MaddyMomCrazyKids

Today is not an ordinary day, nor an easily forgotten day. Today is the day , last year, when we arrived in Sydney. We a family of 4 arrived with memories from India and with hearts filled with hope and dreams. Gradually we blended into the life here, did a lot of learning, quite a bit of unlearning . It started off with a 3 week stay at an Airbnb accomodation. For someone who had a full time cook and help, here was a time when the mommy had to dish out food every 3 hours. It was just about wrapping up of breakfast and pausing for a while , when kids would pop up the question "Whats for lunch"? . In the interim 2-3 hours, hubby and I would wonder - "Should we do the dishes or wash the clothes or sweep or relax or just start cooking again"??...  it was also the time when every meal was cherished, there was no customization.  If daughter could not eat spice, all of us would just eat the non spicy food, no questions asked or answered. It would be a struggle to get e...

I have had pets at my parent's home for the longest time I remember. The 1st one I remember was a pomeranian named 'Julie'( I was 5 then) and then 'Bunty', 'Bobby' and the ones when I got married 16 years ago were Lhasa Apsos 'Sunny' and 'Tuffy'.  Now my mom has 'Choky' and 'Rocky'.  Its a well known fact that I have never been found of pets . A few of the above tore my favorite stuff , one bit me badly and a couple of others just irritated me . My happiness knew no bounds when my in-laws had no pets at home. My mom in law was not too fond of pets as well.  We have lived for 15 years in a defence area where having pets was a common sight. My now 6 year old daughter would get excited every time she would see a pup or dog taking a walk on the street or waiting at the lift of the building . We moved to Sydney last year and seeing pets all around was a daily activity. My daughter would start standing in the front yard faci...

What is it about Sports and a child? Its almost synonymous.  My 11 year old has become super lazy , lazy to even go for a bike ride since the last holidays . Soccer season finally started today. The practice sessions for the time being with a 10 person limit on gathering. Neel has been so excited , so geared up , he almost sprinted to the practice session.  He came fully excited. Tired he was but the excitement didnt wear out. And yes he arrived home with a soccer ball given as part of the practice.  He spoke about how other kids came in , how he saw familiar friends, how he had a good run, how he was so happy. Daughter is on the other hand, not very sporty. I am trying to make a conscious effort to make sports non gender specific. Ages ago daughter was all excited to start skating . She saw a child trip and then didnt want to go back. She is 6.5 years old now. Probably will wait till shes 7 and get her enrolled in soccer. She needs to run too and fall yes and g...

It was a long weekend coming up , with June 8th being the Queen's birthday. I got to know of it quiet late, on the 3rd. Hubby having full day MBA classes on both the weekend days was a dampener. Nevertheless he said he was set for June 8th outing. Kids come back home on 5th super excited that its a long weekend. While son always wants to laze on holidays, daughter wants something exciting. So at bedtime we make a todo for the weekend: 1.) Lots of hugs while sleeping 2.) Go for a stroll, enjoying scenery, pick leaves and flowers 3.) Bake something with mommy 4.) Write naughty stories about brother, mommy and aunt We go about our todo one by one. On the second day, I could not remember one of the tasks and then she quickly draws up the below 4 images. What is so endearing about these images are how she quickly wrote them down. Normally she is very particular about asking me for spellings before she writes them down. But this time she just wanted to hand me over those notes...

Aisha just as the meaning of her name is "Full of Life". There is never a dull moment when she is around. She always has something to tell us, something to be excited about . It was a relaxed Sunday today. Today was my friend's 40th birthday and considering the current circumstances, we were to make a visit to her place for wishes. Aisha who is anyways excited about birthdays was also excited that we would do a repeat of yesterday's vanilla cupcakes. All day she kept reminding me of the birthday. She helped me with the cupcakes and did most of the piping, made a birthday note (which she did not show me), got her birthday girl hairband ready.  When it was time to go, she was probably the most excited . Once we reached there , she excitedly hands over the birthday note( i was touched by the note which also mentioned that my friend should have a bootiful lyfe ahead) to my friend and goes to the 1st floor with her brother to meet my friends ' kids. After a while...

My  6 and a half year old daughter lost her first tooth a couple of months ago(on a weekday). When Aisha then asked me about the Toothfairy , I told her she would be coming over the weekend and I remember my daughter mentioning the same to her class teacher. She then forgot about and it and probably me too. Cut to the present, Aisha has about 4 teeth moving and shaking  since about a week or so. This time she wants to be sure she has done all the prep. And shortlists what gift she will request from the fairy in addition to the gold coins 😀. Its a kiddo walkie talkie. But the wait is long. And finally yesterday, she keeps getting restless about how her teeth is about to fall but was not and how its making her uneasy to eat anything. Its 9 pm and off she goes to brush her teeth and comes back exclaiming in a minute "My tooth has fallen off, my tooth has fallen off".  Off she rushes to get a piece of paper to write her request letter.  She puts her tooth in a zipl...

My 11 year old son Neel. The first baby of our family, our first bundle of joy. Children go through their own phases in life . An infant , then a toddler, a child , a growing child , a tween (new one this), a teen /adolescent and so on. But the baby for us is a baby. We moved to Sydney from Mumbai early July 2020. It was a smooth transition for us, including the kids.Its Neel's last year in Primary School , he is in Year 6. From Jan 2021 off he goes to a High School with its own set of challenges. Here in Australia, Year 7 students even travel on their own - whether bus , cycle, train and hence are more or less independent. With the world changing so much from the time I was a kid and with kids growing faster than they should, it is also important to be in touch with their mental state.  I try to have this on and off one on one chat with Neel , generally about anything. Nowadays I keep talking about how he needs to be aware of his surroundings, people around , changes in physi...

Both the kids requested to be treated to mug brownies once back from school today. Mug brownie was attempted a couple of times in the past but when it had to go wrong , it will . I made 2 seperated mugs, one for each. Both looked the same in the raw form , just that there was a little flour seen in one of them , which I just marked for 6 year old daughter. I ask hubby to turn off the oven and go to pick kids from school. On my return I find the 2 mug brownies in 2 different states . One perfectly done , the other with oil oozing out . I know a fight will ensue , hence promptly declare that the oily one is sonny boy's (considering that he had more than his share on past occasions). I was confident that daughter will share her brownie and she actually readily agreed . But what I saw after that was a quiet child . When I spoke to her she said she wanted to keep admiring looking at the dish and eat it later when it cools down and then scoop it out like a cup( the baker in h...

AUTUMN – It symbolizes that nothing is permanent in life . What comes , will go too. And the leaves change colour almost every day just as life’s moments change everyday. But what it teaches is to live for today . It’s full time school starting tomorrow and with work expected to resume at office next month , life seems to be inching towards normalcy. There will be a new normal defined , but that’s how life is , changes everyday  . I am a mixed bag of emotions today . While I am happy and even excited that kids return to normalcy , fun , school, play , friends, lunch boxes , a thought crosses my mind – do the kids realize things are still not normal in other parts of the world, do they realize or even aware of the suffering and continuing spread of the pandemic? Probably not ….. So while son believes the city and the country are on the recovery path, daughter thinks a monster which was to stick around till Halloween just got a little weaker and disappeared… At my end , at ...

Today is not an ordinary Monday. Today is when thousands of parents across Australia took the step and courage to send their kids back to school , even it’s for a day a week.  There is no wrong or right in it. Just an attempt to make things normal for the kids and actually the parents too.  Aisha starts off today and Neel later in the week.  She has been given about 1001 guidelines to follow on what to do and most importantly what not to do.  She stops me from repeating my instructions at the school gate and reminds me not to gather around there unnecessarily 😏🤭. She comes back to give me a goodbye kiss and when I tell her she can’t do it with friends , she says “it’s allowed for family members who stay together in the same house 🙌.  So cheers to all parents out there.  Our kids are doing more than just fine ✨✨. Its 12 noon, 2.5 hrs since I dropped Aisha to school. I have been missing her. I logged into her Google classroom account a couple o...

I am a lady and a “Mom” like the zillions of people all around . So why do i want to write? I wanted to pen my thoughts about kids, about me and about life in general.. Also as a memoir to “gift” my kids when they “grow”, when they are mature to handle “LIFE”. I have written bits and pieces here and there about my life as a mom. But been deliberating for a while to have it all consolidated . Memories written are memories made. Today was the perfect “imperfect” day to start this . Officially called “Mother’s Day”. It is supposedly to be a day when the mothers can officially take a break. Break from? Break from cooking, break from having to check if kids have had meals, break from having to think if the dishes are done etc. But is a break really possible? Is it possible to just switch off for a single day and switch on the next morning.. As for me , I am just not been able to switch off. I cannot switch off from the fact that Aisha , my 6 year old has not yet brushed her teeth or...