Gas Hotel

Like everyone, Jo and I chat about all kinds of inane stuff when driving. Problem is that these days Vivian sits there in her car seat and soaks it all up and then has a hundred questions.

So there we were driving through a part of New Braunfels we hadn't seen in a while. I point out to Jo "...and look at this new big-ass hotel here". A few seconds later, from the back seat: "Excuse me. Mommy - I have a question for you. Why did Daddy say there is a Gas Hotel there?"

Old Mac

Last night Vivian gave a rousing performance of Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater to Uncle Tom and Aunt Ana and Brian and Kim and Tracy and Grandma.

She must have learned it at school recently - she's been singing it while sitting in her car seat the last few days. So the full stand-up performance was new to us too. When she got to the part about putting the wife in the pumpkin shell, she covered her mouth with her hand like someone would when saying something a bit risque or shameful and shook her head from side to side. And then she ended very dramatically with "where he kept her VERY VERY WELL". Much applause.

Then she decided to follow this crowd-pleaser with Old McDonald. Back in the day she used to cycle through all the animals and delighted in mimicking or imagining their sounds. Now here she was, standing in front of a real-life farmer.

As she warmed up to her first "and on that farm", I must say I was a proud and expectant dad. Would she dazzle Uncle Tom with her brilliant knowledge of farm animals? Or would it be exotic jungle animals? Or sometimes she threw in something more unusual like "dolphins" and "jelly fish". What would it be? Poignant pause. And then she finished: "...he had a.......poop. Here a poop, there a poop, everywhere a poop poop".

Alas - sometimes Vivian and I sing it this way while she's sitting on the toilet - to encourage the appearance of aforementioned poop. Little did I realize that this is the version she'd trot out to the visiting fam.

Halloween

For the second time in ten years we didn't have a Halloween party. The last time was five years ago when Jo and I were on our honeymoon. The honeymoon continues... but this time Vivian was the excuse. She wanted to trick-or-treat and we were too lazy to do both.

Vivian dressed up as a butterfly and then got her face painted by Amy. Eleanor was a flower. And Ava was a lion!

We visited about half the homes in our two blocks and by the end Vivian's candy bucket was too heavy for her to carry. She knows how to trick-or-treat.

That's because we practiced hard the night before. We walked out the front door and shut it behind us and knocked till Mommy opened it. Then Vivian said "I need candy".

It took many more tries before she said "trick or treat?" instead of "I want candy". Just one more step in the long path to getting kids to say an euphemism or something obtuse or polite or ritualistic instead of what they really want to say.

I'll have the pictures from Halloween up soon. Meanwhile, here one of Vivian showing off her pumpkin that Simran gave her.

Eat KitKats Like a Caveman

I recently read Pollan's book which resonated with my thoughts towards food. He advised to "Eat foods. Not too much. Mostly plants". And when I lay there like a lump of 100,000 grams of trans fats on the gym floor and Jen admonishes me to eat better (which, to paraphrase her paleo diet, would add - "And meats" to Pollan's), I think that perhaps I really should try.

So the other day Vivian and I went to Wheatsville. Vivian impressed the stockers by naming brussels sprouts, snow peas, mushrooms, acorn squash, and many other vegetables that we bought. Then we went to Musashino and ate big-eye sashimi and boiled edamame for dinner - which can't be that bad for you. This was followed the next day by a lunch of filet mignon, roast leg of lamb, grilled asparagus, and fresh hearts of palms at the churrascaria. By dinner time, when we fixed chicken and mushrooms and snow peas at home, I was feeling pretty smug. Several meals under the belt and not one gram of refined grain or sugar had passed my lips.

And then Vivian went to bed and Jo and I popped popcorn in the microwave and ate it with a whole bag to Halloween KitKats. Arrrgh....