Lunch Box Idea

It is a rare occasion when the kids (both of them) remember to tell me in the evening that I packed a great lunch or that they absolutely loved it. Yesterday was one such miraculous day.

I bought garlic bread from Sprouts and gently toasted it. I packed it with pasta sauce for a dip, milk and some fruits for snack. It was a huge hit and all it took was a few minutes to pack it. The one thing missing on the lunch menu was veggies. Dinner was spinach dal and scrambled tofu.

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Balance 101

How do you bring about a balance in life? It is bountiful and my interests are diverse to be focused on a few aspects at a point of time. Balance to me means; focus on priorities that need my attention the most at a particular time. Most often I try to do this on a proactive basis instead of reacting to adverse events.

There have been weeks where work has been my #1 priority and I may have neglected others to an extent. At times it’s something as basic as keeping the kids’ active and eating healthy.

I spent the last ten years towards building a strong marital bond, saw two beautiful kids grow right under my eyes, traveled a bit, built a rewarding career, made new friends and kept in touch with the old ones. Now it’s my mom’s turn to get some of my undivided attention. I am visiting India for a couple of weeks just to be with her. Of course I will meet as many friends and family as I can.

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San Antonio ... Revisited

Who visits the same place twice in a row and that too with in a month’s time? This was an official trip and was for most part a PR one. I wish there were more of these and less of those with 6 to 8 hour marathon meetings.

It was fruitful for a variety of reasons. One, my two week vacation to India is approved. Of course my boss knew it was coming sometime soon. Two, he seemed convinced that I am executive material and approved my training for executive education at McCombs School of Business @ Austin.

The place where I stayed was fabulous and was right by the river walk. The building was at least 100 years old, in its original Spanish colonial charm.

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Effective Feedback

I absolutely love Ro’s Montessori school. The teachers know my son personally, his likes, dislikes, what he needs to work on, his strengths, his play dates and his preferences. Yes, he’s hardly five and has preferences. Like if there’s a snack or a birthday celebration, he prefers two servings rather than one. He prefers to sit in the corner most location for mat/work-time as he likes to slide and literally fall into his spot.

Working moms need meticulous scheduling to meet the demands of kids and work. I am sure it’s the same with moms who do not work outside. At any point of time, I maintain a social calendar, Ri’s school calendar and my work planner. What drove me up the wall was an email from his school informing me that pre-k’s graduation was scheduled for a day three weeks from now. The event is a big day for pre-k’ers and why would I miss my son’s event for lack of planning on the part of the school

I tried not to be rude but I had to give the school a piece of my head. Most schools provide a calendar at the beginning of the year while his school plans events like pulling tricks out a hat. It’s not the first; they schedule PTO meetings at a day’s notice. So on and so forth.

Well that was that and today morning when I went to the school to drop Ro, and I saw an events calendar for July and August. That’s a good start.

I will miss Ro’s pre-school graduation as I made prior travel plans for the same date. The rest of the family will attend though. I am sure my loss or rather my constructive feedback will help another parent down the road some other day.

Message to Ro: Congratulations buddy with your pre-school graduation!!! I understand it was a lot of hard work waking up, brushing your teeth, missing TV shows just to be at school. You did it and I am proud of you!!! I will be around for many more of these events in the future. I am sure when you are ready to read this blog, you probably will be hysterically laughing about how mad Amma was for something like your 4 year old pre-school graduation. Well, that’s your Amma.

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Friday Live

The 4th and 5th graders in Ri’s school, interested in filming sign up to be a part of the Friday Live Crew. Today, the show Ri helped record premiered during the school’s spirit assembly. The show starts off with the pledges (national, Texas and her schools’) followed by a moment of silence.

The set up comprised of a news reader stand with Texas and US flags right behind it. Ri talks about a few teachers who were presented with a certain award. Then her co-host shares his insight about the spirit assembly. Ri's "expressive" reading and her sense of humor shone throughout the show.

There was an interview of a teacher and a special on jump rope, that Ri recorded. Her co-host help record the recipe section and a weather report. They talk some more and take off wishing everybody a happy weekend.

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Roles Reversed

I knew this was coming, not this early though …. Ri and I went shopping this weekend for my clothes. She is working on keeping me away from the color black and gave me a few guidelines to stick by while choosing colors. Her rules were –
Choose complimentary colors, like yellows and purples in pastel shades. She asked me if I noticed

Bharatnatyam outfits, where complimentary colors were used. I jumped with joy. “That’s my desi girl!!!”

The darker shade goes in the bottom and the lighter one on top.

You could add one neutral to the outfit

She helped me pick the perfect summer sandals as well.

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My Little Banker

Ri’s school in collaboration with a local credit union operate a bank. The fourth graders perform various duties to run it. In the beginning of the year, the kids fill out a form for various jobs like security, customer service, book keeping, cashier, marketing etc. Ri wanted to be the book-keeper.

The kids work once a month. They have a uniform (a tee basically) to distinguish the bankers from the clients. The security streamlines the crowd/customers and sends them to the cashiers in order. The cashier accepts the money and does a quick count. The book-keeper counts it one more time and logs it. There are kids in marketing, who entice other kids who are not customers by dressing up in costumes and by other means.

As the school year is coming to a close, her last day at work was this past Friday. This is a great way to provide the kids a preview of the larger working-world that is out there. More than anything, I am content with Ri’s attitude towards working. She thoroughly likes her job and is enthusiastic about it. Well, If she can jump out of bed when she thinks of her job first thing in the morning, she is more than half way there.

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Kick Start Metabolism

YogaJournal is a magazine I enjoy reading. Its website is informative and a convenient way to compile poses for workouts as shown above.

I try to practice Sun Salutations or Surya Namskar right after I wake up in the morning.  There are numerous adaptations to the sequence and this is the flow I follow, breathing in and out with every pose change.

1. Hastauttanasana or Raised arm position

2. Pada Hastasana or Hand to Foot Position

3. Adho Mukha svanasana or Downward dog pose

4. Plank pose

5. Bhujangasana or Cobra Position

6. Adho Mukha svanasana or Downward dog

and back to position #1. Hastauttanasana or Raised arm position.

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A Flurry of Activities

It’s a joy to dress up little girls and it only gets better with age. Ri had her Bharatnatyam performance this Sunday, after weeks of individual and group practice sessions. The kids danced to ‘Bhaje Muraliya’ dressed in knee length pattu-pavadais similar to last year. However accessory-wise they wore the entire suite from false hair to nethi-chuttis and ottiyanams. She sure is transitioning into a graceful dancer.

Ri and her team are working on a routine for the ‘Jump Rope for Heart’ program at school.

Ro’s pants are always ripped at the knee. The weather was good last Friday and he wore shorts. Guess what, he scraped his knees instead of his pants. As far as he’s concerned, he’s enjoying the attention and pampering his teachers and others around him are giving him. Additional benefits include skipping showers and ice skating practice.

Registered the kids for swim lessons this summer and Ro for Kindergarden!!!

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Double Standards

No matter how late the kids or I wake up, the kids cannot leave the house without eating a healthy breakfast and milk. That rule does not apply to me. Late for a meeting or dropping the kids ...rush. I save time by skipping breakfast and before I know its past lunch time. I compensate for all the calories I skipped in the morning by my mindless snacking right after I come home from work.

For a couple of months now, I have not left the house without breakfast.

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Facebook Babies

With cousins all over the globe, this is the second baby announcement I first hear on facebook and then the customary phone call follows. Hey, I am not complaining, its a great way to get family updates.

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Katcheri Crashers

We are not seasoned carnatic listeners. But this Katcheri was special as one of my classmate from school was the lead violinist. A couple of my friends from school and I decided to meet Embar Kannan right after the concert. He introduced us to Unni Krishnan, the lead singer and Arjun Kumar, the percussionist.

Needless to say there were tons of picture taking opportunities. Me and J could not resist the temptation to sneak in a picture with Unni.

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Ro's Play Dates

For the past few weeks, Ro and V have had regular weekly play dates, in the middle of the week. How do they make this happen? Simple. When V's parent's come to pick V, Ro would put on one of his sweetest smiles and say, 'Can I come along with you to play in your house, today?". V would do the same when I pick Ro up. Saying no to such sweetness is tough. Its easier to say, "I will pick you up this Friday." .

Even before we realized, V's mom and I alternate hosting the playdate every week.

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