We have a side table next to our couch that Esther can reach. Nothing on it is really dangerous to her, but it's not stuff we want her to get into. She knows that, but she also knows she can get away with touching it, and of course semi-forbidden fruit is almost as glamorous as the forbidden stuff! So lately, anytime I'm out of her line of sight for more than thirty seconds, I'm apt to come back to find her sitting on the couch with a remote in each hand, pushing buttons for all she's worth. Occasionally she goes for something else (one time I came in to find her marking on the inside back cover of a Bible with a pen...oops!), but the remotes are by far her favorite. The best part, though, seems to be getting caught! The other day I came in to find her poised on the couch with one hand outstretched toward the remote, looking back toward the kitchen and just waiting for me to notice what she was up to! Here are some pictures of the "crime" in progress.





"What are you looking at me for? I'm not up to anything!"













"Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah, I'm faster than you are!"











"Score!"

Spring Festival at last!

I had had high hopes for celebrating our first Spring Festival (aka Chinese New Year) together as a family. We were going to eat really good dumplings at Grace Fellowship's Spring Festival party on the previous Friday, and then on Monday (Jan. 26, the day itself) I was going to try my own hand at making dumplings, along with several of the other yummy Chinese dishes I know. But on Thursday Tim got sick with what turned out to be mono. So we missed the party on Friday, and by Monday Tim was still too sick to eat, I was too frazzled to cook, and Esther was too young to know that she was missing anything. I didn't even remember to prepare her red envelope before she went to bed! (It's a tradition for older family members to give children "lucky money" in a red envelope on Spring Festival day.)

Fortunately, Spring Festival is a long holiday. So we finally celebrated on Tuesday this week, the last day of the festival time. It was rather more modest than I had initially planned, but we did eat Chinese-style food with chopsticks, and we did give Esther a red envelope. Tim had the bright idea of putting Chinese money in the envelope, one bill each of various denominations so she'll have it as a memento when she's older. Next year we'll probably start putting spending money in it, but for now that wouldn't mean much. However, she is just at the age where she LOVES opening envelopes and taking things out and putting them back in. She had a wonderful time opening her envelope, and we had a wonderful time watching her.

We didn't get any photos of the red envelope opening (we took video instead), but here are some pictures from dinner:




I know Mommy and Daddy are eating spinach with chopsticks, so how come it's not working for me?












Maybe I'll have better luck with a piece of bread.













Success!!













Now to try my technique on a peanut-butter-and-jelly pita pocket. (Note from Mommy: this is not a Chinese dish!)