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French toast comes from horses

This morning Adam asked me where milk came from (he knows, he just loves to talk about how it comes from a cow). Then he asked me what comes from a pig, I told him bacon. Then he asked me what comes from a horse. I said nothing because i wasn’t ready to explain to him that they eat horse in France (although he’s a total carnivore and doesn’t care that food comes from animals even animals he loves). He thought about it for a while and then he said ‘I know what comes from horses’, I asked him what and he replied ‘French toast’. I’m not sure why his little brain came up with French toast. Maybe because he loves horses and he loves french toast?

A little while before that we were in his room playing and he said ‘It’s so warm in here’ I said it is nice and warm He said ‘It’s because the air conditioner is on’. Oh Adam, what are you going to do when you have to live somewhere where you really need a heater. We’ve come a long way from when he would say ti ti for thank you and ni mi for excuse me. I love having conversations with him and he loves to talk. He gets upset when we’re not listening and will say ‘Mommy, it’s my turn to speak’.

We took Adam out with us for some dessert the other night and ended up staying for a while way past his bedtime. It’s amazing that he’s at an age where it’s more fun to bring him places than to leave him at home. This of course applies to when he is NOT throwing a toddler tantrum.

This morning I was trying to convince him to do something and he turned to me and said he would do it ‘mommy when I growed up, trust me on this’. Adam I already trust you more than you know but first, please stop growing up so fast!

10 months

Is it just me or does it seem like I have month posts every other day!? How is my little baby 10 months old? Almost a year. How is he already cruising around furniture and crawling everywhere at top speed. How is he already saying dada (just today!). And trying to be everywhere that Adam is and eat everything that we’re eating and just getting to be oh so very big. I so often think about how I’m going to blink and Malcolm will be running around and talking to me like an adult just like Adam is.

Malcolm is such a sweetheart. He can’t help smiling back when you smile at him. He has his first tooth coming through and he still has a smile for everyone around. He loves cuddling and tucks his head on my shoulder and smiles shyly at people. He loves Adam so much and anytime Adam is laughing he’s laughing. He loves, loves, loves toys and of course his favorite toys are all of Adams, who is slooooowly learning to share. We went to the mall to frame some pictures the other day, it was late and both boys were past their bedtime and Adam was tickling Malcolm’s toes who was giggling hysterically. It was the first time they were just playing on their own and it made me so happy. As Malcolm gets older I can the two of them playing more and starting (slowly) to enjoy each other. This of course does not mean there are not lots of ‘discussions’ over what is ‘mine’. But it was so sweet to watch them and makes me so excited for all the moments to come when they’re playing together and enjoying each other.

I love watermelon!!

I figured out how to open the doors!

Halloween Take One and Take Two

Ok, I should probably show some Halloween pictures before Thanksgiving rolls around! And yes we are still on Iphone pics all around. Enjoy!

For Halloween we were lucky enough to have two parties. The first one was the Embassy party. Since Halloween is not a local holiday the only Halloween here are parties organized through the Embassy, expat groups and our building which is mostly expats.

There were games and treats and trick or treating. Adam was the monster from Where the Wild Things Are. Adam told me after trick or treating around the Embassy compound and eating all the candy he could grab at the party ‘This is the best day ever’. Just wait until Christmas buddy!

I love these two. They are such good friends. The minute Adam found Victoria he was happy as a clam and wanted to stay right next to her.

Here’s a throwback to these two cuties last year.

Anyway, enough reminiscing mommy, back to my candy eating. I have never met an almost three year old who is so adept at eating all the candy off a candy necklace.

I repeat, do NOT get in between this monster and his candy necklace!

Here is Adam’s friend Jeddy from school, he was so cute and so excited to see him. He ran up to him at the party to say ‘Hi’. It was the cutest thing ever 🙂 ok, maybe for his mommy it was the cutest thing ever!

We were lucky this year, Grandma Yuyu was here to celebrate Halloween with us! Last year she was here for Thanksgiving and this year Halloween! Sorry Grandma, candy necklaces are there to be eaten, no time to smile for the camera 🙂

The Halloween festivities continued with some pumpkin carving at home. Adam was sort of into this. He’s not a big fan of seeds…its been a ongoing uphill battle to convince him he can eat the white watermelon seeds. We’ve now convinced him they are part of the watermelon and can be eaten. But here we had some seed pulling out which involved getting his hands super dirty, something Adam is not into. He was more than happy to watch daddy pull out the seeds. Although he did get into when I gave him a spoon to help scoop.

Party number two was at our building. It’s our first year here since we just moved and it was pretty fancy. There was tons of candy and food and an elaborate puppet show. Adam and his friend Ben LOVED the puppet show.

Of course we live in the Philippines so our super hot costume didn’t last very long but that’s ok, we still had fun. What will we do when we no longer live someplace where to make up for the lack of neighborhood trick or treating there’s an elaborate party.

And then after the party there’s trick or treating in our building. Here’s the first house we went to. There were about a hundred balloons out in the hallway, a full buffet of candy and inside the apartment a full blown party with waiters in tuxedos and champagne being served! Sure beats the hershey kisses I bought to give out. Maybe I need to step it up a bit next year…

It was so cute this year to see Adam really get into Halloween and trick or treating. We did have some moments after, like when Adam came into our room at 5am holding a half ripped hand of popcorn talking about how he was trying to get the candy (why girl scouts do you put a candy corn under all the popcorn in the plastic glove) and I followed him to the living room to find popcorn strewn all over the place. But it was still worth it, even at 5am! He was so cute and so into it!

Malcolm on the other hand of course fell asleep during both parties and it being the Philippines it was way to hot to leave him in his warm fuzzy costume. So I had to stage the below Halloween pictures (two weeks later and thus the tardiness of this Halloween post). I ordered his spider costume last year when I was pregnant and of course I didn’t try it on until right before Halloween. I’m not going to lie…it could have been cuter. But Malcolm is cute no matter what so for your viewing pleasure here you go!

We are NOT a fan of hats!

Happy Halloween my sweet monster and spider!

Aquarium– take 5

It was Grandma’s last weekend in Manila and we decided to take her to the Manila aquarium. We hadn’t been to the aquarium in a while and it was fun to see how excited Adam was about seeing everything. It was also Malcolm’s first trip to the aquarium and he loved it!

We’re pretty lucky to have this aquarium in Manila. It’s no Sea World but it does the trick. Performing sea lions, sharks, popcorn- who could ask for anything more.

At first someone insisted on sitting in Malcolm’s stroller….but soon enough we were ready to get out!

Two boys taking in the fish.

After a sea lion show which ended with Malcolm sleeping on Grandma, I took Adam up to see the penguins. My favorite part of the aquarium is right next to the Penguins. It’s Manila’s equivalent of a winter wonderland. It’s basically a sheet of ice with Christmas themed decor. But it’s Adam’s only experience with cold in two years so I always love taking him in and letting him see how cold it can be. We have so many books that talk about snow, snowmen and ice and it’s nice to let Adam see in person what it’s all about. Being a true tropical baby he made it about 5 minutes before he wanted out.

Spring Break, Toddler edition

Adam had his first semester break from school this last week. It was Adam’s first break from school and it made Adam seem like such a grown up. Luckily Grandma was here to help Adam have a fun time!

For Halloween Adam and Malcolm painted some pumpkins. We had a whole bunch left over from our ‘pumpkin picking’ day and Adam was super excited to paint them. Malcolm was super excited too but to quote Adam ‘Malcolm’s a baby, he can’t paint. Right mommy? Malcolm’s a baby’. What oh what are we going to do when Malcolm is no longer a baby and Adam needs to share his paintbrush….

Adam went to Kidzone, a play area in a mall near us with some of his friends. I love this picture. He looks so happy to be hanging out with his friends. He even got to ‘breastfeed a cow’ as our wonderful nanny said. When I asked her to explain I realize she meant milk a cow 🙂

Don’t think Malcolm didn’t get in on the fun.

And when we ran out of entertainment Adam was able to amuse himself.

And when all else fails there’s always books to read! Current trending favorites.

United Nations

Adam had United Nations day last week at school. We were supposed to dress up as a country where we’re from. We didn’t really have an Egyptian or Greek outfit so we improvised. Adam looked more like an Arab sheik but still still pretty cute.

His school is only about a five* minute drive from the Embassy so I decided to take lunch and go over and see their Friday performance.

(*Five minutes when there is no traffic, which in Manila is never the case. This five minute drive has taken as long as two hours, but I was lucky and the drive only took me 10)

Adam’s class put on a super cute performance and sang a song about the continents. His school does a pretty good job teaching through song. He might not know it but he already knows the days of the week and the continents. Here is what it looks like when you try to take a picture of 20 2-4 year olds.

Here is Adam with his BFF Victoria. These two are so cute. I asked them to take a picture together and they cuddled right up!

Here they are singing Adam’s favorite song. Words for all who are curious below:

SLIPPERY FISH

Slippery fish, slippery fish, sliding through the water,

Slippery fish, slippery fish, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp!

Oh, no! It’s been eaten by an?

Octopus, octopus, squiggling in the water

Octopus, octopus, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp!

Oh, no! It’s been eaten by a?

Tuna fish, tuna fish, splashing in the water,

Tuna fish, tuna fish, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp!

Oh, no! It’s been eaten by a?

Great white shark, great white shark, lurking in the water,

Great white shark, great white shark, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp!

Oh, no! It’s been eaten by a?

Humongous whale, humongous whale, spouting in the water,

Humongous whale, humongous whale,

Gulp! ? Gulp! ? Gulp! ? BURP! Excuse Me!

8.8 kilos of smiles!

In honor of Malcolm’s ninth month (three days before his tenth month) here is a medley showcasing his new talents.

Talent number one, eating 🙂 This boy loves to eat. He is now weighing in at 8.8 kilos which in American is 20 pounds 🙂 This is a pretty big accomplishment for someone who was born at just 4 pounds. He’s now five time his birth weight!

Malcolm’s nine month checkup was a family affair. We all went.

Number two- sitting in a high chair and eating some real food at restaurants.

Wanting to play with everything in sight!

Smiling at everything, but especially his big brother. Everywhere that Adam is Malcolm wants to be! He watches Adam from across the room and tries so hard to be near him wherever he is. It’s pretty sweet to watch. Adam of course wants all of Malcolm’s toys but Malcolm never even minds when Adam takes whatever toy is in his hand.

Crawling! And doing it super fast!!

Getting into everything!

Standing every chance we can get.

Malcolm is such a sweet little boy but he is also persistent! When he wants something he will squirrel and crawl his way over until he can get to it.

He squeals with delight when Randy and I get home from work and heads right over. He loves taking baths with Adams and is such a happy squirmy boy when we’re putting his pajamas on. He loves toys and he’ll play with Adam’s old toys forever.

As the month go by it’s so much fun to see his personality come out and see glimpses of the little boy he’ll become. He’s getting closer to the age that he’ll be able to play with Adam and I can’t wait to see what good friends they’ll become!

We love you Malcolm!

Boo!

We’re pretty lucky to have a great Aunt who always sends the boys their holiday pajamas. I don’t think Aunt Sandra has any idea how much we appreciate it. I always think about it at least a week too late to order any cute holiday stuff from the US. But lucky for the boys their Aunt Sandra already has it in the mail (and it gets here before the actual holiday, pretty impressive!). As for the below pics, it may seem like Aunt Sandra sent only one pair of pajamas that we’ve divvied up between the boys but she did in fact send one pajama per child.

Even though it was just 93 degrees, mommy decided the boys should wear their Halloween gear for some good old fashioned fall pumpkin picking, so we had to spread out the long sleeves and pants.

Oh and it’s everyone’s favorite time, Iphone pictures! Camera is being serviced so bear with us. I will try to put a border on every photo so they look artsy.

Malcolm’s little hand on Adam’s leg just kills me. These two boys are still new enough friends that I love when there is unconscious cuddling. I love when they don’t even realize they’re touching, It’s my favorite 🙂

Of course pumpkin picking was smack in the middle of this one’s nap so this little pumpkin slept through the whole day.

But this big pumpkin was awake and loved it! He jumped right into the staged pumpkin patch and picked a whole bunch of pumpkins.

We met our friends there and tried to get just one picture where all three toddlers were smiling…

So close! Vivian, put the popcorn down!!

I love how Adam’s oblivious to the popcorn fight taking place behind him. Funny story about that popcorn bag, which the girl scouts selling it thought it would be a good idea to put a candy all the way down in the tippy top of the fingers. Adam came into our room at 5:15 am this moring, so a late morning for us, with an almost empty glove of popcorn talking about how he was trying to reach the candy. We didn’t know what this meant until we went out to the living room and saw popcorn everywhere. Well played girl scouts. Trick or treat indeed. Maybe next time just fill the glove with candy corns and we’ll call it even.

Grandma Yuyu was here to help us pick out some good pumpkins!

Yup, still asleep!

Finally awake!

Nothing like ending pumpkin day with some sprinkle pancakes and a pumpkin cookie!

Weekend at Trisara

With Grandma Yuyu here we decided it was the perfect time to take a trip just Randy and me (thanks Grandma!!). We kissed the boys goodbye, stopped for some yummy pizza at Project Pie before our flight and headed to the airport.

Our flight was two hours delayed and we didn’t get in until 2 am, but you know what, we didn’t care at all because we had no kids with us! Two hour delay, piece of cake! We’ll just sleep the whole entire flight!

We woke up late the next morning and headed down to a yummy breakfast by the beach.

After breakfast we had zero responsibilities so we decided to head to Nikki beach club and do nothing all day. It was amazing! We went for a massage, had some lunch with wine, hung out in the pool, tanned on the daybeds, read our books and soaked in every minute in the sun!
We did nothing all day long and then went home to watch the sunset from our room before a yummy fish dinner at the hotel.

The next morning we woke up and took the friendly golf cart down to breakfast.

We then moved ten feet from the breakfast table to the pool and stayed there the rest of the day. Do you blame us?

Actually, we did eventually leave to have a late lunch by our little hut. Then we took a long nap. A perfect day!

Meanwhile back at home:

That night we headed into Phuket town. We walked around the markets for a bit and while we didn’t find much to buy it was fun to walk around and see the town.

We headed over to a yummy local Thai restaurant. It doesn’t look like much but the food was delicious.

The next morning we were up bright and early…oh wait that’s right we had no kids! We got to sleep in and after a lazy lie in we eventually headed down for our last yummy breakfast. We called the boys and got to see what they were up to for the day and tell them how much we missed them.

Then it was back to our pool. Do you blame us?

You can’t tell from this picture but i managed to get super sunburned even though it was cloudy when I was laying out…actually maybe you can tell from this picture.

Lunch was another other yummy Thai meal right by the pool.

Followed by a walk on the beautiful beach.

We had time for one last sunset before it was time to head back to reality.

But it was a lot easier leaving all this behind knowing that these two peanuts were waiting for us at home!

The Farm

Adam LOVES farms lately. He loves barns, horses, animals, animal sounds, tractors and all things farm related. Grandma Yuyu arrived last week and gave Adam a big red barn. Adam loves it! Malcolm just loves the opportunity to put small toys in his mouth, I jest people, we only give him the large ones.

It was perfect timing when his school announced a field trip to the farm I knew Adam would have an amazing day.

Look how excited this little peanut was.

Adam’s first field trip!

The school arranged for Adam to plant a little tree and some rice and pick some eggplants and radishes. He didn’t get to do this last time so it was such a nice experience. Adam came home with his eggplants and radishes and wanted to try them right away.