Jai Ho

Back in February and March of 2012 when Vivian was turning 5 in Hyderabad she learned three Bollywood dances for a preschool talent night. Here is a post from back then.  As you can see, Evan - who was a couple of months short of turning 2 was very much involved.

And here's a link to a youtube video of her doing the Jai Ho dance for her Grandpa at our Banjara Hills flat.

Vivian's current unit of enquiry at school is "The Artist Within Me". Which is probably hard on the parents of one of Vivian's class mates who wants to be an artist and her parents want her to be a doctor or a hedge fund manager.

So every morning this week for about an hour a few students each day have come to school prepared to display a talent in front of their class. It has ranged from piano recitals to skate boarding, from lego work to rock collections. Vivian decided to revive Jai Ho from two years ago. She studied her own video a few times and tried on her old costume and was ready. So was Evan who considers himself a full participant in spite of all our efforts.

See it here or at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k45b9LBi6U and below it there's a screen grab from the video where I caught Evan giving one of Vivian's girl class mates the come hither look.

Later that afternoon Jo had a surprise children's dance party for Karen's birthday and Ava and Karen joined them to do Jai Ho and it looked much more Bollywood, especially Ava in her dazzling outfit.

Soccer And Salsa

Evan's semester is winding down. Though school will carry on for a few more weeks the extra curricular activities are coming to an end. Today at school Evan finished his last Soccer Shots game. He has been sitting out the last few minutes because he doesn't like the scrimmage part. But today Jo said he jumped right in. Got rolled over and landed in the dirt on his face. Went got a drink of water and got back into the game. He got the ball. Passed it to Hyder. Hyder scored. Game over. Season over. "Everyone wanted to high-five me, Daddy".

Yesterday was the last day of Evan's cooking class. Ms. Tammy is an amazing cooking teacher and an accomplished chef. Yesterday she wanted the kids to make something for Mother's Day. She thought of cake and cookies and lots of other things but they all had eggs and she knew Jo can't eat egg. So she had the kids make salsa and chips from scratch (rolled out tortillas and cut them and fried them) and Evan brought home a beautiful little jar of salsa and fresh chips. 

Sad Face

Evan needed to visit Dr. Griggs for his four-year check-up. Easy peasy. But he knew that he was going to get shots. Two of them. TDap (Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis) and polio. I pulled the short straw and Evan and I walked into the good doctor's office one afternoon last week.

The physical went smoothly. Evan chatted with the doctor and his medical student-in-training. When Griggs wanted to check Evan's eyes he put his thumbs under Evan's eyes and pulled them down a bit and asked "Why are you so sad?". Evan found this very funny and told him he wasn't.

Then we breezed through the vision and hearing exam. At which point we both knew what was left. The nurse walked in with her needles, syringes and bandaids. She laid everything out while I explained to Evan that it would only hurt for a little and then it would stop. And that the medicine in the shots was going to help him not catch diseases that could kill him and that at one time did kill a lot of children. And that his Grandpa helped to get children vaccinated with the polio vaccine and that India is now polio-free. And that both his Grandmas have given many a children many a shot. He seemed to understand. The nurse asked him to sit on my lap. I held him in a hug. The nurse gave him both shots in quick succession on his left thigh. And she left. Evan's lips quivered. Then he sobbed. By the time we paid and left he was dripping tears and snot. But he finished before we reached the car.

Later that evening at dinner he said "Vivian - look - I can make a sad face". And I just happened to have my iPhone out and ready.

The Dude

Last week one evening we decided to walk and bike down to the Epicerie for post dinner cookies, and in Vivian's case, a cheese plate. We sat outside. The speakers were playing funk and R&B.

After Evan finished, he sprang up and started this slow funk move. There was a table with six young ladies who started oohing and aahing. This egged him on. Soon he was throwing them smoldering looks and beckoning them over with his hands while making James Brown moves. I have no idea where Evan learned any of this but we had to get him out of there before things got too hot.

I'm happy to report the Vivian danced very awkwardly and wholesomely and was never in danger of being mobbed.