Luis Loves Bananas

Riddle Me This

I have never been a plum eater. Once Luis started on solid foods, I was eager to expand his eating horizon as much as possible. Plums was a food that several people suggested. So I bought half a dozen at the grocery store, steamed them, pureed them, and froze little cubes of dark red plum puree. Luis loved them. A couple of weeks later, I bought more plums. This time, they were a yellow/orange color, almost like peaches. I was mystified. They looked the same on the outside...

I asked two plum aficionados that I know, and they didn't have an answer for the differences in the plum batches. Today, I made a batch of plums for Luis. They were of the dark red variety. Except the last one (the middle one in this picture). Anybody out there know what's going on here? I'm quite curious (but not curious enough to google it myself)...

The Night Time City in the Middle of the Arabian Sea

If you look closely at this picture, you can see the small dots of light at the horizon. They are cargo ships! Diego had mentioned seeing these before the monsoon season. But now, he says, there are lots lots lots more ships out there. To me, it almost looks like a small town on the horizon - except the horizon is in the middle of the Arabian Sea!
On clear nights, you can see these ships all night long. I assume that they are there during the day, but just not observable to the naked eye.

Diego's Sunset

Diego snapped this last night. With the last of the monsoons (I hope it's the last) falling, most of the sunsets this last week have been very cloudy - if not raining - and very lack luster. Last night, it was BEAUTIFUL!

Luis & Pauline

I took several pictures of Luis & Pauline (the part-time nanny) the other day. There were several that were good of Luis but bad of Pauline and several that were vice-versa. So I went with one that is mediocre of them both (to be fair).

Luis is quite fond of Pauline. She comes 3 days a week during the day and 2 evenings. We are one week into it and I think she is going to work out well. Luis really lights up when she comes into the room. And the interactions I've seen with them have all been sweet and tender.

Pauline has worked for Ex-Pats in Mumbai, as well as Indians in other countries. Her English is quite good. With her Hindi accent, her English is very sing-song-y. I find it very sweet to listen to her read books to Luis and to sing to him in English. Today, I almost laughed out loud when I heard her singing, "Spider Man, Spider Man... Spider Man, Spider Man". She knew the melody well, but the words ... not so well.

A Common Sight

I think that Luis is a little bit going through Pull Up Withdrawal. At our Falls Church house (and at Sarah's house and at Mom's house), there were lots and lots of pieces of furniture just the right height for pulling up. In Mumbai, there just aren't so many pieces of furniture. This plastic chair is a favorite of Luis's.
After diving across the living room a couple of times - when the chair started to slide out from under Luis as he pulled himself up - Luis has finally learned that the chair moves. Now, he pulls (pushes, really) a little bit, moving the chair in, until the chair legs hit the legs of the table, stabilizing the chair. Then, he'll pull himself up.
To me, it's a little bit amazing to watch Luis learn these things. The other day he was reaching for a toy that was under a dresser. Instead of trying to crawl to where the toy was (and subsequently headbutting the dresser), Luis stopped and looked at the layout. He then decided that if he crawled around to the side of the dresser, he could reach the toy without having to get under the dresser. Again, I was a bit astounded to watch him figure it out.

(PS - Good news! My ship has come in. Literally. The cargo ship carrying our container arrived last Monday here in Mumbai. We were told that the customs process will take about two weeks. Today, the moving lady confirmed that it should only be 4 or 5 more days to clear customs. Yeah!!!)

If You're Happy & You Know It...

Luis at Dinner

Lots of Luis Pictures

Diego & Luis

And Then The Heavens Opened Up

Turns out that monsoon season isn't actually over yet. We've had rain every day for the last week. Some days, we've had LOTS of rain. I'm reminded a bit of the scene in Forrest Gump when Tom Hanks is describing the rain in Vietnam. The other day (Thursday, maybe?), a terrible brooding rain came down for a long time. Then, just before sunset, the sun started poking through at the back end of the storm. It was beautiful.

Luis - el Caballero

Luis LOVES to play with this hat of Diego's (that his parents brought from Colombia). I couldn't resist putting it on him and snapping some pics!

Luis & Shabina

An All-American Breakfast (sort of)

Diego has been very sweet, helping me to feel at home and trying to get me comfort foods here in India. Several weeks ago, he called to say that he had found taco sauce. Then, last week, he bought me some smoked bacon!!

Yesterday, I cooked the bacon and then fried some eggs for breakfast. We had some left over chapati's (a type of roti or Indian bread eaten in South Asia and East Africa) that Shabina had made for dinner the previous evening. Wha-La! A very delicious breakfast!

"Momma Drop Baba??"

I only turned away for a minute. Maybe not even a minute. A couple of seconds is more like it. However long it was, it was enough time for Luis to topple, head first, over the side of the bed, hitting his forehead on the corner of the bed-side table and the back of his head on the floor. It was horrible - for both of us. If Luis hadn't been crying so hard, I probably would have cried (thank goodness he started first!).
That was yesterday morning. Within about 15 minutes, he was completely over the whole thing. I, on the other hand, cannot get past it. All of the people in our life, one by one, when they've seen us, have asked, "What happened to Baba?" A few (yes more than one) asked, "Momma drop Baba??" Letting him fall of off the side of the bed is terrible enough. Before it's all said and done, I probably will drop him at some point. But still, I bristle at the question.
(Today, his forehead looks much better.)

Other Exciting News!

After all of my moaning and complaining and tiredness and despair, Luis slept through the night last night! Yeah!!! Not only did he sleep through the night, he slept 13 hours. Straight. It was glorious.

I realize that it was only one night, and it might be the only one for a while, but it still gives me hope that we could get back on schedule again soon.

Then, today, he went back to his previous three-nap-a-day schedule (taking the last of those naps now). I have a good feeling about this - but keep your fingers crossed for us anyway...

Stop The Presses!!

I will start this off by saying that the domestic help we have makes me slightly uncomfortable. Rather, talking about the help we have makes me squirm a bit. But the fact is that here in Mumbai, we are afforded the opportunity to have such help.

Last night, Shabina, our cook started. She will come in each afternoon - bringing groceries - and prepare dinner for us. She asked me yesterday what kinds of food I like. Normally, not such a tough question for me. But knowing that the answer included: I don't like curry, onions, very spicy food or fatty meats, and knowing that I was being asked this question in Mumbai, the home of curry, onions, and very spicy food (not so sure about the meats part) ... well I was a bit nervous to answer.

-I told her that I like my food only a little bit spicy. In the states, I fancied myself as some who likes spicy or at least medium-spicy food. However, I was keenly aware that she and I do not live on the same spiciness scale.

-I told Shabina that I like almost all vegetables; except onions and those I only like a little bit (stretching the truth a lot here, trying to be open to new experiences).

-And I told her that chicken was my favorite meat.

She took all of this in and asked to see our kitchen. I gave her the grand tour of our four cooking dishes, plentiful utensils, and bare pantry. She took all of this in as well. She thought for a moment, looked at the lack of food again and asked, "What do you want me to cook tonight?" I conceded that we had very little food and thought that part of the arrangement is that she would also to the shopping. She confirmed this and said she would go to the market.

"Do you like lady-fingers?" Shabina asked. Of course I had just told her that I liked almost all vegetables. It never occur ed to me that the first think she'd offer to make was OKRA, which I don't like. Again, I am trying very hard to be open to this new world I am in, so I said, "I think so." Sabina thought a moment more and said, "OK, I'll make non-smelly rice, lady fingers, dahl [lentils] and curry chicken. You like the curry, no, ma'am?"

She'd gotten me again. First the okra and then the curry. I'm not even going into my trepidation about lentils (weren't those stinky??) or my curiosity about what "non-smelly rice" was. But I said, "sounds good". I'm not sure if she wasn't sure what I said or if she was unsure about the look on my face. So I smiled big and said, very Mumba-like, No problem.

Shabina did the shopping and then spent about 90 minutes in the kitchen mixing and cooking and seasoning and chopping and mixing and sauteing. I tried to mostly stay out - not to be out of the way, but afraid that if I saw what she was doing, I'd be too scared to eat this strange food. When she was done, she proudly showed me her work - white rice (non-smelly, indeed), chopped an sauteed okra, dahl with seasoning-looking stuff in it, and sauteed, curry-sauced, chicken. She smiled hopefully at me and asked if it was OK. I smiled as confidently as I could and told her that it looked great.

I won't go into any details here, but suffice it for me to say that my stomach had been bothering me for about 48 hours. I'd essentially eaten nothing but 2-3 pieces of toast with butter and a small amount of plain pasta for two days. My first meal of real food was Shabina's meal. I was nervous for my taste buds and nervous for my stomach.

Diego called to say that he was going to be a work way past dinner time and that I should eat without him. I was disappointed that we wouldn't have this first meal together. But I was also a little relieved that I could react to this meal in private.

Feeling brave, and hungry (as 48 hours with almost no food will do to you), I dished up a plate of rice, okra and dahl (I wasn't feeling brave enough or hungry enough for the curry chicken). I took a deep breath. And then another. I picked up the plate and actually sniffed the food. I put my finger in the dahl and tasted a minuscule dot of it to test for spiciness (none). I bit one tiny slice of okra off of an already tiny piece to see what it tasted like (delicious). Next, I took a normal size bite of each dish on my plate. Good taste.

Eventually, I sort of swirled it all together and ate every last bite of it. The dinner was FANTASTIC. Flavorful, but also nicely textured. I emailed to Diego's phone - I ATE INDIAN FOOD. It was a big step for me. But the fact that I liked it was even better.

(And I had another dish of it for lunch today!)

(Author's Note: This post is done with special love for my brother Dodie, who, as long as I've been a picky eater -my whole life - has always come up with new ways to tease me about it.)

Tonight's Sunset (w/ Low Tide)

Look at Him Go!

Luis has gotten MUCH more agile in the last couple of weeks. Here, he is crawling through the legs of our dining room chairs. Just a week or two ago, when he would try to climb over something, he would almost always face plant on the way down. Now, he has figured out how to use his arms to brace his upper body while he pulls his legs down. Luis has more control when he lowers himself down from standing to sitting (i.e. he doesn't just sort of plunk down on his bottom). Today for the first time, he took a toy with him to crawl around the living room. I find these to be very exciting changes for Luis.

For Momma Croom

This isn't the greatest picture, but it's hard to photograph Luis up close w/o getting a blurry shot (b/c he's always on the move). While I was still pregnant, Mom started asking me when it was that the children in Diego's family got curly hair. Were they born with it? Did it come as an infant? A toddler? Did I think Luis's hair would be curly? Mom is very, very interested in the curl of Luis's hair.

And now, you can really start to see it. On the sides, he has kind of big curls that stick out a bit. In the back, he has small, tight little curls that mostly stick to his head. And, unfortunately, on the top he has straight hair. This, he gets from me. I'm sure we have quite some time before we really know what Luis's hair will do. I'd be happy with it straight (like me). Or curly (like Diego). Or even wavy (a nice mix). I just hope he gets thick Rincon hair and not fine hair like mine.
PS - The eye color is still a bit up for grabs. They are somewhere between blue and brown - but not really green. My eyes are hazel-green. I wonder if Luis will get hazel-brown (does that exist??).

Ashley Enjoys Kissing Luis (and he likes it too)

Diego & Luis Enjoy the Ocean View

What Do I Miss Most?

One week. We've been here almost one week. What do I miss the most (so far)? Not toilet paper that does not feel like newspaper (take a moment with that double negative). Not drinkable tap water. Not being a native speaker. What I miss the most is two simple things: a cutting board and a kitchen timer. I have already cut myself3 times in the kitchen, dicing up fruits and veggies in my hand (for pureeing). And I've 3 times forgotten about the thing that was boiling away on the stove (again, Luis's food).
The good news is that our cargo ship was due to dock today. If that's the case, we are about two weeks away from getting our things. I do have a cutting board in our shipment. As for the kitchen timer, I'm putting it on my shopping list!!

My Across th Street Neighbors

Joggers Park is immediately in front of our building, and to the left. It is a private park with three paths - one is brick, one is dirt, and I'm not sure what the third is. It's open from 5:30 - 9:30a and 4:30 - 9:00p (I think). An annual pass is 500/- (rupees; it's about 45/- = $1), and requires a passport size photo (apparently EVERYTHING around here requires a passport size photo, including getting a bank card). Yesterday, we dropped off my application and photo and today we'll go back to get the pass. The down side is that Ashley is not allowed there; but I'm hoping that I'll actually do some jogging there.

Speaking of jogging... I think it should more appropriately be called Walkers Park. There is some jogging that happens there, but I'd say that 95% of the people are walkers. And there are a lot of people who come. Everyday it's crowded. There is also a playground for children, a duck pond, a place for stretching or calisthenics (very popular here), and bars for pull ups, dips, etc.

I have talked in many other posts about the sea-view that we have. Here is a photo of it from our first day. With the palm trees all around, and the red clay tile roof of the private club across the street, sometimes I feel like I'm on vacation at a Caribbean resort.

This is the small grassy area/ Playground/ Frisbee park in front of our building. As an aside, that is our white vehicle parked to the left. The first day we were here, I saw two children playing on the swings - but that's all the action I've seen it get. Until now! I took Ashley down there shortly after her arrival yesterday to help her stretch her legs and relax. Both the guards (at the gate and at the building entrance) were very curious about Ashley. When she started catching the Frisbee, they watched open-mouthed. It was quite a site. The area is small for Frisbee throwing, but will do. Ashley is a bit particular about where she does her business; she requires grass. Outside of the housing compounds, grass is tough to come by in our neighborhood. I am very grateful for this patch of it.