Their mother is a bombaygirl after all!

Genes will out!

My kids LOVE chutney sandwiches.*  Nik asks for it at lunch time every single day: “I want green chutney mommy?” 

When I say okay, they both run over to their little table, sit down, and wait.  Anju giggles and squirms and does a happy dance.  I cut their sandwiches into quarters, and Anju eats hers like anyone else would: picking up a quarter and eating it, then picking up another.

Nik, on the other hand, will separate the layers of one quarter, eat the top layer from the inside corner to the edges, then fold the edges in and stuff it into his mouth.  Repeat with the other layer.  Repeat with the other quarters.

Anju is done with her sandwich in about half the time he is.

When I find it, I will post a picture of me eating chutney sandwiches at one of my birthday parties. 

(* I omit the tomato and cucumber for the kids.  Nik won’t eat the veggies, and Anju has to have her sandwich just like Nik’s.)

Anju in the spotlight

Anju’s first words:

Hi (to everyone she sees)

Bye 

Kiki = Nikky

Anna  (our friends’ little 4.5 yr old girl, who she loves to follow around like a little duckling.) 

Yeshpleeesh = Yes, please (sometimes she gets lazy and says “eeesh”)

StoPPuh = Stop (usually to Nik trying to grab something out of her hand)

NO!

UP-puh = Up, please

Whoa!

Uh-OH!

Baba = her stuffed lambs

Oo-oo = her stuffed monkey

Nay-nay = her stuffed horse

DOG  (her first word, and for a while it was used for any animal on 4 legs)

Girl  (She will fill this word in when I sing ”Baa Baa Black Sheep.” I switched girl for boy in the second last line) 

Sock = socks

Shoe = shoes 

Cah = car

wahwah = water

mama

daddy

bauw = ball

Amm-uh = Amber, their babysitter

Gogo = Diego (Nikky called him that too!)

Awwah = Oswald

Dubbo = Dumbo

e-i-e-i-oh

and her current favorite word du jour…..

MINE!

Play

This afternoon, I watched Nik feed popcorn to his his toy lizard.

Nik: “Time to eat dinner! Here, try this.” He put some popcorn in the lizard’s open mouth.

Lizard: “Oh, ffffank you!”

Nik: “More popcorn?”

Lizard: “Mmmmm!”

Nik: “Bite down.  Eat”

Lizard makes chomping motions with his mouth.

Nik gets distracted by something, and Anju grabs the lizard, getting cream cheese all over its belly and feet.

Nik grabs for the lizard, I ask Anju to share, and she gives it right away to Nik.

Nik: “Gross!  It’s dirty!  I need paper towel!”

So I get him a sheet, he wipes the lizard. 

Then: “Time to wash his feet?”

So I wash the cream cheese off the lizard and give it back to Nik.

Who proceeds to feed him some more popcorn.

“

Mom’s Night Out!

Went out for dinner with the moms from the local FEAT group.  So fun, and so great to just hang out with women who get it, who’ve been there, who have kids like my son, and who don’t judge.  We had such a great time, and we made plans for a retreat in the spring.  At a day spa. 

Can’t wait.

Work

So I have let my work languish for the last month.  I have been paralyzed by decisions, and I was letting myself get caught up in penny wise, pound foolish matters.  Well, no more!

I was talking to my friend’s husband yesterday, and he asked what was going on with the website.  And I told him how paralyzed I was.  And he said, “Just start!  There are children everywhere that could benefit from your products, there’s a kid right across the street who I know could use some of your toys!  You need to get the site up and start selling, and then we can make it look pretty later.”

And then a therapist friend standing nearby said,” Can I offer some therapist advice?  Is the fact that you want it to be perfect holding you back?”

“YES!”  Oh my god, how did she know?!  And then she proceeded to tell me how common of an issue that is, and that it is easily resolved if you just confront it, and gave me some helpful tips, which I am definitely going to act on.

And I’ve already started. 

Phew.

Obama girl?

Not sure.  This afternoon, I went to an Open House a friend was hosting for the Obama campaign.  Met a lot of Obama supporters, and I was one of two undecideds.  It was an interesting afternoon, and I talked to some neat people, a couple of whom may end up joining my bookclub!  And another who might join my moms group.

So, a productive afternoon.

P.S.  I’m still undecided.

False Spring

Every year around this time it warms up around here.  Its beautiful, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, the rosebushes have new flower buds…you get the idea.

We’ve been to the playground, wearing t-shirts!  So of course, I start scanning the kids’ closets for spring clothes.  And thinking of the clothes that need to get packed away. 

Because, you know, even though every year the winter storms come back with a fury and this little promise of spring disappears, THIS year, it will be different.

I just know it.

Anniversary

Today is my 11th wedding anniversary. 

And the birthday of my college friend’s daughter (who’s TWO!).

And the FIRST birthday of the fourth child of my dear friend, Beth (my daughter’s godmother). 

Did you get all that?

So, all in all, a pretty special day.

Messes

“I dood a BIG mess.”

When he spits out his pancakes because there was something lumpy in it. 

When he pees down his leg onto my lap, and I jump up in horror.

When he dumps all the trucks/cars/dolls/fill-in-th-blank bin onto the floor.

And, when he spills one little drop of milk from his cereal onto the tabletop.

“I want to clean up?”

“I want a paper towel, mama?”

Three Mice?

I have no idea where he heard this nursery rhyme first, but for the last couple of days, he’s been asking me to sing “Three Blind Mice.”  Then he sings it back to me:

“Three mind mice, three mind mice, run farmer wife, three mind mice”