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?