I am more than a week late doing this birthday post. But then we got a bot ambitious and did two birthday parties for the boy and he promptly decided to fall ill post those. So, here I am finally!
This year saw the good, the bad and the ugly of His Cubiness! We have had (and continue to) to have some really tough times with him. He is as my brother calls it a Baby Teenager and I call him Rebel without a Cause AND a Pause! We say no for pretty much everything for the heck of it and same goes for the whining as well. Of course his parents do not show the much needed maturity to deal with such behaviour and often that is the recipe for disaster. But then again, because we tend to focus so much on his crying and whining we often forget to appreciate what a great kid he is otherwise and I have been guilt tripping myself over it often. Time to make some changes. Send positive ideas, thoughts and vibes our way folks! :)
Now for the good parts!
Cub is becoming more and more independent by the day. Just this morning I went to drop him to school because he was still not too well. The way he walked into the school and just waved goodbye without even looking back, I suddenly got teary eyed. When did he grow up so much?!
He now sleeps in his own room and all he expects is about 10mins of cuddling time before he dozes off. When in a good mood, he keeps his stuff back in its place. Be it school bag in the cupboard or shoes on the shoe rack.
He is a super helpful kid at home and outside.
If we go out and come back with lots of bags he always makes sure he is carrying one. He helps us with little stuff around the house including cleaning the ghar or sorting the vegetables. He gets his own glass of water and keeps our coffee cups back in the kitchen if he is feeling especially happy! :p
Cub is an adorable and adoring big brother to the Bub. There are times when the attention she gets bothers him and I would think it is only natural, especially since she is going through an ultra cute phase. But more often than not, he is ready to play with her, soothe her with sweet words and generally just be nice and protective!
He is an extremely sensitive child not to just his feelings, but others' as well. I am still amazed when i see pained expressions on his face anytime the stories he is listening to have a sad tone. He readily shares his things and is rarely demanding. Even the times he is demanding, a decent explanation is usually enough or he tends to forget after some time.
He is learning so many things at school and tends to retain all of it much to our surprise. So other day M just throws the word Kimono at him for something they were talking about and the child pipes up "That is the dress of Japanese women!" We just kept staring at him in complete shock! Hehe!
His drawing is improving a LOT! He actually draws recognisable images now and it is fun to see him take effort at it. Thank god he has M's artistic genes.
The colouring has shown marked improvement as well.
He recently learned the whole honesty, lying and joking bits. Very often he says he wants something and when given says "I was just joking!" Grrrrrrrrrrr!! Or because he has changed his mind he says "I was lying." Huh?! The other day we had a blog meet in Boo's honour at Art's place. Artsy Crafty Shruti had got some colouring work for all the kids. After some time Cub got a coloured picture with his name on it. I was super surprised at how neat it was. I kept asking him "did you really do this?!" and he said Yes! But then after some time he came up to me and said, "This is not mine. It is someone else's!" I was so proud that he came clean. We found the picture he was colouring, got it home, coloured it and it is now stuck on his cupboard! :)
He still LOVES being read to and I enjoy reading to him. He now gets the funny parts and some word play as well. It is easier to explain the slightly complicated words. Of course he goes through phases where one needs to keep telling the same story over and over again. It can range from Cinderella (gah!) to Little Bird Learns to Fly to Samira goes shopping. I do hope he soon starts reading on his own and keeps this habit forever.
He is also in at a stage where he HATES being photographed! :( So, we have such few photos of him in over 6 months! I do hope he grows out of this soon. Sigh!
He is eating better now. It does not mean it is painless, getting the food down the throat, but it is definitely easier. He also very clearly told us that he can eat spicy food from outside but will find even mildly spicy stuff made at home inedible! :p No, no! He does eat regular khaana at home. Just not as easily! He does have taste for good food and always surprises us by eating most random stuff like salmon and fancy cheese.
While Cub is not naturally brave, he is ready to push his limits. To try something he has not and see how far he can go. It may not always be very far, but it is more than he thinks he can and that is good enough.
All in all, he is a really great kid who needs to realize just how nice he is. Someday soon, we hope. Meanwhile I hope he keeps being the kind and generous boy he is. Just today we were watching his old videos and I was struck by just how much he has grown up! He just does not seem like a little baby anymore, though at heart he so much is. Thank god for that! :)
We love you our first born! It may seem like we are being jerks at times, but we are learning too and it is good to have you with us! Hugs and kisses!
Here are few photos we manage to click when His Majesty lets us without running away or starting to bawl! Boys!!!
The ultimate fake smile! gah!
Enjoying his favourite Mango ice-cream at Naturals!
Isn't he a handsome fella?! :)
But then we get to see his hands far too often! :(
eating batatyaachi bhaaji and poli in the train en route to Kolhapur!
That is a panther out for a hunt! :)
Since he refused to show me his face, i clicked the picture of an umbrella and a pair of shoes!
At Papa's office on a Sunday afternoon! :)
Learning to befriend water in the colony pool!
Always happy with Vedu bhaiyya who is reading to him in all seriousness! :)
Discussing colour scheme? With colony friends at his chhota Birthday party!
At the Frisbee Tournament called the Ultimates
Dust-buster! Helping me get rid of the grime! :)
If I have no place to run, I will hide! :p
Agreeing to pose with his posse! :)
At Miggu's birthday - Cub's favouritest person in whole wide world! :)
With Miggu and other buddies at his own birthday pahty!
The first spellings learnt! :)
Trying out the new kinda swing at Jungle Lodges!
Taking his sister along to see the zoo! :)
The latest photo. he let me click if i agreed to let him cover half his face! *rolls eyes*
Cub trying to save the Bub from falling into the gap! :)
Getting the hang of the hammock! No pun intended! ;)
The Girl with the Red Umbrella! :)
The brother in green joins her! :)
I LOVED the tyre swing! what is there not to like, eh?! 
With the bada baby at the zoo! :p
The brats with the grandies! :)
everyone trying to save the food from Bub the Bhukkad! :p
Near the Butterfly park! :)
The entrance to the Butterfly park. While the number of butterflies were few, its a gorgeous place. And do NOT miss the museum.
In the Butterfly park!
The Bub relaxing in the hammock!
Just sitting around enjoying the place! :)
i LOVE this photo! Just like that! :)
Hanging out together! :)
And we found some friends to kick the ball with! :)
