Mother Daughter Day - Down for the Books

Last Friday little miss Haana's school was off.  I took off from work too, to make it into a mother-daughter day. But our plans were sketchy at best. What will we do?

I asked little miss Haana for suggestions and some expected patterns emerged. We will lunch at the Korean bbq place we dined last time. I looked up movie schedules but nothing good jumped up. Little miss Haana asked to go to a nail place, but it seemed too repetitive. Then I thought of visiting the immersive Van Gogh experience on Friday, she would love that. But when i read about it, I thought Bobba would like that too; perhaps all of us should check that out. But then what of our mother- daughter date?

On Wednesday night I was listening to an audible, and the author mentioned 'SUP' rentals - Standing Upright Paddleboarding. It struck a familiar chord. A few weeks back in Colorado, we went boating on the lake, there were a couple boys who rented a paddleboard and paddled their way through the lake. Little miss Haana had wanted to do it. Instead, the next day she did kayaking by herself on a single person kayak, along with Dad. I looked up if there are SUP rentals on my area, and found out -Yes! There were! There was a paddleboard class near by!! Available for friday! So perfect! 

Next day I called them up to make sure they had equipment for 9 year olds, and then made my booking for friday morning. It was a 2hr class. I figured we will spend some time on the docks while the instructor explains to us how to be stable on the board, and then the 2nd hour being in the water. 

Next day on our mother daughter date, little miss Haana and I had a hurried breakfast and headed out for our 10am class. Put on our current favorite song in the car, singing along as we went. At the class, we put on our life jackets and within the first 5 minutes, we were already on the paddleboard floating on the water. Our instructor told us how to paddle, how to steer, how to turn etc. Somewhere in the middle of that little miss Haana asked when can we be in the water. I wondered what does she mean, we are already on the water. But I realized in a minute, she meant when can we be 'in' the water. Soon after she jumped off her board to float in the water! Of course! She is part mermaid! I somehow cajoled her to get back on her board so we could head a bit farther down the lake. But soon when we were a little bit father, she wanted me to jump off the board too. I didn't at first, but soon our boards rammed in together and i lost my balance and jumped in anyway. Oh! It was great! The water felt great in the summer sun. Little miss Haana and I laughed in delight at the unadulterated fun we were having! We floated for a while and played with each other. It was great! When we got back on our boards it wasn't for very long. Thanks to little miss Haana we were back in the water soon enough. But it was a lot of fun both ways! At one point our paddleboards seemed to be floating away while we played in the water; we had to swim up to catch them. 

After a lot of fun it was time to head on back. We were both hungry by now, it was time to move to our next activity of the day. We dried ourselves and changed in the car then headed to the Korean bbq place for lunch. We both love Korean bbq. We had a big lunch and headed out. It was time to head home. 

But there was another activity in our mother daughter date yet. A movie! I popped some popcorn in the microwave. Made myself a decaf coffee, little miss Haana made herself a decadent hot chocolate with whipped creme and chocolate syrup drizzle on top, and we headed to the couch for our movie afternoon. Little Bobby boy was taking his nap, so it was timed well.

The movie began but soon I had trouble keeping my eyes open.. it was all so cozy and perfect! I may have slept through the whole movie, though little miss Haana kept shaking me up every so often. I woke up just at the closing credits. It was a good movie indeed! :)

It was a great mother daughter date! A perfect one in fact! :)?

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. 

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! 

15 Seconds

This is a typical 15 second conversation (albeit somewhat one sided) these days:

"(If on the high chair) I want to go down. (If tried to help) No, I want to go up. I want yogurt. I want paani( water). I want coloring. I want to sit on Mumma lap. I want cold paani. I want blue paani (water in a blue glass). Nooo, I want to do all by myself. I want to go out. I want to ride bicycle. I want to read fairy book. I want pink horsie. Guys, what not talking?"

:)

The Ew Factor

This happened last week. And does actually have an eeww factor. I'm still compelled to report it for the simple reason that this one needs to go down in history!

It was morning and Papa just came back upstairs to get ready for work. Miss Haana had been upstairs by herself for a few minutes. When Papa came back up she was looking towards her diaper and saying "Panee" (Hindi for water). For a second Papa wondered where the water was. But when he looked at the little one- he knew. 

Miss Haana was clad in a diaper only. She was sitting on the carpet, looking at her diaper- which happened to be somewhat loose fitting. She had her one finger through one side of the diaper and yes. That's where the water was - fresh! Warm (she told Papa). And then she found a pebble inside! At this point Papa was probably screaming "Nooo" both inside his head and outside (although not as loud). 

She was immediately whisked to the bathroom for cleanup (pebble was discarded). But even then, on her way she wanted to show and tell papa (touch and show with the same hand that handled the diaper pebble!!) where her ear was. And then, the other ear.

When I think about it, I'm screaming Nooo inside my head- and I'm laughing so hard outside- I'm not sure which one comes first!! 

Yes, major scrubbing followed - including fingers, hands and ears. Nails were cut and followed another scrubbing clean. This episode has to go down in history for being the cutest ew-factor story I've gotten so far!

I've been lucky, but that can only take you so far. Suhaana has now learnt the no word. And she uses it aplenty! But the best part is, even when she says no to the things I rather she said yes to, I can't help but laugh out loud. Let me explain:

Mom: Suhaana do you want to have dinner?
Suhaana: (Shaking her head in negation) No (Short, definitive)
Mom: Suhaana, do you want duddu (Baby talk for 'Milk')?
Suhaana: (Eyes are gleaming with naughtiness now. Again shaking her head.) Nooo (The no is getting longer)
Mom: Suhaana, do you want mammam (baby talk for 'water')?
Suhaana: (Smiling now - Mom has played this game before. Twitching her nose now - who would want to have water!) Nooooo.
Mom: Suhaana, do you want a diaper change?
Suhaana: Noo.ooooo.oooooooo.. (Same long sing-song as "Miaaaooowww")
Suhaana: (Giggling at the shared joke)
Mom: (Laughing out loud, makes an attempt to catch the little girl into a big hug and sloppy kisses. Little girl knew what was coming and scuttles away beyond arms' length).
Smart kitten!