Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Well, wonders never cease. I've finally started writing again. It's been a very long time, so I'll get right to it. All of us left S'pore for the U.S. the end of October so I could attend my beloved Nana's funeral. Upon her passing, Sean and I decided that the boys and I should go to the states and stay with my mom for November and part of December, until the four of us could be reunited and begin our already-planned December trips visiting family. Sean watched the boys while I attended the funeral, then drove to Atlanta a couple of days later to check in with work there before flying back to S'pore. He flew back to Atlanta the second week in December, briefly visited us and his parents in South Carolina, drove to Atlanta to work for a couple of days, flew to Pittsburgh to attend his grandfather's funeral, flew back to Atlanta, then drove to Warner Robins to meet us before driving to Orlando for a Disney visit. Then we drove back through Warner Robins on our way to South Carolina for Christmas, then to Atlanta for a few days before leaving. Sean was exhausted, and I was exhausted from adjusting the boys' sleeping the first two weeks of November and doing my own traveling with them.

The boys enjoyed playing with their many grandmas and grandpas.
Things they loved:
Being picked up a lot and kissed by grandparents
Watching planes fly overhead in Georgia and Texas
Playing with bubbles with my mom and Sean's mom
"Cleaning" my mom's office and climbing on stacks of paper
Doing laundry, aka using the beep-beep machine
Running around my mom's house with their poppers
Having stroller races with their baby dolls
Climbing on playground equipment in three states
Checking out cool vintage hotrods at a cruise-in
Feeding dogs not-so-secretly from the table
Christmas decorations, especially outdoor lights and indoor trees
Playing the piano with my dad
Dancing to the Stones and Clapton
Watching a cattle drive in Texas
Riding Small World and carousels at Disney and Universal
Hanging out with their friend Sam in Orlando
Playing with real trains during Christmas with Sean's dad
Opening presents
Watching planes take off and land at the many airports we visited
Reading time with grandparents
Wonderful Mexican food in Texas (ok, that's me)

Things they didn't love:
Long plane rides (oh wait, that's me and Sean)
Long sleeves, at first. They hadn't worn long sleeves in months until we returned to the U.S., so they kept pulling at the sleeves, trying to take them off
Stomach viruses causing them to poop like newborns (5 or 6 times in 24 hours for several days!)
Napping for the first couple of days in new places
Getting wet on the One Fish, Two Fish ride at Universal

All right, that's it for a quick summary. We survived the traveling, and spent the first few weeks of January adjusting to Singapore time. I took the opportunity to change them to one nap, dropping the morning nap. This allowed us to join the American Women's Association Tuesday morning playgroup and the Twins Plus every-other-Wednesday playgroup, and to start a gym class on Thursdays. They continue to enjoy Kindermusik on Monday mornings. Sounds like a lot, but they're doing well and socializing with other kids in different settings. The classes are one hour each, and the playgroups are 1 & 1/2 hours, so we're not gone too long, and we still have plenty of fun at home and on our outings around Singapore.

That's all for now. Next up: lots of talking (Graeme's new word today: waffle), funny stuff from Sean, and the many accents of my children.





Seuss Land Carousel *Climbing the paper at Nana's workplace


You shall not pass!*Love the poppers










I don't want to touch the horn*Trains!!!!

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!