A Day with Grandma

On Sunday Vivian and I left Jo and Evan to their viruses and went to visit Grandma. The trip was ostensibly to rescue Abe (the small brained cat), but more about that later.

It was a beautiful warm sunny day in the hill country after a rainy gloomy start. We decided to go walk the dam - a favorite past time of the denizens of Canyon Lake - and a particularly favorite one on that lovely morning. Among the many folks and animals crowded on top of the dam, there was a couple who struck up a conversation with Vivian. On the way back we ran into them again and I took a picture. Proof that this sort of thing happen doesn't just happen to Vivian in India.

Later that afternoon Vivian helped Grandma clean the pool and I chopped firewood for the impending freezing weather. Here's a picture of Abe laying on the playscape close to where I was chopping wood.

Recall that about a month ago we had banished Abe to Grandma's. He was to be an outside cat there, along with dear Milie, Carrol's devil cat. Apparently Abe is smarter than he looks. A couple of days back I got a call from the pet recovery service that services the chip under the skin of Abe's neck. Turns out that Abe had taken refuge in the back porch of Carrol's generous neighbor who then took Abe to the vet who then discovered that he was chipped. So on Sunday morning I went to pick Abe up from the back porch of said neighbor.

Bless his heart - the poor cat jumped into my arms when he saw me. I returned to Carrol's with a loudly purring cat in my arms. I fed him his favorite flavor of Science Diet in his favorite food bowl and set up a blanket and a box for him in the screened porch. During the day he strayed here and there but returned several times to hang out.

A side story - when I carried Abe back to Carrol's my black sweater was covered in cat hair.

Vivian asked me: "Daddy is that cat hair?"
I replied "No - it's elephant hair"
Carrol interjected: "Vivian - is your dad funny?"
Vivian replied: "No Grandma, my daddy is sarcastic"

Flu and Back

Poor Evan caught the flu. After getting poked twice with flu shots. Or because of that - as one of our anti-vaccine friends said. 

It all started on Wednesday. Jo and Vivian went to San Antonio. After dinner I got Evan dressed in his pjs and went over to say hello to Gunaraj and Rajeeta. Evan enjoyed looking at art. But you can see a hint of droopiness in his eyes.

Thursday's bath in the kitchen sink helped him feel better. But he quickly established two things: that he's male, and that's he's his daddy's son - he whines like a champ when he's sick.

After two trips to the doctor and five days of fever, he finally kicked it this afternoon. But when he was sick he was in one of three states: pitiful whining, asleep, or on the boob. He stopped eating solid food - which he had been devouring up till now. But he nursed so often that when he was weighed at the doctor's on Friday and then again today, we noticed that he had actually put on weight.

Vivian was a terrific sister. She played quietly while Evan slept (though not without many frequent shusshes from us). And cheered Evan when he was awake - even at his grumpiest, Evan cracked a weak smile at the sight of Vivian.

This afternoon when Evan awoke from his nap it was as if someone had thrown a switch. He was finally his old self again. He jumped on Vivian, ate a bowl of pasta, and chatted away.

Nice to have you back old chap.

Saturday Morning

The girls went to Presley's birthday party this morning leaving Evan and me to ourselves. We couldn't walk to the Draught Horse via the park as it was raining and generally yucky outside. So we rode Rody and played on the "gym" and practiced Evan's latest pet trick - clapping his hands.

Fo lunch he ate a full bowl of tortellini and olive oil (earlier this week he fully and completely rejected baby food - he'll only touch stuff that we eat) and a quarter of a pear and fell into a food coma on my shoulder.

Yesterday he tentatively tried to smack his hands together (I clap my hands when I call him - specially when he crawls towards me like an excited puppy). This morning he clapped several times when I clapped and we showed our new trick to mommy. By late morning he was clapping in response to me saying the word "clap". And by afternoon he gave himself a huge and very enthusiastic round of applause every time he slobbered over Jo's arm or neck.

If all else fails, he'd make a great professional applause artist.

Curly

It's what you'd expect. Vivian's hair is so straight that she wants curly wavy hair. On Wednesday after swim class and shower, Jo put many tight braids into Vivian's hair. She kept it like that for a day and then, viola - for a few hours she had curly hair.

Customer Service

Vivian, Evan - the world may be a different place in a couple of decades. So it may be hard to understand the specifics of this post, but the underlying principle should still apply.

This morning I drove the old bmw to the dealership for service. Jo had made an online appointment and had asked for a free loaner car. I had received 4 confirmations and reminders over the last week. But this morning there were no loaners. My service rep tried to call and warn me of the situation but I was already there. She tried to arrange a near-by Enterprise rental to drop off a car. But they were out of cars. I took my car back and returned home. An hour wasted but not the worst thing in the world. And I was polite with the service rep at all times. But I told her that I would give this service call a big fat zero when the corporate survey takers called.

This afternoon the service rep called and asked where she can pick up my car from. I asked when? She said now. A few minutes later she showed up with a loaner and drove my car away.

That's a lot to do for a free loaner.

The service rep turned a negative experience into one that I'm writing a blog post about. It took 30 minutes of her time to do this.  Besides the convenience and customer service aspect of it, she taught me a valuable lesson on what to do when you need to set something right.

Reading and Writing

We are getting close to the beginnings of two of the R's with Vivian - and we can't take any credit for them.

The other day as we pulled out of the parking lot after dinner, Vivian said "C-h-i-n-a C-a-f-e". It took us a moment to realize that she was reading the name of the restaurant.

And yesterday she asked Jo for a marker and walked up to her easel and started writing. After a while Jo and I noticed that she was carefully writing the alphabet.

In the Dishwasher

Evan gets into everything. Literally. If he finds the dishwasher open, he darts across the room and clambers up on the open door and starts grabbing at the dirty dishes.

This morning I had to load the dishwasher while I was carrying Evan around. That requires more than two hands. So I walked with Evan to the far end of the living room where I plonked him down on the carpet and threw a few toys at him and ran back to the sink and put a few dishes in the dishwasher. Evan crawled back. Repeat until done.

Cowgirl Princess

So if you haven't, first read the post below ("I Don't Want to be Any of Those").

Vivian and I got back home. Then Jo and I gave her a large box with a ribbon on it. It contained Jen's Christmas gift for Vivian. While Vivian was opening the gift, I retold what had happened at school - that our daughter had explicitly stated that she didn't want any of the professions picked by her class mates and instead wanted to be a princess.

Vivian put on the boots. And said "I am a cowgirl princess".

I Don't Want to be Any of Those

When I reached school today to pick Vivian up, Ms. A was putting today's artwork on the hall walls. The kids had been asked what they wanted to grow up and be. They drew a picture and the teachers wrote verbatim what the kids said. Like "I want to grow up and be a police woman because I want to help good people".

I scanned the wall for Vivian's but couldn't find it. Last year she had thought outside the box. No fire fighters or police women for her. She wanted to be "a cook - like my dad". So I was a bit anxious and curious.

Then Ms. A attached the last sheet of artwork to the wall and she and the other teachers saw me. From their reactions I could tell that this one was even more outside the box.

Here's what Vivian wants to grow up and be:

"I don't want to be any of those - I want to be a princess."

On the way back I asked her why she didn't want to be a fire fighter or a police woman. I wasn't expecting an answer. Or perhaps a vague half-baked response. But she smartly replied:

"I don't like uniforms".

Princess iPad

The cousins drew names for Christmas this year and so it was Gage who sent Vivian a gift. It turned out to be a very pink toy with a display and keys and recorded high pitched girl voices. It lets you send messages to various princesses and they reply back or talk back to you. Very exciting stuff. Vivian and cousin Ava played with it on Christmas day, and since then, Vivian has carried it around with her in the car and communicated frequently with other princesses.

It's funny and remarkable how far the Apple brand has penetrated our daily lives. Neither Jo nor I own an iPad. Nor is it something we talk about frequently. And as Jo only watches Tivo, Vivian isn't exposed to TV commercials (if Apple advertises the iPad on TV). And yet, she - all by herself - has decided to call the pink toy "my Princess iPad".

Evan Pictures

This afternoon the girls went to Natalie's birthday party. And when Evan woke up from his nap, we took off to the park. Evan was extremely social - squealing at Samantha, a cute 14 month old at the swings, and striking up a conversation with a couple of older boys at the slide. I got a couple of pictures of him on the swing. He was so happy he looks insane.

And here are some more pictures of him from the last few days. He's beginning to show interest in the family furniture moving business (remember Vivian's favorite past time?). And an unhealthy attraction for the wine fridge. He loves playing with the Central Market balloons. And gets into anything and everything and tries to climb over the baby gates.

Daddy Son Day

Modeled after Friday Fun day at Grace Garden, Evan and I now have a Daddy Son day. On Friday mornings, Jo usually takes off to the gym soon after seven in the morning. And Vivian comes back from school at about 130 pm. Between those hours, Evan is my responsibility - starting today. Except when it's time for mammalian secretions.

I started a little before 6 am this morning when Evan awoke and shook the house with his primordial "I'm not sleeping anymore" screams. The morning passed easily. Sometimes Evan played and I worked - with periodic reversals when I would attempt to move a toy out of Evan's reach and Evan would type a few keystrokes on my computer. The weather was great so we went to the park and played on the swings and in the jungle jim.

It ended up that Jo had to go to a meeting this evening so Evan's day ended with me putting him to bed.

Vivian and I get along so well that most strangers look at us and say "Daddy's little girl", or "Daddy's princess". Yes, she is. But Vivian is very much a mama's girl. Except when she's in trouble with Jo over something, she never explicitly asks for Daddy. Evan is different. Even when he's perfectly contentedly sitting on Jo's lap, he'll reach out for me if I walk by or come into the room. The day went well. Consider us bonded. Looking forward to next Friday kiddo.