Charmed

Over the weekend I took Buzz to the park, which I do most weekends. This park is a walking distance from our house, has swings and slides for the kids to play on. But unlike most parks everything is made out of wood and not metal and even the bottom of the slides etc has tunnels and something like a mini maze so the kids can play around them, going in and out. Buzz really enjoys going to this park and is very happy there.

Let me start again. This past weekend I took Buzz to the park. After her usual time on the swing, she moved on to the slides and then going through the tunnels. A lot of laughs were exchanged and hugs given every time she came out from the other end of the tunnel to find me there. Somewhere in the middle she sat down in the middle of the maze, playing peek-a-boo with me, along with playing with the wood chips that are on the ground to prevent kids from getting hurt if they fall.

While she was at it a couple of ladies came with a young boy who must have been about 4-6 months older than Buzz. He was making his way to the slide that Buzz was sitting under when Buzz saw him. The minute she saw him she gave out this big laugh. The l’il guy stopped right there in his track and looked at Buzz. Buzz laughed again..where it was mostly smiles for me..there were big gurgling laugh for the l’il guy. And that is it. He was hooked. He followed were ever she went. If he did not follow, she would laugh again and he would go running after.

Buzz wanted to come down the slide. So he wanted to come down the slide. Buzz wanted to go through the maze. He wanted to go through the maze. At no point did his eyes leave her. And Buzz she would look at him and look away, always calling him with her laugh. I swear if she was 10 or so years older I would say she was flirting with him for sure. We adults could not help but laugh at the drama unfolding in front of us.

Poor guy was totally charmed and even came running and kept waving bye till we were out of sight. And Buzz once we started to make our way out, she did not give the guy at backward glance.

I can only shake my head and think ‘Really..I mean Really!!!’

Please tell me this is not a glimpse in the future. At least not near future.

Wordless Wednesday – XXXII

A Song and a dance

Miss Copy, whatever is being said and done, is at it all day. With no breaks.

Some song is playing in the car as Maa is driving and we are in the back seat. The song has a long alaap in the beginning. After about 30 secs we go
       aaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaa
in tune with the alaap of the song.

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Maa is wearing a long Indian skirt with loads of fabric. We are fascinated and are playing hide and seek with Maa’s skirt. To make things more exciting Maa start spinning in circles and the yards and yards of fabric spins in a giant circle with her.
We start to spin along, all the while laughing but are also perplexed as to why our white trousers are not spinning along, just the way Maa’s skirt is.

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This first step towards learning to dance taken, anytime you ask us to dance..we first run to our toy truck, press one of the button. Music to ‘old McDonald’ will play. To which we spin round and round, till the music stops. Go on in a loop. Music, spin. Music, spin. Music, spin. That is our dance for you.

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All songs were made equal, except for ‘Lakdi ke kaathi’. The smile that comes on our face when the song plays and the way we moves our head is matched by none. We heart that song, and we need not give any reasons why.

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Recently Maa started playing one song, over and over again, on her laptop. We love that song a lot too. We love to keep our head on Maa’s laptop while listening to this song, all the while moving our little butt to the music. But ‘Lakdhi ke kaathi’ remains our first love.

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Music is so much fun is it not..and we are loving dancing to it all 😀

Roshani Hei..

Dhuan chata, khula gagan mera..
Nayi dagar, naya safar mera..
Jo bansake tu hamsafar mera..
Nazar mila jara

That is my answer to a very badly translated and then scrambled song.

The trophy as people who answered correctly goes to Nu, Piyu, Parul and ElegantChic.

Enjoy your trophy ladies and pass it on in your own version of scramble contest. While I go listen to one of my favorite songs..

Jo gumshuda sa khaab tha..wo mil gaya..wo khil gaya..

Learning

Dear Buzz,

Before you were born I had so many ideas about the kind of parent I would be. Things I would do. How I would do them. I had an image of the way I would bring up my child. You turned all of them on the ear did you not? You showed me how foolish my parenting ideas were, did you not?

I will be very honest and say, I used to judge people whose kids were up past 9:00 P.M. I used to shake my head at parents who brought their kids to restaurants past 9:00 P.M. I used to think myself, I would never let my kid run around screaming in the store. You haven’t done the screaming bit and we haven’t done the taking you to the restaurant part late nights. But sleep. Oh yeah.

Today I am that parent whose child is up past 9:00 P.M. Today I am helpless. I did everything your pediatrician and various books said. I set up a routine for you and followed it religiously. I taught you to sleep on your own. Lights out at 8:15 and in your crib. Worked like a charm. Right around the time I was ready to show off, you shut me up nice and proper. Now I stand next to your crib, and stand and stand some more. The clock goes from 8:30 to 8:45 to 9:00 and beyond. Some days like today it goes past 10:30 despite having done everything I could think off.

Today when someone called and heard you screaming in the background and asked very innocently ‘Are kids not suppose to sleep by 7:30’, I got a dose of my own medicine. I felt judged. I ate my words before I could give any kind of clarification, but those words hit hard. I am turning in to that kind of mom.. the ‘bad mom’ in the eyes of others. Today something a friend said a while back takes on a fresh meaning. She said ‘It is the non-moms who judge moms’. It is not quite true but close enough. My statement would be, ‘You never judge a mom for something if you have crossed that stage of parenting she is in or are going through the same stage yourself.’

Having said all of this, this is about you. I want you to get enough sleep. To hell with rules to follow and what the books or anyone else says. You and the amount of sleep you get is what is of importance here. And that you are not getting enough off. I don’t know what to do sweetheart. I don’t know how to help. I know I get angry. I know I get frustrated. And that for sure is not helping. So give me some kind of a sign on what route do I take. Help me figure out what works for you. Work with me to get you the amount of sleep you actually need.

Please, just help me here,
-Maa

Sing along

Pal ran this scramble contest which I did not win because I answered (correct at that mind you) somewhere in the middle of the pack. Booohoooo 😥 sob. But since it is a rolling trophy I got another chance at winning it over at Shail’s Nest and I won..I won..I won.. Yipe. See my new shine shining trophy

Now doing my part of passing on the Rolling Trophy. Get ready to unscramble this.

Ekmos defilt, enop ksy eimn..enw ador, wne ejnoruy nmie..fi ouy acn bceemo ym aenprrt..elt eht eesy eemt

There, now unscramble this and then tell me which song this is from. Both questions need to be answered in order to win. I hold the one and only say on who the winners are. So go on tell me 🙂

Travel Thursday – Antelope Canyon

We were in Hawaii. An art gallery attracted me. I stepped in. As I walked around a set of photographs caught my attention. I gazed upon them for endless minutes. There was no indication where the pictures were taken. I walked out. But the images stayed with me.

The next time we were planning a vacation. I tried endlessly to find this place. Saw images of Zion National Park and thought I had hit the mark. Trip was planned and executed upon. I loved Zion, a lot. But did not find the one thing I had planned the entire trip around. On our way back, as is our custom, we stopped at a souvenir store to buy a coffee mug for our places visited coffee cup collection. I saw the image I had dreamed dreams around on one cup. Picked it up and walked up to the cashier. While paying up, got talking to the lady at the checkout counter. 

Only interiors of Zion are similar to what I was looking for, I was told. Which would mean multiple day backpacking trip. But the image on the mug was taken at the Antelope Canyon. A few hours’ drive off of Zion.

Antelope Slot Canyon was written down in bold with the next place to visit. I read up extensively on it. Gazed on un-countable pictures online, each more stunning that the previous.

Somewhere around the end of last year, the guys..D, Bhaiya, Papa..started planning a boys road trip. D having caught up on my obsession for this place mapped the route of the road trip to pass through Antelope, leaving a very long faced me behind.

Every time I see these pictures, I want to hit D for going there without me. Every time I see these pictures, I want to pick up and go visit. Every time I see these picture, I go green with envy.

Story Time

Ever since Buzz was little she loved listening to animal sounds. They could grab her attention and calm her down in as long as it took for one animal sound to get through. To build on this amazing find of soothing her, I made up a story.

Eak baar eak Dog aaya
Maa ne dog se puchaa, dog dog tu meri Buzz saath khelega kya?
To dog bola, Woof Woof

Once a dog came
Maa asked the dog, dog dog will you play with my Buzz
The dog said, Woof Woof

And so we go on to Cat and Cow and Duck and Sheep and Lion and Chicken and Turkey and Pig and Goose..

It works like a charm and she listens and smiles at the various sounds being made. But this past weekend she took it a step further.

Me: Eak baar eak Cow aayi
Buzz: Mooo

I could not stop smiling for hours after. Small milestones, big reasons to smile 🙂

What you expect brilliance from me in my story? It works and both Buzz and I are happy. So no making fun of my story OK. OK..

Wordless Wednesday – XXXI

Buzz Talk – Decoded

The way we understand what Buzz says is because she points to things and speaks out loud. That helps BIG time. You guys were not so lucky were you? 😀 😀

To be honest with you there were a lot of trick words that I did not expect anyone to get..and well no one got them 😛 😛 but for the rest the easiest way to get was to say them out loud. Not look at them as they were spelled, because I wrote them to make the sound just the way Buzz says them. Here is what the talk decodes to:

1. tataaie – Butterfly
2. bubug – Ladybug
3. aooooe – Owl
4. wawa – Water/Watch
5. taaie – Tiger
6. shiis – Fish
7. mo mo – No No
8. aeppe – Apple
9. taecker – Tractor
10. nun – Sun

Bonus Question: Well, it was on demand by the Jury.. Adding aie at end of things is a very Buzz thing to do so discarding that Kakaaie – becomes Kaka. Which was her attempt at saying Akka. Jury..Akka get it?? 🙂

And how cool is our Jury? Had tallied all the answers and had the winner waiting for me. All I did was read all the comments and laugh. The Jury did all the hard work. So without further ado. The winners are:

ChatterBox and IHM with 3 points each.