Happy Birthday Darling!

Ri is now two.

Pongal 2012

Dear Ri,

It is Pongal 2012 today and I am sitting in front of the laptop strumming away at the keys. You are with your father’s parents. I am sure you must be having a gala time over there. I appreciate the ‘alone’ time I have right now. I have so much of work to do on the computer, in the computer, outside the computer. Bah.

I wonder how old you will be when you begin to read these posts I write for you. Will they still be available? What if some new technology comes and eats all this away? And, then your grandmother will talk to me from the Oujja board and say “ This is why good ol’ letters are more reliable”.

Ri. My fingers can barely write a “To-Do list’” leave alone these long blog posts. I can barely hold a pen anymore and my hands get all quivery and shaky when I start to write something. So we just have to hope that the technology gods keep smiling at us and do not destroy the posts I write for you.

Sometimes I wonder why I blog about you and for you. Is it some melodramatic effort to be in touch with you if something were to happen to me? Not to worry Ri. If something like that were to happen, I will probably haunt you and your poor father for the rest of your lives.
Curtains fluttering, I will check if he has matched the bedspread in your room with the curtains I am now fluttering. Is he keeping the fridge clean? Are their lids covering all the cups of food? Are you eating healthy? Did he seriously believe your “I am going for a sleepover story”?

Or, am I blogging so that someday some publisher will read my blogs and decide to offer me a book contract? Speaking of books, I desperately want to enter the Mills & Boon Aspiring Authors competition. Ri, I have such issues. I dream about winning and my parents and your father’s parents reading the winning entry and turning red in the face by all the ‘adult’ scenes I have crafted. You’ll probably know what I am talking about when you read this post.

I have a lot of things on my plate right now Ri. Our new apartment and your birthday party amongst other things…….

Wish me luck,

Love,

Mom

P.S: I ate a lot of Pongal today. A lot.

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.