Ashu

I talked to this wonderful Indian gal the other day at Borders. 

I was bored, so Mac and I had shoved off to oogle at all the books and get ideas of what we want to read next.  Once I had a stack, we headed back to the kid corner and proceeded to cruise around the mini furniture.  Lo and behold, another little dude comes crawling right for Mac's wobbly feet, and wow -- that kid could move!

His beautiful mother swooped him up (why are all Indian women gorgeous?) and we began talking.  Her little guy's name was Ashu (like you're sneezing) and he was only about three weeks older than Mac.  She had another gorgeous little girl ... but I can't remember her name, it wasn't quite as easy as her brother's ... she was probably seven or eight.

We got talking about our kids, things we feed them, things they like, don't like, and developmental stuff.  "Do you have him registered for classes yet?"  Classes??  The kid is ten months old, for crying out loud!  She explained:  "I had my daughter in several Gymboree classes when she was six months old."  Gee whiz.  I told her Mac has 17 cousins who teach him a lot, and she laughed and agreed that was more than enough.

We then got talking about what we were worried about.  It was really fun to see how mothers across all cultures are very much the same.  We all worry.  She was nervous because her boy didn't have a single tooth yet, and my prime source of concern was ... guess ... no crawling.  I explained to her everything I had heard about brain development, reading skills, etc. etc. etc., and she just laughed.  "Oh no, no, no!  Don't listen to that.  My daughter here, she never ever crawled.  And I prefer it that way.  She started walking around ten months, (same as Mac) and was a little hesitant because she was so far from the ground. (Same as Mac.)  She didn't eat things up off the floor, and she was just much easier to be around.  Crawling is nothing but stress!  I wish Ashu had never learned!  And don't worry about reading.  All that matters is that you read to him and help him develop a love for it.  My daughter is the top reader in her class, she is very good at it and loves do it."  I loved to hear her say that.  And she was right, her daughter read to Mac the entire time we were there.  She was wonderful.

She also told me about how now is the prime time for Mac to start learning little things.  She showed me her son's latest trick:  in her native language she would say, "How big are you?"  And he would shoot both hands and eyebrows up into the air.  It was hilarious.  Oh, and he also had a little soft mustache already.  Mac and I really enjoyed Ashu.

So, we have been learning some new tricks.  And I have two very adorable videos, but they are not uploading.  Sigh.  One involves waving hello while eating a saltine, and the other involves clapping.  It took going to an Angel's game (courtesy of our saintly landlord) and watching 450,000 clapping to figure it out, but he has got it down, and now does it all day long.