She’s been sorta’ saying her name for a few months, but it’s been a one-syllable version, something like “kss.” But now she’s starting to do a two-syllable version:

This is very likely an incomplete list since there are a number of words/phrases that we’re not sure about yet (“he tang,” for example, which means “drink soup” in Mandarin, but since she’s only used it once, we didn’t feel like it really qualified as vocabulary yet).

Playgroup Super Awesome has added yet another member, so now the total is six. The new addition is Adam (who has the best laugh in the world) and his mom Diana. Susan met them quite a while ago at Day One. More recently, they’ve had a few playdates and seem to get along famously, mostly ’cause Diana & Adam are fun peeps, but I’m sure shared Taiwanese heritage doesn’t hurt.

Diana, Adam, & Ted

We had our first family/family outing with the Fongs back in August, sharing a dim sum meal in Mountain View, topped off with a trip to a boba shop (I still can’t quite embrace the feeling of those little tapioca balls flying through the straw and interrupting my flow, but I was definitely the odd one out in this case).

An extra benefit of Diana & Adam joining the plagroup is that Exie will hear more Chinese; Diana & Ted speak as much Mandarin to Adam at home as English, so he’s a lucky kid – he’ll be completely bilingual. Actually, he’ll probably be more than bilingual since he also gets some Cantonese and Taiwanese thrown into the deal. Some of the other playgroup kids will also be bilingual: Max (whose father Jacques speaks to him mostly in French) and Antoine (Aude & Osman both speak French to him at home). It’d be great if Exie ended up bilingual, too, but unfortunately our Chinese isn’t really good enough to accomplish that, so we’ll have to figure out how to augment it somehow. Maybe we’ll just drop her off at Adam’s house for a few months.

But I digress… back to the main point of the post: a big warm welcome to the Fongs! Thanks for joining Playgroup Super Awesome!

We have been worried that it was another stroke because he was showing similar symptoms, but in the end it has been decided that it was not. Apparently, after a stroke, some of the recovery is actual, but some of it is simply compensation by one’s brain and body to cover up the lasting effects. To make matters worth, my father is notoriously susceptible to strange and harsh maladies and manages to contract illnesses that, in several cases, have never been properly diagnosed. Sometimes a run-in-the-mill virus can lay him out for a long time. In this case, while his body was fighting the virus, it stopped some of its normal compensation for the lasting effects of the stroke.

We have all been very worried about him over the last several weeks, but fortunately he seems to be slowing getting better now.

UPDATE (Oct 16): I’m happy to report that dad seems basically back to normal, so that is great! Phew.

Susan’s grandma and grandpa (on her dad’s side) helped to raise Susan and her sister during their childhood (all the way through high school). Many of Susan’s early memories revolve around them. So it is fitting that Exie is named after her (Exie’s middle name is Yi, Susan’s grandma’s first name).

Susan’s father was already in Taiwan (he works there), and the rest of the family will be flying back for the memorial services happening sometime near the end of the month.

Even though I wasn’t able to get to know her well (though I was lucky enough to meet her on two different trips to Taiwan), it was immediately obvious what a kind person she was, and how fond she was of Susan. She told me some stories about when Susan was just a little baby.

We miss you and and will always love you, Ama.

Our new camera arrived a few days ago and I’m starting to use it today. It is extremely likely that nobody cares about this except me, with the possible exceptions of Nasir and Spencer. After agonizing over the choice for our next DSLR (our 5-year-old Nikon D70 was a trooper, traveling around the world with us, but 5 years is a long time in camera development these days), I decided to go with a Nikon D90 (instead of a more expensive D300 or the full-frame D700). I’m also hoping to grab a new everyday all-in-one lens for it in the coming months. It will be nice to have something a bit faster since Exie is keeps accelerating; it is getting significantly more difficult to grab candids before she makes a mad dash for the camera, or “mamema” as she calls it. *Lots* of out-of-focus shots recently.