My Model Parent

My ideal of parenting has always been Calvin's dad. The one who takes parenting with a healthy dose of salt and parent humor! I've been telling little miss Haana this story of where she came from, for years now. We got her from Walmart, on sale, from this box label "Good Kid", but they tricked us! She was the naughty one, but by the time we figured out, she wouldn't fit back in the box anymore, and there were no more returns! 

Her reaction is not quite as dramatic as Calvin's. I might have lost some credibility along the years! I just need to work on keeping a straight face. ;)

Holding Hands

Second grade just started. Big girl class. But with it, some little girl routines I used to love are gone.

I used to love holding hands with little miss Haana and walking together to the school in the morning. Now, I am no longer permitted to hold hands (or even the pony tail, which used to be my second option!). I used to love it so.

In related news, little miss Haana was telling me, her best friend Cora and she hold hands when they form a line to go to lunch, so that they don't get separated in the wilderness on their way to lunch. I told her when I was at a school, my friend Arunima and I used to hold hands all the time. The practice continued till middle or high school I think. I remember our teachers used to take jabs at us sometimes!

Leisure

'If it were up to Mom, leisure would be as bad as work', would be exactly little miss Haana's sentiment. We have actually had much of this exact conversation, and the same end result (though not without a fight) on multiple occasions!

To Do List

Key Takeaways -

1. Hot glue shall save the planet. 

2. We need to watch Mary Popcorn (who is erroneously also known as Mary Poppins, but we know better!)

3. Since only 1 hot glue item has "me" next to it, the rest of them obviously must be for Mumma! 

Bonding Experience

This morning little miss hanna and i woke up at exactly the same time. 7am. This is the last weekend of such luxury. School opens on Monday and we will have to be all ready for school by 0715 every day.

Little Miss Hanna crawled on top of me in the bed and were giggled sleepily. She said, "Mumma. Why didn't you wake me up earlier? You said you were going to wake me up early today". "Ya, gugu,  I just woke up right now too. I couldn't sleep well last night".

Then the little girl said,  "Mumma can I get the hell pens and we can color together?". I nodded yes and she was off. Yesterday the little girl and Dad were at home. They went to a book store together and got an origami book and a set of gel pens and coloring book! In short, they shopped a ton!

Soon little miss Haana was back with her coloring book and gel pen set, propped up next to me in bed and patted me to wake up. I nodded, and told her I'll take 5 more minutes. To which she said, "See, isn't this a great idea? I thought we can bond together by coloring together". Awww!

Just Add Magic

Last week I was taking a day off to spend time with little miss Haana. But unlike other times, i hadn't made any plans of what to do. I bounced off several ideas against miss Haana and all of them met with approval - water park? Yeah! Splash park? Yess! Zoo? Sure! Movies? Yes! Pottery? I always wanted that! I wasn't getting anywhere!

So i thought let's start the day with a breakfast of chocolate cake! When we got to the cafe, i got us chocolate cake, and scrambled eggs and toast for the little girl. Two bites into the breakfast and she realized she wanted to have yogurt. I welcome such challenges! "Only when you finish your eggs". My bullying paid off, and soon she had finished her breakfast and we headed next door to yogurt zone.

I decided i didn't really want yogurt except for a few spoonfuls, so it was agreed I will share with little miss Haana.  We were long due for a fight, so we got that taken care of when i put some roasted coconut flakes on the yogurt indicating that she should at least try it, and she insisted she didn't like them! We made up with yogurt!

On this day, we had had Dad leave us his fancy Tesla "Ocean" for us to zip around town. After yogurt we headed back to the car. I could feel sweet naptime coming over me, and little miss Haana has several games she likes to play on Ocean. And so we just hung out in the car.

After several minutes of peace, I casually asked little miss Haana if she wanted to get manicure and pedicure done. The suggestion was met with resounding excitement and I found potential for climbing the hall of fame charts of motherhood! Soon we were in the Hawaiian Nail Bar. Sitting side by side with our feet in warm water, our arms being massaged, the little girl drinking a slurpie. We felt great! The little girl got fancy nail paints on both toes and fingers. With flowers and colorful zebra stripes. I got foot massage and warm towels on my feet. Both the little girl and I were in heaven!

We came back him home past lunch time and heated up last night's left overs. Miss Haana wanted to watch Just Add Magic series on tv. I would have protested, except a few mintues of watching it, i really liked it too. We kept watching one episode after the other, till, of course it got too much for me to keep my eyes open and i took a nap.

The day was indeed magic!

Purple Haze

Play dough nails!

The Constitution

Yesterday little Miss Haana came back from summer camp with a different hair style than the one she had when she went in the morning. This has been becoming a regular occurrence, even though I've tried to discourage it!

This time, though, the head was also looking sparkly. I asked, "Did you put sparkles in your hair?!". "No, it's hair sparkles", she educated me. I tried unsuccessfully to grab a hold of her (she escaped). I asked, "Who gave you the permission to put sparkles in your hair?". "Its not sparkles, it's hair sparkle", she insisted. "Fine, who gave you the permission to put hair sparkle in your hair?". She paused and then, "Umm, the constitution?!".
We laughed out loud!

Perfect Profile

The other day, I was watching miss Haana as she was busy doing something. I was watching her from the side, looking at the profile of her face, her nose, mouth and chin. And I thought to my self, just how perfect she is, so wonderful, so beautiful, so amazing. Whenever I feel this way, which is quite often, I feel like wrapping her in a bubble wrap so I can keep her out of everyone's reach; and strapped on to me.

I also remembered the day when i first saw her face in a profile. I was far along in the pregnancy and was having a scheduled ultrasound. She was laying on her side, and i saw her face on the grainy monitor: we could clearly make out her forehead,  nose, mouth, chin. It was surreal. But, that night i had a dream. I dreamt the little girl was born, but i couldn't find in my heart any love for her. She grew up loveless, uncared for, taking care of herself. And one day I was surprised (in the dream) to notice that she was now 5 years old and had glasses; and I hadn't even noticed or cared for her in all these years. I didn't love her, I didn't find her beautiful, I hardly even remembered her. I woke up with a start from the dream. And I cried. She shouldn't feel unloved, uncared for; I know how that feels. I hope I don't hurt her like that by being absent from her life. I hope both of us can see and feel in our hearts how amazing she is, how amazing she has always been. I cried for sometime and later blamed it on my wonky pregnancy hormones. But i still remember it clearly like yesterday.

Today, looking at her, i can't help feeling, my little baby (told her she will always be my little baby!), is absolutely, heart meltingly, gut wrenchingly, so completely - perfect!

Safe For Now

Miss Haana and I love dum-dums (aka lollipops)! We love cotton candy and ice cream too! But dum-dums are special.

Recently I visited a doctor's office and they had a jar full of dum-dums at the check out counter. I have been doing a low-carb diet, so dum-dums are definitely out for me. But I immediately thought of little miss Haana and wanted to take some for her. I opened the jar, and grabbed a green pineapple; I like that flavor. Then I got the yellow lemon too; I like that flavor too. Then i figured I should take the red strawberry. And oh, little miss Haana likes the yucky purple one too. I was just picking out this handful from the jar when i saw the note right on top of the jar that said - 'Please take only one'!

Oops! I quickly shoved the handful of dum-dums I had just selected into my purse, closed the zipper, and looked over my shoulder to see if anyone noticed my deed.

Nobody was looking. The dum-dums are safe! Until they meet little miss Haana!

O Wise One

Little miss Haana is very fond of arts and crafts. She uses her creativity to come up with new craft ideas; she dreams up, then builds, sticks, decorates, glues and paints.

For her paintings, little miss Haana has been borrowing my acrylic paints. They are very good quality artist grade paints. I got her a pack of her own brushes and set of small canvases. Recently, she decided to paint on a long canvas she found had been hiding in the upstairs closet for a while. It was 12x36 inches. I warned her, it will take a long time for her to paint it all, and she may lose interest mid way. She insisted she wanted to paint it. I relented.

It took her a couple weeks to finish her painting, but she did! She made 2 tall trees, on green green grass, with a little girl smiling, and a little boy climbing. The painting came out wonderful, and I am so proud of her! I put the painting up on the wall.

However, a week or so later, her table-top easle, the paints, the brushes, the palette, the water cup, all the things she set up for her painting, were still out there, waiting to be wrapped up and put away. And not for the want of being reminded.

I finally lost it one day. And i told her all her brushes are ruined, I'll not buy her new ones, and unless she learns to take care of her art things, she doesn't deserve to have them. This led to her crying, saying, "You never support me..". I got mad-der. I told her I let her have my paints which were so expensive. She made some snarky remark at that. Which made me angrier still. And then more crying. I lectured for a little bit more, before both of us got silent into our own bubbles, both unhappy.

What I didn't expect is, little miss Haana came around after about 5 mintues till both of us had cooled off. She first coolly circled around the area where i was. I didn't react. Then she came back, took me by my hand and took me to the couch, and said "Mumma, I love you.  But when you keep on scolding me it makes me really upset". I didn't really expect her to be so wise as to come around and talk to me like that! I had already melted in my heart when she took me by my hand.  I hugged her, and said "I love you sweet baby. But when you don't listen to me or retort at what I'm saying it just gets me angry. Can you just say -ok mumma, next time?". She said fine. More hugs and kisses and we were all made up. Meanwhile i was wondering how wise she proved herself out to be!

Little Miss Haana's Tall Trees Painting

Throw It Out

For months, neigh, years, I have been telling little miss Haana not to leave dirty clothes on the bedroom floor; put them in the laundry basket. Is that too much to ask? I have tried making it a chore she has to do, threatening to take the clothes away from her, lecturing her, nagging her. Lately I had been threatening her if she leaves her clothes on the floor I will throw them out of the balcony. The bedroom has a small balcony that overlooks over the front yard.

Nothing has worked.

This last weekend, I was standing in the bedroom looking over little miss Haana's small stack of dirty clothes on the floor. I picked them up. Then i looked over at her with a mischievous twinkle in my eye. Little miss Haana's eyes widened wondering what to expect now. I opened the balcony door, and quickly threw out her t-shirt from the balcony. It swerved for a second or two like a parachute and landed on the bushes in the front yard. Little miss Haana screamed to dad, "Papa, Mumma threw it out!! She did it!". I was laughing with delight by now. Papa shook his head. I had two more items in my hand. Little miss Haana jumped up at me to grab those items from my hand. She got one and ran to put it in the laundry basket. But i had the towel! And before she could jump up and grab it back, i quickly opened the balcony door and threw it out as well! I laughed with delight and clapped by hands. Little miss Haana's screamed to her dad again, "Papa, mumma threw the towel out too! Oh no!!".

The two of them headed downstairs to retrieve the prized artifacts from between the bushes in the front yard while I chuckled at myself for a job well done and certainly well enjoyed!

Since then, little miss Haana has never once left her clothes on the floor. I look out for such opportunities, but am left disappointed. "Oww!", I complain to her when i don't find anything to throw out. But it has been the most effective parenting success ever!

Dentist Office

Little miss Haana had been wanting to go to the dentist for a long time. It's somewhat counter intuitive too. But other kids in her class had been to the dentist. Worse - even kindergarten kids she knew at her school had been to a dentist. But not her. And she is in 1st grade!

Since this was on the to-do list for us, Dad got a dentist appointment. She was to be picked up early from school one day, to go to the dentist appointment. To say she was excited was an understatement! Everyone in her class probably knew about it!

Finally the big day arrived! Dad was going to pick up little miss Haana early from school. This was of course an added benefit too! I wanted to be a part of this grand spectacle of the first ever dentist visit! So I scheduled to meet them up at the dentist office.

When I arrived, dad and little miss hanna was already inside in the dentist office with the nurse. She was sitting on this dentist chair holding a purple teddy bear, a gift she had just gotten! Along with a new toothbrush in a fancy bag. For the nurse and the doctor to look inside her mouth, they reclined her down, gave her cute sunglasses, and turned on a movie on the tv hanging upside down from the ceiling! She slid back on her chair and began watching the movie and laughing in parts! There are no movies for me to watch at my dentist, I grumbled!

They checked out her teeth and gums and gave her a B+ for her teeth health and cleaning. Once we were done, little miss Haana and I posed in front of the photo booth, also at the dentist office, to commemorate our landmark visit to the dentist!!

Perks

I was having another one of my usual tiffs with little Miss Haana the other day. I asked her to do something, and she flat out refused.

I asked her, what happened to my perks. What kind of perks do I get for being a mom! I feel robbed! She said, 'As a mom you take care of me. You get to cook for me. You get to take me places. As a mom your perks are those'. I rolled my eyes and asked, 'Do you know what perks means? It's like this special benefit you get for doing something. Like that time we went to watch the Rangers' game because my friend Angie gets perfomance tickets - that's a perk she gets at her work. So where are my perks as a mom? I thought the kids are supposed to do what I say, that's why I got into this'.

Little miss Haana thought about this for a second, then she said, 'Your perk is me, you get to be with me and take care of me!'. I did agree with it in my heart, but I rolled my eyes at her anyway!

Fathers Day

Little Miss Haana had been working on her craft project for several days. She'd gotten a box full of popsicles sticks and had been working away with her glue gun.

It was father's day. And little miss Haana was busy working on building all kinds of shapes and designs and crafts with her popsicle sticks. She stuck the sticks together and then colored the sticks, stuck pompoms or covered them with yarn.

In the last few days she had made:
A treasure box with a lid.  A green colored Christmas tree with a small gift box underneath it. A freestanding fan shaped, colorful craft that could be used as a magazine holder.
And then there was this small cage styled to be a little backpack. Or maybe a bigger treasure box!

All these items were the father's day gifts. I was told we would be making chocolate cake in the morning. Since I am doing low carb diet these days, I figured low carb chocolate and strawberry muffins would make a worthy alternate choice. So, early on the sunday morning, miss haana and i got to work. She helped with the mixing and sifting and cutting off the strawberries for the muffins. Then when we got to the baking, little miss Haana got back on her little brown chair with her glue gun and pompoms finishing up the last of her craft projects.

Once the muffins are done, we took them out. We figured we needed 7 muffins with 1 candle each for the 7 years of fatherhood! We sang the happy father's day song, blew the candles and got to the eating-fresh- muffins part!

Later that day we took the 7 year old father to brunch with live music and drinks. It was a good father's day!

Crush

I picked up little Miss Haana from her summer camp this evening. That's when i got the news. "You know what happened Mumma? Two boys came and told me they had a crush on me"!!
Oh my Gawd, could this be happening? I am pretty sure I'm not supposed to, and I've broken several laws of parenting, but I put my hands over my mouth and let out a big squeal; full mischief, scandal and delight. Miss Haana laughed and then we both giggled! "One boy came first and said he had a crush on me.."..
"What did you say?"
"Ughh, gross!", she made a face, " And then.."
"Who are these boys? Which grade are they in?"
"Uhh, they're in the camp. Same grade as I. And then, after the first boy said that, later, another boy came up. And he said 'I have a crush on you' too!!! I even told them, you can only]have a crush when you're in 4th grade.."
"How do you know that? Who told you that?", i wondered how far back do these 'crush' conversations go..
"Oh, Nikhil said that. That you can only have a crush after you're in 4th grade"
Nikhil? Really? The good boy said that, I wondered.
"Oh Mumma.. and I have a crush on you"
Aww.... (Hugs)!!

And Your Job Is..

I've been avoiding this conversation for years now, but it's been coming up in more earnest lately. "Mumma, I want a dog!", says little miss Haana with doggy eyes herself. I love dogs myself, but they're just a lot of work.

When i was growing up, in 7th grade, I forced my parents to get a dog. It was not my first attempt. I had taken many abandoned dogs and cats into my wing over the years, none of them quite made it inside the house thanks to my parents. But then one day we were visiting my aunt when we met Lucky. My aunt was fostering him and he was just a 6 weeks old puppy. This was my chance! I got my parents to take Lucky back to our house. And that was the beginning of an interesting journey! While I did go and run outside to catch Lucky (he liked to run away), my parents ended up walking him many a times.

When little Miss Haana brought up wanting a dog, I remind her dogs are a lot of work. The dog would need to be walked 3 times a day. Trained. Boarded somewhere if we go on a vacation. "I have a plan,  Mumma", she said all business like.

"In the morning, I will have to go to school, so Papa will walk the dog. While he's walking it, Papa will also scoop the poop. (Giggles). In the evening as soon as I come back from school, I will walk the dog. But Papa will still come with me to scoop the poop. Then after dinner, in the night, I will walk the dog before bed. Papa will come with me then too. Why? To scoop the poop."

So, what is Papa's job in this whole dog keeping story?
"His job is that he is a pooper scooper!! "
More giggles erupt, this time from both of us!!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out everywhere!

I had been doing hints about mother's day for weeks. I needed to be treated special, I needed to be surprised. I need mother's day to be outstanding!

My sweet girl said she had some plans up her sleeve. A day before, she asked me what I wanted to breakfast on my big day. She came to me with a notepad and pen, taking down my order with the professionalism of a seasoned waitress! Even asking - 'And would you like some fruit with it?', 'Anything to drink with it?'!

The next morning she and I woke up together, and the first thing she said was, 'Oh no, you're already awake!'. The plan was for walking me up with the breakfast! I helpfully offered, I can stay in bed if you like. She was relieved. Next, Papa was woken up and dragged downstairs to help with the breakfast. Water was boiled for the tea. Bread was toasted. Fruits were cut and arranged in a bowl. Eggs were scrambled. Orange juice was glassed. All of this was arranged on a tray and brought up to me in bed! So perfect, i purred!! There was also a bag full of cards for me! After breakfast little Miss Haana and I played on the bed.

Later that day on the afternoon we went to my favorite place these days, the rose garden. Ah equipped with a picnic blanket. I lay in the grass and watched cotton puff clouds float against the blue blue sky. Again, perfect!

Best mother's day ever!