Its my first day of school Mumma Daddy !!

People say first day of pre-school should not be stressful. Well, yeah.. we also tried very hard and made plan thinking small things in advance to be relax on first day of Aarav’s school ! It was not a stressful day, busy though :) !!

Aarav was pretty excited to go his school today. Actually he was keep asking to go school from last few weeks. We knew the reason, in our recent vacation trip to back home India, he use to see my niece and nephew going school everyday, different school activities etc... Every morning he use to see School bus and kids going school. He was pretty excited to see them going school and was asking us “Daddy School… Mumma School” pointing his finger to the school bus. We took him to my niece’s school couple of times when we were in India, he was happily playing around with kids, running behind them on schoold ground, following kids what they do. We thought while he likes this activities and showed his interest to school, let's start his school. 

After coming back to states we started exploring different options to start his pre-school and choose “Montessori Learning Center” (Best school around our area)  . We visited school couple of times and met teachers there, Director of school Ms. Diane and teachers are very nice. We had a great school tour to see the facility and activates, we also discussed many things on how they teach kids, methods of teaching alphabets, we are impressed with their methods and way of teaching kids.  After our school tour and a discussion with School director, we choose this school for Aarav and enrolled him for 2016-2017 !

First day of school is a big step in our children’s lives. There will be new feelings for both kids and for parents too. As a parents we hope our kids will be excited and enthusiastic. Parents would be in hopes and worries about how their children would be.  There are lots of information available online on tips, strategies on how to prepare for this big step. Believe me, every parents would have mostly common story (with some differences)!! Sending a child to pre-school for the first time will be emotional roller coaster!! We will have to contain our emotions to help our child to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Today was a watershed step, first day of school !! We were pretty excited and started our day with all our plans we made in advance to be on time at school and do the document work for his school registration. Everything went well, Aarav was pretty happy too, He was thinking that Dady and Mumma are also going to stay at school with him. Aarav’s school timing was at 1:00pm, we reached little early as per plan to introduce Aarav to other kids. They opened school door at sharp 1:00pm, we took and entry. He was still happy, following other kids with his school bag in his hand. We completed some documentation work with school director. We were all set to move out from the school leaving Aarav with other kids and teachers.

                                                                                    

One of the teacher came and asked Aarav to join other kids for their school class and immediately he turned his face with surprise and asked us… “Dady come… Mumma come..” But we had to leave him there. This was the time he started realizing that mom and dad are leaving me alone and he started crying… This was a tough time, seeing your kid crying and leaving him there. But We were confident enough on school and techers. We came out of school, He was crying, we were still be able to hear… ! We thought of waiting outside school at least until he stops crying. After 5-10 mins, He stopped crying. Teachers did an excellent job on keeping Aarav busy on different activities, he started playing with other kids also. I drove back to work and Lisa went back Home. After one hour we called school director to see How is he doing and he was doing absolutely fine.

Well, I must say, we were eagerly waiting for 4:00pm where his school ends, Lisa reached school early to pick him up, the moment door opened and he came out and saw Lisa.. He cried and complaining Lisa about why did she leave him alone. Why didn't she stayed there ? After few minutes he was absolutely fine and started telling us the schoold time story, what did he do, what he eat, what kids were doing, how did he played with others etc.... (obviously in his language which we 70-80% understand ;) ). 

First day of school was a full of excitement for Aarav and specially for us with lots of emotions !! Looking forward to his upcoming school days! Thanks you to Montesorri staff and school director and wishing you all the very best dear Aarav ! Have fun and enjoy each and every moment in life !

Love You,

LisAnk-Aarav

Good Friends just never say Goodbye !

Good Friends just never say Goodbye !

Could not stop writing this post guys ! I know it is hard to say sweet bye and depart to a different place. But you know guys… Things will comes and go but few friends, quality time and memories never goes !!

It has been a nicely spent time together in world’s one of the beautiful place. How can we forget games we use to play till late night, lots of fun and other outing activities we have done together.  I still remember the first day we met at “stay bridge, San Diego” since then journey has been marvelous in many ways, spending time together, sharing lunches and dinners, playing  few interesting games like poker (desi 3 patti with videsi coins/money J), “Kali 3di J” etc etc….

As we all know time flies, it really does. You guys are awesome, we will never forget good time we spent together specially in last few days, we are going to miss “Jeevika” a lot !! I would never forget one beautiful moment about Aarav and Jeevika we saw today… It was an awesome moment. I have these memories captured and already watched it few times J God’s glory is best seen through the eyes of Kids !!   

It was kinda emotional moment to say you guys a ‘bye’ but happy to see a bright future for you guys in coming months.

Wishing you guys a very best of luck for new location. Stay in touch and have fun at new place!

Take Care,

LisAnk-Aarav

Learn, Accept and Move On !! :)

When life gets tough, just play pretend !! J

6 years ago, I wrote on post on “Don’t lose your smile because there are people who relies on it” which helped me and many of my near ones to pump the motivation to “move on” !

People many time thinks that it is the end of world. Well, it’s not… Thing, time, people, weather everything changes…… We just need to learn, accept and move on !

As we journey along each day of our lives things will come with different surprises and we just need to accept with smile and keep moving ! Don’t forget, there are always bunch of people who relies on your smile J !

There could be many instances in the life like, losing job, losing relatives, losing your friends etc… Time in these situations are always painful but it’s part of life, either you accept or not, such things do happen.

But here, I must say, we must put efforts hard to keep things alive. I believe the best way is to ask your heart and see whether you have done your part at its best, if yes… just don’t regret, accept it and move on ! If no, try to put things together, try to let go, I am sure things will be in good shape. If with efforts it still does not work and you don’t see positive outcome then Understand one thing….. People change and sometimes they are no longer compatible with your lives… ! I think people change for two reasons. Either they learn enough that they want to or they have been heart enough that they have to.

One of my backbone motivator always use to tell me “there will always be a Hope, possibilities and Opportunities "!

Company does not stop just because CEO dies or leaves…..

Carrier does not stop just because you failed in exams…..

Life does not stop just because you lose somewhere…..

Likewise, things does not stop just because you think J

There is always a Hope, possibilities and opportunities, just figure it out and Move on !

Life simply does not end…. Just Keep moving, keep rocking and keep smiling !! Remember  “A smile you sent will always return” (One more post written years back on Smile J)

Have fun, Keep rocking and Enjoy,

Inspiration With Ankit

Its Daddy Mania !! Say... Cheese !

It’s your magical Smile "Aarav" when I “say Cheese” !! ☺

Despite loving natural photos, there is something special about photos captured after you say two magical word “say cheese” !! BTW How did you know Aarav, whether I am taking selfie or capturing your photos from rear camera? Any way I have been accepting your many learning things these days, so one more to that list !

It is amazing that how fast you grow and how fast you grasp and pick the things you like. We have been observing your attachments with DADY and MUMMA !! Well, for mumma you just started ☺.. ! Lisa, don’t worry… there is nothing that you or I could do… I think it’s toddler’s way of making their choices ;)  Well, Its “DADY MANIA” !! ☺ Lisa, I understand it’s really hard not to feel a bit guilty if you are the one being ignored specially when I am around ! When I am not around, any way he does not have choice and behaves like he is totally yours.. Shall I say “MUMMA MANIA” throughout day and “DADY MANIA” rest of the time and whole weekend ☺?

I think this is pretty common situation for most parents and have been hearing same stories from lot my friends. Every home would have one (DADY) or another (MUMMA) “MANIA” ! Its toddlers way of grow. Remember there is no standard for toddlers!  Let me also clarify that It has nothing to do with one of you being loved more. It is mostly because of familiarity and comfort with their routine. In our case, for few things he needs Mumma while for some he needs Dady !  Dady cuddles would calm him down when he cries while Mumma would not work in this case! (well, don’t get me start on back pain I have after lifting up every time, this was one of the potential reason we thought we should change this MANIA to MUMMA !!) Likewise there are few other things where Mumma would work but daddy would not… like changing diaper, potty, lunch, dinner etc… ! 

I think, MANIA is something that we create, kids are like plain slate and we keep writing and filling content that we would like. Creator of MUMMY/DADY MANIA are parents themselves ☺!!

I believe, its manageable and can be control by doing few things that we just started. For example, He loves music and wants DADY to dance with him all the time. Now we start putting our effort to make him realize that MUMMY can dance too ☺

Things may vary parents to parents but believe me... No matter MANIA goes to Mumma or Daddy but it’s all fun !! Enjoy your Mania !!

Love you

LisAnk-Aarav 💕

When things go wrong, take right and keep right !

Dear All,

You have always dreamed of planning perfect wedding, perfect trip, perfect celebration or perfect life but no matter how carefully you plan it, there are many things that can go wrong!!

Everybody expect life to have smooth way, nobody expect their life to have painful bumps like a 'ROLLER COASTER' ! Things may go wrong in life, everything is up and down in life. Being an engineer, I take life exactly as “sinusoidal wave”, frequency of wave could be different for individuals though. Thousands and millions of factors keeps changing with respect to time and as a result this sine wave frequency keeps updating!! Isn’t it interesting? Well, that is all about life !  

I have been hearing one of the great and motivational statement from my Dad and would like to share it across you all. He always says "લાઇફ મા તડકો અને છાયો આવયા કરે" which means Sun lights and Dark are part of life, you cannot stop them from your life. Sunlight (Happy time) and Dark (Painful time). You cannot avoid or stop them as they are under control of thousands of factors, some are under your control while many are not !!

We all must have feel/seen painful time in our life. I always chat with my Dad whenever I feel dark time and he always inspires me on  how to tackle and pass this time. He said if you think things are not going right and you feel frustration because of dark time in your life, you would surely cook wrong things as "Frustration and Fear triggers your bad Time Bomb !!"  He thought me some important things to take care while things go wrong !!

1. Cool Down; Think with cool mind
2. Share your time with person who always inspires you, Don't spare your time with who you think is just adds fear or frustration in life.
3. Always take some advice and suggestions from person who you believe and start implementing those.
4. Things/Time does not come with label “RIGHT”, Do your best and make it RIGHT !!
5. Motivate yourself and keep it up.
6. Don’t think about bad time which has already been past and think how to make presence and future good.

When things go wrong, take right and keep right !

Enjoy,

Inspiration With Ankit !

Happy Birthday Aarav, You are 2 today !!

I don’t even know where to begin this post. It’s your second birthday and since my last post I have millions of things and thoughts to express for you Aarav !! Let me start with few of them J

On your second birth day I just went back and read last few posts and it brought an emotional feeling to my eyes! Can’t believe you are 2 today !! Two years ago on this day, we welcomed most precious bundle (“LisAnk-Aarav”) of joy in our life. We knew life would change after having baby but we never understood the extent of how much you can love something until you came to our life.  We thank god every day for gifting this bright, smart and handsome boy !!

Our day starts with seeing you sleeping peacefully in the bed. By the time you wake up I would have completed my 25% work in office and around 11:00am phone rings with your Mom’s number and I come to know that you are UP now and Mom’s duty running behind you starts !! I don’t think I need to mention how much you love, cartoons specially some standard ryams like “Wheels On The Bus”, “”Johny Johny Yes Papa”, “Head, Shoulder, Knees and toes” etc…  You would always need those ryams to play either on tablet, TV or on Mumma’s Cell Phone. We have been observing a great change and growth in terms of many things, like learning letters, ryams, signs, numbers and speaking on your way no matter what that means, How funny it is !!

This year has bought many change in life since last year, You are like talking machine !! You know what you say when you have been asked to say something! Ok… Here are few of them… J

Bus is Bushee

Dog – Dodee

Orange – Oenge

Apple – Ishee Apple

Shokes – Souse

Lightee – Tightee

Yellow – Ellow

Aero plane – Coooo

Helicopter – Coooo

So sorry – So Soeeee
Dhubaka - Bakada (This one is real funny in Gujarati though)
Seven - Senen
Jany Jany Yes Aapa...! :)

Isn’t it funny  ! You know I have lists of words in my mind, If I start writing those, it will be many…! J

You wouldn’t know how much you like Buses and Aero Plane ! Thank god we are living nearby Bus Transit station, whenever we go out we at least  be able to see few buses going in and coming out from the transit station. The most exciting part for us is when you say “Baaa Bushee… Baa Bushee” with smiling excitement on your face whenever you see buses ! How exiting !! You are dady’s super little buddy, always ready to give hug especially when you say “No” J.

You made many friends in this two years, Devarsh, Aangi, Rian, Naitik, Akshat. When you all gathered at one place, you use to play like anything and makes us busy in one or another way J !! Funny ! I don’t know where you all will be in future, one of you might be a business man, engineer, doctor, dancer, artist, or may be a politician J I am just guessing… I know you all would do best where you are at ! Wish you all the best for future, you all have bright future ahead of you !!  There is always something special about seeing you sleeping so peaceful. You wouldn’t like to go bed until late night and that to be you would always first like to jump in the bed with us, you make us horse and ride on us J and then you fall down many times in between and laugh like anything until you feel yourself tired!

You are Naughty as ever and still the apple of everyone’s eye, You manage to smile so easily. In the melody of our lives, you are the sweetest note ! Happy Birthday to you my sweet son Aarav. You are the light of my life and we are proud of you. You have infinitely made us stronger and better individuals, we look forward to each and every day we spend together. You bring more love and happiness to our life than you will ever know.

Wishing you a bright future with lots of friends, fun, happiness ! Happy 2^nd Birthday Aarav. Love you to the moon and back again a million times over.

Love you..

LisAnk-Aarav