It has been more than a month since I updated my blog. Excuse me for that.
June was a whirlwind of activities, starting with events at my daughter’s school. Her last month of kindergarten, it was fun being part of family fun night, finding a yellow tee for Sports Day, Father’s Day, and end of year celebrations.
The most memorable part was hunting for a plain yellow tee. It was her team colour and this mother-daughter team searched every kid store high and low. But it was just not any yellow tee we were looking for. My daughter didn’t want any sparkles or words to be written across. Her reason: “It’s for Sports Day, so I want an active wear, not party wear.” (I quietly mumbled yay!)
After two days of looking for the “perfect active tee”, we thankfully found one. She also participated in the bike ride, so we spent time looking for yellow trimmings for her new bike and spent an evening decorating the bike to represent her team colour. It was fun! The morning of Sports Day was a little damp but the spirits of the kids were high. It was an exhaustive fun-filled outdoor day. Memories of Sports Day at my school, the excitement, the cheering came rushing back, as if it happened just yesterday.
Both my kids are pretty spirited, so June was a hectic month spent in shopping, organizing, preparing and attending events with both kids. It is a blessing to be with your children, especially on days that are special to them. We all face challenges to live up to this expectation, but thankfully, hubby and I could be there for each event.
Finally, the school term came to a close the last week of June; my daughter got her report card and officially graduated to Grade 1. And the same week, she turned a year older. Mehar is now a six-year old and will start Grade 1 in fall. Little brother Kabir shares birthday with big sister (he arrived a little early on her third birthday), so he turned three the same day. For their birthday presents, the kids got new bikes and the day of the birthday, we all got a special surprise: a twin birthday cake for our non-twin kids, courtesy our veggie baker.
Post school and birthday celebrations, we all vacationed, at home. I turned off the TV and it was just us: loud noisy days, dancing sessions, cooking together, taking naps, building castles, lots of colouring, walls included (courtesy my three-year old), going for walks, doing yard work, playing in the backyard, bike rides and some age-appropriate physical Yoga postures for the kids. Two work-related projects kept me busy at nighttime.
We kind of stayed in the neighbourhood, so last evening, we went to the beach, without the camera. After a lovely evening, we had dinner at a fancy seaside restaurant. While eating, my daughter leaned towards me and said: “Mummy, I don’t like this food; your cooking is the best.”
I smiled at her truthful, innocent comment but didn’t know whether to take it as a compliment or not. I can’t say I am a great cook, but I do cook a lot, with fresh ingredients. Since I am a hardcore vegetarian yogi, I pay a lot of attention to food and try and teach my kids the same. But I didn’t know my little girl would recall my cooking over three different dishes we ordered for them. The parenting lesson I learnt was: it doesn’t matter what you do together as a family, what matters is make an effort to spend some quality time together (without glancing at your smartphone), and that doesn’t have to be at a fancy restaurant.
Tomorrow, we are making a trip to the Playland, and yes, I am packing lunch.
On a parting note: I will be taking my blog’s vision to the next little level, a visual delight, stay tuned.
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Categories: Parenting
Sandhu Bhamra on Finding Self 
Waiting for the visual delight ;-), and may be I get inspired by you and do something nice with my blog too!
Ohh, it rhymed again :->> can’t get away with these….
🙂 It is a nice treat
Ok!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Your family time this past month sounds wonderful, Anu. Our family has a shared birthday as well. Our daughter was born on my wife’s birthday. I told my wife that I couldn’t afford any more presents until that one (our daughter) was paid off. Almost there, 20 years later, with just one more year of university to go!
Happy Birthday to both Mehar and Kabir!
That’s nice! Thank you for the wishes.
So true. Some of our greatest summer moments have occured on our sidewalk with the low evening light, a few lawn chairs, the tire swing, a few neighbourhood kids and a watermelon!
You said it. We do the occasional beach thing, but I try and teach my kids that fun is not around a place but with people and in the moment – it is such a strong Yoga teaching – how to live in the moment.