Some stress, and some funny stuff

Ta-dah! We've bought a Toyota Sienna, it's sitting here in our driveway. It's big big, kinda like a Picnic. After driving a Dodge Caravan for a few days, and test-driving a Ford Freestar, K fell in love with the Siena at first drive. He says it's much easier to drive than both the Dodge and Ford. So I went on my first drive yesterday. But of course everything is on the wrong side here. It was STRESSFUL!!! I was so confused. Not only is everything on the roads on the wrong side, even the indicator handle in the car is on the wrong side too. So when I tried to signal a turn I kept turning on the windscreen wipers and washing the windows. And the gear stick is behind the steering wheel. And for some reason, I can only seem to reach the accelerator with the ball of my foot, the heel can't reach the floorboard. This is after moving the seat forward! I clearly have short legs. And compared the wee tiny Vios, I feel like I'm trying to drive a tank - I feel fat on the roads! But thank God, I made it through my first drive without hurting anyone else, myself or the car. And towards the end of the drive, it didn't feel so bad, even though I was still getting a stress headache.

Stress number two: leaving the house with everything the children, and I, need. We went to Disney's California Adventure today, which is a theme park right next to Disneyland. And of all things, I forgot to bring the CAMERA!! I also forgot sunblock, so I now have a bit of sunburn on my face. These are the things I did remember:

• Jackets for the kids - cos it's always cold and gloomy in the mornings nowadays (the locals call it June gloom, even though I know it's not yet June). The sun comes out around mid-day and then it's really nice weather - not too cold.
• Calendula cream - drier air here means both kids and I have really dry skin, so I'm constantly putting cream on for them throughout the day.
• Diapers - two different sizes for two different kiddos (yes, the older one still refuses to be toilet-trained).
• Plastic cutlery - you never know when we need to feed the kids quickly and don't have time to get smaller spoons
• Disposable straws
• Wipes
• Water, water, water
• Snacks bag - cheese and crackers, apple juice packs, jello

It was quite disappointing to have forgotten the camera, but I console myself with the fact that this won't be our only trip there. We purchased an annual passport to Disneyland. J had a great time! He got to see live versions of Lightning McQueen and Mater (you may already know that his current obsession is with cars). He discovered the carousel too - and wanted to keep going round and round and round. He was completely tired out, but has already planned what to try the next time we go. It was wonderful to see him enjoy himself so much.

E continues to be difficult at mealtimes, so that's stress number three. The floor around her is usually a disaster zone, since she spits out anything that's not to her taste. She's learnt to taste whatever we offer her first, by pursing her lips and sticking her tongue out a little. If she doesn't like it, and that's like 80% of the time, she just rejects it - she'll use her fingers to dig out whatever managed to get into her mouth. Or she'll just spits it out. Or she'll bat it away with her little hands. It gets quite frustrating, and I really need an extra measure of patience and grace for mealtimes.

On the upside, she's learning to call me. It's either ma or meh. And when she's prompted, she can also call Dada, and Pa (for Grandpa) and geh-ma (or something pretty close, for Grandma). Very sweet. And I'm pleased to announce that her hair is growing. It must be the cold weather here, but her head suddenly seems a bit more covered! Must be God's way of protecting her head in colder weather.

Mother's day was pretty quiet, but K was incredibly sweet to get us (me and my mum) balloons and this:

It's basically a bouquet made up of fruit from a shop called Edible Arrangments. Cute. It's all held together with a head of lettuce in the middle, instead of the usual florist's foam, and the lettuce is covered by what we think are broccoli leaves. Oh and needless to say, the kids are the ones who've been having a great time with the helium balloons.

Now, I don't know if many of you know this, but K hates reading instructions. He never reads manuals, for instance. But most uncharacteristically, when it comes to eating, he loves them. Practically every time we've had xiao long bao, I've had to listen to what the correct way of eating them is. Anyway, we had bought egg rolls (what we know as spring rolls) from a Vietnamese place for dinner today, and they came with some lettuce leaves and pickled carrots. He picks an egg roll up, and a lettuce leaf and asks me, how do I eat this? To which I say, I don't know, they didn't come with instructions.

In case you're wondering, the egg rolls were very yummy. I also loved the spring rolls (which is what they call the rice paper rolls, stuffed with meat and shrimp and vermicelli). I'm going to be so fat after this year. Seriously. Help.

This blogging thing feels sometimes like I'm talking to myself. If anyone's reading, we'd love to hear from you! Leave a comment or send us an email. Keep us updated on what's happening at home, please!