My baby turned 8!

Yeah! He turned eight this August. When I look back at all those years, I wonder how fast they went. I know I might probably say this every year going forward, but that’s how it feels… On every birthday I wrote for him in his book, about how his year was. But last two years, I have become too busy or lazy to write them down for him. That’s why I thought of typing up over here. It’s always easy for me to type than write. ;o)

~ Still a charmer. One smile melts anyone’s heart.
~ Still says he’s Mamma’s boy (I love you too baby ;-))
~ Had a hard time coping with the weather extremities we had (From snow storms, thunderstorms, tornedoes, high winds to high temperatures!) in this year.
~ Gets on my nerves faster than anything
~ Deaf to his name! (So much so that even his sister has started to call out for him in the same tone as us!)
~ Loves his sister, but have learned to give her trouble.
~ One fine day wanted to start Piano lessons again. And he’s doing wonderful with the new teacher. His memory still amazes me! He can memorize his pieces so quickly. We were proud each time at his piano recitals. He tested at the Junior Federation Festival and received Superior and his first blue ribbon!
~ Willingly went back to Tae Kwando and he has promised he will bring his Mamma a black belt one day. Mamma is waiting for his yellow belt for now.
~ Did his first swimming with Dolphins this year when we went to Cancun! So proud that he tried it and didn’t give up even though he was in freezing cold water.
~ Mommy tried a boys sleepover party for his 8th birthday! It was a great success, but I don't think I will have that theme again though!

~ Some favorite’s songs this year have been ‘Zoobi Doobi’, Songs from Kismet Konnection, ‘Sheila ki Jawaani’, ‘Dinka Chika’. Loves Soft and hard rock music & enjoys American Idol with Mamma.

And of course Dad wrote for him too in the book. Now that he didn’t do that part, I today asked him to write too. ;o) Here’s his part (He wrote after reading mine, so my guess is he didn’t wanted to repeat some of the proud moments of ours)

Experts from dad’s email à

~ Continues to easily get distracted. Not sure if he needs to be maturing more at his age. Example he prefers playing with younger kids and peers who act silly, funny or laugh.

~ Sometimes seem to hog all the attention from parents especially when his sister is there. Could be vitamin “J”

~ Surprisingly he shows good behavior when mom needs it and I am travelling for work

~ Has gotten better in eating by himself and enjoying his activities like summer camp at Andrews.

~ Much better language of Konkani than before, thanks for granny too for this.

~ Additionally understanding Hindi too J as mom found out when he interrupted our conversation in Hindi to give his inputs!

~ Struggles to comprehend when he reads and does not like writing due to fine motor challenges

~ We as parents are learning to be compassionate after reading the books on child with sensory challenges.

We sincerely hope God gives you the strength and will to fight your way to success son à love Dad & Mom

Mindless Looting..

London has been on the news last two days for wrong reasons.. There is looting going on everywhere. Whenever any riots happen usually they just need a mindless trigger. In London, the trigger was a man killed by a police officer. People gathered to first to ask for justice. But it all has soon snowballed into this riots for past three days. I am sure many of the rioters even know what has happened! All they want to do is get as much as bounty as possible in all this commotion. There were many businesses that were gutted down by the arsenic attacks.

The pictures released by police show men and women alike joining in the lootings. They are breaking into jewelry, cash, electronic shops, looting whatever they can find.. There are images of people sneaking into these shops after the looters have left, and continuing to loot some more.!

Walking down the street must be a nightmare to commoner. Even when two innocent people walk past each other, they must be thinking the other could hurt them. No trust anywhere, reminds me of the scene from oscar winning movie Crash, when a scared police officer gives a ride to young black man, kills the boy in an instant when he will be trying to show him that he too have the same angel figure in his pocket as the police officer. Londoners are going to take a long time from now on to trust the person walking next to them.

I saw a video today with an injured kid being mugged. http://uk.news.yahoo.com/video--injured-boy-in-riots-mugged.html  Seriously!!! Initially from one person trying to help to get on his feet, to mug him situation, in a matter of seconds.. Sickening to see. Where on earth did empathy in people go? They all looked like dogs searching and fighting for scraps!!

Rioters are creating scare in people and not abiding to anything. I always believe in peace, but for their disorderly conduct, and absolutely non-excusable actions from these rioters, they need to be hunted down and punished.