To make it to 150 ...

I ask you where are the fodders for your blog, when you really need one? No tags floating in the blog-o-sphere these days, no ‘news’ worthy events that need my two cents! I triple checked my drafts folder & even though there are a few things that I have written, it’s just not perfect yet. I should potentially try Preethi’s route and do a walk down memory lane – but me too lazy at this moment, so here I go, I cheat!

No don't be dis-heartened if you stopped by for a wonderful read [such a pompous a**, am I], I am posing a question for you and would greatly appreciate your feedback.

Answer me this – Is there a direct ratio on women becoming working mothers to their moms who did not or vice-versa for that matter? Just a thought that’s floating around in my mind ...

Tall Tales

Some random chit-chat --

Kochunni goes to a family daycare – basically a daycare that’s run in the back of house, its usually limited to 4-10 kids so has a friendly environment. Currently at his daycare he has a new ‘aunty’. She is a Punjabi lady who doesn’t really chat with you – just smiles and bring Kochunni’s bag to me. I assume she does not know Hindi or English.

A few days ago while getting Kochunni ready for daycare – I said to him
“Get ready soon, don’t we have to go play with your friends” Kochunni goes on to name all his friends. I take the opportunity and ask him about his teachers/aunties – You play with aunty S right. He shakes his head and says I play with Deepa Aunty. I say yes you like her. What about the other aunty? What’s her name? He looks at me for a sec and says “Vasudha” I am impressed. I go on to tell my husband about it. We are extremely pleased at his memory.

That evening while picking him up from daycare I ask Aunty S – so is that new lady’s name Vasudha – she looks surprised and says no. No one here was named Vashudha! We are dumbstruck.

When I get home I ask Kochunni again what is her name – he sticks to his guns – Her name is Vasudha. Rather than fight him, I use a different tactic, Who told you so? I ask. He replies “Achan” (daddy)

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I smell poop. Let’s go Kochunni – need to change the diaper. Noooooooooooo! Come on or you will get a rash soon – lets go.

Unjah!

Huh?

Unjah!

Oh you want to wait 5 minutes?
** nodding his head in a yes **

That’s too long sweetie, let’s go

Moo-nah

Three? Now you want to wait 3 minutes!
Darn! When did you become such a good negotiator?

Celebrations galore

Saturday morning dawned in the K3 household with a flurry of activities. Of course, Kochunni awoke earlier than usual and was surprised to see the front hall decorated with streamers of blue and green. He pointed out the Y and A from the Happy Birthday sign, and called the streamer a W because that’s what it looked like.

The theme for the party was Mickey and friends since we just had a Disneyland visit and Kochunni really loved hanging out with Goofy. Of course, when we decided this initially we had not realized how hard it will be to find Mickey stuff … Safeway has only one Mickey cake - with Mickey and Minnie holding hands sitting on the bench – it looks more like an anniversary cake than one that can be used for a kids party! Friends suggested trying some other specialty cake shops but I was running out of time and this would be pretty expensive too. Suddenly I had a fabulous idea – how about I find some plastic Mickey and friends and use that instead of the topping. I made a trip to the local party store Diddams and all I find is that it has is a teeny-tiny section devoted to Mickey while there are aisles devoted to Thomas the train, Cars, Winnie the pooh and of course 2 aisles the Princess/Pink themes (girls have all the fun - hmph). All poor Mickey got was some cutlery, hats and a little candle. I bought the candle as a backup and went back to Safeway and ordered a Winnie the Pooh cake thinking I can substitute the Pooh to the candle. Luckily the nearest Dollar store finally came to resume where I found Mickey, Goofy and Donald all for a buck!

Now we were all set to rumble. The jumper (bouncer) arrived on time at 10 and once that was set up I quickly showered and dressed up for the party. Honey got a few more chairs from our friends house and our first guests arrived around 11.30 AM. Some great Punjabi food and a Cheese Pizza for the kids was delivered to our doorstep & by lunchtime and we were all set.

As friends trickled in, Kochunni seemed to get more clinger and moody. I wasn’t sure if it was stranger anxiety or something else. Finally of course, he said "Toh-lelah chaachi" (let me sleep on your shoulder). Ah! He wanted his afternoon nap. I was mighty surprised … usually he would not take a seconds rest if we had kids around, but I guess waking up early and the Friday activities took a toll on him. So I put him to sleep. I was a bit sad about this, because he had still not climbed the jumper nor had cut the cake. But what to do if your baby wants to sleep …

The party continued, conversations’ flowed, kids bounced on the jumper. A couple of kids took naps as well. I set up the Step ‘n Splash sprinkler for the older kids and they had a whale of time in water. Then it was time for desert with ice cream and some more jumper time.

Two hours had passed and I decided it was time to wake up Kochunni. I enlisted his best friend and chechi’s help (our friends daughter who lives nearby) to help me wake him up. I knew seeing her he probably would not throw a tantrum. And I was right, and after his usual glass of milk, we decided to cut the cake. Finally Kochunni was smiling and seemed to enjoy all the attention - the nap had worked its magic.

It was almost 4 by this time, but folks hung around, kids played some more. Poo-amma (m-i-l) and her sister set up tea for everyone and everyone relaxed in the backyard. I was finally able to persuade little Kochunni to try the bouncer while I sat on the edge of it. As expected once inside there was no coming back!

Come evening as the last of the guests left, I changed into a more comfortable churidaar and climbed aboard the jumper too. Even the oldies (mil, her sis + husband) tried their hand (leg) at jumper. All in all the party turned out to be a great time for all of us.

Of course, Kochunni’s birthday was not until Monday, but that was just a small family affair. I took the day off and played all day with the little guy – circle time singing songs, hide-an-seek, ring around the rosés. In the evening we went to the temple. One damper came in way of a light cold and cough for the little guy – I guess 2 –days of non stop partying is not such a good thing for him! :D He is much better today, though he gives an occasional cough and then demands “Amma velam” (amma water).

The party is officially now over, but with family around for another week and with a couple of “cool gifts” (yet to be opened) I am sure I can extend the joys some more ...

The party begins...

No drum rolls

No petals dropped from the skies above.

But a baby stepped up into toddlerdom, and the K3 house celebrated it with all the pomp and celebrations it deserved and more.

The celebrations started Thursday night when family arrived. Somehow the advent of family and friends really brings out a little cheer that any celebration deserves. The next morning, when Kochunni learn't that his ettan had arrived from Texas, he was too exited to do anything but go meet them all. Of course, he clung to my hip like I was going to take him to the butcher, but within minutes apprehension gave way to pure joy. The morning rituals done, he was happy to play with his “chachu” and ettan. Elephant rides; non stop singing to the tunes of Lakdi ki kathi and the nursery rhymes enthralled the visitors.

Finally around 10, I pushed honey to take the little guy to the daycare. (We had already planned for a little celebration at the daycare – so he had to go). The house suddenly quiet I turned to get some work done, while honey continued with the house cleaning and last minute shopping. During lunch hour, I set up the goodie bag for the kids at the day care and we were all set to drop by around 3. Every minute passed, looking at the clock – is it time yet I wondered. It felt like the last day in school before the summer vacations – you can’t sit still but you still have the last Math class to attend.

Finally at 3, we set everything into the back of our car and headed to daycare. Instead of going straight to the play area, we stopped at the front, waiting patiently with the teacher S to ensure that kids had woken up from their nap time. After another 10 mins we went in, looking into the 7 pairs of surprised eyes, looking for one pair that almost immediately showed confusion and happiness. Kochunni ran to me and then to his dear Achan, hugged our legs and cried "Aae-daku" (life me up). As I laid the carrot cake down, he came running to me. All the kids, still groggy eyed from their sleep sang beautifully to the “happy birthday tunes”. The cake cut, the kids couldn’t wait to get their hands on it. The kids were more than happy to get their hands on the ice-cream and goodie bag later.

All in all, it turned out well. We said our good-byes to everyone and the teacher hugged little Kochunni good bye.

We got home with a small piece of cake and remainder of the ice-cream for rest of the gang at home. The sugar rush seemed to give the little guy extra energy that I left him at home, to get some t-shirts for dear honey, whose birthday was the next day.

At the mall I decided to treat myself to a pedicure session that turned into a waiting game of – please can you finish this soon? From the looks of it, the girl doing the manicure on the lady sitting next to me started to have some sort of an argument with another girl – possibly about whose turn it was. Its amazing how even without understanding a word of what they said in an Asian language we could figure out what the argument was about.

We finally hurried home to the little guy, who still seemed to be on a sugar rush. A quick dinner and some more games later I put him to bed, hoping that tomorrow he would sleep in so we can get some of the at-home party preparations out of the way!

[To be cont ... ]

2 Year Old

Kochunni

(img courtesy Disney)

Flick'ed

Thanks Ray for this c[cube] (cool, complicated, creative) tag.

Here it is -
1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page of results, and pick one image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

The questions:

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food? right now?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. What is your favorite drink?

7. What is your dream vacation?

8. What is your favorite dessert?

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. What is one word that describes you?

12. What is your user name?

My answer:

Can you guess the answers?

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The preparations for Kochunni's 2nd Birthday party are in full swing. Today there is a small party at the daycare, tomorrow one for all our friends. We have family visiting us so its a full house. So going to be a lull in my posts until next week, in the mean time, enjoy the tag and you guys ( ~nm, Kaycee, Mystic Margarita) go ahead, spend some time idly picking photos! :)

Yes to weekends

Utah is the first to vote for a 3-day weekend, due to soaring gas prices, and according to few an environment friendly action. Whatever it is, would you say “Yes” to longer weekends?

Growing up “weekends” as a concept never hit home. My school (being totally weird) had Thursday’s and Sundays off. Dad had half-days on Saturdays (though he probably made it home on time on Sat about 10 times only) and Sunday’s off. So Sunday was the only day when the entire family was together. All this changed when I landed in US - the meaning, the luxury of having two full days to yourself to do as you please started to make sense. And now that it has, I can be greedy enough to move to Utah just to get the 3-days off :)

Wouldn't you?

More time to spend time idly “Kaling” (coloring) with Kochunni, finger painting butterflies, the suns and stars?

Of course, there are the chores – the cleaning, the scrubbing, the dusting that we need to attend to … but it pays when in the evening you can sit out in your own backyard listening to the birds up on the lemon and orange trees; pluck ripe sweet apricots from the tree and eat to your hearts delight. Read late into the night and sleep in the afternoons, go on long drives ... just about anything to take the monotony of life out.

So what do you say?

Who is that?

Lost on the street’s kindly put me on the tag roll that I had been secretly dying to do! So thanks! :) Don’t know why, but I still want to be tagged before I actually post! :)
**Secretly hoping for a few links to get my blog read by millions! Total World Domination (evil laughter resounding)**

Since this tag was first about literary characters and then "twisted" by Ray , I have decided to spit down the middle to do full justice! ** Am such a good girl right! **

1. Betty (from Archie’s) the eternal girl next door with a good heart, happy go-lucky girl friend!

2. Batman: Like Ray said, the only superhero that is still completely human with no superpower – just gadgets, money and brains!!! Perfect! He remains my favourite among superheroes.

3. Garfield – the perfect smart orange cat

4. The common man by R.K.Laxman the one sane character who generally acts as a silent witness to all the action in the comic "You Said It". When I laid my hands on the Times of India, this was usually the first thing I read.

5. Supandi – Growing up one of staple comics during the good old days of Tinkle (do they publish this anymore?), he was my favorite simpleton (One of his stories below) apart from other regulars like Shikari Shambu, Tantri etc

And now for the Literary characters

6. Darcy + Elizabeth Benet, from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The perfect yin-yang couple!

7. Elinor Dashwood, from Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. A strong, sensible daughter, who loves her family and has a keen sense of responsibility towards family and friends.

8. Portia, from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. Definitely one smart cookie, beautiful, rich and intelligent. Not only does she obey her father’s will she has the determination to pursue her heart.

9. Sirius Black, from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. A perfect example of an uncle who loves to care and lives to play mischief. He is a rebel with a cause.

10. Perry Mason from numerous novels by Erle Stanley Gardner. A great lawyer and possibly even better detective, he became my next logical jump from the Nancy Drew series as a schoolgirl.

There is my first ten, might have to do another one to include a few others that I have come to like … some day, soon.

So to continue the tag I ask Friendly Stranger, Ladybird, Preethi, Swati … anyone else want to take up the tag, let me know.

A Suppandi Story (posting from a Flickr post from hexod.us')

Roots

Yesterday evening after dinner we sat around in the living room discussing our options – where will be in the next few years (in terms of a place to call home). Why this sudden urge to discuss such bland topics – because ... no idea, I guess we somehow landed on it!

I remember my childhood days very well; Bombay school (sorry it will be Amchi Bombay to me) was in shifts – primary school in the afternoon and secondary early morning. Either way, after school we would rush home, throw our stuff after a little snack or homework we were off to play. Everyone knew everyone else in the neighborhood. This was our ‘adda’ and we were the rulers.

I don’t see if the same would happen for Kochunni – here the neighbors are friendly but not enough to drop by any time of day to borrow some sugar and chat about the daily grind. People don’t meet each other at the 7:27 local and walk back home together talking about this & that. Here everyone is afraid of stepping into someone else’s space and keeps their distance. Yes it definitely has its moments when you don’t have to worry about a neat and tidy house – you know that no one will come unannounced, and of course you don’t want nosy neighbors. But I wish there was a balance.

I would want a ‘settled’ life for Kochunni from at least age 4 onwards – one place to call home where we can all grow old together - a place that he can fondly remember even if he moves out of it - like I do today. But will I know my neighbor, will there be other kids for Kochunni to call upon – or will I need to set up schedules to have a play-date? Will Kochunni have summers where he and his friends can play what they want – cycling down the street, a heated game of cricket, have hard-core fights over why one played better than other and then make up a minute later; and if nothing else just sit around and chat.

Couple of months back when Amma was here, I was discussing something else and realized that life back in India has changed too. Parents are enrolling kids in all sorts of classes for the kids – computers, music, dance, swimming, apart from the regular tuition classes. Its competitive and the wheels are turning, I wonder if I am looking back with rosy tinted glasses and not seeing the full picture – I mean, I took tuitions too during the last years of school. But I can still relate to time spend idly among friends – the incessant chatter that would stop the moment an adult passed by, the parents meeting up for coffee or just sitting by the large garden and chatting.

Buying a house definitely a first step towards staying put, but with both sets of parents still in India and not many family members here, I wonder if this is place to be. Or am I turning more like my dad who always wished to go back to live in his hometown and still continues to do the same! (Dad, if you read this, please know I totally understand how you feel, more today than when I was a kid & crib about not ever leaving Bombay!)

No decisions yet, I don’t know where I will be 2 years from now, but I hope I can reach a resolution by then – at least I think I need to.

Hack or Spyware?

This is just weird!!!

See the screen shot – that’s one of comments sections from my last post. Now I know I did NOT delete any comments, then how did this happen? Creepy!!

This is the second time this has happened! The last time I was so creep’ed out; I changed my passwords. How can it say Comment deleted by AUTHOR when the Author has not checked the site in that time period?

Is this an early sign of schizophrenia!! **shudder**

Please anyone any thoughts!!

With a pinch of salt

Possibly everyone has seen the desi version of the Simpsons but even as I watched it, I couldn’t help think – please don’t go with the stereotypes again! But of course they do – a 3 year old reading a book on arranged marriages (?!?) well I guess she is reading so I should be happy.

It’s not that the video itself is not funny and I am sure if its going to be a full-fledged show it will be funny, but I am so done with the stereotypes. Especially some that has been exploited in media for the millionth time! Here are few that gets my blood boiling

- South Indian “madrasi” – always with “nariyal pani” (coconut water) and bad Hindi, painted forehead, in the traditional white mundu, and faces painted Black (to showcase darker skin tones).
- Only a “woman” – dressed in sari (or some Indian outfit) can get the man of her dreams. Example - Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (The character played by Shah Rukh only sees beauty via saries, heavy make-up and soft gestures, it’s the same sub-plot in Main Hoon Na, where the girl transforms herself to win the guy she loves – at least here she chides him before accepting his love.
- Goans – If you want to show a Christian family – then they have to be a Goans, of course the dad has to be a drunk, the mom a devout Christian and the heroine – oh so pretty, in short micro-minis running from goondas straight into the arms of a guy (if its a typical Hindi movie it will be Hindu guy from a rich family of course).

The point is that yes, the stereotype might have a grain of truth in them – Hindi is not the first language for many south Indians so yes, they do have an accent – M sounds more like “Yem” when you hear it from a Malayalee – but why not rejoice in this difference?

Moving beyond India and the Indian movies, its still the same – its a Punjabi cab driver you meet in almost all Hollywood movies and tele serials. Its not just limited to India, no I see we are all given the same treatment – its always the Korean grocer, Martial arts specialists etc. Hollywood seems to have built a fantasy for most countries even – romantic get-a-ways always leads to Paris, anything magical/supernatural is explained as part of Chinese/Japanese mythology. Of course this is boost for tourism for Paris and probably interest in Chinese culture, but the stereotypes are unmistakable.

To me the distinction of a negative and a positive stereotype is not about if its funny than it’s appropriate because what is funny to one may not be for another. It’s like the toddler saying the F word without knowing the meaning. When you see it on the tele, it’s funny but if your child said that you would be embarrassed. Why? Its not like the toddler understands the meaning, might even forget the word in a day, but what bothers you is that YOU understand. You know that’s it’s a word that is considered impolite in society. Same thing here, if you come from that part of the world where the stereotype is coming from than its no longer funny, you understand instinctively what it means.

There are a million stereotypes out there, possibly about every community and society, but my biggest angst is that these stereotypes are taken at face value by people and it gets ingrained into their minds – that becomes a true tragedy!

A window into the soul

Mama-mia tagged me to do this tag – present 6 quirky things. Quirky–moi, no way. I am just a great gal, no quirks! :) But lets give it a shot!

These are the rules:
1.Link the person(s) who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog (here they are!)
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours...
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

So here I go:
- My knee knuckle breaks (in a sound) ever time I squat. Sorry no-control over it, and I know it drives some people nuts!
- I love making up stories – though when I try to put it in paper, it never flows beautifully.
- Bathroom singer, who isn’t?
- I love music – in the car, on my laptop, at home. And if its good– I sing and dance to it! In office I try to mumble the words to the song and tap my feet. Happy to note, Kochunni is following his Amma’s tradition :)
- Except for the noise of the fan, I like the house and everyone in it to be silent for me to sleep. (One of the things that mom used to use against me, when I would not get up – she would switch on the radio)
- Total visual person – can remember faces but no names, can tell you the way to my house but won’t be able to name the roads. *** evil grin ***

I tag Wonder Yearz, Dottie, Preethi, Lijy, Little Aryan, Ray. Go on tell us about yourself!

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I really like using Firefox – the tabbed browsing, the shortcuts everything so would like to promote their little mission to make it to the Guinness World records, so please do you bit and hit the download D-day tomorrow!!! Lets make browsing safe and fun!

An affair to remember

1 Daughter
2 People
0 Affairs
6 Honeymoons
7 Adoring Nieces & Nephews
Inseparable like the circles of 8

Equals

30 Years of Togetherness and Still Counting.

Yes, that’s my parents for you!!! :)

Happy Anniversary!!!

Who packages these things?

In India, at least until a few years ago the local baniya or nearby general store used to be the place to buy almost everything from dal's to flours, from cookies to spices, from stamps to books, bulbs, scissors, almost anything. The stores are very different from today, in that the shopkeeper would hand out things that you asked for, rather than customers browsing around the shop looking for items. So apart from the packaged brand items like Haldiram sweets or a canned soup everything you get was in loose plastic bags that was wrapped up right in front of you. For example, you could ask for 4 cookies, and two AA batteries. The cookies would be picked out from a glass bottle, while batteries from the shops cupboards. They would be put in little bags for you & you could start to use them right away.

The first time I started encountering individually wrapped items was in US. Apart from vegetables and few other things everything is neatly wrapped away. Not that its a bad idea, but unpacking some of these things needed time, effort and understanding. Its not as simple as opening a cookie box. If you don't check the packaging well you might miss the small text that says "tear here" like on the little ketchup packets and go nuts over not being able to open them while your fries have gone cold.

Apart from this comes the weirdness surrounding packaging. Blub's - a handle-with-care item is packed in little paper mashe while scissors are packed off in this high quality plastic that you would need another high end scissors to open - what if you were buying them for the first time?

Worst offenders now seems to be kids toys.

Last weekend Kochunni got a little School bus from a family friend. She handed over the gift bag to me and today I finally got around to open it. My biggest mistake of course was that I showed the toy to the little guy & he got really exited since he loves anything that remotely looks like a vehicle.


But I still needed to open up the toy from its box- it looked easy enough, just a little cut out box. But I was in for a surprise the bus was held tight with these small hard plastic wires that were twisted around possibly a million times over! Now twisting and turning these 4 wires, held in place with a little green plastic took time and effort. I was glad that honey was holding a now starting to cry baby in his arms. Finally all I was able to do was to remove the bus out of the box and hand off the toy to him with the wires still sticking out.


I guess to remove these would take another 10 mins which I was sure the little guy would rather not wait to lay his hands on his toy. I learned my lesson the hard way, next time open up the damn thing, before I even show a new toy to the little guy!

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Edited to add: Found this Washington Post article that seems to highlight some of the main offenders and the awards that manufactures have won for doing the same!

The K 3 Way

Last week one of my visitors asked me – what K3 means. So here is the story!

At home, my dad used to call me by my pet name (that he coined) which started with the letter K. When honey and I were married, I told him I cannot do the Malayalee traditional way of calling husbands “ettan” or “chettan” for that sounds to brotherly to me (Please understand if you do, I am not saying its bad or good, it's just that I never had an elder brother (not even an elder cousin bro) so the words to me were sort of revered for I always wanted what I could not have - an elder bro!). So after much discussion we came up with, you guessed it – pet names that started with K for each other. This was not intentional, just something that occurred.

Later in US, while I was still an unemployed girl waiting for my work visa to come through, honey knowing my interest in writing and knowing that I was BORED at home introduced me to Blogger and I decided to set up an account more out of curiosity than anything else. Of course, we had numerous discussions on privacy issues prior to this, plus I wanted to come up with a cool name, but I could never settle on anything. So undecided was I that I went from Bag lady, to Girl-Next-Door, to Just-A-Blog to anything in between.

During these days internet had become my new pal and savior. Every day I would browse around to find unique things that piqued my interest. One time, it was Greek mythology, and I came across the name Kyra – the meaning (lady) and the letter – seemed perfect for my profile. Unfortunately I could not get the blog address with this name and had to come up with something else. It was one of the hot summer days that Dallas is famous for and my brain just fa*ted! Since K was the hot favorite of the day and 3 my lucky number I settled on it.

Now of course, back home, with my little Kochunni I was able to continue the tradition of K’s for pet names. So that’s the story of K 3.

Of course, now that I am using blogger a lot more and visiting cool sites with even cooler sounding names, I envy it. Maybe I should go for Kyra since it still does ring like a "cool" name to me! What say you?

An Unexpected Holiday

Since we had family in town, I decided to take some time off from work and show them around town. But they had a sudden change of plans and decided to visit some other relatives in another city for a couple of days – this was something that they had been going back and forth for a few days now – One day they wanted to go, next not – I guess when you are traveling you are bound to be a little unsure on how you want to plan out your days. Anyway, when I got home from work yesterday – they had decided to leave immediately and be back to our place by weekend, unaware that I had decided to take some time off from work. Hate to admit, but I was a little peeved by the decision. Now I seemed to have a holiday in my hands –for no reason at all – no birthdays, no anniversaries, no festivals!

Usually I am one of those people that never took a sick day(anti-jinx), and went on planned vacations usually combined with other company holidays. PTOs were saved for the big vacation - the trip to India. Planning for an India trip would start months in advance and it was not really a vacation in the American sense of the word – no relaxation, no spa days, no ‘just’ lounging days, but hectic travel between my place to in-laws place to meeting relatives and friends – not that I am complaining – just stating a fact. Its honeymoon versus a huge family picnic difference - you enjoy both, but while one is just relaxing time with the one you love, the other is cooking, packing, driving, monitoring kids and spending time with ones you love. The later involves more work on your end to plan and execute.

But back to my holiday today – I have absolutely no idea what I can do for two whole days. First stop, I decided to sleep-in, but your body is getting old and it just enjoys the routine – so I was up at 6.30 – so now what? I guess, I don’t have to push Kochunni too much – it can be a leisurely day to eat breakfast – but now he loves to eat food quickly. (anti-jinx). Now what? We (meaning myself and Hd) decided lets drop him off to daycare for a short while – just to ensure he hasn’t forgotten the routine. I wasn’t sure how he would react – would he cry, cling to me or what … No nothing – he is totally fine. I guess, now that his ettan has left the building, he probably understands that his vacation is over (so to speak). Either way, he seemed to fine when I left him.

So now what? I finally came up with a small plan – since today my little boy is not at home, why not clean up the place – it anyways looks like we lived through a tornado with all the toys, suitcases from the trip and a hundred outfits to go into laundry – why not play catch up. (Definitely not my favorite chore in the world – but better to get over with) Then tomorrow it can be a special day with the little guy … could I take him to park, to the mall, to the library – someplace where he could have fun. That’s something I need to think of – somewhat of a special yes day for the little guy.

As for me, I can check out blogs, read up old posts, do some chats with friends, apply mehendi and enjoy a movie – so hopefully the unexpected holiday can turn into a great spa day after all!

Passage of Fun

Done with tags and awards, its back to bare essentials – Updates!!! :)

Last week, my brother-in-law and family arrived, and what a fun ride it has been. They are here till next week with their little 6 year old boy. Two weekends already over and only one more remaining and I cannot think of where to start. My dear kochunni (this is going to be a hard one to get used too), my kutie-boy took to his cousin almost instantly, while his uncle and aunt were liked only at a distance (its changed now, he loves to play with his veli-amma, until I arrive on the scene). He even took to eating is own food watching his ettan do everything all by himself. I really hoped he might get potty trained watching his brother too, but no such luck yet! ;( He is on a break from daycare enjoying all the attention, love and warmth in a full house!

Shows - We now have K-Shows almost every hour. The show is nothing but my little one imitating everything that his brother does – but it’s oh so cute! He even imitates the sounds to the correct level and pitch. The elder one seems happy too with his attention at most times and gives him rides on the tricycle and plays hide-n-seek with him.

Fun trips -

What better to show first timers to US than two places that totally blows off everyone’s mind? Can you guess? Of course, Las Vegas and Disneyland!

First was a long car ride, everyone was beat by the time we arrived. But to see almost all of Europe (Venice, Paris), The Pyramids all in one place is total Paisa Vasool – Ok fine if you live in those places or have traveled there – Vegas is not authentic and its all fake – but it’s still a great experience! On the flip side, its definitely not a great experience for kids – We couldn’t stand around the gaming tables, because you have to be 21 or older to be around so I had run around with two kids for the little time that rest of the gang played! At least the kids were still too young to ask us about the peddlers flipping cards of naked girls (advertising the strip clubs) at the men – we had no explaining to do!!! :)

Next stop – Hollywood – The land of dreams was really a happening place. One walk through Hollywood Boulevard we saw Batman, Elmo, Catwoman, Superman, Pirates dressed up letting us take pictures with kids. Nephew got really exited seeing the Hulk and Transformers, while my little fella recognized Elmo from his little toy and was happy to pose with him. We made a short trip to Santa Monica beach to see the blue waters, built sand castles and thought about the warm waters of the beaches of Mumbai.

Happiest place on earth – is indeed a wonderful place. The power of imagination and sheer dedication and hard work is visible on every ride & every corner of the place. Be it one of the kids rides like the Dumbo the flying elephant or thrill rides like Indiana Jones, you know everyone will enjoy and want to come back for more. Its well organized, clean, expensive but worth every dollar spent. I do wish they had some better meal options for vegetarians, but you are sure to find healthy meal options with fresh fruits and salads. We loved every second of the fun filled rides… My little boy enjoyed Goofy the best giving him ‘high-fives’ and posing with him. Both Mickey and Minnie were Mickey to him, while their homes a delight to explore. His nephew enjoyed the Buzz Light-year rides and was scared of the ghouls that returned with us from the Haunted Mansion, and drove up to outer skies Star Wars style to get rid of them. When evening came, we watched the parade in awe – the choreography, the music brought out a cheer in everyone around. The night drew cold, but the skies were lit up with the magnificent fireworks that exploded in the happy place. Sovereigns bought - check, photos taken - check, celebrity sightings - check, all in all – one happy day!

We returned Monday night, and now are back into the full swing of office and house work. My kochuunni seems to have grown up so much in the past few months – a total chatterbox, working his way through 2-3 words at one time. Every little ‘oui’ needs to be kissed (by moi) to make it better, totally going independent with eating food, wanting to wear only particular clothes/colors, singing so many songs in tune (words are little unclear at times) that even Simon Cowell would shut up for once! I guess it’s only when we have new people around, who haven’t seen the baby that you realize how much your baby has changed into a bonny boy!

Sound of Music

MM, lifted this one from your Bedlam!

Rules of the tag: Various situations are given. You have to come up with a song (or a couple) that aptly describe those situations in YOUR life.

Opening credits: Chhoti si asha - Roja

Waking up: Suprabhatam – M.S.Subhalaxmi

Average day: Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya - Hum Dono

First date: Pehla Nasha - Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander

Falling in love: Zara Zara – RHTDM/ Chhukar Mere Man Ko – Yaarana

Love Scene: Baho maie chale aao - Anamika

Fight Scene: Baat Meri Suniye to Zara - Kuch Naa Kaho/
Padaakali – Yodha (best comedic fight song)

Breaking up: Tere bina zindagi se koi - Aandhi / Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam - Kaagaz ke Phool

Getting back together: Gham ka fasana – Manchali /Agar Tum Na Hote Title Song

Secret love: Yeh Raat Yeh Chandini - Jaal

Life’s ok: Apni to jaise taise - Laawaris

Mental Breakdown: Dil ke tukde karke - Dada (?)/

Driving: Dil Chahta Hai – Title song

Learning a lesson: Tujhse naaraz nahi zindagi – Maasoom

Deep thought - Aage Bhi Jaane Na Tu - Waqt

Flashback: Nyagayam Varede – Autograph (excellent lyrics)

Partying: Dhoom Again - Dhoom 2

Happy Dance: Tham Thakka Them Thakka – Thirumali (really excellent dance, please do check out even if you don’t understand the words – which are meaningful too)

Regretting: Achaji main haari – Kala Pani

Lullaby: Chanda Hai Tu - Aradhana

Long night alone: Sandase aate hai – Border

Death Scene: Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye – Pyaasa

Closing Credits: Mai Pal to Pal ka Shaayar Hoon – Kabhi Kabhi

Now let me also say this, this is going to look totally inept in a day when another mood strikes me, but I guess thats why tags are passed on! So all you music lovers please come up with another set of great numbers to fill up our iPods!!!

I tag you all – come share the passion! (Please let me know if you do the tag so I can check it out!

Naam Kya Hai

Juliet:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
~ Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

Maybe, but my dear husband claims “How can you call our son Kutie (on the blog) – sounds so ‘girlish’; he is going to grow up and sue you!” Well if he is anything like is dad, he probably never will … the last time honey read my blog was when I threatened to run away. But since I have seen many fellow bloggers changing their names, and trying out a new look( myself included), I said why not?

Now what do I call my dear boy? After much thought, I have decided to call my little Kutiepie – Koch-unni or the little Unni, not based of the “Kayamkulam kochunni” – The Robin hood of Kerala, just a little pet name that sounds good to me.

What say you?

Thank You!

Is it awards season? You betcha!!! Look dear readers I am awarded one, my first one at that. YAY!!!

My dear honey, its great that you made 4 years at your company and got that little gorgeous grey Nano that you wont share, I got an award that says I am N.I.C.E – so there, I win! Ha!

Thank you Aaru and AM for the lovely award. My buddy Google found the origin of the tag - thank you Bella – definitely a great idea. Since I firmly believe in passing on the good things here goes -

“This award will be awarded to those that are just nice people, good blog friends and those that inspire good feelings and inspiration! Those that care about others that are there to lend support or those that are just a positive influence in our blogging world!"

This award seems to have been floating around a while, so in trying to ensure I be fair I pass this on to - Homecooked, Dottie, Desigirl and to everyone who stops by – you are very polite and kind to take some time of your busy schedules to stop by my blog and drop a line...

Thank You!