HER WORLD, OUR WORDS

A MS-Paint drawing

2011-12-02T17:01:00.001+09:00

Aryaa loves to type A, B, C, D--- in computer. She has started demanding computer games too, but till now I haven't managed any. Once I taught her to draw some basic shapes in MS-Paint. Here is what she showed me after a few practices.

First Shopping list

2011-11-10T16:36:00.001+09:00

It was in morning, a few days ago. Her parents were talking about the things which were to be bought in the afternoon.

"I will make the shopping list", Aryaa, still in her breakfast, said.

"OK---", I gave her a piece of paper.

"Please by all these---", She handed me back the piece of paper with the list.

Her first shopping list includes fruits only. She has tried to write "Strawberry" in the third one, but in Nepali (Devnagari script). She has tried to write a relatively hard word here and has made mistake. But she tried it, and that's the best thing. The last one is KAGATI (meaning lemon in Nepali).

I hope she will enjoy reading her first ever shopping list in future:)

Her Most Creative Time

2011-08-12T16:08:00.000+09:00

There is no doubt that children are creative. But I will now add "--only if they are saved from TV".

It's not that I am a TV hater or anything like that. I think a balanced TV time, with carefully selected programs will certainly do a lot good to enhance their imagination and vocabulary and help teach them many new activities. TV starts damaging them when it gets more than one hour a day (in average). They will then learn only to sit in front of it and watch whatever is airing. I think even their thought process will be slowed as they don't need to imagine anything. It's better to give them their 'own' TV time (i. e. no switching to other channels time to time by adults) for 30 minutes or even 1 hour and after that switch off the TV. Then make them recall what they just viewed and what do they think of what they viewed etc. They will explain everything so interestingly in their own simple and innocent words. They will add their own imagination and fantasy too. This is my experience with Aryaa. She too sometimes wanted too much of TV but I think our intervention has been successful so far and she can be persuaded to switch off the TV. She is as happy as watching (if not happier), to 'explain' what all those funny characters in her favorite cartoons did, how they jumped, how they laughed and how they distorted their faces....

Let me repeat it again, persuading them is not easy. Any scolding or threatening will not do. It needs total honesty from parents' side that they don't interfere in the kid's 'own' TV time.

I have observed that when she is 'saved' from TV, Aryaa immediately gets engaged in other activities like collecting all her dolls and 'teaching' them with a marker and a small whiteboard in her hands, dancing, drawing or make us read something for her. Her level of concentration in such activities is very high in the evening after dinner. She doesn't like to go to bed early, she has always been like this.

But it's nice as long as she is creatively concentrated. Though tired and sleepy myself, I really love to watch 'her most creative time'.

UKG 1st Term Results

2011-07-29T20:30:00.000+09:00

I was in Aryaa's School today to fetch the 1st term results. It seems she has done good. According to her teachers, she is doing well in class and she will have even better results in the coming terms. She has progressed a lot in her communication with her teachers and friends in last few months. We were afraid that she will find it harder as she skipped the LKG level, but she has well adapted with her new class, teachers and friends.

20 minutes' limit

2011-07-11T12:56:00.000+09:00

Aryaa joined Nursery grade in a school here after coming back from Japan. Her age was a year more than that is considered normal for nursery, but we decided to admit her in nursery as she had language problems. She knew very little Nepali and no English at all. School children start learning English from the Nursery grade these days.

Aryaa did well both in Nepali and English. Her exam results too were good. So after discussing with her teachers, we made her skip the LKG (lower kindergarten) grade and admitted her in the UKG (upper kindergarten) grade.

A lot of homework started to come with UKG. While in Nursery, it used to be a page only, like copying some alphabets or simple words and 'fill' the page. UKG seemed harder! We could see Aryaa's difficulty in adjusting to such new 'environment'.

While helping her with her homework, I noticed that she greatly enjoyed doing it for the first 10 minutes. She didn't much enjoy the next 10 minutes but it was manageable. After 20 minutes however, everything went awry. She didn't enjoy the books and pencils at all after that. She would stare at the ceiling and seemed tired and sleepy.

So we broke her HW time whenever there was more than '20 minutes' of it.

I hate the 'too much homework' culture that is prevailing in Nepal these days. Teachers and guardians don't take care of child psychology at all. They all think that loads of homework only will make a child wise and disciplined.

We need creative ways of teaching small children.

Saniya-1

2011-05-31T19:02:00.000+09:00

It was one of the recent bedtimes.

"Papa, what story will tell you today?"

"I want to repeat one that I told the day before yesterday. OK?"

"No, please tell a new one today."

After 'bargaining' for a moment, I start thinking hard for a story.

"Well, do you want a story about a lovely girl or a lovely boy."

"A lovely girl."

"Well then, lets first decide a beautiful name for this lovely girl. What name do you like?"

We spend a couple of minutes on 'beautiful' names and finally agree on 'Saniya'.

"There was a very big city. It was really very very big.------------. There were a lot of people in that city. And a lot of schools too. -------. Thousand schools. Yes, there were thousand schools."

"Papa, how much is thousand?"

"You know hundred, don't you? When there are 10 hundreds, it's thousand. Hundred, two hundreds, three hundreds, four hundreds, ------------- and thousand.

In these schools, there were a lot of beautiful lovely kids. In fact all the kids were beautiful and lovely. Among them was a little cute girl called Saniya. She was very friendly and had a lot of friends.

Saniya had a dog which was called 'Sirku'. Saniya was good friends with Sirku too. Every morning Sirku used to go to school with Saniya. It came back to home after Saniya entered the gate and it used to wait Saniya in front of the gate in the afternoon.

Sometimes this Sirku used to go out with his friends Mirku and Tirku. Saniya used to go to school alone on these days. Sometimes Sirku used to go to some far places with his friends and come back very late.

On one such day, while coming back from school, Saniya saw a pink rabbit. ---------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------"

"Papa, what happened after that?"

"Hmm---- Saniya saw a pink rabbit. When it walked, its feet shone with green light. Its head too shone, with blue light. Saniya started following it. She was so attracted by the rabbit that she forgot to go home. Saniya followed the rabbit to Jungle.

There was a cave in the middle of the Jungle. Rabbit entered the cave. Now Saniya was alone. It was already dark."

"Poor Saniya----!", Aryaa was almost crying.

"Don't worry Aryaa. Saniya is a brave girl. Nothing will happen to her."

Saniya sat on a big stone there. There was a small river nearby. The stones in this river were colorful and glittering. Saniya collected some stones played with them. Then she started throwing back these stones to the river. When two such colorful stones collided, there was a very bright light and a fairy emerged from that light.

"Dear Saniya, why did you call me?"

"I--- I didn't call you fairy."

"Saniya, those small stones are called the 'fairy stones' and when two of them collide, I will come. OK, tell me what you wish."

"I want to have some dinner."

Then the fairy started rotating the magic stick in her hand and also chanted some MANTRA.

'MMMMMMhumham angebangesangepange simsimjimjim--------- dhattttttt-----!'"

"Hi Hi Hi----" Aryaa was amused by the MANTRA and that loud "--dhatttttt!"

"Saniya also got a beautiful small house and a bed on top of that big stone. The fairy also told her that she will awake in her own bed in her house. To fulfill every wish, the fairy moved her magic stick in the air and chanted some crazy mantra like 'MMMMMMhumham angebangesangepange simsimjimjim--------- dhattttttt-----!' and 'MMMMMMhumham sirikmirikjhirik taktukthakthuk milikmilik-------- dhattttttt!"

When she opened her eyes the next morning, Saniya was in her own bed."

Next day, Aryaa demanded some revision in this story. She didn't like Saniya in the jungle alone. The revised version too will be here soon:)

Toothbrushes' Nightlife

2011-05-14T22:53:00.002+09:00

It was already nine in the evening and we were brushing our teeth before going to bed.

“What if all these brushes go out after we are asleep----?” Aryaa suddenly asked with some smile in her face.

“Hmmm------that would be so interesting.” I replied with a smile. I too had a smile because Aryaa had solved one of my problems for that night. I had got a new ‘theme’ now based upon which to tell her a bedtime story.

Aryaa prefers ‘fresh’ and ‘live’ stories over those read from books these days. It’s hard to weave a new story everyday, especially after a long and tiring day. And moreover, when I am sleepy, my stories become too incoherent and boring.

But that night was ‘fine’:)

There was a very big city. Do you know what ‘city’ is?

No.

Well, a city is a big place where there are a lot of buildings, streets, cars, people---.

OK, I understand. Please tell story now.

I like to start in this way because it helps me lengthen my so called stories:) Aryaa hates short stories.

OK, there was a very big city. It had so many buildings, streets, cars, bikes, and people---. There also were many dogs and cows and buffaloes. This city had many parks where a lot of children played everyday.

In a house in this city, there used to live papa, mama and kids. Everybody used to brush their teeth before going to bed. This day too, they did the same and went to bed. After all the people were asleep, brushes started talking with each other.

“Let’s go out today. It’s so boring to stay here all the time—“

“Yes, Yes! Let’s go out. We need some refreshment.”

“What if people find out---?”

“They will not find out. They are all asleep. And we will come back before they get up in the morning.”

“That’s OK but what if those night guards see us?”

“When we see them coming we can hide behind the flower plants.”

In this way those toothbrushes got down from the brush stand. They then climbed down the stairs. They got out from the ventilation because the door was closed. When they were in the road, they heard a motorcycle coming, so they hid behind a shrub.

They started again after the motorcycle was gone. They headed towards the playground.

“Papa, didn’t they call the toothbrushes of the neighboring houses?”

“Hmm---, they don’t want to call other brushes today. Well---, I’m sorry, actually they started calling other toothbrushes---“.

They called toothbrushes of other houses too. They knocked at doors and shouted liked “Anu’s brush!”, “Anu’s mama’s brush!”, “Anu’s papa’s brush”---- in every house. You know, only a brush can hear another brush talking, or knocking at the door. A lot of brushes came out from many houses. Only some old brushes didn’t come out as they couldn’t walk.

Then they all headed towards the football ground. After reaching the ground, some brushes started playing football. Others were watching and cheering the game. Small brushes started climbing the trees.

“Papa didn’t they play badminton---and cricket?”

Oh yes! Some of them went to another small ground to play badminton. Some went to the cricket ground and started cricket match.

----------------------------------------------

“Papa, what happened after that?”

Hmm---- Hmm---. Then one of the small brushes fell from the tree and started crying. Some bigger uncle/aunt brushes carried him and sang many funny songs for him. That small brush requested one of the uncles to call his pencil and spoon friends so that he could play with them. Then this uncle sat down, closed his eyes and whispered “small pencil!, small spoon!, small chopsticks!---Please come here to the ground soon.”

Pencil, spoon and chopsticks in house heard this and replied “OK, we will be there soon.” After they came, small brush started playing with them. They were playing hide and seek when the small pencil and its tip got broken. It started crying. “I can’t go home without the tip. My papa, mama will scold me.” Then the spoon sat down, closed its eyes and whispered “Pencil cutter, please come here soon.”

Pencil sharpener came and sharpened the pencil, pencil became happy again. Then a small book too came in the ground. They were surprised, nobody had called it. It said it was awakened by the noise and came to join the play.

They were playing happily until suddenly the pencil and the book started fighting, nobody knew why. Pencil dirtied the book and book started crying. Then again spoon sat down, closed its eyes and called eraser. Eraser came after a few minutes and cleaned the book. Pencil said sorry to the book and the everybody started playing and enjoying.

Everybody, bigger ones and smaller ones, were playing, enjoying and laughing when roosters in the nearby village started crowing. "Oh-- it's almost dawn. Let's go back otherwise people will find us." They ran towards their respective houses. Luckily they reached their houses in time, nobody was awake.

All the brushes, pencils, sharpeners, chopsticks and spoons of our little beautiful home made it too. All except the smallest toothbrush arranged themselves in the brush stand too. This smallest toothbrush was talking with the soap when suddenly the light was switched on.

"Oh, my little girl forgot to put the brush in the stand again!" Mama gently caught the brush and put it on the stand.

OK Aryaa, this was the story for today. Now let's sleep. Good Night, SHUVARATRI, OYASUMINASAI!

OK Papa, Good Night, SHUVARATRI, OYASUMINASAI!

Image Source: Hubpages

'BHOLI' and 'ASTINAI'

2011-03-20T12:58:00.002+09:00

Aryaa learned Nepali very fast, but some words are giving her trouble. These Nepali words are very simple, but yet it seems very hard for her to remember them compared to other difficult ones.

One is BHOLI (भोलि, word for "tomorrow"). She still says "SUTESI, UTHESI" (after sleeping and waking up). She says she will do this and that "SUTESI, UTHESI", or "SUTESI, UTHESI" is a holiday. etc. She coined this "SUTESI, UTHESI" herself with the logic that you first sleep and then rise up to find 'tomorrow'. Interesting coinage:)

Another one is ASTINAI (अस्तिनै, which may mean anything from 'several days ago' to 'several years ago'. She uses "ASTI, ASTI, ASTI------" for it. This ASTI means 'the day before yesterday'. Sure, many 'the day before yesterday' make one ASTINAI:)

Happy Birthday Aryaa!

2011-03-13T13:01:00.001+09:00

Happy Birthday Aryaa!

Those were the wonderful 5 years with you. And we are sure that the coming days and years with you will be even more blissful.

Wish you a life full of joy and success.

-PAPA and MAMA

Update

2011-03-01T21:01:00.001+09:00

Well, an update at last! The last time I was here seems ages ago!

It's not that I was short of materials to write. Aryaa's innocent quest and curiosity generate 'millions' of them. I can blame lack of time a little bit, but what is preventing me from coming here is the unreliable internet connection that we have in this place. Not only Internet, the power itself is so rare these days. Nepal has been facing chronic power shortages since last few years. Nepal's electricity system relies on hydro power. Most of our generating stations are run-of-river type and only a few are storage (dam) type. Amount of water gets reduced in winter and it causes less and less generation of hydro power. There is 14 hours of outage these days. It may reach 16 hours (or even 18 hours as two years ago) after some days. Water amount in rivers will gradually increase after snow in the Himalayas starts to melt from mid-spring and only then we will see the reduction in outage.

And as Nepal is going through a frustrating political instability since last many years, development of new hydro power projects seems very distant.

Aryaa is going school regularly and she enjoys it. She had her first ever 'exam' two weeks ago and she did 'good' in it. She has become fluent in Nepali now, but sadly she has forgotten almost all of the Japanese that she knew before coming back.

I will share some latest photos and videos when the internet connection becomes reliable and fast.

Thank you for visiting!

Recently----

2011-02-04T13:28:00.001+09:00

Enjoying Cartoons

2010-12-20T12:51:00.001+09:00

Aryaa enjoying "Tom & Jerry". She gets totally engrossed by it. While she is watching this, we have to shout "Aryaa!" 5-6 times to get response from her.

----Mountains and Jungles for you

2010-12-07T18:21:00.000+09:00

Aryaa's innocent talks continue to surprise me. They are never old and never boring.

This one is from her 'ever changing' "I want to be a ----" or "I will be a ----in future." I now have already forgotten what her first "I want to be a ---" was. I may have mentioned it somewhere in this blog. Nurse, doctor, bookshop owner, ice-cream shop owner, farmer, driver are some of those "--want to be---" that I remember.

She took this to new height yesterday morning.

"I want to be a god." She said while I was helping her change clothes.

"'God'??", I was surprised but I tried to hide my surprise. "Why do you want to be a god?"

"I want to build a lot of mountains and jungles for PAPA to take photos." So it was for me that she wanted to be a god.

I talked with Sobita about this. She said it's already a few days and Aryaa says like that quite frequently. She says it whenever she sees beggars too, that she will become a god, make a lot of money and distribute to them:)

My time with Aryaa recently is much less than that used to be in Japan. So I became late to hear this 'statement'.

Anyway, I promise with you to post photos of mountains and jungles that Aryaa creates:) For the time being, please be content with a pic of a mountain which already exists.

KAHUN DANDA in early morning

Photographer Aryaa:)

2010-11-17T11:40:00.008+09:00

Namaste! This is my first ever post in this blog. I will try to be frequent here from now. I also have one blog in Japanese, you can see it here; MY WORLD.
------------------------------------------------
Aryaa has started playing with our little digital camera. It's nice to see her in 'action'. And she is also the 'official photographer' of her parents:)

Here are some of her shots.

We are living in Pokhara city now. Majestic Himalayan mountains seem so near here. The place we are living, is still not a good location for mountain viewing.

And the photographer:)

New 'friends'

2010-10-10T02:41:00.006+09:00

Aryaa's TV time was controlled while we were in Japan, or I may say 'balanced'. She also didn't much care about it. She loves playing outdoors much more than TV or anything. She used to watch children programs in NHK Education Channel every morning. Many interesting and educative serials including ZENMAI ZAMURAI used to be aired then. But her craze was with PURIKYUA characters after she turned 3. It used to be aired every Sunday morning in another channel. But as Aryaa used to sleep until very late on Sundays, she rarely watched it. She used to watch PURIKYUA in You Tube.

Japanese channels can't be viewed here. NHK World is there, but I don't know whether it has anything for Aryaa's age or not. Aryaa is missing PURIKYUA very much. Watching in You Tube is also not easy due to the frustratingly slow internet here. It takes forever to load one 10 min video!

Luckily, our local cable provider has `Cartoon Network' in its list. Its 'Tom and Jerry' have become Aryaa's new friends now, they are replacing PURIKYUA characters rapidly. There is also an another cartoon (animation) channel, which airs a lot of animations based on Hindu religious stories. Aryaa loves them too, especially the one about Lord Krishna's childhood.

And Nepali folk music. Aryaa starts dancing whenever she hears some Nepali folk music or any other melodious music. She has already become quite a good dancer. She has even learned to wear her mother's shawl so that it looks like a sari:)

Bye Bye Grandpa----

2010-10-06T02:46:00.004+09:00

Want to share a very sad news today.

Aryaa's grandfather (my father) passed away two and half weeks ago. I was unable to write much in this blog as we were observing some complicated traditional Hindu rituals for 13 days after his death. I only could manage to post an old photo of Aryaa in my previous post.

My father was 73 years old. It's an old age, but not old enough to take the death as 'natural'. With his fit and strong physique, we expected him to live many more years. He didn't drink ,but used to smoke. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis in lungs last year. It was completely cured after a few months of treatment. But he started becoming weak, having his vision blurred and having his thought and speech incoherent after some time. Doctors then diagnosed him with brain tumor. It was already in developed stage and due to his old age they refused to make any surgery to remove it. We were told to take care of him well and help him have a peaceful death. We tried our best. He was either unconscious or very little conscious for last two months of his life.

As Aryaa was in Japan with us, she could spent very little time with him. When we came back to Nepal, he was already having problems related to brain tumor.

We all miss him very much.

May his soul rest in peace!

4 Years Ago

2010-09-22T02:27:00.004+09:00

Life has become too hectic again. Let me continue this blog with one of Aryaa's old photo today.

She is only a few months old in this one. We were in Japan. The colorful traditional Nepali cloth was sent by family in Nepal for her rice feeding ceremony.

Early Childhood Education – Acquiring Sign Language

2010-09-07T05:05:00.006+09:00

[Today, I am happy to share with you an informative and useful article that I got from Kathleen Thomas.]

Early Childhood Education - Acquiring Sign Language

One of the keys to surviving in a tilted economic system in which opportunities to achieve a decent standard of living will be limited is versatility – and the ability to communicate articulately in a variety of ways with the widest possible audience. This includes bilingual ability as well as the ability to communicate in non-verbal ways for the benefit of the disabled – primarily the deaf.

At the same time, a growing shortage of qualified interpreters fluent in American Sign Language has led to more career opportunities – and if current trends continue, it's likely that skilled ASL interpreters will have little problem securing lucrative employment in a society where such a commodity is destined to be in short supply.

Signing Before They Can Speak

A great deal of research has clearly demonstrated that the early years – ages 2 to five – are the best time to educate children in different modes of communication and language. This goes beyond the spoken word (though it is an optimal time for children to learn a second language); many young children have an aptitude for signing as well.

This is not as odd as you may think. As you know, many indigenous peoples around the world, including American Indian nations, have used sign language for centuries to facilitate communication with other tribes with whom they do not share a language. Some paleontologists and anthropologists theorize that Neanderthals – who apparently lacked the vocal mechanism to produce many spoken words – depended a great deal upon hand gestures to communicate.

In fact, recent research suggests that sign language is innate. An article published in the Boulder Daily Camera in 2003 presented strong evidence that babies as young as six months old communicate with their hands:

"...by 6 to 7 months, babies can remember a sign. At eight months, children
can begin to imitate gestures and sign single words. By 24 months, children
can sign compound words and full sentences. They say sign language reduces
frustration in young children by giving them a means to express themselves
before they know how to talk." (Glarion, 2003)

The author also cites study funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development demonstrating that young children who are taught sign language at an early age actually develop better verbal skills as they get older. The ability to sign has also helped parents in communicating with autistic children; one parent reports that "using sign language allowed her to communicate with her [autistic] son and minimized his frustration...[he now] has an advanced vocabulary and excels in math, spelling and music" (Glarion, 2003).
The Best Time To Start

Not only does early childhood education in signing give pre-verbal youngsters a way to communicate, it can also strengthen the parent-child bond – in addition to giving children a solid foundation for learning a skill that will serve them well in the future. The evidence suggests that the best time to start learning ASL is before a child can even walk – and the implications for facilitating the parent-child relationship are amazing.

Image Source: ivillage.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Co-written by Emily Patterson and Kathleen Thomas

Emily and Kathleen are Communications Coordinators for the Zionsville educational child care facility, a member of the AdvancED® accredited family of Primrose Schools (located in 16 states throughout the U.S.) and part of the network of Indiana educational day care preschools delivering progressive, early childhood, Balanced Learning® curriculum.

Aryaa goes to School

2010-08-31T23:32:00.003+09:00

Aryaa started going to school yesterday, one and half months after returning to Nepal.

She will be in 'Nursery' level for the time being, until she becomes familiar with the system here.

We have started living in the teachers/staff residence of an engineering college, where I have a job. Aryaa's school is not far from here. School bus comes to pick Aryaa and other kids up in morning and also to drop off in afternoon. Aryaa seems to have enjoyed these two days in school. We were worried about her Nepali language skills, but she is learning it very fast. She now knows enough to communicate in simple and short Nepali sentences and express her feelings. With her new friends and teachers, she will be fluent soon.

As all other parents, it was very hard for us too to decide a school for Aryaa. This one is considered one of the best in the locality we are living in now. All the people whom we asked had very good view of this school. I was also very much impressed by the School Principal's concepts and visions for kids' education.

‘KUSAI!’, ‘URUSAI!’, ‘GAI AYO!’, ‘KUKUR AYO!’

2010-08-22T22:02:00.002+09:00

It’s already more than one month that we are back to Nepal. Aryaa has become familiar with all the family members and many of the relatives. Her Nepali has improved a lot, and she has well maintained her Japanese language skills till now. If we two sometimes talk with her in Japanese, it’s probable that she will carry it further for some years.

We are trying to make her life in Nepal as comfortable as possible. We know she misses her kindergarten, her friends, her teachers and well equipped children parks in Japan very much. Her formal schooling in Nepal will start after a few days. We hope that she can make a lot of friends soon. When she has a lot of friends, she will enjoy her days here more than she is doing now.

While going for walk or for shopping, she is irritated with the garbage one can see everywhere. Nepal has been going through a long period of political instability. This has affected every sector of life, and waste management is one among them. Nepal’s waste management system might be one of the worst in world. “KUSAI! KUSAI!” (It stinks! It stinks!), she says, and covers her nose almost all the time we are in the street.

And the streets here are very crowded too. Our villages have very few facilities. They are also hotbeds for many insurgencies. So a lot of people from villages immigrated to cities. So villages are empty these days and cities have dense population, more than what their infrastructures can bear. The number of vehicles and bikes has gone up too, and with it the noise pollution. It’s as if there is a permanent horn blowing competition in our streets. Aryaa was very afraid at the beginning. She is not so much afraid these days but tries to close her ears with index fingers and sys “URUSAI!” (It’s noisy).

Our streets have a lot of stray cows and dogs. “GAI AYO!” (A cow there!), she says in Nepali, with smile in her face whenever she sees a cow. And “KUKUR AYO!” (A dog there!”), whenever see sees a dog. Even in this chaotic ‘world’, there is something that fascinates Aryaa and makes her happy:)

*'KUSAI' and 'URUSAI' are Japanese words, whereas 'GAI AYO' and 'KUKUR AYO' are Nepali.

Adjusting gradually

2010-07-31T06:18:00.002+09:00

Aryaa is adjusting to life here gradually. She is learning Nepali fast and is also trying to make some friends. Her improvement in Nepali language will certainly give her many new friends. Aryaa has one little cute cousin sister, her name is Abha. Abha will be 2 soon. Aryaa and Abha normally get well with each other.

We are afraid that she will forget Japanese soon. So we (Sobita and me) have decided to continue talking with her in Japanese. This will be useful for us too, to maintain our Japanese speaking ability:))

A Long Silence Again

2010-07-21T21:47:00.001+09:00

Sorry for the long silence again!

We left Japan and returned back to Nepal. Before leaving Japan, I was busy in preparation and couldn`t manage any time to write here. We were in Singapore for two days after leaving Japan. We visited some parts of Sentosa island there. Aryaa too enjoyed it but the day was very hot and we were tired to hell.

After arriving in Nepal, Aryaa seems lost in the new environment. She misses here friends in Japan very much. She sometimes says she wants to go back to Japan as she has more friends there than in Nepal. She is trying to learn Nepali and make friends here. It helped that she was in Nepal for 5 weeks last year here, she understands simple Nepali. We can see the difficulty she is having and doing our best to help her adjust here. Besides, My old father is seriously ill and most of the adult members of family are busy attending to him. So Aryaa and other kids sometimes aren`t getting enough attention. I haven`t have any chance to read bedtime stories to Aryaa these days. It just makes me so sad.

I hope everything gets well after a few days.

Thank you for being here! I will try to write continously about Aryaa`s days here, her success with making friends and her education after she joins school.

World Cup 2010 is to be blamed:)

2010-07-09T21:50:00.003+09:00

I don't blame myself for this long absence, World Cup 2010 is to be blamed:))

Just joking, it's me who is to be blamed. World Cup comes distant second even if it's to be blamed:) My problem is that this blog is very intimate to me and so I want to write here only when I am in a perfectly 'relaxed' mood. Such moments are becoming rare and rare these days.

One short video again to break this 'long silence':)

'Laughing' and 'Walking'

2010-06-14T17:50:00.005+09:00

Two short videos today. Aryaa wasn't yet 1 then.

This first one must be when she was 8 or 9 months old. What I have in my hand is a measuring tape. Aryaa is fascinated with the sound of tape (scale) being pulled out and rolled in.

Next one is even shorter. This was taken some days after Aryaa started walking. Aryaa started walking at around 9 and half months. Sorry for the poor quality too.

PURIKYUA (プリキュア)---

2010-06-03T14:54:00.014+09:00

It was at least more than six months ago that Aryaa started talking about PURIKYUA--(プリキュア) and HAATOKYACCHY PURIKYUA (ハートキャッチプリキュア). At the beginning, we didn't have any idea what those strange words meant. We thought it to be some word that she learned in kindergarten. Then when she started talking about characters like KYUAMARI, KYUAPAIN, KYUABUROSSAMU etc. we guessed it to be one of those countless Japanese anime targeting kids.

But it was still strange because she watches very liitle TV at home. It's also not broadcast in the 'free' Education Channel of NHK. I am sure that they don't let kids watch much in kindergarten too. What Aryaa learned about all these crazy characters must be from her friends who watch it.

I came to know later that this PURIKYUA is the name of a magical anime metaseries being broadcast since 2004. PURIKIYUA is for "Pre Cure" ("Pretty Cure" shortened). HATOKYACCHI PURIKYUA! (ハートキャッチプリキュア!) or "Heartcatch Prettycure"! is the latest (7th) series of PURIKIYUA.

And these series, its cute little girlie characters with magical powers, seem to be very popular among kidergarten age kids, specially girls. I knew that media was very successful in penetrating adults' thinking but didn't know, until this PURIKYUA thing that it was equally powerful among kids too. Looking at Aryaa, I can see that this series is a great marketing tool. Aryaa demands anything; clothes, bags, shoes, socks--- with PURIKYUA characters printed on them. Gone are the days of ANPANMAN and ZENMAI ZAMURAI. And same is the case with foods too, especially snacks and drinks. In fact, PURIKYUA characters dine with us everyday:) Aryaa always wants PURIKYUA brand FURIKAKE to sprinkle on top of her rice. Every little pack has different characters on them, so a small 'lecture' from Aryaa about those 'PURIKYUA of the day' is a regular ritual in our home:))

I can see Aryaa's sense of different colors improving sharply with theis 'PURIKYUA' thing.

But it doesn't seem to be 'parents-friendly', as anything with some 'PURIKYUA' character on it costs much more than the same without it:)

Learning is Fun

2010-05-24T18:58:00.005+09:00

I have heard people say and I have read many times that children learn more indirectly (informally) than directly (formal teaching), and you have to let them learn in their pace, pressing them for learning fast is a blunder. Now I'm being a witness of all this great truth. Aryaa is learning many things very fast these days, but all without our 'direct' or 'formal' teaching, except than our pasting of some posters with numbers and alphabets in our rooms. In day care center (kindergarten) she goes to too, they have emphasis on 'learning by playing' and 'learning through daily life activities'.

She is very much interested in numbers and alphabets these days. It all started without much effort from our side.

The process started with '8' more than a year ago. She was playing in the near by children park. She got interested in the number written in the small 'rocking chair' (see-saw?). You can see the actual place in the photo below (taken a few months later).

the "8" which started Aryaa's interest in numbers

"What is this (written)?"

"It's HACHI (eight)." hr mother replied.

After that for many days, this world was "HACHI" (eight) for her. She would say "HACHI" loudly whenever wherever she saw "8". Her interest got extended other digits too after a couple of weeks and going out with her started to become a big 'difficulty' for us:) She would suddenly stop walking and start saying "TWO-NINE-ZERO-FIVE--------" looking at some signboards. She would also start reading vehicles' number plates and when those vehicles moved without her finishing reading, she would start crying:))

It was the combination of digits that she got interested in after that, which is still continuing. She asks us "What is '2' and '3'?" , "What is '5' and '5'?"----. She keeps forgetting most of them, it will certainly take some time for her age.

After numbers, it was Hiragana syllabary of Japanese language. "の" (no) was the luckiest one:)) For Aryaa, its shape was funnier than others'. She was interested in this one only for many days. It was just like "8" while going out, and she would also search "の" in her storybooks. Then it was "あ" (a), her name in Japanese begins with this. Other alphabets too came gradually. She remembered most of them by trying to read labels in packages, hoarding boards, displays in stations etc. She now has remembered almost all Hiragana and Katakana syllabary.

The story for English alphabets started from big "P" that she saw in parking area. With the similar process, she got interested in and remembered other letters too. As I wrote in my previous post too, one of her favorite videos in YuuTube these days is "Strange A, B, C---".

Nepali (Devnagari) letters are yet to begin. Currently Aryaa doesn't show much interest in them, might be because she doesn't see much of them in her 'daily life' here. We may have to wait until we go back to Nepal.

I think almost all the parents of growing kids have similar experiences. Every child is unique and every child has his/her unique interests but the learning pattern, more or less, is similar. They learn fast when allowed to explore by themselves. Encouragement and availability of learning environment/materials is necessary too, but pressure isn't going to work with kids.

Her favorite videos

2010-05-17T17:57:00.005+09:00

These are a few of Aryaa's favorite videos (in YouTube), that she gets chance to watch when one of her parents is out and the other one is busy.

This one is called "Strange A, B, C---". It's intended to make kids interested in English alphabets and remember them fast.

Next is Hello Kitty. She doesn't understand English yet, but loves to watch this one.

She still loves to watch this DORAEMON song, but not as much as a year ago.

And this one was not intended for her:) I was making a play list of my favorite video/songs about Buddha and Aryaa saw and got interested in this video. When asked what she liked in it, she said "Buddha's face and head is KAKKOI ('cool').". LOL.

GOLDEN WEEK 2010

2010-05-08T11:31:00.000+09:00

Golden Week is over. We visited a couple of parks with Aryaa.

In Meijo Park

In Kid-station in a local mall

In Nagoya Wild Flower Garden

Finally, enjoying in a river near home.

Aryaa-chyan wants to be----

2010-04-30T17:45:00.001+09:00

"Aryaa-chyan wants to be a bookshop owner after 50.", she said during breakfast a couple of days ago. Her current 'want to be' is a bookshop owner, that we are hearing since last few weeks, but she has started adding "after 50" recently. Since her last birthday, she talks a lot about people's ages and it has got reflected in her 'dream' too.

Living with a kid is reliving your own childhood. I don't remember what was my first "want to be" but I remember I had a lot in my childhood too and they were constantly changing.

It was last summer when I heard Aryaa's "want to be" for the first time. She woke crying one morning.

"What happened?", I asked.

"Aryaa-chyan became a SENSEI (teacher) but -----".

"But what?"

"---but Nayu-chyan was AISUKURIMUYASAN (ice cream shop owner).", she was still crying.

"Ha ha ha! Is that so?", it made me laugh. "But isn't it very good that you became a teacher?"

"No! Aryaa-chyan too wants to be AISUKURIMUYASAN."

"OK! OK!! You too become an AISUKURIMUYASAN.", I told her. She stopped crying a little bit later.

I don't know what made her cry. She might have dreamed of her becoming a teacher and Nayu-chyan (one of her friends) owning an ice cream parlor. Or her teacher might have assigned her a role of teacher during a 'play' in kindergarten the previous day and she cried remembering that. Whatever the reason, it was 'unendurable' for Aryaa as she is crazy for ice cream:)

Although she is still crazy for ice cream, her dreams have changed over time. I remember it was "SUPA NO ONECHYAN" (supermarket sales girl) around autumn. And during winter, as there was a lot of figure skating going in television, she wanted to become GURUGURUMAWARU ONECHYAN ('rotating girl', her word for figure skater). After that it was the teacher, yeah teacher itself for some time. It was KANGOU SAN (nurse) after teacher. It is bookshop owner now, and that too after getting 50.

"PAPA, MAMA MO EHON KAINI KITE NE. TAKUSAN EHON ARU KARA---" (Papa, Mama; please come to buy picture books (in my shop). I'll have a lot of them---), she tells us.

Seems she already 'knows' that advertising early is good for her business:))

Image Source: Click Here

Papa, don't go bald---!

2010-04-21T17:16:00.001+09:00

It was last Sunday afternoon and we were watching TV.

"Why is that OJIISAN's head like that?" Aryaa asked. An old bald gentleman was singing on TV.

"OJIISAN is bald. His hair fell down.", I answered.

"Hee----! How?" she was surprised.

"I don't know how, but men lose hair gradually and they become bald." I explained. "Papa too will become like that OJIISAN someday." I am balding too, it's not as rapid as with some of my friends but I'm sure I will catch up with them in a few years:)

"No! Papa, don't lose your hair!" Aryaa screamed.

"Why?---I can't----"

"KAKKOU YOKUNAI (it's not cool). Aryaa-chyan doesn't like it. So don't lose your hair." She interrupted and 'ordered' me.

Now I have a problem. I have to do the impossible work of preventing my head from balding at any cost, as according to Aryaa, it isn't "cool":))

"Aryaa-chyan is girl."

2010-04-15T23:17:00.001+09:00

Aryaa was ‘best’ friends with both boys and girls until 3. It’s changed now. It’s not that she hates to be friends with boys, she is just not intimate with them. She is a member of a girls’ gang:), all of her best friends now are girls.

It may be because of this girlis' gang that she has started showing choices and behavior which is attributed to girls and females as a whole. One example is her choice of colors. While buying clothes and shoes for her, she chooses pink ones and red ones. She says “Pink and red are lovely. They are for girls. Aryaa-chyan is girl.” When we want to buy something blue, green or even yellow, she says that those are for boys.

I guess small boys must be thinking opposite of this, but I’m not sure. I don’t exactly know how such thinking develops in a child. It must be a combination of many things like friends, parents and media culture, etc. Males and females may also have some natural differences in their feeling for and choice of colors, but again I’m not sure and it’s just my guess. What if a girl is raised in male only environment or a boy is raised in female only environment? But that is impossible.

Another of current“Aryaa-chyan is girl.” is related with hair.

We used to keep her hair short until a few months back for the ease of washing and maintaining it. She started ‘demanding’ long hair after that saying “Girls have long hairs. Aryaa-chyan is girl.” She is a ‘fan’ of Nana-chyan, one of her ‘best’ friends, who has longest hair among her classmates. Aryaa’s hair is getting longer gradually and she is eagerly waiting for the day when her hair will be as long as that of Nana’s.

Not only length, even her style has changed. While in shower, she tries to wash her hair imitating her mother, sometimes even ‘teaches’ her mother the proper ways:) And when sometimes her hair falls to her forehead, it's nice to see her moving it back with her small index fingers. She has a style and it's so 'girl like':)

It's surprising to see this craze even in a small child like her. Such thoughts are already deeply ingrained in human consciousness, human society all the world over is thinking like that since at least a few thousand years and it doesn't seem that this thinking will end soon.

Aryaa's 'long hair' craze is working greatly in one aspect though. She is ready to eat any vegetable now as vegetables 'make' her hair 'longer':)

Image Source: Click Here

JumpZone and Sakura

2010-04-08T17:08:00.006+09:00

They have a spot called JumpZone inside a newly opened mall nearby. Its target is small kids (actully their parents' pockets). When kids see such a place, they will try it at any cost. Shopping with a kid is a dangerous thing:) They will want anything they see! In fact, market (and the whole capitalism) is the biggest enemy of parents:))

Now to JumpZone. Here is the 4 minute video of Aryaa enjoying it. She enjoyed it and wasn't much afraid as the guys at JumpZone were careful enough to make it comfortable for her. Aryaa has already started nagging us to go there again.

And here are a few of Sakura blossom photographs from our HANAMI this year.

"---when Aryaa-chyan is----?"

2010-03-30T18:15:00.002+09:00

Aryaa dreams of becoming 'big' these days, and dreams too much:) Another stage of a kid's mental development, I remember having similar 'dreams' myself, and I've seen it with my younger siblings and nephews/nieces.

Some 'regular' incidents have happened within one month and they have magnified her dreams and desire to be big and tall soon. She turned 4 and she knows she will turn 5 on her next birthday. She talks not only about 5 but 6, 7, 10 and whatever she can count up to.

Then the start of new session in her kindergarten. It is from April 1 in Japan, not only kindergartens, but schools, universities, companies and government works. They had SOTUENSIKI (kindergarten graduation ceremony) in Aryaa's kindergarten last week. Kids who turned 6 will leave the kindergarten and enter primary school. Aryaa will be in YUURI-GUMI (YUURI group, YUURI 'class') from April 1 and she is very happy. She is happy but 'impatient' too at the same time for the day when she herself will enter primary school. She has even already memorized full lengthy names of a few nearby primary schools:)

And her counting ability is going up gradually. Right now, she easily counts up to around 40 and then goes directly to 100:) For her, the biggest use of numbers is to mark a person's age. So her questions now are generally related to age. She already knows how old her MAMA and PAPA are.

"What--- when Aryaa-chyan is six?" She asks this everyday.
"Aryaa-chyan will enter primary school."
"And when seven--?"
"She will be a second year student in primary."
"And eight---?"
---------
---------
"What when Aryaa-chyan is 12?"
"Aryaa-chyan will go to middle school." But this questioning continues almost 'irritatingly' to each year in middle school and high school. But parents are not allowed to get irritated:))

"When will Aryaa-become as big as PAPA and MAMA?" Questioning goes on.
"Well, may be when Aryaa-chyan is 18."
"Where will Aryaa-chyan go after 18."
"University.""----when Aryaa-chyan is 28?", she skips some years now, she might have 'irritated' herself:)
"--in job, Aryaa-chyan will be working like----"

We expect the series to stop here but it doesn't.

"---when Aryaa-chyan is 70?", she will ask after a brief 'rest'.
"Aryaa-chyan will be OBAACHYAN (grand mom) by then."
"----when Aryaa-chyan is 100?"
"Hmmmm----, Aryaa-chyan will be an even bigger OBAACHYAN."

It's a relief that her counting hasn't gone beyond 100 yet:))

Image Source: http://www.21cartoondrawings.com

Kindergarten Life

2010-03-23T23:42:00.006+09:00

Here are some photographs that we got from Aryaa's kindergarten.

Christmas Celebration

HINAMATSURI celebration

Must be Japanese/Chinese (Lunar) New Year

Some day in Summer

Outing to a nearby Children Park

After the UNDOUKAI (sports meet) in which everybody 'won' and everybody got 'medal':)

Class Photograph with the Principal (left) and the class teacher

Sorry for the low-quality pics. We are given printed photographs only. This is what I could manage with my mobile-phone and sleepy eyes :)

Thanks to kindergarten teachers and staffs for these photographs!

Your Heartbeat

2010-03-13T08:31:00.005+09:00

Your Heartbeat

Dear, I am listening to your heartbeat

Somewhere in the deep forest

Song of the hiding stream,

Left by the creator of the world

Ancient but yet continuous

Wonderful song of the soul

I am relieved as I never used to be.

If I ever won the war of life,

To bequeath the happiness ,

I have got your hands now,

If I ever lost to the war of the life,

Your feet are there ,

To wet with my tears

Or, if I get lost today,

From the eye of the world,

My existence will be there

Along with your name, my name will be there

Somewhere in your heart beat…

The rhythm of my heartbeat will be heard

I am listening to your heart beat,

Visualizing you in my imagination

Dear, I am listening to your heartbeat

Waiting for you in the deep

(December 19, 2005; Kasugai, Japan)

Image Source: Click Here

(This poem was originally written in Nepali. I am very thankful to Sweta for translating it into English. Nepali version appears in my Nepali blog )

Aryaa was still inside her mom's womb when this poem was written. We didn't know whether the child was a girl or a boy. We didn't care much too, we wanted that to remain a happy 'suspense' until child was born. Our doctor Yonemoto also had the same thinking, he didn't like parents talking too much about the sex of the child to be born.

It was already some time after the doctor had started us showing the child's movement in ultrasound. We could hear the child's heartbeat too. Then I had started putting my ear against Sobita's stomach to hear the child's heartbeat and to feel his/her movement. That was an unexplainable transforming experience, a totally spiritual experience. And it was not only because it was my child, I was mesmerized by seeing a new life getting its form inside another life,. I just couldn't think it as a regular normal incident. With the beginning of the arrival of the child, I had started having even more thankfulness and respect to Sobita and the all the females.

The talks then between me and Sobita at that time was naturally about the child and for the child. This poem was born out of those heartbeats that I heard and those endless talks about the child we had....... This my small try to give words to feelings of soon-would-be parents.

Aryaa turns four from today. Happy Birthday Aryaa!

This stage of life, which started after we got the message of her arrival, is getting more and more transforming, because I always like children and after these years with Aryaa, I even more like them. This world is full of selfishness, mistrust and cruelty. It is still livable because there are children, there are their innocent eyes, there are their open heart like sky and there are their pure quests. This world has future because there are unlimited possibilities in children.

I we want a bright future for humanity, every child should get a happy childhood. Otherwise there is only darkness.

This poem is dedicated to the unlimited possibilities that exists inside every child!

'Good Thief', 'Good Wolf'

2010-03-09T16:09:00.007+09:00

Back in the ancient times (i.e. when Aryaa wasn't yet 3), this world was a very beautiful place. Stories for her (and hence her stories too) were full of love and friendship. One main reason for that world being so beautiful was that there were a lot of animals and very few human:) All these animals lived in peace with each other, swam together in summer and enjoyed the spring breeze and autumn moon together. The few humans were children only and these children too were very friendly with each other and all the animals. Children would teach animals play soccer, dogs would cook curry for children, cats would save everybody from thunderstorm, elephants would help gorillas find banana---. What a beautiful world!

The world is beautiful no more. Now her stories have started including 'other side of the coin' too. There are thieves, ghosts, cruel dark-magicians, rude friends and wolves. So Aryaa's world is divided into two now, 'good' and 'bad'.

This division of world into two is manifested in her endless "What if---"s these days. In fact, "What if---" is another big explosion after "Why--" and "What---". I was about to devote one full post to "What if--" but abandoned the idea as it would have scared new and prospective parents:))

"What if---" questions are sometimes much crazier than "Why--" and "What---", like she once asked "What if sky falls down?". I first told her that sky never falls down, but she was not ready to accept that, she kept on asking "What if---". I finally told her that, in that case we will hide under a table. She liked the answer very much, hiding under table is one of her favorite activities.

Now back to stories again. She has a curiosity of what we should/would do if a character from her story books comes. She has learned to make some twists of her own too.

"Papa, What if bad thief knocks at the door?"
"We will not open the door, will not let him in."
"What if bad thief enters by force?"
"We will beat him, kick him. Then he will run away."
"But what if a good thief knocks at the door?"
"We will do the same. We won't let him enter."
"But that is GOOD THIEF----!"
"There is no such thing as a GOOD THIEF---"
"There is---. What if a good thief comes---?"
"Well, we will open the door, say 'Please come in!' and have lunch together." I have to 'accept ' that a 'good thief' exists, that too in the present world. What an innocent childhood! But who knows, many 'Robin Hood's might be roaming around today too to prove Aryaa right:))

And another similar one.

"What if bad wolf knocks at the door?"
"We will not open the door. We will beat it if it tries to enter by force----." I try to make my answer 'complete'.
"What if the wolf is good?"
"There is no such thing as a GOOD WOLF-----."
"Nooooooooo! There is----. What if------"
"OK! OK!! We will let the good wolf enter and invite him to lunch----."

Image Source: Color-Your-Own

I realized after this conversation that it is always the wolf who is vilified among animals. It's true that it preys on animals weaker than it, that's its nature, and so do lion, tiger and leopard. The latter ones are always glorified and depicted as majestic in all of the stories, whereas poor wolf is always depicted as the worst villain. Even crocodile and snake are called 'lovely' and 'beautiful' and their movement is considered funny.

Why is this world so unfair to wolf???

Image Source: Color-Your-Own

Hinamatsuri song

2010-02-28T08:08:00.001+09:00

I couldn't arrange time at all to write something new here. Hence I thank 'Hinamatsuri' for coming to my rescue:))

March 3 is HINAMATSURI (Girls' Day or Doll Festival) in Japan. I wrote one short post about this last year too. Let me put the song (video) of this occasion. The melody is so sweet.

I found the following English translation of the first verse in one site;

Let's light the lanterns on the tiered stand.
Let's put peach blossoms on the tiered stand.
Five court musicians are playing flutes and drums.
Today is a happy Dolls' Festival.

Some moments

2010-02-18T17:34:00.001+09:00

Some moments captured---

In Shinojima beach on November 28. It was a very cold day.

With friends in FURO

with the 'newest' friend:)

Laughing a lot, because------

-----the family is funny:))

Two Videos

2010-02-11T22:20:00.002+09:00

Let me share two short clips today.

In this first one, Aryaa is around 7 months old. She could stand with some support then. Whenever she heard any music, she would 'dance', make hand movements and make singing sound with the music. It came so naturally. She is getting shyer these days.

Here she is dancing in a Nepali folk song.

This one is from last September. It was an evening-gathering for farewell of two friends who were leaving Japan. While elders were busy talking and laughing, Ahina and Aryaa too were busy in their own world. I 'disturbed' them a little:) Ahina is two years older than Aryaa. They get chance to meet in such Nepali gatherings once a few months and enjoy each other's company very much.

What is 'People'???

2010-02-04T13:00:00.004+09:00

"HITOBITO TE NANI?"(What is 'people'?), Aryaa asked me a few days back.
"Hmm----" I couldn't coin an answer easily. "Well, everybody is 'People'; Aryaa-chayn, papa, mama, friends, everybody is----'

She didn't say anything after that, but I could see the confusion in her face. It was "What is 'Citizen'?" the next day and my answer was similar to that for 'People':)

Now how do you explain 'People' and 'Citizen' to a 3 year old? It's not easy to explain it even to an adult.

"What is---" is one of her new 'hobbies'. I have talked about "The great 'Why---?' Explosion" in one of my previous posts, now it seems that 'What' too has exploded:)

Whereas 'Why' is related to scenes, incidents and actions (by someone else), 'What' generally seems related to words. Whenever she hears a new word, be it in Kidergarten, while watching television or in our conversation in home, she immediately asks what it is and we have to explain it in simplified Japanese. The problem is that our own Japanese is not so good, or at least not good enough to explain things well to a kid.

Although only a couple of months' gap exists between 'Why' and 'What', 'What' seems to be the next stage of her learning after 'Why'. This is manifested very well when she is watching something in television. She used to get concentrated to scenes/actions only, but now gives attention to dialogues too.

Another big source for "What is--" is the conversation between her parents. We (Sobita and me) use Nepali in conversation between us (it's almost completely in Japanese with Aryaa, though we are trying to increase Nepali recently). Aryaa understands basic Nepali and whenever any 'new' Nepali word attracts her attention, she asks "What is---".

And places. Her "What is---" also includes names of places. She once asked "What is Nagoya?". Nagoya is the city we live in and I don't know how she suddenly became interested in this word, she has been hearing it since last three years.
"Nagoya is the place Aryaa-chayn lives." was my answer.
"But Aryaa-chyan lives in KOPO-YATOMI--.", she disagreed. KOPO-YATOMI is the name of the building we live in.
"OK, OK---, Nagoya is a big place--- and KOPO-YATOMI is in Nagoya--", I am sure that I made her confused again:)

The great "Why" explosion is still continuing and "What" explosion has already begun. Imagine what happens when you are living under two great explosions:))

UNCHI, ONARA, SIKKO

2010-01-27T11:46:00.003+09:00

Initially, I was hesitating to write this post, and wondering whether anybody has written a post on such subject. But after some thinking, I came to the conclusion that it's a very good subject to write. After all, it's a very important part of Aryaa's (and any child's) learning process.

It's about her current fascination with UNCHI (excretion, poop), ONARA (fart) and SIKKO (pee). She likes to talk about them, in fact talks too much and giggles a lot. Every time she poops, she doesn't forget to take a good look before flushing, call us and say, "see, what a big UNCHI!". She combines these three words with many other daily-life words and creates strange phrases/sentences. And she also knows Nepali words for UNCHI, ONARA and SIKKO, she was very fast to learn these words compared to other Nepali words:)

When we tried to discourage her from such talks, she got even more emboldened and her giggles changed into loud laughter. So we have stopped our try, instead we have started 'enjoying' talking UNCHI, ONARA and SIKKO with her:) And I tell you, it's so funny:))

I remember similar incidents with nephews/nieces.

I remember seeing a picture book in her kindergarten (we have also seen it in all the children-clinics that we have been to) about this funny guy called 'UNCHI'. It's intended to toilet-train kids. Aryaa was much fascinated by all those UNCHI pictures, from that of small birds' to that of an elephant. Aryaa's toilet training went well after she was 3. Now we don't have any problem regarding poop. SIKKO (Pee) was fine too, but she has become 'naughty' these days. Sometimes, when she is engrossed by some play, stories or toys, she doesn't inform us in time that she wants to go to toilet. Instead, she leaks a little and 'adjusts' herself for the time being, and informs us or goes to the toilet herself only when it becomes really unbearable. It's our current 'parenting headache', I will write about it in future too.

And ONARA. YIMA NO UCHI DAREAKA GA ONARA SITA (Did someone fart just now?) was, in my guess, the first complete Japanese sentence she mastered:) Other people doing it fascinates her for sure, and there is more than that. It's interesting to look at the pride and joy that see has on her face when she does it herself, more so when it's well audible:) ONARA SITA !(I farted!) she proudly declares and laughs heartily.Then a sense of great achievement when her parents say KUSAI! KUSAI (It stinks! It stinks!) and close their nostrils (even if it's not stinky) :)

Image Source: Click Here

Abstract Art:)

2010-01-20T22:08:00.009+09:00

It's great to learn abstract art with Aryaa:)

She learns some in her kindergarten. Actually, they teach some basic shapes only and give children paper and crayons and leave them alone. Aryaa likes to play like that in home too. Both Sobita and me are terribly bad at drawing anything. So I am sure that whatever we teach is useless:)

Let me share some of Aryaa's abstract art with you today, 'masterpieces' on her magnetic writing board.

Her most favorite subject is human face. She gives each of her 'painting' a name, I forgot what she had called this.

And human face becomes OBAKE (ghost) after some changes. That's not always true and you can also see ghosts with very beautiful human faces. She will know about it when she grows up:)

Here is her version of herself and her KODOMO (child). She sometimes draws her PAPA and MAMA too with her, but they too are always smaller than her.

I forgot what she called this one. With antennae laden head and thin legs only, it looks like a human being from a not so distant future.

Here is a rabbit with 'big horn'. Have you ever seen it? I am sure that you're seeing a rabbit with 'big horn' for the first time, it was the first in my life too. And whatever you see except rabbit itself is its UNKO (excrement). Pretty impressive, ain't it:)

This is a bird. It must be from Dinosaurs' time.

We sometimes try to teach her A, B, C---. She can write a few of them now. She used to write A inverted (upside-down). So I once held her hand and helped her write an A properly. But she said she wanted to change A into A san (Mr/Ms A). Here is that A san.

I must say A was much luckier, poor G and H ended like this:)

Sometimes she writes in her 'own' alphabet. She says she has written GAUTAM ARYAA, GAUTAM MAMA and GAUTAM PAPA in the following three. Seems a strange language:)

And the artist:)

Get Wings and Fly

2010-01-13T14:10:00.002+09:00

It was as usual today too. washing Aryaa's hair is one of the most difficult things in this earth for me. We always have a pretty good fight during this time:) She protests me helping her and says she will do it JIBUNDE (herself). I know if I agree with her JIBUNDE, it will take may be two days to wash her hair:) So I 'offer' my forced help and she resists, crying and sometimes even saying PAPA DAIKIRAI!(Hate Papa too much!). It's great to hear and see her saying PAPA DAIKIRAI, I just feel lonely when she forgets it sometimes:)

After seeing her mother always doing it without much effort, I have come to the conclusion that there is something wrong in the way a male is made.

Everything is fine after the 'hair saga' though. Helping her wash her body is a joyful experience and when she enters FURO it's great to fly with her wandering imaginations

"What does DANGO MUSI(potato bug, roly-poly) do inside KOTORI (small bird)'s stomach?" was her first question to me today.

"Well, it must be crying inside and trying to come out----."

Once, while strolling around the nearby riverbanks, she had asked me what those small birds (sparrows, pigeons etc.) were doing there in the ground. I had replied her that they were looking for food. I also told her that they eat small insects, and grains like corn. Her question came from that conversation of ours.

"Aryaa-chyan will kick KOTORI---." She wanted to 'free' the insect, "Aryaa-chyan will cut KOTORI's stomach, DANGO MUSI will come out." In one of her story-books, a sleeping wolf's stomach is cut open and lambs are taken out from there. She wanted to do the same to the bird:)

"No, no! Aryaa-chyan doesn't need to do that." I give her my opinion, "Give KOTORI something else to eat, then he will open his mouth and let DANGO MUSI come out from his stomach."

"OK, Aryaa-chyan will give him some TOMOROKOSHI (corn).", the deal is finalized:)

"What will KOTORI do after that?" She asked after a bried pause.

"Well, it will fly and go somewhere to play."

"Aryaa-chyan too wants to play with KOTORI---", is her desire.

"--but KOTORI can fly, it has wings, Aryaa-chyan can't fly. How can Aryaa-chyan play with KOTORI?" I put the 'harsh reality' in front of her.

"Aryaa-chyan too will fly. Aryaa-chyan will get wings. Aryaa-chyan will give corn to KOTORI and get wings from him.", she has her plan to 'brave' this harsh reality.

"OK---."

"Aryaa-chyan will get wings in Disney Land." she suddenly remembered another way to get wings for her, "Aryaa-chyan will get pink wings."

"OK! Ok! Great idea. Aryaa-chyan will get pink wings and fly with KOTORI." I agree with her. She starts playing with her toys.

I have been to Tokyo Disney Land once. I know it's a great place to get wings, well, for your money:))

Disney Land is one of her most 'favorite' and most frequent demands these days. We don't know how she knew about it, might be television or some of her friends in Kindergarten. We have promised her to take there. we are planning it for early May.

And I think Aryaa will look like this after coming back from Disney Land. Heheheh----.

Image Source: Click Here

Omelet and Ketchup

2010-01-06T10:31:00.008+09:00

It was during lunch on last Sunday.

"TAMAGOYAKI DA NE--"(Omelet there---), Aryaa said, pointing to a NENGAJO(new year postcard) from a colleague, lying in front of us.

"No, it's not omelet, it's Sun."

"No Papa! Papa is wrong." She screamed, "That is omelet. And some ketchup too---." She stopped eating and seemed in a 'mood' to argue with me and 'win':)

"OK, OK! That's omelet and ketchup." I resigned:) "Now please continue your meal."

This reminded me one of my favorite jokes.

This happened in an abstract art exhibition. After seeing a man gazing at a painting for a long time, the artist came towards him.

"You like it Sir?" the artist asked.

"Yeah, it's beautiful, it looks so real."

"I painted the rising sun. I am so happy----"

"What? You say this is sun?" the art lover gentleman interrupted the artist. "I thought it was an omelet!"

Below is the omelet-ketchup abstract art which almost initiated one more round of father-daughter argument in our dining table. Hail the patient father :D

Well, a child's perception is always more interesting than that of an adult:)

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T08:39:00.002+09:00

I wish all my dear readers of this blog a very Happy New Year 2010! May this year bring even more happiness, peace, success and prosperity in your life!

One of my NY resolutions is to be more frequent in posting in this blog:)

GURU-GURU MAWARU ONECHYAN----

2009-12-23T09:49:00.001+09:00

Aryaa loves ice-cream too much. In summer, she had said many times that she wants to be an ice-cream shop owner.

But her 'dream' has changed now, she says "GURU-GURU MAWARU ONECHYAN NI NARITAI (I want to be a rotating girl)!"

GURU GURU MAWARU means "to roate". ONECHYAN is elder sister but it's also used for "young girl" in common spoken Japanese.

She wants to be a figure skater. She loves to watch figure skating in TV, she is crazy for it. We can persuade her to something else from TV generally but absolutely not if there is figure skating. They have a lot of figure skating competitions in this time of year. Winter Olympics (Vancouver 2010) is approaching and a lot of selection competitions too are going on. So figure skating competitions broadcasts can be seen regularly.

Aryaa has even recited the names of a few of the figure skating superstars, like Kim Yona (Korea), Mao Asada (Japan) and Miki Andou (Japan). She very affectionately calls them KIM YONA ONECHYAN etc. whenever she sees their faces in TV.

It's interesting to watch how long this 'dream' of hers will last and what will replace it.

Image Source: Click Here

GAMBARE Aryaa-chyan!

2009-12-11T17:53:00.001+09:00

Breast feeding for Aryaa stopped when she was around one and half years old. We didn’t do anything, Sobita was ready to breast feed her for next several months, but it was Aryaa herself who wasn’t interested. We continued formula for a little longer.

There was not much to worry as Aryaa was already eating other foods too from much earlier than this. But as most of the children she was choosy. She used to hate most of the vegetables but with ‘crazy’ naming, she started happily eating some of them. And gradually, there is not much problem left in the case of vegetables though sometimes we still have to devise ‘crazy’ names, ‘crazy’ shapes or ‘crazy’ stories for a few of them.

Milk (normal one, not the formula) is one thing that she didn’t like from the beginning. She preferred bottle feeding for whatever little she drank. But after she turned around 2 and half, her teachers suggested us to make Aryaa drink from cup in home as they were teaching that in Kindergarten too.

But it was very hard to make her drink milk from cup. There was no problem for water or juice, seemed she didn’t like milk’s scent. If cold, she would drink some but she hated the warmed milk.

Her kindergarten had UNDOUKAI (sports meet) in October. She got a ‘gold’ medal, her friends too got, all the children get it:).

“Yesterday, Aryaa-chyan got medal---“ she said during breakfast the next day.

“Yes, yes! Do you know why you got it?”

“Aryaa-chyan ran very fast--, so.”

“Yes! But why can Aryaa-chayn run so fast?”

“Because Aryaa-chyan is so GENKI (healthy)---.”

“But why is Aryaa-chyan so GENKI?”

“Because Aryaa-chyan eats well, eats a lot---“

“Yes, but not only that. Aryaa-chyan drinks a lot of milk too. Milk makes Aryaa-chyan’s feet stronger---“, I found an ‘opening’ here.

“Yes, yes----“, she ‘agreed’.

“Aryaa-chyan will drink today too, will finish this soon, won’t you?” I asked her.

“PAPA OOEN SITE NE----(Papa, please cheer for me), She was now ready to drink milk.

“OK”, so I started “GAMBARE ARYAA-CHYAN! ARYAA-CHYAN NO KATI NI NARU YO---(Keep it up Aryaa-chyan, Keep it up! Aryaa-chyan will win-----)“ and clapping!

“SHASIN MO TOTTE (Please take some photographs too)”, was her new ‘order’ in the middle.

“OK. Click! Click!!----“ I make hand gestures, I now turned into a sports photographer too:)

“See, Aryaa-chyan drank all.” The cup was already empty.

While done like this, she started drinking milk before sleeping too.

So I am doing this role of a ‘crazy’ supporter and shouting “GAMBARAE ARYAA-CHYAN----“, not only once, twice a day since last two months.

And in the meantime, I am working as a sports photographer too:)

Aryaa-chyan too is poor---:)

2009-12-02T12:54:00.003+09:00

It was on Friday evening, I was reading picture (story) books for Aryaa.

"Once upon a time, there was an old man living with his wife.", I started. "They were very poor---".

"What is 'poor'?" Aryaa interrupted me.

"---Hmmmmm--" I thought for a moment, I had to answer quickly, Aryaa seemed impatient for the answer and the continuation of story.

"Well, 'poor' means they didn't have money." I decided on this answer , "----Old man used to go to forest everyday to cut wood---" and continued the story.

"Ehhh----, Aryaa-chyan too is poor--" Aryaa interrupted me again.

"Why?" I was surprised.

"Aryaa-chyan doesn't have money."

"No! No! Aryaa-chyan is not poor. Aryaa-chyan's Papa and Mama-----"

"DEMO ARYAA-CHYAN OKANE NAI YO--!" (But Aryaa-chyan doesn't have money--!) Aryaa was not ready to accept that she wasn't poor:)

I then realized my mistake. My answer was wrong for her age.

"I am Sorry! Papa was wrong. They didn't have food and good clothes, so they were poor---" I tried to 'correct' my answer.

"Ehhh---." She 'ordered' me to continue the story. I hope she was content with this 'definition'.

I know she will forget most of such 'answers' that we reply her questions with but the impression might last much longer in her subconscious.

It's always difficult to find the 'most correct' answer.

Image Source:Click Here

Strawberry flavored Puppa----

2009-11-21T15:03:00.003+09:00

I was late to come back on Thursday evening.

Sobita opened the door. Usually Aryaa too would come running but today she was already in bed. She wasn't asleep yet though, she was looking at pictures in her story-books.

I went straight to the door of the bed room and said, "Aryaa, see, Papa is back." She didn't care.

"Aryaa, Papa is back. See---" I repeated but she was still engrossed in the pictures. It was too painful to me:)

"Aryaa, see, Papa wants a sweeeee---t Puppa from Aryaa. Won't you come here? --- OK then I am going to bathroom---"

"MATTE! MATTE! (wait! wait!)", with this 'threat' of mine, she came towards me and kissed me on cheek.

"Woww, it's so tasty! What is the flavor today?" I asked after kissing her back.

"BUDOU AJI DA YO! (it's grape flavor!)" she replied.

"ARIGATOU! Papa wants one more Puppa, this time the strawberry flavored one."

"OK!" she kissed in my another cheek and went back to bed. The father inside me too was content enough now to face bravely the rare lonely dinner.

-------------------------------------------

These 'flavored Puppa's are the result of those countless lovely mother-daughter cuddling. Each cuddling results in a couple of new flavors:) Almost all of the fruits are already used to flavor kisses and I wonder what will come after fruits:)

By the way, it's also interesting to watch those mother-daughter arguments and 'fights' but that's another story for another time.

And Papa is ----

2009-11-13T13:41:00.009+09:00

Aryaa has a 3 persons world, a child, mother and father. I knew that "home" is the first world for any child but hadn't even imagined that it has such a strong influence in a child's definition of world. Her home has "3" persons and she now defines everthing in "3 persons". When she sees a child in street, she asks us about the child's Papa and Mama, when we start telling her a story "Once there was this small rabbit---" she immediately asks, "---rabbit's Papa and Mama?" . She sometimes even asks us whether the the drifting cloud or a tree too have Papa and Mama. I think children who live in a joint family may imagine more members.

This might only be the coincidence but stories in most of her picture-books too have 3 main characters. So she assigns different roles for us 3. Her most favorite is one which has a story about NINJIN (carrot), DAIKON (radish) and GOBO (burdock root).

These three guys, NINJIN, DAIKON and GOBO were living together. All of them were white then. One day, they played all day in mud and dirtied their body. They thought of taking a bath (OFURO NI HAIRU) and started preparing the FURO (Japanese hot bath)

Almost every household in Japan has this FURO (hot bath). Entering FURO in the late evening or before sleeping is a daily ritual in Japan. Public FUROs are called ONSEN (hot spring).

So they prepared and it was NINJIN who entered the bathroom first. She took a shower and entered FURO.
"Achhhhhhhhhh---! It's too hot----!" But she tolerated it and stayed inside.

When she came out after 25 minutes, her skin was very red.

In our home, it's Aryaa who enters first. When she was smaller, she would be in the lap of one of us but nowadays she moves a lot inside and has also collected a lot of toys which she can enjoy there with. So we wait outside. She loves to stay there for a long time, in temperature 1 or 2 degrees higher than that for me.

So Aryaa is NINJIN.

Then it was DAIKON's turn. She took shower and was about to enter FURO. "Oh, this is too hot----", she added some cold water.
"Ahh---, it's so comfortable----" She stayed inside for a long time. When she came out, she was white as before.

In our home, Mama enters FURO after Aryaa. So Mama is DAIKON.

Then comes our GOBO. "I hate FURO!!!" he just takes a quick shower and comes out.

So GOBO is still dirty.

I too hate FURO:), I just feel suffocated in hot water. So I either don't enter at all or come out too soon. Even for shower, I prefer it at morning, after coming back from walk.

So Papa is GOBO.

But let me make this clear to you, I am not 'dirty' like our dear GOBO in Aryaa's story book. I am a little bit darker than Aryaa and her mom but as you know 'dark' is different from 'dirty':))

Fish on Papa's back---

2009-11-04T12:05:00.001+09:00

"Papa had fish on back. Why?" Aryaa asked me immediately after getting up one morning.

"Fish on my back! No---! What are you Saying?"

"Papa had fish on back. It was stuck there. Mama pulled it and threw away." She made it more detailed. She seemed little bit frustrated that I didn't 'agree' with her.

Now I understood, or at least I could make a guess. She might be dreaming something like that and taking it for real. It happens often with small kids. I remember a few similar incidents with my youngest siblings.

Aryaa's this dream must be because of a program that we were watching in TV the previous evening. The program was about "Deadliest Animals of Earth". One among the deadliest animals was a small blind fish which can enter human body by biting and making its way inside. It was shown with an animation, Aryaa too saw it and she was saying "KUWAAI!(Scary!)". She had fell asleep in my lap while watching this program.

Normally, we are careful not to let her watch anything violent on TV, but forgot to change the channel this time. The program was interesting enough to make us 'careless':). Besides that, we let Aryaa watch this as she is very happy to watch about animals. She had enjoyed most of what she watched before falling asleep.

We will be more careful from now.

Flu shots

2009-10-28T16:13:00.016+09:00

Aryaa got the first dose of the flu shot last week. Children are required to get in two doses, Aryaa will get the second one after one month. Me and Sobita too are thinking to get it, like last year. I had influenza two years ago.

This is the vaccine for the 'regular' flu and not for this year's 'hit' swine flu. Vaccination campaign against swine flu has just started in Japan. Medical workers are given the first priority. People with serious diseases and pregnant women will get it from November and children aged up to 10 from mid-December. I think 'healthy' adults may have to wait until March for it.

In the mean time, we have been completely successful in instilling the 'influenza terror' in Aryaa:) She doesn't forget to wash her hands and gargle each time after coming back from outside. She hasn't demanded mask for herself yet though. I think she hasn't yet seen anybody with mask in her kindergarten yet. As the epidemic is not so big in our area, we too haven't thought of putting on masks yet.

Image Source: Home Remedies for Swine Flu

Good Schooling Alone Is Not Enough

2009-10-21T10:00:00.005+09:00

[I am happy to share this Guest Post from Educational Technologies . Navendu Sharma from Educational Technologies will answer your questions/comments. -Basanta]

Understand Early Childhood Education - Good Schooling Alone Is Not Enough

The most important reason why school education is insufficient is that, by the time a child reaches schooling age, it is already too late to start the child’s education. The best time for parents to actively start educating a child is before the child reaches the age of three years. To understand why early childhood education is needed, we need to know how the human brain develops during this period.

The importance of preschool activities

When a child is born, its brain is not fully developed. Till the age of three it can be made to grow at a rapid rate because the dendrites become functional during this period. Dendrites are parts of the neuron that receive messages in the form of electronic impulses from other nerve cells. A portion of the dendrites that are formed are lost if the brain does not receive enough stimulation. The only way to preserve these dendrites is to generate electrical impulses in the brain by offering it external stimulation.

Dr. Rima Shore points out that "Early interactions don't just create a context; they directly affect the way the brain is 'wired'". This implies that if the child is given proper attention at the pre kindergarten stage s/he will become a good learner and thus always remain ahead of others. The best way to stimulate the development of the child’s brain is to impart a skill like reading. This skill will give the child an added edge because it will allow the child to start learning more complex things when its peers are struggling with reading lessons. Did you know that a child spends 17,500 waking hours at home before s/he starts kindergarten?

One size does not fit all

School education also does not prove profitable to children who are endowed with interpersonal, naturalistic, musical, visual-spatial, and intrapersonal intelligences because mainstream schools mostly focus on verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences.

We must also note that children spend only a fraction of their time in school. If parents do not enhance the education that they receive in school with adequate home education resources, the child will fall behind others in a highly competitive world.

What can be an effective home-education material – Interactive Books

When we talk about education, books are the imperative tools for imparting knowledge. But with the advancement of technology, they are no longer confined within paper covers. Books are now read on screen supported by attractive and interactive animations. These interactive books are a great way of inculcating the habit of reading and learning in children.

Interactive books for kids enable learners to interact with the characters, thereby making the reading process even more engrossing. Books for toddler are made interactive with animated gestures, special effects, and sounds. When children listen to fictional characters narrating the story, the experience becomes more enjoyable. Moreover, moving images appeal more to the tender senses than the static illustrations in a book.

Some of the interactive books even invite the young minds to contribute their imagination in order to carry forward the story line. This unique process gives children the desired scope to unfurl their imagination and creativity.

Advantages of interactive books:

• Interactive books give readers the opportunity to take part in the story line by changing the plot as per his/ her decision. Thus interactive reading can hone the decision making skills in children.

• Interactive books come with multimedia facilities of animated sound, actions, and special effects. This makes reading a richer and more captivating experience.

• More than just reading, listening to stories helps children learn new words and also perfect their pronunciations.

• When kids read books online or through CDs and DVDs, they automatically become well acquainted with the basic functioning of a computer.

In the multimedia generation, interactive books can be the latest and most suitable option as far as developing your child’s reading habits are concerned. It is capable of imparting a multi-faceted learning experience even as a part of the home education curriculum. As you browse the Internet, you can find a plethora of sites offering interactive books. So find a suitable one for your kid and watch how reading can become truly interactive and educative!

(Source:- www.educationaltechnologies.com)

"Laugh--!" and "Don't Laugh---!"

2009-10-14T11:55:00.003+09:00

Well, Aryaa sometimes behaves like a 'dictator':)

It was a evening a few days back. Her mother had classes until late in the evening. I was cooking and Aryaa was playing with her writing board. She was talking mostly to herself and was sometimes saying "isn't it?--" to me too. "Yes, it is." I was replying her without looking at her.

She laughed suddenly with herself, I don't know what made her laugh.

"PAPA! WARATTE! (Papa, laugh!)" she then ordered me.
"Why Laugh?", I was tired and wasn't in the mood to 'laugh'.
"Aryaa-chyan funny, so!"
"OK then, hi hi hi-----" I make a barely audible grin.
"CHIGAU! CHYANTO WARATTE! (Not like that! Laugh well!)" she threatens me:)
"HA HA HA-----!" so I make a LOL. This makes her content and she continues her 'gibberish'.

And some days back again. It was dinner time. She wanted ice-cream at the middle of the dinner, we told her 'to be a good girl and finish her lunch' first. So she was pretty unhappy. She suddenly pushed her mother's hand, and chopsticks fell to the ground.
"What are you doing---?" her mother shouted at her.
"Aryaa, that's not good girl---." I added.
Aryaa then started crying.
"Don't scold---! See! I have tears----."
We looked at her, there was no tears.
"Ha ha ha! No tears in your eyes--!" I started laughing.
"WARAWANAIDE! WARAIKOTO JIANAI! (Don't laugh! It's not funny!)" She shouted at me. This made me laugh even louder! I had to go to another room for a while to 'pacify' her.

It's a great fun to be with a 'dictator' as long as the 'dictator' is a sweet, cute little one:)

(Image Source: Click Here)

The Great 'Why----?' Explosion

2009-10-02T16:29:00.005+09:00

The great explosion of childhood curiosity and questions.

"Papa, why wiping head?"

"Because it's wet. It's ----"

"Why is it wet?"

"It's raining outside, I -----"

"Why is it raining?"

"Hmmm---, it's cloudy outside, a lot of black clouds---"

"Why cloudy? Why a lot of black clouds?---"

"Well, Hmmmm------, because it's not sunny."

"Why not sunny?"

"Sun is not out today."

"Why Sun not out today?"

"Hmmm----"

"Why?----Answer!" She starts crying.

"Wait, wait! Papa is thinking. Well, because Sun wants rest today."

"Why Sun wants rest?"

"Because Sun is tired."

"Ehhh, Sun is tired?"
"Yes, Sun is tired."

"Why?"

"Hmmm, because Sun comes out everyday and runs a lot in the sky. When Aryaa-chyan runs a lot, Aryaa-chyan too gets tired. Isn't it?"

"Yes. Aryaa-chyan is tired today. Aryaa-chyan ran a lot with Honoka-chyan."

Thanks God! I feel relief now! There was a turning point and I got freed from this endless seeming chain of questions.

But this doesn't always happen. She continues asking until we reach a real dead end. "Why? Answer!" She keeps on saying. If we say "--- don't know." she will again ask "Why?". We try hard not to be irritated but sometimes there is no other answer than saying like "That is that because that is that." and quickly change the subject. Sometimes we need to bring "God" in between to satisfy her curiosity. Well, she hasn't started questioning 'God' yet. We are going to have real trouble after she starts that too ::)

Sometimes her questions come from nowhere. One example is my last post. Here is another short conversation between us when I was reading picture books for her before sleeping.

"What does God do?" She asked suddenly.

"God lives so high in the sky. What does God do?", She made her question 'more detailed' while I was thinking for a good answer. She already knows that God lives up in the sky, God talks from sky to a young boy in one of her picture books.

"Hmmm---, from that up, he watches what everybody is doing and----"

"Ehhh, SUGOII NE (amazing---)!" She interrupted me and then continued to listen what I was reading.

It feels wonderful to be a a part of her curiosity, her innocent quest to know this mystery called life. By trying to answer her questions, I feel that answers to many of my own questions are nearing.

I wish I could stay and listen and try to answer all of her beautiful innocent questions. I wish I had enough time to record all of our conversations with her and put here.

Image Source: Click Here

Where was Aryaa-chyan before----?

2009-09-24T16:39:00.003+09:00

Aryaa asks a lot of questions these days. All children are very curios and when they reach this age and gain some grasp in language there is an explosion of questions.

Aryaa's kindergarten was closed due to some public holidays and Aryaa was home with her mother for last few days. This is the 'story' her mother told me yesterday evening.

She asks so many strange questions these days. I was arranging the things and she was playing in the other room.

"Mama loves Aryaa-chyan?" She suddenly came to me and asked. She seemed very serious.
"Yes of course, dear!"
"Where was Aryaa-chyan when Aryaa-chyan was small?"
"With Papa and Mama."
"Ehh---, Aryaa-chyan was with Papa and Mama in birth too?"
"Yes."
"Where was Aryaa-chyan before that?"
"Hmm----Well, in Mama's womb." I answered pointing to my stomach. She doesn't know the difference between stomach and womb, I am sure. The same word ONAKA is used for both in spoken Japanese.
"Ehh---! How did Aryaa-chyan went there?" She was surprised. I was surprised even more with her question and couldn't think what to answer.
-----------
"Papa, Mama loved Aryaa-chyan very much." She started answering herself. "So prayed to God and God put Aryaa-chyan in Mama's stomach."

I was relieved but surprised with her answer. Aryaa then went back to the room and continued her play.

We both don't remember explaining to her like that. Her teachers in kindergarten may have said or she may have assembled the answer totally herself. We have mentioned God many times when we are totally unable to answer her questions.

She will know the correct answer for her question when she becomes an adult. But isn't her answer already the 'most correct' one?

Image Source: Click Here

Here and There

2009-09-10T13:27:00.004+09:00

Aryaa is happier these days as she is taken to some new places/events every weekend.

We took her to Nagoya Castle a few weeks back. We two had already been there, this time it was especially for Aryya. We were afraid that it may not interest Aryaa as it's a historical museum. But she enjoyed the place very much. She was also thrilled to see the surrounding area from the top floor. There were a lot of other children too. I have posted a couple of photographs of that day in my previous post.

We also watched a 3-D movie of about 30 minutes about the castle. Aryaa was afraid at first but started enjoying soon. It was the first 3-D movie for her parents too.

Then there was TEEJ, a traditional Nepali festival dedicated to women. Aryaa enjoyed the crowd and Ahina's company.

Ahina and Aryaa in their own world

We had a chance to go to Nakatajima Beach on August 30. It lies in Hamamatu city, around 3 hrs driving distance from Nagoya. This windy beach with very strong waves is not for swimming.

Thanks a lot to Yamashita san, a Japanese volunteer who took us there and Parameshworjee and Sangya Bhauju for informing us about the planned tour.

We had to walk around 600 meters along the sand dunes from the parking area. It was a bright summer day and sand was very hot. Most of us were in slippers and it was a torture to walk on that fried sand.

We enjoyed briefly with waves before having lunch. Although we persuaded her a lot, Aryaa didn't want to step into the sea water. May be she was afraid. She sat silently there watching us having fun.

But she was ready after the lunch and enjoyed sea waves a lot. She even didn't want to come back with us when it was time to leave. That's her nature; new things, new people don't attract her much at the beginning, when she is attracted she doesn't want to leave.

There will be a farewell party for Parameshor jee and Sangya Bhauju this weekend. Then we will shift to a new apt. on the next one. The next next one will have DASHAIN party. So many exciting days ahead for Aryaa:)

Nettle Rash (Urticaria)

2009-08-25T17:06:00.008+09:00

Dense red dots were frequently seen around Aryaa’s neck this summer. We first thought it to be sweat rash but upon close examination it looked different. We then thought it to be due to some allergy or some minor skin disease contracted from other children through swimming pool. It disappeared itself within one or two days. So we didn’t go to the doctor’s.

She seemed quite irritated Wednesday morning. Back from Kindergarten in the evening, she already had mild fever. Dense rash was seen again around her neck and in chest. She ate less than usual. She slept at normal time but woke up after less than two hours. She had very high fever now. Her whole body was very red too. We put ‘cooling sheet’ on her fore head and helped her sleep. She woke up again after around a hour. As the fever was 38.7 ℃, we administered the medicine that we had got from the doctor last time. This bullet shaped oily tablet needs to be administered rectally. We were told to use it only if the fever was more than 38.5 ℃ and maintain 6-8 hours gap between two administrations. It was very difficult, even for two of us, as Aryaa didn’t want it and moved violently.

Normally, she falls asleep 20-30 minutes after administering this medicine and she has a sound sleep for 7-8 hours. Her body temperature decreases gradually and the fever is almost gone by the time she wakes up. But the medicine didn’t work well this time! It was hard to make her sleep again. She started vomiting after 2 in the morning, she vomited 4 times in 2 hours, and everything that was in her stomach must have come out. By then, fever got little bit lower, she drank some water and she fell asleep. She woke up again at 8. She didn’t take breakfast well. The fever was higher than that in the night.

The doctor told that it was due to a disease called Nettle Rash (also known as urticaria). Aryaa stayed home on Thursday and Friday. She was fine enough to go to a party in a friend’s house on Saturday evening. She was running and playing as usual in the program hall on Sunday afternoon too when her mother was dancing and celebrating TEEJ festival with fellow Nepalese women and her father was doing the cameraman duty:)

It turned out to be a small problem but we were worried a lot. Nothing is more painful than seeing your child in pain. You forget even your own pain no matter how severe it is.

You can read more about Nettle Rash in the following links;

- http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/nettlerash.htm
- http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Nettle-rash/Pages/Introduction.aspx
- http://www.pureliquidgold.com/nettle_rash.htm

Festival Season: Missing Home

2009-08-11T10:36:00.005+09:00

It is now a festival season in Japan. BON festival is one of the most famous festivals in Japan. They celebrate it on the 13-15th of August in this area. These days are not designated as holidays in the calendar but most of the people use their leaves. Trains and buses run on holiday schedule on these days.

BON ODORI (Bon dance) parties are organized in every neighborhood, generally on weekend evenings. As the designated weekends were very rainy, the dance party in our neighborhood was organized on weekdays this year.

These dance parties are really big and interesting events. And Aryaa is very happy in such crowds.

Talking about festivals, a long festival season has started in Nepal too. I always miss home but it is unbearable in this season. I feel so sad and I am even more sadder for Aryaa. In Nepal, she would be enjoying among a crowd of cousins and other relatives. It is almost impossible to give her that intimate environment here, no matter how hard we try.

One more long year to go yet----.

*********************************************
Finally let me share a few of Aryaa's recent photographs.

Her posing style:)

Hurray! She had some nap----!

2009-07-29T17:00:00.006+09:00

We were surprised to read "Aryaa took nap today." in the 'Daily Report Booklet' on Monday. I guess her teachers too must have been surprised. It was after ages that she took a nap! The hardest part of our parenting her till now is make her take a nap in the afternoon. We don't force her now, we don't even try.

Her sleep-habits are same. Despite having no nap, there is no significant change in her sleeping time at night. She falls asleep in between 9:30 and 10:00. She has become an expert on finding some excuses to make her time to bed late. She has to go to toilet although she was there just 10 minutes before or she has to drink water although all she will do is pretend drinking and sip very little----.

When she falls asleep, she sleeps very soundly for 9-10 hours. Her sleep is so sound that during the early days of our parenthood, we would sometimes put our finger in front of her nose just to check whether she was breathing or not. It sounds crazy now but we were really afraid sometimes.

She used to move a lot during sleep especially during the 3rd and 4th hours of her sleep. She still moves but much less. If she gets awakened after around 3 AM, then it is impossible to make her sleep again. This habit of her hasn't gone yet. She does like that once a month. There is no problem; she has taken her dinner well, has drunk milk before bed, has no fever and she is fine but she wakes up this early and prevents us from sleeping too.

Papa and Mama, please don't come here

2009-07-23T14:35:00.002+09:00

This was another 'new' behavior from Aryaa---

She is doing it since last two weeks. When both of her parents are in the kitchen, she enters the room and closes the door. She says, "Mama and Papa, please don't come here, OK?" to us and then starts singing.

We haven't disturbed her much during such 'sessions', which last 10-20 minutes, we don't enter the room unless it's very urgent.

The Japanese words coming out from the room were not intelligible. So I decided to look at what she was doing and listen clearly what she was singing. Yesterday evening, when she was already engrossed in the singing, I opened the kitchen door very slowly, tiptoed to the door to the room she was in and looked inside from a crack.

She had a toy mic and a toy trumpet in her hands and was singing and dancing. "SEKAI NO KODOMOTACHI GA MINNA WARATTARA---"(When all the children of this World smile----), I could discern this line only.

Then I tiptoed back to the kitchen.

They have "Summer Festival" program this weekend in her kindergarten. Her "GUMI" (group) too must be performing a song or dance in that program and rehearsing it every afternoon. She was rehearsing it in home too. But she never told us she was going to rehearse it.

Seems she is learning to demand and maintain her 'privacy':)

Image Source:Click Here

A 'losing temper' and repenting father

2009-07-16T11:54:00.002+09:00

Image Source, Click Here

My experience is telling me that children become more and more rebellious as they grow up. I don't know at what age that stops. This rebellion can become a cause of impatience in parents and things turn bad from that.

Yesterday morning, Aryaa refused to eat breakfast. Nothing was wrong, she didn't have fever or any other problems. Actually, she had already eaten two or three spoonfuls. "I don't want to eat!", she started telling me with some food in her mouth. I persuaded her for a moment. While feeding her in the morning, I am always in a tension, I fear that I will be late to office. I tried to be as gentle as possible to persuade her. Then she started spitting what she had in mouth. My patience ran out and I shouted at her.

She then started crying and I immediately started repenting. I am repenting it till now. I know that I am not an abusive father, but I am not a good one either. I easily lose my temper sometimes and repent it forever.

I sometimes might be demanding more from her than her age.

I managed something else for her. She was still reluctant at first but started eating after a few minutes. I am thankful to the NHK Education Channel for the wonderful 7-8 AM with many interesting programs for kids. Aryaa's current most favorite is an animation (dubbed in Japanese) about a cute small Koala called Penelope. Each part is only 5 minutes but that is enough to cheer up her completely.

'Discipline' and 'Control': How to differentiate?

2009-07-07T22:51:00.005+09:00

I think this is a question of all the parents, not only us.

Aryaa seems to be little bit spoiled after one month stay in Nepal. I think they let her do whatever she wanted to do. They might be thinking that she would feel 'not loved' if tried to control. This was wrong.

She wants same here too and it's a big headache now. We take her to childrens' parks as much as possible but being a too energetic kid, a couple of hours in the park isn't enough for her. She wants to jump and run in the room too. We are afraid that the old couple who live in the apt. below us will come to complain. There was a family with children above us in our previous apartment and we were too irritated by the noise made by children. Aryaa is alone, so noise is less but still enough to irritate the ill couple below, especially when she throws things to the floor or drags something.

She doesn't want to eat by herself now, needs to be fed. She was already very good in eating by herself before going to Nepal. They fed her everyday in home, I guess. I know they are showing love but---. She must be having difficulty in the kindergarten now as all the children of her age are required to eat by themselves.

She now wants to let the tap always open and "wash" her hands as long as she wants. Although water is abundant here, is it good to let her develop such a habit?

Throwing clothes and other things into the floor has become her another hobby. Nothing else can make her happier sometimes!

I know it's not good to say "Don't do this!" and "Don't do that!" to children all the time but what can we do? Sometimes it's necessary for her safety, sometimes we have to be careful about neighbors and sometimes what she wants is impossible.

Controlling children too much is bad, it obstructs their psychological growth but letting them do whatever they want spoils them. Everybody wants their children to be disciplined. So how to differentiate between 'discipline' and 'control'?

Image Source, Click Here

Enter any house and join the meal

2009-06-29T17:10:00.001+09:00

Aryaa and her mom are back from Nepal.

Aryaa liked her stay in Nepal very much. She grew very intimate with family members especially her youngest uncle and aunt. She cried a lot after getting separated from them in the airport in Kathmandu. She wanted her uncle and aunt to come to Japan with her. Sobita says Aryaa’s uncle and aunt too were crying outside.

I can feel that too. I can see the sadness in Aryaa’s face. It’s not that she is not intimate with us but for the time being, she is not happy to be here. She is missing her uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents and all the friends that she made in the village.

We are happy that she can speak some Nepali now. But she has forgotten some of her Japanese; she will have some difficulty in adjusting here again. She was very reluctant to go the kindergarten on her first day after being back.

After seeing her learn this much Nepali in just one month, I don’t have any worry now about what to do after returning back to Nepal permanently. She will be fluent in Nepali within a few months.

I always thought that a joint family is very good for the psychological/emotional development of a child and my belief has strengthened now. Children should have a very intimate relation with father and mother, there is no doubt about that but they also need grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and a lot of friends of their age. So it’s better to provide them with these ‘relations’ as much as possible. Some people fight with their parents and in-laws and stop their children from having any relationship with those people. Such parents are doing a lot of harm to their children; it’s a crime against children.

Even if the joint family is impossible in this so called “busy and modern” lifestyle, children need to grow up in a close-knit community. They should be able to enter any house and join the meal. They should feel being loved in any house and with any person in the community.

Sadly, such communities are getting fewer and fewer.

Let's give our children such an intimate and close-knit community in which they can enter any house and feel being loved.

Image Source Here

Please enjoy these HUSBAND-WIFE jokes:)

2009-06-22T10:40:00.002+09:00

Burning brain

Husband and wife were fighting from early morning.

Husband:Please leave me alone. My brain is 'burning'!
Wife: No wonder, this house smells of burning cow dung!

The tantrum wife

There was once a wife who was very suspicious of her husband. Every evening after the husband came back from work, she would check all his clothes and bags. Anything, even the gifts that the husband brought for her could raise her suspicion and she would yell at her husband "Whom did you buy this for? Who is that bitch---?". Even a small piece of hair was enough, "Who was that bitch in the afternoon--?"

One day, this gentleman 'cleaned' all his clothes and bag very well before entering the house. The wife checked but couldn't find anything. She couldn't even find hairs on his clothes. The husband was very confident that he wouldn't be yelled at.

After waiting for a moment, the wife started, "So now you're cheating on me with a bald woman!"

Happy Home

Every evening, neighbors heard Mulla Nasruddin and his wife Gulshan laughing out very loud. They never heard them fighting. Neighbors thought this very strange.

"Mulla, all of us have fights in our homes. We hear shouting and crying from every house in this neighborhood. But we hear laughter only from your house. Don't you two fight at all?", they once asked Mulla.
"My friends, we too fight. She throws plates, shoes and brooms at me every evening. When she hits me, she laughs and when she can't, I laugh."

Perfection

Mulla Nasruddin and his wife went to court for divorce.
"How long have you been married?", the judge asked the husband.
"30 years."
"Why do you want divorce?"
"Sir, she hits me. she throws plates, shoes and whatever at me everyday!"
"How long has she been doing this?"
"15 years."
"My friend, you are married for 30 years, you have already endured it for 15 years, why do you need divorce now?"
"Sir, it was OK for 15 years but she has become a 'sharp-shooter' now."

Husband's wish fulfilled

A Fairy Godmother told a married couple: "For being such an exemplary married couple for 35 years, I will give you each a wish".

"I want to travel around the world with my dearest husband" said the wife.

The Fairy moved her magic stick and abracadabra! two tickets appeared in her hands.

Now it was the husband's turn. He thought for a moment and said: "Well this moment is very romantic, but an opportunity like this only occurs once in a lifetime. So.....I'm sorry my love, but my wish is to have a wife 30 years younger than me".

The wife was deeply disappointed, but a wish was a wish. The Fairy made a circle with her magic stick and.....abracadabra!... Suddenly the husband was 90 years old.
******************************************************************

And finally, the best definition of a 'Bachelor';

The only man who has never told his wife a lie.

Image Source

Just a short update today

2009-06-14T22:30:00.002+09:00

I couldn't decide what to write today but as I have made a promise of updating this blog once a week, I am here with just a short update.

While starting this blog, I hadn't thought of making this blog a 'public' (or whatever word can be given) one. It's not that I wanted to make it 'invited only' but I didn't think of 'marketing' it too. It was to be there only, to be updated once a while. I wanted to read it after a few or many years.

I couldn't write anything for a year. After re-activating it after a year, I wanted to share it as much as possible. Parenting is a great experience, with great joys and great pains, and it is better to share this experience.

I have found that there is a very large and active "Parenting Blogs" community from almost all the countries and communities. It is great to read experiences of these parents. I just feel an intimate bond with them.
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Recently, I made some changes in the layout. I want to make it more informative, with links and references and more interactive with some kind of platform for "parenting" discussions etc. I am still working on it.

Lastly, I want to thank you for visiting this blog!

Children create their own World---

2009-06-07T22:52:00.003+09:00

Children create their own World wherever they are or whichever new place they go to.

Aryaa and her mother are in Nepal for a month. And I am living a 'junk food dependent' lonely life:)

Aryaa was very excited to be visiting 'her' NEPA-RU ('Nepal', in Japanese language) but we were worried that it would be difficult for Aryaa to adjust in the new environment, especially due to the language problem. I was just afraid that she would cry all the time and insist her mother to return to Japan immediately.

But it seems that I am still not good at reading child psychology:) She is perfectly happy in the new environment and adapted to it may be more easily than her mother:)

During my frequent calls to Sobita, I can hear Aryaa playing and laughing heartily with other kids.
"How does she speak with other kids? And other kids with her?" I was curious to know.
"It's strange!" Sobita sounded surprised. "Aryaa speaks Japanese and other kids speak Nepalese, but they go along very well." It's interesting!

And she has become very intimate to her BAHINI(cousin sister) who is two years younger than her. Once when I was talking with her mother, I heard Aryaa explaining to her little BAHINI about her beautiful Chopsticks that she took from here!

Her best friend in the village is a girl of her age. I was 'best' friends with the father of this lovely girl in my childhood. A line 'this used to be my playground' came to my mind suddenly. It was 'our' playground once and now a new generation is sowing its dreams there. Well, life is beautiful and that just because of children.

After a couple of weeks in home, Aryaa seems to be learning Nepali too. Understanding others is no problem at all and she has even started speaking many words, according to her mom. She has even started fighting with other kids and protects her toys from others very 'efficiently'.

A fighting kid might not sound a good idea but I am using it in a good sense. Aryaa was too gentle here. When some other kids wanted to play what she was playing, she wouldn't say anything. She would just leave there and find something else for her. She used to 'fight' with us only:) In Japan, it's not a big problem as most of the kids are not aggressive. I was worried that she would suffer in Nepal but she proved me wrong again! She has already learned to defend herself:)

Everything is fine but I am sad as Aryaa is so happy that she doesn't even care much about her poor lonely father here. She doesn't come to the phone much and even if she comes, only talks very briefly, tells me "to come to Nepal" and runs away. Poor me:)

Image Source:CartoonStock

"So late!"

2009-05-31T22:51:00.007+09:00

Let me continue basically in the same theme of my last post (I may continue in my next post too).

Talking about having children, let me share you a bad experience. I think many of you may also have had similar experience.

After marriage, we (two) decided to wait a few years before having a child. We thought of having some stability and maturity first. But it didn't seem to be 'our matter' only. After a year, people started talking about our not planning child. Some of them even started suspecting that one (or both) of us must be having some 'problem' and for that we were unable to have a child. Even some of our closest relatives started talking that way. I knew our society sneaks and gossips too much on someone's private life but didn't know it was this much intense.

Our society is obsessed with having child, and that too very early after marriage. I don't think our education has much changed that as some of my very educated friends didn't 'wait'. I think a couple of years without children will be better to create a good bonding between the husband and wife. That is even more necessary in our society where arranged marriage is still the norm and to-be-spouses don't know each other before marriage. Having a child is not a bad thing but with it come all the necessities and tensions too. So it doesn't harm to wait a couple of years and have a good talk between the "two".

We had Aryaa around 5 years after our marriage. For our family, it was "so late!" a relief..

Image Source:Birdwatcher's

Image Source:DesiHotMasala

Is second child necessary?

2009-05-22T23:24:00.009+09:00

I am back (a little bit drunk) from a party. Our department chief has resigned and the party was for his farewell. But they changed it into a combined 'big' party, adding welcome to the new department chief and new staffs who joined our department this (financial) year, in the same party.

Normally, only the people from the related department gather in such parties but as department chief was leaving, the GM himself and other big stakeholders too were present.

I looked for one of the farthest seats from the GM, it is always dangerous to sit near the 'big' boss:) It was same in University parties too, everybody wanted to be as far from the professor as possible.

But I was late, all the 'best' seats were already occupied and I was near the boss. It still wasn't the most 'dangerous' as there were two vacant seats between me and the boss, waiting for two 'unfortunate' guys:)

As the party started, I saw it was Banno San (Mr. Banno) next to me. I meet him almost every afternoon but we have very brief talks each time. He is around 55 (my guess).

"I heard you have a child. How old?" After getting little bit drunk, Banno San started talking about family.

"3 years." I replied.

"It's the most lovely age--"

"But it's also the most difficult age to care--"

"Boy or girl?"

"Girl--"

"Then it's even more lovely--"

"Is that so---?"

We shared another round of drink here.

"What about second child? Any plans--?" Banno san was back again a after a few minutes.

"It's difficult to say. One is enough to make us tired to hell. And there are many other things too to think about---"

"Don't say like that. It's better to give your daughter a friend in your home too." Banno San got serious "It is my experience too. I have two daughters. I think any parents should have at least two children---"

"-------------" I couldn't reply to Banno San here.

It's not only Banno San. My Professor's wife always says to us the same thing every time we meet them. Other intimate friends also say the same.

In weekends and holidays, Aryaa seems suffocated to stay indoors. We take her to children parks as much as we can but it is not possible to be outside the whole day and everyday. So sometimes we too think that a sibling would sure bring her more happiness.

But life is not so easy and 'linear'. There are many things to think about before planning another child.

I sometimes think this problem will not seem so big once we are back to Nepal. We still have a semi-joint family and even if we get separated, we will be living near to each other and children will always have intimate playmates inside the 'family' too.

Personally, after seeing Sobita going through all the pain during pregnancy and delivery, I don't want that to repeat again. I think the right to decide whether to have children or not and when to have belongs to the females only as they are the one who have to bear all the burden.

Hidden beneath all the fun and laughing, this party for me became "Is second child necessary?".

Image Source:CartoonStock

Names, Linear Combination, Random Combination

2009-05-15T15:35:00.002+09:00

I had read somewhere that children don't learn words like 'I', 'me' and 'mine' until very late (I forgot the exact age). From my experience I can say that it is true at least until the age of 3. Aryaa still uses 'Aryaa' instead of 'I'. She says "Aryaa wants to drink water" "Aryaa is sleepy" "Aryaa doesn't want to go to kindergarten today" "Aryaa hates milk" etc. I have seen the same with other kids too. The mystic Osho has said that this is the proof that childhood is innocent and selfless.

Anyway, I will certainly write when she starts using words like 'I', 'me' and 'mine'. It's an interesting to observe such things.

I don't remember exactly, it was around six months ago, Aryaa started 'changing' her name. She would give herself a different name each day, mostly that of one of her friends. She would say 'Aryaa is not Aryaa, Aryaa is Yuzuna' or '--Aryaa is Riku' like that. Then after a few days, she started changing her parents' 'names' too; "Aryaa is Erina, Papa is Erina's Papa, Mama is Erina's Mama" like that. You can call this a 'Linear combination':)

Then again after a few days, she started making 'Random Combination' too. In this combination, "Aryaa is Aki, Mama is Chichi's Mama, Papa is Erina's Papa"---. This 'Random Combination' has been continuing till now.

"What did Aryaa do in kindergarten today?" I asked my regular question after reaching home one evening.
"Not Aryaa, it's Maria. Sensei (teacher) calls so." 'Aryaa' while writing in Japanese Katakana becomes 'ARIYA'. Besides 'A' in Katakana (ア) looks like 'Ma'(マ) too. So it is easy to confuse this with Maria, especially for those with exposure to western names only. Later, while there to receive her, I too heard one of Aryaa's teachers calling her Maria.

But three days ago, Aryaa started calling herself 'Mary'. I am not able to guess how she learned this one.

A rainy GOLDEN WEEK

2009-05-08T14:30:00.008+09:00

'Golden week' is over (it might be continuing for many people). In Japan, the week comprising of last few days of April and first few days of May is called the golden week. Four public holidays fall in this period. Sometimes Saturdays and Sundays fall before and after these holidays and a long vacation period is created. Even if there is no such alignment, like this year, many people use their paid leaves and get vacation longer than a week. It is the travel time for Japanese. They mostly leave for overseas or some scenic spots inside Japan. Some go to their parents' home in villages. Children seem very excited to meet their 'ojiichyan' (grandfather) and 'obaachyan' (grandmother).

It seems that Swine flu terror didn't much deter Japanese from traveling overseas; according to news, only travels to Mexico were affected.

We too had planned a two day travel to a nearby city, but had to cancel it for some reason. So our golden week travel was limited to two half-day visits to a Shinto shrine and a park in Nagoya.

This was our first visit to Atsuta Jingu(Atsuta Shrine). This place holds a very important place in Japanese history. It is believed to be built in the first century. There were a lot of visitors but it still was very peaceful inside. With many big, tall trees, it was like a small dense forest. We couldn't enter through the main entrance of the main Shrine as big construction was going around it. In fact, we even couldn't have the good view of the main Shrine. Temporary arrangements were made for praying.

Helping Aryaa wash her hands before entering the main Shrine premises. This is a very important ritual in Shinto belief, it is for 'purifying' yourself before entering the Shrine.

Hands full with small stones

Collecting yellow and red leaves

Our another 'tour', on May 1, was to a park called "Tsuruma Park". We have already been to there a few times. It used to be one of the most desired venues for Dashain and Nepali New Year programs. We didn't expect Sakura in May but much of the roses and other flowers in the garden there was also gone. A big concert was going on in one of the open concert halls in the park. Burmese people were celebrating their New Year. I didn't know Burmese New Year fell around this time . A large picture of Aung San Su Kyi was gazing down from the wall. A beautiful flower of liberty who has been detained by the cruel military junta for so long, but the fragrance couldn't be detained by the junta, it is guiding Burmese people everywhere.

Aryaa enjoyed the big Children Park there. As this park is at the center of Nagoya, children (and their parents) of all 'colors' were there, creating a true international community.

It was continuous rain after that. To stay confined in home for four days was really suffocating. It's a 'relief' that this rainy GOLDEN WEEK is over:)

'New' kindergarten-new no more

2009-05-02T11:38:00.004+09:00

A month has already passed since Aryaa joined the new kindergarten. It's no more new. She has blended herself very well into it. She has made many intimate friends and she talks very affectionately of her teachers.

She hasn't forgotten her old kindergarten and old teachers and friends completely yet, she talks about them sometimes, but they are fading fast from her memory. Her talks now have more much more about Honoka-chyan, Aki-chyan, Junpei-kun, Okinaka-sensei and Ochiai-sensei than Riku-kun,Yudai-kun, ChiChi-chyan, Sanda-sensei and Fukui-sensei. Her best friend in the former kindergarten was a boy named Riku. In fact, she was more friends with boys than girls. When asked to tell names of her friends, she would first finish telling boys' names and only then tell girls' names:) From her talks, her best friend in this kindergarten seems to be a girl named Honoka.

This kindergarten is very near from our apartment. It can be seen from kitchen, sound of kids playing can be heard very clearly. I looked towards there many times (I am home today), hoping to have a glimpse of her playing with her friends. Kids from another gumi(group)were there. Her gumi may be listening stories inside or as the day is sunny and warm, may have been taken to a nearby park.

What Color is Water?

2009-04-28T11:54:00.001+09:00

Aryaa’s crayon box was returned from the old kindergarten and her new kindergarten hasn’t yet told us to leave it with them. It was sitting idly for many days. I thought of utilizing it to play with Aryaa in the evening. There are sixteen colors in the box. I had already forgotten names of a few among them:)

I am not good at drawing (and coloring) anything. I even hated the mechanical drawing classes in my first year in University. Aryaa tells me to draw whatever comes into her mind; dragon, cat wit hat, tiger and elephant fighting--- while I have to look at her picture books even to draw very simple pictures.

What I thought this time was to draw, and make her draw too, simple figures like round, triangle and rectangle etc. and let her color them with different colors. She can draw round figure, and she draws triangle and rectangle into round too:) She knows the difference among these shapes but her hand is not balanced yet to draw them differently. I didn’t press her to learn to draw triangles or rectangles. She will learn in time.

She liked coloring and remembered the names of most of these colors. Now-a-days, when she sees something, she first talks about its color, ‘it is green’, ‘it is red’, ‘it is pink'.

Two days ago, we were washing hands.
"What color is water?" she asked pointing to the tap
"Water is water color.” I replied.
"No, this is not water color!” She shouted. Among the 16 colors in the crayon box, one is “water color". I would prefer to call it ‘Sky Blue’ but as it was written “water color” on it, I taught her the same.
"OK, it is not water color---" I wanted to give some ‘color’ to water that was flowing down from the tap, but was unable.

I can teach her to call it “sky blue” from now but I don’t know what they will teach at her kindergarten.

If they too call it “sky blue", I hope Aryaa will believe me that water is 'water color':)

Parenting is Fun-I

2009-04-23T10:33:00.000+09:00

Let me share some (not so) old photos today as I couldn't manage time to write any new article.

Aryaa is six months old in this photo. Look at 'unkempt' me. I 'avoid' shaving on holidays as much as I can, thinking my face too needs 'rest':)

She is one and half years old here. We had just moved to a new apartment. It was after lunch on a Sunday. We were asleep and her mother took this pic.

This must be a year ago, when she had just learned making faces. She was trying to 'frighten' us.

SHAPES and COLORS

2009-04-17T22:20:00.001+09:00

We are always told to teach Aryaa Nepali (and some English too) by family members in Nepal. They worry that if not done so, it will be difficult for her in school after we go back to Nepal. So two books were sent from home.

She is not yet old enough to start learning to read and write. She enjoys the pictures and asks us about them. Children become familiar with shapes, colors, animals, vegetables etc. at this age. So those books were helpful to make her familiar with Nepali and English words for them. She may not remember all but becoming even a little familiar now will be of use for her later.

In both of these books, a (similar) page is dedicated for Colors. Aryaa enjoyed this colorful page. But this page started giving problems, Aryaa started to call "Yellow" whenever she saw a triangle and "Green" whenever she saw a star shape. This page is intended for teaching different colors to a child but the figures come in different shapes too. So there are two things which attract a child's attention, color and shape. Aryaa seems to be attracted towards shape and not towards color. The writers/publishers may have thought that different colors with different shapes might be more attractive to children but that approach seems wrong. While writing such books, one should be very careful about the psychology and the learning process of children.

If a child is to be taught about different colors, he/she should be shown those colors through the same shape. Similarly, if different shapes are to be taught, those shapes should be in the same color.

One of the picture books she got from her kindergarten is intended for the same purpose, introducing different colors to a child. It is called IRO IRO BOUSHI (So many caps). It uses only one shape, cap, as shown in the picture below. So there is no confusion here.

So we now don't show her the 'confusing' page. I am even thinking of writing a letter to the publisher about this (e-mail address is not provided).

Entrance Ceremony, Hair Cut etc.

2009-04-13T11:07:00.003+09:00

I sometimes wonder why I started this blog when I was already unable to be regular with my first (Nepali) blog!

There was an 'Entrance Ceremony' in Aryaa's new kindergarten on April 3. The program was just like they do in University entrance ceremonies albeit with fewer people and no compulsion of formal dress. It was nice to hear small kids' random funny comments. Some children (a few months old ones too were there among the new 'students') were crying. I admire the patience that these kindergarten teachers have. It is no joke to spend your everyday caring so many children. Just one, that too on off-hours and weekends only makes us tired to hell!

Kids are being welcomed to the kindergarten

Aryaa was shy during the most of the program and left her seat many times to go behind to sit with her mother

We had HANAMI (cherry blossom viewing) plans for the afternoon but it was cold and also started to rain after 11. Next day too was mostly cloudy and cold. So there was no HANAMI this year:)

Aryaa's hair was getting longer. Till now, her mother was trimming it. This time we took her to the barber shop I go to regularly. We were afraid that Aryaa would cry or refuse to sit in the seat but she behaved 'nice'. Most of her girl friends have longer hair and we had thought of letting Aryaa too have long hair. May be no hair cut from now until she becomes old enough and demands it herself.

One kid in her GUMI (group) was in mask for a few days as she had some allergies. After seeing that, Aryaa too wanted a mask! After her non-stop demand, we had to buy one for her. See her with the mask and her 'glass' below. And see the way she is using that mask:)

And below is one of her most favorite hobbies, 'tormenting' her father:)

Is nap necessary for all children?

2009-04-06T14:01:00.002+09:00

Aryya woke up at 5:15 in morning yesterday. It is 2 to 2.5 hrs earlier than usual. She didn't have fever or any other problem and was active and alert. She wakes this early once in a couple of months.

We were expecting that she would take a nap after lunch but she didn't look sleepy at all the whole afternoon. She slept very early, around 7:30 in the evening.

Aryaa's not taking naps in the afternoon has been one of our biggest worries regarding her so far. From a few months after her birth, it was very hard to make her sleep in the afternoon. After she turned two, it became even harder. Teachers in her kindergarten too used to write to us that she was the only child not taking naps regularly (Kids below 4 have to take naps after lunch in kindergartens), other children used to fall asleep immediately after lunch. The only time it was little bit easier, according to them, was the two months during summer when children enjoyed in the swimming pool. They had requested us to make her take naps on holidays too so that she will have a good 'rhythm'. But we were unable however we tried.

So we went to a doctor. He said that we didn't need to worry as she was having sound and continuous sleep in the nighttime and slept enough hours needed for her age. So we stopped trying to make her sleep in the afternoon but they continued in the kindergarten. looking at the 'notes' that we got from her teachers (carers) everyday, Aryaa seemed to take afternoon nap only once or twice a week.

The teacher responsible for her GUMI(group) in the new kindergarten, after talking with us, has told us that she won't 'force' Aryaa to sleep if she doesn't look sleepy and will let her play with older kids (who aren't required to nap).

While searching about children sleep, I found this very comprehensive article in a site called WebMD. I hope it can be a reference for you too if you are having sleep related problem with your kids.

How Much Sleep Do Children Need?
By Michael J. Breus, PhD
WebMD Feature
Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD

1-4 Weeks Old : 15 ½ - 16 ½ hours per day

Newborns typically sleep about 15 to 18 hours a day, but only in short periods of two to four hours. Premature babies may sleep longer and colicky ones shorter.

Since newborns do not yet have an internal biological clock or circadian rhythm, their sleep patterns are not related to the daylight and nighttime cycles. In fact, they tend not to have much of a pattern at all -- their needs are unpredictable at this age. And there is not much you can do about it. You have to go with the flow, do what works to soothe and comfort your baby, and be on "baby time."

During transitions from wake to sleep and vice versa, you may see a sudden jerk or body twitch, as well as her eyes rolling upward as she falls asleep. As the brain develops, you may also see restless movements and agitation accompanied by crying for no apparent reason. This is all quite normal and no cause for alarm.

1-4 Months Old: 14 ½ - 15 ½ hours per day

5-8 Weeks Old

By 6 weeks old social smiling begins, your baby is beginning to settle down a bit, and you may notice more regular sleep patterns emerging. The longest periods of sleep run four to six hours and now tend to occur more regularly in the evening. Day-night confusion ends.

Two hours is about the longest time your baby can stay awake and remain happy and alert. So he needs to take a nap within that time frame. Waiting until your child is overtired or keeping him up past two hours often results in resistance to going to sleep, as well as fussiness and behavioral changes. Interestingly, if naps are deprived on a regular basis, his body produces stimulating hormones to fight fatigue that may actually cause night awakenings. So it is important to become sensitive to your baby's sleep needs.

Learn to recognize early when your baby is becoming tired. Look for signs like rubbing eyes, pulling ears, getting circles under the eyes. Begin the wind-down routine right away; soothe him in a consistent manner that works for you, and then put him to sleep in his crib. He is now developing sensitivity to his surroundings, recognizing cues like light, noise, and vibration. So when sleeping, he should be motionless and in a quiet, darkened area. All this helps your baby become a more regular sleeper.

3-4 Months Old

Your baby is now getting about two-thirds of sleep at night with three daytime naps, and so is beginning to establish a more firm day-night cycle. She may still sleep irregularly, and at this stage it is OK to forego rigid scheduling, because it is her biology and not her sleep habits that is the predominant factor.

That said, it is important to develop and maintain consistent routines so she does not develop unhealthy sleep habits, which will soon play a major role in her ability to sleep soundly. She needs to begin to learn how to soothe herself and put herself to sleep unassisted. Also, now that she is more interested in the world around her, it becomes more important to place her in a quiet, darkened room, where she will be able sleep well.

Now that your baby has become more social (smiling, giggling, laughing) she may well prefer to be with you and play rather than go to sleep. So you may find some resistance to nap- and bedtime. Do not deny her the critical sleep she needs. Overtired babies quickly become miserable; many may cry with such duration and intensity that they even appear to be sick.

I like the surfing analogy Mark Weissbluth, MD, uses in his book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child: "You want to catch the wave of drowsiness as it is rising to enable your baby to have a long smooth ride to deep slumber. If your timing is off and your wave crashes into an overtired state, then the ride is bumpy and brief....Crying is the consequence of being overtired."

4-12 Months Old : 14 - 15 hours per day

4-8 Months Old

While up to 15 hours is ideal, most infants up to 11 months old get only about 12Â½ hours sleep. Establishing healthy sleep habits is a primary goal during this period, as your baby is now much more social, and his sleep patterns are more adult-like. The key is being sensitive to his sleep needs and adapting your lifestyle and scheduling your activities to be in sync with them. As Weissbluth notes, "You are harming your child when you allow unhealthy sleep patterns to evolve or persist -- sleep deprivation is as unhealthy as feeding a nutritionally deficient diet."

You should use the clock together with your child's natural daily sleep/wake rhythms, his internal clock or circadian rhythm. By learning when your child is naturally sleepy and awake, you can properly and consistently apply healthy sleep routines.

Crying when being put to bed and after awakening at night will only be reinforced and "learned" if you respond to it. So, as a general principal, unless your baby is sick or hungry, do not go to him. Starting routines early and being consistent are keys for success. It typically takes only a few days for a baby to learn to fall asleep unassisted, but it is up to you to maintain the schedule and routines so habits are not lost. The sound sleep that follows is a gift to him and you as well.

Babies at this stage may wake up early (5 - 6 a.m.) and go right back to sleep or wake up a bit later (7 a.m.) and start the day. Whichever the case, there is nothing you can do to change this (like keeping him up later). It is just part of his biology.

Babies typically have three naps and drop to two at around 6 months old, at which time (or earlier) they are physically capable of sleeping through the night. Establishing regular naps generally happens at the latter part of this time frame, as his biological rhythms mature. The midmorning nap usually starts at 9 a.m. and lasts about an hour. The early afternoon nap starts from 12 - 2 p.m. and lasts an hour or two. And the late afternoon nap may start from 3 - 5 p.m. and is variable in duration.

Don't let the early afternoon nap start beyond 3 p.m., or it may mess up the rest of his sleep schedule. If he misses a nap, keep him up until the next sleep period, though it may begin a bit earlier. Remember that an overtired baby will have difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep.

9-12 Months Old

Your baby now typically sleeps from 10-12 hours at night, takes two naps, and no longer needs to be fed at night.

With the absence of the third nap you may find that she needs an earlier bedtime. It may vary, however, depending on her nap schedule. Interestingly, changes as small as 20 minutes may have a large impact on behavior. Contrary to what you may think, earlier bedtimes allow your child to sleep later and more soundly. Keeping her up too late will increase, not decrease, night awakenings and other sleep-related problems.

With the emergence of her ability to engage more socially and express herself, your little angel may become less cooperative. She is probably much more interested in playing with you and exploring the world than going to a boring, quiet room to take a nap. Naps are essential, though. So do not let naptimes slip and slide. If you do, your child will become fatigued.

Fighting this fatigue results in a heightened state of wakefulness that makes it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. Nighttime sleep problems often develop. If loss of naps is persistent, the fatigue accumulates and creates a vicious cycle that may lead to emotional and behavioral difficulties. Luckily, when you re-establish your sleep schedule, the problems typically disappear.

Allowing your child to soothe herself and put herself to sleep unassisted are critical to establishing good sleep habits, sleeping soundly, and preventing future sleep problems. As Mark Weissbluth, MD, says in his book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, "The failure of our children to fall asleep and stay asleep by themselves is the direct result of parents' failure to give their child the opportunity to learn ... self-soothing skills.... Some parents can't leave their kids alone long enough for them to fall asleep by themselves.... The major sleep problems in babies 4-12 months old develop and persist because of the inability of parents to stop reinforcing bad sleep habits."

1-3 Years Old : 12 - 14 hours per day

As your child moves past the first year toward 18-21 months old he will lose his morning nap and nap only once a day for an hour and a half to two hours. While toddlers need up to 14 hours a day of sleep, they typically get only about 10Â½.

The transition to one nap may be a bumpy one, though, where one nap is not enough and two are too many. If this is the case, you may try moving his bedtime earlier, so that he is more rested and better able to skip the morning nap. Another approach involves alternating one-nap and two-nap days, depending on his sleep the previous night.

Most children from about 21-36 months old still need one nap a day, which may range from one to three and a half hours long. They typically go to bed between 7 - 9 p.m. and wake up between 6 - 8 a.m. It is important to be regular (but not necessarily rigid) with bedtimes and naptimes and consistent with your routines or rituals.

If your child is sleeping well and is rested, occasional changes in his daily routine are generally well tolerated. However, if he is not sleeping well, changes may cause quite a few problems. Children at this age move to a bed from a crib and often develop sleep issues that include fears (monsters, the dark, separation), refusing to take naps, resisting going to sleep, night waking, getting out of bed, and getting up too early.

Though this may sound overwhelming, starting early and consistently maintaining healthy sleep habits prevents many problems and makes dealing with those that do occur much, much easier.

3-6 Years Old : 10 ¾ - 12 hours per day

Children at this age typically go to bed around 7 - 9 p.m. and wake up at about 6 - 8 a.m., just as they did when they were younger. At 3, most children are still napping, while at 5 most are not. Naps gradually become shorter as well. New sleep problems do not usually develop after 3 years of age.

You are impressed and exasperated at how well your child has developed bedtime stalling tactics, and at how easily you may be manipulated -- "I need to go to the bathroom (again). I need a glass of water; I am so thirsty. Wait, I love you (for the fourth time)."

As always, you must be sensitive to your child's sleep needs and aware of how well rested she is. Nursery school, preschool, playgroups and the like may wind up eliminating naptime. This may or may not be problematic. If, by altering her nighttime sleep schedule, by going to bed earlier and/or sleeping later, she is well rested, then you're OK. But don't eliminate naps if she is not ready. Both you and she will pay the price if you do; major problems can occur.

Sleep, among other factors, influences your child's temperament. Poor sleep (too little and/or poor quality) is associated with behavior problems like aggression, defiance, non-compliance, oppositional behavior, acting out, and hyperactivity. The inability to put herself back to sleep unassisted and irregular bedtimes are also associated with behavior problems. It is clear, then, that the proper amount and quality of sleep are very important for your child's development.

7-12 Years Old : 10 - 11 hours per day

At these ages, with social, school, and family activities, bedtimes gradually become later and later, with most 12-years-olds going to bed at about 9 p.m. There is still a wide range of bedtimes, from 7:30 - 10 p.m., as well as total sleep times, from 9 - 12 hours, although the average is only 9 ½ hours.

Sleep needs do not decrease and remain vitally important to your child's health, development, and well-being. Without the proper amount of sleep, your child will become increasingly sleepy during the day. Those children with a history of sleep problems see them persist. They do not "outgrow them."

In his book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, Marc Weissbluth, MD, sums up what you may find in children who routinely do not get the sleep they need, with a bit of a Catch 22: "School achievement difficulties were found more often among poor sleepers compared to good sleepers.... Young children who have difficulty sleeping become older children with more academic problems. But children who are academically successful risk not getting the sleep they need!"

12-18 Years Old : 8 ¼ - 9 ½ hours per day

Sleep needs remain just as vital to health and well-being for teenagers as when they were younger. It turns out that many teenagers over 15 actually need more sleep than in previous years. Now, however, social pressures conspire against getting the proper amount and quality of sleep.

Teens are not getting the sleep they once did, and many have difficulty falling asleep and frequently wake up at night. This is not normal, and all this is taking a toll. Sleep deprivation is associated with mood changes and behavioral problems, including conduct disorders and inattention.

One study of U.S. high school students found that 13% were chronically sleep-deprived. Other international studies confirm the global nature of this problem. Not getting enough sleep and not sleeping well is not OK.

New Kindergarten

2009-04-01T11:10:00.007+09:00

Today is Aryaa's first day in (yet another) new kindergarten. It is the 5th one.

The first one was very near from where we were living at that time. But that was a private one, very expensive. We had to settle for it as other kindergartens we applied for were 'full' and were not accepting new children. Then after one month, one government run kindergarten accepted her. It was little bit far. Another one, which was nearer, accepted her after she spent one month there. She spent 5 months in this 3rd one and we shifted to Nagoya. Here again, the nearby kindergartens were 'full'. She spent 17 months in the fourth one.

The new one is very near, 100 m. from our home. We had applied for it last year too. It is very convenient and saves our time. Besides, Aryaa can be woken up little bit later than we were doing till now.

She will be in SAKURA GUMI (Sakura Group) and her 'mark' will be TENTOU MUSHI (ladybird beetle.)

New environment makes everybody little uneasy, it's more so for children. Aryaa was very intimate with her friends and teachers in the previous kindergarten. So first few days might be shock for her.

But children adapt to new environment very soon too. So we will soon be hearing about her friends and teachers every evening.

3 years health-check

2009-03-27T10:35:00.004+09:00

Aryaa went for her 3 years health-check with her mother yesterday.

Japan has universal health care, almost all the general treatments are covered by insurance. Adults have to pay 30% of the total cost whereas any treatment or care is free in case of children.

Comprehensive health-check of children is compulsory. It is done at the age of 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 years and 3 years. A letter with all the required documents, which are to be filled and taken to the venue, comes from the city/ward office. I really admire the perfect arrangements they make for such health-checks and other cares children need. There is a big debate in America about the universal health care. It is true that the success of universal health care depends on many things like the culture, political system etc., but looking at Japan, it seems immensely successful. I think every country should have some sort of universal health care. If it's not possible for all, it must be there for children.

Looking at the report, it seems everything is fine. Aryaa is growing normally; active and healthy. She is tall, her height is slightly more than the upper limit of the range being used here for her age.

Telling stories, it's not easy!

2009-03-23T14:00:00.004+09:00

Everyday before sleeping, Aryaa makes us read her picture books for her. And after switching off the lights, we have to tell her some stories.

Reading her picture books is not a big deal. They have a lot of pictures and very few words, that too in simple Japanese. After reading for so many times, I can recite almost all of those books:) But coining a good story for a child seems really difficult. I have written some stories/poems etc. (for adults) and used to think that writing for children would be easy. But it is not easy! It might be one the most difficult among all the genres.

"INUNO HANASI SITE--" (Tell me a story of dog--), she requested once. While walking towards the nearest Children Park in the morning, she was very much amused by a cute little dog with one lady. Afterward she had asked me why we didn't have any dogs. I had told her that we had one in our home in Nepal and it was very lovely, etc. So she wanted to hear about that dog.

"That dog is very lovely" I started. "His name is PHUCHCHE. It likes to play with all the family members.---"

"SOREKARA INU DOKO ITTA NO" (Where did it go after that?) She wasn't satisfied with the "description" and wanted a "real story".

"Well, it said 'bye! bye!' to all and left for the nearby mountain." I was too tired and wasn't able to imagine anything good. I was trying hard not to fall asleep myself. "The mountain was steep and very high. The dog was already very tired after climbing only the half. So he rested for some time and started again. At last, after 2 hours he was at the top." Not knowing how to go ahead, I stopped here briefly.

"There was a temple at the top" I started again. "There was a priest there, and inside there was god too." I don't know why I didn't use the word 'idol' instead of 'god'.

"What was god doing?" She suddenly asked.
"Hmmmm--- He was reading a book!" I replied and became ready for another question like 'What books does god read?'.
"And where did the dog go from there?" She was more interested in the dog's journey than god's books!
"Well, he climbed down, went back home, had dinner and slept." Fearing another dead end, I opted for a 'safe-landing'.
"CHIGAU--!!!! SOREKARA INU DOKO ITTANO!?"(No---! Where did the dog go from there!?), She was in no mood to let this dog return back and sleep! He had to keep on moving!

"Well then this dog looked at the city below from the top of the mountain. 'Ah, the city looks too crowded now!' he talked to himself and moved from there. He reached a big jungle. It was little bit dark there, he was afraid at first but the little monkey there was very friendly. They played together. Monkey kid taught him swing. Then he said 'bye' to monkey and started again. In another big jungle he listened some birds singing. You know, those small birds have so sweet voice! They were singing 'HINA MATSURI' songs. After the birds finished singing, this dog went to another mountain----"

In this way after seven mountains and eight jungles, my dog was about to reach the big sea and swim but Aryaa was already asleep.

I was wondering why didn't this dog reach sea earlier? Why did he have to cross so many jungles and mountains to reach sea? Is it because I come from a landlocked country with many mountains:)

Children seem to have very fertile imagination. You just have to give them a stream of events (they can even be random and impossible) and they create/imagine the story themselves. But even imagining events continuously is not easy, especially when the child doesn't sleep at least 45 minutes after switching the lights off. And sometimes my limited Japanese language skills give trouble too. It is the only language she understands.

It is still not easy for me but let me tell you I am getting better at it, though slowly. I have already tried some new heroes like tiger, lion, bird. I hope I will soon be able to have a human hero:)

Foods That Help Oral Health

2009-03-19T10:28:00.003+09:00

Image Source

Oranges, kiwis, strawberries, limes, and peppers

There are several different types of bacteria in your child's mouth, and some of them can cause gingivitis, which is the first stage of gum disease, says Melvin Pierson, DDS, a spokesperson for the Academy of General Dentistry. Vitamin C in fruits such as oranges, limes, kiwis, cantaloupe, papaya, and strawberries helps kill these bacteria, and it also promotes a healthy supply of collagen in the gums. Other good vegetable sources: red, yellow, and orange peppers; tomatoes; and sweet potatoes. However, dentists say that kids should wait at least 30 minutes before brushing their teeth after having citrus foods or drinks. That's because citric acid in the fruit can temporarily weaken tooth enamel and leave teeth vulnerable to erosion caused by brushing.

Milk, yogurt, and cheese

Starchy carbohydrates like bread, white potatoes, and pasta break down into sugar. This sugar feeds other types of bacteria in your child's mouth that produce cavity-causing acid. When your child drinks milk or eats yogurt or cheese -- which are rich in calcium, vitamin D, and phosphate -- it raises the pH level in his mouth, lowers acid levels, and reduces the risk of tooth decay, says Ray J. Jurado, DDS, director of pediatric dentistry at Children's Memorial Hospital, in Chicago. Calcium is also beneficial in several other ways: It mixes with plaque and sticks to teeth, further protecting them from lingering acid; it repairs damaged enamel; and it strengthens the bones around your child's teeth, making them more resistant to periodontal disease later in life.

Raw carrots, celery, cauliflower, green beans, and snap peas

Crisp veggies are "chewing foods" that mechanically clean your child's teeth and gums. "These foods naturally scrape away plaque that builds up between meals or that kids miss when brushing," says family dentist Jimmy Wu, DDS, of San Diego. Encourage your child to eat slowly and to completely chew each crunchy mouthful.

Sesame, sunflower, and pumpkin seeds, and nuts

Nuts and seeds contain natural fats that coat teeth and help shield against bacteria, says Dr. Wu. The oils in the seeds help strengthen enamel, making teeth more resistant to cavities, and most seeds also contain calcium. Kids older than 4 can eat trail mix as a healthy snack.

Sugarless gum

The next time your child begs for a pack in the checkout line, you can say yes. Saliva loosens plaque, increases the number of natural antibodies in the mouth, and keep gums hydrated. Chewing any food stimulates saliva production, but chewing sugarless gum for 20 minutes after meals can help prevent tooth decay, according to the American Dental Association (ADA). In fact, the ADA recently gave its Seal of Acceptance to Orbit, Extra, and Eclipse gums after Wrigley conducted studies demonstrating its brands' benefits. However, kids shouldn't chew gum until at least age 4, when you can trust them not to swallow it.

(From Parents.com)

Birthday

2009-03-15T21:25:00.006+09:00

Happy birthday to Aryaa!!!

Aryaa's third birthday was on Friday. I was too tired to write on that night and couldn't manage time till now.
************************************************
We were in Nepal for Aryaa's first birthday. It was our first visit to Nepal after Aryaa's birth. Aryaa had cold and fever for most of the time of our two weeks stay and she wasn't eating much. It might be the sudden change of the environment/weather, from Nagoya to Kathmandu and after few days to Pokhara. She was looking very weak and pale on her birthday.

It was celebrated with TIKA and incense instead of birthday cake and candles. AMA had made a PUJA (a brief religious ceremony) to pray for Aryaa's health and long life.

Her second birthday last year was celebrated in a Nepali-Indian Restaurant with some of our friends. This year we had a small gathering in our own apartment.

Aryaa enjoyed it very much. She is very happy in group. She was so excited to blow off the candles and cut the cake. She fed cake to all of us, one by one; but she herself doesn't like cakes. She was happy with a chocolate:)

It was a good chance for us too, to talk and laugh heartily. Aryaa was busy with her birthday gifts. She was also talking with us (in Japanese), running here and there showing this and that to her uncles and aunts. She didn't show any irritation to our non-stop talking in Nepali this time.

Visit to NOUGYOU SENTA

2009-03-11T08:04:00.003+09:00

"KYOU NOUGYOU SENTA ITTAN DA YO!" (We went to agriculture center today!) Aryaa told when I was back to home yesterday evening. I had already read the previous days' message from her teachers, they were taking kids to agriculture center. It must be a farm at the outskirts of Nagoya.

"YAGI MO IMASITA YO!" (There were goats too!)---- She was very happy by seeing goats and other animals.

As all children do, she loves small animals. But what she can normally see are cats and dogs only, that too other people's pets. There are some stray cats too in our neighborhood. We don't have any pets, it is not allowed in the building we live and we wouldn't be able to afford too. There are two rabbits in her kindergarten. Aryaa likes very much to have her palm licked by those lovely rabbits.

A few days back, they were taken to a picnic too, to a nearby park. We were told to prepare Aryaa's BENTOU (lunch box) for that day. Normally, all the kids have their lunch in the kindergarten.

Here is one of the photos from our visit to Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens in October. There is a section in the zoo where some small animals are kept. Children can play with them, feed them grass etc. Aryaa enjoyed playing there. It was very hard to persuade her to leave when the zoo was about to be closed.

With kid, time flies--

2009-03-06T15:00:00.005+09:00

They say time flies. It certainly flies. At least it seems when you look back to your past days.

And time flies faster when you are raising a child. It seems just a moment ago that I was waiting outside the delivery room. I could hear Sobita screaming and was feeling hopeless and bitter that I could do nothing to help her. Then came the tender crying of a new born baby and one of the two lights above the door of the delivery room was switched on, showing the birth of our Aryaa.

I looked towards the sky and thanked God!

I could look her through the glass only; she was kept in the special room for newborns. I could touch her the next day. She was longer (taller) and weighed more than average newborns. Now too, she looks taller than kids of her age. But she looks little bit lean. We were worried and went to consult with doctor once. We were told not to worry as she was healthy and active.

And her third birth day is after a few days.

Three years flew away so fast. It was a beautiful journey with Aryaa, a very rewarding one. You just feel bliss and blessed with child. Our three years were with her completely and for her completely.

Aryaa's kindergarten had this month’s TANJOUKAI(birth day ceremony) a few days back. They have this once a month, when they celebrate birthdays of all the children born in that month.

We got a short letter with a photograph pasted on it from the kindergarten. We had got the similar one last year too. Teachers of Aryaa’s class (group) which is named AHIRU GUMI (Duck group) have written about Aryaa, her health, her behavior etc. They have written that Aryaa likes to do everything in her own pace and doesn’t like to be ordered too much. We have the same feeling. When she doesn’t like something, there is no way we can make her like it. Same is with food, when she doesn’t like some foods; she just ignores and doesn’t look at them at all.

Her height has increased by 11.5 centimeters and weight by 3 kgs since her last birthday. We haven’t measured recently but that was in the letter we received.

Here are the two photos.

Last Year

This Year

Kids Prefer Veggies With Cool Names

2009-03-03T10:03:00.005+09:00

LiveScience Staff
LiveScience.com livescience Staff
livescience.com Mon Mar 2, 12:45 pm ET

Kids won't eat their vegetables? Rename them, scientists say.

In a new study, 186 four-year-olds were given regular carrots and, on other lunch days, they were given the same vegetables renamed X-ray Vision Carrots. On the latter days, they ate nearly twice as many.

The study suggests the influence of these names might persist.

Children continued to eat about 50 percent more carrots even on the days when they were no longer labeled as anything special.

The research, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, was presented today at the annual meeting of the School Nutrition Association in Washington, DC.

"Cool names can make for cool foods," says lead author Brian Wansink of Cornell University. "Whether it be 'power peas' or 'dinosaur broccoli trees,' giving a food a fun name makes kids think it will be more fun to eat. And it seems to keep working - even the next day," Wansink said.

Similar results have been found with adults. A restaurant study showed that when the Seafood Filet was changed to Succulent Italian Seafood Filet, sales increased 28 percent and taste rating increased by 12 percent. "Same food, but different expectations, and a different experience," said Wansink, author of "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think."

The veggie study was conducted in pre-schools, but the researchers believe the same naming tricks can work with children at home.

"I've been using this with my kids," said researcher Collin Payne, "Whatever sparks their imagination seems to spark their appetite."

(From Yahoo! News)

HINA MATSURI

2009-02-26T16:00:00.003+09:00

Aryaa seems singing HINA MATSURI songs these days. They are teaching it to kids in her Kindrgarten.

HINA MATSURI (HINA festival), which falls on March 3, is girls' festival. People who have daughters display beautiful clay figurines in their homes in from some weeks before this day. We too have displayed two cute figurines. We couldn't display many figurines like Japanese people due to the lack of space in our room. And they need to be protected from Aryaa herself too:).

KODOMONO HI in May is dedicated to boys.

Routine

2009-01-20T14:35:00.004+09:00

Sobu is very busy with her studies, and part-time work in a nearby convenience store. So I am busy with taking care of Aryaa. I too have a full time job but luckily its not much busy and I don't have to work overtime. So I am with Aryaa in the morning and evening of every weekday and 24 hours on most of saturdays, all sundays and holidays.

It is a pretty busy routine we are following since last (almost) two years. Every morning, Sobu goes to her part-time work before 6 and after a few hours of work goes straight to the her University. In between 6 and 7, I shave, wash my head and have breakfast. On designated days, I have to dispose the garbage collected in the room. I wake up Aryaa around 7. It is very hard. She is very reluctant to get out of bed, especially in this cold winter, and cries and becomes angry with me. After taking her to the toilet and helping her wash her hands and face, I put her in front of the television. There are many interesting programs for children in NHK Education channel from 7 in the morning. Aryaa stops crying and enjoys all these programs. I prepare her brekafast, feed her and help her change clothes. I also prepare the 'note' of her activities since last evening; her dinner time, sleep time, breakfast time etc. which is needed to submit to the kindergarten everyday. Towels and aprons (and sometimes extra clothes too) are needed too.

I drop her at her kindergarten and rush to the office. Her mother goes to receive her in the evening but sometimes when she is busy, I have to go.

Life is very busy and stressful thus but we are enjoying these days as Aryaa is growing well and is healthy and active. Every moment with her is so lovely and memorable.

SANTA CLAUS

2008-12-26T13:46:00.004+09:00

Santa Claus is the most successful salesman of World. You can call him the most successful invention of capitalism. But I know. You may not care until you become a dad or a mom.

I too didn’t care until a few days back. I was raised in a Hindu family and I didn’t have any Christian friends until I was 20 something. So Santa Claus and Christmas gifts never meant much to me.

Our (almost) 3 years old daughter Aryaa goes to a nearby kindergarten. She started talking about Christmas party that was being planned for the 24th Dec. in her kindergarten, Santa Claus and gifts. She also did this “ho-ho—ho” in Santa Claus style. They must have been rehearsing there in the kindergarten. Japanese people celebrate Christmas but they don’t celebrate it. I mean that they have copied the entertainment part of it but don’t care about the religious part.

Aryaa was supposed to get some gifts from her kindergarten but started demanding from us too. She wanted AKAI JIDOSHA (Red Car). One of her picture-books is BURUBURUSANNO AKAI JIDOUSHA (Mr. Bul and his Red Car). She likes it very much.

I was late to come home on the 24th. Sobita and Aryaa were already home. Aryaa’s gifts from Santa Claus were everywhere in the room, many small toys, cookies, new picture book. Sobita had also bought one AKAI JIDOUSHA (a small one) and a writing board.

Aryaa was very excited with all these gifts and came for dinner very reluctantly.

MAINICHI KURISUMASUNO HOU GA YII NE (It would be great if we had Christmas everyday), Aryaa was saying during the dinner.

2008-03-25T11:33:00.001+09:00

अप्रिल ४ बाट आर्या 'आहिरु गुमी'मा जाँदैछे।

Happy Birthday to Aryaa!

2008-03-13T23:41:00.002+09:00

आर्यालाई शुभ जन्मदिन!
आजबाट ऊ २ वर्षकी पुगेर ३ वर्षकी लागी। उसको उज्ज्वल भविष्यनै हाम्रो सबैभन्दा प्रमुख लक्ष्य हो अब।
यो ब्लगमा हामी आर्याको दैनिकीका बारेमा भ्याएसम्म लेख्नेछौं।