After searching high and low, finally found the SONY Imagemixer install CD this weekend!
That means, I get to videoblog again. So downloaded some clips from the old(?! I guess a 2003 DV camcorder is OLD) camcorder from the recent trip. Found out soon enough that the sound was not being recorded. Then remembered having the same problem 4 years ago, fixed it and now after some rush editing, you have
The quality is actually better than what the old Canon S30 was dishing out during its last days.
Now that I can take secret videos again, I am thrilled..
I was reminescing about my first video blog, which happened to be my 100th post! It took me forever to do that videoblog, in days before Youtube. Had to sign up for many accounts, create your own image for the file, link it to windows media player, etc., but it still worked!
We get so used to these improvements that anything old school (which may be just 4 years or even 2 years old) seems arcane!
We had promised ourselves a one day trip to Big Sur, when we had visited Julia Pfeiffer Burns park last Christmas. This week we finally made it. It was also a little anniversary treat.
We were all having a good time, until...
The little one decided to walk a 0.3 mile steep trail by herself. She would insist on holding my hand, her mothers hand as well her blanket wedged between her shoulder and head and walk the trail at the same time. Talk about having your cake, eating it too, and more.
Any attempts to lift her and walk, would end up in a wail, falling on the floor head first, a rolling action of the torso, with her butt held high in the air and legs kicking, all at once. A motion so complicated, yet executed in such a fashion that spiders, centipedes and other organisms with complicated body structures would dedicate temples in her honor.
We were at the bottom of a waterfall view point, when this tantrum (which I call Combo #1) started. I picked the little one up and started running. San, Balaji and the few other hikers present, were trying to find out what I was searhing for. It was a weird sight with a guy running around with a screaming, fighting kid on his shoulder, looking at the ground.
I was literally searching for "ground"! Combo #1 starts with "falling on the floor". When you are on a steep trail with rocks and roots everywhere on the ground, the surface doesnt provide the adequate banging cushion for a 19 month old kid! These manouvers were perfected on carpeted floors and the little one is still learning the concept of relative hardness.
Granted, it was not as glamorous as a Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise or Mel Gibson trying to find some field in a foreign location, to land their bullet ridden plane with the tail in flames. But I was in effect trying to do the exact same thing. Safely land the little one on a flat surface so she can start banging her head on the floor and teach the wild life at Big Sur a thing or two about showing displeasure. I kept running and finally dropped her on a wooden bridge. She promptly bumped her head on the wood, put her butt high in the air, did the kicking and screaming routine.
By this time, everyone in our little travel group caught up with me. I was expecting a pat on the back for saving the little one's head. But they did not understand why I even dropped her on the ground in the first place and gave me the "how cruel?" look.
They did get to see Combo #1 in gory detail multiple times as we walked back and have probably forgiven me by now.
I am still working on a video blog of all the different tantrum combos. The compiled movie will hit your screens sometime before 4th of July!
Here is the bridge, and the little one crossing it before she entered her phase.
And in other news, got the new camera on Friday, :) And in other other news, will get the lens only on Monday, :( !!! So the photo and video you see were all the work of the old S30.
Decided to go eat with friends at the famous "Yan Can Cook" restaurant. As fate would have it, there was some ingredient in the yummy stuff that I was allergic to, and ended up sick on friday night. That meant, spending some quiet time at home with the kids and keeping a low profile (not to mention the two birthday parties attended over the weekend)!
They were up to their usual antics..
In other news, the canon S30 has reached its limit. After making it through steam and sulfur at Yellowstone, even daylight images are getting grainy! (the fringes you see in the video however are not due to the S30, they are due to the insect screen on the sliding door!).
In other other news, San is getting me a new camera for our wedding day!
To all those (you know who you are) who have recently gifted digital cameras to your spouse for various occasions like anniversary's, birthdays, fathers day etc. thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Needless to say, you will hear all about the new camera. I can't wait to open that box!!
Every morning, Jr. watches Barney while having breakfast. The little one has taken to the purple dinosaur in a big way. The minute the titles come she becomes all shy and then gets all excited. She runs around in circles, tries to jump (has not figured out how to get both feet off the ground yet! she is 18 months old) and starts clapping and dancing..
I have caught it on camera several times, but she is usually in her diaper then. Today she was wearing a nice frock and the dancing was kicked up a notch! This inspite of the fact that our big 52" TV got taken out for maintenance and we are back to our old 20" TV screen. Barney looks a lot smaller, but she did not seem to notice the difference!
I thought we were done with Barney, but I was so wrong. We better get ready to accept the purple dinosaur for another four or five years!
In a recent post on kids travelling under constraints, a couple of links were pointed out to me by s.b. These links were good, really good!
Here is how we manage the kids during our flights. We do not let them float in the aisle. We did have two other kids walking up and down on their own constantly, during our last flight. One of the kids actually stopped by for almost 20 minutes near our seat and I was holding his hand so that he wont fall down. Eventually his mom came and took him back to the seat! We do let the little one out of her seat, but she is confined to our row, and sometimes I carry her up and down the plane.
We do not let them open the door hatch! Jr. is entertained extremely well by San and her mom, by teaching all kinds of grandma games on the flight!
This one is Dosai amma Dosai! (Dosa is a south Indian Crepe and amma is mommy).
It goes
Dosai amma dosai arisi maavum ulutha maavum kalandhu potta dosai ammavukku 4 appavukku 3 baby-kku 2 Jr. ukku 1 suda suda suttu neiyla thottu vayaru romba saapidalam!
(translation)
Dosa mommy Dosa crepe made by mixing rice flour and lentil flour mommy gets 4 daddy gets 3 baby gets 2 I get 1 hot hot and fresh clarified butter dipped lets eat till our stomach is full!
This goes on for 15 minutes before they switch to ice-cream soda!! Or I play "find that word on this page" with the in-flight magazine.
Point is, our kids are equally cranky, but we deal with a lot less negativity.
I have been thinking of starting a kid friendly airlines!!
1. I will have wide aisles for kids to run around 2. the walls will be painted with Disney , Sesame street, Barney, Dora characters. 3. I will hire daycare teacher turned air-hostesses or air-hostesses turned daycare teachers only! 4. Will not have any carbonated or sugary drinks on the flight that would make the kids hyper. 5. There will be little tables in the middle of the plane and little kid chairs where they can draw, paint etc., once the seat belt sign is removed! 6. There will be music and videos for the kids to be distracted. 7. There will be little beds for them to sleep comfortably instead of trying to lie down horizontally between daddy and mommy with those annoying arm rests pulled up halfway! 8. All adults who board will be asked a few extra questions. a. do you like kids ? b. did you let your kids put things in your bag without your knowledge ? c. do you think kids should be allowed to travel on planes ? a "NO" answer for any question will promptly trigger a cavity search by airport security and they will not be allowed to board the plane. 9. Instead of the pathetic paper barf bags, there will be a button next to the seat marked "V" which automatically drops a bucket from the top compartment. That way you can save yourself an inflight shirt change! 10. there will be a diaper change area and some special diaper trash containers. Have you ever tried pushing a full diaper into the small rectangle which says "trash" on local flights?
I have a lot more ideas for this plan, but don't want to get carried away! Damn, I already thought way too much about this. Now all I need is some nice billionaire to loan me some money to start Babiaire / Littlewings or Kidsfly Airlines!
Hope this inspires some other parents to control their kids during flights!
Sunday, July 29, 2007 at 1:05AM 
