Backyard fun

This post starts with an apology to Pavan Uncle and Deepti mami!

They visited the kids a few months ago and gave a gift. As is customary in the house, gifts are always opened at a later day. This one went to the garage shelf, thanks to San who doesn't believe in reading what the gift actually is before hiding it from the kids.

We reserve the right to hand over the gifts on days when the kids have to be bribed for something. We run out of bribe gifts and hence this rule! As it so happens, this gift was Christmas trees to be made of cookies which had an expiry date for the frosting and the cookies.

We still let the kids make the cookies with frosting, sprinkles, etc. but instead of eating it, placed it in the backyard..




Now that we have enough critters that visit us every evening and make it practically resemble the Fairyland projected in the latest Snow White movie. The kids and grandparents enjoyed watching the birds and animals come close to us to taste cookies..

It was great to watch them come and devour the decorated cookies, one piece at a time..




We are truly blessed with this 20 foot hedge that defines our backyard that makes any summer evening a pleasant evening!


.

A happy day!

While the torture of going through another round of antibiotics and all the side effects that come with it are going on, there was a happy day in the middle of all this.

My parents made it to the US in one piece after 10 years!

They did not get the hang of life in the US on their first trip. After much convincing they were this close to making it here three years ago before health concerns forced both of them to stay back.

Now they are finally here and will be staying for till Jr.'s 10th birthday!

The last time they were here, it was to celebrate her first birthday..

They were both weak and tired and were harassed by the Immigration / TSA dudes and that was shocking to them. They were the last ones out of their flight to make it out! I was sweating outside because it had been almost 3 hours since their plane landed and they did not show up. Didn't know how to reach them inside either.

Fortunately, one of the wheel chair dudes told me that they were sent to the "New Immigration counter" instead of the "line". The first thing my dad told me after getting in the van was "The guy who checked my passport was rude for no reason and the guy who checked my suitcase crumpled up ironed clothes for no reason. They have no respect for older people!"

How do you answer that one? Told him that TSA folks are usually guys who cannot be employed anywhere else. This is all about "Jobs" and the economy. I may have been rude to all TSA people with that comment but if one thing is going to unite Americans all over, it will probably be a healthy hatred for the TSA's harassment of non threatening folks. It has been 24 hours and they have gotten over it (I hope).

The kids are very happy with the grandparents being in the house. They are listening to young daddy stories. Stories which really need to be fact checked because daddy has a reasonably strong memory and grandma's versions seem to be way off base from the truth.. Nevertheless, as long as daddy's IQ in days of yore is getting a facelift, not complaining.

"Your father used to do an entire math book in one hour!". Eat your food. Your dad was the fastest at eating his lunch in the whole neighborhood!

The kids look at daddy with new found admiration.. Well this doesn't happen often! So soaking it up!

Have a resolution to
- get back in the hot room
- get to a gum specialist and figure out why there are recurring gum infections which lead to antibiotics which lead to killing all good bacteria in the stomach which lead to taking tablets with "bacteria" in them and losing 15 days of Yoga!

One thing is obvious. This is a spiral of good or bad and these days it goes uphill or downhill pretty fast!

If there is good health, there is regular exercise, good food, weight control, more exercise and so on
If there is bad health, there is no exercise, irregular food or sick food, no weight control and even less exercise

Time to change the trend tomorrow!

.

Mother's day gift

We (me, Jr. and the Little One) were all obviously aware of this Sunday being Mother's day. The kids get reminders from school, get to make their little ceramic things with their bare hands as a token of affection and have the surprise planned out.

Daddy is out in the open and unless he has a secret stash of cash he cannot buy anything without Mom knowing it. Actually it is a crying shame that daddy doesn't go to the bank anymore, does not know his bank balance, credit card balance or mortgage balance these years..

San will scream every now and then if I talk about a lens or camera accessory or some long trip somewhere and as long as I refrain at the right times, things are okay.

On Friday we had to get groceries on my way back from work with a detour to Jr.'s dance class. We happened to see a Mother's day sign outside a Nursery and they had a nice Japanese Maple tree for 20 $ .. Knowing that we have been looking for a shade tree for the last few months and they were always around 50 $ thought this would be a great surprise.

Bought the tree, dug a big hole after fighting allergies and planted it...

to get a lukewarm response!

LO : I thought you bought the tree for yourself appa! How can a tree be a gift to Amma?

Me : Every mothers day she can go see how beautiful the tree has grown and you can all go water it. Didn't we buy this tree on a mother's day sale?! It is for mom!

Jr.: If we water it only once a year, that tree will die!

Me : Un vaila nalla vaarthaye varaadha di? (won't any good word ever come out of your mouth?)

San: I was going to spend 20$ on a pedicure. Now me pedicure is planted in the backyard! Don't have a problem with the tree. . just have a problem with it being a mother's day gift!

All said and done, the mother's day gift stands tall and will hopefully outlast all of us. Someday we can sit in its shade and open future mother's day gifts..

Time will tell....


Happy Mother's day to all mother's out there!

.

Truth be told

The little one has been given a project for first grade. It is to make a Diorama of one of the "Frog and Toad" stories.

When I got back from Austin Thursday night , the first thing she told me was "Finally, I also have a project!"

What that translated to is "Daddy, you have a project for me!"

After hearing her go on and on about this I asked Jr. "Didn't we do the exact same project three years ago when you were in first grade?! Remember buying silly putty in different colors and making frog and toad and you made a table, bed etc. with it and painted the whole shoe box"

Jr. says "yes and it is probably still in the garage!"

In a fit of laziness blurted out "why can't we just reuse that diorama?" and left it at that.

Friday evening comes and the little one tells me "I asked my teacher today if I can bring the same diorama my sister did three years ago and guess what?"

He said "NO!"

That was embarrassing.. Now I have to go face her teacher who probably is appalled by my "reuse" concept!

Daddy Narayanan is growing too old for Dioramas and is kind of getting bored of going through same projects with a 3 year deja vu cycle.



.

Record breaking temperatures

We are not talking about April Temperatures in the city of Chennai anymore..

The little one topped at 104.1 F yesterday which is probably a family record. We are always amazed by her ability to pick up bugs with such efficiency and consistency year after year.

Foresaw a fight with San in the middle of the night where she will insist on sending the little one back to her bed and I will say "She cannot even breathe.. she is gasping for breath and is having difficulty standing on her own legs. How can you think of sending her to her bed?" etc. etc. We might as well videotape this and replay it every year instead of going through the motions and wasting new energy!

The fight did happen as predicted last night but no one else is sick. Now that is something to be thankful for!

Poor thing was brave through the whole thing. She was tired today and lay down on daddy's lap and watched a frustrated daddy learn Photoshop.

As a dad trying to be "responsible" (San will strongly contest this), my logic was "let me show this girl a few important things in life" like

- always read the manuals
- watch others show you how to do things (ask for help)
- listen to what the instructor is saying without moving on (which is what she does usually)
- Practice makes perfect

As usual, I was wrong. There is a generation gap and kids today have grown up with iPhones, iPads and Laptops.

She was looking at me much the same way Jane Goodall must have looked at the apes in Africa after handing them a small straw to see how they catch ants from anthills with the straw!

Simply could not understand why daddy would hit "Undo" so many times and repeat what he just did for the last five minutes. So the practice makes perfect concept is not going to sink in. Also she thinks daddy is incompetent!

She was happy when the photo improved 80% after the 20% effort and saw no point in going the extra 80% effort to get it close to 100% improvement. Don't know how we are going to teach her that the idea of not stopping with the 80/20 rule.

As irony would have it, what a sunny and beautiful day to be staying indoors with a tired kid and Photoshop!

The house was not without the occasional laughs.

Little one to Mom: Pause the TV. I have to go to the restroom..
Mom : you have watched this Super singer episode already and you can hear them sing from the bathroom
LO : Fine. But if you play it while I am in the bathroom you have to back forward it
Jr.: It is called REWIND! Not Back Forward!
LO : Really?!

She is doing much better today. We look forward to her being her bubbly self tomorrow..

.

Kids can be unintentionally cruel

Last week Jr. went to perform an Alto Sax Solo at an old age home as part of a voluntary program. After they were back from it she said "Daddy, half the people there were not realizing what was going on but they shook their head from side to side as though in a trance."

San : They are very old people and have dementia or Alzheimers! That happens to all people who eventually live long enough.. so you should be sensitive to that. You will also get to be like that someday.

LO : But you will get there first before us!

Today mom decided to try Yoga. It was a much awaited event in the house as we were not sure if she would actually go. After she left, we had a conversation about mom's previous one time Yoga attempt with grandma.

Jr.: She went but did not sweat. That means she probably did it wrong?

Me : No. It means she didn't push herself enough or her pores have not opened out yet because she is not used to exercise. If she went a few days in a row she will also sweat like crazy

LO : Or maybe she was too fat that time to do the poses right!

Me : No. She (was not/is not/will not be/will never be)fat.

The little one is suffering a cold and is at her brutal best!


.

Valentine's day

Valentine's day came and went and this blog did not see a post?

Well, there were secret plans made between me and the kids to record my singing and playing "And I love her" for Amma and post on youtube as a surprise.

A. Mom knew about it and it was no surprise
B. the little one hated the song. (or the fact that Daddy was singing for mommy and not for her!), and would simply throw tantrums during the recording.

After some time we (Jr. and me) gave up on the idea and said "Whatever!"

Here is the incomplete work (or what was captured on the iPhone)




Needless to say, San was not impressed with the production. Both Daddy and Jr. have done better in the past! But she still loves us all "And we love her"!


.

Beyond words..

Came home yesterday and started eating dinner..

The sambar was smelling sooo good. Tasted very good too..

Told San that she was really working hard to impress the kids!

Me to Jr. : The sambar is really awesome!

Jr to Me : Wait till you taste the Rasam. It is awesomer!

Guess the Rasam is outside the bounds of the dictionary...



ps. This actually happened. This is not an attempt to get out of the dog house either..

.