The Big Little 1 and more

I hope you noticed that I changed the blog title and address to include Oli's name. I'd been meaning to do this since quite some time now, but then people had started asking me how I plan to write about Oli, and it had to be along with her sister's chronicles. So here we are!

My one year old Oli is a big girl now, sigh! Well, one is a big number and a milestone for an infant! People start asking you if your one-year old can walk yet, say some sensible words, strike a conversation, and has enough number of teeth to chew up a baby carrot. I don't wanna bore you all with these details. You just need to know that she's getting there with her wobbly walk and two little teeth.

The best thing about these little people is that they don't judge you and love you unconditionally. They give you unselfish hugs and spray your face with their raspberry love!

For the record, we did manage to do a smash-the-cake thing with Oli. She didn't really smash and smear it though. Just licked the cake, picked it up, and gnawed on it. Neat! :-D



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My big girl San is happy in her own dreamland and hates to be disturbed. If only she could hear us better and the first time! And that is how all kids with the don't-tell-me-what-I-should-be-doing attitude are, isn't it? Just a phase, like they say! :-)

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On a different note, I wonder why there are too many discussions/debates/articles on being a stay-at-home-mom versus a working mom around! Leave the Moms alone and let them do their jobs, home or outside home. Their choices, their business. Who needs anyone's opinion about them?

The daily little battles

The big move happened three months ago and I'm still trying to take it all in, slowly. San's busy with school, Papa dear with work, Oli with all the growing up, and me, just trying to soak it all in, like a good sponge that has gotten old with all the soaking. Sigh! I hate long sentences, but I can't do without them!

Sometimes, it feels like the time has stopped, even with a lot happening around me. Among all the diaper changes, housework, getting San to do things faster, and singing rhymes to Oli, there's always a part of my brain that is stuck in the past. The part that refuses to move on. It's hard. And it's harder to keep my mind away from this blankness, friendlessness, sluggishness, and the can't-move-on-ness!

And that was all about me.

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Moving on to the girls, my tomboy is getting grumpier, more teenagerish, and harder to please. And like people always say, it's just a phase (it just might be the longest one)! She always surprises us with new words and tantrums. And then, we have the usual arguments over clothes, colors, looks, shoes, games, books, tv, and just every little thing that can be argued about. School's good, as always, but she desperately needs some good friends around.

The little one is a happy, giggly, talkative, Mommy-lover baby, who has gotten into a habit of waking everyone up at 2 am with her inconsolable cries, which only go away when she's been offered a bottle of milk, and that's something I do not want to make a part of her routine. And the happiest part is the way she scoots from one corner to another, and her successful entry into the kitchen!

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Life's good anyway. On a lighter note,

*hides face*

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

The Big Move

I have been wanting to write about the big move since the time we realized that we need to move. From the good old Texas to the very new Iowa. From a big city to a little town. From Houston that has been our home for six years to Bettendorf that feels like moon! Okay, that went overboard! It isn't bad. A nice, green town with a world of its own. Still, I miss Houston terribly!

The process of moving has been a roller coaster! Especially, with Oli needing all our attention. It was cumbersome. From packing stuff to answering San's questions on why we need to move and why we cannot stay in Houston and send Papa dear alone to this new place!

The saddest part was saying goodbye to friends. Friends who we have known since the time we have known Houston. Friends who we have celebrated all happiness, festivals, birthdays, and births with. Friends who can never be replaced.

True for San too! She is the kind of a person who doesn't get attached to people and places much, and even if she does, she doesn't express it. But this was the first time she expressed how badly she misses her school in Houston and her friends there. She was almost in tears when she spoke to me about it and I felt terrible for having moved her away from Houston. Houston, her birthplace. The place where her heart is and will be.

She started going to her new school this week. Happy, and desperately trying to make new friends.

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Life goes on. We keep missing people in the little breaks we get from our new routine. New school for San, new office for Papa dear, and a new apartment to set for me. It's exciting, and it's boring. I'm anxious about meeting new people and making friends. I don't feel like but I need to. Maybe, with time, I'll learn to adapt well to new places, like San and Papa dear do.