Marathons

 I  find it hard to understand why I never tried to run any marathon ever before in my life. But as they say "Better late then never..", I did it. I brisk walked the Nitte Meenakshi 5k (December 2nd 2013)  and the Pinkathon 3k (23 Feb 2014 kiddie one at that). Yay feeling happy that something which i wanted to do atleast once in my life got accomplished.

Difference between Below and Under

We (myself and kids) went to the Lego 3D movie yesterday. Right before the movie started there were a set of ads been shown, one of them was Poshak a popular bridal wear store in Jaipur, i believe.

Tiny: Amma... Jaipur !!!
The only thing that made her react that way was because she visited Jaipur and the memories are fresh in her mind.
Little: (was eager for the movie to start and impatient at seeing the ads coming one after another)
So what, Keep quiet.

All the people turned behind to take a look at the boisterous fella and gave a laugh


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Saw a dog sleeping below the car this morning and made a casual comment:

Little: Amma, not below, remember prepositions, you should say under.
Amma shuts her mouth for that moment but later on checks the web to find that little guy was right...

http://www.phrasemix.com/answers/whats-the-difference-between-under-below-beneath-and-underne

Memory Power !!!

Little who is in first standard was reading his computer textbook. They are learning MS Paint. I was just being around helping him go thru stuff. There was a sentence in the book which said:

MS stands for Microsoft


Little: oh, that guy whose name starts from S, who is from Hyderabad, we saw in the news paper last week....
Wait, i will tell you, he is Satya Nadella.....
Did he do MS paint?

Me:  He did much more then that, but you can go ahead and finish this chapter.... ;)


A day in Singapore Komala Vilas restaurant, we spotted a family from our apartment complex and even before that
Tiny:  Amma, that aunty stays in our complex only, i have seen her.
Me: Come on, (did not believe her) , the lady smiles at me and i smile back, we talk and find out that they do stay in our apt complex.
Tiny: See i told you...

Add a year later..

Tiny finds the same lady dropping her kids to the bus stop while i was dropping mine...
Tiny : Amma turn back, see that same aunty in Singapore we met....
Me: Perfect Tiny, you remember faces very well...

She has certainly gone on her dad in this....i tell myself sadly...

Freedom

Me: Tiny, you need to finish this this and this before you go to play..... (w.r.t her test and homework)
Tiny: Amma, can you give me freedom
LOL my little girl already talks about her freedom...

Mom's mood expressed as a poem

I was frowning on a sunday morning with the things that needs to be completed by the end of the day. These were things if escaped from would come back as little monsters and haunt during the week. So my face had a frown. The little guy who came from bath and trying to wear his tshirt looks at my face and says:

charlie chaplin went to a town to see amma with a frown

While revising for a test, I ask Little:
Me: Tell me 2 examples of Beverages?
Little:  Coffee hmmmm Wine
Me: Rolling eyes, what???

The answer was coffee and tea (they were studying a chapter called Plants around us in EVS).  This guy already set for teenage, is going to hit me real hard...

Me: (Next question) Ok, tell me how many colors are there in a rainbow and what are they?
Little: There are 7 colors and i do not need the spellings. I will take out my crayon box and copy from there..
Me: Faints....

Me: (gets back) Why is earth called a Blue planet?
Little: Because water covers most part of the earth in the form of oceans.
Me: Why only oceans, whereas the book says lakes, rivers, seas and oceans?
Little: Finally everything goes to the ocean right, so i will just mention that one...

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I have a list of things to talk to his mam when i meet her every month one of the saturdays. I put it in a memo app in the android phone, so that i do not forget the points. The Little guy meddles with the phone and deletes the memo items which he thinks is inappropriate. I have not seen him doing that. I head to the school and meet the mam and open up the memo item to just see what all i need to discuss. To my horror:

The whole memo is wiped off and it reads:
"Sumana is shouting at me sometimes..."
Wonder what he is upto....

Wild Animals

The little fella had a test the other day about Wild Animals. When we were revising, i asked him to write a few examples of wild animals. Guess what appears on the list first:::

My name ;)

Kids these days....

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The kids address their dad "Hey Dude are you coming early today???" The dad says "Sorry am not your dude, but your dad..."

;)
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We need to reason out everything these days....

Me: Tiny has no school today. But you do. So lets go for bath.

Little already upset with the unfairness of holidays at his sister's and his school

Little: Tell me, why i should always listen to you????

Me left thinking....

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We were at Amber fort in Jaipur. We climbed up the fort entrance on an elephant. After seeing the fort we got out throught the wrong exit which was called Fateh Pol. We had to get back to the right one (Suraj Pol). Climbing high and low we were tired.

Little: Amma please call the elephants, my leg is pain. I will wait here.

As though i am some elephant owner and i can order them just like that.

Drawing a comparision

There have been many days in the 1st grade for Little where he has to argue about everything on earth. I get tired coaxing the 2 kiddos to study, participate in sports, culturals etc... The conversation picks up like this.

Tiny is studying and needs attention when she has doubts. Little does his homework and gets out of the room. I call him to atleast go through what his teacher would have done for the day. 

Little: Not today amma, i am tired... (a big drama king)

Me: How long does it take to revise the things? Atleast can you do the cursive writing???

Little: whining and sulking .. Nooooooo

Me:  (Would not like to compare kids but he kind of tests my patience) You know Little, your cousin does all the reading/studying once his mom tells him to. Aunty does not need to yell at him at all. You make me scream all the time.

Little: Amma, that is him and i am not like that... (kind of goes to say each person is different)

Me: this from a first grader.....

When he sees some new gadgets / toys with his friends and demands to buy the same, i try to negotiate saying what is the need to buy it? Does it really help you or you want to buy it because your friend has one? I also remind him that toys that are brought out of the #not really needed but my friends have it# buys generally end up in the unused lot in less than a days time and the pile is growing at home.  So i coax him telling that may be your friend sees a need and that Little does not. Each person has different needs etc, so there you go that same dialogue comes back to me .....

Friendship Day

First of all though delayed, Happy Friendship to all my friends and visitors to this blog. Never heard of any such days while I was at school, but it is pretty much in vogue right now when my kids are schooling. Tiny and Little went to school that day without any friendship bands. Neither did they ask me nor did i bother to ask.  At the end of the day, Tiny had almost 5 in each hand a few from school friends and few from the apartment complex where we stay. Little did not have any.
  The little guy was totally upset. Then he throws his tantrums
Tiny: Amma, i need to return the friendship bands tommorrow. Can we go buy??
Little: No Amma, never, you are not buying....
Tiny : Hey if you do not have friends that does not mean, i don't
Little is in tears by now
Little : Then buy me also
Me: Ok come lets go buy
Little: But i don't want to buy (in  a dilemma whether to give his friends or not). Nobody gave me one.
Me: May be they do not celebrate in your school da
Little: No Amma, L tied to 2 other boys and I saw R getting from others....
Me: It is ok, you can buy a couple and give it.
Little: No Amma they are not my true friends...
(in tears)
Hmmmm
Tiny: Ye ye Little does not have any friends .....makes him more irritated...

Random Updates

Everyday there are some left overs after getting back from school. So the conversation goes like this:
Me: Tiny, Little, Please finish the food in the lunch box. You know i do wake up early and pack your food and you get it back. It feels bad
Tiny: Ok amma, I will try
Little: If you keep what i like, then i can empty it, otherwise i will get it back....
Me thinking.... What kind of a kid did i give birth to???

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We had been to a wedding reception last night. The stage was thoroughly decorated started off with a salsa dance and what not. The banner on the stage read "Forever Together". Tiny all of 8 questions why they have have that written. I told her that the husband and wife (now the girl and boy) live together after marriage. After we returned home she had a few more questions on the same topic of marriage. In the night while we are on the bed lying and just talking away
 Tiny: Amma when will they start living together? Today or tommorrow??? ================================

Hubby says that he needs to go to Sydney on work for a couple of weeks. Tiny who is clearly a daddy's girl is already making a sad face and has a few questions...
Tiny: Appa, when you going? How long? Why are you going?
Little: Appa what will you get for me???
 Another couple of days later,
Hubby announces Kiddo's am not going right now but later...
 Now it is turn for the Little guy to put on a sulky face. Ask him why??
 Little: Can you go to Sydney, get a boomerang and be back soon??? You promised me one and this is cheating....

 The Little has taken a huge pleasure in doing Origami stuff. He loves making us do the origami stuff watching youtube. And when it does not come out right, be prepared for the yelling session.
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 Tiny has taken a huge obsession to make up looks like. We are in Sephora shop in Kuala Lumpur. I was just looking around waiting on the hubby who had gone to look for something. Kids were with me. Little declares that this is a lady's shop and that he is not a girl. Tiny is not to be seen for quite sometime and i go searching from one end to the other. I catch her trying out all the testers be it lipstick, nail polish, lip gloss, eye shadow and the cheek blush. I look at her, she looks like she is part of some drama troupe and she has done it flawlessly...
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Untill last year when Little was in Kindergarten he did not want girls sitting around him. His reason was they purposely shake benches when he is writing or taking notes. And he always complained of the girl T. Now in the 1st standard, the girl also chose the same second language as Little and happens to be in the same section. One day i found in his a swan made with one sheet torn from a note book.
 Me:Why do you tear notebooks to do Origami and that too in the class hours?
 Little: Amma, don't touch that, T gave that to me. She has asked me to keep it in my bag always

In the middle of the night

The little fella wakes up in the middle of the night to say:
Why does the mosquito not bite itself? Why does it bother me???

We did a little bit of gardening yesterday and since the grill door was wide open they came in and got the little one who sleeps without any blanket on him..He travels to the corner of the bed where the wind of the fan does not reach and gets bitten.

New pair of shoes

We have this habit of putting a pinch of turmeric on new sets of clothes. Anything new electronic gadget that is brought, a little bit of turmeric and kumkum is applied and then used. So the Little who observes all this called up one afternoon when i was at work.

Apparently we had bought him a new pair of shoes for his cricket sessions down in the complex.

Little: Amma, should i do puja to my shoes with haldi and kumkum or just haldi???
Me: LOL, you do not need to do anything. use it carefully.
Little : But it is new, so i will put haldi now and kumkum later. Bye

And the phone is banged down.

Tiny & News papers

Every day i tried to read the newspaper and also kept telling Tiny to do so when she started reading. Especially the block lettered headings. She enjoyed and used to come over to ask questions and meanings of words or the pronunciation. Needless to say i was happy. But today i curse myself. Ask me why, 

  

Tiny: Amma, Another rape in the city. What is that actually Amma??

Me: (Not sure whether a 8 year old needs to know the ABC of it.) It is a bad touch...

Tiny: So that comes in the newspapers everyday.

This all started after the Delhi Gang rape case. Luckily they  are taught in school about good and bad touches and i have kept advising her on the same. But any more questions around this it gets real tough to answer. A few years back we were left wondering how to tell the kids about an incident or how to make them aware of the societal happenings. But today they are reading the paper and come back with questions and all i have is to hold the tongue at a certain point.

Tiny Tidbits

I was taking the kids to watch "Life of Pi". I had once gone with my colleagues and loved the movie. I thought kids might really admire and hence took them. On the way i was telling them the story briefly. This was mainly to avoid Little snapping every now and then in the movie to ask questions. I don't mind if i have seen the movie earlier but his talks get loud and disturb others as well.
  So after he heard the story from me, he asks:

Little: Amma, Is this a real story?
Me: May be, not sure
Tiny: No it is a fiction.
Me: So what is fiction Tiny?
Tiny: Don't you know? It is just the author's imagination....

Secret Daughter - Book Review

Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda is one amazing book of its own kind. Author takes you on a wonderful journey as though you are watching a movie. You never feel like putting the book down. I normally do not write book reviews unless i love the book to such extents. 

The story is about an adopted girl child who wants to know more about her biological parents and loves her adopted parents to the core. The insecurity the mother feels when the kids goes in search of the biological parents is described so so well, i had tears in my eyes. The story line is natural and well written.

Tiny and her discovery

Tiny although little in structure thinks big when it comes to using smart phones any brand any make. These are below findings:

1. She says, Amma, there are 3 ways to voice record using your phone. Where as i only know one single route and never bothered others.
2. The girl knows to switch on Background data and visit Google Play store to download new games. 
3. Opens up browser and uses the Voice recognition to search for Dora and others while helping her brother search for spider man and Hulk and watch you tube videos.  Imagine one day when i was just getting ready for work i hear "Hulk and Spider man fighting" many times being repeated in the same fashion. I went to see what was going on. Much annoyed i snatched the phone. I always wonder how i get a 400 rs more always in my bills. Now i know it. 

God bless me and help me save my kids from the early internet usage...

Gadgets and Hubby

Hubby loves playing with new gadgets installing them, setting it up and anything of that sort. My 9 month old LG phone lost its touch. Blame it on the kids this time. Hubby is more then happy to hear this from me. So the conversation goes here:
Hubby: This is the second time he is buying me a phone and so he goes, alright I will buy a new phone for you..
Me: Specifications are mine though
Hubby: Fine, but don't bother about the cost. (All he wants is a gadget to play with here)
Me: So looks like you are done playing with BB and now that you need another to set up.

So hubby orders the phone and supposed to arrive on thursday. A day late it says online. Friday it is. And that morning: (in SMS)

Me: Need to go out today evening with the kids.  Can you come in early?
Hubby : No reply
Resend SMS thinking he has not received..
Hubby: Wait but the phone is arriving today.
Me: So???
Hubby : Need to set it up
Me: I can do it myself
Hubby: No but i need to make it easy for you...

Girl Friend Boy friend

The other day i was standing in front of the mirror and taking  a look at the amount of white hair that have sprouted offlate. Told myself, I am getting older no doubt but still so many ... when the below conversation happens in the other room

5 year old : Do you know who is my girl friend?
7 Year old : Not sure ...

5 Year old: P
7 year old: What about C, S etc??

5 Year old: Only P now...
Later
7 year old : Atleast you have a girl friend da. good

Later

7 year old: You know what I am going to call A for my birthday this time. A is my good friend and he is a boy...

Note: P, C, S, A are their classmates at school.

I am all serious about how the kids 7 and 5 are running on 13. The dad has a hearty laugh and mocks the ignorant mom.

Krishna Janmashtami

This was on the occasion of Janmashtami that happened over the last weekend. We had the Pooja on saturday and Krishna Arathi, Haldi Kumkum customs on sunday. While i was dressing up for the same:

Tiny: Amma these bangles look really good. Whose are they? (she has not seen me wearing them earlier.)
Me:  It is Paati's (grand mom's) but I am wearing them today.
Tiny : When will you give this to me?
Me: When you grow big, Paati will give you..
Tiny: During my marriage????
Little: No when you have a baby
Tiny: I don't want to become a fattyso.. (Not sure whether such a word exists)
Little: Well, you can have a thin baby like how i am .. Look


What do you call such brats having convo like this at the age of 7 & 5? I am still wondering as to where the source to all this information lies???

Little and his Talks

The weekends are crazy in our household. So crazy that the weekdays are better sometimes. People just want to rest including the kids and in order to achieve that, they need to get todo things off the way. One such weekend, after all the late night calls during the week, i thought of getting the kids done with their revision for the weekly tests and relax after which. Little drove me wild angry while in the midst of revisions so much that :

Me: I just hate kids when they do not listen to their moms at home, neither understand what is told by their mam in school..
Little: I too hate moms who yell
Me : Haan  (All this at 5 years 3 months..)

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Another example of how the little fellow drives me crazy
I hid his Mc Queen car since he was behaving real bad that day. He got angry and scribbled over a newly bought activity book knowing that this will cause me more anger.
Me: Wait you will not get your Mc Queen back anyways
Little: You hid my car no, so i will do this.
Me: All silent thinking of what to do next.
Little : Remember Amma, what you do comes back to you.
Me: My goodness, where did you learn this Little? Did you hear anyone talking?
Little: I am just telling you from my mind.

I am just hoping to go to the Himalayas soon enough then thought. this kid is just impossible to parent.
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Another day, Tiny and Little and myself were hanging around...

Tiny: Amma today they were telling us about donating our body parts after we die. (in school that is). So when i die amma, i will give my eyes.

Me: Yes we should all do that.

Little: Amma, I am going to donate my mouth...

Swallowing my own saliva, i thought who in this world is wanting his mouth. May God bless them.
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Little who was mostly indoors when i came back from work had to be pushed out to go play with his friends, this upto age 5. I was thinking to myself about how i need to raise this introvert guy. How i need to coax him to get out of the house and make and be friends. For a week we had off at work as part of company shutdown world wide. I was home and slept, ate and played with him. Those days i took him out at 4.30pm and we returned back only at 7pm. He had a ball with his friends and i with my friends chit chatting walking etc. That was it, now we are back to routine and he is out of the house by 4pm on most days. He calls out to his grand mom:

Little: Paati (grandmom in tamil), give me milk
Drinks in a second superfast....and goes down.

He has been going to a friend's house say A for a week to play in A's house and sometimes down in the apartment complex to play cricket. I was more then happy to see this change in him and never questioned him. A week later he refused to go to A's house. He clearly told him on the phone that i am not coming. I then questioned him why he was rude and did not want to go to A's house.

Little: Amma, why should i always go to A's house? Can he not come here to play with me?
Me: Sure he can come, but did you call him home?
Little: No Amma.
Me: Why did you assume he will not come over to play?
My friend A's mom calls up to say that she will be sending him from the next day to our house to play.
Little agreed to which. I wonder how kids of this age whose main intention would be play play and more get to matters like the  above.

Kids and my late night calls

Everyday and i say most days, we have night calls which i would need to dial into. When i joined this company a few years ago it started with 2 days a week for 1 hour 10.30-11.30. Based on day light savings, times used to vary. Then we started having status calls daily for half an hour. Now it has come to a mode where we have atleast 1-2 calls every night ranging from 1-1.5 hours. Ofcourse we do get breaks during India holiday or US holiday and some other days. So this is how the kids react  to the whole thing:

I enter home in the evening say 6pm, take a quick wash

Tiny: Amma, any call tonight?
Me: Yes Baby
Little : How many? 1..2..
Tiny : When, what time does it start???
Me: 8.30..
Little: But i need my story ok...
Tiny: No amma cheating, tell your manager you are not going to call

Little : Do only one call amma..and then tell me story...
Tiny : No,,,Amma sleeps with me today

Then the fight starts...After all their day schedules and dinner, even before i dial in, Tiny is off to her bunk bed and fast asleep..Little waits for me to end my calls and gets to hear a story and we sleep before the dad walks in. So the dad who wants to collapse for the night does so on Little's bunk bed right below Tiny...