Our Plane ride

We went on a vacation recently to Boston,CT,NY. Our biggest fear was the plane ride with a toddler. Our little one doesn't like to stay put in one place . So we were a little worried on how we were going to manage in the plane. On top of that he had an ear infection whose effects are said to be accentuated by air pressure in the plane. So we prepared ourselves by googling about it and getting everything possible to calm him in he plane. We filled our carry on bags with candies,suckers,cookies - everything sweet you can imagine. We also took a portable DVD player to keep him occupied.
As soon as the we boarded the plane, the most unexpected thing happened. Our first one started crying out of fear. Only then we realized that we totally did not plan for the first one. Even though our first one is only 4 ,we treat him like an adult after the second one is born.We expect him to behave fine and dandy every time, not realizing that he is still just 4. I guess this happens in ever house. Somehow we survived the plane ride with minimal incidents.

Likes and Dislikes

It's amazing how kids develop their sense of personal taste at a very young age. My younger one rides with me to his day care everyday. I have a bunch of cd's I play over and over. My little one is very specific about what songs he wants in each and every CD. If I happen to put a song he doesn't like, he just screams. In fact looking back, My first one also used to be the same way. Amazing how they develop their own likings at such an young age.

Learning the Words

Our kids have been busy lately 'Learning the Words'. The younger one is learning to speak while the older one is learning to read.

For a while now we have been guessing and second guessing what our little one is saying to us. He literally lets out various sounds thru' his mouth and gets very frustrated if we don't understand it. He sometimes gets over it by pointing at objects that he wants. But other times he is just frustrated and starts crying. But lately he is catching up and has begun to talk words that make sense to him and us. Even though we are going to miss his 'baby talks', I am sure the baby will be in much better mood once he starts conveying his wishes. No wonder they call it 'Terrible Two'.

It's been a different kind of challenge with the older one. I sit with him and teach him words. For the initial few days, he was frustrated that he cannot read. He kept saying 'Daddy, This is very hard'. Also I used to get frustrated that, inspite of all the efforts, he is still not able to read. Then suddenly one day he just started realizing how to read. I don't know what happened in his brain the previous night. But all of a sudden the next day he got it. He was very happy when that happened and so was I. Now he is slowly beginning to read short stories and he is enjoying it.

So the last few months have sure been very challenging for our family.

Contrasting personalities

When we initially conceived our second baby, one of the first things that came to my mind was 'We already have one and we have gone through many ups and downs with the first one. Now that we have learnt our lessons , How hard can the second one be?'. I am a programmer by profession. That's probably why I must have thought like that.
But Oh boy! We just can't believe how different our second one is from the first one. Granted they look similar. But they are 2 different personalities. Life always seems to present us with challenges all the time. But we are thoroughly enjoying it.

Enforcing ratings on TV

I read an article about a 9 year old boy in India dying after trying to imitate a stunt performed in one of India’s reality TV show. This is one thing that has always bothered me. I have subscribed to an Indian channel here in US and you can be assured that there will always be some R Rated gory scenes telecast by this channel without any inhibitions. So I always change the channel when such scenes come by and when my 4 year old is watching TV with me. This is true even when I watch News on TV. They show violence without any kind of censor even during daily news. This never happens on US public channels. Of course there are specific ‘Rated’ channels. But you can never expect to see such things on public television. I wish such things are enforced even in India.It would prevent these kind of incidents.

Apart from this Parents too hold the responsibility to steer kids away from watching such things. Media alone cannot be blamed for this kind of incidents.

What do you think?