Lipstick

Who on earth would offer a one year old, who LOVES to open containers and play with whatever is inside of them, three lipsticks?

No, it was not me. I don't even own a proper lipstick... I just have chapstick and lip gloss... which she has already destroyed (aka played with).


It was her beloved Chachi, our landlady who lives upstairs. We went upstairs to watch the World Cup opening ceremony with them, and Chachi loves to help Ellie have fun.

Potty Training

English Movie Night

My English students are tons of fun to be with. We had an English movie night recently. I learned three lessons.
1. Even if your English students are on time to class, they will probably be late for an event at your house.
2. Even if they say it's ok to just set everything on the table and they will serve themselves, you still need to dish their plates up and serve them.
3. Girls this age don't watch animated movies. (Franklin and I love Madagascar.) They wanted either an "action" movie or "romance".

I'm looking forward to the next time I can get together with the girls outside of class. And they are all looking for the next time they can play with Ellie. :)

Some highly not-recommended snacks

This package of biscuits looks fine, if you don't mind them misspelling Orbit. But, if you look on the back, maybe you won't want to eat them because one of the top ingredients is ash. Now, I am no expert in packaged foods production, especially in Asia, but I don't think ash is usually an ingredient. Unless other items just don't list it.


I am a pretty firm believer in the theory that enough sugar can usually make anything taste yummy. You should just take my word for it, though, that theory did not work for this candy.

Jerseys, Eczema, and Last One

Ellie is learning about putting on clothes and taking off clothes. She doesn't just choose her own clothes, though. I think she finds it easier to put on her daddy's colorful jerseys.

If you look closely in the above picture, you can see on Ellie's neck and eyes that she's been having an eczema outbreak. Poor Ellie! It has been itching her so bad! We took her to the doctor when we were in the capital and she said the heat may have caused it to act up. We've been diligent in putting on meds and cream, and it's starting to look a bit better. I'm hoping that the heat, which is not going away any time soon, won't cause more problems.

The color in the above picture is weird, but I like Ellie's smile, so I am still posting it.

Yesterday when Ellie woke up from her nap, I was playing with Ellie where she's the mama. Basically, I whine and cry like she does (which is very rare, of course), and see what she does. This was the first time she really caught on to the game... she brought me a bottle of water and pretended to give me some, she read me a book, she hugged and kissed me. Then she started cooking feverishly using a pillow as her stove. All the pots and pans and food were in her imagination. She would pretend to eat some, then she'd give me some. I said, "More." Just like she does. And just like she does, I said it over and over and over. Finally, she put her two pointer fingers up, and paused. I could tell she was thinking. Then she looked at me and said, "Last one!" Hahaha. Guess where she's heard that before!

Ellie's communication.

You may need a translation... here's a rough one.
Mommy, Mommy, sit.
Window, window.
(singing) Window....
Big, big circle.
Mommy!

Henna and Memories

These are pictures from early May. One day we were sitting and talking in our living room and I heard our neighbors chatting outside, so Ellie and I went to talk with them. They were having henna ground so they could put it on their hands. Since we were down chatting with them and we were taking a trip to the capital the next day, they offered to put some on our hands. We said yes, not just because of the henna, but because it's also fun to have time doing something enjoyable with our neighbors. Sitting and chatting while putting henna on and waiting for it to dry is enjoyable.


Above is what the henna looked like while it was drying. Our landlady from upstairs offered to put some on Ellie's hand. I was a bit worried about if Ellie would be able to sit for the time needed to let it dry, or whether she'd rub it all over everything. She did pretty good.


The next day these were the results. (Sorry the above picture is a bit blurry.) The henna on skin lasted for Ellie just a few days. The henna on my skin lasted a couple weeks. The henna on my fingernails will last until my nails grow out. Last time I had henna on my nails it took a few months.


I was talking with my friend who grew up here in Asia. She pointed out to me that putting henna on is actually away to remember something. When women get married here, they put henna on. Then whenever they look at the henna, they can remember the wedding celebrations.
It got me to thinking... what will I remember when I look at my henna? It will remind me of the fun we had and have with our neighbors.


Ellie calls the mom who lives downstairs Aunty. The little boy she calls "Bhaiya" which means big brother, and she calls the girl "Apa" which means sister.


She calls our landlady who lives upstairs "Chachi" which means Aunt, and she LOVES her chachi.

Above is us with Ellie's Apa.