The Home Stretch

I've been remiss in my blogging lately, so hopefully this will set things right. I was planning to write last night but I had a fever and was so exhausted I decided it was better to sleep. I feel better right now but not 100%.

Evan's nose still runs periodically but these days it's just when he cries. I was so nervous about keeping him warm that I overdressed him in Ho Chi Minh City. Eventually, I realized he was most comfortable in just a "onesie" there. Back in Hanoi, it is cooler and I dress him much warmer. Still I'm getting annoyed with the Vietnamese ladies who wag their fingers at me and tell me he's going to be cold (he is not). The Vietnamese view is that once the temperature drops below 70 (which it does overnight), puffy snow suits are in order. Here is a picture of what I'm talking about.

Hanoi is fascinating to wander around. There are lots of neat shops and thousands of streetside restaurants (which I have been eating at on occasion - you can get a meal for about 60 cents). I'm not going to try the really exotic things like dog or snake, but I have had goat twice. Yesterday, at lunch, they served skewers of goat, which were tasty but tough. I gave Evan one to suck on and before I knew it, he was tearing the meat off with his 8 little sharp teeth. So Evan has had goat, too. I also had durian ice cream. Durian more or less smells like putrefying flesh, and the taste is not much better. It is a delicacy, they say. Anyway, there is a lot of interesting stuff to eat here...here's a picture of some steamed birds in a can that I saw (but did not eat):

Evan is teething, with two new teeth coming in on the bottom. It really bothers him sometimes (maybe three bouts of it so far) but he has gotten better at self-soothing and figuring out what make it feel better. We learned that a taste of sour lemon tart was not not a good idea as it really stung. Evan loves to munch on slices of apple but it clearly hurts his teeth when he bites (but he keeps going for it). He's so cute how he winces before taking a bite:

I mentioned Evan likes baths, which we do in a blue basin I bought.

I finally go to meet the rest of the families from my agency, at the Horison hotel, where they are all staying. We met in the lobby for a few hours the other day. It is interesting what a diverse group of parents and kids this is. I'm going to meet them all again this afternoon since we are going to go to CIS for our second (final) interviews. Once that's done, I only need to pick up a visa (on Friday), and we'll be on our way home. Evan got his passport on Tuesday, by the way. Here's a picture of the families from my agency:

On Monday, I finally broke in the backpack carrier for Evan. This was a nice alternative to the "hip hammock" carrier since it distributes the weight really well. Evan likes riding up high with a good view. The carrier also doubles as a high chair of sorts, which allows me to feed him and eat, myself, without fighting his ever-curious hands. Here he is, buckled in:

On Tuesday morning, we went to visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Try as I might, I could not convince security to allow Evan in. Basically, the tomb is very somber and a baby making noise would simply not be appropriate. I met some other families there and the moms watched the babies briefly so the other dads and I could see the embalmed corpse of Ho Chi Minh. Here are Evan and I outside the tomb:

Yesterday was a great day (aside from coming down with a fever at the end). We took a trip to Tam Coc, where you can take a boat through the waterways between fields in the shade of limestone karsts. The boat rowers use their feet to row, and the whole journey was about 2 hours and went through 3 caves. Tam Coc is a UNESCO world heritage site and was just amazing. Evan loved it, hanging over the front of the boat and dragging his hands in the water.