Throw It Out

For months, neigh, years, I have been telling little miss Haana not to leave dirty clothes on the bedroom floor; put them in the laundry basket. Is that too much to ask? I have tried making it a chore she has to do, threatening to take the clothes away from her, lecturing her, nagging her. Lately I had been threatening her if she leaves her clothes on the floor I will throw them out of the balcony. The bedroom has a small balcony that overlooks over the front yard.

Nothing has worked.

This last weekend, I was standing in the bedroom looking over little miss Haana's small stack of dirty clothes on the floor. I picked them up. Then i looked over at her with a mischievous twinkle in my eye. Little miss Haana's eyes widened wondering what to expect now. I opened the balcony door, and quickly threw out her t-shirt from the balcony. It swerved for a second or two like a parachute and landed on the bushes in the front yard. Little miss Haana screamed to dad, "Papa, Mumma threw it out!! She did it!". I was laughing with delight by now. Papa shook his head. I had two more items in my hand. Little miss Haana jumped up at me to grab those items from my hand. She got one and ran to put it in the laundry basket. But i had the towel! And before she could jump up and grab it back, i quickly opened the balcony door and threw it out as well! I laughed with delight and clapped by hands. Little miss Haana's screamed to her dad again, "Papa, mumma threw the towel out too! Oh no!!".

The two of them headed downstairs to retrieve the prized artifacts from between the bushes in the front yard while I chuckled at myself for a job well done and certainly well enjoyed!

Since then, little miss Haana has never once left her clothes on the floor. I look out for such opportunities, but am left disappointed. "Oww!", I complain to her when i don't find anything to throw out. But it has been the most effective parenting success ever!

Dentist Office

Little miss Haana had been wanting to go to the dentist for a long time. It's somewhat counter intuitive too. But other kids in her class had been to the dentist. Worse - even kindergarten kids she knew at her school had been to a dentist. But not her. And she is in 1st grade!

Since this was on the to-do list for us, Dad got a dentist appointment. She was to be picked up early from school one day, to go to the dentist appointment. To say she was excited was an understatement! Everyone in her class probably knew about it!

Finally the big day arrived! Dad was going to pick up little miss Haana early from school. This was of course an added benefit too! I wanted to be a part of this grand spectacle of the first ever dentist visit! So I scheduled to meet them up at the dentist office.

When I arrived, dad and little miss hanna was already inside in the dentist office with the nurse. She was sitting on this dentist chair holding a purple teddy bear, a gift she had just gotten! Along with a new toothbrush in a fancy bag. For the nurse and the doctor to look inside her mouth, they reclined her down, gave her cute sunglasses, and turned on a movie on the tv hanging upside down from the ceiling! She slid back on her chair and began watching the movie and laughing in parts! There are no movies for me to watch at my dentist, I grumbled!

They checked out her teeth and gums and gave her a B+ for her teeth health and cleaning. Once we were done, little miss Haana and I posed in front of the photo booth, also at the dentist office, to commemorate our landmark visit to the dentist!!

Perks

I was having another one of my usual tiffs with little Miss Haana the other day. I asked her to do something, and she flat out refused.

I asked her, what happened to my perks. What kind of perks do I get for being a mom! I feel robbed! She said, 'As a mom you take care of me. You get to cook for me. You get to take me places. As a mom your perks are those'. I rolled my eyes and asked, 'Do you know what perks means? It's like this special benefit you get for doing something. Like that time we went to watch the Rangers' game because my friend Angie gets perfomance tickets - that's a perk she gets at her work. So where are my perks as a mom? I thought the kids are supposed to do what I say, that's why I got into this'.

Little miss Haana thought about this for a second, then she said, 'Your perk is me, you get to be with me and take care of me!'. I did agree with it in my heart, but I rolled my eyes at her anyway!

Fathers Day

Little Miss Haana had been working on her craft project for several days. She'd gotten a box full of popsicles sticks and had been working away with her glue gun.

It was father's day. And little miss Haana was busy working on building all kinds of shapes and designs and crafts with her popsicle sticks. She stuck the sticks together and then colored the sticks, stuck pompoms or covered them with yarn.

In the last few days she had made:
A treasure box with a lid.  A green colored Christmas tree with a small gift box underneath it. A freestanding fan shaped, colorful craft that could be used as a magazine holder.
And then there was this small cage styled to be a little backpack. Or maybe a bigger treasure box!

All these items were the father's day gifts. I was told we would be making chocolate cake in the morning. Since I am doing low carb diet these days, I figured low carb chocolate and strawberry muffins would make a worthy alternate choice. So, early on the sunday morning, miss haana and i got to work. She helped with the mixing and sifting and cutting off the strawberries for the muffins. Then when we got to the baking, little miss Haana got back on her little brown chair with her glue gun and pompoms finishing up the last of her craft projects.

Once the muffins are done, we took them out. We figured we needed 7 muffins with 1 candle each for the 7 years of fatherhood! We sang the happy father's day song, blew the candles and got to the eating-fresh- muffins part!

Later that day we took the 7 year old father to brunch with live music and drinks. It was a good father's day!

Crush

I picked up little Miss Haana from her summer camp this evening. That's when i got the news. "You know what happened Mumma? Two boys came and told me they had a crush on me"!!
Oh my Gawd, could this be happening? I am pretty sure I'm not supposed to, and I've broken several laws of parenting, but I put my hands over my mouth and let out a big squeal; full mischief, scandal and delight. Miss Haana laughed and then we both giggled! "One boy came first and said he had a crush on me.."..
"What did you say?"
"Ughh, gross!", she made a face, " And then.."
"Who are these boys? Which grade are they in?"
"Uhh, they're in the camp. Same grade as I. And then, after the first boy said that, later, another boy came up. And he said 'I have a crush on you' too!!! I even told them, you can only]have a crush when you're in 4th grade.."
"How do you know that? Who told you that?", i wondered how far back do these 'crush' conversations go..
"Oh, Nikhil said that. That you can only have a crush after you're in 4th grade"
Nikhil? Really? The good boy said that, I wondered.
"Oh Mumma.. and I have a crush on you"
Aww.... (Hugs)!!

And Your Job Is..

I've been avoiding this conversation for years now, but it's been coming up in more earnest lately. "Mumma, I want a dog!", says little miss Haana with doggy eyes herself. I love dogs myself, but they're just a lot of work.

When i was growing up, in 7th grade, I forced my parents to get a dog. It was not my first attempt. I had taken many abandoned dogs and cats into my wing over the years, none of them quite made it inside the house thanks to my parents. But then one day we were visiting my aunt when we met Lucky. My aunt was fostering him and he was just a 6 weeks old puppy. This was my chance! I got my parents to take Lucky back to our house. And that was the beginning of an interesting journey! While I did go and run outside to catch Lucky (he liked to run away), my parents ended up walking him many a times.

When little Miss Haana brought up wanting a dog, I remind her dogs are a lot of work. The dog would need to be walked 3 times a day. Trained. Boarded somewhere if we go on a vacation. "I have a plan,  Mumma", she said all business like.

"In the morning, I will have to go to school, so Papa will walk the dog. While he's walking it, Papa will also scoop the poop. (Giggles). In the evening as soon as I come back from school, I will walk the dog. But Papa will still come with me to scoop the poop. Then after dinner, in the night, I will walk the dog before bed. Papa will come with me then too. Why? To scoop the poop."

So, what is Papa's job in this whole dog keeping story?
"His job is that he is a pooper scooper!! "
More giggles erupt, this time from both of us!!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out everywhere!

I had been doing hints about mother's day for weeks. I needed to be treated special, I needed to be surprised. I need mother's day to be outstanding!

My sweet girl said she had some plans up her sleeve. A day before, she asked me what I wanted to breakfast on my big day. She came to me with a notepad and pen, taking down my order with the professionalism of a seasoned waitress! Even asking - 'And would you like some fruit with it?', 'Anything to drink with it?'!

The next morning she and I woke up together, and the first thing she said was, 'Oh no, you're already awake!'. The plan was for walking me up with the breakfast! I helpfully offered, I can stay in bed if you like. She was relieved. Next, Papa was woken up and dragged downstairs to help with the breakfast. Water was boiled for the tea. Bread was toasted. Fruits were cut and arranged in a bowl. Eggs were scrambled. Orange juice was glassed. All of this was arranged on a tray and brought up to me in bed! So perfect, i purred!! There was also a bag full of cards for me! After breakfast little Miss Haana and I played on the bed.

Later that day on the afternoon we went to my favorite place these days, the rose garden. Ah equipped with a picnic blanket. I lay in the grass and watched cotton puff clouds float against the blue blue sky. Again, perfect!

Best mother's day ever!