1 week to go

Henry and I are leaving in one week. We can't believe this day has come so quickly!  We've been having fun around here to make the most of these "final days" before big changes come our way.  Henry has really taken to singing and belts out ABCs, Baa Baa black sheep, You are My Sunshine, Twinkle Twinkle, etc when ever he gets a quiet moment.  He'll even sing along with me when I sing one or two at bedtime in the dark. In the past two weeks I've randomly started singing "Should have been a Cowboy" and now that Henry learns the words to songs so quickly I'm starting to think I should have picked another song...

In other Henry news, he's going through a phase when he's really excited about school. He doesn't go to a school but during our morning walks we point out all the school buses we see and sometimes we get home right when kids are getting on a bus outside our building.  One day Henry made his 6 year old friend very uncomfortable by asking if he could get on the bus too and his friend has to nervously and reluctantly say that wasn't allowed. The picture here is of Henry so happy wearing one of his backpacks. 

Ever since we rode a few motor boats in Laos Henry has talked about riding boats.  Now that he's showing imagination, one game he likes to play is pulling out the frame of an old swing sort of thing, calling it a motor boat, and trying to pile all of his balls and toys on it.

 

And finally, we've been slowing testing the waters with potty training Henry.  Today I just had to take advantage of a great photo opportunity.  Here's Henry chilling on his potty, watching the new Muppet's movie (he actually watched about 20 minutes of the movie), and eating a grilled cheese sandwich.

My colleagues entertained me last weekend during a Saturday full-day work meeting.  Keep in mind all of these colleagues are men.  One leans over to me and enthusiastically says "Rebecca, I am so happy for you!" and I think that he's about to chat about the general fact that I'm about to have another baby.  He goes on to say "It's just great that you have put on substantial weight!" HAHAHA...hmmm...not exactly what I was expecting to hear.  I guess the changes are all relative. I probably have put on "substantial weight" when you compare me to my colleagues wives who, based on the gossiping that ensued, gained a total of 5kgs and 7kgs total during their pregnancies.  I also got a good laugh when we started making jokes during a tea break that centered around....which type of chicken each person would be!  One was a Pakistani chicken because he is tall and strong and always likes to attack (with his jokes), another was a boiler chicken because he likes to eat all the time, and another was a local, deshi chicken because he is so skinny and smart.  Cracked me up. And, no, I was not described although I'd love to know what type of chicken I'd be.

Scott and I got all dressed up for a wedding last weekend. Scott's employee's wife's brother got married so we went to the husband's family's celebration.  We were there to mingle and then eat lunch. Scott took it for the team by taking and finishing a full chicken, making the host very happy, in addition to the rice and other chicken and mutton we were each given. 

Birthday fun

Last weekend for Scott's birthday we went on another boat ride with some friends.  The weather was great and company fun ensuring that the adventure was successful.  Oddly, Henry fell asleep on the drive to the boat and ended up taking a hearty nap well into the boat ride.  Jaffe, one of Henry's best buddies who's about 1 month younger, was very concerned that Henry would miss the whole experience but luckily after about 45 minutes on the river he woke up. You can imagine his utter surprise and mirth at waking up on a "motor boat" with all of his friends.
Scott snapped a great photo of Kingfishers perched on a tree pretty far away:

 Goats on a boat

 Some serious cooking must have taken place

 Henry and Scott with their "matching" hats

 Henry and Jaffee, the boy in the front right, play together just about every day.  Henry's been cracking us up lately because whenever we ask him about a scratch or little owie he'll say "hit Jaffe" as if it resulted from running into Jaffe even if he hasn't seen Jaffe in a few days.  We find this funny not just because he blames everything on running into Jaffe but also because they play together great and besides an expected collision every so often they tend to focus on balls, bikes, and other games that don't involve contact.

 

I mentioned before that Henry has become more and more excited about meeting his baby brother.  The other morning as I was getting ready for our morning walk he disappeared into his room for a little bit. He returned with his "baby brother" who he was happy to find out could come on the walk with us.  After the walk he put the baby to sleep in the foot rest area of the stroller. He hasn't really played with the doll before or after that morning but it was super cute while it lasted.

 We went to a St Patrick's Day party today complete with green drinks, green food in the BBQ buffet and green desserts.  Just our luck that the first rain of the year fell while we were at the party - without an umbrella and looking forward to our walk home.  After about 2 hours, when the rain eased up a bit, we headed home and were "thrilled" to see how much water was lingering on the street.  The thrill was made all the better since the power was out during our walk and we had only the light from our mobile phone to help us avoid the huge puddles.  Can't wait for monsoon season!. Unfortunately I didn't take too many photos at the party but I did get one of Henry gnawing on a chicken leg.

Bonding with his furry brother

First some highlights from the last few days:
Henry forgot to actually smile when he poked his fingers in his cheeks.

Enjoying a splash at a roof top party the other day

 

Henry is in a phase of putting on our shoes and walking all over the house

Henry and Guinness have a great relationship.  Henry is stoked to have a furry brother who will play ball with him at any time, will not mind if Henry sticks his hand or foot in his mouth to try to elicit some licks, and perhaps best of all, will let Henry climb all over him without a complaint.  I don't know if Guinness gets much out of the hands and feet smooshed in his face or the climbing, but he certainly loves to have Henry around to throw ball since Scott and I won't even make one toss for fear that we're hooked into a never ending game of catch.  

For comparison, I thought I'd post photos from back when Henry was just 3 weeks old

Tonight I was able to snag a Climb-on-Guinness session on camera that took place when Henry went to say goodnight to Guinness.  Guinness remained his patient self through all the "attention".

 Henry was sure to give a final sweet hug to make sure they were still as close as ever.

Speaking of brothers, this morning Henry, for the first time, gently patted then kissed my belly and said "Hi baby brother."  He's wanted to snuggle with the growing belly for a little while now and if I prompt him he'll say something nice to the fetus but can I venture to say that they've already started forming a bond?  Less than 3 months to go until they finally meet!

Mo-kito

We have swatted at, stomped at, swung the electric racket at, and directed frustration at so many mosquitoes flying around our apartment over the past few weeks that trying to kill them has become a natural twitch.  The activity seems so perpetual, although there is respite in the middle of the day, that hunting mosquitoes - especially INSIDE the mosquito net that is supposed to protect our bed - and trying to kill them is a game Henry loves to play as it gives him a big sense of accomplishment to point them out.  In the photo here Scott and Henry are inside the little tent to try to avoid them.  Luckily mosquito, or mo-kito as Henry says, season is fairly short lived and we're just about through the thick of it.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!  Some of you may know that Scott and I love to make ice cream.  We ensured that our ice cream maker made it to Bangladesh and have put it to good use over the months by making many flavors from basic vanilla to fruit sorbets in the summer.  I've always wanted to make green tea ice cream but never got my hands on the necessary ingredient - matcha.  On this last trip to Thailand we bought some and I made the first batch of the special flavor.  Yum!  It's not an everyday kind of flavor for us but it's great to know that we can now make it.  Come on over if you want some - we'll find a way to get rid of all the mosquitoes if we know you're coming.

We have enjoyed going to birthday parties held outside at the Club over the past two weekends. We just had to snag a photo of Henry after last weekend's party to try to capture just how dirty he had managed to get during the 2 hours playing at the playground and sandpit.  Unfortunately by the time we got home he was pretty tired and was not in the mood for a photo shoot so I wasn't able to have him pose to capture the best angle but you get the theme.  We were amazed at just how much sand came out of his clothes as off of him at bath time.  Definitely a successful day at the playground!