We had taken Appu and a friend of hers to participate in the On the Spot Painting Competition this year organized by the Indian Association and held at IHS, Dubai last Friday.
What could have been a thoroughly enjoyable and fun filled event turned out to be such a disaster due to absolute lack of planning on the part of the organizers. Seeing the huge turnout, I gave the benefit of doubt initially to the organizers who might not have been prepared for such huge numbers. Later I came to know if some of the parents that this is the scenario every year. Obviously, the turn out would be huge for a free competition open to all the schools and that too on a Friday!
The kids were divided into 4 disctinct age groups and understandably the rush was the maximum for the Grade 1 -3 group to which Appu belonged! The competition was open from 9am - 3 pm. And when we reached the venue at 9, the queue was almost a km long. Luckily, though, it as fast moving. We were able to send Appu and her friend inside at 9.30.
And the misery started from the exit from which these kids were to come out. The kids were coming out in a line with their names being called out by one lady and the gate manned by just one guy. None at all to control the parents who were crowding and pushing at the door inspite of the ladies requests. It was such a mess with the kids crowding inside the building and the parents worrying and shouting and pushing from outside. Some of the most impatient parents opended the windows and started pulling out their kids from inside. Someone called the police even (they did not turn up!!). Some of the parents (yours truly included!) made efforts to get the parents to organise themselves, moving them away gently from the exits and forming barricades. Finally, Appu and her friend came out at 1.30!
Apparently, all that they had to do was to colour (pencils and crayons) on a printed sheet which they finished pretty fast. And the highlight, Appu submitted a beautifuly coloured picture back to the teacher sans her name or any other identification details about herself!!!
November 29, 2010
November 28, 2010
Our picnic basket
This kind of weather is around only for a short duration in this part of the world. It is cool, with intermittent soft breeze. Very soon it will be replaced by chilling cold and even before you realize, the scorching summer will be here.
So a quick picnic was scheduled for the weekend (Thursday evening) to a neighbouring park. Appu enjoys the elaborate and always mouth-watering description of the picnics in Enid Blyton books. As a child, even I used to drool and imagine being to such a picninc with friends. So off we went to Jazeera Park, Enid Blyton style. Tomato and cheese sandwiches, hardboiled eggs, cherry cake, lemonade, marshmallows! Picnicked under a tree by the side of the creek.
Simple yet great fun! Must have more of these!
So a quick picnic was scheduled for the weekend (Thursday evening) to a neighbouring park. Appu enjoys the elaborate and always mouth-watering description of the picnics in Enid Blyton books. As a child, even I used to drool and imagine being to such a picninc with friends. So off we went to Jazeera Park, Enid Blyton style. Tomato and cheese sandwiches, hardboiled eggs, cherry cake, lemonade, marshmallows! Picnicked under a tree by the side of the creek.
Simple yet great fun! Must have more of these!
November 26, 2010
Sweet 16!
Prince Aarush turns sweet 16 months today! And in these month, he has become the apple of my eye and the clown of the household!
My first born was as docile and sweet as they come at sixteen months, happy among her toys, with a cheerful smiling face always. She was happy to sit in mama’s lap in the car or in her pram whilst we go out. Infact, I don’t remember her trying to climb onto our coffee table even. She was an absolute angel with a halo around her. But my second born seems to have the halo replaced with two tiny sharp horns! And I adore him because of those tiny two!
He loves climbing over all the furniture be it chairs, stools, bed, tables and has infact scared all our chairs up the dining table!!
He has 8 big pearlies which he flashes unabashedly at all!
He has a clear preference for his dad and call him atha, acha and when overwhelmed by love achachi! He says his name as aaris / aas / aath depending on his mood. His vocabulary is otherwise limited to amoomma, amma and aayi (bye).
He is familiar with parts of the body too and has developed his own style of pointing out to the parts. He squints to show his eyes, inserts a finger into his ear, sniffs to show his nose and grins to show his teeth.
He is a little finicky about cleanliness and gets upset when he spills his milk onto himself or gets his hand dirty.
He still drinks milk from bottle only though he is fine with the sippy cup for water and juices. He has a sweet tooth and biscuits are his vice!
He does all his job nappies still but makes a yucky expression after having done his potty and looks down after peeing. Can I take this as a first sign of readiness for potty training?
He hits and bites! And kisses to make up immediately after that!
He loves pencils and colur pencils and scriblled a few times on the floor which I was luckily able to wipe away. He has (ouch) made a few scribbling on the wall as well which, alas, I am unable to wipe away! Can’t believe that I let him do this as well whereas I was so strict with the girl on this!
He has even managed to learn a couple of bharatanatyam mudras! He copies his sis and poses in “mandi” with his hands stretched out in “pataka” and does a few steps singing theyya they!! He even folds his hands and does the Namaste prior to starting the steps! It is absolutely hilarious to see him do this.
Here’s a happy 16th month birthday to you my little rowdy!
My first born was as docile and sweet as they come at sixteen months, happy among her toys, with a cheerful smiling face always. She was happy to sit in mama’s lap in the car or in her pram whilst we go out. Infact, I don’t remember her trying to climb onto our coffee table even. She was an absolute angel with a halo around her. But my second born seems to have the halo replaced with two tiny sharp horns! And I adore him because of those tiny two!
He loves climbing over all the furniture be it chairs, stools, bed, tables and has infact scared all our chairs up the dining table!!
He has 8 big pearlies which he flashes unabashedly at all!
He has a clear preference for his dad and call him atha, acha and when overwhelmed by love achachi! He says his name as aaris / aas / aath depending on his mood. His vocabulary is otherwise limited to amoomma, amma and aayi (bye).
He is familiar with parts of the body too and has developed his own style of pointing out to the parts. He squints to show his eyes, inserts a finger into his ear, sniffs to show his nose and grins to show his teeth.
He is a little finicky about cleanliness and gets upset when he spills his milk onto himself or gets his hand dirty.
He still drinks milk from bottle only though he is fine with the sippy cup for water and juices. He has a sweet tooth and biscuits are his vice!
He does all his job nappies still but makes a yucky expression after having done his potty and looks down after peeing. Can I take this as a first sign of readiness for potty training?
He hits and bites! And kisses to make up immediately after that!
He loves pencils and colur pencils and scriblled a few times on the floor which I was luckily able to wipe away. He has (ouch) made a few scribbling on the wall as well which, alas, I am unable to wipe away! Can’t believe that I let him do this as well whereas I was so strict with the girl on this!
He has even managed to learn a couple of bharatanatyam mudras! He copies his sis and poses in “mandi” with his hands stretched out in “pataka” and does a few steps singing theyya they!! He even folds his hands and does the Namaste prior to starting the steps! It is absolutely hilarious to see him do this.
Here’s a happy 16th month birthday to you my little rowdy!
November 23, 2010
Eid Holidays
The Eid Holidays just flew by as we were totally engaged!
The first day B was at work and mom had a party to attend at one of her friend’s place. So, I was left alone at home with the kids. When cousin A called suggesting a drive I more than happily agreed and we set off to the Mamzar Park for a while.
Second day was the more planned barbecue picnic to Zabeel Park. This was Aarush’s first picnic. He loved running all over the placing, playing badminton and generally being a sweetheart as always!
Third day saw us at the Alain Zoo accompanied by one of B’s colleague and his family. The drive was long and tiring. The Zoo was crowded and the parking was available only far away from the entrance. The queue at the entrance was long but not longer than the queue at the toilets where the stench was unbearable expectedly. But inspite of all this, we had a fairly good time. Appu loved the vultures and were awed by their wingspan! Aarush was thrilled at anything that would move and this included leaves on the trees as well. He was happy to run around, squealing all over the place. And I was not too happy to run behind him without seeing the animals properly.
There ended the Eid Holidays for me though not for B and Appu. On that weekend, we went to Musandam via Dibba with cousin A. The drive to Dibba was long and tiring again. Aarush was relatively well behaved. He is a terror in the car refusing to sit in one place and prefers to stand in the front dangerously distracting anyone driving! We were taken by a boat to Musandam. It was pleasant, the sea on one side and the mountains on the other. Though the duration was a bit too long and we got tad bored of the sea after sometime. After a while, we were taken by a speedboat to a natural cave among the limestone mountains. A fun ride which Appu enjoyed! The sunset was a beautiful sight for me and filled me with so much tranquility.
The down side, 1) food was horrible and that’s an understatement. 2) We did not get to see any dolphins as we expected. 3) It was tiring running behind Aarush who refused to sit in one place unless he was asleep and kept running around!
But enjoyed fairly well and got to spend some quality time with the little ones and that is what I desire the most!
The first day B was at work and mom had a party to attend at one of her friend’s place. So, I was left alone at home with the kids. When cousin A called suggesting a drive I more than happily agreed and we set off to the Mamzar Park for a while.
Second day was the more planned barbecue picnic to Zabeel Park. This was Aarush’s first picnic. He loved running all over the placing, playing badminton and generally being a sweetheart as always!
Third day saw us at the Alain Zoo accompanied by one of B’s colleague and his family. The drive was long and tiring. The Zoo was crowded and the parking was available only far away from the entrance. The queue at the entrance was long but not longer than the queue at the toilets where the stench was unbearable expectedly. But inspite of all this, we had a fairly good time. Appu loved the vultures and were awed by their wingspan! Aarush was thrilled at anything that would move and this included leaves on the trees as well. He was happy to run around, squealing all over the place. And I was not too happy to run behind him without seeing the animals properly.
There ended the Eid Holidays for me though not for B and Appu. On that weekend, we went to Musandam via Dibba with cousin A. The drive to Dibba was long and tiring again. Aarush was relatively well behaved. He is a terror in the car refusing to sit in one place and prefers to stand in the front dangerously distracting anyone driving! We were taken by a boat to Musandam. It was pleasant, the sea on one side and the mountains on the other. Though the duration was a bit too long and we got tad bored of the sea after sometime. After a while, we were taken by a speedboat to a natural cave among the limestone mountains. A fun ride which Appu enjoyed! The sunset was a beautiful sight for me and filled me with so much tranquility.
The down side, 1) food was horrible and that’s an understatement. 2) We did not get to see any dolphins as we expected. 3) It was tiring running behind Aarush who refused to sit in one place unless he was asleep and kept running around!
But enjoyed fairly well and got to spend some quality time with the little ones and that is what I desire the most!
October 20, 2010
More Appuisms!
Appu’s comments at the birthday party:
All the kids are lined up for the spoon and olive race with their olive laden spoons in their mouth. Appu quips to the attending lady, “Aunty, see I don’t have teeth in the middle. I have only gums. It pains when I keep the spoon in the center. Can I keep the spoon on the side?”
During the face painting, one of the SFC staff is addressed by her colleague as April.
Ever curious Appu: Aunty, she called you April. Your name is April?
The lady : Yes, because I was born in April.
Appu : Oh! Then my name should be October!
All the kids are lined up for the spoon and olive race with their olive laden spoons in their mouth. Appu quips to the attending lady, “Aunty, see I don’t have teeth in the middle. I have only gums. It pains when I keep the spoon in the center. Can I keep the spoon on the side?”
During the face painting, one of the SFC staff is addressed by her colleague as April.
Ever curious Appu: Aunty, she called you April. Your name is April?
The lady : Yes, because I was born in April.
Appu : Oh! Then my name should be October!
October 19, 2010
Happy 7th Birthday!
My dearest Appu,
Its 3 days after your 7th birthday. Amma’s note for you is delayed by3 whole days, but I am sure you would understand that this is due to the mad rush that was amma’s life for the past few weeks.
Unlike the earlier years, my eyes well up with tears at the thought of my pretty princess entering a new phase of life…7th Birthday is considered as a new phase of development little girls. Like any other child, you were looking forward to turning 7 as you felt that it would mark a certain level of maturation for you. I loved the way that you insisted and corrected all until October 15th that you were only 6 and not 7. The novelty of turning 7 was exclusively and rightly reserved by you for October 16th 2010.
The last year has seen a lot of developments in you.
a) You have established your role as a loving caring big sister and are absolutely adored by your little brother. The two of you have even started playing games such as hide and seek regularly.
b) You have become much more confident and respond to people well. Your teacher also has commented that you have become much more interactive in class and now have a bigger circle of friends.
c) You have improved vastly in your studies. You are now showing a keen interest in your school work.
d) You have become much ore expressive, though at times very difficult and rebellious too and can back answer like there is no tomorrow!! You have even received quite a number of well deserved spankings from me for this.
e) Your dance and swimming classes are going well and you have improved drastically in both.
f) You have started abacus classes and this too you seem to have grasped very well.
g) You have started cycling around without support wheels and you have received a brand new cycle from your grand aunt as birthday gift.
h) Your reading skills have improved and you have started developing an affinity for books giving me hopes that all my efforts are bearing fruit finally.
Now onto the party details.
The preparation for the birthday this time was definitely not well planned and cooked up at the last minute as I was extremely busy at work and generally in very low spirits because of never ending fire fighting and unexpected hurdles at work place. But I am glad that Appu thoroughly enjoyed the party at SFC. It was a typical kids’ party at any other fast food outlets and almost 17 kids from the building, school, friends etc and 21 adults. The theme of the cake was “ Garden Fairy” in vanilla chocolate flavour, from Mr. Baker again . It looked much better than it tasted this time tough. Next birthday, I will definitely be looking out for better options.
I was a touched when Appu said that the best thing she liked about the party was that she cut the cake with Aarush and that she shared the knick knacks on her cake with her friends. I was also touched when she said that what she did not like was that only I put the cake in her mouth. Mom and Biju were caught up in the frenzy of cake cutting, managing the kids etc.
Appu was dressed in a pretty off white full length frock with gold leaves and loads of ribbons. She insisted on having her hair done in curls. At the beauty parlour, she put across her requirements so clearly much to the surprise of the beautician (Very unlike me who had no idea how to get my hair done and settled for a simple blow dry). I was not too happy with the result and would have liked her hair left untouched as straight and silky as it was naturally. But then, this was her day!
All in all, everything went ahead pretty well. Aarsuh was at his best getting along with one and all and generally being easy! I love him for this!
My dearest Appu, hope you have a great year ahead and may god bless you with all that you deserve!!
Its 3 days after your 7th birthday. Amma’s note for you is delayed by3 whole days, but I am sure you would understand that this is due to the mad rush that was amma’s life for the past few weeks.
Unlike the earlier years, my eyes well up with tears at the thought of my pretty princess entering a new phase of life…7th Birthday is considered as a new phase of development little girls. Like any other child, you were looking forward to turning 7 as you felt that it would mark a certain level of maturation for you. I loved the way that you insisted and corrected all until October 15th that you were only 6 and not 7. The novelty of turning 7 was exclusively and rightly reserved by you for October 16th 2010.
The last year has seen a lot of developments in you.
a) You have established your role as a loving caring big sister and are absolutely adored by your little brother. The two of you have even started playing games such as hide and seek regularly.
b) You have become much more confident and respond to people well. Your teacher also has commented that you have become much more interactive in class and now have a bigger circle of friends.
c) You have improved vastly in your studies. You are now showing a keen interest in your school work.
d) You have become much ore expressive, though at times very difficult and rebellious too and can back answer like there is no tomorrow!! You have even received quite a number of well deserved spankings from me for this.
e) Your dance and swimming classes are going well and you have improved drastically in both.
f) You have started abacus classes and this too you seem to have grasped very well.
g) You have started cycling around without support wheels and you have received a brand new cycle from your grand aunt as birthday gift.
h) Your reading skills have improved and you have started developing an affinity for books giving me hopes that all my efforts are bearing fruit finally.
Now onto the party details.
The preparation for the birthday this time was definitely not well planned and cooked up at the last minute as I was extremely busy at work and generally in very low spirits because of never ending fire fighting and unexpected hurdles at work place. But I am glad that Appu thoroughly enjoyed the party at SFC. It was a typical kids’ party at any other fast food outlets and almost 17 kids from the building, school, friends etc and 21 adults. The theme of the cake was “ Garden Fairy” in vanilla chocolate flavour, from Mr. Baker again . It looked much better than it tasted this time tough. Next birthday, I will definitely be looking out for better options.
I was a touched when Appu said that the best thing she liked about the party was that she cut the cake with Aarush and that she shared the knick knacks on her cake with her friends. I was also touched when she said that what she did not like was that only I put the cake in her mouth. Mom and Biju were caught up in the frenzy of cake cutting, managing the kids etc.
Appu was dressed in a pretty off white full length frock with gold leaves and loads of ribbons. She insisted on having her hair done in curls. At the beauty parlour, she put across her requirements so clearly much to the surprise of the beautician (Very unlike me who had no idea how to get my hair done and settled for a simple blow dry). I was not too happy with the result and would have liked her hair left untouched as straight and silky as it was naturally. But then, this was her day!
All in all, everything went ahead pretty well. Aarsuh was at his best getting along with one and all and generally being easy! I love him for this!
My dearest Appu, hope you have a great year ahead and may god bless you with all that you deserve!!
October 5, 2010
Ideas solicited
Another 10 days and the princess turns 7 years old. And yours truly has not yet decided on whats to be done for the special day. Suggestions are most welcome from all for a warm get together for the little misses, cake design etc.
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