This is the way we wash our hands!

Children often test your patience when it comes to doing their routine chores like brushing their teeth, finishing up food, putting away their toys, taking off their shoes and the list goes on. With Abhay – it is washing his hands after coming home which he stubbornly refuses to do throwing me into a tizzy, every time he gets home from school. As much as I want him to clean up the first thing after he returns home, Abhay is hell bent on doing everything but wash his hands! I admit I am little obsessive about washing hands ….(which I know has everyone comparing me to Lady Macbeth behind my back!) but hey…what’s wrong in wanting to stay clean…right? It is the same reason that whether or not my handbag has a wallet, it sure will have a hand sanitizer! In fact, when we left the US, I had got a year’s supply of travel size perfumed hand sanitizers and I’m already running out of stock! I’m even thinking of getting them shipped from the US through my friends or relatives visiting India! We even have a sanitizer placed at the front door to be used when heading out and when heading back in, much to the amusement of my in-laws who consider it all too American for our Indian household! So as soon as Abhay puts on his shoes to go out, or leaves the playground after play or is ready to eat his dosa at a restaurant – I have my favorite weapon ready! That said, it is also true that no matter how many times I make him wash his hands again and again and again….he still catches cold as often as he washes his hands!

I went looking for a book that teaches Abhay on the importance of staying clean and look what I found “I Don’t Want to Wash my Hands” a Little Princess story by Tony Ross, conveying the message as directly as possible! Little Princess loves playing in sand and getting her hands dirty. As she tiptoes into the kitchen hungry and looking for something to eat, her mother asks her to wash her hands before she touches the pastry. When she wants to know why, pat comes the reply that it’s because she has been playing outside. As she pets her dog and cat, she is asked to wash her hands again…..“why”? – because she has been playing with her pets. When she goes potty, her father asks her to wash her hands which irks the little princess as she claims to have washed her hands twice already!  Then she lets out an “acchoo” when her maid asks to wash her hands again…when the little princess declares that she is tired of washing her hands again and again and again! (That sounds so much like Abhay!) Her maid then explains the logic behind washing one’s hands – to wash away the germs that can get into the food and then the tummy and can eventually make one ill. As the little princess realizes the importance of washing hands, she asks the maid serving cake if she in turn has washed her hands! As I tuck him into his bed, Abhay coughs into his hands and he smiles knowingly as he is well aware of what Im going to make him do next - wash his hands, of course!

Performance Pressure!

Some kids are born performers while some are born bathroom performers! Some love to hog the limelight while some love to stay away from it! Whether they love to entertain others or only themselves, one thing is for sure – you can’t force them to be what they don’t want to be – at least not when they are kids!:-) Abhay falls somewhere in between and my wanting him to sing or perform never coincides with his desire to show off! Though I have never been those moms who love to show off their kid’s talents, there have been times when I have hoped my  five year old obliges when someone asks him to sing a nursery rhyme. Instead, he pretends as if he has never heard Twinkle Twinkle Little Star! But when he is all alone playing with his legos, or laying his hot wheels tracks, he  just doesn’t stop singing!! Or his performances are reserved for his “circle” of friends, which sometimes excludes even his parents! I guess he is shy or gets conscious in the presence of others but is most comfortable when all by himself or is amidst his close family. Similarly, the other day, when asked to sing a song by a music teacher in whose class I had planned to enroll him, Abhay refused to even open his mouth! But when we got back home, he went straight up to his room and began to play while singing his own cover version of “Wanna be my chammak challo”!

Today we read about one such chameleon who has a mind of her own and cannot change colors like a chameleon is supposed to! “Colour Colour Kamini” by Radhika Chadha and pictures by Priya Kuriyan is another story revolving around Baby Bahadur and his friends. Kamini, the chameleon has a minor problem, she cannot perform her color changing trick in front of her teacher Kapila aunty whereas she manages to do just fine when all alone or with her best friend Bahadur. So in the Basic Colors class, when all the students are instructed to match the color of a tree branch, Kamini gets excited and goes pink, indigo, red, purple and orange, as Kapila aunty stands horrified at Kamini’s mutli-color flashing predicament! Kamini cannot stand the prospect of falling behind her other classmates as they move on to the next class - spots and stripes and seeks the help of Baby Bahadur.  Pondering over how to help his friend, Baby Bahadur goes home to find his Anna and Akka (brother and sister) being pulled up by Kapila aunty for stomping around the banana patch where the chameleons were color matching. As it turned out that Anna and Akka could not spot the color changing chameleons, Bahadur hits upon an idea – to use Colour Colour Kamini’s unique quality to warn the elephant teenagers of a chameleon class in progress. So it not only allows banana lovers a peaceful use of the banana patch but also helps Kamini stay close to her friends while keeping them safe from the meddlesome intruders! Needless to mention, any book from the Baby Bahadur series is a delight to read! Abhay has always been fascinated by the names of the characters; Last time it was Ritu the rabbit who had him fondly remember his friend from Portland and this time around it was Kabir, the chameleon who reminded him of my friend’s son.  Overall, a great read if you have a shy little one lurking around your house! J

Wheels on Bangalore's roads!

It’s been six months since we moved from the US and I still find the traffic in “Namma Bengaluru” mind boggling! In fact, Bangalore has been my Alma Mater when it comes to driving and I sincerely thought if I could drive in Bangalore, I could drive anywhere…..and this was true until I went to the US!  Driving on US roads is an experience by itself! It is all about observing rules, following lane discipline, stopping and yielding at intersections which meant I had to unlearn whatever I had learned on Bangalore’s roads. But once I started driving in the US, driving became much more than a necessity ….I started to enjoy it – the predictability of the roads, the rules and the drivers obeying the rules! But little did I know that at the same time, driving in the US would also disable my reflexes to drive on Indian roads! So its “dejavu” for me as I try to unlearn whatever I had learned in the US! So in place of lane discipline, you’ve got to find your own lane; Instead of yielding to pedestrians, they yield to you; Waiting for the traffic to clear while merging on to the main road is unheard of and frankly impractical, so the trick is to conquer the road inch by inch until the oncoming traffic has no choice but to grant you the right of way! At intersections, it’s not who stops first (as in a stop signs in the US)…it is who blinks first!  Finally, the ground rule if you plan to drive in Bangalore - “Just go with the flow!”J

Speaking of roads and traffic, today we revisited our old favorite Richard Scarry’s “Cars and Trucks and Things that go”. A wonderful book that features all kinds of vehicles one finds on roads and the detailed illustrations mirror the chaos on Bangalore’s roads. I guess this one is a classic that has been around for a long time and has even adults nostaligcally flip through its pages. This book is not only teeming with accurate representations of both commonly known and lesser known vehicles but also has toothbrush and toothpaste cars, ladybug size cars and alligator shaped convertibles sure to make your little one laugh! A must have for any car crazy boy who is fascinated by all what he sees on roads!

This month’s theme in Abhay school being transport,  both Abhay and me have been concenred with the different wheels that ply on our roads - but only one of us seems happy about it. Needless to say, its Abhay!  So another book that I had Abhay read is “Wheels” a Step 1 Ready to Read book by Annie Cobb and illustrated by Davy Jones. This book is all about wheels – train wheels, plane wheels, wheels in the rain, wheels at night (Fire Engine), wheels on the side (side wheel river boat), wheels you can ride (Ferris wheel), wheels you can steer, wheels in the store(cart wheels), band wheels and grand wheels ( a vintage carriage), low wheels (roller skates) and tow wheels – wheels, wheels and more wheels! So let us hope that I steer my car wheels through other cars’ wheels, bike wheels, bus wheels, truck wheels, autorickshaw wheels, cycle wheels …..and wheels, wheels and more wheels!

Peppa Pig's adventures!

It’s almost been six months since our move  back to India and of the three of us, Abhay is the one who least remembers Portland. Frankly, I don’t blame him as I guess he’s got the best deal of all three! :-) Being surrounded and cosseted by his doting paternal and maternal grandparents ……what more could a five year old want? Anyway, the only time he fondly recalls his Portland days is when he turns on the Television and can no longer watch his favorite shows on Nick Jr. or PBS kids! In fact, when we turned on the Television that we shipped from Portland for the first time, Abhay honestly expected to see “Wow Wow Wubbzy” and “Super Why” and instead had to make do with “Chota Bheem”! My apologies to Chota Bheem aficionados, but I find the storyline repetitive and devoid of any educative value. I’m not sure if many would agree but I feel that we lack good quality children’s programs that spark their imagination and promote social and thinking skills. I wish we had more programs that young kids can relate to, as opposed to the super hero stories that hardly seem relevant to their everyday lives.  So its not only Abhay, but Abhay’s mom too who misses Superwhy and Wow Wow Wubbzy! :-)

While in Portland, Abhay loved to watch the “Peppa Pig” series created by Neville Astley and Mark Baker about Peppa, a female pig who faces routine issues like sibling rivalry, reluctance to  share,   peer pressure and adjustment to school that any young girl or a boy may face in their day to day lives.  Since Peppa Pig is a British animated series,  I managed to find some of her stories in the British Council library in Bangalore and needless to say Abhay loves them. Today I read “Daddy Pig’s old chair”, a story revolving around Daddy Pig’s hoarding habit. Peppa’s school is holding a garage sale to raise funds for a new roof wherein everybody has to bring something to sell. Peppa and her family gather some of their old stuff to put up for sale. When mummy pig offers to put up Daddy Pig’s old squeaky chair for sale, Daddy pig is unsure and wants to retain the old junk. But when the school truck arrives, naughty mummy pig gives away the old chair and assures Peppa that Daddy will never notice. At the school jumble sale, when everyone is busy looking at each other’s donations, Daddy Pig is excited to show his family what he’s bought. No prizes for guessing what that might be – his old chair which he believes to be a perfect match to his chair at home! As always, it’s Daddy Pig’s silly little ways that bring a smile on your little one’s face…..and no wonder Abhay likes him so much….reminds him of his daddy who always makes him laugh! :-)

I know a lot of things!

Another year has gone by and here we are at the threshold of a brand new year – 2012. With the passing of each year, we become older, wiser, sometimes smarter and at times even cynical but nevertheless more experienced than we were before – in other words you now know a lot more than you knew before! For instance, back in January 2011, I didn’t know that in a year’s time, I’d be writing this blog post from Bangalore! Neither did my son know how much fun it actually is to be living with grandparents and nor did I know how relieved we would feel after moving back to our hometown!  Each year brings in new possibilities, new goals, new dreams, new challenges, and new perspectives – something new for everyone to learn, unlearn and relearn!  

Today I read a book titled “I know a lot of things”, which by the way, I didn’t know was a classic by Ann & Paul Rand. This book is also famous for the colorful and playful artwork by the legendary graphic designer Paul Rand. Narrated in witty and rhyming verses, this book brilliantly captures the excitement of a child as he discovers the world around him. You cant help but smile as a little boy confidently recounts all what he knows  - he knows that when he looks at the mirror, he sees himself and that a dog goes bowwow and that is how they talk and  he knows that the world is wide and the star is faraway and the moon is a light for the night and the sun is round as a bun and very bright  and that a book needs pages and a cake takes ages to bake! Finally, the icing on the cake is when he says “I know such a lot of things, but as I grow, I know I’ll know much more”! Abhay quite liked this book and found certain parts hilarious. He even began rattling out all the things he knew! So here’s hoping everyone knows much more this year than the year before. Happy New Year !