Birthday videos

Here are a few more scenes from Bennett's birthday. Chris is out of town for the next 10 days...he left yesterday evening and is still on a train as I write this. We already miss him lots, but are doing ok. We made a paper chain to count down the days he is gone and this time Austin immediately thought of 10 things he likes to do with Daddy with no suggestions from me. Chris and Austin had a nice date Monday night to pay the internet bill and McDonalds. You may think paying the internet bill is not much of a date, but Austin loves it because they ride the bus there (he loves the bus and I rarely attempt it with 2 kids) and play silly games while they wait. Austin was beaming when they came back (and he got a sundae at McD's). So, we miss Chris but it is nice having neighbors right next door especially when he is gone.

Austin had his third day of school today and it has continued to go well. He is silly and laughs with his teacher a lot, even if he often doesn't understand her. Today she said he did really well, repeating some Chinese phrases and games they played. Yesterday he came home saying "Xiao bai tu, xiao bai tu" over and over again. It means "little white rabbit" and is part of a little poem kids often learn here. When I asked Austin what it meant, he had no idea, but he still said it and laughed every time. Today he came home and was singing "Zhe shi Ye He Hua suo ding de rizi"...which is the song "This is the Day" in Chinese. He has definitely heard that before, but seemed to have memorized the whole thing in Chinese after today. So he is absorbing some bits and pieces already and having fun, which I am mostly concerned with at this point.