Scene 1: Driving home from swimming with Rutha & Rohun
Rohun: I think I can fall in love with some girls
Me: What do you mean "some girls" whom do you mean?
Ro: I mean if I see some pretty girls then I can decide if I want to fall in love with them or not.
Rutha: (the brightest bulb in the family!) Looks can be deceiving buddy!
Scene 2: Another day of driving back from swimming - Pramod, Ru & Ro. The topic was Pramod's dad
Ro: Where is your Dad?
Pramod: He passed away - is no more.
Ro: You mean he went to heaven?
Pramod: Yes I guess so.
Ro: (After a 2 min pause) How do you get to heaven?
Pramod: When you do good things you get to go there.
Ro: (An instant reply) Oh then you will never get to heaven Dad - because you don't do good things with me - you yell at me, you force me to sleep when I don't want to, you are mean to me.
My notes on life.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
June 2010
June - a lovely month!! Spent a lot of time in the garden this month - planting flowers & vegetables & pulling out weeds!
June - a very successful month for Rutha. She won a medal & certificate for being the highest scorer in her grade on the Continental Math League & NJ Math League Tests. She also won a 3rd place plaque at the Princeton Charter School Chess Tournament on June 12. Rohun won a medal - he actually won 1 game against a 3rd grade girl! His enthusiasm for chess is boundless so far. Recd Rutha's 4th grade school report card - she excelled in every subject & got an excellent report from the G&T teacher Mrs. Rogaski - who commended her on her high organization skills & for "getting things done". She looks forward to working with her in the Odessey of the Mind program next year.
June 17th - my b'day - got a lot of beautiful cards from the kids, Pramod & Papa. Many wishes by email, FB & phone calls. On this day Rohun "graduated" from the Montessori Kindergarten class - he was moved up from Pre-K in late March. He was the dragon fly in the class play "The Very Quiet Cricket". He also took part in his class' science fair - did a model of a car moving on wind energy (a balloon).
June 20th was Father's Day - missed my Dad not being here. Pramod got shirts & ties from us & a card from the kids. June 21st for Papa's b'day - missed him again - his sister's and other family visited/called him & spent time with him.
June was also a month of promises kept by an Always Faithful God. In the layoffs & reorganization in my dept not only was my job safe but the number of my reports increased from 3 to 5. I look forward to this added responsibility. Also looking forward to diving into the area of Diabetes Research at work.
My Rohun is desperate for friends & playdates - he just loves having those but unfortunately does not have any or as many as his sister Rutha - which totally ticks him off! My prayer for him is that he has many friends and gets to have the best time with them his entire life!! But one thing he knows - he does not care to have a playdate with any friends who have (large) dogs - he has declared that he is allergic to dogs!!
June - a very successful month for Rutha. She won a medal & certificate for being the highest scorer in her grade on the Continental Math League & NJ Math League Tests. She also won a 3rd place plaque at the Princeton Charter School Chess Tournament on June 12. Rohun won a medal - he actually won 1 game against a 3rd grade girl! His enthusiasm for chess is boundless so far. Recd Rutha's 4th grade school report card - she excelled in every subject & got an excellent report from the G&T teacher Mrs. Rogaski - who commended her on her high organization skills & for "getting things done". She looks forward to working with her in the Odessey of the Mind program next year.
June 17th - my b'day - got a lot of beautiful cards from the kids, Pramod & Papa. Many wishes by email, FB & phone calls. On this day Rohun "graduated" from the Montessori Kindergarten class - he was moved up from Pre-K in late March. He was the dragon fly in the class play "The Very Quiet Cricket". He also took part in his class' science fair - did a model of a car moving on wind energy (a balloon).
June 20th was Father's Day - missed my Dad not being here. Pramod got shirts & ties from us & a card from the kids. June 21st for Papa's b'day - missed him again - his sister's and other family visited/called him & spent time with him.
June was also a month of promises kept by an Always Faithful God. In the layoffs & reorganization in my dept not only was my job safe but the number of my reports increased from 3 to 5. I look forward to this added responsibility. Also looking forward to diving into the area of Diabetes Research at work.
My Rohun is desperate for friends & playdates - he just loves having those but unfortunately does not have any or as many as his sister Rutha - which totally ticks him off! My prayer for him is that he has many friends and gets to have the best time with them his entire life!! But one thing he knows - he does not care to have a playdate with any friends who have (large) dogs - he has declared that he is allergic to dogs!!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Memorial Day Weekend 2010
Had a wonderful weekend with Pramod, the kids & my mother! We left (no stress departure - the best!) around 7:30 pm on Friday night for Harrisburg. Stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn. After a good night's rest and a very nice breakfast watched the kids & Pramod swim. Pramod's greatest achievement this spring would have to be teaching Rohun to swim. The scaredy cat used to be so afraid to swim after a false start & that it had us all wondering if he will turn out just like me & never learn to swim. He was having a blast!
Then we had a pleasant drive to Happy Valley. It had been 11 years since I last visited State College - was pregnant with Rutha then & we had visited the Gill's at their lovely huge house in SC.
So much had changed in Penn State in terms of new state of the art buildings, new roads & road closures but yet some things were so unchanged. The memories for one had not changed & surfaced right up as we drove through the areas where we lived, watched people get on & off the CATA buses. We ate spinach stuffed white pizza at Hiway Pizza - still the best! Clicked pictures at the Nittany Lion Shrine where Rutha wanted to know if they "worshipped" the lion since it was called a shrine! The ear that was glued back is still the same as are the awesome paws at the entrance to the museum. Pattee Library is now Pattee & Paterno Library. The Creamery is now Berkey Creamery & has a new home in a spanking new location which is huge & has a gift/convenience store/restaurant-like feel to it - its no longer in Borland Bldg. Had to have the icecream - same size (1 size = 3 scoops) at $2.75 a pop. I remember the days when a $1 icecream was our lunch!
Classroom Bldg had just become Joab L. Thomas Bldg right around the time I left PSU. The road in front of it is a brick walkway with a raised lush lawn. Then off we went to College Ave - to replenish our PSU logo stock of paraphernalia!
College Ave is svelter than what I remembered - stores with designer goods, a fancy cupcake place etc. Didn't have time to stop at the Diner but picked up some stickie buns at the creamery.
The visit was much too short but long enough to make us long to come back again!!
From there we went to Pittsburgh - a short 2.5 hour drive - to see our friend Chopra! We had promised Anu & his wife Shivani a visit for a long time & were so very glad to see them again. Shivani & Anu are wonderful hosts - along with their very adorable sons - Arjun & Arush we had a great relaxing time! They have a beautiful home in the hills - I mean literally their back yard is valley & as you look up the hill there are beautiful homes all having a dramatic drop-down end to their backyards! Its really like being in a hill station - as one of their relatives aptly described & we couldn't agree more it was like being in Nainital. We enjoyed the wonderful company & the delicious food at every meal (along with the recipes) on Saturday evening through Sunday afternoon.
Anu, my mother & I had a very enjoyable trip to the local nursery for plants & pots - indulged by our spouses who stayed home with the kids & let us enjoy our passion for plants uninterrupted!!
We drove back to NJ & reached home around midnight. Poor Rohun had a terrible cough for 2 days & finally threw up in the car 20 mins from home. I suspect he has allergies or some kind of post-nasal buildup.
Memorial Day 2010 - was a proud day for us. This year the 4th grade girl scouts had the honor of picking 2 scouts to represent all of Cranbury's Girl Scout population. Rutha was selected as one of them. She had a great record as a scout this year & really enjoys it! 2 girls & 2 boys had the honor of being the color guard to lay the wreath & raise the flag at the Cranbury War Memorial. Our town, as you may know, is actually a historic village. The neighboring towns join our parade & the parade has several bands, highland pipes, scouts, twirlers, veterans, old cars & historic floats in it. Rutha did a good job at the ceremony I was a bit worried that it was too hot & humid at the practice held this morning & the kids seemed quite tired around the "stand-at-ease", "attention", marching & saluting. Congressman Rush Holt, Rep Linda Greenstein, a couple more politicians, Mayor Stout, the Lions Club President spoke - short & very effective speeches!
Rest of the day was spent racing through chores, gardening & enjoying the scent of my lovely pink Sarah Bernhardt peonies! Rutha also baked her first banana bread from scratch all by herself. The banana bread was delicious despite the fact that she used chapati flour instead of the all purpose kind!!
Ro's cough is still bothering him - he worked with his Dad on his science fair project & as if knowing that there is safety in numbers had his Dad & Rutha working on it for him!! :-)
He also was not pleased that I called his teacher "stupid" & told me a couple of times that he will tell his teacher what I said. When I tried to reason that he should not tell her since I did not mean it - he calmly says "OK I will never tell her but you know I can tell her if I want to"!! My husband quietly perceived the inner fear of mortification that I was threatened to experience by a 5 year-old & said aloud "She does not fear her husband or her father but does fear her son"!!!
Then we had a pleasant drive to Happy Valley. It had been 11 years since I last visited State College - was pregnant with Rutha then & we had visited the Gill's at their lovely huge house in SC.
So much had changed in Penn State in terms of new state of the art buildings, new roads & road closures but yet some things were so unchanged. The memories for one had not changed & surfaced right up as we drove through the areas where we lived, watched people get on & off the CATA buses. We ate spinach stuffed white pizza at Hiway Pizza - still the best! Clicked pictures at the Nittany Lion Shrine where Rutha wanted to know if they "worshipped" the lion since it was called a shrine! The ear that was glued back is still the same as are the awesome paws at the entrance to the museum. Pattee Library is now Pattee & Paterno Library. The Creamery is now Berkey Creamery & has a new home in a spanking new location which is huge & has a gift/convenience store/restaurant-like feel to it - its no longer in Borland Bldg. Had to have the icecream - same size (1 size = 3 scoops) at $2.75 a pop. I remember the days when a $1 icecream was our lunch!
Classroom Bldg had just become Joab L. Thomas Bldg right around the time I left PSU. The road in front of it is a brick walkway with a raised lush lawn. Then off we went to College Ave - to replenish our PSU logo stock of paraphernalia!
College Ave is svelter than what I remembered - stores with designer goods, a fancy cupcake place etc. Didn't have time to stop at the Diner but picked up some stickie buns at the creamery.
The visit was much too short but long enough to make us long to come back again!!
From there we went to Pittsburgh - a short 2.5 hour drive - to see our friend Chopra! We had promised Anu & his wife Shivani a visit for a long time & were so very glad to see them again. Shivani & Anu are wonderful hosts - along with their very adorable sons - Arjun & Arush we had a great relaxing time! They have a beautiful home in the hills - I mean literally their back yard is valley & as you look up the hill there are beautiful homes all having a dramatic drop-down end to their backyards! Its really like being in a hill station - as one of their relatives aptly described & we couldn't agree more it was like being in Nainital. We enjoyed the wonderful company & the delicious food at every meal (along with the recipes) on Saturday evening through Sunday afternoon.
Anu, my mother & I had a very enjoyable trip to the local nursery for plants & pots - indulged by our spouses who stayed home with the kids & let us enjoy our passion for plants uninterrupted!!
We drove back to NJ & reached home around midnight. Poor Rohun had a terrible cough for 2 days & finally threw up in the car 20 mins from home. I suspect he has allergies or some kind of post-nasal buildup.
Memorial Day 2010 - was a proud day for us. This year the 4th grade girl scouts had the honor of picking 2 scouts to represent all of Cranbury's Girl Scout population. Rutha was selected as one of them. She had a great record as a scout this year & really enjoys it! 2 girls & 2 boys had the honor of being the color guard to lay the wreath & raise the flag at the Cranbury War Memorial. Our town, as you may know, is actually a historic village. The neighboring towns join our parade & the parade has several bands, highland pipes, scouts, twirlers, veterans, old cars & historic floats in it. Rutha did a good job at the ceremony I was a bit worried that it was too hot & humid at the practice held this morning & the kids seemed quite tired around the "stand-at-ease", "attention", marching & saluting. Congressman Rush Holt, Rep Linda Greenstein, a couple more politicians, Mayor Stout, the Lions Club President spoke - short & very effective speeches!
Rest of the day was spent racing through chores, gardening & enjoying the scent of my lovely pink Sarah Bernhardt peonies! Rutha also baked her first banana bread from scratch all by herself. The banana bread was delicious despite the fact that she used chapati flour instead of the all purpose kind!!
Ro's cough is still bothering him - he worked with his Dad on his science fair project & as if knowing that there is safety in numbers had his Dad & Rutha working on it for him!! :-)
He also was not pleased that I called his teacher "stupid" & told me a couple of times that he will tell his teacher what I said. When I tried to reason that he should not tell her since I did not mean it - he calmly says "OK I will never tell her but you know I can tell her if I want to"!! My husband quietly perceived the inner fear of mortification that I was threatened to experience by a 5 year-old & said aloud "She does not fear her husband or her father but does fear her son"!!!
Rohun the sword-dangler!
Have any of you ever felt threatened by your own child??!! At some point in time I must have in my frustration called Rohun's teacher stupid - thats it! The kid picked that up & has reminded me twice this weekend that I called his teacher stupid & he is going to tell her about it! I have a terrible feeling he just might.... The funny thing is he does not mean it a vengeful way - he just didn't think it was the right thing for me to say as he does not think his teacher is stupid.
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