Best Animal at the Zoo

Fort Worth zoo had eluded us for a long time. For some reason we had never actually made it there with little Miss Haana. So the week before last, with the blessings of the weather gods, I decided we must pay our visit to the animals.

We had just bought the tickets at the front gate when little Miss Haana sighted a balloon. She informed us that a balloon had been sighted and so, she'll be needing one. "On our way back home", promises were made.

We were delighted looking at the colorful flamingoes, most of them taller than the little girl. Some standing on one leg, some on two. A couple were sleeping with their long necks all wrapped around their feathers! Bright pink and orange colored, they were a sight to enjoy. We had peanut butter chocolate sandwiches and enjoyed the sights. 

We saw a huge crocodile basking in the sunshine, sleeping lazily. It was so still in its slumber, initially I thought it's not even real. But then the eyes moved. But that was the extent of the movement. A few steps away was another aquarium, this one with several long snouted alligators. This one also had turtles of varying sizes and fishes. 

We moved on to find gazelles and deers next. And soon came upon a small pond with several furry little white goslings. They were so cute and cuddly, fuzz-balls. The little girl went "oh so cute! How cuddly!!!" over them. I told her: "See, that's exactly what mumma feels about you every time I see you!!". 

The most anticipated place in the zoo was the aviary where you can feed the birds and they'll sit on your hand; it was unfortunately closed! I was bummed for a bit, but there was still much to see.

We saw penguins, owls; eagles wih wingspan more than 6 feet wide. Kangaroos up next but none of them were mommy kangaroos so none of them had a pocket. I told the little girl if we can find the mumma kangaroo, then we can fit little Gugu in her pocket and come back tomorrow to get her. She faked upset, but mostly we giggled!

We came upon this Wild West section, which amongst other things had a carriage (without the horse). We spent the next (seemingly) several hours (minutes) going in and out and in again and out again, then in from this door, then look out from the other window of the carriage. Then we went through a bridge held together by ropes so it moved and shaked. We giggled as we went back and forth on the bridge over and over again. On the other side of the bridge we briefly saw a black bear, but then got sucked into a small sand table. Little miss Haana made sand castles with  intent and determination. Birds chirped, winds changed, tides turned, stars moved but we were still at the sand castle table. Finally when we left the sand, it was only to go back and play at the funny bridge again. And of course, it was the carriage again. 

We went and stood in the line for the train to take us back to near the entrance so we can see the other animals we hadn't covered. As we stood in line, little Miss Haana made friends with the girl next to her. Soon they were talking, laughing, holding hands, wanting to sit next to each other in the train. 

Once out of the train we watched the rhinoceros but little Miss Haana was more interested in climbing the fence. As all of our energy was ebbing, little Haana and I had a falling off. Sulking ensued but not for long, we made up with "Sorry mumma", kisses and hugs. 

Soon it was time to head back home. We were not able to see all animals. I think we spent the most time at the zoo with this 2 legged, 2 armed animal that kept going in and out of a carriage! This one also chose a toy for herself (an elephant, for all the elephants we didn't actually see!) and headed back home with us! So long zoo.

 

Real and Pretend

The house is divided into 2 sections.

One section- is the neat and clean, tidy section. This is the section that no one visits usually. And then, there's that other section.

There are varying degrees of persistent clutter. My personal tolerance of mess has hit record levels. Still, it grates me. Till I can take it no more, and an operation de-clutter has to be undertaken. I start with finding trash bags to fill with old forgotten toys, clothes or unbelievable quantities of odds and ends. Sometimes I get into trouble. 

As I clear through the clutter and find things to banish, the little girl occasionally with sift through the rubble of the bags I fill; and finds her prized possessions. She comes back and gives me the you-bad-girl look and demands an explanation of why her precious princess crowns and bottle caps and old sea shells and single, lonely socks and paper fans were all in a suspicious "bag" together.

The clutter seems to have reproduction  properties. It multiplies in no time. I have my suspicions on a little girl but she insists otherwise:

It's all because of those gpretend things, she says. 

Apparently there's a pretend dog, cat, a mouse and possible other pretentions that live together with us. This morning when I demanded why small bits of paper were left behind next to the glider (these were remnants of stickers), little Miss Haana told me those are for her pretend doggy. He likes to eat them! "There's a pretend dog?", I asked. "Mm hmm", I was told, "Of course there is".

The argument was air-tight. 

I asked her to remind me to give her a real tickle for all her pretend pets!

The Entire Book

Day before yesterday was a day to go down in history as the day little Miss Haana read her very first book completely by herself. All by herself. A 16 paged book titled Al!

I'm extremely proud!! 

The book is about Al- a crocodile who likes making friends and eating icecreams. Two completely relatable things! 

A huge credit of course goes to the new teacher at school for their class who is focused on teaching these little things how to read and write- Miss Scott! Her drive and dedication is evident in work done at school and home work to take home. Her commitment to ensure she teaches her students the essential life skills of reading and writing is appreciated very much! As a 4 year old parent, I have developed this enormous sense of gratefulness and appreciation for good, devoted teachers. Kudos to them!

Border-less

Even though my little girl is perfect, I am most certainly not. Many a times I have had self doubts if in some ways, knowingly or unknowingly, my upbringing is somehow messing her up. I've had inner fears; fears that I usually don't voice. Wondering if something I am doing, or not doing, is spoiling this perfect little thing I am blessed to have.

I grew up in India. There's a slang term in India- ABCD- American Born Confused Desis. It's a term used for Indians who're born in the US. They're labeled as confused because they seem Indian but they're not- they're niether Indian nor American. When my little girl was born, I knew then, she will not be confused. She's born in the US, and due to that, she is an American. 

But, this has a lot to do with personal choices of parents as well. I do not see people as Indians and Americans any more. I see people (and strive to see people) as people and not boxed-in replicas of their communities. For good or for worse my own ties with India have weakened as I rarely eat, dress or talk Indian. 

Some may argue this to be the case of lost identity, but I feel the significance of personal choices means more to me than membership in communities of shared glorified pasts. To me, being me does not mean I have to cook Indian food, eat Indian food, listen to Indian music, watch Indian movies, talk in Indian language or revel in perceived Indian family values. I was not doing several of those things even when I was in India. 

But even so, I wonder if not indoctrinating the little girl in Indian culture is somehow depleting her of her rightful 'roots'. 

I wondered this week when the little girl wanted to go to Indian restaurant to have her favorite meal. She loves Indian food( the one that does not involve vegetables). Since she was born I rarely cook Indian food. Am I depriving her then, I wondered. But on the other hand, I mused, she does like some of my music- which is not Indian. She loves several rock songs that I like. We've heard her sing Clapton's "I shot the sheriff" by herself several times. But what I think is really funny is another favorite of hers'. 

One of her favorites songs, which is also one of my favorites- is La Grange by ZZ Top. The song is about a house of 'ill repute' near a town called La Grange in Texas. I think it's funny in a good humored sort of way that she should like such a song- for the same reason that I like the song- great music, of course. And I just hope if she remembers this song when she's 25 and she finds out what the song is really about; she chuckles thinking about her mom's choice in songs as well! 

There are some things that are without borders- good music, good food and good people. Let's keep it that way.

Commanded

While I did not command little Miss Haana to do so, today was the day when she read the word "commanded" (9 letter word) all by herself! Along with Saturday, zoo, pink, zebras and sunny!

Very proud!

Afternoon Well Spent

It was MLK day today. Martin Luther King day. It's a momentous day in the history of the United States. These days, it's a day where all schools, government offices and banks remain closed but my work is not! Miss Haana's school was off so I had scheduled to take the afternoon off from work.

The plan was for Dad to hang out at home till noon. Little Miss Haana and I had discussed the plan the previous day- I will come home from work and we'll go for lunch. After lunch, we were to go on a  very important mission- we had to get chocolate ice cream with sprinkles! We had giggled when we conspired about it the previous day and vowed not to tell Papa (he had already heard!).

So here I was; back at home a little after noon. We headed out for lunch shortly after. The little girl whispered urgently what she wanted to eat -porotta ( a wheat bread made into layers; available exclusively at South Indian restaurants). She also reminded me of which restaurant to go to, since the one I thought of was closed on Mondays. Both of us reached our choicest restaurant, eagerly ordered our entrees (some of us needed no Menus). After finishing but before leaving the restaurant, I took a fist full of their candy- the colorful sugar coated fennel! We split it between us and ate it in mouthfuls of "so tasty" comments! 

My next stop was the library. I had been threatened into returning all the books we had issued last time (the library sends multiple reminder emails if the books are due) and I wanted to get us a new stock. We quickly moved through our kids' area and selected choicest 20-25 books. Both of us held a big pile of books and headed back for the car. 

Our next stop was this place we had just discovered last week. Last weekend on Ayaana's birthday party, we had discovered this new trampoline place closeby. With several trampolines, dogdgeball areas, a rock climbing wall, a foam pit! There was tons of stuff. Both of us jumped and tumbled. I tried the rock climbing wall. We tumbled in the foam pit! The little girl tried several of her gymnastics moves. We were having a blast till I realized we had been there for over an hour and both of us were thirsty. We got some water and headed out. I may have used the word "ice" and "cream" in the same sentence in order to lure the little girl out of the trampoline place!

But I got what I deserved, because the entire way back, all I heard from the back seat was varying specifics of the kind, type, color and temperature of the ice cream  Also, that it needs to be in a cone.

While driving back towards home, we came up to a Sonic. I offered to stop there. The little girl refused. While Sonic ice cream were good, today was not their day. (She said we'll come back there on Sunday and have a Sonic ice cream.  I said we'll see about that!). No, today was not a day for McDonalds' ice cream either. We had to get ours' today from the store with the pink ice cream cone! Unfortunately, I knew exactly what that meant! Marble Slab Cremery.

I dutifully drove to our already chosen destination. We both got our selections and ate with mouthfuls of delight. And as the evening set it, we headed back home with the glow of warm contentment only chocolate ice cream with sprinkles can afford!!

A Real Princess Castle