Favorite moments

As I watch the days go by with Sam in Indonesia, I catalog moments that I think she would appreciate. I hope that by sending these to her, she can relax a bit, knowing that our precious boys are doing well with the loving attention of myself, their grandparents, TomB, and our friends.

My instinct is to mail brief accounts to Sam, sometimes accompanied by an iPhone photo (not great quality, better than not having a picture at all, classic phone photography as far as I'm concerned).

Then today I realize that the same memories that tell Sam that we are missing her and doing fine are the ones that make good blog entries, fun for friends and family to read, and good sappy memories for posterity...

We have spent the last couple of nights with Mana and Zaide, sleeping in Uncle Eli (aka Until Eni)'s room. Early on in the visit they raided his hat collection, settling on a couple of beanies that appear to have come from Chinatown somewhere (maybe even one from San Francisco when we lived there? Maybe not). Of course, the hats somehow got linked with Ninja fantasies, and Julian wore one for about 24 hours, asking "do ninjas..." before any action. The best in show? "Do ninjas suck on binkies?" I've tried to make the distinction between Japan and China, but facts have a hard time penetrating such imaginary pursuits. I'm glad they didn't pick the fur hat from Russia, god knows where that would have led them!

The boys are tightly bonded to each other, tighter perhaps than I expected, given their age difference. It has surfaced as a source of comfort in these first days of Sam's adventure (dare I say "grand day out?:-) Last night, Mana and I were overwhelmed by a little tableau of the two boys snuggled nose to nose as they slept, today's version was when they consolidated their dinner seating to a single Trip-Trap chair. I began by thinking such close-quarter activities were a sign of patience on Jonas' part, but often I think that he likes the contact as much as Julian. If we can maintain such a balance over time, it will be a very nice thing.

PS. I took the shots of Jonas throwing the snowball with an app called "Quadcamera" on my iPhone. Good fun with fast-moving kids!