Chinese Syrup, a lesson in culture and a dose of psychology

Top o' the mornin to ya!  I'll start off by filling ya in on what I promised I'd fill ya in on last time you so graciously viewed my ramblings.

Our Wednesday play date was a success, wrapped around a chaotic day.  Our landlords are here from Chicago, living in the other unit of our duplex.  They are getting that unit ready to rent, while doing some repairs on our unit as well. In our lease, it says we have to keep children, age 8 or younger, away from all downstairs window sills until painting is complete.  I just thought they were worried about grubby little hands messing them up, and the age of 8 is where they decided hands stopped being grubby. Apparently not, apparently, it's because the house is so old, the window sills are painted with lead paint.  Avery chewing on the window sills is out of the question.

I asked about the upstairs windows since Avery has a nursery up there, and was told those windows were fine. Anyway, they are painting them with some kind of lead killer and then the house has to be inspected by Mr. Lead Inspector. So Wed, the day of our play date, we had to be out of the house by 9, with Tyson gated off upstairs so Mr. Lead Inspector could come do his job.  We get to our play date at 11, with a phone call, that Mr. Lead Inspector says the upstairs windows also need to be painted.  Since Tyson is so scary, my landlord wouldn't go upstairs to get started on the work until I got home.  I say all that to say, I had to cut the play date short so we could get home and let Killer out of the upstairs area so Landlord could paint so Mr. Lead Inspector would be happy.  Whew...aren't you glad I took the time to explain that.


The dentist update is short and sweet, I need a root canal. Donations are welcome.

Girls night out was really fun, we went to Restaurant 99, a chain up here, kind of like a Chili's. Nothing really exciting to report except on our way out it was pouring down rain so I asked the guy who holds the door open for you as you leave the restaurant to go get my car for me to which he replies, "Only if you don't want it to come back." I opted to get rained on and get my car myself.

Now, down to business.

Went to Vermont!!!  We only live a few miles from the state line, but on Sunday we drove into Brattleboro, VT to a neat petting zoo.  www.theretreatfarm.com  if you're interested in seeing what it's about.  Avery had a blast!  She is terrified of sheep, which is ironic, since her nursery is decorated in nothing but sheep.  But their "Baaaing" scares her.  We had a traumatizing experience early in her life...when a kind, old sheep, "Baaaed" right as we came closer to pet it, scared the buhjeezus out of both of us.  If you know the correct verb and past tense use of the word "Baaa, " or if there is a more appropriate phrase for the noise a sheep makes, I don't want to hear it, please let me know.   We also got to feed an Ox, which is bigger than my car, in case you were wondering.  I've never seen an animal, that wasn't an elephant, so big!

There was also a wine and cheese shop next to the petting zoo. Something for baby, something for mama, genius.  Now the Bonzos can say they have eaten VT cheese. Check!

Yesterday Avery and I met with Julie and Brian, a new mom friend and her 4 mo old son, who by the way, weighs 17 lbs.  We went for a walk on the infamous rail trail along the Cheshire resevoir and gabbed away.  Julie is a family/child psychologist with her own practice and Brian is busy being adorably big.  We probably walked a mile or so when we decided to stop for a break, that woman just had a baby and walks faster than I run...I was winded!  We sit on a bench and Brian and Avery get out of their strollers, Brian of course sits on mom's lap like a good baby, and Avery takes off.  I see her  toddling around in the grass, picking up rocks, and shoving flowers in her shoes, the usual.  Then I see her mosy over to Brian's stroller, she's putting rocks in the basket underneath, Julie says its fine and I promise I'll clean it out later.  We continue talking.  I look over again, I can't see Avery.  I fly off the bench to discover...

my daughter sitting in the basket of Julie's stroller!  I'm sure she was thinking all kinds of psychological thoughts about Avery's mental state, as well as her mother's.  We don't do this at home I promise!

Last night I babysat for a member of the Borealis String Quartet.  They are from Vancouver, BC.  How, might you ask, did they find me?  Here is my shameless plug for www.care.com a website that lets you find people to take care of your kid, dog, parent, turtle, or anything you have that might need taking care of.  Also if you're in that line of work, it's a great place to find jobs.  Anyways, I arrive at the auditorium where they are performing to find Nicholas, there 4 yr old son, who's main language is Chinese, Mandarin to be specific.  His mother was of some Asian decent and spoke English and Chinese but didn't fully understand what her son was saying, and his dad was Russian, which led me to believe that Nicholas is adopted.   He spoke enough English to communicate to me, but we spent most of the evening with me saying, "I don't understand, English please." To which he kept staring at a cookie and repeating "Bùyào chī bǐnggān yǐ shíyòng sèsù" and "Yī, èr, sān, sì, wǔ, liù, qī, bā, jiǔ, shí."  I figured out the latter was him counting to ten but the first phrase I had to ask his mom what he was saying.  "Don't eat that cookie it has food coloring."  Needless to say it was the most interesting $50 I've ever made.