I am sure to have a whole bunch of gray hair ...

- after I ask Vansh for the umpteenth time to come to the table for breakfast and he doesn't comply till LUNCH.

- I ask him to pick up his toys and he keeps playing as though I never opened my mouth.

- my day with the kids begins with hearing a scream saying "I WANT MILK!!" when I have it all ready for him the first thing after I wake up! (and yes I do remind him every day to be nice and gentle when he speaks)

- a request to take off clothes and get ready for a bath is met by a defiant NO (as is a request for washing hands or brushing teeth) and then after a count of 5 (which worked earlier) when I proceed to take them off myself, I am met by a full fledged tantrum.

- as soon as he finds the TV remote within his reach, he turns up the volume to 60.

- the mantra in our household these days is "SHUT UP!!" ..mood decides the volume at which its said.

HHHHEEEELLLLPPPPP!!!!!! Just where does that magic button lie??

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Back from a fulfilling vacation ...

... we returned last Sunday from a 6 week long vacation, a fun one in many ways. Not having to deal with nasty illnesses would rate #2 on my list, a close second after the gigantic joy of meeting my parents after 2 years. I was quite nervous after our last trip 2 years back when Vansh and Ashwini had the most terrible bout of stomach upset accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea. The kids stayed healthy apart from a couple of instances of moderate cough and cold. They had way too much fun with both set of grandparents, kisses and hugs pouring in from every whichever way, the weather being just perfect for outdoors for the most part, and with a thrilling life sans routines and bedtimes and only specific days reserved for candies and lollipops.

There is no way I can sit down to write about the trip in detail, one because I am anyways finding it hard to adjust back to the quiet life here with just the 4 of us, 3 of us for the better part of the day. The Sunday that we reached, we wondered whether it had always been so quiet here or was that a special day! And two because I wouldn't even know where to start. I believe my subsequent posts would have a distinct flavoring to it with references to the time that we spent there.

We are slowly settling back down. Vansh surprised us with his maturity when he said "Dada dadi nana nani trip finish ho gaya" (Our trip to our grandparents has finished) as soon as we reached our apartment complex and didn't demand to be taken back there until last Friday when I chatted with my parents and he turned into a blob of mush, tears rolling down his cheeks as he stood at the door waiting for us to get out and on the plane. But he understood. Saturday, when we chatted with my in-laws, he once again stunned us when he responded to his dadi's "I am missing you." by saying "Aap US aa jao." (You come to US) completely on his own with no prompting of any kind whatsoever. Jiya is unmistakably sad too. She follows me around the house (She started crawling at about 8-1/2 months), expressing her displeasure if I move around too much, making it difficult for her to catch up by crawling. She was happy beyond words this Saturday when we had a few friends over for some time and today when we went for a playdate, happy to be amidst so many people again. I still think of what I was doing 2 weeks back in India at this time. Even as I cooked chicken this Friday, I thought of cooking it exactly 1 week back on my brother in law's special request. As Vansh runs away from me when I try to change him into his night clothes and I hide behind his room's door to pounce on him as he comes back, I think of my mom who had to literally force him to hug her back and then giggle away to glory. And I smile with misty eyes.

Well, enough for my first post after returning. Shall sign off with a picture of each of the kids which perfectly sums up the fun they had while there.

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