Shoe Repair

This is for my Soft Star peeps: while roaming around in the back halls of one of the MANY malls looking for the bathroom, we came upon a "Mister Mint" cart.

Apparently we need to diversify our business into keys and locks...
And we've been doing shoe repair and care all wrong... We don't need sewing machines! We just need one of these fancy tools in the corner of the shop...

Kindergarten - Day 1

Today was Kahlil's first day of kindergarten... and I didn't even cry! The whole family rode the city bus to school and dropped Kahlil off so we could make sure he was well prepared for the morning. Kahlil's teacher suggested we drop-off and pick-up for the first few days to help his transition. She also suggested the first two days we pick up early at 1 rather than 2:30... again to help the adjustment.

Here is Kahlil in the elevator heading down to breakfast. There are two elevators that run - #3 and #4. Every time we head downstairs, Kahlil guess which elevator will open to take us down. So far his guessing has been BAD... before this morning is ratio was something along the lines of Kahlil-1: Elevator-23. But this morning he actually picked the right elevator so we knew the day was off to a good start!


Here we are waiting for the bus. Notice that it's still pretty dim out. I thought sunrise would be around 6am, but it's more like 7. This means it's still pretty much night when we are catching the bus at seven.

Check out his casual outfit. This is his PE uniform to be worn twice a week on PE days. Mom did a good job of keeping him from wiping his hands on the shirt at breakfast so it's still a white shirt. No easy task on her part.

And here is Kahlil at the very front of the double decker bus on the ride to school. One of the routes we can take to his school is always a double decker. It's pretty fun to go up the stairs and watch all the happenings on the street as we drive by. (Apparently the Batman backpack and Star Wars lunch box were hits at school.)

While Kahlil was at school, Mom, Langston and I went shopping on Orchard Street (Kahlil's school is a block off Orchard). We were looking for an umbrella sized stroller that would be easy to get on and off public transportation. It was quite the quest... it took over two hours, three stores, and $120 dollars... but it was competed! It was a good way to spend the morning because we found a bunch of kids shops. Now I know where to go shopping if we are in need of any kid gear, clothes, or toys.

Kahlil came home with two birthday invitations... and I know exactly where to get gifts!

School and Building Tour

We went on a tour of Kahlil's school today. We saw his class and meet his teacher - Ms. Gupta - and class assistant - Ms. Aini. Ms. Gupta introduced him to his classmates and they all gave him a huge welcome. I had to turn away when Ms. Gupta took Kahlil's hand from me to make the intro - I didn't think it would be good form to cry in front of a dozen 5 year olds. We also saw the library, music room, and computer room. He will be studying Mandarin four days a week. He and Jay agreed to trade words Spanish for Mandarin. And if Jay doesn't know the word, there is always Grandma Dolores.

Before we went on the tour, I could tell Kahlil was a little nervous and he wasn't his usual boisterous self. I think having us all there for the tour really helped him feel more comfortable and by the end, Kahlil was starting to come out of his shell and talking to people that passed by. We got all the school hand outs and are gearing up for his first day of class on Monday. Kahlil seems ready. Me, on the other hand, not so much.

I mentioned some of the amenities in our building, but I didn't really say much about our apartment. It's a two bedroom flat on the 16th floor. The first time I stepped out to the balcony and looked down, I got a little queasy. I quickly made a rule that no kids are allowed on the balcony without an adult. I reasonable rule I think.

There is a combination microwave / convection oven. Our first attempt to use the 'oven' function to heat up a frozen pizza didn't go well. The pizza ended up in a large frying pan on the stove. But last night we actually 'grilled' chicken and it came out ok. I don't know that I'll be able to bake cookies but I have a few months to work on it.

Every week day, we get a full breakfast down near the lobby. Some of the dishes rotate - pancakes, sausages, fried tomatoes, mini quiche - and some of the items stay the same - toast, croissant, fresh fruit, cold cereal. I'm pretty sure I would have lost weight by now if not for breakfast. If I could have just one meal a day prepared for me, breakfast would be it. And the boys seem to LOVE it. This morning I had to get each of them thirds. I feel a bit like a mother bird trying to gather enough worms to keep her chicks from squawking.

Our apartment is serviced daily by Helen. She is super nice and helpful. Jay insists her favorite thing to do is wash dishes, but I insist on washing our dinner dishes and just let her put them away in the morning. Helen gave us a drying rack for our clothes as I'm pretty sure the drier couldn't keep up with the dirty clothes generated by five people. Our doorman is Jafar and he is a huge hit with the boys. He gets high fives every time we come or go.

For Photo Viewing:
#1 If you are reading this from the blog - look in the upper right hand corner of the page.
#2 If you are reading this form Facebook - click on the "view original post link" at the bottom of this page. See #1

And so it begins...

Well, we made it to Singapore. It was a LONG flight. The boys did good except for a couple rough spots. It broke my heart when Langston asked me with teary eyes if he could get off the airplane in mid-flight. The boys pretty much stayed awake for the 11 hour flight from SFO to Korea. We all watched lots of movies, played games, and ate. Singapore Airlines is AWESOME! They feed you good food including a hot wet towel clean up before each meal. We each had our own personal screen and of the ~40 movies available we could watch any movie we wanted, when we wanted, and we could pause and restart at will. It was great. Then the boys slept most of the 6 hour flight form Korea to Singapore. I got a couple hours sleep on that flight but Mom didn't sleep at all.

We got in around 1am, Saturday morning Singapore time. Jay rode on the apartment bus to meet us at the airport. It was so nice to see him. And he promised Langston he would not leave us for a long time again... we're going to keep him to that! By the time we got back to the apartment and settled in to bed it was 3:30am - we had been on the road for about 36 hours.

Saturday morning we got up and checked out the dragon dance they had here at the hotel for Chinese New Years... we just caught the tail end of the holiday celebrations. The dragon was made of two men - a smaller one who controlled the head of the dragon and a larger one who was the tail. I really felt bad for the tail end. Not only did he have to carry the little guy around on his shoulders when the dragon reared up, but he had to be bent over in a back breaking position when the dragon was not rearing. He worked up a serious sweat. We also had Lo Hei noodles at the hotel pool - a food ceremony that focuses on prosperity for the coming year. It was pretty yummy.

The boys and Jay went swimming in the apartment pool. Unfortunately that was the last day the pool will be open for three months... arg! Luckily there is a sister property - Frasier Place - that has a pool we have permission to use. It's just a 10 minute shuttle ride, but the shuttle only goes once an hour. It's sort of a bummer as I'm sure we will use the pool a lot less with it off-site. But there is an AWESOME play room in our building with a kid climbing wall, arcade games (and you don't have to pay :-)), a foosball table, and bikes. I think we'll visit there often.

We were pretty much pooped so after a walk to the local mall - Great World City - to have lunch and do a little grocery shopping we called it a day. For dinner we got sushi take-out from one of the restaurants in the building and stayed in.

In this building there are about 5 restaurants, a grocery store, a book store, a doctors office, a yoga studio, a foot massage place, and a hair salon. I think it would be possible to not really leave the building ever if you so wanted.

Sunday we did a little sightseeing at the Quays. We took one of the tour boats from Roberson Quay down to the harbor. There are so many amazing buildings to see! We had lunch and walked to Frasier Place to check out the pool. The boys and Jay played in the pool while I got a massage. My masseuse really worked me over! He told me my body is tired and I shouldn't lift anything for the next few days. I'm not sure Kahlil and Langston bought into that notion.

Monday we picked up Kahlil's school uniform. He will look SO cute! He starts school next Monday. We also saw a gecko trying to sneak into the apartment form the balcony. Looks like we are now blessed with good luck.

New Camera + Jay's Computer = No Photos (yet) I'll get the low down on how to upload and start to post them soon.

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Kahlil, what will you do when you grow up?

For posterity, here are some of the conversations Kahlil has had on this topic over the last several months.

Driving in the car past the lot where the garbage trucks are parked...
Larkin: Look Kahlil, garbage trucks. Maybe you will work here some day.
Kahlil: Oh, I WILL work there!

Bedtime...
Kahlil: Mom, when will I be an adult?
Larkin: In fourteen years.
Kahlil: Nooo... That's TOO long to wait to drive a garbage truck.

Kahlil was at Trish's house to watch the tractors working...
Trish: Kahlil, watch closely. You might drive a tractor some day.
Kahlil: No. I'm going to drive a garbage truck.

Bedtime...
Kahlil: How many days to garbage day?
Larkin: Today is Tuesday and garbage day is Monday, so six days.
Kahlil: So tomorrow it will be five days, and then the next day it will be four days, and then the next day it will be three days, and then the next day it will be two days, and then the next day it will be one day!

Today while watching the tree guys taking down a couple of damaged trees (and the only chink in his armor to date)...
Kahlil: Maybe I'll drive a tree truck if I get tired of driving garbage trucks.


Here he is waiting patiently for the... you guessed it... garbage truck. On Monday mornings he springs out of bed and dashes outside to wait. We give him breakfast out there so he has a chance of seeing a garbage truck before leaving for daycare. Lucky for him, we are back home in the early afternoon on Mondays. The first thing he does when we return home is check all three bins - garbage, yard waste, and recycling - to see which trucks have already come and he puts the empty bins away. Then he takes up his place on the rock to wait...

2010 - The First Six Months via the iPhone

Good night

Another recent change in our house is the sleeping arrangements. Back around the start of the year, Kahlil started to give us trouble at bedtime. He didn't want us to turn the lights out, he would get up a lot asking for water or whatever, and he would try to get us to stay in the room with him. He was really afraid and it was starting to become a problem. BOO!

Then by chance there were a couple nights when only one parent was at home in the evening so while we were dealing with Langston's bedtime, Kahlil asked to come in Langston's room and quietly lay on the floor... and he promptly fell asleep. After this happened several times, I asked him if he wanted to move into Langston's room permanently. He was VERY jazzed about that idea and thought we should ALL sleep in Langston's room. I talked him out of that, but we did move his bed such that we now have a 'bedroom' where both kids sleep and a 'play room' with all the toys. YEA!

So the move happens and Kahlil is happy. But then Langston wants to sleep under Kahlil's loft bed. With a mattress on floor, it's pretty similar to a bunk bed so we go out and get the mattress and Langston is all set up with a big-boy bed. YEA!

Turns out Langston is a light sleeper, which we knew. But now he can roam around the house in the middle of the night since he is on a mattress on the floor rather then in a crib. YEA... um, maybe not.

It really hasn't been too bad, we just have to be prepared to have a little body show up at the side of our bed at 2 am saying "up, please". Other than that, it's great to have Kahlil going to bed with out the worry and fight. And the best part, I think they like being together. YEA!!!!