Almost a year back I had done a post on choosing the right school for your child. Now I am again back to choosing a school for my child. It is not that we are unhappy with the current school for her pre-primary education, but we preferred to take admission for Genie in a big school.  We had shortlisted 3 schools in our area, though she was eligble for two schools only…

We duly picked up the admission form and after submitting it, eagerly awaited an intimation letter from the school.  We were happy to receive a positive response from the school.

We were scheduled for an interaction meeting at 11.15 am on 14th Jan. We decided to let Genie be herself at the interaction meeting. Genie was naturally excited on going to a big school. As soon as we reached there, she left us to search for kids playarea. Luckily it was at the other end of the school or else we would have had a tough time dragging her from there.

Genie was a well behaved child in front of the principal. She sat down to play with crayons as soon as we entered the office. The lady principal asked both of us about our professions. She was curious to know what kind of writing I do and how do I manage home and work? I surprised myself by fumbling in the QnA session with the principal, but managed to pass with flying colors. We (hubby n self) heaved a sigh of relief when she said that our child will get admission in their school. Genie still wasn’t assigned a batch (morning and afternoon) though. We paid the fees very next day, hoping to secure a place in the morning batch.

Genie for sure will not miss her old friends at school because her few close friends have taken admission in the same school. Oh, did I mention – that the school is just next door to my building in Marol .

The biggest advantage of having a girl is that you can doll her up. All the cute clips, rubber bands and lovely dresses are too good to resist…

I have a good collection of clips, hairbands and rubber bands for Genie and she has a good amount of soft and silky hair on head. Naturally she loves to wear pins.

Yesterday night, after oiling Genie’s hair, I decided to take a single ponytail behind…  She loves the coconut style ponytail taken in the center of the head…

Excited as usual, she allowed me take a ponytail for her. It was easier to gather her oiled hair behind her head and fasten a rubber band… I adjusted her loose strands at the nape and forehead and she was all set to see herself in the mirror…

As soon as she saw herself in the mirror, her first words were ‘Genie has become mummy’, ‘Genie looks like mummy’… Why… Because mummy also takes a ponytail behind. She was so happy to look like mummy.

DH, myself and in-laws were pleasantly surprised at her unexpected comment…  She took utmost care in wearing her night clothes as she did not want to mess with her ponytail… I too enjoy doing this for her.

Yes, I am back to being a WM (working mom). The last 9 months of being SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) were really enriching in terms of being with my baby. From enrolling her in a playschool, watching her cry while going to school, her eagerness to go to school even on holidays to hearing her speak full sentences and learning to eat with her own hand and behaving well on most occasions.

So why the sudden decision to work again? For all who know me, I was working same time last year and then took a break to study or rather upgrade my skillsets. After I was through with my 3 month study course, Genie started schooling. By the time she settled in, Ramazan (holy month of fasting) started and then my sister was getting married. I realised that I would be taking more of holidays when I start working. I started my jobhunt in October and I was lucky enough to get an interview call from L2. The informal interview was a breeze. I was offered the job before goodbyes could be said. And I took time to accept the job offer as I was unsure about the profile offered to me. Nevertheless, the said job was suppose to fall in my kitty, and I accepted the job.

My reasons to work – Being a creative person, I was idling my time by doing nothing constructive at home. I did get few offers of freelancing work, but nothing challenging enough. Sitting idle was making me more irritated with everyone around especially my Genie. I feel ashamed to admit that she bore the brunt of my impatience and anger. Thats when I realized that I needed to get out of the four walls of the house and start working.

As I write this post, I am currently sitting in my new office. Today is day 3 at L2. My gut feeling tells me that my stint at L2 will be fulfilling in terms of knowledge and experience.

All the best to myself.

Genie of course!!!!

She has been having me speechless quite a few times in the last few months. She starts talking like an adult, explains to me the stuff that I explain to her a minute back, makes her friends understand not to throw stuff, tells them that her nana has bought her a teddy bear from some place where he went in plane, etc.

The two distinct moments that stand out in my memory are:

The weekend before Ramazan, we had gone to meet our friends. After reaching home that night, while removing her shoes, she tells me ‘Thank you mama’ n ‘Thank you papa’. We have been teaching her to say thank you when anybody gifts her or does a nice thing for her. The out of blue ‘thank you’ had both of us stumped. On asking her, why she said thank you. She replies ‘You all bought me in car from our friend’s house’. At this we both were speechless, not knowing what to saying. After gathering ourselves from unexpected answer, we sat down with her and asked her what made her say thank you. Did she feel that we would leave her there and come back alone? She says no, but she just felt like saying it. This was a proud moment for both of us.

The other moment happened yesterday at the time of iftari (breaking of the fast (roza) at sunset). I had made idlis. She has started liking idlis as it is served as snack in school once a week. Since she was down with upset stomach and was not eating anything else, I decided to make idlis. When i handed her, her plateful of 4 mini idlis, she asks ‘Mummy are these idlis for me’. Me ‘yes beta, they are for you’ and she says ‘Thank you mummy for giving me idlis’. This moment too left me speechless for a whole minute. I just kissed her and could only muster ‘welcome dear’.

Hubby dearest and I feel proud that our preachings of good habits to Genie is a success already . (BTW, the whole conversation was held in our mother tongue ‘Gujarati’.)

Till now it has been my mom whose has blogged about me. Well  now, I have decided to do this post.

The past few months, I have been unwell often, so mom and dad would not take me out much for the fear of me catching some infection. Well now that I am doing fine and have become a really good girl while going to school (read here), mom and dad decided to reward me by taking me out on Saturday, 9th.

I was taken to ‘Infinity’ mall in Andheri west. I had taken a small nap during the ride to the mall and was feeling sleepy, so mom and dad decided to go shopping in Food Bazaar. The time spent in Food Bazaar that day was the shortest ever as mom and dad’s focus was the ‘Toddler’s Den’ for me.

Well after shopping, we went to the entertainment center in the mall. Seeing the play area for kids of my age jolted me out of my sleepiness. After buying the card, i entered the play area with mom and dad in tow. With two slides, i was the most happiest. I climbed, crawled, slide down. Mom and dad were happily playing with me. Time passed so quickly. I would have not left the toddler’s play area, had I not spotted the horsin’ merry go round.

I then demanded to sit on the horse, the car and revolving cup in the merry go round all by myself. But mom and dad would not hear of it, so i had them for company. Then i sighted a small train, which I had to drive. So off we went to the train. But another boy beat me to it and I was so angry. I get my genes for being short tempered from my mom .

After a round in train, we made our way to the food court, where I saw one uncle handing out chocolate cookies for free. And naturally I had to get my hands on it. I demanded for more than two free cookies, so dad had to buy a pack of chocolate cookies for me… Cookie uncle was happy about it.

Since i was happy with my cookies, mom and dad decided to skip eating at the food court and headed to Tewaris at Juhu where they both eat some high cal food. Mom, i thought you wanted to lose weight before masi’s wedding. After eating to their heart’s content, we left for home.

At home, i was still in the mood for more fun and was wide awake till 12 in the night much to chagrin of mom and dad who were sleepy.

Mom and dad thank you for this lovely playdate. I really enjoyed myself. How soon can we go again over there?

A quick update

The last week has been an important week in Genie’s school life. She has stopped crying completely while going to school. Every morning, she says that she wants to go to school and i should iron her uniform and socks in front of her.

Though she does not play in the garden before entering, she stands and looks around. When she has her fill of looking around, she pulls me in the direction of her class. She eagarly awaits to say good morning and hello to the school principal. And the best part is that she holds hands with her friend and walks to the classroom.

I am looking forward to the openhouse at the end of the month, so I can get an update from the teacher.

Genie started playschool this June, a week short of her second birthday. To give her an idea of school, myself and others in the family mentioned all the positive things about the school. I was more nervous than her. She was calm and quiet unaware of where she is going and what is going to happen. The walk to school was interspersed again with all the goody tidbits about school.

The first week was a breeze as mothers were to accompany them all the time. With hordes of appealing toys, Genie was smiling, active, playing and mingling with the teachers and kids alike. The real test began in second week when no parent was allowed to sit in the class with kids. All the mothers experienced nervousness and anxiety while the kids wailed for their mothers.

Genie got in the habit of crying when I would start to get her ready for school. The teacher had told us that playschool kids take anywhere between 15 days – a month to adjust to the school routine, so mothers shouldn’t worry. The ritual of getting ready for school was peppered with poems, stories, though the crying did not stop. Genie got in the habit of making excuses for not going to school. She would say that she wants to go the doctor as she is hurt or her nani’s house. She will go there first and then to school. This excuses continued exactly for a month. A month later, she was crying, but less than before.

Few changes i noticed over last 15 days is that she has started saying some words, a line or two from the poems taught in the school. She without fail, takes 2 chilles to feed the parrot in the school. She likes getting ready for school, wears her shoes on her own and throws goodbye kisses to her grandparents. She mingles well with other kids and also eats snacks provided by the school. At bedtime, she wants me recite her nursery rhymes instead of stories. Though she mentions about not going to school daily, she enjoys her time with the teachers and other kids. When I pick her up daily, her eagerness to tell me what she did in school tells me my Genie has adjusted well to her school routine.

We celebrated Genie’s birthday a week later than her actual birthday. She was excited at distributing gifts to other kids in her class. We distributed 8 piece crayons box from faber castel and 2 mini kitkats. When Genie performs correct actions to the poems I recite, says few alphabets, numbers, recites a poem, it is a proud moment for me and my hubby.

It’s been good ol 3 months that I have been away from my blog. I was upskilling myself i.e. busy studying Instructional Designing. The course, kiddo and house work consumed all my waking hours. Got a breather from July for two reasons – no more studying and kiddo going playschool for 2 hours daily… Despite a breather, a fortnight into July, i still have not managed to write a single post. And i now plan to make amendments. I would like to say sorry to my blog as it was ignored by me for a long time … Sorry…

And now the big Q – What should my next post be about? I have started thinking and adios till my next post

Recently i have been added as contributing member to DMC, Desimomzclub. The club has a theme for every month. Theme for March 08 is ‘Choosing the right school’.

I made my first big post for DMC on this topic. I read a post or two about the theme on DMC n various mommy blogger’s sites. While choosing a playschool for Genie i looked at just two factors. From what i have read, parents abroad and in India have searched high and low before finalizing a pre-school for their kiddos, read their travails here, here and here.

Searching for the right school for kids is a cumbersome task for today’s parent. Few months back, while discussing with my folks on deciding for pre-school for Genie, they found it funny that we (DH & I) spent an hour or two at the school where we plan to enroll her. They say for me, they went a day or two before the first day of school, paid fees and took admission. They never visited the school before, WHY… simply because the relatives/friends/neighbors who sent their kids to the same school had only good things to tell when asked and also the school was NEAR to our home. Our parents had it so easy.

Now there are many factors to contemplate before enrollment of your child in a school. In Mumbai itself, many new pre-schools mushroom on regular basis. Its like if you have a degree in ECCE (early child care education) and the resources especially Vitamin M (money), rest all follows.

Genie starts her playschool this June in one of the pre-schools in our neighborhood. We took admission for it just last month. The admission process has been quite simple. No interviews either with the parents or kids. Just fill the form, pay fees and admission process is over.

What made us choose this school from the trio of pre-primary nurseries in our area – for One – the school is just less than 10 minutes away from my home (read NEAR) and Second – practically whomsoever we know and asked have sent their kids to this pre-school as it is Simply the Best.

Hey aren’t the above two the same reasons which made my parents decided my pre-school… Yes they were the two main reasons for us to start checking this pre-school.

When we visited the school few months, the Catholic couple who has been running the school since 20+ years gave us detailed information especially education background of themselves, teachers and assistants of the school. We were impressed by their credentials and beside a mother’s instinct was feeling good about the whole thing already as they spoke and treated us well.

They showed us around the school. All the batches (playschool, nursery, jr & sr kg) have no more than 30 kids with a teacher, 2 assistants and a lady ayah. They have large classrooms with themes like fruits, flowers, animals, etc that change every month, activity tables, a large playground with slides, swings, rocking boats, rainbow climber, a huge sand pit, rope ladder, jungle gym, shape tunnels and various skills enhancing toys, games and teaching materials. They teach the kids how to eat, clean up after playing, eating and also potty training.

They left us on our own and we stayed back for an hour or so. We mingled with the teachers and assistants, saw how they handle young kids, spoke, read and played with them. We made a mistake of not taking Genie along with us, do not ask why… If she had come along, we would have to drag her home…

What was important to both of us – the behaviour of the owners, teachers, assistants and helpers – how they treat the kids – are they polite or do they run out of patience when a toddler throws a tantrum. Since the number of kids did not exceed 30, teachers could manage to give personal attention. The school has many activities and they make it a point to involve each kid be whatever the age.

I think that if your child progresses well i.e. understands and grasps things well, looks forward to going to school even on holidays, if the teachers and other staff teaches well, encourage your child to take part in various activities, etc, then the school is right for your child. I would not compare the chosen school with other schools as it could leave me feeling disheartened as why I did not take admission in so – so school.

At the end of it, we both are happy with our decision of enrolling Genie in this pre-school. We will be taking her to see the school soon. We are more excited about the whole thing, its like we have taken admission for ourselves. . When Genie is ready for SKG, we will have to search for some other school, where there will be interviews and much more. Now, we just want Genie to mingle with kids of her age, play and not be shy of everyone.

I will end the post with this quote “Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity”- Aristotle.

“A tactful wife is one who ensures she spends so much that her husband can’t afford another women”

‘Happy Woman’s Day’