Do they teach this stuff at cute school?

Bringing his toy grey BMW SUV to me:

"Mamma...yeh bee-em-dubloo hai?"
Me: hmm
"Par mamma...yeh bee-em-de-grey nahi hai?"

I guess BMW didn't think their brand name could be thus diluted by a three year old!

My little one can eat - officially!

Tara had her Anna Prasanna today. Though I have been giving her solids for the last 2 months or so, it's only legal now that this wonderful little ceremony has been performed. Her aita made her a bowl of special payesh (I'll never actually pronouce this correctly and I can see your disapproving head shake, Vijay) which she was fed by family and loved ones as she sat on my lap dressed in her best frock and wearing all the gold jewellery she owns. She was beautifully behaved - she actually sat right through the naam, which is an incredibly long and fairly noisy thing. It's done by Assamese pandits who, I suspect, don't know much about the attention span of the average 7 month old baby judging by the sense of urgency they were displaying this morning. They really lucked out today though, because Tara was the perfect participant at the puja. She didn't even have little whispered conversations or take pictures guiltily like the rest of us did and will probably even be able to tell you what the pandits were saying.

My favorite part of the ceremony was when we presented Tara with a thali laid out with some items, each signifying her future interests and abilities. The options were: a book, a pen, some gold, some money, and some earth on a leaf. I actually held my breath as she reached out toward the thali...she started heading for the book but then changed her mind and went for the pen instead. Once she had decided on that, she stuck to it and went for the same thing even on later attempts (which we made just to negate any bias because of the pen's proximity to her on the thali. It's all very scientific, this whole thing.) I'm happy to announce that we have a writer in the making. At the very least, at least her school homework will always get done, right?

Write away, little Tara. I hope your words are always true and that they bring you happiness. I promise to read and cherish everything you let me read:-)

Who read him his rights?!

So I was scolding him for not telling me in time that he had to go to the bathroom and he knew he was in trouble...

Me: Vir, tune kyun aisa kiya...bol.
Vir: (looking down) Main kuch nahin boloonga....kuch nahin boloonga...kuch
nahin boloonga.

On the way back from school...

Me: Vir, aaj tune school mein kya kiya?
Vir: Maine gandi baat kari. Masi ne mujhe corner mein baitha diya.
Me: Phir tune kya kiya
Vir: Phiiiiiir....main uth gaya

Yeah. So his timeouts are really working!

I'm here, I'm here!

It's past 1:15 am and I'm going to regret being awake at this time when Vir wakes me up at 6 and says, "mamma...sunrise ho gaya hai...abhi sone ka time nahin hai...abhi uthne ka time hai." (Vir, just so you know - that's the least cute thing you say, and don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise!)

The last month has been full of firsts for little Tara and full of cute chatter from Vir, but it's also been one of the most challenging months of my life as a mom because both of them have been sick and I've been on a low myself. So, much as I've been wanting to report things as they happen, writing just hasn't been part of the critical path of my days and so it hasn't been happening.

That doesn't take away from the cuteness of Tara's first tooth, the fun we had giving her her first solid meal, or the excitement we felt when she sat up for the first time. Actually the excitement came after we cleared the confusion over whether she was sitting or falling because she was bending forward so wierdly. Turns out that's how she likes to sit for now. She's getting a lot better at it now though, and starting to look more like she's just trying to pick up something far out of her reach and not so much like an impossible yoga asan.

Another big first for both the kiddos was their first international trip. We took a holiday to Dubai and spent some time with my sister and her family. The kids LOVED it and it looks like my mom and I have survived two flights with the two kids. Vijay was lucky enough to escape the experience but he has a longer one coming up in the near future and I plan to make him pay for having had it easy this time. Jokes aside though, this is where I'm going to compliment my kids for being absolutely wonderful on both the flights despite horribly awkward timings and a crazy mother who had way too much stuff and not a lot of poise. They fell asleep at the right times, didn't scream like some of the others on that plane, didn't spill juice on me, and didn't poop on me. I still found the whole experience very harassing, so I can imagine the plight of the mom whose baby spent almost the entire 3-hour flight screaming his lungs out. This is one of the things that has changed about me since I've had kids. At one time, I used to foolishly get irritated when a child was being loud or obnoxious in a public place. I have been guilty of shaking my head in disapproval (to put it mildly) at kids' bad behavior and blamed it on "bad parenting." Yes, me, sorry. Now, I'm one of the "bad parents" and all I can do when I hear a child screaming for something, or see a toddler sprawled across the floor somewhere screaming hyena like, is shake my head in sympathy but mostly just say a little thank you that at least this time, this is not my child:-)

Party Animal!

Tara attended her first birthday party yesterday! It went as one would expect. She spent a lot of time watching other kids being silly, was a little silly herself for a while, and then fell asleep just when the cake was being cut. Vir also behaved pretty much as expected. He grabbed a car from the birthday girl's collection of toys, stood with it in a corner and watched all the other kids being silly, managed to convince the birthday girl's grandmother to give him some icing from the birthday cake before it was cut, and spent the rest of his time protecting Tara from potential claimants. He thinks everyone wants to take her home and is always wary of strangers and friends when it comes to her. Poor girl - she has a few fights ahead of her in this regard. And poor boy, all he wants to do is make sure only he is allowed to annoy her. For now though, it's a totally love-love relationship with only worshipping looks on either side despite the occasional pinching and toy snatching from the big brother who, I'm often guilty of forgetting, is only a baby himself.
Honestly, anyone reading this and contemplating having a second child. Go for it. You'll only regret it once in a while but you'll be constantly in awe of the relationship your little ones will share.

My little rocket!

She's learnt how to do push ups and she uses every minute she can find to practice this new skill. It just never gets old. I think the next step will be bending her knee forward and pushing ahead, aka crawling! But how can this be? She's only 5 months. Here I was thinking we have a few more months of sitting around calmly with a rattle in one hand and the laptop in the other.

"No such luck, mom! Watch out, I'm on my way!"