The Entire Book

Day before yesterday was a day to go down in history as the day little Miss Haana read her very first book completely by herself. All by herself. A 16 paged book titled Al!

I'm extremely proud!! 

The book is about Al- a crocodile who likes making friends and eating icecreams. Two completely relatable things! 

A huge credit of course goes to the new teacher at school for their class who is focused on teaching these little things how to read and write- Miss Scott! Her drive and dedication is evident in work done at school and home work to take home. Her commitment to ensure she teaches her students the essential life skills of reading and writing is appreciated very much! As a 4 year old parent, I have developed this enormous sense of gratefulness and appreciation for good, devoted teachers. Kudos to them!

Border-less

Even though my little girl is perfect, I am most certainly not. Many a times I have had self doubts if in some ways, knowingly or unknowingly, my upbringing is somehow messing her up. I've had inner fears; fears that I usually don't voice. Wondering if something I am doing, or not doing, is spoiling this perfect little thing I am blessed to have.

I grew up in India. There's a slang term in India- ABCD- American Born Confused Desis. It's a term used for Indians who're born in the US. They're labeled as confused because they seem Indian but they're not- they're niether Indian nor American. When my little girl was born, I knew then, she will not be confused. She's born in the US, and due to that, she is an American. 

But, this has a lot to do with personal choices of parents as well. I do not see people as Indians and Americans any more. I see people (and strive to see people) as people and not boxed-in replicas of their communities. For good or for worse my own ties with India have weakened as I rarely eat, dress or talk Indian. 

Some may argue this to be the case of lost identity, but I feel the significance of personal choices means more to me than membership in communities of shared glorified pasts. To me, being me does not mean I have to cook Indian food, eat Indian food, listen to Indian music, watch Indian movies, talk in Indian language or revel in perceived Indian family values. I was not doing several of those things even when I was in India. 

But even so, I wonder if not indoctrinating the little girl in Indian culture is somehow depleting her of her rightful 'roots'. 

I wondered this week when the little girl wanted to go to Indian restaurant to have her favorite meal. She loves Indian food( the one that does not involve vegetables). Since she was born I rarely cook Indian food. Am I depriving her then, I wondered. But on the other hand, I mused, she does like some of my music- which is not Indian. She loves several rock songs that I like. We've heard her sing Clapton's "I shot the sheriff" by herself several times. But what I think is really funny is another favorite of hers'. 

One of her favorites songs, which is also one of my favorites- is La Grange by ZZ Top. The song is about a house of 'ill repute' near a town called La Grange in Texas. I think it's funny in a good humored sort of way that she should like such a song- for the same reason that I like the song- great music, of course. And I just hope if she remembers this song when she's 25 and she finds out what the song is really about; she chuckles thinking about her mom's choice in songs as well! 

There are some things that are without borders- good music, good food and good people. Let's keep it that way.

Commanded

While I did not command little Miss Haana to do so, today was the day when she read the word "commanded" (9 letter word) all by herself! Along with Saturday, zoo, pink, zebras and sunny!

Very proud!

Afternoon Well Spent

It was MLK day today. Martin Luther King day. It's a momentous day in the history of the United States. These days, it's a day where all schools, government offices and banks remain closed but my work is not! Miss Haana's school was off so I had scheduled to take the afternoon off from work.

The plan was for Dad to hang out at home till noon. Little Miss Haana and I had discussed the plan the previous day- I will come home from work and we'll go for lunch. After lunch, we were to go on a  very important mission- we had to get chocolate ice cream with sprinkles! We had giggled when we conspired about it the previous day and vowed not to tell Papa (he had already heard!).

So here I was; back at home a little after noon. We headed out for lunch shortly after. The little girl whispered urgently what she wanted to eat -porotta ( a wheat bread made into layers; available exclusively at South Indian restaurants). She also reminded me of which restaurant to go to, since the one I thought of was closed on Mondays. Both of us reached our choicest restaurant, eagerly ordered our entrees (some of us needed no Menus). After finishing but before leaving the restaurant, I took a fist full of their candy- the colorful sugar coated fennel! We split it between us and ate it in mouthfuls of "so tasty" comments! 

My next stop was the library. I had been threatened into returning all the books we had issued last time (the library sends multiple reminder emails if the books are due) and I wanted to get us a new stock. We quickly moved through our kids' area and selected choicest 20-25 books. Both of us held a big pile of books and headed back for the car. 

Our next stop was this place we had just discovered last week. Last weekend on Ayaana's birthday party, we had discovered this new trampoline place closeby. With several trampolines, dogdgeball areas, a rock climbing wall, a foam pit! There was tons of stuff. Both of us jumped and tumbled. I tried the rock climbing wall. We tumbled in the foam pit! The little girl tried several of her gymnastics moves. We were having a blast till I realized we had been there for over an hour and both of us were thirsty. We got some water and headed out. I may have used the word "ice" and "cream" in the same sentence in order to lure the little girl out of the trampoline place!

But I got what I deserved, because the entire way back, all I heard from the back seat was varying specifics of the kind, type, color and temperature of the ice cream  Also, that it needs to be in a cone.

While driving back towards home, we came up to a Sonic. I offered to stop there. The little girl refused. While Sonic ice cream were good, today was not their day. (She said we'll come back there on Sunday and have a Sonic ice cream.  I said we'll see about that!). No, today was not a day for McDonalds' ice cream either. We had to get ours' today from the store with the pink ice cream cone! Unfortunately, I knew exactly what that meant! Marble Slab Cremery.

I dutifully drove to our already chosen destination. We both got our selections and ate with mouthfuls of delight. And as the evening set it, we headed back home with the glow of warm contentment only chocolate ice cream with sprinkles can afford!!

A Real Princess Castle