Potty Training 101

We hadn't even considered potty training till Eleanor proudly showed us her underwear in a the park the other day - and it wasn't a diaper. So Jo went off and spent a few extra bucks for a Dora-themed potty that Vivian now affectionately calls her "dew-a potty".

Dew-a Potty has been stationed in the guest bathroom for the last two days, in front of "Daddy Potty". Vivian and I or Jo have spent a few fully dressed minutes on our respective potties, showing her how to sit on a chair with an obvious short-coming - a big hole.

This morning, after her shower, naked girl was running around the house. She field-disassembled and dragged the dew-a potty to the living room, set it up in front of me, and proceeded to sit in it. A minute later, I looked in the bowl and saw some liquid. Seeing our questioning looks, Vivian pointed to her naked butt and said "baby wawa". We shook our heads in amazement - what a coincidence - Vivian just happened to be naked and sitting on the potty when she needed to pee.

Tonight is date night. Jo and I had a nice slow dinner at the Taverna (highly recommend the saffron flounder risotto special). When we came back home, Ana had put Vivian to bed, but she had a story. She told us that earlier in the evening, Vivian took her by her hand to the bathroom and expressed a desire to use the dew-a potty. Ana took Vivian's diaper off, and she proceeded to sit on the potty and pee.

Here's a picture I added a few days later. Vivian is lounging fully-dressed on her potty, munching on her snacks.

Brand Names

Vivian loves to eat apples. One day, she walked by when I was working on my Mac. And she pointed to the glowing Apple logo and said "apple". Now she does it everyday.

Vivian's second brand name was Dora (the explorer). By sheer chance, her sipping cups have pictures of Dora. She used to go to bed with "Babby", her Barnes and Nobel Dora doll.

Then, one day a couple of weeks ago, she went to Carsyn's Dora-themed birthday party and explored with a gaggle of four-year olds and came back home with a handful of Dora stickers. She took one of the stickers and stuck it on her shirt and said "dew-a". Now she is the owner of a Dora training potty and proudly pointed to it and said, "Daddy, dew-a potty".

Chanel and Porsche can wait. Right now, apple and Dew-a rule.

Elitist Jerks

Back in the dawn of time herself, when the Barak, Billary and Romney campaigns were still in their infancy, Newsweek published the results of a poll on what Americans would not find acceptable in a president. At that time, I found it remarkable that a gay man has a better chance of becoming the president of this straight nation than an atheist. I remember thinking - oh my god (non-religous, non-personal, just figure-of-speech god) - do they let atheists marry around here?

After a recent argument with Nicolle, when we were both some distance from sober, I was struck by another thought. The pollsters need to poll for Elitist Jerks. Would they end up even lower than athiests?

Vivian - what's the lesson? If you end up being an elitist atheist running for prez, you'd better pick a gay running mate to get a dose of popular support.

Camping

On Saturday, Nicolle, Michelle, Greta, Lori, Lisa, Carol, Jimmy, and us (and eight kids - including the borrowed two) ended up in Jim Hogg Park not far from the shores of Lake Georgetown.

Jo spent the night with Vivian in my aged REI Half-Dome tent. About halfway through the night, Vivian realized that she was sleeping "out-sy" (outside) - her favorite place in the whole wide world. And that her dear Mom was trying to sleep next to her. At that point, it was too much fun to just sleep, so she kept Jo up for a couple of hours.

I was asleep a few yards away in another tent with six of the older kids (their parents/guardians were ensconced in their queen beds inside their respective RVs, and this was my idea of an adventure for the kids). We weren't exactly roughing it either - the tent belonged to Jimmy and had ceilings taller than my home. The kids were in one room, I was in another - in a very comfortable cot. We farted, snorted, snored, whispered, and had nightmares, but otherwise it was quite uneventful.

Now we are planning the next step - a short hike and a night of primitive camping for Vivian. Perhaps at "Animule Lake" near Enchanted Rock one of these lovely Hill Country fall days.

Repeat After Me

Vivian has attained some level of repeat-after-me skills. Jo says "Vivian, say 'I love you'". Vivian smiles and replies "I la u". Fun times. I am prepping her to tell her grandma "Grandma, I need a pony". Just to see what Carol does.

ps. If you read my angry post about Alice and Bush and Palin - it's gone. I feel much better now - I'll send President Palin a postcard from NZ.

Calculated Kissing

The other morning, Vivian was feeling particularly affectionate. She repeatedly indicated that she wanted to give Jo and me kisses, and when we put our faces next to hers, she obliged with her special open mouth kisses.

A little bit later, I was no longer in her good graces. Vivian continued to shower Mom with kisses, but waved a dismissive hand in my direction.

And yet another few minutes later, she needed something. "Daddy outside peaz" (dad, open the door so I can go outside). I said "Give Daddy a kiss". She responded with the talk to my hand routine again. Then, just for kicks, I told her "if you give Daddy a kiss, he may consider taking you outside".

In the three short steps to the front door, Vivian showered my face with kisses.

Do women learn this stuff very early in life, or is it just hard-wired in?

Bijoya

Growing up, I didn't resent an occasional friendly jab of "Angrez ki aulad" ("spawn of the English") from Raju. Raju meant that I wasn't being very Indian (or Bangali). That quality has traveled and aged well. In spite of residency and citizenship, nobody would accuse me of being overly Texan or American either.

But there's an exception - the Durga Puja.

Vivian - I can't read or write Bangla. But perhaps I can impart to you a bit of that other essence of being bong - the Durga Puja. I can recollect only a handful of Pujas - during my HPS years and occasional trips back during Puja. But the memories are powerful. Five days of celebrating and visiting and new clothes and late nights and the sounds of frenzied drumming and scents of dhoop and the tastes of bhog and the trips to the pandals and the kola-koli and pranam. In my world of festivals, there's Durga Puja, and there's stamp collecting.

Happy Bijoya greetings to all.

Vacation

We just returned from our first vacation that we took sans child.

Jo and I went to Chestertown for Lessie's wedding. In a good start to their married life, Jason served a pretty decent stout at the reception under his "Ball and Chain" label. Here are some pictures of the fat vacation home we stayed at. Plans are underway for a repeat trip.





Then we went to Ocean City - an atlantic seaside resort in off-season. We ate long slow dinners and took short beach walks, mixed in with lots of sleep.

During this time, Vivian was back at the ranch with Grandma. Carol told us that when Vivian woke up the first morning after we were gone, she, as usual, said "daddy". To which Carol replied "Daddy and mommy are on vacation". And that was that.

Each morning, Vivian and Grandma and Kirby walked Canyon Lake dam and then the nature trail on the Guadalupe river. Followed by several other activities. We'd call once a day and Vivian would hear us and run up to a picture on the window from the Burns family reunion in May'07 and point to Jo and me in the picture and say "mommy" and "daddy". And then she'd be off doing something else.

When we got back, she ran down and greeted us - but didn't seem very concerned by our absence or return. Me on the other hand - I wanted to squeeze her like a teddy bear.

Amazing thing is that she had grown up so much in five days - she even looked older. But next morning, I woke up to east coast time and was checking my email when I heard Vivian stir. The first word out of her mouth was "Daddy". For now, some things are thankfully still the same.

Four Letter Word

I get back home from soccer and Jo starts telling me a story: earlier in the day, something happened that caused her to say "Oh. Fuck it."

That's as far as Jo gets in the story when Vivian begins to sing "oh fak ee, oh fak ee....." (loosely to the tune of Oh bla dee). I tell Jo that I think I know where her story was going. And Vivian is still singing in the background. It starts to sound funny, so I crack up. Vivian takes this as encouragement and throws even more enthusiam into her singing. Jo tells me that I must ignore her otherwise Vivian won't stop. I try my best. After good few minutes, Vivian gets distracted by Abe and moves on.

Can you and your child get hauled up to the day care principal's office (do they have principals?)? I am glad I won't have to find out anytime soon....

8000 Words...

...or 8 pictures? Did I mention I am lazy.

Vivian and Mom and Eleanor and Amy went out to see a ballet. Vivian did very well. One day, we'll be able to go see a movie. Here are the ladies getting ready to leave for the Paramount Theater.


Several times a day, Vivian cries "shower" and starts peeling off her clothes while running to the bathroom. Often, she takes two showers a day - just because it's so much fun.


Sometimes, I let her run around the house naked after a shower. She loves it. I run around behind her with paper towels to clean up the pee.


Vivian and Mommy horse around. Here she's in a carrier on Mommy whose name escapes me now (I do remember mobi and baby bjorn, but it's neither of those ...). And playing on the couch.


Here's she's in the tunnel of the baby gym in the living room.

She spends a fair amount of time with her coloring book. She needs more work with the technique, but she understands the concept of coloring a picture.

Peas

Vivian is changing quickly. I am not - I am still the lazy ass I always was. So I haven't been able to keep pace with what Vivian says. She speaks more understandably now.

"Up peas" when she wants up on her chair. "Down peas" for the reverse. We have to thank Uncle Alu for teaching her how to say please. I wonder what she woud say if she wants more peas for dinner.

"Bess you" when we sneeze - or even cough. "Five" with hand up in the air when she wants to high-5. If you say "one", she responds with "two".

"Wawa jus gass. Peas" for "please could I have a glass of water spiked with juice". Followed by "tan-ku" when we ask her to be polite.

"Bubby" for any furry mammal - it comes from "puppy", but is also suitable for cats, bears, etc.

"Flower" and "shoes" continue to be her favorite words. "Daddy" and "mommy" are still among the most frequently. Other people often mentioned by name are: "Grace", "Kai", "Ana", and "Kaka".

"Foo" is food, but usually referes to cat food. Both cats are "Abe". "Boat", "eye", "ice", "car", "ball", "baby", "fishie" and "phone" are names of objects she frequently says. "Shower" when she feels ready for one.

I can't help but brag. My child knows more words than the leader of the free world.

Dr Z

It would be fair to say that the good doctor Z delivered Vivian at birth (see And It's a..... in this blog for details). We are so spoiled by him that we are doomed to dissatisfaction with any other doctor (yes - I did ask why my wife's ob/gyn couldn't be my primary care physician). After almost 19 months, mother, baby, and doctor are reunited for a photo op.

2G Swaddling

Jo is a swaddler. Not all moms are.

Vivian sleeps all night and has since she was about two and a half months old. For more than 99% of this time, we have never been woken up by her till morning. Jo credits some of this bliss to swaddling.

So I am a believer. For doubters out there, what would Jesus (or in this case, Mary) do?


Turns out Vivian is a believer too: