Sunday 20 March 2016

Doing something right!

Nothing is better than a compliment... But the one that surpasses the "you look so good" " you've lost so much weight" " your work is really nice" is

" you've brought up siddy so well" "siddy is such a well behaved kid" 

Now I know.. Siddy is the worlds biggest nautanki kid... He has his moments of tantrums and fake cries... And there are days he just won't listen and will do the exact opposite of what I tell him...

But for some awesome reason.. He's a gem in public!!!! 

He listens.. He doesn't shout.. Doesn't run like a crazed lunatic... Doesn't destroy things... It's amazing!

Yes yes.. It's not a random reason.. He has been taught well.. By my husband, my mum and me...

But still I feel most kids, despite being told and taught, tend to forget it all when there are people around.. Our man is the opposite.. (Till now at least!!!) 

He says his thank yous and pleases... And excuse mes... And all in all acts like a little gentleman! 

And of course by using words like  " that ferocious lion" at three, he manages to totally charm people!!! 

We do work hard at making him the way he is... (I'm sure most parents do but I think between the three of us we have managed to find that magic combination) like Aadi will always read him books and teach him new words and he'll never shy from teaching him big words thinking he won't get it... And so siddy learns more big words everyday and he tends to use them in sentences! 

Mum teaches him about birds and trees (no not bees!!!) and she has this way of disciplining him with a certain firmness that I just don't have.. I go straight from cuddly wuddly to crazy mommy...

Also she manages to stop his bottle feeding, diaper wearing and all in all making him grow up one step at a time and at the right times!! 

And me.. Well I add to his awesomeness by being super awesome!! Ha ha ha!!! 

To be honest I don't know what I do right.. I just know that while I give in to a lot, I also take a strong stand for a lot.. And I try to balance teaching him things and having fun and mixing it all up together... 

It's working, it's all some how working.. Because just last week .. I had two friends... One who has a ten month old and has been on one too many play dates with really naughty kids , and one who has no kids but has seen some pretty badly behaved ones... And all they came back and said was how lucky I was to have such a good and well behaved and adorbale little boy... 

And each time I got flashes of his fake crying and "no i won't put my toys away" ... But when they narrated some of the stories.. I realised.. Nope my kid is kinda sane... !!!! 

So yup! Here is to doing something right... Cheers Aadi and mum...!!! 
























Sunday 13 March 2016

Am I forgetting something?

Ever had a day when you have a hundred thoughts running through your head... and by the end of the day you're pretty sure you've forgotten something.. And you're too exhausted to figure it out but your brain won't let you stop thinking?

Here are a few questions going thru my head, pretty much on a daily basis!

Did I ask the cook to make the poha?
Did I send the email to client A?
Did I look for my single punch punch?
Did I reply to that friend's message? I know I read it..
Did I download all my camera pictures to the laptop?
Did I order the bread?
Did I order the jam?
Did the cook make a salad?
Did we eat bhindi yesterday or last week?
Did I keep the new prints I got in a safe place?
Should I start making the party cap order I've got today or can i wait till tomorrow?
Have I got an approval on the design?
Did she like design one or design two? This is when I start to scroll through 100-200 messages to find out.
Did I put my bag in my cupboard?
Is my wallet in the bag thats in the cupboard or in the one that is out.
Did I drink enough water?
Did Siddy drink enough water?
Did I check Siddy's handbook?
Did I give Aadi a fruit for a snack?
Did siddy eat any sweet today?
Really did I send that mail out? Double triple check!
Did I find the felt fabric I've been looking for all week?
Did I call friend A and make a plan?
Should I call friend A and make a plan?
Does Siddy have an off in school tomorrow?
Does he have a special day where I have to make him into something?
Do we have any veggies for the cook to make something?
Should I just make egg curry again?
Do I really have the time to sit and watch this show?
Should I start working on that presentation now?
I know I've not taken that vitamin today.
Did I give Siddy his supplements?
Did I brush his teeth????
Do I have to go to the printer right now or can I push it to tomorrow?
Should I clean my cupboard out or should I clean siddy's toy cupboard?
Should I just sketch this afternoon?
Did I return that relative's call from last sunday?
Did I do what I promised person A B C D E F ...... XYZ????
Did I get anytime to relax today?
Did I even breath?
Did I sit down?

Oh my god what am I forgetting?




Thursday 10 March 2016

Making friends as a Mommy!

I can literally count my friends on my fingers... I have very few... some since I was three and some I made last year... a few nuts who have been there thru a lot and a few only for the fun times... a few i meet often and a few that I meet once in a while but we manage to pick off right from where we left off..

And its great, mainly because I have really poor social skills and add to that my insane lazy streak... I can easily manage catching up with these friends...question is can I handle more?

Well it never would have been a thought till I had the bubba.... because once you have a bubba you realise he needs other bubbas... and for that you need to know other moms who need a bubba for their bubba... and herein starts the whole search for a new friend...for you, for your bubba and sometimes even the daddy's get roped in!

You can make these friends anywhere... from mommy groups on facebook to the play school you send your kids to... the park, of course is a great place to make a mommy friend as is the indoor play areas.

What I have realised is that its very very tough to do this.

I've had a few hits and misses with these new mommy friends...

Some were hits and misses on bumling's part and some on my part....

I mean its not like school or college where you have similar tastes in subjects or the lack of it that binds you... or similar music or lifestyles.... Between the ages of 12 to about 22 its very easy I think, to make friends... you can make friends on the most random things...But when it comes to mommy friends a lot of things matter...

Even, if not especially, your mommy methods... do you breastfeed does she breastfeed? Do you like taking your kids to a fancy shmancy indoor play ground or do your kids jump in muddy puddles? Do you think play schools are good or are you a homeschooler.... and the list is pretty endless....

I remember this one mommy friend i made thru one of these mommy groups... and co incidentally she ended up living very close to me... So we decided to meet... Her boy was a few months older than mine... and quite boisterous and energetic... and mine was and still is super quite...

Pretty much on the first meeting, when we took the boys to the park to play and hers was happily swinging the cricket bat around while mine didn't even know how to hold one, she started telling me how she was going to make him a cricketer in no time.... and what really well, bugged me, was her husband who accompanied us on our play dates also kept telling me the same thing...

"Oh don't worry we'll make him rough and tough like our boy" "Oh don't worry he'll also soon be playing football and cricket like our boy" "He'll eat as fast as our boy" "He'll run as fast as our boy" and that's when I knew I needed to take my kid as far as possible from their boy and them!

Maybe they meant it in the nicest way... but its just not my thing. I am a strong believer of each kid has his or her own journey and path to get to their milestones.... and in nothing have i ever pushed siddy to accomplish and I sure wasn't ready to let someone else decide..

In the last two years we have tried and tested several mommy kid sets... like I said sometimes the kids were not siddy's age or temperament and sometimes the mother wasn't mine!!!

During all this i realised that making friends was getting incredibly tough at this age... I have less patience with people... I don't have the energy to really keep in touch and keep up... I can't do whatsapp group chats... I would rather binge watch tv and eat chips and drink chilled coke than dress the kid up, dress me up and go to a "fun" place to get the kids to play while we "chat"!!!!

I needed mommy friends who would be happy to do that  kinda binging with me while our kids played next to us....

Finally after much trial and error, I noticed a mum from siddy's school whose daughter looked like such a cutie pie... and the mum looked like someone I could relate to, some one who had this creative streak about her... you can tell by the bag, the kurti, the bun hair... so i decided to strike up a conversation....

Over the next few weeks, we chatted and planned a play date...

Its very much like dating... you know... you message... then you wait for them to message back...You don't want to send too many messages, you don't want to scare them off... you're not sure if you should send that facebook friend request... are super happy when you get one from her... Next thing you know there are messages going back and forth every week, then everyday... You'll are catching up for play dates and then just the two of you for coffee... the conversations have moved from the kids and their schools and paediatricians to your work and husbands and where to shop....and suddenly you'll are friends! Yes we do talk about our husbands !!

Now that the kids are fond of each other and you'll are fond of each other... the next step of this relationship is to add your husbands to the mix..

This is the most dicey... because this can really just go two ways... they get along or they don't.

Though honestly, unless they really absolutely can't stand each other..... its ok either way...because say they simply don't get along, then you two can go on being just mommy friends... but if they do.. well then you have family friends!!!

Luckily for us, our husbands got along just fine... and now its great... We can actually go out for dinners and not worry about how to entertain the kids.... !!

Earlier there would be times we would take the kid to dinner and we would come back home and realise the only conversations we have had were about the kid or with the kid.... But now when we go with this couple who has a kid... And we can actually talk about grown up things while the kids play around the table!

So while this whole making new friends at this age thing is really one heck of an experience... I think somewhere, like most things, we have to do it for the kids.... Its important... for us and for the kids... because after you have kids you suddenly realise there is only so much you can do with your friends who don't have kids... leaving aside the fact that there is only so much they will do with you after you have a kid!!!!!! And you realise its very difficult to entertain a kid for a long period of time... But when they have company thats their height and age... it just so much easier!

It takes time and some effort on every ones part, but i think when you find the right mommy baby (sometimes daddy) set... weekends can be a whole lot of fun!!!








Thursday 3 March 2016

Not that kinda mother...

So tonight we were eating this yum dessert my mum made... Crumbled plum cake with orange jelly, fresh strawberries and cream...

This was his first real taste of jelly.. He's had it as a baby but I think the whole yumminess of it just registered... So that's all he had... 

He combed thru all the cake and strawberries and cream and only ate the jelly.. 

Once it was over in his bowl he asked for more..

Laughing, I removed some from the main bowl and gave him more..

Then some more...

And some more...

Till it was over in the bowl...

But mister still wanted jelly...

I tried convincing him to have some cake and then I would find him some jelly.. 

No...

Only jelly Mumma...

Point is the only jelly remaining was in my bowl... And I wasn't ready to share. 

Nope. 

Not going to do it.. 

Yes he's three and I'm.. Well a bit more than three... But I'm not sharing my jelly.. Or cookie ... Or cake .. Or chips ... Or juice... Or anything that I am enjoying... 

I remember as a kid, as most people my age will, my mum not taking that extra bit of chicken or telling us how she loves the neck piece... Or the end slice of the bread... Or some other non sensical sacrificing thing like that...

And I was and am pretty sure that that's not the mother I'm going to be. Not that there is anything wrong with that... but you know what i'm saying....

Yes I will make him and get him yum things to eat... Yes I will give a good helping of it too...but no I will not let go of my piece for him... Hell, not for anyone... Atleast not unless I really want to..

There are days I have done that.. Not just with bumling but with the hubby too... 

But I only do it if I want to.. Like really really want to... Not because I feel like I should.. 

I'm sure he'll grow up loving me just as much if I don't give into his every wish.. If I don't give him my last bite... as much as i know that he will learn to be happy with what he gets like in life... its a lesson learning thing people!