Day 28: It's time for Bye Bye 2013

It's time to say goodbye already.. the year has gone by so quickly.. these are thoughts that I seem to have at the end of nearly every year now .. :). I guess it has to do with every day going by in a flash, the kids looking taller and acting older ... I felt I should write down my thoughts on how each of us has changed in the last year.. let me start with D.

For Damita, 2013 has been the year she has started becoming a young lady. She is 8 and a half at the end of the year, and has many strong views and insights, many of which I stop to wonder they came from. It's a lot of fun to play the guessing game to try to understand where she might have got some idea from or what runs through her head. Much to my delight, she has developed an interest in food, and believe me this was a big change from the fussy eater of even 2 years ago. She plays the keyboard beautifully, when she actually puts her mind to it :). In a lot of small ways, I see her personality beginning to develop. Her self-confidence has grown since she started school and now she can hold her own more easily than I remember her doing before. At this point, she loves to fight with S, disagreeing on just about everything though he also has a hand in these situations ;).

She has always been interested in reading, but this year she has turned into a voracious reader, with everything else getting ignored when there's an interesting book in hand. The irony is that I can hardly wholeheartedly tell her not to or to prioritize her other stuff, as she reminds me of what I was like at her age ;). I must admit though, that I think she's probably a bit ahead of me at the level of reading at the same age if it comes down to a comparion :P, a happy admission for a mom to make I guess.

In my hope that she should always feel like coming and telling me what's up - the good and the bad - I try my best to listen to her whether she's talking about a storyline in the Geronimo Stilton book or a fight she had with a friend at school. I personally don't think it is possible to completely be a friend to your child, but it surely has to be part of the "parent package" :).

Welcome 2014 my lovely daughter, to a lot more learning, a lot more books, and TONS of happiness in it for you.

She had always wanted a daughter but now...

When she had gone through hours of labour with all those Lamaze techniques and finally went through a C-Section (much to her relief!), the first sound she remembered after coming back to the hospital room was this tiny little creature screaming her lungs out. And her first thoughts "They can be so loud?!" "Is something wrong?" "What should I do now?"...

Hahaha I will always have vivid memories of that first year.. the sleepless nights as my little baby for some reason seemed to not want to go to sleep.. trying to think up new and effective lullabies.. passing the breastfeeding phase to find it was going to be a challenge to get her to eat solids as well... Phew!

And just as quickly, at 8 months she started sleeping through the night (it was still a challenge to actually put her to sleep, but still 7 hours of PEACE after that!).. got her first tooth.. got toilet trained super fast.. and started walking a couple of months after her first birthday.

Oh yes, the memories of those labour pains fade and whatever craziness you go through in those early months, there are just so many "Awww" moments that it absolutely fools you into wanting to have a second one ;)...

That bawling bundle now wakes up at 6 am with hardly a fuss, gets ready to leave for school by 6:45.. does most of her homework on her own... reads at least a book a day... loves to draw.. loves to write... where did the years fly my baby?

Learning responsibility

I received this in my monthly Babycentre mailer reminding me that S is now 4 years and 9 months old!

Learning responsibility
Having something to dote on, like a plant or pet, is great training for your child's budding sense of responsibility. That doesn't mean you should bring home a puppy just yet, unless you plan to do most of the work yourself. Your child is far from ready to take full responsibility for an animal. What she is ready for, though, is a chance to help out with small jobs that make her feel useful and teach her what living things need.

Pets, now are something I have never been used to as a child, and am still not completely comfortable with. Plus I see one more being to pottytrain as the end of the rope, and absolutely refuse to do it! The kids know that if they want pets, they're going to need to be old enough to take care of her/him themselves. Even then I get the occasional query from D of "Amma, can we get a dog?" and it gets tougher each time to say a firm no :(.

Though I am still definitely on the fence on this one, I know many of you do have pets and kids, so I was wondering how do you manage? Could it be because you yourself are a pet kinda person without making any special effort about it?

On the positive side, at our home, my plants are living beings enough at the moment, and S has a blast trying to help me water them on weekends :). 

This post is written for #marathon bloggers Day 16.