Dressing Little Boys

I thought that having a little boy meant that there would be less fuss about what to wear. Certainly, its been the case so far. And while the shopping has been more challenging, since stores only stock about 20% boy's stuff versus the 80% cute, pretty, adorable and attention grabbing girl's stuff, it has at least been relatively inexpensive.

Usually, when its time to get dressed, I'll say something like "Lets see what we can wear today". Recently, Aaron has been answering that with either "Let me see" or "Aaron pick". And, surprise surprise, he's quite fussy!

He has his favorites and tries to pick the same ones every day. He has even tried getting them out of the dirty laundry basket. I don't ask him what he wants to wear anymore. Previously, it was just a question that I didn't expect an answer to, more like talking to myself. But now, he will inevitably answer "Wiggles Shirt!". Thats the No. 1 favorite.



He also zooms in on whatever new clothes there are. Maybe new clothes are like new toys.....NEW. On a couple of mornings, he has asked to change out of what he was already dressed in when he saw something else he wanted. Needless to say, I didn't fall for that trick. He'd have me changing him all day long if I did it just the once!

Thirty Two

How did I get here? The last age I remember being was about twenty three. After that, the years seem to have gone so much quicker. Started work, got married, moved a couple of times, quit my job, started life with Aaron....

I don't really have a problem with being in my thirties. Maybe I'll start thinking differently when rounding my age means rounding it to forty but, I really doubt it. Each year that passes has been eventful and fruitful. While I still have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with my life or whether I contribute anything to this earth (apart from waste), I don't mind getting older. From the age of about fifteen, I've looked forward to being thirty three. I thought that by then, I would know exactly what I wanted and be absolutely in control of my life. So, one more year for me to get things in order.

So did I do anything different today? Nope. Not at all. I did get a present from Richard in the morning. No comment there. He tries so hard to shop for me but I guess I need to consider the thought above anything else.

And, for the first time in years, he sent me some flowers at lunch time. They do make the house look a lot prettier unfortunately, the scorching weather is going to mean that they'll all be wilted by tomorrow morning.

Finally, a romantic dinner for two? Nah! We'll be feasting on a barrel of KFC instead.

The Family Motorcycle

Usually, we hear about the family car. Over here in Palembang, many families cannot afford cars so they go around on their motorbikes instead. I was out each day last week (during the weekdays) to get these photos but didn't see any families. My guess is that the kids walk to school, mom stays at home and dad uses the bike to go to work. Anyway, there were plenty of families out on Sunday.

The babies are always in a sling with the mother:




Still very comfortable with a single child:




They can still handle the two kids now but it looks like the mother is about to fall off the back. I wonder what families with 3 children do:




These two families appeared to be going somewhere together:



So thats all I have for today. By the way, check out the cute Vespa in that last photo. Palembang is FULL of old Vespas.

An evening with new friends

For those of you who visit here regularly, you'll know that I have almost no friends here in Palembang. I must admit that I haven't been putting myself out there enough but my excuse is that I try not to disrupt Aaron's schedule too much.

This evening, we went for the monthly English Mass at St Joseph's. Its only my second time there because they haven't had it for a few months and the other times, I wasn't around. Anyway, the last time I attended was sometime last year. And, I didn't get to talk to anyone much after the mass because we rushed home due to Aaron's extremely early bedtime back then.

Today happened to be the first anniversary of them starting this monthly English mass and they had organized a little get together afterwards at somebody's house. We didn't really know anybody but they were so inviting that we tagged along anyway. I guess this is the only way we're going to get to know anybody. No sense in being shy now!

The people were interesting, open and I really enjoyed the conversation. It was only this afternoon that I was complaining that we've been here too many months without a break. The hostess was an Indonesian woman who is married to a Filipino guy. The guy is in some band and is rarely home so it was his Filipino friend that helped her with preparing the food. The food was a tasty mix of Filipino and Indonesian Chinese style cooking.



That nun in the photo is a Brazilian that has been in Palembang for 2 years trying to start their mission here. I didn't catch what order she belonged to. She said that they haven't really got things going yet but she did have one postulate and another girl waiting to become a postulate. You can see them in the background, at the sink. So, I've volunteered my services with them for whenever they needs help :)

We didn't stay too long after dinner because Aaron was starting to 'fade' but at least we know a few more people now. People that we can have easy conversations with. There were even two other little kids for Aaron to play with.

*sigh* It was a boring Sunday to start off with but turned out to be pretty fun in the end. I had planned to post some photos of the Family Motorcycle today but I'll do it tomorrow instead.

I need to bite my tongue!

Aaron is repeating more and more of what he hears. Its not just words but full sentences as well. A good example of what not to do, is what I did this morning.

Each morning, we have oatmeal for breakfast. Sometimes, we have it with bananas, other times plain. Today was banana day, Aaron's favorite.

We have a rectangular table and Aaron sits at the head with Richard and I on either side of him. This is supposedly so both of us can help him out whenever he needs something. Unfortunately, today, I felt that I'm (always) the one doing all the helping. At least, this is my side of the story and I was a little grouchy this morning. Anyway, Aaron was asking for the 1000th banana top up. So, I said to Richard "Can't you hear that?!" Of course he did! It just doesn't register in brain. He gave Aaron more banana.

Not two minutes later, Aaron says in a loud voice "Can't you hear that?!". I don't think the actual meanings of those words meant anything to him. He just felt that it was the quickest way to get more bananas.

So this situation didn't backfire in any embarrassing ways but it did make me feel guilty for teaching Aaron to say something so rude. I know that you're not supposed to argue in front of your children but what are you supposed to do if you get mad? Just keep it in there to explode later? What if you're just mildly annoyed and the situation can be diffused by a sarcastic word or two? For the moment, I think the tones of our voices say more than the actual words so if I'm really good, I could be sarcastic in a cheery voice I suppose....but what happens when he has full understanding of all the words? Then what?

I guess this is one way of teaching me patience, tolerance and how to look the other way. Plenty more to learn!

Thursday Thirteen #9

13 Things I Never Thought I'd Be Doing

Lets go back 13 years. I was 19 then and I never thought I'd ...

1) ... be a housewife. I had hoped to be a 'wife' but didn't think I'd be the stay-at-home kind.

2) ... be a mother. I thought I decided in high school that I didn't want to be a mother. BUT, I also remember thinking if I did end up one, I'd want to be the stay-at-home sort. Talk about being a confused teenager.

3) ... be planting my own fruit and vegetables.

4) ... not be working. I always imagined working in a cleanroom environment and enjoying every moment of it.

5) ... be cheering while looking at somebody else's number 1s or number 2s in the toilet.

6) ... count countries as varied as Costa Rica, Philippines, China, Japan, Korea and the US as places that my short lived career had sent me to. I'll forever be thankful for those trips.

7) ... live in a place where I have no friends. Back then, I had so many friends I used to wish I had time to just be alone.

8) ... be trying to figure out if cookies can be made without a microwave. Can they?

9) ... mute the volume whenever a movie has too much suspense buildup.

10) ... choose to go to bed early instead of watching TV.

11) ... be enjoying the Wiggles as much as Aaron does. Initially, I thought they were ridiculous but now, I'm as into the Wiggles as he is! Toot-Toot-Chuga-Chuga Big Red Car.....

12) ... become meticulous about tidiness. I just find that its so much easier to meet Aaron's needs if I knew exactly where everything is. So now, even his toys are always kept in the same groups and all members accounted for before being placed in their allocated space. I find that its easy for him too because he can zoom straight to whichever one he's thinking of.

13) ... be this contented and happy with my simple life.

Safety Last

One of the main concerns I have about living in Palembang is the general attitude towards safety and hygiene. I'm sure there must be some sort of safety regulations around but nobody seems to abide by them. There is just very little awareness by the people of what can happen.

These are some examples of what I've observed:

- Many motorcyclists ride around with no helmets on. OR, they have it on but its not buckled up. Here we have a father (helmet without any straps) and his daughter with no helmet on one of the main roads with heavy traffic.



- People only put on their seat belts in the car when they know there are policemen up ahead. (Actually, its the same way in Malaysia.)

- The little take away shop down the road from us had one of its workers accidentally mince up three of his fingers because he was joking around with a friend while working.

- At Richard's workplace, there have been careless accidents where people have been hurt by sacks of fertilizer that have fallen down from being stacked too high.

Here are a few photos with an overloaded theme to them:







I do realize that the three 'overcrowded' scenarios may be such because of an employer's attitude towards safety and the employees may not have much say in it. The thing is, I really wonder if the employees themselves feel that their safety is compromised.

So, what do I do about all this? Nothing much. I try to tell those around me whenever I see something but they always have a reason for doing things the way they do. We had a funny situation in the car last week with Aaron insisting to the babysitter that she had to put on her seatbelt while the girl kept insisting back that its fine and the police won't catch her. She didn't put it on until I told her she HAD to.