Akshara starts playschool

Exactly 2 years and one month--akshara started playschool. She is much used to the school-seeing routine thanks to her elder sister. We chose a cozy playschool close to home and were very happy with it.

Day 1: I was there with her for one full hour. She kept looking out for me but was okay

Day 2: Two full hours. I dropped her and left, checked after an hour and understood she is doing fine and happy. She came back by school vanJ

Then a whole week of break owing to godforsaken cough and cold

Day 3 (after a long break): She bawled and brought the roof down. But came back chirpily. Her school ma’am said she was cranky but somehow they managed

Day 4: Again she cried after I dropped. After an hour call, I got to know she is fine and then while leaving, her ma’am called and said that she did wonderfully well Jtoday

Hope my baby enjoys her playschool stint nicely.

Oct 3 2015

My dearest Advitha,

Seven years!!I am still in denial and gauge you as a simple baby or sometimes a big girl too!. You are really acting as a true seven year old though! Friends define and redefine your world that also includes your sister at home. School is your abode, you love your school to every tiny bit including your teachers, your friends every single brick there. At home, you love to be downstairs and play (nay!!hang out) with your friends.

Academics, your strong area. You are doing higher levels in kumon, amazingly good in math and display a lot of creativity and give good ideas while studying. You discuss a lot with me about academics and my heart melts a ton when you complete each and every topic in mindspark. You like writing and you certainly write very well. I don’t see you do much drawing these days but you have taken good interest in paintings. You are a good reader but definitely would love to see you as a voracious one.

You are very gentle in whatever you do but very sensitive too. Suddenly you erupt like a timebomb and these days I know how to diffuse that sudden spurt in you as well, so no (sorry marginal) complaints.

You are a very adjusting, cooperative sister. You love her so much and adore her even when the brat troubles you - like grabbing your study table for scribbling, jumping on you, switching off the TV when you are watching your favorite programs. When we went to the wayanad resort, we three (you, me and akshsara)   were waiting in the reception area and your sister as always a papa girl started running towards him when he went out of sight and sound. Before I could react or say, you immediately ran after her to stop her from climbing the sloppy terrain .Was I stroked or what!!I have never felt so proud of you my baby. Please be like this forever and keep looking out for your lil baby sis!!

Your strong area is dance!!You love to dance. You love to dressup yourself in dance garb all the time and did a wonderful performance in the recent onam dance and in the school dance competition!!

Definitely your eating has improved by leaps and bounds and your current favorite is McD and                Barbeque nation

I fall short of words to explain or describe how much the household loves you. Whatever number in age you reach you will remain my lil small girl whom I can hold and snuggle in my shoulders forever. Love you my sweetiepie. Amma, Appa’s world and pleasure you are!!!

Love

Amma

Wayanad bliss!!

We made a short weekend trip to Wayanad. Kids enjoyed it a lot. The lovely windflower resort provided utmost care; hospitality and delicious food and the gals were treated like princess all the three days. 

After a long drive and treating ourselves to a yummy meal of pastas and nans in the resort we headed for a 2.2 km walk in the tea plantations. Advitha loved it and Akshara was a happy camper in either of our shoulders. In the evening we just chilled in the lovely resort watching monkeys and reading the tree names (there were silver oak trees, coffee robusta plants, jackfruit trees etc). The night kids relished the rasam rice prepared with farm-fresh spices and we all crashed. The next day morning after a hearty breakfast we headed to banasura dam where a lovely speed boat adventure beckoned us. Advitha loved it and akshara cried a bit. In the afternoon again we chilled at the resort playing in the pool, board games and simply walking around.

The kids were good as gold; not a cry not a whimper and we four were proper travel companions for each other. The place, resort, yummy food, activities especially the two cute gals added the bliss :)

Lovely feedback from school

It was Advitha’s first PTM last week and I was as always a jittery mom. She received highly positive reviews and definitely was not a surprise as I could see her doing her stuff so focused at home. She was categorized as an 'above average kid' with high in confidence. It was impossible to measure our happiness. A few concerns still remains: spellings, not revising the question paper once done and we could see that she is working on the same.

As a gift we took her to Burger King, she shaved off a yummy chicken burger followed by shopping at itsy bitsy where she got her favorite stuff (loom bands, paint brush including a crossword book):)

Aug 23, 2015

Akshara, you turned two. I fall short of words and feel my heart weigh a ton with full of love for you my baby. How much you have lightened the house and redefined our happiness. You are lovable, you are chubby, you are a foodie, you are affectionate, you are sharp and focused and above all you are stubborn.

You love your appa a lot followed by paputi and of course your sister. You really have a serious devotion to your sister. You follow her like a puppie, adore her friends, adore her books and adore her dance. You have watched almost all of her dances (including the practice sessions) and attempted to dance as well. How can I forget the day when you really imitated the steps during your sister's practice session much to everyone’s amazement? But please stop threatening us that you won’t eat if we don’t show her dance videos.

You are super focused. You can say 1 to10; sing rhymes (twinkle twinkle, baa baa, abcd) and hold a pen and a pencil with perfection. Come on yaar, you are only two year old!!!You should be lucky enough to get a sister who actively and passively teaches you load. Again how can I forget the day when I was asking Adhu her eraser and bang! You handed me the same immediately!.

You are an out and out outdoor girl, but at the same time you love to play with puzzles and a few toys. You hate to dress girlishly, only a loose t-shirt and pant is acceptable for you.

You are definitely all ready for school but the new found love for phones really irks me. Nevertheless the way you navigate between different apps is awesome. 

I sincerely apologize for your brief dengue ailment. It could have been avoided but you bounced back awesomely. You also started to have few friends of your own like chutki, bujji, rishabh and chintu.

Ultimately I thank god for this blessing. It is mine and appa's privilege to have such an easy baby like you. Love you loads; though I figure last in your priority list, I know we both love each other in our own special ways. Love you to every single bit, my adorable aksha baby.

Love
Amma

Summer holidays 2015

Summer holidays actually went off in a hurry. 2 months was gobbled down in a flicker.

It started with an awesome awesome goa trip. We stayed in Taj exotica. lip-smacking meals, beach, kiddie-pool all were taken very well for close to 4 days. Kids were good as gold and enjoyed a ton. Advitha started to cycle with side support and akshara was a complete sport. While returning we came by train and kids certainly enjoyed it

Then after a short chennai trip, Adhu played played a lot with friends, this holidays the gang mingled and adjusted with each other so well...less fights and lots and lots of play..i think the age and maturity factor really helps...as always I did not put her in any summer classes but for a drama class and on the grand finale the kids put up a fantastic show--a pirate drama and Adhu enacted so well.. She did not miss a single kumon class or doing the kumon worksheets everyday

                                                      drama finale

The sisters mingled so well..i think that was the main highlight of the holidays.. Akshara did not move an inch whenever Adhu was at home. She also started to mingle Adhu's friends and started to make friends of her own.

Ohh... I can i forget the surprise encounter with a Hail storm!! I was driving back Adhu and her friend back from their class and there was this hail storm. Adhu was the first one to say..Amma!!Its ice stone that is falling from the sky!! somehow we drove to safety..Adhu and her friend co-operated a lot!what an evening it was!!

We also saw a lovely double rainbow

Advitha has taken keen interest in skating.. I only hope the love for skates reaches new highs!!