Victory Day - 16 December 2010

Today I am eight months and Bangladesh is forty years old.  We celebrated both by going to a fair at the park down our street.  It included many booths selling sharis and fried food, man-powered ferris wheels and swings, and mini-caroms games.  It was a very colorful occasion! 

The boy in the back really wanted Dad to play at his booth.  He must have known how good Dad is at caroms!

We're not sure why the Bengali man in the background is wearing a British flag at the Bangladeshi Victory Day celebration.  I had the right flag, though!

AB Training School 2010

Bengali Salad

Tuesdays have been my favorite weekday in Bangladesh because at 2 every Tuesday afternoon nine wonderful Bangali and Garo men and women come to our house for the American-Bangladeshi (AB) cooking classes that Mom coordinates.  (Don't worry all you people who know that Dad actually is the one who makes all of our best meals on the grill; Mom is the facilitator and has only taught once.)

This is Renu, Michael, Niva, Agnes and Ratna working on pierogis.

All of the participants work as cooks for families at Dad's school or in our building, and when they all crowd into our kitchen to take turns teaching recipes they make some delicious treats!  We've had pizza, pierogis, German fried chicken and potatoes, tacos, fajitas, cottage pie, French bread, Indian pizza, roasted lemon chicken, honey vegetables, Christmas cookies and snickerdoodles this semester.

Brnjamin, Rani and Ratna trying German food

More importantly, when my new friends with Muslim, Hindu and Christian backgrounds come over it gives us all a chance to talk, laugh and pray together in the middle of a busy work day.

Rani, Niva, Sathy and Agnes decorate Christmas cookies with pink sprinkles, coconut shreds and cinnamon sugar

Michael told me that in Bangladesh only women are supposed to make the desserts, but I was so curious he let me try to decorate one cookie.

Thank you, friends, for teaching me about your lives and sharing your Tuesdays with me.  Thank you especially, Niva, for all of the sweet and salty treats you sneak me each week.  Shhh, don't tell Mom!

It's Beginning to Feel Like Christmas

These are a few of the things that are helping me to feel like my first Christmas is just around the corner.

Stockings!  Thanks so much, Kim!

presents that Grandpa brought a month ago, and I have been so good about not opening

cards hanging by our kitchen door

Great-grandma Louise's eggnog and decorated Christmas cookies

As you can see, I was really excited about trying the eggnog when Mom set it down to take a whisking break.  She was too quick for me this time, but...

I happily got my taste from Dad's cup later!

bringing Christmas cookies to all of the other apartments in our building; I had to learn a couple lessons about sharing after becoming very attached to the crinkly bags we put them in.

The best part about getting ready for Christmas has been doing our Advent devotions as a family.  You can see the the candle "wreath" Mom and I made on the side, and Dad usually reads to us while we have a treat or right before dinner.  He's also holding the chocolates out of the Advent calendar that Ben, Gemma and Zach gave to us.  They're all in a plastic box because the ants found the cardboard wrapped calendar, so we had to open all the boxes and now Dad's in charge of doling out the chocolates on the right day.

Christmas 1988

This is a picture of Mom having Advent devotions with her dad and sister.  Mormor has been sending us some of those pictures, and it's fun to see what they did to make life Christmassy in China 22 years ago. 

I hope you're all having a very merry Christmas season and enjoying your times of hearing about Jesus' birthday with your family and friends.

Developing

Hello!  I now have four teeth, and two more on their way on the top.  As you can see, Dad's also working with me on ball-handling skills.

I'm also working on standing up, and can hardly stay on my bottom for more than 30 seconds now.  This is only a real problem during bath time when Mom keeps saying, "No standing!"

Since I've mastered standing next to normal furniture, Dad says it's time to move on to climbing skills.  This is the metal window grate in our living room.  Dad mostly works on this with me when Mom's not home since she squeals so much and distracts me if we practice when she's around.

Thanks to Nana and Gramps!

Jerky, a dress and Raggedy Andy, oh my!  What an exciting surprise Mom brought home from school last Thursday!

Fat Lip

You might not be able to tell, but to Mom it is very obvious that I got my first bloody lip.  She put me in my crib thinking it was a good place for me while she cleaned up my last diaper.  I didn't want her to think I was going to be one of those passive, inactive children, though, so I showed her how I could crash into the bars and get a bloody lip even in there.

Dad was proud.

Proud of My Dad

I mentioned a while back that I like to support my dad at his tournaments and games.  In that post, his high school girls' football (soccer) team was about to play in the championship game of the AISD (American International School, Dhaka) tournament.  They got second place in the game.

Since then, I've gotten to go to the middle school girls' tournament as well.  That was a whole day of fun, and some of the players and Dad hung out with me between the games.  Plus, they got first place!  Good job getting them in shape, Dad.  I hope someday I can play on your team.

The Champions

Two Proud Coaches - Mr. Giblett and Coach Carlson

This is the high school girls' trophy.  The middle school girls took home the first place one a couple of weeks later.

Saving Taka

After Mom paid for our tickets to fly to Nepal over the Christmas break, she also had to go out and buy some disposable diapers for me.  She says carrying wet and stinky cloth ones in her suitcase is not her idea of relaxing travel.  She ended up paying 690 Taka for 25 diapers, which is $10.  According to my math work, with a little help from a calculator since I don't have my times tables memorized yet, that would add up to 10% of Dad's salary if I wore disposable diapers all the time.  Thank goodness for my FuzziBunz and BumGeniuses!  (By the way, I found out from my friend Joshua who I hang out with on Wednesday mornings that the company that makes both of those diapers does some really cool things for missionary families.  Hooray!)

So, not only are my diapers helping the environment, but they're making Mormor and Dave Ramsey proud.  Plus, what other babies look so good in just their diapers?

A Baby Moves to Bangladesh

Mom was recently asked to write a short article for the school paper, the Amazing Grace, but was having some trouble so I volunteered to help her out.  Here's what we came up with:  

A Baby Moves to Bangladesh

By Bowman Carlson

Moving to Dhaka has been a really good way for me to learn my colors.  At home, I know I saw all of the same colors, but not in such fantastic displays. 

I’ve learned red from the flag proudly flying across t-shirts and storefronts, proclaiming a people who love their independence.

I’ve learned orange from the glowing sun as I watch it sink peach and ginger through a city haze criss-crossed by rooftop laundry lines.

I’ve learned yellow from rickshaw cushions and canopies splashed with amber and apricot scenes of rural Bangladesh.

I’ve learned green from vegetable vendors beckoning toward kelly leafy lettuces, emerald striped squashes and shamrock shaded cucumbers.

I’ve learned blue from cobalt and azure sharis artfully draped to conceal glistening hair and smiling eyes.

I've learned purple from fuchsia and violet water hyacinth blossoming around slim fishing vessels on city lakes.

I’ve learned brown from the sun darkened cheeks and necks of the smiling children chasing deflated footballs through alley mazes.

Most of all, I’ve learned how beautiful a city Dhaka is with its whirling rainbow for me to study.