Summer vacation crafts!

Our First edible craft - bread as base , nutella for skin colour , fruit loops for eyes , corn flakes for hair,ears from bingo and sauce for smile :)
Aryan did not feel like eating it later and so I had the sinful stuff :D


His school bus , we later wrote the name of school as well !


Busy painting the paster of paris cars from a "Mould and Paint" craft kit.
P.S : Do ignore the choclate wrapper and the foot of a pregnant female who has troubles sitting on floor :D


Ready cars !


And the landscape !


Here is what we made the next day from the empty "Mould and Paint" card board box ! And it was gifted to Papa for his news paper :)

Spray Painting

Jusr for the record , these are 100% inpedependent creations, tried for the first time (at home , cannot say about school) :-)

He came to me with his tooth brush and told me that he wants to do painting with that :D. I somehow convinced him to use a old one. I watched him from distance and just corrected him once on the way he was sprinkling the paint. And , you see the products :-)

What happened when ..

..The Swine Scare hit all of us?

• Schools and daycares got closed for a week
• Mumma stayed at home (WFH) since Aryan needed someone around
• After 2 days Aryan got pissed of in house arrest & got bored of his toys
• And so Mumma decided to get crafty
• And scratched her head and digged all the scrap
• Thankfully we had left over birthday supplies at home

First one was this clown , the ball an ignored toy for 3 years , the eyes and nose were choclate wrappers, the mouth was cut from a torn face mask ..and cap ..you know that !

Aryan went in total crafty mood after the clown. For the first time ever he loved an organized activity , thanks to school or his boredom !! So he wanted to do more !

Then came the Octopus , mumma found it over the web long long back and the idea was stored in the hard disc on mumma's head. All we needed was a metal hanger some crepe paper strips and an old gift wrapper , used the reverse for eyes and mouth :P

As we were done with the octopus , he wanted to make all the animals he knew , so we made the fish next !! Looks horrible , but you know Mumma cannot be all that crafty in a single day and ofcourse mumma collected supplies for 2 crafts only and this was on the spot !!

After fish he wanted lion , doggie , girraffe and what not ..pacified him somehow.

The next day we made a necklace and he wanted to wear it to school like M (a girl in his class) :-P

P.S : All the ideas were inspired from here and there and so I owe no copyright on ideas.

..and there was a horse..

Today in the school they will go over the tail and mask err..the tale of a busy horse spider :D





YEAH YEAH ..you got it right !
Today they have a class activity where they will go over a tale of the busy spider and students need to dress like the characters. Aryan has to be a horse.

Now ..thats the activity for the mom too..how do I make him a horse is what I thought when I saw the synopsis...rent a dress , buy a dress..naah ..that would be too much work for a class activity :-P

So google bhaiya jindabad ..googled horse masks and made one. (I really hope it looks like a horse though :-P ) And a tail , ready made :-P

But he doesnot have a brown Tshirt/shirt..so what will the horse wear ???
I told him , you will be a black horse with brown face and tail..LOL!

Lets see how it goes :-)

Tory!

Tory is the new mantra in Aryan's household. And I figured it out, out of the blue.

I tried reading stories to Aryan several times when he was younger but it never worked. He was usually interested in picture reading only. He would just put his fingers on pics and ask "What is this?"

So I thought of just doing picture reading to him and avoided reading stories. But recently . one night he was hyperactive and I did not know how to calm him to sleep. And then I said , "Aryan chalo mumma story sunayegi". To my surprise he came running , saying "tory tory" and lied down by my side. And then I told him one story and then another and then another.

Its been a ritual since then. Every night he looks forward to my story telling session. And he doesnot want me to look away but to look in his eyes and tell stories with actions. So reading is ofcourse prohibitted.

He tries to immitate me and say the stories with me or ahead of me too :-)
--------------------------------------

Just for the record , I would mention the stories that work for us

1. Dog and his reflection (Dog tory)
2. Two cats and the monkey (cat tory)
3. The big Apple Tree (Parrot Tory)
4. Rabbit and Tortoise (Rabbit Tory)

In the process I have made up a few stories extempore also , coz he came up with wierd ideas , wanted me to tell stories about fan and light , About A , Paati and Aunty, etc.


Some of these stories go like this :

*****************************
Fan and the light tory

Once there was a fan and a light in a ...(bathroom /bedroom/Aryan home..depends on what he wants). One day they started fighting.

FAn said , I am more important
Light said , I am more important

Then they decided to stop working for 1 hour each and see what happens.

So first fan stopped. Then Aryan started crying saying "bahut garmi hai"
So papa immediately got the fan fixed.

Then light stopped working. Then Aryan started crying , since it was dark.
So papa immediately got the light fixed.

So fan and light realized that they are eually important and everyone is equally important and became friends.

***************************
A and Paati and Aunty Tory

A went to Paati place but Aryan was not there , so A started feeling sad and lonely. Then Aunty told her to play with X,Y,Z etc. And they all started playing. So A felt happy and realized , More Friends means More Fun.

****************************

Some stories I made up too , to pass on some kind of message.

Like the mouse tory , where the mouse took away the teeth of a kid called Ansh coz Ansh did not brush.
So we should brush our teeth ..

"Brush your teeth , round and round"
"Brush your teeth , "Up and down"
"Brush your teeth , all around"

And the story of the kid who did not share his ball in the park and ended up bored while the other kid enjoyed playing with the ball with new friends.
--------------------------------

Lets see how far we will go with this tory business , as of now its "troop ka ekka" for me !

Papa's Boy

His papa is his role model in everything. Whatever papa does is the best. Whatever papa use is the best. And he takes good care of papa's belongings as well.

He runs to get his papa's shoes every day. And he understands and get another pair when papa says , "Nahi Beta , not this , other one." He stands at the door with a towel for the papa. He runs to get papa's specs as soon as papa comes out of bathroom.

Day before yesterday, we went out a nearby restaurant for evening snacks. It was one of those self service kinds. So while his papa went to fetch the food , I saw that Aryan is looking at someone. I tried to call him , but he gave no response.He was standing close to another table and staring 2 people , who were having coffee. On giving a closer look , I saw that a pair of glasses were kept on the table. I got worried of him going and picking it. Thats when he turned to me , pointing at the glasses and said , "Papa" in a very helpless tone. I explained that papa has his glasses and thats Uncles.

He immitates Anupam in his habits as well. He makes noise like his papa , while brushing. He roam around in balcony with mobile phone on his years and talk in gibberish with someone. This includes , "Hello" ,"hahahaah" and "Bye" as well.
He likes using papa's pillow and he slowly slip from his pillow to his papa's until papa decide to swap the pillows and give him what he wants.

Whatever papa does is right and so when papa covers himself with a quilt he demands mumma to do so as well. But here he refuses to immitate papa himself.

So I am seeing a papa's boy in making :-)

Taare Zameen Par

Aryan creates his own sky, right under our roof with mummy/papa's help. Papa/Mummy make the celestial bodies and Aryan paste them to the sky. And who said that sky can only be light blue and not light yellow ????

P.S: Don't worry, play doh is given under strict supervison only.

Artist At Work!

Editted to Add : Washing Hands after Painting is more interesting than Painting itself.

Aryan's First Painting

I had an unexpected holiday on Monday , announced by the company. So Aryan and I made use of the time like this :-)




Do wait for more pics of the artist at work. Will upload those when the PC at home resumes to life.

A Typical Day at Home!

So all of you who ask what did I do over a holiday / saturday /sunday and I reply with "we were at home" , this is what we do :-)

- Aryan gets up late by 9.00 - 10.00 (anti-jinx) , (and this is a recent development , he used to get up at 7.00 am) and so mumma gets to sleep till around 8.00. After which mumma , makes tea and do the tiny-winy tasks till the time Aryan gets up.

- Mumma and Aryan snuggle and cuddle either in bed or in Mumma's lap and loads of kisses and hugs get showered from both ends.

- Aryan demands to switch on his favourite DVD, which he does not watch , just listens as he has his milk and then plays with Mumma Papa.

- Since he gets up so late , he breakfast is usually short , like just a fruit or few bites from mumma's plate.

- Then Aryan demands to bath and he baths and baths till he is forced out of the bathroom , which is complimented by a big tantarum.

- By the time tantarum is over, Aryan is all dressed up and we play again.

- Meanwhile Mumma struggles to make the lunch which would also serve as a brunch for Aryan. This sometimes triggers some tantarums as Aryan demands to be carried by Mumma (and Mumma ONLY) so that he can observe and learn all the cooking ..ALL THE COOKING. So in the process Mumma gets bitten several times when she fails to carry him.

- Aryan is served with his brunch on his high chair. But just after few bites , Aryan wants to jump off and roam around. After much of trying he convinces mumma to set him free. So he roams around the house and comes running to take a bite when Mumma prods (anti-jinx again..).

- Then we play again. The playing includes all or some of,

Cooking , with both pressure cooker , some potatos , some tomatoes and gas lighter , all in the room . Mumma papa get to taste the yummy food cooked by Aryan.

Playing with his Fisher Price shape sorter blocks , where Mumma Papa are supposed to clap and say 'very good', each time Aryan sorts the shapes correctly.

Playing with his favourite mug , where Aryan immitates the aunty (maid) who comes in the morning and cleans the mug.

Cuddling,Tickling by both Mumma and Papa.

Playing Throw-Catch when all the three players sit on different seats and play with the blue ball.

Watching Aryan's snaps on computer.

Kissing and hugging the soft toys and fighting with papa over his sofa.

Hide and seek between the rooms and balcony with Mumma where Aryan finds the hiding Mumma.

- Meanwhile Aryan hears the washing machine's beep of completion and comes running with a tub and forces Papa or Mumma to take the clothes out. The clothes are then carried to balcony by Aryan and Mumma/Papa , where each person holds the tub from one side.

- After much of playing , when its around 2.00 -2.30 , Aryan gets tired for an afternoon nap and dozes off in Mumma's / Papa's lap , while mumma papa finish their bath, food, sleep etc.

- Aryan gets up after a long nap , demands to switch on his DVD again and all the playing is repeated in random order.Meanwhile Mumma again tries to cook evening snacks and dinner while Aryan wants to stay in her lap for all the cooking.

- After dinner , Aryan takes both Mumma and Papa to bedroom and then we all study Animals. We also study body parts sometimes , using the Pooh book. We don't like to study vegetables though.

- Then Aryan do all the cleaning of the side rack near our bed. All the things are placed on bed one by one ane when the rack is empty , Aryan says "Kham" , short form of "Khatam" , meaning "Finish". This process is repeated N number of times.

- Meanwhile Mumma Papa start feeling sleepy while Aryan is still active and is jumping on bed. Finally Mumma -Papa switch off the light. This again invites lot of crying for the "Aaight" , meaning "Light". Then he tries to impress papa mumma by telling something about cows,papa,auto ,bau bau,eyes etc etc (all the living non living things he knows about) and mumma keeps telling that all of them have slept already. Finally he gives in and dozes off.

- After an hour, you will see a Mumma sleeping in parallel to the wall, a papa almost falling off the bed and a baby making a bridge between them, sleeping happily with his head next to papa and feet next to Mumma :-)

P.S. : All the house chores done by Aryan are his own intiatives. Mumma Papa don't force him. So please don't sue us for child labour.

Chef in making - Part 2

I am sure you remember the Chef in making post. He reassures that he will not let me down and will become the chef (Master of cooking as Chubbocks said!!) some day.

2-3 days back in the evening, when my cook came, Aryan was playing with the pressure cookers and Kadai in the living room (Control ..there is more to laugh!!!) and so I asked him to give those to Uncle (cook) to make the food.

He obeyed me as the most obedient child in the world and went and gave all the vessels to the guy, one after the other.

But this is just half the story... He is obeying me every day since that day...To the extent that he picks and give everything needed for cooking to the cook. What if he needs one cooker and one pan ...we have 2 cookers and 2 pans...Why not use all??

The poor guy has to tell him, I need only one beta, but would our little chef listen. He will again attempt to give him another cooker, till Mumma drags him out of the kitchen.

NOW, On second thoughts I am planning to make pay cut for the cook to 75 %, since we already have a assistant to him...what do you think :-)

Showing Off..

Like most kids Aryan loves to be noticed and appreciated when he is doing something new. These recent incidents are part of the same :

These days when my Papa or my mother in law calls and they wish to listen Aryan's voice , Aryan makes sure that he will not talk. Instead , he makes some happy sounds in low tone and rush around the house , and sit on from one toy to another or starts playing with kitchen utensils. But when you, take the phone away to talk , he will start crying. I have been wondering , what is that all about. By observing him closely for sometime , I figuured out that he does /plays the newest thing he has learnt. So he basically shows it off to them ..ON PHONE :-P


Yesterday I went to office , though it was a holiday. So Anupam and Aryan had a blast at home. When I was back, Anupam was telling me about how well Aryan could play with his new blocks and how quickly he was learning. While we were talk , Aryan was busy else where doing something. Soon he came running and started playing with the new blocks and after few seconds he looked at me for appreciation. I clapped and said "Very Good" and you should see the twinkle in his eyes and the sense of achievement :-)

Anupam's conclusion was , you can make this guy do anything with little encouragement. I hope this continues :-)

Sand Play at Goa

I bought these sand play toys for Aryan from Goa itself. When he saw them , he thought its a big spoon and bowl and tried to feed me using that spoon. Then I showed him how to play with them. After that he was on his own and I had a peaceful lunch :-)

Aryan Confesses

Aryan Tagged me for my crazy 8's ..its ok , let me confess :

8 Things I am passionate about:
1. Cooking , I will be a chef some day. I love to be in the kitchen and see Mumma cooking. I love to play with utensils , especially pressure cooker. And with vegetables too.
2. Washing machine , If I will not be a cook , then I will be a washer man :-P Don't laugh ..ok ?
3. My engine and my rocker and my Blue Ball
4. Water and Bath
5. My Dadi , I love her like anything. She was with me for one year. Now she lives somewhere else but I love her and miss her.
6. My Nanu and his phone call. Nanu does lot of masti. He chats with me in baby language and pampers me like anything.
7. Lift in our apartment. I wonder how it works ..Nope I will not be a Lift man.
8. AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST , MY SHOES AND SOCKS ..Mumma plans to do a complete post on that ...sooner or later. I am crazy about shoes and socks , especially striped socks and my blue canvas shoes.


8 Things I do that drives My Mom crazy:
1. Asking to go out of the house , in the common area of apartment and hang around there for hours , even if Mumma is dead tired. Even if its 11.30 in the night. I don't want to miss any opportunity to go out.
2. When I cry over wearing a wet or very dirty socks for thats my favourite one.
3. When I hit , bite or scratch mumma , if she is not responding to my needs IMMEDIATELY.
4. When I want Mumma , its only Mumma and she cannot even go to loo then.
5. When I demand milk/fruits and have only one sip/bite.
6. During our outings ,when I refuse to go to Papa even if mumma is too tired to carry me for longer.
7. When I want mumma to carry me while cooking.
8. When I do not want to sleep till late in night when Mumma is too sleepy to play.

8 Things that I say often:
1. Papa : My favourite word ..so what if I call Mumma also as papa ...most of the times.You know its easy to say that.
2. Aaaaa
3. Mumm / Mumma
4. Aaaja
5. Appae
6. Aiyan : Mumma says , "Sabse Pyara Baby Kaun ??" And I say ,"Aiyan Aiyan"
7. Uuh
8. Bau bau

8 Books that I have read:
1. Animal ABC
2. Know Your Fruits
3. Number book
4. Know your Vegetables
5. Cartoon Animal Book
6. Pooh Moods book
7 My First Flip book -ABC
8. Times of India (thats not a book though)

8 songs that I listen to over and over:
1. Twinkle Twinke Little star (English rhyme)
2. Lakdi ki kathi (Masoom)
3. Haathi raja kahan chale( Hindi rhyme)
4. Johnny Johnny.. (English rhyme)
5. Two Little Hands (English rhyme)
6. Instrumental from my Piano
7. Bum Bum Bole (Taare Zameen Par)
8. Yeh Ishq hai (Jab we meet)



8 Things that makes me the person I am:
1. My Passion for cooking and my love for my socks.
2. My love for bathing /water .
3. My love for my parents. I suddenly go an kiss them for no reasons. I cry if Mumma is in pain or is crying. I get concerned when Papa is not well.
4. Anger , Mumma calls me Angry young man.
5. My smile and laugh , My mom says that its her life line.
6. Being adament about being with Mumma and doing everything with her and only her. If I am on swing , she has to sit next to me , if I am having milk , she has to be there , if I am playing with engine , she has to be there and so on...
7. The way I like to attract strangers to talk to me and the way I shy away when they do.
8. The way I like to trouble Mumma and Papa , if they are trying to apply cream or put diaper

And I tag ..

Kuttan
Brat
Aadya
and
Nantu

Aryan Mobile

What does Aryan do when mobile rings ??

If its Papa's mobile , he shouts and runs to hand it over to papa.

It its Mumma's ,he fiddles to switch it on , coz he knows that most probably that would be Nanu and he would have called to talk to Aryan.

What does Aryan do when mobile does not rings ??

He comes to Mumma with her mobile and explains that he wants to talk to Nanu.

And How do you think he talks ??

He walks everywhere with mobile on loud speaker , smiles at whatever Nanu says , sometimes laughs , sometimes talk gibberish and sometimes responds by telling his name , nosy and doing "Hare Rama" and "Aryan Kitna bada".

Note : Now Aryan's chat with Nanu has become a daily routine. Usually Nanu would call else Aryan will.
Aryan's Nanu is demanding Mumma to give away her phone to Aryan :(

Sweet little things

>>When I rush around the house barefoot , Aryan comes running with both my slippers, one in each hand :-) I just get so awed.

>>When the cook leaves the house after he finishes cooking. Aryan comes running , asks me to take him in my lap. Points out at each vessel one by one , from cooker , to pan, to casserole.I am supposed to open the pointed vessel and show him what has been cooked. After seeing the chapatis at the last , I am given a nice toothy smile , as if saying .."ok , inspection complete , food looks good." Thats a different story that he has stopped having any vegetables at dinner time.

>>When he gets a empty washed cooker , he carries it out of the kitchen. Sit in the living room and tries to close it.When the lid goes inside , its such a success smile. He is still struggling to learn to get it out of the cooker though.

>>When he is in my lap while I cook and I place a vessel on gas. He bents down to check if the fire is on or not. If not , I am adviced to lit the fire.

>>When he wants to sit on the swing and Anupam is ready to do the honours , he just refuses. Mumma has to put him to swing and help him in swinging and Mumma gets flying kisses in return.

>>When he wants to do potty , he goes and drags his potty seat to me, what more can I ask for :-) He also manages to move the seat to desired positions , while he is sitting.

>>When he sees his father , getting closer to his mother , he immediately rushes to ascertain his ownership. When on bed , he rolls over in between to ensure enough distance is maintained :D

>>When I am feeding him , I make him sit on high chair and give him some food in a separate bowl , with a spoon. He manages to eat 1-2 bites himself while I continue to feed simultaneously. So at times ,when I am busy feeding him , he feeds me simultaneously with his spoon. I feel so loved :-)

>>When he sees a spoon he just wants to hold it. He wishes to use a spoon for everything, be it bread or chapati. Yesterday I was fed with a full bowl of curd by him :-) Don't ask me how much was on floor though :D

Experimenting with NOSY !!

Aryan and his Papa were playing with dough today and here is what they did :-)



Re-doing this post here. By mistake I posted these pics on my blog.

What to do , if he does not sleep ?

Mumma : "Aao beta , soyenge."
Aryan pays no attention.

Mumma : "Chalo ..Aryan thak gaya hai na , subah khelenge."
Pulls him to sleep next to Mumma.
Aryan finds an escape.

Mumma : "Ok then Mumma is sleeping alone.Aaaaa,aaaaa,aaaaa"
Mumma pats at her own forehead.
Aryan comes and lies down next to Mumma , Pulls Mumma's hand to his forehead.

Aryan : "Aaaaaa,aaaaa,aaaa"
Mumma : "Aaaaaa,aaaaa,aaaa"

What's Cooking ?

This is what Aryan does on a Sunday evening , when Mumma cooks.

Racing on Tummy

Have you heard of this new game.If not , come and see in our house.You will see a mumma running behind a toddler.A toddler , who has not yet learnt to walk , but can run(*swim) on his tummy. And he gets super-duper excited and giggles, when he sees mumma following him (especially with the dinner plate to serve him).