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Hello, fog and cold mornings.
Hello, socks and the occasional sweater.
Hello, strangers looking just so darned American, with your culturally identifiable bodies, hair and clothes.

We are slowly getting over our jetlag and becoming re-acclimated to the routine of our quiet lives. Otis has been happily reacquainting himself with all his toys, and continuing to jibber on in Chinese all day long. His language skills grew impressively during our Asian sojourn, and Chinese has become totally natural to him. So natural that he seems to speak English with a Chinese accent. In fact, coming back here has affirmed what I have been suspecting for some time now: Otis has forgotten most of his English. Weird, isn’t it?

The vastly improved Chinese is fantastic, really just what we had been hoping for, but…… of course there’s a BUT! BUT I think Otis is feeling a little stunned. He’s grown suddenly shy around strangers who approach him speaking English. And more importantly, he’s been having trouble communicating with F. The morning of their reunion, he was so happy to see F, jumping on him, giggling and jabbering on and on. But he started to pause more as he realized that his father couldn’t understand what he was saying. And he had to pause to listen to this strange language that his father was speaking to him. A few days later, he seems to understand most of what F is saying to him, but he just can’t respond yet. I know he’ll regain his English (and yipes, lose his Chinese) faster than we think, but it’s been a frustrating reunion for both father and son.

Otis has been suffering from his usual post-homecoming sleep issues, and we’ve been working on getting him back to his reliable old sleep habits. Actually, F’s been doing much of the heavy lifting in this department, since my stiffly frozen heart seems to have defrosted somewhat since the initial hardcore sleep training we did oh so long ago. And although not understanding Chinese may make it somewhat easier for F to ignore Otis’s endless requests in order to put off sleeptime, it’s also been extremely frustrating for him to realize that he could have reduced much of the crying by merely understanding Otis’s demand for his stuffed tiger.

Soon soon soon, I know.

I know I owe many of you emails and phone calls (those of you that make your presence known, that is. I keep discovering the identity of more and more of secret readers out there. You know, you can’t hide forever!) and of course, I owe ALL of you collages. I know! What are you, monsters? My child has LOST the ability to speak the English language and all you can think about is paper, glue and scissors?

Well, actually, all I can think about is the very exciting fact that this week and next, we are installing our exciting little prefab studio in the backyard! I came home to see a backyard totally cleared of weedy jungle and debris, ready for landscaping. I’ve been dreaming about this forever, and ALL I can think about is patios, garden design, outdoor furniture and how to decorate my studio. Check out this craziness that I’m going to buy next time I find a $4120 bill on the street. Now imagine it tucked under the gracefully drooping branches of mature fruit trees. OK, now imagine me napping in there.  Perfect, no? I’ll keep you updated, of course.