Technologically Challenged

The following post was in my drafts and I decided since it makes perfect sense even after all these months... my brain is still not back, I am still as technologically challenged as ever.. so here you go!!

I have it from good nay dubious authority that my post on my sleeplessness was boring! I claim exception due to the fact clearly stated in the post, my brain is on vacation... while on that, it is still not back! If you do find it tell it not to bother returning.. I am kind of enjoying this state I am in! Why you ask? In all honesty.. now I have something to blame for my stupidity ! :D

Its not like I have to try hard though... this generation is heading there.. there is an appliance for everything.. and for everything else there is an app on ipad! You never will have to think again so why bother carrying all that extra weight around!

And we are technologically challenged.. how you ask. We have 3 - now 4 people in our household - 5 computers, 2 pdas and 4 phones! A friend on hearing this asked "how many televisions?".. and I had to reply just 1.. however we have a computer that is capable of converting into a television.. so I guess that makes it 2? Not to mention just to turn on that one television you have to go through the receiver, change sources and use so much brain power you will be dizzy enough not to watch any program. Not to mention all the s-video and vga cables, audio and hd conversion cables we lug around so all our computers and other devices can be connected to this complicated array of equipment! Now I ask you between trips to best buy and best buy (we are like their vip customers.. they are considering giving us a room in there considering we practically live there), where is the time to watch tv and use all this equipment... we spend our time going to the store to buy more!! And that my friends is how we have come to be technologically challenged!

Deja vu.. I am talking too!

Tootsie the little pixie learnt to do the princess wave! Yay!! Right? Think again... learning to talk and express only means one thing, soon the world will begin to understand her motives! The princess would wave every time we put her in her car seat and we were delighted! Yes.. now the little girl can say bye bye! So we showed off.. every time we met up with friends we would ask for a demonstration! And then I noticed something.. the hand wave was brought on the minute we met them... without prompting! I had a feeling of Deja vu.. and the sinking fear that my suspicions might be right! I will tell you why!

A few years back when Cheeky was a little baby he had no stranger anxiety. He loved to meet people and regale them with long winding tales, even before he could talk! My aunt sighed in relief and went on to tell me about the shy sister and cousin I have! When she was talking about our childhood stories, she told me this particular one about my sister. Apparently her stranger anxiety continued well into her toddler hood and this meant she could voice opinion. So the minute someone walked in the door, she would walk up to my aunt and ask "Iva eppo kalambuva" - "When will they leave?" and embarrass her!

So sure enough when my daughter started waving the minute she saw someone.. I knew it cannot be a coincidence. But I am a clever mom, so I started telling people "She waves for both Hi and Bye... confused girl!!", bear that smile and tell the pixie "Hi chollu" - "Say Hi". Now Tootsie is not called the pixie without reason! She figured she had to make her intentions clear! So now she accompanies her wave with a resound "Ba Ba" (Bye Bye)! Sigh.. history has a way of repeating itself! My only thanks to her is for sporting a smile while doing it.. maybe people can still be tricked!! And now I rush off to knock on wood!

First Words and Temper Flares

Cheeky has always been true to his name.. Cheeky the monkey.. He claims he was even born in the year of the Monkey. However with Tootsie we miscalculated... when we named her Tootsie the Chipmunk, I am not sure what we were hoping for. A meek little follower of the monkey? But no, Tootsie has a personality and likes to assert that time and again. She is Tootsie the Pixie princess! Cheeky checked and has made a discovery... Tootsie was born in the year of the Tiger and a little tigeress she is.

Last night we waited outside the Pharmacy in the dark.. mom and son sniffling with a bad cold while Dad went in to get some re-inforcements. While I tried to scare Cheeky with tales of the bandits after dark and he fretted about guns and bullets and formed strategies to tacklen the bad guys with locks and phones. Tootsie yelled and screamed and growled like a little tiger decidedly scaring the bandits away!

Meanwhile it is a month of firsts in Tootsieville... first the rolling, then the creeping, the sitting and now the talking ! While we waited for the first word in eager anticipation.. and tried to prompt amma and dada out of her mouth in competition. Cheeky had made me proud and uttered Amma first.. what would Tootsie's first word be? Turns out it was neither.. her first word is mammam (as in food)! M thinks it is a testimony to my parenting skills that a 7 month old has to ask for her food. Well the tigeress that she is it comes intersperced with shouts of "AAAAA".... "AAAAAAA...mammam-mammam .... AAAAAAAA ...mammam-mammam" it goes! Well in any case, I am proud of the Pixie who is the only infant I know that hates milk. But alteast she knows her hunger!! ?? Even if she eats about 2 spoons full after all the frantic screaming and proceeds to observe the world and ignore mom and the spoon!

As for the temper.. we recently went for a vaccination. Well both my kids are talkers and love an audience. Tootsie hates for us to close the stroller canopy... she will punch it and yell tarzan noises till we open it out.. Then she will coo and smile for perfect strangers.. but if anyone tries to pick her up, beware, the pixie can pucker up and cry like she is badly hurt in the matter of milli seconds!!

Anyway about the vaccination.. the pixie befriended the nurse with her smiles and was all geared up to play! But in went the shots.. Bham and Bham! The pixie cried for like a second, but was so mad.. I handed her the rattler she loves and the furious princess flung it right out while yelling at the nurse "nainainainainai".. oh well that was probably her first word.. whatever it will turn into, it is a perfect expression of our anger!! :P

Between the Cheeky Monkey who wont stop talking and Tootsie the Tigeress Pixie who wont stop moving, tumbling, yelling and getting under all impossible places.. I have my hands full.. So I will sign off for now from Mayhem-ville...till later!

I tell you being a baby is hard work!!

While friends and other 6 month olds are trying hard to crawl.. we decided to try a different tact. Lets try talking and co-ercing the object to us.. Maybe that orange balloon wants to come to me as badly as I want to get to it.
So while others will crawl the unique pixie princess, true to her name beckons to the orange balloon. After about 5 minutes of negotiation she decided to take matters to higher authorities.. She complained to mamma. But this mamma was of no help.. so she went back to pleading with the balloon. Finally she gave up and moved the 2 inches to get to the balloon. And after all the hard work, she touched the balloon and it dared to roll away! How maddenning.. so she yelled at the balloon ..."Memememememe" and rolled over to the next available object! The laptop.. now that looks like fun!!

I tell you being a baby is hard work!!

The tooth that got away...

Many people think I am fearless... No I am not fantasizing, they have told me so! So unless they are laughing behind my back, I really do believe they think I am fearless. Now that I have you confused, time for the big confession... I fear dentists! I absolutely fear them.. But pretend not to. So when the questionnaire at the dentist's asked me "Do you fear dentists", I had to say no!! Nevertheless I hate going to the dentist.. My 6 year old assures me that dentists are here to help us and not hurt us.

However I finally decided to face the fear and stepped into the dentist's a few days back. Now it is common lore that dentist love your teeth and want to keep it. Also dentist love to have you back... Again and again and again. Let's face it you represent money! The love the dentist has in seeing my rotten teeth again and yet again, surpases my love for anything sweet. So I walked through the dreaded doors yet again today. Now extracting tooth is cake walk.. The difficult part is cleaning.. Keeping your mouth open for the duration and hoping you are not ingesting any chemicals! Eew!

So what would I do for 45 minutes I thought... Maybe write a blog in my head.. For I am going to blog about this monumental episode for sure! I had initially contemplated a facebook status message.. For isn't that the fashion these days.. Sharing of the pain I think it is called!
"stepping into the dentists office" I would say..about 10 people would "like" that comment.
"Boy do I hate keeping my mouth open for 45 minutes" I would say next.. If I am lucky 4 of those likers will comment to say "lol"

You get the idea... But then I decided why waste a wonderful opportunity.. Better yet I will blog about it and post the link on facebook! Then I will have 4 likes and if I am really lucky maybe someone will actually read my monologue? Now if you are one of those people who read before "like" ... Thank you so much.. You just made my day!

Anyway... Back to the dentist's the blog got written in about 5 minutes.. So what about the rest 40? Well 5 were spent in hyperventilating.. And trying hard to breathe through the nose. Because the good lady who propped open my mouth told me to! Another 5 went in wondering why she said that.. Did I walk in panting? I vividly recall breathing through my nose all my life... Are you sure I heard that right and so on.. Now lest I start hyperventilating again, I had to find another diversion... So for the rest half hour I applauded myself for not having become a dentist! All my dentist friends should forgive me... But I spent that half hour. Tin king of these poor souls who had to peer into other people's mouth and look at rotten teeth all day. Suddenly it was not so hard to keep that mouth propped open.. I had a muse!

The truth about Santa

The Geeky Dad always had trouble with acceptance. He always tended to put a spoke in the wheels come Christmas. No it has nothing to do with the spirit of Christmas or anything.. He just wants credit when it is due. And he was upset about some fat guy taking all the credit when he worked so hard, bought the dear, coveted and pricey gifts (Seriously whats with these kids and their gifts? The Price tag seems to grow with them)... and hid them well! So this year he had been threatening me with not going a hunting for the perfect gift.. "Not if I cant take credit" said He!

Meanwhile Cheeky has always been a practical kid.. He has never wanted to sit on Santa's lap.. thinks its too "Cheesy". Yet a Santa picture adorns our mantle this year. Thanks to his friends, who wanted to see Santa. Cheeky sported a Sly grin and said "Yay! Lets go see the real Santa and take pictures" and went off with his Friend's family! Earlier when we were in Disneyland, he spotted some kids getting autographs from the Characters and asked me "Whats with these kids? Don't they know that is someone in a costume?". I knew then that this cant be the guy who claims to believe in Santa Claus.. there was something fishy.

Yet my son never failed to remind me that Santa would come on his shining sleigh on Christmas Eve. I asked him so what about the guy you took the picture with.. "Oh that guy is fake, the real Santa doesn't have time to sit around and take pictures" said Mr. Know-It-All.

"Where does Santa live?" I asked

"In the milky way galaxy" came the reply

"Huh.. that's pretty huge" Said I.

"I don't have to go looking for him, he will find me" came the reply

But he never failed to tell me what he wanted for Christmas. He would remind me 4 times a day "I am going to ask Santa for a Nintendo DS.. Because (Here is when the voice gets a bit louder and obvious) .. my mom wont let me have it". At this point I knew my 6-Going on 16 year old son was faking it big time! So a few days before Christmas I said "Look I am too busy to go Christmas shopping this year, so we are going to have to hope that Santa remembers ". And I looked pretty serious too.. so that prompted the cat out of the bag.

"Oh alright mom, I know" said the Cheeky Monster!

"Know what" I asked innocently

"That there is no real Santa, you guys are my Santa"

"Really, what about the milky way galaxy"

"You know I was making that up" Said he with a grin

"How did you find out?" asked I

"Oh I have known for a couple of years" said he

Now that was a shocker, and I thought my son was innocent.. at least when he was 4. And he revealed the big truth

"Well 2 years back I saw you buy a King toy at the store, a few days later it turned up on Christmas with a note from Santa. And I guessed the truth"

Whats more shocking than this is the fact that my son has actually been hiding the fact from me for the past 2 years and playing along.. talk about Cheeky!! But I have known all along too.. the whole charade seemed a bit too forced, so I suspected that my son was pretending too!!

Like friends remind me time and again.. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.. we are a matched pair!" And whats more this year we went Christmas shopping together, and pulled everything out 2 days early. When I admonished him, Cheeky declared "How does it matter?" .. and I agreed. Nevertheless old habits die hard, so on Christmas there were a couple of gifts waiting at the fire place. But this time there were no notes from Santa.

And there is always a lesson in there, so we are sending some money to charity this year. We have redefined Santa and are playing Secret Santa to some deserving kids in a remote village in Southern India. If any of you are interested, let me know and I will send you the details.

Thrills of Parenting - Cheeky Tales

Every year the schools we go to (yeah so far we have kept the record.. we do not stay in a house for more than a year and that applies to the schools too)! Anyway.. the schools we go to have this lovely concept called “Star Student of the week” which they claim makes the selected kid feel special all of that week. However what it is really aimed at is making the parents sweat some. The arguments about favorite toys and books does not end and what’s more leads on to demands for fav toys and books. Now if we had to go shopping every time someone asked you for your favorite things I wouldn’t be a mom! So we argue through the week and the weekend we make and unmake our mind. But that’s not all.. we have to do things with Curious George and take pictures!! Sigh… and there is more!! Mommy (because Daddy won’t do it) has to write a letter or a poem about Cheeky!

Last year Mommy wrote this poem that made the kids laugh (Mind you I scribbled it in 5 mins that morning and did not intend for it to be funny.. but when I try to get sentimental apparently even Kindergartners have a good laugh!). This year we re-used the pictures and were about to re-use the poem when Cheeky declared he wanted neither a letter or a poem this year. He wanted funny stories! So this mommy sat slaving over the computer to come up with this. After all the effort I need to share it here! Who knows what the 6 yr olds will think of it.. let’s see what you think! (Remember this is addressed to 6 yr olds.. I am hard trying to make them laugh. I will have to find out what the verdict is!)

Our Son A
We have a nick name for A. We call him Cheeky. He is a funny guy sometimes and keeps us laughing.

When Cheeky was 10 months old his favorite toy was Pooh Bear. One day we went to a store and there was a huge pooh bear which was as tall as an adult. Little Cheeky loved this toy and kept looking at it. At that time he had begun saying his first words. He would say “baa” for come. So as we started leaving the store Cheeky started screaming “Poo baa Poo baa” at the top of his voice. And was very upset when Pooh wouldn’t come!

When Cheeky was 2 yrs old I had a broken thumb and had to go to the doctor every week to fix it. One day 2 ladies came in and started talking to Cheeky. They kept calling him “Ronak”. So I thought they had got his name wrong, or maybe they thought he was someone else. But they told me that Cheeky had told them his name was Ronak. I was confused. On asking him Cheeky said “But Mama I like the name Ronak and am going to be called that”. We had to plead with him to be called Cheeky.

When he was 2, Cheeky went to school one day and his teacher was talking about different occupations. The kind of jobs parents do. All the kids were telling the teacher that their mom was a doctor, nurse, teacher, manager and so on. It was Cheeky’s turn. Teacher asked him “What does your Daddy do Cheeky?”

Cheeky replied “My daddy hugs”

The note from school said "We discussed what we want to be when we grow up"

Mom: Cheeky did your teacher ask you what you wanted to be when you grow up?

Cheeky: Yes I said I want to be a firefighter.

Dad: Do you know you have to go into a fire and rescue people?

Cheeky: Yes. But I won’t go.Dad: But that’s what a firefighter does.

Mom: So what will you do when there is a fire?

Cheeky: I will be a NASCAR Driver.

I asked Cheeky one day “Do you want to write a letter?”

Cheeky who was almost 3 replied “Yes mommy can I write it on my laptop?”

I asked him “So what will you write”

Cheeky replied “The letter L”

When Cheeky was 3 he came to me one day and asked “Mama can we break the roof of our car?”

I asked “Why?”

So he said “Because then we will have a convertible”

We went to a friend’s place for lunch and she had made some yummy food. Cheeky was not much of an eater, he wanted to play. So our friend asked him “What do you like Cheeky, you can eat whatever you like”

Cheeky replied “I like the plate, can I eat that?”

Do you remember the nursery rhyme?

“Piggy on the railway picking up stones, Down came the engine and broke piggy’s bones”

Cheeky did not like Piggy being hurt so he would sing it like this

“Piggy on the railway picking up stones,Down came the engine and piggy not there”

Recently Cheeky’s aunt called him over the phone and told him she had bought him a piggy bank and would send it to him. Cheeky thought this over and then said “But aunty can you buy me an ATM instead?”

I hope you had fun laughing to these stories about Cheeky. We sure had a good time with our buddy Cheeky.

The little pixie called Tootsie

"Don't pick her up so much you will regret it" I told my friends. "Don't give in, be strong" I advised them. "Stick to the rules" I gloated. Little did I know that I had gotten lucky. The little guy did not want to be picked up, he could stay entertained looking at little hands and feet. The light, the fan, the curtains and even the toys were his friends. Rules were not questioned.. And then he turned 6 and all hell broke loose. Because along came a little itty bitty girl named Tootsie and Mommy had to eat her words!
At 4 months the little chipmunk has a mind of her own. She has decided she loves to sit up and hates lying down. She wants to watch mommy work from the royal seat.. mommy's lap! She wants Mommy and Daddy to talk to her not into the phone! She voices her opinion to the doctor and the nurse. SO much the doctor turned to Mommy and said "She is a strong personality already".. A nice way of saying "Boy is she stubborn?" The little one who is lying next to mommy as she types this and stirring in her sleep! She is the little one we call Tootsie!
Now I will no longer hand out free advise to friends will I? Reality bites!! Tootsie is not a cry baby though.. she is a talker. So when she doesn't get her way she whines, coos, calls and finally shifts to a loud baritone so no one else can be heard! Aaaha now I got your attention pick me up smiles the little pixie. And everyone (Cheeky not excluding) dance to her tunes!

In other news..
Halloween was a hit. Like all 6 year olds, Cheeky had a full social calendar and celebrated Halloween for the entire weekend, starting that Friday. As we hopped from Parades to Carnivals to Haunted Houses, Dad spent some quality time with the lady bug. Mom watched as the Transformer along with a few other super heroes were turned loose on the streets on Halloween night. Among Pirates, Skeletons and Dracula's (Apparently the Princesses and Fairies and even the Witches did not want to have anything to do with this assortment of characters and took another route). No house was left unknocked. No alleyway was left unexplored. At the end of the night the little imps were already discussing their costumes for the next year and planning their next Halloween. The tired parent chaperons were just glad to drag our feet home behind the super heroes high with just the sight of all that Candy. And we planned how to hide the stash away from prying eyes and hands.
Cheeky is becoming a gangsta. While they don't call themselves a "gang", they call themselves "group". "They" are a group of 4 friends. They were 5 and one kid moved away... so now they are trying out different kids to initiate them into the gang! These kids plot and plan how to trick parents. Every afternoon they would sit and talk, and throw out their lunch so the unsuspecting parents would think they had actually eaten it! But we are not parents if we don't know that history repeats itself!! Every afternoon when I saw the clean box I kept getting flashes of the sand I threw in my box every afternoon to fool my mom and the milk that was drained into the sink every morning. But Geeky Dad was the one who wormed the truth out of the clever Cheeky's mouth.. So now he just brings the box home with all the food intact! Seriously where do these kids get their energy?
Meanwhile, I have been invited to lunch by "the gang" next week. Only if I bring cup cakes.. so I will take me and the cup cakes and meet the privileged 5! I heard from a reliable source (another unsuspecting parent of the gangsta's) that I would be ignored, but would get to listen in on some very interesting conversation. I must say I am looking forward to meet the gang in their setting!

This bedraggled mom has a messy house to turn her attention to.. but wait hear that? The silence.. the little pixie is asleep, maybe I will rest my head for a few before we have to do the pixie dance again!!!

Cheeky's new avatar - Courtship Counsellor

Before I begin I must thank S for picking the topic :)

I have often thought this courtship thing keeps seeping down the ages .. but I would never have thought I would hear it from the mouth of the babes.

At 2.5 years Cheeky came home one afternoon and asked me "Amma what is Sexy? Caiden thinks my cold is sexy". And that was just the beginning.. ever since then I have been handling, batting away, skirting around questions along these lines!

Last year Cheeky the Kindergartner came home telling me how 2 boys from his class cornered a girl and moved her stealthily to the corner of the playground for a kiss. My jaw fell. The school woke up to this and introduced a no-touching policy!

A week back Cheeky came home with the day's hottest news. Rob and Kate were boy friend and girl friend. But you know what they broke up!

I asked "Cheeky why do you think they are boy friend and girl friend?"

Cheeky replies "Because Chris says so"

Me: "But maybe Chris is mistaken, maybe they are just friends"

Cheeky "No amma he is sure. I asked him and he said they were falling in love"

At this point I decided to stop the interrogation.. but that was not the end of it. Cheeky was asked the same questions by different members of the family and he repeated the tale with an all important look!

This friday he got into the car excited "Amma do you know the latest news? Rob and Kate got back together"

Me "Really"

Cheeky "Yes I think they kissed"!!

Now for those of you who dont know me.. I must tell you that I am Indian (Asian). We think dating comes after wedded bliss.. or well atleast that dating is followed by wedded bliss? Even f I do not fool myself thinking my son will think along these lines, I do think my son is 6!! So I sported that wide eyed look as I drove home and explained to Cheeky why he must wait till he is an adult before he can have a girl friend. So far he does not like "the girl germs" .. but there might come along a girl that will break that barrier.. what do you think?

My friend's 13 yr old daughter thinks it is unfair that 6 yr olds have boy friends and she can't go to the school dance.. About that, I will just have to lock Tootsie up for the next 20 years wont I?

The talker and the manipulator

All is well in the Cheeky-Tootsie household. Cheeky and Tootsie are managing to keep Mommy on her toes. Tootsie is proving to be quite a talker and keeps cooing to anyone that will listen. And God forbid she is left alone for a minute.. she protests and screams like she is hurt.. and the minute she is picked up her real intent is made clear!! The picker upper gets a toothless grin and that I guess is supposed to make the heart pounding worth it!!
Its when Cheeky gets back from school that the fun starts.. while he narrates his day's stories.. tootsie talks non-stop. Cheeky is heard complaining "Amma ask her to stop interrupting me"
"Cheeky she is telling you what she did all day.. "
Cheeky: "But Tootsie you just ate and slept all day... how long will you tell me that? You have nothing interesting to say, let me talk"
He does have a point there..
Every afternoon we have a ritual. Cheeky gets home, takes his piggy bank (The fantasy aunt is responsible for this contraption) and counts his life's savings. He reminds me of my grand-dad who would count his money every day! Anyway Cheeky gets all left over dimes and cents lying around the house! So when he counted out the big pile of coins in his piggy bank he found he has the fortune of one dollar and 21 cents. And he went around proclaiming this to everyone that will listen. Then he came to me one afternoon and said, "Amma I want to buy myself a toy with my money".
Amma: "Yeah sure you can buy whatever 1$ will buy you"
Cheeky: "Ok I want a nintendo Ds"
Amma:" But that costs 200$"
Cheeky: " So what you give me the rest of the money for it"
Amma: "Do you even know how much the rest of the money is?"
Cheeky: " Yes 199 dollars"
Amma: "But Cheeky you need to earn your money"
Cheeky rolling his eyes: "Amma adults earn money, kids get it from their parents"
At this point I decided to withdraw from my losing argument and maintain status quo.. So I did the wisest thing and walked away. However the conversation was far from over. The next day Cheeky began negotiating when he would get Nintendo DS.. Next week moved on to this summer to when he turns 7. Meanwhile Geeky Dad was blissfully unaware of this whole ruckus. He arrived from an out of town trip a few days later and was waylaid.
Cheeky: "Daddy what did you get me from your trip?"
Dad: "Nothing"
Cheeky: "Daddy are you kidding me"
Dad: "No Cheeky I was on a business trip I did not buy you anything"
Cheeky: "Maybe I should check your bag"
Meanwhile mom thought she was being clever and told dad "Give him a coin for his piggy bank". Dad handed Cheeky a dime. Cheeky perked up "Daddy I need some money for a toy... I am short of a few dollars".
Daddy rummaging through his wallet looks up: "How much?"
Cheeky: "199 dollars"
Sigh!! When fantasy aunt gifted him a piggy bank, Cheeky told her he wanted an ATM instead. Why couldnt she listen??

And then she smiled...

I sit here night after night asking the same question.. will tonight be the night? Will it be tonight that miracles happen.. the earth and the sky move, my stars align and my daughter chooses to sleep! And night after night she assures me that it is not time yet!! Every time I glance at the clock I calculate.. I am so thankful for my math .. if she sleeps for 3 hrs from now (like she is supposed to) .. then she will get up at x hrs and I will get oh wait where is my notepad.. x - the time now.. oh right that is 3 hrs of sleep.. but the hours tick away and she is not dozing off!! Instead I sit upright holding her against me so she can sleep in fits and spurts and I can live in constant fear of dozing off and dropping the precious bundle!! Sigh!! Like she will let me, a slight slip of the arm and I am reminded with a squeal.. and I am on high alert yet again (as alert as I can possibly be...)

Don't believe me? Come meet me and you will figure out like my neighbor did.. that my brain is out on vacation! I realised this the other day.. I stood breathing some fresh air for the precious minutes my daughter would deign to sleep.. baby monitor in hand. Meanwhile the imp zoomed past on his scooter.. keeping up his vigil on mommy! Between them they have a pact, when one rests the other takes over! So as I stood there (trying) to talk to my neighbor and the words eluded me. I seemed to have forgotten english and stood there grappling for my vocabulary! And that is when it occured to me, my brain must be on a vacation.

The next day I called my friend who is a new mom herself to check if my theory was right.. and as we spoke for an hour about diapers and baby poop, we were certain that we had lost it completely! M came home that evening and as I started telling him my woes I forgot what I was going to talk about. Now if I did not have enough signs here was one sure one! So I decided I needed a break and a hobby! Now blogging is a good enough hobby so is mindless surfing of the net, if I could get to a computer!

Now what kind of hobby can you pursue with a baby who refuses to leave your lap and arms? I got myself a netbook.. the hubs thinks I just needed an excuse to go get a mini laptop.. after all I have been angling for one for a long time now. And now I have been able to build a perfect case! Hey it is not like I got an IPad right... I could not build a strong enough case for 2 of those in the household! Sigh! The woes of my life!! M if you are reading this.. remember what I told you "Sharing is a good habit" .. so when can we swap and share? After all you need to go earn the bread and butter.. now hand it over!

And as I sat there in this woe begone state of mine contemplating my lost sleep (I talk about sleep day in and day out!! I am beginning to think people are running away from me! I wonder why!!) .. anyway as I sat there one morning at 5 am she smiled! The sleep melted away and incredulity stepped in. Here I was sitting fatigued after an all nighter... mentally cursing M who was travelling again.. who had the audacity to choose crowded airports, skipping timezones, untimely meals and strange hotels over a pleasant time with his family of sleepless women and bouncing imps! And she smiled.. her first ever smile on the dawn of her first month bday.. I gaped mouth open! Later that day the doctor asked me if she had smiled yet.. I was still dazed as I answered that yes indeed she had. And needless to say bored her with a monolgue of sleepless nights and mocking smiles!! The doctor now has a restraining order against me.. (puzzled expression!!) As for me, I sit today yet again sleepless and I await the second toothless grin!!

P.S. A friend told me sometime back (when I was pregnant actually.. why he chose that time to break the news to me is beyond comprehension.. but still as a true friend I think he was enlightening me!!?? Or as my luck seems to be lately.. he was mocking me as well I guess).. anyway he said "when you have 2 kids that is when true parenting starts". At that time I brushed off the comment with an intelligent blank look and a knowing fake smile.. but today I look back at those words and the meaning is beginning to dawn on me!! Oh my we are in for some interesting years ahead I say!