Almost Home

I'm coming home in 11 days!  I can't believe it.  I'm excited, but it feels weird too.  I really, really want a Chipotle burrito and one of Juan's awesome breakfasts with perfectly fried eggs, refried black beans, hashbrowns and avocado.  I've made my requests:)

Since the last time I blogged, my brother, my dad and his wife (Deb) all came to visit for just under a week.  It was a whirlwind trip (for them), and we had a great time.  I felt satisfied in exposing them to all the ups and downs of India.  The low was my great idea to take an overnight sleeper bus, and Deb being sick that night and having no other toilet option but to pee beside the bus next to a sleeping dog in the middle of the night.  We didn't actually sleep on the sleeper bus; seems like it would be comfy, but it's not as soon as the thing starts moving.  Phil and I joked that three seatbelts would've been necessary: one across the thighs, one across the chest, and one across the forehead.  Oliver was actually rolled over once in his sleep because the bus rocked back and forth so violently.  The highs were seeing a wild tiger at Pench Wildlife Reserve, and Dad and Phil hanging out at the Hard Rock Cafe during the Cricket World Cup quarter-finals (India was playing and won), while Deb and I browsed designer saris after a great day of sightseeing around Hyderabad.

I visited villages numbers three and four, but due to a hopefully positive turn of events we've cancelled our train tickets to go to the last research villages this week.  I presented my research last Thursday to the economics research staff, and it went really very well.  Got lots of good questions and didn't miss a beat in my responses and explanations.  On the whole I can say that they were impressed with the amount of work I got done in three months and are receptive to the possibility of me continuing to work with them (from home) on a contract basis.  So, I'm really, really hoping that that works out, and I'm under quite a bit of pressure to write a publishable paper in the next week or so.  

What else, what else?  Oh right-Oliver!  Does new things everyday.  Yesterday he started playing with the phone; we don't talk on it that much but he was imitating me, holding the receiver to his head (albeit upside down) and leaning into it.  I swear he would play with the phone all day long if I let him; phone time is over when he starts banging it on the ground.  The other day, he stood up completed unassisted, not even holding onto anything.  He was crawling around in the grass, I looked away, and when I looked back he was just standing there!  Being so close to coming home, I'm hoping he holds off just a little longer on those first steps so that Juan can be there to see it.  He did do pretty well walking in the kiddie pool today just holding my hand though.  He's also started making farting sounds with his mouth; no idea where he picked that up:)

I found out that he really loves raw red onions and tomatoes.  Strange, I know, but he really gobbles them down.  I gave him banana slices and pieces of tomato tonight for finger foods, and he was preferring the tomato.  He insists on holding onto a spoon now while I'm feeding him too; he's really good at turning the spoon so it's the right way for scooping in his hand, but then he just bangs on the side of the bowl, sometimes flinging food into the air and tries to stick the spoon in my mouth.  He won't let me brush his teeth anymore either; he's got to be holding onto the toothbrush, which he sticks in his mouth and chews on.  I've got to be quick helping him brush back and forth because as soon as he realizes what I'm doing, he pulls the toothbrush out of his mouth, closes his lips really tight and gives me this adamant look.  Squirt.

Another of Oliver's amazing new feats is that he can climb up onto his walker and sit in it backward.  I think that means that he's outgrown it, so I'll be leaving it here with another family who has a small baby.  He loves playing with doors--doorstoppers, door hardware, the fridge door, the closet door and just opening and closing doors.  Our flatlet has a screened-in porch with glass doors that separate it from the living room, and Oliver will go on the porch, shut the door, and then stand up and start banging on the door like he's trying to get back in so it looks to everyone walking by that I've locked my child outside!