Surprise Planning & Shaurya

So it was M’s birthday on 9th and I was working along with Shaurya for a surprise midnight celebration – it’s not exactly a surprise anymore though as we do it every year... maybe I can skip it one year and then it will truly be a surprise when nothing happens at midnight!! ;-p

On the evening before, I & Shaurya went out and bought a cake and flowers. Shaurya had already made a greeting card.. he made the card, decorated it with my help and wrote the birthday message himself and his gift to M was “200 kisses”. When we reached home, I kept the cake inside the fridge and hid the flowers, cards & our gift in Shaurya’s room. I had been telling Shaurya that it’s to be a surprise and we will celebrate the birthday at night. Frankly he has been doing pretty good in keeping the secret and I was pleasantly surprised when he didn’t tell M about his card or the Gift that I had ordered.

Since he was holding it all in really well, I was not at all prepared for what happened when M reached home. No sooner had M crossed the door, Shaurya jumped up, ran to the kitchen and covered the fridge with his arms yelling.. “Don’t look here.. there’s nothing inside”. We were so surprised that it took us a minute to realize what he said and then both I & M burst out laughing!! :-D He went on to uncover yet another surprise by running to his room, blocking the entrance and saying – “Don’t come inside this room either” :-)

In the end, I am just thankful that he held on to it for so long.. we had been planning for the gift (photobook and coupons) since 2 weeks and it was great that it did not reach M's ears till the last day. Shaurya was super excited on the last day and getting the cake just did it for him - he could not contain it within him anymore. A memorable uncovering of the surprise to be sure!

A 'Mad'enning word

Be careful of what you say in front of your kids.. they will come back to you at the most embarrassing of times. So we tell Shaurya not to use bad words when talking. “Paagal” (mad) is one such word. Kids use it to tell each other off when they either have a fight or think the other person is talking nonsense. We tell Shaurya not to use it at all.

This Saturday, he was playing cricket in the society park with 2 of his friends. One of his friend’s cousin (a teen of about 15) came there and joined them. So she was batting and one kid was bowling. During the course of the play, the teen girl used the word “Paagal”. Shaurya immediately told her not to use it as it’s a bad world. :-) The girl immediately said “Sorry”. Shaurya told “Its ok” and then to make her feel a little better he said “My mom and dad also say it sometimes….” And then went on to add “….to each other”.

The girl laughed out loud.. of course, after our initial shock, we joined in as well! :-D But then, it made us realize to be extra cautious when talking in front of him! Let's see how we fare ;-p

IPL cheers

So the IPL season is in full swing right now. Both I & M have not watched​ or followed IPLs in the past; this time around though we are watching it. Sanskar (our nephew) is a keen follower :-). If TV is on, Shaurya is more interested in watching cartoons than anything else. In order to get his buy in, we ask him to cheer for his team. And Shaurya has some very interesting reasons for supporting and cheering a team. Sample this...

In RCB vs RPS match, shaurya supports

- RCB as Virat Kohli plays in it (shaurya is a big Virat fan:-D)

- RPS as we live in Pune obviously. Another reason Dhoni plays here.

In MI vs RPS match, shaurya supports

- MI as the team has 'indian' in its name.

- RPS as mentioned above ;-)

In DD vs KXIP match, shaurya supports

- DD as Shaurya's mausi lives in Delhi

- KXIP as there's 'Rangla Punjab' restaurant in the commercial complex of our apartment ( don't ask)

In KKR vs GL match, shaurya supports

- KKR as it has 'knight riders' in its name and when his skating sir teaches him skates at 'night', he has lots of fun... :-D

Sorry GL & SRH,  for you Shaurya hasn't found any reason to support yet. For GL, maybe I can tell him that Modi is from Gujarat. Can't think of any reason for SRH that would sway him Not unless you manage to get Virat in the next season ;-p

Graduation Day!

Last week I attended the first “Graduation Day” function of my life.. that too for my 5 and half year old son  :-) (my first as I missed attending the graduation ceremony to get my engineering degree).  It’s funny how times have changed.. even finishing kindergarten is now termed as graduation. I and M were pleasantly surprised when we received the invite to attend the Graduation Day ceremony for our son who is finishing Sr.KG now.

The Graduation day event was very well planned. There were some cute solo performances from the kids – be it dance, songs, storytelling, music or speeches. At the end of it, the kids were made to wear Graduation gown, cap and were called out one by one to the dais. The class teacher gave each one a scroll and a sash. I especially loved the Sash – it had a picture of the kid and a name given to him/her rhyming with first letter of his/her name – Shaurya’s Sash read “Sincere Shaurya”. At the end of the event, the kids came together for a class photoshoot and gave a combined performance by singing a Graduation Song. Shaurya and his friends had lots of fun wearing the gowns and posing in it. The teachers ensured it was a memorable and special day for each.

It was a very touching ceremony and I am sure many parents got emotional. I was overwhelmed (and had to wipe my tears secretly least people think I have gone nuts watching the Kindergarten graduation ceremony of my son!! Dunno what I will do when he actually graduates ;-D).  But seriously.. more than the kids, this ceremony was for the parents.. to make them realize that their kids are growing.. and growing up fast.. with them entering a ‘little’ more serious phase of their life!

This is Shaurya’s last year with his pre-school Colours.  It’s a wonderful school and the teachers are absolutely brilliant. With love and care, the teachers have done a great job to nurture the natural curiosity that kids have – kids there know everything (and more) of what a kindergartner would know and still have varied interests and healthy curiosity. We just hope that the Primary school that we have chosen for Shaurya continues to help him grow and develop this way!

In the 'Graduation' attire :-)

Edited to Add: Shaurya thought this was Dracula costume and they were made to wear it for fun!  :-D