Regress

The kids now watch a lot more TV.
I am feeding them now as opposed to them eating on their own.
They have written on the walls a couple of times.

That was in order of importance.

Till about the time the kids were 19-20 months old, we were very strict about TV watching and wouldn't let them watch TV. We were disciplined ourselves and our TV was limited to news or sports when the kids were around. Then the kids started falling sick and we started showing them barney on TV to be able to get some work done, while we worked from home on sick days. Well, I had hoped to curb this habit, but I am so far unsuccessful. It is so easy to give in to their demands (not requests) for barney. I am still working on this.

Eating on their own - so the problem is that when the kids Indian food, they don't do the 'pluck roti-dip in dal/veggie-add dry veggie'. It's just the roti. So I decided to feed them and push them along to teach them the whole process. So far, it's one big colossal fail! I think I worry less about this than TV.

Wall scribbling - I had been so proud of my kids that they never scribbled on walls and were so good and meticulous about finding paper to write on. They are still very good, but they have scribbled on two walls (very lightly and I have even removed one of the stains). But they scribble on things they consider their own - their table, their books. Being the neat and clean freak-it bothers me when they scribble on anything but scrap paper.

M'ism of yesterday

Yesterday we were all in the car, a van passes us by. M points out 'Truck' so I tell her 'M it's not a truck, it is a van' (stressing on the van)
Later the same van crosses us again, this time N points out 'Truck', M tells him 'N it is not a truck, it's a VAAAN'.

Olympics 2012 and where we are

Like many others we sat glued to the TV watching the in-impressive Dany Boyle directed 30th Olympics opening ceremony. The part till the industrial revolution was good, but then the NHS and dream sequence may have been visually appealing, but it felt short on keeping me entertained. Thanks for making a blink and you may miss appearance JK Rowling, but how could Dany Boyle forget Enid Blyton? They could've had a Nody driving his yellow-red car somewhere. Oh well.

But here's what caught my attention - Saudi Arabia sent female athletes for the first time. Probably I shouldn't be one to talk - my own country disrespects woman and has woman's rights on paper only. To think that this is being celebrated, made me pause and wonder how we can treat our fellow humans so badly. How is it that we are still celebrating this feat - woman participants from all countries. Shouldn't this be a given by now? How it doesn't rake at the minds of men, who claim to be the superior sex, that they are ill treating their fellow human so badly. How that is the future that is being messed with. It is the 21st century and yet here we are talking about the equality of sexes to be able to compete in sports, to represent your nation, to hold the flag. I wonder if there is pride that these women feel when they hold the flag. I often times wonder how/what I would've done.

USA Olympics team on the other hand has more female athletes than male ones. Made me very happy to note that, to note that talent won over sex.

On lighter note, how handsome are David Beckham and Daniel Craig. Left my mouth hanging. The queen was quite the sport, partaking in that video.

NBC's olympics coverage leaves much to be desired, they only cover the US team, when they do cover the last part of another team's performance, they have nothing to say, like literally mouth shut ! They cannot stop gushing over their athletes and god forbid they say anything negative about them. We were watching the woman gymnastics team perform, and the team had a fair amount of deductions, but the commentators didn't tell us where the deductions could've been, nothing. I don't think they are not knowledgeable, they just don't know how to comment.

Here's wishing all the athletes lots of successes. Cannot wait to see how Saina Nehwal does today and Kashyap Parupalli tomorrow. Good luck guys!!!

Container Garden

Last week I went to the nursery and I eyed this amazing container garden, once I had seen it, I vowed to make one of my own. So I set about getting the plants I wanted and the perfect pot and gravel. I didn't experiment too much with the plants I wanted, since I didn't want to spend a bomb on my first container garden.

This is the final result:

The plants I chose:

Sempervivum

echeveria 

cotyledon which should hopefully have little flowers sometime

And a cacti I couldn't identify.
I am not known to have a green thumb, so I am hoping since this variety doesn't need too much water, it should be able to survive my black them. Will keep you posted.

Not funny

Over the weekend, I couldn't stop reading about this incident. It is a shocking and most appalling thing to happen to anyone. I had goose bums all over me, every single time I have been eve-teased, touched inappropriately came flashing back to me and I was in intense rage.

My post though is not about the incident. It is about the use of the word rape in common language today. It makes me cringe anytime someone uses the word to describe a bad situation. Because no one with an ounce of decency could use the word so flippantly.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a prude, I can take most 'jokes' with sex connotations. Mind you though, about sex, not about rape. And there is a difference, if you didn't know that, get off my blog and while you're at it, get off the face of the earth.

Here's an example of what a man said when describing an interview  'I had an interview with 7 people one room, I felt like I was being raped.'
Or another one, when talking about a tedious programming process : '...brutally rape of my mind..'


Do you find these sentences and usage of the word offensive? I do. Because the act of rape is not something to be taken lightly. I find is horrifying that someone can use the word with such nonchalance. Like it is an everyday matter and not something sinister, mean and evil. Please tell me what you think. I really want to know if I am alone in this.

Road Tripping

After a really long time, the family took a vacation. We did a road trip to see my sister's family.

The plan was set into motion by the great master who wants to drive all the time - The GG. I shivered as I looked up the distance - 900 miles each way. Google said 14 hours! I almost fainted, had a huge argument and then went to sleep. A few days later, G broached the subject again and this time, since I had done some thinking, I told him 'Let's do this'. G had the biggest silly boy grin on his face.

So we started thinking how we were going to keep 2.5 yo twins entertained for 14 hours and not let them get stir crazy. We equipped ourselves with lots of food, fruits and snacks, nursery rhymes and barney videos. We bought extra long cables for the ipad and kindle and we were set. We also decided to take frequent stops and let the kids decide on how long we could drive.

The trip has been done and I am super excited to tell you that the road trip was a resounding success!! We divided the trip into two parts each way, 7 hours of drive time in each. The kids didn't complain more than once each, they ate random stuff, nothing nutritious, but I wasn't trying to each Mom of the year trophy either, so I was okay with it. We played 'spot the truck' games, sang songs and played peek-a-boo. When we ran out of things, they watched videos. All in all everyone was happy and we made it back in one piece.

The kids had a blast with their cousins, and they were showered with so much love from their Aunt and Uncle. It was a very relaxing trip for us too, since the kids were pretty much on their own, they would play with their cousins, wake up and go to them and didn't even bother to wake us up. Aaah, fun times.

Here are some pics from the road trip.

We did a lot of kids things - lots of swimming and splashing in splash parks, went to a country fair where they rode lots of rides (the train was their favorite), children's museum which was a blast and even got our teeth cleaned by our personal dentist ;), saw July 4th fire works and they even held sparklers and were not scared at all.

All in all a very successful road trip and I am so thankful to G for making me do it. Now I probably won't have such a negative reaction when he broaches up the trip to New Mexico that we are thinking about :D

Anyahaseyo!

Anu introduced me to Korean Dramas and now I am hooked, there is no looking back.
I love everything about these shows, the lifestyle, the culture, the soju (alcohol) drinking accompanied with anju (snacks).

So far I have seen
Lie to me
Coffee Prince
Coffee House
Fireworks
Capital Scandal

and bits of
Summer Scent
Protect the boss
Boys over flowers

And movies:
My girlfriend is an agent
Relation of face, mind and love.

I have to say I am in love in Kang Ji-hwan. Isn't he cute. So most of the shows I have seen so far,  and all the movies have him. He's not just hot, but a really good actor. I don't feel like he's getting his due though.

So I compiled a list of things I find common in KDs:

1. the guy is always rich and the girl is from a poor family, but not helpless 
2. there are always 2 guys, nobody likes the girl in the beginning and then all fall for her.
3. this is always the story of second love.
4. if the guy is rich, he must drive a german car.
5. karoke is very popular
6. of course drinking and eating
7. if one can speak english, one is looked upon.
8. skin looking good is very important
9. If a guy or girl has been seen naked by someone or there's a kiss between two people, you can be sure they are the ones who will end up together.
10. Rolling up of sleeves is a very common phenomenon.
11. Grabbing girls by the arm is very common and it's super cute too.
12. Everybody is so thin.

So far those are my observations. I love how innocent the dramas are. I am falling in love with S.Korean culture too. So like India, they have words for relationships, it's not just Uncle and Auntie. There is a lot of respect among peers and people maintain space. I do find it funny that if someone is a Director or Chairman, they are always referred by their title. So it's Director Cho or Chairman Park. 

I cannot wait to watch My fair lady, after I finish Prosecutor Princess. Yipee!!

2.5 years

Puchhi and Gunnu are now 2.5 year old. Who are they you ask? Puchhi is M and Gunnu is N. Those are the names we gave them when they were still inside my belly. Gunnu is the cute version of Gundu because well that's what he is. Puchhi because I had imagined my sweet little M to be an angel. Of course God didn't listen to me there.

So..they're talking more now, demanding more. M loves to say 'yes' now. A VERY big milestone. N is still getting there. The most emphatic yes I get from M is when she has pooped and if I ask her she'll say the biggest brightest 'YES'. Or if she spots ice cream. N will just grin knowingly when he sees ice cream..he knows it's coming.

M has somehow caught onto saying 'No mommy no, stop it.' It was cute and funny at first..but now it just sounds rude. So at first I tried asking her to say 'Please stop it', like that was not so rude. So now she's finally stopping her self when she wants to say 'Stop it' and instead says 'Please don't'.

N on the other hand is using his hands now for expressing displeasure. He will pull M's hair or push her. But the good thing is he knows he has done something bad and will say sorry or hug her.

We went to the Nasher Sculpture Garden this weekend with bestie A. The kids had a blast and they didn't throw any fits or get bored, they just did what we asked them to do mostly and actually ate lunch also somewhat peacefully.
Nasher had a sculpture of a woman who was embarrassed and she is shown covering her face with her arms. N and M took this interpretation "Aunty ear hurt".

Apparently I talk to my mom the most on the phone, everytime the phone rings, they're saying 'Nani phone?'

Barney is still the favorite most show, followed by the gummy bear song.

N is getting better at throwing the ball and can catch a ball that has bounced once, meaning the force has been halved and he can gauge the speed and direction better.

M doesn't like playing catch as much as she likes kicking it. Definitely got more leg eye co-ordination than her mom.

N has gotten out of his phase of calling me by my name. It was cute and I miss it. But I don't encourage him.

They're getting more confident in the play ground and are not averse to trying new things, but they are always very careful and I am thankful for that. I see other kids running around without a fear and then I see mine, gingerly climbing and I think would I prefer that, then I think not. I like that they are careful and like to test the waters before they jump in.

So far the 2s haven't been terrible at all. They're been terrific if anything. Keeping fingers crossed.