Eiffel Tower

We made it there, eventually, and it was lovely.  Also, very muddy.  Violet didn't sleep well last night, so she was a wild little thing today, and went running all around in the mud.  We chased her all about the base of the tower, down the Champ-de-Mars and through the sycamore trees.  Eventually, on our walk to the Louvre, she fell asleep in the front pack.  

It really is quite challenging to tourist around with a toddler.  We are finding it is best to plan one activity for the morning, and another for the afternoon, with substantial snack-meals and a nap sandwiched in between.  To try to push through the day, squeezing in as many activities as possible is just a call for disaster, so we have to pick and choose what we're going to do very carefully.  

In general, though, our little traveler is doing quite well.  She calls this her "Paris Home" (opposed to "Seattle Home", and we tell her that "India Home" is coming soon).  We are really very proud of her. 

Rachel 

Arrival in Paris

We have just put Violet down for a nap, at 5:09am.... I mean 2:09pm Paris time. Our little girl is adjusting to the time change very well and has slept a lot since we landed. Except for a 3am pajama party (only lasted an hour) she slept from 9pm to 9am!

So to recap: We arrived in Paris yesterday...has it been two days? Tough to tell... The flight from Seattle to Paris was very rough. Violet cried harder during the first 1.5 hours than she has in a long time. The guy behind us requested a seat change - can't blame him. Eventually she settled in and the rest of the flight (7.5 hours) was ok. Landing in Paris, we had to take a bus to the terminal - standing on the tarmac, we began to remember what 30-degrees (Fahrenheit) felt like - snow was everywhere. We got our bags then were off to the RER train into Paris.

Looking quite like a traveling caravan, (I was rolling our two big suitcases, with a backpack on my back AND front, a giraffe and monkey hanging off the sides - Rachel with Violet in the Ergo) we squeezed through the turnstiles and train door and managed to find the right train. Our stop was "Notre Dame" - enough to get an architecture or history student excited. Up two flights of stairs (the escalator was too narrow, no elevator) we were on the Ile de France - staring right at the big Gothic Cathedral. We had arrived.

Not wanting to wait too long ( I mentioned the cold and my beast-of-burden baggage) we rolled our way to 4, Rue Navarre. Narrow side walks, various unmarked winding streets eventually turned into the address we wanted - a remarkable occurrence. We punched our code and the massive door to the street opened. The building "guardian" was not in her office, but we soon found her in the hallway. She informed us she was only here on the holidays (Monday, Dec. 27th?) and none of the keys were marked. So she gave me about 10 keys to try in the door - before coming up with the right one. We thanked her, loaded our bags inside and closed the door.

Such sweet relief after a day of travel - to have a comfortable, safe place to sit. The apartment is wonderful, and I have no doubt it will be a perfect 'home' for the next few days. Two rooms - kitchen/living and bedroom/study with a sliding wall in between. Oil heaters that work very well and large windows that look on to the inner court yard. Violet, desperate to "walk around" as she says, was soon padding along the wood floors and pointing out every thing that wasn't 'toddler proof.' Eventually we calmed her down and she went for a nap in her travel bed. The power of her bedtime routine is awe-inspiring. No matter where we are, a book, kisses goodnight, rocking with mama and bedtime music set her up for sleep.

With her down and Rachel napping too, I ventured out to find food. Feeling like a hunter-gathered I re-bundled myself and walked out to Rue Monge. I found a fabulous bakery, picked up a baguette and a panini sandwich - muttering and pointing just enough to get my point across. Then I spotted a grocery store just down the street - jackpot! I loaded up on yogurt, pasta, eggs, red wine, Nutella, butter, cheese ... perfect. We would venture back out to this grocery once more to finish off dinner supplies. Having a kitchen is such an advantage for us when we travel - makes so much more possible. We all had sausage pasta with tomato sauce and corn for dinner; not distinctly French cuisine, but good food in France - what ever you want to call that.

This morning, we all slept in. Breakfast was baguette with nutella & jam, french press coffee, and yogurt. We then walked up to Sufflot's Pantheon - a neoclassical "question mark" of a building. It was started as a church, but after the French revolution is was completed as more of a "final resting place" famous French people like Victor Hugo, Voltaire, J. J. Roussou, Marie Curie. Violet like the big plaza out front - she can coax smiles out of just about anyone.

From the Pantheon, down to a market at Place Montage for cheese, sausage and vegetables then back to the bakery for another baguette and a "tartellete framboise" for Rachel. From a butcher on Rue Montage we got a rotisserie chicken and potatoes. Needless to say we have just finished a fantastic lunch.

So now the afternoon awaits - most likely a trip back to Notre Dame (without the pack-mule appearance). So much to see - enjoying it all.

--tyler

The Count Down

Slowly every day we are going through our check-points.  Dinner with the family.  Tax meeting.  Dentist appointment.  Our to-do list is finally beginning to shrink, and our suitcases are beginning to fill out.  We just finished watching the enormously long and confusing BBC History of India. 

Here is a fun fact:  13 million people live in the city of Delhi (the city we are flying into).  Just to put that into perspective, only 6.7 million live in the entire state of Washington.  

We are to the point now where we are tired of talking about it and preparing for it.  We're ready to go. 

Oh gee, it's GHEE!

Tyler and I have discovered a fabulous little Indian grocery store near the university where they sell many of the hard to find ingredients that all of our Indian recipes call for.  Now hear you me--- yes, you can make Indian food without these few key things, which we have done many times, but we have always felt that the flavor just wasn't quite there.
Our favorite discovery?  GHEE!

Ghee is something that you can easily make.  It basically (I think) is butter reduced to a pure oil form.  What that means is that it's pretty shelf stable, and more importantly, VERY rich and flavorful.  It's like condensed butter;  essence of butter;  eau de toilette butter.  You use it as you would use any other oil-- olive oil or vegetable oil--  you just spoon a tablespoon in the bottom of the pan before you fry your onions.  And, it is bliss.
Here is a picture of our lovely Ghee, along with a few other beautiful discoveries....

a few updates...

Hey there, friends.  It's been a while.  I suppose we're due for an update.  Here's what's going on.
We leave for India in just over a month!  Our apartment has been successfully subleased, my scooter has been sold, and we are trying to eat our way through our freezer and noodle cabinet.  Also, we have all been vaccinated for polio, hep. A and B, tetanus, typhoid, and a few other things.  That was quite a cocktail-- we all felt a bit wonky for a few days, but at least we hopefully can now avoid some of the major plagues.

The plan is to leave the day after Christmas.  But not for India.
For Paris!
For 5 days!
Then, we fly to Finland for a four hour layover, and then it's on to Delhi.
From Delhi, we take the train to Chandigarh.  Then, hopefully, by then, hopefully hopefully hopefully, the program will have our housing worked out, and we will taxi [or something] to our new home.

One of the best things that has happened, just in the last few days, is that we have gotten in touch with the wife of one of the professors here.  She has gone on the study trip with her husband, their children, and the class a few times before (but is not going this year).  Just emailing back and forth with her a few times has really helped give us more of a sense of what it really is going to be like in Chandigarh with a toddler.  Diapers, she says, are available in the city (although, a bit pricey for India standards), and she gave us a whole list of good places to shop and fun outings to go on.  Also other random stuff-- like info about indoor heating, and she recommended that we definitely bring some sort of bed for Violet.  Her mother-in-law in India has a car seat we can use, as well as a high chair-- these things are golden!  Yes, we could live for 10 weeks holding Violet on our lap at every meal, but having a highchair represents more than just a place for her to eat--- it means that I can put her in it and wash dishes, read a book, type an email, paint a picture, anything at all non-baby related for at least 10 minutes while she's munching.

We've learned a bit about the weather:  It's going to be cold and foggy when we first arrive (seeming very cold due to little or no indoor central heating), but it's supposed to start warming up by February.  By March it should be quite lovely!  With that in mind, we are only just barely starting to think of what kind of clothing to pack.  I think we're probably going to plan on packing winter-type clothing, and then look forward to buying more warm-weather stuff as needed (oh my goodness --  how adorable is Violet going to be in her Indian attire!?!!  sorry, just had to throw that in!)

There is still a lot to process.... but I think things are slowly slowly slowly coming together.
 

Diaper update

We have started using cloth diapers with Violet and it is going fabulously well!  We went to a few used kids-clothing stores and bought about 8 pre-folds (that's the fancy name for the soft white cotton towel-like things that you fold to go directly against the baby's bum), and then we bought (for near to nothing compared to what they cost new) two outer diaper wraps (these go over the pre-folds, and are a bit rubbery and water proof;  they protect her pants from getting wet and soiled).  Also, we bought a handy little contraption called a Snappi that you use instead of diaper pins.  You can read about it here  .  She is still wearing a disposable diaper at night, and anytime we have a major event or outing I tend to put her in a disposable simply because I'm still figuring out how long she can go in a cloth diaper before having to be changed, but for the most part we are using all cloth and it is going very well.  The hardest part so far seems to be coming up with a good system for this whole thing---  I think we now have enough cloth diapers where we will only have to do laundry every 3 days or so-- but figuring out what to do with the dirty diapers while they wait to be laundered has taken some thought.  Letting them soak in a bucket of water with mild soap seems to work pretty well, as long as I remember to change the water every night :)

The most amazing part of this whole diaper experiment is realizing how flexible and adaptable Violet really is.  She does seem to know the difference between cloth and disposable diapers, and has put up a protest a few times when we try to put her in a cloth one (I think they do feel a little strange to her; she is  not completely used to them yet)... but basically as long as Tyler and I have everything on our end figured out, she is fine adapting to the situation.
While this concept may seem fairly simple, it is actually, I think, pretty huge.
It's huge because for quite some time now I have been thinking of this India trip as something that is going to be really hard on Violet simply because a lot of things are unknown, and inevitably a lot of things will be different, and that will be a stress on her.  But I am realizing more and more that beside the main difference of not being at home in a familiar place, she probably won't notice or be affected too much by many of these differences.  Most of the stresses will be on Tyler and myself (i.e. we'll have to boil all the water, we'll have to thoroughly cook all of the fruits and vegetables, we'll have to make sure we have mosquito nets, we'll have to make sure she has diapers of some kind that are clean and safe, etc....)  Really, as long as we can figure out some way to create a safe and comfortable daily life for her, she will be fine.
The stress is on us, as the parents.  And I believe in us, as parents.
We may not have much, but we do seem to have an ability to make what we do have work for us, and make the situation appealing and normal for our child.  Violet isn't going to have to be the one to make certain things, (like cloth diapers) work---  it's really up to us as her parents to figure out how to do things so that they work for her.  
And that, my friends, I think.... I hope..... I'm pretty sure.... we can do.

-Rachel

Diapers

So.... I'm thinking of doing cloth diapers with Violet while we're in India.  From everyone I've talked with, it's really the way its done there.  Laundry is sent out, and there isn't much of this wall-to-wall carpet action, so children are potty trained at a much earlier age and accidents are wiped up off the floor.   Also, my sources tell me that disposable diapers are a bit hard to find, and a bit pricy....  So, cotton-bottom here we come!  


Do what is done in India.  

Simple.  right?
Well, actually, it's taken me about 4 months to feel fine about this decision.  I'm just so used to doing things the way I do them.  It's not easy to figure out a routine when you are a first time parent, and so once you have one down, I think it's really hard to sway away from it.  We buy our horrible disposable diapers at Costco.  They are easy in every way.  And they have zebras on them.  When one is soiled, we roll it into a little ball, put it in the diaper genie, and off it goes.  No smell.  No effort.  And it goes away so easily and quickly that even the guilt of using disposable diapers is [almost] completely taken care of.
Funny-- I never ever ever ever thought I would use disposable diapers on my kid-- but now that I'm a mom, I get it.  Cloth diapers = more laundry, more fuss, more thought, more up-front money--  all things to be avoided in every day life when you're a first-time mommy, if possible.
But India is challenging me to rethink all of this a little.  America is one thing, but if the norm in India is to use cloth diapers, and if the whole point of going on this trip is to experience India, why should I try to force this issue?  I have had several suggestions from other moms--  have diapers shipped half way through, have any visitors form the states bring some with them when they come, or even just pack three suitcases full and hope they'll last....

But a good [Indian] friend put it best when she said: The trail of garbage is very visible in India.  I know that I wouldn't feel comfortable brining 300 disposable diapers into the country knowing that they'll stay there for the rest of my life.  

Really, what right do we have to bring these horrendous things into a country whose own people don't use them and whose garbage system may not even be able to handle them?
Of course, the later part of this question applies to anywhere on earth-- even Seattle.  Violet's diapers will outlive her no matter where we are.
That is just the truth.

Anyway, I am doing my research, and trying to figure out the best cloth diapers to buy.
Here is some advice from a friend who, bless her soul, already uses cloth diapers on her kid (and they aren't even going to India!)

"i have a mix of bum genius and fuzzi bunz diapers.  i like the snaps on the fuzzi bunz but i think the bum genius leak less.  if i were buying more/again, i'd stick to the bum genius.  i have 16 diapers and do laundry every other day.  i also bought some inserts that are made of hemp (called superdo or something) to put in for night-time or longer stretches since the cloth probably need to be changed every 2-3 hours or they'll leak.  that worked for a while at night but we recently converted to huggies overnight disposables for nighttime cuz he was still waking up covered in pee.  sadly, we have to put him in disposables for daycare.

if you want to come over and check out my stash of cloth diapers, i'm happy to show them to you at some point.  you can go to the diaper lady in ballard and check out pretty much any type of diaper you hear about.  look at http://punkernoodlebaby.com/ if you wanted her info.  i went to her house to look at stuff but i bought my diapers in bulk online from the cheapest place i could find them.

good luck!!"