Diwali for the kids this year

After 2 years of Diwali at home close to family, this year we are away from des again. Like everyone else in the same situation, the festivities with the family are missed acutely during this time of the year. Extra efforts have to be made to make a festival meaningful and fun especially for the kids which otherwise happens naturally back home. Anyways we began last week with some fireworks in a bottle and the puffy microwave art. I discovered a Beautiful blog a couple of weeks back and I told Rashmie, the owner of the blog that it had to be divine intervention that I discovered her blog full of amazing activities for the kids when I was just thinking about what to do with the kids this Diwali. Both the activities that we did were such a big hit with the kids and their friends too. She has given the full details in her posts that I have linked up to. But in short, for the fireworks in a bottle, we filled the 500 ml bottles with 1/3rd water and topped it up with cooking oil filled upto about an inch short of the rim. Added different colors (food coloring) to each bottle. Watching the color pass through the oil without coloring the oil and then settling on the oil water border for a few seconds before splashing down to the water and coloring it was mesmerizing enough. But of course there was more. Alka Seltzer tablets were then added to each bottle (3/4 tablet was optimal) and then began the fireworks. The colored CO2 bubbles fizzed up and the oil layer above served as the display window for the fantastic works! The expression on the kids faces has been priceless. And the four bottles sit on our kitchen table and Alka Seltzer tablets are dropped each time one of the kids' friends drops by much to everyone's delight and amusement.

The puffy microwave art - we mixed all purpose flour, baking powder and water to make a pancake like batter, added different food colors again, filled the batter in ziploc bags and made them like henna cones. And took out loads of one side empty sheets to decorate. It was not very easy for the kids to create designs from the cones because its kind of tricky but that didn't deter them one bit from doodling on and on and on. Niño (which is what the elder child will be called from now on :) couldn't stop making 'jalebis' and Chica (the younger one :) could manage lines and some flowers and smileys with help. After 4 small cut outs (from an A4 sheet) were ready, we tossed them inside the microwave for about 40 seconds and Viola! the results were awesome - puffed up art which smelled like pancakes, was so very colorful and very interesting to touch too. Awesome for all the senses. The best ones were mounted on card paper to give to the kids' friends for Diwali and the rest made up a very colorful quilt to adorn our main door. Not perfect at all but hey we are a household of real kids ;)

Last night we lit some sparklers and some small pop pops to the kids' delight and they just can't wait for more today with their friends. Just hope that the rain doesn't play a spoilt sport. 

As for me, well I am going to write a separate post for that. In short have been mighty busy last week cooking sweets and savories (which to my total utter delight are being tried and enjoyed by the kids), and trying out a couple of crafts to make little decorations. So tomorrow is designated no work day :) 

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If You Give a Cat a Cupcake

This weekend we headed to watch Emerald City Theater's production 'If You Give a Cat a Cupcake'. Based on the book by Laura Numeroff; adapted and directed by Ernie Nolan; the play runs at Apollo Theater, 2540 N. Lincoln through Jan 7, 2012.

I had checked out the book from the library a few weeks back. We had already read 'If You Give a Mouse  a Cookie' by the same author and enjoyed it thoroughly. After having read the book, the kids were mighty excited to follow the cat on his adventures. They had some experience with theater before when we had watched 'Dot and Ziggy' the past summer but the experience of seeing a book they have read in action was a first. And even though V doesn't show much enthusiasm if we propose a place which doesn't involve rides or things beginning with the letter 'i' (read iPads, iPods, iMacs and the likes), I could tell that he was looking forward to it.

The first sight of the set on the stage itself was very lively and colorful and multi functional as we later realized to transform it into various locations in the play. The play was about a girl who returns unexpectedly from a play date only to find her dad alone at home, knee deep in work, who asks her to play by herself for a while and promises her to join her soon. Wondering what to do with her time, she comes face to face with her pet cat who is suddenly able to talk, sing, dance and above all ask for favors like a cupcake and sprinkles to go with it. What follows is high energy drama, one funny situation after another and adventures of the Girl (Leah Raidt) and the Cat (Joe Goldammer) around the city. Along the way, they meet the the third and the last actor of the play Kyle Rehder who plays various characters like the dad, the funky Sensei, dog Rufus and others extremely effectively with fun costumes and impressive accents.

Fast paced, high energy and utter fun, it amused the children and their parents alike. We absolutely L-O-V-E-D the excitement the enthusiastic Cat brought into the play. He kept the kids intrigued as he reached from one end of the hall to the other in a matter of seconds. The girl repeated the words from the book, ad verbatim but from memory, as the story unfolded. The friendship between the girl and her cat, even though, slightly forced to begin with when the girl insists that the cat is her pet and not her friend builds gradually and teaches key life lessons of asking your friends' opinions, respect, being thankful and sorry as needed. The audience was involved rather amusingly to carry forward the show. Puppetry, sounds and lighting is effectively used all in all to result in an utterly delightful play. In the end, all the kids were asked to join the cast on stage for a macarena style dance while singing the key words from the play/book. Outside the main hall, the cast gathered for pictures and autographs. Both my kids, being on the shy side with new people and especially with costumes, didn't make much of the opportunity at all but many others did.

I would recommend the play highly if you want to introduce your 3+ aged children to theater or if you have been on a look out for a good play to take your kids to. It does remarkably well to enthrall and delight.








Edited to add: This play is coming to Cutting Hall Performing Arts Center at Palatine, IL on Monday, Jan 16th at 10:30 am (school's off that day). Tickets are only $6 and its a great way to introduce your 3+ aged kids to theater. 

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Of Ruskin Bond and Mother Nature

I treated myself to a great morning walk today, yeah a SAHM with 2 kids, a morning walk is indeed a treat! Anyway V started with school 3 weeks back and J started with hers today. So after dropping J and before getting back to the relative comfort of home, well more precisely to the grind of tidying it up as a house lays in mornings after two young kids and an older one have just bathed themselves, had breakfasts as remains of toasts and peels of fruits lie in plates and outside, some clothes have been opened, deemed inappropriate for the day as have some socks and lie around; I decided to first put on my sneakers and enjoy the outdoors. To put it in a few words, everything about the outdoors was splendid and I had a lovely time. About 40 minutes later, as I sat down with my cup of milk and breakfast, this is what I posted as my fb status.

"Kids off to school, the slight nip in the air, the blissful fresh air on my face with a light drizzle to boot, the hues of fall on the trees, "taazaa gire patte ki tarah sabz lawn par lete huey, saat rang hain bahaaron ke ek adaa mein lapete huey" playing on the iPod, picking up a much treasured acorn for Vansh and an orangish red leaf for Jiya for appreciating later - mornings got back to being WONDROUS again :) :)"

Some kind friends commented that I paint a beautiful picture. Which is when I was reminded of one of my favorite writers Ruskin Bond. I have loved and relished his stories for the vivid imagery he employs. His narrative is so simple yet so powerful as to transport the reader to where he is. As a child, I often used to mentally learn the paragraphs from his stories that I found brilliant and tried to reproduce them when we got essays to write in exams. Unfortunately I have not read him in a long time now (though I requested The Ruskin Bond's children's Omnibus from the library just today) and so the stories are blurry but one that I distinctly remembered and was lucky to find online was The Cherry Tree. One of my most favorite paragraphs, like I said because of its powerful imagery has been

"Rakesh went into the garden and lay down on the grass beneath the tree. He gazed up through the leaves at the great blue sky; and turning on his side, he could see the mountain striding away into the clouds. He was still lying beneath the tree when the evening shadows crept across the garden. Grandfather came back and sat down beside Rakesh, and they waited in silence until it was dark."

Also came rushing to the mind were memories when the environment around has been splendid, mother nature has been at its best, lovely, untouched, gorgeous, gratifying and I thought of penning down for posterity some of those memories. I am such a huge fan of such outings, just give me nice music to listen to and comfortable shoes to walk in and I would be happy for as long as I can be there.

- We went to Manali in the North Indian state of Himachal Pradesh - utterly beautiful. Among other things, one of the most enjoyable memories has been buying 'chosa' mangoes, which are famous for being eaten just as they are, without peeling or cutting, amazingly aromatic and having a fiberless sweet flesh. We were three families and we bought a whole 4 dozens or so, let them be in the plastic bags, held the bags in the rushing river as we sat on the rocks that lined the river and soaked in the blissful sunshine. After about 15 minutes, the mangoes were refreshingly cool and we sat and devoured one mango after another, squeezing the juice and pulp, licking it off our fingers and in short tasting a slice of heaven.

- On a trail in Kasauli in recent times, Ruskin Bond's own city, my entire family on the in-laws side and both the kids too. The sight was perfect - tall teeming trees, sunshine finding its way through the many trees to fall on us; the fresh smell of the ground and the leaves; the only sounds when we all became quiet to listen to them were of the trees swaying in the breeze fascinating the children with the constant 'swish-swoosh', the birds chirping cheerfully and the rumbling of the river somewhere down below. An absolute treat for each and every sense.

- The sweetest and a major chunk of the memories I have are from the summer holidays. My mom was a teacher herself and so this was the time both of looked forward to spend together with little activities planned for the whole day. In spite of being vacation time, our days started early at 5:30'ish as we got ready to go to 'Sanjay Park/Lake Park' in Laxmi Bai Nagar, a 40-45 minute walk from our government quarter in Lodi Colony. The path to the park was a treat in itself, wide roads, a cool breeze, chirping birds, the first rays of the sun just beginning to shine their way to illuminate the top of trees and make the dew on the grass glisten. The park was always a delight, lush grass on both sides of 2 ponds, a big one for the ducks and a small one for the fish, on either ends of the park with a stream of water running along the entire length of the park joining both of them. The major attraction of coming to this park, while passing another beautiful one on the way closer to home was taking small pebbled sized flour balls to feed the fish. For the same reason, many cousins liked to spend part of their vacations with us. There was another steps like structure made in the park, an amphitheater kind of setting, where the steps were all covered with the green grass and the area just next to it was a slope again covered with the same rich carpet of grass. How much we loved to just lie down and roll our bodies on the cool grass, letting out peels of laughter and giggles, taking pleasure in an absolutely simple, yet pleasurable activity. The other end of the park which had the big pond and the ducks was then visited and we again delighted in chasing the ducks.

- A gigantic splash of color comes gushing to mind when I think of Duluth, Lutsen and beyond along the North Shore of Minnesota. A gondola ride between a pair of mountains where the flaming red maples, the sunny glow of golden poplar and birch leaves glittered against the blue sky, underlined by the deep maroon of the low-growing moose maples. Probably one of the most breathtaking sights I have ever seen, it  felt as if the Master had picked up a giant brush himself and painted the mountains in those brilliant, fiery, dazzling colors. An equally wondrous sight was that of orange and red maples against the brown ground. I think the image of a year and a half old Vansh walking on that vibrantly hued ground and marveling all the same will remain etched in my memory forever.

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You know you are raising a geography geek when ...

- Flags of countries suddenly appear on your house walls as do maps to a beach you visited last weekend.

- He/she takes bites of chapatis in a way to make shapes of Mexico and South America out of it.

- Whose eyes become like big round saucers when you tell him that he has been to Kasauli, the mountains where are the part of the Himalayan Range and he screams, "You mean I have been to the GREAT HIMALAYAS!"

- Holds the following conversation with an 11 year old Korean boy from his Tae Kwon Do class when he meets him at the park :

V - Are you from South Korea?

A - Yes

V- Its that country behind the Great Himalayas, on the east of China, right?

A - I think so!

V - You know I have been to the Great Himalayas! Had I climbed to the top, I would have been able to see South Korea! Yeah right, Dude!!

V- They use a lot of robots in South Korea to do the housework, right?

A- They do?

- Passes remarks like - Its cool, cloudy and wet today. Feels like Germany.

- When asked his age, responds with zecks, seis, chhe and rarely ever six.

- Greets grandparents on Skype with Guten Morgan, ¿Cómo estás?, Adaab and the likes.

- When told that he can play on the computer for a few minutes, quickly opens up tabs to check the weather on the Moon and Sun (btw there are cities by both the names in the US :) ; opens up a world clock to see which is the place ahead of all in time; and the China Airlines page to see how much money he needs to collect for a ticket to China.

- And is confused what to buy from his first salary, the love of his life - an iPad or a ticket to China !

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Cirque Shanghai Extreme

We try to take the kids to a lot of different places for the variety of experiences they offer. And Chicago has not ceased to amaze till now. We have been to a new place/show without repeating any, almost every weekend of the past 5 months we have been here and the list of to visit places continues to grow. We are happily continuing to explore.

The past weekend we went for the Cirque Shanghai Extreme show at Navy Pier. It was a fun show with several acts by acrobat performers who displayed their craft of tumbling, juggling, balancing and more. Full of music and dance, their was a warm appeal to the show as well because after every act the performers bowed with very warm and genial smiles, almost asking you to applaud wholeheartedly for their anyways great acts :) The acrobatic gravity defying acts always amaze me at the capacity and the flexibility of the human body and at the wonders it is capable of performing.

Jiya enjoyed the music and kept dancing on her seat while watching as Vansh watched awe struck. Given their age, they most of all enjoyed the acts which had a degree of cuteness to them. There was an act in which 10-12 men juggled their hats in several ways and did some silly things too which evoked laughter. They even called 3 gentlemen to the stage and taught them the juggling act which obviously they failed at mostly creating a rather funny scene, all in good humor though.

In another act, 3 girls danced in and out of hollow tubes treating us to rather terrific and unbelievable moves. Jiya like that the best.

I leave you with some pictures to enjoy. If you are in Chicago, I think its a great show to enjoy. It runs through Labor Day so there still are a couple of more weekends to go watch the Extreme.

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The contrast in play times

Almost all of Vansh's dozen friends from the complex were there in the park and with a bunch of 5 year old to 8 year old boys together, one can imagine what the sights and sounds must be. Among their other adventures, they started going up and down the slide one after the other, sandwiching each other in the process, landing on each others' arms and legs and bursting out laughing all the while. And among them was a tiny, petite looking child whose body and frame, if you ignored was being just as rowdy and boisterous as them. The child's laughter was not as loud but just as gay and mischievous as the other boys. My heart first prevailed over my mind to watch the child for just a little while longer for she was having such a whale of a time. I let a few minutes pass to watch the liveliness and the vibrancy before pulling a guffawing, crackling Jiya out of the whole matrix of arms and legs and hands and feet that the boys had created. And for the rest of our time there, she kept running back to the group, sitting on her knees on the swing or swinging with her tummy on them and I couldn't help but smile, even though a part of me worried.

And just about half an hour later, one of her friends who joined her in the park and they played very quietly with the little rocks there building small mounds, also joined her at home and they started playing kitchen and carrying a baby in the stroller and similar things and Vansh joined them just as effortlessly as Jiya had joined his friends some time back.

I love the different opportunities these two get at play because of having a sibling of the opposite sex. :)

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Guilty?

Noon passed on this tag to me about mommy guilts and it was interesting to read her and Ro's and Art's confessions and feel like 'Oh, moms I admire and am so fond of do it too! I am not so bad after all;) " Here are the rules :-

1. Write about 2 instances where you have put yourself before your child/ children... been a wee bit selfish.
2. How did you feel? Did you feel a pang of guilt or were you comfortable?
3. Tag 2 more moms

And after reading the above posts, I am not feeling so guilty after all. Anyways out of me and my husband, I am the thick skinned one.

- I think bedtime routine features in every mom's list. When I am putting my children to bed and looking forward to my 30-40 minutes of 'me' time (read internet time on most days) to catch up with friends et al, I sometimes read the books they bring hurriedly. Then they have themselves made up this routine where they want me to just rub their backs from inside their shirts till a count of 20 and for the last few days, they then ask me to just press their legs for a bit because they are so tired from playing and then V will want to give me a hug and then J and then V will want to end the hugging session with one last hug to him and then J would want the last one and basically they just try to elongate the whole routine which leads me to snap at them at times. V also asks me what I'll do once I finish cleaning the kitchen which I usually do only after they sleep especially in summers and I partly lie to him saying that I have some 'work' on the computer or I have to iron clothes (I don't tell him that I'll watch a movie alongside) because otherwise he'll want me to sleep with him. Whether I feel guilty - well I wish I had a clone who could give them the warmth and fuzzy feeling of sleeping with a parent every time they wished for it but don't think I am depriving them of something because I am doing a lot with them during daytime.

- One thing I do feel guilty about is when I stay up till too late watching a movie or spending time on the internet and then I wake up a little later than I intend to and then have to rush them through their waking up (they do take forever but I guess most kids do) or their breakfast and generally increasing everybody's stress levels, I feel like this could have been avoided! Anyways I am getting better with it and I know that once it becomes an everyday thing that both of them have to leave for their schools early, I would have to discipline myself and sleep early because I can go with less sleep for 3-4 weeks max and then it starts getting difficult.

I always love when Dipali writes about her mommyhood experiences because she's been through it all. So I tag her and also Cee Kay because I can't think of any guilts she may have, she's a saint mom in my eyes :)

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