Science in Kitchen

It was a rather sunny winter afternoon and the temperature was not too cold either. Hence, the crazy family decided to go to their fAvourite hangout- 100cents to those who can guess what it can be? Hold ur breath.. It's the ZOO!!! No pun, it is a fun place to take ur kids too. And all the more in spring, when u can see the kangaroos and the likes jumping with their cutie babies in the pouch! And sugar just loves the felines- tigers, leopards, cheetahs and the likes. Ofcourse, they have to be on the other side of the fence!

We were in the reptiles sections and while sugar was getting worried over the flicking tongues of the lizards ( nopes not the little wall lizards. These were bigger varieties from the Africa and the South America), chini was busy watching the cobra doing the 'standing straight on the spine' act! A rather hassled momma was busy checking if that venomous reptile is all secured and there's no chance of it escaping its glass abode, when a tiny hand softly called on her,
"so what does cobra do to you except for this dance? Why are they dangerous?"
They bite.
they bite you and then they leave you alone?
What??!!?
they bite you, then what? Do they eat you?
That's when it struck momma, that on our lAst visit to the zoo, we were more fascinated by king's distant cousins(?) the pythons, boas and anacondas, which squeeze you to death to gobble you up or send a wiggling you in their tummy.
No, they bite you and you die. Momma said.
Why?
Because their bite is poisonous.
What's poisonous?
Something that can make you die.
So they bite with stings like the bees?
No, they bite with their teeth. Their teeth have poison in them.
Oh. So where do the bees have poison? Why do the bees die after they bite you
And momma distracted chini, hey where's sugar? Where's ur li'l sister? We need to find her!! And made a mental note to blast the dad to again have deluded her, in the time of need! I swear he was there with us when we had entered that closed arena!

Yeah! Go on. Mock me! I have my limits. There are a certain number of questions I can take at a time. Next time, probably, I will remember to get a better network covering smartphone with me. Probably, wikipedia might come to my rescue at places where my own memories of science lessons and of course, the dad go for a long walk!!



Here Are a few trivia questions that are thrown at me almost on a daily basis..


A blueberry has the word 'blue' in it and it is blue. A blackberry has the word 'black' in it and it is black.
Why does strawberry has the word 'straw' in it? Does it have any straw in it?


Why is apple seed brown and orange seeds white?
Why is the avacodo seed so big while these are small?
Why are papaya seeds round?
Why do we eat pomegranate seeds ? and not apple's and orange's seeds?


Why do rotis fluff up? Why do we fry pooris in oil?

Why do you make 'atta'? ( actually she was trying to ask why does the water bind it together?)

Why have all the leaves not fallen off the trees? ( pointing at the Spruce and fir outside the kitchen window)

Why do you wash vegetables aNd fruits?
Why do we Cut them?
Why do we cook them?
Why do you eat mirchi? ( spicy food) while I cannot?
Why do we have to chew food?

Why do you put dahi in milk to make dahi? (while watching me prepare yogurt)


See how many you can answer, and remember you are in the kitchen with hands stuffed in sticky dough and do not hv access to either ur smart phone or any other form of internet! And surrounding you is your curious 4-yr old and chattering 2-yr old, so you can' t move. One of them is talking away non-stop and the other is stuck at that one question, and can't help repeating it over and over. And, beware, though u r in a hurry to get the food ready on the table before they get too hungry, you cannot snap at them! They are acting their natural innocent self! And then, there is this bright hope of them growing up to be highly intellectual beings!!

Go on... Take the challenge!
Answer them and yes, share them with the rest of us mortal beings as well!
What say? Did you have to google it up? Did you ever think such a question can be asked?
Actually, a few of them, have been taught in school.. Probably when we were 10 or more? So, is this a highly evolved generation?

P.s. don't forget ur answers shud be in simple words for 4-yr old's

Exchanging the gifts!

So, the box of goldfish has been long consumed and momma is being pestered to make the gingerbread man cookies. Meanwhile, mom was also notified last week that presents were being wrapped for her at school. The naive momma failed to take the hints and worried too much over her diarrhea(mom ruined the whole weekend as her fatso-body reacted to the anti-biotic). So, this afternoon, post-school, she was duly informed that the christmas present is in the bag and will be hidden under her bed (mom's bed) and that she cannot open it until the actual day. A frail Attempt was made to count, the number of days left, on the fingers And it was declared that christmas is still too far. By the time, the journey to the home was made, momma was being questioned what did she 'make' as gifts for her oh-so-nice kids and whether she made the wrapping paper herself too. To avoid bring caught, momma replied that she was still working on the gift and it should be done before Mr.Claus arrived. Meanwhile, the furtive momma was trying to churn up her gray cells fast to come up with some hand-made worthwhile work of love (multiplied by two) which could be finished At such a short notice! And that's when the bomb dropped. The wrapped present was thrust in her hands with
"Alright momma. You can open the gift now. And after that, show me what you are making for both of us"
So much for lying!!
But chini, We will open all our gifts on the xmas day. That's okay
No momma! I want you to open the gift now. I made it specially for you. I can't wait until christmas. I know you will love it!
Guiltily, momma unwrapped the gift to find a beautiful wall hanging with a hand-prints wreath on it.
Those are my hands! Can I touch those red berries?
And momma thought all's forgotten about seeing her gift.

And it was, only for a while!
Can I see what you made for me n sugar now?
Seriously, what kind of memories do these kids have?
To mom's rescue came two bracelets that she had made in summers(for her friends, albeit) and to her delight, they were loved and momma was showered with many hugs, kisses and thank you-s.

Isn't this the cutest age, when even a grass twig can make them happy??



As an afternoon activity, we had slotted the day for hanging the ornaments on the tree in our front-yard. My apple tree as sugar calls it. So, the day was well spent in cutting the ribbon and stringing the ornaments. We were having fun hanging them on the tree and watchinjg a couple of them catapulting themselves to a higher branch! That was magic!chini exclaimed. As we went on with our business, a neighbor came by and remarked how pretty the tree looked. Taking it as a compliment, she informed us that it is actually against the society's rules!! A couple more came( imagine! In this chilling cold! Guess they were all watching us from their windows!!) and affirmed. The mom was advised to check with the head, though, whose house was shown too, just couple of blocks from ours. You can do something fun on the deck, the girls were told. By the time, we reached his house, he was already informed and they didn't have to guess why we were there. Guess, in our neighborhood, the news travel faster
Than aajtak! Cheesy?i know! So, the head told us that he had fairly an idea why this mom with her two little girls was there and said he would stop by to check what (unspeakable crime!) we had done. He did come, with a printed copy of the do's and don'ts of the society, wondering if our house-owner had already gave us one. (yeah they did, and we burnt it! Really, what's up with this home-owners assn. guys?). Well, I told him that we didn't have one. I was shown the one, in which the christmas section was highlighted for our ease. Apparently, nothing, including coloured or blinking lights can be used. only white candles is the windows or small white string lights can be used At the doors. Form our reference, we were advised to take a walk in the neighborhood. And oh! As for our ornaments, nothing and nothing can be put in the yard!! The girls were a little disappointed but still maintained that they had a fun afternoon! As a bonus, they got to play with the HOA head's puppy. That left momma wondering,

Time to get a christmas tree??

The Repartees

Seeing sugar pop something in her mouth from the floor, momma frantically runs to her, "open ur mouth! Show me. Show me. What's in ur mouth?"
Very calmly, she looked into momma's eyes, and answered, teeth!

As momma steps out of the bathroom, ready to go out, sugar gives her a bright smile,
I love ur oatfit momma! It's so pretty

During the well-check, the doctor asked, what languages fo we primarily speak at home. "Hindi", I said.
And English, chini adds. you speak Hindi while I speak English.
Not to be left behind, sugar adds, and Spanish! I say para!!


In an argument with sugar I say, it is a horse!
No! It's a pony, she says.
No ponies are small. This is a horse.
I know!! it's a unicorn!


Watching me flip over an omellete, sugar exclaims,
Wow! You are making a egg-roti!

It was story time and Momma was narrating one of her own, with lots of actions. At one time, momma pretended to pull something out of an imaginary bag, and placing her hand flat in front of the kids, asked," what do you think is in the hand?"
MAENDI!!!(mehandi) sugar answered!!


Oh, sugar accidentally bumped her head into momma, resulting in a big cut on momma's lips. This happened two days back. Since then, much to momma's amusement, sugar is insisting,
I will kiss on ur boo-boo and make it awll better!!

Threats and Consequences

It was the dinnertime. As we have our dinner by 6:30 p.m. most of the days, we do not wait for the dad (who anyways is not home before 8:00 p.m.). In order to calm the kids down, I promised to tell them a story during the meal. I made up an instant one and was rather proud of myself (infact, had thought of publishing it here as well), when chini got inspired and decided that she would also tell me a story. Now, this has been going on for quite some time and the kids were encouraged to come up with their creative/narrative talents. For quite a while they were stuck with the "happily ever after syndrome but were fast developing more skills to story-telling. Sugarbun always starts with "Once upon a time" and ended with "the end", in the middle would be anything from dora to mom, to a puppy to anything she can think of at that moment. Chinipie had started giving twists to the traditional tales, sometimes making a potpourri of many stories together and at times coming up with some of her very own, which was amazing.

But the story she made impromptu today, just shook me up. Though, she has been insisting, ever since, "momma, that's just in my story!", I have not been able to fathom her figment of imagination. And somehow feel, much to the dad's amusement, that somehow my actions and doings have led to it.. guilt. Guilt!

Here it goes, exactly as she said it. Let me know what you think of it..

There was a little girl and her baby brother, who lived with their mommy and daddy. Daddy had gone to office. The kids were playing in their play room, when their mommy asked them to clean up in 10 minutes. When mommy came in the room, it was all messy. Toys and books were all on the floor. So she got very angry and went upstairs to her room and banged the door and locked it. When the dad came home, he pushed open the door and asked what happened; to which she replied that the kids are being very mean. The kids, too, entered the room and then the mommy yelled at them. The policemen came and took mommy away and put her in jail. The kids shouted "yippie" and jumped in the bed all night. Then, the dad joined them, cheering "yippie" too!!

To which I asked, was the mommy wrong in asking the kids to clean up their mess? (I always ask them to!In fact, had asked them to clean up before dinner. Their are time-outs or no story or no play time as a consequence)
Do I ever bang the door or lock it? (I never ever bang the door and shutting any door except the front and the back door and of course, the bathroom doors are against the rules of our house. I wonder, if my locking the bathroom door might have triggered that point coz it's sth new for them. Oh! she had closed her room's door on sugar's face, this afternoon, when sugar had started crying, she had immediately realized her folly. I was in another room and didn't intervene.)
Will you be happy if I go away? Sugar replied that they would be sad while each time, chini kept saying it's just a story!


I do try to be strict with them in certain matters, and talk in a firm,stern voice, sometimes, raising my voice, too(which I regret and am trying to improve upon). And there are threats, consequences, time-outs too, which actually turn out to be very traumatic for all of us. Parenting, as I see, is very challenging and an ever-learning process in which I find myself growing with the kids. But, never, had I thought that I am bad at it. Probably, I am thinking too much. Probably, being closer to 5, chini is at a stage where she is constantly inquiring and experimenting with lots of idea around her/in her mind.

For instance, this was the conversation yesterday:
Momma, trying to get sugar to do something: (in a stern voice)
I want you to come here, right now!
Chini, sitting close-by, looks up from her book,
what will you do?
Let her come here first.
no but, what will you do if she doesn't come?
I will get upset.
Then? Then, what will you do?
I will be very upset.
If you get upset, what will you do? Will you hit her?
NO!! We don't raise our hands when we get upset. That's not the right thing. Have I ever hit you?
AFter some thinking,Yes! this morning, when I was getting ready.
Honey! that was an accident! I was trying to reach ur shoes when that happened and I did say sorry to you! (Actually, my hand had accidentally brushed against her)
Yeah you did! but tell me, what will you do to sugar now? Will you put her out in the rain? Will you throw her in the garbage truck? What will you do?
[Okay, now this needs some explanation. On Monday, after bringing chini back from school, sugar had started throwing tantrums and had not wanted to enter the house. "Home is boring", she had said. It was raining and Monday, being the trash pick-up day, after much cajoling, I had said that she can stay outside in the rain, if she wants. Sugar, in fact, was very happy. To which, chini had got much agitated, "No! Don't do that to my sister! the garbage truck will come and pick sugar up and throw her in fire .. like Andy's toys in toy story 3!!" Sugar was excited with the idea of hitching a ride in the garbage truck and the fire truck. Only her sister's protests and convincing made her rethink and both the sister's got in the house, holding hands. Garbage truck actually crushes things before taking them to dump in the fire, mommaLater, she had told me. So, never again talk about leaving her outside on a garbage day! As I had marveled over her immense observation and the sister's bond, the matter, for me, was over.]
What will you do, momma. Answer me.
Why do I have to give you both consequences for everything? Why can't you do just as I ask, in the first place?
Because.. Ok. I will help you. I will ask sugar to come.



Now tell me what will I do?? What should I do??

Welcoming Santa

It has been unusually warm winter so far. We did have a snowy day, around halloween, when we were so not ready for it and a few cold autumn days afterwards, but it has been very pleasant ever since. We wouldn't have realized it's the month of December if the sunset didn't happen at 4:00 p.m. each day! Any chnces of having a hite chistamas this year? Probably something to worry about, but that we will do later. For now, we are enjoying. Most days, when it's not raining, we even manage to sneak out for a super-short evening walk!

The neighbourhood is lively with the holiday lights and decorations. Everybody has a green wreath hanging on their front door. We can see well-decorated christmas trees through some windows.
"when are we going to decorate our christmas tree?" chini asks. " are we going to celebrate chrismas with our friends like we did when I was three and sugar was 1?" (last xmas, we had a get-together with our friends where one of the dads had dressed up as santa and given gifts to all the kids. Gifts were, of course, brought by parents.)
i want to go see baby jesus being born
and various such inquisitiveness. We are still not ready for a tree, so momma got the ornaments to decorate the tree outside. Now, we r waiting for the sun to shine back (it has been raining non-stop for past 3 days now) so tt we can go out and hang those pretty things. Meanwhile, the xmas bells are on the door, santa and snowman clingies on the windows, large wreath bows in the mantel and the stockings are hanging already on the fireplace.
Why does Santa come through chimney, papa?
wHy don't we have stockings for you and momma? I want santa to get you both dome gifts too. You have behaved good this year.
Meanwhile, all thoughts are being invested in wht gifts to be asked from Santa. Check out what's on the top of her list!

Dear Santa
I have not been very good this year. But i have kept my promises. I told momma I will not bite my nails at school and I stopped! I promise that I will be a good girl. Please get me a bottle of pink sparkly nail polish.
Love, chini

And already, a box of goldfish has been left at the fireplace for Santa. Sugar meanwhile has been practicing her carols, " up on the rooftop" "away in the manger" "jingle bells" "rudolf-the red nosed reindeer" are all sung at her full vocal chords. Sometime, she gets a little out of track and starts " do re mi fa so la ti" which goes like this-
Doe a deer, female dear
Ray a floss of golden sun
Me a name Call myself
Fa momma go to run!?!?

Shark Teeth

Do you know how many teeth do the sharks have? This might be a fun read.

And how many teeth does my chinipie has?
one hundred!
That's what she very proudly told the dentist during her recent check-up. The dentist then counted out loud with her and much to chini's disappointment, ended up at 20.
I want to have 100 teeth!
Yes, unless you want to be a shark, said the dentist. You aren't one, are you?
Yes, I am
(now somebody plz explain momma why is this one hundred such a magical number?)


So we had been to the dentist. And momma is actually not making a huge ruckus about it as it is actually the 2nd visit. The first ever visit was in March, for which chini was pretty excited as the then-next-door paediatric dentist had just made a visit to her school. And, it was a huge deal then! Chini had surprised them with her knowledge of floss and mouthwash! In return, they even had done a complimentary dental check for sugar! (Nah! Just kidding, they had told at very beginning that they would.)

This time Chini was a little skeptical, partly due to her dad's recent visits and partly, coz some of her friends at school have either lost their first baby tooth or have a wiggy one. Though, her hesitation came as a surprise to me as just a few days back, she had complained how unfair it is that her friends are already losing their baby teeth while she is still stuck with them! And then she had gone ahead and drafted a letter to the tooth fairy (already!) which went something like this:


Dear Tooth fairy,

give me and my baby sister a yummy thing to eat.
Also, add one for momma and one for papa.
Love,
Chini

(Yes! All her prayers have to include all of us. Isn't that so sweet?)


The shark teeth acted as an ice-breaker and the rest went quite well. The high point was when the dentist cranked chini's chair up and down. She smiled wide every time that happened and said I am enjoying the ride, momma!

Sugar doesn't let any stranger cross her safe space. So, while she was constantly chirping all through her sister's sitting, she turned into a wiggly worm when it was her turn. As a result I had to take her in my lap. And then, it was all three of us on that dentist chair ride!
For next few days, sugar would show her teeth to me and say,
"look at my teeth. They are pink!"


A couple of months ago,in some context, I asked chinipie - which book had lobsters shaking hands with us humans?
I remember that book, She had said. Not only did she remember the name of the book but had then gone on to describe, so, perfectly, each and every page of the book. Given the fact that we had read that book in the very beginning of summers! Don't kids have such amazing memories? You know what the book was?
Never take a shark to a denist. ;)

Papa ki pari

Papa, U Hv to come home early before night falls.
The dad, who usually comes by nine reaches home at 6:30 p.m. as promised to his angel.
Papa, I told you to come early!
Beta, I did come early! ( poor dad, obviously, was hoping for a pat on the back)
No, U didn't! pointing out of the window. See, it's already night. I told you to come before it gets dark.
It's winters, beta. It gets dark in the evening, itself. It's not night yet.
Shrugging her shoulders, you never keep your promise!
Another little voice repeats, you never keep ur pomise, phaphaa!
.
.
.
And, somewhere in the background, mom is trying hard to suppress her laughter.



The dad takes over the task of getting the chores done, one morning, as momma is not feeling so well.
We should not let the water run so fast, papa. It's wastage
We do not use that tooth paste, papa
Not that cup. I drink milk in the other cup!
not that much milk. I take less than that.
Not strawberry. I like chocolate flavor
Finally, a frustrated little girl says,
U don't do anything like momma does!
Following which another sweet voice adds,
u don't do anything, phuphaa!
.
.
.
A much amused momma, then, comes to an equally amused dad's rescue and to pacify the dad's darlings.



Another day, during a long drive to some place,

Momma drives better than you, papa. U drive so slooow and always take such a long long time to reach any place!
The dad raises an eyebrow, with a smuck look on his face, to the beaming mom!



Watching dad, keenly, who is writing a cheque,
Why are you scribbling on the paper? Don't you know how to write?
The astonished dad, " that's my signature."
But that's not any good writing.
Before dad could explain, the opinion is seconded, you scribbled, phapa.
And he just gives up, in front of his two beautiful judges.


And the news of the lifetime! The dad, now, no longer bites his nails and actually uses a nail cutter to trim his errr..... Cuticles!!
Seeing the dad's fingers in his mouth, Papa, are you biting your nails?
No. The skin around my nails has grown. Am taking it off. ( yeah! He actually said that!)
Next time, she catches him,Is the skin grown again?
Some other day, Wht are you doing papa?
Yet another time, you were biting ur nail. Don't lie to me
And rest, as you know, nail biting is history...




Not to mention, the main reasons for the apt title of this post..
Papa's pariis get 'bored' of a dress after it is worn a couple of times. Sometimes, after the one single account of actually dorning it(which might be less than an hour)! And every ten days or so, you can hear, you haven't bought me a new dress for a long time, papa!

And the best part is their love for accessories! They just love anyting with gold, silver, stones, oearls and diamonds! Even their dresses should have some sort of 'jewelleries' on them. Papa's pariis have to have to have to stop and admire every jewellery display in stores like macy's. Woow! Beautiful!
Pretty!
That ring/ear-ring will look good on momma!
When I grow up, can I have that pearl necklace, papa?
I want the diamond one, papha!
We both want pearl and diamond ones, papa!!



Edited to add: Go on... Pour in your love for the trio.. The dad and his two darlings..( papa aur unkindo pyari pariyaan!)

Thanksgiving is for giving thanks

The month of november had started with a long wait for the thanksgiving day. The teachers did a good job at school educating the kids about the holiday. Starting the month with a field trip to a native Indian village, trying out the dresses, craft work, story, play and the chapel lessons, every day chinipie had a new story to share. Oft repeated was the thankfulness prayer. With thankyou Jesus, thank you for the sun, to thankyou for the family, Chinipie is full of gratitude. When she would get really bugged by her little sister, the poor girl would innocently ask, " momma, I am thankful for sugar but why does she trouble me so much?". She did seem to accept the justification when i told her that sugar missed her and that's how she is trying to be close to her and show her love. Once the question involved the dad too.."I love papa and am thankful for him but why does he get angry with me?"All I could come up with was that he loves you and is really thankful for you and wants you to do everything in a better way..


The star question was,"why do we light fire when we do prayers - at home, mandir or even my chapel?" Following her cue, I told her that's how we thank God for providing us with everything and as lighting a candle or a lamp diya removes darkness around us, we wish to light such lamp within us while offering prayers. "is it dark inside us?" Mommy wasn't ready for all the questions that would follow if she tried to explain the euphemism to her curious 4-yr old, who no doubt, is very much capable of throwing them at her when she doesn't see them coming. Like when she showed me a very beautiful picture of a sunset she painted, after reading the book, The legend of Indian paintbrush, she asked "why there was no green in the sunset?" Now, all I could think of was of the physics explanation of the wavelength, which definitely would have bored my eager girl and I asked her instead what color ws the sun? She said "orange in the morning, a little later yellow Nd white in the afternoon.. In evening it even looks reD sometimes." "There you go! You know the answer now!" I said. " but the sun is never purple! So why does the sunset hs purple in it?" HHHEELLPP!!
Why is the dad never around when I need him the most??


So, while sugar hs been thanking me each time when I hand her a cup of water or milk, or dress her up or put her shoes on; chini declared that she would write a thank you note for all her friends. The mailman would be the first to receive the honours, it was decided. It was only fateful that as we were about to finish it off that the mail van arrived and hurriedly the name was signed and the door wS opened and momma was informed "I will be right back! and without even looking back once, an errand had to be made. While the momma anxiously stood at the curb, barefoot, lest the mailman think that her cutie bundle wAs a mail too.. The note was duly delivered to him and he, in turn, raised the note-holding hand to the mom and the little girl jogged back, beaming, " I had to make a run!"
Of course, you had to, sweet heart!


And it was decided that we would thank all our friends for 'being our friends' this thanksgiving and when we were all set for the journey, chini said, "I am so excited, but where are we going NEXT thanksgiving?"

You know

That...

... It's Time to hit the gym, when one of your kids asks, "why is momma's tummy so big?"

... U r goin crazy, when u frantically start looking for one of ur kids, only to realize later that she actually is in your arms!

... Ur kids are watching too much TV when u try to punish them by taking their toys away and they react with "swiper no swiping"!

... U r raising a proud-to-be-a-girl, when on hearing Mulan's story, she immediately coins a story in which the boy dresses up as a girl!

... They got ur genes, when you catch them reading books in the dim night light!

... U r extremely lucky, when seeing you dressed up, your little darlings shower you with praises like "i love your hair", " i really like your dress" "ur ear rings are beautiful", "u look pretty"!


Go on add more..

Another feather In the cap!

Another milestone achieved! It's official!

CHINIPIE READS!!!

And the momma is doing a little jig! Chini reads everything from books to magazines to to newsletters to titles to banners to traffic signs!!

Summers saw her reading short sentences with 3 to 4 words and now she can do the whole book, sometimes without any help! Of course, it shouldn't have too many multi-syllable words coz then she loses interest. Nevertheless, she surprises me! She can read those'step 2' learning to read books without any help! Now many a times, sugarbun goes to her, "didi, will you read the book to me?" And, sure enough, she does!

I still very vividly remember my 18 months old chini, sitting on the couch and turning the pages of a book with a "phii ka hua.. Then what happened". Must like her momma would do while reading her the stories and yes, I was trying to raise a bi-lingual chini. By two, she was looking at the pictures and recognized the albhabet. At three, she was doing the sight words, even spotting them hidden in the big words. Before her fourth birthday, she could read many other small words and most definitely could give you an impression that she read the whole book when in truth, she was reproducing it on memorization.

And now, She reads independently even before I get to read to her first! Woo hoo!

We are working on the writing too! She can write small notes like thankyou, happy birthday and even attempts to write a story once in a while but we don'tget beyond one sentence as she has to ask for each spelling and then she loses her patience. But we are getting there. Her handwriting is getting beautiful each day, most definitely! Even her drawing Is now so illustrative and clear and pretty.

Oh! I think I am just a doting mom and should stop here.

And yes, I have to share this morning's story:

As it's almost time for school and chini is still in the bathroom. I call out and ask her if her potty is done.
3 is done. 1 is left
What??
I finished reading 3 books and am about to finish the last one.
!?!! ;-)

Nighttime routines- then and now

Starting with changing into the night dress, where each of my fasion divas want to wear a nightgown to brushing the teeth to getting to the bed to actually fall asleep, the night time routine in this household is a mix of fun and struggle each night.

Tonight, I had to brush cindrella's and snowwhite's teeth beore Sugarbun let me brush hers. I, somehow have a feeling that I did something of this sort for chini at around the same time. Whether I did or not, am not sure as it has been two years since and I wasn't blogging as frequently then. What I do remember is that last year, we had tough time stopping sugar from brshing her teeth. Any chance she got, she would climb up on the pedestal and somehow manage to get to the brush... No matter how far from her reach I would have kept it. The paste, then applied, and faucet running, she would brighten her one dozen pearly whites at least 5-6 times a day. Night times would be all the more difficult as she would keep pushing chini off the stool. To top it up, she used to be mad at us coz we didn't let her use her sister's toothpaste. (She uses the toddler's toothpaste as she doesn't know yet how to spit but swallows it all.) With chini, then, it was the struggle of independence. Where last year, she was in a "I will do it myself" phase, ths year it has been replaced by "you do it for me". Every night she has some kind of reason for not doing it herself. I very didtinctly remember how she used to light up when after doing my part, I used to hand her the brush for her turn. And also, how we used to quarrel whose turn would it be first. Well, times change and in this case, the place has changed too.

Getting to bed is another story in itself. Where last year, dad used to check and chase away the monsters from under the bed, behind the curtains and from the toy chest, this year, he soothes chini as every night she declares,"I am scared of the dark". I scared of dark, sugar has started too since past two days. This is very new as we have stopped giving her sippy cup (milk) for bed. Until now, she had been using her sippy cup to self-soothe her through the night. Now, they sing and talk to each other, calling out to mom and dad, in between, too.

However upset or tired we are, the constant evolution of those three words from i yuy u to i vuv u to i love you doesn't fail to work their magic on us each night as we turn off the lights and try to sneak out of their room.

Celebrating A Birthday

Becomes merrier with both of my oh so pinkalicious daughters!

It all started a week before when I told them that dad's birthday is coming up.
Where shll we have his birthday party?
What will we gift him?
Quick, we have to think and do so much!
And no, this wasn't me, but chinipie thinking out aloud. When I told her that we will celebrate together, as a family, at home, just as papa would love it, she didn' like the idea. Home is boring, she said. Home is boring, sugarbun echoed.

Her moods lifted when we shopped for all the necessary supplies: cake, pumpkin bread, dahi vada, chole-bhature was the menu. I told her that this is to Be a surprise for him, so we have to keep a hush-hush about it. And she did! As soon as dad came back that evening,
"Papa, we are planning a surprise for your birthday but I won't tell you because it is a surprise. "
It's a prize for ur birthday, papa, sugar Dutifully joined in the excitement.
And this took me tWo years back, when on dad's birthday chini had excitedly gone to the just-entered-in-the-home dad and had chirped, Surprise! It's a birthday cake!

An evening before, the dad had his wisdom tooth removed and declared that he would be working from home the next day. A frantic mom very rudely told him to leave for work the first thing in the morning, for it disrupts the kids' routine?!? To which, he meekly replied tht he had to go for two hours for a meeting anyways. Trying to patch up, (though hoping he doesn't give in) I suggested that he could do a telecon, which (thankfully) he couldn't. For a while I thought that he was just playing his part in the whole surprise act, to which he later clarified that he indeed had a very genuine meeting.

Anyways, as soon as the dad left the house, out came all the ingredients for the cake and girls had the whisks ready as we cracked, read hatched, the eggs. While chinipie very Honestly helped me, sugar had fun dipping her hands in the batter and licking it off. Temptation caught on and soon both my girls were anointed from head to toe.
Ummmm yummy, sugar exclaimed every time she put those tiny sticky mix-coated fingers in her mouth.
The pumpkin batter turned out to be a little spicy for them and their little tummies were full too, so this time we sticked to just hatching the eggs together. The cake was done and as I had to hide the cake when the dad arrived, Chinipie rushed to delay him at the door.
"You don't smell the cake, do you?" :-)
To my rescue, the pumpkin bread was still in the oven and worked as a cover. Sneaking again, chini and momma finished decorating the cake. Chini added the sprinkles as momma caligraphed on it.

In the morning, as soon as she opened her eyes, chini rushed to wish her dad a very happy birthday, and my manager added
I have to go downstairs and check if momma is finished decorating the house. You come with sugar a little later, okay?
Not only was the decoration approved but gained a very high remarks! The cake was cut and my head chef, sugar, taking a bite affirmed,
Ummmmmm, it tastes like cake!


Two birthdays in the family being over and done with, no points in guessing whose is coming next.
"I will celebrate my birthday in disney world. And will invite all my friends there." A few days later, she added,
"Me and sugar both will have our birthday celebations at disneyworld with all the princesses.... For one hundred and twenty five days. You and papa are invited, too."


Need Invitations, anyone?



Edited to add: The post is published ten days later than it was originally intended to.. And I forgot to add that poor dad couldn't relish his own birthday cake as his mouth was still sore.

Also, chini's current favourite number is 125 .. A progress after my birthday.

A peep into our daily lives

Of listening/not listening

Momma: Why dont u listen to me? I keep calling you but you don't come.
Chinipie: U hav to say " PLEASE come "

*************

Of blackmailing

Chinipie on her way to the bathroom, one morning,
"Give me coloring Dora(a mobile app) or else I won't do potty!"

*************

Of graphical details

Chinipie coming out of bathroom, with an amused face,
"Pee pee went like pooooooooooo phissssss peeeeeeee"

*************

Of falling and hurting

Chini after falling and hurting herself on her chest, with all solemness,
"I broke my heart..."

*************

Of kisses

Chinipie,"Some people kiss on the lips. We don't. as we do not want to share our germs. We kiss on the cheeks, nose, eyes, hands, BRAIN(for forehead)!" ;-)

Sugar, whenever she gets hurt,
"Momma can u kiss me? " Needless to say, momma obliges.

One day, after momma cuts her finger accidently,
Momma: Sugar see my boo boo?
Sugar: "I will kiss you." Gives momma's finger a kiss and says, "there, aall better!"

Your words..

These are your words left on my facebook wall. Ever so lovely. They keep motivating me, every day when i get too tired and just want to crash to sleep. Though i have always so much to say here, i usually have no energy left. That's when your comments on my blog, on my wall, in my inbox, over the phone encourage me to write.

Keep pouring yor love..

I had started to insert links on each post name, it turned out to be tedious. So stopped.

On Pets in our house

# Ha ha ha!

# ha ha..bird is hatching..she is so cute..

On feasts and festivities

# Lovely write-up!

# I really enjoy your writing Swati

# hey lovely write-up,great i have a bedtime story tonite..most awaited,good job swati

# i was amazed my girl discussing chini n sugarbun with friends...keep on

# Wow Swati...You write so good... I never knew about your this HIDDEN TALENT... Amazing....

# i agree I really enjoyed when reading your blogs... keep writing.. Ritu surely hidden talent hai!!!!

On The first snow

# hope u al r doing good ...

# very cute..how was the bday party :)

On Craziness and innocence

# Read All of them !! Awesome ..... Tons of Love to Chinipie N Sugarbun

# hey good one swati..make a point to go thr' chini n sugarbun,n my kid too loves to listen to it...till date it was cindrella n all fairies bt nw she wana more of sugarbun n chinipie...


# hey really i read for her and have to answer bundle of ques....abt sugarbun...
..Keep going

On A birthday

#How sweet!!.girls r really getting big! :) Btw...Uttam ka comment mast tha!! Lol!! ;)


# I love your blogs :) How are you and the kids?


# enjoy reading your posts swati...keep them coming...u're the only rover who has kept the tradition alive, so am proud of u..!!!and what better subject to write about than the joys and woes of motherhood... i always think of putting pen to paper, or rather, fingers to the keyboard, but always end up putting it off...maybe one of these days, i'll borrow some inspiration from u :)

On sugar n school

# hey di..howz u...& loved ur blog...


# Lovely post Swati. On the previous one, you mentioned losing your post due to changes in blogger options ... have you tried e-mailing your post to blogger (you can save it as a draft, or post it directly).


# Hi Swati , I really love your blogs. very touching ..filled with lot of emotions...keep on writing .

On Day 2

# i look forward to your posts..they are awesome

# Lovely kids

# keep writing and sharing...

On chini' first day

#how was her day1 at school ? n ur day at home .....sugarz nahi jati school?

Of fairy tales n cindrellas

# its pleasure to read swati...kip going

# maza agaya subah subah padke :)

# Very nice...as usual

# Good going swati. Keep it up!

# wow....wonderful:)

On meeting hershey-cane

# Good read !! Didn't know about this side of yours. Keep it going

On 'All in a day'

# Very delicious treat for the readers also...

# indeed an amazing sweetener...isnt it a wonderful thing to have daughters

# good treat

On a snapshot

# very nice! good way to keep memories...I have always liked to writing. keep it up :)

# read a few..it was awesome..a true treasure trove for your kids!!

# a nice read...enjoyed all of them, including the ones from 08...keep writing :)

# ‎Swati Goel: Read a couple of your posts today..loved it..I am also your follower now on your blogpost

# Loved it Swati!Very nice....keep'em coming. I guess you are making the most of your time without Uttam.

# Very very cute... God bless chinipie n sugarbun....

On pinkalicious

# love it...........keep it up Swathi.

# Great!! So you are back to blogging!!

# luveddd it...:)

# Great read...after a long time :) Daughters sure make our lives fun!

Thanks everybody. Your words drive me.

The pets in our house

The pets in our house

Momma jumps in fright as she sees a black creepy thing husking away hastily inside the house as soon as the front door was opened to bid adieu to the dad. The kids amused, look at her and her trampoline jumping act and the dad, clueless, tries to figure out why is she behaving as if she spotted an U.fO! The mom points out at the spider almost the size of the fist, the dad looks for something to kill it, chini bends to take a closer look, and sugar instantaneously chimes in, "the inchy binchy pido went up the water pout!" and amidst all this chaos, the arachnid finds a crack safe enough to hide from the crazy family. The dad and chini are packed off to their respective school and office, while the mom is still alert at her post with a shoe in her hand, ready to smack that creature who dared to enter her house. She shuddered at the thought of that Thing sneaking into the beds of her sleeping princesses.. And then sugar comes to her side, "momma, are you looking for pido?" "yes sugar" "the inchy binchy pido climbed up the water pout...."
And the spider stays on...

Since past couple of months, momma is harassed with the co-existence of the ants in the house. "they are my friends", chini says. "be nice to them." A speck of food grain on the floor is enough to have a cluster of ants in my kitchen. The momma has to sweep the floor after each snack and meal just to avoid inviting chini's friends which means atleast 4 times a day. Even as she rushes out to her school, she gives clear instruction to her mom, "don't kill them. I will play with them after I come back." and this makes me a murderer - a heartless one, on top of it too.. After all, how can a mom even think of getting rid of her angel's playmates. These pals have helped keep sugar busy many-a-times while momma cooked and cleaned furtively. Chini twitches one of them up to place on her palm while sugar cheers her up. While chini gets tickled by the said beings crawling on her, sugar gets all tickled up watching her big 'tister'. They have also helped distracting momma's darlings when they refuse to open their mouth for food. Just show them the ants busy carrying the food or just taking a stroll on the floor and the girls will automatically open their mouths for each bite.
So yes, much that momma detests them, the ants stay on...

"The chipmunks are digging up my bulbs. I don't like them", complains our neighbour(there are at least dozen each of squirrels and chipmunks in our yard). Instantly chini's face drops. She doesn't say anything but the momma can tell that her li'l one didn't like hearing 'bad words' about her friends whom she loves to chase, watch, give acorns, fruits, share left over from her own meals. "squirrels can either be gray or brown", she tells momma. She even names them. For sugar, there are only two kinds -squirrels and baby squirrels. "They are so cute," She says. "I wish I could take them home with me", Chini adds. She gets disappointed that all her attempts to show her good will doesn't convince them to let her come close.
And momma, quietly, thanks the stars...

"the baby chick is calling her mommy!" sugar exclaims as she hears the birds chirping. Chini hops like a bird that she saw on the deck and wonders if the birds ate all of the baby worms in the yard. They mimic their sounds, fly like the birdies, and love spotting different species. They look up to their momma for the names of each kinds, to which she timidly assures them that a book from the library would be the most accurate. " where are their eggs?" chini asks," i never saw a real bird's nest." The mom tries to reason that they are high up on the trees and that's why she doesn't see them. "but what if a storm comes. The eggs will fall down and break. " The mom tries to think of the best answer when luck strikes her and they get distracted.

Another egg- cident:
As momma peels the hard- boiled egg one morning, an observant sugar says," the egg is hatching. I see a baby chick coming out!"

Feasts and festivities..

So october is over... And what a dynamic month it was! With almost all the holidays an Indian can wish for.. Except for the fact that none of them were holidays as such, if you get the pun, that is. Okay, so for all my readers, the festibols(as chini calls them) are called holidays here in the States; whereas for us Indians, who grew up in India, holiday would mean any declared/official off-day from work/school etc. Excluding karwachauth none of our major days coincided with a weekend this month.

The best thing i love about all these festivities is the kids excitement about it. Chini loves to 'tilak' everybody and anybody(including her dollies), sugar loves to ring the bell, and both of them love to look into the 'arti' (prayer) books trying to identify as many idols they can. And of course, they absolutely absolutely love dressing up as indian princesses! Which as you might have guessed means the traditional attire. Chini is so much into it that, just to appease her, I had to put one on her the day I had done the Diwali story at her school. She was so cross with me that I, along with sugar, had come in our traditional dresses, whereas she was not!

The month of all holiness had started With the Nine days of navratras. For me, it was very special coz for the first time ever, I could keep my resolution of not yelling at my little 'Devi avatars'.. For whole of nine days.. And if i forget about one or two meltdowns, I succeeded doing so for entire auspicious month! Kudos to me! It was very important to me b'coz lately I had started getting irritated by a single act of disobedience from them; which at times resulted in such a bad temper that the poor girls used to wonder,"momma, why are you so mad?" That was unhealthy.. Very unhealthy .. For the entire family.. So this month I (tried to) excise control on my anger. (that the dad was at the recieving end instead of the girls, is an entirely different story altogether ;-)). The funniest episode was on the day of 'hoi ashtami'. In brief, hoi fast is observed for the children. And again, as supposedly I was fasting for them, to me, it made more sense that I do not shout at them. Now, my girls chose that very day to test me to the extremes! As soon as chini came back to school, she started picking up a fight on the most mundane matters. All my attempts to intervene, resolve, pacify, and much more yielded no results. Finally, I decided to extradite myself from the scenario. It so happened, that wherever I went, they followed me and after a couple of minutes one or the other would either start crying or cribbing. Everytime! With almost no energy left to try and talk sense to them, I kept hopping from one room to another, one activity to other. Like two little lambs, they followed me to the kitchen, to the laundry, to the computer room, to the balcony... Now wll these rooms are on two different floors. Finally, chini gave up, "why are you doing up down, up down, up down all the time?!" stiffling my amusement, i said, " coz you two are not giving me a moment of peace!" " we are not even doing anything" "yeah girl! And you are not letting me either!" sigh

Karwachauth and Hoi were very special, this year, as the dad fasted along with me. He had always wanted to but somehow or other he couldn't. The essence behind these fasts, for us, is the love and to cherish the bond of this small unit of 'family' that we have started together. Also, it is our way of thanking God for the wonderful partner and kids He gave us. Both days, the kids fell asleep before the actual puja, so they missed listening to the story. Hopefully, in the coming years, they will.

Dussehra was spent listening to the story and attempting to, at least, make them taste the 'dahi laddu'. Diwali saw the ladies of the house sick with cold and cough, still trying to light the diyas! And dressing up for the occassion. Laxmi pujan was fun(minus the grand dinner that we used to host every year) and for the goverdhan puja, we went to ISKCON temple(it took 2x time to reach owing to heavy traffic). The ambience in the prayer hall was just amazing! One, cannot escape albeit, get bathed in that devotion-filled air!!

And the month ended with the 'not so holy' Halloween. The gals had been witing for it for an entire year, so it had to get mentioned here. The school didn't allow the dress up, just a head-gear and we weren't going trick-or-treating owing to the snowfall a day before; so, we took the opportunity at the local library. The girls dressed up as fairy Rapunzels had fun at the story time, parading to the bank(the library and the bank share the building) and enjoying delicious treats. The highlight of the day was giving away candies to everybody they saw on the way and at the bank! Surprisingly, sugar( who has difficulty parting/sharing usually) gave away candies without a single moment of hesitation!! Chini did remember going trick- or-treating with her friends at the old house(her exact words) and said she missed them. We used to go trick-or-treating with our neighbors there. In fact, two haloweens back, we had made very good friends with one of our neighbours while trick-or-treating! This year, one of our new neighbours(an old lady and a grandma herself) came with two goody bags for the gals at our door! I think, we should have a special day to celebrate neighbours, too!

I leave you with a picture of chini and sugar performing puja.. This was clicked today. I guess the girls want to continue the rituals.. Oh! This reminds me, this morning sugar sneaked the sindur and 'tilak'ed the ganesha idol we have at our entrance. On seeing me, she proudly said,'mumma, i did binddi to bagvaanji!'

The first snow

The first snow.. I would have loved it,  i would have enjoyed the snow.. Only if it was a matter of vacationing for a couple of days..

The snow is turning into sleet as soon as it hits the car now. The wiper is just nominal as it is smudging way more than its cleaning.

And it's snowing.... And raining... Hard. And we are on the road I76 enrojte to NJ. Visibility is poor owing to the deadly combo of the mist, the rain and the snow. "How can it rain and snow at the same time?", the dad asks. The passing eight wheelers splash huge amount of water on the windscreen reducing the visibility furthermore and the heart almost skips a beAt as the minivan, we are in, skids a little on the narrow trail of snow. The dad is a careful driver though and balances well.. We are already driving at 35mph on a freeway where until last week 80mph was the minimum. But, not today. We already crossed 3 very gruesome accident sites on our way. Good that the kids are distracted with their dora dvd, or else chini would have worried to sickness about everything. Anyways, the 3 ladies of the house are alreAdy down with cough and cold. I cant even believe we are out of the house in this condition(of health and the weather), leave alone travelling. Normally, snow would have sent me back under my bed covers. "Why are we going this far again?" the dad asks. I just smile. It's one of our very close friend's son's birthday and the plans to meet up has been made almost 2 months back. We could have cancelled. But decided otherwise. For two reaons - the kids fall sick so often that our social life had almost come to zero at a certain point (Which was proving to be unhealthy for all of us). That's when we had decided, we would try to be as good a sport as possible, in sickness and in health. Not on the cost of your lives, you fools!! Yeah! Cmon hit me now! Only fools like us would venture out of the house in this storm! Circular storms, that too, coming from colorado. The second reason, we had checked the weather this morning and though it suggested snow by the afternoon, we didn't think it would be this gross. Afterall, it's still autumn. The trees are still in the midst of changing colours and are not even half-way close to have shed them. The positive - the roads are not too bad - yet. This is the first snow, remember? And they are not entirely deserted either! I draw a solace in the fact that there are bunch of others out like us!.. And the snowy rainstorm or is it rainy snowstorm.. Has worsened as i type. We cannot see beyond two cars at the max.

Chini is getting restless in the car now. She has already asked 5 times if we have reached anywhere closer to the destination. "are we there yet?" is her favourite question. Normally, we would have said,"do you want me to pull over?" (from her fav silly joe's song) but today, we are not in moods of any jest. The eyes glued to thetr road ahead. Yeah mine too.. Am the co-driver after all. " please put snow princess dora on." she demands ." it's a perfect watch for todays weather". I stretch and fibble and fumble complying to her request and trying not to disturb( read irritate ) the one in the driver's seat. The Minute the dvd starts, he says,"i wonder how can that backpack hold so much froma pail to umbrellas to the life jacket." it takes me a while to realise hes talking about the purple big eyed backpack dora carries. "on top of it the poor girl carries it all the time without any complains or visible signs of tiredness. We used to be crushed under the dead weghts of our school bags." i just smile, thinking to myself" oh so its okay to talk today." normally, on trips like these, even smaller than these, any attempt to make a noise results in , let's say, facing his music(wrath). May be the snow has cooled him down, i mumble, in my mind though, as we enter a very very snowy patch again ( yeah for a while, the rain and the snow have been alternating). And we cannot see beyond the tail lights of the car must ahead of us, though that car is almost at a distance of 3 cars. "Benny should be given a couple of vicks tablets" he adds. " uh-oh" i reply as we pass another accident struck car that has lost its fender. " sometimes i feel that i can earn billions dubbing all those funny voices of these characters", the dad muses again. Now the chill has frozen his head for sure! I think as our vehicle splurges in a pool of snow.

"i love snow,momma" chini declAres. "i want to make snowman" sugar chips in....
And that makes me the mean witch who hates snow... I can even picture myself on that broom trying to destroy the magic snowy forest!!

And the autumn is here..

With days growing shorter, the air chillier, and the sky cloudier.. Which means the girls and I either have to miss or shorten our routine evening nature walks. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the prime reasons for not being able to post for past few days. The other reasons were the runs that I had to make to the school, the doctor, to the pharmacy and the various such chores. Before you get alarmed, everybody is fine. It was just a normal check up for my thyroid(one of the side effects of having babies..). Which should have been not more than a few minutes but turned out to be an entire one and a half hour process owing to all the formalities associated with a new patient and such. And then another entire half day was spent (on phone) in getting the medical records transferred from the previous doctors to the new one .. for the four of us. Another couple of hours, on another day, was spent at the radiology department, cuz the doctor had suspected nodules while examining my neck. Thankfully, the ultrasound came out to be clean, but the days between the examination and the ultrasound had their share of tense thoughts and research, and of course, the silent prayers! And then, the nurse(read vampire) had turned my right hand blue and black by sucking out blood, apparently for the test, but I have my doubts. Anyways, the hand had been sore ever since. Initially it was the forearm and now the pain has mysteriously shifted to the shoulder. Well, the point is, all this running around, usually exhausted me to the core and I just used to crash every night, leave alone any desire to get on the Internet! . ( I know, am getting old. Please don't remind me that!).

And then the medication itself had its effect, I had been off medicine for almost two months (due to sheer laziness of finding a doctor), so restarting them, that too on an increased dosage, left me more tired than ever! Hopefully, I will not skip them now.. And then after four weeks, I will have to visit the Dracula again! Yeah! The doc wants a re-check. Sigh!

The school trips included sugar's mommy and me program once a week, monitor parent duty, parent open house and the guest story time for Diwali. I had done it at chini's old school last year too. In case, you are wondering what a monitor parent duty is.. Chini's school asks parents to volunteer, at least, once every semester and have set up a station/table for the same. The parents basically help teachers out with their chores, like filling up their water pitchers, escorting the kids to and from the bathroom, any paper cutting work for their projects, etc. Plus, it gives the parents a chance to interact with the other parents(there are usually two on any given day) and the teachers. It worked well for me, as sugar did wonderfully good that day and we also went to the playground when it was the outside time for chini's classroom. Personally, I didn't become a fan of this major event and am glad am done with it for the semester. Why, you ask? Cuz I had hoped to be able to see chini more. Also, it left me wondering, how would it work out with the working parents. But then, as it is a volunteer thing, am sure it's not an absolute must. I did get to know another parent, which gave me more insights into the American life, family and more, an insight on my life here, too, which I will share in another post.

Parent open house was an evening extravaganza, where the parents get to visit their kids' classrooms, get to see their progress, and talk to the teachers, a little bit more. Primarily, because the drop-offs and pick-ups are at the door and usually, the teachers are not able to talk much except if there is an exceptional episode related to any of the students. It was on a rainy evening, and I had gone, albeit half-heartedly, as they had done a good job of marketing the event to chini, who had finished all her evening chores, including the dinner, bang on time. Any refusal, would have resulted in throwing it all back at me. Yeah! She is very good at it! The open house turned out to be lovely and chini's workbook had a beautiful picture of the family drawn by her! She , obviously, had the Rapunzel hair, the dad had bountiful of black hair on his head (he is bald) and the mum was taller than the dad( the best part.. As i hardly reach his shoulders!) and ofcourse, there was a cute little sugar too. I wrote a note for her in the book and sugar added (read scribbled) hers too! I will make sure to upload those images, when we get the workbook at the end of the school year. And of course, there was the alphabet book too, where chini had done wonderfully, as well. It was also a book fair night at the school, and I lost the only twenty dollar bill I had owned, somewhere in that rainy parking area.. It just fell from my pocket. I wasnt worried about losing it as much I was groped with the fear of chini's reaction to the news that we won't be able to buy any book. Luckily, the book fair was until next noon and we got the book next day. Though not without a gentle rebuke from her before going to bed, "momma, how can you forget to get the money every time!" the last time, I hd forgotten to get the money was on a 'hot dog and pretzel' day (another fund raising event) when my girls love to buy gogurts. I love the idea of them going by themselves and paying for it by themselve. Who cares for the idea when mom did a severe crime of not getting the requisite amount.. And she ought not to be spared for that!

A guest reader at the school, for the Diwali story, has become an annual tradition for us. It all started at her old school, where the parents were encouraged to be the surprise readers and I came up with the idea of educating the kids about one of our major holidays. The teachers were very excited and later, I had received very encouraging feedback from the other parents, too, who said that their youngsters couldn't stop recounting the experience to everyone for days. Then, I had done a big deal too.. With decking myself and sugar up in a very pretty embroidered salwar Kurta .. And taking one of chini's lehanga n jacket n cap for girls and boys to try on. A lantern craft work, coloring sheets with dia(earthen lamps), And a very special treat of 'pedal' (made by myself) for every kid and teachers. They had combined, other classrooms as well and it had turned out to be a major event. Maybe, I will dig out the pics and post them.
This time, I was assigned only half an hour and as many of the kids had allergies, I skipped the treats and the dress up. But I did the lantern, which the teacher has hung in the room for the entire week of Diwali! I passed out a very beautiful 'dia' for everyone to look at and of course, the coloring sheet was there. It was an equally, refreshing story time.. Not to forget the special help from one of our neighbors! It turns out that she works at our local library and when I had gone to pick up the books , I told her that I was doing a Diwali special at my daughters school the very next day and the books that I had ordered hadn't arrived yet, she remembered it. And personally, came to give me the book that very evening(the book had arrived after I had left). Don't these little things make your day so special and make you appreciate the beautiful phenomenon called life, love and friendship!!

On another note, chini had here first ever official play date with one of her schoolmates, since coming here. It was decided, on the spur of the moment, as both friends had been asking their respective moms ever since the start of the school year. So, that afternoon, while picking them up, we just decided to meet after a couple of hours, followed by a restless wait and frequent checking of time. The friend had arrived on time. It was a sunny afternoon, so most of the playtime was spent in the balcony.. Both chini and sugar enjoyed the playdate. Sugar, of course, thinks that every friend of chini is her friend too!

Chini also was invited to the first ever birthday party of one of her classmates(again read from the new school). The party was at a sports gym about 15 min drive from our home. She enjoyed it to the core, though it turned out to be a little taxing for me. Details, may be or may be may not be(as it is one of very emotional episodes for me), some time later.

Along with all this, we attended one story time@library each week, read lots of books, sung lots of songs togethers, tried new dance lessons for chini formally and enrolled her in weekend gymnastic classes. We tried to keep with our evening walk routine, as much as we could and even made a couple of trips to the park. We loved jumping inthe piles of the dried autumn leaves as much as splashing in the water puddles. There were lots of shared laughters and jokes together. All in all, autumn has been good so far.. If you forget my aching right arm, that is....

Of craziness and innocence

Chini is a very sensitive child. A bit of stern behavior is enough to throw her into a fits of crying. Even a gentle rebuke can guarantee the same effect. Sugar, on the other hand, laughs off at our face if we dare enough to scold her. Nevertheless, if we disagree with her on something, it can turn out to be a tricky situation.

A few episodes asserting the same:
More often than not, sugar eyes the same stuff that chini would be having, be it a toy, a dress, a book or any other silly thing like a leaf. Sometimes,chini puts up a fight and says no, while other times she gives it to her, willingly or unwillingly. Some time back, it was a necklace or a bracelet that chini had to share with her, albeit half-heartedly. To show her displeasure, when sugar put it on herself and declared that she looked like a princess, chini added.. Yeah a dirty princess. Sugar was in such an elated state, that she believed her. Ever since, she takes a pride in being a dirty princess, much to chini's amusement. Any attempts to Contradict can throw sugar in roaring fits!

There are times that there are role reversals and chini is suddenly reminded that she ever had that kind of toy with her(obviously, this illumination has to happen when sugar has that object). Just a disapproving comment like, sometimes you don't behave good proves out be extremely touchy. On being asked, why is she screaming, she replies, "you hurt my feelings!"
what?!? Now we are not supposed to even correct them?

One such day, very casually I remarked,"pagli kahiin ki". And before i knew, there she was rolling on the floor, with her vocal chords pulled to the extreme!!! I can't recollect what led me to pass that comment but i was definitely not upset with her. Puzzled, I asked why was she screaming an she complained, "you said bad words to me!" Now, this was really absurd, that girl doesnt even know much Hindi to make so much fuss. So I asked,
Do you even know what I said
No.
Then why are you crying
I don't know
Atleast try to know the meaning, before you take an offense
What's offanse?
Before you feel bad
What did you say then?
Pagli means crazy
and with that I braced myself for another session of fits..
You called me a crazy kid?
Errr yes
still trying to prepare my ears for their next set of exercises..
Ha ha ha.. I m a crazy kid..
She started laughing amidst her rolling tears!!!

And ever since this remark is bound to make her laugh whenever she's sad...
As for sugar, she just says, "I am not paghi tunki"

Such is the craziness and innocence of my pinkie pies!!

Goldilocks

Have u read the goldilocks story? Goldilocks is a curious little girl who sneaks in the home of the bear family and then goes through a whole lot of paired and and alternate experiences, where the porridge she tastes is either too hot or too cold, the chair is either too big or too small and the bed is either too hard or too soft, before she finally settles down for all the baby bear's stuff which are just right..

Meet the goldilocks of our home! Introducing to you, our very own sugarbun, for whom everything is either too big or too small. Each time, only after a huge tearful session, we settle on something for which she says, "it's my favorite!" We assume that would mean it's just right! Wondering, what it means? Take, for example, each clothing session, where if she doesn't like a particular dress that I choose for her, she starts Her histrionics with,"it's big for me. It's small for me." c'mon, my girl, how can it be both? But,only when I rummage through her closet and show her at least five more other weather appropriate clothings, that finally she settles for one with a tearful smile,"it's perfect!" if you think the melancholy stops here, it doesn't. It extends to the accessories, including bracelets, necklaces, socks, shoes and not to mention the headbands(for which she runs with the first stroke of sunlight!). And the list extends to the bed and the beddings, where the blanket and the bedsheets, too, turn out to either too big or small for her! And it continues to every mom's nightmare -the food! So, you can be pretty sure that she doesn't want to eat the meal you prepared with much efforts, when you hear her say,"it's too hot! It's too cold!" lately, she has even started with funny dialogues like "soup finish o Gaya" though a bowl full of soup would be set right in front of her!

Sugar sends me to hysterical fits, when seeing me in a jeans and Kurta outfit, she says,
"Mommy, is that ur dress? Are you playing dress up?"

And then her enthralling experiments with her ever building vocabulary! Sugar used "a little bit" for almost everything.. Like
Momma can I have a little bit duddu?
Momma, i have to go for a little bit walk.
I am reading a little bit book?
Can I dance a little bit? And here comes the best one..
I have to go a little bit pee-pee!

More recently, 'a little bit' has been replaced by 'For a while'.

When I am upset with her for something, she says, "Are u happy or r u mad?"
If she catches me yawning, " are you Sleepy or wake up?"
If by accident, I hurt myself, she gives me a kiss, looks at me and adds, "do you feel better?"
And, if she's the one who got hurt, she comes running to me, "can you kiss me?" After I comply, " I feel better already"

Of late, you can catch her counting, "One two chee four five" or singing her best loved song, "the inchy binchy spidor" or listen to her commentary as she sits down,"I am sitting on my thinking chair(courtesy blues clues)".

A few conversations between chini and sugar:

Playing with the magnetic words, sugar says,
I have to finish my story.
No sugar, that's my story.
Stomping her feet, Now what shud I do? (this she picked frm chini, herself)
You can help me with the words.
I don't wike(like) it. I am messin up.
Then she messes up all the letters. Chini tries to save her work by standing in front of it.
I hit you. With that sugar hits chini and before chini cud react, starts crying, "she's hitting me!"


Momma go....di (pick me up!)
Momma. Busy preparing dinner says sternly, No godi!
Starts crying n goes to chini who is playing in the other room, " momma shouting me!"
don't cry sugar. Go tell her,"no shouting, momma. Use ur nice words."
Okay. I will say that. Comes to me. " momma, no shouting. you cannot shout me"
I am sorry sugar.
That's okay. Runs back, didi I said it
Good job sugar!!

A birthday...

...would have been like any other day, if not made special by the wonderful kids!

And it all started 3 days before the b-day, when chinipie Realized that it's just around the corner. She said, "momma, I have to go to your birthday party." I guess, either she linked in her imaginative mind that birthdays means parties or she remembered that we, unfailingly, went out for dinner with our couple-a-friends every year. Sometimes, they would be the surprise ones arranged by the dad(yes! He is still very romantic at heart!). But, this year, my birthday came in the midst of the navratris when I fast. So, any such thing was out of question. So I say, "I will turn 31. We don't have parties at that age". I expected her to come out with her usual why's and how's series followed by a huge tantrum, and I started to think of all the possible answers for the upcoming rapid-fires plus preparing myself to face the melodrama. Instead, she stopped(we were walking to the car after picking her up from school) and gave me a surprised look,
"you will be 31?"
Yes
"wow! That's a big number!"
Errrrr. thanks for reminding that am fast aging honey

Later in the evening, when dad returns from work,
"papa, did you know momma's birthday is coming up. She is going to be 31."
Sugar adds, "she is going to be a big girl".
Thanks my lovely darlings

The next morning, " papa, it's momma's birthday tomorrow. We have to do something special."
What do you want to do, beta?
"I don't know"
Awwwwww

The evening before the b-day, she comes running to my room, "momma, here are some coins for you. I got them from my own piggy bank. Now you can buy that thing from the mall that aunty did to your nails!"
I just went speechless with the flow of her words. That was almost two weeks back. It was raining constantly since past few days and our routine evening walks had come to an halt. Me and the girls had taken a trip to the mall, where they had enjoyed playing at the slide. On our way back, a girl at one of the stalls stopped me and had demonstrated the nail polisher cum cuticle remover thing. Now my chinipie, being so pinkalicious had loved my nail instantly and wanted me to buy it. When I said I couldn't, her curious mind could only be satisfied by the answer that it was expensive. She had somehow remembered that episode and had opened her piggy bank to be able to buy that for me!
Just then, sugar comes running, "momma, a coin for you!"
And they kept trotting back and forth between their room and ours, bringing me coins with each return; until their profoundly touched momma caught hold of them and showered two wriggly and squirmy gals with hugs and kisses.

That very night, chinipie developed very bad ear infection and couldn't sleep well coz of her aching ear. Still, she was the first one to wake up in the morning, and the first thing she said as soon as she opened her eyes was, happy birthday, momma!" and her momma, with her sleepy eyes, mumbled a thank you and tried to snuggle with her, on the pretext of giving her a hug. But she managed to wiggle free and brought a page she had colored earlier as a gift. And the whole day, both the sisters kept bringing me some pictures they had colored. Though, originally they were painted with some other intention, but it's the thought that counted. My little girls thought that they had to give something to their momma and they kept bringing more and more!

And then whenever they remembered, they wished me or sang the birthday song for me, either alone or together.. Isn't it amazing how fast the time flies! Last year all my sugar could sing was " aaeee yayay u uu" in tune and this year she sings so flawlessly! Until last year, chini used to get upset that wad not her birthday, so as a rule, each birthday in the house were everyone's birthday. And she used to be so happy, that it was momma's, papa's, hers and her baby's(she still believes that sugar is her baby!) birthday. Chini has always loved playing pretend birthdays.. Ever since she was around 18 months, many a times we used to make pretend cakes out of handkerchiefs, napkins and blow the pretend candles out with her or me singing the birthday song! We, then, moved on to the drawings on the paper, cut outs, play dough and blocks! Invariably, those cakes are made for me. Oh, how I remember that teeny tiny chinipie, swaying side to side, shifting her weight from one foot to another, singing the birthday song, and pointing at me with a smile, every she would say happy birthday to momma! And she passed on this passion to sugar too, who just couldn't stop singing it fo me whole day!

How many more such birthdays do I want? Well, chini's current favorite number, 100!
Why? Coz just before going to bed tonight, she started crying," I do not want my momma to grow old and die!"
And only when I said I will live upto 100 years of age, did she go back to bed.
The dad muttered under his breath, "and then we will keep her in museum."
"nooooooo. I do not want her in a museum. I want her to live till 100 age and stay with us."
Yeah my sweet baby! Until you grow tired of your over-protective, old-fashioned and loud mom!

The rain and the mist

It's been raining for past two weeks with a few breaks in between.

The last week had started with the downpours outside the house and the thunders inside.. With a hollering mom, and two very vociferous girls, it was a yelling, slamming, smashing and stomping second week of the school year! The mornings were spent in trying to hurry up the kids to reach the school on time.. Despite which two out of five mornings, we were late.. There's always some or the other reason for us reaching late.. At the nick of the moment, chini will remember that she has to finish her painting for Mrs. R (her teacher) or sugar will give me a tough time for putting the shoes on.. Or one of them would fuss about my choice of dress/socks/shoes for them.. If i let them choose, it would be a tough, loooooong decision and so on and so forth... The list of our daily morning struggles are endless..

And though I plan well ahead and put in all the efforts, something or the other keeps the clock ticking and with each ticking of the hand pointing closer to my planned departure time, I start losing my temper. I try the reverse counting, I gulp down pitcher of water, I remove myself from the scene and every other methodologies that your pediatrician and/ or the parenting magazines claim to work for the other parents(including them)... Am clueless, as to why, they never seem to work for me!! In fact, I have reached to the conclusion that I might be the best example for a bad parenting case..

Each morning, I promise myself that I would try n imbibe those tone-modulation low-voice advices... And by each evening I break this promise at least three times! With my tone at the highest pitch and my voice at the loudest volume, the only people, on this earth, who take this grunting are my two little daughters. OK the dad too gets a part of it.. But he is not at home 90% of the times.. In effect, my sweet little girls get the most of the. There are times, when I realize that I am unnecessarily raising my voice at these poor kids and I can say the same thing in a much lower voice, but am not able to tune myself down... Leaving me with a wretched guilt! So many times, I remind myself that they are but just 4-yr and 2-yr olds, and they are bound to be not listening and playing but in the spur of the moment, I just lose it..

Meditation, deep breathing, counting.. All of it lasts until it does.. After you open your eyes, the scenario doesn't change.. We still need to be reach where we have to.. We still are running on nick of time..

One such morning, in the rush, we put our shoes on, fetch the bags, locked the house, got in the car, buckled and hit the road! Halfway through, I cooled down and said "sorry chini. I yelled at you."

She smiled and said, "that's okay momma. I still love you."

And with misty eyes, I continued driving...

And gave her a huge long hug when we reached the school...

For being the light of my life....

An update

I am here.. Very much here.. Lots of friends called up to ask me why the frequent postings on the blogs stopped abruptly.. It's just that the kids and the things associated with them kept my hands full.. Literally!! I have so many unfinished posts saved as drafts and many more unwritten ones in my memory cells.. If only there was a way that they could be transcribed and published on my blog!?! May be a decade later.. Meanwhile i even tried the voice recognition software for taking the dictation for me but apparently they do not work for my wrong pronunciations/accent!

So here I am with updates on the last two weeks..
Sugar started with her 'mommy and me' program on Monday's. She thoroughly seems to enjoy them, except for the fact that it means even more grill for the mom! As by the time, we return home, it's time to pick chini up and the. Both of them are very hungry and the lunch is not ready. Even , if it is, they just get a little difficult to be calmed down as they are over tired and much too hungry. Then 2 hrs of absence frm home means a long list of to be finished chores for momma..

And then these never-ending chores take an infinite loop when the sudden and frequent weather changes make both the kids sick enough to be cranky, either demanding to be lifted up or quarreling with each other so much that the mommy has to meddle leaving everything else, for later! and then some divine providence should have forewarned mommy that they are going to fall sick and this is, definitely, not the best of times to try weaning sugar off the sippy cup! Yeah! My sugar has been on the soft spout sippy cups for a long time.. And would demand it whenever she would be tired/ sleepy/hungry/cranky.. And I didn't really try hard to take her off it as it meant that she would sleep by herself.. Giving me the much needed time to finish the rest of the stuff. And of all times, we decided that this was the high time she should be taken off the sippy cup.. And though all the crankiness and her illness, made me deliberate at times, I am proud to say that I did not!

The cold and cough worsened for them, and I spent one whole evening at a drugstores walk-in clinic.. Only to return with no medicine cuz of the nurse's goofiness, despite sugar being diagnosed with an ear infection. Why i went to the drug store instead of a doctor, is a whole other story in itself and I will cover it in a later post.. But, that evening, had taken lots of time and energy.. The kids who were singing and. Dancing at ten drug store, suddenly realized they were very hungry as soon as they entered the house.. And just rolling out one chapati each turned out to be a humungous task!

Then last night, when every thing could have gone well.. The kids had gone to bed.. Without any fuss.. And there was enough time to finish our dinner and then return to blogging, I broke a glass bowl. It just slipped through my hands and smashed.. A thousand minute pieces scattered all over the kitchen.. On the counter, on the stove, on the floor.. And few of them stuck to me... Luckily I didn't get hurt And with the help of the dad cleaned up the entire area, making double sure that there was nothing left behind.. But the microscopic glass pieces on my neck were so many, that only a thorough shower could have cleaned them up... And a long shower at the end of a long tiring day... Obviously meant, me snoozing off instead of blogging !

We did have our share of fun too.. There was this picnic at a local park organized by chini's class teachers. The theme was "getting to know you" and each parent had to pick something to get from the list of snacks. The weather was great, the gals had fun, chini made new friends and I got o interact with the other parents and the teachers. I really liked the concept, in general. A great team effort!

Owing to the rains, we got to spend a lot of quality family time together.. We accessorized chini's school bag together(photographs to be followed later) chino's school provides each child with a bag, which they are required to bring to school everyday for any project/note from the teacher to be carried home. It turned put that the bag is blue and of course, my very pinkalicious daughter wanted a pink one.. We couldn't change the bag, so we just beautified it with some pink lace and flower(from a broken hairband) and a few stickers. The girls just loved the job and chini now proudly flaunts her bag!

We read lots of books together, played fun indoor games, spent some time doing yoga and exercises, took nature walks whenever the weather permitted and even watched a movie at home..

Reason enough for me eluding the Internet?

Sugar and school... Why they don't match up in my dictionary!

I was delaying this post for a while though I had it in my mind that I would write about it. This posts comes as an answer to the question, almost everybody a( which includes old and new friends, acquaintances and complete strangers too!) ask me, " u do not send sugar to school?" then they don't stop at that. all my well-Wishers then invariably ask, "why?" some go beyond and give me A counter," but u started chinipie by this time!" few go further and say," see! That how a second child is always biased!" and a couple of them crossed all boundaries and added," is it because u feel something might happen to her again coz she was so critically ill and had to be hospitalized?"

I am not being a critic here and do appreciate all the well-meaning concerns. But, now that chinipie has restarted her school, I had to speak my mind. So, before you ask me again, "No. Sugar doesn't go to school." "I love both my galz. Both of them are such sweet hearts!" "She is far beyond her critically ill phase and is a perfectly healthy baby now and I do not worry about that a bit!" and "Yes! I did start chinipie when she was two!"

Why the discrimination? Read on...

First of all, I feel two is a very early age to start school. Two and a half would be the most apt, as per me. That too, probably just 2-3 hours at the max. Not a full day( unless, of course, you are working. So, all my working mom and dad friends, chill before you start getting worked up. Please recall that I am currently a stay@home mom, who left work for the sole reason of giving her 100% to the little ones). Chinipie did start her school @2 yr n 2 mths for two half mornings per week, which after a month, we increased to 3 as we realized that she had started enjoying and was looking forward to them. Chini had just turned 2 when we welcomed sugar in our lives( will cover the why to this in some other post). I had no help here with a toddler and a baby in my lap. Had to manage the home, the cooking, the feeding, the little ones and me all at the same time. For some reasons, we didn't keep any hired helps, too. In the process, I felt I couldn't give much time to chinipie as much as I wanted to. She was an active toddler and wanted constant activity and all I could manage was sit with her with a baby nursing on me. Plus, much before she turned 2, I had started sensing her need to play with kids in her age group. She had, many a times, given vey clear indications of the same. Unfortunately, most of our friends were still enjoying their happy honeymooning phase. Though chinipie had made really good friends with all of them and used to enjoy their company, they couldn't make do for the friends her age. The other few friends were either working full time or didn't stay close enough to be able to meet regularly. We did go to the library programs but they were not sufficient. So, it made more sense for her to get an exposure to the other kids at the school and I enrolled her in one of the best in the area(which I instantly liked on the very first day!) and I have no qualms about it as we saw an immense progress in her! Sugar, on the other hand, has her own big sis as her constant playmate. In her didi's wings, Her communication,motor and analytical skills are already at par with any pre-schooler. She is completely potty-trained, speaks well formed sentences, expresses her needs and emotions, and can crack a joke too! Also, after chinipie started school, we had made a lots of friends with kids her age, with whom we had many a get-togethers. this gave sugar ample opportunities to grow around/with kids.

What about now, when we have again moved in a no-kid neighbourhood, you ask? Well, sugar is enrolled in a mommy and baby program in the same school as chiniiz, starting next week.

Who am I kidding? With all the practicalities in my reasonings above, yes you are partly right when you think I have a separation issue, more than her! Those who knew me two years before, probably, would know that I cried more than chinipie every time I dropped her to school and kept weeping long time after she had happily adjusted! We always wanted to have two angels in our life, which implies sugar is the last baby of the family. I know My self imposed exile from the corporate world might soon be over and how much I am delaying, I will be joining the work force some time in near future. The emotional mommy in me wants to cling to it for a little while more.. Trying to savor each moment.. Hanging on to every bit of it... Until she can...

Day 2

OK.. let me try to recreate what I just lost.. not to keep you in doubts.. i just lost my one hour of write-up! apparently the new interface of blogger doesn't have the auto-save feature. Foolishly after my post was done I clicked on preview... only to find a blank page for preview and a blank page on my typed post.. boohoo!!!




anyways in continuation to yesterday's post... It seems chinipie was more worried than us about getting to school in time. She woke at least 4 to 5 times last night, only to be put back to the bed being told that it was still night. Every time, she had only one thing to say, "please do wake me up early in the morning. I do not want to be late for my school!" My darling got up with the sound of my footsteps outside her bedroom, even though I hadn't intended to wake her up for next 15 minutes, at least. Anyhow, she was such an angel this morning, and was ready to go with the dad (who had promised to drop her to school today) by 8:30 a.m. Sugarz mood had started to change as she realized that she might have to  miss the much-savoured car trip. Lucky for her, I remembered, just in time, that the teachers might not open the door to the class room before 8:45 and the dad might get late to work. Within next couple of minutes, mommy, with her outfit changed, was headed to the school with the girls and next couple of minutes saw us outside of the classroom where students could get in only at 9:00 a.m.(?!!?). An eye-opener- School timings are strictly from 9:00 to 12:00. If we want to drop the kids early, we can sign her up for the breakfast program(at an extra cost, of course!).
Anyhow, we waited in the lobby trying to read all the posters on the school wall with sugarbun, jumping around excitedly. When other people started pouring in, we lined up at the classroom door, where we said good morning to the teacher (finally!), chinipie waved bye and immediately got lost in some other corner of the room. That's when sugar realized what had happened and started saying, "Hey! where is didi? We got to find her! We cannot go without her!" I just lifted her up and walked out as I didn't want to hold the other parents. She was still mad at me when a volunteer saw her in the parking lot and gave her a smiley sticker. Soon she forgot all about didi


.... until it was time to go pick her up! Sugar excitedly got her slippers and a frooti box(she remembered from yesterday), saying, "She wants frooti! She voves it!" and ordered me,"momma! open the car!" We queued in front of the class again, and as soon as the teacher opened the door, sugar royally walked in the class, defying all authorities of the teacher, looking for her didi. As soon as she saw her didi, she stopped herself short of giving her a hug... as she recalled that she had a special treat for her! Chini grew super excited on seeing both her baby sis and the frooti box and as busy as I was adoring the two sisters, the teacher, with a concern in her voice, told me that chinipie had fallen from the swing at the playground today. Though they had checked for bumps and applied ice-pack, they wanted to inform. I thanked her and asked Chini how it happened. She said,
"I was not being careful, momma but I am ok now". Luckily, the swings are too low in their playground and Chini really seemed to be fine, I didn't worry much.


On our way to the car, Chini told me that a boy threw some sand in her eyes at the playground. Now this is something that worries momma!! I, immediately, stopped and looked into her eyes for some sort of redness..
"Don't worry momma! I blew on my skirt with my mouth and pressed on my eyes. " (When did my little sweetie grow up??)
"Did you tell this to your teacher?"
"I am a big girl and big girls dont keep complaining" (Yeah right! I made a mental note to myself not to repeat this next time she brings sugarz actions to my notice)
"But, sweetie, you need to look out for yourself. Next time, something like this happens, say 'Hey watchout! you are hurting me!' "
"OK" with a shrug of shoulders and going back to enjoying her frooti!!!


At home, we had a picnic outside at the deck, a little play time and a bath time (where I checked for any bumps on the head, just in case!); after which sugar got cranky and chinipie said that she was tired.. whoa! that was a big surprise for mommy. I told her she could lie down for a while. Within next 5 minutes, she was dozing, with sugar on her side! I woke her up after 40 minutes or so and managed my little whiny girl for a while but after a while she was okay. After sugar woke up and we had our evening cup of milk, we went for an evening walk(something we have started to cherish this summer) and a game of tag and another game of freeze (in the parking lot) later, we were ready to go back to home willingly. A hassle-free dinner and no-cry-go-to bed (with dad) marked the end of the day. What else could a mommy wish for!!


Not to miss: As a special project at her school today, chini made a picture of mommy with her magic wand!! Isn't that such a heart-melting thought? She even finished it up with 'To mommy From... '


From yesterday: On her way back to home, chini says, "I was really nervous, at first, as everything and everyone was going to be new. But then Papa came to drop me and I felt better!!"