Day 1 at Stratford!

Dear Vedant,

You were sooooo good today. I am so happy for the great start to your new school.

Much love,
Amma

Dear Vedant,

I am coming back to finish this on a Saturday morning. Armed with a cup of tea, while "my silly boys" are sleeping upstairs. More on the "silly boys" later :)

You have been such a good boy, adjusting so well and so quickly to your, yet again, new school. I had taken you one day just to show you around, we just walked through the play structure etc., so you would be more familiar with the school on the first day. You cried then. I had to explain to you that I am not going to drop you off. On the "real" first day, you were so different. I think it really helped to show you around once before. The first drop off was excellent. You were a little sad, kind of moist eyed when I was leaving, but that's it. It seems you participated in the winter show practice etc., all on your first day! I was so happy.

Yesterday was your first performance. It was so cute. You were standing there, following the rules. I could see you were overwhelmed with all the adults there, but you did a great job. No tears, no running away. I was really proud of you. Papa pie is bummed that he couldn't be there, we will show him a video of it today.

In general, you seem much happier now that you are going to school again. India was really good in terms of spending a ton of time with family, but you did not get a chance to play with kids too much. Especially on the first day, I could see a clear difference in your mood, having played with kids. You have also been eating relatively well. We are trying to incorporate more fruits in your diet. You have been great with that. I need to be more patient with you. You have been eating a good lunch too. The only thing I have noticed is that you don't nap in school. You looked so tired on Thursday, I put you to bed after we came home. It was hard to wake you up later in the evening, you wanted to sleep more.

Anyhow, we are all getting adjusted back to our new routine. I have gone back to LinkedIn part time. I really want to spend as much time with you as possible and minimize the time you need to spend away from me. You are still my little baby, two years away from proper schooling. We are all trying to make this work for us.

You are the apple of our eye. Love you so much kanna.

Love,

Amma

Sleep routine

Dear Vedant,

Your sleep routine is real easy these days. You brush, use the restroom, wear your PJs and read books. After that, you happily settle down to sleep. Tonight you woke up in between, told me that the pillows should be touching and then went to bed. That was it. :)

Sleep peacefully, love,
Amma

Diwali 2014

Dear Vedant,

Happy Diwali!!! Many many blessings and best wishes to you my dearest one.

We just celebrated the day in Gwalior with baba and dadi. The highlight of the day was certainly the besan laddoos that you had, homemade, no less.

You were quite sleepy in the evening and didn't participate much except for the sea shells game. I think you likes that. You went to bed soon after dinner. You didn't ask for a book or story, very unlike you.

You liked my sari. You made me wear a green bindi because it's "your" favorite color. I told you it doesn't match with my sari, you told me its OK :). It seems next year I will get matching one :)

We have been in Gwalior for a couple of days now. You are having so much fun! Your fabourie seems to be hanging out with baba in the choti chhat. May you get to make many more fun memories with grandparents. I didn't have that growing up and I am so glad you have loving grans.

Lots of love chinu.
Amma

P.S.: you are not letting me take pics. Not fun. 

Friends are fun!

Dear Vedant,

You made your first friend at the park today. Usually its just you and I hanging out, I focus all my attention on you but I don't think it's as much fun as it can be for you. Today was different. You finally said hi to Nikita. You said, " hi, we can play together".

You were so happy. I've never really seen you that happy at the park before. It was awesome. I hope you remember this experience and learn to make new friends in the park, in school, wherever you are.

Lots of love,
Amma

Is Livlin's hat pretty?

Dear Vedant,

You have just started going to India Community Center preschool. You cried a bit on Day 1 and Day 2, until I found out why. You were not happy that they are asking you to eat fruit. I told Ms.Rave that you don't need fruit in school since you ate them for breakfast already. Since then, the crying has stopped. And you actually enjoy it :) I am soooo happy! Since we came back from Houston, I think you really needed some school, just 3 hours to spend with kids of your age. Glad we have that now.

We had an interesting conversation about Livlin, a girl in your class today. She wears a Patka.

Me: Who did you play with today?
Vedu: Livlin and Shashank.
Me: Who is Livlin? The girl with the hat?
Vedu: Yes, its purple.
Me: Isn't it pretty?
Vedu: No
Me: Why? I think its pretty.
Vedu: It doesn't have any stickers on it.
Me: If it had stickers, it would be pretty?
Vedu: Yes, or a stamp.
Me: What about a bow?
Vedu: yes, Bow is OK. Or a photo.

:) I couldn't believe that you have all these ideas now. Amazing how your little brain works.

Love,
Amma

Visit to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park

Dear Vedant,

We just came back from a lovely trip to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National park. It was the break from home and routine that I enjoyed the most. You enjoyed being silly with Papa the most. Dad pampers you silly, plays with you until you are laughing out loud, breaking out in giggles. He took you to throw stones in the Kings river, you enjoyed that a lot. We added a bit of science to it. We threw little twigs in the water to show you that wood doesn't sink. You understood that but though
throwing stones was wayyyy more fun! :)

Lots of love,
Amma

Addition on Sep 21: Dear Vedant, Just wanted to add something you said. We were driving back from a lovely dinner in downtown San Jose. We saw many Light Rail trains on the way back. You mentioned that Thomas is small and that Gordon is big, like the long train that we saw on our way back from Sequoia National Park. I was amazed that you remembered that. I need to pay more attention to your words. I am so glad I was listening and not just saying "yes yes".

Outside Crystal cave's Spider Web gate.

Hug Papa Tight

Dear Vedant,

You said the cutest thing today. You hugged Papa real tight in the morning and told me to also hug him. And then you said, "High him tight so he doesn't go to Google". :)

So sweet. I feel so lucky that you are so lovey dovey at this age. I know I will miss this when you are older. And yes, you made Papa feel so special!

Love,

Amma