Harry Potter

I missed my dad more than usual today. He loved Harry Potter, devouring a couple of the books before his mind got too muddled. He would have loved hanging out with me today.

I've decided I'm done researching a move. There are to be no more schools to see, apartments to hunt, jobs to contemplate. Nope. I'm back to being a tourist. I've been hankering to see the Harry Potter exhibit here, but thought it might be too scary for Maisie. Good move on my part! 

The exhibit is at the Art Science Center, a very cool building that looks like a Bloomin' Onion from Outback (also one of my dad's favorites!) A very astute four-year-old I know told me it looks like an upside down octopus. Either way, it's a special building, right next to the Marina Bay Sands.

The exhibit starts with the Sorting Hat choosing the right house for two different visitors. Then the doors open and voila - you enter a world of sets and costumes from all the Harry Potter movies. I went back and got the audio tour because I was so curious about everything I was seeing. Unfortunately, no photos allowed!

I loved it even though I haven't read the books yet. I'm waiting to read them with my kids. I've only seen one of the movies, too. Let's face it: movies spoil books.

It's just that for a while there, I wanted to be a set designer. I was an architecture student and my professor thought I was too creative to be bound by the confines of buildings. It sounded great at the time, but looking back  he was probably just trying to tell me I was hopeless as an architect. He strongly encouraged me to go to set design school. He even told my parents on visiting day that I needed to transfer to USC. My dad practically blew a gasket. "You can't make a living designing sets! I won't pay for school if you are going to waste your education on something like that!" Needless to say, I never transferred to USC.

Of course, seeing all that cool stuff today made me salivate. It really would be fun to come up with all that stuff. It's an amazingly well done exhibit.

I also saw the Andy Warhol exhibit there which was pretty interesting. He really did have his own style, eh? Meanwhile, I kept looking for the museum's permanent exhibit, but I don't think they have one. Weird!

I missed my brother today, too. His girlfriend Virginia is feeling pretty sick, lots of abdominal pain. They've run some tests and more are scheduled for Tuesday, but we're all worried about her. Prayers needed. Uncle Jim is doing pretty good, but he's having some Afib which is tough, but he's handling it like a champ. It'll be nice to be home to see everybody, especially Jim and Virginia.

Meanwhile, I asked one of the teachers to tell me how to count to 10 in Mandarin today so I can practice with the kids. Holy cow. Not only is there a pronunciation to learn, but each word either also has tones, either going up or down or down then up or stays the same. Holy cow. I do get a chuckle out of Hudson turning the pages in his Mandarin book saying something that sounds a bit Chinese-y.

I went to pick Hudson up at school today and he never came to find me. Every other kid at school had left and he was still inside. Maisie and I were waiting and waiting. Turns out, he was too busy playing to realize it was time to leave. Of course, Maisie pretended to cry when it was time to leave. She used to REALLY cry because school was so much fun. Pretending is far better than true tears so we're getting somewhere.

This afternoon, Hudson woke up from his nap absolutely hysterical and she was a little cranky, too. She then said, "Mommy, I need some time for myself," and went and sat on the floor on the other side of the room. That is absolutely huge for her. I'm so proud! Of course, five minutes later she started crying over nothing important, but she's getting it! She's learning how to deal with her own emotions. Structure is key for all of us, but particularly sensory kids. She is doing so much better now that she's in school. Speaking of school, her worksheets are pretty impressive. She's writing words other than her name - (she's been doing that for a long time now!) - and learning to recognize words in sentences. 

I'm actually looking forward to the routine, too - the routine of home. I'm craving things being a little more normal, whatever that means for us. I'm hankering to eat salads and Lean Cuisines and go to the gym while the kids learn how to write and count to ten.