Fruits and flies

Went to Superstore yesterday for my weekly shopping as usual. Was delighted to see local produce - fresh tomatoes grown right here in Alberta for an incredibly cheap rate. Usually when the tomatoes are priced low, you know that most of them are almost rotten and they're trying to clear the stock. Not yesterday though! So I bought lots and made thakaali saadam today. They had locally grown cukes as well. So velrikkai raitha was the accompaniment. 'Fairly good!' was my husband's verdict.

Didn't buy much fruit since we'd planned to go fruit picking in the evening. So we went to Buckler's farm near Cochrane to pick some fruit and veggies. It was 4pm and almost all the strawberries were gone. We did manage to pick an entire pail of em in the next hour though. A pail full of strawberries for $12. Very reasonable when you consider that grocery stores typically sell them for almost twice as much and they're nowhere as sweet as these. I guess the stores pick them unripe and then ripen em whereas we had
the luxury of picking the ripe sweet ones. Will post some photos tomorrow of the place.

Speaking of fruit, we have a terrible fruit fly problem in our kitchen. They seem to be everywhere esp the garbage can. My husband did some heavyduty cleaning today hoping that would discourage them but so far they're still all around. As usual, I googled for info on getting rid of them and found a rather interesting site with tons of murderous but effective ideas. Am doing the bowl trap thing and it seems to be working.

There is a hornets nest under one of our deck chairs. It was pebble sized about 3 weeks ago and is now football sized. The hornets seem to increasingly dislike our presence on the deck. Been wondering how to reclaim the deck. So we actually bought a spray for killing the hornets, nest and all. I feel a bit bad though - all that murder! But whats the alternative? Stay away from our backyard through the summer? What will happen to the lawn when no one mows it?

Seize the day

Or whatever you can seize from it.
Here I am trying to type up a post, seizing moments when Kuttipa is sleeping. I could be doing the laundry instead. Or mopping the kitchen floor. Or mending my pants...Yes, my house (and my life in general) is quite disorganized. Somehow I can never keep up. Instead, I blog.

Earlier today I was trying to seize some time for a walk outdoors with Kuttipa. He didn't have one yesterday thanks to thunderstorms. It seemed that today might be the same but the sky seemed to clear up somewhat and we went on a mini walk around the block. The sky became overcast again by the time we were done. Now, among my many phobias, fear of lightning ranks somewhere at the top. So we scrambled back home and I decided to go on a drive instead. Kuttipa fell asleep during the drive which sort of defeated the purpose - fresh air and change of scenery. OTOH it was a good thing because it got him some rest.

Speaking of rest, I could use some. It's been over nine months since I had this baby and he still wakes up approx every couple of hours! Apart from the tiredness, I find I am also getting stupider if thats even possible. One of the theories for night waking babes is that if they get enough calories during the day, they wont wake up as much at night. So after some brainstorming, my husband and I discovered that Kuttipa's diet is almost entirely carbs. So I've tried to add some more protein today - although the paruppu saadam wasn't well received in the evening.

All over the place

Been intending to post for the past few days on a few different things.

On Saturday I was intending to write about all that I had learned from meeting up with my friend at Deerfoot mall. Thanks to her, I've now started giving Kuttipa cheerios and fairly big pieces of baby biscuit. Iam also trying to incorporate more variety in his meals since then, because I learned that a refusal to eat something does not necessarily mean that he is full. Oh and I learnt an alternate to the usual applesauce - adding crushed oatmeal to it.

On Saturday I intended to blog about bread since I'd read an interesting rant about it at

http://www.leftoverqueen.com/2008/07/01/speaking-of-baked-goodsbread-rant/

This didn't quite inspire me to go start making my own bread though. Did I mention I am lazy? What I did was merely toddle over to the fridge and check the ingredients for the wholegrain sliced bread that I buy from Superstore (store brand). To my surprise there was NO modified cornstarch or high fructose corn syrup or enriched flour or xanthan gum. It was merely all the grains in the bread, ascorbic acid, water and yeast! Good stuff I think! Fairly cheap too! I can get similar good stuff at the farmer's market but for approx twice the cost! Now if only I could find some organic baby cereal without all these additives! President's Choice makes some different ones but the only variety I can find in my neighborhood Superstore is rice cereal. The closest other brand with minimal additives was from 'My Organic Baby' which I found at Shoppers Drug Mart. Perhaps Iam looking in the wrong places?

On Sunday I had planned to blog on the Stampede if I had made it there like I intended to. Since I didn't go there after all, I couldn't blog about it. I did go to a stampede breakfast at the Coventry Hills Centre which is nearby. Can't write much since we went at the very end and just about got breakfast and caught the last song in the live entertainment. Seemed like we'd missed a lot of good stuff though! From there we went to the library at Cardel Place where I got a card for Kuttipa. Can finally enroll him in the library storytime sessions and such.

Yesterday I intended to blog about how my classmates from Vikaasa had suddenly discovered each other and were mailing away like crazy. I am more of an observer than an active participant though I did send in a recent pic and a life story of sorts like the others...Its strange to see how some people haven't changed at all after all these years and I don't mean in terms of appearance!

The day is still young today and if anything happens today, I'll write about it tomorrow. Or the day after. Or one of these days...

Par Pappu can't dance saala

Not really a fan of Hindi movies since I don't really know it well...but saw 'Jaane Tu ya Jaane Na' last night and can't get this song out of my head.

Mall walking

I am headed to the mall in a little bit since I am meeting another mom from my prenatal class from last year. The women from the class have kept in touch and meet up at least once a week. I've not been as regular in meeting up mainly because of the 3 month India trip that came inbetween.
So anyway we were all supposed to meet up at Heritage Park today but that got washed out because of the potential thundershowers. With everyone else making alternate plans by themselves, it left two of us interested in meeting up and having a coffee perhaps. I've not seen this mom and her baby for almost 5 months now. I can't wait to see how her baby has grown and to show mine off as well...Kuttipa just cut his first tooth this morning. You can see just a tiny bit of white if you peer into his mouth (if he lets you). At any rate you can feel a tiny sharp edge when he bites your fingers (which he does . A lot!)
Nothing much else to write about anyway. So tata! I am off to Deerfoot mall (not exactly my favorite but it is the closest one to my house).

My current read

is a book called 'Discipline without Distress' by Judy Arnall. I read good things about this book and so decided to check it out. It's a bit early for discipline books considering my babe is only 9 months old or so I thought. Apparently it's never too early to start with the kind of things that she talks about. Now, I've read only about 40 pages of this book (in a book with approx 400 pages). But I do like what I've read so far...At least it all sounds good and logical. Only time will tell if it really makes sense in the context of my parenting this child.

Arnall (who is from Calgary btw) makes a case for not punishing children using the standard methods of time-out, spanking etc. In fact she advocates not punishing them at all. What? Won't the kids be spoilt rotten if we don't punish them? No, because discipline is not the same as punishment. Discipline can be gentle and it can be as simple as two way communication between a parent and child. The kind of discipline she talks about requires some rethinking about what the parent-child relationship really is.

A couple of excerpts* that I liked.

"Children are equal to parents in some ways. Their feelings, dignity and sense of self worth are equally as important to them as adults. In the workplace - just because the boss has more knowledge and experience doesn't mean she can call you names, berate you in front of the client or hit you for not getting your work out on time......Your feelings, dignity and sense of self-worth as an employee are equally as valuable as hers and must be mutually respected. Therefore children have the right to feel all their feelings, to have their bodies' dignity respected and are entitled to expect to be treated worthily."

"Controlling another human being is very much next to impossible; children have their own little minds and feet to follow. The goals, hopes and dreams we have can only be realized in our minds. They are not guaranteed for our children."

The above sentence reminds me of Khalil Gibran in the 'Prophet' when he writes about children.

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

The entire section is beautiful and can be read at this link:
http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1194.html

* I hope quoting from the book was okay and hopefully I am not violating copyright laws or something.

Should be working

Kuttipa is napping. Will wake up any minute now. He slept way much better last night though. Who knows why! I am just grateful...

I tried making Pasta Primavera last night and it turned out quite good even if I say so myself. Now I have to concoct something for the afternoon and for tonight. I wonder how my mother and millions of other women keep cooking morning noon and night on a daily basis without getting sick and tired of it. I like cooking the occasional specialty dish but other than that....bleaghhhhhh

Went to the zoo on Saturday. We enjoyed the trip even though Kuttipa was busy looking at the trees and the leaves instead of the animals and the birds. We particularly enjoyed looking at all the colourful butterflies in the conservatory. Wish I had a better camera, but here is a pic. Yeah, that thing that looks a dead leaf in the plate is actually a butterfly!

Its Sunday again

Where did another week go? Started the day today with the Stampede breakfast at INCA. It was fairly good for free fare - Puris, Cholay, Bajji, Kesari and Jalebis. Met some people there who we knew and who were seeing Kuttipa for the first time. Incidentally Kuttipa turned exactly 9 months old today! That means he has been in the outside world just as long as he was inside me. I don't know if thats significant in any way...not to anyone else but me I guess. So he was all decked out in his Sherwani and looking gorgeous as usual. Didn't smile and socialize much with others though.

Now father and son are down for a nap while I am typing this. Haven't had lunch yet though its 2:35pm. Lunch is simple fare though - paruppu podi rice, raitha and curd rice. Shall cook something better for dinner if Kuttipa cooperates. He keeps waking up and crying and I wonder if its just teething or if he is in some sort of pain...How to find out? Maybe we need to see our doc just in case.

So I've received the drawings from my office. Need to do a lighting layout and send it in tomorrow. Thats right, I am planning to work a couple of hours a day from home and see how it works out. Wish me luck!

Another day is done

Still a bit achy especially in my back. The class is only once a week. So today I went for a long walk with Kuttipa to sort of keep up the tempo. That was about the only time he was reasonably quiet and happy today. Well, I guess the day started off right. But as it progressed he became increasingly cranky and started crying for the smallest things. He especially became upset if I left him in the living room to go into the kitchen for some reason or the other. So I cleaned the kitchen floor and took him there so he could be with me. He didn't quite like it there either. He is very cranky and I am not sure if its some phase or if its teething or what.

One of the times I left him to go to the kitchen, I heard him cry suddenly. When I came back to the living room, I found him sitting up. I had left him lying down. This is the first time he has done this! Yet he didn't seem to be as thrilled about it as I was. I kept watching him eagerly the rest of the day to see if he would repeat it, but he didn't. It wasn't from lack of trying though.

Nothing much else to write about except Kuttipa Purana, since I don't seem to be doing much else except keep watch over him the whole day, prepare his food, prepare our food, nurse him to sleep and go to sleep a little later myself. Wake up the next day (not to mention all the night-wakings) and it all starts again...

Stroller fitness

Here is the photo from yesterday.
Won't write much today. Joined an exercise class for women with babies. After months of atrophy, all my muscles ache! Gotta sleep. Goodnight.

July 1

Happy Canada Day! Our own little Canadian baby came with us on a stroll to Prince's Island Park today where there was a lot of stuff going on. Lots of people, lots of food and lots of entertainment. He seemed pretty engrossed with all the happenings but methinks he might enjoy it more next year. It was such a gorgeous day!! Although it threatened to rain when we arrived, by the time we left the sun was shining on the Bow river with all his might.

Tomorrow, I might post a pic of Kuttipa holding a little Canadian flag even though I intended never to do so (Privacy and that sort of thing)... But what can you do when a baby is so cute?

Food

Trying to eat right again after months of not. Last month especially was pure greed. People go to India and visit temples and embark on holy pilgrimages. Our pilgrimage consisted of visiting different restaurants in Chennai. And there are so many more restaurants this time than even 3 or 4 years ago! Clearly a lot of people love to eat... My inlaws live in West Mambalam where you can find something suited to your tastebuds in every price range. So we didn't even have to venture far away from home if we didn't want to. Of course that didn't stop us from visiting Mainland China in Nungambakkam or Saravana Bhavan in a couple of different locations. For the most part though we stayed in T.Nagar enjoying places such as Matsya, Gangotree and Sandeepa. And on the days we dined at home there was always evening tiffin from Venkateswara Boli stall or from Bakya fast foods. Did I also mention the scores of relatives who invited us over for lunch and/or evening tiffin and/or dinner?

So now you can understand why I am trying to eat right and maybe shed some of those pounds...
Of course temptation exists here as well. Just a couple of days ago, I saw John Gilchrist of CBC fame at the farmers market and bought a signed copy of his book - 'My favorite cheap eats'. It covers restaurants in Calgary and surrounding areas such as Banff and Canmore where you can get good food at reasonable prices. Some of the places mentioned there sound really really tempting....Hmmm....

Weekend

Went to the farmer's market for the past couple of days. There is so much happening there and so much to see - not only for me but for the baby as well (I'll call him Kuttipa from now on).

On Friday I met a friend there who is pregnant and halfway there. How time has flown. Last summer, I was in her shoes and this summer I am pushing a stroller around, looking out for a place to change a diaper and wondering if there is any place to nurse. It doesn't feel like that long ago that Kuttipa was born. Of course I had tons of advice for my friend. Go to Bradley classes instead of the Calgary Health Region prenatal classes. I couldn't attend the 12 week class last year because I found out about it only towards the end. But I did attend a 2 day crash course thing organized by the instructor here. I also attended the Calgary Health Region thing because I had already signed up for it. The Bradley classes really really really helped! There was no way I would have not had an epidural if I had not known so much about working with my body and aiding labour by relaxing and breathing.

This time last year or sometime thereabouts I was researching a lot of info on cosleeping, breastfeeding and cloth diapers. So how's all that going? Well, I still do cosleep though I am starting to wonder about moving Kuttipa to a crib mattress next to ours. I am still nursing Kuttipa. The cloth diapers though - I hate to admit I've been very lazy and am using disposables still.....

Can ramble on more today but Kuttipa needs to put down for a nap and we need to have breakfast. So, Tata!

ello

After months and months and months of silence, I am hoping I can do this blogging thing again. Its not like I was writing profound thoughtful stuff anyway. Rambling is easy...should be easy...

My baby is 8 months old and then some. I've been in India for the past few months and before that I was in a sleep deprived stupor where I barely functioned let alone blogged. Still somewhat sleepless but things are better...I think..

Enough said today. Will blog more tomorrow.

Snippet of conversation

From the Birth and Babies class, about a month ago..

Instructor: So, now that baby is here, how has your relationship with each other changed?
Some guy: I find our conversation has changed. Before we would talk about all kinds of things. Now all we discuss is the contents of the diaper - the color, the consistency and the frequency...

If it weren't so true, I wouldn't have found it so funny!

A month later

It hasn't felt like a month really...
On one hand it seems like time has just flown by. My baby is a more than a month old already and I know he has grown bigger, grown more alert, seems to know my voice and is growing by the the minute.
On the other hand, life does seem like I am stuck in a post-partum version of the movie 'Groundhog day' where I am endlessly feeding and changing diapers...

Some days when I am totally exhausted, I am cranky, weepy and frustrated.
Mostly though I am amazed at the cuteness of this little creature in my arms. I knew babies were cute - but really I had no idea that they were this cute!!! Even when they're crying or cranky!

Having him inside was easier than having him outside, but if there was an undo button, would I choose it and get back life as it used to be? Not a chance! Well, at least not just yet...
I've gone through labour; I've given birth, I've held a baby, I've been feeding him, I've been rocking him to sleep. All these have been amazing and Iam glad for having a chance to experience them. Oh its all so worth it!

After a week of parenting....

Heres what I can say:

No books, nothing anyone says, no amount of theoretical knowledge really prepares you for the actual experience.

Sleeplessness was just an empty word to me (despite all-nighters in college) till about a week ago. I now know how much I value any extra moment of sleep that comes my way...

And the babe was born

Saturday morning - 10:48am, we were blessed with our little cutie pie.

Just another post

Been a while since I posted anything mainly because there is so much going on here. The baby is not out yet but it could be any day now...any week now...

Meanwhile here is something I read today.

September maatham

5 weeks left before the official due date...Of course when the baby actually decides to arrive is anyone's guess.

Tis Labour day today - a reminder to me that winter is not far away. The weather is gorgeous outside and we hope to go out somewhere later today to catch some sun. Some of the trees are turning yellow already. How do they know!

Time hurries on.
And the leaves that are green turn to brown,
And they wither with the wind,
And they crumble in your hand
- Paul Simon