Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Storytime - Guest post for Divya

Books make a big part of both my boys' life and its surprising that they have never found a mention on this blog before. Inspired by Divya's wonderful blog, I had been considering writing a post about the most loved books in our house but never got around to doing it. So recently, when Divya invited me to write one such post to celebrate the blog's one year anniversary, it was the perfect opportunity!

Although Divya's blog is titled one-story-a-day, in our house the theme is more like one story a week or even a month! In fact, there are some books that are such favourites that they are read over and over again for months.

Adventures of Curious George by H.A.Rey has got to be Kabir's most favourite series of books. Top 4 favourites in this series are: CG gets a medal, CG rides a bike, CG goes to the hospital and CG takes a job. These books are longer than the usual Curious George books and tell the tales of how George's curiosity always lands him into trouble and how he manages to get out of these situations.



Another book that has stood the test of time in our house is the British author Jill Murphy's 'Whatever Next!' This is a charming story about Baby Bear who wants to visit the moon. So he finds a space helmet (kitchen colander), space boots (rain boots) and a rocket (an empty carton) and takes off to the moon to have a picnic. The book leaves much to the reader's imagination and is a great read for children (like Kabir) who are obsessed with the moon. While on topic of the moon, another great book we like is Eric Carle's 'Papa, please get the moon for me'.

I should also mention some of Anurag's favourite books. He likes most picture books where he can point at things and say what they are (Richard Scarry books are great for this). But his most favourite one (which can be used to calm him down during the worst of outbursts) is "Bear on a Bike" written by Stella Blackstone and illustrated by Debbie Harter. This was one of the first children's book that we ever owned and was much loved by Kabir as a baby and now by Anurag. There's something so special about the rhyme and the illustration in this book that it tends to be an instant hit with kids between 1 to 3 yrs of age.

It was hard to pick only a few titles in this post out of all the well-loved books. So I will now try to post more regularly about the current favourite ones in our house. Thanks Divya, for this opportunity. I look forward to many many years of one-story-a-day!

Friday, December 23, 2011

The many faces of happiness

...in the last 1(ish) year

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Sports Day

Like most schools in Mumbai, Kabir's school had its sports day earlier this month after weeks of practice. Races included - forward running, backward running, hopping, animal walk, walking while balancing a block on the head and lemon&spoon race. Unfortunately, the races happened during regular school hours and parents were not invited. We were, however, invited for their prize distribution on a later date. And fortunately, there were prizes for all kids and not just the winners. Here is Kabir receiving his participation prize (a hockey stick and ball) with his dear class teacher Ms. Harshada on the left.


Sunday, December 18, 2011

Weekend away from kids

Last weekend was the first time ever that I left the kids behind to go away for a trip. It was made worse by the fact that Anurag was sick with cold and a fever when I left early Saturday morning. It was a 3 day work related trip where I got an opportunity to be part of a village micro planning exercise organised in a remote tribal village that has been partially displaced by the Dimbhe dam in the Bhimashankar Hills.





It was hard to be away knowing that Anurag wasn't well. There were no phones or cell phone connectivity where I was, so it wasn't possible to call (except getting some messages from home through people that arrived later). At the same time, the visit was an incredible experience for me, and the stay was most memorable. When I got home on Monday evening, I was greeted with lots of hugs and kisses from the boys, which soon turned into a fight for attention. Kabir had managed well in my absence but Anurag was not in a very good shape. I had to take him to the doctor the same evening, who thought that Anu was suffering from separation anxiety! In any case, he's got much better now. And in spite of all this, I am really glad that I went.

Water play

The boys enjoyed some water play with their friends a couple of weekends ago. Thanks to Seema aunty for her creative ideas - colouring the water with food dye, having the kids hunt for coins and finishing off with some foam bath. The popcorn and mini-pizzas afterwards made for a perfect ending!
(And how nice to be able to do this even in the month of December!)

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Xmas singing

This weekend turned out to be one packed with action, the highlight of which was the Xmas program at IIT Staff Club organized by some really talented women on campus. Kids had been practicing for this for a month. On Saturday, they presented the program at the Staff Club and today they made a trip to the local Asha chapter for yet another program. The main program included carol singing, dancing and skit by older kids and ofcourse meeting with Santa.

Kabir was dressed as an angel and was one of the younger kids in the group. His favourite songs were: I'm an angel, Go tell it on the mountain and King seekers travelling. After these first three songs in the sequence Kabir couldn't wait to be done. Soon after, he ditched his buddies and ran over into the audience section and sat next to me, which was all the more funny because his friends in the singing group started calling him back as he vigorously shook his head :)

The little angel




This next one wasn't supposed to be an action song, but I guess Kabu really wanted to express himself.


He was visibly bored by this song and can be seen signalling that he wants to come and sit in the audience


The nativity scene set to "Silent night"


And finally, some dancing and giggling with Santa!