Where do babies come from?

Oli asked me the big questions yesterday night. I was reading her a weird book about Franimals and that's when it came up, almost out of the blue.

"So tell me this Mommy. Didi was a baby. I was a baby. We both were born. All babies are born. But where do they actually come from?"

I gave her a funny look.

"Yes, tell me! I know they are born but where do they come from?" **curious, blinking eyes**

"Well, hmm, this is all magic you see."

"Magic? Like fairies?"

"Yes yes! Fairies. They bring all babies to their Mommies. Makes sense?"

"Yes!"

Phew.

Cracks in the sky and more

Monsoon is here. There's a daily pitter-patter and the sunshine is much less now. Reduced Vitamin D intake. Does it matter? We anyway weren't roaming the streets under the shining sun earlier. Been jailed for what feels like forever now. That's the only complaint people have now. We want out! And that is as always since the last year. Things are seeming better again but then we need to remember this - once bitten, twice shy. Are we shy enough yet? Doesn't look like it.

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Our little sunshine, Oli (we don't even call her that anymore, I just realized! 😀), loves rains. But then she immediately starts singing "rain rain go away" and she doesn't even mean to shoo it away! So the other day, rains were accompanied by some thunder and lightning. Thunder always scares her. Lightening was new (also scary). At the first sight of it, she screamed, "Mommy, there's a crack in the sky look!" 😂 Isn't that so cute?

The best thing about her is that she manages to describe everything well enough for us to understand. She refers to standing/sleeping lines shapes, letters, numbers, colors, and what not. Always amazes us! Kids are the best! 😊

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San's new school session has started. Online classes again. Appreciate all the efforts the teachers are putting into conducting online sessions and managing everything online. It still feels like kids are missing out on a lot. San desperately wants to go back to school. I'm sure many other kids do.

Lately, we've been conversing a lot. Little chit-chats over "kadha" in the morning. She keeps talking about the things she liked in the US and how she is always ready to go back to school there. I tell her you can graduate from there. For now, we're here. I feel letting it all out works for her. She emerges as a happier person after the chat. It shouldn't become a habit though, I fear. The complaints.

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Back to taking pictures of the sky. The sunsets are wonderful and they are at their best during the monsoon. The sky never ceases to amaze. Here's one I took from the terrace on a super rainy day:

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!" 

"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

Oli starts school

Yeah, it's Oli's second day in school today. Actually, preschool. Papa dear and I looked at her all dressed up and ready to go in her little red uniform and said, "Aww! Look at her! Is she really going to school?"

The proud big sister San couldn't help awwing at her uniform, bag, ID card and stuff. "Did she really get all of that? Is it really all hers?" Oli started pulling at San's ID card today morning thinking that it is hers. She'd been running around the house holding her red tee shirt, chanting that she is gonna go to school. She even held on to her little green school bag until we reached her school. And then, it hit her. She is in school. A step in, a step back out, another step in, and then she spotted the wonderful red slide. She did not turn back after that and I could happily come back home.

My maid just said that it is really quiet in here without Oli. Yeah, it is. It feels weird. I am trying to remember San's first day in school and how it felt at home that day.

Oh btw, I just picked Oli up from school. I was told that she cried on seeing two other kids cry (Aww!) and threw up the banana and milk that she had for breakfast. Sigh! I hope it will get better.

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Day 3: She was all ready to go, with her bag packed, bottled filled, and a new tee shirt on. She also walked down happily, carrying her bag on her little shoulders, saying that I'm going to school in a bus (I had to explain her that bus is what San Didi takes. We only walk. Sad.)

So, anyway, she wasn't in a mood to go, clung to me like a baby monkey, not wanting to let go, not wanting to play on the wonderful red slide, not wanting to play with the ball pit too, and crying her puppy eyes out. And this is called the Preschool Drop Off Separation Anxiety. Just found out! My Mommy heart almost broke but I had to leave her there in that mode. Hope it gets better soon! More sigh!

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...

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! 

Changes, fears, and a lot more

School's going good, so far. San loves getting homework and becomes sad on the days when she gets none. I asked her what she likes about the new school. "Two recesses!", she replied. :)

San is a little shy around people now. She always was, but her shy nature has gone one step ahead. I've been trying to get her to socialize with the kids she meets at her bus stop and the play park. If she doesn't get a response the first time, she quits trying. Maybe, it's the new environment. Maybe, she really is getting shier.

Or maybe, her brain is two years ahead of her actual age and everything that the kids of her age do is silly stuff for her. And what makes me say that? The way she looks at other kids at times!

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I, as a kid, used to be very shy. In school, I always chose corners or the back benches, away from the limelight and most of the people. Kids could bully me easily. I could never fight back. I used to feel bad and go back to the one friend I used to be around most of the time. Never spoke up. I still wonder how I survived school with that nature.

I want San to be the opposite of who I was as a kid. (That sounds terrible!) I need her to be able to stand up for herself, speak up for any wrong that happens around her, and take no nonsense from anyone. It's a big, bad world out there. Bigger and worse than what it was when we were kids. We're doing our best to guide her and bring her out of the shell she's sliding into.

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Oli is a happy child (minus the times when she is super-irritated because of teething). And let me gladly tell you all that she's been chanting 'Mummammamma" since a few days! Because San's first word was Papa, I was kind of jealous. :p Now I'm a happy yappy Mumma! Oli balanced it out. :D

Summer chores and more

Been four big months since Oli came! She is growing well, and so is San, the wonderful big sister.

Although San always finds time to do 'nothing' and get bored in the summer vacation, she has successfully added another set of Oli-related chores to her biodata. :D Like bottle-feeding Oli when Mommy is busy, using the bottle warmer to warm her milk, patting her to sleep, installing the pacifier in her mouth (that's the tricky one cuz Oli hates pacifiers :p). She did earn a few dollars by changing Oli's wet diapers a few times, but now she has quit bcuz' this chore doesn't smell so good now! :))

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Because I hardly get much time to play with San these days, she gets upset over it at times.

"Mommy, why do always have so much work ?"

"Because everyone needs to eat, the house and the dishes needs to be cleaned, Oli needs to be fed and bathed and put to sleep, and..."

"But we can do all of this! You take rest and play with me!"

"So who is gonna do all the household work?"

"Papa."

"Who is gonna take care of Oli?"

"Me. You can just feed her when you want to."

"And who will do Papa's office work then?"

"Of course, Papa!"

"Then Papa will get tired!"

"No, he's super Papa!"

And Papa dear happily agrees to all of this. :))

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"Are you still writing about me in the chronicles, Mommy?", San asked me the other day.

"Yes, I am."

"Okay, you need to start writing about Oli now!"

So, here you go!

Oli, my little darling, is a happy, excited, fidgety, drooling-forever, raspberry-blowing baby! And because she chews and licks anything that she can catch hold of, San calls her 'the hungry caterpillar'! :D

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I might need to change my blog's name to something else. Something that makes both San and Oli happy. Any suggestions? :)

And the Learning Continues

With two kids, it's a different world at home. There have been times when both the girls were super-hungry at the same time, or wanted all attention at the same time. San, obviously, is expected to behave like the elder sister and wait until the little one has been taken care of. And that's the case only when Papa dear isn't around. Otherwise he, as a SuperDad, handles all three of us like a charm. I wish I had his skills!

San is a wonderful big sister. She tries her best to handle most of her things herself so that I can concentrate on taking care of Oli while I am at it. When she sees that Oli is finally asleep and Mommy has a little time on her hands, all she needs from me is watch TV with her, play games with her, or just do some fun, silly stuff. And at those times, "sleep when your baby sleeps" doesn't apply. 

San's maturity amazes me. She is always ready to help me with little things around the house and bears my mood swings without complaining. I, as a Mommy, try my best to give her as much care and attention as I can. Feels less, somehow. There's a guilt about not being able to divide my time perfectly between the girls. At the end of each day, I think about things that I could have done differently, or better. Things I shouldn't have said or done. Things I could have done.

Some situations overwhelm me. I panic easily. I'm glad that I have Daddy cool around to sail me through them. And San, who always assures me that I'm the best Mom. I need to learn a lot from them. Such wonderful teachers I have at home.

Big Sister San!

Yup, San is a big sister now! Oli, as San lovingly calls her, arrived in our lives on March 12 this year.

The very happy big sister is on cloud nine!

"I knew I was gonna get a little sister because I'd been praying to God to send me one! You know where all I prayed? In my room, in the bathroom, at night, in school... God heard me!"

From happily helping me with changing Oli's diaper and bathing her to rocking, talking and singing to her at every little coo sound she utters, San does it like a pro! She is one lovely big sister and I'm one happy, proud Mommy!
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Life is different, yes. It feels like we've become Mommy and Daddy all over again. And jugglers! :D

It's been over a month. We are handling it all quite okay. <Pat on our backs>.  Yup, there are moments/days when we are overwhelmed, frustrated, anxious... and going nuts! Like all other bad moments and days, they pass, and we emerge a bit better!

Still learning. Have a lot to learn. Enjoying every bit of it!