Just a sample of what they do the minute I turn my back to watch the other one. The first one is Naisha’s the second Hrit’s.
It ain’t easy
The family that does homework together stays together
Friday again.. another load of homework. This time along with the writing and colouring they had to ‘draw’ their buddy — a favourite toy.
I wonder what the teachers were thinking — that within a week Hrit Naisha would graduate from struggling with sleeping and standing lines to actually drawing. To be fair, parents were instructed to ‘help’.
Naisha’s was easy.. Shanti, her doll, was drawable but Hrit’s buddy was his stuffed tiger Sher Khan (both named after Jungle Book characters).
Sketching is not really my forte. I thought of changing his buddy – maybe a ball or a bat or his favourite gada. “They are not ‘friends’ mama”, Hrit complained.
I asked Sunil for help. “You’re an engineer,” I said, “you must have done some drawing.”
“Engineers don’t draw tigers,” he said sounding miffed. “Check on the net”, he advised before returning to the telly.
Hey why didn’t I think about that? Sure enough google came up with a site on step by step guide to drawing animals and there was the tiger. I managed to copy it… though it looked more like a cat. At least it’s the same family, I consoled myself. More importantly Hrit was thrilled. As both of us celebrated, Sunil came over to take see what the excitement was about. He was suitably impressed by the masterpiece.
All Hrit had to do was colour it orange, which he proceeded to do with great gusto. Sunil was enthused enough to actually sit at the table with us. While Hrit and I worked on the tiger he spruced up Naisha’s Shanti. It looked a tad woebegone but then it was done almost entirely by her so that was something.
Whew.. another Friday gone. Waiting with bated breath for the next one.
PS: Despite the bother must admit this was better than being a ‘witch mom’. Please guys say the tiger is nice.
Hello homework
After four years of being a ‘nice mama’, ‘pretty mama’ and sometimes even ‘beautiful like Cinderella’ (when Naisha’s in an exceptionally good mood) I finally turned into a ‘witch’, quote unquote Hrit. Then he went on to add my name should be changed from Tulika Singh to Monster Singh. What, was it, you might ask, that turned nice mama into a witch – it’s that dreaded HOMEWORK.
Last weekend the twins came home with their very first load. I was actually quite excited. I had these fanciful notions of peacefully sitting down with Hrit on one side and Naisha on the other while I guided them through it all with a gentle hand (hah).
They sat down happily enough to make those standing and sleeping lines. Naisha said she wanted to stretch first, I was okay.. then she said she wanted to scratch herself, I was fine with that too. Then she deigned to make just one line and said she was tired and sleepy. I held onto my patience with both hands and told her to go rest while I turned to Hrit, who meanwhile was concentrating hard on a single standing line that started from the top of the page and reached the bottom. I erased it and told him to start again. He didn’t take too kindly to that. However with constant coaxing and he went on to make some lines.
I thought I’d cajole Naisha back from the bedroom but I was followed by Hrit and the two then refused to get back. That’s when my patience snapped and I turned into a ‘witch’. Sigh!!
Writing IS tough. Either they’re not holding the pencil properly or they’re reclining on the table or they keep their book at a weird angle. However I can only sympathise. Oh and there’s one more thing I need to do – apologise to Hrit.. sorry baby no more screaming from next time. I know how tough it is for both of you.
This weekend saw a wiser, better prepared me.. no screaming.. oh well.. very little screaming. Thankfully there were no sleeping standing lines to be done. And they did manage to have fun.
Off to school – 2
Day 4
We cried a lot today too but mama just isn’t moved. The moment Rit bhai saw a teacher he got so worked up that he tried to run away from her but in the heat of the moment he didn’t realise which way he was supposed to run and ended up dashing straight into the class! However he got better soon and even explored the slide in the class. The other kids seem a bit better too. Teacher said the morning batch had settled down which made mama feel very jealous. It was Zalak’s birthday today. Zalak is one of our classmates and she’d got chocolates for everyone. That made things a bit cheerful for us. But she didn’t seem too happy. She kept crying for her mama and the teachers had to distribute the chocos.