I am currently hooked to the music of Passenger, the stage name for Michael Rosenberg, who is an English folk rock singer and songwriter. My brother,Ash,introduced me to his music a couple of weeks back and since then I have been hooked to his music, specifically the numbers "Let her go", " Wrong direction" and "Holes". It's a soulful blend of melody, words and meaning, that's quite unsurpassable. So that's that! On another note, musical bliss has been further enhanced by the realization that my little munchkin's taste in music has begun to match mine...Yes, finally!!:)
Till about a couple of weeks back, the song requests that came in from Raya were primarily for Nursery rhymes, cheesy Bollywood item numbers :), Katy Perry's Roar and Mark Ronson's Uptown Funk. I was getting quite tired of the monotonous musical routine. As much as I love Bollywood and peppy Katy Perry and Taylor Swift songs, the music routine at home and in the car was becoming a drag. So now it's a welcome reprieve, when added to that mix, I hear Raya say, "Mamma, put your favorite songs, 'Running in the wrong direction' and 'Hole in the pocket'". When I asked her, "Have these songs become your favorite too?" She replied with quite an emphatic "Yes". "'See you again' is my favorite too", she further chimed in. Not bad, I thought to myself. Wiz Khalifa's tribute to
Paul Walker being in my current list of fav 5s:) So that's that....quite a change from the last time we spoke of the state of music in our home(http://www.sliceoflife-priyanka.blogspot.com/2013_03_01_archive.html)
On another note, the onset of the month of September comes with it's own share of excitement for the family...primarily being driven by Raya's excitement . So yesterday, as soon as I picked her up from day care, munchkin was all agog with excitement, "Mamma, tomorrow is September. My birthday is coming up. I will be a big girl". Oh well, it's been a while since I was so excited about
becoming a "bigger girl" LOL...but either way kiddo excitement can be quite infectious. So that's that.
Yes, munchkin turns 4 in a couple of weeks...it's always a bitter, sweet feeling...the thrill of seeing your kiddo grow up and dealing with the pang of sorrow associated with your kiddo growing up way too fast. She starts pre-Kindergarten in a couple of weeks. Raya has been going to day care/play school since she was 8 months old. Of course it's a very young age to send a child to day care/play school. While it was the toughest decision I have had to make, I realized early enough I would be doing her more harm than good, by quitting work and staying at home. I have never quite had the 'stay at home mom' kind of personality. Need my daily dose of adult interaction. And not just that, there's an inherent need in me to keep myself abreast with what's happening in my line of work, which is close to impossible in the technology arena without actually having hands on experience. It was the toughest decision I have ever had to make. It was made tougher by the fact that more people had negative and horror stories to narrate about children going to day care/play school before the age of 1.5-2.0 years than happy stories. While my family was pretty supportive, there were quite a few people raising eyebrows at the decision...all I could do was pray that it was the right decision.
These past three and half years, we have been blessed to have Raya under the care of some really good teachers and caretakers. And our decision to send Raya to day care that early on, while I went back to work, wouldn't have been validated and deemed correct, without all the love
and affection that they have showered on her these last three years. She is attached to her teachers as well as friends and extended family, beyond DD and I, and I believe her emotional development has , if anything at all, been enhanced by her past three years of pre-school experience. Sometimes I wonder, if we will continue to be as lucky with teachers and schooling in the years to come...that would require some really good fortune...but there's no harm hoping for the best, I guess!
So a few weeks back, we had a parent teacher's meeting with Raya's preschool teacher. It went well. I was quite amazed by some of the things that these kids are exposed to and learn in school at such a young age. Towards the end of the meeting, I asked Raya's teacher, "So is there anything you think we should be specifically doing and teaching at home, to help her growth and development". The answer was simple, but even in it's simplicity, made my eyes water and I had to really put in an effort not to break down. Now I come from a family with very active tear glands LOL...so over a period of time, I have had to make conscious efforts to maintain stoicity in the most adverse situations in public. Fortunately, I have, more or less, mastered that art over a period of time. Emotional outbursts and tears these days are confined to the walls of the home, more often than not, and to movie theatres, LOL. In response to my question, what Raya's teacher said was as simple as," Oh just continue doing whatever you are doing at home. You guys are definitely doing a lot of things right for her to have grown up to be the girl she is !" A bit embarrased for letting my emotions out with my watery eyes,on my way back from the meeting, I wondered what the reason was for getting suddenly emotional. As I thought about it more, I realized it all boiled down to that decision we made more than three years back to send an 8 month old little Raya to play school 5 days a week, away from the 'security' and 'warmth', more often than not, only associated with home. I realized the statement made by Raya's teacher was a positive validation of that decision made more than 3 years back to which without my realizing it, a phlethora of pent up emotions had been associated.
Either way, I plan to keep this on the record:) As small as it was, I am under no illusion that such validations will be frequent or lasting. As the years go by, I am sure there will be more and more situations when Raya and others will question our parenting decisions...God forbid, even despise us for some...That's when I want to pull this record out to make ourselves feel better with this small validation that not all our parenting decisions early on in Raya's life were bad!:)
On a side note, 'D' says my blog has become a 'mommy' blog and I should start writing about other stuff...Oh well, the role of Mommyhood prevails at this point of time...but I promise to come back with something else sometime soon!
Happy Tuesday folks! Leaving you with a picture of some kiddo artwork...
Till about a couple of weeks back, the song requests that came in from Raya were primarily for Nursery rhymes, cheesy Bollywood item numbers :), Katy Perry's Roar and Mark Ronson's Uptown Funk. I was getting quite tired of the monotonous musical routine. As much as I love Bollywood and peppy Katy Perry and Taylor Swift songs, the music routine at home and in the car was becoming a drag. So now it's a welcome reprieve, when added to that mix, I hear Raya say, "Mamma, put your favorite songs, 'Running in the wrong direction' and 'Hole in the pocket'". When I asked her, "Have these songs become your favorite too?" She replied with quite an emphatic "Yes". "'See you again' is my favorite too", she further chimed in. Not bad, I thought to myself. Wiz Khalifa's tribute to
Paul Walker being in my current list of fav 5s:) So that's that....quite a change from the last time we spoke of the state of music in our home(http://www.sliceoflife-priyanka.blogspot.com/2013_03_01_archive.html)
On another note, the onset of the month of September comes with it's own share of excitement for the family...primarily being driven by Raya's excitement . So yesterday, as soon as I picked her up from day care, munchkin was all agog with excitement, "Mamma, tomorrow is September. My birthday is coming up. I will be a big girl". Oh well, it's been a while since I was so excited about
becoming a "bigger girl" LOL...but either way kiddo excitement can be quite infectious. So that's that.
Yes, munchkin turns 4 in a couple of weeks...it's always a bitter, sweet feeling...the thrill of seeing your kiddo grow up and dealing with the pang of sorrow associated with your kiddo growing up way too fast. She starts pre-Kindergarten in a couple of weeks. Raya has been going to day care/play school since she was 8 months old. Of course it's a very young age to send a child to day care/play school. While it was the toughest decision I have had to make, I realized early enough I would be doing her more harm than good, by quitting work and staying at home. I have never quite had the 'stay at home mom' kind of personality. Need my daily dose of adult interaction. And not just that, there's an inherent need in me to keep myself abreast with what's happening in my line of work, which is close to impossible in the technology arena without actually having hands on experience. It was the toughest decision I have ever had to make. It was made tougher by the fact that more people had negative and horror stories to narrate about children going to day care/play school before the age of 1.5-2.0 years than happy stories. While my family was pretty supportive, there were quite a few people raising eyebrows at the decision...all I could do was pray that it was the right decision.
These past three and half years, we have been blessed to have Raya under the care of some really good teachers and caretakers. And our decision to send Raya to day care that early on, while I went back to work, wouldn't have been validated and deemed correct, without all the love
and affection that they have showered on her these last three years. She is attached to her teachers as well as friends and extended family, beyond DD and I, and I believe her emotional development has , if anything at all, been enhanced by her past three years of pre-school experience. Sometimes I wonder, if we will continue to be as lucky with teachers and schooling in the years to come...that would require some really good fortune...but there's no harm hoping for the best, I guess!
So a few weeks back, we had a parent teacher's meeting with Raya's preschool teacher. It went well. I was quite amazed by some of the things that these kids are exposed to and learn in school at such a young age. Towards the end of the meeting, I asked Raya's teacher, "So is there anything you think we should be specifically doing and teaching at home, to help her growth and development". The answer was simple, but even in it's simplicity, made my eyes water and I had to really put in an effort not to break down. Now I come from a family with very active tear glands LOL...so over a period of time, I have had to make conscious efforts to maintain stoicity in the most adverse situations in public. Fortunately, I have, more or less, mastered that art over a period of time. Emotional outbursts and tears these days are confined to the walls of the home, more often than not, and to movie theatres, LOL. In response to my question, what Raya's teacher said was as simple as," Oh just continue doing whatever you are doing at home. You guys are definitely doing a lot of things right for her to have grown up to be the girl she is !" A bit embarrased for letting my emotions out with my watery eyes,on my way back from the meeting, I wondered what the reason was for getting suddenly emotional. As I thought about it more, I realized it all boiled down to that decision we made more than three years back to send an 8 month old little Raya to play school 5 days a week, away from the 'security' and 'warmth', more often than not, only associated with home. I realized the statement made by Raya's teacher was a positive validation of that decision made more than 3 years back to which without my realizing it, a phlethora of pent up emotions had been associated.
Either way, I plan to keep this on the record:) As small as it was, I am under no illusion that such validations will be frequent or lasting. As the years go by, I am sure there will be more and more situations when Raya and others will question our parenting decisions...God forbid, even despise us for some...That's when I want to pull this record out to make ourselves feel better with this small validation that not all our parenting decisions early on in Raya's life were bad!:)
On a side note, 'D' says my blog has become a 'mommy' blog and I should start writing about other stuff...Oh well, the role of Mommyhood prevails at this point of time...but I promise to come back with something else sometime soon!
Happy Tuesday folks! Leaving you with a picture of some kiddo artwork...
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