(3) Wed Jun 01 2011 03:11 AIDS Conspiracy: Yesterday I was browsing free Kindle books, and I came across a book that claimed AZT causes AIDS and that the FDA and drug companies knew this and allowed it to happen because of greed. Really? Please enlighten me if you know more about this. I admit to youth and ignorance in the 80s, but was still surprised by this conspiracy theory (the book's reviews and a quick google search led me to more reasonable and researched explanations). I guess I shouldn't be surprised; after all, my mom had AIDS and the drug companies killed her.

The drugs and cocktails she took ate away at her stomach lining until she couldn't digest food properly. This led to frequent vomiting, constant nausea, and 3 years of intravenous total parenteral nutrition. When her body quit absorbing the TPN, it was removed and she died shortly after. So, yes, I suppose the drugs did kill her. Fourteen years after AIDS killed my dad.

Fourteen years during which she lived, worked, enjoyed her furballs and flowers, raised her kids, and touched hundreds of students, coworkers, friends, neighbors, church members, and relatives. I can't say I mind so much that the drugs killed her rather than AIDS.

At the same time I wrote this blog entry, several of my cousins were visiting my parents' grave. Was the earth disturbed? I have a feeling there's a run-on sentence in this post that has Mom turning.

(1) Thu Jun 02 2011 03:25 Maggie on Using Flotation Devices: You stick your bum in and get it stuck and then you move and float and you just float.

Sun Jun 05 2011 02:19 Sunday: For some reason Maggie really didn't want to go to church today. We had a tough time getting her dressed, and she cried when it was time for Primary. We ended up setting her up next to me at the piano, where I insisted she listen and sing along.

Apparently, John got kicked out of nursery. I have no problem with a "no parents in the nursery" rule, but then you have to let the kid do more than squawk before you bring them out.

I'm making soup and rolls for dinner. I hope the rolls turn out ok. I followed the recipe, which didn't include proofing the yeast, but I used chunky Indian yeast.

Sun Jun 05 2011 07:33 Babies and Kids:
Maggie: Dalton is a baby boy.
Me: What are you?
Maggie: I'm a kid girl.

I explained the word "birth" to her, and how it relates to "birthday" and being born.
Maggie, later: Being born is for kids and babies only.

Mon Jun 06 2011 23:45 There is no cheese in India: The kids are watching a brand new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD and eating marshmallows.

Sandeep just delivered Shaun's luggage! He had sent ahead an express package with some of our wishlist, but now we have everything! Except for pepperoni and bacon. No pork.

But we did get: 5 DVDs I ordered from Amazon, marshmallows, poptarts, a box of goldfish, giants bags of Sour Patch Kids, Skittles and Swedish Fish, taco seasoning, ranch dressing mix, black beans, brown sugar, onion soup mix, macaroni and cheese, corn syrup, spray sunscreen and enchilada sauce.

I had to lock myself in the bathroom and hide the DVDs in a towel, because the kids were following me around wanting to know what was in the suitcase. We will strategically distribute the other three.

Speaking of stuff, we also recently got a box from Jamie with tons of scrapbooking supplies and some candy, and a box from Rachel with fun new books and basil seeds.

Tue Jun 07 2011 00:01: When we first moved to India, Maggie called Sandeep "Sun Beep." Now Dalton has started saying his name, the first he's said besides Mama, Dada and Papa. He says, "Bip!" It's too cute.

We think Dalton might call Maggie "iss" for Sissy, but I'm not 100% sure.

Wed Jun 08 2011 06:10: I sent Maggie to Monkey Maze with Kannagi this afternoon and they were gone for three hours!

In the morning, we went to the central children's library. Half the books there are in Hindi and another third are in Kannada, which leaves 15% or so of English books, almost all of which are encyclopedias. They also had some ride-on toys, etc every single one of which was broken. Dalton was more than happy to sit in a wheel-less car and screamed when I took him away.

(4) Thu Jun 09 2011 04:41 Secret Keeping: The kids and I picked out a Father's Day present for John today. I coached Maggie on not telling him what it was. Later, we practiced.

*knock knock*
Me: Maggie, it's me, Daddy! Did you buy me any presents while I was gone?
Maggie: Yes!
Me: What was it?
Maggie: I'm not going to tell you!
Me: What if I tickle you? *tickle* I'm going to tickle you until you tell me!
Maggie: It was a ______!
Me: You're not supposed to tell him! Let's try again.

*knock knock*
Me: Maggie, it's me, Daddy! Did you buy me any presents while I was gone?
Maggie: Yes!
Me: What was it?
Maggie: I'm not going to tell you!
Me: What if I tickle you? *tickle* I'm going to tickle you until you tell me! What was it?
Maggie: I dunno!
Me: What was it? *tickle*
Maggie: I dunno! It was a ______!
Me: *sigh*
Maggie: A ____________!!!

Now: Maggie: How about you pretend to be the Daddy. And I will be in the house.
We'll see how this goes.

*repeat to tickling*
Maggie: I'm not gonna tell you! *grabs a book off the bed* It was a book!
Me: You bought me a book?
Maggie: Yeah! A book. And a ________!
Me: Oh dear.
Maggie: A ______!!!!!

(3) Thu Jun 09 2011 20:23 Picture It: John took the camera on his trip with Shaun, and I am feeling a little naked without it. But I can't wait to see pictures from Goa and Hampi.

Anyway, here is Dalton this morning: He's hiding in the curtain wearing Buzz & Woody jammies and Mickey Mouse sunglasses and holding a Lightning McQueen frisbee.

He's starting insisting on sleeping with cars. The first time I said, "No! I don't want you to get into that habit." Then I remembered that Maggie used to insist on, not only 5 Piglets, but three books, one of which had to be Goodnight Moon. And if the book fell down behind the bed in the night, we'd have to crawl under and get it out. So I let Dalton have his cars. He plays quietly before falling asleep and after waking up. Yay.

Fri Jun 10 2011 07:06 Real Job vs. Parenting: Maggie has been so ornery today. I won't go into detail, but a lot of screaming and time outs happened. I complained to Rachel.

Rachel: aww
poor you
does this make you feel better. my colleague just closed a document that he has been working on all day without saving
me: gah! yes that makes me feel better
there's a mysterious wet spot on the couch. Does that make him feel better?
Rachel: herm
me: lol

Sat Jun 11 2011 09:27 A Boy and His Cars: Today we went to the Shiva temple in Bangalore again. We just bought one activity ticket between us, so Dalton and I sat on the ground under the umbrellas with other "devotees." Dalton readily made friends with a dozen people sitting around us. One older lady settled next to us and fed Dalton bits of her coconut. He blew her kisses and brightened her day.

I am amazed at how friendly that boy is. So happy to see people, so willing to sit with them, go to them, wave to them, yell "Die!" at them, blow them kisses. The ladies just love him, and so do I.

Dalton is really into cars. Really. Other than the occasional book, ball, and of course his stuffed animals, he really just wants to play cars. He lines them up, tucks their front ends under pillows, and drives them up and down my arms. He has started asking for some to sleep with. Of course I let him have some. Not only does it keep him playing quietly in his crib for a while but I seem to recall Maggie sleeping with 5 Piglets and 3 books, one of which had to be Goodnight Moon. And if any of those items fell of her bed in the night, we'd never hear the end of it until we moved her bed away from the wall and dug her book out. I can handle a couple of cars.

We joked that he learned the sign for Train on our trip to Hampi, the word Boat in Hong Kong and the word Airplane in Goa. Since then he's learned Bus. Bus this, bus that. There are a LOT of busses in Bangalore and Dalton points out every single one. I was picturing him as a baby and have a hard time remembering a time when he didn't point at everything and yell out it's name. Bus! Dog! Airplane! Bus! Bus! Maggie thinks it's hilarious and sometimes imitates him doing it.

Sun Jun 12 2011 02:24 Secret Keeping Update: This is how it played out.

John: Did you buy me a tie?
Maggie: Yes.
John: What color is it?
Maggie: I'm not gonna tell you!

Also, she and John and blowing bursts of air at each other.
Maggie: Daddy, you poo in my mouth.

Mon Jun 13 2011 21:38 Dalton's First Sentence: Maggie has been playing "Birds" this week, moving on from "Horsies." This might have something to do with having watched Rio. Yesterday she was flapping around like a bird, so I picked her up and carried her airplane-style around the room.

Dalton, watching from the sidelines, said, "Da Da Tuh!" Which of course means, "Please carry me around like a bird after Maggie is finished" or "Dalton's turn!" It didn't sound like much, but I know that's what he said because the day before I said, "Dalton's turn?" and he repeated it back to me. He repeats everything. Be warned.

(1) Sat Jun 18 2011 01:50 India in 3D: I took the kids to the science museum yesterday. I sprung for the 3D movie (less than $1 for two of us). It was the worst 3D movie I've ever seen and it was hilarious. The first five minutes I couldn't decide if this was a really long ad for the 3D movie company, of if this was the "science movie". They showed clips of advertisements, crash test dummies, undersea life etc, along with the company's logo. It was really weird. And apparently it was just a really long ad.

Then there was a 5 minute 3D claymation short, "Ali Baba's tale". Basically, Aladdin, condensed. Then there was a 5 minute dinosaur show, where you run around dinosaur world seeing things, but in the background someone kept saying, "Your power has been restored." And at the end we were sterilized. ??? Finally there was a "magic show" that was more of a science show. I couldn't tell if it was badly dubbed or if the sound was a bit off. The magic consisted of a fake animated skull (and the scientist turns into the skull at the end), flying robots, and cloning a small white mouse into dozens of big, brown rats. Hmm. The end!

The 3D goggles were really dark, and I had a hard time seeing the film anyway. Dalton sat still the entire time, and Maggie loved it. The dinosaur bit was a little scary and she held my hand. But Dalton, who freaks out at the animatronic dinosaur exhibit, didn't mind one bit. Maybe because he wasn't wearing the goggles.

Sun Jun 19 2011 05:12 Dalton Narrates Tangled: Horse! Mooooo! Ribbit! Bubbles! Ribbit! Lights!

Mon Jun 20 2011 04:41 Bookworm Jr.: Today the kids and I went to a nearby bookstore and spent an hour browsing around. They had tons of fun kid books. Most Indian books are moral stories. There are also a few series on "fairy tales" or stories of the gods. Then there's retellings of Disney movies and things Americans would call fairy tales (Hansel and Gretel et al). Everything else is pretty much nonfiction. Indian kids must really like kid encyclopedias and dictionaries.

This store had a section on board books, and some Dr. Seuss, and some workbook. There was a giant book on birds that I really wanted to get Maggie. It was cool, and had a big kingfisher on the cover, but we don't need a giant book. We picked out a tame moral story and a nonfiction book about dinosaurs. The dinosaur book is actually really good - and entirely accurate (as of 2011). It doesn't even say "used to be known as Brontosaurus". Of course, it's an Usborne book, sold for 3.99lbs elsewhere. The moral story, Granny's Sari, was only $.50, but I thought we should collect some Indian books to bring home, and this one was pretty unique without being a cartoon about a god.

I also bought a Barbie in a sari. Hopefully hers is easier to put on than mine.

Tue Jun 21 2011 05:51 Easter Egg + Dinosaurs = Fun: Mom! The parasaurolophus that says honk with a crest on its head is pasching! [hatching]

Thu Jun 23 2011 04:05 Night Night!: When we got home from a long search for a frozen yogurt place in Koramangala, Dalton held out his feet for me to take his shoes of, threw his car into the crib, grabbed his alligator and elephant, and climbed into his crib. You would think I hadn't been carrying him the entire time.

This morning we read Goodnight Moon. Or, he flipped the pages (usually backwards) as quickly as he could while I tried to keep up. He repeated and signed as much as he could. He recently learned the sign for mouse, which is brushing your finger on the tip of your nose twice. Now he has a sign for "hush" which is sticking his finger up his nose.

Now he is pretending a tube of oragel is a car. Crazy boy.

Sun Jun 26 2011 19:26 Mommy Knows.: The kids got up at 6:15 today. I made them go back to bed. I told Maggie it was still night time and her shows weren't on yet. At 6:45 I finally got up with her and we turned on the TV. And she started crying because her show wasn't on!

Making English Muffins for breakfast.

(1) Tue Jun 28 2011 09:05 Dr. Seuss Funnies: A lot of times when I read rhyming books to Maggie, I leave off the last word for her to fill in. One of our bedtime stories tonight was One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

All I like to do is hop
from finger top
to finger top one.

they walked all night
from near to far.
I would never walk.
I would take a auto.