Happy Birthday Vinay!

It's the month of August and that means it's Vinay's birthday month!

Can I get a whoop whoop?

Normally Vinay shuns all birthday festivities, but we each only turn 40 once and I think it deserves to be celebrated! So, it would seem, does the Rochester Gupta clan as they came to Tampa today for a few days of visiting! We're having a great time, especially the wee-est Guptas who love having a new audience.

And to begin our little stroll down memory lane, I bring you this photo, courtesy of Vinay's niece Rohini who sends it from India. It's the earliest photo that I've ever seen of Vinay and I love it. I'd also love to see him try to sit like this for any length of time again, but I guess loss of flexibility is to be expected when you're as old as he is.

Me Miss Bumpa

"Me miss Bumpa, Ommy. Me miss Bumpa."

That's what I heard the entire length of the drive from USF to our home today. It's not like I was driving from say, Key West to Seattle, but still! It was long enough that I think know that Kev misses Grampa and Grandma (Bumpa in Kevanese).

Amiya and I were trying to see if we could get him distracted and talk him into missing someone else. So, we tried all his old favorites - Mister Cecil, Mister Babu, Brody, Madison, Gabe. He ignored us, repeating his mantra over and over again, "Me miss Bumpa." Until, finally, he got so tocked at us refusing to acknowledge his feelings for the umpteen-millionth time that he hollered at us, "Me miss Bumpa, Ommy!!! Olly Bumpa!" (I miss Grandpa and Grandma!!! Only Grandpa and Grandma!") And he was tocked. And then Amiya and I laughed, wrongly perhaps, but it's hard to take him seriously with his little voice and his little frustration coming out of his little mouth. So cute!

Best Moment of the Day

Yesterday, Amiya came and curled up on my lap while I was doing some housework. She needed me to put her necklace on her so she could continue with her dress-up plans. I told her that I'd have to steal a kiss since she was already on my lap. Instead she gave me a kiss and a big, big cuddle. So sweet. I told her I'd always take her cuddles because someday when she's 13 and a teenage girl she won't want to give Mommy cuddles anymore.

She started crying. Melt my heart. "I don't want to grow up, Mommy, because I want to always want to give you cuddles."

And today, Kev woke up in his room around 6:40 and Vinay went to go get him while I snoozed in bed unaware of all of this. But Kev didn't want Daddy, he wanted Mommy. So he shooed Vinay out of the room, closed his door and went back to rest. Around 7:00 he got tired of waiting for Mommy, so he let himself out of his room and padded into our room. (This is unheard of, he never gets up without someone carrying him out of his room.) He climbed onto our bed, right on over Mommy and woke me up with kisses and "Hi Mommy!" over and over again.

Does it get any better?

So Vinay's going to be mad at me...

...but I'll take it because it's too cute to not put up. For the record, I did NOT put this on him of my own volition, it was at Kev's request. And once it was on, it seemed to be a bit magical and he wouldn't take it off. There were twirls and stomps and dancing all around to make this fabulous, completely synthetic hula skirt flit all about. And, he was proud, beaming, and fabulous.

Yes, Swimming Again

I know, more swimming pictures, but it's really just about all that we do these days. If you look really, really closely you'll see Amiya about to dive into the pool. They're working on dives lately. It took some convincing to get Amiya there - she's a stickler for the rules (except the one about candy before lunch) and didn't want to break the NO DIVING rule tiled every four feet around the perimeter of every single pool she's ever been in.

Here she is with Coach Kelly, getting some suggestions on form. Amiya even got homework last night - practice flutter kicks and the arm movements of the breast stroke while lying on the floor. We totally forgot to do it. Crap. This doesn't bode well for kindergarten!

And here she is, freestyling (formerly known as the crawl) back to the side. She's sporting a swim cap because her long locks are being ruined from the pool despite our best intentions with conditioners, treatments, etc. She has big plans to be Gabriella for Halloween and then shortly thereafter Mommy has big plans to take her to the salon for a cut!

And finally, Gabe and Amiya, together at the end of swimming, age 5:

And Gabe and Amiya after swimming, three years ago, age 2:

Yo, Yoplait

UPDATE: It's high fructose corn syrup. That's what I objected to in this yogurt. Why, please tell me, is there hfcs in yogurt? That's just wrong. Wrong.

So we've kind of been on a yogurt kick around here lately because the kids like it, it's always ready and it's healthy. That being said, it's been the subject of some debate lately. Mommy wanted the Yoplait original kind because it was on sale and I had a coupon (is that an Amen I heard Jacki?). Amiya swore up and down and left and right that she had had Yoplait before and that she hated it. (She had, in fact, had Yoplait before but it was Strawberry Banana and nobody likes Strawberry Banana in our family and it was tepid from the airport food stand. I digress.) So, while she was technically correct, I was willing to use the parental powers of omission and/or selective remembering to persuade her to give the ol' Yoplait another try. She did and it was love at first tentative spoonful. Now she's begging for it, even over the yogurt that some marketing genius (ahem) paired up with mini M&Ms.

And therein lies the clincher. Who knew plain ol' Yoplait was so chock full of crap? I can't recall exactly what it was in there that pretty much ruined it for us, but it seems to me that yogurt should have 3-4 things, tops. Cultured milk, fruit, sugar (if necessary). Throw in some live culture to keep things interesting and we'll be set. I don't want the kids eating aspartame (the most likely offender) or other sweeteners. I'd rather they not have fourteen kinds of gums and thickeners in their morning yogurt, but I'm really not that picky. As long as I know it isn't full of aspartame, Splenda or fake colors, it's a go by me. Take a peak, next time you're in the yogurt area of the grocery store, there aren't all that many yogurts out there that fit the bill. It's not only Yoplait that's got me all up in a lather, it's most of them! 95% of the yogurts on the shelf have something man-made in them and the 5% that don't are not that easy to spot (or pay for!).

So, to the yogurt makers of the world - could you please, please kick Diego off of your chock-full-of-sugar crap yogurt and plaster his face on the all-natural, all-pronouncable-ingredients Stonyfield Farms brand? It'd make grocery shopping a whole lot easier for the Gupta family.

That's all I'm saying.

Good Morning!

This is a week or so old, but so cute and a good indication of what the kids are up to on any giving morning. It seems that the morning can't start without breakfast and then a healthy dose of Caillou and cuddles between siblings. But fear not, shortly after the final words are uttered on Caillou choas and mayhem ensue and our day goes as anticipated.

Ah, Parenthood

Picture 1: Stubbornness

Picture 2: Goofiness

Both skills highly prized in the parenting arsenal, both skills highly in demand these days.

Shiner

We were having a peaceful Sunday morning last weekend - reading the paper, cuddling, clipping coupons, making animal noises, etc. It was all good. Until Kev tripped over his blanket and caught his cheek on the corner of the coffee table. See that red spot? That's the point of contact. See how the bruising is advancing up and over his eye? That's how hard he hit. And this shows about 50% of the bruising, there was still more deep purple to come. Imagine popping open a brand new jar of pickles. That's about how loud it was.

After sleeping on it, we took him to the doctor just to have it checked because the bruising spread so very far from the contact point. The doctor said it was fine and the bruising was mostly from lying down.

So, 8 days out, it's almost all back to normal, although he'll have a skin discoloration at the contact point until he loses his summer tan.

What number shiner are we on with this kid? Unreal.

It's a Zoo Here

So, Michael's craft store carries a wide variety of plastic animals that range in price from $2.99 - $6.99. We have almost all of them, it seems. We're forever stepping over humpback whales to get to the laundry room and the frogs seem to be guarding the line where the tile meets the wood in our foyer. Whatever. The animals provide endless hours of amusement for Kev, we can deal with the nuances of living like the Dolittles.

Until the hippo joined our happy herd.

Last week, we got a hippo. It was love at first sight for Kev. The hippo had to be his. And now, Hippo will not leave his side. Witness:

Feeding Hippo in a lake provided by the vacuum cord.*

Feeding Hippo and others later the same day.

Hippo dining with the tykes at lunch the next day.

Hippo at breakfast the next morning.

Hippo at dinner that night.

Hippo and others eating (again) that night.

Hippo impatiently waiting for breakfast the next morning.

Hippo being forced from the pond by the "Mommy Elephant".

And, as if that weren't enough:

• Mommy had to cuddle both Kev and Hippo through the Space Chimp movie we saw last week.
• Kev is currently distraught as he thinks Daddy threw Hippo away for not listening (Kev, not Hippo).
• Hippo has had several baths, due to getting sticky at breakfast but also because its' guardian (Kev) has decided it is messy.

So yeah, once again, two is a good number for us. Because really, if we had another and it had a special attachment to a toy, I'd be screwed when wanting to leave the house. Between Amiya and Kelly and now Kev and Hippo, my hands are full and the brain is fully engaged. No more wrinkles available for other paraphernalia.

*Thank you for not commenting on my crappy parenting for letting the kids make a lake with a power cord. Mind you, it wasn't plugged in, but the Christy of 4 years ago would *never* have allowed a child to play anywhere near it.

Oh, My Poor Mother

She hasn't had a blog update in foreeeeeeeeeever. I feel her pain, though, I really do. It must be terrible being up in Alaska with wildflowers, mountains, moose and grizzlies. I'll stop now before I break down in tears. Love you Mom!

The #1 reason for my reticence to blog lately? Lack of pictures. We received a very cute handknit sweater vest in the mail about 10 days ago. Elephants galore. I put it on Kev, he was having none of it and hit the camera out of my hand. No more camera for us. So, we bought a new one, but I didn't know how to get the pictures off of it until now. So, we're back (but still with no picture of Kev in elephant vest. This is a $250 camera and I'm not pushing my luck until Vinay is here to hold his arms out of camera range.).

Anyway, it's still summer, it's still ungodly hot and we're still in the pool e.v.e.r.y. s.i.n.g.l.e. day. Amiya is (maybe) finished with swimming lessons for the summer and she is very proud of the fact that she swam a full lap of the pool. Yes, a full lap. She was very excited and I was crying - so proud! When we started swimming lessons four weeks ago, she could have swum ten yards, but she didn't believe that she could. She needed someone else to coach her and get her confidence up to speed. Now she can swim far more than ten yards and in freestyle, butterfly or backstroke. Love it!

So I say we're sort of maybe done with swimming because we've been going Monday - Thursday for four weeks at 10 AM. That's messing with the kids eating, Kev's sleeping and just life in general. If we can work out another time for lessons with the coach (who is nothing short of really fantastic), we'll sign up for more to keep the skills fresh in her mind. If we can't, I'll be sad that she's stuck with me to reinforce the skills, but happy to resume a bit of normalcy in our day to day.


Our second bit of summer excitement is that Amiya is taking gymnastics. It's once a week for an hour, but our little Mary Lou loves it. She's too short to reach a lot of the equipment, so she needs some help. But she's making the most of jumping into the big pit of foam blocks and she spends most of her afternoon trying to figure out how to do the splits. She gets her flexibility from Vinay's genes, poor kid.

And then there's Kev. He's just a bundle of everything right now. Alternately cranky and giddy, but always cuddly. He's always cuddling. Can I say that again? He's always cuddling. And I won't complain, even when it's cranky cuddles. I've said before, the day he gets facial hair is going to kill me. I want him to be two forever.

He is talking up a storm lately and will repeat what he is saying over and over and over and over again until we repeat it (verbatim) back to him. That's all well and good when we pass the ducks in the pond by our house and he yells, "Duss Ommy!" as he does e.v.e.r.y. s.i.n.g.l.e. time when we pass the ducks. But when he yells, "Me wa pay boohus Ommy!" while strolling the aisles of Michael's that I am completely at a loss. Thus leads us to the reason that I love and appreciate Amiya more than ever. It seems her brain wrinkle that deals with baby babble is still easily accessible because she acts as translator often. "Mom! He wants to paint a birdhouse. How can you not get that?" Ok, right, thanks Amiya.

Both kids enjoyed a Fourth of July parade in the sweltering Florida summer. Amiya, once again, yelled "Happy Fourth of July!" to everyone who passed, hoping to get beads. Mark my words - this child will not go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Kev was just sort of baffled by it all, until the horses showed up. Then it was a very cool event indeed and we had his approval to stay a bit longer. The Patriotic bug has hit Amiya - her nighttime lullabies consist of America the Beautiful and The Star Spangled Banner.


Last year we were surprised to see confederate flags being passed out. This year, less surprised, but still taken aback. This year's group was dressed in Antebellum costumes and so, I suppose, I can accept the premise that it was a historical thing. But I still wouldn't let Amiya take a flag. Luckily, the lure of beads from the next float distracted her but the explanation is coming. I want to keep her this age and completely ignorant of all these ugly parts of humanity forever. Anyone want to move to the moon with me?

And finally, in perhaps what is the most schocking development of my adult life, I have intentionally eaten fish twice in three days. Pick yourself up off the floor Mom! We found a recipe for a blackened spice rub and have been eating a lot of seared tilapia. Mmmmmmmm. I even want it again tomorrow. Can you imagine? Me? Fish? And not beer battered? That's right, super healthy, super yummy tilapia. Who'd thunk it?