Frog's Legs and Talking Jamaican

Pat was 38 this week (Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday TO YOOOOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEEEEEAR DAAAAAAAAAAAAAADY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOOOOOOOOOOU...early. Very early.)

Maia and I wrapped Pat's presents after school, and decided that we would hide them and play a game of Hot and Cold with Daddy so he could find them. On the phone to Pat about 20 minutes before he came home, she was cheerfully explaining the plan, when Pat asked her if she knew what his presents were. "Yes", she said, "A jumper...and a .."

I jumped in and rescued some mystery from the situation through my giggles. It is a low down dirty trick, is you ask me, to ask a 4 year old to spill the beans...

Anyway, he came home to find A Very Excited Maia. A Very Excited Maia who promptly ran towards the (hidden) presents, shouting "Hot Hot Hot!" Once there, she said "Daddy, I am going to help you open them" and proceeded to not let HIM help at all.

Presents opened and admired and thank yous said, we went out for a meal at Froggies Bistro on London Road. A tres chic little cafe-style French restaurant, Froggies was a bit deserted at 6.15, when we wandered in. It was somewhat lacking in atmosphere even though we were there. Maia did her bit to fill the place with sound and movement.

Maia was very adventurous with her food. She tried:

frog's legs ("Quite nice. Is this the bit that bounces?" "Ummm, not any more...")
baby mushrooms
red pepper
poppy seed bread
salt cod croquettes
veggies with toasted onion seeds and
cassis sorbet

She also tried some of my steak. Now, she goes to a nursery that serves vegetarian meals. We rarely have red meat in the house (though I will order it when I go out) so she is not a huge fan. She will sit and chomp through a stack of biltong with her daddy, I don't think she counts that somehow...

So I chopped her a tiny bit of my steak, said it was like squishy biltong and urged her try a bit.

She pulled a funny face, stuck her fingers out and to the sides and said, in a pitch perfect Jamaican accent, " Ah dooon't laack steeak"

New catchphrase. Although goodness knows where it came from. Even my Jamaican accent isn't that good.