weinraub’s words

Becca did something this morning that just knocked me out.

We watch a lot of Simpsons. Becca really likes it, especially the Halloween Specials which I’m not so sure about, actually. Sometimes a bit gruesome for a kid her age, so I’m a little ambivalent about it, but she asks for it explicitly (”Scary one! Scary one!”) , so I try accommodate her, keep it light, and keep an eye out for the really bad stuff, etc.

Anyway… there is a Simpsons take-off on Mary Poppins, everything changed a little bit for copyright purposes (”Sherry Bobbins”, songs with similar but slightly different tunes, totally different lyrics, etc).

I also have made a CD compilation of some fun songs for kids, mostly song selection from kids’ movie soundtracks like Lion King, Alladin, Little Mermaid, but also some cute songs like “Unicorn”, “One-Eyed One Horned Flying Purple People Eater”, ‘Witch Doctor”, and finally some of the original Mary Poppins songs. Although we listen to the CD every day on the way to school and back, the end of the CD, where the Mary Poppins are, came out scratchy for some reason, so we had never listened to those songs together until this morning in the car on the way to school.

She immediately recognized the songs and exclaimed “Simpsons! Umbrella. Flying in the sky!”

I was blown away by my little gal.

Last week, I was in the hospital 3 nights, IV drip the whole time. Before I went in, I had two nights of fever at home. Not too high, though I did get over 102 for a short period. Still, didn’t feel like regular flu. Not enough chills, no significant sore throat or coughing. And Dengue has really picked up around here in SE Asia, in Thailand, in Phuket, and – can you believe it? – on Nanai in particular. A broadcast truck apparently swept the neighborhood recently warning everyone – in Thai only, of course – that Nanai is a danger point or something like that.

Feeling much better now, though I am a little bit itchy, which the doctor says is the last stage of the dengue coming out.

Becca was a bit of a concern for a while. She seems bright enough, understands everything we say in both Thai and English, sings songs, recognizes numbers and letters and patterns on her own. But she didn’t seem to be testing well at school, even relative to her peers. I started drilling/practicing with her a bit more, but my frustration started to bleed out and she could tell I was disappointed, so I just backed off.

Within days, she had figured it all out on her own and was showing off. Now, she seems to be in a great mood at school, a welcome change from the Grumpy-Gus she used to be. She’s still on the moody side, but she could hardly be a Weinraub if she weren’t. But she’s happy at school, participating, singing, dancing, playing, doing her lessons and her homework, just great. So, all is fine there.

Benjamin seems very bright and very curious. Climbs onto everything, into cabinets and closets, puts everything in his mouth, etc. Even jumps off the headboard bookcase onto the bed, after holidng his fingers in a mock 1-2-3 count. Very cute. He turns on the TV and DVD player, ejects the DVD (constantly!). Exhausting. But doing great.

Kids were both sick yesterday. After a trip to the zoo, Becca volcano-puked all over the inside of the car while we had stopped to get gas. We later measured her fever at 102F. Children’s Tylenol and a bunch of cool, wet compresses, and she was eventually asleep.

Then, Benjamin took it upon himself to cry for an hour and a half solid – practically without stopping for a breath. We eventually figured he must be constipated, so we sent Annie out to the all-night pharmacy. One glycerin suppository later, he unleashed with an explosion of lower gastro-intestinal goodness and eventually settled into sleep, too.

Aaaah, parenthood….