Bush watch shows up on German eBay

I knew it was only a matter of time before the light fingered Albanian who lifted the president's watch was selling it online.

Silly Office Video

Wish we had this much fun at my office...

A busy week it's been. First Josh came down with nasty case of enterovirus, which sounds worse than it really is, sort of. Enteroviruses are fairly common in Taiwan, especially in the late spring and early summer. They usually affect toddlers and preschool age kids. Basically you have all the symptoms of a really bad cold, with fever and diarrhea occasionally thrown in. Josh was spared the diarrhea, thankfully. He was uncomfortable to say the least--sore throat, coughing and his fever peaking at 39 degrees Celsius (a little over 102 Fahrenheit). But the little guy was a trooper through it all. I don't want to sound like I'm bragging too much, but he was stoic the during his visit to the hospital while all the other kids were crying their eyes out. Of course, with a 102 fever, he may have been too out of it to cry.

Here he is feeling better and enjoying a weekend morning in bed.

Spotted an interesting article on Salon today about marketing to parents of toddlers, specifially a book by Susan Gregory Thomas called "Buy, Buy Baby." As a parent of a soon-to-be-toddler, I have to say that Thomas pretty much hits the nail on the head. It's hard not to find yourself falling prey to every "Baby Genius" fad that comes along.

Catchin' Up

OK, now an insane amount of time has passed since my last post and much has transpired. Josh is on the verge of walking. Katie, Josh and I took a whirlwind trip to Bali. The summer heat has descended upon Taiwan like one of those steamy towels you get in the really swanky barbershops. Ironically, what inspired me to post was nothing so domestic as the latest developments on the home front (though I could fill several pages on the subject). Rather it was this relatively mundane post that popped up on Digg today about the dubious bacon being flogged at that bastion of cut-rate retail--KMart. The story pretty much speaks for itself. Mmmm, pork fat in all its glory.

Low Center of Gravity

Josh has been going through a real spurt of changes lately. Not only is he physically getting bigger (at an almost alarming rate), his coordination is improving. He's figured out that the buttons in his crib control the music on his mobile. He does quite have the strength or dexterity to push the buttons, but that hasn't stopped him from trying. He also seems determined to sit up on his own. He still has a long way to go in this department, but it's amusing to watch on his back doing "stomach crunches" as he tries to sit up like his parents.

Here he tries to keep himself upright in a sitting position. Alas, it wasn't to be. I love his expression of exasperation when he flops onto his back. He immediately seeks solace in something he does well, toe sucking.