touch screen

So I was braiding a friend of mine single braids to be exact. So Ano seeing her cell phone on the couch asks me
"does auntie's phone have angry birds?"
Angry birds? you ask, where does he know angry birds from......well if you googled you would find out but he did not google it of course. B.I.G Rumbi has an iphone which I believe was a gift from her fiance. So she happened to show Ano the game and since then he has been hooked. Being that he is Ano he thinks every phone has and should have Angry birds.

Anyway so my friend told was puzzled about the question
"angry birds? why should my phone angry birds?"
To which I explained that angry birds was a game. So because she didn't have it she just gave him a soccer game to play.

A few minutes pass and Ano says "mommy its not working" and as I look to see him tapping on the little nokia screen. So my friend says "oh my gosh, he is used to a touch screen". And we both laughed. How hilarious....

a day at the Botanical Gardens

Last sunday the 18th. B.I.G Rumbi and James and of course Rebecca picked up Ano to go the gardens for a train show. I didn't go but from the looks of the pictures they had fun and I heard the highlight was Thomas the Tank engine and Annie and Clarabel.

I picked him up later after 9pm and he had learned lots and lots of staff including the word convoy. How? Because he got lots of nice little cars. This is good for me because his focus has just shifted to cars. Is saves me from hearing chugga chugga, chugga chugga, chugga chugga......chooo chooo, chooo.

What wonderful family Ano has. Wonderful sister and brother in law. I remember no one ever took me to the gardens when I was growing up. All I got would be 10c or something and we would run to the store to buy candy. There were the yellow candies in the shape of a cone and on the inside were marshmallowy. It actually meant a lot cause it was the thought that counted.

I couldn't compare my childhood and his cause we are talking two separate/different worlds and times. That's a whole other topic.
But thanks be to GOD who causes us to triumph in his name....
and all Good things around us are from heaven above so we thank GOD for his love.

growing and growing

I am proud of my little one. He seems to know how to pronounce his letter L's.
No longer are they Weg but leg.
No longer is it kwee but three. He has grown so much in a couple of months.
No longer is it teesh but almost teeth. What else can I say. Tomorrow is a christmas luncheon for the kids and we have to prepare a meal which they will all enjoy to celebrate the birth of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. What a wonderful season.

Nutty Nuts

The picture above has nothing to do with nuts but as we sat, my baby as usual asks me to tell him a story about nuts as he was chewing some roasted nuts we bought from a bodega on the way from school. We had found some guavas which I haven't seen since I left zimbabwe in 1996. This little bodega has 5 guavas for 1.99. What a treat.

Of course Ano didn't care to taste them and that's alright cause he is opting for a healthy snack (vitamin E and all the good stuff). So this is how the story went

"there was once a prince who loved Nuts. He loved nutty nuts. Are you nutty ano like these nuts?" I asked him. Do you go nutty for these nuts. If you go nutty for nuts, that would be some nutty thing to do. Oh those nuts, they could make one go nuts. So these nuts that you love so much, how nutty are they? Are they macadamia nutty, cashew nutty, almond nutty, round nutty, ground nutty, or coco nutty. Are they raw nutty or roasted nutty.
Oh those nutty nuts could make one go nutty......

I ran out of things to say and ended that way. I know it wasn't much of a story but THE Dr Seuss would be very impressed.

So that ends our story for tonight. (11/10/11) (8.07pm)

When I grow up.......

So already over the weekend, my little sunshine went from wanting to becoming a great chef to becoming a great astronaut. A great chef stemmed from watching of course the food network. We watched as the chefs put food dishes together. Both our mouths were watering and boy oh boy Ano said mommy can you call them so we get that food.

That wasn't possible so he said can I go make it myself. When I a m big, I want to be a great chef. And i told him he would be the best chef ever.

Later that day, we saw astronauts and he wanted to be a great astronaut!
I told he would be such a great one. Then we were watching someone singing and
he said he was going to be a great singer. I told him he would the best singer.

The fact that he wants to be the best at whatever he is assigned become is wonderful. I pray he stays that way, I pray that I encourage that quality in him. To always have a motivation and not to feel pressured.

I would like to be a great mom. Oh Father in heaven, help me become a Great Mom. We can learn a lot from the little tots. He declared with confidence and unwavering faith that "I will be great"....

Therefore, I will be a Great Mom. That's a declaration.
Amen.

Bedtime stories

So almost every night at bedtime Ano requests a story. So
not just any story but on a topic he chooses. So I have to get
my creative juices flowing just before bedtime cause he demands the
best stories. Whenever he feels that's not the plot of the story
he is looking for, there is an interjection, a correction and
of course I very much oblige.

One of the stories I told him were about a Prince Ano and since then
he wants to hear about this Prince and his mother, a beautiful queen.
So last night he promised to buy his mother the queen a dress, and shoes,
a house, a car. And of course I receive it all. Amen.

I wish the best for my little Prince, I want the best for my young Prince, as
any parent would. I pray for Godly wisdom to raise him to be a wonderful being that he was created to be.

Drumstick, that's not a drumstick?

You guessed it, it was dinner time when I asked Ano if he wanted
the drumstick part of the chicken. Absent mindedly I didn't realize
I was talking to a drummer.....my little drummer boy that is.

Me: Would you like the drumstick
Ano: What drumstick mummy
Me: This drumstick (pointing to the drumstick in the pot)
Ano: That's no drumstick mummy
Me: Of course it is, oh you're right......

He ran off and brought me one of his drumsticks....to beat the drum with that is.

Ano: Here mummy is my drumstick!
me: Very good.
Thats all I could say about that conversation. I know one day he will find out there are two kinds of drumsticks, one you beat a drum with and one from a chicken.

sitting on the bench 1

So I am a very happy for my son that he goes to this early childhood learning center.
But on the 18th of October, I went to pick him up about 4.30pm. The children were in the playground and running around, riding bikes and sliding etc. So my eyes started looking around hoping to see him in the mix somewhere. I didn't see him. Finally at the end of the very first bench, he was seated there and two little girls say, your mom is here.

So as I enter the playground, and get closer to where he is sitting his feet are on the bench. I can understand that he doesn't run towards me excited cause he never looks forward to coming home to play with his trains. But that he was in the playground and he was not active at all. I got to him questioning why he wasn't playing. He didn't say much. But as I look at his feet, both his shoes were half on. So basically, he wasn't running around cause he couldn't get his shoes on.

I wondered how long he had been seated there? 10, 15, 30, 45 minutes. My stomach tightened. I couldn't imagine what it was like for him to want to go play and run and shove and push with the other kids but couldn't cause his shoes were off and his teachers were standing right there.

The teacher walked away to the other end of the ground and avoided me and gave me this attitude, and I could tell she was sending a message. A few days early she had told me to get him a pair of black strap on shoes cause the lace ups he had were difficult for him to put on. I had told her that I would have to buy him a new pair in a couple of weeks if that was okay.

I helped him put his shoes on, and we left........
That's what we did....as my heart broke that this little boy was left unattended because he hadn't mastered yet to put on his lace up shoes.....it broke my heart.
I had to take a deep breath.

NO more Pull ups!

So it's such a wonderful feeling to know that I don't have
to take stock when it comes to diapers. Its been 2 weeks since
We used diapers. SO HOORAY FOR THIS TWO WEEK ANNIVERSARY of no more Diapers!
Ano hasn't had any accidents in the night, none what so ever.
Thank you Jesus.

I am going to focus and enjoy this great milestone and celebrate. I know
there is lots of hurdles to jump and lots of teachings and graduations
to go through. But this particular hurdle is just amazing, Well done
Ano.....

Thanks to diaper makers for generously taking my money and in return
giving me those nice diapers....no need for those coupons... for now.

Until the toilet paper is clear

So I just realized my Sunshine goes on the big potty to #2, and is now able to clean himself clean. How you ask? Well, he always is very independent of course to a certain degree. But last night ((8/10/11) as he finished clearing his bowels, I observed him reaching for the toilet paper and wiping. And of course, he had cleaned something. I urged him to do it repeatedly until the t.paper was clear. Which he did at almost 8 attempts(In due process teaching him to conserve paper). Indeed, there are a lot of lessons to be learned.

Now, to say this Mother sunshine was ecstatic, would be telling a fib. I was overjoyed beyond my wildest dreams. Just realizing that his whole bathroom experience, he now is officially Independent/Self Dependent/Self Reliant etc.

Now that doesn't mean I will not do the final cleaning, I will. But knowing that this ray of sunshine will continue to gain confidence and expertise in cleaning himself is a comforting thought.

My sunny boy is now 3 and a half years old and I have made measly blog entries. But its never too late....or should I say better now, than never. I will pray for motivation to make blog entries of all the wonderful experiences I have with my beautiful sunshine.....ANO.

Blessing, ...Dry Dry Dry.

So after spending the night in Brooklyn, Ano and I got home exhausted...
What a weekend. A party to celebrate for a 50year old lady and then we were invited to attend church service. So, it was quite an exciting weekend for Ano cause he bonded well with Blessing. Blessing a 7year old daughter of a dear friend was amazing with Ano and I got a break from playing trains with him.

I realize now how important it is at this stage, to encourage bonding relationships with other family members and friends. When we returned home he asked for a brother and a sister to which I asked him to go down on his knees and pray.

For the first time, I didn't have diapers for bedtime for little Ano......
As tired as I was, I couldn't imagine walking out the door to purchase a pack of them. This night I had to believe that he wouldn't have an accident.

The next morning, I felt around the bed and thanks be to God it was dry dry dry. My Tot is growing up........

Well done.

Drip Drip Drip Drippy nose

On the 1st of October we visited a friend of ours. My lovely friend, has three daughters and the youngest who is 7years is such a doll and great with Ano. I had fun but most importantly Ano had more fun cause of the company and the the attention he got from Ayo, Ife and Ibukun.

The only thing was that his nose had started to drip drip drip that morning and it just wouldn't stop. A cold caught in his new day care center. What a bummer. So now here we are from the Bronx into Brooklyn with what turned out to be an infectious cold passed on to darling Ibukun(sorry baby).

But is it me or is it just the worst thing in the world to pass a virus to someone and have someone bring it to your attention each time you have a conversation or every minute of the conversation.

Anyway, in the past I would have beat myself about it, and the only reason I continued to go with my son's drippy nose was merely of the fact that I had made a promise to go into brooklyn. I have been learning to keep my promises regardless of the hindrances.

Anyway, feel better Ano, Ibukun and every little drippy nose out there......keep warm and drink lots of fluids.