Pregnancy so far ...

So after the scare a few months ago, pregnancy is going well currently (kala tikka). It is actually fun - I can feel the baby move around quite a bit and the kicks are quite a tickle. I often try to grab Kochunni’s hands when the baby is moving to let him feel the baby but so far haven’t been very successful; maybe a couple of times but I am not sure if Kochunni has really felt it, since the kicks are still so light. Sometimes I look at my ever growing tummy to see if I can see the little jabs but that hasn’t happened either. I am sure all in good time.

Best thing of all, I am already looking forward to my time off for maternity. Last time around this was a great time of bonding, sleeping, movies, books and my venture into the blog world. You can tell, I am glossing over the nightly feeds, diaper changes, the advent of colic around evening and many such not so pleasant memories. But by far the good times outweigh the troubles. I am sure I am would be singing a different tune post-baby, so writing this post to jot down my feelings today to remind me that everything is a phase.

I hope to enjoy the cuddles, the gurgles and one more ride into mommy-hood! Wish me luck!

Where are we?

So it’s been a week of rain, strong winds, and then a tornado warning! There have been flooding on local streets and days that look like evenings. The sun hasn't been visible and being stuck up in house all day, does makes us all pretty dull. And to think that this is supposedly sunny California!?!



Our garden is overgrown with weeds, my jasmine plant stooped over due to the high winds, but a ray of hope - the tulips we planted right before Christmas are sprouting.



Let’s hope spring is not far away!

The stick figures

As I read UTBT's post a few days ago about the stages of growth in a kids speech, art, music – their development; I lamented about Kochunni still in the scribbles phase. Of course he was coloring (inside the lines even, mostly) on the coloring sheets he was given, but drawing on his own was still scribbles – just lines going all over the white board or paper. He would claim it was the fish, the lion or whatever his fancy was at that moment, and I would agree that it was nice. Sometimes he would ask me to draw and I would draw a car, the sun, the jeep, or even the birds for him, hoping eventually he will get the hang of things. Today that milestone happened.

Kochunni was at home today, and since I was working I asked him about going out for a walk – maybe ride the bike to spend some time and energy. It was sunny but still cold, so I bundled him up. But then Ammamma (grandma) and Muthu (grandpa) were not ready yet. So I asked him to wait for them. As he walked by the white board, he picked up the red colored pen lying on the shelf and started to draw. First a circle and then two lines out and then two dots. He turned around and claimed it was Achan (daddy). Mom and I had a wide grin as we realized he just scribbled his first stick figure. So we encouraged him. He went on to draw himself and then went back to draw some “meesha” (mustache) for his dad. When I asked him where I am, he set out to draw me – and, this is a big thing, he drew the baby inside me. Now of course, some of our hands might be coming out of the head and there are just two strands of hair everyone is sprouting, and I seem to have a blob of hair on top of my head – but eh the family picture is drawn. Here it is, right to left - Achan (daddy), himself and then me with the baby.



After he came back from his walk he wanted to draw again, so after I took a snap he cleaned the white board. This time around instead of the family came the crow eating lunch on a tree, with water flowing beneath for the crow to have a drink after lunch. The drawing is still present on the white board with strict instructions to all of us to not erase it – not even when he is sleeping. He wants this to be a surprise for daddy when he comes home from work. For now, he is back to playing with his toy trains but I wanted to record his first works of art for posterity sake.


I guess I should have been patient, but that is an area that I still need to develop - we parents are always in a rush. I think back to Kochunni's first year and how many of his milestones just seemed to happen when the time was right and this time again he did it. I am not sure if this was a coincidence or some superior power working His magic, in some ways telling me not to rush things but let them be, to provide the space for the little one to grow and grow-up he shall and when I look back to this day - it would all seemed to have gone through all too very quickly!

Indoor activities

Winter days are a challenge when you have a toddler at home. Over time though 'we' have up with some little ideas to spend a few hours of fun together. I say 'we' because some of these are things that Kochunni has helped carve along the way.

• Role Playing – Kochunni becomes the teacher, while we become his students. Of course it’s a good way to get Kochunni to talk about his activities at school and listen to him sing new songs. A win-win situation for everyone. Sometimes another good game is to play with the doctor set. Kochunni usually recalls all the process from the last doctor visit even asking us to breathe in & out as he checks us out with his stethoscope.


• Little Helper – Some days when Kochunni is in a good mood he turns out be really good helper. We make him sit on the platform and I let him wash the vegetables or the rice. When we make some chappati he sits on the other end dishing out instructions on how big and fluffy it will and should get. Sometimes he plays with the dough and even ends up making a small chappati for himself


• Riding the bike – This is something my mom came up with - when the days are rather cold, we park the cars outside and let Kochunni ride the bike in the garage – he runs in circles and sometimes makes his Ammamma (grandma) run after him. Though heaven forbid she should ever catch him!


• Scavenger hunt – Another hit at the house is the box of scavenger hunt cards that I bought as a return gift for Kochunni’s first year party and I had one left over. When I opened it when he was still 2 and ½ all he wanted was to play (read bend) the cards so I had to put them away. But recently it has become a fun activity. Some of the items are so easy to understand that he doesn’t need my help to pick a red colored object or a shoe, while others I just need to read the card out to him. He is also the judge of what rest of the family picks out and though I try to sway his opinion in the right direction he often has the final word on who got all the correct items.


• Misc - Music masti is also a fun way to get the little guy to shake his butt. Sometimes making him tell a story is a great way to see how his mind works. Another easy activity is painting especially finger painting or stamping.
  

With all of these one thing that stands out is the fact that Kochunni gets distracted very easily. Within a few minutes of the game (max about 15 minutes) he decides he is done with the game even if we are only through the middle of it. I do hope this attitude changes in due course. This is another reason that most common games like Memory or Candy Land only last through one game, and that too after weeks of inactivity.

So what about you guys - how do you get your toddler to have fun during sometimes deary days of winter?

Movie Time

I probably watched a record number of movies over the last two weeks of 2009 than compared to the whole year. So much so that now every time I would switch on the movie Kochunni would stop playing with his cars and run shouting “Samayam Aayee” (Its time) and sit down cross-legged on the floor, with a wicked grin lighting up his face. Then when the movie would not start immediately but rather the credits would start to roll, he would impatiently look at me as if I did something wrong with the DVD.

3 Idiots turned out to be a great movie, equal doses of laughter and sadness, wonderfully placed songs, good acting and overall a great performance. The climax though a little melodramatic worked for the movie and I am eagerly waiting to watch the movie again on DVD at home. Even though the movie has a lot of well-placed humor it wasn’t a kid friendly movie by any measure and a couple of scenes were probably downright inappropriate for kids, so my two cents if you can leave the kids behind take that option.

Whats your Rashee turned out to be somewhat better than expected, probably because our expectations were lower. Priyanka actually pulled off her 12 roles with some of them executed especially well, though Harman was disappointing. But worst of all was the climax which was a total let down, which is I think the reason reason why the movie so unsuccessful, of course having 13 songs also doesn’t help unless all of them are equally great numbers either. My two cents, keep this movie for a lazy afternoon and if you have some Gujju friends call them over for some time pass!

Rocket Singh - Salesman of the Year was the movie we watched on New Year’s Eve rather late into the night. Turns out Ranbir Kapoor is – an absolutely great performer, he does well as the underdog that as audience we want to cheer him along though not for a moment do we feel that he is unreal. The story is executed well from all points of view, the office politics –the bickering colleagues over sales quota to party nights when the team hits the numbers ; as well as the little love story of the main protagonist. The supporting characters from the receptionist, the server guy, the grandfather do their part very well and you see enough of their daily struggles that it draws you into the movie even more. Then again, it’s a slow running movie, but if you are patient you are duly rewarded with a good movie.

Twenty Ten

So would you call this year Twenty Ten or Two Thousand and ten? Would it be bad grammer or as much of the English language over the long run one wouldn't care one way or another. After all the epic question from one of my all time favourite profesors of Botany "Yeh Do (pronounced as Du) hota hai, aur Go (pronounced go) .... yeh kasie?? Do Du hai to Go GU kyon nahin ho sakta???" has never been resolved (watch the clip here). Then again it matters not what you call the year for afterall "... that which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet." So here's wishing you all a boutiful year!

Happy New Year!