The Bicycle Diary

2013-12-19T09:39:00.001+05:30

October 5th 2013
A wonderful and adorable yellow Labrador pup became our first ever pet. He was a naughty pup who was non stop chewing everything even our hands. Arav named him Booster. After 12 weeks we took him to his first puppy class. We really enjoyed the classes and the concept of shopping with your pet in petsmart...very smart marketing strategy.

Booster is now much better trained and a very happy and cuddly and obedient puppy. He follows Arav everywhere. Arav even calls him bro!!

2013-12-19T09:21:00.001+05:30

Two more days to go for Christmas holidays to begin. Arav cried so much today because The 25th falls on a Wednesday and not on a Monday like he had expected. Sundar and I had a tough time calming him down. It was also his bedtime and he was not ready to wind down.
After showing him the calendar and explaining the story behind Christmas, he suddenly came out of his crying spell and said " it's only going to be 5 days more.. I'm fine with that amma" !

And then there was calm after the storm.

2013-04-02T09:17:00.005+05:30

We saw the croods on Saturday. It was a good movie. Arav totally enjoyed it. He almost fell of his booster seat laughing. Every time something funny happens I had to look out to make sure he didn't hurt himself !

Field Trip

2013-03-13T08:35:00.001+05:30

Arav went for his first ever school field trip to the play museum. He learned about nutrition and the various components of the special plate. He totally enjoyed the trip out with his classmates. He also brought home his unit test paper in which he had given his name as Ben Ten !

2013-03-11T08:28:00.000+05:30

With the fever and the rashes all conquered, Arav went to school this week. It was a difficult morning the first time after two weeks but he came home happy. Also came home with a bunch of papers to work on. Suddenly it seems to me that everything is speeding up in March. First graders are busy people.

2013-03-06T19:07:00.003+05:30

Its still very much winter and we are already looking forward to spring time with eagerness. More for the break that we might get in the temperature. I have planned to visit my cousin for the spring break. We are hoping that Arav recovers well enough to make it for this trip.

2013-03-02T09:02:00.002+05:30

Arav: Amma I want to become a scientist when I grow up!
Amma: Wow! That's great..
Arav (looking at amma suspiciously): What have you become?
He then rephrased his question thinking I didn't understand
" what did you want to be when you were a kid?

Blogging via Nexus

2013-03-02T08:56:00.000+05:30

Wow finally I can blog through my nexus. I don't have to trudge my laptop along anymore. The nexus feels really compact and is my companion for most of the day.

Bug

2013-03-02T08:53:00.000+05:30

Arav has caught a bacterial infection and it is really taking a toll on him. After two days of Tylenol and ibuprofen, he is now on antibiotics. He has never been so sick any time..worries me. I am hoping that it gets better over the weekend and he is up and about being his active self again.

2012-10-31T06:56:00.000+05:30

So Sandy came along yesterday and she was not very pleasant. We were quite worried that the power would go out so we stocked up for about two weeks...yeah we panicked!

Arav's school declared a holiday. The skies were gray and gloomy. But tomorrow we are back to business. Looking forward to the weekend already.

Weekend of play at the Strong Play Museum.

2012-10-28T00:48:00.001+05:30

We went to The Strong Play Museum at Rochester for the first time. It is a huge place and can keep you and your kids busy for more than a day. Arav took the whole day to check out the place and we still have more to see..

We would definitely go back to The Strong to have fun, play and keep Arav busy.

Halloween Parade

2012-10-27T05:19:00.001+05:30

Today was the Halloween parade at school. Arav was walking sniffing a lot because he had a cold and he almost looked uncomfortable.The moment he saw us his frown turned into a wide smile and he kept waving out to us! He wore his favorite Batman costume without the mask, as it was not allowed in school..security issues. It was a nice day and the parade went on well.

At 6

2012-10-27T05:17:00.001+05:30

Mom: Arav clean up your room..
Arav: OK I will..but I am leaving a little mess at the end so you will have work when I'm in school.

Question 1: Hey mom..how come the grass is green? Where did it get the colour from?
Question 2: (gesturing outside the car's window)..When did this all begin? Who was there in the beginning?

The questions are normally asked when we travel, it's almost like once he gets into the car he turns on the think tank and also becomes very philosophical..for e.g. " This world is so beautiful" or he would break into a "It's a beautiful day " song..will get the complete lyrics soon!

It's nice to hear him ask these questions and have a meaningful talk with him..but sometimes the questions never end and when I need that break..fm music comes to the rescue!

2012-10-27T05:10:00.001+05:30

He wrote his first letter to a girl .." Dear M , I love you..play with me during recess"!! We made him change the love word to like :) Don't want him growing too fast..

2012-10-20T06:38:00.001+05:30

Today was my first day of volunteering at the school. It was a relief to get out of the house and not watch Grey's anatomy. Arav was super excited and he was so shy and happy at the same time. He makes the cutest expressions when he goes through those emotions. After I finished he hugged me goodbye and let me go without crying which he used to do in Patasala after observation.

Then when he came home today..he had forgotten his jacket, not written much and had only drawings in his writing papers.

2012-10-20T06:29:00.001+05:30

Arav is in first grade now! He was struggling to write in the beginning but now he is so much better in writing his wonderful stories. The first story he wrote was about going to his friends birthday party. It took 3 pages! I am so proud.

2012-03-16T07:12:00.000+05:30

Five is a transitional age for all children. Arav became a person with a whole load of new questions..some skeptical. He has become this logical person who cannot take bull shit from anyone..but this magical transition unfortunately just whizzed by me and i failed to record it in here..:(..but right now here at webster, NY..there is hope for revival of some serious writing just so boredom never beckons.

2011-08-15T06:02:00.000+05:30

Happy Independence Day!

2011-08-05T08:51:00.002+05:30

Happy Birthday Arav!

2011-08-05T03:23:00.000+05:30

So we had a rollicking time in Arav's 5th birthday party. I did not have the time to write down about it so..what we did was we had the tattoo people who drew beautiful tattoos on the childrens' hands and the balloon people who carved out the balloons in various shapes. There were totally some 15 children who were invited and I ended up entertaining 20 of them instead! That is always expected to happen when you live in a 200 apartment complex :)

We organized a small game for the children. It was passing the parcel which was fun until it was time for them to open the parcel and then all hell broke loose. But we managed that chaos as well!

When it was time for cake cutting, we organized for a small table and so we ended up being swarmed by the children. The cake cutting photos did not come out well because there was no way to take any snaps with children hovering over the cake and the birthday boy.

This was the first birthday with the apartment kids and we loved it ! It was also the first ever time that my boy took his tattoo seriously. Yeah he did want a skull tattoo and all that but on the brighter side he finally ended up with the spidey tattoo.

The children ate the cake, had the mini pizza and many of them did not want the ice cream. After politely asking for the return gifts, and getting them, they left immediately.

2011-08-04T23:14:00.000+05:30

Birthday Plan Day 2:

Day 2 has almost become the D- Day. Had to re-work on the timing of the party since most of the kids go for singing classes. Finalised on the tatoo woman, balloon man etc.Invitations sent and confirmed. Arav is soo excited this time..he understands it is an event!

2011-08-02T12:19:00.000+05:30

Birthday Pre-plan Day 1 :

Ok...we just ordered the Batman cake, the mini pizzas and two fanta bottles for the party from Cake Waves in Saligrammam. Arav has okayed the party to be held at home so we just take him to hansel and gretel for a play day instead.

Very excited myself, looking out for more options like tattoo, balloon makers who would come cheap!

Planning to shop for his clothes today, somewhere near by like pantaloons, great buys and all that...

2011-08-02T12:14:00.001+05:30

Food for Thought:

A few days back a a resident's car hit a four year old child who was on his bicycle inside my apartment complex. He was dragged on the driveway, for a few meters, by the car with his bicycle handle firmly stuck in the front right side of the vehicle. If not for a very alert aunty (she was resting after a walk) who jumped on the car , the car would not have stopped and things could have become worse.The child escaped but with injuries on his stomach and elbow.

He was stuck right under the driver's nose and the driver of the vehicle claims he did not see the cycle or the child or even heard the sound of metal clashing. Gross mistake on the part of the driver who knows that he needs to keep his eyes on the road ahead all times..all times especially once inside the flats. My compound is always teeming with children in the evenings and it's when you need to be extra alert when you get in with your car.

It's very home hitting for me for two main reason..I have a four year old son and I drive in and out all the time. There are times when some child would dart right out of the blue in front of the car and at that time if I was driving with my head turned backwards, that's a horror situation waiting to happen!

2011-07-26T23:14:00.000+05:30

Karate:

Started off early this month. I discovered a karate class two minutes away from home.

Since Arav is a very physical child and practices random karate at home I thought why not give it a try.

It started really well with Arav running into the class with full josh..for like two classes, and then he just did not want to do it. He would hide, get angry and sad all at the same time. So every tuesday and thursday I tell him bravery stories and courageous acts of people I know not of just to keep him interested.

Sometimes when I peep in to class, he is staring at the the fish tank. I think I'll give it another month, cannot get worse can it??

2011-07-26T23:05:00.000+05:30

Lessons from School:

Arav comes home with plenty of number sheets. Haven't been able to file all of them.

And then one day just after i picked him up from school. He got in the car and said, "Ma, now i can read words you know". He placed his little index finger on the ON letters written on the light and read.."aww (O), nnn (N)..ON" and then "aww, fff..off"