Ajji Maney

S loves to be with her grandparents, and Ajji Manay (Grandmother's house) is the place to be. She's extremely attached to my mom who has spent a lot of time with us since S has been born, especially for a period of nearly 9 months around the time A was born. Ajji spent most of the time with S so that I could concentrate on A and I think this helped quite a bit to reduce the normal feelings of jealousy and angst when another child arrives to share the attention.

Ajji Manay, in addition to the main attraction of Ajji and Ajja also have Bingo and Elmo, our dogs, swings in the balcony for both the kids, an ongoing supply of snacks, ice cream, a park walking distance from the house and a many varied activities throughout the day such as feeding the dogs, watching the coconut collector climb the trees and pick the coconuts, watching the gardner, kids playing downstairs etc

As I mentioned earlier S is very attached to my mom and the last time we were here she was very upset to see her with the walker. When my dad came to Bombay the first thing she asked him was whether Ajji's walker has been thrown away. And when we came back here, my dad jokingly asked whether we should get the walker back and she actually got tears in her eyes. S wakes up early in the morning and goes to my mom, has her afternoon nap with her, and goes to Ajji for all her troubles (today when she fell down from the sofa, after i cleaned her up she ran to her Ajji to be comforted)

S is very fond of Ajja also. When he came to Bombay ( he came to pick us up on the way back from Pune, yes I am still extremely pampered, wonder how I will manage with no support in Zurich) she immediately went upto him and hugged him. Then they both spent time at the dining table, with my Dad writing a letter and S doodling on a paper. Then she made him read books to her and generally hung around with him the whole evening. Even in Bangalore she loves to go with her Ajja to the exercise room and do the cross trainer/ go down to his study and examine all the articles there.

A is also thrilled to be here. She seems to be more attached to my dad and is completely taken with the dogs. Anytime we need to get her to open her mouth for her food we say Elmo Bingo and voila. My dad takes her often to see the dogs, and also generously gives her his playing cards for her to destroy.

Being with grandparents is one of the best experiences for children, and I think this will be the biggest thing we miss out on by moving out of India. Otherwise S and A would see our parents every other month- with me coming to Bangalore at least twice a year and my parents coming over at least twice a year.