Category: Oh, baby!

We hates steps with overhangs, preeeecious!

Daddy took Max to work today and Max tripped on the marble steps to the main building because there are 1″ overhangs on each one… there is no apparent reason to have overhangs on steps, other than to make people (especially children) trip on them. Max hit the lip of the next step with his face and his canine tooth cut the inside of his mouth… Tears! Pain! Much sadness and shock!
Luckily, daddy had milk ready in the car. Milk makes everything better.

Getting Musical (Thai Ranat Xylophone & Toy Snare)

20090913max-torch0026.jpg
20090925pinky0151.jpg
The Doraemon snare is a $5 cheapie we bought at the bicycle/toy store in Kalasin where we went to buy a baby seat for the nanny’s bicycle a month ago. The wooden xylophone is called a ranat (or more specifically, a ranat ek) which was donated to the Yoshida Instrument Collection by Tanaka-sensei, a close friend who is leaving Sarakham at the end of the month. The ranat is tuned by placing wax lumps along the underside of each wooden slab; all of these have fallen off and we need to find somebody who knows how to tune it. Hopefully there will be someone at Nam’s university since they have a big music department.
His majesty’s wooden throne was obtained separately but it’s like the coolest chair I’ve ever seen. I really want a bigger one since my big ass won’t fit in this one.

The second baby kicks harder

I’m not even sure if I ever really felt Max kick or not when holding my hand up to Nam’s belly. I thought I did, but I can’t be sure. No such thing with the next baby, though – she’s in there jumping up and down every day and night. It seems as though specific poses or actions set her off; when Nam lays on one side, the baby gets really active for some reason. Even Max has felt her kick now, which brings me to my second point: It seems that Max now thinks that all even slightly plump women are PREGNANT. This has turned into something of an inside joke, usually ending when the girl asks, “why are you kissing my belly, Max?”
Well, he thinks there’s a baby in there!

Banana Flower Photo

When a cluster of bananas appears on a tree, you wait a while and lop off the flower (which grows upside-down from the bottom of the cluster’s stalk). This is from the biggest tree in our backyard, of which there are always 5 to 10 in various stages of growth (I cut them down after we harvest the bananas, and new ones sprout up next to the stumps).
20090913max-torch0012.JPG
A banana flower is a beautiful thing. It looks like something out of a Giger sketch.