October 6^th, 2010 Folk Art Museum

I am so exhausted because I went to sleep around 6 AM. Every day that goes by, Kai decides to sleep in more and more. He used to get up around 6-6:30 like clockwork. Today, we got up around 8 am, talked briefly to family on Skype, and then went to eat. When we got back to the room, I wanted to lie down. Then, I looked at the time. Darn. It was 20 minutes until Ike was going to be there and I am so exhausted.

Today, we went to The Folk Art Museum. This building used to be Chen Clan’s Academy. It was established in 1894 during the Qing Dynasty. It has impressive architecture. I took many pictures of the building because it was a piece of art itself.  Guangzhou is getting ready for Asian games, so everything is under construction. Instead of walking through the front door, we were detoured into this neighborhood and entering through what looks like a servant’s entrance. That was interesting.

At this museum, we saw a 6 or 7 year old child on a sculpture posing for a picture. When the family got him down and they started to walk away, we put Kai up there to pose. This child saw Kai up there (see picture) and lunged at the sculpture wanting to get back up, and was screaming loudly. First his mother was yelling and pulling him off and when that didn’t work, the father decided to help. This child was out of control and too hard for them to handle. It was so odd to see! Kai was watching this happen and was holding on for dear life. The look on Kai’s face in the picture was a result of watching this kid through a huge fit. I whispered to Kai that he was not to learn from that kind of behavior. He smiled even though he did not know what I was saying. Ike called him an “Emperor” which made me laughed. That is how he refers to spoiled boys.

Although I was so tired, I would have done that again if I had to choose. We were not thrilled about doing it to begin with, but in the end, it was well worth it.

When we got back, Kai took a 3 hour nap with mommy, and he woke up so happy! (As usual, but I love it!) We then decided we would go try out the pool. It was windy and the water was cold. Kai didn’t look too thrilled about it, so I went for a quick cold dip, and then we went to our room. Kai is still worried about water and I want to lessen that fear. We both got in the bathtub in our swim suit/swim diaper and played with water toys. It took a bit of trust, but finally he felt comfortable enough to sit by himself! I am so excited! This baby is amazing!  

                                        Okay mom, more pictures!

                                          The museum's architecture

                               Kai cant take his eyes off a child throwing a fit

                 This is neighborhood we walked through on the way out of the museum

 Stacking his cups on the side of the tub, a huge improvement from his hanging on for dear life

                                 There is that look Julie, he makes that face when he is talking!