Keeping cool this summer!

With over two months sans school and lots of time to kill, I was on a relentless look out for activities/classes/workshops to enroll my five year old into so that he is not bored at home all day. But in my attempt to keep him engaged, I now probably have him over engaged! No sooner did his summer vacations begin than I had him enrolled into a couple of classes and now before you know it, my little one is hardly at home! His mornings are taken up by a summer camp which is over by noon leaving him a couple of hours for lunch before he has his music class from where he has to rush to his swimming lessons! Oops!…the overscheduling mommy has struck once again…….only this time it’s not me but my in-laws who are doing all the running-around! So it’s a busy summer of 2012 .....both for Abhay and his grandparents!!

Jokes apart, I am extremely thankful to my in-laws without whom Abhay would have had to stay put at home! Besides, summer of 2012 has been unusually sultry in Bangalore and the scorching heat doesn’t make it ideal for ferrying Abhay around from class to class. Unable to bear the Bangalore heat, today I read “Clifford keeps cool” by Norman Bridwell. Its summer and Clifford and Emily Elizabeth cannot wait to soak up some sunshine. Emily recalls how Clifford had been uncomfortable the previous summer when it been the hottest in several years. Clifford felt extremely thirsty and even after drinking all of the water in his bowl, he was still thirsty. He saw a dog go by in a car with its top down and wanted to do the same but there isn’t a car on Birdwell Island that can accommodate him. So he jumped on a truck and was enjoying the breeze until the truck came to an underpass. Clifford then saw a pool and simply dived in emptying the pool off most of its water, upsetting people in the pool. As Clifford tried to find ways to cool himself, Emily took him to a park at the edge of town. It was a park with a waterfall which was just the right height for the big red dog to keep cool during summer! As I read this book, I could hear the rains  lashing in giving us the much needed respite from the summer heat! Enjoy the pre-monsoon showers while it lasts!