The Origin of Language

Priya is always guessing, always analyzing, always wondering, always thinking. And, I think a ride in the car gives her a quiet place for the mind to wander. After reaching the Target this morning, this is the conversation we had in the parking lot.

Priya: I always wonder why they call things things.
Mommy: Oh, you mean where things get their names?
Priya: Yeah, like vehicle?
Mommy: Good point... I still haven't figured it all out.
Priya: But, I know why the Thunderbirds are called that. Because they sound like thunder and they fly like birds. Why are they called birds though? They should be the Thunderjets.

She has been picking out nuances in Sanjay's speech for a couple of months now. It's a fun trick for her to ask him to say, “I think”. When he does, it comes out more like “I stink” because he can't form the “th” sound yet with his mouth and this always sets her into a fit of laughter. She even hears differences in Pappy's accent. She recently asked me “Why does Pappy call water, 'wuh-der'?”. With her keen observation skills and our position as primary role models, we must be even more careful about our word choices.

Tooth Fairy Mishaps

After such an uplifting day yesterday, Priya awoke to great disappointment this morning when her tooth was still under her pillow in a plastic baggie... the Tooth Fairy never exchanged it for a few coins last night. How dare her?

This is how I find out. I pulled my car in the garage this morning with the radio blaring and all I see is the house door opening, Priya standing there with great concern in her face, lips moving telling me something very important, but through the glass of my car windows and the loud tunes I couldn't make out what it was she was saying. Yikes, the Tooth Fairy forgot to come.

Somehow, last night I knew I was going to forget. When I tucked her in I thought to myself... go get the money now and lay it by your bed so you don't forget... then my laziness got in the way and that never happened. I got too busy uploading pictures and blogging about our fun day at the park yesterday instead. And, now I'm paying for it. The problem with this scenario is that you have to think quick... there's no time to prepare a grand explanation of why she didn't come for the tooth. Then, of course, I'm thinking, "What has Daddy already told her? Should we be giving the same story?"... oh man, I'm in trouble. I didn't have a viable excuse like my friend, KO, over the winter when this exact thing happened to her. Luckily, it had snowed the night before so of course, it's hard for the Tooth Fairy to be out and about in the snow. How about my friend Susan? Her story is believable too. The Tooth Fairy can't honestly be expected to go on a hunt for it in the car.

What was I going to tell Priya? She'd been talking about it all afternoon how she was going to wake up with money... how the Tooth Fairy had once left her 3 dollars (Really? Not this Tooth Fairy). The best I could come up with was that it was because she was sleeping in the trundle bed last night, not her regular bed and so that threw the Tooth Fairy off. She got confused, of course. But, maybe tonight if you move back into your own bed, she'll find it. I found out a minute later that Daddy gave a whole different story... something about it being a test for her to see if she would move the tooth out from under her pillow. Either way, both of these excuses are a little shady and Priya wasn't convinced. We'll try again tonight... hopefully the Tooth Fairy won't disappoint this second time around.

It's Days Like This...

that make me feel so guilty about my job as full-time Mommy. In the summer, without the schedule of school and the freezing cold temperatures, full-time Mommy also means full-time vacation. So, while Daddy works tirelessly almost every day to keep us financially secure, we are out playing... being kids... including Mommy. I feel so fortunate to be able to spend days like this with them while they are little, but at the same time I wish we could be sharing more of these days with Daddy. The few weeks of vacation he receives as part of his benefits package at work just don't cut it.

What exciting thing did we do today, you ask? Well we spent the day in Santa's Workshop at the North Pole. It's a great little amusement park not too far from us that is geared toward the little kids. Its luring array of little-people Christmas-themed rides, a North Pole that is always frozen no matter what time of year, a candy cane slide, a visit with Santa Claus himself and a ride on Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer make this park irresistible to young children. There is something wrong however with hearing "Little Drummer Boy" and sitting on Santa's lap when it's almost 80 degrees outside.

We planned to spend the morning at the park, a quick stop for our picnic lunches and maybe another half hour or so after that before we skedaddled out of there... but we were having so much fun that we nearly closed the place down at 5pm. No one wanted to stop; every single one of us, including the adults, wanted to ride "just one more ride". What's more, the park wasn't crowded at all so we stayed on for 2 or 3 rounds at many attractions. You can see all of our pictures from today... if you have some time on your hands.

The kids will remember this day for many things:

• Priya lost a tooth in the spinning ornament on the white Christmas tree attraction
• Sanjay was terrified in the Haunted House that he thought had "good people in it"
• Priya rode the Tilt-A-Whirl without giving the thumbs down (indicating to the ride operator that she wants it to stop so she can get out)
• Sanjay insisted on riding something that I warned him against and unfortunately had to bear the entire thing with his eyes closed since it was on a timer and the ride operator couldn't stop it for kids in fear... I felt so bad for him
• Waiting for Santa to come back from lunch so they could put in their requests for Christmas
• Falling asleep in the car on the way home from sheer exhaustion

I will remember this day for one thing:

• Spending precious time with both of them and playing like a kid again myself

Airline Fees

Last week, my good friend KO was talking about the airlines and how they are trying to make up for rising fuel costs by adding more random fees for things like checked baggage, in-flight meals, extra legroom and choosing an aisle or window seat. I must say, it's getting a bit ridiculous, but hopefully it won't get as grim as this cartoonist projects. :)

Proof That Branding Does Work

This morning while at a traffic light, Sanjay says to me, "Look Mom, American Idol on that car". After just having watched the finale, it must be fresh on his mind. I'm looking around at the cars, and I don't see it. So, I ask him to clarify... "Which car, Sanjay?". Then, suddenly I realize that he's talking about the Ford Explorer in the next lane over. Sanjay, my 3 year old that doesn't read, equates the Ford logo with American Idol. This was probably the intention of Ford marketing when they partnered with American Idol back in 2002 when it all started.

Ironically tonight I had a similar experience with Priya where a commercial she'd seen affected the way she thought about a particular product. Here's the conversation the kids and I had while getting ready for bed:

Sanjay: What is this?
Mommy: That's Mommy and Daddy's toothpaste. Wanna try some?
Sanjay: No.
Priya: Ooooh. I want to try some. I need it for my teeth because Colgate Total cleans your teeth really good.
Mommy: Really? How do you know that?
Priya: I saw it on a commercial. (proceeds to point out that her kid toothpaste is just Colgate, not Colgate Total)

This last tidbit is not about branding, but it is about a commercial and it's just too cute to be left out of this post. Sanjay on seeing a commercial for the movie E.T. says to me... "The alien is looking for a home and the boy is looking for a friend." How perceptive you are, my little Sanjay, to glean that from a 2 minute blurb about this classic movie.

Flashback to the 80's

In less than an hour we're heading out to see one of my favorite bands from the high school days... The Cure. Bartee just got turned on to them a little while back when he heard "Fascination Street" for the first time and now he's a big fan, too. We're headed to see a great band with some great friends at a great venue... Red Rocks Amphitheatre. What a night!

Looks like although The Cure hasn't been churning out much new music, they sure have been putting on a lot of shows. I haven't seen them since 1987 at the MCI Center in Washington DC. We were just teenagers and our seats weren't great, but we knew some folks who had tickets in the 9th row, so we snuck past the security guys and squeezed in that row for a few songs... it was awesome. Soon the security guards started checking tickets with flashlights, so we scampered back to our assigned seats. Tonight, I'll be content with our general admission seating while I sit there filled with nostalgia.

Robert Smith, we're on our way...

Preschool Skill Assessment

Sanjay brought home his first "report card" recently. I could hardly wait to tear it open to see what his teachers think of him... to see if he acts differently at school than at home. He received very good marks. His lowest rated skill was "Shows compassion/understands other children's feelings", which tends to match his at-home behavior. According to the report, he still has not mastered "I can line up and follow the leader"... I can just imagine the amount of fidgeting he must do when having to obey this kind of structure. My favorite part of the report is the personal note from the teachers... I always love this section. They wrote about Sanjay:

"It has been a pleasure to have Sanjay in the Honeybee class. He is a sweet, bright little boy who just lights up the room. He is doing well in all areas and is constantly learning. We will miss him! Stop and see us in the fall. Have a great summer!"

Out of curiousity I grabbed Priya's skill assessment from the same class and same teacher when she was Sanjay's age (+3 months). Her lowest marks were in the following skills: "I can line up and follow the leader", "Helps with clean up time", "I can play cooperatively/take turns and share", and "I can use scissors with control". It's funny because I remember specifically her teachers talking to me about her ability to effectively cut anything. But, those memories only surfaced when I pulled out this report. Luckily she's crossed that hurdle since her preschool days and now is a regular pro at creating artwork, and even slippers, out of construction paper. Here is what the same teacher said about Priya three years ago:

"Priya is a very sweet girl. She is a great Honeybee and is well rounded in all areas. She is a joy to have in class. We are working on our 'cutting skills'. Thank you for sharing her with us this year."