The Adventures of the Little Indian Girl

• Supreme Court upholds DACA - which is great, as the administration did not have enough justification in what they were doing at all. Now, we need to actually work within Congress to finally resolve the issue and help bring some resolution - living in so much uncertainty cause immense amount of trauma and distress
• Supreme Court decision protects LGBTQ community - I read this and danced a happy dance!! And at the same time was utterly saddened that we needed this to be spelled out. Like, it should be basic common decency to protect all humans.  
• Great American Outdoors Act - Senate passed this bill and it's a long needed bill. Am sure not cutting funding over the years for the national parks would have not necessitated this bill but hey! will take it!! They think it will eventually get Trump's signature even though he is not a very Parks friendly guy. 

I am trying not to be hopeful about the other items on the Supreme Court's docket though.... let's see... 

I drove in rain, snow and sleet today. Or was it also freezing rain? Friend and I couldn't figure out what the difference between freezing rain and sleet were? She is from Mumbai and I am from Hyderabad where average temperature year round wavers around 80-90F, daily. So, this is like the story about Alaskan Inuit people having like 50+ variations of describing snow.

Well, whatever the difference, I know I am petrified and afraid of driving in it. But there I was, at my friend's home after a sleepover and snow was coming down. They weren't anticipating much snow. But they were anticipating sleet & freezing rain. And I had 22 miles facing us before getting home through the beltway and I66. The beltway is horribly unpredictable. Although, I shouldn't complain. I think I get more nervous, because I don't drive on it frequently enough. Ok, I don't drive frequently period.

Anyway, as I was heading back, the snow turned to sleet or freezing rain or whatever. And there on the highway I saw the postal service golf cart truck chugging along, faster than me (mind you, I was going the speed limit)! It was strange to see one on the highway and stranger still to see it on the beltway on a Sunday. Suddenly I was wondering if my calendar was all wrong.

But that truck gave me the confidence boost I needed and I relaxed my arms and chugged along home. We did leave before the "storm" moved south towards us. But got home just in time. The highways were fine. Our driveway was like an ice skating rink. D of course, thought it was great fun!

But hey, this season, I drove in snow, sleet & freezing rain! ;)

This morning was my turn, and afternoon was D's. We got our flu vaccines done. I held on to dear life and dreaded the whole thing, my daughter cooly took her stuffed toy, sat there and didn't flinch and got her shot. She did tell me she was scared, but it was more to copy what she read recently in Berenstein Bears book. Sometimes I feel reading books sets her back in her boldness! ;)

This evening she noticed her band aid was coming off. And she was getting nervous about it as she found that dreadfully painful. Taking a bandaid off even morning after and after bucket bath, she would scream in "pain"! So, I casually said, "if it comes off that means it's ready to come off!" And she, oh so carefully, peeled it off and ran all around the house looking for dad to show off before putting it in the trash herself!

She was so proud that she didn't cry or get scared and that was the happiest moment of the day!

I have a lot to learn from my kid, because I dread taking bandaids off too!  Really, I have no tolerance for pain! It's a wonder I delivered my kid naturally! ;)

My baby's a big girl! She continuously reminded me as we walked to her preschool together! She in fact didn't want me walking her to school either. She wanted to go by herself. When I asked her if she knew where her preschool was, she pointed out the window to the church where it's located saying, "it's there in the church!" (We can see the preschool from our window!)

She carried her heavy bag happily. I was so unnecessarily worried. We ran into her close friend (who's attending just the summer camp there but in a different class) too and so both were happy. Once we reached into the classrom, our relationship came to an end. She seemed so annoyed I was still there. She refused to hear me out and realised maybe if she gave me a kiss or two and a hug I would leave. So, I left. I turned around and cried! My girl has grown into such an independent child. Sure, not in every sense of the word.

It helps to remind me that she IS getting bigger and is capable of doing so much more on her own. Letting go. And yet, I keep thinking she is too young. What if they change her, institutionalize her personality, mechanize her. oh but it's silly. It's a good school. It's a safe school. Good teachers. And so close by!

With that, comes today's part of photo challenge. I was going to show the cool nifty feature of opening the car without unlocking doors. As long as I have my car keys in my purse, or pocket, I just need to open the car handle and it unlocks the door!! Technology, how cool!

But I realised, within minutes of coming home, I could share the whole excitement of first day of school by sending photos, video clips, on the phone with parents, parents-in-law, and N even though they are continents away!! Now that is just amazing!



Thank you to the engineers of this world!!!!! Amazing! You don't know how much this means and how much it helps to cope with the fact that family is far away.

And mom leaves this message, which I never knew on facebook (photo challenge is shared there too). Let me go cry some more. Motherhood is hard.

"chitti, the day you left for Honolulu alone, i too cried in happiness. i could not believe that the timid young girl, smitha, would become so courageous one day. You were going alone, with two huge suitcases. You had to stop at Osaka or some where on the way. You were 18year old then. ma."

D at an young age has learnt that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. In hopes that she will take a bite, I eat fruits within her reach. The last few days I have been eating apples cut into slices. She comes over, picks up the slices and promptly reaches out and puts it in my mouth! As bed time reaches, she brings out her play kitchen set and "feeds" me! You can see how I spend a lot of my time with her!

She also helps me hang clothes! She picks one item out at a time and hands it to me to hang them up. If I am too slow, she uses the time to mop the floor with the washed item! :X

She wants to do what we do. It's absolutely adorable until of course she throws a fit when we don't hand over the scissors to her! sigh...

And she has begun to take steps on her own these past few days. She walked across the room yesterday holding on to items in each hand to give to me. I of course, was not looking! At least her grandma and greatgrandma got to witness it!! :)  

The last few days HungryLion has been insisting to stay awake during the day and not sleep - even though she obviously is. This makes for a very cranky baby - if I don't feed her every 50 minutes. In between somewhere she has discovered her hands and has been fighting to get it in her mouth. She has managed to get her fist in, three fingers in, etc. Today was no different from other days. Suddenly the living room got completely quiet. Wondered why. And there she was happily sucking away at her THUMB! She had her thumb tucked away in her wrist and obviously the struggle.. she figured it out! 

And she has fallen asleep on her own and not needing my boob to help her sleep! Lets see if she can get her thumb in her mouth again! ;)