Same Old Same Old

Well folks, not much to report here. Things have been pretty quiet here the past few days. Now that we are playing the waiting game, we haven't been doing much in the way of sightseeing. Just to give you an idea of how we pass the time, I thought I would give you a day in the life of Jonah Thanh Beach.

8:00 a.m Jonah wakes up. This wake up process happens one of two ways. One, he wakes up very crabby. Lots of crying and clinging. Two, he wakes up ready to face the day, not smiling but not crying. Guess which one I like better?

8:30 Breakfast at the hotel. Jonah is not a great eater and breakfast always finds him more interested in running around the dining room than in eating. However, if he does manage to sit for awhile he likes to eat sausages with toothpicks and drink apple juice from a small glass. Both of these items end up on his clothes at some point during the meal.

9:30 Play time. From 9:30 to 11:00 Jonah spends time either playing with his friends in the hotel room or playing at the park across the street. Now the park across the street is nothing fancy. It has some paths, a fountain, some green space and an enormous stone military sculpture. What the park lacks in playground equipment, it makes up for in Communist propaganda.

11:00 Nap time. After all the playing fun, Jonah goes down for a nap. Thankfully our hotel has a small crib that we use. In our old hotel Jonah slept on the floor by the bed and the first half of his nap was spent playing peek-a-boo with us from his spot on the floor. He goes down quite well (of course the bottle helps) and sleeps for about two hours.

1:00 Lunch time. Lunch is often in the room and consists of things we have purchased at the local Fivi Mart. It's no Super Target but it does sell huge Dove Chocolate Bars. He eats (sometimes) noodles, bananas and mangoes that we buy from street vendors on the sidewalk.

2:00-5:00 Backpack time. At this point of the day, we venture out from the hotel and cruise the streets of Hanoi. Thanks to Uncle Nate and Aunt Lisa, he has a sweet ride around town. He is a very happy in the backpack and likes to eat crackers off my shoulders (Because of the backpack, I can't turn around and give him the cracker, so I put it on my shoulder and he picks it off to eat it).

5:00-7:00 Dinner out. We often eat dinner out at a restaurant and Jonah's food of choice is soup. I'm getting very good at shovelling food in his mouth while still eating mine. After he eats, the rest of the meal is spent wrestling ceramic plates, bowls and chopsticks out of his little hands. He's a quick little devil. However, I have also discovered one other trick. A carrot, a glass and a straw can keep him occupied for a long time at the table.

7:00-8:00 Bath and Bed time. Jonah loves his bath. However, he doesn't like to sit in the tub so he squats the entire time he is in it. Splashing is great fun and so is playing with the faucet. He would stay in there for hours if I let him. After bath it's bedtime. If he's tired he'll be to sleep by 8:15, if not, he'll play more peek-a-boo until we go over and tell him go to bed. Funny kid.


There you have it. It's not what we would be doing if we were home, but it works. Hopefully we will soon be able to start our new schedule at home. Keep Praying.