How I tackled my fussy eaters!

As I sit across them,watching them eat, I thank God for how good they are at the table. But there was a time, a time from what feels like a long ago, when I almost cried at every meal time. When eating food seemed like a chore more than anything. Every meal would take an hour and sometimes more. And then one day it all just flipped over....
Well not really- that would be a fairy tale. But as I look back on our long lunch and long dinners, I realized that there were several things that helped the kids become better eaters. Being small built, I do not expect them to gobble down a whole lot. But the only thing I want for my almost four and six year old is a healthy appetite with plenty of variety and a good serving of everything from the food triangle.
When I hear parents complain about how their kids do not eat or are slow eaters I am so tempted to advise. But every child is different and here is how I tackled my fussy eaters

Eat on their own
At about 2 years, my second one, Z was a very poor eater. She was way below her weight on the pediatrician weight curve. In addition feeding her was a pain! Its not like she spat her food, which is something I see a lot of kids do, but she just took it in and pushed it to one side of her mouth, let it settle in the cheek and waited at least an hour before she swallowed it. I realised soon that yelling at a 2 year old only made me hoarse. Trying to force more food only made the process longer and more annoying. I tried to make the food watery/ soupy so that she would just drink it up from the spoon. But that was really not the solution.
For more of this blog ... visit mycity4kids.com tackling my fussy eaters

The New Generation - Things we never said to our parents

I find my son and daughter telling me things. Things that make me wonder 'Did I ever say that to my mother or father'. I am not a lovy dovy person. I am totally practical. They way I show my love is by doing things for you. Like picking up your socks or baking a cake!
But these two little munchkins come up with the perfect liners at the perfect time that make you want to hold your chest and say 'Oh My do I really deserve this LOVE'.
My top five favorites are
1. 'I love you Amma': I don't believe I every told my parents I loved them. Maybe  they felt it when I was obedient or did as they told me (which was not very often either). But come the new Generation and I get so many 'I love you's'. And its not only about the 'I love you's', its the timing. Usually its when either I walk in to the door or when Isaac or Ziva walk in after a park visit. A hug and and 'I love you' and the days is perfect! Makes every day fell like Mothers Day #EveryDayIsMothersDay #MothersDay

2. 'I miss you Amma': I never said this to my parents. Even when I saw them after a 3 month long summer vacation where me and my sister were packed off to Kerala to be with our grandparents. Its not that I did not miss them - its just  - I guess our generation. But with Isaac and Ziva even a 15 minutes trip to the grocery store and back and I get a 'I missed you Amma'. Heart melting and reaching for the tissue box.

3. 'Don't take for so long OK' : This is another version of the ' I miss you'. As I was packing my bag for a baking course I was planning on spending the whole Saturday at, I go this little piece of advise ' Amma don't take for so long OK - come back soon'.  Whether it was the sweetness in the structure of the sentence or the innocence with which it was said I don't know! Its  just makes me seem so special! #EveryDayIsMothersDay

4. 'Have fun Amma!' : This was right after I sat Isaac and Ziva down for a conversation on how I would go for a baking class and learn to make yummy things for them. They listened very carefully as I told them to be good and not trouble Appa. As I got ready to walk out of the door I got this call 'Have fun Amma'. 

5. Classic: This is probably the one that goes on top of the list. It was a conversation between me and Ziva that I should have recorded. Three and half year old Ziva had just watched 'Cinderella' with her cousins. As she was playing with her dolls back home I heard her say
' Yes Step mother'. I stopped
' Ziva who is the step mother' . Ziva coyly responded
' Cinderella's mother'
' Am a step mother' I asked wondering what she understood about a step mother.
' No step mother gets very angry' Ziva responded
' I get very angry Ziva' I edged her on
' Yes but you get very angry and then you get very happy with me. '
It seemed like the most philosophical way of explaining to a three year old about the mother who loved her and therefore had to correct her. She gave my mother skill justification and a guarantee stamp with those innocent word!

#EveryDayIsMothersDay and #MothersDay

This blog is written for a mother's day blogging contest New Generation

Picnic Perfect

As a homeschoooling mom, I am always looking for something new to do. If everyday was math and phonics and writing .... a 35 year old would get very bored... imagine a 4 year old and a 2 year old.
So last week when the maid took a day off, I went on a 'picnic' to the park. It didn't go great for me, but Isaac enjoyed himself. So I promised myself to do it again. This week, I was better prepared and we had a picnic yesterday. A breakfast picnic. Isaac helped me get the basket, he put in what he wanted to take for the picnic ... ball ... books ... and of course we needed food. Bread  and egg was on the menu with cheese slices and plenty of fruits: apples and guava.
But I didn't want to miss and educating moment ... So I took blank pieces of paper and a Swiss army knife. We had a lot of fun. The kids ate, played around and I even got Isaac and Ziva to stick leaves on the paper I had taken. We even did a few math/sorting pages from one of Isaac's work books. It was a lot of fun.
When I told Suresh how much fun it was and he saw the pictures, he said 'You should have outdoor classes.' I like the idea ... it gives me a chance to get some much needed Vitamin D as well.
The best part ... when I was packing up the picnic basket to return home Isaac said 'Thank you Amma'  -- unprompted. More incentive to keep homeschooling!

Great weather to kick off your shoes

 excited about the Swiss Army knife

 Learning material

 Running around

Sibling conversation

Let the games begin

Jack be nimble... Jack jump over the candle stick

They ran 3 laps around the park

Look at them go

Basking in the sun

Leaf collection

Naughtiness begins

Troubling Isaac ... but he's laughing

The story of a heart

A few days into Summer camp at Artsy Craftsy, I heard the following announcement.
'Kids take the slip of paper for instructions on your first project'
In my head I was thinking 'Great - at 3.5 yrs ... I was probably going to be doing Isaac's project'
I wanted to shake Kanchan and say 'Why ... why are you spoiling camp? ... We are having so much fun!' . But I guess she has done enough number of these to know better than me.

I was very nervous.... I thought Isaac doesn't sit still for more than 5 mins. How will I get him to do this. I thought the project was for the next day and was all stressed out. I have now realized - Homeworks and projects are actually fun ... Its us parents that make it all stressful.

I took out the paper in the evening. Suresh drew the heart (per the instructions) and I divided it into three parts. 
I sat Isaac on the high chair and said 'Isaac color this part red' I opened his paint box. He finished it and went on 'Now this one amma' pointing to the next part.
Me:"Isaac you will need to wash your hands". He jumped off ran to wash his hands and came back. I gave him pink. 5 mins later. 'Now this one amma' . Me:'We will do it tomorrow morning Isaac'. 'No. I want to color this one'. We finished the 'project' in 1/2 hr. Isaac spent the next 1 hr showing it off to Ziva (20 months) and admiring it himself. 
Thanks Artsy Craftsy

Isaac's heart

Every school I visited the past few months, I kept asking is there homework. I wanted to make sure they didn't send back anything. I realized, had Kanchan not sent this home ... how would we parents know how much our child can do ... on their own. All they need is a little guidance and a lot of encouragement.

We parents ruin all the fun of projects and work at home (I do not like the term homework!). We either make it competitive or insist on a time line  ... which fits our schedule.

Arsty Craftsy posted Isaac's heart painting on her wall. I was super proud. Not because how pretty it looked or because it got xx 'likes' ... but because the caption said 'by Isaac (3.5 yrs)' ... He was just my little boy... If I could just let him enjoy his childhood!  I have all these plans of doing all these things with Isaac for the coming school year ...
But I promise to look at this heart and remember .. to let him enjoy himself!

Have a little heart.

An 'Artsy Craftsy' time of my life

When I was in school, we had art class. I dreaded the day we had art class. I did not like carrying my drawing book. I did not like my paint brushes and most of all I had no self esteem when it came to putting the paint on paper.
I remember always getting very low scores in art exams. I wonder why they killed the subject with exams. After all its so subjective. How do you grade it? I was very glad when I knew that after 8th standard I would no longer need to do the dreaded painting and drawing. My biggest fear was when the art teacher would walk past my table. I wanted to cover my work. I was way too conscious. I remember having to draw a pot once and she walked past me. She looked at my painting and said ...
'Don't you see how its dark on one side because of the sunlight coming from the other side?'
In my head ' No!'
Lesson: I wasn't very artsy!

                                        Guess what this is called. Isaac and amma at home making a Con....

Enter Suresh: I found a new love for art. I appreciated it more. Probably because of the passion with which he spoke about it. He seemed to think that art class should have been there all our life. 'Yikes'. But he made a good statement. If I had done art at a later stage in life I would have enjoyed it. Mainly because I would not care what anyone else thought about my paintings. I would do it to enjoy it.

                                                  Isaac and my rendition of 'Up,Up, Up'
Enter Isaac: I realized I would not be able to stay away from  the paint brushes. As I write this bit ... I am actually thinking ... I may never have really touched a brush since my drawing class... till when I got one for Isaac. No - its not because I didn't like it ... it because I was scared of what it could produce. But we (Isaac and me) finally ventured into lots of painting and drawing. I realized I wasn't so bad. I mean I could please a 2 or 3 year old. A month ago I discovered Isaac loved coloring... he enjoyed it and he could sit still for 1/2 hr with paints and brushes. He enjoyed coloring and he even used his magna-doodle to draw strange things. I realized it would be fun to get him introduced to an Art teacher.

The very hungry caterpillar - by Isaac

Enter Artsy Craftsy and the fantastic 'Kanchan Yadav': Since Isaac was not going to school this year, I wanted to try a summer camp. I wanted him to be able to take instruction from a person other than me or suresh. More importantly I wanted him to follow those instructions and be respectful of the person. I had hoped for something close by. But it did not work. I had heard about Artsy Craftsy from Mili (who lives in our community) and decided to try it.

                                          First day - painting a Tote bag - Isaac's work at Artsy Craftsy

Initially I was a little skeptical about the distance - Brigade Metropolis seemed far! more than 12 kms. But the fees were so reasonable that I decided to try it out! I am so glad I did! I have not been disappointed. Every day is fun. Every day is new. I do not know where Kanchan gets her ideas from. I am not sure how she thinks it up. But whats more important is the way she executes it! Phenomenal. She has two batches going on.

Mosaic hanging - Isaac's work at Artsy Craftsy

One a group of 8 kids between 6-12 years. Another group of 8 kids between 3-5 years. 16 very attention seeking kids.... and she manages to give her attention, opinion and correction equally. I have had to sit in summer camp for the last one week because Isaac is going through separation anxiety. There has not been a single moment of boredom. The first few days I took a book to read. But I found myself putting the book away to watch the kids at work with their hands and minds and creativity. I realized how art and craft could develop so many fine motor skills.

                                         Cover of drawing book -Leaf stamps by Isaac at Artsy Craftsy
                                       
We also had dance by Kreative Steps last week. I even found myself practicing one of the steps in front of the mirror. This week I really miss Deepa with her dance moves that make Bollywood music so much fun and not lewd!
We have been through one week of arts, crafts and dance and I enjoy it as much as the kids.
The highlight of the week is Isaac taking a bath and telling Suresh 'Appa I am going to summer camp O.K.'

                                         Chocolate spoons - non heat cooking by Isaac at Artsy Craftsy

I have so much more to say about Artsy Craftsy. But I think it deserves a separate blog. I also need permission from Kanchan to yap about all the activities!

Isaac's piece of work at non-heat cooking

So for now its time to craft my life away!