Throwing Game

Most games that kids force their parents to play are a drag. Especially after repeating them a million times over. 

These days little Bobby boy's favorite play is to throw things and watch them tumble down. Certain things like his burp cloth don't go without a fight. They are really good at holding on to the bed. Those have to be dealt with with persistence. Others like the yellow dino is easy peasy. Just take him by the hand or head to the edge and send him in his way rolling in a hurry! 

Then there's food too. When telling Bobby boy repeatedly not to throw his grilled cheese down on the floor, little Bobby eyes regard us with interest and mild curiosity. Twinkling eyes blink at us. Holds the gaze with focus, and then, without blinking, throws another piece hurtling away towards the floor! 

No boundaries. No regard for anyone else. No repercussions. And nothing anyone can do anything about. This must be paradise for him! :-/

Chocolate Boy

We moved to our new house in 2nd week of January, 2021. On the 8th. There are some places little Bobby boy really likes in the new house. One of them is the pantry.

As soon as he sees the pantry door open, he scuttles towards it quietly. Thinking, 'If I dont make any noise, no one will notice me'. Once at the pantry, his first order of business is to take care of them cans. Normally, they are nicely arranged in a can-organizing-shelf. But little Bobby boy is not going to have any of that! He takes out as many cans as he can, sets them free from the clutches of the shelf, and sends each one of them rolling along on is way. They're then found is various corners of the living room. 

But on a recent endeavour, Bobby boy found  something else too. He found an interesting looking box. On closer inspection, the box opened and revealed several curious brown pieces. Little hands picked up the pieces and regarded them with interest. They seemed slippery and melty too. Let's taste them! Ooh, this is good! Soon brown gooey stuff was all over little Bobby boy's fingers, hands, clothes and face. Mumma found him this way, with chocolate all over him and inside the mouth!! "Chocolate boy!!". There's no record of how many pieces disappeared that evening!

Tasty Snow - Take 2 (Spoiler - Not so tasty anymore)

After the fun filled sunday, the entire landscape had changed into a winter wonderland. But monday morning wasn't all that rosy. When I went to take a shower, water pressure was painfully low, finally trickling to a stop. No water! Anywhere!! Oh no, this couldn't be happening!!

What can we do? Brought in a few gallon jugs of drinking water we had in the garage from the last camping trip. Checked with neighbors, they had their water running, got some water from them in recycle bins. But water is needed for everything.. washing hands, dishes, toilets, cooking, drinking, cleaning, everything! I attended my work meetings while Raj fed Bobby boy lunch and we ate left overs in paper plates. I hadn't brushed in the morning. I suited up in winter pants and jacket and went to pee in the backyard in the snow - a designated bush. Then i recruited miss Haana to go get buckets full of snow from  outside to melt into water. Unfortunately snow is very fluffy and you need a lot of snow to make very little water. Things one learns! 

Incidentally, we had just moved into this house a few weeks back, and our old house was all freshly cleaned, painted, carpets stream cleaned; all ready but not sold yet. I checked with my friend in the old neighborhood, and looked like they had water and power. It seemed clear water in our house can't get fixed till temperatures get above freezing, at the end of the week. Also became clear it will be v hard to survive without water for the entire week. We decided to take a chance on the roads and on tuesday we packed up just a few essentials - kitchen utensils, bread butter cheese milk eggs; and headed to the old house with sleeping bags. 

Back in the old house: Power? Check. Heat? Check. Water? Check! All the essentials! Bobby boy inspected the empty kitchen cabinets. Opened drawers and decided he wants to sit inside the drawer. Got out of it, and then climbed back into it again! Then he took a new fancy with the stairs! And when none of us were watching him for a short few seconds, he crawled all the way to the 2nd floor, all by himself. So proud of himself he was! Giggling all the way! 

Little miss Haana spent lots of time at her cousins' closeby. Played in the snow with her neighborhood friends. Even though the old house had no internet, and her chromebook died without the power chord, her time was well spent!

Bobby boy took on another new fancy - riding on Papa's arms. Vantage point, light house view. Who wants to crawl on the floor anymore! 

By thursday evening, water came back in our new house as inexplicably as it had disappeared. Packing and back home again. Temperatures are still below freezing for another day or two. And many many people are without power and heat in this cold. There is so very much to be thankful for indeed. 

Tasty Snowfall

This has been a crazy crazy week, and it is not even over yet. 

We saw record low temperatures this week. Snow was in forecast starting saturday night. Little miss Haana's school was declared off due to very cold weather on thursday. Then, it was a planned student holiday on friday and monday. Little miss Haana and her best buddy Rushi had been planning to have a sleepover during the long weekend. However those expectations needed to be reset. Temperatures were going to plummet on saturday with snow and treacherous road conditions starting saturday night. Instead, her friend came over for a playdate during the day on saturday. 

Sunday morning, anything was white and flurries were fluttering in the wind outside! Wow! For a while we enjoyed our Sunday morning viewing the outside from the comfort and coziness of the inside. But by the afternoon, it was clear, we have to get out and enjoy the snow. I pealed little miss Haana from her laptop, on video call from Rushi; to go outside. There was several inches of snow everywhere outside! And flurries still floating in the air. We played with snowballs, ran around, traced footsteps in snow.. went to the playground and played more with snow! We passed few other folks like us, walking in the snow or playing ball outside. We waved them hello. My fingers were seriously hurting with the cold now, and I couldn't wait to get them back to warmth. Bobby boy missed the action cause he was taking a nap.

Later that evening, it started snowing real hard. Raj had decided to grill chicken (not my idea) and little miss Haana wanted to play in the snowfall again. Surely Bobby boy wouldn't miss all the snowy action! I geared him up till he was a michelin man and then took him out to the backyard in the falling snow. Raj and Haana were playing snow-soccer.. where you start by kicking the soccer ball in the snow, and then just kick the snow instead of the ball! More snowball fight ensued. Snow angels were made! Bobby boy observed it all. I held up some snow to his face. I had bundled up his hands so he couldn't touch it. I held up some fluffy white snow by his face in stead. Of course, he wanted to eat it! It seemed like he thought it was interesting. 

I thought Bobby had somewhat of a lukewarm response. He was quietly observing our snow ball fight and the falling snow, but wasn't wanting to go dive into it. He was content to be in my arms. In the cold, his nose was leaking, so I decided he and I must head back.

As soon as i got him in, he protested! Took him out again, all complains are withdrawn. Hmm, so he does like the snow. Wants to stay out?! After few more minutes we finally came back inside. Little miss Haana made hot chocolate for all of us, all by herself! 

Bobby's first snow fall. It was tasty!