Math funny

AJ to Daddy : You test me in math. I know everything except algebra, calculus, fractions and long division.

Mom : What about Geometry?

AJ : Hahahaha!! Silly! They taught Geometry in PreK..I know all the shapes.

Ashu : ROFL :D

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Ashu : Aj, what is 100 divided by 25?

AJ : Hahaha..(Gives long laughter and calculates in mind) and then says 4...

Smart Alec! :D

Paatu class

Ashu and AJ both started their paatu class end of Sep. I though Ashu joined without any interest and just for the heck of it because i decided to enroll aj. AJ always shows interest in indian music and ashu has shown least bit interest in it. Suprisingly he sings very well. AJ sings well too for his age. They sang the new song that their teacher wrote for madhyasthayi to all 3 paatis and the paatis were all super impressed.

First two classes, ashu was really annoying me by just lipsyncing and not singing and then got into the groove. Aj is a different story! It's a 30 min drive to the paatu class and he falls asleep just before reaching the class and 50% of the class he is yawning or not paying attention, but when we come home, he sings everything right. So somewhere he does pay attention :)

Sheila...a terror :D

 

We went to a picnic arranged by the Sunday school and they played hindi hits and Sheila ki jawani was one of them. One big kid had told AJ that ' ' is a bad word. Thank God he didn't explain it any further :) I didnt know this and when i got in the car, the song was still playing in my head and i started singing it and when i started singing i am too..he screamed "STOP" that's a bad word. i was shocked and i asked him how he knew that and Ashu said some big kid told him. From that time, anytime he heard that song..he would go "OOOOHHHH Bad word"and cover his ears..Good thing he doesnt know the  meaning. LOL. My friend thought it was too cute and everytime she sees AJ she will start  My name is sheila and he would cover his ears and run away from her. She did that several times and i kept telling her that one day he's gonna call her Sheila Aunty. This happened long back..Last week, we were playing "find the song" game..where i hum a tamil song and they find it. I hummed "My name is billa"...Ashu sang the song properly and AJ sang "My name is Sheila..." in the tune of My name is Billa...ROFL!!

But Amma did it!!

I took the kids to the mall after having lunch with B for father's day. B couldn't come with us as he had some meeting regarding the new tamil school that is being started in our area. To start with, kids weren't too happy to goto the mall ..They've taken after their dad and hate shopping!! but, the purpose of the trip to the mall was to get them sandals. Right next to the shoe store was the Candy Craze!! All kinds of candies..Imagine AJ's eyes when he saw that!!

AJ: - "Mom, i am so hungry..since you didnt cook lunch can we have something to eat?"

Me and Ashu : " AJ you just had lunch at TOI"

AJ (with an ooops expression) : "Maybe you didnt give me breakfast and that's why i am hungry"

Me : AJ i gave you tamarind poha and Pasta and you raved about it

AJ : "Hmm..i am hungry, just get me something..maybe from that candy craze?"

LOL!! He tries..

 

So finally i got them a brownie from the coffee shop that was outside. He was kinda okay, still little unhappy that i didnt buy candies :) Had i taken him to the candy store that would've been like "Vengala kadaila yaanai". After coming home i told this to B and asked him to pretend he was upset  that AJ had junk food..So, B asks with a fake shock in his voice "You ate junk food?" and without missing a beat AJ says "But, amma got it for us". Epic jawdrop for me!! :P

Swimming, Camps..Summer

Kids are in different camps and have started their swimming as well. Less than 2 weeks to go for the india trip. So much to wrap up....

Kids are pretty excited about the trip. I will be working from there..first time, have to see how it goes. Mom's not doing well and i dont think she can travel anymore, so i am glad i get to go again this year....
The previous trip wasn't a fun one with Ashu falling sick the first week and mom the last week. I met more doctors and nurses than relatives/ friends i think!

My brother asked AJ if he wants to goto swimming pool at his apartment and AJ says, "Ofcourse, i know swimming now" This he said after taking just 1 class, where he was just floating with a noodle. Didnt even kick!!

Ashwin's not too happy about not being able to swim (after 2nd class!) I guess he expected to beat Phelps after 2 classes! Both their comments only remind me of the proverb that my dad used often about me and my brother :) "Rendum rendu aapai, rendum kazhanda aapai" LOL!

The first week of their holidays, they were at home with me and B working from home alternately and taking day offs. The next week they were in science center and loved their camp. It was robotics camp and AJ's first camp outside his preschool. He even got to make a mini robot and Ashu built a moving mouse and did few more projects.

Second week, ashu had a camp at his school which he loved and AJ went to his friend's sister's camp. He loved it too. Along with Akshi, he had Arthi and Nandu who he likes like his big sisters :)

Third week at Y and Ashu went for one day and AJ was sick from day 1 and hasn't been there yet! He seems to be better today and may go tomorrow. I think we owe Y some money from the previous jenmam :) This happens all the time..we pay and they dont go due to various reasons :D
Not just that..our membership money that we pay every month thinking that we will be come very responsible and goto the gym regularly... but overall mind says go, body says no!! :P We have gotten slightly better now and have started going...will get there..


Next week they will be back at the science center and this time Aj's friend kutty ashu will be there  as well :) 

Chess

I haven't posted anything in months now.But, i have lot of them in drafts..will need to post back dated. But wanted to give a quick update here..since i am planning to update this blog regularly. Once you are out of it, you are out of it. It's really difficult to get back to it. :P

Anyways, this month Ashu has been on a roll :)
1) He get outstanding certificate in tamil. We were surprised when we got the mail from his teacher. He can read and write at a very slow pace and speaks like settu payyan. But there not many kids in his class and only two kids are fluent in reading and writing, so they both got outstanding certificate. LOL! What was even funnier was when i called him to say we need to go to the temple in the evening for that, he said "Amma, stop kidding" LOL! But getting that certificate has certainly increased his interest in tamil for now :) and also AJ's :)

2) Ashu got on the window! There is this list that the maintain at his school called the window. The kids names go up in it if they make very good choices and are very well behaved. They get to have lunch with the principal and few of them even get some goodies from lucky draw. Ashu got selected this month. He obviously didnt bother to check with his teacher why he got selected. He ws just happy that he got selected and got to go for lunch with the principal. He got a t.shirt from the lucky draw too.

3) Ashu got bronze medal in school chess tournament. He didn't make it to semifinals last time and this time he beat the kids who beats him regularly and was extremely thrilled when he made it to semifinals. They gave him a very pretty looking medal that has some chess coins embossed in it, a king key chain and $5 cash prize.

4) All 4th graders wrote a book and they had the book display today for the parents. Most of them (even boys) did a great job. Loved Ashu's book and he got 100/100 on his book report :)


Ashu-ism : Today CSK lost and it is very highly unlikely for them to make it to the play offs. They now depend on other teams' performance. And Ashu came and said Tomorrow is a critical match for his soccer team and if they dont win they dont get to play on Saturday - Semis and finals. So, i said, Oh you are in a bad situation like CSK and he says..No, we are not. We dont have any teams who could help us move up. It's a true do or die situation for us :D

I will update about AJ later

April 2012

I am so bad with updates these days. It's gotten soo sooo hectic :( i definitely missed out on atleast some of the cute stuff the boys did :(

 

End of march, i had to travel to wisconsin for a training. It was 4 days..i returned on my bday and the boys were waiting with B at the airport with Ipad 3 as my gift :) They surely missed me. Ajay said that Appa was almost good but not 100% good to him and also said i should never leave the house without him ever again..but the next day he was mad at me for not giving him a chocolate and asked me to goto texas or some far away place and realized i might go and said..but come back the same night. lol.

 

Ashu's report card came and he's gotten to level 6 at writing. something i am proud of because he started with 5 and went down to 4 because he started getting bored with writing and then i didnt say anything , but i think as the saying goes silence is golden. he put extra efforts and got it back to 6. Here the level means the grade level for writing (Creativity, how they group the information, etc..) He got straight As on the others and everything was close to 100 (98 or 99) and that's another thing i was happy about because i know Ashu's good with concepts, but makes careless mistakes and never checks back on the answers..so 99 on math is really great stuff :)

 

He is in level E at Kumon too. We started Kumon very late. all his friends were already in E and he was worried that he won't get G by 5, but now i think he's happy that  he moved to E so quickly :)

 

AJ's school had international festival and he took part in a dance and also sang two lines with me. he was sucha  sport and agreed to wear kurta even though he hates it. I said we are representing India and he agreed without a fuss :) but ofcourse he was dancing stiff because of the kurta. It was kinda funny but cute :)

Both Aj and Ashu won a gift at the geobee station and were happy. They were allowed to participate only once. Aj got dhoop sticks from the bag he picked for his gift selection and Ashu a cute Pillayar. We had a great time too with our friends.

I was glad they did it on a weekend this time as Ashu got to enjoy all this too.

 

B went to india for a week  and AJ cried so much when he left. He was mad at him for not taking him to Chennai.. I took the boys to bruster's to cheer them up and they were little better after that. Ofcourse me and aj got the crappiest of the flavours and threw it and attacked Ashu's icecream ;-) After B reached chennai, the first thing AJ told B was to get him Safari chocolate bars :D

 

Ashu  won a lego box for winning a "How well do you know your flags" contest at his aftercare. He was so happy and then next day he comes to complaining that AJ opened it without his permission. I told AJ he shouldn't have done that since Ashu worked on it so  hard and AJ innocently said "But, i thought he won it for me" LOL

 

 Taping up the 39 clues cards :

 

I got a book each for Ashu and AJ and AJ's school book fair. I got 39 clues for ashu and it had some trading cards in a pouch attached to the book.

Ashu was mad because AJ had put ton of tape around that pouch making it impossible to open it and get the cards out. AJ said "I  made sure they are safe for you ashu" and Ashu didnt know whether to laugh or cry!! :)

Mar 2012

We had AJ's birthday at a new place and everyone loved the place. It was an indoor park called Inside Out with lot of activities. Pizza was great too. Only thing i didnt like were their goody bags. I didnt have time to check in advance what they would have in the goody bag and they really didnt have much :P 

We had lots of friends come in for the party and AJ was one happy kiddo. Ofcourse, Ashu too since most of his friends were invited too :) They both had a total blast.

We had 1/1 in aj's school and he got rave reviews as usual. Not just on studies also on socializing aspect. Apparently he is a social butterfly and a delight to be with. :) They said he is way ahead in language and math. They work on some science too, but not much on geography and history. Obviously it is just a preschool and these are just a bunch of 4 year olds and expecting them to know all these is too much too. Ashu went to a daycare that was also a preschool and tey didnt even do as much as what aj's school did and B and i used to challenge him all the time and he knew a lot more than any 4 year old would know. He knew most countries, most states in US, their capitals etc. He knew most presidents..and some facts about most of them too. But, we never really spent a whole lot of time with AJ on these topics. So, i asked AJ few questions and noticed that  he knew very basic stuff like how many continents, their names..some countries and some states and no idea on capitals. For instance he would say one country as a captial of another..and some funny stuff like that. Ashu found it hilarious..us too. He is a sponge and takes in whatever we teach him in a jiffy..So i decided to focus on geography and teach him some stuff abotu history..just what i know and decided to start with presidents of US and i gave him the placemat that has all the presidents and he knows a lot now, but the funniest thing was he kept arguing all the presidents lived only for 4 or 8 years and then they died..Ashu (actually all of us) found it hilarious..Just funny how a little kid's mind works :)  Also, how he made the learning process fun is by checking how many presidents  were born on our birth months and found that his birth month had the least no of presidents (among the 4 of us) and was quite P'd off. hehe.. 

 

On the geography front, before we started teaching him the states and their capitals, ashu decided to test and he was wrong on the first few questions and thoght it was funny and started giving all weird answers. At that point ashu stopped finding it funny and got serious and said "AJ, if  you behave like this you are not going to be a Geography Bee" and AJ said "That's fine..i can always be Geography A" Ashu's reaction was priceless!!

 

That reminds me..Ashu got selected for the school geobee. He was the only one from his class and we came to know when he went back to school after our india trip and the contest was next day. We were severely jet lagged, we had no material to prepare and no energy to go get anything from the store or from the library. Ashu slept at 7, so no point in trying also and i told him in the morning to take it easy and we can always try next year.He made it through 3 rounds and got out.and said from the next round on he knew the right answers..maybe better luck time :)

Happy Five AJ Baby!

Aj turns 5 today. Something he's been waiting for..like forever :) He cant wait to goto "big" school. I told him that since he is a big boy now he needs to eat like a big boy and he said for that he needs to wait till he turns 10!! Hmmm..and what does he ask the first thing in the morning? "Daddy, now that i am 5, will you let me drive your car"? Very selective..proves he is the same sunsign as JJ ;-)

 

He told me few days ago that he has selected "my gift for him" and it is the peargram and applegram since we already have the bananagram and then he said he has selected "car2 wii for daddy and motion plus for ashu". He said it in such a cutesy way that we all fell for it and got everything for him!! The little brat!! :D

 

They have this norm at his class called Celebration, where the birthday kid has to carry the globe around the sun (pretend ofcourse) the birthday number of times and then talk about his life :) For that, he had given me clear instructions on how i need to prepare the charts with his photos and then he did the presentation. He really loved it :) In the evening,we went to the temple and then to PF Changs for dinner. He loves PF  changs for their dessert. I made kaju katli for him and he was quite excited about that too and said i am the nicest girl in the world :D

Feb 2012

 

 

Feb 2012 :

 

Can't believe it's already  Feb! Since we came back from chennai, we have been taking turns and falling sick. The winter  isn't even half as bad as last year, but i guess all the travel and change of place are factors for falling sick.

 

Ashu participated in the county level 4-H contest and came 5th in his group. He didnt make it to the finals as only the top two from each group were qualified.But, they gave  him a ribbon and took  a photo of the top 5 :) We were super proud of him. He did great,especially considering that he was the first to go!!

He was little soft and did not smile. I think if he works on it, he can be #1 next year :) AJ told  ashu that  he thinks  that Ashu was thebest and they should've given him the 1st place ribbon :) And within seconds he started annoying ashu...

 

14 Feb 12: V-day!

 

Kids were excited not because it was V-day, but because of all the goodies they would get from school!! ;-) For ashu, we picked the cards with a mini candy bar that can be rolled into the card, but for AJ i picked plain cards thinking his school is strict with those stuff, but he came with lot of candies!! I was one of the few "stingy" moms who didnt send any candies for the kids. I got big chocolate boxes for the teachers and later in the evening, aj told me "Mommy, you know there is no rule that you need to send chocolates only for teachers, you can send for kids too..hehe" :D

 

Another funny thing was, he was helping ashu with his cards the previous night and ashu had  3 left over cards and aj said, "ashu give appa one, one for me and you can have the other". I was wondering why he didnt mention my name and ashu asked him right as i was thinking of that and aj said "Oh don't give amma, because she is dieting and i will make sure she is eating only healthy food"!!! The little brat!! :D

 

I volunteered at ashu's school for the party and the kids were pretty independant and i didnt have to do much there and got to chat with my friend ;-)

 

17 Feb 12 : Calling God!!

 

Today, i was packing lunch while aj was eating his breakfast and he was squishing his idly and making a mess.I said "Krishnaaa!" and he asked why did you call Ummachi and i said so He will make me not see the huge mess you are making and AJ said " Well, you could just turn your face away from me and that will make you not see the mess..why are you calling God for such a simple thing?!"

 

Jan 2012

We had a short trip to Chennai end of december and were back on 14th. We left on Christmas and the kids were super excited. Our office and kids schools were closed on 21st and the kids were literally after us asking why we didnt book our tickets for 22nd. We tried, we did not get any tickets. We tried in july and it was still too late. Anyways, i had to work till the last minute and the 3 days i got helped me in shopping and packing. I did all the shopping and packing in those 3 days only. I should say i did a good  job ;-)

 

The kids were so excited when we landed in chennai and they didnt know how to react when they saw their mama. LOL! after few minutes they started chatting away. When we went to mom's place the next day, ashu had started coughing and then we went to sil's place for dinner and the next day his cough got worse. I was wondering if it was due to ashu running around in the grass. Anytime he does that his allergies get triggered, but ended up being bronchitis. He was sick for a week. Poor kid. He was totally bummed because he was really looking forward to going to the beach and MGM this time. That didnt happen.  Nevertheless he had enough fun once he recovered and also quite some while being sick. He was just grumpy in the nights when he was sick. We didnt go out much during that time as i was sick too. Also the cylcone  in chennai!!! Everybody blamed me for bringing cylcone to chennai  :)

 

AJ had a terrific time from the second he landed. He was non stop. He was with my brother all the time that i wondered if somebody stuck them together with fevicol. He called Janani a sweetheart and made her  blush. LOL! This time both the boys got along with Gau. the kids had a great time and i had my special time with both jan and gau. jan, especially. She is turning into a wonderful litle lady  - intelligent and stylish :)

 

At inlaws, we had a good time with Sri and Harini. Sri refused to play with aj at first and then after couple of days she saw him playing a word game with kindle and became friends with aj :) Harini was full time entertainment for us and the kids. For some reason she ignored aj. she was fine with ashu and the first time i saw ashu "konjing"  a baby other than aj :) They both had fun with harini's thooli also.

 

Once ashu was okay, my brother and sil took us to EA mall.  B didnt come and my brother called in Vinod and Karthik for rescue. He decided not to handle two ladies and 4 kids all by himself. They took the kids to fun center or something like that while we both shopped. We first at at Rajdhani and it was awesome. Big mistake though. With tummies sooo full it was difficult to shop!! Even Ajay ate more than his normal share.

 

We attended my perippa's sadabishekam. I left ashu at appu mama's house as he was still sick and i didnt want him to be exposed to homa pogai and also didnt want him to eat outside yet. Ashu was so good at their house and did not trouble at all. AJ had a terrific time at the mandapam running around with Gau and Mukhil. I got to meet most of my dad's side relatives. Met my cousins and their kids too. Missed a few of them though.

 

The worst part of the trip was the last week. Mom got sick and frightened me and put me in panic mode. She was hospitalized. I got to spend time with her in the hospital and since we didnt have anything to do, we talked about old times and it was great. She told me stories about herself and dad when they got married and also about her grandpa. Precious memories for me to carry :)

 

I didn't travel to Tirupathi since amma was sick and Ashu stayed with me as he just  recovered. AJ and B went and AJ came back gol gol..with mottai :)

I thought he would throw a huge fit if someone made fun of him..but he was totally cool. Gau called him motta boss and he casually called him "mutta gos" and walked away. It was hilarious :D

 

Back home now. Kids were very unhappy to leave chennai and i am too. Now we are back to u.s. and back to routine life...How boring!