My Chiclet

How time's been flying. My chiclet had zilch hair on her head for eight months after her first 'balding' ceremony. Back then we didnt know that she'd been blessed with her nanima's straight hair which took ages to grow in thickness because of it's fineness. We used to go crazy with little clips, pins and anything sparkly, glittery and preferably with its own hanging on for dear life capablities. She hates having her hair tied, pulled, generally does nothing to it but let it hang like a curtain. Lately though after school started, I see her trying to do things to it herself, parting it this way and that, pinning it up this way and that and usually the efforts are commendable simply bcos its nice to see the whole face and not just an eye peeking out from under hair somewhere. Of course hair bands were the order of the day. (saved me)

When time flies I meant, it's a milestone I think when ur daughter starts to dress herself up to make herself look prettier, more presentable, adds her own touches. The relationship with the mirror. Especially since I'm a tomboy mom raising a tomboy daughter. Or so I thought.

she was telling me she thinks she should get bangs

Also capturing those pearlies. They should be wiggling anytime soon! sniff!

Nosh tales

Not all kids who want attention do it by getting in your face. I realised that much now with my daughter. She is demanding in her own way but not rude enough to get in your face and demand it. Thats why I see we've been going off track for a bit. And it didnt occur to me sooner.

The kid is gets antsy when there's nothing to do. Like all out irritated and Lost. Scattered and you can almost see it in a halo around her body. Scattered energy, frustration and grrrrrrs. They had Free Choice (as in do what you want like Free time) at school last week and the kid was one frustrated bundle by the end of it. Geez. Remember those days when a teacher was absent or we had 'Games' period and we lived for that half n hr? You didnt? Well I did and I came alive. 

It was just before school ended for the day and when I picked her up I could see she wanted to bite someone's head off. Little Nosh - you're growing into a very 'O C'MON! Dont waste my time woman'. Yes, the off-shoot of that would be that you would think you'r mom's life is a wasted exercise. Go with the flow being my mantra and all that. Of course you got it from your Dad - 'he who cant go to a mall unless there's something you need to buy from there'.

I tried to reason with her and all I could get was more Grrrrs and some dramatic rolling and thumping on the bed. 

I thought she might have been rejected or hurt by one of the kids, y'know those I wont be your friend or whatever games. No. That was'nt it. 

Did you fall? No. 

Did you lose something? No.

Did you forget something? No.

Did you eat? Yes.

What did you eat? A bagel. 

A bagel? Why? didnt they have anything halfway more decent than that? 

No. I just felt like having a bagel. 

Ok. 

So thats why you're so out of it. You're hungry. No.

Then what is it? 

They had Free Choice and I was so bored!

Alarms go off in my head. 

So anyway, we got around that and Nosh was happy again but I was left wondering whatever happened to 'yay! Free choice!'? Lets hope that was not all it was. But more than one incident like this has happened and I know for sure Nosh is not the kind who likes time without a purpose to it. And I thought she was a Piscean. There goes that theory. 

More than once I've heard the "But there's nothing to do mom! with a highly impatient and irritated strain to it. So nowadays if you hear "Let's throw a ball around" these parts more often than usual you know why. Or "Nosh you wanna do the dishes?" 

They're way past the stage where my doodles or their doodles left them fascinated. Cartoons dont do it anymore. Chores do believe it or not. Im pretty sure once Reh starts school this September full time its gonna be the same with him too. They dont want to come back and loll in front of the TV. They want to catch up and do things together. Never a dull moment around these parts these days. For me. ie.

Anyone got any tips for things to do while hanging out with your daughter? We have the get a slice of pizza and buy something she likes down pat. Throwing a ball too. Bit of the Wii too. Reading, crafts and all that happen as it is. Dun suggest baking anyone. To get all those kadhais and stuff out of the storage place my oven is and bake and then eat that cake by myself is no fun i tell you. It's asking for a guilt trip. 

Yes, other than that, I'm open to suggestions. While you're at it, throw me some ideas for the Spring Break starting tommorrow and lasting 10 days too. Cmon now. 

Hey mom!

"I learnt how they make fertiliser at school today." said Nosh
"Really"? mom said and for once Nosh didnt have to repeat what she said thrice before mom came out of her usual stupor to respond. Mom was wondering what grade Nosh was in and how long she'd been sleeping.
"Well what honey?" she ventured...what goes into fertiliser?" with the accompanying indulgent smile reserved for moments like these.
"Cow poop." said Nosh.
"Oh" said mom and they fell over each other laughing, mom relieved that not much time had passed when she slept and woke.
"Who told you?" asked mom
"My teacher." said Nosh
All was well. Except for the syllabus in kindergarten these days. Oh well by the time she's through with elementary maybe Nosh will know how to balance my chequebooks and Reh will bring home a paycheck enough to cover soup costs. At least.

Random thoughts on my daughter

I dont know what prompted this - seeing all the newborns around or what. But I took a trip down memory lane.

Newborn on her first trip home.

thanks for making me look like a girl ma.

partner in crime.

3rd birthday

partner in crime at 1 and 2.

those were the double diaper duty days...

i like this nosh

first day of pre-school 3 years ago

womb to tomb buddy

u think he'll like this ma?

train trip _ I really wanted them to get on a real train so off we went chugga chugging

with unca, surveying God's Own Land...

Dear Nosh,

As of today you give me crushing hugs. You put on performances for me all the time. Any second that you think Iam not distracted by anything/anyone else. You sing funny songs. Your laugh is like a woodpecker style short bursts of mirth. Your crying OMG! is like the world is coming to an end or you lost your mama in a crowd. A siren of a wail with moaning and sighing.

I'm still your favourite. Despite you being in love with school and having a ton of friends, I'm still holding the number one spot for now. (Yes yes yes!!) However prickly Iam I still get those crushing hugs like my prickliness brings out the hugginess in you. You're like a mother hen to your little brother. Relaying reports of what he's upto and warning him of dire consequences when hes being naughty. Reprimanding him after the deed is done.

Your giggles make your Dad proud. He thinks he's planted them there. Or done something to deserve it. Never mind if you're giggling somewhere in the corner of the house where he cant even see you. You're so excited that you can read now. You love doing math so you can join the league of older cousins. You've already started playing 'Teacher teacher'(!!) and you make a sweet and loving teacher. I love the way you 'honey' your kids.

Some babies look like wise souls when they're born. You looked like a with-it, cool yea ok, whats going on here? what do i have to do baby. Y'know what I mean? You know so much already, it's like you know people. You know things. You know vibes. You know something, I'm afraid to decipher what. You know good. You're just waiting to do things all the time, your eyes,your body, your expressioins say so much more to me than I think you even have the vocab to put into words to. You have a really big heart and I'm not talking about generous with material things. I'm talking about the bigness of spirit.

You've been so good to me. Again I pray you have a full, exciting, rewarding and rich life. Rich with positivity, rich with good experiences, rich with good people, rich with love.

Thank God you have drop straight hair since I'm so bad at hair styling. Your butt looks good in jeans, tights, whatever. lol. The dentist says you have Class c teeth which means you might need braces once all your milk teeth are gone and the long term stuff comes in. Well we'll see. The doc had a good laugh at your physical checkup last week when she noticed the huge tear-drop shaped tan line on your back. She said she knew what kinda swimsuit you had on this past summer. We laughed so much.

I get bugged now at the way you automatically look at my face everytime a soppy scene comes on TV and you think Im going to let the dam break. Now I have to just close my eyes and you ask - are you crying mama? Grrr. I hate how you run to your dad the minute he comes home with whatever masti Reh has been upto the whole day. Tattle-tale'ing'. tut tut. no good. we'll have to work on that. you've inherited I dont know whose genes as far as getting scared of bugs goes. Pretty soon you'll be running if you see one on TV. It's not cute lemme tell you.

Cant imagine what you'd write about me if you had your own blog. shudder me timbers.

So...

Well three weeks into school and its been a sea-change at home. The most obvious change is not having Nosh around. Second is that since Reh goes for half a day, we're able to spend one on one time with each other and that is a huge blessing. I see a huge change in his behaviour when he and I can just spend time together without him competing for it from everyone else. I also see that it's so much more easier since he's older, I know how to handle him, I've been in more demanding situations and him alone is a piece of cake by far. He just enjoys the spotlight on him.

But Nosh, O My God, I miss her so much. Without going into the low-points of it, I think I want to outline what I can do to maximise our time together and make it just as effective and special.

I used to not let her help with household chores, mainly because I felt it would stop the flow of my doing things the way I do them and well - bottom line it was just a distraction. Now though I can see that's the best way for us to spend time together because we'd be in physically close and talking and once Reh's got his fill he's not around clamoring for attention. Washing clothes should be fun, lettings her load the machine and pour soap. Leaving plastic dishes for her to scrub and rinse should be fun, God knows she's been asking me every night for the past coupla years practically. But most excitingly, I think I'm going to let her cook. As in prep food for cooking or even simple things like salads -getting the food, washing, arranging et al. She's a craftsbody so I do have to get her one of those project tables, I'm tired of seeing glue, scraps, fabric, scissors in the most oddest of places. Yesterday I switched on the treadmill and a scissor fell out the top ledge. There was a colouring book and box of crayons by the toilet. Someone was busy by it while on it?!!

We have a major re-arranging of furniture to do. I have to get my own work table move all my stuff out of Noshs room. We bought her a desk and hutch when we moved in here but I was using it. Now she has her own books, homework, folders, projects, things to put away in drawers, I have to give her back her desk! I have to get one for Reh too, he's never had one, the dining table was our be-all, end-all table but I'm tired of carting stuff from one room to another. I'm also tired of having things in different drawers all over the house, I'd rather everyone had their things in their own rooms. So much to do!

Nosh got her own library card yesterday!!!!! And we went at 8 at night because I decided we have to celebrate and she picked out her own books, checked them out with her own card and was hopping and skipping all the way home. I was too. Thank God it was dark in the parking lot. It's another thing that she still cant see the librarian on the other side of the high table though!! I'm not redundant yet!

We had Meet The Teacher night two days ago and her teacher is someone more than I could have asked for. She has 10 children of her own (same marriage, no multiple kids), I know that gets mixed reactions but for me it means she loves children among other things. nine boys and a girl. After her last kid was 2 and ready for school, she was mortified about having no kids around her and then decided to get her Masters in Education from Adelphi and got into one of the best schools in NY (ours ;) but taught 2nd grade for 12 years. The minute she heard last year that they were making KG a full-time program this year and the former teacher was retiring, she hot-footed it to the Principal and begged (in her words) to be allowed to teach KG and she was and this is her dream come true. So its another adavantage in my eyes that she's back to doing what she loves to do for the first time this year.

They had a KG teachers convention this summer vacation. Guess where? Vegas!!! LOL!!!! She went, was delighted to meet more than a 1000 KG teachers from all over the country and came away with some valuable lessons. One of which (I have to tell you guys this- its so brill) There is a Home station in the classroom with pretend kid-sized kitchen, cribs for babies etc etc. You can imagine the amount of things that would be in there. When the kids are done it used to be a pain for the teachers to put everything back (hey! us at home here too!) so one of the things she learnt at the convention was to take pictures of what each cupboard, area looked like clean, what goes where, and the kids have a great time, seriously coming and looking at the pics to see what goes where and diligently reproduce the same neatness! I thought it was a great idea, a game even. I'm going to do the same soon!

She was so excited about the school year and one thing she said made me eyes tear up. She told me that the first day we went too, the day me, nosh and reh got a surprise visit. She said she would do everything possible in her power to make sure my child would feel 'safe'. Which means creating a space where she wouldn't feel ridiculed no matter what, every feeling, every question, every thought would be validated and just the feeling that no matter how or where she was in her life, she was going to be accepted wholeheartedly. Now, I know it's not easy for a teacher looking after 17 kids or so. But for her to know thats exactly what a child needs now and thats her main focus, I think her heart is in the right place. She's firm where she needs to be and her prescence of mind will be the right thing for the kids.

I think so.

She was nervous about talking to adults and I so understood that!!

No wonder Nosh has a woebegone look when its time to come home. She looks around prolonging the leaving, searching out every friend she can to wave bye to and dragging her feet.

Guess what - since we live close by, I dont drive to school, me and Reh walk it up and the three of us walk back together, talking about whatever happened in school. Of course winter wont allow us that lovely time soon.

One thing I came away with was that I think the most successful people are those whose parents let them be. I mean it's one thing to push them, help them out of their comfort zones and all that but its another thing to just let them grow at their own pace too. You can never be a child again and I know for sure if we as parents wanted, it Could be a wonderful place to be in. With all its insecurities and fear and wonder. I just hope I can be that mom. Before anyone writes in saying they're sure I am and all that, trust me, I know I could have done a million times better. So its not looking for validation. I have let my sensitive kid be toughened and broken promises many a time to let myself think I have been a sensitive, have my finger on your pulse mom. I have'nt. I wish I could have retained Noshi's sweetness the way it was coupla years ago. I'm certain its in there in her somewhere still but I see a layer of pretended and sometimes real nonchalance when I should be seeing the oppositte there. And I begin to berate myself for having ignored or toughened up on her. I think it was a result of having been mired in my own issues and also an irritation of wanting her to get independent sooner. I must have my heart in the right place though because I miss her even when she's asleep or downstairs and there are nights I've woken her up to apologise or make-up. Its another grace of God's though that he made little kids so ready to forgive and open to love. I think maybe when you're a kid, you only know how to love a parent. Center of universe and all that. I'm being blase' bcos it's so precious a feeling and I know I cant do justice to it.

I think these are the best years of my life. Woohoo!!!!

noshima

Noshkoshbgosh updates!

So we started school today. I say 'we' because anyone knows it's a momentous journey and exciting a trip of a lifetime for the whole family. We've been anticipating and looking forward to this day forever, ever since tales of best friends and being able to read books for yourself and math being fun were fed to hungry minds.

Yesterday we went, Reh, Nosh and me to drop over a few of the forms we were supposed to submit before D-day. Luckily we bumped into Nosh's teacher who happened to be coming out of a meeting. She knew we were kindergartners probably from the delirious looks on our faces. I mean we were in the haloed corridors of the school we moved to this neighbourhood for, the school we pass everyday on our way to anywhere, always wondering whats going on inside there. She asked Nosh who she was and immediately completed her name by remembering and saying the last name herself. I was mighty impressed. I mean for her to take that effort after all these years of teaching (she has 10 kids of her own!!) and asked if we would like to see the class. We couldn't believe our ears! wow!! Would we?? Lead the way lady!

Nosh was bubbling over with happiness and when we entered the room it was like a private introduction and it was great to walk around the whole room, Nosh and Reh both touched everything they could, Nosh couldnt believe the amount of things she had at her disposal to cram into her day. If she was a teeny bit apprehensive before, it was all a thing of the past now with the love she felt for her teacher and her class. We got our instructions and left with hugs and byes.

Today, we went there, Nosh located her seat and when I was leaving, there were still more kids to come, hardly four or so had made it in by then. (And I was worried about being late!) Nosh couldnt wait to start, I could see she was raring to go and kept saying - Mom I love my school, mom I'm so happy to go! Music to my ears!!
Letter to Nosh
Dear Nosh,

I know you always laugh at your corny, soppy mom but hey, we're bound to each other for life so get used to it! Everytime you reach a milestone, I dissolve into tears and now I've gotten used to you rolling your eyes at me. And I dont have to pretend something got into my eyes anymore.

I am SO thrilled you've finally started school. I know you've been waiting for this day forever and now here we are. Doubly happy that you love your class, your teacher and your life! as you put it. I know you're going to have so much fun that we're never going to run out of things to talk anymore. I loved my school days so believe me when I tell you, I know what we're in for and I'm going to make sure I do my best to make this time of your life the best it can be.
I pray you excel at everything you want to and more. I hope you learn about friendships and your strengths and weaknesses and how to capitalise and minimise on them respectively. I hope your teachers take over where I leave off and you have the best relationships with them. I hope you can learn boys can make great friends and you have the best of both boys and girls as friends. I hope you come back everyday with interesting stories for me, dad and reh. I hope you'll have enough stories for Sha and Shabu didi too. I miss you and seeing your little form in bed and your coming to check on what I'm doing. I miss seeing you going about doing your thing. I know Reh misses you too. Next year when he joins you, I know you'll be the know-it-all sis!
I think we should thank your Dad for having worked so hard to make sure we made it to this neighbourhood and the best school.

I can't imagine where the time went. Five years went by in a blink. I remember bringing you back from the hospital the first time, and imagining happily reading you little fuzzy board books. Lying next to each other every afternoon and reading for all we were worth. I remember scheduling your pre-school years such that you went on alternate days and were home with me at least four days out of the seven days in a week. Despite your dad trying everything to to get me to get you to go everyday. And now here you are reading by yourself and laying your clothes out by yourself, and knowing exactly what you want for snacks and how to pack them! Now we're going to do this everyday! No more stealing you for a few days for myself. I don't know whether I should be happy or sad!
I hope the little we see of each other now will mean quality time and more fun, less get-off-my-back!
I love you sunnima, Happy 3rd September 2008!


A good bye and all the best hug from Reh


Found my name tag ma!


20 odd years of this - here we go!

walking to school this morning

dun miss reh trying to sneak off to the playground

happy smiles - off we go!

noshima

What nosh was upto while we ordered the food and were waiting. :)



headgear with napkins, bangles with glasses


oh no nadiakhaala u got that?!!!

Only for You Shal

Celebrated Mother's Day at my sister-in-law's. My nieces are always ready for a party and how. Gifts and cakes and et al. Thanks Shaboo and Nazu!



Couldnt fix Nosh before putting her up.


Nosh and Ri at their smiley cheesy best.

Guess who. When it was my turn to cut the cake. Except A. Bhai looks like he's trying to stop me...

So simple and elementary but..

You know there are those times when you're still reeling and trying to make sense of your relationship with your mother? Things she said, she did, she didnt do, she didnt say that you feel you could have been happier without/not knowing/benefited/learnt from?

Honestly those are things that are always on my mind. I'm always stuck with the 'why's? and why did this have to happen this way, wish I could have handled it better, wish i knew then what I know now plane. Like a running commentary in the back of my head, especially now that I am a mom and I hear her words coming out of my mouth, when I find myself running a few things in my life the way she did, it never fails to amaze me that your mother is always on your mind. Not your Dad, not your anyone else as much as this person is. Well yea Dad too but 'd put that at a 90% and 60% deal.

So the next thing is that you wonder if she's so much on your mind, what will my kids be thinking when they're far away from me? Does everything I say and everything I do just stamp itself on their psyche like mine is? I mean we dont talk about our moms all through school and college? They're there, the odd tiffs and good times are talked about with your closest friends but now as a mom, that relationship just charges itself to the front of my foremost thoughts.
The object of this post was - I'm always wondering whether my children will forgive me for the silly mistakes I make. And these are stupid things mind you (not for me though)- ignoring them while I'm on the phone, promises not kept like tonight I will read that book or tommorow I will take you to the park and sometimes they dont happen. I hate those times, I feel like a failure then. Those times when you're brusque or rude and just not there. Emotionally.

Yesterday I noticed Nosh had set her bedside table in a really pretty manner, there was a placemat (which she herself had picked and shopped for in India), she had managed to find a matching envelope holder that I had chucked away in the same colours as the placemat but it had flowers on it. She put a beady, hanging trinkets kind of hair elastic band around a pen holder and her shoebox of sleeping baby dolls on top of the placemat. Apparently she had been literally dangling from my hand to show me the arrangement while I was on a really important phonecall so I locked myself in the bathroom instead. I saw it the next day as I was dressing her up for school and I'm not one of those 'your scribbles look great, lets have a party kind of moms', I'll give it the rating it deserves acc to age. So this was such a nice arrangement that I couldnt help but marvel at her creativity, the fact that a five year old was decorating her bedside table and how nicely at that. So it obviously showed on my face and in my words and she was pleased. Then she mentioned how it had been done yesterday and she had been trying to show me. Aarghghgh.

The first thing that went through my mind was that I had no recollection whatsoever. Secondly that I remember as kids how so in the moment we are and enjoying what we do and how thrilled we are to have our parents see and appreciate what we did and this kid just happily postponed her 'I'll get my mom to see it and tell me what she thinks of it later' so maturely. If I was in her place, I would have been mighty miffed and probably would have taken it all apart out of sheer aaaa who cares attitude.
So I apologised so sure that no, she was going to make me feel bad, really bad about this, I dont even deserve to be forgiven (keep in mind that in my head its a series of such situations and not a one-time thing) but she did. She's tall enough now that when she's standing on the bed my head would be on her chest. So I hugged her and said I was sorry and she very matter of factly said its ok mamma and in a lets move on way, asked me "so - you really like it?"
It was over for her.
Set me thinking - why am I holding on to all these grudges and that too silly things, one point in a moment of time that might have had a hundred things going on for my mom or dad and here I am till today, carrying the memory or the pain and wondering why did it have to happen this way. My five year old is more mature than Iam.

I still am, who Iam despite the good times and the bad and I didnt turn out too bad. So congrats mom and dad, I think you did a great job (if I may say so myself) in raising the four of us, personally feel you got better with each kid lol.

About time I put those things that made me angry/sad/host of other feelings on that level aside. High time. Thanks Nosh.

Up up and away?

So many things to record - so little time and so little patience!
Went shopping at Carters today, wanted to pick out skirts for Nosh since beautiful weather is almost on us. We had a gorgeous, GORGEOUS, soul-stirringly pleasant day yesterday after rains and wind and cold and bleuegh. Love to see my kid in skirts and so I went to pick some. Last weekend I tried at Old Navy and they didnt have any. Today they had some but just rehashes of their previous designs and so I ended not buying any for now. What struck me last week and today was that I can't shop for Nosh in the toddler section anymore. Yes, we have graduated to the Miss' section and I felt forlorn!!!! No! No! No! People I remember bringing her back from the hospital like yesterday. I remember all the clothes I had bought for her were huge even though they were the smallest in baby size. Then I had to run out and get a few decent ones for outings from the preemie baby section. At 6.10 she was tiny. She weighed ok but she was tiny. My baby's growing up and I can never get used to it. I want to hold on to her little kid ways, chubby and 'mamma's the greatest' thinking and I see slowly but surely she's a little girl, a girl's girl. Didnt take after me, I hated pink, I hated sparkly glittery stuff, give me combat gear and camo any day. Her Dad wants her to join soccer classes and she vehemently opposes. I enjoy seeing my kiddo being a girl and loving it. Vicarious living at it's best.
I looked back at the toddler section and as before, when I was booted from the infant section, suddenly the clothes in the section I cant shop anymore seem to have the best collection and the cutest things, pairings, designs et al. There was a pink halterneck with lace straps and the same thing in teal and oh - I couldnt buy it. oowaaanh.
Suddenly I'm focusing more on Reh's toddlerdom and babying him bcos I know soon he's going to go her way too and then I'll have to borrow other's babies. Oh Lord have Mercy. Why do they grow up so fast? **sigh** I'm going to be bawling mess at Nosh's wedding and she's going to disown me.

Annuzzer Noshliner

I was wiped out by afternoon today after a whole morning of running around after gymming and getting all these errands done. The husband dropped in unexpectedly (not for romantic surprising I assure you - even though it was a nice surprise for me anyway) and I had to prepare lunch in a frenzied hurry before he had to leave again in a coupla hours. Ran to the library to return and pick new books and after that waited for the kids' bus to come trundling up our lane.
After a spirited conversation with them, I was near close to nodding off even after two cups of tea. Nosh hopped, skipped and jumped around in a bid to prop me up again on observing that I was slowly getting comatose. She said "well what are we supposed to do? Switch on the TV or something!" emphasis on the 'we', even though Reh was getting quite comfortable somewhere underneath me. I said - Guard the house, let me get my 40 winks. She says totally indignantly - No! we're not gardeners??!!!

Noshi-ma.

My sister was wondering why there are these odes to Reh on the blog and hardly anything on Nosh. Thing is when I started the blog, I was just starting to tune in to Reh in a different way. He was talking nineteen to the dozen and it was much easier to understand and enjoy him. By then, Nosh was in her element, a full-fledged, little person who I knew very well. The way Reh was spouting different things every other day for us to see and understand him, Nosh had been through that earlier and she was very interesting too, except, I hadn't been blogging then. Wish I had though, never knew anything about it. I have lots of scraps of papers and diaries scribbled with things she said and did though.
To describe her now...let's see.

One thing that I'm always appreciating her for is that she's such a sport. She's ready for anything (except waking up early morning) no matter what it is at what time of the day/night and she just jumps right in with you to do whatever you suggest. She's always been great with her brother and despite him taking away a lot of time due to her when he came along, she just loved having him around. Of course there are those days when she wishes no one else was around but her but they are very rare. It's reached a stage now where if one is sleeping, the other is restless and rudderless lol.

The flip side of that which I regret is that she's SO mature for her age sometimes that you forget she's a baby too or that if she regresses into being one, she has every right to it and all it will take is a little babying for her to feel loved and attended to before she's back to being Miss Nosh. I still remember the times she used to come looking for me when I shut the door to Reh's room to put him to sleep. Always used to make sure she was with her Dad though, never alone outside. She learnt to open the door without making any noise and she'd look quietly questioningly at when he'd finally nod off and then I'd be with her. When we finally jumped into bed together me and her, she'd be one thrilled kid.

She cant get enough of being read to. I could go through all her books and be croaking hoarse but she'd love to sit and listen to more. She still loves to go to sleep holding/snuggling next to me.

She's very good with her body, she can dance like a free spirit. She's been asking me to put her in one of those Little Gym kind of classes where they teach you to somersault and jump through hoops and God knows what else. There's one around the corner and I just might do that this summer vacation. She loves doing puzzles and is quite good at spatial skills. I never sat her down to it, its something she showed me herself and I'm thrilled at her ability. Art, cooking, drama, she loves these things.

She loves to go shopping and has a really good eye for picking out clothes and things for the house. A month ago, we went to a store and I saw this jacket which looked really nice, except it had all these belts and buckles. I guess it was inspired by the military look or whatever. I tried it on, it fit, the price was OK for one of those days you need to throw something on and rush. So sure and full of confidence, I tried it on and turned around with a flourish to ask Nosh what she thought. "You look like a man" she said very matter-of-factly and tutted, thth ththed her very practical, 'but of course' line at me. I almost fell to the floor laughing. Both at her comment and her bang-on lifestyle editor style. Thats how much fun she is to take shopping.

Putting her clothes together too. I have a very basic, tried and tested sense of style. I'll pull out more or less the same combos of t-shirts that go with pants or skirts or whatever and put them on her. She, with the same wardrobe will manage to pull out something that adds new life to the same outfit after 3 years. Some new combination of colours, this jacket with that skirt, that tshirt-with this pant and you have to stand back and admire. I mostly am delighted.

I wasnt too crazy about sending her to bday parties simply bcos I'm not familiar with the parents and in our day you dropped the kids and picked them later. Here I saw how the moms hang around for the party too. Anyway, she went for her first one 2 weeks ago and was very thrilled to win a prize and was busy doing the cha cha with the rented-for-2-hours Snow White, when I went back to pick her up. I couldnt believe it! My girl? You had to revive me after I considerably wilted, backed into a corner and fainted after being asked to dance at bday parties when I was a kid. Here was my own flesh and blood, shaking everything she had and then some.

Before she left, the previous day , she was busy putting her outfit together, she found the perfect clutch (one which I gave her to add to her pretend/dress-up toys) and actually asked me for a cell-phone. Mine. Huh? I asked her why? She said in case she wanted to come back from the party, she wasnt feeling good or too nervous, she could call and ask me to pick her up. I told her she doesnt even know how to dial. (I was wondering where we were going with this) She said she had our number on a piece of paper and in her clutch. Then I remembered how she asked me to write down our number on a piece of paper to practice calling home, the day before. She said she had the paper and she would just ask the bday girl's mom to call me.

We settled the matter with me telling her, if she wanted to call me, the bday girl's mom had my number anyway and she could just ask her and she would immediately call me. She was'nt very happy with the arrangement but she realised there was no other way around it. So thats my super-planned, ahead-thinking daughter for you.
Shaboo I know you're loving this.
There's more much more to my little girl and I'll keep it coming. :)

yegads

nosh is turning into a diva and i stand by looking on horrified.

I'm a low-profile, womanly baritoned (!!), quietish person. High-drama immobilises me and after a couple of experiences with drama-prone people, I steer clear of the likes. And then the inevitable happens.

My daughter starts turning into one. Conversations with her now make me feel uncool, so not-wit(h)-it and hyper-boring.

Her hands are flying and her eyelids are fluttering nineteen to the dozen times and hair-a-flipping, she's got the whole diva routine down pat and it makes me cringe. Either she's got theater in her and she's aping London from The Suite Life or she got it from her aunts. The dad's side lol!