February 29, 2012

February 15, 2012

Welcome Home Papa

Adi's Dad who has been away in freezing Seoul for almost 3 weeks will be back home tomorrow. We decided to do something special to welcome him home and baked a nice, warm orange marmalade cake just for him. Hope he likes it!!



February 13, 2012

Fooling Around

Some fooling around with the iPhone just before bedtime. A couple of days back I asked my son "how did you become sooo naughty?" and he very cheekily answered "You trained me, Mama"!!







February 11, 2012

Swensen Ice Cream

A few pics of Adi enjoying his Swensen ice cream last evening - he loved it so much he even licked the glass clean! :D




Pancake Breakfast

Adi is currently on a TV ban (for misbehaving twice yesterday!) and to keep him occupied, I suggested that we make breakfast together. He was excited and wanted to choose a recipe from one of his own cook book (we have two recipe books meant for kids). After looking at all the pictures, he finally decided on buttermilk pancakes.

Thankfully, I happened to have all the ingredients (I did not have buttermilk but used homemade yoghurt instead) and handed them over to Adi one by one along with the measure. As usual he wanted to do everything including the whisking part (he has his own kiddy whisk). Finally when it was all mixed well, I fried the pancakes with some butter. This is the first time we have made pancakes, but I liked how they came out. Having eaten pancakes only once before while we were in the US, I dont really remember the taste and texture very well. But the ones we made today were nice and fluffy and tasted decent too. So, not bad for a first effort!

We had the pancakes with sugar. Am not sure if Adi really loved them as he had only two. I should look up on alternate serving options (other than maple syrup) to make it more interesting for him. One thing I am sure of is that he enjoyed the cooking process :)



February 10, 2012

Cars Movie

I have not yet met a single 3+ year old boy who does not love the movie Cars (part 1). As I am writing this post, Adi is inside watching this movie for the zillionth time!!! I think in the recent years, this is one movie which has captured every single little boy's heart. I have even met a 3 year old who used to go to bed holding the Cars DVD close to his heart!! :)

It's Friday night, no school tomorrow - think I am going to let Adi skip his bedtime and enjoy the movie :) Adios!

February 09, 2012

My First Bike

Adi's first birthday gift was a blue bike - the horn of which went "kajra re, kajra re" and "aashiq banaya aapne" in the most irritating sound possible!! We had actually "borrowed" this bike from his friend Rishi who was not using it at that time. When we get a gift for Adi, we normally keep it just outside his bedroom, so that it is the first thing he sees when he wakes up and walks out in the morning. And so, we had kept the bike in the usual place - and when Adi saw it for the first time, the look on his face was priceless!! He had this huge grin on this face for the next 30 minutes!! He was simply thrilled and wanted to try it out right then. I think I was sick on this day and lying in bed and so the cycle was brought next to me so that I could see the happiness and sheer delight on his face - and take a few pics as well ;)

Adi, like all boys, is totally fascinated by bikes and tells me all the time that when he starts earning money, the first thing he is going to buy is a bike and drive it superfast!! What is it with boys, bikes and speed, I say? 


February 08, 2012

Pizza for Dinner

A couple of weekends back, we had visited our friends for lunch and they made home made pizzas for all of us. It was a big hit with the adults as well as the kids. Although Adi was never quite fond of pizzas (he is a pasta fan), he had two slices and also said it was very 'yummmmy'. Since then, I've been meaning to make it at home again and along with Adi. So today was the day and Adi was all set to make his first pizza. I gave him all the ingredients and he chopped them very neatly (I gave him a not very sharp knife). I made some tomato sauce and also grated the cheese (as the grater is quite sharp for Adi to use). We broke up for a quick shower and then Adi was back to the kitchen and layered the pizza with the sauce, veggies, cheese and basil leaves and it was all set to go into the grill - which was my part. 10 minutes and the pizza was ready to eat!

Adi had fun and while I am writing, is enjoying his pizza dinner. While Adi is happy about the cooking, I am happy that it kept him away from the TV! I guess we'll be doing this more often now.


February 07, 2012

In Session

Couple of pictures from Adi's drum class -



My Strength

A few years back when I had asked Adi if he would like to have a little brother or sister, he asked me if I will have to stay in the hospital for that. I said 'yes' and he answered 'only if u dont have to stay for more than 2 days' :) Yesterday I asked him if he would like to have a sibling from Mama's tummy or from another place and he said 'I dont want you to go to the hospital, so lets get a baby from Ashraya'. My baby, he's so so sweet and so very sensitive - he can never see me hurt or sad or in pain and he still very clearly remembers the two instances he has seen me cry with great clarity (although its been 4 years since the first one). I wish he never saw them and never will again. Adi has been my greatest source of strength and I want to be the same for him as well.

In Love

On our way back home from Malpe, Adi and I had a long conversation in the bus. I was asking about his friends in school and he suddenly said "I think J and A have fallen in love". I asked him why he thought so and he said, "In my 2nd day of school, I saw them both talking to each other and that means they are in love. And it is a very big love. Also G and G talk to each other a lot so even they must be in love!!" I had to try really hard to not laugh and then asked him if has fallen in love and he said a very emphatic No! He also promised to tell me when he does fall in love :) The best part was, after a few quiet minutes, he asked me, "Will I have to marry the girl I love?" and I answered "only if you are still in love with each other when you are old enough to marry". He seemed to be happy with this answer and went on to talk about something else.

My son, who has always wanted to marry me because he thought that's the only way he can be with me forever, is now thinking of marrying someone else. Boo hoo!!! Its sure hard to let go!!! :))

Family

Adi & I spent the last 5 days at Malpe. It's been almost 4 months since our last visit and I was missing home very, very much. When Vikram Uncle (my Dad's youngest brother) passed away, I decided to visit Malpe for his 13th day ceremony and stay on for a few days more. Although I am not in favor of Adi missing school unless really required, I convinced myself that a few days should not matter. And I am glad we went coz Adi got to meet all his cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents, etc. He took part in the 13th day ceremony (some parts which only men could do), got to eat some traditional food (which I never make), played in the beach and got to know his family a little more. He adores his cousins and he spent a lot of time playing and eating along with them - he even went off with Arnav's (his cousin brother) home without even saying Bye to me!! Now looking forward to Adi's summer holidays so that we can spend a longer time at home.


February 01, 2012

Singapore - Dec 2012


Adi and I made a trip to Singapore during his XMas holidays. One of my oldest & dearest childhood friend , Divya, has been living in Singapore for the last 12 years and has been asking me to come and visit her since then. I always had the excuse of busy at work, not enough leave, etc to give her but this year, once I quit my job, I had none to give at all. With her calling me every week to book my tickets, I decided that I should make the most of my time off and go see her. And with almost every one telling me that Singapore is a great place for kids, I finally made up mind and Adi & I landed in Singapore on December 17th.

Adi was excited way before we left, mainly because he had heard about 'Underwater world' and also one of his best friend from school was also visiting Spore and was in the same flight as us. Needless to say, we had two hyperactive boys in the airport and in the plane - both refusing to sleep and giggling away! Am not even when he went to sleep as I was too tired and sleepy and crashed out as soon as the plane took off.

The first day was spent shopping for a camera for Adi. He had used our Canon P&S camera during our Rajasthan trip and had dropped it several times. So decided to buy a real hardy, shockproof one just for Adi. After a lot of looking around, I finally settled for the Olympus Tough camera which is both waterproof and shockproof (upto 5 ft). The picture quality isn't really great but I wasn't too worried about that. Camera in hand, we headed to Orchard Road. While I was busy ogling at the massive malls and the designer shops, Adi was happily clicking away with his camera. We admired the christmas lighting, took a few pictures and headed back home as we had an early morning ahead of us.


Bubble Gum

When Adi first asked to have a bubble gum (when he was around 4.5 - 5 probably), we did think for a bit if we should give it to him or not. What if he swallowed it, what if it got stuck in his throat, what if he got addicted to it, is it really good for kids to chew gum? But then, like with most other things, we thought it was probably just a phase when he was curious about everything and we should let him have a try. Who knows - maybe he wont like it at all and not ask for another one. So we explained to him what it was, that it should be thrown in a bin, blah blah and let him have a try. He liked it, wanted more and wanted to blow a bubble too! We gave him his bubblegums whenever he wanted it coz he would never chew it for more than 10 mins and always threw it away. But his tries at blowing a bubble was not proving successful and one day he was quite upset. So I showed how it is done and told him that with practice he will get it. The very next day, the first thing he wanted in the morning was a bubblegum. He got it after breakfast and then with serious determination and persistance he set about 'practicing' to blow bubbles. He practiced all day (with several gums) and by the end of the day he was able to blow tiny bubbles and was delirious with joy!! This is has been one instance where we have seen him persist with something he wanted, wish we saw the same when it came to reading too...ha ha!

Adi still likes to have gum once in a while, we still give it to him and no, he has not swallowed any so far!