Tulika, Author at Obsessivemom

20/10/201115/04/2017

Writing on the wall

This is what happens when you have a budding artist in the family.

When I discovered her ‘sketches’ our conversation went like this…

Me: Naisha did you do this?
Naisha: No (studying my face closely and watching my expression)
Me: (Pretending to be impressed)
Naisha: You like it?
Me : Hmmmm…
Naisha: I did it.. sorry.. but it’s nice na?

… and then followed a lengthy and extremely complicated explanation of what she’d tried to make.

When I go hoarse trying to stop them from writing on the wall my cousin says, “Why worry? Consider the convenience. When I need to jot down something in a hurry I too just find a place on the wall.”

Can’t beat them, join them.

Linking to this week’s Thursday Challenge : WRITING & WRITING TOOLS (Pens, Pencils, Notebooks, Journals, Calligraphy, Graffiti,…)

18/10/201121/06/2018

Dad’s on his way

Yay!! My dad’s coming. There’s plenty of excitement and we’re all preparing in our own ways.

I kick started my Diwali cleaning with the kids’ room, which doubles as the guest room, since they still sleep with us. Managed to dispose off a sack of their old toys and the room looks so spacious.

N’s been asking me..”May I ask Nanu what he’s getting for us?” and then despite my very firm, “NO” she goes ahead and asks him and then adds, “Get something for H bhai also.” This, despite the fact that they’ve been at each others’ throats all day.

H refused to go to play even when his friends came to call him. He said, very importantly, “I can’t come I’m helping mama clean the room for nanu.” All he really did was watch and get in the way.

That didn’t prevent him from telling the neighbour’s daughter that “My nanu is coming tomorrow, don’t come to my home and mess it up. I’ve helped mama clean it.”

I wonder whether H’s excitement is because of Nanu or the ‘boy doll’ he’s getting. H likes to play with dolls as long as they’re boy dolls. ‘Play’ involves either wrestling with it or tossing it up in the air so that it gets stuck on the fans or pelmets.

The kids started their three week Diwali holidays.. three weeks, isn’t that crazy? I haven’t been able to locate a Diwali camp to keep them occupied. God help me!

Editing to add: Did that post two days back and forgot to publish it. So well, Papa is here and life’s great. He carried two box fulls of Mithai… which I have proceeded to demolish systematically, aided marginally by H. I’ve rationalised my sweet orgy with the thought that I need to finish it all before The Husband gets back. He’s travelling for a few days. He’s diabetic, you see, and his sugar levels have been up over the past month. Loving wife that I am, I have to save his life even if I endanger my own. Hee hee. So what if I don’t take Karva Chauth seriously, I do love The Husband. Must get that mithai finished.
The weightloss, needless to say, has suffered… 200gms up in a day. Thankfully the gentleman trainer got the weighing machine functional so at least I know where I stand.

Day four of the holidays and the kids are already beginning to drive me crazy. More on that in my next post.

10/10/201115/04/2017

Over the weekend

It’s shaking, it’s shaking.. Hrit’s tooth is shaking… another right of passage… he’s growing up. That was the highlight of the weekend. Needless to say he was thrilled while Naisha has been checking hers by the minute without much luck. For once Hrit beat her to it, which is fair considering she turned, sat up, walked and talked before him.

On the weight loss front…
I begged and begged and begged the trainers to get the weighing machine functional. One of them got fed up enough to say he’d fix it up by Monday. “Pukka?” asked I, “Yes”, said the poor cornered man. “Promise?” said I, “Promise.” said he. “Gentleman’s promise?” said I. “Done” said he and made his escape while I bit back the “Fairy God promise?” hovering on my tongue. That’s what comes of living with two kids.

Anyway.. as a result of the impending examination at the weighing scales I planned some extra bit of exercise over the weekend since I’d not been a good girl with my diet (as usual). I thought I’d go for a power walk on Saturday evening but I got stuck with the kids’ homework. It wasn’t much but they need a lot of persuasion.
Oh well.. I’ll go at night, thought I. And it decided to rain complete with magnificent thunder and lightening bang at 9.

A determined me.. set the alarm for Sunday morning. I do surprise myself sometimes — my Sunday morning sleep is completely, totally sacrosanct. However, much before the alarm rang Hrit woke me up with a, “Mama potty.” Now my kids might not take my permission for anything else but for this one thing they ALWAYS, ALWAYS need permission. Naisha will run in from play jumping from foot to foot shouting urgently, “mama potty, mama potty” till I say “go go go run”. It’s been months since they’ve become independent in this department so it’s a wholly pointless exercise. Can I possibly say No? Anyway “Go,” I mumbled trying to get back to sleep. (All those who’ve been envious of my kids early sleeping… this is the price I pay). By the time the alarm rang Hrit was in no mood to let me go and Naisha was stirring too.

I had to content myself with a short walk along with the kids, which I must admit might not count on the weighing scales but was completely worth it. Hrit came along sporting his pirate mask over his glasses while Naisha tucked a flower in her ponytail and carried a Hannah Montana wallet… some sight that must have been. But once you’re a mum… such things cease to matter.

Pune weather never disappoints and the mornings are unusually pleasant. Even though we dodged drains and potholes the breeze was cool and the perfume of Champa and Harshringar was still in the air. Naisha exclaimed at the carpet of flowers under trees yet undisturbed by traffic while Hrit picked fights with every dog we met along the way. Great fun.

The power walk was postponed to the evening. Then The Husband sat down to watch ZNMD and I really couldn’t resist the temptation to join him even though I’d seen the film. Finally after 9 I got my walk done and now I’m set to climb onto that machine provided the trainer keeps his gentleman’s promise.

07/10/201115/04/2017

Cards for the dad

This post is for Shruti’s Artsy Craftsy October. I’m hoping it is just the first one.

Here are three cards the kids and I made for The Husband’s birthday..

The first one is by Naisha… The drawing is her’s. I cut it out and stuck it on handmade paper.. that makes the card look like a card.

THE FAMILY: I am taller than The Husband and Naisha has longer hair than me

Here’s Hrit’s. In case you were wondering.. that’s an underwater scene — the ocean full of water snakes and sharks.

And finally one made by three of us … a neck-tie card. The idea came from here. http://crafts.kaboose.com/neck-tie-card.html. There was much secrecy with Naisha asking The Husband his favourite colour and then his second favourite colour.. for the shirt and the tie. It had to be dark blue and light blue… Men, I tell you, have no imagination! So that’s what our card turned out like.