Baking is one of the few things Young is not really comfortable doing in the kitchen, so she let me make the cookies, but she did all the clean up. I realized it was the first time I've made cookies here, since my main cookie eater is my dad. Luckily, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are pretty straightforward, and they came out great despite my lack of recent practice.
Not to be outdone, Young made winged bean salad and stir fried chicken for dinner,
with mangoes and sticky rice for dessert.
It was all delicious, and afterwards I was too full and sleepy to watch the movie Jeff had downloaded for me. What can I say? I'm getting old.
My favorite present was actually something I got for someone else. Elena likes to play outside, but it's been so hot, that she can't stay out for long. Plus, there aren't many shaded areas for her to play in. We just added some extra pavers to our front patio area, and I decided to take advantage of the space and buy Elena a cool water table to play in. She was excited by it before we even finished putting it together, and Vivian was intrigued enough to get suited up and join in. They had fun, but I think I had even more fun watching them enjoy themselves.
Vivian lost interest after the first day, but Elena has splashed around daily since. She's growing up and becoming such a little person. She's become very attached to the hat we bought for Vivian in Siem Reap, and she also likes to wear the backpack I got her in the States. She points and yells until Young or I put them on her, and then she walks around the house.
Another thing about Elena that cracks me up is not only is she not afraid of the vacuum cleaner, but she's actually excited about it. Young finally caved and let Elena "help" vacuum this week.
Watching Elena turn into a person has been one of the best parts of this past year of my life. I can't wait to see what next year holds in store.
No comments:
Post a Comment