Bumblebee in Louboutins

11 a.m. last Sunday. An almost-6-yr-old's interpretation of 'party wear'. To clarify: not a Halloween party.

Matias hits the jackpot at the photocopy machine

First things first: Saigon shopping

I was in Ho Chi Minh City for two and a half days, and the mission of the first day (when Mik and Bella had not yet arrived) was to get my shopping done. Most of the first day went by, taken up by a couple of baby naps, a trip to the market and dinner with friends, but lucky me, a couple of cool shops on my walk back to the hotel were still open at 8:30 on a Friday night.

At Nagu, the gorgeous kids' clothes and bags are made in Vietnam with local and Japanese materials. Lots of linen and cotton with simple but eye-catching embroidery detailing.

And, of course, I had to get a bag for me:Their card:There was also a more "traditional" kids' clothing store, with lots of embroidered and smocked dresses, shirts, nightgowns, literally thousands of dresses, hundreds of designs packed into this one store:I was also thrilled that they actually had cool boys' stuff too. I got Matias this cute t-shirt and another pair of overalls that he will probably wear once (because he spends most of his time in a t-shirt and diaper, or in onesies, but oh well):I am a sucker for embroidered seersucker.And then, a sweet green nightgown for Bella, and this white dress that I just unpacked, today belatedly realizing that it is a size too small. Gutted. Luckily we have a bunch of littler girl friends who would look super sweet in it.

Oh - and the coolest part - all told, the nightgown, dress, shirt and overalls = $35 USD. Score!

Nagu - HCMC and Hanoi, address and contact info on their card above.
NKid - On Le Loi, on the left side when walking from the market to the Opera House.
(Sorry, I threw away their card and the dress tags provide no info)

Oh, the self-loathing.

I can't believe I just bought this.I NEED it, though. Here's the former solution, which, though it would hold my body weight (and, in fact, has done that in the past), was just far too small and couldn't be opened and closed without annoyingly having to slide it down to the skinnier section of the handlebar:Not as bad as if I'd bought, say, a baby wipe warmer. But still. The Mommy Hook. Sigh.

Not as straightforward as you would think

Chart detailing maximum occupancy in a Singapore taxicab:

And you can forget about riding at all if you just bought a durian.

Yet another little kid singing 'Single Ladies'

Cleaning out space on the Flip Mino in anticipation of this evening's Wave House adventure (more, clearly, on that later), and found this video from Januaryish:

You could say that nothing sends me OVER THE EDGE more than little girls singing and doing Beyonce/Britney/Madonna type dance moves... to me, it's just so viscerally wrong. BUT: as long as it stays in the shower, I guess I can live with it.

Clothes made for Bella

It's unfortunate that I'm not organized enough to try to get some kind of endorsement deal from this clothing chain. Bella absolutely love love looooves their clothes, especially the line she's wearing in these photos - frilly girly "ballet" skirts and cool comfortable tee shirts and tanks. They're tomboyish but cool and easy to wear with just a touch of Carrie Bradshaw. As you can see from the photos, fits Bella's personality to a T. Plus, it's a Filipino chain, so I can say, "I remember when I was buying shirts from Gingersnaps when they only had the one location in Makati."

Gingersnaps, now in stores all over Manila and Bangkok.
In Singapore: at Paragon, Takashimaya, Isetan Scotts, United Square Mall and Raffles City.

Gloria Steinem's got nuthin' on you, baby

20 minutes ago, 7:40 pm, storytime in the Morn household:

After dancing with the prince, Cinderella ran away from the castle, leaving behind her shoe.

Me: "Why do you think Cinderella ran away after the ball?"
Bella: "BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T WANT TO GET MARRIED!!!!"

Hahahahahahhahahhaa. Awesome.

Applied knowledge: age 4

Sent Bella to the club deli by herself when she wanted a glass of milk; I just assumed she would run back and bring me the chit to sign...

Are we this snippy with the poor call center people?

The pursed lips, the furrowed brow... Bella on her Cinderella phone, apparently after pretend Citibank/United/Wells Fargo customer service put her on hold AGAIN.

The new kid

A new teeny traveler! Born in Singapore at 10:22 on 10/22, just down the hill from our new home.

Sympathetic Vibrations

With Mama at 36 weeks, Bella now claims to have a little doggie named Leslie in her tummy, who kicks and wriggles and moves around and sometimes goes all the way down into her toes.

Rouge Baiser

What is it about the combination of French and Chinese style that produces such beautiful things? Not wanting to be out for too long this afternoon, what with packing up the house, and Bella suddenly down with a cough, cold, and fever (yiiiiiikes), I had to make the tough decision between checking out the semi-annual sale at Rouge Baiser, or to schlep out to Houhai to make one last stop at Xiao Fu Xing (no website, sorry).

In the end, proximity (they're 5 minutes away in Sanlitunrrr) and the prospect of a good bargain helped Rouge Baiser win out by a hair. No regrets - they do absolutely gorgeous work there, everything HAND-EMBROIDERED, which normally comes at a fairly steep price, but I managed to pick up a few things on sale. CUTE! And ON SALE! Two of my biggest criteria for buying, well, anything.

A sweet white nightgown and a pretty purple sundress for Bella:
Sweet baby boy bedding with bluebirds (the other choice were these mice in your choice of outfit; which, though still pretty cute, just seemed wrong somehow. I mean, really: vermin in your baby's bed?):

And finally, a duvet cover and a baby cot liner, which I'm planning to transform into a headboard cover, either for Bella's new bed in Singapore, if I can find sheets that can make the whole set seem more "kiddie," otherwise for a guest bedroom:

And here's a sample of what I passed up at Xiao Fu Xing. Picked this gorgeous little number up last time I was there - I mean, really. Have you ever seen such a delicious little dress? It's still a touch too big for Bella, and I had worried, at the time, that it would be winter by the time it would fit her. But now that we're moving to hot hot hot Singapore, as Chandler Bing used to say, the point is moo ("It doesn't matter; it's the opinion of a cow!").

Xiao Fuxing
43 Zhonglouwan Hutong,
Gulou

(In the courtyard between the Drum and Bell towers in the Houhai area; definitely call ahead for their hours as they are notorious for shutting down early, and not being open on certain seemingly random days: 8403-4740)

Rouge Baiser by Elise
5 Sanlitun Xi Wu Jie, around the corner from Jenny Lou's and April Gourmet in Sanlitun North

Macaroons

Bella loves pink macaroons. She'll do ANYTHING for a pink macaroon. I had lunch at Comptoirs de France in Lido, and even though I knew they would have to ride around in my purse for the rest of the afternoon (hence their slightly beat-up appearance), I couldn't pass up these saturated colors - unusual for macaroons - they just made me happy.

Little bunny foo-foo

Bella and her nanny's daily re-enactment of the "Little Bunny Foo-Foo" saga. If you're not familiar with the story, it goes something like:

Little Bunny Foo-Foo, hopping through the forest, scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head!

Down came the good fairy, and she said, Little Bunny Foo-Foo, I don't wanna see you scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head! I'll give you 3 chances, and if you don't behave, I'll turn you into a goon!

Bunny Foo-Foo is unable to contain himself, so he eventually gets turned into a goon. And of course, the moral of the story is:

Hare today, goon tomorrow.

Sometimes you only get part of the picture

Potty fashion: panty bandanna and nothing else. Her idea.

Kids in Madrid: Baby Deli

As soon as we arrived in Madrid and started talking over weekend plans with my friend Gabi, I could tell she was absolutely dying to take Bella to this place. It's owned by Carolina Herrera's daughter, and it WAS sooper sooper cute. The food is all organic and pretty delicious, though fairly expensive and in small, kid-sized portions. And, of course, served up with the usual service-with-a-smile that Spain is SO well known for (Can you hear the sarcasm? Actually, the lady behind the counter all but chucked the tray and change at my head; but that was our first day in Madrid so I wasn't used to it yet).

Gabi and I hadn't seen each other in a year, so we were too busy getting caught up for me to take lots of pictures of the place, but it's basically a very VERY upscale version of our @play Cafe in Reston, minus the child minders (I guess you have to BYO). If you happen to be shopping in Salamanca anyway, it's a perfect stop for playtime and a bite.

Baby Deli - www.babydeliworld.com
Calle de Lagasca 54
28001 Madrid, Spain
+34 915 763 810

5 kids in a picture

It's hard to do.
Playtime with the neighbor boys:



And the requisite daily interpretive dance number from Miss Bella, this one apparently inspired by Elvis (see upper left):ps. she's been really opinionated about her clothes and accessories lately, which is just my way of saying that THE HAT, MITTENS, AND FEATHER AND SATIN EVENING PURSE WERE NOT MY IDEA.

Pingyao, Shanxi Province

This weekend, the Teeny Traveler goes to Pingyao on the sleeper train from Beijing:

View Larger Map

Bella's first sleeper train trip; of course she had to be in the top bunk:View from the train:Mama and Bella at breakfast at our guesthouse the next morning. Not really looking our best, both of us getting a short night's sleep in a narrow bunk with a squirmy bedmate:
About Pingyao, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingyao

Highly recommend the Yide Hotel in Pingyao (you can find it on hostels.com), which Mik first visited in the winter while we were away, and that he was so excited about that he actually wrote a somewhat fruity review for Trip Advisor.

Impressed.

Holy cow. I made Mik stop and dig the camera out of the bag because I think this is the coolest thing I have ever seen. At Dubai airport, where we had a stopover on the way to Tehran, they had these baby stroller racks every 30 feet or so. We saw DOZENS of parents walking around happily through the miles of Duty Free while the kids snoozed contentedly in the strollers. I couldn't help going through and thinking that if they weren't sleeping, that kid would be whining, that kid would be running laps around the perfume display, and the other kid would be the one screaming "But I don't want to walk anymore I want the SpongeBob SquarePants Chocolate Gift Pack NOOOOOW!!!!!" I'm sure people who live in Dubai or fly Emirates all the time are all, "Ho hum, what do you mean, don't they have these at all airports?" So now I'm trying to think of where we can go with Bella next that involves a stop in Dubai.

ps. The Teeny Traveler stayed home in Beijing with Lola (grandma) while Mama and Pappa went on a quick trip to Iran. Pics soon.