Dreamworld

Yesterday was a Thai holiday, so we decided to take the family to Dreamworld, an amusement park that's about a half-hour drive from our place. We had heard they had a few rides that would be appropriate for Kaj, so we thought we'd give it a shot. All in all, it was a good time. Leif slept during the entire outing with one brief rousing for a nurse at KFC, which made shuffling around a bit easier.

I've definitely entered a new stage in my life. I'm the one who keeps track of the stroller, camera bag, diaper bag, hats, sunglasses, baby, etc. while the others actually GO on rides. That's OK with me, though. We did go on a train ride as a family, which took us on a tour of a miniature display of the Seven Wonders of the World among other famous monuments, and Kaj actually identified the Statue of Liberty, a pyramid and the Great Wall, which dazzled his doting parents, of course.

This ride was called "INDIAN BOAT." Apparently the term canoe is not used in SE Asia.

The antique car ride was a big hit as well.

On a different front, HOLY MOLY are we being given a run for our money with this big boy bed business! To put it nicely, our willful child is finding imaginative ways to present his newfound independence. More bluntly, he tests us until dad becomes angry or mom goes soft, our two faults that we have decided together are equally bad. Today he didn't fall asleep after two hours of Tom shuffling him back to his bed, trying to provide as little feedback as possible (this strategy has worked other days). Eventually Tom had to go teach - long story short, Kaj didn't nap today, and when I got home he was really wound up until we put him down as soon as Tom got home. Thankfully, he crashed after minimal protest this evening. We have decided to stay in town this last long weekend of the school year to a)hopefully get through this nap protest/training period, b) not have all four of us sleep in the same room - bad idea right now, and c)make ourselves available for tag-team massages while the other is on mommy/daddy duty. We love our family time, but an hour of forced relaxation helps us appreciate our wonderful children even more!

Leif is growing sweeter and more playful by the day. He smiles, laughs and squeals with the slightest prompts and reaches for fingers, toys and, as I discovered during this evening, noses! He's still up two or three times at night to nurse, but we're able to bathe him around 7 and have him in his pack and play in our room by 8, where he will usually sleep until midnight before asking for a feed. Of course I would love it if he would drop a feed sometime soon, but I'm not going to force it. I have enough energy for school - that's my gauge.

That's where we're at. Tomorrow Leif is three months! We'll be home five weeks from tomorrow! Things are moving quickly.