Why?..I am beat!

Why do we blink our eyes?
Why does the wheel rotate when the pram moves?
Why does the pram shake when it goes over the stones?
Why do we have a mouth?
Why does that aunty shake while walking?
Why should we wake up when the sun comes?
Why do we have to sleep when the sun is still there? (sunset is at 8.00pm these days, after the kids bedtime!)
Why do we come down when we jump? (explained a lil bit of gravitation and the apple falling!)
Why do we have 10 fingers and not only 1?
Why does the cycle not have life? ...
cause it is made of metal.
Why is it made of metal?
cause it has to be strong enough to carry you.
But why does metal not have life?
*sigh* *..forced to go back to the easiest reply possible ..* cause god made it so!!!


...Kashyap n kaustubh's questions, karthik n I get a thrill just hearing them and trying to think of an answer they can understand.

Life has been going on...

at full speed. Kids have even changed schools in the few months that we've been here. They got admission to the school at the end of our lane, so pulled them out from their older one which was less than 10 minutes walk to put them here. Really, such absurd distances kids have to travel to school here! They seem to like the new one too, though I was a bit skeptical, and this change was quite a difficult one for me. Coz I liked the 10 min walk. Coz the old school had a lot more discipline. Coz I had made a friend there. Coz the kids loved their teacher. Coz they brought back a drawing each day. Coz they had a lovely climbing bar in the ground. Coz it was close to the library and the park.
I do hope I have a lot of Coz of this school too. Now baby was getting bored in the house when the kids were at school. So I have started taking her to the playgroups here. Such a lovely concept. I pay 1.5 pounds for two hours and there are ample toys, snacks and even tea and coffee and biscuits for the moms. Not to mention, a lot of other moms you can chatter away with. The last half hour is filled with rhymes and music with all the moms and dads taking part. Its quite a lot of fun and we even have walking songs where you hold hands with your kids and take them around in a circle singing their favorite songs. Baby loves every minute of it. I love the tea, the conversation and the books that i take along. These groups meet just once or twice a week, so have found three different ones so that I have a playgroup to go to everyday.
And then, we usually walk/drive to the park in the evenings, when the climate is nice and sunny. So that takes care of the rest of the afternoon and evenings. So time is flying and how.
Kids are having a blast and we are too. I think, the right words for any kids are:
lots of play, different places every three hours, good food and relaxed parents. Am I right?

The best gift i could give them..

is themselves! What a company and what a sheer delight it is to see them play among themselves. I have often just sat there beside them, watching them play games of make believe, assuming characters and enacting their favorite stories, with a never ending chatter and watching baby's innocent face reflect the moods of her brothers and wondered at the beauty of watching her pick up roles as though she was a year older and silently join her brothers in all their games......and sent a silent prayer of thank you to whoever it is that made me blessed enough to watch the three play and felt that this is the biggest gift i could ever give them...company for life.

They have never needed any one else to play with. They make friends easily, but don't really need them as yet, they are always supporting each other the moment one of them is hurt by an outsider, they make houses and sleep inside it and name them 'kachi,kautu and baby house', they scold me when i reprimand another - baby even cries if one of her brothers are hurt, they have enough numbers to play ring -a roses on their own, they eat competing with each other and even sleep all cuddled up in their house on some days. They are now an entity and baby is no longer a baby to me. She is a part of THEM. I dread the day when the boys will go to school leaving her behind, for she's never been without them for a long period of time. Whatever the future holds, let it at least hold that these three remain together and with the rapport that makes them play for hours on end without a single call for help. This is the silent prayer that i send up everyday and the silent gift that was given to me over the last 3 years.

Just here just now

With their LEGO set scattered between them, all three of my kids are sitting in the balcony. As I sit typing away before them, the thought that pervades all through me is that, there is nothing I would be doing other than exactly this at this point in time. It is such a pole apart from where I was a year back. The rush home every two hours to feed Krithika, the minutes I grab to just be with the kids, seeing them play in between the cooking and feeding and the constant rush of thoughts about work. It would be a rare day that I would get to sit like this and just relax with no thought other than what I am typing away. This is not to say that I don't want to get back to work! I do. But if I do, it will have to be either part time, during the morning when the boys will be in school and when I can permit myself to leave baby in a day care, or, a flexiblilty of work from home when I can be at home during the afternoons. It is just not possible otherwise! After having had the luxury of being with them throught the day, leaving them to someone who will not enjoy them, and sees them with the same eyes they see other kids is just not possible!!! I can't describe the pure joy I feel when I lie down with them for their afternoon nap. Both Kachi and Kautu have to hug me to sleep and I lie straight down, like a log so that they both can take their share! Today was special, coz baby too wanted to sleep with her bros. I usually put her to sleep either before or after they have slept. Today, Kachi wanted her to sleep with him, so I put her in between me and him. To my surprise, he started singing the lullaby I usually sing for her, and slowly, her eyes drooped and she slept! He got up to see if she has slept and then turned around and went to sleep! Wish I had a cam to capture these moments! I was touching all three of them till I too dropped of to sleep and what more do you need to make your day?
Well, Krithika has just gone to put her hands on to the mud (she is fond of eating it, and such other dirty things!), so let me bid you good bye!

Murphy's law for toddlers

1. How is that when I mix less formula milk,they cry out for more and when I mix more keeping my hands crossed, they fall asleep half way through?

2. How is it that when I fix the time and give them food, they refuse to eat and when I wait till they are hungry and ask for it, they again fall asleep from the sheer exhaustion of playing?

3. How is it that when I don't give them a head bath for days fearing a cold, they fall sick and when I bathe them daily they are hale and healthy?

4. How is it that when I give them a good warm long bath to make them sleep longer, they wake up after half an hour and when they sleep dirty, they sleep for hours on end?

5. How is it that when I pick up one kid, the other always comes running, but when I just sit observing them, they look and smile and continue playing?

6. How is it that these two can be so exhausting yet so lovable? So troublesome yet cuddlesome? Jealous yet innocent? Viking warriers with each other, yet kittens with us?


7. How is it that they shit just after we put the diaper when they have been roaming around in trousers the whole day?

Can anyone truly understand babies?