Happy 6th

Dear kutty,

We are going through a tough phase as a family now. R thatha is not with us anymore and it is tearing us apart when you go stand in front of his photo and talk to him.

You are talking/thinking more about thatha since yesterday as now we have his picture placed at living room.

Your only wish today while blowing the candle is to have R thatha alive. I hope this wish comes true.

These are words from you at random times today with no influence from anyone.

“It is not fair Amma. Thatha should know that its my birthday today. How can he just go? He should be here”

“Amma, I now have only one thatha. Can you tell K thatha to be thatha #1 and thatha #2?”

“Amma, can R thatha hear me when I talk to him? Will he come if I call him?”

“Amma, thatha died. He can’t talk to me anymore”

To keep you up, we did cake cutting at Ammachi’s home and went out for dinner with extended family. I do not have the energy to recollect and write about your last year. I will do it some other day.

You are the biggest blessing to our family da. Our life would have been dull and serious without you. You are the binding factor and you bring out all type of emotions from all of us. You make us laugh, cry, fear and shout with your traits.

Your laugh is contagious. You amaze me with the over thinking of that little brain of yours. I say “Indha kutty moolai evlo yosikudhu”..

You talk NON-STOP. I mean it. You can’t stay quite for two minutes together. You have to talk to breathe normal. Your other name can be Mr.Nagger.

May you be blessed with good health and happiness, Love you kutty!

More later!!

Love,
Amma

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It’s official

I am a high school mom now 🙂 The girl has started her high school journey today. I hope she enjoys this high school tenure, has loads of fun and stays responsible. She has a bus to catch at 6:45am in the morning for next 4 years. That means the poor Amma has to make her lunch dabba and breakfast ready by 6:30am!!!

We prayed and did our family ritual of jingu chikka dance before heading to the bus stop. Appa, LHB, M and myself were hiding in the bushes closer to the bus stop as the girl strictly denied our appearance in the bus stop. How can I let her go so easily without seeing her blushing?

So, when she was about to board the bus she was telling her friend that “My mom will be here somewhere taking pics” and was searching for me while I walked up to her and clicked this pic. The moment she realized my presence she turned around. A moment that will be etched to my memory for a very long time!

And its my birthday today! Out of all the days, today is the day I noticed a grey hair in my head! Seriously!!! Signs of growing old I guess 😦

And parents are here for a month. Amma made paruppu urundai kuzhambu, beans usili and vada curry today. What more can I ask for?

Trying to live every moment with them as their stay is short.

LHB deserves a separate post. All his terrible two tantrums that were saved for years are thrown at us as if there is no tomorrow. I am just hanging at the edge waiting for his school to reopen in 2 days. Phewwww!!!!

Howdy all?

Happy 13th

Dear Adi,

Turning 13 or 13th is our phrase for this year. I am an official teen age mom and soon to be high school mom. It is very overwhelming ma. You are growing to be a beautiful young lady and I have already started drawing my life lessons from you. Its not going to be a mushy birthday letter from now.

We are stepping into the phase where I can feel that gap between us some days. You are getting closer to your friends than us, you chose what to share with us, you have your own world now. Imagine a family with two extreme kids where one is in her own world and the other constantly keeps looking for Amma/Appa. That is us precisely now. I am not liking this setup at all but learning to adapt myself to the reality!!

My only hope is for the table to turn in few years like everyone says. I will wait with all my will kannamma same as how my Amma waited for me. I could so relate your present life to my high school life and how I rebelled to my Amma. Till you come back to me, I will make do with LHB. His unlimited hugs and kisses keeps me sane.

You have an Instagram account and strictly denied me from following you. Your spare time are mostly spent in hangouts. You have hosted couple of sleepovers in past few months at our home and as parents our contribution was just cleaning the home before the event, ordering/delivering pizzas and donuts. That was it. You took care of everything else. I am happy we are able to host sleepovers though we live in a condo and our home is relatively smaller. The presence of those girls cheers me up too.

You are too good at teaching shortcuts to LHB, like the pattern you taught him to remember the dots in a dice. He learns from you in no time whereas Amma has to slog for days to make him remember something. You both have silly fights and you always say he gets his way out easily than you but I am sure you know the truth. You are still our priority and he only gets the attention spared from you! You are the world to him so as I say many many times every day please pretty please be nice to him ma! I know that he gets on to your nerves often but can you not annoy him please? He blindly believes all that you say so please watch your words!! May your sibling love grow more and more with each passing year!

You are continuing with the Indian classical music and piano lessons though I wouldn’t call them as your passion. One thing you did with passion this year is the Odyssey of the mind competition. It was a group competition and the six girls who participated in that became more like twin sisters now. I am very glad to see you with a gang. Friends are very important in life ma. You need them always!

We watched Gilmore girls together this year and we always blame each other as one will watch it without the other sometimes making the other miss few parts. Also, you will declare “Amma I will put Gilmore girls so we can watch it together” but I will get carried away with some other work in 2 minutes while you will continue to watch and then bring me up to speed when I come back to sit.

What I remember the most is the day you rewinded the episode where Lorelai and Luke reconcile after their first big fight and kept it ready for me to watch as I ranted to you that I couldn’t stand to see Lorelai sulk/cry. You wanted me to see the couple get back together. We watched it so much that LHB started liking it and declares “Amma now its your TV, do you want me to put Rory for you?” 🙂

Sometimes you tend to be a tad self centered but Amma is working on it to make you not take things for granted and learn to appreciate any small kind act. I attribute this behavior more to your age than your own self.

You adapt to situations very well. A girl who outright denies Indian dresses was seen wearing kurta/salwar out of her own will during last year India visit. She bugged me to get her few pairs of salwars and even kept bindi in forehead everyday. Do you know that girl by any chance?

You can make stove top Indian tea now. I have been blessed with a cuppa few times last year.

Cleanliness – Its better we don’t talk about it!! **rolls eyes heavily**

I will wake you up with a treasure hunt and we will bake the cake at home as it is our yearly tradition to celebrate your special day ma.. You made sure I am preparing for the hunt and you wanted me to keep a mini hunt for LHB too. This shows that the child in you still exists kannamma 🙂

You are a little scared about high school and the pressure/work involved. I am sure you will handle it with grace given your academic records so far!

Here is to a beautiful and rocking teen years. You know where to go if you get into any trouble. Your family will always stand by you no matter what!

Love,
Amma

 

Happy 5th – Day 83

Dear Kutti,

This has been an happening year for us when we started communicating two way in serious matters and you started voicing your opinions.

I melt when you ask me to be careful every single time you see me handling knife just because I got a cut once.

Your hugs and kisses. I just can’t get enough of them da!! Keep them pouring for that is what keeps me sane most of the times!

I would be lying if I say I don’t want you to grow. I want to see you grow with charm and be my shoulder as much as I want to wrap all your cuteness in a box and keep it safe forever and ever.

You are a happy boy by nature and receive compliments fron Strangers very often. That Subway girl said she have to give you a cookie and asked us what is your favorite flavor.

You constantly outbeat yourself and I am a proud momma to see your progress. It is tough. You work very hard to get things right. Your little mind and it’s thoughts amazes me kutti. I say loud often “indha kutti moolai evlo yosikudhuu” (how much does this little brain thinks!!)

I call you baby and everytime I call you as baby it is a moment to put back my perspectives in place. Akka keeps changing her pet name to call you every few months. Right now she calls you “gator”. “What’s up gator” is her go to phrase when she enters home and sees you bundled in couch glued to the idiot box.

You are my little helper to load the tablet and start dishwasher most of the days.

You surprise us at the least expected time with your new learnings and Amma has very low expectation on you that I brim with pride even if you could count to 10.

We are doing great with studying. You can write your first name and few alphabets in Tamil. What if they can’t be in straight line or we are behind from the universe. Progress matters!

There are so many cute moments that cracks me up day in and day out. You are the source of my lighter moments. Wish I had photographic memory to capture those moments and replay them often in my mind.

Finally someone got my dance gene. Your favorite pass time is to dance and your favorite numbers are “Halena halena”, “Macho” Tamil songs and Justin Timberlake’s “Sunshine in my pocket”. Please don’t stop like Amma did! Wish we can perform for a duet someday kutti and that would be my dream day!

You are still a total Appa kondu but your matured mind tries to balance the relationships. When I ask “Do you like me or Appa?” Your constant response is “I like everyone Amma. My teacher said I have to be friends with everyone Amma” in a very matter of fact tone.

I want you to remember this girl from your class this year. I made her your official first crush though you don’t care. She is very cute da. When you read this come and ask me for her name and photo okay?

We have to go through some ordeals at school but hey there are three souls in this world that wishes only, only the best for you so we will cross it together holding hands tight. No worries. We got this!

My dream wish is to spend more time with you baby, read more books, play more games and have hours and hours of “not doing anything” kind of time.

You have made a list of things that you will not do when you turn 5 because apparently big boys don’t do that – nose picking, yelling, hitting Akka are some in the list.

The pride in your face when you say “I will do this myself. I know how to do this and go about executing the task in hand” is priceless!

You have beautiful hair, smile and eyes. You don’t need a reason to laugh. It is a blessing kutti.

You are the sunshine of our family kanna! We all still adore you like a newborn and spoil you to the core. Stay the same, happy and healthy.

We try to keep writing fun by trying out different poses and techniques. This is one of that 🙂

Love,
Amma

Happy 12th

Dear Adi,

I have a 12 year old daughter. Phew. Life is moving on lightning speed. You know what makes me terrified these days. The feeling that you will soon fly out of this nest. And whenever that pang of feelings hit me I rush to the room where you are and just hang around. I know I am insane, for god only knows you might just go to college from home but with every day passing that feeling of “I am going to miss you” is hitting me hard kannama.

You are a well rounded child who knows the nitty gritty to handle most of the situation. You adapt very well. You are an adviser to some of your friends. You know your values. You are honest and compassionate. You are considerate.You cannot hurt others. You don’t like to be a defaulter. I am sure you will not get involved in any act that will make you regret later. You have that self control. Yet, you still act like a child and happy with watching just kid appropriate movies. What more can I ask for? I am proud to be your mother and you give me that grand feeling that I have done a good job in raising you so far ma.

You are part of a gang of 7 girls and your gang in named MAARRSS after the first letter of each of the gansgter name. You girls are like a close knit standing for each other for anything and everything. I am so glad that you are part of a gang. I love listening to all the chit chats and meaningless convos you girls have and how you all plan every small thing.

A major shift I noticed in you this year is you have come out of the cocoon to participate in competitions. Some of the competitions you participated this year are Odyssey of the mind, battle of the books, battle of the classes and celebrating art. We had rich experience with Odyssey of the mind where both Appa and I volunteered with a 4 yr old in tow and we as a family spent the whole day at a different middle school. There was so much to learn. I enjoyed all those off site meetings you girls had at our home to prepare for the competition. I would just sit there and watch you all chit-chating and working at the same time. I already see me in you in some of your actions ma. One of your art has been selected to be published in an art book. We are yet to know your ranking. My jaw literally dropped looking at your recent portrait for an English project.

You are continuing with carnatic music and piano. You agreed to sing during golu visits (it is a big leap) and recently gave a performance in local sai baba temple. Still long way to go with both arts.

You can make an omelette for yourself now with us not in the vicinity. One day when I was late to work and you were home, you made onion ring omelette and packed it for me 🙂 You love cooking the non messy stuff and you are up for baking anytime.

You don’t like to dress up. You are absolutely fine with a pair of t shirts and pants. You think skirts, ear rings or any kind of jewelry are not meant for you. Its a big deal to even take off knots or oil your hair, forget about styling.

You are taking school bus in the morning from this year. That is you walking to the bus stop on the first day of boarding bus. All these years we have dropped you at school and this is a first. I love packing your dabba every day though that means I have to wake up one hour early. You noticed that I packed your favorites for lunch all this week to keep it a special week.

LHB annoys you the most but you embrace him like a second mother. I couldn’t avoid this as much as I want to. It just happens naturally and me trying to keep you out of his chores looks out of place. So, I just let it go with the flow. My point is not to make you think of him as a burden. You are the bestest Akka and my eyes well up with happy tears when I see you both cuddling. Sibling love is magical. I wish you both to enjoy this all your life. That’s the two of you watching TV.

I can’t wait to see you as that independent woman handling the good, bad and ugly of life all with a grace. I am sure you are going to rock it ma.

I love you to the moon and back kannama. May god bless you to stay the same always.

Always with you and for you. You can count on your family for anything under the sun.

Love,
Amma

Happy 4th

Dear LHB,

Happy happy birthday kutti. This is a special once in a lifetime birthday when you turn 4 on 4th. Akka herself has to wait for 2 more years to get this special one da. And you can eat two vitamin gummies from now on. Isn’t that awesome my beeg boy?

You were hinting about party this year but Amma chose to wait till next year when you will not give a hint but demand by standing upside down. We had a small celebration at school yesterday morning. You were brimming with pride all the time when Amma and Appa were at your class.

You have a craze for paw patrol so I got paw patrol plates/napkins/tshirt and sneaker for you. I am sure that would be the best gift for you now. Akka has instructed me to buy trucks, cars and some of your current favorites (she is paying for them from her pocket money) and she is going to gift them all to you today.

Amma has planned to keep it a fun day for you today. We will start the day with temple visit, family lunch at restaurant, fun time at chuck e cheese and end the day with cake cutting of home made cake (Akka’s special).

Ok now where do I start about this year kutti? That is how Amma call you “kutti”. Akka keeps changing her way of calling you every other month. The names are strictly to be used only by her. Some of the cute names I could recollect are veeki baby and chu chu botta! Don’t ask for the meaning. IDK!!!

Your sentences evolve every month. Some of the cute ones are

“As a baby, I do … You member (remember) that Amma” – You say this when you do something that is not acceptable like throwing something or peeing on pants or other gross stuff that only babies do.

Now you claim to be “almost grown-up”. You eat chicken and drink milk as you believe only that will make you grown up.

“My teacher said…” is another phrase I have to listen to every evening. You readily listen to all that your teacher says and I can’t thank her enough for that. The best is your teacher said “you have to watch only little bit TV every day” and you follow that on weekdays!! I can’t ask for more da.

You are at the prime age to learn and observe. You have come a long long way from where you were at 3.

You got potty trained in no time, you can sometimes feed yourself, you can write, you recognize almost all uppercase alphabets, you can follow instructions, you can communicate, you can talk lengthy sentences, you can zip up your jacket, you can remove your sneakers, you try to button your shirt. Oh my goodness this has been an eventful year for you with so much learning kutti. I can’t be more proud of you.

I learned my biggest lesson about you with potty training and writing. I was preparing myself for many months to prepare you for potty training but you didn’t co operate. I gave it some more time and you still didn’t show sings of getting trained. But, when you were ready, you got trained in no time. Same with writing too. So, my biggest learning about you is that I have to wait until you are ready. I need to practice that patience and give the time you need and trust you da.

After last year’s India visit, you have started calling us as “Amma/Appa”. That was in my checklist and my heart just melts every time you call me “Amma”. We had to train you for few months to call Akka as “Akka” and you got that too. I love the way you run behind her all the time calling out as “Akka”..

Akka puts you first in all her thoughts da. She doesn’t say anything even if you accidentally sneeze on her face. Her patience with you is something I am still learning to practice myself. The way she protects you when I get mad leaves me speechless. She is the first person you run to when you are in trouble or not feel good. She reads book to you at bed time. She loves you to the moon and back. When we give her a choice she always says “I will go or stay where baby goes or stays”. I wish you both to remain the same all this life.

I get very emotional with you kutti. You cover up for Akka and shower me with hugs and kisses when I ask for one! You are one happy happy boy. Your cuteness makes situations lighter at home.

Oh last but not the least you talk a little about your classmate “Grace” and I told Akka may be we should tag her as your first crush 🙂

Your kutti moolai (tiny brain) works over time and processes so many things. May you be blessed with good health and happiness all you life. You are a precious gift to this family and we promise to stay by your side always no matter what.

Love,
Amma

M’s big day

Last year M touched the milestone age that anyone would dread to reach. So as a doting wife I wanted to surprise him. Surprises doesn’t work well at our household but this one I have planned it very carefully and blog played a small role in the overall plan too.

I started with all this process early May 2016.

Plan A was to invite some of M’s friends home along with their family and have a surprise party for M. The staple one most of the people do here. I reached out to one of his ex-colleague’s wife but she said they have plans to go to India around that time and I didn’t like the idea of inviting others without them as this ex-colleague’s family is like a common bond to all other families. So, Plan A was dropped and I squeezed my brain for few weeks to come up with an alternate plan. Thus, Plan B was born.

Plan B was to work from home on his birthday, pickup kids and then go surprise him at work, gather his colleagues and do a cake cutting at office (of course with his colleague’s help) but the said colleague gave me a gyan saying men usually wouldn’t like sharing the big number in public and that too with current situation at work it is not advisable. Plan B was dropped. But he gave another idea. He said men usually prefer to spend their special day in private with family so suggested to take M for a family dinner at a rooftop restaurant at NY.  I liked that idea. So, Plan C was on.

Plan C needed more planning ahead of time. To research for a good rooftop, book in advance etc. Also, what would I tell M to take him to NY. We are not that type of family to just hop on a train for NY visit. We need a good reason or plan ahead for any outing. So, I reached out to this friend’s wife (I want to refer her as friend as we have become more of friend’s now). She did her homework and suggested “The View” at Marriott. I was skeptical to reserve without seeing the view myself. So, took early sign off from work one day, ventured out to the streets, boarded the subway train and visited the restaurant on the other side of the city. The first look was not very pleasing. I wanted M to go “wowww” when he enters the rooftop but this one was not matching my expectation. I shared my feedback with the friend and we were back to square one.

Then, she suggested a different option. To do a surprise cake cutting at Top of the rock and then take him for dinner to an Indian restaurant at Times square. I liked that idea. So, we started planning for the execution of this plan. I blocked tickets for Top of the rock. For the friends, I blocked the slot 30 minutes ahead of us so they can surprise M at the top. Also, she gracefully agreed to get a cake.

Few days before the D day, I told M that one of my blog friend is visiting NY with her family and wanted to meet us at NY. And that she bought the tickets for Top of the rock and sent it to me 🙂 He believed it and couldn’t say no!! Also, as it was summer I suggested to do some more stuff at NY.

On D day, we left in the afternoon, went to central park, kids played in amusement park at central park for couple of hours and then we headed to the Top. M was little suspicious as I denied to show him the reservation. I was on constant texting with the friend confirming their position. As planned, they were at the top before us, M met them as a surprise and cut cake at the top (67th floor). We spent few more hours there for the money spent and then headed to the restaurant. That was a surprise for him too. Had good dinner, parted the friends at train station and reached home past 1am.

This was our first visit to the TOP and I must admit that this is a better choice compared to Empire state as this gives the best view of both central park and Empire state.

The friend took some awesome family pics. Actually, I owe to him for all our family pics. I could not have executed this without their help and support. Adi knew the plan ahead and played along with me. But, I didn’t share with her as how I convinced M to come to NY. She was repeatedly asking “how did you do it Amma?” I didn’t tell her the details as she doesn’t know about my blog.

Some pics from the amusement park and the family pic from the top.

LHB acted to be a beeg boy and ventured into all rides all by himself.

11th party

Luckily, we didn’t have to squeeze our brain to think of a theme last year. The girl had it all pre planned. She wanted a sleep over party influenced from her peers.

As it is every year, we baked cake at home. It was a chocolate filled two layered vanilla cake with pink colored vanilla frosting. Mini kit kat’s decorated around for more choco effect. Chocolates are never enough. The little’s at this household can survive with just chocolates for many meals.

There is something  special about this 11 year old girl that the baking of cake taught me that day. She wanted me to bake a seperate small fruit cake for one of her friend as her friend has nut allery and she was afraid if the chocolates would have nuts in them. I was beaming with pride while baking and decorating the fruit cake. When did she grow up to be so thoughtful?  God bless her and keep her the same always! To be considerate of others.

That would be my first and foremost wish for my kids. To respect self, respect others, to be considerate of others, help others and stand on their own feet. Don’t ever be greedy darlings. If you need something you have to earn it in a genuine way!! Do not accept freebies. They grow a dangerous attitude within you that will spoil your mind and impact your closer ones too. Stay unbiased to everyone around you, treat people equally (men/women, tall/short, fat/slim, dark/white doesn’t matter) and do not fall for stereotypical thoughts.

Woww. That’s a lot I said. I should have made it a seperate post. I forgot this was supposed to be a party post. Just got carried away as I am going through this struggle of paying for someone else greediness!!!

Back to the party, she invited 6 girls. The first thing the girls did after putting down the bag was to get our home WiFi password from me. I wrote it in a piece of paper and kept in the table after the 2nd girl asked for it! **rolls eyes**

The rest of the party was handled by 6 girls. I was sitting in a corner watching them go wild and the little boy in middle of them going wilder.

They baked red velvette cup cakes, ate strawberries dipped in chocolate syrup, played “suck M&M with straw”, decorated their return gift (cross bag), ate pizza, cakes, watched movie and went to bed relectatnly around 1am. The boy was an active participant in all games. You could see that in pics.

They all slept upstairs in a king+full bed. When I went to wish them good morning I could see the girls sleeping in all possible directions. The boy couldn’t wait for them to come down. They had donuts for breakfast and then was chatting around until the parents started to come around 11am for pickup.

One of the thing that Adi didn’t like about the party was a subset of girls were preoccupied with this app called “Musically”.. They spent more time on phone and apologized for it before leaving as Adi was visibly upset.

Pictures:

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Happy 11th

Dear Adi,

Where do I start? You are growing as a beautiful young lady now managing all the things on your own.

Academics – I am not following up closely on your studies except for reminding you randomly to check if there is any work due or is there any test/quiz to prepare for. You are doing amazingly well at academics though Appa always keeps his bar slightly higher so that you will keep up with your performance.  Amma is very happy and satisfied with your academics (I might not say this loud to you) as you have understood the importance of being educated and able to manage it by yourself.

You were chosen as class representative out of 7 candidates and it seems one of your classmate told you at the hallway that “she voted for you and you deserve it” in spite of her friend being one of the candidate. You were expecting her to root for her friend. You won with majority of votes in a class where kids knew each other for less than two months. Can’t be more proud of you darling. I wonder how you made your classmates feel your presence in such a short time period. Your teacher says you go out of your way to help classmates.

Pattu – We have found a new teacher in local and you are starting to love pattu classes. I am glad we found her as she knows how to deal with kids. Now, you practice on your own and look forward to pattu class. You were even okay to skip few other events to attend pattu class. Can I ask for more? But I think this change is due to your love for your teacher rather than for pattu itself. I only wish you continue with this until you could make an informed decision about this subject.

Art – You are continuing with art class and here is another beautiful landscape you made to compliment the earlier one. They both are now adorning our living room. I have made it clear that we are not buying any art for our home. It should all only be proud display of your own work.

I have created an art board as a backdrop of your bed and pinned your art work there. Time to extend the board I guess!! Don’t the wall color look gorgeous? We choose the paint (named confetti) and Appa painted your room.

Piano – You are taking private class from one of the best teacher. I can’t say you are super excited about the class but we want to continue with it as long as possible.

Sports – This is seasonal. You choose between Swimming or Tennis. We want to keep at least one physical activity as an ongoing activity given the way you put on weight. We are those unlucky souls where the hip/body shows out double of what the lip tastes.

LHB – You call him baby. Yes and that is how you treat him too though he has now started to manipulate you. You  behave like an adult to him. Actually more than an adult as your threshold of patience with him has always been more than us.

He looks after you for every step and you let him follow you. You include him in everything and I can’t thank you enough for that pattumma. Just including him when your friends are around itself is a big deal given your age in spite of him messing around. I try my best to give you your own time so that you don’t feel being bothered by him all the time.

We are potty training him and you take him to the toilet when the situation calls for it. Doesn’t that summarize everything about you? Reminds me of a popular tamil quote “oru paanai sotrukku oru sooru padham” (Eng: one morsel of cooked rice is just enough to judge the taste of one whole pot of cooked rice)

When he annoys you, most of the time you say “Just leave it Amma, he doesn’t really know what he is doing”. I learn from you every single day ma. You are the BEST big sister pattumma.

When he is in trouble or someone bothers him, he would run towards you bypassing us to hide behind you. When you ask “what happened baby? Is someone bothering you?” He would explain the problem to you in his cute innocent voice..  You would patiently listen with your “ohh and ahaan” and then take appropriate action to support your brother. It is a delight to watch the both of you together when you two are at your best.

You are well settled in middle school with your own set of friends. RAAMS is your group’s nick name and you girls plan for sleepover now and then. I am very glad that you got your own group now. I would love to be a secret listener of your chatting sessions just to hear that excitement and happiness and you girls echoing “I know right!!!”. May be it will come true very soon in the form of your birthday party.

You girls have come up with this phrase “we-ooun-weee”. You say that for everything in different modulation based on your mood.

You are in aftercare this year and Appa does the chauffeur job so you and I don’t get much time every day for casual chat but we try to catch up now and then. I do miss all our personal time and it is going to be worse from next year as we have registered you into school bus for morning drop.

You still think I am the annoying person and raise your voice at random times. But, we have learned to come to terms with it faster than before. We have learned to let go and proceed with our own work. And now that you are growing very fast, Appa has also taken some responsibility in observing and giving you gyaans as and when needed.

So, these days when you are mad, instead of pointing at Amma you start with “you guys spoil everything for me”.

As it is a tradition now, Amma will arrange for a treasure hunt as first thing in the morning on your special day (I am planning for a special gift too) and we will bake the birthday cake together based on your design. You are super excited about this year party theme. Me too!!! I instantly fly high when you say “Amma I don’t know how you manage to make my birthday party better by every year”. I believe in the saying “where there is a will, there is a way” darling. It could also be re-written as “when your heart is into something, the stars align to make it happen”..

Well, as a person I can’t be more proud to admit that I am very happy and satisfied with your upbringing pattumma. Your core characters are well formed and I don’t think they will change after this. You cannot hurt anyone knowingly and you care about people.I have noticed it in different occasions. You don’t say it loud when you don’t like something to outsiders just to make sure you don’t hurt them. You do this especially with ammachi when she gets you a dress that you don’t like or cooks something that you don’t like. You act the same way with your friends too. You don’t bad mouth about them in their absence or pass on the not-s0 good comments between friends.

When I have asked you in some occasions you have replied “If I tell her (your friend) what others said, she would feel bad Amma. So, I chose not to tell her”. I doubt if I can act so composed and matured anytime in my life.

You think from different perceptions and consider all possibilities while making a decision. You are able to identify what is right and what is wrong. You do get influenced very easily but that you could have inherited from Amma. As long as that influence is in a good way it is ok ma. You are growing to be a kind heart-ed, sensible and well thinking person. I can’t be more proud of you pattumma.

Wishing you a happy and healthy life ma. That is how I address you most of the times “Adi..mma”. You have questioned me “why do I call you “Amma”. Am I your mother or what?” Truly speaking after my Amma it is you and only you I can call as Amma da. I love addressing you like that “Adi…mma”..

Stay the same always darling. As always remember that, you have a family to back you up no matter what comes your way. I send a silent prayer to God for blessing me with such wonderful kids. I only count my blessings in multiples when I think of you both. You two are the sunshine of my life. May you always stay happy patumma.

Love,
Amma

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy 3rd

Dear LHB,

Did we already spend 3 years together kutti? Time sure flies but not fast enough for your mother who wants to see you as an independent boy. We have long way to go. First and foremost, you have to be potty trained. Then, feed by yourself. These are my priorities as that will save me a lot of time. But, the day you are ready to do all this, I will terribly miss my cute little boy who talks gibberish aka cute baby talk and kisses/hugs his mom generously. Sighh!! Parenthood can never be satisfied.

You are a happy boy kutti. You don’t cry unless it really bothers you but I see it changing in recent weeks. You pull Adi’s hair and start crying. I mean how is it fair? Though I have now trained myself to act as an unbiased refree, you get your way on certain occasions and the poor girl takes it all. She goes cross with me if I give time out to you for hurting her. Seriously? If there is one thing that I have to request you, that will be to treasure your akka da. Don’t take her for granted and hurt her. She cares for you above and beyond. She calls you “baby” and plans everything for you. She wants to have a small party for your birthday at home inviting two toddlers we know from neighborhood. She was telling me “It is not fair amma. You have to plan a party for the poor boy”. I convinced her that there are days to come when you will demand for it and for this year cake cutting at your school with classmates will just be fine. She carefully picked and packed the goodie bags for your classmates.

You are very good at complaining kutti. You go “Mommy see” when daddy/Adi bothers you and calls out for one of them when the other two bothers you.

You are very good with your sorry and thank you. But, Adi is annoyed with your sorry’s. She asks how does it help Amma? He hurts me and then just says sorry. You may have to learn that when you say sorry you should really mean it and agree not to repeat the same act again. And you should stop pulling her hair and jumping on her. Be nice to her kutti.

You love Caillou and Peppa pig. You learned to say daddy stage by stage from these shows. You started with “dei” followed by “dayeeee” improved to “dadddddeeeeee” and finally to “daddy”. Your appa was very proud with the respect you gave initially. (dei is a not so respectful tamil word)

I have to shamefully admit that I use TV shows as my secret weapon to feed you. I can push anything down your throat if I have you engaged with your favorite TV show. But, there are days you deny outright. Egg dosa with ketchup is my saving grace. You are better with eating spicy food.

You get homework *rolls eyes* from school but we hardly do it. Somehow I feel you are not ready for it yet so didn’t bother much. Adi was freaking out on initial weeks that you are defaulting. She couldn’t take it at all.

I tried to teach you ABC as a family activity. You were always passing your turn and made Appa and Adi say all ABCs. Then, Appa used the idea to make you say “No ABC” and it worked. You can sing the ABC song but can’t recognize the letters yet.

Your favorite rhyme is “daddy finger daddy finger where are you”. You go “daddy finger daddy finger where are you” and then rush as “ououou ouououo howuuuuu”

We have changed your bedtime routine recently and I am loving it. Mommy puts you to sleep these days after we read few books. I am very happy to see you looking forward to the reading sessions. That moment you hug me tight when lights are off. That makes it all worth it.. Amma is now running like a headless chicken to finish all her chores before 8:45pm.

We have just started potty training for you. Long way to go!!

You have come a long way with your speech. You can now say meaningful sentences and express yourself better. Appa was astonished the other day when you sat on the toy car outside a shop and said “daddy put money and pointed at that tiny hole that accepts quarters for the car to work”. We still wonder from where do you learn things.

Amma is working from home today. The plan is to pickup Adi early, go pickup cake and visit your school around 3:30pm for a small party. And then if all goes well, we will go to temple in the evening and have dinner outside.

Amma made payasam today morning and we did a small prayer. You loved the payasam. You can even eat a paper written as sweet. That is your love for sweets. So, I am not surprised.

Amma sometimes just like to sit back and admire you kutti. You melt Amma’s heart at random times and even help her to feel lighter during heavy mood swings. You hug or kiss me whenever I ask you for one unlike your Akka who shrugs her shoulders. I need them now and then to keep myself sane. So, please don’t stop that!!

Ammachi has taken care of you for around 2 years out of the 3 years. She holds unconditional love for her grand kids. So, treat her with respect and be thankful to her always.

Your little mind will learn a lot of things in the coming years. I wish you the best in everything and want you to grow up as a sensible man who will respect self and others. Be nice and have a good heart da. Learn to appreaciate life and relationships around you.

May god bless you with good health and happiness kutti. Always remember that you have a family that will stand by you no matter what!!

Love,
Amma