Cantaloupe's interpretation of bollywood

Well, like I mentioned earlier, I don't watch TV as much and Cantaloupe is allowed to watch only the carefully chosen rentals from the Public library.
Anyways, today was one of those rare days, I wanted to watch some bollywood songs in Cantaloupe's presence. I had burnt these songs into a DVD long time back and it had been close to 2 years since I had ever watched it. Here is how the whole episode went.

• First song: Mujhe Rang De , rang de (Takshak):

Her question: Why isn't uncle wearing any shirt (the side dancers who didn't have shirt on) ...

Me: (Bad song to play) ... next song played

Song: (Duplicate): Mere Mehboob mere sanam

Cantaloupe: Why isn't aunty wearing saree (pointing to Sonali's clothing)

Me: ooops .... next song

Song: Pyar dilon ka mela hai

Cantaloupe : Where is her dress ? Why isn't she covered (Karisma is wearing a strapless top and some weird clothing)

Me : OK .. next song

Song: Nimuda Nimuda (Hum Dil de chuke sanam)

Cantaloupe : Why is aunty churning her stomach like that ?(annoying Aishwarya's dance)

Me : (Is there any song I see without being questioned ?)

Song: Chuk Dum Dum

Cantaloupe: Nice song .... why do they need to sing in the rain ?

Me : You sing Rain, rain go away and Twinkle Twinkle and the like .... they sing this song.

I don't wait for long and move on to next song ... infact I change the DVD

Song: Bumbaro, bumbaro (mission Kashmir)

Me: (finally one of her favourite songs .... she has listened to this song couple of times)

Cantaloupe: (after watching the video for a few secs) : Why is aunty's palm dirty ?

Me: Oh dear ... this is called Mehendi ...

Cantaloupe : Its ok to have mehendi ?

Me: Yes ....

(finally there is one song I can watch with her without answering embarassing questions)

Cantaloupes' comfort zone

Like any other kid, Cantaloupe has her favourites. One of her most priced possessions is a toy looking like Alien ... she has named "Ghatu" ... after Ghatotkacha from Mahabharat. I still remember the day she got this toy as a present on her birthday ... I laughed my heart out at the awful selection of gift. This toy makes a strange noise in a nasal accent which goes something like "booooooooobaaaaaaaaaaaa" ... very annoying I thought the first time I saw it. Somehow BP felt that it would rank up high in Cantaloupe's favourites list. Sure it did ...
Ghatu has been her best pal, her brother at times, her patient (when she pretends to be the doctor), her student (when she is the teacher). Infact, I have heard her say things to Ghatu ... the same things, that BP and I tell her. During her potty training days, we were forced to get a potty for Ghatu, we have a stroller as well for him, not to mention, his own blanket, bed, plate etc. He is almost like the 4th member of our family ... only he is a toy.
Cantaloupe checks on him every once in a while just to make sure, things are ok with him. She just adores him.
I wouldn't give up Ghatu for anything, but for her favourite pink Blankey. (these days she just says Blank). Her blanket tops the list of her favourite items. She has a hard time sleeping without her blank. Note, she doesn't cover her body with the blank when she is sleeping, she just holds it close to her chest.

Here is a coversation I had with her a couple of days back:
Me: Want Thomas or Dora ?
Cantaloupe (C) : hmmmmm Thomas
Me: Want Pinky or Thomas?
C: Pinky
Me: Want Pinky or Ghatu ?
C : Ghatu (in a tone, as if it isn't an obvious choice)
Me: Want Ghatu or Blank ?
C : Blannnnkuuuuuuuuuuuuuu (rushes to get her blanku)
Me: (to myself) Blanku or amma ?
I don't want to know .....

Ouch ... that hurts ... well most times

Cantaloupe enjoys cuddling with me. We hug eachother for little things and everytime I get a warm hug from her, I am so excited. It makes me marvel at the little wonder BP and I have created.
Yesterday, we were playing "Snakes and Ladders" the board game ... well we weren't playing really... I was trying to explain her the game. After a few mins, she wasn't really paying much attention to what I was saying and was challenging me to catch her. This running marathon in the name of catching each other happens every day in our house. Like anyother day, I began chasing her and she tried to escape from my reach. After about 10mins of continuous running, I got tired and lay on the couch for a rest. Cantaloupe, not far ahead of me ...ran towards me, jumped on me. She gave her warm hug and kissed me almost to say thanks for this bout of running... ready for the next ? I kissed her back ... said some encouraging words of how fast she runs ... thats when she started kissing me again and again ... and ouch .... she bit me. In her over enthusiam, she never realised she was going to cause me pain ...
But hey ... I didn't mind it at all :)

ps: Cantaloupe never bites anyone intentionally .... she just got carried away in yesterday's episode.

Congrats

One of our good friends had their second baby over weekend. A healthy baby girl ! Little one weighed over 8 pounds at birth. Congrats N and R !You guys are fabulous parents ... enjoy your little bundle of joy. I had been wanting to have these friends over for dinner at our place, before she gave birth ... but that had not been possible. I was waiting for her parents to come from India, so I could invite all of them over. Her parents were scheduled to come from India on the 9th. She was due to give birth on 25th June. BP and I had decided that this week, we would invite them. But before I could execute my plan, the little one decided to arrive. Infact that came as a surprise to me ... coz hers was a scheduled C-section. She had almost given up any hope on a Normal delivery. But "He" had a different idea. She started having contractions on saturday. When she went to the hospital, the doctor convinced them to go for Normal delivery. After about 6 hours of labor pain, the little was born ! My friend was discharged from the hospital the next day. According to her, the difference in her energy level when she delivered via C-section and this time is huge.
Anyways ... I am really very happy for you dear ... wishing your family all the very best !!Take care !

Kid DVDs and Videos

OK, the title of the post may suggest some discussion about whether to allow TV watching or not ... no this post is not for the same. BP and I believe in minimal TV time. Infact we do not have cable connection at home. Our Television set is used to play only the DVD and Videos that Cantaloupe is allowed to watch and occasionally some movie that BP and I watch.
Anyways, this post is list the chronological order of the characters that Cantaloupe was introduced to.

1. Baby Einstein: Animal Planet. : She was introduced to this when she was close to 11 months. Its a very educational video and I'd perhaps recommend it to other parents. She continues watching this DVD until, the purple Dino was introduced.
2. Barney Series : Boy... was she hooked to this series or what ? She was allowed to watch her first Barney video when she was about 18months. At first I failed to understand what was so unique in the video that attracted an 18month old. The "I love you, you love me, we are happy family song" had begun to haunt me in my dreams and I was hoping she switched to other videos. But I had no success until, she saw the little Hispanic girl and her monkey friend.
3. The reason perhaps she liked Dora was because we had begun reading Dora stories for a while and she was quite familiar with all the characters. She still watches it occasionally. I would never recommend this one .... somehow I feel, the characters just scream their way through the video and there is very little learning.
4. There was a small phase when we liked "Thomas and his friends series". She still watches these videos ... but they are not her favourite.
5. Her latest fascination is "Simba" the "Lion King" and "Jungle Book".

Not sure when she will switch loyalties from Simba to other fictional characters.

Reserve bank

"You live in the US and are minting money" .... I am tired of hearing this from family members both near and distant living in India. Why this assumption ?? Don't we have expenses in the US ? Does a legal stay in the US guarantee us of all our basic necessicities with any expense from our end ? I fail to understand ... Initially I reasoned out saying we had expenses as well just like anyone staying in any part of the world and were no where close to minting money. But I realised that I didn't have to reason myself with everyone. And well, inspite of having all the expenses if I am able to save myself a decent money, so be it.
Some of us live in the US not for the money. Is it hard for anyone to accept that ? We like our jobs, the kinda exposure it is giving us, we are enjoying our independance ... there many other things that we enjoy in our current set up. One thing we miss though is family and that may be the only reason we might want to relocate back to India. (if at all)
So people don't talk assume about our financial status and do not assume we are staying here for the money. But hey if you do assume things ... thats your problem ... I am not going to clear your thoughts anymore.

ps: I just wanted to vent out ... the flow of thoughts may be random

Imagination galore

Cantaloupe is not a person who will just follow your instructions without questioning ... any instruction to her is always followed by "Why / why not ?"
Ever wondered how soon the kids relate to the story being told ... well Cantaloupe started to understand and relate to stories quite early. BP and I always make sure we emphasise the "Moral" of the story. Now, we are not Moral teachers preaching her the "Moral lessons" every day in a boring fashion. We have developed this innovative skill where we try to incorporate simple things like not jumping on bed / sofa, value of fruits and vegetables, sharing with friends, doing one's own bed etc.
Let me explain ... "Simba" is her role model these days. (earlier it was Barney, then Dora). So almost all stories will feature Simba. In her eyes, "Simba" represents herself. Simba's parents are her parent, so Mufasa will be BP and so on. When we encounter situations which require us to give her some lessons, we start the Simba story. For example, my parents who are visiting us have gifted us with this wonderful drapery set. (thank you, thank you , thank you ! A very much well thought gift ... our house looks even more charming now). Anyways, so to ensure, she doesn't pull it from the rods, we start the Simba story. Here is how the story goes:
"Once, Simba's grandparents gifted a beautiful drapery set. Mufasa instructed Simba to not pull it and warned that he could hurt himself in the process. But Simba did not pay attention to his dad and pulled the drapes ... and down it came along with the rod and fell on Simba's head. Simba was deeply hurt and Mufasa was disappointed that Simba has not paid attention to his words. Now Cantaloupe, do you want to pull the drapes ??? You must follow your parents words... right?"
You get the idea ... right ? After the story narration I have not seen her pulling the drapes. Of course she forgets at times ... thats when we parents pitch in and remind her of it again.
So far these moral lessons are working just fine for us.
The truth is we had never realised about our Imagination potential ... this practise has helped us realise the same ... it has also helped in making Cantaloupe realise simple things!

Brushing ... what a big deal !

Cantaloupe has always been a "light sleeper" (called so for the lack of better word). When she was a little baby, and the doctor suggested infants slept for 14-16hrs a day, my little girl slept for 12hrs max and mind you not at one stretch.... when the doc suggested 12-14hrs, she slept for 11hrs. As she grows, her sleep time seem to go down and by around 12 months, she was close to 9 hrs of sleep in a day.
9 hrs of sleep would have been nice, if that was her night time sleeping hours ... but no. She uses up 2 hrs for her afternoon siesta which means she hardly sleeps in the night. She is all fresh and energetic when her dad and mom are ready to hit the bed. Its such a big deal to put her to bed. Sometimes, by the time she falls asleep, it is close to 11:00pm. Now, one would wonder, why we put her to sleep in the afternoon ... its not us, but her caretakers (earlier her day care folks, now my parents) when we are off to work. I could request my parents to not put her to bed in the afternoon ... but she gets tired and crancy by evening and is seen with so little enthusiam by the time, we are back from office, it hurts ... and it hurts real bad. Besides, I know she needs rest during the day. So yes, like all other sacrifices, we sacrifice our sleep. (I have to get up by 5:30am to get to work)
Anyways, she is up most days by 6:15 - 6:30am in the morning... and there begins our first challenage of the day... to get her to brush her teeth. On miracle days, she shows no resistance and it happens without even the other parent getting to know about it. But on most days,my entire neighbourhood would probably know about it ... but thanks to the sound proof walls, neighbours still manage to greet us. Anyways, it takes a lot of patience to get her done with the brushing activity. She just doesn't give in and we don't either until we are satisfied... strike that, until we see a few rounds around the teeth. Its not a fun way to start a morning... but then do we have a choice ???

8 things about my little one ...

Trying to list 8 things about Cantaloupe. Let me try ...

1. Her favourite fruit is "Cantaloupe" (now you know the reason of my blog name)

2. She has a good sense of rhythm ... have observed her clapping rhythmically to both Carnatic classical , nursery rhymes etc. Keep it up my child !

3. Her current favourite fictional / cartoon / child character is "Simba" from Lion King, closely followed by Rajan and Mogli from Jungle book.

4. She refuses to clip her hair ... I lose hairpins everyday.

5. She is great entertainer... has very good social skills. (surprised ... neither me nor BP are very good at it... though I have improved a lot these days)

6. Can speak my mother tongue and English fluently.

7. Enjoys the beaches ... can spend hours together at the beach.

8. Never poses to the camera ...

I would like to know about your kids ... tagging poppins, KT's mom ... and any other mommy visiting my blog.

My first tag - 8 things about myself

Ok ... I just tagged myself from here since I am fairly new to the blogging world.
Here you go ... (ok, I didn't stop at 8)

1. I had always dreamed of having my wedding in a temple, in the presence of my parents and my grooms' parents. Max of 10 people witnessing my wedding. But ended up having a huge hindu wedding for 3 days. I still feel it was unnecessary.

2. I fear giving up my job. I don't do it for the money(touchwood, BP is a great provider) ... but I want to be financially independant. Some day I hope to give up my job and be comfortable staying at home raising my kid.

3. I hate make up ... if you find me with lipstick and kajal, consider I am all dressed up. I never put on make up to work.

4. I hate watching movies at the theatre. I enjoy them in my living room :)

5. I am very particular about food. Taste matters to me and I just cannot eat anything and everything. I have been raised not eating mushrooms and olives and I still refuse to eat it. And yes, I am a Vegetarian !

6. I am very slim and I hardly excercise. Its just in my genes. My paternal grandpa was slim all through and I seem to have got his genes. After Cantaloupes' birth, I have a pouch .. I miss my perfect flat tummy. Nobody else seems to notice my little pouch though.

7. I sing Carnatic classical music (alas, I have not been practising these days) and have learnt Bharatnatyam.

8. I cannot swim. My parents tried to get me enrolled for swim classes when I was 11years ... I refused to go to the classes, because I had to wear the "Swim suit". I still do not wear the swim suit. It has taken a lot of effort from BP to get me into swim shorts and T -shirt.

9. I love the beaches ... I can spend long hours simply looking at the waves.