The holidays

We are here and all in good health (lemme do a touchwood real quick unless those much-scared infections make a comeback in my family)? Though, chinipie kept insisting the entire last half of december, much to mom's and dad's anxiety, I am sick. I am very very sick.. Poor parents couldn't figure out why their lovely dughter would feel so and tried, in vague, to erase any such thoughts from her mind. Only when chinipie declared, one fine morning, I am bored of being sick. I miss my school., that it dawned to them that the whole concept f uch a long holiday is new to her. The only time she skipped her schjol was when she was not well and mommy kept her home. Naturally, she put two and two together and concluded that she is sick. Amazing, how their mind works in such a simple fashion!

So the school was off for entire two (holiday) weeks in december which when mommy counted actually came out to be ei-gh-t-een days!  18 dark, cold and wintry days, stuck in the house with two very active kids and with the dad absconding (read slogging@office ) for unreasonably looongg hours!  Mommy declared that unless the dad had some good plans, she is off to her Mom's place. The threat never even came close to being executed as when mom checked the flights, the prices (even after excluding the dad) were high enough for her to abandon any plans to travel for next two years at least!  Nevertheless, the dad, seeing the plight of his highly motrified wife, took a week off(he hadn't taken a single day off the entire year!). Mommy, very generously, ignored the fact that half the time he was still working from home, and did make two rushes to the office for some urgent meetings. Also, she pardoned the messy state of the home - owing to another fact that the two different set of guests, who were to visit us during the holidays, cancelled their plans. As mommy had been busy preparing the meals (as her plan ahead initiative) so that they could spend most of the time showing the guests around the city instead of the kitchen, the entire house had been turned topsy-turvy.
Hassled, momma asked chinipie, doesn't all this mess bother you?
Contemplating, for a while, which answer would please her mom, she decided to stick to her own self and said,no
Momma, then turned to sugar, her little one, who just turned her back and continued with her precious contribution in giving the house a look of a dumpyard.
With lots of expectations, she then, looked upon the dad and even hoped that he would volunteer to help her cleaning up; instead got an advice to ignore. So, mom made it her mantra, and as much as it bothered her, didn't even move a finger to clean. She, even, took it a step further and started dumping things, secretly hoping, that eventually she might get a Helping hand. Turned out that she had been entirely singled out here and shez the only one, in the family, who gets irritated by the uncleanliness. She had to give up after a few days of fretting and fuming!

The holidays were well spent, despite of such minor episodes, which have acquired a tendency to occur at a more frequent rate than expected in our household. We spent an entire day at a nearby amusement park, enjoying the fun rides (an unusual experience at this time of the year where we are) and signing the day off with a special holiday light and sound display. Another day was spent at the children's museum, yet another watching the disney princess stories on ice(after which both the girls put on their fluffy shoes and skate, twirl and whirl on the kitchen floor pretending the hardwood floor to be ice). We also revamped the kids room with their favourite princesses and fairies wall decor.

Santa had left some exciting gifts which included the nail paint(of course princess ones!). Mom was treated with an exclusive spa treatment with a perfectly finished manicure and pedicure. Thanks Santa! But as he came on christmas eve vs the actual christmas evening, it was declared that the missing gifts(From the list) will be delivered tonight. Uh oh! Mommy took all the efforts to convince that he comes only once and did indeed come on the correct day and time! And yes! That morning, first thing chinipie did was- came running downstairs to check if indeed he had come and on finding the gifts, she had come running to me- momma, santa did come! And he left lots Of gifts for me and Sugar. Then, she had one running to the dad and repeted the same excitedly! Again, a dash to her room to wake her sis up and share the exciting news. In case you are wondering why she was surprised, that's coz according to her this wasn't winter and most certainly not the christmas time! Why? Coz - in her words - It isn't snowing at all. How can it be winters? How can it even be christmas? We didn't even get to make a snowman! And the christmas has to be a white one! While mommy wondered at her daughter's logic ( and thanked the stars, silently, for not sending the winters this year), she assured her girl that, most certainly, it would snow and we would get to make a snowman. Only to find her crying, one morning, on her bed - it's not even snowing. How will we celebrate christmas? though, she played alng with her dad and mom, and involved her baby sister too. And, together, they decorated the christmas tree, decorated a gingerbreadhouse and made cookies, and left a bowl of "yummy halwa", a plate of cookies, a cup of hot cocoa for Santa and went outside to sprinkle oats and sarkled sugar for Santa's reindeers. On seeing the cup empty (and, of course, after opening all the gifts), she did, indeed go out to check if the oats were gone. Mommy's heart was pounding very fast, expecting, another loud bawl, but God is indeed, merciful! Voila! The oats were gone! Must have been mom's lucky day! Later, while playing with her newly received toys, and while thinking aloud what should be on next ear's list, chini declared, Christmas is my favourite holiday! And mine too, sugar chimed in.

The gingerbread house - captured before it collapsed!

Food for reindeer(in the packet)

Stay tuned. There's a lot more to tell you all.

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??