Stars & Planets, Hot Oil & ZooZoos

This post is about a couple of new products that I have used recently and the new Vodafone advertisement.
So why blog about these new products… well cause I found them very interesting in one way or they disappointed me in some ways!

Lets take Stars and Planets!….:) well you see Ramesh is a Kellogg’s Chocoflakes fan… he has has to buy it … well this time he just picked up the first Chocoflakes box he saw in our fav dept store ( The Dept Store is Q-mart and it’s a store which is the best example how the layout and overall ambiance of a store can make one become an impulsive buyer. And we are not the only ones , I have heard this from all my friends who shop in this store, that they end up buying all sort of stuff which they didn’t even plan for!)

Ok, going back to chocflakes!
Now a few days back I opened the box, and was highly amused to see that unlike the standard chocoflakes the chocoflakes in the box were small tiny ball like…. It was then that I picked up the box and read it.. these chocoflakes are called “Stars & Planets”.. on a closer inspection I realized the box had chocoflakes of the shape of stars and round ones which are planets!

:) The innovation is certainly a good way to entice kids and also much easier to store and soak in milk than the normal chocoflakes!

This product gets a 10 on 10 from me! (Yeah! I know the day Ro starts pestering me for such products I will curse the marketing heads of the Multi-national for exploiting parents by enticing kids! , but till then.. 10 on 10)

Hot Oil… Parachute Hot Oil.. Marico product!
Ramesh got this again from the above mentioned store… (if we spend more than 30 minutes.. we will end up buying all newly launched products!)
As per the instructions , I took the oil rubbed it in my palms and then applied! Certainly the smell is awesome.. it makes you feel as if you are in one of the Spas getting aroma therapy…. But that’s where it stops…. “makes you feel”…..

I loved the smell and thought that Parachute is using some exotic oils and herbs etc with coconut oil…. However I was extremely disappointed on reading the ingredients, its mainly Castor oil and perfume along with coconut oil! Also I realized that on using the oil my hair were becoming rough!…..
So I am back to my good old mamooli coconut oil! Old is gold bhai!


Now zoozoos! Are awesome! It’s the best advertisements that I have seen ever! I even find Vidya Balan and Madhavan Airtel very endearing (though now they are trying to be too cute… and hence irritating, referring to the Start –Stop adv). However zoozoos is awesome because the concept is just so cool!

My fav in the zoozooz series is the one where this female zoozoo is viewing the various wonders of the world and the male is making these funny cheap approaches! :)

This post is part of "What About Shweta" series!!!!! ha ha ha!

Rhyme 2: Butterfly Butterfly

Butterfly! Butterfly!
Why do you fly
I fly in highlands
To see the sky!

Butterfly! Butterfly!
Where have you been
I have been to London
To see the queen!

Butterfly! Butterfly!
What do you eat
I eat cerelac (which i call payasam meaning kheer!)
Like my Rohan sweet!

Note: I know 2nd para is inspired by .. "Pussy cat ! Pussy cat! , but you see Rohan has three butterflies toy but no cat for a toy!

Rhyme 1: Tree song

Tree song (Rhyme 1 : Made by Rohan's Mom)
Green leaves and brown bark
Thats what makes a tree
Long roots underground
That we cannot see!

Fruits and flowers tree gives us
Thats what we eat
And that is why we should
Protect all the trees!

Note: Me and Rohan sing this everyday after Rohan finishes his breakfast :) and we stand in the balcony watching the trees growing around our house

Ramesh and His Sotu Gaddu

It was some week...Prabha The Nanny (PTN) was on leave from last Sunday to 17th May. So it was upto me and ramesh to manage office and the lil Rohana! (I call him Rohana, as in Mohana! Ro was born on Janmashtami, hence on and off some or other person in the family we call him krishna!)To add to this amazing nanny less week, i had a client presentation on 12th. And as usual we as a team keep putting the demo etc together till the last moment. (I will write another blog on that... it will be part of "What about shweta" series :), G will find this not so funny!)So i had no choice but 11th and 12th i had had to be in office. The dedicated father that ramesh is he worked from home for the two days. This was the first time that Ramesh was to try to feed Rohan solids with the spoon the way i do everyday. Ramesh has fed milk to Rohan using the bottle but this was new. But surprisingly Rohan and Ramesh made a great team. Rohan didn't trouble Ramesh at all. They
followed an awesome pattern. I used to leave while Rohan was sleeping after bath / breakfast / milk and then Rohan would wake up after a fixed time, play with Ramesh, have his milk and sleep again.

This time Ramesh would use to finish his work and then lie down besides Rohan. Now Rohan from day 1 of his coming home from hospital is used to snuggle up with Ramesh. He tends to sleep longer if Ramesh sleeps next to him. So father son duo slept peacefully , on waking up on 12th he even ate the solid food (Rice + Peas+ Carrot+ tomatoes mash) which Ramesh fed him.

It will sound funny but on 13th when it was my turn to stay home, i got stressed out by 2PM, once Ramesh came back i gave Rohan to him and caught some sleep.
The thing is that Rohan knows he can bully me. He goes berserk with me , he goes on playing till he gets completely sleepy and then cranky. Even when we are travelling in the car i am the only one on whom he will climb, pull my hair, lick my face, play with my ear rings... the works.... but with his Grandpa he sits as if he peace and calmness personified. He sits snugly in Grandpa's lap and watch the outside world. Ramesh says he knows i like him jumping all over me hence he does that.
14th and 15th me and Ramesh split the time, so Rammi went to office very early and i left home after he came back. Thus the 5 working days were managed!But certainly it was "Ramesh & Sotu Gaddu (Rohan's) week! (Sotu -- means chottu, and Gaddu -- is baby in Telugu, Ramesh lovingly calls him "My sotu gaddu!")

Updates on Rohi

Rohi.. gitika called Rohan with this name once…..so here is some Rohi update..
Rohan’s 2nd tooth is also pretty visible now. I hope his dental structure is like Ramesh not skewed like mine.
Rohan gets into crawling position and then spreads himself and moves on his tummy and elbows rather than proper crawling. Guess he is confused since he walks / runs around in walker so whether to put effort in crawling or walking is the dilemma :)
Since two days Rohan has started this weird way of shouting, it will start with aaaa, aaaaaaa, aaaaaaaaaaa, and then he will stat shouting as if throat is blocked and eventually get a cough bout, he keep doing it till one of us will raise our voice a little and say stop or “Re” (which in telugu is “Hey! Dude”)
A week back it was shouting like tarzan, though thankfully the volume and base was missing, so it came out more like a girl tarzan.
Now putting him in walker requires us to close the puja room and kitchen door. Else he goes and tries to pick up the idols or in the kitchen open the tap of water filter, pull the green pipe of the gas cylinder or try to bend down and pick up onions from the basket. Dustbins fascinate him like anything.

There have been addition to Rohan’s toy collection:
- Stack the baskets , 10 pieces of plastic baskets which can fit into each other
- Stack the drums, similar to above
- 1 plastic bottle of a new cold drink introduced by pepsico: Nimbooz
- 1 plastic bottle of LMN, any a lemon flavoured drink by parle

There is no need for toys as long as Rohan can have plastic bottles, jars , tubes

Rohan now loves his bath. Its more for the splashing and playing with water that he gets to do. He tries to get up holding the water bucket, but needs my help to completely stand. Once he stands and if the cold water tap is open he tries to hold the water , the eventually starts splashing water in the bucket. To make him sit in the bath tub, I need to give him some plastic bottles of shampoo or creams or face wash else sirji gets bored.

And Rohan's Nanny's name is Prabha
Some left a comment on my last post.. why always refer to her as "Nanny"...
Now why leave a anonymous comment.. only people i know know about this blog.... :)

What About Shweta

One of my friends made an observation that why should my blog have only my views / observations as a mother.. he said what about “shweta”…..
It made me smile.. I told him.. I saw this coming from someone or the other…
I too have been thinking that this new role or phase in my life has encompassed every aspect of my life.

Though I have joined back work since Rohan was 4 months old and if my last appraisal is too be believed my Boss was pleasantly surprised that I have not lost my edge. Though its also true that Rohan is not away from my thoughts even for a second. Also the amazing support that Ramesh has provided is also responsible for me to have got back to work smoothly. And ofcourse the “Nanny” too has played an important role.

So well going back .. “What About Shweta”…. Well I think its just not about me.. its about all of us….

Be it men or women… do we loose our identity as we go through various phases in our life… or is it that our friends / acquaintances remember us as who we were when they met us… which ever be the phase.

The care –free, devil may care attitude Guy.. becomes a concerned father, the femisnist gal becomes a dedicated wife / mother / DIL… so on and so forth.

Its difficult for acquaintances to comprehend the change… friends are not surprised ….. they know where all this change is coming from.

Anyways… so back to the core idea of this post. Yes, what about me. I have recently seen the blog of an old batchmate from my college , its about his professional view on the area of his research. It’s a blog which is also mentioned in his linked in profile. That actually seemed a good idea , but if one is working for a product company.. it will become a pain to keep thinking whether what I write is “my view” or “my view as an insider to the product company”… i.e. if I write about what I am doing recently…..

But yes.. point is taken I shall also write about what “me” the individual is engaged in.

So latest is this… after ages I bought a book… Paulo Coelhoe’s latest book “The Winner Stands Alone”.. it’s a thriller… unlike his other books which seem to be narration of a story intermingled with philosophy and insights.

I have managed to read first10 pages. Now a days catching on sleep and finishing house chores takes precedence over reading.

This is an absolutely “me” activity that I am doing.. rest all is work and family stuff…..

:) So dear HMR, this post is ok?

4:30 AM

Our dear boy has been waking up at 4:30am , all fresh and nice for past 1 week. He wakes up and makes a ruckus till 1 of us also wakes up and switch on the lights and wishes him good morning. I am not kidding, he doesn't want to sleep and neither is ready to play by himself while we catch some sleep and just indulge him by giving our hands for him to play.

Ramesh has devised a workaround since 3rd May. He takes him in the living room, plays Rohan's sleep time music (which BTW now a Day is one of Yanni's composition) and then two of them sleep in the other bedroom while i sleep in our bedroom or wake up and finish my chores.

I feel like asking my lil boy ki , "bhai tumko kya subah uthke pathar todne hain?" (Boy do u have to break stones in the early morning! translation spoils the fun .. when the phrase is in some other lingo)

Rohan has now a days started chipko andolan, as soon as he sees either of us he starts this crying drill... depending on the time of the day the crying can be actual crying (with tears full blown sound and works!) or just this wah! wah! make believe crying. If we don't take him when he is "actually" crying, he raises the bar and starts bawling as if someone is torturing the poor fellow. This generally happens when we reach home and if we don't take him from the nanny's arm immediately he cries his heart out.. he is not even ready to give us time to put our laptops down and wash hands. Hygiene my foot he seems to be saying... ..give me a hug , i missed you soooooo much :)

Yesterday Rohan did something very amusing... he was running from room to room in his walker. Suddenly he saw the glass that i use for water while feeding him. It was kept on a stool which was low enough for him to pick up the glass. He picked up with his two hand and immeditely put his mouth as if to drink. We were pleasently surprised. I put some water in it to encourage him to drink. He did drink the water but spilled 3/4th of it on himself. But overall it was a good attempt.