Because Evan is still so little and dependent on me, Nathan really rose to the occasion. He was very helpful in situations where there's only the 3 of us (such as at the airport and on the plane). He would hold Evan for me during the critical few seconds before we board the plane and I had to fold the stroller up. On the plane ride Nathan was pretty much self sufficient. During meals he would feed himself and all I had to do was open his utensils for him. He watched movies on the iPad the rest of the time (what a life saver!). When he got tired he just covered himself with a blanket and went to sleep. There was the occasional spilling on drinks and kicking of seat in front of us, but overall how he handled the 13 hr plane ride really exceeded my expectations.
The two weeks in China was however a different story... my family and relatives were excited to see the boys of course, but quickly realized that Nathan can be difficult. There were very few people Nathan would "listen" to, and most of the time he would appear rude and disrespectful. Every day he would probably throw several fits (especially at home). I think being tired (jetlagged) definitely didn't help. Another challenge was communication. Nathan could still understand quite a bit of mandarin, but he can't really speak it now. So few people could understand what he's saying. I think it was a source of a lot of frustration he had on this trip.
He loved the plugs and outlets of course since they're differently shaped than in America. My relatives were amazed at him obsession, and as a result any home we visited, Nathan would come back with a bunch of plug boards. By the end of the trip, we counted 20+ plug boards that he had collected. (The hard part was figuring out who to return each one to.)
Other than plugs, some highlights of the trip for Nathan were:
- Going to watch an acrobatic performance with Wai-Gong. I was a bit worried since he doesn't have the attention span to watch a movie in one sitting yet, but according to my dad he did great. Was very into the performance (and popcorn).
- Going to watch an acrobatic performance with Wai-Gong. I was a bit worried since he doesn't have the attention span to watch a movie in one sitting yet, but according to my dad he did great. Was very into the performance (and popcorn).
- Visiting the science museum which had an impressive children's wing. Lots of hands on activities similar to San Jose discovery museum here.
- Riding the subway. Shanghai's subway system is really mature now. We avoided rush hours and the experience was rather pleasant. They even have some interesting TV programs in each cabin for entertainment.
- Driving a motor boat on a lake. We did this twice in two different parks. Nathan was more interested in turning the switching the gear between forward/backwards than steering the boat.
- Super-duper slide. My friend Yun took us to a very fancy indoor playground where they had these giant slides and are 2 -3 stories tall. The initial drop is almost like free fall, and then it curves around and eventually land in a giant ball pit. Most of the people on that slide were adults and it looked way to scary for me, but my friend managed to get Nathan to try it and he ended up doing it 5 times in a row. Another reason he had such a good time that day was because most people there spoke English, and he also found a couple of girls to play with. He did eventually get into a fight with these two boys (brothers from the look of it). It's the first time I've seen Nathan get into a fight for a long time. Of course I told him how it's not okay and no more playing after that, but I also felt mixed feelings. His face got scratched up pretty good and as soon as the fight was officially over he burst out crying in my arms. On the outside Nathan's always this "tough guy" who doesn't back down, not afraid of anything, but on the inside he's just a kid. Not even 4 yet.
- Junk food. Definitely got spoiled on this trip. Nathan got into the habit of getting something from the bakery and convenience store right outside our complex everyday. Towards the end of the trip he was getting ice-cream almost everyday. A sad realization for me was that when it came to food, Nathan's palette was definitely more western than eastern. One of the few Chinese dishes he likes is 生煎包 (pan fried pork buns). We had it several times for breakfast... yum!
While we were at a playground, Nathan and this Chinese girl were playing near each other (in a room full of balloons). The girl noticed that I was speaking English to him and became curious.
Girl to me: “他会说中文吗？”（Does he speak Chinese?)
me: “一点点” (A little bit)
Girl (to Nathan): “那你说给我听听” (What do you know in Chinese?)
Nathan (thinks for a while): “蛋炒饭” (Fried rice)
Girl (laughs): “还有呢？” (What else?)
Nathan (thinks for some time and proudly says): “冰淇淋!” (Ice-cream)
Girl: “还有呢？” (What else?)
Nathan：“蛋炒饭” (Fried rice)
It was hard not to laugh...
Overall though it was very tiring trip for me handling both kids for so long. Towards the end we were all ready to come back... I wasn't sure how Nathan felt about it since he was very very happy to be back in the States (probably thinking "everybody can understand me again, yay!"). A few weeks after we got back it was mother's day, and at Nathan's school the teachers helped the children make mother's day cards. It was really touching to see what Nathan had said:
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