Letter to the Santa

After nagging me to post the letter to Santa, he was very particular that I wake up late on Christmas. Why? In case I am awake early and Santa finds people, he may not give him the gift. 

The boy after waking up, rushed to the balcony and found the gifts behind the curtain.

A swim

..after ages, almost 2 years! The boy spent the initial 2 days in the baby pool and then was able to swim in the big pool using the butterfly stroke.

Uniform Confusion

We ordered the boy's school uniform online, as instructed by the school, and the size did not match despite giving the correct specification. After a lot of going back and forth on the phone, we decided to head to their warehouse and pick it up. It was in the back of beyond of HSR. Turns out it is a new vendor and after trying on a couple of sizes, we got the right fit. 

The boy couldn't wait to wear it to school. He had to wait till it was washed.

Offline classes!

Or attending school physically as they call it.

Ever since the boy heard that he can go to school for 2 days a week, he was super thrilled. He decided that he is going to dream only about that. The previous day his bag was packed and he slept early. The bag was super heavy.

He was so excited that he woke up at 530 am. I dropped him off at 745 am and we will take turns to pick / drop him, K and A in the mornings and evenings.

Online timing change

The class timings were changed from today to accommodate hybrid learning across the school and to support children with the transition process to regular school timings. It is now 9 am to 130 pm. More time for the boy to sleep in the morning. The day is not far away when the boy will start to attend school physically.

Road Trip

With 2 other families we went on a trip to Chikmagalur. We had the homestay all to ourselves. It was peaceful and the boy had things to do that kept him occupied. We also trekked and the boy climbed Mullayanagiri in the freezing and windy conditions wearing only shorts!

 

Happy Dussehra!

 Submitted by the boy in school

A quick road trip to Chennai to surprise the boy's aunt on her birthday. Both were thrilled to see each other. The dinner gathering was memorable with nice people and food. 

The view from the aunt's home

 

Star Wars Crazy phase

It continues for now :-)

Dr S visit and Vaccination

To be on the safer side we decided to get the boy checked by Dr S for his ear pain in the night. 

Dr S examined his ears and found it clean. He thinks it could be because of some imbalance and suggested steaming once or twice a week and asked the boy to practice pranayam daily.

I had some questions on the above Immunization Timetable that the Dr had and that is when he suggested the Meningococcal Vaccination to prevent Meningitidis. The boy got a shot effective against some or all of the following types of meningococcus - A, C, W-135, and Y. He was anyway due for a shot next year. Initially he was hesitant but the Dr gently coaxed him and the boy was surprised when it got done quickly.

After that we visited my mother for lunch and the boy had his share of  TV (Grizzy & the Lemmings serial), laughing loudly as usual. It did not bother him that it was in Tamil :-)

Eating out

After a long long time. It was not on the cards.

But when the wife went out with her friends for lunch, the boy was upset that he didn't get to eat from a restaurant. So I took him out for lunch and the boy ate his favorite Pizza. He was so full that he did not want dessert.

Waiting for his Margherita Pizza

Football

In the ground started again at Turf Park, 10 am to 11.30 am It was good to have the boy out and in the ground. They had stopped on 22/April after the 2nd Wave. 

Visit to Ta/Sk home

One of the boy's close friend in the apartment moved to a new home last month. The boy was disappointed as Ta was his cycling and play mate. Sk is her brother.

All their friends in our apartment complex were invited to their new home for lunch and the boy was thrilled. Nice lunch, lot of playing and chatting.

Ear Pain and Screen time

The boy woke up with ear pain. The wife gave him Crocin, told him jokes to make him laugh. That did work for a while. Around 430, he said he could not sleep and went to the front room to read. A little later I went to check on him and I found him playing on my spare phone :) 

Moral of the story - password protect your digital devices.

Another year older

The boy was so excited that he woke up at 530 am thinking it was morning. He could hardly sleep. After lying down quietly for some time, then chatting for some time, he finally woke up at 630 am. Milk, reading and he couldn't wait to open his gifts. He had told "books" to whoever asked him what gift he wanted for his birthday. Below is what he got.

Star Wars is his latest craze and Lego is one of his favorite pastimes. His joy knew no bounds when he got the below.

Even more thrilled, when he got this Lightsaber!

He got a Carrom board. Yet to handover the below Chess set to him. Ah beat him in Chess and he was determined to practice and win.

There was a get together at home planned with 4 other children from the apartment during the weekend.

Grade 3

And the boy is into Grade 3.

Online classes continue. Login to Zoom by 830 am and by 12 pm he is done.

Masks and Covid

The boy has started saying no to playing with friends who do not wear their masks / do not wear it properly.

The other day when we were discussing Covid and numbers he remarked "Don't talk about Covid, I feel terrible!"

On the food front, his breakfast quantity has increased. Encouragement to chew the food properly has not gone down well.

Lockdown relaxation

for the children in the apartment. They can step outside for walk / cycling provided they are accompanied by an adult and are double masked. Strictly no playing in groups.

Reading

Typical free time being spent by the boy. He is into reading a lot.

Star Wars

The boy has been officially introduced to Star Wars and he just doesn't seem to get enough of it.

The movie series, the animated series, he is watching bits of it daily. And tantrums mean no screen time apart from school / football. 

Strange class

So all the children in boy's class were on the floor on a mattress along with a pillow and a blanket. Once the music played they all had to go under the blanket, then dance covering themselves with it. Very different and all enjoyed it.

Lockdown starts

For the next 14 days as of now in the apartment. The boy has to stay indoors. Literally. No going outside to play, no walking in the corridor, no visiting common area and no going to friend's homes in the apartment.

The 2nd wave has been much more severe. I am seeing many more residents in the apartment getting infected and even children too. 

The boy has classes till May 7th so that should keep him busy. Football is back to Zoom classes 3 times a week, now that the on ground classes have stopped. 

Dream Catcher

Made by the boy in Art class at school. He has hung it on his room door and is sure that he will not have bad dreams anymore. 

He hung it outside his room and today morning he proudly proclaimed that because of it, he did not have any bad dreams. I hope the dream run continues.

Video games

And the boy has started on it. Learned about it from his friends. He knows which website to access and has been allowed to play at the max for 30 minutes, not everyday.

Unicorn

Unicorn drawing by the boy following a video on YouTube. Honestly, it looked good compared to his earlier drawings.

Blossoms

Another visit and this time along with Ah. 

I took this opportunity to have coffee at the iconic India Coffee House. I had always wanted to visit this place. Growing up, I had my cup of coffee/tea from shops like these. Simple and satisfying.  

More books from the The Bad Guys Series by Aaron Blabey. And with 2 boys, the stop at The Pizza Bakery for dinner was inevitable.

Quick trip

The boy and wife have been in Chennai for the past 2 weeks. With the cases rising, KA had announced a probable lockdown starting April. I quickly drove to Chennai and we all came back.

Book shopping

A quick visit to Blossoms in the evening to return some of the old books. With the coupons (from the old books), the boy purchased a bunch of The Bad Guys Series (by Aaron Blabey). This was followed by dinner at The Pizza Bakery. We passed it while walking back and it was hard to wean the boy away from it.

Birthday party at Slurp

The boy and his friends had a great time making pizza.

The people running the place are friendly and the children enjoyed their time here. We had been here earlier as well. I also chatted up with the owners about how the pandemic had impacted them. Tough times.

Bells Palsy

My mother came down with Bells Palsy. This required 15 days of morning physiotherapy at the nearby hospital. I decided to stay with her.

The boy was not happy with me gone. Eventually he and the wife joined me for a week and anyway, his classes were online. There were bursts of tantrums - he did not have friends, the TV at my mother's place did not have all the channels, no Amazon Prime but he mostly managed. My mother fret, asking me to buy him something to keep him happy. I would not have, instead opting for the boy to get comfortable with being bored, but had to give in.

Breakfast get-together

Some of the families in the apartment went for a breakfast at Prestige Golfshire.

It was good to be out and for a change, not to make and eat your own breakfast. We ate leisurely, chatted, the children after eating their fill, ran around and had fun. Thankfully when it comes to wearing masks and maintaining social distancing we are all on the same wavelength, including the children.

Get Togethers and Republic Day

It was time for get togethers. Since last March, all the meetings have been virtual. With the slow unlocking and apartments relaxing rules, we decided to meet with the wife's extended family who lived 20 minutes away last weekend. Wonderful dinner, lot of talking while the boy watched his favorite Just Add Magic. All grown ups and nobody in his age group to play with.

I watched my cousin's wedding being streamed live. Because of Covid and my back problem, I did not want to risk driving to Kerala to attend it in person.

It was Republic Day and there were events in the apartment with masks and social distancing. The boy participated in some games and was thrilled he won. After that we went with the ABAA family for lunch at nearby Wanderers.

The boy in action (in green)

It was then time to drive all the way across town to meet the wife's cousin and her 5 month old daughter at Alchemy Coffee Roasters. The boy was not interested in babies. The coffee was good. We chatted, dropped them home and drove back.

Lunch visit and a Dog

Pongal is a harvest festival in Tamilnadu and when a Tambrahm family invites you for lunch, you are in for a feast. So off we went to Whitefield for a sumptuous lunch. We are meeting with the VVS family after ages and the boy quickly warmed upto S (exactly 1 year older than the boy). Post lunch, The Croods was playing and the boy was reluctant to leave till it got over. Once that and after an awesome filter coffee we bid farewell.

The next day, A (of the AA couple) dropped in after lunch, we had to drop her back home and the boy also tagged along. The AA couple is one of the boy's favorite. They had adopted a dog - a cute Terrier Mix. The boy does not hate or love dogs. He gets along with them as long as they don't lick him. He did not go inside their home, reluctantly petted her at the door and off we came back. Miss those days before the pandemic when we had the impromptu get togethers.

Training complete?

For the first time the boy washed up on his own yesterday after potty. 

Family Visit and a new Series

My mother came down to meet us and we all went (including the reluctant boy) to meet my uncle who was suffering from muscle paralysis. The boy sat quietly in a corner with his mask on and made minimal conversation. He just wanted to be out of there. All older and nobody of his age.

Once back home, after lunch he quickly got back to this new series which he has been hooked to - Just Add Magic 

Happy(?) New Year

On the bright side, we were alive, not infected and had means of livelihood. 

It was a quiet New Year where we watched a movie at ABAA's home - Maleficent 2. At midnight we wished each other, finished the movie came down to our apartment.

Sunday was again football class for the boy. I took this time of nearly 1.5 hours to walk around the field.