Swimming, dancing, walking tiger babbles epithets at Skype

Nazy and I are now home in Santa Barbara after a wonderful trip to Lebanon. On our last day in Beirut, we went to see the AUB graduation ceremony - Darius was singing in the Choir. We left right after the Choir sang and before the presentation of degrees, but we did get to see a really good graduation speech from a most unusual speaker: Peter Sellars. Like me, Peter wears colorful shirts. (However, my hair, what there is of it, only looks like his for a few minutes after I wake up.) As soon as we left, it began raining on the graduation. Even more astonishing, it actually rained here (in Santa Barbara) during the week.

3033_sellars_65022_Cover-2

Naturally, Nazy and I missed Tiger, the grand(est)son, while we were in Beirut. Accordingly, we arranged to have a Skype call with him and Melika during our trip. We wanted to see him (and, of course, Melika too). We connected and said ‘Hi’ to Melika. She showed the screen to Tiger. As soon as he saw us..

“He started crying!” Nazy exclaimed. “He reached for the screen and started to cry.”

“He recognizes us,” I said. This was remarkable because he is normally very blasé about people on Skype. We actually had to hang up because he simply didn’t like and couldn’t cope with seeing, but being unable to touch.

As
I mentioned last week, Nazy had a smooth trip home - arriving about 9 hours before me. Mitra and Stefan collected her from LAX. They showed her the new home of Oxygen Tango (moved from Washington Boulevard to Venice Boulevard). She also went to a Tango class. When I (finally) arrived, we all enjoyed a wonderful seafood soup that Mitra and Stefan had prepared.

As we began our drive home, I told Nazy how impressed I was by her resilience. Although my flight was delayed, I had taken a short nap during my unscheduled lengthy stay at the Zurich airport. Nazy had boldly carried on. Nazy didn’t respond to my complement. I noticed that she was slumped forward in her seat. Exhaustion had taken over.

So, after dodging a pothole on the 101 (noticed only because of practice on the ‘Highway’ in Beirut), I pulled to the side. I reclined Nazy’s seat and forged ahead.

Back in Santa Barbara, we discovered that the grand(est)son, nearing his first birthday, was now walking.

“It’s only a few steps,” Melika corrected.

“It’s a small step for a baby,” I replied. “
And a giant leap for babyhood,”I thought.
In fact, when we first returned, Tiger was (semi)-confidently and occasionally taking three or so steps. Now, he is more stable and has managed 12 steps. (But who is counting?) We’re in the short-lived awkward stage where, when he wants to go fast, he crawls.
dan and tiger with hats june 8 2015

Back and settled, we were all too happy to babysit while Melika and Tom went on a date-night to Los Angeles. And, since the grand(est) birthday is upcoming…

Flashback
London, Shell Cenre


Mike, reading my planning proposal, was frowning.

“Upcoming, Dan?” He asked. “Why do you Americans use that word?”

“Excuse me?” I replied.

“People who use ‘upcoming’ should get their comeuppance. ‘Forthcoming’ is proper English.”

“Shall I sally forth and fix it?” I replied. “
These people from England act like they invented the language,” I thought.

End Flashback

so, in light of the forthcoming birthday..”

[Interrupting myself: “
Should I call this the one-th-coming birthday”, I thought. “He is going to be one, not four.

“Get on with it, Dan!” Nazy interjects - interrupting the creative flow and possibly altering my narrative.

In short - even though I’ve been rambling so long that it’s no longer ‘in short’ - we drove to Toys-R-Us to look for an appropriate birthday present - and for an appropriate outfit for his Hawaiian themed party.

He enjoyed shopping - or at least didn’t complain. The toy store was his favorite. But, unlike his grandfather, Tiger does not like hats. The one in the photograph stayed on his head for about 4 seconds.

We got him an
Alphabet Train the he can sit on or push. And, although the books say gift-wrap is unappreciated by one-year olds, Nazy is busy with bows and ribbons. I was, naturally, very supportive:

“He was in the store when we bought it, Nazy. He won’t be fooled by a bit of colorful paper..”

nazy, tiger and accordian 2

“I told you to hide his eyes while I paid,” Nazy replied. “Now you’ve ruined it.”

“Why don’t we just give him the bubble-making machine and the magnetic letters? That will distract him and he’ll forget.” I replied. “
I hope it distracts you too,” I thought.

A renaissance baby, the grand-(est)son is taking music and swimming lessons. He sways to whenever he hears music and the music teacher has an endless supply of musical
instruments things for children. This week, for example, we had wooden instruments from Thailand that made sounds like crickets or frogs. There were also small accordions, cymbals, rhythm sticks and tambourines. There is, as you can imagine, quite a cacophony when all the kids start banging, eh, playing their instruments simultaneously.

At swimming class, Tiger has become very good at propelling himself through the water. When he began, he went underwater easily because of a ‘hold your breath’ reflex that kicks in when submerged. That reflex goes away at around eight months - which means now he has to remember to hold his breathe. On the day we got back, the teacher used Tiger as the demo. As she prepared for submersion…

“Close your mouth and hold your breath, Tiger!” She exclaimed.

That’s not going to work,” I thought just before he closed his mouth. “He doesn’t understand hold your breath and close your mouth.” I was wrong: he held his breath while he swam several strokes toward me.

So.. he can dance (which makes Mitra happy), he can swim and he can w
alk. He’s also very good at babbling - i.e. just like his grandfather. It’s great to be back.

For last week's letter, please click here

The Family on the Grand(ext) First Birthday
(Tom, Melika, Stefan, Dan, Tiger, Mitra, Nazy)


Family all on Tigers birthday


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