Middle School Transition

The morale & confidence booster by Papa

Middle School is such a change from Lower School – as if by magic, Kat has matured in the last month or so. Doing all her work systematically, putting reminders in calendars, packing her own bag, making sure everything is in order for the next day – all these have become part of her daily routine. The ‘grown up’ bit is overflowing to the other areas at home too – having a tidy room, making sure phone is charged after school AND is placed in the backpack in the morning, putting dishes away properly, clearing up the table after dinner, leaving the bathroom neater and not cluttered with dirty clothes after a shower...and of course, going to the school bus stop all by herself (it’s only across the road though)...all these are BIGchanges for Kat but she is learning them well and is taking it all in her stride as she grows. Of course, she needs to be reminded every now and then but that’s OK.  READ MORE>>

No eating on the bus

It happened with Kat and now its happening with Kit...whilst sending them off in the school bus is a great bonus for me, the downside is the food issue that I had to deal with Kat and now with Kit.

Kit Kat go to the same school (different divisions and different buses) and although Kat’s is much further away than Kit’s (for a couple of years at least), that does not stop Kit from complaining that she gets hungry on the way back...the school has a "No Food" policy on the bus and I have always stuck to that. Now here comes the problem – I am one of the many mums who will comply with what the school says but when your kid comes across a happily munching kid on the bus, you are in for some serious conversations!

While Kat (now of an age where she understands right and wrong...well, I hope!), I am often faced with heart breaking questions from Kit. READ MORE>>

Go Nemo Go!

I have always wanted to be a good swimmer – forget about good, I could have been an “okayish” swimmer but even that has not worked out :( Learning how to swim at 30+ years is never easy (there is SO much to fear!) but I somehow (surprising to me too) overcame that barrier and once I have my fins (or mermaid feet as Kit calls them) I can actually swim! Getting there...VERY slowly.

Maybe it is this lack of swimming instincts from my end (Papa does great!) but both of us are...er...very pushy parents when it comes to swimming for Kit Kat. This is one sport that is not taken lightly at our house (oh yes!). Kat has been a great swimmer and was in the swim team for some time but then she started ‘fearing’ the instructor (he was very very strict) and her twice a week lessons became a major challenge for us. Kat promised that she would swim in the pool downstairs as many times of the week as she could manage but she could no longer swim in THAT place with THAT instructor – she did stick to her promise for a long time but now with Middle School, even walking with the backpack on is a challenge (the new gym routine made her so achy in the first week – where has all the calcium and energy gone? – one can only wonder at the 3 months long summer vacation which has thrown everything and everyone out of sync) READ MORE>>

Lifeguard on Duty

OK - August has been very eventful for us. 2 weeks driving down the West Coast from San Francisco to LA (around 1500 miles in all). An earthquake last week and then Irene (a hurricane and then a tropical storm) – all these combined with several migraine attacks! We’ve been busy...

It has been a never ending round of packing and unpacking suitcases this month (latest being the one we packed few days ago in case we had to rush downstairs when Irene struck)...all is getting back to normal now (sort of!)

Kat was actually sad to get out of the rental car (aka our mobile home) because she felt that it had been her home for the last 2 weeks (I don’t blame her – with all the snacking we did on the road, it did seem like ‘Mom’s kitchen’!) READ MORE>>

A major feat...accomplished!

Playing piano with both hands!!

Just 10 days ago, I wrote about Kit’s musical first – her first piano lesson. Since then, every time she passes by the piano, she will practice her ‘Old MacDonald... going up to E-I-E-I-O. I am so proud to hear her and see her little fingers playing on the piano (it’s a nice change from thumb sucking too!

Of course, the minute Kat touches the piano for her practice, Kit will magically appear from somewhere and this will be the beginning of a heated argument dominated with “I want to practice my piano” from both sides. In the end (always), Kit can be seen sitting (with a victorious grin) on the piano stool playing some music and singing something totally impromptu...(after all, how much MacDonald can one practice?)

So, this is what happened last week…

After much fighting when Kat had resigned to the rocking chair with her Taylor Swift Speak Now lyrics and piano music, Kit first walks up to her “I want that book” – even before she finishes the sentence, she tries to snatch it from Kat, who has now become an expert at dodging Kit (it’s a survival trick!) quickly hides it behind her.  READ MORE>>

The Musical FIRST!

Kit's Piano Book

Old MacDonald had a farm....E-I-E-I-O – every one of us with any kind of baby exposure will know that THIS song is what all parents learn quite early on in their parenthood. It never fails to work – at a birthday party, in the car or even to impress grandparents, friends and family!

Ditto at our home. Although Kit sings the Sparks Fly, Mean or It’s Magic, you know by Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez very animatedly (notes and lyrics perfect), she also happens to enjoy the good ol MacDonald in a big way. Still...to hear her sing the same song while playing the piano herself was a very emotional moment for me.

YES, Kit had her first piano lesson yesterday. Those little fingers actually played the keys and after a 45 min (originally intended for 30 min) lesson I was overwhelmed, to say the least. For someone who has been trying to get her to focus and at least remember the middle C on the piano, it was a magical moment for me. READ MORE>>

You've got mail!

Every morning, Kit comes out of her room and looks at her mailbox placed right by her door...

“What? No mail? Again!” she says and then turns to Kat, Papa or me “why didn’t you write me a message?” 

After a (God) promise of doing it tonight , all is fine and a major situation averted. Phew!

Kit's mailbox

So this is the reason each one of us can be seen writing little notes for Kit at night – to ensure that she has mail every morning. READ MORE>>

The Hair Dilemma

It’s taken Kat a good couple of years to grow her hair and she has now reached the point where she can make a nice ponytail or a clean braid (without hair sticking out). Of course, she does not want two braids (although easier to make with her hair) as she does not want to look cute but she wants to look pretty (?!) I am convinced that this must be a preteen thing but the obsession with hair is currently quite HOT in our house (second only to Kat’s love for lip gloss!)

I look around Kat’s room and see Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift and Victoria Justice everywhere – I like them all too except that ALL of them have beautiful, long hair and have Kat believing that long hair is very ‘in’ and here to stay. Personally, I and Papa think that she looks much smarter with short hair but when you have an 11 year old with opinions and confidence of her own, you have to let go and give some degree of independence for them to live with their little decisions. READ MORE>>

Magic of Bermuda

What a relaxing holiday it was...just back from Bermuda and I can still feel the warm (at times rather hot!) sun on my back. It was a much needed vacation and Papa got to spend quality time with Kit Kat...MUCH MUCH NEEDED!

Hotel with FOOD!

It’s interesting how a hotel with buffet breakfast can change its ratings (for Kit Kat) from a great hotel to THE BEST. (I saw a similar look in their eyes when we went on the Cruise last year and we saw all that food for the first time...) I think it’s not just the food but the way it’s laid out, easy access etc. When it comes to actual eating, there is so much confusion (especially with Kit dropping cutlery almost all the time, losing her napkin, fighting to make my tea endlessly) that in the end, the breakfast is not so successful!
READ MORE>>

School School

Pretend play and dressing up is what kids do best as Kit’s age of 4 – it’s real fun to watch her transform into a mermaid or (yet another!) princess with such ease. In moments the room is a mini tea party or a picnic for the endless dolls – all being served food in dainty dishes… 

Kit and Kat are slowly becoming the sisters who share and play together (it’s taken a good number of years!) and the most imaginative part of this love is their playtime together (courtesy Kat) – lovingly described as ‘School School’ by Kit. Read More

School School equipment

Number Word Quest

Kit’s vocabulary is being enriched every moment – there is so much to learn! 
She tries very hard to use all newly acquired words in her regular conversation SO we usually have (wise) comments like “I can see the constellation” during lunch time or “I am very depressed” when there is an argument with Kat.

What I find most interesting is her age calculation. If anyone asks her age and I say 4 years, Kit insists on saying that she is 4 and a quarter! Also, her goal is to be same age as Dora (!) who is (as per Kit) 5 years old (not a bad guess!) and Diego is 11years (surprisingly the same age as Kat) Read More>>

The Unnecessary Lie

Not sure why but whenever the girls have a day off from school I feel a wee bit relaxed. I still have the alarm set for 6am, I still make tea for both of us (me and Papa) as usual and I still stagger my way through the morning routine as usual and of course, Kit wakes up early (even earlier on non-school days!) but for some bizarre reason, my mind is psyched to believe that I am not stressed because there is no SCHOOL!

Kit is generally very excited about dropping Kat off in the morning and I cannot remember a day since Kit started school last year when it was the other way round...so that makes TODAY a very special day indeed...Kat had a Conference Day in school so she was overjoyed with her day off while Kit had normal school (they FINALLY realised they had given too many snow days away!)

Kit is very perceptive – we couldn't just tell her that Kat was staying home (I mean, which sibling can bear to see the other one stay home with mummy?) so we made a little plan – we told Kit that Kat’s school teacher was running a little late so her bus was late, blah, blah... and hence, Kat would drop her first (clever!!).
Kit was super excited and I felt a little guilty about making up this story but I did think it would do more good than harm, so I guess mums are allowed to do this, right?

We were all in good spirits, all was going fine and we were waiting for Kit’s bus when the doorman asked Kat why she didn’t go to school (as part of general chit chat) and I boldly answered for her: “She has a holiday at school” (I should learn to keep my mouth shut!!!) READ MORE>>

Lip Gloss Smile

Lip Gloss Collection

Every morning is Lip Gloss or Chap Stick time here. Kat has this amazing, literally mind blowing collection of cake batter, Skittles, lemon icing flavoured glosses that she decides to use in the morning as her one and only dress up detail for school (and yes – these are all natural coloured). Of course, nothing escapes Kit’s eyes...she watches from the side of the door and the minute Kat puts her gloss back in the room, she picks it up and says – “is this the cake batter one?” or “hmmm...this smells lovely!” This will wind Kat up and we will invariably get late for school and I will either end up downstairs in my slippers or without a sweater in this bitter cold and once we even left Kat’s schoolbag upstairs! (Wonder why we went downstairs in the first place??!) READ MORE>>

Happy 'Valumtimes' Day!

After a super charged 2 day school trip to D.C., Kat was back home on Friday and the rest of the weekend (ok, most of it!) was spent preparing for Valentine’s Day at school.
There is a rule in school (for both Kit and Kat) that you are not obliged to give out valentines but if you do decide to, then you have to give one each to the entire class – Kat was not very happy with this as at the age of 11 you don’t really want to write out valentines to boys unless you really want to! But since her friends were going to hand them out anyway, she felt she must do so too...however the main argument was not that, it was over the type of valentines – Kat wanted to buy them but she did not want to spend her own money – how cheeky is that? Imagine getting pocket money every week and then asking us to spend money for her friends’ valentines??
It sounded hugely ridiculous and when she did shed a few tears over it and still nothing happened (which surprised her too) – she came up with a plan (finally!) – Lets do it in-house – YAY!!

Red Heart card that Kat made

All the commotion got Kit interested in the whole thing (she had no clue about it before this) – she was ecstatic that Mummy was going to do a project with her now…Kat always has an endless supply of coloured papers and pencils – she is our stationery cupboard. We made some cute little coloured heart shaped valentines for Kit’s class and Kit got so tired of writing that she could do only 5 at a time...it did take a while to finish the 20 cards!
Kat did her 27 pink hearts on red coloured paper with different messages for girls, boys and teachers (some patience she has!) READ MORE...

Magical Powers

Getting Kit and Kat to agree on the same thing at the same time is not a minor feat.

Kat (who has over the years silently and uncomplainingly become the more mature one or maybe it has to do with the lets give up to this overdramatic sibling of mine syndrome) is usually the one who will quietly agree to give in to Kit’s strange (sometimes atrocious) demands and at times, I must admit I am amazed that Kat actually has the patience to listen to Kit and her nonsensical (at times comical wishes)!

Just today Kit started a whole drama because she wanted me to give Time Out to Kat as she believed Kat had hurt her on purpose (this whole “on purpose” thing has great consequences in our household for Kit Kat!!) – What a drama ensued – it got blown out of proportion (everything is super blown when there is a SNOW DAY and no babysitter...I lost patience, Kit got crazy...I got crazier but then finally...Kat came to the rescue:-)  Read More>>

Snow Day

8-12 inches of snow…another snow day for the girls...NO SCHOOL!! We got the automated message from school last night so I went to bed little relaxed – no early morning rush – I even put extra sheets behind Kit’s headboard to block any signs of daybreak so as to get her into thinking it was still night... Did it work? NO!!

Just when I sat down to check my emails at 6:15am (thinking I can actually drink my tea hot for a change) Kit comes into the room with a “BOO” behind me!

Me: “Already? You are awake already? This is even earlier than normal school days!”

Kit: “I am really cold...” but in fact she is so active (Oh dear)

Me: “You HAVE to go back to bed. Even Kat is sleeping. Its night time” (Alright I lied) READ MORE>>

The Unwanted Gift

That time of the year is fast approaching when I just want to be a child again...dream of my perfect birthday – wait for my loved ones to wish me and feel extra special on my special day...of course the candles on the birthday cake are still one or two (space on the cake due to age constrictions!)

The Mystery Birthday Gift

When I was young, I would always gift my mother chocolates or sweets on her birthday as I knew she would instantly gift them back to me :-) so the following conversation between Kit Kat and Me at the dinner table should come as no surprise...

Kat: “Mummy, can I borrow $200 from you?”

Me: “What??!!” “Are you kidding me? You want to borrow $200 from me for my birthday gift? Forget it.”
Kat (visibly upset as she loves her money and can be often seen counting her notes in her spare time – she is SO looking forward to turning 13 and getting her own credit card – can’t wait!): “It’s ok – I’ll have to think of something else.”

This think of something else probably means that Kat will (easily) convince Papa to get an advance on her pocket money (for the rest of the year?) – In any case I can count on a decent card from her.

Now, Kit has been listening to this exchange between me and Kat and feels that she must contribute to my birthday. It’s a prestige issue now.

Kit: “Mummy, I really want to give you something on your birthday.” Read More>>