What a lovely day for...a hair cut

The sky was blue and the temperature not too hot.  It was a lovely day for looking out the window and daydreaming while I was supposed to be working.  

When I got up for a glass of water I moseyed over to the window for a better look outside. Something caught my eye...

The "tower" you see is an army tower where there is often one man sitting and keeping an eye out for any out of the ordinary activity.  (I don't know if there could be a more exciting place to be posted.) 
Oh my...  Is that man supposed to be on duty??

I wish I could have a private stylist who would cut my hair while I "worked".

All tuckered out

Until we get our shipment with Henry's crib he mainly hangs out in our guest room - or rather "the room with a bed in it" because I think Henry is laying claim to the room now.  Also, we didn't think our shipment with a few random toys would take this long to get here; it was great to get a bunch of hand me down toys from one of our friends here.

PS - We are entertained by the way the Nanny, Shipli, covers and pampers Henry when he naps with one blanket folded over his belly and the other providing a foot rest. 

Morning routines

First of all - Henry woke up giggling this morning! How cute is that?  He doesn't giggle that much;I think I can count the number of times he's actually laughed on my hands.  Who knows why he was cracking up but it was a great way to wake up.  Here are some photos from a typical morning around here:

Flying objects

We've had some fun with flying "objects" in the past few days.  I'll start with the freaking and end with the fun.
In the middle of the night two days ago I heard a noise that I figured was made by something falling to the ground.  Earlier that day we had people here working on our AC wall unit so I just assumed some piece fell out of that and thought nothing more.  In the morning I noticed a piece of black plastic on the floor. At first I was confused as to why it would be there and then I remembered the sound I had heard.  I leaned down to pick it up but as I was doing so I remembered that I can't trust anything in Bangladesh and that I better make sure it was a piece of plastic before I picked it up. I put Henry down on the bed (thankfully) and dragged a pair of pants over the plastic to make sure it wasn't a living "piece of plastic".  The pants proved that it was a bendable piece of something sort of like a stretched garbage bag.  I confidently leaned down to pick it up.  OHHH NOOOOO - about 8 inches from picking it up I realized it was.....A BAT!  AHHHH!  Here were the thoughts flying through my head a) we had a half alive BAT on our bedroom floor, b) we keep all doors and windows closed here so how the heck did a bat get inside, c) was this a vampire bat??? ;), and d) perhaps most disturbingly, the noise I heard that night had been the bat flying into the ceiling fan and being propelled to ground - thankfully it landed on THE GROUND because there was a 30% chance it could have landed on me or Scott on the bed and a 20% chance it could have landed on Henry in his crib!  Scott subsequently got rid of the bat and I tried to forget about the incident.  When I told the nanny about it later she, in her classic Bangladeshi way, was not shocked at all but just laughed that I had a reaction and casually mentioned that the other day she found a bat in another room.  Oh my oh my.....  As Scott said, these are bug eating bats and we should be happy we have them.  Yes, I am very very happy....

On a fun note, when I work from home I look out a huge window onto a forest which is a rare opportunity in Dhaka

Flying around among the trees are not just crows. blue jays, and cardinals, but big parrots!  I think it's so cool that I watch wild parrots flying around :)

There is a parrot right in the center of that photo and in this next on there is still that same parrot but another one on the right side of the photo

Sometime I spot really bright yellow tropical birds. I'll try to get a photo next time.

Target Greatland...Walmart Supercenter...nothing compared to Gulshan 1 market

When you need to buy a pair of flip flops, or an office chair, or a pressure cooker, or underwear, or an a cabbage, perhaps a comb, or what about some lentils...and you feel lost without a Walmart within a 10 mile radius - you can only hope Gulshan 1 market is within driving distance.  This 2 story, 479+ stall shopping center is our go-to place.

That being said, we go with a list and try to get in and out in as little time as possible.

4 months old

Henry is now 4 months!  He's getting closer to crawling and can cover a queen sized bed in no time - of course with no organized plan of direction and a lot of time with his butt way up high in the air.  On another note, he just started really giggling - I love it!  We went to the doctor today so I have new stats for Henry:
weight: 15.27 lbs, 6.87 kg - 40th percentile
length: 64.80 cm - 63rd percentile
Weight for length: 27th percentile
Head circumference: 42 cm - 59 percentile

One more photo from the morning of his birthday...  It can be hard to coax the little guy to sleep when he just wants to look around and enjoy the sights.  I realized that using the "hooter hider" was a way to block Henry from seeing what's around him and, therefore, a great way to help him get some shut eye during the day if he really doesn't want to nap.  Here's a photo from when I put him down after carrying him in the sling while getting ready in the morning and using the hooter hider.  For some reason this mass of material made me laugh. (Don't worry, after I snapped the photo I took away the extra cloth.)

Having fun

Slide show of Henry trying to move forward

Henry has been suggesting that he is ready to inch worm leading us to entice him by placing his toys further and further away from him.  I took a series of photos yesterday of him going after a toy...
He sets his sights on the prize

Prepares to inch worm

Tries to scoot but doesn't make too much progress so he takes a swing

And knocks the toy a little closer

Now he's on a roll and asking if I'll just give it to him now that he made contact

Oh no, he falls back

But does not give up....

I think the champion had earned the prize at that point and I was willing to offer some assistance :)

Baby swim class

I'm so sad I didn't snap any photos today of Henry at his first swim class, but...
He had a great time.  The class is supposed to be limited to babies 6 months and older but the instructor allowed us in knowing that any source of social interaction is much needed around here.  So many babies were signed up that she split the group into two sections; we swam with the under 18 month kids.  Henry and I enjoyed signing and splashing and kicking.  I can't wait until he's just a little older can try jumping in!  Right after he was changed out of his swim gear he fell right to sleep and stayed zonked out until we were back home.It looks like Monday mornings will be a weekly highlight!  I'll be SURE to take a photo at next weeks class. 

Henry stands all by himself

I thought I'd lure you in with that title. Actually Henry stands all by himself while he's playing with a toy that is basically a table filled with all sorts of things that light up and sign songs and are placed at just the right height.  Just yesterday I noticed he was quite balanced when he was entranced by the amusement and leaning against the edge.  Of course, most of his weight is against the table but it's still super fun that he can stand there all alone and play. I was alone when I was trying to take these photos and I obviously had to stay right near him to catch him if he toppled, but I snagged a few.  He probably stood there for almost a minute!  Then he did it again when we were on a video skype with the grandparents :)

This next one is dark but it's fun because he's looking at the camera.  The fact that he is not supported by me doesn't shine through as well.

Walking the dog

I don't have any pictures yet from when we take the dog on a walk but there are a few fun tidbits we want to share.  Many of the houses and apartment buildings here have guards who "stand duty" 24 hours a day. Being that we live on a quiet street, you can imagine that foreigners walking a big dog on a leash with a plump little baby boy will draw some stares.  Add to that the excitement of letting Guinness off the leash so that he can play fetch with his frisbee and you have quite the show.

Although Guinness gets a bit overwhelmed on the slightly busier street with all the rickshaws and cars he loves the excitement offered by some other sightings.  He is completely intrigued by a black goat that roams around.  He can't seem to take his eyes off the creature as we pass. Today we had a bit more excitement as we passed another interesting group: a man walking 2 pretty big monkeys on leashes.  He walks them in hopes of getting some money to watch them dance*.  I had not seen them in this neighborhood before.  Guinness definitely wanted to play with them.

* For you Dann's out there I was signing "Lay-la lay-la ya my moona" the rest of the walk after I saw the monkey man :)   It basically means "dance monkey dance" and it's the song my grandma and her sisters and brother used to sing off their balcony when they were in Cairo as they threw coins down to the dancing monkeys.

Random pics

This next one is a little blurry

First day at the pool

This afternoon we had our first adventure to the baby pool.  It's nestled in a shady area of the American Club which, as I mentioned before, is about a 2 minute walk from our house. For some reason Scott and I didn't bring our swim suits but, regardless, Henry had a great time sporting his swim suit for the first time and kicking his feet around in the water. 

After a few minutes another little boy joined us in the pool.  He kept putting his hand on Henry's belly; so cute!  I zoomed out to take a photo of the boys playing so that you get a sense of the pool area at the Club.  It looks just like the US, doesn't it?  Respite from the madness of Dhaka streets.