rainbow art party

Is there anything more exciting than turning 5? I think it's kind of where life peaks. 

We celebrated on her actual birthday with our newly purchased Vietnamese hats, cheesy pizza and some pink sprinkle cake.

Violet's nose isn't really running and neglected like that, it's just a weird glare from the camera.

This yellow cake was a much bigger hit than the carrot cake I made for Vi's birthday. She munched right through her piece humming to herself with delight.

I swore I wasn't going to do a birthday party for Eliot this year (we did a big one last year) but somehow it happened. I was able to talk her out of a pink, barbie party. We settled for a rainbow, art party.

We waited to hold it until the next Saturday when Rocky would be home. In the meantime she had her original birthday dinner and cupcakes with her school class. The day before, I reminded her about the party and she got a huge smile and exclaimed, "Me so excited! Me never turned 5 before!"

 This kids all decorated their own hats. (shout out to Abe and Rocky for representing for the boys.)

 Did a few art projects

 Decorated cupcakes.

 Raised the noise level in our apartment higher than I believed was humanly possible.

Everyone seemed really happy (and really loud).

And we sent them all home looking like members of the klu klux klan. (not intentional.)

zoo day

On our way up the elevator last weekend we saw a notice informing us the power would be out on our street for the entire upcoming day. Power outages are not especially unusual but having the power out for the whole day is torture. It's only happened once before, this past April (the month when all of Bangkok turns into molten lava). It was a nightmare. This time we were determined to avoid the same sweaty, hot disaster. 

We packed ourselves a lunch and headed out by Chonburi, about an hour and twenty minutes from our house to a drive thru zoo. I'd read we could feed the animals so we bought $5 worth of corn, beans, carrots and bananas from the vendors at the entrance. Basically the amount we had could have fed most of the zoo. 

Rocky didn't think one of this bags was enough and insisted on a second.

And extra beans.

Violet is really into animals right now.

Unfortunately, it was mid-late afternoon on the weekend and none of the animals were hungry--having been fed a steady stream of vegetables since the zoo opened, several hours before.

 We did feed this gigantic hippo.

 He was pretty far down there so you had to have good aim to get it into his mouth. That's all the food I threw, scattered around him in the water. 

 If we'd wanted to, we could have easily climbed over the scrawny fence and jumped atop a rhino. Luckily, Vi's not that adventurous yet. 

 Basically no animals wanted our food and we were running out of options. 

 Luckily the zoo was completely overrun by wild monkeys who were not over fed. 

 Nor especially friendly 

 Violet is now convinced she is a monkey and has completely regressed in her speech to only monkey noises. Which she makes perfectly.

 Eliot's been to monkey island, she was a bit more skeptical and kept saying, "Mom, are you sure this is safe?"

"Of course it's safe," I told her, "Now go stick her hands were the rabid monkeys can easily bite them."

 And of course we couldn't leave without visiting the elephants. 

 At least they were hungry.

 Eliot wanted me to give them cash, like some of the other visitors were doing, but I've seen that trick before (the elephant takes the money in his trunk and hands it to his trainer) and I'd rather unload the bushel of vegetables I already paid for. 

Eliot loves elephants. If you ask her her whole name she always responds, Eliot Smart the Elephant. Luckily we live in Thailand, where elephants are plentiful.

We arrived home just in time to be able to open the fridge that we'd accidentally left open all night the night before and turn on the air conditioning. Because we are complete hot wimps. 

dinosaur mania

I took the girls to something called, Dinosaur Mania, at a local outdoor mall a few days ago. It was small but perfect for them.

 I'm pretty sure this had a sign on it that said, no climbing, but it was all in Thai so I feigned ignorance and took some pics of Vi. She spent the rest of the time trying to climb back up here. 

 If you spent about $8 in merchandise from on of the local booths, you got a ticket to dig up this fossil. I bought a globe that broke the next day. Elie was in heaven. She had actually brought a fossil she had found a few months ago to show to any paleontologists that might be hanging around. 

Vi was less than thrilled with all the gear she was required to don before walking into the 5x5 foot sand pit filled with less than 2 inches of sand. 

We compromised on the goggles.

I'm sure she'll come around to dinosaurs--it seems to not be optional in this house. 

park days

Right now the weather is pretty cool, it's rainy season so if it's not raining it's usually in the low 90's-high 80's, this is pretty cool for Bangkok. We've been taking advantage of it and spending a lot of time outside. 

 Vi loves the park. The swings are her favorite, but I can't get a non blurry picture with my phone.  It's probably no coincidence one of her favorite books is The Swing.

This is a board book I actually don't mind reading 30+ times a day. 

She also loves this merry-go-round. Are there still merry-go-rounds in public parks in the states?

I can understand why they've mostly disappeared but we love this one. 

In other Vi news, we dropped her off at nursery today and went back to check on her 5 minutes later only to find she was gone. Someone else found her going through the trash in the bathroom. She's proven her self to be quite independent, fast and mischievous. 

growing up and out

I'm not one of those parents who gets really sad at the thought of their kids growing up. I rejoice in it. My heart is clearly made of stone (in case you needed more evidence, I'm counting down the days until school starts). It's been a relief that Violet has finally started to vocalize. It's not much but it's starting to happen (granted she's only a week shy of 18 months). 

She had been completely nonvocal (unless you count the persistent tantrums and grunts and screams of frustration at not being understood) until a couple of weeks ago when Elie was watching an episode of Dora. Vi was wandering in and out, causing her usual trail of mayhem, when Dora said, "Say map!" Violet turned to the TV and said, "Map". So... not really your ideal parenting story but it broke the ice for us. She officially has added the words:

mama

dada

woof

duck

fish

cock (as in cock-a-doodle-do)

moo

yes--the biggest break through. 

car

hot

Obviously she won't be giving any oratory masterpieces anytime soon but she seems to pick up a new word (or animal noise) every few day. 

One of her best words is, "mat" from the Bob books. I bought some for Elie and we've read them a few times--she's not so crazy about them. Violet on the other hand loves them, and any time she sees them excitedly exclaims, "mat, mat, mat" I don't know if you've ever sat down and read one of those books 10-15 times in a row, but it's not especially stimulating. I have since hidden them. (Remember, heart of stone.)

All of this growing up is good as she's less than three months away from having a new little brother (we confirmed it's for sure a boy). 

In other growing up news, we bought E a balance bike in the states and brought it back in one of our suitcases. She's getting very good. Granted the bike is geared for 2-4 year olds and she's one month away from turning 5, but at this pace she should at least ride a two wheeler before she gets her drivers license--which was our goal.

We also got her a job at a pizza parlor. 

She's been making a lot of new friends.

 I am also growing significantly and I should probably stop using the ergo carrier soon--but to me it's preferable to carrying Vi in the stroller down the three sets of BTS stairs, slick with rain.

 I'm not grown up enough to pass on cotton candy gelato but apparently Vi is grown up enough to know she was getting shafted when I bought her lemon sorbet and smart enough to insist on trading.

updates.

We were talking about her freckles and somehow started talking about skin...
E: You know my dad has the most magical skin.
Me: Uh, why?
E: Because him have so much fur, it makes him super strong.

We were on a bike ride through some neighborhoods in Bangkok...
E: Me love Thai babies.
Rocky: You do?
E: Me wish I was a Thai baby.
Rocky: You know what you have to have to be a Thai baby?
E: What?
Rocky: Thai parents.
E: Maybe you guys should learn Thai.

She threw a coin into a well and made a wish and we asked her what her wish was...
E: Me wished I was a fairy.
Rocky: Why?
E: So I could fly.
Rocky: Where would you fly to?
E: To the BTS. (the above ground subway in Bangkok)

E: Me wish Violet was a kid.
Me: She is a kid.
E: No, she's a baby.
Me: When will she be a kid?
E: When she's two or maybe if she could talk.

The other night she started praying that Violet would start talking.

Violet is in her comfort zone when she's causing trouble. She takes several clandestine showers a day in our easy to use, walk in showers. She loves making messes and disassembling the contents of the fridge.

She had learned a word at one point (mama) but it has since disappeared from her vocabulary  She prefers to communicate through a series of tongue clicks and Indian chants (made by making a noise while moving her hand back and forth in front of her mouth). She's happiest when she's swimming in the pool and climbing anything precarious.

Vi and I also, I believe, hold a quite unfortunate record of ruining two iphones in less than a week. The first one we ruined when Vi dug it out of my swim bag and brought it to me in the pool. I didn't catch it and was instead forced to fish it from the bottom of the pool. A week later with a four day old phone in my pocket, I jumped in the pool after Violet who had decided to take a swim in her clothes. I have since renounced all forms of technology. Or course, except my blog. Until Vi destroys that too.

girls' room

 One of the great things about having all girls is that you can throw them together in one room and call it, "the girls' room". It's fun to decorate and fun to play in.  It's been one of my favorite things to do while I've been sick--to lay on the ground in their room while they play. 

 Who knows, maybe come November 17th, we will have another girl to add to this crazy girls' room.

Although, Eliot is fervently hanging onto the idea that I'm having a boy. She constantly says, "We already have too many girls in this family." We actually just made a bet. (That's right, I'm teaching my four year old how to bet.) If it's a girl she has to set the table for a week by herself. If it's a boy I have to buy her a new toy. 

We'll be happy either way. Even Eliot. She told me the other day that she will be happy even if it's a girl as long as we get to name it Scooter. (The name she had picked out for Vi.) We'll see. 

back in traffic

The epitome of coolness is getting your picture taken with a lucky cat, while wearing socks and crocs. I'm not sure you can come back from that. 

I'm really enjoying the phase E is entering now--the one where she carries on a real conversation. The conversation is still peppered with the wrong pronouns and the constant "me 'pregot" followed by a dazed expression and a demand for whatever sugar is near. But there are actually times we talk to each other like normal people.

The other day when I was bringing her home from a play date, we pulled onto Sukhumvit and immediately were forced to a complete stop. I moaned and complained, "Ugh, back in traffic again." Elie quietly repeated, "Back in traffic..." Then she started into a story from school (usually I have to work hard to dig out any gem of information of what goes on in school). She related that she and her best friend had gotten into a fight when all the other kids had wanted the door closed and she wanted to leave it open, as there was one more friend inside. She told me her friend had told her they weren't friends any more and her teacher had sat them down for a talk. She concluded with, "Then my teacher said we're all back on traffic."

I assume this means they were 'back on track' but I'm glad she misheard it as my mention of traffic brought it back to her mind.

Meanwhile, Vi is getting close to 15 months and still is using her singular command of "ah." We're not worried...really.

Early talkers are so annoying anyways. I would much rather take the grunting, pointing and dropping to the ground into a full fledged tantrum when she's misunderstood.

Stay tuned for my very exciting three hour 10k.