MIA

…OR so it would seem if you have been checking my blog and noticed I haven’t had a new entry in awhile! Juggling things isn’t easy, but children take priority over all things. When your baby is sick or uncomfortable, life stops.

I am happy to report that Nishad is back to being himself! We went in for surgery and I was just amazed at how well-behaved and ‘adjusted’ he was at the hospital. He spoke to the nurses and doctors in a way that was mature beyond his years. Oh course, it helped that there were toys there!

When it came time to ‘put him down’ I went in with him. It was incredibly hard for me to do, but it had to be done and I didn’t want to ‘show’ him that I was scared. So, as we entered the dimly-lit room, I talked to him about the fire man mask. He colored the mask with chap stick that smelled like watermelon and then the doctor placed it over his nose and mouth. I sang to him, “Twinkle, twinkle…” as the star lights changed colors on the ceiling of the room. He drifted off, and the anesthesiologist said, “It doesn’t get simpler than that. Thank you for your help.” They moved the mask off one side of his cheek so I cold give him a kiss and I walked out. It wasn’t until I walked out of the room that I allowed myself to cry.

We waited with our eyes on the screen in the family waiting room- icons that indicated to us when he was entering surgery, in surgery, leaving the OR and in recovery. His doctor came out to speak to us and told us that she feels the procedure went well. She can’t give any guarantee that it will never happen again, but she did get a lot of ‘stuff’ out of his eye. He isn’t to play in the sand for awhile, or balls. She doesn’t want his eye to get infected while healing, or for it to get hurt.

The lag time to see him in recovery took longer than expected. I was getting very nervous. When we finally were brought back to see him, there were nurses surrounding him, he was laying on his side, quiet and he looked so lonely. I just about broke down as I went over to him and he looked up and saw me- he immediately started to cry. They told us that he was in pain, so they had to give him some morphine. I couldn’t help but think of our baby waking up and us not being there, because they had to first stabilize him. I understand…he needed to be stabilized, however, he’s only 2- we should have been there regardless. Ashish picked him up and rocked him. I had a flashback of a time when Nishad was only about 6 or 7 months old in Ashish’s arms. I know Nishad loves me, but he and his Daddy have this tight bond at the young age of 2, that most people don’t develop with their parents over a life time. When I started feeding baby Arun snacks, that is when Nishad perked up and said he would like some. We were warned by a friend not to let the nurses give him apple juice as it will make him sick, so we let him sip on water, and gave him snacks. He started to come around better- and within an hour, we were on the road, returning home.

Nishad was starving by the time we were home. He ate two pieces of pizza, two packages of apple sauce, rice cake, apple… Poor guy! He hadn’t eaten since around 7pm the previous day. We kept him home the following day from school as a pre-caution. That gave him the weekend to re-cover. He was bouncing around like a bunder (monkey, in Hindi) and back to his typical charming ways in no time!

Pictured is a very proud Nishad with Mommy’s make-up on him. After nap he thought he would investigate it on his own.

Surgery Tomorrow

Tomorrow is Nishad’s operation on his eye. I’m not nervous about the procedure, but I am nervous about putting him down for it. I was comforted with another person today telling me that her son has the same thing and we share the same doctor. After more than a month of warm compresses and ointment, he needs to have this taken care of for good. Especially with school- he’s starting to feel self conscious about it.

Speaking of school, his school was featured in a magazine. We received the information and the article in his Wednesday folder. It’s ironic that the director of the school moved to the Wayzata district for the very same reason that we are considering a move to the district- our children’s education, which we regard highly. Though Nishad attends a private school (toddler – K), we’ve heard raves about the public school district from parents in the Wayzata district.

Nishad also was speaking about his friend Thomas again. Yes, yesterday he told me his name. I was afraid that someone corrupted him by telling him about Thomas the Train, because we don’t watch that “stuff.” So, I asked him, “Is Thomas a train, Nishad?” Oh! He looked at me so oddly, “No Mamma, that is silly! Thomas is a boy in my class. He is naughty and makes a mess. He’s my friend.” hahaha! GREAT!

He told me he worked on the pink tower again today. I tried to explain to him why he wasn’t going to be at school tomorrow…I’m sure he’ll be back on Friday.

Picnic

Today Arun and I had some company for a morning walk; our friend and neighbor Krista and Lucas came with us! We walked down to see the cows at the dairy farm that is only two blocks away- then we roamed the streets, avoiding people that pay no attention to the posted speed limit. After we headed over to the park, where we planned on meeting Laurie with Sean and Baby Sage. Sean was in his glory climbing all over everything while Lucas chased him everywhere. Arun was happy exploring wood chips and Baby Sage was enjoying her nap. Lucas was ready to nap, so we said bye-bye to them and hung out a bit more before it was time to leave to go pick-up Nishad from school. It was so nice to see Krista, Lucas, Laurie, Sean and Baby Sage. I’m looking forward to seeing them again soon!

Nishad had a great day at school! Brenda told me that he went poop, too. Woo-hoo! I think he digs their potty. Nishad was excited telling me that he was working on the pink tower. I said, “Wow. What did your teacher say?” He replied, “Brenda told me good job!”

On the way to pick him up, Arun and I stopped at Pancho’s and picked up some Mexican food for lunch. It was way to beautiful to be inside today! I surprised Nishad by telling him we were going to have a picnic! He was very excited and even suggesting having one on the lawn of the school. In a hop, skip and a jump, we were at Mission Hills Park. We enjoyed our Mexican food and then played at the park. Plymouth has one of the best park systems. I especially love that all of their parks are tobacco free zones. No nasty cigarettes around on the ground, or icky smell and second hand smoke.

Off to School; Coffee Please

What a beautiful Monday! The boys and I woke up at 6:30AM, had breakfast and Ashish and Nishad prepared to go to “work.” Ashish called me after he dropped him off at his classroom- a few tears today. Arun and I had some one on one time and then he took his morning nap. I sat down with a cup of coffee and just relaxed. I feel like my work has paid off. Nishad is in an excellent pre-school and he is as prepared as can be. Now I can focus more on Arun so that he can be as prepared as Nishad.

When I went to pick Nishad up today, his teacher said that he was fine. I said, “Say goodbye to Brenda.” He turned and blew her a kiss! She said, “I caught that one!” Cute. The two of them seem to already have such a nice repore.

On the way home, he went on and on about how they had fresh pizza for snack today. He said that he ate with another lurka (boy in Hindi) at the snack table and they talked about dump trucks together. We often are often silly with Nishad and give him “puppy licks” all over his face. Today, while I was unbuckling him from his car seat, I said, “Oh, I love you so much I’m going to give you puppy licks!” He stopped me dead in my tracks with his reply of, “Lips are not for puppy licks, Mamma.” Oh, I was so taken aback! …haha I said, “You’re right.”

While eating lunch together, he said, “So, tell me about your day? Are you having a good day?” There was a fly in the house, which I told Nishad we would tackle after we ate. The fly landed on the table and he dropped his head down as if to speak to it eye-to-eye, “Fly! This is NOT your environment. This is our home. You belong outside.” Amen to that! 🙂

After lunch the boys had nap. I was able to stretch and do a very light workout, which I haven’t been able to do in months. You have to start somewhere!

For dinner we had Mexican pot-pies with fresh cut veggies. Nishad *loves* broccoli, cucumbers and tomatoes from our garden. He eats them right off the stem! I love that!

Arun enjoyed working on the art-card alphabet today with me. More than the pictures, colors and sounds, I think he enjoyed taking the cards out of the box and putting them back in. Yesterday I asked him, “Are you making a mess?” (Trying to keep in mind that what is a mess for me, is learning for him…) He looked at me and shrugged his shoulders and babbled a sound that sounded like, “What mess?” Ashish and I were chuckling about that.

Baked Goods



Last weekend Nishad, Ashish and I made a blackberry swirl pie, complete with homemade crust. Nishad picked out the recipe right from the pages of Better Homes and Garden Magazine. My Aunt Beverly gave me a subscription to the magazine as she knows how I enjoy gardening, decorating and baking! …Thanks, Aunt Beverly! As you can see, I’m enjoying the magazine.
I personally would have liked to attempt the buttermilk pie recipe. The crust was a simple and easy recipe to follow in which produced great results. I especially am found of the crust recipe as it doesn’t have any lard in it (yes, people still do use lard in their pie crust). The pie itself was a bit too sweet for my liking. Also, I think I would have preferred the recipe to us blueberries instead of blackberries. Honestly, the texture was a bit off and it felt odd to sink my teeth into blackberry seeds.
I also ‘invented’ a new recipe of my own last weekend; Stuffed Enchiladas Kumar-Style! They were divine. In fact, they were so good we made them again and doubled the recipe. We froze a separate portion for a quick weeknight meal.
Kumar Enchiladas
1 can black beans
1 sm. can of corn or 3 fresh corn cob kernels
1 med. red onion diced
1/2 can diced tomatoes or 1 fresh tomato diced
1/3 c. fresh chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon Mexican oregano
1 small lime- cut in half, use half to squeeze juice from for mixture and the other half for garnish
salt & peeper to taste
*optional, jalapeno pepper or chillies to taste, diced
1 package flour tortillas
sour cream to top off with
Toss everything together in one bowl- mix!
Warm up tortillas
Coat the bottom of a baking pan (again, your choice) with a thin layer of sauce.
Dip the tortillas in the sauce and ‘stuff’ & roll them up, tucking the ends inside
Pour reaming sauce over stuffed enchiladas
Left over mixture can be used on top of enchiladas
Bake at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes
Top with sour cream
Garnish with a slice of lime
YUM!