Ramleela!

Aadi was restless this evening and very cranky. So I decided to do something to keep him occupied. I told him-"Aadi come on, let's do something funny. It will be our secret." Funny and Secret are his keywords these days.

We went upstairs to our bedroom without much plan and I got the idea to dress him up - drawing inspiration from recently watched movie "Ramleela". It took 5 minutes to get him ready, 10 minutes to find my camera and take a few pictures and then, 15 minutes to convince him to come downstairs and show his costume to Baba and Diya. He refused to do so saying this was supposed to be a Secret and that he was Freaky (new keyword). So I had no option but to blog it!

Diya's Crayon-work

End of July 4th Weekend

Sun, 10 pm, July 6, 2014

Night 

Absolute Bliss. Serenity.

In the living room now listening to soft piano on Pandora. Aadi on the lap. Diya reading her book (Ramona's World) on the yellow sofa. Mishti lying down on her bed with her be we-collar. Ankur finishing a quick phone call.

Morning

- Woke at 9 am after a 11 hr sleep. Enjoyed coffee and smoothie. 

- Cleaned up the windows with Aadi (inside and outside).

- Dusted the blinds. Took the paneling off of a window, filed the rot with Diya, re polished, and put it back upside down to show the unwhethered wood.

- Ankur took an early shower and went out to Costco in her new reddish-pink dashing dress. Worth a shopping trip after a long day working in the yard doing major deweedeing! Although, strictly speaking, Costco is by no means a substitute for a real shopping experience.

Afternoon

- Took a quick shower while Ankur was feeding the kids (butter chicken for Aadi and Anaheim chilli stuffed). Lunch was ready when I came back at 1 pm. Cholar daal, red cabbage, cauliflower. The kids were playing by themselves elsewhere, so it was peaceful. Mishti was quite subdues due to her new collar.

- Ankur went to take a nap. I played carrom for some time all by myself. Although my aim is not so good these days (when was it really good?), I relished playing and practicing ... until drowsiness took over. Went upstairs. The room was dark. Lied down. Was debating whether to start the new Harry Hole book after just finishing Devil's Star. But gave up soon and almost immediately felt asleep.

- Woke up at 4 pm ... listening to the soft complaining from Mishti as Ben and Katie was at the door and she was locked up. She didn't bark ... probably hurts her tummy ... so it was different intonation a of moaning. Ankur made a great traditional Indian tea. We sat at the front patio, and sipped our tea, taking about how are life is at this point. It was the perfect moment, and the way to live life ... some work at home, playing with the kids, good meal, rest (most important) - all leading to a blissful state.

- When I said aloud that this is the perfect moment, and before I could say that these are the moments we should cherish and remember, what we should strive for, Ankur said what we should strive for is focus on doing activities that create such moments. And added that the fact that we are not having any vagueness going on at our workplaces is a big contributing factor.

- I was setting up the plastic water sprout for the kids (Aadi's BDay present), Ankur came and told that Diya won't be participating as she got grounded (opening up all the snack packets, which she bought for the kid lunch, for Katie and Ben even after their Dad said not to snack as dinner is ready). And I remembered some many similar incidents when Jhumur and I were at their age. I kept smiling.

Night

- End of the day. Ankur reading Tagore. Aadi and Mishri asleep. Diya on the ground in our room reading a book with the excuse of a mosquito in her room.

I cannot think of asking for anything more. I will sleep well tonight.

Also, tomorrow is Sunday, but no blues.

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Sunday Comics

Student and Teacher

Art class - Diya teacher, Aadi student.

A rare scenario in this house - almost always I end up as the student with two aggressively competing teachers - not a fun situation to be in!

And that happens even before I get a chance to explain to them what I am about to teach them. :)

Perhaps I should concentrate more on having them explore and discover rather than being told how things are or are supposed to be ...

Sent from my iPhone

Aadi's Artwork

Pink Rock

We had the following conversation on the way to Diya and Aadi's
swimming lesson today -

Suvo: Diya, did you pack Aadi's flip-flops?

Diya: No ... :(

Suvo: Do you remember that I asked you 3 times to pack his when you
were getting yours.

Diya: I didn't hear it :(

Suvo: ... or did you hear but forgot? It's ok if you tell the truth.

Diya: (after a pause) I forgot.

As I promised I didn't tell her anything .

Diya felt a bit generous (mainly because she was not yelled at ... so
better play nice) and told Aadi ...

Diya: Aadi, if you want you can take my slippers. They are pink, and
large. So, it's ok if you don't like it. ...

Since Aadi didn't respond, she was pretty sure Aadi was not interested
in the deal, and continued ...

Diya: Baba, you know ... it doesn't make sense to have some colors
only for girls. Boys can wear pink too. And girls blue!

Aadi chimed in …

Aadi: And boys can wear earrings. Like the ones with the round hole ...

Suvo: What!?

Diya immediately explained which versions Aadi was thinking about.

Diya: ... so, Aadi those earrings are cool, right?

Aadi: Yes! Cool boys wear cool ear-rings! Like the a Rock-n-Roll people. :)

Suvo: How do you know about Roll-n-Roll people?

Aadi: They play cool guitar.

Diya: So Baba, cool guitar means electrical guitar! Aadi - what else
do they play?

Aadi: They play drums. And they sing very loudly!! :)

I was dumbfounded. Aadi is just 4 years old! Where the heck did he
pick this up!?

I took the picture after their swimming class. They bought two gums … and as luck would have it, Aadi got a pink one, and Diya a blue! (Of course, Diya immediately exchanged the gums after taking the picture :) )