Effects of school

We read books to megha every night before she goes to bed. Yesterday we had read cowboy Woody's book. Usually we kiss the book we read good night before putting it away. This book she didnt want to.

Me: Megha beta, kiss the book good night, I will put it away.

Megha: No momma, woody is a boy, I wont kiss. I dont want to kiss a boy! Ewww

Me: Huh?! Ok. (I did not know what to say). Who told this to you Megha?

Megha: I am telling you Momma.

Me: OK

We certainly did NOT introduce this concept at home. Must be the school thing!

Tanush's Favorites

Tanush turned 5 months 2 days ago. How quickly time went by. We have started him on solids after he completed 4 months, upon his doctors suggestion. Of course his main source of nutrition is still breast milk but we have started solids slowly.

Things he takes so far:
1. Gerber rice cereal (LOVEs it)
2. Oat cereal (does not like it; I stopped it)
3. Cooked and pureed pears (Loves it)
4. Cooked and pureed apples (likes it but had to stopped as I suspected rashes after)
5. Rice+moong dal with a little of turmeric: meh, ok with it

He loves the below rhymes, in the same order:

1. Itsy Bitsy spider whet up the water spout (his all time favorite)
2. Old McDonald had a farm
3. Wheels on the bus go round and round
4. Yanky doodle went to town, riding on a pony...

He likes his routine and sleeps so much better when he is home all day long. He likes his oil massages too. He drools quite a bit and if we dont put a bib on him, his chest ends up getting wet pretty fast. He absolutely loves chewing on Sophie the Giraffe. In the evenings, he is more comfortable when we pick him up. More often than not, I would end up holding him all evening in my lap. Else he would cry or whine or both. He is not like this during the day time. He would be waiting for his dad to get home and goes right to him to play.
wakes up by 6:15 or max 6:30 AM (like he has somewhere urgent to go!) He wakes up every 2 to 2.5 hours to feed at nights. I think its slowly starting to improve. Have to see. Megha used to wake up for feeds every 3 hours until she turned a year.
His routine is now set. He wakes up around: 6:30, breakfast consiting of rice cereal, drop megha at school, takes a nap between 9:30 and 10:30. Then wake up, play, change/shower, sit on the kitchen counter while I cook, or roll on the floor round and round, eat a bit of lunch (he eats very very little for lunch), feed some milk, nap between 12:30 and 2:30 (wakes up about 3 times in between), play, have snack, nap between 4:30 and 5:00, wake up play more, eat, get ready for bed, massage, story, milk and sleep at 7:15. and then wake up every 2 hours or so. But he usually feeds and goes right back to sleep.

He reserves THE best smiles for Megha. He is mesmerized with everything she does.
loves my cuddles too!

Everyone says he looks exactly like Anand, especially his ears. I cannot see either of us in him. The nose, maybe that he takes after Anand but mostly I think he does not resemble either of us yet. He just keeps changing so much every week!
phew, thats a big post!

When Megha wanted a pet

After watching one of Baby Einstein episodes, Megha wanted us to buy a puppy for her. Here was the conversation from this morning:

Megha: Mom, shall we buy a puppy?
Me: Maybe when you and Tanish grow up a bit more Megha
Meg: Why not now? I am big, I am 4.
Me: Well, pets are a lot of work and we already have one baby to take care of. Maybe when Tanush also grows up, we will think.
Meg: I will take care of the puppy.
Me: I am sure you will. On the first day of its life. But after that it mostly will be my duty or dads. Dont worry though, for sure we will talk about it when you and Tanush grow up
Meg: Can we at least have a cat
Me: Daddy is allergic to cats
Meg: Mouse?
Me: No
Meg: Fish
Me: Megha how about we bake cupcakes?
Meg: Yay! Cupcakes!

To be fair, she may have taken care of the puppy. 

Baby Einstein fans!

Megha used (still is) to be a big fan of Baby Einstein videos right from when she was very little. The other day when I had put one of the Baby Einstein videos (neighborhood animals to be specific), Tanush immensely enjoyed it. Generally I avoid TV during weekdays when I feed him but when Megha is around, she prefers to watch TV when eating...Here are the two silly kids thoroughly enjoying their video during their meal time...

Dusshera 2015

Dusshera was a simple affair at home. We did the Aayudha puja followed by a small puja. Megha wearing her pretty outfit..If there is one thing I realized in the last few years, most of the pictures dont get looked at even twice a year. So, no point in stressing over how to get a perfect picture. These days I just try a few times to get a good picture but dont stress if I dont get one. Just enjoy the moments.

Tanush preferred to wear a onesie.

Puja at home

A week or so before the festival, we went to visit a friend who was doing Batakkama (a special flower festival for Dusshera). It was good fun; cold but fun.

With Mommoma

Diwali 2015

Diwali is one of the festivals I really look forward to every year. This year its extra special as its also Tanush's first Diwali. I woke up early and made quite a few delicacies; I really should have written this post sooner. I completely forgot what I made but I do remember I made quite a few items and mom also made some. This is us before heading to the Richmond Hill temple, Tanush's first visit.

The very same evening Anand was leaving for India. This was at the temple...

Isnt Megha looking so very pretty in that outfit?

In the evening we stopped by at our good friends place for another puja.
We didnt make too many crafts thsi year as I was very busy.

Tanush's 2015 in Pictures

Just like with Megha, here are Tanush's pictures month by month in 2015. My cuddly bear...from day 1; and he can almost sit without support for a few seconds! How quickly he grew.

August

September

October

November

December

Megha's 2015 in pictures

I had been meaning to write this post for a few weeks now. I missed compiling this; being busy with the baby and all and compiling this takes time. I love these kinds of posts where we can see how Megha looks/changes every month. Here are the month by month pictures of Megha:

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Tanush rolls back on to his back!

My baby is growing up so fast. Tanush rolled over for the first time on dec 06th, 2015 and today he rolled back to his back from his belly! 

When words won't work...

Megha feels everything so strongly and is not afraid to show the emotion see is experiencing. Often I have to make a conscious effort not to reprimand her for her seemingly unreasonable display of emotion. For example, she would start crying suddenly for a very small (?) thing (seldom though). What maybe an unreasonable thing for me maybe completely logical for her. I keep reminding myself that and be respectful of her tears but sometimes that drives me crazy.

This morning, we had a lot of snow and I had to clean the car and a bit of driveway before heading out to school to drop Megha off. I had bundled up the kids and left them on the porch while I started cleaning the car. I had specifically told Megha that it's not time to play and please can she not jump in the snow. After less than a minute when I turn around to check on kids and what is she doing? Rolling all over in the snow! I got mad because now her snow pants are all wet, the car will be in a mess, Tanush starts crying and the car still isn't clean,....oh ha, it's 9:10 (9:13 is the first bell). I yell, she gets upset/sad and has tears in her eyes....according to her, I asked her not to jump and she didn't. She just rolled. I compose myself, kiss her bye, remind her of lunch....she left still feeling sad. I feel horrible the whole day.

Of late I had noticed that yelling at her or even raising my voice at her is not having the desired effect. I usually don't yell but sometimes (like this morning), yell becomes inevitable. She is just. 4 year old. Asking her not to play in snow is like asking a pig not to jump in a muddy puddle.

I haven't come to the point yet! The 3 things that seem to work with Megha when she is being unreasonably moody/cross/weepy is to just ask her 1) if she wants a cuddle 2) is she would want me to just hold her hand until the moment passes 3) if she would like to talk about it 4) if she would like to hold a favourite toy and stay quite. Ok so that makes it 4. Asking her not to cry or be angry often ends up in the exact opposite of what is asked. As such, I realize it's better she experiences what ever she is feeling instead of asking her not to feel what she wants to.

Couple of things I plan on doing in future is to give her play dough and ask her to squeeze it so she can release whatever is bothering her. I also want to ask her if she would like to pick a special spot That will help her feel calm. Offer her a massage maybe.

This ended up being a long ramble triggered by this mornings episode on snow.

Who is more cuter...?

I know who! though of the same size :)