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23/09/201015/04/2017

I like to choose!

The right to choose. How important and how dear is that right. This is brought home to me each day by my two kids. Ah the pleasure of choice – to choose what they’ll wear, what they’ll eat (even with the limited options they have thanks to my culinary disability), what they’ll watch on the telly, whether they want to go down to play… choices, choices, choices …till I’m driven up the wall torn invariably between two different ones.

The irony of course is that it’s I who has offered and encouraged the exercising of these rights. Now I’m well and truly caught in a web of my own making.

What happened yesterday underlines how important the whole choice thing is. My younger one, though a habitual food-dodger loves khichri, only because as she says, “I don’t need to chew it.. I can just swallow it.” The older one has a more evolved taste in foods and doesn’t really stick with khichri. Naisha had an upset stomach and so the food preferences suited me fine. I made khichri for her and chapatis for Hrit.

At dinner time I asked Naisha how she was feeling – whether she would like to have khichri or chapatis (knowing full well she’d opt for the former). Predictably enough khichri it was. Just as I was serving them Hrit started up a howl – u didn’t let me choose. Uh oh.. how could I forget??? After trying to convince him that I KNOW he doesn’t like khichri and so had given him chapatis… I gave up. I asked him then, “What will you have Hrit?” And he replied, “Khichri,” only because he had seen the chapatis on his plate.

I know when I’ve lost a battle. I gave him what he wanted. And the boy who cribs forever about not liking khichri, has sometimes howled his guts out because I didn’t make chapatis, cleaned up his plate in a jiffy.

So much for choices.

18/09/201015/04/2017

Exotic flavours of the ad world

“I want Blucon d, mama,” said Hrit one day. Drat! I thought.. the advertising world’s caught up finally. What my dear baby didn’t know was that he’d been drinking ‘Blucon d’ for months together only he called it Nibu Pani. And now when I tried to explain, he thought I didn’t want to give him the real thing… aren’t kids supposed to have faith in their parents? But wait wasn’t it me who taught him to question everything.. me included? Well so then I showed him the pack, which thankfully matched with the one on the telly and peace was restored.

The kids had a relatively sanitized television viewing till they turned four. Before that it was just cds or Cbeebies. Enter the furious fours and advertising has hit them like a deluge.

May I have some ‘exotic flavour’? Hrit’s second demand had me stumped. He didn’t quite catch the ad. He didn’t know what ‘exotic’ meant or what ‘flavour’ was but he wanted it. That was a tough one to get out of.

Hrit being the more avid TV watcher gets it worse than Naisha. One day he asked me for chocos with milk. Personally I could never stomach the soggy combination hence I’d never given it to the kids. Hrit however couldn’t get over the chocolate boat zooming on a river of milk and he pestered me no end. A single spoonful quietened him and he’s stuck to the dry chocos ever since.

Naisha baffled me with her constant demand for ‘milky barbiewefa’ which turned out to be Milky Bar with Wafer… whew.

Once while at their grandparents they had a harried Nanu calling on the phone asking us to pick up a chocolate smoothie, whatever that was. In a fit of affection Naisha nicknamed Hrit chocolate smoothie because ‘he’s sweet and has smooth cheeks’. The name comes and goes depending on how much he has harassed her each day.

When I overheard Naisha saying ‘Aye Bunti.. apka sabun slow hai kya?’ I could only be relieved she modified the ‘tera sabun’ to ‘aapka sabun’. Small mercies.

However the award for the all time high irritant goes to the Poppins ad ‘Doon Kya’. I wish I could really give it to that kid for giving it to my kids.

15/09/201015/04/2017

Fun to be four

Four is a great age to be. Here’s why..

They aren’t really babies any longer so

no more bottle boiling
no more carrying food/milk to malls
no more arduous hours of burping (thank Gawd!)
no more having to handle howling kids at night (Generally)
no more carrying them around
they understand/ share a lot of things
they are great fun to talk to
they can run small errands (get my phone, switch off the TV, find my keys) of course only when they want to

…. and they aren’t too grown up either so

they do not have loads of homework
they still love to cuddle and hug and kiss (I so hope they NEVER outgrow that)
they still think you are the best (unlike the teens when they’ll get all judgmental)
they still think your cooking is out of the world (even I don’t think that)
they still don’t seem cheeky or oversmart just cute (another year and cute turns cheeky)

15/09/201015/04/2017

Golden Hamster surprise

OMG.. landmark day.. I knew this day would come but that it would come so soon … nopes hadn’t expected that.

At the dinner table Naisha was trying to talk with her mouth full. When I told her to finish her food and talk she insisted it was something ‘potent’ (important). So I told her to keep the food in her cheeks so she could talk clearly.
“… like the Golden Hamster,” commented Hrit.
“Golden Hamster?” queried a rather zapped me, “Where did you hear that?”
“Teacher told me mama. The Golden Hamster is an animal. He doesn’t have hands so he collects food in his cheeks.. he has big pouches in his cheek,” he elaborated.
Wow.. I didn’t know that. I really didn’t.
Out of old habit I went to old friend Google who told me what Hrit said was bang on.. completely true.

The Golden Hamster — this is what it looks like

When the kids were babies I taught them the rhyme chubby cheeks that ended with “Mama’s pet, is that you?” Then they joined playschool and came back singing “Teacher’s pet, is that you?” I really didn’t like that .. when did teacher replace mama?
That was the first sign that they were growing up and now this.
I used to be surprised if they knew something I hadn’t taught them and now they know stuff I don’t even know…sigh! They are growing up. It’s a good thing of course but a part of me wants to have them just the way they are now.

PS: A big thank you to their school and teachers… Thank you.

12/09/201015/04/2017

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I thought it was time I introduce this question to the kids. I went on to help them with options. “You can sell scooters like papa or make scooters and cars or you can be a teacher like Nanu and Nani ma and masi, or you can be a singer or a dancer. Or you can also be a soldier in the Indian army,” said I.

Hrit (eagerly): Yes mama I’ll be a soldier.

Naisha: And I can be a girl soldier.

Me: Yes but then you have to eat well because you have to carry heavy guns and walk a lot. You need to be very strong.

Naisha (retracting immediately for nothing is worth ‘eating well’): Then I’ll be a fairy god mother…. Oh but I don’t have any magic. Ummm… I’ll be a teacher.

Having settled one child’s career I turned to the other one.

Me: Hrit what will you be? You want to make scooters or cars or busses?

Hrit: No mama I want to be a bus driver.

Me (Pretending not to mind): Why do you want to be a bus driver?

Hrit: Because it’s so big … and strong (?).

Me: Will it be a city bus or a school bus?

Hrit: ummm… a city bus, because it goes to many places and is red and pretty.

Naisha (Butting in): Mama.. mama… I can be a bus didi.

Hrit: That’s a great idea Naisha.. then I’ll drive a school bus and you can sit near me.

Me (getting worked up by the minute and trying to steer the conversation in a sane direction): Hrit you can drive other things like planes or jets…

Hrit: Yesssss I’ll drive a plane.

Naisha : .. and I’ll be plane didi. I’ll give everyone food and nibu paani and juice.

And so we settled at that — a pilot and an airhostess.

When the time comes for the final choice, I do hope I have the strength to accpet their choices… and to also allow them the freedom to change their minds. Once at least.

I must confess that an unusual career choice would make me uncomfortable…. unusual by my standards of course. But I promise to try.. hard… to let them be.