Aditi started school

And I am a happy mother !!!

Yes, Aditi has joined Play Group at Euro Kids. I am particularly happy with this branch of Euro Kids. They really have very good teachers, they take care of the kids and kids really stop crying within 2-3 days.

I have seen this with both my kids - they have just liked going to Euro Kids.

First two days, I had to go with her, stay with her through the 1 hour and then get her back home. She was comfortable because amma was with her.

Third day, she was not aware that I would drop her at the gate and go back. Once she realized this, she started howling and did not stop howling till i picked her up.

Fourty day - she was much better. She pretended to cry till she was at her class' threshold. And then curiousity took over. She had stopped crying and had started observing her surroundings.

Fifth day - she was cool as cucumber. Took her bag, went in without kicking any fuss....

Sigh... she is growing up each day... and I am growing old each day!!! LoL :)

Tale of Rings

One of my husband's cousins, who is an astrologer, suggested that I wear 2 rings made of 2 different gem stone. Now, I am one who believes "never leave an opportunity to buy gold" - so what if this can be eyed as me being superstitious....

So, off I went, purchased the stone and got the ring made. And after practicing the rituals to wear the ring, when I wore it on my right fingers, I realized I was no better than Phantom.

That evening, I was telling my son about this - and he had not heard about the Phantom story. I walked him through the fantasy of Kit Walker, who promises on his father's skull to fight piracy. I went on to talk about the skull cave, the diamond glass, phantom's rings - the "good" swastik and the "bad" skull rings.

And I added "see, next time you throw a tantrum, I am going to punch you with my right fist. This would leave 2 marks on your chin -very much like phantom.

Immediately, my son shot back "Nope, not phantom. The marks will be that of a "Fat" "Amma"

Since then, he refers to my rings as "Fat Amma" Rings!!!

Innocent Musings

S P Balasubramanyam, the veteran playback singer who has sung in several languages, has released an album of prayers for the kids. It is titled “Chants for Children”.
I really liked the idea as this album contains simple shlokas with SPB as the lead singer and kids joining the chorus. This album has shlokas such as Agajanana padmarkam, gurur brahma gurur vishnu, namastestu mahamaye, shuklambaradharam, etc.
So happy was I to hear this album, I decided to download this from Nokia’s Music Store onto my cell phone. After successfully downloading few chants, I decided to play them during bed time – instead of the usual story time.
When the 2nd chant was playing, my son asked: - “Amma, are these children very poor?”
I answered (ears allover) “No, why”
Pat came the response “Then, why are they singing like this?”
Actually the chorus in these chants comes across very amateurish – more like street kids singing for money.
I could not help laughing at his observations.

How should I answer this?

I had picked up a copy of Junior Chandamama for my kids. In that, they have a cartoon series that introduces an animal or a bird to its readers. This introduction is setup as an introduction with the animal or bird by a small girl who asks questions like "Where do you live?, what kind of food do you eat? What other species do you have? etc. In this edition, they were introducing the Fox.
The small girl who was "interviewing" the animal was dressed like a jungle-bred girl - basically a green skirt drawn to give it a grass-like look. And had not worn anything on top.
My daughter, to whom, I was explaining the features of a fox, suddenly stopped me and asked "Amma, this akka has not worn anything on top. She is half-naked, Right?"

Mother's Letter to her son

Dear Aakash,

You may think I have lost my nut to be writing a letter to you at a time when I can easily talk to you. But then, you need to understand that you are just 6.5 years old and are at an age when you don't necessarily understand my language - language of a mother.

I am a working mother - working to share the financial burden of running our family along with your father. Together, we both work very hard - to be able to provide good food, clothing, shelter and education to both you and your sister. And I realize that at your age, you are still too young to understand how much we slog to earn whatever we earn.

Monday, you woke up early, switched on TV and kept on watching it for 1 hour without brushing your teeth. Despite repeated reminders from me - you were sitting in front of the idiot box watching without batting your eyelids. All my requests went on to your deaf ears. Eventually, I had to shout at you in order to get you ready in time to catch your school bus. How many days do you think we can take a detoure to drop you to your school before we go to office?

With lot of pain, I had prepared sandwich and it pained me to see you had not eaten at all.

Tuesday, you started the day crying - for no reason. May be you woke up grouchy...but then it is not my fault. You cried because bournvita was not hot enough, you cried to brush your teeth, you cried to take bath... how many tears do you want to shed before realizing things don't work this way in the real world?
Aloo Tikkis I had made, came back as I had packed them. Why at all should i take extra time to steam good old vegetables and convert them into a tasty snack for you?

Evening you created a tantrum to take your medicine. You were so playful that you spilled the medicine. Your appa got so angry, he whacked you. And you went to bed crying. Will you ever know the heart ache and sadness your appa and I went through after this event? Our hearts broke yet another time for punishing you.

Wednesday, you had forgotten your diary at home today. your Madam has sent a note that you waste time sharpening pencils. She has asked me to sharpen them and send them with you. Humph...yet another task to my already overflowing bucket. When will you start taking some responsibility for these small tasks?
Today night, yet again another tantrum - you wanted me to make a corn cup for you. Despite headache and tiredness, I prepared the corn. You did not eat your dinner properly. But did finish the Corp Cup.

Understand that I do all these things because I love you dearly and want you to be happy. I don't want you to think I love only Aditi and not you. There are so many different ways I show my love for you - except that you are not "seeing" it.

Thursday, despite several requests from your appa, you dilly-dallied. You missed your school bus today and we were adamant about NOT dropping you to school today in our car - as we used to do each time there was a delay. We have left you be at home deliberately. I hope this will be a lesson that you will never forget - things will NEVER wait for you - may be once or twice - but never more. So, please learn this lesson and learn well.

Friday, I am hoping tomorrow will be a better day - where you will do everything by yourself, be a good boy, not cry, take your medicines without fuss, eat your breakfast. Please be a nice boy - please understand we are working very hard in order to give you and Aditi a bright future.

With lots of love and hugs,

Yours lovingly,
Amma

Rising Sun?

His name is Teja. Right from his birth, he has brought immense happiness and joy to his parents. His father, M, comes from a family that is in distress - their elder son is autistic. Teja's grandparents have spent their entire lifetime looking after their elder son.

M and I became friends during our college days. We studied together for 5 years and continued to stay in touch. M is also my husband, S' best friend. We were there for M's wedding and all the joys that came into their lives afterwords. We have participated and hosted several lunches and have thoroughly enjoyed their company -both M and his wife, B, are very friendly couple and made for each other.

When Teja entered their life, their happiness knew no bounds - he truly was the apple of their eyes.

So, it was very shocking when I heard today that Teja has been diagonsed with Leukemia.

I am very numb and don't know what to say!!!

Their Special Girl

She loves to meet new people, and get to know new faces. She is so curious about you - asks you ample questions in miniscule details - won't leave you until you tell her the names of your school teachers, your kids, spouse, mother-in-law, father-in-law, mother, father... pets... list goes on.

Yet, what is special in her is that if you bump into her 1 or 2 years later, she will repeat all your details purely out of her memory.

She loves reading. She knows exactly which rack in Sapna Book shop has what kind of books, which nook and what corner of the shop she will find what she wants - she does not want anybody's help to locate this. She scrutinises each book she purchases reads the covers back and forth and takes her own sweet time to purchase 1 single book.

Yet, each book she picks up are rare treasures, which, even you will not "see" when you go to shops to buy them for your kids.

She loves watching mythical movies, tales of kings and queens, dreams of being re-born as a princess in a BIG palace

Yet, she is does not realize that she is already a princess in the eyes of her parents.

Yes, she is special - an autistic child born to her parents....

What do you do when...

Your 2 years old daughter asks for a glass of water. You diligently give her that. Suddenly you hear loud noises - two of your neighbours are fighting cats and dogs. As usual, you are curious and want to peep from the window to catch a glimpse of their fight. You turn away wee bit to open the window. Suddenly your son starts shouting "amma amma". You turn in time to see your darling daughter, apple of your eye, pouring the entire glass of water on the mattress.

Your son is sleeping quitely in his place. He is drowsy. Your little daughter goes close to him calling him "anna anna" (brother brother). You assume she is going there to pet him, give him a hug so he can doze off.. instead she grabs handful of his hair and pulls hard. It hurts him so much that he starts crying...

All this in half an hour's time...

You spank her hard and then you see tears as big as pearls dropping down from those lovely eyes... you feel very sad for hitting her... you want to go near her to pet her... she runs away from you and says "I want chandramma (her baby sitter) ..."

Her way of rubbing salt over my wounds...

What do YOU do in such situations?

109 BRATs

This brother and sister jodi is a dangerous combo - sister imitates everything the brother does... Right from "Appa, go out", "Shut up", to "Inu Pelima (Vinu Perima), vaanaa (Venda)" :P

This saturday, we had loads of fun seeing my son teach Taekwondo to his sister. It was so hilarious to see her imitiating each and every step with a "Khya Khya Khya" sound that one is supposed to make with every Taekwondo move :D

Birthdays and Childhood

Today is my son's birthday. And he was soooo happy. The phone just won't stop ringing from people wanting to wish him.. from grandparents to his friends and cousins.

He wore color dress to his school carrying chocolates to be distributed to all his classmates and not to forget his teachers...

He was so happy he has grown a year older. (I keep telling him that he will grow big only if he goes to school, else he will remain the small 6 years old guy. And this is something he truly believes in :P)

When I look into myself, I realize I have lost the enthusiasm to celebrate birthdays. I used to be a fun loving girl and my birthdays used to be "BIG" parties. I had groups of friends whom I had to definitely meet that day. College group (classmates, seniors, girls group), school group, old friends, neighbourhood friends, cousins so on and so forth. After treating each of the groups from breakfast to dinner, I would reach home only by 10 p.m. with all my gifts dumped into a big gunny bag.

And look at where I am today. I see my birthday as yet another day. No passion anymore to celebrate or buy gifts... where did I lose the child in me?

I am so clueless..never realized when it happened....

Kids and Fever

Today, I have decided to work from home. Simply because my son is down with Viral Fever and he has had temperature of 103.6 since last 2 days. I am very concerned about his health.

1 hour at home, I realize may be I made a mistake... may be i dreamt that he was down with fever... He has been playing since 7 a.m. the time he woke up today. He wrote something, he painted few drawings, and now trying to "create" his own tune on his casio keyboard...

May be I am the one who is sick and not him :P

Not to forget... his sister is vying with him to do exactly same thing that he does... she wants to paint along with him and create music on his keyboard... often she forgets the fact that she is just 1.8 years old and truly does not even know how to hold a pen properly :D

Little Devil or Angel?

After a tired day and a long drive, I reached home. Refreshed myself, took my son through his homework. Fed my kids. It was then time for me to prepare for next day's breakfast.

I washed the wet grinder and started putting the chawal and urad dal combo in it. On the kitchen platform, sat my latest possession - Tupperware water Filter (10 ltrs) with a tap. I am in fact proud of this possession as it really quenches our thirst during hours of load shedding.

While I was busy with this activity, I did not hear little aditi walk over to the water filter, press the tap and let half of the water out...

Before I realized... I was standing amidst large pool of water (5 ltrs). As I turned towards her in total disbelief, she gives me this angelic smile that really floors me.

All I could do was lift her up, give her a tight hug and a mock slap on her B*M

Kids and Summer Classes

When I was a kid, every evening and every holiday was spent in the company of 20-some neighbourhood kids on the road. We would be the notorious gang every household was afraid of. We would play cricket on the street and break several glasses, fight over lagori, eat ice-gola and what not!!!

How the days have changed - today, my Son does not have any kid in the neighbourhood to playing with - during school days as well as holidays. He spends his time either being naughty or watching the idiot box. I am concerned. But choice do I have? There are absolutely no kids his age ... even if there are few who are 1-2 years his juniors, their parents just don't allow these kids to play on the road. They rather prefer the kids to stay indoor but not mingle with other kids in the neighbourhood.

Being a working mother, this has become a difficult situation for me to handle. After 1 year of attending school, I have to put him in yet another school for summer classes. Seems like his childhood will be spent in one or the other school. Once he grows up, I am sure his childhood memories will be filled with only this.

I am greatly saddened to see the state of our society and the plight of our kids!!!