Today Alex officially graduated from Starfish and entered the Sea Horse class. Congratulations, Alex! I cannot wait to pick him up this afternoon to learn how he is doing. I am a little bit nervous.

Most of kids at Sea Horse don’t use bottles for milk and alex is over 18-month-old, so it is time for him to use sippy cups to drink milk according to his pediatrician and daycare teachers. We tried to let him drink milk from sippy cup before he turned into 18-month-old, not success. He has no problem to drink water from sippy cup, but for milk, NO WAY!

Yesterday he was hungry and signed “milk” to me in the car. I passed him the sippy cup and he said “No, No, No”. I said back to him,” It is milk, not water.” He was annoyed and kept saying no. I had to warn him:”if you don’t drink milk from a sippy cup, then there is no milk for you.” I asked him one more time, when he said no, I put the sippy cup back in the milk bag. Alex was so angry and cried very badly. Alex’s cry always can melt my heart. For one minute another voice in my mind said:”Give him the bottle. It is not a big deal. Don’t let him cry!” Just right before I gave in, I wanted to give a last try. Honestly, I didn’t expect any miracle to happen. However, I just couldn’t believe my eyes– Alex took the sippy cup and started to drink milk from it!

Of course, we cannot acclaim the triumph over the battle against bottles yet. This morning Alex refused the sippy cup again. We changed one sippy cup to another, and finally he started to drink a little, much less than what he can drink from a bottle. The teachers at SEA said they will continue help us work on that. I hope Alex can cooperate and this transition will not too hard for him.

We might have stopped giving Alex bottles earlier. However from the bottom of my heart, I don’t think it is very important. In Europe, doctors do not recommend to change from a bottle to a sippy cup before two-year-old. In China, I’ve never heard of the importance of drinking from a sippy cup, rather than a bottle. Alex can drink from a regular cup or with a straw. Why does he have to switch to a sippy cup? I am not convinced either. However, I would like to cooperate too. Wish us good luck!

易峰不喜欢用杯子喝奶，但新班级几乎所以的小朋友都停止用奶瓶了，我们只好加紧训练。但易峰真的很不喜欢这样的变化，我心里也嘀咕“有那必要吗？”每次吃饭的点，大家都不高兴。如果给易峰奶瓶的话，每个人一天下来都高高兴兴的。我们就慢慢来吧。

It took Alex almost one week to totally recover from Seizure shock. This unexpected incident reminds me again how fragile a human being’s life could be sometimes. Suddenly, my feeling to my work becomes less bitter:) Looking at Dave and Alex playing and laughing together always makes me to feel happy and blessed. What could be more important than having a good health and a beloved family? None. So we miss Emma very much. Every day we wish Emma could hold hands with Alex and have fun together! Emma, we love you!

礼拜六带着易峰去看了emma. 易峰挑了个硕大的气球，新鲜的花朵，和一个藕荷色的蝴蝶给emma,　我们准备下次再带些玩具来给emma,希望她在天堂不寂寞，永远开开心心。

“Emma, Peek -A- Boo!”

Alex woke up Thursday morning and felt a little warm and didn’t have much energy. We took him to the doctor Thursday afternoon, and he said that Alex probably just had a cold. By Thursday evening, he’d developed a fever of about 101. We’ve been parenting under the assumption that babies get fevers and they aren’t much to worry about unless they’re really high, so we put him to bed as normal at around 7:30pm.

At about 8:45pm he woke up crying, so we went and got him out of his room. His fever seemed about the same as it had been when he went to bed, but he was a little sweaty and didn’t seem comfortable, so we brought him downstairs, where it’s much cooler in our house. We were hanging out with him trying to get him to go back to sleep when he suddenly had a febrile seizure. He tensed up, started shaking uncontrollably, the blood left his face, and seemed to lose consciousness. I don’t think it lasted any more than 90 seconds, but by then Michelle had already called 911 and they were on their way.

The good news is that a febrile seizure is not a serious medical event. 3-5% of kids will get them, apparently, and the nurses and doctors we talked to on Thursday said that it doesn’t even necessarily happen due to a high temperature–sometimes a quick increase of a degree or two will be enough to bring one on even if the overall fever is still fairly mild. Alex got to ride in the ambulance to the hospital, where they checked him out thoroughly–x-rays, blood draw, and the whole nine yards. His fever read as high as 104.2 at the hospital, but it went down pretty quickly after they gave him baby ibuprofen (Motrin) and acetaminophen (Tylenol). The doctor at the ER reiterated that there wasn’t any evidence of any ear infection or chest congestion, and that Alex should be fine. We were able to leave by about 11:30pm, and were home by midnight.

Alex has never had much of a fever before so we weren’t quick on the draw with fever reducing medicine, so there’s a lesson learned for us. There seems to be a tendency to let fevers run their course in Chinese culture. The doctor Alex saw on Thursday afternoon said that a low fever isn’t a big deal, since it’s making the body more inhospitable for whatever it is that’s got it feeling poorly. But yesterday and today we’ve been religiously dosing him with Motrin and Tylenol. He’s been warm, and acted cranky, and hasn’t slept well, so he’s still sick, but his fever hasn’t made it above 101. Provided the cold doesn’t turn into an ear infection, Alex should be feeling much better by tomorrow.

We also got ourselves a temple thermometer. We have one of the highly rated ear thermometers around here somewhere, but we haven’t used it for a long time because it’s kind of a pain to use with Alex. He doesn’t like the tip going into the ear, even though it doesn’t have to go far. (The point has been made that it’ll probably be easier to do this now that Alex is 18 months old than it was when he was six months, and it’s a good one.) I’m also biased against it because the one-use plastic tips seem like a scam. We’ve been using an armpit thermometer for most of Alex’s life, but that proved to be pretty inaccurate on Thursday, when it’d often read a couple of degrees different each time we used it. So far, I’m pretty happy with the temple thermometer–it’s convenient, the readings are consistent, and it doesn’t require a tip, so we can obsess about Alex’s temperature all we want and waste nothing but a little battery life. So far, I give the temple thermometer Five Pochaccos*.

The febrile seizure was a scary thing to see–I’ve never seen a kid do anything like that–but luckily it appears to be a benign condition. That’s a great relief for us.

We didn’t want this post to bum anyone out, so here’s Alex 40 hr after his emergency room visit. He’s cranky today, but his fever is just about gone. His love of strawberries has remained steadfast throughout.

烧刚刚退一些，易峰在吃草莓。

* for the uninitiated, the Pochacco rating system is something we used to use a lot over at JesusH back when we posted stuff there. Ratings range from zero to five Pochaccos.

At school, Alex’s teacher says he is a sweet boy helping clean up the play room. At home, Alex helps daddy and mommy sweep the floor, carry the milk bag, water the strawberries, put soda in the refrigerator, and dump empty cans into the trash bin. We are so proud of him.

易峰现在能帮爸爸妈妈做好多事情了，擦地，浇花，把垃圾放在垃圾桶里，帮爸爸把饮料放到小冰箱里。他一口气把20瓶易拉罐都放到冰箱里了，还跟我比划着要继续干呢。

In return, Daddy made the best scramble eggs for Alex. Look at Alex’s teacher’s comments below. Isn’t it exciting? It is rear Alex can finish all his lunch. Usually I will be more than happy if he can eat half of his lunch. Daddy is such a good cook. We all love the foods he makes.

爸爸昨天给易峰做了个炒鸡蛋，通常爸爸会放一些奶酪，但这次奶酪过期了就没放，就放少许盐，结果易峰特别爱吃，把两个鸡蛋全吃完了，受到老师的表扬。爸爸，要再接再厉呀！昨天我给易峰做了豆腐和胡萝卜，不知道今天能吃多少。

Alex has been in a lake before, and he’s been close to the beach, but he’s never actually walked around in the surf. Our friends Eric, Vivian, and Olivia went to La Jolla Shores on Saturday morning and invited us along.

The beach had a very nice playground for kids with lots of contraptions to expend energy on. Alex didn’t actually like the playground that much (though he did a nice job scooping sand with this cool plastic shovel he found).

礼拜六和Ｏｌｉｖｉａ全家去海边玩，易峰喜欢玩水，想着他肯定喜欢。我们先在海边的一个让小孩子玩的沙地上玩秋千，滑梯什么的，易峰看到沙子进到鞋里，有点不知所措，就对沙地有了抵触情绪，玩秋千的兴致也大打折扣，和妈妈一起滑滑梯还算开心。Ｏｌｉｖｉａ在沙地里则自如地跑呀跳呀，易峰只有瞧的份了。

Running around on the shore, though, he really loved. He squealed when the waves came in and we soon wished we’d brought his bathing suit–he got pretty wet!

一到海水里，易峰的精神头就来了，每每海浪冲过来，尽管把易峰的裤子衣服都打湿了，他高兴地大叫，还对海浪迎头冲过去。海水退的时候，他趁机拣拣石头，贝壳玩，易峰看到其他小朋友玩滑板，游泳，羡慕得眼都直了。

We had a great time watching the kids play in the water, and we can’t wait to go back.

The other day, Alex and Dad got up and were hanging out in the morning, just waking up, after Alex had his first bottle of the day. Dad looks like a bum, because he just rolls out and brushes his teeth to take Alex to daycare. Sam the Cooking Guy is on the DVR (and while we’re on the subject, get some nice fresh halibut and try the Roasted Red Pepper Halibut–it’s outstanding) and we hang out and watch it for a while.

Alex is eating some dried fruit. He really likes dried fruit. He’s playing with a Fisher Price Little Tykes multilingual baby remote control. Here’s a place you can buy it online. This is probably his favourite toy. It’s really solidly constructed, the buttons do fun stuff, and the voices and songs that get activated when he plays with the dial on it are excellent. Most babies I’ve known just naturally are drawn to the form factor of a remote control, and Alex is no exception, so this is a really accessible toy for him.

易峰和爸爸早上起来懒散地靠在沙发上看做饭的节目，易峰很喜欢玩做饭的玩具，说不准他将来要当大厨呢，想想那也不错，天天给老妈做好吃的，呵呵。他手里拿的是水果干，我不爱吃，易峰倒是满喜欢的。

I’ve discovered I’ve got some movie editing software on the computer here at home, so we’ve decided to try to take some more movies. Here’s a quick one. [Spoilers ahead] Alex had fun helping empty my car’s ashtray, which gradually fills with change as I buy stuff and throw the change in there. I’ve already posted something about the penny jar we have, but we also have a pig bank, and that’s where the silver change goes. This thing weighs a lot, and is nearly full–I think I’ve had it for at least a decade.

Alex has become expert at feeding it. He gives kind of a cute look to mom as she’s filming in this.

易峰帮着把硬币放到存钱罐里，觉得好玩，新鲜，做起事来还算认真。唯一的麻烦是之后每次见到储钱罐，他就跟我比划着要硬币，哪找那么多硬币给他呀。