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Yesterday

I was pushed to the limit.. I woke up and thought of cleaning since kids were asleep so I mop the floor without even going to bathroom first (saving time;-). Kids were awake by the time I was almost done and we did all the morning stuff, diaper change, taking A to bathroom, brush their teeth, give them milk, cut apple for them & went to bathroom. By the time they were eating I vacuumed, then made tea for myself. I hardly had 2 sips and had to change gudiya’s poppy diaper.

While coming back in the living room I thought of getting cashews for them. I was in the kitchen for hardly a minute and both of them started doing masti.. In less than 30 second of my attempt to get cashews, talking (yelling) at them for not hurting each other I heard them fighting for the same ball then they ran to the kitchen & I think A pushed her and gudiya fell in the bathroom. So washer her hands & feet and send her in the living room. Washed my hands, went in the living room & saw A trying to pick gudiya up and before I could say stop, they fell.. I screamed “head head” thinking she will bump her head on the floor. But somehow A kept holding her & thank God she didn’t bump her head..

Again they came running to me, I almost sat down on sofa when gudiya hit the cashew bowl & everything was on the rug, which I just vacuumed.. Cleaned that again and gave them few cashew.. Then I put a song dvd and reheated my tea again.. I just had 1 sip and saw A holding Gudiya’s hand & dancing.. Circling & jumping very fast.. Told them to stop for 10 minutes & sit somewhere (wanted to drink my tea;-).. He held her hand and was going to sit on sofa but he went too fast and dragged her.. She fell near the table & hurt her leg/knee hitting on the bottom of the table. Then I lost it.. I spanked A cuz we have told him so many times not to hold her hand & try to run, rubbed gudiya’s leg & check for any swelling, yelled, yelled and yelled.

Now Gudiya was crying cuz she was hurt, A was crying because I spanked him for hurting her (this was the 3rd time since morning that he hurt her when I was telling him to leave her alone) & then I cried (yes, I did.. remember I am a mom;-) because I can’t see them getting hurt and it makes me feel so bad. Now I had even lost my voice, well almost (because of all the talking & yelling).. It was 11:30 and A goes to school around 12:15.. So I called hubby & told him to take A out. He said where? Well anywhere for 15 minutes.. I figured I will get him ready in 10 minutes & hubby can take care of him for 10-15 minutes & it will be time for his 2 hr. school. Right after calling him everything cooled down.. Both kids were sitting with me.. It was peace for few seconds and I told A to sit on a chair & gudiya to sit on other. Then called hubby again & told him not to come since it was ok now (beside my throat & headache).

Fed them more and got A ready for school. Once he was gone, gave gudiya milk, put on dvd for her and finally had my tea & ate some food. I was feeling so guilty for yelling & spanking A but what he did was not good.. Hurting someone, even after warning, is not acceptable..

Tried to make gudiya sleep but she wanted to pull my hair, one by one.. Every time I said ouch, she giggled so I let her to be cruel to me.. Tried so hard to rest for ½ hr. but she was in giggle mode.. Then I stood near the window & waited for A. I forgot that I had set my clock 15 minutes ahead (I was soooo tired to even think) so I was there for ½ an hr. waiting. Then called hubby & he said he is coming in 10 minutes cuz that friend of mine needed lift.. In the meantime I set the trimmer to cut A’s hair.. As soon as he came back, I kissed him a lot, gave him hair cut, shower, milk & everybody went to sleep around 4:30.. hey, we were tired:-)

Everything was fine.. Hubby came home & I asked him to make tea for me as A was sleeping on me & I told him to feed the kids dinner & milk and I wanted to read a book or do something.. In those 3-4 hrs. I changed gudiya’s diaper, ate food while hubby fed them and surf the net for some information (beside spending an hr. looking for a nursing home near his parents place, to hire a nurse for his father).. Then when I went to the bedroom, he said, “I wasted 3 days and you couldn’t even think that I need to get things done”. He was referring to Friday evening & Saturday out with family and Sunday it took him all day to fix the downstairs (rented not for my use so its not considered my work) sink as it was giving problem and it was messy once he tried to fix.. He did it but it took longer than he thought.. Actually weekend suppose to be ours (mine) and I could plan whatever, then he said he had more things to do so I told him that he can have the Sunday and then I realize that if we go out on Saturday I don’t have time to clean or do any housework.. So we started going out Friday evening (family time) so that I can have the Saturday when I can do stuff or have some alone time and he could take care of the kids but now even that was bothering him..

I was furious, back to crying.. He said he didn’t mean that way but is there any other way to interpret? And in the evening he said he wanted to go to India to see his father (he is sick).. so he could take 3-4 weeks to see his family but spending time with us is a waste.. He had 4 day seminar for the long weekend and he attended that and that wasn’t waste of time either especially u r that busy.. So I was very very very angry.. I just don’t know how some guys are so emotionless & if they have few emotions they save it for their “family”(parents). You ask his parents, if they want money or see their son they will say money and you have emotions for them not us..

Anyways, after he said that, he spent more than 1 hr. to eat dinner & then called India.. Now if you have that much work to do, you should eat quickly & do ur work instead of spending hr. watching tv and eating slowly.. Worst part is that he say things and the next second he is all back to normal like nothing happened.. He is a great guy but sometimes the things he say and does hurt so much.. Im sure he don’t think of them afterwards & think everything is fine but I feel so hurt & emotional..

And I am feeling all right today:-)

My Sleeping Beauty

I spent 2 hr. trying to make her sleep before A gets home but she was in playing mode :-) Finally gave up, put a DVD for her and went to give shower to A. I came back after 5 minutes to check and saw :-)

Sanitizing

Sometimes I wonder if motherhood make some of us a bit crazy;-) I am not talking about restless days and sleepless night. Im talking about being overprotective & paranoid about kids related things. Sometimes my hubby thinks I am a bit too much but other times he will say, yes you are right, for the same thing;-)

For example, when we started going out with A, I didn’t want to put him in the shopping cart. It wasn’t that I was making him sit in the cart but I was only putting his car seat in the shopping cart, still we used to go through all the trouble to take out the stroller even if I was going for few minutes. When he grew old for the stroller and I had no choice but to make him sit or stand in the cart. There are shopping cart covers available but in my mind it’s the same thing because you put the cover on cart, which in a way is covering germs with cover but what happen next… You fold the same cover & use it the next time.. Now don’t you think you are taking few germs with you? Unless you wash the cover before use it again you might not waste $25 on that… So with these thought in mind I didn’t buy one. I started using baby wipes to wipe the handle of the cart & cart seat but now I can’t wipe the whole damn cart.. I see people putting their pets, sometimes old people putting their walking sticks there, which they take it in the bathroom & everywhere and I can’t tell how many times I have seen kids with runny nose, open laces sitting in the cart with those nasty, dirty shoes, where I make my kids sit. I know its part of life and you might call me crazy but I still want to avoid these things as much as possible.

Thinking of these things, most of the times hubby is assigned to do the shopping :-) Its not much anyway since we get cold cuts, 1-2 meat of hubby’s choice, salad & few other regular things And hubby can get whatever he likes and it is easier for me cuz I know Im making what hubby like since he bought it ;-)

We have different outside & indoor cloths. Even when we come home at 12 at night, we all take shower (we go out once a week;-). In India your stuff is exposed to sunlight but here it is not possible unless you drag things out & put it in ur backyard but its not practical.

We have separate shoes for kitchen, bath & outside. No shoes allowed in any other room.

I carry a pack of wipe with me everywhere. A pack is in the car, one near the front door & one near the back door. (After you put shoes, wipe ur hands:-)
Still before we go to sleep we wash our feet again because kids like to jump on pillows:-)

My house look like a tornado hit these days. No matter how hard I try, its always messy so now I gave up & enjoy the mess. When I come to cleaning I used to be like Monica in “Friends” but now Im a different person, vvveeerrryyy different person:-) My house might be messy but its ok for my kids.

We socialized a lot before kids but not anymore. Last time we had guest over, the guy was an attorney. Everything was fine until husband wife started talking about cleaning a room in their house
“Honey, I started cleaning the living room”
“I saw it, It was a little clean, you are doing great”

then she told me how she hates to cook & clean and things are everywhere in the room, sometimes her hubby does the cleaning when her MIL comes to visit & cook, her hubby cooks most of the time.. Then she continued telling me that her mother was doing some puja and she asked her mother if she needs help and you know what her mother said “No help from you will be the best help :-O”.. And I start to feel dizzy. Her kids are 9 & 6 (I think), they went in the play yard (I had put 2 blankets and a sheet & gates around it for) and played with every baby toy. I had to clean at 2 in the morning after they left & forget about washing blankets & sanitizing the toys. That was end of our social life and I don’t regret it.

Now every time A comes home from his 2 hr. school, he takes shower. The girl I mentioned in other post, she is 4 and already has vaginal infection. Im not saying its because of school but what if. They have 1 toilet for everyone there. So Im doing whatever I can to avoid things and I don’t care if their system develop immune to these germs or not Im gonna keep them away from bad germs.

Last September we went to “Chuckee Cheese” and as soon as A came out of there he coughed and after that everybody was sick till mid of dec. That’s the reason we go to another Chuckee Cheese, an hr. away from our place just because It is clean. And that’s why we have certain play areas we take kids to and certain food places we like to go.

This post was inspired by my last trip to Kmart, where they had put a box of wipes to sanitize the carts:-) and take a look at this article

http://www.komotv.com/news/5819736.html

Lines

…Which made my life a bit easier

Your belly is very hungry and asking for food.

Now you ate food, your belly is very happy.

I think food didn’t reach to your toes and now they will be very hungry & eat ur nails (mean, I don’t think so, cuz this makes him eat few more bites;-)

I can see germs in between your teeth, let brush & say bye bye to them (Even Gudiya wants to brush every morning;-)

You have 2 choices, eat your food or I have to call the doctor & she will put food in a shot & do “tuchi tuchi.

Eat your food if you want to get big & strong otherwise Gudiya will finish it & get bigger than you. (a healthy threat;-)

Say bye bye to ____ , bye bye to___ (any time we want to leave from a store or park or anywhere (thanks Aps:-))

Remember Jai-Jai & Santa are watching you so try to be a good boy;-)

Lines from his mouth

After burp- Mommy my belly is happy and saying thank you:-)

Mommy food is gonna come out of my belly button.

He wait till the last second to go pee & then he says “Come on mamma, my peepee is in hurry”.

The other day we were out & he wanted to go potty. We were ½ hr. away from home and I told him to wait (I hate public toilets). After few minutes he said “ Hurry up mommy, my belly wants to spit up from the butt:-O” I thought I didn’t hear him right but he couldn’t be any more clear;-)

Last week went to a store and while I was looking for some stuff, he said
“Mamma, are you getting this for me?”
“Yes, for everybody”
“I have to eat and get big & strong”
“OK”
“After I eat my Pee Pee will get bigger too”

I really hope that the guy standing in the same aisle didn’t hear A and I quickly went in the next aisle”
Yeah, I told him not to say that again, the millionth time.

He keep interrupting us when we are talking so I told him to say “excuse me” before he talk and now he interrupt us saying “Excuse me Mamma, can I talk”.

I tell him to say to gudiya (I think kids listen to each other;-) “Don’t be a naughty girl or don’t do this or that. I tell him in Hindi (how else he gonna learn then;-) & he says the same in English to her”.

Everytime hubby comes home both kids make sure hubby washes his hands, feet & change his cloths. Most of the time one stands there guarding & giving him instructions;-)

He finishes all my sentences, seriously.. If I say “get me that” hubby needs to know what am I referring to but A knows whats “that” mamma need:-)

My baby..

Yesterday A was coughing and as soon as Gudiya heard him, she ran to him & pat his back and gave him a kiss:-)

Since last week she is saying “Yup” instead of yes.

Since 3 days she is been saying “choomick (excuse me;-)” after every sneeze and burp.

Few days back she came in the kitchen and said
“Mamma, I mant (want) Pizza”
“But we don’t have pizza”
“No mamma, I mant pizza:-o”
“But we don’t have it”
“I mant egg, big egg (whole boiled) :-O”

She is been doing dancing action of atleast 20 wiggle songs without looking at them & just a second before they actually do in the video.

She goes in the kitchen, turn on the tv, sit on chair, watch tv for few seconds and comes back in the living room.

Yesterday she woke up & asked, “Where is Papa”… yes, she said her first whole sentence:-)

Today they wanted to eat the whole apple but I had to go do pooja, which means leaving the kids alone for 10 minutes watching tv alone in the kitchen, so I was cutting is very tiny pieces for them to eat by themselves saying “no, you can’t have full apple until mommy comes back” and all of a sudden she said to A “A, no roro(cry), no big appey(apple), momma appey cut”:-o.


My baby is growing up.. I am not ready for it yet..

The Decision

Being parents is not an easy job. No matter what I do and how many times I think over before doing something, I always question myself if it’s the right choice I made. We always knew that we are gonna have 2 kids but how soon after the first one, was unclear. After A was few months old I thought having baby was not like I heard (because of the wonderful doc who delivered A, no pain or anything) and A was always very good since day1. I wanted to have another baby soon so that I go through sleepless night, diaper change, potty training & all baby related issues at the same time. Waiting for another 3-4 years to have another baby seemed too much. And I wanted A to have someone to play with soon:-) Although I did think if it was unfair to A cuz being pregnant with a baby around & having another kid when ur first born needs your attention all the time is not good and its not the same as first time when you can rest whenever you feel like it and have a guilty free pregnancy. Still it seemed the right choice for us cuz he was just a baby then we thought by the time I will deliver, he wouldn’t be asking for that much attention anyway and afterwards it won’t be bad since I can give him all the attention he wants. But from time to time I do think if it was the right decision we made and is it fair to A since she gets all the attention from us but there are other times when I am 200% sure that it was the right decision.

Today was one of those days when I felt it was the right decision:-) why? Well this is what happened.. Few weeks back I met a new friend S whose daughter is in A’s class. They had few school holidays during end of jan till first week of feb. Everytime we talked on the phone, S sounded awful. She complaint how her daughter is crying to go to school, not letting her do anything till evening, making her play all day long arranging tea parties, beauty parlor & pizza ordering game. Well it does sound like fun but not when you are playing against ur will and all day long for almost everyday. So many times we had to cut short our conversation because her daughter started playing with the phone, dialing# or crying.

The other day she was crying because she didn’t want to brush her teeth & S said that everyday it takes ½ hr. of crying to get her to brush her teeth. Today when I called her, her daughter was crying because she wanted someone to play with her and the girl next door was still sleeping and couldn’t come for another hr. or 2. Then she mentioned some other stuff that her daughter does & they let her get away with it cuz they feel guilty because of her crying.

I told her that every time I talk to her, I thank God for having my kids so close together;-) I even suggested that they should have another kid since her daughter is already 4year old;-) I really feel bad for her daughter cuz she really want someone to be there all the time to play with her.

Now my kids keep me busy all day long too. Even when I go to bathroom they come looking for me & stand outside the bathroom till Im done but they never feel bored even for a second. Actually days feel shorter compare to what they want to do all they long:-) Because of their less age difference they enjoy same kind of things and have lots of fun all day long:-) They draw on each other hands & feet instead of mine;-) Atleast 10 times a day A feels like he became bigger than he was the last minute and he can check it by picking gudiya up & feel happy:-) They enjoy same silly movies and sing & dance holding each other’s hands. One makes houses from blocks & other wants the same block instead of the whole bin next to them so another episode of fun comes in the picture after that:-) Even when I put them in bed and it takes me 10 minutes to do some stuff A makes sure that gudiya is not upto anything and he make her sleep on his pillow, put her favorite video & put comforter on her:-) I don’t even need to say that, he does all that by himself:-)

My bhua had her daughter when her son was 4-5 years old & when she started crawling, it was tough cuz she would take his books, pen & stuff and he used to get very irritated. Ofcourse it was fine few years later but they didn’t enjoy their childhood like my kids are enjoying. (My opinion;-)

But there are times when I feel the other way, that’s only because she gets lots of attention and most of time when we are giving A some time she gets all angry & we have to take care of both of them at the same time and this eliminate the chance of one to one time with A when I really think that he needs those few Mommy & Daddy minutes everyday. And both of them make so much chaos & keep me on my tows all day long. I am always scared of them chasing each other very fast & falling down 20 times a day and I don’t know how everyday they come up with new ideas of doing some mischievous things to make me scream & yell..

Still I love it :-)

New game

Is there anything called too much kissing? Whenever I try to kiss Gudiya she puts her arm diagonal on her face and start giggling. If I try to kiss her above the arm she slides her hand there and if I try below her arm she slides is down:-) It’s her new game these days which makes mommy kiss her more, more and more:-)

Happy Valentines Day

This is what A & I baked for hubby as a surprise, Big Cookie:-)

Happy Valentines Day everybody:-)

On a twisty note, I got twist in my life err in my neck;-) I had pull a muscle while sleeping and now my neck & shoulder along with left arm is feeling twisty since 2 days:-) I knew it was coming though cuz both kids want to hold my hand & they pull it very hard. Now Im looking at everything like a kid cheating in the exam, looking but not looking look:-) Y’day I was trying to lay down but couldn’t put my head on pillow so I had to hold my neck with one hand & hold my shoulder with the other hand and gudiya thought I was doing some circus trick for her, she laughed & laughed:-) Well she had to pay for that cuz I taught her how to press mamma and do “mukiyan”:-) Kids are getting kick out of it cuz some time when they say something and I can’t see them, I had to turn in circle like a dog is chasing his tail and they think its funny:-)

Winter Activities

This post is in response to aps question:-)

Winter or any other season, we go out only on weekend so I have to keep them busy all year round:-) Still this is something going on this winter;-)

1. A loves to play on computer. He would play 24hrs. If we let him:-) His favorite games are Mario, prince, few games on nickjr. And lots of other game websites. He gets bored very easily so no particular favorite game site.

Gudiya can play few games beside her favorite clicky clicky time on computer;-) Her favorite game is this. She can find fisher-price icon by herself & click on it then she can click on the infant option for the game & she is busy for few minutes. Her other favorite website is pbskids. She just like to click on everything..

2. Most of the times they play with each other.. Actually they play for few minutes until gudiya hit him and I am busy for the next 1/2hr. with one crying kid & 1 jealous kid (always Gudiya), who is mad at mommy for holding A:-) So next 15 minutes its huggy & kissy time with her after yelling at her for 5 minutes for hurting A.. at least 2 rounds of this activity everyday;-)



3. Now this activity starts with them picking something to do like A sits on his pooh ride-on and she is playing with something else then all of a sudden she will grab him from his shirt & pull him off the pooh. Or If he is trying to pickup something off the floor & gets up from the seat white still on the pooh, She (waiting for this to happen for few minutes) runs to him & sit on the pooh before him:-) Now he is standing (well kind of;-) on the pooh & she is sitting there, refuse to get up. He cry saying he was there first but she usually closes her eyes & smile. Why close her eyes?, cuz she doesn’t want to look at mommy looking at her with her eyebrows up indicating get up or else;-) So these days she pretends she didn’t see that:-) and next read#2:-)

4. Every day I give them few stickers to put on the window:-)



5. They like to run after one another until one bumps into the other or get nauseous (which is within 5 minutes:-)

6. He likes to pick her up and she likes that so all day she ask him to do that and I see that at least 20 times a day:-)



7. If A doesn’t bother her she liked to draw things for 10-15 minutes:-)Usually She want us to hold her hand but once or twice a day she wants alone time with doodle writer:-)

8. Almost every evening we like to spend around ½ an hr. playing “Simon Says”, dance on poems or songs etc.. Latest favorite song is from the pooh book

Round and round and do-si-do!
Music makes me tap my toe!
Grab a partner! Feel the beat!
Music gives me happy feet!

9. Right now she is putting her hand on the window glass and then putting it on our face saying “thana”(thanda/cold:-)

10. We watch the wiggles at least 7-8 times a day and others favorite shows are Dora, Diago, Dragon tales, Backyardigans etc.. Unlimited tv times.

11. I like to spend some time with A.. You know giving him attention without worrying about gudiya getting mad at me. So when hubby is home I try to do some small project with him. He can’t sit & pay attention for more than 5 minutes but I want to take advantage of hubby holding gudiya so that I can use the scissors & our project don’t get ripped without us finishing it first.. She contributes coloring & all but only for few seconds:-) These are 2 things I errr we made:-) mask & kite






(Fighting to hold the same end of the thread.. )

And for this weekend I am thinking of making some valentine day cards with A for his teachers:-)

12. A loves to play with play dough but Gudiya always do silly stuff like throwing dough every where including in her hair & diaper so we stop playing with it when she is around. On A’s school days I force her to take nap when its time for A to come home (doesn’t work every day though) and have one activity ready for A to play while eating. I usually have 1 hr. to give A shower, feed him & play with him stuff like

Play dough
Finger paint
Paint with dropper
Use the scissors






(Ganesh ji(I helped him a bit), then he made shiji & parvati ma:-)

13. A’s favorite activity is being mommy’s little helper:-) The cooking part is his favorite even though hubby doesn’t approve it;-) Sometimes we make sandwich together or he break the lettuce if I let him:-) Not very often though, just once in a while because of obvious reason;-)



14. Sometimes I tell him story with pics. This is what we did the other day. We didn’t want to use sticks or glue because we were in bed & gudiya was awake so we used toothpicks instead:-)She wasn't even letting me draw.. Its the story of a hardworking bee and I drew bee on black paper cuz gudiya wasn't giving us the yellow paper:-)



That’s all I could think of right now:-)

My heart skipped a Beat..

Last night I was putting them to sleep but they didn’t want to so I told them if they go to sleep and I will take them out tomorrow otherwise I will go out alone and they will have to stay home with Dad.

My one hand was on A and Gudiya was mad at me cuz she wanted to hold both my hands but I told her to close her eyes and sleep otherwise she will be staying home tomorrow. She closed her eyes but didn’t put her head on pillow instead she started swinging her head (eyes were still closed;-). After a minute she bumped her head on the side of crib. There is bumper pad on the sides & crib is not that hard anyway. She said “Uee”, I rubbed her head & told her to stop swinging but she was all giggly and started the same with closed eyes & twitchy nose:-) After another minute she got another “Uee” then another. I rubbed her again & again and told her to knock it off, loudly. She opened her one eyes, looked at me with a smile, rolled over on my arm and came close to my face & kissed me:-). Then she put her arms around my neck & kissed me atleast 20 times. My heart skipped a beat and I almost had tears in my eyes to experience such love & see her doing all that nautanki.

My grandmother and bhuas raised me. But that time my grandmother was working and my bhuas were busy in college & job. I was wondering if I ever did that kind of stuff and if I did, did someone noticed that. I got so much love growing up, lots more than my parents could give me but seeing my kids doing these kind of things, I always wonder how can a mother forget about her child(my parents are divorced, I don’t even know my mother) and now everytime my kids do something I have noone to tell me that “You used to do this or that too:-( ”. And when I was watching gudiya last night I felt so lucky to see her doing that and felt unlucky to think that nobody was there see me doing similar stuff.

Kya Mamma & Because

Since last few months I started using “kya” word a lot. Every time kids do something I say

Kya hai A or Gudiya, kya kar diya..

Or to hubby

Kya yaar :-)

I guess, in my mind, Im trying to wait for their explanation and this waiting stops me from yelling at them and believe me it works every time:-)

And since Gudiya started “talking” this is the word she uses lots of times a day:-)

Yesterday I gave her aloo.. It was a bit warm.. She held it & put it back in the plate and said, with hands in question, “Kya hai Mamma, gam(hot)” I couldn’t stop laughing:-)

Everytime I hold A, gudiya gets mad at me & lay down on the floor with sad face.. Yes, she makes angry sad face with almost tears in her eyes:-) I tell her to come to me and the minute I hold her, she ask me “Kya hai Mamma”:-)

So many times a day I hear “Kya hai Mamma” without even saying or doing anything:-) Now even when A & hubby are doing something together Or A is not giving her something, she starts crying saying Kya hai Mamma”:-) I was telling hubby that everytime she says that she makes me feel guilty for no reason. Still everytime she says that I just can’t stop kissing her:-)

And A’s latest favorite word is “Because”. He is at this age where he has millions of questions about everything and even after getting the answer he keep saying because, because.. grrr.. I was started to get very annoyed. And now whenever he ask me any question I say to him “I will tell you why only if you won’t say “because” after that and we are done after 2-3 “because” and me repeating everything;-)”

Where is Gudiya?

We usually watch latest home videos which have both kids in it and y’day we were watching A’s video when he was leaning to roll & crawl. He watched it for few seconds and said

What am I doing, mamma?

You are learning to crawl:-)

Why couldn’t I crawl?

Because you were a baby then.

Oh Ok, then I ate lots of food & got big?

Yes.

Where is Gudiya (in the video)?

She wasn’t there yet.

Where was she?

*Thinking* She was with Jai-Jai.

Why was she with Jai-Jai?

*Thinking* Because Jai-Jai said “A is a little baby yet so do lots of pari pari to him and when he is a little bigger I will send gudiya.” (I was so proud of myself for thinking this answer;-)

oh ok, so Jai Jai send Gudiya because I am a big boy now?

Yes:-)

Mamma, I love to play with Gudiya now cuz I am a big boy and I can teach her lots of stuff too.

Yes, you are such a good boy:-)

I think I dealt with the big question “where do babies come from” for now or until he will realize I fooled him;-) What do you think?:-)

Something Indian

When I got pregnant with Gudiya things related to housework took a different turn. Hubby always prefer American stuff, no masalas or hot & spicy stuff, and it require very less work but during this pregnancy I didn’t feel like eating non-veg and I was too tired to cook 2 different meals cuz I used to feel nauseous all day long. The craving was just too much to ignore. Fortunately that time a guy opened a new shop in Jersey City. I went to that place couple of times & asked what other veg they cook & when. He said that he could cook whatever I like as long as I call him few hr. advance. That solved the purpose:-) We ordered from that guy for a long time even after Gudiya was born. It was worth it cuz if I think about going to Indian market, buy vegetable, cut it and make it with 2 crying kid, I loose interest even before eating That guy was Gujarati and I got to taste some good traditional dished too. And that time I mostly liked methi & saag dishes, which require lots of & rinsing so it seemed worth to order it:-)

Then that guy had to close his place but by that time I was ok with non-veg and we have a special place for non-veg food and we were fine. For a long time we ate outside food every meal of the day.. Actually I did. Kids were getting their stuff like chicken nuggets, mashed dal & kichdi (they didn’t prefer this though). Hubby was getting his sandwiches, egg salad and tuna salad, which requires very less time. I used to cook big pack of 2 kinds of different meats & make 2-3 side dishes on weekend, and hubby was all set for few days with additional chinese food & pizza take-outs:-). Kids are like hubby too. They prefer American food to Indian. They love all the sandwiches, egg salad & chicken. Every time I make paratha, any veg or dal, I end up eating that.

I don’t make resolutions but this year I though I have to try something otherwise my kids will never develop a taste for Indian food (Keshi are you reading this? Forcing the first generation;-). In our house we cook Indian food only on Mondays cuz that day I keep fast but even then my hubby & kids don’t eat Indian food. I usually order pizza or make khichdi (they like it) for them. But now I have to force my kids:-) So I decided to make 1 new dish every week and if it’s a hit I will write it down for Gudiya:-)

Last night hubby & I had talk about this

“Because of you we don’t cook Indian food. Before I used to think that I don’t want to cook all that just for me but now kids are becoming like you too so I have to do something. I don’t care if you want to or not; you HAVE to eat new dishes. I will pick the ones that you guys like & make a collection of atleast 365 dishes and I will leave those recipes for Gudiya:-)”

“Ok but will SHE use it or A:-)”

“I don’t care. Both will get a copy and if she doesn’t want to cook she can tell her hubby that I want that dish on page# 24 and he will cook for her;-)”

“OK, as long as you make Italian or Mexican food, I will eat ”

I didn’t get chance to make any new dish for weeks but since last week Im on roll:-) First I tried Coffee’s dhokla



Then Asha’s falafel



Yesterday we had Trupti’s ragda patties



And today I made idli & kind of dosa from the leftover dhokla batter with some more urad dal in it and we had Asha’s chana dal chutney.



And tonight I made Asha's peanut chicken



This I have to cut in pieces instaed of on skewers cuz then I don't have to worry about them poking each other:-) Gudiya was asking for corn which I wanted to put it in the chicken but forgot so I just put it on top of the chicken.. She took few bites of this chicken mixed with rice. great recipe even though I didn't marinate it still It was great:-)

Even though I made last 2 dishes today, consider this made yesterday (in January;-) I am planning on posting this kind of post in the first week of every month. And until I get at least 365 dishes for my kids booklet there will be a post every month;-) They have to have something Indian in their life, right? or something to remember me by and all the food bloggers whose recipes they will be using (I hope:-) ;-)

P.S By chance I tried all starters, which is the theme of Coffee’s MBP:-) So this is my contribution to the event :-)