World's messiest room!

 

“World's Messiest Room Award” was an Archies’ poster put up on the door of my room when growing up… and frankly, it was more cosmetic than a reflection of reality. Being the obedient 90’s kid, I didn’t have the liberty to live up to the award…but it gave a “cool’ and a “bohemian” touch to an otherwise prim and proper state of things in my so-called room during an age when the concept of privacy was literally unheard of!

Little did I know that there was someone more deserving of the award than me and that too almost three decades later…a mini me of sorts …my daughter! My ten year old couldnt be bothered about the mess she creates and we are at our wit’s end with her dont-care attitude about the chaos in her room! Her table is perpetually cluttered with her stationery (which is and always will be her first love!), her innumerable diaries filled with her random sketches, books that she has been reading, or has already read and plans to read again, or the new books checked out from the library, origami craft works and the resultant craft waste, abandoned handcrafts kept as knick-knacks (passed on by another hoarder in our family!😊), half eaten fruit bowls, chocolate wrappers, crumpled paper with disregarded drawings….you name the waste and Aadya’s table will have it! Don’t even get me started on what she dumps on her bed, her mini drawing table and her mini trampoline that also doubles up as temporary stack for even more junk! So much so that the earlier inhabitant of her room (her older brother) is often appalled at what his erstwhile room has become! No wonder it became almost impossible for the siblings on the opposite sides of the spectrum on the point of neatness to share a room! With her older brother having moved to his own room, Aadya has the entire room to herself…… for making a mountain of a mess, while she couldn’t care less!

It's been a while since I picked up a picture book for my not-so-little-one owing to the fact that she now considers herself all too grown up for a picture book, and is miffed that it deprives her of a chapter book that she could have borrowed instead as per her 6-book plan of Kahaani box library. But I couldn’t resist picking out “Zippy Messes Up” by Anitha Balachandran and hoped it could instill the importance of cleaning up, in my untidy little devil. 

Part of the Zippy series, featuring an anthropomorphic Zebra named Zippy and her group of friends all belonging different species with distinct personalities. Zippy and her friends  are forced to shift their play indoors to Chikki, the monkey’s room, owing to the rains outside. As its time to wrap up their games of cars, carrom board, paper crafts, blocks, jigsaw puzzles all played over cookies and sandwiches, they finally acknowledge the mess in the room!  (That never happens in our case!) Reluctantly they pick up the toys one by one and put them back where they belong, whilst getting their feet stuck in the wet and gooey mess of food leftovers, wiping the walls clean of the paint stains, and exerting all their energies into pushing the carrom board across the floor and Chikki’s room is finally made livable after all the Shramdan!  A nice little book to goad your little ones to clean up after themselves. I was hoping that our little slob would take a cue from Zippy and her friends, only to find her smart-mouthing her way through her messiness with saying “An artist’s room will always be messy”!  😕

 

Travelling to the Land of the Lepchas!

 

Over the last few days, we have been at Sikkim, the Northern eastern Himalayan state nestled in between Nepal and Bhutan. Known for its pristine beauty of glacial lakes, breathtaking valleys, gushing waterfalls at every corner of the mountain drive, panoramic view of the snow-capped Himalayas, and the precarious mountain passes. Mind you… exploring Sikkim is not for the faint hearted or one with a sensitive stomach - it involves fortifying yourself for  freezing temperatures, being prepared for anytime down pour, and enduring through winding and meandering drives through changing landscapes, bracing yourself  for breathlessness at high altitude points and of course grappling with motion sickness even when you  have never ever got sick during travel!  

But all such discomfort dissolves into delight with one look at the mist covered calm waters of Tsomgo lake, or the chance to snowball each other even in summertime at the “Zero point”, or the awe-inspiring views of the majestic Himalayas on the way to Yumthang valley, or experiencing the roar of the “Amitabh Bacchan” waterfalls on the way to Lachung, or taking in some cool refreshing  mountain air while on the pine forest trail to Rabtanse ruins at Pelling, or waking up after quick shut-eye during a long drive  to a spectacular sunset coloured sky over the silhouetted valleys… truly …travelling around Sikkim is all about enjoying the journey as much as the destination … more like life itself…isn’t it!! 

 

It’s after almost two and half years that we’ve donned on our travelling pants (even literally!) and our trip was wedged in between Abhay finishing his class 10 board exams and the reopening of courts in Bangalore after summer vacation and amidst incessant rains, and peak-season rush through out Sikkim and Darjeeling, Aadya’s terrible motion sickness (we had polythene bags tucked in at every compartment of the vehicle only to find them missing when we most needed them!) and Abhay’s annoying obsession with uploading stories on his instagram handle (now that his exams are over we had to keep our promise of letting him resume his social media activity!) …. we did manage to make it one of the most memorable trips ever! 

 

Our last stop was the West Bengal’s queen of hill stations - misty Darjeeling which was more of a reality check and reminder of the traffic jams back home in Bangalore!  Since we were nursing a minor stomach upset and were also exhausted from our Sikkim adventures, we avoided the usual touristy spots and chose to take it slow and indulged in some retail therapy on the Mall road, while enjoying some live jazz at one of its famous eateries - Glenary’s and stopping by Oxford Bookstore. 

 

One of the sure ways of avoiding  the crowds is to either travel during off-season or visit off-beat places within popular destinations. While it’s nearly impossible  to travel  during off season with school going-exam-writing kids, and  it’s not always possible to have the entire trip comprise of off-beat places, but it’s always possible to be a discerning traveller and look out for not-so-oft visited places like museums, quaint cafeterias and bookstores that are storehouses of local history and culture. For instance, while there were serpentine queues at the ropeway ride,  there was not a single soul at Gangtok’s Black cat museum - which we pleasantly discovered to be a wonderful state-of the art museum showcasing Sikkim’s history and the trajectory of the Army's Black Cat Regiment stationed in Gangtok. While none of the localities were even aware of this museum, the administrator of the museum himself appeared to be  curious about how we discovered this place. So much so, that even the taxi driver whom we hailed to go to our next destination was even more inquisitive about our visit and wondered  what interesting things possibly lay therein! 

 

 

 ….which leads me to our next destination….bookstores. As always in all our travels, one of the mini highlights of our trip is to visit a local bookstore and by now our entire family looks forward to it and given a chance Aadya would have spent an entire day at two of Gangtok’s famous bookstores - Good Books centrally located at Gangtok’s MG Marg and Cafe Fiction or Rachna Books (as it’s listed on Google) located opposite Gangtok’s Secretariat Office. 

 

Just off one of the busiest parts of MG market and near Baker’s cafe (a famous cafeteria with charming and eclectic decor, offering delectable variety of baked goodies and eateries ), Good books houses a wonderful collection of mainstream books and many works by local authors  where we ended up buying a few regular Usborn Early Readers for Aadya and an interesting compilation of tales of the land of Lepchas (Sikkim’s aboriginals), aided by amiable and helpful  bookstore owner. Good Books is indeed a lovely place for book lovers to make a pit stop amidst their MG market shopping! 

 

We also dropped into Cafe Fiction, an award winning bookstore cum cafeteria that has a beautiful display of a wide variety of mainstream and independent publications that one can pull out from the aesthetically placed bookshelves and curl into their super-comfy chairs reading them…while sipping a hot cuppa coffee, by the giant windows offering beautiful views of the street below. I wish “Namma Bengaluru” too had our very own Cafe Fiction! 

 

Anyways.. thanks to Make-my-trip, we now return to Bangalore glad that our Sikkim trip was by and large uneventful (though there were scares of landslides at certain places owing to heavy rains) refreshed and rejuvenated for our routine grind back home, our social media accounts full of stories and posts to put up and our minds full of happy memories and  four bags full of laundry! :-) 

 

Well… as my colleague was intrigued to notice books even in my travel DPs .. I must say that a travel without books is no travel at all! Despite long road trips during the day.. reading to Aadya was never given a miss (not that she would herself or let us go to bed without a book) and thanks to “Good Books” and “Cafe Fiction”, we were never short of interesting reads.  But to commemorate our Sikkim trip, we read from “The Legends of the Land of Lepchas Folk Tales from Sikkim” by Yishey Doma and Pankaj Thapa. 

A beautiful collection of folklores on various aspects Sikkim’s environment, history and culture. We were delighted to make some connections of what we saw, felt and experienced from some of the stories. From story of “ The Race between Teesta and Rangeet” that gives a mythical side to the confluence of the rivers of Rangeet and Teesta river that we came across on our way from Bagdogra to Gangtok to “A tale of two trees” being the story of Lali Guras, Sikkim’s Rhododendron that we saw aplenty at the Yumthang valley, or the “The Cave of Occult Fairies”, the story of Guru Padmasambhava or Guru Rimpoche who subjugated the demons and saved his devotees from evil, that reminded us of giant statues of Guru Padmasambhava  at Sandrupse hill and at Pelling skywalk, and the fact that Mount Khangchendzonga is a constant presence in all the stories just as the view of the mountain  Khangchendzonga  was our constant quest throughout our trip! While we are set to get back to pavilion from now on, this book serves as a wonderful parting shot for our minds and hearts still hung over the land of Lepchas! 

One year of online class!

“Wiggling my fingers and saying the prayer….raising my silent hand and unmuting myself, taking the cookie from the cookie jar” (an interactive game played in the online class)… “these are a few of my favourite things of online class” was what my five-year old had to say at her online graduation day at the end of this year’s online academic year. For most students, the 2020-21 academic year will go down in history as a school year sans even single visit to school. The usual school routine of getting the kids ready, packing lunch boxes and dropping them at the school bus pick up point seems to have happened in the distant past which we don’t seem to relate to anymore! Instead, we’ve become complacent (read as lazy!), optic-driven, and adept at an eleventh-hour focus on only what is captured on the webcam! All this has indeed taken a toll on our kids’ attitude and attention towards learning and school, especially the younger kids who find the online format to be a restrictive medium. Frankly, I don’t blame Aadya for her being not-so-enthusiastic about her thrice a week online class. Groggy and yawning through most part of the half-an-hour class, my soon-to-be-six-year-old chatter-box is least bit interactive in class and only unmutes herself after being goaded into answering a question. The only time she shakes herself out of her trance-like state is at the end of the class when she repeatedly wishes her teachers “Bye … see you tomorrow” in her characteristic shrill metallic voice, ending up disturbing her brother who is suffering through his own online class in the next room! That said, we truly commend the efforts of TSA school management and the teachers for their brilliant adaptation to the new format and their sincere efforts in attempting to acquaint the children with the needed math and language concepts albeit through a highly limited medium, while at the same time, ensuring that the screen-time is not too onerous for kids or their parents. We appreciate that the school has indeed managed to cover good ground even with a five-day week of three and half hour’s physical class being replaced with a three-day week of half an hour online class! The school also made sure that the children don’t miss out on special events like talent week or the festival celebrations, all conducted online. Of course nothing can compare to the reserving of a seat in anticipation for a friend boarding the next stop on school bus or vying for the first turn on the slide during the school play hour or admiring a fellow classmate’s new pencil box while making a mental note to convince parents to buy you one or hoping your classmates shares her paneer parathas during lunch hour…all an integral part of the school life that we hope to gain back at least during the second half of next academic year ….fingers crossed really!

While most of our activities are still online or virtual, internet connectivity is the key factor to have a smooth run during one’s online day! What happens if the internet connections snaps…all hell breaks loose, right? A similar situation (though pre-covid times) has been wonderfully captured in Richa Jha’s “The Manic Panic”, illustrated by Mithila Ananth, brought out by the award winning Pickle Yolk books. However, I’m not sure that it is our generation that is obsessed with screen time as featured by Richa Jha, but I believe it’s the other way around! On most days, everyone in the household is shown to be pouring over a device but when the wi-fi is down, everyone gets restless…everyone except the fitness-obsessed grandma and the young girl who tries to get her parents to break free from their devices in her own way. The young girl coaxes her parents into a digital-detox exercise without having to worry about connectivity and internet, with help from her grandma. The parents mirroring what would normally be the reaction of the device obsessed generation reminds me of the Mo Willems narrative in “Don’t let the Pigeon….” series. Read on as the tables turn and it is up to the younger generation to take charge and re-introduce the older generation into a life without devices, if not for at least a day …. with a funny twist in the end as the girl finds herself in her parents’ shoes! The story is also a feel-good satire on how we let technology/internet/devices take over our lives so much so that it’s hard to fathom a day or even a moment without being attached to any device! A quirky little story that reflects the state of almost every other household these days, particularly during the pandemic, and it all falls on that one family member – the anti-device activist to diffuse the “No internet” panic situation at home! We enjoyed the illustrations as they take the story forward and bring forth the myriad different moods of the parents, grandma and the precocious young girl I had bought this book a while ago to only demonstrate to my older one that I’m not the only anti-device activist in the world, and little did I realise that this book will be a big hit with my little one who somehow sees herself in the young girl! Wi-fi or no wi-fi….here’s to more manageable “manic panic” situations at home !

5-power!

“I’m growing bigger…my birthday is coming!” is how my little one shoots back at her brother when teased about being a baby! While we can’t believe how time has flown ever since she arrived five years ago, our little princess (I know it’s a cliched term but she loves it and sure acts like one!) has grown bolder, naughtier and definitely more assertive in her sibling skirmishes with her older brother! The eight-year age gap hardly matters as she regularly spars with her older brother in their territorial wars, so much so that we are left bemused (and a little nervous) at how confident she is about her own ability to take on her big brother! That said, she can turn into a baby the next moment, wanting to be fed and cuddled to sleep like one, when one of her parents walks in!  While she is definitely a lot more independent than Abhay was at her age, open to trying out on her own and excited to experiment with new experiences, Aadya however still latches on to certain activities that strictly qualifies as being only for babies, like being fed dinner or refusing to go to bed on her own and its more to do with wanting to be around her mommy or daddy all the time than about her own capability  …….and our 24/7 presence at home owing to the lock-down has certainly not helped the situation!  Aadya turned five last week and no doubt she has gotten bigger, but she can no longer hold on to “my birthday is coming” anymore…..for at least while now and will have to think of another way to smart mouth her brother! 😊

Since her birthday falls during the school vacation, we always lament over how she never gets to celebrate the day feeling special at school and this year we had decided to have her don her birthday special dress on the school reopening day in the first week of June. Alas!…. It turns out that it’s not just Aadya but many are to miss celebrating their birthdays in school this year!

Anyway, it was very much a birthday in Covid-19 times,  with a home celebration amidst the members of only our household with her maternal grandparents joining in through a video-call, and  splash of pink and a smattering of a few princess cut outs available at home, home-made savouries, and a “princess/doll cake” custom baked by “Bake_mon_reve ” run by a pastry chef who is also a relative followed by the customary birthday treasure hunt organised by her “Anna” and the piece de resistance being his part-hand-sketched-part-printed birthday card for his sister making it even mores special!  

While we revisited an old book, "Its Hard to Be Five" by Jamie Lee Curtis  and Laura Cornell, that I had read to the big brother on his fifth birthday back in 2011, it didn’t enthuse her much and I’m not sure if it’s a ‘girl thing’ not to be impressed by a whiny five year old boy annoyed about turning five…but when I happened to stumble upon this wonderful online story at “Storyweaver – Pratham books” ..I knew I had found the perfect book for Aadya’s fifth birthday! In fact, “With you, Ma” by Adith A K and illustrated by Amalendu Kaushik is too good to be true! I must say Pratham publications have been pioneers, in so far as stories that deal with simple growing-up quirks of children. No matter how usual or unusual is your child's tendency, ..there's bound to be a Pratham book about it and I'm always amazed at how they manage to put out such good content at such an affordable price! 

Anyway, in keeping with the Covid-19 times, we went online too, and found this gem of a  book online at storyweaver.org.in.  My little one always relates to the girl in the book and what are the odds that the little girl in this book is named Aadya too?! Little Aadya is almost like an extended attachment to her mother and neither lets her mother out of sight nor wants to venture anywhere without her ma (I’m sailing in the same boat too!) On a trip to Majuli, where she is seen literally clinging to her mom through-out the flight-train-ferry journey, Aadya is introduced to another girl her age, Kim-Kim and her young sister. Though hesitant at first, Aadya enjoys playing with her new friend Kim Kim, and soon she is off to tiny little adventures with Kim Kim and her friends, playing in the rain, splashing water by the river and picking and munching on bugories….all on her own without having her mother tag along and this experience pushes Aadya to take baby steps towards the path of self-reliance, much to her mother’s delight!  A great book to nudge your little one into doing things independently!   So here’s wishing more 5-power to my just-turned-five year old who no matter what and much to her chagrin, will always be the baby of our family! 😊

It's storytelling festival out here!

As we head towards the final week of the 21-days lock down on account of the Covid-19 pandemic in India, hoping against hope that it will slow down the infection spread, we find that “Zoom”, “BOTIM”, “Microsoft Team” along with good old “Skype” are the new buzzwords that seemed to have revolutionized the way we look at group interactions. From virtual courts and e-filings to online meetings, from online classes to online assignments, from online live story-times to online live music concerts, technology has enabled us to soldier on as far as its possible in these testing times. With an explosion of live programs on Facebook,  you find out yourself online all the time - just as you catch your favourite musician in a Facebook live “unplugged performance”, it seems to overlap with the live interactive session with the much-sought after nutrition cum fitness expert, or as you manage to get your little one to watch one of the author-hosted story sessions live on Facebook, you can’t help but leave to her device(s) and switch to another for a once-in-a-lifetime story time read out by Ruskin Bond himself !   Even in times of quarantine, I can’t believe we are still being haunted by that “Fear of missing out” (FOMO) feeling!!

Needless to say, all this is only a momentary respite from the restlessness and the fear of uncertainty, the general gloom over the impending catastrophe and the accompanying sadness in seeing so much suffering and loss of lives and livelihood all around us. That said, it’s also important to stay positive and ensure your family, particularly the kids are in good spirits as they are our unsung heroes after all, literally imprisoned for no fault of theirs and not knowing why (as with the younger ones). While many schools have embarked on online learning formats for the older kids, engaging younger kids is still a challenge. So apart from the juggling with working from home full-time or part-time, household chores , cooking and cleaning, in our case, we are called upon to choose the best of my little one’s several drawings of “Rapunzel” or get summoned to taste her pretend “poha” or “pakoda” from her pretend kitchen!  

Anyway, thanks to all the live story sessions on social networking platforms, we have been revisiting some of our earlier favorites, like Princess Easy Pleasy of which a sequel has been brought out by the author, Natasha Sharma in keeping with “constant boredom” that all our princes and princesses face in these quarantined times. In fact, in so many ways, these online story-times are better than the in-person activities, as hopefully the attention stays on the story-teller and what he or she has to say and does not wander off to the colour of the hairband worn by girl in front! :-)

With a Storytelling festival going on, we read the or Tulika’s “The Jungle Storytelling Festival” by Janaki Sabesh and pictures by Debosmita Mazumdar. This is a unique ‘Stories within a story” book that lets the kids  string together well known stories through wordless illustrations. All the animals lead by the squirrel get together for the story telling festival that flags off with the lion and the mouse story narrated by the King of the jungle himself followed by the monkey who engages everyone with his story of outwitting the crocodile greedy for the monkey’s heart and the tortoise narrating his world famous race with the hare. At the end of the first day of the festival, the Ostrich is seen looking on eagerly wondering if he could share his story too. But all the other animals brush him aside given his stammering problem. Just as he retreats to a corner expressing his sorrow in a song, Mouse Mamma hears him and is surprised to find him singing without stammering….and that is enough to give Ostoo an opening and an underdog-like success in the storytelling festival the next day. Aided with soft yet striking illustrations, this book is a brilliant interactive inter-play of age-old fables outlined by a contemporary story line so as to impress upon young minds with today’s ideals of diversity and inclusivity. Whether the lock down is extended further or not, cheer yourself and your little one with the storytelling festivals online. 

First day jitters!

It was D-day for our little one going to big school with her older brother. It was the day when she would finally board the yellow school bus she’d so wished, just like her older brother. It was the day to put on “The Samhita Academy” uniform and continue to wear the same every day of the week, just like her older brother.  It was also  the day that we were dreading as it seemed near impossible to get her ready as early as her brother which is  almost two hours ahead of her usual time  the last two years!! Well... it’s finally here... with both our kids going to the same school ... and gone by 7.45 AM... we may finally get some quiet time for ourselves before our daily grind!!!:-)

While choosing the right school for the kids is a much discussed/debated topic in most households, it was quite the opposite with us. It was more of "We came, we saw and we enrolled....." with my older one who has happily continued in the same school ever since he first joined in UKG or Upper Kindergarten on our return from the US. So it was but a natural progression for his baby sister to be going to the same school, albeit a year earlier for LKG or Lower Kindergarten after two years of playschool.  While we didn't dwell too much on whether it was the right call to make when we filled out the sibling admission forms last year followed by a seemingly smooth admissions process,  it is only in the last couple of weeks that we began to get cold feet over preparing our little one for her big day and had misgivings about  whether it is too early to send our little one to a large school that is more than half-hour commute away or would it have been prudent to let her continue for another year in her close-knit Montessori school that's literally only a stone's throw away from our house. Added to this mix were several pre-occupations like work getting hectic all of a sudden, the fracture of my older one’s little finger at the start of the academic year, and my mother-in-law's backache, all of which only compounded our concern over her ability to fit in and our wherewithal to enable her to do so!  But when the D Day arrived, without much fuss,  our little one held her brother's hand and just climbed on to the school bus!   We even followed the bus into her school and hid behind other nervous parents to watch her alight at the school entrance and just as we were about capture the moment on camera ......she noticed us ... and  waved out to us  as if it were a "first day of school-red carpet",  reassuring us that she was going to be fine!! :-)

It had to be a special book to celebrate the start of our little one's journey in the yellow school bus, and I went all the way across town to "The Lightroom bookstore" to find it! Sounds too dramatic isn't it? Well, actually I managed to finish work in North Bangalore early enough to be able stop by the bookstore, that I had visited many moons ago. Browzing through the well stocked shelves of independent bookstores like "The Lightroom Bookstore" and a few other in South Bangalore, is such a joy that can't compare to the convenience of online shopping  and a friendly owner like Aasthi Mudnani and her courteous staff helping you the find the right book only completes this delightful experience!  

So we picked a few books and best liked "First day Jitters" by Julie Danneberg and illustrated by Judy Love, a part of the "Mrs. Harwell's classroom adventures series" by Charlesbridge publications. School year has just begun  and Mr. Hartwell has a tough time waking up Sarah for her first day at the new school. Just like anyone with starting trouble, Sarah refuses to budge from her bed and has to be goaded into getting ready for school, with her father gently persuading her at first and then resorting to sterner methods to get Sarah to look forward to the new experiences in her new school, dismissing all her apprehensions.  Despite all her diversion tactics from her head hurting to feeling sick, she is finally ready and packed off to the school in Mr. Hartwell's car and is welcomed by the school supervisor/principal who ushers her into her  classroom.... and the readers as well as the students  are finally introduced to Mrs. Sarah Jane Hartwell ..the new class teacher! :-)  We could relate to this ..... as except Aadya, everyone else from her parents, her older brother, paternal grandparents at home, maternal grandparents at a distance, and to her day-time nanny were all experiencing 'first day jitters"!Have a great school year without any jitters....my kindergartner! 

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! 

Abhay goes swimming ............again!

I cant help the dejavu feeling, when it comes to Abhay’s ‘swimming class’ phobia! After years of prodding (Gosh! I make it sound like he’s over 30 years old…but it does feel like forever!)….he now enjoys himself in the swimming pool… provided it is minus the perceived rigours of a swimming class and instructions of a swim coach!!!! So the minute there’s talk about enrolling him into summer swimming classes, he goes from from an acquaphile to an acquaphobic……from a fish in water to a fish out of water!!! It’s probably his sixth swimming class in three years……..with a forced hiatus last year owing to non-access to swimming pool along with certain logistics issues (which we promptly justified as not wanting to push our then six year old into something he doesn’t want to join!). To be fair, he does get more comfortable during the course of a three week class. So much so that towards the end, he acts as if he was born to swim (our very own Ripley’s Believe it or not)! But once there’s a gap …… it all goes back to square one! Well… one cant have first time jitters forever…can one??

We’ve read many books on swimming and fear thereof, it seemed quite pointless to down that tide again….but a random Google search yielded a link of a hilarious book that simply deserved a mention on Onestoryaday! “Clem Always could” by Sarah Watts is a wonderful book on guiding your little one to try out new things, even if it seems scary the first time! Little Clem could do a lot of things – make bat-ball out of anything as he always loved sport, could dress himself as he always had style, could jump, run faster than waves, do a puzzle, make friend and so on so forth. But if there was one thing that Clem couldn’t get himself to do was swimming. So when his mom took him to the swimming pool, Clem just wasn’t keen. None of mom’s usual strategies like reasoning out, bribery, pleading, physical force, seemed to work. So Clem’s mom let Clem do what Abhay’s mom finds it hard to do – just sit by, watch and leave! :-) At home, as Clem goes about his usual routine of finishing up his drink or using the toilet, mom tried to explain to Clem that he in fact had to learn to do many such things…to which Clem shot back saying that he always knew how to drink or use the toilet! Mom persists on and reminds Clem of the time he had to learn to brush or bathe or write but Clem feels that he could always do those things. Pointing out how Clem is to learn many new things as he grows up, mom takes him to the swimming pool the following week. But Clem is adamant and thinks of  everything from invisible sharks and crocodiles to laughing bystanders to prevent him from getting into the pool! Finally Clem meets his friend Grace who jumps into the swimming pool without a fuss when Clem is emboldened to follow suit. What happens thereafter is something I’m hoping to see happen with Abhay too!! Once Clem's in………….it feels like he always could!! A great book to help your little one cope with the first-time jitters …..every time!!:-)

AlphaOops!

Today’s reading prompt ABC at the  30 books in 30 days challenge takes me back to Abhay’s pre-school years when I had a tough time getting him to distinguish between the alphabets b and d, and m and n! J The paranoid mom that I was (and in many ways still am!), I wondered if Abhay was bordering on some kind of dyslexia and so I was on the look out for a suitable book on ABC in small letters to make sure Abhay is not dyslexic! With greater exposure to books and educational materials, toddlers now begin recognize letters even before they learn to speak....don't they?  Anyway, having progressed quite a bit in the world of alphabets (thank God!),  Abhay now tries to find alphabets everywhere – in the shapes of clouds, trees and bushes, pebbles and rocks  and of course in the food, especially when it is not of his liking!:-) Even in the most irritated state, you cannot but smile when your little one shows you a half eaten cucumber shaped into a C or D ….isn't it?

Abhay’s first ABC book was ABC Zoo which was gifted to him on his second birthday by my friend in the US which we happily gifted back to her new born daughter who we hoped would enjoy the book during her toddler years. Anyway, for today’s reading, we found a funny one titled “AlphaOops – The day when Z went first” by  Alethea Kontis and illustrated by Bob Kolar. An intelligently written book that gives each alphabet a personality of its own with issues that children can relate to. This is a usual ABC but with a twist, as the alphabet Y and Z are tired of being the last and decide to rebel. As they go backwards….alphabets like P and O decide to cut the order as they complain that no matter where you start, they are always stuck in the middle. As the order gets jumbled up again, everyone blames Z for the mess! Then H hops in claiming his rightful position as he is happy to be where he is. Then R rides in to represent two words instead of one when V vents her frustration as she only got to represent one thing – violin. Everyone takes a cue from R and follows suit and while it appears that everyone has had their turn, U is ushered in by P as it turned out that U had gone for a wee! J  Finally its time to end with ….A, but where is A? Is A upset about the mix-up?  A proves to be sport after all by making a grand entry presenting a host of words beginning with A. With the mix up proving to be hit, all the alphabets decide to go back to their usual order the next time, with Z apologizing for being pushy and A accepting the apology and offering to change the order, if asked politely! J  A different kind of ABC which is educative and entertaining at the same time!

Toys set free!

When kids grow up, you'd think that they grow out of all their toys.....well, you'd wish....! To be fair...they do grow out of a few but there's always a toy that is too close to their heart to give away. My seven year old who should have grown out of his indoor toys a long time ago, at times still lays out his train tracks turning his room into a mini-Island of Sodor! You can imagine how annoyed I'd be when I return home from work to find every inch of floor space in his room covered with tracks.....set up by a kid who's way past the age limit meant for such toys! Abhay  still had so many toys meant for toddlers and pre-schoolers that we got him to reluctantly donate a few to a nearby orphanage. But there were still many of his branded toys (which took up most of the shipping space as we were foolish enough to assume that they were not available in India!) that we'd found it difficult to get rid of, partly because of the reluctance on the part of everyone from Abhay to Abhay's grandma to let go of toys that have cost a pretty penny plus the added discomfort in being mistaken when you offer hand-me-downs to known friends and relatives. Anyway, over the weekend, we managed to find a suitable home for some of our prized toys! Surprisingly, Abhay willingly gave away his Vrtech laptop, leap frog word prompter and the antique looking wooden railway tracks to his younger cousins, genuinely pleased that the toys he once so enjoyed would now make someone else happy! But all said and done, he wasn't yet ready to make that call for his Thomas set! :-(

 

Today's prompt for the 30 books in 30 days challenge being "Toys", I could not but agree with Bubbleink that Mo Willems' Knuffle Bunny series couldn't have been more appropriate. Since I've already featured Knuffle Bunny earlier on Onestoryaday, I was looking for something else but I couldn't lay my hands on any book appropriate for Abhay. But since books like Knuffle Bunny are the very reason I started blogging on Onestoryaday and the third book in the series particularly being Abhay's favourite (which took minimal shipping space), we decided to revisit the book and repost on Onestoryaday as an exception! My last post on Knuffle Bunny was three years ago, and the very fact that I still read it to Abhay is only proof of its enduring theme and how it works on so many layers! In fact, Abhay is now all the more able to relate to the sentiment behind "Knuffle Bunny free -An unexpected diversion ". As Trixie finally comes to terms with the loss of her Knuffle Bunny on the flight to her grandparents' place, she accidentally finds it on her flight back in the same place as she had left it.  While she rejoices in this reunion, she also realizes that it's time to move on and let someone else more deserving enjoy the company of Knuffle Bunny and places him in the hands of a bawling baby seated behind them, with her proud parents looking on! So Knuffle Bunny who had been an inseparable part of Trixie's life now becomes another's inseparable comfort toy! Today as we read this book, Abhay declared that he doesn't need toys anymore as he is happy to have his parents...... To which my husband retorted "So that we can buy him more toys!" :-)

 

Is your G.E.M under control?

We may envy others who appear to have a perfect life, but who knows what lies beneath the surface! For all you know, that someone may probably envy you for those aspects of your life that you take for granted! Haven't we all come across a situation like that? For instance, a friend or a peer who seems to have everything one would wish for……but the fact of the matter is that while we know the perks, we don’t know the pressure; we only see good days and don’t see the bad days; we only see what that person has gained and not what he or she had to give up! Many a times there's more to what meets the eye and all we see is what we choose to see! :-)

Today we read “G.E.M” by Jane Clarke and illustrated by Garry Parsons, a story revolving around a boy named Royd and his envy quotient called the “G.E.M” meaning the Green Eyed Monster (which is literally a small green object hovering around everyone) Royd thinks his friend Gark has everything – a space pod for a birthday gift, a booster bouncer and a performing magician at his birthday party and best of all a free ride to Mars as and when he pleases!. He doesn’t heed to his mom’s warnings to keep an eye on his G.E.M lest it may gobble him up! But as Royd finds that the party is getting more and more fun, he cannot contain his jealousy and his G.E.M grows twice, ten times and finally a hundred times bigger until it puffs up so much that it gobbles him up! As Royd’s sister drags Royd’s G.E.M back home, his parents sympathise with his state by recollecting their childhood G.E.M experiences and explain that no one has everything. A couple of weeks later, when its Royd’s birthday, Royd’s mom and dad organize a super fun birthday party and Royd’s G.E.M grows back to its normal size. But its Gark turn to check on his G.E.M as he in turn considers Royd to be lucky to be having a little sister and a stay-at-home mom! As Royd’s mom serves some baked goodies, Gark mentions that his mom never gets to bake as she travels a lot on work……and guess who’s G.E.M grows bigger…….Royd’s mom who wishes she were working too! J Abhay was amused that both Royd and Gark were in fact jealous of each other!  So you see…..everyone has their own G.E.M to keep a check on!

Some things you just gotta do!

 Abhay’s favourite weekday is Wednesday as the said day’s time-table comprise of both Art class and PT class!  Abhay does not look forward to Monday as the day’s timetable comprise of two sessions of Environmental Science and Maths each! As children grow up, some take time to get down to the business of serious studies…..Abhay is one of them!  Sure …….he is all ears when the EVS lesson was on “Earth and its Neighbours” or “Volcanoes” or “Tornadoes” and other such interesting concepts of science. But he has to realize that it’s a package after all…..and a lesson like “Festivals of India” comes with it! While it’s true  that today’s schools have been employing innovative teaching methods and fewer assessments to make learning fun, but the flipside to it is that children expect everything to be turned into fun….otherwise it’s plain “boooring”!!! Well……Abhay sure wishes that the whole day would comprise of just drawing and art! Sometimes….we all wish so....dont we??  

Today we read about a pup who has similar issues. “I gotta draw” by Bruce Degen is about a an anthropomorphic pup named Charles Muttnik  who just loves to draw anywhere, anyplace and anytime! So when school reopens after summer, Charles discovers that the new academic year is full of surprises……especially the kind he doesn’t like. His class teacher Ms. Rich turns out to be the strict one insisting on being quiet and attentive in class, making them queue up for everything…with no talking or laughing. Ms. Rich gets them to read a lot, write a lot and do lots of lots of arithmetic. Charles is dismayed to find that there is not a lot of drawing to do in the new academic year. Poor Charles, who's just gotta draw, ends up doodling all over ….in his notebook, worksheets and even on his spelling tests.  Charles learns the hard way that his teacher is not too pleased with his drawings …..as his parents are summoned for a meeting. Predictably, his parents are not  pleased too…..and the result being “No TV, No Ice cream, No Movies, No nothing”! As Charles turns in a class project on climate zones…albeit …in an illustrated version, his teacher concedes his passion for drawing. She devises a way in which Charles can continue to draw while learning English, Science and even Maths. So when the whole class learns to spell pickle, Charles is asked to draw a picture of pickle while spelling it aloud. Similarly, as the whole class learns of the five boroughs that makes up New York City …Charlie learns the same by drawing the visuals. Charles couldn’t have been happier…….and soon the whole class follows suit! Though this picture book is meant for children of all ages, I feel the humour is best understood by kids aged five and above. A hilarious picture book that also has us introspect into traditional methods of learning. I love the part where Charles  walks into the first day of school muttering “When you’re a kid, there’s no escape. Summer ends and you gotta go to school. That’s the law”! J So Abhay …when you are kid, there is no escape…..along with learning things you love the most, you gotta learn things you may not enjoy best! That’s the law! J