Kids crafts

The kids have been celebrating their brithday multiple times.. with classmates, family, family friends, grandparents only special, dinner at their favorite restaurant on their actual birthday etc. 

Here is a photo from yet another celebration at home!

Wish I had lighting like this at the bowling lanes...

They got  many gifts most of which are arts and crafts stuff. 

Jr. loved this dairy which she promptly bling-ed (guessing that is the right term for it?) 

Today they started working on decorative bangles where you do the decorating yourself. After 30 minutes of going nowhere, they asked me to come help. They were trying to "glue" the ribbons to the plastic bangle and the whole thing was a big mess.  So I asked them to wash the bangles and start from scratch. 

Me : Where is the instructions? 

LO : We threw it out!

Me : GO and GET it, NOW!

Jr. : Here it is. 

Me : (after reading the instruction and figuring out that you are supposed to start with the double side sticky tape before doing anything with glue). You have not even opened this packet with the tape! Why?

Jr. : We don't need the tape.

Me : Says "who?" It says here in the instructions that you have to start with the tape.. why didnt you read the instructions?

LO : It has TOO MANY WORDS!  Who will read that many words. It is not simple instructions!

We finally did restart the project and they did a great job of following the instructions step by step. 

This is what happens when your kids get used to EULA's which run pages long and they just get used to clicking "I agree" on the one hand and have instructions that are "Step 1: sticky tape. Step 2: wrap Step 3: Glue".. 

Today my job is done in this house. Have taught kids something very important.

Always start with the instruction manual!

Creativity to compensate

If you read the previous post on the almost forgotten Tamil, tonight promised more fun.

I ask Jr. "What is the Tamil word for Squirrel?"

She goes into thinking mode, taps her finger to her lips a few times and goes 

"Is it Mara Eli?" 

Burst out laughing. Maram is tree in Tamil. Eli is rat. She called it a Tree Rat. Do not know how she gets this.

The sad thing is that the little one knew the answer to be "Anil" for squirrel.

That answer made me sad first but made me smile a second later.

Sad because Apple : English :: Anil : Tamil

In Tamil you teach the vowels first and it goes a, aa, e, ee.. and the first picture in every Tamil book ? 

A is for Anil ! So the fact that it escaped Jr. is sad.

But my sadness gave way to a smile because it takes a very imaginative kid to go all the way and connect the words for tree and rat and make a creative name for another "rodent?" that climbs trees.. So the imaginative streak make me feel very proud! 

I could not have thought of a Squirrel as a Tree Rat in a million years!

We play a new gave now at bedtime. Anything that anyone has to say to the other two people has to be said in Tamil.. It was hilarious. They actually made an effort and were really good at it too getting creative on using their imagination to compensate for their vocabulary!

Next thing we know.. we will be back to bear and animal stories.. (you have to watch the last few seconds of the first video on this old post to get the reference!)

They never cease to amaze!

Head over heels

Well, if it is not your heels then it is your head they play with!

After a gruelling work day where 14 hours out of 24 were spent staring at a monitor came home to find the kids in a playful mood.

Had to oblige them with anything they asked for as it was just day 2 of school.

They wanted me to play outside and we tried that for a few minutes and they realized how tired daddy was. So we moved indoors and the little one said "daddy, I know just what you need. We are going to dress you up and pamper you!"

Well a six year olds idea of pampering daddy involves

1- combing your hair

2- adding rubberbands to your hair that will ensure you have a reduction in hair count that is way more than what you can tolerate

3- decorations with accessories

The only difference this time was that all these things were being photographed in the iPhone. It was nice to see the pictures and be surprised at the things that make my day!

So without much further ado..

We present..

Princess Daddy!

Did not quite understand why the glasses. The little one had an explanation for that. Apparently that was the Grandma daddy with "neththi chutti" photo! (Neththi chutti is a decoration used by indian brides on their forehead). Mommy's dolphin necklace had become a Chutti.

If she finds out....

Well.. she will when reading this post!

Why can't they comb mommy's hair, I ask and the answer?

"We don't want mommy's hair to fall out. You don't have a lot of hair anyways!"

Honesty is sometimes overrated and cruel.

and yes, usually she does things to my feet. Nailpolish, pedicure etc. Sometimes I prefer the heel treatment to the head treatment, but all said and done, head over heels in love with my little angels.

They can do whatever they want in the makeup sessions.

Kids, in case you read this blog years from now.. please know that you put me through this and I did it with a smile!

All grown up

Came back home this afternoon to find the kids all dressed up and ready to go to a function at a friends place.

Another one of those moments where it dawns on you that the kids are growing up and growing up fast.

Too fast for my liking that is. Wish I could freeze frame them the way they are!