Xmas and NY

The boy had holidays for 18 days and that is a lot of work for the wife.

For Christmas, we drove to Hyderabad to visit Ia. Lovely roads!

The boy was thrilled to see Ia. They played, fought, made up and spent a lot of time in her tent. Apart from the usual places to eat, we visited the Hyderabad Kids Fair at Hitex. A lot of children's products and services. We picked up a reusable book from 1leaf. He loved the sunroof in Ia's car and wanted to buy a Honda City.

The boy was sad to leave.

The last week of 2017 whizzed past. We met friends in The Local and Windmills Craftworks and the boy loved it.

For the New Year program in our apartment, the boy participated in a dance.

Paw Patrol is his latest craze. He can sit and watch that for hours.

Some of the amusing things he says :-
"You are going to be in trouble"
"The hospital is not helping, I am asking the rocket to take you to God"
"I am going to buy 4 cars. Honda City, Lamborghini, Bugatti and Porsche. When Honda City gets dirty, I will drive the Lamborghini. When Lamborghini gets dirty,  I will drive the Porsche. When the Porsche gets dirty, I will drive the Bugatti. When the Bugatti gets dirty, I will wash the Honda City and drive it"

New Scooter

Thanks to the grandparents!

First a pink one was delivered when the website showed a blue colored scooter. The boy's heart was set on the blue and we returned it to Flipkart. They sent a green one next! Whatever happened to WYSIWYG?
That was returned and we asked for a refund.

We went to a toy shop near home and the boy chose this.

Puking

It happened 2 times in the last week. Start crying citing leg pain or ear pain around midnight, start coughing and then throw up the dinner.
And in the morning? No mention of any of the pains.

Scissors

The boy has learnt to use them. Rubber band, paper, packaging etc, he wants to cut them all.

Class Monitor

The boy has been made the class monitor :-) For someone who throws so many tantrums, I wonder how he is going to control others!

LKG Term 1 - Report Card

And the boy's Term 1 Report  had the following to say :-

Montessori Work Record :
"He looks forward to working with the EPL material. He has worked with stringing beads, pouring of grains, which has helped him develop fine and gross motor skills, hand eye co-ordination and working within limits.He likes working with sensorial material like brown stairs, pink tower, cylinder blocks which has helped him develop his pencil grip. Working with Sensorial material has also helped him understand the concept of long and short, thick and thin and dimensions.He has a clear understanding of numbers and quantities. Working with materials like cards and counters and spindle box has helped him in recognising the numbers and associating the numbers with quantities.He has started working with the language material. Working with vowel centre boxes has helped him recognise the first and the last sound to form three letter words and to associate with the respective picture cards."

Academic Report :
"He enjoys colouring different pictures and worksheets related to the theme. He looks forward to the story sessions and comes forward asking questions about the stories read. He has a clear understanding of the concepts covered in class like day and night, hot and cold and few and many. He enjoys expressing himself through different mediums of art"

Children's Day

And the boy was thrilled!

He woke up early, did not throw a tantrum, drank his milk eagerly, wore his favorite t-shirt and was ready much before his usual time.

The van was early and they were going on a field trip to their branch school.

Yesterday, back from school, the boy proclaimed that it was the World Kindness Day and promised that he would not throw any tantrums!

Sports Day!

The boy's first Sports Day in the new school and he was so excited about it!

He participated in the 50 m race coming second and they also had a team drill with pom poms.

The only downside was the amount of time they had to stand in the sun.

Gluten free foods

Goa

And we had a wonderful time including the boy. 

Gluten

Looks like this is causing stomach irritation for the boy. Keeping him off milk did not help. He still complained of stomach pain. Then we stopped wheat based products (poori, chapathi) and that helped. The boy stopped complaining.

Now to figure out Gluten free food.

PTM and Dr visit

We had our first PTM and the boy was excited about it. The teachers were happy with his progress. The boy volunteered in a Show and Tell event about importance of water(we did not prepare him for it). A big step considering his history in the previous school.
The boy loves coloring, music, activities and story time. He is not a big fan of reading which explains his reluctance to go to school in the last 2 weeks. His latest concern is that there will not be water and diesel by year 2020

The boy still complained of stomach pain and we took him to Dr S, who did not find anything wrong. He asked us to continue keeping him off processed foods and milk.

Auto Expo

And the boy loved it! He went bonkers. His current favorites are the German trio - Merc, Audi, BMW and the Lamborghini. Vitara Brezza seems to have gone out of favor.

Hand painting

...by the boy

Of behavior and words

A lot of talk and some tantrums. And it has not been easy.

The boy is loving the school but insists on doing the revision/homework - which is a good thing. Except that we as parents, are not sure whether we are teaching him phonics right. We would rather let the teachers do that. That...the boy does not want.  He insists on learning at home.
The boy also had a small potty accident at school.

At home, he has stopped using the stool to stand to reach the bathroom sink. The boy is growing tall.

The talks continue. Some of them surprise me. Gen Alpha?
"Have some patience, OK?"
"Put both your hands on the steering wheel please when you drive"
"I forgot what I did in school yesterday. You should have asked me yesterday. When I grow older, may be 8, I will remember" in response to my question of how was school yesterday.
"When you do something, you should always think", this came up suddenly when he was sitting on the potty seat.
"Should I reduce the volume of the fan instead of speed?" when his grandmother remarked that the fan was loud.
"I saw 4 Mercedes, if I see 2 more that would be good"
"If I say please you should agree!"

The boy's tantrums are strange. One was against me eating lunch. He just didn't want me to eat lunch and went on crying. Another one was for drinking water from the bottle, he wanted me to fill it immediately.

He is a bad loser. Game has to be played according to his rules.

Not sure where he picked up the latest habit from - every sentence is started with a heavy breath. The kind of breath that the people who have wheezing take?

Amazing Zone

My brother's family is in town and we had a get together. With 3 children, there was a lot of chatter and let's do this and that. We ended up going to this newly opened place called Amazing Zone in Hosur. Decent and there were many excited children and adults around.

The boy had his share of games and loved the bumper cars!

Sick

And the boy has not gone to school today and yesterday.

It started with a cough and in the night, the fever developed. The boy says except his butt, everything else is paining. Thankfully he has an appetite. The wife took the day off yesterday and today is my turn. Last night we gave him Crocin, he no longer has a fever and is much better today.

Yesterday he threw a tantrum asking me not to go to work and today the tantrum was asking the wife not to go to work.

"Do you want to a digestive biscuit?", I asked
"Let me think" - the boy
"There is nothing to think, you have not eaten anything since morning"
"BUT I STILL NEED TO THINK!... Ok, give me dosa"

His birthday gifts are keeping him busy for now.

The boy turned 4!

The birthday party went well thanks to the wife who printed the invitations, ordered  food, booked the communication hall and got everything ready. I took the day off and once we picked up the cake and food, made 3 trips to the community hall in the top floor to get everything ready. There were around 15 children, mostly from the apartment and some from the boy's old school.

When Ah started playing with the boy's friends he got upset (talk about being J!) and threw a tantrum.

The concept of return gifts - I wish the whole materialistic gifting would stop. We are just adding more clutter to the world.

The neighbors surprised us in the morning

The stage is set

The boy's train cake

Routine

The boy has been slowly settling into a routine. Wake up at 7, milk and biscuits, get ready, cycle to the gate, get into the van (after telling he does not want to school, asking me to follow him in my car many times), back home around lunch time, lunch, play, early dinner and in bed by 8.

Some days  are cheerful and some days are...well.

Nevertheless he loves school and has been slowly making new friends. The wife packs him 2 snacks. We have stopped his afternoon nap so that he can sleep early. I don't get to see him much nowadays, only during the weekend.

He has developed a keen eye for spotting the Maruti Vitara Brezza and in his words "I am a good at expert it!"

Ambulance is still a challenge to pronounce - "Ambulams" and recently he said "cerfi ticket" instead of certificate

For some reason he wanted our car decorated for his wedding and he was very upset that when we got married, we decorated our car and he was not around!

He has been slowly adding 1 Rs coins to his piggy bank and that has also give us parents blackmailing power - any tantrums / bad behavior, 1 Rs is taken out of that.

The boy's birthday is coming up and he has already started going around telling the parents in the apartment complex what he wants. 

Crayons for the different age groups

By Faber Castell

First plant

The boy planted  the seeds, was very excited to see the plants emerge and​ waters it everyday.

A return gift​ from a birthday party.

First day at school!

The boy was excited! More so when he found that he will be eventually going to school in the school van. I guess he felt that it puts him in the league of big children - Aa and Ah.

He proudly showed his new uniform to whoever he met in the apartment complex before we boarded the car.

The initial days (6-7) were warm up days of one duration each for the boy to get used to the school, the teachers and the children. Everything was new for him.

On the first day, he played, painted but wanted the wife around. There was some sobbing. After the school, I dropped them back at the wife's office and went to work.

The children have to hang the school bags on this wall.

The next day the parents could only stay for 10 minutes and had to pick up the boy at 1030. This time there was some crying but he quietened down later. After school, the boy went with the wife to her office.

The 3rd day the crying started before entering the school but he settled down later.

On Friday, he was normal. The boy sprained his right leg at a birthday party and it did look serious. There was no swelling or redness but he was in pain, especially in the night. We took him to Dr S who advised to rest it and if necessary put on a crepe bandage.

Another trip

The boy's uniform for VNM has been bought and only the shoes from Bata were pending.

Since the wife had the month off too like the boy, we decided to make a trip to Chennai. There was also paperwork at the Thiruvanmiyur post office that was pending. The wife and the boy left early (the boy was excited to be in the day train) while I drove down for the weekend.

At the Besant Nagar beach

We went to our usual haunts, met friends and visited relatives. The shopkeeper in the neighborhood we stayed earlier, recognized us instantly - we were walking into his shop after years. There is that sense of friendliness I miss nowadays.

Vacation time

The summer camp in April was coming to an end and it was time for holidays to start.

As I look back, this holiday to Uttrakhand, turned out to be a list of firsts for the boy :

- For the first time he traveled in an overnight train. He loved it, eventually learned how to climb up to the side upper berth and also learnt to call out "Chai, chai, adrak ki chai"
- For the first time, he was out on a 11 day trip. He coped up with it considerably well. Missed afternoon naps, walked a lot (he had to be carried when he was tired), learnt to play games like "I spy with  my little eye",  "Treasure Hunt" (he sucked it as he immediately pointed  to where the treasure was hidden after hiding it), "Hopscotch" and did not fuss for food. There were bouts of  tantrum, bad words (his birthday party was canceled because the bad word count exceeded 10) and he threw up once

On one of the treks

- For the first time, he boarded an aircraft. He was excited! Couldn't take his eyes off  it and did not believe that it was faster than  a Bugatti Veyron on the runway. Thankfully there was no ear pain, the boy couldn't believe we were flying once we were in the air and slept as we were about to land

Couldn't take his eyes off the plane!

It was a good break. The sad part was the human effect on environment was showing. Places are getting hotter, tree cover was disappearing and the hills were strewn with empty packaged water bottles  and chips packet wrappers - neither of them are biodegradable.

The boy has a one month break now before his classes start at VNM.

Fever

The boy had a fever starting last Thursday. We asked him to drink a a lot of water.

His eyes were droopy and he was upset that we didn't let him to go Ah house. In the night his fever went up and in the morning came down. We pressed cold towel to his forehead and that helped to an extent. He also started talking a lot in  his sleep. I got kicked twice.

On Saturday I took him to see my mother and he ate some solid food. He was thrilled briefly as he got a new toy car. Back home and his fever was up.

We took him to Dr S the next day. He prescribed Crocin in case the fever came up again.

Today morning he was back to normal and reluctantly went to the summer camp.

The boy has taken an active interest in the Ramayana.

HAL Museum

The boy finally had his chance to go the HAL Heritage Centre and Aerospace Museum. The place is well maintained and has a good collection. But with children, you need a lot of patience. The complex also houses a cafeteria and a souvenir shop. We skipped many sections.

Initially the boy was thrilled with the planes. Later the children's playground and the children who went with him - Ah and some of the boy's cousins kept him busy.

After being there for almost 2 hours, the rants of  "Lets go home!" started.

Conversation about before life / after life

It all started with a talk about a past event, before the boy was born. That triggered it...
"Where was I?", the boy asked.
"You were not born', the wife replied.
"Why?"
"Because God had not decided yet to send you", the wife didn't wanting to complicate about the birth and death.
"Does that mean all the babies are in heaven with God before being sent to their parents?", the boy asked, his curiosity aroused.
"Yes", replied the wife cautiously.
"Does that mean that I would have met Ah in heaven before he was sent to Dada and Mama?".
"May be".
"Does that mean that the babies with God now will be talking to Muthassan?",  referring to my father who passed away last November. We had told the boy that he had gone to heaven.

Again, some days later we were  going through some old photos and the started...
"Where was I?", the boy asked.
"You were not born', the wife replied.
"Oh, I was with God before being sent to you!", the boy replied brightly.

Good bye Shemrock

It is time to retire the above uniform.

2 years of wearing it. The boy had fun, he started talking more once he started going to school. The Teachers, Aunties and Rishi are such a helpful lot - the interests of the children came first.

Today was the boy's official last day at the school. And finally he got the Star of the month award. He was so thrilled that he had it pinned on for a long time even after coming home.

The boy continues to go there for his day care and summer camp. We will miss the school and its friendly staff.

More school visits

"First of all, why should I talk to you? I don't want to talk to you!"  The boy told me after being reprimanded for I don't remember what.

The boy has learnt to get off the potty seat on his own.

He had his observation session at The Earth Montessori. Surprisingly he stuck to the wife, did not mingle much with the children and did not want to play in their play area. We were told that they will get back to us. I did not very high hopes considering how anti social the boy was.

One of the challenges we have with The Earth Montessori is that they recommend zero screen time for atleast 3 years. Well, we can enforce that at home. But what about when the boy goes to Aa/Ah home or outside? How do prevent him from watching TV in a public place? They also did not have transport which was a major concern as that would mean we (mainly the wife) have to drop and pick him up. One good thing that the boy loved about the school was that they did not have a uniform.

As a back up the wife checked out the Vidyaniketan Montessori in the vicinity. The boy loved the place, talked to the teachers and played in the play area. Collected the fees and other details (they have transport and uniform) and we were asked to get back by Monday.

School interview at The Earth Montessori

The Uno game is his new found love. Apart from the Uno cards he has also learnt it to play with the regular cards.

We also had a parent interview at The Earth Montessori school on Friday. We were asked questions about us, the boy, his routine, what is our expectation from the school and their expectation of us. They will call us again for a child observation session.

The boy had an ear infection and the wife took him to Dr S. It was bad and he had no other option but to recommend antibiotics for 5 days. The boy was better after the first dose. Made him very sleepy though.

Birthday party over the weekend in our apartment. The boy was angling for the birthday cake which he got it at dinner time. He still has a fascination for the balloons.

Office visit and writing

The Uber strike was over, the boy and wife came to my office premises last Friday. Dinner in the food court and the boy had a good time running around. He is on the stage below but hardly visible.

Writing by the boy, he loves the number 8.

Venda!

The month started and suddenly the boy has started used "Venda" instead of saying No. He no longer needs a straw to drink his milk - drinks it directly from the glass. Which is good, no plastic and the BBMP has started to enforce the straw ban.

The boy wanted to come to my office last Friday. He didn't and he had an explanation. "The Ola and Uber drivers are fighting because they want more money. There was a strike. That is why we didn't come."

There was a get together and his excitement knew no bounds when Ah and Aa landed up too. "I am eating Pokcorn!" "I am drinking beer!(when he was drinking apple juice)"

Over the weekend he jammed his fingers in the door when it was closing. Luckily no broken bones. Lot of crying though.

Come middle of the week and he proclaimed "Amma tomorrow no...I am bunking school!"

New bag and a set of trucks

New Peppa Pig bag. The boy needed an additional bag to carry his extra clothes and food for the day care.

New trucks from his Uncle!

And he falls sick

"First of all do you know how to cut nails?" asked the boy to the wife when the question of cutting nails came up. 

There were more...This was when he was in a good mood...
"Acha, Ah and I, we are buying blue Bentley's"
"How will you identify whose is which?", I asked.
"I will park somewhere Ah will park somewhere"

And when he was in a whiny mood...

"Somebody sleep with me"
"Nobody go out of the house"
"I can't stop crying"
"Somebody help me drink milk"
"I don't want to have a bath ever"

Earlier this month, the boy had a prize distribution in school. He also got his class photo.

We went for a lunch at Chinita after that. The boy had quesadillas thinking it was a pizza. He finished them  off.

The following week he fell sick. (In the end it turned out to be a stomach infections that was doing the rounds. Highly likely that he got it from his time at the day care.)

It was a Thursday.

The boy threw up, the wife had to rush to school and he complained of ear pain. We didn't hear from Dr S, so went to the doc nearby. The canal connecting ear and nose had phlegm. The doc suggested steam inhalation, Sinarest and other medicines. 4 of them to be precise!

On Saturday we went to see Dr S. There was a long line and we managed to see him at the last moment. He controlled the stomach infection first.

He had his school annual day that day and wanted to make it any cost. But by afternoon he felt so weak after the trip back from Dr S that he went to sleep. I went and returned his costume. The headmistress was disheartened as the boy loved dancing and he was the central figure. He complained of ear pain and Dr S suggested Crocin. In the night he threw up on the quilt. Whatever he ate or drank he threw up. It was mostly phlegm. He was scared to eat or drink. 

The Mucolite course was for 5 days. For 2 days the wife took him to work. His appetite was not back. In fact he refused chocolate cake at a birthday party.
On Wednesday we sent him to school but the boy slept. When be got up he complained of stomach pain. He didn't eat. For dinner after a lot of coaxing he ate an idli. The wife took Thursday and Friday off to be with him. Thanks to her it helped and the boy started getting back to normal. In the night he wanted to go for a walk so I carried him around the apartment. The number of idli's increased, he started eating rice. The bones were still visible though. But the appetite was back.

Habits, more talk and his first reading session

The boy has developed this habit of pulling at his lip with his nails. It has become so bad that his lip has cuts and it is discolored. And he gets very irritated if I ask him not to do it "What is your problem?" I feel like "whack!" but refrained. At one point he cried so much during a tantrum that he threw up.

The boy had his haircut and is becoming a bangalorean - "Look at the traffic. It is terrible!"

He also had this to say about girls in a conversation with the wife.

"If you go behind a girl, you will become a girl" 

"Who told you that?" 

"Kavitha madam"

"That is not true"

"No way. I am telling you if you go behind a girl you will become a girl"

"Don't laugh at me. It's not funny"

The boy got a set of Monopoly and Snakes & Ladders and has taken a love to Monopoly.

Because of a Peppa Pig episode at 8 am, he wakes up early, and is ready by that time. 

He also attended a reading of Peppa Pig at Atta Galatta on Saturday. The boy was a little hesitant to sit with the other children initially. He settled down, enjoyed the reading, answered the questions and cheered for others. He even came home and asked us this - "Amma, who works harder, you or Acha?" 

Throwing up

We got a call from school last Friday that the boy was throwing up  and had loose motion. The wife went to pick him up and he came running out "Look ma, I vomited!" And looked very normal. He came home, slept in  the afternoon and did not eat much.
On Saturday he had curd rice for lunch and he threw that up in  the evening. After that went to meet R&I. The boy played with I and had only a toast for dinner. In the morning while drinking milk, he threw up again. We took him to Dr S. He was extremely patient, heard the entire set of events and prescribed 5 medicines with the strict instruction that they be given only if conditions get worse. The 4 stages were loose motion/vomiting, gastritis, colic and if nothing worked an antibiotic. The boy started on  Emeset (loose motion/vomiting) and thankfully recovered. He looked very dull and his size seemed to have shrunk.
We didn't send him to school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. He went with the wife to her office.
Today he reluctantly went to school.

No diaper night

Finally the boy slept last night sans a diaper. We hope it is a long term change. Part of it is because we switched to Mamy Poko pants which the boy does not like.