weinraub’s words

Today I licked my finger and used it to wipe some ink off Becca’s face. My transformation into my parents is now complete.

There was a company of ants attacking a grain of rice on the table next to me computer. I had not seen them, but Becca had, calling out “Mot, mot!” (Thai for ‘ant’);

Some toy had rolled deep in the narrow space between the bed and the end table, further back than the length of Becca’s arm. So she grabbed a hair brush to use as an arm-extension. Fist time I ever saw her do that.

Just a quick update on the coup here in Thailand.

First and foremost, we are all ok.

Actually, for us down here in Phuket, it’s a non-event, at least in the short-term. All the activity is up in Bangkok and while it might make for interesting – or perhaps, not so interesting – speculation about what is to come, the impact on us down here, if any, is indirect and spread out over a longer term.

Political instability is almost always undesirable. The political statemate of the last few months may have gradually weighed on the economy overall, but it probably did not have a major impact on tourist arrivals or real-estate investments by foreigners, the two areas that most affect Phuket. But while parliamentary inertia and the prospect of institutional political gridlock are not likely to dissuade someone from taking their vacation here, it is noteworthy that the words “military coup”, let alone the presumably more desirable variation “bloodless coup”, are hardly ever used in promotional packages for tropical resort holidays. So it remains to be seen what will happen.

Anyway, just wanted to update friends and family that we are all ok.

Although the Doctor always asks if Becca is brushing her teeth and Annie always says yes, Becca really does little more than take the brush, put it in her mouth like a lollipop, and then toss it after several seconds. There is nothing that could be described as brushing – in fact, the mere presence of toothpaste, even baby toothpaste, on the brush was enough to abort the process almost immediately. Any attempt to encourage genuine brushing met with stiff resistance. So,I decided to simply leave it alone -ย� I felt that to push it on her would be to create a negative association with the whole process and we’d never get off the ground.

Well, today she asked “teeth”, so we gave her the brush. She then motioned for toothpaste and would not start until she got some. And now she brushes like a pro, well not quite like a pro, but satisfactorily. Complete with spit, though some of the spitwater still ends up on her shirt.