Moppet’s mom tags me to list D’s and Dlittle’s nicks. [I must give her due credit for bringing in the majority of my laughter supplies.]

Now to the tag. After catching a glimpse of Moppet’s and Kodi’s nicks, I don’t feel as bad revealing any of these in public.

• Few months before D was born, bunch of us girls went to see a Tamil movie. Gosh, I don’t recall the name of the movie, nor do I recall if it was Vikram or Soorya in the cast. D was offered The heroes name which I refused to accept. Only when the ring leader forced the title Kunjaayee on to D , did I know the influence these actors had on them. The fun part was to explain LH what it meant.[He does not understand Tamil].
• It started off with sweetu, cutie pie.. Few months down the line, LH named her Narasimha Rao, thanks to her chubby cheeks and near to bald head. [Note to self: Delete this before D starts reading and disowns me].
• About a year later, naani lovingly calls her raaja kutti, kutti moni. Which made the LH furious as he thought we treated his loving daughter like a dog. Another year down the line, papa and daughter are pulling each others cheeks saying kutti moni.. Yes, you read that right. Both of them saying to each others.
• There are few that still continue, laddoo, raaja betu. Mummy ka pyaal(r)a. Though lately the big sister is desperate to transfer them over to the little one. You see, she is a big sister now.
• When she’s at her best she gets called the monster, drama queen, naatakbaaz[drama queen].
• The one she gave herself is D-Didi. Her day care lady had complained that she demands other kids to call her Ddidi.
• This one is NOT approved in my household, yet slips in every so often. When the never ending questionnaire starts, I answer a LOT of them patiently. When I lose it, I end up saying. ‘kuch nahi, meri amma‘. With no effect, the much anticipated question is fired back ‘Why you calling me amma, mummy?’
• Drama queen – Both my daughters are drama queens. Doc confirmed this at Dlittle’s two month visit when the little one showed the doc her tongue and smiled.
• Yours truly calls Dlittle bouchini, dunguna botta[beta]. No context, no meaning.
• Friends have honored Dlittle with the Mini-me title. [The last quirk]

Open to anyone interested.

This ones a tag by Swati on Dreams untold.

I dream when I am awake, I dream when I sleep, I dream when I am traveling. If I am not talking, not on the laptop, not writing code, then I am dreaming. I will confine this post to dreams while fast asleep..
——
This one is the weirdest of all. I was working for this startup where once we had a major release scheduled. Nearing the release, there was an unresolved issue which had no pattern to it and was driving us nuts. We stayed up until 1:00am, still couldn’t resolve the issue. After realizing that our brains had stopped functioning, team decided to take few hours break to come back refreshed in the morning. Here comes the dream of the night. The bits and bytes of colorful code was stolen by a rickshaw man. He had all the code in a basket and was cycling away. followed by me screaming – We have a release tomorrow. Please give my code back..
——
This one I dream often.
I am running really fast gasping for breath and fall into a tunnel. I wake up sweating…
——
Nothing remotely close to this has ever happened to me, yet this one I dream often.
Some guy enters our house(a tiny weeny house from my early childhood). This guy is not a robber, he just wants to stab me. Thats all. He is searching for me through the streets and reaches my house. I hide in the storage area built on the top. I cannot breathe or make any noise, else this guy will find me. So, far he hasn’t been able to stab me , but every time I have woke up from this dream I have felt the pain.
——
The latest of all.
When Dlittle was about a month old, I skipped one cycle of nursing and diaper change. Why? Because I did all that in the dream So glad, it happened only once.
——

Edited: Forgot the fun part to tag others. Maybe I did in my dream.
I tag
mnamma
yaadayaada
Dame’s diary
Peridot

And anybody else who has interesting dreams to share…

Caught your attention, didn’t I ?

Now that you are here and would like to have fun, leave me a hint in the comments section. Will send an invite[to keep the session private to the group] to the masti zone. [The software's invite is via email.]

Edited: Wordpress sends me your email address. Feel free not to mention it in the comments, just say if you would like to participate.

[PS: Swati, Moppett's mom, Mystic Margarita - Will take up the tag soon, I had to get this out first ]

Kodi’s mom, you are the sweetest! To tag the littlest ones.

• Every day, after my oil massage, I get a no diaper time of about 1/2 hour. In that 1/2 hour, mommy makes me squat, makes all sorts of sounds, folds my legs and brings it upwards pressing against my tummy. I wondered why, until one fine day papa as confused as me asked her what she was up to. Mommy says, ‘girl does not want to make pee, she will pee the minute I put her in the bath tub filled with water’. Papa says ’so’?
  Sigh..what’s the big deal?
  
• I am a good sleeper alright. Lately, some strange feelings inherit between 10 and 12 in the night, when neighbors are winding up, mommy and papa are ready to start their night time job. Nooooo…., I mean start work with the offshore team. I sing it close enough to beat bollywood songs with those high and low notes, yet mommy and papa laugh, sometimes rolling on the floor. Click here and judge for yourself.
  ahh, now I know, mommy has successfully passed on her Indian Idol obsession to me.. Will you Aunty’s be kind enough to vote for me and help me get to the finals?
• Isn’t my mom supposed to know the minute I need milk? I don’t like howling right away. I start with turning my head to one side, open and close my mouth few times in anticipation of grabbing the milk machine as soon as I get into contact. In the process I end up moving 60 degrees with my body upside down..half way..
  God, what’s quirky about this?
• I don’t know why my mom has to talk while nursing. I am not yet at a stage to understand who she is talking to, so if I am in her lap and she is talking, it has to be me right? So, I give her a broad toothless grin, when the big monster aka Ddidi of the house screams Mummy, Dlittle has come outted yours guggu baata.
  I can’t have a little private time with my mommy?
• Mommy’s friends call me mini me. Reminds me of Austin powers mini me.
  Do you see smoke anywhere?

******

!! DONE-DON-AA-DONE !!

Now the fun part where I get to tag…
I tag
Aadya
Squiggles
Ninni-The-Pooh
Popol
Adi

Anybody else reading this has an infant, please consider yourself tagged.

- Dlittle

!! We did it !!

We are still working on few intrinsic details, but overall it was one successful week in school it has been a joy ride for her as there is no pressure to eat and the word “no” is prohibited in school. All of the four days, she has vehemently refused to leave the school and come home, we had to pass subtle hidden stares and bribe her to avoid any further embarrassment.

******

The first day was rather easy, was no surprise after having experienced her first day in day care. That morning, after a good adult style debate, ended up making pasta for her lunch instead of aalo paratha. Her lunch bag was packed, her back pack had the hand sanitizer, a box of Kleenex and sunscreen. When we reached school, she insisted on carrying all her belongings herself. She excitedly ran inside leaving me with few seconds to capture the moment.

I walked D into her class while LH waited in the lobby with Dlittle. The plan was to start her off with half a day, but a talk with her teacher(Miss B) convinced me to let her go with the regular planned routine from day 1. I was pretty restless the whole day, called the school in the afternoon to check on her eating skills. Miss B said she ate well. I went around 4:00pm to pick her up, she was dressed in the same clothes as she left home. Yes, that means no accidents I was the happiest, proudest mother ever! The minute we reached home, I showered her with hugs and kisses. After the emotions settled down a bit, I opened her lunch box to find pasta just as it was packed in the morning. Wondered why Miss B said that she ate well. Perhaps she did not know which kid I was asking about? I was furious. D was active as ever, not eating lunch did not seem to bother her. I sat her down for some talking. She said she did not eat because she wanted sandwich. I had to feel happy that D hadn’t cried, hadn’t fussed once and adjusted very well to the new environment. Considering it was her first day, I had to be hopeful her eating will get better in days to come.

******

Day 2, 2 aalo paratha’s and some grapes were packed for lunch and snack. I told Miss B that D had not eaten anything the day before. Miss B promptly answered it was the montessori style of teaching. They are not allowed to force kids to eat Or do anything for that matter. Not seeing a happy mother, she added to keep an eye on D and remind her few times to finish her lunch. That evening, D refused to come back home as she was waiting in line to paint. I waited for her to finish painting, she still wouldn’t come. When few subtle stares did not do the trick, bribing to grab pink color pencil on the way back home did the trick. No accidents on day 2 . One out of the two parathas had found its calling and that raised my hope.

******

Day 3, It was going to be a rice trial. Egg rice and apples it was. Three of my friends called that afternoon to check on D. The proud mother could not stop raving, in the process forgot all about the phone JINX.. D came home in her spare pants that day The good news, her lunch box was half empty.

******

Day 4, 3 pieces of idli and grapes, it was. All 3 gone by the end of the day. !! IDLI ROCKS !! And no accidents either! Maybe she knew it was Friday?

******

Report from Miss B: She is assertive, very active, talkative, adamant, knows what she wants. She is not able to focus on one job[project, play], she hops from one to another… She does not give space to other kids..
I wonder if it’s too much to ask a 34 month old to focus on A Project? Are they old enough to have a sense of it? I stayed back on Friday to observe D and the other kids. Other kids much younger than D seem to have the ability to focus. They pick a toy, sit on the big conference style table and play with that one toy without getting distracted with others on the table. [These kids have been with this school at least a month]. Is it a matter of time? I don’t know yet. I wish to learn more about this and log the changes it brings in D.

Moved my blog rbdans to DD Mom’s Weblog…

[Still working on the links...]

Left a comment on Pop-moms super duper post, that is about to hit the century. Thought I need to jot it in my own space for future reference, only to be in use when I am at my low!

Using face recognition technology, you can find which celebrity you look like is what the site says.
Yeah right, says utbt in her comment that got me rolling ** copied from Pop-mom’s comment space **

I was really, really, majorlu bumped cos the first match that showed up on the image recognition sw was Pedro Martinez. Then it showed Michale Jackson. What @#$%^&?. I kind of cooled down after it showed Uma Thurman and Katie Holmes. But Michael Jackson and Katie Holmes??What kind of connecion is that?
Anyways, I tired Chula’s and Mieja’s pictures, Katie Holmes was one of the match.
I always thought that the girls didn’t look like me. But, hey there is a some small bit of me in there!!!!

Here is the link in case you’ll missed out the comment:

http://www.myheritage.com/FP/Company/tryFaceRecognition.php

God, I am supposed to be working! Help me!
-

This past Friday was D’s last day in day care, She is starting Montessori from tomorrow. ** Wiping the sweat! **

Coming to think about it, its exactly one year since she started day care. Made me take a pleasant stroll down the memory lane

Choosing a day care:
——————————
We took the decision to put D in day care when she turned 21 months. Ideally I wanted to wait till she hit the 2 year marker. But, D being a very social and outgoing person, I found it harder and harder to entertain her the whole day. Add to it my not-so-good temperament to handle it without losing it at the end of day. To top it, Hs venture required more resources and I had to pitch in. It was tough, but we had to take the decision to let her be with other kids of her age for about 3 hours a day. The painstaking hunt began.

I had few basic criterion in mind, one with the least amount of deviation was going to be it.
- Clean, bright and spacious.
- Licensed.
- Child to teacher ratio less than 4.
- Should not have more than 10 kids.
- Mostly Indian food OR atleast vegetarian food.
- Outdoor play area.
- Experienced.
Nice to have:
- Kids of approximately same age.
- Recommendation from moms I knew.
- Hindi speaking.
- Close to home.

Our first preference was an Indian home based day care, as for the food, number of kids and language condition. Nothing against a non-Indian place, we thought this would make her transition smooth. Looked around for almost a month. Some were disgustingly unhygienic, some were run solely for business with no passion whatsoever. Some which I liked did not have vacancy, some were not willing to take part time kids. After a very lengthy exhausting search, we decided on one which two of our friends recommended and was closest to our needs. This was the one which I had liked at first sight. Mostly, because the care giver and the helpers(2 of them) sounded very sweet and very caring, they had 10 kids in all, all the three care givers were 40+, she has been doing this for 12 years.
On the day of tour, me and H went into another room to get a copy of the paper work and talk more details. When we came out, D was there playing with the kids as though she had known them for ages. Everything about this place just sounded right. And we enrolled her right there.

First week in day care:
——————————–
The decision was made and D was going to start in a week. The day comes. We reached the place round 9:30 AM. I had planned to stay there for about half hour and sneak out quitely. The mother in me was expecting to see her cling on to me, not let me leave the place and what not! To the contrary, the minute we reached, she ran inside and started playing with the kids. I handed over the paper work and the check to the lady, came down to deliver my pre-planned lecture to D. She did not even bother to sit for a minute and talk to me. She got busy finding her spot within the circle the kids were sitting getting ready for Circle time. After observing for few minutes and instructing the care giver to call me the minute she would fuss, I left hesitantly. I felt an overwhelming emotion to leave her with someone I hardly knew. This was the very first time ever I was leaving her with anybody other than H and my mom. I couldn’t stop myself from driving by her house couple of more times. Don’t know maybe I was expecting to see smoke in her house the minute D cries. It felt silly and I drove back home. I was constantly checking my home phone, my cell phone making sure they were all working. I wouldn’t remove my shoes in anticipation of the phone call any minute.

After about an hour, I received the much anticipated call. Only to hear that D is happily playing with the kids, not once asked for me, swiped the snack plate and lunch to the last bit. And asked for a second serving. Boy, did that make me happy and proud! But the happiness lasted only a few minutes, as soon I realised she was a grown up toddler and did not need me 24 x 7. My heart broke into zillion pieces. Barely managing to contain myself for another hour, I went to pick her up. She saw me, ran and gave me a hug and a kiss. She told “her friends of one day” that I was her Mummy. It felt so good to see her so happy.

Very soon, she started refusing to take her afternoon nap at home and wanted to go back to V aunty home(day care). And surprisingly she would sleep in V aunty home, whatever magic V aunty did. I think it was the environment and the sight of other kids sleeping. We then extended her 3 hours to 6 hours. She would nap and take her evening milk in V aunty home, followed by snack in mummy home

Last day in day care:
——————————
This Friday was her last day in day care. She is growing up at the speed of light. How I wish I could slow down the clock and extend her babbling toddler years. How I wish I could have blogged from the day she was born to record day to day tidbits. Wishes are wishes, I am happy I am writing now. Coming to the topic, on the last day I took cup cakes for the kids, a bouquet of flowers, a nice box of chocolate and a hand written thank you note for each of the care givers. Asked D to personally thank them, making this year long journey a fun and memorable one. There was a 5 minute hugging and kissing session within V aunty, B aunty, F aunty and D. We left with an open invitation to visit them anytime

What next?
——————
We had a surprise visit by a friend this morning and D tells them ‘Mommy says I am going to PINK school(thats the name D has given to her school) tomorrow . She knows somethings cooking, but does not have a clue what “school” is. I have been reading Bernstein bears back to school books and showing her Elmo ready for school videos, she seems to enjoy it.
As for me, the mother, its Monday evening and I am nervous. Nervous as in the day before exam! The questions all over again, this time the issues are different, but the emotions are the same.
Will she fit into the new environment?
Will she adjust to non-indian kids?
Will she be able eat by herself?
Will she pee and poop where she is supposed to!!

Tips?
——–
Experienced moms reading this post: Any tips on the type of food/snack to pack for lunch? Food that would taste good after being inside a packed box for 3 hours. Tips on helping her ease into the new environment.

For tomorrow, the grand plan is make aalo paratha early in the morning for her lunch and pick her up right after lunch. More updates as it happens…