A picture is worth... a short play!

Every year Jr. brings this school portrait picture request from school. It is "attractively" priced at anywhere from 28 to 100$ depending on the package.. attractively for the kids that is! 

The photographer in me is never happy with the pictures and the CFO at home says "Didn't we fund all that expensive camera equipment? No way we need to pay for any pictures!" 

This year when Jr. got me the form and envelope told her "how many times have we gone through this? I am not even going to have this conversation. You can have this one with yourself. Face me and act like you. Then face the other way and tell yourself what daddy will say in response and be done with it!"

She thought it was actually a great idea and humored us with the little one edging her on.

The result is..

she did pretty good. At the end she tossed the form and now she gets to spend 14 or 28$ at Target.. depending on if the little one also co-operates and doesn't insist on a school portrait! 

Next year, we do not even have to do this play. We can just review this video. 

Life just gets simpler every year!!!

Almost forgotten..

This year we did not put the kids in Tamil school. The 2 plus hour time commit every sunday, not to mention the 5+ hours spent by San for preparing them for exams and such were simply out of reach even by thought in August. Why?

At that time it was a very likely possibility that yours truly would be traveling to Austin more frequently this Tamil School year. That concept came to an untimely end, but nevertheless it seems to have been a wise move. What with grand parents being around and our ability to take them to visit local places on Sunday, me going to Yoga Sunday morning to compensate for all the absenteeism during weekdays, long bike rides with kids on Sunday mornings after yoga class.. it has definitely been a plus getting those two hours back on Sunday.

However.. there is a big however here.. The kids have almost forgotten everything they learned in the last three years of Tamil school in less than three months. One would think that the grandparents being physically here and all what with them talking exclusively in Tamil with the kids and between themselves, their proficicency in the spoken language would improve! Not really. 

Apparently the little one overheard grandma betting with Sangeetha "give me one month and will make her talk to me in Tamil".. so she takes this up as a personal challenge of sorts and tells herself "give me one month and I will make granda talk to me in English".

So we are now 4/12 months into my parents 5 1/2 month trip and Grandma is exclusively talking to grand daughter in English. The little one came and bragged to me at bedtime last week "You know. Grandma thought she was going to make me talk in Tamil. Guess who is talking in English now?"

Told her "Shame on you. Grandma knows English and Tamil. She taught English and is a school teacher. You have forgotten Tamil. This is not a challenge. She said it as a wish". Somehow my little beration didn't make any impact and was promptly brushed aside as "rantings from a patriarch not worth giving a damn" and off she went to watching some more Phineas and Ferb on youtube.

So the last one week has seen a revival of the bedtime Tamil Quiz. We sure had some fun early rounds with the kids making up imaginary words when asked to translate words from English to Tamil.  

Asked the little one what is the word for Wheel?

She goes "Is it tayaru?"

We all burst out laughing. Told her Tyre is an English word even if spoken in this house with a Tamil accent. 

Even Jr. starts forgetting things and when I ask her what is for Clouds she goes "Vaanam panju?" (Cloud cotton?). Seriously didn't know at that point if I should laugh or cry.

We have now covered all animals, birds, fruits, vegetables, landforms and everyday objects around the house. 

The bedtime crash course is in full swing. They also seem to have lost the abiltiy to identify any Carnatic music ragas. They could identify 20+ last year. Now it is down to random guessing.  

Lot of work ahead.... but bedtime is becoming a laugh riot!

To Boldly go..

We are not talking about the new job here.  True, most of you expected me to take a break. Staring at an iPhone with 0 work emails and 48 gmails in 4 hours gave me a jolt! That is not the work life balance yours truly has become used to..

Promptly jumped into the new job and have the brain overload going again.

This post is about "boldly going where no man has gone before...."

On Saturday we went to the Olive Garden for dinner. There was a power outage in the entire area to the point where the parking lots were dark. So I went in first with the kids. Waited for them to come out of the restroom and the minute they came out it was my turn to go. So rushed in..

Come out and see a lady standing near the mirror! That is when I asked "Are you in the wrong restroom or am I?"

First of all, she was too zapped to see a guy walk out of one of the bathrooms! Then he actually coverses with her and has the audacity to ask her if she is in the wrong restroom? She gave me "the look".

Having been surrounded by women for the most of the last decade, she didn't have to open her mouth and say anything. Understood from that look that I was in the wrong place. Said sorry and walked out and her husband and son were waiting outside.

Then it was their turn to give me "the look". Mumbled something and came sat down at the table we got near the bar. My daughters were laughing out loud and my wife who didn't get what was going on kept looking at me and the kids. She thought it was one of our inside jokes!

Men folk. Here is a tip.. If you ever have a doubt that you are in the wrong restroom, just get the hell out..

Things kids ask

Yesterday evening I picked up Jr. from school. Something I have not done in years. She knew that I was going to come home early (without knowing details) and she begged me to pick her up from school. As soon as she gets in the van she goes :

"Daddy, have you been talking to my friends parents about your job or something? One of my friends told me today that her mom said you were fired from your job.  Is that true?"

It has been a difficult week and all my friends and extended family know it. We did not talk about what happened at work in the house because it is a difficult topic to deal with in front of older parents who have health concerns and young kids who are very sensitive. San and me have talked about work out of house for the most part.

This was to be expected sooner or later though. Tough questions from parents and kids. The parents have backed off because they know that my philosophy is to move on and focus on "what next?" and they also know that I have options to decide on within a few days. They had concern written large on their faces and asked a hundred questions an hour because they are from a different place and time.

The kids though are a different story. So gave her an instant crash course (with the little one listening in) on the difference between

- getting fired

- being part of a Reduction In Force and

- the entire workplace shutting down

Told her that what happened to daddy was that the entire place closed. She seemed to get it and was also happy to know that daddy will be working in a new office soon.

Then the questions diverted to

"Will you have a whiteboard in your office with color markers like you do now?"

"Where will you work?"

"Do you still have to go to Austin?" etc. etc.

Anyday, more fun questions to answer. The trick to handling such questions is to be prepared for them and show that you are okay with those questions. Fortunately for me, parents had prepped me to smile and answer these questions a good two days before Jr. came in with hers.

This weekend is being spent with family with little things to do in and around the house. Have not done Yoga since last Sunday and I am seriously thinking of doing back to back classes and see if I can survive 3 hours in the hot room in one go! Know that some folks do it.

Have done a lot of talking over the last 7 days to the point where even when I have my mouth closed, can hear my brain literally race away with thoughts in different directions.

I also cried on at least 5 occasions in the last two days saying goodbye to folks who worked with me for a long long time. San says "you are the only man I know who sheds tears".. Maybe I am not man enough.. maybe this has nothing to do with manliness. Did not bother to explain to her.

Just going with the flow.. and that means tears as well.

Now that goodbyes have been said and we all have ensured that we have ways to keep in touch, the focus is on the future.

The last two days reminded me of the last two days of high school, the last two days before graduation where you know that all your friends are going to scatter far and wide and you have high hopes of all of them doing well wheverever they go!

The next set of questions start now.. "Will we still have a birthday party this year?"

My darlings, I know you read this blog when you come back from school and guess what?

"You absolutely will!"

Tit for Tat

Me to Little one : I am going to take the iPad away for a couple of days. You are spending way too much time on the iPad and are not watching age appropriate stuff. You are supposed to watch only Rugrats and even that I have issues with. Do NOT watch this "All Grown Up" stuff. It is not something a 6 year old should watch!

Little one to me :  (in an Angry tone) What if "I" went to your Mac and clicked on that button which says "Uninstall Photoshop" huh? How will you feel then?

She said it like she meant it.

For a second I was thinking "does she know what Uninstall does?" and she actually knew that it would remove Photoshop forever!

She is scary. I have to watch out now!