Babushka Babblings – Flies, Ice Cream and Potty Training

Baba T. continues to be possibly the number one blessing for me here in Russia. She makes me laugh and spoils me rotten. While she was away for 2 ½ weeks in Moscow I often found myself saying “I'm starving, somebody better fix some food around here!”

Upon her return I was a bit anxious about her reaction to the 200 rotten onions, a broken tea pot and the fact that I was off in Tuva. When I returned from Tuva I was relieved to find that she was not worried about the tea pot and said she wanted to get a different kind of tea pot any way, wanted to know about my time in Tuva and as far as the onions go, the speech went something like this: “I am very sad about my onions. Because I will not be able to find any like them and now we will not have any good onions to eat. I am not mad at you because you are foolish and didn't know any better. Don't they have flies in America? You will be responsible for buying onions as we need them.”

I said that we do have flies in America, however this only seemed to confuse her more as to why I would take such measures to be rid of them. She went on to say that they are harmless and cannot infect anyone and that they were normal. I still find flies in the bathroom and kitchen now and then and quickly smash them with my lightning-fast speed ;)

I must say she is absolutely right in that there are no onions like hers – I am quit sad to eat my beet salad without her sweet onions and instead the bitter store bought ones :( but I guess that's the price I will have to pay. I'm just glad this whole thing is resolved!

One day back in December I had time to go with Baba T. to the store and do some grocery shopping. We both agreed that it was a lot of fun just walking with someone! While we were walking home she stopped at the ice cream stand and bought us 2 ice cream bars :) When we got home we enjoyed them with her canned strawberries – it really was a treat!

Baba T. had mentioned how much she loved ice cream early on in our time together but I wondered why I never saw her eat any and why there was never any in the freezer. Later, I learned from her daughter-in-law that she regularly ate ice cream with her husband.
The other day when I was grocery shopping (which I have the bag Baba T. to let me shop for us!) and thought I would get some ice cream. When I told her that I bought dessert she asked what and I said it was ice cream – she got a look on her face I had never seen before . . . as if to say “You shouldn't have, but I'm glad you did!” As we slowly savored out ice cream she shared that when her and her husband would have a fight they would buy ice cream for each other to make up afterward.

I am so glad that Baba T. lets me share this special treat with her. I think is will become a real regular thing at our house!

For the past 3 weeks and for 3 more weeks Baba T. has been watching her 2 year old granddaughter, N. N's dad is in the states for his job for 6 weeks and Baba T. wanted to help out N's mom who also has a 10 month old baby by watching N. It's changed things quite a bit around our house – but probably the best part for me is the new vocabulary I am picking up. You see, N has just begun potty training . . . I'm not sure how detailed I can be with what I am learning, but I will tell you that I frequently laugh in my room as I over hear Baba T. giving her instructions!