I guess the kids like their new respective game systems… Josh’s Nintendo DSi XL, and a hand-me-down Leapster handheld for Lily.

Josh & Lily like their handhelds

Jiss & Aji

Wow, you know you’re getting old when:

1. You find gray hairs in odd places on your body.
2. You get called an “uncle” or an “auntie” (if you’re Indian.)
3. People (including relatives) who were kids when you were growing up are now getting married.

My little (young and in stature) 2nd cousin Jiss is now engaged, and we attended a luncheon celebrating her engagement on Saturday. It was supposed to start at 11:30am, but we were running late as usual. I drove like a maniac all the way up to Rockland, but there was no real rush. The lunch itself was running, as they were waiting for some folks from their church attending a baptism to arrive, including also waiting for their minister. The appetizer hour was stretched an additional hour.

Josh & Lily before they ruined their clothes

I wish we hadn’t stressed ourselves out rushing to another event that was running on IST (Indian Standard Time.) It’s always the case though. We’re always running an hour late, and the Indian events that we attend are late to start as well. We rush, but maybe we shouldn’t. What we should do is start getting ready an hour early, as we need that extra hour of buffer time to get the kids dressed and out the door.

I felt the lunch was highlighted by Lily spilling an entire glass of mango lassi on the new salwar that my parents got her from India, and this was the first occasion to wear it. I’d say Josh was better behaved and more careful while eating, but that would be an untruth. He ruined his new shirt by rubbing his right sleeve through his plate of Indian food. You KNOW that curry powder is going to permanently stain. Sigh. Life with kids, folks.

Congratulations are in order for my cousin Jiss and her fiancee Aji. I wish them the best on their big endeavor. I hope they remember this important adage from the Dalai Lama:

Don’t sweat the petty things, and don’t pet the sweaty things.

Late Sunday afternoon, we drove down to my sister’s place to have the kids trick or treat. In our own neighborhood, we don’t see too many kids. Meanwhile, in south Jersey, it’s like the 50′s in America. Everyone sits outside with tables and chairs, hand out candy, drink beer. The sidewalks are full of kids trick or treating. It’s all very odd to me. It’s nice, but still odd. Ah well, as my mother would say, “When in Rome, trick or treat with everyone else.”

The kids looked great. This year, Josh was dressed as Luke Skywalker (with a purple lightsaber), and Lily was Wonder Woman (one of her favorites.) Namita and I hadn’t dressed up for Halloween in many years, but this year ew borrowed someone’s Double Dare costumes. After we got to the house, all was well until Lily saw Kitty’s scary Mummy costume, started screaming, and jumped into our arms. She wouldn’t relax until Kitty took off the makeup later in the evening. In the meantime, we kept them apart in different trick or treating groups.

Robbie and I took the kids out for trick or treating, while Julie and Namita stayed back at the house to watch the baby and hand out candy. It was a cold night! More folks came over, and ended up staying for dinner there. By the time we got home, it was almost midnight, and on a Sunday night! It was rough getting up the next day for work/school for everyone.

Josh as Luke Skywalker	Nums & Wonder Woman
Emily, Lily, Joshua	Family photo, Halloween 2010

Dismantled crib

This week, I dismantled the crib. Five years and two kids later, we say farewell. There are two prime reasons why we finally did it. We didn’t decide this lightly, as we prefer Lily contained at night time. She has a tendency to walk around all night long.

One, we’re attempting to get Lily potty-trained. Towards that end, she can’t go to the bathroom if she’s stuck behind bars. One too many accidents in the morning where we really wished she had gone potty. I’ve had enough of handwashing stains out of the crib sheets.

Two, she’s 2.5 years old, and we could use the extra room. The crib takes up space, and we could use it for storing their arts & crafts, toys, and other junk, instead of having them in the dining room.

It’s been a few days, and she’s still walking around at 11pm at night. I don’t know why she doesn’t want to sleep at night, but then again, she has my insomnia genes.

Both kids are sleeping in the same bed now.

On June 4th, the kids’ school hosted “Spring Sing”, a show with each class singing or doing some other action like dancing. Both sets of grandparents, and both our sisters and their respective husbands all came to our house then off to the school for the big show. At the end of the show, there would be a graduation ceremony for the kindergarteners leaving the school completely, and for Joshua’s class who would be leaving for kindergarten in September. Thankfully, my flight was on-time, so I was able to get home in time for the show and graduation. Phew!

In Lily’s class, it was some sort of sports players and cheerleaders thing where the kids either danced or jumped up and down in costumes to music. Hey, what do you expect from a classroom of two-year olds? In Josh’s class, they showcased dancing from the 50′s through the present day, and Josh did some 50′s dancing. At the end, the kids “graduating” walked down the aisle and on stage in red caps and gowns to receive their “diplomas.” It was all very cute.

Afterwards, we all went back to our house for dinner and drinks, and the kids ran around playing and screaming. My sister took photographs and I took video, but neither is actually available to be posted. Check back later.

A champion doesn’t always follow societal norms. This is how a champion sleeps.

Lily sleeps how she wants to sleep.

This kids are cute, aren’t they? Man, they are growing up fast. Time flies.

Joshua & Lily on a pleasant spring evening

This year, Lily turned two years old. Gosh, that went fast.  She’s out of the toddler room, and has moved into the preschool prep classroom. It feels so recent that Josh himself was in that room. Time flies. Now Josh is in Kindergarten Prep, and Lily is drinking from a cup. In another year, I think she’ll be out of diapers. Two kids and no diapers? One can only dream.  

On Saturday, we celebrated Lily’s second birthday with a party at Josh’s gym, which was the same place we celebrated his 3rd birthday (March 2008.) We invited her classmates from her class, and kids from among our circle of family and friends. As usual, a lot of the parents were very late with the RSVPs. What I found ironic was that we received an RSVP for a child we didn’t remember inviting, but we figured the more the merrier.

Lily's 2nd birthday party

The party went well. As usual, my sister and my BIL showed up early to (again) help us with running errands before a party, which included picking up the birthday cake and balloons today. If they didn’t keep swooping in to help us, I think we’d be even later for every major Ipe event. We arrived about 10 mins late to our own party, but since it was at a fully-staffed gym, parents and children were occupied with activities.

Everything went well, and Lily had a very good time. We had Papa John’s (again), because hey, you can’t beat that “$10 per pie with any toppings you want” deal. Nope, you can’t beat it. I think we’re officially done with parties for another year, which is a relief. I’m not a fan of throwing lavish birthday parties any more. Especially with young children, going overboard is pointless. The children themselves enjoy running around, eating their pizza, and drinking from their juice box. They don’t need much more than that.

So to bring this story to a close, remember that family that we didn’t invite, but left a voicemail that they would attend the party? Yeah, they didn’t show up to the party after all. We’re still confused about that one.

Every month, a circle of our close friends get together to celebrate those celebrating birthdays that month. In March, it’s just both of our kids. To celebrate, we hosted a party Saturday night for the kids, and invited some of our friends. We (really, just my wife, but shouldn’t I get credit too?) had planned a sumptuous home-cooked middle-eastern meal, but various snafus occurred this week, and there was simply no time to get all the ingredients and cook. Instead, we placed a last-minute order to our local Indian restaurant for some delicious entrees.

Party at our house	Catered dinner
Plexy & Sheba	Lesh & Lily play Pictionary

We don’t have a lot of people over very often, and always forget how much work goes into hosting a party. It’s not easy to get the house all clean and spiffy (our kids certainly don’t help), and there’s a lot to do! After some of the guests started to arrive, I drafted Vijay and Sunil to accompany me for a liquor and grocery store run. Later, I made a separate run to pick up dinner.

Apart from the leftover tasks that we had after guests started arriving, our friends helped out with some stuff, and everything else fell into place. The weather was great, the house was nicely decorated, most people could make it, and the food was delicious. Along with the great dinner party conversation and tasty food, we all played Pictionary for entertainment. I think the party broke up around 12:30am, so I think it went extremely well. Photos are posted for your amusement. We should have people over more often.

Based on our parenting experiences raising both a boy and a girl, I have many witty observations to share.  I’m not going to share them all with you now, because really, I need to save some material for boring dinner parties at your house. Yes, you. Don’t deny it.

I do want to pontificate on how children sleep. Notice that I didn’t do that arrogant self-centered thing where I comment on how my children sleep differently from your children, and how that’s more interesting. No, no, no. Plenty of self-centered parents out there, and I’m not one of them. My children don’t do anything better or worse than other children out there. They’re all different, and yet all the same. I’ve noticed that my children often sleep in odd positions, and yours probably do too.

Butts in the air, sideways sleeping, you name it. It doesn’t look particularly comfortable, but maybe it works for them. Recently, Lily has won an unofficial trophy for the weirdest sleeping position. Recently, my wife went to wake up the kids, and found my daughter in a particularly odd position. Sometime in the night, she had taken off her shirt. Furthermore, at the time of her wake-up call, she was sleeping with her hand down her pants.

It’s just odd.

Lily sleeping kinda like Al Bundy