Travelling with a fussy eater

Have I mentioned earlier that S is a fussy eater. Of course I have, and my patience was sorely tested in our recent look see to Zurich. Breakfast took an hour to convince S to finish her milk (still in a bottle!) and eat two slices of toast. Lunch at any restaurant was mostly refused even if it was pizza/pasta . Sometimes she would have some fries though. We would then have to come back to the hotel and make her lunch- I had purchased and carried a small rice cooker and hand blender with me which turned out to me the smartest thing we did. Yes it sounds so silly, to carry a mini kitchen with you what with the rice, dal and rasam powder and salt also having to be carried and an hour being spent each day in cooking up meals for S, but I've always had this problem, I cant stand to see S not have a proper meal. Left to her she can happily skip meals and be cheerful/sleep properly etc, but after one skipped meal I get all jittery and worried. So it was either Maggi or dal rice for her lunch and then again dal rice for her dinner. The icing on the cake was when we went to a colleagues house for dinner and S refused to eat anything though there was dal, chapatti, sabzi, rice everything on the table. I guess she is just too stubborn and I am just too worried. I was a bit apprehensive about the flight back as that was a day flight and with difficulty she had half a chocolate doughnut for breakfast (c'mon which kid does not like chocolate doughnut), cucumber and 1/3 of chapati for lunch!!!, turned her nose up at the fries on offer and finally 3 mini samosas in the evening. I managed to give her milk twice and made all sort of promises that I would make her a more varied eater before we finally shift (don't see that happening!). But yes, travelling with a fussy eater is difficult, but if you just resign yourself to the fact that you need to prepare what they usually eat and carry the stuff with you, at least it saves a lot of shouting and screaming and general tension!

On the positive side, I had my elastics removed before our trip to Zurich and was pleasantly surprised to find that most restaurants have at least one veg dish (not just fries) and while I couldn't eat most of the amazing bread, cheese or chocolates there, I had some really nice ravioli, spaghetti and puffs.

Happy Birthday Dear

S turned 3 a couple of weeks back. This year we decided to have a party for her. Partly because we would be moving out of India soon and it would be much more difficult to organise the parties abroad. Partly because last year we had done nothing (just a cake cutting) and i felt we should do something now. But mainly because S has started enjoying the company of other children and I thought she would enjoy the party. Initially we had wanted to combine the two children's birthday and have one big party, but I didnt want to celebrate A's first birthday in advance, and we were travelling to Zurich for the look see immediately after her birthday and my hubby was returning only after 10 days (and no point in celebrating a birthday after two weeks!). So we decided to keep both the celebrations separate.

For S birthday we called only our close friends and their children whom S keeps seeing regularly and knows; S close friend from school and the children from downstairs who come with us to the park regularly. Basically people and children S knows well. I wanted to do something special and entertaining for the kids at the party, and I thought we could have some games on the terrace but the age group was too diverse (two children aged 6, one aged 11, two aged 3 and the rest under 2) and most of them would not appreciate party games. A couple would have probably understoon and played the games, but hardly a quorom. I toyed with the usual suspects- a bouncy castle (then i had visions of children bouncing off the terrace, so no!), magician (again most kids too young to appreciate) and finally i gave up and said we'll just kick some balls on the terrace, do some bubbles, and maybe take the scooter and bike up and play for a while. Then as luck would happen, I happened to sit next to N (S's best friend in school)'s mother during their sports day and it turned out that she was a puppeteer and did puppet shows for events. She said the age group for the puppets was 2+ and she could customise for all favourite characters of children. I immediately signed her on and also asked her to bring N along for the party (when i asked S later what she liked best about the party she said that N had come!!)

The week went in preparations- I took S along to chose the cake- this time we went for taste over aethetics- last time for S first birthday I had got an elaborate 3 D aeroplace cake made by a specialty shop, but didnt find the taste too good. This time I went for the tried and tested Dutch Truffle by Birdys despite their limited cake shape choices. S went through all the designs and chose a pink (no surprise) face. Viewed upside down it looked like an angry face, but it was just an egg shaped face design. Some of my friends thought it was some famous cartoon character and broke their heads trying to figure it out, but it was just a shape! Then we had the return presents, and I wanted to chose appropriate gifts for each age group. Then the prizes- i thought we'd have a couple of games, but in the end between the puppet show and the cake cutting we managed to have only one game. The decorations came from the Party Hunters shop very close to our house - we had Barney triangle streamers, A happy Birthday centerpiece hanging from the lamp, balloons and a Barney pinata. We also had Barney paper plates and paper cups. I had bought a story book and Dairy milk chocolate for S to give at school to her classmates, and Barney covers for them! I chose Barney as Dora (S favourite was not available) and I personally don't think too much of the Princess theme (and of course it would completely put off the boys who came for the birthday party!)

My in laws were there for S birthday and that was a nice surprise for her. On the birthday day, the hubby went with S to buy her birthday gift and got her a skateboard with a pull out handle. You can initially hold the pullout handle and kick off from the ground and put both feet on the board and move, and later put back the handle and use it as a skateboard. At the beginning S was quite reluctant to use this, but now she loves it and keeps skateboarding (with the handle) all over the house- its difficult to get A not to also ask for her turn on the skateboard!

The birthday afternoon went in putting up the decorations, balloons, getting the cake and the puppeteers spent half an hour getting their stuff organised. At 5:40 we started the puppet show, which went on for about 45 mins. The hits were Nemo (song in which we had to recognise Marlin and they showed different sea animals to music), Barney (where they blew bubbles from inside the box and the kids had fun trying to catch the bubbles) , Dora (where the kids had to find Boots) the Three Little Pigs (with the Big Good Wolf instead of the Big Bad Wolf- S still keeps mentioning this!) and the Aesop's fable with the lion and the mouse. The kids were mostly riveted to the puppet show and some of the adults too (I enjoyed it!)

Then we had the cake cutting and snacks. We had made aloo tikki, cutlet and sandwiches at home and got puffs from Candies. There was of course the usual chips and the in laws had got sweets as well. Apart from the bright pink, the cake was quite nice - S happily blew the candle and ate the piece i cut for her, and then continued to eat more pieces of cake (caught on camera!). Then she asked me to give some to N (!) and they both sat on the sofa happily together eating the cake and chips and refusing any of the other stuff (why did I bother!). I couldn't eat anything because of the wires, and drank lots of juice instead. The kids were running between the hall and the toy room and after we burst the pinata, stuffing themselves with sweets (forgive me parents!). We then had one game- where the elder kids had to put as many crazy bands in one minute on themselves and parents had to put on the younger kids in the same time. We had three winners (since there were so many prizes) but the main attraction were the crazy bands which S and A still continue to play with. They are really cool, of various shapes and colours.

S and A had a great time at the party- even A was quite enthralled with the puppet show for some time and S was taken away completely by it. After the party they happily spent the rest of the evening unpacking gifts, rolling around on the mattress on the hall floor (for the children to sit on for the puppet show) and playing with the balloons.

Happy birthday dearest S. You've become such a big girl suddenly. You come and tell me what you did at school, whom you played with, show me that you've eaten your tiffin (now you enjoy some variety in that), show me what activity you have done, but still insist on me carrying you to the car from school! Your friends also greet me at school saying what they played with you that day at school. You love going to the park. You can climb the tallest structure now, and love to keep climbing new things. On the bars which go in a semi circle you can go more than halfway and then want me to catch you while you swing from the middle one and hold you while you climb down the rest and finally jump down. You want to be swung fast but don;t mind giving up your swing if other people are waiting in turn. You like to go on all the slides, but face inwards! You love the seesaw and are waiting for company to go on the other side (just a little while more till A gives you company my dear). You love to run up the mountain and down the mountain and generally all around the park. In Joggers park the rabbits are your favourite and at Patwardhan park you like the wet sand as you can easily make shapes on it.

You love the musical bonding class and keep asking when it is. You dont mind A coming along for it, and bring her instruments each time during the class for her to play. You like the teacher and have started singing and dancing along with most of the rhymes. You love to read books and have books read to you. You like to listen to stories- Aesop's fables, Panchatantra, Barney, Noddy etc, but have started carrying baby books with you (maybe you dont want to share with A?) You love your bubble bath and will happily play in the water and ask me to go and do my work. When you are done with playing with the bubbles you'll call me to come and give you bath. You are a fussy eater and only eat some very specific things, but at least dont give trouble for those things. Rasam rice is your favourite and then Maggi. You like pasta and pizza sometimes and love snacks like popcorn, banana chips, chips etc. You and your daddy can eat snacks all day. You love your Ajja and Ajji and the fact that they adore you completely. I love you my sweetheart, and hope you settle down into the new life in Zurich and enjoy each thing as you do here.

Time for a new wardrobe

You may start thinking that its time for a new wardrobe when one of your closest friends has the same shirt as you, and your daughter points this out to you everytime you wear that shirt.

Then comes the stage when your daughter starts pointing at more of your clothes in the cupboard and asking whether the said friend has those shirts as well.

But you know you really need a new wardrobe when you go to visit the dentist and "he" tells you that he has the same shirt you are wearing!

Addendum: I finally got some much delayed shopping done today. People I know please don't go to CWC and buy the same clothes as me. Happy to report that I finally managed to fit into S size shirts- there has to be some benefit of not eating for 4 weeks right!

Sibling bonding

A recent conversation with S

Hubby : We are going to Zurich for a few days next month . Mummy, daddy and S

S : What about A?

Hubby : Its very cold there right now so we're leaving A behind

S : Why? A had a pink flowery jacket no, she can wear that

Hubby not sure what to say now : Uhmm, its very cold for that jacket sweetie

After half an hour, with no reference to above conversation S says to me, A has pink flower jacket no, let her wear that and come to Zurich!

I can see more and more instances of sibling bonding and also some sibling rivalry between S and A now. If we praise A for doing anything- walking, climbing, or eating something on her own, then S will immediately do the same thing- including getting into A's bouncer! As a result A's bouncer is more or less completely unusable now and we've taken out S old bouncer.

A also wants only what S has - yesterday for instance I gave a bowl of popcorn for S and a smaller bowl for A. A had a couple from her bowl, and then went over to S to see whether she was having the same thing. She then refused to take from her own bowl and kept taking from S bowl! I think it would be simpler to keep one big bowl in the future. Even with books, if I am reading a book to S, then A will come and sit on my lap and insist on seeing the same book, and then if I ask S to go and do some activity, and continue reading the same book to A she will lose interest within 10 seconds!

Initially S used to get very upset if I took A alongwith me to pick her up from school, but slowly she has got adjusted to it and sometimes now when I go alone she asks why A has not come. I was pleasantly suprised when her teacher took A's name and told me that S had told her about A. She also helps me to feed A by showing her toys and entertaining her, and sometimes if A is crying during her bath (which she does if she's having head bath) then S will come inside, give her a toy and very sweetly say, "A stop crying"

The other day I finally managed to take both of them for the musical bonding class. S was initially quite clingy during the class and I was not sure how A would take to the music and loud noise so I took only S and went. But after about 5 classes S settled down with the other children, teacher there and finally I was confident enough to take them both. A was surprisingly independent. She sat next to me (while S sat on my lap) and either played the musical instruments, or would chew them!, or would look around in amazement at what's happening. It was also her usual nap time so she was a bit more subdued and did not generally walk around and try to pull down stuff. S kept bringing instruments for A to play and while the two of them did not play together, they did not fight with each other also!

But sometimes the green monster does rear its head. The other day in the park, for no reason whatsoever S picked up some sand and threw it near A's face! She hasn't done it again, but I need to be more careful till A gets older.

But its good fun to see them play together. Of course there are limited things they can do together- no clay/lego/magnets/stickers etc since A promptly puts it in the mouth. Even blocks, S will make a tower and A will proceed to demolish it, but they sometimes sit together on the cycle/ on the bike, the other day they sat on adjacent swings on the park! and even went on the same slide. At home they play ball with each other, but their favourite game is to climb on top of the sofa - not the sitting part but the headboard, which gives me many tense moments! Wonder how the younger ones always pick up the naughty habits first!

Liquid diets

I could not resist a post on my diet these days.

9 am : 1 cup bournvita

10 am: 1 cup tea

11 am: 1 cup tea

1 pm: Dal water

2:30 pm: Juice

5 pm : Chickoo/banana milkshake

6:30 pm : 1 cup tea

7:30 pm: 1 cup soup

9 pm: 1 cup soup/ dal water

9:30 pm: Protein shake

I've started experimenting with the 9 pm soup/dal water. Its either soup a friend gives, or home made vegetable soup, or recently I've started taking masoor dal (made for normal eating) and putting it in the blender with water. Yesterday it was chole alongwith one piece of aloo/capsicum. Sounds yuck, but it was quite yum !!!

Was looking at the net for what other people do with jaw fractures and it mainly seems to be protein shakes and milk shakes with Oreo. I am lucky I have held to prepare juice, dal water, soup etc for me and keep me well nourished every couple of hours. There's a cook book for drinking after jaw fractures also!!! must be a common affair. I read that some people blend beef steaks and potatoes also, so i guess chole is not so bad!!

Last Sunday the hubby and I went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. I thought I'll have some soup. All the soups had something in them, so through clenched teeth I explained to the waiter to get me clear soup, he then proceeded to get me corn soup with whole corn kernels and small particles. I sent it back and he returned without the kernels, but still with small particles. I could not have more than 5 sips of the soup and got highly irritated by the whole experience. No more restaurants till I can have some semi solid food at least!

Am slightly apprehensive about our look see in Zurich scheduled in another couple of weeks. I get very tired unless I have something to drink every couple of hours - day before I went to office, then park and then to a colleague's wedding and was exhausted afterwards. Hope I can manage ok there.

As things turn out

January and February were to be spent exercising, learning German, frequenting my favourite restaurants and generally getting prepped up for our move in April. But things rarely turn out as one plans. Two weeks back I had a bad fall, one minute i was walking into the hall to pick up my mobile, and the next thing i know I was lying on the floor, my face covered in blood and a small pool of blood on the hall floor. I think I fainted, and fell down, and since i was not conscious didnt put out my hands in front to cushion the fall and took the impact on my chin and jaw. Not pretty. The last thing I remember was drinking water too fast and getting that heartburn feeling you get, feeling a bit dizzy.. I should have sat down immediately, but i thought I'd just pick up something from the hall and go back to the bedroom and sleep (this was around 12:10 am). Then i remember sleeping on the floor, in a dream state, I was reading Millenium 2 at that time and remember having some vague thoughts about Salander and martial arts and next thought was why am i sleeping, i was supposed to pick up my mobile, then i thought why am i sleeping on the floor in my room, and then finally i realised i was lying in the hall floor. I felt the blood, but did not immediately panic since I didnt feel much pain. After washing my mouth- I immediately felt some teeth were broken and some chipped, I realised the blood was not going, so I woke up the hubby. He saw my chin and said that there was a huge gash which might need stitching if the blood flow does not let. He spent the next 1 hour cleaning the wound, putting nebasulf and waiting for the blood to stop. We woke up the maid and asked her to sleep with A, since she was lying in my bedroom and I was making quite a racket there. S was fast asleep in the other room. The hubby called the hospital but they were not very encouraging on the doctor on duty being able to do stitches and gave some vague answers. But the blood flow stopped and we decided to wait till the next morning. The hubby went out at 1 am to get me some painkillers for the pain which had started and was quite bad. I was instructed to sleep with my chin up in one position and not move from side to side so that the wound does not get exposed and start bleeding again. I hardly got any sleep in the uncomfortable pose and the worry that the wound was something serious.

Next morning my entire lower teeth, jaw and chin were paining. Our family doctor came over and saw the wound and luckily said stitches were not required. He was not able to shed any light as to why I may have fainted, since this has never happened in the past, but said I should get an internal examination by a dentist. I put it off for a day since I was exhausted that day and I didnt thing it was anything that serious as the doc said it cant be a fracture since there is no swelling and I could move my jaw. But i was in for a big surprise at the dentist the next day. He immediately saw the wound, the mishapen bite and suspected a fracture. The X ray confirmed it- a complete break in the left jaw (just below the ear) and a crack in the right jaw. The oral surgeon recommended closed surgery to correct the fracture and the wrong bite (my teeth alignment had changed due to the fall and would only get worse if i left things the way they are). I tried to protest- who wants to be wired for 6 weeks, with my half baked knowledge from the net that this was a mild fracture, would heal naturally by just eating soft foods etc but they recommended it strongly, and when i took a second opinion from my doc he also recommended it after seeing the X rays. The hubby said the alignment of my jaw had changed and my face was not looking symmetrical so that psyched me completely.

So the next day itself I went in for the surgery. They gave me 8 injections (which they had said would be akin to small pricks--NOT!) but no anasthesia. They put a wire on the top part of my teeth and a wire on the bottom part, and then out elastic bands connecting the two and effectively shutting the jaw up completely. The surgery itself was not painful, but next few days were difficult with the teeth and jaw still paining from the fall, and now with the adjustment to the wires and I was on strong painkiller for a week. After a week, the painkillers completely stopped and the pain is also much less and apart from some shooting pains which happen mostly at night (where all the teeth feel as if they are being pulled together) it is mostly uncomfortable and no painful. There have been some painful side effects though- firstly many ulcers in the tongue and mouth, and now the right hand side gland in my mouth has swollen and there is some ear pain (the doc said one of the teeth must have infected from the fall). Looks like some root canals await me at the end of this wire treatment!

The closed surgery is not complicated, they don't cut you up or anything. The wires are usually on for 6-8 weeks and for the first 2-3 weeks usually the jaw is completely shut, then they loosen the elastic slighlty so you can open your mouth a bit. Its only liquids for the first 2-3 weeks and possibly semi sold food after. Even after complete recovery it is not recommended to have hard foods and stress your jaw as it takes time to completely heal.

I'm having a lot of liquids -something every 1-2 hours so i don't fell hungry. Liquids ranging from bournvita, soup, protein shake, chickoo milkshake, juice, tea, dal water etc etc but i really miss eating something solid. That combined with the shooting pains at times, the inability to do the things I want - German classes, exercise classes, eating at restaurants or rather eating at all, talking ( i can only talk through clenched teeth and that also pains after some time) makes me really irritable some times and I start thinking, why did this have to happen to me. Could have been entirely avoided and how could I have fainted just like that. And then I think it could have been much worse. What if I had not woken up at that time and a lot of blood had flowed? What if stitches had been required. What if the hubby had been on tour and I was alone with the kids and the maid- I really don't think I would have known what to do. I wouldnt have been able to decide whether the bleeding required hospital attention or first aid at home. And if hospital, it was 1 am do I wake up a friend to take me, leave the kids alone at home with the maid? This is the thing which worries me the most what if this happens in Zurich and I am along with the kids and hubby it travelling. I can only hope that I don't faint and I am going to equip myself with first aid knowledge and keep a first aid kit ready. Anyway luckily all this happened when hubby was in town, and while the wires are frustrating at least open surgery was not required.

And people have been amazing. My mother in law came for a week to help out with the kids as the hubby was travelling and it was really helpful. I could concentrate on resting and getting better while she helped look after the kids. My friends have been great- taking my kids to the park when i couldn't, coming and seeing my numerous times to take my mind of the pain, giving me nice books to read, fresh soup to drink and coming with me and the kids out so that I don;t sit at home and wallow in self pity.

So I thank God and Master that the fall was not more serious and that i am lucky enough to have such good family and friends to help me out. And hope to get better soon and out and around!

The IPL auction drama

This weekend I watched the IPL auction drama for some time. I had missed it the last couple of years, but decided to watch it this year to see what exactly happens. And i was not impressed. More shocked and disappointed. 

Firstly the auction where the players names are called out and the reserve bid announced against their names reminds me of a cattle auction. The only thing missing is the players parading up and down the stage. There was no bid for most of the players at their reserve price, some of which was as low as $20,000 (while as astonishing amount of nearly $2.5 mln was paid for Gambhir). This includes legends like Gayle, Chanderpaul, Ganguly and Lara. I guess some of them are past their prime, but some others like Gayle are surely affordable even if their reserve price was higher at $100,000. Gayle did help KKR win some games in the first and second IPL so his contribution cant be easily discounted.  It must be embarassing for cricket players not to get any bid, and telling on their skills, surely it was not necessary to broadcast this to a live audience. It could have been done privately and only the results announced to the press.

Secondly, the amounts bid for some players were quite astonishing with the Pathan brothers fetching close to $4.5 mln together (hopefully their parents will not get any threatening calls!) and other players such as Jadeja etc also fetching quite large sums. Much has been written and said that the IPL is a vulgar display of the wealth of these industry leaders, and this was evident in the large amounts being bid by each team for key players. It makes you think- can you justify paying $2.5 mln to Gambhir for playing x number of matches in one month, while so many people in the country are not able to get one proper meal a day. But I guess this is their private wealth and not the tax payers money and they are free to spend it as they wish. The only thing, is when you see them throwing away such large amounts of money in a matter of minutes, it makes you stop and think.

Still,  I watched the proceedings, with an open mouth and will probably discuss with colleagues why x was not chosen and y was chosen, as I am sure will most other people, some of whom would have the auction from morning to evening, so the media channels would have achieved what they wanted. And to be honest, I do enjoy watching the IPL matches, since they are shorter than the one day matches and good time pass!! The first and third seasons have coincided with my post delivery time at parents place in Bengalooru and my parents are avid IPL followers, watching nearly every match. So the point of this post was not to rant against the IPL, but to put across my view that showing the auction live on TV is inappropriate and unkind.