Category Archives: Milestones

Another Year Sails By

March 19, 2014 Michelle Job 2 Comments

How time flies and how fast kids grow! I can’t believe I’m already preparing documents for her next academic year. She’ll be taking her first step into the 14-year-long system of education in June. The last couple of years at Playgroup and Nursery was all fun and frolic. Listening to some mums tell me the syllabus of their kids in LKG and UKG is already unnerving me. I don’t think I’ve been this nervous during my entire schooling and college. When it came to my education, I never took it seriously. I was never the studious kind. I was never ambitious. I just enjoyed life as it came. I’m frankly amazed how I made it past with decent grades. However, when it comes to KT, it’s no longer my life. I just can’t take the risk of being careless even for a moment. There is this huge responsibility on my shoulder to do all that I can to the very best of my ability for this young, tender life to be molded and shaped into a girl of character, worth and wisdom who will face the world with courage and make a difference. I am wholly depending on divine wisdom and guidance. The years to come – her education, her exams, etc. are going to be a whole new adventure for me. But I am confident I can face it =)

Okay. Keeping my anxieties apart, I would like to record how KT’s nursery days went by. Unlike her playgroup days where she initially had problems leaving home and settling down, this year has been a smooth ride. KT enjoys going to school. On days when she missed her van, she’ll compel me to drive her to school. Sometimes even on festival holidays when the school was not working, she’ll insist that I take her to school (that’s konjam unlike me ;)).

She has made her own set of friends, mostly girls. Most of them accompany her in her van. They are five girls and one boy in the van. And my! I totally enjoy the 3 minute drama I get to see when I pick her up from the van. On most days, the girls behave like they are BFFs. Each will compliment the other on how good they were at school. But there are days when I get to witness girl-war – fight over who shared their snack and who didn’t, pinching/beating, quarrel over whose dad owns the big toy shop on the way to school (they imagine big when it comes to their dads, don’t they?) and who gets the window seat! It’s pure entertainment!

KT has also learnt a lot – numbers, alphabets, shapes, colors, etc. She has even picked some Telugu lines. She has become an expert in coloring. Her coloring style is unique and different. I simply love it!

Here are a few pics from some of the school events she had this year –

Annual Day Performance - Dancing for "Lakdi Ki Kaathi" — Annual Day Performance – Dancing for “Lakdi Ki Kaathi”

That’s more or less the highlights of KT’s Nursery Year! So grateful for the precious memories and good times! Look forward to more in the years to come =)

Art/Crafts, Firsts, Innocent Humor, Kaity, Milestones, School

Day 1 at Nursery

June 20, 2013 Michelle Job Leave a comment

KT continues in the same school as last year. We opted for the second batch. This timing works out so perfectly well for me as I can enjoy a good quiet time, then cook and pack lunch for Vj all while KT enjoys her sleep until 9 am 😉 I let her wake up on her own. She enjoys a good breakfast at her own pace and while the house help get her work down, I can get KT ready for school!

Previously, while KT was in playgroup, there were fewer kids in her class and there was only one batch. Her van would arrive at 8:30 sharp and start honking. My mornings were absolute mayhem waking up at 6 am (I still wake up at 6 am, but have lesser things to accomplish!), quiet time, cooking, carry her while asleep, give her a bath while she continues sleeping, play Dora the Explorer and Sponge Bob Square Pants on TV trying to feed the sleepy head, put ponytails and drag the reluctant, still sleepy child to her van! It was pure torture for both me and her. So you can imagine how relieved I am with this new timing 😀

Unlike her first day at playgroup, the day went on smoothly. Being the first day, it was just a one hour class and parents were allowed to be with the kids. Initially KT was a little clingy and shy. All her previous classmates are in the previous batch, so she was kinda lost in the company of new teachers and classmates. The class room was divided into three corners and each had a different activity which the child was free to do. KT and I started with a puzzle, moved to wooden building blocks and finally settled at the drawing/scribbling desk. There a sweet little girl, SH, already seated with her mum at the desk. She extended a box of gems to KT and gave a smile. KT picked the gems and a new friendship blossomed instantly!

SH’s mom was teaching SH to draw a simple face – a circle, two dots, a smile and springy hair. KT was observing. I handed KT a crayon and paper and asked her to try it out. She took the paper and drew something that left me ROFL! Here it is –

Please don’t mistake it for the sun. I’m assuming it’s something between a human, an alien and a spider which has its head directly attached to its legs. This is what KT said, “Amma, Peaches draw face, tall legs and tall hair!”

After 45 minutes in the class, the kids were allowed to play in the play area. KT thoroughly enjoyed it and refused to leave. After much persuasion, she and SH held hands and walked out. We dropped SH and her mum at their house, spent a few minutes getting to know each other while the girls played together!

It was a fine day on the whole! My prayers and best wishes for KT and her little friends to enjoy a year full of joy, fun and laughter!

Conversations, Kaity, Milestones, Sweet Somethings

A Few Things She Says

May 28, 2013 Michelle Job 1 Comment

KT is in a stage where she is beginning to categorize things and people as good and bad. For eg. when I say too much ice cream is bad for her throat she says, “No mama. Ice cream is good. It’s tasty!” Whoever raises the voice at home becomes ‘bad’. The person who insists to do what she refuses to do is bad, while the person who reluctantly gives into her demands becomes ‘Chellam. Good mama/dada!” followed by a peck on the cheek!

That was the case until recently.

Lately she has begun to gauge a person’s goodness differently. This applicable only for strangers we come across on the road, supermarkets, church.. just anywhere outside home. She will see someone looking at her and tell me, “Mamma, akka smile at KT. Good akka!” or sometimes with a sad face, “Uncle not smile at KT. Baaaaaad uncle!”

Wish it took something as simple as a smile to differentiate a good person from a bad person! That’s how innocent and oblivious a child is to a world of deception!

***

I’m beginning to teach her to do things on her own – eat herself, put on her own clothes, shoes, etc. All my instructions end with the statement, “KT is now a B-I-G girl. She is T-H-R-E-E years old!”

She replies, “No mama. KT smaaaaall girl!” and walks away ignoring me.

***

She is growing up to be sensitive to other’s feelings. Especially those close to her. And I love it when she tries to offer little words of comfort.

“Don’t worry, mama. KT there, okay?”

“No problem. Smile. KT get you water!” when I cough or pretend to be sick.

The other day, my nephew D, KT’s cousin dropped a bowl of rasam in the kitchen and walked into the room with a sullen face. KT went close to him and said, “Don’t cry. KT there okay? KT clean all rasam! Smile!”

This is the kind of girl I want KT to be as she grows – considerate, comforting and doing what she can to help those around her.