Bye Bye Baby

Surprisingly, even to myself, I have been a little more sentimental about Charlie growing up and out of babyhood. I have enjoyed him being small and can't believe how grown up he is sometimes. An outgrowth of this is that I put off giving Charlie his first hair cut (other than one trim around his ears) for a long time. It had gotten soooo long in the back.

Once I decided I was ready to cut it, though, Charlie started screaming bloody murder every time we put him in the bath (still no idea on why that was) so it took another month before we got around to it. The bath was the only time I could think of to do it where we could keep him confined and wet at the same time...

It had grown into a mega-baby-mullett by then!

Having Dave hold a lollipop in once place was the only way to get him to hold still at all. You can see in this pic how long the front had gotten as well!

Not only does he now look a lot older, but he is talking all the time. Not only jibber-jabber now (though lots of that) but also many words. I know Davey was an early-ish talker but I don't remember him being this on top of things by now...

At 15 months, Charlie says... mama, daddy, no, uh oh, woah, wow, baby, go, done, up, down, tickle, woof, baa, quack, birdie, choo-choo, shoes, car, ball, mine, cheese, apple, bite... and will repeat almost any other one- or two-syllable word.

He still has such a delightful little personality, easy to laugh and smile and is cuddly (with me at least). Even for that, though, I wouldn't call him easy-going; he definitely always knows what he wants and tries very hard to insist he gets it, both from me and big brother. We have seen some serious tantrums already when he doesn't get his way....

Having fun self-feeding

Charlie's first drawing - good job!

Living It Up In Bahrain

By far the best thing about living here (from my perspective) is having a full-time maid. Obvious, non? I had my worries and misgivings at first, but I am sure getting used to this. Everyone asks me, "What do you do with all your extra time?" And, to tell you the truth, I don't really know where the time goes because don't feel like I spend tons of time on hobbies and me-time, though I do have more than I did. I spend more time playing with my kids, mostly, and less time stressing about the house being messy. I am looking into finding a paino to rent or a used one to buy. It's time to try to gain some skill and remove the guilt I have about not being able to play after years and years of my parents paying for lessons and me squandering my practice time.



Just as great as not having to do the cleaning and laundry is having a built-in babysitter who knows the kids and they are comfortable with. This post has been a long time coming and I am actually in between maids right now (the details not fit for my blog) and we are hoping to find someone again that will play so well with the children. They were always happy and well cared-for when we came home. Charlie is so very attached to me and he was really getting comfortable with the last one.



For the first time since Davey was born, we started having regular date nights. Monday nights we have a quick night out taking an Arabic class together and Thursdays we go out. It's been awesome! I can really see now why the leaders of our church stress its importance since Dave and I were able to have some time just to ourselves to have some fun without talking about what needs to be done at home and remember why we fell in love in the first place. Not that we'd forgotten, but you know what I mean, right?



Sometimes we go to a nice restaurant (there are tons of great ones here) or a quick dinner and a movie. The night usually ends with a stop at the grocery store since I have to stop at several to find everything I need and never get to all of them at once. Another great part about having our maid babysit is that we don't have to worry about having cash to pay her and I don't have to drive her home late at night.



I can't wait to get a new maid sorted out so we can have our date night back!

All dressed up and ready to go!

The Manama Souq

A couple Saturdays ago we took a Saturday afternoon trip to the main Souk here in Manama. It was, for some reason, surprising to me that it was mostly locals with just a few Westerners/tourists. But it shouldn't have been surprising, this is the main place that (not as well-off) locals go to buy their goods. We didn't buy anything except a $2.50 toy that Davey saw - which was totally falling apart by the end of the day and had to be tossed in the trash. (You get what you pay for indeed.)

The Bab Al Bahrain, or Gateway of Bahrain, which used to lie on the oceanfront, though now its a little drive to the beach due to land reclamation projects. It is the entrance to the souq

Entering the Souq

Dave all dressed in the local thobe (robe-like garment), ghutra (scarf) and agal (cords holding scarf in place) . He just needs some Ray-Bans that he doesn't remove even indoors to be truly authentic. He attracted a lot of attention dressed like this; it was amusing to the locals (it was just for a minute though).

A mosque next to the Bab Al Bahrain. I just think they're pretty.

It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed getting another taste of the culture here.

A New Preschool

Davey has been in preschool here in Bahrain since early January. I could only find two schools nearby that would allow him to attend (or at least let us pay for) less than 5 days a week. I'm just not ready to have him gone that many days a week (plus, it's not cheap)! Luckily the two options I had were good ones. We have been very happy with the school he attends and he really enjoys it. Every morning as we walk out the door Davey says, "Let's see what they're going to have," meaning what activities and toys they'll have out when he walks in since they change every day.

Shortly after he began there, I was speaking with another mother who said how her son comes back the best version of himself every day. I thought that was a pretty high complement considering the bad habits kids usually seem to pick up when they start going to school. But I have also found it to be true. He comes home happy and nice and has some good habits and views that I'm sure he's picked up from school. And not a negative one so far. For example, he's always replying to requests with, "Oh, sure!" and, "I'll give it a try." He'll say, "Charlie needs a friend," and go to play with him.

A few other interesting phrases he uses these days that I'm sure must have come from the Brits at school:

• It's not sensible to...


• You're cheeky, Mommy. (What does that mean anyway?)


• Oh deary me!


• I need a friend. (Apparently if they say this at school, someone immediately goes to play with them.)

Another nice touch of this school is that they email a picture of each child at school every week, along with a nice caption or observation about the child. I'll share the ones we have so far (with the commentary from the teacher)...

davey has made a good start at nursery. attached is a first pic of him focusing hard ! great concentrating davey !

(I'm a little embarrased of this pic; how long and scraggly I let his hair get, especially for his first day of school!)

Davey is happy at nursery. He loves to chat and is therefore attracted to adult led work. He is pictured building his representation of your 3D house – in Bahrain and not texas ! great job davey x

(Notice the better hair? I also appreciated their correct observation about him after he'd been there only a week. That's definitely Davey.)

Davey enjoyed stencilling – you tried your best davey …… well done !

this week davey worked with joshy to try golf ball rolling .... good team work davey

this picture says it all ......hmmmm this puzzle is tricky

whilst dismounting from the trampoline davey found a hole in one of his socks. 'come and look. i have a hole in my sock' .... wow, he was excited ... and so was everyone who came to inspect it !

this week we celebrated chinese new year and used lots of red and gold colour in our art. davey worked with joey but was more interested in refilling the glue bottle when we ran out - funnels are very interesting things. good watching davey :)

this week we have been learning about the sense of sight. davey spent a long time in our looking lab, experimenting and doing lots of looking. great work davey :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Well, I've put off this post so long that I can't really remember what it is Dave and I did to celebrate Valentine's Day... But I do remember that Dave came home with some roses for me, I gave him his gift during dinner and he then gave me mine right after we finished dinner. Then I saw Davey whispering something to his Daddy and looking kind of sad. Apparently he had asked Daddy if he had a Valentine present and Dave told him that Valentine's day wasn't for him. Poor Davey thought everyone got presents but him! I had forgotten to give Davey his Valentine treats and Dave didn't know I'd gotten him anything so he said what he could.

The little sweetheart had even made me a whole large envelope of Valentine presents...

Displaying his gifts with a little attitude.

I am so grateful to have my three Valentines!

The Pineapple Juice Box Store

Right across the street from our compound we have a Midway Supermarket, a small local chain similar to a convenience store in the US. Amazingly these place's prices are the same if not better than those at the large "hypermarkets," as they're called here.

Davey loves to frequent the one near us using the money Daddy gives him sporadically for his piggy bank. He especially loves the child-sized shopping carts!

Hmmm... what should I get?

Notice he's standing in the beverage isle. He apparently thinks the best treats of all are the liquid ones, as he never asks to buy anything but...

... a pineapple juice box and strawberry and chocolate milk!

Paying the casheir.

His favorite of all, though, is the pineapple juice box. Hence what he calls the place - the Pineapple Juice Box store. He begs to go there so often that he and Daddy now have a weekly date to go on Wednesdays. I wish I loved going to the grocery store that much!

"I Want To Be A Dentist"

So says Davey.

A few weeks ago Dave and I were getting really worried about one of Davey's front teeth. He had chipped them both when he was just a couple months old and we never had any issue wtih them but one day one of them just kept get darker and darker. I mean every day it was visibly different. We knew it probably was just dying and that there would probably be nothing the dentist could do for him, but we took him anyway.

The dentist told us what we thought we'd hear - just watch it and if it looks infected we'll take action, otherwise there's nothing to do. Apparently Davey really enjoyed the experience and now says quite often that he wants to be a dentist when he gets big.

Saying, "Aaaaah," while we we wait for Dave to pick us up

after the appointment.

Can you see how dark that tooth was? We were kind of sad thinking it would be like that, maring his smile until it fell out (I know, a superficial worry) but amazingly in the last couple weeks it has gone back to its normal color! Yea!

Black Eyes

Charlie has now been inducted into true boyhood with his first black eye. Wish I could say it was more interesting but the poor kid tripped face-first into the bidet.

Trying to get a pic of it...

Looking back, Davey was just a month younger when he had his first black eye...

My two little black-eyed beaux!

Bahrain International Air Show

In January we were able to attend the 1st Annual Bahrain International Air Show. It was fun to see all of the airplanes showing off...

Charlie was a trooper, making the best of a long wait to see the helicopters

Davey was about as happy as you can see him in the pictures...

Charlie - futre pilot? Perhaps. Davey? Don't think so.

Ready to jump!
Okay, not really.

Everything is so kid-friendly here. It almost seemed like a children's fair and oh, we also have an air show going on.

Clowns, magic shows, dance competitions

Davey did enjoy the kid rides with our friends kids

Taking a flight of their own

Davey can't get enough of hanging around with Mallory

A very fun day for all of us!

Ju-Ju

Our friend has this little monkey that lives behind their home, Ju-Ju. Davey had so much fun feeding him little apples, even when the monkey scratched him a couple times (don't worry, no skin broken and cleaned right away). It was so nice that he wasn't scared of an animal for once! It was practically a farm back there with birds, dogs, chickens and goats. A fun place to visit but I'm glad it's not my backyard with all the noise and smell!