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!