Growing Up Paleo

We're not exactly a paleo household. But we do try to go easy on grain and high on vegetables and meats and fishes. Here are two short stories from the kitchen table - dinner last night and breakfast this morning.

Last night we had roast chicken and steamed asparagus. The kids also had brown rice pasta. Vivian ate well. Evan did a reasonable job on the chicken and devoured all his pasta (little "wormies"). I had put three spears of asparagus on his plate, just in case. Jo, Vivian and I convinced Evan to take just one bite of the asparagus ("Eat your tree like a giant before Vivian eats it." - while Vivian fake reached for it). He squared his shoulders, grabbed the asparagus, stared at it for a moment and then took a nice bite off the top. Then he chewed for a second or two. And then he retched. He's going to be our difficult eater. Takes after a certain living grandmother. Nothing green pass their lips.

Now to breakfast this morning. We had gotten sloppy with Vivian's breakfast relying on an easy bowl of cereal or toast with butter and jam. But she noticed that she was getting tired at school before recess and lunch. So now she wakes up earlier and spends more time eating a healthy breakfast. But waking up early isn't easy for her. Evan is the first one up in the house. Vivian's the last. It usually requires turing on all her bedroom lights and pulling off her covers. She usually still lays there curled up with her eyes tightly shut resisting the morning for another few seconds. This morning I woke her up by kissing her all over her face instead. She giggled and opened her eyes. I asked her what she wanted for breakfast. And she replied "Daddy - can we skip the protein just for one day?"

Fresh raspberries and blackberries and sourdough bread with butter.

Light Saber

Stars Wars is back with a vengeance. I wouldn't have found out for another year or two - not till Evan got to be the target age. Today we went to Vivian's classmate's birthday party. It was Star Wars themed. The host parents and several others said that their boys are crazy about Star Wars (including, yes - "Angry Birds Star Wars"). We came back home with inflatable light sabers and R2D2 cookies as party favors.

Earlier this morning before the party Evan wanted to fight. He had his inflatable sword and spared with me. I seriously thought that it was time I went out and bought myself one too. So it was interesting when they got their light sabers at the party. Evan held on tightly to his. Even when he fell asleep on Jo's shoulder!

For their afternoon naps and then tonight when we tucked them into bed both Vivian and Evan took their light sabers to bed. And we started watching the first of the original Star Wars trilogy this evening. We had to pause for bed time but not till the kids got to see Luke wield the light saber for the first time. It was exciting to see their eyes light up.

I saw the first movie on opening night at the Sangeet Theater in Secunderabad. I was around 13. It was the most incredible movie experience of my life up till then. Seeing it again this evening I noticed it's aged better than me. But back then I would have found it hard to believe that one day I would watch that same movie with my daughter and son in Austin, Texas. While they played with Chinese made inflatable light sabers. I would have imagined we'd have real ones by now.

Thanksgiving

The origins of holidays should never be examined too carefully. Like poor Thanksgiving. A few years ago Jo's brother Erik taught his son to say something along these lines at pre-school for Thanksgiving: "And then the pilgrims ate a feast with the Native Americans and said thanks and then they killed them." Last week Jen made a similar comment. I decided to poke around on the internet to set the record straight for Vivian and Evan. And for my dad who asked what all the fuss was about. Here's a mishmash of what I found. I never left my armchair to do this research and you shouldn't believe everything you see on the internet.

In the mid 1800's the US started formalizing school education. Text books needed to be written. They couldn't possibly start the history of a proud young nation by saying that the early settlers enslaved the  locals. Someone found a letter from 1622 that mentioned the harvest festival. A bit of revisionist photoshopping added the phrase "thanks giving feast" in a post script to the old letter. The practice of giving thanks back then was a quiet and serious business that took place in churches. The harvest festival was the ultimate locavore feast of the day. Bam - they were combined in search of a textbook tradition that didn't exist.

The lady who penned "Mary had a little lamb" was also the editor of the largest selling women's magazine of the day. She was a crusader for Thanksgiving and pushed it in her magazine and wrote to state governors asking them to make it a holiday. Soon after that, during the civil war, Lincoln was casting around for a unifying national holiday. In 1863 when Thanksgiving became the third American national holiday it finally pulled together the three different notions: giving thanks, feasting, and a day of holiday.

Eating bland turkey came a good bit later. Today there is a news item about Turkey asking for Patriot missiles to defend against Syria. It is sure to cause some confusion in certain circles.

Last week Evan had his Thanksgiving lunch at Grace. It was so well attended that I had to help Kym get more tables and chairs to seat the guests. Neighbor Ava participated in a sweet little song with traditional pilgrim/Indian (feather not dot) headgear. I gave Evan a hug and managed to escape for soccer before they started praying.

On Tuesday Vivian had her school Thanksgiving lunch. There were so many people it was difficult to move around. The kids made turkey crafts out of paper and glue. There were kids whose parents couldn't be there. They didn't look very happy. I'm glad parents in my day didn't have to come to school on a regular basis.

Vivian walked up to her teacher to show off her turkey and Jo overheard Vivian say "Ms. Carmen, mira". That is the first instance of Vivian spontaneously speaking in Spanish. We were thrilled. All it took was one word that wasn't "adios". Magellan has earned their next two months of tuition. I took a picture of the kids playing together before I escaped for soccer.

This year while other families are getting together for the bland turkey, we split. Jo and the kids are enjoying the Great Outdoors at Goliad State Park with Nicolle and Greta. Here are a couple of photographs.

My dad and I stayed at home and are getting caught up on making and doing laundry. Yesterday I was invited to a very nice thanksgiving feast at a friend's. And I went for a nice long hike in the hill country and took some photos with my phone.

Next year I would like to make a minor change - be more thankful every day of the year. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Briefs

Jo bought Evan his first tighties. Boy underwear. Briefs. He was very excited. So excited that a few seconds after I took this photo he pissed in them. He has coveted Vivian's panties for ever. So he refuses to call his briefs anything other than panties. The kids have just finished showering and are lubed up in coconut oil - a holdover from India. I had to crop Vivian's photograph drastically because, as Jo put it indelicately, she was "playing with her hoohaa".

Out Takes

We met Simran and Jeanne for gelato at Teo's. And then we walked around the 34 Doors shopping plaza a bit to take in the Christmas decorations. The kids went to the tree. I pulled out my iPhone and took a few photos. They didn't come out well. It's almost impossible to get Vivian and Evan to look at the camera at the same time or to not look like I just stole them from the looney bin. Poor Simran put up with it very well.

Then we walked some more up to our favorite handmade wooden toy store where the kids scored toys thanks to Jeanne. Across the store was a salon and Jo pointed to the large poster on the walls of the salon. It was a little freaky to see a bigger than life-size  Jessica staring at us out of the poster. I knocked on the door and politely asked if I could take a photograph.

Bollywood Strikes (Again)

Remember back when Vivian was into Jai Ho! and Chale Chalo. Due to much stranger reasons Evan is into it too. Recall that Evan had an Indian day at school when Jo took Indian snacks and clothes and the kids made diwali diyas and played dress-up? During that day the teachers must also have played some Bollywood music and done a dance or two. Because the other morning Evan clasped his hands together in front of him and started to shake his booty like it was awards night at BET. I have a video that needs some editing but here are a couple of stills to give you the general idea. It cracked Vivian up big time.

Happy Diwali

We lit the diyas on Diwali night. Here's a previous post about the making of the diyas.

Happy Diwali and best wishes for a great year. I've added a couple of photos from Diwali last year at Preethi.

Old Monk

The other day Jo and I were on a date night. We ended the evening at the cake ball place at the Domain. While we were looking through the menu card Jo noticed that they had a special milk shake. We were too full to partake but I'll be back. Because it is made with Old Monk rum.

I've laid more brain cells to rest on wreaths of Old Monk than anything else. When we could afford it, this was the poison of choice growing up in India. And I still get a Old Monk and coke at the Secunderabad Club a/c bar once a while - for less than Rs. 20. That's about 40 cents. Here's to all my friends who I've ever shared a monk with. And one day with Vivian and Evan too.

Laguna Gloria Park

This Saturday we went to a different park - Laguna Gloria on the shores of Lake Austin. We don't get here often enough. About once every two months. And looks like nobody else does either. This time we wandered through the undergrowth and walked around the shoreline. A great way to spend a stunningly beautiful fall morning. The best part - Evan walked every step of the way. And Vivian is now about 8 miles short of her marathon goal.

F1 in Austin

The US Grad Prix is back with a brand new track - the Circuit of the Americas - in Austin. The last weekend an estimated two to three hundred thousand well-heeled tourists descended upon us. The trials were held on Friday, qualifying round on Saturday, and the finals on Sunday. Austin joins the newer F1 cities like Kuala Lumpur, Shangai, New Delhi (ok, Noida), Singapore and Abu Dhabi.

I didn't plan on going to see the F1. Then Steve handed me a ticket on Thursday night for the trials on Friday while Vivian wept at the dinner table. "Daddy - don't go for the F1". On Friday morning on the way to school Vivian offered to race Evan's toys cars around the back room and have our own F1 race if I didn't go. I didn't understand her uncharacteristic reluctance to let me go but it left me with a feeling of foreboding.

The track was surprisingly sparse. Except for the grandstand and the garages and the track itself and an observation tower it looked like everything else had been rolled in the day before.  Rows of port-a-potties and turkey legs stands. The racing was a let down as usual - a foregone conclusion unless you like spectator sports. I could see how it could be absolutely exciting - speeding up to over 200 kmph and then making a sharp acute turn at around 70. But you had to be in one of those cars I suppose. Watching a dozen of them go around about sixty times didn't do it for me. The people watching was much better.

When I later looked at the photos on my iPhone I noticed that Force India figured more prominently than their record or statistics should demand.

On Sunday I met Gordon at the Saucer and we watched the finals on TV. Gordon's uncle is the Flying Scot (Sir Jackie) and Gordon had the best VIP pass on Friday to wander around the garages at the track and rub shoulders with the rich and famous.

When Gordon and I met to see the finals, there was one - yes - one other person and about a hundred empty seats at the pub. Doesn't anyone want to see this F1 thing?

Then on Sunday evening I went downtown to partake in the FanFest - an evening of great music and four free stages and fun and excitement. I was worried I wouldn't find parking. Turns out the only people who showed up were Jim and Gordon and myself. And a few tourists who got lost on the way back to their hotels after dinner.

So I tried three times. And it fizzled three times. Consistent. Should have listened to you, Vivian.

Boy Genes

Evan's boy genes are kicking in. He spends a fair amount of time terrorizing his sister who is almost twice his size. He plays hide-and-seek with his penis. A conversation the other day during a walk in the park after we stopped for a pee break:

"Daddy - can I see your peanuts?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because it's private."
Mommy - can I see your peanuts?"
[Me] "Mommy doesn't have a peanuts."
"Why?"
"Because she's a girl."
"Does Vivi have a peanuts?"
"No. Same reason."
"I'm a boy. I have a peanuts. Dada - you and I have peanuts."

And it's not all about peanuts. Evan has acquired a pink inflatable sword from Vivian's Halloween trick-or-teat loot. He hacks everyone and everything with it. He has threatened to chop off my head. He stabs me with it. And when a movie gets to a scary part, while Vivian cowers in fear and covers her eyes Evan jumps up, grabs the trusty sword and stands guard over the TV with the pointy end of the sword inches away from the bad guy.

No taekwondo for the little one.

St. Edwards in Fall

We went back to my favorite park this morning (spring, summer). Not everything in Texas is all show and dazzle. We don't do an explosion of fall colors. But the muted beauty is stunning. And for whatever reason it gives me a huge dose of wanderlust. Oh well.

We walked, climbed, made and floated bark and leaf boats down the creek, ate dark chocolate and managed to spend two hours of our lives very pleasurably. 

Vivian is now more than half-way through her Magellan Miles - Marathon Kids marathon.  It's been great to see her square her shoulders and lengthen her stride each week. She's almost old enough for a multi-day backpacking trip of 3-4 miles a day. Evan is our resident naturalist. He settles down for a good look at every leaf and bug and flower and bee. Sometimes he covers several feet in an hour.

Today there was a profusion of daddy long legs and black fuzzy caterpillars. There were thousands of daddy long legs on the trails and they'd scatter and run as we approached them. The kids squealed though I tried to explain that they aren't venomous (they are in the same class as spiders - arachnida - which also includes scorpions and ticks - but all four of these are in their own separate orders and the creatures in the daddy long leg order do not make webs or kill prey by injecting venom).

We also saw hundreds of black fuzzy caterpillars. As we were leaving the park I noticed one hauling his ass across the street. He was moving so fast his fuzz was pressed against the side of his body. I bet he broke the speed record for caterpillars. When we got back home I googled to find that these caterpillars will metamorphose to the giant leopard moth.

PIO

Jo is officially a Person of Indian Origin.

Because I was with my dad in the hospital, Jo played an Indian at Evan's school when they needed someone from an exotic place. She took them Indian dress-up clothes and Indian snacks and explained Diwali to the kids. She had some left-over diyas and Vivian and Evan painted them today in preparation for Diwali. Jo asked if I was turning all Indian on her. Just because I usually forget to celebrate Diwali.

Planting the Vegetable Garden

Things are moving along at the vegetable garden. This afternoon Vivian went with Rajeeta and Gunaraj to select plants from Natural Gardner. She picked kale, chard, spinach, lettuce, bok choy and a nice selection of herbs. Then she checked out the goats and chicken coop and dropped by the amazing butterfly garden.  Later, neighbor Ava helped her plant her loot. 

Thanks to Gunaraj and Rajeeta for getting Vivian interested in growing stuff she can eat. I hope it works out. I mean - it's going to work out. Even if I have to go to Whole Foods and buy a head of romaine lettuce and stick it in the dirt and let Vivian "harvest" it. Because look around at the rest of our garden. It's where weeds come to die.

Ice Cream

I wrote earlier about Evan's attachment to his Halloween candy. Unlike Vivian he wasn't willing to trade his candy for his confiscated toys and stuff. Ten days after Halloween he still asks with a hopeful smile every morning "Dada - can I eat some candy? Please!"

We took the kids to Amy's for lunch. They ate their hot dogs reluctantly under threat of not getting any ice cream if they didn't eat their lunch first. Then Jo got them their ice cream. Vivian wouldn't even come back to the table from the play scape. "I'm not that hungry." Evan ate a little bit and then ran off to play.

Evan's Parent Teacher Conference

It was on the verge of being uncomfortable. The praises. The love. The adulation. The child is a leader and a caring friend of others in class and a teachers' helper and speaks so well and is always happy and helpful and listens so well and is funny and charming and loves to have books read to him and so on.

He must be saving up all his goodwill for school. And using up every last drop of it there. Or they flat mistook us for some other kid's parents. We smiled and thanked them and slowly backed out of the class.

Vivian's Parent Teacher Conference

Vivian is a great kid. She gets along with everyone. The teachers love her. If only they can get her to listen to them. When she takes a break from socializing she sometimes gets some work done. That was the synopsis in a nutshell.

The good news is that she and her teachers seem to have reached some sort of an agreement. They think she is listening more than when she started out. She probably thinks that she has set expectations nice and low and modified their behavior. Either way they all seem happy with each other.

Math

When the lady from FOX news asked Karl Rove "Is this just math you do as a Republican to make yourself feel better?" she identified what is now being called Republican Math. Turns out there are other types too. Like Singapore Math.

Yesterday Jo and I and about a hundred other Magellan parents attended "Singapore Math Night". The speaker - a teacher who also trains other teachers to teach Singapore Math - made a few interesting points. Why do kids dislike math? Because we tell them to. Turns out many people hate math (I did too - specially in the guise of LinAl and Cal-II in Pilani). And they pass along this feeling to their children.

Another point - the teaching of each and every math concept should start with concrete, move to visual, and finally become abstract. A parent asked if this method makes sense only up to the 6th grade and that after that math was inherently abstract. At which point another parent identified herself as a PhD in math and said no - this could be applied to complex math in graduate school too.

The speaker noted how a math learner would have to acquire "mathematical facts". Initially she would need to count her fingers because she didn't know that she had five in each hand.. Later she would know that for a fact. Initially she would add two plus three manually. Later the answer would become a fact. We saw Vivian go through these stages in the last few months. While it's great to be able to create your entire knowledge base from first principles, it's impractical to do so each time.

I hope Vivian and Evan are better than me at math. Not necessarily PhD math nerds but good at it. Because if you are not, it's like going through life without being able to read well or swim or something basic like that.

During the talk a lady at the back had a hand-held microphone and she was whispering into it. It bugged a lot of the parents because it felt like someone in the audience was talking over the speaker. It was in fact a live English-to-Spanish translation for parents who don't speak English. Magellan has a small number os scholarship kids. Many of their parents don't speak enough English to understand the speaker. Ironically they will understand their children's Singapore Math homework while I will be baffled by Vivian's because the homework will be in Spanish.

Singapore math explained in English, translated to Spanish, and taught in Spanish for English-speaking students. Mr. Friedman - the world got even flatter.

Obama

It's a done deal. Obama get's a second term. Vivian - you were a baby when he won the first time around. And Evan - it's all new to you.

Grandpa in the Hospital

My dad is in the hospital. It's not life threatening, thank goodness. Just a pain in the ass. But I hope he'll be back home in a few days. Here's a photo from the day he was admitted.

The day before he ended up in hospital he had a great day. Evan and he walked around on the back deck. Then Evan brought him his toys and asked Grandpa to say hello to them. "Hello helicopter". Then "Hello flashlight". Then it got more complicated. "Hello flashlight in a pan". And so on. Then he lay down for a nap and woke up with a fever. And we drove to the hospital.

Monster

The other day we were getting ready to go out for one of Vivian's Magellan Miles marathon walks around the neighborhood. Evan pulled on his monster hat and gloves. And then ran around and screamed at all of us and chased Vivian around. And then they ran all the way to the park.

Yoda

The other day I was working out in the yard. Vivian came out and sat cross-legged in a chair and started to meditate. Or looked like and said that she was. How peaceful.

And then later in the day the kids were riding in the back of the car. Vivian held a toy inflatable sword in her hands. She had it up against Evan and calmly announced "Rabbit - say your prayers and prepare die". I was shocked till Jo mentioned that Vivian was quoting a Looney Tunes cartoon.