Wednesday, July 25, 2012

So what are the kids upto?

Everyday is new with Nishka these days. Almost everyday there is something new that she does.

She has learnt to climb stairs now. Although we have only 3 steps inside the house that go to the terrace, she easily climbs them and then crawls outside on to the terrace.

She had been able to stand for 5-10 seconds since long but only on hard surface. But now she is able to balance even on soft mattresses. And its just not that. She stands and starts clapping her hands and looks around for appreciation from all who are sitting in the room. The best part is the big smile that is plastered on her face all the time. It just lights up your mood and makes you feel so happy inside.

Earlier she could not sit from standing position. She would bend a little and unsure of herself would stand straight again. She would try that a couple of times and then would cry as if calling for help. But now, she keeps bending her body and will sit with a big dhammu. Initially it would hurt her bums I guess and would have an almost crying face as the hosue has stone floors. And she would look at us for sympathy. But we would clap and smile and say "Very good Nishku!" and she would immediately start smiling. Now she is a pro at sitting down from standing position.

Due to rains we had some ants coming inside the house. And one day we saw her crawling away rapidly from one position to another. And that's when I saw that she was trying to grab ants and had managed to actually grab one in her hand. I had to quickly release the ant from her palms and moved her to an ant-less area. She does that with both big ants and small ants.

When I'm teaching Anirudh, she always wants to grab the books/notebooks/pencil that Anirudh is working on even if I giver her another one. The ones I give her interest her the least. And few days back she climbed over the chowki (bed table) that Anirudh uses to study while Anirudh was using it and sat on it. Me and Anirudh were laughing away looking at her antic and looking at us laughing she was happily clapping away.

She has a certain affliction towards eraser. The moment she finds one she grabs it and always puts in her mouth. We have to be so careful and watchful because of this habit of hers.

When I try and pull her away from Anirudh when he is working on his homework, he will ask me not to do that and that he can handle her. And then he proceeds to talk to her in such a soft yet firm tone. He would say "Nikku, bhaiyya abhi home work kar le? Fir 5 min mein aapke saath khelega. Aapko jo chahiye de dega."

As for her speech progress, I would now use the word "talk" rather than "babble". The reason being the expressions on her face when she babbles makes it appear as if she is actually conversing. I especially feel that she has learnt the word "chali gayee" as so many times she says something and it sounds exactly like that. She understands "aa ja" and will immediately crawl/lurch towards me when I say that.

She hates being diapered and will cry and wail as if we are torturing her.

Anirudh has a lot of syllabus in this year. So far he is doing good. His Hindi writing has improved a lot but he still makes lot of mistakes when it comes to half letter and maatras (मात्रा). His maths has been pretty good ever since I can remember. But its getting tough now but with little explanation/logic he grasps quickly.

His spellings have also improved drastically and I don't get really worried whenever he has dictation tests.

What I'm worrying about most is his behaviour/attitude. He doesn't tell me the things as they are. He twists them as per his convenience. He lost his maths practice sheet at school so he took one of his classmates without the classmate knowing about it. He then erased the classmates name and wrote his own. I caught it immediately as the handwriting wasn't his. He confessed to what he had done and the worst was we found his original sheet right in his bag itself.

I've tried to talk to him to make him understand the implications and why he needs to convey the things truthfully without being scared of being pulled up for his wrong doings. He seems to have understood but only time will tell how much he implements what I've told him. He is a great guy as such and I guess I should give him the leeway of behaving like a child his age when he does such things.

One has to listen to him converse to other elders. The way he reasons with them, the way he explains his view on various topics, its simply amazing. There is so much maturity in his tone an thoughts.

There are days when I feel he is still a 8 year old child and there are days when I feel he is 8 but going on 18 when he gets so adamant and stubborn about certain things.

Life as a mommy of two is full of lots of ups and downs and so far I'm sailing fine. And I hope for smooth sailing in the future too.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Mundan

We got Nishka's mundan done on July 14, 2012 at Sheetla Mata Mandir, Gurgaon. This is the same place where we had gotten Anirudh's done as well.

Luckily there was no one but us when we reached. So we managed to get it done peacefully.

Nishka took it really well initially and played with her toys. She did cry in between but would get distracted with the toys and her favourite games on my phone. She would also calm down whenever I would sing her favourite songs or rhymes such as Lakdi ki kathi, Ichak dana bichak dana, Wheels on the bus, Chhun chhun karti aayee chidiya etc. But in the end she was least interested in the songs or the toys. So the last 5 min were a bit tough emotionally.

She would also stop crying when Anirudh would start talking to her. But Anirudh himself was getting uneasy and upset seeing her head being shaved and he also couldn't stand her crying. So when I called out to him towards the end to talk to Nishka to distract her, he did come but covered his eyes with his hands saying he cant see it. I could see he was trying to stop his tears as his voice was breaking when he was talking to her. But thankfully all was over quickly and we didn't get a single cut or abrasion.

She clung to me tightly for few seconds post the mundan but was calm and back to her playful self within a minute.

I hugged Anirudh also later and told him that you are the sweetest and the best brother Nishka could have ever asked for.

Here is a before and after pic of her:



You are one brave girl Nishka. Be like that...always!


Thursday, July 12, 2012

I love basketball

We have a basketball basket on our terrace which we got affixed when Anirudh started playing it last year and really started to enjoy it. And when he plays regularly it shows in his game.

I usually sit with Nishka on the terrace when he is playing and she loves to see Anirudh dribble the ball and also when he throws it in the basket. She squeals with delight. So once Anirudh is done playing he will sit with Nishka and play "roll the ball" with her.

Here are a few pics of her playing with a ball of her size :)


Trying to roll the ball towards Anirudh

And yay! We succeed!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Crocheted love

A blog friend - Suma posted some of her crocheted stuff on FB. They  were so beautiful and everyone just loved them. I asked her if she could crochet a headband for Nishka and sent her some samples from the net. She immediately got down to make them and in less than a week made 3 headbands. All of them were beautiful. I selected one and she couriered it across. I was super excited when the packet arrived and quickly opened it. The packing itself was so beautiful. Inside it lay a beautiful surprise. She had sent across a pair of clips with crocheted red butterflies. I was so touched and obviously super duper happy.

When I reached home, I immediately tried these on Nishka and she looked so cute in them. Here are some pictures showing the headband and the clip. Its really difficult to click Nishka as the moment she sees my phone or the camera, she just has to grab it. So please excuse the picture quality.

The packet and the headband plus the clips.

The butterfly clip

Wearing the headband


Thanks a ton Suma. Everyone at home loved these. And please be prepared for more orders coming in your way :)

Monday, July 9, 2012

A picture post

Today I just wanted to do a picture post so here we go :)

"Hey mom! Let me help you with the laundry"

Morning masti with bhaiyyu! He is so much fun!!

"I love to cruise along the bed!"

"And I love to stand on my own..even though for 10-15 seconds only!"
(When she leaves the support and stands on her own, the expressions on her face are priceless. As if she understands its a feat. She will look towards the person around as if looking for compliments)

She just loves grabbing and pulling the buttons on Dadu's kurta. And Dadu lets her, without a murmur.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Its so sunny

Need to be properly attired for a day out in scorching sun :)