Spring Break

The temperature is rising in India, but it is still in the manageable nineties. That can only mean one thing. It is time for our last trip out of Delhi for the school year. Doug's mother is enroute to Delhi. She was due in last night, but as usual Newark was a cluster $%#@ and she had to reschedule for one day later. Thankfully United also let her change her return date by one day so she didn't cut any time off her trip.

Climbing is the newest event in our house. The higher the boys get the happier they are... chuckle chuckle. I am considering removing the couch from the nursery as I am afraid one of them will either jump or get pushed off which will lead to another trip to the hospital.

Dinner time continues to stress us out. It seems we can't make the boys happy. They refuse to eat things they loved five minutes before, they throw all the food off their trays in protest, and scream for more. We have tried so many things, but it seems nothing will suffice. This phase needs to pass.

Cedric is very clingy, and he wants to be held most of the time. I think this problem was created by having two ayahs at his beck and call. We are working on strategies to calm him down, but he gets so worked up we have to let him cry it out. This phase needs to pass.

Ezra is basically running around now. He is a busy boy and usually has on a big smile. Cedric has started taking a few steps here and there, but only when he wants to. He is a very effective crawler so he is content with his mobility. Plus every time he stands Ezra makes it his mission to push him over.

We are all looking forward to Goa. Our family does beach vacations well.

Chad

Heigh-Ho Heigh-Ho Back to FRRO We Go

It is that time of year again. Our visas are set to expire in a few weeks, and that means our annual trip to the office of frown and scowl with a side of bureaucratic disfunction is around the corner. Last night we took the boys to get their new visa photos and they did great. They both sat up straight and looked right in the camera. Lets just say this visa photo was a lot easier than their first.

The photo shop we use is right around the corner from where we lived before having children. We walked around our old neighborhood while the photos were being printed and remembered how nice it was to live away from work. We both miss the privacy of living outside the compound, but because of the clean water we have to stay where we are.

We have taken many visa photos since arriving five years ago, and we always get a kick out of the result. The photo man is a pro at photo editing, and he made me look eighteen in my Chinese visa last year. The boys are no exception to getting a little touch up. Even though they have perfect skin with no blemishes the photo man lightened up their faces and practically made them white babies. We both laughed when we saw them and so did our visa agent when I told them the photo man used skin whitening cream on the boys!

I was in Singapore last week for work related training. I love Singapore and would live there in a heartbeat. There are easy to walk streets, bars, restaurants, shopping, public transportation, clean air, and most of all organization!

Dreaming...
The grass is always greener...
Goa in two weeks...

Chad

Vacation Firsts

We're back in Delhi after two blissful weeks in Thailand. We had a very exciting time spending two solid weeks with our boys with no work to do. Love the  family time!

While we were away on vacation, here are some things the boys started doing:

• Ezra started walking -- tentatively, and only about 5-10 steps at a time. But, yes, walking! 
• Cedric and Ezra started giving kisses. Cedric started this a few days ago, and Ezra picked it up today. Cedric had a pretty serious make-out session with a little Finnish toddler in the airport yesterday. 
• Cedric started using sign language more and more consistently. 
• Ezra started holding his breath and putting his head under water in the pool.
• Cedric comforted Ezra by gently patting him on the head when he was crying. 
• Both boys really enjoyed playing and interacting with other kids that they met at the resort.
• Both boys are starting to establish their independence especially by showing possession of toys and other play objects. In other words, we're going to have to learn to share. 
• Both boys did extremely well crawling up and down stairs for the first time. I realized while we were on vacation that our kids don't interact with stairs at all during their day-to-day lives. 
• Both boys were very picky eaters for the entire vacation, which is not the case when we're at home. I can only hope that this was an anomaly and not the beginning of a new trend.  

There's more to be said, but we'll save other travel info for future posts.  

Cheers and Happy 2013, 

Douglas