"Mommy Mommy, come look what I found"
has been the latest most uttered sentence since we moved to this new house winning by a big margin over
"Mommy please let's go out and play NOW"
Manav, with Arnav at his heels has been constantly "exploring" the backyard, front yard, all rooms, bathrooms, garage and more. Most of the activity is centered around the backyard though. And when it is a "wet" (because of the rain) backyard the priority is easily explained.
"Mommy see here is a mommy snail and here the little one is the baby snail" And sure enough there were these "concentric circle" snails wedged between his fingers.
"Mommy hush, there is a bird over there" this is the second most common sentence. Birds are such a common sight and the frequency of their spotting and Manav asking me for their names has made me a Google "birdwatcher". So we identified the blue jays, American robins, great-tailed grackles and the common pigeons, doves and sparrows. The boys figured out that if they stay indoors and "follow" the bird from the formal dining, kitchen and into the family room always keeping an eye on it through the drawn up blinds it works much better than following them outdoors as they "always fly away" and "come for a short time" there. But whisper they must lest it gets frightened and flies away robbing them the chance of watching them up close.
"I am digging" Manav made this his prime job throughout the weekend. Armed with a garden spade Manav "dug" wherever his eyes fell on.
"Mommy look there are ants below this rock I dug" his happy eyes seemed to convey that he can handle their bite as well. Well not quite, as I learnt in the next moment.
All protocols about having a pair of "outdoor" shoes and another pair of "indoor" slippers were soon forgotten and they were seen without any footwear more often than with. And we just went to Costco and bought the "Swiffer" instead.
More protocols are in the making and will be dispensed soon as we figure them out. Some work in progress are:
"We will not jump and climb on the new furniture. It is strictly for seating"
"We will not walk into the house with mud on our feet( and hair), we will wipe them first on the new debri-catching doormat that Mommy bought"
"We will drive our toy cars on the rugs and not on the wooden floors"
"We will not jump from the ledges that adorn the house and should house decorations"
"We will not check and try out all the millions of light fixtures we have in this house as we have ample sunlight"
"We will not ice-skate on the wooden floor"
"We will not climb up the attic stairs now, only when Arnav is not around"
and so on.
We are just in the process of adding a positive connotation rather than the negative "will not" but it is not working out quite and we are running against time. We have to deliver before this house becomes a means of substantial additional income (in addition to rent) for our landlord.
This evening brought lightening, thunder and rainfall. I asked Arnav
"Are you scared? "
"No Mommy I am not scared. I am Arnav"
"I am very scared of lightening and thunder. Can I sleep in your bed tonight Mommy?" Manav chimed in
"You can talk to me Manav if you hear thunder" Arnav said making me wonder if he actually knew the meaning of "scared". Guess I will never know as by the time I find out he would have actually added "scared" to his vocabulary. Yes, that brain of his is making the connections and that too at a breakneck speed. And we are always working against time.
Pictures are coming up as soon as I figure out where I packed my camera. Till then we are finding our way in the maze of boxes and rooms and having a decent exercise in the process. From chaos to normalcy to elegance is the theme.
Summing up in Manav's words
"I love my house, I love my nest,
In the whole wide world my nest is best"
of course omitting the next sentence in which Mommy bird cries out
"Nooooo, we need a new and better house"
has been the latest most uttered sentence since we moved to this new house winning by a big margin over
"Mommy please let's go out and play NOW"
Manav, with Arnav at his heels has been constantly "exploring" the backyard, front yard, all rooms, bathrooms, garage and more. Most of the activity is centered around the backyard though. And when it is a "wet" (because of the rain) backyard the priority is easily explained.
"Mommy see here is a mommy snail and here the little one is the baby snail" And sure enough there were these "concentric circle" snails wedged between his fingers.
"Mommy hush, there is a bird over there" this is the second most common sentence. Birds are such a common sight and the frequency of their spotting and Manav asking me for their names has made me a Google "birdwatcher". So we identified the blue jays, American robins, great-tailed grackles and the common pigeons, doves and sparrows. The boys figured out that if they stay indoors and "follow" the bird from the formal dining, kitchen and into the family room always keeping an eye on it through the drawn up blinds it works much better than following them outdoors as they "always fly away" and "come for a short time" there. But whisper they must lest it gets frightened and flies away robbing them the chance of watching them up close.
"I am digging" Manav made this his prime job throughout the weekend. Armed with a garden spade Manav "dug" wherever his eyes fell on.
"Mommy look there are ants below this rock I dug" his happy eyes seemed to convey that he can handle their bite as well. Well not quite, as I learnt in the next moment.
All protocols about having a pair of "outdoor" shoes and another pair of "indoor" slippers were soon forgotten and they were seen without any footwear more often than with. And we just went to Costco and bought the "Swiffer" instead.
More protocols are in the making and will be dispensed soon as we figure them out. Some work in progress are:
"We will not jump and climb on the new furniture. It is strictly for seating"
"We will not walk into the house with mud on our feet( and hair), we will wipe them first on the new debri-catching doormat that Mommy bought"
"We will drive our toy cars on the rugs and not on the wooden floors"
"We will not jump from the ledges that adorn the house and should house decorations"
"We will not check and try out all the millions of light fixtures we have in this house as we have ample sunlight"
"We will not ice-skate on the wooden floor"
"We will not climb up the attic stairs now, only when Arnav is not around"
and so on.
We are just in the process of adding a positive connotation rather than the negative "will not" but it is not working out quite and we are running against time. We have to deliver before this house becomes a means of substantial additional income (in addition to rent) for our landlord.
This evening brought lightening, thunder and rainfall. I asked Arnav
"Are you scared? "
"No Mommy I am not scared. I am Arnav"
"I am very scared of lightening and thunder. Can I sleep in your bed tonight Mommy?" Manav chimed in
"You can talk to me Manav if you hear thunder" Arnav said making me wonder if he actually knew the meaning of "scared". Guess I will never know as by the time I find out he would have actually added "scared" to his vocabulary. Yes, that brain of his is making the connections and that too at a breakneck speed. And we are always working against time.
Pictures are coming up as soon as I figure out where I packed my camera. Till then we are finding our way in the maze of boxes and rooms and having a decent exercise in the process. From chaos to normalcy to elegance is the theme.
Summing up in Manav's words
"I love my house, I love my nest,
In the whole wide world my nest is best"
of course omitting the next sentence in which Mommy bird cries out
"Nooooo, we need a new and better house"
Good read DJ! I am sure M & A will find out more over the coming weeks .. look forward to your upcoming posts!
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