Kids can let go so easily...

Kavya and Ishaan often get into a fight.. it may be verbal where they both warn each other that they will never talk to the other person or not do xyz for them ever again.. Or it could get physical - hitting each other, calling names along with the verbal warnings.

Gaurav and I often interrupt their fights and scold the one who we think was as fault. Sometimes, it gets frustrating when they cry and argue...

Often times we have noticed that a few minutes after a big fight, Kavya and Ishaan are merrily playing together again. It was as if the fight never happened. And then we wonder why did we interrupt and scold ?

It is amazing how kids tend to forget their fights and differences and get back to playing together within minutes. Too bad grown ups cannot do it that easily.. Grown ups tend to hold grudges forever :)

Kids are growing up

In today's busy life, we are always on the run. Running for school, work, classes or social events .. that also means kids have to keep up and if they act up and don't comply, often times we loose patience and get angry. But then when you take some time and think about it, you realize they are only kids.. you cannot expect them to run with you all the time. They need to do things at their own pace and sometimes they need to do things their own way too.

When kids give hard time for certain things, I always say to myself, " It's a phase.. it will pass soon". Sometimes that helps.. Other times I loose it.

Kavya is now 7 and Ishaan is 4. Looking back, so many things have become easy now.. Kids are growing up.. and they are growing up fast. Often times, that makes our lives easier. Here are few things that have made me realize this..

• Brushing teeth used to be a big struggle with Ishaan, but he is much better now. He still has his days of push back, but its less and less.
• Kavya can take a shower and get dressed by herself. (However,  sometimes she does argue to wear different clothes than what I pick out - At times, I argue back and at other times, I let her win :) )
• Going out for dinner is so much easier - Recently, we had great experience going to Scramblz, Chaat cafe and In-N-Out. Both kids ate by themselves and did not create any mess or fuss. It was indeed a memorable change.
• Kavya eats by herself all the time now.. even the Indian meal (rotli-daal-bhaat-shaak). Ishaan still needs help with certain items, but does eat on his own at least 50% of the time. Best part is breakfast - after getting ready, both kids run downstairs and eat their milk and cheerios all by themselves..
• Kavya and Ishaan are playing together more often. With Ishaan growing up a little, there are more things that they are able to agree on and play together. The other day, they arranged all of Ishaan's cars and trucks to form 2 teams and setup bad guys Vs the good guys fight. Kavya also tries to please Ishaan more often than not -she perhaps does not like to hear him cry since he can be very annoying when he does that :). They do have their fair share of fights - both physical and verbal.. but that's only normal.
• They have both outgrown TV shows like Dora and Caillou. Ishaan's favorite is "Chuck and friends" and Kavya enjoys "Phineas and Ferb" and "Good luck, Charlie"
• Kavya has become very matured and understands things. She can also manipulate Ishaan to do things her way :). She is also fond of combing her hair and putting fancy clips all by herself.

.. and the list goes on. While I am happy, I am also afraid - I don't want them to grow up too fast..

Being a stay-at-home mom

I have recently taken on a new role at work - its a new product, new team, new manager and new role. While it was not much of a choice, I was looking for change - so it worked out well. Due to this new role, work has become quite hectic. I have meetings early morning and sometimes late at night. Also, I don't get much time at work to do anything else - walk or catch up on news or learn new technology. Few days back, I also had to go to Costa Mesa for 2 days. While it was only 2 days, it does need lot of prep due to kids routine and school.

Being a stay-at-home mom has often crossed my mind, but I have discarded it thinking I will go crazy if I stayed home all day long with kids. But now, with this busy schedule, I often find myself scrambling for time - for kids and family, for home and for myself. The TODO list keeps growing and the everyday rush continues. It brings back the idea of being a stay-at-home mom. Is it really for me ? Can I do it ?

I have heard from friends that being a stay-at-home mom makes life less stressful for everyone. I can understand why. But I also feel that staying home all day, taking care of house and kids, can get boring. It has its own rewards and merits, but I think it will not provide the kind of satisfaction and self-respect that job does. While I don't feel pressed to work for money, it does give a sense of independence when you can go out and make money. In more ways that one, going to work is satisfying and keeps mind healthy.

The other option to consider is work part-time. While that seems good on paper, it is hard to find a job where working part-time really means less work. Often times, when you change to part-time, your job and responsibility stays the same, only your compensation changes.

Kudos to moms who are able to maintain their sanity and support the family needs by being a stay-at-home or part-time working mom. I just feel like its not for me - not at this time .. May be if it continues to be super busy at work, this might change.

2013 India Trip

We were a little skeptical about our India trip this time since both kids got sick and we had to cut short our last India trip. We were little hopeful at the same time since the kids had grown up a little since our last visit.

Overall, we had a good India trip this year. It was great to meet family and friends. Everyone was so welcoming and loving - the kids felt right at home and easily mixed in with everyone.

They had nothing much to do. So, they kept themselves busy with various screens : TV, phone and ipad. They became fan of Chotta Bheem cartoon and watched it everyday. They also enjoyed watching the various ads and picked up punch lines like "Ehh , Du kya" from poppins and "Mummy khatam" from Quaker oatmeal ad.

We had planned a 3 day trip to Kumbhalgadh and Shreenathji. However, just an hour into the road trip, both kids complained of stomach ache and Ishaan even threw up. So, we took a U-turn and came back. Glad we did, because Ishaan had very bad diarrhea that day. Also, it was very cold in Khumbhalgadh. So, we felt good about our decision and got some time to relax and socialize.

Kids had fun playing games with the society kids. They would play "Stop and Party" which is very much similar to hide and seek and ride bike/scooter. Kids also loved it when anyone would give them a ride on Motor bike or Activa - they were both ever ready to go out.

Gaurav had a couple of sick days - got diarrhea and then some cold/fever. So, overall kids did better than Gaurav on this trip :)

We celebrated Ishaan's 4th birthday there with all the friends from the society. The highlight of the party was the pony ride. We got a person to bring his horse for an hour and the kids took turns at riding on the pony on the society road. Kavya and Ishaan were super excited and had lot of fun. The next thing Ishaan enjoyed was a Chotta Bheem chocolate cake.We had ordered pizza from Dominoes. At the end of day, everyone had fun and we were glad we celebrated on a smaller scale.

Gaurav and Kavya returned on Jan 13th. Ishaan and I stayed back for Tulsi's wedding. We enjoyed Uttarayan on Jan 14th (although it wasn't very windy and Ishaan was more interested in the food I had packed for him than in kites :) ) and also the wedding. We were able to go to all the marriage festivities. Ishaan mingled well with all his cousins. The games on phone kept them busy and also gave me some time to meet and greet friends and relatives. I was also able to go for some shopping during the last week. Having the driver was a big help.

For the first 2 weeks, Ishaan just listened and absorbed all the Gujarati that was spoken around him and then starting 3rd week, he started talking in Gujarati. Although slightly broken, he speaks Gujarati/English mixed and looks very cute when searching for right words to form his sentence. He has continued speaking in Gujarati even after coming back - lets see how long it lasts.

The plane journey both ways went pretty good - again Thanks to the private screen in Singapore air - the kids were entertained throughout with their choice of movie and episodes.

Overall, a good trip.. lot of good memories.. good experience for kids as well. Looking forward to the next trip.

My little princess turns 7 today !

Happy 7th Birthday to my little princess, Kavya ! I still remember the day she was born.

We had a nice small celebration at our house with few of Kavya's friends today. We did a bake and decorate themed party where we baked and decorated teddy bear shaped cookie pops, baked rainbow cupcakes and decorated chocolate cake pops. I also baked a surprise rainbow cake for her birthday. I think the girls had fun. I definitely enjoyed the planning and interacting with the girls.

Here are some of the pictures from her birthday : https://plus.google.com/photos/114562332300579308736/albums/5822788222370220561?authkey=CIrHt_7Oy-qpWg

How do you write thirty ?

Ishaan is learning the 2 digit numbers lately. His teacher said that he gets stuck with some of the numbers, so we are trying to practice writing and reading numbers at home with him.

For numbers above 20, Gaurav taught him how to identify the 2 digits in the number. For example, for 23, since you say "twenty" first, you write 2 and then you say "three", so you write 3 : 23. Ishaan seemed to gradually understand that.

Today, I asked him to write thirty. So, he said "Thir" and wrote 3 and then said "ty" and wrote t : 3t instead of 30. He started laughing realizing that he had done something funny :)

Ishaan and his Gujarati !

Before Ishaan started going to preschool in July 2011, he could only talk in Gujarati. He had a tough time the first month in school because he couldn't communicate. After few months, all he spoke was English. He could understand Gujarati, but he communicated in English (often broken) for most part. The change is understandable since he spent most of his day at school and playing with Kavya and all that communication would happen in English.

Over the past year, we have continued to speak to him in Gujarati and he understands it all, but he replies back in English. Sometimes, we ask him to repeat whatever we say in Gujarati. If the sentence has more than 4-5 words, he says "Its too hard." :) His Gujarati accent is also funny sometimes. And we recently discovered that he cannot say "kh" properly. Here is how we found out.

Ishaan told me that his principal, Ms. Geeta also knows Gujarati. I asked him how he knew that. So, he replied "Because Ms. Geeta says 'caw' at lunch time.. Not the cow in farm, but 'caw' means to eat" :)
He meant to say "Khaw" which means to eat in Gujarati, but it seems that he doesn't speak or understand the letter "Kh" :)

He has been going to the Gujarati class at temple for past couple of months. Hopefully, that will help a little along with some more push from our side to keep the Gujarati language alive in him :)

Gangnam Style episode

Our kids heard about the viral Gangnam Style video and wanted to see it. They heard the song and saw the video a couple of times and really liked the tune. Kavya wanted to hear the song again and again in the car. Even Ishaan also picked up on some of the lyrics - he liked to say "Gangnam style" and eventually he also picked up "ehhhhh sexy lady eh". We repeatedly asked him not to say that since its bad words. Kavya would question " "Sexy means beautiful, then why is it bad word?" :) How do you make a 7 yr old understand why she and her not-even-4-yet brother cannot use the word "sexy" ?

Today evening, we went to the Bath & Body Works store. I was checking out the items we bought while Gaurav was standing behind me with the kids. Just then, Ishaan went around and behind a girl in the line and randomly started singing "Ehhhh sexy lady eh" in the Gangnam tune. The girl was surprised and laughed. We felt embarrassed and tried to explain that its the Gangnam style song that the kids have picked up.

Oh boy.. What else will this age of internet and so much exposure to so many things at a young age would bring ?

"Boys are lucky" says Kavya

Yesterday night, all of a sudden, Kavya came to me and said "Boys are lucky, I wish I was a boy". I was surprised by her statement. I asked her what made her think that. She explained to me "Girls grow up to be mommy and boys grow up to be daddy. Mommies have to work so hard - they have to cook and do all the work in the house .. where as daddies get to have all the fun" :) I was so surprised at her response. Gaurav does quite a bit of chores around the house - so I don't know where she got this from. May be because I do most of the cooking and spend good amount of time in the kitchen and in cleaning ... In any case, I am glad she has noticed that her mommy is working hard .. I am sure, Gaurav may not be as pleased with this statement though :)

Ishaan's love for writing

For past week or two, Ishaan has started writing lots of different alphabets letters. Earlier, he liked to trace, but he wasn't comfortable in writing on his own. Although, he is more comfortable at writing the letters with straight lines, he is also trying to learn the letters with curved lines. Every day in the evening, he loves to write the entire alphabet with little help from us or Kavya. He also loves it when we clap or smile at his achievement. Its a win-win situation !! Looking forward to see him write more and more on his own !!