As soon as I was done with the gum, I showed him how to spit it out and throw it away, but he wanted me to chew the next one. I promised him I would chew it the next day.
The next morning, he woke up and greeted me with "Mom, do you want your bubblegum now?" He offered it to me about 12 times in the time it took to get dressed and ready for the day.
He now compulsively visits the "G" page on Starfall (his learn-to-read website) because one of the G words is gumball. You choose a coin, and the corresponding number of gumballs roll out of the gumball machine, and a little girl chews and blows a big bubble. After seeing me do it, it finally makes sense to him.
He also discovered gumball machines in Elk Grove, and we are in big trouble if we pass one and don't have a quarter for him to get a gumball! Well, today we went to a mall (first time in America!) and discovered Gumball Heaven:
He's probably dreaming about gumballs right now...
In other news, I am not working yet. I still have to go through loads of background checks etc. I'm just enjoying the time off, although there's not much to do these days. I met my district manager today, and he was really nice - put my mind at ease about a lot of things I was worrying about. I'm really looking forward to starting work - not least because it'll put an end to my constant boredom-eating.
The kids are settling down, now that we are able to give them a better routine. Tonight Nikhil fell asleep before 9:30pm for the first time since we moved in! He gets to do half an hour of "schoolwork" before the clock (not mommy, because you can't argue with the clock) says it's bedtime.
We've been driving around a fair bit in central California, and the impression we get is that every community is a carbon copy of the one before. All the same stores, all the same fast food places, all in similar-looking hubs, can be found stamped along all the similar-looking roads from Elk Grove to San Francisco. It may give a sense of familiarity to some, but it's downright confusing to me, who has no sense of direction and orientation! I keep getting lost because I'm trying to get home from the Walgreen's, but it's not the same Walgreen's I drove past yesterday!
Many of the houses seem to look similar too. We've been looking at houses for sale, and the pictures show houses finished in an identical fashion to the one we live in now! Same kitchen cabinets, same kitchen surfaces, same bathroom surfaces, same light fittings... Maybe there was one big building contractor in Elk Grove 10 years ago who ordered in bulk.
Having said that, we are now certain that Elk Grove is where we want to stay. It has a really pleasant vibe, and it has just the right balance of small town-ness and big city-ness: small town traffic, big city activities. How fortunate that we started out here in the first place.
We had a mini culture shock today. I found a local group of moms advertised on a meet-up website, who get together to explore child-friendly activities in Elk Grove. I thought it would be a good way for Brad to get the kids out and playing with other kids, so I contacted the group and asked if Brad and the kids could join. His application was rejected because the ladies are not comfortable allowing men they don't know to join. So they allow strange women to join and take their kids out, but not dads. In South Africa that's called gender discrimination. Nevermind, I'm not comfortable allowing my children around man-bashers anyway... I just hope all the moms are not so close-minded, otherwise we're going to have some homeschooling challenges.
Cheers for now, folks. May you have a Gumball Heaven day!
No comments:
Post a Comment