Laughing

I dare you to look at this and not smile. :-)

My My, How Can I Resist You?

On the way home from school the other day, Caleb started singing,

"Mamma Mia, here I go again..."

And then I looked at him like he had grown a third eye. And then he collapsed into giggles in the backseat of the taxi.

I asked him if they had been singing that song at school, and he said it was on the radio. (I'm guessing the teachers were playing the CD during music time at school.) Not exactly what I expected to hear him singing since he usually comes home singing Jingle Bells as they are currently practicing for the Christmas concert.

When we got home, I dowloaded "Mamma Mia" from iTunes, and while I was there I downloaded "Dancing Queen" by ABBA as well. I mean, if we can sing and dance around the house to something other than the Mickey Mouse "Hot Dog" song, I'm a happy girl.

So I start singing, which inevitably prompts both of my children to shout in unison, "NO SINGING," but I cannot be swayed so easily, so I continue...

"You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen..."

And Caleb looks at me like I've grown a third eye and says, emphatically,

"Mom, queens.don't.dance."

Ok, then. That settles it.

Weather Report

Wanna see the weather report for Singapore this week? (oh, and for the American readers...33 C=91.4 F, 25 C=77 C)

Extended Forecast-Courtesy of wunderground.com Updated: 2:00 AM SGT on November 12, 2009 Thursday Chance of a Thunderstorm. Scattered Clouds. High: 33 °C . Wind light. Chance of precipitation 40% (water equivalent of 7.28 mm). Heat Index: 37 °C . Thursday Night Chance of a Thunderstorm. Partly Cloudy. Low: 25 °C . Wind light. Chance of precipitation 30% (water equivalent of 3.49 mm). Heat Index: 35 °C . Friday Chance of a Thunderstorm. Partly Cloudy. High: 32 °C . Wind NNE 10 km/h . Chance of precipitation 40% (water equivalent of 6.65 mm). Heat Index: 42 °C . Friday Night Thunderstorm. Low: 25 °C . Wind NNE 7 km/h . Chance of precipitation 100% (water equivalent of 77.13 mm). Heat Index: 31 °C . Saturday Thunderstorm. High: 30 °C . Wind WNW 10 km/h . Chance of precipitation 80% (water equivalent of 21.72 mm). Heat Index: 35 °C . Saturday Night Chance of Rain. Partly Cloudy. Low: 24 °C . Wind West 10 km/h . Chance of precipitation 40% (water equivalent of 12.75 mm). Sunday Chance of Rain. Partly Cloudy. High: 28 °C . Wind West 14 km/h . Chance of precipitation 40% (water equivalent of 10.38 mm). Sunday Night Chance of a Thunderstorm. Partly Cloudy. Low: 24 °C . Wind West 14 km/h . Chance of precipitation 30% (water equivalent of 5.44 mm). Heat Index: 31 °C . Monday Chance of a Thunderstorm. Partly Cloudy. High: 30 °C . Wind WNW 14 km/h . Chance of precipitation 30% (water equivalent of 3.22 mm). Heat Index: 36 °C . Monday Night Chance of Rain. Overcast. Low: 24 °C . Wind West 7 km/h . Chance of precipitation 20% (water equivalent of 0.58 mm). Tuesday Chance of a Thunderstorm. Partly Cloudy. High: 29 °C . Wind light. Chance of precipitation 20% (water equivalent of 0.33 mm). Heat Index: 34 °C . Tuesday Night Chance of a Thunderstorm. Partly Cloudy. Low: 25 °C . Wind light. Chance of precipitation 20% (water equivalent of 1.90 mm). Heat Index: 33 °C . Wednesday Chance of a Thunderstorm. Partly Cloudy. High: 32 °C . Wind NW 10 km/h . Chance of precipitation 30% (water equivalent of 3.90 mm). Heat Index: 34 °C . Wednesday Night Chance of a Thunderstorm. Partly Cloudy. Low: 25 °C . Wind NNE 10 km/h . Chance of precipitation 20% (water equivalent of 1.43 mm). Heat Index: 31 °C .

Why, yes, we've entered the monsoon season. Thanks for asking.

Theological Discussions with a Four-Year-Old

Caleb has been asking a lot of deep questions lately. They seem easy enough on the surface, until you try to answer them. Especially in a way that a four-year-old can understand.

Here are some things Caleb's been asking/saying this weekend:

1. Where does God live?

2. We sang "Jesus died for all the children" at church today. Why did he do that?

3. Is He still died? (Caleb's words)

4. I love God sooo much! (So do we, sweetie, so do we!)

5. As I was praying with Caleb tonight, I asked him if he wanted to say it by himself. He did, so he started thanking God for his bunk bed, his reward chart, his stuffed moose. He said, "Thank you for..." and paused, so I filled in with, "...always being with me." Caleb replied with, "No, it's just furniture tonight, Mom. And soft things." :-) I was unaware it was "thank God for your furniture" night. I stand corrected.

Caleb has such a sweet heart, and it is a joy to watch him grow in his knowledge of our Savior. This time surely cannot be wasted.

"How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands." ~Psalm 119: 9-10

What's YOUR Favorite Food?

I took the boys for their yearly check-ups yesterday. I love our doctor in Houston, and no one will ever compare to the care we received there; our doctor was really special. But our pediatrician here is a good one. He checked Caleb first. He asked Caleb to write his name, which he did pretty well. The letters weren't very close to each other, but they were in the right order! When the doctor said, "Can you write the final letter?", Caleb said, "No, the B is hard." Good enough. He said Caleb is very coordinated, which we knew. ;-)

He also asked Caleb lots of questions about various things in his life. The one that made me cringe and want to crawl in a hole was, "What's your favorite food?" Caleb's answer?

Candy.

I glared at him and made some comment about him eating other foods, but Caleb looked at me and said, "I like candy." Yes, I'm aware. We'll just blame it on the fact that Halloween is just around the corner, right?

Levi also had a good check-up. The doctor asked him how old he was and he told him. He asked me if he was starting to feed himself with a spoon, and I told him he's been doing that for a long time now. I can't remember the last time we actually fed Levi anything ourselves; he's been a self-feeder for over a year now with the exception of yogurt. But even that he's been feeding himself for a while. I cringe every time he eats it because he gets it everywhere.

I kept having to translate for Levi, though. Our doctor here was trained in Australia and his accent is pretty thick sometimes (kind of an Asian meets Australian accent), so Levi had a hard time understanding which body parts the doctor was asking him to point to. :-)

The thing Levi had a problem with was colors. The doctor held up several different objects of different colors. Levi said everything was green. I know this is pretty normal, but I'm always paranoid about it because color-blindness runs in the family. I quizzed Caleb on his colors a lot until he finally learned all the right ones and I knew he wasn't color-blind. I just like to be prepared. :-)

Caleb weighed 15.9kg (35.1 lbs) and was 103cm tall (42.1 inches).
Levi weighed 12.9kg (28.4 lbs) and was 90cm tall (35.4 inches).

They are both around the 50%, so the doctor was pleased with their progress.

The USS Nimitz (and I Miss My Dad)

Andrea and I were invited to tour the USS Nimitz when it was in port last month, and we both jumped at the opportunity. It was amazing. One of our tour guides was the pilot of one of the radar scrambler planes. We had a great time learning about what it's like to live and work on an aircraft carrier and the risk involved in being on the flight deck. If we had been able to see the ship when it was docked in the States, the airplanes would not have been on board because they are part of a separate unit and get dispersed around the country for maintenance. We were really grateful for the unique opportunity!

The ship from ground level. It was huge, and I only got about half of it in this picture:

One of our guides and the pilot of a radar scrambler plane:

The flight deck from above. All the colors of the stripes mean different things.

A memorial to a helicopter crew the USS Nimitz lost on their last deployment:

One of the planes inside the ship, on the hanger deck. They move the planes from here to the flight deck via HUGE elevators.

One of the 4 elevators (those people are walking across it). It also serves as the sailors exit/entrance when in port:
This is how they steer ships now. :-)

A submarine was docked across from the Nimitz. The sailors said the sub comes and goes and only a handful of people ever know where it is. They all like it that way.

The tour made me really miss my dad. He would have loved touring the ship!

A Few of My Favorite Things

Since the Christmas decorations are already up here, I decided to list a few of my favorite things..

Caleb's eyelashes. Everyone comments on them. Friends, doctors, strangers, everyone. Since he was a tiny baby that is the first thing people notice about him. :-)

Since I am left-handed, I have pen issues. I can't do gel or fountain pens usually because they end up all over my hand. And some pens I can't even write with because of the angle. It's weird. This is my current favorite pen. (I have an office supply "issue," too, as in I buy way too many. It's hereditary. My mom passed on that gene to me.)

Mmmm. Dr. Pepper. Until recently I was a Coke drinker, but Dr. Pepper is much easier on my stomach issues.

Strawberry and Satsuma Home Fragrance Oil from The Body Shop. Mix a few drops of each and a little water. Makes the place smell yummy!

My sweet Levi napping in his crib. He's such a good sleeper now, and we are so thankful!

More Pictures from West Coast Park

Where are Levi's feet?

There they are!

Quiet Time and West Coast Park

It's quiet time in our house. Levi is napping, and I've instituted (as of today) quiet time for Caleb and myself. He hasn't napped since he was 2 1/2, and mommy needs an hour of quiet in the afternoons to do her Bible study. So, thanks to my friend, Camille, I've started a reward chart with Caleb. If he has a quiet time, which means he does not come out of his room to ask me questions or for the 1 million other reasons he can find to come out of his room, he will get a sticker on his chart. After 5 stickers, he will get a little prize. We're starting with 5 for now and will move up after he grasps the concept. I hung the chart on the bathroom door in his room so he can see it. Right now he's working for a yo-yo, which he's wanted for a long time. :-)

Even though it's quiet time in our house, it isn't quiet. They are doing some major remodeling of the apartments 2 and 3 floors above us. Apparently there are lots of men up there with hammers and drills. With concrete walls and marble floors, they might as well be remodeling our apartment for as loud as it is in here. This is supposed to go on for 2 weeks, so I'm not sure Levi will be napping very soundly during that time.

This past weekend we took the kids to West Coast Park. It was really hot, but they had fun playing for a while.

The shipyard on the West Coast:

Caleb burying his legs in the sand:

Levi walking across the bridge on the playground:

The boys:

Caleb and Daddy on the playground: