Ashu's Entry for Shruti's Artsy-Craftsy Jan 2012.

Ever since Shruti announced the "Paint your Van Gogh" theme for Artsy-craftsy challenge in her blog, I have been asking (OK, nagging!) Ashu to come up with something. I knew this was something she would enjoy. Ashu was thrilled with the idea of drawing something famous. We have a few books bought in museums which has loads of prints by famous painters and Ashu went through it and selected two.

No 1. was Paul Gauguin's "Still life with three puppies". Picture below.

No 2. was Henri Matisse's "Goldfish".

But the artist was nt very happy with her (copied) works and told me not to take photos of it! (So I took the photos after she left for school!! What? She ll thank me one day!)

And then we totally forgot about them. Until today. I reminded Ashu that tomorrow was the last day for submission and if she wanted to try a new one or can I send the other two to the competition anyway. She thought for a while and said "I like Van Gogh, Amma! I ll try something by him!" The trip to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam paid off or what?!!! While I was asking if she wanted to draw Sunflowers, she reminded me that theres a Van Gogh print hanging in the kids bedroom wall! The Almond Blossoms! We saw the original in Amsterdam and she selected that particular print in the souvenir shop even though I wanted the Sunflowers. I think the fact that Van Gogh painted it for a baby (his nephew) stayed with her. To cut the long story short, the painting was brought down from the wall and Ashu spent all afternoon trying to recreate it on a paper with a pencil, brown and blue crayons and a pink pen. Ta-da!

Shruti - So heres the final entry and thanks for giving us a lovely afternoon together. Heres to many more Artsy-Craftsies! :)

The One with the New Ipad.

I am alive! I am alive! Acute bloggers block and a busy,busy January made me neglect this blog for quite a long time. It has not even been three weeks since we came back from the US but feels like a year already. Numerous school events, dinner parties and potlucks and organizing a surprise baby shower made my life super busy. Not to mention the new dining table, coffee table and side board we bought which we had to assemble all by ourselves. The side board is still lying on the floor in various pieces. Wonder when its time will come!

The kids? Oh, they are enjoying the winter. Its snowing outside right now and Antu is doodling in her doodle board while Hd and Ashu have gone skiing. Life is good especially from the indoors! :)

Ipad has made an entry in our lives as well. A very indulgent Bil (and Sis, I should add!) gifted one to our family. I say family but he gave it to Ashu!! Now you know why we visit US very frequently! ;) Anyway, what with Bils Ipad and the new Ipad, both kids were sitting with one ipad each all the time while we were in the US. If not that, there was the TV of course! What it being vacation and all, I tried to let it go. And since I was coming back alone with the girls, (Hd left a few days earlier) I gave in and loaded all kinds of apps in the ipad for the kids to play in the flight. (Because stupid American Airlines does nt even have a TV and its a loooooooong flight!) While going from here, Ashu drew and colored page after page in her drawing book. Antu read her books again and again or heard music. But of course everything changed while coming back because we have the ipad now!! And to top it off, both of them refused to take turns and were fighting for the ipad! Hello? I was bored too! I needed the ipad to play Temple Run as well!! And once when Antu howled and refused to take turns, I completely lost it! Shoved the ipad in my bag and told the girls that they are being total brats and they are grounded forever! The rest of the flight was quite peaceful, I should say. Once we reached home, I sat them down and told them that they are nt getting any screen time the rest of January and they agreed. And from February 1st, we ll go back to our usual routine. Which is 30 mins TV on Wednesdays and one movie on Fridays. Weekends are flexible. They can watch a bit if we are home.(and depending on how crazy they drive me!) And they can choose if they want to play something on the laptop or watch TV. This was how it has been for the past one year.

It was quite a shock to Hd more than the kids when the new rule of total ban was imposed! Especially in this cold weather when we cant even go to the park after school! He was sure I ll become even more badhrakaali than usual and started coming back late from work! But problem came from a new angle. Antu got up the next day after the ban and asked first thing in the morning, "Is today February the first?" "No, Antu. Its 11th January." She came back from school at 11.30 and asked "Is it February the first now?" "No, Antu. There are 20 days more to February." 3 pm - same question. 4 pm - ditto. By 5 pm - I was ready to switch on the TV!!!! But resisted and let Ashu handle the questions! Ashu dragged her to a calendar and showed her that February is long time away and not to make it any longer by asking this question every hour!!! Ashu had technical doubts though. "Does it mean no TV, no ipad, no laptop?" "Can I still check the weather in the itouch like I do everyday?" "What if I need to used the laptop for my homework?" "Can I see photos in the ipad please?". When the answer was NO to every question, she knew I meant business. Once we went to a friends house for dinner, she refused to watch TV there with the other kids saying that its not Feb 1st yet! Antu has no such qualms, of course!

Honestly I thought that the ban would last a week and I would be at wits end by then and give them a talk and lift the ban! But by one week, they did nt even ask for TV or Ipad anymore and started inventing so many cools ways to play that I was so thrilled! They made a TV out of the packing materials of the dining table one day. And once the dining table was assembled, they pretended that the narrow glass top of the table is TV and camped under the table and watched "Tangled"! (Hd tried to over rule the ban right about now!) The long white thermocol piece was painted and used as a road and they played with cars! Books were read by dozens. Shelves were organized and Antu were perpetually dress-upping all the time! Like today, they spent an hour playing "One hundred adventurers". Which is to run around the house with a measuring tape and hunt for things which are exactly 100 cm long!! Innovative or what! It has been so much fun that Im looking for a loop hole to continue the ban all of February! But Hd being the softie he is has told me sternly that I can not do that! All because he forgot about the ban and showed something to Antu on the ipad one day and she came screaming to me saying, "Its not february 1st yet, its not february 1st yet!" What can I do? I cant help being a terror to my kids!

Anyway, I totally get how some people dont have TV in their house. Its so liberating. Even though TV was always rationed in our house, it always bugged me that they watched TV when they could be doing so much fun stuff! Especially with Antu. At least Ashu would always prefer a book or a story or painting over TV. Antu was/is a total addict! She would even sell her parents to watch Dora! But then, the apple does nt fall from the tree. At the ripe old age of 16, I skipped +2 physics tution class because the timing clashed with Doogie Howser MD! One cant fight Karma, thats for sure!

Congrats, Kiran!

If you have nt heard already, the fantastic blogger and a good friend (ahem!), Kiran Manral is out with her first book, The Reluctant Detective! Im sure whoever reads her blog knew it was coming since she is a wonderful, wonderful writer.

To learn more about the book, visit Kiran's brand new website http://www.thereluctantdetectivebook.blogspot.com/

You can buy the book from Flipkart here.

I love the cover and I cant wait to get my hands on it. Wishing you all things wonderful, Kiran!

Crossposted at http://indianmommies.blogspot.com/2012/01/congrats-kiran.html

Bye bye, 2011.

Last day of the year already! 2011 was sure in a hurry. We seem to spend December either in India or in the US these last few years and I can get used to this tradition. Much fun is being had here. We came back from Tahoe and whaddayaknow, I enjoyed skiing and even got decently better at it. On the last day, sis, Ashu, Hd, Bil and I skied together and I loved it. Bil and Ashu were zooming past us every time. I can't believe she's the same timid girl I see in Zurich. Thanks to Bil, her confidence really soared.

Got back and soon bils bro, sil and their daughter, S left. Ashu was much saddened. They both had a blast together for 10 days. Made it up for not having the Utbt family here. Though I prepared the girls and told them not to ask for Chula and Meija, I had a lump in my throat when I came here and realized that they are nt going to be here this time. Sigh.

Met blog friend, Reva for the first time yesterday and was blown away. Was telling Hd that he can never ever ask me what use my blog is anymore after that scrumptious meal at her place. She's a master baker and that's an understatement. Lovely house, lovely family, awesome dinner and amazing dessert. Such cute gifts for the girls too. How can some people do it all? Thanks much, Reva. You are a sweet heart.

Non stop shopping and restaurant hopping happening here and at this rate, I'm going to look like a beached whale very soon. Hope 2012 knocks some sense into me. Happy new year, folks. Hope 2012 begins with a bang for everyone!

Location: Lake Tahoe.

Me: How could you do this to me? To your own little sister, that too! That Ski lesson was the one of the toughest thing I ve ever done!
Sis: How could you do this to me? You left Antu with me!
Me: Ok. We are even!

Yes, folks! Arrived to the US of A last week to spend the Christmas Holidays with Sis and Bil. And where do they take us? To Lake Tahoe for skiing! And Bil's brother's family have joined us too and they live in Colorado! I guess we were all destined to learn skiing in California, of all places! Im writing from a cozy cottage surrounded by mountains with a killer lake view. Its bliss. I only wish I dont have to go to the stupid Ski lesson tomorrow! Especially falling on my back and struggling like a cockroach in the beginner level while Ashu and kids even younger than her are zooming past in the intermediate level! Not fair!

More later, folks! Happy Holidays!

"What makes us so bitter against people who outwit us is that they think themselves cleverer than we are."

Ashu and her best friend G were asking each other some riddles and playing in the car. After a few rounds of this, G asks Ashu.

G: Im going to ask you a tricky riddle now, Ashu. Are you smart?

Ashu: Yes.

G: Ok. Are you very, very smart?

Ashu: hmm.... not really.

I dont know whether to be happy or sad! But I can say one thing. She is EXACTLY like her dad! These are the kinds of people who will not give us even an ounce of happiness when we win against them in any game/sport/debate/argument! Do you come across these annoying kinds? Theres no satisfaction in beating them in any game. Whats the whole point of playing, I ask? Take me, for example. Sis and I have never EVER finished a game of chess in all our life because every time she even came close to taking my queen, let alone the king, the board with all the pieces will magically fling themselves to the floor! There have been innumerable card games which have ended with me or my mom in tears. My sis or my dad swearing that they will never ever play with us ever again. And none of us are graceful winners either! Its a miracle how we did nt end up killing each other! But Ashu and Hd are the type of paavam characters with whom you dont mind losing. You even let them win sometimes because they are so paavam! Not that they are nt competitive but theres something in their demeanour. So graceful and sportive and I guess one has to be born with it and can never be learnt. I ve perfected the art of faking though. After 33 years and 2 kids, Im in a stage where I dont throw public tantrums! I said public!

Something tells me Antu is all me! And the thought terrifies me! *gulp*

The One in Which Ashu Loses Her First Tooth.

Just when I started to focus on Antu again, Ashu had to lose her first tooth and steal her thunder! The much awaited milestone arrived finally this weekend! Ashu has been really impatient the last one year seeing all her friends lose their teeth one by one and her's were nt even wobbly. Around 6 months back, she was thrilled to announce that one of her lower front tooth is teeny-weeny wobbly even though I could nt feel a thing. More like wishful thinking, I assumed. A couple of months back, I did see it wobble a bit and we were all eagerly waiting for the big day! Two days back I saw a new tooth sprouting behind the wobbly one and it looked really weird. By this time, the wobbly tooth was hanging by a thread so to speak and I asked Ashu if I can pull it. "No way!, she screamed. She wanted the tooth to fall while in school so that she can go to the nurse and get a cute little box to put it in. I wanted it to fall while shes home because I wanted to witness the grand event, of course! And finally when it did fall, it had to be on a Saturday while she was attending a birthday party and I was nt even there! A friend dropped her home after the party and Ashu was all excited to show something and while I was thinking that it was some cool return gift, it was her tooth! awww... I had to blink back tears. It does hit you, this losing the baby tooth business! sigh!

Before you ask what the tooth fairy gave her, let me answer you. The child does nt believe in fairies. I told her that she ll get a gift only if she believes in them but nothing could shake her resolve.

How do you know, Ashu? They may be real. Try putting the tooth under the pillow and see.

Amma! Its the parents who give the gift. Not the fairy! And I need the tooth. I want to take it to school on Monday.

You believe in Krishna, dont you?

Yes. But he is GOD. Not a fairy! Also I saw a tooth fairy book in the fiction section in the library. It means its not real!

Check and mate.

I found the box with the tooth safely tucked in her school bag. Decided to surprise her and put a CHF 5 coin in it. She found it this morning and came and thanked me. I told her thats an advance amount for all her teeth and she is nt getting any more money. "But Amma! The upper tooth is bigger. You need to give more money for it when it falls down." Holy guacamole! I need to plant a book on money in the fiction section right now!

About time I updated on Antu.

OK, lets talk about Antu. High time, right?

She is in this utterly-butterly cute stage. Loves life like crazy! Going to school is exciting. Eating breakfast is exciting. Going to the grocery shop to buy milk is exciting. Going to pick her sister up from school is even more exciting! Her enthusiasm is so infectious. Still very much a daddy's girl.

The other day we were going to her German playgroup and she told me that she does nt like her English preschool. She says she does nt like her German one when i drop her at the English one! So I told her,

You can like both, Antu.

No, Amma. I dont like English school.

You don't have to say you dont like that just because you like this, OK? Just you like both Amma and Appa, you can like both.

But I don't like Am....

What?

I like only Appa!

(hurt voice) Why do you like appa so much, Antu?

Because I don't like you!

Sigh!

Its not enough to plunge the knife in my heart, she has to twist it too?

Her preschool had a Halloween party and little Missy chose her own costume by mixing and matching the pink party frock, tiara, etc... So of course I had to take photos and compare and contrast with Ashu's 3 year old photos. Here you go.

I don't know how she does it but exactly at 3 pm everyday she comes to me and says, "Lets go to Akka school and get her, Amma!" All this lurve only when shes out of sight. As soon as she comes home, its adithadi fight for every little thing! And Antu is such a kozhsolli.(tattletale) Akka did this, akka did that, akka said this, akka said that,... uff! Its just too much! I hear Ashu sometimes telling Antu, "You are such a silly goose, Antu! Now go tell this to Amma!" LOL!

At any point of time, you can see Antu surrounded by at least five books. Whenever I call her, the answer will be "Wait amma! I'm reading!" I don't know if shes just copying her sister or shes really interested! Reading means looking at pictures and pretend reading, of course.

She calls Emily Elizabeth from the Clifford book as Amily Alphabet! The other day we were all laughing at it and Ashu asked her very sarcastically, "Do you even know what an alphabet is, Antu?" And she says, "Yes. Letters!" I was shocked. So I asked her "And what are letters?" She gave me a look and said, "ABC, Amma!" and proceeded to sing the whole alphabet song! She can also count up to 100. Recognize all the alphabets. Knows the months, days of the week. Mostly thanks to Ashu who plays teacher, teacher with her and teaches her stuff!

Unlike the 3 year old Ashu, Antu has a rocking social life! I drag her everywhere with me. School meetings, lunch with friends, coffee mornings, school events, Ashu's violin class, dance practice sessions, ... and she loves all of it. She loves "dress-upping" and dancing and I'm looking for some class for her. May be from January.

I think she finally realized that I'm hurt or something as she keeps saying "I love you full-time, Amma!" these days! But never make the mistake of asking her whom she "likes" though! In spite of it, I love you full-time too, Antu. All the time!

All about Ashu.

Ashu had quite an eventful week with a Violin Recital and an Indian group Dance, both at her school! Remember how last year she danced for O Re Kanchi? It was a mix of "Mukunda, Mukunda" and "Radha kaise na jale" this time with one boy and 8 girls! We had less then a month, we could meet only once or twice a week and add to it, I was the only one choreographing and making the kids dance to my tune since my partner in crime from last year has moved out of Swiss! What an uphill task! It was so difficult to even fix a date when all of us were available. At one point, I just gave up and asked Ashu if she wants to dance alone or with Antu. She refused instantly and proclaimed, "group dance or no dance, Amma!" Sigh! The things we do for our kids! But once we managed to meet, things started working out. We took turns and practiced in each others houses and after a while, I even started to look forward to these things just for the yummy food and chai! I think I behaved more or less like a circus animal trainer! The moms loved me and the kids sort of warmed up to me towards the end. Much like stockholm syndrome, I guess! Everyone was admiring me for my immense patience with the kids and I felt like a fraud! Why is it so easy to be patient with other peoples kids? The d day was last Saturday and the kids did me proud! It was so cute to watch them do the moves and try to be in sync. Though the day before the dance was when Kolaveri went viral and I had an acute case of earworm and was *this* close to actually playing this song instead of Mukunda for the kids to dance. Not that they would have known the difference! ;)

Coming to the Violin recital, it all started a couple of months back. Ashu was stubborn that she wanted to learn the Violin. She kept asking us last year too and we thought she was too young and I did nt have the time or energy to cart her to yet another class! But when I learnt that theres a class she can take once a week in her school during lunch recess, I jumped at the chance. At least, I dont have to drive her around! One fine day, we took her to the store and rented a Violin. Thats where I learnt that there are actually different sizes in violins and one always rents Violins for kids. Ashu was a happy camper. We also bought her the recommended book and a stand. And of course I threatened Ashu with dire consequences if she did nt practice regularly just before we paid the huge amount! One can always dream! The classes started soon and she quite enjoyed them. After a few classes, I had no idea what she was doing so I decided to attend classes whenever I could along with her. So much for less driving around, huh? But that helps both of us. (Poor Antu though who has to sit still for 30 mins!) A month alter, the teacher informed us about the student recital which happens in November every year and asked Ashu to choose a song she wanted to play. She chose A Mozart Melody. (popularly known as Twinkle, Twinkle!) Poor little thing practiced it almost every day for a month! Of course, I had to be a Tiger Mom at times but then who am I kidding? It is who I am! The improvement you see is tremendous though. It amazes me what one can do with practice. (I am there with her in every class but theres no way I can read the notes like Ashu does.) The teacher was also going to make a group of kids play a few songs and Ashu was part of it. There was much excitement on the day of the recital. (last Tuesday) Choosing something formal to wear, shiny black shoes, cameras charged, proud parents in the front row, the works! Ashu played beautifully and the group recital was very cute too. Some of the middle school kids were amazing! Unbelievable talent! Wonder how many hours they practice every day! ;)

There is nothing to look forward to now and Im wondering what to do with all the extra time I seem to have since yesterday! Pay attention to my poor neglected second child, you say?

A Milestone I dreaded: The F Word.

Loads of friends have told me how their kids said the F word, how shocked they were, how the kids wanted to know the meaning of the word, how they were stumped, etc.. etc... etc... I kind of worried too but Ashu is a kind of kid who instinctively seems to know what will make me happy or upset and she ll avoid asking anything which she thinks will upset me or get her into trouble. Not always, I can assure. But mostly. So I knew I had a long time before I had to face that kind of a situation. But then, one can only dream!

Ashus best friend, G had come home today for lunch and we were all eating at the table. Antu with her "impeccable" table manners had to say "yuck" for God knows what and G immediately gasped, "Oh my God! Antu just said the F word!" I froze. "Its a bad word!", G added! I was speechless. I looked at Ashu who was looking at G curiously! "She said "yuck", G!", I mumbled. "Really? Do you know what the F word is?", she asked. "Forget me. How do YOU know?", I managed to ask. "Oh my sister told me. It is F***! Its a very bad word and we should never say it!". Very clear! "Thats right! Lets not say it then. Why don't we talk about butterflies? Or fairies? or Rainbows?" The girls started giggling and the situation was diffused. Phew.

Was that the end? Of course not. Come bedtime, Ashu asked me the dreaded question. "What is the meaning of the F word, Amma?" Sigh!

"Have you heard the word before, Ashu?"

Quite a defensive "No!"

"Its just a bad word, Ashu. And you will get into a lot of trouble if your teachers hear you say that, ok?"

"Is it a bad word like Stupid?"

"Its much, much worser that stupid."

"Is it a bad word like sissy?"

"What the F***!" (Ok, I did nt say that! But really!)

"Excuse me? Where do you hear words like these? Dont you guys have classes to attend while in school?"

"I heard it in recess, Amma! A called B a sissy because he said he likes pink!"

"Ok, Ashu! Thats another word you cant use, ok? Thats all Im saying!"

"I ll never use it Amma. I just want to know the meaning."

"We ll talk about it when you are a bit older, Ashu! How about two stories today, huh? Once upon a time..."

Im so making Hd handle it when its Antus turn. Which might even be tomorrow for all you know!