Airport Musings

1) Dear Lady with the toddler,
I know the look you have- that wistful look when you are watching a couple of teenagers talking to each other, while your child is running amok all over the gate. You will get there one day. I promise.

2) Dear dad of teenagers,
You want to be included in the conversation that your children are having. You keep trying and they keep ignoring you. Sigh. You look at the toddler with such longing...Dont worry. Wait till they are in their 20s. All they will want to do is talk to you.

3) Dear old couple holding hands,
I want to be like you one day. Graceful/ yet smart. You are both reading on your kindle /ipad and holding each other's hands. There is a distinct familiarity and a look of content on your faces. I hope we get there some day.

4)Dear mid aged lady in the inappropriate clothes,
Grow up- those clothes are definitely not for you.Wear something appropriate and you will look much more elegant.

5) Dear lady with a cold,
There are kids running around- please close your mouth when you sneeze!

6)Dear guy sitting next to me with you iphone,
I am just people watching- I am NOT interested in reading your stupid work- related emails. I have 100s of those in my inbox !!

7) Dear toddler,
You are beautiful and such a joy-even though your parents may not tell you this enough( I know I don't tell mine enough). You remind me of my own baby waiting for me at home :)

2011-The year that was and HOLIDAYS!!

This year has been one HE$$ of a roller coaster for us.

The High-s
1) Little Aghoo turned one year old- became a toddler ( boo hoo) :)
2) She started to walk / talk and order us around.
3) My dad's visit and him spending time with my aghoo baby.
4) Learning to manage family/ work/ baby all by ourselves...
5) Our bitter sweet India trip- Aghoo's first trip to India . She had a blast with various chithis/chitappas/thathas and pattis
6)Aghoo's chitha( chitappa) got engaged!
7)HD's dad's visit.
8) Friends and family- as always..


The Low-s
Well -there was a huge low that basically was the biggest of them all. Aghoo lost her beloved patti. :( No words..


Now, coming to our Vacation..

Aghoo / Dada and amma are all set to go to- ME-HI-CO!! o yeah baby.. Cabos , here we come. We are going to a beach resort for 5 days . I know Aghoo will have a blast- because she loves water and anything to do with this.CANT. WAIT.


Here is to hoping that next year will be a little less taxing on our family and filled with more happy memories ( chitha's kalyanam to start with !!).

I wanted to write a few words for Aghoo's patti in heaven..

Dear aunty,
I know that you are somewhere out there watching out for us. I just want you to know that we all love and miss you.Aghoo papa prays to you everyday ( of course you know this) before she goes to sleep.Please watch over us.
I wish you did not have to leave so early- but I am sure God had his own reasons for his actions.
Your legacy lives on through little Aghoo- for she is a splitting image of you !


Happy 2012 folks!

Aghoo's OCD

1) when she puts her lovey-violet the doggie- to sleep, the little hand towel she uses as a sheet CANNOT have any creases. If it does,she will not just straighten the crease, but she will first odharify it( don't know word in English) a couple of times and place it carefully on the floor.

2) When she goes to sleep, the bed room door HAS to be closed.

3)when she goes to sleep, she should switch the fan on.Also both the green and red lights on the fan should be ON. The red light indicates speed and the green light indicates timer. So , if we switch off the timer and she sees that the green light is off- even in the middle of the night- she will get off the bed and go switch it on.

- we have a remote for the fan and we evil parents switch off the green light all the time to watch her irritation;)

4) there is a pink sheet under her high chair to catch all the mess- she won't eat if the sheet is folded even slightly. It has to be perfectly crease free!

5)Any spills or "ya ya "s need to be cleaned immediately by Amma. She won't leave me alone until I clean whatever mess is bothering her. Most times she herself will try to clean it with a dish rag:)

Aghooisms

Aghoo is so into books right now *preen*. She loves bringing her oob (LOL- thats what she calls books :)).
So, this morning, she got frightened by the cooker's whistle . I was trying to distract her and asked her to bring a book. She brought this one.we get to the last page, where the books says the baby bird lives with its family. Here is how the conversation goes.

Amma:- In the baby bird's home, it lives with its amma bird and dada bird.

Aghoo- yeah  which is her favorite word right now :)

Amma:- So who lives in Aghoo's home?

Aghoo:- Ava, Amma, Dada and Cuckerrrrrrrrrrrrr ( cooker ) LOL!


Aghoo's language

oob- book
pa mum- banana
Pashta- pasta
ooooof- juice :)
appai- apple/ or any fruit that looks like it - pear etc
gape- grapes
ssheeeesh- cheese
jojo- take a bath
bardie- birdie
mleow- meow/ cat
vow vow- row row row a boat :)
all thu town- wheels on the bus song

There are many many more things and songs and Aghooisms- which I cant seem to recall right now :(.
Aghoo's dada is India on business ( grrrrrrrrrrrrr) and we are both missing him a lot. We can DEFINITELY be pacified with material gifts though- just saying :)
Aghoo papa woke up screaming for dada this morning :(:(..

For you UD

Dear most UD

It is not fair that I live so many many miles away from you.Where did that promise of "moving to the US at least for a short while" go ?
I hate the fact that I haven't seen you since May 2008 ( thank God for official India trip :)).I soooooooooooooooo hate the fact that I wont be seeing you this year when I come down to India either ( don't burn me- I will explain over phone).

You know what I hate most? That my Aghoo hasn't met her aunt UD yet and I wont be meeting your little panda anytime soon. Not fair at all!

When I need you most, when I want to talk to you ( like the last couple of days)- mundane things like time difference and work come in between us and I let the moment pass. When I finally wrap up my chores for the day and think about calling you, your work day has already begun. Its not fair you know!

I just wanted to write this for you - because I feel terribly guilty that I wont be visiting you and more importantly - your panda this time :(

There is always hope for a next time- illa?

Love,
me


PS:- my other blog is dead - so writing in this one..

Miss Aghoo at 18 months

18 months and she is still a teensie weensie one :).
Her vocabulary and her cognition is definitely growing by leaps and bounds.

Some words in aghoo-nese

baba- bubbles or baba black sheep
open- obvious:)
pie-pie- spy spy as in" itsy bitsy spider :)"
tap tap- clap clap as in " if you are happy and you know it clap your hands"
tha tha- give it to me

akkkkkkkkkka-  ukkaru as in I want to sit.
standddddddddddd- obvious
shan- fan or socks
fuuuuuuuuuu- shoes... her most favorite thing to wear..
change- diaper change :)
aaaaaga- egg

gaaaaaah- yogurt
ashaaaaaaaa- her day care provider
athaaaaaaaaap- Prathap, one of our friends..

Sahaaaaaana- one of our friend's daughter.. so any little kid is Sahana :)
come come- to walk or to go out..
aaaaaaachi- thachi as in sleep :)


Aghoo and I were both sick this week with stomach flu and stayed home . We had a blast despite the sickness- as I did not have to cook or rush to work. We went to the park twice a day and sang songs all morning.

We also had a scare where she pulled her elbow and we have to rush to urgent care. Thankfully, it was nothing.

A peek into the Aghoo household

Taking a page form MK's book, here is our daily schedule

6.30 am- Amma wakes up. Prays that Aghoo stays asleep with Dada, because Aghoo will not let amma do any work if she is awake.

6.30-6.45- Amma gets Aghoo's egg ready and puts it on the stove.Keeps cooker for rice and dal

6.45- 6.55- Amma brushes/ morning duties ( ahem) , while the egg and cooker are getting cooked and doing its job respectively.

6.55- 7.25 Amma makes vegetable/dal/sabzi or kozhambu/ snack for day care etc.

7.25- Aghoo comes down with dada and brushes her teeth

7.35-8.00 ish - Dada feeds Aghoo her breakfast ( Egg/ cheese/ rice with veggies) with Amma/chithi making appearances when dada is about to give up.Amma packs lunches for Aghoo and amma/ snack and milk for day care ready.

8.00- 8.10 ish- Amma sits down for 10 min to check email and drink coffee.. Dada and Aghoo are lounging about / playing respectively.

8.15- 8.35- Dada gives Aghoo her bath. Amma showers and gets ready. Amma gets Aghoo ready while dada showers.

8.45- Aghoo and Amma come downstairs and amma has her hurried breakfast while Aghoo again plays .. :)

8.50 - Amma and Aghoo leave the house.

9.00- Amma drops Aghoo at day care and goes to work.

5.45-6.00- Dada or Amma pick  Aghoo up.

6.15- 6.40- reach home/ Aghoo is given a face wash and changed. Aghoo gets a small snack.

6.40 - 7.15- Amma prepares dinner , while Aghoo plays with Chithi or goes to the park with dada. Dada goes to the treadmill if possible.

7.15- 7.45- Aghoo gets dinner from chithi/amma depending on the day..Amma finishes up dinner.

7.45- 8.15- Dada/amma/chithi eat. Aghoo walks around playing

8.15- 8.45- Amma cleans kitchen/loads dishes. Dada gives Aghoo her medicine and milk.

8.45- 9.00ish- bed time for Aghoo with dada. Amma starts cutting veggies/ fruits for the next day.

9.00-9.30 - Amma finishes cutting veggies/ fruits. Dada puts Aghoo down to sleep and comes down.

9.30- 10.30 ish- Amma and dada get some time to watch TV / catch up etc.

As you can see- every minute of our day is packed and one slight delay causes our whole schedule to go haywire like a stack of cards.

Life with Aghoo is fun and tiring :)

I have no clue how people with 2 babies manage time.