Friday, September 26, 2008

Girl Bonding

Is there an age when kids start realizing how much they are emotional attached to something / someone? Well, no kidding, perhaps even I have not known my attachment until I missed it.
Anyway, 2 nights back Junior slept early ... around 7:30pm. (Generally she is put to bed around 9:00pm). She had got 4 shots on monday during her 4 months visit to the Pediatrician. Her body was warm and perhaps aching from the shots, so she slept early. She had been feed around 7:00pm. So around 10:30pm motherly instincts kicked in and I remembered that it had been over 3 hours and Junior needed to be fed. So I was about to pick my baby from her bed ... when BP came up and said, he would change her diapers before her feed, so she could promptly fall asleep after the feed. He gently tried to pick her... when Junior started crying. She started crying so loud that for a sec, I got quite scared that she might choke. Cantaloupe ran down the stairs from her room, looked at Junior and started crying as well. When I asked her why she was crying, she said, I just can't see my sister crying. Why do you guys make her cry ... please don't do anything to my sister.
I was quite shocked (because she wakes the poor baby every now and then and its all fine ... but now she supports the little one) and pleased. Pleased because well, I know my daughters love each other !!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Changes in Cantaloupe

Cantaloupe has changed leaps and bounds in the past month and a half. The sibling rivalry / jealousy has taken new heights. When Junior was born, I thought she was the most excited of us all. She had all the while wanted a sister and God had granted her wish. She was so proud to be called a big girl at that time and behaved like one as well. A lot of my friends and family were really surprised to see how Cantaloupe had accepted Junior as part of her family. How deeply she loved and cared about her.
Infact, during our first few doctor visits, our Pediatricians talked to the big sister and thought we had we prepared her before the little arrived. Little did I know that those good / calm / peaceful days would be replaced by the current days.
I gave a lot of thought before discontinuing Cantaloupe from Summer school this year. Will she be able to get adjusted to school once she starts again? Will she miss her friends? Will we be able to keep her busy throughout the day? Will she get adjusted to my mom staying with us? I told myself that this would perhaps be the special time she will get to bond with her sister and grandma. Though it was going to be difficult to keep pace with her energy, we decided to keep her home. (BP was not very pleased with this idea)
She did bond with my mom during these days ... she did develop a strong feeling towards her sister and I do want to believe that overall she had a good summer break as well. (though she missed her friend A sometimes)
Cantaloupe started school without a fuss. But gradually it is turning out to be a big challenge to send her off to school. She makes a big fuss about brushing in the morning. It is sad ... but almost takes 30 - 45mins of negotiation before she brushes her teeth. An equal amount of time is taken to bathe her. Initially we did not want to believe it was due to sibling rivalry ... but now she is quite vocal about it. Why doesn't Junior have to brush her teeth everyday ... she asks. When we point out that Junior doesn't have any teeth ... she doesn't want any of hers either.
If we talk to her about good girls going to school and having fun there. ... she says I don't want to go to school ... I'll become a doctor if I go there. (note, no one ever asked her to become a doctor ... she was the one who got this idea of becoming a doctor, perhaps hearing us talk to my cousins who are studying to become doctors)
She is becoming stubburn by the day. With her testing my patience on trivial matters, I am losing my patience as well. I end up yelling her at times which makes her worse. I know I have to control my emotions ... but there is only so much I can take. Like the other day, she bit Junior's fingers. Poor little baby was peacefully sleeping in her bed when this happened. When I asked her why she bit her .... she said, she is not listening to me. She is not playing with me. Just 2 months, Cantaloupe always kept saying that babies don't start playing until they are a year old. What happened to her all of a sudden ? I look at her in disbelief !!
Few days back ... she had potty accident as well .... she hasn't had an accident for almost a year or so now .... what happened to her all of a sudden? The worst part is she is not sorry about it either. Perhaps in her mind, if Junior can do it, so can she. Thankfully she has not repeated this act again.
Its not that we don't spend time with her. Either me or amma or BP are with her all the time ... save for her TV time (about 1 hr a day) Its so hard to believe that my once friendly loving daughter is becoming so hard to deal with.
Everyone has been saying Time will change things ... I just hope she changes back to her loving self soon. Its heart wrenching to see her do petty things just to grab attention and get lectured (sometimes shouted) about it. There is no doubt she loves her sister and family ... and she knows we love her as much as well. I hope she becomes her oldself soon.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

My daughters are related to Draupadi ...

atleast in their names.
Recently we met my friends' mom who complimented our choice of names for our daughter. She was pleased we had done so much of research in naming our daughters. We were pleasantly surprised when she mentioned that Cantaloupe (of course her actual name) was Draupadi's mother's name and Junior was Draupadi's mother-in-law's name !!
We had learnt about Junior ... but were surprised to learn about Cantaloupe. Enlightening fact indeed !
We thought we had modern day (lack of better word) names for our daughters. Turns out there are ladies already our epics with these names :)

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Pre-K - here I come

Cantaloupe started school on Aug 25th. She was going to the same school last year as well. But then when we discontinued her summer classes so she could bond with Junior. So after a break of almost 3.5 months she started school again. Having thoroughly lazed around the house, chatting endlessly with grandma, pulling Junior infinite number of times, going to school was no small feat ... or so we thought. She surprised us by showing lot of enthusiasm and interest from the very first day. Actually on the 22nd, there was an Orientation session, after which she got to meet her class teacher. She came back very happy to have been allocated to a known teacher's class.
The first week of school was uneventful. She went only for 4 days though. We had a nice vacation in Disney Land / Sea World for 4 days. This was a planned vacation .. planned almost 6 months in advance. Our first vacation as a family of four. Wish it was not as hot ... but hey, rain or sun, Disney Land is always fun !!
There is so much going on here in our house hold ... me getting back to work, festive season (Gokulashtami, Gowri/ Ganesha Chaturthi, sister's baby shower planning) keeping this post real short
 

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