Our Bangkok Blog

I've dragged over the content from the blog I kept in Bangkok, so if you followed us then, there is nothing new here.  You may remember that I petered off a little after Joel was born, so I have hopes of "back blogging" our second year there, mostly for our own family record.  If you never saw our Bangkok blog, it would probably make more sense to start from the first post and move forward in time.

Photo Contest

There is an international mothers’ group here in Bangkok (called BAMBI) that is sponsoring a photo contest where you creatively include their magazine in a shot of your kids. When it comes to these kinds of things, J and I aren’t very creative, but the prizes they are offering are really nice, so we want to win something.  Help? We have one more week to submit.

We thought we could leverage the fact we have four kids, unheard of here. Hence, the shot above. Here are a few others.

Too bad Claire is wearing a skirt in this one.

Triplets

I may have mentioned before that there are two other little boys at church who are two weeks older and two weeks younger than Paul. I finally got a shot of them all together, as they just look more and more alike.

Claire Starts School!

Can I just say it has been a long summer? Claire has been so ready for so long to start school but international preschools here were just way out of our budget. Now that she is starting kindergarten, we get tuition assistance (since she could go free in the States). We found what seems to be the perfect school for her, and after a week, she is still gloriously happy at the end of each day. There are 12 kids in the class, and the ones I've met so far are from the U.K., Belgium, Singapore, Germany, India and Thailand. She is the only American, as far as I know. Her teacher is from Australia.

It has just been a week when I am so happy to be a mother and at home. It makes all the difference to see your kids happy. Sylvie likes being in charge of her own activities and having a lot more of my attention. She plays with Paul who continues to be a hoot. And, she will sit or lay by Joel for a good ten minutes at a time keeping him cooing and smiling. I meet Claire in our lobby as she gets off the shuttle bus at the end of her day, and we have a little one-on-one time before we go back upstairs. To be honest, it is the first time I've wanted time to slow down a little, so I can linger in this stage of each of their lives.

"Like Nature"

We found the best place in Bangkok. We finally got around to pumping up the tires on some kids bikes a friend had given us, and when J mentioned to his Thai teacher that there is a shortage of places to ride bikes in Bangkok, she told him about a big park by Chatuchak (a famous weekend market here). J was able to rent a bike with a baby seat for Paul for 67 cents, and I pushed the stroller with Joel while the girls were triumphant on their new wheels. It was shady, there was a cool breeze, and Claire said, "Mom, this is like nature." We are definitely going back.

A Little Overboard

When most people come to Thailand for the first time, they are impressed by the brightly colored taxis, tuk-tuks and buses. On an outing to the zoo, I saw the craziest I've seen yet. The fronts of these buses are covered with headlamps, mirrors, Michelin tire guys and who knows what else. The "art" on the sides was eye-catching, to say the least.

Our Little Helper

Why buy toys?

The best way to keep a toddler out of your stuff is to fill both his hands. Paul loves our helper, Nita, and follows her around as she cleans. She often gives him her broom and dustpan, and he will even squat down and sweep under furniture. When we are out and about and he sees any other workers (around the apartment building, at the park, at the zoo, in the mall) with a broom and dustpan, he immediately wants to go and take over their job.