March 16, 2010

The Easy Way Out…

Posted by Ameena under Food, Maya, Other, Parenthood | Tags: , , , |
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Why bother shopping around for a much-needed new duvet for your daughter’s room…

When you can hint to your mother that Maya could really use a new bedroom ensemble for her birthday?

Why bother stressing out over homemade cupcakes for Maya’s classroom birthday celebration…

When you can hop over to Trader Joe’s and purchase 3 boxes of  ice cream sandwiches instead? 

Why bother taking Maya to the park…

When you can sit comfortably while watching her and three of her friends force Ali to pull them around and around the school yard on a wagon?  (Side note – Ali asked me if that counted as his exercise for the day).

Why bother cooking up a requested birthday dinner consisting of plain pasta with butter and parmesan cheese…

When you can battle the Hollywood traffic for thirty minutes, struggle to find un-validated parking in an insanely busy lot, and get the exact same thing at Pasta Pomodoro instead?

Why bother ordering a the Polenta Farcita appetizer… 

When you know is going to be dripping in delicious ”brown butter?” (This is obviously a rhetorical question).

Why bother to order the Verdure - an average dish of roasted brussels sprouts, mushrooms, zucchini, asparagus, and broccoli with spicy pomodoro sauce for $8.50…

When you could have easily made this dish much better yourself?  (I’m still trying to figure out the answer to this one).

Why bother letting Maya overload on ice cream twice in one day…

When you know she is going to be bouncing off the walls from a sugar high? (Because it’s her birthday and once in a while you stop being uptight enough to give in).

I think we are all birthday’d out…on to new topics tomorrow!

 

March 15, 2010

The Process of Learning

Posted by Ameena under Maya, Other | Tags: , , |
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Prior to having Maya, I had never changed a diaper.  I’d also never opened a jar of baby food, held a baby for longer than five minutes, or had the slightest clue what to do with a crying child.  I guess you could say that I was born without that motherly instinct.  I was always too afraid of vomit, sticky fingers, and crying to really form a bond with the few kids that I interacted with.  So it goes without saying that when Maya came along I was VERY unprepared.

The first time I held Maya I had no clue what to do with her.  I looked at her and saw this bright red, angry little stranger who wouldn’t.stop.crying.  I started crying too, and I can assure you they weren’t tears of joy.  They were more of the, “Holy s@#$ what on earth am I going to do now?” variety. 

Despite a lot of screaming (Maya), a lot of Baby Einstein (Maya), and many, many breakdowns (me), we both made it to the six month mark alive.  And believe me when I say I was eagerly counting down because everyone told me things would start getting easier at six months.  In some ways things did get better - Maya was more interactive and slept for slightly longer stretches of time.  I also hired a nanny and went back to work, which if I’m being 100% honest, was the best decision for both of us.  But things continued to be difficult because Maya still wouldn’t.stop.crying!!

And then Maya turned one and she started sleeping for six to eight-hour stretches. Things were immediately a lot better for everyone involved. 

As one year quickly turned into two…and then three:

The crying tapered off and sleep wasn’t so elusive anymore.  With both of us well rested, Maya and I actually started to bond.

We found we had a few things in common, namely our short tempers, our lack of rhythm, and our frizzy hair:

And as time went on I found myself actually learning from my own child. 

She taught me it’s okay not to care if other people think you are nuts:

She taught me it is okay to wear trashy T-shirts and to mix pink and red with no long-lasting repercussions:

And she taught me that cleaning up vomit isn’t the worst thing in the world:

But most of all she’s taught me that while neither of us have all the answers, we are doing okay figuring things out as we muddle along.  After all, we’ve somehow made it through five years already…whats another few decades or so?

Happy Birthday Maya!!

 

March 14, 2010

My Super Sweet 5th Birthday

Posted by Ameena under Food, Maya, Other, Parenthood | Tags: , , , , |
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When my brother and I were kids, birthdays were a simple affair consisting of a few family friends, their kids, a cake, and my mother cooking up a storm.  Instead of my birthday being about a theme or expensive loot bags, it was about hanging out with my friends and having good, home cooked food.  Despite the simplicity I always recall having the best time on my birthday! I’ll spare you the pain of hearing my version of the “I walked in 2 feet of snow to get to the bus so I could get to school,” speech, but I must say, oh how things have changed.

Maya’s real birthday is actually tomorrow, March 15, but we celebrated it yesterday.  Initially I wanted to do a Fancy Nancy tea party for her and her little friends, but somehow a small gathering of about 10 kids morphed into a huge event at my in-laws house for 75 people.  And despite not lifting a finger in the kitchen I was still busy doing 100 other things yesterday, and for the weeks leading up to yesterday.  Favors, decor, outfits, activities, and more…planning a kid’s birthday is a full-time job. 

It was freezing cold outside yesterday, so instead of setting things up outside we went to Plan B and set up tables for the kids in the house:

We arranged the party favors: Fancy Nancy favor boxes for the girls, coloring books and crayons for the boys, and I had placemats made for all of the kids. 

We blew up about a million balloons and set up the dining table, the appetizer area, and the drinks:

Thanks to Royal Kabob, the food was fabulous.  We had samosas, three different kinds of chicken, rice with peas, naan, spinach paneer, daal, and salad.  There was also fruit and kulfi (Indian ice cream) for dessert.

After lunch, Maya and the kids took out some of their aggression on the poor pinata:

We encountered a pinata malfunction which resulted in my brother having to empty the candy manually.  This resulted in candy being hurled from great heights:

Which resulted in a small stampede and a few injuries:

But it was nothing a two layer Fancy Nancy cake, complete with feathers, a boa, a crown, and butterflies, couldn’t fix:

There were a few scary moments when Maya caught other little guests trying to blow out her candles.  She screamed out a big “NO” and then knives were drawn in protest:

But luckily no injuries were sustained. 

After the cake fiasco, we moved downstairs for coffee.  My friend Nadia enjoyed a coffee lesson by my father-in-law:

I subjected my family to more pictures:

And cigars were smoked by the adults while kids worked off their cake in the jumper.

Since Maya literally has every single toy in the world, we requested that guests donate books for the Developments in Literacy book drive in lieu of gifts.  I am thrilled to report that we collected at least 50 brand new books to send to Pakistan.  This is definitely a great organization, and they take used books as well, so if you are looking for somewhere to donate children’s books, please check out their site or contact me for more information.

Our generous friends and family still brought gifts for Maya…she scored some gorgeous Fancy Nancy ensembles, a trampoline, a bowling alley, a tent, a new bedspread, an air hockey game, lots of great books, and a pair of cute Burberry shoes.  Don’t be surprised if her shoes mysteriously disappear and you see me wearing identical shoes in my size.

All in all, the event was a success.  Now I just need to get through the birthday celebration at Maya’s school tomorrow and I can breathe a sigh of relief before I have to start planning her 6th Birthday….

 

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