Spelling Bees

How many 'r's are there in the word sorry?

Zero. It is spelled as sowwy.

How many 'y's are there in the word yellow?

Zero. It is spelled lellow.

How many 'l's and 'r' are in the word library?

Zero. It is spelled wibwawy.

How many 'r's are there in the word orange?

Zero. It is spelled owange. 

How many 'r's are there in the word green?

Zero. It is spelled gween.

So far in this spelling bee, it is Bobby boy 5, and the rest at 0. 

Please Knock

Little miss Haana has moved to another bedroom a couple months back. I have actively resisted, desisted and discouraged the idea and its execution. However it has still come to pass. I miss her, and I still have all kinds of stipulations of how much time she can spend all by herself (away from me), i would say I've only had partial success. 

Anyhow one day a notice of "Please Knock" went up on the door of her room. This can only mean one thing. To go in the room and look around and then, and only then, knock at the door or wall of any knock-able surface. 

Miss Haana didn't think that was the expected behavior.. 

Fox Backpack

Little miss Haana got a little backpack from school. A prize for something she did. It was tiny, puffy, shaped like a little fox, and so cute. 

Recently Bobby boy has been needing to take his water bottle to school. I thought he can have a small backpack to put his water bottle in. 

The little fox backpack couldn't have appeared at a better time. Bobby boy fitted it with his prized blakie and a toy, and wore the backpack all evening long. He even wanted to sleep with the backpack on his back, before I told him he will need to keep the backpack away for sleeping. He went and have his little backpack hang in with mumma, Papa and Gugu's large backpack!

This morning brimming with pride, Bobby boy went to school with his backpack. Showed it to his teacher Ms. Sabine, who exclaimed such a cute fox it was! And then hung it by his cubbies in the class. With a smile as wide as a fox's grin!!

Please Knock

A new sign came up on little miss Haana's for. "Please Knock", it says.

I did the most reasonable thing. I opened the door and entered, and then once inside I knocked to announce I'm here. 

Little miss Haana didn't appreciate my approach!

12th Birthday

In spite of my insistence to the contrary little miss Haana decided to turn 12 this birthday. I think growing up is so overrated! 

Our day started with the kids woken up 30 minutes earlier than usual for a cake cutting in the morning. Video calls with both sets of grand parents and with Softy mausi, with birthday wishes, hugs and kisses and then little miss Haana and Bobby boy were both off to school. 

I had a packed day at work, but left to make a run for target in the middle of the day to pick up some last minute supplies. Then, finished my day at work earlier than usual to set up the star attraction for the birthday - the treasure hunt. I had written the riddles in my scratch pad the day before, so now was the time to write them out on paper, stick some stickers, wrap the gifts and place them in their hiding places. Then, prepare cake batter and let the baking begin. 

Raj brought the packages home just in time! Little miss Haana had had a good day at school. Each of her teachers had given her something special for her special day. Violin teacher had played happy birthday on his recorder, with his nose! At karate, Mr. Hood had then do a plank while singing happy birthday. At math class Ishaan just started singing happy birthday and the other kids joined in. At lunch several boys pooled in money to buy little miss Haana several cookies and treats. 

As soon as she got home, it was time for the treasure hunt to begin. She went through reading each clue, running around the house to figure out the clue and find the treasure. It took some time but soon all the 8 treasures were found. And it was time for cake cutting a a 3 tiered chocolate cake was not going to eat itself!

After cake it was time to head out for dinner. Little miss Haana was pleased with all her treasures! But not as much as we are pleased for her :).

Happy birthday my sweetness :) 

12th Birthday Treasure Hunt

As per tradition, for little miss Haana's 12th birthday, this evening we had the treasure hunt. 

See if you can figure out the clues for finding each of the hidden treasures. Each clue leads to a treasure and the clue for the next treasure..

Momentarily Quenched

Middle school has not been kind to me. Apart from the logistics and the tactical issues (after and before school activities ending on different times every weekday, getting cancelled with no patchy communication), little miss Haana has decided she's all grown up. She moved out to her own bedroom. Not only does she not sleep with me anymore, she goes to school, comes back and then she's always either busy with homework or some other activity or in her room. I feel like she's not around anymore, even though we stay in the same house and I miss her!

Of course my missing her manifests in random ways including getting irritated with her for all kinds of things including reading books (where is the time for Mumma?!). I try to remind her that I miss her and this weekend we did go out for walks. I felt momentarily quenched. Only for so long though!

New Schools

What is it about new schools that fills parents with a sense of foreboding anxiety?

In August little miss Haana was starting middle school! Not just a new school, but so much more. No longer will they have a home room and home room teacher who spends a lot of time with them. Now each class will be in different room, 4 minutes of time to move in between classes. Students have to keep track of their schedule. Teachers are no longer baby-ing my baby! 

Not everyone was filled with anxiety. Little miss Haana was mostly excited. A bit nervous but mostly excited. A couple days before classes were about to start the school has a welcome night. Little miss Haana caught up with all her friends who, like her, wanted to be done with the summer and get back to each other!

For the parents, it would take a bit longer to figure out. New school, new teachers. New pick up and drop off timings. New bus schedule. New routes. But most of all it meant my baby little miss Haana was growing up. 

On another front, Bobby, who was now enjoying his playschool was now going to go to a new montessori. We had done some homework. Toured multiple montessoris in our neighborhood, then zeroed in on 2. Met the teachers at both the places and decided on one. But the big question was, would Bobby like it there?

A few more weeks of worrying about it, and then it was time for Bobby to start the new school. We went to drop him off with a lot of trepidation. He was excited to be going to 'big boy school'. His teacher engaged him in dinosaurs and just like that, he was good! I turned around, lingered outside the class door before finally heading home. When I came back to pick him up, he was doing great! 

So just like that both Bobby and little miss Haana started new schools!

Haana's Weekly Roundup #2

Turns out last week's Haana's Weekly Roundup was a resounding success. Multiple subscribers were snagged by the newspaper, and early customers surveyed (interrogated) for feedback. This feedback was almost all very positive, except from this one pesky reader who insisted on some "improvements" (scoff)! Anyhow, to appease this very persistent (irate) reader, some minor changes and enhancement were instituted. 

So, here below, the new and already enhanced, Haana's Weekly Roundup for week 2!

Haana's Weekly Roundup #1

My little miss Haana came out with a weekly newsletter giving news and trivia from both near and far. 

She came up with the idea, then designed and wrote the stories and printed them up so look like the Sunday newsletter. 

I am liking these Sunday newsletters!

Mother's Day

This mother's day i got some potent gifts. A really thoughtful spread and several tickets to get whatever I want!! I've already used one ticket to have the amazing baker little miss Haana bake me a chocolate cake! 

I see more cake in my future 😀

Big Fat India Trip

June was a big month. It was a month of a big trip. Trip to India to visit grandparents. A first for Bobby boy. And a 5 year hiatus for little miss Haana. 

It was 3 week trip split between Delhi and Chennai; with a side of a trip to Kanyakumari. The long flight to Delhi was punctuated with a 6 hr layover. Both little miss Haana and Bobby boy slept a little bit on the flight. But once we got to the airport lounge to spend time during our layover, Bobby boy was certainly in what I call - the energizer-bunny-mode! Running around and very animated, like someone fitted him with brand new batteries! The flights were relatively good, both Haana and Bobby did well, watched their videos, ate their meals, slept for a bit and mostly left me alone to catch a movie or two.. or three. 

At Delhi, nani and nana (maternal grandparents) were delighted to see them. We had delicious food, prepared by nani. Little miss Haana had been looking forward to having aaloo parantha (potato stuffed tortilla cooked with oil) with butter. I had dutifully communicated this to nani before we even left for India. Little miss Haana had her aaloo parantha with a huge dollop of butter right away! And then every single day we were in Delhi (except our last day in delhi, which nani still feels really bad about).

We talked about politics with nana - both national politics (nana is a big Modi supporter) and local (at nana's morning club!!). 

Later we went over to visit Tata, Pati (parental grandparents) in Chennai. While there, little miss Haana got her choicest dosa or ildi every day. While in Chennai we made a side trip to see the great grandmother at Nagercoil and to Kanyakumari beach. 800km distance. Kanyakumari is a town at the southern most tip of India, with beach waters that are a confluence of the Indian ocean, Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. We took a train from Chennai for this trip. 12 hrs, 5pm to 5am. Bobby boy and I were the ones most excited for this train trip. Bobby, because he loves trains, all trains, and platforms, stations, bridges, tunnels, tracks.. everything. Me, because I like the motion of being on a train, and looking out the window to see a glimpse of so many lives for a brief second, like a photograph. I like watching the tracks, how they come together and then go apart. It's mesmerising. Last time I travelled by train in India was Jan 2002 when Papa and i went to Allahabad for the maha-kumbh mela. I was remembering that trip, fragments in my memory, before my life changed so much later that year. I liked that trip. Kumbh mela came to be as the largest gathering of the curious and argumentative hindus, to exchange ideas, learn and share ideas. On my trip I took a dip in the ganges river. What an amazing event.

I did a bunch of shopping at Chennai,  something I don't usually do much of or have a sustained interest in. But boy did i shop this time! Clothes. Almost all of it. 

Back in Delhi, we moved to Softy mausi's for 3 days. It was a true vacation, with good food, great company, and TV in the bedroom to cozy up together and watch movies! It was a great time! Bobby boy was contemplating whether to trust Softy mausi around his cherished blanket. Softy mausi was not doing herself any favors by repeatedly trying to swipe it. Little miss Haana shadowed her Aby bhaiya, they both alternating between cushion fighting (Bobby boy insisting on being in the middle of it) card games and playing pool. 

After this 3 day vacation at Softy mausi, we were back at Nana Nani's. And that's when Deepa nani (my mom's youngest sister) came over to visit us. She came bearing gifts, love and hugs! 

Too soon it was time to head back for our flight out of India. Where had all that time gone! Too much time had passed between our last visit and this one. 

Claw

Little miss Haana's school was doing a musical for end of school year. This is her last year at the Elementary school, so even more special. For the musical is called Claw. They're all toys inside an arcade game of Claw (where you put in some money and get a few seconds to move a joystick to get a Claw to choose a stuffed toy). She auditioned amd got the part of one of the 4 Flair Bears - one of the 4 toys that sing and dance and are full of sass and beats! She put in a lot of time practicing both at school after hours and at home; singing the songs, practicing her lines, getting her moves right!

On the day of the performance, we were all so excited! Last performance of elementary school! She didn't want to be late, so she stayed back at school. I picked up Bobby from his school, picked up nuggets and French fries from McDonald's and then came to school. We snacked in the car before heading back in to school. Raj joined us too.

Soon the performance started. I found a spot right in the front to capture videos. Bobby say on my lap. I focused on my flair bear! The musical was so funny and sweet and sassy and entertaining! It was even touching and emotional in parts, I had tears in my eyes when they talked about saying good bye. 

The songs and dances were so good. Bobby was enjoying it too. At one point, he couldn't just stay out of it. He ran to the stage to little miss Haana and hugged her. Haana hugged him back and he sat with her, becoming one of the stuffed toys of the play! When they got up to dance to a number, Bobby got up and did the same moves as well! It was so cute to look at the amazing bond between them,  of love and trust and companionship. Of joy. It was so special!

The musical was such a roaring success! I am so proud of little miss Haana!

Sharing

One of these days when I was picking up Bobby from school, miss Amanda informed me, "We are working on sharing these days". She meant Bobby has not been willing to share at school, and she's been reminding him he needs to share his toys with his friends. I told her we are still working on sharing at home with the older one (miss Haana), so, good luck to you!

We laughed!! Little miss Haana was not too amused when I told her about it!

Superhero Undies

After several days or weeks of attempting potty training with Bobby, something suddenly clicked! Thank you so much to Miss Erika who reminded Bobby that Papa and Mumma would be so proud of him of he went to the potty. This simple thing resonated with him, and just like that, suddenly, he was not having any accidents! Thank you miss Erica for your kindness!!

So now, we are in the realm of wearing undies. I ordered a new set of superhero undies. I could tell Bobby liked them when in asked if he told him friends at school that he was wearing superhero undies. He exclaimed, "Yes! I showed my undie to my friend!". "Really? You showed it? To Logan?"

"No"

"To Wes?"

"No"

"Then?"

"I showed my undies to Bethany"

"Only to Bethany?"

"Yes, to Bethany only"

I'm not sure what to make of this, but looks like Bethany is in the inner, undies' circle for Bobby! 

Dear Future

Little miss Haana's 5th grade class wrote a letter to themselves 1 year in the future.

Here's her letter:

Yes camp was amazing!

Yes her favorite color is still purple, I asked!

Yesss we are getting a dog this summer!!

I hope she didn't find any new series to watch!!

Cop Uncle

Little Bobby boy is no hard of hearing. But often times it feels so. After many a frustrating days of telling him to do something or not to do something, and Bobby boy steadfastly ignoring my pleas, commands and threats; I was desperate to find something that will work!

The boy has long been fascinated with cop cars and then cops. At some point, unclear when, all cops who drive a cop car or a motorcycle, came to be known as "Cop Uncle's. Turns out Cop Uncle are these enigmatic beings, both fascinating and intimidating to da-boy. And so it happened that request/ command that he would've initially immediately refused with a "No, I don't want to", can be followed by "You have to Bobby,  otherwise I'll have to call the Cop Uncle", would then be somehow accepted! And so we could now take a shower, go to potty, come back home from the park! My life was looking good!

Yesterday, though, it seemed like the tables are turned. Bobby and little miss Haana had been in the bathroom, instructed to take a shower. That's when the boy came back, and steadfastly went to Papa. "Papa, can you call the Cop Uncle for gugu please?". I heard it from the study and couldn't resist. I came over to see for myself. "Why,  Bobby?"

"Gugu's not listening Papa!"

" She's not?"

"No! She's not listening to Bobby. Can you call the Cop Uncle for Gugu, Papa?"

I was trying to keep a straight face. Soon little miss Haana emerged from the bathroom, "He's mocking me!", she said giggling and pointing fingers!

"Are you not listening to Bobba, Gugu?"

More giggles!!

"Ya, Gugu's not listening to Bobba", the tattletale reiterated for good measure. 

In between my giggles I tried to keep a straight face and said, "Ok Gugu listen to Bobba, ok? And Bobby, listen to Gugu, ok?"

"Ok", they said non-committaly!

They held hands and retreated to the bathroom reconciled momentarily!! 

Electives

Middle school is coming soon. I'm not ready for it. I would rather we stayed in preschool where little miss Haana is 5 years old and can sit on my lap. And yet, here we are!

Some of us are very excited about middle school. We've had a tour of the school, the teachers seem really nice and driven! In 6th grade they get to decide on 2 electives amongst 8 choices. This has been a subject of much debate lately. 

Little miss Haana's original choices were orchestra and karate. My preference was art and karate. Why? Miss Haana is so good at art, if she doesn't have art an electives perhaps she would not have enough time in her week to practice art, and it will just fall to the side and be forgotten amongst busy school work. This and the fact that she has been part of an outside school orchestra since last year, one that is quite good. I don't want her to drop out of that one since it challenges her more,  so taking orchestra at school seems repetitive. I also wonder if it will be too simple for her; she's been playing violin for many years now and many other children will only now be picking up an instrument. 

Miss Haana wanted to take orchestra because many of her friends are taking it. Also it seems like a middle school thing to do, if you know what i mean! Elementary school didn't have a school orchestra. Initially she wanted to even drop the city orchestra she's been part of since last year. I was horrified at that possibility, so I talked to her violin teacher and had him convince her she should stay in the out-of-school orchestra regardless of what elective she takes at school. This strategy worked! 

Then i recruited Dad to talk her off the school orchestra ledge and choose art in stead. This was successful too, initially. She chose art and karate as her first 2 choices. 

But then, her friends who chose orchestra received emails from middle school to come for instrument fittings. And now little miss Haana wanted to choose orchestra again! All her friends were being so fancy going to instrument fittings! The orchestra room is so cool with instrument lockers! The school even has sound proof rooms for private practice. It must seem all so... grown up! So middle-school-y! 

Little miss Haana was very remorseful now. One day last week over dinner she was feeling really bad over all this. She wanted me to email the school and ask them if she can change her elective choices. I suggested it will be better if she wrote that email herself, it will indicate initiative on her part. And so did just that. She looked up and found the counsellors' email address, composed an email to request the change and sent it without asking for my help. Later she emailed the orchestra teacher too, and now we have a slot next week to go to the middle school with her violin. 

All is well in little miss Haana's world. And since she promised she will spend time every week on her art work at home, I'm cautiously optimistic! :)

Miss Haana Won the Art Contest

Little miss Haana won the school district's Art competition!

Her Art work will be put up in the school district soon! So proud of her :-)

Someone likes my hugs

Yesterday at night when I was cuddling up with Bobby boy he asked me for a puchhi (kiss). Is he kidding? No child of mine has ever asked me for a kiss. It's always been the other way round, I'm filling them up with forced hugs and kisses while they try to squeeze away from my grip! 

I did as he asked but probably went a bit overboard. A few seconds later he informed me "that's too much, mama!".

Back to reality for me!

Artist

Little miss Haana's art work for nationwide competition for creativity - Reflection just won the best in district award and is now going to compete at the state level.

So proud of her!!

Here is her artwork.

Who Do I Love More

I asked little miss Haana today if she thought I love her more or bobby. She said she thought I love Bobby slightly more. 

Hmm, I said resisting the urge to tell her, she's proven that she's totally mad by saying I love her any less!

But in stead I said, "But you have a big advantage over Bobba"

What?

"I don't need to change your diapers! That's huge!"

I don't think she appreciated that though! Hmm..

New Year

This new year's eve, at the final countdown, we wished each other happy new year. Little Bobby boy screamed "Happy New Year!!! Its my birthday today!!" 

No idea where that came from!!