A much overdue afternoon nap

I don’t know how long it has been, but it must have been at least 16 months I last since had an almost 1.5 hours nap.

Yes - a nap.

On a weekend.

On a Sunday afternoon.

During one of the rare times when Spud napped for more than an hour. In her own bed.

I just crashed on the couch right after we put her in bed. It was bliss.

I almost did not want to wake up from my slumber when Spud woke up from hers – and she usually spends another good hour being cranky and grumpy when she wakes up from her nap.

I had another 5-minuter snooze as Silver Bullet go pick her up from her bed with Spud, all ready to be cranky in her usual fashion. But for me, it was a nap that was long-coming. It felt so good.

I wish we have more such predictable Sunday nap times. It feels so peaceful when Spud goes down for her afternoon nap. But of course, that is just wishful thinking!

(OK.You can argue that Silver Bullet and I can always take turn to nap, but honestly, given that I am the one who usually needs more nap, it almost seems unfair to dump Spud on to Silver Bullet. Besides, as much as Spud tires us, I really do want to spend more time with her given weekends are the only time we have exclusively with her for some quality family time. Hence if she does not rest, it is hard for us too, as well)

Saturday night scare

Like any other nights, Spud goes down for the day by 6.30pm. Like any other normal nights, Spud goes down without a fight with the usual bedtime routine we have for her. And like any other nights, she will usually have her own downtime of rolling around in bed and talking to herself or her toys before she drifts off to slumber. Most nights, she would sleep through till about 6.30 am the next day.

But last Saturday night was like no other ordinary night we have experienced.

At about 9.25 pm, just as I was about to head to bed, I saw the blue light of the baby monitor flickered, and this was followed by quite a cry. Usually when that happens, we will normally just let her cry for a few minutes before we checking on her; for the chances of her falling back to sleep is high. But that night, her cry turned into inconsolable wail, and after more than 5 minutes, it became a howler of a wail!

I quickly went to check on her, and we found her curled up at the corner of the bed in massive tears. As I turn on the lights, I saw some trails of red stain splattered across the bed. Silver Bullet then asked me what she had for dinner (she had pasta), but it did not seem like Spud had puked out her tomato-based pasta. I was trying to make sense of things, and it took me a while to register that the stain on her bed was actually trails of blood! Not something we would expect…and right there and then, the realisation hit that cripes! Spud cannot be puking blood in her sleep, can she? And why would she puke blood?!

As I picked her up and trying to calm her down, I saw that the top half of her shirt was covered with blood.  And as I tried to get the shirt off her (she was completely inconsolable!), I noticed that the blood was trickling from her mouth.

Between the blood-stained bed sheet, wet bloody t-shirt and a wailing baby, there were 2 parents trying to make sense of what had happened, and at the same time, trying to calm down and clean up a possibly frightened toddler.

For a good 10 minutes, nothing we could do was able to calm her down. She did not want to drink, she did not want to be cleaned, she refused to allow any one of us go anywhere near her mouth and she did not want to have anything to do with everything. I started to wonder if we should get to the hospital...but quickly dismissed the thought.

Amidst her violent struggles and mega crying session, we finally managed to clean her up with a wet muslin square which Silver Bullet had fished out, changed her bed sheet and put a clean t-shirt and slapped on a fresh diaper on her. At that point, we were still not sure where the blood was coming from, but it had stopped then. It was a relief that we could not find any traces of blood oozing out of her from anywhere.

Still fighting me with all her might as I was carrying her, I just decided to just put her back into her bed. She did not like it one bit, crying angrily, started clinging on me and refusing to let go. For a split moment, I was afraid that she was not going to go back to sleep at all. The possibility of keeping us awake the entire night seemed so certain!

But frantic as I was, I was surprising rather collected. Instead, I just gave her a kiss and put her back into bed, and we immediately said good night and left her room. Not even 9 seconds later, Spud calmed down and literally stopped crying. Despite stirring a little bit, she fell asleep within 10-15 minutes. (Pheww!)

Now, we both don’t actually know what happened, but we suspected that she may have just clumsily knocked herself on the bars of her bed as she moved about, and somehow hit her lips with her teeth at the same time. Given how much blood the lips and gums can draw, it was hardly surprising.

In any case, that was about the best explanation we can come up with...
While I slept like crap throughout the night, worrying and checking on her a couple of times, Spud slept through till Sunday morning, waking up at 7.30 am and was full of life. There still was a little bit of diluted blood stain on the bed and on her clothes the next day, but it seemed like she has already forgotten what happened the night before.

For me, it was a little bit of an unwelcome scare – as I am sure it must have been for Spud as well! It made me realised how important it is to keep your nerves and composure while having to deal with unexpected shit like that. It also made me realised that having a muslin anywhere handy in the house is a definite must!

Ahhh! The joy of parenting - does not really have to be one that gives you a heart attack, me-thinks.

Flooding Update 0.0

While some parts are still affected by the flood (one of my colleagues is still not able to go back to her home in Rangsit), the inner Bangkok did not even see a trickle of flood water in its soi.

It is looking like the flooding situation within Bangkok has finally started to subside, along with the news updates on flooding that has occurred in some parts of Bangkok.

The good news is that the supply of bottled water and dried food and other essentials have mostly made it back to the shelves of the supermarkets. Still plenty of imported bottled water versus the locally produced ones, but at least there are stocks!

However, the few things I now noticed missing from the shelves of several supermarkets are dish washing liquid and cleaning agents like Windex, floor and toilet cleaners; which according to my observation, they have been off the shelves for more than 3 weeks already.

In a way, it makes sense as people are starting to clean up their homes. But for god sakes, please bloody stock up on those things soon – or I’ll have to start using disposables (not good for the environment!) just because I cannot do my dishes!

Talk about myopic – did anyone ever see that coming? I certainly did not think that even cleaning agents can get out of stock. How much volume of that shit do people use? They can’t be using dish washing liquid to wash the floor can they?

The other bad news is that the crazy traffic jam is back.

Thailand oh! Thailand. Our lives can’t get more exciting than this.

Wiggle Town

One of the things that I find lacking in Bangkok is the availability of some sort of a dedicated play-center for babies and younger toddlers. By this I mean some sort of a center that also caters to working parents who are able to take their kids to such places only on the weekends, and made available to the, not only on weekdays, but for the whole day on Saturday and Sunday. Something that does not cost an arm and a leg.

So, when we stumbled upon Wiggle Town a while back, we were actually quite disappointed that it is located all the way in Pattaya –a 2 hour drive away. Hence, when we went to Pattaya not too long ago with Silver Bullet’s parents, we were only too happy to check it out.

The concept is pretty cool. It is not a nursery, but rather a house converted into a play area targeted at children from newborn to 5 years old. They have modern indoor and outdoor play areas, designed for active play whilst encouraging interaction with other children. As the website puts it, it is the only dedicated play center where children can lay safely while Mom, Dad or Carers can relax.

I especially like the fact that they are open 7 days a week, from 10 am to 5pm, with not so hefty charges.

All in all, the place did not disappoint us. We were there quite early and it was quiet, with only one other older kid around. It was a cosy setting.

Given that it was also an opportunity for the grandparents to spend some time with Spud, we left Spud in their care for a few hours while we went about town to do some errands.

Spud apparently went crazy. She was happy to be let loose and thoroughly enjoyed playing with the pool of balls as well as bouncing up and down the trampoline. We were there for only a few hours, but I highly recommend it if you have little tots when you are in Pattaya.

The one almost similar setting that I know of in Bangkok is currently operating only on weekdays, only very occasionally on a few hours on some weekends. I could only wish they have something similar here in Bangkok in terms of opening hours catering to working parents like us. (Or perhaps, I  should just be brave enough to open up such a business here in Bangkok!)

The other place we know of, called the Funarium, caters mainly to bigger kids, with only a small area for infants and toddlers. It is also hideously expensive. (A review for another post!)

Apart from being a little unsure of the strange-looking swing, Spud could never have been happier!

Last "food fight"?

We cracked something new recently with Spud following a gentle tip from our Nanny on how to have a relatively peaceful feeding Spud session. And that is by blasting children’s music consisting of “The Wheel on the Bus”, “London Bridge is Falling Down”, “Itsy Bitsy Spider, “If you are happy and you know it..”, as well as the very annoying “ The More We Get Together” Song.

Over and over and over again. Arrgggggh!

For breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Argggggggh!

And then I will have those songs in my head till about mid-day while I am in the office; and just as soon as I was about to forget it, I come home only to hear them all over again.

Argggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

It gets worse in the weekends as we have to play that darn CD during the 3 meal times if and when we are at home.

Apparently, the Nanny has been having some trouble feeding Spud from time to time, and had discovered this in her bags of tricks. Since then, feeding Spud, while still can be challenging at times, has been more of a breeze. We have only started employing the tactic about a week ago, and at the risk of jinxing her now-better eating habits, feeding her with the music on while we sing to her really did wonders to her (actually more of ours!)  feeding experience.

While we thought we sort of figured it out last time when it comes to food with Spud, it did not last very long. She soon got bored of the spoon-and-empty-bowl phase, and very soon afterwards, tested our patience by dipping her entire hands into her food bowl whenever she can.

I have, for quite awhile (you should see the halo on my head!) stopped getting frustrated with her, and calmly and steadily just allowed her to play with her liquid food while I watched her. It was a disastrous and messy affair , and funnily enough, both Silver Bullet and I shrugged it off and ended up laughing our guts out. Here are some pictures while she was at it for a good 15 minutes and I could only cringe inside and shudder in utter eeekiness as she smeared all those liquidy stuff all over my hands and some bits of it splattered on my face, hair. (Good thing I was wearing an apron!)

It was a disaster to clean up afterwards. Liquid food was smeared just about every-frickin'-where!

I guess she just needed to get it out of her system as surprisingly enough though, and as far as I can remember, that was our last "food fight" since then. I don’t think it ever happened again after that. For some reason too, these days, Spud starts to show signs of her yukkiness to food stuff and gungon her hands.

We have since found the music trick to be working. Okay, well...at least for now.

Just to confirm, yes, I think I'm still sane.

Prata lunch date

More than a year on since our last visit, and despite the fact that the website looks horridly outdated - Surprise! Surprise! Cili Padi is still open for business!

Given how close Silver Bullet’s temporary office to mine these days, we do take the opportunity every few days to meet up for lunch, and yesterday, we decided to take a gamble all the way to Silom.

It took us almost hour to get there by BTS, and by the time we got back to our respective offices, 2 hours had passed. In all honestly, I am not sure if the trip is all worth it, but given the cravings I have had for real, authentic pratas these days, it is the only place I can think of that serves something decent. (and definitely glad that they are still in business)

The curry that went with the prata was fortunately pretty good, and we tar-paoed some of those pratas and a piece of murtabak home.

Unfortunately, they ran out of satays, mee goreng as well as the Asam Pedas dish which I did not mind having them to go as well. I guess we’ll have to do that for another time.

The Teh Tarik was still pretty good, and I had some prata leftover with curry this morning for breakfast. Yum!

Very unfortunately, they don’t do any home delivery, and I know this is one place good place to look out for when the craving for Malaysian food strikes.

That makes me a rather cheap date - prata for lunch!

For those curious, the humble restaurant is opened every day, except Friday and is currently located at ITF Building,  Ground Floor @ Silom Narathiwat Soi 1, Bangkok.

Toe rings

The typical women’s best friends of bling-blings are not, and have never been “my thing”. In fact, the only bling-bling I own is my engagement ring. Okay, and one more item -  a pair of diamond earrings. Both of which, I received from Silver Bullet as a wedding gift.

And, to me those are just about quite enough.

However, if there are 2 things I feel naked without, it would have to be my left earring (for the outer ear rim at top of my ear – also called pinna piercing) and my toe rings; and for as long as I remember I have been wearing them forever since I was 18.

Image from Google. (My feet is such a wreck these days!)

I’m not sure what it is about toe rings, but I happened to fall in love with it at such a young age. I must have seen it somewhere around mostly amongst Indian women, and for some reason, unlike nose rings, I thought it looks rather nice on the feet. At such an age, of course, I was ignorant (and later found out) on the fact that toe rings worn  by Indian women is usually to denote that these women are married.

Rarely was I asked why I wear toe-rings, but when I do get asked (mostly from Indians themselves), they are surprised that I would wear such a thing.

I guess to me, when I started out at a tender age of wearing toe-rings, it was nothing more of a fashion statement. To a certain extent, it was also somewhat to fuel the need to be different from the rest and perhaps, even out of rebellion.But above all, I just think that toe-rings are cool. (I still do!)

So anyway, toe rings have been a part of me, and recently I lost one of them. Made me feel pretty bummed as that was the last of the spare toe-rings I had in my junk jewelry collection. Because it is so hard to find toe rings here for me to get a replacement in a jiffy, I was without a toe-ring on one of my foot for almost a month. (Shock! Horror!)

While I tried not to think about it, I was quite disturbed as I don’t think I ever felt so naked.

I finally managed to get a bunch from MBK – and that was after an hour of searching, and right at the eleventh hour just as I gave up and was about to make an exit out of the building.

I made sure I bought a few all at one go, so that if I lose one of them, I can replace them easily and not get caught dead without one on each foot.

I now feel fulfilled again.

Toe rings can be real sexy.

Quote of the day

"Before you criticise someone, you should walk a mile in their shoe. That way, when you criticise them, you are a mile away and you have their shoes."

Corny. I know...but there ought to be some truths in that.

Candid shots

Some candid shots of Spud taken over a couple of weekends ago; which also happened to be the day where she officially figured out how to use the fork to pick up food from her plate and put it in her mouth without any guidance from us. There was, for once, almost no fuss at the breakfast table whilst we dined at a restaurant as she got busy with her new-found skills.

Apart from that single fact, I  just really like the expression on her face.

A day in Ayuttaya

For the first time in a long time, I woke up at an ungodly hour of 4 am yesterday and was literally out of the house by 4.40 am to be somewhere in time for a 5 am transport to Ayutthaya with my clients and team members.

I was not too happy about the time, but I was not cursing and swearing. This time, it was because I wanted to do it – I wanted to be a part of a volunteer project to help the flood victims. And because the idea (although recycled from another country and now re-used here in Thailand ) was initiated by my subordinate about a month ago, and we as a team has been pretty involved in the whole process from approval to execution, I wanted to actually be there and see the fruition of her labour.

The idea was simple – together with the client and a few partners, we created an event for recovering communities after the flood and set up a free launder mat service where we wash, dry and folded the clothes.

You won’t believe what people brought! Apart from regular clothes, there were bed sheets, kahunas of blankets after blankets and even curtains. In fact, I think they outnumbered the regular clothing by a dozen for every set of clothes we received. I reckon that if they could haul their couches, mattresses and furniture to be laundered, they probably would have done so. Because almost every item we received consisted of blankets and bed sheets, there was no way we could turn the, away. We just had to suck it up and do it – hoping that the machine could handle the load.

The truth it, because we got in the organizer to do everything, technically we don’t really have to lift a finger. But like I said, I really wanted to help. And after helping sorting out the soiled (some really smelly) clothes at registration, I parked my ass at the folding station an hour later to help with the folding.

I can safely say I probably spent a good 3 hours (at least!) folding mostly damp clothes. I don’t think I have ever folded so many clothes at one sitting! And yes, you read that right. Folding damp clothes, and mainly because the electricity available at the place we were in, which was considered upcountry, could not handle the juice required by the 10 dryers we had. I am absolutely bummed by that, although from what I gathered, the locals did not mind it so much. In fact, most request not to be dried as they did not want to wait for so long. Oh well!

There was this one lady whom midway through our folding task, popped over at our station with bags of cut pineapple. She had bought and was distributing them just for us. I was actually touched by her kindness, thinking what a sweet woman she is. It was later that I found out that she had actually given us 14 LOADS of laundry to be washed, and so the free pineapples were sort of a small gesture of gratitude, or as the Thais say, “Greng Jai” .

A lady looking satisfied with her clean clothes!

The lady who bought us pineapples

The folding station

Me separating smelly laundry

The sun was obscenely hot, though and I developed a migraine half way through. We only left the place at about 4pm and it took us another 3 hours to get back into Bangkok. But, on the way back to Bangkok, I caught a sight of the sun setting against an infinity of murky flood water as the traffic went on a standstill for a good hour.

The sun has set, and my day was over. Although I was tired, hungry and my head felt like it was about to explode, I can’t help but feel all warm and tingly inside as I reflected on the smiles I saw during the event in the day.

I am so very proud of my team and what they had accomplished in the very short span of time to get this up and running. So overwhelmingly proud that I could tear!

Smile and welcome the sun

I cannot, for the life of me, remember where I first saw the link to this article (I assume FB), and if it was in FB that I saw, I also cannot remember who posted it. Anyhow, the first two paragraphs of the article caught my eye and prompted me to read on…

“Just 30 kilometers from Cambodia’s world famous Angkor temples is an astounding sight tourist don’t see.


Tucked away from foreign eyes on the outskirts of Siem Reap is a community of about 500 people who live-or survive-in a rubbish dump”

As I read on and examined the photos, my eyes welled up. I have never been to Angkor, and it is my dreams to go to Angkor one of these days, and while I have heard about the magnificence of Angkor, I have never heard of this story before in my life. And sadly, perhaps, out of sheer oblivion on my part, the thought of people living in such poverty in the vicinity of Angkor never really did cross my mind.

The article is a humbling read…especially so when the writer pointed out the fact of where the rubbish comes from – from tourists like you and I.

What made my heart smile was also the fact that the writer pointed out they find reasons to smile, and it made my heart swelled with tears on really how happy they are “because tomorrow they can see the sun again”. [The link is here]

At the end of the day, it really is the simple things that matters….and we, “normal people who has almost everything”, just don’t smile often enough because we get too caught up with ourselves. We moaned and we groan when the sun comes up the next day because we don’t get enough rest and then we go get busy trying to pay the bills we chalked up from chasing material stuff.

So when tomorrow comes, wake up and smell the roses, even if they are just in your head! And, (note to self) I hope you welcome the sun and find all the reasons you can to smile.

Trivia

Q: How do you know that google is a woman?

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A: She won't let you complete the whole sentence, before she starts guessing and suggesting.

 Figures, right. Hee..heh! I actually find it quite funny - people can be so insighful!

Being kaypo (again!)

We occupied ourselves by being a disaster tourist yet again last weekend when we decided to not only pop by  Chatuchak (again!) to see how the flood was looking like, but also kaypo-ed at Lard Phrao MRT station to have a look at the surrounding area (yes, with Spud in tow!)

It did look like water has gone down a little bit as compared to when Silver Bullet visited it just a few days earlier, but to me, the entire place still looked bad over the weekend. Water was everywhere...and as far as the eye can see.

What used to be a truly busy area and almost always in gridlocked at any time of the day became deserted and quiet. It felt surreal, and I almost did not believe that this was Bangkok.

I hope the ordeal will be over for the flood victims soon.

I could smell the water from outside as we approached this entrance @ Lard Phrao MRT

Just right outside the MRT station

A car being cleverly perched up at one of the intersections

Commuters cross to the other side of the road

Ratchada-Lard Phrao Intersection - water level was much higher mid last week

Water to infinity...

Boat men ready to take passengers...

The occasional motorbikes passing through

The occasional trucks passing through

While it seemed like water was receding..it gets deeper further down

A commuter changing to water-proof attire as he walked out of the MRT station

Boots seller on the elevated bridge

Bangkok's new age toilets

I discovered that they have installed some cool toilet bowls at Samitivej Hospital with the very same toilet technology like those you find in Japan.

So, the way it works is that, you sit on the throne and when you are done with your business, you can press the button for rear cleansing, soft rear cleansing, and front cleansing. This is when the water will shoot out and clean your butt just like you specify it. You can increase the water pressure, too as well as 'air dry' the wet areas.

From the looks of it though, I think this is an advertising stunt by Toto (or was it Cotto?) as not only they had installed the toilet bowls at strategic floor (1st floor only), they have also installed brochures in and around the cubicle.

For whatever it was worth, I think this is cool concept! I hope they keep this toilet bowls for a while longer. And perhaps, every shopping malls should install these things. Makes me want to have one of this at home!

Flood update and silly stuff

Still dry here in Bangkok in the vicinity where we live.

Still getting fed with loads of confusing messages and useless information from the government.

And if you have not been following Thai news, just last week, there was a news report of 15 green mambas escaped a flooded building in Nonthaburi . Article can be found here.

In which, makes the whole flooding situation much more reassuring that it already was.

Separately, I was told by my Thai colleagues that it was actually the owner of those snakes himself who had reported it to the authorities.

And then there were disputes that they were not Green Mambas, but rather the deadly green viper. Ok..whatever. They are still deadly anyway and you will not want to go anywhere near them.

A week on, there has been no further news of these snakes.

Then came an update from FROC which reported this just a few days ago:

“No record of import of green mamba snake; baht 59,000 bounty for the capture to prosecute person who spread the rumour. ”

Seriously. And I mean seriously?! (go on, roll yor eyes to the back of your head. and laugh.)

I bet they don’t have the records of the rest of the various species of endangered animals which were brought illegally to Thailand either and only to be sold as exotic pets.

Oh, I forgot. They were not illegal. They were just rumours.

11.11.11

Halfway through walking me to the end of the soi this morning, Silver Bullet just suddenly turned to me and went, “Oh, are you not going to wish me a happy birthday?

Oh mother of crap oooops! I cannot believe that I had actually completely forgotten about it.While we hardly ever make a big fuss out of both our birthdays and don't usually celebrate it, I personally hardly ever forget the birthdays of loved ones – thanks to reminders. But today, my reminders were off and my brain is functioning like a sieve.

So, for the first time in 7 years since we knew each other, my eyes widened in guilt as, I cannot believe that I have forgotten my husband’s birthday! I mean, how could I? Especially when I have been hounding him for days on end to tell me what he wants as a birthday gift, (I never got an answer!) and the fact that I hounded him again last night before we went to bed (still no answer, so no present!).

And this morning, it was as if the Men in Black came and wiped out any memories I ever have of a birthday!

Not something I am proud of, to be honest.

And then, a few hours later, I realized that today is the day everyone raves about – the rare 11.11.11.

How cool is it to be having a birthday on 11.11.11?

I mean, we have this once in a lifetime rare day of 11.11.11 where everyone else is probably getting married or having a c-section because it is so special, and then there is me, the ditsy wife who not only callously forgot the birthday of her other half, but also has forgotten to get him a birthday present or plan something special on this special day of 11.11.11.

Tch…tch…tch. I am an idiot. And all I got him was a bunch of lousy licorice which he loves so much, and I reckon, enough to last him till his next birthday.

But I am glad that he loves me all the same. Ditsy and all…

Oh, and at the last minute, decided to whip out his favourite dish -  a mean beef steak. I wanted to get him a cake too, but the bakery ran out of stock. (Must be the flood!)

Happy Birthday, Silver Bullet!

In looking for perfection...

Apart from being one of the greatest musician, Bob Marley was a very wise and a practical man.

 

And it goes the same too for the female species. 

Lizards' love

This ad cracked me up!

15 months

My bones and muscles just ache these days each time I carry Spud. I guess that can only be a good thing – a sign that she is growing well.

So, yes. Spud’s getting heavier by the day, louder by the hour, more of a chatterbox by the minute and a climbing monkey by the second. She is still that ball of energy and hardly ever tires. She is always busy at every minute of the day, and if it is up to her, she probably will not nap for even 5 minutes if she does not have to.

Spud’s calling out “Papa” like there is no tomorrow, and even though she is able to say “Mama”, for some reason, she just wouldn’t. And if she does when we ask her to, she goes, “Ma…Pa.” Sometimes I wonder if she is just taking the piss out of her mother!

She seems to understand a lot more than we give her credit for, I think, as she usually is able to match what we say in words to the objects in front of her. The credit also goes to our Nanny who is constantly teaching her words, and by now, she is able to rattle off (and understand) simple words like apple (she says "ah-pel"with a slight Filipino accent), banana (she says "nana"), key card (she says "ki kad"), O-Pa (she insists on  "Ah-Pah" or "Ah-Pu) and a few other words which I cannot remember at this very moment. On top of that, she has been able to understand instructions quite well,and, depending on her mood, she may or may not listen to them - like when we ask her to pick up her sippy cup which she had thrown on the floor.

This little 15 months old imp has also been very expressive with her facial expressions. She smiles a lot, but she also pouts when things don’t quite agree with her. Other times, she sorts of sneer in disgust, she furrows her eyebrows, squints with a quizzical look and other sort of facial expressions which I cannot even describe in words. It just is sometimes funny to watch her, making us wonder what really goes on in that little head of hers.

She’s got more teeth now too, and her molars have started to appear. Brushing her teeth has become quite a feat these days, as she will not tolerate us doing it for her. While she wants to do it herself, the problem is that, instead of brushing her teeth, she just sucks off the toothpaste away!

She is really sweet most times, and very willing to adorn us with kisses and hugs when we ask for it. But, she has also shown how strong headed she can be, and inevitably makes her a very, very cranky little toddler. Spud has already started pushing her boundaries with us, and can be quite defiant when she wants to…a sign of more interesting challenges to come.

But I guess, all in all (while I sometimes wonder if she is a little ADD), like most babies, she is hitting her milestones as she should be and growing up well. For what it’s worth, we can never go back in time and despite some of the frustrations we (mainly me, as Silver Bullet is far more patient than I am) faced, I know that I want to be there in her life for every step of the way, for as long as she wants me to.

Funny how without her having to utter any words coherently, Spud has managed to immerse me in the mystery and wonder in our surroundings and that everything we come into contact with contains magic.

Like the magic of this bloody bucket she puts on her head.

(making me hopelessly paranoid that she won't be able to get her face out of that bucket if it gets stuck somehow!)

Corny

This was probably the weirdest conversation which took place between Silver Bullet and me recently:

While I was busy on my laptop, out of the blue Silver Bullet went, “I have too much corn!” while showing me a handful of dead skins which he just scraped off his foot.

Then with a look of magical wonder on his face he exclaimed ecstatically, “ And that is only 1 foot!”

He got my attention from what I was doing alright! Had I not looked to him, I would imagine that he was talking about those yummilicious yellow corns, and I would be wondering why in the hell he would be talking about it knowing full well we have no corns stored in our fridge. So, anyways,  I looked at him incredulously, raising one of my eye-brows in acknowledgment (sorta) and thinking that it is probably the lamest thing he ever told me.

I did not really know what to reply to that, and went back to what I was doing. And honestly, it was not something I particularly really wanted to know about.

5 minutes later, he went, “I wonder if I am now less corny”

WAH LAU, EH. Champion, can!

You should have seen my face… my husband. The goofy, corny guy. The guy I married and the father of my child said what?

Silver Bullet can be so candidly and shamelessly corny sometimes. The only good thing about it was that he made me laugh and I could not stop laughing for a while after that. Not because it was hilariously funny, but how incredulously lame and corny he can be.

It was one of those days, and certainly one post worthy for the blog!

Disaster Tourists

Having some idle time on our hands, we decided to pop by Chatuchak in the afternoon today; merely out of curiosity after having heard of  news that the flood water has now gotten to Mochit BTS station.

Although the road right beneath the train tracks had shown some signs of raised water level, most of the surrounding  area still seemed dry. We even walked towards and finally into the market thinking that perhaps, we can still get ourselves some chicken rice to tar pao home, but apart from some early signs of flooding on the road right next to the main entrance of the market itself, the rest of the area remained dry. Not a very spectacular sight in any way, but a couple snapshots here:

Road right next to Chatuchak market - halfway dry. 50m down the road was completely flooded

The road right underneath the BTS train tracks

There were only a few shops opened and there was also a handful of tourists and locals in tow. The entire market, however, did look like a ghost town. I don't think I have ever seen Chatuchak market so quiet before.

We were in and out there within 10 minutes and then decided to chill out by the park right next to the BTS station.

The weather was perfect, it was rather windy and for once, the park over there was not crowded. It was quiet. It was nice. And we are certain that Spud did not mind us letting her loose for awhile.

Spud was really just happy today, and for us, it was a very good chill-out day being a disaster tourists.