This morning, Shubham & I were at the kitchen table enjoying our morning cup of ginger tea, while Tanay was busy conducting a fight between Batman & Mickey Mouse. Suddenly…

Tanay: Poo Poo…. Poo Poo…!!!!

Shubham: You go…. I did it yesterday…

Me: No way! You have been away all week…. I am not getting up.

Shubham: Why can’t I read my paper in peace?!

Me: Because that’s why! (which in case you did not know is Tanay’s answer to everything and which we very conveniently use. Face it… it’s an excellent reason!)

Tanay (shaking his head and looking rather exasperated): I don’t need any of you!!! I can go by myself!

And so we spent the next two minutes in peace, until Tanay started running all around the house like a li’l streaker and all hell broke loose!

It’s Shubham. He is now a fellow blogger. That only leaves Tanay. I don’t think he is far behind. He only needs to master his alphabets and he is there.

Stop by http://becausethatswhy.com. I think you will be quite entertained.

A few weeks ago, we attended a Math & Literacy night at Tanay’s school. I insisted that Shubham come along. After all he is the math & science guy between the two of us. More importantly, he has way more patience than I have when it comes to sitting with Tanay and going over letters and numbers. In fact, he is solely responsible for me getting through the finals of my Masters. Both of us have very different learning techniques. He is curious, wants to understand the fundamentals and actually enjoys learning. I, on the other hand, just want to get it over with. So…. there you go. 

At school, while Shubham & Tanay explored the different math games which the teachers had set up, a very scary feeling came over me. My baby was all grown up. Even more scary was that fact it was time to get a little serious. It was time to hit the books. I was raised to believe that education was the most important thing and I always knew that educating your child is one of your biggest responsibilities. I just didn’t know how scary it could be! I know what you are thinking….. a harmless Math night and Priya loses it. What can I say… it was like a wake up call. 

So, Tanay & I have started spending a few minutes every day pouring over pre-school workbooks. I say a few minutes, because that’s how long Tanay can sit in a place without having this irresistible urge to start drawing dinosaurs and super heroes (his latest). Of course it all just looks like scribbling to me. But I know there is a story behind every single scribble of his. Shubham’s explanation for his bizarre drawing skills is that his imagination runs so fast that his hand cannot keep up. That’s another thing. Shubham is way more creative than I am and hence sees the creative streaks in our boy better than I ever could. So as you can see, I have some learning to do of my own. I have a feeling that it’s going to be a fun journey.

On a closing note, here is something I read in the latest edition of the Parenting Magazine:

“At age 4 a child is finally smarter than a pigeon, according to scientists at Keio University in Japan.”

Seriously??? What will these so called researchers come up with next??? If this is true then we have just a few months left before we get hit by a sudden bout of smartness.

Seven years of absolute joy and bliss. Shubham & I can hardly believe that it’s been that long. We were under the impression that the seven year itch starts when you complete seven years, but then a friend mentioned that, the itch in fact has already ended. Hmmm… I am confused. Anyways, I intend to rent the famous Marilyn Monroe movie this weekend and watch it with Shubham.

I know I have been slacking lately. OK, slacking a lot. What can I say… we have been busy…doing our own thing. Shubham has been bitten by the work out bug and has been devoting all his time to adding some muscle to his bones. And, just like every other thing that he takes up, he is very serious about it. Of course, I now have to answer his “How do I look?” every single day. You have no idea how tiring it can get. But I am happy that, at least this obsession of his is for his own good. So, while Shubham focuses on getting flatter abs, I promise to aim for the exact opposite. After all, balance needs to be maintained in this universe.

Tanay came up to us this morning and gave both of us a “Happy Anniversary” hug. We also got special anniversary-smiley-face stickers from him which we had to flaunt on our shirts. He actually wanted them on our faces, but I managed to talk him out of that. Don’t give me that look! One of the stickers was a huge alligator!

I woke up this morning with a new found determination. It was time I got off my backside and started updating my forgotten blog. Trust me, I hadn’t forgotten it. In fact, I have about a dozen drafts lying unfinished in my folder. It has just been a crazy few weeks. But, if you ask me just why exactly have these weeks been crazy…..well… I really don’t know. I cannot seem to make a list of things which have kept me busy without sounding trivial. I mean… I really cannot put laundry on that list…. or other everyday boring things. Either it’s the curse of being a housewife/SAHM or I am just plain old lazy and pathetic. I chose to believe it’s the first….. but deep down I am pretty sure that it’s the later.

Anyways, the last few weeks have been busy with a number of wonderful Indian festivals which we have been celebrating. This year, Tanay has been taking a rather keen interest in learning about our culture including getting all dressed up in ethnic Indian clothes. At present we are all celebrating Diwali… the Festival of Lights. Every year we light up the house, eat tons of yummy sweets (but of course!), pray and meet up with friends and family. To do his part, Tanay announced that he wanted an “Indian festival surprise gift!”. groan!

This year, two rather amazing and wonderful things have happened. Diwali goes on for about three to four days and almost always begins with Shubham announcing that he has to travel on business during those exact few days. It sucks big time. Obviously, he hates it too… but well… what can you do?! So I wasn’t surprised when he called me yesterday to tell me that he will be gone for the next three days. But then, today has turned out to be…. in a way…magical. It had been raining all night and this morning just as I was about to start cursing the nasty wet weather…. the rain turned to ice and then to snow! It was actually snowing! I love the snow. But to see it in October was such a pleasant shock. I can safely say that we had a White Diwali! That’s not all. Shubham called to say that his trip had been cancelled. This has never happened before!!! I am so excited to have him home on this very special day. 

As for Tanay, he cannot wait for Diwali to be over coz he knows that Halloween comes next. He forced us to buy a “Horny Devil” (nothing but a red devil with horns) mask from Party City so that we could look cool….just like him. I think Friday is going to be rather interesting, I will keep you all posted. I promise. I am done slacking, Next step is to update some recent pics.

We get into the Monsters Inc. ride. Tanay & me in the front seat and Shubham in the back. We ooh & aah at all the monsters and finally the ride ends with Roz. Yes… Roz, the bookkeeper of the Monsters, Inc. factory. The same one who speaks with a very rough voice and has a slug-like body. I overhear her telling the mom and her three kids sitting in the car in front of us, ” You girls….. listen to your mother….. else….blah..blah..(No.. I did not get that last part). So, I was all excited hoping that she may say something to Tanay and make my life a little easier. But… no… I was so wrong. When our turn came, she goes:

“Hey… you! the gentleman in the second row! I LIKE your glasses!”

OK.

1) How did she know that Shubham had new glasses on and that he thrives on such attention?!

2) Why couldn’t she just be a normal scary monster and terrorize Tanay into obeying me or something. Well, she probably realised that he was beyond terrorizing of any sort. Why bother!

Of course, Shubham spent the rest of the day with a silly grin on his face. Finally SOMEONE praised his glasses. His day was made. Even if it meant being hit on by a monster. A fake monster.

Years and years ago, today was the day my husband said hello to the world. We are planning to celebrate his birthday in the wilderness. You see, we are trying to make the most of this last week of summer. Catching up with some friends, just chilling and eating lots and lots of food. But then you already know that. We don’t need a reason to pig out! As of now the wilderness trip looks slightly doubtful. We have a rather shameful track record when it comes to stuff like this. We always plan such things but they never get executed. There is this strange inertia which overwhelms us and we almost always end up just eating and sleeping. Which is also fun….ALWAYS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Shubham! Keep smiling…. you light up our life! And, hopefully you will have a birthday to remember……wilderness or not.

On Saturday, we went to the Point Pleasant beach on the Jersey shore. Finally. Last summer, we kept thinking and planning and then we thought and planned some more. But we never really put our plan into action. This time we didn’t plan. We just got into the car and decided to go. First stop was Aditi’s house. We wanted to see if we could drag our butts and make them fit into one car. So we had Ashu and his dad in the front, three kids in their car seats in the second row and me, Shubham & Aditi in the last row. Shubham’s six feet, sorry six feet one inch (edited by Shubham)  had to be ironed and folded and rolled into a ball. He is still slouching and my butt still hurts. Trust me, I don’t think the MDX has ever seated so many people…. EVER! But it was so worth it. It’s a whole different experience sitting all cramped up in a car, falling all over each other every time the driver as much as touches the breaks. Also, this is a relatively common practice in India. There was this one time in college, when ten of us crammed into a five seater. Ofcourse those were also the days when I could fit into a size zero. But let’s not get into “those days”.

So, we park ourselves on the beach, get a couple of umbrellas, spread out the blanket and get ready to relax. The kids and the dads were in the ocean in no time. Unfortunately Tanay was not amused. “THE WATER IS YUCKY!” So after a customary dip, he was out for good with a “CHANGE ME RIGHT NOW…. THERE IS SAND IN MY PANTS!!”. The waves were really strong and hitting hard as they rolled onto the beach. Shubham and Ashu were quite enjoying themselves and I was getting rather snap happy with my trusted Canon. When suddenly I saw a giant wave creeping from behind, the two of them go under and come out blinded. Literally. The waves took their glasses. And without them both of them are absolutely blind! Unlike Shubham, Ashu had a spare pair in the car, which he promptly retrieved. After that for the rest of the day, they kept sharing the glasses for sight seeing purposes, if you know what I mean Such true friendship! Applause!

So, we had to stop at the mall on our way back to get him a new pair of glasses, because….. that was his only pair. All was well. We had a fabulous time at the beach, Shubham got  a new pair of glasses and someone off the Coast of Bahamas is probably jumping for joy because he just laid his hands on a pair of D&Gs.

Last week Tanay got back from school with a ” I am very very sad” look on his face. On probing, I found out that he was feeling left out since I had not signed him up for swim lessons in school. ” My feelings are hurt when the teacher does not call my name“. So, I relented and signed him up. Frankly we hadn’t really done much of swimming this summer. Feeling rather guilty, we decided to make the most of whatever little time we have left. In addition to swim lessons in school, we will also be going to the local YMCA come September. (I just hope I haven’t over done it). This past Sunday, Shubham took him to the community pool which luckily for us is right behind the house. It’s ideal, since we are THE laziest family on the street. Also my constant ooing and aahing about Michael Phelps in the last few days has made him Tanay’s hero too. Phelps is my kind of an obsession. I wholeheartedly support it.

Yesterday we noticed that Shubham had this huge bug bite on his arm. Now, the only time he had been out in the wild (ahem) was when he went swimming. The bite had two tiny white spots on it. Shubham’s theory was that a snake probably jumped high up in the air and bit him. That too in the ten steps it takes to get to the pool from our house. Thrilling but very unlikely. Anyways, it looked nasty so we headed to the doctor’s office. I dropped Tanay off to school. But before he went he passed on some words of wisdom to his father, who by the way has a history of panicking at the mere sight of a needle. It’s no wonder that men don’t have babies. I digress and I don’t want get into the million other reasons there are for it.

“Momma… you don’t go with him. Let him go alone. And Papa, DON’T CRY THERE (I have a reputation, you know!). I am going to be very MAD if you cry. BE BRAVE”.

Thankfully there were no needles involved so both Papa and son were happy with the outcome. As for the flying snake who allegedly bit him…. WE ARE ON THE LOOKOUT!

Also, I have an update on the trashed dinosaur situation. A couple of days ago, Tanay stormed into our room early morning and demanded,” WHERE ARE ALL MY DINOSAURS?!”. Ugh! not a pleasant way to wake up. I very clamly told him that he knew exactly where they were. Of course he wanted them all back and I was immediately deemed to be VERY MEAN. I cannot tell you the relief I felt. Finally, ALL WAS WELL WITH THE WORLD. My dino boy was back! So we negotiated and worked out an arrangement. For every day that he is good, he gets one back. Of course, we HAVE to thoroughly clean it. After all it was in the garbage! Duh! I know its going to be a long time until all of them are back in the house. But I think it will be worth the wait.

The beginning of our Toronto trip was a roller coaster ride. Literally. To begin with, we were flying in one of those tiny jets. And to add to it, the weather was just nasty. We flew through thunder storms all through the way, so much so that even the flight stewards were asked to remain seated. You may ask, what’s so bad about you not seeing the stewardess’ face during an hour long flight. Well… NO JUICE!! You see, Tanay loves the cran-apple juice which they serve on flights. He probably thinks that there is something very grown up about saying, ” I will have some juice please” and then spilling it all over your pants and then have her get you a refill! When we boarded, Tanay was sitting with me, but then just when we were about to start, he had a change of heart and he jumped to the next row to sit with Shubham. This turned out to be one of the wisest decisions ever made by my three year old. The flight was choppy right from the very start. And it just kept getting worse. To the extent that at one point I felt as if I was sitting in one of those Frog Jumper rides at the amusement park, which you know I HATE. While I tried to distract myself by chanting my favorite God - Lord Ganesha’s name, Shubham and Tanay were going WOO-HOO…..WOO-HOO with their arms up in the air!! Had he been sitting with me, I would have forced him to panic. I have never been more relieved than when the flight landed. And this from a flight which I expected would be nothing but an hour of sipping soda and flipping through the latest People magazine.

Every trip of ours includes a backpack full of chargers. Yeah…. for cellphones….laptops….ipods. We usually are very careful about stuff like this because this is after all the most important thing that you can pack. You don’t want to go on a vacation and be cut off from the world! How do you expect me to change my facebook status otherwise? And how will I check my mail every ten minutes? I mean, what if there is a crisis and I am the ONLY person who can solve it? You get the point. So, Shubham realised that he had forgotten both his cell phone as well as his laptop charger. He was all…. I HAVE GOT TO FIND A MALL!! That’s how we ended up at the Toronto Eaton Centre within 2 hours of checking into the hotel. While Shubham hit the wireless stores, Tanay & I just walked around aimlessly, until all peace was shattered with a “THE DISNEY STORE!!”. I was all.. what? where? Oh! there. (DAMN IT!). Now, when it comes to the Disney store, we really have exhausted all our options.Trust me. I am not exaggerating.  Except for the pink stuff. Ofcourse. So, Tanay looked and looked, trying to find something which he could buy. Finally he had it. A Sleeping Beauty figurines set. At first, I was a bit shocked. Coz after all it was a Princess related toy. Then I asked him why he wanted to buy it. Actually I should have anticipated this answer. “I want it for the dragon and the witch” OK. What followed was a mini obsession with the Sleeping Beauty story, which to tell you frankly, I was quite happy about. Anything other than the same old dinos.

A couple of days later, I was telling Shubham about Tanay’s soccer coach getting married to one of his teachers. Tanay stopped in his tracks.

Tanay: Married? Why are they getting married?

Me: Because they love each other. Just like the Prince and the Princess in the Sleeping Beauty story.

Tanay : What about me? I am sad. I want to get married too. Whom do I love?

Me: Ummm ……….

Tanay: WAIT. I love the witch. I WILL MARRY THE WITCH.

I always knew that he had a thing for the villians. Be it Black Pete or the Big Bad Wolf or Swiper. Turns out…. we love the vamps too! BIG TIME. And if this is any indication, I am terrified to even think about how his teen years are going to be! I am in so much trouble. Help me God!