Lawyered!

Me: Ashu, please go and fold your blankets on the bed. Yours and Antus.

Ashu: Ok amma.

5 minutes later, I pass the room and see that Ashus blanket is neatly folded while Antus blanket is not. 

Me: Ashu, why have nt you folded Antus blanket?

Ashu: Because she said she ll do it herself.

Me: Antu, why did nt you fold your blanket then?

Antu: I did nt tell her I will fold it. 

Me: Well?

Ashu: She said that amma. 

Antu: I did NOT!

Me: What exactly did she say Ashu?

Ashu: She said "I can do everything by myself. I don't need your help."

Me: *light bulb glows* And WHEN did she say this?

Ashu: She said it yesterday.

Me: Yesterday? When?

Ashu: When I asked her if I can help her with the puzzle and she said she can do everything by herself!

Me: !!!!

Five lessons that Motherhood has taught me.

I think I have been tagged after eons. I have to be blamed because I mostly forget to take up tags. Apologies. So let me do Kiran's tag before I forget. Thanks K for shaking me awake from my blogger's block!

So here are the five lessons that Motherhood has taught me.

1. Patience. I never knew I had so much patience in me. And that its never enough. Like today. We came back from school, cleaned up, ate snacks and after packing every sand toy in the house left for the play area downstairs. I asked the girls to use the bathroom before we left and Antu was very sure that she did nt want to go! I even threatened her that I will not bring her back home if she said that she wanted to use the bathroom as soon as we reached the park. And what happened 10 minutes later? Madam says she has to use the bathroom NOW. This has happened before of course. I tell Ashu to play and that I ll go home and come back in 5 minutes. I walk home with Antu. When we cross the water fountain in front of our apartment, Antu says that she wants to play in the water. "Did nt you want to go to the bathroom NOW?", I ask. "No! I want to go to the water!" I give her a dirty look and drag her home. She sits in the bathroom for 10 minutes and declares that she does nt have to go after all! ARGH!

2. Motherhood has also taught me to shut up. When one does nt have a kind word to tell a mother, especially a new mom, then one has to really shut up. Especially things like "I chose not to take epidural" to a mom who is just being wheeled out after a C-Sec or "I nursed my child until so and so years" to a mom who is struggling with breast feeding are a strict no-no. Hold your tongue, woman! Just stick with "the baby looks just like you" and you will be fine!

3. I know all the Disney Princess's names. And I know who Ben10 is and what Bakugans are. I know how Tooth Fairy works. I know how to make a puppy from play-doh and hot to throw kiddie birthday parties. I know how to turn shoe boxes into storage boxes and I also have watched a caterpillar turn into a butterfly. I know all about potty and sleep training and the ups and downs of breast feeding. I learnt to appreciate Children's literature and can recognize Axel Scheffler's illustrations from a mile away! :)

4. Most importantly, it has taught me to walk out of my comfort zone and take risks. While I'm so afraid of deep frying that I don't ever make HD's favorite pooris or my favorite aamai vadai, I have no problem baking cake after cake for my kids even though many a disaster have occurred. Contrary to the popular belief, Im quite shy and suck at making new friends. I take a step if the other person takes a step but I wont initiate it. I'm too afraid that I might be stepping on their toes. But having a very reserved kid means that I'm her mouth piece. Whether its asking for a play date with Ashu's friend or targeting fellow Desi Moms and pouncing on them at the school entrance or volunteering in school or the numerous get-togethers that happen, I owe everything to motherhood. If not for the kids, I would have been very happy in my shell. But being a mother has taught me that the shell can pretty crowded for a family of four. I owe every friend I have right now to my kids. Including my very dear blog pals. :)

5. hmm.... What else? Oh yeah! I ve learnt that I can fake as a supremely patient and super mom when there are people around! When Antu refuses to leave the park and I tell her very nicely, "Lets go sweetie! We ll go home, eat dinner, read a book and go to bed. Come on now!" what I really mean is "kadankaari! Vandhu tholai! veetukku vaa, unakku irukku*!" Or whenever I write in the blog that I ve given up on Ashu's fussy eating habits and dont bother anymore, what I really mean is that meal times battles still exist but I am not going to write about it here anymore! ;)

* Come home, you brat! You will pay for this!

Real Muffins, Fake Cupcakes and Tiramisu.

Ashu's birthday celebrations seem to be extending for a long time. Since her school was closed for Spring break until the 1st of May, she had a small celebration in her class after the school reopened. The usual "going around the Sun 6 times", showing her baby pictures to her friends and teachers, eating cup cakes, etc... I baked rainbow cup cakes and they came out awesome thanks to the gel food colors Sis sent from the US. When I baked the rainbow cake last year, I did nt have gel food colors and even though the cake looked good, the colors were nt really vibrant. And I was quite apprehensive about making cupcakes because all that effort of mixing colors in four different batches for a simple muffin seemed tedious to me. But it turned out pretty easy actually. I had nt told Ashu that it was going to be rainbow muffins and when she got up in the morning and saw all the muffins, the expression on her face was priceless. Guess us moms are suckers for punishment just for that look on our kids faces! Whether its taking them to Disneyland during Spring break or baking rainbow muffins at midnight which are going to be half eaten and thrown in the trash by most of the kids!

We also had unexpected house guests the next week which Ashu thought was in her honor! We hardly have house guests and the kids were super thrilled. A very dear couple with their 2 daughters were on an Europe tour and stayed with us a night before going to Italy. Even though the friend claimed she was here to do laundry(!), we were excited to see them after ages! Ashu asked me yesterday if we can invite S and S for a playdate this week and I had to explain to her that they are in Italy now and will be going back to India and international play dates are nt the norm. Yet. :) The next day we had a small "cupcake" party at home with 2 girls who missed Ashu's birthday party. (Yes, you can say that again - Im a sucker for punishment!) Sis had sent a fake cupcake decorating kit for Ashu and the three girls went crazy making fake cupcakes while Antu and I were gobbling real banana muffins! Antu made sure to ask me "Is this real? Can I eat this?" though! Atta girl! The fake cream looked so real that whenever I got a bit of my cream in my hands while helping them, my first instinct was to lick it!!! Had to warn the girls a dozen times not to lick although Im sure a bit of it did find its way to their stomach! Well, a little bit of glue does nt harm anyone. Or does it?

The weekend was busy with back to back birthday parties for Ashu. What a busy social life these kids have! (And why does April/May have the most number of birthdays, anyway?!) And we had friends over for dinner on Sunday. And Ashu expected them to stay overnight! I made Tiramisu for the very first time and though it came out yummy, it was too much coffee for my taste especially since I dont drink coffee. Got to dilute the coffee more the next time I make it. Funny that when I was googling for Tiramisu recipe, I had to google "how to make coffee" because I did nt know the how many spoons of coffee powder to add to a cup of water to make the coffee! Yes, Im that girl who does nt even know how to make coffee that the Mothers-In-law love to complain about!! Come to think of it, I dont how to boil an egg either! I mean, I did nt! Have I told you how this one time I tried to boil an egg in a "microwave"?!!! God rest its soul! And I mean the microwave here! ;)

Well! Well! Well!

YY has indeed arrived in the blog world.

Check out her recent post for some entertainment. I am so amazed by all the coincidence that Im quite speechless.

Let me try to decipher what happened.

1. YY posts her Golu photo in this post which she wrote last year.

2. SG decides to write a Golu post this year and searches for a golu photo in google images.

3. Of the millions of pictures, the one in Page 19 strikes his fancy and he uses it. (Im guessing here!)

So far so good.

4. When the commenters compliment on the Golu, hes quite non committal in the beginning. (Thats the conscience, I guess and one should always, always listen to it!)

5. But when commenter, Anu Bharat praises the Golu, he gracefully accepts the compliments!

Except that they are MY GRANDMOTHER and MOTHERs bommais!! (ok, ok. I got a little carried away too. "Our". Not "My". And now my sister's.)

6. A few days later, he participates in Paruls By the Watercooler contest.

7. A week later, Parul announces the winners and SG is one of the five winners. Parul links his blog.

8. YY reads that post and follows the link to SG's blog. (What are the odds, huh?)

9. And she randomly checks the archives only to see her own Golu photo staring back at her. (Again, what are the odds?)

Im shocked at all these coincidences. A Bay area resident writes about Bay area Navarathri complaining mostly about the food (on how theres no "originality"!) only to copy and use another Bay area residents Navarathri Golu photo (unknowingly, I hope!) and then not clarifying that its neither his picture nor his Golu.

Im so fascinated by this Butterfly Effect that Im neither angry nor upset about this theft. Just intrigued. :)

Phone Booth.

(Wife calls the Husband at work around 6 pm.)

Wife: Still in office? What are you doing?

Husband: Its not even 6 yet.

W: So?

H: Did I tell you I will be leaving at 6?

W: Did you tell me you will be leaving later?

H: No.

W: Then whats wrong in me asking?

H: Its only 6. Thats why. *sighs*

W: *yells* Dude! You should be happy that you have someone in your life who loves you, misses you and is waiting for you at home with your kids! So stop this sighing business, ok? You so don't deserve me. Heres a person who actually cares about you and you don't even appreciate...

H: *hurriedly* I am sorry. I am sorry.

W: *smiles* Lets try this one more time. When are you coming home?

H: I will leave in another half an hour.

W: Good. See you then. Bye.

H: Bye.

Im sure he sighed again after he hung up.

The vacation is still going strong.

We are so busy having so much fun here that I dont have a minute to sit and think about anything. And I realize there are only 5 more days before we leave back for Zurich. Sigh! Last weekend was fantastic. It was the first time I went camping. Ashu has been wanting to go camping for the past 2 years and she was excited about the whole idea of sleeping in a tent in the middle of nowhere. We carried a truck load of stuff for an one night koothu. Utbt and Co also joined us with another truck load of stuff and we cooked, we ate, we played, we chatted, we slept looking at the stars. It was awesome. The campsite was quite rough and thorny. While Ashu would gingerly put one foot out of the tent, wear her shoe and then the other one, Antu would just run around barefoot taking a break to pluck out thorns from her feet. Chalk and cheese, I tell ya!

As if all the shopping and eating out and the camping was nt fun enough, we decided to sneak in a girls only trip to Las Vegas. Sis, a friend and I left for Vegas on Saturday morning. A very dear friend (who just happens to be my sisters SIL) from the Mid West joined us there and we four had a blast à la Sex and the City. Only replace sex with food and gambling! :D It was so liberating to do a trip sans kids. No diaper bags and strollers. No kids menu and high chairs. No tantrums and whining. Ah! Bliss! Giggling like crazy for every thing under the sun. Checking out dudes and dudettes in the poolside. Margaritas and Wine. (water in my case.) Coming back to the hotel room way past midnight and getting up in time for lunch! It was a dream come true. We also watched the show Kà by Cirque du Soleil at MGM Grand and it was brilliant. I loved the sets, the moving platforms and the special effects. Especially the one scene where one of the twins is drowning in the ocean. It was just amazing. Worth the money for just that one scene.

Got back on Monday morning and it seemed Ashu had grown taller in 2 days! Antu blessed me with a smile and then yelled, "Perimmaaa" and ran to my sister and hugged her. The little imp! At least I have one child who missed me. Hmph! While my mom is thrilled that her little girls had a blast, my dad is all "ellam all kali kaalam!" I agree that the statement "leaving your kids/husband and going for a weekend away to drink/gamble" would nt sound like a good idea to most of the previous generation especially when translated in Tamil (kuzhandhaigala vittuttu kudi, koothu, soodhaatam!) but they better get used to it! Hd went "You went for a break and now you are taking a break from the break?" Well, what can I say? I swear by the quote - "Live life to the fullest... think of all the people on the Titanic who passed up chocolate dessert." :)

Anti-jinx.

It has been more than a year since Antu was sleep trained. So she goes to sleep on her own in her crib and wakes up again only in the morning.(To Hd - This is not boasting. Just blogging. I know. I know. Its all the same.) There has not been one night in this period where she has woken up in the middle of the night. And all was well with the world. And then one night recently, she started crying uncontrollably around 2 am. Hd went to her room to pat her but she just would nt stop crying. So he brought her to our bed but she would nt quieten down even then. Then I put her on my chest and she stopped crying. She went to sleep in a few minutes. Hd transferred her to the crib again. And then she got up at 8 am the next day. We were really wondering what disturbed her sleep. She had a bit of a cough and Hd was blaming it on the cold. But I had a different theory.

Me - I think it was a jinx.
Hd - What do you mean?
Me - The other day this friend went aahh oohh over our kids sleeping habits.
Hd - *in an accusatory tone* who asked you to go and boast?
Me - First of all, I did nt boast. She asked if they sleep on their own and through the night and I said a simple yes.
Hd - You could ve underplayed it.
Me- Look. I cant lie about the kids like you do. And most importantly, I dont believe in this evil eye business.
Hd - You dont? *smirks*
Me - I dont, ok? I was just thinking aloud about the coincidence, thats all.
Hd - But you did think about it that way, right?
Me - Dude! You are my husband! I will tell you whatever goes through my mind and you cant judge me!
Hd - Thats what you will say. And then you will go blog about it and tell the whole world!
Me - No, I wont!

Oops.

Snippets from a play date.

Ashus best friend G came home last week for a play date.

(G trips and falls on top of Antu.)

G - Oops! Sorry Antu.
Ashu - Its OK, G. I fall on her and squish her ALL the time!!

----

(They are playing Candy Land.)

G - I don't want to play this anymore.
Ashu - Why? You said this is your favorite game.
G - Yes but I don't want to play now. I want to play with your laptop.
Ashu - OK. Clean this up first.

-----

(They are eating a snack.)

G - Yay! I finished first.
Ashu - (sticks out her tongue at G)
G - If I did that, my mom would tell me that I cant have a play date in a long, long time.
Ashu - I DON'T want a play date in a long, long time. OK?

----

G - Ashu said that Antu wont play with me. But I want to play with Antu.
Me - Antu will like to play with you, G. Don't worry. *glares at Ashu*
Ashu - I just thought that Antu is still sleepy and tired after her nap, Amma.
Me - Yeah right!

-----

G - Ashu is screaming in my ears.
Ashu - No I did nt do it, Amma.
G - She did.
Ashu - No, I did nt.
G - You did.
Ashu - No.
G - Yes.
Ashu - No.
G - Yes.
.
.
.
(Boo leaves the room)

----

(3 hours later)

G - Bye Ashu. *hugs and kisses*
Ashu - Bye.
G - I love you.
Ashu - See you tomorrow.

----

Happy Holidays!

Just because we are a non believer does nt mean we wont go see him and eat the candy cane he gave. Like mommy like daughter, I guess. For all the "theres no God" lectures I gave while I was young, that did nt stop me eating Puliyodarai at the perumal kovils, did it? ;)


Happy Christmas, guys! We are off for the vacation from the vacation tomorrow. See you all in the brand new year. Wishing everyone all things wonderful in 2010!

The One in Which He Knows Me Too Well.

(during a random conversation)
Me - So! When will you become VP of a company, huh?
Hd - Only if I start my own company, I guess.
Me - Dude! if you start your own company, would nt you be like the President or something? Not just a VP!
Hd - I was sure you would want to be the President there too! No?
Me - *grins* Thats true.

The man sure is catching up with me, is nt he? :D