Oxford English Dictionary

I treasure my first OED . We used to carry our own copy of  OED to  english classes in middle school.  OED opened a new world for me. 

I started playing this made up game during my sixth grade. I would open my dictionary and find a random word and try to use it in a sentence. This entertained me a lot specially during my bed time.

Even today when I open the Reader's Digest magazine, I'll check the word power section first then move on to other topics.

I need to start my sixth grade word game to enhance my english since bulleted emails and cryptic technical writing  took over my art of good writing.  The Engrish in GUI, nightmare help guide(s) and " God save me from this alien " kind of emails from colleagues have had big impact on me. For example, waiter/waitress in US restaurants never understood my request of  " I want water without ice".  I no longer use sentence , just words to get my request "Water - No ice".  I am afraid I've become one of them. I have no patience to edit what I write these days.

If you are wondering Why is she writing /thinking about Oxford English Dictionary ? Here is why ? Somebody has listed this collectors edition of Oxford English Dictionary as item to buy when they win lottery. Hee hee I have the same wish too ; ).

Thankgiving 2009

We spent our thanksgiving enjoying each other's company at home. Papa spent his four-day weekend by playing with his son throughout the day. And mama loved the big break from routine work since papa completely took over duty of taking care of NR right from morning till night. I went for shopping around late afternoon on black Friday (not for the deals though) and ended up buying loads of fabric. Not sure when I will get time to finish all the projects : ).  

The Christmas gift for NR and CB arrived last week. I am sticking to a strict budget this year since I am living off on limited income from investments. We live below our means and never get carried away with desires of occurring or buying more stuff. This spending habit of us helped us to make SAHM possible and doable and our life style hasn't changed a bit.  Our dreams, plans , wants and needs in life have taken a back seat with NR's physical and emotional development taking the highest priority.

I want NR to feel safe , secure and free spending time in the familiar place aka his home. He is just a baby and I don't want to leave him with stranger who can never understand his needs like us.  The more books I read on parenting I feel assured that this is the best thing to do and the benefits are rewarding. NR spends time at home doing whatever he wants at his own schedule. I like NR to have this freedom and not restricted by adult like schedules /disciplines at this tender age.

NR co sleeps with me and he almost pushes me to edge rolling in all directions specially in the morning when he is hungry. Even a queen bed is not able to accomodate this little guy.    When he gets up he is happy to see me. He spends next half hour either sleeping lazily in the bed next to me or on my shoulders. When I visited day cares this summer to check out the facility it broke my heart to see little babies sleeping in a tiny cot. I mean really tiny space meant for little puppies (in my opinion : )).

As a mother, I feel I need to give this simple pleasure in life for him, a privilege I had growing up. I would rather take a late retirement but leave my baby with a stranger and go for work. I am comfortable leaving him with a  nanny at home if one of us can work from home .Taking a late retirement will help me stay younger and free me from a boring empty nester syndrome.  I would feel comfortable leaving him with strangers when he will be able to communicate his needs and wants clearly. Until then, I will be his primary care taker. 

On this thanksgiving day, I am very thankful for able to stay at home taking care of my son  and praying for such simple blessings for all the people in our family and for mothers around the world.

A simple dream

I have a simple dream of  taking an early morning bath , getting dressed in my fav attire what else ? saree and going for the temple at the dawn for the morning  prayer. Even the thought of this,  makes me feel good. This is something I did often during my school and college years. I have not been able to do this for last 13 yrs living in USA.

I was looking into the saree collections from pothys which made me feel bad for not able to wear all the beautiful sarees I have here thanks to damp and cold winters : ( .

Mamanesia

I have selective memory these days. I can remember everything related to NR and nothing relating to me. I am losing track of my appointments or getting behind my credit cards payments by a day or two which never happenned before NR.  I am having hard time concentrating on one stuff even reading a book. I wander away doing so many other stuff. May be due to MAMANESIA** ?

I have this recurring night mare of walking out of my house without wearing my pants or losing my car keys with NR inside the car. Any ideas to bring me out of MAMANESIA?.

I took this quiz from this blog and answered all the questions correctly . I am relieved and happy to note that part of  my brain is still sharp being new /SAHM for last two years :).

**mamanesia- having selective or seldom memory being a new mom. New term coined be me : ).

And thus NR became a Bobos brother for 2009 Halloween

Go Diego Go , The animal rescuer has an ardent, hard-core 18 month old fan in our house. NR obsess about Diego all the time. It's fun to watch NR having a hero worship for this  fictional character.

First week he watched the episodes without blinking his eyes. Over the weeks, I noticed  that he was able to follow the story line .  He giggles loudly when bobos brothers makes an appearance.  Bobos brothers are one of his favourite characters .Prior to Diego era, CB used to get a Hero welcome when he returned home everyday from office. Now NR doesn't even care about him  since he watches the Diego show in the evenings.Now CB has to dance like Bobos brothers to get his son's attention .

So keeping up with the Diego spirit  , I purchased monkey costume for NR two months back for Halloween . NR makes a fuss for everything when he is not in a mood specially during the dress change. But when I showed him the monkey costume, he smiled and became a samanthu paiyan (good boy). He loved  seeing himself  in the mirror with monkey costume and giggled so loudly when I said "Bobos, Bobos".

And thus NR became a Bobos Brother for this Halloween.

Diego - My new found god

NR received  Diego story book pillow as gift from his dad when we returned home after our India trip. NR at that stage was very much fascinated with little boys (thanks to the little boy illustrations from his fav book - It's a good thing you are not an octopus ). So papa bought Diego story book pillow from our local costco warehouse  as a surprise homecoming gift for NR among other gifts. It was an instant hit with NR. It has become his fav bed time story book . Thus I was introduced to the existence of this great phenomenon called "Diego , the animal Rescuer".

A month after our return, purely by coincidence I bumped into "Go Diego  Go animated show on cable.  NR did not take his eyes off the TV not even for a second while watching this show.  NR was almost 13.5 months old and I have never allowed NR to watch TV till that point. He is hooked onto this show ever since that fateful day. 

Cooking dinner everyday was a tedious task since NR never wanted to be alone . He would constantly cry or laugh or do something to get my attention.  Diego entry into NR's world made my dinner preparation a breeze. I DVR'd the episodes and allowed NR to watch the half an hour episodes while cooking dinner everyday before his dad's arrival. 

When his paternal grandma returned from her daughter's place on July she forced me to put Diego for NR every day.  Feeding solid food(s)  to NR required me to give out my best performance of story telling, puppet acting, mimicking animal sounds etc etc. But  my new found God Diego have made solid feeding an easy ritual . Diego has become the secret password for making NR to open his mouth . All I have to do is to switch on Diego show and his mouth opens automatically as if  I had said "open sesame". 

This is first time after NR was born that I am able to leave him alone to do chores in the absence of CB. NR is a clingy child and he never allows me to even to dress for 10 minutes before going for a walk. Now Diego has made my world little easy .

Both mama and son are getting educated on various animals and its habitat. I even learned what tapir eats : ) .  Look, I am overly obsessed about food & eating habits being a new mom. We are also becoming proficient in spanish language. When I say "Subir" NR runs to climb up the stairs and we are even counting in spanish :).  NR observes keenly and smiles when kids speak in spanish during our play time in munchkins.  I never imagined my introduction to spanish language would happen this way . Thanks to NR , I had kick-start in achieving my goal of learning spanish . More than ever, I am determined to take the spanish immersion program .

I know in my heart that this  phase will not continue for ever but I am going to worry about that later. Till that time, I am going to use my new found God's help to run my household with little ease.  Go Diego Go !