"I don't want to eat through a ladder."

 Since the last two nights, Oli had been crying and telling me, "I don't wanna be big, Mommy." Strange. I wondered why she was saying that. I started a conversation last night...

"I don't wanna be big, Mommy!", followed by howls and tears.

"So you don't want to celebrate your 5th birthday?"

"Nooo."

"Then your friends will grow bigger and you won't."

"It's okay."

"Just tell me why you don't want to grow!"

Howl howl..."Because I don't want to eat through the ladder!" More howls.

"Ladder?"

And then I remembered my conversation with her a few days ago. We told her that she'll be as tall as a giraffe one day. Then she asked how she'll eat. I told her that I'll put up a ladder and feed her. 😀😂

Breakfast for lunch?

At lunchtime, Oli, in the middle of her Paw Patrol episode, hopped into the kitchen.

"Mommy, please make pancakes for me!"
"Pancakes for lunch? No. You can have pancakes for breakfast tomorrow morning."
"But I want pancakes now!"
"Sorry, pancakes are breakfast. You'll get your veggies for lunch."

She left, disappointed, and came back after a while.

"Mommy, please give me breakfast for lunch!"

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And here's what Papa dear and I look like - presenting, the portraits of the day by Oli!

Of blue hair and princesses

"Why is your hair grey?, Oli asked her Grandpa today.
"Because I'm old.", he replied.
"But how did your hair turn grey? I don't like grey. I like only black and blue!"

If you were Grandpa, would you have colored your hair blue to please your granddaughter? :D

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In one of the online sessions, Oli's teacher asked her the typical question - what do you want to be when you grow up? Well, I feel it's a silly question. Oli answered, "Princess!". Let me rewind to last year when they had a fancy dress competition in school and the theme was the same as this typical question. We, the typical parents, thought she'd be a good doctor and dressed her up in a doctor's coat. But she hated it, sheesh! She, just like now, wanted to be a princess! So we dressed her up in the funkiest of clothes and let her do a little ramp walk on the "Taki Taki Rumba" song. :D

Did you ever want to be any such character when you were a kid? A princess, a king, a fairy, a witch, a superhero! They can wish to be whatever they want to be, and keep working towards it, isn't it? :D

Of the blue mango seed and pink sun

Does it bother you if your kid wants to color the mango seed blue in her school book? :) No, right? Because that's what kids are supposed to do. Experiment. Nah, if you're the typical parent, it will bother you. :D

Oli, while doing her homework, insisted on coloring the mango seed blue. After trying to convince her that it should be a mix of yellow and white, not blue, I gave up. I remembered the time when San was four and she wanted to color the sun pink. "Why can't I color the sun pink, Mommy, why?", she'd asked!

I did tell Oli that mango with a blue seed is mango gone bad. LOL. She was fine with that. :D So big sis San came to the rescue and tried to fix the color of the mango seed for her. You see, she isn't like the 4- year old San who was good with the pink sun. So they worked on the seed and got it to a decent brown color. :D

Battling the Temper

The temper is so bad at times that it flies out of the window and lands on someone who has no idea about what in the world happened! It shouldn't be so bad. The window must stay shut. Nothing should fly. Neither the temper nor the innocent little things... sigh!

I'm a working Mom now like they say. And that is really a stupid phrase. Moms work all the time. Both outside and inside the home sweet home. Nah, I'm not blowing it up. It's true. I've started a job after a mammoth break of 10 years. And I'm doing what I love to do. It is very satisfying. Like cool breeze in your hair. Like looking at the first rays of sun falling on snow-clad mountains. Like crashing in your cozy bed after a long day. 

But then, stress gets the better of me at times. It irks me when my 9-year old teenager argues with me. It bothers me when Oli paints the whole house and throws stuff everywhere. They are kids. What else will they do? I'm Mommy. I can scream a few times and shut everyone up.

"So you work now? When do you cook? What do you cook? Do you have a maid who cooks? Where are your kids? You put the little one in a daycare? Aww, poor little girl. Oh, she has lost weight! Why is she so thin? Your in-laws stay with you now? Wow! So who cooks? Your mom-in-law? You? When? What?" Leave me alone, people!!

Alright, time to gather some patience and put my monkeys to sleep!

Happy Crazy Terrible Twos

Oli is two now. A year older. More mischief. More tantrums, More funny talk. More giggles. And I can safely blame the not-so-pleasant behavior on the Terrible Twos! :-) Takes me back to the time I used to write post about San's terrible twos moments, Time really flies!

I have so much to talk about Oli. So many things. So many anecdotes to share. So many emotional and funny moments. So many frustrating moments. Can't find enough words. And also, I've been lazy about writing, as you can see from the frequency of my posts.

Life's really a roller coaster with the girls! They grow and move on to a whole different phase overnight, and surprise (read 'shock') you the next morning. And then you sit there, with either a super messy or a blank mind, trying to decipher what just happened. And then there are days when you can't stop beaming about their adorable gestures.

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Lemme tell you some little things. Oli is big on hugs and kisses and cuddles. She likes to comb my hair, wipe my face with the towel when we are done brushing, has learned to say thank you and please (which is an achievement), can wear shoes without help (of course the left one on the right and vice versa), and has memorized all her friend's names.

She makes me laugh all the time! Well, most of the time, when she is not making me cry with her hurricane like behavior, and when she does not want me to have even a single moment of peace, and when she does not eat well, and throws super tantrums when we are shopping or eating at a restaurant. She has successfully broken dishes and spilled food in restaurants. Also thrown around, licked, torn, and mishandled stuff in the stores. This must be the story with so many kids but it is so new for us! All of this. It's funny and embarrassing! Are we having fun? Umm, maybe!

And yes, she also delivers the groceries from the front door to the kitchen with her big sister's little help. So proud of my girls! :D

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Leaving it at this without saying much about San in this post, but just this...

Roller Coasters and all

We've recently been on two little vacations, and I got to see another side of San - the one who loves roller coasters! She loved all the big, giant, scary roller coasters/rides!

I, ahem, avoid the ones that turn you upside down, especially in air, when you have nowhere to go. Or the ones that drop you straight down, gulp! And the ones that spin you around in air, phew! Anyway, I was so proud to see San go on all these extreme rides without batting an eyelid, literally! And, at the same time, I felt bad cuz' I couldn't accompany her on all of them *face-palm*! All those times when I did accompany her and screamed my lungs out, she had this cold look on her face when she asked, "Why do you scream like that, Mommy?" I tell her, "Screaming is good, and fun! It takes away the fear." Nah, not always! :D

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Our little Oli is growing up fast (yeah, they always do). She's in the parrot mode these days, repeating our every little word, sentence, or action. Time to be careful! But then, it's funny when they copy you like that. You feel like saying some things over and over again just so you can hear them say it in their cute, funny voice.

I must admit that I'm being a bit lazy with Oli. Letting her learn on her own by observing us (and her toys), giving her a pencil and paper and letting her figure out the lines and shapes and scribbles, or just delegating some learning tasks to San cuz' she's the big sister and she is supposed to teach her stuff. How smart! :D There are kids her age who can say A-Z, recite complete rhymes in their cute voice, and say complete sentences. Then I look back at San's videos when she was around this age, and I see that she was good at all of this. But then, we can't compare, right? All kids are different, like they say. They learn things, eventually. Why worry? (Oh yeah, I'm worried about her toilet training. I have no clue how to go about it. Nah, I don't need advice. I know what to do. But, I don't know how! I'll figure out.)

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Happy New Year, you all!

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On a different note...

Wouldn't it be better to give yourself a time out at times?
Imagine all the peace!! :D I hope so!

Cool down, Mommy

I've heard myself say this a lot of times - "I'm gonna run away for a day, away from all of this, and do nothing, just nothing at all!" Yeah, it's only for a day cuz' where else can I be! This is my place. This is who I am. A Mommy, a wife. Did you hear a little 'sigh' there? Oops! :p

Those thoughts apart, I'm having a great time chasing my little hurricane who likes to toss food (and dirty laundry) around, eat off the floor and like a sloth, climb whatever is climbable, give lots of hugs (and calls them hubby), and keep Mommy on her toes all day. And as I write this post, she's trying to climb the chair to climb on me! She's also the savior, though. All the bad, angry, silly thoughts that cloud my mind go away when she climbs on me and gives a big monkey 'hubby'!

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And then there's my good old eight-year old who has taken laziness to a whole new level :D  If she could, she can, any day, do without brushing her teeth, combing her hair, and bathing (and listening to us :p)! Such useless, time-consuming chores, aren't they? ;D

It's important to have a routine for kids and discipline them, but then, it's also important to cut them some slack, let them breathe, and take a candy break! Papa dear has been telling me this since ages now, but I'm being so stubborn and strict. Is it so hard to become a 'cool' Mommy?

The Everyday Stories

There's so much to write about, and so little time! Nah, there's always some time when I can write but I always choose to do something else, like watch TV or scroll through silly videos and happy pictures of people on Facebook. Sigh!

Anyhoo, life's busy. Nah, I make it look busy, but it's slow. The kids grow fast, though!

So we went to this little India trip last month. Oli turned into a social butterfly after coming back and San went into a cocoon. It's tough to understand their behavior at times. As parents, we should. We need to. But it's tough! Either you understand and do something about it, or just sit back with a cup of tea and enjoy it till it lasts. (Please don't take Mommy advice from me ever!) :D

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Oli's a little hurricane, sweeping things away and destroying stuff as she runs around the house. Okay, it isn't as bad as I made it sound, but the hurricane part is true! :-D

When San was a toddler, I used to hear other Moms tell stories of their kids throwing food around, not leaving them alone even in the restroom, not sleeping well, not eating much, eating off all unclean places, being mean to other kids, and a lot more. I used to proudly look at my very nice child, San, and thank her for not giving me a similar story to tell. With Oli, I have them all! But then, I'm glad I have these stories to tell. When you go through it all, you go nuts. When you think about them at the end of the day, they are so funny that you want a repeat show! It's crazy!


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Apart from the usual happy things, I'm figuring out how to handle my lazy eight year old who doesn't seem to hear a single word of Mommy's yap but gladly argues with her to the point of driving her up the wall, and my toddler princess who loves to throw things (and half of her food) and hit people.

Let them be? Yeah.

Don't let go the crazy

At times, you need to let go and let them be...

Let them throw the dirty laundry around, pull on the bed sheets, poke your eyes, hide bits of food in every corner of the house, mess up big sister's room, taste the crayons, pull out the leaves off of your one and only indoor plant, smear the TV screen with butter on their little hands, wet their clothes with milk dripping from the inverted bottle (it's fun to watch), nibble on the chargers, lick the dustpan, and also, pull on your clothes and tap on the keypad keys as you type this little message to vent Mommy feelings!

It's okay. All okay. Wouldn't make you crazier! You already are the queen of crazies! 

Finally, it fell!

Since last year, San had been wondering when she'll lose her first tooth. Most of her friends had lost at least two and she was worried! The last month's visit to the dentist gave her a ray of hope because she found out that she has four loose teeth. She was getting impatient!

Yesterday, while brushing her teeth, we noticed that one of the them was almost ready to come off! San was in tears when she was the super-wobbly tooth. We asked her to stay calm and not panic. An hour later, while she was enjoying one of her favorite dishes, the Dhokla, with one of her friends, the wobbly one came off. San happily brought the fallen tooth to me and asked me to keep it safe so that Papa dear can have a look at it when he comes back from work.

The look at San's face while she held the tooth was priceless! Such pride and happiness! Now she can happily tell the story of her first fallen tooth with that wonderful one tooth less smile!

What about the tooth fairy and the dollar?

"Mommy, you know I know that tooth fairy is not real! It's the parents. If you want, you could give me a dollar and please stop asking me to put that tooth under the pillow at night!" San says.

And that was the story of San's first fallen tooth!

Some Summer Fun

Summer's on, and so are the holidays. Lots of time, lots of things to do, and yet, nothing much to do! That's how it is with San.

Last weekend, we finally enjoyed our much awaited camping trip - our very first camping trip! Thankfully, the rain and thunderstorm forecast could not spoil the spirit of it. It was fun. The very interesting lecture on alligators, watching a baby alligator gobble up a turtle, the two-hour long hike (which had San quite bored), the sounds of birds that is music during the hike, setting up the tent (the most important part of a camping trip), the outdoor cooking (not to forget the roasted marshmallows), the bugs that bug, the sight of a start-studded sky, the endlessly tall trees, sounds of the night, the post-dinner games and chit-chat, the early morning sights and sounds and smell, the outdoor breakfast, the wind-up, the clean-up... all of it was a great experience. Some great time away from the routine, the gadgets, and the monotony.

  

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San's swimming classes are on, finally, and she's loving it! After a long, long gap, she's gotten into the pool, and she's being a fish. :) It's fun to watch her learn, although, she's mostly hunting for toads and centipedes in the pool during her class, thanks to the frequent showers!

And yesterday, on Father's Day, Papa dear and San enjoyed some daddy-dotty time in the pool after long!

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Our birdhouse is finally up and very busy all through the day. Sparrows, blackbirds, crows, pigeons... we have them all! And that means more cleaning work for us. The birdseed peels and bird poop make a real mess! But then, we love to watch the birds!

From crayons to sketches

Last week was a trouble week. Tummy troubles for San, stress-related troubles for Papa dear, and for me, handling the two of them was a handful.

When you see your child vomit all through the night, throwing up food, white stuff, yellow stuff, it does feel scary. After some research on Google and a word with the doc, we were okay to find out that a stomach bug was the culprit, who already made its way out of San through all that stuff. What followed was a series of bland food, soups, and lemon water for three days. She's back to her happy self now, happily eating and coloring.

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Talking about coloring, I would proudly like to mention that she did a portrait of me! And how did she get that idea? I did one for her on Sunday morning (sad that I didn't take a picture of it). She was quite happy with it (after she'd made some changes to it). :p She started off with a portrait of her grandparents, then mine, and then her Maasi's (Maasi is a term for Mommy's sisters).

Mommy

Richa Maasi

Anyone up for theirs? ;-)

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It's a long, long wait till the school starts! And it's difficult to keep San busy cuz' she gets 'bored' soon. And that has been THE word on her list since a couple of months now. 

We started painting our newly-bought birdhouse today (and that's a good project to keep her busy)! :)

Being a tomboy

My girl is officially a tomboy! Why? Because everyone says so.

San loves her polos, her baggy tees with sleeves rolled up, her boots, her hair gone wild, her shorts, her trousers, and everything that is not girly. She fights for blue because pink is for girls. She likes to play ball with boys and roll in grass and mud than play Ring-around-a-Rosie with other girls. She asks me "what if I were a boy" questions. When she dances, you know that she is good for hip-hop and b-boying, not ballet and salsa. Reminds me of my time when I used to be like that, so not like the girls, and still, I wish she were more girly!

She's made a couple of friends here, all girls. I asked her how she finds her new friends. "They're nice, Mommy, but I haven't made any boy friends yet. I had so many boy friends in India. Why aren't there any boys here?" she said. Sigh! :D

But anyway, what's the big deal about being a tomboy? Nothing. It's cool! :)

Terrible Twos make a comeback

And I"m finally writing the new year's first post after a long, long gap of a quarter! *hides faces* And I have the same old excuse for not having written here... I was being lazy! *hides face again* Bad, very bad.

Do I have a lot to tell? Not really. But I must tell you that San's Terrible Twos are back with her five. Yeah, I was told that they keep coming back, and here they are. Same old phase of screaming, whining, howling, stomping, and a lot of crazy girly things. I did write a lot about the Terrible Twos here, here, and here.

So tell me what's with the fives. Does it happen with all kids? The arguments, the Nos, the stubbornness, the grumpiness, the meany ME... sigh! I, as usual, run out of patience. And Papa dear, cool as a cucumber, handles it all like a pro. :-)

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It's that time of the year again when San has to dress up as a freedom fighter for the Republic Day celebration in school. Last year's Mangal Pandey act was a hit. This year's Bhagat Singh act is due in two days. Hopefully, San will recover from the little viral infection that she is down with, and rock it again. ;-)

And lastly, let me tell you what keeps her (and us) busy these days. A little game of Snakes and Ladders that she received as a return gift at a Christmas party.

Daddy's girl or Mommy's?

"So, is she a Daddy's girl or Mommy's pet?" I've been asked this question a number of times, and I always have to think before I answer. Why? Because I always have no clue. Unless they say, "Aww, look at her! Has to be a Daddy's girl, right?" "Absolutely!", I say.

Kids are funny, unpredictable. San too is. In the morning, she is all Mommy's. Mommy owns all the morning hugs, kisses, and the stories of her good and bad dreams. Mommy pampers and gets pampered. Even in the daytime, Mommy rules, until she scolds San on some petty things and San screams "I want Papa!" And if Papa dear is around at that time, Mommy's time is done!

Milk time, homework time, playtime, story time, pasta time, massage time, timeout time, Mommy-not-well time, Mommy-gone-crazy time, Mommy-doesn't-wanna-cook time - they are all owned by Daddy!

Did Daddy win already?? Nope. :D
Ask San and she'll say, "I'm Daddy's girl.... AND Mommy's girl too!"

I want to be you, Mommy!

How do you feel when your kids tell you that they want to be 'you' or like you when they grow up? Obviously, proud! So, when you're sitting down and wondering what a thankless job being a Mommy is, talk to your kids and they'll produce an instant list of things that you do all day and how happy they are to have you around and as a Mommy! :-)

I dunno whether I've mentioned this incident any of the previous posts, so I'd talk about it. One fine day, I was chopping veggies for dinner when San came to me and asked me if she could help.

"Mommy, can I help you chop the veggies?"
"It's okay, San. You go play."
"No, but I wanna learn how to chop veggies, so that I can grow up and become like you."
"Like me? Wow! Why do you want to be like me, San?"
"So that I can cook food for everyone like you do. I want to be just like you."

Any Mom would love to hear this! :-)

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After wanting to become a chef, a doctor, an astronaut, and a runner, San now wants to become a cop. Why? I have no clue at all! :-)

"Can girls become policemen, Mommy?"
"Yes, San."
"I want to become a policeman when I grow up."
"Okay. But you'll need to study a lot and undergo some tough training to become one."
"So, to become a Mommy after growing up, did you have to study that much?"

Innocent questions and thoughts! What would you reply to this?

The Food Express

San is growing naughtier and more vocal with each passing day! Questions and stories and anecdotes and fairy tales and friends! She's got so much to talk about and ask. :-D And with her grandparents around these days, she's got more freedom of speech and expression! ;-)

San's newest interest is FOOD. She watches all food channels with me and always wants to help me out in the kitchen, although, most of the time, I shoo her out of the kitchen telling her that kitchen is not her workplace (I know I know, I shouldn't be doing that!) So one sunny day, she tells me that she wants to cook and she'll do it without using the gas stove and the knife. Sandwich is what she wanted to make for Mommy. I let her do it this time. And what I got is this lovely little surprise!

She didn't like the fact that I took the picture by uncovering the contents of the sandwich but that's what I wanted you all to see - the very cutely chopped tomato. <3 <3 She used one of those plastic knives that accompany the birthday cakes. I guess I should let her in the kitchen more often now! :-)

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Her school starts on Monday next week. Same school, same classmates, same van and a new class, a new teacher, a new bag, new books, notebooks, lunchbox, water bottle, uniform etc. New sessions are fun, aren't they? :-)

This is THAT phase

San loves to look at the 'stars' and the 'goods' that she gets for her writing work from her teacher in her school notebooks. Daily, she shows them off to me, very proudly. Yesterday was another such day. While she was admiring her work, she noticed something on the pages that she hadn't noticed before. She came to me and said, "Look, Mommy! With the stars, teacher had been giving 'this' to me all the time and I never saw it. It's so nice! What is it?" "It's your teacher's signature, San.", I said, breaking her heart.

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She's growing. Growing taller and louder and smarter and getting really girlish (and tomboyish). It bothers me at times. It bothers me when people see her, talk to her, pinch her cheeks, hug her, and ask too many questions about her. It bothers me when people are around her. Well, it's just the Mommy thing. My kind of Mommy thing. Sigh! I hope I get over it soon.

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San is in that phase where kids love to show off. Show off their skills, their colors, their toys, their house, their friends, just everything. It's cute, but not all the time. It's harmless, but not all the time.

It's also that phase where kids love to point out what other kids have and they don't.  It's also that phase where they threaten you with their tears, their screams, and a lot of other drama. It's that phase where they know very well what works for them and what not. It's that phase where they question everything, argue about everything, and think that they know everything.

Phew!

D is for dance, R is for riddles

Finally, San's school's annual function is done with. After long sessions of dance practice at school, the kids performed really well on the D-day. It's wonderful to see all these kids perform on the stage without any stage-fright and nervousness, something that they aren't even aware of. It was a pure delight to watch San dance and we're a step prouder now! All fluffy! Hoho! :-D

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Kids are a reflection of us. I've been reading and hearing about this since long. I'm seeing it now, clearly. Sigh! I wish I could handle my patience better and so that San learns the same.

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There's a new thing that San loves to do now: play riddles. The simple ones. Guess the object/animal/vegetable/fruit, basically any noun, by its first letter, color, and one more helpful clue. So this is what happened today:

Mommy, I'll ask you one puzzle and I'm sure you won't be able to guess.
Okay, ask.
It starts with T, it's an animal, it's white in color, and it's found in the jungle.
(I thought hard for some time and I couldn't guess.)
Ok, I give up San. What is it?
See I told you that you won't be able to guess. (Does a little happy dance here.) It's a Tiger, Mommy!!
Huh? No, San. It's all wrong.
It's right! It's a white tiger!

Kids, I tell you! :-D