Aashi  is  more than busy  and has no time for me or my silly baby-talks which I used to give her! She is disgusted if I treat her like a baby.. and so ignores my attempts in calling her  inside the house, if she is playing out with the other kids . Half the time, she apes her big brother, copies his wild games or boyish pranks of jumping from where one should not. Her recent adventure is  jumping  on the stairs, skipping one or two in between inspite of all the "out of my Stomach yelling" I do.

Sometimes she can really prove  her worth!

A few days back, she came running into the house in top gear . I kept wondering what on earth can make such a  small child run so fast. She  was already near the  toilet door, and it was closed. In just a second, she took a back step, shouted "KYE" with all her strength, and hit the door open with her tiny legs in one strong shot! And there she was inside to complete her ritual.

I could n't control my laughter and was really taken aback by her presence of mind and her practical  application of whatever "Karate" she had managed to learn from her five year old brother.

This is dedicated to the small children in the rag pickers world...

What are you made of
Dear little one..?

I saw you by the lane
squatting near the pile of waste

Busily fishing for iron pieces
With a long cane, enough to touch the earth,underneath.

It touches me deeply, I am wounded to witness,
The true color of life, yet, I know its real!

The bright ray of hope in your eyes
As they sparkle with each  iron particle found,

The entire pile you sell for  a meagre penny
And then feed your half-dead family?

When will this end? Will this?
Can I carry you away,  ,far away from this bitterness..

Are you soldered like iron,to be this,
Tell me, what are you made of, little one?

Growing up into a Mother has been rejoicing  for me, and somehow, I feel I am able to relate to their  small cherishes and big dreams , thanks to that beautiful childhood that my parents gifted me. By all means, I am re- living that with my tiny tots.

Last Sunday was one of our most blissful days.. as we finished all  our chores at home well ahead of time and strolled away on the streets of our Mylapore(a very traditional place in our city). The sunday breakfast was heavy enough to last us for a walk of about 20 minutes until we reached the famous Temple Tank.

The news of the Tank overflowing with hundreds of Cat fishes really excited them and I tried to behave like an adult,( I mean like a Mother)and contained my enthu,  took a dignified march to the Tank calmly.

We climbed down the slightly slippery steps  and settled on the last but one. I convinced them that the fishes may pounce on us if we went closer(though they were not all that big to gobble us up).

I watched my kids more than the fishes, as they religiously squatted and observed the fishes fighting over each other to catch the food thrown into the tank by the Fish watchers.As the  fish food business outside the Temple gate flourished, so did the overpopulated fishes!

I diligently answered all their questions about fishes and their food,colour etc.. until my son came up with  the question why other fishes like palm fish, jelly fish, gold fish dont come into this tank.

I replied typically like a sincere mother, "we have to do something,something and all to breed these varieties here".I wish I had an aunt in the Fisheries dept to answer such kiddo stuff!

Really these "something something and all" lends a helping hand sometimes!

Many a time, I have faced situatons where I have no clues what is to be done or said..
Last friday was a great clelebration time for my son  as he happened to be getting the first prize in  a sports activity-something which sounds like snow bowling or ball rolling.. which inspite f his repeated illustrations, I have not  understood what it is to be called. Anyway,  I pretended that it was  a great game, the snow..err.. ball rolling, and that getting the First Prize was a big Achievement.

AS we sat there waiting to see him receive his prize, I noticed his best pal Sreyaz sitting pretty closeby, but  he would n't speak a word to  Athrey.  Now, it was something I found really a bit harsh becoz the whole world inside the school knew they both were pretty thick pals. I casually waved a bright Hi.. how r u to the kid and he gave me a faint smile. I asked him why his parents were not around .He told me that the school had sent invitations only to the parents of the prize winners and not for the rest of them!

I think the little boy had taken the prize  ceremony as a personal defeat, more so becos his friend's parents were invited and not his own, and also that he had not won a prize in any activies this year. And there he was showing it upon his friend by not talking to him!

I think we need to convey a strong message to the kids that  a winner is actually the one who has a sportive spirit and makes it a healthy competition rather than the one who bags huge prizes or rewards. While we drive this young into  their heads, they learn to be competitive in the right sense. Little do we realise that the small seeds of poison trees sown into young hearts grow up to be uncontrollable creepers, which branch off into jealousy, rivalry and undesirable conduct.

To day I have learnt a lesson and a good one: NEVER TRUST YOUR KIDS WITH THEIR DADS!

 Like many dutiful Mothers around here, this morning I left home early, finishing off all my cOoking ,cleaning and packing school stuff religiously, and (more like a Pre programmed ROBOT),kissed my dear ones in the air. I sent my last set of intructions to lock the door, close the taps,take the bags,take money for buying the school photographs, and a lot many things until I reached the gate.
The kids and their dear dad waved big "good byes"to me. After I reached my work place, I rang up to find out if all my instructions had been followed(!) properly, and there... I realised that it was all a big time Plot! The kids had bunked school, their dad had taken the day offf, they were out on the streets with their Dad, shopping all that I never let them do, eating  ice creams and  totally against " Mom's rules".

I reached home in the evening to see a whole bunch of toys, including toys for the nighbourhood kids, specially " educational toys,a big no no", stuffed toys and aerplanes/ masks of power rangers, which according to my rules are the most useless worthless things to buy,(but which they enjoy the most), and other such stuff which made nothing more than "no sense " to me and to top it all, the pricey tags really made me Blow My Top!

After I cooled off, I was told by my husband that my son reminded him at the icecream parlour that they shuld buy dinner for me on their way home so that I can also relax when I reached home!

When they got me my plate of dinner with all my favourite things, all that I could do is give them a big smile..and

 of cos  I can buy the whole world for them, for their  love .

 

Of the many things that my little one seems to be enjoying now is "parallel Play". She has been learning a lot of things from her play school and we have a good time watching all her demonstrations at home!

What I like the best is her constant chattering of the rhymes like" mummy darlng,..I love you.." some rhyme which I still can't recollect. This way, she never gets bored even if she is playing alone or loitering around the house aimlessly.. she keeps murmuring something all the time!

Another thing I observed is, she keeps playing with kids in the neighbourhood, who are atleast 4 or5 years elder to her. Slowly, when she realises that she cannot match their pace, she picks up her "pinky doll " and stands by the stairs and keeps shouting " hm, Look at the board", This, she says with a pen or chalk piece in her hand, scribbling away to glory all over the walls . If I call out and say " baby, dont scribble on the wall", she promptly gives me a glare with one hand on her waist, and says "shh, dont shout ".

I don't have any other option but to just obey and "Look at the Board!"

Last night I was playing the WOrd building game with my kids...nowadays,its sort of become a routine.My son has agreed on certain relaxations on the rules of this game,so that his baby sister can participate! The "No-rules" - you are allowed to build any word, no starting-letter or ending letter rules, any word of any category.. the only hitch is it should be an "English word". So, the order was first Me, then Athrey and last Aashi. It went like this.. " Yellow, blue, pink" "clock, table, chair" "rabbit,peacock,pussy cat" "Tiger, Dragon, Mummy Tiger"!!!!!!! Athrey and I burst out laughing and the little one was looking at us.. with question marks all over her face, more than innocent!

Today was the first day of school for both my Kids.For the elder one, now into UKG, the way he seemed to be stepping into school looked like"coming back home" and as he neared his peers, the faster his pace. He never realised I'd stopped at the class door until he went straight and found a place next to his "good old SreyaZ"- his pal carried forward to this year!
Then he gave me a triumphant look from there.. implying "everything's fine, ma.. its all same, nothing has changed but for the classroom and the new teacher" But who cared about all that.. its justthe presence of his BEST FRIEND that mattered for him! I SMILED and waved goodbye to him.


About the younger one's first day at school?.. C'mon.. its ONE Whole thing to BLog about. I will share it with you all soon!

I just can't resist ...
No matter how often I buy clothes for the kids, I just can't resist a clothes sale or those which say Kids stuff sales... That not only involves a hunt for clothes but also matching accessories for the kids like shoes or bags, playthings, books, puzzles and the list is infinite.

And ya, I secretly envy the kids today for the kind of world they are in. .. Deep inside, I still compare the banal looking rubber doll I used to have and compare her to today's Barbie and pegasus and that gorgeous barbie's wardrobe which is every gal's fantasy.

One more secret is..under the pretext of letting my kids play, I still enjoy my share of cheap thrills in opening a new toy first, using the new coloring kit, watching a cartoon cd all by myself...OOps!I bet there are other MOMS like me around, but don't want to confess, ya?

Aashi was kneeling next to her brother very devotedly, while he was doing something seriously,with his head bent down.Surprised by the no-noise, no fight situation, I just went nearer to see what they were upto. He had a magic board and a magic pencil(what's magical is still to be discovered, but the label claims that name), and guess what? He was trying to draw Aashi, the usual way kids do, a big circle for the face, two smaller circles for eyes, a dot for a nose, a curve for the lips & of cos the usual lines sticking out for hands, legs, all Ok.It almost looked like Franny(franny's feet!) BUT the little one was vehemently disapproving the figure and Athrey kept adding shoes, frills, even earrings on it, but no chance.. she just wouldn't stop shaking her head .. All of a sudden, I realised.. Oh! the hair was missing.. I realised, all my earlier depictions of AAshi had a lot of curly hair on the head and this image her brother had drawn for her as her portrait really looked BALD!I quickly took the magic pen and drew the curls and said "Now, see AASHI girl is chooo CUTE!" We saw her smile instantly!My goodness!