Mother's day!

Today is Mother's day and it was time for a mommies day out! So I went out with a group of  my mommy friends, all of us taking some time off from our kids - the very reason we are called 'mommy'! Just like any other demanding job, a mom's job too is not without its pressures - pressure to be a perfect mom, pressure to be a mom who does it all, peer pressure (X's mom takes her to music class, should I enroll my son too?!!),  or simply pressure to live up to a maternal Goddess status! Of course, there are days when you look at your wailing baby and wonder "What was I thinking?", or days when you want to disown your little one who's throwing a fit in a public place, or days when you wish you could just quit doing what you're doing and feeling this way is but natural as ...we are only human! At the same time, it is also true that any mom would trade the world to see the smile on her little one's face! After all, God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers!!! To my mom and moms all over the world - three cheers to motherhood!!

Today, on the occasion of mother's day, I read "The Mommy Book" by Todd Parr. In this colorful book, the author brings out all kinds of mommies one sees - the mommy who drives a pick-up van, the mommy who drives  a motor cycle, the mommy who loves to dress up, the mommy who plays in the rain, the mommy who likes to dance, the mommy who teaches you to paint, the mommy who teaches you to swim, the mommy with short hair, the mommy with long hair, the mommy who cooks, the mommy who orders pizza, the mommy who flies kites, the mommy who sing songs or reads stories and so on. But all mommies like to hang out with their kids, or watch them sleep or hug them or blow them kisses and finally all mommies want their kids to be who they are!! Happy Mother's day!!!

Just like you!

We all love it when our kids turn out like us, don’t we? But along with everything else, what if they imbibe even those attributes of us that we aren’t proud of? Would it worry you or amuse you that your child is a lot more like you than you had ever imagined!! What if your child inherited all your quirks, phobias and insecurities or in other words turned out to be a mirror image of your own personality – how would you handle it? For instance, what if you found out that as a kid, you were petrified of water just like your child or was a picky eater, just like your little one?  Would you turn to your parents and ask them how they dealt with it, or if it was ever an issue back then, especially since most ‘early childhood troubles’ that we confront as parents today didn’t seem to bother our parents at all, when we were children!:-)

 I’m not sure if I’m making any sense, but today I read two books in which a grandma regales her grandchild of her own experiences of being a parent to her mommy/daddy. The grandchild is of course all ears to the stories of her mommy/daddy growing up. “Your Mommy was just like You” by Kelly Bennett and illustrated by David Walker is a book meant for girls who’d love to hear about their moms from their grandmom! Abhay liked the book meant for grandsons, “Your Daddy was just like you” by the same author and illustrator. Grandma recalls how her own son was born puny and red faced just like her grandson who in turn finds it hard to believe that his daddy was a baby and was also scared of the doctor! The little boy feels consoled when he learns from his grandma that his father too had found school tough and boring at the beginning, that he too loved to play but had not won every single time, and that daddy was subject to time-outs, just like him!  ( This was Abhay’s favorite part…I could see him smile at the thought of his own daddy being punished!) Grandma shows him pictures of his daddy speeding like a race car or playing a cowboy or rolling in the mud or splashing in the tub….just like him! Abhay felt relieved as the young boy in the book gets to know that his daddy was afraid of the dark and too scared to sleep with his door shut….. just like him ( and Abhay!) Finally, grandma plants a huge kiss on her baby’s cheeks …..Her baby who now has his own baby! So….when in doubt, just remember Abhay, nobody can understand you better than us because we are….after all…. just like you!:-)

My Red Bike!

A home with kids is a houseful of toys and our home is no exception, it is in fact overflowing with toys! Abhay’s toys are more than just toys in his room; they are a part of our home decor! On any given day, our house resembles Toys R’Us more than any ordinary apartment! If you want to relax on our couch, you’re most welcome but you’ll also be cruising alongside race cars like McQueen and Mater who have their race tracks set up on the sofa’s arm rest. You sit to eat at our dining table; you’ll find Thomas and his Friends also resting on the table, tooting their whistles.  The center table at the living room has more children’s books that regular books or magazines! (Frankly, Im the one to blame for this!) Anyway, one ubiquitous toy that can be found wherever Abhay goes is his big red tricycle! So if Abhay has to use the bathroom, he doesn’t walk, instead he rides on his tricycle that also pulls his Pluto along. If he is called for dinner, though his room is right across the dining area, he has to arrive on his red bike in all pomp and splendor. Not to mention, we’ve even decided to put up “No parking” signs to avoid tripping over his three-wheeler parked at all the wrong places!! :-)

Today I read a book that most kids who play with their ride-on or pull along toys will enjoy and Abhay too was not disappointed – ‘Red Wagon” by Renata Liwska. Lucy got a brand new red wagon and had a whole list of games to play with it  and grocery shopping was certainly not on that list. But as her mother insists, she decides to go shopping pulling her wagon along. The book follows Lucy in her adventure as she pulls the wagon up the hill, down the hill, through rain-storms and sunshine and finally reaches the market where hoards all the vegetables in her wagon and tugs her useful pull-along toy all the way back home. On reaching home, Lucy can’t wait to play with her wagon and when she finally does get a chance, she is seen all curled up and fast sleep in her favorite red wagon! Now we all know who’s to pull the wagon….Lucy’s daddy!!:-)

Spring in the air!

After almost six months of long, cold and wet winter, spring is finally here!!!  Although, officially in the Pacific Northwest, winter was supposed to have ended nearly a month ago, winter didn't seem to let go without putting up a fight. So for most of us, April didn’t feel like spring at all until last weekend! For people in the west, the transition from winter to spring is most eagerly awaited, as it not only means more sunshine and light, but also allows freedom to explore and enjoy the great outdoors. Only after I came to the US did I realize the value of sunshine all year long, something we Indians, esp. the South Indians take for granted!  In this side of the globe, people really make hay when the sun shines!:-)

Spring also signifies blooming of flowering plants and the trees regaining their foliage. As we had taken Abhay to a tulip farm over the last weekend, I read the book “Planting a rainbow” by Lois Ehlert today. A great book to introduce your toddler to the vibrant world of colors or your pre-schooler to the colorful world of gardening. If you enjoy gardening and plan to involve your little one too, this book is for you! A child talks about how every year, she and her mom plant a rainbow in their backyard. A rainbow made up of orange tulips, red carnations, yellow daffodils, blue morning glories, purple asters and green ferns! The rainbow that is planted during fall, blooms in spring and continues to delight everyone through summer. When summer is over, it’s time to bid adieu to their rainbow garden and await its return in spring of next year! So, Spring is in the air, the soil is fertile and it’s time to get those gardening gloves out and plant a rainbow garden!

How Mommy met Daddy!

Kids sometimes find it hard to imagine that their parents had a life before they were born! Actually, most parents feel the same way  - they had a ‘life’ before the birth of their kids  and ‘life’ would never come back!!!!  Abhay is not all that pleased to look at our wedding photos or other pictures taken before we became Abhay’s parents. He cannot bear to see his parents 'all smiles' without him anywhere around! His eternal question is “Where was I when this picture was taken”? As some of the pictures he was referring to were taken during my pregnancy, I tried to explain to him that he was in my tummy at that point.  Hmmm...that was not a wise thing to do as the other day we caught him pointing to one of our wedding photos and explaining to our friends that he was in his mommy’s tummy, when this picture was taken! Believe me, that was embarrassing and what’s more embarrassing is that I’m writing about it!!!:-)

So I resorted to my tried and tested method – reading books! Today I read “ How Mommy met Daddy” by Kathrina Grossmann-Hensel. A little boy narrates the story of his mommy and daddy, how they were before, how they met and how they changed thereafter. Beautifully illustrated, this book helps your little one understand that mommy and daddy were two different individuals leading two separate lives until they met one and another and then turn into each other! :-) In the book, the little boy explains that his mommy liked things to be colorful and messy whereas daddy liked things plain and neat! He goes on to describe how different their lives were until they meet each other. Opposites attract and so did mommy and daddy. In the years that followed, they fell in love, got married, had a baby and did everything together. After all those years, they are far from the two diametrically opposite personalities they once were! Mommy was no longer messy and daddy no longer plain. When the little one grows up, he cannot tell the difference between mommy and daddy as they had grown alike each other in every possible way!! Abhay didn’t seem to understand how people in marriage could so change so radically! I could understand …. having seen my parents who just celebrated their 33^rd wedding anniversary yesterday! Though just a day late…..Happy Anniversary appa and amma!!