Big Buddy is a Rock Star!

Striking a pose at the pool.

Fun to see the U.S., India and Brazil all playing together.

From day one here in Dubai, Big Buddy has been a rock star wherever he goes. The culture is such that children are viewed as very special...almost like mini gods or rock stars. I have always felt that in the U.S. we treat children pretty good...at least I thought so until Dubai. No matter where we go, Big Buddy gets asked his name, age, and various other questions. He is often referred to as "Baby" and they can never pronounce his name quite right...this irritates Big Buddy and he tries to correct them. He always gets hugged, kissed on the forehead or cheek, his hands held or squeezed, his ribs tickled, you name it, he is getting plenty of attention ;) . He is even given gifts from toys, balloons, food, whatever his little heart desires really (Mr. Big is trying to train Big Buddy to ask for the next Ferrari he sees!). LOL!

Not only is Big Buddy a rock star with adults, he is also one on the playground! No matter where we go, Big Buddy can spot another child a mile away and will run towards them often times scaring the poop right out of the super shy ones. In the past week, he has made a friend at the pool that goes by Riley Jack (first names only here). He is from England and is the same age as Big Buddy. They love swimming together and sharing their water toys. Big Buddy has also made two little friends on the playground behind our apartment. Sophie is from Brazil and Zeib is from India. One interesting thing that Mr. Big has noticed is that no matter where the children are from, they all play the same and find a way to communicate with each other even when they don't speak the same language. All of this fascinates me!

The Little King of burgers.

Oh, I cannot forget to tell you about our Burger King experience with Big buddy. Yes, we did the extremely American thing and found a Burger King to eat at over here. The food only tastes about 65% like the Burger King in the U.S. though. Strange. When you go into a Burger King over here, they get all excited and crown your offspring with the crown of Burger the King LOL! Then they take his order along with tons of smiling and cooing at him (I vaguely remember Burger King being like this when I was a little kid. Maybe it was because it was pretty new back then). Hugh. Big Buddy was greateful for the good old burger taste along with being crowned.