Tighty Whities

This child is all about the big girl underwear lately. Tonight at dinner she looked up and asked if she was wearing big girl underwear. I replied positively and said that we'd go to the toilet as soon as we were done with dinner. She looked very serious, thought for a second and said that we needed to go now!

*****I'll give you a moment for the thunderous applause that this deserves.*****

After we were finished in the bathroom and after the Mommy-flushing-Amiya's-pee-instead-of-Amiya-flushing-Amiya's-pee-tantrum subsided, we washed hands and made our way back to our dinner. I thought it would be a nice thing to get Amiya some ice cream while out on our errands tonight for becoming such a big girl.

So, off we went like a happy family to Circuit City and then through the Baskin-Robbins drive-thru. Amiya wanted strawberry ice cream and her eyes frogged out at the size of the scoop in her dish. She asked to see it over and over again on the way home.

We finally arrive home - it's really less than 2 miles from drive-thru to driveway, but with a toddler intent on ice cream, we may as well have been crossing the Pacific in a canoe. I take Amiya to the bathroom to pee and what do I find? That's right - peed underpants. She was more upset than we were - they were her Princess Jasmine underpants and she likes Princess Jasmine. (She's never seen the movie, it must be because of Grandpa and Grandma's dog.)

So we changed underpants, made another pee on the toilet and then tucked into some strawberry ice cream. She got about halfway through and then gave up - it was too much. But it was "gweat" and she's saving the rest for tomorrow.

Where I Spend All of My Time Lately...

Happily, it's not because I'm ill or needing the facilities, but rather because my gentle encouragement is needed to keep Amiya in her 'big gurl unerwear." She's been dry and streak-free for two days now - except during naps and the night. (And I'm not pushing that at all. I'd rather she be in diapers during sleep for the next six months than need to clean crappy sheets one more time.)

It's still mostly me taking her to the toilet, but twice today she looked at me and said, "Am I wearin' big gurl unerwear?" I'd affirm and then she'd say we need to run to the bathroom. And run we do because the time between the initial lightbulb and the actual greenlight of her little system is short indeed.

We've even gotten to the point where she knows that a toot usually means she has to poop. I can't believe how much I sound like my Mom lately: "Amiya, usually a toot means you need to make a poop. Let's go to the toilet." If Amiya were blonde I'd be scared that I were somehow flashing back to my own childhood!

Our reading selections for tonight's marathon #2 session included: A Chair For My Mother by Vera B. Williams (a really good book), Love You Forever by Robert Munsch (I think), and yet another Arthur book. I sit on the blue rug and read, Amiya sits on the toilet and, well, you know.

Guest readers in the coming weeks to include: Uncle Matt, Grandma and Grandpa.

The Fab Four (of the preschool set)

I am so happy quadruplets don't run in our family.

Today Amiya and I hosted three Mommies and their four children for a lunch at our house. That makes for nine people (Katie is only five months and really shouldn't count but she was feelin' the love and making a lot of noise so she counts!!!). That's not so nuts - but when 5 of the 9 are under the age of 2 - well.................. But it was a really good time.

The Mommies wanted to try some Indian food and we all know that I am only too happy to have a reason to cook and Vinay is only too happy to have a buffet of Indian dishes presented to him, so there we were. We had sookhe aloo (potatoes), gobi masala curry (cauliflower in coconut milk), chole (garbanzos) and pork vindaloo. It was all pretty good and Vinay has leftovers for the next four days of lunches.

The kids were great together. They're all slightly over or slightly under 2, so of course there are squabbles about who gets what toy and when, but that's to be expected. I think it causes more angst to us Mommies than to the little ones. From left to right on the couch: Amiya, Aubrey, Tyler and Gabe.

After most of the Mommies and little ones left, Aubrey stayed while her Mommy went to a funeral. Amiya and Aubrey had a good time yelling across the house to each other while they should have been napping, coloring our sidewalk, chasing bubbles, (finger)painting, eating glue and scarfing down donut holes. It was great to have Aubrey over as we can really see changes in the way Amiya plays with others - sharing is better and there is far more interaction than just parallel play. Amiya was very sad after Aubrey left, but her spirits were quickly bouyed by promises of chole and rice for dinner, followed by chocolate ice cream.

Princess Amiya and The Carrot Patch

(This is the story that calmed Amiya down the night of Uncle Mikey's wedding. She was keyed up from all the dancing and not at all wanting to go to sleep. It worked equally well to lull both Amiya and Vinay to dreamland. We're to the point now that Amiya pretty much tells us this story.)

Once upon a time, there was a kind, loving and courageous Princess named Princess Arugala.

No, Mommy! Princess Amiya!

Once upon a time, there was a kind, loving and courageous Princess named Princess Toenail.

No, Mommy! Princess Amiya!

Once upon a time, there was a kind, loving and courageous Princess named Princess FireKarlRove.

No, Mommy! Princess Amiya!

Once upon a time, there was a kind, loving and courageous Princess named Princess Amiya.

Yes, now tell the wabbit stowy.

Once upon a time, there was a kind, loving and courageous Princess named Princess Amiya. She lived in a beautiful cabin on top of a hill looking over a lovely lake and in the middle of a lush forest.

One day, Princess Amiya decided to go for a walk. She stepped out of her cabin and walked into the woods. She wandered through the woods and enjoyed the beautiful flowers, the tall, green trees and the wind rustling through the leaves. She walked and walked until she heard the sound of something crying.

"Baby rabbit, why are you crying?"

"Because my Mommy and Daddy aren't here and I'm lonely."

"Do you know where they might be?"

"I don't know Princess Amiya."

"Don't worry, Baby. I will go look for them."

And with that, Princess Amiya begins her search. She looks and she looks and she looks. She can't find them. And then, she remembers - rabbits love carrots! Maybe they're in the carrot patch digging up their lunch. So Princess Amiya heads to the carrot garden and there she finds Mommy and Daddy rabbit.

"Mommy and Daddy rabbit - did you know that Baby rabbit is crying?"

"Yes, Princess Amiya. But we had to come here to get our lunch and now that we're here we have a problem."

"What's wrong?"

"Well, we have to take at least three carrots back - one for Mommy rabbit, one for Daddy rabbit and one for Baby rabbit. But I can only carry one carrot in my mouth and Daddy rabbit can only carry one carrot in his mouth. That means we still have one carrot left to take home and no way to carry it. What should we do?"

Princess Amiya thinks and thinks because she's two years old and this is complicated math for a two year old. And then she has an idea: "How about I carry a carrot in my left hand? And a carrot in my right hand? Then you'll have enough carrots."

And so she does. And the Mommy rabbit and the Daddy rabbit hop along home to Baby rabbit with Princess Amiya right behind them. And all four munch on their carrots like good rabbits and princesses do.

Baking Brownies

It was a very dreary afternoon in Tampa - the weather has been unseasonably, but mercifully, cool these past few days. Maybe that's all set to change now that we've had a good rain. It seems like the humidity must be planning a comeback. Needless to say, we were indoors this afternoon. So, we made brownies. Homemade and from scratch. Amiya did all the 'coopin' (scooping) and helped with the mixing. Vinay couldn't understand why the kitchen is covered in a fine dusting of flour as I'm not usually quite that messy, but when Amiya explained that she, in fact, made the brownies, the lightbulb went on.

Anyway, they're good and I think we can now safely state that the need to have a glass of cold milk with a freshly baked, still warm from the oven brownie is not a product of the environment, but rather genetics. She downed two glasses of milk while eating one small brownie.

Foreign Exchange

I spent my junior year in France and then when I came back my family hosted a great girl from Japan named Shuku. Shuku and my family have kept in touch here and there and while Mikey was stationed in Japan, he was able to attend her wedding to a really nice guy: Yoshi. We were all very happy to know that Shuku and Yoshi would be attending Mikey's wedding with their 22 month old daughter: Akira.

Amiya and Akira had a good time playing next to each other and even together every now and then. They were able to communicate with each other in a way that was just slightly less sophisticated than how I communicated with Shuku when we first met. They used grunts, pulling and tantrums; Shuku and I used lots of hand gestures, simple words and laughter.

Amiya and Akira were double trouble when we went to the playground, the grocery store, the boat and the wedding. They are both adorable little girls who listen to their parents (most of the time, for Amiya anyway) and love their bread.



Amiya has learned a few Japanese words now: konichiwa (hello), ohayo (that's not spelled correctly - but it means good morning), banana (take a guess) and bah!!!!! (peek-a-boo). She also asks about her friend Akira all the time.

I told Shuku that maybe we'll have to do an exchange of our own when the girls are older. Being an exchange student greatly affected my life and Shuku says the same is true for her. Hopefully we'll be able to provide our daughters with equally important opportunities.

Baby Riley

On our way up to my parents house, we stopped in Wausau to see our friend Heidi. That's what we told her, at least. We really were stopping to see her six-month old son, Riley. He was absolutely awful: cranky, drooly, not-smiling at all. Can you even believe a Mom would have her son out when he was in such a state? Ha ha! I'm just saying that because I know Heidi's reading and she kept saying that her little one who was very alert, cuddly and just plain cute was being the worst he's ever been. Heidi thinks he's teething - who cares? He seemed pretty sweet to us!

And I swear his expression is not indicative of any funny business on my part.

Naps Gone Wrong

Amiya woke up about 8:30 this morning and then played hard at playgroup, so she rubbed her eyes and yawned through lunch. I put her in for her nap at 1:15. She played and sang and read books to Bear and Sonya until 4. (Let me tell you how nicely electronic, battery-driven children's music augments the plot of the movie I was watching.) Finally, at 4 the music ended and it didn't start up again. Around 5 I went to get her out as we'd like her to go to bed while it's still Wednesday. I walked in, did a little dance, made a little noise, etc. She didn't so much as move. At 5:30 I physically got her up, brought her into the kitchen where she informed me she wanted a cheese stick, pease. So, I set her on the kitchen rug where she normally has her afternoon snack, turned my back to break up her cheese stick and found her prostate and snoring. The irony.

It's now 7:12 PM and she is her normal, ebulient self. She's currently baking pretend chocolate chip cookies on a pillow in her bookshelf.

Any takers on when she'll go back to sleep?

Captain Amiya

I'll post pictures of our time in Minocqua as we get them - we didn't take more than two with our camera, so I've got to rely on others.

Here is one our friend Shuku sent of Amiya driving? steering? piloting? Grandma and Grandpa's boat. She absolutely adored doing the driving although she couldn't really see over the steering wheel and she definitely would have been pulled over for weaving in and out.

While on the lake we saw two adult loons with two babies, a family of seven ducks, another solo loon and a bald eagle. Amiya really liked the ducks - the loons and the eagles were a bit hard for her to see, I think.

But the boat was the true highlight of this adventure. She was very enchanted, despite the fact that she looked as if she had rigomortis in her life jacket.

Togetherness

Last night, I lay on the floor while Amiya "read" to me. She decided I looked cold and needed a blanket and a pillow. Off she went to fetch me some warmth. She returned with two books (Baby Beluga and Arthur's Birthday for those of you keeping score at home). One was for my head - my pillow - and the other became my blanket. Imaginative play is in full effect in our house.

Now, if you're reading this blog it's because you know me personally. If you know me personally you know that I'm not a tiny person. Even if I were a tiny person, you'd surely be able to guess that Arthur's Birthday isn't enough to cover me up. It covers about 1 square foot of anything - thus my feet, ankles and lower calves. But only if my feet are "todeller."

Todeller?

Yes, todeller.

I'd relax my legs when Amiya left my lower digits to begin her "reading" again and I'd be yelled at: "Mommy, todeller!" Rearranging of the book took place and then a satisfied Amiya went back to "read" some more to me. Until I relaxed again, my feet moved apart and I was drilled, "Mommy, todeller!"

Two things were happening at this point: Vinay and I were full-on laughing at the pint-sized General shouting commands at me and my upper back was cramping from the use of the eight- page picture book pillow I was given.

And this, my Friends, is how we spent our Tuesday evening: todeller!

Travels with Amiya

I think I may have mentioned before how the promise of a trip to see Grandma and Grandpa is the equivalent of many, many cups of coffee. Last Tuesday morning proved this to be an understatement.

Amiya was in rare form from the get-go. She chattered all the way to the airport, into the remote parking lot, on the bus, through the check-in, through the security checkpoint to get on the train to take us to the terminal, on the train, through the real security checkpoint, during the interminable wait at Starbucks to get her some milk, through bites of her blueberry muffin, around her straw while sipping her milk, while we wiped her hands, face and tummy of blueberry bits, while throwing the trash away, during the walk from the eating area to our gate, while on the above hard-foam airplane sculptures, back to the gate, waiting in line to board the plane, while walking down the ramp to the plane, while taking our seats (are you tired yet?), while buckling up, while arranging the various paraphernalia needed to keep a toddler happy on the plane, while reading her Clifford book, while being served water (we're so lacking in courage to get something that might stain or be sticky) and oatmeal cookie bars, while looking out the window, while preparing for landing, while retrieving our bags, while getting off the plane, while walking to baggage claim, while waiting for our bags, while standing in line at the rental car counter, while walking to the car, while setting up the car seat (really, aren't you just a bit weary at this point?), through the entire process of getting out of a poorly-designed parking structure, during busy traffic in the industrial part of Chicago, all the way to IKEA, while ignoring her grilled cheese and eating most of my meatballs, while checking out with nothing but toddler-colored plastic, while getting in the car and heading for Wisconsin, during each and every ridiculously-expensive Illinois toll, through every.single.city that one passes going north on 39/51 from Beloit to Minocqua......

I could keep going, but I'll spare you. Suffice it to say she loves her Grandparents and was *very* excited to be going to their house.

Tall Tales

Upon arriving in Minocqua, Wisconsin, one is greeted by a plywood cut-out of Paul Bunyan and his faithful blue ox, Babe. Amiya is in love with the "taw (tall) man and da blue cow Babe." We can, every once and again, get her to actually say his name, but most of the time he's just the tall man chillin' with his blue cow.

When Amiya found out that Paul Bunyan would let people into his house to eat, she was dead-set on going. This became almost as important as seeing Grandma and Grandpa. It's hard to explain certain things to a toddler: tourist trap, mediocre food, poor service. So, we dashed off to the parking lot, took a photo, told her Paul Bunyan had too many people at his house and ate at Ella's instead. One enormously-huge chocolate chip pancake in her belly and Amiya had completely forgotten about Paul and his cow. Such a fickle little thing.

Haitus

Friends,

It's time for a brief pause in the blog.

It's Uncle Mikey's wedding soon and we're off tomorrow for the wilds of Northern Wisconsin. We'd be gone already if Amiya had her way. It would seem that promising this child an airplane ride followed by time with Grandma and Grandpa is the equivalent of 84 cups of fully-loaded coffee.

I'll write if I can from 'Up North,' but word on the street is that Grandma doesn't share her computer well at all. She'd be kicked out of playgroup. I'll have to see if Amiya can teach her a thing or two.

Wish Amiya well - she's going to be the world's fastest flower girl. And Mommy, who will most definitely have to walk with her, will be the world's oldest.

Ta ta for now.

The Guptas

Public Service Announcement: Retinoblastoma

You may find me to be a freak and I often am. But this is not one of those freak moments. This isn't even me being an overprotective, anal-retentive Mommy. This is just me, looking out for my little one.

There is a type of cancer that strikes mainly in children ages 0-5. It is called retinoblastoma. It is scary, aggressive and can potentially be fatal. I wouldn't have known a thing about this cancer except that I saw a 20/20 or Dateline report on it awhile back. During this report, numerous photos were shown of little children. All of the pictures had one thing in common: bad photography - or so I thought. Each picture showed one red eye glaring back at the camera and the other eye, instead of being red, had a bright, white spot in it. This can be caused be crazy lighting, a cross-eyed moment, other childish silliness or retinoblastoma.

By now you know that we take lots of pictures of Amiya. She's grown tired of them and doesn't sit still for the pictures any longer - it's a challenge to get one of her. (Anyone remember Uncle Mikey when he was a kid? We know where she gets it!) I was taking pictures of her in her new Clifford dress on Friday and I got this picture:

It's hard to tell on the blog, but after we looked carefully at the picture and saw that her right eye definitely reflects back white and not red like the left, we called the doctor. He saw us today and was very glad we came in. Amiya's eyes are fine ("beautiful" was his word) and I told the doctor that I felt a bit embarassed to be such a worrier. He, however, was very serious about it and said that anytime a picture comes back this way, parents should be to the doctor as soon as possible. He made me feel about a million times better - both for my daughter and myself.

So, please tell everyone you know who interacts with young children that red-eye photographs are not only not always a bad thing, but they can be potentially life-saving. You can read about Joey's story (the boy featured on the news program) to learn more.

Now, with my stress level being pretty high after a weekend of worry, let us all say a small thanks that Dairy Queen doesn't deliver.

Mommies and Babies

Everything lately is either a Mommy or a baby. Everything! I snuck a blueberry from her bowl full of blueberries Friday morning and I got yelled at because I took the baby blueberry and the Mommy blueberry was sad.

She's into being the Mommy lately, too. She has never been so interested in her stuffed animals before - the ones she's had since she was born were still in pristine condition until just this week. Now she takes them out and lines them up and sings to them, reads them stories, feeds them and disciplines them. "You 'ave to go time-out Bear - you no listen!" I have no idea where she got that. Must be from Clifford.

She's got one stuffed animal that's her new favorite. It's a little tiny rabbit that she refuses to admit is a rabbit despite it's big floppy ears. She insists that it's a bear and she calls it Little One. She sings to it, pats it, hugs it, loves it, all while calling it Little One. She talks to it only in her quietest, gentlest voice and it's absolutely lovely.

Last night, as I walked out of her door after putting her to bed, she called out, "G'night baby girl!" I turned and said, "You're the baby girl. Good night baby girl!" She replied, "You are the baby girl! G'night baby girl!" Ok, whatever floats your boat.

And now, as Vinay sits and pretends to listen to her version of the Caillou book she's reading to him, she's telling him, "Come on boy! You can do it!" We're not sure what he's supposed to be doing, but it's apparently very important and he's capable. What a confidence-booster this little one is!

In the Faery Garden

At the garden today, Amiya was not all that interested in the plants until we came upon the Faery Garden. It might have been the giant footstep walking stones. It might have been the flowers that were no taller than knee-high for her. It might have been the frog musician statues - we're not really sure. But, she was happy and even serene. She could have stayed much longer, I think, but it was a small little garden and others wanted to walk through.

The Butterfly Garden

You may remember my moaning about Amiya's apparent watermelon disdain. Not so anymore. Now she loves watermelon - as a tool to see "buerfies" up close and personal.

We visited a butterfly garden today at the University of South Florida Botanical Gardens. Amiya was a little freaked out, but also quite excited. She kept reaching for more and more watermelon thinking the butterflies would magically appear. Unfortunately, I don't think this will translate to her actually eating watermelon, but it's important to dream, right? In the meantime, if you see a vertically-challenged little one racing down the sidewalk with a chunk of watermelon, you'll know what it's all about.

Beep beep. Beep beep. Yeah!

 

This is Amiya and her good buddy, Gabe. We had big plans to make a morning of it at Busch Gardens, but Tropical Storm Arlene thought we should stay indoors. So we headed out to the mall with two toddlers and two Mommies. A good time was had by all with Gabe and Amiya playing in the red stroller-type car and on the indoor playground. If you've been to the playground with Amiya, you know she doesn't share those pretend cars well. But she was sharing with Gabe - either she really likes this little guy or she's sick of Mommy admonishing her to share all the time!

After a rigorous half an hour or so of running around, we stopped for nourishment at the cookie kiosk. Amiya noshed on a sugar cookie and Gabe regaled himself with the ever popular M&M. Doesn't he look just a bit sad in the picture? That's because Amiya got her cookie first and he seemed just a wee bit worried that he wasn't going to get one. But, no worries! His Mommy came through with the goods.

Both of these kids are pretty verbal - it was very fun to hear them banter back and forth. At one point, Gabe's Mommy said, "Gabriel!" and then Amiya parroted "Gabwiel" for several minutes. They both did their fair share of telling each other to be patient and calling each other "silly." Good times at the mall today - and all for less than $5. Gotta love that!

Yet again: Clifford, The Big Red Dog

 

Look out, Uncle Matt. It's yet another "dancin' dwess" and it's pretty popular around here lately. Anything Clifford is, really. So that's a plea to all of you - if you ever see anything Clifford (children's plate sets, clothing, puzzles, etc.), please let me know where. We've got enough books and videos, but the other sorts of things are in short supply in Tampa, it would seem. There is a traveling exhibition that features nothing but Clifford, unfortunately it's not coming anywhere near us.

Anyway, back to the dress. I screwed this dress up when I was making it. She's such a little thing that I couldn't get the size right. So to camouflage my error, I added the sash which she adores. Is it at the point that the we start to hate bows on our butts that girls become women?

I *am* loved.

Last night, I went to see The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants with some other Moms from the Moms Club. Amiya wasn't very happy. Vinay reports that she yelled and cried and asked for me for a full two minutes after I left.

That's kind of cute and even a little bit sweet, but not so much at 3:34 in the morning. That's how Vinay and I were woken. "Mommy where are you?" (You have to put the emphasis on the "are" in that sentence because that's how she asks it.) "Mommy where are you?" over and over and over again. Usually we'd let her just go back to sleep, but Vinay thought this might be a manifestation of her worries when I left for the movie, so he suggested I go tell her I'm here.

Upon arriving in her room, the cries ceased and she was all hugs. Much to my surprise, I discovered her little tiny peanut body was nearly nude. It seems we have a bit of a toddler nudist on our hands. Pajama top - off! Pajama bottoms - off! Thankfully, the diaper was still on so my Friday won't be filled with laundry. While in her room, I changed her diaper and tried to dress her in her pjs, but she was having none of it. "No Mommy. I no wanna wear 'jamas." So she went to bed in her diaper and her top. I hope she doesn't freeze.

Meanwhile, Mommy couldn't fall back asleep and instead laid in bed contemplating how nice life is when I've got a husband who cuddles and a daughter who misses me so much that she calls out for me in the night. And yet, this morning, despite my nice thoughts, I'm exhausted and Amiya is sleeping in. The irony!