We’re launched! I feel like one of those wrapped T-shirt parcels at big sports games that two clowns pull back in a bungee and hurl into the crowd. We’re still hurtling, but at least while we’re hurtling I’m allowed to suspend my list-making temporarily and try to relax!
Here we are in Bangkok, all of us pretty tired and cranky from jetlag but at least the hotel is air-conditioned and we’re all napping during the day. Will had two pool sessions yesterday, and we finally managed to get him all the way into the water (briefly) by the end of the second one… He’s quite content to just sit on the side splashing, and would do it wearing all of his regular clothes if we let him. It took at least half an hour to get him to let us change his diaper and put his bathing suit shorts on after his nap. And that was as far as it went—he stubbornly clung to his regular T-shirt, until it started getting wet down by the pool and I quietly took it off while he wasn’t really paying attention. ::sigh:: This hating-to-take-off-clothes phase has been going on for several months now, and is really getting old… We’re not sure whether it’s a privacy thing, a personal space thing, a genuine fear of something, or just “don’t mess with me, I’m TWO”—but it’s definitely annoying, whatever else it is. James and I vacillate between trying to understand and empathize, and then losing patience and just barreling him through it while he kicks and screams. I sympathize with the water thing—I’ve always hated getting water on my face—but changing clothes is a part of life that happens multiple times every day. And baths, unfortunately, combine the two… too bad we don’t live back when people only took baths once a week at the MOST. Let’s hope five days at the pool helps to shorten this phase.
Interestingly, even though we now have two babies to lure them, people still gravitate to Will. I think it’s his blue eyes and long lashes, and that he’s pretty polite and responsive—smiles, shakes hands, says “Thank you” and “Bye”… I thought they’d go for Ben since he’s so much littler, but everyone seems far more interested in Will. This morning there were Italians at breakfast gushing over him—“Que bella bambino! What a beautiful child!” I just hope he doesn’t figure out what they’re saying.
Ben is pure enjoyment. He is such interactive baby: he loves to be held, talked to, tickled, played with, and rewards us with whole conversations of gurgles, coos and grins. He smiled at 4 weeks and chuckled around 7 weeks; his eyes just dance at you while you talk to him. He’s chubbier at 3 months than Will was—chubby thighs, chubby belly, chubby cheeks and chin—so edible, and he chuckles appreciatively when gobbled and munched. Where Will attracts with his looks, I think Ben will attract with sheer charisma. I just pray they both grow a genuine love for Jesus that draws people to them, rather than relying on looks or charisma…
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