A Lao Lullaby

River is sleeping. So, it's a good time to add a post...and his Papa is in Pakse for  few days working on an upcoming Art project.... Good point is mama doesn't have to share her laptop... ;)





It's sung to the "Where is Thumbkin?" English song.

Actually, there is a Lao version of Where is Thumbkin, which is where I adapted the lullaby from.

The Lao Thumbkin Version (This is the version we sing at the school I work, maybe you know another)

Kneepo yu sai? Kneepo yu sai?  (Thumb, where is?)
Yu nii neh, Yu nii neh. (Here)
Suk sabaidee bo? (Are you well?)
Suk sabadee bo?
Pai gon der (I go first.. bye)
Pai gon der

River's Lullaby version:

___(insert child's name) _____ yu sai? ______ yu sai?
Yu nii neh, Yu nii neh
Suk sabadee bo?
Suk sabadee bo?
Non lap dee (sleep well)
Non lap dee
Dting dang dong (doesn't mean anything, just sound...)

I think it works ;) But then again maybe River is non kiidtua koi... lying about being asleep....555

Herbal Baby Care - Best gas remedy ever!

It's an herbal "roll-on". The main ingredient is Feruala foetida (botanical name) Asafoetida (English) or Ma Ha Hing in Thai. It's a roll on you can apply a little baby's belly in gentle clockwise circles and wait for him to let out the gas. ;) It was recommended to me by a Thai grandmother and although I was a little nervous to try it, I've used it a few times in the past month with River.

In Thai Herbal Medicine Asafoetida is considered a "hot" herb. Traditionally a poultice would be made of the  resin from the roots.

You can learn more about Thai Herbs in the book "A Thai Herbal" by Dr. Pierce Salguero, my former teacher and friend. You can purchase MaHaHing in Laos at most pharmacies for about 27,000kip.

KICKSTARTER | Lao American Poetry Book

Love this project, had to share here :)
The more funding it gets the bigger the collection published will be and the more illustrations it will have.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thaoworra/demonstra-lao-american-art-and-poetry

[Baby Play] Sensory Bottles

We've been settling into our routine since I last posted of -  mommy being back to work at the local Montessori school, daddy painting nightly between 5pm and 2am and juggling how life is with a now 3 month old baby.

Living in Laos, I've found baby toys are either too expensive because they are imported and sold at stores that cater to moms who obviously don't live on a teacher's salary ..or.. there are toys that make the Naturalist  / Montessorian in me wince because they are cheap plastic, busy with too many colors, bells, and cartoon logos.

So, on the weekends I often find myself looking for ideas and making things.

The sensory bottle idea I found on one of my favorite sites: The Imagination Tree

The basic idea is to take a small water bottle, fill with interesting objects for baby to look at, then super glue the cap on.

Our bottles

1.) Sticky rice and black tea. (Makes a nice color contrast and River likes the sound of the rice. I also like that both the rice and the tea were grown by his Lao grandparents.)

2.) Pale green marbles, pink glitter and water.

3.) Crinkled blue tissue paper, bits of cotton, yellow paper "suns" and bright blue hearts. (I had a little weather theme going on in my head on this one.

Rives loves his sensory bottles. I keep them in a small bamboo basket and plan to make more and rotate them out. They also help keep him interested in "tummy time'.

Language mayhem

La and I made a pact that he would speak Lao and I'd speak English with our little man. However, I am realizing I haven't been speaking English at all with River..gotta work on that. Otherwise his chance of picking up English is quite small considering his father and I are the only ones around him that speak it. 


Just feels rude speaking English when everyone else is speaking Lao. :D 

Would love to hear from other Lao / English families... (yeah I know that's a strectch of a request condsidering how much of the world doesn't speak Lao... but...

Wondering how other bilingual families work it? Comments appreciated. ;) 

I'

it's a tiny bug...

and it bothers me..... lalala. We have a song we sing in the preschool I teach at about mosquitoes. The mozzies get smacked in the song. With good reason.

Right now I am on a daily smash and destroy all mozzies mission. I've been MIA because I'm just getting over Dengue Fever. Yeah, tomorrow River is 6 weeks old and I've spent a week and a half of it flat out with a stupid tropical mosquito spread fever. (Has made me reconsider what I think about the snow and ice of NY...) Well..... rainy season isn't over yet... so another month of living with the anti mozzy 'nets... :/

Our birth story (the short version)

Wed. Aug. 22nd our little boy arrived, his name is River (named after the Mekong River..) 

Although most of my expat friends thought I was crazy, I had a natural non-medicated birth in a Lao hospital. But Lao hospitals, perhaps because the lack the resources of the hospitals in the West are actually very accommodating to birthing mothers. I love my doctor :) My labor was 11 hours, most of it walking and standing, squatting letting gravity do it's thing. Meditations and visualizations helped more than I can say with working through the pain. Only during the actual delivery did I lay down. I also was able to have both my husband and my doula in the room with me and La was able to help "catch" River.

Since I was one of the first foreigners to have a baby at this hospital, soon afterward River was celebrity with the nurses and their cameras. :D I must admit, language was the biggest challenge. I'm not 100% sure I'd give birth in a hospital again where I can't freely communicate. (Being fluent in a language is one thing, but hospital speak is it's own language.)

After River was born we stayed in the hospital 1 night then came home to grandma and her postpartum care. (Hot herbal baths and Herbal teas.) Originally I was going to also observe the 2 week tradition of laying near the fire (literally) but for me personally, I wanted to be the one taking care of my baby at all times. Also, to be honest, I wasn't fond of the idea of sleeping in my outdoor Lao kitchen, the same place we found a cobra 2 months ago. :/ If I could have been indoors, then maybe. 

This photo is making the traditional herbal bathwater. Mom's bath for at least 15 days with this. (no soap, no rinsing.) We also drink medicinal teas to help promote milk flow during that time. No cold drinks allowed. There are also food restrictions, but these vary according to province. Khamla bought be special free range chicken from the neighbors that I ate with ginger and sticky rice. I did however consume some "falang" (western food) during this time.. after all this girl needs a pizza now and then. ; )