Posted 8:11 PM by Anne Wilhoit
As I get ready to say “good-night” to an anxiety-ridden day here, I am thinking of everyone in the U.S. as the sun rises on the East Coast. I prayed at church today may God Bless us All and may he touch the lives of those whom wish to cause so much harm to others. My precious Katie made it safe and sound to and from the American School today. My precious Amanda smiled and laughed her way through the day. My beloved husband phoned me from Germany with wishes of “miss you” and love. Am I ever blessed. God Bless America!!!!!!

Posted 11:09 PM by Anne Wilhoit
When I wake up it will be Sept. 11 here in Singapore. As we prepared for our move overseas and the movers were preparing to arrive at our home on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, only a few maniacs in the world knew what was about to happen. There is some anxiety around here but not as much as at home, I'm sure. It's my niece's 6th birthday tomorrow so I'm going to be thinking pleasant thoughts of her. I am also going to be thinking about and praying for all those whose lives were changed last year. A friend of mine said to me tonight at the SAS Open House that it would be hard for her and her family to observe a moment of silence tomorrow because the silence would be broken by her crying. Crying, along with the rest of the our beloved country. GOD BLESS AMERICA, LAND THAT I LOVE!

Posted 11:08 AM by Anne Wilhoit
We’ve been having a lot of rain recently. Lately the rain storms have lasted several hours. We got caught in a doozie on Saturday night! Luckily, David had taken Amanda home after dinner out because she saw a dragon (from a dragon dance) and was scared. Along with some friends Katie and I ventured to the Chinese Garden for a Lantern Festival. There were beautiful, bright displays of Disney Characters which were all made out of the same materials used to make Chinese lanterns. They were lit up as well so it was really neat. We saw Cinderella’s coach, Minnie Mouse and her house, Sleeping Beauty’s castle and all 101 Dalmatian puppies (to name a few). We were there about an hour when it just started to pour. I was the only one with an umbrella but it did not really help anyway. Eileen and I stood in the souvenir umbrella line and I was finally able to buy four so all the girls could have one. The girls were just as happy without one though as they were splashing around and getting soaked to the skin. The only problem was the lightning was really close so we were getting a little scared. As we made a walk toward the MRT station a couple of clashes of thunder were so loud that the girls started screaming. The walk to the MRT was about 15 minutes and by the time we got there we were all a little chilly. I never thought I would be cold in Singapore and it did not help that the MRT was air conditioned. BBBBRRRRRRRRRR. It actually rained all night and continued most of the day on Sunday. Since Dave had to leave last night we really wanted to do some family activity, so we ended up going to the movies. We saw Stuart Little 2. Katie and I had seen it in CA but it was worth seeing again. Amanda was excited to see her 2nd movie in a theatre. It worked out pretty well.

David is off on his 2 and ½ week adventure to Germany and the U.S. Theresa arrives this Friday so I’m getting really excited!

By the way, Amanda has hardly asked for her BEE-BEE at all. She did mention to a friend that she did not have a BEE-BEE anymore because her daddy threw it away. David told me that he heard her tell someone that her mommy had thrown it away. I guess she is blaming us both.

Posted 12:40 PM by Anne Wilhoit
Another night with out the BEE-BEE…and not too bad. Amanda woke up a few times but I actually think it is because she is adjusting to her big bed and not really because of the pacifier. Although, it is a little harder to get her back to sleep when we don’t have the pacifier to give her. When I first heard her at about 2:30 AM, I heard her saying her Katie’s name. I went into their room. Amanda was standing at Katie’s bed-side, trying to wake her up. We are not used to the fact that Amanda can just get out of her bed on her own. It ended up (after a few tries of trying to get her tot go back to sleep), that I just slept in her bed with her for the rest of the night. She has only asked for her BEE-BEE a few times today so we are still doing pretty well.

I am heading up to school in a little while. This afternoon Katie has her first gymnastics class so I will meet her, help her get changed, and get her off to class at 4:15. I’ll wait for her while she is in class then we will taxi home. Starting at the end of the month, she will have Brownies every-other Monday right after school, and gymnastics will follow. On the days she does not have Brownies, a friend and I will switch off meeting the girls and getting them to and from gymnastics. It should work out pretty well.

Posted 3:13 PM by Anne Wilhoit
It has been 24 hours (plus a couple) without the “BEE-BEE” at the Wilhoit household. Yesterday Amanda’s “big girl” bed arrived and so we explained to her that we felt in order for her to sleep in the “big girl” bed, she had to be a big girl. Never mind that she was able to help me get into the locked house the other day, this pacifier thing is serious business. So, we hid the last pacifier that she has been enjoying (rather, addicted to) since arriving back in Singapore from California. About every 10 or 15 minutes we heard the request: “BEEEEEE-BEEEEEE”, “BEEEEE-BEEEEE”, “BEEEE-BEEEEE PLEEEEEEEAZZZZE”. It was heart breaking…it was gut wrenching…so what should we do? Answer: Call in the babysitter for a few hours. Lis arrives. David, Anne and Katie depart. Katie attends a b-day party and when Lis picks her up, David and I receive a phone call. Amanda will not stop whining and crying for Mommy, Daddy, and “BEEEEEEE-BEEEE”. I head home and David stops to get his hair cut. He wants nothing to do with this whole thing! (He actually suggested that I wait and take the pacifier away from Amanda Next Sunday night…he will be on his way to Germany). It is now about 6:45 PM and Amanda has gone for 8 hours without her BEE-BEE but getting her to calm down for sleep will be a challenge. She does not want any dinner, no hot milk…she just looses it when I am trying to change her diaper. I never knew a 2 and one-half year old could be so strong. It took me 5 minutes to change her diaper…she just kept pushing me away and grabbing a hold of her wet diaper. By now, it’s all over…full on chaotic melt-down complete with screaming and kicking. So I just scoop her up and hold her as tight as I can. I walk around patting her back and telling her how proud I am of her and how much I love her. It takes 30 minutes for her to settle down and she finally passes out in my lap. I put her down in her “big girl” bed and she looks so little in there. Part of me feels so terrible for taking away her pacifier as it brought her so much happiness. She did really well after that, only waking up at 4:30 to eat some crackers and drink some juice and milk. She realized she was still wearing her dress and asked for me to put her pajamas on her. As I lay her back down in her bed she asks:” BEE-BEE mommy?”. I said “no, Mandy…night-night”. “Ok mom” was the response as she rolled over and went back to sleep. I cannot believe it. So far, so good. Actually, pretty DARN good. On our way to brunch today, we took Amanda to Toys R’ Us and let her pick out a new toy because she has done so well giving up her BEE-BEE. So, what does she pick? A baby doll…complete with a carry case, change of clothes, and a plastic BEE-BEE. You just have to laugh.