Back Home - Home sweet Home !

I write to you all as i traverse from the Indian ocean through the Atlantic ocean to the land of the free USA- @ 3am in the night up with a toddler busy playing in full swing both of us jet lagged yup ! So.Back in April 2014 we flew 24 hours to make a visit to our folks to India, it really feels like a decade spent there... A 2 months vacation in the peak of summers after 4 months of brutal winters in north america aahhhh definitely was worth it,  besides i do'nt ever think i've had this vacation time after my school days and in busy India every minute counts.

So the trip was a combination of Bangalore and Bombay. Although ive travelled with the sunshine boy all by myself last year when  i joined Hubby here but let me tell you all those who fear about travelling with a toddler and those stories of restlesness, tantrums etc etc playing out in your kid came true and Hubby and me witnessed the real 'Terrible Two's inside an aeroplane up 6000 feet in the sky. Yes Yes i know i know i hav'ent forgotten terrible two is a negative word for me and does not exist in my life s dictionary:))  but trust me when you are up in the sky and you cant even jump out or pull your hair bcos you have these super co operative and friendly co passengers (punn intended here) you just had to put up an artifical smile on your face to defend yourself for the acts your toddler plays. 

So  the little sunshine was in his best form screaming and screeching his lungs out if he did not get what he wants. So i carried these puzzles - colors, alphabets and numbers which are like foam material and it has to be placed in the puzzle board its a 3A size drawing book kind of thing...my boy is used to sitting on the floor at home and he gets really busy putting and fixing these puzzles whilst i used to appreciate his motor skills and skype folks showing them how smartly my boy does it ...the sunshine boy wanted to do his way in the narrow aeroplane he sat down on the floor when the plane was about to take off ...goodness me :@ silly me why did i ever give him those puzzles now when the plane had to take off i could have rather asked his Dad to read him a book ` ` arghhhhh!! the air hostess gave me an ultimatum please pick him up and buckle him the plane is taking off screeches screeches his Dad did the honors of buckling him up and putting him in the seat next to him ..did not work ..ultimately took him in his lap and diverted his attention outside the window ...spotted a few bridges which are by default a 'London Bridge' I(remember i told you about the nursery rhymes thing in my other blog and his connection to it in real life :)) he got diverted and kept saying see 'London bridge' !! 

Then he saw these crew members come with their trolley to serve dinner and to him it looked like a train he kept saying 'kooo chook chook choo' he wanted me to pull out his' Thomas the  tank engine' a miniature toy version of a engine and he literally got on to his paws and started crawling behind the air-hostess and their train trolley with his train in his little palm riding it under every passengers seat :)). trust me i laughed and enjoyed all of this whilst the Hubby was paranoid and i had to put up a face too to match up with his emotion ;) but seriously i thought whats wrong with me these are things you have to pen down bcos 'A child who does not play is not a child' afterall the poor baby was actively playing little did he know aeroplanes fly and its not a playground. so again i want to reassure myelf... yes  i disagree on 'terrible two s' its rather 'active baby' stage you see ;)

@airport whiling away time !

Has a duck in his hand!!

I dont even know where to start from about the India trip. I kept posting a lot of pics in the name of Bbombaydiaries# i got a chance to meet my school friends, college friends, work friends, all my bestie girlfriends and so much Me time too shopping shopping shopping thats' me time' shopping for sunshine i love it totally...everyday was so interesting.. meeting so many people, different and new set of activities, a lot of talking oh yes did I tell you sunshine  is talking a lot and just repeats what you say earlier it was joining two words like' Mumma sit' 'Mumma go'  although sunshine is a chatty kind but his so called 'american english acsent' suddenly got noticed especially when he started chatting in tamil. People were laughing it out hearing his tamil. His favorite pass time was to spot a few ants on my Mom s kitchen window and he and his Maasi (my sister) would play this ant story. he'd repeat whatever she'd stay. Big ant, Kutti ant(small ant), where ur hiding, and a few giggles off track... we spent about 2 weeks in Bangalore meeting Hubby s folks, sister, brother in law and Sha & Ka ... they are ten now the bubbly twins my sister in law s kids!! Sunshine boy totally loves them and did not let them sit for a minute. play play and only play he drained them off totally. He did not allow them to play with their friends too and they had to cook stories that they are not at home ;@

not letting them eat :)

Awesome Threesome!!

wake up call !!

Did i tell you these kiddos have a cute little Great Grandmom, yeah shes this soft ,cuddly, gentle and calm types always patiently watching and laughing over sunshine s whimsical ways !!unfortunately this sunshine did not co - operate in clicking a picture with her.

Thats her - and V is blessed to spend time with her..

 We got her a cute greeting card where he scribbled with crayons i was more excited than sunshine i love crayons the oil pastels !! i have a huge fascniation for oil pastel crayons. when i was young my parents bought me the 12 or 24 colors but i had a dream to own the 56 colors the big one and the first thing i did in this trip is went to the same stationery shop and got the 56 colors camlin oil pastels for sunshine im going to teach him the art of using crayons i was really good at it!!

I must say Kids are so so attached to their grandparents its just lovely to see them enjoy together..even though hes visiting my folks and Hubby s folks after a year he remembers them and connects so well. He is so attached to my sister its a saying  'Maa -si Maa jasi hoti hai' Moms sisters are like Mom!! At times sunshine would be cuddling my sister and if i enter the room he'd say Mumma bye ' :) he loves his time with her he even cries when she'd leave for work and equally excited and welcomes her back in the evening with cuddling and hugs.

Always a Maasi Boy in Bombay !!

 In fact i was fearing what is going to happen when we return back he is just so full up with his routine and used to the crowd being around but to my surprise he did not really cry he was confused a bit at the airport and in the midst of the flight kept saying 'Patty house' couple of times but i told him we are now going to see Daddy we are going to 'our home' The upper toddler understood it all.' Emotions ' the toughest word in my life s dictionary. its so hard to handle emotions the happy and sad sometimes all clubbed i wish i had the 'emoticons' that i have on my phone here id just paste all of them . its just so heart breaking to see the little him look out for them, imagine that they are coming back with us, pointing out to someone and say 'Adoo Patty' meaning there she is (Patty is my Mom).

 sob ..sob ... handling those emotions ...phew...but anyway this time i told him the truth and it made me feel good too. Truth pays, it does. So we flew homeward bound 22 hours and 7800 miles to see a 'Happy Daddy' at the airport eagerly waiting for us. Nothing can beat the feeling of being together with your family after a longggg vacation and driving homeward bound  - ahhh Home sweet Home!!

Home sweet Home

As i'am sipping my early morning 3 am coffee all jet lagged i read the two frames i nailed on my wall besides my table. it truly meant what i was feeling currently:

It reads:
'Family ties are precious threads no matter where we roam
they draw us close to those we love and pull our hearts towards home'

Wall art!!

So i treated myself in Mumbai with some keepsake shopping stuff for my Home sweet Home....scroll down to the last wall art its the best :)) !! Happy Travelling #  travel blogsspecial#

The 3am coffee only at home sweet home

My Mumbai keepsake (although id always call it Bombay)

Mumbai Chaiwala special!!

And then finally my best keepsake - a gift for the Hubby ;))!!

sincere respect to the most convenient mode of transport the AUTO RICKSHAW!!

The Mommy dashboard - 10 Things for the Happy Baby

So a friend who is a new Mom to two beautiful twin girls asked me how do you do it ? How is it that your enthu cutlets are popping up almost always and you are  ready to take a plunge into something new for your toddler and i'm like this paranoid 'Mom already fearing the 'terrible two s' and 'tantrum three s' and thinking about how im going to handle all of that with two babies and the household and everything.  What? I laughed it out  yep thats me that was my reaction say it again 'terrible two s' and 'tantrum three s' how on earth do you even know about these terms btw so this friend s twin girls are just 6 months old and shes already figuring out the best playschool for which the forms and admissions happen only once in Bombay and shes preparing for  June already  :) pressure pressure pressure June just brings this school pressure!!

I know I know how it is to be a new Mom and handling two babies - oh my gosh, but i told her  everyday is a different day we all have our ups n downs and get drained out by the end of the day of course  i'am not at my best always either (although i try to) i have my baby anxieties & worries too but trust me when i see this little sunshine s whimsical ways and funny moves my day just gets brighter and better So here s my Happy Mommy Dashboard for my dear friend :)

1)Most importantly Avoid Information overload - Trust me whilst its great to have a knowledge on everything but a Japanese client once told me "I know nothing about everything" Its best to do your basic homework thats all please do not use a hover glass on those fat text books for heaven sake Mommies. Oh how can i forget 'mother google' we all want to 'google' on almost everything and why not we live in this gadget world of 4G, touch screen, tablets hmmm whilst im quiet tech savvy but i deliberately avoid information overload. Just give it a birds eye view thats enough trust me the more you get deeper into a subject matter the more the bulbs in your brains start flashing in the wrong or negative direction. To me terrible two s never existed bcos i dont believe in it its negative word for me so ive never grumbled about it simple :)

2) Lets try and be the cup cake ourselves - A Happy child is a reflection of a Happy Mom. So when people ask me don't you get drained out all day with a toddler at home or the best question 'oh my god' howcome you are a full time Mom what do you do the whole day.Okay now these are questions from people who don't have kids so honestly  I don't choose to answer this question but my reply is if your battery is not charged and you are not on a high you are going to have a cranky and irritated baby/toddler so get out there burn off the energy while outdoors, re - live your childhood cycling days, swimming days, swing days, park days and let there be sunshine. Seeing a happy Mom a child ought to play happily and after burning off some energy the tired thing is ready for a quick shower, meal and sleep. Watching a Baby sleep is a feast to a human eye trust me!!

Happy Mommy drive = Happy Babby!

3)Do not get pressurised on early playschools- I remember this Mom at the park back in Bombay who was watching me and sunshine play at the park asked me 'which school' instead of asking me 'whats his name' or a simple hello smile - No she had a frown eyebrow  look ~ ~ nevertheless i smiled back saying  hes only 22 months she was like my son went to playschool when he was 15 months.. so what do i do dude was my expression after 5 minutes she followed me to the see saw area and said it is very good for social and emotional skills of the child. 'Okay i see' - 'Thanks but no thanks' was my reaction 'Information overload again' aint it? How on earth will a 15 month handle socialising skills my 15 month was a busy crawler he never walked till he was 17 months he had his own busy world and the world was his Mommy Daddy and grandparents thats all and so be it and what about emotional skills im sure the seperation anxiety and shock the kids get by visiting these play schools as early as 15 months make them super cranky and hence the reference to 'emotinoal skills' phew!!I never sent the sunshine to school till he was 2.5 years (that too bcos i was getting back to work and wanted to prepare him)

4)Pamper(s) Diaper) the Baby - So you know the world loves to give you free advice and this other Mommy friend told me "if your 1 month old child cries do not pick him up bcos when youl get back to work he will find it tough bcos he is used to your arms and used to being carried and wont get independant"

Oh Boy what a solid research white paper is that. A zero month old baby trying to attain independance hmmm i totally turned down the advice and i believe whilst most moms debate on which diaper to use and which rash cream to use please spend time to  pamper pamper and only pamper your little one. carry them always they get a sense of security only from their Moms, Dads and other members at home. If they are cranky there is a reason for it so don't let them stay there independantly :) pick the little thing up comfort him,pacify him. Hug him, kiss him and say i love you at least 5 times in a day.

5)Do not turn down Grand parents advice and refer to it as old school - If an old aunt is visiting your zero month old baby and excitedly gets sugar to feed your lil one its OK. a small granule of sugar just touched to his lips will do no harm to your baby in fact hel surely have a sweet tooth and will welome all that porridge with extra sugar and added ghee when you start feeding him the solids. Gripe water it is - remember the old classic Indian ad Woodwards gripe water - "Kay zala Baal radath hota, woodwards dila tu lahan hota teve mee tula hech dile". Yes gripe water is the best for a cranky kid who has a gas trouble and in the west especially gripe water it is in every household. But since my kid was born in India and there was some information overload again on gripe water not being recomended by peadeatricians (some not all )and instead its better visit a doc blah blah so we waited for one whole cranky night to end and waited to show him to the paed. Keep the gripe water handy!!

6)Give the crawling baby some 'me' time and let him explore his world -  All kids are born musicians and drumist. let them crawl into your kitchen open those cabinets and throw some tumbler down on the floor they simply enjoy the sound. if you are busy making a meal and they follow you to the kitchen and wait underfoot just put them at the side and give them a steel vessel and spoon these guys can beat the drums. My son had mastered the art of opening the drawers and everyone around freaked out 'his fingers -  his hands'. Relax let them figure it out how to open it they are gentle themselves, and watch it when they do it but please  'DO NOT SCARE THEM'  I invested in some drawer guards only after i figured out his visits to the kitchen got too frequent to strum a guitar or beat the drums, yes child proof your kitchen and house with accesories but never say NO. Let them pull out their grandparents spectacles, let them fidget with the remote controls of television, (im talking about crawling ones here, the other disciplined Mommies are going to freak out reading this haha)for the babies its all so new just like the way we drop our jaws and we excitedly start fidgteing with the lovely clothes we see  on those manequins at our favorite shopping outlet ;) its the same with those little ones too. 

7) Books, books, books - I read yes i read a lot to my kid sometimes i overdo it i actually got a kiddo size globe and started explaining to him the earth is round in shape its made of land and water he spinned the globe like a ball and threw it off :) Just go easy with the books in Indian terms i would say 'Studies'. Yes my best friend s daughter who is 4 and she has another 7 month old is grumbling that she is drained off and does not give time to her 4 year old s 'lesson time'. haha i can only laugh and i have no words. What on earth do you want to teach a 4 year old and that too in the summer vacation. Is'nt that school which is on im sure for the last 3 years all 5 days in a week throughout the year enough? Oh dear Oh Boy!! But she says sorry i cant be as chillaxed as you :) nor am i those craft Moms. Well neither am I but havent you heard of pinterest cummon when you can download watsapp and facebook on your cell phone download a pinterest and what amamzing ideas for craft i love it!!!If you are indoors spend sometime re-doing your toddlers room rotate the toys, invest in a activity table let him build lego blocks there, do one DIY craft with him ( we did a cute teapot, tea cup and a cup cake) let him mess his hands with some poster colors,some crayons time, visit the library, read lots of animal picture books, make some greeting cards for the grandparents (we made one for his great grand mom she was overwhelmed), introduce some water games while bathing like i put these turtles and fishes in a tub and hed keep putting it in and pulling it out and say 'swim swim' :) :)

DIY kitchen craft!

DIY scribble me!!

The Happy reader !

8)Visit the Temple - Kids are born spiritual and its lovely to see them calmly stand and watch the Gods and observe each and everything we do they mimic you so well,they will ring the bell, chant a few prayers and start singing all the aarti songs aloud in their 'Jay Jay' way. They are blessed by the almighty and we are blessed to have them. For sunshine s vacation this time at my folk s place a cute little temple next to the park had two tortoise walking their way slowly and it was a super feast time at the temple for this little thing watching those cute little turtles lazying around and we'd go there everyday after our park times sometimes opinons would differ it could be the temple first then the park (maybe) whatever the boss says!

9)Wake me up - Wake up an hour  earlier (hehe im still trying this) finish the morning errands, and sip a cup of coffee by your coffee table wait for the little thing to wake up or wake him up in the cuddly way if he has a schedule trust me nothing can be more wonderful than a beautiful morning smile from your little one. I actually named him 'sunshine' (my blog goes sunshineinmylife.blogspot.com) bcos when he was really little he would give this morning sun smile actually a 'toothless grin' heeee and we named it sunshine
smiley!!

10)The Connect - Be a role model to your baby -heard that? To me it totally means staying connected!! even in our sleep the two of us sub consciously are aware we are there for each other. The first thing when he wakes up he calls out to me and i know the first thing i wake up i have to see him. @ connect is a wonderful feeling and it puts me on cloud 9 bcos i love the way he worriedly looks out if he doesnt see me for a minute. To me connect also means doing a lot of drama i make up a lot of stories to connect two and two and make it five instead. Hes in love with bugs the ladybird, butterfly, ants, caterpillar any creepy crawly things bcos hes been seeing a lot pictures of the same in his books. His Maasi (my sister) got this idea of deliberately putting some sugar cubes at the window so that real ants come in and oh boy what a lovely idea was that so we had these little ants marching and this little thing s eyes stuck on to it for hours together and a lot of talking & stories on those ants :)

I live by this - my slogan for the connect!!

Babies are these brand new gift god can ever send to this world. Hence they are this huggable,
kissable lovable bundle of joy!! Happy Parenting and Stay Happy to bring out the happy baby that came out of your womb!!

Lots of Love
Sunshine s Mommy

From Sunshine s 'sunny days' to a beautiful ' hillside retreat '

There is nothing like a vacation in Bombay and whilst i have no complains about the busy and fast life and im only counting my blessings for this precious time  - free time more so bcos the biggest challenge in this fast city is' time' everybody  from a household maid to vegetable seller will say 'Mala time nahi' in fact the priests at Siddhi vinayak temple keep chanting 'chala chala lawkar chala' meaning lets get going lets get going fast :))) there is just so much of pressure and stress to even pray in  short to pack up and end the day in this city that actually never sleeps. 

So my folks wanted to break free from the mundane routine of the kaamwali s & cooks,  grocery shopping, answering phone calls and door bells and running all sorts of household errands and we decided on a weekend getaway the obvious choice is a hill station in Maharashtra. As a child wed always break our summers visiting our grandparents in Chennai and a mini weekend break in Lonavla, Khandala,Matheran etc

Its been over 10 years i have'nt really been to the hilly side of Maharashtra the ghaat section drive. So we decided on Mahabaleshwar thanks to a few friends who recommended that with the express way its easier to get there. We chose our lodging at a cosy cottage like hotel that was in the woodside slightly away from the main market and im glad we did that. although we were there in the peak of summers the temperature just suddenly drops towards the sunset hours.After a swim in the pool we sipped tea on a bench which was a tree branch  and oh what a sight it was the most clear sky that one can imagine. uncountable stars, so densely scattered across the sky and one big fat moon smiling at you. I was forced to humm the nursery rhyme to my sunshine who was excitedly running around and counting the stars like the sardar  kid in kuch kucch hota hai :)) and shouting out in his baby voice 'so many stars,see the Moon ..'

Star Light, Star Bright, The first star i see tonite, 

I wish i may, I wish i might, have the wish i wished tonite!!!

I see the moon and the moon sees me,

God bless the moon and god bless me!!!

I truly felt the above lines from my heart whilst i sang these rhymes for sunshine boy. 

Strawbberries Strawberries Strawberries it is!!! Having visited Mahableshwar after so many years, i can say im a different person, as a teenager nature does not interest you as much  i must have surely visited this strawberry garden but did not admire it as much as i did this time.The wind blowing through my hair, colorful flowers all around, a beautiful valley view, some cool strawberry punch/milkshake sips and above all an over enthusiastic toddler running around the garden adoring the colorful flowers, the pink strawberries & listening to the waterfall sound patiently were some blissful moments!!!

The sumptous strawberry garden!!!

Ahhh Waterfall!

The Thinking tree !! My Adda for penning down my thoughts!

Horse rides to the various points which are a closer view of the valleys and mountains joining together perfect for a click, boating in the cool river with a cute temple view on the other side of the river, some cheap street side shopping for sling  bags,toys ,footwear and soveiners packed my extra luggage to the rim. A good afternoon nap after a sumptous gujrathi thali is what you deserve but what you dont is a heavy tummy not feeling hungry until late dinner hours. Stuffed stuffed again till my neck this time with food :))

 So our evenings were lazy and cool the hotel had some entertainment magic show,jugglers show  and some DJ music by the pool. Bold not so conscious Vivaan matched his steps to some super fast remix of bollywood numbers whilst we got busy clicking his pictures and caputuring his dance moves a few other visitors in the hotel clapped hands for this little things  s 2 minute bum movements. Im not sure if city life had made me wary , but i could feel every moment and thought life deserves so much time and every moment counts. I'd sit by the tree bench after a light dinner and this is the place where id sit and watch the starry nights and think about my love my husband , how much i miss him not being here for this vacation at this moment but convincing myself that he cant take such long vacations like me :) he has to work,  nevertheless i thanked  the stars for eternal happiness in love and longing to get back to him soon!!

Day 4 - We drove back chatty and happy busy scrolling through all the clicks and deciding what can be my DP on watsapp ;-P editing a few pics , listening to some bollywood numbers grooving back to the traffic jams of the city life. 

Long live Mahabaleshwar !! You surely gave me a lot of time and positive energy to enjoy every bit of you and mother nature surrounding thou!!

 beautiful view from Mahableshwar hilltop - glarring straight at the river Wai '

 

I like the way you do it!!

So just when i posted my previous blog about the park stories  'id mentioned that sunshine is little and really does not have an opinion and plays happily wherever mommy takes him. Those were the days the cute little baby s day out stories but  the recent ones have been a lot different Ya Ya i know about the terrible two s and the panic most mommies gave me about the do s and don't s and tantrum handling tips especially when the tantrums strike in public  but i'd positively turn down all of that advice :) okay  but now i have to press the buzzer and admit the terrible twos  s are playing an active role (all of a sudden) The co - operative little baby is soon growing up to be a boy and wants his cupcake topping his way. Am i ready yet for the big shift ? duno yet.

'

I have to explain this a bit now - So unlike other boys and girls who'd play with their toys in the lawns  or slide and swing away a bit, Sunshine spots a few ants marching in any damn corner along the pathway of the park and can sit there for hours together. Ants yes Ants-  it is. He simply loves watching the ants move one by one in a row :-!

This was the first time he spotted ants in the bathroom :)

although i quickly get to catch up on some watsapp conversation with my buddies during this time  but my legs ache after a while and i sit down wherever he is and people do wonder what are we upto :-@ hmm my guess is he loves seeing creatures live in action bcos  i must admit its me who got him addicted to these two dvd s of nursery rhymes that id play at least thrice a day during his meal time precisely right from the time he learnt to sit. it was just so easy to push those spoonful meals into his tiny mouth. So these dvd s contained some fabulous old classic english rhymes with awesome animation these were mostly animal rhymes like 'the ants go marching one by one hurrah'  bumble bee, lady bird and so on.... so this little thing s' little earth was gluing his eyes sincerely  on to the laptop or TV wherever id play these rhymes( just for meals) and  hence his connection with ants and many more bugs insects birds & animals hehe.  i know  i know it aint good to show TV to a small kid and so much of exposure to a laptop etc will destroy their attention span but hello i'm the one who has to feed him all 3 meals and i think this is better than running with a plate and spoon all over the house so this was a tried and tested method by a mommy and it set in just so perfect for some peaceful meal times. Moms can never be wrong ;0

So coming back to the park stories  i decided im not taking him to the park anymore bcos its killing my patience level besides there is no going back home and here comes the tantrum bells and crying through out the way back home for those tiny little  ant friends of his phew!!

Friends & acquaintances told me about this aquarium closer home where there are lots of other pet animals too and i thought this is just the right thing for the little thing. Of course a few hygeine conscious Moms told me about the place not being good and the bad smell of fishes, not so good crowd blah blah . Well im in Bombay and i love the people of Bombay and to top it all im a pure bombayiite  i dont care much about sanitising the auto rickshaw i travel in etc etc  i totally believe kids should be exposed to everything and thats how they grow up to be super strong kids  thats my funda!!

 So i excitedly arrived at this aquarium its an auto ride from my place i've given up on driving in Bombay more so bcos i fear my car getting towed for parking it wrongly or wotsover . So this aquarium was not just an aquarium technically,  It was this huge piece of land well diversified into a pond in the middle, a cute little boat ride where you can buy food for the fishes and turtles and ducks swimming in the pond. What a feast it was for sunshine s animal loving eyes. The boat was in the shape of a swan that itself excited this little thing and he kept screaming see duck ... see fish ...see turtles 

Again was tough to get him out of the boat as he cried for his fishes and turtles but the real aquarium visit was pending it was displayed well around 8 to 10 large fish  tanks with a variety of fishes the gold fish  kept him busy.

Outside on the pathway surounding the pond were variety of birds, rabbits, and we even saw some fat turkeys and just one owl. Sunshine  recognised the turkey and could say his gobble- gobble. Last but not the least the outing to the aquarium was completed with a horse ride just outside the aquarium was this ghoda wala you can ride him for 20 rupees and i was 'nt too sure if this little duckling s soft  bums can bear the leather  horse seat but sunshine very excitedly sat on his horsy -  porsy and happily rode almost homeward bound.

So that was a lovely evening but I must admit i did complain a bit about this terrible/tantrum phase but it all faded off when i let him do what he wants and let him play the way he wants i simply  love the way he is and i like the way you do it Sunshine!! I dont believe in 'terrible twos' or tantrum threes' its all just so negative. For me the most important thing is sunshine remains totally connected to me and i love seeing this little thing s face all lit up and happy when he sees me enjoying his play - time and taking back this tired little thing back home after his evening' masala' is nothing but happy high times!!

So before i had my sunshine id religiously spend my friday evenings catching up with people and enjoying a high @ happy hours but being a Mom is such a high and although it drains down my energy especially  spending hours outside in the peak summers but when i see this tired little thing sleeping cozily besides me wrapped in a blanket  after his tiring day  I thank god everyday for the lovely evenings and park times i get to spend with sunshine. Its very very important for me my evenings with him yes.  I'm the happiest when he cries for me and is looking out for me in every room, I'm the happiest when he waits for me to get to bed with him and put him to sleep. I'm totally on a high when his sweet little  Daddy and he facetime me to show how much Sunshine misses me even  when i get out just to fetch some grocery.

Sunshine  - I simply like the way you do it just bcos you are you and you make me. 

Love you... my little ant.

Why mommy loves ...loves parks!!

Sunshine s Mommy loves loves and only  loves ....parks and its nothing but an understatement to define mommy s love for outdoors. How about Baby? ?? hmm Baby is such a good boy he loves everything that mommy loves thank god baby is little and does not really have an opinion yet !! He simply loves staying outdoors :))

So when i was a crawler Mommy would leave me on the green grass to crawl or strengthen my motor skills with a few sand toys and mommy loves the sand more but of course ;-P her excitement to fly to Bombay every other month to visit my Thatha & Patty says it all. Bombay was a combination of Juhu beach and parks. In Bangalore we had a park in the lovely apartment itself 3 parks in fact ...Swing is my favorite, i love the See Saw too Momy loves see saw but of course.... bcos she gets to  humm the nursery rhyme 'see- saw margery- daw' every time id see- saw. I was constrained from using the slide bcos i was a late walker i crawled for 17 long months so although i would crawl upto the slide but i could not figure out how to climb using my paws and knees i realised i need to walk so that the climbing action can be used. But Momy loves the slide she'd put me  on top of the slide over and over again... and it ain't easy putting me up there and sliding me down bcos the slides were big!! But because Momy  loves it so much and also  gets to work out her arms in the bargain so win win!!! :-P ;-))

How can i forget Momy used to try more arm workout on the see- saw especially if no one sits on the other side. My See - saw partners Tristha and Dhriti were always excited to sit on the other side bcos theyd love to hear Momy hum the rhyme. In fact Tristha went and even told her Mommy about how well Vivaan s Mommy can humm rhymes on almost anything and everything around us. Sometimes she embarasses me :-)) especially now that we are in the west and people are soft spoken its only my Mommy who is yapping and singing all the time i have to say shoooo Mommy slow down. But she likes the fact that music together teacher told her she has a great voice pheww so more of it love for music too. 

Coming back to love for Parks - our park days in Bombay were an auto ride to a nearby park. i so love autos (sadly now that im in the US i dont get to see a single auto) so the bombay park  had a pathway for some serious calorie burners and walkers  lots of uncles, aunties, boys n girls kept going round the mulberry bush and kept walknig for hours  whereas the inner circle of the park was scattered  with babies like me playing with ball, bat, flying kites, Mommy gets my favorite 'Fubbles'  it means 'fun with bubbles ' and i love to pop them sometimes other kids join me and the older kids jump up high to catch the bubbles...
Needless to say there were swings, slides, see - saw. I liked the slides in Bombay more bcos they were smaller for a little guy like me and also had a 'london bridge' in between to move from one end to the other.My Mommy is a 'asli Mumbaikar' hence shes a loud mouth :-P ...once  i overheard Mommy tell her Bangalore friends that in Bombay 80% of babies come to the park with their Nanny s, these nanny s  have a gang amongst themselves there are nanny s  of expats, nanny s  of sky tower buildings, nanny s with doggies too,  and the bonding happens in the said economic strata.  Whilst it is very normal in this human race but i think  Mommy wanted to make a statement about it. Just so you know ...
Mommy s love for parks got us to the best park in the world its actually called LOVE PARK in philly city where i currently live. This park is a symbol of 'brotherly love' which describes Philly city. its the best place on planet earth not according to Mommy but i have the same opinion too  so Mommy and me both love parks and love the LOVE PARK the most and we get Daddy to love the LOVE PARK too making him miss his soccer matches most times :))
So when i asked Mommy why do you love parks she says 'You are my sunshine my little sunshine' tomorrow you will be a big boy and have your own sport to follow and id play soccer, basketball etc and parks might not interest me besides i wont have mommy time to spare hence she loves her time with me more so and i think its fair enough.
Okay i just got a hug from Adalyne my park buddy, blush blush!!!   Spring is here and summers is gona be here too so wishing all my buddies 'Happy Park times' - So Rain or shine or snowflakes play all day and visit the parks more often !!!

Lots o Love
Sunshine 

Baby s day out on a bicycle - Slowing down to the speed of Life!

Let us ring the bicycle bells ting- a -ling -a- ling ----tring - tring - tring. I excitedly arrived at the Valley forge National Park a little past noon on a saturday - all set to take the 6 mile trail bike ride (although i love to call it a bicycle) with my biking shoes, sunglasses, a water bottle, helmet, small map of the trail around the park- tucked into my pocket, quiet acting like a pro biker just following the biking  instructions read previously on the website. The journey began, it was a hot summer day  and after riding a couple of miles I sat down by the soft sweet schuylkill river which had captivated my romantic imagination of France countryside which I have only read about in 'de tour e france' magazines on the long boring air france flight that id travel often during my work days, unfortunately busy work life then got me to experience only the skies of France :(


I sipped some water from my water bottle and glarred at the lush green choppy river as I slowly indulged in  reminiscing some enjoyable good old days -  first thing that flashed was the backwaters of Kerala - or so you say God s own country! To my better half it was home to his Dad s ancestoral - big beautiful traditional home with an outdoor courtyard and temple at the backyard where we lit a hundred diyas one lovely cool evening in September. So whilst better half decided to stay home afterall it was home sweet home for him but to the mischievous and adventurous me it was a feast to my nature loving eyes, ears and senses. I tagged along Sowmya a young energetic niece and  my father in law who was more than happy to give me a tour to a nearby river bank so as to glance a part of the heart of backwaters. It was a 20 minute walk through the lovely wood side of the village and we had our umbrellas opened up to the hazy grey sky. We reached the river bank and i got to see a picture that id often sketch in my drawing book - An old lady washing clothes by the river bank -  who innocently asked me in malayalam  ' Nengla  Yaar' meaning Who are you?  i quickly turned and pointed to my FIL in sign language bcos I could not reply back in Malayalam. ..So there we were at the banks of the beautiful Uragam river in Trissur, I quickly plunged  into the cool green waters with ease.

Uragam river in Kerala with Sowmya!!

As I sunk down memory lane something flashy sparky popped in front of my eyes almost 2 decades back wen I was less than ten years old we'd rent out bicycles (mine was always red hence the flashy sparky imagination) from 'Raju; the bicyclewala( would always wonder why all of them were Raju) my sibling Sandhya and I would rent out 2 bicycles 2 rupees each for 1 hour and whilst she'd teach me how to hold tight and balance my lovely mother would anxiously stand by the balcony to wave out to us as we finish the 400 mt round around our colony and also would remind us to stop by for snacks. Many a times if my mentor sibling was busy bicycling with her friends I would call out to my mom for help to start the bicycle. so in my learning days, I always needed someone to help me start the bicycle,  she would try hard to do the needful of balancing out the bicycle  first then giving it a push as i instructed her but somehow if it did not trigger she'd ask some stranger to help. So it could be a postman or gardener in my colony always willing to help ! Weekends were easier as Dad would cycle along with us. We'd even ride on to Juhu beach.One fine day Dad gifted me a Avon bmx bicycle it was a beautiful surprise and almost all my friends had a bicycle by then and we'd play follow the captain and stroll for hours together in our summer vacations.We'd also exchange each others cycles a few other bicycle names i recall Street Cat, BSA SLR, BSA Champ....

Moments later I was woken up by my 2 year old champ Vivaan, my new biking buddy, calling out to me as he was resting back in his buggy bike tagged along with my bike. Let's get going 'ting a ling a ling  - tring tring tring'cried he.

Life s simplest pleasures are life s greatest joys!! As i hopped back on to my bicycle, i thanked the Schuylkill river for having taken me back to some sweet childhood memories and happy family times. Not little did i know that my childhood bicycle rides would become such a wonderful memory and story of my life. Im sure we all have stories to tell our kids but of course with generations the stories change too. As a child i'd hear stories from my Father, story of his generation, story of his dream to live in the sea shore of bustling Bombay as he visited this city of dreams during his teenage vacations, story of my patriarchal grandfather DS Ramaswamy Iyer who along with his wife and five little children and a sixth one budding in her womb, fled Rangoon - Burma (a British colony then where my grandfather worked for a British Bank) because of a sudden outburst of the second world war in 1942, my grandmother and other women with children were put on to a ship that sailed along the Indian ocean and reached a small village in Tamil Nadu one early morning. My grandmother with a wondrous hope would send her two older boys to the village bus stop everyday to find out if  her husband has arrived, who along with other men was supposedly walking  through the forests of East India with an obligation to carry the  Bank s cash ((INR 12000 a huge amount surely then) safely to India. He did  reach Tamil nadu after 40 days with a white beard having lost 30 pounds, was hard for my uncles to recognise him, rushed to Madras to report to his head office and hand over the Bank s cash and started a new life in the city.The Bank is today known as The Standard Charted Bank. So my father would end the story here... 

......As my mind drifted back to take the trail ride, i retreated myself riding along the beautiful green banks of the Schuylkill river - utterly a foreign river to me that changed my reflective outlook, that made me realise that the longevity of generations and recalling the 'family tree' can bring out such a refreshing color to your life, touching deep spiritual bonds of family and indeed they live on for  generations..sometimes haunting us through adversity, sometimes giving us a bitter sweet taste of  the generation gap, sometimes giving us an exuberant display of emotions but ensuring that the blessed circle of life continues forever. As I fought back tears that magically appeared, I quickly made paper boats for my son, let it into the river and watched it all along as we rode back to the smiling sun,  humming 'Let us ring the bicycle bells ting a ling a ling --- tring -tring tring'. We surely had an awesome saturday :)

The buggy bike ride @Valley forge national park

Baby s Birthday Letter!

Oh Dear! Oh Boy !You are 2 already! Oh yes nothing speeds the clock like motherhood!!
It just feels like yesterday when i first held you in my arms and fell in love with your lazy yawn saying 'Yes so  here I'am'. Sometimes i wish i could keep you little forever. At the same time, i love watching you grow and discover new things. I'm trying so hard not to forget what your tiger 'rawr' sounds like and the cute little fingers you would stretch out to show ' twinkle twinkle little stars' or give out your tiny little palm to say 'hello' all this when you were just 6 little months old.

Now that you are TWO,i must say the journey from one to two has been the most fun,exhausting,memorable and challenging years of my life. In just a year you've gone from crawling to walking to jumping and now running. You've gone from knowing your colours to SAYING your colours (even the complex ones like Beige and purple, thanks to the I pad). You've gone from saying simple words like koooo to Train and Station. You've learnt to climb up and down the stairs by yourself and count 1 to 10 missing out a few in between :). I love the way you confidently announce what you want to do and also have a opinion on your meal preference, i also know you have quietly relished a mud meal during your sand play times :)) Oh boy, you are' nt the kid who sits calmly in a stroller or a kid you can distract with a simple toy. You are the little boy who figures how to climb out of the shopping cart, opens the doors he knows he should'nt and laughs with glee as he runs from me in any populated public place. The truth is we would 'nt have you any other way. And although i do not like your tantrums and i know have to deal with it patiently as you advance your toddlerhood, but i see the spirited you who'd keep fighting for what you want and never let any dream die.

 When the house becomes a little too quiet, i know you are either busy with your water jug in the garden or you are the curious  'baby einstein' learning the apps on your ipad or sitting on the floor with your head in a book. I love that you' re a reader like Mommy. And i hope and wish that you'll continue to read books - Readers do have interesting opinions. See Im storing these memories away, tucked snug and tight in the back of mommy brain lock and key. I have a feeling they might come in handy later in life.

And whilst this past year has bought remarkable changes, you are still the same rambunctious, remarkable little boy i fell in love with at first sight. On your birthday i want to thank you for coming into my otherwise stereotyped fast life - busy trying to build my networth, Thank you for making me your dance partner, thank you for helping me stop,slow down and pick up your running ball or car.Thank you for making me realise the value of time and patience and rediscovering happiness and newness to life. Thank you for encouraging me to let the dirty dishes pile up a wee bit longer to play pee ka boo, camp in the swimming pool splashing water or read one more book.Thank you for making me a non perfectionist -  follow the schedule -  follow the clock types - just to finish cooking a meal on time or draining out doing  the household to knock off that extra dirt ,  'Nahhh 'I'd rather spend that time filling your water jug to nurture our little garden and you've indeed helped it BLOOM yellow and pink!!

I've heard some mommies say that their kids make them a better person - a better woman - a better version of themselves. You do more than that - Quiet simply-  You make me.
Happy Birthday my sunshine! Lets have double the fun, double the talking, double the play time for now you are 2.

I love you more.

Mumma