Valentine and Love

Happy Valemtimes day
As Arnav would say
From a family of four
We have some more (love for you)

The day began on a morbid note. I was having a tough time getting Manav to have his milk and had to hit ( tap him lightly on the shoulder) him. He said

"Do you want me to die?"

I left it at that

He sulked for a bit and then came upto me and said

"I am done, I finished my milk"

I hugged him

"If you hit me on the neck I will die Mommy. You don't want me to die"

Ok lesson learnt.

Arnav is so much easier with the milk (less passion for the blocks)

After school they came home with bags full of valentine goodies and immediately got down to business.

After several reminders and one threat of trashing the candies they came for lunch. Post lunch they opened the "gum" candies and had one each. Manav said

"We have to spit these out after all the juice is gone. Don't swallow like candy Arnav"

"Ok" Arnav said

"Did you swallow the gum Arnav?"

"Yes"

"Mommmieeeeee"

Then they went to bed and Manav told me

"When I say I don't love you, I still love you and Papa"

Arnav said "Mohor Mohor" (gold coins, they learnt this from a Bengali DVD) and giggled.

I was kissing Arnav and he said

"Are you kissing me mister?"

I kissed some more

"No kissing me mister blister. No kissing me on the nosey. It hurts. Kiss me on the forehead"

I kissed every corner of his face. He is the cutest and cuddliest one around.

Then more silly talk, threats from me to trash candies and that worked with Arnav, he  slept but Manav walked out with me. He finished his homework and worked on a Valentine Day card for Papa.

He said "Papa will be impressed with the card"

I didn't quite follow so said "What?"

"Papa will be proud of this card, that means he will be impressed."

"Sure he will be"

Card done he started putting all the star stickers on himself while I cooked dinner. Then I saw he was putting the stickers on the dining table. He said

"I changed my mind. I was putting the stickers on my face and hands but now I am putting on the table. It is Valentines day so these are the decorations"

Then Arnav woke up and started making his card. (Note the stickers on the table)

Evening was nice and warm (71 F for fish) so we went out for a stroll. Manav loves running away, he doesn't hear a word of caution and it is very very difficult to contain him, more so when I have Arnav to take care of too.

Snip, snap, snout
My tale is told out
Manav and Arnav love "The three billy goats Gruff" both book and song.

Bittersweet(er) Warm Weekend

Last night the lure of watching a movie won over writing about the boys. And I was very tired. The lunch went fine. The older kids had a good time pretend playing their mommy-daddy theme and the younger kids were alternately granted the role puppies or babies. Disconcerting conversation heard was

"No, mommy doesn't go to work. She stays at home. Daddy goes to work"

The boys were so tired after all the play, they settled down for TV after the guests left. Manav complained that we always watch the same set of DVD's over and over again and there is nothing new. ( We don't have cable TV). This is an eye opener, since I thought they will watch anything and everything on TV as they get so little TV time. So now we need to expand and diversify in our collection and selection. And here is a self explanatory sequence of what happened next.

We seriously need to reevaluate our DVD collection.

Manav then went to his best friends house for a playdate. Arnav watched some more TV but this time he watched brand new episodes of Diego, courtsey netflix and Papa. But then he started missing Manav. We were having mixed feeling having only one kid around which you can understand is a rare event. We actually were listening to Arnav for a change.

"Are we going to Sidney's house?"

"No we are going to a shop and then we will go to Sidney's house." I said

"Oh"

"Where are we going Papa?" once in the car Arnav said

"To a store"

"No, we are going to a shop, not a store"

He was chatting non-stop about the signals, whatever he saw outside and many other things which I don't remember. He had a great time at the shoe store as well. Then calamity struck. On reaching Sidney's house I went to pick up Manav, leaving Arnav and Caunteya in the car . When back in the car Arnav started wailing as he wanted to hug Sidney and that didn't happen.(Its a daily ritual at school) It was so bad that I had to go back to the house again and ask for Sidney. Unfortunately Sidney was in the shower so the hug did not happen and thus the wailing never stopped. Caunteya said

"Sidney is in the shower Arnav"

"Noooo Sidney is NOT in the shower"

"Sidney fell down so couldn't come out Arnav" Caunteya tried again

"Noooo Sidney NOT fell down"

"He is at the doctor's office" Manav joined in

"Noooo Sidney NOT in office"

All this while Manav was wailing as he wanted to watch Diego and didn't get to. Caunteya first dealt with Manav using pure logic, saying he can watch after we got home from the restaurant as there is no TV in the car, for Arnav he said

"Sidney is skating to the restaurant using a different street. There you can talk to him"

"No, I not talk to Sidney, I hug him" Arnav said

I, the guilty party ( for not taking Arnav inside Sidney's house, trying to save another round of car seatbelt securing-unsecuring work) guiltily remembered how Arnav while putting on his red boots had remarked

"Sidney loves these boots Mommy" 

Anyways, Manav stopped his whining, Arnav continued on and off. Dinner done, post dinner lectures and negotiations done, kids put to bed - done, we settled down for the movie.

Next morning ( as Arnav says) was usual weekend affair with us trying to sleep and kids trying to wake us up. Manav remembered his promised Diego watch and said

"Papa has work so he is sleeping, so we will watch Diego later" (means Papa worked late last night)

That was very sweet of Manav. Also his sweetness overflowed today, for everything he said to Arnav

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Yes"

"Can you give me the car you are playing with?"

Arnav worked favorably with this changed tactic for sometime then went back to his old ways.

They played with the 'memical' (as Arnav says chemical ) wipes, cleaning the dining table and time and again Manav deliberately showed me he was wiping his face with the wipe  but was perplexed at my calm disposition. ( I had given them a paper towel soaked in water, so didn't react to the instigation). Then there was pillow fight and lots of laughter.

"You didn't push me, right Manav" Arnav said

"No" Manav replied

"Yes, it is just a game" Arnav remarked like a grown-up

Pilllow Fighters catching their breath

Then they switched to colors - crayons, markers and pencils all sorted. Arnav said

"These are maimtemam's ( maintenance who comes to fix things in the apartment) colors"

And in the same breath

"I am just pretending"

Manav saw me taking out bread for lunch and he said

"I will eat all the bread. I will not waste any as there are many ducks who are hungry and don't get bread" Very good application of my teaching that they shouldn't waste food as there are many people in the world who don't get enough to eat .

Then he started throwing bits of bread on the carpet and asked Arnav the duckie to come and eat them. Arnav happily obliged.

Check out the super long 'naada' of the shorts Arnav chose to wear.

Caunteya said we are going to Parker station to see some trains

"Yes, there is a park there as well, so it is called Parker" Manav said

"Yes, Packers and Steelers" Arnav said

Manav tried in vain to point out the difference between Parker and Packers to Arnav. There was a little delay in leaving the house as Manav was wearing Caunteya's Nike socks and all other Caunteya's socks were in the washer ( as Manav had been using them throughout the week).

On the way, in the car again Arnav was proving me wrong in my earlier remarks in this blog ( that he is still working on his conversational skills)

"Mommy look there are decorations" pointing to the little flags hung in the entrance of a store.

"And there is a orange flag on the grass. That is not decoration" pointing to the ground markers.

The GPS said 'recalculating'

Arnav said "calculady" and burst out laughing

Manav said " No Arnav its not lady, it is re-calcula-ting"

Arnav said "Yes, Recalculady"

We headed out to the downtown plano station and adjoining Haggard Park and the boys had a great time. This followed by a trip to Walmart and McDonald's for dinner. They had a blast. The notable thing is last trip to this same McDonald's(@Preston and 121) a month or so earlier Manav had to help Arnav climb the individual levels of the play area but this time Arnav did it on his own. Caunteya had already predicted this when I had raised my concerns about the same.

Mute

The morning started on a slow note, I was hurting from yesterday's fall, nothing major but had no ear for the conversations. I ended up making french toast for breakfast which is a rarity in a weekday. Manav said

"I love french toast"

"I want cee-dee-awl (cereal), no french toast" Arnav wailed

"When there is something special, you just eat it Arnav, don't say anything" Manav preached

"Nooo, I want cee-dee-awl" and thats what Arnav had

When I picked up the boys from school Manav said

"I will never come to school again"

"Why Manav?" I was very surprised as Manav loves school to pieces

"The other children disturb me always. They don't let me talk"

I clarified with Ms Foley that they are not allowed to speak when they are doing their class work and that infuriated Manav.

I tried telling him on our way back that he is the one disturbing his friends when he talks and they work.

"No they like to hear me talk" which I am sure was all made up.

I went a bit further, "Did Ms Foley put you in timeout?"

"No, she didn't. She doesn't have a room"

Today they got their 6 weeks assessment cards as well. Manav's said

"Manav is very capable and just needs to slow down a little and focus" Genes are magic. That's me they are talking about (the 'capability' is debatable though)

Arnav's said "Arnav has blossomed so much in the last few months!" Tell me about it

Today I was busy getting and making things for a lunch spread for tomorrow's guests. The lunch I provided the children is thus excused (it is idli and sugar) 

They lapped it up though. Manav talked about good table manners.

"Papa's teacher taught him to eat with his mouth closed" he said

"Yes, and we should not talk too much while eating" I said and got reminded that this is the second time in a day that Manav is being told not to talk. I remember how anxious we were to hear him speak, how we would try to figure out what he was babbling and each new word would make me swell (more) in pride. Now it is all taken for granted and the magic is all gone. Sigh !

TV acted as the cello tape on their mouth. It robbed us of our talks and laughter. I cooked and cooked some more.

The cricket bats retained their prime seats beside the erstwhile players while they watched 'Backyardigans' on TV.

After TV was done Manav wailed

"When are they coming for lunch?"

"Tomorrow"

"Why tomorrow"

"Because lunch today is done, its evening and then it will be tomorrow and lunch again" Sounds like twisted logic to me when I write.

"No, it is tomorrow already, why aren't they coming?" I had to divert him, we weren't getting anywhere with this.

"What do you want for dinner?"

"Subway sandwich"

So Subway sandwich and intellectual discussion about how Manav should sleep in his room through the night, was for dinner tonight.

"Do you want to play tennis, soccer and football when you grow up?"Caunteya asked

"Yes" Manav said

"So you need to go to college for that. And for going to college you need to finish high school and for high school you need to go through middle school and for middle school, elementary needs to be done. And you cannot do elementary if you don't sleep in your room all night"

"Shreya has her bed in her parents room. She goes to elementary school" Manav said after processing all the information.

"Who said that?" I asked

"The kid"

"Who?"

"Shreya"

Though I am pretty sure he made that up, I made a mental note of confirming with the parents. You never know.

Caunteya spun an interesting tale combining the elements of trust and sport and the same trust that Papa is there in the other room, no need to check that every hour. It is just like the trust each player has on the other player in a game.

I could see Manav's brain was on an overdrive judging from the fact that he would go silent for an entire minute and then say something. He was well aware of the enormity of the task that he was signing up for in return for going to elementary school and playing sports. Neither of the things he was as sure of as sleeping with Papa whenever he wakes up at night.

Cricket

It was freezing outside with temperature in the teens but inside the house it was a heated race between the brothers on the breakfast table. They were racing to finish their chai (milk mixed with a couple of spoons of our chai). Manav finished first and Arnav followed but we nipped a battle in the bud by saying the usual " Both won, good job" 

I heard Manav in the living room saying

"Both the teams are winning today. Packers and the red team are winning"

I said "Only one team can win Manav"

"No Mommy, both are winning" Manav reiterated.

I was going to start a discourse of scores, wins, loss etc when it struck me that he was just repeating what we taught him. This is the constant dilemma of parenting, whenever we explain anything we tread a fine line between the actual reason and the convenient reason what I prefer to call as the child-friendly reason.

Anyways, they got busy with their morning routine and today Manav found the cricket bats and decided that will be the theme of the day. He ran up to me and said

"Mommy I have never seen Papa play real cricket, in a real field with a real bat"

Papa later brought back old memories of the India trip when Manav did witness real matches.

This is before they left for school

At school I picked up Arnav first and was walking towards Manav's class when he said

"Mommy no running. If you run police will come and put you in jello"

"OK Arnav" and I smiled

And then we walked into Manav's class where Arnav has earned cult status as many Manav's friends come and hug him and he walks around with a cool shrug.

Manav comes upto me and shows the Valentine decor in the class

"Mommy see this is Valemtime"

Manav absolutely insisted that I go out again and get the tennis racquet from the car and I had to give in. While fetching the same from the car I slipped on the ice and fell down. When I told Manav about this thinking he will be sorry that he sent me out he said

"Mommy did blood come out?"

"No"

"Ok, then pretend the raquet is a stick and climb the stairs using it"

Arnav said "Mommy do you need injection?" and without waiting for a reply jabbed his finger in my leg.

Manav had already changed into his "whites" ( the pajama I sewed recycling Caunteya's Hanes undershirts) and here he posed for me with the two big bats. Arnav held onto the tennis and the baseball bat.

Then Manav asked Arnav

"Do you want to play at home or go out in the field?"

"Home"

"No, let's go to the field" and walked to the toy room

Manav always does this, empowering Arnav in decision making but doing the opposite.

"Arnav which glass do you want pink or blue?"

"Pink"

"No, that's mine, you take blue"

Manav came to me to show the big bats (both taller and heavier than him, I tell you)

"See Mommy these are big brothers (to the other plastic bats). See how strong they are? They eat lots of carrots and drink lot of dal so they are so strong"

"Babies ask for their big brothers not for their parents Mommy"

"Here are the big brothers one named Jack and one named Jill"

And thus having infused life into these bats he took them along to bed with him. Nicely lined them alongside and tucked them in his blanket and napped. Arnav of course had to tag along the baseball bat and the tennis racquet to bed.

They woke up and watched the Animal Flash Card DVD for the umpteenth time and both were laughing trying the tongue twister "Dr. Daber Waber". I had to watch the DVD this time and found it was Dr. Deborah Weber.

And of course Arnav got his share of 4 cards. Then we had the cleaning-under-30-mins routine and everything was nice and clean. I had to reward them so showed them the toys that I had put away as they have too many. They had a good time playing with their old mailbox and CD player. Manav picked one mail from the mailbox and read

"This is from Dadu in Kolkata."

"What does it say?" I asked

"It says 'Love from Kolkata'"

"This is from Plano Day School and says 'Happy new year and Valemtime'"

Today was one of those days when Manav was in super mood. Arnav tore his instruction manual for the disney pixar cars we bought ( he loves anything paper that comes with the toy more than the toy) and he came to me

"Mommy Arnav is a very good boy. He is paying attention"

"Why do you say that Manav?"

"See he tore the paper but he didn't tear across the cars. He tore after the cars"

I had to go and check and was surprised that Arnav had made 4 pieces of the paper and all along the demarcation lines and all the car pictures were indeed intact. Bravo.

Today's family dinner was relatively stress free. Manav and Arnav were playing with their shark and bug ( the rediscovered toys). Caunteya was pretending to be the whale and Manav's shark was trying to be brave

"I have hot fire" Caunteya said

"I have cold fire" Manav said

"My fire can burn you"

"My fire can freeze you"

and so on it went and Manav threw the shark down the table and said

"It died itself. You cannot kill it whale"

"I am a proud fish" Manav said at some point

"Papa you know lion is a big cat, just like that shark is a proud fish"

And we are proud parents. And here is to Arnav

"Why are you wearing shoes in the house Arnav" Papa asks

"I am wearing shoes because I am wearing shoes" Arnav says.

Check out his red shoes in the picture. He went to sleep with those under his bed. Manav is a big influence.

Tapodutt and Clean up

Yes, the day started like this.....snow all over and school closed and Caunteya chose to work from home ( bad decision). The boys got busy with building blocks ( I absolutely had to look up Wikipedia to understand how LEGO came up with this great idea) and kindly posed for me with their product.

That reminds me Arnav kept on repeating something that sounded like 'the product' and I asked him what he meant. He said "Dada says that" so it was a while before I figured out with Manav's help that it was "Tapodutt"

"Who is Tapodutt? " I asked Manav

"Tapodutt is brahmin's brother" Manav said

This must be from Ramayana but I have no recollection of this though.

I did remark seeing Manav's lego 'product' "You made a masterpiece Manav"

"Yes, Mommy. Here's the master (showing the green guy) and this is his piece"

Then Manav asked his question of the day

"Mommy do you know why there are 50 stars in the flag?"

"Because there are 50 states"

"No, so that you can count 50 there" and he started counting.



Then they started coloring and I had to click this one as they were having so much fun. Of course later it became nasty as they started throwing the crayons and breaking them in half and removing the wrappers. Just now Manav came and told me

"This is when we made the mess. And this is when you were angry also"

Then they changed into their sweaters which they managed to find while we were looking for something else. These were sent by my dida(grandma) last year. Thank you great grandmother.

Then Manav found this bag from the shoe closet and paired it up with those glasses from his toy bin and posed for me. Of course Arnav grabbed the same from him and posed too.



They  again started playing with those animal flash cards and Arnav again got his share of 4 cards. (Finally I figured out why Arnav got those particular 4 cards everytime. They are the only ones which are in portrait, others are printed in landscape)But this time Arnav protested and Manav said

"Let's make an animal card train. And your's will be small and you can pull it. Mine will break because it is too long"

Arnav seemed to buy this logic.

Then Arnav was going around with a soccer ball (small) inside an easter egg and called it soccer coffee ( flicked from Manav, it was his idea).

"Mommy have some soccer coffee" Arnav said

"Oh thanks...chomp chomp" I pretended to have it

"No, Mommy don't chew, drink it ...slurp slurp" Arnav said.

Manav tried getting it back

"Arnav it has dirty and wormy germs in it, throw it in the trash"

but Arnav didn't buy this one.

Then Caunteya came out of his "work room" and was making some chai. Arnav walks upto him

"Do you want some soccer coffee papa?"

"No thanks, mujhe shanti se jeeney de" Caunteya was miffed as they were yelling too much during his conference calls.

Manav says " Did you say sunkist papa?" That's a jelly bean flavor.

Then suddenly Manav comes up with

"This house is a mess. We need to clean it up"

I didn't even register it as no one cleans up here without an incentive. But I was surprised that Manav actually started cleaning. Arnav and I happily joined in and within 15 minutes we had the place clean !! It was such a dump, wish I had a 'before-after' picture. Manav egged us on saying we have to clean fast else toy fairy, clothes fairy, shoe fairy and all other fairies will come and take things away.

And now Arnav is spitting on his palms and smearing the same on the chairs and wiping with Kleenex....his version of cleaning.

Earlier he came upto me and said

" I fall down. I did not cry. I have big muscles." flexing his arms.

Today it was express dinner, bath and sleep as the boys didn't nap in the afternoon. I was fumbling with Manav's socks and said

"Sorry my brain is not working"

"Why Mommy?"

"I am so tired and remember we didn't sleep in the afternoon" I said trying to make him feel tired too.

He seemed to understand and peeped into the bathroom where Caunteya was brushing Arnav and said

"But Papa's brain is working"

"Why do you think so?"

"See he brushes, puts Aveeno and everything perfect. His brain is still working"

Yeah, that kind of put things into perspective for me.

Have to close this with Arnav's remark before he went to bed

"Non't say Papa I drink water" He is not supposed to drink water (within 30 mins) after his fluoride rinse at night. So Papa you didn't read this.

Live on Air

How one's mood and health can affect the way one behaves with the kids and how they mirror the same bad behaviour, is understated. It happened to me today and I must confess that this isn't the first time. But then the sunshine made it all go away (wish it were that simple). But for Manav weather is all about looking at that golden page from weather.com on my laptop. He calls this the "weather that doesn't talk" and the one on TV is the "weather that talks". So he explains to Arnav

"See the sun there? It's very strong today, just like the Packer guys. Then there will be howling winds, see the white things there, that's wind. And then the cold will become stronger than the sun" (That's the weather for 'Right Now', 'Tonight' and 'Tomorrow'). Now it is 52F ( That means 25F, he always reads it the other way)"

"Yes, F for fish" Arnav says.

"No, F for fahrenheit."

"Noooo, F for fish" and goes on till I intervene.

On my way back from school yesterday Manav was particularly cranky. Once I took the right turn he goes "Go straight, no turning right."

"But Manav you have to tell me before I take the turn, now it is too late" I said

"You have to remember Mommy. I cannot keep repeating things. You have to go straight everyday"

"But Manav the straight way is longer"

"I want to go longer way. I like long drives"

Seeing this wasn't going anywhere I came up with something like this

"If we take the longer way everyday we use more gas, that means we spend more money, so there will be less money left to buy cool things like candy and toys"

That seemed to put his mind in the thinking gear till he found something else to whine about.

Today on way back I asked him, "Manav which way do you want me to go?"

"Right Mommy. If we go straight we will buy gas and not cool things like popcorn and candy corn. There will be no money Mommy." Mission accomplished for now at least. I smile.

In times of true self reflection I see that I am not really paying attention to what the boys are saying most of the time. But then they talk non-stop. So today Manav was saying something over and over again which sounded like "I want air Mommy". At first I was a little concerned thinking he might be sick but then disregarded when it became repetitive. Only over lunch I figured out what he was saying

"When we listen to radio Mommy they say live on air, I also want live on air. What is it?"

First I laugh and they join in and then I try to explain what that means and the look on his face tells me how bad a job I did.

Today, I did a better job of providing lunch. Mommy what do you think?

Arnav's plate was similar just that he had loads of broccoli in his. Couldn't take a picture of them together as I had to separate their seats, they indulge in too much tomfoolery when seated together.  

They stuck stickers on both cheeks and sat down to lunch and Manav remarked

"Mommy this looks like lunch from school. Today we are in school and you are Ms Foley"

"No this is Mommy" Arnav says.

Then they had a ball with the stickers, sticking them on the carpet and trying to rip them off.

I have to do something about the camera giving these blurred motion pictures....and most of the time the kids are in motion or as the song in Manav's music class goes  " 'A' 'C' 'T' 'I' 'O' 'N'.....kids in Action"

They moved to the toy room to clean it up in anticipation of a "surprise treat" but as expected they started playing (see now I am a pro at tactics)

They love to build and Manav makes Arnav get the blocks and he builds. But today Arnav took possesion of the whole Lego table and Manav had no choice but to get the blocks for him. He did try

"Arnav where is the blue block, can you get it?"

"There, over there" still perched on his fort.

"Good eyes Arnav" Manav didn't seem to mind and that's usually the case when they are fed they are amenable to most of the rules.

Post nap it was football time. Coming to think of it, something is just not right today. Manav hasn't changed his attire even once after school. Anyways, today he chose to be the commentator

"Commander Arnav starts playing and here's a toooouchdoooowwwwn"

"Mommy the cowboys got a touchdown" Manav said

"Good for them" I said

"No, you need to watch the replay" and he ran extra slow and touch(ed)down on the couch but somehow in this replay Arnav got hurt.

So now Manav was the doctor and they went to the doctor's office by the gate and he said

"Arnav teamers don't laugh or cry when the doctor is fixing them" Arnav was very co-operative and they resumed play shortly. But Manav ran into Arnav while "tackling" the ball and hit his arm hard.

"Please don't hurt my T-shirt" Arnav yelled.

I went towards Manav and intended to put him in timeout and he said

"But football teamers do that Mommy....they hit and fall over each other" but I still didn't change my mind so he said

"Arnav do you want to be a crocodile and eat me ?" and someone preferred being devoured by a menacing croc than a timeout.  

Most of the evening was peaceful listening to 'Three Billy Goats Gruff'.

This was yesterday, sharing a light moment on their "safari" bus with Manav the bus driver showing animals and also serving coffee to Arnav the passenger. 

Packers V/S Packers

A good Monday after ages. Guess that cooped up at home all week really made all of us look forward to a normal weekday. Only luxury I missed was being able to ignore the 6:30 AM alarm and sleep late.

We were discussing the game during breakfast. Manav wanted to know why we need two teams to play. "Why cannot Packers and Packers play?" Then he wanted to know who were the players with red jersey and helmet.

"Red means stop, green means go" Arnav said

I had no clue about the color coding of the teams so Manav decided he'll be Packers and the red team today. I took the cue and tried making him wear the football jersey ( as it is full sleeves and thick and perfect for a cold day) and said he can be the quarterback. But he was not interested "I cannot be the quarterback all day" and went on to wear his usual half t-shirt over full.

Everyday before they leave I say the same things "Have a nice day, listen to your teachers, don't hit, push etc" but today Arnav walked up to me and said

"Bye Mommy, I will listen to Ms Beth"

"I will miss you Arnav" I said

"Non't call me Arnav Mommy"

"What are you?"

"I am Packers."

"Ok, bye Packers"

When I went to pick up the boys from school, Arnav told me

"You cannot take me 'koley' (pick him up). You have too many things to carry"

Looks like today is the day when things have clicked in Arnav's head. Every day I say the same thing but still he perches atop me till I put him down on the car seat.

Lunch was a makeshift affair as I didn't take the fact into account that dosa batter might not be available at the Indian store. So I quickly made Manav his sandwich and Arnav had his dal rice. Arnav will not touch a sandwich even if he is starving and Manav will take ages, at least 2-3 stories and 2 cups of water to get some dal rice into his system. Such are their food habits and I take the brunt of it.

My mom would be aghast at this nutritionally inadequate lunch I serve the boys but under the circumstances this is the best I could have done. (Really?)

Then Manav jumped on his homework having missed the same for such a long time. He loves his homework and it is to be seen how long this passion will last.

And Arnav went to play his game of jumping from chair to chair. He would line up the small red chair infront of the black armchair and jump back and forth till he'd fall down.

Manav did his connect the dots and colored the Pony. Then he put some black color (see on the top between the hearts and the pony's head) and told me

"Mommy that is thunder. It is dying the pony's flowers"

I started thinking why such dark thoughts would come to his head but dismissed the same hearing the brothers converse

"Arnav look see how beautiful it is. This is how you should color inside the lines. You cannot do it, you will only scribble, scribble, scribble."

Arnav was more interested in the Ramayana comic book. ( I have to hide it somewhere). He calls me "Mommy Mommy, I need you here"

"Yes, Arnav"

"Excuse me, Packers, I am Packers please"

"Oh, yes Packers?"

"The blue guy is Ram right?"

"Yes."

Then we went to nap with Arnav declaring that he is Mommy and will read Ramayana to all of us. I was Manav and Manav was 'Ashu lal' (Thats what we call Arnav). And Manav started pulling Arnav's leg "Next Morning ......" (That's how all of Arnav's stories begin) and I lost all track of who-is-who.

Late afternoon they were playing with some animal flash cards. They made a big animal card train but Arnav started breaking the same so Manav decided to divide the cards. Arnav got his share of 4 cards (an owl, a parakeet, a dog and giraffe) while Manav took the rest of the 20. Then he told Arnav to sit on the carpet and he sat on the red chair beside him and shared a lot of jokes. They were totally tickled by the 'Guinea Pig'.

By dinnertime we all were tired and Manav was constantly chanting that he wanted the chocolate cake. The condition was to finish dinner to have the same. But he was still whining.

"Why are you behaving like a donkey Manav"  Caunteya rebuked

"Do donkeys keep food in their mouth?"

"No donkeys don't listen and they are fools"

"Oh, but this food is taking too long to finish. I want chocolate cake"

Caunteya was really mad and yelled at him

"Are you a lion papa? Are you roaring now?"

Things settled down a little bit after that and by the time he finished his dinner he had either forgotten about the cake or had no appetite.

To sum it all up I have to quote Arnav ( sorry Packers)  

"Its funny"

"Its NOT fair"

"I am so tired"

"Its dark and I am sleepy"

 So till "Next morning......."