KB had a homework assignment couple of days back. He had to buy something for under a dollar and give exact change to buy what he wanted. And he had to write about it. I was planning to just take him to Target and find something for under a dollar.
My sister called me from the bay area and told me that her teenage daughter, my niece, had informed her that Baskin Robbins was having a 31C per scoop special. And she had gone out for ice-cream. I usually never go specifically to buy ice cream. KB does not eat ice-cream and somehow because of it we don't go just to get ice-cream. But this time around, I thought it would be fun for KB to buy something for under a dollar and buy ice-cream for his sister. KG likes ice cream and she had asked me for some that day.
After KB and KG had their dinner, I went to the ice-cream place and stood in line. When I got closer to the entrance, I called B and he brought the kids over. KB had a lot of fun ordering for his little sister and he made sure he gave the exact change to the clerk. He bought three scoops of which some were of course eaten by the parent! They climbed on the low wall along with other imps who were running around. Overall they had so much fun. For a change I thought it was worth having waited in line for 45 minutes. KB gave exact change for 93 C and mentioned KG's favorite ice-cream flavors. It was delightful because it made KB feel important and more because unexpectedly on a week day evening, we went as a family just to buy a few scoops of ice-cream. The whole thing felt so simple and nice. It was a truly jolly evening with kids playing all over the place while parents stood in line and at the end of it you get a sweet treat! And of course I thought this made his home work also more interesting rather than buying some useless item at Target. KB asked for a cone - just the cone, no ice-cream - for himself. Thank God he at least had that - if not I would have felt guilty eating my "Tax-crunch, nutty coconut, Cherry jubilee" triple scoop! Well, we went for a 31C special and ended up having so much fun. Am sure this summer we will go there a few more times, of course at 3.99 per scoop probably!
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Questions galore
We had gone to the park this evening with KB and KG and two boys who are their friends. My friend is moving houses, so she left her boys with me at the park. It had rained this morning so the sand was perfect for building sand castles because it had been sunny the whole afternoon but the sand underneath was still damp. We made so many sand castles. And volcanoes and mountains and roads for KG's dump truck to pass through and the tourist vehicles to come and see the erupted volcano. We dug a hole deep enough for four kids and two moms to sit in after she came to pick the boys up. Of course it is a lot of fun when we are at the park. But once we start getting into the car, the tension builds up in my system. They are filled with dirt, completely tired and hungry. But they have to have a shower as soon as we get home and I have to rush and get dinner ready and settle them before they start getting cranky from hunger. And in the meanwhile get dinner ready for my father-in-law also. Dinner times are such a scramble and it is exactly the time the kids also pick their fights and irritate each other to the maximum.
On the plus side though, both kids were so hungry that they ate their dinner really fast. I usually read to them as they eat their dinner. Today's book was "A trip to the moon" with pictures of astronauts and the different components of a rocket/space ship etc. KB was reeling of so many questions some of which I have to look up the answers to. 1) Mamma, if the sun is in outer space, why does it look as if it is inside the earth? 2) If outer space does not have gravity and earth has gravity, then where does gravity even come from? 3) If earth has gravity, then how come clouds don't get pulled down by that force? 4) How far do we have to dig to get to the earth's core? 5) How are rocks formed? How can soil turn into hard rock? 6) Where do they get the oxygen from inside the space ship? 7) How do they get into the space ship when the rocket is so tall? 8) How come the rocket can only take 5 or 6 people in it but so many more people fly in the plane? I thought the rocket was more powerful than the plane!
Goodness - I needed some physics expert next to me to answer all his questions clearly. Thankfully B came home in the middle of these questions and I told him to take over and answer all these clearly.
On the plus side though, both kids were so hungry that they ate their dinner really fast. I usually read to them as they eat their dinner. Today's book was "A trip to the moon" with pictures of astronauts and the different components of a rocket/space ship etc. KB was reeling of so many questions some of which I have to look up the answers to. 1) Mamma, if the sun is in outer space, why does it look as if it is inside the earth? 2) If outer space does not have gravity and earth has gravity, then where does gravity even come from? 3) If earth has gravity, then how come clouds don't get pulled down by that force? 4) How far do we have to dig to get to the earth's core? 5) How are rocks formed? How can soil turn into hard rock? 6) Where do they get the oxygen from inside the space ship? 7) How do they get into the space ship when the rocket is so tall? 8) How come the rocket can only take 5 or 6 people in it but so many more people fly in the plane? I thought the rocket was more powerful than the plane!
Goodness - I needed some physics expert next to me to answer all his questions clearly. Thankfully B came home in the middle of these questions and I told him to take over and answer all these clearly.
Is god alive?
Normally a question like that comes loaded with the anxiety and anguish of the person saying it. But coming from a child the question "Is God alive?" is just that - a question of pure curiosity. KB was talking to me about something - I can't remember the context of the conversation - but I said something like - "That's why God gave us a mind to think!". I knew the moment I said it that the conversation will turn to God.
KB immediately asked me, "Mamma, is God alive?". I was in the middle of what I was doing and I didn't want the conversation to turn in this direction. So I just made light of his question and said, "Well, KB, hard to say. Anyway - I was just saying that we can think". He pondered still about his own question and said, "Mamma, I think God is something someone made up. It is just a word, it is not a real person. It is like how you say Leprechaun".
Oh dear! How did it come to this! I did not continue the conversation about this at that point in time. He still has his favorites when it comes to Gods. Hanuman is his most favorite God. But on the other hand this idea has somehow gotten into his head. I guess the ambivalence I feel about God is something he feels too. He has to develop his own personal God as he grows up and comes to understand his world more and more. Nevertheless, it was funny in its own way!
KB immediately asked me, "Mamma, is God alive?". I was in the middle of what I was doing and I didn't want the conversation to turn in this direction. So I just made light of his question and said, "Well, KB, hard to say. Anyway - I was just saying that we can think". He pondered still about his own question and said, "Mamma, I think God is something someone made up. It is just a word, it is not a real person. It is like how you say Leprechaun".
Oh dear! How did it come to this! I did not continue the conversation about this at that point in time. He still has his favorites when it comes to Gods. Hanuman is his most favorite God. But on the other hand this idea has somehow gotten into his head. I guess the ambivalence I feel about God is something he feels too. He has to develop his own personal God as he grows up and comes to understand his world more and more. Nevertheless, it was funny in its own way!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
The ipad generation
I just read this article in the NYT from a concerned parent worried about her 6 year old's addiction to ipad. As parents in this high tech world, honestly, I feel combating distractions and playing the authority figure who decides how much is too much when it comes to screen time of sorts is getting to be a little challenging. And this when my kids are just 5.5 and 3.5 years old. I have not felt the challenge yet. But I know it has started.
When KB was 3 years old, my friend used to often ask me how I managed to never turn the TV on for him. I never found it difficult because somehow he didn't ask for it, I had not exposed him to it much and I knew that when he is five or so and he gets into it, he will anyway get plenty of it. If I had to cook, I would for example set out two little jars of water and some smaller cups and spoons and he would pour/transfer/spill etc but it would keep him occupied for a long time. He was a calmer child then. He turned four, became this hyper energetic child, moved to a different preschool where his closest buddy was a star wars fan and would bring his toy light saber. KB got into it. At that time I had also introduced him to a couple of PBS TV shows - Dinosaur train and Sid the science kid - because KB was crazy about dinosaurs (still is to some extent) and he loved Sid the science kid which came on just before Dinosaur train. We only have basic cable in our house so the kids anyway didn't have nick jr or Disney channel etc to watch. Aside from these shows KB got into Star wars and Scooby doo. Being the obsessive kid that he is, he totally got into "Star wars". I didn't think too much about letting him watch it since he read Star wars books and his close friend also watched it without getting affected by it. My niece gifted him this big Star wars dictionary or encylopedia, I can't remember - but KB would make us read all that useless information to him but would just sound like a star wars groupie remembering all kinds of details of Sith lords and who has what kind of light saber and what not. But some good came of it. He learned a lot of new words. And Yoda became a good role model for him. He still considers himself like Yoda when it comes to mind control. That controlling one's mind can be a very powerful tool. When he got frustrated say while trying to do a little math problem or a puzzle - he is that way - too hard on himself - tearing up if he can't do it on his own without help - he would try and control his tears saying he is like Yoda. When he felt anxious about new situations, I would remind him how he is like Yoda and he can control his fears. And many a time he did work on himself as if he was Yoda. And then suddenly one day he outgrew the star wars madness. Moved on to Scooby doo. My sister, the indulgent aunt that she is, immediately mailed him a scooby-doo DVD set. From then on, he was crazy about Scooby-doo. He got a mystery machine along with the characters as a gift. He played with it every morning after his shower even on school days. Just a quick hello and time with the characters. He got a whole bunch of books and it motivated him to read on his own as well since he enjoyed those books. He moved on from that phase to the Super hero phase - dressed up as Iron man for Halloween and would draw those characters etc etc. And then moved on from that phase to Ben 10 addiction. He is totally into it now and as soon as he gets back from school he "slaps on" (as he puts it) his "Omnitrix" and wears it until he goes to bed. He transforms into different aliens for different situations. He turns into grey matter when he does his math work or XLR8 when he needs to play outside. He made an "An I can read book" "Ben 10 guide" on his own - drawing about 17 characters and writing about each of them one the other side of the page. He was so proud his first book that he created of his own free will. He is still in the Ben 10 phase - frankly I am getting so tired of it - am waiting for him to outgrow this phase. All this happens on the side apart from his school work etc - without my ever having to tell him - he will never ask to take his Omnitrix to school. He constantly asks me about words he learned from Ben 10 - armor, enhanced, admire, priority, astounding, demise - and he points it out to me when I refer to Ben 10 as "Ottandi Ben 10" (useless Ben 10) - Mamma, I do learn things from Ben 10 too! :)
KG who is all of 3.5 now and started preschool only in September has watched all the shows that KB has watched and has listened to me read all kinds of books that I read to KB - Magic tree house series, Flat Stanley series, Magic school bus, and of course all the star wars and scooby books along with all the other non fiction books he reads. And now if I tell her I am going to eat her up because she is so delicious, she says, Mamma, I am going to become Humongosaur (a Ben 10 alien form) and defeat you! Which ever phase KB is in, she is in. And goes with the flow. Her preschool teacher is this awesome teacher who is a complete natural with kids. She is also a very wealthy woman whose children are all grown up and is generally in a very happy place in life now. She is also a huge fan of the ipad. She has bought several apps for her class kids to use. KG's teacher emailed me a few weeks back with photos of her playing with the i-pad and said "She is just amazing with it". She does this snake puzzle by setting it at the highest difficulty level and memory match games etc with great ease. As I walked in one day to pick her up from school, her teacher Ms.G said to me "Just watch. She is totally in charge here. She lets each kid finish their turn, takes the i-pad back from them, goes back to the main page, picks the game, sets the difficulty level for that child and gives each one their turn". And that is exactly what she was doing. One of the kids got stuck because he pressed the wrong button and he called out to his teacher to help him. KG just took the i-pad gently from him and pressed a few buttons and went back to the main page and brought it back to where he was before his teacher could even get to it. Ms.G turned to me and said, "See, I told you, she is totally in charge here. She is just amazing with it". May be it is being the second child or it is her nature. But I don't know if KB would have done all that with that much ease. He is more careful with it - he would not pull a puzzle piece into a slot that fast - he would pause to make sure it was the right piece. Even when he plays chess he thinks so much before making his move. Their inherent nature plays out even in such small things.
Back to my main point. How much of all this is too much? KB is now getting into nickjr.com games. KG is getting addicted to morestarfall.com. And when we buy the i-pad this year, am sure there will more of that to deal with - both in good and bad ways. Moderation is key. But even deciding what is moderation is hard when you know they are learning something, enjoying themselves too. And at least so far when the weather is good and we have time we are always at the park. I make sure they meet with their friends and play rather than sit and watch videos. But one fall out from all this is the time to play board games. Between doing school work, piano practice, chess every now and then, and now these computer games and reading books to them, it is so hard to find time to play board games. When KB was 3 plus we used to play board games almost every night. I do feel bad about that. It is not an easy thing I feel - allocating time for the million things. While the noise drives me crazy at times, I am still most happy when I see KB and KG playing their pretend games for a long time jumping on our bed and hiding under blankets and what not. No amount of puzzle solving or learning games on the computer matches the joy I feel when I see them do that. I had my first computer when I was in graduate school. From that to seeing these kids playing with i-pads at age three, it is taking some adjustment in deciding what's OK and what's not. Hopefully the kids will turn out OK! What do you think?
When KB was 3 years old, my friend used to often ask me how I managed to never turn the TV on for him. I never found it difficult because somehow he didn't ask for it, I had not exposed him to it much and I knew that when he is five or so and he gets into it, he will anyway get plenty of it. If I had to cook, I would for example set out two little jars of water and some smaller cups and spoons and he would pour/transfer/spill etc but it would keep him occupied for a long time. He was a calmer child then. He turned four, became this hyper energetic child, moved to a different preschool where his closest buddy was a star wars fan and would bring his toy light saber. KB got into it. At that time I had also introduced him to a couple of PBS TV shows - Dinosaur train and Sid the science kid - because KB was crazy about dinosaurs (still is to some extent) and he loved Sid the science kid which came on just before Dinosaur train. We only have basic cable in our house so the kids anyway didn't have nick jr or Disney channel etc to watch. Aside from these shows KB got into Star wars and Scooby doo. Being the obsessive kid that he is, he totally got into "Star wars". I didn't think too much about letting him watch it since he read Star wars books and his close friend also watched it without getting affected by it. My niece gifted him this big Star wars dictionary or encylopedia, I can't remember - but KB would make us read all that useless information to him but would just sound like a star wars groupie remembering all kinds of details of Sith lords and who has what kind of light saber and what not. But some good came of it. He learned a lot of new words. And Yoda became a good role model for him. He still considers himself like Yoda when it comes to mind control. That controlling one's mind can be a very powerful tool. When he got frustrated say while trying to do a little math problem or a puzzle - he is that way - too hard on himself - tearing up if he can't do it on his own without help - he would try and control his tears saying he is like Yoda. When he felt anxious about new situations, I would remind him how he is like Yoda and he can control his fears. And many a time he did work on himself as if he was Yoda. And then suddenly one day he outgrew the star wars madness. Moved on to Scooby doo. My sister, the indulgent aunt that she is, immediately mailed him a scooby-doo DVD set. From then on, he was crazy about Scooby-doo. He got a mystery machine along with the characters as a gift. He played with it every morning after his shower even on school days. Just a quick hello and time with the characters. He got a whole bunch of books and it motivated him to read on his own as well since he enjoyed those books. He moved on from that phase to the Super hero phase - dressed up as Iron man for Halloween and would draw those characters etc etc. And then moved on from that phase to Ben 10 addiction. He is totally into it now and as soon as he gets back from school he "slaps on" (as he puts it) his "Omnitrix" and wears it until he goes to bed. He transforms into different aliens for different situations. He turns into grey matter when he does his math work or XLR8 when he needs to play outside. He made an "An I can read book" "Ben 10 guide" on his own - drawing about 17 characters and writing about each of them one the other side of the page. He was so proud his first book that he created of his own free will. He is still in the Ben 10 phase - frankly I am getting so tired of it - am waiting for him to outgrow this phase. All this happens on the side apart from his school work etc - without my ever having to tell him - he will never ask to take his Omnitrix to school. He constantly asks me about words he learned from Ben 10 - armor, enhanced, admire, priority, astounding, demise - and he points it out to me when I refer to Ben 10 as "Ottandi Ben 10" (useless Ben 10) - Mamma, I do learn things from Ben 10 too! :)
KG who is all of 3.5 now and started preschool only in September has watched all the shows that KB has watched and has listened to me read all kinds of books that I read to KB - Magic tree house series, Flat Stanley series, Magic school bus, and of course all the star wars and scooby books along with all the other non fiction books he reads. And now if I tell her I am going to eat her up because she is so delicious, she says, Mamma, I am going to become Humongosaur (a Ben 10 alien form) and defeat you! Which ever phase KB is in, she is in. And goes with the flow. Her preschool teacher is this awesome teacher who is a complete natural with kids. She is also a very wealthy woman whose children are all grown up and is generally in a very happy place in life now. She is also a huge fan of the ipad. She has bought several apps for her class kids to use. KG's teacher emailed me a few weeks back with photos of her playing with the i-pad and said "She is just amazing with it". She does this snake puzzle by setting it at the highest difficulty level and memory match games etc with great ease. As I walked in one day to pick her up from school, her teacher Ms.G said to me "Just watch. She is totally in charge here. She lets each kid finish their turn, takes the i-pad back from them, goes back to the main page, picks the game, sets the difficulty level for that child and gives each one their turn". And that is exactly what she was doing. One of the kids got stuck because he pressed the wrong button and he called out to his teacher to help him. KG just took the i-pad gently from him and pressed a few buttons and went back to the main page and brought it back to where he was before his teacher could even get to it. Ms.G turned to me and said, "See, I told you, she is totally in charge here. She is just amazing with it". May be it is being the second child or it is her nature. But I don't know if KB would have done all that with that much ease. He is more careful with it - he would not pull a puzzle piece into a slot that fast - he would pause to make sure it was the right piece. Even when he plays chess he thinks so much before making his move. Their inherent nature plays out even in such small things.
Back to my main point. How much of all this is too much? KB is now getting into nickjr.com games. KG is getting addicted to morestarfall.com. And when we buy the i-pad this year, am sure there will more of that to deal with - both in good and bad ways. Moderation is key. But even deciding what is moderation is hard when you know they are learning something, enjoying themselves too. And at least so far when the weather is good and we have time we are always at the park. I make sure they meet with their friends and play rather than sit and watch videos. But one fall out from all this is the time to play board games. Between doing school work, piano practice, chess every now and then, and now these computer games and reading books to them, it is so hard to find time to play board games. When KB was 3 plus we used to play board games almost every night. I do feel bad about that. It is not an easy thing I feel - allocating time for the million things. While the noise drives me crazy at times, I am still most happy when I see KB and KG playing their pretend games for a long time jumping on our bed and hiding under blankets and what not. No amount of puzzle solving or learning games on the computer matches the joy I feel when I see them do that. I had my first computer when I was in graduate school. From that to seeing these kids playing with i-pads at age three, it is taking some adjustment in deciding what's OK and what's not. Hopefully the kids will turn out OK! What do you think?
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Do you think about death?
It is quite amazing always to me how the body and mind adapt to changes how ever grudgingly in the beginning. You can get used to more work or less work just as easily. The inertia that sets in when you get used to a certain routine and feel so reluctant when you have to change it. My father-in-law alternates between living in the US and back home. He came a few days back and it means a lot of changes in my life. Mainly the cooking of full meals every morning and tiffin at night all with less oil and salt. Going from just cooking for the kids in the morning to planning a full meal every night and rush and cook it in the morning takes some getting used to. Sometimes it irks me how nothing changes for the "son" pretty much when he "takes care" of the parent/s but so much changes for the DIL and yet the way it is talked about is "Oh, yeah, he is with his son". Well, I am talking about the average Indian family here, am sure there are many families where this is not the case.
I am very conscious of our duty as a couple towards my father-in-law (as well as to my mother). I feel sad that he has lost his wife. My mother-in-law was a very courageous woman in the real sense of the word. She did not get fazed by difficulties in life. She could handle most things smartly and without getting too stressed about it. I miss her myself. But sometimes when I see my FIL I feel like asking him if he thinks of her, does he miss her or has he gotten used to it? He very rarely he talks about her except may be in some anecdotal way talking about some event. I feel bad when I think of how even me and my siblings talk less and less about my father - we do remember him and talk about him - but that intensity with which we used to talk about him the first year he passed away has gone down. May be because he lived a full life unlike some others I know like my cousin who died of cancer a month after my dad and her son was still in high school. It doesn't feel so bad when you know someone lived a complete life and passed away before it got to a point of suffering and living on with bad health. My cousin's death still does not feel real to me - somehow I never shed a tear over it because honestly I could not feel it being so far away. But I do feel this strange feeling of disbelief, of wanting to talk to her and feeling that pain when I know I cannot talk to her. Tears, no. Sometimes my own reactions to loss surprises me.
So back to my FIL. When I see him go on in the sunset of his life without his life companion and just doing mundane every day tasks from one day to the next, I just wonder what goes on through his mind. And I can't also help but wonder how will it be for us when we grow old? Who will go first and how the other will handle it. I joke to B saying, "Hey, if you dare to go before me, I will kill you!". And I feel worried almost that B too in his characteristic "head on his shoulders" way of dealing with things will just move on and focus on the future but I will be forgotten. OK, don't kill me. I am morbid that way - think a lot about death. In reality though, how can a living human being mourn all the time? Impossible. You just have to move on. Some situations like the death of a child, of course, I can imagine one never ever recovers from that. Especially if it is an only child and they are left alone after that. It happened to B's close friend's parents.
The other day my FIL went to his room after his dinner as he always does to read a book for some time and then go to sleep. I went in to get the kids in bed and when I came out I just peeked in my FIL's room. He had turned the other way and was sound asleep but with the lights on and no book in hand either. I got nervous for a second and tapped him and woke him up just to make sure he was OK. He said he just fell asleep and didn't bother to turn off the lights. Somehow that image of him alone there with the lights on made me feel sad. If we had gone to bed may be he would have noticed only in the middle of the night. It is really not a big deal - yet some images make you feel sad. One of my friends who used to work out furiously said to me "I am just spending my youth preparing for old age". And he wasn't fully joking. And it is true. In some sense if you don't take care of yourself and end up with bad health in old age, it is a very tough life for both yourself and the care takers. Which of course in my old age will be some nurse I am sure!
It is as usual late at night, the only time I can write peacefully. I am a little hungry, tired from a long day and it is late. May be I shouldn't be posting this one and revealing my morbid thoughts to every one. Do any of you ever wonder about these sorts of things?
I am very conscious of our duty as a couple towards my father-in-law (as well as to my mother). I feel sad that he has lost his wife. My mother-in-law was a very courageous woman in the real sense of the word. She did not get fazed by difficulties in life. She could handle most things smartly and without getting too stressed about it. I miss her myself. But sometimes when I see my FIL I feel like asking him if he thinks of her, does he miss her or has he gotten used to it? He very rarely he talks about her except may be in some anecdotal way talking about some event. I feel bad when I think of how even me and my siblings talk less and less about my father - we do remember him and talk about him - but that intensity with which we used to talk about him the first year he passed away has gone down. May be because he lived a full life unlike some others I know like my cousin who died of cancer a month after my dad and her son was still in high school. It doesn't feel so bad when you know someone lived a complete life and passed away before it got to a point of suffering and living on with bad health. My cousin's death still does not feel real to me - somehow I never shed a tear over it because honestly I could not feel it being so far away. But I do feel this strange feeling of disbelief, of wanting to talk to her and feeling that pain when I know I cannot talk to her. Tears, no. Sometimes my own reactions to loss surprises me.
So back to my FIL. When I see him go on in the sunset of his life without his life companion and just doing mundane every day tasks from one day to the next, I just wonder what goes on through his mind. And I can't also help but wonder how will it be for us when we grow old? Who will go first and how the other will handle it. I joke to B saying, "Hey, if you dare to go before me, I will kill you!". And I feel worried almost that B too in his characteristic "head on his shoulders" way of dealing with things will just move on and focus on the future but I will be forgotten. OK, don't kill me. I am morbid that way - think a lot about death. In reality though, how can a living human being mourn all the time? Impossible. You just have to move on. Some situations like the death of a child, of course, I can imagine one never ever recovers from that. Especially if it is an only child and they are left alone after that. It happened to B's close friend's parents.
The other day my FIL went to his room after his dinner as he always does to read a book for some time and then go to sleep. I went in to get the kids in bed and when I came out I just peeked in my FIL's room. He had turned the other way and was sound asleep but with the lights on and no book in hand either. I got nervous for a second and tapped him and woke him up just to make sure he was OK. He said he just fell asleep and didn't bother to turn off the lights. Somehow that image of him alone there with the lights on made me feel sad. If we had gone to bed may be he would have noticed only in the middle of the night. It is really not a big deal - yet some images make you feel sad. One of my friends who used to work out furiously said to me "I am just spending my youth preparing for old age". And he wasn't fully joking. And it is true. In some sense if you don't take care of yourself and end up with bad health in old age, it is a very tough life for both yourself and the care takers. Which of course in my old age will be some nurse I am sure!
It is as usual late at night, the only time I can write peacefully. I am a little hungry, tired from a long day and it is late. May be I shouldn't be posting this one and revealing my morbid thoughts to every one. Do any of you ever wonder about these sorts of things?
Thursday, February 03, 2011
May I be excused? Not.
KB had his surgical procedure done the day before yesterday early in the morning. The two moles (atypical neuvi) were scraped off and stitches were put in by the dermatologist surgeon. I had bought KB an Omnitrix
as a reward for cooperating with us to get this done. I figured I might as well give it to him before the surgery rather than after it. It sure came in handy because KB was completely distracted by it and talking about it the morning of the surgery. He talked about it and explained the whole concept of Ben 10 and the different alien forms to the nurses. When the anesthesiologist walked in and was talking to him, he challenged her saying, "I am sure I wont fall asleep no matter how much anesthesia you give me. I have too much energy". She was this tall, supremely confident sounding woman who turned to me and said, "He sure is a talker. I could talk to him for the next four hours!". When it was time for him to be wheeled into the OR, I told KB I would see him in a few minutes. I felt bad conning him like that but I had no choice. I didn't want him to feel the anxiety. I knew a minute after going in, they would give him the general anesthesia.
We took KG along with us to the hospital. Both kids woke up by 5.45 a.m. that day. B got her ready for school at 8.30 a.m. while I was inside with KB. He dropped her at school and came back by 9.30 a.m. I was so sleepy because I had not slept much at all and I had not had anything to drink since the previous night - I just could not get myself to that morning because we were not allowed to give KB anything to drink until after the surgery. B saw me slouched on the waiting room chair and went downstairs to get coffee and Biscotti. Of course, Murphy's law - exactly at that point the surgeon came out to tell me, "KB is up. But he is mad because he is in a new place and he is a little disoriented because the anesthesia is wearing out". I ran in and saw him crying loudly, with IV needles and electrodes for monitoring still stuck on him. He hates to even have band-aid on himself longer than needed. He was hungry, disoriented and angry with the doctors for "troubling him so much". Somehow we managed to sign all the discharge papers and got him into the car seat and started driving when he instantly fell asleep. He slept for a couple of hours after we got home. He had some milk after he woke up though it was lunch time. He had some cereal and then asked to shower. He normally likes to shower first thing in the morning. He was again very upset that he could not shower for a day. I toweled him down with a warm towel and changed his clothes after which he felt OK.
He is recovering slowly now. Walking slowly because there are two sets of stitches in his lower abdomen. He is scared when I touch the bandaged area to apply antibacterial ointment. I sent him to school today. Normally after they have a quick snack during their lunch break (KB has his real lunch at home), they ask the lunch teacher, "May I be excused?" and then they go off to play. Today KB told me, "I won't ask Mrs.X may I be excused, Mamma...I will just sit with a friend and talk because I cannot run". Later in the afternoon when I picked him up I asked him how it went. He said, "Mamma, twice I asked my friend E to sit with me. But he didn't!". I then asked KB, "Were you OK with it?". He said, "Yeah Mamma, I was OK. I just watched the other kids play. And I watched all the ravens". Thank God for a boy who delights in nature and in little children. KB loves to see little children waddling and talking baby language. He loves to see bees trying to get nectar from flowers and watch the gulls fly up in the air and count how many of them are flying. I felt a tug in my heart at the image of my child sitting there alone but I made myself stronger and grow just a little more as a parent. I told him, "KB, I am so happy that you were OK. You don't always need a friend sitting next to you right". He said, "Yeah, I don't always need a friend sitting next to me. I had fun looking at the ravens".
Suture removal in two weeks. Thanks to all of you for your good wishes. Will keep you posted on the progress in two weeks.
as a reward for cooperating with us to get this done. I figured I might as well give it to him before the surgery rather than after it. It sure came in handy because KB was completely distracted by it and talking about it the morning of the surgery. He talked about it and explained the whole concept of Ben 10 and the different alien forms to the nurses. When the anesthesiologist walked in and was talking to him, he challenged her saying, "I am sure I wont fall asleep no matter how much anesthesia you give me. I have too much energy". She was this tall, supremely confident sounding woman who turned to me and said, "He sure is a talker. I could talk to him for the next four hours!". When it was time for him to be wheeled into the OR, I told KB I would see him in a few minutes. I felt bad conning him like that but I had no choice. I didn't want him to feel the anxiety. I knew a minute after going in, they would give him the general anesthesia.
We took KG along with us to the hospital. Both kids woke up by 5.45 a.m. that day. B got her ready for school at 8.30 a.m. while I was inside with KB. He dropped her at school and came back by 9.30 a.m. I was so sleepy because I had not slept much at all and I had not had anything to drink since the previous night - I just could not get myself to that morning because we were not allowed to give KB anything to drink until after the surgery. B saw me slouched on the waiting room chair and went downstairs to get coffee and Biscotti. Of course, Murphy's law - exactly at that point the surgeon came out to tell me, "KB is up. But he is mad because he is in a new place and he is a little disoriented because the anesthesia is wearing out". I ran in and saw him crying loudly, with IV needles and electrodes for monitoring still stuck on him. He hates to even have band-aid on himself longer than needed. He was hungry, disoriented and angry with the doctors for "troubling him so much". Somehow we managed to sign all the discharge papers and got him into the car seat and started driving when he instantly fell asleep. He slept for a couple of hours after we got home. He had some milk after he woke up though it was lunch time. He had some cereal and then asked to shower. He normally likes to shower first thing in the morning. He was again very upset that he could not shower for a day. I toweled him down with a warm towel and changed his clothes after which he felt OK.
He is recovering slowly now. Walking slowly because there are two sets of stitches in his lower abdomen. He is scared when I touch the bandaged area to apply antibacterial ointment. I sent him to school today. Normally after they have a quick snack during their lunch break (KB has his real lunch at home), they ask the lunch teacher, "May I be excused?" and then they go off to play. Today KB told me, "I won't ask Mrs.X may I be excused, Mamma...I will just sit with a friend and talk because I cannot run". Later in the afternoon when I picked him up I asked him how it went. He said, "Mamma, twice I asked my friend E to sit with me. But he didn't!". I then asked KB, "Were you OK with it?". He said, "Yeah Mamma, I was OK. I just watched the other kids play. And I watched all the ravens". Thank God for a boy who delights in nature and in little children. KB loves to see little children waddling and talking baby language. He loves to see bees trying to get nectar from flowers and watch the gulls fly up in the air and count how many of them are flying. I felt a tug in my heart at the image of my child sitting there alone but I made myself stronger and grow just a little more as a parent. I told him, "KB, I am so happy that you were OK. You don't always need a friend sitting next to you right". He said, "Yeah, I don't always need a friend sitting next to me. I had fun looking at the ravens".
Suture removal in two weeks. Thanks to all of you for your good wishes. Will keep you posted on the progress in two weeks.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Hopeful 2011!
I had planned out grand posts in my mind to resurrect my idle blog into an active one at the start of the new year. Well, grand posts fade in my head when I sit down to write late at night. "Tomorrow" is the key word that springs to mind. So finally I am giving up on the grand post and just writing something I over heard and brought a smile to my face when KB and KG were talking while they were watching TV.
KG (who is 3.5 now) shouting to me from the living room - Mamma, today I won't "veral chappi" (suck on my thumb) because I don't want bacteria to get into my stomach.
KB (who is 5 yrs 4m now) telling her - No!
KG - Yes!
KB - NO, that's not the problem. If you veral chappi then your teeth will stick out like a Saber tooth tiger!
That's the funny part when these kids talk to each other. He doesn't try to dumb it down for KG because she is younger than him. If he thinks she will look like a Saber tooth tiger, he assumes she knows what such a tiger looks like and says it matter of factly.
Update to the mole situation from my last post. We consulted three dermatologists and all three of them feel it is atypical and it is better we have it removed. It has to be under general anesthesia because of the way KB is - very aware of his surroundings, anxious, sensitive. They said it is better to do it that way than attempt a local shot. It is probably going to take an hour - I am dreading how I am going to convince him to wake up and come with us to the hospital at 6.30 a.m. in the morning. But if the insurance approval comes through, it should get done end of the month. My stomach goes in knots when I think about it but I am trying to calm myself down about it and not think about it until the day of the procedure.
KB is enjoying his Kindergarten and KG is loving her preschool. It is such a joy and a heart break to see them at school. Esp for KB - being amongst the younger ones and being a gentle one, as a parent I am learning to stand back and let him sort things out to the extent I can. His growing pains are mine too. I joke to my friend that I am also now studying Kindergarten!
KG (who is 3.5 now) shouting to me from the living room - Mamma, today I won't "veral chappi" (suck on my thumb) because I don't want bacteria to get into my stomach.
KB (who is 5 yrs 4m now) telling her - No!
KG - Yes!
KB - NO, that's not the problem. If you veral chappi then your teeth will stick out like a Saber tooth tiger!
That's the funny part when these kids talk to each other. He doesn't try to dumb it down for KG because she is younger than him. If he thinks she will look like a Saber tooth tiger, he assumes she knows what such a tiger looks like and says it matter of factly.
Update to the mole situation from my last post. We consulted three dermatologists and all three of them feel it is atypical and it is better we have it removed. It has to be under general anesthesia because of the way KB is - very aware of his surroundings, anxious, sensitive. They said it is better to do it that way than attempt a local shot. It is probably going to take an hour - I am dreading how I am going to convince him to wake up and come with us to the hospital at 6.30 a.m. in the morning. But if the insurance approval comes through, it should get done end of the month. My stomach goes in knots when I think about it but I am trying to calm myself down about it and not think about it until the day of the procedure.
KB is enjoying his Kindergarten and KG is loving her preschool. It is such a joy and a heart break to see them at school. Esp for KB - being amongst the younger ones and being a gentle one, as a parent I am learning to stand back and let him sort things out to the extent I can. His growing pains are mine too. I joke to my friend that I am also now studying Kindergarten!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
One second at a time...
So much happens and time goes by in a flash...so much is going unrecorded which I am not happy about. I do want to write more often for my sake and for my few good friends who care to read and write to me as well.
In a gist:
KB turned five in August and started kindergarten. He seems to be enjoying his new school. For a child who cried for a whole month when he started preschool at age three, it is quite some emotional growth to be able to drop him off in a new classroom for five hours, wave good bye and leave right on the first day. Knock on wood.
KG started preschool. As I expected it was quite the breeze. We took her to her new school - a lovely warm atmosphere with tons of play and pretty much play, song and dance being the main theme there. The teacher had set out small tubs of paint and some paper cut out to paint on. KG sat down to paint and picked her favorite pink color. After a few minutes of hanging out there and taking photos I said bye to KG. She casually said "bye mamma" and continued painting. She did hold my hand a little longer the second week when the novelty wore out but when I told her I would come later to pick her up, she just went off to play outside.
On Sep 4 morning, KB and KG were playing in the house chasing each other. One moment we were all dancing to a music CD. I went into the study room for a minute. I suddenly heard a thud and crying - I ran out to look - KB was holding his left eye and blood was running down. In panic I got him to remove his hand to check if his eye was hurt. Thank God for big mercies the cut was in his left eyebrow. One minute we were planning our outing for that weekend and the next minute we were driving to ER. They had to give him a shot to numb him and then put in four stitches to seal the cut. Five days later, I had to take him to his regular pediatrician to have the sutures removed. It does show but not too badly. Hopefully with time, it will be barely visible.
KB has a birth mark, a good size mole on his lower abdomen area. I had written about the tension I went through in this post. It has resurfaced again. I took KB to his five year physical when I casually mentioned to the pediatrician to take a look at the mole just to be sure it is OK. He asked me if it looked different. I was taken aback - I do keep an eye on it - it didn't look any different to me - but how can I be so sure - I had no measurements. Our pede decided to refer him to a dermatologist to just make sure it was OK. I took KB last afternoon to a dermatologist. The derm takes one quick look and asks me if it looks different. Again I told him it did not "look" different to me but how could I be sure at a clinical level. The derm then casually told me that it looks "abnormal" and that KB needs to go through a procedure where they would give a shot to numb the area and then scrape out the moles (one bigger, the other smaller one). I told him I wanted to think about it and talk to my husband and then make a decision. KB grilled me on the drive back with questions like "Are they going to remove all my birth marks?", "How do they know this one might hurt when I become big?", "Why do they want to remove it if they don't know for sure?", "Did you have your birthmarks removed when you were a kid?"....It was hard to answer all his questions in the mood I was in. But the matter still remains to be dealt with. I have asked our pede for a referral to see another derm for a second opinion. If I pause too long to think about it and let my mind go wild, I feel like there is a stone in my heart. I am just praying it will be something KB and I can stomach and get through and get back home after a procedure to remove it if it comes to that.
I was talking to my sister the other day when she said to me, "we need to just take it one day at a time". I was joking with her saying I only take it one second at a time. Just can't predict what will happen the next moment. These days my feeling is - if I can deal with it and come back home in a couple of hours - that is fine even if I have to go through some level of tension (like the day KB went to ER), anger and disappointment. My prayer more and more is for the health and safety of the kids and of people in general. Rest can be managed. If you are reading this, that is my top wish for you and your family.
In a gist:
KB turned five in August and started kindergarten. He seems to be enjoying his new school. For a child who cried for a whole month when he started preschool at age three, it is quite some emotional growth to be able to drop him off in a new classroom for five hours, wave good bye and leave right on the first day. Knock on wood.
KG started preschool. As I expected it was quite the breeze. We took her to her new school - a lovely warm atmosphere with tons of play and pretty much play, song and dance being the main theme there. The teacher had set out small tubs of paint and some paper cut out to paint on. KG sat down to paint and picked her favorite pink color. After a few minutes of hanging out there and taking photos I said bye to KG. She casually said "bye mamma" and continued painting. She did hold my hand a little longer the second week when the novelty wore out but when I told her I would come later to pick her up, she just went off to play outside.
On Sep 4 morning, KB and KG were playing in the house chasing each other. One moment we were all dancing to a music CD. I went into the study room for a minute. I suddenly heard a thud and crying - I ran out to look - KB was holding his left eye and blood was running down. In panic I got him to remove his hand to check if his eye was hurt. Thank God for big mercies the cut was in his left eyebrow. One minute we were planning our outing for that weekend and the next minute we were driving to ER. They had to give him a shot to numb him and then put in four stitches to seal the cut. Five days later, I had to take him to his regular pediatrician to have the sutures removed. It does show but not too badly. Hopefully with time, it will be barely visible.
KB has a birth mark, a good size mole on his lower abdomen area. I had written about the tension I went through in this post. It has resurfaced again. I took KB to his five year physical when I casually mentioned to the pediatrician to take a look at the mole just to be sure it is OK. He asked me if it looked different. I was taken aback - I do keep an eye on it - it didn't look any different to me - but how can I be so sure - I had no measurements. Our pede decided to refer him to a dermatologist to just make sure it was OK. I took KB last afternoon to a dermatologist. The derm takes one quick look and asks me if it looks different. Again I told him it did not "look" different to me but how could I be sure at a clinical level. The derm then casually told me that it looks "abnormal" and that KB needs to go through a procedure where they would give a shot to numb the area and then scrape out the moles (one bigger, the other smaller one). I told him I wanted to think about it and talk to my husband and then make a decision. KB grilled me on the drive back with questions like "Are they going to remove all my birth marks?", "How do they know this one might hurt when I become big?", "Why do they want to remove it if they don't know for sure?", "Did you have your birthmarks removed when you were a kid?"....It was hard to answer all his questions in the mood I was in. But the matter still remains to be dealt with. I have asked our pede for a referral to see another derm for a second opinion. If I pause too long to think about it and let my mind go wild, I feel like there is a stone in my heart. I am just praying it will be something KB and I can stomach and get through and get back home after a procedure to remove it if it comes to that.
I was talking to my sister the other day when she said to me, "we need to just take it one day at a time". I was joking with her saying I only take it one second at a time. Just can't predict what will happen the next moment. These days my feeling is - if I can deal with it and come back home in a couple of hours - that is fine even if I have to go through some level of tension (like the day KB went to ER), anger and disappointment. My prayer more and more is for the health and safety of the kids and of people in general. Rest can be managed. If you are reading this, that is my top wish for you and your family.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Shantha swaroopini - 3
I was initially thinking I would stop at part 2. But there are a couple of things about her that I forgot to mention that I am sure I would delight in remembering when she is much older. So I had to continue on with this thread.
KG has a way of dealing with anger - both hers and mine. It amazes me when I witness "inherent nature" right in front of me in my two kids. There is only so much nurture can do in shaping a person's personality. When we were in NJ visiting my cousin, KG was constantly climbing up and down the stairs and refusing to come down to what ever it was I was calling her for. When I yelled at her, she just screamed "I want fruit snack and joooooos". A totally irrelevant comment said in a complaining tone. She doesn't know how to respond to my adult way of yelling with a string of words said rapidly, but she deflects it with randomness. She just throws you off and makes you ask "What?". She does this so often - just say something - sometimes funny also - that you just loose that heat of your temper a little bit! KB on the other hand would take my words seriously and respond like a lawyer with an argument addressing exactly what I said in yelling at him!
How can I post about KG's personality without mentioning how she is the biggest fan and biggest "pest" her brother has?! Right from learning her ABC's to learning about dinosaurs and to "inventing" dinosaurs she has learned every bit on her own from just being around her brother. We read to her but I never had to sit with her and show her her letters or numbers. When/how she learned it without going to school I don't know but I think it is totally thanks to her brother. What ever he does, she has to do. If he drops a pencil on the floor by chance, she has to also drop something - if she doesn't have anything in her hand, she will pick one up and drop it just like her brother! If he watches "Scooby-doo" she has to also watch it. She used to watch "Star wars" with him and know all the main characters at age 2.5 when KB was totally crazy about it. She used to pretend to defeat imaginary bad guys with her light saber just like her brother KB. I had to buy her a light saber because KB insisted I do so! And now that he has moved on from "Star wars" to "Scooby-doo", she too has moved on and sings the Scooby-doo title song one that she learned on her own. She sings a big song on "Triceratops" dinosaur from just listening to a "Dinosaurs" music CD in the car because KB catches on to the words of every song and sings along. If she messes up some words, of course, her perfectionist brother argues with her saying, "KG, you know to say three, it is three sharp horns upon it's nose, NOT "gree""! We love her baby talk and if she sings the words wrong, we make no attempt to correct her. But KB doesn't allow that. He was a born thatha, always pronouncing the words correctly! So he doesn't let his sister get away with it if he thinks she is capable of saying some word the correct way. Which by the way KG pronounces as "Kerect" and so both me and husband always say "Oh, yeah, KG, you said it the "kerect" way!".
KG also gets on KB's nerves by breaking toys, tearing pages in books, ripping things apart etc! His "lift the flap" books from when he was a baby - most of the flaps would be totally intact and in good condition. Unless a few tore from over use. But KG on the other hand was not interested in what was under the flap. She was interested in the flap itself. She would try to rip it first. And for a long time, she did not want us to read any books with long sentences. KB used to read 20 page books back to us verbatim at age 2.5. No kidding. KG on the other hand at 2.5 was still absolutely not interested in long story books. Just wanted to look at the pictures and she wanted us to tell her the story in Tamil/English mixed in colloquial style. All of a sudden in the last few months she loves to listen to story books. Thanks to KB she even listens to "Dinosaur encylopedia" and "Magic tree house" books and asks us to tell her Jack & Annie stories. Like her brother she even invents dinosaurs. Though she can't tell us details of its anatomy and diet and location where the fossils were discovered etc like KB does, she still does a pretty good job of making it up. She told me yesterday, "Mamma, I invented a dinosaur. It is called Loxtasaurus. It is like a snake and it is taller than a dinosaur. It eats spiders"!
People including my husband sometimes tease me that I do have a little extra soft spot for KB. It is so hard to explain...I just love them both the same but in different ways. KB, I feel protective of even now because I feel like he needs me more and is more sensitive. KG, I am so grateful to, because she needs me less emotionally but I give my heart to her because she has helped me so much already by just being her. KB had to deal with our stumbling and learning as first time parents. KG benefited from it. With KB we had no yard sticks to compare him to for learning milestones. KG - we compared her to KB but with the ease that comes with second time around, not worrying but just noting the differences. KG enriches both KB's and our lives with her easy temperament. KB makes us feel love, joy, anxiety - all emotions - as intensely as he does. KB's intensity and perfectionist attitude is complemented by KG's carefree and daring attitude. KB is bold and confident when it comes to talking to new people. KG would be shy and take longer to warm up. KB (at age three) made it so difficult for me to leave him in a new preschool. KG is about to start preschool in September. Yet it is KB who I worry about because he is going to start Kindergarten in a Montessori environment which is new to him. They are both so different. But when B asked him yesterday, "KB, are you excited that you will have five days holidays after your summer program ends and your kindergarten starts? You will be home with Mamma?". He said immediately, "Daddy, I am excited because I can play with KG!". Even today if someone asks him what his favorite thing to do is, he would say "Playing with my sister"! On Raksha Bandan day, I pray to the powers that be, "Please, let them be as bonded as they are today and be there for each other always!" and "God hope their spouses get along really well"!
I was going to post photos - instead decided to make it per interest. So if you would like to see the photos I was going to post pertaining to this post, please mail me at wondernoon@gmail and I will send you the link. I still havent' put it up, but will do if any one mails me!
KG has a way of dealing with anger - both hers and mine. It amazes me when I witness "inherent nature" right in front of me in my two kids. There is only so much nurture can do in shaping a person's personality. When we were in NJ visiting my cousin, KG was constantly climbing up and down the stairs and refusing to come down to what ever it was I was calling her for. When I yelled at her, she just screamed "I want fruit snack and joooooos". A totally irrelevant comment said in a complaining tone. She doesn't know how to respond to my adult way of yelling with a string of words said rapidly, but she deflects it with randomness. She just throws you off and makes you ask "What?". She does this so often - just say something - sometimes funny also - that you just loose that heat of your temper a little bit! KB on the other hand would take my words seriously and respond like a lawyer with an argument addressing exactly what I said in yelling at him!
How can I post about KG's personality without mentioning how she is the biggest fan and biggest "pest" her brother has?! Right from learning her ABC's to learning about dinosaurs and to "inventing" dinosaurs she has learned every bit on her own from just being around her brother. We read to her but I never had to sit with her and show her her letters or numbers. When/how she learned it without going to school I don't know but I think it is totally thanks to her brother. What ever he does, she has to do. If he drops a pencil on the floor by chance, she has to also drop something - if she doesn't have anything in her hand, she will pick one up and drop it just like her brother! If he watches "Scooby-doo" she has to also watch it. She used to watch "Star wars" with him and know all the main characters at age 2.5 when KB was totally crazy about it. She used to pretend to defeat imaginary bad guys with her light saber just like her brother KB. I had to buy her a light saber because KB insisted I do so! And now that he has moved on from "Star wars" to "Scooby-doo", she too has moved on and sings the Scooby-doo title song one that she learned on her own. She sings a big song on "Triceratops" dinosaur from just listening to a "Dinosaurs" music CD in the car because KB catches on to the words of every song and sings along. If she messes up some words, of course, her perfectionist brother argues with her saying, "KG, you know to say three, it is three sharp horns upon it's nose, NOT "gree""! We love her baby talk and if she sings the words wrong, we make no attempt to correct her. But KB doesn't allow that. He was a born thatha, always pronouncing the words correctly! So he doesn't let his sister get away with it if he thinks she is capable of saying some word the correct way. Which by the way KG pronounces as "Kerect" and so both me and husband always say "Oh, yeah, KG, you said it the "kerect" way!".
KG also gets on KB's nerves by breaking toys, tearing pages in books, ripping things apart etc! His "lift the flap" books from when he was a baby - most of the flaps would be totally intact and in good condition. Unless a few tore from over use. But KG on the other hand was not interested in what was under the flap. She was interested in the flap itself. She would try to rip it first. And for a long time, she did not want us to read any books with long sentences. KB used to read 20 page books back to us verbatim at age 2.5. No kidding. KG on the other hand at 2.5 was still absolutely not interested in long story books. Just wanted to look at the pictures and she wanted us to tell her the story in Tamil/English mixed in colloquial style. All of a sudden in the last few months she loves to listen to story books. Thanks to KB she even listens to "Dinosaur encylopedia" and "Magic tree house" books and asks us to tell her Jack & Annie stories. Like her brother she even invents dinosaurs. Though she can't tell us details of its anatomy and diet and location where the fossils were discovered etc like KB does, she still does a pretty good job of making it up. She told me yesterday, "Mamma, I invented a dinosaur. It is called Loxtasaurus. It is like a snake and it is taller than a dinosaur. It eats spiders"!
People including my husband sometimes tease me that I do have a little extra soft spot for KB. It is so hard to explain...I just love them both the same but in different ways. KB, I feel protective of even now because I feel like he needs me more and is more sensitive. KG, I am so grateful to, because she needs me less emotionally but I give my heart to her because she has helped me so much already by just being her. KB had to deal with our stumbling and learning as first time parents. KG benefited from it. With KB we had no yard sticks to compare him to for learning milestones. KG - we compared her to KB but with the ease that comes with second time around, not worrying but just noting the differences. KG enriches both KB's and our lives with her easy temperament. KB makes us feel love, joy, anxiety - all emotions - as intensely as he does. KB's intensity and perfectionist attitude is complemented by KG's carefree and daring attitude. KB is bold and confident when it comes to talking to new people. KG would be shy and take longer to warm up. KB (at age three) made it so difficult for me to leave him in a new preschool. KG is about to start preschool in September. Yet it is KB who I worry about because he is going to start Kindergarten in a Montessori environment which is new to him. They are both so different. But when B asked him yesterday, "KB, are you excited that you will have five days holidays after your summer program ends and your kindergarten starts? You will be home with Mamma?". He said immediately, "Daddy, I am excited because I can play with KG!". Even today if someone asks him what his favorite thing to do is, he would say "Playing with my sister"! On Raksha Bandan day, I pray to the powers that be, "Please, let them be as bonded as they are today and be there for each other always!" and "God hope their spouses get along really well"!
I was going to post photos - instead decided to make it per interest. So if you would like to see the photos I was going to post pertaining to this post, please mail me at wondernoon@gmail and I will send you the link. I still havent' put it up, but will do if any one mails me!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Shantha swaroopini - 2
KG was three weeks old or so when a friend (a friend's wife who became my good friend also) came to spend a week with us to help me and my mom since my mom is old and also my father had passed away just five months before KG was born. She would sing "Thaaramaiya Ragukula Ramachandiraraa" and other lovely Telugu songs KG would calmly listen...and when she fell asleep she would be left in the little cradle and she would sleep so peacefully. I am now thinking of the first day when she came from the hospital and we let her sleep in that little cradle while I attended to KB who refused to eat unless I fed him myself. He just ignored the new little baby in the cradle for a few hours. And to think of how soon they became bonded - him playing with her tender soft feet while I nursed her, being so gracious and generous in letting me spend time with her...and how she would be entertained by him and became so used to his presence around her at most times. And how far the two of them have come...playing air hockey together like two big kids, while I was cooking this morning. Just twenty two months apart, they are now like buddies. They are so different in personality but are so close to each other and just dote on each other.
We often call KG, Danica, because of her obsession with cars. KG has always loved playing with cars. Not so much the movie "Cars" but actually playing with little cars. She still does it. Every morning after I drop KB at school and come back home with her, she goes to her train, rides it to the family room (which is their play room) and opens up the trunk and pulls out some 10 hot wheels cars and lines them up to make a parking lot or puts them in some fashion that it looks like a traffic jam. She still rides on her train from room to room and does tricks with it like lifting the front of it while sitting on it. She has to park her train in some parking spot in some corner of the house when I call her for something. If I tell her to come have her lunch, she often dodges me saying, "aaahhm...after I play cars for a littu bit"!
KG has a good sense of humor - she makes funny faces or says silly things that make you laugh. For example, we had a visitor who's daughter's name was Maya. That night KG told me, "Mamma, Maya kutti ponnu is a Maiasaura" and started giggling away. While she can do that, she is so different from KB in how she shows her excitement. She will only give a muted smile with her cheeks puffing up when she gets something she likes or finds something exciting. KB on the hand would show more raw emotion be it happiness or sadness.
KG has this playful tradition of "giving me cheek". If I grind my teeth and come rushing to her and hug her and pinch her cheeks, she would say "give me my cheek back" loudly. And if I make a sad face, she will say, "Mamma, I will give you 100 cheeks, not just one OK" and pretend like she is plucking some cheek from her own and stick it on to mine a bunch of times and then tell me "I gave you 100 cheeks mamma".
It would be quite strange if she actually became a CEO some day because of the number of times people have said that about her. Funny because she is actually quite shy by nature and takes longer to warm up than KB. But she is so strong willed and decisive in the way she conducts herself that different people have said "wow, she is a CEO"!. Once we were at the swimming pool when I playing with my friend's son. I playfully asked KG, "shall I give two odhais (spanking) for A?". She immediately gave this very emphatic and clear "Yes". I then asked KG "Why KG, why do you want me to give him odhai?". Her immediate answer was "Because I said yes"! Yes, Maam!
She still has a little bit of baby language left in her. And we try hard to preserve it. For example she somehow started saying "Cindrellella" instead of "Cindrella" . So both me and my husband always only refer to that character as "Cindrellella". Poor baby - she might get teased in preschool for saying it the wrong way.
She is a tigress when it comes to defending her brother. Let some kid come and grab "Anna's" toy...if she hears a semblance of a protest from her brother, she will join in and go and tell that kid, "It is Anna's" and make sure to retrieve it for her brother. For all her ability to take care of herself she seems so giving and generous that it sometimes worries me that she can be taken for a ride by other kids. When we were waiting on the sides at KB's swim class, KG had four cookies in her little snack bag and she had just started eating the first one. A friend's daughter came that side and just gently mentioned that she too wanted those cookies. KG immediately just gave all the three remaining cookies to her in an instant. I didn't even have to ask her to share it with her friend. She sometimes fights with her brother refusing to share her favorite train or cars but even so if he really looks sad, she would immediately give it to him.
More coming...
We often call KG, Danica, because of her obsession with cars. KG has always loved playing with cars. Not so much the movie "Cars" but actually playing with little cars. She still does it. Every morning after I drop KB at school and come back home with her, she goes to her train, rides it to the family room (which is their play room) and opens up the trunk and pulls out some 10 hot wheels cars and lines them up to make a parking lot or puts them in some fashion that it looks like a traffic jam. She still rides on her train from room to room and does tricks with it like lifting the front of it while sitting on it. She has to park her train in some parking spot in some corner of the house when I call her for something. If I tell her to come have her lunch, she often dodges me saying, "aaahhm...after I play cars for a littu bit"!
KG has a good sense of humor - she makes funny faces or says silly things that make you laugh. For example, we had a visitor who's daughter's name was Maya. That night KG told me, "Mamma, Maya kutti ponnu is a Maiasaura" and started giggling away. While she can do that, she is so different from KB in how she shows her excitement. She will only give a muted smile with her cheeks puffing up when she gets something she likes or finds something exciting. KB on the hand would show more raw emotion be it happiness or sadness.
KG has this playful tradition of "giving me cheek". If I grind my teeth and come rushing to her and hug her and pinch her cheeks, she would say "give me my cheek back" loudly. And if I make a sad face, she will say, "Mamma, I will give you 100 cheeks, not just one OK" and pretend like she is plucking some cheek from her own and stick it on to mine a bunch of times and then tell me "I gave you 100 cheeks mamma".
It would be quite strange if she actually became a CEO some day because of the number of times people have said that about her. Funny because she is actually quite shy by nature and takes longer to warm up than KB. But she is so strong willed and decisive in the way she conducts herself that different people have said "wow, she is a CEO"!. Once we were at the swimming pool when I playing with my friend's son. I playfully asked KG, "shall I give two odhais (spanking) for A?". She immediately gave this very emphatic and clear "Yes". I then asked KG "Why KG, why do you want me to give him odhai?". Her immediate answer was "Because I said yes"! Yes, Maam!
She still has a little bit of baby language left in her. And we try hard to preserve it. For example she somehow started saying "Cindrellella" instead of "Cindrella" . So both me and my husband always only refer to that character as "Cindrellella". Poor baby - she might get teased in preschool for saying it the wrong way.
She is a tigress when it comes to defending her brother. Let some kid come and grab "Anna's" toy...if she hears a semblance of a protest from her brother, she will join in and go and tell that kid, "It is Anna's" and make sure to retrieve it for her brother. For all her ability to take care of herself she seems so giving and generous that it sometimes worries me that she can be taken for a ride by other kids. When we were waiting on the sides at KB's swim class, KG had four cookies in her little snack bag and she had just started eating the first one. A friend's daughter came that side and just gently mentioned that she too wanted those cookies. KG immediately just gave all the three remaining cookies to her in an instant. I didn't even have to ask her to share it with her friend. She sometimes fights with her brother refusing to share her favorite train or cars but even so if he really looks sad, she would immediately give it to him.
More coming...
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Shantha Swaroopini
The title doesn't sound much like the post I have been promising to write - the one about KG. Even to the people who know her casually, the title may not seem apt for a post about KG. But from the people who know her well, it will elicit an approving nod. I am not sure if I somehow imagined her to be that way and hence continue to perceive her as someone with an inner calm and strength ("shantham") ignoring the fact we very often call her "Rakshashi" since she can be that too pretty often. What ever it is, I feel that she has that inner calm and an ability to just be content with herself. I wish I could be like her sometimes. Not in the way that kids in general are able to move on but in the way that you know will be a part of her personality even as an adult.
When I was pregnant with my first child, I assumed it would be a girl. But when the nurse casually mentioned that it was a boy, I was kind of taken aback. What would I do with a boy...I only imagined myself with a girl baby. But once KB arrived, I got used to having a boy. The second time around, I actually didn't mind if it were to be another boy. This time around, I was so happy with KB that I was OK with another boy. When I found out it was going to be a girl, I took it in stride. I was happy I was going to have one of each but it was not like I was over joyed that it was going to be a girl. I would have been OK either way. But the more KG grows up, the more I feel so grateful to have a girl. And of course as her mother, I feel especially blessed to have a girl like KG. And I pray often that my perception of her is right and that she really is able to hold her own and have that quiet strength about her even as an adult.
Being the second child, KG just grew up in a blink. She turned three in June and I feel like it was only yesterday she was born. The first blessing after having struggled so much with KB's sleep issues was that she would sleep on her own from about 2m of age (until about 18m after which she needed us to pat her to sleep but would still not give us a hard time about it). Having gone through sleep issues with KB, I still feel so thankful to KG for making life easier by just being a good sleeper. The other big blessing is that she is not a picky eater like KB. But for her I would have constantly suffered this guilt that it must be me why KB is such a picky eater and is so difficult over all with eating. It felt like the Gods took pity on me when we gave her the first spoon of solids and she just opened her mouth wide (unlike KB's bird mouth habit) and ate her food so quickly. She is always open to trying new foods and when she says "enough" it is really because she is full and doesn't need more food. She was not much into milk- quite the opposite of her brother - but of late she has become more accepting of it. Because of the eating troubles I continue to have with KB, I am so grateful and appreciative of the fact that KG doesn't give me a hard time when it comes to eating. Every single meal, I feel thankful for it.
To be continued....
When I was pregnant with my first child, I assumed it would be a girl. But when the nurse casually mentioned that it was a boy, I was kind of taken aback. What would I do with a boy...I only imagined myself with a girl baby. But once KB arrived, I got used to having a boy. The second time around, I actually didn't mind if it were to be another boy. This time around, I was so happy with KB that I was OK with another boy. When I found out it was going to be a girl, I took it in stride. I was happy I was going to have one of each but it was not like I was over joyed that it was going to be a girl. I would have been OK either way. But the more KG grows up, the more I feel so grateful to have a girl. And of course as her mother, I feel especially blessed to have a girl like KG. And I pray often that my perception of her is right and that she really is able to hold her own and have that quiet strength about her even as an adult.
Being the second child, KG just grew up in a blink. She turned three in June and I feel like it was only yesterday she was born. The first blessing after having struggled so much with KB's sleep issues was that she would sleep on her own from about 2m of age (until about 18m after which she needed us to pat her to sleep but would still not give us a hard time about it). Having gone through sleep issues with KB, I still feel so thankful to KG for making life easier by just being a good sleeper. The other big blessing is that she is not a picky eater like KB. But for her I would have constantly suffered this guilt that it must be me why KB is such a picky eater and is so difficult over all with eating. It felt like the Gods took pity on me when we gave her the first spoon of solids and she just opened her mouth wide (unlike KB's bird mouth habit) and ate her food so quickly. She is always open to trying new foods and when she says "enough" it is really because she is full and doesn't need more food. She was not much into milk- quite the opposite of her brother - but of late she has become more accepting of it. Because of the eating troubles I continue to have with KB, I am so grateful and appreciative of the fact that KG doesn't give me a hard time when it comes to eating. Every single meal, I feel thankful for it.
To be continued....
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Cycle of life
We had gone to two opposite coasts in the last two weeks to attend two different family functions - my nephew's thread ceremony and my older nephew's wedding. It was absolutely wonderful meeting old friends and also meeting all my siblings at both events.
I couldn't help but feel at times like there was a part of me that sort of sat back and observed all that was happening even if I was a participant myself. The introvert in me wanting to just sit back and take it all in. I looked at my nephew as he recited the Gayatri Mantra during the ceremony and I couldn't believe there was a time when I was a student when I used to play ball with him or chase after him and hug him. And there were other kids who were just eight years old when I last saw them ten years back and suddenly they were tall, voice changed and looking so grown up and in college.
At my other nephew's wedding, I couldn't help but wish my father had been present. He would have relished the novelty of it all - the first person in the immediate family to marry a non-Indian, a very creatively done small wedding unlike the big galas we were used to in our family, no priest what so ever - just an old man, a family friend who officiated the wedding...and my father would have been so proud of my handsome nephew in his wedding suit...we all missed him yet no one really said anything to each other - we all just talked and laughed and teased...every now and then I couldn't help but pause and think about how the cycle of life just keeps on moving, stops for none. Every birth feels like a miracle to me each time to see a newborn baby...and yet when I distance myself and look at the relentless cycle of life - a child is born, he grows up and goes to college, gets a job, gets married, has kids...it seems a tad ordinary. The trivialities that form knots in our heads and keep us up at night seem so...futile, irrelevant in the big picture of life. Petty remarks, hurt feelings over small things all seem so pointless in this big picture. And yet it is these atomic details that make the experience of living so real and you just cannot skip over these to the end. When you step back, both the miraculous and mundane seem so beautifully intertwined.
Now for the mundane reality - I am falling asleep on my laptop - I need to stop and go to bed now!
I couldn't help but feel at times like there was a part of me that sort of sat back and observed all that was happening even if I was a participant myself. The introvert in me wanting to just sit back and take it all in. I looked at my nephew as he recited the Gayatri Mantra during the ceremony and I couldn't believe there was a time when I was a student when I used to play ball with him or chase after him and hug him. And there were other kids who were just eight years old when I last saw them ten years back and suddenly they were tall, voice changed and looking so grown up and in college.
At my other nephew's wedding, I couldn't help but wish my father had been present. He would have relished the novelty of it all - the first person in the immediate family to marry a non-Indian, a very creatively done small wedding unlike the big galas we were used to in our family, no priest what so ever - just an old man, a family friend who officiated the wedding...and my father would have been so proud of my handsome nephew in his wedding suit...we all missed him yet no one really said anything to each other - we all just talked and laughed and teased...every now and then I couldn't help but pause and think about how the cycle of life just keeps on moving, stops for none. Every birth feels like a miracle to me each time to see a newborn baby...and yet when I distance myself and look at the relentless cycle of life - a child is born, he grows up and goes to college, gets a job, gets married, has kids...it seems a tad ordinary. The trivialities that form knots in our heads and keep us up at night seem so...futile, irrelevant in the big picture of life. Petty remarks, hurt feelings over small things all seem so pointless in this big picture. And yet it is these atomic details that make the experience of living so real and you just cannot skip over these to the end. When you step back, both the miraculous and mundane seem so beautifully intertwined.
Now for the mundane reality - I am falling asleep on my laptop - I need to stop and go to bed now!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
The SAHM debate
I am off for a couple of weeks visiting family. I have not been posting regularly - but felt like I should say bye to the people who might visit my blog till the end of the month - just to let them know I will be gone for a bit.
I thought my next post will be about KG. That draft is still in my head. Her third birthday is on June 17 - hope to post at least by then - exclusively about KG!
MM's latest post on SAHM is flooding her comments box. Understandably so. When the celebrity blogger (meant positively) writes on the hot topic, people want to pour their heart out in response. And I feel like writing a whole long post in response! No time though. Pretty late in the night as it is.
Different strokes for different folks - that's how I have come to view it now. And to some extent it boils down to what you get used to, what you need to do to raise your children. Some women don't have a choice, they have to work to earn money. Others are blessed with the choice. Neither choice is easy. Being a SAHM mom takes a little more conviction since you are subtly or blatantly looked down often by other working women and even by other SAHMs who have a low opinion of themselves. And if you happen to have educated yourself beyond UG level, forget it, they look down on you like you should be digging a grave for yourself. Like who would educate themselves so much only to "sit" at home! I have so much as heard outbursts like, "What?! WHY would you stay at home?!!" And then politely (not) follow it up with, "well, hats off to you, I couldn't do that".
When I toured preschools for KB when he was 2.5, I saw some little children in the full day day care and I just could not, absolutely could not get myself to do it. A nanny may have been OK provided I had some one at home to just oversee the nanny. Either way I did not want my baby to be spending whole days in a day care or away from me. Part time options would be OK but those jobs are scarce to nil and in my field that would require being in the lab, it is very rare. The money simply didn't make it worthwhile to send two kids to day care or have a nanny at home. I have zero family support here for contingencies and I just did not want to deal with the stress of it all. I felt like some of those children looked so worn out having to wander around in that same room with a whole bunch of other kids and only so much attention paid to them. My friend who has to work to be able to keep up their mortgage etc tells me such stories of how the child looks/feels at the end of the day. My father-in-law lives with us and I have to cook a full meal in the morning and go to drop off and pick up KB - so the mornings are pretty busy. So I do end up not being able to pay attention to KG at those times. But I keep talking to her while cooking and if she needs me to sit with her for a few minutes while she eats her grapes or comes to feed me her toy food, I am right there. Yes, I am not able to give her my 100% at all times even as a SAHM, but I am there for her when she needs me. And she can hang loose and be a child and not have to follow strict rules all the time. And if she is sleepy at 11.00 a.m. instead of at 2.00 p.m. on some days, she can sleep in a cozy bed with her favorite music playing in the room. I do feel upset and sad at times when I think of how my career didn't take off and may never really, but I don't see a better choice. I am glad I am able to do this and that my husband is able to support us in this choice. I want to be able to cherish these childhood years with them. The only real negative and very real one I see to this choice is what if...I shudder to even complete that sentence. In this economy it is a huge risk. I don't know how to get around that.
I see some working women who finally quit their jobs because the stress was too much. I only hear them say how much their children love the fact that they are not constantly rushed or that they don't have to spend the whole day away from home. And yet I find some of them so defensive of their SAHM status.
Women do it to each other. The viciousness with which they attack each other is so shocking that you wonder if they ever got past second grade. I just don't see why both sides can't just try and understand why certain choices were made and stop themselves from spewing out nonsensical comments and hurt each other. If someone is ambitious and really cannot see themselves not working, so be it. If someone wants to take a few years off and only have a low key career and be there more for the children, so be it too. It is only that woman and her family who have to deal with those choices. What is it to any one else?! You can have your own strong opinions on the topic but why attack an individual who is not asking anything of you in the process? One woman asked me with this self righteous tone, "Soow, do you plan to start looking for jobs?". I wonder how she would have felt if in that same tone I had asked, "Soo, do you have any plan of quitting your job?".
I do see merit to working - but sometimes the work/life balance just doesn't happen and you have to find ways to balance it. In the process, you do loose the confidence that took years to gain during the process of educating yourself. And you do get older and loose out in that sense too. But there is always plenty of need for volunteers in so many fields and eventually one of those will lead to some kind of job that might both be meaningful and give room for raising kids. You make the choices that will keep the family intact and allow you to keep your sanity. And in the end you do hope you have done the best for your children and your family.
OK blog pals, will see you in two weeks! Absolutely no time to even read what I have written here let alone edit it. Forgive the typos and ramblings! Wish us a safe trip!
I just read about the killings of KG children in China. My heart just bleeds for the children and their parents. What is the world coming to? We watch "Criminal minds" and think this can happen only in TV shows. But the news each day is so gut wrenching that if you stop to think about it, it is hard to even get out of the house. Anyway - sadly, I am thinking now about how I have to pack for my trip tomorrow! Life goes on.
I thought my next post will be about KG. That draft is still in my head. Her third birthday is on June 17 - hope to post at least by then - exclusively about KG!
MM's latest post on SAHM is flooding her comments box. Understandably so. When the celebrity blogger (meant positively) writes on the hot topic, people want to pour their heart out in response. And I feel like writing a whole long post in response! No time though. Pretty late in the night as it is.
Different strokes for different folks - that's how I have come to view it now. And to some extent it boils down to what you get used to, what you need to do to raise your children. Some women don't have a choice, they have to work to earn money. Others are blessed with the choice. Neither choice is easy. Being a SAHM mom takes a little more conviction since you are subtly or blatantly looked down often by other working women and even by other SAHMs who have a low opinion of themselves. And if you happen to have educated yourself beyond UG level, forget it, they look down on you like you should be digging a grave for yourself. Like who would educate themselves so much only to "sit" at home! I have so much as heard outbursts like, "What?! WHY would you stay at home?!!" And then politely (not) follow it up with, "well, hats off to you, I couldn't do that".
When I toured preschools for KB when he was 2.5, I saw some little children in the full day day care and I just could not, absolutely could not get myself to do it. A nanny may have been OK provided I had some one at home to just oversee the nanny. Either way I did not want my baby to be spending whole days in a day care or away from me. Part time options would be OK but those jobs are scarce to nil and in my field that would require being in the lab, it is very rare. The money simply didn't make it worthwhile to send two kids to day care or have a nanny at home. I have zero family support here for contingencies and I just did not want to deal with the stress of it all. I felt like some of those children looked so worn out having to wander around in that same room with a whole bunch of other kids and only so much attention paid to them. My friend who has to work to be able to keep up their mortgage etc tells me such stories of how the child looks/feels at the end of the day. My father-in-law lives with us and I have to cook a full meal in the morning and go to drop off and pick up KB - so the mornings are pretty busy. So I do end up not being able to pay attention to KG at those times. But I keep talking to her while cooking and if she needs me to sit with her for a few minutes while she eats her grapes or comes to feed me her toy food, I am right there. Yes, I am not able to give her my 100% at all times even as a SAHM, but I am there for her when she needs me. And she can hang loose and be a child and not have to follow strict rules all the time. And if she is sleepy at 11.00 a.m. instead of at 2.00 p.m. on some days, she can sleep in a cozy bed with her favorite music playing in the room. I do feel upset and sad at times when I think of how my career didn't take off and may never really, but I don't see a better choice. I am glad I am able to do this and that my husband is able to support us in this choice. I want to be able to cherish these childhood years with them. The only real negative and very real one I see to this choice is what if...I shudder to even complete that sentence. In this economy it is a huge risk. I don't know how to get around that.
I see some working women who finally quit their jobs because the stress was too much. I only hear them say how much their children love the fact that they are not constantly rushed or that they don't have to spend the whole day away from home. And yet I find some of them so defensive of their SAHM status.
Women do it to each other. The viciousness with which they attack each other is so shocking that you wonder if they ever got past second grade. I just don't see why both sides can't just try and understand why certain choices were made and stop themselves from spewing out nonsensical comments and hurt each other. If someone is ambitious and really cannot see themselves not working, so be it. If someone wants to take a few years off and only have a low key career and be there more for the children, so be it too. It is only that woman and her family who have to deal with those choices. What is it to any one else?! You can have your own strong opinions on the topic but why attack an individual who is not asking anything of you in the process? One woman asked me with this self righteous tone, "Soow, do you plan to start looking for jobs?". I wonder how she would have felt if in that same tone I had asked, "Soo, do you have any plan of quitting your job?".
I do see merit to working - but sometimes the work/life balance just doesn't happen and you have to find ways to balance it. In the process, you do loose the confidence that took years to gain during the process of educating yourself. And you do get older and loose out in that sense too. But there is always plenty of need for volunteers in so many fields and eventually one of those will lead to some kind of job that might both be meaningful and give room for raising kids. You make the choices that will keep the family intact and allow you to keep your sanity. And in the end you do hope you have done the best for your children and your family.
OK blog pals, will see you in two weeks! Absolutely no time to even read what I have written here let alone edit it. Forgive the typos and ramblings! Wish us a safe trip!
I just read about the killings of KG children in China. My heart just bleeds for the children and their parents. What is the world coming to? We watch "Criminal minds" and think this can happen only in TV shows. But the news each day is so gut wrenching that if you stop to think about it, it is hard to even get out of the house. Anyway - sadly, I am thinking now about how I have to pack for my trip tomorrow! Life goes on.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
When imagination runs wild!
I keep telling myself that a)I should post more often no matter who reads it, at least I can read it at some point. b) I should write about KG more often.
I have done neither. And sorry, this is yet another post about KB (Kutti boy no more - he turned 4.5 this month and he was super excited about it). Shoot me!
OK, I promise, once I am done with this post (in two parts), the next one will be about KG. A Mama-Mia style post about KG.
Back to my KB post. I can't remember what the context was, but KB once argued with me "How come that is possible?" and I said "Well, it's OK, anything is possible in your imagination". That seems to have been ingrained in his mind. That and of course the fact that he is 4.5 now and is full of imaginary scenarios and full of questions.
If I read a book about the human body, he has to "invent" a bone or a muscle. If I read a book on dinosaurs, he has to "invent" a dinosaur. Stories - of course - he loves stories so much - he "invents" so many of them. The other day, finally I decided to pick up any random thing I found and just write a few of the things he has invented! He sat down like a guru in his little "Elmo couch" while I picked up my 2009 diary and sat on the floor while he listed his "inventions" for me to jot down! These are exact descriptions as he gave it to me that I wrote down in my diary. It was quite the funny scene. Here are some of them for your/my amusement!
Did you know
1) Igla - is the name of the "Thumb bone"? And "Obstrator" is the bone that helps you move your arm?
2) Nascapulae - is a muscle in the stomach that drains bath water when it goes down the throat (while daddy puts soap water on KB's face).
3) Inzotek - a machine invented by KB (picture drawing will be posted later) - that can do lots of things. It can make a dinosaur alive if you put dinosaur DNA into it.
4) Chanberian Cheetah - It is a new kind of Cheetah. It roars loudly. It is faster than the well known Cheetahs and it lives in South America. It could eat people by running very fast behind them.
5) Salonthologist - is a person who studies these Chanberian Cheetahs.
6) Saber toothed snake - It has little black stripes and it is half orange and half yellow and it coule stick out its tongue very long. It has fangs that is the shape of a saber tooth.
7) Dezmiradasaurus - It lived in the Triassic period because it was one of the oldest dinosaurs ever. It was 40 tons in weight and 80 feet tall. It is so big, it can even butt all other dinosaurs. It has studs, spikes and horns and a club in its tail. it has very strong bones and then it had knife teeth.
8) Gerbivore - the Dezmiradasaurus was a gerbivore - it eats everything - water, leaves, meat, bushes, sand, rocks, mud.
9) Hupplegut - this is my most favorite one of his "inventions". Hupplegut is a kind of fruit that has vitamin A, B,C, D, E, and K and it has lots of all these vitamins. It is crunchy like a carrot. It is green on the outside and white on the inside.
I will write a separate post on his story and super hero inventions!
I have done neither. And sorry, this is yet another post about KB (Kutti boy no more - he turned 4.5 this month and he was super excited about it). Shoot me!
OK, I promise, once I am done with this post (in two parts), the next one will be about KG. A Mama-Mia style post about KG.
Back to my KB post. I can't remember what the context was, but KB once argued with me "How come that is possible?" and I said "Well, it's OK, anything is possible in your imagination". That seems to have been ingrained in his mind. That and of course the fact that he is 4.5 now and is full of imaginary scenarios and full of questions.
If I read a book about the human body, he has to "invent" a bone or a muscle. If I read a book on dinosaurs, he has to "invent" a dinosaur. Stories - of course - he loves stories so much - he "invents" so many of them. The other day, finally I decided to pick up any random thing I found and just write a few of the things he has invented! He sat down like a guru in his little "Elmo couch" while I picked up my 2009 diary and sat on the floor while he listed his "inventions" for me to jot down! These are exact descriptions as he gave it to me that I wrote down in my diary. It was quite the funny scene. Here are some of them for your/my amusement!
Did you know
1) Igla - is the name of the "Thumb bone"? And "Obstrator" is the bone that helps you move your arm?
2) Nascapulae - is a muscle in the stomach that drains bath water when it goes down the throat (while daddy puts soap water on KB's face).
3) Inzotek - a machine invented by KB (picture drawing will be posted later) - that can do lots of things. It can make a dinosaur alive if you put dinosaur DNA into it.
4) Chanberian Cheetah - It is a new kind of Cheetah. It roars loudly. It is faster than the well known Cheetahs and it lives in South America. It could eat people by running very fast behind them.
5) Salonthologist - is a person who studies these Chanberian Cheetahs.
6) Saber toothed snake - It has little black stripes and it is half orange and half yellow and it coule stick out its tongue very long. It has fangs that is the shape of a saber tooth.
7) Dezmiradasaurus - It lived in the Triassic period because it was one of the oldest dinosaurs ever. It was 40 tons in weight and 80 feet tall. It is so big, it can even butt all other dinosaurs. It has studs, spikes and horns and a club in its tail. it has very strong bones and then it had knife teeth.
8) Gerbivore - the Dezmiradasaurus was a gerbivore - it eats everything - water, leaves, meat, bushes, sand, rocks, mud.
9) Hupplegut - this is my most favorite one of his "inventions". Hupplegut is a kind of fruit that has vitamin A, B,C, D, E, and K and it has lots of all these vitamins. It is crunchy like a carrot. It is green on the outside and white on the inside.
I will write a separate post on his story and super hero inventions!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Good night, sweet dreams....
I think back to the times when KB was an infant and I am amazed how I used to spend so much time singing to him to get him to sleep and gently let him in the crib holding my breath and praying he won't wake up in the process. He was a restless sleeper (and still is) and would wake up in the middle of the night for his feeds. After nursing KB, I would hand him over to B who would sweetly let me go to sleep while he took care of getting KB to sleep. B would sit in our computer chair and put his feet on the edge of our bed and hold him in his two hands with the head resting on his palms. He would gently rock him from side to side and whistle so many nice tunes that I too used to enjoy listening to in my half asleep state.
And then when KB was old enough to move to the toddler bed, we somehow moved to the story tradition. Which is still continuing except the stories are very elaborate and KB is an active participant in the story, making up Dinosaurs and character names! KG was different as an infant - I am ever grateful to her for being an easy sleeper at least the first 18m (and to some extent even now). I just had to turn the music on and leave her in her crib during bed time and she would go to sleep on her own if it was her bed time. And then suddenly when she turned 18m, that changed and she expected us to make her sleep. Accepting that was a little difficult for us since we got so spoilt by then. We slowly started moving her bed time to the same as KB's (she used to sleep an hour before him) just so we could all spend time together. She didn't demand much other than our presence so the stories for KB continued on while KG just drifted to sleep.
Now our bed time routines for the children take a good fifteen minutes. We usually read to them while giving them dinner and later in the living room. Somehow we have not had a "bed time" reading habit for them. They come into the bed room and first KG has her teeth brushed. But she only lets us brush her teeth after she has brushed it herself. In the meanwhile, I give KB his night clothes and then it is his turn to brush his teeth. He goes on and on brushing and finally comes to bed. I tuck them both in and then change into my night clothes. Then comes the fun part for all of us.
I give KG a tight crush hug and tell her "I love you" a few times and then give her a "helicopter kiss" or an "airplane kiss" or a "Kitty cat kiss" or any other animal requested by her. As soon as I give it, she says "helicopter kiss, I said it first". And then KB from his new "Spider man twin bed", would say "Mamma, I want a helicopter kiss first". Some days there are no protests. I then say "good night, sweet dreams, happy thoughts" to KG and she repeats it to me. She then says "You be (awake in the) long (winter) night", a line she learned from her brother. He said it by chance one night in our old house when he was going upstairs to sleep and from then on it stuck. Both kids say it to me every night. I then do the whole routine with KB. Except with him after I wish him sweet dreams and happy thoughts, I ask him "What are your happy thoughts today?" and then we come up with a quick bullet point summary of all the fun things that he did that day. Today for example, it was "M's birthday party, toy story tee shirt from mamma, ride on the giant wheel and carousel, eating at Baja fresh, his favorite place for cheese quesedillas". I then ask him "So will you sleep happy tonight" and he says "Yeah" and then says, "you be awake in the long winter night" and then I leave the room while B stays on to tell a story for KB. I tell KB his nap time story and B tells him his bedtime story.
Our night time sleep routine for the kids just fills me with joy. It is one of the best times of each day for me - hugging them tight and making them feel snug and warm under their blankets and making them feel secure in our love and thinking of all the happy things that happened that day. It just feels like family, those moments. B just waits patiently and when I am done with all the fuss, KG just says "Kitvaa pannanum" (I want to come closer (kitta vaa)). She goes and sticks to B's back and turns the other way and goes to sleep while he faces KB's bed and tells KB his night time story. Later when we go to bed, we move KG to her toddler bed from our bed. Of course there are nights when it is not so pleasant when either kid is sick or when KB wakes up with bad dreams. But when things are normal, those moments are blissful. I wonder how long this particular night time tradition will continue...may be 2 or 3 more years until they grow up and don't need so much fuss from me?
And then when KB was old enough to move to the toddler bed, we somehow moved to the story tradition. Which is still continuing except the stories are very elaborate and KB is an active participant in the story, making up Dinosaurs and character names! KG was different as an infant - I am ever grateful to her for being an easy sleeper at least the first 18m (and to some extent even now). I just had to turn the music on and leave her in her crib during bed time and she would go to sleep on her own if it was her bed time. And then suddenly when she turned 18m, that changed and she expected us to make her sleep. Accepting that was a little difficult for us since we got so spoilt by then. We slowly started moving her bed time to the same as KB's (she used to sleep an hour before him) just so we could all spend time together. She didn't demand much other than our presence so the stories for KB continued on while KG just drifted to sleep.
Now our bed time routines for the children take a good fifteen minutes. We usually read to them while giving them dinner and later in the living room. Somehow we have not had a "bed time" reading habit for them. They come into the bed room and first KG has her teeth brushed. But she only lets us brush her teeth after she has brushed it herself. In the meanwhile, I give KB his night clothes and then it is his turn to brush his teeth. He goes on and on brushing and finally comes to bed. I tuck them both in and then change into my night clothes. Then comes the fun part for all of us.
I give KG a tight crush hug and tell her "I love you" a few times and then give her a "helicopter kiss" or an "airplane kiss" or a "Kitty cat kiss" or any other animal requested by her. As soon as I give it, she says "helicopter kiss, I said it first". And then KB from his new "Spider man twin bed", would say "Mamma, I want a helicopter kiss first". Some days there are no protests. I then say "good night, sweet dreams, happy thoughts" to KG and she repeats it to me. She then says "You be (awake in the) long (winter) night", a line she learned from her brother. He said it by chance one night in our old house when he was going upstairs to sleep and from then on it stuck. Both kids say it to me every night. I then do the whole routine with KB. Except with him after I wish him sweet dreams and happy thoughts, I ask him "What are your happy thoughts today?" and then we come up with a quick bullet point summary of all the fun things that he did that day. Today for example, it was "M's birthday party, toy story tee shirt from mamma, ride on the giant wheel and carousel, eating at Baja fresh, his favorite place for cheese quesedillas". I then ask him "So will you sleep happy tonight" and he says "Yeah" and then says, "you be awake in the long winter night" and then I leave the room while B stays on to tell a story for KB. I tell KB his nap time story and B tells him his bedtime story.
Our night time sleep routine for the kids just fills me with joy. It is one of the best times of each day for me - hugging them tight and making them feel snug and warm under their blankets and making them feel secure in our love and thinking of all the happy things that happened that day. It just feels like family, those moments. B just waits patiently and when I am done with all the fuss, KG just says "Kitvaa pannanum" (I want to come closer (kitta vaa)). She goes and sticks to B's back and turns the other way and goes to sleep while he faces KB's bed and tells KB his night time story. Later when we go to bed, we move KG to her toddler bed from our bed. Of course there are nights when it is not so pleasant when either kid is sick or when KB wakes up with bad dreams. But when things are normal, those moments are blissful. I wonder how long this particular night time tradition will continue...may be 2 or 3 more years until they grow up and don't need so much fuss from me?
Monday, November 09, 2009
Play play play!
I am really pushing myself to write this post. Every night I think of writing a post, but I just feel lazy when I get to the laptop and I just read news/emails and some blog posts if I happen to blog hop (I have not yet started using google reader). There is so much I miss out by not posting - first of, the wonderful feeling of reading a few comments from blog pals and feeling that connection. And that feeling of reliving some nice moments. There are things I wish I had written about so I can go back to it now and remember what KB did when he was two or three years old. I told myself that I will just at the least write about how our weekend was since it was the kind that I most enjoy - unplanned, spontaneous, really low-key, relaxed and totally fun.
KB has started attending Bal Vihar classes on Sunday mornings. I should write a separate post on that topic since I had many arguments with B about sending KB to Bal Vihar classes. The class meets from 11.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. B did not like the idea of a block of time taken up like that every Sunday. Anyway - since he is attending those classes now, that leaves only Saturday entirely free for us to do whatever we want to. Since my FIL is in India now, I don't even need to be home for cooking meals on time. We just pack the kids lunch and go where ever we want and come back around 3.00 pm for their nap. I always feel this pressure on Saturday mornings though to make sure that our precious Saturday doesn't get wasted in mundane chores like waiting at the bank or me going grocery shopping. Some Saturdays we manage to make the most of it, some Saturdays, it does go in things like those - which is fine, but a little dull in my opinion.
So last Saturday (Nov.7), I woke up and was reading the newspaper and having my morning tea. Back of my mind, I was also thinking about where to take the kids. All fun on Saturdays is only kid-centric. A new children's museum has opened up in our city and I thought may be we could take them there. A friend of mine was planning to take her kids on a train ride in the local regional park, so I was wondering if we should join them there. Suddenly, I thought of our local zoo where I purchased a family membership. It only takes an hour or so to cover the entire zoo which includes a petting zoo. And they have a wonderful play area which is shaded and is very lively since kids who come to the zoo are always stopping there before heading back home. I had taken the kids to this zoo a few times on my own (with friends, but without B) but I thought it might be fun for the kids to go with Dad. So finally I had a plan for the day.
We left home at 11.00 a.m. and went to the zoo. I was surprised to see so many cars parked there just an hour after it opened. But thankfully it didn't feel too crowded inside. We went inside and looked around at the various animals and birds. Highlight each time of course are the Gibbon swinging monkeys. They make these wacky sounds loudly and are swinging across tree branches like Tarzan - the kids just love it. The Guanaco, from the Llama family is of course another favorite for them. We have been to this zoo so often that now KB especially talks about these animals with such familiarity. "Hey, look at that gliding turtle" he says with much familiarity when we finally spot it in a swamp. We then took the train ride around the zoo and then the kids did their customary carousel ride - KB chose the big eagle and KG the tiger (calling it Sher Khan since they are such big fans of Jungle Book). Then of course came the drudgery that KB had to endure if he were to be allowed to play in the play area. Lunch! He tried bargaining with me, but I put my foot down and said, he had to eat lunch before going to the play area. So he managed to finish 3/4th of his lunch and then begged me with his usual "Porumaa?" (can I stop now?). They then played for more than an hour in the play area. KB decided to name that play area and called it "Channing park". There was a little boy, may be four or five years old, who adamantly blocked the way when KG was trying to go through the steps leading to the slide. She first looked puzzled and then looked up at the boy and said "MOVE"! It is kind of cute to see a little girl not even realize that the boy was trying to intimidate her. She just stood there waiting for him to move. He stood his ground though and refused to move no matter how many times she told him to. Finally I had to go tell the boy "Move, please?" in a rather stern voice. Only then he moved. God save our gentle kids in school as they grow up.
Finally, we got back home around 2.30 p.m. The kids went to nap. B and I had our lunch, followed by tea. Within half an hour KB woke up. In the meanwhile, my friend said she would be coming with her two sons to the big park near our place. KB was thrilled when I told him I would take him there if he wanted to join them. So after just an hour and half or so at home, we were again out at the park. KB wore the tiger mask I had bought for him at the zoo and startled his friend when he met him at the park. KB decided that they were going to be "people rescuers" (from Diego) that rescue people from the giant. The bright red, tall and curvy slide he said was the beanstalk. KB said he found the key and unlocked the magic harp and defeated the giant when he went up the slide (walking the wrong way up!). They played on and on going on the castle like structure and defeated several more giants with their super hero tactics. With the day light savings time now, it gets dark very early. By 5.15 or so, it was pretty dark. But there were some kids in the park and as always we don't leave until most people have left! Now the kids decided on some sand play. All the monkeys climbed on top of the sand tunnels and made sand mountains and what not. The weather was cool and there was some lighting in the park. It just felt good to see the kids just play on and on without any worries.
After an eternity at the park, we finally got home around 7.00 p.m. I quickly made their dinner and they ate around 8.00 p.m. B had to go buy milk since we were running out. I had to entertain both kids, so we decided to play hide and seek. KG of course kept giving away our hiding place by running with me and saying "Mamma" and looking at me when we were ducking behind the bed. I had bought a tub of vinyl Dinosaurs for KB at the zoo. He is so into Dinosaurs now that we pretend to be different Dinosaurs at different times. We played the Dinosaur tickle attack game where I would hide outside the room and then after a moment of silence suddenly spring into the room screaming "The Barosaurus is coming" and with my hand pretend to have a long neck and come and tickle the hyper excited screaming kids to the end of the bed. And for KG's sake we played the Dino counting game where the three of us just screamed ONE, TWO, THREE together while counting the tub of Dinosaurs. There was so much laughter in that room when B walked in, I told him that he had to come right away into the room and to join us.
It was a day full of childish pleasures from simple games and things. Just filled my heart with joy. I did not have time to think about much else and we just lived in the moment and I felt like I was also four years old when playing with my kids! KB told his dad this morning, "Dad, you know, some bad people killed the Tamarin monkeys and now there are only 400 Tamarin monkeys left (in the wild, which he did not say)". KB went to school this morning and told his teacher, "I went to the zoo. You know what my favorite animal is? The swinging monkey. It sat on a branch and ate leaves. You know, if you upset the Guanaco, it will spit on you". His teacher, who is amazingly sweet and wonderful with kids said, "eww...hair gel for me?".
Later, she was asking the kids to say some word in the letter their names begin with and KB said "Herrerasaurus" since his name begins with a "H". It was as if the weekend of animals, park, dinosaurs, sand play etc was still in his head and he was barely getting out of the weekend mode!
I met an Indian woman at the park on a day when KB did not have school. She asked me how old he was and I told her he had turned four in August. She immediately said to me, "Oh, he is four. Why don't you put him in the Abacus class (for Math)? My daughter has been going there, it is really good". She meant well, I did not take offense to her. I do get nervous when I talk to such parents that I have not enrolled KB in any kind of academic class and he only goes to half a day school, that too not a Montessori school. But when I think of days like last Saturday, I feel like my heart is full - that feeling of just giving him the time to just be, to enjoy life's simple pleasures in a way that only a child can...he was learning in his own way that day too. It was not academic in a rigorous way but he was enjoying it fully. We have read so many books that he learned phonics on his own and is able to read simple books just from that even if he didn't attend any phonics classes. He does simple mental math while playing "Bear's birthday party" with made up stories of how many bears would be in the room if four more bears joined the party etc etc doing mental addition in the process. I feel at ease "teaching" him this way rather than in a more rigorous way through classes. B sometimes feel we are being "too" relaxed and we should remember that he will be competing against the hard core Indian and Chinese kids who are always pushed to be one or two grades higher than their age level. I tell myself that I will also try to be more of an academic mom but when the clock shows 3.45 p.m. and I know there is only an hour of day light left, I still find myself rushing to get the kids ready to go to the park rather than stay home and do some activity books. And when we get back, it is time to cook dinner, feed them etc, so it leaves us only half an hour or so to do "work" before his bed time. If he brings his "Frog and toad" book and wants dad to read to him, we just say OK rather than force him to sit and write his numbers. I just hope "going with the flow" is also an accepted method of parenting that will work out OK in the end.
For now, I am glad I wrote about a day filled with play and more play that I can read about when KB is slogging away at his homework, studying for his SAT's after a quick shower and dinner when he gets back from his soccer game, finishing the science project report and practicing the piano for his upcoming concert and emailing the volunteer coordinator while checking the score for the NFL game! :) Enjoy it now, you little giant defeater, for the pressures of adulthood wait for you as you go up that beanstalk!
KB has started attending Bal Vihar classes on Sunday mornings. I should write a separate post on that topic since I had many arguments with B about sending KB to Bal Vihar classes. The class meets from 11.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. B did not like the idea of a block of time taken up like that every Sunday. Anyway - since he is attending those classes now, that leaves only Saturday entirely free for us to do whatever we want to. Since my FIL is in India now, I don't even need to be home for cooking meals on time. We just pack the kids lunch and go where ever we want and come back around 3.00 pm for their nap. I always feel this pressure on Saturday mornings though to make sure that our precious Saturday doesn't get wasted in mundane chores like waiting at the bank or me going grocery shopping. Some Saturdays we manage to make the most of it, some Saturdays, it does go in things like those - which is fine, but a little dull in my opinion.
So last Saturday (Nov.7), I woke up and was reading the newspaper and having my morning tea. Back of my mind, I was also thinking about where to take the kids. All fun on Saturdays is only kid-centric. A new children's museum has opened up in our city and I thought may be we could take them there. A friend of mine was planning to take her kids on a train ride in the local regional park, so I was wondering if we should join them there. Suddenly, I thought of our local zoo where I purchased a family membership. It only takes an hour or so to cover the entire zoo which includes a petting zoo. And they have a wonderful play area which is shaded and is very lively since kids who come to the zoo are always stopping there before heading back home. I had taken the kids to this zoo a few times on my own (with friends, but without B) but I thought it might be fun for the kids to go with Dad. So finally I had a plan for the day.
We left home at 11.00 a.m. and went to the zoo. I was surprised to see so many cars parked there just an hour after it opened. But thankfully it didn't feel too crowded inside. We went inside and looked around at the various animals and birds. Highlight each time of course are the Gibbon swinging monkeys. They make these wacky sounds loudly and are swinging across tree branches like Tarzan - the kids just love it. The Guanaco, from the Llama family is of course another favorite for them. We have been to this zoo so often that now KB especially talks about these animals with such familiarity. "Hey, look at that gliding turtle" he says with much familiarity when we finally spot it in a swamp. We then took the train ride around the zoo and then the kids did their customary carousel ride - KB chose the big eagle and KG the tiger (calling it Sher Khan since they are such big fans of Jungle Book). Then of course came the drudgery that KB had to endure if he were to be allowed to play in the play area. Lunch! He tried bargaining with me, but I put my foot down and said, he had to eat lunch before going to the play area. So he managed to finish 3/4th of his lunch and then begged me with his usual "Porumaa?" (can I stop now?). They then played for more than an hour in the play area. KB decided to name that play area and called it "Channing park". There was a little boy, may be four or five years old, who adamantly blocked the way when KG was trying to go through the steps leading to the slide. She first looked puzzled and then looked up at the boy and said "MOVE"! It is kind of cute to see a little girl not even realize that the boy was trying to intimidate her. She just stood there waiting for him to move. He stood his ground though and refused to move no matter how many times she told him to. Finally I had to go tell the boy "Move, please?" in a rather stern voice. Only then he moved. God save our gentle kids in school as they grow up.
Finally, we got back home around 2.30 p.m. The kids went to nap. B and I had our lunch, followed by tea. Within half an hour KB woke up. In the meanwhile, my friend said she would be coming with her two sons to the big park near our place. KB was thrilled when I told him I would take him there if he wanted to join them. So after just an hour and half or so at home, we were again out at the park. KB wore the tiger mask I had bought for him at the zoo and startled his friend when he met him at the park. KB decided that they were going to be "people rescuers" (from Diego) that rescue people from the giant. The bright red, tall and curvy slide he said was the beanstalk. KB said he found the key and unlocked the magic harp and defeated the giant when he went up the slide (walking the wrong way up!). They played on and on going on the castle like structure and defeated several more giants with their super hero tactics. With the day light savings time now, it gets dark very early. By 5.15 or so, it was pretty dark. But there were some kids in the park and as always we don't leave until most people have left! Now the kids decided on some sand play. All the monkeys climbed on top of the sand tunnels and made sand mountains and what not. The weather was cool and there was some lighting in the park. It just felt good to see the kids just play on and on without any worries.
After an eternity at the park, we finally got home around 7.00 p.m. I quickly made their dinner and they ate around 8.00 p.m. B had to go buy milk since we were running out. I had to entertain both kids, so we decided to play hide and seek. KG of course kept giving away our hiding place by running with me and saying "Mamma" and looking at me when we were ducking behind the bed. I had bought a tub of vinyl Dinosaurs for KB at the zoo. He is so into Dinosaurs now that we pretend to be different Dinosaurs at different times. We played the Dinosaur tickle attack game where I would hide outside the room and then after a moment of silence suddenly spring into the room screaming "The Barosaurus is coming" and with my hand pretend to have a long neck and come and tickle the hyper excited screaming kids to the end of the bed. And for KG's sake we played the Dino counting game where the three of us just screamed ONE, TWO, THREE together while counting the tub of Dinosaurs. There was so much laughter in that room when B walked in, I told him that he had to come right away into the room and to join us.
It was a day full of childish pleasures from simple games and things. Just filled my heart with joy. I did not have time to think about much else and we just lived in the moment and I felt like I was also four years old when playing with my kids! KB told his dad this morning, "Dad, you know, some bad people killed the Tamarin monkeys and now there are only 400 Tamarin monkeys left (in the wild, which he did not say)". KB went to school this morning and told his teacher, "I went to the zoo. You know what my favorite animal is? The swinging monkey. It sat on a branch and ate leaves. You know, if you upset the Guanaco, it will spit on you". His teacher, who is amazingly sweet and wonderful with kids said, "eww...hair gel for me?".
Later, she was asking the kids to say some word in the letter their names begin with and KB said "Herrerasaurus" since his name begins with a "H". It was as if the weekend of animals, park, dinosaurs, sand play etc was still in his head and he was barely getting out of the weekend mode!
I met an Indian woman at the park on a day when KB did not have school. She asked me how old he was and I told her he had turned four in August. She immediately said to me, "Oh, he is four. Why don't you put him in the Abacus class (for Math)? My daughter has been going there, it is really good". She meant well, I did not take offense to her. I do get nervous when I talk to such parents that I have not enrolled KB in any kind of academic class and he only goes to half a day school, that too not a Montessori school. But when I think of days like last Saturday, I feel like my heart is full - that feeling of just giving him the time to just be, to enjoy life's simple pleasures in a way that only a child can...he was learning in his own way that day too. It was not academic in a rigorous way but he was enjoying it fully. We have read so many books that he learned phonics on his own and is able to read simple books just from that even if he didn't attend any phonics classes. He does simple mental math while playing "Bear's birthday party" with made up stories of how many bears would be in the room if four more bears joined the party etc etc doing mental addition in the process. I feel at ease "teaching" him this way rather than in a more rigorous way through classes. B sometimes feel we are being "too" relaxed and we should remember that he will be competing against the hard core Indian and Chinese kids who are always pushed to be one or two grades higher than their age level. I tell myself that I will also try to be more of an academic mom but when the clock shows 3.45 p.m. and I know there is only an hour of day light left, I still find myself rushing to get the kids ready to go to the park rather than stay home and do some activity books. And when we get back, it is time to cook dinner, feed them etc, so it leaves us only half an hour or so to do "work" before his bed time. If he brings his "Frog and toad" book and wants dad to read to him, we just say OK rather than force him to sit and write his numbers. I just hope "going with the flow" is also an accepted method of parenting that will work out OK in the end.
For now, I am glad I wrote about a day filled with play and more play that I can read about when KB is slogging away at his homework, studying for his SAT's after a quick shower and dinner when he gets back from his soccer game, finishing the science project report and practicing the piano for his upcoming concert and emailing the volunteer coordinator while checking the score for the NFL game! :) Enjoy it now, you little giant defeater, for the pressures of adulthood wait for you as you go up that beanstalk!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Single word story!
I was feeding KG her lunch a couple of days back when KB was quietly doing something in the family room. I thought he was packing a gift for someone - a new fad he has going now. A few minutes later, he brought his doodle pro to me and asked me to pronounce the word he had written. I said "PCOFT" and pronounced it as "Pick koft". He said to me, "Mamma, that is a story I wrote". I said, "how is that a story?". He proceeded to enlighten me.
"Mamma, this is the story about a little boy named Pick". One day, he started coughing a lot. (He added in Tamil, "Gollu Gollu'nu cough pannithu, mamma". Then his mom took him to the doctor. He had bronchitis. So his mom went to "Reftan" (his own imaginary pharmacy) pharmacy and gave them a prescription for "Prednisone". Mamma, Reftan pharmacy has both squiggly balloon and medicines. The little boy took Prednisone - he took two teaspoons a day and then he was better. That is the story Mamma!
Wow - all that in one word "PCOFT
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Today he wrote another word "TFGCH" on his doodle pro.
He said to me "This is the story of a little boy named Tiff. He is four years old. He has a little sister named "Gich". She is two years old. And they are still friends".
That's it. That's the story behind "TFGCH". :)
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Since the time I wrote this post in my drafts section, he has written down many such random words and come up with little stories around these random letter words. Some very detailed, some very short ones. I guess it is the age of twittering, so why not one word stories! :)
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
When the baby bird learns to fly!
I just read this post by Mniamma. I especially enjoyed reading this line about her 8 month old daughter.
She also crossed over the main door threshold to wave ‘bye’ to M and N and I promptly made payasam to celebrate the occasion.
When KB was a few months old, may be three months old, I don't remember what milestone it was - but when I told my MIL about it, she asked me if I made some sweet to celebrate it. Somehow that was the first time I became aware of that tradition or rather paid attention to it. I am sure I had heard of it before but somehow I had not thought about it. I just love that tradition of making a sweet to celebrate little milestones like a baby's rolling over or crawling or taking the first step.
By that count, I feel almost like making some sweet myself and celebrating what to me is a huge milestone - if not for KB, for me as his mother! KB has been a rather stubborn, strong willed, sensitive child. The tamil phrase "Amma Kondu" is made for him. As the director of the first preschool he went to said to me, he clearly knows what he wants, he is not afraid or shy, he is mad at you for leaving him and going home, he is very articulate, he knows his mind and cannot be distracted. Now with a child like that, it has been hard to just leave him with any one or at drop off programs. He got used to one school last year and I stuck to that school all of last year because he was used to that place and I did want to traumatize him with changes. This year I started him off in a new school beginning of this month and after a minute of crying, he just calmed down and has been enjoying himself. But I had prepped him for it by taking him to that school three times and staying there with him for an hour.
Anyway - back to why I want to make payasam today! I enrolled him in an art class and this class meets every Tuesday for two hours. It is a drop off class and parent participation is not required. I casually asked KB last night if I can just drop him off and come back home with KG and pick him up at 12.00 pm. He too casually said, "Yeah".
"Yeah?" I said.
"Yeah yeah yeah", KB said confidently.
I thought to myself, well, he is just saying it. Am sure when I get there, he will probably start crying. Although a part of me felt that he was sounding quite sure of it. This morning, I drove him to class and filled out the emergency contact information. While I was filling it out, he was already in his spot in the class and he said to me, "Nee po Mamma" (you go mamma). I told him I would leave after filling out the form and wondered if he would cry if he saw me leave. I went and gave him a hug to make sure he knew I was leaving and I told him to be good and that I would see him at 12.00 pm. He said O.K but he continued to focus on the stencil he was working with then. I left the place along with KG.
I kept checking my cell phone to see if the teacher was calling me saying he was crying. I visited a friend for half an hour and came back and hung out by the lake behind the classroom. I could not believe it - KB did not cry at all and was having a good time. This is a class room he has never been to, it looked pretty serious (not so kiddish) - with tables and chairs and kids silently working on their art work without too much noise...the teacher was new and I just left him there and drove out of the place. And he was still fine! For those of you who know KB, I am sure you can feel my joy. Even his going to the new school was not as eventful as this one was to me. My little baby boy who has such a hard time being away from me other than at his preschool managed to stay in a new place on his own and enjoyed himself! KNOCK ON WOOD!
Mniamma, if I don't make payasam this week, you should send me a e-kick! :)
She also crossed over the main door threshold to wave ‘bye’ to M and N and I promptly made payasam to celebrate the occasion.
When KB was a few months old, may be three months old, I don't remember what milestone it was - but when I told my MIL about it, she asked me if I made some sweet to celebrate it. Somehow that was the first time I became aware of that tradition or rather paid attention to it. I am sure I had heard of it before but somehow I had not thought about it. I just love that tradition of making a sweet to celebrate little milestones like a baby's rolling over or crawling or taking the first step.
By that count, I feel almost like making some sweet myself and celebrating what to me is a huge milestone - if not for KB, for me as his mother! KB has been a rather stubborn, strong willed, sensitive child. The tamil phrase "Amma Kondu" is made for him. As the director of the first preschool he went to said to me, he clearly knows what he wants, he is not afraid or shy, he is mad at you for leaving him and going home, he is very articulate, he knows his mind and cannot be distracted. Now with a child like that, it has been hard to just leave him with any one or at drop off programs. He got used to one school last year and I stuck to that school all of last year because he was used to that place and I did want to traumatize him with changes. This year I started him off in a new school beginning of this month and after a minute of crying, he just calmed down and has been enjoying himself. But I had prepped him for it by taking him to that school three times and staying there with him for an hour.
Anyway - back to why I want to make payasam today! I enrolled him in an art class and this class meets every Tuesday for two hours. It is a drop off class and parent participation is not required. I casually asked KB last night if I can just drop him off and come back home with KG and pick him up at 12.00 pm. He too casually said, "Yeah".
"Yeah?" I said.
"Yeah yeah yeah", KB said confidently.
I thought to myself, well, he is just saying it. Am sure when I get there, he will probably start crying. Although a part of me felt that he was sounding quite sure of it. This morning, I drove him to class and filled out the emergency contact information. While I was filling it out, he was already in his spot in the class and he said to me, "Nee po Mamma" (you go mamma). I told him I would leave after filling out the form and wondered if he would cry if he saw me leave. I went and gave him a hug to make sure he knew I was leaving and I told him to be good and that I would see him at 12.00 pm. He said O.K but he continued to focus on the stencil he was working with then. I left the place along with KG.
I kept checking my cell phone to see if the teacher was calling me saying he was crying. I visited a friend for half an hour and came back and hung out by the lake behind the classroom. I could not believe it - KB did not cry at all and was having a good time. This is a class room he has never been to, it looked pretty serious (not so kiddish) - with tables and chairs and kids silently working on their art work without too much noise...the teacher was new and I just left him there and drove out of the place. And he was still fine! For those of you who know KB, I am sure you can feel my joy. Even his going to the new school was not as eventful as this one was to me. My little baby boy who has such a hard time being away from me other than at his preschool managed to stay in a new place on his own and enjoyed himself! KNOCK ON WOOD!
Mniamma, if I don't make payasam this week, you should send me a e-kick! :)
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Kutti boy a big boy!
I have had so many little posts in my head but did not sit down to write any of them. I suppose like marriage you first are so excited when you start a blog...you think of what to write, feverishly read those scant comments that are left for your post, you get excited, disappointed, you then reposition yourself and settle more comfortably in that space...make new blog pals and get so comfortable with them that you don't really keep in touch with them...and the excitement of those initial posts is replaced by this feeling of familiarity and liberty. Counting on those few loyal blog pals to read you even if you post infrequently!
Am digressing. I figured I should write a short post at least because recently in my email exchange with Tara, I realized I had not even clearly written about how KB has healed after his cast was removed on Apr.20.09 after nearly seven weeks of his left arm being in one. It was not a pleasant time for me to see him that way but I also found it to be a different kind of experience in parenting. Where you learn to cope with the hardest part of it - that of bearing your child's pain with grace. He was not in pain but to see this child know his own limits as to what he can or cannot do, to know that he cannot go to the park unless he was just going to walk around...it was heart breaking if I paused to think about it. What carried me through was the only thought that it was a finite time and I should be mighty grateful for that - many people have it much much worse. And I pray to God that even if he were to put me (us) through difficult situations, it should be ones I can come out of and move on with life.
So much has happened in the last three months. KB's arm seems to have healed well, thank god. I still feel nervous when I see him run very fast on concrete areas in the park or jump from raised structures - but I try hard to not focus on it. We moved to a single level home with a nice yard and the kids are loving it. Just as I thought to myself, oh what a nice feeling to see the kids playing happily in the yard at the back hours on end, a friend told me a few days back that her house was burgled. That has left me nervous since she lives a couple of miles from my place. And this is supposed to be one of the safest places in the nation. Prayers again.
KG turned two in June and KB turned four in Aug. I can hardly believe it when I see the two kids sitting very close to each other, sometimes with KB leaning on KB while they watch "Free Willy". I need to write a separate post on their developing personalities. Polar opposites many ways. We had a party for them in a reserved picnic shelter at a beautiful park earlier in the month and it was a lot of fun. We had a puppet show for the kids which was a super hit. They all played ball and ran around on the field after the cake cutting. A couple of friends who I really hoped would come could not make it - other than that it was satisfying for me. The best part was that my mother was here with us the last two months and so she was there for the party. The kids just lovvved having Patti around. She taught them old tamil rhymes like "Maangai thalai murugan" which are utterly charming and cute. She left just two days back and I am sorely missing her presence at home. She was so good with the kids that I really feel bad for them.
KB started pre-K in a new school since the beginning of August. He got into another school close to my place after having been in their wait list for a long time. But KB chose to go to this other school instead. So I decided to go with his wishes. I am so glad we chose this current school. The teachers are absolutely wonderful and nurturing. They give the kids so much space to play and run and be kids and yet manage to also teach them things. It was one of the few schools that let me bring KB for three classes before enrolling there just so he can get used to the place with me around. The first day KB cried a little but calmed down soon after I left apparently. When I went to pick him up, he was leaning very comfortably on the bean bag and talking to his teacher and his classmates! So far so good. Praying that the teachers should continue here the whole year and KB should have a positive experience overall.
I leave you with a couple of pictures of gentle KB who is turning into a "Rettai val" (mischievous)as he turned four and that of free spirited KG who we call "Ragalai".
Am digressing. I figured I should write a short post at least because recently in my email exchange with Tara, I realized I had not even clearly written about how KB has healed after his cast was removed on Apr.20.09 after nearly seven weeks of his left arm being in one. It was not a pleasant time for me to see him that way but I also found it to be a different kind of experience in parenting. Where you learn to cope with the hardest part of it - that of bearing your child's pain with grace. He was not in pain but to see this child know his own limits as to what he can or cannot do, to know that he cannot go to the park unless he was just going to walk around...it was heart breaking if I paused to think about it. What carried me through was the only thought that it was a finite time and I should be mighty grateful for that - many people have it much much worse. And I pray to God that even if he were to put me (us) through difficult situations, it should be ones I can come out of and move on with life.
So much has happened in the last three months. KB's arm seems to have healed well, thank god. I still feel nervous when I see him run very fast on concrete areas in the park or jump from raised structures - but I try hard to not focus on it. We moved to a single level home with a nice yard and the kids are loving it. Just as I thought to myself, oh what a nice feeling to see the kids playing happily in the yard at the back hours on end, a friend told me a few days back that her house was burgled. That has left me nervous since she lives a couple of miles from my place. And this is supposed to be one of the safest places in the nation. Prayers again.
KG turned two in June and KB turned four in Aug. I can hardly believe it when I see the two kids sitting very close to each other, sometimes with KB leaning on KB while they watch "Free Willy". I need to write a separate post on their developing personalities. Polar opposites many ways. We had a party for them in a reserved picnic shelter at a beautiful park earlier in the month and it was a lot of fun. We had a puppet show for the kids which was a super hit. They all played ball and ran around on the field after the cake cutting. A couple of friends who I really hoped would come could not make it - other than that it was satisfying for me. The best part was that my mother was here with us the last two months and so she was there for the party. The kids just lovvved having Patti around. She taught them old tamil rhymes like "Maangai thalai murugan" which are utterly charming and cute. She left just two days back and I am sorely missing her presence at home. She was so good with the kids that I really feel bad for them.
KB started pre-K in a new school since the beginning of August. He got into another school close to my place after having been in their wait list for a long time. But KB chose to go to this other school instead. So I decided to go with his wishes. I am so glad we chose this current school. The teachers are absolutely wonderful and nurturing. They give the kids so much space to play and run and be kids and yet manage to also teach them things. It was one of the few schools that let me bring KB for three classes before enrolling there just so he can get used to the place with me around. The first day KB cried a little but calmed down soon after I left apparently. When I went to pick him up, he was leaning very comfortably on the bean bag and talking to his teacher and his classmates! So far so good. Praying that the teachers should continue here the whole year and KB should have a positive experience overall.
I leave you with a couple of pictures of gentle KB who is turning into a "Rettai val" (mischievous)as he turned four and that of free spirited KG who we call "Ragalai".
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Feel good day!
Some days are just feel good days. Well, I know tomorrow I will probably be crying over some random thing or the other - hope the spirits don't hear me say this - but today has been a feel good day. KB has started swim lessons and this morning he was really enjoying the class. I felt happy about that.
Finally I actually got to meet a blogger face to face! And it was such a nice meeting. Met with Kodi's mom at my place for a few hours. Best part was seeing how well the kids especially KB and Kodi got along. They were both so amused with their own silly number jokes and seemed to really get each other and laugh over nothing! Kodi has such a sweet, down to earth temperament and she was so warm and pleasant - it was really nice seeing them all at our place. Every time she actually called Kodi "kuttimeow", I couldn't believe that I was actually physically seeing him. KB calls him his "new friend" and after got home from the park he said, " I wish Kodi Aunty would move here, so I can play silly number games with my friend every day". Plane papa has the most adorable eyes and soft chubby cheeks. All that was missing between him and Kodi's mom was super glue! He would not let her go out of sight. KB was just that way when he was one year old! I didn't have much time to think about our meeting before it happened - but when ever I did think about it - I was wondering how it would feel to actually meet a blogger in person. And wondered if my blog image will seem so different to them when they see me in person etc etc...But with Kodi's mom, it was so easy to settle into conversation and feel at ease. My mother too got to meet her and in her typical style she said later, "Romba nalla madhiriya irukkale andha ponnu" (she seems like a nice type!). So that was feel good #2.
Feel good #3 - KB has been on the brink of reading books on his own. He keeps asking me for spellings of words and I would just get him started and he would continue on with the sounds and spell it on his own with some help from me for words like "light" but totally on his own for simple words like "car". I don't know why - but I have sort of been waiting for this moment - more than I did even for his first steps. To be there when he reads a little book all on his own. We had decided this morning that after dinner we would go to his play room and he would read a book from the "Bob books" collection on his own. And he did! It was such an exciting feeling for me. And I could see it in the tone of his voice that he too felt so good that he could read it all by himself. I would have felt this good even if he had read a book on his own a year later. But it was that feeling of a huge world opening up for him that made me feel so good. God please keep him safe and healthy! The day KB fell down and fractured his elbow (on Feb.24.09), I had taken him to a home based montessori and KB seemed to like it - so Idecided to give it a shot. And when I talked to my sister that night, I told her that I was feeling so giddy with excitement about KB joining a new school. And that very night, he fell and fractured his elbow and couldn't go to any school, not even the one he was going to then for two weeks. Since then, I can't help but feel this knot in my stomach even when I get excited about anything regarding him.
KB turns four on Aug.3.09 and I am planning to have a party for both KB and KG together. I am planning to surprise him by inviting his teacher from a dance and music class that he took last year. She will organize some games/dance etc at the party. Even while I wrote to this teacher about timings for the party, I was feeling so excited at the thought of KB feeling happy and excited when he sees her. And I go through that same knot in the tummy kind of feeling that am being happy and what if it gets jinxed and KB gets hurts etc. Anyway it was overall a nice day!
Finally I actually got to meet a blogger face to face! And it was such a nice meeting. Met with Kodi's mom at my place for a few hours. Best part was seeing how well the kids especially KB and Kodi got along. They were both so amused with their own silly number jokes and seemed to really get each other and laugh over nothing! Kodi has such a sweet, down to earth temperament and she was so warm and pleasant - it was really nice seeing them all at our place. Every time she actually called Kodi "kuttimeow", I couldn't believe that I was actually physically seeing him. KB calls him his "new friend" and after got home from the park he said, " I wish Kodi Aunty would move here, so I can play silly number games with my friend every day". Plane papa has the most adorable eyes and soft chubby cheeks. All that was missing between him and Kodi's mom was super glue! He would not let her go out of sight. KB was just that way when he was one year old! I didn't have much time to think about our meeting before it happened - but when ever I did think about it - I was wondering how it would feel to actually meet a blogger in person. And wondered if my blog image will seem so different to them when they see me in person etc etc...But with Kodi's mom, it was so easy to settle into conversation and feel at ease. My mother too got to meet her and in her typical style she said later, "Romba nalla madhiriya irukkale andha ponnu" (she seems like a nice type!). So that was feel good #2.
Feel good #3 - KB has been on the brink of reading books on his own. He keeps asking me for spellings of words and I would just get him started and he would continue on with the sounds and spell it on his own with some help from me for words like "light" but totally on his own for simple words like "car". I don't know why - but I have sort of been waiting for this moment - more than I did even for his first steps. To be there when he reads a little book all on his own. We had decided this morning that after dinner we would go to his play room and he would read a book from the "Bob books" collection on his own. And he did! It was such an exciting feeling for me. And I could see it in the tone of his voice that he too felt so good that he could read it all by himself. I would have felt this good even if he had read a book on his own a year later. But it was that feeling of a huge world opening up for him that made me feel so good. God please keep him safe and healthy! The day KB fell down and fractured his elbow (on Feb.24.09), I had taken him to a home based montessori and KB seemed to like it - so Idecided to give it a shot. And when I talked to my sister that night, I told her that I was feeling so giddy with excitement about KB joining a new school. And that very night, he fell and fractured his elbow and couldn't go to any school, not even the one he was going to then for two weeks. Since then, I can't help but feel this knot in my stomach even when I get excited about anything regarding him.
KB turns four on Aug.3.09 and I am planning to have a party for both KB and KG together. I am planning to surprise him by inviting his teacher from a dance and music class that he took last year. She will organize some games/dance etc at the party. Even while I wrote to this teacher about timings for the party, I was feeling so excited at the thought of KB feeling happy and excited when he sees her. And I go through that same knot in the tummy kind of feeling that am being happy and what if it gets jinxed and KB gets hurts etc. Anyway it was overall a nice day!
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