What's Going On (and Happy New Year!)

Oops, it's been so long since I posted! This is because we are now in the US visiting my family, where:
1. I don't have my own computer
2. The common computer is in the main living area, meaning that everyone will talk to you (and see exactly what you are looking at) whenever you use it
3. my family is very close/enmeshed (depending on your interpretation), meaning alone time, or even uninterrupted quiet time, is not really a possibility and
4. R has given up sleeping well, so my evenings are not reliably free.

I really wanted to bring my own computer, but as B and I will be traveling all through Japan on our way back to Singapore, it would have been too heavy (seeing as packing light is the first and primary rule of travel). Maybe it's good to have a break from the Internet? (since I haven't really been able to read blogs, do Facebook, etc either).

So what happened since I posted last? We traveled here (which was no fun at all: the first 10 hours were great, but on the layover in Tokyo R fell and gave herself a bloody nose, and things went downhill from there. She cried off and on for hours over the Pacific Ocean.). We visited family and friends, met four new babies, celebrated Christmas and ate way too much food.

Christmas was super fun this year, as R was old enough to get excited about her presents (especially unwrapping them, her favorite part). She also isn't old enough to be greedy or possessive yet, which prevented Christmas-related drama, probably a theme in years to come. (I loved Christmas as a kid, but someone always ended up in tears at some point.)

R got lots of toys from her relatives and a huge stack of books from me (since I like buying them, and she doesn't have strong preferences yet). Her favorite present was a Dora backpack which she insists on wearing whenever we leave the house. Her weirdest present was from B's father, who gave her a set of plastic boxes from the Container Store (we told him she likes toy purses and other containers, so in his rather clueless way he tried his best).

I got a Kindle, which I love! and why didn't I get one earlier? It's awesome. Sadly they are technically illegal in Singapore (for copyright reasons, don't get me started on how much I hate copyright law) so I will have to pirate content when there. So stupid as I really would rather just spend the money and fairly compensate the authors.

We are having a great time overall. R in particular loves being here: she adores her grandparents (and appeals to Grammie whenever mean Mommy makes her do something unpleasant, like get her diaper changed: she knows who her friends are!), likes going for walks around the neighborhood and seeing all the suburban wildlife (squirrels! crows! geese! very exotic for my urban baby) and sharing in her grandparents' interests (she and my dad love listening to music together). She is going to be really sad when we go home.

We fly to Japan in a week. It should be an exciting trip: we are planning to visit the snow monkeys (the ones who bathe in hot springs), stay in a traditional hot springs inn from the 17th century, go to the first Zen Buddhist temple in Japan (a UNESCO world heritage site!), and visit a samurai town. R will also see snow for the first time, which should be pretty cute (seeing her run around in her new snowsuit is totally darling: she was so proud of it).