Dubai Weekend!

I'm going to begin this post with an announcement, and cross my fingers that I am not jinxing myself.  Friends, I do believe that my children are officially in the sweet spot of childhood during which the fun we have with them is more than the relentless work required to keep them fed and healthy, and to socialize them.

Do I understand that these years are fleeting, and to be treasured?  YES I DO.  That's why we keep taking them places, and why I make Tommy talk to me during dinner instead of read, and why Lizzie breaded the fish all by herself tonight and gave me her 'proud' look when I announced that she pretty much made dinner alone (I put them into the pan and cooked them obviously).

Over the weekend, we went to Dubai.  We were lucky enough to go the same time as some new but already very dear friends and it was great.  Our kids were entertained, and we were entertained, and my friend Jesal planned all the activities we did together!  Yay!  And, our kids were mostly pleasant and nice and interesting when we spent time together as just our family.

The first night, we had dinner at a lovely place that obviously uses more water than
one would think advisable in the middle of the desert.  But it was so pretty!

The star of the trip was Kidzania, which is a little world in which kids behave as adults.  They start the day with fifty kid-bucks and then go throughout the town spending their money (on experiences like a little cooking school) or making money (taking care of babies, see picture below, or fighting fires, or delivering fed ex packages to other places in the town).  If you want to read more about it, try this New Yorker article.

Parents can watch their kids on video screens in some places.  Here the kids are being pediatricans, and Lizzie identified it as her favorite activity later.  But, she said they fed the babies and changed them and rocked them.  Which sounds more like parenting to me, and which she already says she wants to be when she grows up (a mommy).

You can be a chemist at kidzania.  Yay for Tommy.

You an also be a painter.  Lizzie liked it.  (See my friend's baby right here?  He reminds me of baby Dylan SO MUCH.)

A newscaster!

DJs

Working in the kinder chocolate factory.  There is no shortage of branding opportunities at Kidzania.

Then, we all went out to lunch at Rosa Mexicano.  Dubai has MUCH more to offer in terms of restaurants than Muscat.

Having something to eat at the hotel (with ipads for my children).

Funny ones by Lizzie

Our children watched "The Sound of Music" for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and it is now clear to me that I have the daughter I dreamed of from the time I was small.  Lulu has now watched it three times, each time studying it more and more intently ("Is that man Hitler?").  After each viewing, I have heard her humming the songs (reinforced by our current car playlist of musicals).  It is so sweet.

Honestly, I don't think Tommy minds it too much, either ("Mom, if the Von Trapps aren't Nazis, are they democrats?").

Not to toot my own horn, but both my kids are decent singers, thank goodness.  I put a solo I sang on the musicals playlist (not me signing it; the original) and now every night while they shower they like me to sing it to them.  It's almost like they think I'm a super star, except then I get zingers like, "Mommy, when you 'bun' your hair and put on a nice dress, you look prettier."

***

Today in the grocery store line, a guy asked me if Lizzie is three and when I said she was five, he said, "but she has her finger in her mouth! She must be a baby!"  Lizzie started to cry -- she claimed it was because she felt sick -- and he sort of lost interest in the conversation.  But as I pushed the cart out, I told her that I sucked my thumb until I was six (or maybe eight??), and I'm not going to force her to stop.  But, I told her that when she wants to stop, she can tell me and I will help her do it.  With Eli and me as her parents, she was going to need braces anyway, and I don't see any reason to put a bunch of pressure on a five year old.

Many people disagree with me.  One of her classmate's mother is a dentist, and she keeps telling me that Lizzie has to stop sucking her thumb.  Which I find so odd, as I can imagine myself offering professional advice to an acquaintance one time but not more especially if the acquaintance is clearly ignoring me.

***

Lizzie has begun to pout and otherwise exercise her melodramatic flair in earnest.  Not a day passes during which I don't make her mad, she runs into another room and turns her back toward me.  Then, she waits for the reconciliation to begin.

Imagine how angry it makes her when I ignore her.  After a few minutes, she comes running toward me with her arms out, crying, and when I pick her up she tells me that if I want to make her happy, I'll give her a "loving hug".  (Those exact words.)  The first time, I was blown away by such a sweet request; now I can barely suppress an eye roll.

Bahrain, finally!

So, yes, we went to visit Uncle Brett and Auntie Chinka and Ranesa in Bahrain back at the end of February.  So, yes, this post is very late.

Brett and Chinka and Ranesa moved to Bahrain in October, and since then we have been planning a visit because our niece is adorable and clever and she is truly delighted to have her cousins to play with.  They were lovely hosts and we had a great time...

Here's Brett overseeing pancake making (and loving every second of it).

We went to a neat fort but I think we didn't take the camera, so here are perhaps too many photos of the Tree of Life. It's an impressive sight in the middle of oil refineries...

TAISM Ball

So last weekend it was the TAISM ball.  There are many, many balls here but my husband is firmly in the "one ball per year" camp, and so we carefully choose each year.  In September, I asked my favorite friends here to go to the school ball with us and they all said okay!  So when we all arrived on Friday evening and looked at the seating chart, there was a table called "Laura Kent".  Despite being sick of the Hyatt ballroom, and somewhat uneasy about the circus theme, I had a great time (and Eli says he had a pretty good time, too).

I just showed Tommy a photo of his teacher at the ball and I said, "don't you think she looks pretty?" and he said, "I guess.  She sure looks young."  So I said, "younger than me?" and he said, "YES!  Mom, she's in her twenties!"

Tommy

Guess who is 8?  Here is my best shot at capturing my little love bug as he is, now.

Tommy is the most cheerful person in our family.  I cannot ever remember him being in a bad mood when he wakes up in the morning.  He comes into our room, goes to Eli's side of the bed, and starts chatting about whatever he's thought up over night -- something he wants to build or invent, maybe a question, or perhaps a story about something he's read (we learn a lot of our animal trivia at six am).  If we are too tired to pay attention to him, he finds a book and goes out to the nook and reads until he is desperately hungry.  Then, he will either go down and make himself a piece of toast (this is a very messy process) or come and get one of us (Eli) to make his breakfast.

He loves having time before school to play Lego, or draw, or read.  Sometimes he has earned iPad time and on those days he is especially happy.

Then, he cheerfully packs his backpack (a new rule this school year) by cramming everything in it, and heads down to the car.  Now he can reliably tie his shoes with double knots (remember when he couldn't hold his own head up??), so he picks out some of his new striped socks from Auntie Chinka, puts them on and then moves onto his shoes.  While he can tie his own shoes, he prefers that I do it, so he does this slowly to see if I will have time to help him.

He still sits in a carseat.  It converts to a booster and we will do that soon-ish, but five point harnesses are safer and he can be in this seat (with the harness) until he is 80 lbs.  Much to his chagrin, that is still more than 20 lbs away as he has not weighed in at 60 lbs except once.  He very nicely buckles his own carseat.

In the car, his favorite things to do are read and listen to podcasts.  He likes "Brains On" and he also likes some stories.  One of his favorites is about a knight named Max Goodname and he is happy to listen to those stories over and over.  If he's reading nonfiction, he frequently says, "MOM!  Hear this!" and then reads me a fact or two from the book.

He saves his biggest questions for the car ride to school.  I generally try to answer my kids' questions with answers I would give to anyone, but he stumps me occasionally.  Yesterday, he wanted to know what animals live in the Olympic National Forest.  Another day recently, he wanted to understand exactly what it was that Hitler did.  Ack.

When we get to school, he tries to get me to carry his backpack for him but nicely puts it on when I refuse.  He prefers to walk to his classroom ahead of me but only because he views it as a race - he does not (yet) refuse to walk with me or hold my hand.  He's pretty happy to hold my hand if I ask, actually.

After he enters his classroom (or runs out for the final few minutes of recess before the 8:25 bell), I don't really know what happens.  I know that he is doing really well in math after a bumpy start.  I know that he loves best their IT "special" during which they play Minecraft (it somehow relates to the farm-to-table unit they are on).  I know that he has a great accent and is doing well in Spanish.  But, mostly, I only hear tiny slivers from his day.  He comes home happy, and is happy to go back again in the morning which I suppose is all we can ask for.

This trimester, we are backing off the extra-curriculars for Tommy.  He will do karate twice a week, and basketball and swimming once a week.  I realize that is still a lot.  Imagine how the poor kid felt last trimester!  Next year he wants to keep playing soccer (which his coaches support) and he will keep doing karate (because he likes it and because Lizzie and I are doing it at the same time; I started two weeks ago).

Every afternoon when he gets off the bus, he smiles at me, says, "HEY, MOM!  CATCH!" and hurls his backpack up the stairs at me as hard as he can.  I almost always catch it.

When it's dinner time, Tommy is unfailingly sweet.  He always tells me he likes dinner, even when he obviously doesn't.  He will try almost anything (not avocado or banana, but he's hated those since they first met his lips).  He understands what it means to eat healthy food and he is interested in growing big and strong so he rarely tries to skip eating his veggies (unlike his sister).

Here is how we celebrated Tommy's 8th Birthday:

On Thursday (April 9), he had three friends over to play a game on the iPads (you can only have four people in a world, so the number of guests was capped).  It was nice for all of us, as one of my favorite moms came to drink wine with me while they played.

He requested an ice cream cake but my options were limited.  Luckily, he didn't mind the pink.

In the morning as he left for school, he asked if he could change his clothes for his party.  He wanted me to choose the outfit.  (I love that he lets me choose the outfit still.  His only requirement is that his shorts have pockets so he can carry around Lego, rocks, bent paperclips, coins and other small treasures (aka trash).)

On his actual birthday, he awoke to our new rainbow birthday bunting (thank you, Grandma Nancy!) and a pile of gifts. His favorite is his new nerf gun. It is the first gun I have bought for my kid, and while it's probably not my best choice, it made him SO HAPPY. All day, he thanked me for his birthday gifts. The gun came about because he suggested getting it for Eli on his birthday. I told him that if he opted to give Eli a nerf gun for his birthday, it would be Eli's to play with - not Tommy's. So he said he'd buy Eli something else and he would take the gun for his own birthday. I still can't figure out if I was duped?

Eli had to go to work, so I took the kids to the Radisson and indulged Tommy's request for his own order of fish and chips (versus one he shared with his sister as usual).

Eli came home from work a bit early, we ordered Pad Thai for Tommy, did the birthday interview and blew out candles. Then, Tommy cut his own cake!

I could not be more grateful for another happy, healthy year with the most amazing little guy I could ever have imagined.  He is a delight to parent.

Ovie!

Last week, Tommy's nanny from Washington DC came to visit us.  Ovie's husband works in Delhi right now, so she was able to come see us on a relatively quick flight, with minimal jetlag.  Yay!  She was here for a busy week, but got to celebrate Easter and Tommy's birthday with us.  She looks the same and her sweet personality hasn't changed either.  It was a lovely visit and we feel so lucky that we got to see her before they leave India next month.

In Muttrah across from the Souq.

Time.

I am one of those typical, irritating Americans who constantly complains that she is too busy.  And, the truth is that I AM busier than I want to be (and, somehow, I still miss working).

There is some (large) amount of time which I gave away when I decided to get pregnant.  Kids take time and I love my kids and usually I don't mind the amount of time I spend on them.  I love talking with them and answering their questions and hearing about their days.  I'm good at figuring out how to make time that could be construed as wasted into time that is meaningful or enjoyable to me; I listen to podcasts whenever I'm in the car and I read novels or the New Yorker while I wait for Lizzie in her gymnastics class.

I am a tiny bit resentful of the time that I spend managing the household.  This statement is ridiculous as I have a lot of help with housecleaning.  But I don't have help with grocery shopping or cooking or menu planning and those things end up sucking up a lot of time.  I also don't have anyone else to wait for the AC repair guy, or go pay the utilities or get my car serviced.

I am off-the-charts resentful of the time I spend doing things I don't want to do at all and have somehow ended up doing.  I love how I talk about this in a passive voice - because of course I committed my very own self to the activities now causing so much resentment.

Obviously, there is a reason I am giving so much thought to my time at this very moment, and you've been reading for three paragraphs to get there.  Here it is:  I am sitting at this computer, waiting for the last information I need before I can send out the Pony Express.  What's that, you ask?  It's the American Womens Group newsletter and it is killing me.  I will tell you that I have absolutely and unequivocally QUIT this position as of May but there are eight newsletters between now and then and I am in charge of getting each of them out.  Even when the process is smooth (70% of the time?), it bothers me that I'm almost always doing it when both of my children are at home and awake and eager for my attention.

And the other thing I resent doing that I wish I didn't do?  ROOM MOM.  What was I thinking?  While I am grateful that I know Tommy's teacher as well as I do, I dislike organizing groups of people and even though I can bang out the necessary emails easily, I really let the not-great responses get under my skin.  Tommy and Lizzie's school has what I'm sure are normal disagreements among the parents (the largest of these being any and all rules associated with teacher gifts) and I can get pretty worked up about them.  Anyway, next year I will be volunteering at school but I shall not be the room mom, not for anybody's class, no matter what.

So what's the moral?  Somebody needs to work on SAYING NO.  Politely declining.  Refusing.  Drawing the line and not allowing myself to cross it.

Stay tuned.