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.