Our baby is a Kinder Gartener!!

My little cherub, the baby of the family turned 5 and that just crushed me and now she is off to school all by herself? It's very over whelming.

How can this be happening within the blink of the eye? Well, I guess I can go on and on about how this is not fair and how they grow up way too fast and then accept it or just smile and accept it and enjoy this phase of her.

After a cumulative of 12 years ( well, 7 and 5 is 12 isn't it? even though the oldest is 7) of parenting, I have decided to enjoy the present with the girls rather than brood over how soon it all is getting over.

Every phase has it's really high points and thankfully with Gowri, she's still in the age where she wants to communicate everything with mom. Amuktha was never there and is in fact slowly growing out of mom knows everything phase :( sigh!, sigh.

Coming back to Gowri, the best thing she liked about the whole experience is the school bus. I have to admit, she is not completely ready and somehow is intimidated with the classroom though.  Sometimes I wonder if we are doing the right thing by insisting on speaking Telugu at home as the girls seem a tad bit lacking in confidence in their English speaking skills. Well, time will tell.

But, for now the little one seems all excited and settling into a routine, although it seems to be passing a little too quickly, I will grab everything I can and make a lot of memories while I can.

Welcome to a lifetime of learning little one and all the very best!!! I feel sorry for her as this is only the beginning of a lifetime of routines and I hate routines, I really do.....

Amu goes to 2nd Grade!!

I have been feeling restless for the past one week since we went and saw Amuktha and Gowri's new school - LakeRidge Elementary in Mercer Island, WA.

The baby of our home going off to Kindergarten seems so much more over whelming than Amu going off to second grade which in itself seems pretty big.

This year is going to be one of lot of changes. Moving to Seattle area, new school and maybe a new job.  I hope the kids take it well.

Amuktha was so excited that she woke up all by herself and got all ready for school. She was super happy that she finally was getting to ride a school bus. We went to the bus stop and off she goes, my big second grader.

Good luck my little champ!!

Mean Mom??

Of late, I have observed that I am in constant battle with myself about Amuktha. I have become this nag mom, who is after her all the time starting in the morning until night. Brush your teeth, finish you breakfast, put the used dishes in the sink, so on and so forth until brush your teeth you will be late to bed...........

How does someone manage time and tell it's importance to a 6 year old? Am I the nagging mom who is always on her case to either finish her homework or clean up her mess so that she can get enough rest.

What am I doing wrong? I feel like I am developing a gap with her. I don't want to be this controlling mother, but I don't want to blame them at the end of the day when I go to bed late because I end up cleaning all the mess they made.

Is there ever a balance? I know I have to prioritize, but I can't let the house be a mess or forget the laundry or feed them leftovers and being a working mom doesn't help.

They say tough love is true love, is it really? But, kids need to feel the love don't they? They shouldn't be in an atmosphere where they are scared to do anything. I realize as a parent, I should be the more mature one and pick my battles.