Last weekend, Grandma and Grandpa had us out to Escondido for a birthday party for Alex, Aunt Phet, and Aunt Nancy. As usual, Alex had a lot of fun on the farm. He got a ton of great presents and sat on Grandpa’s lap to open most of them.

Alex had his very own birthday carrot cake that Grandma made, and Michelle put the birthday crown on his head to help him blow out the candle.

He didn’t really get the candle part of the birthday tradition…

…but he’s really got the cute kid-sized rocking chair Fairy Godmother Beth got for him all figured out! He climbed in it and got the thing rocking with no help.

Here’s his dismount technique.

The following day, Olivia and Kyla came over to visit. Here Olivia and Alex check out Kyla’s carseat.

Here’s Kyla relaxing with Alex in the background climbing out of the conversation pit.

We had such a good time with everyone we invited them all back over today. Kyla couldn’t make it, but Alex and Olivia made a lot of progress putting the John Deere tractor Alex got for Christmas to good use. Here Alex gives Olivia a ride…

…and here’s Olivia returning the favour.

It was nice we were all able to take advantage of such a beautiful day by going outside and playing with the kids.

When the tractor broke down, Olivia had to help fix it. She’s very handy.

“It’s just about finished. I’m gonna need ’bout ten quarts of anti-freeze, preferably Prestone. No, no make that Quaker State.”

A lot of miles were put on the plastic tires of that rig this afternoon.

But all things must end, and Olivia skipped off to do something else.

Alex reminisces about the days gone by when he had a cute girl pushing his tractor and the wind parting his hair.

Here’s the race crew relaxing after the tractor pull.

On a less fun note, Alex had a fever this week and now he has a rash over most of his body. Michelle has tracked down the symptoms and we’re pretty sure he’s got roseola, which isn’t serious but has brought fitful sleep and a short temper along with it. We’re hoping he’s all back to normal this week. Stay strong, son… we love you.

Michelle posted some of these but I wanted to get more up there before too long went by. Alex wanted to take Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Jinghong to the restaurant in our hotel (Four Corners in Haidan District, Beijing, which we highly recommend) for lunch, so that’s what we did. As you can see, he’s very talented at doing interesting things with the shatterproof dinnerware.

Calling Alex things like ‘very talented’ makes him bashful.

One thing he doesn’t quite have figured out is the old hang-a-spoon-off-your-nose trick. I think you have to use a metal spoon, son.

Alex spent most of the meal seated between Grandma and Grandpa, and he had a wonderful time. He was in a very good mood–not that that was surprising at all. I mean, who *isn’t* in a good mood when seated between their grandparents?

The restaurant had this dish with lots of tofu and an egg-y yellow sauce that Alex loved. Here’s Grandpa feeding him some of it. You can see the dish in the foreground.

“What do you mean, we’re out of egg tofu dish, Grandpa?”

“Yeah, you really had me there! Good joke!”

Aunt Jinghong took this picture of all of us. Alex is about to take a swig from his bottle.

Alex and Grandpa got to do some bonding as we finished up lunch.

And finally, we discovered that the lessons that Uncle Cannonball have been giving Alex about how to conduct yourself as a man have been taking hold.

My mom doesn’t feel good these days. She has pretty bad rash all over her body for about one month. I called her yesterday. When we talked about Alex, she and my dad both started to sound exciting. Mom said my dad dreams about Alex almost every night. They always talk what a good boy Alex is. My sister woke up and cried on the night we flew out of Beijing. She spent two whole weeks taking care of Alex every day. Sometimes, Alex looked at her and called her mom. At the airport, I couldn’t hug my parents as Dave told me to do because the tears in my eyes almost fell already. I don’t want them to see me cry. But I know they cried too. My parents and sister love Alex too much!

从中国回来都一个礼拜了，易峰的姥爷还是每天睡觉都会梦到易峰。姥姥说易峰是个好孩子，没有很多小孩子的娇骄二气。虽然有些时候睡觉不好，但整体来说，属于好带类型。

Here is a picture of my dad rocking Alex to sleep. I am glad that my sister took this one. For a couple of days, Alex had trouble to take naps at my parents’ places. My dad, my mom, and my sister took turns to rock him and sang songs to him. By the time we left, everybody seems to become the master of “rock-a-bye-Alex”. Even myself feel very frustrated sometime by Alex’s sleeping problem. So I am very impressed by their patience.

姥爷哄易峰睡觉。

“More!” - My sister kind of spoiled Alex. She gave Alex everything he asked for. My mom said she cannot tolerate even 5 seconds when Alex cried.　易峰对大姨特别爱撒娇，因为大姨心眼好，老是陪他玩，顺着他。

The last day we had lunch with my dad and mom at the restaurant in our hotel. 离开北京那天在我们住的旅馆里吃饭。

“Grandpa, I will miss you.”　　姥爷，我也想你呀！

We arrived at LA on 02/08, Sunday, and the next day afternoon Alex went to see Dr. Grayson and got vaccination shots. Except very mild ear infection, this 1-year-old boy grows very well. He surprised mommy by his height. Of course, he is still keeping gaining brain power.

回来第二天就带易峰去做一岁的体检了，除了有一点点轻微的耳朵发炎外，一切都很好。　

1. Weight:23 pound 15.2oz — 50%　体重: 22斤
2. Height: 31.25 inches — 90%　　身高：79.4厘米
3. Head: 19.25 inches — 97% 头围：　48.9厘米

I thought Alex would be very sleepy in the afternoon because that was night time in China. But Alex was fascinated by the new “toy” he found in clinics and had lots of fun.

易峰那天下午不但没有犯困，还兴致勃勃地玩起大夫的看病的家伙。

“Opps…I have ear infection, sigh! But I don’t feel too bad though.”　我自己照照，我怎么没看见耳朵发炎呢？？

“Mommy, your ear looks good, no infection!”　妈妈，你耳朵一起都很好－－谢谢，易峰医生！

“Who is next??”　爸爸，我也替你看看耳朵，何如？

Mom and Dad have been heading out and doing things around Beijing most days, but Alex isn’t very portable yet and he needs to spend lots of time getting to know his Chinese family, so he’s been staying home with Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Jinghong (and cousin Tongtong, when she’s not back at home working on her homework. We’re very proud of her for doing her homework.)

Here Grandma is feeding Alex an orange.

I don’t remember Alex eating an orange off the peel like this in San Diego.

It turns out, he loves oranges!

Luckily, Grandma and Grandpa back in San Diego have a ready supply of them, because Alex got a lot of good practice on eating oranges this week.

Alex likes playing under Grandma and Grandpa’s table. Here he’s talking to Grandpa.

“I can pick up any of this stuff for you. Which can do you want?”

Here’s Grandma and Alex hanging out and being cool.

Grandpa set up a trolley for Alex with a piece of styrofoam and a length of ribbon.

Alex enjoys being pulled around the apartment!

Back at the table, Alex has found that he really likes Chinese dishes.

And of course by that I mean the dinnerware itself.

He doesn’t even need any hands to hold the bowl, his teeth are so strong!

Alex did go out to dinner with us and some friends of Michelle’s from her first job in China. We went to the restaurant in our hotel, and it turned out to be really good.

Alex had an excellent time. He liked the tofu, cantaloupe, and fish head soup a lot.

We’ll be back in San Diego on Sunday night!