The year of ‘The Princess & the Frog'

Sitting on the couch, on New Year ’s Eve, I can’t help but reminisce on the past months and want to capture some snippets before it is over. (Yes, our plans for new year celebration involve sitting in front of the couch and enjoying my brother’s cooking with Ken & Cathy who are our neighbors, friends & surrogate parents all in one.)

“This was the year of the princess and the frog” – Cathy’s words from her Christmas party rang in my foggy mind while I was attempting to wake up this morning. Why did those words get stuck in my head? Somehow they sounded appropriate for our lives this year.

Cathy, of course was referring to Diya & Aadi’s Halloween costumes this year. Diya had chosen the theme as she got to be the princess and Aadi really did not mind being a frog. The costumes suited them perfectly :)

As, I look back over the year, I can trace ‘the princess’ and ‘the frog’ over and over again. Here are some instances:

- Diya got into gardening this summer. She spent a lot of effort and focus on this and grew beautiful flowers. Aadi ate them.
- Diya is already reading fluently just 6 months into kindergarten while Aadi can croak only 3 words: 1) ribbit; 2) choo-choo and 3) car.
- Diya was a picture of perfection at Cathy’s Christmas party in her long flowing dress and impeccable table manners. Aadi ran around their house chasing cats – his tie askew and shirt untucked (yes he wore a suit !) and almost set fire to their house as he tried to hand me a burning candle.
- Diya is learning to control her temper and keep some patience. Aadi’s latest trick is to throw himself on the ground and bang his head on the floor at the first sign of being denied.
- Diya is now sleeping in a bunk bed being very careful to climb up and down from it. Aadi hopped on the bed so much that I had could not allow him on it even while I watched over him. I had to put him back in his crib right away. He tried to chew his way out of there.
- Diya shows her love for Aadi by kissing him. He reciprocates by pulling her hair.

It is amazing to see the change this year has brought in Diya as she matured as a big sister. As for Aadi, maybe our collective love and the thousands of kisses that we shower him with will turn him into a prince some day. I hope not too soon though, I wouldn’t mind if he remains a frog a little while longer. These years are too precious and they are going by too fast !

Happy New Year !!

Party Animal

Diya and I went to buy groceries. We ended up buying a lot. Noticing this, Diya launched the following conversation:

“Mamma, we bought lots and lots of stuff”

Yes, looks like it.

“Hey ! I have an idea !!”

What?

“We can have a party”

Okay

“Whose birthday is next?”

Hmm, no ones birthday is near. But Mamma-Baba’s wedding anniversary is coming up. And you know, it will be our 10th anniversary. That’s big ! So we can have a big party.

“Oh … are you going to get married again?”

That’s a neat idea – it has been 10 years, maybe we should get married again !

“Are you going to marry someone else this time?””

(Hmm …. tempting thought … but maybe I should not freak the little girl out )
No, I really like your Baba and he really likes me. So we will marry each other again.

“Good, then I get to see it this time. Last time you two got married, you did not invite me! “

Favors

We (as in Suvo and Golu) bought a 52 inch Sony Bravia HDTV with a home theater system to match, last Christmas. Today (12/12/10) was the first time Suvo and I sat down in front if it together – that’s almost a year later. I was already numb with exhaustion, the end of the year gets to you at work plus we are planning some home renovation before the holidays and that has us doubly taxed.

I jumped out of my quasi-coma as an obnoxious commercial flashed past my consciousness – “Instant Defense” serum for women between the age of 35 and 60, to reduce lines and wrinkles. ????? Women between age 35 and 60 – is that one age group??Q!W@E#@#%!!!!!

I am going to turn 35 in little over 3 months (at least my honest math tells me so). All the alarm bells started tolling simultaneously. I am not ready for this. What does this mean? Some hidden part of my brain issued a, not so subtle hint, - “Your shopping sprees are not going to focus on finding the perfect skinny jeans – instead they will revolve around finding some ointment to remove crow’s feet around your eyes”.

The sane (or insane –depends on the way you look at it) part of my mind rebelled against this and I frantically looked for a grip. My eyes rested on Suvo, who seemed to be carefully immersed in some private reverie, clearly not interested in engaging about this particular topic – hmm…. If I were a third party I would call this a wise move.

So I had no reprieve, until the next day – when I decided to engage the most perceptive audience of all - Diya. I posed a simple question to her – after she had had a prolonged bath, after a sleep over at Cathy’s, that ended with chocolate chip pancakes - the best possible circumstances. My question to her was –“ Diya – what will you do when I become an old woman”? While I waited with bated breath, her response was cool, automatic, premeditated and dismissive as always – “I will buy you stuff”. !@#@#$???????

I struggled to keep my anxiousness in check, and as I probed further – “What kind of stuff?” – may be that will give me some clue and bring peace to my wild heart. She shrugged her little shoulders and said – “You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit”. This is my standard line to her when I get her something. So, she is planning on returning all my favors – not sure what the right response to this is – “!!!!” or “?????” or "@#$#$%#$%”.

I really need to think this parenting thing through before it comes back to haunt me.

Bacteria

This happened just a minute back! I just had to get on the web and put it up on our blog.

Diya was feeling sick at her school daycare (called the "Adventure Club"). Stuffy nose, fever, tummy ache - typical symptoms of flu. Ankur and I decided that I will pick her up, go home and work from there (I have no meeting to attend today). That way we can get some medicine started and Diya can get also some rest.

When I reached her daycare, she looked very down. We drove back. She was unusually quiet all the way.

So, we reached home, Diya got tucked in and I got her some warm soup to her bed. After a couple of spoons, she got back her voice. And along with that her propensity of constant talking!

We started chatting as I was booting up the laptop. Here's the conversation which took place:

Diya: Baba, why do I need to eat the hot soup?
Suvo: So that you feel better. :)

Diya: But why?
Suvo: Well, the heat will kill the bacteria. Bacteria and virus can live through cold - they just freeze up - but when you put them in a hot place, they die. That's why people boil drinking water.

 Diya: Baba, then we should all go to India.
Suvo: ??!!

Diya saw the expression on my face and explained.

Diya:  In India there is no bacteria. Remember, you said that India is a hot place. There is no snow. So all the bacteria are already dead. ....

... after a brief pause ...

Diya: ... And please remember to go to the internet and read the report which says if a one year old can sit on the lap or need to have a his own seat.

Admittedly, she was already thinking of how to put Aadi on the plane!

Daily Update: 11/22/10

Today was a downright crazy Monday morning to say the least but nothing out of the ordinary I must add. I woke up at 5:33am, rather I jumped out of the bed screaming. I had had a nightmare, not sure about what; but the first thought that I registered was that Aadi had been screaming for a long long time and the volume on the monitor was too low for me to realize – or so I thought. (Yes – we/I have finally made it to the major milestone of moving Aadi to his own room after months of deliberation and finally running out of excuses.) My first reaction was to deliver a kick and an elbow to Suvo to let him know what an outrage had unfolded. Suvo nearly fell off the bed and gave me an uncomprehending look before he turned on his side, adjusted his pillow and went back to sleep. I wanted to punch his face but then I curbed my impulse and for good reason – I just noticed Aadi’s crying by its conspicuous absence. He had gone back to sleep!! This meant that he was not crying for long at all and what I logged on to was an isolated wail that ensues many times a night when he has a cold – like the one he has right now… (grr … I’m loosing my mind). After a cup of milk (aided by the melatonin I had at night) I went back to sleep.

The morning was no different than others, I woke up to the panic that I was too late for work (there was a 7am meeting !@#@$), except for the amount of black ice on the road. Suvo offered the statistics that there were 500 accidents over the weekend due to worsened driving conditions, while he nursed his morning coffee in his pajamas staring at his Macbook Pro and I rushed to get Diya to brush her teeth and Aadi to stop brushing his teeth (with his sister’s toothbrush). I had already gotten “ready-for-the-day” after spending about 9 minutes and 47 seconds to discard my night clothes, brush my teeth and stuff myself into whatever I could lay my hands on from the “work wardrobe” that did not have: a) baby food, b) spit up (I hate those) and c) excessive amount of dog hair (NOTICE – I did not mention “clothes that match”; I have simplified this by buying predominantly black and white so everything matches – a trick I have learnt from Diya, for her everything is pink!).

I found out that the 7am meeting was cancelled, actually it did not exist - my blackberry was not synchronized and was seeing ghosts. This annoyed me, I could have sneaked in another half hour of sleep. I am not exactly sure how the next hour passed – but between catching up with email piled up during the weekend, Aadi pooping twice and Diya wanting to pack 2 pairs of shoes for school (??!!) I hardly noticed the time and suddenly I was up against a 9am meeting that I needed to be in the office for (it’s a good 30 min drive to work on a good day and with this weather all bets were off). I walked Diya to the bus stop impatiently (across the street and one house over), scolding her all the way as she tried to skid on the ice, drag the front of her shoes and messed up the ‘patterns’ her friend had constructed riding his scooter on his driveway –only for his Dad to ruin. Suvo gauged my mental state as I got back home and he offered to drive Aadi to daycare. He also asked me if I would like to go with him (I think he just wanted to demonstrate how bad it was to drive today). I realized that the 9am meeting was not that important and I won’t make it in time to work anyway, I relented to do drop off Aadi with Suvo.

We skidded a few times on our way to Aadi’s day care and back despite Suvo’s pretentious Audi with all-wheel-drive and God knows what other features. Ammani, Aadi’s precious Daycare Grandma, related to us of their horrible Saturday night that they spent on the road as the highway stalled with a compounded 20 car accident. Suvo’s trick was working – by now it had started to sink in that I should probably stay off the road today, what with my VERY limited driving skills – it might be better for everyone involved including my fellow drivers on 494 (maybe we could work in a national security angle here if we stretched our imagination a bit). And so I stayed home – glued to the phone from 9:30am to about 6pm, of course swapping out the cordless phones as the batteries ran out.

The evening was another story all-together, Suvo had brought the kids home while I was still on the phone. I emerged from the basement (my home-office – as that’s where I get the best wireless reception, sitting right next to the modem @#$@) to find that the kids were going wild; there was a pile of dishes; no food at home and at 7pm two contractors were going to show up for giving us “free-estimates” for two completely different home-improvement projects that Suvo and I were thinking of (as if we did not have enough going on already) and with ZERO co-ordination between our efforts. At least, we managed to cancel one of the two before they showed up. Meanwhile, I had pasta cooking while Diya was trying to bake a cake ‘all-by-herself’ and Aadi was vacillating between watching Dora and wanting to come ‘help’ us in the kitchen since it was by far more interesting. Suvo managed to pull a vanishing act.

I was still in my pajamas, that have the motto ‘Peace on Earth’ with a picture of Eyore all over (remember I gave up on going to work, so I changed back thinking I will get into something better after I shower – surprise, surprise, I never really made it that far into my personal hygiene routine). I felt anything but “peaceful”; I got visible cues that Diya was ravenous. She started eating the cake batter RAW. There was chocolate batter on her hands, her face, her clothes, on the countertop, on the floor, on the carpet and on the music systems as she ran back and forth between mixing the cake and endlessly rewinding the “zooby dooby” song from the movie “Three Idioits”(her latest favorite) which was playing at a deafening volume. The pasta was still boiling – who needs whole grain @#$#$%!!

My brother called in to check if I was dead or alive and I shooed him away, promising him to call later in the night (he always understands!).

The contractors arrived 10 mins before 7pm, while I was still working on getting the pasta sauce ready and Diya was watching over the cake cooking in the oven. Suvo materialized out of thin air, to spend full 17 minutes with the contractors (who wanted to sell us new windows for a mere 40k so we could take advantage of the HUGE 1.5k of stimulus tax credits) before smoothly getting rid of them, all the while entertaining Aadi and reigning in Maple, who wanted to greet the visitors to death.

I proudly served the pasta to Diya, and even managed to sprinkle some cheese on it. She commented –“It does not look good”. That’s when the flood broke loose. I am not exactly sure what happened for the next 20 seconds or so, I only remember that I did not recognize my own voice as I poured in all my frustration and exhaustion of the day on our little princess. Anyway, the result was that (about 45 mins later) Diya finished all her food, ‘all-by-herself’ (even though she took a potty break in between). I used the 45 minutes to do a vanishing act myself, which involved finding a bottle of Pinot Noir, reading 30 odd pages of a book and taking the long postponed shower. I was much better composed at the end of it.

I came downstairs to find Diya, Aadi and Suvo collectively in a good mood. Diya was eager to point out that she finished her food and used that fact to blatantly earn her next phase in the evening i.e. frosting the cake. I could not deny her that, especially with the guilt of unloading at her earlier (she does know how to cash you in). So I gave her full access to the jar of frosting and a box of sprinkles. She completed the task diligently and then demanded that I let her light a candle and cut the cake immediately. I let her have her way. I even gave in to singing ‘Happy Birthday’ even though her birthday is 2 months out-of-date (maybe that’s within the margin of error).

Diya helped herself to about a quarter of the cake. I stopped myself from restraining her as I realized how I thought a bottle of Pinot Noir to be an acceptable helping (even a recommended serving) on a weeknight – its all about perspective!

The rest of the evening/night went in a blurr with “All iz Well” from ‘Three Idiots’ playing full blast in the basement. Diya and Aadi mounted on a chair together, trying to play Suvo’s double-decker keyboards as Suvo tried to express himself through saxophone. I think, I even managed to return my brother’s call in the midst of this chaos.

Somehow, Suvo managed to put the kids to bed as I stayed back to narrate the events of the day. Its 11.38 pm and my battery (I mean both mine and my laptop’s) has almost run out after 3 failed attempts of posting this on blogspot. Somehow, dinner fell off the table (not so literally) and I must so get some sleep – have an early meeting tomorrow and I really need to be able to make it to work.


NOTE: This was supposed to be a short account of my day – much in the spirit of keeping a ‘blog’ – I guess I just can’t help my self – or maybe it has something to do with how my life unfolds.

Growing up or growing old? … same difference !

As the plane pulled out of the gate, I felt like a brick fell on my stomach. At first I was confused; we had not started taking off yet so this could not be the usual air-sickness that hits me (grr… I will never get used to flying). It wasn’t until my eyes started welling up (which is not part of my usual responses to air sickness) that I got the first clue. I frantically sorted through my head to triangulate the signals and there it was – staring right back at me from the deep recesses of amygdale (the emotional part of our brain that we grown ups try so hard to keep suppressed so we always come across cool & collected) – an undiluted bout of sheer home-sickness.

I was on a flight to Mumbai, going to Pune for a week on a business trip with some colleagues. I did a quick scan around to make sure that my co-workers had not noticed me demonstrating, what I’m sure they will think as, juvenile behavior. Next, I did an inventory of my brain to make sure nothing else was lurking out there, ready to jump at me. Sure enough right around the corner, walking hand-in-hand, were shock & surprise grinning mischievously at having caught me off-guard. I frowned to make sense of this – home-sickness is such a normal reaction, why am I surprised? Then the realization hit me – I wasn’t surprised at being home-sick, I was shocked that I had never really experienced this emotion before. I travel a lot; I moved away from home to study; married and settled away from all family ties - but always the excitement of moving forward offset the pull to stay back.

So, there I was, 34 yrs old and smug in my assumptions that I have gone through a lot, I can deal with anything and stay ‘cool & collected’- sitting with my fists balled up in my lap so I do not involuntarily call the flight attendant and tell her that I need to get off this plane NOW. Slowly, I closed my eyes trying to understand what brought about this change. Am I still growing up and still in the process of discovering these fundamental building blocks of human psyche or am I just growing old and soft in the head? Does it matter?

The reason for the change was clear – Diya and Aadi’s faces lit up behind my closed eyes and the picture created a pull so strong that all my carefully constructed dams, that I built over many years to protect myself in the event of any ridiculous weepy-eyed emergencies, gave away and I surrendered to the single tear that rolled down my face. I pulled the eye-mask on and concentrated on thinking what all can I buy for the kids on this trip – the thought made the rest of the trip bearable. There is nothing like shopping to cheer you up!

Happily Ever After …..

DISCLAIMER: “All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons is purely coincidental. The names selected for the characters are arbitrary and have no bearing to their personalities.”

Once upon a time there was a Princess. Her name was Princess Dynamite. Everyone called her Princess D with love. She was strong-willed and short tempered but she was also very kind and generous. The Princess loved her family dearly, specially her baby brother Prince Adorable.

Prince Adorable was a happy baby, cute and very squishy, but he was also very naughty. Everyone called him Prince Ado. He loved his family too – but most of all he loved his big sister Princess D. Princess D and Prince Ado lived with their parents, the King and Queen of the ‘Land of Impossible’.

Princess D and Prince Ado played everyday. Prince Ado followed his big sister every where she went. He wanted to do everything like her. He wanted to sleep in her bed, play with her toys and even try out her clothes. Princess D shared everything with her baby brother and made sure he did not get into any trouble or do anything dangerous – like swallow her golden pendant or dunk her mermaid toy in the ‘Royal Potty’.

One afternoon Princess D was quietly lying down and reading her book when Prince Ado came and sat on her face. He was really trying to sit on her lap but misjudged and ended up on her face – messing up her hair and … Oops … tearing her favorite book. Princess D was of course very angry but she controlled her temper and told Prince Ado –“No Thank You brother – please play with something else. This book is not for you” – and she went off to find some sticky tape to fix her book. Prince Ado then started playing with his sister’s little puppy toy which looks like a real dog and barks and wags tail if you press a switch. He found this toy royally entertaining – but he hugged the toy so hard that it broke a leg and gutted out the batteries. Princess D returned from having fixed her book to find her puppy toy in shambles. She was now very very angry and she screamed at her baby brother in her native language: “BHISHON BOKE DEBO!!!” which means ‘I will scold you royally’. Prince Ado, not knowing what went wrong, got very upset to see his big sister in such distress. He snuggled up to her and hugged her. Princess D thought he was upset because she scolded him and felt very bad. She gave him lots of hugs and kisses. They both calmed down but the Princess needed to take a break so she went up to her room to cheer herself up by trying out some new dresses.

The Princess was busy admiring herself in the mirror in a new gown which flowed up to the floor and swished from side to side as she twirled around or walked. Just then the Queen Mother entered into Princess D’s room unannounced and admonished the Princess for putting on the new gown when she was supposed to get ready for a nap instead. The Queen insisted that the Princess change the gown immediately. This was TOO MUCH for the Princess – first her book was torn, then her little puppy toy met an ugly toy death and now Queen Mother was not happy with her and she could not take it any more and burst out –“NOOOOO ….. I DON’T WANT TO SLEEP …. I DON’T WANT TO CHANGE MY CLOTHES … I DON’T WANT TO TALK TO YOU …...”

Queen Mother was very sad to hear this. She told the Princess in a very firm and serious tone –“Honey, please don’t speak to me like that. I just wanted you to change your new dress so it does not get ruined and you can wear it for your birthday party. But you don’t want to listen to me and you misbehaved with me. I will not speak with you if you talk to me like that. You are a big girl now and can take care of yourself, so do whatever you like, stay by yourself and don’t speak to me and I will not speak to you” and so the Queen Mother stomped off.

The Princess was stunned. She was feeling very sorry now. So she threw herself on her bed and deeply contemplated for 3 minutes. Then she walked over to her Mother in the other room, who seemed to be immersed in some deep contemplation of her own. Princess D climbed into the Queen Mother’s lap and made the following statement: “Mother – I never want to get married” … Queen Mother was startled out of her reverie and wondered what string of thoughts brought the Princess to this conclusion? Did she, the Queen, in her angry discourse said something that made the Princess think that she was stubborn and difficult and worried if she would be capable of adjusting with other people in her life (and hence should not get married) … or were these guilty reflections of her own self-doubting thoughts ….?

The Queen decided to tread this course extremely carefully as she did not want to make any scars on the delicate mind of the Princess. The Queen said very gently to the Princess, “Darling, you can do whatever you like, if you do not want to get married, then you do not have to get married” and also added the more desirable option “… but if you want to get married, then you can get married and we will be very happy”. The Princess considered this for a moment, recognized the thinly veiled recommendation and explained her position by saying, “Queen Mother, I do not want to get married ever because I do not want to go away and stay by myself. People who get married have to go away” “… so this (the fear of separation) is what bothered the Princess!!” (she had taken the “stay by yourself and take care of yourself” to heart) … the Queen Mother almost cried out in relief … but suppressed her smile as she did not want the Princess to think that her Mother was making fun of her concerns. Meanwhile a new revelation hit the Princess and she exclaimed – “Mother, how about I get married to my baby brother Prince Ado – then no one ever has to leave?” The Queen was not really surprised at this turn of events, for she knew that her daughter was very creative and unique in her thinking … but she knew she had to find a way to educate the little Princess. And so she explained to the Princess – “My dear little daughter, we do not marry people within our family … because, if we do that, then we will never ever meet new people. We marry outsiders so we can make new families.” She further clarified to the frowning Princess D, who was trying hard to figure out this strange new concept –“See, if people married their own brothers and sisters, then I would never meet your Father, ‘King Impossible’ and you and your brother would never be born.” The Princess mulled this fact over and being born with indefatigable logic came up with the final solution to the family predicament – “Mother O Mother – I know what to do!!! When I grow up I will marry a Prince and we will make a very big castle. And the Prince Ado will grow up and marry someone and he can come live with us and you and Father should come live with us too. And we will all live together for ever and ever …. !!!”

Amen.

P.S. Everything is possible.

How To Laugh Your Stress Away

They say "stress relief with humor" is quite effective. We do think it's true to some extent.

Sara - Our New Cleaning Lady

It was a work-day. I was working from home as Diya was at home that day. She already "graduated" from her pre-school, and was waiting to join Kindergarten the following week.

After working hard for an hour as Sara, our new cleaning lady, she decided to take a long break. :)

The Car Ride

Coming Up ...

Let there be light !

This happened a few weeks ago. We were planning to have a backyard concert – an annual event where we invite all our friends to gather in our backyard for some music and food; improvising our deck as a stage and asking every invitee to perform something.

It is always challenging to schedule this event in advance as Minnesota summers are known for the thunderstorms that materialize out of nowhere and ruin any outdoor evening plans. Yet, all participants needed much advance notice so they could prepare & practice their performances. There is also quite a bit of organization and arrangement that goes along to convert the deck into the stage, getting all the music instruments & PA system out, decorating, planning the food etc. In short, it was not possible to do this party impromptu. So we set a date tentatively and started tracking the weather for many days leading up to it. We did not realize but Diya got a hang of the concept.

The weekend before the party some of our friends had gathered for a practice session and the conversation inevitably turned to the weather and whether the weather would cooperate. The more optimistic people (like me, proclaimed confidently that everything will be fine) and the more pessimistic folks (like Suvo, prophesized doom and gloom as ever). Trying to avoid domestic meltdown some of our friends intervened and suggested we take shelter in science – lets looks at the forecast! So we pulled up the ‘wunderground’ report for the next several days. It did not help us much as the forecast showed rain and shine alternately for the next several days – really meaning that it was going to be a flip of a coin, not really helping the somber mood that was threatening to descend on all of us. But Diya suddenly noticed the screen, and never wasting a chance to participate, said something that left us all laughing (except her ofcourse!). I will type it verbatim, as I can never quite wordsmith as well as she can –

Diya - “Mamma is this showing the weather”
Me – Yes, shona.

Diya – “It is going to be rainy tonight!”
Me – hmmm …

Diya – “Is this next picture for tomorrow?”
Me- yes tomorrow morning, (and anticipating the next 5 questions, I continued to say) and the one after is for tomorrow night, and the one after is for day after tomorrow morning ...

Diya – “Oh … tomorrow is going to be cloudy” … she paused for effect and not getting any response from us she continued …. “and then in the night it is going to be “moony!!”)
Me – I opened my mouth to correct her but could only laugh at her irrefutable logic – if it can be sunny, rainy and cloudy then why can’t it be moony??

The real kicker came the next day when I was driving her back from the daycare. She had inevitably picked up our anxiety around weather and somehow wanted to help. She was uncharacteristically quite and soon said very thoughtfully – “Mamma, I want to be a weather girl when I grow up”. I was suddenly alert – where did this come from, we spent a lot of time drilling in her head that she should be a doctor or an engineer. So I gently asked, why do you want to be a weather girl? She said without hesitation – “So I can make it sunny everyday !!” :)

Diya With Mom's Camera

Diya decided it is high time that she starts taking things (like mummy's camera) into her own hand :-)

What Comes First - Tune or Lyrics?

Rock Star - Aadi!

Scientific Vs Ad Hoc Techniques

We deal with this at work everyday but yesterday I encountered this situation at home. Aadi’s new sport is to sweep the house with a broom – ours looks like a wide brush with a long handle. He has been at it since this weekend and now starting to gain some proficiency. Yesterday, I saw him trying hard to sweep away a small piece of potato chip on the floor. I was amazed to see him apply a very scientific approach to this mundane task. He first squatted down and closely examined the chip and assessed he did not want to eat it (for once!). He then placed it precisely aligned (to what only he knows). I saw him fiddling with it for some time until he was satisfied. He then stood up and very deliberately starting moving his broom back and forth to sweep it away. Needless to say he missed it every time. So he squatted down again moved the chip half an inch to get closer to where he thought his broom with make contact, got up readjusted his stance and started doing sweeping motion again. I could almost see the ‘design of experiments’ unfolding in his little brain. He missed again, tried again after the third attempt managed to sweep is off. He was thrilled! He looked around to see if anyone noticed his triumph and was very pleased to see me watching.

I was so excited, I called Suvo to show him what was going on. I found the piece of chip, which had moved no more that 2 feet away and showed it to Aadi. Aadi was surprised and somewhat upset to see it! He tried to scold it for some time showing his displeasure at the impertinence the piece of chip showed in reappearing again after he had taken such pains to sweep it the first time. Nevertheless, he attempted to sweep it away again but this time got frustrated pretty soon and gave up. That’s when the master (rather mistress) of ‘ad hoc’ cleaning appeared – Maple! She was watching the show from sidelines and as soon as she found this opening, she swept in and licked the cheeky potato chip up. Mission accomplished!

Alligator Apple-Eater

Diya came up with the caption for this picture! 

She painted the picture and then marked the borders with a black Uniball pen, to replicate the effects of Chinese ink!

The date is supposed to be 8th of August, 2010, but she decided to write it as 8/9/10 :).

Color

It was very late yesterday (at least for the kids) ... about 10:00 pm. Diya was begging me to read her new book called "The Human Body". It is a very well designed book --- designed in the sense that the pages were layered, and every time you turn the page, you see a different system of the human body, starting from the dermal system, skeletal system, digestive system ... to the nervous system.

I was quite sleepy, so I decided to take a short-cut. I browsed through the pages quickly, telling Diya just the names of the different systems of the human body. Well, she soon figured out that a lot of things are written in the book, so she asked me to start reading again from page one.

Reluctantly, I started reading the first page. It talked about different kinds of cells --- red blood cells, skin cells, bone cells, white blood cells, etc.

As soon as I uttered the word 'white blood cells', Diya asked "Where are the white blood cells?". I answered, "Well, they are mixed with the red blood cells, that's why you cannot see those".

Diya asked me, "Do the white blood cells mix with the red blood cells, and make the blood PINK in color?!"

Clouds

Yesterday, Ankur got some new books for Diya. One of those is a non-fiction book which introduces the concept of weather to 4-5 year olds, or may be even to older kids. It's from the 'The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library Series', and is actually quite entertaining to read! (You may recall Dr. Seuss' bestsellers like The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham ...)

In the evening, I was reading that book to Diya. She was trying her best to show that she was paying attention, but her real focus was to turn each page as soon as I reach the end of the page.  :)

Anyway ... we reached the page which talks about clouds. As soon as I read the first line which goes as "There are all kinds of clouds," she exclaimed, "I know! I learnt it in our daycare!" She continued, "There are three kinds of clouds. One of them is called Cirrus", and she points to the right picture. "Then there is the Cumulus, which are the big white ones", she again points to the right picture.

Then finishes her monologue with the following: "There is one more, which is black and makes the rain, but I forgot name of it."

It took me a few attempts to read and pronounce the name of the third kind. It's called 'Cumulonimbus'!

Not a bad performance for a 4 & 1/2 year old (who can barely read a 3 or 4 lettered word). What do you say? ;)

Boss

This happened a few weeks back.

It was a tiring work day for me. After picking up Diya from her daycare, as soon as we reached home, I thought of quickly getting done with the home-duties (kid's bath, kid's dinner, etc.) and retire early.  I asked Diya to quickly go and take a bath. 

Diya decided not to listen to me. I asked her again to take her shower.

Diya refused once again remarked, "You are not the boss!"

I lost my patience. I said, "Yes, I am! At home, Mamma and Baba are the bosses, so now you better listen to me!" In my mind I was thinking - where the hell did she get the concept about 'a boss'! I thought I will ask her another time. Anyway, after some parental manipulations, she finally gave in and went for her bath.

After that, things were going pretty smooth, and I even got Diya to finish her dinner without much hassle.  I was looking at the clock and thinking of the next parental manipulation I need to use to get Diya to her bedroom, when she asked "Baba, you know there are three kinds of bosses!"

I was a bit amused, and asked her "Really? Who are they?" 

I thought that she counted my boss at work, and then Ankur and me at home and arrived at the number three. Which is not bad at all! I started feeling proud at my parental skills in teaching her math.

Diya said, "First there is the boss at work. Then there is Mamma and Baba at home."

Exactly as I predicted, I thought. I got up from my chair and was about to take Diya to her bedroom when she remarked, "And the third one is called Boss-Ton!! It's where Golu-Mamu lives!"

Checklist

This happened when I was driving Diya and Aadi to their daycares (they do to different daycares) this morning.

I was just backing out of our garage, when Diya suddenly shouted, "Baba! You forgot you coffee!!" I assured her that I didn't forget today and thanked her for reminding me. Then she decided to go through a checklist to make sure that I took all my stuff before going to work. The sequence went as follows: Wallet? Cell phone? Medicine? Laptop? ... . After a while she was convinced and happy that we didn't miss anything.

After about 15-20 minutes (by that time we have already dropped off Aadi) when she exclaimed, "Baba, I know what you forgot! You forgot your lunch!!" 

She was partially right this time - I didn't pack lunch from home since I decided to eat at the office canteen. The following conversation made my day!

Diya: "Baba, do they give you yummy food at office?"
Suvo: "No, not really."
Diya: "Why?" 
Suvo: "Well, sometimes we get good food, and sometimes we don't. Actually, I don't really like eating at the canteen."
Diya: "Is it because they give you lots and lots of vegetables"?
Suvo (controlling his laughter): "No, you get all kinds of food items. You know, vegetables are good for health."

Then I gave her a short lecture on different food groups and why we need to eat vegetables.

She was silent for 2-3 min. 

I thought we were finally off the topic. We almost reached our destination when she asked her final question for the morning: "Baba, who cooks the food? Do the bosses cook the food for everyone?"

Quesadilla

This happened last Thursday. Ankur was on travel that day, so the onus was upon me to pick up the kids from their respective daycares, bathe and feed them, etc. till she returned.

Now, from our past experience, we have figured out that it's imperative that whoever is picking up Diya needs to carry some snacks for her to eat as soon as she gets in the car. Else, by the time she reaches home, usually hell breaks loose!

Well, as Murphy's law rules our lives, I simply forgot to carry a snack for Diya that day. And, as soon as I picked up Diya from her daycare (after picking up Aadi), she asked, "Baba, what did you get for me to eat?"

I realized that I goofed up, but I quickly recovered saying that, "I have some delicious quesadilla (pronounced as kay-si-di-aa) at home (leftover from my lunch at Chillies). They are yummy, and you can eat them as soon as we reach home. It's a little bet messy to eat, so I didn't bring those in the car!"

Hearing that Diya asked me, "Baba, do I have to guess that?"

I couldn't make sense of what she was saying, and so I asked, "Why do you think you need to guess that? I already told you it's quesadilla."

Diya nonchalantly remarked, "But Baba, didn't you say it is 'Guess-It-Diya' ? So, now I have to guess it before eating!"

I held my breath for 30 sec so that I didn't burst into laughter! :)

Daydreaming

I woke up from my afternoon siesta (couldn't help it after the hectic morning with the kids, followed by a long shower, and eating loads of rice and chicken curry - Indian style) and was daydreaming when I heard the giggling sounds coming from Diya's room. I was feeling energetic after sleeping for an hour or so. So I decided to venture into her room. In fact, it is supposed to be my turn to take care of the kids now.

It was quite a scene when I opened the door. The door of Diya's little book cabinet (we call it the Library) was wide open and almost all (say about 50-60) of the books were lying on the carpet, obviously not in any orderly manner. Aadi was screaming with delight and was going round and round the room with a torn page in his hand. Ankur was trying her best to ignore the commotion and rush through the best part of her novel.

Diya remarked that Aadi had torn her favorite book, but she did not seem to be super agitated about it. In fact, she reported that very calmly, without any hint of complain. Now that's quite unnatural!

Anyway, before I could react to the incident report, Diya mentioned, "Baba, do you know that I am dreaming of real dinosaurs?" And then she repeated the same sentence 3-4 times.  I was a bit put off by the level of commotion in the room, topped with Diya's iterative monologues, and decided to get back in a mock angry tone, "So, you have started to dream with your eyes open?!"

She said, "Yes," without even looking up. In fact, she seemed a bit aloof (which, as you know, is very unlike herself). She continued, "Do you know what it is called?"

I couldn't think of anything witty, so I said, "No!"

She looked up and said, "It's called THINKING!"

2 + 2 = ... ?

It happened this morning when I was driving Diya and Aadi to the Ridgedale Mall Play Area. We left Ankur behind at home (she desperately needed a break). The weather was pleasant outside - just the perfect combination of sunshine and breeze. I was enjoying the drive, despite the constant chattering coming from the backseat.

Diya asked, "Baba, do you know what is one hundred plus one hundred?". Before I could say anything, she reminded me that I am supposed to pretend that I don't know the answers. I decided to play along and said, "No". She promptly said, "Two hundred!" I have to say I was a little bit impressed considering the fact that 2-3 weeks back she was still making mistakes adding two single-digit numbers.

I decided to test her with a few more (two hundred plus two hundred, one hundred plus three hundred, etc.) and she immediately answered all of those, all correctly. Then she remarked, "You know Baba, I have decided to be good in Math. So I am counting the numbers now, and I have stopped guessing".

I was still thinking about when did she learn the trick of adding hundreds, when she asked her final question on the topic, "Baba, do you know what is infinity plus infinity?" When I remained silent, a bit stunned by her question (when did she learn about infinity?), she remarked, "It's two infinity! Just like the hundreds."

I didn't have the heart to correct her 'indisputable deduction', and decided to relish the moment without adding anything further to the conversation (anyway, by then she already moved on to her next topic!).

I did remember later that I told her about infinity a few days back when she asked me what is the largest number. At that time, she laughed and remarked, "Is that even a number? I have never heard of it!"

A Night Story (Part 1) ...

Miles to go before I sleep ....

Suvo and I came up with a brilliant idea. We will take the kids for a walk after dinner until they are sleepy - to ease the everyday bed time struggle to some degree. Ofcourse, the side benefits were that we could revive our failed exercise program and also get some chance to talk to each other while enjoying some outdoor time this gorgeous summer. It will make for many memorable evenings. All in all a fantastic idea, too good to be true.

Well, on more than one occasion, I have learnt that when something feels too good to be true, it usually is. And this incident was no exception.

The first time it happened spontaneously enough. I had taken Aadi for a walk some evenings. One evening Diya insisted to join and then after only after walking for half a block declared that her legs were too tired. So we came back home to fetch our big bicycle stroller which can seat both the kids. While we were at it, we fetched Suvo as well! It was getting some what late in the evening, but we kept going and by the time we returned both kids were fast asleep in the stroller and mildly snoring. Hurray !! That's when it hit us that we should be doing this everyday.

The next evening, we decided to head out early as the mosquitoes had declared a war on us as we were out after dusk the previous evening. We gave the kids a bath and fed Diya dinner (with the bribe of a walk and dubious hints about going the Swan Lake park if she finished dinner without any theatrics). Aadi had already had a big meal at his daycare so we figured we will give him some snack on the way and his nightime bottle once we are back. So with many hopes we started from home. Diya as usual insisted that she is a big girl and she will walk all the way; and as usual after 10 steps wanted to get in the stroller. We had planned for this and were prepared this time and had brought the bigger stroller along. So on we went. We had barely reached the end of the lane when Diya commanded us to turn around and head back "right now" - she needed to go potty. So we rushed back. Aadi was starting to fuss by now so I urged Suvo to go around the block once while I helped Diya with her business. Suvo did the round and came back to find us in an uproar. I had forgotten to close the garage door in the hurry to get Diya to the restroom quickly and Maple had used this golden opportunity to escape. She did not go far but made it clear that she was not going back in the house. She wanted to come for a walk with us. We gave up on catching her after chasing her around the yard for sometime and figured we might as well bring her along. She can use the family bonding time as well. And so we started yet again on our odyssey. This time with the whole family, including the member with floppy ears and fuzzy tail.

We did not get very far though as Aadi started wailing. He was hungry. So I made another quick trip to the house to get a bottle for him. Diya was feeling cold, so I got her a blanket too. This time nothing could stop us. Diya offered to feed Aadi on the walk. We had barely made our way past our next door neighbor Cathy's house though that we had to make another pit stop. Maple pooped. I ofcourse collected the goods but did not want to carry it all the way for our long walk. So I ran home to make a deposit in the trash before finally heading out. I re-joined our little caravan, which was still parked in front of Cathy's house, and saw the most amazing sight, Diya was feeding Aadi his bottle and Aadi was cozy in her arms. They were so cute together !!! I had to capture this moment in the camera so (for the last time) I sprinted home to get the camera. It could not have taken me more than 90 seconds, but when I got back it was as if the director had called 'cut' and a different scene was being shot. Aadi was bawling, Diya was looking very grim; Suvo looked stunned and Maple, blissfully oblivious, was now rolling in Cathy's freshly mowed lawn. It took me a few seconds to take it all in. I asked Suvo what had happened and he had no answer; I asked Diya what happened and she refused to answer. Meanwhile, Aadi doubled his screams as he saw me. I started to unstrap him from the stroller to pick him up, this made Diya feel neglected and she started crying 'Mamma uppi....'.

Well that was that .... the end of our ambition to take the kids for a walk until they fall asleep. It took us the rest of the evening and whatever was left of our energy to calm the kids down and put them to bed. Suvo and I collapsed after that without dinner. It indeed was a memorable evening.

Detailed Drawing

It was one of those magical evenings. Aadi had his dinner and was fast asleep. Diya also had her dinner all by herself (watching some new DVD). Ankur and I were done with cooking and cleaning. And it was just 8:30pm!

The night was still young ... so, I decided to spent some time with Diya. I told her that I'd teach her to draw something new. We got some paper and pencil, I started drawing a human figure (a man with shirt and a pair of pants). Diya kept watching me apprehensively. I knew it was a bit complicated for Diya - so I reassured her, "This is a lot more details than you may want, so you can pick and choose whatever you want to do".

She looked happier and commented, "Yes, I can try and do whatever I want to!". Then she indeed drew a human figure - a woman - mostly a stick figure. With Diya's fluent efforts, suddenly the legs became extremely long. She realized her mistake and didn't like it at all. She made sure I had no smile on my face. Then, with an afterthought she decided to give a realistic touch to her stick figure. With one horizontal like she deftly made the two extra long legs a skirt, and added some big flowers on that. That definitely changed the aspect ratio of the figure. Anyway, the show went on, and I amused myself watching her efforts for the next few minutes.

After all that Diya said, "Now, it's my turn to teach you a new thing - how to draw a real house!". She confidently turned the page over, found a scale and drew a margin all around. I was indeed impressed since it was a while back that I demonstrated that to her (and also remembered commenting about that's the way real drawings should be).

Soon a house started emerging on the page, with a running commentary on what all things to remember in each step. She started with the main house, then the roof, and added some windows with "real curtains". With only the door remaining she asked me, "Now, can you tell me what I am going to draw next?". I decided to be a little mean and smartly replied, "The door!".

She wasn't expecting the real answer, and was taken aback momentarily.

But then she gracefully recovered and remarked, "No, it's not the door ... I will just add some details."

I made a Herculean effort to suppress my laughter for the next few moments. But then she made it easy for me. She looked at me smilingly, and we both broke out into spontaneous laughter! :)

An Evening Story (Part 4) ...

An Evening Story (Part 3) ...

An Evening Story (Part 2) ...

An Evening Story (Part 1) ...

Smash Cake on Aadi's 1st B'Day

The Smash

I didn't know what a smash cake was until Ankur got one from the Kwalski's Market (it was free) for Aadi's 1st B'day. We decided to have a small family celebration on June 4th, Fri (which was Aadi's real b'day) - a day before his b'day party.

Ankur and I debated for a few minutes on whether we should have Aadi all dressed up or be just in diapers. Finally we decided, what the heck, his 1st B'day is not going to come back. So, after a few minutes, Aadi was in a brand new Indian Kurta (Panjabi), sitting on a washable mat, and with the smash cake laying in front of him. 

For the first few seconds, Aadi was not sure what to do. He looked at the cake for a while (he had never seen a cake before). Then finally he decided to do a little experiment. He gently placed one finger on the white icing - he just wanted to feel the texture. 

Well, it definitely felt nice and smooth and yummy, because what happened in the next 30 sec can only be described with pictures!

The Real Disaster

We anticipated it'd be messy, but not thaaat messsyy!! 

After diligently smashing the cake, Aadi was super-thrilled and started walking towards the sofa. Ankur and I were a bit inattentive (fiddling with the camera and making sure the pictures came out ok), and were a few seconds late. The real disaster took place. Before Ankur and I could spring upon Aadi, he neatly cleaned up all the white creamy mess from his hands onto our brick red sofa! 

How could he do it that fast - he just turned ONE?!!

Afterword

a) Diya kept jumping on the sofa and shrieking in delight at the top of her voice while we stood there discombobulated!

b) Maple had a jolly good time licking up all the cream and cake from the mat while we were still digesting the nature of the calamity.

c) After 30 min we gave up on removing the stain from the sofa, and started planning on how to hide it before the real party on Sat!

In case you are wondering what happened to the cake ... well ... here's a picture:

Nomenclature 101

Our Memorial Day Weekend started with a beautiful Saturday morning. It's a rare treat to have such a nice weather in Minnesota. Ankur decided to take Aadi for a long walk. Diya and I decided to take a shorter "walk" ... we drove to our favorite Caribou coffee shop.


As I was enjoying the weather sitting outside and sipping my coffee, Diya asked "Baba, what is Audi's last name?". I, the omniscient dad, knowledgeably replied, "You know, cars don't have first and last names - only people do".


Diya countered me saying, "Yes they do! Our other car has both first and last names, 'Toyota' and 'Rav4'!"


I didn't know what to say, so I decided to take the next sip of my coffee.

I wish I was 1 again!

I can't resist myself from looking at this picture over and over again ... just to see the pure delight in Aadi's eyes! I wish I could be so happy just to hold an insignificant object in my hand for a few seconds - a camera lens cover!

This picture has made my day - especially considering that I am pretty bad with cameras!

He did it !!! (Aadi's B'day Party - Part 4)

He is walking AND he has popped another tooth .... and there is still a whole week to go before his B'day party !! We are no where close to finishing our side of the preparations. He is rejoicing in his clear victory and teasing us mercilessly.

I am on my way to Party City. We have to salvage whatever is left of our reputation.

Raising the bet .... (Aadi's B'day Party - Part 3)

The fountain is in place. We are still trying to figure out our true feelings for it. While at times it looks gorgeous & breathtaking, perfect fit for the space ... at other times we have second thoughts because it is totally not our style. I guess I can say that the fountain is at home but we are so not !! Some gratification came when Diya exclaimed "wow wow wow WOW !!!" when she first saw it. She also named the lady (yes its a statue!) 'Ariel Rosetta Maya'. Which are the best names in her repertoire.

Meanwhile, Aadi has decided to raise the bet by starting to practice climbing (up AND down) the stairs now that he is getting more and more proficient at walking.

I need to think of a way to surpass that .... maybe we should get a clown for the party !!

Few Steps Ahead .... (Aadi's B'day Party - Part 2)

Aadi walked all the way across the family room today. And once he did that he kept going back & forth many times with minimal casualties.

On another front - after a very long day at work, I came back home to find that the landscaping work has already started. The ugly bushes have been ripped & the base for the fountain is ready. I am very optimistic now that this project will get completed before Aadi's party. Even though we did not have much to do with this progress - except hiring the right guys for the job - I felt quite proud! I have also managed to squeeze in some vacation time in my schedule so I have some time to prepare before Jun 4th.

Despite all this planning and progress on our end - it is quite clear that Aadi is "few steps ahead of us" on his side of the bargain ... no pun intended :)

Putting things in perspective .... (Aadi's B'day Party - Part 1)

Aadi will turn 1 yr old on Jun 4th. Our plans for celebrating this auspicious day have gone from "keeping it short and sweet and private" to totally uncontrollable guest list and complete lack of planning on what the menu is going to be, should we plan any activities, etc .... we are even second guessing whether we should do it at home or at a restaurant. We are succumbing to mayhem and panic as the day draws closer. To increase the chaos we have also commissioned a landscaping project both in the front & back yard which may or may not get completed before this much anitcipated and now much hyped B'day party. To add to the confusion, Golu Mamu is flying in from Boston just for the event and has some ambitious plans to make this day memorable.

I was just wondering this evening how we got ourselves into this - Suvo & I typically being quite organized (which is a gentle way of saying - otherwise control freaks). While I was reeling in the stress - it suddenly hit me that Aadi has his own preparations going on for this important milestone in his life. We have set clear expectations for Aadi that he should pop another tooth & learn to walk by 5pm on Jun 4th. And while his goals for this day are set quite arbitrarily and he has little control over the turn of events, he is not letting himself get stressed out and working towards his target with persistence and perseverance. His dedication has given me a new perspective in life :) As Krishna said in Geeta - "Karmanye wadhika raste; ma falesuhu kadachana" (for those weak in sanskrit and/or mythology- it means - "Do what you have to do and stop obsessing about successes"). I have found a new guru in him!

I will keep you posted on how our respective preparations go .....

Boy finds his passion(s)

Aadi has discovered his 3 greatest passions. Cars, horses & necklaces.

Having an older daughter, our house is full of girly toys. We never really thought that Aadi would mind playing with them or need a different set. He proved us wrong when we visited one of our friends who have a 2 yr old boy. Aadi immediately took to playing with his cars and really enjoyed himself. The second surprise was when he picked out a toy horse out of Diya's Christmas gifts and played with it for days. Goes to show that you can plant an oak tree in an orange grove - what comes out is still an oak tree. Or is it really ....??

My mother's day gift was a pearl necklace with matching earrings. I was trying it out while Diya was patiently waiting for her turn to put it on. Along comes Aadi and pounces straight for the necklace. He fussed and pulled until I put it on his neck. He beamed with delight ! I cannot put that necklace or any other necklace on for that matter. He immediately grabs it. Now that Diya & I have given up wearing jewelry altogether ... he looks for alternative avenues for his passion. He has taken to putting on Maple's leash as an emergency course ! :)

We love this Earth and everything that creeps and crawls in it ....

I found this picture of Diya holding an earthworm while digging through some old folders. It brought back one of my very fond memories.

This was when Diya was about two and a half yrs old. She had suddenly grown a passion for gardening ... taking it, no doubt, from our neighbour (& Diya's best friend) Cathy.

One evening Diya donned her gardening gloves and hat, took her rake and shovel and set out to "work". (By this time I had trained my self to keep "an ear" on her as opposed to 'keeping an eye on her'. This always works as she chatters non-stop - even when she is playing alone. She talks to herself, some times she play acts where she changes voices as she plays out different characters.) Anyways, I realized that I had not heard her voice for few minutes and panicked. I ran outside to find her intently bent on a patch of dirt that she had dug. Relieved that she was fine, I just waited to see what had captured her attention so completely & drove her to silence. Soon enough she pulled out something long & slender from the dirt. Before I even realized what it was - it started wiggling @#$#%#% !!!! She gently put the earthworm on her palm and started talking to it ..... I totally freaked out and started screaming at her to drop the thing. She informed that it was not dangerous and that she LOVES worms. I told her it was very very dirty and she should not pick it up and that her play time was over and she should go take a bath. I went in to get her bath ready and returned 5mins later to find a very curious display on our deck. There were kitchen tupperware of assorted sizes lined up with different levels & different degrees of muddy water in them. I marched out and demanded what was going on - Diya was startled, she looked up at me with her innocent eyes and said ".... but you told me the worms were dirty, I am giving them a bath" !!!

When they don't need us anymore ....

Two episodes in the last few days left me misty eyed as I watched the brother-sister bond growing right in front of me.

Episode 1: Diya came back from daycare cranky as usual and after a lot of fuss I was able to send her to take a shower. Meanwhile Suvo made himself busy in the backyard and I was playing with Aadi. Diya suddenly decided she had enough shower for one day and started yelling for me to come get her out of the shower and get her ready. Now that Aadi is VERY mobile, I did not dare leave him alone and so I carried him to the bathroom. Diya immediately got upset and wanted me to "help her with both hands" which meant putting Aadi down on the bathroom floor where he could feast on all the yuck on the floor. I of course "politely declined" and asked her to get ready herself and walked back to the living room - Aadi still straddled on my hip. Diya followed us wrapped in a towel and bawling. This is when the surprise came .... Aadi started fussing and wanted to get down from my lap. I let him go .... he crawled over to his sister, who by now was sprawled on the floor, he went and gave her a bear hug and planted a kiss on her face (which looks more like licking her face). I was stunned to see how sensitive he is. But this did not stop here. Diya was inconsolable and continued crying. He then left her and crawled back to me and started pulling my clothes and dragging me to her. He wanted me to console her and take care of her !

Episode 2: Suvo and I have been thinking about some DIY landscaping in our front yard for the last ... lets see ... about 5 yrs. Somehow we just don't seem to find the time or energy. Finally we gave up on doing it ourselves and decided to outsource. The contractor came in this morning for scoping the project and giving us some quotes etc. Of course Aadi immediately capitalized on this golden opportunity to be outdoors with nobody watching him like a hawk, and started scavenging for rabit p**p. (Note: Diya was missing from this picture until now as she was "building a zoo" in her room - which involved arranging panels from a dismantled wire rack like a cage and putting her soft toys inside. She even had a little baby toy who was the visiting the zoo.)

Meanwhile it started raining outside and we had to move indoors. Aadi got very upset to have his treasure hunt terminated so abruptly. Once indoors we has to console him by starting a baby einstien video that he loves. Well mostly loves ... there is a scene in it where a cow (real not cartoon) walk up to the camera and moos loudly. Not sure which part of baby's brain is this scene supposed to develop - but it scared the heck out of Aadi and left him wailing. Before we could respond - Diya materialized from no where and rushed to her baby brother and hugged him and patted his back until he calmed down. Aadi watched the rest of the video sitting in Diya's lap !

Some times I can believe that there will be a day when they will not need us so much and will take care of themselves and each other. Maybe we will find time to sit on that yet to be constructed patio after all ... :)

Days of the Week

This happened yesterday.

Diya woke up in the morning around 7am. She came to our room in the middle of the night, and was sleeping in our bed. With sleepy eyes she asked "What day is it today?".

I was thinking of how to plan the entire day's work, the meetings I need to attend (or if I can skip) - and inattentively replied "Wednesday".

Within a few microseconds, her eyes sparkled up! She said, "Baba, you don't even know the days of the week. Yesterday, when I asked you, you said it was Wednesday. Today, again it is Wednesday?".

It took me a few moments to realize that it was indeed Thursday!

- Suvo

Letting go ...

All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on - Havelock Ellis

Diya's creativity leaves us googly-eyed !

A picture is indeed worth a thousand words!

Diya keeps coming up with new ways to amuse her baby brother. This is one of her new tricks where she sticks googly eyes one her eyelids and leaves Aadi squealing with delight.

(Edited by Aadi 12 years later on 9/24/22)

Diya With Her Butterflies

Finally it's nice weather! A perfect day to let the butterflies out. Diya decided to let at least one of them out today. Well ... two of them. (She was asking for one more, but we had to stop negotiating :) )

The butterfly sat on Diya's hand for a while, and then gently fluttered away.

I wish I could capture the smile on Diya's face :)

Oh well, some things are just to remember ...

Diary of a Spider

Diya loves to read books. So, I bought a new one for her - The Diary of a Spider. As soon as I told her about the new book, she wanted me to sit down by her and start reading.

But as soon as I read her the name of the book she looked utterly shocked. She said I said a "bad word"! And she won't hear the story at all, especially if it is related to "potty".

I was stunned! What did I do?

I understood what happened a few seconds later. It seems she had recently learnt the word "Diarrhea", but was still struggling with the pronunciation. :)

Now when and where did she learn that word from?