It’s Christmas eve. I couldn’t be more excited! I have always celebrated Christmas. I am from Bombay and there everyone shares in the joys of all religions, irrespective of who you are. My mom had a real christmas tree out in the balcony and my earliest memory of a present is a shiny blue pencil box hanging by a thread on it. My brother and I went to a Catholic school and Christmas was just as special as Diwali or Holi.

And now I have Tanay to share it with, which makes it even more special. He is so excited. He has mailed out his list to Santa via the fireplace. We plan on making cookies today for his snack when he stops by. But that’s not all. Our very good friends will be here tonight from California. So will Shubham’s cousin. I love having a full house on holidays. The more the merrier!!

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone! Here’s a special greeting from Tanay. Enjoy!

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.

Not only is he obsessed with all the super heroes and bad guys in this universe, Tanay is slowly turning into one. Anybody know where I can get an extra large pack of patience?!

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.