Is NASA worth it?

There is no shortage of sceptics questioning the raison d'etre for NASA. The latest addition to the list appears to be our own Ads. He asked us "If there's nothing in space, then why do rockets go there?"

Errr....

Sydney is a fish town

On a trip to San Diego in late 2007, Ads (then 2 years old) watched the beginning scenes of "Finding Nemo" in our hotel room. He got very agitated when the big bad shark polishes off the mama clown fish and all the eggs, save Nemo.

Fastforward 2 years. When S brought home a video cassette of "Finding Nemo", Ads threw a fit saying " I DON”T want to watch that fish movie!"

We finally convinced him to watch it and he loved it. He watched it a dozen times before we had to return it to the library.

Today he told S that "Sydney is a fish town" (Sydney plays a prominent role in the movie; its the city to which Nemo is taken from his home in the ocean deeps). S explained to him that Sydney is a city just like San Francisco or Bangalore but Ads is adamant that it is a city only for fish and birds!

The hazards of sleep-sharing

The sleeping arrangements at our house are always pretty elastic. Most days, Ads sleeps with his grandma in the guest bedroom but ocassionally, he will insist on sleeping with mommy and I will oblige. It would be nice if the four of us could squeeze into the bed we have but our Cal-King, the largest size there is, doesn't quite make the cut. So S ends up in a sleeping bag on the floor and I end up cozying up with Ads and Y, on the bed. I have to sleep in the middle because both want to be next to me (so flattering!) so I protect Y from tipping over by lining the her edge of the bed with two large cushions. This leaves even lesser sleeping space for the three of us; we are all bunched up together. Which starts off by being quite nice - I enjoy hugging Ads as we sleep, knowing that it's only a matter of time before he will find it mortifying to cuddle up to his mom. And Y is such a warm soft bundle to nuzzle upto. Pure unadulterated bliss. AAAH.

Unfortunately my tender maternal feelings only last for so long. Ads has the irritating habit of sliding up, stealthily and in stages, to my portion of the bed. I wake up every hour to find him almost on top of me, his hand thrown over my face, choking off a signficant portion of my air supply (another reason I keep myself as a buffer between him and Y). Ever so often, I
bodily
gently pick him up and deposit him to his end of the bed. Until the next time.

Sometimes, I simply give up these nocturnal activities, pray that Y can fend for herself and change my alignment so that I am perpendicular to both of them, sort of forming an inverted Pi. There's always the risk of a heel busting my eye, but hey, have kids, will live dangerously. Who says sleep deprivation is the exclusive domain of parents with small babies?

The ups and downs of parenting without help

My in-laws were in LA for the last week for a sightseeing jaunt and so S and I have had our second dose of managing two kids without our parents to help us out. It hasn't been too bad, all things considered. Fewer number of people in the house translates into less cooking, less cleaning, less laundry and less dishwashing. And, it turns out, fewer tantrums from Ads' end as well. With no grandma around to support him against the evil mommy and her inflexible rules, he has mellowed down and accepted me as the Ultimate Boss............YES!!! The few fits that he does throw to enliven up each day, never last for more than a few minutes when faced with parents who completely ignore him and pretend he is not having a meltdown.

On the other hand, with no one around to take the kids off our hands for even a few minutes, I have not managed to do any studying. I had refrained for even planning to study this week, knowing that it would only lead to disappointment. With Y experiencing intense separation and strange anxiety nowadays, she has been literally attached to my hip for most of the last week.

With Ads in summer school for the next one month and in-laws back again tonight, I'm hoping I will get some studying done at last.

Interlude

It was a hot day today, with temperatures in the 90s. Y and I dropped Ads at his gymastics class and then moved to the adjoining park for some fresh air. I placed our picnic blanket on the ground. This particular park has a lot of trees and is very shady. Lying there under a canopy of trees, the sweet-smelling grass soft underneath my feet, and one very cute baby playing alongside - it was a peaceful and relaxing interlude in the midst of the typical exhausting day.

Never mind that I never got around to reading the latest issue of the Economist that I had, in a fit of foolish optimism, brought along with me. Never mind that every third second, I was putting my fingers into Y's mouth and extracting blades of grass that she was solemnly chewing on.

Y didn't seem to mind the constant interruptions as she chewed the cud, and neither did I.