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.
Monday, November 16, 2009
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.
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