Questioning the little pudding!

1.   Favorite Color: Red

2.   Favourite room : Kitchen 

3.   Best friend : Nikki 

4.   Favourite song: Uptown funk!

5.   Favourite animal : Cow 

6.   Favourite cartoon: Dora 

7.   Favourite book: Tractor book
8.   Favourite Toy: The blue ball
9.   Favourite Fruit: Banana
10. Favorite Drink: Orange Juice
11. Favorite Animal: Tiger
12. Favourite Food: Rice and curd

Cake or Ice cream : Ice Cream
Noodles or Rice: Rice
Cars or Motorbike : Motorbike
Dancing or Singing : Dancing!

And my favourite question: 

Hugs or kisses.... after both were demonstrated a hundred times by me... he picked:

Hugs!!!!

That feeling!

You know the best part about being a kid? 

You can pass out anywhere anytime and you know somehow you'll be back in your bed at night! 

Its an amazing thing no? 

At restaurants you can eat and then simply pass out on the sofa while the rest of the people are still eating... 

At a party, once you're done playing and dancing and eating like a crazy person, you can find the closest cushion, or your mum's lap and pass out... 

You can travel on a flight or go for a long drive... You can pass out while looking at the clouds or the street lights and close your eyes and comfortably fall back because your mum or dad will hold you... 

And carry you... 

And change you... 

 and tuck you into bed... 

What a feeling that is isn't it? 

How we did it!

One of the biggest questions in everyone's mind is how did we do it? 

How did we vacation without the baby? 

Eight days people.. We took off for a full eight days.. Just the two of us... Without a care in the world... 

And the only way we could do that was because ---- here it is--- pay close attention now--- because of our parents! 

Yup..!! 

Like I have always said... If you want to have a baby .. Make sure you have your parents around and make sure they are happy with you!!!!  

Ha ha ha ha!! 

No, but seriously... 

It is the only way you can ever consider doing this.. Taking time off.. Vacationing just like before... something we always tell people who want to become parents right? "oh things will never be like before" ummm... they can be!

Now a days I think, because of that " we are independent individuals" and the whole " please ma you have no idea how to look after a baby anymore" " my way is the best way" thought process we end up alienating our parents from our kids.. 

It's terrible... 

Kids need grandparents... they will  experience a kind of love that's just beyond compare... And trust me, grandparents need their grand kids... It makes them younger and happier like nothing else can...

I have known this little secret from day one.. If you nurture this relationship.. You will always get time off... Stress free!!! 

I know that these nannies and nurses are all very competent and very in sync with the new age parenting methods... and I'm not taking away from the couples who don't have a choice... maybe their parents live in other cities or worse other countries.. or are too old to help... but in general I would personally pick a grandparent to look after the pudding than a nurse or a nanny. 

That would be stress free for me... because as many indulgences they might entertain... I know that they will always have the kids best interest... and no one else could possibly love your kid as much.... and for me that is most important...  

So even if you're parents stay away from you.. go visit them often or have them over often... let the kids know them... if they are out of town too... make sure summer diwali winter any kind of vacation the kids should want to go visit them.... 

I remember my childhood... weekends were always at my nana nani's home with my cousins...where we would go the beach or spend nights playings cards... and bigger vacations meant going to pune to my granny's place with cousins from the other side... we stayed in a very quiet part of pune where we could run around with no  worry in the world and ate mangoes like they were getting over!!! and trust me i wouldn't exchange that for any other kind of childhood... the memories and relationships I built then... incredible!

and what did my parents do while I was out enjoying my childhood... they probably chilled like never before!!!

So thats how i did it... I made him fall madly in love with my mum and aadi's parents... and then I ran away to London with my boyfriend/husband/father of my son and had a blast!! 

We walked around hand in hand, danced all night (well at least till the last train left the city to get to Langley!!) shopped peacefully, lounged in hyde park... drank for most part of the day, chatted away.... and all the while not one real thought about "is he ok... is he missing us? " nothing. 

Thats doesn't mean we didn't miss him.. we missed him incredibly once a day.. and usually when we saw some adorable boy running around or another... but no worry.

And he was good too... he was with people he loved in jaipur... meeting more people (cousins of ours came to visit him in jaipur) who would love him and make him the center of attraction, just how he likes it... and for the three days he was in bombay with mum, his darling mamu and mami came visiting... then he visited them and his little brother... So overall he was good!!

Hmmmmm ya, we can totally do this annually... next year maybe we can increase it to around 10-12 days... what do you think?!!!!

10 things about my 2.5 year old!

1. He's talking non stop now... Tells us stories even... What he did in school.. Who his friends are.. It's non stop chatter!! There are days he goes into gibberish still.. But I think he does it purposely..! He likes our reactions to his silliness! 

2. He's grown tall.. So tall ...  He's growing out of all his clothes... His pants are too short.. And shirts show his little tummy!! We've got many pairs of shoes he's only worn like twice or thrice.. 

3. He's pretty potty trained... Well atleast 85% which isn't too bad!! He's got his first set of undies.. Avenger ones.. With hulk and captain America!! He loves them!!! 

4. He has friends .. His school friends and his building friends.. He understands what the word friend means! He calls his building friends " my boys"!!!! And he fist bumps them all when he goes down to play... He also get upset when they don't give him much attention.. Well they are 8 and he is 2.5!!!! 

5. He has and displays feelings... Including tantrums!! He gets upset and happy and shy and shows all those emotions in such a grown up way... It's not all just various kinds of cries that you try to decipher... It's actual words and feelings and emotions.. And he has quite a wide spectrum for a toddler! 

6. He loves singing and dancing. Oh he loves it! Uptown funk with his dad.. Man that kid can dance .. I mean, ya its in his genes... But still .. The love for it is crazy! Any beat on TV any form of music and he starts dancing to it!!! There are evenings he will ask for his music on either of our phones and say " let's dance papa" and then the top will go around the house bouncing to it!!! 

7. He loves curd rice... South Indian he is  like his dadi! No, but really.. There are days he'll pick curd rice over anything .. Rotis, chicken, daal, pizza even!! I think it's his comfort food!

8. He sleeps on his own... Rolling around the bed till he passes out... The biggest blessing off life if i may say so myself! All I need to do is switch off the light and stop talking and next thing you know he's rolling on my tummy on my face all over the bed and then suddenly he isn't.. And I look at him and he's passed out! 

9. He plays quietly.. With his cars and his veggies.. You know this is such a great thing especially when you work from home.. Times when I need to focus and keep him busy.. I pull out his cars or plastic veggies and he sits quietly and plays... He'll talk to himself and his toys and sometimes come over to me with a plate of fried corn or coffee in a cup!! But otherwise he just does his own thing!! 

10. He knows what love is and expresses it! Somedays he will just come up to you and kiss you and hug you and make you feel like he most special person in the whole wide world!!!  It's incredible... How much love he feels for you.. He even crushed you with his hugs!!! And smashes your cheeks in with his kisses!!! It's adorable!! 

This age, this phase is probably my most favourite... Because he talks, he asks for things, he reacts, he over acts, he can do a lot on his own, but he still needs me... 

He's still young enough for me to bully him into kissing me and hugging me... But old enough to eat some meals on his own! 

He does and says the funniest of things and even though he understands everything.. He's still a little baby somewhere in there! 

It's a really fun and funny age.. And I hope it lasts for a little longer!!!