It was one of those days.

Spud was barely 2.5 years old and I lost my head because she was being painfully defiant. I don’t quite remember what happened that upset my balance, but given my patience, I got utterly mad at her because I thought she simply wasn’t listening.

I then walked away while trying to prep stuff up in the kitchen. I remember still being fuming mad while at it.

As I peered out of the safety gate that separated the kitchen from the main area, wondering what she was up to after a royal scolding from me, I saw that Spud had her back turned to me. I called for her, and as she turned around to face me, I couldn’t decide if I should laugh or cry … she had smeared a good dose of ink all over her face, particularly her mouth.

Trying to control my emotions, I turned away. I was supposed to still feel mad, if not madder and Silver Bullet, who was very wary of my impending reaction, quickly took her away to clean her up. (and took a couple of shots before actually cleaning her up!)

Meantime, I put my head in the fridge…and I chuckled. Then just like that, I was laughing at the sight I saw till tears rolled down my eyes.

My anger quickly dissipated when I realised that she probably was just imitating me putting on my lipstick;  except that she did her lips with a (washable) marker pen. And black of all colours, perhaps trying to get that goth look. It was one of the most hilarious and innocent sights I have ever seen.

And then it dawned on me that Spud was just doing what Spud did best – she was being a 2.5 year old toddler. I still don’t remember what it was that she did which made me so, so mad and I guess,  I was being an unreasonable idiot of a mom.

Are you one of those who often would never leave the country you visited without buying a T-shirt with the country’s name emblazoned on it?

OK, I am not one of those, but if you are, I serve NO judgments whatsoever. Occasionally though, I would succumb if I think they are cool, mainly as souvenirs for my close friends, but hardly ever for myself.

There is, however, one damn pretty cool tee which I still have in my possession today from one of my travels years ago. It has been more than 5 years, yet this tee I got from Tanzania has yet to show any signs of wear and tear, even though I have been wearing it pretty regularly. I love this tee of mine to death.

What’s so cool about this you ask? Well, first off: There’s nothing that has “Tanzania” emblazoned on the tee. Secondly, it’s got a small print of a dung beetle on the front and a full print of a dung beetle plastered on the back with a caption in Swahili that says, “Sukuma Mavi“.

It is literally translated as “Push The Shit”. An A DUNG BEETLE! What’s there not to like! There. You just learnt a cool expression. (You read it here first!) My kids called it the “Poo T-shirt”.

Swahili such a cool language too, and if you are headed to Tanzania, you can get started with a bunch of Swahili words I picked up (now forgotten) in my post here.