สองเดือน ...

Considering I'm in the thick of reading and writing Thai script in school, I thought I'd title this post in Thai.  For those that don't read Thai, it says "song duan" which means "two months"... which is how old this little goose is now...

I haven't kept up with our other blog but have found this a great place to keep track of the kids' growth (I'm absolutely terrible about keeping up with their baby books) so if you find this boring, feel free to skip this post.  Its more for me than for you :)

We took Marek in for his 2 month check-up and immunizations last night.  He is now 11 lbs. 4 oz. and 23" long.  No idea what percentile that makes him (they don't give that kind of info. at the clinics here) but considering he started at 6 lbs. 7 oz. and 19.5", I'd say he's good and healthy.

I wish I could say he's been the amazing sleeper his sister was at this age, but alas, that would be a lie.  Though, I have had 3 great nights in a row from him this week (only waking once in the night).  But then he had his shots yesterday and that threw everything off and I was up about 4 times with him last night.  Ah well... I just keep telling myself that I will actually get to sleep again... someday.  One thing we have discovered in the last month though, is that he loves to sleep on his tummy and this has helped immensely.  He's also a bit of a "suck" and will sleep for HOURS on end if he's in someone's arms.  I have a feeling he's going to be our "cuddler," which is great because his sister definitely isn't. :)

He is a very happy baby other than that.  He's smiling and cooing a lot now and will grin for anyone who's willing to try to get a smile out of him.  This is when things start to get really fun.

He seems intrigued and delighted by his overly-smothering doting big sister and I look forward to the day they can play together... as does she.  You can definitely tell they're siblings, looks-wise, but Marek is still quite distinctly different in a lot of ways.  It'll be interesting to see if he and Callie look more alike, the older he gets.

I had to get back to language school last week, which meant Marek had to come with me.  

Let's just say, the teachers didn't mind one bit...

As his Auntie Corina stated, 

"he's learning by osmosis..."

Thankfully, I've been able to time his feeds this week so that I can leave him with either Auntie Carmen or P Boh while I head off to school.  As cute as he looks in the above picture, its not actually as easy as it looks.  Keeping a baby happy while trying to study Thai is tricky and I've had WAY more productive classes this week when he hasn't been with me at school.  As much as I miss him during those couple of hours, I must admit it makes life a lot easier.  And, if he's at home with P Boh, he'll still be getting his 'Thai language practice' in anyway :)

Canada Day in Thailand...

Although we didn't spend July 1st in Canada, it seemed only fitting to celebrate it here.  So, seeing as it was just after Callie's elephant-themed party, we decided to visit one of the elephant camps just outside of Chiang Mai.

It ended up being a pretty long drive (almost 2 hours away) but it was SO worth it.  We parked the car and got on one of the little shuttle "trains" which took us to where the elephant show was about to begin.  Callie was already in her glory just with the transportation!  Little did she know that it was about to get so much better...

We got there just in time to watch the elephants make their way up the hill towards the show grounds.

They held onto each other's tails as they passed by. 

All lined up and ready to perform...

They showed how the trainers get on and off the elephants...

... and how they sleep at night.

Apparently they only sleep about 4 hours per night... 

something I can totally relate to these days ;)

This elephant took the trainer's hat off and then gently placed it back on his head...

Showing how strong their trunks are...

Mom, Callie and Jon enjoying the show...

And, probably one of the most impressive things...
watching the elephants paint pictures.

They were actually REALLY good.  You could even buy the paintings in the store after the show.

Some of the artwork that was produced during the show...

Mom meeting the elephants...

Callie enjoying feeding some of the smaller elephants...

Best Canada Day ever! :)

Callie even got to ride an elephant with Nammy...

Off they go for a very bumpy ride...

Did I mention this kid loves elephants?

Marek was there too, of course.  He was such a trooper and slept most of the time.  

Here he is enjoying some cool-off time out of the Baby Bjorn carrier...

And, to complete the day, we watched the elephants take their afternoon bath...

Callie purchased this hand-woven hat from the store with some of her birthday money.

Can you believe it only cost just over a dollar?  

Heading back to the train shuttle after a long day...

So, as you can see, our Canada Day looked very different this year,

 but one thing it certainly didn't lack was "fun!" :)