Arram's first story

The boys are sharing a bed now.  At bedtime last night, we did our usual routine:  Mama told a story, and then Amiri told a story.   I was just about to do the final hugs and kisses before lights out, when Amiri said, 'Arram should tell a story!'

What a great idea.  Although his vocabulary is still quite limited, Arram jumped right into his storytelling responsibility.  It seemed like he was just waiting for an opportunity to be asked!  He told a very nice story using just a few words augmented with lots of pantomime and facial expressions.  Here is Arram's story.  Because it was largely visual, I have taken some liberties to convert it to text so that you can share it.  But I believe this version is entirely consistent with the spirit of his tale.

The Hurt Turtle

     There was a turtle.  Hello turtle!

     There was a dog too.  Hello dog!

     The turtle and the dog played.  They wrestled. 

     But the dog played too rough.  Grr!

     So the turtle's foot got hurt.  Oh no!  Owww!

     The dog felt sad that he hurt the turtle.  He kissed the hurt.  He hugged the turtle.  He did gentle touching.

     Then the turtle was happy again!

     They went home together.  Bye-bye turtle!  Bye-bye dog!
  

The weather makes me feel a little ripped off.

It is very cool to be seeing snow for the first time in six years.  It is clean and bright and gorgeous. 

But it is so COLD.  Man, it's cold!  I go outside and my fingers hurt.  It makes my face tingle and not in the 'it tells you that it's working' kind of way.  We go all pink-cheeked.   Deep breaths make me cough.

And amidst all my shivery complaints I have to be aware that it was 77 degrees and sunny in Auckland today.  We've traded gorgeous mild summertime for no-fooling-around winter.  Sigh.  (Of course we are all happy to be here.  But come on.  I can't think of anyone who would happily trade 77 degrees for, you know, single-digits.) 

So here is a warm memory of our visit to the Santa parade.

It was sponsored by Farmers, the NZ equivalent of Macy's, and had lots of balloons and floats.

OK, you've all seen parades before so I don't think I need to give you a play-by-play of every bagpipe band to march past (FYI, there were four).  And if you've watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade then Auckland's Santa Parade will seem pretty underwhelming.  So instead I will show you the good stuff:  the reactions of our little guys.

We were lucky to snag a shady spot with a railing that the boys could perch on.  The anticipation leading up to the start of the parade was barely tolerable and our monsters got a little antsy.

But then once it started, all the excitement bubbled over and Arram had to get a lift up.

Look!  It's bagpipes or something!

And a happy young man got to spend a fun afternoon with Mama.

The best moment, of course, was Santa's waving, smiling, and Ho-Ho-Ho-ing arrival.  Here is how that comes across to a little kid.

An interesting moment left over from NZ

We went walking by the boats and saw a cormorant! 

At least I think it's a cormorant.  Either that or a penguin.  What do I know.
 

Fun in the snow

We got the kids some snowsuits and went out this morning.  It was only ten degrees-- cold, yo. 

Amiri was way into it.

Arram was not.

Amiri explored the yard.  Arram wanted to stay right where he was, thank you.  We had fun throwing handfuls of snow around.  Amiri tasted it.  'Snow is cold water!'

The snow wasn't very packy because it was so cold.  So Arram, totally of his own volition, went for a snow angel.  He was not impressed.

Amiri ran through the snow and tried making snowballs.

Arram stayed behind and wailed.

We rumpused and played.  Amiri took a try at snow angelling too.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

So we ran back to rescue the little guy.

Then we all looked at the icicles that had formed on the dryer vent.

And then it was time to go back in and warm up.

Jet lag= no fun for toddlers

Auckland is 19 hours ahead of the Midwest.  (Yes, it's mental gymnastics every time we pick up the phone to call home.)   Functionally, though, it means dealing with a 5-hour backward time shift when we travel.

A regular bedtime here feels like it's the middle of the afternoon on New Zealand time.  Afternoon naps feel like they're coming at breakfast-time.  As a result our little guys merrily stayed up past midnight for the first few days had have steadfastly refused to take any naps at all.  Between that and our not letting them sleep until noon, the poor little things have become steadily more and more sleep-deprived.  Toddlers were not meant to subsist on eight hours of sleep a day!  Not surprisingly, this has resulted in some spectacular hyperwhining.

But it all caught up to them today.  We took them for a ride in the warm car right after lunch.  They zonked out in about two seconds.   Hopefully this indicates that their internal clocks have been adjusted.  Hopefully this also means that everyone else in the house will be treated to a quiet night.

Okay, so this is useful information.  It takes four days to shift toddlers over five hours.

For one, Costco kinda blew my mind

I'm really enjoying my time in the US.  After having been away for a year, I'm realising that there are a few things I'd forgotten about.

--How CHEAP things are.  I just meandered around in a CVS for like an hour, grinning like an idiot and trying to restrain myself from buying everything on the shelves.  That fluid for my contact lenses?  Half price here.  Drugstore-brand makeup?  One-fifth of what you can get it for in NZ.  Yesterday I bought a container of 300 Tylenol for what I'd pay for a 30-pack.  (Yes, we have a suitcase that's just for Bringing Back Some Deals.)

--Putting a full sink of dishes into the dishwasher and having plenty of room left over for the pots and pans.  What, the world doesn't subsist with Dishdrawers?

--Snow.  Awesome.  Happy child photos to follow.

--I totally ate some Taco Bell.  It tasted good-not-great, and I got a little grossed out with myself and a little sick.  Probably for the best.

--Big buildings.  Big houses.  Wide aisles in the stores.  Lots of space to stretch out wherever you are.  Big indoors.

--Wide ranges of selections and big items.  Gallon jugs of milk!  20-can cases of pop!  Bags of flour larger than 5 lbs!  It's a cornucopia of plenty!!!

--Insulation and efficient central heating.  Seriously, NZ, you really MUST get on board with this.
  

SSS on vacation

You may be wondering, Why no new posts in a week?  Where have all the baby pictures and kiwiana gone?  Well, it's kinda hard to post at 35,000 feet.  We've gone on vacation!

We departed Auckland at about noon the other day.  A few hours' flight, and check this out:  due to a scheduling irregularity, our few-hour layover in Fiji ended up turning into about 36 hours.

Bula indeed!  I've had unexpected overnights on long trips before, but usually it means I get waylaid, exhausted and grumpy, in some sketchy airport motel outside of DFW or something.   This, though.   This was not that.  No.  We were still fresh and happy and walked out the front door of the airport to see this:

For those of you who are unaware, our last trip to Fiji nearly five years ago was pretty great.  So we have a soft spot in our hearts for this place.

So, OK, we picked a hotel from one of the brochures in the airport and caught a shuttle to check in.  And yeah, there we were.  A surprise day in Fiji!  But packed for Chicago.  Chicago in December.  Yeah.

But we are resourceful and know how to make the best of things.  We went down to the shade by the pool and had some cold drinks...

 ...and sat there being all, Holy moly this sure beats the Fort Worth roach motel!

We slept well under the fans in our room.  The next morning, Arram and I took a walk in the early morning dew before the other boys woke up.  We liked the sunshine and the flowers. 

Our hotel was ringed by mango trees:  large, low, spreading, and easy to climb.  We watched a troop of ten-year-old boys systematically harvest the trees one by one, expertly tossing the mangoes down to their mates on the ground, and then departing with bulging plastic bags.  We sampled one and it was amazing.

Once it got too hot to think (you know, by 8:30 am), we spent the rest of the day swimming, playing in the playground, and rescuing the World's Tiniest Gecko that had gotten stuck in our kitchenette. 

We got a late check-out from our hotel and flew out late that night bound for LA.  What a wonderful surprise.  Bula Vinaka, Fiji.