I am better off with my teddy!

They do not let me chew on delicious shoes :-(

They do not let me sniff and explore the dustbin and then scatter the contents everywhere :-(

They force me to drink water from my bowl and not the deliciously yucky drain water :-(

They are running my life!

and I AM REBELLING!

Today's orkut fortune says

"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming
or tedious"

LIVE AND LET LIVE???

What happened to that? I wonder.
I read Y's post on how many mommy bloggers are getting too judgmental and a lot of things which she said ranked true. I have read many of these blogs and it used to make me feel very inadequate and guilty that maybe there were a lot of things that I was not doing well enough. Was not spending more time with Mowgli. Was shouting at him unnecessarily. Blah Blah and Blah blah.
I returned to work 4 months after Mowgli was born. The company where I was working had offered me many flexibilities- Work from home in the afternoons, laptop, blackberry everything that helped me stay connected with office and also ensured that I could spend time with my baby. The problems started once the maids kept on leaving. Each time a maid would leave and the agency provided us with the next one, there would be a 2 week gap where I had to explain things at work. It was embarrassing though the office people were pretty cool about it. Maybe all this worked because it was a small concern, they were sure that I would not shirk my work etc etc. sadly they closed down their India operation and I was hired as a part-time consultant to their UK and Malaysia teams at half the pay. I was okay with that, because yes, it gave me a lot of time with Mowgli and also we were just tired of the servants and their problems and getting Mowgli adjusted to a different one each month.
Y, in your case you have a very trusted maid who has been with your family for ages. If I had somebody like that to leave my kid with, I am sure I would have looked at another full time position when my company closed down. As it is we do not have that option. Now I am looking at full time positions, we have decided to place Mowgli in a day care centre. So that is a choice I am making. Many people do not agree with me. In fact a friend of mine asked me “How can you be so cruel?” What do I tell her? That I have a life apart from being a mother; That I have worked for five years and am missing that by sitting at home; That I feel I’m wasting my education; That the more I sit at home, the more difficult it will be to get a good job; That I value being financially independent; I doubt whether she would understand. I smile at her and leave it at that.
Insensitive people and their totally insensitive comments – that’s how I console myself. Mowgli is small for his age. He is incredibly active, very cheerful, playful, outgoing and totally adorable, but he just does not eat. In a day all his portions together add up to one square meal. I have tried all tricks in the book, but other than making me frustrated to the point of death, nothing works. I have had strangers come up and ask me “Is he normal for his age?”; “Maybe you should see a doctor.” And so on and so forth. The worst one was “Why don’t you put in some more effort and try to feed him some how?” I very nearly choked that person. Day in and day out I am trying hard- my level best- to get him to eat and here I have a total stranger telling me that I need to put in more effort!!!
See, here I am spending all my waking time with my kid and still there are people who criticize me or judge my parenting. I have decided to let them be. Maybe they feel they are being helpful or they want to feel superior that theirs was the best. Whatever. I really don’t give a damn now. I do what works best for me. If Mowgli doesn’t eat his lunch, I do not run to prepare something different for him now. I just let him be knowing that he will feel hungry and will compensate for it in the next meal. I no longer run after him to feed him. These are choices that I have made for the benefit of my sanity and if anybody else begs to differ they can do so. It really does not make a difference. The only person I listen to is Mowgli’s doctor. That’s it. His word is final. The rest I mostly ignore.
All said and done it’s not just mommy bloggers that are being judgmental. There are a whole set of people who judge you by how your kid talks, walks, eats, pees, what not! Your relatives, neighbours, friends, that fat lady in the park, the watchman in your building, X, Y and Z. Having a kid is like having a ‘free-for-all” advice session. And inevitably its always the mother who has to hear all this.
The important thing is to do whatever makes you happy and contented because a happy working mom is much much much better than a grumpy and frustrated 24 hr ‘always available’ mom.
Trust me!

Can I have some more?

I want more chocolate ice-cream NOW!!!
Tummy full..

Happy Happy :-)

Dads and Moms.. so different

Mowgli's hyper mom in her never ending attempt to increase Mowgli's vocabulary."Look Mowgli... That is an auto.. A car... See See Truck Truck."

Disdainful neighbour hearing this turns to his son and says " Beta.. See. That is a JCB"

I stand humbled and corrected!

I WANT

... a gardener to make my balcony flourish. With lots of greens and flowers and cool breezes and the waft of jasmine in the evenings and creepers. A place for me to relax with a book or a cup of tea. To relax with the BH on those rare leisurely mornings. To enjoy the rains and the sun
... a carpenter to fix those odds and ends and help me tick off umpteen things on my "To-Do" Lists.
... a trainer for coco so that she stops treating the house as her toilet and the balcony as her den!!!
... a driver to sit with me daily and make sure I drive till I get it right. (this can also be outsourced to my dear husband. )
... a personal trainer to motivate me to swim and jog and lose that pregnancy tummy and get back to a 30" jeans.
... an employer to give me that dream job. A great profile, flexi timings, partly work from home options.( If you give me all that I promise not to even talk about salary!)
... a beautician who comes home every weekend to massage my tired feet and back. To nag me about that cracked heels and hair and face.
... a full time maid who will take over the kitchen completely. Ensure that the house is spotless, clothes are washed and ironed and foldede and kept away. Meals are cooked on time with the same dish never being repeated in a fortnight. And smile through out the day.

Bas itna sa khwab hein...
bas itna sa khwab hein....

What is the rolling pin doing in the shoe rack????

To roll out shoes, maybe?

Mowgli at 16

Months, thankfully!!!
During the first month, I remember an incident where mowgli refused to sleep the entire night. He would feed for some time, play for some time, nod off to sleep and just when all of us would heave a collective sigh of relief he would wake up and the process was repeated again and again through out the night. By early morning my mom, I and the maid were like zombies. I had just closed my eyes and was almost asleep when Mowgli woke up again and the maid asked me to feed him. As far as I remember I did feed Mowgli, only it was in my dreams. Later on when I finally woke up, the maid and my mom were laughing at me. It seems I had told them to take the $%%*&%$ baby away and do whatever they wanted to. I want to sleep for at least 3 hours!!!! Never in my wildest dreams had I thought that I would ever behave like this to a one month old baby. Sleep deprivation does funny things to people J
At those times I used to wonder how people could love their kids so much. What was the big deal about it? They say motherhood grows on you. Every day it sort of exponentially increases the love you feel towards your kid. There are days when I can just look at him the whole day, feel joy and wonder in everything he does and ask myself “who taught him all this?”
When he drinks water from his cup and dutifully places it back in the cupboard.
When he takes a cloth and starts wiping the floor or brings the broom and dust pan and tries to sweep the floor.
Rubs soap all over his tummy while taking a bath
Takes the cream and pats it on his chubby cheeks and when I offer my cheeks gives me a bite instead
Keep on throwing imaginary balls all the while shouting ‘ma-ma.. bu.’
A very insistent “ma-maaa” which makes me drop everything and come running (ah, well…most of the time, it does!)
Throwing everything out of the balcony- clips, his toys, utensils, shoes, whatever he can lay his hands on
Slyly feeding cocoa whatever he does not want to eat
Giving the BH bear hugs when he comes home tired from work
Throwing flying kisses and saying ‘ta-ta’ to the crowds when we are stuck in traffic jams
Hiding behind the chair always willing to play hide and seek.
Trying to lift cocoa who is double his size now
Biting and scratching and pinching and trying to pull my nose ring off (if only it was that easy!)
Patting the bed to indicate which side I should sleep on
Stuffing my toe-ring inside the BH’s belly button!
And just when you think this is it, you cannot stand it anymore; he ambles over with that impish grin and hugs you tight or gives you a peck on the cheek and goes ‘um-ma-ma-ma’.
And that just makes your day and you are once again a willing slave to his highness ‘Mowgli Yuvraaj”.
Jai Ho!
p.s. The next ‘16’ (years) might not get such a favorable review!

Yipppeeeeeeeeee...Hugs for freeeeeeee

Mowgli's learnt to give bear hugs now :-) He comes with his arms outstretched and hugs you tight and makes a roaring sound. (p.s. What sounds do bears make when they hug????). Sometimes you have to ask for it and sometimes he senses that you are in the need for a hug.

One more of those incredibly sweet gestures that just make your day and leave you feeling happy for hours and days...

The Bh was down with fever yesterday and Mowgli was in a pampering mood. Snuggling up to the BH for his naps, giving him bear hugs and kisses and what nots. That kid, I am telling you is born to be a politician! He is very clear on which side of the bread needs to be buttered!!!

Thought for the day

Does pride give happiness?
If not why should one become proud?
Is it because we live in a world where we want to say "I achieved something"?

My Daily Bread for today says...

Lord,help me stop complaining
When things don't go my way;
Instead, give me a thankful heart

For all You do each day.

I read this and gasp in shock! This is custom made for me. only yesterday i was complaining non-stop to Him about everything... me not getting a job in spite of attending so many interviews. companies that don't even bother giving a specific rejection reason - technical issues or personal ones (I suspect the latter!); mowgli not eating at all; cocoa treating the whole house as her bathroom; my cracked heels that absolutely refuse to look pretty; a house that never looks neat though I am forever cleaning up; a garden that is mutinously wilting away while I type this; of nothing that seems to be right!!!
Got the right answer to my complaints!