Who does Amiya love today?

Today's feather on our Thanksgiving bird is Grandma. There was no hesitation, no deliberation. A clear and quick "Graaaama!"

How cute is she?

Meet Carli, an avid reader (that's stretching the truth just a bit) of this blog. Her Mommy said I could put her pic up here because she's just too cute for words and because little Carli will get to see herself where she normally only sees her long distance friend Amiya!

How we look today

This post is for Vinay - so he can see what he's missing! (Ha ha ha ha ha.)

How come Amiya gets a short sleep and wakes up bouncy? Mommy gets a short sleep and wakes up pale? And, I'll have you know, neither the scarf or the hat that I'm wearing were by choice. We were going on a 'rip (trip) and apparantly I needed protection from the 'now.

Halloween Cancelled, Bring on Thanksgiving

You're probably looking for an Amiya as Clifford while Trick-or-Treating picture. Not going to happen. Someone started coming down with a cold Saturday, woke up to full-blown snottiness, crackling cough and lethargy on Sunday. Monday started a bit better after a night with the miracle product Gentle Vapors. She even woke up to tell me that she was feeling a bit better.

Not so. Not (bad word) so.

Fast forward to Monday afternoon when no nap was taken, despite constant yawning and circles like peppermint patties under her eyes. Let's skip right over the 45 minute tantrum where Mommy had to physically restrain Amiya from bashing her head on the tile floor or the changing table. Moving on to dinner where Amiya barely picked at her roast chicken (homemade like a good Mommy does when her child is sick) and potatoes, usually her favorite meal.

Let's move right to 6:30 when the first costumed cherub came to the door. Mini-meltdown and complaining of ear pain. Mommy swabs outer ear to find pints of pus and not the fake, costume kind. This is the real deal, another (bad word) ear infection. One dose of Nighttime Triaminic for the cold symptoms, one dose of Tylenol for the ear pain (after checking with the doctor to make sure doubling up was ok), one reading of Cinderella and one cuddle. Off to bed she went and was sound asleep by 6:45. She slept well until 4:00 this morning when the fun and games began again. I'm not nuts about the fact that she was wide awake and ready to go, but at least she was in a good mood. As I tried to sleep and she sang to Bear next to me, I got many kisses and "Shhhhhh. Mommy. Have 'weet dreams." in my ear.

Off to the doctor for yet another round of antibiotics.

The good news is that we're now on to my favorite holiday all year - Thanksgiving. I love it and not even because of the food. It's always been a good holiday in my family (and that's with pretty abysmal hotel food) and I've loved that it isn't about presents or fireworks or anything of the kind. It's just a day for being thankful for the charmed life I've had. And so, to get Amiya in the spirit we've been reading Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks. I think she gets that there are some things in these kids' lives that are nice and we've started to talk about what's good in her life.

We're also going to make our own Thanksgiving turkey. Witness the naked bird stuck on our refrigerator:

Everyday we'll add one feather to the turkey with the name of someone or something that Amiya loves. It might be a bit tough to get her to verbalize being thankful for, so we'll stick with loves. For Day 1, she has chosen a yellow feather and wanted to let everyone know that she loves Daddy. Guess who she's missing?

It's the Most Wonderful Time

This post has got nothing, absolutely nothing to do with Amiya. So if that's what you're reading for, read no further. This post is all about nature's most delicious, sassy fruit: the cranberry. I love the cranberry, so much so in fact that my internet name for many places is CranberryClo. If I must drink juice, it's cranberry juice. If I must (ha! because I've never been forced to eat a carb) eat quick breads for breakfast my bread of choice is cranberry bread. If I must eat dried fruit then bring on the cranberries. Just about the only thing cranberry I'm not a fan of is that nasty gelatinous cranberry sauce that slides out of the can for easy slicing. That wouldn't be fair to an ordinary banana, nor to an everyday apple. Why, oh why, have they demoted the cranberry to that fake, jiggly state?

Now is the time for cranberries. I can happily attest to this fact as they are readily found, even in Florida where cranberry bogs are as foreign to Floridians as lanais are to Wisconsinites. We must make hay while the sun shines as cranberries are not in season year round, unlike the cottony, flavorless strawberries in the stores or the seemingly year-round supply of apples and oranges that really spend their non-peak time in carefully controlled warehouses where the juicy life is leeched right out of them.

In light of this urgent need to consume this delicious morsel as joyously as possible, I submit to you the following recipes:

Oatmeal Pancakes - a great pancake base, we add orange zest, pecan pieces and dried cranberries and we use the real deal - old-fashioned oats.

Sparkling Holiday Jam - read the reviews to see how we changed it up. So, so good - so good, in fact, that I made two batches because I know it won't last! Fantastic as a mix-in to plain yogurt. Just enough cranberries, just enough sweet. (In the Bonne Maman jar - love that red, red color!)

Cranberry Jam - Matt passed this recipe to me and it's like homemade cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving - tart, tangy and delish! Let's not even talk about cranberry jam on top of pancakes. And I'm contemplating this as a filling for a butter cake - what a tasty, beautiful holiday dessert. (In the smaller jar.)

Cranberry Bread - perfect as is, but do not blend until well mixed. You should still see powder!

There will be more, dear Friends, there will be more. Somewhere out there is a recipe for turkey tacos with cranberries and sweet potato fries and a killer scone recipe. I'll get those up just as soon as I can. In the meantime, go out, get a bag and see what you can do. Cranberries are little bits of naughtiness and sweetness all in one bite. They're meant to be used and abused. And when you're done with all that, report back. This cranberry lover can never get enough!

Waveland Mississippi, Day Two

Hello everyone and Happy Halloween. Today Dennis and Tom cut up pines and maple for a volunteer of the Children's Shelter. They found a truck under the trees when they finally got to the bottom of the one pile. They finished with a pile about 10 X 40 X 10 feet deep. Terry and I worked on sorting toys in a pole building. We separated new from used and broke them down into boy, girl, baby,etc. New will be stored away so there will be things to give at Christmas. Used are given away now. Please spread the word to your schools, churches, etc. to not collect and send stuffed animals. They tend to hold moisture and molds as well as head lice and other critters so most of them that arrive will need to be disposed of. (Christy butts in: most local fire departments accept new and really gently used stuffed animals for children who have survived fires.) When you donate items to shelters and other disaster relief efforts please make sure they are washed and sorted. There are no places to clean up dirty donations. The warehouses have blown away. There is no water in most areas yet. There is no garbage collection. There are no city workers and the cities are bankrupt so they couldn't pay them anyway. You can not imagine the scope of this. Every police car in this area was destroyed. Officers escaped the storm by busting through the roof of the department and hanging in trees for hours while the storm raged around them. Unemployment before Katrina was 3% now it is at 47%. Nothing is open....the WalMart was blown down, the KMart will not be reopening. The closest grocery store open is half an hour away. Most people do not have electric yet. We are lucky in that we do have power to plug the trailer in but we almost feel guilty about it. We drove around two cities this morning comparable to Woodruff Minocqua and they are nothing but piles of debris. We saw houses that were blown up on to giant trees. We saw boats, big boats, on house roofs. We saw a semi trailer that had been lifted by the water surges onto a building. A two story home on the beach with the entire first floor gone.

We celebrated Halloween and had pizza at the home of the director of this abused children's shelter. His daughter and her family lost their home. The insurance companies are not treating these people well despite what they are saying on the news reports(sorry Al). Insurance companies are paying only for damage above the high water mark which in many cases was over the roofs. This mans daughter got $12,000. from her insurance. The banks are giving you 90 days grace on your mortgage payments added to the other end. We sat out in his driveway and handed out candy to trick or treaters. Young and old, parents and kids were in costume and in good spirits. We are all amazed at the positive attitude of the people we are helping that have lost so much.

Hurricane Katrina, Revisited

If you've never met my parents, Tom and Christine, they're pretty cool folks. (I have to put the qualifier pretty in there because, after all, they are my parents and to just say cool would be a bit much, eh?) They have gone on a two-week "trip" with neighbors Dennis and Terry. The trip isn't a trip of good times and fun only, but since these four are retired from their full-time jobs, it's a trip to use their skills and help the people whose lives and homes have been forever changed by Hurricane Katrina. I've asked if they mind if I post their experiences here and they said it's fine, but judiciously as they aren't looking for accolades or publicity. But, after what they wrote after setting up their camper, I think it's important to share it. Because of the Scotter Libby fiasco, Harriet Miers' resignation, the World Series, Hurricane Wilma, the horrendous earthquake in India, Saddam's trial, bombings in Delhi, etc., focus is slowly shifting away from these people who needed our attention six weeks ago and who will need it still six years from now. Maybe sharing it here will inspire some among us to write a check or find a displaced family settled in our area that we can help out.

It is with a very heavy but happy heart that we send this message out to you. We arrived here on the Gulf Coast just over the Mississippi/Louisiana border about dinner time and shortly before dark. In your wildest dreams you can not imagine what isn't here any more. We only had a little time to see things tonight and there was no way to handle the shock of it. We are including one picture and will send more tomorrow night. This picture shows the northern edge of this area. The southern end looks like what a Marine we met said looks umpteen times worse than the results of the 500 pound bombs they dropped in the first Irac war. We will be working at an abused children's shelter and other places around. It is almost overwhelming as to where to start. We (the four of us agree) that we are going to work as hard as we can for the two weeks we are here and we are going to keep telling you about what we see because the news media is on to other stories and this story will not have an ending for years.

This building was devastated by a 20 foot tidal surge. It left a chair tangled in the overhead power lines. Most of this area still does not have power. Most of the people who live here have lost everything. The four of us are looking around and feeling guilty for having all that we have. All of you can not be here, but you can work within your home communities and make a difference and please don't stop doing things for this area of the country. We can make a difference if we all do a little.

Dennis, Terry,Tom and Christine
30/October/2005

Shoe Shopping

Mommy has quite literally worn out the two pairs of shoes she wears all the time. They were cheap-o Target flipflops that I loved to death. But, as with all good things, the end has come. So Friday saw us out and about doing errands and Mommy bought not one, not two, but three pairs of shoes! As with most of my shoes they weren't terribly or even moderately expensive, but they are cute, quick and off and on easily.

Amiya was feeling decidedly left out. She hasn't ever been shopping where someone got shoes and it wasn't her. So.... while we were at the Dollar Store buying toothpicks and pastry brushes for the cake class, we happened across an even cheaper than Mommy's pair of shoes with (and this is really important) a matching bracelet. Amiya had to have them. Nevermind they won't fit for at least two more years, never mind they have heels, nevermind the fake daisies are peeling off. Much like her Grandma's shoe-love - she browsed, she saw, she (meaning I) purchased.

It's now day two with the shoes and love's strong flame has already started to flicker. The flat feet of a toddler are not comfortable in heels. The plastic safety latch that connects the two ends of the bracelet has already been sacrificed to the dark cavernous spaces of her car seat. And yet, I feel as if we've shared a sacred right of girl/womanhood. We've shoe shopped.

Sound the alarm!

We have experienced a major medical trauma in the last twenty-four hours. George Clooney and Noah Wylie have been called in for their expert medical consultation and both of these strong men have been beside themself with angst and desparation. We have bought out Sam's Club's supply of antibacterial salve. We have used no less than a million bandages. We have come this close (**) to amputation.

Witness the horror:

What? You say you can't see it? I don't believe you. Amiya's only two and she can see nothing but. Look again:

Surely you must be able to see it now. It's not the helpfully placed arrow but the gravity of the wound that draws the eye. Doesn't it look gangrenous to you? Don't you think it needs stitches? Steri-strips? At least a good soaking in an iodine solution?

You would think that Amiya expects a Medal of Valor for this. We hear talk of nothing (absolutely nothing) except for this owie on her hand. We try to feign surprise when she announces that the owie is still there five minutes after we last kissed it and told her it will go away in a few days.

And the moral of the story - don't play with mulch! We tell her this every.single.time we go to the playground and yet she still does. You'd think she'd learn.

Happy Halloween!

Today was the first of four (yes four) Halloween events for this little one! Imagine the happiness, the mayhem, the stickiness. I'd really like to suggest that we move Thanksgiving closer to Halloween because the tryptofan in the turkey is needed after the sugar highs of a toddler with a trick or treat bag. Luckily, Amiya scored mostly granola bars and she doesn't have the enthusiasm for those that she does for the newly discovered Nestle Crunch. I've got several pictures of the little Clifford in her costume, but we'll have to wait a bit on those as they've all got other kids in them and I don't like to put up pics without the Moms' permission first.


I will, however, share this picture of our Sunday morning. This is not a toddler in the throes of a tantrum nor a paper maché project on our living room floor. This is Amiya clipping coupons for the families. We're still talking about the families who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. She clips coupons for them every Sunday which means she tears up the Target ad. And, rather coincidentally, she always remarks on how the family must not have something she really wants. While waiting in line at Kinko's the other day, she spotted a package of very bright highlighters. When I told her that we had markers at home she very resolutely told me that they weren't for her but rather for the families who don't have markers because of the storm. (And if you look closely enough, you can see Baby Katie doing naked push-ups behind Amiya. I'm not sure if Amiya had her training for something or if it was a punishment but sometimes we don't ask questions.)

And finally, not really about Amiya, but I'm
pretty proud: the cake I had to make for our final week of class. I went into tonight thinking I was going to hate the basketweave thing, but I actually like it a lot when it's brown. The cake took forever but I'm pleased. And mostly I'm happy to have learned some of the techniques as I feel pretty confident that I could now make a really cool Clifford birthday cake should the need arise!

Daddy Daughter Day

Saturday is a good day in the Gupta household. Amiya's too young to be involved in sports and activities that require running about and so we've got the day to do with as we want.

Today started by trying out the new electric griddle that we bought. We really purchased it to make dosas without all the oil, but as this non-Indian can't handle many Indian scents in the morning, we made pancakes instead. And here's a little commercial plug - if you happen to live near a Target that sells Archer Farms brand (the Target brand) go out and get a can of their Maple/Pecan pancake mix NOW. It's that good. I'm not a big fan of homemade pancakes generally, I rather like the McDonald's pancake taste. These are a happy compromise plus what's not to love about pecans in butter and syrup? But I digress. Amiya devoured her pancake and didn't even realize that it was supposed to be donut day.

After this, Amiya and Daddy headed out to see Dumphrey the Dragon (or Dragon the Dumphrey, as Amiya calls him) at Busch Gardens. Mommy got some time to herself to rest and try and sleep off some more of this awful cold/throat thing Daddy passed to her. While at Busch Gardens she not only saw Dumphrey and gave him a hug and a kiss, but she rode on some rides with Daddy and saw a bird show, too.

Upon coming home, it was nap time and Amiya was having none of that. While Daddy tried to rest, Amiya serenaded him over the baby monitor with the tunes from the Dumphrey show of the morning. How he slept I'll never know - her vocal warblings were too much for me.

Having a much, much faster internet connection means a whole world of games has opened up for Amiya. Weekends regularly see Amiya sitting on Daddy's lap playing the games at Sesame Street, PBS Kids or Fisher Price. She also begs to type messges to Daddy on the kewpewter.

And in the sweetest news of the weekend, Amiya and Daddy got ready together Saturday morning while Mommy recuperated on the couch. After Daddy finished shaving, Amiya pressed her cheek to his and remarked on what a good job he had done making special note of how nice his "cheeksuff" (cheek stuff = aftershave) smelled. I can only relay the details secondhand as I wasn't conscious for this exchange, but suffice it to say that there was one charmed Daddy afterwards.

Completely confused

Willard Scott has nothin' to fear! We've been talking weather here for a few months now - we've got the basics (sunny, cloudy, rainy) down pat. That's really all we need in Florida. Somehow though, the kid thinks we're going to get snow and soon. She obviously hasn't been listening to the Wilma news. I left her wearing only her t-shirt dress and underwear in her big girl room for quiet time today and came back to find her dressed in her striped tights and two scarves. She tells me she's gettting "ready for the now, Mommy!"

Little Obie

In what will surely come as no surprise to any of you, little Obie had no desire to participate in today's peep show. He/She laid on his/her side the whole time thus giving us fantastic frontal views, but no profile shots without a lot (and I really can't stress that enough), a lot of poking on Mommy's tummy and uterus by the ultrasound tech. But can you blame the kid? He/She just found out about toes and spent the entire time exploring them. We saw constant movement of hands reaching for toes or one hand reaching for the other.

Obie's heart, brain, legs, hands, arms, etc. all look good. Everything is measuring right on target for a due date in early March. The tech was surprised to know that I had been feeling kicks already and that is reassuring as they are not constant and sometimes not even daily. We were finally able to see a profile after the tech pushed on my stomach hard enough to merge two kidneys into one. The picture (above) isn't all that clear, but you can see a head, a little nose and two obviously annoyed baby lips. Much like his/her sister, there's also a thumb on route to the mouth. And, we can probably assume from the halo around the head that this child will also be a mini-gorilla.

We watched the video when we all got home and Amiya could not have cared less. She was clearly expecting my womb to be in technicolor and animated by a team of Walt's finest. She did walk up to the screen a few times to give the baby a kiss, but only when something was so very obvious.

And in the big shocker of the day - while lying on the table Vinay made it subtly clear to me that he wanted to know the sex. Let me remind you: I do not want to know. But so hard to deny something to this guy who is amazing to me, ya know? So......... we have the sex of the baby written down with a confirming ultrasound pic in an envelope in my purse. What, oh what dear Friend, should we do with this? Vinay wants to read it, I don't and maybe it's heinous of me, but I don't want him to read it, either. I really want the surprise for both of us. Awful wife, I know. If he does read it, he's got no one to be excited with as he's promised he won't tell me and there is no way anyone else is going to know before me. What should I do? Is this grounds for divorce? Horrible cruelty? Absurd expectations?

Arts and Crafts for the Toddler and Mommy Set

Our Michael's store has a preschool crafts "class" every Monday morning. It's $2 and a very good time if you're two. If you're the Mommy, you sit patiently while your child does the exact opposite of what the project is and wonder to yourself when children actually follow instructions. But you wonder quietly to yourself, not wanting to squish creative instincts that are just starting to grasp things like glue and feathers and sparkly, plastic gems.

Amiya's creation this week is this fabulous Halloween mask. She didn't want to do it at all, instead focusing on gluing on the table itself. However, once the teacher showed her how to put shiny butterfly cut-outs on the whole party changed and she was ready to do some serious gluing! She was quite disappointed to not be able to wear her mask home. Alas, it was full of wet glue and sized for adults. Glue + toddler with long hair + car ride home = Mommy with scissors and child with short hair.

And for Mommy's class at Michael's it's only just a bit cleaner than the toddler class. Powdered sugar everywhere and gobs of frosting stuck to chests, fingers and hair. We're on royal icing now which is not really fun and, if you're a hand mixer, fatal because of the very thing that makes it so amazing to work with - it's thickness. But the good news is that the flowers are fantastic and a dead hand mixer means a new Kitchen Aid mixer for Mommy. Vinay agreed to it on the phone today - whoohoo! I'm holding him to it!
Mommy's last class is next Tuesday and I have to make a basketweave cake. Blegh! I don't really mind the basketweave itself - it's that the cake we're supposed to make is pastel colors with bluebirds. That is not Christy at all. So, instead I'll make it brown with fall leaves, flowers, pumpkins and acorns. I don't know if the teacher will "approve" or not, but I don't think she'll hold off my certificate because of it. But now I know where Amiya gets her little bit about not following project guidelines.

Bear's and Baby Sister's Birthday

As birthday parties go, I have to recommend having them for stuffed animals rather than actual living, breathing things. Amiya was thrilled with Bear's party and the guests were in and out within twenty-two minutes. Brilliant!

The party started well before the guests arrived with Amiya picking a cake mix at the grocery store and informing every single person we happened across that it was Bear's and Baby Sister's birthday today. We had to explain to several people that she had not yet consumed the frosting but was just very excited.

We came home to all take naps and Amiya woke up cranky. Upon seeing Bear's cakes being made, all was well. She even helped to coop out the batter into the mini-pans. A future Martha (minus the ankle bracelet), perhaps?

After a dinner of chicken, rice and raita, Amiya was all birthday all the time. Her good buddies Gabe and Avery were slated to come over at 7:00 and Amiya had her birthday hat on by 6:45 ready to party. Bear, of course, was subjected to the same.

Avery and Gabe joined the fun around 7:00 and everybody looked just a little confused. Who has a birthday party for a stuffed animal?

Whatever, they're two and a free-for-all with
cake and frosting sealed the deal for them. Avery preferred to bypass the cake and ingest the frosting directly, Gabe carefully applied his sprinkles and Amiya spent most of the time spreading her frosting - obviously practicing her hummus skills from the day before. And poor Kylie - Avery's one-year old sister. No cake for her. Miss Christy had only three mini-cake pans. Kylie's not going to forget this anytime soon.

When the good friends had left, Amiya tried to con us into making a tend (pretend) cake for Bear's birthday. Quick, strongly-worded persuasion on our part has convinced her that Bear and Baby Sister will not have another birthday until next October. And now, since I've got pictures with dates to prove it - there's to be no confusion!

After the "party," Amiya feigned exhaustion, bringing all of her pillows and blankets, as well as Bear and Baby Katie, into the living room to leep. In a happy turn of events for Mommy, I had to sleep with her. Ahhh the joys of having a child whose preferred play for the evening is pretend sleeping! She may have been pretending, but I can't say I would have been for long. Unfortunately, the sugar consumed meant her little body wasn't going to be still and playing sleeping wasn't going to last.

But after a good and thorough teeth-brushing and many hugs, she went to sleep happy. And that is the bottom line. If a silly party for a stuffed bear makes the girl this happy - then RSVP now for next week's gala!

Hummus Monster

Feeling uninspired by our standard lunch choices (fish sticks, pizza rolls, bologna sandwich), Amiya chose hummus for her meal today. She didn't actually choose "hummus", but rather "bread with dip." Silly kid. But, I knew once she tucked into it it would be gone in a flash as she'd devoured this on other occasions.

So, I placed half of the container of hummus (approx. 4 T.) on her little plate, sprinkled it with paprika and garlic salt and a bit of olive oil. Did a quick heating of the naan on our stove and off she went. She looked at it, then looked at me, looked at it again and decided, it would seem, that I hadn't done her too wrong with food lately, so she'd give it a go. Her entire meal was gone within ten minutes and she was begging for more. Knowing that hummus is not a bad choice, especially compared to our standard lunch menu), I was very, very tempted. But, it was lunch and she'd be napping soon and I wasn't sure that hummus + nap = happy big girl underwear awakenings. So, she sated her appetite with applesauce and told me that the hummus is her new favorite. All's well that ends well, no?

Here you can see her showing off her brand new knife skills as she spreads the hummus. She is towards the end of her meal here and frankly, what a relief. Impossible to take a picture before this as the food had been inhaled up until this point and our camera's shutter speed could not work so well so fast.

Happiness is...

...waking up on Saturday morning, knowing that the only things that need to be done that day are by choice and with friends and family.

...seeing Daddy and Amiya take Bear and Baby Katie on a walk through the living room, with Amiya pushing Baby Katie in her stroller and Daddy carrying Bear in the shopping cart so as to not kill his back.

...seeing Amiya gobble up her craisins and ask for more. I'm proud to say I've passed on the love of all things cranberry.

...Daddy untangling the window blind strings and Amiya giving him a "helping" hand.

...knowing friends will be coming for dinner tonight and enjoying the preparation for it.

...missing friends from Tolono and Bloomington, but knowing they understand.

...having a few hours to oneself while Daddy and the wee one are at the zoo.

You are cordially invited...

...to Bear's & Bear's Baby Sister's Birthday Party.

Amiya now has an entire family conjured up for Bear - we have to tuck Bear, her Baby Sister and her Grandpa and Grandma into the blankets for every.single.nap.and.every.single.bedtime. We are grateful that she hasn't really figure out the world of cousins yet. Daily we hear about the exploits of all the bear family and now she's imagined that it's Bear's & Baby Sister's birthday. So, Sunday we'll be having a small party. I've got loads of frosting left from my cake class, so I'll let Amiya decorate a little something and we'll have milk and cake and sing happy birthday to Bear.

If you'd like to join us, it'll be Sunday, sometime after lunch but before nap. No presents required as Bear has no opposable thumbs to deal with pesky wrapping paper. And if you can't make it, perhaps just a quick call to wish Bear a very happy day? I know one little girl who would be very happy!

Such consideration!

This morning I woke to hear Amiya saying, "Mommy, where are you?" then "Mommy, come get me." It was a bit earlier than normal and a middle-of-the-night nightmare on Amiya's part meant that Mommy was still tired. I was hoping, hoping, hoping that she would drift back to sleep. Not to be. Fifteen minutes later I heard, "Mommy I need you now!" This sounded serious so up I got and off I went.

I walked into her room to find her leaning against the side railing of her crib, ever so calmly. She was smiling and happy, not what I expected when I heard that command. And then she said, "I been tandin' (standing) for a while 'cuz I pooped and didn't want to get it on the sheets."

Can you believe it? I thought it was too cute for words - never mind the fact that she was fully clothed so the offending mass wasn't going to leak out anywhere. Vinay thinks it's a sign that she's growing up and that's surely true, too. But really, just too sweet and considerate. And the funniness of it made it so that changing the first poopy diaper in about a month wasn't all that horrible at that early hour of the morning.

Hoodlum

My Dad used to have this thing about us kids wearing hoods when we were younger. He didn't like them. Period. Especially if they were black. He said we looked like hoodlums. We never took him too seriously, though, and happily it was just another chance for us kids to tease him.
My brothers tease him still and they've found other ways of getting to him - still mainly to do with hats and haircuts.

So, when I told my brother Andy that Amiya was wearing a hoodie, he immediately said that Grandpa wouldn't like it because she'd look like a hoodlum. I don't think there's much worry about that though - there aren't many hoodlums out there who wear white hoodies with pink flowers embroidered around the neckline.

This one's for you, Grandpa!