Nian Nian You Yu

The Chinese idiom 年年有余 "Nian Nian You Yu" means literally, "every year having surpluses". And this first week of Chinese New Year, our boys were overjoyed when they got an unexpected holiday from school for not one but TWO DAYS because of snow and sleet!

"Yu" is also the sound for "fish" (鱼), and this salmon dish worked for an impromptu lunch with our young friends and their dad who drove over and lent Vern a hand with the shoveling. The children all got to play in the snow, the first time this winter when there was finally enough accumulation to go sledding in!

So, in every way, it's abundantly more than we could ask for! The headaches' also more though -- think, the child who only wants to play and calls homework "an everlasting pain"! But I'd better not go into that!

I gave this recipe a try: Eli's Asian Salmon with lesser soya sauce than called for. It's fancier than using Teriyaki sauce out of a bottle. But it is Chinese New Year after all =).

You probably have the familiar ingredients at hand, and if not panko, dried breadcrumbs are the substitute.


However, it's not really about the breadcrumbs. See the charred parts, from the broiling reviewers suggested? I got over-enthustiastic there, and had to scrape most of them off! No matter, the marinade itself was made the fish flavourful! 


I paired the salmon with noodles, shrimp, and broccoli -- boiled together, then drained and seasoned.  Easier done than stir-frying, which is tricker with the baby to multitask with my other hand.

Poised

Poised is Kait during tummy time!

It's hardly the word to describe me though. "Frazzled" is more like it -- on any day! But I'm trying not to think of it that I only have a window here and hopefully another one there (when she'll go down for her catnap) to do this and that, or not at all!

It's the eve of Chinese New Year Eve. I have decided it's OK if scooping up our messes from the floor is the closest we'll get to springcleaning!

An unhurried sense of time is in itself a form of wealth. - Bonnie Friedman

Meanwhile, here's wishing everyone an OX-picious year poised for opportunities and possibilities, the poor economy notwithstanding! Hope, not fear, I'm encouraged by Barack Obama who paved the way as the first African American President.

GONG XI FA CAI! WAN SHI RU YI!

Bow Chicka Bow Wow

Probably the best way to wrestle with our children when they wrestle with us parents, is...

with humour, and love! Tough love included (and that's the tough part), and also, that extra measure of kindness -- read: grace and mercy, I know my kids won't mind! ;p

It's no secret that they have been driving me up the wall, because they clearly have minds of their own. And not that the wrestling has stopped, but I'll spare you the details. And for my own sanity, I'm including this post for the smiles that my "Da Gua", "Zhong Gua", and "Xiao Gua" (three stooges, large, medium, and small) do thankfully also put on my face!

And here, from the cartoon "Phineas and Ferb" is the Bow Chicka Bow Wow song, Jon and Ben have me singing with them to entertain Kait. Especially when she's crying away, but for some very good reason she's not attached to me at that point. The song ends aptly with, "Gitchi Gitchi Goo means that I love you!"!


And it's on this happy note that I'll like to congratulate fellow blogger, and mommy of En and Xuan, on the arrival of baby Bao Rui! =)

From 0C to 0F

The top story of the miraculous crashlanding of the plane in one piece into the Hudson river, is something not to be taken for granted. So is staying safe and snug in this cold snap...

Two days ago now, Wednesday was when temperatures plunged. From around freezing point (0C) that morning when Vern went off, by a few degrees every hourly, to 0F (-18C) by middle of the night. That night, Jon and Ben put aside their differences and went to sleep huddled together on the same bed. For extra warmth!

The saving grace is, it's less windy in the day. Road conditions are normal, and many schools stay open. Kait remains my faithful companion, driving the boys to school and back. And I can't be more thankful for parking garages, so we're bolstered from the cold. Also, it's very kind of the chess teacher to drive Jon home last evening after a tournament that I was going to have him skip, sparing us another trip out after picking up Ben first -- not in this deep freeze if we can help it.

Inside our home, our radiators are turned up, and the furnace comes on whenever temperatures dip below comfortable. We are also beating the cold with such simple warm comforts as hot cocoa, that was Ben's perfect excuse to have marshmallows, and beef stew, for which Jon asked for thirds though I'd accidentally upped the heat with more black pepper than usual!

One hot meal, one day at a time, the extreme weather will let up soon. Thank YOU for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers during this time that Vern is away! I really appreciate it.

And trying to keep my cool...
The old challenge remains though: why does it feel harder to keep my cool than for us to keep warm? Seems every time I turn my back, either one of the boys is going "WAAAAA!!!" or "OWWWWW!!!" over something the other boy has done to him. It's hard not to intervene, someone's going to get very hurt! And no, children don't like to do as they are told. But yes, it happens to Vern, too; why, our kids are fair, just not mom and dad. *sigh*

Hopefully, the next two days before their daddy comes back, Jon and Ben can agree more or less on what things to do within the four walls of home, and Kait can still nap a little, amidst all the pandemonium that her crying does not drown out!

A quick update, and catching a breather here. Kait's just gone down for a nap... ssshhh...

And you didn't hear it from me...
Who's the loudest of them all?

According to Jon, as he wrote in his homework the other day...
- Daddy is... he is like a T-Rex! (And I just had to ask Jon, "You mean, like: RRROARRR?!!" ;p). *
- Followed by... Ben when he is restless.
- Then, this mom... (I'm surprised, only third in running?) Still, loud enough for Jon to compare me to a microphone!
- And Kait, though her crying is LOUD!

* Truth is, Vern isn't that loud, only when he's really driven up the wall =(. But it does feel like one has to run this place as if it's the military, to be heard! Maybe those of you in the "spare the rod, and spoil the child" camp, can send me one from back home? *takes a deep breath* *more deep breaths now*

Coming soon: Deep Freeze and Home Alone II

Temperatures will drop to OF (or -18C), maybe even lower, midweek, when Vern will be out of town for five days. That'll make it the coldest this place has seen in a decade, and the second time after kiddo #3 the husband is away.

Unless the roads are icy, I plan to still get Jon and Ben to school. And so long as I stay behind the wheel in the carpool line, with Kait in her carseat, to drop them off and pick them up like we do on regular days, we should be OK.

But we won't go if the extreme weather poses unforseen logistical issues. Prayerfully, there will not be any freezing rain or snowstorms.

I'll appreciate your prayers for our safety, and also my sanity. Thanks!

Warming up to the new year...
It's been a week since the boys resumed school after the winter hols. Each day, it still takes a lot to get our act together, but I'm secretly happy that school gets us back to a more predictable routine. Also because while there's more driving for me to do again with the baby girl, there's less of the driving this mom up the wall, from all that fighting and not playing nicely between the brothers, day in day out!

Kait will be 5 months old tomorrow. She is not sleeping through the night, unlike some babies I've read and heard can by now, or soon after. Neither Jon nor Ben slept longer stretches till much later. I'm trying not to beat myself up over this. Things are crazier with three kids, and I am (be warned!) crankier!!!

Doing what I can to encourage Kait to take one slightly longer nap in the day. She's not been getting much from the minutes here and there, and her overtiredness in the night -- eyes closed but fussing away -- can't be quality rest for her either. But when she does sleep better, she awakes happier, cooing, and rolls on her back!