Saturday, May 24, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Chubbocks Battles a T-Rex
This is the T-Rex we psyched Madmomma out with, among other visitors to our place! He gets his histrionic talent from me, natch!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Blog-Meets
I'm pretty new to blogging - started some time last year - and didn't know anything about blogmeets - I thought you only met people virtually. Then I started getting into it more and finding out there were organised blogmeets but had never bothered to participate in one, for a variety of reasons. Then, of course, the baby shower egroup started the ball rolling and suddenly there was this superactive gang of galpals who hung out everyday pre and post shower, yapping about anything under the sun - it felt like being back at hostel again. And what with my surprise baby shower, was very curious and eager to meet Madmomma who was one of the instigators.
With one thing and the other various weekend plans didn't materialise and then last week I had decided that I had to make this happen when up popped a message in my gmail account - MM wanted to come over and meet us. Great minds think alike! We tried for lunch on Sunday but A had to go in to work so that scuttled it, and then decided we'd meet up in the evening. I chivvied my one single maid all day - the stay-at-home maid is on leave and this one had been skimping on work since I'd hardly been home so Sunday I had her under my beady eye, hard at work putting our house into something like order. A and I were in the local market that morning so we picked up dhoklas and milk cake, which are both pretty delish at the sweet shop there.
Finally, by afternoon, the house looked less like a tornado had hit it and A retired to snooze, while I balefully sat with my laptop trying to finish the giant load of work I was struggling with, with one hand, while playing Ludo with Chubbocks with the other hand. After tea, we arranged ourselves in the living room, and I had the first-date feeling - you know, where you know lots about someone on a fairly surface basis and are meeting properly for the first time. I'm like that - when I meet old friends after a long gap, I always wonder whether we'll still be the same as ever or different. Mostly because it's happened a couple of times that a friend and I didn't change in the same direction and suddenly had nothing to say. Of course, the kids didn't let us sit demurely - they were all over us, with Chubbocks checking on a second-by-second basis - What's the time? You said they'll come by 5:30-6? Is it time? Finally I told him in sheer exasperation that if he asked me one more time I would ask them not to come ( Yeah, that mom of the year award is getting farther away from me every minute!). Luckily, just around then, the doorbell rang and there they were.
MM, OA, Brat and Beanie. MM is much prettier in real life than the photographs do justice to and taller too - the way she describes herself, I thought I'd see this shortie. Stylish and very warm, I felt at ease with her and OA immediately and so did A who usually takes time to warm up. The Brat and Chubbocks immediately made friends and went off to play together, Chubbocks eager to show off his new Hot Wheels racing set. The Brat looks cute in all the photos on the blog but in person he is so handsome he takes your breath away! And the Bean is such a cool little person - very self-possessed, with enormous, limpid eyes and a tiny little thing that just cries out to be picked up and hugged. Puddi alternated between clutching me and going inside to play with the Brat and Chubbocks. Chubbocks and I played our new favourite party trick of springing his dinosaur book on MM ( It has very realistic pop-out pictures of dinos including a T-Rex), and made her scream. Soon Puddi was enough at ease to go to MM which is quite rare right now. We chatted together easily and I was wishing we could ask them to stay for dinner. But I knew the maid had probably stuck us with leftover and thanks to momnesia, it never occurred to me that I could whip up something quickly or that we could order in.
So all too soon, their visit finished, with promises to get together after we get back from vacation next week. I had a warm feeling as if this was the 'beginning of a beautiful friendship', to paraphrase Casablanca, and I am so looking forward to meeting up with them again, not to mention other blogmeets that are due to happen.
With one thing and the other various weekend plans didn't materialise and then last week I had decided that I had to make this happen when up popped a message in my gmail account - MM wanted to come over and meet us. Great minds think alike! We tried for lunch on Sunday but A had to go in to work so that scuttled it, and then decided we'd meet up in the evening. I chivvied my one single maid all day - the stay-at-home maid is on leave and this one had been skimping on work since I'd hardly been home so Sunday I had her under my beady eye, hard at work putting our house into something like order. A and I were in the local market that morning so we picked up dhoklas and milk cake, which are both pretty delish at the sweet shop there.
Finally, by afternoon, the house looked less like a tornado had hit it and A retired to snooze, while I balefully sat with my laptop trying to finish the giant load of work I was struggling with, with one hand, while playing Ludo with Chubbocks with the other hand. After tea, we arranged ourselves in the living room, and I had the first-date feeling - you know, where you know lots about someone on a fairly surface basis and are meeting properly for the first time. I'm like that - when I meet old friends after a long gap, I always wonder whether we'll still be the same as ever or different. Mostly because it's happened a couple of times that a friend and I didn't change in the same direction and suddenly had nothing to say. Of course, the kids didn't let us sit demurely - they were all over us, with Chubbocks checking on a second-by-second basis - What's the time? You said they'll come by 5:30-6? Is it time? Finally I told him in sheer exasperation that if he asked me one more time I would ask them not to come ( Yeah, that mom of the year award is getting farther away from me every minute!). Luckily, just around then, the doorbell rang and there they were.
MM, OA, Brat and Beanie. MM is much prettier in real life than the photographs do justice to and taller too - the way she describes herself, I thought I'd see this shortie. Stylish and very warm, I felt at ease with her and OA immediately and so did A who usually takes time to warm up. The Brat and Chubbocks immediately made friends and went off to play together, Chubbocks eager to show off his new Hot Wheels racing set. The Brat looks cute in all the photos on the blog but in person he is so handsome he takes your breath away! And the Bean is such a cool little person - very self-possessed, with enormous, limpid eyes and a tiny little thing that just cries out to be picked up and hugged. Puddi alternated between clutching me and going inside to play with the Brat and Chubbocks. Chubbocks and I played our new favourite party trick of springing his dinosaur book on MM ( It has very realistic pop-out pictures of dinos including a T-Rex), and made her scream. Soon Puddi was enough at ease to go to MM which is quite rare right now. We chatted together easily and I was wishing we could ask them to stay for dinner. But I knew the maid had probably stuck us with leftover and thanks to momnesia, it never occurred to me that I could whip up something quickly or that we could order in.
So all too soon, their visit finished, with promises to get together after we get back from vacation next week. I had a warm feeling as if this was the 'beginning of a beautiful friendship', to paraphrase Casablanca, and I am so looking forward to meeting up with them again, not to mention other blogmeets that are due to happen.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Falling in love
I thought I was done. I thought I had reached the limit of falling in love with Chubbocks...and then he does these little heart-melty things which turn me into a giant puddle of mush and have me falling in love with him all over again...
I got home with a terrible lower back ache yesterday. This happens with every pregnancy ( gee, I sound like I've been through half a dozen, doesn't it?) - my tail bones start aching so badly that at times I wonder if I'll be able to sit up from lying down or stand up from a sitting position. I was in agony and hours of sitting down for work hadn't helped. Chubbocks was most concerned when he saw me grimacing and groaning. Next thing I knew, every time I tried to get up from the sofa this little tyke was there, slipping his shoulder under mine to help me. He helped me all the way up the stairs and insisted on walking me into my bedroom and helping me to sit down before he went off to his own room. Later when I went to say Goodnight to him, he had tears in his soft brown eyes, he was so upset that I was in pain.
While I was having a much-belated dinner, he wanted to do some colouring so I asked him to write out a note and then colour it in. He wrote the sweetest little note, all by himself - it's making me feel ten feet tall to see him able to do this - all correct spellings and everything ( will post the pic here later). Then he drew a rocket with a huge heart on it, because "I love you so much". He gave me the note and the rocket picture to hold during the night in case I got scared!
He's finding it hard sometimes to transition from the guy who collared all the attention to having to share it with Puddi. From a time when the littlest thing he did was an achievement to one where a lot of what he does is now taken for granted and it's Puddi's achievement is quite a step. Yesterday evening, both he and Puds were taking turns to hang off the bar of the swing as if it was a monkey gym. A was taking pictures and my parents were cheering them both on ( I was at work, sadly). Chubbocks got in the way when A was trying to take pictures of Puddi swinging, and my mom pulled him to one side. Poor guy got terribly upset and went into his sulk mode - he sits in a corner, arms folded, head down. It's an adorable and yet heart-breaking pose. Then no one's coaxing worked to bring him out - until Puddi went and sat by him, patting his head and giving him kisses until he finally reverted to his usual sunshine.
Chubbocks sulks
Puddi is concerned
Finally she manages to make him look up again!
I love his enthusiasm for learning. He has new passions all the time. Some time ago, it was dinosaurs. We'd bought him a couple of books and videos and he loved watching them over and over, and even Puddi knows the names of a few Dinos now. Then it was a book called Your Body, which he made us read from end to end. Then a book called The Earth, and tornadoes became his turn-on du jour...Each time he picks up a new interest, he makes sure he learns a lot about it, asking all sorts of questions, flipping through the books by himself and practically memorising the contents. Then he cutely sits down with Puddi and explains things to her. It's quite a treat to see them sitting side by side in the morning, her favourite animals book open on his lap as he points to each one and teaches her their names. "I've made her a genius", he proclaimed proudly yesterday.
There are so many reasons that I love him more and more as the days go by...makes me look forward to every new day.
I got home with a terrible lower back ache yesterday. This happens with every pregnancy ( gee, I sound like I've been through half a dozen, doesn't it?) - my tail bones start aching so badly that at times I wonder if I'll be able to sit up from lying down or stand up from a sitting position. I was in agony and hours of sitting down for work hadn't helped. Chubbocks was most concerned when he saw me grimacing and groaning. Next thing I knew, every time I tried to get up from the sofa this little tyke was there, slipping his shoulder under mine to help me. He helped me all the way up the stairs and insisted on walking me into my bedroom and helping me to sit down before he went off to his own room. Later when I went to say Goodnight to him, he had tears in his soft brown eyes, he was so upset that I was in pain.
While I was having a much-belated dinner, he wanted to do some colouring so I asked him to write out a note and then colour it in. He wrote the sweetest little note, all by himself - it's making me feel ten feet tall to see him able to do this - all correct spellings and everything ( will post the pic here later). Then he drew a rocket with a huge heart on it, because "I love you so much". He gave me the note and the rocket picture to hold during the night in case I got scared!
He's finding it hard sometimes to transition from the guy who collared all the attention to having to share it with Puddi. From a time when the littlest thing he did was an achievement to one where a lot of what he does is now taken for granted and it's Puddi's achievement is quite a step. Yesterday evening, both he and Puds were taking turns to hang off the bar of the swing as if it was a monkey gym. A was taking pictures and my parents were cheering them both on ( I was at work, sadly). Chubbocks got in the way when A was trying to take pictures of Puddi swinging, and my mom pulled him to one side. Poor guy got terribly upset and went into his sulk mode - he sits in a corner, arms folded, head down. It's an adorable and yet heart-breaking pose. Then no one's coaxing worked to bring him out - until Puddi went and sat by him, patting his head and giving him kisses until he finally reverted to his usual sunshine.
Chubbocks sulks
Puddi is concerned
Finally she manages to make him look up again!
I love his enthusiasm for learning. He has new passions all the time. Some time ago, it was dinosaurs. We'd bought him a couple of books and videos and he loved watching them over and over, and even Puddi knows the names of a few Dinos now. Then it was a book called Your Body, which he made us read from end to end. Then a book called The Earth, and tornadoes became his turn-on du jour...Each time he picks up a new interest, he makes sure he learns a lot about it, asking all sorts of questions, flipping through the books by himself and practically memorising the contents. Then he cutely sits down with Puddi and explains things to her. It's quite a treat to see them sitting side by side in the morning, her favourite animals book open on his lap as he points to each one and teaches her their names. "I've made her a genius", he proclaimed proudly yesterday.
There are so many reasons that I love him more and more as the days go by...makes me look forward to every new day.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Sibling Fights
I knew we'd get to this stage but never did I imagine it'd be so soon and in this manner. Chubbocks who's always been a super gentle child is all the more gentle with his sister, except once in a while when he gets into snatch and grab. Puddi, it turns out, is going to be infinitely more trouble. Already starting to get defiant ( kaloonga!), she has started bullying Chubbocks. And unfortunately, human nature being what it is, as soon as she sets up a wail, the first reaction is to check what the elder one did. I did it again last night. I was having a late dinner, having traipsed home from work only at 9, and the kids were playing. Suddenly, Puddi sets up a wail. "What did you do?" I asked Chubbocks. Poor guy, his face fell and he said, "I only did the work you told me - I put my frisbees up on the bed so Puddi won't jump on them."
I immediately apologised to him and scolded Puddi who stopped wailing as soon as she realised that wasn't going to get her the frisbees back ( cunning little thing!). Puddi also has started getting a little jealous. Both the kids rush to fling themselves at me and A as soon as we get home, catching hold of one leg each before we've even made it fully through the door. Yesterday, when A got home and the kids did that, Puddi apparently pushed away Chubs and poked him and even hit him. In fact, I've noticed her saying, "Maaloonga" ( I'll hit), to Chubbocks quite a few times and actually hitting him. Whenever we are home, we immediately admonish her. In fact it happened this morning while we were having tea, and as I scolded Puddi and told her she was being bad and that I wouldn't play with her if she hit Chubbocks, Chubboo, that soft-hearted little fellow turns to me and says, "But she's so cute, mamma."
It really breaks my heart sometimes to see this little guy being the big brother - endlessly protective and loving, freely willing to share his toys and books and games, even while he's dealing with his own growing up - being put upon by this tiny brat of a girl. I'm going to have to keep a stern eye on the li'l un and make sure she doesn't chouse Chubbocks out of his due just because she's smaller and he's gentler. I shudder to think what further mayhem will ensue when the third one joins the gang!
I immediately apologised to him and scolded Puddi who stopped wailing as soon as she realised that wasn't going to get her the frisbees back ( cunning little thing!). Puddi also has started getting a little jealous. Both the kids rush to fling themselves at me and A as soon as we get home, catching hold of one leg each before we've even made it fully through the door. Yesterday, when A got home and the kids did that, Puddi apparently pushed away Chubs and poked him and even hit him. In fact, I've noticed her saying, "Maaloonga" ( I'll hit), to Chubbocks quite a few times and actually hitting him. Whenever we are home, we immediately admonish her. In fact it happened this morning while we were having tea, and as I scolded Puddi and told her she was being bad and that I wouldn't play with her if she hit Chubbocks, Chubboo, that soft-hearted little fellow turns to me and says, "But she's so cute, mamma."
It really breaks my heart sometimes to see this little guy being the big brother - endlessly protective and loving, freely willing to share his toys and books and games, even while he's dealing with his own growing up - being put upon by this tiny brat of a girl. I'm going to have to keep a stern eye on the li'l un and make sure she doesn't chouse Chubbocks out of his due just because she's smaller and he's gentler. I shudder to think what further mayhem will ensue when the third one joins the gang!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Quotable Quotes
between blogger problems and working late and on weekends have not had much time for blogging but wanted to drop in some quotes:
Me: Chubbocks, it's mother's day. Where's my present?
Chubbocks ( sweetly): My love is your present, mamma.
**********************************************************
Me: Chubbocks( who is lately much interested in discussing and acting like a tornado), if you spin that hard, your pp will fly off. How will you do susu?
Chubbocks: With my bum!
**********************************************************
Me: Chubbocks, I scold you quite a bit sometimes. Do you still love me?
Chubbocks: It's ok, you're my mamma, na.
**********************************************************
Me: Puddi, don't drop that water ( pani nahin giraao)
Puddi ( just starting terrible twos): Gilaaoonga!
**********************************************************
Me: Puddi, nahin karo!
Puddi: Kaloonga!
**********************************************************
Me - brushing out Puddi's hair before she goes to the park
Puddi speaking her first sentence: Alley, mujhe lagaalahe ho! ( Arrey, You're hurting me)
Me: Chubbocks, it's mother's day. Where's my present?
Chubbocks ( sweetly): My love is your present, mamma.
**********************************************************
Me: Chubbocks( who is lately much interested in discussing and acting like a tornado), if you spin that hard, your pp will fly off. How will you do susu?
Chubbocks: With my bum!
**********************************************************
Me: Chubbocks, I scold you quite a bit sometimes. Do you still love me?
Chubbocks: It's ok, you're my mamma, na.
**********************************************************
Me: Puddi, don't drop that water ( pani nahin giraao)
Puddi ( just starting terrible twos): Gilaaoonga!
**********************************************************
Me: Puddi, nahin karo!
Puddi: Kaloonga!
**********************************************************
Me - brushing out Puddi's hair before she goes to the park
Puddi speaking her first sentence: Alley, mujhe lagaalahe ho! ( Arrey, You're hurting me)
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