Harry potter party review

And .. by God's grace.. the party was a hit!

Started with a Harry potter invite 2 weeks before the party.  Designed by akshaya and me.

We had a Harry potter trivia at first to pass time while waiting for shruthi.  each corrcr answer got thema  gringot. Then we started. 

1. Hats. They each wore their hats they had made in our place with us.

2. Wands choose the wizard and witch. We spun the wand and it chose the wizard or witch it pointed to.

3. Platform 9 3/4. This was so fun! Rushed through our platform 9 3/4 one after the other. We did it three times. altogether

4. Then the sorting. Cup cake icing sorting.

Then we had an early break because shruthi still wasn't here.

Then shruthi came we gave her her wand let her be sorted ran through platform 9 3/4 again

5.  Then was table quiiditch.  Teams. Included sendhil kavitha my mother and sutha and saro  room three to a team. Each player gets 5 balls.  Point for every ball through a hoop. 2 points for the smallest hoop.. everyone got a golden snitch at the end of the game

6. Basilisk challenge. Saro was a fearsome basilisk. Sutra was mdm pompfrey.  He would freeze the kids by touching them with the snake.  she would release them by spraying mandrake juice on them. Quite incredibly fun ! Thus was an entirely unique game we played that akshaya and I thought up together! !

7. Defence against the dark arts class. Kids paired up to prargoce spells against each other. Spells were all over the walls.

8. Guess the wizard.  They would pull put the name of a witch or wizard and describe them for others to guess. 

9. Tri wizard bingo. The first to win a column gets a prize.  The rest to get a column get a chocolate gringo.   Full house was madness as all were waiting for the same  card. Mad but fun.

Thus ended the games. 9 games for the 8 year old!

---
So... much of this was inspired by ideas in the net.
1. Wands. We watched videos on how to do it. Designs and all our own.

2. Hats I read how to do it and tried a few versions.  Then we all painted and decorated our own ways. I wanted to buy hats and searched many places. Then decided to make them
.just seemed incomplete without hats!

3. Saw that they were selling brick patterned curtains as platform 9 and 3/4 and we decided to paint one ourselves with mahjong paper!

4. Saw the set up for table quiddity and innovated ourselves. Game and scoring system was our own.

5. Defence against dark arts class and basilisk challenge was our own totally.  We printed and stick spells around the house!

6. Cupcake sorting was adapted from net. I stead if floured icing we used m n ms.

7. To have a bingo was our idea and we used computer programs to generate the list.

8. Gift bag all our ideas.the personalised colouring book and a trunk of gringots.  A pot of mandrake to grow - that was truly akshaya 's. And an extra wand. 

Harry potter party

Planning this party has been so fun and so exhausting as the same time. We finished 52 glue sticks in two days!
We've made wands, posters, hats, painted walls for platform 9 and 3/4. Created a basilisk eye. I've had kids come over to prepare for the party as the fun is in the preparation too. We have spells on our walls and wings on our rocher chocs as snitches.  We have personalised coluring books lovingly hand bound and small trunks of gringgots. And we had a home made and iced Harry potter birthday cake yesterday too!
Now all that is left is to
1. wrap gifts for the tri wizard bingo and
2.  prepare the stage for the table quidditch. 
3. And touch up some wands.
4.   and prepare the cards for guess the wizard.
5. Peepare labels for various adults
6. And we are ready to go for the party!

Some updates
1. Quidittch  game done.
2. Bingo gifts wrapped. I just need to label them  and stuff and cut out the cards to draw from a hat
3. Guess the wizard I need to cut out and place in a tin.
4. I need to select the wands for playing no time for touch up.
5. I need to orientate myself with all the games and locations
6. I need to blow balloons and put them up.

Happy birthday Akshaya

My darling daughter.
8 years old today
I remember finding out you were in my stomach. A tiny human heart beating within me
After a wait and longing of more than 3 years.
My proof of God's miracle. Not that I need proof. But still. You are our answered prayer.  My love. My life. My joy.
Your gentle touch. 
Your precious smile.your kind heart.  Your responsible mind!
You are your dad's and mine
And you are you ...
We love you so much darling . So much.
We will stand with you behind you.
Your brought the ramayana into our lives..dance .. so much.
As you grow we grow.
I pray to god to guide me to guide you to find your path and meaning to life. So many paths led us to you.  My parents.  Grandparents. Saros parents and grandparents.
We love you my child.

Ashwin loves babies

He loves baby safia and baby anya and baby deepa. .. he's in this phase to just love babies!

More stuff they say

My darlings wow me with all they say all the time.

In nz. . We saw a skeleton of a kiwi positioned near a kiwi egg in a display cabinet.
Ashwin was fascinated by it. He thought it was a sign of extinction at first. Then we explained that is a dead kiwi not an extinct kiwi .
Later when subair came by he announced excitedly to him
"A kiwi died.  Do you want to see it? It was about to crack the egg when it died! !!"
His sweet cute imagination! So he thinks it was about to crack the egg and it died on the spot and all the feathers just fell off from it. He's so cute.

He tells me on holiday . " doctors can't make children feel better right aatha? Only mothers can". Melt and melt and melt. Heart is just butter in his hands .

Then saro was often putting him to bed in nz. Bonding bonding. So he tells yasmin. " yasmin aunty. When children are small they like their mothers. When they are a bit older then they like their fathers. " all world truths from his perspective. 

His response to let's play a board game. " it's boring aatha I don't want to play a bored game"

Then he was gifted a finger puppet craft set. Usually he loves craft. He was reluctant to start this. When asked why he said "I don't want to use my finger for a puppet aatha." He thought he'd be sacrificing his fingers for the puppet and he wasn't quite ready for that!

Yesterday morning.
" do you know why I didn't stay for a sleep over Aatha? I missed you too much.  I tried but I couldn't make my face happy aatha!" Melt heart melt. Again.

And... so we made the finger puppet and aishu spilled water over it. Kind of spoiling it. The next day it still wasn't good so I was trying to sew it on instead. He was so upset. I asked what can we do the next time to make sure this doesn't happen.  His response " get rid of aishu! "
Oh my! Had to say no. We put it to dry where she can't reach it.

I can seriously write a book just about the things he says.

Aishu too is very cute.

Sneaky thing

Ashwin tells me with a gleeful smile on his face. . Aatha I did a sneaky thing you know .. he draws out the new word he's trying out sneaky. I sniffed out my dog and opened the suitcase and slipped it inside ! Isn't hat a sneaky thing to do Aatha!

Yes very! Except for telling me you did it!

Wonderful night with the kids

Last night was great . I spent time with all three kids. Just because I turned up home at 6. Went to the playground. Watched akshaya practise her swimming while I made up songs for aishu lying on my lap. She loves those songs about her!
Ashwin swam a while then changed and ran off to okay with his friend Jovis. 

At home Akshaya and I talked for about 15 min planning her Harry potter themes party . Lots of games in store!

Then while akshaya tried to sleep aishu ashwin and I cuddled up near the bedroom window and made up stories !
Malaski and Malaska.  Baby mini. The 10 headed tiger and 1000 foxes! I asked ashwin why the tiger had 20 heads and he actually gave me a different reason for about 9 of them. Rest are for talking !one is for breaking up the galaxy  another fmthe others for equally wondrous out of the world possibilities. !
Then we made up a story together about adventures in a rolling ocean with an invisibility cloak daggers and sea dragons. Very exciting.

Ashwin drawing

He's had phases of drawing
When very young.. n1.. 3 years old ... he would draw faces after faces after faces. Smiling usually frowning!

Then about a year ago he  was drawing super heroes. He's still doing it .

He can see something once and draw a fair likeness! 

Akshaya touches my heart

PMy sweet darling sensitive Akshaya.  I usually walk her to school.  And I just wish her bye bye have a good day. She calls me at times for a hug and a kiss. 
Of course I give here these. How could I not! I do feel a little uncomfortable with the public display of affection!!! Haha. I'm too much! Nothing embarrassing about kissing your 7 year old surely!
Anyway. Yesterday we were reading teddy is polite. And there is a page where the mum drops him off and he doesn't say bye to her. I paused in the story to ask the kids what they thought about that.  That's not nice right to just get down from th e car and not say bye. And my daughter points out how when I drop her off I don't always hug her! Unless she asks me! I was so taken aback! And properly humbled. Today I dropped her off and I asked her for the hug and kiss. ! And I thought.  She herself will ask me to stop when she's embarrassed.  Right now she's happy with this! And I will not rush her to grow up .

Aishu 's story worlds and empathy

My littlest one is full of empathy for people. The other day she heard that ashwin 's classmate had her hand in a cast. She couldn't get it out of her mind. I explained to her the girl must have broken her arm and this baby here -her face filled with concern- got me to pray for Ashwin s classmate so many times that day. She kept saying "I'm sad the girl broke her arm"

Then yesterday ashwin borrowed a  book about a mummy monster and baby monster. The baby throws a tantrum coz the mummy is going out for a grownups only party leaving the baby behind . So the baby throws a toy across the room. I pointed out. See darling sometimes yu throw things too. This monster did something naughty by throwing his toy. She stopped me and said no aatha he's not naughty he's sad. Sometimes he's good sometimes he's naughty.

She felt so much for that monster. She checked with me "did the mommy come back?"  And she was relieved when I said yes. She felt the babysitter in the book was the daddy because that's her version of a complete world. He book made no mention of daddy just a baby sitter!

It's like I'm getting a rare little wonder to peep into my daughters psyche.  What she thinks of .. how she conceives the world. ..what matters to her. And of course her precious sense of empathy to feel for others. Whether it's this monster or the girl who broke her arm... my baby's heart melted for them both!

Aishu s little stories

The heroes in her stories are babies.!
So this is her latest. 

Malaska and Malaski

Malaski was a cute little baby. Malaska was a monster. So malsaki asked her parents if they wanted her to get rid of the monster. Her parents said yes and her father gave her his weapon and her mother gave her her weapon. Then malsaki fought the monster and killed it. Her parents said thank you baby malaski and they lived happily ever after.

Beautiful right!!!

First kiss

My baby aishu aged 2 and 3/4 ... gave me a first proper kiss today! Haha
Its much later than the other two but maybe because of that I remember it so well so vividly . We've been waiting so long for this kiss! The kiss today made the wait worthwhile! Such a gentle slight wet kiss that lingered on the cheeks making me melt !

More cool stuff they say

Aishu saw cars behind a gate around landed property.
She asked earnestly why are the cars stuck there appa? 
So cute right! The cars are stuck behind the gates. Longing to beak free and take over the world.

Ashwin tells me facts.
"Aatha, do you know Gods only die for three days."
" oh what happens after three days?"
" they get up again"
"How do you know this?"
" from the Jesus stories"

And oh this

Watching Harry potter last night.
And aishu aged 2.5 asks is Harry potter a girl? Where is a girl aatha?  She wants to root for a girl hero. It's so sad. There are so few of them around.
Akshaya wants to put up a Harry potter themed party and says she can't be Harry potter coz she's and girl

My heart breaks.  These feel like important moments for me. Maybe enough to inspire me to write stories with girls as heros and not supporting cast.

And this. 

"Stupid is a bad word right aatha?  Why did they even make such a word???" Has to be ashwin this kind of question.  He is basically asking me... what's the point of words if we can't use them?

Watching my son play soccer

I see my little boy he likes running around. But he's the easiest to catch. Haha. Oh well. As long as runs around a bit and learns a bit and enjoys himself .

Let me just be honest here. It's quite awful watching him play haha! He just stands and dreams and chases the ball half heartedly and jmhits own goals and... argh.
I had to tell myself to stop judging him. To accept him.  So soccer may not be his thing... yet. It's okay. There's tons of stuff out there.
You ask him he'll still say he likes soccer class!
We are starting gym class soon. Let's see how that goes.

Parental expectations.  Huge heavy burden for kids to bear.
Today while watching akshaya in was telling myself to give up on pushing her to arangetram at 15. She said she wanted to. But recently she's losing interest in watching dance performances all. It may be the lack of a great teacher.

Ring for a wife

So the sweetheart. Aged 5. Says to me bashfully "when I grow up I'll buy a ring for wife "

Sweet right

Then later akshaya says she wishes she could fly if she could have any wish in the world and would fly to America to see sutha aunty! 

And aishu.  She's so sweet about the moon. Wanting to fix it haha!

More today.
So.ashwin asked me yesterday what noise I wanted to make that of an animal, a vehicle or a building.
I enquirers "buildings can make noises?"
He relies without pausing "yes, when they break"

Children are complex

Yesterday we went to see aadum arul jothy. It was magnificent. But akshaya was not there in heart and mind ..only physically there.

Her heart was at home with her dad. And with her siblings at her grandmothers .

I came home alone with her late and her eyes were filled with tears her face full of sadness that couldn't quite be expressed

And you realise
Children are not clay.
For us to shape and mould
To feel what we say they must feel
Like joy at a dance show while their father is flying off for 12 days
Like acceptance that daddy needs to travel but will be back soon
That 12 days is soon

They have such feelings words cannot express
Glassy eyes saying more than words
The brave smile at the mother at the show
Her heart all with her father
Flying off on a  business trip

Aishu and the full moon

At 4.30 am she says aatha look at the moon! When it's fixed we can drive round it.

It was a full moon thus it's fixed!
Too cute!

They did this and rocked my world

So baby aishu
... should I stop saying that? She's tow and a half! But always my baby!
She is a precocious 2.5 year old.
Enjoyed her first sports class so much. That's her first class so far!a world of difference compared to Bro and sis! But she enjoys things the oher two didn't so it's okay!
And she saw the national day sleeve on our car and asked innocently "why is there a the national day jutty! " super cute!

And my darling akshaya. She watched Olympics with bated breath and then practised swimming and was showing off to me. Butterfly stroke. Back stroke. Free style! And I asked her wow darling did you learn that from you teacher? And she say " I learnt from the Olympics! "

And today my darling ashwin. As I was leaving home he's sad and crying a bit coz he wants me to play with him before I go to work. And I'm leaving and he lies on the floor asking plaintively whose lap will I lie on? I want to lie on somebody's lap but there's no one.

I asked akshaya to go first for her dad to drop her and I sat on the sofa and let him lie his head on my lap. How could I not! After he was happier then I left and saro dropped me at the station! !!

my children my gifts!

More cute things they say

FSo ashwin wanted to choose the house he gets into at primary .

Then when we went to pick her up... aaaatha can I see akshayas blue house ?

I told aishu I can't keep rubbing her back all night.  I can only pat her back to sleep . Middle of the night... in her sleep. Aayha rub my back.  No no cannot rub back. Thati kodu me.

Reading oliver twist to akshaya. Doc says olivers mum dies without a wedding ring. How can she have a baby without being married she asks scorn and certainty on her face . Me. Not ready to tell her the truth. Haha. Make up something about ring falling off or husband died.

Ashwin2scrapes his knee and panics at the blood. Asks his dad will the blood go inside his knee. Saro says reassuringly no no. He wails! He's spilled blood it needs to go back in! Later on. He's been nibbling the skin near edge of fingernails mm and there a spot of blood. Next day it heals. He's so happy smiling from ear to ear at 6 am.  Aatha my skin has grown back! My knee will grow back too!

Little boy wonders and fears

I was trying to do online check in yesterday when suddenly the tremulous voice of my 5 year old cut through

"When I am born again what if you are not my mother?"

I sit up and take notice  . A bit shocked. Who's been telling you about being born again and all?

Then a series of his fears...

"You will go to a different hospital and then you won't be my mother anymore "

" darling you will always be my son I will always be your mother "

"If I am born as an animal?"

" I'll be your mummy then too. You be the baby animal I'll be the mummy animal"

" does god know?"

Haha oh my yes of course god knows

When will I die?

I don't know darling

I don't want to die
I want be 1000 years old
Will I go to heaven
What's heaven like
Are there clouds
Is there a swimming pool
Is it deep water or shallow water

What animal do you want to be
I want to be an animal that can never get eaten up by another animal
Ah then you have to be born as human
But humans can be eaten up by tigers i and army ants

Will I die for fora long time
I want to die for a short time and go to heaven
Will you be there too
Is Lee Kuan Yew in heaven
what is he doing there
Where is Lee hsien loong? 
Will he die too

I tried broaching the topic of difference between body and soul and how death is not to be feared

Souls lives on body is like a dress to shrug off
You have a beautiful soul

What is a soul

My goodness. Finally reminded him of what murugum says.  Yaam irruka bayam yaen and asked him who is in his heart.  He said krishna.  Then I listened to his heart beat and said krishna says kiss this cute sweet boy
He says hug him
He says tickle him!
Then I sang the sashti kavasam till the end and he fell asleep his head on my lap

All things precious

Have I mentioned how my daughter for me symbolises all things beautiful ?
In her smile
Her thoughtfulness
Her nervousness
Her bravery

Cute things they say

So ashwin has a fever.  4 days now.
He was moaning in his sleep from 1 till 2 so I got up checked his temperature gave him parecetemol.
He went to the window.  Exclaims "it's still night!" Ya darling. "Why did we get up in the middle of the night!"

And earlier in the day saro was watching sun music. He lectures saro wisely. 
"You cannot watch sun music all the time.
You must watch the news too.
Only then will you know what's happening in the world. " 

And the baby.
I cuddle her on my lap and say I want to eat her up she says "noooooo"
I say "please? I'm very hungry"
She says in all seriousness "if you are hungry you must eat food!"

Did I mention her special/precious/magical comb episode. Where she painstakingly tried out different words to pick the best word for the moment?

Akshaya.  Made me so proud. Her swimming instructor praised her for her effort and willingness to learn.  He predicted good things for her if she continued to learn well.. she can be a teachers dream truly. Her dance teachers also like her for that. And to think of how she cried for swimming. 

I met a lovely swim instructor . He's a teacher . He is.  Focuses on checking where kids are before placing them in a class. Coaches them separately even after hours to help them.  The money he gets for teaching is almost immaterial. Am happy. 

Thati kodu me

The cutest thing she said on the yacht

"I'm Sheepy aatha." She lies back on the net. "Thati kudume aatha! " so cute. I blinked for awhile. What kudumi?  Oh! Okay and I patted her .. she then stopped me and started patting herself!

She talked and talked and talked. Such a darling. Joins the others in all their games. Shouts "heart attck" !!!haha. Has no clue what it means.

Let's everyone do stuff for her.  Like dress her feed her.  I es swimming with me and tried swimming on her back.

Was delightful. All the children came into the water when they were ready.

"Sh! Abi baby is sleeping" she tells us!

Coming back she got tired and started crying a bit. But cheered up when we pretended to drive the ship. Sail the ship. 

Little boy chatters

I really could wrote a book with all that ashwin says.
Just need a plot! Coz this is daily life.

The other day he said at around 3 am
I can't wait for it to be morning then it's Saturday and I don't need to go to school!!

wish it wasn't school that made him feel that way but still love the sentiment!

And then today . I can't wait for next Tuesday then I can see MAY on the board. April will be over aatha. No more APRIL . He says it with joy.  I never knew to express or feel such joy for the smallest and yet the most miraculousof things. This month passes and won't be here for a whole year! And there's the tinge of sadness for time passing too.  For next April will Ashwin still feel such joy at the coming of May?
I want to catch him and hold him in all his cuteness. But then who knows what more cuteness is to come and I don't want to miss that either!

Today he stopped to pick a flower and rushed to give it to me. He does this everytime we pass the flower bush . And he doesn't wait to check if I'm wearing it in my hair doesn't ask about it later. His joy is in the giving and only that moment matters. He is a wise sage marauding as a 4.5 year old.

And yesterday we were praying.  He prays of his own accord. Please god help all people. Help the poor people. Help them have enough food.
Saro says we can help people too. God helps people through us
So he adds a line.
God please help us help people.
My heart melts. How to hold on and grow this preciousness.  How will he transcend beyond these heartfelt prayers to real life kindness. I can't wait to see it for it will surely happen.
Thank you god for my abundant blessings.

Ashwin dreams

So the other morning I heard Ashwin crying quite angrily upset and saro trying to placate him.
I want the same dreeeeaaaaaaam!

You can go back to sleep and get another dream now shh shh

No I don't want another dream.  I want the same dream. .waaaaahhh!
I was... (indecipherable) and then... waaaah I want the same dream !

Ok okay go back to sleep you can get back the same dream

Sniffle sniffle cuddles into saros arms

Sweetest words

Hello aatha ashwin speaking!

The lilting voice and certainty -a real dream

I am at work without my heart

I am at work
My heart is at home

In the hands of a two year old
Who smiles at me in the dark
Saying "aatha can you stay with me?"
In a tiny tiny voice

With my four and a half year old
Hugging me tight at night
So proud he has read a whole book
32 pages!
Saying "I love you aatha"

With my seven year old
Saying she needs 20 minutes
with just me and no one else
So humble her demands

One week hols

And the week starts with ashwin in Monday morning coin out of the room rubbing his eyes saying I didn't cry today aatha because when I woke up I told myself aatha will be here in the morning.
Just break sweet heart break.
It was a great week.
Monday wild wild wet.
Tuesday cleaning of drawers
Night sleepover for kids
Wed whole day with mum for kids
Thurs science centre
Friday tennis with akshaya movie with ashwin both with saro
Friday night till Sunday sleepover at shruthis for akshaya
For me cleaning of playroom!
And now back to school

Ashwin escapades

So my boy ashwin I think he need my attention and love and presence and validation and support in more physical tangible ways than the other two.

And when these are missing or less than what he feels he needs he acts up. He s taken to throwing things down out of the window.  I believe most children do experiment with this at one point or the other. Still. Quite alarming.
Had a talk with him about how his heart and mind can control his hand! He's a sweet little boy and needs love and attention . Art is his outlet.  Art with me is a privilege he yearns for. Akshaya likes me to read with her aishu likes me to play silly games with her. I pray to god to give me the sense time and energy to do all this with them. I love them so much and they are this young only for a short while! 
Imitation  is how they learn. So Akshaya has taken to highlighting words in her book having watched me teach Hari. 
Ashwin practises new words he's learnt .
Aishu says and does exactly what her bog brother says and does!

Helper help

I dunno what to do about the helper.
She went late to pick up ashwin again!25 min late. The poor staff would have had to wait very long too. I feel bad for my son and the centre. I have to call and apologise today.
She's okay. But superb slow with things.
I cooked yesterday before I went and that's what we ate for breakfast and dinner. Don't know how my in laws felt. They may prefer going to sendhils place just for the food.
She's going off soon. I hope I get a good new helper here soon one who can clean the house. And learn coking from my mother in law.
I need to do up a schedule for her too.

More reflectiom

And yesterday also.
Akshaya was so terrified of going to tennis class. 
Last week was her first lesson the teacher yelled a lot made them run too much she cried and cried.
Yesterday just before class she fell asleep saying she had a headache!  And so didn't go for class! Can you believe that. She played my soft soft mother into it.
Got that out of her yesterday talked about how important it was to face fears face up to situations. Not take the easy way out of things.  Very teachable moment I guess. She came and owned up.  I knew she would because I told her I'm going to believe you.  That was powerful more than the silly threats of what doctors would do to people who said they had headaches!  That was not responsible!

And also yesterday.
Ashen drew great huge concentric circles on our walls.
That one I think I need to provide more easy access to huge paper. I really think so. He's been asking for ages now. That may have been his cry for help really

Also lectured him on how watching someone doing wrong and doing nothing about it was wrong too. What a day!

A time for reflection

Yesterday.
Aishu threw a whole shelf worth of things downstairs. 
Books. Pillows. Bottle of cream.  Toy computer. Oil

It's quite awful. So blessed no one got hurt. She was not being malicious of course. She was trying out something.  Hey things fit into the hole in the grill!  This fits too. This fits too! Let's throw everything.  Just a childlike curiosity.  Could have deadly but gods grace protected everyone. 
Lesson for us? We talked to her. Told her no throwing. Talked to ashwin.  He was watching her throughout!  (Maybe even helping her but he's not saying!)
More than that... constantly must know what they are doing? Can't leave them alone for too long?  I'm not sure.

Breaking a promise

Ashwin is furious with me. He's hurt and very very mad. Because Monday mornings I'm supposed to spend with him while someone else drops akshaya.  He was so looking forward to it.

But today he was sleeping so soundly! How could I wake him . So I didn't
. And he woke up around 7.39 to 7.45 mad as anything. He cried for more than an hour. Called me three times crying screaming incoherently. 
Spitting mad. Scolding me. I've never seem him that upset before.  It broke my heart.  I should've told him the night before its late.  We can't do stuff together in the morning. Instead. I just slipped out and wham he was superb super disappointed . I had broken a promise and his four year old self just could  not take it

Aishu baby talks and talks.

Yesterday she tried out new words and looked at us shyly with a tentative smile on her face to see how we react and respond to her new words.

1st one :in the bathroom as I'm washing her.. "I need to concentrate " ! On bum washing??? Haha obviously has no idea what the word means .

Later at night after her older siblings have slept she wanders into their room and out again and tells us "I am worried for Anna and akka.  " worried is pronounced vworried.  And she had a worried expression  i think it was more worry about us reacting to her use of the word than her worry about Anna and akka !

Charming cutsie. 

Other day saro scolded her for drawing on the wall and she said sorry but kept smiling and laughing we weren't sure she knew what she was not supposed to do. A few minutes later as I was changing her pamper though she tells me "appa is scolding me. Scolding me for drawing on the wall.  He scolded me so hard!"

Melt the heart OK.  Just melt.

The other day I was cleaning my closet and I want her to go take a nap with saro.  She looks at me imploring and says " can I cheep with you as that peech? Can I lie on your lap aatha peech?"
How to say no lah!
Sweetest chocolate factory ever.  Just melts us everytime !

Ashwin the artist

Ashwin can draw! He sees a picture or an image and he can draw a recognisable approximate ! Sponge bob square pants angry birds the pigs .

He loves buildings and structures totally into cityscapes now in craft.

Wants to draw the taj mahal next.
Tries drawing Petronas towers and changi airport side by side.

Very creative.  Great drawing skills . His very first artistic endeavours at age 2 were faces. Huge faces with varied expressions. Usually angry or sad haha!

He learns from his sis too.

aishu talks and talks

okay we have to write this down because it's not likely we will remember all this later on.
She's just turned two.
She speaks so much, so well. Really proud of her.
Some of the things she says:

"Aishu, are you ready to sleep?"
"Not yet!"
Have you finished your milk?
"Almost"
She cries after waking up from her nap and I ask her, it;s okay darling, were you scared?
"Yesh. I was alone in the dark room"
When I ask her to go to her appa, he will put her to bed, she says
"Can I stay with you Aatha, Peesch? " just melts my heart I tell you. How to say no????

This puppy dog look and tone and voice works almost every time

"Can I watch TV aatha, Peesch?"

When I try to get her to go home from the playground and she says no, and i try to tempt her by inviting her to race, she says
"I don't want to Rach. I want to play with Advika and Sharanya"!!!

Okay  a bit about Ashwin too

we went cycling last week and he has trouble catching up with us in his small bike with 4 wheels. So we frequently engaged him in racing and he blurted out, "All this racing is making me very tired!" haha, saw through our ploy he did.

Then aishu dropped a piece of bread while we were sheltering from the rain, and I said don't worry the eagle will get it, and Ashwin gingerly stepped away saying... aargh... I had to reassure him that the eagle wouldn't come while we were there. Akshaya was hilarious, she was so worried we'd be stuck there at the bus stop forever.

Aishu hears the music of dangamaari, and says " like this song!"

She can change the words of the song, Baa baa Black sheep's last line to "One for anna who is sleeping on aunty's lap" and things like that.

she's just too cute. too charming. too adorable. We are so very blessed!

She loves her dresses and cries if we suggest changing her out of any dress she likes, like the cheongsam she was wearing the other day.
She runs like stitch in lilo and stitch in her two gravity defying ponytails (like pointy antennas) and cheongsams.
Wants to do everything herself.

Kids say the cutest things

So ashwin says to arun we baked a cake. We need to come to Jakarta to give you some😀

Arun says
You are so adorable ashwin.
He says
I know that

No smile nothing just fact.

Today aishu said when I asked her why she didn't have pants

Only Anna is wearing pants
I'm wearing bum and puppy shame! 

Hahahhhahah

Magical

Is there any feeling so magical as the feel of your child's arm flung possessive around your neck!

Art class

I was so happy I found ashwin an art class at the same time as akshayas dance class. In the end I ended up bring him to art class alone without akshayas class for most of the session. And he's bored of it asking when I can end it!
Some lessons.
As far as possible only sign up for stuff where I don't  need to do make ups.
Look for variety.  I ly colouring is too boring. No penalty for dropping out.

___________--
update as of Feb 10: I changed his colouring class to a craft class and now he loves art class. looks forward to doing different things every week! yay!