And the stork revisits....P.S. Notice the blog name change

Time not just flies but zooms and vroooms past when you are a mommy of a newborn....Yes, 6 months already that I have got a double promotion...yes 2nd time mommy and loving it....

People say it’s really lucky to have been blessed with a daughter…Well, then God must really love me coz I won the lottery!

Brightening up our lives like a pretty rainbow, our 2^nd princess Arya arrived on a rainy January morning with a ‘ butter wouldn’t melt’ smile ….Yes, im not lying but this is her just 15 hours into this world, smiling away all our worries…

 

The happiest soul that day was actually the elder sister…She thinks that’s the best thing that happened to her really. She absolutely got smitten by her gorgeous little bundle…love at first sight!

She took the’ all grown up now’ role pretty seriously and has been a cool babysitter from Day Zero with Daddy back on his business trips on Day 10L (Anyone heard of Paternity Leave here?)“Adya get the wipes; Mamma watch baby, I need a wee; Adya rock your sister in the Moses Basket n she will stop wailing; Can you please read the text on my phone, I am feeding sissy”- My sweetheart did it all and didn’t moan even once…in fact she reached to pacify the baby before we picked up the baby monitor alerts downstairs…That’s what you call sister bonding , I guess….

Still remember the first day out for buggy ride with baby to pick up big Didi from school….she was ecstatic….

Adya even took baby for Show& Tell to her class…it was priceless to see her showing off her baby sissy to all her buddies!

As for Chini Chin Chin (That’s what we call her as soon as you tickle her chin- she smiles for England!); Although a complete clone of the elder one, you can clearly distinguish special characteristics so unique to her, a different persona altogether- this lil chipmunk already shows signs of ‘Whos the Boss’. 

 Generally, a very calm and composed lady, shes quite a no nonsense character when it comes to food and sleep routines….If she’s hungry and not attended to in few seconds, she lets the whole of Isleworth aware of the fact…poor neighbourhood aunty bears the brunt of midnight snack alert…

Quite a cheeky monkey already mastering motor skills by grabbing at my neck piece or Adya’s ponytails and her favourite is Daddy’s glasses…compared to my soft hearted elder peanut, this little one is proving all my ‘ Been there, done that formulas’ wrong….

Every kid is unique, same household, same gender,- doesn’t matter, still complete contrast…You thought it will be easier dealing with two girls, think again mommy….I can already foresee clashes of the style divas or which one gets more kissies on the daily count…then again, it may be a smooth sail…only time will tell…who cares…I am  loving it all over again!

However, key differences between now and 5 years earlier is that parenting is much simpler, easier and stress-free…errr…less stressful now I should say! There are so many tools, and technologies to keep it simple…

-          Amazon family membership upgrade is a must….nappies and wipes ….your lifelines are often half price to market rate and whats best is next day free delivery at your doorstep…no more last minute emergency dash to the 24 hour open local Asda!

-          There is now an App for almost every aspect of making a baby- right from tracking baby’s growth and development inside your tummy to birthing plan and right upto the first smiles, turns, teeth coming through and weaning plans!

-          Tommy Tippee and Fisher Price become your favourite brands over Burberry , Chanel and Gucci any day!

-          Electric breast pumps and Steam sterilisers are a blessing from God!

-          Baby monitors with camera feeds into your smartphones, where you can not only hear and see ur honeybun but also talk back to them or play her fav lullaby tune to soothe them without burning your dinner on the hob running to her rescue

-          A teething baby is no longer a monster with teething gels and granules and Sophie La Giraffe teether and Cheeky Chomper bibs that the baby can chew on all day and night…..

-          I particularly like muslin squares in bright colours and patterns that are a life saviour with multi purpose benefits right from mopping up milk spills to being a bib, sunshade, comforter, breastfeeding cover, peek a boo cloth and many more….

-          Clever buggies that can give Transformers – a run for their money, morphing into carseats, carry cots, strollers all with a press of a button here or moving a lever there..

-          Varied range of baby food- each one competing for Mum’s choice for healthy eating- each one boasting of newer tastes, textures for your child’s growing taste buds- Ella’s kitchen, Cow and Gate, Heinz, Annabel Karmel- (I thew away my blender the day I discovered these on the Boot’s aisle and each one is packed with the right doses of vitamins, minerals and Omega 3 and 6 supply for the clever tots!)

-          Milton dummy steriliser that attaches to your buggy n does the job in 5 minutes- for all those awkward moments when your lil one chucks it on the floor in the super market and cries at ear piercing decibels

-          Play gyms, rockers with vibrations, Bumbo seats- That’s entertainment and sleep making rolled into one stimulating those lil grey cells

-          Clever lil handy tools like roll up bibs to gather all crumbs,portable highchairs and spoons that screw into fruits pouches to avoid spillages are inventions on this millennium…

-          For mummies of pretty lil gals, you can now buy hair clips that actually slip into their hair like open scissors rather than traditional tic-tacs that may injure the soft skull…

-          Look out for half price seasonal sales on Jojo Maman Bebe and Mini Boden for your baby’s fashion haven with the latest style lines at affordable rates…

Well second time around it does get better honestly! You don’t run at the 1^st cry or whimper…you know they will be OK… You become an expert and PRO at dealing with nappy rash, fever, common colds and projectile throw ups J Also learn to recycle hand me downs in Blues- Never mind if she asks me 10 years down the line why shes a tomboy in all baby pics….

Bottom line…Bonding is happening and I am loving it! Love my 2 flowers, 2 trophies and 2 iris of my eyes to bits ….Proud to be your mommy my darlings!

Baby on Board!

Well, its Déjà vu! But, being honest to the core, 2nd time around seemed to be slightly less manic…of course taking into consideration, a lot many instances during the last 36 weeks, when I have actually forgotten that I am expecting, lost into auditing, or running from school pick up/drops, after school maths, drama and craft classes…..to add to the fun, hubby’s endless business trips and our darling pup Julius Caesar’s teething issues!

In a way, the chicken run actually got me the much advised exercise and prevented swollen feet and excess weight gain from useless calories unlike the first time around, where I just was like Cleopatra sitting with my feet up, waited around by several household help and a darn less stressful job to handle and no 5 year old screaming for attention! So, grazing on cereal bars and super foods such as sprouts, almonds and apricots and the occasional Mac D slipped in did the trick…well at least I think so…

The first thing that hit me was would I remember the lessons learnt? Would I make mistakes like first time around? But, one of my best buddies said something brutally honest, that just like you can never forget swimming or cycling in your life, baby making n baby keeping stays afresh in some remote cortex of your brain, waiting to be summoned again for your next number or grandkids :-)

Do I even need to mention, the level of thrill Adya is at currently at waiting for her partner in crime to arrive…She wants to share every toy, clothing, sweeties and what not… I mean, most of Isleworth learnt about my due date even before I could inform the grandparents back in India! I could sense the sheer joy and pride in her tone, as she told her best buddies at school… Found really good reading material by Usborne books to help siblings prep for the big day and set expectations right….

Highly recommended! The most amazing bit was the 4D scan where my lil girl suddenly grew up into a big sister ‘DIDI’ and squealed in joy to see her sibling on screen…Baby was covering the face with tiny fists…and Adya kept saying ‘Baby is playing hide and seek with me, Mommy’……and when baby clenched fists together as if praying, Adya said, ‘Look Daddy, What a good baby!’

They say that every pregnancy is different…I can second that totally… Unlike big sister who was Miss Laziness personified just occasional stretching only the final few weeks, this lil munchkin inside seems to be progeny of Energizer Battery material…hyperactive since the time I can recall really…which is getting quite tiresome now…as I have now become the size of a super beach whale or a mid sized dino and cant get any bigger to accommodate the acrobatics…Sweet toothed like Daddy for sure, coz as soon as the Belgian chocolate cheesecake enters the system, I can almost hear cheering and thumping!!

This pregnancy has been double the fun, as most of my mommy friends with kids in Adya’s age group became preggy at the same time! It was as if there was something in the waters of London….every time I spoke to a buddy, we had a secret to share…wait a minute …no more a secret coz we both knew what it could be! But that meant, we could freely bitch, moan and groan with the joys of carrying a pebble, till it matured to a melon, then a pumpkin and still growing!!! Loved the shopping sprees, mums days out, spa dates with my other preggy bumpers, reading the crappiest preggy magazines and even watching the annoying baby tv while on a never ending wait for Midwife appointments….

Special thanks to even the non preggy mums who have so kindly supported me during these stressful months: Whether, it was giving me a chance to catch up on meetings by having Adya over for play dates or helping me out with her never ending birthday party invites over weekends where I could steal forty winks; allowing Joy and me some quality baby mooning dates at the movies or early dining and with enormous number of baby items- bouncers, gyms, baby gros and the list goes on….

Attitude certainly makes a difference…I mean, pregnancy is no longer looked upon as a disease…people no longer treat you like a walking sick bag…I truly respect every client I worked with during this pregnancy, who ensured that I didn’t have to do anything strenuous for the bump yet ensured that project deadlines were met with…which actually made me more comfortable and made me perform better in my work… I am totally awed by what a tiny badge stating ‘Baby on Borad’ can do to a cramped Underground compartment….within fraction of a second of me boarding the train, people would give up their seat (Sorry ladies…but there are definitely some chivalrous men still alive travelling by London Tubes!) and smile with courtesy and some even friendly enough to ask about when the baby is due…

So as we approach the year end…baby seems to be teasing us whether 2013 or 2014 model will it be… we are set now… Antenatal and Breastfeeding Classes done…shopping for baby essentials ticked, the hospital bags are packed, Moses basket is set up, laundry done, house disinfected, car seat fitted….tick tock…still waiting… Halloween, Diwali, Xmas have all breezed past…Most of my buddies have popped already….last but not the least…waiting and waiting…hopefully this wait will be worth is as they saying goes…the proof is the pudding!

Separation Anxiety!

According to studies, this syndrome is supposed to affect babies between 9 and 20 months of age…but truly speaking, it has me under its wraps at a much higher degree than my brave lil tigress of 5 years…Be it dropping her off at Nursery when she was just a toddler or even till now where she proudly marches into her Year 1 classroom without looking back at me still standing there waving till the school bell rings and wiping my moist eyes thinking why do girls need to grow up so quickly….

At least at her Nursery I could ring at lunch hour to check on how my princess was doing, here we have no choice but to wait till I pick her from After Care to listen to the adventures of the day specifying every single detail from PE lessons to lunch menu and latest home corner gossips J which frankly I die to hear as it simply takes away all my day’s tiredness in a jiffy and better than even a hot cuppa tea!

So every year come September, I have to venture out into one of the coldest, wettest and remotest townships of North Yorkshire ( A pretty spa town for my customers based there!) for nearly a month for audits and it breaks my heart to kiss my sleeping angel goodbye in the wee hours of morning and setting sail for this horrendous exercise…

I mean I don’t know how people live out of their suitcases away from their family for days on end (Are you listening Daddy??) Just the thought of coming back to the lonely hotel corridors after a hard day at work is painstakingly depressing….

Honestly, I don’t know what I would have done without Facetime and Skype…Watching Daddy trying to tie ponytails is a scene not to be missed…Technology surely helps rescue working mums like myself to not miss out but surely it cannot take the place of actually smelling and touching your kid’s soft and supple skin against your cheeks…She is always excited to tell me all about the latest episodes of Sofia the First or what naughty Captain Hook has been upto…So even it means missing out those few minutes of tranquillity in a warm bath all by myself and my favourite novel, I rather spend it with Little Miss Chatterbox even if it’s a virtual meeting!

Latest addition to the varied vocabulary is the Symmetric patterns and 3D modelling happening at school along with Autobiographies being drafted….and of course the Mathematics Wizard says No Pressure Please while solving crucial addition and subtraction problems. Its hilarious to see how she bosses around the house pretending to be in charge when I am not around ever since I told her to look after the household! And the way she speaks just in my lingo while moaning about how cheeky our pet puppy has been lately or how Daddy forgot to take his Vitamins in the morning! Feels great to see my training hasn’t totally gone to waste…..

The best bit about going away is actually the reunion upon my arrival…The expression of her face is priceless as she spots me at the door and hugs me tightly while keeping one eye firmly on my baggage to check what goodies have returned back along with mommy which need to be almost instantaneously be devoured or taken upstairs to her bedroom to be introduced to the rest of the Barbie family members…

Now, 5^th Birthday is the Watermark that officially the kiddo is now mature enough to handle certain stuff my herself: Read Minimal Responsibility…but personally ensuring every bit of the party planning right from invites to colour of the décor and paper plate including her hot couture of Merida- Disney Brave Warrior Princess and matching wig was too much for me to handle…She definitely passes the litmus test of handling stress better than her mommy…

Especially coz just then mommy had multiple projects running simultaneously dotted strategically all across UK just before the D-Day and had to become a PhD in multitasking between shopping for return gift goodies and low sugar drinks for the party and ordering for the right cake and flexing my grey cells to prevent a customer from falling prey to credit card frauds and depending heavily on the London Underground to reach meetings on time shuffling between school friends mums invitation meets and project kick offs  

….but every single moment of staying away from my heartbeat was excruciating and I wanted to run home and tell her all what I have planned for her special moment but found her fast asleep already clutching on to Doc Mc Stuffins toy….I had no choice but to whisper into her ears while slowly creeping into bed with her and cuddle my Sleeping Beauty silently…

We took her to Disneyland Paris to celebrate this milestone where Mommy and Daddy had a blast equally if not more….watching the Disney Dream come alive in reality which we have only witnessed on television screens and picture story books was indeed priceless…The icing on the cake was the Lunch date with her favourite Princesses where she looked like she could definitely take over when she grew up- dressed in her Snow White attire watching herself in the mirror a hundred times checking every loose strand of hair before the final rendezvous….

And, with at least a zillion kids around I was constantly vigilant of where this 3 feet something beauty was disappearing every time I batted my eyelids…

For few seconds, I nearly collapsed when I couldn’t see her tiny figure next to me as she confidently marched over to waltz with the Disney clan especially her favourite Snow White and got mesmerised with Prince Eric and Princess Ariel and didn’t listen to me calling out her name….Ooof thankfully, the mini meltdown was soon rejuvenated with a sumptuous 3 course meal ending with Princess dessert!

Looking back at the year gone by I have come to realise that it is next to impossible to fully gauge the complexities of maternal instincts! I mean you cant live with or without your kid literally…sometimes when its get quite handful managing your work, home and children, all you want is to get away from it all and have a bit of peace and quiet all by yourself…Something I read on one of the mommy forums made me smirk so much that ‘Going to the super market all by yourself becomes a vacation once you are a mum or even enjoying 2 minutes in the toilet really!!!’

But here I am penning down my thoughts late tonite all alone in my hotel room, I can’t help miss our sweet lil daughter crazily and wonder how I will survive when she grows up and one day leaves our nest to fly away to greater horizons to achieve her dreams and destiny….Wonder if I will ever overcome the Umbilical Cord Syndrome till my last breath…

ROLE REVERSAL

Last weekend, Joy and I were going through some picture albums to replace old photos on the fridge magnets and we were in for a reality shock…..4 years already! Still can’t believe it was just that day when we saw her new born head full of hair and utterly annoyed expression at the cameras shuttering around….the expression still is somewhat around though accompanied by endless chatter and questions and cute lil gibberish terms….

My Adya has now undergone rapid metamorphosis into a ‘Grown Up’ overnight… that little bunny who was crawling under the tables sometime back has just ran her first obstacle race at her school sports day and done us proud by winning her first medal!

So, few weeks back when I underwent a double wisdom tooth extraction surgery and looked like I had swallowed a balloon…it was madam Adya soothing my aches, patting me to bed with endless kissies for my boo boos and keeping her promises to daddy of not troubling me while eating her dinner or getting ready for school!

This year seems to be marked as my health show down special; next came adulthood Chicken Pox with a vengeance $%@£&%!

 I wish my mom would have let me have a chat with my neighbour’s son in my childhood when he had them, so that I wouldn’t have to undergo this atrocious syndrome of erupting volcanoes all over me without any mercy…but one look at my darling daughter kissing my forehead stating: ‘Its OK Mommy…it will go away don’t worry….shhaat shhaat’ ….and that worked faster than any calamine lotion in the universe!

With her latest boy crop, she looks so much ‘Mini Me’- Flashback 25 years…  I mean she definitely has inherited some DNA molecules from my side…

She keeps tally of all her personal belongings and ensures bringing back every single misplaced hairclip or accessory that tend to disappear in her nursery… My weekend helper assists in all household chores in return of Hello Kitty ice lollies!

Loves her fashion and doesn’t like to repeat clothes before approx 45 days (Kindly supported by the Autumn/ Winter/ Fall collection: Courtesy Daddy’s China Return Wardrobe makeover J

Loves to paint/ sketch/draw on anything that appears to be remotely as a canvas awaiting her master strokes including my work papers… An art and craft pro in making, Madam Adya has tried her hand at everything right from the Olympic torch to Pottery delights of her hand made piggy bank and not to forget her slightly burnt but delicious cupcakes.

Home decoration traits are omnipresent Fairy stickers display in every nook and corner of house, even daddy’s laptop haven’t been spared. Last time I had to peel off Snow White from my Iphone to prevent the lady next to me on the Underground Train from smirking!

And of course the X Factor: Verbal Flood with no control barriers leading to awkward public dilemma situations of Mommy, how old are you? Or why has she got red hair like Ariel the mermaid princess?  She nearly had Joy fall off the couch that day when she said, ‘Oh my HUSBAND gave me that hairband’!!!

But all said and done, daddy’s genes are getting predominant too… Adya checks whats inside the sandwich before even having a tiny nibble and wouldn’t have bfast or lunch or dinner without some meat involvement in any format….and goes ‘Mmmmm mommy…that smells delicious whatya cooking for dinner’ as soon as she sets foot inside the house!

This year for my 30^th birthday, hubby planned a nice surprise at 12 o clock with chocolates and cake **blush blush** but I had to wait till she woke up and set up all candles before cutting it for me as per her strict instructions the day before…

Turning 4 is a big milestone…all birthday gifts have moved up a notch…no more teddy bears or crying dollies but Ben and Holly have captured the market space this year! This fever was widespread including duvet covers and invites and table covers and napkins and of course the two tier birthday cake (Amazon Zindabad!)

 Adya ensured ticking off and approving every item on my list while planning her bday bash in our garden. Who said summersaults of 25 children in the bouncy castle as well as handling guest appearances by Minnie Mouse was easy!

She’s shooting up faster than the pine tree in our garden and mummy needs to go shopping for new trousers and shoes every fortnight … not that I am complaining ;-) as it gives me a chance of Retail Therapy and Adya enjoys accompanying me to this sprees quite often. I had her height marked on her bedroom wall - date and time stamped for her to see how little she used to be when she grows up…which is fast approaching!

This cheeky monkey now has little girls looking upto her as their IDOL who want to be just like her and caused many a little girl’s parents delight who have finally started sleeping in their own bedrooms like Adya!

But, shes still such a baby and falls asleep with a few pats and a really long story…and you have one look at her ‘ I AM RECHARGING: DO NOT DISTURB’ mode and you wanna gobble up those cheeks!

Vacations with mamma are now a delight! Since mom and dad now plan their break only in destinations with at least 3 or more attractions for kids within 1 mile….so be it Lake District or Blackpool Beach, we seem to enjoy Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit and Pleasure Beach children’s rides much more than scenic beauty or fish and chips!

We are honestly living our childhood once more with Adya and every parent of a toddler would vouch for this feeling as the most rewarding part putting aside all the rest of the mania and mayhem involved…

She is conducting constant good girls vs bad boy contests in her mind….barring few handful privileged gentlemen who are in her good books such as Akash, Vinay and off course Diego- Dora’s cousin brother! Her rapid growth spurts are also marked with adorable acts such as being smitten by Bollywood dancing and aping all advertisements on Nickelodeon…

 Adya has mastered almost all the words that Dora teaches in Spanish and very comfortably declared at school that we speak Spanish at home and her Daddy is a Subject Matter Expert which caused her class teacher to greet Joy with a HOLA AMIGO every morning and him rushing out of the classroom with a red face and hiccups!

Her latest fetish is exploring all possible apps on the iPhone including unlocking the code in a jiffy, texting her daddy every 3 minutes, downloading and playing games and clicking her zillionth snap reversing the camera towards herself!

She is currently enacting the Big sister and lil bro role play in repeat shuffle mode… asking Mommy when would you have a baby in your tummy and Don’t worry, I will look after it and take baby to Giggles with me…

Which is really a worrisome thought with project audit report deadlines and the schedule of exhibitions dotted across the globe  for Adya’s mommy and daddy…given the fact that God  listens to lil children’s innocent prayers! But, honestly, I think it might be a business development ploy by the nursery…

But, two weeks back when Adya walked into her Big school in her new smart uniform, smoking up the competition, looking lusciously adorable and stating ‘Go home now…Don’t worry…Im a BIG girl now’.… Joy and I looked into each other’s eyes realised time is just zooming past….that little pink bundle now rules over our hearts and lives and the roles are truly reversed with a couple of lessons learnt by us from her instead of the other way around!

Welcome to Toddlerdom!

Mother’s Day has just gone by and as I look around our home I can see displays of my little crawling and gurgling baby brat maturing into a creative and very very talkative toddler…this year I was spoilt rotten with breakfast in bed and lots of goodies handcrafted by Adya including a photoframe with made out of pasta shells and tie and dye patterns (revealing my inner secrets of bribery) – ‘I like mummy coz she buys me icecream!’

No cooking for the day, endless chitchats with my daughter about what all her other friends made for their mums and wrapping up with an accupressure mat to deal with my aching back…I am one lucky mum!

Last few months have been quite hectic work for me ( which explains the delayed blog posting) and so I decided to take a mini break for some ME time finally….so whilst I am really enjoying Il bel far niente: The beauty of doing nothing – and the pleasures of crawling back inside the duvet at odd hours of the day, starting and finishing a novel on the same day, some sketches here and there and gardening till I drop dead; I have also tried to observe and note down the rapid growth spurts I am witnessing in my lil lady which may disappear faster than I can blink my eyes…

Adya now demonstrates a technicolour imagination; tell tales are a daily affair- ‘Mummy, today the dinosaur nearly swallowed me after school but my best buddy saved me; Oh Daddy, there is a crocodile under my bed- can I sleep in yours tonite?’ And off course informing all her Nursery carers that Mummy has a baby in her tummy leading to the embarrassment of hiding the fact that its actually just excess weight and love handles!

Now would you believe that this under 4 is already asking if she can have a sleepover this weekend with her friends?? She does give her Daddy mini heart attacks when her sentences end with ‘That’s Wicked!’ and ‘I reckon’ and ‘Don’t disturb me now, I am busy thinking’ or ‘Excuse me pls, Stop taking my video’ or ‘ I need space, don’t squash me’...

Her vocabulary is definitely getting colourful but its amazing to watch how refine their skills can get at such a tender age already….Its so funny to watch how they are all victims of Mass Wee- Wee Syndrome- if one kids wants to go, its ‘Follow the Leader’ time, the same applies to food habits- the way they will chomp on a new recipe or drink up a new flavoured juice drink at a friends place and say ‘Yuck’ when you buy the same thing at the supermarket the very next day! It is fantastic to observe the stark contrast in your toddler’s behavior- one day she is ‘Spiderwoman’ daredevil enough to hold a Tarantula Spider in her bare hands on a Tropical Zoo Visit and next day she screams her lungs out when someone uses the electric hand dryer in the ladies washroom! Toddlers and rainbows- now we see it and the next moment it’s gone!

She has inherited 95% of my non stop chatter chromosomes- with questions popping out like rapid fire round of a quiz contest- ‘Mommy, who’s that on the phone? Is it a girl or a boy? Does she like pink like me? Aaw my goodness me- does her mommy tell her off? …Ooof, I think I need a Cuppa Tea…Daddy, that’s not the way to say it! These are boots not shoes, silly! Arrrr I am a Pirate, me Hearty’…

It hurts her little toddler ego already if we tell her, ‘Mamma when you were little, you said ‘Gascalator’ instead of escalator or ‘Hutabu’ instead of Mr. Tumble’ and she promptly states ‘It’s not funny’!

And God save you if you say ‘I don’t know Adya’ and she will pester you ‘Please can you know, plsssssssss’!

Adya has already mastered the art of using our laptop like a champ and practices motor skill exercises by attaining high scores every weekend on http://www.educationcity.com/ and www.gruffalo.com.

This budding science fan knows that Japanese girls wear Kimono, Chinese eat with chopsticks and can point out all the continents in the world map including the fact that she lives in London upon river Thames which is in England and Granny lives in India – all thanks to endless sessions with Daddy with the World Mini Atlas Book in the car back seat waiting for school gates to open or World Map from the book fair put up on her bedroom wall!

She enjoys her visits to the local library post swimming lessons every Saturday and can give you a mini lecture on how to issue your book by beeping the code under the scanner!

She can now solve 64 piece puzzles in a jiffy and knows her numbers till 30 (Well, she calls it twenty ten LOL!) She is almost there in her left handed operation in mastering to hold the pen to trace alphabets and enjoys colouring Disney Princess characters. Yes, she has finally promoted from Peppa Pig to Ben and Holly and Minnie Mouse and other cartoon characters- However, when its SOS time, the pig still rules the ring!

My little bunny has also done very well at her school this term- I just attended my first Parents Meeting and returned home with a puffed up chest filled with immense pride after witnessing how Adya has evolved with other children in class participating in all activities both study and play…Parents have to leave a message for the child to say how much they appreciate their efforts which I think is fantastic for a toddler’s morale boost. The best bit was watching her photos around the classroom dressed up as Red Riding Hood as her favourite book character for World Book Day!

My lil cupcake is one style diva- I just love the way she walks around with her hands tucked into her pockets with attitude, showing off her pink sunglasses the moment it’s a bit warm, her confidence at her first Dentist trip to check and count her 20 teeth, the way she checks the time every ten minutes in her Peppa wristwatch which was a gift from Santa this year,  the way she combs her hair with her Hello Kitty hairbrush after a salon haircut with instructions to keep it smart and neat and looking into her mirror the way she goes ‘I am so pretty and intelligent Daddy’ and we all know by now how Daddy melts into pudding with these words and actions….

Now, after reading my Blog many would think I am one of the SMOGs- Smug Mothers Of Girls which is the tongue- in- cheek nickname for mums who think that girls rock and gone are the days of desperation of having a boy child (Ooops sorry mommies of big boys)…but I am super confident that 90% of my classmates and colleagues and best buddies who have lil girls would give me a high five to agree that having a girl is the best gift on earth! I am a proud mommy of my awesomest daughter and totally love showing her off as my prize trophy and boy am I glad that Adya’s mine!