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 :)