Of moldy tummy and covid times

 A tough year passed and a tougher year is going on. Things are coming back. The number of cases is going up again. No one wants a lockdown but no one's working towards preventing one. People have gotten careless now. They feel they're good. Even if they contract the virus, they'll come out of it. And once they get the vaccine, they feel they'll be immortal. That's the attitude. Should I end this covid rant here by saying that things will get better hopefully? Ya, hope so.

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The school year has ended for Oli. Promoted to Sr. KG now, yay! :D

San's school year is yet to end. Exams starting next week. She wants this all to be over. The online classes thing. The exams. The session. Feels like she's losing interest in things. All she loves is music, her guitar, he sketchbook, and the kitchen! Budding baker in the house! 

Tougher times for kids, I say. Cooped up in the house. Even playing outside or with friends is prohibited. 

Whenever I turn on my laptop and a beautiful picture pops up, both the girls are like, "When covid is gone and things are normal, can we please go here?" I have no clue when that time will come. 😞

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San baked some lovely chocolate cupcakes the other day. We forgot to put the remaining lot in the refrigerator. The super hot weather almost ruined the last of the two cupcakes. They got moldy. San, without noticing the mold, took a bite. After realizing what she's eaten, she screamed, "Mom, what did I just eat?" I told her about the mold and she was like, 'I have a moldy tummy now, sigh!" 

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? :-)

The Making of a Chapati-maker

San has been doing her pretend plays since quite some time now, and she'd added kitchen stuff to it too, lately. Like rolling the dough and making chapatis for us. And when one of our friends gave her an actual rolling pin and board (the mini ones) to play with, she wanted to make an actual chapati.

Here's San's chapati-making in motion! :)

Ready to roll

Roll Roll Roll the dough!

Showing off her great little chapati!

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School's going good and San is doing okay despite the frequent bouts of cold that she's going through. We blame it on the weather!

She talks in big sentences now and the grammar is almost right (going by the kids' grammar rules :D ). At times, she's a social butterfly. At times, she's a shy tortoise, not wanting to come out of her shell. I wish I could read her mind! :)

Elmo tales and more

And now, we have some Elmo tales along with the Dolly tales. :D So Elmo has managed to beat everyone else and is happily sitting at the first place on San's list of favs. It's all about Elmo the whole day. She's even learned to sing half of the Elmo song... it goes like this: "ya ya ya yaaa... Emmo sooooooooooong" (accompanied with a major head shake). All she needs now is a Guitar and it'll fit perfectly in the whole Emmo song scene. :-)

So she loves Elmo, loves the Elmo song, and gets to watch Sesame Street while having her meal... what's the problem here? The director of Sesame Street has assigned a limited space to Elmo in the episodes cuz' he has to fit in Elmo's friends too! So as soon as Elmo disappears from the scene, San stops eating, and starts looking for Elmo. <sigh> And then, I've to make up stories to make her eat. "Take one bite and Elmo will reappear." "Elmo wants you to eat! How does Elmo eat?" "Look look, Elmo's here, and now eat!" "Oh look, Dorothy is here!" (she's Elmo's pet after all... works as good as Elmo!) Oh and Mommy just ran out of stories... and patience too. Phew!

Mealtime is struggle time. If Elmo isn't there, she doesn't wanna eat. If Elmo is there, she forgets to eat. So, we've to find ways to make her open her mouth and put the food in. And that, my friends, is the toughest task of the day!

What's new? If you ask her what her name is, she'd say 'Shaammi" (that's her version of Saanvi). Ask her what is Papa's name, and she'd say Micky. Ask her what is Mommy's name, and she might say Divu or just gibberish. :D

What else? Whenever she senses trouble (like when she's about to get a scolding or Mommy's in a bad mood), she starts off with her sugary Sorrys and ends it with a big hug. She breaks into the Sorry act at the slightest hint of a would-be-trouble. Now that's what being proactive means! :)

Meals and Deals

mealtimes are messy
she can't help being fussy
whether it's rice or just prunes
she refuses to eat without a 'poon'

although it's the same sponge cake i bake
a new face every time, she manages to make
give her noodles anytime
and she can have them for a lifetime

her favs in veggies are carrots and peas
in every fruit, an 'appul' she sees
potatoes she loves, just like her mommy
but they're never yummy in papa's 'tommy'

her meal can never be complete
without either barney's or pocoyo's treat
food spills do happen, here and there
but she never forgets to feed her hair

done that cuz' we've been there
why, about the mess, we need to care
from trying anything, she never shies
and watching her eat is a feast for our eyes

Innocent food and Curious Minds

I learned some lessons after experiencing some of San's 'throwing-up' sessions on some of our not-so-short drives. I learned that we must keep her cool all the time in the car (no sunshine for my sunshine), NOT give her any fluid other than water (no milk definitely), feed her the most innocent and the lightest stuff on long drives, ALWAYS keep a sickness bag ready, and ALWAYS keep a change of clothes handy.

So, on our latest trip to Austin this long weekend, I made sure that San stays fine all along that 3 hr long drive. After she woke up from an hour-long nap, I decided to give her an innocent apple. Healthy food! San happily ate her 'appoo' slices and I beamed with pride and happiness (too many emotions!). My sunshine looked happy until we hit Austin. Suddenly, the poor appoo pieces came flying out of her mouth in three bursts. She'd done IT again. The half-chewed appoo pieces were all over San's dress, wondering what went wrong. San made a puppy face and said, "Mommy!", pointing at the mess Thankfully, the mess wasn't very smelly and ewwwey! All I can do now is dread the next long drive and find the MOST innocent snack for her!

Anyway, here's San's latest antic! I took her to a public restroom for a diaper-change today. While I was busy disposing her diaper, she, behind my back,  was bending down and trying to doing a peek-a-boo act with the people who were peacefully doing their 'stuff' in the loos. I couldn't help my embarrassment-and-fun-induced giggles while telling her NOT to do that (as if she understands what 'NO' means). I'd die of shock if someone else's kid tries to do THAT with me in the restroom! Talk about curious minds!

All's well that ends well. No fever and no constipation as of now. And her curiosity hasn't killed anyone yet! :D