pk and other movies

My Dear Son,

You slept when we went to see GI Joe, Frozen, both the Hobbit movies, and the long list continues. There is somthing about a darkened cinema and very loud Dolby speakers that lulls you to sleep gently. I ried it at home and it didn't work. Only during Dhoom 3 you were partly awake and insisted very loudly that you needed to go and do potty, making me miss the last part entirely.
Anyways we went to see PK and to my surprise (do i keep repeating that phrase? i wonder why), you saw the entire movie spellbound. We were happy. The torture started next day. When you insisted you wanted to see the movie again. You made us play the songs on youtube, made us copy the steps, danced to it yourself ad hummed the songs the entire day. Then you started singing, I don't know why but loudly. Even the abusive ones. Like me you have the talent to replace the lyrics as you seem fit. But not the abusive one. That you sing word y word to my dismay. So i drafted a letter to the PK crew in anguish and posted it on their fb page. here's it

To Mr Amir Khan, Mr Hirani, Mr Shantanu Moitra, Mr Swaroop Khan or whoever may it concern,

As a family, we never miss any of your movies Mr Hirani. By we, I mean to include my soon-to-be 4 year old son. He loves all the songs of your latest movie PK. He starts listening to them at 6 am when he wakes up. All of them. He can even sing all these songs. Word by word.  Even tharki chokra. I tried to tell him he is hearing it wrong and its actually firki chokra. For a while he believed me. Imagine my surprise today when he woke me up with haraami, kamina and some other choice words. I know its trendy to use abusive language in songs these days but we want to continue going to your movies as a family. A humble request. Please no more dirty lyrics. It does not suit you.  

Flags and under stuff...

My dear son, 

Since i have missed out a lot in the recent past i will try to put it all here. All the small cute things... 
Like when i sneezed and you ran to your room screaming "i'll get hanky panky for you mumma"
Like when your dad said he was hurt on his eyes and you kissed the hurt away
Like how you helped me in kitchen by crushing the black peppers (even though i didn't need it you insisted)
And how you slipped down, got up and laughed and said"oh i fell down becof of gravity"! 
And the most embarrassing this month - you put two tiny gender neutral baby dolls together and said, "boy and girl are hugging and kissing" !!!
Your most most endearing till date - i love you mumma with a little puckered kiss on my cheek 
Strangest one liner - mumma kya aap mere dost banoge? What the fudge i avoid srk movies for a reason darsh!! I hate his cheesy one liners

                                 And the current obsessions these days are -

bigger dora kitchen set - in the last 6 months you have made us buy 3 kitchen sets, and now you want another!!!

Pluto the planet is crying becoz its not a planet anymore! some youtube song and then you want to know the whys and hows and i think i need to seriously study all this :O   
oh yes another doll house cos this one does not have a bathroom. i seriously think i prayed too hard for a girl when you were inside the tummy and hence all these antics. there is just no other logical explanation!!

making lego blocks of flags of strangely tiny nations from Africa and Europe, 

songs sung by AR Rahman, Sunidhi Chauhan and ummm yes Amitabh Bacchan singing ekla chalo re

A video of light and sound show at India Gate 

and little einsten birthday cake for your birthday. 

Yupp that's it for now. i hope  

Retaliate not attack

My dear son 
For almost a week you would come home and tell us how your frienmy (sometimes you do say he is your friend) hit you or how the other boys were fughting with you. I spoke to the teacher, concerned parents and even the kids. Your little tales continued. The teacher assured me the kids don't hurt each other and they are only playing. Then one day you came home with what i would call a punched in eye. That day your dad sat you down and explained the importance of self-defense or what i would call retaliation. I have always told you to hit back if some one hurts you. But somehow what your dad said registered. Two days later your teacher complained to me that you were hitting the frienmy and not settling down. I told her, "we have taught him to hit back if a classmate hits him." She looked at me for a moment and nodded. I am happy to report no further complaints. Not from you nor your teacher. You need to give it back to the people who hurt you. Mumma is not going to solve your problems. That's the way she grew up. And that's how you need to raise yourself. It's one of the most important lessons of life. Hope you remember this one for always my dear. As always, i love you. 

your choice of language

My Dear Son,

There is a little bit of Amy Chua in all the moms in the world. Specially Indian moms. We are more like our Chinese counterparts in making threats. Just making them. And in your case, in just making threats during lunch time and dinner time and breakfast time and snacks time. But sometimes i do get carried away and that's how you got your first oatmeal bath today (i.e. a few spoons of your favorite breakfast on you). Someone did tell me once that oatmeal is good for skin. So when you refuse to finish your breakfast even after an hour, you might get a nice scrubby oatmeal bath from time to time.... but i think you enjoyed it

And i have been thinking of ways to initiate you on a foreign language. While you are still basics in english, hindi and spanish (thanks to dora and diego), i was thinking of starting maybe french or german or japanese.
But you surprised me with your choice. On youtube you have been requesting (read pointing) tamil rhymes (vana vana valiape... soem version of rain rain go away i think) for the last two weeks. Nothing to be alarmed about, i tell myself. But now you are singing those tunes too :O
i have nothing against regional languages but maybe we can go back to watching trotro in french please. i miss trotro now.

and now about Amaira. The first time you me her you rolled on the floor and threw a tantrum because your mom was holding her. Now, it seems, you can't wait to get hold of her. Today you told me, "i want to hold Amaira, let's go meet Amaira." i think maybe you have been dreaming about her since you ask for her every 3-4 days. :-D

As always
your loving mom ;)

back to school

My dear son,

i have not been able to write for the last few months.
Why
Because your school had announced summer vacations.
Which meant i was at your beck and call all day long for golf, pinball and cricket and basketball and hide-n-seek and bow-arrow and blocks and ofcourse your endless board books and story books and mickeymouse clubhouse books. Please don't get me started on those. So i was not able to write. At all.
But we had so much fun playing with you that i was a little sad when your school reopened.

So here's a new list of things you are obsessing about these days:
Munching on cucumber
Pinching people really bad (your dad, your Advay dada)
Attacking people with your bow and arrow
Eating ladoo while watching chotta bheem
Playing the flute while watching little krishna
Teaching me words from your board books every day (sob sob). did i mention its a dozen book set?
Spiderman toothpaste and toothbrush and shirt and cap and water bottle and and and
Amaira :*

Anyways i will be back with more on the last one laters

As always,
Your loving mom

and now you want a cat

My dear son,

I have not been able to write as much i wanted in the last few days. Due to your coughing :( Specially around 3 am. And then you throw up. So i try to sleep in the day when you take your nap. Hence fewer cute letters..

We went to the temple this friday. And we had fun. You rang lots of holy bells and you had lots of 'prasad' and you got a few tikka too. So it was a fun trip for us. Until, you decided to befriend the temple dog who was dozing peacefully. You went and tried to pat it. And it snarled at you. Because dogs don't like surprises. But you didn't cry then. You came to me very quietly and told me, "mumma i want a cat." You cried in the car, when i asked you what happened. I think you were in shock. I was also amazed. For two minutes i don't watch you and this happens. sob sob sob

But this didn't shock me as much as what you did last week. We were getting ready for your daily "park outing" when suddenly you were nowhere to be found. It seems you didn't want to wait up for us. After we had searched all your hiding spots inside the house (behind the curtain, behind the door, behind the toy basket, beneath the study table...), we found you waiting for us, inside the lift. You were smiling.
When did you grow so tall that you could reach the lift button on your own? Or turn the door latch on your own? And just when did you turn so so naughty? I swear i had a mini heart attack that day.

Oh, in other news, your father has forgotten all romantic bollywood songs these days. The only thing he can hum to me these days is "3 little kittens" or "5 little moneys". Me? i'm a 'finger family' fan these days. All of them. Especially "where is thumbkin".

As always,
Your loving mom.

no more midnite attacks please

My dear son,

If I wear new earrings, that's because I am a woman. Which you are not. Clearly.
So tonight after I go to sleep can I please expect you to NOT pull at my earrings.
I know they are pretty and they will be yours (I mean your wife's) eventually.

So please spare my ears the pain tonight.

And i suggest you work on communicating with your dad. More effectively.
Just pulling at both your ears and saying Papaaa will not get your message across.
Tell him you want both your ears pierced and adorned just like your mom's.

Also, can you please not wear your pearl necklace the same day I do.
Especially not on your check-print shirts. On a movie + shopping day. And definitely not the 5-strand necklace. Looks quite strange.

as always,
your loving mom