Monthly Archives: September 2008

Top 50 Children Books

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Today, documenting a bit more of our sweet baby, My Baby Love… I think Baloo (Bear in Hindi) is sharing a secret with him.

Though I think reading any book to your child is better than not reading any, I pride myself in reading books of excellence to our children. Though you will be familiar with some, others may not strike you as familiar. I enjoy seeking out a great book for our children and giving it a new home on our shelf.
Books That Every Parent Should Have In Their Child’s Personal Library Collection:

1. The Tinest Acorn by Marsha T. Danzig
2. The Tale of Three Trees by Angela Elwell Hunt
3. Hurbert (The Caterpillar Who Thought He Was a Mustache) by Wendy Stang and Susan Richards
4. It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw
5. The Enchanted Tree by Flavia and Lisa Weedn
6. Belinda the Ballerina by Amy Young
7. Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi
8. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
9. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin
10. People by Peter Spier
11. Whoever You Are by Mem Fox
12. One Grain of Rice by Demi
13. You Are Special by Max Lucado
14. Zen Shorts by John J Muth
15. The Spider and The Fly by Tony DiTerlizzi
16. The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
17. The crayon Box that Talked by Shane DeRolf
18. Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
19. The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle
20. Papa, Please Get Me the Moon by Eric Carle
21. Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
22. Wacky Wednesday by Dr. Suess
23. Hands Are Not For Hitting by Martine Agassi
24. I Kissed the Baby by Mary Murphy
25. Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni
26. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstien
30. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (& other complete works) by Laura Joffe Numeroff
31. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
32. Narnia by C. S. Lewis
33. Little Cloud by Eric Carle
34. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
35. Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner
36. I Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch
37. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willlems
38. The Cat In The Hat by Dr. Seuss
39. Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
40. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
41. Hug by Jez Alborough
42. Hello, Red Fox by Eric Carle
43. Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton
44. Guess How Much I Love You? by Sam McBratney
45. Once a Mouse by Marcia Brown
46. I Love You Like Crazy Cakes by Rose Lewis
47. 10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle
48. God Gave You Us by Lisa Tawn Bergren
49. My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
50. I Ain’t Gonna Pain No More by Karen Beaumont

The above listed books are highly recommended. Not only were a lot of them tested out in the classroom, but more importantly- by Nishad and Arun.

Phot-o-Rama

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I decided to get my camera out yesterday and take some pictures of the boys- particularly Arun as I haven’t had a chance to snap any of him lately and Nishad was feeling under the weather. My camera replacement for my D80 and new lens arrived about a week ago, so it was long over do for testing! We also picked-up a desk-top for my work at home. This enables me to take my lap top on-site for jobs, if need be. It’s one fast computer! I’m adjusting to a new keyboard…always feels funky the first few weeks.

I’m happy to report that Nishad is feeling a lot better. He hasn’t had a fever today. We even went to Maple Grove where we went to Borders. I let him pick out a few books; He selected a Curious George book (which he only knows as “Bunder“) and “Fish is Fish” by Leo Lionni. I let Nishad help pick out Jenesis‘ birthday gift (for this Saturday). We went to one of my favorite stores to browse, “Good Things” and then headed to Trader Joe’s for some grocery shopping. After we picked up our Chinese take out from P.F. Chang’s via request of Nishad, and headed home. Of course, we couldn’t avoid all the suits walking around with flags on their labels and police/security escorts. We were reading in Borders, sitting on the floor, when one of them popped his head around the corner and smiled, “That sounds like a nice book!” Why they were swarming like bees in Maple Grove is beyond me. However, I thought it was funny to see a plane flying above us with a banner that read, “Ron Paul: r EVOL ution” with ‘love’ flipped backwards and in red font.

After two days of staying home, I think Nishad really misses his school. I’m sure he’ll be well enough to attend tomorrow. We weren’t about to send him until he had a day of just recovery.

Overstayed Welcome, RNC!

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I have always watched both the Democratic National Convention as well as the Republican National Convention. This year was no different. I was particularly interested being that it’s in my own back yard, so-to-say.

Regardless of who the next president or vice president is, they need to work with both sides of the isle and independents, the green party, etc. I was very put off by the mocking comments and hateful speeches that were aimed at not only at Obama and his party, but Democrats as a whole. The RNC was busy getting down and dirty, while the DNC continues to rise above.

As a democrat, I felt as though they were angry and hateful. If anything, us Dems should be angry after what the republicans have done to our country. But, we aren’t…anymore. Why? Because ‘hope’ is on the way. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Now, I don’t expect Obama to walk on water or perform any miracles. However, I do expect change. A change that far out weighs anything of Bush’s legacy.

I found it ironic that Gullini would mock the many ‘community organizers’ that work tirelessly in this country~ doing exactly what republicans don’t want the government to do. I also found the chanting of “Drill Baby, Now! Baby Drill, Now!” to be one step away from a gladiator appearing in a center ring, with a king poached above him ready to give the thumbs up or thumbs down signal while a hungry lion paces behind steel bars awaiting to enter the arena. Texas surely would have completed that picture with their hats if only they had a big BBQ spare rib hanging out of their mouths with a shot gun in their hand as they do a little barn-yard dance. Yee-haw! I don’t recall Michelle Obama snickering and smiling a cheap shots and jokes…ever, unlike Cindy Barbie Doll Mc Cain (Kelly coined that first!). Gullini also spoke about how no one mentioned certain words at the DNC because he thinks that they were afraid they were not politically correct and that they would offend people. Mr. Gullini, let me express to you that you offend me.

While the DNC was about unity~ across party lines, peace and respect, the RNC was about an Ax to grind. They are apparently very desperate. I couldn’t have been more disappointed. This year is the first year that I had to walk away and turn off the television. There is already enough mean people and things in the world. We don’t need more of the same old stuff.

24-Hr Rule

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At the start of Nishad’s first full week of school, he caught a bug. Ashish dropped him off at 8:15AM and by the time I went to pick him up at 11:30AM, he had a fever of 100.1 (under the arm). His teacher said that she just couldn’t understand why he wasn’t himself. He sat in her lap and that’s when she felt how warm he was. Our little trooper. I’m sure it has to do with this crazy weather we’ve been having. That and the fact that he is now exposed to a whole new community.

While Nishad was at school today, I cleaned like I was never able to before. Arun and I had some great one-on-one time. I could tell he was looking for Nishad. He would crawl into the closest, crawl into the office, the bathroom, look up the stairs…

Speaking of stairs… We were all getting ready to have breakfast, when I said, “Where is Arun?” We heard faint little giggles of our happy camper, but we didn’t see him. We’ll he decided to take it upon his own to crawl up the flight of stairs by himself! We found him at the top, crawling between bedrooms, laughing and smiling. his chest was perched out like a little bird- he was very proud to show us that Nishad is not the only big boy in the house anymore! Ah!! 🙂

Weekend OF LABOR

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No, despite the odd dreams I’ve been having that I’m pregnant again, this is not labor pains… it’s Labor Day Weekend Labor– Work, Work and more Household Work! This is the weekend Ashish and I set aside to complete all of the projects in the house that have been waiting for us since baby Arun’s arrival. Hmn. Tomorrow is another day! Nishad’s comments definitely provide support and motivation for us though. I love when he tells us, “Momma, you’re working hard. You’re doing a good job. It looks really nice.” Have I mentioned that he even compliments me on my hair, make-up and outfits? “Momma, you look nice.” What a little man. 🙂

Ashish did manage to clean and start staining the deck. We did a lot of relaxing though- which, we relished as we ordinarily don’t get to! Our neighbor’s grandson is visiting, so Nishad was in his glory with a pal right next door. They swam, played cars and yesterday they went on a wagon ride together. They were so cute together- holding hands and running into the pool.

We picked up a few items on Nishad’s shopping list for his classroom; 4 nanners, a dozen eggs and flowers. He also now has a big boy booster seat! We had to get an additional seat for him as Ashish will drop him off at school in the mornings on his way to work and Arun and I will pick him up.

His eye has been bothering Ashish and I. We thought we might be able to cancel surgery on the 11th, but it’s just not disappearing. To make matters worse, another bump is starting on the opposite eye now. I feel so bad for him. There is only so much patience for warm compresses a 2 year old can take. He’s so brave. At the store today he suddenly didn’t feel well. He got tired and started complaining to me. I picked him up a milk and a croissant thinking that the issue was hunger. We left quickly and by the time we came home, it was apparent our Nishad was not his typical self. Ashish thinks the heat got to him- even though he was merely outside just from the short walk from the car to the store. He hasn’t wanted to eat anything…though he did finally have a bit of dry cereal. We gave him Tylenol as a precaution as he was feeling warm. Hopefully, he’ll be good to go in the morning- little trooper! I bought some drops for my eyes as they are really irritated. Who knows? Allergies, or it could be something going around…
One small step for man, one giant step for Baby Arun! ha,ha. Arun took his first unsupported step! He did it twice. He hasn’t gotten over the one step though. As Nishad says, it’s “KA-BOOM” after the first step. He likes to walk pushing his choo–choo train (that DOESN’T have an off switch) around the house though. Arun also made it down the step from the living room to the sunken kitchen all by himself! He’s added a few new words to his vernacular as well, “bed” and “baba.” He loves to move and groove- especially to music. I think he’s going to be musically inclined, like his big brother, Nishad. He *loves* to pull you close, hug and love on you! He’s such a snuggle bug!