Saturday, September 20, 2008

It's been a hard day's night...

...and I've been working like a dawg. Here is a spotlight on Deputy Dawg Yang's last 24 hours.


Yesterday Yang worked all day at his day job. Work is busy and stressful because he has several cases that may go to trial before the end of the year. After that, he geared up and patrolled all night. He didn't make it home until 5 am. When I asked him why he stayed out so long, he shrugged with a smile and said, "there was a lot going on." I can only imagine (but I don't like to).

He tells me very little, but he mentioned drunks, a guy with a crowbar, and the ubiquitous drivers driving with a suspended license.

After four hours of sleep and breakfast with XM and me, Yang got all dressed up to go to the temple with the young men from our church. When he gets back from the temple, he is going to paint our house. Seriously.

What a guy.


Thursday, September 18, 2008

Presenting: Overwrought Sentimentality (it's adorable!)



Before I had Xiao Mei, I would have gagged a little at what you are about to read. Now that I have XM, I think it's adorable. You may gag a little, and for that I apologize in advance. I wrote this letter for my mom today.

Dear Nana,

I have four teeth now, and I am an expert at biting. I love to chew on all kinds of things, like cords and Freya’s tail. Unfortunately, my mom moved all the exiting, chewable things out of my reach. However, she did add a nice, cushiony pad along the edge of the fireplace hearth which is perfect for chewing on. I think she put the pad there because she knew that was my second favorite place to crawl to. My favorite place to crawl to is the TV stand. One day I’ll make it to all the cords behind the stand.

My mom has been trying to prune the bushes and trees in our yard because it looks like a jungle. She takes me outside with her. She tries to make me stay in the play pen, but that is SO BORING and I tell her that after a few minutes. If I tell her long enough and loud enough, she will move me to a blanket on the grass. My mom hopes that I will stay on the blanket, but I am SO OVER the boring colors and designs in the blanket. Instead, I am really interested in grass, twigs, and dried leaves. At first, my mom wouldn’t let me put any of those things in my mouth. But, after a while, she pretended not to notice and I ate plenty of grass and leaves. It was great, and only kinda yucky.

My mom keeps trying to get me to eat yucky things like carrots and pears. I don’t like them, and I tell her that each time she feeds me. She feeds me bananas, and they are kinda ok because they remind me of you, Nana. I love oatmeal, and I wish she would just feed me that instead of those other things.

You know what else I love? Pulling hair. My mom tries to put her hair in a pony tail so it is out of my reach. But, I can reach around her neck and grab all the little hairs at the top of her neck. Sometimes she gets mad at me, but I laugh and then she is not so mad anymore.

Papa, it’s your birthday soon. My mom bought you a present, but she hasn’t mailed it yet so it won’t make it to you on time. My mom used to be able to go to the store, go home and wrap a present, and then go to the post office to mail it all in one day. Now, it takes her three or four days to do all those things. I hope you have a happy birthday.

I love you Papa and Nana. I am getting so big. I still have those beautiful hands with long fingers. My mom wonders what I will do with them, and I wonder that too.

Love you,

Xiao Mei

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Nostalgia

Last night Yang changed the oil in his car (yes, he does that). It was the first time he changed the Honda’s oil (he used to drive the Pathfinder until we switched because of high gas prices), so he wanted to take it for a drive to make sure everything was okay. He drove to McDonalds and bought us both a chocolate sundae.


It reminded me of China.


As much as I loved Chinese food, we craved the tastes of home every once in a while. So about once a week we would ride our bikes to the closest McDonalds and order French fries and chocolate sundaes. We relished every bite. The food cost double what it would cost to order a large meal at a Chinese restaurant, but it was worth it. The cashiers were always so excited when we came because they could put their English skills to use. (That particular McDonalds required all employees to learn the menu in English in case an American (or other English speaker) patronized the restaurant—a rare event).


I don’t have a picture of us in front of McDonalds, but I do have a picture of Yang learning to tie pearls. (He traded English lessons for pearl-tying lessons at the pearl market). Check out that hair!

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