’ homes, the nearby trees, and the sky.

Lydia has similarly appreciated this twelfth floor hotel room, which has an entire wall of windows that begins just about a foot and a half above the floor level. She spends some time each day studying the large apartment complex across the street and the activity in the street below.


Glass Sink and Sliding Doors

Rooms in the Sheraton Hong Kong in Kowloon possess some unique features that are usually not found in other hotel rooms.

For example, the bathroom has two parallel countertops. The top one is constructed from ¾ inch thick glass, into which is sunk a glass sink, and the bottom one, which is about a foot below the top one, is made of marble. Whenever Lydia sees either SiowFong or I turning on the faucet of the sink, she stands beneath the glass sink, gazes upward, and watches the water as it runs from the tap, down the sides of the sink, and down the drain.

In our room, Lydia also likes the three sliding glass doors, two of which form the closet doors and one is the bathroom door. Of these three, Lydia clearly prefers the bathroom door. Two days ago, I taught her how to push these doors open and close, and after she mastered this lesson, she smiled and giggled.

Photos: Animal Hugs

DSC_0015

Lydia giving her giraffe a gentle nose rub

May 18, 2007

Living room of our home

DSC_0048

Lydia touching her pink lamb

May 29, 2007

Our bedroom at home

DSC_0099

Lydia holding her moosey moose

March 2, 2007

Our bedroom at home

Dinner Banquet with the Woons

June 9, 2007 (Saturday, 11:34 Hong Kong Time)


Dinner Banquet with the Woons

Tonight we had the pleasure of treating Lydia’s great aunt Woon and her family to a traditional Chinese banquet at Celestial Court, the hotel’s Chinese restaurant that was voted “Hong Kong’s Best Chinese Restaurant” in 2006.

Joining Lydia, Ma Wee, SiowFong, great aunt Woon, and I at a table for twelve people were great aunt Woon’s husband, two of their three sons (Vincent [who brought his wife, Denise] and Jackie [who brought his older son, Jason]) and her daughter (and her husband).

The menu consisted of the following:

Suckling Pig and Assorted Appetizers Combination
Sauteed Shrimp with Fresh Lily Bulb, Macadamia Nuts, and Sugar Snap Peas in XO Chili Sauce
Deep Fried Cuttle Fish Ball Coated with Sliced Almond
Braised Shark’s Fin Soup with Shredded Chicken and Bamboo Thalli
Steamed Green Garoupa
Deep Fried Crispy Chicken
Fried Rice with Yunnan Ham and Seafood
Chilled sago Cream with Fresh mango, Pomelo, and Coconut Jelly

It was great to meet and converse with all of these individuals, all of whom were very gracious and patient with me when I stumbled on my Cantonese while talking with them.


Lydia’s Perspective

Before the banquet began, Vincent and Denise, the parents of two daughters (Winkie [13 years old] and Christal [9 years old]), presented Lydia with a bag of gifts. Included among the presents were a flywheel, a pen whose shaft lights up with different colors, a Baby Einstein book called Mimi’s Toes, and a two piece, light bronze-colored Chinese outfit. Lydia really enjoyed playing with the flywheel and the lighted pen, and SiowFong and I appreciated Vincent’s and Denise’s kindness and thoughtfulness towards Lydia.

Despite SiowFong’s efforts to try to encourage Lydia to sleep this afternoon when Ma Wee, great aunt Woon, and I were resting, Lydia did not sleep one wink then. About a half hour after the banquet began, Lydia ate a few items from the first course, the appetizers. Then she became fussy, a consistent sign that she was tired. After I transferred her from her high chair to her stroller, she fell asleep within minutes and slept throughout the entire dinner. Two and a half hours later at 10:30 PM, we returned to our room. She stirred a little as I gently placed her on her right side into the crib, and she returned to deep sleep within a few minutes.

Photos: Hong Kong

DSC_0006

Lydia playing with a hotel note pad

Ma Wee (in the background on the right) is observing Lydia

SiowFong (in the background on the left) is talking on the phone

Room 1284 (the room where SiowFong and Tom are staying)

Note: this room connects with room 1286 to form a suite

DSC_0013

Lydia lifting her arms while seated in her stroller in front of the window of wine bottles at the entrance to the Unkai Japanese Restaurant on the third floor of the hotel

Photo by: SiowFong

DSC_0026

Dad and Lydia pushing Lydia's stroller

(Lydia loves to walk fast, which is something that even strangers have noticed.)

12th floor corridor of the hotel

Photo by: SiowFong

DSC_0064

(left to right): Lydia's great aunt Woon ("Yee Pour"), Lydia, and Ma Wee ("Pour Pour")

Room 1286 (the room with Lydia's crib where these ladies are staying)

Note: All pictures were taken on Friday, June 8, 2007 at the

Sheraton Hong Kong, 20 Nathan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Love Me

June 9, 2007

Love Me

Last week, I found the following article entitled “Love Me”. As I read the first few sentences, I thought about Lydia and about how much of a joy she is.

“There is a toddler in our extended family who has captured the heart of my husband. He devotedly believes she is the most wonderful 2-year-old on the planet.

In his display of affection to her is a trait worth pausing beside. He seems to be almost involuntarily at work trying to persuade the convictions of those around him. "Isn't she sweet?" "Have you ever seen a more loveable face?” Loving her seems to include the act of telling others to love her. His admiration alone is not enough; he finds her thoroughly worth the adoration of many.

I suspect it is a behavior recognizable to more than proud parents and beaming grandparents. We delight to praise what we enjoy not only because it expresses our enjoyment but because it seems also to complete it. "I sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm free." Saying it aloud, bidding others to see what we see, somehow magnifies our delight. . .

Like any of us who have ever commanded in excitement "look at that!" the psalmist wants everyone to see what he sees. He not only praises God with his own song, but asks others to join him. "Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!" (47:2-3). In his delight, David calls on others to taste and see the goodness of God. "O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together" (34:3). He has found God worthy of praise even beyond his own.

Yet to many the call to praise is problematic. Friedrich Nietzsche once stated, "I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time." C.S. Lewis stated a similar difficulty in his own coming to belief in God. He found troubling the thought that God ordained his own praise. He was also irritated by the clamorous demand of believing people to join them in praise of their God.

It is true that such invocations to praise are often heard, and heard also in the mouth of God. "The people whom I formed for myself will declare my praise" (Isaiah 43:21). It is a demand at which we would cringe in the mouth of man, woman, or child. If the 2-year-old my husband finds loveable suddenly demanded that he continually fawn over her delightfulness, he would find her something other than delightful. But what if she approached him with arms extended and the edict on her lips "love me"? The command to love would only further be intertwined with his delight of her.

How much more so is this true for one who is worthy to receive glory, honor, and power?

The first inquiry of the Westminster Catechism concludes that the chief end of humanity is to love God and enjoy Him forever. As praise is the spontaneous by-product of delight, the command to love and the promise to enjoy are paired inseparably. It is this hopeful alliance that Lewis eventually came to see. Knowledge of God brims forth in us the overwhelming desire to praise Him, while his worthiness stirs within us a longing for all to join in.

It is not insignificant then that the Father's love and approval of the Son was a declaration He chose to share with the world. When Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River, the Spirit of God descended like a dove and God declared: "This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). The Father shared with the world his love for the Son so that we might take notice and come to delight in him also. Christ's worthiness is a truth God wanted all to hear and know--and praise along with Him.”

(Source: Jill Carattini, “Love Me”, A Slice of Infinity. May 30, 2007, http://www.rzim.org/)

Photos: Grandpa Chin and Lydia

DSC_0029

Lydia giggling as she looks at a document while sitting on her Yeh Yeh's lap

May 11, 2007

CISC

DSC_0039

Grandpa Chin (Yeh Yeh) reading to Lydia

Grandpa Chin was the first person to ignite Lydia's love for reading

April 28, 2007
Living room of our home


DSC_0285_large.jpg

Lydia and Yeh Yeh playing with a large smiley face balloon

April 27, 2007
Living room of our home

Family Time

June 8, 2007 (9:30 PM, Hong Kong Time)


Family Time

Four and a half years ago when SiowFong and I first came to Hong Kong en route to Malaysia, we stayed a few days and toured the city. During that visit, we also met, ate dinner with my maternal grandmother (Grandma Wan) and the families of two of her siblings, Uncle Raymond and Aunt Ellen, and visited their homes. (Since then, we have been communicating with them several times a year through cards, letters, postcards, and emails.)

During our second stay in Hong Kong this time, our activities have changed. We have not done any sightseeing, and we are spending a good bit of our time with relatives, particularly members of SiowFong’s extended family.


Uncle Edmund Wan

Mom (Ma Chin), the firstborn in her family, still has a number of family members living in Hong Kong. Among these are her mother, her sister Ellen (second in the birth order), her brother Edmund (third in the birth order), and her brother Raymond (fifth in the birth order). (Her brother Mike (fourth in the birth order) lives in California in the Los Angeles area.)

SiowFong and I met Uncle Edmund at the hotel at 11:05 AM today. During the forty minute visit, we sat in one of the hotel’s restaurants, The Café, drank some coffee and tea, and talked. Because Lydia was taking her morning nap, Ma Wee was watching her in our room. Near the end of Uncle Edmund’s visit, he accompanied us to our rooms, where he met Ma Wee and Lydia who was just awakening from her hour and a half nap. Uncle Edmund apologized for the brevity of his visit as he commented to us that his next stop for the day was to visit his mother who had been hospitalized the last two days due to low blood sugar problems. He stated that in the last five years, Grandma Wan’s health had began to deteriorate due to aging.


Grandma Wan, Aunt Ellen, and Uncle Tony

SiowFong and I inquired about visiting Grandma Wan in the hospital, but Uncle Edmund explained to us that it would not be a good idea to see her this time. Yesterday evening, I spoke with Aunt Ellen, who stated that she is spending much of her day at the hospital. In addition, she has been cooking meals for her ailing mother, which she brings to the hospital. Because of Grandma Wan’s state, Aunt Ellen apologized to us that she would not be seeing us this trip. She also stated that her husband, Uncle Tony, is working in China and could not see us either, but she said that when he returned to Hong Kong on Saturday, he would call us.


Great Aunt Woon

For many months, Ma Wee has been looking forward to staying in Hong Kong because this meant seeing her little sister, Lydia’s great aunt Woon (“Yee Pour” is the Chinese term for great aunt), again. Even though they converse monthly by phone, the last time the two met face-to-face occurred twenty-three years ago in 1984. Great aunt Woon, a 71-year old married lady who is 9 years younger than Ma Wee, has four children and seven grandchildren and has lived in Hong Kong for several decades.

This afternoon, shortly after 4:00 PM, one of her sons brought great aunt Woon to Ma Wee’s room since great aunt Woon will be staying with Ma Wee through Sunday, the day we depart for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Within a half hour of meeting great aunt Woon, Lydia approached Yee Pour to touch her jade bracelet.

When SiowFong and I met great aunt Woon, both of us recognized common characteristics between her and Ma Wee, including similar hairstyle, attire, conversational style, and easygoing and affable personality. One difference is their language preference. Ma Wee prefers Hakka and uses other Chinese dialects like Mandarin and Cantonese only when the other party does not understand Hakka. On the other hand, great aunt Woon speaks in Cantonese instead of Hakka because Cantonese is the predominant Chinese dialect used in Hong Kong. When the sisters talk, they both use Cantonese.

Although distance and time has separated these two sisters, those factors have not diminished their love for each other. For example, when we were walking a few blocks to a restaurant for supper tonight, SiowFong and I noticed that the two sisters were holding hands. In addition, during the entire afternoon and evening when they were together, they were engaged in a steady stream of conversation.

It will be great for all of us to spend two more days with Lydia’s Yee Pour.

Arrival in Hong Kong

June 8, 2007 (10:35 AM, Hong Kong Time)


TransPacific Voyage

Yesterday, our China Airlines flight took a little over a half a day to reach Taipei, Taiwan. During ten of those twelve hours, Lydia rested uneventfully. Overcome by sheer exhaustion after the plane lifted off at 1:45 AM, she slept sitting up in her seat with a standard airplane pillow supporting her back and neck for three hours. Then she slumbered peacefully while lying in her mother’s arms for another two hours, and finally she slept on the floor sandwiched between two blankets with her head underneath a pillow for the remaining seven hours.

Fatigue trumped hunger as Lydia she skipped breakfast and awoke just for lunch. In addition, she did not need any milk or baby food during the flight. Ma Wee, SiowFong, and I agreed that Lydia was a wonderful travel companion during this lengthy airplane trip.


Arrival in Hong Kong

Our connecting flight from Taipei left around 7:30 AM, and within an hour and a half, we had landed in Hong Kong. After clearing customs and retrieving our baggage, we took a taxi to the Sheraton Hotel in Hong Kong at 10:15 AM, arriving there at 10:45 AM. (Because Tony, SiowFong’s second oldest brother, works for Starwood Hotels at the Westin in Melbourne, Australia, he was able to book two rooms in advance for SiowFong at a substantial employee discount so that our cost is $ 90 US per night per room (the advertised rate per room is $ 300 US).

Photos: Grandma Chin and Lydia

DSC_0021

Ma Chin helping Lydia to read her very colorful Dora the Explorer book entitled Dora's Costume party, a gift from Mayfanna Li and Matt Kaing

May 11, 2007

Living room of our home

DSC_0024

Lydia pointing to herself with her right hand and pointing to her paternal grandmother, Ma Chin, with her left hand

May 5, 2007
Living room of our home



DSC_0039

Ma Chin watching as Lydia drinks her water

May 11, 2007
Friday morning play and learn group at CISC



DSC_0055

Ma Chin helping Lydia during arts and craft time

(Kyvin Kaing, Lydia's friend in background on the right, being carried by his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Li, while his maternal grandfather, Mr. Li is on his right)

May 11, 2007
Friday morning play and learn group at CISC

Sweet Sixteen

June 3, 2007 (9:00 PM)


Countdown to Malaysia

In a little over two days (52 hours to be exact), Ma Wee starts her journey home to Malaysia. These last five and a half months have comprised the longest time period that she has ever been away from her home. According to SiowFong, Ma Wee has been smiling the last few days when she has been thinking about her imminent return to her country to reconnect with the rest of her family and friends.


Sweet Sixteen

Before Lydia ever came into our lives, Ma Wee already possessed extensive child care experience. In January 2007, Lydia became the sixteenth child in the Wee family to whom Ma Wee has rendered care for a period of several months or more. Here are the others:

Ma Wee’s children (six total):

MayNah (daughter), SaySang (son), Tony (son), Bernard (son), Maylee (daughter), and SiowFong (daughter)


Ma Wee’s grandchildren (nine total):

Lin Li (grandson) and Fei-Ling (granddaughter) [two of MayNah’s three children]
Nelly (granddaughter), Vincent (grandson), Kristy (granddaughter), and Audrey (granddaughter) [all four of SaySang’s children]
Sam (grandson) and Chris (grandson) [two of Bernard’s three sons]
Lydia (granddaughter) [SiowFong’s only child]


Ma Wee’s great-grandchild (one total):

Issac (great grandson) [Vincent’s only child]


Lydia, SiowFong and I have enjoyed and benefited greatly from Ma Wee’s presence, labor, and sacrifice.