Attention Please

Achodi, said Nidhi, giving her sister a huge hug and deftly moved her aside, plonked her down and proceeded to carry her school-bag out of the door. Little Aditi followed her out saying 'daai, daai' (bye) waving both her hands. The sight of his little daughter was too much for Appa, who was ready to leave for office directly after dropping Nidhi in school. He changed his plan and took Aditi along and came back on a detour to drop her home before going to office.
Yet again, Aditi conned us for a ride early in the morning. something like this happens every morning and no matter what the rush, Aditi's wishes get max priority.
Last weekend Santosh was having a (rare) afternoon-nap. i was attempting to feed Aditi her lunch, which she didn't want and started shaking her head sayng 'no, no', crying out loud, doing her best to wriggle out of it. Nidhi was watching cartoons on my computer in her room. she came out (without being called by me) and started singing nursery rhymes, dancing, etc. and successfully diverted Aditi's attention and i quickly fed her the meal. The meal over, Nidhi thanked Aditi(for eating her meal) and I thanked Nidhi(for helping out wth her sister). Nidhi went back to her cartoons.
When Aditi was born, my neighbour in Muscat (has two grown up daughters) started telling me how all the attention was for the first-born and the second one somehow grew up and learned to manage on her own. i had assumed a similar thing with Aditi. but as the days go by, i realise the opposite is happening.
When Nidhi was a baby she had only me taking care of her(Santosh used to be super busy at office all the time). Now, Aditi has me, Nidhi and a brand-new Santosh (trying for a better balance between work and home). She even has Nidhikka's friends who drop in to play most evenings and who drop everything else and end up playing with Aditi only. on our recent trip to India also, one or the other adult (her Paati, athai, periappa, periamma, cousin-akka) would sit with her and keep her amused all the time.
Needless to say, Aditi's happy.
 

Jetlag

Although i am setting out to write abt jetlag, if i end up with something else then u know what to blame.

After numerous attempts(read three) at battling jetlag, i have arrived at my own pet theory. And this is after being ardently advised by two sets of people - one for sleeping throught the flight, the other opposed to even a short nap. My theory is dependent on the landing time of the flight. If it is really early to mid morning (and if u know u r not going to get a chance to rest thru the day), better to sleep thru the flight and arrive at the destination as much rested as possible. Then remain awake thru the day and go to sleep early to bed in keeping with the night time at the destination. But if u r arriving late afternoon, early evening or night, u can tire urself out during the flight(the in flight entertainment system is the best aid, followed by regular interruption for airline meals). Reach the destination, eat well and go straight to bed. Wake up refreshed the next day morning and resist the urge to sleep during the daytime next day. u'll be fine.

And, if u have kids travelling with you, esp toddlers/babies, throw all theories out of the window, try to get some rest whenever ur child sleeps(which will be impossible coz u know ur child, but ur body-clock doesn't) and pray that things return to normal in a week and u don't fall ill in the meantime.

yeah, i religiously stayed awake thru the day and then was kept awake thru the night by darling Aditi. For one week. On the onward journey. And now after the return journey, fifteen days apart.

i am surprised i only have fever. Had expected to go insane with all the lack of sleep. i guess the little voice calling out insistently 'mma, mma' is responsible - for both the fever as well as not going mad. amen.