Akka - Tangi relationship

* BIG KAALA TIKA ... DRISHTI POST*

Kids grow fast .... Few developments I'd like to capture for my future reference :)

* Only few days back I remember showing Junior flowers ... birds ... trees trying to explain concept of different colors and now she is a full fledged color enthusiastic. Anything and everything will identified by its color. She can identify and call out Geen, Boooo, ellow, puple, lack, ite, own ... then there are other colors she identifies but cannot call out like Red, Orange, Pink and will fall into the "Tada" category. (in case you didn't follow the colors were green, blue, yellow, purple, black, white and brown)

* She is a number girl :) Anytime she hears a familiar number she will start counting from there. Picture this ... during the thanksgiving week, we were sharing some jokes when someone said "That was a good one" and my little one started counting Two, three, four, five ...
And then the other day my sister said three more days and it will be thanksgiving ... of course Junior started out four, five, six
Its kinda cute. She can count upto fourteen ... why fourteen ... because she refuses to say anything beyond that no matter what we try to do. She has a mind of her own. Once she says fourteen ... she refuses to listen to anything we say and just smiles and says "Clap clap clap". The numbers one to ten were taught by BP and rest four by her akka. BP took about a week to train her and I think it took about 10 mins for akka to get those four numbers ... so you now know now much she follows her akka.

* Akka is God to her .... period. No questions further. No matter what akka does, she follows her like a puppy. Akka does a somersault and Junior is not far behind ... akka tries skipping and the next thing you know Junior is playing with the skipping rope. Heck ... when akka is doing her homework, we give the Doodle slate to Junior and she is busy scribbling something.

* Junior got her 18months shot last week and it was not a pleasant experience. The moment she saw the nurse, she started bawling ... (the nurse is not really kid friendly ,,, I can tell you that ... but how did Junior figure that out just looking at her ... I am not sure) She got 4 shots and all the while she called out akkaaaaaa.... akkkaaaaaa . That was something I had never seen in any kid. I have seen kids calling out their moms and dads ... like ammmmmma ... and appppaaaaa while crying ... akka was something new to me. And when I returned home mentioned about the shots to akka, she jumped right next to Junior and started massaging her thighs ... sibling love at its best I tell you.

* Of course, for everything now, Junior wants Akka for company. Give her break fast and akka has to sit with her on the dining table and eat with her. Give her a lollypop ... she immediately asks one for akka.

I have already mentioned about her wanting akka beside her when she goes to bed. I am just loving this phase. Pray it lasts for many many many more years.

I am in a fix

Last week my company members made a presentation to make of a tool to one of our Business clients. Having worked with the Business client for sometime now, he and I were generally chatting and he mentioned that he could hardly follow the presentation made because of the thick Indian accent.
I was confused if I should let the senior person know that his accent was not followed in the meeting or should I let the potential opportunity to expand business slip by?
What would you do?

UPDATE:
As you all agree it was a tricky situation for me. Fortunately the senior person who gave the presentation doesn't work in the same place that I do. I met with another person who works locally and told him that the client felt that our presentation was too quick for him to follow and that he could not understand and appreciate most of the capabilities of our tool. So I was going to arrange for another meeting with the client where we could walk over the tool. This was well received ... and tomorrow we have another demo with the client.

Wishlist - Bucket

Tagged by Starry ...

Lets start with the ones I wanted to do and actually was able to achieve it.

* I always wanted to study on scholarship and I actually passed a National level exam and managed to fund my education for most part.
* I wanted to be on the front page of newspaper for my achievements ... and it happened. Alas ... it was long long time ago ... but nonetheless it happened and I was interviewed too :D
* Driving in the US ... yep ... have been driving for 8 years now.
* Sponsor for my parents' US visit.... I did everything from researching, paperwork to financing their trip
* Have 2 kids of the same sex. (this one was something I wished and wasn't in my control ... but I am glad it worked out. Though I had no preference to boys or girls ... I just wanted 2 kids of same sex)

My wishlist:

* To see both my daughters well settled and happy
* To release my very own music album.
* To be event Manager. (I have hosted / organised several parties and most of them have had wonderful feedback)
* To crack the code in the world of stocks and share ....
* Travel the world with my family ... may I also add with no financial constraints (BP. kids and parents)
* Own a house by the beach

Ah ... I need to come back to reality from my dreams and start working towards achieving those. Wish me luck people !

The journey

2009 - BP's patent comes through, I travel with 2 kids for the first time.
2008 - Junior completes our family, ajja passes away
2007 - Dad's extended stay with us
2006 - Hawaii trip
2005 - FIL's death
2004 - We are proud parents ... Cantaloupe enters our life
2003 - Sister's wedding, We buy our dream car
2002 - FIL's heart attack while visiting us in US
2001 - First job in US, first visit to India as a couple
2000 - First job ever ... MARRIAGE !

Its been 9 years .... sometimes I'd like to say 9 long years ... sometime I wonder where / how 9 years went by.
Here is to us and many more years together !
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to us !

Test yourself

Source : Here

1) A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

2) If it takes five machines 5 minutes to make five widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?

3) In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of it?

All 3 right ??? If not, some consolation:
When researchers put the following three problems to 3400 students in the US, only 17 per cent got all three right

Child's shortcomings

Are you open about your child's short comings or you don't talk about them with your friends?

As far as I am concerned ... I am not a very vocal person. I do not open up easily ... I take my time. Once I am comfortable with the person, I speak honestly. Mostly I underplay my kids ... that is something I am working on. I need to give them credit for their achievements and not necessarily talk about their short comings with friends.

But I have seen some moms who are very vocal right from the word go ... and all they talk is about how best the child is in sports ... academics.... etc. That amazes me actually.
There was one on one parent-teacher conferences 2 weeks back. The teacher set the expectations of each child and discussed on areas they could work on. For Eg: For Cantaloupe, the teacher said that she should really try to keep her hands to herself and not help other kids in her table. So when we mommies were discussing about how the conferences went, all parents maintained their child was almost perfect. Really ???

So, are you honest or you discuss your child's shortcomings as well?

How many hours a day

do you spend on your computer / laptop / blackberry / iphone and the like?

Would you be sane if these were confiscated from you for 3 straight days ?
I have a feeling there is a strong addiction to the kind above in our house ... especially BP has this affiliation.

Please tell me honestly ...