Week 158 and Week 71.5 - Back to normal

We are back to normal.  Sherry and Larry left but not before a fun and memorable meal of Indian food and roti prata done a hundred ways (I have determined that roti prata is the fattier cousin of pancakes here).  I am working less and spending more time with Sophia in the mornings and that is GREAT.  I just finished the Singapore Yacht Show (a small scale trade show) for Matt's company - trying to sell paint to rich yacht goers.  Hopefully someone will bite...

Saw some beautiful babies this week - lovely Maisha and Poyraz.  Great to catch up with their moms too!

Before Charlotte's birthday for about a month I read to her "The Happy Birthday Book" by Dr. Seuss (that lovely Olivia D. gave to her for her 2nd birthday).  This book is not a trivial read - a good ten minutes I would guess with fast reading.  I promised her that I would read it to her every night before her birthday.  It was great great fun.  Charlotte loves to ask questions (about why the cat is scared, about why the birthday bird wears a hat, about why the animals don't go into the tunnels of the Birthday Pal-alace) and we rowed and conducted.  It became sort of a ritual.  I was a bit sad when her birthday came around (though I suppose nothing is stopping me from continuing reading this).

Charlotte also asked why the mom is not in the "Where The Wild Things Are" book.  I had no answer for this.


We have begun the era of tantrums with Sophia.  Our mostly mild mannered daughter now cries at the drop of a hat (though it seems to be with a reason, like leaving the park or having to be buckled into a car seat of a stroller).  Yesterday I took Sophia out and she was inconsolable as I was trying to put her in the car seat.  She was crying, I was hot (out of embarrassment), my dumb skirt was too tight (don't get any ideas, just a basic denim mini) and I could not maneuver well, the door could only open half way because of the skinny parking spaces... and Sophia was writing around and nearly fell out of her chair.  It was a comedy of errors but nobody was laughing.

Sophia is almost talking.  You can ask her questions and she says yea or no (as I mentioned before) and wants to see Elmo and her A-tay (big sister in Tagalog) when she gets up.  Susie's cat Tiger sleeps in our front yard; Sophia points at him and says "mow."

Charlotte tells time with her fancy new Hello Kitty watch.  She pulls up her face and definitively tells you the time - "6:42." "5:23."  I know that she cannot read (a digital face) and the time is nowhere from being correct - but her confidence in telling the wrong time is alluring.

We also have unearthed Charlotte's brother Sophia - he is a bear that came home with Sophia from the hospital.  She now sleeps with him and Barney.

Sophia enjoys tortilla chips on Charlotte's birthday:

Cutie Cameron:

With Uncle Jeff:

Uncle Neil and Charlotte's "brother" Sophia:

Uncle Larry being silly:

Nighttime shots:

Roti Prata!

I love this picture - Sophia is wheeling and dealing candy it appears:

Or Pocky:

Maisha!

BMW driving:

When Sophia likes dancing - I mean REALLY likes dancing - she cups her ear in her hand:

Poyraz!

Sophia's baby Havaianas!  She has tiny feet and these suckers fall off ALL the time!

Finally catching up on some videos...

Sophia rolls her suitcase at the airport on her birthday:

Charlotte runs with Cameron later on her birthday at Smokey's:

The girls dance and drive their (mini) BMW's at the Yacht Show:

Week 157 and Week 70.5 - Charlotte's 3rd Birthday!

Wow - so much happened last week I don't really know where to begin!

It was a birthday party extravaganza for Charlotte!  I made penguin cupcakes from the book
"Hello Cupcake" - except of course I could not find many of the original ingredients (not even chocolate frosting) and improvised almost entirely!  Mine are made with scones, square(!) mini donuts, Nutella, blanched almonds, Oreo cookies, chocolate chips, white icing and marshmallows!  So fun and time consuming (especially the sourcing part).

Matt, Kathy and I surprised Charlotte at school with her penguin cupcakes to celebrate her birthday with her and her classmates.  Twelve students - she and another girl have the same birthday and another girl April 12!  It was cute- I was reminded why boys are boisterous and I don't understand them.  Char did not sit in her seat but I think it was because we were there and she is SO distractable. 

At the same time - Sophia woke up from a nap on Thursday unable to walk.  We had deduced that her right hip was injured.  We took her to the doctor on Friday afternoon and confirmed there was nothing broken.  It was so sad to see her unable to walk.  Her leg progressively got better the next couple of days and was fine by Monday morning (where I already had a jab scheduled).  She must be doing karate kicks in her crib.

Sophia is also enamored with the red wagon!  The first time we took her in it to the park she refused to get out of it.  So Yaya, Kathy and I are running her around the park.  She sat so regally - like she was a queen looking down on her subjects.  I let other kids ride - all with Sophia still there.  She was so serious riding that day - it was really cute and funny!

Saturday we had a lovely morning party at the park with her neighborhood friends- she wore a cute Auntie Laurie dress and Auntie Laurie shoes.  Auntie Sherry, Uncle Larry, and Uncle Neil joined us.  We gave her a purple elephant balloon that she walked around the park.  Her boyfriend Max (she still calls him her boyfriend) came, and they were so cute!  She tried to kiss him and he was shy (or as his mom says - playing hard to get) but Charlotte just laughed it off.  It made me very happy - her innocence and her lack of consciousness about it all.  Don't learn to be embarrassed Char!  I hope that your spirit always shines through!

Char led her party with a resounding rendition of the hokey pokey - Coach sings this at swimming and it is just like audio sunshine.

We fulfilled Char's wish of having fire and candles for her birthday with a Little Einsteins rocket ship and a Barney cake!  Kathy brought candles from the US - and the sparkly ones seemed like trick ones!

We came home and opened family presents - Char got a Barney from us (which she loves!  We are surprised by all the Barney love) and a suitcase from Grandpa.  Char wheeled this suitcase all around the airport the next day during our weekly dim sum run there.  She told us she wanted to go to Shanghai.  I went to the toilet and Matt indulged her and talked the First Class Check in agent.  She told the nice gentleman that she wanted to go to Shanghai.  The agent asked for her passport.  She opened up her suitcase, pulled out a Dora swimsuit, held it up to him and asked "Is this ok?"  The agent smiled and said that he can check her in when she brings her passport.  Charlotte asked me if I had her passport in my purse when I got out of the restroom.  So cute!

Kathy took Charlotte swimming and sadly left us on Saturday night.  Char was really upset on Monday morning (and before) and asked why Grandma wasn't there to get her ready for school!

Matt is in Macau this week - I let Charlotte sleep in my room at night and I sleep much better!  Matt does not like this of course as he does not want this to be a habit.  Or maybe we just need to invest in a king sized bed...

I have so many pictures to post this week - I am not going to do my normal captions this week.  Hope you can follow along!

Though I have not seen the movie- this is what I would suspect could be a deleted scene from "The Notebook":

Channeling Judi Dench here: