Keep Him

Little Bobby boy is a climber. And he's an explorer. During the day that is alright. But at night, when he's up in the bedroom, he can get challenging. It is past 9. He is tired, so is everybody else. He should be fixing to sleep. But instead he constantly tries to climb up the pillows, tries to climb the headboard. Then, he runs over towards the far side of the bed. Miss Haana or I, lunge and grab hold of his foot before he makes a run for the edge of the bed and takes off bungee jumping to the floor below. Without the bungee, that is. Then, once that attempt is crushed, he sits up, taking stock of the situation, sticking his thumb in his mouth. He zeroes in on one of us, sizes us up with his thumb, and chooses which one of us will he try climbing on to next. 

Today little miss Haana had had enough of all these manoeuvres. "Watch him, I'm going to brush", I said. 

Usually when that happens she tells me, 'Put Bobby in a cupboard'. Then i remind her we don't have a cupboard big enough for bobby. Then we agree that we must build one first thing tomorrow. 

Today, however, she said, "Put him back in your tummy"!! 

"But he's too big now!"

"Then return him". I've told little miss Haana she came from a clearance sale at Kroger. Little Bobby boy too!

"But he doesn't fit in the packaging any more!. Besides Papa threw the packaging. Anything that could be of slightest importance or use, Papa immediately throws  it out. Anything that is of absolutely no use whatsoever, stays at home for ever!"

She nodded in agreement. "Why don't we make new packaging for him".

Right about now i caught sight of the cheeky cheeks, when the boy turned around trying to grab my hair to stand up on the bed. 

"But then how will i get these cheeks, if we return him! And the bottom too"

"And the sweet nosey too", she added. 

We looked at each other. "We'll keep him!"

"AWW!"

We both lunged to grab hold of him into a confusing, violent hug. He's used to it by now. No complaints. He must like us:-)!!!

Journal Jar - Proudest Mom Moment

There are aplenty proud moments as a mom. When little miss Haana comes up with creative ideas to implement, how she conducts herself, how she's friendly, open and loving to others, how she may lie to me sometimes when but i ask her if she's lying she says yes, how she's independent, she's so loving and compassionate, so caring, so loving. And then there is the 7 month old Bobby boy. Already scuttling about quietly and quickly from place to place. Always pulling up and standing holding whatever he can get, already holding and picking things with his fingers and thumb - even tiny things like a green pea, already holding 2 toys - One in each hand together, always climbing up always exploring! There is so much to be proud of. He tracks little miss Haana, watches her whenever she's around. 

Once when Bobby fell of from the bed and was crying, little miss Haana was crying too. She was so upset and scared if Bobby got hurt. Wondering if he'll be ok. 

He doesn't complain when she squeezes his cheeks or "pats" his bottom or gets into his face to kiss him. She does complain when he tries to eat a book she's reading. Their bond of siblings 8 years apart, is so sweet and full of love. I think that's my proudest mom moment, even though it is not really just a moment. And saying i'm proud seems to imply i take credit for it. I feel their bond speaks of who each of them is. Wonderful, amazing, full of love. 

Journal Jar - I am Happiest When

Today i picked out a strip of paper from a Journal Jar that little miss Haana made for me, and in it, it had a theme for a short journal entry. 

Today's theme - i am happiest when...

I am happy hanging out outdoors on a mild balmy day. I am happy laying in grass on a sunny spring day and watch cotton puff clouds travel the sky. I am happy watching lady bugs. I am happy watching butterflies. I am happy when i paint. I am happy when i create something out of nothing. I am happy when i help another with no strings attached. I am happy hearing from family and friends. 

But i think i am happiest when i'm around my loved ones. Bobby boy and little miss Haana have made me happier than i thought possible. The selfless love that I receive in my life, I am extremely fortunate to get. It has given me this understanding that love is the most important thing. It belies all odds, all logic, all equations. Love just is. I am happiest when i have love around me.  

Journal Jar

Little miss Haana made me a journal jar. It's a jar she painted and decorated. Inside it, there are strips of papers, each paper has a theme for writing a ahort journal or note. She also made and kept put a small notebook and a baby pen in the jar for me to write my journal entries in to. 

I'm supposed to take out 1 piece of paper and write a journal entry on that theme every single day. Obviously I've been falling on that duty. She made the jar sometime in August, and I don't have many entire in that journal inside the jar. But I've decided I will make it up now. I'll write a journal entry on my blog so I don't lose it. I'll start tomorrow. 😊

Tum vs Aap

There's no down side to learning a language. There are so many cultural nuances that are lost in translation.

I've been trying for little miss Haana to learn Hindi for quite some time. I've tried a phone app that helps with learning the language (which did work initially, but then the excitement waned); and I have tried to threaten to send her to weekend classes (she likes her weekends to be full of playdates, some screen time, her own projects, friends and play time. Would it not be a tragedy to lose some of the weekend for a class!). Lately I have started speaking to her more often in hindi than not. And it has been paying off. Her hindi vocab is steadily increasing even though I can hardly ever hear her hindi accent with a straight face! :-D

Recently on our walk little miss Haana said something to me like "tum idhar ao" (you come here)and I thought it was an opportune time fot embarking on this Hindi lesson -

Unlike English, which has just one word for referring to the other person - you, regardless of who that second person is. Hindi, is a more respectful language, and has different words depending on whether who you're referring to is equal to you, or is older or more respected. In case of referring to a person that's your equal, like a friend, or referring to someone younger, you refer to them as "tum" or "tu". When you refer to someone that's elder or referring respectfully, you say "aap". So "aap idhar aaeeye" (come here <respectfully, politely>) instead of "tum idhar ao" (come here) or " tu idhar aa" (come here <even less respectful>). 

"So, you should be saying 'aap idhar aaeeye' instead of ' tum idhar ao' to me", I told her, driving home the lesson. 

She listened without interrupting and then immediately responded, "But you're not just my mom you're my friend. So i don't want to say 'aap' to you".

I don't think she got my message, I thought. But wait, she said I'm her friend!!! "Awww!! I'm your friend!!" I said,as I melted all over! As is usual, she hopped along to avoid me clutching her into a forced hug!

Well played! 

Tough Cookies

Today on a walk with Bobby boy and little miss Haana, i noticed something on little Bobby's right cheek. A pesky, vile mosquito had just sat on his cheek. Little boy was oblivious to it. I immediately shooed it away with an angry wave of my hand. Few minutes later little Bobby boy's right cheek had 2 small red bumps. The little boy was unfazed. Little twinkling eyes were calmly looking around and looking up at me from the stroller. "Bobby boy!", I said with exasperation. "Did the mosquito bite you? Why didn't you complain earlier?!". Two twinkling eyes regarded me with some interest and batted eyelids. Little miss Haana jumped over him to inspect the mosquito damage on the baby cheek. "Poor thing!". But no issues from the boy. 

My little Bobby is a trooper. He's a tough cookie. When he was just born, in the hospital, they had to do a blood sugar test for him every few hours for the first 2 days. Every few hours they would poke him with a needle to do the test, and for most of the times, he wouldn't even complain. I used to be so surprised. Here I was flinching at the needles and he waded through them no problem. No complaining. He's a tough guy. 

My little miss Haana is a lot more vocal in her complaints but she's a tough cookie on the inside. Many times she's been in situations where other kids may be bullying or trying to hurt her. She does feel it then, but then she just brushes it off completely and moves on. She's resilient like that. She's emotional and compassionate, and is also very independent and goes her own way. She's a strong tough one. 

My two tough cookies. 

Halloween 2020

Super girls did come to rescue this year. And while rescuing Halloween, they also rescued a lady bug all while also playing tricks.

Here's how it all happened:

Halloween began early this year. It's always a big event at work and in the years past, little miss Haana has spent her entire day dressed up, trick or treating and making friends with my friends up at work with me. This year, due to covid, there was no going in to work. But they had thoughtfully arranged for drive thru locations for enjoying the halloween spirit amongst coworkers. That was on friday, the day before halloween. My team decided we will be a quiddich team for the griffandor house, we all had matching appropriate robes and brooms to keep us afloat while we practice our quiddich skills. We decided to meet up at one of the halloween drive thru locations close to work. I showed up flanked with a little super girl and a little lady bug. We met other quiddich players, a spiderman, Waldo and a waved to a few witches.

On halloween day, as per our tradition ("Gugu and Mumma are the same", will need to be modified for Bobby), little Miss Haana and I both changed into Supergirls. Bobby was once again a lady bug. (Actually this lady bug is a costume i had for little miss Haana when we went on a trip to europe on her first birthday. I loved the costume and i loved her in it so much that i've kept the costume all these years. I made her wear it well after the age that the costume could have actually fit her properly- just for the laughs! So it is but obvious for Bobby's first halloween, he's a lady bug). Its actually possible he may become a lady bug several times this coming winter (unlike most halloween costumes, this one is real nice and cozy and soft)! Of course he will like it 😄!

We decided we didn't need to go trick or treating per se, little miss Haana is not really into candies. But instead, we will walk around our community and see the halloween decor. We wished people as we saw some folks from a distance. We went by miss Haana's friend Becca's place and talked to them for a bit. We took candy from a couple folks that had the candy ,thoughtfully, individually bagged! Then we walked by over to miss Haana and Bobby's cousin Varam's place, and met up with a few other neighborhood friends all dressed up. Varam was a little dragon, carrying 2 of his favorite dump trucks. His mom was a big dragon too. Amongst the neighborhood gang we had Cliff Hanger, Wonder Woman and Black Panther. We saw a little girl with pink hair and a pink nose. Little miss Haana told me she's from the movie Trolls, but I forgot her name. The lady bug Bobby was taking in the sights from his stroller balcony section seat and was watchful. We invited the friends over to candy by our house and then immediately called up Papa at home to make sure he's in position. Then we led the way and walked over. 

As we reached up to our house, little miss Haana and I casually and as very good hosts, offered Uncle Aunty and Varam to partake in the candy. We had the treats in a basket on a little table at the gate. As soon as Varam went over to check out the candy, creepy laughing sound came from the candy! He stopped stunned. Then we all laughed as his Uncle Rajesh stepped outside the house! "Happy Halloween", we cried! The creepy magic laughter was coming from a bluetooth speaker hidden under the candy-serve table!

We talked and took photos and laughed till we saw another gang walking, coming up towards us. "Get in position Papa", little miss Haana hissed. He nodded, his phone hidden in his hand behind his back. We all got quiet till our friends walked up towards the candy. As soon as the kids came up to the candy tray, creepy laughter filled the air again. The boys paused for a second, looking around in the candy, wondering what is happening. When we all started laughing, they joined in too. It was hard to tell who's laughing was the scariest as they all tried to sound creepy. After some deliberations, trying to decide which candy to take, the friends walked off. Bobby signalled, he might be getting done with his stroller walk. While little miss Haana went to walk around with her Uncle, Aunt and cousin some more, lady bug Bobby and Supergirl Mumma came back home. Back to comfy clothes and warm socks! The candy was kept safely in the garage for quarantine.

This was one fun halloween!