Home Work

Tejas applies lotion in dots on his legs
Ojas- Dots kyon banaya? tum homework hai kya?
(Are you homework? You are making dots on your leg)
(Since we make dotted outline of the letters and they write on that)

Courtyard Marriot

Is wonderful.....
AD & I went for yet another delightful lunch there a few weeks ago. We opted for the buffet (what else) and hogged the cold salads with multiple dips (they managed to make even an egg salad taste interesting).
The main course was again an unbelievably delightful range of animals- the mutton was especially yummy.
I could not manage to taste the biriyanis and the vegetarian stuff as I had eaten 2 complete rounds of non-veggie salads (I did not touch the veg salads at all)
The cheese selection was so so but the best was saved till the last.

Warm - gooey- crumbly yumilicious brownie crumble in chocolate sauce. It was heavenly.
I have forgotten what other desserts were there - the brownie oversahdowed everything else but I vaguely remember that the cakes were nice too. I like their way of serving more than anything else- individual planks parallel parked on the table and cakes arranged on the planks.

At Rs 700 per plate- it is totally worth it. And I love the ambience too!! Bright & spacious!

Types of Gift Givers

1. Recyclers- They immediately evaluate a given gift with parameters like- is it of use to me, can I pass it on to someone. The said gift is stored in a separate area for easy acessibility when a gift giving occassion arises
2. The Enthusiast- will go about hunting for a gift very enthusiastically, working out what suits best for the reciever
3. The coudn't be bothered- will buy a gift but will not put too much effort into it. Just pick up the first pretty thing that catches the eye
4. The - meri izzat ka khayal karo- size and value of the gift = status symbol. They have benchmarks in terms of costs that represents their status
5. Revenge- will note down what was given and consult the list and give something of equal worth
6. Repeat gifter- will gift the same thing over and over again- (a friend says her MIL has gifted her the same silver set atleast 3 times- takes it back after gifting it and re gifts on some other occassion)
7. Goods should be returned- will quietly remove the stuff they have given or gifted when the receiver is not in good books (again believe me)
8. Memento seeker- will come to gift something and then palm off something else from the house somehow (believe me it used to happen to a relative)
9. Relic from the past- will pass off old stuff as "special stuff from yesteryears reserved to be given for you"
10. Serial Killer/ Idea Lacker- will give the same gift for atleast 10 people until someother ideal universal gift turns up
11. Customiser- very innovative- just right for you type gifter
12. What I Like- will gift what self likes not what receiver may like

Bashtid!!!

Seems to be my favourite swear word nowadays- even on my kids.
Ah well- I was provoked- the case was opened, a finger was casually dipped and that finger carried with itself my brand new lens- as I turned for half a minute to pick up the mirror with the other lens in my hand. The lens was recovered by my hubby from the floor next to the dining table, but not before I had uttered several times the word b@st@d for the kid.
Wonder why the husband is so amused... And I am not giving away prizes for guessing.

The Colour of Alphabets

I was trying to play with the kids a little game of name the colour which starts with the said alphabet
A? - red (I said, correct- apple red)
B?- yellow-
I said - no B is blue, brown, burgundy, beize
They insisted- no B for yellow
I gave up- ok its also blue, brown....
C for - blue???
D- green...
this went on and on with the colours blue, green, red and yellow being alternated.
Until we reached some P that I realized they were telling the colour of their Alphabet blocks!

The Lilies Bloomed Finally

And graced our living room

I was surprised they were fragrant! Now I truly know what a lily smells like!

Spelling Bee

The kids suddenly want to know "iska name kaise hota hai" meaning how do we spell a particular word.
The first spellings they have learnt is their own name (by heart)
They are now learning my name and have suddenly started asking me to spell out anything that catches their fancy.
So my action plan-
1. Play more word games which I talked off earlier- word antakshari types and spell out words
2. Foster rote learning ability by giving them random spellings and either just making them repeat or making them write it out. Despite what people say, I have a strong faith in rote learning. I have been a good rote learner and it definitely gives an edge when you need to quote passages. They also help in aimless tests when you need to fill the pages. You can just mindlessly expectorate whatever you rote learned. It is extremely effortless because the learnt points just unfold once you start writing them out. Well, I digress. So a little repeat learning will not hurt. Sometimes it's fun.
3. Random checks at the end of the day on what we learnt that day

Place Mats

Kiran gifted these lovely placemats for the kids- Their favourite cartoon characters customised and personalised and laminated.
These have become permanent fixtures on my dining table and Ojas & Tejas are very particular about eating with their plates on them and sometimes even using them to keep their color books.
Thanks Kiran- they are lovely and a wonderful idea for gifting!

Keema Pie

This is been offlate my favourite preparation in mutton
How I make it
Heat oil in a cooker, drop a bay leaf, finely cut 2-3 big onions, 1 tomato, 1 tsp ginger paste, 2 tsp garlic paste, half tsp turmeric powder, 6 tsp coriander powder, half tsp chilly powder, 1/2 tsp garam masala powder, salt. Cook till the oil separates. Add half kg keema and mix well and let it saute for a while. Pressure cook for 1 whistle, 10 minutes on sim.
Open the cooker after the steam escapes naturally.
The keema should not have too much of water, else dry it with open pan method.
Taste the keema - hopefully it should be as per your liking.
Pour the keema into a glass vessel. Add a layer of cheese spread/ shredded cheddar cheese on top. Sprinkle pepper powder and bake it on microwave high for 6 minutes.

Appreciating India

At their school

ANIMAL PLANET JHANSI RAJA

DRAWING THE ELEPHANT TAIL IN ALICE IN WONDERLAND ROOM

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE : TUNNEL

PUPPET SHOW- FINDING NEMO- MORAL- OBEDIENCE

Potato Reproduces in a Day

For brown day in school I needed to send 2 objects to school. I sent a potato and a clay diya.
As usual we were discussing what other stuff is brown in the car-
So we discussed tree trunk/ branches, mud, coconut, wood, cupboard.
Tejas added- and lipstick bhi brown hota hai (lipstick is also brown)
Mmmm, I am glad my son notices my lipsticks. Thanks

Anyway, they came back home with 2 potatoes and a clay lamp. And here I am trying hard to get my potatoes to germinate and they got the potatoes to reproduce in just about 3 hours!

History Repeats

A little girl was embarassed about eating a full guava in school that her mom had so thoughtfully packed.
So she took one bite and hid the guava behind her back and while walking in the playground, just so nobody coming from the front sees her and laughs at her for eating guava.
30 years laters, a little boy walked up to the stage to get a prize. He was having a chocolate in his hand which he did not want anyone to snatch off.
He hid the chocolate behind his back and climbed up to the stage, his backside on full display to the audience.

We Are Living Parenting Online

A nice way to summarise the efforts of us Mommy Bloggers. (Thanks!)

I do not know if my kids will read them when they grow up
They may get embarrassed at points with the TMI I do regarding their "achievements"
They may accuse me of breach of privacy
They may just call me what a jobless Mom you were.

Whatever...
The important thing is that I am most certainly enjoying doing this. And I do hope they will appreciate it one day.
They may not take it as their bible/ reference because they are my clay to mould and what I think as the right way may not be the right way for other parents!

And oh yes, when I asked them why are you plucking leaves, they answer-
"I am not plucking from our garden naa?"

Pet Day

The kids are doing animals this month. Keeping with the theme, they were invited to bring their pets to school.

Since the dogs live in Pondy, and I could not imagine the kids not participating in this day, I spent the first part fo the week asking them questions on Duggi and Huggy

- what is their colour

- what do they eat- bone & duddu

- where do they live- Pondy, on the terrace etc etc

The day before the d-day, I made 2 collages of Duggi & Huggy each and discussed the questions again. I think I should not have done that.

By the end of it all, they were saying

- what does Duggi eat

-Answer- SHOES!!

Sometimes....

...I am just venting.
Just hear me out.
Don't offer solutions.
Maybe I don't want them.
Maybe I just want to be a bitch.

Ojas Tejas Brand of Toilet Humour

Tejas- Ojsa, come to the other room and Paati will draw for you, otherwise I will show my lengu to you...proceeds to flash at Ojas

Ojas- I will not come, I will stay near Mamma, you go and show lengu to Paati.

--------------------------
The bed creaked as Ojas & Tejas jumped on it.
Ojas- Mamma, what sound is this
Me- bed is f @rting
Ojas is found bent double from the top of the bed and looking on the underside of the bed
Me- What are you doing?
Ojas- I am checking if bed is doing potty

The Caterpillar Who Could Not Fly

Since the school is doing animals and insects and creepy crawlies this month, I decided to reinforce what they learn with doing "animal" books and stories at home.
This one I made up as we went when we were eating(not).
The end result was to teach them how caterpillar becomes a butterfly. I also followed it up with this story on kindersite.
So the story goes this way...
A caterpillar was very very hungry so he climbed up on to a tree and sat on a leaf and began nibbling at it. Soon he ate up the part that was joined to the tree and therefore fell off the tree along with the leaf, with a loud thump as he hit the ground (loud!!).

The bird laughed and the butterfly suppressed a giggle. (Don't question the fault in logic- ordinarily the bird would have eaten the caterpillar- Do birds eat caterpillar? Anyway, for the purpose of this story, let us assume the bird was not at all hungry and her birdies had flown the nest so no hungry mouths to feed)
The caterpillar began to sniffle and cry for not being able to fly.
The butterfly felt sorry for the caterpillar and said- if you eat your food and eat all your greens and become healthy, big and strong, you will be able to fly.
Note-at this point I tried to shove food into the kids' mouth so that they can also aspire to fly.
Ojas said I don't want to fly.
Tejas ran around the house flapping his hands saying see I am flying.
To continue, the caterpillar followed the butterfly's advice dilligently and went on eating all the leaves - kutur kutur kutur kutur...
Soon he became big and strong and healthy & fat and after eating so much he felt very very sleepy. So he took out his black blanket called a cocoon and went off to sleep.
After a long while, he woke up and found that someone had torn his blanket. Then he moved his hands to stretch himself and found that his hands had become like wings. Beautiful wings of the colour ...
At this point I asked what colour the wings will be- they answered green and orange- I think because their new umbrellas are green and orange respectively.
So the caterpillar called out to the butterfly and said thanks for asking me to eat. Now I can fly like you.
The butterfly said- not only do you fly like me but you have actually become a very pretty butterfy!

Moral of the story-
1. eat your food if you want to grow strong, healthy and big and be able to fly
2. eat your greens

And oh, after finishing the food, Ojas asks me- yes he had told he does nt want to fly initially-
Mamma.. I am not able to fly. I finished my food na.
Talk about false promises.

A Perfect Friday Morning Would Be

To go on an office directed Cafe Visit with your internet powered laptop and have a chicken panini by the way!

By the way, the venue was

Their cooling, mint infused water!

The most shocking part of the menu-

If you want to eat a single portion dessert- you have to settle for a cookie or a fudge...

Cookie?????

The smallest cake is of 4-6 inches height an dseveral inches in the other dimensions.

Anyone willing to share?

The Art of Discipline

A weekend ago, I met a certain well behaved and organised little girl and was extremely ashamed at my disciplining skills.
So I have, very seriously and actively decided to get on their case and make them put their toys away just like they do it so efficiently at schol (as the teachers tell me).
So even though I have to scream my lungs out for nearly 45 minutes every evening and much to the chagrin of Ojas & Tejas, do atleast 5-6 rounds of flinging some toys into the balcony (and it feels damn liberating to do that), in the end, it is worth the effort and deeply satisfying to see them putting their toys away in the relevant boxes and bags.
And so now every morning, the home is not looking like as if a bulldozer had somehow found its way inside.
They are also being trained to put their clothes into the washing machine and NOT leave them around all over the house, so that in future, their wives do not complain that their mother never taught them to even put their chuds away.
I am certainly NOT putting their nightdresses now. The faster they learn to do their jobs themselves, the easier on me. The next step would be the school dress. Which means I need to give them minimum 15 extra minutes - which would be the total time taken for cajoling, screaming, scolding, praising, and they actually dressing themselves up!

And now I am actively convincing my Mom to come down and teach them to wash their bum! I can do only so much of screaming.

Life is Unfair

When you are old enough to be able to eat whatever you want to, then you no longer can eat them nor should you be eating them.
Weight management, calorie consciousness, fat free, low sugar.....
And not only that, there are the moral police...
Picture this-

Ojas/ Tejas are about to unwrap their chocolates and Dadda is about to drink from his juice bottle right at dinner time.
Mamma- No body eats anything until they have had dinner- even you Dadda!

Dadda is about to take a swig from a juice bottle in the fridge
Ojas/ Tejas- Dadda, you drinking baby juice? Shall I drink from your juice bottle? (the sugarfree/ sports drink types?)
Dadda sheepishly puts the juice bottle away.

I am Convinced

More & More
That
-"No Comments" equals "Silent Support"
-"No Protest" equals "Silent Provocation"
-"No Contention" equals "Silent Encouragement"
-"No Stopping" equals "Self Doing"