Where were YOU when we got married?

Little H2 was happily going through our wedding album until she realised that she was no where to be found. How do you explain to a 2 year old that she wasn't born yet? Her Akki solved the problem and told her that she was in Amma's tummy when the pictures were taken.

Many questions ensured during the course of the day.

"Ammi why did you get married?"
"Ammi don't get married because I want you!"

And when Thaaththi got home H2 told him all about the wedding album and told him "Ammi married you because she wants you!"

Trying to be funny Hubby asked, "Where were you when we married?" and H2 promptly replied, "In Ammi's Tummy!" Hubby then asked "Where was Akki then?" Without hesitating H2 replied "In YOUR tummy!"

Things H2 has been upto...

....since I last updated this blog:

1) Aththamma caught H2 with her head down a full  bucket of water when our helper Nandini left her alone for a second in the bathroom to bring a bottle of shampoo. Since this happened on Aththamma's watch, she is having nightmares about H2 drowning and has promptly put away all buckets and basins up on the roof! seriously!! I had to bring them down with the aid of a broom.

2) H2 nearly swallowed a coin and claimed it was a toffee that she was sucking. Luckily,  Nandini saw it and pulled it out of her mouth. Her Grandpa ordered us not to have any coins in the house and not to make any transactions with coins!! :)

3) I left H2 for half a second and when I got back she had a mouth full of something. Upon closer inspection it was revealed that she had a whole load of multivitamin tablets (which were for H1 and which said not for children under 5 years in the bottle!) in her mouth. It was 15 in total!! How they all  fit in that little mouth, I have no idea! Since I knew exactly how many were in the bottle (as we've just opened it and H1 only had two of the tablets) i knew she didn't swallow any. Phew! The "medicine box" now sits on top of a cupboard.

4) H2 locked her self in the bathroom and the door had to be broken down by my Hubby. This was while both my Husband and Aththamma was at home while getting her ready for school. The lock has been replaced at a height that is above 5 feet!

5) H2 emptied a whole bottle of baby powder on her head and was happily  combing her white hair when Nanda walked in on her. Oh how I wish that Nanda took a photo of H2.

6) Just a day after the baby powder incident She emptied a whole bottle of baby oil on her head. The said bottle was on top of a unreachable shelf that H2 managed to make reachable by climbing on H1's study chair!

What do I doooooooooooo?

Just one more

Adding to my last post,
H2 also sang, while settling down in bed last night,

Source and cupses, source and cupses
It's time for tea, it's time for tea....

She meant cups and saucers you think? ;)

Know any famous deers?

My H2 loves to sing....

She sings,

Old Mc Murder had a farm...

She also sings.

Do a dear, a famous deer....

Oh darn! I can't recall anymore...

OH! and the other day she came and said, "Happy Balentimes day Ammi!"

The Better World of Books!

PP's post on books started me on this post. (Thanks PP for introducing me to Goodreads!!)

I LURVE reading and I always wanted to keep a record of the books I've read but never got around to doing it. Then I saw PP's post on Goodreads and immediately started creating a list of books I've read. Just managed to add 168 of the books I've read. I also entered the challenge like she mentioned. Though I'd like to read 50 books at least this year, I have to be realistic. I mean how can a mother of two holding a 8 -5 job do all that reading? I read whenever I can, wherever I can...like in the toilet, while I have my lunch at work, while I put the kids to bed, during commercials while watching TV...I grab whatever second I can! Sometimes I read a book while string a pot of soup! So I kept the figure at 30, but as you can see I am already 14% ahead :) hmmmm...maybe I should change it to 50?

I have read Secret Adversary and Marley and Me before, but just like PP, I love re-reading the books I've already read and loved! (Believe it or not I've read Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone 14, YES! FOURTEEN times!!! :)) I am a sucker for fantasy stories...I still love my fairy tales :P

My idea of heaven would be a bookstore.I go nuts when I go into a book store. The smell of new books, the shelves full of books....sigh. Unfortunately for me, getting to a bookstore was a problem (funny enough, I don't like libraries. I guess it lacks the smell and the colours of a bookstore) because of my other commitments and finding the time to go to one was so difficult. That was until a friend introduced me to Betterworldbooks. Ah! I found my virtual heaven!!! It's FREE shipping people!! AND community service to boot! I don't mind that the books are not brand new (It's wonderful that someone else enjoyed them before I did and sometimes you get lovely surprises like little notes and cards forgotten by the earlier readers). You can get brand new ones if you wish, but I always shop in the bargain bin :)

I order about 7 books every month and it always costs me less than 4000 bucks. It's usually 5 books for me and two books for the kidos. That keeps me going till the next month's books arrive. Oh! the joy I feel when I see that book parcel waiting for me every month. The only downside is, the order takes about a month to reach you and there is no tracking facility (what did you expect for free shipping??) But if you pace it out right you get your books before the previous set is read :)

I am glad to say that my kidos seem to be following my footsteps. They both need a book read before they sleep and now H1 has taken to the habit of taking a book to the toilet and H2 demands a book while she drinks her milky. (OK, the experts will tell you it's  a bad habit to take books to the toilet and read books while you have your meals, but I disagree!!! so there!!

Toilet Tales

If you've followed this blog from the very beginning, when H1 was a tiny toddler, you'll remember that I had many toilet stories to tell. Now H2 seems to be following her sisters footsteps and loves spending time in that ever fascinating place.

Tale 1

 She loves playing with the tap and I've caught her many a times with the tap open, happily playing away. One day when I walked in on her at the tap, she had removed all her cloths and was happily splashing away. Remember how much of a little hora gediya my H2 is? When she caught me looking on she quickly turned her back to the tap and tells me as if its a valid excuse for what she is doing, "I am washing my bum Ammi, I am washing my bum!" I gave her little bum a little whack and sent her out of the bathroom.

Tale 2

One night, before bedtime, I put on some toothpaste on her toothbrush and gave it to H2 and asked her to start brushing while I went off to boil some water for her milk. I've just to leave H2 for two seconds without supervision for her to get into a scrape. When I came back yes, she was busy brushing, just not her teeth! She was brushing the toilet bowl! 

Tale 3.

Once I walked in when H2 was trying to help me with the laundry, she was washing her T shirt in the toilet bowl. I had to wash her, the T shirt and of cause the toilet! 

Little Artist - con, that is!

Remember I keep saying what a con artist my H2 is? Here's another story to demonstrate the point.

Kiddos have this habit of starting to draw on walls when they reach toddler hood. We came up with having a designated area (a big white board on the wall) for them to draw when the creative genius strikes, instead of on the walls. This worked very well with H1. 

H2 on the other had has drawn quite a few times on the wall when we were not looking....with lipstick, crayons, colour pencils, pens etc..

Last week, I was lying in bed reading when I saw H2 at it again with the corner of my eyes. I firmly directed her to the board and asked her to draw there and went back to my book. Things were just too quiet so I looked again to see H2 has covered a whole wall with her scribbles.

Me: What did you do H2? Are you supposed to draw on the wall?

H2: (Guilty face) mumble mumble...

Me: Wait till Thaaththi sees this!

H2: Mouth turned down like a dehi lella and looking at me with BIG guilty eyes.

Hubby: (while walking into the room) Who drew on the wall Ammi? H2 did you draw on the wall? You are supposed to draw on the board or paper!

H2: (thinking I might as well try it on the dumbos) It IS paper Thaththi! (while pointing at the wall). 

Hubby had to go out of the room to compose himself before trying to discipline H2.

Not so terrible after all

H2 is not having a too bad a terrible twoish time unlike H1 who’s terrible twos started when she was one and a half and went on until she was about 3 and a half! And they were terrible indeed.

H2 would have a mild tantrum. A little tear here and there, whereas H2 had screaming-while-rolling on-the-floor kind of tantrums (especially when we are out and there were a million judging strangers around, like in a shopping mall or the tube (we were in Singapore at that time.) Those tantrums would make us angry and frustrated (my poor H1 L).

H2 however, is a little clown and a drama queen to boost so even her tantrums are cute and makes us laugh instead of making us angry. She would pretend to cry (“ihi…ihi…”) and fling herself on the bed/floor or hide her face in her hand and lean on a wall (facing the wall), very Rookmani Devi style in those old movies when the heroine has had a fight with her lover. It’s hilarious to watch and it’s so very difficult to keep a straight face in order to discipline her.

Sometimes she would very rudely demand something or cry in order to get her way. So we would say, “Say that nicely H2” and in a veeeeeeery nice sing song voice, she would look up, and actually say the word “Nicely…..” Of cause we would melt right then and there and give into any whimsy of hers. That child has us wrapped around her fingers I tell ya!

School, here we come!

Gaaaaaaaah!! My kidos are growing up so fast and I can't stop them!!

H2 started school yesterday. She looks sooooooo adorable in the uniform that I wanted to squeeze her to bits! Actually, it was more of a parents teachers meeting and they will officially start on Thursday. All the other kids sat through the one hour meeting while mine was making such a racket that I had to go out of the hall with her within the first five minutes and she made me go up and down the whole building while the meeting was going on. 

We had to carry a ton of school supplies which were listed in the book list. It's crazy I tell you; 3 boxes of clay, 2 boxes of colour pencils (of the most expensive brand mind you! - its specifically stated in the list!), 2 boxes of 12 bottle packs of fabric paint, 6 fabric glitter glue, so many crape paper, so many colour paper, so many A4 paper and on and on and on...

The classes in the area where the meeting was held had those chairs that spring back when someone is not seated in them and H2 was trying her mighty best to put the seat down and sit. Finally frustrated she looks at me and says, "Ammi!, These chairs are broken. Can you fix them please?"

The school is actually really nice and the play area is a heaven for toddlers with so many toys, I know my H2 will be very happy there (fingers crossed) but I am expecting tears at least on the first few days :(

Seeking Sikkim

Hubby and I went trekking across West Sikkim in India for 12 days. Let me be honest and correct my self...Hubby went trekking across West Sikkim in India and I went crawling, panting, limping behind him!

The kids were left behind with the Grandparents and "Nanda "in Kandy where apperantly they had a blast and hardly ever missed us.

Most of the people in Sikkim are Gorkhas of Nepalese origin and they were such nice, hospitable, humble people. I'd say 80% of the population, both male and female were so good looking. Everywhere we'd look there were men who looked like movie stars and Hubby claims the same for the women ;)

The temperature was between 7 and 12 degrees Celsius and I was COLD! (I hate cold!)

There are a few important things I learnt from this trip:
1. Life is so much easier if you have a penis to pee with.
2. I can hold my pee for hours on end without bursting my bladder.
3. My moods fluctuate with the thermometer. The lesser the degrees the fouler my mood is!
4. Best way to keep warm is to use the apparatus mentioned in no. 1 one way or the other ;)
5. I am a sunny kind of gal. I cant stand the Cold..did I mention I wore 4 layers of clothing (including TWO thermal underwear) underneath my winter coat?

Oh BTW, from the Indian High Commission in SL to the Sikkim House at Delhi (where u need to get a special permit to enter Sikkim) and all the people we met there told us we were the first Sri Lankans to go there!! Should have taken flags to plant where ever we went!

Enjoy the pics!

We had a day in Delhi where it was utter chaos. If there's a electricity breakdown, I have no idea how they'd figure out which wire to check!~!

Whole of Delhi was covered in dust and my heart broke for the poor trees. How do they breath?

Went from Delhi to Nawa Jalapaiguri in Brahmaputra Express in the Sleeper car. Express my foot. The train was delayed by 16 hours!!! 16 extra hours in a cramped space. Hubby got a ear full on future modes of transportation to choose when on vacation ;)

The washing machine at work at Suresh Laundry :P (He's churning the cloths with his feet!)

Finally here are a few pics of (out of about 700!) of beautiful Sikkim....

 Frost!! - Closest we've gotten to snow :)