The walk

In her comment on my last post on commenting, JLT said "post maadi, jaldi!". I love the wonderful mix of three languages.

Why have I not blogged?

I'm being stalked by a lizard. The lizard must have been a snubbed romeo in previous birth, persistent as it is in popping up only when I'm in the kitchen. I'm quite tired of gingerly peeping into my dustbin before throwing any rubbish, or sifting through my laundry to avoid washing a lizard. And yes, the post of lizard chaser is currently vacant. My knight has returned his sword..err...broom.

This was not a reason for not blogging but irritating enough for me to include it here.

Vacations are on, the boys' days begin at 10, sometimes 11 (GASP!) in the morning and end forcibly at 12 midnight. I have no clue which day of the week it currently is. I do know that these kids of mine are having an awesome vacation, even though they think it could have been better!

Sometimes we go exploring. That's a fancier name for walking, in my son's unasked for opinion. One Sunday found us at the Mac Ritchie reservoir. Beautiful place, complete with water, dense foliage, tall trees, a monkey and humid, humid weather. There is a treetop walk (a walkway,250m, constructed over the natural canopy of trees) which we could not attempt because we reached a bit late. It closes at 5 pm. and we landed there half an hour before.
After much pointing fingers at each other for the delay we proceeded to walk on the 2.5km Prunus trail, a boardwalk which hugs the reservoir bank.

RUN! here comes the 'papa'razzi!

sigh...what drama!

G, of course, seemed more keen on freezing the beauty within his camera than earnest walking. Photography is his ongoing hobby. He is quite good at it, considering that he manages to make me look very presentable, which is a decent parameter to measure his skills by. On this walk, the boys as usual were keen on showing their backs, so i was the only convenient fixture he got.

It was "walking a few steps, stop, get photographed, take two steps to the right because he needs that tree, now continue" walk all the way, with him indulging his creative eye, completely! It sure is more difficult to be with a wannabe photographer than to be with a wanna be writer.

See the reflection? :)

All in all, we walked quite a bit, and I realised that nature walks and 11 yr olds don't go together, not if you are strong enough to take intermittent doses of gyan, given regularly, from the 11yrold.

Sample one such gyan : "I have a great idea. Take all the pics you want and photo shop us on everyone of the pictures, easy!"

Gyan 2: "good, i saw the trees, i saw the water, can we go now?"

Just to say that we have not yet learnt our lesson, we are coming back to walk the tree top ropeway soon!

cramping my style

Ever heard of the commenter's cramp? No?

Well, you've heard it now. I have it. Don't google it, though.


It starts with the pressure of writing a witty, sensible comment. Then it escalates with the overusage of nice, great and awesome, peppered with smileys all over. It sometimes culminates in a non comment.


I read many blogs, some because i know the person, a few because i love their writing and many because they make me aware. I generally follow a principle of trying to see the post from another's perspective. Commenting seems to be a tricky art to master. There is the pressure to be politically correct while commenting. If you want to disagree with the views expressed then you have to figure out the right way to do it gently without hurting anyone's feelings. It never used to bother me before but it does now.



If the post has touched me in some way or made me smile, like they usually do, then i have a problem expressing the level of excitement/sorrow, differently each time. I avoid using Lol, LMAO ROFTL, (the latter sounds like i'm barking). And if i do try to leave the blog without commenting, the feedjit indicator beckons me like a stern taskmaster getting an errant kid to do the job right. bah!



The commenter's cramp seems more difficult to overcome than my blogger's block. More so since i get such perfect comments from you all. That felt good! Nothing like shifting the pressure on someone else! So when i comment and its not up to your mark, you know the reason. If it continues, i better compile a blogger's dictionary and at least impress you with more adjectives like stupendous, marvellous, fantabulous, etc.

While this has cramped my style, my elder boy is going through a 'no snaps pls, i'm serious' phase. The younger one is torn between his wanting to pose and his desire to follow big bro. So, sometimes we have blurs and backs masquerading as our sons and sometimes we have this.

saying no to the 'papa'razzi !

Someone should warn G (the hubby) that if this boy is anything like me, then G better take it easy with his camera. The 'papa' could soon have a close up of his own nose or ear adorning his cell-phone.

Letting go...

The past 20 days have been very busy...My almost 13 yr old nephew, came a-visiting from Bangalore. All alone. He was treated like a prince (his words) by the Singapore Airlines staff who also upgraded him to a first class - you can imagine what his face book messages would have been like the next day!

So the boys had fun with their cousin, I've lost some hair and the neighbours are confused as to how many children I actually have!

We must have overdosed on the fun bit, because my 11 yr old caught a nasty throat infection and fever a day before the week-end began.

He got well soon and was understandably irritated at the enforced rest. I wondered aloud whether to give him an extra day of rest on Monday!

Me: "You need not go to school if you are feeling weak"

Him: "Okay' and a shrug

two seconds later,

Him: 'but I'm going to miss a lot, you know, I already missed school on Friday!"

Me: "It's just two days, I'll help you make up"

Him: "Okay!" and a shrug. (psst...can you tell that he LOVES talking?!!!!)

a minute later,

Him: "the teachers don't give us notes you know, you are supposed to listen to them in class"

I looked at him and smiled

Me: " And of course your friends would miss you too"

He smiled back, knowing that i had caught him out.

This morning he was fast asleep, and i thought I'll let him sleep in...I woke up the 6 yr old and pottered (love the mental image conjured here) around the kitchen...I turned to see my 11 yr old standing near me waiting for breakfast and i rushed to see which side the sun is rising from, because this boy never gets up on his own unless there is a cricket match/soccer match that day!

A sad Me: 'You want to go'

An emphatic Him: "Yes!" (absolutely takes after his father in the monosyllabic department)

And so I let him go, even though I wanted him to stay!

The 6 yr old gets his temperature taken, just as a precaution...(since the swine flu scare, the government had made it compulsory for every kid to carry a digital thermometer everyday)

Him: ' how much, amma?'

Me: '98'

Him: 'Celsius or fah..fabr...?

Me; '98 Fahrenheit'

Him: 'That means I need 2 more for hundred?!"

Me (deep sigh): "Yes! But since you are well enough, can you look after Anna and make sure that he does not go for his PE class?"

He happily confirms: 'Only PE?' and bounds off!

And I let him go too, even though he wanted to stay!

Can you tell, that I'm not ready for this letting go business?

cutting the rat's tail...

Got you with that title... didn't I?

You know it's time to take some serious action when you find yourself unconsciously plaiting your hair because it's getting too long...bringing to mind a gawky school goer with two plaits in an identity crisis - aiming to be rat tails or pig tails?


So the impulsive me, entered a salon and surrendered my hair to the whims of a scissor happy, non English speaking stylist, who has now successfully converted the pig tail into a mop head.

To add fuel to my ire, the hubby looks at me, after a whole day, and says "Yikes what have you done to your hair?"

I still haven't decided what has upset me more - his noticing after a day, or his comment...!

Mega sized BAWL!!!!

Now please be nice and make me feel better?

Terimah kasi! (that's thank you in malay!)

added as an afterthought: the rat's tail is now in its new avatar - the mini pony tail...

The urban giraffe

Heard in the playarea, an exclamation ; "Look, giraffes!!!!"

The kids present there, came rushing to see...Giraffes in the condo?

Soon came the loud protests from the kid brigade : "Those are not giraffes, those are cranes!"

She insisted, "But they look like giraffes, see that's the long neck and that's the face...."

Five minutes later she continued her walk, leaving a few excited kids admiring the 'giraffes' with the colored faces!

Whatever happened to imagination?

click, click! The mother in me !

Wonderful mom! that's what someone called me recently...and i thought to myself "not really, G is frankly a better parent than me!" Though it helps that he doesn't have to multitask and think about nutrition and silly stuff like hygiene and discipline and laundry and too much computer time and ...(i'm running out of speed here)! Always nice to give credit where its due..that's how nice i am!



Having got the guilt out of the way, lets focus on the tag by Monika and Gauri on the 5 joys of being a mother...

here go my spontaneous five,

• Nothing is as beautiful as the moment when you realize you’ve given birth to a pulsating life. I'm incredibly proud of that...and the fact that noone can ever change it! I loved my babies when they were tiny...I loved the way they looked, their smell, and the fact that i was their whole world, even if it was in the role of a milk vendor...and I learnt from them, from the way they learnt to roll over, to crawl, to sit, to walk, and to talk, always picking up something new.

• I love how my 6 yrold still needs me ...his hugs and his snuggles, his innocent questions and his nature. I love the way my 11 yrold laughs and his witty remarks. His writing and his gruff way of showing affection...i love this stage because its fleeting by and i treasure these moments...

• I've been seeing the world through their eyes for a long time now and i love what i see. I'm constantly evolving as a person around them...

• I love the evenings when they return from school...they both have SO MUCH to tell me ...and life is so full of bounce when they are at home.

• I love the fact that i know how to bring a smile to their faces even if i was the one who made them cry/angry and I love that their hugs can make my bad day seem perfect!

I could go on and on, but then the tag must go on :)

tagging other lovely moms : madhumita (UAE) , prats (India), ps (Norwich), Joy (USA) and Sumana (India)

Rules:

Just write a post of your own (5 things that you love about being a mom/dad) and find someone to link to and tag - someone from your own country, if you like, but definitely someone from another country (Google is a good resource if you don't know any; google any country name and 'mom/dad' in their blog search function) (be sure to let them know that you've tagged them!) - and link back here and HBM and leave a comment.

First impressions

You know what they say about first impressions? They say that's what imprints you in someone's mind, the first time you meet them?

The first impression is almost like your entire personality compressed into a five minute shot and you risk being stamped with a wrong label. I find that so unfair, because you find yourself carrying that weight for a long time.

And then i came across this at Antique mommy's.

It is a long video but do watch a brave 47 yr old contestent changing that first impression, unfazed by the laughter which greeted her. (click on the blue words to watch the video)

Sometimes, it pays to give someone a chance.

For those who missed the previous post, do watch this too...and keep those tissues handy...