Now That's a Second Birthday!

Well, it's official. My baby is a baby no more. Hudson turned two today.

It's amazing how fast the time has gone, how much I already miss holding my tiny baby. I love the independent, strong and ultra-joyful person he is becoming, but it makes me so sad that I'll never have a wee one again.

We already celebrated Hudson's second birthday with a big, ol' bash before we left. We had Maisie's fourth birthday party the same day. Even so, we couldn't just let the actual day go by without marking it somehow so we took the subway to Sentosa, an island resort that is a part of Singapore.

Sentosa is kind of a Disney wanna-be. There is a huge range of things to do there, but it's not laid our nearly as well as an American theme park. To get from one attraction area to another, you literally have to take a bus as walking is next to impossible.

We did very little there opting to skip Universal Studios and the like because our kids are just too little. The first thing we hit was the butterfly garden and insect museum. Big mistake. Oh - the butterflies were wonderful and so were the various birds in the garden. The specimens behind glass in the museum included butterflies I've never before seen. The same can be said of the bugs... bugs I never, ever SHOULD have seen. I hate roaches. Honest to God, just thinking about roaches makes my nose itch. They are NOTHING compared to some of the beetles in this museum - some of them who live right here! We're talking beetles that are about 5"x2" in size. I'd literally faint if I saw one on person. Sorry - no pictures. I had to run through there as fast as I could! The good news is that Singapore sprays constantly for bugs. I haven't had a single mosquito bite since we got here which says a lot when you live in a rainforest.

The second area we hit was something called "Underwater World," a truly unique aquarium. Oh sure - there was the usual touch tank and giant fish tank. The cool part was the moving sidewalk that went UNDER the tank. You just stood there and the aquarium went by overhead. There were also a couple of exhibits with things I've never before seen: seadragons (similar to seahorses, but much cooler), giant crabs (about 12 feet across leg to leg) and other oddities. 

Now here's the really cool part: admission into the aquarium included a fish pedicure! I've been dying to try one, but at an amusement park? Anyway - we went into the building, washed our feet and then had to choose between the big fish or little fish. We picked the big ones because they said they tickled more - and boy do they tickle! I will never forget how hard Tom was laughing when he stuck his feet in the water. Cheryl's reaction was almost as fun. Maisie refused to try, but after a while, Hudson started yelling, "I try. I try." his new motto in life. So Tom washed his feet and dipped them into the water. He lasted a whole :03, but hey - he did it, right? The fish supposedly eat all your dead skin. Of course, now my feet feel rougher than ever and I need a real pedicure!

The highlight of the day - if you're two or three - was the water park. You may start to see a theme by now. There are water parks EVERYWHERE in Singapore. EVERYWHERE! It's so frickin' hot here and kids need fresh air just like at home so the water park is the answer. This is probably the best water park I've ever seen. The whole thing was done like a pirate ship. There was a lovely restaurant right next to it, changing rooms and a big lawn with cushioned palettes for families to use. Tom and I even had fun riding the waterslides. 

Maisie's favorite was the giant bubble bath. As a kid with sensory issues, she is a water freak - add bubbles and life doesn't get any better. The "tub" was probably 25'x25' and almost as deep as Hudson is tall. Hudson didn't like it so much and preferred to hang at the ship.

Cheryl? Well, Cheryl sat in the shade with the stroller. Turns out, she doesn't own a bathing suit. She swam with us the other day at the apartment pool - and wore clothes.  I offered  to buy her a bathing suit and she declined. Truth is, Cheryl is downright scared of the sun. She walks around - in UNBEARABLE heat - wearing jeans, a sweater and a hat!. I think she saw it as her job to stick with our stuff. I guess in some ways it was a fair trade in that we paid for her entry fee to a the various attractions - things she could never see otherwise. We spent half her monthly salary in one day at the park. 

This was also the first day that we really saw the whole "blond baby is good luck" thing in action. A Chinese woman came and snatched Hudson out of his stroller and carried him a few feet away to take photos of him in front of the Sentosa sign! I hear that's standard practice in China, but I was taken aback a bit. Hudson? He loved it, but Maisie didn't quite get why they didn't want a picture of her, too.

Funny thing? Every day at least two people ask me if they're twins! It's always when they are sharing their stroller, but still... twins? 

After we sang "Happy Birthday" and had a steamed cake - the Asian version of a cupcake - the kids went to bed while Tom and I headed to an area called Chijmes, a square of nice restaurants, to meet his old friend who is here from South Africa interviewing for a job. From there, we went to Clarke Quay (pronounced key) which is the big evening hangout area. More on both of those places in the coming weeks.

I got home and went in to look at my birthday boy. He's growing up so fast... so so fast. Now I hope he doesn't climb out of the bed again like he's been doing every night since we got here!

Connecticut is... exotic? Really?!

There's a lot to like about Cheryl, our helper. There are the obvious things such as making our meals and doing our laundry. Then there are the even bigger things like she insists on pushing our incredibly heavy stroller (despite her tiny stature) and plays guide in the subway system (here called the MRT). 

What isn't so obvious, but just as lovely, is that I get to see Singapore through her eyes. Cheryl is from the Philippines and grew up poor - I mean, really poor. Her home STILL doesn't have electricity. She works here to send money home to her children. She's smart as a whip and knows FAR more about raising kids than I do - something of which I'm painfully aware when Maisie and I mix it up. She knows a lot about Singapore, but yet she doesn't. There are times when having Cheryl with us is like having another kid because she's so excited and enthusiastic to see things.

There's a brand new attraction here called The Gardens by the Bay.

They are two incredible pieces of architecture, huge domes each with a different garden planted inside. One is called the Flower Garden, the other The Cloud Forest.

To get to them, you first must cross the "dragonfly bridge" which gives you a pretty nice view of the structures. Then you must walk through a huge garden with a variety of sections, each planted like a different part of Asia - the Malay Garden, the Indian Garden etc. Within this garden are these MASSIVE structures called Super Trees. They are easily 50 stories tall - perhaps higher. They are shaped like giant trees and are made out of metal. Plants and vines will eventually cover them and they will look like giant trees. 

In actuality, they are chimneys connected to a giant boiler room underground. ALL the clippings from ALL the trees in Singapore are sent to this boiler room which in turn makes all the energy needed to support the domed structures. It's an incredible example of recycling at work.

We first headed into the Flower Garden to see exotic flowers. Turns out, exotic is all a matter of perspective. All the flowers inside the garden were things I could see in the States - things I have planted in my yard! Well - not all of the flowers, but many of them. Cheryl was enthralled - ooing and ahhing at each and every offering. "Oh - a rose!" she squealed. There were begonias and pansies, each equally exciting for her. There was also a cactus garden which felt like being in Midland. I was the one who played tour guide inside the garden. It was quite fun and I surprised even myself by how much I actually know about plants.

There were some things we don't have at home like an entire terrace of massive olive trees. The real treat here were the Green-Giant-tall-Baobob trees, MASSIVE trees that store water in their trunks found in places like Africa. 

The kids loved it except that Hudson just wanted to run like a banshee and sobbed hysterically when we tied him into the stroller yet again. Maisie put on several dances for bystanders. Silly goose.

We had lunch in the main garden under the Super Trees. The kids shared a kids meal: fried chicken, pasta, fruit and mango ice served in a bento box. Cheryl and I had Laksa, kind of the national dish of Singapore. I LOVE IT! It's a coconut-based broth with rice noodles, shrimp, chicken, fish cake (not really sure what that is?) and clams topped with a sliced hard-boiled egg.

Cheryl was mesmerized by the second building also - the Cloud Forest. It's not so much that the plants were fascinating for her, but rather the temperature. I'm guessing it was about 60 degrees in there. For Cheryl, that meant it was the coldest place she'd ever been - ever! They had this mist going to simulate the clouds and Cheryl asked if it was snow! 

Thank God it was cold because today was the hottest day here so far. I mean H-O-T HOT! I kept thinking I might just melt into the pavement like the Wicked Witch of the West. Half of me dripped into a puddle, I'm sure of it. 

This structure was kind of a big, mountain of a thing with a waterfall and a walk up through the "clouds" that gave the most amazing view of Singapore's skyline and Malaysia's coast. There was also a cave with a bunch of stalagmites and stalactites. Maisie was very happy looking up at the mirrors on the ceilings, dancing once again for all to see.

My favorite part of the day was watching all the Chinese tourists taking pictures and video of Hudson with the same relish that they were photographing the exhibit! I hear he'll be a rock star in China!

Girls' Night Out

Turns out, women all over the world are pretty much the same when it comes to girls' night: drinking and gabbing go together.

Heather invited me to a girls' night planned by some Exxon wives and gals from the AWA (American Womens' Association)  http://www.awasingapore.org/ . The AWA is HUGE - something like 1000 members, 75% are Americans. I guess they often get together at Morton's. Yup - Morton's the steakhouse - same one you can find in NYC only this one was in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. This was a group of about 20 women or so. We drank and munched on steak sandwiches and talked up a storm. You know why we ate steak? Because so many of the women are from Texas! I felt like I was at a college reunion!

These women are actually quite interesting. Some have been here a couiple of years while others have been here for a decade. Most travel back and forth to the States for a month or more at a time. Some have adult children in the States. Only Heather has little children - and me, of course. There are other women who have little kids, but since school is out, they've all headed home for an extended visit.

We talked about all the normal things - you know - who should play Christian Gray in "50 Shades of Gray" and the like, but they also gave me great advice. Schools here rock and the local preschools are great becasue they have Mandarin every day outside of English. I now know where to pick up certain foods and that I can bring in all my spices if I pack them in my suitcase. Cans of Pam cost $10 here, but will most likely be confiscated if you bring them in your luggage. The best place to get a pedicure happens to also be in the building with all the hookers, affectionately known as "four floors of whores."

Every woman has a story about how she got here and what she's doing now. We all seem to get that we're adventuring and alone and so there is this instant comraderie. It's almost like that first week of college when everybody is meeting everybody else - only I was the only freshman. Apparently, Singapore is the world's most social place. One woman was the ladies' dragonboat captain. Others play tennis. Many have dinner parties. I mean - the social activities of these women made my head spin. Partly, that's because they don't have jobs here as it's hard to work. It also helps that we all have helpers to take care of the kids while we have lives. 

And oh - I got all sorts of advice about how to co-exist with a helper. Heather doesn't have a helper just now. She made me laugh saying she got tired of having to wear her bra all the time!

We also talked about favorite weekend jaunts. The cool thing about living here is that you can easily travel to - well - all sorts of cool places: Thailand, Australia, Bali, Borneo, Malaysia, India, China - the list goes on and on. We can fly to Bali in 2 hours and stay pretty cheap. I wish Hudson was four because then both kids could go to the inexpensive - often free - kids' clubs and we could have a little adult time to do things like snorkel or visit nature reserves. My assignment from Tom is to try to figure out where we're going in the next couple of weeks. So many options!

After we closed down Mortons, we all piled in cabs to go someplace called 83 Club on Club Street though neither Heather nor I were exactly sure where that is. I THINK it was in Chinatown. All I know is that it was on this quaint little street that made me think a little bit of New Orleans at first glance.

So there we have it - my first night out with the girls. Fun, fun, fun! Tom? He got home late from work as usual and probably watched Food Network Asia - just about the only thing we can watch here unless we get a cable upgrade. I've got to figure out how to watch the next season of "Breaking Bad."

A Different Kind of Garden

What's that they say? God laughs at plans. He must have had a good chuckle today.

All the guide books tell you to head to the Botanic Garden. Not only is there supposed to be a fabulous orchid garden, but an amazing, educational children's garden, too.

So that's just what we did this morning. After taking two trains (turns out a cab would have been far easier!), we arrived just in time for a monsoon-like downpour. At home, I always check the weather before making plans. Here, the forecast is always the same which includes a chance for rain. Some days that chance comes through. Some days, it doesn't. Even more bizarre, when I called Tom to whine, he said it wasn't raining where he was. 

So we decided to grab some grub at the Food Court, a place with absolutely no western food - a first. I got the kids fried potsticker-like things and a fruit platter. You pick out the fruits you want and they dice them and make a fruit platter. Amazing. I got noodles and steamed dumplings - something I recognized. Cheryl got a sliced fish soup that I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole! Hudson gobbled up my noodles and absolutely destroyed his nice, white shirt and - once again - got ahold of something spicy. Maisie nibbled at the fried dumplings. I never imagined my picky boy would be the one who liked Asian food.

With no end to the rain in sight, we caught a cab to a mall to try out an indoor playground. There are a zillion of them as it turns out. It's just too hot here so they have adapted and built all these playgrounds, even little crappy free ones inside of the middle of malls. Have I mentioned that there are a zillion, million malls here?

Anyway, Tom heard about this playground called Amazonia . Holy cow! This place was like something I've never seen. I mean - it was like being in the real Amazon. The walls are painted like a rainforest and the structure was absolutely adorable. Of course, Maisie was all bummed that we didn't stay at the garden so we kind of had to go somewhere else. Little did we know that it'd be so expensive and once there, I couldn't disappoint her yet again. So... I spent $55 Singapore which is $44 US just to get the kids inside!

Once again, to enter they took the kids' temperature, examined their hands and made them use antiseptic. Now I know it's because there's been this giant outbreak of foot and mouth disease (not to be confused with hoof and mouth). It's very painful and makes it hard to eat. In some cases, it's even fatal. We also had to buy socks for all of us. Note to self: pack socks every day just in case.

Anyway - the climbing structure was six stories and inside were all sorts of cool twists and turns - even a full trampoline in the middle and the deepest ballpit on the planet. Hudson ignored the big, ol' sign that said, "This area not for children under 3" and charged right in. He was by far the youngest kid climbing and the fastest, to boot. That kid is an future Olympian. Seriously. He was flying around in there at twice the speed of some 7-year-olds all while carrying a ball in his hand! Cheryl and I took turns chasing after him - far easier for her since I've got an extra full foot on her in height - at least a foot. I have a pinched nerve in my back, too. Ayi yi yi. After a while, Hudson even learned to go down the GIANT slide all by himself!

Maisie loved it, too! She jumped on the trampoline half the time which is great therapy for her. Of course, leaving wasn't much fun - lots of tears from Maisie.

Now the kids are watching a movie while I rest up for my first girls' night out courtesy another invite from Heather, my guardian angel. The cool thing? Cheryl will make them dinner and put them to bed. 

As for the Botanic Garden, we'll definitely go another day!

Moms Rock!

When I first had Maisie, I thought motherhood was the most isolating experience of my life. In actuality, it's the most social. If you want to meet other people, have a kid.

Truth is, moms - especially stay-at-home moms - can only put up with one-on-one time with their kids for just so long. While parenting is the most challenging activitity on the planet, singing the "ABC Song" over and over day after day is pretty mindless. Cranky, needy kids will also drive you batty. I'm firmly convinced if I stayed inside all day long with my little ones day after day I'd need to be committed. So while we may love our kids with all our hearts, us moms are desperate to get out of the house and interact with others. 

That means there are moms everywhere waiting to make friends. Whether you move into a new neighborhood, a new city or a new country, it's the same. The only thing is that sometimes moms already have friends so they don't need you.

The cool thing about being in a foreign country as a mom is that it's very transient. Moms come and go which means there are always "openings" in the mom circle. Plus, every single mom you meet from another country has had the same experience of being the new girl in town trying to make friends and entertain kids. Maybe that's why people are all the more helpful and accepting here.

(Quick aside: Cheryl is IRONING while I write! While we were gone, she went to the store, mopped, cleaned and did laundry. I'd never have time to update this blog at home because I'd be the one doing all that! Rah!)

Heather invited me to a playgroup organized by the American Women's Association. The group divides moms by ages of kids so Heather invited me along. The only thing is most families have gone to the States for the summer school break and because they're flying so far, they stay for a month or more. The city is pretty much deserted by kids this time of year! Who knew? So while this playgroup usually has ten women, today there were three of us.

Besides Heather and her adorable two-and-a-half-year-old son, Mason, there was another woman named Joy - from Texas - San Angelo, Texas no less which is darn close to Midland as Texas miles go. Joy has a son Andrew close to Mason's age and a five-month-old baby girl named Alexis. I really hope to meet some little girls for Maisie soon.

The playgroups meet different places around town. This time it was at a place called Rocester Park. Inside a Thai-looking building was a giant playroom packed to the gills with toys: slide into a ballpit, dress-up clothes, train sets, cars, hopping balls - you name it. It was exactly what the kids needed. Heck, it was exactly what I needed.

While the kids ran wild, the three of us gals talked about where to go on weekend jaunts, fun local activities and things like where get cheap diapers, a relative term because diapers are really, really expensive here. Joy uses cloth diapers to save money. Hey - want to know something funny? I left the stroller parked on our balcony and there were two diapers inside the basket. The air here is so thick with moisture that the diapers wouldn't fold flat any more! They'd absorbed water out of the air! Holy cow! I'm not sure if that's an advertisement for how Pampers are or how humid it is here.

Joy had to leave, but Heather and I stayed with the kids to have lunch at the little cafe attached which was "filling" as my Grandfather used to say. It was fine, but not great. It was the worst meal I've had here and still pretty tasty.

Heather picked us up in her car which was great because I got to see a lot of town that I hadn't seen. We drove near the Singapore River which is jam-packed with very cool, modern buildings. I'm telling you, this is one, beautiful city! I kept flinching though because the steering wheel here is on the right and people drive on the "wrong side of the road." I kept thinking we were turning into the wrong place or about to be hit by another car. Talk about your bad backseat driver! Ha! Heather, an Idaho native, does a pretty good job navigating the streets.

The thing I most like about women here? It takes a certain kind of person to pick up and move overseas with kids. Many families have done it several times. It's fun to hear their stories and meet adventurous spirits. Living overseas has been on my bucket list my whole life.

Speaking of adventurous spirits, Hudson is trying to climb on the dining table again! Time to go! Plus - are you ready for this? They're coming to fix the curtains in our room! Wahoooo!

The last picture is of Heather and Mason!