Tyger in the park 2 and flashbacks to Princess Butterfly

During his visit to the Proud Gs last Sunday, Prince Tyger also visited their neighborhood playground.  Some of the scenes from that visit reminded me of Princess Butterfly's visit to the same playground nearly two years ago.  How time flies!  So I'm taking the opportunity to bring these two cousins - who are physically separated by a couple thousand miles and a couple years - together in a virtual manner.

When Princess Butterfly visited, she was 18+ months old.  It was fall and the weather was wet, so the Princess was dressed in her rain jacket.  But she was still fascinated by the bouncy car.

Last weekend, the temperature here was very hot.  Prince Tyger, who is 22+ months old, would have loved to throw off his clothes altogether.  The weather had been quite dry and the bouncy car, which Prince Tyger also loved, was covered with sand.

But the bouncing was the same, wet or dry ...

and was a hit with both.

Here Princess Butterfly flies through the air in the swing

and so does Prince Tyger.

Unfortunately, the playground slide didn't interest Princess Butterfly too much

but Prince Tyger hopped right on - not to slide but to "steer" the "ship."

I guess it's a male thing.

Tyger pays a visit

This past Sunday, Prince Tyger came to visit his Proud "Grands" while his parents seized an opportunity for a rare afternoon at the movies.  It was the Tyger's first visit since he was around three months old ... so he didn't remember much from the time before.  But he entered into the new experience with enthusiasm, choosing to forego the toys that the Proud Gs had gotten for the occasion.  He preferred to play with adult mementos of the Middle East, and had a lot of fun pretending to "pour" liquids.

Then there were CDs to arrange, so the Tyger arranged them with gusto.

As anticipated, the hit of the day was the large ride-on dump truck.

Prince Tyger loves dump trucks, no matter what their size.  But bigger is best.

In fact, when his parents arrived and mentioned that it was time to go home, the Tyger made a beeline for the door on the dump truck.  Fortunately, he is still easily distractable.

The dump truck "somehow" got left behind - just waiting for him to come again and enliven the lives of his Proud Gs.

Tyger at the park 1

Some days ago, this Proud Grandmom headed to Washington to spend the day with Prince Tyger and his dad, Big T.  The day consisted in part of a visit to the park so that Prince Tyger could play on various playground elements.  Prince Tyger doesn't "get" that he should "pose" for his Grandmom.  Instead, he plunges headlong into the pursuit of the moment, whether that pursuit is his favorite motorcycle bouncing ride

or the swing

or the slide - another blur

although the Tyger preferred to climb UP rather than slide down.

Here is a rare pensive moment.

And another.

But that is because he's been saving his strength for a dash up to the "Zoo" sign.

And then a dash down again.

Ah, how nice it is to be able to relax with Mama afterwards and read a good book!

The Tyger's life is an active one, to be sure.

Crossroads and crosswinds of diversity

Back in the days when HWMBO was part of the US corporate culture and during a time when corporate profits were soaring, his company used to host major upscale events for its Maryland employees at one of the local Martin's Caterers.  Most often, these events were held at Martin's West.   The marriages or other rites of passage of several of our own family members and family members of friends were often celebrated at one or another of the Martin's facilities as well.  Therefore, Martin's was an integral part of our daily lives when we lived here in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Now Martin's Caterers, founded by Martin Resnick in 1964, seems to be booming despite the recession.  It provides full-scale catering services at seven different locations throughout Maryland for groups from 50 up to 2,000 persons.  In addition to Martin's West in Baltimore, the facilities are Valley Mansion in Hunt Valley, Camelot in Upper Marlboro, East, also in Baltimore, Westminster in Westminster, Walkersville in Walkersville and Crosswinds in Greenbelt.  Nearly two weeks ago, Crosswinds was the subject of a special feature article in the Washington Post, complete with photo gallery, where it was referred to as a "United Nations for weddings."  With a reference like that, I was hooked.

The article stressed that "At Martin's Crosswinds, weddings incorporate the heritage and diversity of the bride and groom."  In addition to the "typical perils" that a wedding entails, e.g. anxious brides, interfering in-laws, last-minute cancellations and guests who have celebrated by imbibing a tad or more too much, staff at Crosswinds find themselves having to juggle "complex religious traditions and tastes for a burgeoning ethnic clientele."  As examples, the article described three recent wedding receptions that occurred on the same weekend at Crosswinds, located in a sedate and "sterile office park" near the Capital Beltway.  In all, Crosswinds that weekend hosted 11 different celebrations for about 2,500 guests, with instructions "as complicated as a set of football plays."

The article described a Persian buffet for the marriage of two young Iranians, both with similar backgrounds, having fled Iran together with their families when they were young children.  The buffet included sweet rice studded with orange peel as is traditional at wedding ceremonies in Iran.  For the wedding of a young woman from Haiti and a young man whose family were refugees from Sierra Leone, who had been sweethearts since their days in US high school together, Crosswinds provided a "fusion menu" of Caribbean jerk salmon and chicken served with West African jollof rice.  The third wedding celebration featured the arrival of the Bangladeshi bridegroom on horseback, while his Bangladeshi bride arrived in a special litter known as a doli, and combined American wedding traditions with Bengali.   Cultural exchanges also took place more informally as guests attending one reception or ceremony often mingled with others waiting for another to begin, with hijabs, saris and colorful West African attire mixing and matching amid a babel of languages, many far more ancient than English: Farsi, Bengali, Haitian French, Arabic and so on.

I was delighted to read this article and wish Martin's Crosswinds much success in its ongoing catering endeavors, particularly those in which cultural diversity is recognized.  We live in a wondrous world that has wondrous people in it.  Instead of seeing these wondrous people as "Other" to be hated or feared, avoided, persecuted or bombed into oblivion, we must learn to know, appreciate, accept and celebrate our differences as well as our commonalities.  We will all be the richer for it.  And if we don't, not only will we be poorer - sad excuses for human beings - but we may not survive at all.

"Frogs and snails and puppy-dogs' tails ..."

"What are little boys made of?

What are little boys made of?

Frogs and snails

And puppy-dogs' tails,

That's what little boys are made of."

Seeing how Prince Tyger plays and seeing what he chooses to play with remind me of the old nursery rhyme about the stark differences between little boys and little girls.  While genetic codes may not bear out the nursery rhyme, the general gist of the rhyme is often evident in the different behaviors of little boys and little girls.  To be sure, there are perfectly well-rounded children of both sexes whose behavior doesn't necessarily fit the rhyme's general theses - at least not all the time.

Still, during his recent trip to Pennsylvania with his parents, he had many experiences where his so-called "male" behavior was quite evident without any prompting.  For example, while he was a bit tentative in feeding a bear a marshmallow on a stick (you'll have to take my word that the dark shadow in this photo was a bear),

he was more enthusiastic about touching a lizard,

and entered wholeheartedly into horseplay with a tortoise.

Playing ball was a favorite pastime.

We may, in fact, have a USA World Cup hopeful in the making.

And yes, the spirit of fun is definitely there.  I'm not sure exactly what he has in mind in this photo,

but he knows enough NOT to do it where Prince K can see him because Prince K also exhibits very "male" behavior!

Alternate eating technique - a demonstration

I don't yet have access to a mother lode of recent photos of Princess Butterfly, so it is true that she has been somewhat neglected in photo posts of late.  In an effort to restore some equilibrium and inspired by Prince Tyger's antics in the high chair, I have retrieved some photos of the Butterfly's eating techniques.  At the time, she was around 18 months old and, together with her Mom, Sweet M, was visiting us in Maryland in order to meet her then brand-new cousin, Prince Tyger.

As her grandparents were child-furniture deprived, Princess Butterfly had to sit at the big table with the "grown-ups" for her meals.  Being wonderfully adaptable, she managed just fine on the whole.

But I especially enjoyed this sequence of her eating blueberries and yogurt.  You can almost feel her wondering why Grandmom has to turn every event into a photo-op.

"If that's the case, I'll play along.  I'm hungry."

"Ah, that's good!"

"You want photo-op?  I'll give you photo-op."

Almost as much ended up on her face as in her tummy.

High chair antics

As should be obvious, this Proud Grandmom is literally deluging this site with photos of Prince Tyger, one of her favorite topics.  These photos date from some months back when the Tyger was learning about feeding and other activities that can be fun - or at least, seem to entertain the "grown-ups" greatly - even while one is sitting in a high chair.  Here he's eating his Cheerios, sans milk. 

"Mmm-mmm, good!"

Will he be left-handed?

Or right-handed? 

Or ambidextrous?

It's likely too soon to tell.  But one thing is sure.

The grown-ups are awfully easy to entertain!

Bowling with the Tyger

OK, so he didn't bowl 300 on his first try!  But bowling has a ball.  Any game with a ball is a game to Prince Tyger's liking.

During his recent stay in Pennsylvania with his parents, Prince Tyger had his introduction to the great sport of bowling.  First, Mom, Sweet H, tries to explain the principles of the game to the Tyger.  It's not clear whether he's taking it all in yet.  But the Tyger is a quick study.

Hey, it's getting more interesting now.  This is one BIG ball.

Dad, Big T, is explaining strategy to the Tyger.  The Tyger's "got" it now; he just wants to get on with it.

"OK, I've chucked the ball.  Surely it will be a strike!"

Whatever the result with the pins, the Tyger is eager for more action with the balls.

Surely, he's a champion bowler in the making!

Frolicking in the swimming pool

Prince Tyger and his parents recently spent some vacation time, once again with another couple.  This time they visited a resort area of Pennsylvania and had a wonderful time there.  At least, the Tyger had a wonderful time.  As always, however, his parents likely now need a vacation from the vacation.  If nothing else, an active time was had by all.  While it wasn't quite the same as the Big Ocean that he had experienced at Cape Hatteras, the Tyger still enjoyed spending quality time in the swimming pool - mostly with his father, Big T.  Sweet H apparently spent most of her pool time behind the camera.  Thanks for the photos, Sweet H, and for sacrificing your own pool time.

Splashing in the pool with Big T

and a soccer ball

has got to be the greatest thing in the world.   At least for right now.

But now, let's try a change for a little while.  Prince Tyger likes being able to do things for himself.

Especially when there are so many interesting things to do.

And it's even more fun to get one's hair wet.

Yes, like this!  Exactly like this!  Oh, what fun!

Now, back in the water to practice going underwater

and blowing bubbles

and, most of all, dunking Daddy.

It's even fun to go underwater with Daddy.

Oh boy, there's a water slide here too!

Going down the slide with Daddy is just about the most fun Prince Tyger has ever had.

Didja see me, Mom?  Didja see me do it?

Prince Tyger may not be an Aquarius like his father.  But he is definitely a water baby.