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!
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