Trying to write

after Eons..

So what happened? Nothing earth shattering. Just life.. Kids.. Work.. Family

Lets see where I am

I am still working ( grr)
Kids are almost 8 ( Aghoo) and 3( Mr. Ichab)
HD had a brainwave ( seri seri Midlife crisis) quit his job , started something, doing something blah blah..

Now to the more interesting things in life- Movies? Food?

Growing up, I wasn't a foodie at all. I survived on curd rice/pickle/ vathal etc
Our school used to serve the most amazing lunches and I still never ate much. Very late realization of all the wasted good food that I did not have to cook ! cha!

College- they used to serve ok food. Most people thought it was good. I never ate lunch because I hated the watery mor and the muzhuchu paakara saadham. I used to have just appalam / omlette for lunch.

Gradschool- we were the quintessential poor Indian grad student. All things cheap and unhealthy were consumed. Hashrbowns/ Microwaved $1meals/ Poptarts/ Instant noodles..

California-I started working and my first job used to serve free lunch and dinner! yep.. There were healthy choices.. but naama adhelam mondu kooda paka matome.. full kattu katting I used to do.
This was the time the HD ( then boyfriend) moved to Ca too. weekdays lam office la junk food. Weekends thedi thedi Restaurents la junk..
I put on some 15lbs in 1.5 years!!!

Our wedding was fixed and I was still young (25!) and had a good metabolism. So, Dieting for a month - I lost almost all of the weight.

Only when I got pregnant with Aghoo did I become one Manickam from the Manik Baasha I was. For the past 8 years, I have my best to be healthy and eat healthy meals. It doesn't mean I don't cheat- I do and very often too. I do try and get back on track though.HD always teases me because I am a tyrant with my kids' food. Veggies and protein are sneaked where ever possible. Aghoo did not even know that people can make dosai or idli WITHOUT veggies, until she went to India when she was 3.5 *evil laugh*.

I try though- I want my kids to have good and decent eating habits. It doesn't mean they don't eat junk- they do , of course. I try to balance it out though...

I am now older and my metabolism isnt that great - so I have watch what I eat a lot more. The HD has changed a lot over the years too. Even though he used to eat a lot of veggies always, he also never cared about the quantity or the fat..

Anyways- starting this off with a ramble.. Hope to be regular here..

Do bachon ki ma

Back after ages-seems to be a theme around these parts..

Well- too many updates. As the title suggests, we now have a Ichabu( blog name of course) our son , who joined our family in Dec 2014..

Aghoo is almost 5 and the most amazing big sister. I was very apprehensive about how she will handle the addition of Ichabu- Aghoo has been the center of not only our lives, but also the only child in both my extended family and HD's..
She has amazed us by not welcoming Ichabu, bit actually gladly giving up the center of all attention to him.
She repremands me if I ever complain to my amma or Hd that Ichabhu was cranky in the night.
She always puts him first before herself.. Heres an eg

She was a little cranky and amma palya was trying to console her saying "Aghoo is such a good girl. She is always the best behaved kid- even Ichabu follow her.. Aghoo is the best". She got angry and says " amma palya- dont say that! my baby brother is the best always". Touchwood/ kala tikka and all that.

I can only hope and pray that this bonding continues for life and Ichabu reciprocates the same love and adoration towards his akka.

Mr. Ichabu- had been doing what all little babies do.Not sleeping enough and wanting to be held. We are a little more relaxed as second time parents.I had forgotten how hard it is to take care of an infant in the first few months.

He is absolutely adorable though- a baby boy in our family after a long time :). I am still getting used to saying "him" and "my son"

Hope to be a little more regular here...:)

Long time

I have become so irregular at writing - I think I almost forgot I have a blog.

So, My Aghoo is now a full blown 3.5 year old little girl. I get weird looks from people when I say " My baby" as I refer to her. Who cares! I will forever make that reference .

She is a sensitive and very very perceptive little girl.Some days I am moved by her concern. Like this one day, when I was at my friend's place at dinner time and she was at home with HD- I called her to say good night and she asked " amma .. Nee saptiya?". Isnt that amazingly considerate for a 3 year old?
Well I definitely think so- in my very unbiased opinion!
She has "Best Friends" now.R and C. This little boy C and Aghoo have a special language- its a combination of Tamil, Sankranti ( a dialect of Kannada?)... It is so cute!
We went to the pumpkin patch with her class mates ( including C). She had SO MUCH FUN!
My baby has a social life now- getting invited to birthday parties and potlucks!

We are now looking forward to Halloween- we cant wait to be Cinderella!

5-star!

MK's post on chocolates triggered me to write this after a long hibernation.Many of my fond memories are associated with chocolates- especially 5-star.

Growing, up , 5-star was my favorite- it still is. If I got to distribute 5-star ( instead of those measly rs.1 eclairs), I was in heaven.

1) I remember Rajathi akka ( our house keeper) buying me 5-star form spare change every time she went to the store.

2) My V thatha used to  buy me a 5-star every time he visited us- I was clearly his favorite ;)

3) Sr. Martha( almost a surrogate grandmother to me- a very nice nun/ nurse in my father's hospital) used to buy me a 5 star every year for my birthday.Is it ironic that she passed away on my bday too?

4)Any childhood bet- I would always ask for a 5 star

5) I saved up about Rs.2000 and gave it to Rajathi akka when I left home for college. This year when I went home, she still had it and wanted to buy 5-star(s) with it for me :(.

6)HD ( when we were still just friends) used to give me a 5 star every day when we were in college. This was in the pretext of "same same sweet"- that silly game where you wear the same color clothes, you are supposed to give the other person a sweet. Sometimes, I would claim that we both had black hair and ask for a 5 star :P. One day, I remember the canteen ran out of 5 star, the HD actually walked all the way to the main road ( must have been at least a mile) to get my daily dose.

7) My parents- when I got married- gave me a box of 100 5-stars when I left for the US. Loved and cherished eating them one at a time..

8)My Mil got me a box with 100 5 stars when she came to visit us for the first time.So sweet :( :(

9) The only person I have shared my 5-star with is Aghoo :)

Birthday letters

I had asked a few people that are close to Aghoo to write a few words for Aghoo's birthday..

I am so moved by these and want to save it here for posterity
-------------------
From Vaidu Mami

Where do I start? Ok let me start by my chronicle of U J
When we learnt from your parents that you were expected, (Your dada  being the Peter he is, made the announcement in English saying “Guess what guys, we are going to have a baby”  and he was beaming-Ur amma had the biggest smile I had seen until the day she showed U to us) I was fervently hoping for a huggable, lovable, cute, smart little girl whom we could dress as much as we like and who would be a Diva no less!!! You have more than answered my hopes Riyu !!
We saw you on Feb 6^th – Saturday at around 5:30 pm .. U were exact replica of Ur dada..Ramya’s home was completely transformed from a modern couple’s home to a home filled with Baby cribs, a cute bowl in which you bathed, baby diapers, wipes  and there was little you in a big crib J. Ur mom and dad were treating handling you like a nuclear element-with utmost care and gentleness (still not believing that you were real) and ur amma paati was here all excited J
Fast forward to few months-We took you to Lake tahoe when u were 4 month old-U screamed your head off during the drive-At that time when you were 4 month old, U obliged us with occasional smile and loads of cute baby coos.Our first Hawaii trip was with U Aghoo and boy oh boy it was so fun filled-U have always love water and swimming pool. I have some adorable videos of U enjoying ur first swim.We played with U non stop and U were attached to Mommy like her finger :P
You first birthday took place in Lake Elizabeth and U had walked by then.. we had delicious cake and yummy food to enjoy along with Ur Ava and Ashok chitta’s ppt playing.Do you remember the day when u started 1-2 for signifying more than one? Once I said Riya, I will get you one – two flower and got you only one.. and man U remembered that I said one two and demanded for another-What a memory baby!
U ,Ava and I had loads of fun decorating your feet nails with Ava’s French Manicure pen-tips(hope you remember this :P). One day we all took you to Half Moon Bay (when you were just 2) and took you downtown Palo Alto for some dinner-U insisted on dancing on the street to music from random Guitar player and wearing only Diaper with your 1-c while eating food.. We have never been more enthralled :P
Please remember Ava’s surprise baby shower-U were super excited that soooo many people were home that U kept saying “Thippi surprise pannalaamm “ J..Baby, why do you choose me and Ava as ur official food giver in all social functions?? Its almost like “My amma does this everyday-let her have fun in this occasion, U Vaidu maami/Ava take care of me “.. remba sammathu. I wish I had a camera to capture the look of pride and delight and you screaming “Go Mommy” when Ur mom rode (for a few feet) Param’s cycle around the park-U were constantly screaming Go Mommy and when I was cycling, U kept asking me “Vaidu maami, all done????” implying Ur mom must ride now.. What a diplomacy.. U certainly inherit it from Ramya
I have no clue how that baby in Hawaii is the 3 year old who holds our attention all the time now.. U have had a conversational burst after India trip saying terms like “Malavalapazham”,”Veshamam pannara”,”Venumne Shoellara”and so on.
Some trademark Riya characteristics-
·         U are so unhappy when guests leave ur home (just like ur parents),
·         How do you know that Venky mama and I are a couple-U always ask for other when U see us alone, 3)
·          Very intuitive – U know that ur mommy will talk to me or amma palya while driving
·         very fun loving-U grace us with instant bursts into dance when Kutthu Paatu is playing
·         ABSOLUTELY FEARLESS –when a dog came running towards us in Coitt Tower in winter 2010, U stood proud and fearless .. we all bolted from the scene
·         eager to try new food/things (most mommies will do anything to have a baby who likes to try stuff like U)
·         Love to dress up-Once I asked U why you were dressed head to toe in pink - U replied “Why? Na boooootiful ahh iruken la? Adhu naala dhaan”
·         Very affectionate – U get attached very easily papa-hope you stay the same
·         Clarity of thought is mind boggling-I don’t have it still Kanna J
·         Fast learner-It takes only one telling to make u understand
·         Cute Dancer and entertainer
·         Big Lover of strawberries and “bir –naani”
I cannot really think of proper conclusion to this Riya  baby as I am going to be around you as long as I am on earth..But I cannot sign off without telling you

“I Love You” 

-------------------

From My amma( her amma palya)- She doesnt type very well- so this is a huge deal!

 

frve iom the day you nwere born my first grandchild all talks were only about you.all plans of your parents their life started revolving around you.and the way my firstborn your mom has transformed cannot be put into simple words.her life revolves around you only.you have made your mom proud by everything you do.including your timely peeing and pooing.by your arrival into this world you have inculcated values 'responsibilities happiness and what not into your mom.happy bday baby

 -------------------

 From her chithi

Riya kuttyyyy..May you get a lot of joy this year and all the years to come!! Wish you many happy returns of the day!!

Dress up like a princess cutie pie!! Barney and cinderella are on their way!! hope you get them soon :))

With loads of love,

chithi

 

Kids say the darnest things

Aghoonoosh is a full blown  preschooler! Sometimes she blows me away with her insight. Sometimes she tests my patience with her typical 3 year old tantrums.


Every day , I get ready , brush her teeth comb her hair( since dada finds it very difficult to make kudumis :)) and hand her off to HD for breakfast/shower and drop off at school.
I am usually rushing through my coffee and getting my lunch ready when dada makes her breakfast. Every since day, whether she is in the middle of a game with dada or talking to her thatha or having a tantrum, when I say bye she asks " coffee kudichiya ma?".How does she know that it makes my day?

Yesterday , when I was picking her up from school, one of her friends mom was carrying her friend. She tells me " yella babies mommy yum carry panra.. nee mattum carry panradhey illama". She knows I don't carry her because of my bad back. This of course melted my heart and I carried her for a little bit.Little madam understood that this technique works. She came home and I asked her to drink her milk , she says "yella babies mommy yum cookie thara school lendu home poi.. nee mattum thara matengara" . Smarty pants! She says it with such an earnest look too!

I was trying to get her to finish up her milk ( the bane of my existence!) and I told her-when I was small, I used to come home from school and finish all the milk akka palya ( the akka in our house) used to give me in one big gulp. She asks "yen? where did your mommy go?" . So, I was honest and told her, my mommy was working . She thought for a while and asked me " where did your dada go?" #stumped!


She LOVES her books. The one bribe that will get her to finish her night time milk- if I tell her that I will ready 2 books that day instead of one! I am so happy she has inherited the love of books ( from me ;)). She even sleep with her favorite books next to her. She  pretends to read them to her toys- too funny to watch!

We took her to Tahoe2 weekends ago with our friends and Chitha/chithi. Agnoosh had so much fun in the snow :). She was waiting for penguins to come out though- which of course did not happen :)

This weekend , we are taking her to Disney with ava/achu and chitha/chithi. She is so excited to meet Mickey/Goofy/Minnie and the princesses. She keeps asking - " Amma Disney ku yenna dress podalam? Amma Mickey pesuma yenta? Amma Mickey kadikuma (!!) ? Amma Mickey yennoda book yeduthukuma? Amma, can we take the pincesh ( princess) book to Disney?"

Love you my littlest !

Words from the mouth of a babe

Scenario 1:-

Aghoo and amma are eating leftover chicken curry and dosai for dinner.

Aghoo is licking her chicken curry and generally liking it ( kala tikka!!) .

Aghoo : " Amma I like your mummum"
Amma: " o thank you kutta.. what do you like"
Aghoo : " Dis Chicken, noonles ( noodles) , uppa( upma). rasa mumum, dosai ,illi ( idli), pasta"

Amma is feeling a bit smug that little baby likes her cooking and can even verbalize it. Feels good .

She continues..
Aghoo :" Water (!!) , canny ( candy), straw berries (!)"

Amma: But baby, I dont make those at home...

Aghoo: I like them amma

Bubble BURST!

Scenario 2:-

Aghoo and I are playing with bubbles in the balcony.I notice that her little inflatable pool is filthy. Since summer is coming anyway, I decide to clean it. I take it upstairs and start to clean it in the bath tub.

I am wearing my hip belt- so that my back ache doesn't flare up.

Aghoo:- " Amma, yen clean panra?"
Amma" -" bcos Aghoo cant swim in a yaya ( dirty) illa kanna"
Aghoo " yen belt potiruke?"
Amma " bcos yenaku muggu ow ( mudhu vali) varumla kanna adhan"

After a little while, she walks over to me   and spontaneously kisses my shoulder and says " thank you  amma".. :) I think these are little bits of heaven that we need to take us through the many years of toddler tantrums..:)

Then a little later she asks me, " amma nee yen lots of work panra? Iya( Aghoo) work panaliye"

Amma :- "bcos you are a little baby kanna. When I was a baby in amma palya/ daddy thathas home, I did not do any work either. I just had to eat, go to school and sleep"

Aghoo:- " Appa naanum big girl aagi lot of work pannanuma?"

Amma :- Sadly " yes kanna.. nee big girl aanapram, when you have your own house and baby, neeyum work pannuve"

Aghoo :- " so babies lam mumum, school, thacha (sleep), pee pee, brush, thu thuppi ( rinsing mouth) and poo poo pannanuma?"

ROTFL at her list of baby chores..

Scenario 3:-

I have a new phone from my company.My old Iphone4 had a yellow cover and the new one has a black cover.

Aghoo:- Amma, yellow phone yennachu?

Amma:- Yellow phone thatha ku thara poren. I have a new black phone now.

Aghoo :- NOO! nee vaichiru.. Iya big girl aagi yellow phone yeduthupen..

Little later..

Aghoo " amma, nee yellow phone thatha ku kudu.Big girl aagi naan unnoda new black phone yeduthukaren"

speech less!

Mother of a 3 year old

Feels very very grown up to me.. But then at 31, almost pushing 32, I am almost middle -aged Aint I?

Miss Aghoo is a full blown preschooler now..

I put up this status on FB in honor of her bday..

"I won't say that I can't believe you are 3..because you are everything that a 3 year old should be-defiant and raring to push boundaries ..but you are also very spontaneous and insightful .. My little baby, I hope your year is filled with lot of laughter ,chocolates, strawberries and rainbows.. Hope you retain this ability to be awed by simple things :) Happy Birthday Princess:)"

I think it pretty much sumps up Aghoo at 3 . When she is sweet, she is the sweetest girl- impromptu hugs and kissies, I love my mommies abound :) I can see streaks of a very strong willed person in her already though- It is VERY VERY tough to distract her form something once she has set her mind on it.She doesn't forget commitments very easily- I think she will make a great manager some day ;) 

She is very intuitive and can already sense moods and undercurrents. She is proving to be my daughter ! She does push my ( and HD's ) limited reserves of patience as much as she can and as often as she can- but she also does want to make sure that we are not angry with her for too long. She cant do anything else, until she makes sure we are back to being cheerful.She keeps asking " angry pocha" until we smile. It doesn't matter if the source of the anger is herself or something else.

She is becoming a complete daddys girl- this is quite a paradigm shift for a baby thats been latched to me since birth. Everything is " dada" now- except sleeping, when she still needs me ( or my thoppai to be exact) ;).

She is such a smart, bright and happy kid- not always cheerful, but hey! 3- year olds have the rights to a few ( or many) tantrums I guess..

My biggest fear and worry is- can I ( and HD ofcourse) do justice to this huge responsibility of bringing up this special little girl up? How can we not corrupt her innate sensitivity ,curiosity and her empathy? How do we make sure she is not influenced by the weariness that we exhibit, because of being adults? For that my only answer is- prayers..

So, my prayer for my little Aghoo is this- Dear God, please bless HD and I with the ability to parent this special little girl with all the wisdom and patience that she deserves.Please help is in preserving her innocence for as long as it is necessary. Please help us in raising her into a happy, cheerful ,empathetic and confident human being. Paraphrasing Kannadasan,

" Yenda kuzhandaiyum nalla kuzhandhai dhan mannil pirakayile.. Adhu Nallavan aavadhum theeyavam aavadhum petror ( annai) valarpinile..."

New year..

* i will not crib about leaving just 4 days time* chant 1000 times.

I wanted to jot down my NY resolutions so I can look back at the end of the year

1) Take time for myself.
2) Do Yoga- regularly
3) Dress up well- everyday and not just for special occasions.
4) Take time to take care of basics- hair cut, eye brows and even facial if possible.
5) Be more patient- especially with Aghoo and HD.
6) Try to worry less.. What ever will be will be ( que sara sara?) :)
7) Accept that people are different- not everyone needs to think the same way I do, especially my immediate family.
8) * Try* to forgive and forget..
9) If I need rest, its ok to slack a bit and also let poor HD slack a bit..Aghoo wont remember 1 less than perfect meal or even take out meal.She WILL remember stressed out fighting parents!
10) Starting the new job- be confident and stop being afraid of saying no.
11) Bug parents to visit us- make it happen some how( this is the toughest one :))

Updates

Aghoo and I have been in India for almost 6 weeks now.We are both having a great time- and getting pampered.

First couple of weeks just flew by in a frenzy- thanks to my sisters wedding and the chaos surrounding wedding. It makes me sad to think that there will be no more weddings in our immediate families for a long time- because both my sister and HD's brother are married now.Yes- there will be cousins weddings in a few years.. but will we be able to make it ? I dont know..

After the wedding, I have been going for regular treatment for my backache- traction, IFT, yoga etc etc.

Aghoo is having a BLAST with her daddy thatha,amma palya, akka palya, selvi akka, obama thatha, Elango thatha, hari thatha and various palyas and mamas.

She speaks quite a bit of tamil now and is very conversant even with strangers!

She wakes up at 6.30 and goes down to amma palya and selvi akka ( when I sleep in ofcourse). She has her milk and breakfast, while watching kakas kuruvis and squirrels. She then plays with her amma palya from 10-12.30. They get all her dolls( Krishna ummachi, Ganesha ummachi,Linda and Hannah) brushed, bathed and send them to school. They then become "(m)iss catherine " and "(m)  iss claudia"[her teachers].

They " teach " them stories ( mythological stories watered down) and sing etc. They then make mummum with choppu toys and feed them. Then it is " thacha time" for all the dolls. Aghoo then has her lunch.

Then she plays with her daddy thatha for an hr or so and then sleeps for a little bit.

Then she wakes up, has an egg dosa or something and milk- and plays with akka palya and selvi akka.

Someone usually visits us ( some relative) and she will play hide and seek with them. She again plays with thatha and palya in the evening. She only comes to me after dinner for her bed time story and sleep:)

I am on a schedule too, with yoga class and 2 sessions of traction/IFT.



Thanks to my back ache(!), we both are enjoying a good break from our routines.

Aghoo loves the attention she is getting in India. More later..

Aghooism

This is so cute that I have to post this before I board the plane..

We are in the care - Aghoo , Dada and I- going to the doctor because Aghoo baby is sick.

I am arguing about something with dada..

Aghoo , all of a sudden says..

Aghoo:-" Amma, yen nee daily daily dada kooda fight panre?"
Me:- illiye da.. naan daily fight pnnaliye..
Aghoo:- yeah.. panra nee.. See. Look at him. he is sooooo cuttttttte

My jaw dropped to the floor on hearing this.

and then she proceeds to say

" See , Dada sad iruka paaru.. paaavam"

There you go- she is definitely shaping up to be a dada's girl..

cantwaitcantwaitcantwait

leaving for HOME tomorrow!! Yes- I said home:)
Although Aghoo calls our home ( fremont one)- Riya's home and Dgl as " daddy thatha home ".

Madam has been down with fever since sunday- sigh! will we ever go to India without fever ? I dont know. Both the previous times, we traveled with a feverish Aghoo.Ah well!

For the first time, she understands enough to be very excited- she holds up 2 fingers and says " 1 2 days school, appram India poren pink (??!!) plane la".

Poor dada isnt joining with us and will join next week :(.. He will be alone for Diwali.

I, on the other hand, will be spending Diwali with parents, sister, cousins, uncles, aunts after 10 YEARS!

cantwaitcantwaitcantwait ( Sorry HD:( !!)

More from the other side of the planer ( literally) :):)

Observations

Miss Aghooness is dressed as Minnie mouse for halloween.

Yesterday when we came home, a surprise waiting for her-- her chittha had sent her a " pumpkin pie" costume:). She immediately wore it and had fun prancing around. She also very happily chatted with her chittha and told him about her day , her life etc..

Snippets

Chitha:- Aghoo, where is dada?
Aghoo :- " dada is in office. lotsa work.he is shooo tired.. dada miss me !!!"

On seeing chitha's friend's jeans,

" hey , i also have jeans- upstairs:)"

" Look at my pumpkin chitha .. I made it"

When we were walking back from school, our neighbor's daughter Abigail ( who also goes to Aghoo's school) was walking with us. She was chewing gum. Aghoo asked me what it was- Me being the mean mother who wont give her kid gum, said " I dont know".

Then when she was chatting with her chitha, one of his friends came on the screen and he was chewing gum. Miss Madam looks at it and asks me " Amma , grass la vandhala andha baby per yenna?" ( whats the name of the baby who came with us on the grass( lawn)?

I said " Abigail" and Aghoo says " aah! correct. Abigail maari indha uncle sapidara".. ROTFL!

Today was her school's halloween parade too. Somehow, seeing her  walk in a straight line, with her hands behind her back - made me teary eyed..She is still a little baby and she has these wild tantrums at home- how tamed she looked at school.Our culture is such that kids are suppressed and made to follow orders at such a young age.I dont think there is an alternative to this , given how our society functions and it is even good in many ways.. It just makes me sad to see MY baby like that.

Anyways, all her classmates screamed because they wanted to go to their parents.. Little minnie mouse was smiling and posing for the camera and generally happy. She was intent on collecting the goodies that parents were handing out.

Just stay as you are baby- Cheerful and happy!

Octoberfest

Lot of events happening in october. Aghoo/ Dada and I took a trip as a family after a long time to Monterrey.
Aghoo pappa had so much fun at the beach and the aquarium.. She was THRILLED by the fact that we were staying in a " bye bye home" ( hotel) for a night. The only thing she hated was being strapped to the car seat. She screamed all the way back.Since we walk to/from school, she has lost the habit of sitting in the car seat and screams every time.We have decide that we will fight that battle when we come back from India.

We went to a dandia with V& V - Aghoo was dressed up in  a chaniya choli and wore one of my jhimkis even. So cute!
Unfortunately, by the time we finished dinner and reached the dandia place, she was too sleepy to do too much dancing :)

We also went to a pumpkin patch - again the only glitch was madam screaming in the car seat. She loved the tractor ride and climbing the hay stack.
Aside:-I got her a little cars themed umbrella yesterday and she says" just like tractor uncle"- one of the fathers in the tractor was holding a similar umbrella! I cant believe she remembered it !

Today was her school's pumpkin patch- all the little kids look so cute walking in a line holding hands and picking their own pumpkin :)

Tomorrow is her schools Halloween parade- cant  wait to see all her friends.She will be a minnie mouse.
I bought this wig for myself to attempt to dress up as Daenerys Targaryen.. She had soo much fun playing with it.. :)

Have fun little baby :)

Ava's surprrrrrrrrrrrrrise

Since Ava is getting married in about a month, I started to plan a bridal shower for her about 1.5 months ago.
It started as a single email that I sent to her friends asking for available dates. Two of her friends - S&N, got soo enthu and planned the whole thing- including an awesome flash mob :)

It was a lot of fun keeping everything secret till the last minute- especially my amma who wanted to let Ava know and did not like the idea of a surprise :)

The party was to be on sunday morning. Ava's hyper enthu friends landed at home on Saturday evening. We practiced dancing( yes ! I did too) late into the night. Aghoo had lot of fun playing with all the mamas and aunties and loved the attention.

Finally, when the moment came, it was a complete surprise to Ava.We sang, dances, narrated their story ate cake and had so much fun.Achu also proposed-on one knee no less and complete with a solitaire- not that Ava had a choice in the answer :)

All in all - a fun and fulfilling weekend and party.Like Aghoo says" thirpi surprise pannalam".
When the party was done, Aghoo went to nap and everyone left. When she woke up she kept saying - "yellaraiyum call pannu ma. come panna sollu" .. poor baby :(. She saw that the decorations were still there and thought that the party was still on :(.

 Now, Ava will leave for India in 2 days and I dont know how Aghoo ( and us) is going to cope :(:(.. stay strong baby girl!

Conversations with Aghoo

Amma:- Aghoo , sit on your high chair. Time to eat
Aghoo:- Amma , I sit on dis chair ( pointing to the regular dining chair) appa dhan " style" a irukum !!

The cleaning lady has pushed out her crib from our bed( which  usually is right next to our bed). She takes a look at it and tells her dada

" Dada- fix pannu Riya bed. illati Riya babal vizhuva..lips big oww aagum". The back story is that , the last time cleaning lady did this, I was lazy and did not push her bed back into position . She jumped from her bed to ours, fell down and got a deep cut below her lip :P.

On having a pee pee accident

" dada- sorry dada. Fast a pee pee come panniduchu. yaya panniten" . Ofcourse that melts the said dada :)

She threw up twice on saturday night and was ok on sunday.So, she wakes up on monday morning and tell me

Aghoo-"Amma . No school today. Ok?"
Amma- Why baby?
Aghoo- because nethikiu naan blah ( her term for vomit) panninene. yenaku oww.

Amma-ok.Doctor ta polama?
Aghoo- illa. Dada magic panni fix pannuva.( every time she falls down , we do " one two three magic!!" to " fix" it ;)). Aparam naan home la irupen. Lots of icecream sapiduven.

Aghoo( to dada):- nee oww fix pannitu office po. Amma and Ava and Riya home la ice cream sapiduva. Not for you dada :P

Dada:- " yen da?I also want icecream"
Aghoo:- ok. Office poi ice cream sapidu !!:P

Simple pleasures of childhood

Wearing Pink sunglasses

Making Strawberry muffin with amma

Looking at Airplanes

Getting your nails painted

Relishing a chicken drum stick :)

Riding a toy go cart

 Playing on the street sprinkler

 

 

Learning to use chopsticks from a nice Vietnamese aunty- who  is also the owner of the restaurant.

Playing in your own little pool in the patio

Eating Strawberry icecream stick!

My little big girl

I know I shouldn't be jinxing this too soon and all that- but I am incredibly proud of my little munchkin.

So, as a follow up to the potty training mentioned in the last post, we sent her to school without diapers for the very FIRST time yesterday. I was expecting atleast 2-3 accidents and send 3 sets of clothes with her.

GUESS WHAT, nothing! nada! she told the teachers every time she had to go ( 4 times, if you are interested) and was actually coming back from the rest room when I went to pick her up.

Fingers crossed that this good streak will continue and no regression will happen!

Love is

When the husband tries to surprise wife by buying her favorite lunch - mutton biryani- from aachi aapa kadai on a sunday...

only glitch?

Wife tries to surprise husband on the SAME day by making shrimp biryani and chicken fry at home !!!

Result? we have been eating biryani for the past 3 meals.. nope.. no complaints !

Happenings

Last weekend being labor day weekend, we went to Lake Tahoe with friends and their parents.

Aghoo, Amma and Dada left on friday at 2 pm, since we wanted to take advantage of miss madam's nap time. She was so excited to go to the " beach" that she was in her best behavior :)The evil parents that we are- we fully capitalized it and used for for almost a week to her to finish her lunch and dinner, go pee pee / poo poo etc :P

The drive , which should have taken us 3 hrs, took 7 hrs!! Poor Aghoo was exhausted- but I was so proud of her for co operating so well. She napped for almost 3 hrs (!!), woke up and was really thrilled by all the junk food I was offering her to keep her happy.We then played the colors game ( I name a color and she finds an object with that color) for some time, did puzzles, colored.All that junk food make her throw up once w hit the mountains - poor baby. Thankfully, we were only 40 min from Tahoe and made it there without more incidents :).

She thoroughly enjoyed the beach, sand, water and loved the " beach home". For the 3 days that we were here, she was so happy  every morning when she would wake up and find herself in the beach home. Our friends parents thoroughly spoiled her too.

She was so sad to say by to beach home  when we had to head back :( and has been asking to go back there everyday.

The drive back was also long - almost 8 hrs. Aghoo handled so well as well. I restricted the amount of junk food in fear of her throwing up again - but we managed to entertain her and got home without any major incident or tantrum :)

This weekend we decided it was high time we made the transition to underwear - she has been in pull ups for almost 2 months now.
Aghoo was soooooo pround of herself- She has been doing no.2 in the potty for almost 4 months now ( consistently). No.1 is the big issue- She went to school in pull ups today, but her teacher thinks we can send her in underwear tomorrow! Fingers crossed !
She only had one accident over the weekend- otherwise, she either told us that she needs to go to the potty or we have taken her every 1- 1.5 hrs.
This morning though- she did not want to wear underwear to school and insisted on a pull up. I think she is still insecure about school and doesn't feel comfortable telling her teachers that she needs to go potty.

So, this morning she was happy to go to school ( she was excited to take her backpack with her) and happily went to off to her Miss Rama. I made the mistake of lingering a bit- because I wanted to talk to her teacher about potty training. Since she saw me lingering, she started to cry piteously when I was leaving.. :( my poor little baby- broke my heart. She said " I am sad .. I don't want  school. (lets )Go home amma"...

I really hope she gets used to school and starts being the cheerful child that she was in day care..
Love you Aghoo baby..

Like I was telling dada yesterday, sometimes, I am overwhelmed by the amount of love I feel for you... I cannot fathom loving another child, like I love you .. ( if and when I have another child i.e.). Your dada, being the more practical one, assures me that I was be gushing the same way with our second one too :P