Catch up Post 2- Shivaangi's 4th birthday

A lot has happened in last 3 years from the time i missed updating the blog.
The girls are 6 and 4 now. The are growing up so soooon.
Capturing a few moments from their 4th and 6th birthday respectively.

Shivaangi is a BIG fan of Minnie Mouse and for her birthday this year (like last year too) she wanted a Minnie Mouse themed birthday.
Her birthday then had to be a Minnie Mouse one!
From my trip to US in June I had bought a big Minnie Mouse along with her set of friends- mickey, donald and daisy. These along with the new craze Peppa Pig and Suzy Sheep were Shivaangi's birthday gift.
So actually the birthday celebrations and preparations began in June itself.

Here's a sneek preview of the elated girl with her birthday gifts :)
                                 
                                         and here are the pics from her birthday

The theme decoration

The card that we made but eventually wasn't sent as only neighbor's children were invited.

Children enjoying party games

and dadaji is all game too :)

and the cake was Minnie Mouse too!

all set to cut the cake

cake cutting done

having my cake

pretty birthday girl oops minnie mouse

all smiles

enjoying the party spread and talks

Birthday girl having all the fun!!

me and my dear friend:)

    looks like the kids had loads of fun!!

Catch Up- Post 1

It’s been years since I last captured anything here. It’s high time I make up for the lost moments! After all I am trying to create a memoir for the girls when they grow up.

The following couple of blog posts are an attempt towards capturing key highlights from last post till date.

The girls are growing up at a pace faster than one can imagine!!

Since the last post a lot has changed. Shivaangi learnt to walk early. She started walking from 9^th month itself.

What better event to start with than dear Shivaangi’s mundan.

Shivaangi’s mundane was planned for 7^th feb2014.- on her dad’s birthday. We decided the date in December itself when her bua and phupaji were here.  My golu molu bacha with nice long and silky black hair was soon going to have her hair shaved off! On the mundane day we went to the same temple in chanakya puri where Devaangi’s mundane was done. Pandit ji had everything ready by the time we reached there. Shivaangi’s bua and phupaji had especially flown in from Mumbai for the ceremony.

Dada, dadi, nani, bua, phupaji, didi, maa and papa were present to have Shivaangi’s mundane done. The cutie happily playing baby was in tears when the barber was shaving off her hair.  I had a tough time holding her and papa had to pitch in to hold Shivaangi.

Phupaji played the photographer and captured these precious moments!!

Finally after the mundane ceremony was over and my takla golu molu has stopped crying and became her jovial self again, it was time to head back home for a quick lunch and get all geared up for the evening celebrations.

We have organized Guruji’s satsang in D-7 community center grounds from 7 pm onwards.

The time flew so fast from the moment we reached home after the mundane in the morning till the time the satsang was to start that everything was ready just in nick of time. In fact nani, papa, didi and Shivaangi reached after Guruji’s jyot had been lit. My poor elder one was sick!

The amazing experience at the satsang that everyone had cannot be described in words. Bhai Ravinder jeet Singh performed live and the serenity with which he sang shabads, had everyone spellbound.

Shivaangi seemed to have enjoyed the evening as she was calm and happy throughout :)

Shivaangi's first holi

I know i am updating this post now when it is already so late. However I still wanted to capture it.
Shivaangi's first holi was on 17th March 2014. We had lots of fun at home. We put dry color on Shivaangi's face whereas her sister put water colors and sukha color on Shivaangi's face.

More than any one else it was Devaangi who enjoyed this holi. She got her first pichkaari and was very excited to play holi with it.

Here are some pictures to showcase the fun that everyone had.

Catching up on my bacha's growing years

Shivaangi has started walking

Shivaangi has started walking. It’s been more than a month now that bacha has been walking on her own. . paon ab zameen pe tikte hi nahi hain… shivaangi tries to walk as much as she can!!!

Shivaangi now also is able to get on and get down from the bed. In fact on Friday 6^th june both girls were sleeping in my room and I was in the other room watching tv, all of a sudden I felt some one was walking towards me, assuming it to be devaangi, I was pelasently surprised to find that it was shivaangi who on waking up had discovered that mom was not around, so she on her own got down from the bed and walked around the house searching for me.

Shivaangi- the new prankster at home

Shivaangi has started exploring things around her at home. She had been watching us use the ac remote for switching on and off the AC. Now a days she picks up the ac remote of the alarm clock and tries to point it towards the AC. Same goes for the TV remote as well.

To fill water in cooler, we connect 2 hose pipes. At the juncture of the 2 pipes we place a bucket so that the leaking water can be collected. If shivaangi finds the bathroom door open, she gets inside the bathroom and wets herself from the pipe juncture. She puts her hands in the water and loves to get wet and play with water.

Another of Shivaangi’s favorite place is the kitchen. All she needs is an excuse to get in the kitchen and open all cabinets- particularly the one with the plastic containers.  Within minutes of entering the kitchen, Shivaangi opens all cabinets and one by one throws all containers and their lids on the floor.

You open the fridge to takeout or put anything in it and before you realize Shivaangi is there to pull out water bottles and other things from the fridge.

It is very difficult to keep Shivaangi at one place or in one room. At the blink of an eye she is out of your sight and on lookout for a new prank- be it hitting her sleeping sister on face, taking away all toys of Devaangi or even rushing to take out stuff from an open almirah. You will find Shivaangi everywhere.

If you are lying on the bed, shivaangi treats u like a huddle, and loves to cross over your back from one end to another.

It's Papa Dearest for Shivaangi

Shivaangi is her papa's doll.  Moment papa enters house, Shivaangi rushes to him demanding his attention. Earlier she used to crawl to the room where papa was in and now she walks to papa's room.

If papa is holding didi, Shivaangi will tug at his trousers prompting him to pick her. If papa is in the room and has closed the door, Shivaangi starts banging at the door and cries for the door to be opened. She also enjoys all the tickling and cuddling that papa does unlike her sister who doesn't like to be cuddled and tickled by papa. Devaangi enjoys papa's pranks when she wants to play and enjoy else she starts crying.

Shivaangi's Eating Habits

Shivaangi enjoys her food. she loves to taste all kinds of food that you are eating. In fact if shivaangi is around aap usko bhog lagaye bagar kuch nahi khaa sakte J that’s why we have nicknamed her foodie and juggie jones. 

Shivanngi is not at all a fussy eater and can eat any and every thing . 

If she has had her fill or is not hungry, shivaangi very firmly turns her face away and there is no way you can make her eat.

At times she also tries to pull the milk bottle out from her sister's mouth. It is a fun to see Shivaangi having milk. Just like her sister, Shivaangi too puts the milk bottle in her mouth, take a sip or two and roams roams around all over the place with the bottle in hand- taking sips at little intervals. 

Devaangi was and till date milk drinker. Do not give her anything to eat and she will survive on milk. Shivaangi on the other hand prefers food to milk.

The sisters

The bond between the sisters has started to build and is getting stronger day by day. You should see the joy and smile that comes on their face on seeing each other. In fact Devaangi is so possessive of her li'l sister that she  firmly says NO whenever people tell her that they'll keep her sister with them. She always says: mama jab Shivaangi badi ho jaayegi tab main uska haath pakar kar usse school le jaongi.

You get anything for her and Devaangi's next question is: mera to theek hai par meri behan ka kahan hai? Daadi recently got a lovely white hat for Devaangi. She took it and next moment asked daadi: Daadi Shivaangi ka hat kahan hai.

Similar question was put to naani when naani came back from ghaziabad with loads of stuff for Devaangi and none for Shivaangi. Naani now ensures to get gifts for both teh girls whenever she goes out.

Devaangi the new dadiamma at home

Devaangi has sharp ears. Nothing escapes her ears and we are really careful of what we speak in front of her. Whatever Devaangi hears in bits and pieces she does her 2 aur 2 on it to make it 4 and what turns out is a complete different stuff. We tell her to thnak Guruji for everything that he has given her. yesterday she told me: mamma hum mandir jaa ke Guruji's se kapde aur khaana maangte hain!!! 

me to chetan: tum shop se khandavi le aayo

devanagi from car's backseat: mamma tum nahi aap hota hai

Shivaangi's first vacation

Shivaangi had her first vacation in the first week of may. We dared to drive all the way to Shoghi and beyond with both the kids. I was little apprehensive of the long drive as both kids are very young. However the kids did better than us except for the frequent bouts of vomiting that Devanngi had through out the trip. In fact the car had to be dry-cleaned post our trip as it had stains of vomit everywhere :-)
Here are some pictures from our trip

We had chosen to stay at a home stay which was a very good decision considering the fact that we had small kids who could not eat hotel food. The food at the home stay was perfect for the kids.

On all days of the vacation we were on the road as we drove to kufri, fagu , theog and matiyana. The kids too seemed to enjoy with both of them strapped in their car seats.

At Kufri both kids had their first horse ride- Devaangi on horse back with papa and Shivaangi strapped to maa.

It was a 4 day trip and was very fun filled!!! Looking forward to many more such vacations with hubby and kiddos.

mama i can crawl and move about!!!

yes the title says it all!!! Shivaangi has learnt to crawl and now it is very difficult to keep her at a place. We have kept the furniture in our house to a bare minimum so that both the kids have ample space to move around and play. Trust me both the girls make full use of this arrangement. If Shivaangi is not in her bed then we have actually started looking on the floor before moving around- you never know when Shivaangi was crawl and come around!!!!!

One of Shivaangi's favorite place is kitchen.. If  ma or nani are in kitchen and Shivaangi is in the drawing room, then sooner or later Shivaangi will crawl and find her way in to the kitchen!!! In fact it became so scary on 30th when i left milk to boil on gas and went to my room for a minute. I took some time and forgot all about the milk. When i went back to the kitchen I found milk had boiled and was now flowing over the floor. I am sure you can guess the shock that i got when i found shivaangi merrily sitting next to the milk flowing on the floor.
 My bacha was just saved!!!

Shivaangi has learnt to stand on her own

28th Mar when when Shivaangi first managed to stand on her own by holding on to the sankhera. And it was just the begining!!! There on Shivaangi wants to stand on her own all the time by holding on to whatever she can lay her hands on!!!
T

Conversation between Devaangi and papa

Papa to Shivaangi: mera golu kaisa hai
Devaangi: papa yeah golu nahi golu molu hai... Golu to mamma hai!!!!

(P.S i didn't know where to look)

Shivaangi's first holi

We celebrated Shivaangi's first holi on 17th Mar 2014.
The day started with applying tikka on our Guruji's pics in our house mandir. You will not believe it that by evening on two of Guruji's pictures, the tikka had taken the shape of om. It's Guruji's way of blessing our bacha!!
We applied colors to Shivaangi for shagun- after all this was Shivaangi's first holi!!!


But i think the person who enjoyed it the most was  Devaangi!!! Devaangi was excited when papa applied colors to her face. However when Devaangi first saw herself in the mirror she wasn't too happy. In sometime she however got used to her new look. Then there was no stopping her and Devaangi enjoyed playing with pichkari and colors....


God bless both my bachas!!!! 

ufff main kya karoon

Background to the conversation:

I had put my cellphone in airplane mode as Devaangi was playing with the same. I took the phone from Devaangi with lot of resistance to give some one's number to my guest at home. I forgot where i kept the phone after taking out the required number. About an hour later i was looking for the phone when the below conversation took place:

me: Devaangi where is mama's phone

Devaangi: woh to gandi waali aunty le gayi (reference is here to an Indonesian face  mask that we have at home)

me: kya?

Devaangi: haan aapka phone maine gandi waali aunty ko de diya hai. 

This loop of dialoges continued a couple of times while i was fanatically searching for my phone everywhere.

After some time Devaangi came with my phone in her hand.

Devaangi: mama apka phone

me:yeh kahan se aaya?

Devaangi: (with a big smile) yeah maine apni almirah mein rakha tha

me: Devaangi aap aise mera phone kharab karoge to aapke papa mujhe daatenge

Devaangi: mama papa nahi pitaji (with a big grin)

me: what??

Devaangi: mama papa nahi pitaji

Many Moods of Devaangi

Some picture moments- main aur meri li'l sister

Arrival of our little princess

Tiny fingers, tiny toes,

Little, itty, bitty clothes,

Dresses, dolls, hair in curls,

Guess what…It`s a Girl.

With Guruji’s grace we gratefully announce the birth of our little daughter Shivaangi!! 

This is how mama announced to the world the arrival of Shivaangi 

                  and

Bin maange jholiaan bhar dete hain wo, 

Miri Piri ke Maalik, har Muraad poori kar dete hain wo,

Un Devon ke Dev ne apne angon se bana Devaangi ko Bheja,

Aaj uske peeche Guruji Shivaangi ko bhej diye hain wo.

Jai Guruji!

This is how papa announced to the world the arrival of Shivaangi

Yes to complete our little world and add to the joys that her elder sister has filled our lives with, our younger daughter Shivaangi  arrived in this world on 3^rd july 2013.

Jhula Jhula

Like other kids of her age, devaangi too likes to go to the park and enjoys her rides on the slides and swings. She in fact looks forward to such visit. Once Devaangi is on the jhoolas, it is virtually impossible to take her back home. My bacha is an absolute daredevil. The first time she saw the slide in the park (she was a little less than 2 years then), she wanted to go on it. We made bachu slide all the while holding her hand. That was just the beginning. Woh din hai aur aaj ka din hai, devaangi goes on the slide on her on irrespective of how high the slide is. She simply loves to slide. At home too we have got her a slide. When she is in mood and papa is around, devaangi simply loves to hang around the slide and enjoy to the fullest with papa guiding, pushing and instructing her!!! This activity is more common at late night when a tired mom has gone to bed and papa and darling daughter are in full mood to chillax and enjoy without a nagging mother around

catchup times

Main bal hanuma hoon
Devaangi is becoming naughtier by the day. So much is the increase in the degree of naughtiness that her papa has named her bal hanuman. Devaangi loves this name of her. Ask her “ Ram ji ne Devaangi ka kya naam rakha hai “ and the prompt reply that comes from Devaangi is “bal hanuman”.
So much is her fascination with this name that at times you will hear Devaangi saying things like “nani bal hanuma aapke paas aaya hai. Isse utha lo”, “mummy ka bal hanuman”, “bal hanuman ko doodu do” and so on.

Mujhe bhi dar  lagta hai
Devaangi has virtually no fear. She is a mast mauji who loves to do things her way and there is no way you can control her pranks as who kisi bhi cheez se nahi darti hai!!! I don’t know how correct or wrong it is scare the child but we had to find something to install some fear in her to stop her pranks (going beyond a limit) or wrong doings.

We found that fear factor in a particular hanumanji’s picture (to which we refer as lal mooh waale chaar dande waale hanuman).

The most surprising element here is the fact that though she recognizes every photo of hanuman ji  and refers to it as bade hanuman yet there is one particular picture of hanumanji(in the desk calendar of chattarpur mandir)  that we have of which she is scared a lot.

When she refuses to sleep even late at night and is continuing with her pranks all you have to tell is “Devaangi lal mooh waale hanuman ji aa rahe hai”. Bus see the instant transformation then - Devaangi will immediately close her eyes and even cover them up with palms of her hands as well and try hard to sleep. The most surprising element is that within minutes she’ll sleep as well.

The same reaction also applies when Devaangi is doing other pranks which she stops immediately on us referring to lal mooh waale hanuman.

Another thing that Devaangi is scared of is the fear of being left outside the house especially when it is dark.

Devaangi’s dadi was always against us (dada, maa and papa) for scolding Devaangi or us putting a stop to her pranks by scolding her. Devaangi’s dada and papa are of the opinion that from the formative years onwards a child needs to be disciplined to some extent at least so that he/she at least begins to understand the difference between right and wrong else it becomes very difficult to control that child later on. This we have learnt from examples at home. One day while Devaangi was with daadi and was being very naughty and not willing to listen to daadi, daadi took Devaangi out of house and told her that she will leave Devaangi outside. I don’t know what happened but something triggered a fear in Devaangi against being left outside the house. For someone who is so fond of going out that it is difficult to being Devaangi in the house, moment you tell her “devaangi ghar ke bahar chodh doo” she gets scared and stops her pranks.

Devaangi at nani house

After the arrival of devaangi’s little sister, the three of us, me, devaangi and shivaangi have come to stay at nani house for some time. The same devaangi who used to be crazy about dadi at dadi house has changed sides and is now nani’s pet. I always thought that she used to take dadi for granted but that is a modest statement as compared to what devaangi does with nani.

For her nani is no more than a friend of her age. She bites nani, pulls her hair, doesn’t let nani eat her food (pata nahi kya hai moment nani sits to have her food, devaagi’s pulls nani’s plate and says” nani nahi khaayegi yeah mummy ki plate hai”), gets onto nani’s lap and refuses to get down.

The best scene was a few days back when I went into the bathroom to find nani sitting down and washing a few clothes and devaangi sitting on nani’s lap just like a Bandar ka bacha!!!!

My religious bacha

There are 2 temples close to nani house: one is jai maa mandir(Shakti durga mandir) and another one is sai baba mandir. Throughout the day devaangi’s demand is to be taken to sai baba mandir. Bus all she has to do is get onto nani’s lap and start off “ nani sai mandir jaana hai”.

My bacha is truly religious. She can recognize a no. of gods, loves to do matha teeko  and jai jai  in front of gods, recognize and sing aarti’s like om jai jagdish hare, jai ambe gauri, om jai shiv onkara, guruji’s mantra jaap. She loves to join daadi in her daily prayers and one must see how devaangi imitates dadi in doing aarti. She moves her palms in such a manner that you can feel as though she has a diya kept on her palms and is doing arti with it.

The true religious nature of bacha comes out at bade madir and sai mandir. You must see bacha at bade mandir doing dandwat pranaam to Guruji and matha teekna to all idols and guruji’s pictures and his Samadhi. I think these things come from within and no one can teach bachu these. No wonder every one says that bachu is indeed guruji’s bacha.

Earlier devaangi never used to let anyone put tikka on her forehead. Last month there was a satsang at a friends place where she was with dadaji when they were  putting tikka on everyone’s forehead. Devaangi allowed them to put tikka on her forehead and starting thereon she likes to have tikka put on her forehead everyday while sitting in pooja or at mandir.

Some tit bits from bachu’s converions

Bachu: mummy nani house jaana hai

Me: nani hourse  kyon jaana hai?

Bachu: nani house sai baba mandir jaana hai (whenever bachu is at nani house, nani takes her to sai baba mandir)

 

Bachu: puchu ne bangle pehna hai

Me: acha puchu ne bangle pehna hai

Bachu: haan !! dadi ne puchu ko bangle pehnaya

Dadaji: nahi switch ko touch nahi karna hai. Mana kiya hai na (when bachu is trying to switch on an electric point)

Bachu: smiles and says: to band kar doon (she she’ll promptly switch off the elctric point that she had switeched on)

Pranaam dadaji

Bachu has learnt to be so diplomat since the beginning that we at times wonder from where has she picked it up (none in our family are diplomatic). Bachu knows how to move from calling dada to dadaji to daadu depending on dadaji’s mood. Though she uses the same rules with others as well but the person to whom bachu maska’s the most is dadaji. If dadaji doesn’t let her have her way even after the transition form dada to dadu the  the ultimate maska is to bend down and touch dadaji’s feet and hug him or do sakshaat pranaam. Phir to there is no way that dadaji will say no to bachu for any thing.

brush my teeth

Oh I'm brushing my teeth on top,

it's so much fun I hate to stop,

but while I'm brushing my teeth

and having so much fun,

I never let the water run.

No I never let the water run.

Devaangi loves to brush her teeth. About 2 months back we brought the first set of tooth brush and tooth paste for Devaangi. We wanted to get Devaangi into a habit of brushing her teeth. After initial reluctance that lasted a few days to a few weeks, bachu has been so much taken up by the whole brushing ritual and in addition to her 4 tooth brushes, Devaangi can also be found picking up and using daadi’s 2 brushes as well as mom’s brush. Phir kya hai every morning maa and dadi have to hunt for their respective  toothbrush!!!

The teeth brushing activity starts when bachu wakes up in the morning and then continues throughout the day. The first brushing session of the day starts with tooth paste on the brush which bachu swallows without any delay or lingering. The brushing sessions of the rest of the day happen with plain brush in bachu’s mouth and saliva dripping out!!!!

Ab to bachu’s standard line on entering the bathroom is bash chahiye (I want the brush)

I love biting

Bachu has been biting a lot now a days… The most common victim is daadi followed by the maid and then me. All you have to do is either annoy bachu or don’t pay attention to her. Bachu simply will come and bite you. She gets some sort of thrill by biting and you must see the joy on her face when bachu bites some one!!! Looks like she is teething at present!!!

Lakdri ki kaathi

Devaangi is growing listening of english rhymes- the common ones that we were taught as a kid. These include baba black sheep, jhony jhony yes papa, row row row your boat, wee wiley winkey, jingle bells and so on… of all these one particular rhyme becomes favorite of bachu at a given point of time and then for days together till the time this fascination lasts bachu not only keeps humming the rhymn herself but also asks others to sing out that rhyme to her.

I remember when the fascination for jingle bells was on; bachu used to consider mom and dad as request station and would turn from one to another asking us to sing jingle bells to her. Then came a time for Guruji’s mantra jap followed by om jai jagdish hare… aajkal she is oscillating between nani teri morni ko mor le gaye and lakri ki kaathi (this one is her all time fav)

The best are the prompts or the clues that bachu gives us in between for reciting the rhymes. For example she’ll say “mummy ghoda pahucha chauk mein”. This means that start from this stanza and sing the rest of the song to her!!!

So far we have tried to ensure that bachu doesn’t watch too much TV. We however introduced her to watching nursery rhymes on computer. So much is bachu’s fascination for watching lakdri ki kaathi’s video in particular is that day in and day out she can watch lakdri ki kaathi’s video. Not only this, she also knows it very well whom to approach for putting on this video. For example she goes only to me and her dadaji for putting on lakdri ki kaathi (she knows no one else will put on the video for her J ). You must hear her say “dadaji lakdri ki kaathi laga do please”. She says it so innocently and pleadingly ki bus poocho mat and won’t let go for dadaji’s legs till the time he doesn’t agree to put on bachu’s fav video ;-)