Monday, March 24, 2008

Narada in the making ...

Its official .... Cantaloupe is becoming a "Narada"

Last night when we were hitting the bed, after rolling over a couple of times, she came to me and said, "Amma, its so hot. Can you please turn on the fan?". And I obliged.
The next minute she turns towards her dad and says "Dadda, amma has turned on the fan. Don't you think, its getting rather cold and your nose is going to hurt as well ... right?"

BP and I looked at each other and said in sync "Cantaloupe you better decide if you want the fan or not! Don''t play tricks on us"

Now now... what does she expect from her parents!!

ps: BP is not too fond of fan and I am more than happy to enjoy the cool air from the fan ! We usually negotiate on the usage of fan :)

Monday, March 17, 2008

Dino and Sea animals

The school which Cantaloupe goes to has been teaching her stuff that I probably learnt in my middle school (perhaps not even as part of my prescribed curriculum). So what is that she is learning ???

The month of february, the kids were introduced to various famous Presidents of America. She clearly recognises George Washington, Abrahim Lincoln and the like ... she also can speak a few words about them. Hmm ... time for me to learn some American History coz, I knew the stuff she talked about and had one or two sentences to add to her knowledge bank. OK ... my knowledge seems to be pre-school level ... I am so ashamed ... before I can embarass my self any further, better use "Google" to good affect.

Cantaloupe has been talking about various Dinosaurs lately ... Tyrannosaurus, Apathosaurus, Trycerotops, Stratosaurus ... are my spellings are right here .... I don't know. Wonder how she manages to pronunce them let alone remember them!! I was shocked when she asked me one fine day, "Amma which is your favourite Dinosaur?" My answer was "Uh!!" and before I could remember my science classes ... she said, "My favourite is Tyrannosaurus Rex ... do you like him too??" ... "Ah ! I found my answer" I thought. "Yes dear... he is my favourite too" I mumbled.

She has learnt about "Transportation" ... Finally one topic I can hold a decent conversation on. But the pictures drawn by a three year old are pretty impressive. I appreciate the teachers for their efforts in helping the kids draw and come up with a "Transportation workbook".

Since last week, she has been learning about Sea animals. Today when I went to pick her up, she was in the middle of her art work and requested me for sometime. She wanted to complete her art before she left school for the day. When I asked her, why she was so particular about completing it today, she said, "Today is the last day we learn about sea animals. We will not be doing the art work on sea animals from tomorrow". I am beaming today to know the commitment / interest my little one has shown towards her school work. I never force her to do stuff at home. Of course, I teach her and have her read books ... but I am hardly pushy. We read when she wants to ... we draw when she wants to ... and we write / sing when she wants to. But she does realise that she needs to do some activity like sing / read / write / draw sometime during the day. Usually it is sometime around 7:00pm in the evening. Of course there are days when she is in no mood for any of the above ... those days we just end up playing with her toys.

One thing I am learning is that, its time I brush up my knowledge on some subjects.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

A little music in life

Music has been such an integral part of me. I love music ... thanks to my parents who introduced music into my life quite early ... when I barely could talk. OK... that was in the form of lullaby... but based on what my family have to say, I started talking (meaningful sounds / words) when I was about 8 months. By 12 months, I could sing decently for my age. I sang on stage when I was 3.5 yrs for a singing competition. The competition was for the age group 6 - 10 yrs ... but I was enthusiastic and my parents did not want to discourage me and requested the organisers to allow me to sing ... and so I did! Though I did not win any prizes, the judges were impressed with my enthusiam and I was awarded a special prize.

I started training in classical music not to regularly from mom. Soon she realised that formal training was best suited for me coz there would be better commitment from me. At age 10 I started Carnatic classical music. I attempted learning veena and flute for a couple of months ... but soon gave up and just continued vocal. I found a great teacher, who was as much dedicated in teaching as much I was in learning. She was young and friendly ... had been married for 2 years and had a year old son at the time. I was almost part of their family .... the more I discussed / learnt music from her, the more I started appreciating the depth of music. She often encouraged me to go to concert to expand my music knowledge. I continued to learn music for until graduation.

Why all of a sudden am I talking about all this... coz, I talked to my mom last night and she mentioned that she had a special present for Cantaloupe for her birthday this year. Guess what it is ... she has bought a "Shruthi Pettige" (the Tanpura box) for Cantaloupe ... I was so touched, I almost cried. It brought back all the wonderful memories I had with my music teacher and my tanpura. I only hope my daughter shows interest and enthusiam in classical music. She sure enjoys music ... lets see her interest in classical music.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Crazy 8 Tag

Amma has been tagged couple of times, and she has not been so good with all the tags. So when Moppet tagged me, I got excited on my first tag.
So here goes...

8 Things I am passionate about:
1. Appa ... I lovingly call him "Dadda" these days. (Yes, yes, yes ... I am daddy's little girl !!)
2. Amma ... these days called "Mamma" (I know amma is already frowning seeing her name second ... but then she really knows me and it should not surprise her)
3. Ghatu ... He is my favourite toy / brother
4. Cantaloupe and Watermelon (no wonder mamma named the blog after my favourite fruit)
5. Coloring (amma thinks I pick odd colors ... but then whats the fun if I don't color atleast 5 colors on a car??? Amma always wants me to color green for leaves, red for apples etc .... but then I choose red for leaves and green for apples ... can't amma think of Fall colors and Green apples???)
6. Visiting the library
7. Jumping ... you ask where ??? .. well anywhere but the trampoline!!!
8. Sliding / Swinging endlessly in the park

8 Things I do that drives Mama crazy:
1. "Why" questions from me ... well if amma says something like, don't eat the banana yet, I need to know why. And then she gives me some answer like it is still raw, but never says why it is still raw. I guess amma does not have answers to my smart questions.
2. My sleeping habits ... I have always been a kid with less sleep. Even when the doctor suggested average sleep of 12- 14 hrs, I'd sleep 11 hrs a day. These days 9 hrs of sleep is more than enough for me. I sleep in school for almost 1- 1.5hrs... so I just cannot sleep before 10:30pm... but amma just doesn't get it.
3. Brushing my teeth ... its hard enough to brush once a day, but I am expected to brush twice.
4. Applying Moisturizer ... this one I do intentioally ... I love my parents crazily chasing me all over the house
5. I hate skirts / frocks ... it HAS to be pants and thats it. I don't care if amma has spent a fortune on all those girly frocks.
6. Story telling sessions ... actually this one is linked to No.2 Since I cannot sleep early I end up perstering amma on reading me atleast 1o bedtime stories.
7. I hate bread / bun and prefer only "South Indian breakfast" ... this one amma is to blame herself, its her genes.
8. Clean up after dinner ... I think food left behind on the mat / table / high chair is just indicative that I had dinner by my self .... wonder why she gets mad.

8 Things I say often:
1. Amma amma amma
2. Dadda is not listening to you ?? (to amma) OR Amma is not listening to you ?? (to dadda)
3. Right amma?
4. Appa / Dadda is late today
5. How was your day amma?
6. Am I behaving OR Am I a good girl today?
7. Lets play
8. What day is today?

8 Books I've read recently:
1. Panchatantra
2. Jataka tales
3. Prahlada
4. Dora : Storytime collection
5. Cat in the Hat
6. Outer space
7. Barney's eater eggs
8. My truck (this one, I am trying to read by myself )

8 songs I can (and do!) listen to over and over
1. On the good ship ... lollipop
2. Wonderful things about Tiggers
3. Krishna ne begane Baro
4. Ee meri zohara jabbein (Hera Pheri-2)
5. We'r going on a trip (little Einstein)
6. Anku Donku (Kannada - "Aapthamitra)
7. Vandemataram
8. Sho fly don't bother me

Friends (mine and amma's) from the blogworld ... pls do this blog ... its really fun !
 

My circle of life with BP, Cantaloupe and Junior and much more | Desenvolvido por EMPORIUM DIGITAL