The Little Alarm Clock !!

Since the school term is drawing to a close, Abhay is well on his way towards waking up in the mornings at all insane hours (insane, according to the other sane people in the house, that is).

Weekdays see him up around 6 am and needless to say, I don’t need an alarm clock these days. I mean the kind that go “Beep Beep”. Cos I have an alarm clock that walks in and keeps tapping at me till I wake up. If the tapping does not work (just in case mom happens to be sleeping as though someone knocked her on the head with something really heavy) there is always the eye poking. Sureshot success that !!!!

Come weekends, the little alarm clock gets up anywhere between 5 am – 5.30 am. Instinct sure tells me that the going is just about to get better, once the summer school break begins.

The little alarm clock also loves to wake up Daddy. In fact, it is something he just “has” to do on weekends.

It all starts with a small voice saying “Daddy please wake up”. Next move - on to tickling Daddy. Then onto climbing all over Daddy. By which time Daddy normally wakes up and the tickling session and the pillow throwing and the quilt wrapping that follows is totally noisy, boisterous and riotous. Needless to say, the aftermath as regards the pillows, quilts and bedsheets is akin to the scenes one witnesses after a typhoon .

Last weekend, try as he might, Daddy was not paying any heed to the little alarm clock’s wake up calls. Daddy was fast asleep, or so the little alarm clock thought. The little alarm clock came running to me and insisted that I go with him to help wake up Daddy.

“There’s Daddy. Go wake him up.” I told the little alarm clock.

“That’s not Daddy” said the little alarm clock.

“Then who is that ?” I asked the little alarm clock

“That is Vic” said he.

“Who is Vic ?” I asked him, falling for it Hook, Line and Sinker …

“Vic is a sleepyhead” came the reply.

Huh ???? !!!!!

In fact, the little alarm clock is putting a nursery rhyme to good use in this context to irritate Aparna to no end. Mornings, when she tells me she wants so sleep for five more minutes, the little alarm clock sings out loudly to her

A birdie with a yellow bill
Sat upon the window sill
Cocked his shiny head and said
Wake up Wake up Sleepyhead !!

The look on Appu's face, at such moments, is unquestionably murderous and hilariously invaluable !!!

Aparna got her hand waxed !!!!!!!!

Ouch !!!! Ouch !!!! OUCH !!!!!

Yeah !! My sentiments exactly !!

That was precisely how I felt as I watched Aparna getting her hand waxed.

Hot wax, that small hand (definitely not big enough to be waxed) and bated breaths.

I really don’t know what gets into her sometimes. And then something like this is what happens.

She’s been with me to the salon a couple of times and she’s seen it all. She knows what things like waxing and threading entail. And while I was having my waxing and threading done, the little madam sat there vocalizing a multitude of owws and ouches. Now, for this very reason, she sure shocked the daylights out of me when she said and kept saying

“I want a waxed hand. It's so smooth. It's cool."

I do know that vanity – I could even venture as far as into calling it a mild form of narcissism - is a huge issue with ladies. But this sure tantamounts to starting a little young, don’t you think ?

She was a trooper through and through. There was nervousness, there was trepidation but at the end of it all, she sat there with a smile while her hand was waxed. Not even an Ouch. That lack of an Ouch from her was made up for by a multitude of Ouches from me, though !!

What did she have to say at the end of it all ?

Wow !! That’s nice !!!

After enduring that hot wax, the least we could do was snap up a couple of pictures so that she could gloat over them for time immemorial.


Here's her hand in all its waxed glory !!!!

P.S : Now that she's gotten what she wanted, Dad and Mom are driving her nuts - totally, absolutely, influentially and effectively.

How ????

How indeed !!!!

Its fairly simple. Dad and Mom are of the opinion that the finger placement on her waxed hand effectively communicates the need or rather, the urgent need for the confines of a washroom !!!

(*sigh*) The incorrigible parents that both our children have to live and put up with !!!!!!!!

Time Has Flown .......

I still remember her as a roly poly baby.

A baby who used to think about 10 times (probably more) before even crawling across a few inches. A baby whose unending fascination with footwear and the curiosity of how they would taste drove us nuts. A baby who used to give us nightmares when it was time for her to sleep. A baby who cried and threw up all over me and my freshly laundered Kanchivaram silk saree on her first birthday party. A baby who used to laugh her heart out – and what a delight that was to everyone around her. A baby whose first word was “Appa”. A baby who, for a few heartstopping days and nights (heartstopping for the parents, that is) thought she was an earthly avatar of one of the Teletubbies. A baby who drove us mad wanting to watch Barney tromping around at 2 o clock in the mornings. A little baby girl whom just about everyone used to mistake for a baby boy.

Then came the transition into toddlerhood. That seemed to just rush past and before we knew it – there she was – officially titled “little child”. No longer a baby, not a toddler anymore, but a “little child”.

She started kindergarten well before the official minimum requirement of three years. She was all of 2 years and 9 months when she started school. And from then on time seemed to fly past. It was a blur of sorts and before we knew what was happening she was on the verge of starting Primary School. The world, as she knew it, was expanding. The panorama, as she had known it, was growing and so was she.

Three years of Primary School and now a Primary Three Graduate, she stands on the verge of her Fourth year at school.

A new campus beckons as do a world of other opportunities. Come September, she’ll be starting the second half of Primary School.

In the midst of all these, there has been another transformation taking place. That of Aparna, as a person.

Slowly, but surely and steadily there are changes appearing. Changes, the chief reflections of which, are in her demeanor, her disposition, her approach and outlook.

There is always a moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.
~ Graham Greene

Wherein previously, she would stare rather diffidently at my jewelry or clothes, now we frequently hear “that’s a cool T-shirt” or “that’s a pretty ring” or something on the same lines. Just the other day, Vic was almost ready for office when Appu sauntered past saying “Daddy, I like your T-shirt”.

Wherein previously there was an element of retreat, now there are the beginnings of courage. Wherein previously there was an element of hesitancy and tentativeness, there are now shades of confidence that are slowly making themselves visible. Wherein previously there was an element of ignorance, there is now visible awareness. Wherein previously, when the phone rang we could be sure that it was for us, there is now a constant barrage of phones with a query “Can I please speak to Aparna ?” . Wherein previously there was submissive compliance and passive acquiescence, there is now a sureshot element of budding defiance. Wherein previously we used to have to explain the humor in a particular situation to her, there is now a definitely wicked twinkle in those eyes, most of the time.

While we’ve been absorbing these shades of transformation for a while now, reality fully hit when she casually asked me the other day

“When am I going to have a telephone number of my own ?”

When pressed for details, she explained, what she had meant by a “telephone number of her own” was a “cell phone of her own”. The influential impact of peer pressure is just about beginning. And the simplicity, the ease and the totally matter-of-fact manner in which the explanation was put forth was what really smacked home.

Yes, the winds of change have surely begun to blow. A mild breeze is what it is right now – a breeze that heralds a future which seemingly will bring with it, a myriad of transformations.

Transformations for Aparna, as an individual in her own right. And transformations for us, as parents - as our concept of parenting, the notion, the theory will yet again have to be synchronized so that the wavelength facilitating communication remains lively and active.

But then again, like someone once said,

“If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies.”

The Thinking Blogger Award........

....... has been bestowed upon me by Boo.


When I started blogging about a year ago, my sole purpose was to document the childhood memories of both Appu and Abhay. The small things, the little things that might well get brushed off to the corners of the mind or even the sub-conscious when more pertinent and serious issues start to crowd in, as they grow up.

What I did not quite realise was that somewhere along the way, my blog could actually end up having an impact, a lasting kind of an influence on the minds of the people reading it.

And the fact that it does have a bearing on the thought processes of the people frequenting my blog, is indeed, a honour in itself.

For bringing this to the fore and making me realise it, Thank you, Boo :-).

And I would like to pass this award on to five bloggers who I have come to respect tremendously. And they are .....

Usha : I have never left Usha's blog without having gained some more insight into the way the human mind works. The questions she raises, her astute observations combined with her own brand of witticism, makes for some very pleasurable yet very thought provoking reading.

Anitha Murthy : She is such a gifted and versatile writer. She is gifted with the ability to turn even something as mundane as a pressure cooker into the centrepiece of a story. And then again, she is equally capable of setting thought processes racing for e.g with posts which query whether there is such a thing as “Good Provocation” and “Bad Provocation” :-).

Starry Nights : Her gentle nature and calm demeanour and thoughtfulness stands out her blog. And her ever positive outlook is something I really admire.

Ardra : About a year back, when I was new to Blogsville, Ardra’s blogs were among the first ones that I got hooked to. Why do I say blogs in plural ? Because she has two blogs – Twilight Musings and Creative Dabbles. Be it general issues or book reviews, she is very honest and forthright – two very highly appreciable qualities in the world of today.

Hip Hop Grandmom – more affectionately known as “The Grandmom who paints the town red in her Maruti Alto” :-) What I love about her posts is the fact that they are always on a very even keel, very soundly thought about and very focused on the matter on hand. She has a very straightforward way of putting the issue across and I do very much value her opinion on a lot of issues.

If you choose to pass this award on, these are the Thinking Blogger Award rules:

This award was started here.

You have to award five others whose blog you think deserve this award.

Should you choose to participate, please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging.

Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.

Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.

Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.

Please, remember to tag blogs with real merits, i.e. relative content, and above all — blogs that really get you thinking!

There's Still Hope !!!

"I don't want to share with you" he said.

"You Are Mean Mean Mean" she said

"Aparna go. Don't want Aparna" he said

"Awright fine. I'm going. Even if you call me, I'm not coming back" she said

"I don't give you the computer" he said

"Abhay I'm telling you one last time. Pccchhh !!! Awright !!! That's it !!! I'm going. Next time you come to me and say you want to play with me, I'm NOT going to play with you" she said

This is the kind of conversation that we normally hear between Aparna and Abhay nowadays.

Yeah - they do have their moments when they are at peace with each other, they do have their moments of uninhibited laughter, they do have their moments of screaming delightfully in total abandon as children their age are meant to .......... yet, scenes like the ones mentioned at the beginning of this post are plentiful, to say the least.

Makes me wonder, at times ....... if they go at each other like Tom and Jerry now, what would the scene be like when they grow up ?

Last Sunday, while I was dusting the furniture, Appu came running with a rather mortified look on her face and started screaming

"Mummy Bandaid Mummy Bandaid"
"Mummy - quick - get a bandaid. Abhay's foot is bleeding."

She was all but about to burst into tears. To put it mildly, the Little Madam was worried sick.

When I went over to the living room (which, incidentally, was the crime scene) I found Abhay sitting and whimpering away to glory. Something had poked into the heel of his right foot and the resultant wound was bleeding.

A few tissues and a lot of hair-ruffling and a great many kisses and a bandaid later, Mr.Exasperation deemed his foot fit to be put down on the carpet. He was seen hobbling around the house with Appu following him and clucking all over him like a mother hen. It was a sight to behold !!!

A sibling may be the keeper of one's identity, the only person with the keys to one's unfettered, more fundamental self. ~ Marian Sandmaier

Today morning, I was in the kitchen when Abhay came over and asked

"Where's Aparna ?"

I told him to go and look if she'd woken up and if not, requested him to do the honours of waking her up.

He went buzzing and came back on the double ......

"Where's Aparna ?" and this time his voice was a few pitches higher ....

Grandmom thought a little bit of leg pulling was in order and said to Abhay

"Aparna has gone to school".

A quick survey around the room and Abhay turned to me with eyes as big as saucers and said

"Aparna not take her lunch box" "Aparna want to take her lunch box"

He had noticed that Aparna's lunch box was still sitting on the dining table.

Just then, Appu walked out of the bathroom and was rewarded by a huge hug from none other than Mr.Exasperation himself.

His sigh of relief on seeing her could be heard all the way in the kitchen.

Even as she left for school later in the morning, he made it a point to ask

"Aparna take lunch box ?"

Wow !!

And these are the two who behave as though one is a cat and the other is a mouse, most of the time. They are at each others' necks, they fob each other off, they call each other mean, they don't want to share their stuff with each other, the tell on each other ............ but end of the day, they care for each other.

And therefrom arises the sentiment "Ah ..... there's still hope !!" :-))

The situation is rather comic, frighfully exasperating, yet in its entirety, so appealing and very alluring.

As someone once said about siblings .........

It was nice growing up with someone like you - someone to lean on, someone to count on... someone to tell on!
~Author Unknown

The Chortle and Guffaw Series - Part 1

A "Blinky" Nose !!

Both Appu and Abhay are down with a real nasty cold. Two chain sneezers down with a cold !!! Howzatt !!! And when they get around to competing with each other in this particular department, all hell breaks loose. This turns into a jugalbandi par excellence.

And I have not even started on the saga of the "Running Noses".

Since today morning, Abhay's nose has been running a marathon. In fact, I just called up a couple of factories in China to deliver facial tissues to our place by the container loads. And his nose has one hell of a stamina, apparently. It is still running as though there is no tomorrow.

Abhay still relates to a "runny nose" in our mother tongue. He goes around saying "Mooku Chali come to my nose".

Today morning, just before Abhay left for school, Vic was explaining to Abhay as to what Abhay would have to say to get his teachers to understand his problem with the "runny nose".

Vic told Abhay that he could say "my nose is leaking".

Quite apparently, somewhere between the time Vic said that and Abhay heard that, there was some mix up, as I realised later.

When I went to fetch Abhay from school in the afternoon, he very promptly said
"Abhay's nose still blinking"

What is your nose doing ? I asked him

"It is blinking" came the reply.

When asked, he did totally reply in the affirmative as to the fact that that is what he had been telling his teachers all morning.

"My nose is blinking. My nose is blinking."

I've heard of noses running and feet smelling. Quite apparently, Mr.Exasperation has a nose that "Blinks" as well !!!

Happy Anniversary !!

Dearest V,

As we complete 13 years of marriage today ;
I wanted something short and sweet to say.

I found just what I was looking for ;
And this one you haven't heard from me before.

So here's a couplet, short and sweet ;
That echoes my heart's every beat.

"Grow Old With Me ;
The Best Is Yet To Be."

Happy Anniversary !!!!

Love

G.

10th June 2007


"Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads, which sew people together through the years."
~ Simone Signoret

Fun with Shapes

Once Appu gets back from school, she and Abhay kind of keep each other occupied.

Be it pottering around with something together, be it reading a book together, be it colouring their books together or be it fighting with each other - fact remains that they keep each other occupied to a great extent.

It's been quite a while now since Abhay stopped his afternoon naps. Therefrom arose the need to be quite inventive to keep his active little mind occupied. Like the saying goes - "An idle mind is a devil's workshop". In his case, even his active mind is a devil's workshop many a times. So then, Abhay's mind, unoccupied and idle is a far worse alternative.

I was looking for something rather novel couple of days back and started looking among Appu's toys - toys which she used to use earlier when she was littler. And what a windfall it was !!!

For starters, I took Appu's magnetic board and the shapes that go along with it. Basically it is a magnetic board with comes with a multitude of shapes in different colours. These shapes can be stuck onto the board cos the shapes have flat magnets on one side. And then it is just a question of letting your imagination rip.

Instead of just handing the board over to Abhay, I left it in a place where it would most definitely catch his eye. Finding something definitely adds that "I found it - wowie" zing to the whole issue. It gives enthusiasm a whole new meaning :-))) and works to sharpen the keenness and zest that keeps a project going.

Worked like a charm, I must say.

And see what we came up with ........


"A Rocket"


"A Train - according to Abhay that is Thomas the Tank Engine with coaches"


"A Helicopter - made me wonder why he did not choose to christen this Harold"


"London Bridge - and this led to a nursery rhyme session as well :-)))"


"A Flower - or rather, as Abhay chooses to call it - A Pretty Pretty Flower :-))"


"And how can any project be deemed a success if it does not involve an insect of some kind. So there it is - A Caterpillar"

We had a lot of fun playing around with the shapes and the magnetic board. Some goofing around, some serious stuff, a lot of fun ..... End of the day it has also kindled his imagination because he is trying to put the shapes together by himself and give vent to all those ideas germinating within him.

If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in. ~ Rachel Carson

It was indeed an extremely enjoyable experience, putting our hands and heads together to work. It was far more delightful and gratifying than I'd ever imagined it would be.

And I will forever treasure these little memories ........

..... the delight on his little face, the twinkle in his little eyes, the pure unadulterated pleasure that he exhibited each and every time something took shape on the board, the uninhibited laughter that rumbled from deep within him every time we goofed up ......

...... and last but not the least, the extent to which he relished the entire afternoon and to a great extent the way he revered the little projects we shaped.

Clumsy Mummy !!!!

The other day, while I was in the process of opening the toothpaste tube, Abhay's toothbrush (which was in my left hand) fell onto the washbasin ledge.

Immediately that little face brightened and those little eyes started twinkling with mischief.

"Mummy is clumsy" said an extremely gleeful Abhay.

Before I could even think of a retort, he was hollering for Aparna.

"Apppaaaarrnnnaaaaa .......... Mummy is clumsy. Mummy drop the Abhay's teethbrush"

Now I had another Sherlock on my heels asking me "n" number of questions as to how the brush fell, where it fell, was there paste on it when it fell and the question that totally felled me

"Mummy, before you gave it to Abhay, did you wash the brush ?. After it fell down, I mean."

Oh !! For crying out loud !! Who exactly is the mother here ?

Abhay, in the meantime, finished brushing his teeth and came up to me with a bright smile and said

"I want to phone Daddy".

"So early in the morning ?" I asked "Why do you want to call Daddy so early ?"

"To tell Daddy "Mummy is clumsy""

Yeah ..... rrriiteeeee !!!

This chant kept going till he called up and told Vic "Mummy is clumsy. Mummy drop Abhay's teethbrush".

I told Abhay rather sweetly that a better thing for him to do would be to go over to the rooftop with a bullhorn and shout aloud so that the whole world could hear it at one go

"Mummy is Clumsy !!!!"

Appu, so ever the realist, quipped

"But Mummy. Where is he going to find a bullhorn ?"

Oh Why Appu !! Is it not so very simple ?

He just has to ask his Clumsy Ole Mummy to get him one !!!

Here I am doing a guest post for letting the gift out of the bag .......

......... the fib, not yet !!!!

Conditions Apply - The contestant -

1) has to be a regular visitor to this site

2) has to be a mom

3) must have at least few grey hairs resulting from mother hood

4) must have suffered sleepless nights resulting from mother hood

5) must have shown signs of insanity resulting from mother hood

6) must love their husbands

7) must be versatile with baby talk

8) every contestant has a maximum of three chances

9) give the correct answer!

And the gift in question is .......



Good Luck Ladies !!

Cheers

Vic

Abhay's little quips ....

Last Sunday morning, Abhay had put his ear on to Vic's wristwatch and was listening, I presume, to the watch ticking away.

After a while, when he did lift his face off Vic's hand, I asked him

"Abhay what did the watch tell you ?"

With a very sombre expression on his little face, Abhay quipped

"Time"

I guess the expression on my face was somewhat priceless cos Vic just could not stop laughing. I was expecting a more straightforward reply like "Tick Tock".

I mean, is that not what children normally say ?

Serves me right for having asked him an open ended question like that !!!

Will I ever learn not to do that with him ???

Apparently not ......

In the afternoon, Abhay was heard muttering

"Plane to put fuel to fly"
"Autorickshaw to put diesel to run"
"Car to put petrol to run"

I, the one who never learns, asked him

"Abhay - what does an autorickshaw run on ?"

"The Road" came the reply.

Now why is it that I thought he would say "Diesel".

God Help Me !!!!!