The new and the old

Been a quarter again since I wrote here last, and a lot happened during this time. We traveled a lot, home and back, home and back, and then we finally came back to Houston! Surprise!!

San has been enjoying her big vacation that started around the beginning of February, during which she finished school too. And the vacation continues because her school here starts in August. Long long vacation!

I have so much to write about but I don't know where to start!

Back to the phase where we restart our life in a new (okay, Houston is old!) place, among new people, confused and overwhelmed with a change that we almost were prepared for but can't digest. Thank God we have our old friends here and their presence does make us feel a lot better.

San is happy. She has her old toys and friends to play with, a new school to go to, a new place to live in, a new room to do. What else do they need in life! :) She is still the tomboy she has always been, and the terrible fives are continuing happily! ;-)

We're in the process of settling down, figuring out stuff... life goes on... people, places, and things keep changing... we keep adjusting.

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. :-)

=============================

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.

Someday, we'll learn

The festive season, the festivities, the celebrations, the excitement... it's over now. I hope you all had a good time! :-)

Here's a little something that San and Papa dear got busy with this Diwali:

Painting the diyas! Serves as a great activity to keep the kids busy. :-)

======

What's still on is San's Diwali break, or maybe should I say, Autumn break! Because it's still there, going on, happily with a wonderful load of homework (sigh!). And do you know what else can go on forever? My rant on my dislike for homework!

======

Recently, San played musical chairs for the very first time at one of our outings. I'd explained her how to play and how not to react if she misses a chair and has to quit. She went on fine, down to three kids. And then it happened. She missed the chair and had to quit. And then what I feared, happened. She burst into tears and wept for quite some time while hugging me tightly. It wasn't the right time to explain her that games are supposed to be played for fun, not to win. We tried to explain her this later, but I'm not sure if she understood. She will learn with time, I believe.

The fear is, will she?

As a parent, I am supposed to support her, help her, inspire her. But then, as a parent, I also wonder if I'm doing my job right. These are common situations and fears that parents face, and still, we always get that "why-my-kid" feeling. Maybe, not every parent does. Maybe, I'm overreacting. Maybe, I too will learn to handle such situations better... someday!

Homework, the monster

Till the last year, San used to like doing her homework. New school, new notebooks, and a chance to write a lot. That is what San loved. Even though, I always wondered why these little kids are made to do so much homework, which is mostly repetitive writing, I never had to run after San to get it done.

Since the last few weeks, I see her fussing over the amount of homework she's getting. The number of pages is increasing, and so is her frustration. It's a repeat of the classwork and a couple of pages from the workbooks, and that is how it is, I believe, in most of the schools, unless they follow a different style. It pains me to see the little one spend her very precious time doing this homework. This means that she has to sacrifice her daytime nap and some of her playtime, at times. And the dreamy child that San is, she takes her own sweet time, along with all the whining, to write. She actually spends the whole day doing her homework with little breaks in between. Sigh!

She's sitting in front of me right now, writing a bit, chewing on her pencil, looking around, as if looking for an escape from the punishment that homework is.

Sad.

Not fair.

What is the use of making the kids practice writing so much that they start to lose interest in it? Why can't they just increase the school timings for preschools by an hour and make them write some more?

Looking at San, what I really want right now is a monster to appear and eat up all of San's homework! :D

I wonder what other parents feel about this.

P.S. Homework lovers, please don't get offended, and please please please don't tell me how useful it is! ;-)