The moment of truth

Venky and I are putting away the Lego pieces back in its box. Once its done, I pick up the box to keep it at its designated place. Venky shows concern

Venky - "Bhaari hai kya?" (Is it heavy?)

I - "Yes"

Venky - "Mommy nahi utha pa rahi hai?" (Mom is not able to lift it up?)

I (a little amused) - "Yes"

Venky - "Mommy buddhi ho gayi hai?" (Mom has grown old?)

I - "!#$%^&"

Sigh!

ETA - I was wondering how a 2 yr old managed to make that deduction. Apparently, his grandmom has taught him this logic. :)

My first tag (a stolen one)

Nobody tagged me, I picked this up from PS cause I really wanted to do this tag. Sigh! I am an obsessed mother after all. So, here are 5 reasons why I love being a mom

1. When I come back from work, Venky is so excited to see me. He runs to me and hugs me tight. I don't think I can remember anybody else being so happy to see me ever. With Venky, it is everyday!

2. Motherhood has made me an emotional and sensitive person. People who know me from my "young" days remember me as an unemotional, pragmatic, self centered person. I have cried more number of times after becoming a mother than I did ever before.

3. Life is never boring now. There is always something to do, to take care of. With Venky around we are never short on laughs - he keeps doing / saying these adorable, cute, funny things all the time

4.On weekends, Venky wakes up first. I get to open my eyes to his soft sound and smiling face. He crawls into my arms and blissfully sucks his thumb for sometime. Oh, I love lazing on a weekend morning with a cuddly baby. It just makes the whole weekend perfect

5. I have made a new circle of friends. I was (am) such an introvert and asocial person. I really find it hard to make conversations to unknown people. With Venky's arrival, my social circle has exploded. Now I easily talk to other parents and get invited to their kids' birthdays.

Damn! 5 points are over already. But you know, I could go on and on and on.... :)

Pre school - Day 1

I was nervous like hell. It was like going for a maths exam (Okey, not maths because I was good at it, but lets say... sanskrit exam or whichever subject you feared the most).

Challenge # 1 - Getting Venky (and ourselves) ready on time. I had to make sure that we get up at 7am to ensure that Venky reaches school by 9 am. That is quite a bit of an effort for one who not seen the 7 am sky for lets say.. a decade? Needless to say, I slept badly because of the tension. And woke up at 6 am. Tossed and turned till 7 am and then finally got up.

While I got ready, Vibhu handled waking up Venky. Venky wanted to sleep more and was terribly upset with Vibhu for forcing him out of the bed. His dada, dadi came to the rescue. By the time I dressed up he was in a good mood ( he was told that he will go to "school" and that excited him - isn't that a blessing!). So brush, shower and breakfast later (which went fairly smoothly and on schedule), the whole family was ready by 8.30 to take him to the school. Yeah, 4 adults (Vibhu, MIL, FIL & me) were to drop him to the school. I remember getting such a grand see off when I first went to the US. From the next time on, I called the cab. Sorry, I am digressing. So, we ALL got ready and left for Venky's school well in time.

Challenge # 2 - Waving goodbye. No matter how much we prepare Venky for our departure to the office, he always does a flip flop at the last moment. Although Venky's grandparents were to accompany him, I was wary about his reaction on seeing us leave. I tried to prep him by talking to him about it on our way to his school.. and lo, we were there! Venky hopped off excited (his 3 pre school visits had made him somewhat comfortable with its enviornment), and headed straight for the "jhoola". Dada, dadi followed him. We called him and waved bye. Yeah, today's child psychology - "inform" the child of your departure. I guess this days parents are the one who are made to follow the rules! I almost thought Venky'll will come back running and crying. But lo and behold, he waved goodbye. Traitor! Girgit! Dal Badloo! "Jaldi aana", he said. Hmmm.. okey, that'll unbreak my heart.

Challenge # 3 - Stay in school for 1.5 hours. Now, we were in office and Venky was in the school along with his grandparents. Grandparents were supposed to stay out of sight as long as possible and the teacher was supposed to handle him. At 9.15 am Vibhu pinged me on IM.

V [9:15 AM]:
my phone is in the car
call papa once

SS [9:15 AM]:
:)
arre rahne do na
itni jaldi kyon call karna hai?

V [9:16 AM]:
to find out if they are watching him on CCTV

SS[9:16 AM]:
we'll call at 10.30

tum toh Venky se jayada pareshan ho

its ok. Let them be
we'll call at 10.30 and then find out

V [9:16 AM]:

:(
ok

Dads these days I tell you! They've started behaving like mothers. And they've confused the moms which way to behave! So, I got back to work and then I got another IM at 10.38 am

V [10:38 AM]:
did you check?

SS [10:38 AM]:
what?

V [10:38 AM]:

on Venky?

I called my FIL now and found out how Venky behaved. Ofcourse I reported it back to Vibhu immideately. I wanted him to concentrate on work and not get fired during this recession. So,

this is how it went...

SS [10:45 AM]:
it went off very well
other kids were crying
he was not

V [10:46 AM]:
good

SS [10:46 AM]:
mostly he was on his own
he asked for his tiffin and ate

V [10:46 AM]:
they did not call papa(my FIL)?

SS [10:46 AM]:
all parents were just around
so they (my parents in law) were sitting in the office
but Venky came to them only once
and then kept himself busy
thoda classroom ke andar
and thoda bahar

V[10:47 AM]:
cool

SS [10:47 AM]:
some kids were just not leaving their parents

V [10:47 AM]:
hmmm

SS [10:48 AM]:
I talked to him (Venky)
he said ki maza aaya
and he is ready to go tomorrow again
so far so good :)

V [10:48 AM]:
awesome

SS [10:49 AM]:
I told you ki my son is a rock star :)

V [10:49 AM]:
hee hee

SS [10:49 AM]:
but you are one worried parent :p

V [10:49 AM]:
ok ok :p
bye

SS[10:49 AM]:
chalo bye obsessed daddy
think about work now :p

Hence proved - Venky is a rock star, Vibhu is an obessed dad and I am a happy mom!

Rules are for everyone

Venky is jumping on the dining table

I - "Venky, neeche utro! Gir jaoge." (Venky, climb down! You'll fall)

Venky keeps jumping

Vibhu - "Venky, gir jaoge beta" (Venky, you'll fall son)

Venky gets more excited and keeps jumping

FIL - " Venky is a bad boy. Gir jaoge, neeche utro"

MIL says something too (to the same effect). Venky ignores everyone, gets excited at the attention and keeps jumping. Finally, after several threats, reprimands and requests we have to force him down from the dining table.

Venky gets upset with us for spoiling his fun and sits in my lap sucking his thumb.

I - "Vibhu, please put the blinds down."

These blinds are accessible only from the dining table. So, Vibhu climbs the table to pull the blinds down.



Venky - "Papaaaaaa. NEECHE UTRO. GIR JAAOGE."

:D :D :D

Lately, we've had quite a few of those coming our way!

From a material mom's heart

The 3 week vacation in Switzerland did wonders. It was truly a bonding time - for Venky, us, and his dada, dadi. We have surely returned as a much happier family. It taught us that love and nuturing can really do wonders to a child. Venky had become such a good kid! No fuss over food. Taking all instructions. Listening to us and giving us his little hugs and kisses. He sat through the 8 hour flight without any tantrums. Everybody, from flight attendants to co passengers were all praises for him. I was such a proud mom :)


And a very guilty one too. Just being in our constant company made him behave so well. Just before we left for vacation he was so difficult with food and such a stubborn kid. I have to believe that the change in his behaviour was due to all the love and attention he was getting from us and his grandparents. We are now back in office and soon his grandparents will leave too :-( I wonder if that will change his personality in a negetive direction again. The mom in me wants to quit her job and stay home with him ... the woman in me does not. So, the quintessential conflict continues ....






Venky starts his pre school now. 9 am - 12 pm. With that and the afternoon nap, I believe (or should I say, I want to believe) that he will not spend too much time at home without us. I desparately want Venky to enjoy his school. That will take some guilt off me. But if he regresses, I guess I should be ready to make some hard decisions.

Venky has grown up (?)

Now a days we like to prepare Venky a little for our impending departure to office. Soon after he wakes up, we tell him that we have to go to the office. He ususally says "No, Please don't go.." and we have to keep pacifying him till we leave. However, this ensures that he knows that we have gone to the office and will come back in the evening.

Today morning it took an interesting turn (As narrated by Vibhu)

When Vibhu told Venky that we have to go to office today, Venky said that he wants to come to the office too. To which Vibhu said "Venky will go to office when he grows up". After some more discussion on that, the conversation ended.

After a while, Venky said that he wants to pee. Venky is undergoing potty training so Vibhu told him to go to the bathroom and pee. Venky said that he wants to pee in his diapers. Vibhu replied "You have grown up now, go to the bathroom and pee". Venky was ready with the retort - "Venky is a big boy, he'll go the office!" and he happily ran to the bathroom without waiting a second. :)

10 Seconds of paradise

It lasted only 10 seconds, but it will easily classify as the most wonderful moment of my life. Vibhu had taken off since he was not too well and stayed home with Venky. I came home at little later than usual and was informed by the nanny that both father and son were oversleeping their afternoon nap. I tried to quitely tiptoe into their room, but Venky woke up. He took a huge 'angdayee', flashed his widest smile and threw his arms wide open. As I went into his little arms, he kissed me and said "I love you". Such a dream come true! Now I know why everyone has kids! I just wanted to hold him and stay like that, but Venky was soon restless and wriggled out of my hold.

I was smiling all through the evening. Vibhu was having a tough time handling his envy. "This is not fair", he kept saying, "I was the one who stayed home with him".

As goes the old adage... Everything is fair in love and war :)