Christmas singing

We had our annual Christmas program in IIT today in which campus kids perform songs and dances taught to them by some very talented parents. Kabir was a (somewhat distracted) shepherd in the nativity scene and was part of the kids singing group. Anurag too was part of the kids group but decided that he didn't want to be on stage.

Some videos:
Nativity scene
Kids group
and more

Action song

Kabir with his classmates singing "Bachche man ke sachche" for their inter-house action song competition. Video taken during their class rehearsal.

A toothy grin

A super-excited kabu after losing his first milk-tooth. The tooth came off  this morning while he was brushing his teeth. He already has a replacement which appeared a few weeks ago behind the milk-tooth. Kabu thinks he now has the required proof for being a big kid.

Pampu and Papi

It is hard to believe that Pampu and Papi have so far never found a mention on this mommy-blog even though they are such an integral part of our family. But its never too late and so here is a long overdue post about them. Pampu and Papi are two special people who have lived with us for well over a year now. But what makes it hard to introduce them is that they have a bit of identity crisis. Some times they are Anurag's closest friends and some times they make him very angry. Often they pretend to be Anurag's children and lately they have even become his students. Regardless, they are the naughtiest kids who live in our house and always the ones to be blamed for any mischief caused - a broken lamp, objects thrown down our window, crayon marks on the wall, useful stuff thrown in the dustbin etc. Meet Pampu and Papi - Anurag's beautiful "imaginary" friends. 

If you talk to Anurag, he can tell you stories after stories of Pampu and Papi. Like how they are bad boys because they don't drink milk and then cry when they have to go to school. They haven't learn their alphabets and numbers yet and so Anu has to teach it to them. Sometimes they are difficult and ask Anu not to go to bed at bedtime or naptime and play with them instead. They are always creating mischief even though Anu asks them not to do it (like breaking the lamp, throwing objects down the balcony etc...). Sometimes they make Anu their mama and he has to take care of them, drop them to school, feed them, read them stories and even scold them when they are naughty.They always travel with us wherever we go. If you ever want to know where they are and what they are upto at any instant, all you need to do is ask Anu and he gives a detailed response.

Most recently a third child called "Lapan" has joined the team. He is a new entrant to the family so we are yet to discover him fully. But I am sure that he/she (we aren't sure of the gender yet) will make our lives even more interesting.

Misc update

November is usually a crazy month around here with Diwali, school vacation, children's day and so on. This month it got a little crazier with me going down with dengue fever. I've recovered now though still not back to usual energy levels. Fortunately, dadisa was around until last week so the kids had a great vacation nevertheless.

Some highlights from this (long) weekend alone were:

- Children's day event in Anurag's school on Friday (magic show, juggler etc and special appearances by Chhota Bheem and Doraemon)

- Kabir's fancy dress in school on Saturday. He won the second prize for being an astronaut!

- Amu's birthday party and a half-day outing to Tushita chachi's home after Kabir's school on Saturday

- Ramayana play for kids @ Canvas laugh factory this Sunday with nana-nani and many other friends. The boys are quite dharmik to begin with and so the play was a hit with them. Kabir's favourite character was Hanuman and Anurag's favourite were Sita and Surpanakha.

In other news, Kabir had been spending time with Saurabh in reviewing the World chess championship games. But now with Vishy being 2 games down, the excitement for the game as subsided and noone in the house wants to look at the news, let alone going through the games.

Diwali was low-key with me in the hospital (the doctor allowed me to go home by noon on Diwali when I requested "to atleast let me spend diwali at home") :-)  So there are no Diwali pictures this year.

School restarted a few days after Diwali for Kabir and this week for Anu. Kabu has been getting into some trouble at school for not doing his class-work and creating mischief in class. His defense was that he doesn't feel like writing. Math is the only subject that he seems to like and that's because it doesn't involve writing long sentences. We lectured him on the merits of hardwork (surprising how it felt like I was repeating the words I'd heard from my parents a million times while growing up) and have started paying a little more attention to what he brings back from school (fortunately no homework yet). Hopefully this is just a phase and will pass soon.

Kabir the astronaut

Kabir decided to be an astronaut for his school's fancy dress competition on Children's day.
 

Here is a (poor quality) video of Kabu saying his lines during the program. His class teacher Mrs. Veena Sharma is standing next to him. 

 

Little trouble-maker

Anurag looks a little troubled sitting in a coffee shop

On a separate note:
Overheard Anurag saying to Kashvi recently: Come sit in my dumper (truck), I'll take you for a ride.
:)

Misc Langkawi pics

Piano recital

Kabir has completed close to one year at Furtardo's and last weekend was his first piano recital. He played Yankee Doodle, Sing tu yoo and Jingle bells.

Swimming

Here's a video showing what the kids did 80% of their awake time in Langkawi (except, of course, Kabu mostly only goofed off in the pool but switched to serious swimming as soon as he found me with a camera)

Biking to school

Kabu's school is a little over 1km from our house. Normally Saurabh or I drop him to school. Today Kabu rode his bicycle to school for the first time (I accompanied him on my own). Hopefully, soon enough we'll all be confident enough to have him commute to and back from school himself.

Langkawi

Just back from a week long vacation to the island of Langkawi, Malaysia. Saurabh had to attend a conference there so we decided to join him and make it a family vacation. The highlights were the great many hours spent in the hotel swimming pool and the beach and outings such as the cable car ride over the thick rainforest, a visit to the underwater world and the boat ride through the mangrove forest with stops at a bat cave (with countless bats sleeping in it) and a fish feeding farm.

The boys have got to an age where it has certainly got much easier to travel though I still tend to stress about their food/mealtimes (mainly for Anurag since he doesn't like to experiment too much).

On a side note: thanks to all the time spent in the pool, Kabir picked up a new stroke (back stroke) and Anurag became comfortable swimming with a float on (he would refuse to let go of me before!).

Pics to come in the next few weeks.

playing games

Kabir likes to show off the new games he learns from his friends in school

Sunday morning goodness

Independence day 2013

Like the past 2 years, we went to the IITB Independence Day celebration at the main building this morning. After flag hoisting, when everyone sang the National Anthem, Anurag was surprised that everyone knew the "song from his school". 

Kabir wanted to know more about the relevance of Independence Day and I tried to give him a 101 on the freedom struggle. It made him somewhat upset and he had so many more questions that I think I need to find him a good book on this subject.

On a side note, we have been biking a lot on campus and it was all the more fun today with the tricolour in front of the bicycles.

and more puzzles...

 Independence day morning was spent working on all the puzzles that they own (after the early morning flag hoisting ceremony)

Puzzle mania or vehicle mania?

Anu has been bitten by the puzzle bug. There's no stopping him now!

Calvin on parenting

I wonder about this often as a parent.

None, unfortunately. In fact, it most likely is!

When dads "lean in"

Do you see anything wrong in this picture? Look carefully!

If something looks strange with Kabir's shirt, that's because he is wearing it INSIDE OUT!! For the entire day at school, he was wearing his shirt this way. Guess who got him ready for school this morning?! I suppose this is what happens when half-asleep parents have to get their kids ready for school at 6:45am.

(btw, to give some credit, you've got to appreciate the effort that must go into buttoning up a shirt thats inside out :-))

Kabir's school project

Kabir's school project ("A house") that we built this weekend (I can't believe he's already getting projects in the first standard!)

Srinagar

The last three days of our vacation were in Srinagar where we stayed on a houseboat. We found Dal lake to be beautiful (and clean) contrary to what we had expected. The visit to the Moghul gardens and the Shikara ride were great hits with the boys and very relaxing for all of us. We also climbed up to the Shankaracharya temple which offered beautiful views of the city (cameras were not allowed here). 

The only thing to complain about was the poor quality and availability of food on the houseboat. On our last day in the city both boys had an upset stomach and when it was time to leave, we felt ready to come back home.

Sunset on Dal lake

Chashmeshahi Bag

Nishat Bag (we spent quite a few hours here - had a little picnic, played in the garden and enjoyed the fountains)

Hazratbal dargah

carpet weaving

The leisurely Shikara ride on the Dal 

Saying goodbye to our houseboat