Tuesday, November 20, 2012

40 and 46 in 60 seconds

 
Coming up for air, I'm taking a quick breath to catch the blog up with our busy lives. With the chill of fall has come another change of size. It was like I woke up one morning and both girls were wearing high waters, though I know the leggings were full length just yesterday. Needing proof, I backed first Treya and then Devi, up to the measuring wall and sure enough both girls have grown another inch and a half in height. Treya is now 40 inches and Devi is 46. So what was once in Devi's drawer, now resides in Treya's and I was sent out shopping to find longer pants with a smaller waist for Dev. 

Treya has begun testing for speech therapy again but this time through our school district. If she qualifies it is a free service for children that are preparing to enter school. Treya came through all the assessment tests with flying colors, though they agree that speech and her gross motor skills could use some work, which for now, require more tests that will take place next month. Treya is excited at the prospect of going to Devi's school on Fridays for speech, making her a big girl who goes to real school too. 

Halloween, in it's own sneaky way, snuck up on us. We managed to find two pumpkins in record time this year because when we arrived at our favorite pumpkin patch, the skies went gray, opened up and dumped buckets of rain. It was the first good heavy big drop rain storm we had had since last year. How quickly we forget the power of mother nature and how wet one can get in just a few minutes weathering the elements - especially daddy who was in shorts!





Happy faces all around, we decided that our pumpkins would be all jolly this year. My pumpkin was happy because it grew in our own garden, and all the others, though hand picked at a patch, through their size and shape just seemed happy as well. Treya actually put her hand inside the pumpkin this year, though she still does not like to have dirty hands AT ALL. This was a huge step for her with this strange tradition. She still had to stop and wipe her hands after each individual seed she extracted and would rather be wearing gloves or using a  spoon.

The friday before Halloween, we all dressed in costume and attended the Halloween Ball at Devi's school. It is hard to believe she is old enough to be attending school, let alone be having dances. It took seconds for her to find a group of her friends and head to the dance floor to dance (jump up and down) to the tunes being spun by the DJ. Dev won a bag of goodies for best costume and Treya was in seventh heaven over the cotton candy she sweet talked daddy into.


Speaking of school, Dev has finally settled into kindergarten life, with library day on Wednesday being her favorite day of the week. Checking out books takes careful consideration, according to her. She is done reading about princesses, or Captain underpants stating, "Mom, I want to read about something that is real".  Our dinner table is now full of "Mr. Stanley says..." quotes like, "Mr. Stanley says there are chemicals in the nacho cheese they serve at school." (Hmm...maybe that is why MOM won't let you buy lunch on nachos day). Treya continues to blossom, getting more bold by the moment. It is as if  she has unzipped and shed her heavy coat of shyness and this loud, giggly nonsensical girl emerged. She likes Wednesdays, which is her dance day at school.

When Halloween finally arrived, the girls had had several opportunities to wear their costumes this year. We were surrounded nearly all week by a mermaid and a princess. Now, I realize it may appear as if Treya is Snow White, but let me assure you, if you mentioned that Treya would go into a tirad explaining very clearly, " Momma, I no Snow White. I a princess with yellow skirt, blue shirt and red sleeves". Okay, I have to admit I got a chuckle out of teasing her by saying "You mean you are Snow White?" "No momma" and she would again go through the whole story as many times as it took for things to be clear.

A traditionalist, I just don't understand going to a mall for Trick or Treating. We go to our neighbor's houses like I did as a girl, and by the third house down from ours this year I had to double back because our arms were completely full of bags of toys that the neighbors spoil our daughters with. Dev and Treya have such a warped sense of what Halloween is all about. By the 10th house, Treya's legs were done so we ended our evening on the driveway across the street at Ms. Carol's, to warm our backsides around her annual bon fire and sip some mulled wine.






Now, weeks later, the candy has been counted, sorted, and grouped over and over and a few pieces have actually been eaten. Basically the wrappers have become worn out by all the handling. Just as soon as the Halloween decorations came down, up went the Diwali ones. Our full schedule didn't allow for the big party we normally throw, but I managed to cook a small feast anyway. We had pickles, samosas with chutney, aloo gobi, muttar paneer, tandori shrimp, naan, rice and mango lassis for the girls. They had a parade in Indian outfits  and muscial instruments and decorated a plate of treats for Lakshmi. Over dinner we all talked about those who bring light to our lives. Mr. Stanley, Devi's teacher, was first on her list and Treya was glad for mom and dad. Good girl!

1 comment:

Peter and Nancy said...

I love that their pumpkins are almost as big as them (and probably weigh more!). Glad to know we're not the only ones whose girl clothes seem to be shrinking overnight!

As Thanksgiving is approaching, I sure am thankful that we've known each other for 5 years now, and kept our "cribmates" in touch.

Love to all,
Nancy, Anya Rashi & family