Four and a half is challenging. Its not the terrible twos…actually the twos weren’t that bad at all. The threes were a bit rough. But this has been the most challenging. Four and a half is defiance. four and a half is letting go off my hand and running off in the middle of the mall. Four and a half is back to back time outs. Four and a half is a constant state of negotiation. I can handle the dawdling over shoes or breakfast, I can handle the whining even. I can’t handle the defiance, that moment when he just says no when I ask him to do something. There are fewer and fewer cuddles, more and more jumping and wrestling.
But four and a half is also sweet. I adore the non stop chatter coming from the back seat when we drive around. I love that he wants to share everything with me and I’m still his favorite person. This conversation sums up all the awesomeness of four and a half
Me: Thanks for helping me with the laundry, you have been a really good helper today
Bun: yeah, I am a good helper Are you glad you borned me?
Me: Yes, I’m glad I borned you
Bun:I’m glad you picked me.
.:Heart Bursts:.
And the five minutes later we are back to the spitting and shouting and yelling.
Four and a half will also pass and maybe I’ll say it wasn’t so bad. But right now…its a challenge
It will be my 10 year anniversary in Durham this august. I can’t believe this has been my home for nearly a decade now. One of the things I fell in love with when I first moved to Durham, were the Magnolia trees. Magnolia blooms are spectacular and they are all over Durham. This photo was taken on one of Bun and my walks around our neighborhood park. Isn’t it lovely?
This summer is going to be hot and humid with ferocious afternoon thunderstorms and it will be filled with Magnolias
..is bittersweet. All the sunshine and the flowers-intoxicating. A sweet distraction from the big changes that are happening in our lives. The first half of 2014 is almost over and I feel like I am just waking up and seeing all the changes that are still yet to come. Durham suddenly feels a little less like home.has been bittersweet.Our favorite family in Durham had to move away. They are now an ocean away and although I am looking forward to visiting them, Durham feels a little empty. Bun also just finished his last day at Greenwood School which was a huge part of our lives for the last year and a half. Soon there will be new schedules, new camps and new Pre-K. We’ll have to find new buddies at the park and step outside our comfort zone to make new playdates. June will different. Thats the meaning of May The photos are from a recent visit to the American Tobacco Campus in Downtown Durham
Lucky in friendship. Its something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I don’t know how I’ve managed to hit the friendship jackpot over and over in my life, because personally I think I am such a crappy friend. If I had to rate myself, I would give myself a solid 6/10, so it amazes me that cool, hip, funny, wonderful women want to be friends with me. { Note to self: Increase friendship score}
Last night I went and watched The Other Woman with a friend in a real movie theater. I say real because I went from watching a movie in a theater every weekend 10 years ago to one movie every century. It was really nice to squeeze in some girl bonding time with my friend, who will sadly be moving away. I still haven’t processed how I’m going to cope with her moving away back to her home country.
The movie itself was everything I expected it to be, there were no big surprises just, goofy Leslie Mann, Cameron Diaz looking slightly haggard and Kate Upton’s boobs having a fabulous time. There were lots of laughs, shots of tequila, lots of talk of lady part maintenance and Nicki Minaj and her fabulous butt. It was comforting and funny and sweet.
Look its us in Indian Clothes! Me in a Salwar Kameez, J and Bun in Kurtas. This weekend our local Bengali community celebrated a puja in honor of goddess Saraswati- the goddess of knowledge and music. And we had a great time enjoying up some Indian time.
“I have a red wagon” is one of Bun’s favorite sentences these days. He tells me this, everytime we leave the house or return home, because the red wagon is parked outside with the cars. We got the wagon as a holiday presents from a good friend of ours and it has been a huge hit!
Last weekend, we had spring like weather and we took an impromptu family walk ( with the red wagon of course) to enjoy all the sunshine.
Bun: “I push Mama”
Linking the photo portion to the Simple Things Challenge over on Simple as that
Notes to Self:
Life in January seems to be starting out well. I have 2012 set aside to figure out what I want to do with the my life? Am I really a grown up yet? So many things to learn and figure out.
Some good friends are going to be returning to Durham for a visit this weekend. It is making me really happy to think we’ll get to hang out with them and even though they met Bun when he was baby, it will be like meeting him all over again, since he is completely different now. I’m also looking forward to some, fun, crazy grown up time with them as well.
Bun’s sentences and sayings are killing me these days. Faves of this week-
Me: Lets go upstairs and clean your poop and change your diaper
Bun: I’m sick of clean up
***
Bun: (Sniffs Layla’s bum) Layla need diapoo change
***
“I’m Okay” He says this whenever he needs some reassurance or has bumped his head, but not hurt himself enough to get any reaction from me.
“Daddy, you give me____” Usually followed by something I won’t give him aka blueberries, lollipop or candy
“What a Funny Fellow” My dad taught him this phrase and he says this with the biggest grin on his face whenever he or anyone else does something funny or silly.
This is the last post for Adventuroo’s Week in My Life Project. I’m going to keep this post short, not because I didn’t get enough pictures like Friday and Saturday, but because I got too many! And yesterday was such a fantastic, busy day where I was out and about and hanging out with friends that I haven’t had time to go through and sort the photos yet.
I want to do a separate post for our Pumpkin Patch visit so I’ll post more pictures under that.
Sunday morning J, Bun and I had a Thomas the Train party in our bed. Bun watched Thomas on my laptop and J and I tried to sneak in some more sleep.
We also had a mini dance party afterwards in our jammies to my new favorite dance song- Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People. Wish I had my camera for that but it was a fun impromptu moment that I’m going to cherish
The rest of the day can be summed up from my Facebook Status yesterday
Naina DG
Headed to the pumpkin patch on this perfect Fall morning and then football in the afternoon- Go Cowboys!
The pumpkin patch was so much fun and so was football! The Cowboys lost, but it was still a fun afternoon with friends and the toddlers out partied us all!
And Week in My Life is done! I was really apprehensive about doing this challenge, but, I’m so glad that I did.
Sitting and going through photos at the end of the day was a such a meditative moment for me. It helped me focus and take in all the bits and pieces that make up my life. Who knows what my future holds, Next week can totally suck, but my Now is filled with happy moments – big and small and these are moments that I could never ever have imagined for myself.
So that was a long title….yeah. Anyway, I waffled back and forth about participating in Adventuroo’s Week in Life project – it seemed like a big commitment and if I was going to do it, I wanted to do all 7 days or none at all.
In the end I decided it would be fun to participate but I’m going to do some things differently- I didn’t take any photos yesterday and I planned on this post this week anyway capturing some of the things Bun and I are into right now. So I’ll probably do some traditional posts for tuesday and thursday and maybe the rest of the day will be snippets like this or not…I’m not quite sure yet. But I’m committed to blogging the next 7 days in a row. Thats going to be a record
These Snippets are for the past 2 weeks
Me
*photo by Google Product Search
Reading- A Life of Spice. I’ve really slacked off on reading this month because I’ve found my mojo on the interwebz lately. So I’ve been reading a lot of blog, and some photoshop tutes
Watching: Breaking Bad is rocking my world right now! I can’t believe I almost gave up on that show. We have the season finale DVRed, but haven’t watch it yet. I ❤ Jesse so much!
Listening: 90s throwback. J and I recently watched the top 100 songs of the 2000s on VH1 while we were super wined up on a saturday night and it has brought back all these memories. So I’ve been playing some late 90s early 00s pop classics like “Since You’ve been gone” and “Mr. Brightside” and “Hey Ya” and dancing around with the kiddo
Wearing: Its fall! My favorite pair of jeans are out and I even rocked some black leggings last week.
Wanting: These Rainboots and a return of normal naptime for the Bun
Bun
*photo from Amazon*
Reading: Hooray for Fish. Bun really liked some of the books in the Maisy series so I checked this one out from the library since it was by the same authors. Oh, its been such a big hit that I think we might have to buy it. Its colorful and adorable and the words are so easy to say that he has most of it memorized
Watching: Have you heard of the Wonder Pets? They help baby animals and save the day. The show is cute but the entire song is sung and the theme song will forever be stuck in your head. Highly Highly annoying. It has taken over our lives- Bun loves it though and asks for it constantly and even sings the theme song in the car.
Wearing: I’ve pulled out most of Bun’s fall clothes but I’m still trying to squeeze in some summer outfits for the warm afternoons, since I know it will be the last time he’ll ever wear them.
Playing: Closing doors is the most fun game in our house right now. He goes into rooms and shuts the door and then giggles and giggles. That and cars.
October 1st and on cue the weather turned crisp and cool. Saturday was sunny and clear, with highs in the low 60s. J and I headed out to the Fox50 Family Fest for the annual duckie races down old bull river. Old Bull river is the canal flowing through American Tobacco Campus, one of our absolue favorite spots in Downtown Durham.
At the Family Fest Rubber Duckies are raced down our little canal to raise money for local non profits. This annual race has been going on for years but this was the first I’d heard about it so it was a brand new experience for us. really is a community affair- high school marching bands, wildlife rescue centers, alternative arts and craft supplies- these were the exhibitors and entertainment. Nothing fancy, nothing elaborate- just regular Durham families spending a day out in the autumn sunshine.
One the big attractions were the animals from Noah’s Landing Mobile Nature center. Bun adored the animals on display. He touched a baby alligator, petted a exotic wild cat from Africa, spent 20 minutes just staring at the owls. We also ran around on the grass, played with bouncy toys, drank beer, ate super garlicky fries. Cheered the bright yellow ducks as they made their way down the river.
We brought home a tired baby who went to sleep immediately. J and I had a mellow night where we sat out on our deck (mosquito free, since it was so cold) and spent all night talking. A date night and a family day all in one. A much needed break from our daily grind.
Seven AM. I hear babbling from the Bun’s room. J, is already up and checking his email downstairs. Still groggy, rubbing my eyes, I wander in to let the little boy out of his crib. He gives me a big grin, he is still lying down and not standing up as usual, ready to burst out of the crib. I sit down on the floor next to the crib and start talking to him about our day. He sits up, reaches through the bars, strokes my hair and says – “Mumma Peety (Pretty)”
Jaw on the floor. Heart melted and in a puddle on the floor.
Orange You Grape 