So this is how it's going to be!

Me: Alright Vir, time to go to bed.

Vir: Noooooo. Nahiiii. 

Tara: (always the copycat) Nahiiiii.

Vir: Good job Tara. Say no to mamma. High five! You're my best friend and my girl!

(Big hugs all around while mamma tries to hide a smile.)

My little warrior

Vir: Mamma, if America is in trouble, I will save it. I will run into the elevator and press the emergency button!

Wouldn't we all be happier if that's how wars were fought:-)?

In my husband's family, they say that you can tell what a radish will grow up to be like just by looking at it's first two leaves. If this is true, our little girl radish means trouble. She's only 19 months and already has "leaving the house in a huff" on her cap of feathers. No, really. She got mad at me for not giving her ice cream when and where she wanted it, cried for a couple of minutes because I walked away uncaringly, then made a quick decision, got up and pouted at us, and swiftly walked all the way across the long hallway in our apartment, opened the door, and left.

It was one of those I've-had-enough-of-this-bullshit-walkouts. From a 19 month old baby.

Vijay is seriously worried. I just think this is hilarious. Of course, we'll need some sort of parenting strategy with this little firecracker. Let me go and google toddler walkouts and how to survive them now.

Social Butterfly

I went to Barnes and Noble with Tara yesterday. It wasn't supposed to be an outing really...I just had to return something and head out. But it was so cold outside that I just couldn't muster the courage to get out of the building once I had entered it! So I decided to hang out there - it doesn't take too much convincing to keep me at a bookshop anyway. I picked up a book to browse and went with Tara to the kids section, where they have some seating and place for kids to roam around. The book turned out to be very interesting and soon I was pretty much the only mom in that area who wasn't reading to her kid or running after her and talking in a cute voice to everyone around. This left Tara to fend for herself and I must say, she made me proud. She just headed off on her own to mingle with the crowd. She went right up to where a couple of kids were sitting and expressed interest in what they were up to. Then she joined them on the little ledge where they were sitting, and even invited a couple of other curious onlookers to join her. Soon, she had picked out her favorites and collected a little coterie of kids around her. At one point, she walked up to a baby who was sitting on his mom's lap and started a "conversation." The best moment was when this lady, in a different accent that I didn't think Tara would understand said, "Hi! Would you like to meet the baby? This is Jack...and what's your name?" Without a moment's hesitation and very confidently, my little one said, "Tara."

I just sat behind my book, beaming.  

If she could talk...

If Tara could speak fluently right now, I suspect these are some things she's say:

1. I love you, bhai.
2. What's in the fridge?
3. Gosh, that pantry cupboard is so much fun. Let's raid!
4. How about a dishwasher exploration?
5. What's in the oven? I love that thing.
6. I like cars as much as bhai does. Stop buying me dolls, please.
7. Can we go and buy some cars?
8. What's for snack time?
9. Isn't it snack time again?
10. Yes, I know I already had a snack. What's for snack time?
11. God bless cows that say moo and give us milk.
12. Why do people keep talking about my cheeks? Is this a good thing?
13. Can we go and buy some blueberries and strawberries, please?
14. Mom, time to update your collection of songs on your ipod. I need more to dance on.
15. Wait, let me help you with that computer....you just have to bang your fist on the keys a couple of times...like that...see?
16. Bhai is in the bathroom again. Time to go help. Be right back.
17. Why don't I get to go to school?
18. I like pretty shoes.
19. I like pretty clothes too.
20. And lotions and creams.
21. Oooh...and handbags!
22. I also really, really like toilet paper.
23. What's on the food network?
24. When I grow up, I will not ignore baby tantrums like you do. Hmpfh.
25. I want what I want and I want it now.
26. We both know I can smile my way through this mess. See? :-)

Nothing matters when we're dancing

We took the kids to see Santa land and a puppet show of Miracle on 34th Street at the Herald Square Macy's today. Let me just tell you: BIG MISTAKE. I really wish I had asked someone's advice on this before we headed out. I just cannot even believe the number of people that exist in New York, and I'm from India so that's saying something. And what I don't get even more is why all these people are always wherever we choose to go. It happened with Toysrus and now it happened again with Macy's! Literally, everyone in the world was at Macy's this afternoon. And they all decided to stand in line to see Santa at the same time. The only smart thing we did today was to not stand in that line. One look at that line and we turned around and started running in the opposite direction, which was really hard to do because we kept bumping into other aspirants trying to make it to the meet Santa line.

The other smart thing we did was to get tickets to the puppet show. It was really great and I definitely recommend it (but be warned that you have to go through an actual sea of people to get to the puppet theater). The not smart thing we did was get late to the show so we got to sit all the way at the back and the kids really couldn't see all of what was going on. That really made Vir mad and he refused to enjoy any of it, especially if he noticed either Vijay or me looking at him. When we weren't looking, he did enjoy it a little bit. But nothing could have stopped Tara from enjoying herself. Because if there's music involved, you can bet that Tara will be dancing, whether she can see what's going on or not. The kind of music, number of people around, and general atmosphere and context are completely irrelevant details. So she was dancing and clapping all through the show today, even though she had woken up hungry from her nap just minutes before the show started so I expected her to be cranky. Seeing her swaying along to the music and clapping at all the right places really made some of the misery of today's little expedition worthwhile.

Although I have to say, the next time I want to see her dance, I'll just hand her my ipod (she's the one who pretty much controls it these days anyway now that she has figured out how to switch it on). Because there is no way I'm ever going back to the madhouse that is Macy's at Christmas time. If I'm tempted to inflict pain on myself, I'll just make an appointment for a full body wax instead!

Titanic was on TV the other day and we made the mistake of not changing the channel with Vir in the room, so he ended up watching it a little bit. And given that he's hugely fascinated with cruise ships these days because we see a lot of them go by our window which is right on the water (oh my God it's really awesome and I can never quite get used to the fact that I really do live on-the-water!), I guess he really paid attention to the movie. I didn't realize this till he started asking me questions that I wasn't really sure how to answer. God bless his little child's brain though, because here's how our conversation went:

Vir: Mamma, do you know the Titanic?

Me: Yes, I know about that (playing it safe so far)

Vir: It was on the Atlantic Ocean...and it was going to park right by the Intrepid 

Me: That's right! Who told you all that? 

Vir: Papa did. And do you know a big iceberd hit the Titanic?

Me: Yes (oops, don't like where this is headed)

Vir: Then what happened?

Me: (No idea what to do, so try to stick with the truth given general parenting philosophy) The ship broke and went into the ocean, Vir.

Vir: So did the people on the ship meet Spongebob Squarepants when they went down into the ocean?

Gulp and thankful sigh! I would have had no idea how to handle this conversation if it had taken a more serious turn. What a good thing Spongebob lives in the ocean, eh?