Sweet Sugary Sugarbun!

In summers, me and Sugarbun used to go for a walk after dropping Chinipie for her swim lessons. We, usually turned those walks into fun nature hunts. on one such walk, we had spotted a dotty ladybug, an incy-wincy spider, a stripy bee, a baby bird, a rolly-polly bug and a wiggly worm. Each time, Sugarbun wud say , " Can I name her lizzie?" 

On her asking this agin for the sixth time, Unlike each time, instead of saying "sure",  I asked her, " how will u know which lizzie is which? U hv named all of them the same? Won't you get confused?" 

Without even blinking her eye, sugar said, "that's a rolly poll lizzie and that's a worm lizzie. They r not even the same! silly mumma!!"

*******

You might remember the hatching-egg incident. Similar to that, Other morning, watching me flip over an omellete, sugarbun had observed, "are you making an egg-roti for breakfast today?" 

Another time, Watching me clean the toilet bowl, "Why are you making the water blue?" (The cleaning liquid being blue n color)

*******

There was a certain phase, when Sugarbun had ended up with multiple time-outs each day; many days in a row. Now, for time-outs, I use a bench kept near our front door, which is otherwise used to sit down and tie-up the shoes. That particular morning, as the dad was tying his shoes, sitting on that very bench, he started texting/e-mailing on his blackberry. 

Oblivious of the fact, seeing him sitting there quietly, a wide-eyed Sugarbun came to me in the kitchen, "Why did you give Papa a time-out? What wrong did HE do?"

*******

Clearly forgetting, that my lovely Sugar is not a sweet little baby anymore, strapped and dozing  in her stroller, I recently went with her to a lingerie store. 

Waving a thong at me, she said, "this is baby's size.(she calls herself a baby.) let's find size 3T for me!" 

Overcoming the shock, I told her that we are not looking anything for her but for momma. Excited, she said, "I will help you!" Now, both my girls, love picking out dresses/shoes/outfits for me to try, which they think would look good on me. Sugarbun, usually picks only blue (her favorite color). So I thought it wouldn't harm but actually would keep her busy. 

But just after sometime, shaking her head, and pulling me by my hand, she said, " let's go to a different store and get you some PROPER clothes!"

Of ancient and alien momma

This happened, sometime in October too,  when Chinipie had just started skipping rope successfully and was rather proud of this milestone of hers.

How old were you when you started skipping rope?

I don't remember, honey. (Why did I say that? I could hv said anything. She had no way of cross-checking, after all)

Why? Why don't you remember?

B'coz it was a long time ago.

How long?

Many years ago.

You mean many many years ago?

Yes

It was such a long time ago that you don't remember now?

Yes

It's a very very very very very old story now?

Yes

It's an ancient story?

Huh?

That means you are ancient?

Hain???

Ancient like dinosaurs?

What??

Runs off upstairs to her dad, "Papa, did you know mumma is ancient?"

Dad looks up from his laptop, "Really?"

Ya. She told me that.

????!!!!!?????

Also, in October, once I had avacado face mask on when sugarbun had entered the kitchen.
 "Why is your face green? Are you an alien ?"
Runs off to her older sister, " didi ! look we have an alien momma! She came from the other planet in her rocket ship."

And ever since I have been an ancient alien momma.

Dad goes to California

on work, for one entire week, much to mom's chagrin. How could he do this to her? He knew that she loves her beauty sleep and craves for it the entire day. Then why did he have to be so cruel?? You see, ever since sugar had turned one, and, the dad, had decided that he is done clinging to the very edge of the mattress, holding on the the last inch of the bed-sheet, for his dear life(and bones), much to mom's protest, had moved the kids' little beds to their rooms. Now, this room, previously, was pretty much used only as a parents' interior decoration skills display room as much as the other 2 bedrooms  in the entire history of a year and a half of buying that 4- bedroom house. The mom, mortified, at the very thought of walking each night to the adjacent room to soothe or nurse or calm her babies on their each cry , which then was every 1 hour or so, had moved their little beds next to her bed. So, all she had to do was reach upto them and pat them back in their cozy little beds. Now, when and how, in the entire course of the night, they would climb up to the huge and high bed of ours, still remains a mystery. The bottom-line is, each morning, on that California-king-sized bed, the dad was inevitably found sleeping, balancing delicately on his left torso, while the kids rotated, turned and well, dozed royally. Amongst all the protests, the hard-hearted, sleep-deprived dad, had then decided to put the other rooms in the house to some huge. Mom, had made a huge deal about this, and had him promise that he would calm them, each night, for every single cry. Whether or not he intended to originally, but the sly mom made sure that the dad sticks to his word. And rest, as they say, is history. Since that fateful morning, dad is, many-a-times, even found sleeping on the floor in the kids' room to make sure that they sleep on their bed, in their room. Well, those days, are long over (hopefully). However, with every cry they utter, with every drop of water they ask for, in those hours of mom geting her zzz's, the dad tends to them.

So, how could she have survived 5 nights with him travelling to the west????
Chinipie had the solution. She came up to the mom and said, remember mom, when he was away for only one night, in the past? How you had slept on the floor in our room? You could do that. I will even clean my toys from there for you.

The Bliss!

So momma has been pretty much on high ( owing to the pain killers, anti-inflammatory and the likes) for past 11 days or so.

The 'television' and 'ipad' has turned out to be her best friends, even if she doesn't like them a bit. They keep the kids engaged all waking hours, while she snores on.

With her not being able to do much in the kitchen, (and until some good friends came to the rescue, ) we have been surviving on the dad's culinary skills which includes making khichdi, uttapam (from the store bought batter), and omellete-bread. Also, topping the lists, have been the carry-outs from the Indian restaurants and pizza places.
As chinipie accompanies dad to the most shopping trips/picking up the carry-outs, while sugar has to stay at home (and gets to play with the ipad), we have a new set of complaints. While sugar throws a fit each time they(chini n dad) leave the house, Chini says " u always keep sugar with u and send me everywhere - to school, to shopping, to get pizza, everywhere!"


Not all has been gloomy though, they still light up their momma in their little ways.

When not watching the tee vee, or complaining about nt getting to spend time with the mommy, Chini makes 'get well soon' and 'feel good' cards for mommy. She even decorates them with stickers and adds her precious possessions (rocks,stones,pencils,etc.) with the notes. She went a step ahead and told her teachers at school that mommy was in a car accident. She tries to be gentle around momma as she knows that mommy is still sore n every inch of muscle on her hurts. While she still worries that something is wrong with momma's chin(seeing the neck brace on her), her little sister just orders the mom to take it off, get up and change her arbe's dress. My little sugarbun, for whom momma's trip to the emergency room was a fab outing, is blissfully ignorant of all going around her. What a lovely stage she is in!

So Sugar goes to School!

And yes! you can close your mouth and wipe that look of surprise off your face! Even I didn't expect it to happen so soon after this. But I guess I saw it coming much before but refused to acknowledge. With sugar trying to pull her older sister out of the classroom, every time we went to drop her off.. with sugar refusing to enter the house afterwards, screaming No! I don't want to go home! as soon as the car halted before the door of our humble abode... with sugar jumping to her feet when I announced that it's time to go get didi..

And momma ooh'ed and aah'ed on the sisterly bond all this time!
Until, one day,
She just kept crying inconsolably. When everything other soothing effort failed, mommy decided to talk it out with her.
Sugar, kyun ro rahi hai? why is sugar crying?
Amidst her tears, she had replied I wanna go
Sugar library jaegi momma ke saath? Does sugar want to go to library with momma?
still hiccuping, NO
Sugar shopping jayegi Sugar will go shopping?
NO with another heartfelt bawling
Now, these were the options, which ought to cheer her up, usually. Not today, though. The only other option left was going to the park, which was out of question on that wintry morning.so, momma asked her again,
Sugar kahaan jayegi? Where does sugar wanna go?
School. uuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnn

Mommy didn't even realize when her baby just grew on up her.
Not quite though. Before this surprise breakdown, momma had already enrolled sugar in two-day two's classes in the same school as chini and was waiting for the classes to start. Though, in truth, momma was still having the separation issues and was fooling herself in wondering how her oh-so-little-baby will handle in. While, in truth, it turned out that she was actually an eager-to-leave-mommy girl who just walked straight to her teachers with her own story to share. Without even turning back to say bye or even look at momma. Whereas the shocked mom was repeating insanely to the chuckling dad over and over and over again, she didn't even look at me. she didn't even look at me. Dad, still as happy as can be, said, Oh! I was never worried about her. Concerned for you, instead!?!?

Today, is the second week of her school and she goes only two days a week. The rest whole week, as her older sister gets ready, she keeps asking, where's my book bag? Where are my school shoes? Why are you not dropping me? Well, I did get greedy and tried to enroll her for two more days at least, but it turned out that there are only two-day classes at the current school for this age group. Am at loss, how to keep her busy the rest of the weekdays for the remainder of four months of this school year. Any ideas?

sugar on her first day to school

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!!

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!"

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...