Week of September 3, 2003
"I want suds"Between the move into the new building at work, and the start of school, I let this week get away from me. Here it is, March 2004 and only now am I trying to reconstruct my entry from the notes that I keep daily about Owen. And of course, they're skimpier for this week than I could wish. We're usually in survival mode at this time of year, and this was particularly hard.
In an act of time-saving and solace, we ordered Indian food one night. A place that was always a reliable pizza and sub place began, a year or so ago, to offer Indian Food. This was so unexpected and strange to see in a hole in the wall, that we just sort of ignored this fact until world of mouth got to us: it's GOOD Indian food. It's close by, and cheap, so we thought we'd try it. It's an exceptional place to get vegetarian dishes, with some of the best Baigan Bhartha we've ever had. It's phenemonel, and it makes me wonder just how many times in the years since College, has this place been bought and sold? A steak sub is almost identical to what you'd have experience two decades ago, but obviously this misleads. We'll be ordering from here again, and cross our fingers that they keep this on their menu.
We've been working on Owen to get him to identify and perhaps even take a liking to Indian food, but so far, naan is about as far as he'll go. Apparently this is pretty typical, and it's not usually until three that kids will be willing to experiement with higher fiber food, and spicier food. This must be in keeping with their maturing digestive systems. This week Owen ate almost all the chickpeas out of my serving of Chana Masala. I know it's too much to hope that he'll ever do it again, but now we have some hope that someday, we'll be going to the India House in Northampton as a family.
Owen also has been fixated on prunes, or as he likes to call them "dried plums!" The plum industry is eager to move away from the image of grannies drinking prune juice and from what I can see, the new name is working. We've been lucky that he's so good about eating fruit, I suspect dried fruit will be getting us through the winter.
Since the whole world descends on Amherst during Labor Day weekend, we took our usual route and headed north to visit Scott's parents for the day. We can kill several birds with one stone, and Owen is thrilled for a change of venue. With his early hours, most errands we do, are done first thing in the morning anyway, no change in plans required for the influx of students! This was an expeicially nice visit since Owen's cousins were there (age 9 and 13).
At home, Owen's been enjoying the swings that are affiliated with our apartments, and he's also been enjoying playing on the giant rocks meant to deter cars from driving on the grass. He loves to reenact the same sequence again and again: Scott and Owen sit on the rocks (well, Scott has to lie down) and Owen pushes Scott onto the grass, where he can then fall on top of him. Part of me worries ("what if they hit their heads? Rocks aren't safe, what if they miss the grass?"). Part of me loves watching the tableaux and seeing Owen giggle. He's a master director, bending us to his willl, and he loves it. If I'm nearby, I get to join in the skit as the person sitting on the other side of the rock. My role must not vary, and Owen gets quite bossy if he needs to.
At bathtime, we've become addicted to bubble bath. At first, Owen had some misgivings, but as with so many things in a toddlers life, misgivings are better than removing something. We may not like it, but we like having things taken away even less. "I want suds!" He likes putting them on top of his metal trains and then dunk them clean again.
In other news, my mother moved back into her house. It was a chaotic, stressful experience for all, and I'm sorry that Owen's first introduction to the house was so negative. I don't blame him, it was a hard, hard visit. Walking around the house, it felt filled with bad Karma. I hope that disappates as things get more settled.
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