15 Marbles

There is no better time than holidays for sibling bonding.

MsAn told me that once you make a Pinky Promise, you cannot break it.

MsA made a pinky promise that she will share her pop tarts with her sister. I hope she remembers the rules of Pinky Promises ❤️

This is one of my favourite photo of the girls from our trip back home in December- January. I loved it that they found comfort in each other’s company when we were outside or when they were in a new place.

It gives me comfort to know that they will look after each other when it matters the most, even if they are ready to kill each other on most days at home 😀

Officially first day of school holidays and this was me!! Only I just have two kids! And even the quieter one, MsA has been wanting to talk to me!

MsAn is the chatterbox and she is constantly talking. I was trying to reply to a work text and she followed me around talking in my ear – it’s definitely to her advantage that she comes almost upto my ear now.

In the evening , I was sitting in the yard supervising Ms An play and my dad called . While I was talking to him, on a video call, Ms A started talking / showing me the links to online shopping.

MsAn finished playing and then had a massive meltdown because –

1. She didn’t want to have a shower- she wanted a relaxing bath instead and how could I not find the time to clean it.
2. She didn’t want to do any writing and why was I being mean asking her to write.

While she was having her meltdown, SP and MsA wanted to tell me things too. As much as I love my family, some days it just feels like everyone wants to talk to me at the same time.. and I struggle to focus on multiple things and voices.

She calmed down after a bit and had a shower, did her writing too and is happily playing now. Me? I am exhausted. And here’s the thing- most of the times, she leaves me alone, does her own thing & I want her to come to me then. Isolation is getting to her as well and some days little things trigger an outburst. For now, all is well in our little world 😊

Dinner is ready, I am going to take a long shower & join an online chat with Neha about how to make your kids more self reliant.

More later,

Trish ❤️❤️

Today I had to go collect something from someone in our suburb. I asked the girls if anyone wants to go for a drive with me. MsA, being the teenager with selective hearing didn’t hear or respond. Ms An on the other hand, was all excited and agreed straightaway.

She was so excited to go out in a car and made it a point to tell me. She asked if I had a spare set of sunglasses in the car like before and I said, yes and gave her the spare set. She put them on and sat up straight, looking out the window.

As we reached the main road, she let out a big sigh and said, “Oh! Mumma , I have missed this. This sitting in the car and relaxing, looking out the window and chatting.” It instantly broke my heart and turned it into mush!

All through out the drive, she kept reminiscing about random little incidents from before , when we were in the car going somewhere. After we collected the package, I asked her, “where shall we go next ?” Her face fell, “ Nowhere.. we can’t go anywhere, we need to go home.” I suggested taking a longer way home and that cheered her up.

I don’t know how we got to the topic of food, but I asked her about her favourite takeaway place and she replied with the name of our local Indian restaurant. I asked her why? Usually SP would suggest going there and both A & An would roll their eyes. Her response completely blew me over. She said , “ Because it gives me happy feelings, because I remember all the times we went there when everything was ok and we could still go sit and the restaurants and see our friends.”

She nailed it, didn’t she? Summed up everything in that little statement. I think it hit me more, because she is still my little girl , in my head, at least – she tells me very clearly, I am not a baby.And she is not.. she is all worldly and wise. But it breaks my heart that our children have had to grow up so quickly in this pandemic.

We came home and she was out playing . She saw our neighbor S and ran up to her and said, “Guess what ? I did something awesome today! I went for a drive in the car!” Both S and I said almost at the same time, “ we never thought going somewhere in a car would ever be such an exciting experience .”

Oh.. the things we took for granted… I leave you with a pic of my precious, enjoying the sunshine.

Another week has gone by and the weekend is here. Is it just me or are the weeks going by faster than usual. How did we get to the middle of September so quickly? Wasn’t it just March?

We finished a full term of remote learning in Melbourne. Term 3 ended on Friday and I can’t help but feel a huge sense of relief and accomplishment.

When I was growing up, my dad was deployed in a dusty factory town in Saudi Arabia. While we were there, the Gulf war broke. And everything came to a standstill. We were in a comparatively safer location but still on high alert. We had light outs as the sirens were sounded, there was always a little strange anxiety in the air. I have had a feeling of déjà vu since this whole quarantine has started.

Anyway, I digress, back to remote learning. The school in our little town was run by a group of mums who taught the classes. The plan was open school and syllabus was provided by the nearest Indian Embassy. At the end of each school year, the staff from Embassy School brought exam papers and we had to sit for the exams. I was the only one in Years 6 & 7, so that meant I didn’t have any classmates for 2 years. It was strange and alienating but we survived. When we returned back to India and rejoined regular school, it was so different and we had a new found appreciation for schools, uniforms, classmates, everything!

I can now understand how my mom felt at the end of the year and also know how alienating it is for my kids, to not see their friends and classmates. Some of the thing that are better these days are :

1) Technology – The kids are still a part of the class/cohort through virtual classrooms. The teachers are online and accessible to them by emails or student portals.

2) The internet has made the world so much smaller – we are able to remain connected to family, friends across the world. One day, both SP & I were in back to back meetings and Ms An was very upset & clingy, I called my dad on FaceTime and asked him if he could entertain her for sometime , while I finished my meeting. Ever since I have become a mum, I haven’t ever had the luxury of asking a grandparent to watch my girls, while I finish some work. So this was a first.

As the number of cases in Melbourne are going down, I am feeling more hopeful. I hope, this means that we can slowly return to a little bit of normalcy, as normal as possible.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the kids have school holidays for the next two weeks and then we have at least a 3-4 more weeks of remote learning ahead. But, let’s worry about it when the time comes. For now, let’s focus on peaceful mornings – the ones without wake up time dramas😊😊

More later,

Trish ❤️❤️