Another new innings...

...started for me this week. Having held the Illinois Teaching Certificate for almost a year and a half, applying in school districts and not hearing back from them, I finally got a break in the same school district as Nino and Chica's. Lesson learnt - knowing people in the system works as much here as anywhere else in the world! So even though the hiring right now has been as a paltry substitute teacher, its exciting nevertheless for a variety of reasons. Getting back into a profession very close to my heart even if its a baby step towards that; getting the opportunity of experiencing teaching, first hand, in a country other than my own; being able to step out after another long stint at home to name a few. And the good part is its working well with my schedule. Nino returns at 4:00 and I am able to return before that. Chica who still goes half day has been lucky to get a loving babysitter in a dear friend. And mornings just got better. Every morning Nino wakes up with the question if I got a call from some school to see if he would be able to don his 'responsible child cum caring older brother' hat today :) I had been counseling the kids since last week about all they would have to remember to do as I would have to leave, on some days, almost an hour and a quarter before they leave for school. Which is typically the time they are ready to go for the bathroom 'works' after having gulped down their milk. And A more often than not has office calls during that time, which essentially leaves the kids on their own to get ready, fold their clothes, make their beds, eat their breakfast, make sure everything that's supposed to be in the bags actually is (yeah we are last minuters) and biggest of all KEEP AN EYE ON THE CLOCK! And I am proud to say that on the very first day, I am a proud mom of kids who got ready 20 minutes before their scheduled time and were the first ones to reach the bus stop! Yeah, Chica wore pink and green socks with a black and white shirt and red leggings, but I am ready to overlook that because she did look amusingly cute nevertheless :)

So now notes from the first day of work. I spent my time laughing over this video with A last night and hoping my day went better than this ;)

I substituted for a Math/Science teacher in a middle school today. Some of the things that impressed me -

1. The day started with select News being broadcast for the students to watch throuhgout the school in the homeroom period. Such a great idea!
2. Outside every teacher's room, along with their name was a sign which stated "Mr/Mrs XYZ is reading                            . " (followed by the name of the book). How inspiring!
3. 6th graders were working on a presentation in groups of 4 on National Parks. The roles taken up by each group member were Geologist/Animal and Plant researcher/Historian/Tour Guide. They made slides according to their role and shared it on Google Docs with their group members which the Tour Guide then adjusted to, well guide the audience. Such a great project!

So that's the latest from my end. Tomorrow is another exciting day as I get to visit the young Kindergartners. My kids are more excited than I am about this one :)
 

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A day of implementing ideas - linked to some great resources

So it takes some effort, well a lot to get a 7 year old on task, especially if the said 7 yo happens to be a boy. Man, I never would have believed the difference between boy and girl personalities if I didn't experience them first hand at home! So while, I have to be on my toes to get resources for Chica as she finishes one worksheet/activity after another asking for more, the ones for Nino lie around untouched for months on end because well he is just content sitting on the couch and breathing! Yeah, if he could outsource that too, he would!

So some ideas from pinterest, which is my new best friend, which had been floating around in my head, I finally put to practice last night. So the kids helped me in making a list of tasks which would help them in earning coupons. The tasks include things like practicing their Math from some workbooks they have; some Hindi reading and writing; reading paired with some reading responses. (Please do click on the link, it is a great great packet - each worksheet addresses a key reading skill and there are worksheets for fiction as well as non fiction books and it is FREE! The resources available on the internet these days just amazes me, I mean just think about all the talent in the world!) And everytime they finish a task, they put a tick against it on their task list. 5 completed tasks(all different) gives them the opportunity to pick a coupon. I tried to encourage them to work quickly when they have the time (on no school home work days or weekends) and so if they complete 3 tasks in one day, they get to pick a coupon. Nino wanted me to add that 5 tasks in a day gets them 2 coupons. Coupons, some I made myself and others the duo told me what they wanted. So some of the coupons entitle them to a treat at McDonald's or a Family Game Night where the coupon winner picks games of his/her choice; or choosing a favorite movie for Movie Night, getting to play Wii for 20 extra minutes, an Ice Cream outing, calling a friend for playdate, an extra story at bedtime and the likes.

Hah! So the first day, in spite of the fact that the system got up and running at 7:15 pm, we saw a whirlwind of academic activity in the household :). Frantic working, then getting back to the task chart to see what could be done next and then back to working. It was quite an amusing sight! And the siblings did in fact earn one coupon each :). Why, of course, I don't expect each day to be like that. But I do hope that it does instill some motivation to be on task when time permits! Last night Chica was able to earn another coupon where as Nino brought back a good share of home work from school so he could complete one task from the list.

Another idea is that of this box which I am calling the Mom Box. Anything the kids don't put back at their proper place goes in the box and then in order to claim back their rights on it, they need to complete a chore. I like the rhyme that goes with it. Much excitement ensued when the idea was announced. Even to the extent of deliberately leaving things out of place to be able to experience it. I had to tell Chica she could just pick a chore, she didn't have to leave something out to do it :) So she asked me for a wipe moistened with Windex because she wanted to clean the big patio glass door. He, he..sometimes I come close to knowing what it feels like to hit the Jackpot ;) The chores include things like folding some laundry, wiping the coffee and dining table, making their toy room clean by picking up anything lying on the floor. 

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Time to retire? May be not!

So we went on a rather sudden trip to India in November. Among the many other adventures, a couple of them were these two. While just doodling around one day which is Chica's favorite pastime, this is what she came up with. I think its time to retire from this parenting gig when your 5 year old has the circle of love and life this clear in her head.

Or may be not because if your 7 year old comes up with this when asked to do his homework, retirement would have to wait some!

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A few Chica updates...

...filling up our days the past few weeks.

Chica is being this rather outspoken girl at home, in an entertaining way, with an amusing answer/opinion on almost anything that is being talked about :) So we were playing this word game while having dinner and she thought of a word and was giving clues to Niño for him to guess the word. Now Niño always likes to team up with his dad, just to make it easy for himself. After a couple of hints, the 'team' guessed the word and it happened a few times in a row. Niño expressed his pride on playing so well, to which she remarked so casually "So what are you doing about it bhaiya, its all papa's work!" The way she speaks, its hard to suppress a smile. :)

The other day, she was telling me about her teacher at school who spells is as 'iz'. I told her that I don't blame her because that's how it 'sounds' actually to which pat came the reply "But mom, we know in English, its not always about the sound!" Again said in a rather straightforward, matter of fact kind of way from a little girl, it sounded rather funny. While still on the topic of spellings, which she is currently taking a lot of interest in, she sometimes, just for fun and silliness, asks me spellings of words like UPS, USA, TV, etc. The other day, she asked me to spell OK for her. I told her its o.k.a.y. May be she expected it to be O.K. or may be I had spelled it as that the last time, she said as much. I replied saying that both of those are valid spellings. "Why" was the next question to which I halfheartedly (more out of tiredness on answering such questions) replied "I don't know". "Well then why didn't nani (grandma) teach you why?" Uff, the persistent interrogator sure managed to bring a smile to my face again.

So she is being this buoyant little girl, happy in her skin, wearing a beautiful dress because she feels like dressing up with clips to match, dancing, looking at herself in the mirror, humming "I am the most beautiful girl in the world" with gay abandon. At other times, not caring how she looks with paint on her face or tears, previously shed, because she had a fight with her brother, now making trails on her soiled face, just drawing for hours on end,  still humming "I am the most beautiful girl in the world". I love your confidence baby and I love your free spirit. Stay the same!

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Part 1 of Summer 2012 - The London Olympics

 

Niño has been dreaming big and imagining even bigger. My only regret is I am no longer as prompt with the camera as I was last year. But the Olympics have been playing big on his heart and mind as he watched the opening ceremony with wide eyed awe and wonder. And then went on to make Michael Phelps his hero and Gabby Douglas his heroine ;)

So he planned an opening ceremony with all the props at hand. A gun shot was fired with his toy gun to mark the beginning of the ceremony. He then switched off all the lights and switched on the light of his toy projector and started rotating a Rubik cube in front of the projector light in order to get a flashing disco lights effect; realized that the cube is opaque and only gets him shadows, got some Ikea translucent kind of different colored bowls and got the desired effect. He had then orchestrated a band with the instruments they have which included him on the violin and Chica on the piano and I and A were handed over maracas and tambourines. I was then duly asked to play some marching music on youtube as he handed us handouts of names of countries with their flags - which he had carefully drawn beforehand. I was to represent India, the father son duo were from USA and the sister was from Russia because she is a good gymnast. The Atlas was seen outside and this was the time I realized it had been taken out to draw Russia's flag. Finally I was asked to play the British National Anthem and the climax had to be a self done Light Saber show because of course he can't let his absolute favorite thing down by not including it in the ceremony.

And ever since Swimming competitions have been going on in the home and outside - never mind that a swimming race just means running inside the pool from the 3 feet end to the 4 feet end :) (Swimming has eluded him by far). Plans are made as the Big gang of children meet every evening either in the pool or while biking for the next day's events of their very own Olympics. Tennis, Basketball, Track and Field have all been held in one way or the other.

While I wish I had taken pictures of Niño doing all this, this year; I will share here pictures from his fascination with the Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi while we were there in Oct 2010.

Weightlifting - a hot favorite! Don't miss the expressions and the weight - 225 kgs, in case you are wondering ;)

He's a pro at getting the body language and the expressions just right! 

And these are the current cool dudes and wannabe Olympic swimmers!

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Science in Everyday Conversations

The amount of water Niño drinks during the course of the day has been a cause of concern for me for a while. The Delhi summer took care of the problem itself when the scorching heat even inside the house or his school made sure he drank bottles full but here with the majority of the time being the cold season, he barely drinks any if left to himself. During this past weekend, I made it a point to literally thrust those 270 ml bottles in him every 2 hours. He was delighted to be peeing out white fluid which I keep telling him is so good as opposed to the yellow one which he passes out rarely during the day otherwise. So after one such elated trip to the bathroom, I asked him to recall why after all is water so essential for our human bodies. I had told him a couple of times but then that's my other concern, how much really do 7 year olds actually listen and pay attention to. My answer would be 5%, without exaggerating. Anyways, that's not the topic for this post, probably for another one!

So the first very obvious reply was to make us pee white pee which is good and not the yellow pee which is bad. I told him he was right but still I was looking for an even more vital function of water in our bodies which I had mentioned to him and he would earn 7 stickers for if he could recall. And without us realizing, it became a kind of a game. He asked for a hint. I think it would be interesting to narrate the conversation the way it happened after that

Myself: Okay, here's the deal for you! You guess the answer after 1 hint, you get 6 stickers; after 2 hints, you get 5, 4 stickers after 3 hints and so on ..and his interest was piqued!
So your first hint is why do we eat food?

Niño: To get all the proteins and vitamins! Oh I know (at which point I was so proud of my son having figured it out right after one hint) - so the food goes through the food pipe and there is another wind pipe and one time I was laughing really loudly while eating my food and the food entered the wind pipe and made me cough so badly!

Myself: (This is what I thought - Duh? So what about the water dude? ) But this is what I spoke (I am the Mother after all,  I remembered) - I know you did and that was pretty unpleasant. Okay, so how do you think water helps?

Niño: Ohhh! (making the face that he makes when he realizes he is far from his goal) So the water also goes down the food pipe and not down the wind pipe that is why you tell us not to talk or laugh while drinking water!

Myself: Absolutely! Are you ready for the second hint?

Niño: Okay

Myself: So where do you think all the food and the good nutrients go?

Niño: They go down the food pipe and the ones that are not needed, we potty them out! So the water helps to potty out what is not needed?

Myself: Yes it does. Good job figuring that out! We are still looking for the most important function though. So where does the food pipe take the food?

Niño: (Touches his stomach and says) Here! And I know so the water mixes with all the food in the stomach and becomes muck! But Oh! We are trying to figure out why water is a good thing, not why it is bad!

Myself: No it does mix around with the food and helps digest it in the digestive system. Even if it seems like its mucky, that's the way food is digested! Okay, so all the food and all the good nutrients have been accumulated in our stomach and our digestive system. So are these the only places in our body which need all the good nutrients?

Niño: No our growing bones need them too! Oh I know - so there are like pipes from the stomach to the bones.

By this time he is beyond himself with excitement with hands making out the pipes and the bones in thin air which is when I pick up a scrap paper and draw a rough sketch of a human body with just a box for the mouth and a circle for the digestive system we have been talking about. We pick up some brownie crumbs still left over on the table from the brownies we had just had before this (yeah we are that creative ;) !) and assume them to be the nutrients packed with all the goodness! So Niño draws the pipe from the mouth bringing the food into the digestive system and figures there must be a pipe taking the nutrients to the bones. We then pick up a straw and put some brownie crumbs to see if they would move to reach somewhere else and Eureka!

Niño: Oh so of course they need water to reach the bones, to be able to flow in the pipes!

Very rough I know but the joy of self discovery! At the end of it, he doesn't care how many hints he took or how many stickers he earned but the fact that he discovered something for himself! How he thought and how mesmerized he was with his own thoughts! How 'cool' the commonest of drinks really is, after all!

That's the first thing he treats his dad to when he returns home from outside! And he has been asking for more such 'Discovery Projects', as he called them, ever since! We did shorter versions on conservation of water today. But I still need to think of other such topics which can give him the joy of discovering and which can be done in this impromptu manner. Suggestions? Experiences? Please do share :)

And I was inspired to pen down this post because of the super smart kid KB who was sure he'll be able to make warm ice if he put warm water in the freezer and learnt the second law of thermodynamics in the process. :)

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Ah the occasional sweetness

Yesterday Chica was away with me when Niño went with A (my husband) to the bookmobile to return and check out some materials. Chica had given Niño instructions to check out a Dora DVD for her in addition to whatever else he checks out. I had my doubts whether he would care to remember mostly because his favorite pastime is to irritate her and hear her scream. He proved me totally wrong by going out of his way going through several titles and checking out Dora's Ballerina Adventures because Dora and Ballet happen to be Chica's two most favorite things these days. I wonder who was more delighted at his thoughtful action - Chica or me :) Cos I shall be feeding them both this very thought to avert several prospective battles in the coming few weeks ;)

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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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Of simple everyday dreams...

Once upon a time there was a lady. She had 2 children aged 3 and 1. She was so tired from entertaining them, caring for them, taking them for their bathroom visits, making them wash their hands, giving them baths, dressing them up, cleaning up after them, feeding them their meals and the list went on and on and on. She felt she was so incompetent, the house was always a mess, she found it hard to find the time for cooking the meals. Even when she took them to the park, one of them cried either because of hunger, or tiredness or just because. They were so young and hungry and tired so often. And they had to be watched all the time lest they run into a swinging child or too close to a big slide. And the mom looked at other moms around the park sitting on benches and chatting or reading a book or enjoying a cup of coffee and dreamed that one day, she'll be them. When she'll still watch the children for sure, but not be as worried

about their safety. Where they'll play with each other like friends do, run and laugh and push each other on swings and sit on opposite sides of the see saw, where they'll make new park friends as they play along and run and laugh some more and she'll not have to be the one doing all that, not because she didn't want to but because her tired limbs and nerves deserved a little relaxing. And then she'll be able to justify to herself that having two children so close apart was indeed a good idea :) The dream has finally come true!

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Which language do you speak?

It so happened that when Vansh started going to school here, he came across a lot of different children from different cultural backgrounds and speaking many different languages. It was kind of funny, though natural for a 6 year old to ask among one of the first questions he asked his friends or in fact anybody he met, was whether they know Hindi. Hindi, being his preferred and most used language of communication, he felt comfortable if he could express himself naturally to just one friend when the rest of the time he had to talk in English, which he can speak in though not spontaneous. Now the answers of his friends started fascinating him. While someone replied that they knew just a few words of Hindi because they spoke in Telugu at home, another child said she knew Spanish, another one said Tamil and a little boy moved to our complex a few weeks back who speaks Marathi. He told his Telugu friend that he knows two words “Annam tintinawa!” and formed a bond. Similarly he told his Spanish friend “Hola!” and yet another bond was formed. Which is why childhood is considered to be so sweet and innocent. J The fascination kept growing. Since he also displays interests in names of countries, where they are located, which flights operate via them (*rolling eyes*) and so and so forth, I got him a Children’s Atlas from the library.

Now the Atlas is pretty cool for young kids in the sense that it has the very basic starting information which keeps kids occupied with the tidbits it provides and neat pull outs for every continent containing lots of information like the countries in that continent, animals found there, what’s manufactured, their flags and yes the languages spoken in the various countries. Oh my God! It was such a hit with him. Most of all for the languages he got to know people speak in different parts of the world. So many new names he didn’t know exist. His conversations were so animated. He looked like a model child, any mother’s heart would swell with pride at, when she saw her child chatting with his grandfather in India on Skype with an Atlas open in front of him and saying “Nana, do you know they speak French also in Canada, so your so and so friend must also be speaking French, ask her!” I had also told him that my mom and dad were born in Pakistan (pre-partition), so he asked them what language is spoken there and learnt a few phrases in Urdu.

During our conversations, looking at his interest I told him a few phrases of the different languages I knew, thanks to the song “Angrezi mein kehte hain ki I love you!” I told him I could say that in Bengali, Gujrati, Punjabi and boy was he impressed. (I didn’t tell him about the song though J) I threw in a few more phrases in German – Guten Morgen, Guten Naakht, and the counting eins, zwei, drei till zen. And he was thrilled asking me where I learnt all that from. I milked the opportunity like a true Desi mom and told him how I studied so much when I was a kid and learnt so many languages ;) So now when someone asks him how old he is he answers zecks and then proceeds to say that’s German for six. Showoff!! Ricky Martin came to help with his Un, dos, tres after which Maria has become his favorite song he keeps humming and claims of mastering Spanish.

I got him a book yesterday from the library which has 12 common phrases like Hello, What’s you name, Thank you, Good Bye etc in 12 different languages and he devoured it with much delight remembering his bua from Dubai, checking that Arabic is spokem there and saying next time he meets her, he’ll greet her with a Salam and the friend in class who speaks Spanish with a ¿Cómo Estás? and the Tamil friend with a Vanakkam.

At times, the scene is hilarious when four friends are playing in the park, two good at English, one at Hindi (Vansh) and the fourth one at Marathi. The two recently moved from India (the Hindi and Marathi speaking one), high on cricket take it upon themselves to teach the other two the game who have no clue how its played. So a lot of animated hand gestures, shouting out “no this, no this”, come “ikde”, “tu ye pakad” and everybody just trying to hurriedly tell everybody something in their language, we have a jolly good time, often times literally holding our tummies while laughing.

Edited to add: Thanks to his dada, who is an active member of the Sindhi Panchayat in our locality in Delhi, Vansh participated in a couple of Sindhi programs when we were there. In one of them, he learnt and recited a rhyme in Sindhi. At times, I and Ashwini speak to each other in Sindhi as a spontaneous gesture (and sometimes when we want to communicate something we don't want the kids to understand) and he picks up a few phrases. An oft repeated one is Khile thi (she is laughing) when he sees Jiya laughing and he asks me to then appreciate him for his Sindhi skills. When I tell him thats just one phrase, he recites the Sindhi rhyme that he had learnt :)

So friends, can you please leave us a phrase, any one you like in a language you know and you’ll make a boy who would be hugely interested very very happy J

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Tidbits

Some days I really wish I had more time on my hands to jot down the bitter sweet hapenings of these early years of the kids. It is so interesting to hear them talk so much and get to know what they think, how they make sense of the world around them. Anyways let me attempt to ruffle up a quick post about tiny tidbits with one eye on the clock above me which shows they'll be up from their afternoon nap any minute and the other eye on them, one on each level of the bunk bed, a rare and a precious sight.

- We took the kids to pick out their shoes last weekend to a neighborhood market shop. Vansh picked out the most gaudy looking shiny red and black pair. I tried to (not so) gently encourage him to pick more sober ones but Ashwini told me to let him has his way rather than fighting everyday over making him wear it. Wise man, considering that just the previous night, we had spent over 45 minutes doing just that - fighting over what he wanted to wear at the birthday party and what we thought he would look 'dressed for the occasion' in. Ashwini learnt his lesson in those 45 minutes, the silly me forgot even after such episodes every other day.

- While on shoes, all Jiya wants to wear are her golden sandals wherever she goes. Even to the toilet, yeah! and the park. She doesn't mind being the only one even after I point out to her that all kids she knows there are wearing shoes. I am waiting for the 'conformity' factor to kick in. Right now she also likes to flaunt her picked 'color of the day' chunni with whatever it is she is wearing - skirt, jeans, frock! Why wouldn't she - after all she does manage to catch everybody's attention and often adulation. Churis and bindis are a regular feature too and nailpolish she brings thrice a day to me. I swear I have no idea how she got into it so thick because I am nowhere close to what she is aiming to be!

- Sibling love shines through many a times during a day these days. They still fight like cats and dogs, often making me nervous to even take that bathroom break. Friends ask me why I take them out so much even to nonsensical places at times and I tell them that's because I find it impossible to control/keep them entertained at home! Like I said it becomes hard for me to go use the bathroom, even. Anyways back to sibling love. These two have wonderful conversations when Vansh returns from school. Jiya tells him the highlight of her day and Vansh shares his. Today from a collection of goody bags he had got as it was three of his classmates' birthday, he took out a packet of Cadbury Gems and told Jiya he had got it for her because she likes it so much :) And when Jiya shows him her mehndi she has doodled on her hands with a pen or any such small thing, he responds with an "Arre wah! yeh to bahut accha hai!" I wonder how he suddenly grows up so much around her.

..... might be continued ... :)

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Forgiveness ...

.. is what I ask of you dear daughter for the last proper update I did for you was at 14 months and now you stand just 2 weeks short of your 2nd birthday!! *gulp* Before you shout "Sacrilege", let me just tell you that I have been making notes of the giant leaps which have been the last 10 months for you and I'll publish them here, just like that, in bits and pieces for your birthday :) I know you'll forgive me because finally there's one person for whom I know I am the world and that's you :) As for now, life's really cool for you.
You drink juice straight from the box and get away with it with just an impish smile and your signature coy expression of putting your hands on top of your face and giggling. You get to play the patient to a doting doctor you have for a brother.

And you get to watch your favorite videos with breakfast served right there.

Must feel like heaven, eh?!

And forgiveness is what I ask of you dear readers and friends for still not posting the promised Kasauli pics. Let's just assume that I have been keeping quite busy and I'll post them soon. So "Friends, I have been keeping quite busy and I'll post them soon! Till next time Chao!"

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As the temperatures soar ...

... the siblings have a ball splashing water at each other in the bathroom and getting drenched. Another favorite that follows is running around the house in towels as mom happily clicks away. Ah the simple pleasures of life!!

Edited to add: After 3 harsh winters in Minnesota, March doesn't quite seem like it :) No one's complaining!

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Summer camp begins and a busy week

Life moves on at different paces at different times, meandering around leisurely at times, making us wonder what else can we do, rushing past at some others making us rush along to catch our breath and then rush along some more; super cool at times where everything seems so hunky dory, the pieces seem to fall in place; rough at others with several ragged edges again leaving the livers wondering how to smooth out the creases.

Vansh started a summer playground camp this Monday where he goes to a neighborhood park a few miles away for 3 hours in the morning. They do some crafts, play some games, go the park to play on the slides and swings, have a snack and read some story or sing songs. This is his first such experience away from mom for 3 hours. The closest he had gotten was at ECFE where he was one room away from me for an hour in a surrounding he had been familiar with since he turned 18 months and the separation was gradual as we parents stayed with the kids for the first half hour and then moved to an adjoining room for the next hour. I wasn't really expecting it to be a smooth ride initially, considering his recent reaction to new surroundings and new people in India. He took his time to warm up. He held on very tightly physically and figuratively to the handful of people he felt comfortable with and only little by little did he increase that circle of trust he would let more loving aunts and uncles into. However I was fooled for the last 10 days or so looking at his enthusiasm as every morning on waking up, he asked me whether it was the day to start summer camp. A couple of his friends were enrolled in the camp as well and I thought may be just the excitement of being with them in the park was what will actually see him waving a cheery good bye at me and walking off. But that was not to be! He had a tough time letting me go on Monday morning. Though we reached about 10 minutes early to avoid too much of a rush the first day but he refused to get into the park building and looked overwhelmed looking at so many children and the several staff instructors. In an effort to get him in at least, I told him that he didn't want to be standing outside alone as some stranger might just whisk him away. I would like to know how you all feel about this but somehow I would like my children to actually have that fear of being alone away from me or my husband or from their group. Anyways so in he went holding on to my leg all along. After signing in, getting his name tag and putting his bag away he was asked to join the group of 3-5 year olds, 4-5 of which were present at that time with 2 young girls who were their teachers. On being asked by them whether he would like to come play, he responded with a loud and vehement NO! I was there for about 20 minutes with him telling him that he would have fun with other kids, they would go out in the park later in the day to play, noe of which seemed to change his mind. I also talked to the teachers telling them that I was expecting it to be hard for him the first few days. Gradually the place was filling in with more kids and parents and I spotted a couple more who were having a tough time separating. One of them was a girl, about the same age as Vansh, who was sulking and when her mother went out, she started crying, big tears rolling down her face. One of the teachers picked her up and took her for a drink of water after which I lost track. Another boy, slightly older, may be about 4-1/2 was quietly weeping in his mom's arms but after a few minutes did manage a decent good bye. Another teacher (Heather) who looked more experienced stopped by and started talking to him but he just kept saying NO to whatever she said. I told her about his anxiety and distrust of new people and that I was ready to leave him because I knew he wouldn't take a very long time to quiet down once I was gone. She said that would be good and that it was not uncommon for young children to behave that way as she had been dealing with them for the last 5 years. So she just picked him up kicking and arms flailing furiously and I just stepped out from the building. For about a minute, I could hear shrieks but I saw from the window outside that Heather had taken him outside the other side. I waited another half an hour outside, peeping in at about 10 minutes intervals and the first time, I saw him standing close to where Heather was picking up some papers and stuff, forlorn but not crying and then standing close to the group with her and the last time I saw he was sitting close to her while the others were doing soem craft. She saw me from inside and gave me a thumbs up which is when I decided to leave. When I went back to pick him up after the remaining 2 hours, he was standing there with a paper in his hand and his clothes had been changed. Oh darn! Why did I forget to make him go to the bathroom just before coming, I thought to myself. Even though the last night I had gone through the common phrases in English about wanting to go to the restroom, wanting water, wanting more snack if hungry but he had had a rough time coping up. One of his teachers told me that he had had a rough day, was mostly by himself and had had an accident while they were in the park. Dang yet again! I had written that out in his form that he needed to be reminded when playing outside in the park but hadn't mentioned it verbally to the teacher. So I just hugged him and we left with him telling me "Vansh ko accha nahin laga. Summer camp nahin aayega." I didn't want to make too much of it because it was his first day of his first such experience but I did feel a little bad. After having our lunch and settling down Jiya for a nap, I shared my experinece of my school days with him that how even I didn't like it one bit when I started school when I was as young as him, how I gradually started making friends and getting to know my teachers and knowing that they took care of me when my mom and dad were not there and ultimately how much I started loving it and insisted on going there even when I was down with a fever. Some of it I remembered, some of it cooked up (about not liking it in the first place - I have no idea how I reacted the first few days, shall have to ask my parents) but I could tell he felt a little better. Ashwini had a similar talk with him in the evening.

Tuesday was more or less the same. He was more vocal in expressing "I want not to go to teacher. I want not to go to summer camp. I want to go to papa." His cute little English sentences made me want to laugh, the feelings behind those made me want to cry. "He stayed by himself, didn't want to join in the activities or play with other kids" is what his teacher had to say that day. He hadn't wanted to use the restroom today. (I had also remembered to make him go just before leaving in the morning). Incidentally another friend of mine and her daughter Ashley, whom Vansh has met a few times before have also been going with us to the same camp. Tuesday afternoon saw him flashing a shy smile when she waved good bye to him while getting off the car.

Wednesday morning was worse because even Ashley didn't want to go to summer camp today. I couldn't even convince him to come inside with me. I asked my friend to hold Jiya for me and I picked up Vansh trying to comfort him. Heather came out after a while. And he literally yanked my hair when she took him forcefully from my lap. But I knew no other way would work with him either. At earlier occasions, I have tried talking to him gently, reassuring him but this doesn't work when its actually THE time to do something. The report at pick up time was slightly more encouraging as today after an initial rough phase, he had played in the park and had been spotted talking back and forth with Ashley in Hindi and had been playing with her at the water fountain when I went in. I had an idea that evening that might just do the trick I thought. Off late, Vansh loves to pretend that he is dad and proclaims several times "Vansh papa ban gaya" as he uses his toy keys to open the main door and come in and say "Hellliyo" , Or when he asks Jiya "Gudiya kya kar rahi hai?" or he sits on the sofa and pretends he is driving the car to downtown to his office, all typical Ashwini style. I told him that we are going to pretend that Vansh is papa and he is going to take his bag, give mom and Jiya a hug and kiss and say "Bye! Take care, have a nice day" just as papa does which he did with much enthusiasm and amidst many giggles as he saw mom making such a fuss about it. I told him we shall play the same game tomorrow morning when we drop him off for camp. And that really did the trick.

It was unbelievable when on Thursday, he actually walked in the door with me, took his name tag, put aside his backpack and then said "Bye!" with a happy smile followed by a giggle because he was shy to do the rest. But hey, who's complaining. I told him I was so happy with what he had done and kissed him as I said goodbye. The teachers confirmed he had a wonderful day today, played at the park, shouted in glee while running around. I was happy that he had adjusted so well and was back to being himself and having fun. And now both he and Ashely seem like the best of buddies as they share their snacks on the way back home, shout and wave big bye's at each other and tell us that they played with each other all along!

As we pulled out from the parking lot today, we heard another kid yell out at them from his car "I am going to be there next week too! Are you?" to which both of them yelled out together "Yeah!" and then excited Yay's and claps! I and my friend and the other boy's mom exchanged pleasant and triumphant smiles :)

As for me, I have been trying hard to fit to yet another new schedule as I drive him to summer camp everyday (the next week is going to be good I think as my friend is going to do the pick up/drop off), to his Karate class on three evenings (after exactly one month of going there and fooling around in the waiting area, driving me to the verge of giving up for the time being, he started going in and joining the other kids for the class this very week) and getting up early in the mornings to be ready by the time when we ought to leave. Its been a busy and exhausting week, rushing along, smoothing out those creases, but I am so glad to be happy and content at the end of it just looking at my son grow up some more and take those steps towards independence and forming friendships.

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Vansh rode the bus today ..Yaaaayyy!!

He had been wanting to ride the bus for a long time. He had been wanting to go with papa to his office in downtown for a long time. Well actually he wants to go everyday - cut out the pre-school, school, college, he says and let me go to office straight! And every so often when we pass that huge bus station with a 5 level parking and ever since I took him on the 5th level which is open air and he got to see the sights from and the giant clock over there, he wants to go there too.

So today we took the bus from that very bus station, rode to downtown which is about a half an hour ride and visited papa in his office and had lunch together. It was a perfect dream day for Vansh. And so all throughout he had such a 'saintly' kind of happy expression on his face and such perfect mannerisms as if he was scared that even a teeny weeny mistake would end the whole dream. When I asked him to move towards Jiya's stroller for a picture, he actually moved there (without the teasing which he always does in such situations) with the same saintly smile, put his arm around her neck and posed!! He very keenly observed the driver driving the bus with much fascination and didn't speak much at all. Well thats him when he is fascinated with something. He observes very very keenly without many questions at all. He marvelled at the tall bulidings, the big fountains inside the buildings and the likes.

Jiya on the other hand, animated as always. She is such a shouter. She shouts to get to the window, she shouts to get the keys from my hand or the phone. She throws her sipper or her wash cloth or a toy once she is done with them. A very 'need to pick after' kind of baby. Keeps me on my toes.

The doting dad (and husband:) spent a good hour and a half roaming around the streets and the skyways and having Greek lunch with us. A lovely lovely day :)

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Quite a memory!

Incident 1

Vansh likes to sleep with his Winnie (the Pooh), well he likes to do everything with him - drink his meal, have his meals and now a days even takes him in the car with himself. The other night, I told him that I had put him in the washing machine for a wash and had yet to dry it in the drier. He agreed to sleep with another soft toy reluctantly and the first thing he asked as soon as he woke up in the morning was "Winnie sookh gaya?" (Is Winnie dry now?)


Incident 2

Some time back we had gone to a neighborhood to check out a second car for our family. We had gone there for the first time then. After a few weeks, it so happened, that I enrolled Vansh for karate classes and the way to his class turned out to be passing through that neighborhood. The first time I was taking him to his karate class, he amazed me by saying "Yahaan hum car dekhne aaye the!" (We had come to see the car here!)

Its amazing how much kids observe and remember! Vansh has surprised us with his directional sense more than once like knowing the roads that lead to a particular park after having gone there a couple of times and more recently identifying the 'galis' and the 'nukkads' which led to each grandparents' house in India. But this certainly took the cake!

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Our daily grind

Dear friend Deepali has been reminding me for the last few weeks to do a post about our routine. Me thinks its great to have a written record for posterity, as also a good way to write about our usual day and activities.

Everything is +/- 30 minutes, more often than not its +

Anywhere between 4:30-6:30 Jiya wakes up for a feed.

7:00 am -7:15 am - I and Ashwini wake up. Prepare tea for Ash, make roti/chawal, cut salad and pack lunch; (sabzi has been made the previous evening); warm milk; prepare breakfast for kids (I and Ashwini usually have a banana and milk)

7:30 am - Kids wake up. Vansh has his milk and throws in a few giggles and/or shouts a few No's at being hugged and kissed. Jiya scoots around in the kitchen after playing with her toys for a bit. I continue with the above.

(this is on days we are home till about 11:00)

8:00 - 9:00 am - massage Jiya, brush teeth, give both kids a bath - for the last few days they have been taking a bath together and love it. While Vansh used to run away when I called him for a bath, now he enthusiastically takes off his clothes on his own and jumps right in. Jiya too squeals away in delight.

9:00 am - Feed both kids breakfast and have my own.

9:30 am - Sneak in a few moments to check e-mail/news/new blog posts if the house is in not a HUGE mess. Smaller messes I am adept at handling now by ignoring them. Once Vansh starts climbing on to me is signal for shutting it down for later.

10:00 am - Take Jiya for a snooze. Then I start cleaning the house and try to fit in a bath before Jiya wakes up. If not in a mood right away, then chat a bit with my parents. Vansh, in the meantime, helps me around the house, chits and chats - the who's and the what's float around (he still hasn't gotten to the why's)

11:00 am - Usually Jiya wakes up at this time.

Once or twice a week depending on how many days I have the car with me, we go out for ECFE and some other activity in the library or a playdate at this time.

When we are home and under the rare circumstances that house work is already complete, its my and kids time for about an hour. Otherwise, NOW the kids play with each other. Yay!! On good days, Vansh is such a darling and is quick to make sure that Jiya has a ball and she in turn keeps encouraging him with squeals and giggles. On others, Vansh wants to do his own thing and wouldn't let her come within a foot of any of the toys. And Jiya, so used to having him around on those good days, is not good at all playing by herself and whines for attention. So then she has to be propped in that swing for some time till I get my hands free from what I am doing at that time. On good days, a bath fits in right here if I haven't had it before and on normal days it has to wait a bit longer. Somewhere in between, the kids have a snack.

(On Monday, when we have to get out of the house by latest 9:30 to meet friends for playgroup, one of us - either me or the kids have to skip the bath and of course the cleaning has to wait for later.)

12:15 pm - I start getting ready for lunch.

12:30 pm - We eat lunch, I and Jiya, that is. Vansh is threatened to eat lest the fire truck uncle/police uncle/maintenance uncle grab him away and/or asked to tell stories about his friends/Caillou/ Curious George to distract him enough to feed him. He eats some and he leaves some pronouncing "You save it! I'll eat after waking up."

1:00 pm - We clean up all the toys and the kids go to sleep. Now is the time for about and hour and a half of solitude where I catch up on e-mails/blogging and the like. Once again, unless the house is in a HUGE mess, I like to have this time for myself.

3:00 pm - Kids start waking up. I change and feed Jiya. If Vansh wakes up before Jiya, then we enjoy some time together by looking at some old pictures/videos together on the laptop. This is a BIG hit with him. If Jiya is already up, we usually go out for a stroll in the apartment building itself having our own little workout by climbing up and down 3 floors and walking in the corridors, playing hide and seek inside the house itself or dancing to some music.

4:00 pm - Vansh has his milk after he finishes the left over lunch. I start cleaning up the kitchen and preparing for dinner and lunch the next day. Earlier I used to be done by about 5:30-6:00, it takes longer than the normal time because I have to keep entertaining the kids in between. These days, at times Jiya is being quite clingy starting about 5'0 clock. Earlier she used to take a nap at about 5:30. From last week she doesn't. So at times, I just be with the kids till Ashwini returns by about 5:30-6:00 and then proceed to finish off cooking the remaining meals. He has tea if the dinner is still some time away. Otherwise all of us have dinner together. Its gotten easier this month because now Jiya also has a lot of what we eat. She's able to have small pieces of chapati with yogurt or rice with yogurt and small pieces of whatever sabzi I have made. If I feel the sabzi is still not suitable for her then I cut up small pieces of peach or apple or carrot, steam them and give it to her with the chapati/rice and yogurt. On days when we have pizza/burger/tacos (home made) I take out a couple cubes of previously cooked and frozen sweet potato/carrot-peas and give those to her.

7:00 pm - Now is fun time because most of the day is done. On good days I have been able to clean the kitchen also by now. Otherwise I leave it for later after the kids sleep. We play games, read books, watch TV. Jiya loves to roll and scoot around the room and devour magazines, in the literal sense :) She pulls out a few from under the table and loves to tear and hear the sound of crumpling paper. At times, we go out, if we hadn't earlier for that walk and climbing stairs. This is also the time we go out for groceries if we were not able to do that on the weekend.

8:00 pm - Vansh finishes his dinner if he had me save it for later. Otherwise he has a snack - I try to make it a fruit but its not easy. Depending on his hunger level, he decides whether he can get away without having to eat anything. If not, he proceeds to eat it. Off late, he has started enjoying oranges though. Grapes used to be the favorites once but now no more.

8:30 pm - I take Jiya in to feed and change her and to put her to sleep for the night.

9:00 pm - Vansh has his milk and starts getting ready for bed.

9:30 pm - After another game of Cherry-O/Candyland or a couple of books, saying our prayers, he goes to sleep.

By 10:00 I finish cleaning the kitchen and then read a book/spend some time surfing the internet and have dessert/fruit.

11:00 - 11:30 - We go off to sleep ourselves.

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