Kids transition to bunk bed after 5 long years..

By now, we have tried lot of different sleep combinations with kids.

When Kavya was born, she would sleep in her crib which was in our bedroom. But half of the nights, when she would wake up at night, she would come sleep with me/us in our bed. Initially, while I was on maternity leave, Gaurav would sleep in a different room so that at least one of us could sleep well at night and then I would catch up on my sleep during day time. But once I started going to work, we used to take turns - The first half of the night was my duty and the second half was Gaurav's duty. This went on for few months. We had heard stories from other parents where their kids would co-sleep with them till they are 6 or even 8 years old. In order to avoid that situation, we put Kavya in her own room on a queen futon mattress when she was 9 months old. Even in that situation, either Gaurav or I, whoever put her to bed would most likely end up sleeping with her. But at least Kavya got into a habit of sleeping in her own room. This arrangement went on for quite some time.

The winter during late 2008/early 2009 was really bad for Kavya since it was her first winter in school and thereby being exposed to lot of different viruses. So, she would get cold, cough and fever too often. And when she was sick, she would want to sleep with us. Since I was pregnant with Ishaan, she would end up sleeping with Gaurav in a different room. And once Ishaan was here, I would sleep in our bedroom with Ishaan while Gaurav would sleep in the guest bedroom with Kavya. We tried to put Ishaan to sleep in his crib in our bed room, but on most nights, he would end up sleeping in the bed with me after the night feeding (partly because it was a king size bed and I was too lazy to get up and put him in his crib :).

To encourage Kavya to sleep in her room, we bought a bunk bed during early Feb 2009. Kavya loved the bunk bed and was excited to sleep on the top or sometimes at the bottom. However, it was not consistent. Depending on her mood/health, she would either sleep in the bunk bed or with Gaurav in the guest bedroom. Even when she would sleep on the bunk bed, she would want one of us to either sleep with her or be in the room with her while she felt asleep.

This sleep combination went on for few months and then we got little ambitious (and also tired of sleeping in different rooms). We connected the crib to the king size bed and decided that all 4 of us could sleep together with either Kavya or Ishaan sleeping in the crib and the other kid in the bed with us. That went on for few days but with Ishaan still waking up and rotating 360 degrees, it didn't last very long. Also, we had the bed bug problem around that time - so we disposed the crib and the bed frame.

Around the same time, Kavya was starting to prefer to sleep in her bunk bed. So, either Gaurav or I would put her to bed there, while the other person would put Ishaan to bed in our bedroom and we would take turns at sleeping with Ishaan (while the other person slept in guest bedroom) so that both of us would not be disturbed by Ishaan's waking up in the middle of night. Then there was also a phase where I would put both the kids to bed in our bedroom so that both of us didn't have to spend over 30 mins in putting kids to bed. After lot of different trial/error, I thought it was about time to try putting Ishaan in bunk bed with Kavya. Kavya preferred to sleep at the bottom. So, Ishaan would have to be on the top. I started doing that since Jan 13th 2011. I would climb up and sleep with Ishaan till he slept off while Gaurav will sleep with Kavya till she slept. We also got a special turtle that would project moon and starts on the ceiling to make the sleep routine more exciting. And so far its been working our pretty well. Ishaan loves to sleep in the bunk bed. Infact, if we try to put him to bed somewhere else, he cries saying he wants to go to didi's room. The only 2 problems with this setup are that Ishaan still wakes up in the middle of some nights and it becomes difficult to pacify him since he is on the top. Also, he makes lot of noise and takes a long time to go to bed - so Kavya gets bothered by that. But the hope is that these small issues will resolve soon.

Its good to finally be sleeping in our bedroom together and without being kicked by kids after almost 5 years :)

Ishaan thinks Goody means chocolate :)

Whenever something happens that Ishaan does not like, he cries and says "Didi gandi". Didi means sister (referring to Kavya) and gandi means dirty. Not sure how/where he learnt that from, but he says that whether or not Kavya had anything to do with whatever upset him.

One night, he woke up from sleep, shouting and crying "Didi gandi, didi gandi". Not sure if it was a bad dream or what. We have been trying to explain him not to say that, but he just doesn't understand. And what makes it worse is that often times Kavya also reciprocates saying "Ishaan gando". So, that instigates him even more.
In an effort to redirect, I asked him to say "didi goody" instead of "didi gandi". I figured it will be at least something nice. And the next minute, he said just that "Didi goody". But soon after that he said "Didi chocolate wali". It took me a while to realize that he substituted goody with chocolate because he thinks goody means chocolate :). I think that is mainly because when we tell him that we will give him some goody for being nice, we end up giving him an M&M.

Few days have gone by.. He still hasn't given up saying "didi gandi".. but when I remind him to say "Didi goody" instead, he most definitely follows it with "Didi chocolate wali" :)

Funny Ishaan !!

Kavya's understanding of her teacher's life

Today, we went to Picture People in Oakridge Mall to get a family picture. There we met Kavya's Spanish teacher, Ms. Lily. Ms. Lily was very friendly and complimented Kavya on her dress. She was trying hard to make her not feel odd about running into her teacher outside of school. In an effort to do that, she said "I know you think it's odd to see your teacher outside of school, but you know what ? Teachers don't live in school". That surprised me and I asked Kavya if she thought that teachers live in school. And she said 'Yes' :)

Very interesting and very funny. I never thought that kids assumed that teachers just lived in school.

On way back, I was trying to explain Kavya that teacher's have a family and house and life, just like us. They go to school to teach, because its their job, just like mommy and daddy go to work. But she was still not understanding. She told me that when she grows as big as mommy, then the teachers can go to work :) She basically thought that teachers have to go to school and teach only as long as she goes to school. Once she is old enough, then the teachers will be free and will be able to go to their job :)

Funny and cute thinking :)

Ishaan knows his ABCs

We have tried teaching ABCs to Ishaan several times - either through the ABCD rhyme or through books. However, when we ask him to sing ABCD, he will just sing ABCD and stop. However, today morning, he was sitting in his high chair while I was working in the kitchen and all of a sudden, I heard him sing "LMNOP..QRSUVW" and I was pleasantly surprised. So, it seems he knows most of his ABCs, but just doesn't sing it all the time.

He has also been able to identify the basic colors like green, blue, red, yellow, pink for over couple of weeks now (although he knows them, he often does not say it correctly when you ask him to identify some color). And he can count till 14 (only when he wants to though) and he usually starts counting at 2 instead of 1. Wonder why 14 ? Well, that's because we have 14 steps and we usually count when going up or coming down :) He is able to speak sentences that are 4-5 words long and often breaks it up in 2 parts if it is longer than that. But he is able to communicate very fluently - mostly in Gujarati though.

He is growing up too fast. While I am looking forward to that, I also like this innocent age.

Kavya and her understanding of "Promise"

Last night I was putting Kavya and Ishaan to bed. I was sleeping in the middle with one kid on each of my side. Then, Kavya wanted to drink water. I told her to go downstairs and drink some, but she was afraid to go all by herself and wanted me to go with her. Ishaan was almost ready to go to sleep and he was sleeping on my hand. So, I tried to bribe her with chocolate in her lunch box the next day if she went to get water on her own or went to bed without water. She seemed to forget about it for a minute, but then started asking for water once again. So, I promised her that I will go and get water for her after Ishaan is asleep. She liked that. While waiting for Ishaan to sleep, both of us fell asleep :).
I woke up around midnight and came down to check something in the kitchen. I remembered that Kavya wanted water and I had promised her. So, I took a glass for her. Next day, she woke up around 7:00 am and looked at me and asked "Mama, what did you promise me?". Although I knew she would remember it, I was surprised to see her wake up this early and jump right on it. I felt so glad that I woke up at midnight and remembered to get her glass. I pointed her to the glass. She took a sip, went to the restroom and went back to sleep.

This made me realize that she is really starting to understand the meaning of "Promise". She is also learning to trust others when they promise something. My little angel is growing up !!

Kavya : Can we go live in the white house ?

Last night, Kavya got a book about Presidents to read as part of her night-time routine. The book had a picture of White House on it. So, Gaurav was explaining to her that the house is called White House and it is in Washington DC which is capital of US, etc etc. Before he could tell her all the details, Kavya interrupted and asked "Can we go live in the White House ?" Gaurav and I both burst out laughing.

Gaurav responded "Sure, if you ever become President of US then you can go and live there." She probably didn't understand it much.

Innocent and funny question :)

Little Kavya is not that little any more :(

I remember little Kavya when she was 2 or 3 years old.. she was so cute and filled with innocence. Now that she will be almost 5, I can totally feel that she is growing up and becoming an individual with her own temperament, thoughts, opinions and attitude.

In whatever we do, she has lots of questions and also an opinion on how and what to do. She also wants to pick her own clothes to wear with matching pins/rubber bands and socks. Sometimes, she also wants to help me pick my clothes and ear rings :)

Lately, if I ask her to get something for me, she retorts "Who needs it ? you or me? Since you want it, you go get it!"

It is also not easy any more to just make up something and convince her. She needs more reasoning and she understands it all. She gets mad if you don't listen to her and makes faces as well. Often times, she is lost in her own thoughts or action or may be just because, and does not listen or pay attention to what you are saying. Her school teacher had also mentioned this in our last meeting.

What's funny is that now she helps me to convince / threaten Ishaan by making up stuff. If Ishaan is not eating or doing some mischief, I tell him that cops will come.. and Kavya will actually pretend that she is calling cops or will knock on the door/wall suggesting that cops are here :) While that helps, I am not sure if that is good :)

The big problem is that while she understands lot of things, she does not understand or cannot interpret everything. For example, we teach her not call other names. Then other day, I was just calling her cute names... and she immediately complained to me "Mommy, you are calling me names". I tried to explain her that these are cute names, something I am using out of love. But she failed to understand.

When kids are small, we often wonder when will they grow up.Now that I see my little girl is growing up, I miss those golden days of innocence. I want my little innocent Kavya back :)

Love Garbage truck - but not garbage uncle !!

There is something about garbage truck that fascinates kids. When Kavya was little, she was initially afraid of the big truck, but then she was fascinated by it and every time she would hear the noise of the truck, she will want to look out of the window and watch the truck collect garbage. Ishaan is the same way at this age. He just loves garbage truck. He has a dump truck that he calls as garbage truck and moves it along saying "Kachro leva" (Truck has come to collect garbage).

While both the kids loved garbage truck, they don't like the garbage uncle character. When Kavya was little, we used to tell her that garbage uncle will come if she didn't do xyz.. or listen to us.. and she would then listen to us. Its the same thing with Ishaan now. He thinks (or may be we might have told him) that garbage uncle will throw him with the trash. So, he is just as much afraid of garbage uncle as he is of the cops :)

It didn't work for too long with Kavya(may be couple of months). Lets see how long does the fear of garbage uncle works with Ishaan :)

Kavya has become very creative..

Lately, Kavya's creativity has increased a lot.

She builds different things with the small legos on her own. One day when she showed me something she had built, I asked her to go build a tree and I figured that would keep her busy for some time :-). However, just 3-4 mins later, she came back to me with a very nice tree made out of lego.. And I was just WOWed by it.

She is also doing a great job at drawing. She has a whole bunch of drawings put up on the wall - she just loves to stick everything she makes on the wall with a tape. Each of those drawing represent a particular item/action. She just draws them directly with crayons and then colors in it. After she finishes her drawing, she explains us what she drew and waits for us to say "Wow.. good job, Kavya !!" :)

One other thing that took us by surprise almost a month back was when she prepared a bunch of different activities on her own. She likes doing the different activities like connect the dots, find the differences, arrange in right order, etc in her books. So, one fine weekend morning, she decided to make up her own activity on a sheet of paper. The activities she drew were to figure out the right path to something, which two of the few items were same, jumbled up letters of simple words like CAT, AMI and then figuring out the correct way, something about a frog jumping on heart shaped and numbered lily pads to get to somewhere, etc.
When she showed and explained it to us, we were just, WOW. Gaurav and I looked at each other and felt really happy and proud of our little girl !!

Ishaan discovered his shadow

Few days back Gaurav took Ishaan for a walk in his stroller. Half way into the walk, Ishaan seemed to be bothered by something. Gaurav realized that he was very upset with his shadow :) Gaurav explained him that the black thing that moves when he moves is called shadow and it is Ishaan's friend and it always stays with Ishaan. However, he did not like it. He wanted it to go away - he kept saying " Shadow no, Shadow no". But since it did not go away, he finally got used to it.

Since that day, whenever he sees the shadow, he shouts "Shadow, Shadow". Couple of times he seemed like he was afraid of it, but then we asked him to say "Hi Shadow" and then raise both his hands or do some action to see the shadow move and that has made Shadow his friend :-)