The Case of The Crying Cave

This evening at dinner Priya shared with us her plans of writing a book called "The Case of the Crying Cave". The plot... some boy scouts walking in the forest stumble upon a cave that is making noise. Inside the cave, they find a monster. End of story. Daddy suggests that a mystery shouldn't be scary like that and instead maybe they solve the case by figuring out that the noise was made by the blowing wind in the cave rather than an actual living being. It made for a very interesting dinner conversation. However, Priya is still very concerned about how she will make it into a book. She still can't spell all the words that she can speak, and how will she ever bind the pages?? Oh, the worries of a 5 year old.

Company for Christmas

Earlier this week, Jeanette and family made plans to come visit us for Christmas for a few days. Although this will be a short visit, it's always fun to be together with family during the holidays. Unexpectedly, Mom called today telling me that she was trying to talk Jean into coming out for Christmas and that Dad had already made up his mind that he was making the trip. Wow, can this be true? Am I dreaming? One thing that has really bummed me out about moving to Colorado is that we haven't been home for the holidays since leaving. Every year we justify it by promising to head East for the summer when we can enjoy the beaches, but there's something about celebrating Thanksgiving and/or Christmas with family that I've been really missing. So, needless to say I am anxiously looking forward to Christmas with my family. The only thing that would make it better would be Mom joining us... maybe she'll change her mind. I can only wish.

Out To Breakfast

This morning we are on our way to The Egg & I for some pancakes and eggs. It's fun to go out to breakfast as a family... we can all find something on the menu that we like, the lines aren't too long and everyone is well-rested and not cranky! Anyway, Priya says from the back seat, "...after we have breakfast...", and Bartee notices that she actually pronounced it "breakfast". Our little girl is no longer mispronouncing words in a funny and recognizable way. Even though her speech has been clear for a long time, this word "breakfast" has come out a little more like "breh-fext" until very, very recently. When these childlike qualities start disappearing we feel a certain sadness that they are growing up and are that much closer to independence from Mom and Dad.

Warm, cozy sleep... or maybe not

Yesterday, on the doorstep was a package from Bed, Bath and Beyond. It came sooner than expected, so Bartee quickly named it my birthday gift due to the impeccable timing. Priya tried to carry it inside for me, but only made it half way. The box was too heavy and awkward for her.

Since our bedroom is located directly above the garage which is not insulated, we generally climb into a refrigerator-like bed on winter nights. So, this year we decided to do something about it. Do we put the space heater in our bedroom? Should we buy flannel sheets? How about adding a wool blanket to the layers of bedding? Remembering my high school days of sleeping in the basement and the electric blanket that saved me from almost certain teeth-chattering shivers at night, we decided the perfect solution would be an electric blanket.

So, we invested... yes invested... with their new lower EMF emissions and dual heater controls, they get away with charging an arm and a leg for this kind of comfort. I installed it, pre-heated it and made Bartee climb in to feel the warmth generated under the sheets. Ahhh... this is nice. While Bartee steps out for a quick bathroom visit, I decide to play with the controls. Let's see how it feels at level 8? Then, promptly... before even enjoying the increase in heat, I fall asleep. In the middle of the night Bartee wakes up twice... once to turn his side of the blanket off because he's too warm and then once more to throw the blanket off himself and onto my side of the bed because he's hot and can't understand why it's not turning off. Oooooopssie, somehow during the installation I put his control on my side of the bed and my control on his side of the bed. Sorry for inflicting you with level 8 heat, honey... but maybe that's what you get for claiming a household item, that we agreed on buying, my birthday gift. :)

Do you have the I-Pie?

Both the kids love listening to music, loud music, my music, in the car. I have trained them this way. Because of this love of music, they often have requests which cannot be filled unless I have my handy dandy I-Pod loaded with the tunes they know. So now Sanjay always checks with me first to see if I'm prepared... "Mom, do you have the I-Pie?". It's so cute that I make him say it a few times before I will answer him.

Still potty-training

So, you can see I'm not real good at this blogging thing... skipping days here and there, but I thought I should at least post a followup entry related to the Potty Time happenings. Turns out, that was a fluke. I haven't been able to get him to do it since and not only that, but he generally protests wearing underwear these days. It'll happen some day... I don't think he'll be going to Kindergarten in diapers.

Riding the Bus

Priya has been begging me to let her ride the bus for a while now because "Parent Pickup is so boring". So, finally I got the courage to let her try it. I'll admit, it was more scary for me than it was for her. What if she didn't get on the bus? What if she gets off at the wrong stop? What if I am a little late picking her up... and she has no adult to watch over her? Anyway, today is the day that I slipped a note to her teacher in the daily folder indicating that her dismissal routine has changed. I am expecting her bus at the local elementary school at 3:46pm. I get there early just to be sure. I see several buses and more are filing in as I wait, but I don't see Bus #41. Still waiting and waiting... and these buses are about to be filled up with elementary students on their way home, so I decide to ask one of the drivers about Bus #41. His reply, "Hmm... I don't think Bus #41 comes here. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it doesn't". So, I'm about ready to freak out now even though I had called the transportation department the week before to verify all the bus route information. The driver suggests that I check with a teacher. She confirms, "I don't think Bus #41 comes here". "Yikes" I'm thinking... then behind her on the road I see Bus #41 coming down the street. The driver and the teacher were right, the bus doesn't pull into the school, but it stops instead on the other side of the street to drop off kids transported from other schools. In the midst of all the confusion and worry, I forget to take a picture of Priya getting off the bus. Oh well, there'll be another day for this... at least she made it safely home.