"You will always be my baby" and typical of him he goes, "What about when I am 10?" Yes..20? Yes. 30? yes....60? "Hahaha..I will be gone by then." I say. He coolly put his arms around my shoulders and said with confidence. "No Mamma, I will put mehandi in your hair". Baby, If only Mehandi can stop people from aging and dying :)
It seems like yesterday I was writing about his 4th b'day post and suddenly it is time to write about 5th, don't know when one whole year flew by but then when I think how much he grew last year, it was nothing less than one giant leap.
Every year on Christmas, his preschool hosts grand christmas play..Every kid has to participate which brings ~100 kids under 5 on the stage. It is pretty big event, involves months of practice and needless to say treat to watch! Story typically starts with three friends narrating Christmas story and as they narrate it, various characters appears in background and move play forward. Last to last christmas, when Shreyas was 3 years old, all 3 years old were angels. Play started with little narrators narrating christmas story in hilarious way. I was impressed..Four years old, delivering their lines perfectly and each one of them had so many dialogues to say. But anyways, after a while my eyes were waiting only for my angel.. When time came, all three years olds arrived looking extremely adorable in their costume. All angels sang and danced except --mine. He didn't move a muscle, spotted me in the crowd and kept looking at me as if it was all my fault. I felt bad, but how could I expect him to be a good performer. Heck, His Mamma can't dance even in front of err..4 people. And here was pretty large crowd. So I made my peace and never brought this subject again. Life was good once again!
But last fall, his teacher dropped the bomb. Shreyas is going to be one of three narrators in christmas play. My kid..Narrator? Seriously?Saying giant-sized lines in front of err..giant-sized crowd? Why? See, I love his school, I love his teachers and felt genuinely bad for them. If one out of forty angels doesn't sing and dance its okay. But if one out of three narrators refuses to say his lines it would be disaster for play. And I feel, Shreyas is pretty awesome the way he is..all kids are! Its wrong to expect kid to excel in everything and I didn't want to put him under any stress. Cherry on top, we were going to India and it meant he was to miss three weeks of practice. Well, we were back and his practice started, he loved it and hated it at same time. And ofcourse didn't leave any stone unturned to make my life miserable. "Mamma, lets plan a trip during christmas". "Mamma, I think I am going to be sick during Christmas." He came up with all kind of excuses to miss the play his 4 years old brain could think of.. I didn't want to put pressure on him and I also didn't want him to back out because it would give him wrong message. It was hard to keep my cool..specially as I was pregnant. Weeks went and finally the big day arrived. We were clearly instructed (by him) that we cannot watch him perform. "Sorry son, we cheated but we made sure that you couldn't see us." And I am glad we saw. Play went very well. He didn't just perform well, it seemed he was having fun doing it. All three of them actually. Those lights, stage, cheering crowd and applause..I was immensely proud and so grateful to his teachers. They brought out a side in him which I was convinced didn't exist :)
He is very curious child and from "why there are only U turns and no A, B, C turns" to "why cat is spelled as "CAT" and not "KAT", to "From where babies come from.." to "why birds don't feel cold without blanket" to "why trees don't fall?" questions never stop. He also learned to read, write and add-subtract largely by himself. Little bit of exaggeration here though! Yes, we always encourage him, play board games and do activities with him. We try our best to satisfy his curiosity and converse a lot with him but not even once we sat with him formally to "teach". It always happens through an activity or play. His school also doesn't teach much till kindergarden (which will start next year). Yes, he still needs help with reading and often make mirror images for letters while writing words(very common in this age) but he is pretty good with additions and subtractions. Daddy used to play kids monopoly with him every night and that taught him to add and subtract without any of us realizing that he is learning something so complex while playing. Earlier he needed all his fingers, toes, our fingers and toes to count but just in few days, he transitioned to add two digit numbers without any aid. He can even do simple divisions but yes often makes mirror images for "4" or "S" :)
Like daddy, he too has no concept of time. My boys don't understand that time moves in linear fashion :\ Always among group of kids who reach school last. And guess who all other latecomers are..yep, his little friends. These kids are almost always last ones to get in and most certainly last ones to go out. No matter at what time I (or parents of his friends) reach to pick our little ones, there are always cries of "Can you wait for me?", "can you wait for me?" from rest of their gang. And finally when school closes at 6.00 pm we have to drag them home by 6:10-6:15. But they all look so happy and comfortable in school, It is like their second home.
I wrote last year about his friends and friendships..If anything changed then its only that bonds became stronger and deeper. They are group of five friends (Shreyas, J, A, N and E) and in two different sections. Shreyas and his best friend J went on to be in different sections this year but they still are closest friends. Nonetheless all five of them are great friends. They are from different ethnicities and we try to arrange play dates for them once in a month on weekends as well. They are heading to different schools next year and I really hope we all will be able to keep them in touch.
Bestest friends
Not just school he has a large friend circle in our neighborhood as well. Gentle and caring, he is not just popular among his friends, he is pretty popular among their parents too..But sometimes that makes me worry. I don't really want all these praises go to his head, he becomes arrogant/over-confident or worst develops low self-esteem and becomes a people-pleaser when he grows up. So time to time I remind him in my own way: Not everyone in this world is going to like him and thats okay as long as he is not doing anything wrong. He shouldn't worry about others opinion too much. and also that "world doesn't revolve around him." Daddy says, I should just enjoy him and not worry unnecessarily..but thats why Mommies do. No? :)
All five of them ( N, J, A, Shreyas and E )
Yes, my baby turns 5 today and he is everything and more, I ever dreamt about having in my child. Parenting him is nothing but pure joy.
Strangely enough, I don't feel any expectations from him. If love can really be unconditional it is closest I feel my relationship with him. If tomorrow he adopts another religion, makes little money, doesn't earn big degrees, turns out to be gay or build his life away from me...I doubt anything will make me love him any less. All I wish is, this heart melting smile and sparkles in the eyes never leave his face.
All excited to be a big brother in few days and he is already very emotionally attached with Jacuzzi. Convinced that he is going to be responsible for feeding, rocking to sleep, giving bath to his little brother and looking forward to that..His evil parents are even trying for cleaning poop and changing diapers but no luck so far..hehehe.
Ending the post with picture of family my non-artist made in school: Four of us holding hands together.
Wish you a very happy 5th birthday, Son!
Love you :)
Mamma
PS: And at 5 you want to be a fireman when you grow up :)
It seems like yesterday I was writing about his 4th b'day post and suddenly it is time to write about 5th, don't know when one whole year flew by but then when I think how much he grew last year, it was nothing less than one giant leap.
Every year on Christmas, his preschool hosts grand christmas play..Every kid has to participate which brings ~100 kids under 5 on the stage. It is pretty big event, involves months of practice and needless to say treat to watch! Story typically starts with three friends narrating Christmas story and as they narrate it, various characters appears in background and move play forward. Last to last christmas, when Shreyas was 3 years old, all 3 years old were angels. Play started with little narrators narrating christmas story in hilarious way. I was impressed..Four years old, delivering their lines perfectly and each one of them had so many dialogues to say. But anyways, after a while my eyes were waiting only for my angel.. When time came, all three years olds arrived looking extremely adorable in their costume. All angels sang and danced except --mine. He didn't move a muscle, spotted me in the crowd and kept looking at me as if it was all my fault. I felt bad, but how could I expect him to be a good performer. Heck, His Mamma can't dance even in front of err..4 people. And here was pretty large crowd. So I made my peace and never brought this subject again. Life was good once again!
But last fall, his teacher dropped the bomb. Shreyas is going to be one of three narrators in christmas play. My kid..Narrator? Seriously?Saying giant-sized lines in front of err..giant-sized crowd? Why? See, I love his school, I love his teachers and felt genuinely bad for them. If one out of forty angels doesn't sing and dance its okay. But if one out of three narrators refuses to say his lines it would be disaster for play. And I feel, Shreyas is pretty awesome the way he is..all kids are! Its wrong to expect kid to excel in everything and I didn't want to put him under any stress. Cherry on top, we were going to India and it meant he was to miss three weeks of practice. Well, we were back and his practice started, he loved it and hated it at same time. And ofcourse didn't leave any stone unturned to make my life miserable. "Mamma, lets plan a trip during christmas". "Mamma, I think I am going to be sick during Christmas." He came up with all kind of excuses to miss the play his 4 years old brain could think of.. I didn't want to put pressure on him and I also didn't want him to back out because it would give him wrong message. It was hard to keep my cool..specially as I was pregnant. Weeks went and finally the big day arrived. We were clearly instructed (by him) that we cannot watch him perform. "Sorry son, we cheated but we made sure that you couldn't see us." And I am glad we saw. Play went very well. He didn't just perform well, it seemed he was having fun doing it. All three of them actually. Those lights, stage, cheering crowd and applause..I was immensely proud and so grateful to his teachers. They brought out a side in him which I was convinced didn't exist :)
My 3 years old grumpy Angel (in Christmas play 2011)
My 4 years old funny narrator (in Christmas play 2012)
School Christmas play invite.
Awesome preschool teachers..All I have for them is RESPECT.
He is very curious child and from "why there are only U turns and no A, B, C turns" to "why cat is spelled as "CAT" and not "KAT", to "From where babies come from.." to "why birds don't feel cold without blanket" to "why trees don't fall?" questions never stop. He also learned to read, write and add-subtract largely by himself. Little bit of exaggeration here though! Yes, we always encourage him, play board games and do activities with him. We try our best to satisfy his curiosity and converse a lot with him but not even once we sat with him formally to "teach". It always happens through an activity or play. His school also doesn't teach much till kindergarden (which will start next year). Yes, he still needs help with reading and often make mirror images for letters while writing words(very common in this age) but he is pretty good with additions and subtractions. Daddy used to play kids monopoly with him every night and that taught him to add and subtract without any of us realizing that he is learning something so complex while playing. Earlier he needed all his fingers, toes, our fingers and toes to count but just in few days, he transitioned to add two digit numbers without any aid. He can even do simple divisions but yes often makes mirror images for "4" or "S" :)
Like daddy, he too has no concept of time. My boys don't understand that time moves in linear fashion :\ Always among group of kids who reach school last. And guess who all other latecomers are..yep, his little friends. These kids are almost always last ones to get in and most certainly last ones to go out. No matter at what time I (or parents of his friends) reach to pick our little ones, there are always cries of "Can you wait for me?", "can you wait for me?" from rest of their gang. And finally when school closes at 6.00 pm we have to drag them home by 6:10-6:15. But they all look so happy and comfortable in school, It is like their second home.
I wrote last year about his friends and friendships..If anything changed then its only that bonds became stronger and deeper. They are group of five friends (Shreyas, J, A, N and E) and in two different sections. Shreyas and his best friend J went on to be in different sections this year but they still are closest friends. Nonetheless all five of them are great friends. They are from different ethnicities and we try to arrange play dates for them once in a month on weekends as well. They are heading to different schools next year and I really hope we all will be able to keep them in touch.
Not just school he has a large friend circle in our neighborhood as well. Gentle and caring, he is not just popular among his friends, he is pretty popular among their parents too..But sometimes that makes me worry. I don't really want all these praises go to his head, he becomes arrogant/over-confident or worst develops low self-esteem and becomes a people-pleaser when he grows up. So time to time I remind him in my own way: Not everyone in this world is going to like him and thats okay as long as he is not doing anything wrong. He shouldn't worry about others opinion too much. and also that "world doesn't revolve around him." Daddy says, I should just enjoy him and not worry unnecessarily..but thats why Mommies do. No? :)
Yes, my baby turns 5 today and he is everything and more, I ever dreamt about having in my child. Parenting him is nothing but pure joy.
Strangely enough, I don't feel any expectations from him. If love can really be unconditional it is closest I feel my relationship with him. If tomorrow he adopts another religion, makes little money, doesn't earn big degrees, turns out to be gay or build his life away from me...I doubt anything will make me love him any less. All I wish is, this heart melting smile and sparkles in the eyes never leave his face.
All excited to be a big brother in few days and he is already very emotionally attached with Jacuzzi. Convinced that he is going to be responsible for feeding, rocking to sleep, giving bath to his little brother and looking forward to that..His evil parents are even trying for cleaning poop and changing diapers but no luck so far..hehehe.
Ending the post with picture of family my non-artist made in school: Four of us holding hands together.
Wish you a very happy 5th birthday, Son!
Love you :)
Mamma
brilliant post d.
ReplyDeleteThanks rt :)
ReplyDelete