Barbie

You may be wondering why I would post something with the title "Barbie". Well, I did a pretty fun thing this morning. All of the Mattel Barbies in the world are made in either China or Indonesia. Mattel Indonesia grants one tour/month, and one of those tours every year is granted to the AWA. Only 20 people get to go and I was lucky enough to have my name drawn in the lottery. So, this morning I drove to eastern Jakarta and toured the factory.

This one factory employs between 5,500-10,000 employees depending on the production demands and, if I'm remembering correctly, ships up to 1,000,000 Barbies/week. The factory only has an export license so all of the dolls have to be shipped out of the country and then imported back before they can be sold in Indonesian stores (stupid, I know). The place was immense, as you'd expect. And just thinking about the organization of producing all these little parts was mind boggling, even to my Virgo self. What I was most astonished by was how much hand work is involved in each doll. Every outfit is sewed by a woman on a sewing machine and all the hair is stitched on by a woman on a sewing machine. Then there are the "groomers", the women (I keep saying "woman" because over 80% of the production crew are women) who actually brush her hair, braid it or tie it up, and put on the hat or crown or sunglasses or whatever accessory she's shown with. Then there are the painters, the women who paint on the make-up by using a cut-out face mask over the face and running the face under a paint sprayer. And finally at the end there were the women who hand fixed the dolls to the packaging. It was incredible. I just assumed most of the work was done by machines, but instead so much of it is by hand. They say that producing one Barbie takes 3 minutes of actual work, and from design phase (headquarters are in California where all the Barbies are designed) to engineering to finished product takes about 1 month.

In the factory there was a huge map of Indonesia with a Barbie doll affixed to every part of the country. Each doll was dressed in clothes that were typical of that part of the country. It was quite cool. But the only Indonesian Barbie they sell is the Sumatra Barbie. It was definitely not the most interesting one though. The Barbies now wear underwear (I really don't know why, they don't have bras on and its not like they used to be anatomically correct) and their size proportions are much more realistic. She now looks like a shapely but fit young woman. If you remember, the first dolls, which debuted in 1959, had measurements that were nearly impossible.

And after the tour they fed us lunch and gave us a Barbie doll!!! I have to admit that the little girl in me is thrilled. I haven't owned a Barbie doll in like 20+ years and with having 2 sons I assumed I'd never have any girlie things in my house. But here I am with a Princess Barbie! Well, C has a Princess Barbie. I of course gave it to him and he loves it. My wonderful little boy loves his Barbie doll. I couldn't be happier! Of course he laughed like crazy when I took her gown off and she was naked. But I'll take it. And now she's taking a bath with him (all I could think about was that her beautiful ringlets were going to be ruined! I guess I'm still such a girl inside).

Christmas and such

Santa came early this year, carrying a big bag o' presents. Since we're leaving Saturday for our grand adventure in New Zealand, we asked Santa to deliver most of the presents last weekend. Especially the big ones. Like C's new Batman Bike! It was a huge hit as expected. He is racing around the complex, feeling the wind in his hair, showing off to the girls... He really was in need of a new bike too. He had outgrown his tricycle and I felt a little bad watching his little legs peddling furiously as he tried to keep up with the big kids (and even kids his own age). Now he has a bike that is a little on the big side and has an adjustable seat, so it should last a while. LC didn't score nearly as big in the Christmas windfall. He has all of C's baby toys and doesn't know the difference anyway.

Christmas is more visible here than I had expected. There is Christmas music playing in the malls, decorations adorning shop windows, plenty of ornaments and fake Christmas trees. Thankfully it isn't overkill though; it doesn't make me want to throw up from all the dripping tinsel and jingle bells. It would be awfully silly if it were overdone anyway; it's already a little odd to see Christmas decorations in a Muslim country in the tropics.

In other news, C is really turning into a little boy. He has entered the "poopey head" phase. Evidently it is HILARIOUS! All of a sudden he will yell out, "poop!", and burst out laughing. He and his friends amuse each other endlessly yelling out different phrases with the word "poop" in it. I read that this is a healthy phase because they are developing their sense of humor, so I waver between laughing along or ignoring it depending on my mood. What I don't tolerate is the screaming. Agh. It's amazing how loud one 3 year old can be, and especially a group of them! He also seems to have a harder and harder time listening. We will repeatedly tell him no to something and he will do it anyway. The time-outs are returning with increased frequency lately, and we're getting quite sick of it. I'm bracing myself for the likelihood that this will last a while.

As for LC, he is entering into one of my all time favorite ages. I feel that for the first 6 months a parent is making a deposit on the fun and wonder that comes in the next 6 months. LC is rolling over more and more often. He is always quite happy with himself when he does it, until he realizes he's stuck on his belly. He is laughing more easily now as well. His father is particularly good at making him laugh and smile and he has a wonderful full giggly laugh that is totally addictive. He is sleeping better too most nights. He has slept through the night or straight through until 4 or 5 a number of times in the last week or two. There are 2 main problems though (there is always something, isn't there?). He wakes up too early. Sometimes he doesn't go back to sleep if he wakes up at 5, and he almost never goes back to sleep if he wakes up at 5:30. If we make it until 6 I feel fortunate. I think it's crazy for a 5 month old to wake up so early, but maybe it's common. The other problem is his sleep has become totally random. One night he'll sleep through the night, and the next he'll wake up 5 times. I rack my brain trying to figure out why, but I can never come up with a consistent reason. It's maddening. And of course now that he's rolling over more he's probably going to sleep poorly again. Plus we're going on a major trip that, based on our Bali trip experience, is going to totally mess him up again. I just pray it doesn't take us 5 weeks to get back on track!

What other bits of randomness can I tell you... Work is in the lull before the storm I think. January is certain to be crazy and I expect I'll have to work close to full time. It looks like I'm going to have to open a project office, manage it, hire employees, and both do and oversee the technical work for the project to be up and running in March, all on 50% time. It makes my belly flip over just thinking about it. So let's move on to...

Our vacation to New Zealand in 4 days! (I'm going to ignore the fact that we're quite unprepared for this). I can't wait for the majestic views, cooler temps and fresh air! We're spending 4 days in Queenstown, 4 days in Christchurch (one of which will be seeing my uncle who now lives nearby), 2 days in Auckland and 4 days with my Aussie host parents (from when I was an exchange student in high school) on this island west of Auckland. I think it's a good itinerary, except for the 2 kid factor. We may be a bit insane to do this; I hope we don't end up having a miserable time... This of course depends on LC and how well he sleeps for us and how hard of a time he gives us about his naps. Having a nanny is great for so many reasons, but the down side is that he's accustomed to only sleeping in his crib and won't sleep easily in the car or stroller. Let's hope he learns how quickly on this trip! When we planned it we knew it could be very challenging. But, we've never been to Asia before and we have a lot to see in this part of the world. So, we need to start before we run out of time.

So, I'll have lots to talk about in the new year, and hopefully I will have time to write. Here's wishing you all happy holidays, safe travels, good gifts, much merry making, and warm toes!

Happy December

I was going to wait until Christmas to post this photo, but I really can't wait. I mean, come on! can my son be ANY CUTER?! It feels like cruel and unusual punishment to deny you the joy of this photo for any length of time (yes, I know I'm such a modest mom). Plus, I'm hoping during our two Christmas celebrations we'll snap a couple more gems. Enjoy!