The normal self

Following #1

Premalatha — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:02:54 +0000

#1 – how true!

Stop spending time with the wrong people. – Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you. You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot. Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends.

Happy new year

Premalatha — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:21:36 +0000

Wish you all a very happy new year.

I believe in Santa

Premalatha — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 09:24:38 +0000

Once there was a dinosaur family with a Daddy dinosaur, mummy dinosaur, Aani dinosaur, and dadda dinosaur. Dadda dinosaur was a very good boy. Dadda dinosaur wants to sleep. Dadda dinosaur wants to close his eyes. Dadda dinosaur drinks milk. Dadda dinosaur wants to sleep…. (after a failed attempt to to get him drink his milk or sleep by repeating the same sentences a few times, I decided to expand the story wishfully believing in “child psychology” and all, I continued..-), Dadda dinosaur ate lots and lots… “chocchoc” a little voice quickly jumped in before anything else was given to the dadda dinosaur for food. I controlled my laughter in order to maintain the “calmness” of the bedtime scene. Dadda dinosaur eventually grabbed the milk when I got back to repeating the sentences in an attempt to achieve my immediate goals! And, the end.

“We buy chocchoc mummy”, I was reminded of the shopping list only a million times just that night alone every time we stirred up.

Parcels from a friend who visited us last week for some mysterious reasons waited under the tree for the kids to open. The mean parents who didn’t believe in Santa didn’t get any present for the kids. we the family of four dinosours opened the only two parcels lying under the beautifully decorated big Christmas tree (also got from a kind freecycler lady). And the Dadda dinosaur got chocchoc!

I honestly believe in Santa now!

And following are the other gifts from Santa:

We are invited for Christmas lunch by our neighbour.
Muffin got a deal to learn Piano from our lovely neighbour.

Christmas and new year wish list:

Premalatha — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:46:23 +0000

For the grown ups:

want to buy a house like where we are currently living.
want a clean and tidy house (just like the English B&B houses), with no cleaning/tidying done by me.

For the kids:

Leapfrog leappad reading writing system with ten+ books.
kiddy cycle
some weight gain for the boy. It is heartbreaking to see such a lean thin skinny bony weak boy.
Well, this can go under “for the grown ups” list: The girl listening to us, the grown ups (yeah, it has happened this soon!)

That is all. I am easily pleased!

Uninteresting life

Premalatha — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:20:31 +0000

Life is very uninteresting when there are no “interesting” blogfeeds in your bloglines and no interesting FB friends(?!)’ posts! No kids running around makes life even more uninteresting. But this is what I have chosen for now. I should turn it around and make it useful. Hopefully in the new year.

Weeding and Pruning

Premalatha — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 07:36:03 +0000

I had weeded my blogfeed a lot thinner sometime ago and that is what has been keeping me ignorant of the blog world which I am eternally thankful to. And still I am finding something to weed out. Another blogfeed unsubscribed.

FB list has been kept thin while adding people itself, but that needs weeding too.

A very pleased mummy!

Premalatha — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 15:08:16 +0000

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/16016347
Edited to add: I just assumed that providing the above link speaks for itself but then I realised that may be I should mention it as well. Please (please) check out the link given above. Avni clicking picture using a grown-up’s (a very grown up’s) camera has come on BBC’s website.

Avni took this picture of me and Aaron which I am using as my current FB profile picture! My grin in that picture reflects my mood. As a famous man sang in one of his famous movies, இன்னுங்கூட கிழியும் காது தடுக்கும்!

How to condition a girl child and a boy child

Premalatha — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:27:49 +0000

How to condition a girl child (and a boy child)
1. Take no “no” from a boy child. provide everything so that there is no “no” around the boy child. even if that means snatching from other little child and not sharing with other children.
2. in the same breath do not give the girl child even a feeling that she can get her own space in order to make her not selfish!

I am fuming!

disclaimer: This is not about all the boy children and all the girl children and their parents in the whole wide world. I am sure people can see that. Thanks.

Disciplining

Premalatha — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 06:05:25 +0000

It is time to discipline the undisciplined.

Only one coffee in the morning.
Wake up when the alarm goes off
Go to work before or at least by 8:30am (tough one)
Do not browse personal mails (for gap filling) at work (toughie) even at lunch time.
Write more, but write sensibly (later part is a real toughie)

Let us stop there and see how it goes.

Change

Premalatha — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:30:28 +0000

What changes motherhood has brought? The good, the bad and the ugly? Many are interested in hearing, ”I have changed” and “I was all so wrong about not having to change after having the baby” from me. It is like waiting to see the other contestant trip and fall on stage. Nothing friendly about it. Motherhood comparison is not a lot different from the beauty pageants except that the event never ends but has many many crown winners each one of them claiming to be the “Mother Universe” themselves. There is no swim suit competition…. wait, how soon you get back to swim suit and you can be back in the pool after having a baby is definitely a competition there, but not much among the Indian moms, except among a few may be. And there are those supermoms who do extraordinary stuff, after doing all the regular stuff such as feeding the family with home cooked hot healthy meals and such. Note that these regular stuff are mandatory, mandated by the regular moms and very much by the supermoms as their emphasis is on the “after”. If you are after getting back to work, beware you will be judged only by these mandatory requirements. Remember that you can go to work only “after” meeting the mandatory requirements and your going to work even “after” will only be seen as a damage to the…. well, I am digressing.

So, have I changed? Was I wrong about not having to change after having a baby? The answers are…….. yes and no. Yes I have changed. But, no I was not wrong about not having to change after having a baby.

Here is a beautiful account of what one mom feels about the changes that she has observed in herself after becoming a mom. Here is what I have observed as the changes or otherwise that have happened to me after becoming a mom, not in any order of importance.

I am more independent and less maintenance than I was before.
less lazy than I was before
I can recognise my stress-threshold level and can admit that I will break down after that level.
news about death/missing of a child or death of a parent to a child disturbs me deeply.
have very high respect for all the moms who go through this child rearing phase, including my own.
I value work life even more now.
other moms are not friends. They are other moms.
I have no patience for the mandating moms and have no respect for the dads who do not do their share.
love #5 “You don’t have to spring back to being the person you were pre-children, because even if you hadn’t had kids, three years on, you still wouldn’t be that person now. At least as a parent, you’ve got an excuse.”
I have responsibilities. I am responsible for the two innocent lives I have created.

So, what is your list? Take up this as a tag and give me the link to your list. It will be interesting to see how the world changes through the eyes of a parent.