da! da! daycare!

A huge roller coaster fortnight it's been:

1.       Busy social life – umpteen birthday parties to pick from and we drove to PA to be at a friend’s daughter’s 3^rd birthday and it was too much fun. They went full out with DJ and bartender etc and AG went beserk dancing nonstop for 3 hours I am NOT kidding – 3 hours nonstop even I couldn’t cope up with her. Well the downside is of such short outing – no guesses food department – girls were on liquid diet for the weekend we were there for 2 days.

2.       So we had introductory sessions in daycare and kids did well, they were so distracted with the toys though they didn’t notice anyone else around – friends or teachers– sessions were just 1-2 hours, mom and I sat with them in the class and let them explore. So far no issues love the daycare, the teachers, the people, the facilities, the curriculum, the menu…

3.       Right after the party weekend we were to start their daycare, AL had a mild cold and I was not upto it so extended their start day to 1/28, yep go with the flow. So the week was spent at home by the girls and what a freezing week it’s been, amazingly low temperatures. I had to shop a little bit for their clothes wasn’t as successful as it was just too cold. Managed some necessities and most importantly got them snow pants which are mostly out of stock by this time of the year.

4.       So daycare began yesterday and they are doing OK. Very poor in the food department and my heart aches as a mother that we have to let go of our babies for them to grow up and learn and unlearn some things. But I know it’s for the best. They are happy with new class, kids toys, activities etc They just had one episode of crying when they got separated for an activity where in AL was taken outside to play AG wasn’t as she was to go in a different group.  But I let them know its too early to separate them and they need each other until they completely get into a routine and get into schedule.

Today is Day 2 and Dad dropped them off and I am to pick them up. I spoke to their teacher once and they are fine playing, not eating but playing! Crossing my fingers and toes they eat something.  Yep! All I want is them to eat and drink some milk on their own.  Next month or so more social gatherings, more visitors and lots more things to do for the house. Some of them are exciting things like kids beds will arrive this week and other boring stuff to deal with like dishwasher review we are under going right now. More gyan on appliances later, cant get kids out of my mind for now…

Women and so called Power

In my limited experience of 30 odd years I have seen somehow more women in day to day life absolutely irritate me when they cannot deal with this so called "power and position" they acquire. I am no feminist nor a misogynist - very neutral and will call spade a spade. Its probably very few  but still somehow more women than men, I encountered who cannot deal with this newly acquired money, title and power and they walk with tiaras on their head. I met one such recently yet again.

 Women who claim to be "Master of everything" (couldnt use mistress for lack of grace in that word!) but fail miserably when it is to deal with basic human emotions and feelings. So 2 days back went to talk to the leasing head at our apartment community from which we have moved out to talk about some basic charges that were to be paid. This lady sitting in her chair,in her newly acquired position as "Manager" was so curt and cross. I just wanted to walk out of that place. We dealt with her as an Associate. Not that she was excellent before but much worse now. I have in the past walked away and out of people who behave like this. I do not see the need for me to stand and take crap from person who I just met. Plus  trying to instigate me to bring out the worst.  

But I just went on in this case, patiently. I was losing it but tried to communicate with her. It wasnt fruitful, I concluded and walked out finally, but made me feel very sad for her. This lady was doing her duty - yes! Was she cordial - yes! You could check all those things she is supposed to do in the list. But lack of warmth and compassion failed her miserably. I hope she is healed of all that pride and that heavy tiara she has to wear each morning. Its good to take pride in your work but to display authority and your position is another. Something I wanted to crib about ;)

Mundan done!

Yes I have bald twins now officially. The first year we had to wait for AG's small empty bubble-like blister on her head which took a year to vanish since birth as Doc had advised. Then having to wait for 1 year to pass after MIL passed away and we decided to keep it simple got it done at Super cuts in Burlington. Everything went smooth, girls were annoyed a little got distracted with lollipops stocked there  Ideally we wanted to get it done in Tirupati end of 2011 but circumstances changed and I didnt want to delay it any further. So the ladies at Super cuts were to the point did the job well I wanted it done together so in 20 minutes all done in 30 bucks for 2!

Girls are taking it ok. They love their hair and always asked for long her. They seemed to understand my concept that after this they shall have nice long her somehow. They do avoid mirrors for now and its just been a few hours since. Not that they stared into mirrors anyway but the salon has mirrors all over and they seemed to look away. Pretty smart I think. AG really needed this as she had really frizzy-curly baby hair.

At home I mentioned they have Caillou's hair style but they really dont need any reassurance :-)

This and That...

So settling down is taking us quite a long time as anticipated and planned. We are fine with day to day stuff, closets somewhat organized, pantry etc. But still consolidation, reorganizing etc will continue for a while until I am completely happy with the way things are. We are very particular I guess and 7 years in one place we got back some stuff which we have to eliminate by reviewing carefully  :-)

Just went to the temple and mall for the weekend. Got myself a pair of much needed basic blue jeans. Unplanned shopping in Zara. We are shop-oholics P and me should really stay away from malls for sometime, although I have better self control LOL. So Kids insisted they will carry the bags and AG left the bag on the ground when she wanted some water, we missed it and left the bag in the mall. Only to come home and realize and then call the mall lost and found and the Zara store and a good samaritan and returned the bag so went again on Sunday to pick it up. Lucky me got my pair of jeans back. Although it was inexpensive but still.

AL talks fast and has clear speech. Right from start she was more verbal. AG as mentioned is more baby talk when she comes to her speech, she talks, she expresses but lacks clarity in her pronunciations so most of the times only I can understand/interpret her plus her lovely husky voice impacts the pitch ;) So AL's cutest Grammatical errors ago like this:

I "camed" back Amma

Its all "brokened" - Aadu "broked" it

Playing with my fingers, and folding it like they are sleeping one by one she "waked up" my fingers.

And she says "chicken" for "kitchen" always mixes it up :-)

AG and AL are obsessed with the Spanish cousins - you know who? ;) so we get "Hola!" and "Come on, lets go amigos" - this is what AG told me yesterday. And here I am insisting they talk in Konkani to me, we will probably be talking in Spanish now LOL ;)

Westford Daycare Reviews

So its that time again. We were moving and I had to make a decision on daycares pretty soon so kids get into pre-school and a good one.

1. My first one was to Goddard School on Concord Road. Over all I have mostly heard very good things about Goddard in general. This was a relatively newer branch but the owners were very warm and hospitable and greeted me well. They were personally involved in running the place and seemed to care. Reviewed everything all the basics on routine etc so I will not focus on all that main stuff that we would ask and be informed as a default. I loved the feel and atmosphere of heh place. Happy kids, busy, smiling, plus it was around 10am so kids had settled in. Everyone greeted me etc. The Director walked me through room to room. I absoultely loved this place. The downside to me was they did not offer lunch plus they were most expensive of the lot for me. $2800 almost if I  remember correctly for 2 for pre-school. Personally I wanted kids to be offered food by the school as 1. it helps mingle and make friends at meal time and they learn to be independent and learn some discipline around food and eating habits. 2 Plus as a working mom its just easier for me if I dont have to plan their snacks and lunch - one less thing in routine I can dedicate it somewhere. That's my personal preference anyway. So thats why I give it 4 stars.

2. The next place I went to Acorn Child Care - First look I new I wasnt sending my kids here. Although kids were ready to nap and some even napped hence was rather quiet. Over all was very badly organized place, dingy, dirty carpeted. Very disinterested owner and Director was just ok but gave me no incentive to join the place other than the price probably working out around $2000 or around that ball park for 2 kids. Plus it was in some strip mall kinda place and had two levels and there was some laundromat next door or some such. Over all a big NO for me in present circumstances

3. Next I went to Kindercare Westford  - kids were sleeping here too post lunch. I have been to enough Kindercare and Knowledge beginnings classes and I was sort of already mentally prepared for this place that I would like it and would be in my budget. So layout and everythign else was fine and known to me. One incentive was the pre -school was a new clas starting Jan and hence all kids would be same as age as A &A downside was teachers were currently teaching smaller classes and will move to pre-school, although they claimed teachers had experience with pre-schoolers I wasnt sure especially as a good friend said form pre school curriculum isnt that great. They did offer food, monthly it would probbaly be about $2300 ish for both. Any classes needed to be paid extra like phonics etc, so that would add more bucks on top of fees.

4. Next I went to Child care center Inc - Again hardly spent any time in there. Staff was good, they seemd to be involved and had a good diet plan for kids etc, again kids were asleep and the dingy carpet thing didnt appeal to me. Cost I dont even remember now maybe around the same mark as Kindercare. I just didnt like the feel of the place.

5. NGCC - I somehow always felt this will be an expensive place from the outside but was curious on what they had to offer. Kids were waking up by the time I went there. They had a lot of place inside and outside. I liked their curriculum. They gave pretty decent meals and like all places catered to vegetrian meals for kids. I saw kids being potty trained when I went in. They would probably be somewhat slightly young for the class room but kids are outgrowing and moving out so new ones come and go. Works out to be around $2,500 for 2 kids.Plus I had couple of colleagues vouch for it and a colleague's friend works for NGCC and had all good things to say for it. Plus I got that feel good factor.

All schools had ratio 2 teachers to 18 unfortunately. Also since I had taken the day off and had to squeeze in all daycares in 1 day - I had to go when kids were sleeping which is an absolutely wrong time to go as one knows. Also there were couple more daycares I wanted to go visit but didnt have the energy and felt I will be happy with NGCC for now. Roudenbush - well they are primarily not a daycare to begin with so I was not motivated to go see the place. Maybe its good too.  Kids League is mostly after school for older kids. TLE - I would have probably liked this one too, but thought it was a little off path for us from work to home.

All in all I was stuck between Kindercare and NGCC and went with NGCC. Hopefully it all works out fine and kids like it here. The previous daycare was a total stop gap kinda place and they were really young so convenient wise worked out very well for us. Over all they went only 6 months at a stretch and part time few weeks here and there. All I cared was an affectionate teacher which they found in Zoila and loved her and she loved them. When they changed classes and we decided on the home I decided they will directly go to a new school instead of changing classes again in Learning Zone at Waltham Plus I did not like the new class and attitudes there. We will miss Zoila and the proximity to. I am looking forward to this new daycare. BTW we do have an Indian lady who offered to baby sit our girls within the community but I am not a fan of home daycare in general so didnt opt for it.

Hello 2013!

So 1 week into the New Year and I finally get a chance to acknowledge it in my blog. That just shows I have been having too much fun and basking in our very own new home. Yes! Our 10 month journey and viewing maybe of almost 100 homes spanning  5 cities at least, we finally decided on “the” one :-) It took us this long so as we could gather enough knowledge to decide what it is exactly we wanted. Whether a single family huge colonial, smaller town home, schooling, proximity to shopping, yard size etc etc. Middle of this journey we even pulled out from an offer we put on a sprawling 2 acre home as we couldnt agree in P&S agreement, which sort of brought me some frustration as 4 adults and 2 kids were squeezed into a 2 bed apartment while I was almost ready to pack to leave but we were back to square one.  Plus we are so picky and cautious I think!

Finally we decided on this lovely home in which we are currently living in. We had seen these homes way back and were not sure or ready to make decision early 2012. After weighing pros and cons we agreed to have this custom built to our needs and as a first home it’s a great experience to have experienced the construction of this home right from scratch right from since foundation was laid, and roof was installed every step we have been through and seen the house evolve wall by wall room by room and it’s been an amazing experience. Learnt a lot along the way obviously. P and I made all decisions together like all decisions in our house. From picking tiles, to carpets, to discussing Jacuzzi, to puja area to kitchen hood and appliances and chandeliers and the endless discussion with builder on fireplace, doors, deck etc etc. Ultimately nothing like a brand new home ;) I am glad to have gone through this brand new home stage by stage than go through renovations of old homes (like the other one would have been) It would have been a major adjustment to try to fit ‘our first home’ picture into already constructed older house. This one is also a 3 bed basic colonial style home as we see in the New England area and is decent sized. Some homes focus on master and living areas and compromise on guest bedrooms size but this is decently  spacious plus there is a enough space in basement for more people. For us size of additional rooms and comfort were also important. Many homes have decent master bedrooms and living/family rooms but don’t have a decent guest room. Its very insulting and selfish I feel, it makes guests feel unwelcome.  So we focused on the guest bathrooms size and comfort also. So immediate families who visit us don’t have to compromise a huge deal. Plus wanted a specific pooja space so we dedicated one whole seperate shelf near the kitchen/pantry area. Anyway ultimately above all what makes a home is warmth in the hearts of the people living in it. People can own million dollar homes but lack the warmth, compassion, hospitality and genuine feelings in the heart. Others can live in the smallest of homes and make you welcome and attract people to your home to visit and re-visit. My upbrining and values focus a lot on comfort and respect of guests. I could go on and on in terms of the kind of hospitality my Ajji showred on guests and taught me growing up. :-) 

So we decided to go for a single family home in a community environment, so we don’t own any land but have plenty of neighbors (mostly Indians) a great schooling system (ranked top in Massachusetts) for the kids. 100 acres of conservation land right next to our community to take walks there are lovely walking traisl into the woods, a lake nearby, a buddhist temple where a lot of senior citizens visiting in summer meet up I heard from our neighbors. I even saw a deer family when I was driving out ;) Although we know even a bear and coyote family lives not too far off. ;) What else do we need? We customized some things like a larger deck, completely finished basement with a bath and I really needed a walk out so I love it! …I could go on and on, ...so every home in the community has minor variations. We don’t have our own yard but have a common play area and gazebo etc in the community besides all the walking trails I mentioned above. Plus there are combinations of town homes plus single family homes in the community so more variation between homes.  Over all from the 1100 sqft apartment jumped to a 3300 sqft home – is a huge bonus.

We had a simple milk boiling ceremony to enter the house,rest of the homams etc to follow later, the smell of new paint is amazing, and intoxicating ;) We already had our first invite from a family in the neighborhood for tea and snacks. The lady of the house works in the same organization as me. So far I know 2 people who work at my org who live in the community and many more in the 3 mile radius. So we met a few neighbors yesterday. Daycare is about 3 miles from home but kids haven’t yet started. We also already had a first dance party even without unpacking. Yes our friends from DE arrived and they loved our home and we had a great time with cocktails, food and music in the basement. Nothing like a glass of wine, best friends and good food. Highlight of course was A & A dance performance – jumping and hopping and AG tried her best and gave us a few new moves – loved it! I asked them in a party mood "who wants to party" AL says mee, meee, meee. Then AG other day asks "Amma can we please have another party in the basement? please amma? I want to dance?" LOL fruit dosent fall far from the tree does it? We will be one hell of a fun team as the kids grow up :-)

Furniture was another major decision point considering P and I both have strong taste and opinions in such things. Smartest thing is not get anything custom made. AIt has scope for errors, plus its expensive then anyway every 5-6 years you are bpred and want to make some changes to your furniture? Plus an option to return if you dont like it after getting it home. So Jordan's, Bob's, Macy's it was primarily. We managed to pick dining and master bed set and 1 couch set. We are half way there and only half the stuff has arrived. It will take us 2 months to just settle down and 6 months to install and set up all the things we intend to. Well some people might think that I am not ‘dynamic’ enough to do this sooner and be ‘organized’ in advance. But with our full time jobs, 2 kids of same age, a busy social life, lots of cooking (yep its gas stove and its rocking and our SMART Samsung fridge is a-m-a-z-i-n-g,) that I enjoy doing plus wanting to enjoy the shopping phase and be very sure we don’t end up with furniture we don’t like and above all spend quality time with my kids -  I need that much time. Plus another 2 months parents will leave and will miss then so much I really want to spend quality time with them before they leave so they can spoil my girls a little bit more before they leave. ;) Over all an amazing experience. It was a lot of work with my extremely naughty girls who don’t sit still for a minute but worth it! Our friend’s cousin came down to help us all the days when we moved on Boxing day and our DE friends arrive on 28-29^th 3 families stayed until 1st…it was really good!

So 2012 was an interesting year. Career wise I would say very flat and slow and not as interesting. Kids had many growth spurts I have lost count on. Parents visited us and my parents stayed 9 whole months and they love it. With the new home I am glad they were there with me as they have always been for every important phase in my life.  To see the kids run around – priceless! I experienced a couple of good eye openers and thank goodness for that. Pretence or ‘holier than thou’ attitude or both whatever it is – SUCKs! But you know what I am hardcore Leo – the best and most frequent compliment I get is about my genuine-ness and warmth and I am glad most people who care affirm that,

Probably the lowlight of this year has been the number of days I have been away from my kids. 1 week for Europe trip. I committed and regretted it later although I had too much fun cos once I got there I realized kids were doing fine and enjoying with their Grandma and in fact gave a long list of things to bring from Britain ;) 2 days on a work trip to WI. And 5 days to India in Dec. Total of 2 weeks / 14 days in 2012. Worst one after 2011 where I had to be away for 5 days in Blore away from my sick children in Hyd was to be in India leaving them here in Boston. The latter is only marginally better cos at least their routine was not upset and they were not sick. It was all decisions P and I made together and we will probably do it again if situation arises where in we cannot compromise on their routine. But lets just hope such a situation does not arise.

Wishing and hoping for an even greater 2013, health and happiness to all my besties (and the one with evil eyes - GTH!)