Running Into Aaron

Vivian is good with names. She knows or knows of several tens of people by name. She deals well with multiple people having the same name - an acute problem with her cousins: she knows two Quins, two Kays - though one is a dolphin at the Corpus Christie aquarium, knows of two Avas, and recently learned that Grace's first name is Vivian. She knows her full name. And mine and Jo's.

Vivian met her uncle Aaron when she was little. She hears us talk about him and we show her pictures of her "other" cousins. In the beginning there was some confusion between Uncle Aaron and Uncle Arun - which is what her cousins call me. But she's figured it out. When she's at Carol's and Aaron calls from Norway, she knows who it is. And she knew that Mommy and Grandma had gone to Italy to vacation with Uncle Aaron. So she's familiar with the name.

This morning Jo needed to take care of a few things. She asked Vivian if she wanted to "run errands" with her. Vivian readily agreed. Once the errands were done, Jo started driving back home. That made Vivian quite upset. She finally calmed down enough to ask why they were returning home "without running into Aaron".

Making Up Stories

Not satisfied with just having stories read to her, Vivian is now in the business of making them up. Yesterday she sat on my chest with a Newsweek and flipped through the pages and made up a story about a man in a car (an ad for a minivan), a man swimming (a Rolex ad), and a man not swimming (a picture of a couple of guys standing around).

This afternoon, she took the clock off the bedside table and pushed a couple of buttons and started:

"Daddy I read you a story. One upon a time there was a clock. And one upon a time daddy went to sleep. And mommy went to sleep. And I went to sleep. And then the clock woke everybody up."

Sweet and short.

A Funny Thing Happened....

...on the way back from dinner.

We had just finished a great meal at Musashino and were in the drive-through lane at Wendy's waiting for a quick Frosty. It was raining. Jo noted that the bumper sticker on the truck in front of us was unusual because it looked like pictures of Obama and McCain in the iconic red white and blue style that became very popular during the campaign. I squinted through the rain-splattered window and said that it was probably Obama and Biden. And Vivian said "Nigah".

We were thunderstruck. After a short silence Jo collected her wits and asked "Vivian - what did you say? I don't know that word." And Vivian replied clear as bell again "Nigah". Longer silence. Then Jo said "Do you mean Snicker?" And Vivian replied "Yes - 'nigah b'izzard".

Vivian can't say her s'es yet and drops them when they precede a consonant. And she was with us a few weeks ago when we were in a drive-through and ordered Snickers Blizzards.

All's well that ends well.

Sunshine State

We took our Ms Sunshine to visit the sunshine state last week. Vivian had a fabulous time. Her "uncles" (Sharath & Praveen) cooked her breakfast and carried her around on their shoulders. Her "boys" (Arjun & Partha) spoiled her rotten. She'd wake up and the first thing she'd ask is "where are my boys?". And we overheard her play-talking on the phone: "Hello another boy. How are you? Want to play?"

Turns out that Vivian's lingo had an impact too. The Rao's are now calling it their "swimming cool" and Sharath and Co. say "whoops" instead of the common word for faeces.

Here are a couple pictures from our trip. Praveen snagged this first one - Vivian in her pool finery. The second picture was taken in low light using my cell phone. Vivian was wearing her new gift from Hyderabad minus the blouse. It's fuzzy and shaky but captures a bit of the essence of the moment.


Vivian was a good traveler. The day after we returned from Florida, we went to Carol's. When we were getting ready to drive back home, I told Vivian to say good bye to Grandma because it was time to get back to Austin. Vivian looked up and asked "We going to airport?"

In the Corner

Vivian doesn't listen very well. So we've been chatting about listening and why it's important, and what happens when you don't listen. I thought we were making headway till this morning. Jo was changing Vivian's diaper and I was pretending to bite her nose. I'd snarl and snap in the vicinity of her proboscis and she's squeal and jump and laugh - thereby interfering with the diaper changing process. Jo asked me to stop and I decided to go in for one last bite. At which point:

Vivian: "You not listening to Mommy. Daddy - go to the corner."
Me: "Nobody puts daddy in the corner."
Vivian: "Mommy - put daddy in the corner."

Eva's Baptism

Eva was baptized last weekend. She looked so mature and calm. The first picture is what I call the "before" picture - a knowing look over her shoulder. In the next picture, Pastor Scott is getting ready to put some water on Eva's head. Pastor Scott gave a very celebratory sermon. He even had a line or two in it for me.


And here's the family. This is after the baptism when they came back in for some photos. Everyone is relaxed and Grace is dancing. The next picture is the "after" picture. Isn't Eva positively glowing?

Vivian may have to wait a bit longer for her baptism. She adores Pastor Scott ("Hello Pa'tor 'Cott"). So we were a bit worried going into it that she may feel like Eva was getting the extra attention. I spun it as Eva's "party". Vivian was OK besides the wandering around the aisles and pews and snacking and falling down and crying and occasional cheering and clapping. My brown-eyed girl found a field of Black-Eyed Susans next to the church.