Rian's first ice skating class

Yes yes, I'm so excited to be doing another "Rian's first" post :-) Today Rian went for his first ice skating class! Daddy took him in the middle of work and school from 10am to 11am. Rian was super excited about it this morning. Daddy tells me my beta did really well in class. I'm so so so proud of him! Here's a picture of him, standing without holding, and smiling!

We have 5 more classes on Wednesdays. Tons of hugs and kisses to Daddy for making it happen in the middle of his work day!

Rian's first A+

Yesterday was a happy school day for Rian. He came home with an A+ sticker. It seems Rian did very good "reading" yesterday in class. The teachers and the class students all clapped for him and he got an A+ sticker :-)

Proud parent moment!!!

Rian's first visit to Disneyland

This post is long overdue. I wanted to pen down the memories here before they disappeared. Just before my bday this year, we took a trip to Disneyland, Rian's first trip. He was super excited before the trip, and we got a lot of things "done" from him with the lure of the trip :D Ya, we're evil sometimes :D

We researched a bit about 3 yr olds going to Disneyland, and talked a lot with each other - is this the right time, the right age, blah blah. Finally we had a plan and touch wood, everything, almost everything, worked out perfectly as we planned.

We planned to spend a weekday (Fri) and a weekend day (Sat) in Disneyland. This is a 7 hr drive from our house, and we decided to take a whole day to drive down. The plan was to take a break after 6 hrs at our friends in Simi Valley (the Vashas), and spend some playtime and dinner time at their house.

On Thursday August 25 though, we got late in leaving from home. Instead of getting on the road by 10am, we were out the door at 11:30am. Our plan of reaching by 3:30pm was definitely out the door. We were traveling at a good speed, and after our lunch break, we ran into a very bad traffic situation. A major accident on I-5 south made it a parking lot. We traveled 3 miles in 3 hrs. Even though traffic was bad and it was 100F outside, we stayed very cool as a family, and a big thanks goes to Rian. He engaged with Daddy on many games, some on the iPhone, some with his fingers. We were surprised to find out a paper plane can fly very well inside our compact BMW 325i :-)

Unfortunately Rian ended up skipping his nap. As we got closer to our friends' place though, the exhaustion caught up with him and he fell asleep at 8pm, without dinner, without his night milk. We carried him into the house, asleep, deposited him in Samyak's bed, had a wonderful yummy dinner ourselves, and left with him asleep. He had some bites on his hands and forehead, possibly mosquitoes in our house the night before. We picked up some Benadryl cream. Zankhna packed some yummy theplas for Rian and some chocolate pudding.

We did a smart thing: we booked a room in a hotel right across the street from Disneyland's pedestrian entrance. We also made sure they had breakfast in the hotel. It is very important for all 4 of us to have breakfast in the morning without hassles, and "right away" when we get ready. These decisions helped us a lot in our stay. We stayed for 3 nights and on all 3 mornings we had a good breakfast and full tummies to fight the possible crankies :-)

Right at 11pm Rian woke up and I was so stressed: when will he sleep now? Thankfully after we finished checking in, and Rian had some thepla, he asked for his milk and went to sleep by 12:30am. We were all in bed at 1am. The next day Rian woke up without efforts despite the short sleep time. He was so excited! Pictures can tell the story of how our Day 1 was spent. Things that we did right on both days:

• Start with a good breakfast
• Carry the stroller - lots of walking inside, and helpful to carry our bag as well
• 2 hr break in the afternoon - we all went back to hotel and lazed around in AC
• Carried good snacks - there is no end to unhealthy temptations in a theme park, although I have to say Disneyland offered many healthy choices. We carried apples, oranges, Clif bars and lots of water

Rian did not sleep in the afternoon, and got bit tired, but he was not cranky. He kept observing and commenting and noticing and looking. Everything was new and he was soaking it in. He didn't complain about food or water or heat. When the fireworks started at 9:30 though, he was plain uninterested. I put him in my Ergo carrier and he was stuck to me. On the walk back, we put him in the stroller and for the first time in the life of the stroller, Rian fell asleep in the stroller, completely wiped out. We mainly stayed in Tomorrowland area, and covered Fantasyland too.

On Day 2 we started off nice and fresh in ToonTown meeting Mickey and Minnie. The heat started to get to us pretty quickly and we cooled off sitting in a nice theatre watching the Disney Princesses sign autographs. In this trip, we forgot to carry any of Rian's cars - surprising isn't it? We always have 2-4 stuffed away for emergencies. That's how Rian ended up with one more car from the gift store - Raoul, from Cars 2. This made him super happy. We took the opportunity and finished shopping for gifts in the downtime.

At lunch time we decided to let Aaji take care of Rian in the afternoon while we caught a few rides, just Amit n me together. I went back to the hotel room and dropped them off. Plan was for Amit to pick them up in 2 hrs. What ended up happening is after 1 hr 45 mins, Rian fell asleep :-) Mom called us to let us know and we got an extended time to go for rides. We went twice into Splash Mountain, and Amit was completely drenched on the second round as he was the front passenger. We went into the Indiana Jones ride which had some awesome decor. After some silly rail road ride, we ended up at Space Mountain, and that was our super fav ride, all in darkness! FastPass was the way to go, in all these rides. We zipped past lines and lines of people and felt so sad for them :-)

We had dinner in New Orleans part of Disneyland. Without planning, we caught a very nice show called Fantasmic. It is definitely not to be missed. Our dinner was amazing good, and we finally indulged in dessert. The triple layer chocolate cake was every bit as decadent as it looked! We saw the fireworks from here too, the best place to see them from anyways - lakefront. It was gorgeous. Rian bid a happy good bye to the place.

Breakfast was not very great, although good enough for us. I picked up a butter and honey (small 1 Tbsp packet) from one of the restaurants in Disneyland, hoping to make a difference in Rian's day 3 breakfast. Rian started off with: I don't want to eat! But for some reason he loves butter :-) I showed him how I dipped the croissant first in butter and then in honey (which was collected by the bees, buzz buzz) and he was instantly ready to try the first bite. That is the only battle I have to fight. After that the food does it's job. Rian had a full croissant and I was super duper happy!!

We set off to see the Vashas after that. We again had a delicious lunch at their place. We felt a bit bad for imposing on them twice during Paryushan, but the kids had a blast, and we got good time to catch up with them too.

All in all, an amazing trip to the world's happiest place on earth!

Tee Ni Ni

Wingo: Hey DJ, we got ourselves a nodder.

DJ: Tee Ni Ni, Ni Ni Ni, Ni Ni Ni (Kenny G's Songbird)

Mack: Ooh, pretty music!

If you identify that, you are totally in Rian's good books! That's a scene from the Disney movie Cars that Rian is a fan of. It's been viewed more than 200 times in our home, and we have copies on all our iPhones, laptops, desktops for that "in case of emergency" situation.

Anyways, back to the point. During Rian's bedtime routine, we would play some soothing music from our vast collection. One day we thought of playing Songbird and Rian became an instant fan. Every night, I see his face light up when Songbird starts streaming on our Airport Express.

Sometimes we forget to put that single song in a loop, and another Kenny G song started after this one. Within 10 seconds of the new song starting, Rian says: Daddy, this is not Tee Ni Ni :-)

Weekend blur

Weekends with Rian go super fast, and life is almost a blur. I do my bit in capturing pictures, and neatly labeling and uploading them. Sometimes though it doesn'tcapture the essence of howmuch Rian's growing up. A few examples from this weekend that I wish to capture.

Saturday morning started as usual with a rush to run to Rian's gym class, and we got out of home at 8:50am. Rian had a majorly cranky morning, and was not very nice to Daddy. On the drive to the gym I tried to "talk" to him. Turns out he was crying because he thought we are going to school. I explained to him that Daddy must have felt really sad because of how Rian behaved, and we decided to tell Daddy two things when we reached home (1) Daddy, I love you (2) Thank you Daddy for the awesome massage you gave me. Gym class finished, we had our twosome cozy breakfast in the Sunnyvale city center (there are a bunch of tables and chairs outside), and on the drive home I wanted to remind him about the two things to say to Daddy. Fellow outright surprised me by remembering both points!

We got home and rushed out again to see the Mountain View Arts & Wine festival. We had a wonderful time strolling through Castro street. Rian walked most of it too. The highlight for him was the visit to the library and we were supposed to pick up the audio CD for Wiggles - Hot poppin' popcorn. He was excited when he saw the CD on hold and we leafed through the booklet of songs together. When we put the CD into the car and it started playing, in less than 30 seconds, Rian says - Mumma, is this hot poppin' popcorn? Turns out, I had another Wiggles CD on hold :-( and the fellow actually recognized it within a minute. Kudos to my little one.

We had a neighbor potluck planned in the evening, the first one in our community. There were 3 other kids of Rian's age. I'm a proud mumma to say Rian sat down and had almost 90% of his meal sitting next to me. I've stopped pushing him for quantity now, but I was just happy that he was sitting down next to me as long as he was eating. He asked for specific things, and tried 3 new things too. Rian was a very well behaved boy. He carried 5 of his toys, and shared with all the others. He didn't complain at all when one of the other Dadas snatched a toy out of his hand. My little boy is growing up. Now we just need to teach him to snatch his own toy back :-)

Rian's crazy about his new bicycle, and his new friend Ansh. Rian bicycled in the morning with Daddy and Mumma - all of us in our PJs :-)In the afternoon, the 3 of us bicycled the Los Gatos Creek Trail. In the evening, Ansh invited Rian for 10 more mins of cycling time. All in all an amazing display of interest by Rian. We bought his bicycle last weekend, and he's been riding it almost every single day. He's gotten very good at it already. After we were done cycling at Los Gatos, he sat down next to my bike and kept moving the pedals, keenly noticing what the pedals do to the chain, and how the gears are put in together. He was muttering to himself about "machine, cycle, goes round and round" and a whole bunch of cute things.

Rian's favorite thing to calm him down is his books (of course Lightning McQueen is the undefeated champion). Last weekend our shopathon, and today after our long bike ride, when Rian was super cranky, just plop open the "step into reading - level 1" books that we have and Rian is lost, turning page by page. I must give credit to his school here, they've nurtured his reading very well. He had moved into the 3 yr reading class while he was still in his 2 yr class. Mumma is super proud of Rian's reading.

A 3 yrs and 2 months, Rian has built 4 small Legos. These are not duplos, they are the Legos for 4+ years. Mumma and Daddy help Rian by reading the instruction booklet and finding the parts for him. But he puts them in himself. When we were making the first Lego more than a month back, we were all skeptical of his finger dexterity and things would slip and fall from his hands (they do occasionally even now), but he's taken such a keen interest to following exact directions - now when I tell him to hold the Lego with both hands and put in a piece, he does exactly that. I think he loves creating his vehicles by himself :-) His Legos are (1) Fire truck with a tow of tools (2) Aeroplane (3) Garbage truck (4) Luggage truck with a tow.

First flower for a girl

It's been a while since we've been doing weekly play-dates on Tuesdays for Rian and Shayona. Sometimes we manage to meet only once a month, but we keep rolling. Today, on the way to Shayona's house, Rian stopped and here I was trying to rush him. I said, Rian, what are you doing? Let's go! Rian says, Mumma, I'm going to pick a flower for Shayona.

He looked around and found a good flower to pluck. We reached Shayona's door and Rian gave her the flower. Shayona took the flower and super excited ran to Mommy to show it to her :-)

May you always pick flowers for your best friends :-)

Oh btw this weekend, Rian said to me: Mumma, you are my best girl! Yes, sweetie, I will be, for a long long time, I hope.

First dentist appt

Today Rian had his first well-baby dentist appt for teeth cleaning and examination. A friend of mine suggested a good pediatric dental practice. They have TV screens on top, and Rian was super excited when the dentist's assistant said they have Cars. Rian was all set, lying down and enjoying his favorite movie. Did I mention: he is a super huge Lightning McQueen fan!

The dentist's assistant was very good. Every new instrument that she pulled from the panel first had an explanation for Rian, then a touch and feel for Rian's hands, and only after that, it went into Rian's mouth. Rian totally felt involved and loved every bit. Rian loves being explained everything and generally behaves well if you treat him like an adult, a secret mantra that Daddy figured out ages ago. Turns out this pediatric dentistry practice too knows what they're dealing with :-)

They first cleaned Rian's teeth by brushing. Then came some suction, and water. After that, some sharp instruments cleaned out his plaque. It turns out we need more attention to "inside" and "outside" his teeth, especially towards his last tooth. There was some more brushing, and then his first ever floss! Rian behaved particularly well. We rarely complain when Lightning McQueen is in front of us anyways :-)

When the dentist's assistant's hand blocked him a couple of times, she asked him: did I block you? After that our very friendly Mr. Rian kept telling that lovely lady: don't block me, don't block me :-) Ha ha ha ... The dentist then examined his teeth, and his injury. It seems his teeth are growing up really close together. We need to watch out when the permanent teeth come in, they are wider and need more space. Let's see what the next checkup brings up on x-rays.

On January 24, 2010, Rian chipped his front tooth. Mom (me) had a hysterical reaction as I got no time to react when Rian banged his mouth on the outside tiles of our master bath tub. Dad later took him to a pediatric dentist for examination. This was Rian's first dental appt but the experience was ghastly! 18 month old Rian's head was strapped, and some pointy things held it in place :-( His hands and legs were strapped. The poor thing yelled and yelled. My nanny hated the place too. Ever since that experience, we were all scared of dentist visit for Rian and delayed it. Rian is 38 months today, 2 months after his 3rd birthday, and we finally had a good visit, touch wood.

Back to school

In January this year, Rian started school, I wrote about it here. Rian went from a 1:1 ratio with the nanny to a 1:12 ratio with the teachers at his 2 yr class back then. He goes for 3 hrs, and is back home at lunch time. We had quite a few hiccups initially as Rian "settled in". Top it off with the cold season, and 2 months of continuous cold and runny nose for Rian. To say the least, we were exhausted. Rian was constantly cranky and refused food most days. It was no surprise that his weight remained the same over a period of 9 months.

Then came summer, and my mom came to visit us. She started making good yummy food for Rian, and Rian's interest in food sparked again. Summer school was in session, with fewer kids. Ratio of student to teacher was much better, although we don't know the exact ratio. We went really "easy" on Rian's schedule, and on most days Rian would reach school by 9:15-9:30. Regular drop off was 8:30 to 8:45. Rian used to miss his morning sheet work, and we were all okay with it. He was happier, and having loads of fun at school.

Fall 2011 session of school started on 22 August, and it feels like January all over again, to me. There are many more kids in school now, so the student teacher ratio is not as good as summer school. Rian complains about a Prahlad in his class who troubles him. He misses his room number 14 and his teachers Miss Angela and Miss Mandy. Now he's in room number 15 and he has new teachers. Rian cries for everything at home. His whining is a stall tactic to delay everything, and get more attention from us. A happy baby who used to finish his milk in 5 mins now takes 25 mins. He vehemently resists his night sleep routine, and blows off all his sleep. It takes him longer to fall asleep now, and he's so unhappy when he wakes up - starts with "I don't want to go to school". He takes all excuses to break into a wail. For the past 2 days he insists on Daddy giving him an oil massage when I take him for his bath. We usually give him an oil massage on the weekends, and he enjoys the happy relaxed time.

First activity in school is sheet work - every day. When students are late, they miss sheet work. Earlier in his 2 yr class, and his summer school, teachers would take Rian on the side and make up for missed sheet work during play hours. This was the 1-on-1 help that the school specializes in. But now the Principal Miss Manet told me - if Rian is consistently late, we will not give him 1-on-1 to make up for missed work. I think that is totally fair. This week though, Rian started getting empty sheets home with remarks on them: absent, came in late - please complete at home. Somehow I find this very unsettling. A 3 yr old is expected to finish his missed classwork at home? Really? I always used to think homework and all those boring things start from Kindergarten. Rian has 2 more years to get there!! I was just not mentally prepared to handle homework for my 3 yr old.

I guess the school is trying to send a message - don't make a habit of sending your child late to class every day. Sigh, I guess they are right. This is not day care. This is school - way more serious, and academically geared. This was our choice for little Rian since letters and numbers fascinated him. But the student teacher ratio was not our choice :-( I wish I can find an academically geared school for Rian with a 1:6 ratio - that would be my dream come true. For now, I have to settle with our current school and make peace with myself about our schedule. We are back to early mornings with a manic schedule. Saving grace is my mom is still here and takes care of Rian's breakfast in the mornings, and our lunch/dinners too.

6:30am - wake up, potty, brush, make coffee and milk
7am - wake Rian up, give him his 10 mins to laze, give him milk
7:20am - take Rian for potty, bath, brush
7:35am - Rian wears his clothes with Daddy
7:45am - Rian takes his breakfast with Aaji
8am - lock and load
8:25am - reach school, drop Rian off

After that, I battle a super jam packed I-280 since its pre-9am, carpool hours. A journey of 15 miles that takes me 20 mins post 9:15am takes me 35 mins in crazy traffic now. I guess the silver lining is I'm in my office at 9am.

Now that I got that out of my system, let me get to some "real work".

Rian drinking dudu, Mumma drinking dudu

Lookie look, Rian drinking dudu, Mumma drinking dudu, together together.

Sob sob, my baby is growing up into a really big boy now.

Pic courtesy Aaji last weekend.

First ever big boy haircut

It's a time of firsts again for Rian. Last night Rian had his first ever big boy haircut in Supercuts. Mumma was super proud as Rian did not cry at all. He sat through his entire haircut, all alone on the chair, without holding my finger. Rian listened to the hair dresser uncle and did not even flinch at the machines. In fact he smiled when the trimmer started and said Mumma, it's like a bee, buzz buzz :-) Rian loved the animal print cover around him, and commented on how the hair is falling down. Mumma of course reminded him about all things falling down due to gavity ;-) Mumma and Rian got their haircut in the same salon at the same time. Super efficient, we were out of the home and back in within 55 minutes!

Rian had his first hair cut in Little Scissors in Fremont when he was 14.5 months old. We've always gone back to Little Scissors as Rian developed a fancy to the little "cars" he got to sit in. This place was more than a 40 mile roundtrip for me, and always had to be scheduled on Saturday mornings, since week day evening travel to Fremont is beyond me, thanks to the traffic. I also tried Snip-It's in Palo Alto once, but as a parent had a horrible experience: more than an hr of wait, bad station for Rian with no TV, and let's not forget: a huge price tag.

We're so happy now, the whole family can go have haircuts at Supercuts any time!

First ever big boy hike

On Sunday Rian walked his first ever big boy hike. Mommy and Daddy are super proud of him. Last year Mommy and Daddy did 5-6 hikes ranging from 3 to 6 miles, with Rian on our back in the Deuter II carrier, and one with the Ergo too. Rian loved almost all of them, and the "mountain" had become a positive memory for him. He loved drinking from our hydration packs. As he's growing up, he had already started insisting on walking. So we asked him if he will walk on the mountain and he agreed!

We started our hike post lunch, and Rian was a happy camper for a while. I think his lunch was not "enough" and he was hungry in a bit. A "stick" kept him happy all along, and all those spiderwebs. We walked very slowly, and let him be "number one" all the time. He was happy being Daddy's model. We walked for almost 2 hrs, with one big 10 min break, and a few small breaks. At one point, Rian said: I'm so tired, I need to stop now for a little bit. Mommy and Daddy were staring at each other, dumbfounded by the words we heard :-)




Aaji found some "phoo flowers" and Rian had a blast with them. Daddy had fun capturing the perfect moments with his shiny new 70-200 IS lens, his first L glass. You go Daddy!




Rian is a fan of Larabar (cashew cookie), and Mumma thinks they are the best because they only have natural ingredients. Larabar gave Rian the energy for the last 20 mins!

Camping fun

Since 2004, we've gone "car camping" every year. Rian was a July 2008 baby, so when he was 9 months old, we went camping for the first time. He loved being out in the open, under the trees. When Rian was ~2 years old, he loved running around, no boundaries of the house for his play. We had a large group of friends and kids last year, and Rian enjoyed getting dirty and wading in the water the next day.

3.5 weeks back we went "car camping", like we do every year. We had a cancellation of plans this year, and this was the second camping attempt in our group. As the number of kids in our group increases, the likelihood of one of them being sick increases too :-) and that was the reason for first cancellation. On the week of camping, Rian caught a cold, and we really had him excited about camping. Plus since he's 3 already, we're a bit more easy going with him now, even when he's sick. So we decided to go camping.

We had a relaxed morning at home, went for Rian's gym class and Rian played at home after that while I packed. Amit worked for a few hours as usual since it was Saturday. Amit was very concerned how I was doing with the packing, and he came home a bit earlier than expected - thanks sweetie for that gesture. We were right on time, had lunch at home and left at 2:05pm. Our ETD was 2pm. It helped that mom was around to play with Rian while Amit and me just did the packing and loaded the car.

Rian was very excited about camping, but was also very sleepy. We explained to him that if he takes a nap in the car, by the time we reach the campground, he will be fresh and energetic to play with his friends. Surprisingly he took the advice well, and was asleep in 20 mins! The rest of the drive went by smoothly. Amit and I got a rare chance to catch up on so many things we needed to discuss, and of course our top discussion was "our kiddo is so swweeeeet" :-) We are crazy parents!

By 3:30 we both needed our java break, and luckily found a Starbucks around. Amit parked the car but kept the engine running, it was 100+F. I quietly stepped out and kept the door a bit ajar. In and out in 5 mins, Rian was still asleep :-) We had a "woohoo" moment as we realized it was a 10 min stop, with Rian remaining asleep, and we getting our Starbucks fix!! Three cheers to that.

Two out of three couples had showed up, and 2 tents were already up when we went there. We started with milk for the kids, beer for the adults, Swati made chai, and then Meher started with grilling. Amit meanwhile setup our tent. Rian was being a darling, very curious about everything and what everyone was doing. He was very safe, and loved observing. I was worried he would overheat - he was red in the face. Daddy came to rescue and made sure Rian downed a cold juice. We found Rian peeking into the tents, asking to "help" all the uncles and aunties. Amit has taught me one thing - keeping Rian busy is easy, give him a "task". I think I work that way too :-)

BBQ'ed veggies tasted awesome, I was craving them for a while. Amit was mediator between the "elder" kids: Parv, Achal, and Rian. Kids took turns in riding 2 scooters and one cycle. Meanwhile I became food mom and fed these 3 kids bbq veggies. Corn was next on the menu, followed by some kaju katri and Oreo cookies. Kids were so dirty after that, cleanup session ensued, and milk after that.

Rian was very tired after that, given his cough/cold and in his "overexcited" state. Amit wanted to take him back to the campfire for chit chat session. It was 10pm. I was very concerned that Rian had already yawned many times, scratched his ears and squinted his eyes. I didn't want him to go into the "super cranky" zone, so I decided to get into the tent and sleep with him. Rian and I missed out on smores and some chit chat with friends.

In hindsight it was good that we went to bed at 10pm. We actually slept only ~10:30-11 as Rian kept moving around. The air bed was not very stable. Our neighbors came in at 1:30 to found their air bed out of air, and then ensued some loud noises of the air pump. At 5:15am, Rian's eyes opened and he saw daylight! That was the end of his sleep. Amit gave him the iPhone in the hopes of catching a little more shut eye. By 5:45 I could no longer sleep with Rian fidgeting with the iPhone, so Rian and I decided to step out.

We took a long walk with his favorite Razor scooter of Achal dada. Since we could not locate the milk vessel, Rian and I remained super hungry. Both of us are used to our milk/coffee first thing in the morning, within 15 mins of waking up. I was surprised to see Rian engaged in the surroundings, and not one crib about milk. He even went with me and we brushed together! He was curious about everything and everyone, and kept asking all the strangers around us many many questions :-) Finally people started waking up, and we got into milk, tea, breakfast mode.

The other 3 families were heading out to water. Since Rian already had a cough/cold, we decided to skip, and drove to Sacramento to visit the train museum. Amit and me were hoping Rian will catch an early nap, but no luck. He was super excited about the museum, and did not sleep a wink in the car. Our timing was good, and we landed in Sacramento right at Rian's lunch time. We spent ~2 hrs in the museum, and Rian was going crazy at every display. Loved watching him and the experience was blissful.

Being up since 5am, Rian got very wound up and cranky. Thankfully we finished his milk on time, and as soon as we drove off, he was asleep in 5 mins. The return again was a peaceful drive, well timed. We reached home just in time for dinner.

Ready for a second one?

Taking a cue from a friend's blog post, and exploring a "keeda" in my brain, I decided to see Rian's readiness for a sibling. Don't ask me why, just listen to this story as it happened 2 nights back. As I thought about it today, little tears swelled up just thinking about the emotional maturity that a 3 year old boy can have. Love you sweetheart, may you always be so welcoming of change, and family.

Me: Rian, do you remember how Parv dada has a little sister, Kriti baby?
Rian: Hmm
Me: Would you like to have a baby sister? We can go to a store where they give out little babies, and we can pick a baby boy or a baby girl for you to play with.
Rian: Mumma I want a little sister.
Me: Rian, are you sure you want a little sister? Or would you prefer a baby boy brother?
Rian: A little sister.
Me: You'll have to take care of your little sister, and you'll also have to change her diaper. Will you help Mumma with all this?
Rian: Mumma, I will change the diaper. Mumma, I will share all my toys with her.
Me: That is so nice Rian, I'm proud of you!
Rian: Mumma, I want to go to Kayaan baby's house. I want to play with him, and I want to change his diaper.
Me: (melted in a pool of love right there!)

Doctor I am three years old

We had Rian's three year old check yesterday. Thanks to a very special friend of mine, we had introduced Rian to a doctor playset before he was two. He plays very often with it, and now he's a pro. He talked to the nurse like a grown up. The nurse asked him to take off his shoes, his pants, and he did all that (with some help from me). He stood on the weighing scale, and let his height be measured. He asked the nurse a LOT of questions - can I have the ruler? can I see my temperature? can I touch the red light? can I read the numbers? What does this do? The nurse was very patient, and answered each question very politely, and gave him reasons too. Amit and me were sitting in the two chairs in the room, watching this drama unfold, with a proud smile on our face. When the nurse was done with Rian, he asked him - do you want to read some books? Rian says - umm, yes, I'll read this one.

Rian picked out the Goodnight Moon book, and started flipping through it. He told us - I have the same book at home, but the one at home is a little bit dirty. I need a new one. Can I take this one Mumma? My my, we were floored :-) He kept reading the book till the doctor came in, and was chatting with her about the book. He totally engaged with the doctor, and we got full marks for communication. Doctor is very proud of Rian's speech, and lots of other things... Another proud parent moment for us. This was by far the best well baby visit we've had so far. Doctor also said - I just love this age!

He asked the doctor - where's the chalk? I want to draw. Where is the eraser? Finally doctor gave him a chalk. Rian surprised all three of us by drawing an A. Rian said - Mumma look, I made an A. Amit and me were on top of the world! Three year Rian finally got his fine motor skills tuned to draw an A. (today he made an H).

We had an eye exam for Rian. It was a bit tough to get him to sit still. He recognized all the shapes. When it came to covering one eye with the black spoon, Daddy improvised by covering with his hand. Rian just wanted to turn back and look at the original shape, instead of the mirror one after that point :-) Daddy improvised with his hanky, and told Rian - look, we are going to cry with one eye now, into this hanky :-) Rian obliged and our test flew by with flying colors ;-)

Such a cutie pie

I really hope Rian stays the cute thing that he's turned into. My cute pumpkin is coochie poochie super cutie lovable, huggable, kissable, and kisses back!

Last week the neighbor's son dropped in for an impromptu playdate. We've always told Rian that he's Aaron "dada" and in Rian's untainted mind, "Dadas" cannot do any wrong. Well, Aaron wanted to open the patio door and step out to do some "fishing". Here are the conversations:

Aaron: Does this patio door open?
Rian: Umm, it is a little bit open.
(Both pull the door)
Rian: It is opening! It is open now.
Aaron: (tugging at the screen door) Does this open too?
Rian: Umm, it is opening.

Both pull the screen door completely open, while we watch totally astonished. Then Rian says:
Daddy, can I go out please?

Aww... how cute is that? He's asking for permission :-) People tell me this cute, compliant stage last till they turn around 5. Their personality takes over after that....

My three year old

It's true... time flies when you're having fun. This year has been fun fun and more fun with Rian. With trips to San Diego, India, and Mexico, Rian's second year was totally "happening" travel-wise. Rian also had many Saturday classes, me being the soccer mom and driving him mostly. Two seasons of soccer, three seasons of dance lessons, and two seasons of gymnastics have Rian all pepped up and ready to mingle. Swimming is next on the agenda, with Rian making the ground-breaking declaration "Look Mumma I'm swimming like a fishie" while floating in Mexico. Rian also has a trailer bike now, and is towed by Daddy.

The biggest change in our lives has been school at 2.5 yrs. School started in winter, and Rian had his fair share of illnesses, with no weight gain for 9 straight months, but growing tall all the same. Warmer months have brought Chitra-Aaji and her yummy cooking here to make Rian appear all gol-matol again, fingers crossed. Sticking to a schedule is still something we are working on, and I'm sure we'll get it down pat to a routine by the time we get into Kindergarten ;-)

Rian's vocabulary has exploded, with 3-4 words, now going on to a non-stop all day long talkathon that makes us often think "Where is your off switch??" After the introduction of school, Rian has started speaking much faster. In the last 2 weeks, Rian has picked up the American accent, rolling his Rs :-( He knows a lot of the rhymes, at least 6-7 songs in Marathi, numbers from 1 to 100, numbers from ek to panchvis in Marathi, 12 marathi vowels, many Marathi consonants, and is a constant sponge. We are amazed at the speed with which the kiddo's picking up.

Rian has specific demands on his music. He now asks for certain CDs, and songs. His favorites are "Yo Gabba Gabba: Music is Awesome" and "Pop Go the Wiggles". My old faithful 60GB second gen iPod is totally helping me, carry all my kiddos music everywhere. The moment we sit in the car, Rian says - Mumma I want Life is a highway. Yesssir, coming right up!

This year Rian's car obsession has taken on new rails :-) and graduated to trains. Thomas is our favorite character and the Mtn View light rail station our dream destination to see Caltrains passing by.

Rian has many friends now. We've mostly had playdates with best friend Shayona, and a few more with Riddu, Moksh, Arth, Veer, Parv, Achal... We have our favorite Dadas and play mates. We are starting to strike friendships in our community, and Aaron Dada and Ansh Dada are our new playmates.

This year Rian has graduated from his toddler bed to a twin Lightning McQueen bed. He enjoys having his own space to sleep, and is very proud of his "big bed which is up".

Thanks to Cely, Mumma and Daddy had two quarters of desi dancing with the Mona Sampath Khan dance company, one with a performance too. We are hoping the memories of it make Rian get into dancing too. No such luck so far :-)

Rian had a rocking third bday party in Braly Park in Sunnyvale. Highlights of the party were a circus girl Miss Ember from Happily Ever Laughter Parties. We had Maharashtrian food catered from India Chaat Cuisine in Sunnyvale. Appetizers were sabudana wada with peanut chutney, yogurt, and kanda pohe. Main dishes were puris, batata bhaji, cauliflower bhaji, pulav with raita, papad, and gajar halwa. I also made a moong strawberry salad to go with it.

As I write this, the past three years seems like a blur. Each and every day is more amazing, with Rian learning new things. From Daddy and Mummy, many many happy returns of the day to Rian. May you have a rock star year #4!!

Marathi immersion

My mom's been here for a month and a half now. Slowly and steadily, she started "immersing" Rian in Marathi. Rian was curious at first, then asked questions. Then he went silent, like a sponge. 3 days later, he says a Marathi poem. A day later, another Marathi poem. He learnt a long Marathi poem which included days of the week in Marathi. His latest is counting numbers upto 20 in Marathi :-) and Grandma is already leading him on from 21 to 30. This is fun stuff!

We've never forced Rian to learn or stay away from any language. This kid just shows his interest, and we are happy that he's eager to learn.

Here are the Marathi poems he says now:
(1) Yere yere pavsa
(2) Yega yega sari
(3) Shankarachya devlat Somwari (days of the week)

(4) Chandoba chandoba bhaglas ka
... few more I do not recollect.

Happy Birthday Aaba

Yesterday June 22 was Aaba's 63rd bday. Rian was very excited in the morning, and helped Daddy to fill up Aaba's bday greeting card. Daddy and Rian drew a picture of Rian and Aaba holding hands, and Rian holding a flower. Rian wrote some sweet nothings on it too.

Right after this, Rian took the card from Daddy and went into his bedroom. He was looking at the drawing for some time. Daddy spotted him and he says to Daddy: I miss Aaba. My sweet poodla had little tears in his eyes. My sweet senti baby!

Last night we called Aaba to wish him on phone. Rian sang the whole Happy Birthday song to Aaba. This is the first time Rian actually sang this song so well, and on the phone, with full attention. He now gets the concept of talking on the phone, and doesn't just want to press buttons. Thanks to Chitra Aaji for helping here, as she has been practicing Rian talking on the phone with me almost every day.

Summer and socks

Rian has always been a neatness freak :-) He hated the first time he was in sand, and the first time he landed in grass. Over time, and with Daddy's nudging, he gets better about it, and even enjoys it. But his first reaction is: eww. This is why I think it was easy to potty train him at 21 months!

He's crazy about wearing socks, and Mommy also nourishes his fetish for different colored socks. Our 9 month long winter is finally over, and summer is here with a freaking 95F yesterday. Last night we forced Rian to give up his socks. Through his crying he says: Mumma I could not walk on the kitchen floor because it's sticky! Ah, so now I know why you love your socks, little one :-) We'll clean out the floor tonight.

The funny gene

On our way back from our recent trip to Yosemite, Rian cracked his first joke. My less-than-three-year old seems to have inherited the funny gene from Daddy. He totally "knows" he cracked a joke, he was so sure of it, and he had this patented knowing smile of his which says "I know I did it right". So here goes:

Rian: Mumma is this a pepperoni pizza?

Me: No Rian, this is a plain pizza.

Rian: (after 15 second pause) Mumma, in the plane, we eat plain pizza :-)

In our very set night routine, we introduced a play on the hugging routine. First, we used to squeeze Rian between us, and give him a "tight". Now we ask Rian if he wants to be the cheese between two breads, me and Amit. After a few nights:

Rian: Mumma, I want to be the bread

Me: And Mumma?

Rian: Mumma also be the bread. Daddy is the cheese.

(After hugging)

Rian: Now, the two breads go to the bedroom (of Rian)

... and he was all giggles for having marao'ed that dialog!!

Now this repeats every night, Daddy gets squeezed every night, and Rian wants to say his joke every night :-)

Senti baby

Rian is growing into a super senti baby. He can sense from us if we are angry with him, or disappointed with his behavior. He sends in immediate corrective action: comes running by, hugs us and looks into our eyes to say Mumma, I love you Mumma! Either he's a good manipulator, which kids this age are, or he's genuinely cute and caring. When either of us has a raised voice towards each other, Rian starts making loud noises to get us to lower our voices...

Yesterday Rian said to my nanny: Yeyih, I'm sad Yeyih. Why? Because I miss Mumma and Daddy when they go to office. Since Rian's school is off for two weeks, Rian is at home and the nanny has been able to come from 9 to 6. Since he had fever last weekend, and congestion/weakness after that, he has been waking up after 9am for 3 days now, so he wakes up to see us pack our bags and leave. I think he's missing us more because we spent a major part of last weekend with him, taking care of him.

Rian dictionary

Ever since Rian started speaking, we've made a conscious effort to not talk in "baby talk", so Rian picked up language without any errors in speech or "bobda bolna". At almost three, he can have a conversation with the doctor and the nurse on his own. He does have trouble pronouncing R and L still, but he works on it constantly.

Here and there though, Rian has added his own words to our dictionary. Some have come and gone already, just wanted to pen down some memories and current favorites:

Nunoon: this was Rian's word for "red"

Mack: this is Rian's word for "truck", from the character Mack from the movie Cars. "Nunoon Mack" is his childhood obsession.

Kachi Pachi: This is his latest addition, he says this means "head". If we ask him "what grows on top of kachi pachi, he says: hair". Pretty consistent, this one.

Breems: This is from our trip to Yosemite NP. Breems was Rian's word for waterfalls. He knows they are waterfalls, but makes up a word, tells Daddy about it, and then continues to call them Breems throughout the two days, how cute :-)

School Meena: This has been Rian's word for "food" at school since day 1. Even though he can identify and tell us what he ate now, his first response to the question "what did you eat in school today?" is "school meena".

Entire songs: Rian knew many nursery rhymes before going to school, but now he has learnt to sign them in tune from school. He has two songs that he has made complete versions of his own. For the "ants go marching one by one", he says:

Aiku gaiki kangal gang kuga kuga
He aiku gaiki kangal gang kuga kuga
He aiku gaiki aiku gaiki...

He says it exactly like this every single time :-) It's amazing! Of course he knows the original song too in its entirety. When I went to Rian's school ending party a week back, I found out Rian sings songs loudly along with the rest of the children in his class, nice!

First late night

Last night, Rachana had invited us over for some yummy Rajasthani dinner. Today is her birthday. We met up after ages, and had loads of gap-shap and awesome food. Kids were busy playing. Rian didn't have much food when he was offered, with Parv and Shayona, but seemed interested later on. At 9pm bang, my schedule baby says: Mumma I am sleepy! Somehow or the other he got distracted with TV, sweet malpua, and then cake. We came home after 11:30pm, and by the time we were done with Rian's milk, brushing, sleep routine, it was past midnight. IIRC this is the first time Rian has stayed up past midnight!

Today Rian woke up ~9:30am and we were pretty sure he will not sleep in the afternoon. Wonder of wonders (or thanks to Cely), Rian took his afternoon nap at 2:30pm. Back on schedule today, I hope.

Road trips

We took a road trip to Yosemite NP last weekend with 35 month old Rian. The last one was to San Diego in Nov '10. I was really missing and craving road trips. Since the beginning of school this year, our life is topsy turvy and super-schedule-driven. Add to that the little daily things like groceries and menu planning, I just didn't have any energy for planning road trips. Also, the winter was rough on Rian, with the combination of starting school. He was constantly sick. The winter lasted very long too, summer just about starting to rear it's head up.

Memories from our San Diego trip were all very pleasant. Rian had enjoyed the time there, and the 8hr drive was also managed well by Amit and me. We had left early, at 5am, and Rian slept through most of the drive. We were super surprised when we reached SD before 2pm.

Yose trip topped that road trip. We were traveling with extended family: My mom was here from India and Swati (Amit's sister) also was here from NY. We decided to rent a minivan since Rian is crazy about "the car whose doors open automatically". BTW kid's a pro at identifying models of minivans and goes crazy when he spots Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna. For a little extra $$ love, we got a Toyota Sienna for 3 days. On Saturday morning when Rian saw it, he was elated :-) Wish I had captured the smile on his face when he was sitting in the van. The road trip had an awesome start!

Usually Rian naps in the car, but he was so excited with the car, and Aatya, and mom and dad being with him, he blew straight through it. We didn't even attempt to put him to sleep. He was soaking in every new thing. We also missed Rian's gym and dance classes on Saturday morning. Little sacrifices I guess.

Daddy made sure Rian was "walking" in most places. Rian is very talented at melting Mumma's heart with "Mumma pick me up" and I go swoop and a hug and a kiss and kiddo's riding on me. Sigh. I just don't get enough of him, so I *need* to pick him up. But I guess at some point I need to let go so he can be a bit more independent. Parenting is so tough on you!

Road trip = junk food. We carried Veggie Straws, Chakalis from India, Masala peanuts. This time around I also carried a bunch of Cuties oranges and fresh yummy cherries from Costco. We had our fair share of junk food at the Curry Village Pizza Deck gorging on pizza for dinner, and sweet savory nothings for breakfast the next day.

Usually we manage to get a tent cabin inside curry village. This time around we were fortunate to get a dry wall cabin. This was way better than tent cabins, and we could actually sleep well. Since I was bed-sharing with Rian, my sleep was disturbed, but Rian was asleep by 9:30pm and awake at 6:40am!! On the way back though, all were very tired, and Rian managed to nap for a couple of hours. Pictures tell the rest of the story. We did a couple of under-one-mile walks, and generally had a good time. Looking fwd to the next road trip :-)

Schedule baby

Rian has always been a schedule baby. During the first two weeks of Rian's life, we had a 2 hr alarm clock to feed him, since he had some jaundice. After that, Rian fell into a very predictable feeding/sleeping pattern right away. I could tell within a 5 min period when his next feed would be. Planning our chores/visits outdoors was easy since I just had to stick to his schedule.

Ever since Rian started school, Amit and me had to get into a schedule too. It was a much bigger commitment required from us, to keep to a specific wake up time. Only then can we get Rian into school by 8:45am. To meet this time, everything else has to fall into place, starting with his sleep the night before. Slowly, we moved Rian's bedtime from before-school days 10pm to the current 8:45pm. He falls asleep by 9 on most days.

To do this, we need to start his night milk at 8:15pm on week nights, and follow it with a rigid sleep routine. Even a single day slip in skipping his brushing results in major battles the next day. If there's even a single battle in the morning, Rian remains cranky throughout and it carries over into his lunch, where he simply refuses to eat.

As long as we were feeding Rian ourselves, Rian was a healthy 65-75 percentile weight and height baby. In the last 9 months long winter, Rian has not gained even a single pound. He remains 32.2 pounds :-( He has grown 2 inches taller. With his school and pediatrician insisting that we let him feed himself, the quantity of food that goes into his tummy is decreasing daily. We've been trying this for 2 weeks now, and we're starting to feel Rian's bones now. We are still hoping he will come back to his regular meals, which weren't much in quantity to begin with, but double of what he's eating now. For now, the resolve is to stick to his schedule/routine and offer him regular good choices.

what mommyhood taught me

Tagged by Little Finger, here are some of my rough thoughts.

1. Patience, strength, persistence. As a 30-smthg mom, I have way more patience than a 20-smthg DINK that I was. I used to think we were "busy" when we had no kids. Now I have a new definition of the word "busy". I can handle way more than I usually do.
2. Love. Some would think this is obvious. Memories of new moms holding their kids and immediately going goo-goo-gaa-gaa over the kids come to mind. Don't misunderstand me, I had my fair share of those. Rian had a rough first year though, with his acid reflux, and I switched more into "schedule manager" than "loving mom" mode. As Rian grew into a sweet little toddler though, more of that love keeps growing, coming back to me, reminding me what a special bond I share with this little human being who loves me unconditionally.
3. Live for someone else. Before I became a mom, 90% of the things I did were for myself. Now, 90% of the things I do are for Rian. We are literally living our life from his eyes right now, and enjoying his fresh perspectives on everything! We love having him a part of every activity and adventure.
   
4. I am important. In Rian's world, I am invincible. Mommy can do anything, Mommy can get me anything. If I'm in trouble, I can go to Mommy. I am important, and I am loved by Rian. Love that feeling of being the world to him. This feeling makes me do unbelievable things, and fight for my little one.
   
5. Be a better person. As some of you know, I lost 35 pounds in 2010 going from a forever chubby person to a normal looking BMI person. Rian has inspired this change in me, to be a better person, to be a healthier mom, so I can show him how to do it right, and be there to play hide and seek with him. I can be there do hold him on the potty, bend down and make Mumma bridge whenever he wants, and play with him till he's exhausted :-)
   

Conversations

Conversations with Rian are super fun nowadays. There are just too many to recall. Two brilliant ones in the last 2 days:

VTA white train bus

Rian is a big fan of the VTA light rail, and from early on he'd started saying "VTA white train.. tang tang". At some point after he learnt the alphabet, he read the letters VTA written on the buses. He started calling them VTA white train bus. Recently we've started a fun fight with Rian: whenever he says VTA white train bus, we say VTA white bus, there is no train in a bus. He repeats, and we go on 5-6 times, laughing and giggling.

Yesterday Rian was particularly cranky. While putting him into the car seat, Amit tried to distract him: Look Rian, there's a VTA white train bus! Rian was totally silent for a complete 5 seconds, in the middle of his meltdown. I was impressed as usual, with Daddy's talents. Then Rian said: Mumma, Daddy said VTA white train bus :-)

Pick me up

Rian: I saw a photo, Daddy was picking up Mumma

Me: Oh really, where did you see that

Rian: On Mumma's computer

Rian: Why was Daddy picking up Mumma

Me: (Thinking)... umm, because Daddy loves Mumma

Rian: Mumma Mumma, I love you Mumma

(lots of laughter and giggles from Mumma, I love you too mera baccha!)

Sleep routine

We had an elaborate sleep routine when Rian was younger. Now it's down to a few basics: finish milk, brush teeth, put on some bedtime lotion, change into nighttime pajamas, hugs to mom and dad. After this, Rian used to "switch off" Mumma and walk into his room with Daddy. Lately that has reversed, so he prefers "switching off" Daddy since Daddy does really funny antics when he's turning off :-)

After entering his room, Rian likes to see his "plastic moon" turned on, and he "blows it off" (I hide the remote). Then comes good night to his planets - he touches each one and says the name. We switch on his lullabies and I kiss him good night.

Every night Rian tries this stunt of "I want to sleep in Mumma bed". Every night Daddy tells him "it doesn't happen". Sometimes he himself will repeat this part back to us :-) Rian, like any other toddler, likes choice. To motivate him to move past the "I want to sleep in Mumma bed", Rian gets a choice every night "Do you want to switch off Mumma or switch off Daddy"? At this point he gets excited and looks forward to Daddy's antics, and chooses Daddy. Today, Rian went a step further. He says "I don't want to switch off anybody" :-) Wah beta wah, who is teaching you all these words and expressions? He got loads and loads of hugs from us today...

A sleep story

Yesterday was an unusual day for us. The nanny was sick, and Amit too had signs of cold, in addition to his irritated eyes. Amit decided to WFH/take leave half day and picked up Rian as usual from school at 11:45am. Rian was so excited to know Daddy will take care of him, he refused to sleep in the afternoon. Daddy got quite a few errands done, including a trip to the doctor for his sore eyes. By evening, everyone was tired.

We discovered there was no daal at home. Eating the new cook's chapatis without daal is not possible, so I ventured into territory I've been unaccustomed to for almost 3 years: the kitchen, to make daal. Rian had "Shayona sandwich" with Daddy while mom cooked daal. I think Rian was rather full after that, and also very tired.

We had a surprise when Rian decided to play all by himself in his room while Daddy had dinner quietly, and mom talked to him. We could hear Rian for a long time, and he was playing with his cars. We were kind of thinking: wow Rian has grown up so much!! Daddy was almost done with dinner, and it was time for Rian's milk too. We could no longer hear Rian though.

We went upstairs to see Rian fast asleep, in his bed, on his pillow, with all his cars in the bed :-) It was such a cute sight!!!

We managed to give Rian half his milk, just under 4oz, in sleep. It was a miracle I could get him to pee in his half asleep state. A quick change of clothes and he was nestled in his bed again.

I've only heard stories from Amit's mom: Amit often fell asleep, without dinner, and Amit's mom had to give him milk in his sleep :-)

Nails

Rian is usually okay with me cutting his finger nails, once I explain and show him that they are long and sharp, and can potentially hurt him. I usually take one of his tiny fingers and run it over his long nail, and that drives the point home. Getting him to cut his toe nails is a bit harder. Especially in winter, he has socks on all the time. For some reason Rian loves his socks, and will scream bloody murder if I remove them without reason. I have to convince him to remove his beloved socks, then show him that his toe nail (specially his big toe nail) is indeed long. 10 mins and the job is usually done, and we are happy and back to play.

Last night after his milk, Rian says to me:

Mumma it's sharp, your nail is sharp. Oh look, your nails are big. You need to cut. Cut your nails mumma.
(Pulls my feet out of the comforter)
Now look, your toe nails, they are big. Cut Mumma, cut your toe nails too. We need to do it now, Mumma

We were rolling on the bed, laughing :-) Yes dear, sometimes Mumma doesn't get time to cut her nails...

Car fanatic

It's unbelievable that I haven't written more about cars and Rian. More than 90% of Rian's wakeful hours are spent with his toy cars. The boy is obsessed, just like his Dad was as a kid. Rian's car obsession started small, and his first few cars were fairly big. My memory of his first set of hot wheels is in Austin, TX from Aanya. After that, there was no stopping. Rian's nanny Cely fueled his passion, and used cars as a way to teach Rian many things. She alone must have bought more than 60 toy cars for Rian, sometimes one every single day of the week. It's no surprise by the time Rian was 2.5 yrs old, he had more than a 100 cars. Disney Pixar's Cars became Rian's all-time favorite movie, and we owe many a lunches and dinners to this movie.

Early on when Rian started speaking, he started identifying car models. This was ~a year back in March '10. Walking through parking lots quickly became a hobby and a wonderful experience. Driving was also fun, as we started pointing to various cars: which car is the grey one, and pat would come the response. Rian loves playing this car game even today. At 25 months, Rian was a pro at identifying 90% of the car makes!

As his reading improved, he started reading car makes and models. It with the make VOLVO as this car does not have a clear symbol on the back. So Rian used to identify this as "V O L V O that's a Volvo car!". Since two weeks we were reading models like Acura MDX, Toyota RAV4, BMW M3. The other day he asked me: "Mumma, V O L V O is Volvo. What is Costco?" I explained to him "C O S T C O is Costco".

The reason for today's post: Today morning I saw a big Toyota Tacoma SUV and it did not have the Toyota symbol on the back. I generally quizzed Rian asking him "What car is that Rian?". He said "Toyota". I was surprised. I asked him "how do you know, Rian?" He said: "the letters Mumma. See T O Y O T A" :-) Amazing, simply amazing. A great start to a Monday morning...

Morning wisdom pearls

Mornings have always been bright and shiny with Rian. When I used to co-sleep with him from 6am, I used to wake up to some amazing talk :-) Last night Rian woke up 5 times, coughing. Finally at 6am, he came to my bed (we blew off Tahoe plans :-( -- more later about that). When he woke up, this was our conversation.

Me: Rian, Mumma is not feeling well today. Mumma's tummy is hurting.
Rian: what's that hanging next to the calendar?
Me: That's Rian's photoframe.
Rian: Mumma got hurt by Rian's photoframe.
Me: no beta, photoframe did not hurt me.
Rian: then what hurt your tummy?
Me: beta, Mumma ate some bad food last night, some mushrooms Mumma did not cook properly.
Rian: Mumma, eat good food Mumma. Eat egg.
Me: yes beta, I'll eat good food, I'll eat egg today.

Even though my tummy hurt like hell, I had a huge smile on my face :-)

We usually kiss Rian if he falls or hurts himself. Rian is picking up on that now. He said next:

Rian: Mumma Rian wants to kiss you
Me: Oh how sweet, kiss me (and I came forward)
Rian: No mumma No. Rian wants to kiss Mumma's tummy. Then it will be alright.
Me: (melted in a pool of love by the bedside).

Shh... be careful

Rian is picking up what we say, too quickly. All good and bad. Two stunning examples from today.

Rian is humming a song. I realize what he's humming, and so I ask him to say the song with words. Out come the words, promptly: My name is Sheila, Sheila ki jawani. I am totally stunned, jaw dropped wide open. Thankfully he stopped right there. He has heard this song in my car like once, just once. I think he may have seen me humming, and more importantly dancing in a very "happy" way while humming this song in the privacy of my home :-) Kids these days...

Rian loves clothes that are not tight, and hence loves his pajamas. I think they learnt about clothes in school this month.

Rian says to Daddy: I want to wear my pajamas to school.

Daddy tried to explain to him: Does Daddy wear pajamas to SpiderCloud?

Rian: No

Daddy: Does Mumma wear pajamas to VMware?

Rian: No, Mumma wears pants. Mumma wears tight pants.

Once again, stunned, totally stunned! I think he caught Amit asking me on the weekend "Aren't these pants too tight for you?" Better be very very careful what we say in front of him!

Songs

Fingers crossed... Kala teeka and all that...

Music has soothed Rian from the beginning. I think babies are naturally drawn towards rhythmic soothing music. We exposed Rian to Teacher Sean's music factory class of 8 sessions and he seemed to enjoy the cacophony. Amit and me have always sung some songs to Rian to calm him down and his childhood favorites were Ba Ba Black Sheep and Twinkle Twinkle. It's no surprise that when he started talking, he picked up these rhymes from us. I have some super cute audio recordings of Rian when he was a 2 yr old.

As Rian started growing up, I started singing my favorite hindi songs to him. Brushing time was a challenge for us and Daddy typically had to jump and do a puppet show to get Rian to brush. During this time, I started singing "Sach mere yaar hain" from Sagar. Within 2 weeks Rian had picked up the lyrics on the sly. Once I stopped singing mid-song and he just picked up and completed the lines for me :-)

Courage bolstered, I moved on to "Aao baccho tumhe dikhaye" with an ulterior motive of getting Rian to say "Vande Mataram" in March. A week later Rian was singing the whole first stanza and he loves saying "Vande Mataram"!! Mission accomplished :-)

There is a 4-line verse his school song, and Rian used to hum it but would never say the correct words. He's become very mischievous these days. Last week he decided to bless Daddy - all 4 lines of the song, in perfect tune :-) School has made a big difference to Rian's personality.

It was not all easy though. We had a trying time with school. During that time, to give Rian something to look fwd to in the mornings, we started doing Pooja every day before leaving for school. I started singing one paragraph of Ganpati Aarti "Sukhakarta Dukhaharta". In two weeks Rian knew the whole first para :-) I'm very proud of this one. This kid loves Ganpati Bappa and Pooja and going to the temple. We were in the Indian temple last night, and I explained to him that he has to sing the Aarti for Bappa and he did it... in a soft voice. Then at the end he loudly said "Ganpati Bappa Morya, Mangal Murti Morya, Pudhchya Varshi lavkar yaa...". Guruji was very pleased, and I was beaming with pride.

School days

Almost 3 months of school is behind us now. I can safely say we have a kinda sorta routine that's working for us. Mornings are "cut-to-cut". A 5 min delay means we are late to school by 5 mins.

6:40 - We wake up, brush, make coffee. Amit picks up the cook
7:10 - We wake Rian up. If he's happy he's cooing and chatty. If not, he's super cranky!
7:15 to 7:30 - Milk time with Mumma.
7:30 to 7:45 - Bath time with Mumma, and brushing too! Daddy takes a shower in this time, and is ready to take Rian.
7:45 to 8:00 - Dry, wear clothes, clown around with Daddy, choose socks to wear. Mumma showers at this time.
8:00 to 8:15 - Breakfast time with Daddy. Mumma gets ready.
8:15 to 8:20 - Pee pee, wear shoes, load the cuddlekins into Mumma car. Mumma packs her lunch and runs to car.
8:20 to 8:40 - Drive time to school. If we are lucky we make it before 8:45am and the teachers are still outside for pickup time.
11:30am - Daddy leaves from his office to pickup the poodla.
12:10pm - Daddy duo reach home and have some masti
12:15 to 1:00 - Lunch hour with Cely
1:45 - Rian's usual poo poo time :D
2:00 - Fresh fruit yogurt time
2:30 to 5:30 - Rian's nap hours are unpredictable now. In this 3 hr window, he sleeps on most days for 2 hrs.
5:30 - Milk time with Cely
6:00 - Fruit snack time with Cely
6:45 to 7:30 - dinner time
7:30 to 8:30 - Playtime with all, video chat with grandparents, TV time, water colors time, you name it time.
8:30 to 8:45 - Milk time with Mumma
8:45 to 9:00 - sleep routine: brushing, moisturize with bedtime lotion, change into pajamas, give lots of kisses and hugs to Mumma and Daddy
9:00 - Rian is in bed if all goes well

• Cely leaves by 6-6:15 on Mondays and Tuesdays, so Rian gets more time with Daddy and Mumma but eats considerably less dinner.
• On Wednesdays, Daddy and Mumma go for a dance class and get back by 8:45pm. Rian is done with his dinner, milk and sleep routine and nestled in with Cely by then. Daddy and Mumma get 10-15 mins of cuddles with Rian before Rian goes to bed at 9. Mumma goes to drop Cely to her home, and dinner for Mumma and Daddy is at 9:45pm. Sigh. Win some lose some.
  
• On Thursdays and Fridays, Cely stays for Rian's dinner and leaves at 7:15. Daddy and Mumma get maximum playtime with Rian without worrying about how much Rian has eaten.

Mumma is trying to add weekday playdates to this already packed schedule, can you imagine :-) And Mumma also tries to squeeze in groceries on Thursdays and Fridays.

On Saturday mornings, the schedule is a bit different:

7:15 - We wake up a bit later. Rian sleeps ~30 mins late on Friday night so he too wakes up late.
7:30 to 8:00 - Rian wakes up and has his milk with Daddy. Mumma is in the kitchen making coffee and tofu for Rian.
8:00 to 8:30 - Rian gets an oil massage and bath with Daddy. Daddy dresses Rian up too.
8:30 to 8:45 - We catch a quick bite.
8:45 to 9 - Mumma and Rian drive to the Mommy-n-me gym.
9 to 9:45 - Rian loves jumping, climbing, hanging onto bars. Gym time is fun time.
9:45 to 10:25 - Mumma and Rian sit in the car and eat tofu in the car. Mumma has an occasional snack.
10:25 to 10:30 - Drive to the dance class which is in the same complex.
10:30 to 11:00 - Rian's dance class.
11:00 to 11:30 - Come back home or go to some place, playdate, mall, etc. We always meet up with Daddy at lunch time (~12:30-1pm).
From 8:45 to 12:45, Daddy takes care of the house, since we leave it in a destroyed state in our hurry to get out. Daddy usually gets ~3hrs of office work and sometimes even 4hrs!!

On Sundays, Mommy and Daddy take it totally relaxed. You can see WHY :-)

Ab bas bhi karo

First 2 weeks of school for Rian were his "adjustment period". Just as I was complimenting myself in my mind for my child's immunity, he got his first ear infection in mid-Jan. This was the first ever ear infection for Rian, and it sucked. Thankfully he was vocal and he could tell us about the ear ache. Rian had amoxy twice before (in his life), and this was his third time, but this time around he developed a severe rash allergy to the anti-biotic. We had to stop the amoxy in just 2 days. Thankfully the ear infection healed right after that.

Soon after his ear infection was over, Rian caught a cough. Soon, all three of us at home caught a cough. Rian was recovering and our symptoms were also mostly gone. Last Wednesday, Rian caught a cold :-( On Saturday he saw his PCP who declared it as another virus . This week he complained of ear ache again, and we are back on a different anti-biotic.

All of us are sick and tired of being sick now. I so sympathize with Seena. Ab bas bhi karo... give us a break from the viruses and infections. Is someone up there listening?? As they say, we have gone so "down" that the only way to go from here is "up"... hope things recover soon. Weekend is almost here...

Secretary

... that's what I feel today.

I'm sure a lot of moms/women identify with this feeling. Now, jokes apart: Amit does help me a lot at home especially with Rian, and thank God (& Amit) for that. He also helps me when I have "roadblocks" and "decisions" to be made in the stuff that I do, and I am the final "executor". But there are just too many things that end up being on my plate. Here's a list, since I'm in "crib mode":

1. Groceries
2. Planning for every day food menu for the cook and Rian
3. Taking dr appts for Rian and Amit and myself (yes, it's cold season)
4. Appt for photo portraits
5. Upload all photos taken by Amit (& he's a very good photographer)
6. Planning for weekends: long trips like Tahoe & even short local weekend trips like hiking, park outings, plan restaurants for weekends
7. Plan playdates
8. Plan & "register" for Rian's weekend classes, take him to the weekend classes every weekend
   
9. Buying clothes for Rian
10. Buying trip-specific gear for Rian: swim dress, floaters, ski bibs, gloves, snow boots. Run around town or order from Amazon, pickup from Craigslist.
    
11. Planning for birthdays - be it a party or a small cake - be it Rian or my FIL or Cely
12. Planning food for get-togethers and potlucks, even snacks
13. Planning and buying gifts for parties
    
14. Remember & call people on bdays & annivs
15. Pay credit card bills, utility bills, school fees on time
16. Remember to file for FSA, VSP.
17. Do the occasional home refinance
    
18. Be the time keeper every day and have Rian's "schedule" and keep it on time.

Now, keep in mind: I enjoy doing these things. Totally. I love planning and executing and going out on weekends. Also it's not that I aim to satisfy myself in every task 100% coz that's just not what happens (I guess my bar is too high), so I'm okay with 80-90% efficiency. I've not added any of my "personal TODO" in this, like shopping, dr appts, car oil changes, repairs, etc. But that does "stack on" top of this list too!! Add to this, a busy schedule at work. I just don't have the time to do all of it all the time.

How do you gals manage all this? Does it make sense to drop the ball on some of the items? Which ones would you drop and why?

Today I just feel like I need a break. I need my secretary's/Mom's Day Off.

Health is wealth

This is so true. The more I think about it, the more I agree. Although sometimes having wealth can make you have health when you can see a personal trainer ;-) Rian is battling with his health right now. An ear infection took him down on Friday, he had high fever (103/104) on the weekend, and we started antibiotics on Saturday night. On Monday night Rian developed a rash on his body and doctor says it's an allergic reaction to the antibiotics. Let's hope the Benadryl can take care of it soon.

Anyways, thoughts back to Rian:
For the past 6 months or so, we've been lucky with Rian's health. Touch wood he has had only his usual share of colds. The first two weeks of this year were also spent being in "good health". Sometimes when things are going rough with Rian, we tend to forget that we spend more than 90% of the time in good health. So, for those times, this is a reminder post for me, that good times rule, and good times exist every year for a long time. I need to dwell on the good more than I dwell on the bad. We've been blessed with a wonderful boy, and I thank God for everything that has gone right with him.

Change is constant in our lives though. May it be jetlag, planning for a trip, packing, unpacking, settling into school, juggling weekend vs weekday schedule - his sleep affects us at every point. Every parent goes through this. As my gym instructor said, I just need to "suck it up and give me 8 more (and then 8 more!)"...

School begins

We came back from India completely refreshed and desperately missing Rian's grandparents. There was a look in his eye (my interpretation of course) that said I want more people to play with. The timing was right, and we started Rian's school on 3 Jan, 3 days short of his two-and-a-half year bday. He's going for 3 hrs in the morning, from 8:45am to 11:45am. Drop-off is at 8:30am.

The first day, kids were shuttled away from us without a chance to say Goodbye, so there were no tears, just surprise and wonder about this new place called "school" which Rian always wanted to go to. Part of this build up of anticipation about school was his fascination with school buses. Everywhere Rian saw a yellow school bus, even in India, he'd scream out "You see big big yellow school bus". He was under the impression that going to school means getting a wonderful ride in the yellow bus WITH MOMMY AND DADDY or atleast WITH CELY. Although Amit prepared Rian for school with the facts that mommy and daddy will not be there, Rian had no clue what to expect. I have no idea how his first day was, except I know he had cried. He was very happy to be back home and started a new slogan of "Rian does not want to go to school. School is bad".

Day 2, 3, and 4 were the worst times. Rian cried at home from the moment he woke up, with the knowledge that he will be shuttled off to school soon, and wouldn't stop crying till we reached school. The teachers had to tear him away from me and he'd be sobbing as they carried him in. Teachers told me he settled down quickly once inside though, so that was a relief. Lots of positive encouragement from Amit, good friendly teachers, and sending reminders of school work home (his painting and crayon work), and having a bribe for him waiting after school (his toy cars from India, given out one a day) did the trick slowly for Rian. Thursday was the worst with Rian throwing up everything he had eaten, just before we loaded him into the car. All clothes had to be changed, and DADDY'S clothes also had to be changed. Friday improved things though, and Rian actually said "Good morning" to the teacher.

First few days, Rian refused to talk about what happens in school. Now a few of our questions get answered by the kid who's turning into a joker:

Q. What did you drink in school?
A. School juice
Q. What did you eat in school?
A. School meena
Q. Was school meena big?
A. Small
Q. Did you eat "school meena" with your hands or with a fork?
A. With a fork

Who knows what is true :-) but we enjoy asking him about his "school meena" all the same. Into the second week now, I'm trying to balance my morning schedule. The weekend seems to have left me with a half an hr lag, and we've been reaching at 9am instead of 8:30am now. Hope practice makes perfect. Rian's also started a bit of defiant behavior wrt food and water in the morning. Hope he eats his "home meena" properly. Let's see how that goes now. Wish us luck!