Little Teddy went back to school....

I am back after a loooong hibernation!!!! I seem to be repeating this line every time i start a new post, though there is noone out here who has actually missed me.:) Anyway...never mind. FIrst things first!!

My kutu is now a jabbermouth!! Talking away nineteen to the dozen. To say I am relieved would be an understatement. I am elated. He now talks in full sentences and repeats whatever anyone says or whatever he watches on the TV. He even recites a few nursery rhymes if he is in a good mood. His favorites being "Ba Ba Black Sheep","I hear thunder","Yankee Doodle went to town" and "Cock-a-doodle-doo". :)
I used to sing them to him every now and then. For sometime he was very fond of being a parakeet and repeating all that I sang. But off late he is very bored. He says or rather commands "Amma paadu..." when I ask him sing any of the rhymes. :) This statement of course would be accompanied by his trademark enough-to-melt-ur-heart smile and his momma darling would oblige.

We started off on our play school hunt again. and have found a better one atlast. So, we finished the admission formalities on VijayDashmi day. Initially(on the day of the admissions to be precise), Kutu enjoyed being in school. He was very excited at the prospect of going to school the next day, so much so that he even had his breakfast without any big fuss. He had his bath and wore a new dress and immediately picked up his blue mickey mouse school bag and waved a good bye to his grandparents. I should have smelled something fishy then and there. But no... dumb girl that I am...I didnt. How can anything in life be so very hassle free??? How can such a major milestone in a kid's life be crossed without any hitches?? Don't I have to complain on the fuss that kutu made to go to school to my grandchildren??
Well I will do precisely that and more becoz my little one has taken it to his heart that it is mandatory to cry and cry and cry when he starts his school. The moment we entered his classroom in school we were greeted by a bunch of kids howling and bawling in chorus. Each one of them was crying his\her lungs out!!! My little monster didnt want to be left out and did his little bit to add to the chaos. The teachers promptly shooed us parents away. The kids were in the classroom for half an hour and the teachers brought them out one by one. Kutu was one of the first ones to come out. With his blue school bag still on his shoulders he came out crying out "ammaaaaa....." with such a sad face that it broke my heart. Gave him a quick tight hug and took him home.

So this was the Day 1 story. Day 2...Ditto. Day 3...Ditto. Day 4 again Ditto. Momma's already broken heart is in tiny bits. Day 5...Kutu still keeps howling on the way to school and while being handed over to the teacher. An hour and a half later the worn and tired looking teacher starts bringing the kids out to the anxious parents outside. Even after most of the kids are out kutu is no where in sight. His teacher says "Kutu is refusing to come out. I will try my best to cajole him and bring him to you". Waaaat!!!!! I was shocked!!! And then at long last our little hero walks out with his blue bag with a sheepish smile on his face!!! I was floating on cloud nine!!! WOW!!!!WOW!!!WOW!!!YAAAAYYY!!! I could have done a little jiggety jigg dance with kutu then and there. But composed myself at the last minute and gave my kutu a quick kiss. Mission Accomplished. :)

Even heavens seemed to celebrating this little victory of ours. It rained cats and dogs and even elephants for the next three days in chennai. And come tuesday...the scene repeats. Kutu cried all the way to school...but came out of school smiling. My son wont be a school dropout after all. I can still see a little ray of light at the end of the tunnel!!!So far So Good...:)

Random tit-bits

Loong time no see!! :) But I am back now.

Kutu's world has been quite a buzz with activities. Here are a few notes on all the happenings :

1. Kutu has got the distinction of being the youngest school drop out ever!! He doesn't go to Play School now. I think the idea of sitting in one place and repeating the nursery rhymes that the teacher was so painstakingly singing, just didnt appeal to him and us. The very logic behind packing him off to Play School was for him to enjoy the company kids of his own age group and this just didnt seem to be happening there. The teacher taking him in and locking the classroom door was the last straw. Our little monster screamed his lungs out and broke all our hearts!! :( So my little birdie went flying away only to come fluttering back to the safe haven of his nest. So now we are in a lookout for good playschools in our area.

2. Kutu also had his first long distance train journey last month. Not exactly too long as per the adult standards. It was an overnight train journey to Coimbatore. He enjoyed thoroughly. He was excited on seeing the trains in such close proximity at the railway station :). He kept saying "amma...rendu train " on seeing trains at both sides of the platform. wow!! He is going to be a math genius...right? :) :).

Once on board he had a very cute co-passenger. A baby boy almost an year younger than him....a cute little naughty fellow he was!! His mother asked him to say "vanakkam" to us as soon as we started talking to him. He got so excited when we appalauded after his "vanakkam" that he kept repeating it every now and then. and when we were tired of clapping he appalauded himself. Kutu and the little fellow had a nice time playing with each other before their respective pesky mommies whisked them off to go to sleep. Before anyone calls me a spoilsport let me also tell you that the other co-passengers where eyeing their berths longingly hoping these two brats would go to sleep soon. :)

Once back from our trip to coimbatore kutu fell ill with cold and fever. Poor fellow had a tough time. And now he is back in form!!

3. Kutu has atlast started speaking in full sentences!! even though his sentences comprise of three or four words to be precise. It is a milestone that he has crossed. Better late than never. I am quite relieved now. So ask him who got the maggi packet for him and he will promptly say "achaaa maggi vaanchuuuu!!". So far so good. :)

Teddy Bear Teddy Bear...Off to School!!!

My little baby bird fluttered its wings and flew out of its nest!! My kutu started going to a play school last week.

After much contemplation, we had decided that kutu will go to play school. Just to spend a couple of hours playing with kids of his own age group. We just wanted him to have a lot of fun with the kids and in the process if he learns some new stuff it would be a bonus.

I had bought a small blue school bad with pictures of mickey and mini and their coterie. A small tiffin box and a water bottle was also bought. Not that it would be put to much use in the play school. But that was just to complete his school kit. And of course kutu's mom was very excited that her little one is going to school. It was a sight to behold...kutu all in smiles dressed up in a red and white T-Shirt and blue pants and the blue bag... :) He went around telling a goodbye to everyone in the house. I thought to myself...this is just the first among the many goodbyes from him. I am a big time day dreamer. So dont ask me the instances that I foresee about when me and kutu are going to have an emotional goodbye session.

The playschool is set up in a small house with little chairs, tables and toys all around. Kutu was very happy to find "rendu baaal"(two balls...one green and the other blue). He was happily playing around with them oblivious to the wails of the kids around. He also befriended a kid there. His name is steve. A very sweet little fellow. An angel compared to kutu. He was sitting on his chair and just smiling at everyone around. Kutu was very impressed when the teacher started reciting prayers. He stood religiously with his hands folded and eyes shut tightly.

We stayed there for around an hour and brought him back home. Then I asked him "Kutu what did aunty teach you at school"...he very sweetly imitated the actions of the nursery rhyme "are you sleeping are you sleeping Brother John".

The subsequent days were not so easy. He was asked to sit on a chair and watch what the teacher was doing. Our little fellow of course cannot sit in a place for more than two minutes. So he started crying and brought the roof down. And my little one which flew out of the nest and returned promptly.

All things bright and beautiful!!

This post is in response to MadMomma's call to all the mommy bloggers in this post of hers. MM had given a link to an article by Mrinal Pande on HT LiveMint. This article is on the not so beautiful side of motherhood. A gentleman named Roman has given his comment on the same topic in MM's post. Hers's part of what he says :-

Are you changing anything by feeling every day grimm and so damn miserable about your lives and being overwhelmed with children and chores?

Pregnancy brings with it a host of changes to your body and your lifestyle in general. Yelling at the top of your voices and bringing the roof down in the labour room was not a picnic either. The post partum blues and the sleepless nights that followed...the little said the better!! But, inspite of having been through all that we still love our little brats to bits.

Having a baby and raising a baby is a beautiful experience. Yes. But it also involves a lot of hardwork. It is also dull and mundane at times. It is not just about cuddling with a cutie pie and cootchie cooing. For the baby to do that it needs to be well fed, well rested and healthy. and that involves a lot of work. Give me an example of any job that doesn't come with its share of hardships?

I would not say i enjoyed the sleepless nights that my kutu gave me. I accept there have been some days when i wished "God..what did i do to go through all this" during kutu's meal times. There are days when he drives me up and down the wall. End of day, i am tired and worn off yes...but also very happy and contented. Happy that God gave me this little bundle of joy...and contented that i did to the best of my ability to keep him happy and healthy.

Roman says that women need to pack off these negative feelings and start looking at all this with a positive outlook. I would say...the positive outlook would not come into the picture at all if the negative feelings weren't there in the first hand.

He also calls himself or the husbands in general as " a '7 to 9PM' creature, that brings in cash for groceries and bills, and takes kids outside every Saturday or so."...oh yeah??!! So, men are cash vending machines and what are women?? Baby making machines? FYI...We are in a world where both men and women bring home the cash for the groceries and bills. Helping out at home and spending time with the kids is an act of generosity? Is that an act of kindness you bestowed on your wife? No Thanks. A little more work wont do us any harm. We would prefer it if you choose to do all this out of love for your wife and kids.

You want us to feel that motherhood is a bed of roses. But roses have thorns too remember? Having a baby turns your world topsy turvy in all unimaginable ways. But hey...we cherish and enjoy the wholesome experience of being a mother. Period.

haven't you heard of these verses?

But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken in together
To make up a year,
And a sphere.

That just about sums it all up.

P.S: The slow poke newbie blogger that I am,i took a long time to finish this. In the mean time, Mr. Roman's wife Jen has left a comment on his comment on MM's post. Do check in what she has to say. She is correct in saying that it is now that the women have started to open up and talk. The fact that we dont deny that negative feelings do arise and we are ready to discuss these is a good sign.

imitation - best form of flattery??

We were watching TV last night. Me and Kutu. I was also gobbling up my dinner while watching and kutu was sitting beside me. He was trying every possible antics to keep me from eating. He somehow dislikes the idea of his mother having some food. :)
Then came a commercial break in the programme that i was watching. And he just loves these advertisement.

Some Ad featuring a mom and a little girl came up. I dont even remember the details of it. At the end of it the girl gives her mom a quick tight hug and a kiss. And almost spontaneously, instantly out of the blue, kutu came to me and gave me a similar hug and a kiss on my cheek and then a bright smile...his face glowing with happiness!!! I was pleasantly shocked. :) That little act made my day to say the least.

Creatively Challenged?? Help Needed!!!

Realisation dawned on me today morning...Yes...I figured out that I might be creatively challenged...

What else do infer when my kutu wants a new story or a new conversation or something new to entertain him every meal time? I have already mentioned that he is a fussy eater. The only way to thrust something into his mouth is to distract him with something and then shovel food into his mouth.

When he was young(ok...younger than what he is now) he used to have his meals sitting in the balcony. A lorry or a bus or a car or bullock cart on the road was enough to distract him. Then all the crows in the neighbourhood used to entertain him while fed him his food. The crows also got a taste of his food. Sometimes the kids in our flat come play with him during his meal time. And then there was this black cat in our neighbourhood. Its not anyone's pet in particular. It just hangs around here and there. I say "Kutu...Karutha Poocha varum..." and make a scary face and food just used to disappear. Later he became braver and let the cat play with him... :)

Nowadays..i just have to keep jabbering to him. no karutha poocha or velutha poocha..no bow bow...no kaaka...he is bored of all of these. Off late it is monsters. We saw the trailer of a programme called "walking with the monsters" on Pogo TV. For the benefit of all those who are ignorant or those who dont have any kids at home, Pogo is a kiddie channel. I digress. The programme is about dinosaurs and he was happy. And me too. So we all transformed into monsters. Kutu will be called kutu monster, his dad achan monster, his mom amma monster, his cousins chetan monster and achu monster respectively. Each one has to have their unique way of enacting a monster. So during meal time, it will be this monster or that waiting to pounce on him and he seemed to like that game and it was easy to feed him.

The latest is again thanks to Pogo... the "May Movie Magic". All the four harry potter movies were shown during the weekends in the month of May. Like mother Like son. He seemed to like watching those movies. All subsequent meals will be about harry potter and dobby and the Huge snake from the chamber of secret, hagrid and of course the Hippogriff. We do a little enacting of the scene when Harry first meets Buckbeak the Hippogriff. I would bend low and tell him that Harry Potter said "Hi Hippogriff!!". And kutu bends low and says "Hi...". Hippogriff being too complicated a word for him. Through all this of course his momma is busy shovelling food into his mouth.

BUT!!! I am running short of ideas now. God has just not given me the gift of the gab. I cannot keep jabbering away to glory about anything. I should have taken part in all those speech and extempore and dramatics competitions in school. To think of something new and creative every day is exhausting to say the least. I want to know if all the chatter box mommies have a better time than me? All the mommie-to-be and bride-to-be girls out there...beware...if you can cook up a story in split second's time on about anything under the sun then you are probably good to go!! :) :)

I leave you with a picture of my little monster!!

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Here a few photos of kutu!!

This was taken when he was barely a month old and this is the first time he smiled at me and i had a person handy to click on the camera.
Kutu: Aunty V took this snap. V was my roommate in hostel. She is a sweet girl full of life and laughter. She has also declared that she is kutu's first Girl Friend and insists that he should not call her aunty!! :)


This is kutu when he was around four months old...


Kutu at six months with his cousin akshaya(achu).


My darling is a goody goody mamma's boy..doesn't this picture say that?


Kutu and his favorite Winni the Pooh Vandi...


This is his most recent snap.He is delighted at having successfully completed his game of "cup-in-a-cup". This is not the official name of the game. The game has been coined this way becoz i dont know its official name. :) He used to be crazy of this game once he learnt to insert all the colourful cups in the order of their sizes. Sleeping, eating, bathing and playing with this and only this.

All in the Game??!!

"Well begun is half done". So any day that begins well is bound to end with a happy note. Or so they say.

Mine didnt begin too well today. First kutu was over cranky during feeding time today. Had to literally thrust food into his mouth. Somehow finished that task and got out to take my cab to office.

I need to walk some distance to take the cab. Enroute there is a dilapidated playground which will always be filled with boys playing cricket with makeshift stumps and bats and what not(me no cricketing expert to know their gadgets by name :) ). Looks like I happened to pass by in some dramatic moment of the game and everyone was shouting in the highest decible levels their voices could reach. And what do i hear?? Wow...it was raining profanities to say the least. In both Tamil and English. All kids who are barely 14 or 15 yrs old.

The mother in me wanted to pull each one of them by their ears, make them stand in a line and give them a piece of my mind. But common sense told me not to. Firstly i was alone and they were atleast twenty in number. Secondly, to be frank my looks betray my age. I can easily pass of as their kid sister whom they bully at the drop of a hat...:( sigh!!! So I just moved on.

But I did fast forward my life some ten years from now. Yeah...I am a day dreamer too...so i foresaw myself telling kutu that any such behaviour from him will be unpardonable!! He is going to get a sharp twist of his ears and a good whack on his bum if he does that!!

I know...I know... I am a cruel Momma too...when it comes to disciplining the child i believe in the cliche'd Spare the Rod Policy.

The GoodBye and a Welcome Dance

I am a working mom. Many of you would say the term "working mom" in itself is redundant. All moms work.Period. :)

I have to start to office at around 8 in the morning everyday.
and before leaving I give kutu his breakfast, change him into a fresh set of clothes and then get dressed myself and rush to office. I don't want to start off ranting on the task of filling his little tummy with some food. That deserves to be a separate loooonng post of its own! :(. I think it should suffice if I say he is a fussy eater!! Why dont human babies start eating by themselves soon after they are weaned off from their mommies?? All other mammals are like that. Why did God Almighty create us homo sapiens this way? Sorry. I digress!!

So, after this he keeps hovering around me for something or the other. In the midst of all this i get dressed, pack my lunch and gobble up some breakfast. and then comes the star event of the morning...the Goodbye Ritual. I would take my bag and say "Kutu, Amma office pogunnu"( Kutu, amma is going to office). First he gives me one look and then a smile and resumes whatever work he has been doing. All the while watching me from the corner of his eyes knowing very well as to what is going to happen next. :) Then i would pick him up. He would start wriggling and giggling. Then comes our mandatory doses of uuummmaaas. One on each cheek, one of forehead and then a big tight hug!! And then he says bye and goes dutifully to his grandmother. Sometimes we have another round of uuummmaaas. :) Then he stands with his grandmother on the balcony and waves tata and bye till I vanish from round the corner of our street.

Oops!! i forgot!! Sorry A...i forgot to mention the GoodBye Ritual that happens before mine. Kutu's Dad, leaves to office before me. That would be bang in the middle of the time when kutu is having his breakfast. Somedays when kutu is in a good mood, he finishes his breakfast before his dad leaves. hah!! Peace! :)
The moment A starts packing his bag, kutu starts shouting "achaa...fast fast!!". I try running behind him blackmailing him saying "Monu finish ur food else amma wont take u down". But he gives a look which means " i am too smart for these old tricks to work...better luck next time lady!!". I heave a loong sigh and give in. We go down and his dad takes him for a ride on his bike up and down our street. Then another round of Bye and uuuummmaas follow(between father and son!! ok?)

we both cherish these precious little moments with our baby!! There have been days when i had to sneak out of the house stealthily to prevent him from crying when i leave for work. He is a big boy now and he understands. my darling kutu!! :)

Guess what he does when we return from office?? No, he doesnt come running to us...he doesnt shout achaa or amma in glee...he doesnt shower us with his hugs and kisses...He just jumps up from whatever he was doing...and starts running round and round the living room. he does a minimum of ten laps of running around and comes crashing into our arms. The welcome dance is even better for A. The moment he hears his dad's bike turn around the street corner he starts jumping and dancing. It doesnt stop until he picks him up. :) The smile on kutu's face after this....Just Priceless!! :)

ok...a loooong post....Anyway these are just a few of the precious kodak moments of our everyday life. We love you kutu!!

For you...A Thousand Times Over!!

What better gift can i give to my darling hubby on our wedding anniversary? A blog post..my first attempt on blogging...this is just for you A...

The wedding bells rang on this day exactly four years ago to unite the two of us into wedlock. Me dressed in all the wedding finery and flowers, very much a picture of a shy and docile indian bride.and A..looking all dignified and serious in his mundu. I was afraid i would crack up the moment i saw him sitting on the mandapam in a mundu and garland et al. i was not used to seeing him that way. The only picture i had of him till then was a humourous, witty fun loving guy

well...all that seems so long ago now...:)
maybe i should have begun the post with "Long long ago..so long ago there was a girl...". and from then on...we have come a long way A. Been with each other through the ups and downs of life. and all the while i am only grateful to god that i found you or rather we found each other.

if i were to live my life all over again...i would still want you. with you..For you..A thousand times over!! :)

P.S: The title of the post as well as the last phrase is not original. I picked it from the amazing book -- The Kite Runner that you bought for me. I just loved that book and this sentence in that book. :)
The words might not be original...but the sentiments behind it is. :)

To Kutu...with love

Yes!! I did it!! overcame all my inhibitions and made an entry in to the blogosphere!! :)

and the inspiration for this...my kutu!!
this space is to chronicle the events in his life...or rather...our life!!

This is dedicated to u kutu...and to the other wonderful person in my life - ur Dad!!