Aah.. sports day turned out to be not such a sporting day. In my previous post I had mentioned that I was in two minds whether to take S for her sports day or not since the hubby was not there, and it would involve getting up far too early in the morning. Anyway I decided to push myself and make the effort to take S. My colleague whose son is one month older to S had his Sports day just the day before and my colleague said he really enjoyed himself, so that basically clinched it. I had these visions of S running in the race and being delighted to spend time with her playschool friends outside school (especially since she talks about them so much!)
That was not to be. I woke up S at 7:15 am, a whole hour ahead of her usual waking up time of 8:15-8:30. She was most reluctant to drink her milk so early and after a lot of pestering and running behind her she finally drank her milk, got ready and we were out of the house by 8 am. Her bad mommy had not planned adequately and S was the only child there not to be wearing the school T shirt. I had left it behind in the other house, and when I enquired in the school about buying a new T shirt for the sports day they said they were out of stock and it would take a couple of weeks to get another one- too late! Anyway I put a brown T shirt for S- as close to a yellow T shirt as possible which is the colour of the school shirt, but she still stood out like a sore thumb. I only reassure myself that she would not have noticed it- I mean how often do you look down and see what T shirt you are wearing? And also the other kids are not big enough to point out that S is wearing a different colour T shirt!
We reached the venue and the other kids from her playschool were already sitting in a group. I tried to persuade S to join them- mentioning the other kids in class whom she chatters about, and even the teachers stepped in, asking her to come join them, but she was to have none of it. She clung to me and refused to go near her playschool group. I was a bit surprised since she usually rushes off inside her playschool without a backward glance, but I guess this was firstly a new environment (sports field) and also it was early in the morning for her and she may have been cranky! I don’t know what exactly she was afraid of, but she clung to me for the next half hour.
The LKG class started with the March past- it was more of ribbon waving than march past but all the kids were excited, the parents were even more excited and even S was riveted watching them. Then it was time for the playschool races. The parents had to stand on one side and the children on the other side (with the teachers) and run from the teachers to the parents. I took S to the start line and made her watch the first two races (they were of the afternoon batch of the playschool) so she would get an idea of what was expected of her. She seemed enthu enough, but when her name was called for the race she again clung to me and refused to go to the teacher at the start line, I tried to persude her that her friends are standing next to her, and mummy has to go to the opposite side and she is to come running to mummy, but no there was much of crying and stomping of the feet at the thought of mummy going away so I had to run in the race alongwith her! After the race, we went to the other side of the field where some of her playschool friends were and she spent about ½ hour running around the field and generally watching what they were doing. One of the boys tried to take her hand and make her run with him, but she was more comfortable being by herself and generally running around the place. She ran onto the main track a couple of times, where the senior kg races were going on, and had to be retrieved by the teachers/or me.
Finally around 10 am the certificate and medal ceremony happened. A good thing I liked about the sports day was that there were no prizes for first/second etc- all participants got a certificate and gold medal. They were called to the dais and the teacher gave them the certificate and put the medal around the neck. S of course screamed loudly when they put the medal around her neck, so I had to quickly take it off. S gets really uncomfortable when people (including me and the hubby) try to put things on her- a brooch on her shirt, or a necklace around her neck etc. She must be the least dressed up girl I know- no clips, no jewelry (ears also not yet pierced- I was too scared when she was young, and now she’ll pull at it, so will have to wait till she’s old enough to ask for it!). So a befitting ending to a cranky first sports day.
I used to love sports day at school- I used to take part in everything (was quite the enthu cutlet), hardly used to win any prizes (maybe a third in a race where there were only 5 participants) but I used to still enjoy taking part in all the track events. Hopefully S will enjoy the sports days more as she grows up. Or maybe she takes after the hubby, who is completely disinterested in all sports- both watching and participating!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
A quick update
S has her first sports day tomorrow. Yes she is less than 2, and people can ask (like my boss) what sports do 2 year olds play, but I think it will be fun for her to interact with her playschool mates, and more fun for me as mom to watch S run around all over the place. While the hubby has been teaching her to run fast and come first in the race, I think it would be a great achievement if she runs in the right direction and reaches the end line without getting distracted. The big question is whether to go or not. The hubby is off to Sri Lanka for four days for some office offsite, and I would need to manage all alone. I know this sounds like I am a helpless damsel and cannot manage S on my own without the hubby, but now that I’m in the 8th month everything is so much tougher, and I understand from the teachers that the playschool parents would need to get actively involved in the races since the kids will be too young to understand properly. And I don’t want a situation there where S is the only kid whose parents are not running in the race since a) Daddy is not there and b) Mummy cannot run…Also it starts at 7:45 in the morning, we are all so lazy that we wake up only around 8 am so it means getting S out of bed early, and getting ready fast instead of lazing around the house on a Saturday morning. But on the other hand it would be so cute to see S participating in her first Sports day, and I don’t want her to miss out because I’m pregnant/too lazy. Will think over it tonight…
Separately S has started interacting with her cousins much more post Diwali. We skype both my brothers once in two weeks and S is totally thrilled when her cousins show her their Santa Claus outfits /stockings/tree etc and keeps jumping up and down in front of the laptop. We also skype my sis-in-law who doesn’t have kids as of yet, but she and her hubby keep S well entertained with a collection of stuffed animals.
We have also started taking S swimming as much as possible- roughly translating into once in two weeks since the club we are members of is about an hour from the house. We usually go on Sunday morning, have a leisurely swim- S has her floaty boat where she can put her legs through it and float around in the water. There’s also a kiddies pool there which is much more shallow where she can walk around, and if we remember to take any of her bath animals (pufferfish, Nemo, frog, fish,penguin etc) then S usually runs around the kiddies pool playing with them. Good fun. There is a nice park also in the club, and after her swim S usually plays in the park for some time. Then depending on our enthu levels we either have lunch at the club itself (easier since S can run around in the big lawn there while we wait for the lunch) or we’ll try out some new restaurant in town. Anyway by the time we get back home its usually 4 in the afternoon, and all of us crash out till about 6 in the evening! So a simple swim turns out to be a day long affair. But S really enjoys it so its worth it.
Am having second thoughts about changing S school from January onwards when I’m planning to take my maternity leave. We will move house and the current playschool would be pretty far from the new house, so I signed her up for a new playschool which is much closer to the new house. It would be difficult to take her to the old playschool since it would take half an hour to get there, then the session is only for two hours which means if I go home, I need to again leave in an hour to pick her up, and there’s nothing for me to hang around there doing for two hours, and the total travel time for me would be two hours – and when I’m supposed to be relaxing on maternity. But S really likes this school- she keeps talking about her friends in this school- she knows some 5-6 names, and last week when the baby maid took off, I left S at school from 9:30-1:30 everyday, as against 9-11 only and she attended the second playgroup, and had her milk and snacks with the teacher without any complaint (and was reluctant to leave when I went to pick her up)-so she’s pretty much well settled here and she would need to get all settled again in the new school. Also the new school is a Montessori and focuses more on learning, and doesn’t have as many toys and playground stuff like slides/cars etc as this school and S really loves them. Wondering what to do!
Separately S has started interacting with her cousins much more post Diwali. We skype both my brothers once in two weeks and S is totally thrilled when her cousins show her their Santa Claus outfits /stockings/tree etc and keeps jumping up and down in front of the laptop. We also skype my sis-in-law who doesn’t have kids as of yet, but she and her hubby keep S well entertained with a collection of stuffed animals.
We have also started taking S swimming as much as possible- roughly translating into once in two weeks since the club we are members of is about an hour from the house. We usually go on Sunday morning, have a leisurely swim- S has her floaty boat where she can put her legs through it and float around in the water. There’s also a kiddies pool there which is much more shallow where she can walk around, and if we remember to take any of her bath animals (pufferfish, Nemo, frog, fish,penguin etc) then S usually runs around the kiddies pool playing with them. Good fun. There is a nice park also in the club, and after her swim S usually plays in the park for some time. Then depending on our enthu levels we either have lunch at the club itself (easier since S can run around in the big lawn there while we wait for the lunch) or we’ll try out some new restaurant in town. Anyway by the time we get back home its usually 4 in the afternoon, and all of us crash out till about 6 in the evening! So a simple swim turns out to be a day long affair. But S really enjoys it so its worth it.
Am having second thoughts about changing S school from January onwards when I’m planning to take my maternity leave. We will move house and the current playschool would be pretty far from the new house, so I signed her up for a new playschool which is much closer to the new house. It would be difficult to take her to the old playschool since it would take half an hour to get there, then the session is only for two hours which means if I go home, I need to again leave in an hour to pick her up, and there’s nothing for me to hang around there doing for two hours, and the total travel time for me would be two hours – and when I’m supposed to be relaxing on maternity. But S really likes this school- she keeps talking about her friends in this school- she knows some 5-6 names, and last week when the baby maid took off, I left S at school from 9:30-1:30 everyday, as against 9-11 only and she attended the second playgroup, and had her milk and snacks with the teacher without any complaint (and was reluctant to leave when I went to pick her up)-so she’s pretty much well settled here and she would need to get all settled again in the new school. Also the new school is a Montessori and focuses more on learning, and doesn’t have as many toys and playground stuff like slides/cars etc as this school and S really loves them. Wondering what to do!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Catching up with old friends
Lately with managing a full time job, looking after S, and also being pregnant (and putting on too much weight which means I get much more tired more easily, and it takes me 5 mins to do what I could earlier do in a minute) I’ve been getting the feeling that it’s the same old routine on the weekdays and rest/doctors visit over the weekend and no time to meet friends, have a night out and generally see what the world is upto.
With my mom coming over for two weeks (due to a maid exigency, I fired one of the baby maids in a sudden burst of irritation- she had come on and off for the last 1 week, after taking a 10 day holiday, and was acting pretty strange saying she’s unwell and cant tell when she can come to work, though she seemed perfectly fine on the days she did come) I took full advantage of having a grandparent at home and finally managed to catch up with some old friends and we also managed to fit in a movie.
Friday night was dinner with old colleagues, some of whom I had not met for more than 2 years. Good fun cribbing about old bosses and catching up with what people are doing now. Our old team in office used to be quite close knit, we used to step in for each other quite a bit, and go out quite often. The team was a new one, and I guess we were all learning together. We went to Da Vincis which is an Italian place and has excellent pizzas! Only thing is that it doesn’t serve liquor, and while I did not mind, the other people in the group has second thoughts about leaving and going to another place!
Saturday night was a bachelors party for a friend who is getting married next month. It was largely college friends, and some people from my friend’s workplace. We met at Hard Rock Café and for once I found myself in the funny position of being the only person in the group not drinking. And the funniest thing is- most of these people either never used to drink at campus, or used to have just the token drink. And frankly Hard Rock Café is not the place to be if you are not drinking, because the music is really loud and you cant have a conversation, and the food is not great either. But the music was nice and a couple of our college friends had landed up early and requested for some old college classics such as November Rain, Dire Straits etc. We also quizzed the to be couple about each others favourite things and managed to pull my friend’s leg quite a bit. Though we couldn’t complete it since the music was so loud we could hardly hear each other. I had to leave early around 11, since I was tired. Somehow the travel to the place, the loud music and the chairs made me feel quite uncomfortable and by around 11 I was really tired and ready to drop. Hope this is only a pregnancy thing and not a sign of me growing old! I have never usually been the first to leave a party, especially with college friends!
The next weekend, I met up with colleagues from my old workplace for lunch. We went to this really nice Italian place called Café Mangi. I’ve been meaning to try out these new places for some time, but my hubby is not one to experiment with new places, and usually waits for others to go and then recommend them. I strongly recommend this place- both the pastas and pizzas are amazing, only thing is that the restaurant is small and the seating is slightly cramped. The last time I met these ex colleagues was 2 years ago and then I was carrying S- they must be thinking I’m constantly pregnant. They were quite disappointed that I had not got S along- but it was her nap time and she had not been sleeping properly the whole week so I thought better if she gets a good nap at home, and I would also not be rushed to finish early. There was another girl of about 4- the parents are now based in Dubai, and the lunch was actually to meet them on their annual holiday from Dubai; she was quite disappointed at having no company and spent the afternoon going under the table from one parent to the other. But was otherwise extremely well behaved, no running around the place, tantrums etc. Wonder whether S would sit so still when she is older!
Anyway in Dubai, I believe that they make kids take written entrance exams to join nursery there! Quite a strain for the parents (in teaching the child) and the child- in taking an entrance exam so early in life! I think the purpose of such a thing is quite silly- the school is supposed to educate you, if you are already supposed to know stuff when you join, then what is the purpose of sending the children to school? Towards the end of the lunch another colleague landed up with his 14 month old son. What a cutie, and he actually ate mashed potatoes that his parents ordered for him. Till date S has never eaten anything which has been ordered for her in restaurants, except the odd French fries which also she gets bored of within 10 mins. Was chatting with the mother who said she’d just finishing her one year sabbatical from work and would be resuming work in January. One year sabbatical sounds good- her son is not so dependent on her anymore and she also is keen on getting back to work. She plans to drop of her son and maid to her uncle’s house everyday, and then pick them up on the way back. Sounds like my busy schedule- drop S of at school, rush to work, then pick S up from school and drop her home, then rush back to work, then home for lunch and then back to work, and finally wind up by 6:30 – 7 and go home and meet S in the park. Why is it that the women only have to adjust their work timings to look after the kids, I wonder. …
Finally the hubby and I managed to catch a late night movie- Kurban. I don’t particularly like either of the main actors, and agreed to go along just because we hadn’t seen a movie for some time, but was pleasantly surprised with the acting and the plot. It is a similar terrorist husband plot to New York, but is much more realistic and facts are not glossed over like in New York. It comes as a real shock to the wife when she realizes that her husband is a terrorist and only married her for a visa to enter the USA Quite different from New York where the wife pretends she doesn’t know her husband is a terrorist. Hello- surely you would notice if your husband disappeared at all weird hours of the day and seemed secretive about his activities. Anyway this will probably be our last midnight movie with S in tow- she woke up around 12:30 and refused to go back to sleep. She ended up watching the bomb sequence and kept saying bad man/policeman/bomb etc. She still remembers it and says” That day, bomb, bad man” so I don’t think it’s a very good experience/influence on her which should be repeated.
The pregnancy is getting quite tiring now that I’ve entered the third trimester and also put on tons of weight. I have another month or so in office and then I plan to take my maternity leave and prepare for the next baby- more like I will need some rest as I cannot imagine working and looking after S in the 9 month! Last time I worked till the last day, but this time I feel I am getting very tired already- by the evening my stomach and back are both out!
With my mom coming over for two weeks (due to a maid exigency, I fired one of the baby maids in a sudden burst of irritation- she had come on and off for the last 1 week, after taking a 10 day holiday, and was acting pretty strange saying she’s unwell and cant tell when she can come to work, though she seemed perfectly fine on the days she did come) I took full advantage of having a grandparent at home and finally managed to catch up with some old friends and we also managed to fit in a movie.
Friday night was dinner with old colleagues, some of whom I had not met for more than 2 years. Good fun cribbing about old bosses and catching up with what people are doing now. Our old team in office used to be quite close knit, we used to step in for each other quite a bit, and go out quite often. The team was a new one, and I guess we were all learning together. We went to Da Vincis which is an Italian place and has excellent pizzas! Only thing is that it doesn’t serve liquor, and while I did not mind, the other people in the group has second thoughts about leaving and going to another place!
Saturday night was a bachelors party for a friend who is getting married next month. It was largely college friends, and some people from my friend’s workplace. We met at Hard Rock Café and for once I found myself in the funny position of being the only person in the group not drinking. And the funniest thing is- most of these people either never used to drink at campus, or used to have just the token drink. And frankly Hard Rock Café is not the place to be if you are not drinking, because the music is really loud and you cant have a conversation, and the food is not great either. But the music was nice and a couple of our college friends had landed up early and requested for some old college classics such as November Rain, Dire Straits etc. We also quizzed the to be couple about each others favourite things and managed to pull my friend’s leg quite a bit. Though we couldn’t complete it since the music was so loud we could hardly hear each other. I had to leave early around 11, since I was tired. Somehow the travel to the place, the loud music and the chairs made me feel quite uncomfortable and by around 11 I was really tired and ready to drop. Hope this is only a pregnancy thing and not a sign of me growing old! I have never usually been the first to leave a party, especially with college friends!
The next weekend, I met up with colleagues from my old workplace for lunch. We went to this really nice Italian place called Café Mangi. I’ve been meaning to try out these new places for some time, but my hubby is not one to experiment with new places, and usually waits for others to go and then recommend them. I strongly recommend this place- both the pastas and pizzas are amazing, only thing is that the restaurant is small and the seating is slightly cramped. The last time I met these ex colleagues was 2 years ago and then I was carrying S- they must be thinking I’m constantly pregnant. They were quite disappointed that I had not got S along- but it was her nap time and she had not been sleeping properly the whole week so I thought better if she gets a good nap at home, and I would also not be rushed to finish early. There was another girl of about 4- the parents are now based in Dubai, and the lunch was actually to meet them on their annual holiday from Dubai; she was quite disappointed at having no company and spent the afternoon going under the table from one parent to the other. But was otherwise extremely well behaved, no running around the place, tantrums etc. Wonder whether S would sit so still when she is older!
Anyway in Dubai, I believe that they make kids take written entrance exams to join nursery there! Quite a strain for the parents (in teaching the child) and the child- in taking an entrance exam so early in life! I think the purpose of such a thing is quite silly- the school is supposed to educate you, if you are already supposed to know stuff when you join, then what is the purpose of sending the children to school? Towards the end of the lunch another colleague landed up with his 14 month old son. What a cutie, and he actually ate mashed potatoes that his parents ordered for him. Till date S has never eaten anything which has been ordered for her in restaurants, except the odd French fries which also she gets bored of within 10 mins. Was chatting with the mother who said she’d just finishing her one year sabbatical from work and would be resuming work in January. One year sabbatical sounds good- her son is not so dependent on her anymore and she also is keen on getting back to work. She plans to drop of her son and maid to her uncle’s house everyday, and then pick them up on the way back. Sounds like my busy schedule- drop S of at school, rush to work, then pick S up from school and drop her home, then rush back to work, then home for lunch and then back to work, and finally wind up by 6:30 – 7 and go home and meet S in the park. Why is it that the women only have to adjust their work timings to look after the kids, I wonder. …
Finally the hubby and I managed to catch a late night movie- Kurban. I don’t particularly like either of the main actors, and agreed to go along just because we hadn’t seen a movie for some time, but was pleasantly surprised with the acting and the plot. It is a similar terrorist husband plot to New York, but is much more realistic and facts are not glossed over like in New York. It comes as a real shock to the wife when she realizes that her husband is a terrorist and only married her for a visa to enter the USA Quite different from New York where the wife pretends she doesn’t know her husband is a terrorist. Hello- surely you would notice if your husband disappeared at all weird hours of the day and seemed secretive about his activities. Anyway this will probably be our last midnight movie with S in tow- she woke up around 12:30 and refused to go back to sleep. She ended up watching the bomb sequence and kept saying bad man/policeman/bomb etc. She still remembers it and says” That day, bomb, bad man” so I don’t think it’s a very good experience/influence on her which should be repeated.
The pregnancy is getting quite tiring now that I’ve entered the third trimester and also put on tons of weight. I have another month or so in office and then I plan to take my maternity leave and prepare for the next baby- more like I will need some rest as I cannot imagine working and looking after S in the 9 month! Last time I worked till the last day, but this time I feel I am getting very tired already- by the evening my stomach and back are both out!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Happy Diwali- a nice break
The hubby, S and I had a nice 10 day break in Bangalore for Diwali. The best part was that S got to meet her cousins (my bro was down with family for a couple of days) and celebrate Diwali with them.
We reached Bangalore the night before Diwali. This time we had taken an early evening flight, as opposed to our late night flights earlier where we used to work till the last minute, rush to the airport and finally reach my parents place in Bangalore at 11:30 in the night. This time we managed to reach home by 9:15 p.m. so we could settle down and unpack some of our stuff before the Diwali morning.
Diwali mornings start early for us with the oil bath ritual. Each family sits in front of the Puja/God room, the elders dab some oil on our heads, and do Aarti of the family. Then we have to take a bath with Gangajal in the water, don our new clothes, participate in the Puja and seek blessings from the elders. All this is supposed to happen before sunrise, though usually only the Aarti does. Some enthusiastic people also burst crackers after the Puja. S was woken up at 6:30 in the morning, my mom and sister-in-law did Aarti for our family, S was given a traditional oil bath and dressed in a salwar kameez given by my mom – all set for the day ahead!
We all exchanged gifts in the morning- S got a Dora bag from her cousins, and the hubby and I got clothes from my parents and sis-in-law. My hubby gave me a Raymond Weil watch for Diwali, which I proudly displayed to all. Its lovely and I wear it all the time. I can’t nag him about not giving me jewelry anymore, of course! I haven’t given my hubby anything for Diwali as of yet, had planned for an I-Phone, but then he took an extra one which my dad had lying around, he’s now pestering me for the first installment of an SUV, but that decision would be a bigger and harder one to take. We got my nephews some violent toys- earlier we used to try and give non-violent games, but this time I thought they enjoy it, may as well have fun on their holidays- they don’t need to take it back with them to Singapore if my sis-in-law doesn’t approve. There was one dartboard with a gun, and another gun with Batman on it. Both of them wanted the Batman one of course, and my sis-in-law had her hands full trying to convince them to take turns.
Relatives streamed in during the day to meet my parents and my grandmom (who stays with us and is the eldest in her family). It was fun catching up with all of them, and of course getting S to meet her second and third cousins. We had a grand breakfast and a grand lunch, and I had planned to get S off baby food during the holiday- by forcing her to eat whatever we eat, and patiently waiting for her to get hungry and give in- back in Bombay we don’t have the time to persuade S to eat what we are eating and just end up giving her the same stuff everyday, but I thought at my mom’s place there would be the time to try, and also the help around to make the food required (my hubby and I eat very spicy food in Bombay which is not appropriate for S). But S had other plans of her own. She absolutely refused to eat any of the normal food, and even if I waited for upto 1 hour after her normal meal time she would just refuse to eat. So back to the baby food. Only consolation is that it is healthy food!
In the evening we took S to the park alongwith her cousins. They were all chattering in the car all the way to the park and back, but while in the park went their separate ways. The boys wanted to play roughly on all the apparatus, and S wanted to either swing or go on the slide. Good fun.
In the night we traditionally have a get together where we call close relatives- immediate aunts and uncles and close family friends. They usually come with kids so there’s a lot of cracker bursting as well. My sis-in-law and I lit the diyas around 7 p.m. and arranged them on the balcony of the house, on the outside steps and the entrance to the house. We usually keep the diyas on the steps inside the house as well, but with so many kids around this time we didn’t want to risk it. S was dressed in a cute green ghagra choli I had got her and was all set to burst crackers with her dad. She held a few sparklers and watched her cousins light fountains, charkas and even bombs. I thought she would be quite scared with the noise, but she was alright and was outside for about half an hour where the cracker bursting was taking place. After that she was treated to lots of snacks by her daddy (we as a family indulge in too many snacks!). Then for some reason she decided to call one of her cousins “Pizza” and spent the rest of the evening shouting “Pizza” at him much to the amusement of all the relatives. My mom was quite unwell, and that was the only dampener on an otherwise brilliant evening.
My sis-in-law and nephews were in Bangalore the next day as well and S spent the day with her cousins- feeding the dogs, playing cricket (rather I held the bat alongwith her and her cousins were urged to bowl slowly at us) with them, going to the park with them and generally hanging around the house. They were leaving at night, and the hubby was leaving for Sweden the next night, so we decided to have a night out at Hard Rock Café- since we don’t get much time or enthu in Bombay. Originally we had planned to leave S at home with my mom and do some pub hopping, but since my mom was not well we thought better we take S with us. S had fun there-there were other kids also there (surprisingly one waiter was entertaining the kids, rather unusual for a pub!) and they gave her a colouring set which entertained S for some time.
The next day the hubby and I managed to catch a Hindi movie after a long time- Wake Up Sid. We went for the afternoon show, leaving S with my mom. The movie was ok- I thought it was a bit too slow paced, and I didn’t particularly like the acting of the main protagonist, but overall good timepass. The hubby left in the night for Sweden after S had gone to bed.
I had initially planned to relax at home for the entire week and put my feet up and get completely pampered. But office work put paid to my plans and for three of the four working days on which I had taken leave I landed up at the Bangalore branch of my office, cursing my office work! But it was more relaxed, since mom was at home taking care of S and I didn’t have to worry about the maids looking after her, endless calls to find out how S is etc. And for the time I was back home I was completely and shamelessly pampered. My mom and dad looked after S completely- from playing with her to reading to her, taking her down to feed the dogs, to letting her play the piano downstairs, to taking her to the park on the days I was working in the evening. I was able to a) concentrate and finish a lot of work- managed to meet a big deadline, and b) relax, catch up on my favourite soaps and books in the balance time. There’s really something to be said for being at mum’s place- no hassles of getting the house tidy, organizing the groceries, food etc. I know, its not like I do any of the house stuff in Bombay- I have to admit I have a battery of maids who do everything, but I am overall responsible for running two households since we have this strange arrangement of staying in one house during the week (near my office) and another during the weekend (our own house, much nicer!) and for looking after S when I am back from work, and also dropping and picking up S from her playschool which overall makes my weekday schedule in Bombay very hectic! Also two devoted grandparents and S was already better behaved and better natured (I must add) than she is in Bombay- with no unnecessary tantrums, shouting and slapping at us (yes she had got into this bad habit of hitting people when she doesn’t get her way, and while I try to reason with her and explain why this is a bad thing, sometimes the hubby loses his cool completely). I am waiting for my maternity leave where I plan to happily push off to my parents place after a couple of months of the second baby being born.
We also managed to fit in two swimming sessions for S as well during our holiday. The club is about a 25 mins drive from the house, and swimming combined with playing in the club park (they had nice new equipment) kept her busy on two evenings. We also visited my friend who had just had a baby boy and S kept calling the baby ‘V babbu’; and also visited my cousin who has just built a 4 storied house with a gym (which her husband runs). My cousin has a fish tank in her house and S was quite taken with the fish- maybe we should get some at home? I really liked the house, and the more I think about it , the more I feel like leaving Bombay and settling down in a city where we can have our own house, a nice backyard for the children to play, a garden for us to have coffee in the mornings, a terrace to entertain people…but unfortunately our careers are strongly Bombay based. Oh, and we also met my cousin who has a daughter the same age as S- they stay in Australia but were in Bangalore holidaying during our break there.As first S completely ignored her cousin (actually they came over during S nap time and S was pretty cranky at first), then they both started playing with the toys, then they both started running around the house playing hide and seek, and finally both sat down together and ate their ice creams (there's a very cute picture of both of them sitting on the sofa, talking to each other-wonder what they were saying!)
To wrap up the post which has meandered all over the place- had a nice break, totally appreciate the importance of family and grandparents in a child’s life, and can’t wait to go back.
We reached Bangalore the night before Diwali. This time we had taken an early evening flight, as opposed to our late night flights earlier where we used to work till the last minute, rush to the airport and finally reach my parents place in Bangalore at 11:30 in the night. This time we managed to reach home by 9:15 p.m. so we could settle down and unpack some of our stuff before the Diwali morning.
Diwali mornings start early for us with the oil bath ritual. Each family sits in front of the Puja/God room, the elders dab some oil on our heads, and do Aarti of the family. Then we have to take a bath with Gangajal in the water, don our new clothes, participate in the Puja and seek blessings from the elders. All this is supposed to happen before sunrise, though usually only the Aarti does. Some enthusiastic people also burst crackers after the Puja. S was woken up at 6:30 in the morning, my mom and sister-in-law did Aarti for our family, S was given a traditional oil bath and dressed in a salwar kameez given by my mom – all set for the day ahead!
We all exchanged gifts in the morning- S got a Dora bag from her cousins, and the hubby and I got clothes from my parents and sis-in-law. My hubby gave me a Raymond Weil watch for Diwali, which I proudly displayed to all. Its lovely and I wear it all the time. I can’t nag him about not giving me jewelry anymore, of course! I haven’t given my hubby anything for Diwali as of yet, had planned for an I-Phone, but then he took an extra one which my dad had lying around, he’s now pestering me for the first installment of an SUV, but that decision would be a bigger and harder one to take. We got my nephews some violent toys- earlier we used to try and give non-violent games, but this time I thought they enjoy it, may as well have fun on their holidays- they don’t need to take it back with them to Singapore if my sis-in-law doesn’t approve. There was one dartboard with a gun, and another gun with Batman on it. Both of them wanted the Batman one of course, and my sis-in-law had her hands full trying to convince them to take turns.
Relatives streamed in during the day to meet my parents and my grandmom (who stays with us and is the eldest in her family). It was fun catching up with all of them, and of course getting S to meet her second and third cousins. We had a grand breakfast and a grand lunch, and I had planned to get S off baby food during the holiday- by forcing her to eat whatever we eat, and patiently waiting for her to get hungry and give in- back in Bombay we don’t have the time to persuade S to eat what we are eating and just end up giving her the same stuff everyday, but I thought at my mom’s place there would be the time to try, and also the help around to make the food required (my hubby and I eat very spicy food in Bombay which is not appropriate for S). But S had other plans of her own. She absolutely refused to eat any of the normal food, and even if I waited for upto 1 hour after her normal meal time she would just refuse to eat. So back to the baby food. Only consolation is that it is healthy food!
In the evening we took S to the park alongwith her cousins. They were all chattering in the car all the way to the park and back, but while in the park went their separate ways. The boys wanted to play roughly on all the apparatus, and S wanted to either swing or go on the slide. Good fun.
In the night we traditionally have a get together where we call close relatives- immediate aunts and uncles and close family friends. They usually come with kids so there’s a lot of cracker bursting as well. My sis-in-law and I lit the diyas around 7 p.m. and arranged them on the balcony of the house, on the outside steps and the entrance to the house. We usually keep the diyas on the steps inside the house as well, but with so many kids around this time we didn’t want to risk it. S was dressed in a cute green ghagra choli I had got her and was all set to burst crackers with her dad. She held a few sparklers and watched her cousins light fountains, charkas and even bombs. I thought she would be quite scared with the noise, but she was alright and was outside for about half an hour where the cracker bursting was taking place. After that she was treated to lots of snacks by her daddy (we as a family indulge in too many snacks!). Then for some reason she decided to call one of her cousins “Pizza” and spent the rest of the evening shouting “Pizza” at him much to the amusement of all the relatives. My mom was quite unwell, and that was the only dampener on an otherwise brilliant evening.
My sis-in-law and nephews were in Bangalore the next day as well and S spent the day with her cousins- feeding the dogs, playing cricket (rather I held the bat alongwith her and her cousins were urged to bowl slowly at us) with them, going to the park with them and generally hanging around the house. They were leaving at night, and the hubby was leaving for Sweden the next night, so we decided to have a night out at Hard Rock Café- since we don’t get much time or enthu in Bombay. Originally we had planned to leave S at home with my mom and do some pub hopping, but since my mom was not well we thought better we take S with us. S had fun there-there were other kids also there (surprisingly one waiter was entertaining the kids, rather unusual for a pub!) and they gave her a colouring set which entertained S for some time.
The next day the hubby and I managed to catch a Hindi movie after a long time- Wake Up Sid. We went for the afternoon show, leaving S with my mom. The movie was ok- I thought it was a bit too slow paced, and I didn’t particularly like the acting of the main protagonist, but overall good timepass. The hubby left in the night for Sweden after S had gone to bed.
I had initially planned to relax at home for the entire week and put my feet up and get completely pampered. But office work put paid to my plans and for three of the four working days on which I had taken leave I landed up at the Bangalore branch of my office, cursing my office work! But it was more relaxed, since mom was at home taking care of S and I didn’t have to worry about the maids looking after her, endless calls to find out how S is etc. And for the time I was back home I was completely and shamelessly pampered. My mom and dad looked after S completely- from playing with her to reading to her, taking her down to feed the dogs, to letting her play the piano downstairs, to taking her to the park on the days I was working in the evening. I was able to a) concentrate and finish a lot of work- managed to meet a big deadline, and b) relax, catch up on my favourite soaps and books in the balance time. There’s really something to be said for being at mum’s place- no hassles of getting the house tidy, organizing the groceries, food etc. I know, its not like I do any of the house stuff in Bombay- I have to admit I have a battery of maids who do everything, but I am overall responsible for running two households since we have this strange arrangement of staying in one house during the week (near my office) and another during the weekend (our own house, much nicer!) and for looking after S when I am back from work, and also dropping and picking up S from her playschool which overall makes my weekday schedule in Bombay very hectic! Also two devoted grandparents and S was already better behaved and better natured (I must add) than she is in Bombay- with no unnecessary tantrums, shouting and slapping at us (yes she had got into this bad habit of hitting people when she doesn’t get her way, and while I try to reason with her and explain why this is a bad thing, sometimes the hubby loses his cool completely). I am waiting for my maternity leave where I plan to happily push off to my parents place after a couple of months of the second baby being born.
We also managed to fit in two swimming sessions for S as well during our holiday. The club is about a 25 mins drive from the house, and swimming combined with playing in the club park (they had nice new equipment) kept her busy on two evenings. We also visited my friend who had just had a baby boy and S kept calling the baby ‘V babbu’; and also visited my cousin who has just built a 4 storied house with a gym (which her husband runs). My cousin has a fish tank in her house and S was quite taken with the fish- maybe we should get some at home? I really liked the house, and the more I think about it , the more I feel like leaving Bombay and settling down in a city where we can have our own house, a nice backyard for the children to play, a garden for us to have coffee in the mornings, a terrace to entertain people…but unfortunately our careers are strongly Bombay based. Oh, and we also met my cousin who has a daughter the same age as S- they stay in Australia but were in Bangalore holidaying during our break there.As first S completely ignored her cousin (actually they came over during S nap time and S was pretty cranky at first), then they both started playing with the toys, then they both started running around the house playing hide and seek, and finally both sat down together and ate their ice creams (there's a very cute picture of both of them sitting on the sofa, talking to each other-wonder what they were saying!)
To wrap up the post which has meandered all over the place- had a nice break, totally appreciate the importance of family and grandparents in a child’s life, and can’t wait to go back.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Would you take your child to a pub?
In this case, I introduced both of mine to the pub scene at a very young age- S who was all of 19 months, and the second, still in mummy’s tummy!
I had made this big plan which involved the hubby and the maid babysitting S at home while I enjoyed a night out with a friend who was going to her hometown for her delivery. It was a baby shower cum farewell party for this friend, so we were to start out at a restaurant around 7:30, have the baby shower games there and then move to a happening bar/pub so my friend could enjoy her last few night outs (for some time at least).
Anyway nothing worked as per plan. The maid was very unwell so was packed off home. The hubby had a sudden ad shoot which came up the day before the party and took up his entire weekend, and hence I was left literally holding the baby! I had anyway planned to take S for the dinner since some other kids her age were also going to be there. I was a bit unsure whether I would be able to manage her on my own, what with me being 4 months pregnant and S being quite a handful in restaurants, but luckily another friend of mine had come over to spend the day and S became quite friendly with her, so the friend was able to help out quite a bit in the restaurant- taking S to see fish, entertaining her while I gulped down my dinner and so on. The other kids had both their parents around, who were taking turns eating and entertaining the kids- and also entertaining the kids so that they would eat- seeing this behaviour (quite normal to parents but I guess strange to non parents) my friend who is not a mother commented that looks like parents can never sit down and enjoy a 3 course meal in one go. Ha ha ha. We cannot finish even a one course meal in one go if the kid is with us is what I informed her. I think she’s going to be thinking hard about when she wants to have a baby.
After dinner we all set out to this happening bar-Zenzi. One of the couples with a kid opted out, so there were two of us with kids and two of us pregnant women trooping into Zenzi. We were pleasantly surprised to find that they allow children into the bar (we had gone to the USA for a holiday in May this year and the bars/pubs were very fussy about not allowing children) so we parked ourselves comfortably on a couple of sofas and felt very happy that we were these “happening” moms. Of course other people in the bar did not share this view. Just seated opposite us were a group of 4 guys who looked quite annoyed at first to see kids there, and later plain disgusted (possibly due to my removing a series of toys for S and the other kid to play with, and the other kid running all around our table with the toys. The group of guys quickly gulped down their drinks and left. I think that the “pseudo” value of that bar would have halved that particular night, and many single people, who probably don’t appreciate the need for old married with children couples also to enjoy a night out, would probably be thinking of not visiting that place again.
But I sometimes wonder, if I did the right thing in taking S along. Its not exactly a great atmosphere for her- there was no one smoking near us, but a couple of tables away there were quite a few puffing away, the place was dimly lit and tables were next to each other so hardly any place to run around and hardly the ambience for a child; also I think other people were uncomfortable having children around as it took away from the bar atmosphere (and we did get lots of dirty looks). But I didn’t have much of a choice- since there was no one to look after her at home either it meant I took S along, or else I didn’t get to go either. The funniest was a message I got from the hubby when I told him that I was at Zenzi- he asked whether I had taken S along- what did he expect, that I would leave her alone at home!!!
Anyway next week is the bachelor party for one of the girlfriends who is getting married. Its more of just a get together than a bachelors party since the prospective groom is also invited. Its at Hard Rock Café and wondering whether to take S along, or get the hubby to babysit at home. This time my mom is also at home, so even if the hubby has a last minute engagement, I still have the option of leaving S at home. In our recent visit to Bangalore we had taken S with us to the Hard Rock Café there-and we were quite surprised to find that its actually quite a kid friendly place-there were quite a few families with kids of S age, and one waiter was actually entertaining a couple of them with a balloon! I guess one of the considerations for not taking S along this time would be that my bachelor friend might find her “bachelor” party getting overrun into a kids party and may not appreciate it too much!
I had made this big plan which involved the hubby and the maid babysitting S at home while I enjoyed a night out with a friend who was going to her hometown for her delivery. It was a baby shower cum farewell party for this friend, so we were to start out at a restaurant around 7:30, have the baby shower games there and then move to a happening bar/pub so my friend could enjoy her last few night outs (for some time at least).
Anyway nothing worked as per plan. The maid was very unwell so was packed off home. The hubby had a sudden ad shoot which came up the day before the party and took up his entire weekend, and hence I was left literally holding the baby! I had anyway planned to take S for the dinner since some other kids her age were also going to be there. I was a bit unsure whether I would be able to manage her on my own, what with me being 4 months pregnant and S being quite a handful in restaurants, but luckily another friend of mine had come over to spend the day and S became quite friendly with her, so the friend was able to help out quite a bit in the restaurant- taking S to see fish, entertaining her while I gulped down my dinner and so on. The other kids had both their parents around, who were taking turns eating and entertaining the kids- and also entertaining the kids so that they would eat- seeing this behaviour (quite normal to parents but I guess strange to non parents) my friend who is not a mother commented that looks like parents can never sit down and enjoy a 3 course meal in one go. Ha ha ha. We cannot finish even a one course meal in one go if the kid is with us is what I informed her. I think she’s going to be thinking hard about when she wants to have a baby.
After dinner we all set out to this happening bar-Zenzi. One of the couples with a kid opted out, so there were two of us with kids and two of us pregnant women trooping into Zenzi. We were pleasantly surprised to find that they allow children into the bar (we had gone to the USA for a holiday in May this year and the bars/pubs were very fussy about not allowing children) so we parked ourselves comfortably on a couple of sofas and felt very happy that we were these “happening” moms. Of course other people in the bar did not share this view. Just seated opposite us were a group of 4 guys who looked quite annoyed at first to see kids there, and later plain disgusted (possibly due to my removing a series of toys for S and the other kid to play with, and the other kid running all around our table with the toys. The group of guys quickly gulped down their drinks and left. I think that the “pseudo” value of that bar would have halved that particular night, and many single people, who probably don’t appreciate the need for old married with children couples also to enjoy a night out, would probably be thinking of not visiting that place again.
But I sometimes wonder, if I did the right thing in taking S along. Its not exactly a great atmosphere for her- there was no one smoking near us, but a couple of tables away there were quite a few puffing away, the place was dimly lit and tables were next to each other so hardly any place to run around and hardly the ambience for a child; also I think other people were uncomfortable having children around as it took away from the bar atmosphere (and we did get lots of dirty looks). But I didn’t have much of a choice- since there was no one to look after her at home either it meant I took S along, or else I didn’t get to go either. The funniest was a message I got from the hubby when I told him that I was at Zenzi- he asked whether I had taken S along- what did he expect, that I would leave her alone at home!!!
Anyway next week is the bachelor party for one of the girlfriends who is getting married. Its more of just a get together than a bachelors party since the prospective groom is also invited. Its at Hard Rock Café and wondering whether to take S along, or get the hubby to babysit at home. This time my mom is also at home, so even if the hubby has a last minute engagement, I still have the option of leaving S at home. In our recent visit to Bangalore we had taken S with us to the Hard Rock Café there-and we were quite surprised to find that its actually quite a kid friendly place-there were quite a few families with kids of S age, and one waiter was actually entertaining a couple of them with a balloon! I guess one of the considerations for not taking S along this time would be that my bachelor friend might find her “bachelor” party getting overrun into a kids party and may not appreciate it too much!
Friday, September 4, 2009
Three birthday parties
Its been too long since I last posted, but the last few weeks have been really crazy. The great news is that we are expecting our second baby and we are really excited about it. But the last few weeks have been tough as the first trimester was very difficult this time, with S I had no neausea and due to some complications was working from home for the first trimester. This time I’ve been full time at office, morning sickness, evening sickness, general feeling of nausea the whole day and tiredness at night. Office work has also been very hectic. Anyway this is not meant to be a cribby post and now that the first trimester is passed (touchwood) let me move on.
In the last month S has attended 3 birthday parties and her reaction in each of them has been so different.
The first party was of a boy from her school. We landed up on time (I’m quite a stickler for time) and found ourselves to be the only guests there - I guess others are not as much of sticklers as I am, but after half an hour I started feeling bad for the mom organizing the party since there were still no other guests and they had really spent a lot of effort and time in organizing the party – with a tattoo artist, games, magic show etc and had budgeted quite a few people landing up. Finally 3 others from S school landed up alongwith some children from the neighbourhood. After a couple of them got tattoos I finally managed to persuade S to get a tattoo done but halfway she started getting upset –guess the whole experience of a stranger painting on her arm got a bit much for her, so the elaborate design was hurriedly changed into a flower and I whisked S away to another part of the room. S pretty much clung to me for most of the party- I had to take part with her in all the games, and just when she started to become a little confident of the surroundings and moved away from me to dance to the music, they played a game in which they had to burst balloons. S is for some strange reason scared of balloons (considering that she spent most of her first birthday party hugging a blue balloon and refusing to let go of it, this is quite strange) – I think the maid scared her by waving a balloon up and down very fast when she was younger and that experience has just scared her off balloons. They played this game (which I found quite inappropriate when kids < 2 years are there) where you have to blow balloons and burst them by sitting on them. After a couple of balloons burst S got very very clingy and started looking quite scared. I took her to another room of the house where the hosts had kept their dog- the Labrador was quite friendly and S got over her fear by watching him run around the room and jump up and down. By the time we went back to the playroom it was cake cutting time and luckily the balloon bursting had stopped. The cake was quite unique- it was a number of brownie cup cakes arranged in the form of balloons on a board. The strings connecting the brownies were drawn on the board and the arrangement looked quite pretty and it was easy to just give a brownie to each kid. After that they had the magic show and S really enjoyed this. She kept watching the magician and even learned “Abracadabra”. Her mummy had to eat all the snacks they had given her while S stuffed herself only with chips and then asked for more! Then they had dance time which S enjoyed the most- she kept dancing around the place and watching other kids dancing. Overall I think S enjoyed meeting other kids, but found the games and balloons a bit intimidating. One thing I did not like about the party was that only four of us mothers from the class of 14 landed up- I heard the mom organizing the party ask a couple of times whether the others were coming- I think she had budgeted for more. If people are not planning to come they should at least have the decency to tell the parents that they are not coming so they can plan properly- and these people had put invites in the bags of all the kids and the father had actually given the cards to some of the parents when they missed out on the cards in the bag, so its not as if they did not know. I actually asked a couple of moms why they did not come on Monday and they all had other plans- really does not take much to inform the organizing mother that you are busy, and sorry cannot make it instead of just not landing up!
The second party was not as much of a birthday party for kids as a celebration of their kids second birthday with the couple’s friends. So there was no games, only the token cake and balloons (luckily did not involve any bursting). There were however quite a few children- surprisingly all the close colleagues of my husband have had daughters, so there were mainly girls there, from 5 years of age down to S who at 18 months was the youngest. The birthday girl was extremely possessive of her toys and would shout if anyone touched them- to be fair I guess nobody would like it if all their toys were attacked by a group of children, but in this case her mom was busy organizing the food and there was no one to mind her so she was happily whacking anyone who touched her toys. Poor S got one or two jabs until I pulled her away from the toy room and distracted her with something else. But the birthday girl ended up pushing the boy too far-he took about 3 or 4 of her whacks and then lost his cool and there erupted a big fight between the two of them with the parents having to physically pick up the children and separate them. S spent most of the evening either in the corner of the toy room with 2-3 toys which the birthday girl was not specifically fond of, or else firmly ensconced on her daddy’s lap munching away on chips.
The third party was again one of the hubby’s colleagues daughters. She is 5 years old and they had organized a party at the neighbourhood Pizza Hut. There was a games host alongwith a music DJ and the party was in full swing when we reached. At first S was a bit overawed with the music and with 10-15 girls jumping up and down to the music and playing musical chairs. But she soon got into the groove of things- they played a mother and child game where S won a prize for dancing most cutely- quite unfair really since her dancing comprises of swinging from side to side, and occasionally jumping when other kids jump, but who can resist a 18 month old on the dance floor? She was quite happy with the prize since it was in a brightly coloured paper and continued to cling to it while dancing on the floor. The next game was only for older kids but S was too happy on the dance floor to be asked to go off so they had to play their games around her. She got two or three bumps and shoves from the running children but was surprisingly ok- and this is someone who is scared of ants, balloons and mostly anything new! She even relaxed enough to get a tattoo done of a flower and kept pointing to it the whole day saying flower. Of course we completely spoilt her during the party by giving her potato wedges which we were having- sometimes I feel we are really indisciplined parents- since we eat so many snacks and chips even S has picked up this habit.
In the last month S has attended 3 birthday parties and her reaction in each of them has been so different.
The first party was of a boy from her school. We landed up on time (I’m quite a stickler for time) and found ourselves to be the only guests there - I guess others are not as much of sticklers as I am, but after half an hour I started feeling bad for the mom organizing the party since there were still no other guests and they had really spent a lot of effort and time in organizing the party – with a tattoo artist, games, magic show etc and had budgeted quite a few people landing up. Finally 3 others from S school landed up alongwith some children from the neighbourhood. After a couple of them got tattoos I finally managed to persuade S to get a tattoo done but halfway she started getting upset –guess the whole experience of a stranger painting on her arm got a bit much for her, so the elaborate design was hurriedly changed into a flower and I whisked S away to another part of the room. S pretty much clung to me for most of the party- I had to take part with her in all the games, and just when she started to become a little confident of the surroundings and moved away from me to dance to the music, they played a game in which they had to burst balloons. S is for some strange reason scared of balloons (considering that she spent most of her first birthday party hugging a blue balloon and refusing to let go of it, this is quite strange) – I think the maid scared her by waving a balloon up and down very fast when she was younger and that experience has just scared her off balloons. They played this game (which I found quite inappropriate when kids < 2 years are there) where you have to blow balloons and burst them by sitting on them. After a couple of balloons burst S got very very clingy and started looking quite scared. I took her to another room of the house where the hosts had kept their dog- the Labrador was quite friendly and S got over her fear by watching him run around the room and jump up and down. By the time we went back to the playroom it was cake cutting time and luckily the balloon bursting had stopped. The cake was quite unique- it was a number of brownie cup cakes arranged in the form of balloons on a board. The strings connecting the brownies were drawn on the board and the arrangement looked quite pretty and it was easy to just give a brownie to each kid. After that they had the magic show and S really enjoyed this. She kept watching the magician and even learned “Abracadabra”. Her mummy had to eat all the snacks they had given her while S stuffed herself only with chips and then asked for more! Then they had dance time which S enjoyed the most- she kept dancing around the place and watching other kids dancing. Overall I think S enjoyed meeting other kids, but found the games and balloons a bit intimidating. One thing I did not like about the party was that only four of us mothers from the class of 14 landed up- I heard the mom organizing the party ask a couple of times whether the others were coming- I think she had budgeted for more. If people are not planning to come they should at least have the decency to tell the parents that they are not coming so they can plan properly- and these people had put invites in the bags of all the kids and the father had actually given the cards to some of the parents when they missed out on the cards in the bag, so its not as if they did not know. I actually asked a couple of moms why they did not come on Monday and they all had other plans- really does not take much to inform the organizing mother that you are busy, and sorry cannot make it instead of just not landing up!
The second party was not as much of a birthday party for kids as a celebration of their kids second birthday with the couple’s friends. So there was no games, only the token cake and balloons (luckily did not involve any bursting). There were however quite a few children- surprisingly all the close colleagues of my husband have had daughters, so there were mainly girls there, from 5 years of age down to S who at 18 months was the youngest. The birthday girl was extremely possessive of her toys and would shout if anyone touched them- to be fair I guess nobody would like it if all their toys were attacked by a group of children, but in this case her mom was busy organizing the food and there was no one to mind her so she was happily whacking anyone who touched her toys. Poor S got one or two jabs until I pulled her away from the toy room and distracted her with something else. But the birthday girl ended up pushing the boy too far-he took about 3 or 4 of her whacks and then lost his cool and there erupted a big fight between the two of them with the parents having to physically pick up the children and separate them. S spent most of the evening either in the corner of the toy room with 2-3 toys which the birthday girl was not specifically fond of, or else firmly ensconced on her daddy’s lap munching away on chips.
The third party was again one of the hubby’s colleagues daughters. She is 5 years old and they had organized a party at the neighbourhood Pizza Hut. There was a games host alongwith a music DJ and the party was in full swing when we reached. At first S was a bit overawed with the music and with 10-15 girls jumping up and down to the music and playing musical chairs. But she soon got into the groove of things- they played a mother and child game where S won a prize for dancing most cutely- quite unfair really since her dancing comprises of swinging from side to side, and occasionally jumping when other kids jump, but who can resist a 18 month old on the dance floor? She was quite happy with the prize since it was in a brightly coloured paper and continued to cling to it while dancing on the floor. The next game was only for older kids but S was too happy on the dance floor to be asked to go off so they had to play their games around her. She got two or three bumps and shoves from the running children but was surprisingly ok- and this is someone who is scared of ants, balloons and mostly anything new! She even relaxed enough to get a tattoo done of a flower and kept pointing to it the whole day saying flower. Of course we completely spoilt her during the party by giving her potato wedges which we were having- sometimes I feel we are really indisciplined parents- since we eat so many snacks and chips even S has picked up this habit.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Sunshine after many rainy days
I love sunshine. Its not that I hate rains, but after 2-3 days of continuous rains I start feeling depressed and anxious for the sun to return. And today after 4 days of more or less non stop rain the sun is out. And I am happy. Another reason for my happiness is that S has (touchwood) recovered from her illness which had made her quite weak during the last few days. The first two days were really bad, she refused to eat or drink anything. She had a cold and we thought because she was even refusing milk, maybe she had a sore throat as well. Usually even when she’s sick she always has milk, but this time she refused milk, water even and of course food. I didn’t want to start antibiotics since that would only make her more weak and luckily she’s now recovered more or less and is back to her naughty tricks. The main thing which has taken a backseat is her school, no point in sending her when she’s unwell so its been a full week off for her, which means next Monday definetly to expect the waterworks!
My mom was here for the full week and that’s how I was able to manage work even though S was unwell. Otherwise I could not have thought of leaving her while she’s so sick with the maids. They are good, and take care of her, but I don’t feel they have the judgement of when to give her medicine, when to try and feed her something and when to just let her sleep. When it’s the normal routine they manage quite well, but this time I was on the phone with my mom every two hours for an update.
S has started saying No for everything. I asked her this morning whether she wants to go to school and its No. Whether she wants milk and its No. The only thing she doesn’t say No for is if she wants some chips. She hasn’t quite learnt Yes yet so usually silence greets the question on chips.
Plan to make full use of my mom being here to catch the latest Harry Potter movie without S in tow. Otherwise we have to take in the late night show with S on our lap, and nowadays S has started waking up in between the show and then refusing to go back to sleep so its tiring for all of us!
My mom was here for the full week and that’s how I was able to manage work even though S was unwell. Otherwise I could not have thought of leaving her while she’s so sick with the maids. They are good, and take care of her, but I don’t feel they have the judgement of when to give her medicine, when to try and feed her something and when to just let her sleep. When it’s the normal routine they manage quite well, but this time I was on the phone with my mom every two hours for an update.
S has started saying No for everything. I asked her this morning whether she wants to go to school and its No. Whether she wants milk and its No. The only thing she doesn’t say No for is if she wants some chips. She hasn’t quite learnt Yes yet so usually silence greets the question on chips.
Plan to make full use of my mom being here to catch the latest Harry Potter movie without S in tow. Otherwise we have to take in the late night show with S on our lap, and nowadays S has started waking up in between the show and then refusing to go back to sleep so its tiring for all of us!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Addendum
A postscript to the earlier blog on S settling down at school... Today for the first time S did not cry when I dropped her off at school. When I left her at the entrance she started to screw up her face like she was about to cry, then suddenly decided against it and went inside quietly. I was speaking to another mum whose daughter is in the same playgroup, and has now been talking for a bit and tells her mom what they get upto in the playschool - It seems she told her mom that S does not cry any more and plays with books, and toys. Yippee!!
S has also started repeating most of what we say and some new additions to her vocabulary are auto, gas, other, man (also short for the name of her favourite cousin), pen, tight (for her shoes)- we need to be a lot more careful with our colourful vocabulary now! She recognizes animal sounds and links them to animals- sea lion (sounds like a loud yawn), dog (bow wow), cat (meaouw), pigeon (hmm hmm), parrot (cheep cheep), horse (this is the funniest- she rubs her fingers against her lips while doing brrrr). S is also becoming more communicative- she says “mum um” for food when she is hungry/thirsty and points at water/food, and says “baba” when feeling sleepy and then she’ll come and lie down on your lap. She has her dislikes and likes in clothes- she will go to the cupboard and point at what she wants to wear and insist on only wearing that. My sweetie you are growing up so fast …
S has also started repeating most of what we say and some new additions to her vocabulary are auto, gas, other, man (also short for the name of her favourite cousin), pen, tight (for her shoes)- we need to be a lot more careful with our colourful vocabulary now! She recognizes animal sounds and links them to animals- sea lion (sounds like a loud yawn), dog (bow wow), cat (meaouw), pigeon (hmm hmm), parrot (cheep cheep), horse (this is the funniest- she rubs her fingers against her lips while doing brrrr). S is also becoming more communicative- she says “mum um” for food when she is hungry/thirsty and points at water/food, and says “baba” when feeling sleepy and then she’ll come and lie down on your lap. She has her dislikes and likes in clothes- she will go to the cupboard and point at what she wants to wear and insist on only wearing that. My sweetie you are growing up so fast …
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Rainy day
That’s the title of S first interactive book. Its about a boy getting ready to go and play outside in the rain and S has to help him with his belt, zip on the raincoat, tie up the cap, button the sweater and so on. Its one of S favourite books. And now rainy days have started here…and S will soon be buttoning up her raincoat to get ready for school (lazy mommy has still not bought a raincoat for her though!)
Its been pouring continuously since morning and usually one of the advantages of such heavy rain is that you can take a day off from work saying it’ll take you too long to reach (traffic is really terrible during the monsoons) and by the time you reach you’d need to leave since many offices declare half day on days when the rain is very heavy as trains/buses run late/sometimes cancel services. Now since I’ve moved next door to my office I can’t make this excuse and have to drudge into office.
Schedule has been very hectic for the last few days and I’ve got a tummy upset which does not help matters. Mornings its rushed as S has to be ready for school by 9 which means a rushed milk and then breakfast and I need to be ready for office by the same time. Then drop off S at school at 9 and get into office. 10:45 pick up S and drop her home. Back to office. Then 1 pm again back home to give S her lunch (one of the maids had to rush off home on an emergency), grab a quick lunch and then back to office. Then again leave office at 6:15 to get back home, give S her soup, bath, take her to the park, then dinner and then finally rest for me! But I’m happy since S is settling down in school by and by. She cries when I drop her off but I believe she is ok after and when she comes out she seems happy- earlier she used to be sobbing. She brought home her first coloured picture the other day- it was a cut out of a girl and she had coloured the frock red. Am thrilled!
Getting back to rainy days, its so difficult to imagine hot tea, pakodas and a nice book which is what a rainy day should be all about while you are stuck behind your laptop at office. But remembering other rainy days this may not be as bad. My first experience of the monsoon in Mumbai was in 2000 when I first came to this city on my first job. We were staying in a chummery about 1 hour from the office and used to come by private bus. That day due to the rains it took close to 3 hours to reach office. Then I had to go for a meeting to town which took another 2 hours. The meeting lasted all of 30 mins and then it was the long journey back- we luckily had a car but there was so much traffic and flooding on the roads and we had to drop off various people on the way that I finally reached home around 10 p.m. And then I get to know that office had declared a half day around 12:30 and my flatmates had come back home in the afternoon and lounged around playing cards and eating pakodas!! So unfair!
Another rainy day which I’ll always remember is July 25th 2005, which was a terrible day for Mumbaikars. There was a cloud burst and extremely heavy rain in the afternoon coupled with high tide and by late evening the roads were completely flooded and traffic was standstill. I managed to leave office early that day around 5:30 and got a lift to about 1 km away from my place. I trekked through the waters home and reached home around 7:30. By then the telephone networks were down and I couldn’t get in touch with the hubby. Every half an hour I would try and get no network coverage. Finally around 2:30 I went to sleep. The hubby was driving non stop for 6 hours and reached home early morning. But he was lucky, some unfortunate people suffocated in their cars/drowned in the water which could have been easily avoided if the drainage system was more efficient.
This is the first monsoons that I am back at work full time after S was born. Am keeping a watchful eye on the rains, the housing complex we stay is low lying and easily gets flooded. I really don’t want a situation where S is stranded inside and I’m outside unable to get back into the complex.
On a separate note, the mountain drive is supposed to be very beautiful in the monsoon season and this year I’m quite keen to try it out over one weekend. Hopefully sometime soon!!
Its been pouring continuously since morning and usually one of the advantages of such heavy rain is that you can take a day off from work saying it’ll take you too long to reach (traffic is really terrible during the monsoons) and by the time you reach you’d need to leave since many offices declare half day on days when the rain is very heavy as trains/buses run late/sometimes cancel services. Now since I’ve moved next door to my office I can’t make this excuse and have to drudge into office.
Schedule has been very hectic for the last few days and I’ve got a tummy upset which does not help matters. Mornings its rushed as S has to be ready for school by 9 which means a rushed milk and then breakfast and I need to be ready for office by the same time. Then drop off S at school at 9 and get into office. 10:45 pick up S and drop her home. Back to office. Then 1 pm again back home to give S her lunch (one of the maids had to rush off home on an emergency), grab a quick lunch and then back to office. Then again leave office at 6:15 to get back home, give S her soup, bath, take her to the park, then dinner and then finally rest for me! But I’m happy since S is settling down in school by and by. She cries when I drop her off but I believe she is ok after and when she comes out she seems happy- earlier she used to be sobbing. She brought home her first coloured picture the other day- it was a cut out of a girl and she had coloured the frock red. Am thrilled!
Getting back to rainy days, its so difficult to imagine hot tea, pakodas and a nice book which is what a rainy day should be all about while you are stuck behind your laptop at office. But remembering other rainy days this may not be as bad. My first experience of the monsoon in Mumbai was in 2000 when I first came to this city on my first job. We were staying in a chummery about 1 hour from the office and used to come by private bus. That day due to the rains it took close to 3 hours to reach office. Then I had to go for a meeting to town which took another 2 hours. The meeting lasted all of 30 mins and then it was the long journey back- we luckily had a car but there was so much traffic and flooding on the roads and we had to drop off various people on the way that I finally reached home around 10 p.m. And then I get to know that office had declared a half day around 12:30 and my flatmates had come back home in the afternoon and lounged around playing cards and eating pakodas!! So unfair!
Another rainy day which I’ll always remember is July 25th 2005, which was a terrible day for Mumbaikars. There was a cloud burst and extremely heavy rain in the afternoon coupled with high tide and by late evening the roads were completely flooded and traffic was standstill. I managed to leave office early that day around 5:30 and got a lift to about 1 km away from my place. I trekked through the waters home and reached home around 7:30. By then the telephone networks were down and I couldn’t get in touch with the hubby. Every half an hour I would try and get no network coverage. Finally around 2:30 I went to sleep. The hubby was driving non stop for 6 hours and reached home early morning. But he was lucky, some unfortunate people suffocated in their cars/drowned in the water which could have been easily avoided if the drainage system was more efficient.
This is the first monsoons that I am back at work full time after S was born. Am keeping a watchful eye on the rains, the housing complex we stay is low lying and easily gets flooded. I really don’t want a situation where S is stranded inside and I’m outside unable to get back into the complex.
On a separate note, the mountain drive is supposed to be very beautiful in the monsoon season and this year I’m quite keen to try it out over one weekend. Hopefully sometime soon!!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Settling down
Touchwood, S seems to be settling down slowly in school. First two days she cried non stop for 45 mins, the next day she cried for half an hour and then was quiet, then on the last day of the first week she cried for twenty minutes and then the teacher took her on her lap and she was okay for the rest of the time (never mind that she sat on the teachers lap throughout). Today morning I was tense again, after the weekend I thought she would be very unsettled in school. She cried as soon as I left her at the gate, but then settled down quite ok (we could not hear any crying for sometime). The center in charge came out after about 45 mins and said that S had settled down and was actually moving around looking at the toys. Then the wailing started and I could hear S cry- it seems she wanted to touch the music system and they would not let her and this led to a new burst of tears. But I think she settled down ok after that because when she came out (after a long 11/ hours) she was not crying and seemed ok.
Am keeping fingers crossed that she settles down this week in school (and the crying stops). I feel really guilty for sending her at such an early age, and was quite upset after hearing some other mothers comment that she is crying because she is so young- not because I take what they say to heart- I know every mom has different views on bringing up children , and unfortunately nobody keeps their comments and thoughts to themselves, but passes on their words of wisdom to others and pass judgement on others who act/think differently from them- anyway I am digressing, why I was upset was that I had exactly the same thought- S is too young to go to school and by forcing her to go I am making her sad. But some of the elder kids also were crying, there is another boy in her class who is 21 months old and he cries as much as S. But I think he understands that if he cries, the teacher will send him out ( he points to the door and cries and makes vomiting sounds), whereas S cries because she doesn’t really understand what is happening and why she is in a new place. We’ve started talking about her friends in school to S - 2 other girls who are in the same playgroup. One of them went into school with her one day and S was quite happy holding her hand and walking in- though she wailed as soon as I left her hand at the door. When she comes out she says “Babus babus” which is her word for children so she understands that the children are inside playing (she’s usually the first out since she’s one of the two-three most unsettled).
S has started talking quite a bit now- she repeats some things that we say, so we need to be a lot more careful of what we are saying. Some new additions are ‘boo’ for blue, ‘nahin’ for no; ‘dat’ for duck, ‘abbu’ for hurt, ‘bhaiya’ for brother, ‘bow wow’ for dog. S has also become a lot more friendly towards other people. During the weekend we had gone to a hotel for brunch and S was on her high chair. The lead singer of the band which plays there came near our table, and S saw her and started waving enthusiastically to her. So much so that the lady came over to our table and played with S for some time. After that it was bye bye to that lady continuously for the next ½ hour.
S has also become much more adventurous in the playground. At the park she climbs up the small slide steps, walks over to the bouncy bridge, walks across that, climbs up the next level, and comes sliding down the big slide. All the time I keep running behind her trying to ensure she doesn’t fall down. The other day the hubby had taken to the park and when he came back told me matter of factly that she had climbed up the spiders web on her own and come down the spiral slide- which is meant for much elder kids. I had tried to stop her from doing this the other day because she would fall quite far down if she missed a step, and was quite zapped that the hubby was so cool.
The hubby keeps insisting that we give her the same food that we are eating since I still give her only baby stuff/mashed food, so last evening I enthusiastically prepared tomato rice (a cheese, tomato, rice dish) and that took me more than an hour since I’m terrible in the kitchen, and S absolutely hated it and after I spent ½ hour convincing her to eat it and entertaining her with all sorts of distractions she proceeded to throw up the entire meal. She did enjoy the Cerelac afterwards- so that puts paid to any plans of my starting cooking anytime soon.
Am keeping fingers crossed that she settles down this week in school (and the crying stops). I feel really guilty for sending her at such an early age, and was quite upset after hearing some other mothers comment that she is crying because she is so young- not because I take what they say to heart- I know every mom has different views on bringing up children , and unfortunately nobody keeps their comments and thoughts to themselves, but passes on their words of wisdom to others and pass judgement on others who act/think differently from them- anyway I am digressing, why I was upset was that I had exactly the same thought- S is too young to go to school and by forcing her to go I am making her sad. But some of the elder kids also were crying, there is another boy in her class who is 21 months old and he cries as much as S. But I think he understands that if he cries, the teacher will send him out ( he points to the door and cries and makes vomiting sounds), whereas S cries because she doesn’t really understand what is happening and why she is in a new place. We’ve started talking about her friends in school to S - 2 other girls who are in the same playgroup. One of them went into school with her one day and S was quite happy holding her hand and walking in- though she wailed as soon as I left her hand at the door. When she comes out she says “Babus babus” which is her word for children so she understands that the children are inside playing (she’s usually the first out since she’s one of the two-three most unsettled).
S has started talking quite a bit now- she repeats some things that we say, so we need to be a lot more careful of what we are saying. Some new additions are ‘boo’ for blue, ‘nahin’ for no; ‘dat’ for duck, ‘abbu’ for hurt, ‘bhaiya’ for brother, ‘bow wow’ for dog. S has also become a lot more friendly towards other people. During the weekend we had gone to a hotel for brunch and S was on her high chair. The lead singer of the band which plays there came near our table, and S saw her and started waving enthusiastically to her. So much so that the lady came over to our table and played with S for some time. After that it was bye bye to that lady continuously for the next ½ hour.
S has also become much more adventurous in the playground. At the park she climbs up the small slide steps, walks over to the bouncy bridge, walks across that, climbs up the next level, and comes sliding down the big slide. All the time I keep running behind her trying to ensure she doesn’t fall down. The other day the hubby had taken to the park and when he came back told me matter of factly that she had climbed up the spiders web on her own and come down the spiral slide- which is meant for much elder kids. I had tried to stop her from doing this the other day because she would fall quite far down if she missed a step, and was quite zapped that the hubby was so cool.
The hubby keeps insisting that we give her the same food that we are eating since I still give her only baby stuff/mashed food, so last evening I enthusiastically prepared tomato rice (a cheese, tomato, rice dish) and that took me more than an hour since I’m terrible in the kitchen, and S absolutely hated it and after I spent ½ hour convincing her to eat it and entertaining her with all sorts of distractions she proceeded to throw up the entire meal. She did enjoy the Cerelac afterwards- so that puts paid to any plans of my starting cooking anytime soon.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
A terrible day 2
Today was S’ second day at school and the first day without her parents around. I dropped her off at the door at nine and she immediately started crying. The assistant teacher took her inside where the other children of her playgroup were and asked me to wait outside with the other parents. I felt extremely sad to let her go inside the school crying but they were quite insistent that parents were not allowed in and I guess she would also need to get adjusted to the place.
After some time I moved to the back of the school premises where we could hear the children from the window, but could not see them. I could hear S howling loudly, her cries much louder and longer than the others. Then the teacher came out and informed us that some children had stopped crying and some were still crying. I paced up and down from the main front door, eagerly awaiting for more information on my S and to the back of the school to listen if S was still howling. Sadly, S kept up the howling throughout and I thought my heart would break when I heard her shouting “nahin nahin (no no)” and mama and howling even more. Another mother told me to relax and this was expected, and while I had expected S to cry a bit, I surely did not think it would be for 45 mins non stop- that’s the most she’s ever howled, except the day when her first tooth came out. I also reminded the teachers to call me if S threw up, she has the habit of throwing up whenever she cries too much and I was worried about this as well.
Finally the teacher came out and said they were letting the children who were crying the most out while the others could continue outside. And who should be out first but S herself- she was sobbing while she came out and clung to me continuously after. Some other kids also came out crying loudly and their parents looked as distressed as I felt. But I believe the other kids had been ok for some time and then started crying on seeing others cry, unlike S who cried continuously. I wonder if this is because she is youngest in the class, and others may have known what to expect while she could not understand what was happening.
S was very clingy all the way home and even cried when I left for office- usually she does not do this as she is quite comfortable with the maids but I guess she was feeling insecure today after I left her in a strange room with new people. When I went back home for lunch also she clung to me and would not leave my lap even when I was eating.Keeping fingers crossed that S settles down at school and enjoys the experience. Am feeling bad for pushing her into playschool at such an early age- she is only 161/2 months old and I think most children are between 11/2 to 21/2 years of age when they go to playschool. The reason I am sending her so early is that I would prefer her to spend some time in playschool in the company of children of her age, learning new things and enjoying herself rather than being only with the maids for 9-10 hours a day. I know it is selfish of me, since I’m doing this to feel less guilty about working and being away from S, but I will not push her too much if she continues to cry/be unsettled. As of now my timeline is a week to 10 days and if things are not working out, I will seriously consider pulling her out and enrolling her for the next later batch
After some time I moved to the back of the school premises where we could hear the children from the window, but could not see them. I could hear S howling loudly, her cries much louder and longer than the others. Then the teacher came out and informed us that some children had stopped crying and some were still crying. I paced up and down from the main front door, eagerly awaiting for more information on my S and to the back of the school to listen if S was still howling. Sadly, S kept up the howling throughout and I thought my heart would break when I heard her shouting “nahin nahin (no no)” and mama and howling even more. Another mother told me to relax and this was expected, and while I had expected S to cry a bit, I surely did not think it would be for 45 mins non stop- that’s the most she’s ever howled, except the day when her first tooth came out. I also reminded the teachers to call me if S threw up, she has the habit of throwing up whenever she cries too much and I was worried about this as well.
Finally the teacher came out and said they were letting the children who were crying the most out while the others could continue outside. And who should be out first but S herself- she was sobbing while she came out and clung to me continuously after. Some other kids also came out crying loudly and their parents looked as distressed as I felt. But I believe the other kids had been ok for some time and then started crying on seeing others cry, unlike S who cried continuously. I wonder if this is because she is youngest in the class, and others may have known what to expect while she could not understand what was happening.
S was very clingy all the way home and even cried when I left for office- usually she does not do this as she is quite comfortable with the maids but I guess she was feeling insecure today after I left her in a strange room with new people. When I went back home for lunch also she clung to me and would not leave my lap even when I was eating.Keeping fingers crossed that S settles down at school and enjoys the experience. Am feeling bad for pushing her into playschool at such an early age- she is only 161/2 months old and I think most children are between 11/2 to 21/2 years of age when they go to playschool. The reason I am sending her so early is that I would prefer her to spend some time in playschool in the company of children of her age, learning new things and enjoying herself rather than being only with the maids for 9-10 hours a day. I know it is selfish of me, since I’m doing this to feel less guilty about working and being away from S, but I will not push her too much if she continues to cry/be unsettled. As of now my timeline is a week to 10 days and if things are not working out, I will seriously consider pulling her out and enrolling her for the next later batch
Monday, June 15, 2009
First day at school
Today was S’ first day at playgroup. Last week we had picked up her school kit consisting of schoolbag (with a big elephant on it), a cap and a T-shirt- which are to be worn on field trips. During the week S kept wearing the cap and walking around the house saying hat- she loves it when people are wearing hats and keeps pointing at them , so I think she was quite thrilled to have her own cap!
The first day was only for 45 mins and it was more of an orientation where we were shown the school facilities, met the teachers and the guidelines were explained by the center in charge. Both the hubby and I had gone and initially S was happy just to be sitting on her dada’s lap, watching the action on stage and drinking water from her bottle. Then another kid got onto the stage and started playing with the toys there- S suddenly got up, ran to the stage, climbed up and started playing with the toys, with the other kid. Then two more kids joined in. S seems to have become much more social after the US trip and I am keeping my fingers crossed that she enjoys the playschool and playing with other children. We saw the playroom where the children would play and the upstairs terrace which had quite a few interesting toys- cars for kids to drive, a box full of balls which you could climb into- S wanted to play in that and when we told her that it was getting late for our office she was quite reluctant to leave. There are 11 kids in her playgroup with 1 teacher, one assistant and one maid. They are all older to her and seemed quite big to me, am a bit worried that she maybe bullied by them, but I guess the teachers would be watching for that as well.
Today was a good start, the whole of this week is going to be shortened timing of only 1 hour, and am planning to wait outside. Tomorrow would be the real test, since I would have to leave her inside the playcenter and not show my face for 1 hour! Hope she takes to the new surroundings.
On a separate note, my brother and his family were over for the weekend and we really had a great time. S really likes her cousins and they can keep her entertained all the time. She sat with them and drew on paper with crayons , , played together with her toys (would not have been particularly interesting for the boys since they are much older), she watched them make paper planes and fly them, watched them bowl and so on. She even enjoyed watching Finding Nemo with them! We managed to do quite a few things- one evening was bowling , video games and one roller coaster ride for the boys at a shopping mall (S got to go on a toy train there); the next evening was rock climbing, bumper cars for the boys and small rides for S- we went to a kids complex about 1 hour drive from our house. We ate out far too much- my brother and his family are veg like me and the veg options abroad are quite limited, so they really look forward to eating out in India so we managed a Chinese meal, a South Indian meal, a Chaat meal and burgers at MacDonald (can you believe they do not have veg burgers at the Mac abroad) in two days- I must have put on at least 4 pounds!
The first day was only for 45 mins and it was more of an orientation where we were shown the school facilities, met the teachers and the guidelines were explained by the center in charge. Both the hubby and I had gone and initially S was happy just to be sitting on her dada’s lap, watching the action on stage and drinking water from her bottle. Then another kid got onto the stage and started playing with the toys there- S suddenly got up, ran to the stage, climbed up and started playing with the toys, with the other kid. Then two more kids joined in. S seems to have become much more social after the US trip and I am keeping my fingers crossed that she enjoys the playschool and playing with other children. We saw the playroom where the children would play and the upstairs terrace which had quite a few interesting toys- cars for kids to drive, a box full of balls which you could climb into- S wanted to play in that and when we told her that it was getting late for our office she was quite reluctant to leave. There are 11 kids in her playgroup with 1 teacher, one assistant and one maid. They are all older to her and seemed quite big to me, am a bit worried that she maybe bullied by them, but I guess the teachers would be watching for that as well.
Today was a good start, the whole of this week is going to be shortened timing of only 1 hour, and am planning to wait outside. Tomorrow would be the real test, since I would have to leave her inside the playcenter and not show my face for 1 hour! Hope she takes to the new surroundings.
On a separate note, my brother and his family were over for the weekend and we really had a great time. S really likes her cousins and they can keep her entertained all the time. She sat with them and drew on paper with crayons , , played together with her toys (would not have been particularly interesting for the boys since they are much older), she watched them make paper planes and fly them, watched them bowl and so on. She even enjoyed watching Finding Nemo with them! We managed to do quite a few things- one evening was bowling , video games and one roller coaster ride for the boys at a shopping mall (S got to go on a toy train there); the next evening was rock climbing, bumper cars for the boys and small rides for S- we went to a kids complex about 1 hour drive from our house. We ate out far too much- my brother and his family are veg like me and the veg options abroad are quite limited, so they really look forward to eating out in India so we managed a Chinese meal, a South Indian meal, a Chaat meal and burgers at MacDonald (can you believe they do not have veg burgers at the Mac abroad) in two days- I must have put on at least 4 pounds!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
A collection of random thoughts
Penning down some thoughts which occurred to me over the last week…
1. Policing drunk drivers. Over the last few months the police has stepped up vigilance on drunk driving, with frequent checks near pubs/major suburban roads /highways etc and penal action for drivers above the drinking limit has included a night in jail/suspension of license etc. I applaud this effort and it has had a direct positive influence in my life in two ways. Firstly the hubby has stopped drinking and driving now. Earlier he used to be drunk and still insist on driving (his claim was that he drives better while drunk). While I could still insist on driving if I was with him, in case of office parties/drinking after office this was not possible. This insistence to drive was ridiculous especially since he had a very narrow escape with a truck when he was driving drunk once, when the truck swerved into the car and smashed the windscreen. Luckily he and the two passengers escaped unscathed, but I think they did not take a lift with him again. After that incident which happened 4 years back, for a while the hubby would avoid drinking and driving. But memories fade with time …. Then the policing began, and we started seeing articles of pub going office people getting caught and being put behind bars and miraculously this bad habit stopped. Now either the driver has to wait and bring him back home, or it’s the yellow and black cab to the rescue. And this phenomenon has spread to all his colleagues as well- either they restrict their drinking, or else call a cab. For me also this has been a positive thing- last week I attended an alumni party and had to drive back. Usually I get quite sloshed at these parties (and behave quite stupidly-ranging from dancing in circles with an equally sloshed friend and causing all others to abandon the dance floor, or sleeping on the bathroom floor and refusing to leave), but this time since I knew I was driving back, I limited my drink to just one and am glad to report behaved properly at the party!
2. Attacks on students: As I write this we have witnessed a week of horrific attacks on Indian students in Australia. While these incidents may happen from time to time (and in some cases the victims have said its just being in the wrong place at the wrong time) it can’t be possible that 6-7 attacks on the same community, in the same district, would happen in a spate of a week. And what is the police doing- either they claim that its not a racist attack and just an opportunistic crime (well that it no excuse, why should there be such a large incidence of opportunistic crimes), or else they beat up people who have organized a rally to protest the attacks- http://www.breakingnewsonline.net/2009/06/australia-police-use-force-on-indian.html. Agree that the media may be overplaying the incidents, but I strongly feel that the Australian Government and police should take steps to contain these attacks and provide a sense of security to Indian students other than having the prime minister call up the Indian prime minister to apologize (how will this help the Indian students studying there) or a television speech by the Deputy Prime Minister. Having lived and studied abroad I can understand how some of the students would be feeling like foreigners in a country and culture quite alien to theirs- having people look at you like an alien/pass comments on your culture/sense of dressing/accent/food habits can be disconcerting to say the least. If in addition the Government cannot ensure a safe environment, then maybe you have to seriously consider if you want to stay in that country or not. I read somewhere that the education industry is the third largest revenue earner for Australia and with > 100,000 Indian students we are indeed a cash cow. The time may have come to consider other countries –New Zealand has already put out an article distancing itself from Australia (titled “ We are not like them”) and showcasing its universities. Its not that Indian students are exploiting the resources of developed countries (I read a blog which says these attacks are justified since these Indians stick together in groups and exploit the resources of developed countries)- the tuition fee paid by foreigners is often a high multiple of the fees paid be residents and mass movement by Indian students to other universities would probably be a good wake up call for the Australian Government. Or another alternative could be to send some of our MPs to Australian universities for a degree course- particularly the 150 of them with criminal cases against them. That would effectively kill two birds with one stone!
3. Criminals in Politics: This weeks’s HT had a very interesting article on the criminals in politics- http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=6c8d6f9d-8c70-47bc-888b-22d4d9b75a4e
I’ll let the numbers speak for themselves. I wonder if such a study has been done in other countries to see how many of their politicians have such a distinguished history. Another interesting exercise would be to see the number of film stars in politics- while the South would win by a large margin (the film stars actually become chief ministers in some of the States) the trend seems to be catching on in other parts of the country as well. Off hand I can remember MGR, Jayalalitha in TN; NT Rama Rao, Chiranjeevi in AP; Govinda in Mumbai; Jaya Prada, Jaya Bhaduri, Vinod Khanna, Shatrugan Sinha …amongst others.
4. How safe are contacts: I’ve been wearing contact lenses for the last 10 odd years and am a strong proponent of them. They are comfortable, easy to wear and you don’t have to worry about them slipping off while you are doing any sport etc. I do know that high usage of contact lenses can lead to wear and tear of the eye and in addition to taking precautions such as frequent cleaning, proper storage, frequent replacement, the recommended usage is not more than 8-10 hours a day. I had got an eye problem about 2 years back where my left eye would continuously water. I tried various medications, got eye tests done and finally at the advise of the doctor switched to glasses only for a month. The watering stopped and I resolved to wear glasses at least twice a week. Then I became lax and recently have been wearing lenses everyday, 12-14 hours a day, and though they are monthly disposable am usually too lazy to change them as often. However recently one of my colleagues had a very bad experience with her lenses- she started wearing them only about a month back and one night her eye became very red. She kept rubbing it and the next morning when she woke up her eye was swollen and the vision from that eye was lost. As per the doctor a dirt particle had snuck between her contact lens and retina and when she rubbed the eye with the contact lens still in it the particle scraped against the retina and she ended up with an ulcer on the retina. Her vision was gone for about a day, came back about 50% during the next week, and not after 2 weeks it back to 90% (touchwood). In addition to the fear of losing vision its pretty boring to sit at home unable to read, watch TV or go out for even short bursts of time. I still cannot give up the comfort of wearing lenses, but I have now resolved to wearing glasses at least twice a week and trying to not wear lenses for more than 12 hours at a stretch.
5. And finally I’m still recovering from the busy weekend. Saturday morning was spent shopping, in the evening we went to a friend’s place for cards and Taboo, and after that to another friend’s place for a housewarming party- can you beat that- we rarely go visiting people’s houses often and we end up with two invites on the same day. The housewarming party went on till 1:00 in the night- S was awake till about 11:30 – there was another girl about 5 months older to S and much of the party went in both of them fighting for the same toys. The other girl had reached the party earlier and was playing with some cuddly animals in the house, and then S saw them and wanted to hold all of them at once. Initially the other girl was distracted by something else but when she saw S carrying away the cuddly toys she started screaming loudly. I tried to convince S to take only one toy at a time, but she wanted all of them. Finally the other girl’s father took her away to another room to distract her- while S got her way. I know am a lazy mother, I should have insisted on S sharing the toys.. but I took shelter in my wine glass and in the (misguide?) notion that the other girl was older and if there was a kid younger than S I would not have allowed her to get away with this. Anyway Sunday was another hectic day- in the evening we went over to a friend’s place –just to drop off a birthday gift and then the plan was to take S to the park but she enjoyed herself there, playing with all the toys (my friend has a kid older than S), eating the snacks and generally running from one room to the other that we stayed for some time there and ditched the park idea. Then my brother came over for dinner and we went out to a restaurant- its our favourite and S loves the fishes there. We’ve also started skyping our siblings (families) in the States every weekend- now that S had met her cousins and her aunty we want her to be in regular touch with them and even though she can’t grow up with them (I am very close to my cousin whom I used to meet for 2 months in the summer every year while growing up and I wish S also had such close relations) at least this would help her be in touch with them so that every time they meet, even if its only for a week every 2 years they would have some common ground. One of her cousins entertained her with a card trick last weekend and she was quite thrilled!! Coming back to the busy weekend and recovery therefrom- still not happened and its Thursday- S has started sleeping only for about 8 –81/2hours in the night (which includes getting up at least twice) and I’ve started this bad habit of watching TV for about an hour after she sleeps (supposedly to catch up on whats happening in the French Open but actually browsing through some random music and movie channels) so I end up with only about 6-6/12 hours of sleep at night. To top it all one of the baby maids didn’t show up yesterday and the maid cannot manage S along the whole day, so I had to rush from office in the afternoon, feed S and then rush back, finish my work and then rush back early in the evening. Hopefully this weekend would be more restful (I still have that Twilight sequel to read though and once I start reading those books I cant put them down which means no afternoon naps and very less night sleep!)
1. Policing drunk drivers. Over the last few months the police has stepped up vigilance on drunk driving, with frequent checks near pubs/major suburban roads /highways etc and penal action for drivers above the drinking limit has included a night in jail/suspension of license etc. I applaud this effort and it has had a direct positive influence in my life in two ways. Firstly the hubby has stopped drinking and driving now. Earlier he used to be drunk and still insist on driving (his claim was that he drives better while drunk). While I could still insist on driving if I was with him, in case of office parties/drinking after office this was not possible. This insistence to drive was ridiculous especially since he had a very narrow escape with a truck when he was driving drunk once, when the truck swerved into the car and smashed the windscreen. Luckily he and the two passengers escaped unscathed, but I think they did not take a lift with him again. After that incident which happened 4 years back, for a while the hubby would avoid drinking and driving. But memories fade with time …. Then the policing began, and we started seeing articles of pub going office people getting caught and being put behind bars and miraculously this bad habit stopped. Now either the driver has to wait and bring him back home, or it’s the yellow and black cab to the rescue. And this phenomenon has spread to all his colleagues as well- either they restrict their drinking, or else call a cab. For me also this has been a positive thing- last week I attended an alumni party and had to drive back. Usually I get quite sloshed at these parties (and behave quite stupidly-ranging from dancing in circles with an equally sloshed friend and causing all others to abandon the dance floor, or sleeping on the bathroom floor and refusing to leave), but this time since I knew I was driving back, I limited my drink to just one and am glad to report behaved properly at the party!
2. Attacks on students: As I write this we have witnessed a week of horrific attacks on Indian students in Australia. While these incidents may happen from time to time (and in some cases the victims have said its just being in the wrong place at the wrong time) it can’t be possible that 6-7 attacks on the same community, in the same district, would happen in a spate of a week. And what is the police doing- either they claim that its not a racist attack and just an opportunistic crime (well that it no excuse, why should there be such a large incidence of opportunistic crimes), or else they beat up people who have organized a rally to protest the attacks- http://www.breakingnewsonline.net/2009/06/australia-police-use-force-on-indian.html. Agree that the media may be overplaying the incidents, but I strongly feel that the Australian Government and police should take steps to contain these attacks and provide a sense of security to Indian students other than having the prime minister call up the Indian prime minister to apologize (how will this help the Indian students studying there) or a television speech by the Deputy Prime Minister. Having lived and studied abroad I can understand how some of the students would be feeling like foreigners in a country and culture quite alien to theirs- having people look at you like an alien/pass comments on your culture/sense of dressing/accent/food habits can be disconcerting to say the least. If in addition the Government cannot ensure a safe environment, then maybe you have to seriously consider if you want to stay in that country or not. I read somewhere that the education industry is the third largest revenue earner for Australia and with > 100,000 Indian students we are indeed a cash cow. The time may have come to consider other countries –New Zealand has already put out an article distancing itself from Australia (titled “ We are not like them”) and showcasing its universities. Its not that Indian students are exploiting the resources of developed countries (I read a blog which says these attacks are justified since these Indians stick together in groups and exploit the resources of developed countries)- the tuition fee paid by foreigners is often a high multiple of the fees paid be residents and mass movement by Indian students to other universities would probably be a good wake up call for the Australian Government. Or another alternative could be to send some of our MPs to Australian universities for a degree course- particularly the 150 of them with criminal cases against them. That would effectively kill two birds with one stone!
3. Criminals in Politics: This weeks’s HT had a very interesting article on the criminals in politics- http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=6c8d6f9d-8c70-47bc-888b-22d4d9b75a4e
I’ll let the numbers speak for themselves. I wonder if such a study has been done in other countries to see how many of their politicians have such a distinguished history. Another interesting exercise would be to see the number of film stars in politics- while the South would win by a large margin (the film stars actually become chief ministers in some of the States) the trend seems to be catching on in other parts of the country as well. Off hand I can remember MGR, Jayalalitha in TN; NT Rama Rao, Chiranjeevi in AP; Govinda in Mumbai; Jaya Prada, Jaya Bhaduri, Vinod Khanna, Shatrugan Sinha …amongst others.
4. How safe are contacts: I’ve been wearing contact lenses for the last 10 odd years and am a strong proponent of them. They are comfortable, easy to wear and you don’t have to worry about them slipping off while you are doing any sport etc. I do know that high usage of contact lenses can lead to wear and tear of the eye and in addition to taking precautions such as frequent cleaning, proper storage, frequent replacement, the recommended usage is not more than 8-10 hours a day. I had got an eye problem about 2 years back where my left eye would continuously water. I tried various medications, got eye tests done and finally at the advise of the doctor switched to glasses only for a month. The watering stopped and I resolved to wear glasses at least twice a week. Then I became lax and recently have been wearing lenses everyday, 12-14 hours a day, and though they are monthly disposable am usually too lazy to change them as often. However recently one of my colleagues had a very bad experience with her lenses- she started wearing them only about a month back and one night her eye became very red. She kept rubbing it and the next morning when she woke up her eye was swollen and the vision from that eye was lost. As per the doctor a dirt particle had snuck between her contact lens and retina and when she rubbed the eye with the contact lens still in it the particle scraped against the retina and she ended up with an ulcer on the retina. Her vision was gone for about a day, came back about 50% during the next week, and not after 2 weeks it back to 90% (touchwood). In addition to the fear of losing vision its pretty boring to sit at home unable to read, watch TV or go out for even short bursts of time. I still cannot give up the comfort of wearing lenses, but I have now resolved to wearing glasses at least twice a week and trying to not wear lenses for more than 12 hours at a stretch.
5. And finally I’m still recovering from the busy weekend. Saturday morning was spent shopping, in the evening we went to a friend’s place for cards and Taboo, and after that to another friend’s place for a housewarming party- can you beat that- we rarely go visiting people’s houses often and we end up with two invites on the same day. The housewarming party went on till 1:00 in the night- S was awake till about 11:30 – there was another girl about 5 months older to S and much of the party went in both of them fighting for the same toys. The other girl had reached the party earlier and was playing with some cuddly animals in the house, and then S saw them and wanted to hold all of them at once. Initially the other girl was distracted by something else but when she saw S carrying away the cuddly toys she started screaming loudly. I tried to convince S to take only one toy at a time, but she wanted all of them. Finally the other girl’s father took her away to another room to distract her- while S got her way. I know am a lazy mother, I should have insisted on S sharing the toys.. but I took shelter in my wine glass and in the (misguide?) notion that the other girl was older and if there was a kid younger than S I would not have allowed her to get away with this. Anyway Sunday was another hectic day- in the evening we went over to a friend’s place –just to drop off a birthday gift and then the plan was to take S to the park but she enjoyed herself there, playing with all the toys (my friend has a kid older than S), eating the snacks and generally running from one room to the other that we stayed for some time there and ditched the park idea. Then my brother came over for dinner and we went out to a restaurant- its our favourite and S loves the fishes there. We’ve also started skyping our siblings (families) in the States every weekend- now that S had met her cousins and her aunty we want her to be in regular touch with them and even though she can’t grow up with them (I am very close to my cousin whom I used to meet for 2 months in the summer every year while growing up and I wish S also had such close relations) at least this would help her be in touch with them so that every time they meet, even if its only for a week every 2 years they would have some common ground. One of her cousins entertained her with a card trick last weekend and she was quite thrilled!! Coming back to the busy weekend and recovery therefrom- still not happened and its Thursday- S has started sleeping only for about 8 –81/2hours in the night (which includes getting up at least twice) and I’ve started this bad habit of watching TV for about an hour after she sleeps (supposedly to catch up on whats happening in the French Open but actually browsing through some random music and movie channels) so I end up with only about 6-6/12 hours of sleep at night. To top it all one of the baby maids didn’t show up yesterday and the maid cannot manage S along the whole day, so I had to rush from office in the afternoon, feed S and then rush back, finish my work and then rush back early in the evening. Hopefully this weekend would be more restful (I still have that Twilight sequel to read though and once I start reading those books I cant put them down which means no afternoon naps and very less night sleep!)
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Baby talk
What is Ambuta? That’s the latest babble from S speak. During our recent holiday she started speaking/babbling a lot. First it was a series of Dada Dada Dada Dada. While it seemed to be that she is very fond of her Dada we soon realized that Dada also covered a lot of things and general excitement in life in addition to her Dad.
There is also Mama, which can be an insistent Mamma when she means me, or Maama when she means my brothers and Mumum which means food. Baabu is her favourite –ball and Bup is balloon which we think means balloon which goes up. Dat is for duck- her bathtime toy and Babu is other small children. Babba means sleep and S says it whenever she is feeling tired, lazy or sleepy. She usually pats herself on the head while saying Babba (because we still have to rock her and pat her on her head while putting her to bed) and sometimes also does Babba to her toys. The cutest sight is S lying down on the floor, patting herself on the head and saying Babba.
Her favourite word is Upf which is a term of admonition usually said when she has got hurt banging into a table/chair/falling down etc and accompanied by a not so gentle swipe at the offensive table/chair/mama/dada. We usually say " S do Upf to table/dada/mama" to distract her from the pain. She has also recently started saying Hi to people whom she meets and who say Hi to her. Tata is bye bye and accompanied by a wave- though that usually happens after the person has said bye and left.
Ambuta is the latest addition and I am still not sure what that means- sounds similar to the name of my maid but when I ask her “Where is Ambuta” she does not point at the maid- whereas if I ask her where is “Dada” then she points at the hubby and so on..
I think she started babbling on our holiday because we started speaking so much more to her (being around her 24 hours as opposed to 3-4 hours snatched during our busy office life!) and she also heard us talking a lot to other people. We need to spend more time talking to her- right now she is exposed to three languages – English which we speak to her and to each other, Hindi, and the regional language which the maids speak to her and to each other. Soon S will be going to school - yes I have enrolled her into playschool at 16 ½ months which I agree is young- most people enroll at between 11/2 to 2 years, but I feel she is quite ready for it- she has started interacting a lot with other kids- again an outcome of our holiday where she spent a lot of time with her cousins- and seems interested in playing with them as opposed to running away with the ball they are holding; also she is restless at home and the maids are not able to actively engage her for long. My thoughts are that if she can go to school for a couple of hours in the morning, then time at home alone with maids would mostly be eating and afternoon nap, a couple of hours in the evening -and then I would be back home.
Let us see- this is not a mother toddler class- I would need to leave her there alone and I’ve heard many stories from my colleagues who have similar age children about how their kids would cry even in mother toddler, and both me and my hubby used to cry to go to school when we were young- lets hope S has a more cheerful and positive outlook!! School is scheduled to start in a couple of weeks- will update.
There is also Mama, which can be an insistent Mamma when she means me, or Maama when she means my brothers and Mumum which means food. Baabu is her favourite –ball and Bup is balloon which we think means balloon which goes up. Dat is for duck- her bathtime toy and Babu is other small children. Babba means sleep and S says it whenever she is feeling tired, lazy or sleepy. She usually pats herself on the head while saying Babba (because we still have to rock her and pat her on her head while putting her to bed) and sometimes also does Babba to her toys. The cutest sight is S lying down on the floor, patting herself on the head and saying Babba.
Her favourite word is Upf which is a term of admonition usually said when she has got hurt banging into a table/chair/falling down etc and accompanied by a not so gentle swipe at the offensive table/chair/mama/dada. We usually say " S do Upf to table/dada/mama" to distract her from the pain. She has also recently started saying Hi to people whom she meets and who say Hi to her. Tata is bye bye and accompanied by a wave- though that usually happens after the person has said bye and left.
Ambuta is the latest addition and I am still not sure what that means- sounds similar to the name of my maid but when I ask her “Where is Ambuta” she does not point at the maid- whereas if I ask her where is “Dada” then she points at the hubby and so on..
I think she started babbling on our holiday because we started speaking so much more to her (being around her 24 hours as opposed to 3-4 hours snatched during our busy office life!) and she also heard us talking a lot to other people. We need to spend more time talking to her- right now she is exposed to three languages – English which we speak to her and to each other, Hindi, and the regional language which the maids speak to her and to each other. Soon S will be going to school - yes I have enrolled her into playschool at 16 ½ months which I agree is young- most people enroll at between 11/2 to 2 years, but I feel she is quite ready for it- she has started interacting a lot with other kids- again an outcome of our holiday where she spent a lot of time with her cousins- and seems interested in playing with them as opposed to running away with the ball they are holding; also she is restless at home and the maids are not able to actively engage her for long. My thoughts are that if she can go to school for a couple of hours in the morning, then time at home alone with maids would mostly be eating and afternoon nap, a couple of hours in the evening -and then I would be back home.
Let us see- this is not a mother toddler class- I would need to leave her there alone and I’ve heard many stories from my colleagues who have similar age children about how their kids would cry even in mother toddler, and both me and my hubby used to cry to go to school when we were young- lets hope S has a more cheerful and positive outlook!! School is scheduled to start in a couple of weeks- will update.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Happy Holidays III
Continuing from the previous post
Busch Gardens was quite hectic on Wednesday – we left home around 11 in the morning and returned only around 7:30 and it was quite hot and tiring in the park; so we decided to relax around the house the next day and not plan any major outings. After a leisurely breakfast (my staple diet of bagel and cream cheese) we set out for some shopping at Toys R Us on Thursday morning. I was keen on doing some toy shopping for S but was quite surprised at the limited range of toys for children below 3 years of age- if you take out the dolls and the stuffed animals there is actually pretty less and most of the toys are for 3+. Anyway we managed to pick up some animal figurines, a set of musical instruments and some DVDs for S. After a long siesta in the afternoon, we spent the evening relaxing in the pool at my brother’s house. Both the boys were playing in the pool and S enjoyed floating around watching the hubby and her younger cousin having a water fight and me and the other boy racing around the pool. We watched Frost/Nixon on the DVD at night- interesting movie, amazing acting by the two main guys.
Friday was another relaxed day. We went to the local mall to do some window shopping, I got some really cute clips and shoes for S and a dress for myself and we generally browsed through the shops. Lunch was at the food court- managed to gulp down some tacos while feeding S. One thing about the US holiday was that S started eating her lunch and dinner with us- since we were out a lot the only time we got to sit down and give her her meals was when we sat down for ours. So I got used to feeding her while eating myself- otherwise back home her meal is a long process by itself. But I continued to give S her special baby meals- oatmeal, millet porridge, mashed rice and lentils and didn’t venture to share our food with her (she still has only 4 teeth so chewing stuff is generally difficult for her). However she did develop a strong liking for salt and vinegar chips (my favourite) and the typical sight would be S sitting on my lap and putting her hand into the chips packet, helping herself to the biggest piece and stuffing the full chip into her mouth! – was probably worried and rightly so that the hubby and I would quickly snatch it out of her hand. After another siesta in the afternoon- love this about holidays- you get to sleep in while others in your office and working and while the people whose house you are staying in are out working; we spent the evening in the pool with all the kids playing around together. My aunt and uncle came over to my brothers place for dinner- quite nice of them to drive down (their place is about an hour away) to see S. My cousin (their son) also recently had a baby so much of the time was spent exchanging baby stories. It seems my cousin left their 9 month baby with my aunt for a week while they holidayed in Peru –quite chilled out right? Its giving me ideas as well!!!
Saturday we set out for West Palm Beach. My brother had booked us 2 suites at the Marriot on the beach there and it was lovely. The journey took about 5 hours- it’s a 4 hour drive and we stopped an hour for lunch. Lunch was at this strange place called Dude Ranch (we couldn’t find anything else on the way since most of the highway was in fact a 2 lane road through large fields and not a highway with the usual service stops with restaurant) which claimed to be the largest horse ranch in the country. There was horse riding, boating, fishing, camping in this place, but the only restaurant was a smoke house and we were quite skeptical about getting any veg food there. Turned out to have a decent menu with even a veg burger- the patty is made from soya which is quite yuck, but deinfetly an improvement from the veg burgers in Macdonalds which consists of a burger bun with vegetables in it! We reached the resort around 4:30 p.m and immediately headed out for the beach. The water was amazing- slightly cold to begin with but with the hot sun it become comfortable within minutes. The hubby took S slightly into the water but she was not comfortable going beyond ankle height and started shivering. So she stayed back with my sis-in-law while the hubby and I swam in the water- rather I swam with the waves and the hubby stood there (since he doesn’t know to swim and is too scared to try in the water). My nephews also enjoyed the waves and we spent a good hour playing the water, bouncing with the waves, getting carried southwards and then trudging back to our starting point. Then we hit the hotel pool which S thoroughly enjoyed since it was a heated pool. We had carried her inflatable floater with us and she had picked up some shells at the beach which she clung onto even in the swimming pool so most of the time went in S dropping the shells in the water and me diving to get them back for her! After her dinner back at the hotel room, we went down for our cocktails and dinner (and I finally got to wear the dress I had bought). S was completely excited and kept running around the place, smiling at strangers, playing hide and seek with me and running to see what her cousins were upto (they were playing pool and chess). My bro and sis-in-law managed to sneak in a moonlight walk after their kids were asleep- we ‘baby sat’ them which meant I watched TV while the boys, the hubby and S slept since you are not allowed to leave kids alone until they turn 13 in the US!
Sunday morning we got up early and hit the beach. It was too cold to swim in the water but we sat on the lounge chairs and took in the early morning waves hitting the shore. It was beautiful-the sea was blue, the beach was empty and the sun was not too hot. We then swam for sometime in the pool and then got ready to head back home. On the way we stopped at a Jungle Safari where we drove through a safari park and saw lions, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, Indian buffaloes, ostrich, deer, zebra, rhinos and other animals. S was most excited to see some balls which were near the lions and the rhino enclosure and kept pointing at them and saying Babu (which is her word for ball). Lunch was at a nice restaurant called Max and Erme which makes burgers but has more variety than your standard veg soya patty. They also had these amazing freshly baked cookies which literally melt in your mouth. My hubby and bro ate up most of them to my nepehew’s disappointment who tried his best to guard the box (they ate them up while he slept in the car, and was only mollified when promised a million aeroplanes full of cookies with the pilots also made of cookies!). We reached back home around 8 pm and the rest of the night was spent packing (our last day at Tampa, very sad), watching “Wednesday” a Hindi film we had got for my bro and generally chilling with the boys. My sis-in-law managed to cook up an amazing dinner within an hour – she is a great cook who manages to do it all effortlessly which makes me feel quite inadequate since I am pretty pathetic cook and hardly step into the kitchen!
Next time I want to spend at least 2 weeks in Tampa as it is such a relaxing, comfortable place with so many things to do. I wish we become as good hosts as my bro and sis-in-law!!
Busch Gardens was quite hectic on Wednesday – we left home around 11 in the morning and returned only around 7:30 and it was quite hot and tiring in the park; so we decided to relax around the house the next day and not plan any major outings. After a leisurely breakfast (my staple diet of bagel and cream cheese) we set out for some shopping at Toys R Us on Thursday morning. I was keen on doing some toy shopping for S but was quite surprised at the limited range of toys for children below 3 years of age- if you take out the dolls and the stuffed animals there is actually pretty less and most of the toys are for 3+. Anyway we managed to pick up some animal figurines, a set of musical instruments and some DVDs for S. After a long siesta in the afternoon, we spent the evening relaxing in the pool at my brother’s house. Both the boys were playing in the pool and S enjoyed floating around watching the hubby and her younger cousin having a water fight and me and the other boy racing around the pool. We watched Frost/Nixon on the DVD at night- interesting movie, amazing acting by the two main guys.
Friday was another relaxed day. We went to the local mall to do some window shopping, I got some really cute clips and shoes for S and a dress for myself and we generally browsed through the shops. Lunch was at the food court- managed to gulp down some tacos while feeding S. One thing about the US holiday was that S started eating her lunch and dinner with us- since we were out a lot the only time we got to sit down and give her her meals was when we sat down for ours. So I got used to feeding her while eating myself- otherwise back home her meal is a long process by itself. But I continued to give S her special baby meals- oatmeal, millet porridge, mashed rice and lentils and didn’t venture to share our food with her (she still has only 4 teeth so chewing stuff is generally difficult for her). However she did develop a strong liking for salt and vinegar chips (my favourite) and the typical sight would be S sitting on my lap and putting her hand into the chips packet, helping herself to the biggest piece and stuffing the full chip into her mouth! – was probably worried and rightly so that the hubby and I would quickly snatch it out of her hand. After another siesta in the afternoon- love this about holidays- you get to sleep in while others in your office and working and while the people whose house you are staying in are out working; we spent the evening in the pool with all the kids playing around together. My aunt and uncle came over to my brothers place for dinner- quite nice of them to drive down (their place is about an hour away) to see S. My cousin (their son) also recently had a baby so much of the time was spent exchanging baby stories. It seems my cousin left their 9 month baby with my aunt for a week while they holidayed in Peru –quite chilled out right? Its giving me ideas as well!!!
Saturday we set out for West Palm Beach. My brother had booked us 2 suites at the Marriot on the beach there and it was lovely. The journey took about 5 hours- it’s a 4 hour drive and we stopped an hour for lunch. Lunch was at this strange place called Dude Ranch (we couldn’t find anything else on the way since most of the highway was in fact a 2 lane road through large fields and not a highway with the usual service stops with restaurant) which claimed to be the largest horse ranch in the country. There was horse riding, boating, fishing, camping in this place, but the only restaurant was a smoke house and we were quite skeptical about getting any veg food there. Turned out to have a decent menu with even a veg burger- the patty is made from soya which is quite yuck, but deinfetly an improvement from the veg burgers in Macdonalds which consists of a burger bun with vegetables in it! We reached the resort around 4:30 p.m and immediately headed out for the beach. The water was amazing- slightly cold to begin with but with the hot sun it become comfortable within minutes. The hubby took S slightly into the water but she was not comfortable going beyond ankle height and started shivering. So she stayed back with my sis-in-law while the hubby and I swam in the water- rather I swam with the waves and the hubby stood there (since he doesn’t know to swim and is too scared to try in the water). My nephews also enjoyed the waves and we spent a good hour playing the water, bouncing with the waves, getting carried southwards and then trudging back to our starting point. Then we hit the hotel pool which S thoroughly enjoyed since it was a heated pool. We had carried her inflatable floater with us and she had picked up some shells at the beach which she clung onto even in the swimming pool so most of the time went in S dropping the shells in the water and me diving to get them back for her! After her dinner back at the hotel room, we went down for our cocktails and dinner (and I finally got to wear the dress I had bought). S was completely excited and kept running around the place, smiling at strangers, playing hide and seek with me and running to see what her cousins were upto (they were playing pool and chess). My bro and sis-in-law managed to sneak in a moonlight walk after their kids were asleep- we ‘baby sat’ them which meant I watched TV while the boys, the hubby and S slept since you are not allowed to leave kids alone until they turn 13 in the US!
Sunday morning we got up early and hit the beach. It was too cold to swim in the water but we sat on the lounge chairs and took in the early morning waves hitting the shore. It was beautiful-the sea was blue, the beach was empty and the sun was not too hot. We then swam for sometime in the pool and then got ready to head back home. On the way we stopped at a Jungle Safari where we drove through a safari park and saw lions, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, Indian buffaloes, ostrich, deer, zebra, rhinos and other animals. S was most excited to see some balls which were near the lions and the rhino enclosure and kept pointing at them and saying Babu (which is her word for ball). Lunch was at a nice restaurant called Max and Erme which makes burgers but has more variety than your standard veg soya patty. They also had these amazing freshly baked cookies which literally melt in your mouth. My hubby and bro ate up most of them to my nepehew’s disappointment who tried his best to guard the box (they ate them up while he slept in the car, and was only mollified when promised a million aeroplanes full of cookies with the pilots also made of cookies!). We reached back home around 8 pm and the rest of the night was spent packing (our last day at Tampa, very sad), watching “Wednesday” a Hindi film we had got for my bro and generally chilling with the boys. My sis-in-law managed to cook up an amazing dinner within an hour – she is a great cook who manages to do it all effortlessly which makes me feel quite inadequate since I am pretty pathetic cook and hardly step into the kitchen!
Next time I want to spend at least 2 weeks in Tampa as it is such a relaxing, comfortable place with so many things to do. I wish we become as good hosts as my bro and sis-in-law!!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Happy holidays continued
Part II of holiday blog
The second day at Chicago we took the train donwtown to Millenium Park. The main reason for taking the train was S refusal to sit in the car seat- sometimes she cried from the first minute, sometimes she would be okay for about 15 mins and then get upset...anyway we didn't want to risk a 11/2 hour drive downtown and also wanted to take S for her first train drive
S loved the train journey-with the trees and cars zipping by and the freedom to jump around however much we wanted. We walked to the Millenium Park to the Bean- that's a metal sculpture on which the clouds look amazing. We met up with my cousin and her husband- had been ages since I had met her and the first time i got to spend time with them as a couple so it was great fun. After a relaxed and very heavy lunch with lots of wine and fried stuff (my favourite stuff) we walked down to the Magnificent Mile. S unfortunately got a chill then and looked quite frozen and we had to rush her to the nearest coffee shop to give her warm milk. The problem we have with Chicago is the sudden weather change-one minute its nice and sunny and the next time the weathers changed and its windy and cold. We were caught unawares and S got a bad cold. We rushed back home and generally relaxed with my cousin and my brothers family and i also got my first NBA league match- Boston Celtics vs Chicago Bulls- was quite interesting and I was surprised to see that my nephews (who are 7 and 6) also were hooked onto it and the end of the match had to be recorded for them since it was past their bedtime.
The next day ws a Sunday and we spent it at home relaxing mainly due to S cold. WE played basketball with the boys and my cousin, relaxed on the hammock, played with S on the swing/slide at my brother's backyard and enjoyed a lunch in the backyard soaking in the sun. I was quite appalled to hear that people in the States don't enjoy an afternoon siesta and protested and went off to catch my afternoon nap. We caught a movie on the TV at night.
The next day was our travel to Tampa -it was a 2/1/2 flight- the airlines didnt give us a seat together though we checked it quite in advance (can you believe we would have to pay extra to get seats together) and we had to request a lady to exchange seats with us so that we could sit togther, and she was quite rude about it and at first refused to shift (from an aisle seat to window seat) and then made a statement that she would prefer to sit at the window that next to a loud baby ( i found that really rude) and then went to sit with two other people who proceeded to bitch about us forcing them to change seats loudly for the next ten minutes. I found the whole episode quite upsetting, i guess in India we are not used to this, airline firstly give people seats togther without charging them extra and then people are usually accomodating and nice to people with children. Anyway S was quite troublesome for the first fifteen minutes by kicking the person in front and generally wriggling around. After that she was asleep for the rest of teh flight and i guess that rude person got her sleep.
My brother and his two sons were at the airport to pick us up and S was only midly troublesome in the car seat. First nigth at Tampa was S running around after her two cousins, climbing up their ladder to their top bunk bed, playing under the tunnel there, breaking her cousin's curious, banging on the piano while her other cousin played, playing with the small toys in the jar, and generally enjoying the warm weather; while her parents relaxed with Margaritas and a nice movie (Seven Pounds).
The next morning we did some shopping - we got some cute toys for S from the Party Shop- i could have spent the whole day there they have tons of interesting party stuff. In the evening we drove down to Clearwater beach where S had her first beach experience-she loved the water and sat down in it and played. She then watched her cousins fly kites on the beach and the hubby made ducky shapes for her on the sand and also took her to play with the birds. Dinner was at a lovely pizza place California Pizza Kitchen- they served some unique stuff there- salad on pizzas!!! etc etc.
Today we went to Busch Gardens- the last time we came to Tampa we were too lazy to go and this time the hubby did good on his promise for me to go on teh rollercoasters (i love fast high rollercoasters). He doesn;t like them so he babysat S while I went on them-a few alone and some with my bro after he joined us. S also had a great time- she saw Pelicans, a white peacock, tigers up close (we were in a closed peep room which is full glass and were between two tigers -one white and one yellow), elephants, rhinos, alligators, turtles, rabbits, eels, deers, parrots and more birds in the aviary. She also went on some rides- the merry go around, the bouncy play area (she was scared at first and then started running after one girl who was running up and down and enjoyed herself refusing to some out when we called her), mini giantwheel, spiders den (with the hubby). I went on the Zwamba- a rough and fast rollercoastr ride, then the Sheikhra- a ride whcih taked you some 200 feet above the ground and then drops you down fast- a lovely ride, then the Montu where you hang from the railings and take sharp turns, the rhino rally which is a jeep come boat ride, the Pheonix which is a ship which goes 360 degrees, the Cheetah Chase (more for kids but the hubby agreed to some on thsi with me while my brother baby sat), the Rapids where the hubby and I got drenched and the Kumba roller coaster ride which was a fast thirlling and long roller coast ride.
S enjoyed the day and we got a good break after a long time.
Will blog later
The second day at Chicago we took the train donwtown to Millenium Park. The main reason for taking the train was S refusal to sit in the car seat- sometimes she cried from the first minute, sometimes she would be okay for about 15 mins and then get upset...anyway we didn't want to risk a 11/2 hour drive downtown and also wanted to take S for her first train drive
S loved the train journey-with the trees and cars zipping by and the freedom to jump around however much we wanted. We walked to the Millenium Park to the Bean- that's a metal sculpture on which the clouds look amazing. We met up with my cousin and her husband- had been ages since I had met her and the first time i got to spend time with them as a couple so it was great fun. After a relaxed and very heavy lunch with lots of wine and fried stuff (my favourite stuff) we walked down to the Magnificent Mile. S unfortunately got a chill then and looked quite frozen and we had to rush her to the nearest coffee shop to give her warm milk. The problem we have with Chicago is the sudden weather change-one minute its nice and sunny and the next time the weathers changed and its windy and cold. We were caught unawares and S got a bad cold. We rushed back home and generally relaxed with my cousin and my brothers family and i also got my first NBA league match- Boston Celtics vs Chicago Bulls- was quite interesting and I was surprised to see that my nephews (who are 7 and 6) also were hooked onto it and the end of the match had to be recorded for them since it was past their bedtime.
The next day ws a Sunday and we spent it at home relaxing mainly due to S cold. WE played basketball with the boys and my cousin, relaxed on the hammock, played with S on the swing/slide at my brother's backyard and enjoyed a lunch in the backyard soaking in the sun. I was quite appalled to hear that people in the States don't enjoy an afternoon siesta and protested and went off to catch my afternoon nap. We caught a movie on the TV at night.
The next day was our travel to Tampa -it was a 2/1/2 flight- the airlines didnt give us a seat together though we checked it quite in advance (can you believe we would have to pay extra to get seats together) and we had to request a lady to exchange seats with us so that we could sit togther, and she was quite rude about it and at first refused to shift (from an aisle seat to window seat) and then made a statement that she would prefer to sit at the window that next to a loud baby ( i found that really rude) and then went to sit with two other people who proceeded to bitch about us forcing them to change seats loudly for the next ten minutes. I found the whole episode quite upsetting, i guess in India we are not used to this, airline firstly give people seats togther without charging them extra and then people are usually accomodating and nice to people with children. Anyway S was quite troublesome for the first fifteen minutes by kicking the person in front and generally wriggling around. After that she was asleep for the rest of teh flight and i guess that rude person got her sleep.
My brother and his two sons were at the airport to pick us up and S was only midly troublesome in the car seat. First nigth at Tampa was S running around after her two cousins, climbing up their ladder to their top bunk bed, playing under the tunnel there, breaking her cousin's curious, banging on the piano while her other cousin played, playing with the small toys in the jar, and generally enjoying the warm weather; while her parents relaxed with Margaritas and a nice movie (Seven Pounds).
The next morning we did some shopping - we got some cute toys for S from the Party Shop- i could have spent the whole day there they have tons of interesting party stuff. In the evening we drove down to Clearwater beach where S had her first beach experience-she loved the water and sat down in it and played. She then watched her cousins fly kites on the beach and the hubby made ducky shapes for her on the sand and also took her to play with the birds. Dinner was at a lovely pizza place California Pizza Kitchen- they served some unique stuff there- salad on pizzas!!! etc etc.
Today we went to Busch Gardens- the last time we came to Tampa we were too lazy to go and this time the hubby did good on his promise for me to go on teh rollercoasters (i love fast high rollercoasters). He doesn;t like them so he babysat S while I went on them-a few alone and some with my bro after he joined us. S also had a great time- she saw Pelicans, a white peacock, tigers up close (we were in a closed peep room which is full glass and were between two tigers -one white and one yellow), elephants, rhinos, alligators, turtles, rabbits, eels, deers, parrots and more birds in the aviary. She also went on some rides- the merry go around, the bouncy play area (she was scared at first and then started running after one girl who was running up and down and enjoyed herself refusing to some out when we called her), mini giantwheel, spiders den (with the hubby). I went on the Zwamba- a rough and fast rollercoastr ride, then the Sheikhra- a ride whcih taked you some 200 feet above the ground and then drops you down fast- a lovely ride, then the Montu where you hang from the railings and take sharp turns, the rhino rally which is a jeep come boat ride, the Pheonix which is a ship which goes 360 degrees, the Cheetah Chase (more for kids but the hubby agreed to some on thsi with me while my brother baby sat), the Rapids where the hubby and I got drenched and the Kumba roller coaster ride which was a fast thirlling and long roller coast ride.
S enjoyed the day and we got a good break after a long time.
Will blog later
Friday, May 1, 2009
Happy holidays
We finally set off on our long awaited holiday- there was last minute tension of swine flu and we were wondering whether to postpone our trip or to risk it. Finally after speaking to my brothers in the States we got a sense that things were not as bad as the media had played it out and we could take a chance provided we took some precautions such as keeping hands clean, avoiding crowded places etc. Touchwood i hope everything turns out ok
The flight from home to Frankfurt was ok. It was a night flight and they gave us a bassinet and S slept through most of the flight, Only thing was that the flight was too cold and i got a head chill and bad headache the next day. We had a 5 hour wait in Frankfurt for our connecting flight and that was quite boring since the airport didn;t have much shops nor places for us to sit. Luckily S managed to catch a couple of hours sleep there so we didn;t have to worry about her entertainment. We caught lunch at the airport restaurant which overlooks the runway so S was amused with the flights taking off and landing. I was surprised to find that the wiatresses were quite friendly since we had a baby with us- one offered to get hot water for her meal, another said her son would love to play with S, quite a different experience from earlier!
The flight from Frankfurt to Chicago was terrible. WE flew United Airlines which turned out to be a completely budget airlines with unhelpful inflight crew. Firstly they gave us wrong seats which didn't have a bassinet so S had to sleep on our laps on the flight. Then they didn't have any veg meals despite us having requested for it. Then when i gave them some baby food to heat in a kettle, they messed that up with teh cover opening (hjow when i gave a closed cover did it open while heating in hot water?) and the water leaking into the food. Then the flight was freezingso we had to cover our heads throughous- S would not agree so we could onyl cover her head when she was asleep. Finally the hortrible flight ended and then we had the 45 mins immigration queue- again i was surpised that they did;t have any special line for mothers with crying infants!!- the stupid airlines had not given our stroller to us at teh gate and we coud pick it uip only at baggage counter so we had to carry S for 45 mins in the immigration queue and she was really fed u adn irritated by the end of it. Then to top it all was the first experience with the car seat which S hated. She is used to doing pretty much whatever she wants in the car- jumpig up and down puishgin buttons etc and she couldn'ty understand why she was being strapped into a cra seat. Also i was sitting next to her and when she cried for me to take her onto my lap i could not so that made her more aggitated. After 15 mins of crying she threw up (luckily only water) and then calmed down. But the rest of the day was much better. She played with her cousin brothers-rather watched them while they played, woke up at 1 in the night (managed to go back to bed at 3) and was bright and cheerfgul at 6 am
In the morning the hubby took S into the garden on the swing and slide- its nice that my brother's house has a large garden and play area. After brekafast we went to the chidren's museum which S really enjoyed- lots of stucc for kids to do. Afetr a long siests we went to the mall and picked up some books for S and then back home for a late dinner.
Enjoying the holidays and the time we are gettign to spend with S without worrying abotu work and household stuff. Keeping fingers crossed.
The flight from home to Frankfurt was ok. It was a night flight and they gave us a bassinet and S slept through most of the flight, Only thing was that the flight was too cold and i got a head chill and bad headache the next day. We had a 5 hour wait in Frankfurt for our connecting flight and that was quite boring since the airport didn;t have much shops nor places for us to sit. Luckily S managed to catch a couple of hours sleep there so we didn;t have to worry about her entertainment. We caught lunch at the airport restaurant which overlooks the runway so S was amused with the flights taking off and landing. I was surprised to find that the wiatresses were quite friendly since we had a baby with us- one offered to get hot water for her meal, another said her son would love to play with S, quite a different experience from earlier!
The flight from Frankfurt to Chicago was terrible. WE flew United Airlines which turned out to be a completely budget airlines with unhelpful inflight crew. Firstly they gave us wrong seats which didn't have a bassinet so S had to sleep on our laps on the flight. Then they didn't have any veg meals despite us having requested for it. Then when i gave them some baby food to heat in a kettle, they messed that up with teh cover opening (hjow when i gave a closed cover did it open while heating in hot water?) and the water leaking into the food. Then the flight was freezingso we had to cover our heads throughous- S would not agree so we could onyl cover her head when she was asleep. Finally the hortrible flight ended and then we had the 45 mins immigration queue- again i was surpised that they did;t have any special line for mothers with crying infants!!- the stupid airlines had not given our stroller to us at teh gate and we coud pick it uip only at baggage counter so we had to carry S for 45 mins in the immigration queue and she was really fed u adn irritated by the end of it. Then to top it all was the first experience with the car seat which S hated. She is used to doing pretty much whatever she wants in the car- jumpig up and down puishgin buttons etc and she couldn'ty understand why she was being strapped into a cra seat. Also i was sitting next to her and when she cried for me to take her onto my lap i could not so that made her more aggitated. After 15 mins of crying she threw up (luckily only water) and then calmed down. But the rest of the day was much better. She played with her cousin brothers-rather watched them while they played, woke up at 1 in the night (managed to go back to bed at 3) and was bright and cheerfgul at 6 am
In the morning the hubby took S into the garden on the swing and slide- its nice that my brother's house has a large garden and play area. After brekafast we went to the chidren's museum which S really enjoyed- lots of stucc for kids to do. Afetr a long siests we went to the mall and picked up some books for S and then back home for a late dinner.
Enjoying the holidays and the time we are gettign to spend with S without worrying abotu work and household stuff. Keeping fingers crossed.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Quick update
No time for a detailed post as there is tons of work to be finished in office before i am off on leave from next week, as well as packing/shopping for gifts, last minutes stuff for S and us to be done.
Very excited as I'm getting a new car today and this is my first new car for myself. I drove my parents car when i was younger, and then got my husband's hand me down car and then a used car from my office (no complaints though since i am a bad driver and driving used cars at least doesn't give me tension about driving extra carefully).
anyway today - 13 years after i got my drivers license and 9 years after i started working i am getting my very own new car-a silver Skoda Fabia which i chose myself! am most excited
Other updates- S is unwell with a cough. We kept the AC on all night a couple of days back and I think the room became too cold and S always kicks off her blanket during the night. Last night was bad as S kept coughing and couldn't sleep comfortbaly. Her appeitite has also gone down- probably not getting a good tase with the cough and possible sore throat, but touch wood she has not got a cold yet.
Oh and I've got hooked onto the Twilight book series by Stephenie Meyer. Yes i know its for teenagers and its about vampire love stories, but i find them really addictive (have finished two books within a week and that means reading till 1:30 in the morning). Anyways not buying any more books till the trip is done.
The search for S playschool continues- unfortunately no good news near my new place. Tempted not to think about it till my holiday is done.
Off now to complete a note at work..meeting my bro for lunch (he's in town)which is such a good change since we have no family here.
Very excited as I'm getting a new car today and this is my first new car for myself. I drove my parents car when i was younger, and then got my husband's hand me down car and then a used car from my office (no complaints though since i am a bad driver and driving used cars at least doesn't give me tension about driving extra carefully).
anyway today - 13 years after i got my drivers license and 9 years after i started working i am getting my very own new car-a silver Skoda Fabia which i chose myself! am most excited
Other updates- S is unwell with a cough. We kept the AC on all night a couple of days back and I think the room became too cold and S always kicks off her blanket during the night. Last night was bad as S kept coughing and couldn't sleep comfortbaly. Her appeitite has also gone down- probably not getting a good tase with the cough and possible sore throat, but touch wood she has not got a cold yet.
Oh and I've got hooked onto the Twilight book series by Stephenie Meyer. Yes i know its for teenagers and its about vampire love stories, but i find them really addictive (have finished two books within a week and that means reading till 1:30 in the morning). Anyways not buying any more books till the trip is done.
The search for S playschool continues- unfortunately no good news near my new place. Tempted not to think about it till my holiday is done.
Off now to complete a note at work..meeting my bro for lunch (he's in town)which is such a good change since we have no family here.
Friday, April 17, 2009
3 day weekends…what a relief..
Had a series of 3-day weekends recently which were eagerly awaited, much deserved (in my view) and used to the maximum level possible. The first weekend we just chilled out on Friday, on Saturday we met up with my friends at a grill restaurant for lunch for a belated birthday celebration – we ended up taking S along though the whole idea of having a lunch out was that she could stay back with the maids and wouldn’t be uncomfortable in the restaurant (being restricted to her seat for 1- hours). But my friend decided to bring her son along and I thought S would also enjoy meeting everyone and playing (not really, but I guess maybe interacting?) with my friend’s son. Lunch was good fun and we managed to make it home for a good nap in the afternoon (my favorite part of weekends!). On Sunday we went to Vie (a restaurant overlooking the beach) for brunch. The food was terrible (we are not going to eat there again) but the ambience was excellent. There were some sofas overlooking the sea on which we relaxed and enjoyed our wine/beer. We could see kids playing the water and while the sea was not azure blue or at all blue in the least I really enjoy watching waves break over the shore and also the sound of the waves. S also enjoyed the aero planes flying past- its very close to the airport and we could see planes every 5 mins. She gets all excited when she sees planes and here she could see them flying away into the horizon- so she was jumping up on the sofa and making excited noises- I think she wanted to tell us something..
There was also a meaow cat (what we call cat) which came right up to us- S found that also really exciting and kept wanting to go and stroke the cat. I am quite scared of all animals and was terrified that the cat would scratch S so didn’t let her go very close to the cat. During the weekend we also managed to take S to the park near our house which has a duck pond, parrot cage, and also has turkeys, roosters, geese in the duck pond alongwith a duck and duckling family. S was very excited to see all these birds, and especially the rooster which was running on top of its cage and on the verge of jumping out on us.
The next weekend which was again a Friday holiday I spent looking at some playschools for S, shopping for clothes for S and for me (at one shop where we took S along, there is a play area for children and S was watching other kids playing there and also doing her own thing- putting some blocks into a bin etc, then suddenly a bigger girl hit her and S started crying…before I could intervene the maid who was minding the big girl, or rather not minding her adequately pulled her away and scolded her..i felt bad for S, I guess this was her first interaction with bully kids and she was too young to understand that she needs to defend herself..i read an interesting blog article on this which said you need to be the biggest advocate for your child and I guess I should have been around the playpen with her to ensure nobody bullied her instead of leaving her and going shopping and allowing her to be bullied…will be more careful next time..the hubby of course felt that S should have hit the girl back but I guess S is too young). We managed lunch out on Sunday at our favourite restaurant where S sat next to her dad and read from his menu!
The last of the glorious 3 day weekends I spent with S at my parents place. I decided to pamper myself and go even if only for 3 days and had a great time. Firstly I slept late everyday shamelessly. Then I managed to take S for her first swim-she loved it. I had bought a tube and floaters for her but they were too big. But luckily the kids at the kiddie pool were friendly and allowed us to borrow an floating aeroplane where S can put sit and put her feet through it and I can push her so she is floating on the water. That was great fun and though she got splashed quite a bit by other kids she enjoyed watching them play in the water as well. I also managed to go to a bookshop and buy some books for myself after ages and conquently ended up spending most of this week finishing Twilight- yes I like teen vampire love stories (am now planning to watch the movie!) and now I have 3 more books to read in this series. My parents house also has a lot of kids stuff like cycles, ricking horse, pram , toys because my brothers kids keep coming there when my brothers are down from the States and S was happily occupied. We alos have two dogs and they are quite aggressive so they had to be tied when S was down there, but she was quite keen on going and touching them but I wouldn’t let her since they are huge boxers and while they are friendly if they jump on her she will definetly fall down and hurt herself badly. Maybe when she’s bigger.S is also quite attached to my mom and at one point refused to come to me when I was trying to put her to bed…but I just took the opportunity to catch up on mail, facebook, reading and sleeping.
Now we are planning our annual leave- that’s going to be quite a challenge since we are going to the US and visiting 3 cities there and the number of flights we are taking is quite crazy…but should be fun as S will get to meet her cousins!
There was also a meaow cat (what we call cat) which came right up to us- S found that also really exciting and kept wanting to go and stroke the cat. I am quite scared of all animals and was terrified that the cat would scratch S so didn’t let her go very close to the cat. During the weekend we also managed to take S to the park near our house which has a duck pond, parrot cage, and also has turkeys, roosters, geese in the duck pond alongwith a duck and duckling family. S was very excited to see all these birds, and especially the rooster which was running on top of its cage and on the verge of jumping out on us.
The next weekend which was again a Friday holiday I spent looking at some playschools for S, shopping for clothes for S and for me (at one shop where we took S along, there is a play area for children and S was watching other kids playing there and also doing her own thing- putting some blocks into a bin etc, then suddenly a bigger girl hit her and S started crying…before I could intervene the maid who was minding the big girl, or rather not minding her adequately pulled her away and scolded her..i felt bad for S, I guess this was her first interaction with bully kids and she was too young to understand that she needs to defend herself..i read an interesting blog article on this which said you need to be the biggest advocate for your child and I guess I should have been around the playpen with her to ensure nobody bullied her instead of leaving her and going shopping and allowing her to be bullied…will be more careful next time..the hubby of course felt that S should have hit the girl back but I guess S is too young). We managed lunch out on Sunday at our favourite restaurant where S sat next to her dad and read from his menu!
The last of the glorious 3 day weekends I spent with S at my parents place. I decided to pamper myself and go even if only for 3 days and had a great time. Firstly I slept late everyday shamelessly. Then I managed to take S for her first swim-she loved it. I had bought a tube and floaters for her but they were too big. But luckily the kids at the kiddie pool were friendly and allowed us to borrow an floating aeroplane where S can put sit and put her feet through it and I can push her so she is floating on the water. That was great fun and though she got splashed quite a bit by other kids she enjoyed watching them play in the water as well. I also managed to go to a bookshop and buy some books for myself after ages and conquently ended up spending most of this week finishing Twilight- yes I like teen vampire love stories (am now planning to watch the movie!) and now I have 3 more books to read in this series. My parents house also has a lot of kids stuff like cycles, ricking horse, pram , toys because my brothers kids keep coming there when my brothers are down from the States and S was happily occupied. We alos have two dogs and they are quite aggressive so they had to be tied when S was down there, but she was quite keen on going and touching them but I wouldn’t let her since they are huge boxers and while they are friendly if they jump on her she will definetly fall down and hurt herself badly. Maybe when she’s bigger.S is also quite attached to my mom and at one point refused to come to me when I was trying to put her to bed…but I just took the opportunity to catch up on mail, facebook, reading and sleeping.
Now we are planning our annual leave- that’s going to be quite a challenge since we are going to the US and visiting 3 cities there and the number of flights we are taking is quite crazy…but should be fun as S will get to meet her cousins!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Too tired to think
Lately I’ve been feeling too tired, and I feel bad since its been having an effect on the time I spend with S, my interactions with the hubby (now mostly is this done, is that done, why are you not doing this….) and my basic frame of mind.
I seriously need to figure out why I am so tired – this has been going for some time now but two incidents which played out over the last few days have really brought things into perspective...
Last two days S was crying while doing potty and I just didn’t make the connection that she could have a rash. The hubby (who is much more chilled out) and of course not bogged down by the everyday routine, was just with her for 10 mins and realized it. I feel like such a lazy, bad mother..
When hubby said he was unwell yesterday, and was to stay home in the old house the next day,; I shouted at him for not telling me earlier since I had moved half the stuff to the new house and how I would now need to call up all the maids asking them to come to the existing house, instead of asking him how he felt and what was the problem
I have generally become very irritatable and short tempered about most things and instead of appreciating my time with S, I keep whining to the hubby about how tough it is to manage house (2 houses!!) and work and baby and how he is not doing anything blah blah blah…
These are the things which I figured are making me more tired and I plan to have a good shot at tackling them..
After S sleeps I spend about ½ hour doing stuff around the house and then another 45 mins reading. Considering that S sleeps at 11 and gets up dot at 7 am this means I get only about 6 hours sleep average which is difficult to sustain (now been more than 14 months since I got a full nights sleep). Need to get these done sometime during the day.
I wake up at least 2-3 times every night whenever S cries or wakes up. This needs to stop.. as I cannot get back to sleep quickly each time. We need to gradually get S used to sleeping in her own cot and sleeping through the night- now usually halfway through the night she cries and then I take her onto our bed.
Shifting the house every week is also very tiring- I need to take about a full car trunk load of stuff back and fro every time and this is tiring to pack, carry, unload, repack etc etc. Will just have to become more efficient with what we have at each place
Stop worrying about what S is eating , doing etc etc and spend more time playing and talking to her. When I worry about her eating I get more irritiable as well. I have decided to take S along with me to my mom’s place for the 3 day weekend coming up and since this will involve a flight there and back and maybe two dinners alone at the airport it should help me become less fussed
I also want to take a break and have someone else pamper me for a change, and more importantly not have to worry about the house being cleaned, food being prepared, rushing home every afternoon to see if S is ok. Am going home for the long weekend …yippee
Also my schedule is very hectic nowadays- morning is S’s milk, potty, then bath, then prepare her breakfast, then get ready for office while the maids feed her, rush to office, rush home for lunch, back to office, then back home, take S to park, give her dinner, play with her, then our dinner, then her milk, then play, then S sleep, then finally at 11 p.m. I get some time to myself. I think it has become tiring because a) I get very stressed if I am not able to leave from work in time to take S to the park- maybe I should set a target for doing this every alternate day otherwise it can get very difficult, and b) since I gave our smaller car to my brother I have been traveling a lot by auto- up and down twice a day, in the heat and near our office autos are not available easily. Now we are getting another car (yippee) so that should make things more relaxed
Also it’s a state of mind. I guess I just need to take things a bit lightly from now….
I seriously need to figure out why I am so tired – this has been going for some time now but two incidents which played out over the last few days have really brought things into perspective...
Last two days S was crying while doing potty and I just didn’t make the connection that she could have a rash. The hubby (who is much more chilled out) and of course not bogged down by the everyday routine, was just with her for 10 mins and realized it. I feel like such a lazy, bad mother..
When hubby said he was unwell yesterday, and was to stay home in the old house the next day,; I shouted at him for not telling me earlier since I had moved half the stuff to the new house and how I would now need to call up all the maids asking them to come to the existing house, instead of asking him how he felt and what was the problem
I have generally become very irritatable and short tempered about most things and instead of appreciating my time with S, I keep whining to the hubby about how tough it is to manage house (2 houses!!) and work and baby and how he is not doing anything blah blah blah…
These are the things which I figured are making me more tired and I plan to have a good shot at tackling them..
After S sleeps I spend about ½ hour doing stuff around the house and then another 45 mins reading. Considering that S sleeps at 11 and gets up dot at 7 am this means I get only about 6 hours sleep average which is difficult to sustain (now been more than 14 months since I got a full nights sleep). Need to get these done sometime during the day.
I wake up at least 2-3 times every night whenever S cries or wakes up. This needs to stop.. as I cannot get back to sleep quickly each time. We need to gradually get S used to sleeping in her own cot and sleeping through the night- now usually halfway through the night she cries and then I take her onto our bed.
Shifting the house every week is also very tiring- I need to take about a full car trunk load of stuff back and fro every time and this is tiring to pack, carry, unload, repack etc etc. Will just have to become more efficient with what we have at each place
Stop worrying about what S is eating , doing etc etc and spend more time playing and talking to her. When I worry about her eating I get more irritiable as well. I have decided to take S along with me to my mom’s place for the 3 day weekend coming up and since this will involve a flight there and back and maybe two dinners alone at the airport it should help me become less fussed
I also want to take a break and have someone else pamper me for a change, and more importantly not have to worry about the house being cleaned, food being prepared, rushing home every afternoon to see if S is ok. Am going home for the long weekend …yippee
Also my schedule is very hectic nowadays- morning is S’s milk, potty, then bath, then prepare her breakfast, then get ready for office while the maids feed her, rush to office, rush home for lunch, back to office, then back home, take S to park, give her dinner, play with her, then our dinner, then her milk, then play, then S sleep, then finally at 11 p.m. I get some time to myself. I think it has become tiring because a) I get very stressed if I am not able to leave from work in time to take S to the park- maybe I should set a target for doing this every alternate day otherwise it can get very difficult, and b) since I gave our smaller car to my brother I have been traveling a lot by auto- up and down twice a day, in the heat and near our office autos are not available easily. Now we are getting another car (yippee) so that should make things more relaxed
Also it’s a state of mind. I guess I just need to take things a bit lightly from now….
Monday, March 30, 2009
Playground politics
I recently read an article by Metrodad on how some 5 year old girls can be absolute meanies (such as ignoring other girls and making them feel left out) and I just could not believe it – not at 5 at least! Doesn’t it take some time for catty behaviour to develop and emerge?
But I was in the playground the other day and overhead a group of Class II (between 7-8 years old) girls talking. One of them in particular kept making fun of other people- she referred to one girl as pothead because “ it seems that girl talked rubbish and spent the whole day in the pot” – where do these girls pick up these things from? Then she went on to describe another girl “who acted like maid because she wanted to carry, feed and play with her younger brother instead of letting the maid do it” - I found this especially strange since I assume caring for your younger brother should be a natural thing to do? Or not something that only maids (as against moms) do?
This girl was quite mean to S as well. She was holding a ball which S wanted to play with, but she refused to give it to her and instead kept bouncing it around near her and teasing her. I wondered whether I should give her a piece of my mind but decided to just take S to another part of the park.
Thankfully all the girls are not like this though. There was another girl who was part of the same group who came upto me and asked what S name was. She then gave S her ball to play with. Another girl was looking after her younger sister and hit a boy who came and hit her younger sister- again very strange behaviour- why did that big boy go and hit the small girl (who would have been 2 years old max) and continue teasing her when she was crying? And there was no one around to correct him or stop him doing such stuff other than the elder sister who would have been younger than this boy. ..
Seems there is a lot of playground politics- groupism ,catty behaviour and general bullying …my main challenge thus far has been to ensure S is well fed and in good humour-but I guess the challenges only get bigger when they grow up. The hubby (and me of course) are quite keen that S should defend herself against bullies from a young age – the hubby of course thinks that we should bully her now so that she becomes tough, which is too radical in my view. The other day a girl who was 2 months younger poked her and S didn’t do anything about it- so I guess it would be sometime before she takes on the bullies.
Talking about playgrounds, spending time with S at the playground also gives me a chance to see how kids are at different stages- I was the youngest in my family and also among my close cousins; so have not seen anyone grow up a close quarters. In the playground there was this 3 year old girl who was quite sullen and sat on S’s cycle and refused to get up. After 10 mins I had to request her grandmom to help get her off the cycle since S was getting restless and we had exhausted the other play items in the park. The girl continued to be sulky with her grandmom. Sometime later I was playing with S in the grass area of the playground and this girl also came there- she was looking quite lonely so I included her – by carrying her on my shoulder after putting S down, by doing ring a ring a roses in a circle with her and S, playing ‘out’ etc and this girl was absolutely delighted and kept laughing- the same girl who was sulky ten minutes back completely transformed when she had someone to play with,. That got me thinking- its so important to have someone who cares for your child and can engage them actively…touchwood one of my maids is very good at playing with S and seems to care for her as well, but as far as possible, I should try to leave office in time to play with S at least 2-3 times a week and definitely every weekend.
But I was in the playground the other day and overhead a group of Class II (between 7-8 years old) girls talking. One of them in particular kept making fun of other people- she referred to one girl as pothead because “ it seems that girl talked rubbish and spent the whole day in the pot” – where do these girls pick up these things from? Then she went on to describe another girl “who acted like maid because she wanted to carry, feed and play with her younger brother instead of letting the maid do it” - I found this especially strange since I assume caring for your younger brother should be a natural thing to do? Or not something that only maids (as against moms) do?
This girl was quite mean to S as well. She was holding a ball which S wanted to play with, but she refused to give it to her and instead kept bouncing it around near her and teasing her. I wondered whether I should give her a piece of my mind but decided to just take S to another part of the park.
Thankfully all the girls are not like this though. There was another girl who was part of the same group who came upto me and asked what S name was. She then gave S her ball to play with. Another girl was looking after her younger sister and hit a boy who came and hit her younger sister- again very strange behaviour- why did that big boy go and hit the small girl (who would have been 2 years old max) and continue teasing her when she was crying? And there was no one around to correct him or stop him doing such stuff other than the elder sister who would have been younger than this boy. ..
Seems there is a lot of playground politics- groupism ,catty behaviour and general bullying …my main challenge thus far has been to ensure S is well fed and in good humour-but I guess the challenges only get bigger when they grow up. The hubby (and me of course) are quite keen that S should defend herself against bullies from a young age – the hubby of course thinks that we should bully her now so that she becomes tough, which is too radical in my view. The other day a girl who was 2 months younger poked her and S didn’t do anything about it- so I guess it would be sometime before she takes on the bullies.
Talking about playgrounds, spending time with S at the playground also gives me a chance to see how kids are at different stages- I was the youngest in my family and also among my close cousins; so have not seen anyone grow up a close quarters. In the playground there was this 3 year old girl who was quite sullen and sat on S’s cycle and refused to get up. After 10 mins I had to request her grandmom to help get her off the cycle since S was getting restless and we had exhausted the other play items in the park. The girl continued to be sulky with her grandmom. Sometime later I was playing with S in the grass area of the playground and this girl also came there- she was looking quite lonely so I included her – by carrying her on my shoulder after putting S down, by doing ring a ring a roses in a circle with her and S, playing ‘out’ etc and this girl was absolutely delighted and kept laughing- the same girl who was sulky ten minutes back completely transformed when she had someone to play with,. That got me thinking- its so important to have someone who cares for your child and can engage them actively…touchwood one of my maids is very good at playing with S and seems to care for her as well, but as far as possible, I should try to leave office in time to play with S at least 2-3 times a week and definitely every weekend.
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