Lucas at 25 months

Lucas is coming to 25 months old. At this age, he now knows how to get out of his highchair AND his playpen, which makes life more difficult for me when I want to clean the floors without his "help". Lucas also likes to choose his shirts to wear for the day - he does that by taking any random shirt out of his drawer in the mornings. After taking the shirt out, he opens the door and runs to the salon for a dose of early morning cartoon. Wednesday mornings are his favourite as he gets to watch Mickey and friends.
Lucas also likes to do things for himself, including climbing up the TV cabinet and trying to change the DVD. He knows how to switch on the TV and switches it off when he doesn't like whatever is showing including mama & papa's TV shows...

At 25 months, Lucas is still taking afternoon naps though his naps are taken later in the day now (which makes creche on Thursday afternoons pointless, as he goes there to sleep...). He still loves his baby cereal which I mix with fruit. Lucas loves Bak Kut Teh with rice, pizza, of course(!!!), macaroni with cheese and pasta sauce. He still refuses to drink anything but milk and water and loves his Milka chocolate. Since he loves chocolate so much, we decided to but some Nutella to see if Lucas likes it. Apparently in France every child and teen eats Nutella, like its some kind of staple food.

At 25 months, Lucas still loves his "lovey"! When I tried to take it away from him a few weeks ago and told him before his 2nd birthday that he has to do without it, he started getting more attached to the pacifier than before. I tried to hide his lovey and he turned the apartment upside down looking for it. I cut off the tops of the lovey, but he knew it was "broken" and threw the broken ones away.
Fred says that its fine for Lucas to have his lovey as he is still a baby and he only gets it at nap time and at night. He says I should just relax and not try to force him to give up his lovey or rush to potty train him.
So, I thought it over and decided what does it matter at what age the child was when he stopped nursing or stopped taking a bottle? Or gave up the lovey, got potty trained, learned to walk, learned to pedal a bike, knew how to write or read or count to 100? Almost all of us turn out the same in the end!
So I am going to do just that - relax, enjoy Lucas at this age, let my baby be just that. Too many parents are trying to push their children to grow up way too fast!

I will wait until Lucas is ready to give up the pacifier on his own. How many adults do you see walking around with a pacifier in their mouth? None! Because they all decided at some point in childhood that they were ready to brave the world without it. Lucas' lovey is his comfort item. It helps him sleep and makes him feel safe. I hope everyone who reads this and is having lovey trouble will stop fighting the battle and let their kids be who they are.
Don't be in a hurry for your kids to grow up, because they'll only be babies once.

France National TV

I am really confused with the TV programmes here in France! 2 weeks ago I was elated to find Grey's Anatomy on national TV (and in ENGLISH)! They aired 2 episodes back to back so I finally watched the part where Dr. Hahn leaves (yay, I don't like her character much anyway) and then, poof! No more Grey's Anatomy. Really frustrating for me as I cannot download anything here in France even tho' we have a current paid Limewire account! If caught downloading anything at all, there is a hefty fine and jail term!
So bye bye Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Nip/Tuck, Entourage... AND no movie or music download either so I have to rely on the nice, nice frens I have in KL sending me DVDs and updating me on the latest music!!!!!
At least I still manage to watch Desperate HW and Prison Break via M6 replay...

Daylight saving & Gilles' visit

Daylight saving started yesterday. We had to turn time back 1 hour, so I guess we guess we gained an hour. Lucas must have thought it was his lucky day, going to bed at 9 pm according to his body clock!!!!
Last night we had dinner at 6 pm as we were not used to the change in time yet, and the sun set completely at 630pm. This morning Lucas woke up at 730 am (which is actually 830 am according to our body clock)

As the apartment is so small and we have an acute lack of closet space, this morning I started to put away the summer clothes to make space for the warmer clothes. I put away shoes that I will not be wearing for the next 6 months or so, my heeled shoes are put way back in storage as I do not know if I will ever wear them again. I am so used to wearing flats now, I doubt I can walk in my 3 and 4 inch heels anymore.

Lucas & I are on "holiday" today. We decided to keep Lucas away from creche for a while since he's been sick. As for me, I am on a 2 week break for All Souls Day celebration. In France
Fetes de la Toussaint is taken seriously. The living will bring flowers to the cemetary and some drive hundreds of kms to get there. School is out for 2 weeks nationwide. Like the chinese, flowers for the cemetary here are crysanthemums as well. In France one must never give crysanthemums as presents as the flowers are only for dead people! Another flower for the cemetary is the Cyclamen. I thought this flower was so pretty and nearly bought a pot for my MIL to thank her for taking care of Lucas! Fortunately, my teacher taught us all about Fetes de la Toussaint before I could commit that faux pas!

Yesterday we had Gilles, Fred's brother over for lunch. Gilles is Fred's younger brother who is under the care of the government for his schizophrenia. He has been sick since he was 13. With his meds, Gilles leads a normal life but 3 months back, Gilles had a relapse when he stopped taking his meds and had to be committed back into the hospital. Gilles always reminds me of Shaggy in Scooby Doo as he is tall and skinny. He appeared a little unkempt and Fred wanted to cut his hair for him but Gilles refused. He'd cut his hair himself and it looked like he'd used a bowl over his head and cut the hair around it. He didn't seem too well yesterday and was not very communicative. Fred's mother is trying to get Gilles transfered to Tarbes so that she can be nearer to him. Gilles has his own apartment in Pau and is being taken care of by someone appointed by the government. But obviously that someone has not been checking up on Gilles for some time or else they would have alerted the hospitals when he stopped taking his meds. Gilles said he didn't like the woozy effect the meds had on him. We also found out later that Gilles' best friend had died in a motorbike accident a few days before he stopped taking his meds.

Lucas is now singing along with Barney, humming the right notes so I know that he's not tone deaf :) He's finishing Barney's sentences like he knows what Barney is going to say next.
Today I am going to try to feed him baked beans...

Autumn

Its the end of October already. The past week has been really cold here in Tarbes. Infact, it has started snowing in the mountains at 1800 metres. 2 days ago, I saw the snow up in the mountains in our balcony. Last week, it was 1 to 3 degrees in the morning when I went to my French class. By the time I get out of class, its warmed up to 10 degrees or so. The heating in our classroom is still not switched on, and I was relieved when I walked into class on Monday morning to find almost everyone shivering from the cold. I didn't want to be the only one who was bundled up in winter clothes and still feeling cold. The week before, I was one of the few in a winter coat and my English friend told me that at her house they haven't started up the heating yet and still have the windows open! I'm like, OMG, we started our heater 2 weeks already!!!!!

It's really deceiving that the sun is shining so brightly and then you step out and its still so frigging cold! I've had to go back into the apartment to change my clothes twice!
It was therefore a relief for me that the past couple of days the weather has warmed up - in the mornings its 6 - 8 degrees and by noon, its about 18 degrees. Both Lucas and I are getting used to dressing up for the cold, though "layering" takes some getting used to.
Lucas received a warm parka from Gap from his aunt in Seattle, and that will keep him toasty warm this winter. I have finished shopping for him, my last purchase was his flannel PJs. I bought a couple for myself too and they are nice and warm.

The leaves are finally turning red and falling from the trees. Fred says he is already looking forward to Spring. The days are getting shorter too - the sun rises around 830 and then sets by 7. Lucas has been getting up at his normal time of 7 or 730 am but I didn't realize that the sun is rising later so I kept telling him "go back to sleep baby, its still early!" since its still dark when he wakes me(previously the sun rose at 6 am). Poor thing must have been so confused :)

Now that Lucas has turned 2, he is talking more and is more interactive. Today at the doctor's he looked out the window and said "Coo Coo". I guess he learnt it at creche, since I didn't teach him that. He also now plays with his Melissa & Doug puzzles, where he matches half of the vehicles to the peg puzzles. Previously he couldn't recognize the colors and cars but now he can do it and then shows it to me, beaming happily at his achievement. His favourite word besides "no,no,no" is "again". His favourite cartoon right now is Kung Fu Panda (thanks to his Ah Yee who sent it). Lucas can now finish his milk bottle and then brings the bottle to mama to wash, he also wakes up and takes a shirt out of his drawer and brings it to mama to wear it for him. Lucas can take his shoes out of the closet when he knows we are going out and goes down the stairs holding mama's hand.

Lucas' urine test came back normal

My last post was a week ago. A lot has happened in that week. After rushing Lucas into the hospital with high fever where they did a urine test on him, we got the results back which told us that Lucas had a high level of sugar in his blood. We had to go back to the hospital to get his Xray and then bring Lucas to the family doctor with the urine results. The doctor was concerned but told me that maybe its because of Lucas' stress level that his blood sugar shot up, as he was prodded on and checked for his ears, throat, eyes, Xray, heartbeat, blood pressure - all by a total stranger in a new unfamiliar place. Furthermore he was already unwell and throwing up, he would have felt terrified at what was happening to him. He then did a quick blood test just to check Lucas' sugar level and it was normal. However, he ordered another round of urine test to make sure and that test came back as normal - Praise God! The 2nd urine test showed that Lucas has a urine infection, therefore the doctor put him back on antibiotics for the next 10 days...
2 of the most stressful things I have to do (now that I am no longer working) is taking Lucas to the doctor - he doesn't like the waiting and gets restless, then he starts acting up cos he wants to leave after seeing the doctor but mama is still talking to the doctor, so Lucas will go and play with the blinds and the doctor doesn't like that and tells mama that the blinds are fragile and please take Lucas away, but mama isn't strong enough to hold Lucas down while he's struggling and talk to the doctor at the same time....; and the 2nd thing is feeding Lucas medication. I mentioned it to the doctor this morning and he says that other mothers have managed so he doesn't see why I cannot. He says I need to exert authority but I am already holding him down to give him his meds, what more can I do? Lucas will not listen as he really doesn't want to take any kind of meds.
The doctor also told me that babies cannot say no to the foods we feed them - I was telling the doctor that Lucas is such a fussy eater and picks on his food. He says again I have to make him eat whatever I want to feed him. He doesn't tell me how to make him tho'. If my french was better I'd have told him to take Lucas for a day and then see if he can manage to get Lucas to eat whatever adult food he makes! He says Lucas can feel when I am anxious for him to eat and will take advantage of that. Sigh. I thought about that and have to concede that maybe that could be true. I need to put the same amount of enthusiasm into introducing other foods to Lucas like I did with pasta and pizza.

Lucas' fever

Thank you all for your emails. Lucas is doing OK now. His fever has broken since last night. He is still not eating much, but am drinking milk. I am mixing cereal into his milk to make sure he gets all his nutrients. Yesterday Lucas slept most of the day after he woke up at 5 a.m. My MIL came over and spent the whole day babysitting! It was a really nice surprise for both Fred & I.
Lucas is very, very manja now and is taking advantage of being sickly to insist on having his pacifier with him all day! Normally he only gets it when he goes to sleep. He is also asking for Alvin & The Chipmunks all day....

Urgences

Yesterday Lucas was sickly and hardly ate his food, neither did he want his milk. He started to run a temperature by noon and I began to take his temp every 2 hours. I also attempted to give him paracetamol for babies but as he was struggling so much, I only managed to get him to drink a little bit. By the time Fred came back, Lucas was tired and running a temperature of 38.6 (or that was what I thought since I took his temperature via his armpit). We managed to get Lucas to take some paracetamol and put him to bed.
Lucas woke up crying at 10 pm and this time he felt really hot and I was getting scared so I asked Fred to take us to the hospital. He was reluctant as he says the hospitals here are for emergencies and not for fevers! (not like Malaysia where I can drive Lucas into Pantai Medical Center anytime 24-7) Fred wanted to put Lucas in the bath but I insisted so he drove us to the Urgences.
Lucky for us it was a quiet night, and we were attended to immediately. As we were registering Lucas, he started to throw up. When they ushered us into the room, the nurse gave Fred a rectal thermomether and told him to take Lucas temperature (I thought the nurses should be doing that...) Anyway Lucas' temp was 40 degrees and climbing. The doctor immediately gave Fred a suppository (again, isn't the nurse supposed to do that????)
Lucas had to go through some prodding and he also had a chest x-ray as the paediatrician wanted to rule out pneumonia.
Then the nurse came in with a urine pouch and again asked Fred to disinfect Lucas' groin area so she could put on the pouch for him as they wanted to do a urine test. Lucas' fever went down by 1230 am, but we were still stuck in the hospital waiting for Lucas to pee. Finally at 2 am, the doctor came and gave us a slip of paper to deliver Lucas' urine to the labs ourselves as Lucas still hasn't peed into the pouch.
After we got home and changed Lucas, as I was putting him to bed, he peed - into the pouch and it overflowed onto me. So, after changing both Lucas and I again, it was almost 3 am when we went to bed.
Lucas woke me up at 5 am this morning, vomiting on the bed with a raging fever. I had to put 2 suppositories into him, 1 for the fever and the other for his vomiting. But looking back I think the vomiting was good as he expelled a lot of phlegm.
When Fred left for work at 8, Lucas' fever was still raging on. I waited until 10 to administer another suppository and Lucas went to sleep finally.
My MIL came over when she heard Lucas was sick and offered to take the urine to the lab and go to the pharmacie for us as she didn't want Lucas to go out as he is now susceptible to all kinds of viruses, especially the H1N1.

At 2 pm, Lucas' fever was still going on strong so I put in another suppository and then at 230 I ran a lukewarm bath for him. After his bath, Lucas finished a bottle of milk - finally! He's only been drinking water til now. At 4 pm he also took some cereal :)

Tomorrow, Lucas won't be going to creche or even out anywhere. I intend to keep him indoors for the next week or so til he's fully recovered. Its scary when your baby gets sick. In KL I had doctors at my disposal anytime of the day. But here in France it doesn't seem that way tho' now I know I can insist on going to the hospital if need to.

Ginger fried rice

I was so happy to have found fresh ginger (4.50 euro a kg) at Carrefour and black sesame oil (5 euro a bottle, made in Sg) at my local asian grocery. I made ginger fried rice like my mom's and it turned out really yum! I had to guess what ingredients to put into my fried rice - soya sauce and oyster sauce plus eggs, but it tasted exactly like mom's. Even Lucas enjoyed it tho I took out the ginger slices.

FJT & Civic formation

This morning as I left for my Civic training, I was worried about leaving Lucas behind with Roger and later with my MIL. I was rushing around straightening the apartment (when you have a toddler, there is always toys lying everywhere and food and clothes on the floor) and forgot to have breaky. It wasn't too cold when I left, but the temperature dropped by break time. I wasn't sure then if I was suffering from a hypoglycemic episode since I skipped breakfast and therefore was feeling cold but even after lunch it was freezing. In my class, I wasn't the only fool who dressed light, so most of us were huddling inside the classroom most of the day.

My Civic Formation was held in the FJT, which is a government subsidised housing. For anyone who cannot afford a place to stay, they can walk into FJT which consists of dorm rooms for a room to rent at an outrageously minimal price. I expected the FJT to be just a row of rooms like a backpacker's hotel. I was so wrong! The place is really nice! When I walked in, on my right there is a cafe with cafe macchiato at 90 cents a cup, nice comfy sofas, free magazines, wifi and best of all, a pool table! The patio opens outside to a sitting area for the inhabitants to smoke outside comfortably. On nice warm evenings they can dine al fresco there. After the patio, there is a huge garden for football games, and a rock climbing wall! I won't be surprised if there was a gym inside the building too.

We had lunch at the cafeteria - the food was damn good!!!!! For the inhabitants they pay one low price of 5 or 6 euro and they get to choose bread, 4 different types of pudding, flavored and natural yoghurt, chocolate mousse, fruit (kiwi, orange, banana, pineapple, apple), egg salad, garden salad, tuna salad, endive salad, aubergine, pasta, salmon & meat filled courgette.
I had pineapple, garden salad, aubergine, pasta and the meat filled courgette which was heavenly!

As I was not familiar with the area FJT was in, Fred drove me there before he left for work. I thought I could easily catch a bus home. When the course finished, I was shivering in my wool pullover as I waited at the bus stop with another Moroccan girl. Luckily another new friend's husband took pity on us and offered us a lift to the central bus stop. When I arrived at the stop, I noticed I was the only fool there with open toed shoes. The rest of the people were all bundled up in their leather coats and boots and had thick woolen scarfs! I contemplated going to the shops nearby to buy a nice warm scarf but didn't want to miss my bus so I stayed put. Just my luck that the agricultural convoy decided to block off the main roads for a farmers' strike.
The farmers have been on strike in France for the unfair low pricing they are getting for their produce. Milk has been poured away by the truckful in fields by milk producers as the prices they are getting for their milk has decreased while the price of milk for the public has gone up! Fruit producers have also been giving or throwing away fruits for the same reason.



Back to my civic formation - one important thing I learnt is that in France, EVERYTHING is provided for the people. Free heathcare, subsidised childcare, subsidised rent, free education, unemployment benefits, zero interest housing loans. The list goes on. And I also found out that in my region, if I get a job offer but do not have transport, the region is obligated to fund my transport - either public transport or if where I work has none, I will get a rental car - all paid for. France is truly a country for its people!

Orage a Tarbes - photos

Cepes

Cepes stir fried in olive oil and garlic - YUMMY!!!!

Showers of blessing on Lucas' 2nd birthday

Tarbes made the national news today when a huge thunderstorm hit the town yesterday at 5 pm. We were picking up Lucas at the creche (where Lucas brought mama's chocolate cupcakes with blue buttercream frosting and sprinkles for his caregivers) when the storm hit. Fred had run in before the rain became torrential and I was waiting in the car. The storm started without warning (actually, the clouds were so dark by 430 pm, it was as if it was past 8 pm already so I guess that should have been warning enough ...) and pebbles of ice started pounding at the car. Winds were really strong, the car was swaying left and right! I was really scared and contemplated running into the creche, but through the glass door, Fred told me to stay put. Later he explained that I was perfectly safe in the car as I was protected at all sides by the building.
After the storm receded, we drove back home via the center of town, which was a mistake as the roads were all flooded and there was a massive traffic jam. It felt like I was back in KL. It took us an hour to get home!

Today Lucas & I went into town and many shops were not open as the staff were cleaning up after the storm - since the shops got flooded! Even Fred's working place was flooded, according to his colleague. She said water gushed in really quick, up to her calf.

As we drove past the pizza place near our house last night Fred asked Lucas if he would like pizza for his dinner and Lucas said "yes". He also started chanting "pizza" over and over. When Fred came back into the car with the 2 boxes Lucas wanted pizza immediately in the car! We made him wait til we got home as he needed to take his antibiotics first.
For the first time, Lucas ate a couple of big slices by himself! I was surprised, he didn't pick off all the ingredients as he usually will only take the crust and cheese. This time he ate the mushrooms, tomato, red peppers and he even tried the chorizo (but I think it was too spicy for him and he spit it out).
After the pizza, Lucas blew candles on his cupcake.
Fred & I made the cupcakes the night before - but I put too much into each mould and while in the oven the cake overflowed. But it was still delicious and moist though I had to cut the cake and it didn't look as nice as I'd like. My buttercream frosting was a huge hit with Lucas and his friends at creche.

Tonight there is a huge carnival at Tarbes. We will bring Lucas there after an early dinner to look at the rides. Tomorrow is my civic training day - sigh. I have to report in at 9 am and will be stuck there the whole day til 6 pm. My MIL who was supposed to help babysit Lucas the whole day came up with another excuse again, so Roger will come and help us out in the morning. Fred will be home at noon, and then my MIL will arrive after lunch. I am disappointed that she is totally unreliable, especially when she knows I cannot miss this civic day and we have already told her about this more than a month in advance. She knows that Fred cannot take any time off work but still she makes us stress out over this.
I have already told Fred that I would prefer to move away from Tarbes if he finds a job elsewhere. We can't rely on the one person we came here to be near to, and she doesn't take advantage of the proximity to be near her grandson, so its her loss. She hasn't seen us in weeks and doesn't even ask if we are doing OK. She just sent me an sms about tomorrow and Fred had to call her. Roger, on the other hand volunteered to babysit Lucas! I bumped into him today in town and he said he is happy to do it and spend time with Lucas. My only worry is that Lucas will tire Roger out - he is after all >70 years old and is a cancer patient. Fred says that it should be fine as Roger will arrive at 830 am to stay with Lucas til noon and Fred's office is 5 minutes away if Roger needs him.

Lucas' new bed

Today I got a nice surprise when I opened my mail and found that I had won the bid for Lucas' new bed on Ebay! And it was really nice as I didn't expect to win it at all, as I bid the opening price of 69 euro. I wrongly read the time left I had to bid and thought I had 6 more days but actually it was 6 hours :)
I'm so happy to have gotten this bed (which transforms from a cot to a toddler bed) as I have been eyeing it for the past couple of months but it was retailing at 139 euro without the mattress. I was so happy to have won, I bought a mattress from the same vendor. I hope it arrives fast. This is my present to my gorgeous 2 year old boy :)

http://www.bambinoworld.fr/fr/lit-en-bois-transformable-en-pin-140-x-70-cm-j.html

Last weekend

We were woken up by a sickly Lucas at 4 am this morning. He has bronchitis according to the doctor and has to take antibiotics for 7 days. We skipped creche and my class this morning and stayed home to rest. He wanted to drink his milk at 4 and then he played for a bit before falling into a deep sleep at 6 am, so my morning was more or less shot. Fred was grumpy at being woken up, but he went back to sleep at 5. Anyway Lucas had his first banana flavored med this morning via a syringe as he refused to drink his milk when I mixed it into his milk.
The antibiotic came in a small bottle, in powder form. When I measured out the dosage as instructed by the Pharmacist I was wondering why the bottle of med which was supposed to last at least 6 doses was already three quarter empty. Luckily Fred reread the instructions and found that we have to mix water into the bottle! I was really upset the pharmacist didn't give me the right instructions! I could have ODed my baby on the meds! (but actually even if I did mix it all into the milk, he wouldn't drink it...)

Anyway, as our regular older doctor was unavailable, we went to see the younger one who took offence when I asked him if there was another alternative to antibiotics. He got upset and told me in English "if you do not want to give him my medicine, then you can give him whatever you want!" He did print out the prescription for me anyway and shook my hand on my way out but I won't go back to him again. His dad is a much, much better doctor who explains everything to me and is a nicer person too.

Last weekend was a busy one. I tried cepes for the first time. Its a mushroom found here and is seasonal. Its also known as porcini. There is a man selling cepe by the roadside for 24.50 euro a kg. He is also selling it with girolles which is yellow mushroom cooked with cepe. We bought a little (9 euro) and Fred cooked it with olive oil and garlic. It was really yummy! If it wasn't so expensive I would eat it everyday!

We also went to Auch on Sunday to have lunch at Eric & Solange's place. Auch is an hour's drive away from Tarbes going towards Toulouse. Its a small town with historical sites and buildings. Although Auch has only 26,000 residents (Tarbes has 46,000) Auch is more "happening" compared to Tarbes. As we were there on a Sunday, the streets were deserted like many towns in South France. I guess most people spend their Sundays resting at home or outdoors in the mountains.

Eric & Solange live in a quaint 3 storey townhouse with Solange's 3 kids. For lunch Solange made tuna basil asparagus salad and raclette (as starters), roti porc (roasted pork), ratatouille and mashed potato (For Lucas). The ratatouille was heavenly! We finished off with grapes and cheese and coffee. After lunch they took us for a short drive to the Chateau de Lavardens, a 12th century fortress overlooking the picturesque countryside of Gers. The chateau was given to Antoine de Roquelaure in 1585 who proceeded to do massive renovation to the castle for his young bride. Unfortunately the reno works were never finished as Roquelaure died. This Castle is still being renovated to this day. The castle features 19 magnificent stone mosaic floors and big big windows (as the bride requested for huge windows to let the sunlight in).

5th month

Lucas & I have now been in France for 5 months. Time really flies! It seems like I'd just left Malaysia. I miss being in KL just as much, but seeing how Lucas has grown and bloomed, I realize that leaving my job (and the financial freedom that comes with it) was the right thing to do. However, leaving KL altogether... let's just say I am in a totally different life here in Tarbes. Its hard without any parental/friends support and what I had in KL, I will never get it here.
My new friend Elizabeth invited Fred & I over to her place for dinner - unfortunately we have had to turn her down as we do not go out at night anymore, since Lucas is in bed by 8 pm and we have no one to babysit. And I really do not trust any 18 year old who's looking for babysitting jobs to supplement their driving lessons. Its hard getting my MIL to help out even tho' she's retired. She's selfish with her time and asking her for a couple of hours of babysitting is like pulling teeth without novocaine. Furthermore, the last time she agreed to babysit, she flaked out the night before saying that she forgot and she made other plans!
My MIL lives a mere 10 minutes away and she doesn't bother stopping by to see her grandson. Fred has always taken Lucas on the bicycle after work to see her. Well, no more. i told Fred that if she can't be bothered to see Lucas, I do not want him bringing Lucas to her. She is able bodied, she drives around, sometimes she passes our place without stopping! Its ridiculous - this woman doesn't have her maternal streak in her at all. Even her friend Martine has offered to babysit (but since we do not know her well, we declined).
My MIL prefers to pay a total stranger 8 euro an hour to babysit her grandson than to spend time with him! Seriously, she offered when she flaked out the last time. She said, instead of her having to babysit every Thursday morning from 9-12 (as i have my class) she will pay for someone to take him.

Yesterday I didn't make it to class in the morning again, but Lucas & I had a nice morning. It was raining when we woke up so Luc & I sent Fred to work. At about 10.30, the rain stopped so I bundled Lucas in the car and drove to the Thursday market at Halle Mercadieu. I prefer the Thursday markets as there are a lot more stalls and only the Thursday market has fresh produce and food. We bought olive bread (yummy!) and roasted chicken and Vietnamese rolls, apples, fresh veges and flannel PJs (ugly colors and designs but warm....)

Next Thursday my French teacher says we will be going out for an excursion, to the new mosque (since not many people know what a mosque is...) or to the cinema. Next Thursday my little Boo's is going to be 2 years old! Fred has the day off, so will bring Lucas to the parc. I will attempt to make birthday cupcakes. On Sunday we will have a little birthday picnic for Lucas at the parc. This year won't be as "yit lau" as last year since Lucas' friends are all in KL and I have not gotten to know the mothers at the creche yet.

So, in our 5 months in Tarbes, I have now managed to drive (driving in Tarbes is really crazy - a normal 2 lane road is made into a 4 car road since both sides, cars are parked and I get really scared trying to manouver my way through), Lucas has enrolled in a creche, I have started my french lessons and I have started to make friends. We are exploring Tarbes together - I try to take a drive everyday either to the parc or to Jardin massey or to a shopping mall. Lucas has started talking - yesterday he said "au revoir". I have a feeling he will be talking more french than english in another 6 months. Lucas has also started eating normal food, though he still doesn't want any veges (I have to mix the peas and carrots into his cereal...)

I am going to attempt to wean Lucas off his pacifier.... wish me luck!