"The Jungle Book"- with Anvesha

As a child I grew up watching Jungle Book every Sunday. I loved watching Mowgli, Baloo and Bageera. Sunday mornings were reserved especially for Mowgli and his friends. So when Disney's, "The Jungle Book" was released this year, we wanted to take Anvesha to watch it for sure. This was Anvesha's 2nd movie at a theater, first being "Shaun the Sheep", which was, I would say a little boring.  We decided to let her see a few episodes of The Jungle book we had been seeing as kids, so that she knows about Sher Khan, Mowgli, Bageera and others.

Although the movie had mixed reviews of being too scary for kids, we decided to still give it a shot.  The 3D aspect of the movie does make the movie a little scary, as it seems like Sher Khan is jumping ON you, so we decided to go for the 2D version.  Maybe Anvesha didn't find it scary because we were expecting it to be too scary and we had prepared her for that :) I am going to just come out and say that this movie was the most kid friendly movie from Disney, simply because it was very easy for children to understand and he characters were fun for kids.

When we arrived at took our seats, Anvesha was too excited to see Mowgli and got a little restless in the beginning when the trailers from other movies showed up. She constantly kept asking, "where is Mowgli and Sher Khan?". But once the movie got going, she was totally fine and loved watching it. Right from the start, and throughout the movie, Sher Khan got Anvesha's attention- yes he is a mean tiger, no surprise there, but the fact that he is a tiger, got Anvesha going. Ask her if she liked Mowgli or Sher Khan, and she would without, giving a second thought reply that she liked Sher Khan :)

Anvesha chuckled at most parts, especially at the silly Baloo and was enthralled to watch King Louie- the giant gorilla and Kaa, the snake. There was no dull moment throughout the movie and we loved it too. It was much more kid friendly than I expected, but still enjoyable by adults. If you haven't seen it yet with your kids, I would highly recommend to go watch it :)

Here is what Anvesha keeps humming these days....

Life with a Preschooler

My role as a parent has evolved over the last one year and now I am faced with everyday challenges and important decisions.Phew!!! I made it through the baby and toddler stage and am now entering the preschooler years.  I am now a mother of a preschooler who runs around me, saying hilarious things and learns new stuff daily. So, how is life different now that Anvesha has started preschool? I tried my best to think about how I can summarize and this is what a typical day looks like with Anvesha- the preschooler:

Situation1: Weekday- getting her ready for school and everything else that follows

7:30 AM- I try to wake her up and after series of trials, she finally wakes up- grumpy.
8:00 AM- I try to convince her to brush her teeth, else rats will come and eat them and after series of protests and fights, I try to brush her teeth while she wails.
8:15 AM- She argues with me over what clothes she wants to wear for school and finally we settle down on something that she can wear. I look at the clock. I have another half and hour to get her dressed and have her finish her breakfast while I pack her lunch box.
8:45 AM- She finally finishes her breakfast with some leftovers and we get ready to leave for school- shoes on, jacket on, but wait.... just when we are about to step out, she needs to go potty !!
9:00 AM- I finally manage to reach school on time. I take her out from the car seat and just then she wants to pick up the prefect flower for her teacher.
9:10 AM- Se finally waves good bye while I watch her from the window on her class room door.

Situation 2: I pick her up from school

1:00 PM- I pick her up from school and she wants to go to the park and play. Too tired, I try to convince her that its raining and we have to skip the park today. She is cranky.
1:30 PM-  We reach home and she does not want to open her shoes and does not want to wash her hands.
2:00 PM- We sit down for lunch and she does not want to eat daal-rice, something that she demanded few minutes ago.
2:30 PM- We finally finish our lunch and I try to put her down for her nap that she resists. After loitering around and playing for a while she finally goes to sleep at around 3:15
5:15 PM- She wakes up and fusses over having milk. She wants to eat cookies.

Situation 3: Bath time and dinner

7:00 PM- We have just come back home from park and I try to take her for bath which she protests. She wails in protest and then later wails for not coming out from her bath tub.
7:30 PM- Struggle beings to feed her dinner
8:30 PM- She requests to watch Mickey Mouse and I allow her to watch it for 10 mins while I quickly gobble some food.

Situation 4: Bed time routine

9:00 PM- She does not want to brush her teeth and hides somewhere. She insists on drinking water 5 secs after I specifically asked her and she refused.
9:30 PM- Finally she is in bed and I lie down next to her. She insists on reading a book that we have perhaps read a million times earlier. Today I am just not in a mood for any bed time stories and pretend to sleep. She comes close to me, gives me a hug and a kiss and with a smile, asks me to tell her a story. She calls me and I tell her that Iam very upset and turn my back towards her. She asks me to turn around and says the most sweetest thing ever, "Mamma!!! I love you :)" My heart melts on hearing these magical words and I give in.
10:00 PM- She is finally asleep and I look at her with admiring eyes and kiss her good night.

 If that is not love, I don't know what is....

A Colorful Holi !!!

We celebrated Holi in the last weekend of March. Last year Anvesha enjoyed it, but was still overwhelmed as to what is going on around her. This year again we went to play Holi at a local park and there were hundreds of people all gathered to play Holi.

The event was very well organized and there was a DJ playing popular bollywood  dance numbers. At first she was scared at seeing colorful people dancing around, but when she saw her best friend- Amishi, she was a bit relieved I guess :)

This year our aunt- Choti Buaji as we all call her was visiting us from Boston and we all had a fun time with her, especially on Holi :)

I personally, do not like playing Holi, but enjoy watching others play.The kids enjoyed playing with the water gun and Anvesha not only put gulaal on others, but derived some pleasure in putting the color on herself as well. 

                                     

Easter fun

Spring is a wonderful time! There are flowers everywhere and the air is so fresh. March 20th marks the official onset of spring and you can make out as you enter any of the stores..... As we approach Easter, we can see an aisle with all those beautiful Easter egg hunt baskets and packs of the plastic eggs to be used during egg hunting. I personally find this sight very encouraging as this means that happy outdoor play days are around the corner and there will be more sunshine :) But for kids this has a totally different meaning.

This Easter we spent one weekend in the much awaited egg hunt event that Anvesha was so looking forward to and that's the reason I wanted to go- rain or shine! Anvesha was all set to go for egg hunting with her pink Easter basket and bunny ears.

The event was in a soccer field and it was a typical Seattle day which means it was cold and drizzling, but we still went there as I had promised Anvesha that I would take her to meet the Easter Bunny. The field was marked in different zones as per the age and Anvesha collected many eggs in her basket. She was thrilled to find candies and chocolates inside when she opened the eggs. 

                                  

 Finally she met with the Easter Bunny who gave her a big hug :)                                        

There were bounce house and many other activities for kids including face painting and Anvesha chose to get a cupcake on her cheek.

For kids Easter is a fun filled day to enjoy with the Easter Bunny, wear nice clothes, play the egg hunting game and eat lots of candies and chocolates. For us, its the indication of onset of nice days ahead.

Happy Easter everyone ( although late )