Atticus has been fussy for the past week for two reasons:
1. We think he is teething. He currently has 6 teeth (4 on top & 2 on the bottom), but we think his molars are coming out. He whines when we feed him sometimes. He prefers chewing on a teething biscuit. He also cries when we feed him milk once in a while. For a few nights he woke up at 10pm, 2am, & 4am and drank 3 bottles of milk, depleting my refrigerated reserve.
2. He has developed separation anxiety. Even in our tiny 2-bedroom apartment, he will cry when we set him down & walk across the hall to use the restroom.
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My maternal grandmother cannot pronounce his name & calls him "Atticut," which ends up sounding like "Etiquette." I drove her to dinner tonight from my grandfather's grave site, and all I heard from the backseat was "Etiquette, Etiquette." I had to chuckle.
My dad calls him "Attica" sometimes, which makes me think of the prison in New York State, I think.
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He will raise his arms, clap hands, give high fives, & kiss by leaning in all on command. It's wonderful. We love a baby who follows directions. How long will that last?
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Interacting with your baby can be fun!
We came to New Jersey for Robby's 10-year high school reunion & Thanksgiving with Dad & Nancy. We had a delicious Thanksgiving meal cooked by Nancy. It had all the Thanksgiving-meal staple dishes: turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, etc. The baby ate a little turkey with his avocado.
We've been re-exploring New Providence with the baby. It's such a small town that Robby keeps running into acquaintances in the local stores and shopping centers. He misses this small-town feeling. I'm stuck in the hotel room working on my term papers due next week. I have two papers due on Friday, so I have to keeping working until they're done.
Atticus is a trooper. He gets hauled in & out of the carseat. He eats whatever we feed him. We've run out of baby food, so we feed him whatever is on the dinner table (most anything mushy & dairy-free). He sleeps when we put him down. He has been babysat for twice already (once by Nina's parents & once by Dr. Feinberg), so he has had to wake up at 11pm when we pick him up. He has been absolutely easy.
Back to work!
We've been re-exploring New Providence with the baby. It's such a small town that Robby keeps running into acquaintances in the local stores and shopping centers. He misses this small-town feeling. I'm stuck in the hotel room working on my term papers due next week. I have two papers due on Friday, so I have to keeping working until they're done.
Atticus is a trooper. He gets hauled in & out of the carseat. He eats whatever we feed him. We've run out of baby food, so we feed him whatever is on the dinner table (most anything mushy & dairy-free). He sleeps when we put him down. He has been babysat for twice already (once by Nina's parents & once by Dr. Feinberg), so he has had to wake up at 11pm when we pick him up. He has been absolutely easy.
Back to work!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
He follows directions!
At the dinner table, we shout, "Arms up!" in English and in Chinese. When Atticus raises his arms, we give hug and kiss him and give positive reinforcement. He shoots his arms up & calls out to us, expecting kisses. We gasp in feigned surprise & laugh and kiss him.
If you're on the babygroup list, you can see a video of this new exercise.
Our interactions have changed so dramatically in the past week. He now looks at us differently...with a look of expectation. We can communicate him in a more complex way (as complex as we can with a 9-month old). We exchange sounds and responses now, which is SO nice! No longer do we coo at his expressionless face. No longer do we work up a sweat trying to eek out a laugh or a smile from him.
Yay.
If you're on the babygroup list, you can see a video of this new exercise.
Our interactions have changed so dramatically in the past week. He now looks at us differently...with a look of expectation. We can communicate him in a more complex way (as complex as we can with a 9-month old). We exchange sounds and responses now, which is SO nice! No longer do we coo at his expressionless face. No longer do we work up a sweat trying to eek out a laugh or a smile from him.
Yay.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
He crawls!
Forward!
Atticus has been crawling backward for the past few weeks. Yesterday at daycare was the first time I watched him crawl forward towards me!
It looks a little strange because instead of being on all fours, one knee is up with him leg planted on the ground.
He's mobile!
Atticus has been crawling backward for the past few weeks. Yesterday at daycare was the first time I watched him crawl forward towards me!
It looks a little strange because instead of being on all fours, one knee is up with him leg planted on the ground.
He's mobile!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Atticus's First Number
Atticus got his first digits tonight.
I had been driving home from work when I heard a restaurant review on NPR by Jonathan Gold, Pulitzer Prize winning food critic from the LA Weekly. He reviewed a new restaurant in Culver City called the A Frame. I called Robby up & we decided to check it out. The chef also started the phenomenal chain of Kogi trucks, which are famous for its Korean tacos. The food at A Frame was delicious: soft crab cakes, grilled lamp chops, & a lemongrass clam chowder. We also met the chef/owner & got to compliment on the food.
The hostess of the restaurant was so enamored by the Boy that she volunteered to babysit him & gave us her number. She carried him for a bit while we finished our dessert & told Robby that she lived at an ashram in India with her hippy mom when she was a child. Cool stuff. We're glad we got a chance to enjoy this restaurant before it gets pretentious.
I had been driving home from work when I heard a restaurant review on NPR by Jonathan Gold, Pulitzer Prize winning food critic from the LA Weekly. He reviewed a new restaurant in Culver City called the A Frame. I called Robby up & we decided to check it out. The chef also started the phenomenal chain of Kogi trucks, which are famous for its Korean tacos. The food at A Frame was delicious: soft crab cakes, grilled lamp chops, & a lemongrass clam chowder. We also met the chef/owner & got to compliment on the food.
The hostess of the restaurant was so enamored by the Boy that she volunteered to babysit him & gave us her number. She carried him for a bit while we finished our dessert & told Robby that she lived at an ashram in India with her hippy mom when she was a child. Cool stuff. We're glad we got a chance to enjoy this restaurant before it gets pretentious.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Approaching 9 months...
Atticus is almost 8 months and 3 weeks.
He can go from lying position to sitting-up position by pushing himself backward & tucking on leg underneath his body. He can lean forward on both hands & prop himself up on his hands and knees. He is dying to crawl & almost there. When he pushes forward, he lands on his belly - legs and knees up in the air - & looks like a sunbathing whale.
Just in the past few days, he has begun yelling out for attention, we assume. He contorts his face (one eye squinting) & opens his mouth loudly... "Ahhh!" Robby thinks he has learned this from his classmates in day care who shout out for attention.
Yesterday, he began clapping his hands. I'm not sure he's doing it deliberately, though. He also started lifting both arms up.
Our baby boy is getting so big!
He can go from lying position to sitting-up position by pushing himself backward & tucking on leg underneath his body. He can lean forward on both hands & prop himself up on his hands and knees. He is dying to crawl & almost there. When he pushes forward, he lands on his belly - legs and knees up in the air - & looks like a sunbathing whale.
Just in the past few days, he has begun yelling out for attention, we assume. He contorts his face (one eye squinting) & opens his mouth loudly... "Ahhh!" Robby thinks he has learned this from his classmates in day care who shout out for attention.
Yesterday, he began clapping his hands. I'm not sure he's doing it deliberately, though. He also started lifting both arms up.
Our baby boy is getting so big!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Happy Halloween!
This year was Atticus's first Halloween!
Our rigid & packed schedule doesn't allow us to participate in social events, so we decided to throw a little party in the backyard. Also, we were too busy to cook, so we made it a pot luck.
Robby dressed up as a chef, I was a waitress, & the boy was broccoli in a pot. Then he peed while I was changing his diaper & got his costume & my costume wet.
Our party started at 2pm & ended at 5pm. Afterward, we took a short walk around the neighborhood to see all the activity. There were some elaborate displays with sound effects, strobe lights, & animatronics. One house even had a few actors leaping onto trick-or-treaters as they traipsed toward the front door for candy. One neighbor created a haunted house in his backyard. I didn't have the guts to walk through it, but Robby did, & he said it was pretty scary.
Next year, we'll go trick-or-treating & really enjoy being out among the ghouls and ghosties.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Barely Sane
I called in sick today. Constant coughing since Sunday has led to a sore throat. Plus, a general lack of sleep has made me exhausted. Today the students have a half day taking a practice PSAT, so I haven't bailed out on them on a day that I could be teaching English. It's my second day off this semester, & I feel bad for disappointing them, but my health has been teetering ever since the school year started. I am always on the verge of illness by Wednesday. Today, as I walked through the apartment after sleeping in until 8am, I asked myself, How will I survive this kind of workload for the next 8 months? I ask myself this question often, & all I can do is take it day to day, do the best I can in juggling teaching, grading, the hours at school, a full graduate course load, & time with baby and partner. Needless to say, even on this day of rest, my thoughts are tinged with despair.
But the boy is fantastic! He is standing with our help now. I am sure that he will be crawling in the coming weeks & walking in the coming months. He loves to stand, squat, & stand. Last night, he had his first fall. He bumped his head on the base of a foot stool & cried so soulfully. I had never heard him cry like that before. It was a pitiful cry, not like the frustrated cry of hunger or the whiny cry of loneliness. He's been a big eater of baby food lately, & I've started feeding him a little water from a sippy cup. His repertoire of food is growing.
On a side note, my dad found an old photo of my grandfather online. It was taken in 1938 when China was invaded by Japan. Back then, the Soviet Union & China were tight. My grandfather, about 26 years old, is pictured with a Soviet air force squadron leader whom he had saved from a Japanese flying ace during a dogfight. My father found out later that the Russian pilot had traveled to China in 1988 to look for my grandfather. But after the Communist Revolution, my grandfather left China for Taiwan. By 1988, he had died from pancreatic cancer. He is so handsome in this photo, isn't he?
But the boy is fantastic! He is standing with our help now. I am sure that he will be crawling in the coming weeks & walking in the coming months. He loves to stand, squat, & stand. Last night, he had his first fall. He bumped his head on the base of a foot stool & cried so soulfully. I had never heard him cry like that before. It was a pitiful cry, not like the frustrated cry of hunger or the whiny cry of loneliness. He's been a big eater of baby food lately, & I've started feeding him a little water from a sippy cup. His repertoire of food is growing.
On a side note, my dad found an old photo of my grandfather online. It was taken in 1938 when China was invaded by Japan. Back then, the Soviet Union & China were tight. My grandfather, about 26 years old, is pictured with a Soviet air force squadron leader whom he had saved from a Japanese flying ace during a dogfight. My father found out later that the Russian pilot had traveled to China in 1988 to look for my grandfather. But after the Communist Revolution, my grandfather left China for Taiwan. By 1988, he had died from pancreatic cancer. He is so handsome in this photo, isn't he?
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Barely with the Boy
Our days are busy. I can account for every minute of the 10 hours I spend at school each day. From the time I pick up the boy from daycare to the time I put him to bed, I kiss and hug him to make up for the lost time we spent apart. When Robby comes home later from campus, I take the boy on a walk & we watch birds and fountains and trees together.
On Saturday mornings, while he sleeps with his papa, I clean the kitchen and apartment, do a bit of yoga to stretch out my tired muscles, and do a little graduate school work. Our days are predictable and busy, & though Robby misses all the days we would spend side by side, it feels good to be busy. When I drive through Los Angeles - heading towards downtown on the 110 with skyscrapers looming ahead & trudging on the 10 past Hoover & Vermont & Crenshaw - I feel a part of the city, as if it were a living organism in constant movement...each individual serves a purpose (albeit mine might be tiny) in keeping this massive sprawl functioning and flowing.
On Saturday mornings, while he sleeps with his papa, I clean the kitchen and apartment, do a bit of yoga to stretch out my tired muscles, and do a little graduate school work. Our days are predictable and busy, & though Robby misses all the days we would spend side by side, it feels good to be busy. When I drive through Los Angeles - heading towards downtown on the 110 with skyscrapers looming ahead & trudging on the 10 past Hoover & Vermont & Crenshaw - I feel a part of the city, as if it were a living organism in constant movement...each individual serves a purpose (albeit mine might be tiny) in keeping this massive sprawl functioning and flowing.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
3 weeks done, 10 weeks left 'til Thanksgiving!
My third and first full week of teaching has just ended. At first, I was impressed by my well-behaved 10th graders. But they caught onto how relaxed & easygoing I am, & in this third week they have taken advantage of my patience and flexibility. I stayed at work until 5:30pm yesterday (Friday) because I had some problem students to take care of. Disciplining students is a tiring and arduous process of progressive steps that start with warnings, detention, calls home, talks with administrators, and meetings with parents. Next week, I have meetings with parents.
Freshly frustrated on a Friday afternoon, & having to contend with Friday traffic, I came home flustered. I shared with Robby a sudden epiphany I had that afternoon: I don't deal with conflict well at all. I rarely encountered conflict in my family or my social circles, so I had never practiced dealing with inter-personal conflict. Now, after so many years of teaching, I understand why I've never been very good at dealing with conflict efficaciously and intelligently. I am usually driven by emotion when I argue with a student. I don't stop to think rationally & thoughtfully. I show my emotions too easily & react too quickly.
So next week, I will try to curb my emotions and deal with my few naughty students with as little expression as possible. I wrote a little note to remind myself of this new discovery, and I am eager to try again. My students need consistency, and I need to be consistently strict with them so that I can serve my purpose (teach) instead of dealing with the few annoying students who seem to take up most of my already spent energy.
As for Atticus, he is eager to be mobile. He loves to sit up, but he can't move around yet. He will sometimes lunge forward onto his belly, but all he can do from there is roll onto his back.
He completed his 6-month shots, & Robby said he was a trooper.
Atticus has also started to blow raspberries full of spit. Yesterday, while I was feeding him dinner, he began spitting it out in all directions. I hope this doesn't become a habit.
Yesterday was Robby & my 5th-year, first-date anniversary. We had a wonderful meal of masala dosas, saag, and rice. The weather is getting chilly, & Robby is always reluctant to take Atticus out on walks.
Here are some recent pictures of the boy. He is now 4 days short of 7 months old.
Freshly frustrated on a Friday afternoon, & having to contend with Friday traffic, I came home flustered. I shared with Robby a sudden epiphany I had that afternoon: I don't deal with conflict well at all. I rarely encountered conflict in my family or my social circles, so I had never practiced dealing with inter-personal conflict. Now, after so many years of teaching, I understand why I've never been very good at dealing with conflict efficaciously and intelligently. I am usually driven by emotion when I argue with a student. I don't stop to think rationally & thoughtfully. I show my emotions too easily & react too quickly.
So next week, I will try to curb my emotions and deal with my few naughty students with as little expression as possible. I wrote a little note to remind myself of this new discovery, and I am eager to try again. My students need consistency, and I need to be consistently strict with them so that I can serve my purpose (teach) instead of dealing with the few annoying students who seem to take up most of my already spent energy.
As for Atticus, he is eager to be mobile. He loves to sit up, but he can't move around yet. He will sometimes lunge forward onto his belly, but all he can do from there is roll onto his back.
He completed his 6-month shots, & Robby said he was a trooper.
Atticus has also started to blow raspberries full of spit. Yesterday, while I was feeding him dinner, he began spitting it out in all directions. I hope this doesn't become a habit.
Yesterday was Robby & my 5th-year, first-date anniversary. We had a wonderful meal of masala dosas, saag, and rice. The weather is getting chilly, & Robby is always reluctant to take Atticus out on walks.
Here are some recent pictures of the boy. He is now 4 days short of 7 months old.
Monday, September 6, 2010
6-month-old Atticus
New news about our precious baby boy:
1. He now chews on his feet. Robby likes to hold him on his chest with his feet up, so that his body is folded over.
2. He loves peek-a-boo. He'll stay entertained for over 15 minutes with this game, and he laughs loudly and in short bursts. Sometimes he even shudders with surprise.
3. He loves the little music aquarium tied to the side of his crib. We often hear him tapping the levers and pushing the button that emits music. Besides our computers, it's the closest to television he'll experience for awhile.
4. He loves to gnaw on Sophie the Giraffe. We received 5 of these for our baby shower, and we are convinced that it is the most awesome teething toy ever.
5. He is very good at sitting up. We put him sitting up on a vinyl picnic blanket and surround him with blankets & pillows, & he will happily watch us work at our computers. Sometimes, he will lunge forward onto his tummy and then roll over onto his back. He's close to getting mobile!
6. Unfortunately, he isn't completely sleep-trained yet. Once or twice a night, he will cry loudly until we pop the pacifier in mouth. A few times, he has cried out of hunger, so we have given in and fed him.
7. He is a very light sleeper, so when I get up at 5:15am, I can usually hear him stirring after I brush my teeth.
8. Knots of hair form on the back of his head because he rubs his head against the crib sheet. They're like little dreadlocks with lint mashed into them.
1. He now chews on his feet. Robby likes to hold him on his chest with his feet up, so that his body is folded over.
2. He loves peek-a-boo. He'll stay entertained for over 15 minutes with this game, and he laughs loudly and in short bursts. Sometimes he even shudders with surprise.
3. He loves the little music aquarium tied to the side of his crib. We often hear him tapping the levers and pushing the button that emits music. Besides our computers, it's the closest to television he'll experience for awhile.
4. He loves to gnaw on Sophie the Giraffe. We received 5 of these for our baby shower, and we are convinced that it is the most awesome teething toy ever.
5. He is very good at sitting up. We put him sitting up on a vinyl picnic blanket and surround him with blankets & pillows, & he will happily watch us work at our computers. Sometimes, he will lunge forward onto his tummy and then roll over onto his back. He's close to getting mobile!
6. Unfortunately, he isn't completely sleep-trained yet. Once or twice a night, he will cry loudly until we pop the pacifier in mouth. A few times, he has cried out of hunger, so we have given in and fed him.
7. He is a very light sleeper, so when I get up at 5:15am, I can usually hear him stirring after I brush my teeth.
8. Knots of hair form on the back of his head because he rubs his head against the crib sheet. They're like little dreadlocks with lint mashed into them.
Super-busy working mommy & daddy
Happy Labor Day weekend!
I have just completed my first week of school at Heritage College-Ready High School in Los Angeles. I am the only 10th grade English teacher, and & I have over 150 students. I am also continuing my EdD program at USC. Yes, after a year and half of not working, I am a sudden glutton for punishment.
The first week was a killer. I went to bed around 9pm every night. I'd wake up around 5:30am, leave for school around 6 of 6:15am, arrive at 6:40am, & prepare for classes until first period's bell rang at 7:45am. The kids get out of school at 3:30pm, and I leave campus around 4:30pm. LONG DAYS. Even though time flies when I'm at school, I can't believe I'm there 10 hours a day!
Since I teach only and all tenth grade English classes, I only have one prep right now, which is pretty sweet. I see each class only three times a week. Each class has 2 two-hour block periods and one 45-min. period. The entire school has 587 students and the majority are Latino. Since the school colors are white, grey, & black, freshman students wear white polo shirts, the sophomores wear grey ones, the juniors dark gray, & the seniors black. All kids wear either dress slacks or skirts, and their shoes must be black, white or grey. Teachers at Heritage are very strict about the uniform policy, and I have gotten into the habit of doing uniform and agenda-book checks at my door at the beginning of each period.
The students are very well-behaved and polite. They are a nice bunch of kids...good-humored, friendly, polite. Of course, each class has one or two loud, playful, distracting & distractible students, but they're 15 years old...I'm amazed there are only a few in every class. Even these kids are pretty receptive. I haven't any mean, malicious, or sullen kids. I've been very impressed so far. Good behavior goes a long way when it comes to a teacher's ability to actually teach a class.
Atticus is in day care full time, and it breaks my heart whenever I think about spending whole days without him beside me. I am in my third week of the fall semester at USC, so on Wednesdays, I have to bolt out of school at 3:30pm & rush to my 4pm class on campus. Classes end at 10pm, so by the time I come home, the bugger is already fast asleep, and I have to shower & rush to bed so that I can prepare for a long Thursday without any free periods. On Thursdays, I teach the entire day with only Nutrition and Lunch for breaks. But on Friday, I get a two-hour break from my free second period.
I don't know how I'm going to manage my homework from USC. Not only do I have weekly reading assignments to complete, but I must also participate on an online discussion board and write midterms & final papers. How my classmates in my program do this?!
Well, we're taking it a day at a time. & I make sure to spend every waking moment with Atticus on the weekends, when I can take him off of Robby's hands.
Week 2 of school starts tomorrow. Wish me luck!
I have just completed my first week of school at Heritage College-Ready High School in Los Angeles. I am the only 10th grade English teacher, and & I have over 150 students. I am also continuing my EdD program at USC. Yes, after a year and half of not working, I am a sudden glutton for punishment.
The first week was a killer. I went to bed around 9pm every night. I'd wake up around 5:30am, leave for school around 6 of 6:15am, arrive at 6:40am, & prepare for classes until first period's bell rang at 7:45am. The kids get out of school at 3:30pm, and I leave campus around 4:30pm. LONG DAYS. Even though time flies when I'm at school, I can't believe I'm there 10 hours a day!
Since I teach only and all tenth grade English classes, I only have one prep right now, which is pretty sweet. I see each class only three times a week. Each class has 2 two-hour block periods and one 45-min. period. The entire school has 587 students and the majority are Latino. Since the school colors are white, grey, & black, freshman students wear white polo shirts, the sophomores wear grey ones, the juniors dark gray, & the seniors black. All kids wear either dress slacks or skirts, and their shoes must be black, white or grey. Teachers at Heritage are very strict about the uniform policy, and I have gotten into the habit of doing uniform and agenda-book checks at my door at the beginning of each period.
The students are very well-behaved and polite. They are a nice bunch of kids...good-humored, friendly, polite. Of course, each class has one or two loud, playful, distracting & distractible students, but they're 15 years old...I'm amazed there are only a few in every class. Even these kids are pretty receptive. I haven't any mean, malicious, or sullen kids. I've been very impressed so far. Good behavior goes a long way when it comes to a teacher's ability to actually teach a class.
Atticus is in day care full time, and it breaks my heart whenever I think about spending whole days without him beside me. I am in my third week of the fall semester at USC, so on Wednesdays, I have to bolt out of school at 3:30pm & rush to my 4pm class on campus. Classes end at 10pm, so by the time I come home, the bugger is already fast asleep, and I have to shower & rush to bed so that I can prepare for a long Thursday without any free periods. On Thursdays, I teach the entire day with only Nutrition and Lunch for breaks. But on Friday, I get a two-hour break from my free second period.
I don't know how I'm going to manage my homework from USC. Not only do I have weekly reading assignments to complete, but I must also participate on an online discussion board and write midterms & final papers. How my classmates in my program do this?!
Well, we're taking it a day at a time. & I make sure to spend every waking moment with Atticus on the weekends, when I can take him off of Robby's hands.
Week 2 of school starts tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Fresh Start
So much as happened since our trip to the Bay Area.
We moved out of a one-bedroom apartment into a two bedroom. We spent one day moving all our belongings to the new place & five days settling in & organizing. Our moving day was fun because we hired our neighbor's teenage son & his friend, who were so indispensable to our tasks that day. We couldn't have done the move without them. They were good-humored and friendly, which made moving day less stressful.
Atticus had outgrown the bassinet and was sleeping on the floor beside our bed. He was sleeping poorly because we made too much noise coming in & out of the room. Now, he has his own room, which has a mural & a cool rug. His changing table is in the corner of the room, so he can look out onto the backyard. The last tenants pasted stars made of aluminum on the ceiling. I love it.
This place is a definite upgrade from our last apartment & Robby & I are very satisfied with it.
Our kitchen walls are a deep red. Our living room is light green. & our bedroom has two cornflower blue walls. & we bought fabric with wacky patterns from Ikea & made curtains.
On the first night, Atticus slept 6 hours - a record! He woke up smiling & looking curiously at everything on the walls. He sits steadily in his Stokke & today tried out a bumper jumper chair that hangs from the doorjamb that divides the kitchen & the living room. Today, he finished two full containers of baby food (carrot). Impressive.
We love our new home.
After I start work, I hope I can still enjoy it.
We moved out of a one-bedroom apartment into a two bedroom. We spent one day moving all our belongings to the new place & five days settling in & organizing. Our moving day was fun because we hired our neighbor's teenage son & his friend, who were so indispensable to our tasks that day. We couldn't have done the move without them. They were good-humored and friendly, which made moving day less stressful.
Atticus had outgrown the bassinet and was sleeping on the floor beside our bed. He was sleeping poorly because we made too much noise coming in & out of the room. Now, he has his own room, which has a mural & a cool rug. His changing table is in the corner of the room, so he can look out onto the backyard. The last tenants pasted stars made of aluminum on the ceiling. I love it.This place is a definite upgrade from our last apartment & Robby & I are very satisfied with it.
Our kitchen walls are a deep red. Our living room is light green. & our bedroom has two cornflower blue walls. & we bought fabric with wacky patterns from Ikea & made curtains.
On the first night, Atticus slept 6 hours - a record! He woke up smiling & looking curiously at everything on the walls. He sits steadily in his Stokke & today tried out a bumper jumper chair that hangs from the doorjamb that divides the kitchen & the living room. Today, he finished two full containers of baby food (carrot). Impressive.
We love our new home.
After I start work, I hope I can still enjoy it.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Bye, Bay Area!
We returned from the Bay Area tonight. The drive was long and arduous. Robby must has been a truck driver in a past life because he has immense stamina for driving long distances. He plugged in his earphones to listen to his sci-fi podcast while I sat in the back with Atticus and we baked in the 100-degree heat under the sun.
Our five-day trip was a fun one. We hung out with my sisters & their children. We kissed all our nieces. Met a new niece (2 months old). We hung out with Robby's dad & stepmom (Gramps & Grammy), first in Berkeley, then Moraga, then Palo Alto. I showed them around the UC Berkeley campus & explained all my old haunts to Atticus. The grandparents bought some Cal gear for him. We had dinner with Aunt Pat & Uncle Tom & their friends in Moraga, an lush & quiet oasis beyond the Berkeley Hills. Made some new friends & made smores. It was a wonderful trip full of family gatherings.
Now we've unloaded the car, unpacked, bathed & fed Atticus, put him to sleep, & scarfed down a Trader Joe's dinner. We have 3 days to box our belongings before we move to our new apartment.
Note: Robby & I love to have conversations in bed before we fall asleep. Last night, we talked about the pros & cons of buying a house. No way are we in the position now to purchase a home, but recently some friends have & it got us thinking. As we talked, a very simple idea occurred to me (I don't know why I didn't realize it so plainly before): We will always end up paying more than the sale price of the home because of interest from a loan. Does that mean that most people end up paying more for their house than what it's worth? I've read numerous articles about the housing crisis, so I am familiar with the different theories that explain the bursting bubble (though some economists will argue that there never was a bubble to begin with). But last night the thought finally hit me loudly & clearly, & suddenly the thought of buying a house made my stomach turn. Why lock yourself into a house that will end up costing more than its worth? I guess we can't predict the worth of a house over time, but people are misled to assumed that housing prices always rise. Anyway, our conversation gave me some food for thought. We like renting. We like the idea of not being locked into one place, one house, one city. If we wanted to pack up & move to Europe or the East Coast, it would quite easy for us. I guess we both don't mind being nomads.
Good night!
Our five-day trip was a fun one. We hung out with my sisters & their children. We kissed all our nieces. Met a new niece (2 months old). We hung out with Robby's dad & stepmom (Gramps & Grammy), first in Berkeley, then Moraga, then Palo Alto. I showed them around the UC Berkeley campus & explained all my old haunts to Atticus. The grandparents bought some Cal gear for him. We had dinner with Aunt Pat & Uncle Tom & their friends in Moraga, an lush & quiet oasis beyond the Berkeley Hills. Made some new friends & made smores. It was a wonderful trip full of family gatherings.
Now we've unloaded the car, unpacked, bathed & fed Atticus, put him to sleep, & scarfed down a Trader Joe's dinner. We have 3 days to box our belongings before we move to our new apartment.
Note: Robby & I love to have conversations in bed before we fall asleep. Last night, we talked about the pros & cons of buying a house. No way are we in the position now to purchase a home, but recently some friends have & it got us thinking. As we talked, a very simple idea occurred to me (I don't know why I didn't realize it so plainly before): We will always end up paying more than the sale price of the home because of interest from a loan. Does that mean that most people end up paying more for their house than what it's worth? I've read numerous articles about the housing crisis, so I am familiar with the different theories that explain the bursting bubble (though some economists will argue that there never was a bubble to begin with). But last night the thought finally hit me loudly & clearly, & suddenly the thought of buying a house made my stomach turn. Why lock yourself into a house that will end up costing more than its worth? I guess we can't predict the worth of a house over time, but people are misled to assumed that housing prices always rise. Anyway, our conversation gave me some food for thought. We like renting. We like the idea of not being locked into one place, one house, one city. If we wanted to pack up & move to Europe or the East Coast, it would quite easy for us. I guess we both don't mind being nomads.
Good night!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Bay A-rea!!
We're up in the Bay Area right now & will be leaving in a few days. I am furiously working on a paper for my Statistics class (actually, it's called Inquiry Methods) due next Wednesday. So I've left Atticus with Robby, & they're hanging with my three nieces, who have spent every minute since we got here crowding around Atticus face, poking & prodding him, while he grabs a fistful of hair & shrieks when they put their face too close to his.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Our Whole Unit Together Again
Robby is finally back from Oxford University. He had two wonderful weeks sans family, endless days of skateboarding through the narrow, ancient streets that inspired Harry Potter, & all sorts of cultural activities that broadened his mind.
SInce he's been back, he has been a spectacular Mr. Mom. He wakes up twice a night to feed Atticus, so that I can sleep & be better rested for class the following day. He has cooked several times, vacuumed the living room for his cousin's arrival, tidied up the bathroom, & packed boxes for our move to the new apartment. I have never seen him so productive around domestic tasks.
Atticus has had a little trouble acclimating to our family life. With my parents, he received continuous attention in a capacious house. In our one-bedroom apartment, he has had to get accustomed to the noise, and Robby & I talk much more to each other while he watches on. I wouldn't say that we IGNORE him, but we are certainly more parent-centric that most parents & definitely my own parents. He can be a little unhappy about the lack of attention given him. We do fawn over him occasionally, but we don't service him every minute of the day.
SInce he's been back, he has been a spectacular Mr. Mom. He wakes up twice a night to feed Atticus, so that I can sleep & be better rested for class the following day. He has cooked several times, vacuumed the living room for his cousin's arrival, tidied up the bathroom, & packed boxes for our move to the new apartment. I have never seen him so productive around domestic tasks.
Atticus has had a little trouble acclimating to our family life. With my parents, he received continuous attention in a capacious house. In our one-bedroom apartment, he has had to get accustomed to the noise, and Robby & I talk much more to each other while he watches on. I wouldn't say that we IGNORE him, but we are certainly more parent-centric that most parents & definitely my own parents. He can be a little unhappy about the lack of attention given him. We do fawn over him occasionally, but we don't service him every minute of the day.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
My parents are having a ball taking care of Atticus these days while I work & go to school. While I commute tirelessly (NOT) from the OC to LA, they hang out at home with him, take him for walks around the neighborhood, & feed him rice cereal, which he loves. They get him all to themselves, & they only wish that his Gramps, Grammy, Omi, & Opa had all this time to spend with them. I think they know how fortunate they are that Robby & I are living in Los Angeles.
What has Atticus been up to lately?
Well, when Robby returns from Oxford, he will see a more mature little baby! Well, maybe not mature, but his motor skills have definitely improved. For awhile now, he has been gripping my fingers above his body while I put him to sleep. He touches things purposefully now. When I read to him, he is less interested in the pictures & more interested in grabbing the corner of the board book. He deliberately grabs the animals that hang from the play mat.
He is much more comfortable at lying on his tummy, though he still has difficulty rolling to his back. My dad is trying to teach him to sleep on his stomach because babies usually sleep better that way. I know, doctors warn against sleeping on the belly due to higher rates of SIDS, but he rarely sleeps on his belly & only for naps during the day. He can pick up his head now, so I don't think SIDS would be a problem.
He is also very good at sitting up now. He still needs assistance, but he doesn't wobble around as much. Most of his day is spent lying on his back, so sitting up is a real treat for him.
He absolutely loves singing. When he hears my mom or my singing, he freezes & listens intently.
Also, he has gotten into the habit of resting his head on my shoulder when I carry him upright. I love that. He no longer jerks his head up & looks over his left shoulder as much. Sometimes, he nestles his head in my collarbone.
I can't wait for him to see his faraway grandparents!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Work, School, Baby
For the first time, I am juggling work, school, & Baby. For this past week, I have been teaching ESL part-time, going to my summer class at USC, and taking care of Baby. I'm lucky, though. With Robby gone, I'm fortunate enough to elicit help from my parents, who love the opportunity to spend more time with their grand baby. Plus, I've got a small class of friendly foreign students (6 kids from Spain & Italy), a light teaching schedule (3.5 hours a day), & a light teaching load (no homework in this summer ESL class). But what happens after the first week? I get sick!
This schedule is good practice for this fall, when I begin teaching full time & continue taking classes at USC. I have both dreaded & excitedly anticipated these days for many months now. I have never handled such a full workload. Although I have class one evening a week for 6 hours, USC's EdD program is very demanding - lots of reading & analysis, professors with high expectations, & long papers to write at the end of each term.
With the lack of sleep - Baby has been waking up 3 hours - and the commute from Orange County to Marina del Rey, my body is unaccustomed to so much activity. My parents have been generous enough to offer to sleep with the baby through the night. My mom has a small ice chest full of bottled breast milk & a bottle warmer in their bedroom, & she has set up a little diaper-changing station, so they are prepared for the Baby's midnight waking and midnight snacking. Oh it's easy, she says. They have slept with him for 5 nights now, & I hope they don't become too exhausted from the interrupted sleep.
When I get better, I'll take him back to my room, where he'll sleep next to me...where I can listen to his rustling and squeaking and snoring. At least for now I'll be able to sleep through the night & get rid of this cold.
Without my hubby & Baby sleeping near me, I find myself repeating aloud, "I miss my babies" for a few moments before I fall asleep.
This schedule is good practice for this fall, when I begin teaching full time & continue taking classes at USC. I have both dreaded & excitedly anticipated these days for many months now. I have never handled such a full workload. Although I have class one evening a week for 6 hours, USC's EdD program is very demanding - lots of reading & analysis, professors with high expectations, & long papers to write at the end of each term.
With the lack of sleep - Baby has been waking up 3 hours - and the commute from Orange County to Marina del Rey, my body is unaccustomed to so much activity. My parents have been generous enough to offer to sleep with the baby through the night. My mom has a small ice chest full of bottled breast milk & a bottle warmer in their bedroom, & she has set up a little diaper-changing station, so they are prepared for the Baby's midnight waking and midnight snacking. Oh it's easy, she says. They have slept with him for 5 nights now, & I hope they don't become too exhausted from the interrupted sleep.
When I get better, I'll take him back to my room, where he'll sleep next to me...where I can listen to his rustling and squeaking and snoring. At least for now I'll be able to sleep through the night & get rid of this cold.
Without my hubby & Baby sleeping near me, I find myself repeating aloud, "I miss my babies" for a few moments before I fall asleep.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
July 4th without Hubby
Happy July 4th!
Last week was rough. Robby called our Singapore trip "the benefit" & the week(s) following "the cost". We think jet lag is the main culprit for our weariness. Atticus has been waking 3-5 times a night, & with his refusal to nurse & my time at the breast pump, I have little sleep time. Robby takes on the duties of feeding while I pump, so we are usually both up during the night.
Yesterday Robby & I celebrated our second wedding anniversary in the most frenetic, harried fashion. We dropped off Atticus at my parents' house, hung out for lunch & a chat, then bolted back to Los Angeles to get Robby ready for his evening flight to London. We had a quick meal of Korean tacos at the Alibi Room (served by the Kogi Korean taco truck). The sliders are amazing. We shouldn't have ordered anything else. We also had Korean tacos & leaf tacos (cold tofu & Asian pear sandwiched in a large mint leaf). We should have stuck to the sliders.
Robby will have a summer adventure in England while Atticus & I hold down the fort. I will be teaching ESL at Loyola Marymount University to a bunch of affluent foreign teenagers who have mostly come from Brazil, Spain, & Russia. It will be a fun gig.
_________________________
Atticus milestones:
1. We've moved onto big glass bottles. Atticus now drinks from 8oz. bottles instead of 4oz. ones. I'm tired of rushing to heat up bottle #2 after he has gobbled up bottle #1, has decidedly determined that there is a conspiracy against his full stomach, &, upon removing his lips from bottle #1, has screamed at the top of his lungs.
After reading an article in the New Yorker weighing the dangers of BPA & plastics, I decided to use glass bottles by Evenflo. Duh, I should have known...I have always been wary of heating plastic, but this article solidified by fears. If one might interpret it as paranoia, so be it. All I know is that my generation began the habit of heating plastic (in the microwave with Saran Wrap, usually), & though it was occasionally practiced in my family - the TV dinner or ceramic bowl wrapped with a sheet of plastic - this next generation practically lives off plastic & microwave.
2. My maternal grandmother, Atticus's great-grandmother here in Southern California, likes to call his coiffure a "business hair" (roughly translated from Cantonese). He's got a part way over on the right side of his head (created by the second swirl on the back of his head). Actually, the part is so far over near his left ear, that he looks as if he wears a toupee or has a serious middle-aged comb-over. Anyway, with his hair parted & flat, "business hair" suits him well.
3. Atticus & I converse daily. I make a noise, then he makes a noise. We go back & forth a few times until we start laughing simultaneously. Sometimes, he will speak over me, & when I stop emitting sound, he stops as well, suspicious of the sudden silence. When I sing "Baby Mine" (from Dumbo), he likes to talk over my voice as well. It's murmuring that expresses how pleased he is with my singing (I think). He likes singing anyway.
4. He has learned to cover his face when he sleeps. I started covering his eyes with his lovie when he napped in my parents' sunlit family room. My grandmother scolded me for fear of suffocating him, so I stopped. Now he does it all on his own. Yeah, it's pretty cute.
Last week was rough. Robby called our Singapore trip "the benefit" & the week(s) following "the cost". We think jet lag is the main culprit for our weariness. Atticus has been waking 3-5 times a night, & with his refusal to nurse & my time at the breast pump, I have little sleep time. Robby takes on the duties of feeding while I pump, so we are usually both up during the night.
Yesterday Robby & I celebrated our second wedding anniversary in the most frenetic, harried fashion. We dropped off Atticus at my parents' house, hung out for lunch & a chat, then bolted back to Los Angeles to get Robby ready for his evening flight to London. We had a quick meal of Korean tacos at the Alibi Room (served by the Kogi Korean taco truck). The sliders are amazing. We shouldn't have ordered anything else. We also had Korean tacos & leaf tacos (cold tofu & Asian pear sandwiched in a large mint leaf). We should have stuck to the sliders.
Robby will have a summer adventure in England while Atticus & I hold down the fort. I will be teaching ESL at Loyola Marymount University to a bunch of affluent foreign teenagers who have mostly come from Brazil, Spain, & Russia. It will be a fun gig.
_________________________
Atticus milestones:
1. We've moved onto big glass bottles. Atticus now drinks from 8oz. bottles instead of 4oz. ones. I'm tired of rushing to heat up bottle #2 after he has gobbled up bottle #1, has decidedly determined that there is a conspiracy against his full stomach, &, upon removing his lips from bottle #1, has screamed at the top of his lungs.
After reading an article in the New Yorker weighing the dangers of BPA & plastics, I decided to use glass bottles by Evenflo. Duh, I should have known...I have always been wary of heating plastic, but this article solidified by fears. If one might interpret it as paranoia, so be it. All I know is that my generation began the habit of heating plastic (in the microwave with Saran Wrap, usually), & though it was occasionally practiced in my family - the TV dinner or ceramic bowl wrapped with a sheet of plastic - this next generation practically lives off plastic & microwave.
2. My maternal grandmother, Atticus's great-grandmother here in Southern California, likes to call his coiffure a "business hair" (roughly translated from Cantonese). He's got a part way over on the right side of his head (created by the second swirl on the back of his head). Actually, the part is so far over near his left ear, that he looks as if he wears a toupee or has a serious middle-aged comb-over. Anyway, with his hair parted & flat, "business hair" suits him well.
3. Atticus & I converse daily. I make a noise, then he makes a noise. We go back & forth a few times until we start laughing simultaneously. Sometimes, he will speak over me, & when I stop emitting sound, he stops as well, suspicious of the sudden silence. When I sing "Baby Mine" (from Dumbo), he likes to talk over my voice as well. It's murmuring that expresses how pleased he is with my singing (I think). He likes singing anyway.
4. He has learned to cover his face when he sleeps. I started covering his eyes with his lovie when he napped in my parents' sunlit family room. My grandmother scolded me for fear of suffocating him, so I stopped. Now he does it all on his own. Yeah, it's pretty cute.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Our Roly Poly is Stuck in Singapore
Atticus rolled for the first time yesterday as he was being inspected by his pediatrician. He went from stomach to back. It took him a painstakingly long time, but stood next to him & rooted him on as he stretched, arched, & pushed himself over. We love milestones!
He has been gnawing on his hand a lot & some nights waking up 4-5 times a night wanting to feed. He is above the mean on the growth chart. Being 4 months & 1 week & already 16 pounds, he is a large baby, especially considering that breast milk is his only source of food. We've had such trouble sleeping through the night this week. I am a walking zombie much of the day. Can't finish sentences, can't keep complex thoughts in my head...
The pediatrician suggested feeding him rice cereal. Although I read two baby books that stated there was little evidence showing that solids make babies sleep through the night, the pediatrician touted that solids would. So we fed him solids last night, & he happily ate it up & laughed while chomping away.
Our Year-two anniversary is on Saturday. The same day that Robby is leaving for Oxford for two weeks. I joke around and say that he owes me big time for leaving the baby with me & my parents, but I'm lucky that my parents love babies & are willing to help. Still, it's not the same when Daddy isn't around.
He has been gnawing on his hand a lot & some nights waking up 4-5 times a night wanting to feed. He is above the mean on the growth chart. Being 4 months & 1 week & already 16 pounds, he is a large baby, especially considering that breast milk is his only source of food. We've had such trouble sleeping through the night this week. I am a walking zombie much of the day. Can't finish sentences, can't keep complex thoughts in my head...
The pediatrician suggested feeding him rice cereal. Although I read two baby books that stated there was little evidence showing that solids make babies sleep through the night, the pediatrician touted that solids would. So we fed him solids last night, & he happily ate it up & laughed while chomping away.
Our Year-two anniversary is on Saturday. The same day that Robby is leaving for Oxford for two weeks. I joke around and say that he owes me big time for leaving the baby with me & my parents, but I'm lucky that my parents love babies & are willing to help. Still, it's not the same when Daddy isn't around.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Back in Los Angeles. Bye, bye Singapore.
After 15 hours of flight time & a total of 24 hours of travel time, we are back in our nook of the world in Los Angeles, California.
We left Pan-Pacific Hotel at 6:30am, ate some mediocre dim sum at the Singapore Airport, & boarded a 9:40am flight with Singapore Airlines. After a 6-hour flight, we landed around 6pm in Tokyo's Narita Airport for an hour layover, went through security for connecting flights, & hopped back onto the same place (different staff) for a 9-hour flight to Los Angeles.
The way back west was much faster than our first trip going toward Asia. With tailwind, we cut an hour from our Tokyo-to-LA flight. We were also better at managing Atticus, who was, again, so well behaved that he cried 2-3 times for no longer than 3 min. His problem was easy to figure out: he was hungry. On our descent into Los Angeles, he sat on my lap with his own infant seat belt & smiled & laughed with the flight attendant who sat opposite us. He was an angel on board.
Next to us sat a young Indian couple with a boy of about 1.5 years of age. He was a incorrigible little brat, but from watching him interact with his parents, it was clear to us that his parents were to blame for his behavior. On taking off from Singapore Airport, the boy cried loudly & uncontrollably upon being put into the infant seat belt, & instead of chastising his behavior, they argued with the flight attendants on the necessity of using the belt. As we took off, the mother pulled him out & held him, & the flight attendants looked over at her disapprovingly. The parents also resisted putting their belongings in the overhead compartment. Since we were sitting in the bulkhead seats, we had no storage space under our feet, so everything went up top. The poor, beleaguered flight attendants had to explain, insist, & warn the parents to comply with the policy.
Throughout the flight from Singapore to Tokyo, the little boy was either misbehaving or crying. He would sweep his hand over his father's food tray & send cups & utensils spilling onto the ground. He would pick up his toys & throw them at his mother or on the floor. Or he would just cry loudly when he didn't get his way. Instead of admonishing him, the doting parents tried distraction, placing another object in front of his face or picking him up. They gave him an ice cream bar, which he held & ate, though he spilled chunks of ice cream all over his mother's lap & seat.
Robby wanted to speak with the parents about his behavior, but I warned him of a recently established rule that we have been discussing lately:
Never criticize a parent about his/her parenting.
Nothing productive can come of it. Parents already feel insecurity about their skills as parents, so criticizing them will make them angry & defensive. I reassured Robby that the parents probably already felt embarrassed by the irritating scene that their son was making. It was obvious to everyone that their little boy controlled them. The descent into Tokyo was another melodramatic scene with the little boy & parents' refusal to use the infant seat belt. I had to sing to Atticus to keep him from turning his head toward the little boy & crying from empathy (Robby has told me something about mirror neurons...).
At Narita Airport in Tokyo, I kept my fingers crossed & wished that another family would be placed in our row, but to our misfortune, the same family returned. This time, before taking off, Robby suggested to the mother that she administer Baby Benadryl to her son to calm him. What a suggestion...your child is inconsolable, so give him some drugs! She said that his behavior wasn't so bad & that worse behavior might warrant some baby drug use. Luckily, for the entire flight, the boy was reasonably quiet. I don't think his parents changed their behavior, but I think that he was tired.
In conclusion, parents do not welcome criticism of any sort about their parenting skills. They/we are very sensitive about them & will react with anger, denial, or resentment. They might be thinking, "Try raising this kid" or "You don't know a thing about kids" or "You've got one kid, try raising two!" & it's true, we're new parents with a pleasant-tempered 4-month-old baby. WE LUCKED OUT with such a well-behaved baby. So we might as well count our blessings & keep our mouths shut when other parents struggle.
Now with that said, I have to go back my older postings & insert pictures.
We left Pan-Pacific Hotel at 6:30am, ate some mediocre dim sum at the Singapore Airport, & boarded a 9:40am flight with Singapore Airlines. After a 6-hour flight, we landed around 6pm in Tokyo's Narita Airport for an hour layover, went through security for connecting flights, & hopped back onto the same place (different staff) for a 9-hour flight to Los Angeles.
The way back west was much faster than our first trip going toward Asia. With tailwind, we cut an hour from our Tokyo-to-LA flight. We were also better at managing Atticus, who was, again, so well behaved that he cried 2-3 times for no longer than 3 min. His problem was easy to figure out: he was hungry. On our descent into Los Angeles, he sat on my lap with his own infant seat belt & smiled & laughed with the flight attendant who sat opposite us. He was an angel on board.
Next to us sat a young Indian couple with a boy of about 1.5 years of age. He was a incorrigible little brat, but from watching him interact with his parents, it was clear to us that his parents were to blame for his behavior. On taking off from Singapore Airport, the boy cried loudly & uncontrollably upon being put into the infant seat belt, & instead of chastising his behavior, they argued with the flight attendants on the necessity of using the belt. As we took off, the mother pulled him out & held him, & the flight attendants looked over at her disapprovingly. The parents also resisted putting their belongings in the overhead compartment. Since we were sitting in the bulkhead seats, we had no storage space under our feet, so everything went up top. The poor, beleaguered flight attendants had to explain, insist, & warn the parents to comply with the policy.
Throughout the flight from Singapore to Tokyo, the little boy was either misbehaving or crying. He would sweep his hand over his father's food tray & send cups & utensils spilling onto the ground. He would pick up his toys & throw them at his mother or on the floor. Or he would just cry loudly when he didn't get his way. Instead of admonishing him, the doting parents tried distraction, placing another object in front of his face or picking him up. They gave him an ice cream bar, which he held & ate, though he spilled chunks of ice cream all over his mother's lap & seat.
Robby wanted to speak with the parents about his behavior, but I warned him of a recently established rule that we have been discussing lately:
Never criticize a parent about his/her parenting.
Nothing productive can come of it. Parents already feel insecurity about their skills as parents, so criticizing them will make them angry & defensive. I reassured Robby that the parents probably already felt embarrassed by the irritating scene that their son was making. It was obvious to everyone that their little boy controlled them. The descent into Tokyo was another melodramatic scene with the little boy & parents' refusal to use the infant seat belt. I had to sing to Atticus to keep him from turning his head toward the little boy & crying from empathy (Robby has told me something about mirror neurons...).
At Narita Airport in Tokyo, I kept my fingers crossed & wished that another family would be placed in our row, but to our misfortune, the same family returned. This time, before taking off, Robby suggested to the mother that she administer Baby Benadryl to her son to calm him. What a suggestion...your child is inconsolable, so give him some drugs! She said that his behavior wasn't so bad & that worse behavior might warrant some baby drug use. Luckily, for the entire flight, the boy was reasonably quiet. I don't think his parents changed their behavior, but I think that he was tired.
In conclusion, parents do not welcome criticism of any sort about their parenting skills. They/we are very sensitive about them & will react with anger, denial, or resentment. They might be thinking, "Try raising this kid" or "You don't know a thing about kids" or "You've got one kid, try raising two!" & it's true, we're new parents with a pleasant-tempered 4-month-old baby. WE LUCKED OUT with such a well-behaved baby. So we might as well count our blessings & keep our mouths shut when other parents struggle.
Now with that said, I have to go back my older postings & insert pictures.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Day 6: Red Light District & Satay
Slow morning today. At 9:30am, we have to queue in a long line for the breakfast buffet of our hotel. After a scrumptious meal of rice porridge, dim sum, salad, noodle soup, roti prata, vegetable samosas, & muffins, we walk around the Millenia Walk Mall adjacent to the hotel & come back to our room to rest. Atticus is very tired & a bit fussy, so we think it best to let him sleep in his crib.
After a nap, we head to Geylang to meet a few of Robby's colleagues. Geylang is Singapore's red light district. The temperature outside is unbearably hot & oppressive, & we walk towards Geylang from the MRT station in searing heat. Poor Atticus. He is drenched in his own sweat. We find Patrick & Scott in the middle of Geylang District, which appears to be pretty quiet and unassuming in the afternoon. The night walkers & johns don't emerge until 7pm, we're informed. We do pass a few massage parlors with women standing outside. They look into the stroller as we pass, & both Robby & I notice the melancholy expression on their face as they see Atticus. We guess what they might be thinking. Even though it is not time for the prostitutes to come out, the street is filled with mostly men, loitering men who sit at open-air restaurants. Everyone looks curiously at us, a couple who has brought their baby to the seediest & most licentious place in Singapore. We see a few prostitutes waiting on the side of the street. They are dressed up, teetering in heels & modestly covered with make-up. We also walk by a brothel, a large house set back from the street with beaded curtains in front of all the doors and windows and women sitting on plastic chairs inside.
Although Singapore is famous for its strict adherence to moral laws, the government seems to leave the Geylang District alone. It is hardly immaculate with its littered streets. There isn't a family or a child in sight. It doesn't have the touristy feeling of Amsterdam's red light district or the glitzy lights of Tokyo's red light district. Here, people are allows to indulge in the usual vices. This place depresses me, & I can't imagine the lives of the women who work & live here.
(We've been told that prostitution is legal here.)
For dinner, we meet up with Joe at Lau Pa Sat, a hawker food court near Raffles Plaza & the business district of Singapore. A few blocks are closed to cars & tables are set out for patrons. We are here for the satay. With smoke billowing from the food stalls, the hawkers aggressively usher us to empty tables & follow us as we wander to look for Joe. When we finally sit down, we order over 70 skewers of chicken, lamb, beef, & shrimp. Each skewer has two small pieces of meat, so we each eat around 20 skewers. 
The satay sauce is delicious & a little spicy. Different than the satay sauce we get at Thai restaurants in the U.S. But Robby & I wish that we had come to Lau Pa Sat earlier this week. It's an incredible experience.
We return to Los Angeles tomorrow on a 9:30am flight. It's another 16-hour flight...23 hours of travel time, from waiting at airports to layovers to picking up luggage...
Goodbye, Singapore! Goodbye, Pan-Pacific Hotel, the most extravagant hotel we've stayed in! Goodbye, Chinatown, Little India, & Kampong Glam (Arab District). Goodbye, Doby Ghaut, Orchard Road, City Hall, Esplanade, & Raffles Plaza! Goodbye, Sun-Tec Convention Centre & Food Republic! Goodbye, dim sum, soy milk, paratha/prata/roti prata, congee (rice porridge), satay, black pepper crab, bee hoon noodles!
After a nap, we head to Geylang to meet a few of Robby's colleagues. Geylang is Singapore's red light district. The temperature outside is unbearably hot & oppressive, & we walk towards Geylang from the MRT station in searing heat. Poor Atticus. He is drenched in his own sweat. We find Patrick & Scott in the middle of Geylang District, which appears to be pretty quiet and unassuming in the afternoon. The night walkers & johns don't emerge until 7pm, we're informed. We do pass a few massage parlors with women standing outside. They look into the stroller as we pass, & both Robby & I notice the melancholy expression on their face as they see Atticus. We guess what they might be thinking. Even though it is not time for the prostitutes to come out, the street is filled with mostly men, loitering men who sit at open-air restaurants. Everyone looks curiously at us, a couple who has brought their baby to the seediest & most licentious place in Singapore. We see a few prostitutes waiting on the side of the street. They are dressed up, teetering in heels & modestly covered with make-up. We also walk by a brothel, a large house set back from the street with beaded curtains in front of all the doors and windows and women sitting on plastic chairs inside. Although Singapore is famous for its strict adherence to moral laws, the government seems to leave the Geylang District alone. It is hardly immaculate with its littered streets. There isn't a family or a child in sight. It doesn't have the touristy feeling of Amsterdam's red light district or the glitzy lights of Tokyo's red light district. Here, people are allows to indulge in the usual vices. This place depresses me, & I can't imagine the lives of the women who work & live here.
(We've been told that prostitution is legal here.)
For dinner, we meet up with Joe at Lau Pa Sat, a hawker food court near Raffles Plaza & the business district of Singapore. A few blocks are closed to cars & tables are set out for patrons. We are here for the satay. With smoke billowing from the food stalls, the hawkers aggressively usher us to empty tables & follow us as we wander to look for Joe. When we finally sit down, we order over 70 skewers of chicken, lamb, beef, & shrimp. Each skewer has two small pieces of meat, so we each eat around 20 skewers. 
The satay sauce is delicious & a little spicy. Different than the satay sauce we get at Thai restaurants in the U.S. But Robby & I wish that we had come to Lau Pa Sat earlier this week. It's an incredible experience.We return to Los Angeles tomorrow on a 9:30am flight. It's another 16-hour flight...23 hours of travel time, from waiting at airports to layovers to picking up luggage...
Goodbye, Singapore! Goodbye, Pan-Pacific Hotel, the most extravagant hotel we've stayed in! Goodbye, Chinatown, Little India, & Kampong Glam (Arab District). Goodbye, Doby Ghaut, Orchard Road, City Hall, Esplanade, & Raffles Plaza! Goodbye, Sun-Tec Convention Centre & Food Republic! Goodbye, dim sum, soy milk, paratha/prata/roti prata, congee (rice porridge), satay, black pepper crab, bee hoon noodles!
Day Five: Megamalls on Orchard Rd. & the Night Safari
Today is another family day. We plan on going to Kampong Glam (known to tourists as Arab Quarters), but when we wake up at 6am, there is a thunderstorm pouring down outside. The sky is white & misty & appears to be foggy. But with a closer look, we see medium-sized drops of torrential rain. Not a good day to be outside.
We have a yummy breakfast at the Food Republic food court in the Sun-Tec Convention Centre: pratas (a Singaporean invention based on the the paratha - pretty much the same thing), warm soy milk, a curry puff, & a sesame ball filled with red bean & peanut chunks).
The food court is behind us in this photo.
Since the rain has not let up by 10am, our destination is Orchard Road. Originally, we were not planning to go there - the street is full of huge malls & international brands, much like Ometesando Road in the Harajuku area of Tokyo... not up our alley as far as tourist destinations go. But we figure that the malls will offer some shelter from the wet. We take the MRT from City Hall to Orchard Road & emerge from the subway station to see a large street lined with enormous modern-looking malls, mostly glass and steel buildings with outdoor digital advertisements.
Besides the massive malls, Orchard Road is lined with tall, tropical Heritage trees which had thin, dark trunks & a wide umbrella-like canopy of leaves. They're beautiful, lush, & add so much green to the steel city.
In the cheaper, no-AC, no-lift (what they call elevators here) Lucky Plaza, I find the one souvenir I want from Singapore. I couldn't find it in neither Chinatown nor in Little India. The problem with buying souvenirs in Singapore is that this country is such a product of distinct regional & ethnic culture that it's hard to find something distinctly Singaporean besides the food (& it's a shame we can't bring the food home). Souvenirs can be distinctly Chinese (marble stamps and lion-dancing puppets) or Indian (bejeweled jewelry boxes or little brightly painted Vishnu statues). But I've discovered my fondness for the uniforms of Singapore Airlines flight attendants, particularly the print of their clothing, so a few days ago I set the goal of searching for the fabric. I find it in Lucky Plaza, but it costs of pretty penny: $45 for a 2-meter square. I have a feeling I have paid too much for it, but Robby is absent (getting hot water to heat Atticus's milk) when I try to bargain. He is far superior than I am in the art of bargaining. I don't have the stamina or wit for it. I buy the fabric $15 less than ticket price, but I have a feeling the saleswoman would have dropped her price even more if I had hesitated a bit more. Oh well. I hope I wasn't ripped off too much.
One observation: The majority of housekeeping staff members in our luxury hotel are young men. Why is that?
Another observations: I have encountered more young men who speak English more fluently and comfortably than young women.
We have lunch at a far-out mall called Orchard Central. We find a Mos Burger there, a fast food, hamburger joint we adored in Japan. I have a Mos Cheeseburger, & Robby has a Spicy Mos Burger & Rice Ebi Burger. It isn't as good as I remember it. Here is Robby with the Mos Burger menu:
In the evening, we meet up with 14 other ICA convention-goers (mostly graduate students from USC Annenberg East & West) & walk to Carlton Hotel for a $5 shuttle to the Night Safari. We brave our way through Friday evening traffic. When we arrive to the Night Safari, we are immediately disappointed. The decor looks too much like Disneyland. Employees wear safari outfits, the entrance is decked with fake huts...Generic Polynesian percussion music blaring from the speakers. There are hundreds of tourists milling about, mostly families with rambunctious kids. Tickets are a hefty $22 with $10 for the tram ride. All of us graduate students grumble as we stand in line to buy tickets. Some of us have been traveling or will travel through other Southeast Asian countries & need our money to stretch a bit more. Atticus is tired & grumpy, but thankfully he sleeps through most of our trip through the Night Safari. We hop onto a long tram, & a guide sits at the front & explains the animal habitats on our route through the safari. The path is dark and dimly lit, & each habitat is softly lit with a tall lamp. Between us & the animals is a small, shallow stream. We see lions (between us is a large ditch), deer, rhinoceros, elephants, tigers, hippos, different kinds of hyenas, giant rats, giraffes, zebras, antelopes, mountain goats, the Southeast Asian version of the wart hog, etc. Halfway through the ride, we hop off & take the walking path. We see civets, large otters (hanging out on tree branches), clouded leopards (one stands on a branch staring at the lion across the way), leopards, flying squirrels (very large, fuzzy squirrels that could beat the crap out of our college campus squirrels), & smelly porcupines. Our most favorite experience of all is walking through the bat enclosure. In the dark, we find small bats hanging upside down from branches & flying silently past us from tree to tree. They are both cute & frightening looking, with their big eyes & rodent-like face & angular, skeletal wings & little claws. They hang from trees looking like dried leaves, squirming ornaments. On the netted ceiling of the enclosure are much larger bats that hang, large cocoon structures that make us think of science fiction aliens. No wonder these creatures evoke horror stories.
Keep in mind that we see all of these animals (except the lions, tigers, elephants, rhinoceros, & hippos) up close and personal. The bats & flying squirrels are an arm's length away, & though the leopard is behind glass, he stretches & sleeps just a few feet from us. Despite the cheesy amusement-park feeling, the Night Safari is worth the visit. This isn't meant to be ironic, but the animals, especially the bats, make it all worth it.
Did you know that Malay tigers can climb trees? Or that hippos can open their mouths up to 150 degrees wide? Or that hyenas' jaws have the strength of 1000 pounds?
We have a yummy breakfast at the Food Republic food court in the Sun-Tec Convention Centre: pratas (a Singaporean invention based on the the paratha - pretty much the same thing), warm soy milk, a curry puff, & a sesame ball filled with red bean & peanut chunks).
The food court is behind us in this photo.Since the rain has not let up by 10am, our destination is Orchard Road. Originally, we were not planning to go there - the street is full of huge malls & international brands, much like Ometesando Road in the Harajuku area of Tokyo... not up our alley as far as tourist destinations go. But we figure that the malls will offer some shelter from the wet. We take the MRT from City Hall to Orchard Road & emerge from the subway station to see a large street lined with enormous modern-looking malls, mostly glass and steel buildings with outdoor digital advertisements.
Besides the massive malls, Orchard Road is lined with tall, tropical Heritage trees which had thin, dark trunks & a wide umbrella-like canopy of leaves. They're beautiful, lush, & add so much green to the steel city.
In the cheaper, no-AC, no-lift (what they call elevators here) Lucky Plaza, I find the one souvenir I want from Singapore. I couldn't find it in neither Chinatown nor in Little India. The problem with buying souvenirs in Singapore is that this country is such a product of distinct regional & ethnic culture that it's hard to find something distinctly Singaporean besides the food (& it's a shame we can't bring the food home). Souvenirs can be distinctly Chinese (marble stamps and lion-dancing puppets) or Indian (bejeweled jewelry boxes or little brightly painted Vishnu statues). But I've discovered my fondness for the uniforms of Singapore Airlines flight attendants, particularly the print of their clothing, so a few days ago I set the goal of searching for the fabric. I find it in Lucky Plaza, but it costs of pretty penny: $45 for a 2-meter square. I have a feeling I have paid too much for it, but Robby is absent (getting hot water to heat Atticus's milk) when I try to bargain. He is far superior than I am in the art of bargaining. I don't have the stamina or wit for it. I buy the fabric $15 less than ticket price, but I have a feeling the saleswoman would have dropped her price even more if I had hesitated a bit more. Oh well. I hope I wasn't ripped off too much.
One observation: The majority of housekeeping staff members in our luxury hotel are young men. Why is that?
Another observations: I have encountered more young men who speak English more fluently and comfortably than young women.
We have lunch at a far-out mall called Orchard Central. We find a Mos Burger there, a fast food, hamburger joint we adored in Japan. I have a Mos Cheeseburger, & Robby has a Spicy Mos Burger & Rice Ebi Burger. It isn't as good as I remember it. Here is Robby with the Mos Burger menu:
In the evening, we meet up with 14 other ICA convention-goers (mostly graduate students from USC Annenberg East & West) & walk to Carlton Hotel for a $5 shuttle to the Night Safari. We brave our way through Friday evening traffic. When we arrive to the Night Safari, we are immediately disappointed. The decor looks too much like Disneyland. Employees wear safari outfits, the entrance is decked with fake huts...Generic Polynesian percussion music blaring from the speakers. There are hundreds of tourists milling about, mostly families with rambunctious kids. Tickets are a hefty $22 with $10 for the tram ride. All of us graduate students grumble as we stand in line to buy tickets. Some of us have been traveling or will travel through other Southeast Asian countries & need our money to stretch a bit more. Atticus is tired & grumpy, but thankfully he sleeps through most of our trip through the Night Safari. We hop onto a long tram, & a guide sits at the front & explains the animal habitats on our route through the safari. The path is dark and dimly lit, & each habitat is softly lit with a tall lamp. Between us & the animals is a small, shallow stream. We see lions (between us is a large ditch), deer, rhinoceros, elephants, tigers, hippos, different kinds of hyenas, giant rats, giraffes, zebras, antelopes, mountain goats, the Southeast Asian version of the wart hog, etc. Halfway through the ride, we hop off & take the walking path. We see civets, large otters (hanging out on tree branches), clouded leopards (one stands on a branch staring at the lion across the way), leopards, flying squirrels (very large, fuzzy squirrels that could beat the crap out of our college campus squirrels), & smelly porcupines. Our most favorite experience of all is walking through the bat enclosure. In the dark, we find small bats hanging upside down from branches & flying silently past us from tree to tree. They are both cute & frightening looking, with their big eyes & rodent-like face & angular, skeletal wings & little claws. They hang from trees looking like dried leaves, squirming ornaments. On the netted ceiling of the enclosure are much larger bats that hang, large cocoon structures that make us think of science fiction aliens. No wonder these creatures evoke horror stories.
Keep in mind that we see all of these animals (except the lions, tigers, elephants, rhinoceros, & hippos) up close and personal. The bats & flying squirrels are an arm's length away, & though the leopard is behind glass, he stretches & sleeps just a few feet from us. Despite the cheesy amusement-park feeling, the Night Safari is worth the visit. This isn't meant to be ironic, but the animals, especially the bats, make it all worth it.
Did you know that Malay tigers can climb trees? Or that hippos can open their mouths up to 150 degrees wide? Or that hyenas' jaws have the strength of 1000 pounds?
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Day Four: Wakeful Baby, Chinatown cuisine, Little India
Last night was a rough one. Atticus went to sleep at 10:30pm without a fuss, but he woke up at 2, 4, 5, & 6am to feed. At 4 & 5am, he cried out & thrashed around. At 2 & 6am, he stirred whenever the pacifier fell out, so I decided to feed him anyway. He drank 3-4oz of milk for the first three feedings, then 1.5oz at 6am.
What's going on? How come he is constantly hungry?
Here we are giving Atticus a bath in the sink:
___________________________________
This morning, we return to Chinatown via MRT (subway). Emerging from the Chinatown MRT, we find difficulty getting to the ground floor & end up carrying the baby + stroller down a long flight of stairs. We stroll along the shopping stalls, making our way to the Buddha Relic Tooth Temple & the Chinese Complex.
Lonely Planet is right: Chinatown does appear to have received a Disneyland makeover. The buildings are obviously old but newly painted on the outside with brightly colored shutters that cover seemingly fake windows. Despite the touristy appearance, there is an air of poverty in this neighborhood. Old Chinese people linger around public parks, trudge along alleyways carrying lots of bags, play Chinese chess in open-air squares. This Chinatown reminds me every Chinatown that I've been to - from San Francisco to Los Angeles to Montreal, Chicago, New York, & Boston. It is occupied by an older Cantonese-speaking generation & it looks like it might have been a lively community thriving on something other than tourism once a long time ago.
The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple looks innocuous from the outside. There's a small display with incense burning in front of it. When we walk past it & a sign that prohibits the wearing of sleeveless, bareback shirts & miniskirts (I cover up appropriately with a proffered shawl), we enter another small room with a golden bodhisattva & a beautiful red & white rug depicting a lotus flower. Beyond that is a large room with hundreds of Buddhas built into the walls. A huge, thin, sitting golden Buddha sits on one end of the room, & facing it are some orange-clad Buddhist monks & many people reading & chanting in unison. Each monk chants into a microphone, with a head monk sitting above & facing everyone, & each person in the congregation (most of them are old people) hold a book full of sutras, I think. They chant in Mandarin, as far as I can tell. The loud, deafening chant has a soothing quality to it, & the sound ebbs from soft to loud like steady breathing. It's very captivating.
The pedestrian street full of food stalls is closed during the day, so we meander along the small streets, looking at the generic Chinese souvenir shops. The alleys remind me of the LA fashion district, where each storefront is an awning with tables of wares - kitschy gold and red decorations, cheap t-shirts, silly magnets, etc. Robby is thirsty so we purchase a cup of grass jelly, apparently a very common drink here, & a cup of soya milo (chocolate soy milk), which tastes even more disgusting than Ovaltine. It's actually a Nestle product. We buy a few delicious pastries at a pastry shop: lau po bing, lotus seed bun,and a BBQ chicken pastry. They are fresh & piping hot. The outer crusts are not greasy but flaky and buttery.
Then we explore the China Complex & find a large hawker food court upstairs. Our first purchase is a failure; the stir-fried rice noodle with shrimp is limp, saucy, & overcooked. Our despair disappears when we buy a few cups of sugar cane juice, freshly squeezed by an old man using a large, strange juicing contraption. The juice is so refreshing and light that our spirits and energy are lifted. 
We wander the food court some more but are too hesitant to order any food after the gross noodles. We see many people eating from large plates of whole boiled or steamed fish. Some people are eating fish head stew. Pretty elaborate dishes for a simple food court.
The weather is considerably hot with the sun out. The baby is being pretty patient considering the lower half of his body is suffocating in a diaper. We stumble upon a Hindu temple called Sri Mariamman Temple, pay a small fee to get in, & wander around to look at the colorful statues of gods. Musicians playing loud percussion instruments perform at near the head of the altar, where tourists are prohibited. Thankfully, Atticus doesn't freak out from the clanging cymbals & thumping drum. Actually, he smiles as he looks around at the Hindu followers in colorful attire & make-up.
Later in the afternoon, we take the MRT to Little India, which is packed with Indian people. The streets busy & the sidewalks narrow. We find a large banyan tree on the corner of two streets & walk much of the length of Serangoon Road. I notice that many jewelry shops that sell gold are run by Chinese merchants. There are some glamour-shot studios & beauty salons that offer eyebrow threading. We are too tired & hungry to do the walking tour offered by the Lonely Planet guide, so we find a restaurant to sit and rest. Robby orders a rava masala dosa (spelled "dosai" on the menu), a chili crab masala, & a salty lassi, while I order a masala dosa, plain paratha, & mango lassi. The food is outstanding. I have never had a paratha before, & I fall in love with the texture and taste of it. It is a bread that is spun & stretched to a thin layer, covered in oil, & folded over & placed on a grill. The result is a bread that is both chewy & crunchy.
I'm glad we finally hit up both Chinatown & Little India. Chinatown is definitely more touristy with its brightly painted buildings & souvenir shops (not unlike the ones in San Francisco Chinatown). The facade of Chinatown hardly hides its poverty. We heard that Little India is filled with itinerant workers, but I don't think I saw any today. Little India feels more like a community where Indian Singaporeans reside, not a tourist trap. I'm very happy about our exploration of Sinaporean food. I'm glad to leave the business district for better meals.
Hindu souvenirs
What's going on? How come he is constantly hungry?
Here we are giving Atticus a bath in the sink:
___________________________________
This morning, we return to Chinatown via MRT (subway). Emerging from the Chinatown MRT, we find difficulty getting to the ground floor & end up carrying the baby + stroller down a long flight of stairs. We stroll along the shopping stalls, making our way to the Buddha Relic Tooth Temple & the Chinese Complex.
Lonely Planet is right: Chinatown does appear to have received a Disneyland makeover. The buildings are obviously old but newly painted on the outside with brightly colored shutters that cover seemingly fake windows. Despite the touristy appearance, there is an air of poverty in this neighborhood. Old Chinese people linger around public parks, trudge along alleyways carrying lots of bags, play Chinese chess in open-air squares. This Chinatown reminds me every Chinatown that I've been to - from San Francisco to Los Angeles to Montreal, Chicago, New York, & Boston. It is occupied by an older Cantonese-speaking generation & it looks like it might have been a lively community thriving on something other than tourism once a long time ago.
The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple looks innocuous from the outside. There's a small display with incense burning in front of it. When we walk past it & a sign that prohibits the wearing of sleeveless, bareback shirts & miniskirts (I cover up appropriately with a proffered shawl), we enter another small room with a golden bodhisattva & a beautiful red & white rug depicting a lotus flower. Beyond that is a large room with hundreds of Buddhas built into the walls. A huge, thin, sitting golden Buddha sits on one end of the room, & facing it are some orange-clad Buddhist monks & many people reading & chanting in unison. Each monk chants into a microphone, with a head monk sitting above & facing everyone, & each person in the congregation (most of them are old people) hold a book full of sutras, I think. They chant in Mandarin, as far as I can tell. The loud, deafening chant has a soothing quality to it, & the sound ebbs from soft to loud like steady breathing. It's very captivating.
The pedestrian street full of food stalls is closed during the day, so we meander along the small streets, looking at the generic Chinese souvenir shops. The alleys remind me of the LA fashion district, where each storefront is an awning with tables of wares - kitschy gold and red decorations, cheap t-shirts, silly magnets, etc. Robby is thirsty so we purchase a cup of grass jelly, apparently a very common drink here, & a cup of soya milo (chocolate soy milk), which tastes even more disgusting than Ovaltine. It's actually a Nestle product. We buy a few delicious pastries at a pastry shop: lau po bing, lotus seed bun,and a BBQ chicken pastry. They are fresh & piping hot. The outer crusts are not greasy but flaky and buttery.
Then we explore the China Complex & find a large hawker food court upstairs. Our first purchase is a failure; the stir-fried rice noodle with shrimp is limp, saucy, & overcooked. Our despair disappears when we buy a few cups of sugar cane juice, freshly squeezed by an old man using a large, strange juicing contraption. The juice is so refreshing and light that our spirits and energy are lifted. 
We wander the food court some more but are too hesitant to order any food after the gross noodles. We see many people eating from large plates of whole boiled or steamed fish. Some people are eating fish head stew. Pretty elaborate dishes for a simple food court.The weather is considerably hot with the sun out. The baby is being pretty patient considering the lower half of his body is suffocating in a diaper. We stumble upon a Hindu temple called Sri Mariamman Temple, pay a small fee to get in, & wander around to look at the colorful statues of gods. Musicians playing loud percussion instruments perform at near the head of the altar, where tourists are prohibited. Thankfully, Atticus doesn't freak out from the clanging cymbals & thumping drum. Actually, he smiles as he looks around at the Hindu followers in colorful attire & make-up.
Later in the afternoon, we take the MRT to Little India, which is packed with Indian people. The streets busy & the sidewalks narrow. We find a large banyan tree on the corner of two streets & walk much of the length of Serangoon Road. I notice that many jewelry shops that sell gold are run by Chinese merchants. There are some glamour-shot studios & beauty salons that offer eyebrow threading. We are too tired & hungry to do the walking tour offered by the Lonely Planet guide, so we find a restaurant to sit and rest. Robby orders a rava masala dosa (spelled "dosai" on the menu), a chili crab masala, & a salty lassi, while I order a masala dosa, plain paratha, & mango lassi. The food is outstanding. I have never had a paratha before, & I fall in love with the texture and taste of it. It is a bread that is spun & stretched to a thin layer, covered in oil, & folded over & placed on a grill. The result is a bread that is both chewy & crunchy.
I'm glad we finally hit up both Chinatown & Little India. Chinatown is definitely more touristy with its brightly painted buildings & souvenir shops (not unlike the ones in San Francisco Chinatown). The facade of Chinatown hardly hides its poverty. We heard that Little India is filled with itinerant workers, but I don't think I saw any today. Little India feels more like a community where Indian Singaporeans reside, not a tourist trap. I'm very happy about our exploration of Sinaporean food. I'm glad to leave the business district for better meals.
Hindu souvenirs
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Where are all the mixed children?
Atticus gets lots of stares here. Robby & I get lots of stares as well.
This confuses me. Singapore is a mecca of Asian, South Asian, & Southeast Asian cultures. Singaporeans learn English at school, but they also pick up several other languages in school and at home. Many of their families have been here for generations, not like the United States, where most Asian Americans are first immigrants or second generation offspring. There doesn't seem to be a clear indigenous group here, unless it's the Malays. It's just a panoply of Asian cultures. Yet, we see very few interracial or interethnic couples. We see exclusively Chinese couples, exclusively Indian couples, etc. We have yet to see an interethnic couple.
Where are they? Is it taboo?
It occurs to me that perhaps people from ethnic groups seek out one another because they speak the same home language. If I speak Mandarin in my community, why date someone who speaks Hindi?
Nonetheless, this issue baffles me. I will have to find someone to ask...
Oh, Atticus gets stared at ALL the time. I am almost afraid that one moment I'll look away & look back to find him gone, kidnapped by an eager Singaporean woman who has been smiling at him in the subway. I know, I sound paranoid. I'm not used to being in a culture where people love children & babies so much. In America, we can express interest in strangers' children, but we always maintain a clear aloofness so as not to appear suspicious. Locals here like to smile at him, sometime tap his blanket or his hand. They show a real genuine interest in interacting with him. I like that.
This confuses me. Singapore is a mecca of Asian, South Asian, & Southeast Asian cultures. Singaporeans learn English at school, but they also pick up several other languages in school and at home. Many of their families have been here for generations, not like the United States, where most Asian Americans are first immigrants or second generation offspring. There doesn't seem to be a clear indigenous group here, unless it's the Malays. It's just a panoply of Asian cultures. Yet, we see very few interracial or interethnic couples. We see exclusively Chinese couples, exclusively Indian couples, etc. We have yet to see an interethnic couple.
Where are they? Is it taboo?
It occurs to me that perhaps people from ethnic groups seek out one another because they speak the same home language. If I speak Mandarin in my community, why date someone who speaks Hindi?
Nonetheless, this issue baffles me. I will have to find someone to ask...
Oh, Atticus gets stared at ALL the time. I am almost afraid that one moment I'll look away & look back to find him gone, kidnapped by an eager Singaporean woman who has been smiling at him in the subway. I know, I sound paranoid. I'm not used to being in a culture where people love children & babies so much. In America, we can express interest in strangers' children, but we always maintain a clear aloofness so as not to appear suspicious. Locals here like to smile at him, sometime tap his blanket or his hand. They show a real genuine interest in interacting with him. I like that.
Day Three: Atticus Got the Crabs in Singapore
Tonight, we meet up with Robby's colleague and head to Chinatown. We stumble upon a busy pedestrian alleyway filled with restaurants on one side & food stalls on the other, with tables on the street. Finally, some food outside of the business district!
We start with a snack of satay (chicken, pork, & mutton). They are 60 and 70 cents apiece & they are very small - only two pieces of meat on each skewer. Skimpy, if you ask me. The peanut sauce is delicious, a dark brown sauce with peanut chunks...not at all like the smooth peanut butter consistency we get in the states. I could be very happy just pouring it over rice & gobbling it up.
Then we find another stall with black pepper crab for $19 a piece. We hear that the black pepper crab is better than Singapore's famous chili crab. We order a plate of two, along with a plate of ong greens (sauteed with lots of garlic & a jalapeno), grilled shrimp (with big heads & little but fleshy bodies), a fried egg pancake with onions, & a version of what we in America call Singaporean noodles, stir fried, thin egg noodles with little shrimp, scallions, onions, & a curry flavor. All of it is DELICIOUS.
(Insert pictures here)
I have difficulty with the crab, which is not fun at all to eat. None of these restaurants provide napkins, so our hands are sticky & smelly. Sometimes, I doubt that the adventure eating any crab is worth all the work. But the flavoring is delicious (garlic & pepper), & we have fun cracking the shell open with a pair of walnut cracking tools. In fact, I have so much trouble with the tool that I crack one & the shell & crab flesh sprays everywhere around me. The largest piece hits the top of Atticus's head. He is sleeping so soundly that he barely stirs. I watch a few passers-by smirk, then commence to pick the big black peppercorns out of his hair. Boy, is Atticus a good sport...
The food is absolutely delicious. The three of us ate for $75, probably pricey in this touristy area, but we're happy to experience Chinatown if only for a few hours.
We start with a snack of satay (chicken, pork, & mutton). They are 60 and 70 cents apiece & they are very small - only two pieces of meat on each skewer. Skimpy, if you ask me. The peanut sauce is delicious, a dark brown sauce with peanut chunks...not at all like the smooth peanut butter consistency we get in the states. I could be very happy just pouring it over rice & gobbling it up.
Then we find another stall with black pepper crab for $19 a piece. We hear that the black pepper crab is better than Singapore's famous chili crab. We order a plate of two, along with a plate of ong greens (sauteed with lots of garlic & a jalapeno), grilled shrimp (with big heads & little but fleshy bodies), a fried egg pancake with onions, & a version of what we in America call Singaporean noodles, stir fried, thin egg noodles with little shrimp, scallions, onions, & a curry flavor. All of it is DELICIOUS.
(Insert pictures here)
I have difficulty with the crab, which is not fun at all to eat. None of these restaurants provide napkins, so our hands are sticky & smelly. Sometimes, I doubt that the adventure eating any crab is worth all the work. But the flavoring is delicious (garlic & pepper), & we have fun cracking the shell open with a pair of walnut cracking tools. In fact, I have so much trouble with the tool that I crack one & the shell & crab flesh sprays everywhere around me. The largest piece hits the top of Atticus's head. He is sleeping so soundly that he barely stirs. I watch a few passers-by smirk, then commence to pick the big black peppercorns out of his hair. Boy, is Atticus a good sport...
The food is absolutely delicious. The three of us ate for $75, probably pricey in this touristy area, but we're happy to experience Chinatown if only for a few hours.
Day Three: Self-Presence, Robots, & Mall Food
This morning we wake up extra early to get ready for Robby's talk at 8:30am. Because I had dragged Atticus on our 5-hour excursion yesterday & because Robby dragged the both of us to the opening social event of the ICA (International Communication Association) Conference in the evening, he was wiped out by bedtime and slept 6 hours straight.
We head to the food court on the first floor of the Sun-Tec Convention Center. It's called Food Republic & it has regional ethnic foods behind glass counters. We try some soy milk, a curry puff, a sesame ball, & some more dim sum (siu mai, ha gao, & bbq pork pastries).
YUM.
It's the type of dim sum one can find in Los Angeles but SOOOO much better! The flavors are different & subtle, & overall the dim sum is less greasy than what we get in California. The soy milk has real soy flavor because it hasn't been watered down. The curry puff is spicy with a distinct curry flavor & a flaky crust on the outside. The sesame ball - Robby's favorite dim sum dish - is filled with red bean paste with bits of peanuts mixed in. The siu mai is topped with salmon roe. Mmmmm. If the dim sum in this generic food court is good, imagine how delectable it must be on the street! in Chinatown!!
Robby is the first to give his talk, which focuses on this dissertation topic of self-presence. It goes over well. He even manages to include Atticus at the end of his talk. I hand him over to Robby like a trophy while he stares blankly at the audience. Since there is no one to chair the talk, in which 4 presenters share their papers, Robby happily takes on the role of a pseudo-moderator. People trickle in through the hour, & the presenters receive some helpful input from the audience members.
After Robby's talk, we wander upstairs to watch another convention going on called Robocup, an international robotics soccer competition. High school, college, and graduate students convene to do battle. Battle their robots on mini soccer fields, that is. Boy, this convention sure beats Robby's ICA Conference! Different kinds of robots compete with each other on a small artificial green field and an orange ball the size of a golf ball. The two teams of programmers sit on either end of the field with their numerous laptops, looking nervously as their robots shuffle toward the ball. Occasionally, a team member will switch out a fallen robot with another. When I say "shuffle", I really mean shuffle. These are not robots sprinting & dodging & jumping. These are ponderous, lumbering, clunky robots whose feet barely leave the ground. They really do shuffle slowly toward the still ball. There are rarely simultaneously moving robots on the field. Most of the time one to three robots are moving on the field at the same time. Some robots approach the ball, turn their heads left & right, the gingerly kick the ball. These are the somewhat anthropomorphic robots. There are also cube-like robots that spun and rolled on little wheels. At these games, there are about 8 of them on the field, & they dart around like those popular little hamsters (Zhu Zhu) that little girls play with nowadays.
Robocup is awesome. I am a little embarrassed that Robby & I giggle at how cute the robots are & cackle whenever one falls over or kicks the ball. I'm sure the programmers work very long and hard on their masterpieces. But it is pretty hilarious.
In the late morning, Atticus & I nap. Then we have a late lunch with one of Robby's former professors. We decide to go somewhere close by, so we opt for the Marina Market (mall) adjacent to the hotel & convention center. We decide on Thai. All I have to say about mall food is... YUCK. Granted, it's better than anything we'd eat in an American mall (hands down), but it's nothing special. The Thai iced tea in California is better. The real deal. You can see the condensed milk sinking into a rich burnt caramel-colored tea. Here, at the mall, it was a pre-made concoction that consisted mostly of ice and water. & the food was spicy with no distinguishing flavors. Very disappointing.
So, I've made a new rule about the rest of our stay here in Singapore: NO MALL FOOD ALLOWED.
Keep in mind, we are in the business/financial district of Singapore. We can't find street food here because we are surrounded by spotless streets, enormous hotels, & shiny malls. We have to venture out of the Colonial District (business center) in order to find better food, I think.
We head to the food court on the first floor of the Sun-Tec Convention Center. It's called Food Republic & it has regional ethnic foods behind glass counters. We try some soy milk, a curry puff, a sesame ball, & some more dim sum (siu mai, ha gao, & bbq pork pastries).
YUM.
It's the type of dim sum one can find in Los Angeles but SOOOO much better! The flavors are different & subtle, & overall the dim sum is less greasy than what we get in California. The soy milk has real soy flavor because it hasn't been watered down. The curry puff is spicy with a distinct curry flavor & a flaky crust on the outside. The sesame ball - Robby's favorite dim sum dish - is filled with red bean paste with bits of peanuts mixed in. The siu mai is topped with salmon roe. Mmmmm. If the dim sum in this generic food court is good, imagine how delectable it must be on the street! in Chinatown!!
Robby is the first to give his talk, which focuses on this dissertation topic of self-presence. It goes over well. He even manages to include Atticus at the end of his talk. I hand him over to Robby like a trophy while he stares blankly at the audience. Since there is no one to chair the talk, in which 4 presenters share their papers, Robby happily takes on the role of a pseudo-moderator. People trickle in through the hour, & the presenters receive some helpful input from the audience members.
After Robby's talk, we wander upstairs to watch another convention going on called Robocup, an international robotics soccer competition. High school, college, and graduate students convene to do battle. Battle their robots on mini soccer fields, that is. Boy, this convention sure beats Robby's ICA Conference! Different kinds of robots compete with each other on a small artificial green field and an orange ball the size of a golf ball. The two teams of programmers sit on either end of the field with their numerous laptops, looking nervously as their robots shuffle toward the ball. Occasionally, a team member will switch out a fallen robot with another. When I say "shuffle", I really mean shuffle. These are not robots sprinting & dodging & jumping. These are ponderous, lumbering, clunky robots whose feet barely leave the ground. They really do shuffle slowly toward the still ball. There are rarely simultaneously moving robots on the field. Most of the time one to three robots are moving on the field at the same time. Some robots approach the ball, turn their heads left & right, the gingerly kick the ball. These are the somewhat anthropomorphic robots. There are also cube-like robots that spun and rolled on little wheels. At these games, there are about 8 of them on the field, & they dart around like those popular little hamsters (Zhu Zhu) that little girls play with nowadays.Robocup is awesome. I am a little embarrassed that Robby & I giggle at how cute the robots are & cackle whenever one falls over or kicks the ball. I'm sure the programmers work very long and hard on their masterpieces. But it is pretty hilarious.
In the late morning, Atticus & I nap. Then we have a late lunch with one of Robby's former professors. We decide to go somewhere close by, so we opt for the Marina Market (mall) adjacent to the hotel & convention center. We decide on Thai. All I have to say about mall food is... YUCK. Granted, it's better than anything we'd eat in an American mall (hands down), but it's nothing special. The Thai iced tea in California is better. The real deal. You can see the condensed milk sinking into a rich burnt caramel-colored tea. Here, at the mall, it was a pre-made concoction that consisted mostly of ice and water. & the food was spicy with no distinguishing flavors. Very disappointing.
So, I've made a new rule about the rest of our stay here in Singapore: NO MALL FOOD ALLOWED.
Keep in mind, we are in the business/financial district of Singapore. We can't find street food here because we are surrounded by spotless streets, enormous hotels, & shiny malls. We have to venture out of the Colonial District (business center) in order to find better food, I think.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Day Two: Subway mazes & Asian Civilizations Museum
Today, Robby left us to go to his doctoral consortium workshop at Nanyang University in the far east side of Singapore. Atticus & I took a 5-hour excursion to the Asian Civilizations Museum. Through the Sun-Tec Convention Center, we walked through an underground mall to the City Hall MRT station. There were plenty of elevators in the MRT station, but through the underground mall, I had to prop up the stroller many times to get up & down escalators. That was tiring! The City Hall station seemed far from our hotel, & the underground mall was just a maze of bakeries, cafes, & women's clothing and make-up stores.
From the City Hall MRT station we went towards Marina Bay & got off at the next stop, Raffles Place. The Asian Civilizations Museum was right across the water. Atticus was not too eager to get started on the exhibit. He fussed around until he reminded me that I was hungry for lunch, so we went directly to the museum cafe & had a light lunch.
The museum ($8 for adults) was a comprehensive and informational museum on the Asian ethnic groups that occupy Southeast Asian, from the Dayaks of Borneo to the Mughals of India to the principles of Chinese societies to the 5 pillars of Islam. Each ethnic group was represented in a gallery full of artifacts, clothing, jewelry, & interactive free-standing television screens where the busts of individuals from each group would answer questions through a video. Their head was as big as the screen itself. When no one was watching these screens, the faces of the guides would appear idly singing or murmuring or looking around. That was a little spooky.
I wish I had more time with each exhibit in the museum. With the baby, I felt constantly pressed for time. Instead of slowly reading each display, I wandered from one to another, hoping that the moving stroller would please him. On the whole, he was very well behaved considering he had sat in the stroller for all 5 hours.
Did you know that "tet" in vietnamese means the node between the segments of bamboo? It symbolizes the changes of seasons. & did you know that there is an indigenous tribe in borneo that has a headhunting tradition?
Okay, that's all I remember!
In the photo above, Atticus wears a turban from the Indian Gallery.
From the City Hall MRT station we went towards Marina Bay & got off at the next stop, Raffles Place. The Asian Civilizations Museum was right across the water. Atticus was not too eager to get started on the exhibit. He fussed around until he reminded me that I was hungry for lunch, so we went directly to the museum cafe & had a light lunch.
The museum ($8 for adults) was a comprehensive and informational museum on the Asian ethnic groups that occupy Southeast Asian, from the Dayaks of Borneo to the Mughals of India to the principles of Chinese societies to the 5 pillars of Islam. Each ethnic group was represented in a gallery full of artifacts, clothing, jewelry, & interactive free-standing television screens where the busts of individuals from each group would answer questions through a video. Their head was as big as the screen itself. When no one was watching these screens, the faces of the guides would appear idly singing or murmuring or looking around. That was a little spooky.
I wish I had more time with each exhibit in the museum. With the baby, I felt constantly pressed for time. Instead of slowly reading each display, I wandered from one to another, hoping that the moving stroller would please him. On the whole, he was very well behaved considering he had sat in the stroller for all 5 hours.Did you know that "tet" in vietnamese means the node between the segments of bamboo? It symbolizes the changes of seasons. & did you know that there is an indigenous tribe in borneo that has a headhunting tradition?
Okay, that's all I remember!
In the photo above, Atticus wears a turban from the Indian Gallery.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Surviving the Tropics
Fortunately, it is a cloudy day today. Nonetheless, the humidity in Singapore is nearly unbearable. We are standing at an intersection on our way to Bugis Street & when I look over at Robby he looks as if he has taken a shower with his clothes on. Being outside is like being inside. As we are walking down a sidewalk, I am expecting to walk through a set of double doors into the outdoors, expecting to feel a cool breeze on my skin. But I look around at the tropical foliage along the street & remember that we are outdoors. I look up at the dark sky & think of Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride, where you are made to feel as if you are in the outdoor mugginess of the Bayou, but you are really indoors with small white lights on the ceiling as stars.
It's disconcerting to exit into heat & enter into AC-filled malls & hallways. But it's nice that the AC in communal areas - hotel lobbies, some malls - are turned down a bit so that they conserve a little more energy & we aren't constantly blasted by cold every time we walk indoors. Still, so much energy is used keeping the indoors pleasantly cool.
It's disconcerting to exit into heat & enter into AC-filled malls & hallways. But it's nice that the AC in communal areas - hotel lobbies, some malls - are turned down a bit so that they conserve a little more energy & we aren't constantly blasted by cold every time we walk indoors. Still, so much energy is used keeping the indoors pleasantly cool.
Day One: Arrival, Bugis Street, & Clark Quay
We sleep in today then head to the Concierge to pick up a map & some tips about navigating through Singapore. Everyone tells us to take a cab wherever we're going. They just can't fathom walking through the city with a stroller & a baby. Plus, the air outside is muggy & the roads a little confusing.
We decide to walk to Bugis Street, a shopping area visited by the locals. No name brands, just lots of little stalls & covered alleyways, very must like the LA Fashion District, but covered like the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. En route we encounter our first obstacle when we exit the hotel & try to cross a street that is fenced off. There aren't any pedestrian crosswalks at the intersection, but there is a pedestrian overpass. Sweaty & smelling ourselves, we almost resort to hailing cab, but instead we lug the stroller up the flight of stairs, push it across the overpass, then carry it down the stairs.
Bugis Street is worth visiting. There are lots of stalls selling women's clothing, but we're hoping to explore and find more the next time we visit. All the women in the stalls would gasp & smile at Atticus. Singaporeans love babies and children. It's wonderful to see how easy they are interacting with Atticus. We haven't seen many babies around at all. Where are they?
We leave Bugis Street and happen upon Illumina, a shopping mall next door. We change a diaper, lug the stroller + baby upstairs to the arcade, then back down to another overpass to Bugis Junction, a covered outdoor shopping center.
Malls are everywhere in Singapore. A mall is attached to every subway station. They are adjacent and connected to one another, so it's easy to get from one to another without stepping outside. Shopping is a common Singaporean pastime. Plus, many restaurants reside in these malls, so many people come to malls to eat. The price of clothing is pretty reasonable too. I see lots of signs for 50% off and $10 t-shirts.
After a 3-hour nap in the hotel room, we head back out to Clark Quay (pronounced "key"), where many touristy restaurants line the waterfront. We are looking for a restaurant called Coriander Leaf, which is recommended by the Lonely Planet guidebook. Oh, that is mistake #1. The guidebook claims that entrees are $15-20, but we find out that they are $30-35, out of our price range. We're looking for cheap, good food, not fake fusion & pretentious ambiance. We get enough of that (fake fusion & pretentious ambiance) in Los Angeles. We wander around Clark Quay some more. See some single women walking about & wonder if they are prostitutes. Watch people watching the Portugal vs. North Korea World Cup game. Walk by a fancy Burger King with a bar. Finally, Joe calls & we catch a cab back to the Marina Square shopping mall. We walk around a bit, all three of us starving. We notice that the few Chinese restaurants are busy & filled with Chinese people, while the Thai restaurant & noodle shop are empty. The sushi restaurant is empty too except a few tourist families.
We meet Joe at a seafood restaurant called Fin. I order a soft shell crab over baked rice (with cheese) & Robby orders a pan-fried fish. Pretty good, though not so impressive that we would return. The food is certainly displayed well & tastes hearty, but it's nothing unusual. Worth $15? We're not sure.
What we're looking forward to the most in Singapore are the hawker food stalls & the Night Zoo. We have to go to Chinatown, Little India & Kampong Glam (Arab Street) for the good food, we think.
We go to bed at 11pm, but Atticus wakes up at 2am & doesn't get back to sleep until 4:30am. His body is still on Pacific Standard Time. Then we wake up a 6am, go down for breakfast, & Atticus & I send Robby off to his all-day consortium workshop. Oops, I'm already into Day 2!
We decide to walk to Bugis Street, a shopping area visited by the locals. No name brands, just lots of little stalls & covered alleyways, very must like the LA Fashion District, but covered like the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. En route we encounter our first obstacle when we exit the hotel & try to cross a street that is fenced off. There aren't any pedestrian crosswalks at the intersection, but there is a pedestrian overpass. Sweaty & smelling ourselves, we almost resort to hailing cab, but instead we lug the stroller up the flight of stairs, push it across the overpass, then carry it down the stairs.
Bugis Street is worth visiting. There are lots of stalls selling women's clothing, but we're hoping to explore and find more the next time we visit. All the women in the stalls would gasp & smile at Atticus. Singaporeans love babies and children. It's wonderful to see how easy they are interacting with Atticus. We haven't seen many babies around at all. Where are they?
We leave Bugis Street and happen upon Illumina, a shopping mall next door. We change a diaper, lug the stroller + baby upstairs to the arcade, then back down to another overpass to Bugis Junction, a covered outdoor shopping center.
Malls are everywhere in Singapore. A mall is attached to every subway station. They are adjacent and connected to one another, so it's easy to get from one to another without stepping outside. Shopping is a common Singaporean pastime. Plus, many restaurants reside in these malls, so many people come to malls to eat. The price of clothing is pretty reasonable too. I see lots of signs for 50% off and $10 t-shirts.
After a 3-hour nap in the hotel room, we head back out to Clark Quay (pronounced "key"), where many touristy restaurants line the waterfront. We are looking for a restaurant called Coriander Leaf, which is recommended by the Lonely Planet guidebook. Oh, that is mistake #1. The guidebook claims that entrees are $15-20, but we find out that they are $30-35, out of our price range. We're looking for cheap, good food, not fake fusion & pretentious ambiance. We get enough of that (fake fusion & pretentious ambiance) in Los Angeles. We wander around Clark Quay some more. See some single women walking about & wonder if they are prostitutes. Watch people watching the Portugal vs. North Korea World Cup game. Walk by a fancy Burger King with a bar. Finally, Joe calls & we catch a cab back to the Marina Square shopping mall. We walk around a bit, all three of us starving. We notice that the few Chinese restaurants are busy & filled with Chinese people, while the Thai restaurant & noodle shop are empty. The sushi restaurant is empty too except a few tourist families.
We meet Joe at a seafood restaurant called Fin. I order a soft shell crab over baked rice (with cheese) & Robby orders a pan-fried fish. Pretty good, though not so impressive that we would return. The food is certainly displayed well & tastes hearty, but it's nothing unusual. Worth $15? We're not sure.
What we're looking forward to the most in Singapore are the hawker food stalls & the Night Zoo. We have to go to Chinatown, Little India & Kampong Glam (Arab Street) for the good food, we think.
We go to bed at 11pm, but Atticus wakes up at 2am & doesn't get back to sleep until 4:30am. His body is still on Pacific Standard Time. Then we wake up a 6am, go down for breakfast, & Atticus & I send Robby off to his all-day consortium workshop. Oops, I'm already into Day 2!
En Route to Singapore
Our flight to Singapore was long & tiring but luckily uneventful.
We left LAX at 3pm, & armed with 2 bottles of breast milk, 3 changes of clothing, and 16 diapers, we boarded Singapore Airlines flight SQ 11 to Singapore with an hours layover in Tokyo at Narita Airport. We were fortunate to book early enough to reserve bulkhead seats, & the flight attendants set up a small bassinet against the wall under the projector screen. There were 9 other babies on board with bassinet, & not everyone with babies were able to receive one. Most of the families were either Japanese, Chinese, or Indian. We got some shifty looks from the older Indian couples & some polite little nods from the Japanese couples. The flight attendants were very helpful with warming up bottles & serving meals at our convenience. The female flight attendants were especially friendly with Atticus.
Baby Boy was extremely well-behaved on the entire flight. The most difficult moment was the descent into Narita Airport, when he was crying for milk & his ears were probably plugged like mine. I had never felt so much pain from plugged ears before - it was pretty annoying, especially since the descent lasted so long.
The flight from LAX to Narita Airport was 10 hours, then another 6 hours to Singapore. Total travel time was 23 hours. We emerged from the plane & arrived to Singapore exhausted & disheveled but excited. We checked into the Pan-Pacific Hotel at 1am.
The Pan-Pacific is the most luxurious hotel we've ever stayed...bell hops, elevators lined with white lights, modern-looking furniture in the enormous lobby, king-sized bed...wow! & we're very close to Robby's conference at the Sun-Tec Convention Centre. We were even provided a little wooden crib for Atticus to sleep in. & we have a balcony with a chaise lounge chair & a view of the Esplanade & Marina Casino.
This is the interior of our hotel.
Breakfast the same morning was a gigantic buffet filled with different kinds of foods - Shanghainese dimsum (lobster dumplings), Singaporean noodles, fresh fruit juices, freshly made noodle soup, brioche & green tea donuts, rice porridge (they call it "congee" here), & the regular American stuff, like pancakes, waffles, & bagels. It's quite a spread. I paced myself & felt sufficiently full after trying a few things, but Robby ate himself silly & felt sick afterwards.
We're living large in Singapore. We figured we should not skimp on our lodgings with a baby on our hands.
We left LAX at 3pm, & armed with 2 bottles of breast milk, 3 changes of clothing, and 16 diapers, we boarded Singapore Airlines flight SQ 11 to Singapore with an hours layover in Tokyo at Narita Airport. We were fortunate to book early enough to reserve bulkhead seats, & the flight attendants set up a small bassinet against the wall under the projector screen. There were 9 other babies on board with bassinet, & not everyone with babies were able to receive one. Most of the families were either Japanese, Chinese, or Indian. We got some shifty looks from the older Indian couples & some polite little nods from the Japanese couples. The flight attendants were very helpful with warming up bottles & serving meals at our convenience. The female flight attendants were especially friendly with Atticus.
Baby Boy was extremely well-behaved on the entire flight. The most difficult moment was the descent into Narita Airport, when he was crying for milk & his ears were probably plugged like mine. I had never felt so much pain from plugged ears before - it was pretty annoying, especially since the descent lasted so long.
The flight from LAX to Narita Airport was 10 hours, then another 6 hours to Singapore. Total travel time was 23 hours. We emerged from the plane & arrived to Singapore exhausted & disheveled but excited. We checked into the Pan-Pacific Hotel at 1am.
The Pan-Pacific is the most luxurious hotel we've ever stayed...bell hops, elevators lined with white lights, modern-looking furniture in the enormous lobby, king-sized bed...wow! & we're very close to Robby's conference at the Sun-Tec Convention Centre. We were even provided a little wooden crib for Atticus to sleep in. & we have a balcony with a chaise lounge chair & a view of the Esplanade & Marina Casino.
This is the interior of our hotel.Breakfast the same morning was a gigantic buffet filled with different kinds of foods - Shanghainese dimsum (lobster dumplings), Singaporean noodles, fresh fruit juices, freshly made noodle soup, brioche & green tea donuts, rice porridge (they call it "congee" here), & the regular American stuff, like pancakes, waffles, & bagels. It's quite a spread. I paced myself & felt sufficiently full after trying a few things, but Robby ate himself silly & felt sick afterwards.
We're living large in Singapore. We figured we should not skimp on our lodgings with a baby on our hands.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
What to Bring with Baby
Babies travel with a lot of stuff. Somehow, I managed to fit both Atticus and my belongings in a roller carry-on, but Robby also packed some of Atticus's things in his bag. I didn't want to be a neurotic, over-prepared parent, but I didn't want to have to buy too many baby items in Singapore either.
Here is a laundry list of baby things we brought:
- 106 diapers (He uses 10-12/day, so this was plenty for our 7-day trip. I brought 16 diapers on our 16-hour flight [though it was 23 hours including waiting at the airports], but he only used about 5.)
- a package of diaper wipes
- 2 glass bottles to drink from
- 3 plastic bottles to store milk (I haven't used them yet)
- two hand pumps (one is still unused)
- bottle brush & small sponge for washing bottles
- receiving blankets
- diaper cloths
- a few muslin wraps (good for multiple uses, like blocking out sunlight, swaddling, covering, etc.)
- burp cloths
- one swaddle
- 8 onesies (very useful in this hot climate)
- 4 sleepers (We heard that the indoors can get very cold)
- 2 long-sleeved onesies
- 3 pairs of pants
- 15 bibs (Very useful because he drools a lot, sometimes so much that his onesie underneath is soaked)
- 4 pacifiers
- a lovie (A small, soft blanket with a hippo's head attached to one corner. This is used for bedtime snuggling.)
- diaper cream
- baby powder
- baby soap
- baby blanket
- nail clippers
- baby Benadryl
- baby Tylenol
- thermometer
- baby sunblock (Oops, we forgot this at home!)
- nursing apron
- stroller
- infant car seat (just so we have a place to put him)
- diaper bag
Don't babies come with a lot of stuff?
Here is a laundry list of baby things we brought:
- 106 diapers (He uses 10-12/day, so this was plenty for our 7-day trip. I brought 16 diapers on our 16-hour flight [though it was 23 hours including waiting at the airports], but he only used about 5.)
- a package of diaper wipes
- 2 glass bottles to drink from
- 3 plastic bottles to store milk (I haven't used them yet)
- two hand pumps (one is still unused)
- bottle brush & small sponge for washing bottles
- receiving blankets
- diaper cloths
- a few muslin wraps (good for multiple uses, like blocking out sunlight, swaddling, covering, etc.)
- burp cloths
- one swaddle
- 8 onesies (very useful in this hot climate)
- 4 sleepers (We heard that the indoors can get very cold)
- 2 long-sleeved onesies
- 3 pairs of pants
- 15 bibs (Very useful because he drools a lot, sometimes so much that his onesie underneath is soaked)
- 4 pacifiers
- a lovie (A small, soft blanket with a hippo's head attached to one corner. This is used for bedtime snuggling.)
- diaper cream
- baby powder
- baby soap
- baby blanket
- nail clippers
- baby Benadryl
- baby Tylenol
- thermometer
- baby sunblock (Oops, we forgot this at home!)
- nursing apron
- stroller
- infant car seat (just so we have a place to put him)
- diaper bag
Don't babies come with a lot of stuff?
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Closing and Beginning
Tonight I finished my last class of Research and Practice in the Preparation of Teachers at USC. I presented twice tonight & turned in my final paper on multicultural teacher education.
In a few weeks, I start a statistics course for another 6 weeks...
Atticus turns 4 months on Monday. He has changed a lot from 3 to 4 months. He is more deliberate in his behavior - not that he is manipulative or deceptive, but he knows that crying will elicit a response from us. He had a mild case of thrush a few weeks ago, & I'm hoping the white spots on his tongue are not residual signs of that. He loves to feel the texture of things, and he is more deliberate in the motor skills in his hands. He'll lie under the play mat and gingerly tap the hanging animals. Pretty soon, he'll be tugging on them! He also likes to hold our hands when we put him to bed. Sometimes he will put my hand against his face. He also does this with his lovie (a little blanket with a stuffed animal head attached to one corner).
Atticus has decidedly chosen bottle over breast, which saddens & frustrates me. I'm tired of pumping and washing bottles constantly. I've been told that it's very difficult to coax a 4-month-old baby back to the breast. I should be ashamed of myself. I haven't been working, so he shouldn't have been using bottles in the first place.
We're flying to Singapore in a few days, so Atticus's determination to refuse the breast makes our lives more tedious. We'll just have to manage.
Last night, we sat him in the Bumbo chair for the first time & fed him rice cereal. He seemed to like the spoon. We'll try to make a habit out of feeding him rice cereal now.
Oh, & Atticus now laugh WITH us. If he's in a good mood, he will laugh in short bursts without having been tickled. We love it. We can't get enough of his noises, except crying.
I'll be teaching at a public charter school in South Central Los Angeles this fall. I'm very excited. More to come later...
In a few weeks, I start a statistics course for another 6 weeks...
Atticus turns 4 months on Monday. He has changed a lot from 3 to 4 months. He is more deliberate in his behavior - not that he is manipulative or deceptive, but he knows that crying will elicit a response from us. He had a mild case of thrush a few weeks ago, & I'm hoping the white spots on his tongue are not residual signs of that. He loves to feel the texture of things, and he is more deliberate in the motor skills in his hands. He'll lie under the play mat and gingerly tap the hanging animals. Pretty soon, he'll be tugging on them! He also likes to hold our hands when we put him to bed. Sometimes he will put my hand against his face. He also does this with his lovie (a little blanket with a stuffed animal head attached to one corner).
Atticus has decidedly chosen bottle over breast, which saddens & frustrates me. I'm tired of pumping and washing bottles constantly. I've been told that it's very difficult to coax a 4-month-old baby back to the breast. I should be ashamed of myself. I haven't been working, so he shouldn't have been using bottles in the first place.
We're flying to Singapore in a few days, so Atticus's determination to refuse the breast makes our lives more tedious. We'll just have to manage.
Last night, we sat him in the Bumbo chair for the first time & fed him rice cereal. He seemed to like the spoon. We'll try to make a habit out of feeding him rice cereal now.
Oh, & Atticus now laugh WITH us. If he's in a good mood, he will laugh in short bursts without having been tickled. We love it. We can't get enough of his noises, except crying.
I'll be teaching at a public charter school in South Central Los Angeles this fall. I'm very excited. More to come later...
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Robby's gift to Atticus & his future siblings
Robby just completed a rap video for our son Atticus & any future baby(ies). It is called the "The 10 Kid Commandments", & it's based on Biggie's song "Ten Crack Commandments." Instead of Biggie's 10 lessons about dealing crack, Robby's songs consists of 10 life lessons.
Please watch the video on Atticus's website. The website includes the lyrics.
Or, you can watch it here:
Enjoy!
Please watch the video on Atticus's website. The website includes the lyrics.
Or, you can watch it here:
Enjoy!
Okay, I was wrong...
Atticus does not begin talking after we stop talking.
When I read to him, he loves talking over my voice. He doesn't respond to the words, but he loves the pictures.
We've also found that Atticus likes to watch television. Oh oh. He takes after his mother. We don't own a television, so when he spots one, he is completely mesmerized.
When I read to him, he loves talking over my voice. He doesn't respond to the words, but he loves the pictures.
We've also found that Atticus likes to watch television. Oh oh. He takes after his mother. We don't own a television, so when he spots one, he is completely mesmerized.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Pardon me, but we've got a baby with manners...
Continuing with his discovery of his hands, Atticus now prefers sucking on his fist instead of his chuppie, what our neighbor calls pacifier (It's Spanish & such a cute word that I have to start using it). He sticks about half of it into his little mouth and slowly gnaws. At first, watching him do this is a little disconcerting because he looks like he is trying to stuff his entire fist into his mouth. But, no, he is just looking to suckle.
Robby & I have also caught him staring as his hand as he touches the wall next to the changing pad. He also tends to touch the bottoms of his feet together when we change his diaper.
Atticus also pays more attention when I read to him. I like to read to him in bed because he'll often fall asleep after a few board books. Yesterday, as I reached the end of The Hungry Caterpillar, he started jabbering away. I put the book down, gave him a kiss, & got out of bed as he stared out of the window. When I returned 5 minutes later, he was fast asleep. This boy loves naps.
Best of all, our boy has manners! Robby remarked on Atticus polite demeanor last night when he described their conversation: "He always waits for you to stop talking before he starts. Did you notice that?" This is how we're able to converse with Atticus; we talk back and forth. He doesn't always emit sound, but he tries. Who knew he'd turn out so polite?!
Robby & I have also caught him staring as his hand as he touches the wall next to the changing pad. He also tends to touch the bottoms of his feet together when we change his diaper.
Atticus also pays more attention when I read to him. I like to read to him in bed because he'll often fall asleep after a few board books. Yesterday, as I reached the end of The Hungry Caterpillar, he started jabbering away. I put the book down, gave him a kiss, & got out of bed as he stared out of the window. When I returned 5 minutes later, he was fast asleep. This boy loves naps.
Best of all, our boy has manners! Robby remarked on Atticus polite demeanor last night when he described their conversation: "He always waits for you to stop talking before he starts. Did you notice that?" This is how we're able to converse with Atticus; we talk back and forth. He doesn't always emit sound, but he tries. Who knew he'd turn out so polite?!
Friday, May 21, 2010
I have hands? Where did they come from?
Atticus has recently discovered his left hand.
We were walking through my favorite paper store, Papersource, in Palo Alto, when Robby noticed that while Atticus sat in his car seat, he was staring at his hand under a blanket. He was moving it back and forth slowly & following his hand with his eyes.
Wow.
This morning, as we lay in bed, he stared intently at our hands. I was holding his left hand about 5 inches from his face, & we both watched his little pudgy fingers grasp my palm.
Atticus is also learning how to blow raspberries. I don't know where this term comes from - I just heard it for the first time last week. He blows his lips out and makes a sound like a motor. Our raspberries will shush him. When he pouts, he blows them unintentionally.
We love our starfish!
We were walking through my favorite paper store, Papersource, in Palo Alto, when Robby noticed that while Atticus sat in his car seat, he was staring at his hand under a blanket. He was moving it back and forth slowly & following his hand with his eyes.
Wow.
This morning, as we lay in bed, he stared intently at our hands. I was holding his left hand about 5 inches from his face, & we both watched his little pudgy fingers grasp my palm.
Atticus is also learning how to blow raspberries. I don't know where this term comes from - I just heard it for the first time last week. He blows his lips out and makes a sound like a motor. Our raspberries will shush him. When he pouts, he blows them unintentionally.
We love our starfish!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Bath Time
Tonight, I dared to give Atticus a bath by myself. Usually, Robby & I tag-team.
Atticus had woken up from a two-and-a-half hour nap, fed, and sat happily in bed smiling at me. I gingerly placed him on the bathroom counter & slowly took his sleeper & onesie off while talking to him animatedly. I tickled his belly, then carefully lowered him into the hammock of the baby bathtub. Instead of running water straight into his bathtub, we usually place a large bowl under the faucet & pour water over him from a cup. He was still staring intently at me when I turned the faucet on. We heard a sputtering in the pipes & a deluge of cold water suddenly shot our of the shower head. In a state of shock, Atticus froze then shrieked loudly. His face immediately turned beet red. I was as shocked as he was, and when I saw his little body wet and cold, I picked him up and hugged him until he settled down.
Luckily, Atticus does not begrudge us of our duties. He let me bathe him after a few minutes of consolation. I'm surprised that he even let us put him back into the bathtub so quickly after that brief traumatic incident.
Atticus had woken up from a two-and-a-half hour nap, fed, and sat happily in bed smiling at me. I gingerly placed him on the bathroom counter & slowly took his sleeper & onesie off while talking to him animatedly. I tickled his belly, then carefully lowered him into the hammock of the baby bathtub. Instead of running water straight into his bathtub, we usually place a large bowl under the faucet & pour water over him from a cup. He was still staring intently at me when I turned the faucet on. We heard a sputtering in the pipes & a deluge of cold water suddenly shot our of the shower head. In a state of shock, Atticus froze then shrieked loudly. His face immediately turned beet red. I was as shocked as he was, and when I saw his little body wet and cold, I picked him up and hugged him until he settled down.
Luckily, Atticus does not begrudge us of our duties. He let me bathe him after a few minutes of consolation. I'm surprised that he even let us put him back into the bathtub so quickly after that brief traumatic incident.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Mothers of the World, Unite!
This year, Mother's Day has taken on a whole new meaning for me. Today, I woke up feeling exponentially special because I'd be celebrating my first year as a mother.
My first gift was a spectacular nighttime surprise: Atticus slept ELEVEN hours for the first time. Previously, the longest he had slept in one nighttime stretch was eight hours, already an astounding feat for a 2-month-old baby. The second gift: Even after such a long sleep, he did not leak out of his diaper. Phew! Needless to say, we had the most pleasant morning.
I called the mothers in my family to wish them a happy mother's day. I was especially appreciative of my sisters. One has three children (7, 4, & 2) and the other has two babies. One sister bakes cakes from scratch, assembles bento boxes for her kids' lunches, and drives the eldest daughter to 6 extracurricular activities every week. The other sister gives her babies lavender baths, wakes up 4 times a night, and goes to mother support groups after work. I have a new-found amazement for the efforts and accomplishments of mothers. A part of me wants to be a lazy mother, to do the minimal possible for what it takes to be a "good" mother, just so that I can maintain my own independence and identity. I know it sounds selfish, but when I think of child rearing, the only word that comes to mind is "tethered." I won't be making bento boxes for Atticus, but I will find my own way of showing my love and keeping my sanity.
Today felt like Christmas.
Robby gave me a card from both Atticus and himself. He held a pen in Atticus's hand & wrote a short, messy note. In his card, he called me the hub of the family and Atticus & he the spokes in the wheel. He went further: most importantly, the wheel was greased with breast milk. I love Robby's cards - he makes the funniest analogies and metaphors.
So happy mother's day to all the mothers in the world. We carry the future in our bellies, pop them out in excruciatingly painful ways, feed them around the clock, scrub yellow poop from their clothes (Robby draws the line here, so it's a Mommy duty), send them off to school, and learn to let go of them. Sometimes, thinking about it all makes me sad - the letting go part of raising a child - but that's just the way of life, I guess, like the inevitability of death and loss.
For now, I'm going to enjoy every moment I get to press heads and cuddle with Atticus until he pulls away and becomes his own person.
My first gift was a spectacular nighttime surprise: Atticus slept ELEVEN hours for the first time. Previously, the longest he had slept in one nighttime stretch was eight hours, already an astounding feat for a 2-month-old baby. The second gift: Even after such a long sleep, he did not leak out of his diaper. Phew! Needless to say, we had the most pleasant morning.
I called the mothers in my family to wish them a happy mother's day. I was especially appreciative of my sisters. One has three children (7, 4, & 2) and the other has two babies. One sister bakes cakes from scratch, assembles bento boxes for her kids' lunches, and drives the eldest daughter to 6 extracurricular activities every week. The other sister gives her babies lavender baths, wakes up 4 times a night, and goes to mother support groups after work. I have a new-found amazement for the efforts and accomplishments of mothers. A part of me wants to be a lazy mother, to do the minimal possible for what it takes to be a "good" mother, just so that I can maintain my own independence and identity. I know it sounds selfish, but when I think of child rearing, the only word that comes to mind is "tethered." I won't be making bento boxes for Atticus, but I will find my own way of showing my love and keeping my sanity.
Today felt like Christmas.
Robby gave me a card from both Atticus and himself. He held a pen in Atticus's hand & wrote a short, messy note. In his card, he called me the hub of the family and Atticus & he the spokes in the wheel. He went further: most importantly, the wheel was greased with breast milk. I love Robby's cards - he makes the funniest analogies and metaphors.
So happy mother's day to all the mothers in the world. We carry the future in our bellies, pop them out in excruciatingly painful ways, feed them around the clock, scrub yellow poop from their clothes (Robby draws the line here, so it's a Mommy duty), send them off to school, and learn to let go of them. Sometimes, thinking about it all makes me sad - the letting go part of raising a child - but that's just the way of life, I guess, like the inevitability of death and loss.
For now, I'm going to enjoy every moment I get to press heads and cuddle with Atticus until he pulls away and becomes his own person.
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