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Raising Mihika and RuhikaHakuna Matata October 15 October already?!I am seeing a trend with every blog entry and however much I feel like saying what I am about to say, I will not..although the subject kinda sums it up in two words
 . Well, I had been keeping a running list of all the things I should remember to put in my blog when I find the time and turns out, that list was sucked in by the vaccuum cleaner when we took our car to the car wash! Yes, I was maintaining a list in my car because that is the only quiet time I get these days. Some cute conversations with Mihika:The other day I was explaining to her how my pay goes to the bank directly and when we need money, we need to go to the bank and get it. So she asked me if the bank takes the money. These days because checking accounts are free, I kept saying no and kept thinking that she does not get the concept. Then she asked me "How to the people in the bank make money then?!". I thought that was smart!! Talking about detail oriented, the girl is a Virgo to the core. She will drill down into details that nobody will think of. Her pet peeve - high neck or turtle neck shirts! She had tears in her eyes when I put on a turtle neck on her the other day! The other thing she absolutely loves is long hair. Her hair had got really long and we convinced her to cut it short! Well, long story short, she has told me she'll never cut her hair ever! She is turning out to be a really caring person - and I think a big part of it is because she has to play big sister to Ruhika. I was at a car shop the other day and she was telling the owner there "It is not easy being a big sister..you know..you have to set an example and all..but I kinda like it." She is enjoying first grade and has been enjoying aftercare and making lots of new friends. Today when I was trying to rush her and Ruhika to drink milk, Ruhika gulped down her milk and told Mihika "Hum ne pehle khatam kiya". So I tried to answer back and say "That's okay, its not about winning, it is about finishing"..to which Mihika said "It is not about finishing or winning, it is about being healthy!"
 My lil Virgo gal...and when I address her saying "girlfriend", she asked me how I could say girlfriend and when I explained that a daughter is a mother's best friend, she seemed absolutely content and happy that I consider her my best friend..little does she know the contentment I get from thinking of that concept - no don't get me wrong, I've got some of the best girlfriends on the planet, but would love to add two more to that list! Ruhika is growing up too..some cute conversations:
I have taken out all the hand me down clothes that Mihika wore when she was 3 and 4 and there is a dress with squares on it..so when she wore it, she asked me “Abhi hum times square jaa rahe hai?”..I was totally taken aback as we were going to Sanjay’s birthday party..so I said, that is so funny..and that she is a silly girl..to which she replied “nahi mamma, is dress pe squares hai..isiliye times square jaani padega!”. What a PJ! Banta baabu..well, not all her jokes are PJ's though. Conversation sequence:
"Jaldi se khana khawo Ruhika..we can eat dessert after that"
"Camel Aayega?"
"Kya?"
"Sand mein baith ke khayenge?"
"Huh?"
"Camel pe baith ke sand me khayenge?"
 Both love making bracelets and necklaces..Ruhika's bracelet said "JOG" because daddy jogs. She seems to be getting confused about whether she should continue liking blue and being a tomboy. She has a friend in school who told her that pink is better and so she asked me if she can change her favorite color to pink. I told her to keep it blue because blue is cool too. Let me see if peer pressure gets to her this time! When I was riding with her to school the other day, I was alone and so I asked her what car she would buy when she got older. Her answer "I'll buy myself a red sports car with a remote and I'll buy J (her friend) a truck". I asked her what she wants to do with the remote, she told me I can keep it. Imagine that! Parents operating the remote when the kids drive cars! Do I have a scientist in the making? Its in their blood anyways...Ruhika's pet peeve - getting her hands or legs dirty or even wet. She also hates it if anyone kisses her. When asked why, she told me it is because her cheek gets wet with spit. She can't see anything lying around out of place - so she asks me or Srikanth to put it where it was. And at 3.5 years, that girl has not lost even one hairpin! She neatly tucks away any hairpins that come off and remembers where she kept them! May 21 Random Musings on mother's dayThis past mother's day I read somewhere a sentence that said "Making a decision to have a child--it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body"..it just sent me into a trance - thinking of how true the statement really is. The moment a child is born, a mother is also born. Had anyone said this sentence before I had my princesses, I would have never realized the depth that it conveys. I thought of the emotions that my mind has gone through - from the first time I saw Mihika and Ruhika, the sleepless nights, the quiet nights when I held my babies in my arms and rocked them to sleep..sometimes I wondered if they enjoyed it more or if I did! The first smile..their first boo boo - I cried when Mihika got her first shots..the first time they sat down, the first time they crawled, the first time they stood up, first time they went to school, first time they sat in the plane, their first solid food, their first bicycle ride - the list is just endless. I remember how I had water streaming down my cheeks when Mihika and Ruhika first performed on stage, how proud I was when Mihika had her graduation, how proud I was when Ruhika started riding the tricycle at 22 months, how obsessed I am with all their innocent talks and simple pleasures. I realized how fierce my love for them is - and how fierce my attachment towards them is. The other day I was in NYC and saw a bunch of graduates from NYU having a party - and I had tears in my eyes just looking at the faces of the parents of the graduates! It took my mind to the day Mihika graduated from pre-school. I am so thankful to God for letting me experience what pure and unconditional love is, what tough love is (yes - one has to go from being stern one moment to comforting my babies to go to sleep singing a lullaby - basically transform from an ogre to a saint), how a mother's lap can be the best school for your child, how a simple kiss can cure a boo boo, the love in my children's eyes when they look at me, how a simple hug from them makes me feel like I've got it all, how I can laugh hard, be silly or just be myself and still be absolutely adored by four beautiful eyes staring at me and how I can obsess over them day and night without worrying what anyone will think..I really wish there was a way to put in words the feelings of completeness a mom gets to experience! And it is only when I became a parent that I realized the true love that my parents have for us. I knew all along that they absolutely loved and adored us, but being a parent just puts it all in more perspective. I hope that someday Mihi-Ruhi will also get to experience this beautiful feeling and realize how they are the joy and laughter in our lives! They just make this whole life worth living!!!  April 14 The world through little eyesI love the ages that Mihika and Ruhika are at. This is the age at which we get live free episodes of “Kids say the darnest things”! The other day Mihika was going on and on about what Passover means and how Moses came to Egypt to rescue the Pharoes etc. She then said that they read a book about mummies. I asked her what mummies are – she goes “Mummies are wrapped up moms..who are queens may be..but they are scary and walk around in the night”. Then she thought about what she said and went “Hmm..they can’t be that scary, coz they are called mummy – you know?”. I agreed to her logic and was thinking of how to explain what mummies really are when Ruhika who had been listening attentively went “Lekin Daddies kidhar rehte hai?!” (But where do Daddies live?!).
See the point is that Ruhika is just big enough to think that she gets it! Glasses for example – in her world, glasses are for “show”. We had a playdate the other day and one of the little girls that came over was wearing glasses. As soon as Ruhika saw that, she ran inside looking for her “blue swimming goggles”. She wanted to make sure everyone knew she had “glasses” too. She went around wearing the swim goggles till the play date ended!
In her world, a crane is a “big fishing rod”. We were on our way to DC to meet our friends and on the way we saw a lot of construction going on. We saw huge cranes too. Ruhika who was staring out of the window went “Dekho bahar – baida fishing rod!” (Look outside, big fishing rod). Sure, we could use those to catch whales!!
And whenever mamma goes out, it has got to be associated with “city”. We were leaving to VA for a short weekend vacation and Ruhika sensed all the excitement and went “Vacation mein city hai kya?” (Is city in the vacation?). I told her “No” as I did not have time to explain. So she went and asked everyone around the room to understand what the whole excitement was about. To Mihika “Mihika, abhi hum city vacation jaa rahe hai kya?” (Are we going to city vacation now?). To daddy “Mamma ke saath city vacation hai kya? City mein vacation hai kya? Vacation Mein City hai kya?”(Does mommy have city vacation? Is vacation in city? Is city in vacation?).
So as her little world is expanding, she was shocked the other day to see a tow truck carrying a car that was right in front of our car. Her eyes went really big and she went “Look daddy, the car is sitting on the truck!”. I guess this is because we don’t have too many toy cars at home and she had not seen a tow truck so closely. She then went “Naughty car – tell the car that it will fall down! Get off car!”.
We had to go through numerous toll booths the other day. So I was explaining the concept of EZPass. I told her that the toll booth says "Give me the money, Give me the money" and the EZPass shoots back a number saying "Take my money using this, take my money using this". So Mihika had to apply her imagination and process it.
"Mamma, they should make the toll booth look like Wall-E. It should have eyes and a mouth and ask for money". "Yes - sure" I said..picture that - a Wall-E toll booth asking for money as we pass under its legs!! "And mamma, what do they do with the money? Give it to poor children?". "Oh no! Not this money..they use it to repair the road" I said.. "But mamma..the road looks just fine..why should we pay the money?" I like her point. But who argues with the government?! Ruhika went "Mamma, when we go to Sneha maushi's house, will there be a toll asking us to give it money?!". Here go her neurons again trying to make connections
Oh and the concept of bribery..Ruhika gets this from Mihika. Mihika is always finding ways to bribe us into doing the things she wants. So the other day I was leaving to work really early and was going to come back late. I told both the girls that I have a lot of work and so will be coming late. Mihika in her refined way was trying to find out if there is anyone else that can do the work or if I could get the work done over two days. I told them that I had a meeting and so could not avoid coming home late. Mihika thinks that a manager can do anything (mine and Srikanth’s) and so she went inside and got a paper lantern that Ruhika had made. She then wrote out a letter telling my manager to send her mom home early (yes, stab my heart February 27 Thank God for "Mute" button!It's been a couple of weeks since my parents left to India. They were here to help out with my and Srikanth's transition to our new roles in our jobs. So as is the case everytime, they completely took over! Mihika and Ruhika had the luxury of spending lots of time with their grandparents, having their grandparents at activity days at school, going out to the park on days that weather permitted, eating yummy food and "pharaal"..you name it! Anyways, now that they left, we are left with some really big shoes to fill! The other day I cooked some okra because both of them love it. Well, the first bite and Ruhika says "Bhindi khatta hai". And she did not touch it! Mihika goes "It's yellowish - it should be green". I am not into cooking and now because of Ruhika, I have to hone my cooking skills?! Mihika loves bland food and so I was her ideal chef! Mihika is also good at taking me on a guilt trip - "Why did you or daddy not come to my 100th day celebration!?" "It is a special day for me!". Thankfully celebrating by going out to eat ice cream after dinner made her happy! Anyways, so now I have a babysitter who gets them home at 4:00 and takes care of them till I finish my work. The other day she had to leave early and so now I had a call to attend and two hungry kids to attend to! All I can say is - thank God for the mute button!  Hopefully I won't have to do this often! Oh the joys of balancing work and family!January 12 Florida is in our basement!I had to jot this down before I forgot about it. Yesterday when Mihika was doing her homework, I had to explain where Hawaii is on the world map and also show her the places she has visited. So I showed her India, Brussels, Paris, Boston, Florida, South Carolina, Denver, Las Vegas, New Mexico, Utah, WashingtonDC. She then sang a chorus for me
Asia, Africa, North and South America
Antarctica, Europe, and Australia Anyway, all through this, Ruhika was sitting around playing with her stuff. Then when we were eating dinner, one of the conversations led to how Mihika had to learn different places on the map. Ruhika who was listening till now, told her grandparents, "Aap Florida jawo". So we said, where is Florida? She goes "Florida is in the basement!". Ofcourse it is - coz our map is in the basement!!  December 23 Hum tho "only" haiRuhika's vocabulary is expanding exponentially these days. Everything that she says makes so much sense. She even has a great presence of mind. Last week her grandpa was looking for his slippers and this girl goes running, bends and gets her hands under the couch and pulls out the slippers! She loves going grocery shopping with her dad and grandpa. The other day she got back and when we asked what she got, she told us everything "popcorn, brocolli, yogurt.." and then she went "milk, milk, milk". So her Grandma asked her why she said milk again..she goes "because I said Mihika-Ruhika's milk, Ajjaree's milk (soy milk) and the other milk (2%)".  On another instance, she was talking to her grandpa and asked "Ajjaree, aapka Rajani hai kya?" (Rajani is my mom's name). So he said yes. Then she said "Daddy ka Harsha hai kya?". So we all laughed and said yes. When we asked "Aapka koun hai", she thought and went "Hum tho "only" hai". Imagine the tiny neurons in her brains connecting and clicking going hum tho....and click! Only! She hears all these words from Mihika and tries to use them. The other day, Mihika was talking about "transforming" something! I am not sure I knew that word when I was 5 years old! Oh well..We are all gearing up for 10 days of Winter break!! Yaaaay!December 05 Fall Comments this year!I always love the way children look at nature. Mihika has a tendency to be very verbal about her surroundings, her dressing and nature. This year when she was walking back from the Montessori in the evening, there was a gush of wind and all the fall leaves in the trees whooshed and the leaves on the ground flew along. So Mihika asks "Amma, can we sit on those leaves and fly with them? Wouldn't that be wonderful? We could go watch the sunset from up there". I would say people can use this as a "relaxation technique"!  The Mihika technique!! Talking about being verbal, she picked out a dress today for school which was blue. She then picked a blue sweater, blue hair band, blue shoes and goes "Dekha - sab kuch hamne pick kiya. Kaise lag rahe hai hum? Blue princess jaise shaayad? Ajjaree, no more blueness in me!". I think she has an appreciation for the finer pleasures in life. When we were coming back from her swimming class that is on Friday evenings from 7:15 - 8:00 PM, she told me to turn up the heater in the car. Then she told me to put on the hindi song "In aankhon ki masti mein". She then goes "Abhi kaise lag raha hai aapko?". The other thing she has started doing these days is picking my dresses! If there is a party and I get an Indian dress out, she goes "If you wear an Indian outfit, then I will wear one too!". This very statement sends me running back in the closet because I know what happens once Mihika decides to dress in an Indian outfit! The next two hours are spent picking all the accessories and doing her hair. So then she picks some dazzling, shining outfit for me and I simply resign to her cute arguments on why I should pick those dresses and go with the flow! Imagining how it will be when Ruhika will start asserting her opinions on my dress sense. Thank You God - for giving me TWO girls October 30 I hope it is just the age!I know I will be writing on this topic once Mihi-Ruhi are teenagers (I hope not, but I might..oh well..lots of time still)..So here's Ruhika these days. She gets up in the morning and we are wondering if she's woken up on the right side of the bed. If not, then it takes about 30 minutes of convincing to get her out of bed. Everything she does has to be "khud se!". Things like putting on the buttons, zipper, toothpaste, washing her face, shoes everything. But imagine how long that takes. And she decides what everyone should say. "Aap aise mat bolo." So if we say "okay", she goes "okay mat bolo". It is comical and if we laugh at this, there's another tantrum that follows. When she goes to school, her teacher desperately tries everyday to tell her to hang her jacket. And everyday it is the same story, Ruhika takes off her jacket, on a good day, she gives the jacket in her teacher Ms Pat's hands and runs away..on a bad day, she throws the jacket on the floor, giggles (what will you do to me look) and takes off. At dinner time, if she touches the plate, all of us hold our breath and pray that she does not throw it down. Nobody dares to say "don't do that..coz if we do, it is definitely hitting the ground". She decides what she wants to eat or drink. She picked out her Halloween Tinker Bell costume (I was trying to convince her to be a giraffe so we could reuse Mihika's old one - I had seen this coming though). When it is sleep time, she decides when she wants to go upstairs. It is amazing how independent and really stubborn she can be . It is amazingly cute though - nobody can ever get mad at her doings. This morning was the funniest, she still is in pullups or diapers coz we are scared we might have to deal with poopy accidents. She did not want to go downstairs and so we all left her there and were busy getting ready to head out. Well, this girl took off her diaper, pooped in the potty seat and was trying to clean up (all this before we started formally potty training her!). We were all just so proud..so here I am, waiting to go visit a customer to talk about a huge project and since I had the time, I figured I'd rather update with the poopy story of lil Ruhi!!  September 21 Mihika starts kindergarten!YES - the title says it all! My baby is now a big girl! I have no idea where the last five years flew by but yes, she started kindergarten on September 4th, 2008. I believe I was more nervous that her. My parents gave her curd and sugar and she received blessings from them for a successful and enjoyable experience at school. She meticulously dressed herself up picking out the clothes, earrings and hairband that she wanted to wear. This girl has a very good sense of style - to say the least This transition has been a little hard on lil Ruhika too..She is so used to having Mihika in her own school. So she feels a little left out for not being a part of the big girl school thing. She insisted that she is 5 years old and needs to go to "One School". She continues to go to the Montessori and has made some very good friends over there. August 15 VacationMihika and Ruhika are always so much on a schedule that it sometimes makes me sad and guilty. I always want them to have a break from the routine and so we figured the best time is just before Mihika starts school (!!!!) this September. So now they are enjoying vacation and this means absolutely no routine or schedule. Imagine waking up around 9 and then taking your own sweet time to brush, drink milk and eat breakfast..its unheard of in our house on usual days. They are getting royally spoiled by Lala Mama, Palloli Nima (that's the name she got..Mihika used to call her Pallavi Mima..and Ruhika further transformed it) and ofcourse by Amma and Ajjaree! They play for hours together with dolls and Ruhika's pony! That's Ruhika's obsession - Pinkie Pie from my little pony. She has shirts that show a pony, she calls herself a pony, loves pony rides, loves going on carousels with ponies, its all about horses. Mihika is obsessed with painting, artwork, crayons and writing - she still mixes up her b's and d's..or 6's and 9's. They eat lunch late, take a nap until 5 PM and then they are awake till midnight. Mihika being the talker and charmer that she is, loves to hear stories from her Amma and Ajjaree. And Ruhika talks and talks till we fall asleep. The love that these sisters share with their mama and mima is legendary! Its like they've met some long lost friends!! Ruhika's way of showing her love - she kisses (eats) their noses. Mihika is more verbal :). Ofcouse who won't do that..Lala Mama drew a face on their tummies and mima extended it to make it a flower belt - with sketch pens. Now that's not something they get to do with mamma and daddy! I am so glad that Mihi-Ruhi get to spend so much time with our families. That is the very foundation around which our culture is built - and I want that to be ingrained deep in their souls. Tomorrow is Raksha Bandhan..and I got a piece of advice from one of our friend's mom. She told me that this festival signifies the fact that your brother has a relationship that is like a silk thread - very pure and strong. So in the olden days, when sisters used to be at home and not go out much, brothers used to protect them and always be there for them. However in today's world, we need to make this festival signify the "sacred" relationship between siblings. Two sisters, two brothers, brother-sister - in this age where everyone takes up similar responsibilities, the festival should mean that each sibling will do whatever it takes to protect and stand for the other and vice versa. So while I get to tie the rakhi to my lil brother, I will use the festival to impose the same concept between Mihi-Ruhi..Sisters are forever and should be there for each other no matter what. Ruhika is going through some tantrums that usually surface when she is sleepy. I hope its just terrible twos. She is almost potty trained and I am thinking we'll switch to big girl underwear in the next couple of weeks. She hates it when she accidentally wets her pullups and the bows on it go away. She is a nonstop chatter box with so many people ready to hear her cute talks. Some of her famous tagwords
"aise hai kya? teek hai"
"macademia pony hai hum"
"Abhi Ruhika kaha jaake khana khayenge" - the lack of routine has made life pretty adventurous for her! She can't even predict when and where she'll eat next :)
"kuchu bhi nahi soyenge"
"rock on!" (Mihika's tag line when she was 2.5 years used to be "Go SOX" for Boston Red Sox)
Mihika is also into hairstyles now. If she sees someone with a cute hairdo, she makes me do it on her. She even improvises that with her own ideas. She loves making up songs and singing them like some hindi movie actresses. She's a girlie girl..for her fifth birthday she wants a princess dance party at home. She opted for that over bowcraft and chuckecheese. It means more cleaning and organizing for us - but I decided to do it - we will have help from mummy and daddy :). July 09 Bicycle pe paik jayenge!Yes – Ruhika is growing so fast. Sometimes I just shake myself and try to stop time. She is now a chirpy lil bird. That’s what her teachers at school call her. They say they miss her talks on the weekends. Physically she is pretty good. She rides the tricycle to the park all by herself. It took about 15 minutes of showing her how the paddle works. For now, her feet don’t even touch the far end of the paddle but she just manages to push it so that the other paddle is at the other foot and so on. People just giggle to see the way she works her way and is so fast on her tricycle too. In the park, she has mastered the monkey bars! Worst part is she does not want anyone to hold her as she swings from the bars and makes her way to the other side. My heart literally stops beating while she does that. Mihika is her inspiration. Whatever Mihika does, this little one HAS to follow. Mihika has now mastered the art of swinging herself higher and higher on her own. So Ruhika tried that for a while and then learnt to do it by lying on her tummy against the swing and pushing (her feet don’t reach the ground!). She loves the alphabets on the slide. She now knows A for airplane, B for Ball etc all the way through Z! Another discovery that I made by accident. She even copies what we draw. The other day I drew an apple tree and showed her apples (circle and line). She copied it and drew a dozen apples exactly like mine. So she now knows how to draw a smiley face (circle, dots and a mouth). If the mouth line tends to make it a frowny, she says “hamara face sad hai”. She is also learning hindi words.. Pillow – takia Turtle – kachua Fish – machali Horse – goida She still absolutely LOVES horses. We went to bowcraft and she went on almost all the rides that the 4-5 year olds went on. She did not even want me near her on the carousel. She told me to stand outside and wave to her. She was not used to seeing babies tinier than her until now. However now, we have Pratima, Avani and Gayatri in our group. So she told me to sit down with Avani and kept cuddling her and when Avani was cooing, she asked me “baby kya bol rahe hai?”. She and Mihika play for hours now. I hope I did not say that too loudly Here’s another funny conversation: Mihika: “hey gandhe mat bano..PLEASE!” Ruhika: “Hum achchi hai Mihika..boo hoo” Mihika: “Nahi, aapko nahi bol rahe hai hum..hum tho Yoyo ko bol rahe hai..GANDHE MAT BANO!!” Ruhika: “boo hoo..hame gussa mat karo” “Hame kuchu bhi mat karo shayad” Mihika: “GANDHE MAT BANO!!” “Aise aapko nahin..dekha..GANDHE MAT BANO!!” Poor baby still thinks its her and feels so sad. I love the way she tries to use all the words she knows. Shayad and kuch bhi J. At such times I have to intervene and tell Mihika not to raise her voice. Mihika just enjoys giving her a hard time Mihika’s growing talent?It’s again been a while since I updated the blog! I think I go on a writing spree and then into hibernation..anyways, I am on a plane to Chicago and bored out of my mind. So figured I’d rather write down an update than doze away. The talent? Well, so much has happened since I last updated (as usual!). Mihika had her very first recital and they did the Dhoom Taana number from Om Shanti Om. The auditorium was at Trenton. Check it out – www.thewarmemorial.com. There were dancers from all over the north east and so we had an audience of about 3000 people! The best part was how beautifully our lil girl danced. Mihika’s Amma and Ajjaree were visiting and so it was a proud moment for all of us – even Ruhika. She yelled – “Mihika!! Mihika!! Yaaay!! That’s my sister!!” when they announced her dance. Okay..but that’s not the talent I am talking about. She graduated from pre-K with a “diploma”. J They counted to 50 in French, said their colors in French, counted and identified numbers till a 1000 in English..oh wait, I digress again..so let me get to the point. One day I had 6 chuck-e-cheese tokens and she found those. So she took them and said she’ll share it with Ruhika. Here’s the conversation that followed: Mihika: “Come here baby..I will give you some coins” Ruhika: “I want five! I want five!!” Mihika: “Okay! Sure!” Me : “That’s very nice Mihika. So if you give her five coins, you’ll have just one. Is that fine with you?” Mihika: “Shhh..wait let me first give her those..hold your hand Ruhika” And then with a sly smile, she goes “Four…Five!!!” So essentially this girl has given Ruhika 2 coins and made it sound like she got her five! Ruhika happily chirps aways thanking her sister. I stand there – not knowing what to say. This is just one example March 13 Sweet InnocenceI had to add this entry - if this is not innocence then I don't know what is.
 So here is the conversation that I had with Mihika this week:Me: "Mihika, how was school today? Had fun?"
Mihi: "Yeah! You know, I danced so well during ballet. So I got two stickers from my teacher!"
Me: "Great!! But I see only one on your hand..did the other one fall off?"
Mihi: "No mamma..I gave it to Nyla"
Me: "That's nice".
Mihi: "Yeah, she is usually not my friend. But today Gabriella did not come to school. So she told me that she is my friend for only one day"
Me: "Did she not have a sticker?"
Mihi: "She had only one. And since she is my friend for today I gave it to her"
At this point I am thinking - WHAT! For Today..and you give her..grrrr..anyways, I thought I'd see how she would reply to this question below:
Me: "May be she will give you one next time"
Mihi: "Oh no..she won't. Coz remember, she is my friend only today..silly mamma!"
Yep..silly me..hehehe..I know how Ruhika would have been ;-). "My friend? For today? Here, let me get your sticker.." Anyways..sweet innocence.
February 22 Total Lunar EclipseWe had a total lunar eclipse on Feb 20th. Srikanth has a Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain telescope and it seemed like a good opportunity to tell Mihika and Ruhika about what an eclipse is. So I started out by telling that the shadow of the earth will fall on the moon. So when we showed it to them, Mihika was amazed and a little concerned that the moon might be feeling sad. She asked me if the moon will get back its light when it goes to India the next morning. Ruhika's reaction "oooh wow! Its beautiful". The next morning Mihika woke up and asked if she can check out the moon (poor baby worried all night if the moon will get its light back!). Ruhika asked "Kaise tha! Shadow moon pe?!". We were able to take pictures of the moon as seen from our telescope. We also captured Saturn as it was brighter and closer to the moon. Here are the pictures from KodakGallery and the YouTube (I know! I know, no msn video this time) video of Saturn's rings:
Btw, I got a smartphone finally - Moto Q Global red color! And Mihika was so annoyed to see me using email on it. She told me "Aap daddy jaise mat blackberry karna..email dekh rahe hai kya? Aaake khelo..email mat karo". Where does time go?!Its already February? I can't believe we are already two months into the new year. Anyway, I have no idea where time goes these days. So where do I start. We always have so much activity going on in our place that it is hard to narrow down what I want to put here! The biggest milestone in my opinion is that Mihika read her first book all by herself! She is so excited and read and re-read it to all of us. Okay okay, it is just an 8-page book but for her it is like 80 pages. It is too cute the way she spells out stuff. Funny thing is she gets confused about her b's and d's (Taare Zameen Par!?!) and pauses after she reads those words to hear my reaction. "Cat has bat" (pause - okay - may be I was right after all and it is not dat). She is also totally totally into butterflies, flowers and hearts! It is funny how their tastes change so fast. She likes pink and she likes Aurora now. Reason - because Aurora loves roses. For Valentine's day she made Srikanth get roses for her..when Srikanth said he'll get some for mamma, she told him that he can buy some crumpled ones for mamma and pretty ones for her! And she thinks that when spring comes, the roses will bloom from the flower vase..I heard her telling that to Ruhika..And she asked me if there will be sparkle on the roses..so when I told her that there is no sparkle, she said "lekin mamma, hume kuch bataani hai aapko..sparkle matlab sun phool pe girega tho shine hoga na?". The shopkeeper found her soo cute that he gave her a heart shaped chocolate lollipop. And Mihika went "Can you please give me two? I have a little sister at home. If you don't, then she'll take this one". Either way, she thinks of her sister (even if it is for her own sake ;-)). Ruhika is growing way too fast too. She amazes her with her new findings as we happen to tumble across them by accident. She now recognizes all the capital letters of the alphabet and numbers from 1 to 10. Zero is still the letter "O" but we'll take that! The other day I was writing down letters and asking her which those were and suddenly I wrote the number 3. She looked at me mischievously and went "E"?! And then she went "Gaabaddi mamma...woh tho the number 3 hai". Stumped me! Ruhika now a days wears her shoes herself and also is sometimes able to wear her pant on her own! She then proudly shows off "khud se daala". She is the parrot - repeating everything that Mihika says and wanting to be exactly like her sister. They adore each other and play with each other for hours (supervision still required!). We had a huge snowstorm today and we took them both outside. They just loved the soft powdery snow. They made a snowman and kept lying around in the snow. Mihika made snow-pops and licked on those! These days they eat their dinner perched up in front of the TV watching Little Einsteins, Kai-Lan and Dora/Diego/Caillou or DragonTales. I think I have given up that battle. As long as they eat we are all happy. The way Ruhika tells us that the cartoon is done is too funny "Mamma hooogya..daddy hoogya!". Milk is another funny story. I make them drink a whole tumbler of milk every morning and evening and now, I make the decision as to when they are done! I love this position of power but again, I do it so that they get their calcium. I hope I did not say it too loudly! They'll stop. Mihika has her recital in May - she loves to sing Hindi songs and is dancing pretty much all the time! Ruhika too knows some of the songs and dances. Ruhika stumped us again when she said the Gayathri mantra without us teaching her! She learnt it from Mihika! Yesterday afternoon when Ruhika was sleeping, Mihika told me she did not want to sleep. So she sat and was "talking" to me for about 2 hours. I had such a nice feeling - soon she'll actually be available to talk and share her ideas/opinions as opposed to just being a baby. It is hard to think of them like that at this stage! |
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She’s been to the city numerous times but it is hilarious to see her trying hard to understand all the contexts in which this word is used!
. She then happily chirped away wearing her backpack. At school her teacher had to comment on her dress sense - makes me proud..She already has made friends at school and came back so excited on the first day. I went and checked her classroom during the back to school night and all I can say is that classrooms have come such a long way from how they used to be! All technology driven with computers and other gadgets is a nice addition to see. Ofcourse a lot of it remains the same - good ol' crayons, arts and crafts, different development "stations", etc. Right now, because of my new role I am unable to pick her up at 11:20 everyday. However she gets picked up by her grandparents and walks back home. She is loving this and so I too don't feel bad about the arrangement. We'll need to figure out how to do this once the weather gets cold and later after Mihika's grandparents leave. For now, we're golden. Btw, she already started arranging play dates and I'm amazed at how quickly lil kids make "best" friends! 
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. So they are playing with ribbons and Mihika asks her “Do you want to PRETTY small one or the UGLY big one?” So Ruhika thinking that she is making the right decision asks for “The pretty one the pretty one!” So lo and behold, our first born gets what she wants and keeps Ruhika happy too. What a fine line between manipulation and being smart I should say. Can’t wait to see how things turn up once Ruhika actually understands what is happening. Besides these, she is into playdates, arts and crafts and loves writing stories and ofcourse making them up. Sometimes it is hard to say if she is making up a story. One day she came back from school saying she has a “throat ache”. Her teacher told me she’d been quiet during the last 20 mins. So I took her home and as soon as she got home she wanted to go play the bike and eat popsicles. I told her that she needs to rest and then she goes “Give me duddu..I need duddu”. She drank it and told me that “duddu” did the trick and she’s fine now. So she can have popsicles. I had to stick to my story that if you have throat ache, you cannot eat popsicles the whole day. Taught her not to make up stories to be able to come home. Infact, she finally did give in and told me she made up a story. 
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