D5: Almost a week into the trip and I am learning a very important lesson: the importance of maintaining baby on schedule in order to preserve harmony in the world. Which translates to, naps are essential to keep your baby from crying her face off and driving mommy and daddy crazy. And naps are hard to take when there's so much newness to see, hear, smell, and feel. And now that I'm learning it, I must abandon the notion for there is really no way to keep schedules on a trip like this. But as time goes on, we'll see how it all unfolds. And don't get me wrong, it isn't as if Twila Beth is awful. She just doesn't nap all day and typical baby, she gets very upset in the late afternoon. Typically this manifests as uncontrollable crying, especially when we are in the car. Poor girl just wants to be held and she can't and she doesn't understand that mommy loves her and that's why she won't pick her up.

Back to today: What a relaxing day! Today we didn't leave the hotel. The morning started with a nature walk led the groundskeeper/gardener who has been with the Four Seasons since they opened in 1993. We learned about the plants that grow around here including many bromeliad species, fici, trumpet flowers, lotus (of course) orchids, jasmine, and my favorite, the frangipani (called a plumeria in the US). We saw koi so big that one looked like it swallowed all 10 in our pond at home. The guide also gave us a language lesson. Did you know the Thai alphabet has 44 consonants and 15 vowel symbols? And many Thai words are spelled the same but have different meanings depending on how you say the word. For example if I say ma mama I could be saying "come horsedog", or calling my mother, or both.

Later in the day I had a 90 minute traditional Thai massage followed by a facial. So relaxing. Unfortunately for mom and Jason who watched her during my much enjoyed beauty treatments, TB wasn't feeling well and I believe screamed her head off for most of it. She's caught a little cold somewhere and has been snotty and fussy for the last 36 hours. When she's not feeling well, she is rarely happy unless attached to the boob.

The afternoon was spent in a Thai cooking class. We made papaya salad, pad Thai, and green curry chicken. Mine turned out the best. Maybe because the chef came to my station to prepare all the meals because TB wouldn't let me put her down long enough to cook anything. Nevertheless I took good notes and I can't wait to host you all when I get back. I did learn that green curry paste takes a long time to make from scratch and is very exhausting (you have to beat it with the mortar and pestle for half an hour or more) so most people buy the paste at markets.

One great thing about being here is that Thai people LOVE babies. And the men are big babies themselves around them. They coo and go goo goo gaa gaa like silly grandmas. Thai people always want to hold and play with TB. They are quick to take her when I'm doing something. For example during the cooking class, TB was acting up. She was probably jealous she couldn't prepare or eat. But the servers came in and scooped her up and took her all around. When we eat out and she cusses (my iPhone autocorrected fusses to cusses) people line up to console her so that we can enjoy our meal.

We ate our cooked meals for dinner and retired early to care for the sick baby.