On guard duty.

A certain soon to be 8 year old is a little young to lock the bathroom door by herself but needs her privacy too. So what does she do?

Out of Hibernation.

Antu: Amma, can you come and play with me?

Me: I am making lunch, Antu. I can't come now.

Antu: I don't know what to do.

Me: Go and stand in the balcony and soak some Vitamin D from the sun.

Antu: Ok.

Five minutes later, I had to stop what I was doing to take this photo. :)

Ashu does it again. And again!

The other day, our conversation turned to the subject of adoption and I was telling Ashu how I had always wanted to adopt a baby but it never happened. And she had many questions about babies without a parent and asked how it happens and why it happens, etc...I explained it to Ashu and was asking Ashu if she wished she had a brother and Antu quickly replied, "I dont want a brother. I want a sister." "A little sister?", I asked her. Yes, she replied! :) "May be I should adopt a baby girl now. What do you think, Ashu?"

No Amma. I dont think you should.

But why?

I dont think its a good idea.

Why not? I just told you how some children need a home! Dont you think those kids deserve a loving family too?

Adoption is great, Amma. Its a good thing to do. But I dont think YOU should do it!

EXCUSE ME? Why would you say that?

You are already stressed with just the two of us, Amma. And you are so strict with us. I dont want you to be strict with an adopted baby!

I dont remember what I replied to her or if I replied at all! My heart sure broke a little though.

2. Klasse

Ashu started 2nd Grade today. On any day, I would be crying and getting senti over it. But this is a big change in so many levels.  We switched her from the international school (IS) she has been going to for the past 4 1/2 years to the local school (LS). Even though IS was a 15 km/20 minutes drive and now LS is a mere 250 metres/5 mins walk from home, the huge change which was giving me sleepless nights (just a figure of speech. I slept like a log!) was the language. From a complete English environment with a bit of German lessons twice a week, she would be going to a completely German school. And last month when we went to meet the class teacher, he had a translator present for our benefit!! With self doubt every step of the way, I was worried Ashu will catch on to it. But bless her little soul, she was quite brave about the whole change. Today I walked her to school with the intent of going upto her class and have a few words with her teacher but when we went there was not one parent in sight! (All kids are supposed to walk to school on their own!) What a sharp contrast to the IS where truck loads of parents can be found outside school at any given time of the day! A little girl from Ashus class figured out shes the new girl and asked me if she can take her inside and Ashu was ok too. So I just left her there and walked back home. *sob sob* 

And you know what? Shes going to come home for lunch at noon! Thats what all the kids do. Or go to the Hort where they can have supervised lunch bought from the cafeteria. They cant take packed lunch. And she has a one hour and 50 mins lunch break! Have you fainted yet? If not, another bit of a shocker. She has only 3 full days in a week. Wednesday is a half day for everyone anyway. And her class is off on Friday afternoons too. So she will be home at 11.50! There goes my full day plans! I left the house at 11.45 today to pick up Ashu for lunch and she met me half way! She came running and hugged me and had a huge grin on her face! Phew. And then she dropped a bomb that broke my heart to million little pieces! She said, "Dont come to school anymore, Amma. I can walk on my own!"

The One in which Ashu has Existential Crisis.

A couple of days ago after a bedtime story, I casually asked Ashu if she wants to talk about something.

Yes, Amma. I have a question.

Go ahead.

Why are we here?

*taken aback* What?

Why are people on Earth, Amma? For what? Why is nt Earth without any living things like the other planets?

Thats it people. I am retiring as a parent. I did nt sign up for this. 

I told her that its an excellent, excellent question and it has many answers and gave her different possible answers and also added that its a question everyone wants to know an answer for. When I asked her to come up with her own answer she said, "I have absolutely no idea. I will think about it!" When I tried to sell her crap by telling that my purpose is to love my 2 girls and bring them up as good human beings she asked, "Then what about Perimma (my sis)? Whats her purpose? What should be my purpose? I dont have any babies yet!" 

There comes a time in every parents life when even Google cant help you answer your kids questions and this is such a time for me. HELP!

Out of the mouth of Ashu.

Ashu: Amma! What are these?

Me: Storage boxes, Ashu.

Ashu: For our room?

Me: Yes. More boxes that you girls can take stuff out of and make the room even more messy! *rolls eyes*

Ashu: You know, Amma? You can just ask me to clean the room and I will. You dont have to say mean things to make me clean. You can be nice.

Me: *runs to update her blog*

****

One Saturday, we went to the nearby Ice Rink so that Ashu can ice skate. It was terribly, terribly cold and I asked Hd to go home with Antu and come back later to pick us up. After an hour and half, Ashu and I decided to walk home instead of troubling the duo. It was a 15 minutes walk and even though it was freezing, (-10* C) we enjoyed the walk home visualizing hot cocoa! Just when I was about to enter our apartment, Hd calls me and asks where I am and if he can come to pick me up. When I told him that Im almost home, he says that he is out shopping and was thinking that he ll pick me up on his way home! I did the only thing that I do well under these circumstances, I hung up! Looking at my face Ashu asked me what was wrong.

Me: Im upset, Ashu.

Ashu: Why? Is it because I kicked that ball of snow? *panics*

Me: No. Im upset at Appa.

Ashu: What did he do?

Me: I asked him to go home. But hes not home.

Ashu: So what, Amma?

Me: Why cant he ever listen to me?

Ashu: May be he thought he is helping us.

Me: What help? We both walked in this freezing cold. I had the good intention of not disturbing him and Antu. Thats why I decided to walk. What was his good intention?

Ashu: Its ok, Amma.

Me: Its not ok. Why cant people follow instructions? Why? It was a simple instruction. Go. Home.

Ashu: You know, Amma? May be people dont want to listen to your instructions all the time. May be sometimes, they want to listen to their own instructions! OK?

Me: *runs to update her blog*

****

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!

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?

Little Miss Responsible.

First grade is serious business and Ashu gets home work these days. She gets it every other week and it seems like a family project! I ll never understand why Im paying good money to school when I have to do all the work! *rolls eyes* Anyway, these "projects" have become the bane of my life now and Ashu and I are at loggerheads every time she brings work home. The first time she had to do a collage and little miss decided she wanted a zillion photos to be printed which I refused. Another time, she had the brilliant idea to list 36 household items and illustrate them all on her own! When I tried to explain to her that it might take hours and she did nt have that much time and to shorten her list, she got very upset and stomped off. I decided not to interfere anymore and mumbled "whatever" and went about my work. This was after dinner, so I got Antu ready for bed, brushed her teeth, read her a book, etc.... All this while, Ashu was cooling off in her room. A few minutes later she came to me as if nothing happened and asked if we can continue the home work. (She needed help with the spellings, thats all!) So we both sat together and worked peacefully for 30 mins. It was past her bed time so I asked her to take a break, brush her teeth and go to bed and that she can continue the rest the next day. She said, "But I ve already brushed my teeth, Amma!" I was surprised! "When?", I asked her. "Remember when I got angry and went away? I actually went and brushed my teeth.", she answered! I wish every tantrum the girls throw are as responsible as this one! Including mine! :)