Daddy without Simone or Rashmi

I hope Simone had a fun weekend. I spend half of mine on top of a roof and the other half inside a ditch. I was doing house repairs.

It's been exactly two weeks since I last saw Simone and Rashmi, and about ten days until I will see them. Rashmi is using excuses like "I can't figure out my Dad's camera" to not send pictures or videos. Rashmi has degrees in Chemical Engineering, Information Systems and Business Management.

I hear from my spies that Simone is progressing very well. She goes to Gymboree every day. She goes to friends houses for playdates. She has a birthday party this weekend. Her grandfather plays hooky from work in order to play with her. She is doing well on the potty training.

I am sitting in our apartment in Hollywood following the 'Instinct Diet', which says we should eat fiber, fiber and more fiber, and even more vegetables. I eat frozen vegetables re-heated in the microwave. If I don't get up early enough to make it to work on time I end up eating a Egg McMuffin, only with egg. I went to a friend's for dinner yesterday (thanks S & M) and my first thought when I walked in was 'This house is not baby-proof!'. I was amazed at the amount of entertainment options that the man of the house enjoyed. He has an Xbox, a Roku, UVerse, etc. We got rid of our TV a few months ago due to its deleterious effects on Simone.

Simone went to some high-end restaurant and pigged out on the buffet. According to her mother, she ate everything. Some other guest, a 'society lady', had a screaming match with the manager, but Simone calmly ate through the whole thing. Rashmi was apparently so mad with the woman that she tried to get Simone to fake-cry. Simone complied a little, with a soft whimper, but was unable to muster the resources for a full-throated, shake-down-the-restaurant crying jag. She was apparently too busy pigging out.

One of Rashmi's friends yesterday proudly told me that her one year old boy is twentyfive pounds. Simone is almost two and just under twenty pounds, despite our best efforts to fatten her up. Simone's nanny's grandkid looks like one giant dinner roll. I think Simone may be taking the Hansel and Gretel stories about children being fattened up for consumption a bit too literally.

Simone has been learning a lot of Hindi lately. She has progressed, in the past, the only thing she would do when we would say 'talk in Hindi' is say the word 'Hindi' loudly. Now she patters away in baby Hindi. I think this trip is a conspiracy by her mother's side of the family to teach her Hindi to the exclusion of my native language.

I can't wait to see Rashmi and Simone again!