The Elusive September

It is September. The month that brings with it so many birthdays, celebrations and festivals in our family. The month that demands all our energy, attention and time. The month that we wait eagerly for a whole year and that which gets over in the blink of the eye. The month that also reminds me how thankful and grateful I should always strive to be. It kind of replenishes and energizes me for the next 11 months. 

It is like the start of the new year for me. I make resolutions, promises to myself and set small, tiny goals to go for. And I'm glad they have been helpful so far.

Our little girl is 9. I knew she was our greatest gift, but I could have never guessed how much of an impact a tiny, little being could make in our lives. It is very difficult to believe 9 years have quickly flown by, while we try to treasure as many moments and learn as many things as possible.

At times, she reminds us of our other family members, but she never lets us forget that she is just as unique too. The stubborn streak, the sheer determination, love and interest for people, the attention to detail, her story writing efforts, music, wild dance, quirky questions, her love for barbies, the color purple, beaches and books, her fear of flying bugs(yes, that includes butterflies too), her dislike for milk and upma - we have come to come to terms with most of them.

The girl was once scared of the electronic rocking horses in the mall. Then there was a phase when she wanted to ride on every one of them and we would whisk her away before  she could spot the next one. And now, she is just not interested in them and I'm not even sure when that happened.

It is fun to see her grow and to wait for what's in store next. Maybe she won't like purple next year! But I just hope and pray that she always carries a little bit of her childhood inside her :)

Happy birthday Adhya and thank you for every little thing that has been possible only because of you.

What will you be when you grow up?

Human brain is amazing. And a kid's brain, especially is so pure, innocent and brilliant. The thoughts that evolve and the questions and conclusions that they arrive at are a treat to watch from close quarters. You will think and say out aloud many times, "How did she think about this?" I can see a little bit of the infant/toddler that she was and get a glimpse of the little person that she is turning into.

To see her start to read and understand words and numbers is an experience. The frustration, uncertainty and restlessness before she gets it right is so real. The glint in her eyes when she tries and then understands something is valuable. 

Remember the first time of everything - your first stage performance, first achievement, first real friend - you can enjoy it all again through your kid. And at some point, it will inspire you to try and create many more 'firsts' for yourselves.

And have you been interviewed by a kid yet? It is an eye opening experience. The things that you will find out about yourselves! These interviews happens so suddenly that you can never be well prepared and it can happens many times a day :) Grocery stores, queues and other public places where a minimum of 10 people can hear you are some of venues where these interviews could happen. 

After careful censorship, here's one of ours:

I am going to be an animal doctor when I grow up and all the squirrels will come to me if they are sick. What will you be when you grow up? 

Hmm.. I'm already grown up.

No you are not. *Silly Laugh - How many things do I have to teach you? *. You are still to become 40, 50, 60 and more. What will you be when you are 40?

I'm not sure. *insert all weird emoticons that you can think of*  I'll think about it and tell you.

Ok. 

I know she will not forget and I know she will ask me again. So yeah, I am thinking about it. A lot.

But isn't it a good thing to know that I can still grow up? And not just be "A grown up"!

So what will you be when you grow up? 

Why I love mother's day....

All those status updates, advertising and blogs definitely brought in the Mother's Day spirit to our living room. Adhya kept announcing that she will get me a card, tulips and everything that caught her eye in the TV advertisements. I am a sucker for anything handmade, so I actually look forward(shamelessly!) to my card from my almost 5 year old. 

Somehow when I knew I was pregnant, I took it upon me that I should know everything there is to know about raising a child. It seemed like a revered and most prestigious post and I didn't want to make any mistakes. So there I was, reading, searching, analysing anything that had the word 'baby' in it. And the people around me must have been so amused by my activities that they just played along :) 

But the moment I laid my eyes on her, I realized that what I knew or thought I knew was not going to be adequate. I couldn't make her stop crying immediately and I definitely had no clue as to why she cried. All I needed was my mother. And she has always been there for me. It does make her happy when I wish her on Mother's day so I am going to continue doing that.

And as for my dreams of a dignified, prestigious post, I should thank my daughter for bringing me back to reality. Being a mother may look like a top notch position that magically provides solution to all problems but that is only remotely possible if we keep learning! Especially from our own kids.

I have many wonderful friends. And I know that if I am at a fork, they will help me out with their motherly been-there-done-that wisdom. And they are too tired on a day to day basis, juggling things around that a Mother's day would be a good excuse for them to have fun. So, why not?

I love when my grandmother carefully packs vegetables for her daughters whenever she visits, my aunt who can go shopping for me, my husband's mom when she dishes out all his favorite food within our two week stay, when a friend calls me just because she felt like, when my mom leaves out a specific ingredient when she tells me a recipe because she is sure I will not like the taste of it, when someone shares a lovely thing that their kid does or looking at the extra sweet I love you mom cramped in a greeting card, any greeting card.

I did get my share of card, tulips, chocolates, hugs and kisses this Mother's day:) I was happy and feeling so proud about it when what happened today morning left me speechless - just before leaving to office, 'Bye appa', 'Bye Adhya, be a  good girl today'. And immediately came the reply, 'Why? Today is not Mother's day!'.

And yes, if she has decided that she is going to be extra sweet on only day, I need mother's day every year :)

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 :)

The Parrot

Some kind of parrots are known to repeat whatever we say. Personally, I have never witnessed one before but the little one at home is quite a copycat of whatever we say or do. So we are on our watch on what we preach or practice:)

A few examples of how our teachings came to back us:

She sprinted away from having her milk at night and climbed on to the bed. I followed her with the glass of milk and there she was with a smirk,  'Amma, we should not bring any eatables to the bed!' Hmm, right, I did say that! Just checked my laughter and brought her back to the hall where last I knew eatables are allowed :)

And once when in the kitchen, she kept calling me to do the puzzles for the nth time, where 'n' is in the neighborhood of 150 or 170 since September. I told her, 'Not now'. And she retorted with a serious face, 'Who is your friend amma?' I knew where this was leading but played along, 'Of course, you are sweets'. And with a winning smile, 'Then won't you play with me'. And I ended up fixing the puzzles for the nth time because we have to play with friends!

When she says, 'I am not hungry!'. I tell her, 'Your tummy told me that it is very hungry'. That seemed to work at times. She thought she was doing a huge favor to her tummy. But now everything is around the tummy, 'Amma, tummy feels sleepy', 'Amma, tummy wants to play'....

The list goes on with 'no screaming', 'take turns', 'don't bring anything into the bathroom' and so on. It feels good to know that some of the things that we have been trying(you can imagine how hard) to say have reached her. And I am kind of hopeful that 'drink your milk', 'clean your toys' etc will also have an impact someday, well maybe :) 

For the love of balloons.....

23rd September, 2012

Birthdays remind you that time slips through your fingers so fast, even before you make plans of how to spend it!

The little one is already 3! She decided her cake, her purple dress, the pinata and had a long list of her friends to be invited to her party. The last year has been a very challenging one for her - new place, friends and experiences. She now knows when she is in trouble and when she can have her say. And not to forget preschool, which requires an altogether different post...maybe posts? And I'm proud that she has braved it all, far better than what I had hoped for. 

I also know that somehow I will still be treated to plenty of 'mom' moments for years to come. I don't think she can stop surprising us :) When the decorations began on Saturday evening, she came jumping and laughing to tell me that they are sticking alphabets in the wall, which is in fact was the 'Happy Birthday' banner. She was beyond words when she saw all the balloons in the morning. The moment she saw the cake, she didn't want anything else to eat and couldn't understand why we had to wait! She had a proud and stifled smile when she finally cut her long awaited Dora cake! And everything that followed was so quick. She was happy, cranky, running, crying and everything that you could hope for in an excited 3 year old in a midst of 2, 3 and 4 year olds. Our backyard was very colorful this afternoon. And the food was great with so many people helping out physically and virtually :) We did miss our families back home but never felt alone. We had an awesome group of friends come over and they definitely made it a memorable birthday for Adhya.

A big thank you to everyone who made the day even more colorful!

I cannot believe that she is 3. But I'm that way. I never believed that she was already born, already 1 or already 2. It will take time :) But to us, she will always remain the girl who can identify the color brown only as 'brown bear' color and not 'brown'! And the one who wants to hold 5 balloons at the same time!

Little Routines

A kid opens up a new world that you never explored and never anticipated. To see them go wide eyed over little things in life makes you appreciate those 'little things' even more. Milestones of the kid, like crawling, sitting, walking, talking etc bring in a warm and happy feeling. But equally awesome and tear-starters are these day to day little things. A few that we and Adhya share...

Tunnel Time - Just going through the tunnel will light her up. In those dim yellow lights I can see her stiffling a laughter while holding on tight to her car seat. Maybe this is her carnival ride :) And she keeps enquiring if we are going to pass through an other tunnel. And yeah, she calls every tunnel as 'time tunnel'.

Cakes and Candles - Not sure when this tradition started. Even a soggy, half baked cake needs to be  decorated, celebrated wih a candle and a happy birthday song. I have a new found interest in baking(the resultys may vary) and I guess this ritual of blowing candles has something to do with it. Does she eat the cake? Thats a different story :)

Found the cake recipe from Fab...It turned out very well!

Barney - I never miss the end song of this purple dinosaur show. And wherever I am, she pulls me back into the living room to sing it along with her. Everyday around 11.30 am, I get a hug and a kiss without even prompting :) I owe it to Barney!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsKO_r76kfQ

The story teller - Adhya cooks up awesome stories. And she makes sure that her audience interacts. Mostly it is in a mix of tamil and english and this is how it goes...

Me: Can you tell me a story about cats?

Adhya: Ok. There was a kitten in a town.

Me: Then..

Adhya: The kitten's mother gave her milk.

Me: Then...

Adhya: You know what the kitten said?

Me: No

Adhya: Meow....

Adhya: Done!

You can replace cats and meow with dogs and bow respectively and you have a story about dogs :P

Things may change as she grows up but for now I'm happy with these rituals. I know the list will keep growing and changing as she grows and we will have more such routines to enjoy. Maybe, shopping together every Friday afternoon ?  ;)

Would love to hear your day to day treasured moments too :)

The drama unfolds this September!

Me : When appa goes to office and you start school, what will amma do?

Adhya: (with a I-have-no-doubts-about-this smile) : You are going to cry!

Well am I? We will have to wait till September to see….

She received her first admission/confirmation letter last week. There were so many questions in there. Does she know this? Does she know that? Frankly, I didn’t have an immediate reply to most of them.  I’ll have to think through and phrase it. Yes, she knows this but it will be a new environment and new people so I’m not sure if she will do it! We just have to wait and see. Hope this counts as an answer :P

She talks about going to school everyday. I hope school doesn’t disappoint her :D I hope she learns to make friends and tries her hand at new and different things. I hope she teaches me new things, becomes more confident and learns to eat her food even if little (I can still hope, no?) I hope she learns to correct her mistakes; patch up little fights and shares her things. I hope she grows a little each day. And I hope she is happy to see me at the end of her day! Maybe she is right... I might end up crying!

I never realized that 3 years can whiz by so fast. If I had to, I would live those 3 years happily again. But I very eager to see what is in store next… so here we go, we are getting ready for school :)

What comes after Sunday?

What comes after Sunday?

A boring, unexciting Monday? Adhya says it is 'Moonday' after Sunday!

A day for the sun and a day for the moon...seems fair to me...what do you think? Maybe it will take the edge out of Monday mornings :)

If you are in Chennai and want to visit a different kind of place before Monday or Moonday starts, you should try Dakshin Chitra. It is one of our favorite places in Chennai. It has model houses of ancient South Indian habitats, covering all the 4 southern states. The simple lifestyle, the appliances, the clothing etc. transport you to the lives of your great-great-great grandparents. And you will really appreciate the effort put in by the artists and the management to keep this place running. You can read more about it in their official website.

They regularly teach arts and crafts too. And there are stalls put up with decorative handmade products too. Needless to say, that is where I need Shankar to bring me back to the real world :D

amazing craftsmanship in a door

a simple kitchen

handloom sarees

a model house from Kerela

toys of Karnataka

It is an amazing place to take pictures, enjoy the state of 'how things were' and spend time with your family and friends. Give it a try someday!

Being a kid!

A little bit of routine,
A familiar corner, person or toy.
A small push into the unfamiliar,
A new game, place or song.

To go high up in the swings,
To be brave in the slides,
To try the monkey bars, maybe!

Crayons and markers to color the pages walls.
Papers to tear and squirrels to watch.

Tantrums and dramas have their place
Righ beside hugs, cuddles and sweet babbles
Friends to fight, share and learn new tricks
Mobiles and laptop to punch away!

A little solitary and a little company,
Colroful books filled with butterflies and dora.
A dose of compliments and 'great jobs'
Undesired but a sure shot of reprimands too.

Half eaten apples, half finished cookies
Self made lyrics and complementing music

An over conscious mom, a doting dad!
A little nap
And even more little food.

It does seem to be tough to be a kid these days, no? :)

The world through her eyes

Weirdly, the first letter that Adhya identified was W and it remained ‘bubble you’ for her for a long time. We are slowly into identifying other letters too. The other day, when I showed her A and asked her what it was, she promptly replied ‘Triangle’. Though, by impulse I wanted to correct her, I held myself back. On second thought, A does look like a triangle that has been extrapolated. With time, I know she will differentiate between a triangle and a capital ‘A’. But till then, let me learn something too J I’m sure every parent will have had such moments when they just had to sit back, smile and bask in the bliss of ignorance.

Kids see things so different from us. For them everything is new, adventurous and exciting. They have an inherent urge to explore. Maybe that is why routine activities like eating and sleeping are boring to them and they get rebellious. J

The incident just reminded me that just because people see things differently, it doesn’t mean that the other person is always wrong. People’s views are based on how they have lived their life so far, their inspirations, experiences etc. We have a choice to agree, disagree or disagree and change their point of view. All three are valid but the last one needs a lot of compassion and responsibility.

Two days ago, the little one sat on my lap and gazed intently into my eyes for quite some time. Then she quipped, ‘amma, see Adhya in your eyes’. It just kept me smiling the whole day :) Yes, things that we take for granted are so different in the eyes of a little one!

Share your little Einstien’s discoveries too J Would love to hear them!

Make Peace

There are a few things that are not worth(read ‘possible’) fighting for. The sooner one accepts that, the better it will be for that person and everyone around him or her ;). I’ve made my peace with a few things. In fact, I kind of expect them to happen. And when they don’t (rarely), I never forget to celebrate the moment. World peace makes its humble beginnings at home J

src: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=angel&ctt=1#ai:MC900438351|mt:0|

1. No matter how much ever I try, there will be toys all around the house like in the kitchen shelves and below your pillows waiting to poke you.
2. The other pair of Socks will always go missing.
3. Your house can be speck and span most of the time but when you have sudden visitors, it will definitely be a mess.
4. No matter how many days before I plan or how many lists I make, I’ll definitely forget one thing from the groceries. More often, I’ll forget to take the list J
5. I can’t eat healthy food 24 x 7.
6. I always hit ‘memory full’ on my camera whenever I decide to have an unplanned photo session (?).
7. I can never be regular at blogging ;)
8. Whenever my kid falls sick, I am going to find something or the other to blame myself for.
9. I will send across my share (ok, big share) of ‘Belated Happy Birthday’(s) even if I try hard not to.
10. I cannot make everyone happy and that is perfectly fine too J

These were the top 10 that popped into my mind and I’m sure there will be many more to add if I think harder. Do you have your peace list? If yes, do our lists have anything in common? J 

Happy 2012 :)

Yay! Its time for a brand new year :)

Its something about the dawn of a new year that brings a festive mood, makes us  more positive and energetic. How else can I explain the train of resolutions that I make when practically I know some of them won't even last till the end of January ;) But that's the charm of a new year ..... it makes us realize what our aspirations and dreams are. Maybe because it is at this time of the year that we sit and retrospect. So yes a lot of thinking has been happening and I'm sure this year's going to be very eventful :)

2011 has been great and very eventful - lots of memories to cherish. Two 60th marriages, a vacation, a retirement, lots of packing, our 5th marriage anniversary, heightened naughtiness and conversation (read 'convincing' ) skills of Adhya, a new job, a small setback in health, getting together with friends, and settling down in a new place are the highlights of our 2011. Its just that 2011 made us more responsible :) Hope 2012 turns great too......

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy new year. Hope you get to learn a lot, relearn and unlearn too in the process. May all your dreams - small or big, resolutions- however hard to keep up, plans and ideas take form. :)

P. S. And this year my little one will be starting school.... lots of tears are being stocked up already :)

a glimpse of the Christmas decorations at downtown..

Happy 2012 :)

Where it all begins.....

Where it all begins….

This is dedicated to all the girls born in the 70s, 80s or even 90s and had a set of grand parents in a smaller town/village that you visited during summer holidays. And if their home was surrounded with grooves of mango trees, abundant greenery, the lingering smell of neem trees, plenty of sunlight and a group of girls, you will know what I’m talking about J Even otherwise, you can relate to this post J

Those were the summer holidays when we literally did nothing except sleeping well, eating well and playing till the sun set. Even a simple dish made by my grand mother filled up the whole room with aroma. And everyday there would be a fresh string of flowers to adorn our plaits and most of the time it will be from our own garden. Those terrace floors full of sheets of pappads drying in the sun must have been a great aerial sight. The sun dried pappads would then travel through the country to all those uncles and aunts and would last them till next summer. Ho, and the honorable (?) job of taking care of the pappads from those hungry crows always was bestowed upon us kids. And what fun it was? Sometimes, the entire family would get dressed in minutes to go and catch an afternoon movie. I don’t remember the movies but I can’t forget all the hungama  around getting dressed up, packing snacks, filling up the water bottle and catching an auto. It was fun. The Friday evening temple visits, listening to my grand parent’s stories that began with ‘in those days’ and the lack of television all made it better.

The best part of my summer holidays were when I and my aunt (she was like a big sister to me) would join other girls who were there for holidays. We would have our own kitchen in the garden. And it wasn’t entirely a make believe kitchen because we actually made rasam, payasam, pongal, rice etc. in those small earthen pots. And believe me it turned out absolutely tasty. And the onus of stealing rice, dal, jaggery, tamarind etc. from my grand mother’s kitchen was always on me. The reason being even if I got caught, since I was small and my grand mother’s pet :D, I could get away easily. The toy kitchenware was amazing. They were earthen, wooden, steel and plastic mostly. The more variety you had, the more popular you were in your group :D. We were all passionate about cooking. Though being small, I had to only do those cleaning and cutting jobs but it somehow seemed very important then. And that I believe is when the interest for cooking was sown inside all the young girls. I love cooking today and trying out new things. Even though I don’t guarantee the outcome every time :D

Why this nostalgic post? The memories were dusted and brought to front because of a gourmet kitchen set that we bought for Adhya recently. It is pink and girly. It is very beautiful with all those modern equipments. And she literally loves it. I’m not going to compare the two kitchens here because I believe that both are awesome in their own way. They fulfill the job of making a little girl happy and make her believe that she is a chef, and that’s all that matters. J

But as I watched my sous-chef prepare me ‘hot’ tea and see how happy she was, I couldn’t help but travel down the memory lane J I sincerely hope she gathers more beautiful memories as she grows up J

Till then, Breakfast, anyone?

What's hidden?

Have you tried cleaning your home in the recent past? Ho, you should! You will be surprised at what all you will find..... :) Cleaning is therapeutic :) And by cleaning, I'm not just talking about dusting your living room and throwing away your old newspapers to the used paper mart. I'm talking about thorough cleaning that leaves your neighbors wondering if you are vacating  your home!

In the last 3 months, I've done a lot of cleaning, packing, unpacking and setting up things. It leaves you tiresome but at the same time it kind of makes you feel good to see those clean and tidy rooms. At the end you will be surprised how many things which you will never need or use share your home with you. Here goes the top 5 (in no particular order) that I found out hidden in my home and sometimes just in plain sight but I've never used.....

Wallets/Purses/Handbags

They are always in surplus. Yes they are empty, drenched in dust and fungus and are in funny colors. The zips probably don't work. They make you feel bad that you should have probably parted with them sooner when they were good enough so that someone who could have actually used it had had it.

Old dresses

Dresses that you stored at the back of your wardrobe in hope that it would probably fit...err... you will probably use it someday! Dresses in colors and fits that are really not you and you would only wear them before your mirror. I understand it is hard to give them away. So as a cheat sheet just pick up two-three of such dresses and give the rest away. It will actually make you feel good. And hey, now there is an other excuse for shopping. And now when you shop for new dresses, only buy those that you are comfortable in today. Don't buy anything for 'after I loose 5 kilos' how much ever you like it.

Pens/pencils/sketch pens

The most invisible ones in many homes.... I never find them when I need them to jot down an important number. But now I'm surprised at how many I  found. Most of them don't have caps and don't have ink. After all, a pen stand doesn't seem like a bad idea now. Just have to make sure that the stand is actually put into use :)

Pictures of gods

I believe in God and have a small pooja shelf(I live in an apartment :) ) for all my favorite Gods. Its one of my favorite places in my home. But when I cleaned the home I found small pictures of Gods with Calendar at the back of them in almost all the rooms. They were too many. Any small or big shop that you go during festival time in Chennai will give you loads of these calendars. You are taught not to say no to them. But them lying around in a corner of the home just makes me very sad. I honestly didn't know what to do with so many of them. Better ideas?

Cosmetics

There were many bottles of half used or almost full shampoos, moisturizers and oils. Check the expiry date and give them a try. You will most probably be saying, 'this is so good.... why did I stop using this?' And if not, why is it still crowding your shelves?

I know the list will vary according to each person. For eg., some people might consider giving away old books but I can always find a place for an old copy of Reader's Digest in my home. The thing is to make your own list of what you don't need in surplus and make sure that you stick to it. And then, probably you wouldn't have to clean your home so often like me ;) A very preachy post, isn't it? Would love to your ideas and experiences too....what's hidden in your shelves?

Letters to Emails to Facebook to ???

I remember the time I was in college and when I was new to job. Everyday, there used to be countless forwarded mails and sms-es. Funny, Quirky, Witty, Thanglish, Hinglish, please forward this to 10 people before 10’o clock …all kinds of mails. Ho, and some were thought provoking too. And not to forget those beautiful pictures of animals, flowers, niagra, sachin’s new home etc. that circulated. I would get the same forwarded mail from 5 different people within 2 days. But these days my inbox is flooded with messages from fb, daily posts from subscribed blogs, baby center mails and kinds. There are a few that I don’t know how to cut off. Oddly, ‘stop receiving mails from us’ doesn’t seem to work on them. There are occasional mails from friends too who start a chain of mails. But that’s about it. Now every activity of ours has shifted gear to facebook and other networking sites. It’s easy, quick and yes, all my friends are there. J

Technology is awesome. It definitely makes life simpler but only if we know how to draw the boundaries. Otherwise, it can be overwhelming and confusing. So what you post and what you share should be done judiciously. After all, Mark Zuckerberg agrees
By giving people the power to share, we're making the world more transparent. J

All said, I miss those forwarded emails and messages from friends in this age of facebook just like how I missed writing and receiving inland letters, postcards and greeting cards after yahoo and gmail came along. J

So do you still get those forwarded emails? Cherish them, however annoying they may be for it won’t be long when they abandon your inbox and jump to your facebook account J

Butterflies at home :)

A little more effort makes an occasion more colorful and memorable! Maybe you knew this already but I learnt it better on my daughter’s second birthday.

Till the last few days to her birthday, I was oscillating whether to have a theme around the birthday or not. The reasons were many, ‘she is too small to understand’, ‘there will be only a few guests’, ‘I don’t know if I can manage it’ and so many. But with 2 days to her birthday, a friendly nudge from Shobana made me go for it. And I’m glad I did it J

We decided on making it a Butterfly party. Butterflies are the recent craze of Adhya’s apart from Zoo Zoo. But butterflies seemed to open endless possibilities when it comes to decoration and proved relatively colorful. With bucket loads of suggestions and ideas from Shobana, the butterflies made their way into Adhya’s party.

Here are some of the pics from her birthday.

Chocolate butterflies on roses.... :P

I know with some more time, shopping and planning, it could have been even better. But nevertheless, I was happy because Adhya seemed excited with the cake, butterflies around the room and the balloons. And how wrong I was in thinking that she was too small to relate to a theme!

So here are some of my tips or should I say lesson’s learnt ;) that will help you with your kid’s birthday party at home:

• Choose a theme, simple yet something that your kid loves. However small your kid is, he or she will be able to understand it.                                                                                                            
• Talk to people who have already organized similar birthdays for ideas.
• Plan ahead of time and look carefully into all aspects. But be prepared for something to go wrong, it just happens.
• Shop from more than one place.
• Keep a checklist. Nothing to beat the good old paper and pen J
• Keep the paper plates, tissues, cups, candles, scissors, cake knife, return gifts, wash cloth and others handy or entrust them with a reliable person.
• Try to finish all the shopping part before the birthday, so that you can enjoy your kid’s birthday without being tired.
• Ho, and take a lot of photographs. However shaky they turn out, they are fun.

And this post wouldn’t be complete without thanking Shobana for all her ideas and help. Thank you Shobana J I can imagine how better she would have done it! And to those who didn’t know already, she and Sudha have come up with FunSquared to add color, life and fun to birthdays. Check them out at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fun-Squared-Where-Every-Party-Is-Unique/207141172650020. Colorful, isn't it?