What is Atharv upto these days - Part 2

1/8/2010
Atharv likes to go down the elevator and just hang around and say 'Hie' to new faces he sees in the apartment lobby. There was this one time when he said 'Hie' to a women entering the building 11 times and she politely replied back with s smiling Hi each of those 11 times. :)

Now today he is again in a mood to go down and wondering how to do it. I am still 13+ months old and I can't speak. All I know is to cry, but silly mommy does not understand that language and thinks I am hungry every time I tell her. So how do I tell mumma to take me downstairs? Eureka! Hold mommy's pajama's with both hands and walking backwards, slowly and carefully walk towards the main entrance.

Now who could think of that. Kiran was right the other day when he said, language is no barrier in communication!!

1/9/2010
Atharv goes out to Washington Lake for the second time (actually first time when he is awake). He is all excited to see such vast landscapes where there's tons and tons of grass to eat (Oh did I not tell you he loves to eat, but provided he can grab it from the floor) But the terrain is not quite flat. So he hold on mommy's fingers very tightly, till he is comfortable walking on his own. Now the whole world is his.

i-see-an-ikea by Pasta Queen

Gosh! This is exactly how I feel, every time 'i' go to an IKEA... just that I never knew how to put in words the beautiful way PastaQueen has. Except that one in renton, which is closer to our home has the yummiest daal (I think they call it soup) and mashed potaoes, you can ever find at any restaurant!

http://pastaqueen.com/blog/2010/08/i-see-an-ikea/

Read further about the cute book they pass on. How many folks around the world know Swedish... so the IKEA folks, completely got past the language barrier and depicted everything in pictures!!!Now who could think of that.

http://pastaqueen.com/blog/2010/08/assembling-the-ikea-expedit-workstation%e2%80%a6expediently/

Side Joke: Kea in Hindi means - 'Did'... So what does Ikea mean? :) You need to spend an hour or two assembling that huge piece of furniture which comes packed in that small 8'x6''x10'' box to know what I mean :)

Working Mother v/s An At Home Mother

After reading my posts about Atharv's cough and bad health over FB, today another friend suggested I take a couple of weeks off from office to take proper care of Atharv by not sending him to day care. I never had even thought of this option before. Wonder why? Was it because my company does not give me the facality to avail such an long leave or cause I don't love my son any longer, or am I not making his health my first priority of life?

All this has now made me to feel, I am not a good mother at all, or perhaps I was never a good mother to begin with. Am I sending Atharv to daycare, so that I get that feeling of having accomplished something at work, or I am sending him to daycare so that I can be away from this constantly demanding boy for a few hours in the day, or am I just not the type who finds the ever lasting routine of diaper changing, feeding and cleaning any fun any longer. I try to argue with myself and tell my own self - I send him so that he can get the company of other children of his own age for some hours in the day - something which I can't give him if I were a full time homemaker. But is that really true? What is he going to miss if he does not learn what he learns at the day care, if he does not sit on his baby chair with other toddlers and doesn't learn how to lift the spoon and not lift the plate at meal times, does not learn what different colors mean, or what circle time or what importance do group activities have in life?

Or wait, how about solving the companion problem by helping him with the company of a sibling. Won't that be so much easier on his health, when both of them would play together at home and fall less sick. At lest much less sick than having 6 ear infections in a course of being at the day care for just 10 months so far. After all every one around me is telling how many times their moms or mom-in-laws have requested them already to have a sibling for their grand children... but do our moms think the same way? Thankfully neither do. They are both progressive in their thoughts and care more for the mother who is having a tough time with her only kid, rather than asking her to deliver one more to and to be unable to take care of either. Thank God, at least something is right in my life.

But what happens to Atharv health then? What do I do to make him get rid of ever lasting cough. Give him those steroid puffs that Dr. Zorn recommended last week? Or take a month break from work. The option of taking a break is now making more sense now. Ah but under which company policy can I take a month long break? I don't have any earned leaves, as I just went for a 3 week vacation to India, to meet out parents after 2 years and I don't have any sick leaves either, as the new fiscal just started. And anyways the company never made a third category of leave policies keeping mothers in mind. They have more important things to bother about such as their own 'revenue' they earn from their 'resources'. Little do they have time to wonder on petty issues such as how to enable mothers to take off a couple of weeks to take care of their sick little ones. Now why am I working for such a company in the first place? That gives me a great idea - why not quit? Okay so by now, I have finally made by my mind that given my situation, the best option would be to quit and then look for another job when Atharv gets better. But let me discuss this a little bit with Abhinav first. I know my supportive husband will never let me down in my decisions and would have something to add.

I discuss with Abhinav and true to his habit he never says - 'no' [immediately]. He supports my decision and then before I can rejoice of knowing what I want to do now... he carefully reminds me about my pleasures of being a frustrated mom. and how I used to long to go back to work after I had been a mom-at-home for 6 months.

I remember having read somewhere. For a child's all round development, whats more important is to have a happy mother than having a at-home but frustrated mother. What does that translate to? That I care more about my needs than I do about about is more important.

I think I have come to terms with the reality now. The reality is that I ain't a good mom! Let me accept the known fact and then live with it.

Plastic and Bottles

Dear Reader, I am not aware of the authenticity of this article. This was sent as a forwarded email to me. --------------------------------------------
Did ya ever drink from a plastic bottle and see a triangle symbol on the bottom with a number inside? Do ya know what the number stands for? Did ya guess that it's just for recycling? Then ya are WRONG !!!!!! THE NUMBER TELLS YA THE CHEMICAL MAKE UP OF THE PLASTIC.....
1) Polyethylene terephalate (PET)
2) High density polyethylene (HDPE) 
3) Unplasticised polyvinyl chloride (UPVC) or Plasticised polyvinyl chloride (PPVC)
4) Low density polyethylene LDPE
5) Polypropylene (PP)
6) Polystyrene (PS) or Expandable polystyrene (EPS)
7) Other, including nylon and acrylic

What ya aren't told is that many of the plastics used are toxic and the chemicals used to create a plastic can leach out of the plastic and into the food / drink. Think about it, how many times have ya or a friend said "I don't like this, it taste like the plastic bottle ..... " THAT'S BECAUSE YA ARE TASTING THE PLASTIC The WORST ONES are Nos: 3, 6, and 7 !!! DO NOT USE THESE NUMBERS if stated at the bottom of the bottle) !!!

Check out this chart that breaks down the plastic, its uses and chemical makeup (I find #7 a little scary)
http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/guide_ref/guide_plascod3.html

AVOID re-using plastic bottles RIGHT AWAY!!!

Does your ped say formula is better than cow's milk

Next time show them this:
http://www.cornucopia.org/2008/01/replacing-mother-infant-formula-report/

Oh by the way, did you know a couple of decades ago around the time when you and I were born, doctors were so sure formula is so much more better than mother's milk...

Looks like in the last few 10's of years, in lieu of the millions of years of human evolution; there has been a marked improvement in the quality of mom's milk ... after all, how can a doctor's theory based on 'scientific research' go wrong?? LOL

Cheers,
Deepti

About oxymorons :)

My cousin Pawan sent me something I couldn't resist posing ...too funny..

An oxymoron is usually defined as "A phrase in which two words are contradictory meaning " are brought together:-
1) Clearly misunderstood
2) Exact Estimate
3) Small Crowd
4) Act Naturally
5) Found Missing
6) Fully Empty
7) Pretty ugly
8) Seriously funny
9) Only choice
10) Original copies

And .......
.
.
.
.
.
.
11) Happily Married

McDonald FrenchFries have added beef flavor

To All my French Fry Lover Friends,

I received the note the bottom of this email as a forwarded email mentioning that McDonalds adds beef flavor to its French Fries which are advertised to be cooked in vegetable oil. (Not that me or Abhinav have been to McDonalds more than 4 times in the past 4 years of our stay in Seattle, but a lot of our friends go and tell us that I can go too) Me and Abhinav too occasionally do have French Fries. We would eiter go to Ivars in Downtown and while feeding the Seaguls, would pop-in some in our mouths too, or ma be at the Pacific Mall as so on...

Basically on reading the forwarded email, I wasn't quite convinced, since it looked like a hoax to me. So I thought of contacting McDonald myself and here is what their reply is.

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From: "McDonalds.CustomerCare@us.mcd.com"
Sent: Fri, January 8, 2010 2:10:04 AM
Subject: Message from McDonald's USA

Hello Deepti:
Thank you for taking the time to contact McDonald's. We appreciate this opportunity to share information with you about our French fries.

For flavor enhancement, McDonald's French fry suppliers use a very small amount of beef flavor as a natural flavoring during the par-frying process at the potato processing plant. In the restaurant, the French fries are cooked in vegetable oil.

You may be interested to know that we recently updated our nutrition information to include the ingredients in "natural flavors" for all our US core menu items. Customers will now be able to find out if a natural flavor comes from a dairy, meat or vegetable source. If you are interested in reviewing this information, please visit our web site at www.mcdonalds.com.

We hope this information is helpful and we appreciate the time you took to contact us.

Lisa
McDonald's Customer Response Center

ref#:6579373

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You wrote:

Hi McDonald,
I am a McDonalds fan. As a child, I have had all my birthday parties at McDonalds @ UK.

Today I am emailing you for a specific reason. I received this email from a friend and was interested to confirm the validity of the statement below received in response to a question asked by this friend of mine. The remaining response is also copied below.

With anticipation on a speedy response,
With warm regards,
Deepti

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"For flavour enhancement, McDonald's French fry suppliers use a very small amount of beef flavour as a natural flavouring during the par-frying process at the potato processing plant."
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"Thank you for taking the time to contact McDonald's. We appreciate this opportunity to share information with you about our French fries. For flavour enhancement, McDonald's French fry suppliers use a very small amount of beef flavour as a natural flavouring during the par-frying process at the potato processing plant. In the restaurant, the French fries are cooked in vegetable oil. You may be interested to know that we recently updated our nutrition information to include the ingredients in "natural flavours" for all our US core menu items. Customers will now be able to find out if a natural flavour comes from a dairy, meat or vegetable source. If you are interested in reviewing this information, please visit our web site at * www.mcdonalds. com* ."
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