The Sweet and Innocent

Little miss Haana was looking at a Christmas tree ornament this evening and she got all teary eyed. "I'll tell you when we are in bed", she said to me.

But, what if you forget?

What if you fall asleep? 

All my questions got the same answer.. "I wouldn't ".

Our Christmas tree has lots of ornaments. Some of them are traditional christmas ornaments. Some are small craft projects we've done over the years. The one little miss Haana was looking at was a craft project she did in kinder, a big peppermint candy with a picture of her 3 year old face smiling back.

She told me that when she looked at the picture of herself when she was 3, she looked so young, innocent and sweet. And now (all of 9!), she feels she's none of those things. She feels like she goes a little crazy sometimes and feels angry and mad and sad at times. And none of those things are sweet and innocent. 

Sometimes i wonder at this girl! I joke with her when she can't find things directly in front of her, that she got buttons for eyes. But, really, can she not see at all what i see when I look at her? This amazing, incredible, special person.. my golden girl! Can she not see how amazing she is! How can she not see it! This creative, ingenious, unique, courageous, outstanding person that she is.. everytime i think about it, i wonder how on God's green earth can such an amazing person be created. And i know 2 of such amazing people.. there's the little boy too!

Sometime back little miss Haana had asked me a curious question - was Einstein mostly genius or mostly crazy? And my answer was, sometimes its the same thing. You have to be crazy to bring into this world discoveries or creations that are so far removed from the norms we are used to. It is the same for very creative people, artists, musicians.. who created something that decades or centuries later, we still appreciate. They were crazy then, in their time, what we now recognize was their genius. 

I reminded little miss Haana of that conversation and told her this- sometimes big, forceful feelings and being extremely driven, creative and courageous are 2 sides of the same thing. Those huge forceful feelings can lead you to creative leaps that a logical tame mind cannot reach. But they can also lead you to go all crazy sometimes, too angry or too mad and out of control. The key is to understand and observe your self and learn what works for you and what doesn't. It is hard, of course. Its easier if your feelings are more easily controlled or tamer. It is very hard to control powerful forceful feelings, and sometimes that is not even possible. That is ok. Realize who you are, and give yourself some grace. 

In the quiet of the bedroom I can understand what she's saying perfectly. Partly because i live through her frustrations too. She had to have inherited her big giant impulsive untameable feelings from somewhere! If she doesn't crush herself with judgements or attempts at pleasing others, she can actually use them to soar. 

Fly!

Mobility

My Bobby boy is now fully mobile. And too much so. 

We have had almost the entire living area cordoned off with gates, where he can play and be safe in. We call it his "jungle"! This has worked splendidly for last several weeks, but now things are changing. Bobby boy doesn't like being in his Jungle anymore. He feels he's navigated all the paths and looked under all the pillows. He needs to cover some new ground. 'Besides, how unfair, other people get to roam around freely, and only I end up in this Jungle', he must think. So after a great deal of fussing I have started letting him roam about. It's not easy at all..

While he roams the land, he gets into mischief. He heads first towards the christmas tree, and tastes a few christmas ornaments. He tries to swallow a big ornament till is all slobbery. 'Look at this! Its so colorful and shiny! Why doesn't it taste like anything? Maybe i should check all sides to make sure. Still no taste. How odd. But i like the shiny, come into my mouth now!'.

Then he finds some fat green things on the window sill. 'They don't look like the thin green things i've tasted before'. The thin green things were the christmas tree leaves. Soon i found my house plants helter skelter, excavated a leaf from inside his mouth, and mud on his hands. Somehow, i rescued my plants, cleared the broken leaves and soil, tried to shove the poor plant roots back into the soil and take them to safety. Time will tell if the poor plants live to tell the tale. 

While i was dealing with those damages, Bobby boy was gone. I soon found out where. 'Look, is there! Can't believe I found it! It's that thing that sticks to the bottom of Papa. It looks so soft and fussy and tasty. I'm coming to you tasty thing. Quiet. Nobody will notice us!'. After a few moments of quiet, i looked around to see where he's gone. Bobby was swiftly crawling towards Raj's house slippers! He reached them and was just regarding them, turning then around in his hands before taking them to his mouth! "Noo! No eating slippers!", i said before yanking the slipper from him. And then shoving the slippers into the shoe closet and closing the door. Boy was not happy, but he found something else. 'Mumma yanked the tasty thing from me again. I like that fuzzy thing. So unf.. Wait what's that brown flat thing. Sides dont taste like anything. Maybe i can climb on them? Ya! I can. How cool. Not just flat moving anymore, now I'm tall moving too! There's more too! Let's do this one more time. I'm liking this. Mumma is right there but she's not yanking this thing from me now.'. Bobby boy is fascinated with stairs! He wants to climb them!

Never a dull moment with this boy!

Safari with the Cowgirl

Last weekend during thanksgiving break, we went to a drive thru animal wildlife preserve. The ticket includes a cup full of feed for the herbivores and one can drive-thru the preserve, throwing feed at the animals right from the car window. The animals of course are very used to the fanfare, and will readily saunter over. They said do not feed the animals by hand, throw the feed away from the car. We did that initially. But they looked so soft and furry. The oryx, the addax, the audads, antelopes, deers, gazelles, they all looked so fuzzy, I just had to touch their noses. So the next time, instead of throwing the feed, i hand fed them. Little miss Haana screamed at me, "Mumma! It said don't hand feed!". I agreed a little sheepishly. "I know.. but he doesn't know that", I said pointing to the deer outside the window. 

We saw also the emu and the ostrich. Barely got the window rolled up in time for the ostrich to peck at the glass instead of our faces! 

There were 4 little cheetah cubs. 8 months old just like my little Bobby boy baby. And super good looking those little cute cubs, also just like my Bobby boy! 

The giraffes didn't get close, which is too bad. I kind of like them. 

During the safari, we are not supposed to open the car door or get out of the car. Of course, about 20 minutes into our trip, little miss Haana had to go peepee. Its a 1 way road, so there's no real going in and out, and no pit stops. And she really had to go. 

So my first thought was, why not we open the car door real quick and she get things done right next to the car. Real quick. And then we can be on our way before anyone is any wiser. Unfortunately, they had personnel around, so we really could not open the car door at all. So that idea got crossed off. There's no way we could complete the tour that typically takes around 2 hours without her going peepee. So, i looked and found a ziplock bag that could be sealed! Unfortunately the car windows are not tinted at all, and the lady in the suv passing us by at 5mph was taking a lot of interest in what was going on inside our car. Of course she also had a vantage point, a balcony seat, so as to say! Then, with me giving suggestions from the back seat, Raj giving directions from the drivers', little miss Haana was able to get things done. There definately was a 'wet' spot on the floor in one corner on the passenger side and it wasn't because of water. But the ziplock bag was sealed, and things were looking up again. 

Little miss Haana said "I'm sorry" to her Papa. I felt so bad. "It isn't your fault", I told her. Anyone could have needed to go, and would've been in a fix. But, after having gone to poopoo in the woods and now peepee in a car, I'm definately proud of my little miss Haana! She has what it takes to take care of business(!). All we're missing is camping for her survival repertoire. But that's another day and blog post!

10 Pounder

My little Bobby boy was not a 10 pounder when he was born. In fact, he was just 2 ounces over 6lb. Tinier than little miss Haana when she was born (at 6lb 14oz). Like all newborn babies he lost weight in the days just after his birth. And when we left the hospital, he was even tinier at 5lb 14oz. But now, the little Bobby boy is steadily getting bigger. He's all of 8 months old!

The other day, when I left little Bobby boy on the floor for a minute, he scuttled on all 4s to explore new territory. Did i mention the boy is an explorer? Immediately, he headed towards the very thing he's been repeatedly told not to go to. The dumbell weights. And by the time i got to him, he was pulling a 10lb dumbell on the carpet towards himself. By the time I pried his iron grip loose from the weight, the 10 pound dumbell was clearly shaken up from its slumber.

My Bobby is a weight lifter! 

Keep Him

Little Bobby boy is a climber. And he's an explorer. During the day that is alright. But at night, when he's up in the bedroom, he can get challenging. It is past 9. He is tired, so is everybody else. He should be fixing to sleep. But instead he constantly tries to climb up the pillows, tries to climb the headboard. Then, he runs over towards the far side of the bed. Miss Haana or I, lunge and grab hold of his foot before he makes a run for the edge of the bed and takes off bungee jumping to the floor below. Without the bungee, that is. Then, once that attempt is crushed, he sits up, taking stock of the situation, sticking his thumb in his mouth. He zeroes in on one of us, sizes us up with his thumb, and chooses which one of us will he try climbing on to next. 

Today little miss Haana had had enough of all these manoeuvres. "Watch him, I'm going to brush", I said. 

Usually when that happens she tells me, 'Put Bobby in a cupboard'. Then i remind her we don't have a cupboard big enough for bobby. Then we agree that we must build one first thing tomorrow. 

Today, however, she said, "Put him back in your tummy"!! 

"But he's too big now!"

"Then return him". I've told little miss Haana she came from a clearance sale at Kroger. Little Bobby boy too!

"But he doesn't fit in the packaging any more!. Besides Papa threw the packaging. Anything that could be of slightest importance or use, Papa immediately throws  it out. Anything that is of absolutely no use whatsoever, stays at home for ever!"

She nodded in agreement. "Why don't we make new packaging for him".

Right about now i caught sight of the cheeky cheeks, when the boy turned around trying to grab my hair to stand up on the bed. 

"But then how will i get these cheeks, if we return him! And the bottom too"

"And the sweet nosey too", she added. 

We looked at each other. "We'll keep him!"

"AWW!"

We both lunged to grab hold of him into a confusing, violent hug. He's used to it by now. No complaints. He must like us:-)!!!

Journal Jar - Proudest Mom Moment

There are aplenty proud moments as a mom. When little miss Haana comes up with creative ideas to implement, how she conducts herself, how she's friendly, open and loving to others, how she may lie to me sometimes when but i ask her if she's lying she says yes, how she's independent, she's so loving and compassionate, so caring, so loving. And then there is the 7 month old Bobby boy. Already scuttling about quietly and quickly from place to place. Always pulling up and standing holding whatever he can get, already holding and picking things with his fingers and thumb - even tiny things like a green pea, already holding 2 toys - One in each hand together, always climbing up always exploring! There is so much to be proud of. He tracks little miss Haana, watches her whenever she's around. 

Once when Bobby fell of from the bed and was crying, little miss Haana was crying too. She was so upset and scared if Bobby got hurt. Wondering if he'll be ok. 

He doesn't complain when she squeezes his cheeks or "pats" his bottom or gets into his face to kiss him. She does complain when he tries to eat a book she's reading. Their bond of siblings 8 years apart, is so sweet and full of love. I think that's my proudest mom moment, even though it is not really just a moment. And saying i'm proud seems to imply i take credit for it. I feel their bond speaks of who each of them is. Wonderful, amazing, full of love. 

Journal Jar - I am Happiest When

Today i picked out a strip of paper from a Journal Jar that little miss Haana made for me, and in it, it had a theme for a short journal entry. 

Today's theme - i am happiest when...

I am happy hanging out outdoors on a mild balmy day. I am happy laying in grass on a sunny spring day and watch cotton puff clouds travel the sky. I am happy watching lady bugs. I am happy watching butterflies. I am happy when i paint. I am happy when i create something out of nothing. I am happy when i help another with no strings attached. I am happy hearing from family and friends. 

But i think i am happiest when i'm around my loved ones. Bobby boy and little miss Haana have made me happier than i thought possible. The selfless love that I receive in my life, I am extremely fortunate to get. It has given me this understanding that love is the most important thing. It belies all odds, all logic, all equations. Love just is. I am happiest when i have love around me.  

Journal Jar

Little miss Haana made me a journal jar. It's a jar she painted and decorated. Inside it, there are strips of papers, each paper has a theme for writing a ahort journal or note. She also made and kept put a small notebook and a baby pen in the jar for me to write my journal entries in to. 

I'm supposed to take out 1 piece of paper and write a journal entry on that theme every single day. Obviously I've been falling on that duty. She made the jar sometime in August, and I don't have many entire in that journal inside the jar. But I've decided I will make it up now. I'll write a journal entry on my blog so I don't lose it. I'll start tomorrow. 😊

Tum vs Aap

There's no down side to learning a language. There are so many cultural nuances that are lost in translation.

I've been trying for little miss Haana to learn Hindi for quite some time. I've tried a phone app that helps with learning the language (which did work initially, but then the excitement waned); and I have tried to threaten to send her to weekend classes (she likes her weekends to be full of playdates, some screen time, her own projects, friends and play time. Would it not be a tragedy to lose some of the weekend for a class!). Lately I have started speaking to her more often in hindi than not. And it has been paying off. Her hindi vocab is steadily increasing even though I can hardly ever hear her hindi accent with a straight face! :-D

Recently on our walk little miss Haana said something to me like "tum idhar ao" (you come here)and I thought it was an opportune time fot embarking on this Hindi lesson -

Unlike English, which has just one word for referring to the other person - you, regardless of who that second person is. Hindi, is a more respectful language, and has different words depending on whether who you're referring to is equal to you, or is older or more respected. In case of referring to a person that's your equal, like a friend, or referring to someone younger, you refer to them as "tum" or "tu". When you refer to someone that's elder or referring respectfully, you say "aap". So "aap idhar aaeeye" (come here <respectfully, politely>) instead of "tum idhar ao" (come here) or " tu idhar aa" (come here <even less respectful>). 

"So, you should be saying 'aap idhar aaeeye' instead of ' tum idhar ao' to me", I told her, driving home the lesson. 

She listened without interrupting and then immediately responded, "But you're not just my mom you're my friend. So i don't want to say 'aap' to you".

I don't think she got my message, I thought. But wait, she said I'm her friend!!! "Awww!! I'm your friend!!" I said,as I melted all over! As is usual, she hopped along to avoid me clutching her into a forced hug!

Well played! 

Tough Cookies

Today on a walk with Bobby boy and little miss Haana, i noticed something on little Bobby's right cheek. A pesky, vile mosquito had just sat on his cheek. Little boy was oblivious to it. I immediately shooed it away with an angry wave of my hand. Few minutes later little Bobby boy's right cheek had 2 small red bumps. The little boy was unfazed. Little twinkling eyes were calmly looking around and looking up at me from the stroller. "Bobby boy!", I said with exasperation. "Did the mosquito bite you? Why didn't you complain earlier?!". Two twinkling eyes regarded me with some interest and batted eyelids. Little miss Haana jumped over him to inspect the mosquito damage on the baby cheek. "Poor thing!". But no issues from the boy. 

My little Bobby is a trooper. He's a tough cookie. When he was just born, in the hospital, they had to do a blood sugar test for him every few hours for the first 2 days. Every few hours they would poke him with a needle to do the test, and for most of the times, he wouldn't even complain. I used to be so surprised. Here I was flinching at the needles and he waded through them no problem. No complaining. He's a tough guy. 

My little miss Haana is a lot more vocal in her complaints but she's a tough cookie on the inside. Many times she's been in situations where other kids may be bullying or trying to hurt her. She does feel it then, but then she just brushes it off completely and moves on. She's resilient like that. She's emotional and compassionate, and is also very independent and goes her own way. She's a strong tough one. 

My two tough cookies. 

Halloween 2020

Super girls did come to rescue this year. And while rescuing Halloween, they also rescued a lady bug all while also playing tricks.

Here's how it all happened:

Halloween began early this year. It's always a big event at work and in the years past, little miss Haana has spent her entire day dressed up, trick or treating and making friends with my friends up at work with me. This year, due to covid, there was no going in to work. But they had thoughtfully arranged for drive thru locations for enjoying the halloween spirit amongst coworkers. That was on friday, the day before halloween. My team decided we will be a quiddich team for the griffandor house, we all had matching appropriate robes and brooms to keep us afloat while we practice our quiddich skills. We decided to meet up at one of the halloween drive thru locations close to work. I showed up flanked with a little super girl and a little lady bug. We met other quiddich players, a spiderman, Waldo and a waved to a few witches.

On halloween day, as per our tradition ("Gugu and Mumma are the same", will need to be modified for Bobby), little Miss Haana and I both changed into Supergirls. Bobby was once again a lady bug. (Actually this lady bug is a costume i had for little miss Haana when we went on a trip to europe on her first birthday. I loved the costume and i loved her in it so much that i've kept the costume all these years. I made her wear it well after the age that the costume could have actually fit her properly- just for the laughs! So it is but obvious for Bobby's first halloween, he's a lady bug). Its actually possible he may become a lady bug several times this coming winter (unlike most halloween costumes, this one is real nice and cozy and soft)! Of course he will like it 😄!

We decided we didn't need to go trick or treating per se, little miss Haana is not really into candies. But instead, we will walk around our community and see the halloween decor. We wished people as we saw some folks from a distance. We went by miss Haana's friend Becca's place and talked to them for a bit. We took candy from a couple folks that had the candy ,thoughtfully, individually bagged! Then we walked by over to miss Haana and Bobby's cousin Varam's place, and met up with a few other neighborhood friends all dressed up. Varam was a little dragon, carrying 2 of his favorite dump trucks. His mom was a big dragon too. Amongst the neighborhood gang we had Cliff Hanger, Wonder Woman and Black Panther. We saw a little girl with pink hair and a pink nose. Little miss Haana told me she's from the movie Trolls, but I forgot her name. The lady bug Bobby was taking in the sights from his stroller balcony section seat and was watchful. We invited the friends over to candy by our house and then immediately called up Papa at home to make sure he's in position. Then we led the way and walked over. 

As we reached up to our house, little miss Haana and I casually and as very good hosts, offered Uncle Aunty and Varam to partake in the candy. We had the treats in a basket on a little table at the gate. As soon as Varam went over to check out the candy, creepy laughing sound came from the candy! He stopped stunned. Then we all laughed as his Uncle Rajesh stepped outside the house! "Happy Halloween", we cried! The creepy magic laughter was coming from a bluetooth speaker hidden under the candy-serve table!

We talked and took photos and laughed till we saw another gang walking, coming up towards us. "Get in position Papa", little miss Haana hissed. He nodded, his phone hidden in his hand behind his back. We all got quiet till our friends walked up towards the candy. As soon as the kids came up to the candy tray, creepy laughter filled the air again. The boys paused for a second, looking around in the candy, wondering what is happening. When we all started laughing, they joined in too. It was hard to tell who's laughing was the scariest as they all tried to sound creepy. After some deliberations, trying to decide which candy to take, the friends walked off. Bobby signalled, he might be getting done with his stroller walk. While little miss Haana went to walk around with her Uncle, Aunt and cousin some more, lady bug Bobby and Supergirl Mumma came back home. Back to comfy clothes and warm socks! The candy was kept safely in the garage for quarantine.

This was one fun halloween! 

Crawl Space

Little Bobby boy is now over 7 months old. And since the last few weeks he's officially crawling. First, slowly and intermittently. And now, quietly, he disappers from his spot and reappears elsewhere. Usually he reappears at a spot where he shouldn't be, and where he's been told repeatedly that he should not be! 

The entire living room is cordoned off for the Boy to play. Full of toys and play things. There's a small opening leading to the kitchen or towards the crafting area. And even while Papa was setting up all the toys and cushions in the right locations, the little crawly boy had already left the cordoned area, and was quietly headed towards the kitchen, meaning to eat a pair of slippers along the way! The quiet boy moves quite quickly when he's on a mission! 

Badmaash boy!

Peachy

There's this song by Searchers - Sweets for my Sweet, that i remembered today.. 

"Sweets for my sweet, sugar for my honey
Your first sweet kiss thrilled me so
Sweets for my sweet, sugar for my honey
I'll never ever let you go..."

If they knew Bobby boy they would've added a line like "Peaches for my Peachy boy.." somewhere in their song too. Little Bobby boy likes his peaches. I hold up a big slice of the fruit for him and he chomps through it with eagerness, till only the skin remains. Then her looks up with impatience. Where's the next slice? Peachy likes his peaches :-).

Nine - The Treasure Hunt

Nine

The excitement of little miss Haana's 9th birthday had been building up for weeks. The calendar had been marked and the count down had begun several days prior. She couldn't wait for her birthday! And she had a plan for the day:

There will need to be a treasure hunt set up for her birthday (a few years back I had set up, what will be the first of many, treasure hunt on Raj's birthday. Both of them had read through the clues hidden in rhymes and found treasures hidden around the house. Now it was a main stay of birthdays for her).

Then, there needed to be a play date with her best buddy Rushil. 

She also wanted to play with her neighborhood gang of friends. 

In there, somewhere, there had to be a home baked chocolate cake and cake cutting. 

Good thing her birthday was on a sunday and we had all weekend. 😉

We started the birthday weekend on friday evening with not only a playdate but a sleep over at Rushil's! We went over to theirs' early evening, spent the evening together, and little miss Haana stayed overnight for a sleepover. In the morning she helped her Ranjeeta aunty bake cookies, and i saw pictures of 2 happy kids having milk and cookies. At home that Saturday morning, i started setting up the treasure hunt. I had already gotten the "treasures" (just small little presents) a few weeks back. Now was the time to pack them, hide them and set up the clues. I had to hurriedly wrap it all up when she was dropped off back home. 

Lunch was from her favorite Torchy's taco. But after lunch i took her out for a surprise. 

I had been thinking of getting her a real sewing machine for sometime. She had a small baby sewing machine for sometime but it wasn't really a proper sewing machine at all. And little miss Haana always has ideas up her sleeve of what she wants to do, some craft project or the other. A sewing machine will be a great tool in her tool box, I thought. On the other hand, I have never done any sewing myself, and don't know my way around a sewing machine at all. She's just an 8 year old, I wouldn't really be able to guide her into learning to sew. But when I talked to a few friends of mine, I learnt there are tons of tutorials online. Youtube can her useful sometimes! My dear friend Kim gave the recommendation of the sewing machine, and I had been to the sewing store closeby to check it out. I decided I will come back with the birthday girl took make the final selection. 

So, I took little miss Haana out on a drive with me for a "little surprise". Only when we came to the store did I tell her about my idea of buying her a sewing machine! We saw the 2 machines i had looked at before, and she choose the one she liked better. She was excited to get started! And i was too! I had to temper the excitement a little by reminding her, it will take us some timw to get up to speed. We will take baby steps in trying to learn how to sew. I was telling myself more than her. The sewing machines can be complicated! 

Back home, we began setting up the machine right away, but looking at the instructions manual and learning to thread the needle was not as straight forward. Then we had the idea to look up youtube, and a good idea that was. She figured out how to thread the needle in no time. And soon we were in business. 

The next morning was the big B day. The morning started early for me and Raj. While i was finishing up the clues and hiding the treasures, he started on the cake - all before the babies woke. Soon, we had the cake in the oven, the treasure hunt all set up, and i sat to have some morning chai. 

Little miss Haana woke up and i gave her long long hugs and kisses to the birthday girl. And then gave her the booklet full of clues. Her eyes lit up - "Treasure Hunt!!", she squeeled with delight! I had the clues set up purposefully to have her rub around the house, upstairs then down the stairs, then in this room, then in that.. could it be in the laundry room? Could it be under the bed, in the bathroom cabinets? Inside the car? 

I saved the best present for the last. Raj had gotten her a smart watch with which she can call us up if she's outside playing with her friends. I liked that it had parental controls, but we can also check on where she is. It was the most delightful presents of all!!

Meanwhile the cake was all done. We had 9 little candles, all lit up. Then, a big huff and puff, all the candles were blown out, a birthday song sung, and we were eating chocolate cake soon. 

Later that day, we had aaloo paratha (wheat tortilla stuffed with potatoes and cooked with oil, eaten with a healthy heapof butter!) for brunch, also by popular demand. During the day, both grand parents called. Softy mausi called. Little miss Haana's Godfather Keith called to wish happy birthday. 

In the evening, just before dinner, little miss Haana's Jinu aunty stopped by with more gifts! She got Enid Blyton set of books for miss Haana. I read those long long time back! It's funny how some books become symbolic of a certain time! 

After dinner, little miss Haana's friends started showing up. I had pinged their parents to send the kids over for cupcakes outside by our garage. And they were here. Little miss Haana's Kirthi aunty and Karthik uncle and little Varam came up too. We all hung outside, with all the neighborhood kids, talking, enjoying cupcakes. 

It was a good day and a great birthday. Now stay on 9 awhile little miss Haana!

Two Little Eyes

As soon as little miss Haana comes in the line of view, two eyes follow her. They follow her everywhere. See what she's doing. What is she up to? Where is she going? How does she move so much. The two eyes take notes. They watch intently how she jumps up on the chair and leaps on to the couch. 'How did she do that exactly? I'm going to try and get that technique down', they think as they take mental notes. A little face breaks into a smile as soon as little miss Haana comes and coos at it. When she makes fish faces and noises at the little face (some noises sounding very much like fart sounds), the little face breaks into a laugh! Enjoying the joke. The two eyes giggle in delight.

Little Bobby boy and little miss Haana share this special bond that is so full of love! The little baby boy watching the big sister, laughing at all her jokes, and giggling at her special effect noises. She dotes on him, barely able to keep her excitement at his cotton candy cheeks! Sometimes when she roughs him up, he complains. Little miss Haana's excuse is always the same.. "But he's too cute!". I agree. That's my excuse too!

The Country Visit

This past week Bobby boy visited his Godfather up at his place in the country in the middle of woods, about 1.5hrs east of where we live. We left in the morning and he slept through most of the way there. Then, once we reached, he was given the tour of the house. We had our morning snacks and talked for a bit, before we headed out to the porch. It was mid morning, and the porch opened up towards a sloping yard sprinkled with a few hedges and trees, before it met with the pond. It was really pretty view! The sun felt good and we hung out on the porch for a little bit. Then  I decided it was time for Bobby's banana and oatmeal breakfast/snack. The boy likes his banana and oatmeal, and soon it was all gone. 

After the snack, we decided to head out for a walk into the woods. We went up and down the country road first, and then went about walking into the woods - looking at trees and jumping over the creek and avoiding prickly vines. Bobby was intently watching, I was wearing him in a baby carrier. At some point, he decided the soft thump of my feet is rather soothing, and his eyes are getting heavier. 'There's much to see, but surely i can rest my eyes for just a small moment', that's what he must have thought, cause next time I checked him, he had dozed off.

We circled around the lake, and heard pitter-platter-plops of numerous frogs jumping in to the pond with the rustling of my feet walking. I peered into the water to see them, but didn't see a single frog. They were quite the clandestine critters. 

We came back home and fixed up lunch. Bobby relaxed with his dinosaur ball, fussed when it didn't fit all the way into his mouth, and chewed on fingers. 

Soon it was time to head back home. The boy had missed his nap and I hoped he would sleep on the way home. We waved Keith goodbye, and headed back late afternoon. Bobby did sleep almost all the way home. It was a good visit!

Go To Sleep, Badmaash

Some days when I put Bobby boy to sleep in his crib, he looks up at me. And while looking at me quite intently, he breaks into a smile. I smile back and then, he breaks into this instant laughter. And i find myself laughing with him, while telling him,  "Neenna karo tum! Badmaash!" (Now go to sleep, you naughty thing!). But even while trying to keep a straight face, telling him is time to go to sleep, i'm still laughing with him! Perhaps the joke is on me, but its such a delicious, heart warming one nevertheless! 

Half A Thing

My little Bobby boy is all of 6 months old this week. Half a year old.

His nani (maternal grandma) called up in the morning to wish him happy half birthday! After little miss Haana's remote learning school got over, we met up with Bobby and Haana's Godfather Keith. He had specifically driven to town to commemorate the half birthday with ice cream. While little miss Haana and I enjoyed our ice cream treat, Bobby didn't actually get any. But he intently watched. 😋

After we got back home, i debated whether to make the cake or defer to another day. But then decided, another day would not be the same day. So decided to pull it together. And later that evening, there as a fresh baked chocolate cake on the dining table. Bobby was placed in his high chair, and we sang him his birthday song, cut the cake. And unlike ask the times before, this time, i even let him taste the chocolate cake. I think he loved it! We gave him several little bits of the cake! He lapped it up. The growing boy needs his chocolate cake nutrition, but also his love and hugs vitamins. A well balanced diet.

Cereal Commercials

Have you ever seen those commercials for baby cereal, where they have a fictitious baby lapping up the tasteless cereal like it is a God-send? I used to think the baby in these commercials either must have hidden pointy antennas coming out of him, or is really a grown up actor in an oversized baby-suit! Who has ever seen babies sitting around pretty, to have the next bite of tasteless gooey paste shoved into their mouth. 

But that was all until now. Little Bobby boy is not so little anymore. He has been dipping his toes in solids foods, and in case of baby oatmeal, he's been outright swimming in it. He likes it. A lot! So much so that he wants to yank the spoon off my hands and eat the spoon, just in case that might yield some more of the liquidy goodness! I tasted the cereal myself. Does it really taste that great? No, it tastes like gritty water. But hey, its not like I'm complaining. I'm too busy playing dodgeball with two the little hands to get the cereal spoon reach the mouth. And once there, to get the poor spoon out of the tight clamp of gummy gums and graspy little fingers. 

It's a win-win!

Ranked Best Mom

It was 2 years back when my parents last visited us. During that visit, little miss Haana made nana (maternal grandpa) cook french fries for her almost every other day. I should add, Nana is more like a twice-in-a-year kind of a cook, if that! When they come to visit, I make sure no one is left behind in helping out in the kitchen! ;) Their visit 2 years back is marked in memory with so much good food! Goat curry, goat biryani, chicken curry, aaloo paratha (potato stuffed tortillas cooked with oil) and of course several times a week, home cooked french fries! Even since they left, french fries has become a distant memory. Little miss Haana reminds Nana she'll be needing more french fries when they see each other next. 

Last week, the little girl asked me in earnest to make french fries. She peeled the potatoes, and then used card stock to make a french fries holder, much like mcDonalds' open box to hold the fries and put the sign M on it (I think that's M for Mumma, not McDonalds). I cooked the french fries and filled 'em up in her fries box. 

In the end, she made me a beads bracelet with the letters "Best Ranked Mom"! The fries mightbe over but I get bragging rights forever!

Green Monster

If you see a little baby with a bright green face, and you're about to scream "Monsteeeeerrrrr", pause. It might only be Bobby. To start him off on solids, I made him have some avocado. As I put a tiny sliver in his mouth, he grimaced  slightly and immediately spit out a bunch of green drool. I used the spoon to collect the green drool and shove it back in his mouth. This went on for a few times after which i figured he probably ate at least some of it. We did this with a few more spoonfuls and then most of Bobby's face from the nose down was green. He tried repeatedly to grab hold of the spoon, deciding the spoon looks more enticing and must be tasted instead. In the end, to his delight, i handed him the empty spoon for him to feast on! Yeah to solid food! I suspect more work heading my way!

Back to School

We survived the first week back to school. 

This year has been most unusual. Due to the pandemic, and the numbers of people getting covid not abating, we were uncomfortable sending little miss Haana back to school. Most other parents have been in the same boat. So the school district had both options of traditional in class teaching, and online only option. With first few weeks being online only. 

So last week little miss Haana started her online school sessions at 750am. And while it is certainly not the same at all, i have to say, i have much to be thankful for. I actually, in my selfish way, am loving this arrangement! 

I can see little miss Haana all through the day, even though she's attending school, and i have started working half days. I can still see her almost every hour for a few minutes when she gets a break, and i can give her a pucchi (kiss). I can make sure she eats. And she gets done much sooner than traditional school. We can spend more time together, even if she has to do some school work on her laptop sitting next to me. She still has time in her day to do some of her arts and crafts work that she always keeps thinking up. Bobby and Haana can spend some moments together through the day. Unlike earlier, when i would pick up Haana after school, from an After-the-Bell program, we get home close to 6pm, she's home and with much more time to spend together, and doing things she likes. 

I am loving this! Much to be thankful for. 

Sitting and Standing

In a news update, little Bobby boy is now standing up on his own two legs, holding on to a sofa now! He's surely wobbly right now, and is not super stable yet, but he's going to get there!

Also when sitting in bed, he's started to sit up by himself. Wobbly too, but its getting there!

Tree, Hose and Bubbles

Last weekend I stepped outside in the front yard for a bit, and realized quite surprisingly that it was actually not bad outside. I went in and got my fancy folding chair (it reclines too!) and positioned it under the tree shade. Bobby boy had just fallen asleep. 'I guess I am going to have a few minutes of peaceful time', was my thought. Except, before i could get to the chair, someone else did. 

Little miss Haana placed herself in my chair under the tree. Not willing to admit defeat, i squeezed myself on to the chair right next to her as well. We sat there looking at cotton puff clouds in the blue sky, my favourite thing to do! After playing the have-you-never game for sometime, slightly drowsy, i said to little miss Haana, "It's getting kind of warm now. Let's go play with the hose". Resounding agreement. We tried to plot a prank in which we will ask dad to come out to the garage, and in stead, spray him with the water hose. But alas, he was too clever for us. He got a wind something was fishy and he took off faster than we could corner him. By the time i got to the garage, little miss Haana was already dripping wet! I got in the soaking fun soon enough. 

By now little Bobby boy was awake and had just fed. There he was sitting in his stroller, watching us playing with the hose in the alley. I decided he couldn't be having too much fun just sitting there watching us. "We must take this party to the bath tub where Bobby can join in". 

And soon, little Bobby boy, little miss Haana and I were amidst cotton puff bubbles in the bath tub. Bobby boy, with his new found grasp was trying to use both his hands and 1 leg to get a hold of the yellow ducky as she bobbed around. When he missed and splashed the water instead, it would send the yellow ducky farther away bobbing in the water. Little miss Haana helped out by sending the yellow ducky back his way. After a few attempts, he finally got a hold of the ducky, and of course it went straight into his mouth! 

No pee pee fountains this time! 

Only 2 Hands

In the morning when little Bobby boy wakes up, he feeds and typically falls right back to sleep. I keep watching him sleep in my arms. With my one hand caressing his head, another his back. Then my one hand touching his sweet cheeks, another holding his soft baby arm. Then my one hand holding his hand and another around his legs. Then one hand touching his sweet baby nose and ears and another caressing the side of his tummy. The only problem is, i want to do all of that all together and i only got 2 hands!

Crinkle Toes

Sweet Bobby boy now has a few friends.

I have to mention the Crinkle Toes. The friendly neighborhood yellow lion with crinkly toes. Bobby boy first met him when he got his new play mat. And there on one side of the play mat was Crinkle Toes hanging from one corner, looking kind of interesting. But once Bobby held out his hand to touch the yellow lion, he came alive in all this crinkly golden glory! Especially the toes! And so the friendship began, where Bobby boy feasts on soft crinkly multi-colored lion toes, and the lion hangs in there and gets eaten :). 

In another friendship news, we have on the crib, pads on all sides that feature Winnie (from Winnie the pooh), and Tiger, pots of honey and buzzing bees around the inside on the crib. When Bobby boy is laying in his crib either fixing to fall asleep or just having woken up, he has long conversations with Winnie and Tiger. They make plans of what games they will play in the dreams next: climb aboard clouds, grow some wings and hop on tree to tree, i'm sure. 

Scooter

My little Bobby boy likes to go places. When he's on the play mat, he starts out at one corner. And then, soon, decides staying at one place is for sissies. So he scoots and drags himself; and if he hasn't been seen in the past 5 seconds, he's well on his way to some place else. Added to his reportaire lately has been rolling, from tummy to back and back to tummy, which means he can get to places faster. Also means he can jump off bed and other places at the blink of an eye, and can no longer be trusted to stay one place at all. 

All of this means, leave the Bobby boy at one place on the play mat, and in a few seconds he's found at another location.

He's also figured out there's another way for him to move from one location to another. Riding on someone's shoulder. And the elevation makes for good sight seeing as a bonus! 

Magic

I've neglected to write this earlier, but the truth is, we've all been partaking in this pleasure. My little boy Bobby, all of 4 months old, now routinely locks his eyes with another set of eyes, intently watches, and then, given the right circumstance, breaks into the ever-so-wonderful a smile. Full of instant delight!! Its the most wonderful thing! Fills the heart worry so much love and joy. My little Bobby boy is magic like that!

Worksheets

To get her ready for the new school year which will start soon enough, Dad printed some worksheets for little miss Haana to do during the day. There were a few pages of Math problems, and then one page of reading comprehension with several questions on the back for her to write answers for. I was working my half days on the dining table. 

From the corner of my eye I saw little miss Haana working on her work sheet. First, diligently on the math problems. Then after that, she disappeared briefly with the worksheets. I heard drawers open and shut, tape being pulled from the tape-roll, metal scissors, more drawers open and shut. In a few minutes, the girl was back and reported that she was done with her work. She left the worksheets and disappeared to have some well-earned fun!

Later Raj was checking her work in the worksheet. Math problems were solved correctly. Then he flipped over to the reading comprehension. The reading passage was printed on one side, and what was this white sheet of paper stuck to the backside? Instead of answering the questions for the reading comprehension, the girl stuck a white paper over the questions, and called it done! Apparently life is too short to be spent over answering reading comprehension questions!  This school semester will be a long one ;)!

We All Fall Down

Yesterday would forever be known as the infamous day - the day that would explain all future problems in my baby boy's life! The day I had a feeling is coming on - it's not a question of if, only a question of when.. The day that raises yet another eyebrow on my parenting skills.

So what happened? Bobby boy rolled over from the bed! :-(. He's been quite a roly-poly lately, rolling around with ease from tummy to back and back to tummy. He does that on his play mats and often rolls out of them onto the carpet. Someone has to repeatedly get him back on the playmat to avoid him chewing on dust mites and whatever else the carpet is hiding! 

But backing up, we had had a good sunday. After a good 5 months and a few weeks, we finally decided to visit friends of ours', little miss Haana's best friend Rushi's place for a play date: where parents hang out -chatting and eating while the kids hang out - playing and running around! It was Bobby boy's first visit to anyone's home too. We enjoyed our outing all of us. Bobby boy played and was amused by his Zeeta aunty and Sai uncle, and once he was tired, he took a good nap. Miss Haana and her best friend Rushi need only each other, and were scarcely seen most of that afternoon. The adults chit-chatted over cups over delicious decaf ginger chai, savory lunch and then snacks. We all had a good time! 

I was tired by the time we got back but there was work to be done. I had to give bobby boy a bath then an oil massage. These days little miss Haana enjoys a massage from me too. A feeding session before the bath, another session after the bath and then put boy to sleep (and not without a fight). Once i was done with the bath and massages I remembered little miss Haana needs her nails cut. At this time both the bobby boy and little miss Haana were hanging out on the bed. I cut her nails and was was just heading over to throw them in the trash when it happened. The little guy rolled over off the bed. I heard the soft thud followed by crying. Dad got him and picked him up and walked with him. I felt mad at everyone (all of us were in the same room sitting around on the bed or closeby when this happened) but mostly myself. Little miss Haana started crying too; big tears all the way around. She was scared if something happened to bobby. She said i don't like Bobby crying. I hugged her and told her babies need others to make sure they're safe (#failedit!), but also they need others to make sure they feel safe. If we cry and freak out, that will scare him more. So we have to pacify him, tell him is ok and he's fine. He's not broken, he's ok. Little Bobby boy had stopped crying in the other room and in this room little miss Haana felt better!

I remembered another incident like this one with little miss Haana when she was a baby and she rolled over the bed (Yes, i have done it before!). But after some searching through the old blogs i realized i was probably too mortified to write about it. I had sent a private email about the incident so i know it happened when little miss Haana was 4 months old (same age as Bobby boy now), and it scared me a lot. I remember pacing the bedroom with her in my arms, back and forth, worrying and wondering what to do. It was a friday evening, should i go to ER? Have i permanently damaged her? Is she gonna be ok? This time around, not that scared, but instead just mad. 

But my bestest friend tells me, babies bounce. So we are good!

MIT Appathon

Sometime mid last month I came across an idea. MIT had organized an appathon and I decided it will be a good idea for little miss Haana and I to participate together! So, i entered us and then waited to see if they'll select us. The contest was to be on a theme that will be disclosed at the beginning of the week, giving contestants 1 week to come up with a functioning app using the MIT platform - AppInventor, that supports block coding. 

Meanwhile i suggested little miss Haana do a few tutorials to acclimatize herself with the platform. So we did a few tutorials over the weeks leading up to the appathon week. 

It took me some time to realize that my little miss Haana is only 8 years old. And the way the coding concepts were taught when i learnt them, which was at age 18, will not work for a child as young as her. Of course it took several fights for that realization to dawn upon me! But when it did, i was humbled. So we deviced our own lingo. We likened cloud storage to a reference book in a library, and variables to a cheatsheet, data structure like a list to a book with pages. And thus we learnt along; using every day things to explain the coding constructs. Anything that required exploring and picking up new things and tools, little miss Haana was way ahead of me.

Finally the big week arrived. We had been waiting for it for a while now! Except i messed up on the timezones a little bit, and didn't realize the 'clock had started' till the next morning, about 14 hours later. But no worries, we have time, right?

On day 1, we brainstormed a little bit and came up with some ideas.. On day 2, little miss Haana was ready to go, but i wanted her to spend more time brainstorming and then creating mind-map and then getting more detailed in what the app screens will do. Obviously we faught over whether she should be more prescriptive or get moving along. 

On day 3 we started some coding for the app. We were building a game for other kids her age. And in the game, the kid has to keep their character at social distance from other kids running around in the play ground. In our brainstorming we reasoned this is the best way to teach kids about good choices. We talked about how we could extend it to different scenes - social distancing at playground, within a classroom, at recess etc. Then we talked about how we could extend that even outside of covid. We could teach kids make good choices against bullying, against discrimination etc. In our mind it had some real potential. And we were getting excited now!!

On day 4, things were getting a bit sticky.. For me, things were hitting against a wall, again. I had been telling little miss Haana to work at it, and expecting she would just sit by herself and work things out by herself. And that was not happening, she was actively not working on it, even though i was reminding her that time was running out. It was soo frustrating. Why was she throwing all this time away? Its only 3 more days and then she can do whatever she wants.. Several times in frustration, i told her lets quit it. Free ourselves from this madness and go about our way. But repeatedly little miss Haana said no. She was determined not to quit. And she wasn't letting me either. 

But in spite of that, she wouldn't sit and work it out by herself. What gives? After another fight that Dad needed to break us up from, it somehow dawned on me, as to why these fights never happen with dad. I realized, i need to reset my expectations. I am expecting her to be like a high school or college kid, who figured things out by herself; once explained or told, she'll just work at it by herself. It dawned on me, she's 8!!! She will not be able to work something out by herself, especially something like coding she had never done before, something that's new and more than a bit daunting. It finally dawned on me, how unreasonable my expectations are. 

Next, I sat with her, asking her questions along the way. Ensuring she understands what she's doing. And asking her what she needed to do next. Telling her when she couldn't connect the next dot herself. 

And now we were making progress! On the app. But even more importantly, progress between us. And perhaps most importantly she was making progress learning and not backing down. There's a ton of information on the appathon and coding. On the slack channels people were asking all kinds of questions. All daunting and scary for someone with no coding background. Indeed i have years of software experience and yet i can relate to that fear of what you don't know: how big, complex and uncanny it looks. And little by little, piece by piece she was adding functionality to her game, and she was crushing it! Most important of all, she was a turning into a fighter! 

Day 6 she had worked and finished up one game for her app. We were feeling good. We decided we will add another game to the app. And a chat component too. She's already made a chat earlier when we learnt concepts of global storage, so it should not be to hard. 

Day 7 we worked ALL day long. We didn't even break for lunch and barely got up from our chairs. Our deadline was 7pm. At 4, she started working on the video, which also had to be submitted with the app. She had started working on the transcript of it the previous day. Now we were refining it. Other last minute glitches and nail biting later, we finally uploaded the app and the video at 654pm!!!! Phew but Yeahhhh!! We high-fived! It was an intense day! But all culminating in this great sensation of achievement. She gave her feedback on the appathon too. It was a great feeling!

I think i learnt a thing or two during the appathon. Tempering my expectations with some reality check. Both little miss Haana and I, together came to a place where she can talk about her feelings without closing and bottling them up, however intensely and powerfully they flood her being. If i could get to be a bigger fan of hers', i just nailed it. She didn't give up, when though i provided several opportunities for her to do so. 

I hope in this exercise, she learnt some thing about herself. That she really can and does do whatever she sets her sights at. 

You go girl!

Shhh.. by Google

So looks like google has set up the best sales campaign for its google assistant device "nest" - they sent it to us free (for subscribing to youtube music). 

I am kind of a privacy enthusiast, for what is worth, so the device had been sitting out in the garage, unopened, for weeks. Recently, though, we needed something to play baby lullaby music without holding up the phone, so we finally pulled the nest out of the box. Raj told me the set up papers noted that the device only starts recording what you're saying when you preface it with "Hey Google..", and you can tweak what it has stored about you. 

The good thing is, its kind of handy to have. We've only just used it to play music. Although miss Haana tries to have conversation with it. It doesn't go very far. 

The other day Bobby boy was crying and after a few seconds i heard this shhhh shhh sound. I wondered what that was, and it was from the google nest. Looks like it started playing it in response to the crying, without being commanded to do so. Scary, creepy and in that instant, kind of handy. Am i sort of amused but the device? Certainly. Am i warming up to it? Nah, i wouldn't go that far! Is it still plugged in? Mmmm yes, yes it is. (Feeling a little bit like a fraud)!

Water Bender

It is not good to waste water. It is also not good to waste a perfectly good rain!

Little miss Haana and I agree on this. I had just finished my breakfast and Bobby boy had just fallen asleep that the sudden sound of rain surprised me. I opened the front door and it was raining hard. Wonderful, wonderful summer rain. Resplendent with the fragrance of wet earth and of fresh green-ness. Pitter pattering rain drops in the front yard and park. 

Little miss Haana wanted to check whether she gets wet if she runs up to the front gate and back. Somewhat wet but not soaking. Would she get wet if she did it again? Somewhat. And again? And again and again and again? I had to get in on the experiment too. So, both of us together. But once was not enough. Except, this time we didn't head back indoors. 

Eddies and streams on every sidewalk. And puddles on every bend. We were both bare foot, feeling the sidewalk rivers to check which ones were warmer. One of us was jumping on the puddles, the crazy one! I was peering at the puddles checking if the bottom is muddy or just dark. Drenched now, the both of us. Holding hands in the pattering rain. Going farther in the neighbourhood. Still barefoot. But i'm cold, i told little miss Haana. 'You'll get used to it and then you'll adapt!', she told me and pulled me on. Deeper puddles were cooler, but I liked the eddies by the sidewalk the best, with warm water running to meet us. We headed towards the lake, it looked like a sheet of silver with pattering raindrops on it. "It looks so blue, and look, almost silver over there at a distance. Like an ombre", little miss Haana says. I had to ask her what am ombre means, and then I complained about her knowing words that I don't know! (She's been finishing one book every 2 days lately). "People must think we are crazy", one of us said. "But who cares!! This is so fun!", says miss Haana. It's in moments such as these I get the warm golden feeling, some part of this parenting thing is going well! Do what makes you feel truly happy inside. Not because its cool. Not because it fits in the plan. Not because.. Just because. Its what makes life worth living. Its what makes life full of living. The rest, all of the rest, is just stuff...

We find ourselves a deep puddle by our garage lane, and proceeded to practice our ninja warrior moves of a water bender/air bender/taikwando black belt with lots of sound and action, turning and splashing (mostly from little miss Haana). We came up with our secret water-bender hand shake,  although it took some convincing on my part for her to agree! 

Soon the rain was almost over and it was time to head back indoors. Completely soaking now! Raj had thoughtfully put out towels and bath robes for the both of us by the back door. A morning well spent. The little Bobby boy, who slept through it, was just waking up now. I promised him we'll take him along next time! :)

Pool Party

Yesterday after a long day (i'll cover that in another blog) little miss Haana got out of the house on her bike to play with her friends. Soon she ran back indoors to ask if she can hang out with her friends in their inflatable pool. I stepped outside to look down the lane and I saw it. A 4 feet wide inflatable pool in front of their garage. There were 3 of her buddies already in there rubbing elbows with each other. Rajesh and I looked at each other in dismay. 'Why did they do this to us', is what came to my mind. 

Normally, its summer, and I would be totally fine with her hanging out in their little pool especially since it meant i don't have to watch her the whole time. However, this was not a normal summer, not this year. And due to Covid, we had been trying to be more cautious and avoid certain settings. Being in a tiny pool with other kids up close was one of those settings. 

Little miss Haana had had a long day and had been looking forward to playing with her friends like a jail bird just released. Only to find out all her friends were playing a game she couldn't partake in. Poor thing cried and we felt for her, but there was just nothing to be done. She was pissed. No one was happy that evening. And unfortunately that included the little Bobby boy. 

That night Bobby boy was fussy for usually long, didn't feed well all evening. A phone call to the after hours pediatrics nurse gave us a recommendation to head to the emergency room. All of this made it even more stressful. Lots more of walking with him, driving with him, more walking, singing and finally he nursed and fell asleep close to mid night. Just one of those days. 

Next day, it was saturday. After breakfast, I asked little miss Haana if she wanted to sit in the bubble bath for our very own pool party. Of course she did. I decided little Bobby boy needed to have his first pool party as well. So we sat in our pool party, the three of us. Little miss Haana taught me how to make waves that will send the yellow ducky scoot to the other side of the tub! The boy sat on my lap, and initially, watched cautiously with knitted eyebrows as the bubbles floated up his tummy. But soon, his legs were cycling in the water and he even threw his arms that made tiny splashes. I figured if he's not crying or fussing, he must be enjoying it. 

The peak of enjoyment for little miss Haana and i came, of course, when we witnessed the fountain: the peepee fountain that is! We laughed and also cheered for some reason. But that was my cueue to head out of the tub with the boy. A towel dry, followed by massage and a tummy full of milk later, the boy was in sweet dreams of lala land! And i felt i somewhat redeemed myself of being the previous evenings' pool party pooper. Not that I will admit to it!

Discovery Saturday

We had ourselves an adventure this morning. But begin from the beginning..

Little Bobby boy was making noises that woke me up. It was 620am. Those noises are his way of saying i'm awake now. I fed him and he fell right back to sleep. This is usual for him when he wakes up for his first feeding in the morning (all fun and games happen after he wakes up again). Little miss Haana had said the previous night she wanted to go on a bike ride with me. I was pleased. I had started riding my bike about a couple months back as a way for her and me to get out and get some workout in this covid season, together. But soon she elected to bike ride with her friends instead of me(:-/) and I had started going on bike rides by myself since. So, I was super pleased there's some resurging interest in riding with me! 

I woke up little miss Haana and we were soon off on our way, down the neighborhood onto the bike trail. We went for a good distance, through ups and downs watching white and grey egrets dot our paths. It was a good ride! As we headed back home, little miss Haana wanted to stop by her cousins', who stays just a block from us. I waved at them and started on my way home. A little distance away i saw what looked like a greenish-grey rock smack in the middle of the concrete street. When i got closer I realized, it was not a rock at all. It was a turtle. And it was moving! But what was a turtle doing in the middle of the street?! I decided I will get it some help. I biked back home and woke up Raj. "There's a turtle in the middle of the road, we need to get it to safety.". I really meant 'You need to get it to safety!'. I yanked the little Bobby boy from his sleepy abode and swiftly hurrried back outside with the boy in my arms. Soon Raj was out too. The turtle meanwhile had moved closer to a small grassy patch and was quite possibly cringing at my interest. 

We decided we will take the turtle to the grass near the lake. But not before a couple curious kids had seen it up close. We knocked on the cousins' and both little miss Haana and her cousin, 3, were wide eyed with excitement. Of course Haana wanted to hold the thing too. And check out where the turtle buried his head. And check out its flippers. It was Discovery saturday, up close and personal!

The entourage, now, headed towards the lake. The big spectacle of releasing the turtle. We decided we should release him close to the lake on the grass. When Raj released him, for a few seconds nothing happened. Had he died? We wondered. He had slipped out of Raj's hand while on our way when he scratched his hand with his flippers to get out. But we needn't have worried. In a few seconds, it realized it was by itself and ran, instinctively towards the lake. Only to topple over at the ledge before hitting the lake. The animal rescuer by weekend, Raj, helped the animal on its feet again. And this time the turtle quickly dived into the water without further ado. 

We waited for a minute to see if the small turtle head come out of the water. But perhaps the turtle didn't want more interaction with well meaning humans after all. And so we all headed back home. Discover show end. :)

Feelings

Overheard little miss Haana, while little boy Bobby was crying while being tucked into bed: "Big boys don't cry, Bobby! You're a big boy. Big boys don't cry. Big boys talk about their feelings"...

(Me thinking, aww she's so cute !)

Let's Get One of These

This evening, mysteriously, the house was run over by these notes. They were everywhere, on the bathroom counter, on the mirror, on the shower door, in the bathroom, on the beside table, several over the stairs, on the walls, on the linen closet door, on the computer monitors..(they are everywhere!). 

Little miss Haana wants a dog. I might have unwittingly encouraged her too. I love dogs too. And at one point i agreed with her, i want one too. 

Growing up, i did exactly what she's doing right now - urge my parents to get a dog. I tried unsuccessfully to adopt a puppy off the streets, multiple times. And then when i was in 7th grade, we were visiting my aunt and she was fostering a puppy she got from her friend, and this time, i was able to get my parents to adopt it! His name was Lucky, and it was quite a ride we started on! I have to admit, in spite of good intentions my parents ended up with much of the work for Lucky. He was a run away dog, or at least, he had a significant phase where he liked to run away from home. I did shoulder the responsibility to go find him, run after him and catch him to get home. It was an unenviable task. My sister and I tried training him to fetch, sit, shake (hand/paw); even attack (we figured he should be an attack dog). He was a smart dog, probably too smart, that he was almost incorrigible. When he passed away, i think my mom felt the saddest. Even though she didn't want to get a dog initially, she was very fond of him. And she was so sad when he died. I had already moved out to live in the US, I didn't see him in the end. 

Now little miss Haana wants a dog. She's been treking all her neighborhood friends and mine that we are going to get one. They ask me about it. I tell them she's been telling me we're going to get one too! As much as i would like to get one, might have enough on our hands already!

The Ups and Downs

First the ups.

Little girl Haana got a red balloon from her dear cousin Varam's. We decided to play volleyball with it. Miss Haana and I took turns head bumping or foot kicking the balloon. Suddenly peals of laughter was heard. I had little Bobby boy in my arms and he was mighty amused with the balloon. I made him head bump the balloon again and again, and each time this little thing would break into a giggle! We laughed with him, moving round and round in the living room, me carrying the boy in my arms, head bumping or fist thumping the red balloon; and miss Haana jumping and ducking to salvage the balloon before it hits the floor. It was a fun game for everyone!

Later than evening after the boy woke up from his afternoon nap, little miss Haana and I gave the boy a performance of a lifetime. Late in the afternoon, when miss Haana was getting stir crazy at home, and it was still to hot to step out outsider yet, i suggested she show me some dance moves. She played the gonoodle app, that has videos of a group of teenagers singing and dancing to a foot thumping song, its videos intended to get up from the couch and get moving.  One of the songs sounded really fun, and I decided what can be enjoyed by one can be enjoyed more by two. Or three. So we set up the chromebook in front of our audience - the Bobby boy, and moved to the beat. I concede i do not move quite as much as the girl next to me. But the audience did not complain! :) 

Now the downs.

One of little Bobby boy's favorite play toy has been the purple monkey with a cymbal. This evening when i put the boy in the playmat for tummy time, he found the monkey, and as with all things dear to him, he proceeded to chew on the monkey. Except this time, he was trying to chew on the cymbal and my little baby skin on the upper lip got caught between the cymbal. When he bit into it with his gums, his skin got caught in the cymbal, and my poor baby screamed in pain. The skin above his upper lip all red and got a press mark. The boy was screaming murder. I picked up my little baby and knew he must have hurt himself in the mouth even before I saw it. I admonished the monkey, which is banished for now. My poor baby boy had big fat tears all streaming down his face. I felt so bad. I kept him close to me, filling him up with hugs and loads of kisses. The trooper that he is, he stopped crying soon. All of us felt so bad. Little miss Haana suggested maybe we put a medicine on his booboo. No, I said. Babies are tricky that way, you can't give them medicines normally. But in a few minutes as he breathed easy, so did the rest of us! Phew! 

Social Animal

Social studies books told me - man is a social animal. 

The little Bobby boy even more so. Once he is awake and fed and changed; he's in his happy place. Which means now he wants to talk! He wants to play! He wants eye contact, he wants to exchange smiles, to wants to gurgle and coo, he wants to be tickled and to laugh. He wants a participating audience. 

And while he likes to munch on the butterfly teether toy, a lot like his elder sister little Miss Haana, he is quite a butterfly himself too! 

Bear Eating

Animal rights activists may not appreciate this, but we have on our hands a bear eating boy.

Mr Bear initially became popular as the first friend of my sweet little Bobby boy. He can thank my dear friend Becki (his Becki nani) for gifting him :). 

But then at some point the boy decided any friend of his, especially a chocolate colored bear, must taste good as well. And so now, Mr Bear's nose and ears are often soggy slush-balls. The kind of thing you'll be sorry you touched! Miss Haana would say- "Eeeww! Baby drool!". :)

Perfect

There are times like today, when i think about my little miss Haana; and I am taken aback at how breathtakingly perfect she is.. so beautiful, so loving, so creative, so full of life.. so full of effervesence.. Indeed she's the most fun person I've ever known. She's her very own person, bubbling with 'pizzaz' and fiercely independent.

And when i sit for a moment and think of her, i am overwhelmed by how amazing a person she is. She's extraordinarily talented, way beyond her years. 

Together we laugh and we fight, we spar and makeup, sometimes we irritate each other and then blow air kisses to each other. I tease her at times, but I also nag her religiously. We cuddle in warm embrace at times and tackle each other while giggling uncontrollably at others. She dazzles me with her ingenuity, her engineering and her creativity. 

She's my pyaara bachha (loving/lovely child). And at times like these when i just sit for a moment and reflect on my life with her, due to her; I cant help but marvel at how she amazes me, brings in my life -  love unparalleled; and the heady, bubbling fizziness of life. I am thankful and grateful to have a wonderful child and an amazing beautiful girl like her. I keep wanting to put her in a glass enclosure, she's so precious, and so perfect. And while that is not possible, I take heart, she's a tough cookie too.  

Acorns

I got asked this question by Raj recently - "Ever seen a squirrel when it finds an acorn?".

"It holds the precious acorn up in both paws. Gets it close to its snout. Then it smells and tastes the acorn, nibs at it as it holds it up in both paws close to its mouth". 

He didn't need to explain why we were suddenly talking about squirrels. I knew instantly when I turned to look at little Bobby boy. 

Here we have our very own squirrel, holding up both his fists in front of his mouth, like they were something very precious and not to be shared. He tastes and nibbles at these acorn hands of his. Luckily he's toothless so the acorns are safe. For now! :) 

Pull up Bar to Touchdown

As a newborn baby little Bobby has liked to keep his hands in a tight fist, both fists close to each cheek and tightly held. For first several weeks I couldn't even get to the inside of his elbows at bath time, cause the arms are tightly held in position. It's like an invisible pull up bar exists in front of him, and he's holding on tight. In fact, the sure sign of deep sleep would be when the fists start opening up and the arms fall down or sideways. 

After a few months of a rigorous pull up routine, little Bobby boy had now moved to umpire football games, and has been recently spotted sleeping in the touchdown position - both arms straight up! 

This is me reporting live for Sports Illustrated. For further updates, stay tuned!

Roly Poly

Typically little Bobby boy wakes up from the night's sleep between 430 and 530am. Has his fill of milk and most days goes back to sleep. Then, he wakes up again between 7 and 830. This time, he has his milk and now, is wide awake. It's time to play! He's looking for faces to smile at, laugh with, giggle and cycle together. 

Yesterday, after a good session of play time together, I was putting the boy in his crib for tummy time while I go and brush. It's no secret. He does not like his tummy time, he tries to get himself out of it and swing back on his back, but he can't on his own, most of the time he ends up frustrated (some other times he gives up and goes to sleep!). This day, though, he was somehow able to swing from his tummy to his back! I clapped and cheered and hooted when I saw what he did. He stared back at me wondering what all the fuss was about! 

Later on the day, he did it again. This time little miss Haana saw it too and we both made some noise together! My boy has turned into a roly poly!!!

In another roly poly news, little miss Haana has decided to keep a roly poly as a pet. Her name is Rola. Miss Haana created a habitat for Rola, and there she lives. I've been trying to convince her to release Rola to the "wild", but that's still work in progress!

Here's to all the roly polys of the world! :)

Boppy Pillow

For those who don't know, a boppy pillow is a semi circular shaped (moon shaped) pillow used for nursing. I've had one since little miss Haana was born. It has a flowery pink pillow case. Now, it's little Bobby boy's turn to lay on it. However, the pillow has not always been this popular. 

Little miss Haana refused to nurse quite early on, and so the pillow was rarely used by her. Now that the big sister sees the boy lay on the pillow quite a bit, a new found love for the pillow has been discovered. Quite often, when the boy is fixing to turn in for the night, he lays there on the pink boppy pillow and starts falling asleep on my lap. Along comes little miss Haana, and lays down next to us on the bed with her head on the boppy. 

Boppy, who's spent much of its last 8 and a half years lying in some corner ignored or suffocating in the closet, has never felt so popular, amidst not one but both the babies.

Both Boppy and I couldn't be happier! :)

Food

Food is a necessity of life. Most literally for babies. American Association of Pediatrics recommend babies be given only the mother's milk or formula for the first 6 months of life. 

I've been lucky to be able to breastfeed the boy. Last time with little miss Haana, breastfeeding had some bumps along the road. And because of that I had to exclusively pump. Expressing milk is a lot of time and effort (tons of bottle washing multiple times a day, sanitizing the bottle and breast pump parts, spending beaucoup time expressing milk, saving milk, warming milk, freezing milk, carrying breast pump everywhere; the list goes on). Expressing milk also needs a lot of help.. the baby still needs to be fed and taken care of, watched and talked to, while I am expressing milk for the next feeding. Luckily there was a lot of help when miss Haana was little. She had a nanny and we had grand parents visiting. All of this pumping had plenty of up side too. Little miss Haana was able to get breast milk for her entire first year. And that's certainly worth all of that effort.

This time though, armed with experience, and much to be thankful for, things have been much smoother.. 🤞

New Cool Thing

In little Miss Haana's violin class, her teacher asked me today about miss Haana's little brother,   "So, what's the cool new thing he's been doing?". 

I thought there are quite a few things he's been doing lately... holding on to things tightly now, sleeping for longer in the night - a good 6-8 hours most days, moving hands and legs about etc. But I didn't say any of that. Because the coolest thing by far, that's so off the charts that it doesn't even compare is.. he laughs!

And that's not all. He likes people talking to him. So much so that sometimes if he's by himself, he cries out. And as soon as sometime comes along to check on him, and makes eye contact with him, he breaks into a smile! It's the sweetest smile! And then he coos and giggles and gurgles too. Enough to send us to the moon! 

The little boy making eye contact, 'talking' in earnest and giggling when he fancies, is the best thing ever!

Rag Doll

For the most part little Bobby boy is treated like a precious porcelain doll, with utmost affection and handled with caution and care. There are a few exceptions. 

The little boy likes to play! No longer satisfied with just feeding and sleeping (and pooping!); when he's awake and fed, he wants to talk and interact. He wants people respond to his gurgling conversation, he wants fun and games, he wants to cycle his legs along while listening to animated stories. And when other people would call out his name or respond to him, he'll break into the sweetest melt-your-heart smile!

Most people would look at that smile and laugh out loud with joy! But not little miss Haana. Unable to quite contain the happiness bursting out of her, she gives her little brother big sloppy kisses smack on his cotton candy cheeks, and locks him in a bear hug! Then she buries her big (in comparison) face into his head and gives him more kisses and hugs. I lean in, jealous. I want to be part of this aggressive kissing circle too! 

Occasionally little miss Haana lets me in, and we both target 1 boy cheek each. But most of the times, I watch; laugh and complain how she treats the boy like a ragdoll, and roughs him up. She laughs and continues. Little Bobby boy doesn't mind at all. In fact, he's out there laughing, enveloped in hugs and cycling the whole time. Not quite a porcelain doll after all!

I am Upset

This happened twice yesterday: little miss Haana got upset and she claimed that little Bobby boy was mad at her. 

Yesterday morning, little miss Haana and I were playing and cooing with Bobby boy. The boy was on his changing pad. Suddenly little miss Haana's hand flicked the strap of the changing pad and the buckle hit the boy on his face. It didn't really hit him that much, but it caught him by a surprise. A surprise that he didn't like. He started crying, looking very unhappy. I proceeded to pick him up to comfort him, but for little miss Haana the damage was done. She felt really upset and left immediately. I finally found her a little while later moping in her room. 

Later that evening, little miss Haana and I were playing and talking to little Bobby boy and he smiled his patented melt-your-heart most wonderful smile! Of course it melted our hearts and both little miss Haana and I laughed. Haana then let out a high pitched yelp full of excitement and love. Only the little boy was caught by surprise and immediately the smile turned upside down into a frown. He cried. Little miss Haana went from feeling elated to feeling like a disappointment. And she slunked away. 

I found her in her room moping under a blanket. She claimed the little boy is mad at her, he doesn't even like her. Aww, i thought, how does she come up with such crazy ideas! I reminded her how he loves her talking to him, how he listens intently to her playing the violin - even when he may have been upset, how he listens to her reading to him. He must love all those things she does for him. And then I reminded her, he's just a baby yet. He doesn't know how to be mad at someone just yet. He just got surprised at something happening to him suddenly, that's all! And he doesn't know of any other way to communicate than to cry. 

It took sometime, but she eventually came around, and all is well in my world again!

Sweet Dreams

Sweet little Bobby baby asleep in my lap is my favorite place in the whole wide world. Little miss Haana likes to come and lie down with her head on the boppy pillow next to bobby too. 

Grunter

Isn't it amazing that babies, even newborns - born with no experience of the world - already have their own set of likes and dislikes, preferences and opinions. Even though they are tiny and can't hold their head straight or walk or talk or do much, a baby is still its very own person!

With the second child, one has the luxury or the menace of comparison. As little Bobby boy grows we discover more and more of him, there are some things apparent right away. 

Little miss Haana could sleep inside a ringing alarm clock. Even though, like most kids, she did resist falling asleep. But once she was ready to sleep, not much could change her mind from it. This became apparent when she was 11 days old. We had taken her for her first visit to the temple. We happened to be there at the time of evening service: aarti. The bells were ringing, people were singing, music was playing, lights were on, there were several people around; all of that was going on. And this little baby decided its time to sleep, and nothing else really mattered, she slept righy through it all.

Little Bobby boy, though, is much different. He needs just the right environment for finally succumbing to sleep. Lights dimmed, blinds closed,  lullabies singing, the baby in a bouncer or arms swinging, blanket warm and cozy. And even then, Bobby boy would keep opening his eyes to see if he's missing out on anything. I've resorted to an old tactic I used with little miss Haana. I cover the naughty baby eyes with my hand. This is my way of manually closing the baby eyes, much like the dolls with eyelids that get stuck and need to be purposefully closed! Miss Haana used to fight it when I would put my hand over eyes, little Bobby boy seemingly accepts his fate but in fact tries to check if the hand is gone repeatedly by opening his eyes now and again. 

Little Bobby boy is also quite a noisy camper. He grunts and stretches, then grunts and turns. He grunts and closes his eyes, and grunts and cycles his feet. He's a grunter! This is actually not bad for the most part. Little miss Haana in comparison, was and is, a very quiet sleeper. In fact, when she was a baby, i used to go over and put my hand on her to make sure she's still breathing. No such testing is required for the boy. For sometime it appeared that perhaps little Bobby boy is uncomfortable. We didn't know how to make him more comfortable. I even recorded his grunting to check with his pediatrician. But with time we have concluded, Bobby boy is a grunter! And indeed the cutest grunter too!