Firsts for me!

The past few days have been a lot of firsts...
For me, not Mowgli.
The first night in 22 months that I slept away from Mowgli. He slept with my mom. It was not as bad as I thought.
The first time four generations were together in our home. My grand parents, my mom, us and Mowgli. It was wonderful. Felt happy, really really happy.
The first trip I took without Mowgli and the BH. Had to go to chennai and spent 24 hours away from them. It was not as good as I thought.


When did our lives become so intertwined? Each dependent on the other. The mood variations of one reflect on the other. Is this what it means to be a family?

My bestest birthday ever :-)

One year older..
One year away from the dreaded thirties ( Why are they dreaded so much?)
And the BH surpassed himself.
Totally.
Absolutely.
Fully overdid it!!!

The previous night we stayed up and talked after a long time. Really talked. About what went wrong. What we did wrong. What we said and what we meant. It was a huge relief to clear up everything. I felt so free after that.
Woke up really early on my birthday. My mom was coming to spend the weekend. I rushed to the kitchen to get things ready and what do I see? A hand made card with beautiful words written by the BH himself propped up on the counter. I look back and see a grinning BH on the stairs. Then I notice there are some papers behind the card. A spa package for me :-) WOW!!!! I had been wanting to go for a massage for some time now and this was just right! The usual cake followed.
Flowers and jewellery from my sister in law, flowers from my friends, calls from everybody, messages. I was really really happy.
The spa was great. A full body massage, a body scrub and a facial. I came out of the place smelling like a perfume bottle!!! He had told the spa people that it was my birthday. So after the massage, everybody came to wish me and presented me with Roses again!!! I love fresh flowers and i had so much fun arranging the different bouquets in different rooms. each time i would pass a flower arrangement a smile would light up my face. Then we went shopping with my mom. The day was far from over. Dinner at Windsor Manor!!! And we again cut a totally yummy chocolate truffle cake.
I went to sleep totally exhausted.
Dear BH, this is how i want my birthdays to be :-) Hahahhaha :-) Yes, I know you are thinking that you can ride on this for the next five years. No Ways!!! I have got used to this style now.
Love you...Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmma

A long sad face

is what Mowgli took with him to the daycare today.

In his world, today was a very very good day. He woke up next to his dada. Happily pulling and climbing on top of the BH and waking him up at 5.45. Yesterday he had woken up suddenly from his sleep shouting ' Dada', ' Chotu'. (p.s. Chotu is my sister's nickname). Guess he was missing his dad. The day got even better with his dada taking him to the terrace to see the birds. It was nice and sad to see him clinging to the BH the whole morning. When the BH is away, Mowgli never shows that he misses his dad. Doesnt ask about him, doesnt search for him. In fact behaves as if everything is normal. It is only when he comes back and you see Mowgli's happiness that you realize that he had indeed missed his dada a lot.

The day was full of surprises. At 8 am his velliamma and unni thettayi arrived. The two boys have a 2 yr age gap; Mowgli just loves playing with unni. True, unni is much more calmer and sensitive and less of a rowdy than yours truly; still they get on well. Sharing books and toys happens sometimes, lots of hugs and kisses by Mowgli and unni running away from all this show of affection, the kiss slowly turning into a bite, unni crying, Mowgli trying to look innocent, both of them running madly around the house, unni telling Mowgli a story, snatching toys from each other... An almost 4 year old and an almost 2 year old.

After all this fun when it was time to go the daycare his face became sad and downcast.

'Mowgli, shall we go the day care?"

"Noooooooooooooo"

Absolutely no interest. He did not want his bag/shoes/nothing.

Drooping face. Totally sad expression. Half hearted mind.

this and that

I spoke too soon about Mowgli being promoted! He cried and made such a fuss that they brought him down and have now left the decision to him. Every afternoon when I drop him there, his auntie asks him in the sweetest voice possible " Mowgli, shall we go up?" He refuses to budge under any circumstances. A very emphatic shaking of his head and points determinedly at the downstairs play area. I am !#$%$#@#@!@#!
The weekend was hectic with a couple of old friends and their babies staying over. And here again I observed another facet to my son. HE IS SHY!!!! This from the guy who goes around kissing random girls at airports, smiles at every passerby, bites every guest who comes to our place.. this is something new and totally unexpected. If its a huge gathering and there are other kids, he first refuses to leave me. Then he plays on his own away from the other kids. I felt very sad when I saw this. He has always been very friendly. Is this a growing up phase? He does come around after some time and does play with the other kids. But the first 10 minutes is spent clinging to my legs! And as always every behaviour trend that Mowgli shows I torture myself by asking " Would he have behaved this way if I spent all my time with him? Is it insecurity because we are sending him to a daycare?" Pointless questions, I know. But I still ask them.
He has also realized that by crying and whining he can get what he wants from MOST people! You have rightly guesses, we are seeing a LOT of tantrums and whining in the jungle house now. "This too shall pass" is what I tell myself hundred times a day!
Going on and on and on Mowgli is growing up FAAAAST!!!
P.s. You who visited here last week , read all my archives at one go and drop in daily, why dont you leave a comment??? Saying you like this or you do not like this?
Why? Why? Why?

Promoted!

Mowgli. Not me!!!
Today he has been moved to the Toddler section in his day care. Till yesterday he was an infant!!! ( How anybody could call that little imp an infant is beyond me... but whatever..)
As usual, he reacts to very change by crying out loud, waiting to see whether they will change their minds and put him back. After five minutes whne he saw that was not happening, he immediately settled in and started playing with the toys! So now, he will have activities to do like painting, making stuff etc etc. And hopefully soon our fridge door will proudly display his art works.
His daycare aunty says " From being the dada and bossing everybody around in the infants section, he will now have to learn to be the smallest in the toddler's section".. From what I know of my son, it will not be too soon before he starts his dadagiri in the toddler's section alos. He was never one to worry abt size and age :-)
I was arguing with them that he is 18 months and suddenly it struck me he will be two in Nov. That means he is 22 months!!! The terrible two's are nearing!!!!
My small boy is growing up :-(

Orkut says...

" THE WEAK CAN NEVER FORGIVE. FORGIVENESS IS THE ATTRIBUTE OF THE STRONG. "

Its disturbing to read this. Making me think how strong the BH is.
How much more strong my mother in law is. To forgive and forget so simply. To accept that peoples actions are governed by God and to forgive them for all the pains they have caused and not bear petty grievances.

For me it is a battle. I like to think I forgive and move on, but have lately
realized that what I do is bundle everything deep inside and try not to think
about it. That is neither forgiving nor forgetting. Am I that weak???

Things to do

Last sunday, the BH got into one of his "I am a great husband" moods and took me mud shopping. Yes, thats what we did. Piled three sacks into our car and then scouted along the highway searching for mud! And we did hit pay dirt :-) Two sacks of red mud and one sack of sand now stand proudly on my balcony waiting for the weekend to arrive. A couple of plants need to be divided and repotted. The lilies have to go into a bigger pot. I want to buy some more new plants and new pots and planters. Vegetable gardening will have to wait. I dont think I have enough space. For the time being concentrating solely on the flowers and the leafy plants. Want to totally revamp the balcony.If I cant get them to re-do my balcony, I'll do it myself with whatever creative juices I have.
The compost bin is behaving very nicely. The first bin is almost full. It will take a month or more to get the compost. It is really a great thing. After using this, I now have so much less garbage to throw out. Earlier the maid used to clear the garbage every day, now its reduced to once in three/four days. That too is because of the plastic covers. Need to check with my newspaper raddiwala whether they will take old plastic covers/bottles/milk packets etc. If everybody could use this at home, there would be so less garbage on the roads and the city would be less polluted. It seems to be an ideal waste management technique. There is no strong stink, flies are less because the waste is fully covered. Ants are there ; but since it is out on the balcony I am ignoring them for the time being.
Registered for FRM. The exam is on Nov 21 ; i have three months to prepare. Starting tomorrow the grind starts again. After 5 years, I am again getting back to books. Yesterday evening while I was away at work, the BH cleared up an entire table for me to use as my study table. Yes, he is very sweet that ways. Now there are no more excuses to postpone the preparations. I have the study material, the syllabus, have paid the fees ( HUGE incentive) and have told the world that I am appearing for theis exam. All that remains is to pass :-)
We are planning to start a low carbohydrates diet from tomorrow for a month. I am going to go to the office gym and the BH is joining Kickboxing classes. That and the strict diet should ensure that we welcome the new year leaner, healthier and fit.
It seems like a lot of new beginnings and things finally getting ticked off from my mental To-Do lists.

Of advice and dreams

Got this from Metrodad.
What advice do you want to pass on to your kids? What's the one life lesson that you wished someone had taught you earlier? What's the best piece of advice you ever received from your parents?
And I thought and thought and thought. Yes, I'll be eating Mowgli's head with non stop advice and stuff, but in the long run this is what i want for him.
1. Live life king size. Do whatever your heart wants to do and do it NOW. There is no other better time. The opportunity might not come again. Life will not stop and wait for you at each junction. So grab the chances NOW.
2. Play without the fear of losing. Even if this sounds clichéd, life is not about winning or losing. It’s the game that’s more important
3. Learn any musical instrument. When the going gets tough, music always helps.
4. Laugh at your mistakes and laugh at yourself.
5. Friends are friends and family is family. Some will seep from one to the other, but not all. Treat them accordingly
6. Have a hobby and nurture it over the years
7. Love this planet and do your best for it
8. Dream big. And work on your dreams. Hard work and dreams together can create magic.
9. Whatever happens know that we are always there for you. Always
10. There is a God. And there are no unanswered prayers. Sometimes the answer is just NO