Happy 2012 my baby.

Dear Ri,
Thank you for the past year,
We have a new year coming through.
Every day is happy,
Simply because of you.

Happy 2012 my baby,
You will soon be two.
Remember every one of them 365,
That mommy loves you.

25 things that Ri did this year

1. She dropped out of play-group within a month of joining making her an official school drop-out.
2. She went on two big vacations; Kumbalgargh in Rajasthan and Kabini in Karnataka.
3. She visited Ganesha in the famous Pillayarpatti.
4. She got herself a passport.
5. She discovered she loves Gems.
6. She saw her aunt getting married.
7. She bonded with her mother's sister, her husband and her father's brother.
8. She walked confidently, is running, sprouted and is sprouting teeth.
9. She talked and talks 19 to a dozen.
10. She learnt to use a spoon.
11. Sometimes, she picks what she wants to wear.
12. She watched Dumbo for the first time.
13. She can sing the last words of most of the lines in the Kolaveri song.
14. She can almost write the alphabet A
15. She learnt to say Please, Thank You and Sorry.
16. She also learnt to throw a mean tantrum.
17. She can yield a crayon.
18. She developed an obsessive love for airline packs of Amul butter.
19. She starred as the main feature in a column her mother writes for a local community paper.
20. She knows how to brush her teeth but ends up eating all the paste.
21. She learnt alphabets and numbers.
22. She developed a bad fever a couple of times.
23. She lost interest in Ceebeebies.Poor Teletubbies.
24. She fell off the bed. Thrice.
25. She attended birthday parties and her first Christmas carnival.

Nativity and Ri

Some days ago, I told Ri the story of Christmas. Having studied in a Christian school, the story of the birth of the Christ and the Nativity play are close to my heart. I even added some sound effects in the middle, singing 'Jog along little donkey' to describe the scene where Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem. I felt proud that I managed to explain to my 23-month old what a carpenter was. Remember Joseph's profession? I explained to her that Jesus was the Lord's son and how he was born in a manger.

Well, to make sure she was listening intently, the Tiger Mom in me asked her some questions.

Me: Who travelled to Bethlehem?
Ri: Maryyyyyyyyy

Me: What did Joseph and Mary travel on?
Ri: Donkeyyyyyy

Me: So who was born in a manger on Christmas day?
Ri: (emphatically): Wee Willy Winky!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas Y'all.

Sorry Ri

Dear Ri,

I owe you an apology. Dated December 18’th 2011.

Sometimes when you act out, I lose sight of how tiny you really are. I feel like I’m against someone of my own age and expect you to understand that your behavior frustrates me.

Today, we came home after a really really long road trip and we had to get ready to go out for a birthday party. I was tired. So, were you. I am coming down with a bad cold, the kind where your head feels heavy and your eyes are blurry.

You refused to let Inna help you get ready. You refused to let us brush your hair. You insisted on pouring my contact lens solution all over the bed and dug your hands into my lens case. You wailed and cried so much you got tears all over your party dress. Then, you kicked off your party shoes. All the crying made you red-faced and I began to imagine you were warm. Well, you refused to let me take your temperature. I thought you were hungry and tried to feed you some warm milk but you kicked the bottle away. Much crying later, we left for the birthday party.

I was angry, you were red-faced and I lost my temper with you in the car. I said some things to you that I should not have. You probably did not understand what I was saying but I was so angry that I simply had to let you know how angry I was. Moments later, you were in my arms, drinking from your bottle
(because I told you that the man driving next to us on his bike was chasing and catching babies who did not drink their milk) and I felt like the worst person in the world. I thought of all the mommies and babies we would meet in the party and felt ashamed that I was the one who had screamed at her kid that evening.

I love you Ri. I really do. However, there are times you really drive me up the wall. I know you don’t understand that you are whining and crying, sometimes whining, sometimes crying and sometimes giving me a giant combo dose of both but it drives me crazy. However, that is no excuse for losing my temper with you.

I am sorry. I apologized to you on the way to the party, in the party and on our way back. You were happy. You didn't really understand anything that happened, you played with balloons and spat out some cake. You behaved like the perfect party princess.

When we came home, you opened your return gift with glee. You loved the little plastic bottle with bubble blowing liquid you got and played with the all the bubbles I blew for you. Then, you insisted on blowing the bubbles yourself, spilt the liquid all over your dry-clean only party dress, licked the bubble-blower and probably drank some of the soapy water too.

We have a long journey ahead, you and I.

Excuse me while I go pray for more patience.

Love,

Mom.

P.S: I am sorry.  

Most popular post !!!!!!!!!

The narcissist in the writer/blogger in me makes me check my Blogger Stats ever so often. The most popular post still remains Jeera Pulao and Creamy Vegetable Gravy. Aaarghhh. What about the other heartfelt emotional ones?

Going back to the above recipe, Ri loved it and ate it up just fine but I think I used too many vegetables (threw in some spinach as well) and well, Ri could not digest the crazy vegetable cocktail.
So, to all those Jeera Pulao enthusiasts, tone down on them vegetables. And, READ MY OTHER POSTS TOO!

I need your grace, to remind me

Dear Ri,

I am listening to Snow Patrol’s Chasing Cars from Grey’s Anatomy. I love the song, the haunting melody, the passionate singer and the eclectic lyrics.

There was a time in my life that I would associate every beautiful song and memory with a boy. Well, you’ll probably read this at an age when you will understand! Someday you will meet them boys (much to your father’s angst) and I hope you experience and enjoy all the wonderful feelings and emotions of falling in love. And, associating every song with the same!

Today, I hear this haunting song and I think of you. God, help me, I’m all mommy now!

When I think of a team, it’s you and me. A pair, that’s you and me again. A beautiful song reminds me of you. Anything beautiful in life, it all points at you.

You lay in the crook of my arm last night and held my nose tight. That made my voice all funny and when you heard the ‘funny voice’, you laughed. I could have been the the funniest stand-up comedian in the world.

You laughed so loud that tears came down your eyes, happy tears and seeing you laugh like that, well, it made my day, my year and pretty much all my years. Moments like these, I feel like I will end up choking from my love for you. And, we spent a lot of time like that last night, laughing together like silly girls.

Yes there are moments (make that many many moments) when I not only lose my patience with you but also faith in me as a mother. I feel easily irritable, overwhelmed, annoyed and slowly realize in your toddler years that the ‘itching to whack’ feeling comes just as easily as all the other loving maternal ones.

And yet, everything seems worth it when you laugh like that.

Keep loving and laughing,

Love,

Mom

Blog Title: Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars