Some updates

First and foremost, we won the second place in Shruti's Artsy Crafty for September! Vini @ Pooh's den sponsored the prize and the gifts were wonderful. The little girl was thrilled. Thanks Shruthi and Vini.

This year we are going to India for Diwali. It's been sometime since we visited India during Diwali. I'm sure the kids would be amazed by the firecrackers there. Hope the little boy is not afraid and enjoys it.

The other day we were going through an activity book and there was a page where you guess the next in the sequence. There were a sequence of shapes with the last box having a question mark. The boy was pointing to each box and telling the shape and when he came to the last box, without a pause he told "Mystery Mousekatool!"

Party entertainments

The Little Boy's birthday falls on this month and Shruthi announced an apt competition. Handmade party favours and decorations were this month's competition.

This was prepared by the little girl to entertain the little guests who come. Last year she was the magician and this year she wanted to be a story teller.



The TV was made using a dress box and plastic sheet. We fixed two balloon sticks as the stand. The story pictures were stuck together to form a long length of story spool. The story spools were stuck to the two ballon sticks in such a way that when they were rotated the story moved from right to left.



The little girl told the story as she kept rotating the poles and each new picture appeared.

Treasure from Trash

Here are a couple of entries for Shruti's Arty Crafty July contest.

1. Plastic bag and straw curtain/wall hanger.

 

2. Penguin pen stand from used milk carton and egg shells.

Cup and saucers

Here's another use for them.



and if you have spoons also, you can try this:

Tamil rhymes for Tulika's blogathon

Ever since I saw the ditti for Tulika's blogathon in MIM's blog I've been wanting to add a few dittis/rhymes from my childhood. So here are a few from my childhood. All the songs are in Tamil.

This one was sung by my grandmother during our road trips.
Atho paaru roaddu
Roaddu mela carru
Carukkula yaaru
Namma mama Nehru
Nehru yenna sonnaru
Nalla padikka sonnaru!!

Transalation:
Look at the road
There's a car on the road
Who is inside the car
It's our mama Nehru
What did Nehru tell?
He told us to study well!!


This song she used to sing to us during Independence day and would give us sweets if we repeated it back to her.
Delhikku ponaenae,
Indira Gandhiya paarthaenae,
Salute adichane,
Mittai koduthare,
Sappi sappi sapitane!!

Transalation:
I went to Delhi,
And saw Indira Gandhi,
I saluted her
She gave me sweets
I relished and ate it.

This one was sung by my mom when rocking us on her back or on her knees. She used to add all the nicks we had and sing according to the child that was on her lap.
Saanjadamma saanjadamma
Thanga chilaiyae saanjadu
Saanjadamma saanjadu
Vairamaniyae saanjadu
Sanjadamma saanjadu!!

Transalation:
Rock baby rock
Golden statue rock
Rock baby rock
Diamond pearl rock
Rock baby rock!!

This rhyme, my MIL used to sing for my daughter to make her eat a extra dosai. The last line means you would get a beating if you ask for extra dosai. So my MIL would sing this song when my daughter finishes the dosai on her plate and immediately my daughter would ask for extra dosai and tell her to give her beatings!!

Dosai amma dosai
Amma sutta dosai
arusi maavum
ulunthu maavum
kalanthu sutta dosai
Appavukku naalu
ammavukku moonu
annanukku rendu
pappavukku onnu
Thinna thina aasai
thirupi kaeta poosai!!

Transalation:
Dosai Amma Dosai
Mother made dosai
Rice flour
and Urid flour
Mixed and made dosai
Four for Father
Three for Mother
Two for Sister
One for the baby
Would like to keep eating
If you ask more you would get a beating!!

The next two are sung when all the children sit in a circle with their hands spread out in front. One child goes around touching each hand and when the last line is sung, the person whose hand is touched should remove that hand.

For this song, the hands are placed in a lifted position with only the tips of the fingers touching the ground. When the last line is sung, the hand that is touched has to go flat to indicate that the horse is sleeping.
Kudira kudira, yenga pora?
Kolathukku
Yethukku?
thani kudika
adipaen
rajakitta soluvaen
paduthuko paduthuko

Transalation:
Horsy Horsy, where are you going?
To the lake
For what?
To drink water
I'll hit you
I'll tell the king
ok, sleep sleep.

This one is played with hands when there are many kids and with fingers when there are only two or three kids.
Athakam puthakam
tavalngchooru
yettu yeruma yeruma paalu
un appan peru enna
solamaataen!!
un appan per sollathae
mulan thani kudikathae
un paambu kaiyae padakendru yedu.

Transalation:
Athakam puthakam (no meaning, just rhyming words)
A bit pot of rice (Tavalai is a big brass pot, chooru is rice)
eight baffalo milk
what is your father's name?
I wont tell!!
Dont tell your father's name
Dont drink Mulan (dont know what this means) water
take away your snake hand.

This one is sung when we play hide and seek. The person closing the eyes of the seeker would sing this.
Kannamuchi, kaatu thulasi
unnang kuruvi
yethana mutta vitta?
(a number is told)
(the number)la, (one number less) yeduthukittu
micha onna yenakku yeduthukittu va.

Transalation:
Hide and seek, wild thulasi
Unnang kuruvi (a kind of wild bird),
how many eggs did you lay?
(the seeker tells a number, say four, then the ditti goes like this)
Of the four, you take three
And bring me the remaining one.

This ditti is sung when playing a game similar to "Queen Sheeba wants". All the kids would stand at one side and the catcher on the opposite side and sing this song. When the color is mentioned, the kids have to go find it before the catcher catches them.
Knock knock
yarrathu?
paeiyithu
yennavaenum?
colour vaenum
yenna color?
(any random colour is specified by the catcher)

Transalation:
Knock knock
Who is it?
It's the ghost.
What do you want?
I want color.
What color?

I'll stop here. I think this is one of my longest posts and took me back to my childhood days. Thanks Tulika for this wonderful opportunity.

Singapore Snippets

Visitors to Singapore normally exclaim about the greenary in Singapore. And this is one example why Singapore remains green.



Look at the fencing around the trees to protect them when there's construction work going around it.

A birthday card

We normally send hand made cards to the cousins and grandparents. The little girl's favourite cousin's birthday was coming closer and we hadn't done any cards. I was blog hopping and came across this wonderful collection of hand made cards by TPL's mother. As we are not as artistic as her mother, we took an easy idea from there and prepared this.



This was done entirely by the little girl last September (when she was five and a half) with almost no help from me.

Work Life Balance

I work in a company that gives a lot of importance to work life balance. This is one of the main reasons I have stayed with this job in spite of a number of odds. I got 6 months maternity leave for each of my kids when the norm was 3 months. Family emergencies are given the first priority. The bosses somehow try to adjust during those times.

There are 3 incidents that stood out. All these three were within our team globally.

This guy is a global head and he went through a nasty divorce. He was left with his little daughter. He was alone in a foreign country with no help. The company gave him the most flexible arrangement where by he could go to a nearby office and work from there on the days he was not working from home. The office nearby didn't have anything to do with our line of job, but they made the arrangements for him. This way he could take care of his daughter as well as do his work without a problem.

The next guy had quite a few problems with his extended family. He had felt he couldn't do justice to his work as he had to take a lot of leave to sort his family issues. He gave his resignation papers. He was the sole bread winner for the family. The bosses had a discussion with him and it was decided that he would come to office on alternate days and thus have time to sort his personal issues as well as have a job. He stepped down from his regional lead post. Within a year was able to sort his personal issues and come back to office on a full time basis.

The third guy has a kid with special needs. His working hours are so arranged that he is always able to take his kid to the special classes and doctor visits.

All the three incidents above have made sure the talented guys stay within the company. This has also made us all aware that whatever happens, if you give the best to the job, the company would be behind you in your crises.

Happy Labour Day to all of you!!

Artsy-Crafty April

As usual didn't manage to complete the projects on time for the Artsy Crafty project at Shruti's blog. Anyways here are the entries.

Fruit Basket.



Eli the Elephant hat.


Growing up, we used to make papermache stuff by grinding together fenugreek and paper. But it was a tedious process as you had to grind it by hand. So when Shruti announced the April Artsy Crafty contest, I turned to Google baba for help. That's when I came to know about creating paper mache craft using paper strips and balloons. Below are some of the snaps taken during the process.

Update:
Added a few photos on how this was done.

Do you like....

Last Sunday the little girl took part in a dance competition organised by the Malayali Association. After the dance, the MCs asked her a few questions and one of them was...

"Do you like Malayalees"

To which she vigorously shook her head in the negative!!

A special flower arrangement

Can you guess what is special about this flower arrangement?


Look closely and you might find a vegetable...


Yes, they have used drumsticks for the arrangement and this was not at some exhibition or special arrangement competition. It was at the reception area of our office complex.

A valentine pop up card

Shruti's Artsy-Craftsy Challenge had us excited. We prepared a few finger painting stuff for the January contest, but the lazy mom didn't put up the post on time. And so we started preparing for the February contest. With the Valentine's day round the corner and the girl raving to do a card for her daddy, we decided to prepare a pop-up card. And, this is what we did. Now for the steps to do it. Take a A4 size paper and cut it into two. Then, fold it across the middle. Next, fold the paper across. And cut it to form the petals. When you open, you would have a flower, color the middle portion. Then cut off one of the petals. Stick the two end petals to get a cone shaped flower. Prepare 7 flowers. Fold the flowers. Take one and stick two flowers to the corner petals. Then stick one flower on the top of the first one such that its corner petal is stuck to the 2nd and 3rd flower. Then stick two flowers to the corner petals of the 4th flower. Finally stick the last flower on top of the 4th flower and you would get this.

Prepare your card.

Take the flowers and stick the top two flowers to the two sides of the card and close it.

When you open, you have a bunch of flowers popping up. Happy card making!!!

PS: Somehow I'm not able to upload the rest of the photos. Will try tomorrow.

A miracle

A friend of ours had a life threatening health condition and had been undergoing treatment. After a couple of months, the doctors gave her a month or two at most and asked her to enjoy the remaining of her life. She is a young lady with two kids and the second one only a year old. She was devastated. She couldn't control her tears and was sobbing outside the doctor's clinic. An Indian nurse was watching this and just then another doctor passed by. The nurse immediately came to my friend and asked her to go speak to that doctor. He was a visiting doctor and she mentioned that he was an expert in the field and urged my friend to go meet him. The friend had lost all hope by then, but because the nurse kept pushing her, she got an appointment with the doctor and met him. That was her life changing moment. He checked her and told her that he could try. Now after 3 months of treatment by him, she had her last operation yesterday and is living to tell us about it. I feel that God really spoke to my friend via the nurse. If not for her, we wouldn't have our friend with us.

A sweet...A surprise

It was supposed to be like a mysore bak. But when poured on a plate and allowed to cool, it became hard on top and a bit gooey in the middle. I had to place it in the fridge to be able to cut it into pieces. Hubby took a few pieces to his office ... I tried to make him take only the mysore bak other friends had given for Diwali, but that was not enough...so he took a few of these sweets too. I was not brave enough to take it to my office. Evening, hubby returns and says everyone enjoyed the sweet and wanted some more. I double checked with him to make sure he was not kidding. True to word, he took quite a few of those sweets to his office again (I still believe he did it so that I don't force it on him in the next few days!!!). He then called me from office and asked for the recipe. Seems no one in his office had heard about "7 cups" (lucky for me) and wanted to know the recipe. They thought the soft inside was the way the sweet was supposed to be. :)

Oh Daddy!!

That is how the little one calls his Daddy...with the sing-song tone. We first noted it when we had been to a restaurant after the diwali shopping. The kid started shouting at the top of his voice "Oh Daddy" when his Dad went to wash his hand. The whole restaurant was laughing at his antics. We were wondering from where he could have caught this, when my daughter told "Amma, it resembles the "Oh Doodle" in Mickey mouse club house. And that was it....it was the exact sing-song tone. So now we can say my son has started observing and using things he learns from the TV.

On another note, I like the way Diwali is celebrated in Singapore. The way the govt puts in the effort to light up the Little India area, the shows and concerts that are staged on a big stage near that area, the "Diwali fair", the colorful shops, sweets, crackers and everything that would remind you of the festival of lights. Its nice that there is a substantial Indian population in Singapore and the govt recognises them.

Dance baby Dance

Place and timing is not a problem...surroundings and the people staring is not an issue...its dance all the way! Walking, eating, playing is all a dance.

An airport is no different.

And then the 15 mins of Fame happened...Dancing for the Navarathiri festival in a temple.

Perfect dress

I was trying to decide between two dresses. One was a sleeveless and the other with sleeves. I tried on both and asked the opinion of Hubby and the little girl. Hubby was for the sleeveless one. The girl was on her best diplomatic mode and told me this "Mummy, I would prefer the one with sleeves. Altho both look fine, the first one makes you look like a young person. Not at all like my mother!!!"

Now I know what to wear when we go out for dinner without the kids :))

Film songs and school concerts

I have always been against film songs being used in school annual day concerts. The first time I saw a film song in a school concert, I was pretty shocked. Having been to a convent school, which drilled the notion that films were bad (but they did take us to some of the best films I've seen in my life) I kept asking my aunt how her daughter's school had a filmy song for the annual day concert. Over the years I concluded that that school was a small one (was a kindergarten) and so didn't have the resources to get good songs from other sources. And this has been the thought I've been carrying for so long. And this is the one that took a mighty beating yesterday. My daughter told me that her class was going to dance for 'Jai ho' during the annual day concert! Maybe I should just be happy that at least its a meaningful song, appropriate for the occasion where they graduate out of kindergarten. Going away to lick my wounded pride.

Words of wisdom

Bits of wisdom:

16th Aug:

The Little Girl has been asking for a bicycle for a long time and we told her that we would get it for her birthday. Last weekend we found a good deal and got her the bicycle. We presented it to her, with much expectation and this is what she says,
"Mummy I was expecting a new bicycle as MY BIRTHDAY GIFT and am a bit disappointed that you didn't keep your promise and got it earlier."
:-/

15th Aug: Independence day.

We were returning from her music class when we had this conversation:
"Mummy we should go to India sometime".
"Yes kuttima, we'll go during your school holidays".
"No, no, not like that. "I want to go and stay there forever...like cousin R".
"Hmm, why? Don't you like Singapore?"
"I do like Singapore. It's where I was born. This is a good country, But India is also my country Ma. That is where all our relatives are. We are Indians. So we should return to India wherever we are!"
:-/

Aug 9th: Singapore National day.
We were passing the National Day parade location on the way to the beach.
"Look kuttima, that is where the National Day Parade happens""Oh, that's good. Are we going to see it?"
"No ma, we don't have the tickets"
"Why didn't you get the tickets?"
"They do a balloting for the tickets and so I didn't apply for it." (I didn't even think about it before she asked to be truthful)
"Oh...ok."
At the beach, we get to see the lead helicopter with its contingent flying over the beach carrying the Singapore Flag. Everyone is pretty excited and wave towards it.
"Mummy, look, its the Singapore Flag. How nice! Thanks mummy for bringing me here. I got to see at least this. I'm so happy!"

Small Talk

I was going through my old posts looking for something when I came across this. The Little Boy is almost about the same age and so I thought I'll pen down his words.

Thoong
Car
byechikul
moonnu
thannae (for Kannae Kalaimanae song)
dink
milch
geeve