Twelve years later

Traditionally south Indian brahmins do three things when the kid turns one.

1. Tonsure kids head

2. Pierce ears

3. A ceremony to pray for the kids long life that coincides with both.

When Jr. turned one, we had a cermony at home to pray for her long life. It was a quiet ceremony as it was done in the US with a priest and close relatives only.. on a weekday morning. Well, that last part explains everything else. 

We were told by the local barber shop that "tonsuring" was not legal in the US for one year olds, so we did the tonsuring two months early in India. The ceremony happened on her birthday per the Tamil calendar and that left the ear piercing. It was again a muted affair at the local Claire's in Vallco mall at almost mall closing time. It wasn't all that muted because Jr. let out a scream that could have registered a 2.2 on the Richter scale. A few minutes later, she was her usual self.. 

It was not easy digging up those old pictures. They were in a Maxtor drive that could be opened with an "old PC".. Spent an hour just to get the pics with some bigtime help from Jr.

Today, 12 1/2 years later, we went to another Claire's at another mall to get her a second set of earrings. Given mommy has three in each ear, Jr. has been clamoring for another set since she was ten. We told her she can get it when she turns thirteen. That was many months ago, but we kept pushing it back for no big reason.

Unlike the first one, this was a two minute deal ! The collage says it all...

Apparently that bear is called the Claire-bear.. we don't remember having access to that thing 12 years ago!

Jr. is happy camper for now.

The third set of earrings will have to wait...

There was a time..

There was a time when an economy class ticket would still get you a warm smile from the air hostesses, warm blankets, a kit with toothpaste, socks, eye patch, ear plugs for everyone, another kit with fun stuff to do for every kid that gets on the plane, veggie noodles for snacks between meals, and among other things, a deck of playing cards to pass time.

We have been playing cards at home recently with the kids as the little one is turning into a rummy champion of sorts!

The one deck of cards that has still survived in the house is this one.

This deck pre dates both Jr. and the little one. We got it in the late nineties I think. I kept it as a souvenier of what air travel used to be like. The box is all taped up and the cards were handled with care over 16 years. 

Now we are playing with it. I am tempted to return it back into my shoe box and buy a new deck of cards to play with the kids. Given it is the first time we will be paying for a deck of cards, want it to be a memorable deck for the kids.

Who knows? Maybe they will tape it all up and show it to me in 20 years? 

The Christmas gift is here at last...

This years Christmas gift was a printed version of my blog in book form. There were only three or four services that do this, that were recommened on the internet. Used Blogtoprint service and found that they allow a maximum of 1000 pictures in each book.

That meant only the first two years of the blog from 2005 - 2007 and it was 300+ pages. 

It was finally delivered today and we all loved it!

The kids have been flipping through this and laughing and crying at the same time. Given the cost of printing this thing, we have to wait for another year to get book2 printed.. 

Should have done this a long time ago..