First Birthday Invite

Ishi's first ever birthday invitation formally went out on facebook last night.

Video version: Saisha's Birthday Invitation

Painting Class 101: Red & Green paint make Brown Art!

Ishi had her proper trial pre-preschool class today. She was with a bunch of other kids, mostly 15-17 months old. There was free play time, painting (washable non-toxic paints with aprons!), music, a story, colorful fabric (parachute) flapping, bubbles, and lots of constant activity followed by snack time! We are signing up for the Saturday class for now - one class per week till she is 15-16 months or so, to help her get socialized to being with other kids and people.

 Here is her first piece of art! One blob of red and green paint each, mixed thoroughly with her (mostly left) hand and half her left arm, covered with paper and banged upon to imprint her first masterpiece into permanence!

Off to School

Off to first Pre-school trial class at Intellitots. Both Daddy and Mommy came to check out the place. Ms Namita took us around the premises, explained the class progression and we sat in one of the class sessions for 10 minutes. Age group for this class varies from 8months to 14 months and beyond. This particular session had senior tots, all of them happily running around..no crawlers/wobblers! Going back on Saturday for another trial for a new 1-2yr batch. After that will decide when to start school! The plan is to start 1 class a week in the beginning and move to 2/week after 6-8 months! Depending on how the trial classes go, we might wait for a month or so till she is more confident standing upright/cruising, before starting classes...but undecided on that.

Ishi's behavior in class was a bit dazed. So many kids around, so much noise! She sat quietly, fiddled with the bows on her pants and then tried crawling about a bit on the mat. Not much to see in 10 minutes. But we feel a gradual introduction into socializing with kids, with one of us around, would be much better, than waiting for a later date and then starting with a bang. Lets see how it works out!

Rocking away to Pre-Preschool!

It seems its never too early to go to school! Intellitots, a preschool in Gurgaon, runs a parent-infant program for babies from 6 months onwards! So while we've been taking it lazy, other parent-infant combos are bonding in a more structured and educational manner!

So I've signed us on for a 30 mins trial class tomorrow. While the lady was very happy for us to join the trial class, I'm informed there is a waiting list for the actual class....erm what? So she is 10 months old. This class runs 6m-12m and 6m-14m kids. Plus they are starting something new for 1yr-2yr olds. So, she will be too late for option 1 (due to waiting), but too early for option 2??? What are we getting into??? "Come for the trial class", says she, "and lets see what happens."

She is just 10 months old and we are late already??? <Space reserved for entirely unsuitable exclamations>

Oh the horror of being taking-it-easy parents!! Well no more! Also on the agenda tomorrow morning, is a visit to a nearby Pre-school that starts admission from 1.6yrs onwards. So what if its 9 months (almost double her current age) away. We may already be in the 'lax parents' category!

An optional item on tomorrows agenda is a rocking horse. Brad Pitt has bought Shetland ponies for his brood. Surely we can buy a rocking horse for Ishi. I mean come on...its a rocking horse! I love them...erm...I mean she will love it! Assuming it is age and price appropriate...and space appropriate...and...ahh come on...its a horse! Or an elephant (as I saw in a store). On further research on the net, rocking toys are a category by themselves, with some amazingly fun combinations. Though when I try to check for its educational/development qualities, all I get is a bunch of businesses named Rocking Horse. But surely such a classic wouldn't be a classic without some fantastically supreme qualities. It will teach her balance...and ...er rocking..and ..umm...something more too. Google is not my friend today. But a rocking horse might soon be Ishi's. Maybe...hopefully..could be. Which kid wouldn't love a pony .... adults included! :)

Sketched on iPad