Spelling bee 2011

Around Sep 2011, Kavya said that she wanted to take part in the spelling bee competition. I was kind of skeptical about her spelling abilities (embarrassed smile), but she was confident. Well this Saturday (7-July), Kavya made me so proud. She cleared the school and inter-school levels and competed at the state level spelling bee competition :) 

Home versus away!

Saurabh's been in Singapore for over a week, he went on 19th May and Kavya has been missing him terribly. So a couple of days back, she kept asking: When is Papa coming back? I am missing him, am getting bored etc!

Me: Well, we were in Kerala a few days back for over a week. You did not miss him then.

Kavya: I don't miss Papa if I am outside having fun and Papa is at home. But I miss him if I am home and he is travelling.

Brilliant insight and so true :)

School Vacations: Kavya gets really busy!

Finally the vacations are here. 15th April was the last day in 1st standard and now, a good two months before school reopens on 14th June.

Well, before school closed, I would get to spend around 30 minutes with Kavya in the mornings before she left for school and an hour or two at night before she went to sleep. And now, in the past few days, I don't get to see her at all!!

She is sleeping when I leave for work. When I come back from work, she is still playing with her friends. Around 8:30 PM, she grudgingly comes home for half an hour to grab some dinner. By then, some friend calls again and she rushes down to play till 10-10:30 PM. That's not all, she's got Art and Craft classes, swimming and keyboard classes. All taken care of within the complex itself, that's the best part.

So guess I should just get used to the fact that I will not see as much of Kavya as I would love to during the vacations :)

Finally a tooth falls off!

Well nearly a year after Kavya was excited about a loose tooth (which was a false alarm), she lost her first tooth yesterday (4th April 2011). We were just about to leave for lunch with friends when Kavya came running shouting 'Mummy, look'. And there she stood with a toothless grin on her face, blood all around her gums, a gleam in her eye and a tooth in her hand :) Surprised to see that my lil girl with her low tolerance to pain was absolutely peaceful and actually removed the tooth on her own.

She then went to bed with the tooth below her pillow. The tooth fairy came at night, took away the tooth and left her a book - Curious George at the Aquarium. So the excited kiddo has gone to school today to tell all her friends that they should leave their tooth below the pillow for the tooth fairy, it really works :)

Dance classes

Kavya came up to me last week and said that she wants to enroll for dance classes since her friends, Ruju and Ishi are going for it. I told Saurabh about it and his reaction was: No way, these classes turn little girls into item girls.

Well Kavya was clear that she wants to learn. So I went and enrolled her for the classes last week (from 7th December), Tuesdays and Fridays from 7-8 PM at Kalidas Auditorium..Bollywood style dancing, the last class was the title track from Dabangg!!

Timid Versus Bold

I was reading out a story to Kavya about a fawn who is timid and a duck who is bold.

Kavya: Mumma, what does timid mean?

Me: It means shy, a little scared..

Kavya: What does bold mean?

Me: It means brave, not scared..

Kavya: Mumma, you are bold.

Me: And what about you Kavya?

Kavya: I am timid.

Me: What about Papa?

Kavya: Papa is also timid

Told Saurabh about this, he completely agrees with Kavya :-)

Kavya turns 6!

A hectic day finally draws to a close! Kavya's 6th birthday.

In the morning, she dressed up in a pretty white churidar kurta and went to school. She kept saying: I hope there is nobody else sharing a birthday with me. As luck would have it, another kid had a birthday too :) Anyways, she had fun at school and enjoyed all the attention.

After school, it was time for a party at home. She was all excited and got busy with Supriya ammayi in decorating the room. She had lots of inputs to share on where the balloons and ribbons should be placed. She changed into a brown and pink frock for the evening. The kids started trickling in by 6 PM and by 7 PM, we had a full house of around 16 kids. They played various games such as passing the parcel and some balloon game, danced and played around. Then a pink Barbie cake was cut followed by some yummy snacks (the pizzas prepared by her dadi were a huge hit & so was the cake). All in all, a great fun evening.

And so ends the day, time sure flies, my little girl has turned 6!

Cycling in 30 minutes!

We finally got Kavya's cycle from the US yesterday. She said that she was ready to learn without the training wheels so I got them removed. Saturday morning at 9:15 AM, we were ready to start learning how to cycle. She was really scared when she started. She would panic the moment that I would let go. But I could see that she was able to balance herself well. 15 minutes into cycling, laziness took over and I said I cannot keep pace and left the cycle. She lost balance a couple of times and then just started cycling.

Mighty proud of her, she mastered cycling in less than 30 minutes. Realized a couple of things, my being around was very important to her, she trusted me when I told her that she can cycle and I have to leave the cycle. And the cycle was just the right size, she can balance it with her feet, so she could stop and start when she wants. Great job Kavya :)

Life in India!

Kavya is struggling to adjust back to India. She really misses her friends in the US and the school. She finds her current school boring and difficult. Wish our schools would just let children be children and not expect them to read and learn so much!

The other day, she goes: Mom, I am really frustrated about being in India. I find school frustrating, I find it frustrating that you are always working and I see you for very little time, we have no libraries here which is frustrating, papa is never around which is frustrating, the small house is frustrating. I tried showing her the positives: having grandparents around, having her old friends back, our maid. Her solution was to take grandparents and maid and then head back to the US. One thing is for sure, the word 'frustrating' is well entrenched in her vocabulary!

Hope my little girl settles back soon.

Loose Tooth!

Kavya woke up on 8th May, a Saturday morning and yells: "Mom, Dad, come fast!". As we run in, she is sitting up in bed with a big grin on her face and says: "I have a loose tooth". It was really cute to see her excitement and happiness.

And this matters a lot for her since most of her 3rd year friends in school already have loose teeth or have already lost a tooth. Now to wait and see when that tooth falls off :-)

Kavya's understanding of people

I am amazed by how quickly my little girl is growing up! We were at the library yesterday. As we were about to leave, the librarian told me: You have a pretty girl!

As we walked out, this is how our conversation went:
Me: Did you hear that Kavya? The librarian said that you are a pretty girl. Everybody says that about you.
Kavya: Well mom, that's because she is a grownup, and grownups only say nice things! Has any grownup looked at you and said you are stupid?
Me: No.
Kavya: Exactly. Because grownups say nice things.
Me: Does that mean that kids may say not so nice things?
Kavya: Yes, if somebody is stupid, we will call them stupid!

When I told this to Saurabh, his reaction was: Well, she seems to have figured something that even I may not have figured out yet  :) 

This conversation really set me thinking: Isn't it amazing how kids speak their minds and we seem to lose the ability to do so as we grow older!!

Kavya at the temple

Of late, Kavya has been asking a lot of questions about God. So recently, when we went to the temple, this is how our discussion went:
Kavya: Mom, you said God has everything right?
Me: Yes.
Kavya: I think God is poor.
Me: Why do you say that?
Kavya: Well, everytime you come, you have to give money to God. So he must be poor!
Me: (Trying my best to explain) Money is an offering to God, we are showing our love for God by giving what we can etc :-D

It is good fun seeing her at the temple. She will move quickly from idol to idol praying and dropping a coin into the hundi. Then she will go to the priest, take prasad and sit down happily in some corner eating the prasad.

Our prime minister

Was telling Kavya that our prime minister in India is Manmohan Singh. She asks: Is it because he loves to sing? :)

PTA at Princeton Montessori school today

Saurabh and I had gone for a PTA at Kavya's school today. We are so proud to hear about the wonderful things that teachers had to say about her -- She is very responsible, caring and loving. She is level-headed, confident and strong-willed. Ever eager to help her friends in class, she is well-liked. She is strong academically and loves reading and writing.

Welcome to this blog about our darling daughter, Kavya. Inspired by my colleagues, Archie and Nishana, have decided to post tidbits from Kavya's daily life.