My Little Baby's First!!

Once bitten twice shy - is not something that applies to me usually. As a general rule of thumb, I strive to treat each experience on a fresh new page. Ofcourse, there will be slight leaks from previous experiences that prevent me from using a totally white page, a few scribbles here and there are pretty evident.

I had grand plans for Rayaan's First. I made my invitation cards and got them printed at Kodak gallery. It was supposed to be on farm - with an Old Mac Donald Theme, since he loves animal sounds. I figured the 4th of July weekend would be an ideal day giving a chance for out of towners to come in. But unfortunately, it didn't work out like what I wanted it to be. Plan B was to go on a family vacation and celebrate his birthday on a quite getaway, just the four of us. But that plan got shelved as well because my husband's company never gives him a relief from customer meetings.

But they say, it all happens for the best, so with not much previous planning (which I suck at anyway, read previous post), I did what I do best - an impulsive , spontaneous plan that worked out like magic. I was determined to make Rayaan enjoy his day with his favorite person in this world, his brother .. and his recent favorite friends, our cousins kids. We had an old fashioned picnic at a nearby park, just the mommies and the kids.

It was a bright and sunny day (to begin with) and we decided to meet at the park at noon. As noon appoached, the sun decided to play a joke on me. It just vanished.. it got cloudy and the drizzling rain drops on my car top made it sound like, this would be another doomed attempt. Sometimes they say , if you wish really hard , "all the forces of the universe conspire to make it happen" (borrowed philosophy). So, I just didn't give up hope and my cousin Shehla, goaded me on with undying optimism, urging me to go on. All our positive energies in the car were so strong that by the time we got to the park, my old friend "the sun" decided to stop being a brat. From then on, it was a perfect picnic....

The kids ran around helter skelter and Rayaan followed them around ... and stopped every once in a while to taste the mulch...It was Rayaan's first ever tryst with complete independence to do whatever he wished to (with intermediate "nays" that he completely ignored). He looked helplessly at his brother and cousins indulging in a circuit training of all the stations in the park. He was wise enough to realise that he would not be able to keep up and made his own little circuit, which involved .. running till he went off balance, tasting the mud and the mulch, finding little stones and learning later that its not food,glancing at his running brother, furiously hitting a little table in a bid to make some music and then intermittent pit stops for yummy food and juice. After lunch we all headed to the beach park just across and then all the kids tried in vain to make sand castles and finally Rayaan got the hang of it after a sad realisation that dry sand is not as palatable as it appears. It was hard to get the kids back to the car because they were having too much fun, just like it was meant to be.

When we did head back covered in sand,mommies and kids alike, it felt wonderful deep inside. I felt like going back from school picnics, back in my times as a school girl - returning wet and dirty from an eventful day at the beach, with no change of clothes, yet very happy and gratified!! A mass shower for the kids was in order when we got home and with squeals unlimited that too happened unplanned yet successful.

The men returned home in the evening and we all indulged our senses in some good lebanese food amidst unnerving glares from the restaurant owner, who absolutely hated the squealing galore that accompanied our party. Finally the kids were thrown out of the restaurant and the adults had a peaceful yet grumpy dinner. When we got back home to cut the cake ... OUR little man was already in "sweet dreams land". So we all cut his FIRST birthday cake "while he was sleeping" amidst a birthday boy face painting session that had everyone in fits. "Just you wait" till he grows up and finds out!!!!!!

Blog Vrath :)

A few days have gone by and I've not visited my posting page to express any of my thoughts. It's been a hectic month with the birthdays of my two favorite people in the world. The birthdays themselves have not been as eventful as the thought processes that have accompanied them. The other big reason for the silence is that "summer has finally and officially been here for a month now- Hallelujah". I was too scared to make an announcement about the summer lest the weather gods get aggrieved and revoke their blessings. But the most important reason for intentionally staying away from blogging was that I had decided to take a "blog-vrath" (a silent demonstration) till I fulfilled my son's only birthday wish .... !!

I had to break the blog-vrath just for a day on Rayaan's first birthday to make sure I didn't punish him for my wrong doings.

I was really sad after Ishaan's birthday but I learnt a very valuable lesson, that I wish to share with all my fellow mommies, hoping it will put things into perspective for another mom who might otherwise bite the same dust I did. The kid asked me for only one birthday present in the language he knew and it was as simple as going to Chuck-E-Cheese's. With no sense of priority or planning, I went ahead planned a culinary centric birthday for a kid who does not even enjoy basic food. The whole day was spent in just telling him that he could not mess up the house and intermittent promises of taking him out to Chuck-E-Cheese's. Finally, the poor kid slept and didn't wake up in time for the scheduled "Chuck-E-Cheese's" trip. A point worth mentioning is, I entirely overlooked his sleep time during my doomed planning process. So all that was left for him to look forward to was this supposedly grand dinner that I labored at for two whole days. So much for all the "thought process" I put into his 3rd birthday. Eventually his day was saved because his birthday guests made it a day about him and all his favorite cousins made it a wonderful evening for him.

Moral of the story: Make a child's birthday about the child and not a day to showcase your culinary skills or whatever-other skills.

Guilt driven and utterly disappointed, I tried to make it up to him on his scheduled school birthday party. So right from assembling his party favors to his party at school to park hopping, I tried to let him drive the day. Even though at one point of time I thought I should probably take back control, when he decided that he is going to climb to the top of one those rope climbing maze structures in the park. I made a mental note to never come to this park alone because I just didn't have the guts to get to the top of that structure if he got stuck there.

Albeit late, I learnt my lesson and tried to make it upto him. But it was only today that I finally was able to fulfill his birthday wish of going to Chuck-E-Cheese's. What do you know...?? Better late than Never, Eh??