Journaling...

"Your days are, your life in miniature, craft your days the way you want to live your life" - Robin Sharma.

Journaling sounded so posh when I used to read about wise people doing it as a ritual. When I started writing soon after J's first birthday, it was an attempt to write about how he is growing and learning things everyday, something like a progress report. Before I know, I was writing about my own state of mind on particular set of thoughts, from something I watched on telly to the Bollywood song I danced at the tune of, from getting conscious about the eyebrows raised at me to embracing my own weak moments. 

One thing I always made sure that I never described any particular situation as it appeared to me on the first experience and never explained anything. As I was writing in the early morning, there always was a chance to sleep over it and see through as how I was actually feeling about. I often ended up writing about how can I help myself in tough emotional times and at the end how long did it take to be myself again. I learned how did I take excitement of doing something new, reading those sweet notes written to me, made most of those sunny days of Houston winter, completing that book I borrowed from library which is due the next morning (I seriously feel like ninja when I do this). I had to write, to see clearly where I was and where I am headed, how much I have achieved and what is needed to be worked on. For once I was guiding myself on my path, I was writing my own journey of important lessons and inspiring myself to raise higher, just by writing.

In the beginning of 2015, I followed Robin (Sharma)'s advice on writing my 'Magic Wand output of the year', Simply wrote down How do I see myself in all different aspects of life at the end of the year. I never thought of how, what, where or when, just wrote down as if I had a magic wand to make it all happen. And it ALL did. Just like that. I planned and worked to live up to my intentions, but the life took a detour, things changed in many ways and the result today is just magical. I literally feel the grace of the universal guidance.

After experiencing the power of journaling, I naturally wanted J to participate in one of his own. We are working on it. A few things I keep in mind to guide him through and make it happen in coming years are;

• My journal is never hidden and kept secret, J (actually anyone and everyone) is allowed to flip through pages, anytime he want to.
• He is allowed to scribble through it at his will, may it be with a pencil or a marker as long as he is gentle and don't rip off pages.
• I write in front of him as often I can.
• I talk to him about what do I write in there, whenever he shows interest.

• I do ask him what he would like to write in his or offer him help if he want to share mine.

Letter to J: Calm down mumma...

Dear Jay,

It was lunch time. I have been feeding you your meals with on and off trials of helping you get independent in this area. But your efforts were totally depended on the menu, literally. 

I remember why I didn't let you eat by yourself in the first place, I didn't like the long hour of sitting at the table and waiting for you to finish. Neither I wanted you to sit all by yourself eating the same 'roti' you have in the plate since an hour, while I finish rest of the cleaning. staring at you while you eat or repeating the 'Hurry up' mantra for the entire meal was sure to make both of us nervous. No, I did not want that. I was not ready. The idea of Baby Lead Weaning aka BLW was only working in my head, not out on the plate.

Yet, the other day, I was reminding you 'again' to take the next bite, with higher pitch than normal, feeling helpless if you would ever enjoy your own meals eating with your own hands. You looked at me, peeping straight into my eyes, embracing me with the words, "Calm Down Mumma" and took a couple of deep breaths, showing me how to. At that moment, I felt loved and cared, more than ever. You knew, I needed that.

(The snack basket filled with some of your likes and some of mine)

And there came a day, when I made a snack basket for you. Filling it with three small containers of different food. I tried to keep variety of food and kept a note of what you like and what not. Also made sure to have something you would absolutely love in one of them, like a cookie or two, the sugery stuff you know, plus a small bowl. It totally worked. You taught yourself to take the snack in the bowl and put the empty container on the counter, so I know it needs a refill. It was a simple put together of what you can handle independently, in a little corner of kitchen cubby. We have worked on opening and closing jars and bottles before, so  I knew you could help yourself confidently.

To my surprise, you have chosen healthy stuff, home made stuff and tried more variety than I have thought you would, especially with that cookie right in front. Not that you left the cookie alone, but your choices were well balanced. In the past few days I have seen a significant change in your meal time self feeding as well, it is a good one. We are not Hundred percent there but we are moving forward with firm footsteps. The taste of independence is always sweet son, always.

Love,
mom.

Letters to J : for the love of life

Dear Jay,

When you love life, it loves you back unconditionally. what matters is when you say 'yes' to life. It is always there giving you opportunities, one after another and you are receiving whether you know it or not. Being aware is when you notice them and follow your heart. The soul you are, is always guiding you to tune with the rhythm of life. Being aligned with your self, you'll naturally make better choices, find yourself looking for solutions rather than getting tangled in why's, who's and how's. That is the gift from the universe you'll receive for being aware.

It doesn't mean you won't make choices that will throw you down head first or bruise your knees but you will notice, learn, rise to be a better you than a day before. It is a life long process and there will always be something to open your mind at. There is a life that exists, there is a heart that welcomes, there is a mind that opens and together they surrender to the universe. To me that universe is (lord)Krishna and I know you'll meet your Krishna on the journey as soon as you will open your self up. 

I still see a day in the future where we are sitting in our garden, on our beloved swings, reading Kajal Oza Vaidya's 'Krishnayan', discussing it and sharing our feelings over a cup of coffee. This book has always given me a reminder that in good or bad, he is with me to guide through the ocean of emotions. He is there within me, part of the soul I am, helping me raise beyond myself, comforting me on the journey everyday. He holds my hand when I meditate, joins me for the morning coffee, become the words when I write. I can cry when I am upset, I can blame him when I fail to find ways out, I can ask him to help and he stays there giving me his shoulder to cry, lends me his ears until I aggressively pour my anger out and reminds me of the ways that lead me to myself. I know you'll find him too on the journey of life, when you'll open yourself up.   

Today I remember Dr, Fred Epstein's words, "God doesn't heal us, it is not his job. If he had to heal us, he wouldn't give us the pain in the first place." Instead, he creates us with all the resources, skills, power of possibilities to craft our life. Our interactions with others create our experiences and our perspective leads our actions. So always remember, the world is a very beautiful place and you will always find friends and family who will love you for who you are; but at the end, You are your best ally, for others can only understand you, can not feel what you feel. Your emotions are all your own, joy or sorrow, let them just be and be your best friend.

With love,
mom.

'Today' tray...

J have been singing the Days of the week song for a long time now, so I thought of making an activity to identify 'The Day' everyday.

First I painted dolls pins and clothes pins in rainbow colors to associate with the days, cut rainbow rectangles out of felt and wrote name of the days on colored Popsicle sticks. The reason behind making more than one options, was to give him a variety to choose from. In any case, the clothes pins and dolls pins were sure to help with pincer grip and hand eye co-ordination. The brightly colored felt pieces were very attractive and he enjoys identifying the day from the beginning sound written on the popsicle sticks.

We started with singing the 'Days of the week' song followed by introduction to the popsicle sticks. The obvious confusion was between Saturday & Sunday and Tuesday & Thursday. We talked about 'reading' ahead up to two or three or more letters to identify what it says. His curiosity about words and their formations and instinctive efforts to 'read' at early age, made it possible. When I brought the tray out, he instantly started matching Popsicle sticks and felt pieces and then grab matching cars from his vehicle box (oh! the car lover).

Next day, I brought the clothes pins and used my fingers and thumb in pinching motion to show him how to open and close.Then we sang the 'Days of the week' song in slow motion taking time to associate colors with the days. He grabbed the box of felt pieces and started to clip each with corresponding pin.

The following day we used the dolls pins placing on the sides of a bowl the same way to reinforce days of the week and color connection. By now he could associate them almost correctly. Then I left everything out for him to explore at his will, his way. He has mostly used dolls pins or Popsicle sticks for the tray.

Another part of our 'Today' tray contains,  weather symbols. I cut some simple felt shapes like Sun, Clouds, a Raindrop and Lightening. As it rarely snows in Houston, I haven't created a snow flake that is not going to be used. He checks the weather outside and pulls the weather piece/s out. He loves the cloud cutout, so it's almost everyday cloudy in our 'Today' tray, that goes in combination with sunny or rainy or stormy. I am looking at the ideas to add a single piece windy symbol that does not require gluing or painting. 

  
We also have a season representation in our tray, which has come from our Autumn activity. A planter with two sticks, on which I attached some  fuzzy sticks keeping a long open end. Then I provided J with some hand cut card stock leaves in fall colors to attach to the leaves on fuzzy sticks. He added some acorns at the base and  brought his squirrel finger puppet to eat them. He also asked me to make a bed (with two pillows - he insisted) for the squirrel so she can rest. As we saw the leaves falling off the trees outside our window, he was inspired to take some leaves off our fall tree, making it bare signifying winter. We will then be replacing this planter with little Christmas tree to represent Christmas time. This tree presentation will change with season.

This tray is something he has very actively participated in putting together and loves to  work with every day.

Learning Gujarati

I remember myself eagerly waiting for the M.J library bus coming to our neighborhood every Wednesday at 11 am. The M.J. Library, established in April 1938 and started with donations of 9650 books by bapu, our own Gandhi bapu, carries a history within itself. There was so much to read. I remember the small square picture books (no board books though) with simplest of text within. But that was it for beginning readers, I guess. 

Over the period of time, I learned the younger generation is losing their interest even to ask about the meaning of a new word. The kids who were studying in Convent schools, and speaking Gujarati at home were lost in between. They just could not develop their interest in reading in either of the languages. 

I have always been interested in making Gujarati literature available to J. That journey can't start without the first step of learning our mother tongue. I am sure, he will equally enjoy what I have been cherished all my life. I dream of the day, when we will be discussing K.M Munshi, Gunavant Shah, Meghani, 'Ghayal' and many more legends and their creations over a cup of coffee.

This is the set of books we received from family, back home and will be following through. 

('Saral Vaachan' - our guide through the learning Gujarati journey)

Part 1 of this book is introduction to letters and the sequence to follow for both reading and writing, which are different from the traditional sequence.

Then there are two, three and four letter words, that does not contain 'Swar' - vowel. 

At the end there are simple, two and three word sentences, describing pictures above them.

Part 2 introduces, use of vowels with consonants, there are lots of examples to practice.

It ends with introduction to Numbers one to ten.

Part 3 progresses through more vowels followed by three to five sentences, describing the picture next to them. It ends with numbers, one to hundred. 

Part 4 is enriched with the use of all we learn through the first three parts and offers various learning opportunities. It starts with a prayer and moves through self introduction, relations, everyday work to letter writing along with opposites, classifications and so on.

Letter 'ઘ' = 'GHA'

We are starting our Gujarati learning journey with Letter 'ઘ', as guided by 'સરળ વાચન' series. I strongly believe learning something new with hands on activities will improve interest in the process and make a strong impression in mind that will last forever.

(Letter tray for 'ઘ', I had also added a sheep and a watch, not shown in the picture)

1). We started with exploring the objects in the letter tray and learning their names in Gujarati. I included letter 'ઘ' hand written on a card stock, a house(ઘર), a watch(ઘડિયાળ), grass (ઘાસ), an owl(ઘુવડ), A rattle(ઘૂઘરો), a sheep(ઘેટુ), a horse(ઘોડો); the watch and sheep were added after I took this picture.

2). The first activity was washing a horse. I planned to do it at the table, since J has been enjoying sponging (cleaning/transferring with a sponge) for a while, but ended up working at the bath time, which was much fun undoubtedly. Don't water and a toddler goes hand in hand? This tray included, a horse, dish soap, a clean toothbrush (never used for brushing), a spray bottle, a sponge to clean up the water spilled (was not needed at the tub though) and a napkin to wipe the horse. I chose spray bottle for it helps to strengthen the finger muscles. Filling up the bottle and screwing/unscrewing the sprayer is another practical life activity. This was his favorite and was asked for every day during shower. 

(bathing together, J and the horse)

3). The next one was to cut and create grass. J loves using scissors, not much of purposeful cutting yet, but correct hold and safe handling was the aim.  I used green construction paper rectangles, snipped one of them halfway as a starting guide, a bowl to put back the finished work and a pair of scissors in a tray. I am very confident in this activity as he has always been careful handling a pair of scissors and contained the tiny pieces of paper in a bowl, sending to the trash can at the end.

(J containing the small pieces inside the tray while cutting grass)

4). The owl activity was planned to work with three ways. Aim was to recognize/ differentiate/ connect colors and patterns from left to right. I freehand drawn the owls on a paper with different colored patterns on them. Then used post it notes of two different colors, one had different colored owls with no patterns on the body and the other one had only patterns in the colors to match. 

The first one was to connect the owls from left to right by their patterns.

 

The second one was to match by color. Peeling off the post it notes was none the less fun.

The last one was to match the patterns with those on the owl. For control of error, I kept the colors same as those on the owls.

5). The clock activity was all about number recognition and gluing on purpose. I wrote down numbers on the clock and J looked for matching numbers and pasted them. He can already identify numbers 1 to 5 in Gujarati, so this time our aim was to go further.

6). I used silver and black card stocks to make these sheep and painted the clothes pins to match, for this activity. Also wrote letter 'ઘ' on the body to mimic wool pattern. We had tried using the clothes pins before, but J's finger muscles were not ready until this time. He clipped them without any struggle/ frustration and tried to stand them up figuring out both the pins needed to be at the same level to stable the sheep up on its feet. This idea came from Pinterest.

 

7). The foam cutouts to form the letter 'ઘ' were interesting, although he needed help to form it correctly.

8). We also sang the song 'ચલ મેરે ઘોડા રે...' playing the rattle and running around the house, having much fun.

9). Finally we concluded our letter 'ઘ' activities by pasting all we did on a card stock. The house was done very independently by J, without any guiding shapes put up on the paper.

Last Cristmas...

1). We kicked off our Christmas activities with some gingerbread love. It was our first time baking with ginger. J enjoys adding and mixing ingredients and always look forward to some sugary treat at the end. We are planning to go more casual this year, but for now he cooks with pre-measured ingredients. I suggested to make some gingerbread cookies but he insisted to make round cakes with circle liners...so cupcake it was.

( J excited about ginger cup cakes)

2). We read The Gingerbread Boy by Paul Galdone, together. I kept a tray with props on shelf to recreate the story his own way. He mostly likes to match them with pictures in the book.

J matched body parts of Gingerbread boy and letters of the word 'bread' in both uppercase and lowercase (as we only had one set of the gingerbread boy and girl letters). 
 

 

3). Looking at our neighbors' beautiful wreaths, J wanted to make one for our door too. He normally gets bored of beading work but this time he did more than fifty percent of it by himself, adding a bell was totally his idea. I never thought a bell could go any other way than through the loop on the back (welcome the fresh mind!!). He was so very proud of his work, couldn't wait for papa to come and see.

4). Matching Christmas ornaments was his favorite, although, I ruined them trying to glitter up with glitter glue, so they never reach the little tree. Good thing he was not interested in decorating the tree as much he was in taking off the decorations; hail the scissors :).

5). Our very first science experiment was the borax crystal ornaments, that came out too heavy (for the little tree) but very, very interesting to observe, touch, feel, hold and  take everywhere. (Used this guide by Martha stewart to make them.)

6). Our moms club had planned on Christmas Caroling (totally loved this beautiful tradition, we enjoyed the previous year), that cancelled due to non-co-operative weather but that did not stop us from at home, non-stop caroling with  'On the first day of Christmas...'. 

7). We visited winter wonderland with model train display at a local church, that J never wanted to come back from.

All and all, we loved the festive spirit at this time of the year.