Sunshine and Saturday

Finally the snow and ice melted and so did our crabbiness. A little sunshine can do so much to lift our spirits. Manav sure was sad to see the snowman melt away but in the next breath he stomped all over it and destroyed whatever was left of the poor soul anyways. I sometimes wonder how the gender difference manifests in their actions, I mean all these boys do when they are not sleeping, not watching something interesting on TV, not being read to or not engrossed in some toy ( oh that's a long list, I didn't realise) is jumping, jumping and more jumping. There has been no looking back since the day they started walking and another milestone was achieved when they got those springs in their heels and thereby mastered jumping. Girls am sure are way better.

Yesterday Arnav woke up from nap and I was holding him when Manav woke up too. I told Arnav now its Manav's turn and Arnav said

" Manav is a verry bigg buoy, I am soo baby, I cannot do that"

Manav is now at an age when he rubs things in to irritate people and mostly other children. Quite a while back his friend from school had come to play with him and Manav said

"You have to go home now. We are going to the beach" ( We were going to Corpus Christi the next morning) and his friend was all in tears  and kept ranting "I want to go to beach too"

At a neighbor's house he tells her little boy " I am going home now, go tell your mommy." leaving him in tears.

Caunteya forced out some foam alphabets from his mouth and trashed the same and he said

"Papa look I still have more in my mouth" while there was nothing.

To negotiate anything with him is a nightmare . It is a super long discussion about specifics.

"Manav you're going to sit in this room till the timer goes off and if you come out to ask how much longer then you'll be in trouble"

"Papa can I sit on my bed?'

"Yes"

"Can I sit on Arnav's bed?"

"Manav sit whereever but you have to sit and not stand and jump and do anything else."

"What if I want to go to the bathroom"

"Do you want to go? , let's go now"

"No, but what if I feel it before the timer beeps"

Today afternoon Manav refused to nap and we went ahead and started watching a movie.

"What kind of movie is it?" Manav asked

"Hindi movie"

"An adult movie?"

"No, yes....I mean it's not a kids movie"

"Is it over?"

"Not yet, its a long movie"

"But then there is a song."

"Manav no more questions"

After the movie was done Manav got the cello tape.

"Please put it on our mouths, so that we don't talk."

And they had a blast trying to talk through the tape and we ended up in a charged discussion about the toxic levels of the tape.

Today they were jamming with Caunteya, Manav with his makeshift drums (the margarita glasses) and Arnav on the guitar. Manav wanted the guitar but Arnav wouldn't relent. Manav said "Arnav you can snatch my drums"

Arnav looked quizzically, Manav reiterated "You can snatch my drums" gesticulating with his hands and Arnav actually did. Then Manav said 'No more asking for guitar, you play the drums"

which Arnav promptly asked back for.

Note Manav's headband....initially it was used to keep his freshly shampooed hair off his face but then suited the bill perfectly.

When we were brushing tonight, Manav remembered that his hairbrush had sindoor smeared over it.

"How did Ma's (grandma's) sindoor come on the hairbrush Mommy?"

"Arnav was combing Ma's hair with that"

"Why does Ma put sindoor?"

"Because Ma is married"

"How?"

"Ma is married to Dadu (grandpa), just like Mommy is married to Papa"

"So you guys put sindoor?"

"Yes"

"Why don't you put?"

"Just like that"

"Then you're not married"

and I left it at that. Can't handle it, not tonight.

Snowman and Ramayan

We started the day at 5:30 AM today when Arnav decided to wake up and didn't go back to bed. And that's an whole hour ahead of Caunteya who started working at 4:30 AM !! We were lounging on our snowflake pillows by the window watching the snow showers and trying to figure out where the sidewalk ended and the street started and which part was once a parking lot.

Before bedtime everyday we do clean up, which means all toys in the living room have to be put in the toyroom, else toy fairy takes the toys away. Its too tempting to just carry all the stuff inside ourselves as it takes ages for those little hands and they get easily distracted and start playing midway. Also, somedays Manav just gives up and says
"Its OK toy fairy can have those"
Yesterday, Manav with both his hands full:

"I have two hands so cannot hold three things ( as I was still pointing out things to be taken inside). Cannot have hands all over, right?" with his signature toothy grin.

Yesterday, Manav convinced me to read the 'Ramayana' book by "You want me to not love you ?" No bias but I particularly dislike reading that book, it is one of those comic books which has vivid images of demons, bloodsheds and battlefields. But that was one of the favorite read when the grandparents were around hence they got introduced. But it was out of the game for a long time until Manav got his hands on it yesterday. I read it in a baritone as is the ritual so that it aids in their sleepiness  but that's a bit difficult to pull it off with Ramayana. And the boys had so many questions it was almost impossible.

Today morning after donning their outdoor sports attire - tracks and solid t-shirts and multiple socks I found them absorbed in their cars. The back of the couch was the driving zone and Arnav was given the baby car (pink Chuki) and Manav had the others and was rescuing Chuki as she was tied down with snakes.

"Call garuta(Garuda) Arnav, she will save you from the snakes"
A while later he said
"Arnav don't go there, lots of snakes, curly snakes, if they don't hear you talk then they go away, they slither away"

The ground for Arnav accepting the baby car was set at the breakfast table, earlier today.

"Arnav you're a baby"

"No, I am not'

"Do you want mommy to feed you?"

"Yes"

"Then you're a baby, big boys eat by themselves"

"I am a baby"

"OK, do you like plain milk?" (Tricky question, easy to fall in the trap)

"No, I like chocolate milk"

"Oh you're a big boy then....babies drink plain milk."

"I am a big boy"

"Then Mommy will not feed you"

"I am a baby" and so on and on it goes.

Chuki, McQueen, Antonio and DJ in that order. Note that DJ is yet to come back to all blue, he's also the "rude" car and sometimes Manav convinces Arnav to take it "Arnav you can be rude if you take this car." I guess its the scowl on DJ's face, contrast that to the smiling Chuki.



Here Manav is reading Ramayana as I refused to do so.

"This guy threw the wicked lady away. His father died and brother is in the jungle because of her Arnav" (About Bharat showing Manthara the door)

"Oh. Who's this guy Manav?"

"The blue one? He's Rama"

"So Ravan became a deer and Sita told Ram "Hey go get that deer for me" Manav says.

Arnav chimes in "They draw a circle"

"Yes, so Sita is protected. And look here how Supernakha's(Surpnakha) nose is cut ?  Just like Bablu mama cut Mommy's doll's nose when they were kids"

"I don't like monsters. I like monkeys" Arnav goes on to add.

Then we went out to play in the snow. This is the boys' first outing since Tuesday, they were thrilled....just refused to come back in, we carried them trashing and kicking. 

And we built Frosty the snowman

I must mention that Manav has been very irritable and irritating all these days. Quite normal as we have been castled in the house for fourth day in a row but it can get on your nerves I swear. So after dinner today I was very surprised by his sweet talk

"Mommy I am sorry"

"It's ok Manav" I said without bothering about the context

"I was standing on the bar stool, thats why" Manav made sure I got it

Then he added " I want to do you a favor Mommy" and started cleaning bits of paper from the carpet.

I offered him a cookie and he returned it saying

"I don't want it Mommy. You may eat it if you want or not eat it if you don't want."

Arnav gets very little airtime in here, mostly because he is still building his conversational skills. But you'll be surprised at what all he says being all of 2 years and 6 months old:

- " I am not dead any more " After Manav pronounced him dead, they were pretend paying dinosaurs or something.

- "Hey non't laugh at me" When he did something and we were laughing

- "I am damaged and crashed" When Manav hit his car

- "Its not dark" when he doesn't want to nap in the afternoon

And more often than not his english gets mixed with bengali

- " Papa 'bok' ('scolded') me."

- " I 'jherey dao' (shake off) the snow "

- " I like my 'choti' (slippers) and 'peltoon' (pants)"

Just now Manav told him "Ready Steady Go"

And Arnav said " No, no running please, its night"

Its too late and they are indulging in small talk, not good...they should be in bed. Off I go.

Motorcycle PJs and Tennis

Third day of no school in a row....looks like the whole week we'll be holed indoors....promise of snow tonight and tomorrow already on weather.com (can't help looking at it, as Manav always makes sure its displayed on my laptop when idle). Today only change is Caunteya went to work as "I am hardly getting any work done here" with the kids running amock that's expected.

Last night Manav added another toothpaste to his collection, the "travel toothpaste" (because of its teeny size), which he found in my cupboard. He was very happy and said " We will travel tomorrow in the highlander as its too dark to go now. And I am going to use my new toothpaste in the car"

Earlier today morning DJ (not me, the disney pixar car) had to sit outside in the patio so that he'd turn from blue to purple. It was my idea as it kept the kids busy for sometime. Then we got purple DJ in and waited too long for him to turn blue. Then I had to toast him over the chai (tea) steam to make him blue "now". All this had the kids enthralled and I just love to watch that look on their face. But then the house started getting colder as the patio door was being opened wider and that too, too many times. Trust Caunteya to come up with the brilliant idea of putting the car in the freezer instead. So Manav put DJ in the freezer and Arnav put "Mc Queem" (Mc Queen) in and I told them to count 100.  That kept them busy for some more time but posed the greater problem of "Mc Queem" not changing his color. Arnav was very sad and Manav, my saviour came to aid

"Arnav see this here, its black ( pointing at the wheels), it did change color, from red to black"

That seemed to convince Arnav.

I felt so wasted that I wanted to sew in the morning and ended up making a motorcycle pajama for Arnav....Manav told me "I don't wear pajamas in the morning" so was spared making a second pair. This time the boys actually sat through the entire sewing session and "helped" me.(that should tell you how long the actual work took, I am all for instant gratification)

Arnav happily posed for me in his new pajamas.

Then they played a long time (maybe 20 mins) with the "square thing that you use to make porota (paratha)" and the plastic margarita glasses. Manav "read" the instructions on the square paratha maker "This is made of metal, only adults can use it" and though Arnav said "I am adult", he refused to give it to him. Just when battleground was all set Manav put them aside and said "See even I cannot use this, only adults can" and then of course he sneaked them in the play.

Its amazing to watch how many games they played with those glasses, they doubled as drums, then cooking vessels, ice cream cups and then as stacking glasses.

Then Manav decided it was time to change again (2nd time). Here is the time to mention another of his passion "changing clothes" maybe 6-7 times a day depending on the number of avatars he is engaging in. In the picture above he had already changed from night clothes to his "office clothes" complete with the formal pants and black socks and black shoes. So now he changed to his tennis attire.

Look at the socks, those are Caunteya's regular tennis socks. He couldn't find his wrist band and concluded toy fairy has taken it away as he didn't clean up after playing.

"Maybe I can ask Santa to get me one"

"Hmm " I said

"Or maybe we can go to Walmart and buy one. Let's go"

"Its too dangerous to drive. The car will skid"

"The car can skate on ice and we will reach Walmart"

"No Manav" I was becoming impatient and thankfully he left me at that.

Then he asks Arnav to get his phone and dials "Hello Keshav?(Caunteya's tennis partner) Is Sheetal aunty coming? ok bye".

Now comes the interesting part, which car will he drive in. Arnav wants Mommy's highlander but Papa (Manav) will only drive in Corolla. So here's my salesperson of the year Manav

"Lets go in the Corolla Arnav, thats what for tennis"

"No, highlander"

"Which car do you want (shows the disney pixar cars parking lot)?"

"This one" Arnav points to a pink car Chuki.

"This is pink, are you a girl Arnav?"

"I am a girl"

"See Arnav starts with 'A' Corolla starts with 'A' (whispers audibly to me , "I know Corolla starts with 'K' he doesn't), lets go in Corolla"

"No, highlander"

"You'll get jelly beans if you go in Corolla"

"OK, Corolla"

So, he helps put seat belt on Arnav and drives to tennis court. There he plays a few "shots" and asks Arnav to fetch the ball which Arnav does. Then game is over and time to go home but Arnav now wants to play. Manav starts

"Please get in the car Arnav, its too cold to play now"

"Noo"

"I am freezing, do you want me to turn to a statue?"

"Yes"

"Ok, I am leaving you here, bye"

Arnav runs to me in the kitchen and says

"No dada. I wany mommy"

Then Arnav wanted to go pee and Manav yells

"The restroom is down the hallway on your left Arnav"

This is after they woke up from their nap....Manav is riding the "motorcycle". Please note that Manav is now wearing two socks after raiding Papa's dresser.  

Driving me nuts

Another snow day, rather an ice day....no school and I have miserably failed in replicating the school here....tried with projects, puzzles and toys. Nothing is hands off, you have to be on call

"Mommy where does this go?"

"Mommy does 'Caunteya' start with 'C' or 'K'?" (Did I tell you that I always had this question as to how a mother can name one son Amit and another Caunteya?)

Arnav is writing his name (or so he thinks). I asked him to spell his name, he goes

"A L O W, I can spell orange" in the tune of 'Are you sleeping (2), Brother John?', that's how Manav spells his colors, all credits to his day school. Here I think Arnav got the pointer at 'yellow' in his brain. I wonder a lot as to what goes on inside these little brains. All is pure magic. How else do you explain all the Spanish they learn from Dora/Diego. Yes, you got it, now I have resorted to the TV again !!

Last night Manav was very very angry and upset. I had him in timeout and he was yelling

"I am NOT going to talk to you ever mommy. I don't love anyone. I love my little brother. I will never listen to you. You told me to clean my nose, I will never do that. I will leave this house. This house is too old."

After that I was having a tough time convincing Arnav to relinquish control of his brush and let me have my turn. It wasn't working out and I yelled

"You're driving me nuts Arnav".

Arnav says "Mommy non't say that...non't say driving nuts, say driving car".

Just now Manav came over in his umpteenth attempt to check weather on the laptop and see if it was "summer  yet" so that he can wear shorts. Amazing how he can use the mouse and pull up the weather window from the taskbar below. But then they are taught computer in school.

He asks the same emotional question again "Mommy why isn't the weather changing? I checked in Papa's laptop also, it is the same"

Today morning Papa was trying to explain how if things get broken in the house, he is not going to replace them.

"Do you like to watch TV and DVD?"

"Yes"

"But you keep touching the screen and fiddling with the DVD player controls. If it gets broken, no TV no DVD for you"

"OK"

"And also the laptop, you keep checking weather, if that gets broken no weather for you"

"I got my weather chart papa"

 I have to tell you how this chart works and accurately too. Every morning and sometimes at night weatherman Manav looks out of the window and then runs to the patio door and touches the glass there and decides which quadrant the arrow should point to. True, who needs a laptop?

Over lunch (sphagetti) today, Arnav was busy cleaning the table. Arnav does that, he is more interested in cleaning than eating. And he got into Manav's fiercely guarded territory and word battle ensued culminating into Manav getting his toy parrot out (the awesome Furreal Macaw)

"My parrot will keep a watch on you Arnav, with its sharp talons."

Arnav cleaned the parrot's beaks (actually smeared it with sphagetti sauce), prompting Manav to move it to the extreme end of the table.

"My parrot will keep a watch on you from here with its eagle eyes"

This is before the cleaning began...

Earlier today they were playing the "dangerous" game, invented by Manav where you are supposed to hit, push, yell and kick. Manav was forced to take out 'Bite' from the game because as soon as Arnav hears 'bite' that's all he indulges in. Today's game was interspersed with Manav's  playful - "Arnav, raspberrys coming your way" and he would blow those in Arnav's tummy.

Happy laughter ringing everywhere.....sheer bliss.

What you cannot see here is the serious tooth and nail fights that these two angels have as that is the time I am intervening, can't possibly take pictures. So everything is not sheer bliss.

Blankets ruffle

Yes,  "Blankets ruffle when a child wakes up", said Manav tearfully with a bleeding pointer finger which he had cut on my rotary cutter from the sewing table. Here's the backdrop.

This happened a few days ago. I had dutifully put the boys to bed and sprang to work on my gathered clutch on my new sewing machine. I saw that Manav had woken up and taken his usual position by the table offering me his help. He does that, I mean passes me the scissors, thread, bobbins, buttons, measuring tape etc. I was very much into how-to-sew-the-zipper-sandwich when I saw something from the corner of my eye...Manav bleeding and sobbing incoherently....will censor the rest and come to the topic...oh yes he was fine after a long time though.

A while later Manav says "Mommy I will never help you with sewing. It is dangerous. Kids cannot help with cutters and scissors, adults learn how  to use them, they can work with dangerous things."

"I am sorry Manav. It was my mistake. I knew you were sleeping and I left that cutter in "on' position. I should've been more careful and turned it off"

"Yes, Mommy. You have to be careful when there are little boys around. Blankets ruffle when they wake up. And when you hear the blankets ruffling you have to turn off your cutter"

"Yes, Manav. I am so sorry"

"Its OK Mommy.....but I think I can help you with the less dangerous stuff...like buttons, threads, bobbins......but no scissors and cutters"

The culprit, which I could finish the next day......I did keep listening for the blanket ruffle though all the while.

Adding another episode which needs to be mentioned. A week ago we added two barstools to our meagre furniture in the living room ( meagre coz how else would the boys get to play their football, ice hockey, cricket, soccer, tennis and more.....I know what you're thinking, we do have gem of neighbors downstairs). It was an instant hit with the kids as they now had a great view of the kitchen island and all "interesting" things thereupon. As with any new addition to the house a lecture about safety and usage was handed out with a set of rules as well, which Manav absorbed as intended.

Next morning when Arnav was trying to climb onto the bar stool unaided, he said
"Arnav, see this is metal (knocks on the back rest a couple of times) and you can get hurt if you try to climb this without the help of an adult. They will help you now but when you become an adult they will become old and you have to help them climb up the bar stool"
Arnav said "OK" and continued climbing on the stool and there was a big "Mooommmmmmy" siren as expected.

We know Manav is learning new words and excited to use them when he says things like this:
- Today morning "Mommy I accidently cleaned my nose with my sleeve, that means I didn't want to clean but I did ."

- When Arnav was coloring "Arnav is a baby so he cannot do quality coloring, that means he cannot color inside the lines"

- While brushing ( see didn't I tell you that's a big deal in our house....keeps popping up) "Arnav brushing is not negotiable, that means you have to brush"

Oh, I just heard a blanket ruffle....gotta go.

Waffles and Nadal

Now the best babysitter TV is working and I have a few minutes to write. Of course lunch is pending as so are many other things...

So yesterday after coming from school Manav was hell bent upon having waffles for lunch. (This is the result of Caunteya convincing me to involve the kids in grocery and cooking so that they eat what they buy and make. I think he oversold the chocolate chip waffles to our sponge Manav. And I know Caunteya bought them as they have Fiber and Antioxidants, really ??) He was wailing that I promised him while climbing the stairs that I will give him waffles for lunch, I feigned no knowledge of such a promise. Anyways while he ate his waffles I fed him the roti and subji as I had spent the entire morning trying to make roti(and cleanup thereafter) not because I was concerned about his nutrition. Needless to say Arnav also wanted to have waffles. But the disconcerting fact was I also had waffles for lunch. That's too much publicity for Kellogs' Chocolate Chip Waffles.

All fed they started playing their favorite game of ice hockey. Arnav insisted that I walk on the "sidewalk" as its all ice  in the living room. Manav said "Arnav you need to wear socks, your feet are cold from the ice". And then got him the socks and helped him wear the same. Did I mention that they have their own dresser? (the plastic storage drawers from walmart which I bought when Manav had a nasty accident when the heavy dresser of ours tipped when he climbed on the last drawer to reach the one which housed his shorts).

Note the Ice-hockey pajamas that Arnav is wearing. Manav is in his usual "number" T-shirt and tracks.

Yesterday evening I embarked on a project to make bise bele bhaat (BBB)....though the same was not an outright success still that was for dinner and I had to sell it the kids. Arnav ate as it had corn (now you know one of the reasons why BBB wasnt great, I used frozen vegetables) and Caunteya again sold it saying he'll become strong as a rock if he ate it. Manav didnt buy into that, he wanted plain rice and dal. Caunteya chipped in

"This is rice and dal"

"Nooo, this isn't. This is not yellow. I want yellow rice and dal"

"Then what color is this?"

"It is brown"(Another reason for the bad BBB, I didn't use the 10 red chillies as in the recipe....I mean who would use 10?, hence the not red color)

"Well brown and yellow are same colors"

Yeah, tell that to a kid who can now spell his colors. So Manav comes up with this

"Papa I want rice and Nadal'

and on and on he goes with the same chant until we give in laughing. He finally had his one roti and chicken( some old grilled chicken from Sat) and an orange.

Ok gotta go now coz Manav is asking for "rectangle crackers" with the cover whose cover had some white milk picture on it (???) which is a cue that he wants lunch.....rest later then.

Snow Day

I had already decided last night that there will be no school for the boys as the weather was going to be bad today. So woke up late and since then things have been at a leisurely pace. Manav woke up and informed me "Mommy I have switched on the kitchen light so you can make me some chai to soothe my throat" so today Manav has priority over papa..

Arnav is asking for waffle and cereal ( the ususal breakfast I offer them) so I get to business. Waffles on the dining table with a cool view of the snow/ice outside.

Arnav says "Mommy will you feed me please?" Let me tell you Arnav is a very polite kid till his patience runs out, then he turns into a yelling, screaming, pouting, puffing "Non't (don't) talk to me. I am agree(angry)"

I reply "I am making chai so either you wait, or feed yourself, or let dada (elder brother) feed you" Too many options and I should have known better.

Arnav says "Nooo, Mommy you feed me"

Manav says " I can feed you Arnav. I am three years old, I can do things. Do you want me to do something for you ?"

"Nooo, Mommy you feed me"

I reply " You have to wait Arnav"

And now Arnav is very "agree". He says "You are a very bad boy Mommy, I will lock you"

Manav says " You like her?"

Arnav " Noooo, I lock her"

Before they could get locked into a verbal duel I step in to feed Arnav.

By then Manav is going on his imaginative journey....puts two rails (flicked from his train table), puts on his waffle and sings " Happy birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me...." blows the same and says " Arnav I have a creamy chocolate cake, you have a waffle"

Arnav " No you have a waffle, I have a waffle"

Manav " No I have a creamy chocolate cake"

After a few iterations, Arnav says " I have a creamy chocolate cake"

Manav " I have a chcolate chip waffle"

Arnav " Noooooo" ......... till I intervene.

Then, Manav bites into his waffle and makes a shape. Comes singing to me

"This is chocolate chip, sailing ship,

And when I reached Jamaica I made a stop

But I am sad to say I am on my way

I had to leave a little girl in Kingston town"

I have been trying to write this for 2 hrs now....still stuck with the usuals.....so will let this go and write another one when I have a breather. There is promise of interesting stuff....so check back.

Manav is saying " Will you supervise him?" and I can't answer my usual "No" to this....brushing is a serious affair in this house. 

"Mommy are there any sneaky germs?"....and right now I am staring into a wide little mouth .