Family Movie Time

Well, we tried again, and again confirmed that Spencer is still not quite old enough to enjoy going to the movies. We went to see The Wild, but Spencer needed a break walking around in the middle, and also needed to relocate to a new seat at another point towards the end. He still talks about the "tree falling down and the lion got a boo boo." And he really enjoyed when I dropped him off at school this morning and told him to have a "Really Nice Day."

This is the fifth of our five weeks juggling Spencer and travel. He has been bouncing around with a single parent for most of this time. With any luck, after next weekend all three of us will be in Houston together for at least a month, and within a few more weeks Jim will be on a short summer break and we will be able to kick back and relax.

And Jim and I also got to sneak in a visit with Katie to visit 12 day old Henry. He was sleeping sweetly the whole time we were there and just seeing all of the 'baby gear' around brought back memories...

NY visit

Spencer and I are in NY for Passover. So far, it has been quite a trip. His most impressive new vocabulary word is "forsythia" - and gets to practice often as they are omnipresent with spring right around the corner.

It's funny how trips to NY can make me feel so comfortable and out of place at the same time. I can't help but feel frumpy at the park, as I see all of the other mommies in their oh-so-hip casual wear, and the kiddos in pint-sized Merrills. But, I also felt like I fit in knowing my Spencer was one of at least three tots there who had that name. Or at Big Truck Day on Tuesday (how cool is that we were here for this awesome event!) where my POS Graco stroller stood out like a sore thumb amidst a sea of Maclarens and Combis and Peg Peregos. Yesterday I went into the city (without Spencer) for a hair appointment Devachan which is known for curly hair. Instantly I felt at home. After doing some shopping at H&M in Soho (which I was secretly hoping to squeeze in on this trip after seeing that store as a favorite on What Not to Wear) I felt great walking around Manhattan. Really, really great. The city is so energizing, and despite having made recent comparisons when I was in India, the flow of the street traffic for cars and pedestrians was quite orderly. But then had to admit that I was indeed out of my element as I had to place a call to find out where to head to pick up the correct subway line (because I was confident I could make it around with no map.) Karl and I ate lunch outside at Le Zie and again it felt like this was an every day event to grab a bite. At the end of the journey, when I got back to Chappaqua, I realized it had taken all day to simply get a haircut and have lunch, plus $25 for transportation.

Holiday-wise, this trip has been great. We celebrated two wonderful seders with fabulous food and friends and family. And Spencer was a huge hit each night asking (part of) the four questions in Hebrew. He was such a show off with a captive audience!

Here is a photo album with pictures from NY.

Healthy Kids Day & Bluebonnets

Saturday was the second annual "Healthy Kids Day & Bluebonnets" outing for Spencer and me. The weather could not have been any better at the YMCA's Healthy Kids Day. Spencer had a BLAST swinging golf clubs, throwing baseballs, throwing footballs, dribbling soccer balls, coloring kites and puzzles, checking out a fire truck and science tricks. After a glorious morning, we headed out to Brenham to take pictures and stop at Bluebell for some ice cream. Horrible traffic 20 miles from our destination forced us to turn around and discover a wonderful new field slightly closer to Houston. Spencer was not at all cooperative taking pictures (more or less refuse to sit down) so I'm glad we didn't spend the extra time/gas to continue our journey to Brenham. There are a few really nice shots of Spencer in the pictures from our wonderful day.

Henry is here

After a valiant effort, Katie delivered Henry via c-section on 04/05/06 (cool b-day!) The big guy weighed in at 9 pounds and 12 ounces! Oof. Get some rest momma - you earned it!

Reverse Psychology

Every time we enter into this battle of wits with Spencer, my mind always flashes to Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd arguing about 'wabbit season.' Like any two year-old, Spencer can be amazingly stubborn. But it (almost) never fails that when we can't get him to yield by asking politely, we can take the opposite stance and he immediately delivers what we want. For example, yesterday, no amount of coaxing could convince Spencer to eat the potatoes on his plate. But when we said "Spencer doesn't know how to eat potatoes" he instantly shouted "YES! YES! YES! Spencer knows how to eat potatoes!!!" and then stabbed a piece with his fork and shoved it in his mouth, as Jim and I grinned across the table at each other.

It is great to have our little family all together in the same city after several weeks apart (and after this we will be spilt again until late April.) On Saturday Spencer and I checked out the Houston Children's Festival which was amazing. We primarily went to see Rachel from Signing Time and I don't think it could have gone any better! Spencer was called up on stage to sign and sing along to a few songs he knew, and I got to talk with Rachel afterwards and was pleased to hear that she had nothing but good things to say about the Baby Signs Program. Spencer also saw his first juggling act ever and was completely mesmerized. He has been practicing juggling at home every day (video will follow soon.) Just wait until he gets to to see his cousin Michael again! Sunday was family time together picking strawberries up at King's Orchard. It took Spencer a little bit of practice to not shove his thumb into them, but he was a champ by the end and thoroughly enjoyed the day. Here are pics from our great weekend.

home in Houston, looking back

It's good to be home. At breakfast, Spencer paused while eating and said, "mommy came back from India!" That's right, baby.

The travel was rough, to say the least. Flying home took just shy of 24 hours - 16 hours from Delhi to Newark, almost 4 hours laying over, and almost four more hours on a plane back to Houston. Not to mention the incredible amount of domestic travel we did while we were there, an additional four flights in seven days. Ouch. I think we added up that we spent about the same number of hours in meetings as we did in planes.

A few thoughts on the journey:
- Simply driving around the cities was such an experience. Transportation and traffic in India is governed by a completely different set of standards that can only be experienced first-hand. I had heard all of the stories from co-workers about cows in the road, and anything with wheels is fair game, but until you feel what it is like to be a part of it, the description doesn't make sense.
- Some of the hotels there were the most fabulous ones I have ever seen in my life. Absolutely stunning. I had no idea that level of opulence would be found on the trip.
- Dining was its own experience. I kept an open mind and tried many new dishes - some I did enjoy, others not so much. I was laughed at once by my co-workers when I thought one of the side dishes on a flight was too spicy, only to learn that was supposed to be the 'refreshing element' of the meal!

As my boss joked, I did quite poor with jetlag management. I'm still not fully adjusted, but am glad daylight savings time has arrived this weekend, because I am tired!

Although it is long as we visited many cities, the India photo album is updated with pictures from our final days in Delhi added at the end.

Blogging from Delhi (again)

A return trip to this city for a few days, and now it's time to head home. In a about 30 hours I'll be back in Houston. Last set of pics will be uploaded then, including ones from todays visit around the city seeing a few cultural points of interest including India Gate and a Gandhi monument and shopping for crafts in the Dilli Haat. It's been an awesome trip. Really great to meet co-workers and spend time traveling around the country. But looking forward to returning.

Blogging from Bangalore

Bangalore has been great. I arrived Friday night in time for our team dinner where I got to meet many of my co-workers resident here who I have only communicated with via phone and email. Our hotel was the nicest one yet (see pictures added at the end of the India photo album) with a terrific Szechwan restaurant. We also had some time to do a little shopping. Bangalore is quite different than the cities we've visited so far - seems much more modern here. It was so relaxing to have a couple of days off from working, and to leisurely wander around our hotel grounds, as well as visit the amazing Leela Palace hotel. Suddenly it's 1:00am Tuesday, and we are getting ready to leave work and head back to the hotel to catch a few hours sleep before heading to the airport in the morning.

Blogging from Hyderabad

I am getting ready to leave Hyderabad, and it has certainly been my favorite city so far. It is just as crazy and busy as Delhi and Kolkata, but far cleaner. Seven of us flew together here on Wednesday, and six departed on Thursday for Chennai. I remained behind in Hyderabad to continue working. But this was a good thing because a) I *finally* had a day without flying to get out and see some sights (we work evenings here, but have been flying each day so far) and b) I was really excited to spend extra time with this partner focusing on improving HP eSupport (chat & email.) It was very special of the partners to include us in presenting awards to outstanding agents during their reward and recognition ceremony. Today, one of the managers from the partner guided me all around the city. We toured Golkanda Fort, saw the Charminar in the middle of the old city, viewed the giant statue of Buddha on Hussain Sagar Lake, drove around upscale neighborhood of Banjara Hills, checked out Hitech City where many companies are setting up shop, and made sure I didn't get ripped buy buying pearls (which Hyderabad is famous for.)

My pictures from India are finally uploaded and captioned.

Blogging from Kolkata

Another day, another city. I have been taking my malaria medicine on schedule, and I sure am putting my faith in it because the car ride back to the hotel this evening was shared with many mosquitos. I have taken a few photos, but we haven't actually gotten out and about to sightsee yet, and they are all from the back seat of cars. Which is a bit distracting because there are so many other things to focus on. Like not hitting the dogs or cows, or bicycles, or trucks or potholes. Flying domestic in India is a bit interesting. But after tomorrow's flight it will be 48 hours before I get on another plane. What a welcome respite! It's 2:30am here, and definitely time to get some sleep!

Spencer's Greatest Hits, Vol.1

While Bonnie is away in India, Spencer decided to serenade her via video. He was in rare form tonight, and bounced (literally) from one song to another... He warmed up with Twinkle, Twinkle... and then broke into The Star-Spangled Banner. His grand finale was reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. I uploaded the video for Bonnie to check out, but I don't think Spencer would mind sharing it...

Blogging from Delhi

It's been a very long day. Actually, that's not quite right because it's already Tuesday here, and Monday only lasted about 10 hours or so, almost all in an airplane. Whatever the case, I have made it safely to India, and am told that Spencer misses me. Of course, the past two weeks he's been a daddy's boy, but I guess all that has changed since I left. No pictures from here yet, stay tuned.

Zube 2006

Although a family outing did not materialize today (Jim was stuck in an accouting review at Rice) Spencer and I headed out to Zube Park to ride the trains for the first public run day of the season. Sadly, we were not able to get through the afternoon without Spencer going to timeout (after throwing playground mulch for the third time after being asked not to) but overall it was a pretty great afternoon. But I still wish we had more consistency in our days. Breakfast was simply awful this morning - Spencer didn't eat a single bite of pancakes or strawberries, which he loves. And he melted down at bathtime too. I guess we're making progress over where we were last month, but I miss that agreeable little guy who was my buddy last summer.

funny man

We've always found Spencer to be quite goofy. But now that he's talking, and singing, his comedy is brought up to a new level. Last night I was hoping he could show off his rendition of The Star Spangled Banner to mom (because it is truly awesome when he goes for those high notes!) and he just wanted to sing the song his way. Essentially, he sang along until something caught his eye and then plugged that noun in instead. So it sounded something like "Oh say can you ICE CREAM! by the dawn's early ANIMAL HOSPIAL! what so proudly we SCARY BEETLE!..." Oh brother.

Happy Purim

Last night we went to temple to celebrate Purim and Spencer had a blast! He spun his gragger so enthusiastically he even bonked himself in the head once! And he loved watching the Lion King version of the Purim play. Here are pictures of Spencer from from last Sunday's Purim carnival!

Bada Bing!

Man it was awesome seeing the gang back on The Sopranos last night. Even more amazing than last season (almost two years ago!) since now we watched them in HD on a huge widescreen tv. Just like Tony was in my living room! But somehow during the time off I forgot how disturbing it is to watch the show. How it turns my stomach just watching people get beat up, and how it bugs me long after the show ends that people are powerless to control their destiny.

i hate salespeople

and yesterday I had to be one of them. Although I was pleased to have the opportunity to set up at table at Babies R Us and share information about the Baby Signs Program, I really hate trying to foist stuff on strangers. As Jim noted, it's pretty close to bottom of the barrel cold calling (well, maybe warm since they are already in a baby store) and even though most every one was indeed interested and glad I had stopped to talk with them, I still don't like the whole deal very much. Hopefully this generated enough interest to encourage folks to sign up for workshops for more information, but most likely it ws just one more of the required seven touches before they come knocking.

HUGE thanks to Lori and Michelle and Jennifer who helped me so much this week!

Work Night

Tonight was 'work night' in Spencer's class at school. What this meant was that all of the parents were invited to drop by at the end of the day and spend a little time with their kiddo while he or she showed off their skills doing some work. (Note: 'work' is the Montessori term used for most of their activities, puzzles, etc.) Spencer was just delighted to have the two of us there as a captive audience to show off his (almost!) mastery of different skills. But it was also quite a sight to see other parents, and some older siblings, huddled around to check out what the kids were working on. And everyone in the room was just beaming with pride. Awww.

I want to be a...

This evening we were reading a book about Dora, who was talking about all different jobs people do and explaining that we have choices to be whatever we want when we grow up. Spencer identified the pictures of the doctor, the policeman, the soccer player, the train driver, the teacher, etc. I asked, "Spencer, what do you want to be when you grow up?" And he looked at me and responded, "I want to be a ladybug!"

resurfacing

The last few weeks have been outrageously busy. I though all would be calm and quiet once the exam was behind me, but that didn't exactly happen. Last weekend we had a fabulous visit with mom down from NY and fabulous weather to enjoy here too! We went to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (just the livestock show, actually) and Spencer had a blast seeing all of the "chickens and eggs and ducks and llamas and chicks and pigs and chickens!" as he was still recounting this morning, "and dinosaurs too!" Umm, no.

Spencer also had his first sleep over last weekend as a trial run to prepare for later in March when Jim will be in class and I'll be out of the country. Fortunately, it was a huge success. Spencer had such a blast, ate everything that was prepared for dinner and breakfast (not a big shocker) and behaved very well. At least that's what our friends told us, and we believe them because they are looking forward to the next sleepover!

Here are some pictures from the livestock show and a trip to check out Oprah's efforts to create Angel Lane.