The 100 Books Pact - 50/100

Angel (and me) are in love with Robert Munsch (RM) books and we have read most of his books that our library has to offer. She loves these books so much that she gets them for her book bag program from school (the program where the children can choose a book to carry home for a week from the school’s library) even when she has read them a lot of times and knows the story and the characters by heart. I think his success sutra is the exaggerated sounds and words in each of his stories which the little ones find so appealing. Not to forget the colorful and cheerful pictures by the illustrators. So here I am listing 10 of Angel’s favorite Munsch books out of the many more!

41/100 Alligator Baby  

This one tops the chart. This is the first RM book that we read. Kristen’s parents are expecting a baby, but instead of going to the hospital, they end up in a zoo and got home an alligator baby in confusion. The book always leaves her in splits and she has kept the book for the maximum duration that we can borrow the book from the library (60 days) as well as in the book bag program (2 weeks).

42/100 Mortimer  

A story of a boy who wouldn’t go to sleep and his family is going crazy because of him. His whole family and even the cops tell him to be QUIET and he says yes, but does what he shouldn’t immediately. He sings. Loudly. And has a song for his noise. I think the song is what Angel loves most about this book. Ultimately he falls asleep while the whole family is fighting over whose responsibility it is. It’s great for a bedtime book even or despite of its predictable ending!

43/100 Get Out of Bed 

When Amy’s family couldn’t wake her up in the morning, they dropped her off to school in her bed. So the events of the day carry on around her/including her while she dozes through. What will happen he next day? Her classmates have a last laugh, for sure!

44/100 Andrew’s Loose Tooth  

It’s a good book to read to the age group of 5-6 when they actually start losing teeth. Angel was a little shocked at the idea of losing teeth and we saw some videos of children who had loose/missing teeth and eventually she was okay.

45/100 We Share EVERYTHING  

On the first day of school Amanda and Jeremiah didn’t know what to do and they fight over everything like toys, paints and books, their teacher tells them to share. Soon Amanda parades around in Jeremiah’s clothes and he is loving Amanda’s pink shoes. Fun book.

46/100 Mmm, Cookies 

Christopher’s play clay cookies look delicious and he offers them to everyone, everyone soon realizes that they have been tricked. The teacher decides to give him a taste of his own medicine. The illustrations are wonderful and it’s a fun story that any child will like to hear.

47/100 Ribbon Rescue  

Jillian is in love with the traditional ribbon dress, made of many ribbons (duh!). When she realizes that people need help and her ribbons will do the trick, she happily parts with her ribbons one by one. The plot depicts sharing and helping in a subtle and entertaining way.

48/100 Deep Snow  

This is crazy story about two little girls who dive into the snow and couldn’t get out. We first read it last winter when it was snowing here. This involves a father, a snow mobile, a plane and a dog (in the illustrations). WARNING: Do not attempt to try any of these antics at home - the story is purely silly and meant for a good laugh – we all need it every once in a while.

49/100 Smelly Socks 

Children like all the gross things and this is a reminder to just that.  Tina loves her new socks so much that she is never going to take them off. However when her socks start smelling, her friends take action! Its super funny, very exaggerated and over the top just like many other RM books.

50/100 Moose!  

One morning, Luke finds a moose in his backyard. He then wakes his parents up and nobody believes him until they go to the backyard and loot at the moose themselves. They try to get rid of the moose and are unable to so. Meanwhile Luke develops a special liking for the moose and want to keep it as a pet. It’s a perfect book for young children.

Unlearn

I was watching a conversation between J* & Angel. They were playing together when J* threw her Dory Mashem (a small squishy toy) towards her with the intent of giving her a catch and she missed.

Angel: Papa, it hurt me

J* : Sorry baby, throw it at me, to check if it hurts

Angel: No Papa, I want to be nice!

This is just one example at the top of my head which amazes me how at this age she has a strong sense of right and wrong! Even her teacher tells us that she doesn’t hesitate in telling her friends that “No, that’s not right” no matter how much they are into the game. Sometimes she is so full of worldly wisdom, at other time she drives us nuts with her question and questions on questions. She is essentially herself. And I want her to remain this way. Forever.

Like any other parent, I too have a list of things that I want her to learn. However there are certain things which I don’t want her to learn. Things that are deeply rooted in our society, things that we teach our children implicitly, if not explicitly, things that we tend to hear a lot but we should not. So l want to make a conscious effort of breaking this chain. So here goes the list I want my daughter to read whenever I give her the link to this blog.

1.       The standards of beauty: They will tell you that you have to be a particular height, a particular weight, a particular skin tone, a particular figure to look beautiful. Don’t believe them. You are beautiful the way you are. Remember that when you were 4, you hated to wear dresses, stockings or when mama made your hair, were least bothered about how you looked (believe me, there are children who are very self-conscious at this age) and weighed your comfort over everything else. This is one of the (many) things that I love about you. Don’t bother to change yourself just because people tell you to.

2.       Since you are a girl.. : Be vary of statements which begin like this. For example –

a.      Since you are a girl, you have to get married and have kids by so and so age. Don’t believe this for the heck of it. Marriage and having children are huge responsibilities and require a lot of hard work. Do them when you are READY and when you WANT to, not because you HAVE to. And if either of these things don’t fall in place in the way of how you planned things for yourself, so be it. You are a complete person in yourself and don’t require anyone else to complete you.

b.      Since you are girl, you have to make compromises. No, you don’t baby! Adjustments yes, compromises no. Everyone has to make minor adjustments in their lives and you will too but don’t compromise on your life choices.

3.      The art of cooking: You don’t have to love cooking, unless of course, you plan to become a chef! Cooking is just another life skill which you should know to survive. If you love to cook, that’s great and if you can’t shell out n number of courses of meals that’s okay too.

4.      A spotless home: It’s okay to be messy! If while following your dreams, you can keep your home sorted, that’s great. Otherwise, it’s fine. Though a basic level of cleanliness is necessary for hygiene purposes and de-cluttering of mind, peace of mind and fulfilling your dreams is more important than a spotlessly clean house.

5.      There are no knights in shining armors: You will have to stand up for yourself and believe in yourself first. Because if you don’t, nobody else will!

Be kind and humble, but also be the brave and fearless girl that you are who knows right from wrong!

The 100 Books Pact - 40/100

31/100 The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

There are books and there are compelled-to-finish kind of books. This one falls in the latter category. I just finished reading this book and cannot get the characters out of my mind. To say that I loved this book would be an understatement! It started off a bit slow for me, didn’t grab my interest outright but it was gripping after a few chapters. It reminded me that books aren’t just entertaining, they are much more. I read this book over a couple of days and couldn’t go to bed without thinking about the book and the characters, all three of them – Natsya, Josh and Drew, which are so well written. And I loved the ending, it was really beautiful. Highly recommended!

32/100  Sam’s letters to Jennifer by James Patterson

This consists of two great love stories within a single book. Jennifer rushes to be the on the side of her grandmother Sam when she is hospitalized. She got to read the letters written by Sam, addressed to her baring her heart out about her life, unhappy marriage and the mysterious love of her life addressed as “Doc”. Not believing in love after the loss of her soulmate husband, Jennifer learns to open up her doors for a new possibility and discovers that the magic still exists. I liked the writing style of the author and picked another of his popular book. Read on.

33/100  Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson

This is a very sad book, stay away if you are not in the mood. It left me disturbed and affected me which is a sign of a good book but keep a box of paper-napkins on stand by. Kate is pregnant and has planned a romantic surprise to reveal it to the father – Matt Harrison. Ironically, he chooses the same night to disappear from her life leaving nothing behind but a very personal diary - Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas. Suzzane was his ex-wife and Nicholas, their son. She has written about her relationship with Matt, how they met and fell in love. Reading the dairy was painful for Kate, but she also knew that the answer to weather she would be able to get back together with Matt lay within the diary!

34/100 Charlotte’s Web by E B White

I had always heard of this book as the best book for children, the top 50 book that your child should read before s/he turns 10 and I had never read it/ So finally, I laid my hands on it and it deserves all the accolades that it has got. This depicts the true meaning of kindness, friendship, loyalty and trust. I am waiting for Angel to be 6ish and discover this wonderful book.

35/100 Lady, You Are Not A Man by Apurva Purohit 

This book was recommended to me by a dear friend KD when I went back to work after my maternity leave and was having trouble finding the right balance and I am so thankful to her for that. It ended my dilemma of weather I should place a resignation or not. I read this book in bits and pieces a couple of times whenever I am low or don’t have anything to do. So irrespective of you are a working woman or not, you will connect with this book. I don’t agree with all the things that the author has to say, but most do ring a bell.

36/100, 37/100 and 38/100

The Clue in the Jewel Box, Nancy Drew Mystery Series Book 20

The Clue in the Crumbling Walls, Nancy Drew Mystery Series Book 22

The Clue in the Old Album, Nancy Drew Mystery Series Book 24

Also tried some Nancy Drew books which I loved in my childhood, didn’t enjoy them quite as much now. Ah the joys of childhood! I wonder what happens when we grow up.

39/100 The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins 

I had heard so much about this book and was reading the name everywhere. So I picked it up to see that what the fuss was all about. It’s a crime thriller. I kind of identified with it because I am also one of those people who sit in the train, observes people and weave imaginary stories about their lives. But I was let down. I didn’t find it as good as the reviews say.

40/100 French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billon

It’s a great book about children. And their eating habits. Enough said!!

Double Bonanza

We had a busy last week! It was Diwali, of course :) And to add to the festive mood, we had Halloween the next day!

Growing up, Diwali used to be my favorite festival. On further thought, it still is. First there were the new clothes, Diwali holidays(with lots of homework too, but we always tried to finish the homework before the festivities began), the delicacies prepared by mom (my mouth waters whenever I think of those), the prayers (and the subsequent rituals) and most importantly the fire-crackers (Dad used to get loads of crackers & we used to divide them equally amongst the three of us and then further divide our own share into three more parts, for bursting them for three days). We hardly cared about the environment those days and just had fun with our friends. Ahh, the good old days!

I wish Angel could experience the same thrill for Diwali as I did. All I can do is try! Try to make Diwali memorable, something that she would remember fondly and celebrate spiritedly when she is grown up. 

And try I did. So I mailed her teachers explaining the festival giving some details & pictures. Next I heard is they read a book about Diwali to the class. They even tried to make rangolis. So the children colored the coarse salt and left it to dry one day and the next day they arranged it in different patterns. It was a beautiful effort!

We live in a carpeted apartment, so we couldn’t make the traditional rangoli (also, I have never made a rangoli before and I don’t have any creative genes) so Angel and me made play dough rangolis!

We also did 3D paper diya craft activity, just so that some excitement rubs off on her.

I made some sweets and snacks so that it feels like Diwali is approaching. 

Angel loved the ladoos, she gobbled them and requested for more. The 1^st batch of ladoos is finished already and I am already getting requests for the second batch. That is a huge thing for me since she hardly likes eating, forget about requesting something for making a second time!

We were so glad that Diwali was on a Sunday this time. So on the day of Diwali, we got dressed and headed for Arya Samaj. I had tried to call them a couple of times, but couldn’t connect with them and we found that it was closed. So we headed to a temple next and attended the prayers. In the evening we went to the same temple again to burst the fire-crackers. Angel was skeptical at first and even afraid, but after watching us for some time, she tried her hands at holding the sparkles and later told me that I was right and it was fun :) We had some time in hand so went to Swaminarayan temple next as J* had heard from his colleagues that it is beautifully decorated. To our great surprise, we could find the acharya khichdi in the food court they had specially put on account of Diwali which was missed the last time we went there. I had to eat it (even though I was done with my dinner) as its one of my few favorite foods. We left with full stomachs and beaming hearts.

Angel’s teacher had requested me to share the picture of Diwali with her so that she could share it with the class and Angel described to her friends that what was what. The teacher later told me that it was a great learning for other children and the children were sharing stories of Diwali with their parents J

The next day was Halloween and Angel, being the fan of 123 Sesame Street, dressed up as the Cookie Monster. 

We also carved a pumpkin for the first time which we picked from a pumpkin patch. Angel was not happy with the happy face and wants a scary faced pumpkin for the next Halloween. 

She also went for ‘Trick or Treat’ for the first time and returned with a bucketful of candies and treats.

We had a wonderful time this year while celebrating the double festivals!

One Year!

Today we completed one year of moving to Toronto, Canada. It would be an understatement to say that time flies! On the other hand, I feel that so much has changed in the past one year. We are no longer unsure of our steps and ways and the city no longer feels unfamiliar. Apart from the bits and pieces of home sickness and a few complaints from the winter, our stint has been pretty good.

There were a few glitches for us here about which I will talk some other time and since this is supposed to be a post on a positive note, I will just jot down the things that I am really thankful for:

- New friends. Now people who know me will know that I can’t make friends easily. So it took its own sweet time and now we do have a couple of good friends here.

- New experiences - which is obvious since I had never lived in any other country apart from India

- The public libraries – I think I have already said enough about them

- Angel’s school – I love her school as much as she does (if not more) and I am so thankful for the school, the teachers and the staff who look after her and take care of her in our absence

- The predictability of traffic – I know exactly how much time is required to travel from place A to place B and plan my activities accordingly which is a great perk

- The community centers – where various classes are held for children and adults alike. Did I mention that I have started learning swimming?

- The city – it’s so vibrant and colorful. Also the location, you can travel to the beaches, the mountains and the plains within a few hours’ drive. Also, you can choose to lead a life you want, I mean, it’s so multicultural that you will always find the people and neighborhoods of your liking.

- The Indian grocery stores, restaurants, temples and communities – these make us miss India a little less.

- As much as I dislike winters, with the same intensity I love the other three seasons of summer, spring and fall

- Last but not the least, our jobs - because of which we are able to sustain here

These are the things that are on the top of mind right now! So what are some things that you are thankful for around you?

Pick(y)-Eat(er)

Summer is finally here and we are loving it. Its so difficult to believe that at the place where we were battling -30 degrees Celsius touches +30 and above these days. We make the most of all the weekends. We have done a lot of hiking, visited a couple of beaches and explored the nearby towns and cities. In fact, each of these deserve a separate post in itself, and I will try for the same!

So last weekend we went for fruit and vegetable picking. It was a new and a wonderful experience for us. There were huge, lush farms of various fruits and veggies. And those were the yummiest berries I had ever tasted in my life. While picking the strawberries, I couldn’t help but exclaim, “I feel that the strawberries are calling out to me and saying, ‘Pick Me! Pick Me!’”

After a heartful and a bucketful of picking strawberries, next we went to the raspberry farm. After picking up a few, Angel uttered, “I feel like the raspberries are calling out to me and saying, ‘Eat Me! Eat Me!’”

No prizes for guessing that raspberries happen to be her favorite berries J

Apology!

Time to revive the "Video of the Month"

                                 And this is the best thing I have seen in a long time!!

Four!!

Angel turned four last week. It has become kind of tradition to write something about each of her birthdays. So I cannot not write on the special day!

You can read the previous ones here –

First Birthday

Second Birthday

Third Birthday

I write about her for her, so that when she grows up, she has something to know about her younger self and if she is anything like me, she will like it :)

I wanted to write something profound, something mind-shattering, something beautiful, but I am just not able to. There are too many emotions going through me to be able to write anything sensible. So, for now, I will just pen down four things of her at this age which I don’t want to forget.

1. The way she snuggles up to me in the night, looking for me in her sleep, chasing after me all night longing to sneak into my blanket and discard hers. It stiffens my neck and back to sleep in such cramped quarters apart from the fear of crushing her at the back of my mind night after night, but I can’t think of the day when she will not want to snuggle up :(

2. The way she is so generous in giving compliments :

Mama, your shoes are sooo nice

I love your dress

Thank you so much for getting me the toy

You make such yummy food for me mama

And if there are no more compliments to give - Thank you for listening

3. When I say “I love you soo much..“ in our cuddling sessions and she says “I love you more than that! “ I really don’t know how she has picked up this notion but for the time being I love it.

4. This time, along with taking the hand prints and foot prints in our usual book, I baked them too, the prints I mean which became a great activity for her. Take a look:

This was also my fb update for the day (Yeah, that has become a tradition too :P)

"Hands down, the sweetest little girl!"

I call her the sweetest little girl as I have my reasons. Number 1 being, I am her mother. Apart from that I love how she agrees to what we are saying, if explained logically to her, without throwing any tantrums (most of the time!). On those days, I realize that we have been doing something right!

I know I sound like a besotted mother for whom everything about her child is adorable and cute. I probably am such a mother, but I can’t help being one. This little human being has made a huge place in our hearts, so much so that we can’t see how we lived without her all these years!

This year for the first time, her birthday party was not on her birthday, it was on a Sunday preceding her birthday. As mentioned some time back, her favorite character is Elmo from 123 Sesame Street, hence that became our theme. So her birthday invites, cake, presents, party favors were all related to Elmo and friends. We had booked a place which had an indoor playground and the children also got to do ceramic painting. Her close friends from the day care and some of our colleagues were invited. She had a great time. She celebrated her birthday on the actual day in the school again followed by the birthday dinner at an Indian restaurant. She requested for cake pops for her birthday and since she hardly requests for anything related to food, I had to fulfill it.

Yeah, the request was last moment, 

couldn't find the cake pop sticks

Once her birthday is gone, I feel a hollow, as I am always doing/planning/preparing something or the other for her birthday for quite some time. Waiting for her next birthday, here's to another happy, healthy and successful year!

Science

I am a science student, however science never excited me. For me, it was just school work (though I was good at school work). Ever since Angel is born, I have started looking at things with a different perspective. She started talking very early. After the initial string of "What is this?" questions, she started questioning things with "Why is this?". Its amazing to see how mundane things can excite a child. She would see a teddy bear in the spots of a fulka or a sheep in the clouds.

Her banging things and listening to corresponding sounds with interest made me try a Jaltarnag with her.

She wanted to know from where plants come, made us sow methi/fenugreek seeds which are found in the kitchen of most of the Indian households. She would remind me to water the pot and notice the progress each day. That taught her patience. I made paranthas out of our labor of love and Angel ate relished those as she had grown it herself!

When we moved to Toronto and it started snowing, she wanted to know that why there is so much snow on the footpaths but none on the main road and we tried melting the snow with salt experiment. To make it more interesting we added food color and little surprises to look for when we dig the ice.
We also placed 2 ice cubes in a separate bowl to observe the time they take to melt without the salt.

And looking at her interest, we have been trying some science experiments at home (with minimal ingredients and time). We tried this classic baking soda and vinegar experiment. I also added some food color to create colorful bubbles. The science behind it is simple - mixing them together generates carbon dioxide and hence the fuzzy bubbles. And she was thrilled. She wanted to try it with water and she noticed that nothing happened. I was preparing for the tempering in daal/lentil soup along with this so had hing/asafoetida in my hand and she wanted to try with that and we did to see what happens. Although she might not understand the actual science behind it, just the awareness of the fact that one thing when mixed with another has a different reaction is enough for me and she marvels at it. Not to the forget the fun she has!

So we tried another variant with the same ingredients to make baking soda and vinegar painting. For this you need a good amount of baking soda spread over a plate. a few different colors (water colors/tempera/food colors) mixed with vinegar in separate bowls and a dropper/syringe(without needle)/spoon. Using the dropper/syringe/spoon sprinkle the colored vinegar over the baking soda and see the fuzzy reactions. She tried using all three and below is the end product.

After doing it for sometime, she started to do the classic way again. After some more time, she mixed everything and that led to a mess. She loved the mess part the most, of course!

Angel loves snow. She also used to eat bits of snow with her friends in the day care. So we created artificial snow at home (not for eating). It was naturally cold and fluffy making it more realistic. The best part is that it requires just two ingredients - baking soda and shaving cream which most people already have at hand.

You need baking soda in a container or a sensory bin. I used one medium sized packet of baking soda and half a bottle of shaving cream. When shaving cream is mixed slowly with the baking soda, cold snow can be felt. I don't know exactly why it is like that, but it is! Angel also added some glitter to it, just for fun and she had a blast making snow balls and snow man. Since it was baking soda, she demanded vinegar and she had a blast making bubbles again!

Next we tried milk, food coloring and dish soap experiment. As the name suggests, it requires three simple ingredients - milk, food colors and dish washing liquid along with an ear-bud. You have to watch this video for that. It kept her busy for a long time.

We tried another variant of the same thing using water and black pepper which created the similar effect.

While looking for science experiments for Angel, I came to know about "Ivory" soap which floats in water, because of its high air content. I got a pack of three from dollar store and we did this experiment. Since I had spare soap, I let her put the soap in water and it floated, while the regular soap sank. I would not try this activity with the wet soap (as I am not sure about the results)

Its so quick and easy and it yields such fascinating results.You just have to place the Ivory soap in a microwave safe bowl, put it in the microwave for 1-2 minutes and watch the magic. My kitchen had such nice smell after this! A word of caution though - The bowl would be quite hot, so be careful with small children. Also, this will work only with the Ivory soap and no other brand because of it high air content as mentioned earlier. If other brand is used, it may burn and ruin your microwave. 

Angel was fascinated to see a soap convert into a cloud (in her own words). It was fluffy and powdery and she had a great time making the mess thereafter!

She loves raisins and I had told her that raisins are dried grapes after which she started enjoying grapes as much too. So, it was time to show her, how grapes are dried raisins. We just took five grapes and left them in a bowl. It is a very slow process and for about 7-10 days nothing much will happen, after that the grapes will start to become squishy and brown, gradually the juice will dry up and finally raisins could be seen. The whole process took around one and a half months months which again taught us patience - lots of it.

Day 40 was yesterday, so we are almost there!

We also got a chance to visit a science exhibition last weekend and spent good 4-5 hours there. Angel had a blast there and wanted to stay for some more time, even though she had missed her nap. I will write about her experience there, maybe some other time. I will also try to write about the other scienc-ey activities we do at home.

She loves these experiments and demands more from time to time. And guess who is learning science again, the correct way this time?!

The 100 Books Pact - 30/100

22/100 The Grim Grotto 

Continuing the Baudelaire series, this is the 11^th book of the series where the Baudelaires find themselves in the submarine of Captain Widdershins for the first time Count Olaf did not make an appearance for more than half of the book. In The end, the children reached the Briny beach solving the code in Quigley’s telegram and hopping onto the taxi driven by Kit Snicket who is the sister of Jacques Snicket whom they met in the village of fowl devotees(#7) and for whose murder the Baudelaires were accused and a new adventure awaits.

23/100 The Penultimate Peril
Penultimate means next to last thus making this the 12^th book of the series. The children met or saw all the people of their past in the Denouement Hotel like Esme, Geraldine Julienne(the reported of The Daily Punchtilio) and Carmalita, Sir and Charles from the factory, Vice Principal Nero, Mr. Remora and Mrs. Brass from the school, Hal from the hospital running an Indian restaurant.

In the end, Klaus helped Olaf to open the lock of the laundry room fastened by Vernacularly fastened Door as he was sure that the sugar bowl is not there, Violet helped him make a drag chute out of the boat on the roof so that they can land safely in the pond below without a crash as they will accompany him and Sunny reminded him of letting the hotel on fire as a signal to VFD that the last of the safe palce is not safe anymore and they landed up in a boat with him.

24/100 The End
At the end of 13 chapters (14 in case of The End) each in the 13 books, many questions like the whereabouts of the sugar bowl or its contents are unanswered and the fate of many people like the Quagmire triplets and Hector is unknown! That is a disappointment.

25/100 The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Don Tillman is one of the most endearing, charming and fascinating literary characters I have met in a long time. This book is very clever and amusing. It has its laugh-out-loud moments and at some places its very touchy. I thoroughly enjoyed it and so did Bill Gates. Highly recommended.

26/100 The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
This is the sequel to the above book and hence a continuation of Don Tillman and Rosie’s life who are expecting a baby. The author had raised the bar too high with the first book. This in itself is a good book, but relatively, it lags behind “The Rosie Project”. To be honest, I rushed through this book as I wanted to get it done with. Having said that, if there is a sequel, I will still pick it up for the love of Don!

27/100 The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

Calpurnia Tate or Callie Vee who is almost twelve, is a born naturalist. She is the only girl in the Tate family of seven children. The story is based in 1899. When there was dearth of earthworms which were required for fishing, she figured that earthworms came out in rains, so she created a little rain for them for a couple of days after which they came just by listening to her footsteps, captured them and sold them for a penny.

She figured why the yellow grasshoppers were bigger and the green ones were smaller. It was hard to spot them in yellow grass despite them being fat and slow while the emerald ones were too easy to spot and gobble down by the birds in the yellow grass, thus confirming the survival of the fittest theory by Charles Darwin.

She finds her mentor in her grandfather who has dedicated the later part of his life in the study of nature.  When she is not exploring nature with granddaddy, she finds herself incapable of doing the girly things her mother forces her to, like knitting, cooking or playing a piano. Throughout the book, she has to balance her curious personality with the restrictions placed on the girl. The book ends with the dawn of the 20^th century and the reader just hopes for the amazing things ahead for Callie.

28/100 The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

This is the sequel to ‘The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate’.  If she was my daughter, I would tell her that how immensely proud of her thirst for knowledge I am. I would tell her that how I love the way she loves and cares for her younger brother Travis, I admire her for standing up for what is right, for being brave enough to voice her desire of going to college and if it was not the year 1900 that how she will grow up to become one of the greatest environmentalist. But since she is a fictional character, I would tell all the children of grade 4 onwards to read these wonderful books. Although not everything in this book is pleasant, hang on and you will find yourself cheering for Calpurnia Tate at the end of this book. I can’t wait for Angel to grow up and discover these books.

Both of these are wonderful books and the reader can’t just have enough of them. I want the sequel to this part as well as I want to know what happens to Callie and her aspirations.

29/100 Murder In Bollywood

I was feeling nostalgic and I searched the library with the words – “India” or “Bollywood” and thus ended up with this book. I got four other books with "Bollywood" in title and I am sure I will read them all no matter how mindless they are. I even read a travel book on India and a cookery book on Indian vegetarian recipes too. Come on, I was am missing India!

So this book is written by Shadaab Amjad Khan, the son of Amjad Khan of ‘Gabbar’ fame from Sholay. An ace Bollywood director Nikhil Kapoor and his wife, a leading actress Mallika Kapoor are found dead on the same night. More murders and murder attempts follow. It’s now upto Senior Inspector Hoshiayar Khan to solve the mystery. The revelation was a surprise and the book is quite engrossing.

30/100 The Crossing Places by Ellie Griffiths
The one thing that stands out in this book is the unlikely heroine. Ruth Galloway is forty something, overweight, loner academician who lives with her two cats. She is convinced that her weight makes her unattractive. This is a mystery book with a flavor of archeology. The mystery is not a mystery as such but the writing style and the twists and turns are beautifully described. I have placed a hold for the next book in the series; yes it’s a series of 7 books as of now.

Caught Again!

Prequel here.

 We were discussing about the (dreaded) weight issues.

J* who probably was in a good mood said: On this day, at this point in time, you are not fat, you are perfect!
Me: Does that mean that I was fat at some point in time?

Poor guys! They are still looking for a perfect answer to this question :P

Needless to say, I never get bored of putting him in such tight spots *Evil laughter*

 

More from Angel World

I was giving her cough syrup and she was making faces. I told her to gulp it down quickly and she used to love it when she was younger and always asked for more (yeah she did that)

Angel was surprised first then composed herself and said: Abhi boring ho gaya hai

:/

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Few days back, I got a mail from her day care with her picture as she finished her lunch for the first time. Finally.
She later told me that all her friends on her table were cheering for her and shouting “Go Angel, go Angel”. I didn’t like it but since they were cheering so hard, I finished it.

It has not happened again after that though :(

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We were reading a book and a reference to a tailor came. Angel immediately uttered there is tailor in the infant room in school. There is a lady named Taylor, some explanation followed and we were in splits thereafter.

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She loves doing puzzles and can easily do 48 pieces puzzle on her own. Maybe it’s time for bigger puzzles now.

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She loves to help me in the kitchen. Although her being there increases my load but I love having her there and an eager helping hand is always welcome :) Sometimes when she is not in the mood, she gets her chair in the kitchen and we chat, at other times, she carries on doing her stuff around the house.

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She enjoys her swimming lessons and loves to splash in the pool

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She enjoys in her day care. She was complaining to J* the other day when he went to pick her up "You came early to pick me up, I wanted to play for some more time!"

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She sings a rhyme which goes like this – I like to eat, eat, eat, apples and bananas. On knowing the breakfast is yogurt and paranthas, she changed the lyrics to – I like to eat, eat, eat, dahi and parathas :D

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One of her toys’ eye broke. She tried to fix it but couldn’t. She turned to me and said – “Its okay, Mama. It can be a pirate!”

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There was Valentine Exchanges in her day care last month and I had to Google about the same for three year olds. It’s sending some gifts for all the children in class. Apparently, they learn to give away stuff. I got some cards and stickers and let her stick them on the cards and let her decide which is for whom. Below is what she gave and her valentine loot.

 

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 Angel and her friends eat snow in little bits when they go outdoors. I explained to her that we walk on the snow, it gets dirty and you eat the same dirty snow. She immediately replied – "We only eat that snow which does not have any marks on it"

How on earth can you argue with that logic!

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Once, Angel was coughing. It was surprising since she was fine in the morning.
I asked her what happened.
Angel: My friends in day care don’t cough like this
Me: Like what?
Angel (with a very sad expression, on the verge of tears): They don’t cover their mouths and that’s how I got sick

I had to try real hard to suppress my laughter.

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I was requsting J* to put my phone for charging as the battery was close to dead. Angel who was almost asleep uttered “Yeah, because you have seen too much Roadies on it” and went back to sleep.

*FacePalm* That was true!

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Once when we were going somewhere, she led my attention to a girl at a distance who had put on 'Frozen' boots and she is a huge Frozen fan. I was surprised that she had noticed something that far and told her the same to which she replied, very seriously “Because I am a bunny” (Because bunnies eat carrots and she eats carrots, which has Vitamin A, which is good for eyes)

Yeah, I took a minute to make that connection too!

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On one of those rare days when the weather was better in the evening, we went out to hunt for a park. While we were discussing about it, we saw a park without swings to which Angel reacted “I don’t want to go there, we can’t do anything there, just run around and watch the dogs!” The way she said that with all those nakhras was hilarious

We had read the book named “Pick A Pup” the same day in which Sam observes all the pups on the road on his way to the shelter to pick a pup.

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During her meal, she was being fussy after eating one idli.
Me: You have to eat at least one more as one idli is not enough for a four year old.
Angel: I am not a four year old yet, so I think one is enough.

*Facepalm*

Well, I did make her eat half more as she is almost four year old! 
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One morning I told her to remind me for a particular activity in the evening, once we are back from work/day care. In the evening, I told her to prep up for the activity.

Angel: You remeber?!!!
Me: Yeah, but why didn't you remind me?
Angel: Because I knew that you would remeber already.

Our activity was making artifical snow.

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She made me read "TheAdventures of Franklin and Friends" in one day, 196 pages that is! Its a collection of 8 different Franklin stories, 2.5 of which we read in the library itself. On coming back home, she opend the exact page where we had left and made me finish reading it before doing anything else. After reading 4 stories, I told her that it was enough and we will read the rest the next day, so she went to J* and he read another one to her. Her enthusiasm rubbed on to me and after pleas of "One More" and "One Last" we finished it.

We sailed through her meals and milk on that day, thanks to Franklin. And maybe J* will develop a habit of reading, thanks to Angel. Fingers Crossed!

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While we were going through our “I love you” routine, I asked: Do you know how much I love you?
Angel: No
Me: I love you till the infinity moon and back (since I was not able to explain the concept of infinity, changed it to something more relatable)
Angel (after thinking for some time): Mama, I love you till aaaaall(yes, with that emphasis) the cities and back

Do you see me floating with the clouds these days?