Partners-in-Crime

March 6, 2010 MysTri Mum10 Comments

Its the long weekend and its raining.We are just having a lazy weekend.I woke up at 12.00*gasp* and the father-daughter duo,didn’t wake me up,even once..*double gasp*
When I walked out of the room,I saw them both sitting on the couch,watching cartoons and giggling.It was such a sweet sight…I walked up to cuddle them..and was greeted with-“Mom I am hungry!” hmm yeah..thats life.
Later,when it started to rain,Aadi was excited and wanted to dance in the rain..DH has normally refuses to go out and get wet.He is a little shy,what will people say types..but today,he was totally under his daughter’s spell and the reluctant father,even went did a jig in the rain with her. He tried to get her to play in the backyard..but no she insisted the front..Poor guy,obliged.Sweet,I think.
Watching them together..I remembered another incident-Last week when we had the medical appointment,Aadi was very happy that dad was home and we were going out,subah-subah.I fed her brekky and got her ready and she wanted to sit in the car.We still had to get dressed and eat our breakfast. When I came out of the room,dressed..Aadi was already in her car-seat,and DH was sitting with her and they were talking.I called him for breakfast.He came inside,filled a plate and went right back,out! I was like WTH? He just turned and told me,”Oh she wants me to sit with her and eat..” All my irritation disappeared..how could it not?
I leave you with a picture of the partners-in-crime..watching the new TV,excitedly.The TV is nearly 1 year old now.

Ohh if you are in a mood for baking,check out my other blog .Posted the cookies and bread recipes.

Pipetty-ness · play-time

Fawers of a different kind

March 18, 2009 MysTri Mum6 Comments

This is what Aadya was busy doing,while I finished cooking yesterday evening.She came and presented me the colorful bouquet of wash-cloths,telling me,”Mumma,Fawers”..and when I asked her to pose with it,she kept it down and ran off to show me her second creation.

“Look Mumma”,she said..and before I could say anything,she went on..”Wowwwwwwww..clap clap,Job!!(Job means Good Job in Aadya-speak!)

These blocks are her new favorite toys.

Happy Times · play-time · Tag · Tales from Aadyaland

Of Boo,Baby and Black Cheep.

August 25, 2008 MysTri Mum7 Comments

Do you know what is common between these three,other than the obvious B? Well, these are some of the words that Aadya says..most commonly.

Baby is anything or anyone who can be her friend.For example her toys- her teddy,her dolly and her Angie, another toddler,another child.Anyone. Anything or anyone,which is in the same height range as her!well,her dolly is small,but it is called Baby too. She picks up the dolly,pats her,puts her on her shoulder and calls her Babee..We see some little girl in the grocery store,she points at her and says,Babee.. A little boy,seen running around in the park,is pointed at and called Babeee..It really doesn’t matter,if the Babee is a good two years older than her. When we put her to bed,she puts the teddy next to her,pats it and says Babee Aaa aaa. Angie,is another story though..She is like her friend. My friend,Vidya gifted it to her.Its a pink and white poodle from Build-A-Bear Workshop and she loved it from the moment she saw it,even when it was not stuffed. So,she has fights with Angie,wags her finger at her and scolds her. There was a time,when she was almost inseparable from Angie.. That phase is over,for now.

Boo is when she gets hurt. Whenever she fell down,I used to say..”Ohh Boo ho gaya..” Now she comes to me and says Boo Hua and I have to kiss it to make it better. The first time,I kissed her Boo,she was surprised and stopped crying. I kissed her finger and asked her is it OK? and she just said No..I kissed again and again..till she smiled. Now,I need to kiss her Boo twice only then she says YAS iss OK,with a shy smile.Oh and when kissing the Boo,utmost precision is required.If she presents her hand,to show the boo,you cannot just kiss the hand.If you do so,she will go on to put her finger at the exact stop where the BOO Hua,getting frustrated if your big lips,cannot kiss the tiny spot her little finger points at!

And lastly,Black Cheep- This little girl loves her nursery rhymes and sometimes sings them for us..Well not the whole thing,but she knows how to prompt mumma to sing…So,she toddles up to me and sings in the sweetest voice..”Baba Baba Back Cheep”…Excited mumma,tells her go on..sing more baby..sing like this..So, mumma sings the whole rhyme and then,baby applaudes and kisses!!Oh and kissing,has to be loud and clear..UUUUUUUUUUUUUMAAAAAAAAAAH! like that! She starts saying the UUU from a distance,comes towards you with puckered lips,gently touches the face and says..Uuumaaaaaaaaah!Oh and now, she showers me with kisses..ummm..I make her,every day at nap time, we lie in bed,I point at my cheek,saying,”ek kissie,aadi..” and she does..then the other cheek and the eyes, and so on. Its fun 🙂 these toddler years.
Oh..I digress..not that it matters,its all about Aadya..So,another song that she likes listening to is..ABC..So,she starts it..” A B cee dee…” and points at me..Yeah Yeah I oblige..always!

The funniest thing happened today..we were putting her to sleep- These days, thankfully,she always wants the Papa to be around too.I am happy,I am not the only one,getting frustrated when she is not sleeping.So, first she just didnt want to settle down,she just kept pointing at the bedroom door.Wondering,if she may be hungry,I went out with her and it turns out,Madam wanted a bath.So,I gave her a quick bath,while Papa got her bottle ready. That done,we were back in bed.The dudu was drunk and the sippy put away..and she refused to sleep! I got really angry and told her,”Aadya I am going to count till 5 ,if you dont sleep,That’s it!” So,I started, “One”….”Two”… she puts up two fingers and grins “Thee”… We both burst out laughing..And she jumped right in..And no she didn’t sleep right away,we played some more,we let her stay up past the bed-time,because we were hungry.We finished dinner,by then she was ready to sleep..Happily came to bed with me. Its so funny,I always have to sleep with the bedroom door closed.Now,when Aadya is sleepy and wants to sleep,she pulls me by the hand and makes sure,the door is SHUT behind us!
Isn’t it funny,how certain things you have been doing almost unconsciously,but the little one picks it up ?

On a totally different note,I am going to enable comment Moderation..Only because,that way,I am regular in replying to your comments 🙂

Art · Happy Times · play-time · Tales from Aadyaland

Artsy Shartsy

August 6, 2008 MysTri Mum9 Comments

Today Ms. Aadya was very restless and was getting upset,when I tried to make her nap with me,at my naptime. She kept pointing at the door and wanted to go to the living room. Not one to give up easily,I dragged my pillow and balnket to the couch..but she got even more upset. After trying to sleep for a good 30-30 minutes,I gave up.

I tried reading to her-she didnt want to read.Then,singing..she put her hand on my mouth..in an attempt to shush me. Then I remembered some colors I had picked up a few days back,for finger painting.We tried it sometime last week and she wanted to taste the color-one lick with a finger, the rigourous mouth wshing and stern No,was all it took to discourage her from eating the whole tube. She made a general mess of herself,her clothes,her hair and the newspaper that I gave her to splash color on.

Today,however,I thought of trying something else.We had a hanger,from a 6-pack of onsies.I thought of doing something fun with it. It had a general appearance of a tree..so,we started out with a big blot of red color. I showed her how to spread it all over the hanger. She did..Then we let it dry and started coloring in the color book with crayons. When the finger-paint dried up,I took a tube of brown oil paint and a brush and evenly spread the brown all over that. and hung it to dry.

Then,we played with the blocks and colored some more. And as I watched the drying hanger..a thought struck me..it didnt look like a tree..but looked like a lobster or something. So,I quickly got it down and dotted some yellow color on the ends and helped Aadya,blend it. And then,to add a final touch, made the eyes..

I present to you,our first attempt at art work –

Welllllllll, what do you think??

Mall · Munchkin Mania · parenting · play-time · Tales from Aadyaland

Play-date and a Meltdown averted

July 21, 2008 MysTri Mum8 Comments

First of all,Thank you everyone,who took the time to write to me,after my last post.I still don’t know,what could have triggered that meltdown. I am guessing,it was hunger,mixed with waking up at a strange HOT place. Well whatever it was,left me tired and scared.
So,two days after that,when we got asked to a play-date at the same mall,I was not too thrilled.But,I didn’t want to miss out on meeting some friends and so agreed to go.
We had decided to meet near the play-area.Now, this is a place,that we go to at least once,sometimes twice a week. But, that day,Aadya refused to get out of her stroller. Have I mentioned,how much she loves her new stroller? She will happily sit in it for hours,if we just keep moving.Now,grocery-trips and walks are good fun for us too.So,she refused to get out of her stroller..I forcefully got her out,she saw the kids and was happy.Then,I took off her shoes.Have I mentioned,shoes are the next favorite on her list?The moment she wakes up,she goes off toddling,to look for her shoes and then demands”Mumma,Thiss”-the shoes need to be put on then.And she walks around all day,wearing those shoes..Sometimes,wearing just her diaper and the shoes.
Anyway,not to digress,I quickly took off the shoes,distracted her and took her to the place,where my friend was sitting.Now Aadi always runs off to play,as soon as we get inside the play=area.But that day she saw,my friends baby,S.S was hanging on to her mommy and so Aadi,tried to be friends with her. first said Hi, then,tugged at her hand,pointed at the tunnel.That didn’t work.Then,this little doll,went and hugged S.They are the same age and so,it was nice,watching them,together.Both the girls,were such opposites..Aadi,open,uninhibited and S,shy,reserved. S, was getting scared..and I sat down,next to Aadi and had a little mommy-baby talk with her,about how S was upset and didn’t want to play then..and could she go and play with some one else.I dunno how much she understood,but she left S alone,after that.
Another friend arrived with her two boys.The younger one is almost one and he was clutching a small box that had some raisins it ,for his snack. The box was an attractive yellow,that Aadya fancied,almost immediately.But who cares about such small things when,you can run and play. But,she didn’t forget.
We came out of the play-area and gave the kids their snacks.Also,each one passed around their snack boxes for the other kids to share.And when the box of raisins came along,Aadi wanted the whole thing. She was munching on her grapes, but refused to let go of that. I picked up a couple raisins and passed it along.
Now, she got really angry and showed me the FINGER! Err..Her forefinger,threatening to shove it up her nose!eww I know. This is the newest “cool thing”.one or two times,I saw the finger hovering around the nostril and said NO! And since then,the little brat knows that its something that bothers mommy and so,every time she is angry with me,she threatens to put her finger in her nose.So,she showed me the finger and I said,”No,Don’t be angry.That’s not yours, you can eat your grapes.”She asked for the raisins again.Again,I said No! And this time,the finger went up the nose. I glared at her, pulled it out,sneaked glances at my girl-friends.Everyone was busy with their little ones. By now she got upset and started crying.I excused myself and took her for a walk. A short quiet walk..she stopped crying and called out to me. I stopped walking and hugged her,offered her some water,wiped her hands and offered her the grapes again. This time she took the grapes. I let her eat the grapes,while I spoke to her quietly. When she finished her snack,we joined the group again. This time she was calmer and happier..working her charm on everyone .:)
I am so glad,I wrote about her last melt-down and I am so glad,that you all took the time to write to me..
The rest of the play-date was so much fun..Almost everyone,wanted to take her home with them 🙂 and one time,she even waved bye-bye to me ..and refused to come,when i stretched my arms,out to her.
Guess, all’s well.I Haven’t been threatened with the finger in the last two days..it was the weekend and we were busy clinging to daddy..both,mom and baby.The last time,she got angry,she threatened to switch off the TV..and glared at me with the same stern look,that I give her. How, Oh how,does she know,what is more important when?
And speaking of how does she know,how does she know,the difference between a yellow ball and yellow Laddu(sweet)? The ball,she plays with and the laddu,she pops in her mouth even without being prompted! I know for sure,I didn’t teach her that! So,how does she know??

DH · general · Happy Times · play-time · Tales from Aadyaland

The weekend that was

July 15, 2008 MysTri Mum12 Comments

Last week our weekend arrived a little early…or should I say we got into the weekend mood a little early.
Thursday morning,we woke up to an irritated Aadya and realised that she is teething.She refused to let go of mommy..and by evening, we had a very fussy Aadya,a near starving Mumma and a confused Papa. Looking at my tired face,Sanj offered to take me out of dinner..and my face lit up.”Enchiladas” I thought and he guessed it,looking at the faint smile on my lips. So, we set off to look for a nice Mexican restaurant.We just drove off on a road, less travelled by us and saw this restaurant called “La Hacienda Ranch”.It had a very rustic look from the outside and I almost didn’t want to go inside..It just looked like a deserted inn in the middle of nowhere…and I was sure to find it full of drunks and truckers. But as we slowly circled around the parking lot,we saw a couple of families and decided to try it.
As soon as we opened the door, we were greeted by a huge BEAR! A stuffed full-sized bear was placed exactly opposite the door. And looking at that magnificent animal,Aadya refused to enter..We finally coaxed her in and stepped into the actual restaurant. A beautiful hostess in a white shirt.blue jeans and cowboy boots and hats showed us to our table and then,began a wonderful experience . We each ordered for drinks and munched on the chips and Salsa,waiting for our server. If the outside was rustic, the inside was even more rustic..There were lanterns hung by the windows.The tables were covered with plastic cow-skin print table covers. The actual restaurant was kind of like a log cabin.The bar was adorned with rifles and antler heads and there was also a cute log bench,to rest your butt on.
The food arrived in big china plates and the portions were sumptuous. While we were chomping on our food,some one on the next table ordered Guacamole and the waitress made it fresh for them,right in front of their eyes..I thought that was pretty cool.I ordered an Enchilada for Aadya too and she finished it. So, now I am looking for Enchilada recipe.
Half way through the meal,Aadya tried to grab food from my plate-when I said No, she reached for Sanj’s drink..I said No again and she got angry,refused to look at me for a long time.I tried the same trick,but she knows how to take mumma’s heart and turn it to mush..When I pretended to not look at her,she pulled my hand and kissed it silly.I gave up!!
On our way out, we saw that that outside,there were bags filled with water hanging..I think for thirsty travellers or their horses,like in olden days. All in all it was a great experience..I only wish I had my camera..but may be taking some pictures is just the right excuse to go back there!
Friday night was spent bowling.We went bowling after almost 2 years.The last time,we went bowling was 2 days before we found out I am pregnant..and then,we never got a chance to go.Another couple and their two year old,Aashi joined us. Aadya decided she really liked Aashi and wanted to kiss her..ON HER LIPS! Aashi tried to point at her cheeks to tell Aadya to kiss there.. but she just wanted to kiss her friend on the lips,much to our amusement and Sanj’s dismay.We had fun bowling and Aadya had fun..running away,patting strange men on their bare knees,embarrassing us,dancing on the table and lifting her shirt…Sanj shot me such looks..like “Where is she learning all this from?”..Oh well..At least we will be prepared for much worse when she turns into a teenager.
Saturday was relaxing…I went for a much needed Mani-pedi TLC session with two Girl-friends and boy! was it fun! This is a Chinese place and they do amazing hot-stone massages..I came back rested and relaxed,only to stuff my toe,on the way in the door. The darn thing started bleeding and is now swollen like a raisin in water..and it hurts like hell.Oh and before leaving from the nail spa,I fell down..I tried sitting on a chair and it moved and I landed rather ungracefully on my butt. Anyway,coming back to the toe..SAnj cleaned and band-aided it and then,I went outside to the balcony to get something and opened the balcony door without looking and It came right on my other foot,scratching it and that started bleeding.And the cherry on top,I was closing a drawer and my finger got caught in it..Yeah,Ok..I know..someone had hexed a curse!!!Wonder who?
Sunday was nice..We went to a splash park, first thing in the morning..Aadya had a blast,running through the water fountains .She tried to drink it directly by putting her face right on top of it and opening her mouth wide..She did take some time getting warmed up..she was surprised to see so much water and didn’t know what to do..And then the unthinkable happened.Sanj got in the water.I say, unthinkable..because this is the guy,who doesn’t like the beach..he avoids getting wet..as much as he can.. but he really wanted Aadya to get in there and enjoy…and sure enough,seeing daddy there,she sauntered in too..and refused to leave later.Go on tell me..He is sweet!!
Then we went to have brunch at Panera and came home to enjoy the sweet afternoon siesta.It was a nice relaxed weekend 🙂
OK now your turn, tell me how was your weekend?

general · Munchkin Mania · Park · play-time · Tales from Aadyaland

An evening in the park

July 10, 2008 MysTri Mum4 Comments

Now we have lived in this area long enough to have places that we call our own..our library,our pharmacy,our grocery store and our park. Since the two-three weeks,we have started going to the park almost every day. This park has a beautiful trail,where we can walk.a nice play ground where Aadi can play and a lot of desis- of all shapes and sizes. There are moms and dads with their kids,there are pregnant couples,out for a walk.Then there are grand parents,taking a walk or watching their grand kids play.There are also some pet owners,walking their dogs..dogs of all sizes.

Now,Aadi knows we are going to the park.As soon as we turn in to the park’s street,she gets excited and starts squealing.At the park,we put her in the swing,or let her jump and play on one of the monkey bars and slide down the slide.And then,we strap her in her stroller and take long walks.A good 30-40 minute walk roughly around 4-5 circles along the trail is good exercise. Aadya loves her stroller and as long as we are moving ,she doesn’t mind being in it.

Today was no different. Sanj took Aadi to the play ground,while I started walking on the trail. I had finished just one round and saw her playing happily-jumping on one of those iron bridges and squealing. I abandoned the walk half way and went and joined the father-daughter. We had a nice time climbing up the steps and climbing down the steps.She is so confident going down the steps,almost like a grown up.Head held up,holding the side bar and putting the first foot down.

Then,I took her through one of the tunnels and she squealed with joy,seeing me inside the tunnel,she promptly followed and had so much fun going from one end to the other.

Then,we moved to another play station, and there she tried to climb up on the slide. There was this other kid playing there..I say kid, because I am not sure if it was a girl or a boy..the name sounded girlish but he was dressed in a boy’s clothes.Now,I dress Aadya in cute boy shorts too sometimes,so it could have been a girl too..and his/her grand father didn’t seem interested in making friends so I just kept my mouth shut and refrained from asking.

So anyway,Ms.Aadya was busy climbing up the slide and this kid,tried to get in the middle..we asked her to “be nice and lets share” the other kid stopped too,waited for her to finish her short hike..but she kept slipping and falling.Now the other kid was getting impatient..and to be fair he had waited so,I asked Sanj to pick up Aadya and let the other kid get his turn.So Sanj slowly pulled her back,and the other kid,hopped on ..put his first foot and did the mistake of looking at Aadya and what do I see? She gave him the eyes!!!

She narrowed her eyes,scrunched her nose.It was the exact same look I have,when I am trying to scare her!!GASP! I almost fainted there..Instantly both of us said,Aadya,be nice..but the other kid had kind of got the message and backed off.. I was so embarrassed..Well to be honest,a little proud too..Proud because I know,she will be able to watch out for herself.

Anyway,I chucked all those feelings away and asked the other kid,to please have his turn. To give credit to Aadya,she did smile at him sweetly and was happy to play somewhere else..So,that makes me wonder if she was really trying to scare him or was just being playful. When we are in the car,and she is whining,I look at her through the passenger mirror and frown..and she frowns back at me..then I smile and she smiles..then another expression and she imitates that..So may be she was just playing?

Anyway,we moved to yet another play-station and there she made friends with another mom and even told her her name..When she asked her,What’s your name? She said “AAADYA” in a firang accent. Well.whatever..as long as she says her name its fine.

I still can’t forget the look that she gave that other kid..and guess I won’t forget it for a long time..Because,Sanj kept ribbing me all the way home,about “that’s another thing,she learnt from me”.

The park is mostly pretty crowded till 9.00 pm,which is when its just starting to get dark.That’s when we leave mostly.Today we were there till 9.20 pm and I was amazed at how quickly it got dark and how quickly every one left. One minute there were kids and parents and people walking their dogs and the next moment it was deserted and the silence was so eerie,I couldn’t wait to get out of there.

I leave you with this-