Day 21 -My lilttle Chatterbox

I love that she is a chatterbox! She is the true Leo who has opinions and choices and stands
by them! But yes I do shut her out sometimes to preserve my sanity as a 24/7 receiver. Here in this picture, I am trying to get the father to stop clicking a picture and take over my place :D

Little Baker and Me

I always knew there is no better way to introduce Science to the child other than baking. Its the best way there is. Also I am by no means, good at baking. Initially I thought I will put her in a toddler class for baking. :P There was one too but so darn expensive. So I decided to teach her while learning with her while  having some mommy-daughter quality fun. The toddler goes to a kindergarten every other day in the week. So the baking happens on the filler days.

Solids turning into liquids. Liquids turning into solids by mere whisking. It amazes at-least my toddler to total attention.
We started out with the simplest of the baking there is. Meringue Mountains. I read out the ingredients to her and she brought them out from the storage. It helps that I am always talking about what I cook. Right from when she was a teeny tiny baby in her bouncer. That is the only way to cook and entertain a baby at the same time. She can identify most of the kitchen basics as a result of that.

Meringues are made with just egg whites and sugar. The trickiest part is separating egg yolks from the whites. So I got her a separator. She can now break an egg without making a mess most of the types.
I let her whisk the egg whites for as long as its fun for her. Beating an egg white manually is no small feat. It takes up a lot of muscle. But she loves it. She knows that the transparent whites have to turn into white gooey peaks. Obviously, mommy takes turns to give it a fast whisk in between to help.

She loves mixing in sugar into the peaks spoon by spoon. She can measure out a cup or half cup of sugar easily.
Here is her first attempt at Meringue Mountains:

Next we moved on to a basic sponge cake. This actually easier than the meringue in procedure but has more ingredients. We follow a 'mix-everything-in-one-bowl' recipe for kids. She has the freedom to put which ever ingredient first or last. She always picks out the vanilla essence first :) She puts butter,eggs,flour,baking powder and sugar and whisking them till she has tired out. She moves on to grease the cake pan. She loves this as it is the messier part of the process. :)
She also gets to lick the bowl latter (for which she has competition from mum too)

Here is her sponge cake with a basic butter frosting:

We learn together stuff like flour has protein called Gluten which binds and builds the cake. Baking powder creates Carbon Dioxide to help air the batter. Actually, I learn all this and parrot it to the toddler. Obviously , she doesnt really care as long as she can mess around a bit. :D

Whats most important is that it is fun and yummy. Daddy is the happiest to eat desserts every once in a week. Mommy is happy that the child learns somethings and spends energy in a constructive way and not plonked in front of the TV or alone.

C is for Chugga chugga Choo Choo!

This book is THE book for my 2 year old. No day, actually no hour is completed without at least reading or browsing through this one. I, as a hapless mother who is tired of reading it everyday, wants to throw it out and pretend the bird took it away :P

But I can understand the addiction too. The repetitive chugga chugga choo choo and woohoo sounds makes for real fun. We even do a dance number on chugga chugga! The illustrations are also real cute and visually really appealing. I wish I had a ready picture of the toddler with the book. I will try to click one before the post is up. But we know how moody these young ones are, I will not say surely :)

Book Name :Chugga Chugga Choo Choo
Author: Kevin Lewis
Publisher: Hyperion

I highly recommend this book for all toddlers.Get a copy , if you haven't got one.

Gadget Friendly Bachchans!

So here I am trying my level best to harp my tiny little harpoon about how less than 2 year olds shouldn't be exposed to technology and blah,blah! - I read this by none other than Amitabh Bachchan:

"Aaradhya turns on the iPad to her favorite nursery rhythms programme all by herself... picks up remotes wherever she can see one and points it to the TV in a pretense to put it on," Amitabh wrote on his blog.
"What a fantastic generation of our world and what a pity we shall never be there to see it evolve into a world that shall be governed and controlled by little kids and their deep accumen at the cyber," added the 70-year-old veteran.

Sigh! I cant beat that! I guess mine will be the only kid in this generation who doesnt know how to operate an IPad or tune in to her own favorite program! Poor deprived girl of mine :D

Project52 Week 2 -Should a two year old be graded?

Okay so I was a very proud mother when I got informed about this at the toddler's playgroup PTA meeting.

 I thought 'Wow! She is just 2 years old and she is 'Child of the month'!' . And then when I processed this thought again I found it ridiculous to grade a 2 year old. What different could she be from the other little Two year olds? Isnt it too early to start ranking kids? Do these kids understand and are they already putting themselves into set brackets ? Not really. Not so early. But then what is the point of the whole excerise I ask the teacher. It makes some parents feel happy and others dissappointed about their parenting skills for no real reasons.

I dont know what I did or what she did in the playschool to get recognised. I have no clue what I am doing as a parent. So do most of my peers. So to rate my toddler over theirs is slightly unfair. The school says that the system is always been in place to rate kids in terms of how they behave in the class. It helps them to grow better and learn healthy competition. I dont think that system is going anywhere as other mothers seem to like it :)

The word scared me. I know here that if I continue down the usual Indian Education System , my daughter will be ranked on some measly questions that happened to cross one person's mind. The undue stress termed as healthy competition will eat into her carefree childhood. I will be surely drawn into the rank net and wonder if she could really be capable of going into IITs/IIMs/AIIIMs afterall.

 Sigh!

It starts so early. I am now beginning to understand why some parents are opting for alternative syllabi for their kids. Some are even homeschooling them for that matter.

Otherwise, the toddlers playschool is really chilled out. They dont teach her anything. They just answer if she questions. But then each question is answered in a very descriptive way. They will be no particular syllabus followed till she is 4,they say. But while they play, the teachers are making sure the kids get their daily dose of discipline, table manners and toilet training tips.

I just have to digest the ratings and the progress cards that the school gives. But that's just once a couple of months. Shouldn't be hard.I have more 4 months to go to decided whether this system works for me. Lets see.

Day 24-I don't know anything about Schools

Yesterday , someone asked me a volley of questions I had no answer to . I have to get answers to this to secure a good education for my not-even-toilet-trained 2 year old :P

Here is the rough conversation I had with the lady who knew it all:

She is eligible for Nursery next year. Which School did you choose?

Me: Eligible ?! I thought she was too small even for playschool!

Which stream do you want the child to go in? Medicine Or Engineering

Me:Err... I want her to tell me when she goes su-su! My only goal currently :( Sigh

Based on question 1 , you choose the curriculum ISCE,State,CBSE or the Fancy International !

Me:Oh! I never knew that! Drat! Lot of research involved.

3) Then say , you choose CBSE , you'd look into the TOP 10 schools , right?

Me: Err.. Erm .. okayyy

4) Did you take the admission forms,at least?

Me: Do I look like I even thought about it :O

5) The cutoff date is January for some schools and December for some. You know that na?

Me: Nope..I thought its still too nippy in January to stand in lines for a form.

Yikes! So this is another of the things that I have to do But I have no clue what to do next in the mommyland. I never really score high in mommy must-do milestones. But I catch up always and this time too I plan to. Atleast I'll start researching into the dreaded school admissions.

So all my wise readers out there.. please enlighten me.
My first basic question:
At what age should a child start regular big school with so many kids and all the paraphernalia?
Isn't 2 and 1/2to early to start school for 6 hours?

My second question :
Isn't a small kindergarten school meant for preschoolers with a small number of kids better for her?

My Third Question:
Is admission so tough in Class 1/Grade 1 that we should consider big schools at kindergarten level?

Day 21- Christmas with a hindu God!

I put up a Christmas tree a few mornings ago and am working up the toddler, for Santa coming with tonnes of gifts.
The toddler got really excited with all the ornaments and asked for each one "What is this?" and she seemed to be going deeper into thought after each of my answer. She then saw a small Small Santa Claus ornament and asked "What is this?". I replied,"He is Jeji (God's) helper. He brings gifts to good girls" . She again thought for a few seconds and pointed at him and asked "Jeji?". I didnt get time to reply as she immediately begun reciting
                  Shuklam Baradam Vishnu
                  Shashivarnam chaturbhujam
                  Prasanna vadhanam dhyayet
                  Sarva vignopa santaye

I laughed inside at the innocence. I know Jesus understands the above shlokas from the Sahasranam and I know he wouldn't mind a 2 year old singing a prayer to him in any language or religion.

But then I told her the Santa likes this but he loves the "Jingle Bells" . Its his favorite song ever. So she sang that too with hands put together.

There we have it. A Christmas tree with a dash of Vishnu each time the toddler looks at it, first thing in the morning. I am loving it :)

So we have two trees for Christmas. Yeah both plastic [I don't do anything for the environment  :( ] One is small and one is a little bigger. Here is a peek at the smaller one for now:

Can you see what I have used as Ornaments on the tree? These are hair accessories I have bought the toddler. They look so pretty on the tree, don't they?

I am still doing up the other one . We,me and toddler, are doing some paper ornaments for that tree. I do the ornaments and the toddler crumples half of them in excitement. Its fun!

Day 14- I was innocent once! :D

Listen to this song by Tracy Chapman



When I first heard this song as a 7 year old from the 89 Grammy Nominations Compilation that my brother bought, I literally imagined that the "baby" in the song was really a baby. So I'd take my doll and sing it as a lullaby to it. My brother, the 15 year old, who knew who the baby in reference was , would snigger in the corner looking at me. But never told me anything because mommy warned him against it .

But that thought and imagination stuck on to me. Years later even when I called my boyfriend later husband 'baby' , I still sing my toddler this Tracy Chapman song as a lullaby. :D She loves it and so do I.

Day 10- Cuteness Inside

Can you believe we are into the double digit days already! WOW! I made a little sad post yesterday. So to compensate today its all about the cuteness in my life.My babies in order of when they came into my life ! For an otherwise manic Monday.. here's my dose of cuteness to kick start the week.

My First Baby!

She is my latest 2011 model!

Me with my girls! My fav pic.

Concentrating!

T is for Throat Infection and TerribleTwos

 T for me is for the double whammy that has hit me.. Throat Infection which has almost rendered me speechless and a toddler in Terrible Twos who doesnt stop getting into trouble.

T is for Tiring is what I feel Today! Still the Toddler has no way of understanding what mommy is feeling. So she is her usual self and that is a lot to handle.

T is for Television which I thought will help me distracting the Toddler. But the toddler doesn't see T.V that much , so after 10 minutes its back to 'Mommy Lets Do Something'

T is for Temperature which I have got. Not a good sign as I have a whole big day to go before daddy gets home.

This quote is So true currently :
"A two-year old is kind of like having a blender, but you don't have a top for it.”-Jerry Seinfield

Do visit other  such post on ABC Wednesday

HiTech Toddlers- My Article on Parentous.com

Does your toddler know the gadgets better than you ?

Does your Tween use twitter or facebook account for fun?

Here is my view on the technology invading into young world too soon:

Do read and comment on the site:

Hitech Toddlers

S for sparkling sparklers

I am still in the sparklers mood this Wednesday as it is the season this whole month for us :)

Do visit other  such post on ABC Wednesday

Books that got special loving by the Two year old

I didn't do it consciously . I always thought I wanted her to read some books once in a while between playing with toys and with friends. But she is a total bookworm. She will prefer a book over everything and anything. It isnt for the lack of choice. We have spoiled her with too many toys too. But it is the  book rack that is the only space which is never ignored any day.

First thing the toddler does as soon as she gets up is to go and get a book to "chakko" (read in Telugu) for "Duddu" time ( Milk in Hindi) . And invariably, she picks one of the following 10 books and I have them by heart now. Wake me up in my sleep at 3AM and I'll repeat the books to the minutest of the details. She will too. She memorized all these books by 18months while I took some more time.

Here is the list of 7 books I am sure wont fail with any baby. I started these books at the age of one and they are still a hit with her.

1) Dr.Suess's ABC Book

What a cool way to remember the letters and words starting with them. It isnt the boring A for apple and B for Ball . Its Auntie Annie's Alligator A..A..A . How about "Painting Pink Pyjamas,Policemen in a Pail,Peter's Pepper's Puppy and Now Pappa in a Pail" for P.
It is the most addictive way of saying the alphabets. I see a Camel on the Ceiling , Do you?





2) My Big Animal Book

Which baby doesnt like a moo moo cow or a bow wow doggy? Especially if the kid's dad takes them to the zoo more often then the neighborhood park.
The two year old collects soft toy figurines of animals and obviously animal books
But this book by Roger Priddy is the book she can spend hours with. Each picture is worth 25 odd toddler words ( Thousand in Adult version). Each animal has a story behind it and its fascinating to hear about a raccoon and difference between a cheetah and a leopard. (Here the ignorant mummy shamefully admits to have thought they are the same).

3)Fluffy Chicks and Friends by

This was the first book bought by me for my baby. I never really get to buy many things as things are gifted before I think about it :|
She has this from about 3 months of age and its been eaten more than read. She loves to touch and feel but with more things than her hands. She also uses it sometimes as a cushion to sit on.
Again it has the familiar farm animals of which the hero is the 'Moo Moo Cow'. She absolutely goes ga-ga over the animal to the point of screaming at one when she actually sees one. I pity the one animal who bore the brunt of too much excitement once. The cow didnt know what hit her , poor thing!




4) Spot looks at Opposites

Now this book is one amongst a series of books by Eric Hill. But the toddler doesnt even touch the other ones. The 'Doggy' book is what she calls it.
This book particularly doesnt get many words out of her. This is one of her 'alone time' books.






5)Are you my Mother?

This one is my favorite book to read out to the toddler. No, not just because it features me, the mother :D It is a book which actually teaches a lot to toddler. it teaches about relations,animals and transportations too. DumpTruck or the 'Snort' is her favorite though.
Each time we read this book I ask her 'Where's your mumma?' and she would turn around faster than a lightening and hug me. The first time she did it,she was about 15 months old. I cried so much that day that she was petrified into not doing it again for a couple of weeks.Sigh!



6) Mr.Brown can moo, Can you?

Now if you have sounds to repeat like 'Moo-Moo, Buzz Buzz Klopp-Klopp,Pop Pop, Dibble Dibble, cockadoodledoo' wont you have fun?

It is hillarious to hear us really. Most of us who have heard me or baba or granny read it with the toddler is almost always in tears with laughter.

One has to actually read it with a toddler to understand that because it is very hard to make noises like that! Splattt!



7) 366 words in Bangalore

I got this book for free when I bought somethings off a baby site named babyoye.com. I am slightly biased towards well established foreign authors as far as the toddler is concerned.I am ashamed of being so but thats how it is.
This is my first 'desi' toddler book and I love it.Now I am on the look out for more good Indian kid books. The book tells about festivals and pujas and places in Bengaluru but almost similar to rest of India too.
It helps to teach the child about festivals like Dussehra and Diwali.
Also, the toddler now knows all her planets because she saw some in this book and mommy had to elaborate and tell her all about the Solar System. I know! Tad too early for these things,na? But it sounds really cute when I hear her say 'Muuucccui' ( for Mercury).

There are many more books in the list. But I'll tell you about them in another post. Now is time for mommy to go actually read some books herself and go 'chikki jo jo' (sleep) before the monster gets up.
Have fun and do tell me some books you'd recommend for a 2 year old?

R is for Rejoicing Festival Times

Oops I am a day late as it is Festival time in India and I was so much into the festivities that I was,well, not aware of my days.

Deepavali is a major festival in India. It is the festival of lights and Firecrackers and Food. Here's a glimpse of the festival.

Do visit other  such post on ABC Wednesday

Diwali and my first attempt at Faral

Did you all have a happy and noise less Diwali?
Happy, I bet you did ! But noise free is a dream which will stay unfulfilled. Afterall who hears the fearful wails of innocent animals and babies in so much noise..Gah!

So we spent half evening trying to console a really scared two year old and resorted to singing songs really loudly with gestures and dancing. That appeased the toddler a bit till she finally gave in to sleep. Poor thing.

But we had loads of fun before the entire noise ruckus started.
It was a early morning for us. Father in law had told us that we should bathe and wear new clothes before 7.10AM. Thats way to early and now a little too cold for our comfort. But we managed to stick to the deadline. Phew! No Narak for us :D

Then we went to the toddler's favorite temple.In the Evening,We had a quiet little Lashmi Puja and burnt a few fuljhadis

Did I tell you I made Faral? Faral is the collective name for all the special food made for Deepavali in marathi. I owed it to my Marathi Husband. He missed having faral for a long time now and his Telugu wife was not upto the challenge till this time.

Have a look at the Faral,I made:

Mote Sev

Baarik Sev

Chivda

Chakali

Shankarpali

It was fun making it. Though a little tedious sometimes especially with the toddler wanting to "help" mommy all the time. But I loved the happiness in my husband's eyes. You can take the Marathi away from his homeland but you cannot take the 'Marathiness' from inside him. Here's a collage of us during Diwali

Making Forts and Narak Chaturdashi

The Great Maratha Chatrapathi Shivaji had a great influence on Mahastrian culture and festivities. When I think of Maratha Kingdom, I think of the various fabulous forts spread across Maharastra.
During Diwali, models emulating these forts are made at home using mud, cardboard and various other household stuff. Its so much fun!

This time as the toddler is 2 and can understand a little about crafts, the hubby decided to start the tradition of making a model fort at home. The toddler thoroughly enjoyed scrapping through bits and paper and loved the final product. Though it is a tough task now to let the fort last atleast a day before the toddler invasion. Daddy defenses arent that strong!

Toddler and the fort

Final Fort

Vevi's Fort. The Sand is sprinkled with mustard seeds and water. Hoping for some green soon :)

What do you do on Choti Diwali?

Cleaning weekend and the Toddler

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.


 All brooms out. All cleaning solutions out. Hair oiled and pulled back in a bun and I was ready for the mother of all cleaning.

Diwali is going to be here!

I am no spic n span types. I have a two year old. I feel she is loosing out on something if she doesnt mess. I let her pull out and spatter all her crayons. I let her take out all the blocks in the living room sometimes. She'll also put each one of her flash cards in places her mommy cant help but be surprised about. She is a child and I am letting her be a child.

Ok OK I know I have to teach her discipline and cleanliness too. She does have to cleanup before she goes to bed. Thats a fun game we play 1 hour to bedtime. We even have a song.
                  "Cleanup! Cleanup! Lets do the Cleanup fast!
                   Speedup !Speedup! Or the bedbug will sleep first"

Its a song which is always WIP. We keep changing the rhythm and tunes and sometimes add more words too.

But this weekend we are having fun cleaning up too. The toddler has got her on broom and cleaning rags to clean whatever she wants. That messes up more than it cleans but its fun!

A broom given to a toddler is always disaster waiting to happen. I just turned my back for a second and she decided to clean up under the potted plants. It sure gets dirty under them,na. One powerful swig and then a loud noise. I turned back and looked at her so angry and looked at all the mud in the balcony which I just mopped. I wanted to scream at her.I wanted to cry. I just looked at her.

She looked at me and then the pot. And suddenly Her laughter broke the silence. She squealed and started jumping saying 'Vevi Dhadaam Mukka, Vevi strong'!

Vevi is surely strong and the mukka aka plant surely bore the brunt. I swallowed my anger and just told her not to do it again as the plants will be hurt and get 'Ouch!'. She then proceeded to try and put cream to the fallen plant as it got 'Ouch'. The plant got a good dose of Cetaphil before mommy intervened. She helped me re-plant and clean up the mess a little before strutting away to find some more mischief to do.

Sigh! I am glad I don't take my cleaning too seriously and I am proud of the patience levels that I thought I didn't have previously. We make a lot of mess but we also make a lot of memories :)

Therefore We are trying to invite Goddess Lakshmi to a fun and clean home which gets sometimes messy :D She has surely been a mother of toddlers too. She should know how it is!

Happy Diwali to all of you and Happy Cleaning too..Have loads of fun while cleaning!

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda

Q is for Queen of my heart! ABC Wednesday

Thats her!

Picture is by Rareandraring , ny husband the photographer and the daddy dearest.

Do visit other  such post on ABC Wednesday

The Idiot Box and Baby Einsteins dont rhyme!

Have you visited a house without a T.V ? Recently ? Nope . Every single home that I have visited,consider it naturally essential part of the home.
The first TV came to our house the year I was born. A black and white Dyonara.Huge big box. Then came a small tiny Binatone,also black and white. Finally,we got our first BPL color TV in 2000. Quite late,so it was a mini festival of sorts. Cable TV came in around 1995 I think. We didnt get an official connection for a while. My brother used to throw a wire across from our antenna to the neighbour's cable connection to catch signal :P We spent more time in the sun trying to perfect the signal than actually seeing some programs.
Our TV Time was limited. Maybe not out of restriction but due to lesser choice. We watched some selected programs for an hour or so throughout the day. 24/7 Channels like Cartoon Network weren't yet introduced.
Our main entertainment for the day used to be playing in the sand in the construction site right outside our house or exploring the shady alleys behind the house or simply playing catch or ball.
Time passed and now we have everything 24/7 for everyone. Anytime you want , you get cartoons. It might have been my dream to have such a channel as a child. But as a mother, its a nightmare. The advantage that my mother had is lost for me. She didnt need to restrict TV Timings for me and be the villian. I have to be.
I come across articles like the following:

No TV for Toddlers

Ban Under 3 watching television

and know that TV is a big green eyed monster I have to save my kid from.

Are we all bad parents ? You maybe feeding the babies brocolis and carrots for lunch (No mean feat!)
but they wont be helping if the baby watches the tube? Is moderation the key? Or is throwing out the idiot
box the solution? Or switching it on only when the child is sleeping,the sign of the ideal parent? Some still have TV in kid's nursery playing the so called educational content all the time the child is awake. The background noise seems to help, they say.

There is a train of thought that says Forbidden Fruit tastes the sweetest. So if we forbid TV completely, the child will be curious and tempted and find ways to watch it any how. Kids are rebels by design. They will find annoying ways to see some telly.

Leaving the toddlers to see as much TV as they want seem to be easy. Most people do it. Cheapest babysitter in the world and takes no leaves and has no tantrums. Taking care of the baby becomes a cakewalk and baby TV does teach a little bit too! Yeye! But then have a look again at the articles mentioned above. Its just not worth it , aint it?

Moderation. The middle ground. I adopted this path. I pick my battles in a war. I could throw the TV out but I would loose a war there. Its a tedious process. I keep tabs, I yell , I restrict. I am the villian who keeps away the wonderful Teletubbies.

After a thorough research ( boring!) of going through all that the channels offer, I chose only one channel to be suitable for the toddler which is CBeeBies by BBC. Sadly, other channels offer stuff like Doraemon and likes, which I hate. So that is banned for my toddler. But come show a picture of Doraemon to her, she will
yell delightfully 'Doaamon'. Playdates. Sigh!

The first program she was introduced is Teletubbies. I recorded one episode of the program and for 6 months , the toddler saw the same everyday for 15 minutes without loosing a bit of enthusiasm. Repetition
means understanding. She wasnt a zombie in front of the TV. She reacted. She knew what to expect . And later on also understood what Lala said.

Now she sees a new episode daily for 30 mins. Sometimes, she also sees bits of some classic animations from Disney and Pixar . But she aint interested yet. She wanders off to her toys after some time.

As far as mine and hubby's TV viewing is concerned , it is a complete NO, while she is around. She sleeps early. So evening is our TV time. It works fine for us.

There is yet that peer pressure to come in. When her friends watch something and discuss, she might feel left out. But that obstacle I' ll deal with when the time comes. Currently I am fine with my Idiot Box arrangement. And I am proud I dont own a single toddler educational CD :D We have books for that. Tonnes of them.

A peek into the Toddler's room

The toddler has a dedicated room for play. I don't call it nursery room as she doesn't sleep there. A cupboard with toys and a mattress on the floor for her to sit and play The room is painted in pink.I stuck to conventional here.
We have a mattress on the floor for the toddler to sit and laze around.The mattress is covered by a pink Dora bed-sheet to match the room.

The toy cupboard is ,by no means, organized but I try. Everyday. Heres how it looks once arranged every night:

Here's the toddler playing seriously:

There's a bookshelf in a corner with all the favorite books of the voracious reader:

The books usually dont stay there in the shelf as long as the toddler is up. That is only during nighttime. And her favorite books are:

 Can you see the random stickers across this wall and cupboard:

That is the toddler's favorite timepass. To take out stickers from her sticker books and sticking them. I allow her to stick them randomly but only on her cupboard and this wall. She sticks some. She removes some. Its her wish. Even though a restricted domain, it gives her enough to play around.

That's the toddler room for now. Its always a work in progress. I want to add a study table kind for her to scribble and draw and also a chalkboard. Eventually I am also expecting the girl to move in here to sleep.
My princess bed is waiting in my parents home for that day to come :)