Baybee doll's got religion

More success - Liam is now walking. He started on the day he turned 17 months, at Kindermusik. I guess he got tired of watching his brother and other toddlers walk around the room to more easily find the drums, shakers, and other supplies. It makes a difference when you can see what's on low tabletops. He's now walking most of the time, though if he really needs something that second he crawls very quickly. He can't run yet like his brother, after all.

Speaking of running, it appears that Graeme thinks it's funny to run away from me now. Of course I catch him, but he still laughs. I'm trying to teach them to eat their snacks at their table in the playroom instead of the floor, and they are mostly successful. However, sometimes they must take a cracker or other snack and go to the other side of the room as fast as they can. Testing mommy is fun, evidently. The first signs of the terrible twos, perhaps?

I've now seen one of my sons actually shaking with joy. I decided to try coloring with the boys the other day after a three month hiatus. The first try mostly consisted of me grabbing crayons from their mouths, so I figured I'd wait awhile 'til the next session. This time, I cut a few pages from a coloring book and taped them to the kids' table. I showed them how to color, and gave them each a crayon. After a minute or so of them tapping the crayon on the paper, they got the hang of longer strokes. When he viewed his creation, Liam got so excited that he was shaking, unable to speak, with his little mouth forming an "o" while holding the crayon in his fist. He continued to color for a few minutes more, then put the crayon in his mouth, as did his brother. No surprise there. At least this time I had something to show Sean when he got home from work.

Their latest words include ball, balloon (almost the same sound), go, and up. New activities other than coloring include a strange form of toddler tag, beating their mop and broom together like swords, and rolling around on our new rugs. I took them to Toys R Us two days ago without the stroller and let them walk around with much steering and some hand-holding. Surprisingly they didn't pull everything off the shelves. They were probably too excited by their new foam swords, which hurt much less than the plastic mop and broom.

The cultural funny of the past two weeks goes to Dasem, our Indonesian housekeeper. Dasem is good-natured, and she'll laugh at the boys when they do something hilarious, which is often. She doesn't usually say funny things though, because her English isn't so good. She knows enough to get by with household and childcare tasks, but other than that, not so much. I'll be sending her to English courses this January. Anyway, the boys were playing with bandanas, and she took one and put it around the babydoll's head, holding it underneath the doll's chin, and said, "look, the baby has become Muslim", and then giggled. I laughed for a full minute. Dasem and I had recently talked about the head scarves many Muslim women wear over here. The few Indonesian housekeepers I've met don't wear them, though. I guess Baybee doll is safe from a career of cleaning and cooking for others, as long as she's got the scarf.

And now a word from Sean...

Décor of Despair

A few months ago Tiffany teased you with the tale of the furniture in the serviced apartment we lived in for the first month of our Singapore experience. Since I was the primary victim of the couch I thought I should be the one to share the story with you. Before I get started, one side note. When we came here for our look-see, Tiffany and I considered a high rise apartment with a beautiful view of the parks surrounding the Orchard Road area. It was nice, but cozy (1200 sq ft). We opted for something larger so the monkeys would have room to roam. It was a good choice. Our serviced apartment was about that size and the boys (not to mention Tiffany) would get stir crazy in about two or three hours, which fortunately was the gap between their naps. The best indicators of when they were going to melt was whether their toys were evenly distributed through every room and if Liam was stationed by the front door desperately trying to pry the door stopper off the wall.

Which brings me nicely back to furnishings, with only one more aside. Door stoppers in the US are springy and make a lovely “boing” when experimented with. The boys had just discovered these in the US before we left. In Singapore, door stoppers are about twice that size, solidly attached to the wall with a ball at the end, and magnetic (doors stay propped open until closed). This is less entertaining for the boys from a musical perspective, but provides a more significant challenge to their destructive powers. The score to date is door stops 0, twins 0. I hope they lose interest before they score.

Right, furniture. So we’ve never been fans of modern-style furniture. I’ve always found it pretentious and uncomfortable. I’m okay with the first, but the second gets in the way of my (and Liam’s) laziness. When we arrived at 6 am on our first Saturday in Singapore, the apartment had a variety of furnishings. Most importantly, it had two cribs and a double bed, but most strikingly a couch and rug in the den area. They almost defy description, but I’ll try and then you can look at the pictures.

The Rug of Clinging – Okay, the visual here was only part of the annoyance. Imagine a rug laid out with a tic-tac-toe board of concentric squares in seventies colors. Avocado, burnt orange, and brown. UG-LY. The part that really got to Tiffany was the material. I still don’t know what to call it (some sort of crazy, cheap acrylic-T), but the largest portion was made of a green material that shed fuzz, green fuzz, on every creature that came near it. I think I actually saw it leap onto Graeme at one point, but that wasn't necessary because guess where the boys chose to play? On the rug. The fuzz got EVERYWHERE, and we do mean everywhere, on the boys. Bath time became more like sheep sheering.

The Couch of Camouflage – When you see the pictures, you’ll wonder why I didn’t call it the Couch of Seizures, but the truth is that no one had a seizure. It’s basically a white loveseat with small black and white circles and squares. Ugly, but not dangerous or so I thought.

The couch was hosting hostile organisms. I got my first clue from the fact that every weekend when I got back from Hong Kong, I thought I’d caught a cold from the travel. I’d take Claritin and wait out the symptoms. By the time I was back in Hong Kong, I’d be better. The first week I spent entirely in Singapore, I began to suspect I might be allergic to something in the apartment. I was sitting on the loveseat working one night when I looked up and noticed a water stain on the plaster ceiling above me. It looked old, except for the middle which looked darker. I stood on the couch and did what any American man would do. I poked the spot.

One eyeful of plaster later I realized that part of the very high humidity in our apartment was not just from living on the Equator. It was then that I thought to myself that the couch had always seemed a little damp. Looking to my right like a man about to be killed in a horror film, I realized that the trail of spots on the wall were not a result of flinging food by the boys, but the journey of the mold from the ceiling leak to infest the arm of the couch I was standing upon. Insert scream of terror here. Oddly my microbiologist wife was not nearly as appalled as I was. I think it has something to do with who was actually having the allergic reaction (no, I just wasn't surprised based on the strange smell of the couch-T).

The story continues…I will post an epilogue to this one later.

Success

Well, they finally did it. Two days ago both boys succeeded in climbing on the red couch by themselves, twice. They were quite pleased with themselves. They have done it a few times since, but still cannot make it up with every attempt.

Speaking of please, Graeme has started saying a few words, including please, though he says "peas". He uses this sometimes when he needs something done or when he wants me to open the door to the playroom so he can escape. My favorite word of his, though, is baby, which is pronounced "bay-bee" with a bit of a southern drawl. My southern relatives will be heartened to know that the boys will have a slight accent like what is left of mine after living in Atlanta (which is not really southern anymore) for years. Graeme likes to hold and feed the bay-bee doll, which he will then throw across the room.

Graem has also begun feeding me bites of his snacks. The boys usually have some Cheerios or Oatmeal Squares for morning snack, and he'll walk up to me if I'm sitting on the floor and shove a piece of cereal in my mouth. He thinks this is hilarious. At least it tastes good.

Liam is not talking so much but he is experimenting with sounds. His latest is the shushing noise, which he can't quite get without spitting a little. Very cute though, especially when we're on the way to his crib for a nap. He also pokes out his bottom lip and blows upward in an attempt to blow on his own hair. I have found that blowing on their hair will make them laugh when they are upset, so I've done it a few times. I guess he liked it so much he decided to do it himself.

Other than these developments, not much is new. The boys continue to beat me up daily. I think the beatings are unintentional but I'm starting to wonder. Today Liam stepped on my throat while trying to sit on me when I made the mistake of lying down on the playroom floor. Graeme slammed the top of his head under my chin causing me to bite my tongue. They both hit me in the face with board books also, with one strike hitting just below my cheekbone and the other landing close to my eye. When they drop their cups during meals, they somehow manage to hit the top of my foot in such a way that I limp for a few minutes. I think they've secretly had a little training over here in their spare time. I'm starting to sleep with one eye open.

August Shenanigans

It's been a long time since my last post (sorry), and August has flown by. We took a trip to Bintan, Indonesia which involved an hour-long ferry trip from S'pore to Indonesia. I thought the ferry would be like the ones you see in the movies around New York, but I was wrong. These looked like yachts with a bunch of seats and crappy carpet instead of a bunch of bling. The ride over to Bintan started right after a storm, so there were a lot of people breathing into their sick bags. Luckily no one got sick, though the boys didn't like sleeping in our arms.

Sean got to play golf on a course designed by Greg Norman which included a few holes along the South China Sea. I rode along since I haven't played in over two years and certainly need lessons. The scenery was beautiful. The resort has a great pool with frog fountains which the boys loved. There's also a beach, and Liam enjoyed playing in the sand, but Graeme wasn't so sure. He had a hard time walking in the sand, so he would stand there frozen with his legs shaking and his arms out with jazz hands. He was alright once he sat down and played, but he still didn't throw the sand around with glee like Liam did. One of the funniest moments was when Liam quickly crawled from our play spot on the beach to the edge of the water where Sean was standing. He left a track from his belly in the sand, which looked like a giant slug had visited the beach.

Back home, the boys have been progressing rapidly. Both are pointing to things they want and saying "na" or "ma", which appears to mean "I want that thing right there, now!". Graeme has repeated a few things I've said, with cheese being his funniest word because he says it correctly in this happy tiny voice. Liam is talking plenty, but not in English. I think he's concentrating on walking now, which he just started a couple of days ago. He still prefers to crawl but is now standing up and walking about 10 steps regularly.

One hilarious thing Liam has started doing is telling Graeme off. In the past, Graeme would take whatever Liam had and Liam would cry. Starting in Bintan, Graeme took Liam's toy, and Liam took it back, then stuck out his arm in a "talk to the hand" position and just read him the riot act in twinspeak. When I thought he was done, he stuck that arm out again and did it for longer. Graeme looked kind of dumbfounded and then played with something else. Liam has done this a few times since, and has now started stealing Graeme's toys. Ah, the fighting begins! But just when I think they're not getting along, they'll put their heads together and rub noggins lovingly.

They've started climbing onto my lap with certain books as a request for a mommy reading session, and will sit for the entire book more and more often. They will also pick a book off the bookshelf and quietly sit alone and "read". Favorites include Sometimes I Like to Curl into a Ball, Brown Bear..., Very Hungry Caterpillar, Pat the Bunny, and Goodnight Moon. Their favorite picture book is My Big Truck Book, and they really fight over that one. Gotta look at the fire truck and excavator now!

The boys' current favorite activities besides reading include playing peek-a-boo with any type of cloth or their hands, rolling around on blankets, kissing mommy (wet from Liam, mostly nose from Graeme), "feeding" the baby doll, pointing and talking to dogs during our walks, swimming, playing with stacking barrels and blocks, singing and dancing at Kindermusik, making strange noises with their lips, and fighting over the slide.

We'll end for now with one of the funniest things I've ever seen in person. As Liam is starting to walk, he gets into the gorilla position more often as Graeme did when he was beginning to walk. Yesterday Liam got into the gorilla in the bathtub but kept his head up, and started splashing water backward between his legs toward Graeme while giggling. Graeme was sitting about 4 inches from Liam's butt, and he would "receive" the splashes and splash them toward himself. It looked like some bizarre form of wet toddler football hiking without the football. Complete hilarity. Too bad Daddy had the camera in Cambodia.

Jazz hands & the flying monkey

Graeme has started walking, though not exclusively yet. He does the standard toddler beginner-walk, with turned-out duck feet for balance and arms out. Sometimes his arms are out in front like Frankenstein (says Sean), and at other times his arms are bent at the elbow but out to his sides, with his fingers splayed. Those of you who have had dance lessons in the past will recognize this hand position as jazz hands. Hopefully this will not last too long, or he may end up in a musical touring company - not that there is anything wrong with that.

Liam is observing Graeme, and getting more interested in walking daily. He stands up, takes a step or two, then crashes. Once Graeme stops crawling and only walks, I think that Liam will follow. He is devoting a lot of his time to experimenting with the castle slide. He likes to climb up the slide and slide back down on his belly, but his current favorite slide activity shows some daring on his part. While I am waiting at the bottom of the slide, he will climb to the top, sit down, and jump into my arms instead of sliding down. I think he does this because he will not lift his feet off the slide, so they stick to it when he propels himself forward. No matter, I'll catch the flying monkey. His brother is now doing this too, of course.

No new words because they are concentrating on walking and flying. They are pointing at things now, especially the caterpillar from The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and any dogs they see on our walks. We saw a dog the other day that could be our former pet dog Zoe's brother, and the boys went nuts. Zoe was/is still probably crazy, but the boys always loved her as soon as they were aware of her. We'll be getting a dog when we return to the U.S.

Random cool thing in Singapore: assigned seating at the movies. Whether you buy your tickets online or at the box office, you can choose your seat as long as it's still available. They open the theater for seating only 10 minutes before the show, you sit in your assigned seat, and the movie starts on time. Well, it's really the previews and commercials that start on time. We saw a hilarious commercial for an herbal drink at the movies in which Godzilla stops terrorizing the city and cries when he sees a cute kitten after tasting the drink.

Coolness aside, we are going through culture shock now, at about the typical time of three months in. Please enjoy using the drive-thru ATM, drive-thru dry cleaners, drive-thru fast food, drive-thru anything! Land is obviously scarce on this small island, so of course there are no drive-thrus. We have to park and walk in everywhere. Enjoy fast service, too. People over here take their own sweet time as we Southerners say, whether it's the check-out clerks, waiters, or just someone walking in front of you. I don't mean a slightly slower than normal pace, I mean sloooowww. I'm not even from New York, where people want things done yesterday - the Singaporean pace would be like time has stopped to someone from there. Ah yes, a visit in December to the U.S. with its mostly efficient service industries will be just what I need. Other culture shock moments will have to be discussed elsewhere as they are not remotely politically correct. Email us if you want to know.

And the word for today is...

The boys are fascinated by lights. There are two sconces on the wall leading upstairs to their bedroom, and when we get to the top of the stairs, we let one child turn on the lights, and the other turn off the lights. Since we are trying to help the kids start speaking actual words, we repeat "light" when we pause to look at the lights and when we let them turn the lights on and off. They love flipping the light switches, so much so that I have to move Graeme's crib away from the wall at night because he kept turning on the light a wee bit too early for Liam's taste. Of course, Graeme's first word is "ight" or "igh", which sounds like the urban slang word for all right.

Liam says it too sometimes, but his first word inspiration came in the bathtub. We have a collection of different colored rubber ducks, given to the boys by Sean's Uncle Skinny and Aunt Jane. The kids love these ducks, and I repeat "duck" whenever they are holding one or two. Liam now says "duh" (thankfully without the teenage attitude) most of the time when I ask him what he's holding. So there you go, "ight" and "duh". I'm so proud.

I think their next word may be belly. Graeme has started lifting my shirt and looking at my belly when I'm sitting near him. Somehow my twinskin has not blinded him yet. Anyway, he looks at my belly, then will pull up his shirt to look at his. Liam will then pull up his own shirt and look at his belly if he's sitting nearby. If I'm changing one, the other sometimes comes over and touches the exposed belly and bellybutton. Graeme's also touching my ears and trying to touch Liam's eyes. I guess the My First Body book with pictures of babies' body parts is influencing them.

I finally bought a tiny cleaning set. I found a Mr. Clean set, so it's blue and yellow as opposed to the lavender and pink sets that dominate the shelves. One will hold the mop, the other the broom, and they will clean the floor sitting on their little butts. Pretty funny. Sean swears when they do this that they're not his kids.

On another note, some Singaporeans are fond of those little signs for the rear window of your car, like the "Baby on Board" ones that were so popular in the U.S. years ago. Here they usually say "Baby in Vehicle" or "Kids in Car" or something boring, but we saw two quite funny ones last weekend. The first was in the American Club parking lot, and it said "Cheeky Monkey" with a picture of a cartoon monkey's head with big cheeks. I almost left a note with my number because the sign would be so perfect for Liam. Maybe I'll see it again and do so.

The second sign thankfully does not pertain to us, but viewing it did cause loud laughter, so I thought I'd mention it with a brief explanation. The trunk of a car is called the boot here, another British term. The sign said "Ex-husband in Boot". You gotta love it, unless you're an ex-husband with no sense of humor.

As promised, Sean will blog soon about his Singapore experiences in taxis, indoor plumbing, and some other fun topics.

To all the other Harry Potter geeks: We will try hard not to call you at 7:01 PM Eastern standard time on July 20th and start reading the final book to you. It is released over here on 7/21 at 7:01 AM, and we're 12 hours ahead of you guys. Happy reading this weekend!

Control

They say S'pore has two seasons: outdoors and indoors. Singapore is close to the equator and is tropical, so it's quite hot and humid most of the time. In many buildings, the air conditioning (or air-con) is set at a temperature so low that you need at least a long sleeve shirt or light sweater to be comfortable inside. There is central air in large buildings, but most apartments and homes have an air-con unit in each room except for bathrooms and storage areas. The units in our home are high up on the wall and have remote controls.

The boys' playroom is about 400 sq. ft., and the air-con unit doesn't cool the entire room always. We bought a 4 ft. tall cylindrical oscillating fan which sits in the corner opposite the unit, so together they get the job done. The fan has its own remote too. When we enter the playroom, we turn on the air-con and fan, and turn them off when we leave. Graeme is clearly becoming more observant lately, because a few days ago after I turned on the air-con and fan, he crawled over to the toy organizer, grabbed the toy Elmo remote control, pointed it toward the fan, and pressed a button. He then pointed it toward the air-con unit and pressed a button. He has since done this every time we go into the playroom. I told Sean we have to be careful with our actions as well as our words in front of the boys from now on. The age of mimicry has begun.

Liam couldn't care less about pointing the remote toward objects. He's obsessed with trying to get on the couch and large chair in the playroom. He will stand in front of the couch and stick his leg on top of the cushion, like some tiny ballet dancer warming up. He then whines once he realizes that he's too short to hoist himself up. Those are the times when being cute and unintentionally funny saves him, and I'll help him up. Once atop the couch, he rolls around and looks over the edge and acts like he's somewhere special.

Both boys are standing better than ever and close to walking. For the past month they would crawl, then straighten their legs like they were doing the downward facing dog yoga pose. Then they would look between their legs and laugh, as if to say, "Look at my hiney!", or continue crawling with straightened legs so they looked like gorillas. Now Liam will stand up from the gorilla, slowly lifting one arm at a time straight out to his sides. Then he'll raise his torso, try not to fall over, and fall over anyway after a few seconds. If I'm close by, he'll lean toward me, falling into my arms. Graeme stands up from the gorilla or from his knees and is slightly steadier than Liam. Today Graeme even took two steps after standing, but I'm not calling it walking yet. It's more stumbling than walking at this point, but it's a start.

Soapbox #1 (Sorry Grandparents)

As many of you know, I am a pharmacist. I may not be practicing right now, but the health care professional will always be here. I have noticed that most Singaporeans are smaller than Americans in terms of weight. Yes, there are overweight people here, but they seem to be a small minority. We all hear about the obesity epidemic in the U.S., which is real. No epidemic over here. Why? Part of the answer is a diet low in red meat, fatty cheese, junk food, etc., and high in fish and veggies. The other important part (besides genetics) is exercise. In just a few short weeks here, I have seen more middle-aged and elderly people exercising than in my entire life in America. I know that some Americans in this age group exercise, I just haven't seen very many of them.

What I have seen here are large groups of people age 40+ performing calisthenics and tai chi outside in classes led by gray-haired men. I have also seen many pairs of older people walking through the S'pore Botanic Gardens in 90 degree weather. It just seems like a way of life over here, and that's a good thing, not only for physical well-being, but also for mental health.

I am inspired by these exercisers, and hope you will be too, if you don't already exercise. I am walking for fitness now after almost 2 years of no formal exercise. Though I'm tired because I still haven't caught up on all the lost sleep of pregnancy and parenthood, I have forced myself to walk most mornings with the boys in their jogging stroller before it gets too hot. I'm finally starting to firm up a little, but the difference in my mental well-being is what I've noticed more. I am sleeping better, and I actually feel as though I have some energy now. I will soon start karate workouts again. I have missed the dojo, and now I am ready to resume training.

I know, I know, it's easy for me to say and do because I'm not working. If you don't already, just try to make some time to do some form of low impact exercise three or more times per week. Check with your MD first, especially if you have any physical issues and/or have not exercised in a long time. Take it easy in the beginning. You will ache the first few weeks, perhaps, but you will get to a point soon when you feel good instead of exhausted and sore. Just do something!

Exercise benefits young toddlers too. After swimming, Graeme and Liam sleep better and take longer naps. They are fascinated with climbing the stairs too, so I encourage this activity as much as possible. I'm not sure how much physical benefit they get from dancing to music, but it certainly is good for my mental health to watch them bouncing when they hear a tune they like.

Enough already with the advice. I promise to keep it light next time. Maybe Sean will contribute some humorous S'pore and Hong Kong anecdotes - he's got a few to share already.

Wow, Yow, Ow

Graeme and Liam aren't really talking yet, at least with words that can be understood by us. They are doing plenty of talking in their own language, to each other, to objects, to me. Graeme does have a word he sometimes uses correctly - wow, followed by several rhyming made-up words. Yow is his favorite. He will point with his thumb out, forming an L, and say, wow, yow, wow, yow. I think he may be calling me a loser, but I hope not.

One would think ow would be the favorite word lately. You see, the boys are dental prodigies. They can't just cut one tooth at a time. Liam has 3 molars coming in, and Graeme has 2 molars and 2 incisors coming in. There's lots of drool around here, and they want to chew on everything, especially their baby Crocs, Little People figures, and the foam alphabet playmat which they could probably chew through if I let them. Somehow there has been only one biting incident since my vampires post.

There are a few items to add to the list of joyful things for the boys. The most important one is hiding. They love to hide behind the curtains and the Lazy Boy in their room. They will play peek-a-boo with each other and the curtain, cackling maniacally. Today Liam actually tried to fall asleep behind the recliner. Guess he didn't want anyone watching.

Graeme also has started cleaning and is teaching his brother. They will open the closet door, get several washcloths off the shelf, and rub them on the floor like they are dusting. They will also "dust" their little table in the playroom. When we visited another set of twins recently, Graeme took their play mop and sat on the floor "mopping" for at least 15 minutes. I'm going to buy them their own cleaning play set, though I have noticed the only ones at Toys R Us here are in the girls section and are pink with lavender accents. In this culture of female household help for most of the middle and upper classes, my guess is that there are a lot of men here who have no idea how to clean, nor do they intend to find out. Well, if they change their minds, they can come visit us. I just stole a play ironing board that someone on our street left out for garbage pickup. The boys can teach ironing lessons once they can stand up for longer than 6 seconds.

Graemileptics

When Graeme is excited, he gets on his knees, flaps his arms, bounces up and down, and makes hilarious noises of joy with a wide-open mouth. We have deemed this activity Graemileptics, after a children's song which mentions catileptics, a cat's seizure-like shaking occurring when a nearby tone-deaf lady sings. Liam is also expressive and likes to bounce, just not quite to the degree that Graeme does. Also, Lizures just sounds terrible. I thought I'd share some of the things which are currently making the boys quite happy:

1. Jumping in their cribs - the baby equivalent of jumping on the bed, with help from the side rail. Shouts of glee always ensue while jumping. This is especially true when I hold one of them and jump on the mini trampoline.

2. Splashing water with their hands and/or feet. They love making a complete mess with water in the bath, smacking the surface quickly or throwing their washcloths out of the tub. If there is a small bit of water on the floor, they will also rapidly bend and straighten their legs in it while yelling something happily in baby-speak. Their first swimming lesson this past Saturday was lots of fun, with only one whiny moment from Liam. The lovely British instructor was surprised at how well they took to the water. We were not surprised at all.

3. Climbing on the slide Grandma Arlene bought for their 1st birthday. Of course, this can lead to fights when they both want to stand on the top part, but overall, the slide is a winner. Both boys like to go down head first, with assistance of course.

4. Climbing anything, in Liam's case. He will crawl into my lap, fake as though he wants a hug, then use my leg to climb higher and try to get up onto something. If a box is on the floor, Liam is on top of it in seconds. He is the Monkey after all.

5. "Throwing" balls. Liam is actually getting some aim, but the ball still goes behind him half the time. Graeme is more into rolling, but will throw also.

6. Anything electronic, particularly the cords attached to these devices. I'll finally lose those last 15 pounds by chasing these two away from outlets and cords. They have a some kind of radar for this stuff.

7. Music. Depending on the song, Liam will dance (bounce slightly) while seated or standing supported. Graeme will bounce too, but usually must be encouraged. They are most likely the only people in the world who enjoy my singing, too.

8. Bean bags. Climbing, landing from a parent throw, or being spun around the tile floor on the bean bag is a pleasure for both boys.

9. Story time, which requires two books so they can each hold one and "read" along with me, usually sideways or upside down.

10. Destroying anything just built by me, such as Lego men or towers of blocks.

11. Eating. If I let them, I think they would eat their food like Ralphie's piggy little brother in The Christmas Story.

11. Mommy or Daddy coming into the room. Their little faces light up, and our hearts grow from two sizes too small to quite large.

I hope this list reminds everyone to find joy in the little things of life. I think I'll go jump on my bed for a bit.

They called me Fanny

When I was a baby, my parents called me Froggy or Tiffany Toadfrog in reference to the way I slept with my legs curled up and butt in the air (a sleep position which appears to be passed along to my little ones). My brother called me Gubbit, after trying to say ribbit when talking about me. Later, I was called Fanny in junior high, then Kermit because I supposedly looked like the Green One when I smiled. Guess the frog thing came full circle.

Sean was Booger as a baby, Sean Bean as a kid (way before the actor was well-known), Ponix later on, and E. Brown in college, after children's book character Encyclopedia Brown. No explanation needed for that one if you know Sean.

I have many nicknames for Graeme and Liam. Liam is Li Li, an endearment I have promised myself and my husband that I will stop using after his 2nd birthday, mostly because it sounds like a panda on loan to a U.S. zoo, and partly because it is pretty babyish. He was E.T. because of his round head and tiny neck when he was younger, but things are evening out now. The latest is Monkey because he loves to climb on everything, including me. He also looked like a mutant chimp when he was born due to copious amounts of dark hair on his head and complete baldness everywhere else. Sometimes I call him Singapore Liam, number one super-baby, sung to the tune of the Hong Kong Fooey song. Graeme is G-man, Gramalama, Grammykins, and Gray-may, which is how some computers pronounce his name. I also call him Orangutan from his jealousy-fueled recent climbing bouts and, of course, the orange-red hair.

Even Singapore has several nicknames. It's the Lion City, or the Fine City, after all the fines which may be imposed if you spit in public, litter, jaywalk, etc. The best nickname is S'pore, which warms the heart of this microbiology major. Even the local paper uses that one.

Vampires & the Left Side

We have finally moved to the house we'll be living in here. It then took a week to get the Internet hooked up, then another week to set up the wireless properly. Sean and I are on the couch with our laptops tonight, reflecting on the terrible habit the boys have started. Graeme has bitten Liam three times this past week (drawing blood once on Liam's apple-like cheeks), and Liam has bitten me twice. Sean better watch out - no telling who will bite him. Seems like Sean has passed on this lovely behavior. He was a biter until his Uncle Bill bit him back when Sean was three.

Our amah (housekeeper) started this week. Her name is Dasem, she's from Indonesia, and she has experience with twins. We'll talk more about her later. Now I can finally get a little rest and organise* the house. Driving has been an experience too. It's British, with the steering wheel on the right, and driving on the left. The parking garages, called carparks here, have tiny spaces to fit in as many cars as possible. Everyone folds their side mirrors in after parking. I've gotten used to driving on the left side, though I must admit that the second time a drove (and first time alone), I got in the front left side and sat for a few seconds before finally realizing that it helps to have a steering wheel and pedals to drive. Evidently this will happen again, since one of my new friends almost got in the wrong side despite living here for two years. I will also have to explain the U.S.-bought road play rug to the boys when they're old enough to notice that it's different from the roads and signs here. "Give way" is my favorite road sign so far. It seems more polite than "yield". "Mind the gap" is the best transportation sign, though. So much better than "watch your step" on the subway.

*English here is British, so we'll have to watch our spelling when we return.

Mama, mama, mama

A belated happy mother's day to all the moms out there, both working and stay-at-home. I used to be the former, and now I'm the latter since moving over here. Staying home with the kids was my main reason for coming here), and I'm experiencing all the fun, frustration, and exhaustion that goes along with taking care of the wee ones 24-7. They are good babies, but two 13 month-old kids can wear out even the most loving and patient mom, wherever she is. They are worth the work though. They actually have started repeating mama while looking at me, instead of at Baby Tad or their damn beloved Animal Train (alllll aboard!). Here's to the moms, especially Elise, who deserves a medal, and all my moms and grandmoms by birth or marriage. Thanks for understanding my reasons for coming over, mostly my desire to be with the rugrats.

On another note, we sure were spoiled in the suburban US. Hug your dishwashers, deep sinks, and giant hot water heaters. Though there are several American brands of food and sundries here, I miss going to Publix, and yes, Target, in Atlanta. Eat some good Mexican food for me, too, 'cause they don't know what it is here. Old el Paso is as good as it gets, but at least you can make that at home without needing a babysitter. We ate at the "best" Mexican place in the city on our look-see visit in March, and it was much like the Danish idea of Mexican - just wrong. I think they used a lot of teriyaki here, while the Danes used a BBQ-like sauce (at least they did in 1999 when I was there for a few weeks). There is one Taco "Hell" here that I know of, though, so those random cravings for terrible but somehow randomly satisfying fast-food Mexican can be fulfilled.

We found out today that we move Friday from the serviced apartment to our semi-attached house. It's like a nice, three story duplex. Can't wait to get out of this tiny place. Yes, living in the 'burbs in a relatively big house spoiled me in regard to space. Going from a house to a 2 bedroom apartment with two very curious boys has been an adjustment. Spotty internet service, the Couch and the Rug (more on these later), and doing laundry on another floor have pretty much sucked, too.

I'll try not to complain too much considering all the terrible crap going on in the world that really matters. Let's keep our perspective, right? It's just that whining is in the genes, and it has been passed most certainly to Liam, a professional whiner at a little over a year. I'll try to get a pic of his giant bottom lip protruding, but instead I'm sure I'll get one of his two most common picture faces - drunk frat-boy baby or assassin baby. Once I figure out what I'm doing here with pictures, I'll post his all-time best assassin pic yet, taken one week ago. Scary, considering most people here who ask about the twins think Liam is a sweet, lovely girl. "Twins, lah? Boy and girl? Nooo, he looks like girl!" Guess I need to finally get his hair cut again.

Why Twins, Lah?

The short answer is because it doesn't matter what side of the planet you live on, if you have twins you are a traveling circus to which the rest of the world has free tickets. In the MRT (subway), supermarket, or street, we constantly get the same question from the locals, "Twins, lah?" It's not an unreasonable thing to ask since one of our sons has flaming red hair, blue eyes and fair skin, while the other has dark hair, brown eyes and more olive toned skin. It's a lot better than the question my brother gets about his boy/girl twins in Michigan, "Are they identical?"

Why the "lah?" It's Singlish. That's the Singaporean improvement on the language the Americans stole from the English. Lah is one of those words that doesn't really mean anything, but makes a frequent appearance at the end of sentences. Think "eh" for Canadians, "right" or "umm" for Americans or "like" for teenagers.

We've been here for two weeks today, and the boys have adjusted to eating and sleeping on local time. Mommy and daddy are working long hours at the office or keeping up with two babies in a small apartment. We try to get out as much as meals and naps will allow and our favorite
question so far has become the name of our blog. There's the explanation. Besides most of the other suggestions we received were culturally insensitive or morally objectionable. Pictures will follow. We only have pics of the apartment so far - not any different from any large city. More details and hopefully funny stories to follow.