Friday 30 November 2012

Ice Cream Maker

Dear Vedant,

Raghav,Anurag and you played with the Ice Cream maker in Houston. Raghav was so sweet, he helped you both figure out how it works. This was perhaps your first "Pretend" play. We all had lovely ice cream to eat.
I need to buy it for you too, you really liked it.

Love,
Amma

Sorry means not again

Dear Vedant,

Disciplining you as been a roller coaster ride thus far. You (very embarrassingly so) hit Arshia a few times, not just once. Poor thing, sweet Arshia never hit you back. She would always let it go as Vedant has to learn, woh chota he. Nothing I tried would work. Finally, a five day weekend in Houston over Thanksgiving helped us. For one thing, I was with you for so long and there wasn't any Aunty. So I could totally discipline you as I thought best.

Timeouts after timeouts, the first stand off lasted almost 1 hour but slowly your resistance gave in. The next timeout was 45 minutes and then "Sorry" came out. You cried so much, it was heartbreaking but I had to stay strong. Viji peddamma and Sid Nana helped me stay strong. Anurag would feel bad for you and be all sad. But this really turned things around for us.

I can say the hitting has pretty much stopped, except for when you do it out of excitement. We are still working on it. Now you say "Sorry, not again" but give us a smile. Timeouts, however, are getting less effective. We need to find another method soon. I hope one day you will read this and feel that we had to do the timeouts to make sure you turn out great.

Love,
Amma

Parantha Roll

Nov 30, 2012

Dear Vedant,

Like our Indian mothers, time may come when I will be rolling up paranthas with butter (sneaking in sabji too) and hand them over as you are rushing out to play with your friends. Here is a pic of your very first parantha roll. You ate it with gusto, enjoying. I love this pic for its clarity, focus on your face and eyes.

Papa will be thinking of this newest Lens, but I think it is my boy that is glowing :)

Love,
Amma

Store...Shopping

Dear vedant,

So this started as our little joke, our mom-son thing. I taught you to say "Shopping". This was to be your response why I went to the store. Everyone, especially my sisters and my mom know what this means to us, how really funny it is to us.

Now we use this reason to tell you that Cheerios is finished and that we need to go the store to "shop" for more.

Lots of love,
Amma

Thursday 29 November 2012

Amma tired...

Dear Vedant,

I have told you I am tired at various times. It is usually after our song. "I am a little teapot".

When we were in Houston visiting Viji peddamma, I was feeling really tired and just zoned out for a bit. You sweetly touched me and said "Amma tired". It was like you understood how I was feeling. I was very grateful that you recognized that.

Of course, a little later you said, "aedu tired"!

So cute,
Love,
Amma



Friday 16 November 2012

Mangu Mangu

Dear Vedant,

So this is how you are going to put us in trouble. You have learnt to say "mangu mangu"... standing for "nangu pangu". Aunty taught you this.. she tells you to become nangu pangu for a bath and how you would catch a cold if you don't dress up quickly after a bath.. But now you are using it on us.

You lift up my tee, look at my belly button and say "mangu". Dad came out of the shower, well, modestly dressed and you said.. Mangu Mangu :) It is really cute. I love your voice as you say it, you are very expressive. I will try to record a video, but hopefully I will always remember.

Lots of love,
Amma

Aapu Aapu...

Dear Vedant,

Continuing your Main Main theme, these days you are all about "aapu aapu". You want to do lots of things on your own. Be it removing your jacket, having "davai" or eat cookies.

It is nice to see you grow up and be independent. The word "aapu" is because of Arshia didi, she uses it a lot and you just caught on.I am glad you are speaking a lot of Hindi too. Everyone likes that and comments on it. I wish I had been able to teach you telugu, that was not to be. May be when you are older.

Lots of love,
Amma

Friday 9 November 2012

Main Main

Dear Vedant,

This "Main Main" thing has been going for about 15 days now.. suddenly you want to do so many things on your own. You want to be so independent. You say "Main Main" if I try to help you with putting on a jacket, doing the buttons, sometimes eating, more recently reading books even. I love the reading books part, it is quite nice to now see you read/ flip through books on your own.

Sleep tight shona babu, Love,
Amma