Chini's first day at her new school

Chinipie just loves school! No doubts that she couldnt wait for her school to begin. In fact, as soon as we had moved here, the very first morning, she had asked me, "momma, which is going to be my new school now?" As our moving truck had not arrived, and we didn't have much to do at the house, I put the girls in the car and set out in the search of a new school for her and sugar, if I would allow myself to part with her, so, in eśsence, it was mostly for chinipie. As we had known for quite some time about our move, I Had already researched on a few schools in the area and proved to be useful as I dint have any internet connection and the cell phone signal was worse than anyone can imagine(it still is!) relying on my memory and completely on the gps in the car,me and the girls toured 4 schools in all, including a branch of her old school (apparently they originated and expanded from here). We had loved her progress at her old school, so naturally this branch should have been our first choice. The only drawback there was that it was a bit of a drive and the route had a heavy traffic during the morning n lunch hours.. And with two kids, most of the times, I get to leave the house at the last minute... Especially, during winters, when the struggle includes putting on the jackets, shoes, mittens n hats! Which meant that the only drawback became a major negative for that school, though chinipie did emphasize that she liked that school more than the ones we saw earlier. The other school that we saw was a Montessori but very much unlike the one we had seen(and were impressed with) earlier (in the previous city). This one was more like a home daycare with the high fees of a montessori! What they were guaranteeing to teach there, most definitely, I could have taught if I chose to home-school my kids!! And, hence, we settled on the first school we had toured and liked instantly. Being a church school(vs a daycare), they followed the annual calendar which meant chinipie was to start there only in September. We utilized the summers playing outdoors, swimming camp, visiting libraries, having backyard picnics and more! But, for past few weeks she was getting a little restless and waited eagerly for her school to begin!!






And finally the night before, she had slept early as she didn't want to be late on the very first day and me being me, had already started missing her.. Thinking about the next day! I went to the extent of conveying it to her when she woke up after an hour or so for a trip to the restroom. I said, "chinipie, I will miss you being around me. What will I do when u r not at home?" with her eyes still closed she said, "I know. You can exercise!" yeah baby! Point taken!!




The morning was hassle-free. She brushed her teeth and came downstairs with a promise to finish her morning chores fast and get ready on time. She tried her best but she is just a four year old after all... We were still in race with the clock. Sugar was happy that her important task of dropping her didi to school has finally restarted and chinipie got a nice surprise that even dad was accompanying her on her very first day. At the door of the classroom, she greeted her teacher, gave her dad a hug, sugar a kiss, waved bye and went inside. She didn't even look back! And I just kept standing there..


Asked the dad .. "so this is it?!?" "yep!" "she didn't even give me a hug!" "that's ok.. I give u a hug on behalf of her!"


He did.. But it was not the same as hers...


Sugar and I took a special treat for her(frooti juice box) when we went to pick her up. Sugar didn't open her own until she gave didi hers!! And together they jumped and hopped all the way to the car. But after a next couple of hours, they were drained and desperately needed a nap.. Results?? They didn't sleep until 10:30 in the night(though went to bed by 9:00p.m.)!!


Let's see how it goes tomorrow...

In pursuit of friends- a birthday party

We are just returning from our first ever birthday party in Philly. The kids were super excited since yesterday as it has been a while that we have been to one.. The last one being their very own which was an evening before everything had to go in the moving truck. It was just a last minute thing as the galz wanted to celebrate it with their frens, specifically chinipie. Coming back to tonight's party, sugar had skipped her afternoon nap, inspire of all our efforts. undoubtedly, she was super cranky by the time we started to get ready. Then chini got herself hurt on her toe..so it was a challenge with one following the suit of other in crying.


The party was good, the hosts were a sweet couple and the birthday girl who turned one last week was a very happy child... Touchwood! As for my kids, chini engaged sugar in a balloon game as soon as we reached there n after the cake was cut sugar fell asleep in dad's lap. Chinipie missed playing with her little sis for a while but then got busy with a coloring game on my phone(thank goodness for the smartphones). She finished the cake by herself and was rather proud of it!!






Highlights of the day - when I was trying to push lunch inside her, i tried to bribe her saying if you finish it, we will go somewhere in the evening. Pat came here reply, "I know. We are going to a baby's birthday party. She is turning one!"


Sugar will you sing a birthday song for the baby. " um ummm.." meaning a big NO... Don't even expect such things from me!!






Had forgotten to add another pinkalicious episode of the evening... Even though chinipie had calmed down after hurting her toe, the poor girl was still in pain... And started jumping up and down crying "aaauuiii aaauuuiii aaauuuiii" . Sugar looked at her sister and thinking this as a new fun game, joined her... Jumping up and down and laughing... " aaauuuuiii aaauuuiii aaauuuuiii". Soon we all joined in amidst roar of laughter! Isn't it amazing how easily the can turn pain to laughter!

Of naps and sleep times and more..

What is it with kids and nap times??? They just refuse to go to the bed even if they have difficulty opening their eyes and then they get overtired and reach an over-anxious stage where they are not able to rest their bodies, even if they want to. And then they give a hard time for almost everything starting from brushing teeth, changing to PJs, listening to story, lying on the bed, covering with blanket and more that one cannot even think of.. I would have loved to say that it stops as soon as they hit the bed but, alas!, it doesn't. especially with chinipie who keeps coming out of her covers on one pretext or the other.. even if she would have been dozing for a while, she would get up in the middle of the night and order her dad to go lie down with her.. poor dad has no choice but to go sleep on the floor next to her bed. Usually he gets back to his bed around 4 or 5 in the morning, only if, she doesn't come back and reprimands him for leaving her alone! Sometimes, she would just sneak up on our bed and sleep next to us. As for sugar, she keeps asking for 'dudu' any time she wakes up or she has tough time sleeping . Mostly, she would keep crying (in her machine gun-like fashion) in her crib and say, "I want dudu.. I want dudu..."

When we discussed this sleeping habit with their pediatrician, they said that it is a normal behavior for most kids this age. It's up to the parents to tell the kids to try and go back to sleep all by themselves and they shouldn't be given milk or any food at the weird hours just like an adult. Nor should they be encouraged to sleep with their parents be it in the kids room or the parents' room. Clearly, their kids are way past this age and that's why they don't seem to remember their own night-time stories..

Well, I wouldn't say this happens every evening or my kids are tough to handle. In fact, they are perfect little angels and there are some nights when they come and say, "I'm tired. I want to sleep." and then, we have those sparse nights when they sleep throughout! Mostly, I have observed that they
1. tend to behave better when they have a set routine almost every day
2. don't watch too much television (more than 45 min) close to nap time
3. had participated in exhaustive exercises
4. either one of them is not too weary (that's when the other one picks up the tantrum, just to join the chorus!)

Let's talk about routine. I feel it's very important for the kids (for that matter, everyone) to have a set routine (occasional deviance are always acceptable). This gives them a feeling of stability and brings a sense of decorum and discipline in them, which would prove to be very fruitful in their later life. I am not saying that we should stereo-typically stick to it to the point of becoming mechanical and lose our flexibility completely. But, their should be a regularity and a proper balance for all their activities( including the indoor and outdoor) during the day, be it at home or anywhere else, leaving some room for fluctuation as well. I have always seen that whenever there's a constant disruption in their routine or they do not know what and when the next activity is going to be, they get a little unruly. For some reason or other, am not able to follow this always.. sometimes, there are extra chores.. or i am not feeling too well.. or some other vague reason.. to which I tell myself, "c'mon you'r just one person! how can you always do everything?" but then is that enough?

The other three reasons viz. the idiot box, exercises, and picking up frm sibling are pretty much self-explanatory. But then here is my questions to all of you moms/dads out there.. are any of your experiences similar? what do you have to suggest for battling these night-fall dooms? do you believe in regularity in child's routine too? how do you/kids manage the deviance?

Please do pour in your views..

Of Fairy Tales and Cindrellas..

After the daily humdrum of the mornings.. the kids morning chores done with, their breakfast over... I asked them to play or do whatever they want to in their play area, while I took a moment to myself while having my breakfast (and reading a book) at the dining table just across a viewshot from them. Chinipie wanted to color but wanted me to look up a different coloring book for her which, I said, I could help her with only after my breakfast.. till then she will have to use her current one. All said and done, and she returned to her coloring with a satisfied look, when sugarbun decided that she wanted to do her coloring sitting next to me and implanted herself on the chair next to mine. She kept showing me her coloring (scribbling, according to Chini) and I kept either grunting or adding a few words of appreciation while continuing with my reading/munching. That's when Chini came to me and said, "You know what mommy, you and sugar treat me like Cindrella's stepmothers and stepsisters!" I just dropped everything and looked at her.. the mommy heart in me almost broke on hearing those words. I asked, "why do you say so?" and she could see the mixture of hurt and amazed look on my face and started blushing as she thought she said something wrong. I asked her if she felt so coz she is not sitting next to me and she wasn't sure. I gave her one big hug and asked her,

"Do I make u scrub floor like Cindrella's stepmother?" " Do I make you cook food for all of us?" "Do I dress you up in rags?" 

"What's rags mommy?"

"Torn Clothes"

"No. You buy me and sugar new dresses every time we go to target and mall"

"Then why do you say so?"

"But you make me clean my room and the play room!"

"Honey, that's the mess you make.. and besides you need to take care of your toys and books. Do I make you clean up the mess that I make?"

"No"

"Then why do you say such hurting words to me?"

"I am sorry mumma" and she rushes to give me a hug this time!

When I told dad about this, he just couldn't help laughing. He says there's nothing hurting over here.. it's just a child's innocence.. I wish I could see it that way. Since morning, I have been thinking which action of mine touched the sensitive heart of my little big girl?!?

to which I have not gotten any answers yet... I hadn't even screamed at her.. everything was at a very normal tone at a very normal pace as it could be.. Did her little mind not like the idea of me trying to get a little time for myself? or Does she gets touched every time sugar gets away with her pranks/gets some favors coz shez still the little one? hmmmm.. very perplexing but surely the child's mind acts in a strange way...........

Did I tell you about her 'Rapunzel' incident which happened a few months back? It was the Valentine's day and we had a little get together at our place. We (our friends and us) used to find reasons just to be together and enjoy some time. So, we had planned an evening filled with games, fun and good food at our place. The kids games were done with and they were playing in the basement while we were having the couples games in the first floor family room. Suddenly, I heard Chini crying (she actually howls out very loud), by the time I reached the door leading to the basement, the dad and the crying Chini were coming upstairs. The dad had the kitchen scissors in his hand and said she has cut all her hair!!! Apparently, she had found the kitchen scissors lying in the basement, and had started cutting her hair. My immediate concern was if she hadn't cut herself anywhere else (neck/ears) in the process. Thankfully, she hadn't.. I took her to another room and tried to calm her down. After she was a little calmer, I asked,

"why did you do that, honey?" 

"I was trying to be Rapunzel." followed by another spurt of wailing....

"But honey, Rapunzel is not real."

"She is. We saw her in the movie theater in the 'tangled' movie"

"Honey, she is just an imagination of somebody else.. like in your imagination you can have a blue or a purple banana.. somebody else imagined her and made a movie/book out of it"

"oh! (with another burst of bawling) But I only wanted to be Rapunzel!!!!!"

meeting 'hershey'-cane Irene!!

What do you do when everybody in town is talking about nothing else but the oncoming hurricane? - Laugh it off!
Still if the warning bells ring in your mind? - Be prepared - flashlights : check, loaded refrigerator: check, extra food cooked: check
What next?
What do you do in the midst of the storm? - go shopping with the whole family
When the storm rages? put the excited kids to bed and do the dishes.. u don't want the stinking dishes in the middle of the storm.
And then,
the power goes off!!
U sleep in the midst of the sounds of thundering rains  and wake up the sounds of howling winds..
Asking yourself whether it is a bliss or not.. to live a digitox-free life? No internet, no phone, no television!! My cell-phone was almost about to get discharged too! Go back to basics.. play dress-up with kids, read books to them, play with the flashlights.. in short just cherish each and every moment of the short void-of-electronics life.
What do you do when kids are hungry? - get the food/milk out of the refrigerator and dip it in a cup filled with hot water or make a cold sandwich.
What if they refuse to eat the cold food? - use the little battery left in your smartphone and find a restaurant  still open around the area and hit it out on the road!!
Come back, find out there's no power yet and sleep peacefully listening to the sounds of crickets in the night. The morning sounds of chirping birds tells you that there's no power in the area yet!  You want to enjoy it as much but then the kids wake up hungry and refuse to take the cold food anymore.
What do you do then? - Pack up your kids, get in the car and thrust yourself on your friends(thank God to have sent such wonderful people around us)!!
When finally the night falls and the updates on the power company website tell you that the next morning will return back normalcy to your life, you return back home to find it all lit up!! felt like diwali in the house!!

Finally, the 'hershey'-cane, as chinipie called it was over!

This is the tree in our backyard braving the strong winds