George's First Dentist Appointment

I took George for his first dentist appointment.  He was very scared.  There is a reason for him to be scared of the dentist.  The past one year every time he hesitates to brush his teeth I scare him by saying that when he goes to the dentist he is going to pull his tooth out because he did not brush it.  This helped me to get him to brush every morning.  Finally it was that day to go to the dentist.  To tell you the truth I was very worried too.  What if he starts panicking, crying and won’t listen to the dentist… a thousand questions started popping in my head.  Despite all these fears I tried hard to convince him that everything is going to be okay and he will have a wonderful time.  

We reached the dentist’s office and waited at the lobby.  Thankfully they had coloring sheets and he tried to color (he hates coloring lol).  He kept asking me where the dentist is.  Finally they called him and we went it.  

The dentist was super sweet and so adorable that George became best friends with her.  She was just amazing.  She entertained him for the next 30 minutes as she was doing all the work on his mouth.  I even enjoyed being there just watching them.  She made him feel like he was a super star.  She gave him golden sun glasses which he absolutely loved.  He got to wear it the entire time. 

Look at my happy little boy.  Words cannot express how much I enjoy being in his presence and hearing all this non stop chatter.  He is a very special boy with so much joy and enthusiasm in his heart.  He loves people and spending time with them.  He loves to make friends not just with younger ones but especially with older people.  He actually talks to our neighbors more than us.

He had a great time at the dentist's place.  He cant wait to go back there.  He made good friends with the dentist.  He got some free gifts, a new brush and paste, and the dentist also gave him a Tshirt.  I think I would take him there more often because I also had a great time just watching the joy in my boy's eyes. Love you my Georgu.. It is an honor to go with you to places and just watch you interact with others.  You are very very special to me and you have the biggest place in my heart.

St. Maria Goretti's Feast day

In the month of July we celebrated few feast days and one of them was St. Maria Goretti’s feast day.  There are so many feast days in a month and yet I don’t get to celebrate all of them.  I also don’t pick and choose which saint’s feast days I celebrate.  There is always an inspiration I feel within myself on some feast days which encourages me to celebrate it in small and big ways.  I always keep some cake mixes stored up so that way whenever I get this inspiration to celebrate a feast, I can always make a cake or cup cakes to make it special.  

St. Maria Goretti’s feast was one of those inspirations and we prayed during our morning prayer in a special way to this young saint who stood up for her purity.  In the evening we made cup cakes.  Actually George made the cup cakes himself.  I just helped him with few things. 

 Since I had the craft items needed to make Lilies as a sign of her purity, we tried to make them as well. 

 Once the cup cakes were done we came together as a family to pray to the saint and we had cakes together.   It was a simple celebration yet meaningful for the little ones. 

Last week I came to know that St. Maria Goretti's  incorruptible body is being brought to one of our churches close by and we will get to go see her.  What a blessing, I thought to myself that we get to see her body and pray to her in person.  I felt like it was a special blessing from this dear saint for honoring her by celebrating her feast day. 

This is not the first time it has happened to me that when I celebrate a feast day I see very visible signs of blessings from that particular saint.  Two years ago after I celebrated St. John Bosco’s feast day something like this happened.  The first Syro Malabar bishop that was appointed for the diocese of Australia was visiting our parish and his name was Bishop Bosco.  It was a great blessing to have him celebrate mass for us and spend some time with the CCD teachers of our parish.  As he was speaking to us CCD teachers, Sony was holding Anna who was only 9 months old at that time.  Bishop Bosco came and just carried her and held her in his arms as he was talking to us.  When he was done one of the priests introduced him to us and he gave us a special blessing and he offered us a prayer card of St. John Bosco.  I felt like it was also a gift from the saint to have the Bishop who is named after John Bosco to give us a blessing and also a prayer card of this Saint.  Not only that he carried my little girl in his arms all that time while he spoke.  Which bishop does that?? haha

I truly believe that these are visible signs that they sent us when we honor them,  reminding us that we are in communion with them.  

My new Sports guy!!

There is a lot going on this summer and I find it very hard to put all these great memories into writing.  Sony has never played any sports even though he watches almost all the sports.  This year though one of his good friends at church invited him to join the church football team as they practice every Sunday from 2pm to 5pm at a nearby park.  I was surprised when he shared with me his interest in joining the team.  He has never played football before.  I was happy but also scared for his health since I know football is not an easy sport and for someone who has never played any sports before to just enter a team seemed scary.  I did not discourage him but was very excited to see my man play football.

He bought football shoes, gloves and started going for practices every Sunday.  He has gone for all the practices for the past two months and the final game is next Saturday.   He has been working out and keeping a pretty good diet for the game.   I am impressed with this guy’s dedication and hard work.  He still managed to do summer school, yard work, a lot of yard work on which I will write more and post pictures, and the many other responsibilities he has at church, home etc.  I am a very blessed woman to be his wife. 

He did come back home twice with some small injuries.  I was worried but after that he's been good.  He feels more confident.  Who thought my husband would ever get into playing football...still feels like a dream.  

Once I took the kids to the practice sessions just to show them Sony play.  It was fun watching all these big boys practicing real hard for the game.  George and Anna did enjoy seeing their dad but they were more interested in playing at the park which they saw close to the field.  So we spent the rest of the time playing at the park while Sony practiced football. 

Best friends story time

We go to our public library for story time every now and then.  This year the theme was home town hero story time.  Every week they bring a hero from the town like a Construction worker, life guard, nurse etc and the story is based on them and what they do.  I thought it was really interesting and a great way to teach kids about the good work they do for our town. 

Last time when we went the home town hero of that week was the construction worker and George happened to meet his best friend at the story time.  It is always more fun when you have your friend to sit with you.  They both had a wonderful time together.  George is never active when he is alone at the story time but having his friend there made both of them so interactive and loud.  They would answer all the questions and raise their hands to ask questions.  I have never seen George being so brave at a story time haha.   

They brought a dump truck outside so the kids got to sit in it and see how it works.

That smile always melts my heart

Look at them how sweet and innocent they are

George always have to take a picture with the funny face :)

Music time at the Library

Anna trying out the super hero costumes

priceless

I can watch this little girl for hours

haha

George and his friend doing puppet show at the library

That same day we invited his friend over to watch a movie together with George.   I just love watching kids learn and explore things.  The interaction with their friends and how they learn to talk and use certain gestures to make the other person understand what they are trying to communicate.  It is beautiful to see how they try to tackle fights and arguments, forgiving and saying sorry and fighting their own temptations to do the right thing.  I get very proud when they make the right decision but also very angry and embarrassed when they don’t.  I don't always show my anger and embarrassment now that I have learned to control my emotions much better than before. You can imagine how bad I used to be before lol yea...it was pretty bad but we always have room to learn.  In fact, we are forever learning something new.

 

Spending time with these little ones really help me to learn how to become more patient and kind.  It also helps me understand where I need to make changes to become a better role model for my children.  Motherhood is so cool because you can make mistakes but you will always get the chance to correct it because kids tend to do the same things again and again.  

Spending time with Buddy

One of our friends asked us whether we could watch her dog Buddy for few days when they go on family vacation.  I was very reluctant at first only because I don't like dog hair on my carpets especially with my kids around. I was also worried about kids interacting with the dog.  At the same time I loved this dog because I have seen him before and he is such a sweet dog and very friendly with kids.  So after seeing such a big interest in my kids and Sony, I gave my approval to bring the dog over.  I am glad it was a very good decision I made this summer because we had a great time with Buddy, especially Anna and George.  They loved him so much to the point where Anna would wake up in the morning and the first thing she would look for was Buddy.  It was the cutest thing to hear her say “Baddhi”. 

The kids got to take care of him and it was a great experience for them.  George would go walking with him.  We took him to the park.  Played with him in the backyard.  One of the highlights of this summer.

Buddy left us so soon though.  Five days seemed so short.  Kids were so sad.   Anna kept asking for Buddy for the rest of the week.  Anytime when Anna sees a dog that looks like Buddy she still calls out Baddhi..