Ssshhh! Grandma’s Sleeping Now

Just a short post to let you all know I’m still around and will get back to blogging soon. My grandmother passed away on the 3rd, after a brief illness. We will be having a memorial service for her on the 10th, so I hope to be back soon after.

BTW, my daughter gave me the title for this post.

A Hug And A Kiss

This is something new my little angel has started. If she sees Mario or me stepping out of the house, she comes running up to the front door and calls out, “Wait! You can’t leave… You have to give me a hug and a kiss first!”

How cute is that? However, if she missed your exit, you’d be wise to make sure she misses your re-entry, because she’ll come running up and shin you!

A couple of times I’ve stopped to give her a hug and kiss out of fear of the punishment that’s sure to follow.

Hard Teats

We’re at the supermarket. There are people all around. And just as a reminder, my daughter has a loud voice:

Thaïs: Mummy, do you have hard teats?

Me: What? Er… I don’t know. Look… there’s the ketchup. Let me go get it.

Thaïs: No, wait. I have hard teats. Why do I have hard teats?

Me: Um.. I don’t know. Oh! Look at those cartons of milk. Let’s get some for you.

(If you haven’t realized it yet, I was trying to distract her and change the topic)

Thaïs: But why?

Me: I told you. I don’t know.

Thaïs: No! You know! Can you guess? Please? Can you guess?

(Now I’m getting desperate)

Me: Isn’t that the chocolate you wanted to buy? Go get some.

Thaïs: Because I brush them everyday, silly. With toot-paste!!

Update

I’ve been neglecting my blog lately. I could come up with several interesting excuses for doing so, but I’ll stick with the truth. I simply haven’t had the time. In the blogging world, this is probably inexcusable, and I should have been prepared for an eventuality like this, but I guess I have a long way to go before I get myself that organized.

We’ve been going around to the various schools in the vicinity, checking on their admission procedures. Now that Thaïs is almost three, it’s time for her to start. Actually the term begins in June, so she’ll be 3 years and 3 months old by then. She’s the only person who’s excited about the whole thing. Even though, for the first year, she’ll be at school for just 2-3 hours in the morning, and even though, since the time she started talking, I’ve been looking for all kinds of ways to get some peace and quiet from the non-stop chatter, it is a little depressing. My baby’s growing up. But who knows? My attitude may change once she actually starts going off to school and I get used to the long-forgotten tranquil mornings…

Also, my grandmother is not keeping too well. Between the regular visits to the hospital and the school admission procedures, things around here have been rather hectic.

And now, lest this turns out to be an extremely boring post, here’s something Thaïs said to her grandmother a few days ago. She had gone to spend the weekend with Mario’s parents and as is customary when she goes there, demanded to be taken out to the park in the evening. So they got dressed and ready to go. Thaïs insisted on putting on her own shoes. So Mario’s mum left her to it and walked towards the car. Afraid she might be left behind, Thaïs yelled out, “Wait for me, bloody bitch!”

I don’t know what punishment she earned for that, but I do know that Mario and I had a hearty laugh when we got to hear about it.

What’s Wrong With The Water Today?

Advance Warning: On reading this post, you are in no way allowed to laugh at, make fun of, or ridicule me, in any manner whatsoever.

I was getting ready to bathe Thaïs the other day and she asked me if she could use the shower. She normally asks me to fill up the tub because she loves playing in the water. While she’s splashing about in the tub, I get around 15-20 minutes of peace and quiet so there are days when I find myself looking forward to bath-time.

Anyway, this was one of the rare occasions that she asked for the shower. This is also fun (for me) ‘coz I get to hear her shriek with delight as the water splashes all over her back. So we got started.

She entered the way she usually does – she bends forward and backs into the shower area, bum first. She still isn’t comfortable with the water falling directly on her head.

So there we were, the two of us, in the bathroom with the door shut, when I suddenly began to get a peculiar smell.

I got as close to the shower as I could without getting wet and sniffed the water.Strange smell. I stepped back.

A couple of seconds later, I cupped my hand, filled it with water, and sniffed it again. Strange smell.

Now the smell was beginning to get stronger. Finally I couldn’t take it any longer. “Is the water smelling funny to you,” I asked Thaïs.

“No,” she replied.

“Then what’s that smell?” I wondered aloud.

Thaïs looked up at me, crinkled her eyes, gave me her most mischievous smile and said, “I farted!”

Let Me Do It For You

Read this post at Absolutely Bananas about a young make-up artist.

My little rascal tried something similar with me once. We were getting ready to go out when she came up to me, hands behind her back, and asked me to bend down.

So I did.

Then she showed me what she had been hiding behind her back.. a permanent marker.

“Let me do it… Let me put your lipstick on for you…!”

What Did You Say? – 7

Thaïs happened to come across cartons of her milk stored in the larder. All excited she blurted out, “Oh look! Those are my dudus!”

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Thaïs: Tana, help! Daddy’s rubbing his ‘deard’ on my cheek. It’s poking… Daddy! Don’t stop ‘dugging’ me!

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Thaïs went out for lunch with Mario’s parents and Mario’s sister and her family. When the rest of them were ordering their drinks, she placed her order too. “I’ll have a beer,” she told the waiter.

I’m told there was pin-drop silence all around the table.

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Thaïs caught me cursing today. “Mind your language, Tana,” she said. “Go stand in the corner and face the wall!”

Silence Is Golden

…but unfortunately, that is a phrase Thaïs doesn’t believe in.

My daughter can talk. No, I mean, my daughter can TALK. From the moment she wakes up in the morning to the time I tuck her in at night, she talks non-stop.

But doesn’t she have an afternoon nap, you wonder? You should get some peace and quiet then… She does nap for about two hours in the afternoon. Most days. Occasionally she skips it, when her cousins are around and she’s too excited to sleep. But of late I’ve noticed that she has started talking even in her sleep. I’ve heard her carrying on lengthy conversations with her cousins while she’s sleeping.

I got quite alarmed the first time I heard her. Most of the time she’s bullying them into letting her get her own way, which is generally the case when she’s awake. I guess being the youngest, and being the only girl, she gets away with it. So the only time she isn’t talking is when she’s eating. That’s the rule here, no talking until you finish eating. It works, for the most part. You’re only allowed to talk if you have something really important to say, like, “Look at my boo-boo… I fell down today.” If you examine the ‘wound’, it’ll usually be a superficial scratch. You wouldn’t even give it a second glance. But I guess to a two-and-a-half year old, it’s important. Or maybe it’s just her burning desire to talk.. And boy, is she loud! I suppose she has to be, to be able to bully her cousins. But I wish she’d turn down the volume when she’s with us. Sometimes we’ll be sitting two inches apart and she’ll yell right in my ear. Then immediately she’ll apologize, whisper the same thing again (like I didn’t hear it the first time!) and give me that heart-warming smile, I just want to pick her up and squeeze her!

Her dad and her aunt (my sister) both talk a lot, so there’s no surprise where she gets it from!

Words Of Wisdom – 1

Thaïs has suddenly become very concerned about my well-being. This morning as I was warming up her milk:

Don’t stand in front of the my-co-ro (meaning microwave) when it is on. You might get cooked!

I guess it’s the thought that counts.

Two-And-A-Half Going On Twelve-And-A-Half

Thaïs: I need to wear a bra…!

She was at her grandparents’ place when this episode took place, so unfortunately no pictures. But I believe she spent the whole morning going around the house with a handkerchief tied around her (ahem!) bust!

Potty Trained At Last

Finally! I knew it had to happen eventually, but the way she was going I was beginning to worry…

What am I talking about, you ask? My darling daughter has finally deigned to crap in her plastic potty. We’ve been trying to get her to do it for almost a year. She started peeing in the potty before she was two years old. But she wouldn’t crap in it.

Then, after a couple of days of getting the hang of peeing in the potty, she crapped in it – once. I was overjoyed, thinking my days of dealing with dirty diapers were over. (So much so, that I took pictures – if you’d like to see them, let me know.)

Little did I know that I would have to wait for about 8–9 months for the next crap. In the potty, that is. So, that first crap turned out to be a mistake, as I found out the very next day. ‘Coz when, with royal salute, she announced the arrival of His Majesty The Shit, she asked for a diaper. A little confused, I asked her why she wanted one.

“I can’t do it in the potty,” she said.

“Why not?” I asked.

“No. It’s not coming out. I need my diaper,” she said.

I tried showing her the pictures I had taken the previous day. I thought maybe jogging her memory would help. No luck. And no amount of reasoning, pleading or cajoling would change her mind. So I just left it at that. I did try bribing her with chocolate a few times, but that didn’t work either.

Three days ago, out of the blue, she went to her potty and sat down on it. I happened to be in the same room, and after a few seconds I heard a steady trickle.

“OK,” I thought. “She had finished her juice a little while ago, so what goes in must come out.”

After a few minutes, while she was still sitting there, she said “Oooh… Shit!”

Knowing that she has somewhat of a colorful vocabulary, I told her to mind her language.

Again she said, “Nooo… Shit!”

That’s when I turned around and saw her standing up, peering into the potty.

Seeing the unusual behavior, I went over look at what she was staring at. And there, in her potty, lying in peaceful solitude, was a perfectly shaped turd.

What excitement ensued! I yelled out to Mario and gave him the good news. We clapped and danced. A mini celebration of sorts. Thaïs was rewarded with some chocolate. Oh, and yes, I took pictures.

My Daughter’s First Phone Message

Thaïs took her first phone message today.

As it turned out, we had quite a few jobs to do in town this morning and we knew it would be pretty tiring for Thaïs, more so in this heat. So to spare her the discomfort, we decided to make two trips into town. The first trip Mario would make on his own, and complete all the jobs that he didn’t require my help for. That way, the second trip would be a lot more tolerable for Thaïs.

To save time, we also decided that Mario would call me as soon as he finished to let me know he was on his way back home to pick us up. That way I could start dressing up the little one, so we could all leave as soon as he got back.

Anyway, Mario called about an hour or so after he left. As luck would have it, I was at the front door talking to a salesman. Thaïs saw that I was busy, so she took it upon herself to answer the phone. This, by the way, is the first time she’s ever done that. A little while later she came out and said, “That was Daddy on the phone.”

As I was still preoccupied with the salesman, I said absent-mindedly, “Really? What did he say?” Asking her that was the biggest mistake I could have made. I knew why he had called. Without hesitation Thaïs replied, “Daddy said to put on your clothes!”

I wish I had my camera with me at that moment. I would have loved to have recorded the look on the salesman’s face when she said that!

Toddler Harassment – 1

According to Wikipedia, there are several types of harassments. But nowhere in its exhaustive list does it mention anything about ‘toddler harassment’. Yes, I said ‘toddler harassment’, and if you’ve ever been in a situation where you have a whole list of things to do with not enough time to complete them, and, in addition, you have your little bundle of joy running around the place, getting between your legs, quite literally, you will have a fair idea of what I’m talking about. You know you’re being harassed by your toddler when:

1. You pick up your toddler’s toy cell phone and try to dial a number.
2. You’re putting together a chicken-and-macaroni bake dish and you almost throw in the macaroni –uncooked.
3. Your doorbell rings and for some unknown reason you go answer the phone.
4. You’re hanging the laundry out to dry and half way through you discover you’ve been taking said items out of the dirty clothes basket. (This may be partly my fault since it was my idea to have identical clean and dirty laundry baskets.)

In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve labeled this post ‘Toddler Harassment – 1’ because I’m sure there’ll be a sequel. Maybe more than one.

Locked Out

I don’t know why, but my daughter seems to have a penchant for locking people up.

Actually, this time she locked us all out of the house.

I was out doing a little gardening… seriously, I was. Thaïs was out on the porch watching me.

After a while Mario came out to see what was going on. Neither of us geniuses thought to carry the front door keys out with us, just in case. But then, who thought that she’d go right back and slam the door?!

Yes, we have the kind of lock that doesn’t require a key to be locked. Not very practical when you have a toddler running around the place.

Anyway, that’s what she did. So there we were, all three of us, locked outside.

Fortunately, I had the car keys so I drove to Mario’s parents place, got the spare key from them and disaster was averted.

When asked why she did it she said, “I didn’t want flies and insects to get in!”

What Did You Say? – 6

Something new my darling has started – she refuses to let me wash her hands…

Thaïs: Tana, why you washing my hands? You’re getting on my nerves.

Me: What did you say?

Thaïs: Wait… let me burp…

Burrrrpp!

Thaïs: OK… I can’t talk when I’m burping. I said, “you’re getting on my nerves, Tana”.

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Thaïs: I want to play bat-minton.

Me: OK… but you’ll have to grow up a bit. The racquet is too big for you now.

Thaïs: OK… when I grow up I’ll play bat-minton.

After a while…

Thaïs: When I grow up I’ll hit the shutter-cock with the bat-minton… OK?

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Last night at around midnight…

Thaïs: Come on, Tana. It’s 10:30 o’clock. Time to go to sleep…

She had just spent the last 20 minutes jumping and dancing on the bed, and this, I suspect, is what got her exhausted enough to tell me that she was ready to go to sleep.

Thaïs: If I jump over the pillow, then I would fell down… so I’ll jump in the middle.

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Nursery Rhymes - 2

Cock-al-doodle-loo

My dame has lost her shoe

My master’s lost his figgle stick

And don’t know what to do!

FOO!

(Don’t ask me where she got that last line from!)

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Thaïs’ first attempt at “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”:

Likkle Twinkie star

I don’t know what you are …

…

Why you laughing, Tana…?

…

Ass…!

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Of Anglesh, Dinglesh And Sister Babies

Thaïs will say and do anything to stay up past her bed-time. Last night, after I put on her pyjamas and got her ready for bed, she tried to have a conversation with one of her imaginary friends.

She flipped open her toy cell phone and said, “Hello… hmm… yes. OK… bye.”

That was when I made the biggest mistake of my life. OK… the biggest mistake of that night… Asking her who she was talking to as I switched off the lights.

Now, I’m giving you the abridged version. Our actual conversation went on much longer since my little darling has a tendency to repeat herself.

Thaïs: That’s my fwend.

Me: Oh. What’s your friend’s name?

Thaïs: Um… Anglesh.

Me: Is your friend a boy or a girl?

Thaïs: He’s a boy.

Me: I see… and where is he?

Thaïs: He’s… er… he’s far away.

Me: What’s he doing there?

Thaïs: He’s gone to find a sister baby.

Me: A sister baby?

Thaïs: Yes. For me to play with.

She opens up her phone again and has another inane conversation.

Me: Now what’s Anglesh saying?

Thaïs: Huh?! That was not Anglesh. That was my other fwend.

Me: Who?

Thaïs: Er… Dinglesh.

Me: Is Dinglesh a boy or a girl?

Thaïs: A boy.

Me: And what is Dinglesh doing?

Thaïs: He’s also looking for a sister baby for me.

Me: I see. And what are you going to do with all these sister babies?

Thaïs: I’ll play with them. Cricket and golf and batminton.

Me: Hmm… both sister babies… Don’t you want a brother baby?

Thaïs: No. I want sister babies. Wait. Don’t talk. My phone is winging.

After hanging up…

Thaïs: That was my other fwend.

Me: What’s his name?

Thaïs: Er… Inglesh.

Me: Does Inglesh speak English?

Thaïs: What?! What you saying, Tana? Don’t talk all yubbish!

Me: I’m not talking rubbish. What language are we speaking in right now?

Thaïs: I don’t know. Daddy, what er… wang-idge are we speaking?

Mario: English. A pause…

Thaïs: No! That’s my fwend’s name!

Me: You told us your friend’s name was Inglesh.

Thaïs: OK… Sowwy!

Me: That’s OK. Have Anglesh and Dinglesh found your sister babies?

Thaïs: Not yet… I don’t know what they’re doing… Wasting my time…! Bloody swines…! Bassads…! I’m going to fire them!

Walk The Dog

No, this is not a yo-yo trick. We allowed Thaïs to walk one of the bigger dogs all by herself, yesterday. Of course, we were not far behind. But did she enjoy commanding Maggot (yes, that’s the dog!) 

Maggot, move it, I said! Stop! Sit! Wait! Come on, let’s go! She showed absolutely no fear at all. In fact, she was in heaven. At last, she finally had someone she could boss over…!

Full marks to Maggot, though. He was perfectly behaved, all the while letting Thaïs believe that she was the one in charge. Best of all, he took his orders like a (wise) man!

My Little Teapot

Thaïs has been learning the action song “I’m A Little Teapot”. She doesn’t quite know it yet - she keeps mixing up the lines. But she does seem to know most of the corresponding actions.

Except for the last line. For some reason, she insists on pouring the tea out of the handle instead of the spout, so she bends the other way.

We tried showing her how it works with a real teapot, but she refused to listen. She was having more fun pouring it out her way.

I tried to get some pictures of her in her teapot pose but as soon as she saw the camera she stopped and ran away.

Yesterday, out of the blue, she comes to me, points to her hip and says, ‘my handle is paining…!’

Running around the place, she had bumped into a chair and hurt herself.

Working Out In The Nude... Well, Almost!

My little cuckoo has suddenly gotten into aerobics in a big way. Now that would have been fine, except for the alarming fact that she insists on wearing nothing but her panties, socks and shoes.

For obvious reasons, I’m not posting any photos here. But, oh.. how I wish I could ;)

What Did You Say? - 5

It’s morning, Thaïs has just woken up and is refusing to let me take off her diaper.

Me: If you don’t let me take it off, you won’t get your milk… you won’t get to watch tv… nothing…

Thaïs: Then what can I get???

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Thaïs’ version of ‘The Three Little Pigs’:

One-a-pon-a time there was a likkle piggy… no… two-twee likkle piggies… And then what happened, Tana???

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Thaïs: Tana please bring my shoes here. I don’t want to walk bare-foo-fid. My feet are getting dirty!

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Little Drummer Girl

Mario’s parents bought Thaïs this drum kit last week. She’s been playing banging on it ever since…

Sometimes she can’t decide whether to play the drums or the guitar so she does both!

My Special Bed

Last night Thaïs slept in her cot for the first time in over a year. I finally decided it was time she made the shift, so I cleaned up the cot which hadn’t been used since she was about six months old, ‘dressed’ it up a bit with her favorite dolls and teddy bears, and tried to make it all sound like a new adventure. I was most surprised to find that it worked!

Thaïs: My bed… my special bed… It’s small… just for me… You’re too big, Tana. Your bum won’t fit…

(Around midnight. Thaïs is standing up in her cot.)

Me: OK… Lights out… Goodnight!

Thaïs: I want my bib… I go look for her bib and give it to her.

Thaïs: Thank you Tana. Goo-night Tana. Goo-night Daddy.

(Around 5 am. Thaïs is standing up in her cot.)

Thaïs: Tana wake up… I’m wet… I made su-su…

I get out of bed to clean her up. Somehow, she has managed to wet the bed through her diaper. Since her bedding now had to be changed and I wasn’t in the mood to do that at 5 o’clock in the morning, I washed and changed her, and let her go back to sleep in our bed.

(Around 7 am. Thaïs is sitting up in bed.)

Thaïs: Tana wake up… I want my milk…

And so the day begins…

Back To Blogging

Computer’s running fine now. Installed all the required software so I should be fine for the next 6–8 months!

My angel’s back after spending 3-4 days with Mario’s parents. She’s grown in the short time she’s been away. Talks a lot more. Can’t imagine how that could be possible, but it is…

She can count upto 10, in order, now. Till the last 2 weeks she had her own order, which changed every time she counted! She can also write 0 and 1 (she calls them ‘ball’ and ‘line’).

Her favorite phrase now is ‘forget it’. You ask her anything, she says ‘forget it’ if she doesn’t want to/know the answer.

OK… it’s rather late… she’s finally finished her milk. Yeah… I was just killing time… 

Ciao!

Windows Reinstalled... Again...

I’m back after a short break. Finally reinstalled Windows. It was long overdue. Thanks Tahill, for all the help. Also bought another 250GB hard disc. Thanks, Mario :-)

Reinstalling Windows is something I like have to do every 6–8 months, otherwise the computer gets pretty sluggish. That, coupled with a not-too-fast dial-up Internet connection, makes any kind of cyber-activity rather agonizing. To add to the confusion, I forgot to backup my Firefox bookmarks before formatting the system. Still kicking myself for that! Now I’m in the process of installing all the other software that I need… one day at a time…

What Did You Say? - 4

During one of our daily tickling bouts, Thaïs tried a new way to get us to give her a breather: “Stop! Or I’ll give you a ‘panking’!!” 

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Thaïs’ favorite TV programs:

• Pizzen Bake
• Everybody Loves Raymons
• The Sin-sins
• Koffee With Kanana
• Lord And Honor (Law And Order)
• Dessit All-files (Desperate Housewives)

Thaïs’ favorite cartoon shows:

• Tom & Jewwy
• Bob The Dilder

That last one has me worried !!!

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My Ditzy Daughter's Dirty Bib

I love my little bambina… even though she insists on carrying around a smelly, discolored, threadbare piece of cloth that she calls a bib, wherever she goes.

She also sucks her thumb… something she’s been doing since the time she was born. She’d grab the bib with her left hand and start sucking her right thumb. Always the right thumb. And always with the bib in the other hand.

Back then, I could wash the bib whenever it got dirty. When she was about a year old, she began to differentiate between the clean and dirty bibs by smell, and started refusing to let it be washed.

Each time she reached out for it she’d smell it first. If it ‘smelled’ clean, she’d actually ask for the dirty one. She now has a big red boo-boo on her right thumb caused by her thumb-sucking habit.

A couple of months ago, she asked me to ‘bannage’ her thumb (she probably bit down on it too hard!). So I did, curious to see what would happen when she decided she needed to suck it.

When the time came, she asked me to remove the bandage. I politely refused, saying she needed to keep it on overnight. She looked at me, then looked at the thumb, tried putting it in her mouth, didn’t like sucking on the bandage very much, and so popped her left thumb in her mouth.

She pulled a couple of faces, maybe the left thumb didn’t taste as good as the right, but she didn’t have a choice, so that was that.

Now, when she feels the urge coming on, she doesn’t hesitate to say, “Tana, give me my bib so I can suck my thumb!”

Mummy, I'm So Sick

My little darling is quite the hypochondriac. True, she has been sneezing a little bit, and her nose has been running, but it doesn’t seem to be serious. Probably due to the weather.

In any case, I’ve been giving her some medication since it started 3–4 days ago. Every morning she wakes up, drinks her milk and asks for her medicine. She looks very disappointed when she gets only one teaspoonful, and asks for another. Then she pouts for a couple of seconds when the answer is ‘no’.

In addition to the anti-histamine she gets her daily dose of calcium and cod liver oil, so she cheers up immediately.

The other day she asked for some tissue because she was ‘blessing’ (sneezing) and nose was ‘blowing’ (running)…!

What Did You Say? - 3

Yesterday, Thaïs tried to climb up one of the chairs and swing off the back rest. She has been doing this for a few days now. I tried to caution her but, as usual, she assured me she knew what she was doing.

Me: Thaïs, be careful. You might fall.

Thaïs: No. Won’t fall. I’m careful-ing…!

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She’s only about two-and-a-half, but her vocabulary is almost as colorful as her father’s. ‘Shut Up’ has become a routine word now. She uses it when, after several minutes of pulling her leg, light finally dawns.

‘Swine’ and ‘Bloody Bassad’ are abuses reserved for uncouth drivers.

She says ‘Damn Shit’ out of frustration when she has reached the limits of her dexterity.

‘Bloody Bitch’ is occasionally used on her imaginary friend.

I’ve saved the best (or the worst) for last. The ‘F’ word. That’s used when she wants some attention.

Or simply repeating what Mario has said.

What’s amazing is that she knows exactly when to abuse.

I know we should probably be more strict and correct her more often… Later, when she grows up a bit and it doesn’t sound quite as cute.

Similarities Between Husband And Baby

• Both love the beach
• Both have loud voices
• Both lose their balance while pulling up their pants

Punished

My little darling got punished yesterday. She messed up some settings on the computer, so was made to stand in the corner and face the wall for 5 minutes. Well, we started out with 5 minutes, but let her off the hook after 3.

I didn’t think she’d actually face the corner for any length of time. Guess she was too scared to disobey!

What Did You Say? - 2

Caught Thaïs staring at one of her story books yesterday. After about half a minute I asked her what she was doing. “I’m reading. Don’t ‘sturv my ‘con-ser-pay-ten’ Tana. Don’t ‘sturv me, K?”

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Part of our daily routine, when I give Thaïs her calcium and cod liver oil. As she takes her pills:

Thaïs: “I’m not well. Feeling so sick. Have to go to ‘os-ti-pal’.”

Me: OK. But they’ll also give you ‘jections.

Thaïs: Why?

Me: Because you’re not well.

Thaïs: No. I’m taking my pills. You take the ‘jection.

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We’re getting ready to go out. I’ve dressed Thaïs and she’s standing at the door waiting for me to get my bag and keys. “Come on, Tana. Let’s go. Don’t waste my time!!”

Stormy Weather

The monsoons are here. It’s been raining almost non-stop for the past week. Thunderstorms and all. Thaïs got to try out her new umbrella and raincoat a couple of days ago. In the rain, this time.

She used to open the umbrella and walk around the house and make me do the same. I did — until I got caught by the neighbor.

...

She put on her shorts all by herself for the first time today. There were two mistrials before she finally succeeded on the third try. The first time she got both legs through the same opening. Then she called out to me, “Ooh… ooh… Mummy look this… I’m ‘tuck. Please come here.”

On the second try she got the shorts on back to front, and realized it only when she wanted to stuff something down her front pockets. That got her quite upset, “Mummy, they gone… they gone.”

“What’s gone?”

“My pockets!”

“No, darling. You’ve got them on back to front. Let me help you.”

After I got her shorts back on she said, “Thank you, Tana. Now put on my shoes and let’s go out…”

Good bye Yahoo! 360°

OK. All done. That was easier than I'd expected. Not as easy as transferring all my Blogger posts, but it wasn't too bad considering it was a manual transfer.

Wooing My Daughter

What is it about grandparents that kids find so appealing? Thaïs has been with my mum for two days now and I've been trying unsuccessfully to get her to come back home.

She does the same thing with Mario's parents. Once she goes there, getting her to come back is a nightmare.

Are they more lenient? Well, okay... maybe so, but whatever happened to that mother-daughter bond??? One more myth shattered. I'm going to have to bribe her with some ice-cream or chocolate or, the most recent, 'yestauwant'.

Yes, I'll have to wine and dine my own daughter in order to get her to agree to come home with me. Now that's a courtship to remember!

Goodbye Blogger! Hello Wordpress!!

I’ve finally made the shift from Blogger to Wordpress and let me tell you, Wordpress is GREAT! It’s been only a couple of days, and I love it already.

Everything is so much easier, starting with the migration process. It was all automated and took about 30 seconds to import about as many posts. Now if only there was an automated way to import my Yahoo! blog. If you know of one, please enlighten me.

The way I see it, I’ll have to copy each post manually…. Maybe one day when I have the time… when the little one’s away… Not that there are many posts – I’ve been blogging for only about 6 months now, just the thought of having to do it manually...

So far, just one negative point for Wordpress – the themes. I think I preferred my chosen theme on Blogger. Wordpress does have one fully customizable theme that I know of, but that would mean messing around with CSS and whatever else, which I’ll get into later, and then maybe I’ll come up with a theme I like. For now I’m quite content checking out the available widgets and other options.

I’ve also found that the Technorati-Wordpress relationship is much better than the Technorati-Blogger one. Ever since I made the switch, all blog details, update info, tags, etc. show up on Technorati the way I expect them to.

Unfortunately, that’s not something I could say when I was using Blogger. Back then, getting that tag cloud to work was not very easy. I did manage eventually, though. And then I migrated to Wordpress!

All in all, Blogger’s great for the absolute novice, as it was for me, but when you want a little more flexibility, Wordpress is the next best (free;-)) choice.

Nursery Rhymes - 1

And Jack and Jill

Went up an ‘ill

To setch a pail of water down

Jack fell down

And byoke his gyound

And Jill came kyumbling after

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Baa baa black sleep

Have you any wool

Yes sir, yes sir

Twee bags full

One’s a my master

One’s a my dame

One’s a the likkle boy Thaïs

Lives down the lake

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I ear tunder, I ear tunder

‘Ark don’t you, ‘ark don’t you

Pitter patter yaindyops, pitter patter yaindyops

I’m wet tyoo, I’m wet tyoo

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Can you imagine having to listen to this all through the day? Ok…. it was cute for the first 2-3 days. But after that I had to plead with her to keep quiet for a while.

Her nursery rhymes, together with the regular screaming and shouting had given me a headache.Whether she took pity on me or just needed to give her mouth a rest, I’ll never know, but when I finally got a few minutes of peace and quiet, I lay down and shut my eyes.

Imagine my shock when she came to me and yelled, “Tana, open your damn eyes!”