We've been so busy doing (and saying) entertaining things this summer, we've had no time to write. And now, Didou's here, we're out and about even more, with less time (can you have less than zero?!) to blog.
So finally, we've deputised Mommy to update you because it really has been ages since you heard from us. But Mommy hears everything we say and is the best person for the job (it's not like she's got anything else to do!), so she's agreed to put together some soundbites from this summer for your amusement (we hope)!
Take it away, Mommeeee...
Mommy: As the children asked me very nicely (they even threw in a 'please' or two!) to post an update of their activities on their blog (and because they do keep me very busy, whatever they might think!), I have patched together snatches of my conversations with them over the last 3 months.
Some of you would have read these on my Facebook page, others might have heard me relate them, and a select few amongst you would've been lucky enough to have heard them holding forth on life, the universe, and everything, with your own ears!
Here's some of their chatter and a new slideshow (which I agreed to throw in at water-gun point!) of their splendid summer (so far)...
My 21 month old daughter came running to me the other day, "Look Mommy, there's a man at the window!" I turned to see the window cleaner and was about to reassure her when she laid a firm hand on my arm and said in a soothing voice, " He's not naughty Mommy, you do NOT have to hide." Our role reversal was complete, 30 years sooner than I expected! (August 2011)
Whatever my 3 year old son has to show me these days, whether it's one of his wonderful Lego creations or something far less attractive (slugs, scabs and worse!), is preceded by a Ringmaster’s sonorous “Ladies and Gentlemen”, then presented with a dramatic flourish, and a proud “Tadah!" (August 2011)
Embarrassingly for my husband, ANY loud, reverberating noise makes our 20 month old daughter exclaim, "Daddy's trumping again"! Poor Daddy, he's not that bad! (July 2011)
I asked my 19 month old daughter her name and she beamed and said proudly,"Ayana Hanky"! (July 2011)
In my quintessentially Bengali Mom way, I was telling my kids how I hoped they'd 'live down the road' from me when they grew up, when my little boy piped up anxiously, "We can't live down ON the road, Mom. We'd get run over!" (June 2011)
Even before my 19 month old daughter started speaking in sentences, she had mastered all the really essential phrases, like 'not me!' to defend herself against accusations of wrong-doing (when she was innocent and especially when she was NOT!). But sometimes, she gets her timing wrong, like the other day, when she yelled 'Not me!' BEFORE tipping her beaker of juice over in full view of everyone! (June 2011)
A line in my 3 year old son's favourite episode of 'Bob the Builder' about a cowboy who could ride anything, 'even a tornado', had my little boy rolling with laughter. When I asked him what was so funny, he looked at me as if I was slow and said incredulously, "Ride a tomato? A TOMATO?? No-one can ride a tomato!" (June 2011)
As I tidied my son, the table, and my daughter after another messy meal, my son kept pestering me to clean his little sister first, who, having insisted on feeding herself in her usual fiercely independent way, was looking like The Swamp Thing. I finally gave in and cleaned her to the delight of her brother who pronounced, with a broad 'I told you so' grin, "See Mommy, Sis is pretty when she's clean!" (June 2011)
My son looked me up and down yesterday and asked; "Are you a Little People (a child)?" on account of my height. When I explained that I was a small-sized 'Big People', he nodded sagely and said (in the same tone of voice I adopt when advising him), " You must eat more!" (May 2011)
My one year old daughter really minds her P's & Q's at the table. She always makes it a point to bid adieu to the bits she doesn't want before she drops them on the ground under her high chair. 'Bye bye Chicken', 'Bye bye Tomato' you can hear her chime in her pretty baby voice before the unequivocal SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT of her dinner hitting the floor! (May 2011)
My son informed me that the cream that we'd been applying for a skin complaint of his was turning him into a horse, and that we should be careful not to apply too much because while he didn't mind becoming 'a little neigh', he didn't want to grow too big to live in our house! (May 2011)
S&A: Mommy's had to go, to mess about with dirty dishes which she seems to enjoy doing lots of! But she's promised that if you write to us to say you enjoyed these snippets, she'll stick more on, every few months (alongside our own more literary efforts, of course)! Hope you like the slideshow too.
Cheerio, for now...
P.S. The slideshow will be on as soon as Mommy can string it together. Watch this space!
