... and twelve to go. Jen left yesterday for her two week trip to the U.S. and Bangkok for a couple of conferences, so I'm on my own with the kids. So far we've managed to do pretty well, although tonight Ellie had a meltdown, and when I asked her what was wrong she finally managed to say she was sad because she missed mommy. Ben doesn't really get it yet, but I'm sure he'll catch on soon. I'm just hoping that the troubles confine themselves to nighttime.
On the other hand, I'm sorting out the details of yet another job possibility. I'm not going to go into any details yet, but it is looking pretty good so far, and it would be working with a friend here, so I have at least got better feelings about the communication with him.
I'm failing to come up with any other interesting news, but I'll try to post updates periodically. I'll also warn you all that there will be no pictures for the next few weeks, either, since Jen has the camera with her. When she returns, though, I'm sure there will be lots of pictures of other people's cute kids!
I guess that's all for now. Wish me luck!
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Ben's Expanding Vocabulary
Ben seems to add new words to his vocabulary every few days. Here's what he can currently be found chattering about:
- ball
- done
- bowl
- mo' (more)
- dis (this)--leading to one of his favorite phrases: Mo dis!
- sistah (sister)
- mama
- dada
- yes
- nana (banana)
- diaper
- rice
- melmo (elmo, but he uses this for any cartoon character)
- Bob (Ellie's stuffed dog)
- Boo (Ellie's stuffed ghost)
- dai (khmer for hands or arms)
- suh (khmer for hair)
- bye
Monday, July 03, 2006
A Trip to Senin's House
Nathan's back has been giving him some significant problems for the past few weeks. He had been complaining about it for a while, but I knew it was serious when he came to breakfast one morning bent over, and never lifted his head more than a few inches from his plate.
He tried rest, ibuprofen, and a heating pad, which all worked some, but didn't completely fix things. I encouraged him to call the French physiotherapist, who is the closest we come to a chiropractor in Phnom Penh. Apparently the physio was out of town, and then Nathan didn't really want to call, so they never connected.
Meanwhile, his back was still bothering him. Senin kept telling Nathan about this miracle worker from Sihanoukville who made her nearly lame elderly aunt walk again and helped open up all of Senin's blood vessels and made her feel terrific. Saturday morning (10 days ago that is, we're still getting caught up) and Nathan's back was hurting him and Senin invited him to come to her house to get fixed by her famous masseuse. Much to my surprise, Nathan seriously considered the idea, and then said yes. I learned later he did it largely because Senin had been talking about this guy for days, and he wanted to get her off his back (pun intended).
So, that's how we came to take an impromptu trip to Senin's house, located about 15 minutes outside of Phnom Penh. We had both been curious about Senin's house for a while and were happy to have an invitation to go.
We spent most of our time on the second floor porch of Senin's aunt's house, a very large and nice traditional Khmer style house. (The car is ours.)
Here's Nathan getting fixed by the miracle man.
Here's Senin with our kids plus her daughter, Srey Leya, who is just a few weeks younger than Ellie.
Ben liked relaxing in a hammock.
And lots of Senin's relatives, including this uncle, loved watching the kids.
Senin's aunt had about 7 machine-operated looms going weaving krama, the traditional red and white checked scarf. They made a racket, but they worked unattended, and it seemed like a very easy way to make a comfortable living.
After two or three hours of treatment, Nathan said his back felt somewhat better and we all went over to Senin's house (which is tough to see here behind her wall) for lunch.
Ellie and Srey Leya had a great time riding on a bike together.
He tried rest, ibuprofen, and a heating pad, which all worked some, but didn't completely fix things. I encouraged him to call the French physiotherapist, who is the closest we come to a chiropractor in Phnom Penh. Apparently the physio was out of town, and then Nathan didn't really want to call, so they never connected.
Meanwhile, his back was still bothering him. Senin kept telling Nathan about this miracle worker from Sihanoukville who made her nearly lame elderly aunt walk again and helped open up all of Senin's blood vessels and made her feel terrific. Saturday morning (10 days ago that is, we're still getting caught up) and Nathan's back was hurting him and Senin invited him to come to her house to get fixed by her famous masseuse. Much to my surprise, Nathan seriously considered the idea, and then said yes. I learned later he did it largely because Senin had been talking about this guy for days, and he wanted to get her off his back (pun intended).
So, that's how we came to take an impromptu trip to Senin's house, located about 15 minutes outside of Phnom Penh. We had both been curious about Senin's house for a while and were happy to have an invitation to go.
We spent most of our time on the second floor porch of Senin's aunt's house, a very large and nice traditional Khmer style house. (The car is ours.)
Here's Nathan getting fixed by the miracle man.
Here's Senin with our kids plus her daughter, Srey Leya, who is just a few weeks younger than Ellie.
Ben liked relaxing in a hammock.
And lots of Senin's relatives, including this uncle, loved watching the kids.
Senin's aunt had about 7 machine-operated looms going weaving krama, the traditional red and white checked scarf. They made a racket, but they worked unattended, and it seemed like a very easy way to make a comfortable living.
After two or three hours of treatment, Nathan said his back felt somewhat better and we all went over to Senin's house (which is tough to see here behind her wall) for lunch.
Ellie and Srey Leya had a great time riding on a bike together.A Mid-June Posting
The top of this entry may be dated July 3, but this is really our mid-June posting. Why? Well, I started writing this entry in mid-June, got as far as choosing some photos, saving them as smaller versions, and giving them all the base name "Mid-June 2006", but then something happened. I don't remember any more what it was exactly, but likely the kids woke up from their naps, or dinner was ready, or Nathan wasn't able to handle two at once anymore.
Anyhow, let's see what we were up to in mid June:
Ben and our helper Somany were playing in the foyer. The kids think helium balloons are the world's coolest objects.
Ellie found the coloring book and watercolors that we had originally bought for the plane trip back to the US but never used. She loved them, managed not to paint herself, and used up all of the paint on just two sheets.
Ellie, our cat burglar in training, can now crawl into Ben's crib without assistance. Unfortunately for her, she has not yet figured out how to get out on her own. (And since you're no doubt wondering, the dome isn't mosquito netting, we zip it up so Ben can't crawl out or throw his toys out and then demand having them back.)
She and Ben think that playing together in his crib is just about the funnest thing around. Here Ben is doing his best Bono impression. (And yes, we know that 16 month olds shouldn't be playing with pencils, but this was a birthday party favor that took us until bed time to "lose".)
They also love to play together in the tub.
Ellie threw a fit over some dictatorial parenting decision I made--I think it was when I took away a toy that she and Ben were fighting over. However, she thought that photographing herself while upset was a great idea, and it led to an interesting mood of "I was angry but now I'm fascinated by this idea but I want to still be angry so I can see how I look when angry"
...and here's a self-portrait from about 20 minutes later when she was in a better mood.
Anyhow, let's see what we were up to in mid June:
Ben and our helper Somany were playing in the foyer. The kids think helium balloons are the world's coolest objects.
Ellie found the coloring book and watercolors that we had originally bought for the plane trip back to the US but never used. She loved them, managed not to paint herself, and used up all of the paint on just two sheets.
Ellie, our cat burglar in training, can now crawl into Ben's crib without assistance. Unfortunately for her, she has not yet figured out how to get out on her own. (And since you're no doubt wondering, the dome isn't mosquito netting, we zip it up so Ben can't crawl out or throw his toys out and then demand having them back.)
She and Ben think that playing together in his crib is just about the funnest thing around. Here Ben is doing his best Bono impression. (And yes, we know that 16 month olds shouldn't be playing with pencils, but this was a birthday party favor that took us until bed time to "lose".)
They also love to play together in the tub.
Ellie threw a fit over some dictatorial parenting decision I made--I think it was when I took away a toy that she and Ben were fighting over. However, she thought that photographing herself while upset was a great idea, and it led to an interesting mood of "I was angry but now I'm fascinated by this idea but I want to still be angry so I can see how I look when angry"
...and here she is sulking a few moments later...
...and here's a self-portrait from about 20 minutes later when she was in a better mood.
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