Did you say *car* show?

Our schedule is suddenly filling up with all these random events that ...well, were never on our radar before. Case in point - Vintage Volkswagen show.

One of his teachers from the toddler room is in a band and she was performing at this event. She invited us, so we figured we'd go. Plus, there would be cars so we knew we'd have no trouble keeping him occupied. Of course, by the time we got there her band had packed up and was probably already starting its next gig somewhere else. So we didn't get to see her, but we did see a lot of Volkswagens.

M felt it was his duty to point out the car brand to us, so he was saying "Volkswagen" as we went from car to car to car..He also figured that most of them had their engines in the back, so that had to inspected and verified for each car as well. As you can imagine, i got over the excitement pretty quickly. But there were some pretty cool cars there and M was in heaven, so can't really complain, can I?

Showing Mama how things work:
Re-energizing:
Orange car!
Soaking it all in:

Spring Break

Thought we'd be worrying about spring break only in a couple of years, but this is year 2 of spring break. The Montessori system is taking schooling a little too seriously :-/ But for M, its been a good week. D managed to take mon-tue off. M had been sick, so nothing was planned.

But come Monday morning, he was feeling allright and it was a rainy day, so D and he ended up at our favorite spot - Children's Discovery Museum. They seemed to have a fun day, with both of them collapsing in the afternoon :-)

Tuesday - another adventure-filled day. Papa and M took the train to Redwood City - mama's office. While he was scared by the sounds and sight of the train arriving at the station, he loved being inside. We met for lunch, took a tour of Mama's office and both were suitably impressed(who wouldn't be?). After a mad rush back to the station(with some bawling thrown in), they made it on the train, with M happily napping on the way home and then keeping Papa on his toes by staying up the rest of the afternoon.

Wednesday - Mama was supposed to be off taking care of him. But late Tuesday evening, I found out that I had to be in San Ramon for a customer meeting. And D had to go to Folsom for the day! We were getting ready to draw lots on which one of us would be fired from our jobs first. But then... Enter Ms.Jasmine. Milind's teacher from the toddler class. She was(& hopefully still is) in love with him and had been asking me when she could come by to spend some time with him. Well, I couldn't have dreamed up a better day! She was luckily available and even agreed to show up at 8 AM. She did show up at the agreed time *and* we were all on time. But..Milind was in hysterics when I left him, saying "don't leave me alone, Mama...". That was one of he hardest moments with M - I was almost in tears driving away that day. I could hear him bawling even as I drove out the garage :-( After about 20 mins, I couldn't stand it anymore and called home. And whaddaya know - I can hear M singing in the background, Ms.Jasmine says they finished b'fast and she was debating where to take him to - Chucky Cheese, Toys R Us or the park! When i got back home around 1PM, they had just scarfed down some pizza and Ms.J was opening up a couple of cars(an Audi and Mercedes) that she had just bought him :-O M had even brought a screwdriver from our toolbox so she could get them out of the packaging(!). That day was probably the highlight of his week. He now asks for Ms.Jasmine on a regular basis.
Thursday - Papa stayed home again, but it was a rather uneventful day.

Friday - I stayed home, but had to be out in the afternoon. Papa was busy at work, so now we were on the lookout for a baby sitter again(seeing a trend here..? Mama supposed to be in charge, Mama bails out, frantic search for baby sitter.. Anyway..). This time, enter Naveen Mama. Aanya also had spring break the same week and Naveen and P had been doing the same dance. Luckily, Naveen was home with Aanya that afternoon and bravely agreed to baby sit M and Aanya at their home. This time, Milind couldn't wait for me to leave. He had packed his lil' rollie bag full of of cars, some books, a puzzle and even some Cheerios for Aanya :-) I was still giving poor Naveen instructions on how to handle this hot potato and M was already settled in Aanya's room, rummaging through her toys. I hastily accepted Naveen's offer and scooted out of there before he changed his mind. M and Aanya played, fought, "cooked", fought, ate, fought, watched TV - had a *blast*! Seen here stuffing his face:
He's been asking when he can go back there every day now. Apparently, there was a lot of "Oh my goodness!" and "Let me tell you something, Aanya" from M all afternoon - enough to keep Naveen smiling.

D and I got one thing out of it - M is totally ready to for a baby-sitter! Now all we need is a victim (insert evil laugh here).

Schultüte

Eh, what?

Well, I happened to see a picture of my German ex-manager's kids(on Facebook, of course) holding these huge..cones, all wrapped up with a bow. Had no idea what they were, but luckily there was a comment that referred to "Schultüte". One Wikipedia hit and Google search later, I had it all under control. I knew all about the German tradition of Schultüte and how to make them. Yaay! Now to find a victim.

Milind's graduation from Toddler room to pre-school couldn't have happened at a better time. So here we are, celebrating the "graduation" and welcoming pre-school.

Who cares what its called - its *huge* and looks like its full of ...stuff!
Digging in - Cars, games, his own scissors, crayons, books, candy... Didn't hear a peep from him all evening!
Except for a "Thank youm, Papa-Mama"