Hey baby, wanna take a ride in my love machine?

I'll take you for a wild ride!!

Mommy, may I have my finger bowl please?

I'm really starting to get worried. 

I really haven't worried much when it comes to developmental milestones. All babies develop on their own time and each next step will come when he is naturally ready.

But then I read, "When you should start to be concerned regarding language development. Your baby should say 4-6 words by 15 months, such as Mama and Dada" on the Baby Center website, I thought, should I be doing something different? 

He's over 15 months, and we've got almost nothing. "Ba" for ball and that's it. 

Don't get me wrong, he knows how to communicate in his own special way. Usually a point, with a "hmmm?".

Here's a good example when he does the "hmmm?" and I know exactly what he means:

Preface:

We can't drink directly out of the tap. It looks safe but likely has bacteria in it. We have a distiller to process all of the water that we drink and wash vegetables with. So, when you want to wash your baby's hands in water, when he is likely to immediately put that wet hand in his mouth, you realize that you can't use the tap water but must use the distilled.

So, to wipe his hands and face (and anywhere else that food happens to fall) after each meal, we put a little distilled water in a ramekin, then bring it to the table with a washcloth while he's still strapped into the highchair. 

Now little boys love to play with water. So for the last few weeks, after he's finished, he does the "hmmm" sound and points to the kitchen. Here's the routine after each meal:

"Hmmm?" 

"Do you want the finger bowl?"

Big smile, followed by another "Hmmm?" fingerpoint towards the kitchen.

I proceed to retrieve said "finger bowl" and put the half-filled with water ramekin in front of him in the palm of my hand.

He makes little motions with his fingers. Sometimes he is a bit tentative, looking up to make sure it's okay to put his fingers in there. He then puts fingers from one hand in the bowl and wiggles them around. 

"Put the other hand in the bowl. Wash both hands."

He looks up with an impish grin, tentative, then puts the other hand in so that both fingers from both hands are splashing around in the little bowl.

Then he gets excited, giggles, yelps, splashes those little fingers around in the water with all of his might until the water is all over him and me.

I take the bowl away and get the washcloth. 

He points down on his highchair to his legs and feet with a "hmmm?". 

"Yes sweetheart, you spilled the water from the finger bowl all over yourself, just like you do every night."

We finish dipping the washcloth into the rest of the water and wash off his hands and face.

What have we learned? I think my child is having a unique experience first of all. How many kids use a finger bowl these days after dinner? I decided to look up finger bowls to try to find some history. Wikipedia hardly has anything, so then I googled it. I found this:

Finger Bowls

The finger bowl has hovered on the brink of obsolescence for over a century without entirely disappearing. This is probably why it provides the critical obstacle in the story of the man, either a foreigner or a bumpkin (depending on the teller), who is a guest at a formal dinner party. When a servant offers him a bowl of water at the end of the meal, he drinks it. The hostess presiding at the event is so poised and utterly well-mannered that, without skipping a beat, she drinks her bowl down, too, thus saving him the embarrassment of realizing the extent of his faux pas. This tale has reached almost the status of urban legend, and it is told in many variations. The hostess may be a family matriarch or someone very well-known, say Eleanor Roosevelt or Queen Victoria, but the finger bowl seems to be a constant.

Fortunately, the main difficulty lies in recognizing the finger bowl when you see it, which, at formal events, will be either before or after the dessert course. Often there is a slice of lemon floating in the water. Once you are presented with one, all you need to know is that you should delicately dip your fingertips in the water (no scrubbing), dry them off with your napkin (equally delicately), and set the bowl to the side of your plate.

So, he's mastered the finger bowl, well, not the delicate part, but he'll get it sooner or later. I think some people might think his knowledge of a finger bowl at such an early age makes us a bit pretentious. But I tend to believe his knowledge only adds to his world view and will make him a good host (I'll be sure to tell him all about the urban legend at some point - maybe when he reads this blog!). After all, we use it for purely practical reasons, not because I'm trying to teach him how to host a formal dinner party.

And I have to admit that I have come to enjoy the finger bowl myself. Before he became so enthused with splashing his hands around in the bowl, I was able to put the finger bowl on the table at the beginning of the meal without him being distracted and refusing to eat with constant "hmmm?" points. I used it myself. A little dip, then dry on the napkin. Particularly when I was trying to get him to eat a little more by feeding him bites directly from my fingers. 

After all this talk about finger bowls, I think the real question for this post is the following:

What will be his first words, first phrase? Not, mama, dada, but:

"Mommy, may I have my finger bowl please?"

p.s. I started a draft of this post 10 days ago. Aidan is now consistently saying "bye", "hi", "da" for Daddy, "ba" for ball, "ma" for maggie, and the cutest little soft spoken "yes". 

What's next? I'm betting on "mama" (please?) and "no" (can we wait a little longer for "no"?).

Mommy, I have these holes in my nose!

Update: Aidan has discovered his nostrils. 

I imagine the thought process, "Hmmm, let's see, this finger fits in this nostril quite nicely. And then this finger fits in the other nostril. So now I have one finger in one nostril and one in the other. This is really cool! Maybe I can shove more fingers up there. Hey, wait, what else can I find to shove up there? Peas? Corn? Giggle giggle."

He hasn't put anything up his nose besides his fingers, but I have no doubt that it's coming.

And don't ask me for a photo demonstration. I'm not putting a photo of my little one up on the internet with his fingers in his nose.

Nicer, gentler photos will come soon!

Officially Obsessed

Can't stop, can't stop....reading political OpEds and blogs. I've spent the last 2 hours doing nothing else (baby's taking an extra long nap). A click here, a click there, ...read, ponder, laugh (very funny photo "Face of the Day" and YouTube from the debate last night on The Daily Dish). I think I'm officially obsessed. 

Shower? What's a shower?

The Huffington Post is updated with new blog posts from different writers every few seconds. It's making me crazy because I have to keep checking back to see what else has been posted. Click click.

And I'm not the only one who's obsessed. See: Election Consuming the Lives of Everyone I Know

I send Richard links, he sends different ones to me. Can we just get to the election already so I can stop this and get back to cooking and all of the other things on the increasingly long to-do list??? It's not like any of it is going to change my mind. I voted three weeks ago!

The question is: Will I be able to stop after the election or has this become a habit that won't go away as I track OpEds/blogs on the global financial crisis, corruption (sad, sad front page news about Bulgarian corruption), climate change, etc.??

And I wonder what I did before I had a wireless connection and could carry around my beautiful little Mac (yes, computer love) and click every few moments, even while chasing the child??

Must pull away, must attend to development of child, must close computer...

When in a foreign country, crave what you can't have

I'm starting to crave things. We put a lot in our consumables, meaning non-perishable bottled and dry goods such as wine, the all essential peanut butter, dressings, tahini, olives, mustard, artichokes, pasta, wheat flour, etc. A limited supply, so we try to conserve to some extent, although the stuff is there to be eaten I like to say. I would love some fresh mushrooms, but we do have a very small amount of dried mushrooms that we save for special occasions. This is something we could order too, which I just haven't done yet.

But I'm starting to crave the things I know I can't get anytime soon. Fresh things that just aren't here, that I'm used to having. 

1. Zucchini: Are you surprised that that is the first on my list? For some reason, every time I open a cookbook, zucchini screams from the pages, saying "cook me, cook me", seemingly in EVERY recipe that I happen to look at. Given what's available here, I can't think of a suitable substitute. I substituted okra in a layered vegetable recipe with eggplant, tomato, potato and many cheeses. It was okay, but not quite the same. Aidan was very curious about the little "beads" in the okra. It's a look up to Mommy, with a point at the "beads", and a "hmmm??"

2. Strawberries (or any type of berry): Who wouldn't want them? I can't even get frozen. We saw frozen blueberries in a couple of stores at $9.00 a pop! What would that be in the States? $3.00? I refuse. Maybe when I'm really desperate. But you have to be careful. A couple of the stores are known for turning off the freezers at night (all electricity) to save money. I know, you're thinking, the meat too? Yes, the meat too. Remember what you take for granted.

3. Ice cream: Aaah, good, creamy ice cream (not to mention good dairy products in general). If you remember, I wanted to add a sorbet/ice cream maker to my collection of culinary "stuff". After seeing my post, my sweet husband surprised me with a nice sorbet /ice cream maker for our anniversary that he ordered online (online ordering is my savior). And oh, I know, for everyone thinking about the sweet husband, let's all do say: aaahh! It makes great sorbet, but I tried ice cream with boxed french cream that we found. Well, if you've ever tried to make ice cream, you may know that the churning process actually intensifies the sweetness of the cream. So, it intensified the "boxed" cream taste. Not exactly what I was going for. But I'm not complaining. There is a "hamburger joint" that sells pretty good milkshakes. And that ice cream maker will be making some creamy goodies on other tours.

I think those are the highlights. Not a lot really. And nothing that I can't live without. We have cheap avocados weekly, as well as pineapple, papaya, mango....many yummies. But I am really starting to look forward to our trip home in February. I know, I know, please don't give me a reality check and say that zucchini and strawberries won't be in season when I come home. I'll be able to find something I'm sure. And asparagus? Can I have some of that too?

You never know what you might miss by living in different parts of the world. Or what you might be willing to pay for at exorbitant prices to satisfy your cravings. A pint of Haagen Dazs for $12? Haven't done that one yet. 24 ounces of President brand feta (Do you know that we are feta snobs after living in Bulgaria? Bulgaria has THE BEST feta, called sirene) for $12. Yes, that one had to happen. Feta has been a staple in my house for the last 7 years for gods sake.

I'm not quite a foodie, but I do enjoy good food...making good food...the pleasure of eating deliciousness that I made (thank god we brought all the spices). But I think that I may just be in a situation where I'm craving the things I can't have. Just because I can't have them. 

Ooops, it's debate time, meaning the presidential debate. Gotta go. Let's debate this food thing more later.

My blog

Well, it looks like this is my blog and my blog alone. Me, myself and I, except of course, for you, my few readers out there. So I've decided to change the photo and profile. Look for unannounced changes to the photo in the weeks ahead.

The name goes back to our time in Bulgaria, when Richard was more fond of calling me by the name of my town -- Montana -- than my given name. Of course, it rhymes with my given name, which was always fun and natural, and WAY before little miss Hannah Montana entered the scene. 

Richard still calls me Montana once in a while, making me smile. It makes me think about how we met, how much fun we had in Bulgaria...the carefree days of first dates, rendevous, with not a care in the world....

Enough reminiscing and on to more posts...if Richard is anxious to post, I might allow a guest post now and again...but I think it's up to me to be earnest :)

Kick-ass sistron

You thought I was going to blather on about politics again, right?

Sorry to disappoint, but I simply want to give a BIG shout out to my sister, Maura.

Not only is she a NYC rock-star working at Self magazine, but she is now a BLACK BELT!

How cool is that?! Can I be cool by association? Big sister inspired little sister to go out there and be all that she can be? Okay, you're right, our parents had more to do with that than I alone.

All I want to say is - you rock! You inspire me!

Put that baby to bed, doggonit!

We watched the debate, and Sarah did surpass expectations. Of course she did, given that expectations were so low to begin with. She was very scripted, she didn't answer the questions posed, and she kept using annoying "folksy" phrases. I bet half of those phrases she doesn't even use in her daily life, but she feels the need to connect to the "average" voter. I mean, who still uses the word "doggonit"? She is almost my age, just 5 years older than me. We're in the same generation, right? I don't know anyone who says doggonit. What is that? Do I want a VP who talks like this? No, as I said before, I want someone smarter than me, not someone who dumbs down.

I'm sure many people agree that she appeared confident overall and surpassed expectations, and that's all well and good, because Biden surpassed expectations as well. He was a bit wordy at times, but he is clearly competent and knows what he is talking about. His words about being offended that it was implied that he doesn't understand talk at the kitchen table because he is a man, even though he was a single father who survived the death of his wife and child, was an incredible way to connect with voters...and she didn't even acknowledge what he said, she just went back to script.

We can all blather on about the debate...but what's really bothering me is that Sarah Palin claims that she understands America because she is a "Mom" and has sat around that kitchen table struggling with issues every American has struggled with. She appeals to Moms just because she is a Mom. But as a Mom myself, should I judge her based on whether I think she is a "good" Mom or not?

I try not to judge Moms, or Dads, based on the choices they make regarding their children. I feel like people make choices based on what they think is best for their family, and although I might not agree with those choices, or take the same path myself, I respect those choices, because I am not in their situation. They know what is best.

However, I became angry last night and found myself judging Palin based on her representation as a "Mom", and the fact that I don't think she is doing such a good job of being a Mom. Not only was her 6-month old child on stage right after the debate at 10:30pm, but the baby was also on the stage at a rally she attended after the debate, well after 11pm. Why isn't this baby in bed? I just don't understand. As a mother, how can you think having your baby there at 11pm is in the best interest of your baby? Night after night? 

You have a choice. Use your baby as a prop, overstimulated by the crowds, noise and bright lights, or allow your baby the sleep that he needs. Hmmm...is this a hard choice to make? I was thinking back to Aidan's schedule at around 6 months. He went to bed around 7pm, woke up once or twice in the middle of the night to nurse, and then slept until 5-6am. 

This shows a lack of judgment on her part. 

And, I firmly believe, that I would think the same thing if I saw a "Dad" running for VP who consistently brought his infant on stage at 11pm. Why is the media not picking up on this? They are too scared to judge her based on her personal life. Well, lack of judgment in this case could mean lack of judgment in other areas. I hate to say it, but I'm judging. 

We voted today!!

Signed, sealed and ready to be delivered by one of Richard's colleagues who is traveling to the States this weekend. She will put our absentee ballots directly into a US post box.

It does seem a bit strange to have already voted and marked the boxes, when election day is over a month away. But we had to ensure our votes get counted, as we are voting in a swing state (Virginia). The ballots arrived via email - that's a first.

I feel a state of nervous anticipation....excitement (the likes of which I've never really felt before for an election).....and fear all wrapped-up into one in my knotted stomach and mind, running into a million different tangents about all of the likely and unlikely scenarios. 

I had fear the last time around, but I am "super" scared because it seems that McCain has picked someone so unknowledgeable about foreign affairs who could actually land in the White House. I want someone smarter than me, someone I can look up to, someone who understands the intricacies of global foreign policy, not to mention the global economy, much more than just someone who can balance her work and family life (and the media says she is doing a good job at this, but is she really? with an infant with special needs? I won't even venture into that debate). And don't tell me the criticism is sexist - don't we want to properly critique each individual, whether man or woman, who could be our president??? Please don't lead us into an idiocracy!

Okay, enough ranting. 

This year's election has prompted many small changes in our immediate life:  

1) Richard has donated to the Obama campaign for the 3rd time (and he says there are still 2 more donations waiting to happen - what will prompt them?); 

2) My parents are volunteering for the Obama campaign....I don't think they have ever volunteered for a campaign in their life and I love that they are doing this in their retirement!; 

3) I decided that we had to go ahead and get cable, because I really do not want to miss any of the debates, as well as the coverage on election night. I CANNOT wait until the Palin-Biden debate this Thursday; and

4) I'm reading political blogs and OpEds like never before. We put a few new links on our blog, and here's one in particular that Richard found and likes to read on a daily basis: www.fivethirtyeight.com

This year's election will be a turning point, with the hopes that we will see change. I imagine myself dancing around the room on election night for so many reasons. I just can't wait until November 4th...it will be a night filled with hope, dread, excitement, nervous nail-biting, no sleep need-the-Nanny-to-come-the-next-day kind of night!!

How do you feel?