What to do? We are like this wonly

There's always time to adjust the hair

What is it with little girls and playing dress up? Is it somehow wired into the XX chromosome combo? Till date, my son relies on me to make the sartorial decisions for him. On one famous occasion, he sat around in a good shirt and underpants because I hadn’t given him his trousers yet!

But his sister is a whole other kettle of fish.

Already she has clear ideas on her outfits and looking nice. Even a simple neatening of hair warrants a trip to the mirror to give herself the once-over. She observes me closely as I get dressed (for which I normally get 3 minutes, if I am lucky) and is ready with a jutted-out lip when I get the lippy out. For this reason, I changed them all to simple Vaseline lip balms as I don’t want her to start wearing any part of proper make-up yet. She also wants to be creamed and perfumed along with me and then once done, I still have to pass the mirror test if I want to be left in peace to run a comb across my hair.

The latest craze, with the advent of balmy spring, is for her floaty dresses. These are aired out once a year and packed up once Autumn sets in so they carry some rarity value. She calls them “dancey” as once she puts them on, she jumps around the house, dancing away. Barely is one such outfit washed and dried before it is pressed into service yet another time. She capped this by wearing not one, but THREE such outfits yesterday, one over another! It was when she wanted to add a fourth to this ensemble in the evening that I finally put my foot down.

This love for dressing up stops with the floaty dresses, though. She doesn’t touch the other frocks and she has no liking for hair accessories and rips out any grips or bands seconds after they have been laboriously put on.

I remember my cousin Shraddha used to be extremely fond of getting dressed. Even at 2, she used to choose her own outfits. During a family holiday to Kodaikanal, she packed 14 outfits for 4 days and made sure she wore every single one of them!

What is it with girls and their love of dressing up, anyway?

I love Brentwood on Sunday mornings.

The air is crisp and clean smelling. As you walk up Queen’s Road, you can hear the church bells pealing in the distance. And all around, there’s a sense of “all’s well with the world”.
Last Sunday, we were up with for a special purpose. We were going to sign P up with the Brentwood Beginners Strings Orchestra, a part of the Brentwood Orchestra for Young Musicians. Understandably, the boy was extremely nervous. I think it helped that we had forgotten all about it till 30 mins prior so he didn’t have much time to psych himself out.
As we walked to the music room, we could see a few girls and boys his age tuning their violins and a couple of them practicing. There was even a girl with a massive cello. The ladies who run BOYM are such a cheerful bunch! They had P’s welcome pack all sorted and ready and before he could absorb that, he was measured for his tee and told it will be ready for him soon. Off we went to the music room where he fidgeted nervously.
“I am not sure this is a good idea”, he muttered.
But we got his violin tuned and he took the seat farthest from everybody else and smiled wanly at us, making motions for us to make ourselves scarce. After hanging around for a wee bit more (where the son couldn’t catch sight of us), in the vain hope of hearing them play, we finally beat it.
We went back couple of hours later to pick him up and the first sentence he uttered was “I wish they practiced every week. I enjoyed that!”
PHEW!
The orchestra is composed of local children that are working towards Grade 1 and beyond. After they turn 11 and pass Grade 2, they can move to the Junior orchestra. They get together one Sunday every month for two hours to play and learn together. It is a wonderful opportunity for these children and I, for one, am chuffed to bits that my son got to give it a shot.

Then he decided he will test me in French. “What is la tête?”

I scratched my head a bit and said “head!”. I got a regal nod in return.

“What is le brah?”

More head scratching ensued and as enlightenment didn’t dawn even after help from caffeine, I shook my head.

“Your arm. You know how you remember it?”

Alarm bells pealed faintly but I took the bait.

“How?”

“Your bra! How do you put it on? Over your ARM! That’s the easiest way to remember – my French teacher taught us that!”

Once my mind has finished boggling, it will be able to formulate better thoughts on French teachers using bra as a teaching aid to 8-9 year old boys. Right now I am too busy coughing and wheezing and trying to forget that my not-yet 9 year old spouts words like “bra” with ease.

Time is the morning rush hour – Pratik’s about to get dressed for school when I arrive with body lotion to massage onto his limbs. As I stand there impatiently, he looks at me, grabs his vest and gives me a meaningful look, accompanied by a “AHEM AHEM!” My boy, my ickle baby, wants me to turn around so he can get changed!
I found it super hilarious as I obligingly turned my back.

Episode 2
We are standing at the bus stop with the various parents and children, awaiting the arrival of the school bus. I am thinking about the jobs waiting my pleasure, look into his ears, notice they need cleaning and tell him I’ll give him an oil bath on Sunday.
He looks at me and goes “MUMMY! Not when we are in public!”
I am suitably chastened, I am!

..or you can call it “How The Scattered Families in Year 2010 Celebrate Big Days”. Or even something unflattering, which I would get from trolls if I have any.

Anyways, my sunbeam of a daughter turned two on Wednesday. Cue screams and gasps. Hard to believe that two years have sped by. She is such a chatty little soul that you’d rarely find her sitting quietly in one place. She is full of energy, forever running from one room to another, spreading havoc hither and thither. She has the uncanny ability to attract people’s attention where ever she goes. The library where I take her weekly, buses, the shops that are teeming with people, you name it, she gets a fan in under two minutes.

As her birthday fell on a weekday, we hadn’t planned of anything apart from a mini cake-cutting with just us four, followed by a trip to the desi zones of East London, to the temple and thence to Saravana Bhavan. This was, of course, before her highly enterprising maami got into the act.

My little girl shares her birthday with her maama, a fact that tickles us greatly, as he was the biggest monkey around while growing up. Last year, mid-way through his wedding celebrations, maama and niece cut this truly awesome cake together. This year, with us in England and maama in California, we did not even consider joint celebrations. But the aforementioned enterprising maami got on the phone to us and mom the previous evening and said that we can still cut the cake together – with a modern tweak, that’s all.

So, when it was midnight in California, 8.00 AM in England and 12.30 PM in India, we all gathered in front of a webcam-ed computer. The Mintlet cut her almond cake, maama in California cut the chocolate cake his wife lovingly made while dissonant voices from all over the world sang “Happy Birthday” lustily.

We scoffed the cakes, Pratik lusted after the chocolate cake, The Mint tripped and fell down, got up and stuffed her face with more cake while six people talked over one another via the Internet.

Now, that’s the modern way to celebrate. Innit?

Before I go any further, let me plug the lovely e-book the ladies at Indusladies.com are bringing out to mark the occasion. The e-book is supposed to be an, I quote, “elegant list of all Indian Mommy Bloggers”, that will be sent to all the members of Indusladies.com as well as their Facebook & Twitter followers. What a lovely idea, ladies!

So, dear reader, please link up, join in and spread the word.

And so, to Mother’s Day. There’s something I would like to discuss with you, my readers, on the subject of Mother’s Day and in particular, what makes a perfect gift. It is usual for mums to get flowers, chocolates and the like as loving tokens of appreciation from their children and their father, to mark this special day. In the UK, after Valentine’s Day, it is the busiest day in a restaurant’s calendar. So the eateries around the town go all out to make sure it is their restaurant that is chosen as the ideal place to treat your mom to lunch on Mother’s Day.

My son gave me a lovely gift for Mother’s Day this year – all the more special because the thought was 100% his and so was most of the execution. He decided that he will get me breakfast in bed! So well before the day, he got my “breakfast order” from me and wrote it on the kitchen calendar so he wouldn’t forget it! It was so lovely to see him buzzing around, determined to make it special. He plans to do the same for his dad, for Father’s Day too!

Speaking from personal experience, no mum can hold out against that kind of an experience. So if any one out there hasn’t got a clue what to get for their mums for this Mother’s Day, take a leaf out of my son’s book and wow her! Satisfaction guaranteed!

Beyond all this, the teddy bears and chocolates and flowers and meals in or out, I tell you what a mother would really appreciate. Time. For herself. Time when she can concentrate on herself. Time when she can BE herself. This can take the form of a salon coupon for a pampering day out for your mum. Or simply, some time to call her own, when she doesn’t have to pick up after the children or rush around doing chores. No answering the telephone, no “Mum, where’s the juice?”, just some peace and quiet. Not much to ask for, right?

In fact, you can run with that thought and make a simple, handmade ‘coupon’ booklet she can cash in during the year to get some “me time”. Each voucher can have different time values – from 15 minutes to a day / weekend off to do non-mum things that she wants. And, by making sure it is valid for a year, you are telling your mum that she is special not just on Mother’s Day but the rest of the year too! Won’t she be tickled?

So go on, give your mum the best gift ever this Mother’s Day – the gift of time!

I chanced upon a few photos taken in the beginning of this year, when she must have been seven months or so. And it jolted me to the core, how small and babyish she is looking. Compared to the hellion she has become at Month 14.5!

She is rarely ground level these days. Ever since she started walking (she took her first steps on Krishna Jayanthi) she rarely pauses to stop and smell the roses. From the minute she wakes up to the minute she is dragged to bed kicking and screaming, she is forever running. Running to the under-sink cupboard where I keep the cleaning fluids, so she can dump them on the living room carpet. Or running to the bedroom, opening my wardrobe and getting amidst my clothes. Or in her brother’s room, tossing aside clothes and toys and making his already messy room messier. Or climbing on chais, and then on to the dining / computer table. Hanging off the backs of the chair. If she isn’t doing one thing, she is doing ten.

She can get rid of her nappy easily and when no one else is looking. Many a times we have chanced upon us walking bare-bottomed. Usually, at such times, her bodysuit tails would be soiled as the monkey would have gotten rid of her poopy nappy and stashed it somewhere ‘safe’! We just have to follow the pong to find out the special spot she has found for it!

She also loves dancing. She understands and says the word ‘dance’ very well. Minute you say dance, she’ll start bending at the waist and nodding her head side to side (if she is seated) or shake her booty. It is really hilarious to see her do that. Switch on any music – be it Suprabhatham or jazz or Wake Up Sid, she will start mumbling and start dancing. She won’t just do the same movements either – she will keep changing her arm movements, the way she bounces, some tiny changes always in tune with the music. Recently she has started humming along with the music too.

She babbles a LOT now. Her first word was typically “Pratik”! She also calls him “eesh” and can point him in  any photo. She also says “yesh” clearly and sometimes, says “hi”. Tell her “NO” and she will counter with a “yesh” and get back to whatever naughty act she was doing. She also says “ta ta” very clearly, coupled with a waving hand gesture. But she won’t just bestow that on anybody!

Typical of a second-born, she also competes with her brother a lot. If he is reading a book, she has to pluck it off his hands and either tear a paper or two off it or fling it in the farthest corner of the room. If he is at the computer, she HAS to climb next to him or even on him and tap on the keyboard. If he is taking bath, she has to go to the bathroom and push the shower curtain aside and babble at him. If he is eating, she has to climb on his chair / hang off it and generally make him yell “Mummmyyyy, Minty’s bothering meee!” That plaintive cry is generally heard many, many times during the day. It is hilarious when this happens ‘cos, on one side would be Pratik, his face red and puffing like a steam engine; on the other side it will be this chit, who upon seeing me would scrunch up her eyes and start fake bawling. It takes all my energy not to break into a smile!

Let me wind this up with a funny story. We had recently gone on a weekend visit to one of hubby’s cousins. They have a nine-month old boy and though she didn’t really notice him much, The Mint just used to bash him on the head with the remote etc if he ventured too close. Sunday morning, we were all sitting in the lounge, the baby was getting his nappy changed. The Mint saw his, er, private parts and sat up straight! She pointed to her nappy, pointed to the baby and went “eesh!” Translation: he’s got stuff just like Pratik!

Ain’t she a card?

I’ll leave you with a recent photo of her, all dressed up and ready for the play group.

One of the first pix of The Mintlet

Dear Mintu,

I cannot believe my ickle baby, who I held in my hands moments after birth, is now a year old. A baby no longer. When did you go and grow up on me? More importantly, why so quickly? I looked around the wrecked house and am amazed that you have grown up big enough to trash the whole house – in mere minutes, too!

There are loads of thinks I can say about you – the funny way you walk, how you tip your head to a side and say “yesh” pretending everything is a phone, how you are always carrying on with your daily havoc with a sing songy tune, how your face brightens up on seeing your brother… but as I am still in shock that a year has sped past me, I won’t. Instead, let me seek proof in the form of a slideshow of  my favourite photos of you from the past year.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Birthday Minty Moo! Here’s to a zillion more!

Lots of love,

Mummy