I thought you may be interested in hearing more about the expatriate (expat) community here in Jakarta. Compared to my Peace Corps days and my travels for work around Africa, the community is very different here. I had been assuming that it was an Asia - Africa difference, seeing as Asia is farther along the development road than Africa and there is far more private enterprise in Asia. I have mentioned before that my previous travels have routinely brought me in touch with expats from the development community, and few others. Here, on the other hand, it is the opposite. Only when I am at work do I meet expats from the development community. I have the definite impression that we are a relatively small bunch, completely dwarfed by private industries (oil - with all its related businesses to support it - being the big player, and then a random assortment of people in food, finance, accounting, banking, real estate development, etc).
Lately, however, when discussing this subject with friends I have learned that Jakarta (and Indonesia?) may be unique even within Asia. One woman who lived several years in Vietnam and another who has lived in Singapore and Korea said that the community here is quite clicky. They thought it may be because the community here is so large that when planning a social event you often have to choose who to invite. These women and another who lived in Mongolia said that they're surprised here by how few women work. Evidently where they've lived the wives usually held down part-time or full-time jobs, but here we are a minority. There are plenty of opportunities for partners who want to work here. While getting a work permit is difficult, it is common to work under the table. All of the men I know who have accompanied their wives here have found full-time jobs. On the other hand, there is so much to do here that there are plenty of non-work opportunities as well. You can pursue anything that interests you here and there are plenty of volunteer activities which many of the women are involved in.
When I first arrived I was amazed at how easy it was to meet people and make friends. Within a few months, however, I realized why. You have to constantly make new friends here because everyone is always leaving! A few months after I arrived I knew 3 families who were moving away. Now, a year later, there is another mass exodus. I have 5 pretty close friends who are all moving away this summer, and I know another 2 women who are also moving. Can you imagine if you lost 5 friends in one summer?! Ugh... It's a bit devastating, and I don't really feel like having to make more friends! But I will, and I must, and it will all be good. Hopefully.
I have to say this may be the number 1 reason why the expat life may not be for me for the long term. Many of my friends here plan to do this for their foreseeable future, probably until their kids are out of school. We've thought about it. There are many, many advantages to this sort of life. On the other hand, being away from family and close friends is really difficult, and the constant ferris wheel of revolving friendships that defines the expat life is draining. Like everything in life, there is give and take, and it's just a matter of figuring out which gives and which takes are the most important.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Mother's Day Jakarta style
We went to our favorite place for brunch last Sunday to celebrate Mother's Day. We went with some friends who live in our complex, so it was a tame, relatively small gathering and very enjoyable. Brunches here are amazing events. All of the big hotels do a Sunday brunch. They're all very similar and about the same price, but some have separate kids rooms or no kids rooms at all. Food wise there aren't many differences, so really any of them are very nice. We like to go to the 4 Seasons because of the variety of food they present and because there's a kids room attached to the main room. We took my mom there when she was visiting and she can attest to how amazing it is. There is a huge selection of breads and cheeses, fresh juices, salads, Indonesian, Chinese and Western foods, sushi, pan fried foie gras, soups, a huge dessert buffet with chocolate fondue, and for about $5 extra all the champagne you can drink. One of these days we'll go without the kids and take advantage of that!
So brunch was very nice, delicious, and filling. The rest of the day kinda sucked thanks to C being a brat. But oh well, at least there were some high points.
The boys at brunch wishing me a happy mother's day!Thursday, May 15, 2008
Annoyed
I'll start this post out with admitting that everything is annoying me these days. So, of course, why wouldn't a sweet innocuous little memoir on motherhood by Anna Quindlin not annoy me as well? I'll get to that in a bit...just let me say that I'm tired. Really, just very very tired of my life right now. Nothing seems to be going great and yet I don't have anything significant to complain about. So yes, I'm tired of x, y, and z, and yet I'm also tired of my internal dialogue complaining about how tired I am of everything! I'm obviously having one of those low weeks where you want to crawl into your shell with a lot of good movies and good books and really good ice cream and get away from your life and your thoughts for just a couple days. A deserted and beautiful resort in the mountains sounds perfect, but a place where I don't have to deal with another human being but am completely pampered. Yes, that sounds nice. Really really nice.
So this sweet little memoir I referred to...why is it annoying me? Read the excerpt below and I'll explain...
"But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them, sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less."
I am not so annoyed that I can't agree with it, because I do. What aggravates me is that I do agree with it, and I'm living it now, but if she truly remembered correctly she probably thought the same thing as she was "doing" but still had to focus on the getting it done too! Yes, wouldn't it be nice to think about how lovely it was to sit on that blanket on the perfectly warm and sunny summer day with your 3 beautiful children playing perfectly all around you. And there is the mom, sitting prettily in her perfect white dress with a sweet smile on her face, basking in the glory of her perfect children and the perfect day and everything is so glorious that she has the time to enjoy the smell and the warmth and the sounds of her children and not think about another thing...
WRONG! Dear Anna, first of all that is not how it all came down. Maybe it was warm but you had to keep repositioning the blanket because it kept getting in the sun and it would be too hot. The cold food and the hot food was luke warm. There were ants and flies and odd flying beetle things buzzing all around you. Your 6 year old was constantly tormenting your 4 year old, knowing all the right buttons to push and pretending that she knew it all and was the boss. Your 4 year old was whining about said 6 year old, about the heat, about the food, about not having his toys, about wanting to go inside, about... And your 1 year old was exhausting you. She couldn't walk yet but wanted to be on the move all the time, so you were spending the entire time running after her and trying to keep her from eating the grass and getting underfoot of the other 2 kids. So here you are, trying to feed your 3 children in the sun with bugs flying all around listening to them bicker and constantly getting up to remove your baby from wandering too far or eating too much grass and all you could think about was how nice it will be when they're asleep and you can have a moment of peace and quiet before you have to clean the dishes and pay the bills and remember the 100 things you have to do but wait, gee!, I should be enjoying this moment in my life because before I know it they won't want anything to do with me and then they'll be out of the house. Right?
Or maybe it's been so long and she's so delusional that she actually misses that too. She misses the constant and emotionally draining sleep deprivation and the constant running to keep up with her life and the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that are her children. Maybe she does. And maybe I will too. But right now I'm just really tired of this existence and what I'd really like is some good long deep sleep.
LC kept us up half the night and it's not like it's been a long time since that happened before. He's the most random sleeper despite having had a very constant and set routine most of his life. Mostly he does ok. Mostly I get sleep. Not enough sleep, usually not totally uninterrupted sleep or past the break of dawn sleep, but I get some. So when these bad nights happen they just push me back farther into the sleep deprivation bank and I'm back to running on empty. LC is on his 4th ear infection and has 4 teeth pushing through (2 of those are already out somewhat thank god). I'm working on 11 months of sleep deprivation, for the 2nd year in the last 4 years, and it's taking its toll. I'm tired.
I'm tired of my job. I'm frustrated daily with trying to manage a US government funded project largely by myself, part-time, with no in-country support and from my home. With 2 young children it is nearly impossible to get my hours in during a normal day and without constant interruption by family or home demands. Since we lost our nanny (we have a new one) C has been especially demanding on my time and doesn't want to play with anyone but me. So it is a constant stream of whining and complaining from him all afternoon. And to him work is not a credible reason for not playing with him. I am tired of not having more support for a very demanding position. I am tired of not being able to schedule the non-work part of my days because work demands often take precedent should they come up. (Fortunately my work life has an end date in sight - more on that another time)
I am tired of our lonely social life. Not since college have I had so many friends and done so much socially, and yet it's been a very long time since I've been so lonely. I like my friends here, but it is a pretty superficial friendship. I don't have a single friend here with whom I'd share truly personal thoughts. I just don't have much in common with them. Most of my friends here don't have a career and haven't worked in years. Most of them also have had no exposure to the international development world so for this reason and because a career isn't important to them I can't talk with them about my work. Most of them also don't volunteer or even take classes or anything. They go to playgroups, they go to the spa, they go shopping, they go out with friends and drink too much and make sure their nanny comes in early the next day so they can recover in peace. It's not that they're living a pampered life that I have a hard time with, I guess it's just that what do I have to talk about with them? We talk about kids, where we bought furniture, where to go on vacation. It just gets old. I have a few friends who do work in my field, but they work full time so we only occasionally see them on the weekends. Indonesia is a strange place for expats. There are so many here, there is so much going on, it's very easy to meet people but difficult to find people with whom you have a lot in common. And I never thought it would be so hard to meet people more like me and J. Every other country I've worked in I have been surrounded by the development community. But here we really are in the minority. The oil companies and private enterprise are much bigger players.
I suppose my whinge fest is over. I'm not even sure this entry is worth posting. I hate listening to myself whinge and whine when I know I'm so blessed in so many ways. But I guess it's part of the sharing and the whole - just how are J and B doing over there on the other side of the planet? We're doing alright, hanging in there, trying to get through the days like most of you I suppose, just with a couple different twists. So enough of the bla, bla, bla...
I still have to write about what's been going on at work and about my trip to Bangkok. I will get to it, I promise. And I'm sure it will be far more interesting than this post was!
So this sweet little memoir I referred to...why is it annoying me? Read the excerpt below and I'll explain...
"But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them, sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less."
I am not so annoyed that I can't agree with it, because I do. What aggravates me is that I do agree with it, and I'm living it now, but if she truly remembered correctly she probably thought the same thing as she was "doing" but still had to focus on the getting it done too! Yes, wouldn't it be nice to think about how lovely it was to sit on that blanket on the perfectly warm and sunny summer day with your 3 beautiful children playing perfectly all around you. And there is the mom, sitting prettily in her perfect white dress with a sweet smile on her face, basking in the glory of her perfect children and the perfect day and everything is so glorious that she has the time to enjoy the smell and the warmth and the sounds of her children and not think about another thing...
WRONG! Dear Anna, first of all that is not how it all came down. Maybe it was warm but you had to keep repositioning the blanket because it kept getting in the sun and it would be too hot. The cold food and the hot food was luke warm. There were ants and flies and odd flying beetle things buzzing all around you. Your 6 year old was constantly tormenting your 4 year old, knowing all the right buttons to push and pretending that she knew it all and was the boss. Your 4 year old was whining about said 6 year old, about the heat, about the food, about not having his toys, about wanting to go inside, about... And your 1 year old was exhausting you. She couldn't walk yet but wanted to be on the move all the time, so you were spending the entire time running after her and trying to keep her from eating the grass and getting underfoot of the other 2 kids. So here you are, trying to feed your 3 children in the sun with bugs flying all around listening to them bicker and constantly getting up to remove your baby from wandering too far or eating too much grass and all you could think about was how nice it will be when they're asleep and you can have a moment of peace and quiet before you have to clean the dishes and pay the bills and remember the 100 things you have to do but wait, gee!, I should be enjoying this moment in my life because before I know it they won't want anything to do with me and then they'll be out of the house. Right?
Or maybe it's been so long and she's so delusional that she actually misses that too. She misses the constant and emotionally draining sleep deprivation and the constant running to keep up with her life and the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that are her children. Maybe she does. And maybe I will too. But right now I'm just really tired of this existence and what I'd really like is some good long deep sleep.
LC kept us up half the night and it's not like it's been a long time since that happened before. He's the most random sleeper despite having had a very constant and set routine most of his life. Mostly he does ok. Mostly I get sleep. Not enough sleep, usually not totally uninterrupted sleep or past the break of dawn sleep, but I get some. So when these bad nights happen they just push me back farther into the sleep deprivation bank and I'm back to running on empty. LC is on his 4th ear infection and has 4 teeth pushing through (2 of those are already out somewhat thank god). I'm working on 11 months of sleep deprivation, for the 2nd year in the last 4 years, and it's taking its toll. I'm tired.
I'm tired of my job. I'm frustrated daily with trying to manage a US government funded project largely by myself, part-time, with no in-country support and from my home. With 2 young children it is nearly impossible to get my hours in during a normal day and without constant interruption by family or home demands. Since we lost our nanny (we have a new one) C has been especially demanding on my time and doesn't want to play with anyone but me. So it is a constant stream of whining and complaining from him all afternoon. And to him work is not a credible reason for not playing with him. I am tired of not having more support for a very demanding position. I am tired of not being able to schedule the non-work part of my days because work demands often take precedent should they come up. (Fortunately my work life has an end date in sight - more on that another time)
I am tired of our lonely social life. Not since college have I had so many friends and done so much socially, and yet it's been a very long time since I've been so lonely. I like my friends here, but it is a pretty superficial friendship. I don't have a single friend here with whom I'd share truly personal thoughts. I just don't have much in common with them. Most of my friends here don't have a career and haven't worked in years. Most of them also have had no exposure to the international development world so for this reason and because a career isn't important to them I can't talk with them about my work. Most of them also don't volunteer or even take classes or anything. They go to playgroups, they go to the spa, they go shopping, they go out with friends and drink too much and make sure their nanny comes in early the next day so they can recover in peace. It's not that they're living a pampered life that I have a hard time with, I guess it's just that what do I have to talk about with them? We talk about kids, where we bought furniture, where to go on vacation. It just gets old. I have a few friends who do work in my field, but they work full time so we only occasionally see them on the weekends. Indonesia is a strange place for expats. There are so many here, there is so much going on, it's very easy to meet people but difficult to find people with whom you have a lot in common. And I never thought it would be so hard to meet people more like me and J. Every other country I've worked in I have been surrounded by the development community. But here we really are in the minority. The oil companies and private enterprise are much bigger players.
I suppose my whinge fest is over. I'm not even sure this entry is worth posting. I hate listening to myself whinge and whine when I know I'm so blessed in so many ways. But I guess it's part of the sharing and the whole - just how are J and B doing over there on the other side of the planet? We're doing alright, hanging in there, trying to get through the days like most of you I suppose, just with a couple different twists. So enough of the bla, bla, bla...
I still have to write about what's been going on at work and about my trip to Bangkok. I will get to it, I promise. And I'm sure it will be far more interesting than this post was!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Mother's Day
In honor of Mother's Day (and really all women), I'm posting a poem by Maya Angelou. Many of you have probably already seen it - it gets passed around the information highway regularly. But it's a really good one, so it's worthy of reading again. Thanks to Pinko Grammy for sending it recently as a nice reminder.
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ... enough money within her control to move out and rent a place of her own, even if she never wants to or needs to...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ... something perfect to wear if the employer, or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ... a youth she's content to leave behind...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ... a past interesting enough that she's looking forward to retelling it in her old age....
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ..... a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .... one friend who always makes her laugh... and one who lets her cry...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ... eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems, and a recipe for a meal, that will make her guests feel honored....
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .... a feeling of control over her destiny...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... how to fall in love without losing herself..
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... how to quit a job, break up with a loser, and confront a friend without; ruining the friendship...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... when to try harder... and WHEN TO WALK AWAY...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... that she can't change the length of her calves, the width of her hips, or the nature of her children..
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... that her childhood may not have been perfect...but its over...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... what she would and wouldn't do for love or anything else...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... how to live alone... even if she doesn't like it...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW.. . whom she can trust, whom she can't, and why she shouldn't take it personally...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... where to go... be it to her best friend's kitchen table... or a charming inn in the woods... when her soul needs soothing...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... what she can and can't accomplish in a day... a month...and a year...
I love you MOM!
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ... enough money within her control to move out and rent a place of her own, even if she never wants to or needs to...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ... something perfect to wear if the employer, or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ... a youth she's content to leave behind...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ... a past interesting enough that she's looking forward to retelling it in her old age....
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ..... a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .... one friend who always makes her laugh... and one who lets her cry...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ... eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems, and a recipe for a meal, that will make her guests feel honored....
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .... a feeling of control over her destiny...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... how to fall in love without losing herself..
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... how to quit a job, break up with a loser, and confront a friend without; ruining the friendship...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... when to try harder... and WHEN TO WALK AWAY...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... that she can't change the length of her calves, the width of her hips, or the nature of her children..
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... that her childhood may not have been perfect...but its over...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... what she would and wouldn't do for love or anything else...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... how to live alone... even if she doesn't like it...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW.. . whom she can trust, whom she can't, and why she shouldn't take it personally...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... where to go... be it to her best friend's kitchen table... or a charming inn in the woods... when her soul needs soothing...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... what she can and can't accomplish in a day... a month...and a year...
I love you MOM!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
LC News Update
Ever since we moved to Indonesia I've wondered which language our baby's first word would be. This thought was followed with a question as to whether I would even recognize the word if it were in Bahasa Indonesia. Afterall, my Indonesian language ability is dismal so it wouldn't be surprising if LC was talking up a storm in Indonesian and I didn't have a clue! As you're most likely guessing by now, I finally have my answer. (Well, this is aside from the "mama" and "dada" sounds he started making a couple months ago) It turns out that LC is going to be quite the Bahasa Indonesia speaker!
Over the last several days I've wondered why LC would call for me - "mama" - as I'd prepare his food. But it wasn't quite "mama", but more like "mumum". So I thought, well there are a lot of Aussies around so maybe he picked up "mum" instead of "mom". No, silly big-headed mom, it turns out it's not all about me. It dawned on me that when he said "mumum" he wasn't saying "mama" at all. I finally remembered that "mumum" is how Indonesians say "food" when talking to babies. So when it's time to eat, LC is saying the word "food" in Bahasa Indonesia!
In other LC news, he has started throwing fits. And I bet he's one of the best fit throwers in the under one crowd. Wow. It's really impressive. I've actually had to just put him down on the floor and let him get it out of his system cuz the kid is in an entire world of his own. And what spurs these fits you may ask? Not getting what he wants of course! I just don't remember C having this kind of temper tantrum until he was 2, but evidently it's not that uncommon. Fortuitously I received an update for his age group from Babycenter.com this week, and one of the topics was temper tantrums. I guess month 10, week 2 is when babies start to lose it! Well, it's not fun, let me tell you.
LC went to his first swimming lesson yesterday. He did better than C ever did. I want to make sure I don't miss my window of opportunity like I seemed to have done with C. LC seemed to like the class in general. I know he's not capable of swimming yet - god knows he'd sink like a ton of bricks he's so big! (The teacher commented at the class - Wow, he's a strong boy isn't he?!) But I want him to feel comfortable in the water and learn how to swim at the earliest time. With so many pools in this country it scares me to have two boys running around who don't know how to swim. And my expectations aren't too high - ALL of C's friends can swim, most of them unaided by floaties. So he is way behind the 8 ball and I don't want to see LC end up in the same place. But we'll take it casually as there's no rush.
I'm quite sure LC has more bumps and bruises than C ever did at his age. There are 2 big reasons for this: our being distracted by an older son and us having the hardest floors possible (marble). I never thought I'd think that hardwood floors were soft, but compared to marble they definitely are! Thankfully he has a rock hard head so nothing major has happened, that we know of... He also isn't content with baby toys, hasn't been in a long time. He's already playing with the toys that C was playing with when he was twice his age, and he doesn't want anything to do with those silly baby toys. So it was frustrating for a couple months trying to figure out what things he would enjoy, but now that he's more mobile, stronger, and has broader interests it isn't too much of a struggle.
He's still crawling and cruising, and is thinking about walking but I don't expect he will do it in the next month or so. So far he's been a couple weeks behind C in all the big gross motor development milestones so I guess I'm thinking he'll do it at about 13 months. Which means we'll have aching backs during our trip to the US when he'll want to walk everywhere but won't be able to yet. Ouch...
Some random thoughts: in general I have to say he's at a wonderful age and is so much fun to be with. He makes all kinds of fantastic squeals and babble (in addition to speaking Bahasa Indonesia!) and has a totally infectious laugh. He loves our cat most of all I think (with a very close second being his big brother), and the 2 are so funny together. He chases after her all the time, but instead of running away she lays down directly in front of him. The other day he tried to put her paw in his mouth. I can't tell you why, but everything does go in his mouth afterall! He wants to move! and do! all the time now so sitting still is not a common occurrence. He does the cutest thing whenever he sees a pillow. He automatically goes over to it and lays his head down and gives us this adorable sheepish grin as if to say - I know you can hardly stand it when I do this cuz you think I'm the most cutest baby in the whole wide world! And of course he's right. :)
Over the last several days I've wondered why LC would call for me - "mama" - as I'd prepare his food. But it wasn't quite "mama", but more like "mumum". So I thought, well there are a lot of Aussies around so maybe he picked up "mum" instead of "mom". No, silly big-headed mom, it turns out it's not all about me. It dawned on me that when he said "mumum" he wasn't saying "mama" at all. I finally remembered that "mumum" is how Indonesians say "food" when talking to babies. So when it's time to eat, LC is saying the word "food" in Bahasa Indonesia!
In other LC news, he has started throwing fits. And I bet he's one of the best fit throwers in the under one crowd. Wow. It's really impressive. I've actually had to just put him down on the floor and let him get it out of his system cuz the kid is in an entire world of his own. And what spurs these fits you may ask? Not getting what he wants of course! I just don't remember C having this kind of temper tantrum until he was 2, but evidently it's not that uncommon. Fortuitously I received an update for his age group from Babycenter.com this week, and one of the topics was temper tantrums. I guess month 10, week 2 is when babies start to lose it! Well, it's not fun, let me tell you.
LC went to his first swimming lesson yesterday. He did better than C ever did. I want to make sure I don't miss my window of opportunity like I seemed to have done with C. LC seemed to like the class in general. I know he's not capable of swimming yet - god knows he'd sink like a ton of bricks he's so big! (The teacher commented at the class - Wow, he's a strong boy isn't he?!) But I want him to feel comfortable in the water and learn how to swim at the earliest time. With so many pools in this country it scares me to have two boys running around who don't know how to swim. And my expectations aren't too high - ALL of C's friends can swim, most of them unaided by floaties. So he is way behind the 8 ball and I don't want to see LC end up in the same place. But we'll take it casually as there's no rush.
I'm quite sure LC has more bumps and bruises than C ever did at his age. There are 2 big reasons for this: our being distracted by an older son and us having the hardest floors possible (marble). I never thought I'd think that hardwood floors were soft, but compared to marble they definitely are! Thankfully he has a rock hard head so nothing major has happened, that we know of... He also isn't content with baby toys, hasn't been in a long time. He's already playing with the toys that C was playing with when he was twice his age, and he doesn't want anything to do with those silly baby toys. So it was frustrating for a couple months trying to figure out what things he would enjoy, but now that he's more mobile, stronger, and has broader interests it isn't too much of a struggle.
He's still crawling and cruising, and is thinking about walking but I don't expect he will do it in the next month or so. So far he's been a couple weeks behind C in all the big gross motor development milestones so I guess I'm thinking he'll do it at about 13 months. Which means we'll have aching backs during our trip to the US when he'll want to walk everywhere but won't be able to yet. Ouch...
Some random thoughts: in general I have to say he's at a wonderful age and is so much fun to be with. He makes all kinds of fantastic squeals and babble (in addition to speaking Bahasa Indonesia!) and has a totally infectious laugh. He loves our cat most of all I think (with a very close second being his big brother), and the 2 are so funny together. He chases after her all the time, but instead of running away she lays down directly in front of him. The other day he tried to put her paw in his mouth. I can't tell you why, but everything does go in his mouth afterall! He wants to move! and do! all the time now so sitting still is not a common occurrence. He does the cutest thing whenever he sees a pillow. He automatically goes over to it and lays his head down and gives us this adorable sheepish grin as if to say - I know you can hardly stand it when I do this cuz you think I'm the most cutest baby in the whole wide world! And of course he's right. :)
Thursday, May 1, 2008
C-ism of the day
C and LC were playing on the couch. C says to LC: "I'm so proud of you LC - you have hair now!"
C followed this with about 3 "I love yous" for his brother. Awww!
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