"I want Lawson!"

Well, it was a gorgeous summer weekend -- it actually hit 80F. I was not prepared for such warm temperatures, so poor Ian was a sweat-monster. We drove down on Saturday morning to the Wang-Chou homestead and went into Philly in the afternoon to see the Ringling Bros circus. Ian had a GREAT time! As soon as we arrived at their house, he started chasing poor Gordo the cat around ("Mao1 mi1!") and Gordo was so good-natured about it. And Ian is now Lawson's biggest fan.

From Weekend with ...

The circus started at 3:00 pm, so we piled into our cars around 2:00 pm to give us plenty of time. Maxine and Ian both passed out. Ian actually slept all the way into the Wachovia Spectrum, through the intro with the explosions and the ringmaster's booming voice and the clowns. Mei-Lun got great seats (the best seats I've ever had at the circus) and I started tickling and nudging Ian when the opening parade started and the elephants came out. Jeff was holding him and snuggled in his lap and Ian opened his eyes just a tad, looked over his shoulder and spotted the elephants and the eyes started getting bigger and bigger. It was hard to hear what he was saying over all the noise, but I'm pretty sure he was yelling "Elefanton, Daddy!" and "DA4 xian4!"

Larry and Mei-Lun bought snacks and drinks and Ian ate a LOT of popcorn during the second half of the show (as did Daddy). Daddy also had his first funnel cake. Larry's eyes lit up like a little kid's when he came back to report that they were available. The elephants really did their thing at the end of the show and Ian actually stopped eating popcorn, so you know it had to be pretty exciting! ML and I enjoyed the dog act a lot. (Monday morning when I was telling one of the teachers at school about it, Ian said, "Go3-go3 chuan1 yi1 fu2!" ("The dog was wearing clothes!"), which is true. The little poodles were wearing skirts and dresses and when they danced on their hind legs, they twirled. It was pretty funny.

When we got back in the car after the show, Ian didn't want to go home -- "Bu2 yao4 hui2 jia1!" He wouldn't let me strap him in until I said the magic words: "We're going to Maxine and Lawson's house." Then he let me strap him in and said, "Chu4 kan4 mao1 mi1." Then he said to Jeff, "Vaya ven el gato, Daddy!" ("Go see the cat!") And he kept repeating that the whole way back. There's also a billboard with a big Elmo on it on the side of the highway. We passed it in the morning on the way to their house and again on the way back from the circus. Each time there was a very excited burst from the back seat, "ELMO!"

ML made a delicious dinner and Ian ate quite a bit of the steak. He was quite intrigued by the Bob the Builder plate and all the different vehicles on it. After dinner, Maxine gave me the birthday presents again that I failed to open right away when we first arrived. She was so excited. AND she had picked out a beautiful birthday cake for me with white and hot pink icing AND a Cinderella figurine on top. She stuck in all eight of the pink candles that they had (except for one that she explained was broken because the thing on the top (the wick) fell off). She put them in groups of four, very close together. Lawson blew them all out in one breath!. Ian had gone to bed because he was so tired he couldn't see straight anymore.

Ian slept upstairs by himself, so Jeff and I got a good night's sleep. I heard Ian on the monitor a little before 8:00, but Max and Lawson were quicker than me. When I got up there, the three of them were deep in conversation about something. Ian didn't cry for me or ask for his nai-nai. Lawson gave Ian cars and books (politely asking me each time if it was ok for him to give it to Ian), so Ian was just completely enamored of him. If he wasn't asking for Gordo, he was asking where Lawson was.

We had bagels and lox for breakfast and then sat around in our jammies until it was time to go out to lunch (woo-hoo!). We went to a really great Vietnamese place in Philly Chinatown. Ian ate not one, not two, but five pieces of the fried salt and pepper squid, which was actually quite spicy. He also ate pickled daikon (didn't love it, but he took a bite and swallowed it), pork chop, rice noodles and, of course, rice.

He napped the entire ride home and when he got home, he was asking for Lawson and for Gordo. Monday afternoon, coming home school, he said, "Mao1 mi1 ne?" ("Where's the cat?") and answered himself by saying, "Zai4 mao1 mi1 de jia1." ("At the cat's house.") I asked him who else's house it was and he said, "Lawson de jia1." Who else? "Lawson." How about Maxine? "No." How about Auntie Mei-Lun? "No." How about Uncle Larry?" "Yah. Uncalarry." So now he says the cat is at "Mao1 mi1, Lawson and Uncalarry de jia1."