Mom is very tired.

Couple of weeks back, just while we were thinking aloud on who should take the kids to bed – C or I.

S (to his Dad): Amma is very very tired. So, you can clear up the kitchen, clean the dishes, clear up the living room and make our lunch boxes for tomorrow ready. And Amma, Akhi and I will sleep.

Dad: Siddhu, I am very very tired too. So, can I too sleep with you guys.

S (to his Dad): If you too sleep, who will do all the work?

Dad: Amma.

S: Amma is more tired than you are. She works a lot. You don’t work that much. So you can do one of two things – sleep with us, wake up after the three of us sleep and then finish the house work OR finish the house work now and then sleep by us. It’s up to you. Right, Amma?

Mom (Diplomatically avoiding both, C and S) : Come on, boys. Let's go. It's bed time. 

New Dad

When S was 2 and a half years old (in the summer of 2011), C tried to discipline S on something that happened (I don’t remember what though). Immediately, S came to my side of the bed and said “Amma, Come on. Let’s go and get a new dad. We’ll return this dad to Walmart and buy a new one.” 

Mom (thinking) - If it were that easy, Siddhu...:-P

Actually, I was wondering what a brat he was at just 2 and a half years.None the less, I always love you a lot, my dear Siddhu...

Honesty - Can it get any better?

One day S told me, “Amma, don’t cook pasta for me. If you want me to eat pasta, you take me to the pasta hotel (he meant Olive Garden) and I will eat all my pasta all by myself. Also, I will not need constant nudging from you if you take me to the hotel. You don’t make good pasta – I like the one the hotel makes a lot. I love it.”

Now, can honesty get any better? I learnt my lesson and stopped making in-house pasta recipes. Now, I look at the recipe on the box and scale it down. Or search for time tested pasta recipes in the internet and follow the same. 

P.S.: I would never agree to anything like this coming from C. But when it is from a 3 yr old, I know that it is TRUE. (Usually S never says anything that can hurt me or is against me.) 

Siddhu and his softer side - # 2

One day at the dinner table, I sighed with pain as my feet were hurting real bad (from the plantar fasciitis).  And I was totally oblivion to the fact that S was observing me all the while. Suddenly S asked me if I took any medication. I replied in the negative. Immediately he said, “Amma, just wait till I am 10. I will be 4 in coming November and then I will be 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 – all in just 10 days after my birthday. Once I am 10, I will go in my car and get you 4 medicines – one each for morning, afternoon, evening and night. And then you will not have leg pain anymore.”

P.S :- This was in early September 2012. (@ 3yrs of age)

Family photo shoot - July 27th, 2012

After a nice long vacation in India, the boys and I returned from India in May of 2011. Thinking about the summer here at Wisconsin, I just got the boys' heads shaved off at Puttaparthy, India. Then once their hair started to grow, it was BIG DECISION TIME. Should I get them a hair cut or not? After some thinking, we decided to get S his hair cut (because he anyways wore it really long and curly during his baby days). But for A, we decided the opposite. He was still a baby and I really wanted to see him with long baby hair. He had wonderful hair - I fell in love with his hair over and over again. It grew really long and curly. So, we decided that we cut his hair after his 2nd birthday. (Though in May 2012, I cut his hair in the front to make some bangs just to prevent the front hair from falling into his eyes). But we reverted our decision based on the extremely harsh summer this year and we got A his first hair cut at the Aveda Salon and Spa near our house. Just for memory sake, we had a family photo shoot with long hair Akhi (and Sailatha). Below are the pics from the same. We totally totally enjoyed the shoot - the boys were all over the place, running, posing, pulling each other and what not. It was one of our most memorable family days.  As the famous quote goes "A picture is worth a thousand words..."....

Why did you say "You love me"?

On March 19th, 2012, we celebrated Akhi's 18th month birthday by having a  FAMILY DAY OUT. We started our day with a smash cake, a small nice ice cream cake from ColdStone Creamery. The boys smashed it, stomped on it, applied the frosting/ice cream to themselves and each other.  I would say, they abused the cake so bad, that the cake went straight to the trash can and the boys were carried straight to the bath tub.

After we all got ready, we headed out to Panera Bread and enjoyed a hearty brunch - Mac&Cheese with tomato soup for the boys (that is their regular order at Panera). Then we went to the North East Wisconsin Zoo (a.k.a NEW Zoo). It is a huge zoo, in the sense that there is more walking to do than animals to see. But there were a lion and it's lioness, all the farm animals, 2 giraffes, turkey, monkeys, otters, seals etc etc. We were exhausted by the time we were done with it.  S started to act up just now when we came out of the zoo. C said, "Siddhu, I will leave you near the lion if you continue to act up." For that, S replied "Then in the morning, why did you tell me that you love me. If you leave me near the lion, the lion will roar and scare me. That means you don't love me. " 
Of course, following this set of dialogues was the routine parent/child conversation like "I do not love you when you misbehave etc etc..." S used what his dad said (earlier in the day) to him and in turn questioned his dad about the same - this was what left me totally puzzled. With him growing up, it just puzzles me more and more each day.  Sometimes, I am like "Did I ask my mom/dad these kind of questions???" I am sure I never did, but I 'll confirm on that one of these days - you never know :-P...
 

Planets...

When we went on our second family trip to Washington D.C. in May 2011, we went to the National Air and Space Museum where we bought a book called "The 8 Spinning Planets" for the boys (The book says that Pluto is too small to count as a planet - that is why only 8 planets). And for some odd reason, S started to love planets since this Summer.  So, every night S would bring his Planets book and A would bring his Goodnight Little One book to read at bedtime.
Observing S's interest and out of his own love for books, A made it a daily ritual that every night after dinner he brings the two same books for me to read to them - Good Night Little One (for himself) and 8 spinning planets (for S). 

Today while I was reading out the planets book to S, he and I had the following very interesting conversation -

Mom: Siddhu, Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system.
S: Why? Why is it the smallest?
Mom: Because God created it so.
S:Why?
Mom: Because God wanted it so.
S: Why?
Mom: Because God likes it that way.
S: Why?
Mom (it finally struck me) : Its just like how you never eat spicy food - You don't like it, so you don't eat it, right? Similarly, God did not want Mercury to be big. That is why he made it tiny.
S: Ohh, OK. So, tiny like baby Akhi and not like big boy Siddhu?
Mom: Yes.

Then when Earth's turn came,
Mom: Earth is where we all live.
S: Even Dimpu akka, Ammamma and Bharath Mama?
Mom: Yes - all of us live on the earth.
S: Why? How will we all fit on earth. It is small.
Mom: In the book, they draw it small so you can see it. But in reality, it is HUGE, dear.
S (pointing to Jupiter) : But see Jupiter is the biggest planet. It's big just like Nana. So, why don't we go live there - we all will have much more space.
Mom: Jupiter is really cold.
S: Why?
Mom: Because it is too far away from the sun.
S: Earth can get cold too when it snows. So, why do we all live on Earth?
Mom: Even though it snows on earth, we find find yogurt, fruit, peanut butter and jelly etc etc. We will not find such things on any other planet. Also, it is cold only for a while. then we will have spring, summer and fall.
S: Ohh, OK. Amma, Earth is beautiful - It has green and blue colors on it.
Mom: Yes, that is true and it is more beautiful because little boys like you live on it. So, now Jupiter has two moons unlike Earth which has only one moon.
S: Why? 
Mom (I gave up) : I will find out from Mrs. Erin or Mrs. Kaufmann and let you know (his teachers at school).
S (pointing to the Earth): You live here (pointed to Asia), Nana lives here (South Africa), I live here (pointed to North America), Akhi lives here (pointed to something in the North - I think that was Greenland)
Mom: Yes dear. Now, it is time to be done with the book.

Then I think, just wait for tomorrow to come around - all our locations on Earth are going to change...
When S and I chit chat, my brain has to be in the THINK HARD mode most of the time. His questioning never ceases. And he will question the very reality like "Why do rabbits eat carrots?" I am not going to have an answer for that other than, "Because rabbits like carrots." And then again comes the question "Why do rabbits like carrots?". And there it goes on and on and on...

Amusing Akhi...

Until now, I have written a lot about S. There are tonnes of things about A that amuse me and C a lot....(when I say a lot, I really mean A LOT).

A and animals -
As time passed I learnt that when kids are taught with 3D figures rather than 2D, they learn a lot quicker and show more interest. For eg., when I go grocery shopping, its like a grocery class all the way in the store...And then that class continues at home when we arrange the stuff we bought. I extended that same concept to teaching them animals and insects. So, grandma sent them a bunch of figures from India and the boys just love the animals. More so, A loves animals. He can play with them all day long. His favorite animal is crocodile. He is just learning to speak and he calls it "cocodile" (with a stress on the d)  - Can you imagine a kid's favorite animal being a crocodile? :-)
One day as I had to stay at work late, C picked up the kids and gave them dinner at home. Now A is troublesome when it comes to meals. A just kept nibbling his food. C tried a lot and then admitted defeat. He just said to A "I am very hungry. So, I am eating my food.  I don't care what you do. Your mom will come home and take care of you." and let A go. C started to eat and then in like 10 minutes A came by with the crocodile in his hand. A climbed the dining table (using his toddler chair) and then started to eat his food using the crocodile's open mouth as a spoon (like he held the crocodile by the tail and scooped food from the cup with the crocodile's open mouth). I missed the sight, but C said that was hilarious. C and S burst out laughing. When they told me, I wondered how in the world could A get such an idea.  But thats what kids are all about - CREATIVITY...

A and his middle finger - 
A goes to Children's Montessori schools toddler program. The toddler program teaches them to be very independent. So he does a couple of things with minimal help from us - putting on pants, shoes and pull-ups and washing his hands (with plenty of soap).
Yesterday, while at school,  he was washing his hands in the sink (those small toddler sinks which little kids can reach). Then the next thing his teacher hears is a soft AAAAaaaaa which slowly turned into a loud cry.When she went over to help him, she found that he had stuck his middle finger into the sink hole as deep as the finger could go. And when he was trying to pull it out, it scraped the sides of his finger. His teacher was extremely scared, because not one kid has done such a thing in her 10 yrs in the school. So, she helped him pull his finger out. Once out, she put pressure on it and did some first aid to stop the bleeding. All this, his teacher did with another teacher - she said, she was too scared to do it alone. Then once he stopped crying, she called me and gave me the update. He was fine when I spoke to his teacher, but from what I heard he cried a lot. When I went to pick him up in the evening, his teacher said, she was baffled at how his curiosity/imagination works...And now, she puts an extra pair of eyes on him when he is near any such thing - sink, cabinets potty etc.
I told C in the evening when he was home (though I knew it as soon as the incident happened in the morning) and he is unable to get his mind off it. He is all fine now - the hurt is healing. But his thought of trying to put his finger through a sink hole still has me wondering. Once again, KIDS...

A and his nature -
The one thing me and C want A to continue to have with him even when he grows up is his current nature. I always wonder from  where he got it. Most of the times though, I think it is from his dad (the times I don't think so are when I had a fight with C - just kidding ! ).

#1 He was/is an extremely extremely relaxed baby/boy. You might have noticed how I stress on relaxed. And yes - that is so true. Since his birth, he has never cried if anybody snatched a toy from him. He would just go and find himself another toy to play with. Only when it goes to an extreme where his brother snatches every toy he brings, he will become physical and defend for himself. If that doesn't help, then he will cry. But most of the time, he will take it easy. It's like he gives a lot of chances to someone who is trying to irritate him. When that someone uses up all their chances, the repercussions are bad i.e., baby bad (pushing, hitting on the head, pulling hair etc)

#2 One thing for sure with him is A was/is an easy to satisfy baby/boy  - all he needs is a belly full of food that he likes (dairy, dairy and more dairy) and his little BIG brother (earlier that used to be his mommy :-( )

#3 A just finds his way to do the things he wants to - he tries the right way, if that does not work; he tries it his way. Sometimes A asks us in his baby language for something that is unreachable to him, like remotes, something on the kitchen countertop, S's paperback story books on a book shelf, puzzles for 3 yrs and up, lotion / cream etc. Like every parent we refuse, look him in the eye and say "No Akhi, you cannot have that thing." He just gives us a stare and leaves that spot. The next thing is he is drags one of his toddler chairs to the required spot, gets on it and reaches for that article that he asked us for. One day, he was ready pretty early and wanted to leave the house. I said "No Akhi, we got to wait for everybody in the house. So, you play till everyone is ready.OK?" The next thing I see is that he has a chair right in front of the front door and is opening the lock to get out. At such times in my house, it's like "Oh My God! Please help me..." We now have knob protectors, but S helps him remove those too. But both the kids got a very strict warning from me regarding the front door. So, that has stopped happening now for a while. But now that I have said it, let's just wait and see...


More about A in my next blog...Until then happy reading!!!

Siddhu and his softer side - #1

Usually once I tuck my boys in bed, I lay by their side and chit chat about the day's happenings and various other things with both of them for a while. That is like one of my best times of the day. But one day, after I tucked them in bed, I just lay by their side and wasn't talking much. After like 10 minutes of silence, S suddenly said "Amma, Thank you for everything you do for me and my brother. Thank you for cooking our food, feeding us the same, bathing us, brushing our teeth, playing with us, reading us books, putting us to bed, cleaning the house and everything...I love you a lot, Amma...I love you more than anything in this world...From tomorrow onwards, I will be a very good boy, listen to you and help you so that you do not get tired everyday. I love you a lot, Amma."
Such statements coming from a three year old really moved my heart and I ended up having tears in my eyes. Sometimes, S can get really really sweet. Just hope he is this way as he grows up too...:-)

P.S. - For my memory, this happened like in the month of March 2012.

Partners in crime (Drinking Water) - #2

Quite the opposite of his older brother, A has a very good habit of drinking plenty of water (I attribute it to his love for water), because of which I would give him a sipper full of water to drink. In like 15 minutes, he would bring it back to me and say 'More' (before he learnt to speak , he would says More in his sign language). I would always be surprised at the amount of water he drank. Then one day S started to ask for more and more water, which is very unusual of him. S's sudden liking for drinking lots of water aroused my curiosity. Not to much of my surprise, I found out that both the boys were taking water into their mouths from the cup and then spitting it out onto whichever surface they chose - couch (thank god, i have a slip cover on it), carpet, floor, their shirts etc. This was again one of A's 'sacred' teaching to S.

Partners in crime (Screaming) - #1

When I saw t-shirts that said, "Double trouble"; it just amused me. But now I truly understand the meaning of it. S was an extremely active kid but he wasn't naughty, at least I thought so. A has always been naughty, so naughty that I bought him a tee which read "You can call me Super Serious Big Time Trouble". When the two get together, it is like Oh God! What have I gotten into !!! Thats when I started calling them Partners in Crime whenever they would be extremely busy brewing trouble in some far away part of the house in total silence. Though that meant tonnes of work for Mom / Dad, we both cherish every moment of it. Here I plan to record all their doings (rather misdoings) as trouble creators and makers.

A started to walk in October of 2011. Very excited with his new found skill (more so, freedom), A would explore every nook and corner of the house. Since I was a stay at home mom, he followed me everywhere that I went in the house. When I would be in the kitchen he would come to the kitchen, look me in the eyes and start yelling as loud as loud can be (just an AAAAA.....). He slowly instigated S to do it too, and by November 2011 both of them made it a daily ritual - to come to the kitchen, stand next to each other, look at me and scream... While screaming, their eyes would gleam with naughtiness, twitch with pleasure and send secret smiles of victory - that was a sight I used to religiously wait for everyday. This daily ritual stopped in February of 2011 when we shifted houses :-( , but more came up...:-)..

Myself and my family...

MYSELF - am from Andhra Pradesh, India.Though I always wanted to be a doctor, I studied Engineering in Communications and then took up a job in a software firm like most of the engineering under grads during my time did. I am a hard core Taurean - stubborn, stubborn and more stubborn (but that changed and is still changing with time)... I love to dance, craft, eat, read, watch movies, bake, listen to music, travel and try new things.
In February of 2006, me and my fiance (my classmate in collge) got married. That changed the 'I'/ 'ME'/'MYSELF' to 'WE BOTH' - me and Hubby dear, Chaitanya a.k.a Chaitu (will go by C in this blog).C is an avid sports fan and is the inspiration behind this blog. I love him to death and he loves me more than that. My father once told me - It is pretty easy to find a man you love, but to find a man who loves you most is close to impossible. So, hold on tight and though there may come some turbulences, just trust in each other and you will be happy...And that is exactly what I have been doing till date. It took him 'JUST' 5 yrs of telling for me to start a blog. Phew! Long story short, we moved to the United States in the second half of 2006 and have been here since.
In Nov of 2008 our family grew by 17 inches - Welcome Siddharth a.k.a Siddhu (will go by S in this blog). Then again in September of 2010, our family grew once again by 19 inches - Welcome Akhil a.k.a Akhi (will go by A in this blog).And that is MY FAMILY...

Why I decided to blog?

Two big reasons why I wanted to blog -

Time flies, childhood flies even faster and only memories stay... For a long long time now, I wanted to make a journal of my children's growing up - their conversations, pranks, jokes, laughs, sulking etc etc and this is going to be it.

I rediscover or discover an unknown part of myself everyday from people I meet, stories I hear, conversations I am a part of and incidents I see. But the best part of it all happened only after I became a MOM. Here I want to record how I discovered various aspects of myself only after I became a parent. 

Please wish me luck and enjoy some reading!