Image: Rain, Rain Go Away

Mother's Little Helper*

Harrison loves helping out lately. Fajitas were on the dinner menu yesterday, and he was a great assistant: washing and seeding the sweet peppers, scooping out and smashing the avocado, stirring the guacamole, and putting the vegetable scraps in the compost pail. He even took the initiative to get a new sponge out from under the sink and started wiping off the table when we were all done!

I love the changing way in which he's participating in our family.

More pics on flickr.

_______________

*No, not that kind!

Image: Bathtime with Kaiva

Slurpeeeeew

Did you know that in addition to an entry on wikipedia listing every flavor of Slurpee ever created (Red Licorice! Honeycomb!) that Slurpee has it's very own website, which is currently featuring Slurpee's new & exciting taste sensation the "Purple S'creme." The slogan for the Purple S'creme is "Looks Purple. Taste Vanilla." Apparently, this is a selling point.

EW.

Anyhoo, I have a question for you.

Picture this:

• Sarah plays outside with garden hose, Harrison, and neighbor girl Alex.
• Neighbor mom joins group.
• While Sarah talks with Alex, neighbor mom proceeds to feed Harrison Pina Colada-flavored Slurpee. From own, used straw-spoon. (Straw-poon? Spoon-raw?)
• Sarah notices and flounders for a response, then is stunned into silence.

Now, I have no objections to Harrison eating Slurpees (even purple ones which "taste vanilla"). I have no objection to Harrison eating a Pina Colada Slurpee, even though, as you can see on Wikipedia, Pina Colada is the ONLY non kosher Slurpee flavor. (Who knew? And what makes it non kosher?)

What I do object to is the neighbor mom feeding Harrison from her own spoon and feeding him without asking me first.

Am I unduly annoyed? Does anyone else find this gross?

I asked Doug about this and he was even more repulsed. We discussed how kids share drinks and suckers and everything else and how that's okay, but, as Doug put it, the neighbor mom's mouth carried the stigma of "a lifetime of filth" and "possible coldsores."

Still, if it was Inga or Val sharing food, I wouldn't have batted an eye--and God knows they're both filthy freaks!

What should or could I have done? Nothing? Told her to stop because her mouth was contaminated with a "lifetime of filth"?

I'm thinking that wouldn't have been well received.

Image: Nephew and Aunt

Harrison loves his Aunt Tow-Wah (Tara).

Great Camp

We are back from a lovely week away in the Adirondacks with my parents, and Val & Tara.

It was a great trip! On the one hand we really got away from it all: no phone, no TV, and no potable water! On the other hand (since my mother is decidedly anti camping) we stayed in an amazing rented chalet with enough bedrooms for all, a very private lakefront with swimming beach and docks, and assorted watercraft (all of which Harrison refused to get into: "NO BOAT!"). Many fresh raspberries were picked and devoured, too many s'mores were eaten around the campfire, and a few too many giant spiders were flicked, smushed, and run away from.

One of the main highlights of the trip were these new tidbits of Vietnamese wisdom that my mom imparted:

1.

"There is a Vietnamese proverb that says 'Grandparents will make for a spoiled child.' " [GREAT.]

2.

Us: Ooh! A shooting star! Pretty!

Mom: Shooting stars mean that someone has died.

later

Us: Ooh! a shooting star! SOMEONE DIED!

3.

Us: Let's go down to the lake after the campfire so we can see the full moon.

Mom: Be careful of the lady in the boat. The lady in white!

Us: Huh? Is this a Vietnamese fairy tale?

Mom: Yes!

Us: Is she a ghost?

Mom: Uh huh.

Us: Is she a good ghost or a bad ghost?

Mom: She comes at the full moon. She sings. And she's lonely so be careful or she'll drag you down into the water. Especially MEN!

Us: Okay. A bad ghost, then.

This--this is the cultural legacy Harrison is inheriting.

A few more photos are on flickr.

Toddlerism

Harrison's latest favorite sentence is such a classic toddlerism:

"My this."

Translation:

"I may not know what this thing is or what it is called, but it is mine. ALL MINE! So get your stinkin' mitts off of it!"

SpongeBob SquarePants Macaroni and Cheese

An interesting piece on NPR about toddlers and advertising, as well as an excerpt from the book Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood:

"Children are bombarded from morning to night by messages designed not to make their lives better but to sell them something."