Happy Halloween

Our daughter’s first tryst with Halloween.

No, she has absolutely no idea what Halloween means.

She likes the sound of this new word – so meticulously adds it to her growing vocabulary list.

Yes, she likes the thought that she gets to meet her friends for a party.

She has always liked the sound of the word “party” – it is firmly established in her vocabulary list.

Her dictionary would define this as “a buzzword implying a much-loved, much looked forward to, generating much excitement [read: sleepless/ less sleep nights for the parents] event”.

Excitement!! Excitement !!

So for today, let’s just name her EHK (the Excited Halloween Kid).

Excitement was such that there was no fuss in waking up for school. Because it meant, party as soon as school got over for the day.

Excitement was such that she had an interesting conversation with the lady who helps around the house.

Scenario:

Lady has completed her work, leaving the house, hand on the door knob.

EHK pipes up “Halloween Halloween… Party… Happy Halloween” and waves a cheerful Bye.

The lady answers with a broad smile: “Yes, I am also wearing blue like you”

EHK looks at me – a disappointed look.

I swiftly change the topic and the mood.

Dressing Up

Well talking of moods, let’s look at this conversation snippet as I get her ready for the evening:

Me: So aunty has kept a theme and you are to wear black pants & T-shirt. Yayyyy !!

EHK: Nope, I am NOT going to go in all black. I will wear a skirt today.

Me: But you want to wear “full pants” on other days.

EHK: Today I want to wear a skirt. (A grumpy look is setting in – precursor to a meltdown)

Me: (Trying one more time) See, but all your friends would be dressed as witches.

EHK: (Shriiiieeeeeek… was that her or the wind that has been howling today??!!) I AM NOT A WITCH.

Me: (Damage control mode) No no, you are not a witch. You are just pretending to be one. You know like you play “Pretend Pretend”

EHK: I am NOT a witch. I will NOT be a witch. I will be a Fairy with wings and wand.

Me: Well, the theme is black. Fairies usually don’t wear black.

EHK: [Well-controlled sobs] Doesn’t matter mumma, fairy can wear black, too. And see I will have red wings.

Now, who can argue with that?

My confidence in my convincing power is diminishing as some tears make their appearance, the pout forms and the clock is ominously ticking away.

Me: [Seriously the last attempt] Ummm, maybe another time? Today, a witch?

EHK: Silence and a betrayed plus accusing look which kids have surely mastered.  

A mini meltdown is surely on its way. But the seasoned professional [read: mommy] in me suddenly took over. After all, I needed to get to the party, too.

Me: Well Ok, you can be a fairy with a black top and your colourful skirt. And you get to wear your red wings and carry the wand.

Well, my mommy wand sure did the magic – tears, pout, grumpiness, defiance – all vanished at once.

EHK: Babbling away. Uncontrollably happy. Incoherent. Doesn’t matter.

The delighted whoops and the Fairy smile were worth relenting to her wish.

The Party

And there she was squealing in delight, running around with her friends, jumping, dancing – her happy wings bobbing up and down.

And she stuck to her stance even at the party!! She just would not wear the cute red horns like her friends readily did. She had decided – she is NOT a witch, and she would not budge.

Fair point. Accepted.

She relished the food – not letting go of her wings and wand.

She went from house to house with her friends and wouldn’t come back till she got some goodies.

And with her wings bouncing, one hand firmly holding her wand, she would run back to me, the other little palm full of toffees or chocolate, so that I could safely keep it in her “bag”.

Not that she has those toffees. But the whole new thing that she experienced, the entire fun of enjoying with friends – that simple joy made her so happy. And made me so happy too.

And the After-Party

She squealed in delight as we opened her goodie bags.

She gushed about the evening as she narrated little stories to her daddy.

And she gushed about it in her mind as we tried to put the over-charged little Fairy to sleep.

Aaah, but before she finally drifted into her dream world (where I am sure she has been re-enjoying her Halloween party), she drowsily asked me. “Ma, what does Trick or Treat mean?”

That’s a tricky question little Fairy – will treat you to the answer tomorrow.

Happy Halloween !!

My Dil Goes Mmmmmmm…….

A short sabbatical from blog = Back with short post 😁

The Virus visited dear Daughter = A blissful moment for Mommy

Blissful moment for Mommy when child has fever = Mommy going crazy??!!

That’s what the usual equation would read.

But obviously you would have figured out that’s not the case here.

Pre-schooler having fever ≠ Pre-schooler lying down = Pre-schooler engaging Mommy in play

Playtime

And so Daughter decided we play with a bunch of colourful plastic alphabets & numbers that she fondly possesses.

School activities = Identifying characters, tracing them, making short words out of them & so on

Home innovations = “Cooking” alphabets soup and baking “numbers” birthday cake for Mommy (with Mommy fervently praying that she keeps the double digit low)

Numbers presented on a plate to Mommy = Mommy should “cut” the cake with the red plastic play knife

Daughter sweetly singing “Happy Birthday” for Mommy (right up to the May God bless you lines) = Enough to make a happy Mommy smile 😄

When Equations Melt…

But suddenly she looks up at me and all equations go for a toss::

Daughter:  (in all seriousness) Ma, do you know which is my favourite alphabet?

Mommy brain: Do we have a favourite alphabet, too?

Mommy voice: No darling, I don’t. Which one is it?

Daughter: (fishes out an orange alphabet with a broad grin) This one!!

Mommy brain: (sees an orange W) W for Watermelon? W for Watch?? Wolf??? Wheel???? Or she simply loves the orange colour?

Mommy voice: Why W, darling??

Daughter: (incredulous look) Ma, it’s not W, it’s my favourite "M" !!! Because M is for Mumma and I love you a lot.

    

Mommy brain: Choked with emotions

Mommy voice: Emulating Mommy brain

Mommy heart: And that accompanying endearing smile will be etched here... Forever 😍

And without a warning, that tearing up moment happened (she was oblivious to it and was back to her “cooking”).

There was this huge smile plastered on my face and my heart hummed the famous Bollywood number “My Dil Goes M-mmmmmm” 🎶

Sunny Summer Holidays… Part I

Adapting from the legend, Cliff Richards::

“We're all going on a summer holiday
No more working for a week month or two.
Fun and laughter on our summer holiday,
No more worries for me or you,
For a week month or two.”

The first summer holidays of the daughter... Yayyyy !!! 💃

And the first-time dilemma:

Enticing Summer Camps vs. Camping At Home

We grew up surrounded by family and cousins – never short of company or engrossing activities during the holidays.

In a nuclear set up, with the daddy at 48x7 work (+traveling) and the mommy on 24x7 child surveillance, it does become a little tough.

Especially because the mighty pre-schoolers have been bestowed with certain super powers –

Super activeness, Question bank-ness, Supernatural ability to discover hidden “treasures”, just to list a few.

And the summer camps nowadays promise:

To keep the child engaged with exciting activities = A few hours’ breather for the carer at home.

Nevertheless, Hubby and I decided to simply “Let Her Be”::

1) After all that’s what we did in our childhood, right?

2) Mommy is at home – so why not let the daughter enjoy at home too?

3) The motherly (and over-the-phone concurring grandmotherly) over-protectiveness kicked in – Let her sleep as much as she wants.

School days meant waking her up earlier (and she has surely done the parental genes proud – definitely not an early riser).

4) Add to that, “She gets to eat her favourite complete meals at proper times”. And, of course, our hearts did the melting number.

5) Plus, when would she use all the resources that she has at home?  Toys, books, puzzles, the works….

6) And our consciences chimed in - she’s only 3 after all. Shouldn’t she be allowed to do just “nothing”, too, if she so chooses?

Q.E.D. She’s going to camp at home.

Shhh…. trivia:

Mommy also wanted a break from the daily groove of dropping her to a camp, waiting around there for the couple of hours before bringing her back.

And what an awesome summer holiday this has turned out to be. The delight on kiddo’s face each time she could engage in a different / new activity, reassured me that I was faring pretty well on the summer holiday engagement meter.

A fond look at just some of our regular activities :-

(Note: when she chose to do so)

Rollerball Paints – Mommy (nearly) Faints

She found herself her first activity - Rollerball Paints gifted to her.

Seemed pretty trouble-free to me.

Needless to say, she had a thrilling squealing colourful fun-time.

But, mommy was definitely not prepared to handle the eventual disaster.

Not only the papers and the ground around, but also her little self and her clothes were now a riot of colours.

So mommy promptly decided to do an “Abracadabra…. Vanish….” act and vowed to tread with caution on forthcoming projects.

Luck By Chance

Let’s just calls this “Lucky To Have A Birthday Right Before Summer Holidays” phenomenon.

She got ample chance to explore her varied gifts.

As she lounged on her new inflatable Hippo, she leafed through her new (picture/ rhymes/ story) books, narrating her interpretation of stories to herself or to her entourage of “children”.

For the uninitiated, she considers herself a mother to all soft toys and dolls that she possesses!!

Crayons, colour pencils, colouring books, empty papers – all were fully utilised as the lips were pursed up and the colours thrown in.

Sound of Silence

I heard my pots and pans and dishes clanking around.

I realized it had been 20 minutes since no other sound had been heard – no non-stop chattering, no giggles, no sudden wails, no singing, no…. !!!!

What could she be up to?

Aaaah, I had valiantly handed over water-colours to her.  And she was colourfully engrossed.

Now before you wonder, “Whaaaaat??? Didn’t you learn from the first Rollerball mistake??”

Well, I did. And I did not repeat the oversight.

My summer holiday mommy brain had been coming up with innovative hacks.

We didn’t have an apron to save the clothes…

Eureka !! Out came the outgrown bathrobe à Made her wear it back to front à And we got ourselves a handy apron without spending extra bucks.

So, while the little painter would keep busy, I would finish my chores. This daily routine had a serene calm at our residence.

Homework Quirk

I don’t recall ever being so thrilled about “holiday homework”.

She knew her teachers had given her few homework sheets.

And she wanted to finish all the pairing, colouring and other activities at one shot.

Took a lot of gentle coaxing to make her understand that we could do this over the holiday period.

But then who wouldn’t want to do such fun stuff?

Rub-a-dub-dub, Kiddo In Her Tub

She loves water.  And her school had been engaging them in Water Play just before they closed for the holidays.

What a perfect idea to keep her cool in these hot months.

Now, getting an inflatable pool = Space occupied, unnecessarily.

So what to do? Thought of another clever little hack.

Got out her outgrown bathtub à Pretended it’s a mini swimming pool.

Made her wear her favourite swimming costume.

Got her little squirting animal friends to join her.

Voila! We had a shrieking splashing fun pool.

Kept an ear on the happy squeals, an intermittent watch on the kid (and animals), and there, I could finish some more errands while she cooled in her “pool”.

This Is The Way I Help My Mom

The best thing was to involve her in the regular house activities – and she revels in doing things “on my own”.

💝 So I got a mini helper assisting me with::

💝 Setting the bed

💝 Putting out clothes to dry à Taking them in again in the evening à Folding little items neatly

💝 Keeping washed dishes back in their designated places

💝 Shelling the last remaining fresh peas from the market

And the list is absolutely inexhaustible…

And that kept both of us really content and happy.

Pat A Cake, Pat A Cake, Baker Mom

Holiday time – a perfect time to bake that whole wheat banana cake or experiment with a super soft honey-soaked cake.

And obviously she wanted to be involved

Proudly wore her little apron, mixed the batter, helped me pour, stuffed some raisins in her mouth, licked some honey…

And then patiently kept watch in front of the oven, lest the cake runs away like the Gingerbread Man.

Love Thy Neighbour

And then we adopted the daily summer holiday custom –

She would waltz into the neighbour’s apartment to play with her bosom buddy.

And then the little girls would come over to enliven our place. (This deserves a dedicated post)

There would be a mess once play ceased for the day – but it is the happiest mess that I cherished.

Evening meant park time where she giggled as she ran through the sand, climbed up the slides (much preferred over sliding down!!), bonded with other kids and basically, had FUN.

A few “Play Dates”, loads of birthday parties … hence, more happiness and fun.

Sing, Dance, Make Merry

The perfect opportunity to take out that musical instrument lying unattended at home.

And to re-introduce the little one to the beautiful sounds.

The perfect chance to play the favourite songs and dance along with the mini trainer – she alone knows how she conjured up those funny dance moves and comical facial expressions.

But these would probably be the most enjoyable work out sessions I have had in a long long time.

What Next… Puzzled??

Not at all!!

She took out the multiple puzzles that she loves working on.

Cute fruits, animals, vehicles lined up the floor.

And she graduated to solving ones with more pieces.

Maximum Utilization of Resources

Never before have all her toys/ activities been so fully utilized.

💝 All story books were read.

💝 The colourful wooden blocks were used to build many a houses.

💝 The cooking sets were utilised to whip up interesting fare like apple soup, strawberry chicken and whatever she deemed exotic.

💝 The Play dough was rolled out into various forms.

💝 The toy train set chugged along.

💝 Meows, Bow wows, Moos, Howls and Growls filled the house as Toy animals stepped out of the cupboard.

💝 Mommy totally enjoyed doing finger puppet stories for her.

Cherry on the Cake

Could a perfect summer holiday be complete without flying off to the granny’s place?

And that shall be the next blog post.

Till then… let me reflect on all the fun that the daughter lavished upon me this summer.😃

Ooooh girls, they wanna have fun !!!

 

The little lady has just turned three.

Never ever has she experienced being home alone with daddy while mommy has stepped out.

So when a group of enthusiastic “school mommies” planned a dinner date, Cyndi Lauper swiftly moved in to take hold of my mind.

Happily I hummed:

“When the working day is done
Oh girls, they wanna have fun” 💃💃💃

Me – All peppy.

Husband – Glad & super-supportive.

Daughter – Clueless (but surely prefers this non-cranky mother figure).

The Emotions, the build-up, oh… !!!

Excitement – But OF COURSE !!!

An evening out.

That too only with the girls (toddler not demanding attention = chatting freely).

That too after ages.

Phew… 😀

Planning – But OF COURSE, OF COURSE !!!

Advance notice given to hubby, so that he is in town.

And also in town means getting home early (I know certain things are unheard off… guffaws 😁) to take care of the little one.

Exact time of pick-up meticulously decided with mommy friends living close by.

Reminding hubby every day, about his upcoming mini evening project (lest he forget “THE DATE”).

Anxiety – But OF COURSE, OF COURSE, OF COURSE !!!

Oh no, not what you are thinking, not about leaving her at home (daddy would surely do a great job).

Aaah wait, let’s just sneak in some credit here - had set everything that she might need for the evening 😉

You wonder, “Then, what was the Anxiety about?”

Come on!! Haven’t you heard of the very first evening date?

And here I wasn’t dating one, but an entire bunch of awesome ladies.

So shouldn’t I be anxious about what to wear??

Aaah well, the wicked heat made it very easy to decide – comfy cotton.

The Challenges

Can such an “adventurous” outing really be without challenges?

The Plot.

Clock – it’s ticking, unmoving, moving towards the designated time when my friends will pick me up. ⏰

Hubby -Nowhere on the horizon.

Hubby’s partner in crime (read his beloved mobile phone) - Unreachable.

Wow… what am I to do??!!

If I start dressing up in front of the little one, a meltdown cannot be discounted.

Last thing I would want to handle now.

Neighbour helps by sending her daughter over to play with ours (they are best friends anyways).

Aaah, that gives me some ironing time.

The plot thickens.

The intermittent sound of thunder.

Now, is it also going to pour??!!

Precaution desired - shove an umbrella into the purse.

Umpteenth phone call to an “unavailable” husband phone number.

Do I really need to express my mental state at that moment??

And then, the unapologetic no-explanation-felt-necessary call of the cook “I am not coming in today”.

Wow… what a day to take a sudden leave!!

Do I still need to express my mental state??

Quick rummaging through the refrigerator – and I knew hubby & daughter are taken care of.

Thunder Roll (more like a Drum Roll).

Doorbell rings.

Finally, the hubby has made his appearance.

Crucial 10

And this is how to sum up the next 10 minutes:

1) Dole out instructions to hubby who is wandering from one room to the other.

Oh God, can’t he just stand still for 2 minutes!!

And then he wonders why our daughter can’t sit still for a moment!!

Genes, I say.

Ok no time to analyse genetics now.

Take a deep breath – as if that’s possible at this minute - be patient and somehow drill in the information into his subconscious.

2) Attend to the phone calls from the mommy friends – who patiently agree to wait while I get ready.

3) Getting set for the evening in record time!!

“X” Book of Records, are you listening?

4) Finally piling into the car.

Finally deep breaths to replenish the breathless lungs.

Wow, did I actually make it to the date??!!

An Evening to Remember

And then starts the animated conversations.

Sound control authorities may kindly take a break.

Oh what an evening – let me do a short & sweet summary:

Loads of laughter,

Lot of good food,

Loads of laughter,

Yummmmmm desserts (drooling in my dreams still),

Loads of laughter,

Mini conversations,

Loads of laughter,

Photo sessions,

Loads of laughter.

Consequences & conclusions

Have always heard it is the most difficult when you separate from your child the first time.

But it really wasn’t. I just didn’t feel any guilt or anxiety.

✓ Because I knew she was in safe hands, in entertaining company.

✓ Because I have had shopping escapades whenever we have been at my parents’ place, with the grandparents playing doting play mates.

✓ Because I am leaving her now when she’s got used to being away from the mommy in school.

✓ Because it was hardly for a few hours.

Smiling to myself, as I think about the evening with my lovable nutty mommy friends, I walk into the house.

And what do I see?

A supremely satisfied daddy who has had more kiddo time than gadget time that night.

An over-excited daughter - thrilled at getting exclusive precious rare time with daddy.

So much so that we had to listen to imaginary stories, interjected with “Do you know the muffin man?” on repeat mode, till 1 am!!!

Me – Totally looking forward to the next mommies-only outing.

Daddy – Wishing that would not be when he has to catch a flight in a few hours.

Daughter – Super happy to see my dinner date photos over & over again. And am sure, looking forward to more exclusive daddy time soon.

Cheers to us Mommy Friends!!!