Our Friends,
It is 3 pm on Wednesday afternoon and our daughter is passed out on top of her Mommy, while G snoozes nearby in his bed. I am April's husband, a long time listener, first time caller. It as been a wonderful couple of days for us. We got Prim yersterday morning and she cried for 2 hours straight. She did everything she could to plead us for her release. At one point she thought she might find sympathy in G, who was about her size and might understand. When he wouldn't lead her to freedom, she held him in a life or death bearhug, to which he wished he would have stayed still in his corner and never set down the gameboy moments earlier. He has not fallen for the old bearhug from hell trick since. She finally collapsed, exhausted and out of strength.
She awoke in a rather good mood, perhaps her ruse to trick us into releasing her. We decided to go up to the pool deck where she watched G and I splash around. She decided that this must surely be the path to freedom and wanted to go in. Mommy took her below and changed her into a classy yet conservative 1 piece bathing suit. Unfortunately her first time in a pool got her 1 foot below the water, because Mommy jumped into the deep end rather than the shallow. It was no matter, because she absolutely loved it. Who would have thought that she was a water baby?
We showered, changed and took the skytrain to the mall for food and new shoes. It turns out Prim's feet are HUGE. I'm not kidding. It's like someone took a can of Vienna Sausages and used them as her toes. None of the shoes that Mommy brought fit her. The closest ones were sandals, and all of her toes hung over the front and wrapped themselves under the sole. On the way back, G fell asleep in my arms while Prim was not far behind. She actually slept peacefully through the night with a short interruption for a feeding at 1:30 AM. It seems her favorite position is actually on top of Mommy. We tried the "hug and roll" trick but to no avail. It only made her cry.
The next morning we got up early and got ready for the board meeting. She cried and pleaded for Pat as soon as she saw her and demanded for her immediate release, all the while chanting that "we do not negotiate with terrorists." The board went extremely well and they were all enamored with G, who sang them a song (If I could be a fishy) and wanted to answer all the questions for us via the microphone. One of the board members actually chased after us and asked to get a picture of us with her. We broke free from the group took a taxi back to our hotel. Midway through the bumper to bumper traffic, G decided he had to pee and so I ran him to a store while the taxi was gridlocked. I chased the Taxi down two blocks only to run past it, in the middle of traffic. It was quite a site to see, I assure you. We were drenched in sweat from the heat and humidity so Prim got her second shot in the pool as we tried to cool down.
Tomorrow we have the embassy Visa application and then off to Hua Hin. Prim is adjusting well to her to her incarceration with this strange family with foreign tongues, but refuses to have anything to do with me. April thinks it's because Foster Father was so close to her and I reminded her of him. I think it is simply because it is her silent protest to this unjust totalitarian state which has ripped her from everything she has known.