Eyes see what the heart wants to...

New class, new friends, new teachers and new activities. We have entered a new year of schooling!

Adding to the toughest task of getting up and ready for school, we are packing lunch too! It is exciting and quite challenging. It is like a toddler’s puzzle and a corporate’s ‘thinking out of the box’ strategy put together J But we are loving it! Sometimes, the lunch comes back almost the same as packed. And her excuse, “I was eating, but the teacher told me that the lunch time was over”. I know that even 3 to 4 times the lunch time wouldn’t be enough for her. I’m blog hopping to look for interesting lunch box ideas J Any suggestions?

My first lesson in the new year: The whole class had worked on red paint the previous week. The other day when I picked her up, I found her painting in her cubby to take home. As, we parents were waiting, I could see a lot of stick figures of the family, a few friendly monsters(no one can draw a cute monster than a 4 year old boy!) and some nature(child made J) paintings. The teacher had captioned them with the child's help. And there were a few like Adhya’s that were not captioned. My immediate thoughts, maybe she was not interested in painting and did something hastily to get back to play with the toys. Maybe she was tired. Maybe I should encourage her to draw even more. I know she loves drawing but couldn't figure out the reason behind the big splash of red paint.

We came home and were discussing school. I slowly asked her, 

What is in this drawing Adhya? 

She gave me a shocked look - ‘You don’t know ma?’.

I tried again. No ;(.

Amma, see properly, it is a red bird.

???

Yes, Red bird, like in the Brown bear, Brown bear book we read. 

I spent the next few minutes studying it and then I saw it! I wanted to make out a bird this time and I figured it out. How did I miss it the first time?

So, next time, you are not sure as to what your child has painted/doodled/splashed on, just ask :) 

No, I don’t have to teach her how to draw. I should just tell her to not be shy and explain her drawing to the teacher. Or on second thought, maybe I should just leave it at that. She will learn that on her own too. I will enjoy her caption-less pictures for now. Maybe we should just read more books and explore more J

Teaching Adhya has been a trial and error process. The toughest things have been the easiest and vice versa. And of course, we now know why parenting and patience go hand in hand. With her, positive reinforcements work most of the time. When I want her to correct a thing, it takes a lot of effort on my part to not say, ‘that’s not correct’ and to actually say, ‘let’s see if we can color the next one within the box’. Kids are bound to receive a lot of hard, on the face corrections as they grow, be it from their peers or their grades from school. But for now, when they are trying to come out of their shell, I believe, all they need are soft corrections and redirection. And they are more likely to correct it when you tune it down a little, especially the little ones who are little rebels J 

She is four!!!!

Our little one turned 4 last week :) 4 blissful years have passed by since one of our beautiful dreams have come true... and it still feels like a dream!

There have been so many changes in the past year.

She loves surprises, every day. And anything - big or small can surprise her. Right after school, she asks me, "Do you have a surprise for me??". And it can very well be a pack of juice, a lollipop(or jolly pop as she says) or a brand new teddy bear. Sparkly eyes , deep sigh and a dramatic jaw drop will always welcome the surprise. And we love that face of hers!

I wish and pray that she carries this trait with her, always. To look forward to something in day to day things in life, will make it even more beautiful.

We can also see inhibitions slowly creep in. She is cautious, reasoning and making choices. And to moms and dads who get frustrated and ask, do timeouts really work?, I would just say, "Hang in there :) It gets better! " ;)

I hope she had a fun 4th birthday - something that she will remember. Happy 4th birthday to the girl who loves monkeys, cats, cupcakes, purple, balloons and more!

 

Learnings

It has been more than two weeks now but it still amazes me that Adhya has finished one year of schooling. 

Thinking back, it was not easy - not for her and not for us.

She assumed that her preschool was a glorified play area, sans parents. She was excited, happy and all over the place. It took quite a bit of effort to make her realize that a classroom is a place with a few dos and don'ts. So yeah running around was not always ok, we have to sit and listen to stories even if it is not our favorite book and the toys all belong to the teacher :) It took awhile but I'm very happy with where she is now. I know now that understanding where you are and getting along is one of the main learnings to take away from a preschool. Not to forget the challenges of health and climate, we are quite happy with the progress.

And yes, almost four years into it, I think I can say that parenting is not really that competitive as we make it to be. Every mom in whatever way she can is doing the best for her kid. And most of them are ready to share their success stories with you about how they helped their kid to learn sharing, adjusting to school, eating(??) etc. And sometimes, you just have to ask. Trust me, there are many nice ideas that you can get from other moms, elders, books and blogs.And it requires quite a talent to sift through all of  them and pick the right ones that come your way.  It can be overwhelming but every mom knows what to do :) 

“I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.”

― Maya Angelou 

So to all the moms whose kid is moving up a class or beginning school, all the very best!

Have you read, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" with your kid? It is a beautiful book and one of our favorites. We have a battered, held-together-with-many-tapes copy and we love it. The other day after we had some fruits, Adhya said, "Amma, I'm eating all the fruits like the caterpillar". 

Me: "Good". 

Adhya: "If I sleep now, will I become a butterfly?" 

Me, trying the biggest flop trick for the umpteenth time: "No, you should eat a lots of vegetables, fruits and 

drink milk regularly to become a butterfly". 

While she is considering if it is really worth all the effort to try and become a butterfly, I am going to enjoy my little caterpillar for a while!

The Seed

Well, spring is slowly catching up on us. And wherever we go, a popular kid's activity seems to be planting a seed in a paper or plastic cup, writing your name on it and bringing it home to watch it grow :)

Adhya is always very excited to fill the cup with dirt, make a hole and thrust the seed in. She also likes to use small fillers and water it and she makes sure that her name is written on the cup. We bring it home happily, she clutching on to it in her car seat and her dad worrying all the way home if she is going to spill it! In his defense, yes, we have spilled it a few times and it is definitely tough to clean up :)

And after we bring it home, she trusts me with the job. We found a place for these cup plants near the kitchen window. For the first few days, I just kept adding a few drops of water to it. I didn't know if a plant could really sprout out of that small cup. Adhya just kept checking it everyday and slowly I could see something pale green out of it. And that was an amazing and rewarding experience!

I don't know what kind of seed it is. I don't know if I'm watering enough, if the sunlight is enough or if the cup is the right container. But I'm afraid to re - pot it. When I see the tiny stems trying to push its way through the shell of the seed, it is way to tempting to help it. But somehow it seemed to be the wrong thing to do. And to see it grow slowly each day, turning it self to reach for the sun makes you feel happy. Watering the plant, loving it, cheering it and giving it a safe and sunny place is the most that we could do. It is tempting but it has grow on its own. It takes time and maybe that's the beauty of it. Give your best, love your most but give them ample space and time to explore and grow on their own. I believe the nurturing, caring and knowing went to hold yourselves back is true not just for plants? What do you think?

And now we are going to get hold of some bigger and flowery kind of plants. Will try to make the little one take care of it this time. Maybe some plants that grow purple flowers :)