A New Hobby

So I have a new-found hobby lately. Well, its not so new I'd say...it has been on my mind for a long time but just haven't had a chance to get around to doing anything about it. Having a daughter makes you want to learn it even more. Any guesses what I'm talking about? Well...I won't make this any more dramatic. Here goes...

I am talking about...Sewing!!! I mean I always knew how to operate the sewing machine to do a basic straight stitch and stuff since I have grown up seeing my mom sew clothes and such for us kids. But more than machine operation, I wanted to learn how to measure, draft, cut and stitch a piece of cloth to turn it into a pretty frock or a lovely skirt or a ghaghra choli for my little princess. I was always looking for a good tailoring institute or even some one willing to teach basics from their home. But did not find anything until a few months ago when I learnt that there is an institute very close to our home with the entire setup and what not at a very nominal cost. This was like a great find coz what I always got was something far away from home or work which made it impossible to go on a daily basis. This institute taught all the classes I was looking for but the only catch was their timings - they were Monday to Friday from 10am to 1pm. So obviously I couldn't enroll since those coincided with some of my office timings of 11am to 8pm. But then one of my co-workers (we'll call her V) inspired me. She said if I really like doing something, I should find a way to do it. One way could be to enroll in this class and go whenever I can...so don't push yourself to go every day but if you can go to work late once a week or so, you could go to the class in the morning for an hour or two and then to work...even once a week is better than not going at all. She has done the same for her passion to play piano. Taking inspiration from her, I took the plunge in May. I joined and went sporadically once in a while and kept wondering how to continue working at it from home... until finally I made up my mind to invest in a sewing machine myself. So by the end of June I had completed my first project - a top for my lil N. When I saw her joy in wearing it and flaunting it around, it was just priceless. That is when I decided that I was ready to finally own a sewing machine. I mean my mom always had it and so did my mom-in-law. If nothing else, it will be very handy for mending, repairing and re-purposing clothes.

Ofcourse by then I had also done my research on sewing machine makes, models, features, etc. and made up my mind on which one to buy. That is how my friends, on June 29 2011, I finally became a proud owner of the Singer Fashion Maker 8280! Oh man and how I loved it since the day it arrived home. Sewing on this machine versus the pedaling one I was learning on, was such a day and night difference! This was far far easier to handle and work on tricky areas whereas with pedaling I am always scared of turning it the other way and stopping it in a hurry when the area to sew is a tiny one. Even things like threading a bobbin were a breeze on this as compared to the pedaling machines where I haven't yet mastered the technique.

I am dying to upload pictures of the sewing projects I have done so far but just so that I do not forget, I will list them out for now and come back later with pics. So the first one was a cute little top for lil N (a simple black top with white polka dots on it). The second was a pair of shorts I created for dear hubby out of one of his old pants. And then I altered one of my nighties to make it more comfortable to wear. The next was a skirt that I learnt from scratch at the institute. Now I am working on learning how to make a salwar suit. Can't wait to buy a nice fabric and start working on it asap!

This whole sewing-bug-phase made me reflect at how at different phases in life, there have always been one hobby or the other that has drawn my interest. So much so that I do not hesitate to make time to learn on my own but also go out of my way to find and attend classes to learn it well. I think it keeps me inspired and gives me a reason to smile other than the daily routine of work and home. I think I took this from my mom who always encouraged me to learn various things at home whether it was embroidery, fabric painting, knitting, sewing, anything. She even sent me to hobby classes every summer vacation to pick up things such as nib painting, tie and die, etc. I loved it and I so thank my mom for instilling that creativity bug in me.

If I were to list my most recent passions, I would say there was a time when I was single and dating my current hubby when I was sooooo into Scrapbooking. I mean I was so into it that I knew everything about acid free papers, embellishments, albums, journalling styles, etc. and have scrapbooked every single memory of our courtship days. Until the time I got married and busy with our new life together. So I still carry all my scrapbooking supplies, tools and clippings that I so want to put together some day when I have the time. Then came various other passions such as making greeting cards, planning theme based birthday parties, etc. but I realize it was mainly because I had sooo much scrapbooking material that I had to find a way to use it somehow. Somewhere in between I also kept doing hand embroidery and made things such as pillow covers, aprons, etc. Now it is the sewing bug that has hit me and god only knows what will be next.

I may not be excellent in each hobby I take up but I love doing it and it inspires me to do more and more. I keep telling my hubby that my dream is to open and run a hobby store one day (maybe once I retire from a corporate job lifestyle) and pass on this love to sooo many others like me out there who just need an inspirational place to let their creative juices run! Ah...for the love of hobbies...and dreams... :-)

Lessons from Mommyhood

It took me forever to pen these thoughts down but believe me, once you are a mommy, you never stop marveling at how much you've changed since you've had a baby. Life teaches you something new almost every day and sometimes it is so overwhelming that you almost forget what you were before this tiny creature entered your lives and changed it completely (for the better I'd say). So taking up this tag was not easy since it made me think and write and actually limit the lessons down to a few key bullet points amongst the innumerable ones motherhood teaches you in its journey. But thanks to Manasi who tagged me on this, I'll still make an attempt:

One thing that has stuck with me over the years is something a co-worker told me when I was in my last trimester. I just met him near the elevators (infact I still remember very clearly which part of the building and the exact spot where I was while these words were being shared with me) and he saw how I am almost there and congratulated me once more for expecting. And he said "This is such a life changing event. Infact let me tell you that after the baby you will not even remember how your life was before you had her. " Such simple yet true to the core words! I still think of him when I reflect on our lives at times or see a new mommy-to-be.

Another lesson I have learnt and never forget to impart to mommies-to-be is this. Please enjoy all your sleep before you have a baby. More importantly, enjoy the lifestyle which lets you sleep in to late hours during the mornings. Coz once you become a mommy, you will not have that luxury anymore. I know they say sleep is precious but for me, it is the early morning sleep that is the most precious. Coz I am just NOT a morning person. But once you are a mommy, you have no choice but to be one or atleast force yourself to not just get up early but even function like a clock early in the morning. I mean even weekends, when you think there is no rush in life, the baby decides to be wide awake, chirpy and playful early in the mornings!!! Whew! I get tired just thinking about mornings :-) But its not all bad you see. Mommyhood wants you to be up that early so that you can enjoy the baby a little more before the mad rush of routine starts. Or so that you can enjoy a few minutes by yourself before motherhood calls.

Patience is my new virtue. People who know me since my childhood marvel at the amount of patience I have grown since having lil N. Including my own brother! Especially at the age when your babies turn into toddlers and are discovering life on their own and have millions of questions every single minute. It is sometimes hard not to lose patience and to tell them to go do their own thing. Believe me, most times I make an effort to answer her questions to the best of my ability and in a language she can understand. Coz I strongly believe, if we curb this curiosity, the kids will either lose all interest in discovering and questioning ways of this life or worse still, will go find ways to get their answers from sources we may not like.

I always knew that I worked very well under pressure and that I can be a superwoman, multitasker queen when I need to. So I will not elaborate on that here and infact will just say that mommyhood has honed that skill of mine to perfection. I am sure this applies to most mommies in life :-) What I did learn is that now, as a mommy, I will keep worrying about almost everything. Infact I remember when I was talking about something I was worried about regarding my pregnancy to my boss at the time, she had said "Welcome to motherhood dear - you'll always worry about something or the other for the next 18 years until your child leaves your home...or even after that". Now I know what my mom must have gone through every time I wanted to do something reckless or even as simple as go on a school trip out of town. I used to tease her then but now I can sooooo relate to every emotion that must've gone through her heart.

Another lesson I learnt - that my husband is truly my rock in life. And that with him, I can face every challenge thrown my way. I am so glad that after all the childhood and teenage crushes, I finally found, loved and married a man who is just perfect for me. He and this event called motherhood taught me that come what may, if life throws a challenge at you, it also gives you the strength to endure and come out of it with flying colors. Or in other words, if God brought you to it, he will take you through it. You know how I know this? When lil N was born, we used to live in the US. And due to many reasons best left aside in this post, both our sets of parents could not come be with us when our baby was born. So we had to figure out how to raise this little bundle of joy all on our own. Not one single extra hand to help. Not even a maid. (We had hired a nanny once I was back home from the hospital but she turned out so devastating that we had to fire her within a week or so). That was the time my hubby and I bathed, fed, changed, rocked the newborn to sleep, took shifts at night all on our own 24 hours a day with no prior experience or help. Our love grew stronger than ever during that time and still makes me believe that come what may in life, if I have my husband by my side, I will be just fine.

During that same time, I also learned that when you are far away from home and your own families, your close friends become your extended family. So while we were learning how to be a mother and father to our little one when she arrived, our friends did the most amazing thing. They all got together (virtually over email) and created an Excel spreadsheet listing out who will take turns to deliver food (lunch and dinner) to our place every single day until we find a new nanny. And these were people who had kids and full time jobs of their own to worry about. I will never forget how our doorbell rang every morning with one of our friends coming by to check in on us and drop our lunch on their way to work. Some of them even had their mothers visiting them in the US and sent nutritious laddus, drinks, etc. that are given to new mothers in their own families. God bless them all.

There is soooo much more and like I said, each day teaches you something in this new life as a mommy. But it is not easy to write it all down. I can keep going and going but I think I'll stop now and pause to think who else can I tag. I am pretty sure most people I know have taken this tag up already but I'd still love to hear from Simran, HVP, Choxbox, Shruti and any other mommy who'd like to take it up. Take it away ladies!

I missed you

Hi Mommy Bloggers,

I have been away from the blogging world (both physically and mentally) for a while now...or so it seems. May have been just a few weeks or so (or maybe the entire summer) but feels like ages. So much so that when I came back today to visit my blog, I almost forgot my blogger password! Strange na? Lots has been going on in life which did not leave much time to visit this space and so the drive to come back and write about it kept fading away which led to a circle of sorts...no time to write....no time to read...so no interest in visiting the blog to catch up from where I left off.

Nyways, today I had a few minutes to myself while dear hubby and kiddo took a nap so thought lemme just catch up. And I found that I quite liked it after all this while too :-) Came back to read such interesting stuff going on in some of your lives...such as a new book by Manasi and all the fun stuff Simran has been upto...and a tag from Manasi which I will take up soon and oh soooo much more!

Thanks for keeping the mommy bloggers world alive ladies...and thanks for making me feel welcome to come back to it anytime. Will continue our journey together as and when time (and emotions) permit.

Luv,

D

Inspiration Block

Help ladies!!! I seem to be stuck in an 'inspiration block'. You know how you can't figure out what to write next when you have a writer's block? Well, for me these days, each day seems to be like an inspiration block. Almost like I can't figure out what to do with my time all day. I mean I want to tidy up my home or redecorate or do a fun craft activity with my child or just cook something new. But just don't seem to muster up the enthusiasm to do anything!!! Why??? This sucks! I am not sure when this will pass or what it will take to make this pass...so thought I'd ask you ladies for suggestions. Do you feel this way at times? How do you snap out of it? Even at work, I do what I need to do but almost subconsciously...not wholeheartedly. Each evening when I come home, I hate to think of getting into meetings again within an hour...I used to do it all so well until a few weeks ago...these days I just feel shitty about everything :(

The ONLY thing that I have started engaging in these days is this new sitcom Modern Family, after reading about it at Simran's blog here. Thanks Simran for that one new thing I look out for during the day...I had almost given up on TV after moving to India since I was soooo hooked to all the sitcoms in the US but had failed to find anything interesting here. I know they telecast replays but those are seasons I may have already seen or some shows I loved are not even telecast in India. So this is like a breath of fresh air.

Any other tips, ideas, suggestions guys? I thought of finally acting on something I always wanted to learn - sewing. I even called the classes yesterday and told them I am coming today to enroll. But then not sure what made me fizzle out this morning :( That's another reason you may see a new look to my blog...these new colors kind of made me feel good and I hope to get inspired by them too. Every little bit counts you see :-)?

Edited to Add: It has been several hours since I typed this post. Since then, I have taken a short afternoon nap (since I was working from home today), gone to the parlor to get my legs waxed, have planned on taking lil N to the swimming pool tomorrow, had a good nice talk to the hubby about this and generally feel a whole lot better already. Almost like I have finally snapped out of it. Thank God!!! And Simran, a sincere thanks to you as well for writing some uplifting words almost right away. I think finally writing about my emotions and knowing there are others like me out there helped me get out of it.

Happy International Women's Day!

I had the privilege of organizing the Women's Day celebrations at my company this year and as part of the various sessions I helped facilitate during this event today, I wanted to share one that I really really liked. It is a talk held by Sheryl Sandberg who is the COO of Facebook. She talks about why there are very few women leaders in the world today and delivers 3 key messages that I am sure most of us women who are or have been in the corporate world can relate to. You can see her talk here. If clicking on my link does not work, you can point your browser to go to http://www.ted.com/talks/sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have_too_few_women_leaders.html

By the way when I was approached to lead the Women's Day event at work this year, I wasn't sure I believed in the cause or the day in itself. Coz the fact that we have a special day for women itself highlights the fact that we consider ourselves second citizens in need for special attention. But then a colleague shared his perspective which started to make sense in my mind. He said that when we work with a team of mixed genders, we do not necessarily think differently when talking to a woman or a man. Neither do women in today's corporate world think I am a woman so this is how I work and this is how it is different from a man's way of working. Nope. The only reason we may encourage forming a diversity group for women is because women in general have a unique set of challenges (that may be due to several reasons or factors such as society, upbringing, family, etc.) which they need to overcome if they want to stay ahead in the corporate world. That is why such diversity groups or earmarked days are beneficial so that they can relate to each other and use it like a support group to help each other overcome these challenges.

Do check out Sheryl's video and let me know what you think!

Some weekend conversations with N

We had a hectic Saturday this past weekend - spent most of it outdoors so wanted to take it easy on Sunday. I decided to clean N's toys this Sunday morning to sort out old unused stuff into items for donation, discarding and keeping and empty out a cabinet to organize her toys better. Spent a good 2 hours on that, found toys that she hadn't played with in ages and N had a blast rediscovering the joys of silly things such as plastic monster's teeth, screeching bean ball, basket ball (with its lost hoop that I put up again for her), a new swinging and pull up bar that we put up for her as well, etc. After all that fun, we crashed on the bed in the afternoon hoping that all 3 of us would enjoy a nice afternoon siesta. But she usually gets very playful when we get horizontal even if it is late at night. Infact her daily bedtime routine that she really looks forward to is a good playful wrestle with her daddy after which mommy has to wind her down with a story and what not.

So back to this Sunday afternoon...while some of her wrestling and rolling around and jumping on our backs got a little rough, I said to her:

Me: Beta...don't hurt papa so much, he will get boo.

N (sulking): I don't like No! You are not a nice mamma!

Me (quite amused at her reaction): I am not a nice mamma? Ok so what should we do?

N: No! You are not a nice mamma! I want a new mamma!

Me: Oh really? Tell your papa to get a new mamma!

N: Papa - I want a new mamma!

Papa: (just enjoying a good chukle)

Me: Okay tell me - who do you want as your mamma? B auntie or A auntie or G auntie? (naming a few of my close friends whose kids and my lil N hang out almost every day).

N: B auntie.

Me (Just amused and awed to see her clarity in preferences and thoughts): Really? Not G auntie or A auntie?

N: No - I want B auntie as my mamma.

Sigh! I guess this is what I get when I threaten her to take T as my baby when my lil N is not listening to me (T is G auntie's daughter).

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Normally when N wakes up every morning, she is just like me - cranky, not a very happy person, needs a warm beverage (milk in her case, tea in mine) to enter her system before she finally smiles and stretches and really wakes up. This morning though, she woke up and instead of wailing or crying for mommy, she stretched, was all fresh and when she saw me enter the room, she said:

N: Mamma, when I was sleeping at night, you forgot to help me wear a full pant and a full shirt.

Me (surprised): Oh...did you feel cold at night N?

N: Yes. And you forgot my jacket also.

Me: Sorry bebu.

N: Ok...when it is night again, you help me wear full pant and full shirt ok?

Me: Yes my baby.

Thinking: No wonder I saw her sit up sometime late at night, pull the blanket on top of her and go back to sleep at night. Which is very very unlike my daughter. She is normally the one who has never liked to be under a blanket at night however cold it is. I remember she used to even wiggle out of her swaddle (when she was less than a month old) that most other babies seemed to enjoy when they were infants. Note to self : She has been running a cold since Friday though. Maybe that's why.

A very good morning to you all as well...

Happy Monday everyone! And a very good morning to all.

Not sure why but I feel like I have suddenly woken up from a long slumber. Somehow, it feels like the last week kind of whizzed past by and I was too tired or sleepy or just not in the mood to notice. So much has been going on in life lately that I haven't even had the time or motivation to blog about any of it. But somehow this morning, I feel energized and refreshed again. No real rhyme or reason...maybe just maybe its coz it is the last day of my monthly visitor Aunty Flo :-)

Anyways...hope everyone had a nice Diwali break. I, for one, enjoyed two back to back long weekends at work. We had a Monday (Nov 1) and the same Friday (Nov 5) as holidays so just a 3 day week at work was a nice change. We decided to capitalize on this and booked a trip to Goa for Oct 30 - Nov 1. Left Bangalore by bus on the night of Oct 29, reached Goa the next morning and checked into the Kenilworth resort we had booked. And believe me, after that, we did really NOTHING for the next 4 days. Just relaxed, ate, enjoyed the beach and the pool to our heart's content. Bliss. Pure bliss. Really a much needed break just as a cozy family of 3 after a long long while. Vacations are a very nice time to bond emotionally and rediscover the joys of having each other and counting our blessings. I am glad we took that break.

Post that we just took it easy during Diwali. Had planned to travel again to visit my parents but were honestly too tired after the long road trip to Goa. Infact since the bus ride took too long due to bad roads, we took a one way cab from Goa back to Bangalore and cancelled our return bus tickets. That was a wiser decision and on hindsight - should have done that to and fro right from the start. Oh well...lesson learnt. So Diwali was spent by me making some besan laddus at home and generally doing rangolis, diyas and socializing with some friends - that's all. No fireworks for us since we are not crazy about them and neither is li'l N. She infact is terrified of going anywhere near them. We took her down for a walk in our apartment complex on Diwali night and she hated the noise of these bombs and ladis and cried to go back home. So we did what we usually do every year at Diwali - sat in our balcony and enjoyed the view of fireworks in the Bangalore skyline. We are lucky to have a very good view of the city from our own home so Diwali nights from our balcony are pretty nice.

Me and my hubby were talking on our way back from Goa about how he has noticed that after most of our vacations, we have some life changing events at home. Our last trip was to Sirsi, Ankola and hubby's native for li'l N's mundan and dear hubby had quit his job right after that. This time too there are some huge changes going on at my work as well as his. And we spent a good chunk of time discussing these during our drive home. So that is the other reason I have been preoccupied and away from blogging too much. To give you a summary - the company I work for is getting acquired by another MNC which means that I may not have the same job anymore. Infact, if I don't find anything else within this MNC, I may have to look outside in the next 6 months or so. And I wasn't too happy about the idea of polishing my interview shoes all over again :-( I just don't do too well with change when it is not what I have chosen generally so I was quite mad at losing the great job I had. I mean it had a very good amount of flexibility which was the only reason I could even think of working with a little child at home. And it matched my past experience and career desire perfectly. It was in many ways tailor made for me. It will be next to impossible to find another one like this in today's market. I will be forced to change my career and lose the flexibility a little which I really don't wish to at this point. Oh well...enough negativity right? Let's wait and see...and hope for the best. Like I said - this morning I am all fresh and energized full of positivity again. Hubby too got a new boss at work and there are major re-orgs happening that may not be received too well by everyone. But he too is dealing well with it and making the most out of it.

On a brighter note, I had planned to invite some upper management guests from work over for Diwali. And I have been stressing about that for weeks. But finally made it happen last night and thankfully it was a success (atleast in my mind :-)). No more nerve wrecking moments wondering what to cook and how to place everyone and what to buy etc. Whew! We did have a good time and some great discussions. Some things that were said and that stayed with me:

• On the topic of when to pursue entrepreneurship if that is what you really want to do - one thing he said was - do not give yourself artificial deadlines such as when I am x years of age I will do something of my own etc. Infact, if you have something in mind, the earlier you start, the better it is because you have lesser to lose. And the later you start, not only will your responsibilities increase in life but your lifestyle will only go up. It will never go down. So your expenses and stuff will only increase and it will be harder to maintain your lifestyle at that point.

• On the topic of buying a home and what kind, where etc. - one thing she said was - when your kids are young, your priorities are very different. What you want at that stage is not an independent villa in a far off location. Infact you want everything at your fingertips - proximity to the medical stores, doctors, super markets, shops, a good community, etc. along with security of a gated complex, amenities that the kids could use such as children's park, pool, tennis court, etc. Once they are older, one can think of building or living in your dream house far away from the city but when the kids are growing is when you really need the support system.

So all in all some eventful few weeks have gone by and hopefully this post brings me out of my so-called stressful misery and motivates me to just look at the brighter side of things. I resolve to stop taking out my stress on my loved ones at home and making them miserable as well. I will just enjoy my present and let God and nature decide what future holds for us all. Now let's just hope I stick to this resolution for atleast a week ;-)

A little bit of this and that...

Do any of you have issues with the blogroll on your blogs not updating with the latest articles? If you notice carefully, the blogroll that I have on the right, that is supposed to be showing all the blogs I frequent often with titles of the most recent articles, has stopped updating all of a sudden. It used to be that earlier I would just go to my blog and see which of you have written new posts and gladly catch up right away. But now I have to actually go into each blog and see if there are any new posts or not. Annoying behavior by blogger.com I must say. Anybody else out there noticing this bug? Any ideas on how to fix this?

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On a different note, got an award from newmumontheblock a few days ago. And thank god you posted it in my comments to come and collect it, coz with my blogroll acting the way I just described, I would never have known that you have it posted out there for me to collect :-)

Thanks a lot newmum! I write so little compared to other moms out there in the blogosphere so to get noticed and praised by some of you readers makes each such award so much more precious to me!

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Read this article a few days ago on TOI and was so inspired by it coz it says almost what I have always wanted to do for so long. I am now very tempted to go invest in a sewing machine and do some itsy bitsy tailoring myself by reusing some very good dupattas and stuff I have stashed away. I remember making dresses for my doll when I was a kiddo and do so much more in the arts and crafts area - thanks to my wonderful mom who got me interested in it. I want to pass on the same gene to my daughter as well so one of these days will definitely restart in that area if possible :-) Do give this article a read and let me know what other ideas come to your mind. I for one have a bag for my tailor ready to cut short some long kurtas I have from salwar suits stiched over 5 years ago. Times change so quickly na - then it used to be all about wearing long kurtas and now it is back to short kurtis and tights (Mumtaz style all over again). I never used to care for all these fashion changing cycles until I was in the US coz I was all about jeans and trousers then. But now, being in India, and especially working in India makes me want to not stand out in the crowd you know what I mean? I'll stick like a sore thumb if I wear all those age old long salwar suits to work now :-) Not that I am comfortable wearing salwar suits to work anyway coz have never done that in the last 11 years of my work life...was always wearing trousers or skirts or something non-Indian. But I do need to do something with all those suits sitting in my wardrobe you know! So dear readers, do give that article a read and send more ideas my way. Would love to hear abt your creative sides. Or you can also tell me where to shop for corporate wear here in Bangalore. I am still wearing clothes I owned from the US but sooner or later will need to buy Indian na :-)

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Just read this post by Preeti and can soooo empathize with her (having gone through similar maid related nightmares myself as of late). Just thinking of it makes me exhausted, forget about typing all of it. All I can say is - nothing is permanent and especially NOT in the childcare department! The poor child has to go through so many changes in such an early age, thankfully they are so adaptable or else we, our lives, our happiness, careers, everything would go for such a toss! We are on to our third maid in the last 5 months (for babysitting) and that too after giving daycare an honest try. Sigh! Does this ever settle down?

My baby is growing up

Since I have become so random in recording N's milestones after she turned 2, I thought I should atleast capture some of the really cute things going on in her world these days:

1). Baby Language

She has been singing nursery rhymes since she was almost 2 years of age. Those were the times when she had some really cute 'baby' pronunciations when she sang. For example:

'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' was sung as

'Chinkau Chinkau Little Chtar'

Now that she is 2yrs 7 months, I can see so much of that baby language fading away. Part of me feels good that she is growing but a bigger part of me really feels sad that my little baby is growing into a big girl now. She will no longer be only mommy's little baby anymore :( Infact, now a days when I sing Chinkau Chinkau, she corrects me to say 'No mamma - Tinkual Tinkual Little Star'! Feel so good that she is still not there yet and still has such cute ways to pronounce certain words. Like when she was a little younger, crocodile was pronounced as cocokiiiile. But now when I say cocokile, she corrects me to say 'No No - cocodile'. Also when she had just learnt her colors (which I don't honestly remember was how long ago), when asked which color a certain object was, she used to say 'blue colors' pronouncing 'colors' as 'colorchh'. Every color ended with 'colors'. Now no more :( When asked which color is this, all she says is 'blue', or 'red' or whatever color. Lost the cute chubby way of saying 'colorchh'.

2). Artist in the Growing?

The little girl has developed a sudden love towards drawing. Give her a pen and a paper or even better - a DoodlePro and she is seen all settled happily on the floor for a long time drawing away either narrating stories while drawing or constantly trying to perfect something she is learning to draw. So far she had been doodling away mostly drawing circles of different sizes and scribbling in general. But the other day, I actually saw her attempting to draw what looked like a fish. So me and hubby got interested and encouraged her, even drew one up to show her how to draw it and immediately she copied our strokes and managed drawing her first fish! We got sooooo excited that she is now trying to intentionally imitate strokes and actually draw something by either copying our strokes or using her imagination! I even got up and clicked a few pics from my phone to record the moment. Since then she has gone on to learn drawing what she calls 'Dora's eyes' (which is really a pair of eyes), a smiley face and today when she drew up a smiley face on the DoodlePro and I asked her where is smiley's hair, she actually drew up his hair on the head!!! She does know how to translate her visuals into sketches now coz later I saw her draw a dot on the smiley's forehead and say 'this is his kumkum ok?' (she refers to bindi as kumkum).

3). Picking up a new language

Hindi. So far even though we spoke Hindi, English and Konkani at home, she had picked up only English and used only that language in all her communication with everyone. Lately though, thanks to our new maid who spends most of her day with N and talks to her in Hindi, N has started conversing in Hindi pretty well. I had been singing Hindi and English rhymes to her but she had not really picked up the Hindi ones as much. But now she sings 'Machhli Jal ki Rani Hai' to perfection and with actions!

4). Clothes and accessories

The saga about being determined to pick her own clothes continues as I had already talked about previously here. And not just once or twice, there are days when she wants to change what she is wearing almost 4 times a day. Oh and she has her favorites that she can live in day after day after day. One of them (her orange shirt and orange chhota (i.e. half) pant) is so battered that I actually hid it away and the poor thing has been asking for it every single day. I have tried different ways of convincing her that I gave it away to a small baby or a pigeon took it away but my heart breaks when she says 'I am very sad...I want my orange shirt and orange chhota pant' :( I am still trying to convince her that remember mommy gave it away to the baby? We will ask your nani to bring a new orange shirt and orange pant for you. Jeez! And the demand for bangles and shoes is also never ending. The thing that she should be into, but is not, is doing up her hair. She refuses anything in her hair - no clips or rubber-bands or hair bands or any hair accessories for her.

5). Office ka kaam (Meaning: Office Work)

She is finally getting used to seeing mommy going to office now or doing 'office ka kaam' from home. So when I don't work on my laptop at the home office and am doing it from the couch at times, she comes and asks me why I am not doing it from the office ka table. Or why am I not talking on the phone using the headset! She even pretends at times to work away on my laptop and says 'shh..don't disturb me. I am in a meeting' or 'I am doing office ka kaam like mamma'.

6). Sudden love for her soft toys and Dora - the doll

As long as her tummy is full, she is not really longing for or clinging to mamma these days. If she is not doodling or drawing on her DoodlePro, I see her spending a long time doing pretend play with her soft toys and Dora the doll. She talks to them just as I talk to her, puts them to sleep, does oil massage to them, takes them to the park and what not. Infact tonight was the first night ever that she actually took her Krishna soft toy to bed! Now you have to remember that she has never been into any kind of a lovey toy and prefers sucking her thumb or holding my hair while going to sleep. But today she actually hugged her friend Krishna tightly and even took my hand away from her waist. After a while she probably felt bad for me and said 'Are you falling down? Come' and hugged me with one hand and Krishna with the other and just fell asleep like that. My sweet sweet little angel - knock on wood! Oh and prior to all this, she had put her Dora doll to sleep by asking her 'Are you feeling cold? Come I will give you a blanket' and she nicely wrapped up the little doll in one of her blankets and put her to sleep on the living room floor. Oh and please note - she has played with her doll so much lately that the legs have been seperated and now it is just the upper part of her body that she carries around town these days :-) She carries Dora the doll to the park in the evenings so that when a friend of hers asks her whether she can share the swing, our smart little N has an answer ready - that she is already sharing the swing with Dora!!!

7). Blocks and her imagination

She has suddenly started taking interest in blocks and builds things based on what she sees around her or what she imagines. Making a tower or a house is become a pretty common sight but today she actually used a white, red and blue block, covered it with another blue block, topped it with a red block for the light and called it her ambulance! She somehow recollects (god knows from where) that an ambulance has only red, white and blue colors and a red light on top. Interesting stuff ain't it? :-)

First Blogging Award!

Yayy...participated in the first blogging contest ever and won my first blogging award too. Thanks to Shruti of Mindful Meanderings whose creativity constantly inspires me to try and do more. Here's what she passed along

Which ofcourse means I'd want to pass it on to all of you readers too. So here's to all of you readers and contributors who have made this new hobby of mine (blogging) such a pleasure.

Moving On to the New Year

Just a random post to pour out all that I have been feeling lately...

• Ever since I got back home to Bangalore after a month long trip from my brother's wedding, things seem quite changed with most of my friends in town. Seems like everyone has moved on to pursue things in life that they always wanted to. Its all for their good ofcourse but it just seems like so much has hapenned in the one month I was away. One of my friends & neighbor bought a new home (which ofcourse means she will be moving away soon), two of my friends got pregnant with a second one (and sadly both of them lost the babies too), one of them got out and got a job (which means she is less available during the day) and another one is looking to pursue some kind of an educational course to get back to work. This gave me lots of inspiration and the push I needed to get out in the job market myself. Just seems like all of us who have been at home during the transitional period to settle down in Bangalore have now decided to move on.
• So I started 2010 with a resolution that this is the year I will take the next big step in my life - either have a second kid or buy a home for ourselves or get back to my career that I gave up almost a year ago (since we moved back from the US). So that is my resolution - to move on to the next step in life and get all the support structure needed around me to support this move.
• Hence I am currently in the market for a full time cook cum nanny for my kiddo. Just like I had in the US. And I tell you it is hard...very hard to find someone you can trust your child and your home to. I am trying out different maids almost every other day. I am also evaluating day-cares as another option but am a little hesitant sending little N to one at this stage. Knowing her, we as parents believe she will be most comfortable at her own home. I really hope and pray I find someone as trustworthy as I had in the US. How I wish I could call that nanny over to India and have her live with us! If you don't know who I am talking about, see here and here.
• My plan is to settle little N down with either a nanny or a day-care and get back to work in the next month or so. Any tips or ideas anyone? How have you stepped out of home with a little one around? I mean I had gone back to work right after she turned 3 months but that was in the US and that too once I found a nanny I could trust. I think it is easier to trust someone there than in India coz of the laws and traceability system there. The quality of maids I am finding here is not comparable to what I had there and the Montessori schools I like do not have on-campus day-cares here. So what did you mommies who moved back to India do? What if I get a job I really like but it requires some travel? And worse - what if they require travel abroad (even if it is once or twice a year)? What do you guys do then?

Blogging has been slow lately...

since I was away the entire past month for my brother's wedding. Just got back home the day before yesterday in time for our 5th wedding anniversary yesterday. But obviously couldn't do much in terms of celebration since we were too drained out from all the wedding festivities and travel. Will be back to the blogging world soon I'm sure. Currently there has been so much going on but I think I am also facing a writer's block...dunno where and what to start writing about :-)