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When did..

When did my little baby get big enough to eat jam on toast. And by eat I mean lick all the jam off and insist I put some more on.

You there, more jelly please.

When did my little baby get old enough to have lovely ladies come over to sit with him on the couch. Remind me to get rid of this couch before Adam starts dating, it makes it way to easy to accomplish the old arm stretch over the shoulder move.

When did my little baby become old enough to carry his own backpack (ok, he’s not really old enough but he insisted even if he started toppling backwards), dress himself (ok, he didn’t the nanny did…) and walk out the front door while saying bye to his mommy and daddy and hardly looking back (ok, this really did happen – sob).

Mom, please don’t embarrass me and cry in front of all my friends.

What, you think I can’t handle a couple law books in there, try me dad.

Let’s go Maria, Arlo awaits.

What, who says I can’t bring an infant teething ring with me.

When did my baby get old enough to order for himself and drink a whole fruit shake.

When did my baby get old enough to play with London bus. We bought this for him when he was only a little bean in my belly before we left London. I was only three months pregnant and had yet to meet this amazing little bean that was growing in my belly.

Three weeks!

In three short weeks I’ll be in Bali with….

Aunt Daf!!!!

and the original photo bomber 🙂

Uncle Meej!! Can’t wait to see you guys! And neither can this guy.

Cultural Differences

When we first moved to Manila I watched a video provided by the embassy on the life and culture here. One of the things that stuck with me was when they talked about how Filipinos are not confrontational and often have a hard time answering no. So the answer is always yes. But there are many different types of yes and it’s often up to me to figure out which yes is being said. Is it a yes which means yes, a yes which means no, or a yes that means maybe. You have to watch the facial expressions and subtle clues to try to make out which yes it is.

A yes face

Well, Adam has decided this week that his answer to everything will be no. Sometimes, like when its a diaper change or washing his hands, he really means no. Sometimes, like when it’s whether he wants watermelon or to go downstairs or to play with his friend Arlo, it’s really a yes. And sometimes when he really really wants something, like to call daddy or go on the swings he’ll even answer yes. So Adam, I guess we just have to work on our cultural differences.

Regardless of whether Adam is saying yes or no I could listen to him talk forever. His new words this week include bull, pool, golf, samalat po (thank you in Tagalog), no more (said with his hands up), please, Das for Aunt Daf and truck. He asks me what EVERYTHING is. I love it and when I explain what it is, he says oh after. Another favorite is he’ll put anything to his ear and try to call daddy, a phone, a coaster shaped like a fish, a toothbrush. We’re not picky.

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?videoUrl=http://redirector.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?id%3D45bc0326b383e3a3%26itag%3D5%26source%3Dpicasa%26cmo%3Dsensitive_content%253Dyes%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1374380333%26sparams%3Did,itag,source,ip,ipbits,expire%26signature%3DD1D4ADFBCB8EE7385D11340EF8B7037EE4A4C344.8A669080A64D28EF8F41A7B3DAA94A017EA401A8%26key%3Dlh1

Mindful Fathering

I knew Randy was the man I wanted to marry when I realized what an amazing dad he would be. This happened about 6 months before we started dating. But even then I could never have imagined what an amazing dad he would end up becoming.

When Adam was six weeks old I took a mindful mothering class at my yoga studio. It was the best thing I could ever have done. It got me out of the house, helped me meet one of my best mommy friends in DC and helped me be a better mom. The focus was to train yourself to enjoy the moments of your infants life as they’re happening instead of worrying about everything else, something that is so difficult for new moms. It taught me ways to stop and just focus on a task instead of wishing the task was done the whole time I was doing it. For example, when you have to wash the dishes you don’t wash them to finish washing them. You just wash them. You focus on the task at hand not the end result. With Adam, it helped me remember to just focus on nursing or walking around with him nuzzled up against me or rocking him, instead of the end result, which for the first six months was to get him to sleep and stay asleep.

What amazes me about Randy is that even without this class he is a natural at mindful fathering. He never focuses on getting the task completed with Adam, he just enjoys being in the moment. He is never rushed and never loses his patience. He enjoys the time he has with Adam, whether it’s playing with him in the bath, reading him a long bedtime story or doing what he does best, just playing with him on his level. So many times lately I have to remind them that it’s time for dinner, bath or bed because they’re so involved in their playing. I look at them together all the time and think how lucky I am to have Randy to parent Adam with me. He reminds me every day to focus on the positive and see all the wonder and joy that comes with being Adam’s parent. He helps me love Adam just as he is and take in every moment of him. I know that Adam will be a better person for having Randy as his dad and that makes me so happy.

Happy Father’s Day to an amazing dad! Adam is one lucky boy.

Corregidor Island

Out in the mouth of Manila Bay, is Corregidor Island. I’ve always heard of it and it’s been on our list of places to visit. Ok, it’s been on Randy’s long list of sightseeing. Our friends Joel and Sarah came to visit us this week and we finally got to go. Ok, Randy had to go to work and I left Adam at home. But I got to go.

We drove out to the ferry which leaves once a day at 8. It’s an hour and fifteen minute ferry ride out to the island. Luckily we all have our sea legs because it was a bit rocky out there. We’ve officially entered rainy season over here and there were definitely some clouds on the horizon.

On all the islands we’ve been to, the water has been so beautiful and blue. It was so sad to see how dirty the water here in the Bay is. It was full of garbage. It’s easy to forget that we live in a developing country sometimes, but moments like this really bring it back.

All that in between the wave and the boat is trash.

All that on the shoreline, trash.

When we docked, the island looked beautiful and there were trolleys waiting to take us around.

A little history for you. Because of it’s location in the mouth of the bay, Corregidor island was the largest of the islands that formed the harbor defense of Manila. The Americans fortified the island to defend Manila from attacks by enemy warships during the American occupation of the country.

During World War II, Corregidor was heavily bombed by the Japanese and in 1942 the Battle of Corregidor was the culmination of the Japanese campaign for the conquest of the Philippines. Corregidor (and the Philippines) were under Japanese rule until it was recaptured by American and Filipino forces in 1945.

The ruins left on the island now serve as a military memorial to American, Filipino and Japanese soldiers who served or lost their lives on the island.

Sarah explained it best when she said she felt like she was in a Lost episode. It’s exactly how it felt. You’re surrounded by a green lush forest and then out of nowhere is an old bombed out military barracks. It was so calm, quiet and gray from the rain and had it’s own special eeriness about it.

There were old gun storage buildings all around the island. I’m not much of a scaredy cat, but I actually had to go back and get Joel and Sarah to walk through this one with me. It was so dark and I kept having flashbacks of Blair Witch Project. We made it out alive, only seeing some bats along the way.

Who was with us on our tour you ask? Well, we had two priests on our trolley and the entire Mr. International Philippines.

Another sign that you live in a developing country is when they let you walk around dilapidated ruins with no concern about injuries or lawsuits. Our tour guide did warn us very sternly to stay away from this sign due to…..bees.

But we were allowed to walk around here….

and here…

Even the lighthouse involved climbing these stairs. But I made it to the top!

But the view was worth the super steep stairs.

Don’t worry, no one was injured in the taking of these pictures and no rocks fell on us.

Our tour guide had some coins from the Philippines during the US occupation.

One side is Filipino and the other side American. The coins were even minted in the US!

The island was beautiful and even though it was a rainy day we got to see all of it and learn quite a lot about the history of the island and the Philippines.

It’s always great when visitors come and you get to sightsee with them and remember that you live in a country with so many things to see. Thanks Sarah and Joel! See you in a week and have fun in El Nido.

Sunday Funday

When we lived in London we used to have Sunday fundays. We would head over to our local pub and spend the day there, reading the paper, having friends drop by and eventually having some dinner.

We’ve decided to reinstate Sunday fundays. However with an 18 month old these now start at 9 am and involve a child friendly place (not that pubs aren’t child friendly 🙂

This Sunday Adam decided to take Randy to the Mind Museum. We obviously love this place. Every time we go Adam discovers something entirely new.

These days when I tell Adam we’re going out and to get his shoes, he immediately runs to his car and gets in.

What follows is ten minutes of coaxing to convince him to get out so we can go to the real car. This has varying levels of success. We eventually got Adam out of his car and into our car and headed over. What I love is how Adam is into something new every time we go to this museum.

We are in for it…Adam did not want to leave this video game. I foresee a lot of Nintendo in our future.

After a full morning of exploring and raisin eating we headed home. A quick three hour nap later we headed down to the pool for a swim. Adam has become such a great swimmer. He is swimming all by himself (with floaties of course). Quite a change from when we first arrived and he was afraid of the pool.

After our swim we headed up for some playing and relaxing before dinner.

We always end Sundays with a trip to Aria, our local pizzeria. The food is great and everyone loves Adam there. It’s close enough that we can walk. There’s crayons for Adam, wine for the adults and pizza for everyone. It’s a great way to end a great day.

My long week

The commute this week was a real killer.

I put in some long days in the office doing some tedious work.

What you don’t believe me that my week was long?

Ok, there was some down time.

It is after all important to take some time out for you.

But most days I had to eat at my desk.

But it’s important to keep a positive attitude.

After when I left the office the work didn’t stop.

But at least I have good people in my life who remind me to take a moment and appreciate my life.

It’s not easy being me but someone has to do it 🙂

–Adam

I want this

Last week I got an email from Randy, the subject- I want this. Inside was this Times article- Team Taco

Adam’s new favourite word this week is fish (along with eyes and nose) so I figured in honor of Adam we would have a fish taco night.

We headed to the market and got a red lapu lapu fish. It’s a local, delicious white fish. Adam got to watch the live fish splashing around for a while and even snuck in a swing ride at the playground next to the market.

Then it was home for a nap and marinating the fish.

I made a yummy salsa with hot jalapenos while Randy cooked the fish up.

I was a little worried Adam would get upset eating fish when he loves them so much but he got really excited when we told him we were eating fish and kept pointing at the fish fillets and saying ish, ish, ish over and over. We left the sour cream out, used local fish and whole wheat fajitas but followed the rest of the recipe. We also added the spicy salsa, which was great!

Adam LOVED the fish. I think he ate a quarter of the fish all on his own. This dish is delicious! Go get some fish and make this!

A happy full boy

Family – Meal Fish Tacos

Ingredients

2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes, or to taste
1 1/2 pounds firm white fish fillets, like cod or red snapper, skinless
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups sour cream
2 chipotle chilies in adobo, finely chopped, or more to taste
12 white corn tortillas
3 tablespoons neutral oil, like grapeseed or canola
6 scallions, trimmed and cut into 4-inch lengths
5 radishes, trimmed and sliced thin
8 ounces Cheddar cheese, grated
2 limes, cut into wedges

Preparation

1.: Preheat oven to 350. Combine the chili powder, garlic powder, paprika, cumin and red-pepper flakes in a shallow dish. Season the fish fillets aggressively with salt and pepper, then press them into the spice mixture, turning to coat. Set aside.
2.: Combine the sour cream and the chipotles in a small bowl, and stir to combine. Set aside.
3.: Cook the tortillas until they are toasted in a large skillet set over high heat, approximately 30 seconds or so per side, then stack them on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Wrap the foil around the tortillas, and place the package into the oven to heat.
4.: Turn the heat under the pan down to medium-high, and add a tablespoon of the oil and then the scallions. Cook these, tossing occasionally, until they are about to char, then remove and set aside.
5.: Add the remaining oil to the pan and heat it until it begins to shimmer. Add the fish and cook until well browned and crisp, approximately 4 minutes per side. Remove from pan and slice into strips or simply break into pieces.
6.: Serve the fish with warm tortillas, garnished with the scallions, radishes, cheese and chipotle sour cream, and lime wedges on the side.

Cake not pancakes

For so long, whenever someone asked me how old Adam is, I would reply in months- 4 months, 9 months, 14 months. But today, I can say a year and a half. Where did 18 whole months, 547 days go? When did I suddenly become a mom to a little boy who can talk, negotiate, ride bikes, help himself to raisins from the cabinet and makes me laugh each and every day.

We were reading Olivia Saves the Circus before bed tonight and on the second page Olivia makes pancakes for her little brothers. Adam kept turning to this page and saying the work cake over and over. I explained that they were pancakes, not cake. But he kept insisting. Then he pointed to the mixer in the corner of the page and I suddenly realized he saw all the dirty dishes and the mixer Olivia uses to make the pancakes and equated it to us making a cake the other day.

When did I become a mom to a little boy that understands so, so much and has clearly inherited my sweet tooth.

Then…