Pool side

Luka helping to fill the pool 

We've pretty much established than ever since the little man made his early arrival, he has been tremendously blessed.  We've been over the concept of privilege for even being able to evacuate, to being able to access world-class health care.  Bottom line, we continue to be blessed and fortunate in ways many are not - this weekend was no exception.  Our friend and neighbor has taken the lead on constructing our communal pool in Dili, and this weekend we got to reap the benefits of the labor by watching the pool be filled.  Fortunately for us, Luka was there to lend a much-needed hand....

The boys' first splash in the new pool

Halloween 2012: Bob the Builder (in drag)

So we were invited to a Halloween party for kids last week, which (*gasp*) I actually thought about skipping for lack of a creative costume (for those unfamiliar enough with our current locale - fresh bread is a treat, let alone ready-made cute Halloween costumes).  Fortunately my lovely friend Kay offered an emergency Samurai outfit - which, unfortunately on our tall, tanned, blonde boy, made him look more like someone that should be hanging out at the Playboy mansion with a cigar, than a celebrated Japanese warrior.  Luckily I spotted a 'tool belt' I had bought for Luka eons ago at Ikea if memory serves, so we decided - right, 'handy man' it is - we contemplated the accompanying outfit he should wear, when Chris suggested that 'white onesie' - meaning the designer, expensive, virgin white onesie my mom bought at a lovely shop in SA, which we have never put Luka in because, who  would put Luka in WHITE?

Given his obsession with shoes, Luka proceeded to test out his own footwear for the occasion which ranged from the effortlessly casual flip-flops, to the dependable black court shoe mamma wore to her UK college examinations and graduation ceremony.

Bob the Builder does 'casual'

Bob the Builder in 'drag'

Bob the Builder on the move

Gorgeous little Bob the Builder in a rare
stationary moment with his mamma

Bob the Builder contemplates his next move..

Bob the Builder announces the END of this
party!

You'll have to excuse all the photos being in 'MOTION' - if you have to *ask* - you obviously haven't seen Luka recently....

The Kaito Kiss

Luka is super fortunate to have some of the most awesome friends here in Dili.  Only in an expat setting can you have seven nationalities between 3 babies....one of Luka's closest friends is a Japanese-American named Kaito.  We had the pleasure of spending a lovely Friday evening of sunset drinks on the beach with Kaito and his parents - where Luka decided to try out his new 'kissing' skills.  Kaito was less than impressed see Exhibit B.

"If you do that again, I'll punch you!"

Beach Cruiser

 A few weeks ago, Chris and I finally decided that it had become too much of an occupational hazard to try and take our darling Luka to public establishments for sundowners.  It usually goes something like this:
 "..so, how's work?"
"yeah, go.....BABE, he's on top of the stairs...gooo!"
"sorry about that...Luka, OFF the table!"
"how about you? How's the fam...Luka, watch OUT"

instead - we took the *free* beer in our fridge, and walked down to the *free* beach located about 3 blocks from our house (though Dili's town planning in now way shape or form actually constitutes city blocks for the most part, more like 'enclaves', nevertheless).  With a blanky, a cooler, and Luka's favorite toy in tow - we were able to spend an hour watching him run up and down the beach with no fear of launching himself off a stair case, breaking glasses, or climbing on tables - because there were none of those things around!  Yeah, one for us!

"Ah-ha! Let's see how fast we can go!"

"Not so fast, I will come around and GRAB you from the
front!"

"Whoa there!"

There comes a time when riding IN the Chariot is no longer
acceptable, one now has to DRIVE the Chariot

Hm, I love putting pebbles into mommy's beer bottle...

"Hey! Enough with the camera already, I
feel like one of Brangelina's adopted kids!"

Bday bliss for mommy

Turned the space between our homes into an awesome
dinner venue to celebrate to Libra birthdays...

Mommy's little helper...

After an awesome bday 'braai' with neighbor, friend and fellow Libra, Maarten on the 29th - I  celebrated a blissful bday brunch on the beach with my two favorite boys... Fortunately Luka was there to help me unwrap my prezzies, and practice his latest word 'ouch' for my knee. 

hanging out - reminding mommy why she really needs to
think about switching to 'tankinis' ;)

'Where's Luka's tongue?'

'Aaaaaaah'

:)m

Dili International School

Deep down inside we are VERY nervous....

Apparently there comes a time in everyone's life...when the eternal educational wheel starts turning.  For some it is brief, for others a rather extended walk through life (my mother got her PhD in her 50s)...but nonetheless - we all have to start somewhere.  And so, Master Luka started at the Dili International School Pre-school a few months ago (yes his mother is only now getting around to sharing this groundbreaking news with you).

Now, trying to get Luka to appreciate the notion of 'circle time'
will take some doing....

'now why would I sit in a stupid circle when there are
playground equipment to conquer??'

'...afterall, I have a perfectly good view of the "circle" from here'

Essentially there are a few international schools in Dili.  The one that Luka frequents is commonly referred to as the 'Australian school' for following the curriculum from our friends down under, and staffed mainly by Australian teachers; whereas there is also an American and Portuguese school in town.

And then of course, nothing makes you as hungry as
'learning'!

I visited the pre-school with my mother-in-law shortly before they left Timor in August to get an educated opinion (she is after all an educational psychologist) and she was very positive and impressed about the setup.  So Chris and I decided that, despite not necessarily wanting to send Luka to school before he was 18 months old, the combination of his energy, and exploratory desire to learn things - that he was in fact, ready to start a more structured form of stimulation.  He goes 3 mornings a week and gets to hang out with Ms. Glau and all the friends doing circle time, painting, singing (his favorite is the dancing!~)

We have been absolutely amazed at how fast he learns and makes associations.  He is really starting to listen to requests, and instructions - which in the case of such a passionate little person, is a good thing ;)

Our little 'gearhead'

Wow, all this toddling makes me thirsty!

He may be only 16-months old, but he can spot an authentic CamelBak a mile away.  Might have something to do with the similarity in nozzle on his favorite bottle by the same manufacturer, so when our little man spotted the familiar blue squishy cap dangling from mommy's MTB hydration pack, he didn't skip a beat... 

Planting a vegetable garden

Helping!

I know there has to be a cookie in here
somewhere!!

 I've always said, of all the cool things I've been fortunate enough to do in life, eating food from my own garden was one of the most incredible experiences.  Those who have followed our previous blog on our kitchen adventures in Afghanistan may recall that we had a lovely vegetable garden in Kabul which provided us with abundant tomatoes, lettuce and plenty of other goodies.  So, I've decided to give it a 'go' one more time in Dili.  While I won't have my trusty chowkidor to assist, I am happy to report, I have a new, willing helper!  Luka and his friends had a blast digging in the dirt, disorganizing our seed stash, and of course - driving the biggest garden tools he could find!

1st Day of School....okay, Playgroup but still.

There was a lot of uhming and ahing over whether Luka was too young to start 'school', and given the amount of stimulation he gets with neighbors and friends, whether he even needed a 'formalized' situation - well - I think this video sort of sums up what he thought of his trial at the Dili International School (DIS) playgroup today...

Dance white boy!

Officially toddling

It's official, we have a toddler.  Heaven help us.  While I have failed to adequately capture the latest feature on camera - let it be known that we are now stomping around.  Despite not being entirely proficient at the whole walking bit, it has seemingly not stopped us from trying to climb our way into, and out of many things.  This afternoon when daddy put down a wash basket filled with dive gear, Luka proceeded to climb into, on top of, and over the entire heap.  Then when he noticed Gus (the cat) on the dining table, he figured that if he steps on the cross bar of the chair, he gets an extra 4 inches of lift to carefully annoy the cat on the table.

For the purpose of practicing the stomping, mommy purchased a nifty pair of red Crocs sandals (the only size available in giant toddler in Bali) to which we apparently still need to be accustomed to...

Will try and capture and share evidence of the latest phenomenon.

Scrub-a-dub-dub - Luka is in the tub (again)

If the title of this post sounds familiar - it is.  Though, how could you not title it this...here is Luka, slightly more than a year after his very first bath in the NICU, enjoying bubbles (again courtesy of auntie Becca) - thanks to my procurement princess, Luka has two of the most enormous bottles of Johnson's baby bubble bath you can possible imagine - and was making 100% sure he enjoyed it to the fullest!

I simply could not resist these...and yes, he is a total poser!

We're going to have our hands full with this one....

What friends are for, procurement

They say a good friend will help you move, a great friend will help you move a body... okay, this is not quite as dramatic as that, but close...

Bottom line, more often than not my friends amaze me.  Like the time a friend from high school in South Africa, whom I haven't been in touch with for close to 2 dozen years, sends me care packages in the NICU in Darwin - from South Korea.  Or when friends in Dili would drive all the way up the hill to once again explain to the cleaning lady not to feed Gus litter sand.  Or, when my girlfriend and classmate from Oxford rocked up with a fresh organic Turkey for  Luka's first Thanksgiving (and eight Scotch Fillets, cranberry sauce, you know the drill...).

If you know who I am am referring to, you will also know that Auntie Becca looooves a challenge - and so I suppose it should be no real surprise when this is the image that emerged from the Dili airport last weekend when I picked her up at 07h00 on a Friday morning. ..

Princess Rebecca and the cot mattress emerge from
the Dili customs - I think they remembered her
from last time :)

Yes, in case you were wondering - that is a full-size, or shall I say 'standard size' infant cot mattress (inner spring of course, not the sponge type) from Australia.  Said mattress was procured in Canberra, nearly missed its flight to Darwin, then spent the night taking a taxi from the Darwin airport into town, and back to the airport only to spend the night sleeping next to Becca on the floor of the Darwin airport for the 05h00 flight to Dili.  Seriously.

Of course, Luka was SO excited and overwhelmed, he proceeded to vomit all over the mattress that first night - for the first time ever in bed mind you.  He just couldn't take the anticipation I suppose ;)

Thank you becca! We have disposed of the toxic piece of sponge he has been laying his sweet head on for the past few months.  Who knew Australia's 'standard' is different than everyone else's 'standard' cot??

An anniversary worth celebrating!

Our very first photo of Luka at home watching the
Royal Wedding with daddy in Darwin

The 29th of April marks one of the most important anniversaries for us.  And before you accuse me of being a royalist, it only links to the famous nuptuals insofar as it was the very first thing we got to do with Luka outside the confines of a hospital.  As the world looks back at the first year of Kate and Will as future king and queen of England - we can only look back at our first year since Luka was released from the Royal Darwin Hospital on this day, exactly one year ago, and exactly 5 weeks and 3 days after his birth and go - jowzer! 


In looking at this boy sitting on the tailgate of our 4Runner in Dili yesterday gearing up for a hike in the hills - hard to believe he was the size of a sack of flour when Kate kissed Will on the balcony one year ago (to the hour as I write this....)

Hey guys - are we going already!

Birthday Hats

About two weeks before our departure for the US, I realized that if we were going to throw Luka a party, mommy had better get on it.  So in my panic, I frantically ordered party supplies from Amazon and other online retailers.  To be sure that the goods arrived on time, I emailed the lady at Make it Mine Parties, who was so lovely and rushed the order for me to arrive at my office in San Francisco the next day.  Here are a few shots with his very cute 'Luka is One' party hats...unfortunately the party treats for guests did not show up on time, so we will have to distribute them at a later stage....

Nostalgic Baking

Since I am a complete sentimental fool, I decided to bake the same cupcakes for Luka's 1st birthday as we made for his 1-week anniversary in hospital in Darwin.  Only this time, instead of being in an incubator - Luka was helping me in the kitchen which was, to say the least, awesome!

Luka helping mommy mix the batter

Corny shot with the blog post from the 1-week birthday

My very poor attempt at decorating these (I've decided
that a cake decorating class is in my future...)

The end result

Luka turns 1, Dili Style!

On Sunday morning, Chris and I hosted an early (seemed fitting) birthday party for Luka for all his Dili bub-friends.

As one does in the Tropics, the festivities took place on the beach.  While we considered catering the whole thing, it seemed important and fitting for us to bake for this momentous birthday, given our history with baked goods at special anniversaries.  Specifically, we decided to bake the same cupcakes for his first birthday as we did for his 1-week birthday.

An amazingly large contingent of our bub-club friends and bubs showed up to celebrate this wonderful milestone.  We are so incredibly grateful for our friends, who are really our family away from home.

As I said in my brief remarks, to think that this boisterous bubbling young boy once weighed 1.5kg still blows me away.  But here he was, playing with his buds, smashing a cupcake and enjoying the good weather, cheer and wonderful atmosphere.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from that day...many more to follow...

The birthday boy and his mommy....

Chris sampling the goods

Luka's personalized decorations which came in JUST
in time courtesy of Susan's colleague from San Francisco

Emotional Susan...

The little party-goers enjoying the animal print balloons