It’s that time of the month again… And the Mister has had quite a month.
Hard to believe it’s been seven months with this guy. At times, whole months seem to speed by in the blink of an eye. And then there are the days that seem to never end, and the handful of nights that seem even longer.
Noe officially turned seven months on our way to the airport…again. It was his 14th flight, which roughly averages to about two per month, I guess. Not much for a frequent flyer, but a bit much for a baby, perhaps.
As of Friday, Noe’s also on to his second U.S. president.
I’ll admit, it’s taken longer than usual to write this particular post. I’ve found myself conflicted over whether to keep the blog strictly about travel and Noe or addressing the big orange elephant in the room. But the elephant has loomed so large in our lives over the past months, it would be disingenuous and an affront to reality to write about our daily and weekly adventures without acknowledging the seismic events taking shape. After all, how can I discuss the pressing issues of the day in Laos, Rwanda, Uganda, or anywhere else and not discuss what is going on in our own country?
Even in Laos, 8,500 miles from Washington, DC, our minds have been consumed by what is going on in the U.S. It would be so easy to choose reclusion and tune out from the world here, and I know a lot of U.S. citizens here probably have. But Lori and I can’t, in good faith, bring ourselves to do it. It would be unconscionable as professionals in our line of work, but more importantly, it would be unforgivable as U.S. citizens.
With that said, this is Noe’s post, so I’m going to keep it strictly Noe. I’ll save discussion of broader issues for future posts. But that doesn’t mean that our little Mister lives in isolation apart from reality.
So it seems that our little man’s got a tough row to hoe in the coming years, and likely in the coming decades — none of which he ever asked for, and none of which is even remotely easy to explain to a child.
He’s a natural-born citizen of the United States of America, which grants him enviable privileges while at the same time saddling him with a hell of a lot of unenviable baggage.
He’ll likely spend much of his childhood outside of the U.S. in ethnically, socioeconomically, and religiously diverse settings gaining insights and appreciation into how people all over the world live, struggle, and celebrate life.
He’s the child of two parents who value things like human rights, cultural diversity, multi-lateral cooperation, social justice, civil discourse, education, science, reason, and institutions — you know, the stuff that makes [made?] America great.
He’s being raised to see the world both for what it is and what it can be, and that the vast majority of humanity — across continents, religions and ethnicities — is comprised of decent, loving and caring individuals who yearn for the same things.
In the end, Lori and I wholeheartedly believe that these are strengths rather than weaknesses, and will ultimately serve Noe far better than ignorance, fear and isolation ever will.
At the end of the day, come what may, I look at Noe and am reminded of why we’re here — in Laos and on this planet — he gives us strength and motivation to keep moving forward, to continue to have faith in something greater than ourselves, and to keep fighting the good fight.
There’s a part of me that feels like he was born at a most inopportune time in history — and then I can’t help but feel so incredibly grateful that he arrived in our lives when he did.
And that’s all I’m going to say about that (for now).
If it wasn’t for a visit from Grammy and Grampy, I’d say that Christmas was the big highlight of Noe’s seventh month. But it’s pretty hard to compete with a visit from grandparents.
Nevertheless, even at six months old, Noe seemed to enjoy his first Christmas. On Christmas Eve, Noe was treated to his first ever real screen time (above) — A YouTube video of a man dressed up as Santa Claus and reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (we didn’t have the book so had to improvise). One camera, no quick cut-aways, just a dude reading a book. And he loved it. Thought it was the greatest thing ever.
But it was obvious that Noe loved Christmas Day even more…
All that crazy storytelling time must have really tuckered him out the night before. Memories he will cherish always, I’m sure…
No Christmas tree or decorations this year, apart from three stockings hung from the flatscreen TV with care. We generally keep things pretty simple on Christmas and this year was no exception. Next year I think we’ll find a nice little potted palm to decorate with lights, when he starts to care a bit more about such things.
One thing that Noe really likes to do in month seven is flap his arms wildly (and make a huffing and puffing sound) to express his excitement (he gets excited about a lot of things — especially feeding time with mommy).
Yet, more than any single development this month, Noe is more and more starting to transform from a baby into a little boy right before our eyes. It’s the darnedest thing when your tiny little defenseless infant starts having a mind of his own.
Lori bought a high chair from a Malaysian family that was moving out of the country, and it has seriously become life changing.
Once Noe started to sit up on his own, we thought he might benefit from his own chair. We have a portable clip-on chair, but it isn’t compatible with any of the furniture in our house. Now, with his high chair, Noe sits next to us at the dinner table and can sit and play next to mommy and daddy when we’re doing work on the computer. He loves being included in everything that is going on around him. If there are a lot of adults around him chatting, he’ll join right in — but we’ll get to that.
He’s also become much more mobile, scooting and army crawling around the entire front room. It’s nice to be able to buckle him into the high chair with a toy and be able to get laundry, etc. done. Ideally, in the future we’ll have some sort of kiddie corral, but they’re virtually nonexistent here and too bulky and heavy for someone to bring from the States. I think for now we’re managing well without it.
Noe was lucky enough to visit beautiful Green View Resort on Nam Ngum lake not once but TWICE during his seventh month.
We initially spent New Year’s weekend there and liked it so much, we made reservations for two weeks later during Lori’s parents’ visit. A great place for any age, but just a superb place for little ones. We’ll certainly be coming back as Noe gets older.
At Green View, Noe got to dunk and kick his feet in a pool for the first time. We had intended to give him a whole dunk but were a bit apprehensive the first time around, given the depth of the pool. By our second visit, we were more comfortable and he got to get in the water with daddy, which he seemed to really enjoy.
A lingering cold dominated much of his sixth month, and mosquito bites dominated much of his seventh. It was really a month-long battle against the wily little menace, trying everything under the sun until finally we managed to find solutions that kept Noe virtually bite-free.
Mosquitos are worst here in the dry season — far worse than the waning months of the rainy season when we first got here. Thankfully, it is rare to contract a deadly mosquito-borne illness here in the capital, but it does happen from time to time. Plus, mosquito bites just plain suck. So the fewer bites, the better.
We thought we had everything under control when we first moved into our house. Our house was largely devoid of mosquitoes and Noe slept in a completely enclosed portable crib (with a cover). But the mosquito numbers quickly multiplied following the end of the rains and became impossible to keep out of our well-sealed and screened house. Well-sealed as it is, once they get in, it is next to impossible for them to leave. Same problem with Noe’s crib, if only one mosquito snuck in late at night during a dream-feed, Noe and the mosquito would be trapped together for the night — All-you-can-eat buffet for the little bloodsucker.
Given that Noe’s crib is essentially a well-sealed mosquito net, we initially resisted getting an actual mosquito net. If you’ve ever had to use a mosquito net on a regular basis you know how much of a pain in the butt they can be and how pointless they are if just one mosquito sneaks in.
So, we eradicated all standing water around the house. I sprayed his curtains and other key places with Permethrin. Each night before he was put down, we’d take turns doing our best to eradicate the mosquitoes from his room with the electrified mosquito racket we have.
We thought we had finally turned a corner when one night, one rogue mosquito made it in and completely annihilated his face and hands. His caretakers at day care were horrified. Lori’s co-workers were horrified. Random people on the street were horrified — and reprimanded us to no end (in English and Lao…but it was pretty obvious what they were saying). The photo below really doesn’t do the bites justice. In person it was looked far worse.
In the end, we broke down and got a mosquito net (actually, a pediatrician friend of Lori’s in town forcibly encouraged us to borrow one from her after seeing the aftermath of the carnage). So, we took off the cover to Noe’s crib and put this gigantic mosquito net over it and by and large it’s worked, so long as we still eradicate the mosquitoes from his room, both inside and outside of the net.
On the 7th of January, the Mister got a big surprise from his frigid homeland — Grammy and Grampy!
Lori’s parents came to visit for 2.5 weeks. Close family friends (and travel buddies of theirs) joined on for the final week.
In tandem with doing the tourist thang and getting to know our adoptive city, Noe got lots of time to hang out with the grandparents.
Grammy taught him to “swim.”
Lately, Noe’s also had a penchant for sticking out his tongue…a lot.
Morning workout with Grammy…
“Come on, Grammy. We’re on to push-ups now!”
Sleeping on Grammy while Grampy and Daddy stuff their faces…
Tea time…
And what visit with the grandparents would be complete without a trip to Vang Vieng. Party time!
As mentioned, back at Green View, Noe goes all in with daddy…
…and by all, I mean mostly. Next time we’ll try the whole shebang.
For some reason, he looks like he should be holding a martini glass in his hand in this picture. A few more years, little man. A few more years.
Hanging out at the dried fish market (above).
Playing quietly at a restaurant in his portable high chair (below) while the rest of us chow down.
Dressed up in one of my old baby outfits for a quick pic. A little warm for Laos, but gotta get that pic to send to Nanny and Poppy while you can…
Just shy of seven months, close family friends John and Shirley arrive in Laos. Apparently Noe was feeling left out from all the constant chatter that ensued and started to join in.
Whenever everyone was together chatting, he’d start going, “Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. Ba-ba-ba. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba,” and so on and so forth. We can only imagine what it’ll be like when he starts to talk for real.
It’s becoming apparent that the Mister will have quite a lot to say about things. Watch out world!
What a bright, beautiful child of the world you are raising! Wonderful photos!
Noe is absolutely gorgeous!! Just wait until the girls notice him!!!!! hahaha : ) So very kissable!!
Absolutely thew cutest grandson ever!