becoming a big girl.

siri decided a couple of days ago that she will now feed herself with a spoon. i was feeding her some avocado and she demanded to have the spoon, and in one motion put the spoon into her mouth. after cleaning off the spoon, she gave it back to me, pointed at the avocado, and i'd scoop some into the spoon, and she'd put it in her mouth again. of course, she's still rather sloppy at using the spoon, but it's one big step.

bonus picture: siri styles her own hair! i walked through the door yesterday and siri had a comb in her hand and showed me what she could do with it. very punk-chic.

pumpkin patch

we take a break from our trip diary to share with you our trip today to the pumpkin patch. we were first a bit apprehensive about taking siri to the pumpkin patch because we were afraid that she wouldn't find it interesting. but, she loved it! siri had a lot of fun hanging out with aunt jenn and uncle todd, and saying "hi" to a huge rabbit, petting a calf, staring at goats and chickens, and of course wandering around the pumpkin patch while riding in a red wagon. siri also decided at some point that the pumpkins in the wagon belonged on the ground, and tried to put them back. it was pretty funny and cute.

also, siri has been standing up unassisted this week. she understands it to be a huge feat and always looks to us for some sense of recognition. we of course, congratulate her by clapping, which she copies. siri is also now blowing kisses in a rudimentary way. and, in the verbal category, siri is now saying "kitty cat," "gou gou" (dog in chinese), "lao lao" (maternal grandmother in chinese), "hi", "bye" and of course, "this" and "that."

forbidden city -- cont'd

more photos from the forbidden city -- this sequence may take a few installments to complete. the front buildings were all very familiar to me, and just as i remember them...from chinese telenovelas! lots of stuff here capturing the intricacies of the decorations throughout the entire city, and it certainly felt like one. it also felt a bit like a prison (not that i've ever been in one) -- living here meant that one was cut off from the rest of the world. leaving and entering were no easy tasks. one of the pictures here shows siri playing on some bricks -- 500 year old bricks, actually. she was pissed off and didn't want to ride in her stroller, so we let her roam around on the bricks. she was slightly happier after that.

forbidden city

by far one of my favorite things from our trip to beijing was our visit to the forbidden city. the day started out okay, but as soon as we got to the front gate of the forbidden city, siri began whining -- it was close to nap time and hot. plus, we didn't know at the time, that was the beginning of her cold (we all got colds during our time there). pictures here include me nursing siri in the forbidden city, a lion statue, an arched doorway, the entrance to the city with mao's face plastered on the wall and jeff's head underneath, and the bridges to the first hall.

hutongs

hutongs are these old neighbors that are being demolished daily. "there are 360 hutong with names, and as many nameless hutong as there are hairs on a cow" (old chinese saying) in the old days, there were like 6000 hutongs in beijing, but now they're in the hundreds since they're being destroyed to build highrises (like the one in the photo). we enjoyed walking around the hutongs, and jeff especially enjoyed getting various rou bins for very cheap. i snuck a few photos of sights down a couple of the hutongs: entrance to someone's home, a tricycle thing, a street, and a cat on a roof.

wangfujing

sorry for the delay in updating our blog. here are some pictures from the wangfujing street food street, where we were staying. we had street food down this street twice, but steered away from the "exotic" stuff (sea horses, beetles, etc.). the skewers were pretty good. also included is a bonus pic of siri excitedly hanging out in our hotel.

Calculator...

Here's the video of Siri picking up the calculator, and then accidentally picking up the camera case.

Siri turns one!

We're interrupting our travel posts to share photos from Siri's first birthday party. We had a fun party today with the birthday girl still sleeping when all the guests arrived. My mom and grandma made noodles (symbolic of longevity, which Chinese eat on birthdays), I made hello kitty cupcakes (which Jenn helped with making the heads and frosting), and Siri got to take part in "zhua zhou," which is a traditional Chinese activity that takes place on first birthdays. The point is to lay at one end of a room various items, and put the baby at the other end. The baby crawls toward the items and selects one, and that item is supposed to be an indicator of the type of career they will have in the future. So, we laid out the following items: leotard, book, pen, calculator, paint brush, camera, epi pen, and a stuffed saber tooth cat. Siri went for and picked up the calculator (a TI -89 which, of course made daddy happy), but since it was too heavy she then went for the camera, pen and paint brush. I'll try posting the video of it.

Pictures here include: classic uncle todd; siri with daddy, grandpa and grandma; siri eating some noodles; siri, mommy, lao lao lao and lao lao; the cupcake spread; mommy and daddy blowing out siri's candle; siri's first bite of birthday cake; and siri looking pretty. the good pictures were taken by uncle yosuke as daddy and mommy are not great at taking photos.

Tiananmen Square

tiananmen square was under rather high security when we went to visit. the entire country was getting ready to celebrate china's 60th anniversary as a "communist" nation. we had to declare liquids, go through a metal detector and put our bags through an x-ray machine. a security guard even walked by us several times suspiciously as i was nursing a very tired siri (picture of me nursing siri above). sites from the square include us standing in the middle of the square, with the entrance to the forbidden city in the background; columns that represent each of the ethnic groups in china -- there are 54 total; mao's memorial (with statue of workers on the outside); children wearing red scarfs being indoctrinated at an early age; memorial dedicated to the "workers." we took a picture of a canvas that is supposed to look like a grassy field/open space in the subway station. we loved the fact that a shadow of the scaffolding/bars behind the canvas was apparent under the lighting. this is so symbolic of the state of the country (propaganda of communism, but reality of immense oppression), and reminds me of "grass mud horse." overall, we found the anticipated celebration to be rather sickening, especially in the middle of beijing where income disparities are vast and readily apparent. communist society...really?

Beijing Day 2

we took a little detour through a park on our way to tiananmen square. the park was very peaceful and picturesque. here you see couple of the bridges and stream, an old lock that has been preserved, the first of many amusing signs in china, and a woman who apparently wanted to be in a picture with jeff and siri. she saw them get into position, i get out the camera, but she just stood there like she was meant to be a part of the picture. a couple people selectively stopped us to comment on siri's looks and proceeded to ask where we were from. when told we were from the u.s., they started ripping on the chinese government and praising the amount of freedom in the u.s. while we do complain about our country, it really does make one feel fortunate to not be living in an oppressive country. i tried to update our blog while in china, but all blogs are blocked. additionally, facebook, youtube and other possible "networking" sites were also blocked. i'm not a stereotypical patriot, but i couldn't help but be thankful after the humbling encounter.