"Not yet" ready for bed??

One of the many fall-outs of having a long gap between your two kids ( my older one and little one are almost nine years apart) is that the early parenthood phase never seem to end! Just as you get a breather from the 'feeding-nappy-changing-toilet training-putting to bed routine', you've landed yourself into an encore.......as if it were a punishment for your dithering or an afterthought on the second child issue ( at least it was for me!) :-)

I had come to realise this all the more since I had been without hired help last month and it seemed as if I would wrap up one work shift during the day to get into an evening shift of toilet-training-feeding-bathing - putting my little one to bed!! Phew....!!

Of course the exhaustion aside, my husband and I did try to turn around the chores into fun times to share with our little one, with on and off success, even making us wonder if we really needed help with our two and half year old.  But that said, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't relieved when our nanny finally showed up!:-)

So the bedtime reading routine with my little one is like a shopping sale, where you can't get a discount with buying just one ...it's always "buy two and get 30% off and buy three and get 40% off"! So you can't get off by reading just one book, it has to be either three or more! 

The last book always happens to be Tulika's bi-lingual "Not yet"  by Nandana Dev Sen and pictures by Niloufer Wadia, the Kannada translation being "Eegale Beda" that  we both relate to, with translation by Bageshree. This book beautifully illustrates the sprightly unwillingness of a little girl who is "not yet" ready for bed! As her mother (totally identify with you, woman!) goads her little one into the bedtime routine of drinking  milk-cleaning up-changing-brushing teeth,   a routine that almost seem never ending.......but the little girl is busy in her imaginary animal world where she joins with her favourite animals from flying with the birds to diving in with the whale, from tickling the giraffes to playing tag with the crocodile, from singing in chorus with the rhinos to swinging with the monkeys....it is nothing but an animal circus at bedtime! Finally as she wears herself out and wears her mother down, she is tucked into bed with her favourite animal blanket to keep her company. The narrative and illustrations are brilliantly woven together to bring out a charming bedtime tale for toddlers!  Finally, an Indian bedtime book that can truly rival with numerous western publications, when it comes to the bedtime business!!

When Mama Comes Home Tonight..!

Just when the omnipresent working mom’s guilt had begun to ease with Abhay growing independent enough not to need his mom at every juncture, its back to square one with my little one!  Though being an independent professional allows one the flexibility to combine work with certain personal responsibilities that a structured job does not make room for, that does not automatically being about a greater work-life balance. Technically, there are no ‘day-offs’ or ‘sick-days” or “paid leaves” or even “public holidays”! While being busy is a good sign for an independent professional, it can also lead on to biting off more than one can chew.... often blurring the lines between home and work…and that’s when your support structure at home truly matters.

Well, notwithstanding umpteen number of day-cares that have mushroomed on every street of the city, most working moms depend on some sort of a support structure at home, at least during the early childhood phase of their kids – be it in the form of parents, in-laws or nannies, etc. Till recently, I was in between nannies …..the uncertainty  of which, believe me,  is worse than being in between jobs! With each passing day, things turn from bad to worse, leaving you at the mercy of these maid/nanny agencies that is probably the only business not affected by any kind of recession! Of course with each passing day, the helplessness makes you doubt the wisdom of your choice of getting back to work with a young kid in tow. Finally, when you find that your prayers have been answered, there is still a sense of uncertainty over whether the new help is here stay or will she vanish into thin air …like her predecessors! So while some semblance of sanity has been restored in our household, following the appointment of a new nanny for our little one, we never know when the rug will get pulled from under our feet…once again!

Anyway, this is an age old saga of a working mom that will only end when her kids fly out of their nests (or will it??). Meanwhile we shouldn’t forget to enjoy the small pleasures of life with kids  that includes reading to them which may turn out to be more of a relaxation therapy for the mothers!

Not very often do you come across a book that you can so well relate to, that it almost feels like to have been written only for you! “When Mama Comes Home Tonight” by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Jane Dyer is one such book that is a must-read for every mom, (especially working moms) to a young child! So much so that even the illustrator dedicates the book “To all mothers who come home tired at the end of the day….”! This book assumes a reassuring tone for all the kids waiting for their mamas to return home. With a beautiful narrative, the author vividly captures the daily routine of a mother once she is back at home…and how everything she does, involves her little one .. ..from hugging her little one tight to feeding her dinner and dancing with her down the hall, from engaging in quiet play to looking out of the window for stars and moon in the night, from mending the little one’s clothing while fixing her own and taking some time off for a cup of tea while letting her little one have a sip or two, from getting her into a bedtime routine of bathing her…reading to her and finally putting her to sleep with her soft lullabies in the company of her soft toys…mamma stays on till the end!  

Even the soft and tender water colour-like illustrations of the mother-child duo seem so real and familiar that it may as well be straight from one of our households. Personally, the illustration of the thumb-sucking-curly-haired little girl makes the book seem like a customized picture for me and my little one! Though based on a simple theme, its sublime presentation enhanced by soothing illustrations make a comforting read for all mothers and their little ones alike!

Bedtime Interrupted!

Ever since I moved back home with my little one, we’re suffering through disturbed sleep every other night….not because of our six month old (touchwood!) but all thanks to our nine year old!  While Abhay had been sleeping in his own room on and off before (more off than on!), neither did we (read father) have the mind nor the energy to insist on it every single time he came cuddling up to us during bedtime. Moreover, with my absence at home, Abhay found many more champions (read grandparents) ready to take up cudgels on his behalf and thus Abhay happily abandoned his own bed for the cozy comfort of co-sleeping with his daddy!  Well…all good things must come to an end….and so did Abhay’s sojourn in our room!  Though Abhay reluctantly gave up his place for his little sister, he is still going through some adjustment issues that range from mosquitoes buzzing in his ears to Lord Voldemont (from Harry Potter) appearing in his dreams and interrupting his and in turn  our sleep!

In the light of this unexpected sleep deprivation …we had to go back to a book that we had read many moons ago… “Good night, Anokhi!” a story from Finland by Tove Appelgren, illustrated by Salla Savolainen  and translated by Arundhati Deosthale as brought out by A & A publications as a part of “Celebrating the Girl child” picture books project. Young Anokhi has a similar problem as Abhay…she cant sleep by herself at night and as she supposedly has terrible nightmares that drives her to her mother’s bed almost every other night! The similarity does not end there as co-sleeping with her parents is out of the question as her mother too has her younger siblings to take care of.  As Anokhi literally gives her parents sleepless nights, her mother tries to explain how everyone including herself needs their sleep in order to be able to function the next day. They try everything to get Anokhi to sleep through the night in her own room, but Anokhi seemed to have developed a habit of waking up in the middle of the night that only has her yawning through the day.  Left with no choice, Anokhi is given a stern warning not to leave her room……come what may! Relentless as she is, ( I guess as every kid is!) Anokhi is yet again bothered by a strange and scary dream, and she heads towards her mother’s room only to remember her mother’s warning. The next morning, Anokhi’s mother wakes up to find her older daughter asleep at her bedroom door, mumbling in her sleep that she is not to wake up Mama. Of course as any mother, Anokhi’s mother feels guilty and wonders if she has been too harsh with her daughter. Finally, Anokhi and her mother choose the middle ground and while there is no compromise on Anokhi sleeping on her own, she is allowed to wake them up should she have a terrible nightmare she can’t cope with!  This story of Anokhi is something most parents can relate to and is surely for keeps…not only for our older one but also for our little one when she is ready to move into her own bed! That’s how it should be with kids, isn’t it?  …allow them to grow independent while you’ve got their back! 

The Big snuggle-up!

Most of self-help books on babies and parenting have more than one chapter dedicated to bedtime! It certainly helps to get an expert perspective on how put your little one to bed and ensure he or she stays there! That said, no one is a better expert that you on what works for you and your baby! Isn’t it?? J Having been through different phases of the bedtime business myself,  the good news is that while the ladder to sleep gets shorter as your little grows up, but the bad news is that the climb isn’t any less treacherous!  You may progress from setting up the white noise machine to playing soothing music, from chanting shlokas to singing lullabies yourself, from reading books to letting them read on their own……and yet they would still want to snuggle up to you for…… juuuusssst five minutes that at times may stretch up to the entire night! J

An absolute must read for bedtime is the classic “Goodnight Moon” by Margret Wise Brown and pictures by Clement Hurd which makes a perfect setting for bedtime and you can almost feel the night closing in on you!

Does your bedtime reading feel like forever with your little one not satiated with a book or two? We again read “Interrupting Chicken” by David Erza Stein, a 2011 Caldecott Honor that best illustrates the unenviable state of parents who have their kids interrupt at every juncture of the bedtime read making it a never ending story…..and the parent is seen dozing off only to have the little one completing the story!

We have the home grown Baby Bahadur series with titles “I'm so sleepy” and “Snoring Shanmugam” by Radhika Chada and illustrated by Priya Kuriyan and the recent read Junior Kumbhakarna by Arundhati Venkatesh and illustrated by Shreya Sen.

Today we also read “I’m not sleepy and I will not go to bed” a Charlie and Lola story by Lauren Child. Charlie’s little sister always stays up late and so their mom enlists Charlie’s help to get her to bed. So Charlie goes through what every parent in charge of bed time routine suffers through! Lola refuses to go to bed and plays mischief at every juncture of the bedtime routine from bath time to being tucked in! So Charlie plays along with her and offers pink milk Tiger soft toys, pretends to have his toothbrush gobbled up by her lion, and shoed off the whales from her bathtub and played hide and seek with her doggies to fetch her pyjamas….until he almost gives up when Lola is finally seen fast asleep in her bed, after having tucked her hippo in Charlie’s bed!  This book only underlines the most proven mantra of bedtime routine –“Just go with the flow ..……and they’ll be zzzzzing in no time”! J

Junior Kumbhakarna!

Over this weekend, we went for a book launch of “Junior Kumbakarna” at one of our favourite book stores, Atta Galatta. It had been a while since we went for a book launch and I was quite looking forward to being there with Abhay….from start to end! But since I had to finish up some work at office, it was agreed that I would go in directly while it was my husband’s job to drive Abhay from home. But as I reached the venue at sharp 5.00 PM on Saturday, both Abhay and his dad were nowhere in sight! As the author began reading aloud from her book, with the help of puppets and props that had the whole group of kids and their parents in splits, all I wished was for Abhay to join them soon. Though he missed the initial round of questions and discussions, Abhay sauntered in just in time to wake up Kumbhakarna!:-) Well, before I could pull up the daddy for his presumed tardiness, he passed the buck over to our little "Junior Kumbhakarna” who’d refused to be woken up from his Saturday afternoon siesta! :-)

Abhay also enjoyed the fun activities post the story while I met up with many like minded moms who enjoy reading, blogging and writing children's books! Of course....one can never leave Atta Galatta without a book and so we bought a few, besides picking up our copy of "Junior Kumbhakarna" signed by the author!  As if to make up for their delayed entry and in keeping with the daddy’s posting day on 30 books in 30 days  challenge promoted by friend and fellow blogger the bubbleink, Abhay’s daddy read “Junior Kumbhakarna” by Arundhati Venkatesh and illustrated by Shreya Sen. I must say that we loved the illustration of Kumbhakarna  which appears both authentic and hilarious at the same time. It’s bedtime for Kuku and like most kids, he wants his favourite story – the story of Kumbhakarna and his appa has no choice (like most appas!) but to regale him with Kumbhakarna’s giant lifestyle, with an appetite equivalent to that of a hundred men, with a burrp loud enough to make your little one giggle, a stretch here and a yawn there to ultimately slip into what Kumbhakarna is most famous (or infamous) for – his deep slumber yielding snores like thunder! As animals from donkeys to elephants, from people blowing trumpets to making laddoos, all  attempts to wake Kumbhakarna fails and Kumbhakarna only goes ZZZZZZ! So what happens? As you read on, your little one will be surprised as to just whom is the book talking about – the mighty Kumbhakarna or junior counterpart! A mythological tale beautifully adapted onto what is an everyday saga in most homes with kids! A great book to reflect on and have a hearty laugh over our daily morning mania!

How many sleeps till my Birthday ? - By Mark Sperring and Sebastian Braun

Guest Post by Vani

Somewhere around September, I had registered for real aloud kits from Little readers nook, a theme based read aloud program based out of Mumbai . Here I was , a picture book enthusiast and was curious to know what other parents were choosing and reading for their 4 year olds. The first kit was based on birthdays. 3 wonderful books arrived early October. I could not have asked for a better theme because my little munchkin had just completed his 4th year

The highlight of this kit was a book named How many sleeps till my Birthday. A little bear  named Pip wakes up every morning wondering if it was his birthday. He wakes up daddy Grizzle who is still in snooze land  A little annoyed and a lot patient is how you describe daddy Grizzle. Little does Pip know that daddy is infact secretly planning a fabulous party - what with him baking a cake at night when Pip is sleeping, to cutting logs from the forest  and secretly sending out invites to friends and blowing balloons.

On the day of the birthday, little Pip realizes that daddy has left many clues , all that lead to his party. Pip is immensely delighted seeing his friends and lots of cake and gifts

At the end of the party, daddy wonders  out aloud if he would get to sleep a little longer the next day

But what do you think happened the next morning .

Pip sneaks out of bed, lands of daddy's bed and asks : Daddy Grizzle Daddy Grizzle. How many sleeps till Christmas ???

What I loved about the book. For once here was a daddy doing the preparations and not a mommy. But the sentimental me also wondered why the mommy was missing in the story.

Repetitive words such as Daddy Grizzle Daddy Grizzle , wake up  in every 3rd page - would make a great  accomplishment for read alouds and enacting

..and the illustrations - from the annoyed daddy to the enthu cutlet little Pip early in the morning. the illustrations are so so endearing

It is December. We have put up a Xmas tree, the chill is in the air and last evening we had a shining red star put up at the balcony.

At home, our 4 year old believes Santa would fly from the sky and drop a present at our door

Just like Little Pip who is now waiting for Christmas, my little one is looking forward to presents from Santa

Families are about bonding, caring and celebrating. This book has it all.

So you know what to read for your child's  next birthday , don't you ???

**** Oh my ! in being a enthu cutlet myself in doing my first ever blog post on children's books, I have forgotten to add a line or two ****

Divya ! Its a honour to be asked to write on your blog. Many congratulations on being featured in the Hindu.

While we usually exchange gifts, here is something unique . Here's wishing you many more happy reading hours for you and your family and many hours of bonding over books.

Thank you for being an inspiration for other parents.

Thanks to Devaki  from Little Readers Nook for sending us such a wonderful read.

Beastly boys!

With both mom and dad working in most households, routine-parenting tasks are no longer the woman’s forte – be it getting the kids ready to school, drop off and pick-up from school, following up on their homework, putting them to bed and so on and so forth. Like most couples, we too follow certain ground rules of routine jobs –  the “Good cop- Bad cop” rule  while disciplining Abhay; or the “Early Bird in the evening gets to check on Abhay’s homework” rule or the “Homework helper  is exempted from the bedtime routine” rule that is most often overruled by “Winding up of kitchen entails an exemption from the bedtime routine”….so no prizes for guessing that it is my husband who most often ends up with Abhay’s bedtime business, with an exception made for a special bedtime book that I may want to read to him! The only problem being that both my boys (yes….you read it right!) do everything there is to do under the moon but go to bed! So as the daddy finishes reading the bedtime book, I expect the voices to die down into a total silence from the room upstairs, but instead I hear them giggle and guffaw at their own private joke or pretend play that I am not and cannot be a part of! It is only after repeated reminders of how it is way past time Abhay’s bedtime and warnings of the consequences of a late night for Abhay  that the boys do  finally go to bed! Hmph! …..boys will always be boys!

So imagine my surprise when we found the above situation mirrored in a book titled “Mr. Beast” by James Sage and illustrated by Russel Ayto that the boys ( it was a working Saturday for me!) found at Hippocampus. A hilarious account of nighttime banter between a father-son duo, this one is definitely worth a read by the daddy himself! Charlie loved monsters as much his mother’s sugared doughnuts and so his mother asks him to fetch the larger frying pan lying in their garage, supposedly belonging to Mr. Beast. Mr. Beast lets him have the frying pan with a condition that the same must returned with a brimful of sugared doughnuts. Just as Charlie lugs back the pan to its designated place, carrying a batch of doughnuts meant for Mr. Beast, Charlie gets greedy and finishes off even the last one left! So naturally Mr. Beast is angry and threatens to eat him up at night! At bedtime, Charlie is all ready and waiting for Mr. Beast who Charlie believes is clambering up the creeper, clattering about the roof, sliding down the chimney and stomping down the hall to thrust open the door as Charlie is shown to be eagerly waiting for him! As the suspense continues, you cant help but notice that Charlie is all smiles and goes along in the pretend play with Mr. Beast who is none other than his very own daddy! The father-son pretend play wakes up Charlie’s mommy who in turn hauls up the daddy for all the silliness that has gone way beyond Charlie’s bedtime with strict instructions to go to sleep without any delay! So the boys promise to be as good as gold and are shown heading to bed…..but only for a moment until they get back to their beastly ways! So if your boys give you trouble during bedtime….bring home Mr. Beast!

Dad's the word!

With father’s day today, it’s time to show our gratitude to the daddies in our lives!  Of course, we all have our dads to thank, but what about the father of our little ones? So until our little ones are old enough to churn out something on their own, it’s upon us mommies to ensure that the daddies get their due on Father’s day just as we bask in our status as a mother on Mother’s day! I am not a great fan this hallmark sponsored day, but I see no harm in taking some time off to acknowledge the role our partners play in parenting…… if not at least for a day!  Fathers are now more actively involved in their children’s lives than their predecessors….and why not? Daddies are always the favorite, no matter what you do and so it’s time they get their hands dirty too! J I am greatly dependent on my husband without whom I’d find it hard to handle even some of daily routine activities revolving around Abhay!  So whether it’s getting my tardy six year old ready for school in the morning (while sharing a man-to-man time with him!) or initiating the bed-time protocol at night (and dozing off  in the meantime!) or waking up the middle of the night when Abhay ambles over to our room (a regular phenomenon!) or  taking him to an event or an activity on a Saturday morning (as Saturdays are working for me!) or  playing the “Good cop” when as always I am the “Bad cop” while disciplining my errant little one or when I am need of some kind of reassurance that we are doing the right thing as parents….dad’s the word!

So today I had Abhay and his dad read together “Interrupting Chicken” by David Ezra Stein, a book that won the famed Caldecott Honor for the year 2011. I had this one shipped from the US through a friend sometime ago, but never had the opportunity to feature the same on Onestoryaday. The reason I chose to do so on father’s day is because I found there was a striking resemblance between how the papa-chicken and baby-chicken cuddle up in bed and how Abhay holds on to his dad  at bedtime! This is a father-child story that definitely makes a wonderful read on father’s day! It was bed time for the little red chicken and her papa is all set to read her a story but with a condition that the little one should not interrupt the story in between as she usually does to which little chicken promises to be good and not interrupt the story. And so starts papa chicken with the story of “Hansel and Gretel” who both being extremely hungry are thrilled to find a house made of candy and begin to eat up the goodies when the witch pretending to be an old woman invites them in. Just as they are about to enter the danger zone, the little red chicken jumps in interrupting the story telling Hansel and Gratel not to go in as the woman was a witch. So Hansel and Gratel did not go in and the story ended quickly. Papa chicken reminded the little red chicken of her promise not to interrupt and started to read “Little Red Riding Hood”. But the story of Red Riding Hood too met a similar end with the warning Little Red Riding Hood about not talking to strangers just as she was about to talk to the wolf! Thus the incorrigible red can’t control herself and jumps in every time the story reaches a turning point! Finally Papa chicken has had it and closes the book when little pleads with him for another story without which she cannot fall asleep. Papa then asks her to tell him a story instead. As the little chicken starts off with her story “Once upon a time…there was a little red chicken who put her papa to bed…”, her papa is fast asleep and it doesn’t take long for the little chicken to jump right in next to her dearest papa! Abhay of course enjoyed the rendition of this story by his own papa! Happy father’s day to all the dads!

Under the Bed!

Since the past one month, my son Abhay has regressed back into co-sleeping with us instead of sleeping all by himself in his room and I have no clue what to do!  It all began when he fell sick with a viral infection a month ago and it was just more convenient to have him in the same room so that we could periodically check his temperature. Once recovered, my six year refused to move out! No matter how many eviction notices we’ve served, he hasnt  budged!:-) No matter how much we try to glorify the idea of sleeping on one’s own bed, he just doesn’t buy it! It’s not the dark that he is afraid of but he just prefers the comfort and warmth of snuggling up to his parents at night  as opposed to lying all by himself on his big boy bed. Well, at times when we challenge him to it, he succumbs and makes an half hearted attempt to fall asleep in his room with the night light on, only to tiptoe back into our room in the dead of the night!

So in order to help him to overcome his fears, if any, I read “Under the Bed” by Paul Bright and Ben Cort, which is a story of a little boy but might as well as have been a story of your little one. A little boy is asleep all by himself on his bed under which there are few interesting and not-so-interesting things – pieces of jigsaw puzzle, purple pants, apple core and his smelly shoe. Not only that, there appears to be much more! Under the bed there are bugs, beasts nibbling crumbs, but not to worry as they seem too busy to think of the boy or your little one whom you’re reading this to. Under the bed there is also a dragon dozing, a pizza-eating alligator, a grizzly bear who can’t stop scratching himself, a strange looking creature with warts on his nose and knots on his tail or any such imaginary monster your little one complains of, but all of them seem too busy with themselves to bother the sleeping boy. But it turns out that all those creatures under the bed are suddenly scared out of their wits as they have seen something frightening on the bed! So out of the room flee the dragon, the alligator, the grizzly bear, bugs and beasts and every other imaginary monster for the frightening thing on the bed is ….. the boy  alias your little one! Abhay scoffed at kids who are petrified of the imaginary monsters under the bed and was sure not to have any lurking under his own! Pleased….I tucked him in and kissed him good night hoping he’ll stay there the entire night only to find him sleeping soundly next to me as I woke up in the morning! :-)

Just go to Bed!

When your kids have summer vacations, it feels as if everyone at home is on a vacation…if only that were true! But it is also true that mornings seem a lot more relaxed when you don’t have to wake up your five year old at 6.45 AM, get him ready just in time for the school bus  at 7.30 AM. Or you can afford to snooze on a few minutes more than usual as there is no rush to pack your little one’s lunch; but at the same time, you tend to get a little lax on timings yourself. For instance, I haven’t been able to leave for work as early as I used to when Abhay was out of the house by 8.00 AM. Similarly, the night-time curfew has been relaxed since Abhay does not need to wake up at daybreak. On one hand, I’m relieved that I don’t have speed things up in the evening so that Abhay is in bed by 9.00 PM at night, on the other, having him stay awake as long as we do is not only tiresome but robs us of whatever quiet time we earlier had when our son had school! Im sure Abhay doesn't, but I sure miss his school!:-)

So today I read a book titled “Just go to bed” a Little Critter’s story by Mercer Mayer, a book you will simply love as it’s a story of every parent of a young child! Little Critter is no mood to call it a day and continues to engage in pretend play. He is a cowboy rounding up the cows when his daddy asks him to come inside and get ready for bed. He then becomes an army general playing with his military set and his father joins in pretending to be his superior ordering him to take a bath. He then turns into a space cadet to zoom to the moon when the space cadet gets captured by the giant robot ( his dad) only to put him in  a bath tub. In the bath tub, Little Critter doesn’t stop playing with his bath toys, pretending to be a sea monster, when his father asks the sea monster to feed on his snack. Feeding his toy animals instead, he takes on the role of a zookeeper when the zookeeper’s father hands over his bunny pajamas. But instead of slipping into his pajamas, Little Critter is seen playing with his train as a train engineer being chased by bandits. Donning a bandit’s mask, his patient dad lifts him up to help him put on his bunny pajamas, when he speeds off as a race car driver. With his patience waning, his father announces with a stern voice that the race is over and its time for bed. But Little Critter puts on his pajamas and hops into the living room as a bunny expecting his dad to join him in the late night banter. At this point, his dad has had enough and is visibly angry with him when he asks his little tormentor to “Just go to bed”! When he is finally in bed, fighting to open his eyes, his parents peep into his room and quietly  wish him good night! Well…..we’ve all been there….done that…..and some like me are still doing it!!!!  

Sweet Dreams!

While co sleeping with your little one is an exception rather than a norm in the US, it is quite the opposite in India! As Indian parents bringing up our son in the US, we were uncomfortable with an idea of letting our toddler son sleep on his own in a separate room all by himself! But three years in the US turned us from non-believers into staunch believers, even swearing by the practice of  having your son sleep independently in his own room. Initially though reluctant, Abhay soon gave in …or in other words reconciled to the fact that he must go to bed in his own room and that he really didn't have a choice! When we expected the same in Bangalore, we faced stiff resistance, not so much from our five year old, but from his grandparents!  Expecting a young child to sleep in a room separate from his parents, even if it is literally next door, was termed too American for our Indian sensibilities!  “What if he falls off the bed; what happens if he has a bad dream; how will he be able to use the bathroom in the middle of the night?” were the kind of doubts that were raised. Our assurances that  “He can’t possibly fall off a 3 feet wide bed, or that with a night light on, he can simply walk up to our room if he has a bad dream or wants to use the bathroom” didn’t sound convincing to them! With the support of his grandparents, Abhay too began to rebel! Finally  we found hope in a method that most parents fall back on when nothing else works – bribery! Thanks to a reward point system ( where he gets a sticker for each night of independent sleep and a certain number of stickers add up to a reward), we were successful in getting Abhay to sleep in his new bed in his new room...so all I have to say is…touchwood! J

Abhay now sleeps in a made to order bed along with his best buddies – Curious George, Nemo and Winnie the Pooh with Lightening Mcqueen flashing his signature smile at the head of his bed. So today I had him read “Ted in a Red Bed” by Phil Roxbee Cox & Stephen Cartwright, an Early Reader with short e sounds and blends from Usborne publications. This is an Early Reader that stands true to its name being easy enough for pre-schoolers to sustain interest in reading. Ted goes shopping one day and stops by Fred’s furniture store and likes the red bed on display. Fred, the Penguin, the owner of the store encourages him to hop on the bed and rest his head on the yellow pillow. As soon as he slips his feet under the sheet, he feels the need for a bed just like the one sold by Fred. He buys the bed and decides to put it to immediate use and falls asleep on the bed he just bought. Now it is up to Fred to have Ted and his bed delivered home! As Fred has his associates lift the bed and shift it inside a delivery truck, Ted who is sound asleep on the bed, has a dream that he bobs on a wave into a cave! As the truck carries Ted and his bed, Ted in turn has a dream that he can fly in the sky and as he is brought home along with his bed, Ted dreams that he is back by the stream! As he wakes up with a snore, he realizes that he is no longer in the store and is home with his new bed. Ted then concludes that his red bed must be a magic bed! Abhay loved this book and looks like it will be his new favorite for sometime now! Im not sure if he understood what actually happened with Ted and his bed, but he seemed fascinated by Ted’s dreams. Let’shope our little Ted  sleeps in and has sweet dreams in his own bed! J

Wake me up!

If getting my five year old to bed is a challenge, getting him out of it in the morning is a whole new ball game!   After over two weeks of vacation, Abhay is reluctant to get back to his routine of waking up at around 6.45 Am only to snooze off in his school bus an hour later!  I have tried everything from stories to incentives to threats to actual implementation of threats…..but each morning he simply refuses to stir out of his bed!  Frankly, this whole waking-up- in-time-to-catch-the-school-bus is new to me too. In the US, more than Abhay, I was used to dropping him off to school as and when he was ready, but in Bangalore, I would rather have him miss school than face the prospect of driving him myself to his school! Of course, Abhay is only too happy to miss school to spend another day at home that keeps his grandparents on their toes! So in the interest of everyone at home….I have to get him out the bed! 

So today I read “Get out of Bed” by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Alan & Lea Daniel. This is the story of Amy who in the middle of the night, instead of sleeping, walks into her living room to watch the late show, the late late show and then the very early show, the early show until she passes out! The next morning, as her parents and her brother get ready to start their day, Amy refuses to get out of bed in the morning. So her brother comes up with a crazy but effective solution to this problem – they drag Amy to school along with her bed on which she sleeps soundly as they carry her bed down their street, round the corner, through the schoolyard and into the school! They put the bed in Amy’s classroom and leave when everyone in school tries their luck at waking up Amy. But Amy snores on blissfully through the English class, Arithmetic class, art class, gym, and through recess. Finally as it is time to go when her parents and brother carry Amy back who still seems to be in a surfeit of sleep! Amy is brought back home and promptly taken to her room when she continues to zzzzzzzz! The next morning, she wakes up at the crack of dawn all fresh and hungry! When her mother and later her teacher ask her if she has had a good sleep, she replies in the affirmative but complains of being haunted by strange dreams! When Amy walks into her classroom, she is shocked to find all her classmates in deep slumber on their respective beds! So if you little one doesn’t  get out of bed……you know what to say!!! 

Forgetting to sleep?

I don’t understand what it is that these kids have against going to bed at night! Though setting a sleep routine for Abhay has always been a challenge, it has now become next to impossible! Ever since Dassera vacations have begun, my son has turned nocturnal with his energy levels peaking at night just when my tolerance level is at an all time low!  Most moms would agree that there are days when all you want to do is to hit the bed and by sheer co incidence or otherwise, that’s the last thing your little one wants to do! Well…..when what you wish for them to do is what they wish to avoid and what you wish they avoid is what they are hell-bent on doing  – that’s what parenting is all about! :-)

Anyway, with vacations at its fag end , I was keen on getting Abhay to bed on time in preparation for school all set to reopen in the next couple of days. To my delight, I found a book apt for my setting written by a mom just like me in an attempt to get her little one to bed! “I’m so sleepy” by Radhika Chadha and pictures by Priya Kuriyan, a book in the Baby Bahadur series. This is a story of a baby elephant named Bahadur who has, like my baby, forgotten how to sleep! So one night when his amma had gone visiting  a relative, he felt sleepy but just couldn’t remember how to sleep! He decided to seek help from his friends and first approached Shanmugam, the lion, who was in a deep slumber. As he tried to wake him up, he was told by a monkey that lions are known to sleep all day and wake up at night. Bahadur then turned to his monkey friend, Manu who asked him to climb up the tree to sleep next to him when the little elephant knew better than sleeping on a tree! So he moved on and came across Ritu, the rabbit who invited the sleepy Bahadur into her little hole to retire for the day. But Bahadur was sure that let alone his whole self, not even his trunk could fit into the hole! He was convinced that elephants hardly sleep in burrows and called on his other friends from Chandu the crocodile, to Paytu the pig, to Kamalnayan the camel and Hutoxi the horse, all in a quest for a good night’s sleep. When he sees Hutoxi, the horse sleeping standing up, Bahadur has a brain-flash and finds a tree nearby to fall fast asleep leaning against it, like all elephants do! Abhay liked this book for sure, but I loved this book not only for its charming storyline but also its interesting animal characters with even more interesting alliterating names  -  I mean….have you ever come across a camel named Kamalnayan? Abhay  remembered his dear friend Ritu from Portland days when he read about Ritu, the rabbit!  This book can also serve as a good memory game for your little one, which, of course you wouldn’t want to try out at bedtime, lest they too forget to sleep! :-)

Stop snoring?

Since the sun is an early riser during summers, my son wakes up at daybreak and crawls into bed with us to find one of us snoring away to morning glory! Well….I can say one thing for sure…Im not the culprit!  (Of course I can’t help it if my husband has a different opinion!) Anyway, Abhay is a shallow sleeper in the mornings and when he hears someone snoring, neither does he sleep nor he does he let us snore….I mean sleep!:-) I can’t wait to see what will happen when he has a sleepover at his grandparents' house in Bangalore as his favorite grandpa is a veteran at …snoring!  No offense Appa….thanks for being a sport …just snore this away!:-)

So I couldn’t believe my luck when I found a book titled  "Stop snoring Bernard” by Zachariah OHora Bernard, an otter in a zoo loves taking a nap, but there is one problem – he snores and loud enough to disturb the other otters! When his fellow otter Grumpy Giles couldn’t take it anymore, he yells at Bernard asking him to find another place to sleep. Poor Bernard goes looking for a perfect spot to snore n’ sleep. But wherever he goes  - the lake, pond or a puddle, everyone from the alligators to elephants asks him to stop snoring! Finally, he drifts off to sleep in a cave tucked away from the rest of the zoo. When he wakes up in the morning, he finds hundreds of bats hanging upside down from the ceiling and it so appears that the bats  didn’t seem mind his snoring at all. But before he can rejoice at having found tolerant inmates, he realizes that bats are nocturnal and were probably out for the entire night.  His assessment is confirmed when the bats prepare to go to sleep in the morning and bluntly ask him to leave lest he begins to snore again! Just as Bernard decides to move out of the zoo, he finds his otter friends looking for him. To his surprise, even Grumpy Giles apologizes and asks him to come back home. Finally, Bernard is seen napping happily with everyone who now don't seem to mind his snoring at all ….well everyone except Grumpy Giles! I wonder when our little Grumpy Giles will get accustomed to all the snoring happening now and will happen in the future!  If you too have a Grumpy Giles at home,  read ‘Stop snoring…….”!

Big Boy and his bed!

Kids go through different phases in their day to day lives that can compare to changing fashion trends. What was in yesterday is out today! Some phases recur and some don’t; some phases are here to stay and some are over before they’ve even begun and some you like and some you spike! For instance, there’s a “No-eating Phase”and “Cant stop eating phase”, or the “Sleepless phase” and “Cant get enough sleep phase” or ‘Love my chocolate milk phase”and “Suddenly allergic to milk phase”, “Love my school phase” and “Don’t-want to-go-to-school phase”! Anyway, Abhay’s in the “I don’t want to sleep alone phase”! After bragging to my friends and on my blog about how my four year independently sleeps in his room, I’ve had to eat my own words! Every night as we tuck him into bed, we hear him saying “Sleeping on my own is no longer fun” or “Im tired of sleeping in my room” and whispers in his daddy’s ears asking him if he can sleep in our bed. The whispering is  because he knows what  the answer will be, if overheard by mommy! :-)

Anyway, for obvious reasons, today I read “My Big Boy Bed” by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Maggie Smith. Donny is excited to move into his big boy bed from a crib. Why? Because there are so many reasons to look forward to sleeping on your big boy bed! The bed has the big boy sheets and the big boy quilt spread out and big boys can read in bed too! Not only that, big boys can bounce high up on the bed  or hide under it to scare off a pet. At bed time, once the big boy is tucked into bed, he is free to get out any time and play around until his parents find out and ask him to get back in bed again!  But Donny gets out again and tip toes into his baby brother’s room to find his brother sleeping in his crib. As he kisses his baby brother good night, he bids good bye to the crib and climbs back to his bed meant for a big boy like him! So Abhay….ready to go to sleep in your big boy bed?

Monsters under bed!

It’s been more than  a week since we got back from our vacation and I’m still having trouble with Abhay’s sleeping habits. I've been successful in re-establishing his sleep routine though, all thanks to a consecutive round of afternoon play dates that tires him enough to make him want to hit the bed by 8.30-9.00 at night. But the problem is which bed does he want to sleep in? Not his own, apparently there are monsters under his bed or hiding in his closet not letting him fall asleep!!!! Now the question is how do we get our little monster to sleep on his bed? For the last couple of days, his daddy’s severe cold and cough was a good enough reason to hold him off as we’d convinced him that he might catch cold if he slept in our bed…...but I don’t think I can get away with that one today! 

So I had his daddy read the well known book “Go Away Green Monster” by Ed Emberley. A wonderful book to help your little one to brave those imaginary monsters that make their appearance at night! With colorful illustrations on its die cut pages, both you and your little one first construct the monster starting with its yellow eyes, then a long blue nose, and a big red mouth with sharp white teeth, scraggly purple hair and lastly a big green scary face! Don’t be alarmed….your little one can make the monster go away by further turning its pages and deconstructing its blue nose, big green face, red mouth, sharp white teeth and finally the two big yellow eyes making the monster disappear all together….as simple as that! So is Abhay ready to sleep in his own room? Hmmm…after my husband read this book, Abhay expectantly asks “Appa, is your cold gone?”