Perks of hanging out with fellow Mommies and Daddies!!!

1. You can be late and they won't be upset! 

Leaving the house with a kid involves a lot of work... Pack their bags... Dress them up... Make sure they have eaten something because by the time you get to the restaurant and the food comes it takes a while... You change, get ready... And of course somedays there are little surprises like potty happened just as we're about to leave ... I remember this one time we were running really late for a lunch with other mommy daddy friends... and we had to stop to buy one of the kids a gift.... and our darling son gifted us with a diaper full of potty in the middle of the market....!!!!! So annoying.... but friends with kids get it!! In fact despite being so late we were the first ones there!!

2. Conversations are always abrupt!

Last sunday we went for lunch with friends whose little girl goes to school with siddy.... all thru the lunch i tried desperately to make adult conversation... but its so difficult when the kiddo keeps distracting you with random things.... So at one go you're all "Yes yes, that school's systems are all wrong... I don't think I'll send siddy there.... " to " stop stuffing your face with plain bread.. you may as well have the pizza no?!!!!" 

And its ok.. you don't get weird looks!!!

3. Plans can get cancelled!

Like one of my earlier posts of no plans are for certain.... with a toddler and his mood swings you can never be sure what your days are going to be like... Like the other day... after a long time aadi and i decided ok.. we're going to go for a run in the morning and get our routine started... so we wake up... me all grumpy as hell... but still i get ready, aadi gets ready and siddy decides today is the day to wake up at 6:45... just because... !! and did he stay awake? No no... he happily had his milk and passed right out... and Aadi and I were left having our coffee in our running clothes!!! Thats the thing about plans with toddlers around... its really never for certain....! 

4. Someone always has an extra diaper or a wipe!

This may seem funny to you non mums... but mommies will get this... you know how you pack and repack your baby's bag ... but invariably you forget something... now if you're out with non mums... you may have to either go to the closest shop to buy what you need or adjust with whats available in the washroom.... but when there are mommies around... you're sorted! The lunch we went for with two other couples...we were passing around wet wipes and toys and books ... anything that would make us sit together and continue chatting and keep the puddings happy!

5. Daddy's are more responsible...

Somehow, i don't know why and how... but daddy's somehow take charge a lot when you're out with other mommies and daddies.... Is it a guys thing? I don't know... but it sure is a very welcome breeze of fresh air... to be able to sit with the girls and chat and enjoy your glass of alcohol (really what does it matter which?!!!!) while your hubby runs behind the kids making sure they don't break anything!!

Attention seeker

We had our cousin over the other day... Siddy has met him a few months ago but I'm not sure he really remembers him... But he was happy to see him as soon as he came home... 

And our cousin was very friendly with him... Playing with him chatting with him... Laughing at his silly things.. Bumling usually takes time with people but that day he started his drama almost immediately!! 

So what was funny that day was the level at which he demanded attention... 

At one point all of us, adults,were talking about something and for sometime we all moved our attention away from him... 

Me being me.. Was watching him to see how he would react..

So he's sitting on his truck and he pushed it to the center of the room and starts making these very strange faces...

Like rolling his eyes... Looking at you then blinking and looking away... Very i'm not interested in you either but whatever!!!! 

When we still didn't react... He started the music on his truck and started dancing!!

How .. How can a two year old be so attention seeking...?!!! It's crazy.. Yes I know all toddlers are like this.. But it's crazy no? 

To a point where sometimes if I'm working and he wants my attention he actually puts my screen down saying 

"no laptop Mumma" 

For a second I get so mad at him... But then I see his cheeky little smile and start playing with him!! 

Crazy kid!! 

Late night kisses!!

It's the small things that amaze me...

Like last night the bumling was sleeping with us and he was pushing it... I could see he was sleepy but he kept jumping around the bed saying

"Mumma I'm spider man!!!" 

His first reference to being a superhero... Such a boy thing no?!!! Such a grown up boy thing no?!! 

And later, once I had shut all the lights ... He rolled around cuddling me, cuddling Aadi... Kissing my cheek kissing Aadi's hands!!! 

And at one point, his eyes closed but still he wouldn't give it up... His tiny little hands were up in the air and he was waving them about pretending to wash them and singing softly...

'Wash your hands wash your hands with Mumma and with papa... '

And some other rambling too.. 

But it was soooo cute to see him do that... 

It's like he was putting himself to sleep! 

So I put my hand in his up in the air.. And he started playing with my hand... 

'Mumma hand.. So cute' 

Ha ha!!! And all this still in his sleep!! 

It's the most amazing thing to lie down next to him, put my hand around his little bum and pull him towards me and kiss his soft soft cheeks, his tiny little nose... And have him kiss me back... 

You suddenly realise how quickly this little baby is growing up... And like every parent over the last hundred million years has thought, you think too..

'will he let me hug him like this and kiss him like this as he grows up?!!!' 

Playschool one year done!

Last Friday was the last day of my tiny little Bumling's playschool year. 

One full year. 

Oh my god! 

How can this be? How can that tiny little baby who curls up to me and can just about talk have finished an entire year in school?!!!! 

It's unbelievable... ! 

I got his report card today with his class photo... 

What an adorable picture... It's at the end of the post... 

Look at it and come back....:)

See.. See what a pookie he is... Smiling away and doing his own thing .. He's a dreamer you know... Always in a parallel world in his head... 

What is he doing passing thru school so fast?!!! 

He's in love with his class teacher... Rucha teacher... The one on the right... And she is in love with him!!! 

Everything is Rucha teacher this and Rucha teacher that.. And every picture on their facebook page has bumling sitting in her lap!

He's going to miss her when he goes to next class...

It's funny to think how he has created these bonds with someone apart from family... Its sweet actually... 

I had my own set of favorite teachers in school.. Three actually... One taught me geography ,one biology and one maths... All were my class teachers at some point or another too... They were the only ones who could look past my naughty side and see someone who would do ok with her life...

And naughty I was... Absent minded actually.. Honestly a whole lot like siddy.. I  had my own parallel world going on in my head all the time too.. I still do to be honest.. 

So when I see him like that it's nice because I know come what may.. He'll always have fun in his own head if nothing else..

I remember my mum telling me she would watch me walking home .. And I would be bobbing my head like I was either singing a song or talking to myself.. Which I did a lot of.. And so often I see siddy doing the same thing!!

So this is going to be a fun ride.. Seeing him grow up.. As mental as me!!  

I only hope that school diary he has got now... Doesn't come filled with remarks like mine did!!! Ha ha ha ha!! 

Hell I had to actually staple extra papers into the diary just because there was no more space for my teachers' remarks to me!!!! 

Babaji!

I'm not religious... I went to a school that taught us about dharma and karma and how not to idol worship... We did havans weekly and learnt shlokas and prayers... i enjoyed it all... but never took it too seriously...

At home my grandmum prayed and did havan morning and evening... My dad always did puja in the morning... 

We did the usual diwali puja at home every year...  I enjoyed it.., wearing a new suit and pretty jewelry... Feeling all girly and indian!! 

Aadi comes from a religious family ... But they too don't do much.. Ma and granny do puja everyday.. But it's their own little private thing.. Nothing filmy where the whole family joins in or anything.. And the usual diwali and any other Sikh function we go to the the gurdwara and pray. 

I'm not averse to any of these... I'm not very pro active either.. But I would love for siddy to have some idea of things related to God and religion. 

I know today the word religion is looked upon as extremist... But I would still like him to know stories about the gurus who founded Sikhism ... The Krishna ramamayan stories.. Not in a very religious way but in just knowing them...

Aadi isn't very religious either... I think we both believe in the existence of a higher spirit but no real human form of a god... 

And while we don't visit temples or gurdwara on a daily or otherwise basis, we have this special connection with the golden temple... 

My connection is clearly because that's where I knew I had this bumling in me... And Aadi for his own reasons... So between us.. We have this one place we would like to visit annually..

And truly its a very calming, very serene space...and so pretty...

I think the both of us have a more spiritual inclination and that is what we would like Siddy to have as well.. But I think the trick is to let him find his own way and not force anything onto him...

I feel sometimes in not wanting to make our kids very religious we pull them away from all things religious so much that they could rebel and join a more cult like form of religion... 

It's better to let them explore and come to their own conclusions about God and other things beyond our understanding...

While saying this... This time in Jaipur Granny would take him to our little mandir in the house every morning and he fell in love with it... So he would take me every evening as well..

We would sit there for about half an hour... He would ask me about each picture.. Each God.. I answered to the best of my knowledge ....He would talk to them... Tell them stories.. And then he would touch them and touch his head... Basically he gave himself their blessings!!! 

And if you ask.. He will give them to you too!!!

It was adorable... His whole interaction with his 'Babaji' as he calls God right now...so innocent and so sweet! 

And when we came back home, we don't have a mandir at home... so when he saw the two little buddha statues we have and went to take blessings from them!

No plan is for certain.....

One of the cons of having a toddler... is never really knowing if any plan is for certain.

From the day we've had this little pudding around us... all plans are secondary to him and how he's doing.

Some days of course it doesn't matter, because I'm such a homebody, that i'm genuinely ok staying at home, but some days when your brain is fried and you really just need to step out for a little bit and he falls sick or just gets really clingy and cranky you feel ... exasperated.

I mean yes, of course when he isn't doing good... there is no question.. like last night we had plans with friends and his tummy got sick... right till the last minute I thought he'd be ok... but then seeing his tiny little face and holding his tiny little body in my arms .... just changed everything....

You can't do it... You can't just go out there ... party, drink, chill with your friends when your 'thing' is unwell... your heart wont let you....

You think you can do it... you convince yourself he'll be ok... but you wont be...

When babies get sick... however mild or serious, they only get comforted with their mum... and this is something you have to understand when you have a kid.... before you have a kid more like...

And while there will be times your motherly senses will kick in and you'll be more than happy to be the one to hold him all night... but be prepared for the days and nights when you're motherly senses will have gone for a toss and your 23 year old self will make you want to just get out and head back to your wild days... you will get annoyed with the responsibility of another human being that simply clings to you...

This doesn't make you a bad mum...

.....It makes you a normal girl... a girl who suddenly became a mum... a girl who suddenly from enjoying a responsibility-less life... an easy going spontaneous life...  

A get up and do what you feel like girl to one who has a tiny precious dependant little being in her arms...

This post is not to make you feel tied down... but one to explain to your 23 year old that you've finally grown up... you've taken charge of your life... made choices and decisions that have bigger consequences than before...

Every phase in life is fun... every phase has its own pros and cons... but as long as you don't let it affect you or bring you down when things aren't going your way you will always enjoy where you are at every moment in your life...

And to also tell your 32 year old self that you don't have to squash your 23 year old self completely... let loose somedays... judge how good or bad, how mild or serious the situation really is and decide to stay home or head out for the night...

If you always choose to stay home at the slightest sniffle... then yes he's just going to get more clingy... so loosen up those mommy strings a little every once in a while... ! 

Its a tough place to be in... and one that makes most girls not want to go thru it.. or want to pro long it as much as they can... but in my opinion... anytime is a good time to have a kid as long as you're prepared for everything that comes with it... and you'll never know, by other peoples experiences, what comes with it... till you have your own.. original piece!!!