Franklin Update

It's noon on Monday. I should be getting ready to go in for the optional meeting at work, as I normally would, but the words "optional" and "meeting" when put together in such a way as this on a day such as this do nothing but push me towards the gym.

Yesterday, the three of us had planned to go to the old Taiwan Wine and Tobacco factory on Fuhsing Road to see the art installations there. Franklin was a little slow eating his porridge in the afternoon and he and his mother eventually opted for a nap.

Maggie makes a week's worth of porridge on Saturday evenings. Not a jar of Gerber's has been brought into the house. Frank gets a mixture of rice and fresh carrots, onions, green onions, garlic, fish, maybe some beef, and sweet potato. He loves it and will often eat a whole bowl at one sitting. If not, well, his mom seems to like it as well.

The question on everyone's lips is, "Is the boy walking?" Not quite yet. He can now stand on two feet in the middle of the room with no support for extended periods of time. Maggie's "five minutes" is roughly equivalent to about 45 seconds, after which he has a soft landing and a fit of the giggles. The past couple of evenings, he's had really no problem walking across the house while holding onto two of my fingers. The woman at the bakery says that he'll be walking within a week. But here's what Grandma said: (Ni yao gaosu Meichi mei-yi-tian yi-ding gei ta yi-ge tu ji dan chr.) Och eye, Taiwanese grandmothers and their wisdom.

Oh, sorry. She told me to tell Maggie to give Franklin a steamed free-range-chicken egg every day. Grandma Ke promises that with the amount of energy those mountain chickens stuff inside the shell, Franklin will be up and walking around in no time. Of course, to me it seems like, Grandma sees that he's ready to go already and is jumping at the opportunity to take credit for pushing him forward. We'll see if he gets going before Chinese New Year.

Dog year is just around the corner. Prepare to spend the next 12 months with the year's nose up your crotch.