During their visit, we took a short trip to Phi Phi Island, Thailand. We stayed at a great resort, had fun at the beach and pool, and we were lucky enough to see an example of Earth's astonishing beauty. We rode through a small cove of Phi Phi Lae on a long tail boat, and the limestone cliffs were breathtaking. This picture doesn't begin to do this location justice:
So what else has been happening? After a spring full of plagues (dual mycoplasma infections, HMFD, and a couple of ear infections), June was much better. In July, the boys began cutting their final baby molars, so we've had some sleep disturbances and more whining and crabbiness than usual. They are also currently acting out(aka "showing their rear ends" as I say) since our beloved visitors have left. That said, we've had lots of fun and the boys continue to be hilarious at times. A few highlights from the past few months:
Choo-choo - Since learning to use scarves or hula-hoops to form choo-choo trains in Kindermusik, the boys will use anything of similar length to do the same. Each holds an end of the object and they walk around saying "choo-choo (name of object)". Favorites include Daddy's ties, a flexible tape measure, the hair dryer with its cord, and an extension cord.
Flashing - Liam became known as "The Flash" for a few days because he would wrap his towel around himself after his bath, then quickly whip it open and giggle. I'm going to see if I can find a Flash costume in his size for the American Club's Superhero Party for little boys this fall.
Counting - The boys can now count to ten, though sometimes they drop three and insert a number from the 'teens, like fourteen. Bizarre but funny, because they sound so sure of themselves when they do it.
Singing - Graeme especially likes to sing his ABCs, since we often sing this along with "Twinkle, Twinkle" and "Baa Baa Black Sheep" during bathtime to calm down. He is able to do a few letters in a row by himself, then I help him with a few, then he can continue. Two days ago he sang the opening of the Elmo's World theme song before his nap. Parents of preschoolers, you know what I'm talking about. I'll spare everyone else by not including a link.
Fun with play food - The boys continue to enjoy cooking with their kitchen and pretending to eat the play food. Play food is now much more multicultural than in the 70s, when I had plastic bananas, carrots and similar basic items. Now the sets include sushi and soy sauce, different types of pasta and sauces, more varieties of vegetables, plus Mexican food like burritos, tacos, and tostadas. The boys recently started playing a game during which they push a tiny purple plastic eggplant through the umbrella hole of their toddler-sized picnic table. One child lays underneath the table, and the other sits on the bench and pushes the eggplant to the first child. For some reason, they think this activity is hilarious, and therefore, it is.
Eggplant shenanigans
Fun with real food - The boys can put away a lot of food for tiny people. Grandma Ar and Aunt Mar couldn't believe how much food the little ones can eat. They each ate two adult-sized pieces of pizza recently, and Liam wanted more. They're still eating a good variety of foods, including chinese chicken and spinach noodles, broccoli wagon wheel pasta, and teriyaki chicken and rice. They love yogurt, fruit, cheese, and pretzels for snacks. Junk food has so far been limited to those important fatty foods, ice cream and french fries. They did have their first half-of-a-donut after we stumbled upon a Dunkin Donuts in the Phuket, Thailand airport of all places. Graeme didn't care for his other than licking some icing off the top, but Liam ate his and wanted more, of course. As Sean has said many times in the past, all food belongs to Liam. It must go to his cheeks, because the rest of him is skinny.
Talking - The boys have been talking a lot in the past few months. They just spent three weeks with three great talkers (Ar, Mar, and Sean, I love you guys!), and now the boys talk all day long, Graeme especially. Liam is slightly quieter in general, but when he talks, he tends to tell a long story about the topic. They enjoy describing what they or someone else is doing. This sometimes leads to them issuing commands, like Graeme's "Go that way!" when we're in the car. Their vocabulary is huge and even includes several "big" words like caterpillar, butterfly, oscillate, and parliamentary procedure. I'm only kidding a little about the last one. When they first said butterfly in front of Sean a few weeks ago, he asked them to say parliamentary procedure. They didn't do too well then, but yesterday they both said procedure with no problem. Parliamentary came across as something like "paritorry", but close enough. The most recent new word that mommy and daddy don't care for: Mine! Unfortunately it's used quite often when fighting over a toy.
Enough for now. I have a lot of catching up to do, so next I'll do a review of our new bathtime routine, complete with pictures. It's good to be back!
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