Valentine’s Day is rather special for me. Not just because it’s Valentine’s Day but also because we were given the greatest gift of all time on this day….my older daughter P. It was as if the forces of the universe were telling us…. now you will truly celebrate your love forever. And then 5 years later, all by natural means, came our second little angel A. As if telling us… let’s not finish the celebrations in a day.

P is 8 now and A is a tiny little 3. I started writing this blog not only because I wanted to write a blog but because I wanted something special for my children. When they grow up it will be like a chronicle for them to read through all the posts and relive their childhood. Not only for them…. for us too. Ultimately hubby and I will be left all these little tid bits of awesomeness that these kids are.

I was traveling on work and could get home only by evening on P’s birthday. We had already bought P’s gift. She had asked for something that grown ups use. At first she wanted a laptop! Reason…. her cousin 2 months younger than her has one. ( but hey! She doesn’t have a TV at home and she uses her moms old laptop to watch you tube) so after some coaxing and disagreement, it was ruled out. Then she asked for headphones. Like her A didi has (her A didi is 15 years old and has a pair of Noise cancellation speakers which she got when she turned 13 I think) so again after some explanations and arguments we came to agreement that we will buy a Bluetooth speaker so that she can listen to music. (Although the iPad has a decent speaker and she listens to it anyway, but at least we could agree on something that “grownups use”) She was satisfied with that ultimately because her grandmom has one of those caravan speakers by sa re ga ma which have old numbers filled in and also act as a speaker for ur own music. (It’s pretty cool actually. It’s got a large collection of golden songs. You can insert your usb as well and also connect it via Bluetooth. Pretty cool! This is the Caravan Radio)

And A…. she got a cycle. It’s not exactly new. It’s P’s old cycle….. but for her it’s new 😬 I know, the second ones have to make do with hand me downs. But for my comfort P hardly used it and it’s as good as new. She outgrew it and we had to buy a bigger one when she wanted to learn without training wheels. But I think I’m going to have to get her a tricycle for now.

So the week was packed with tonnes of excitement and celebrations. 14th was P’s birthday and we also celebrated Mahashivratri. It’s pretty big for us coz we do 4 poojas of 4 prahars. So it’s pretty much all night long. Then 15th was A’s birthday. We decided to go out for dinner that day. The only place we could think of was Go Italia in Koramangala. It’s close and it serves the 2 items my girls love Pizza (for P) and French Fries (for A). Unfortunately they ran out French fries that day. But the staff left no stone unturned to bring her some coz it was her birthday. They went to dominos and Pizza Hut but they don’t serve any it seems. Then they went to namdhari to buy a packet of frozen fries! A was thrilled to eat them and it’s totally commendable that they went out of their way to bring her those fries.

Saturday was party time. We celebrated at this place called Bangalore school of performing arts. As the day advanced from morning to afternoon I had 6 kids cancel their attendance! I was totally disheartened and ultimately a couple more dint show up. I was like it’s going to be a flop party. But you know what…. the kids had a blast. Of the total of 13 kids 5 were A’s friends and the rest were P’s. The place had a dance studio, soft play area and a gymnastics studio. The kids played and played and played and it was difficult to get them out of there. The co ordinator there also did a fantastic job of the activities. Although the kids enjoyed the most when they got free play time at the gymnastics studio.

Moral of the story…. once again we learn that kids don’t care how many people are there or how big or small the party is. All those are only things to boost our ego. The kids only care about their friends and can enjoy themselves with their friends wherever and whenever. I did not invite many people from my friend circle because the place was a bit small and would not be able to accommodate so many adults. I kept feeling bad till the last minute…. that I should have called them. I attend all their parties and it’s only courtesy that I invite them too. But it makes me feel that we should let go of these formalities. Because ultimately what matters is that my children should enjoy their own birthday. Having more children would have crowded the place more. Plus my friends’ kids hardly know each other so they would probably be bored and I would feel bad that they are bored. So…. a small party with their close friends is what I would go with for our kids.