Moral of the story

Last night I was narrating a bed time story to cantaloupe. I was narrating the “Grapes are sour story”

Me: There was a fox who was hungry… found grapes …… etc etc …. And then the fox jumped, jumped again and jumped again but had no success … finally the fox decided that the grapes are sour and went away.

Me(to myself): I must add some moral to this story …. Hmm … ok

Me(to Cantaloupe): So you know, you must never give up like the fox … you must keep trying, anything you cannot get is not sour really.
Got it?

Cantaloupe: Oh yeah amma

Me(so proud of her): So what did you understand?

Cantaloupe: I will keep jumping in the class !!!! I will never give up, no matter what !!

Me: WHAT ????????

Numerous names of Cantaloupe

Moppet's mom wanted company in her embarassment ... boy has she found one !!!

I am always known for the nicknames I give ... be it a kid in the family, a friend, a professor etc. Some of them very appropriate (say Brainy for an intelligent friend) and some hilarious.
So when Cantaloupe was born, it was natural that I nicknamed her... but my Nickname innovations have far exceeded my own standards with Cantaloupe. She gets a nickname almost every week !!

It all started when she was born ... she was chubby, little girl and without much effort in trying to find a name, I came up with "Gundu Samosa" (gundu meaning chubby ... don't ask me why Samosa ... you will see many such silly names) ...also, by end of week 1, I had already come up with a little song ..
"Sona Masuri ... aha Gundu Samosa" ... hey "Sona Masuri ... Gundu Samosa" ...

Gosh ... this is so embarassing .....

I have addressed her anything but by her real name ... and 99% of the cases, her nicknames do not remotely sound like her real name. When I call her by her real name... it means, I am extremely angry with her and she knows!

Ok, back to nicknames ... she has been called Gopi (now, thats not too bad), Chikita, Nikita (thats a nice name. .. isn't it??), Soma, Gopala, Ghatika, (after her friend Ghatu), Soapika, Dunna, Vamana (credit to BP), Vamanos , Doreshwari, Stulambika, Shuntita .. the list is endless. I will stop embarassing myself.

The most often used of them all is Moosika / Moosamma ... (Moosu in kannada means to smell) She got that name, because she was always holding her blanket and covering her nose.
So, I came up with this song:
"Mangalarathi .... Moosu Maruthi ... hey "
The worst part, she thinks its a real song and the other day, when some friends came over to our place and asked her to sing a song, she instantly began "Mangalarathi ... " I could die of embarassment !!!

Day care story

Cantaloupe has been going to day care since she was 5 months. She has been a very accommodative child and has always enjoyed her day care stay. Infact some of her best pals are are from her day care she previously went to. Even though she gets to meet her old friends rarely, its amazing to see how they bond instantly.
But this April, I invited my parents to come over and spend some time with us. The idea was for Cantaloupe to bond with her grand parents. We extended the same invitation to BP's mother as well, but she wasn't very keen. My parents accepted the invitation after much deliberation ... afterall they could not resist the idea of spending time with their only grand daughter. Also, Cantaloupe was growing fast and we figured this was her only chance for a break from school ... she could be pampered lot by her grand parents.
So, May 2007, we stopped sending Cantaloupe to the day care. She made it so much easy on my parents by bonding with them instantly. (note: She had met them only once before ... and that for a very short span of 5 days). My parents booked their return tickets before they arrived and had informed us that they would go back in September. So we had booked the day care from September.
Cantaloupe started pre-school this week. We expected her to cling to us and throw all tantrums the first few days of her day care. Afterall she had got used to a different style ... but that was not to be. She made us proud by waving a cheerful goodbye on the first day. I cried in the car driving back home ... afterall it was the start of school for her and she would be in school for the next 20 something years on her life !! I will cherish that moment for the rest of my life... her cheerful face is stamped in my memory for ever.
The mother in me, could not wait till the end of day to pick her up. I ended up going to the pre-school quite early ... there she was ... again welcoming me with a warm hug and her best smile. The next 2 days was the same ...
But yesterday when I went to pick her up, she was being pulled to one of the corners and the teacher was saying something to her in a stern voice. Cantaloupe was sad ... her smile was missing ... her head bent ... and was ready to burst to tears. As soon as she saw me, she could no longer control her emotions and started crying profusely ... the sight of my baby crying so hard brought tears in me too, though I tried hard to control my emotions. The teacher came to me and started complaining about Cantaloupe.
She said, that Cantaloupe had not been paying attention to anything said in the class, had not helped in cleaning up the toys, had not slept well ... was very excited with other kids and had pushed them etc etc ... the teacher blabbered non stop for the next few mins. All the while, Cantaloupe kept crying. I looked at Cantaloupe and asked her to say Sorry which she did. I told the teacher I would talk to her about it.
The ride back home was very upsetting to say the least ... the teachers words were circling in my head and I didn't know what to do ... I think I was humiliated / upset / shocked all at the same time. I yelled at my baby for all the things that the teacher had pointed out :( All the while Cantaloupe kept quiet and requested to be fed something.
Its a routine for me to carry some snack when I go to pick up Cantaloupe. She is hungry and tired in the evening and is ready to eat anything that I have to offer. No fuss .. no mess time ... anything I give her she will gladly eat.
But yesterday on our drive back, I didn't give her anything to eat for quite sometime ... just kept repeating my moral lessons. Then I realised how hungry she could be and gave her the box of Mangoes and Watermelon I had carried. Cantaloupe greedily ate ...
By the time I reached home, I was more calm ... I looked into Cantaloupe's eye and this was our conversation:
Me: Why did you not sleep?
C: Because I couldn't
Me: (to myself): What would I do, if I couldn't sleep ... of course I would get up from my bed
Me: Why did not listen to the instruction the teacher told you
C: Because I already knew what she had said .. she kept saying the same things
Me:(to myself): Well ... she must learn some patience
Me: Why did you hug ABC?
C: Because she is my friend
Me: But you cannot hug her ... you have to talk to her from a distance. Did you push her?
C: She doesn't like me hugging? I didn't push her ... I was just trying to play with her !
Me:(to myself): Cantaloupe can be wild while expressing her affection ... she must learn to be gentle.

I explained to her that it was not OK to hug her friends and that she had to be patient and listen to the instructions her teacher had to give.
When I opened her lunch box, I found that he had not eaten anything ... my child was hungry and thats the reason she was perhaps restless. While the teacher noticed her restlessness, she had not noted that she was talking to a hungry child. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely some things that Cantaloupe has to learn like being more patient ... but then what would you expect from a hungry starving child?

Cycling queen

One of my most priced possession has been my BSA SLR ... MY bicycle !! I learnt cycling during summer vacation before I entered 5th grade. My parents allowed me to bicycle to school which was a good 5 kms from our house since my 5th grade. I learnt a lot of tricks on my bicycle and mastered the art of manouvering it admist traffic. I proudly bicycled the next 8 hrs till I entered Engineering.... which is when I was gifted my "Scooty".

Anyways, this blog is not about my bicycle ... its about Cantaloupes' bicycling. We bought a bicycle to her on her 2nd birthday. When we bought it, we knew it was a size bigger than her tiny legs could handle. Initial few months, she dismissed the idea of even sitting on it ... much to our disappointment. We reasoned, it could be her uncomfortable feeling on hanging her legs in the air. But soon, her legs were able to touch the peddle ... but she continued to resist sitting on it. That's when BP realised that his daughter needed a good amount of encouragement before she would start bicycling. By then she had turned 2.5 yrs .... May be it was coincidence ... but most other kids around us seem to cycle comfortably and we were left guessing what age the child might have began cycling.
BP then claimed (it was almost that I challenged) that he would ensure Cantaloupe was cycling by her 3rd birthday. The initial few weeks were difficult with Cantaloupe refusing to even come anywhere close to the bicycle ... we just couldn't understand what her fears were. Gradually, she started liking the idea of just sitting on it with her legs on the peddle, while her parents pushed it. It was our evening routine to go for a walk like this for almost couple of months. Then I changed my projects and could not get time to go on these walks because of work ... BP and cantaloupe though continued this routine.
One fine day, BP and Cantaloupe surprised me, when I saw my little daughter bicycling on her own. I felt so proud of her ... I know most kids can bicycle ... it may not be a big deal ... but for me it was afterall my daughter ... all thoughts of my association with my BSA SLR kicked in and a tear escaped from my eyes !
These days Cantaloupe loves the time she spends on her bicycle ... infact she eagerly waits for her dad to take her out for cycling. She goes out on his, while she on hers ... I have another bike too ... we are planning to go on a cycling picnic soon, with all three on our bikes ! That sure sounds fun to me :)

Mother -Daughter Evening Routine ...

Our evenings are pretty much the same everyday ... Cantaloupe keeps looking forward to this part of the day when she is only point of attention ... well wait since my parents are visiting us now, she has been getting constant attention through out the day. Anyways, I get a warm reception these days when I come back from work.
Cantaloupe is neatly dressed, is all cheerful and in her best mood. She tells me, she has been waiting for her mommy... thats me... and guess why?? We read together atleast 5 books continously. Yes ... I am not even allowed to change and refresh ... the moment I enter the house, Cantaloupe brings the chosen set of books for the day... drags me to the recliner and sits besides me and demands I read the book. One look at her, and she immediately gives me a warm hug and I melt down immediately. I forget my tiredness and I am ready to spend time with my daughter. Of course, my parents get worried about their daughter not getting a moment of rest ... but thats a different story.
Our reading is as dramatic as I can imagine ... with hand movements, jumps, running around, voice modulations etc... its actually quite an entertainment to my parents as well. Of course, they get to see their daughter playing a mommy ... which they sometimes find it hard to believe even now.
By the time I am done reading the first 2 books, my mom brings me fresh snacks / fruits every day. Even with her back problems, she ensures that she prepares my favourite snacks almost daily. Yum Yum .... Cantaloupe and I share the evening snacks.
Now, we are energised enough to dance to some foot tapping numbers. Sometimes, I have to take evening conference calls and she is not happy at all. We have found a way out ... the evenings I have conference calls, my parents take her out for an evening stroll. By the time they come back from their evening walk, I am done with the call. And daughter and I are ready for some more time ... this time its either a project with Foam stickers or a painting project or some singing or revision of her alphabets or reading books again or story telling.
One thing I know for sure is, we have made a nice routine and both enjoy our evenings ... make the most of it !!

Somewhere over the rainbow ...

I have always looked forward to Cantaloupe's birthday party. This year was no exception. The party preparations started about 3 weeks back ... when I say preparations, it means, narrowing the guest list. This time, it was not as hard as it normally is. Narrowing the list was easy, but narrowing the evite invitation proved much harder. If the foreground color suited me, the background was not going with it ... when these two matched the main image would be a sore thumb. After about 3 days of exhaustive searches, finally decided on a template.
My sister helped me with this ... thank you very much ! The evite was sent out and within the first 2 days, there was no more "Declined responses" and hardly any "accepted responses". I began to doubt if we had to reconsider the party date. I called a couple of friends, to be told that they had been considering other plans for that particular saturday, but were yet to make a decision. I was nervous if the guests would make it or not ... after all the party was for Cantaloupe and if her friends did not come, that would be no good for her. Besides, the idea of having the party in the park was for the kids to have fun. My parents volunteered to cook for the guests ... I tried to persuade them to not stress themselves too hard ... but they were firm. The idea of owning a major responsibility of their only grand daughter's birthday party, seem to brighten their spirits. After much debate the menu was decided .... Samosas, Sprouted beans salad, Kadamba (rice item), Raita, curd rice, Mysore Pak (sweet), Chips, Fruits (watermelon and pine apple), cucumber salad and of course some cool juice to beat the sun.

I was sure the party would have a theme ... the decision was made that it was going to be a "RainBow" party. Now, we had to come up with games, decorations, cutlery etc to reflect the theme.
Some of things we did were in accordance to the theme:
1. Painted huge rainbows on banners and worded them appropriately. Actually we modified the "Wizard of Oz" song to suit our theme. But it was perfect for our setting. We tied these to all the trees around the park picnic area.

2. My dad made cute miniature rainbows with card board and we used it as table decoration.

3. Our cutlery was color co-ordinated. The plates were green, cake cups were red, paper napkins were deep yellow, spoons were violet, the table cloth was pale yellow. We arranged it in the form of a semi circular, and it certainly went with our theme.

4. Balloons in all colors of the rainbow were tied to the picnic area.

5. We made "Thank You" cards of foam in all colors. Decorated them with little star sparklers. These cards were given to the kids during the party along with foam stickers, so they could decorate their own cards. The excitement in making their own little projects was so evident ... a lot of parents were thrilled to see their excited kids and appreciated this idea of ours.

6. For the return gifts, instead of the regular bags, I opted for colored boxes. The colored boxed when arranged on the table looked so cute to say the least.

7. I bought 7 little plastic boxes in all colors of the rainbow, filled it up with candies and hid them. The parents and kids had fun galore looking for these "Treasures". I was myself surprised with the clues I had come up with for the treasure hunt.

8. Since the party was going to be in the park, we purchased Visors, instead of the regular birthday caps. Again, the visors were carefully chosen to reflect the colors of the rainbow.

9. Of course, it was a "Rainbow" cake... rather a strawberry cake with Rainbow icing.

10. The best idea (according to me) was the welcome necklace the kids good. We had made fruit loop necklaces with a Candy serving as "Pendant". The colored fruit loops sure went with our theme, and kids snacked on it as they played along in the swings / slides etc


At the end of the party, I felt so satisfied and Cantaloupe was thrilled to bits.

Embarrassing incidents

Incident 1: This happened sometime back when Cantaloupe was about 18 months. We were traveling from Florida to California. Being less than 2 years, she did not require a ticket to be purchased. So she was switching between mine and BP’s laps. I sat by the window and BP had the middle seat and a young American male in his early twenties sat beside BP. Cantaloupe’s constant “Why’s / How’s/ where’s” had irritated this guy quite a bit … he had hoped to catch on some sleep which was not going to happen so easily. Book reading, Barney viewing on laptop was all done in the first 2 hrs of our flight and we still had 3 more hours to fly. Just then Cantaloupe pointed to this guy’s arms and said “Why has he scribbled all over his arms?” BP and I looked at the person’s arms and indeed it was tattooed all over … we tried hard to control our laughter. But our co-passenger had got the message.

Incident 2: This is a more recent incident. Cantaloupe has a new fascination … as soon as she sees a baby, she has to guess if it is a boy or a girl. It started out with babies and has extended to everyone. One of the differentiating factors we have told her is “Girls have pierced ears while boys don’t”. I know these days, the ear piercing thing is definitely not a differentiating factor … but we still like to live in the olden days and hey, it’s a convenient explanation to Cantaloupe. We had few guests home and one of them had his ears pierced. Cantaloupe innocently asked “He is a boy … why has he got his ears pierced?”

Two weeks back we were invited to our neighbour’s house for a house warming gathering. They had bought the house couple of months back and have settled in the place for about 4 months now. So, when they said, house warming, I was a little surprised. May be they wanted to settle down before they had friends over and this was their way of sharing their happiness with friends … even though a little late.
I had to mention that they had settled 4 months back, because they have a daughter almost a year older than Cantaloupe. Cantaloupe has always enjoyed playing with older kids. I thought the neighbors’ kid “S” would be a good playmate for her. I have had them a couple of times at my house... and I can have a decent conversation with S parents … Cantaloupe is comfortable playing with S without much parent involvement.
OK, back to the house warming story. We were invited to be there by around 11:00am. So we went there around the same time. The host couple were busy doing the “Sathyanarayan Pooja”. There were around 7-8 adults in the living room. ( we did not know any of them). We settled down in one of the corners … Cantaloupes’ little eyes started looking for S. After about 15min, she asked where S was. She had been asking about S ever since morning and we had told her that she could play with her when we went to their house. Kids were running in and out of a room and we figured S might be in the room with other kids. So we encourage Cantaloupe to go to the room by herself and play with S. Though hesitant initially, Cantaloupe couldn’t much resist the idea of playing with other kids and went to the room. BP and I were glad she was learning to make friends by herself. After about 10mins, Cantaloupe came running back to us and said “S says, she does not want to play with me”. I was very angry to hear that … how dare S not play with my daughter who is such a lovely kid. But I knew that S was a kid too …. So I encouraged Cantaloupe to go in and say she wanted to be part of the group. Cantaloupe accordingly went inside again, only to come out within 5 mins, saying “S does not want me inside”. This time, S came out of the room and announced “I don’t want to play with you Cantaloupe!!!” Cantaloupe was perhaps hurt by S’s reaction. But BP and I soon diverted her attention to some other kid, who had by then settled beside us. This kid was more friendly and Cantaloupe was busy playing with her most of the time we were at the neighbor’s place.

Yesterday, we were driving out of our garage when S and her mom were walking out of their garage. Cantaloupe promptly shouted “Hi S” from the car. S yelled back “Hi Cantaloupe” … “You want to play with me?”. Cantaloupe responded “I am going out with appa and amma… we can play once I am back”. As we drove off from our apartment complex, Cantaloupe asked “S wants to play with me today?” BP and I said together “Of course dear, she wants to… you can play once we are back” Cantaloupe asks back “She wants to play with me because she does not have any of her other friends?”

BP and I were too shocked to hear that … I managed to say “No dear, she will play with you even when other kids are around.” Cantaloupe did not ask any further questions ….

Doctor

I can't remember since when Cantaloupe wants to become a doctor. I don't recall "One event" which made an impact on her tiny brain to trigger this ... but all I know is if she is busy playing by herself, she is most likely to be treating her patients ... "Ghatu" being her primary patient. She is either checking on his pulse or heart beat ... and in all probabilities will call for "5 Shots" (injection)
My parents have taken this interest of hers a step further. They have educated her about some of the specializations that the medical field has to offer. She has generously given out family members the titles. So in her eyes, presenting to you, our family specialists list:

• Cadiologist: Cantaloupe
• Opthamologist: My mom
• Dentist: My dad
• Dermatologist: My sister
• Orthopedic: BP or sometimes she herself
• Neurologist: My BIL

Surprised that I don't feature in the list .... well, I was too. And then I asked, what about amma ... what is she? Pat came the answer, she is my assistant ... she is "NURSE" :)

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 .....

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.

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.

The day she refused to walk

It was a long week. 3 days were gone in attending the graduation ceremony, hosting a surprise party, attending a pooja and a birthday party. A lot of socialising so to say the least ... met atleast 60 odd people. So, the final day of our long weekend, we wanted to go "Cherry picking". BP's allergies had bothered him a lot the previous night. So, postponed visiting the farms and headed towards the beach.
It was sunny and a nice bright day when we left home. Cantaloupe and I promptly fell asleep for most part of the drive. (the beach is about an hours'drive from our house) We took route 1, beside the Pacific ocean. The wind and the grey clounds were hanging above the ocean, promising to ruin our sunny day. We parked our car in a nice quite place, and were greeted by the chilly winds as soon as we stepped out of our car. We wasted no time in putting on our jackets. Headed to the sand and spread out our tent. Cantaloupe was as excited as she ever has been everytime we are at the beach. She soon found her castle making tools and headed in the direction of the wet sand. In no time, she was busy with her grand parents building her sand castles. In between castle making, BP would take her to the water and dip her legs in the cold pacific ocean. She didn't mind that, but was too busy instructing her grandparents the layout of her castle. In between, she would check on me. BP and I took advantage of the time we had and played with a beach ball. Cantaloupe didn't show any resistance when offered lunch and finished it without a hint of tantrums. As soon as she finished her lunch, she went back to her castle making self.
It was almost 6:00pm when we reached back home. I was clearing our picnic basket, BP was making tea and Cantaloupe was playing with her toys. She asked for some juice. I poured the juice in a cup and gave it to her. She drank it and wanted to put the cup into the sink for washing. Thats when she must have realised that she just couldn't walk ... forget walking, she just couldn't stand up. Initially I ignored her thinking, she was too lazy to walk up to the sink and was making excuses. When she repeated it a couple of times, I was sure she wasn't faking. I didn't know what to do, but still maintained a calm and bold face. (didn't want to psyche her). BP and I gave her several massages, tried to divert her attention ... she was her playful self but complained of pain when asked to stand , walk.
I searched the net about similar experiences ... sometimes being ignorant is bliss. Anyways, one of our family doctors came over to examine her. The doctor assured us that there was no cause of worry. The pain was all a result of exposure to cold and muscle stress. I just couldn't sleep that night. First thing in the moring, took an appointment with her doctor. The pediatrician took a close look at her leg and ruled out anything bad. Its a different thing that Cantaloupe had been walking / running / jumping all along since morning :)

Mother daughter bonding

Cantaloupe is growing fast. Her dictionary is expanding by the minute. Its as if she said "amma amma amma" only yesterday. I still remember those days ... she was a darling with just 4 teeth and grinning all the time. (you know the baby talk .. they repeat everything like papapapa, dadadada, tatata etc)
2 days back, I was annoyed about something very inconsequestial. Didn't want to create a scene in front of Cantaloupe coz I know she is observing / learning. So I sank myself on the rocking chair and was staring outside quietly at the blue sky. She was playing in the same room with her toys. One would think she didn't observe her mom's presence or her mood ... nop, my cantaloupe is not that kind.
She came to me, gave me a warm hug, turned my face towards her and lovingly asked "Amma ... whats the problem? Are you sad ?" I was spellbound. My little angel is growing so fast and is concerned about me. I pray the bonding between us remains intact and grows with time.