Back from yet another trip!

Happy new year to you and you and you! :) And your family! Wish you good health and happiness in the coming year!

We went to my brother's place to attend a wedding reception, family get together and got back late Tuesday night (Jan.1). The travel alone was 11 hrs door to door - you can imagine how that would have been with two little kids in hand. I feel so bad for them - but they coped quite well. Thanks to the winter snow delays in Chicago etc, flights were delayed - I got our tickets re-routed, took a stand by flight (was confirmed for a later flight) - felt it was better than risking the Chicago route and having to spend the night there in case our flight got canceled!

I had this vague resolution shaping up in my head as we were flying back home - that I would be more patient and not loose my temper with B when I am tired of dealing with the kids. Resolutions are meant to be broken - in my case - even before I firmly made it into a resolution! :) B and I had a nice little fight towards the end of our journey. Baby girl who had been patient up to that point, suddenly was woke up because of all the sudden activity around her, lights, announcements etc and started crying - especially because the plane was beginning to land and the ear pressure was building up. KB in the mean while, as always chose that apt moment to stand on his seat and look around and play with the light switch etc and refused to sit down and wear his seat belt. I gave a glass of juice to B to hold and was trying to get KB to sit down in his seat. His highness Abdullah firmly said "No No seat belt. He wants to ninnun (stand)". I pulled at him strongly and he screamed. And baby girl also raised her pitch at the same time. I turned to B and snapped - can't you calm her down somehow?! And he in turn snapped back at me! I immediately relayed to him the exact count of the diaper changes and feedings I had done for the kids in all that time and how I am not being appreciated and instead being yelled at by him. All this in the midst of two kids who were being difficult. A good solid fight can't be let go at any time right?! :) All that cooled off when I had* to tell B about the Chinese woman behind me who asked me the kid's ages and told me "You have beautiful children". Our mood savior at that point! I had to share it with B. And we discussed how it must be KB's big eyes why she said that - since most Asian women who comment about him are drawn to his eyes because they are big. The kids cooperated well except for this last bit and we were glad to be home!

Now my cousins have also adopted KB's language after seeing him at my brother's place. They too say "Gojills" for "bath". Origin - we used to say "Jo kuli" to KB referring to taking a bath. And he changed that to "go gula". And later we twisted it to "Go Jilla" and now it is "Go jills". He wakes up in the morning and says, "Go Jills" time! :)

If I ask him, "Do you want to eat mam mam?", he answers me with another question in the same exact tone "Do you want to play water and spoon?" (his favorite game!).

These days, we are back to staging dramas for meal times. He had gotten out of it for a while. But the last few weeks, he decided to add a little excitement to our mundane lives. Every single meal pretty much we go through this little drama. I will ask him "Pupsi, eppo yenna time?" and he will continue what he is doing and nonchalantly say "Mam MAM time".
"Padutha poraya?" (You plan to trouble me?)

"Padutha poraya?"

I will ignore his repeating of my line and go towards him to get him. He will immediately say "Vendam"! (Dont' want it!).

"Ajoo, mum mum saapdanum". (You have to eat!)

Screaming, legs flailing, I carry him to his booster seat and buckle him up.

He will immediately make a funny Calvin face and say "Pidikave ille" (I don't even like it!) before even looking at what I have for him.

"That's OK. You have to eat it".

KB will then turn his face all the way to the back and I will drag it back to start giving him the first spoonful. He will resist fiercely. I will then say "Nee ippo saapadlenna naa yard'ku poiduven, varave matten" (If you don't eat now, I will go to the yard and never come back).

The first few days he used to protest the moment I opened the yard door. But last night he told me "Yardukku po".

I went out and stood there. I thought he would call out for me in about 20 seconds. No. I waited, took a few deep breaths. Nothing. After nearly five minutes, he said
"Mamma sapadrein". (Mamma, I will eat).

I come back calmly. He hands me his bib. I put it around his neck and he starts eating looking at his book like there was no fuss in the first place!

I am looking forward to more of such joys in 2008 - especially since I will be starting solids for baby girl this weekend. We did the token "Annaprashanam" for her at my brother's place - she seemed to like it. Hoping she will be an easy eater compared to KB!

You will hear more about it - as long as I continue blogging! :)

(Am not editing this post. Just wrote it quickly - feeling extremely sleepy since the kids are totally out of schedule and I have zero common nap time now - one kid or the other is always awake during the day)