Why??!!

Messages to my dear friend, Monica, as we share our experiences of being a mother, the things we learn from our little girls, everyday and the lessons we learn from life itself.
A Blog-dialogue across continents, countries and oceans of time and space...
(We last met in 2000 A.D, in India.)

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Yesterday.

Dear Monica,
I have been looking at pictures of your little darling, Raina...! God, she's adorable! She really is like 'Tinkerbell' as you wrote, and her smiling face is a wonderful amalgam of your and Harit's features... So, how's life!? I'm eagerly awaiting your first link/e-mail/message. It would be great if you also start posting something on a Blog of sorts...All the better for our kids to read when they are of age... But I understand if you have reservations about viewership, privacy etc. (There's a 'settings' page where we can tweak the Blog Readers' list to add/remove e-mail IDs, google+ friends etc.) See if it catches your fancy!!

Today, I practically lazed around in my pyjamas all day long, partly because of my head aching like mad,; (the medication I'm on is being changed, and its one of the unpleasant side-effects.) and partly because the kids are home and Raj is at work...and  I did not have to courage to leave them to their own devices and get into the shower.... I had skipped through the day, giving the kids a rustle-up sandwich for lunch, and we shared the leftover rice and vegetable curry from last night too. I've been at work for two night shifts this week, and my body-clock is still unaccustomed to sleeping at night. Raj often feels like we haven't spent time together in ages, and is urging me to take up day-shifts on the Ward. I think he should be home soon, as he just rang up to ask if I needed any groceries.

Tonight, I made some home-made pizza on a puff-pastry (ready-rolled) sheet, and also some cheesy garlic bread. Raj is always critical of the amount of fat/butter I use, so I have to be careful with my cooking. (My M-i-L is in India, visiting her elderly parents. She's getting things ready for when they come back with her, and live here in the UK with her, in a house she owns. Its a five-minute walk from our place and initially, at least, they'll all stay with us.)
I am still reeling from the kids' noisy day -it takes a lot of 'getting used-to' to live with my brat-pack!! Trust me, they look cute and angelic in their pictures, (which kid doesn't!?) and all that, but their waking moments are full of unplanned, unforeseen dread, for me!! Can't let these two out of my sight even for a few minutes...

Last Saturday, I ventured to take them out to an Indoor Playground, 'Fun Factory', you know the ones where there is lots of netting, soft-padded climbing frames, loads of colourful ball-pools, ladders, slides and the like... The kind of places we parents take our kids to when the weather outside is rubbish, with the incessant rain (UK-ishtyle) making it impossible to contemplate taking them to a park or hillside, so the only option is to let them loose in a space like Fun Factory, where they (ideally) expend their surplus energy, while their parent(s) watch them from a cafe area overlooking the play pits, nursing a cup of coffee, can of coke or a good book.

You wouldn't believe it if I told you how Shivangi cried, when she felt too scared to try the plunging 30 foot-high slide, and yet, felt compelled to try it...From where I sat in the cafe area, I could hear her crying and talked to a member of staff who offered to investigate. .Eventually, I was told by staff that I should take the plunge, literally, with her in my lap, holding her close to me. We sat on the edge of the slide, with its drop-off, plunging length stretching right down, vertically for more than 30 feet and then turning into a parabolic curve as it became horizontal for nearly 40-odd feet. In the end, I had to ease off down the vertical edge of the slide with her held close, and as we fell away off the cliff-edge I prayed with my heart in my mouth that she would be spared any jolts... I think this was, by far, the craziest thing I've ever done...! (catch the action here)  We both hit the bottom run together, and I held myself back and resisted the urge to scream from sheer relief! (Shivangi would have REALLY screamed if she saw me do it, and I did not think it would be a good idea to push her into all that..) But she did scream, when it was time to go home. Luckily, I'd given myself fifteen minutes' extra time to deal with her 'mood' so we did not miss the bus back home.

Raj is not a very hands-on person, unless I need him to watch them at home. so trips like these are usually a solo undertaking on my part. But, on the flip side, he's very much a do-er, so that when we returned home, he had cleaned and cleaned and then some more! Unfortunately, I was working that night, so we could not enjoy the fruits of our labour. (The kids crashed into bed at a decent hour, leaving the home peaceful, and the clean house was a treat..!)

Tomorrow is his day off and mine too, after a lot many weeks of both of us just meeting each other as one or the other came from work...We had begun to feel like ships crossing each other at the harbour while docking in to ports. Now, with the prospect of the next two weeks off, (only one more night-shift to go; Monday.) I am quite simply, delighted to be at home...!

More later, when I hear from you!
yours,
Ruch

1 comment:

  1. Thanks Ruch for make my everyday extra ordinary!!

    Had been out most of the Sat and Sun with Raina and Harit. Just came back from the park. The park also houses a beautiful plant nursery. So picked few germaniums and xenias for our growing garden.

    The good part was Raina selected her choice of colours....
    hey someone just came...need to check...more late in the night....tata

    ReplyDelete