What's going on?

Just a quick status update. I've been out of commission because of the broken arm, but the splint came off yesterday, so I'm back to typing!

Patch is moving in full swing. He likes to take a few steps, and then will fall down and zoom off crawling to where he needs to go. He has figured out how to use one of those party horns (the kind where you blow and the paper unrolls) and will start laughing at himself when he plays with it. His other new "trick" is being able to make cars "go." Basically, anything William shows him, he learns pretty quickly. It's either that or risk being left behind!

William mostly loves having Patch around. First thing in the morning, William comes into our room to give Patch a hug. Then we usually have a small melt down as we remind William for the millionth time that he cannot carry his "small brother" down the steps. Favorite games to "play to each other" (not sure why William always says "play to" instead of "play with") are: tackle, cars, peek-a-boo, and tump over.

Patrick will, on occasion, get a strong enough push from William that he tumps over and bonks his head, so we're really trying to stop this since we have hard marble floors! Thankfully, William is doing this less and less often ... but it still does happen :( And probably will as long as Patrick continues to want to do everything William does. Of course, with Patrick (at 9.5 months) weighing in at close to 20 lbs and William (at 3 yrs, 2 months) at 27 lbs, I'm expecting the small brother will outweigh the big brother in the foreseeable future.

I'm going to Tashkent, Uzbekistan for work in a few weeks. Hopefully an interesting blog post or two will come out of that!

Our household staff is starting to get nervous about us leaving in four months. I keep on trying to calm them down, pointing out that with all the summer transitions which happened at work (and we had a lot!), all staff members found new jobs with incoming families, but I think they don't believe me just yet. It's hard for them, since their livelihood depends on us. Working for foreigners brings bigger pay, it's true, but also more instability with postings only two or three years.

As for us, we're starting to think about Manila, but mostly trying to enjoy being in the present and being here. It's a difficult balance to strike since we have to answer emails about housing preference there and start making travel arrangements ... but at the same time, still have full time jobs here! And friends here!