W/OJune 19th: of Fathers days, of swimming and summer

Saturday

Suffice it to say, a large portion of it was spend in the pool !

This is a very long and messy process as we have a bath every time he gets out of the pool ( pool + bath + lotion =2 hour process )

 But I love it

Swimming pool, like the bath tub and the trampoline is the ultimate therapy room

 So we press down the little floating thing that we call “Melody the swimming pet “ ( from the little Einstein song ) and release it with a start and sing

 This simple game is sensory therapy ( heavy work ) + Pretend play+ back and forth engagement + speech + teaching about what buoyancy is ( he he he .. he knows the principle now as we tested it with all his foam letters )

Plus we have loads of fun ( loads of fun that are not in front of a shining screen ) !!!

Screen time rears its head as a worry from time to time - especially in the holidays

We are doing up R’s room as he is to sleep separately this weekend and this is a lot of fun

The theme is fire trucks and vehicles !

I will share pictures when its done

Sunday

Is Father’s day

I have made a card with R – I don’t think he understood the concept but wrote obligingly enough “R loves Papa”

I have tossed and turned and wondered a lot as to what I should get for DH and I cannot decide and he is no help

He keeps telling me how he wants nothing ( but I know if I do not get anything he will have a permanent upper hand as the better spouse – as my mother’s day was a lovely combination of chiffon dress and pancakes. We are always playing the game of better-spouse-who-loves-more upmanship. Its a nice game and has all the recipe needed for a happy marriage- loads of love+ a little guilt-creating + a hint of familiarity to tie it all together )

We do go to Famous Dave so he can have ribs – and pulled pork. Basically every possible form of pig

We have a lovely time and are sluggish all afternoon - like pythons ( for those of you who are unfamiliar in the ways of the python – when they eat a biggish meal like a big hare or something – they just lie around unable to move . DH and I are very familiar with pythons as we met many pythons when we lived in a forest while getting our first Masters degrees. This is where we met each other - as well as pythons )

Finally I am forced to give him cash – I know how horribly avuncular and unromantic it is

(Regrettably – I am not even able to manage the surprise element ! DH manages all our money and I simply ask him for cash when I need it. Net net,  I have forgotten our ATM Number and have to ask him for the money to give him !!! oh well !! he knows I love him )

He really is impossible to buy for as I get him some shirts from Belk on an amazing deal from R.
He is unable to hide his dismay when he see the shirts and  asks me later if my feelings will be hurt when he returns them, as they are the

a. Wrong colors

b. Wrong Size

I call my Dad in India who is truly a fantastic father too

Monday

Is a strange day at work as I have no meetings and get a lot of work done .

 This is a rare occurence and a very good thing too as I shall spend half the week out of town in Utah of all places !!

 Have never been but Utah and Montana ( owing to me and DH being crazy for the movie and book " A river runs through it" ) are prominent on our list of places to go to!

I remember when we were applying for Grad School,  DH had a fullscholarship for an MBA at a college in University of Utah -

If he had gone there,  we would have spend our life in a completely different part of the country - lived in a different parallel universe

It always seems so portentous the decisions we make on location based on job or school !

You literally step into a parallel universe of people - people you would never have known otherwise

My growing years we moved from place to place. My  Dad;s job was transferable so I knew ( and enjoyed ) this strange phenomenon while growing up

I was discussing this with one of my friends who said that he, on the other hand,  envies those who stayed in the same place all their lives. He feels, they know all the specialties and secrets of the place.

This secret  knowledge .. earned and owned only due to a long term relationship with the place....this sense of belonging , is  the thing most worth having

I see what he means.

But I prefer my persepective!

( of course,  that perspective is mine owing to the life I have had.

I would not have that perspective had I  lived a different life.

Perhaps a K is living in a parallel universe, a K  who cannot imagine living in a different place than the one she was born in  )

We have stayed the longest ever in this Small Southern town that we deeply love - 8 years this month

However, home for me really is wherever  DH, R and I live. That is enough for me,  to feel like I belong  wherever we go

And sometimes a  voice whispers in my head - What  parallel universe is  out there ?.. People, friends, homes, streets, restaurants, expereinces  ... just waitng for us to come visit and become part of our story"

So many gorgeous places to choose from

 I have had a yearning for Colorado for some time. Sometimes I think of California ( small town though - Delhi has permanently turned us off big cities )

 I wonder if in a few more years it will be time for our little spaceship with its three travelers to take off

When I go home in the evening R has had his sessions today and is sparkling - he loves his therapists !

We are just so blessed in the people we have in his life - thank you god for these wonderful people

DH and I go to Lowe's to pick up wood for the tree house we( as in he )  are making for R - DH wants to make sure I like the colors -

 I want the following things

1. a biggish slide ( by big  I mean wide enough to fit my rear )
2. a Periscope/telescope type thing  ( I dont know why but I know this is essential to a child )
3. one of those disc swings
4. a climbing wall
5. Maybe a trapeze

 Our back yard has slowly turned into sensory playground.

One of the best advice we got from a Floortime psychologist was to "forget everything else - just fill his day with swim sing and swing "

We have added playing, jumping and sliding and find this is ultimately therapeutic

R is making a big fuss over dinner these days pretending to gag  gagging over his veggies

( I am most particular about veggies though as its easy to give in and be a junk food eater especially in the gluten free world )  -

His Gran is around during dinner  and he knows she is a softie and will always take his side - which is the reason for all the gagging!

( its strange .. she is a very strong women- and strikes fear  where she lives and kicks butt of all - from servants to govt officials- but she is a softie with R who wraps her around his finger with the skill all adored grandkids have  )

He acts full and sick and keeps telling me

"all done"

But I persist through 3/4th of dinner - counting down the bites

As soon as dinner is away - the   feebleness and sickness disappear - he is able to muster up the strength to ask for chips and lustily eats his way through a whole heap !!!

Such master manipulators are small children !

I speak to my parents on Skype and we spend a lot of our time asking each other whether they can hear us , see us or not

My cousin sister is getting married and their social lives are all agog with the excitement and its all about who is coming , and what is to be worn

My sister is coming to purulia too  for the wedding and I miss her dreadfully!!!

She will show me all the clothes on Skype and I am looking forward quite ridiculously to this

In India, weddings are HUGE - I had a small wedding ....with only 300 people... LOL

I love these summer days

This sense of generous time

I love school being out

How is summer for you ?

Summer ( RL Stevenson )

Meantime his golden face around
He bares to all the garden ground,
And sheds a warm and glittering look
Among the ivy's inmost nook.

Above the hills, along the blue,
Round the bright air with footing true,
To please the child, to paint the rose,
The gardener of the World, he goes.