Those very First Signs…

Having been a rebel throughout my childhood and teenage years, I was always the one saying I don’t want to get married like ever and having kids was completely out of the question considering that I could never get along with kids. Yet I was quick to get married having found the man I would want to spend the rest of my life with and having been in a relationship for a while. But even then having a kid was something I still didn’t consider. The whole idea of cleaning poop, being vomited on, being peed on were a big turn off for me and so becoming a mother was something I just didn’t want to consider. On the other hand my husband was great with kids and loved kids and we were giving entering parenthood a thought.

I had just joined a new company and was under training. The training room was quiet a small one and aside from me there were only two other people. I wasn’t really finding it an amazing experience being between two guys out of whom one was more like “Sir” (quiet elder to me and more of the serious types), the other being from a small town and not really someone I had anything in common with at least that’s what I thought. So it was quiet a sorry state until this new girl came in and we gelled like a house on fire. Being married this is one question I think everyone faces – When are you planning kids and I remember telling her how the flush spray was made for people like me and how I would use it to clean baby poop if I ever have a baby.

3-4 days from that day I remember reaching office and feeling a surge of nausea (I usually have milk before I leave for work). One done and I am back to my seat thinking that I might have either had my milk too fast or maybe got food poisoning. After 10 mins I feel a surge to visit the loo to pee and then that goes on every few hours, either I need to puke or I need to pee..

This is when I do what most of us do … check Google with symptoms, and guess what ….

The even funnier part is even though both me and my husband were considering entering parenthood, he wasn’t ready to believe google and go to the medical store to get me a kit, which I finally did on my own and got the results as was suggested by google.. I was Pregnant..!!

Would love to hear stories of other mothers, do share your stories with me in the comments section, and of course your comments on the post as well.

 

PRODUCT REVIEW: ClassMonitor

Disclaimer: No one has asked me to write this review. I am writing it because I was impressed with the product nor did I get any free product or any other deal.

About: I am reviewing the ClassMonitor Educational kit & app. There are two variations to this kit which are done based on age – 1.5 yrs to 3.5 (Junior ClassMonitor) & 3.5 to 5.5 Yrs (Senior ClassMonitor). This review is done based on the contents of Junior ClassMonitor.

I am a parent that believes a whole lot in experiential learning and this is why I have been on the lookout for products for my child that support learning by doing. One such product that I tried is the ClassMonitor Learning Kit which is an educational app and kit. This product is supposedly been designed while keeping in mind child psychology (informed to me by the ClassMonitor Team).

Here is my perspective on the kit:

1) Packaging – I believe the product has great packaging design which is bright and fun. I like the quality of the packing, it doesn’t look worn out even after using it multiple times and considering we don’t always handle it with care. However I do feel it is a little bulky, it won’t be possible for my kid to carry it around.

2) Contents – Now for those of you who haven’t used this kit yet, the kit comprises of worksheets, Flash cards and magic cards aside from features like augmented realty for learning. I love the fact that it has a lot of stuff inside it… I guess all of this could last me a good one year which is also why I can let go of the bulkiness of box. Plus with the amount of stuff inside it the chance for your kid to get bored is reduced.

Flash cards are said to enhance retention. These flashcards are printed on a thick paper which is smooth and thus doesn’t tear easily. The same is with the magic cards (I keep stressing on the edges being sharp as I have often faced this issue with products I buy, books, games and more and since I have a hyperactive kid it really is a challenge ensuring he doesn’t hurt himself). As for the worksheets I feel the best thing is the fact that incase a worksheet is torn or your kid has scribbled on it (which my kid does quiet frequently) you can actually go download one from the app and print it for use.

3) Digital Aspect – I believe a lot of moms like me might be facing the issue whereby they give in to the demands of their children to watch television or use the phone in which case it is hard to control what the kid is watching. With the ClassMonitor app I was able to connect the ClassMonitor Library to the Television screen and hence control what my kid is watching. This is a win-win for both me and my kid as he gets to watch TV and I get to control exactly what he sees.

4) Usability of the app – I do believe that the app though not very difficult to use could be a little challenging initially. For the digitally challenged it would require a bit of effort in training. However the good part is that ClassMonitor does offer a helpline number (6262046204 – Helpline Number) whereby you can get any help with respect to how to use the kit and app or even for purchase enquiries.

Note: In order to purchase the product please do get in touch on the helpline number provided above. You can also get more information about the product from its website – https://classmonitor.com/

TIPS TO PROTECT YOUR CHILD IN WINTER

This post at a time when we are in the middle of a not so hot and not so cold weather which will eventually get cold and colder. Most of these are from my own experience being a mom to a two year old.

1) Look after yourself and avoid going near someone who has an infection – This is the weather when kids are most prone to infections like a cold and cough. While mother ensure they put extra layers on the kid and give them warm / hot food and water they forget themselves. Since we as mothers are the closest to our kids obviously, we need to look after ourselves too as kids are most susceptible to get infection from us. The other thing is to avoid taking a child near someone who has a cold or cough like maybe grandparents or relatives for that matter or even friends.

2) Healthy food and Sleep – They say that vegetables and fruits like carrots, beans, apples etc help keep diseases away. You could also give fresh fruit juices though I do suggest trying to give them the solid stuff. A good way to begin is making a bowl of fruit chat, involving the kid in the preparation if possible and then sharing the bowl as well, that way both mother and child spent some quality time together and also did some healthy snacking. The other thing is to ensure that your kid gets proper sleep. If you are travelling in this weather take extra precaution so as to not tire out the kid. I have noticed that tired kids some down with infections very quickly.

3) Ensure hygiene – My kid is one hyperactive fellow who loves to roll all over the most dirty of places and pick up stuff from the road and play messy with water. If you have a similar story then ensure that the kid washes his hands (P.S don’t forget the cream after the hand washing as skin tends to become very dry at this time). Also try and do a hot oil massage for your kid, I would recommend coconut oil. Make sure that the room is warm when you begin the massage. This will ensure healthy skin and good sleep.

4) Don’t Forget the diapers and Wet Wipes – While summers are the time that kids tend to not pee too much, they also happen to make us forget about the diaper changes required in winter. Make sure that your kid is dry at all times so as to avoid any chances of diaper rashes and other infections.

5) Clothing –

a) Nightwear – I specifically wanted to write on this because I have heard a lot of cases of mothers spending the nights covering their children with blankets since they take it off all the time. Thus ensure that your kid is wearing enough clothes to keep him warm. Also ensure the fabric of the clothes are not harsh on the kid’s skin as that can cause irritation especially considering the weather. I would recommend thermals instead of sweaters at sleep time. I feel my kid is more comfortable in light clothes than thick ones but that too depends child to child.

b) Socks –Keep those tiny feet covered against the cold floor. My kid tends to run a lot and thus in order to avoid accidents I prefer going for socks with grip at the bottom or maybe use socks along with shoes.

6) Honey – If your kid has a sweet tooth then this one would be easy, give your kid a spoon full of warm raw honey. This helps in improving immunity. If you don’t believe in giving medicines this natural remedy to improve immunity is a wonder. You could also try warm honey with some drops of ginger juice.

TOY REVIEW: SkillOfun Wooden Capital Alphabet Tray

Disclaimer: No one has asked me to write this review. I am writing it because I was impressed with the product nor did I get any free product or any other deal.

There are so so many toy options available today that it’s almost a challenge finding the best and I guess the best is always different for different kids. I usually focus on toys that would hold the attention span of my kid, something where I could play along and yet it has its educational benefit. While a lot of my friend’s kids are already going to school though they are the same age as my son, I want to hold onto the school thing till I feel he is ready and yet make sure my kid doesn’t miss out on anything and thus my strategy is finding some interesting toys which are also a part of playschool curriculums.

I bought SkillOfun Wooden Capital Alphabet Tray from Amazon. It was slightly pricey and since I have seen the condition of most of the toys I buy for my kid (some broken, some lost, some spoilt) I was a little skeptical initially. Since the toy is wooden I was also scared of any wood splinters coming out from the toy and getting into my kids hand, however the quality is very good.

Here are some of my views on the toy

1) My kid loves to throw things and he has thrown the letters and the board many many times from different heights but it is rather strong. He has also dropped water on it, dipped the letters in water but hasn’t affected the toy.

2) The toy has a lot of educational benefit to offer. The front side has the alphabets along with some pictures of words starting with the respective letter. Thus it serves two purposes – Serves as a puzzle and also to learn alphabets and words. My kid can totally tell the placement and also name all the objects next to the alphabets. Also the placement of the alphabets has a small challenge they don’t fit just so easily and thus I think it teaches the kid patience. The first day he did find it annoying but with a little motivation he started putting the alphabets without my help.

3) The backside of the board also has alphabets written, the idea being that kids should be able to put the respective letter without the puzzle space considering that some kids would just get put the letters based on the cavity.

4) The letters has knobs thus making it easy to lift and hold. The letters can also be used as stencils to draw the letters.

5) The toy comes with this neat bag and as a parent i just love that since i usually fall short of places to keep small and tiny items that are a part of my kids toys. I also make it a point to get my kid to fill up this bag with the toy pieces as a start to his contribution in household chores. To keep checking my blog for the next post on how i Involve my kid in household chores..

There are a number of variants also available such as shapes, fruits, body parts, vegetables. To buy the product you can click here.

Kidloland: App Review..

Exactly two years & 2 months back, I began my journey of motherhood. I believe all new mothers or going to be mothers have their ifs and buts as a new mom and I had far more of them as someone who didn’t really have the time to actually sit and read through blogs and books and prepare herself to be a perfect mom since I was working full time till a day before I had my son. There were a few things though that I was clear about one of which was no screen time (TV or Mobile). However as time progressed I learnt man proposed god disposes or rather mom proposes baby disposes. My son started to pick up my phone scroll, call people, open apps and at times I admit when I am extremely tired after a day at work or just not well I prefer to let him have the phone and keep quiet for a while. With this began my search for decent apps and that brought me to Kidloland. I have been using the app much before someone approached me to write a review.

 

Since this is for mums I think I would prefer mentioning some very relatable things.

1) My kid is one hyperactive boy I would say and thus having him sit down at one place for more than 5 minutes is a rarity. But thanks to Kidloland we do get to see those moments when he actually sits down and plays.

1) I think most kids tend to get bored very easily and very quickly which is one of the reasons they say that you should remove some toys from the collection and then give them to the kid after some gap so they are able to retain the interest for atleast some time. The same used to happen with the apps in my phone. He didn’t want to see the same poems, or same videos and thus most of the apps I had downloaded began to get deleted but I guess this is the good part about Kidloland, it’s the only one left on my phone now and it has a whole lot of stuff which includes games, poems, Shapes and a lot more to offer.

2) The poems which are probably the part I have explored the most with my kid allow your child to be involved with the animations and sounds in them, the children can touch different things on the screen and get different sounds or animations. For younger kids, the actions and sounds are thoroughly intriguing.

3) The app doesn’t have any ads. I have faced many situations where in my kid ends up clicking on some or the other ad and some different window opens up and even at times an app download happens.

4) The colors they are bright and beautiful and thus intriguing to kids.

5) Easy to use even for kids, though the kid still can’t access settings as they are only accessible on answering math’s questions and the questions differ each time. (Pss.. My Kid has seen me unlock my phone and so knows how to unlock it thanks to having to enter the same password so this is a good thing if your kid is smart).

Note: To download the app you can try the following links based on suitability

iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id533412119?pt=275891&ct=

Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.internetdesignzone.nurseryrhymes&hl=en

Amazon Appstore: https://www.amazon.com/KidloLand-Nursery-Rhymes-Educational-Preschool/dp/B00HFQBCEU 

Preparing yourself for D – Day…

There is a very cute quote I remembered when I started writing this blog which was “labor is the only blind date where you know, you are going to meet the love of your life” and indeed. Here D-day is not your wedding day but the day you meet your tiny little one.

I remember when I got pregnant the thought of going into labor and what to expect was very scary specially because I had no idea whatsoever about what to expect. I used to tell my Bhabhi who was also expecting at that point that since she already had one kid she shouldn’t be scared because she knows what to expect, but then I was wrong. You can never actually be prepared for D –Day but a lot of things made it a much less horrifying experience thought the end result of having to hold my tiny buddle of joy was worth it all. I thought I’d pen down the few…

• Learn from experiences: Since I was working till the very last day, I had the privilege of being among a lot of mothers. I would ask them to narrate their experiences. I think this made me a little more prepared for the hospital days. This also helped me know what I should expect in case of a normal delivery or c-section.
• Read or watch videos: Understanding the process helped reduce the anxiety of what to expect during labor, but this most certainly doesn’t mean that what you read or see is exactly how things would work out for you. Every pregnancy is different. There are lot of twists and turns.
• Pack your bags on prior basis – I remember going for my checkup and my doctor telling me it won’t be longer than 2 days while I was in the early days of my 9^th I also remember having false labor and that too for a good hour before my husband rushed me to the hospital.
• Get groomed – Though some people believe in not getting threading and manicures and all done before they approach D – day considering they don’t want any chemical near them but If you don’t have such inhibitions get all the necessary things done believe it gets difficult after you had your baby because of lack of time. So get all that you want to get done… infact some things like a hot oil hair massage at that stage can be soothing too.
• Talk to your partner – Talking to my partner about the support I expected from him with respect to the delivery as well post – delivery and making sure he was on the same page as me made things much easier for us. Both these times are super emotional for both parents and for first time parents handling the sudden responsibility and ensuring the needs of parents as well as the new member are met without it becoming stressful is exactly why it is good to speak to your partner.

If you both are working then It is also a good idea to know how you both would share responsibilities.

Taking care of your Pregnant wife

I can say this now and since I discovered I was pregnant – “Dear Husband if you are reading this.. I cannot Thank you enough for looking out for us and for all the little things you have done for us”. I have come across many situations where women are supposed to stay at their maternal homes during the journey of pregnancy and delivery. They say it is so she can get a lot of rest and the poor mother and father of the pregnant female run around getting everything organized for her especially if she doesn’t have an elder sibling. I so don’t agree to this and I am glad I wasn’t told to do that because sharing this journey till today with my husband has only brought us closer. So here are just a few things which I consider most important for first time fathers on caring for your expecting wife…

• Understand the mood swings –

I think there are a lot of ups and downs in pregnancy. There are good days and then there are days when you are hyperactive. It also gets frustrating for some when they are not able to do a number of routine activities. As the pregnancy progresses and we get heavier with the baby weight, swollen feet and getting tired quickly isn’t unknown. It’s always nice to have someone who understands that.

• Cravings and Aversions –

Though I never really craved for anything during my pregnancy but it is a huge motivation to have a husband who would fulfill all your reasonable and at times unreasonable demands for yummy things. On the other hand I had lot of aversions so it was nice of him to avoid those things around me.

• Attend those doctor appointments –

I know at times these can get a little gross for the husbands but know this it means the world for us to have you by our side when we go to the doctor. I also feel it’s a great experience for fathers to see the live sonography of your baby, makes you realize the wonders of the world.

• Be there during labor and also while she delivers if possible –

It was a huge huge motivation to have my husband next to me when I was in the operation theater during delivery. Although at that point I literally wanted to hit him for getting me in this situation (though he wasn’t entirely responsible for it) and also for going on saying – Push, you can do this but once done I was simply glad that he stood by me.

TIPS For Women with Morning Sickness..

Among my friends who have had kids, I think I was the only one with serious morning sickness. I also happen to be hyper acidic all thanks to my genes and maybe at some level my eating habits. The first five months of my pregnancy were tough with horrible morning sickness (Lost approximately 10 – 15 kgs). So this for expecting mothers with morning sickness:

• Let People know –

Being a working expecting mom it was comforting to have colleagues who knew I had morning sickness and was pregnant. The morning sickness sometimes would get horrible, could not bear the smell of certain foods which again caused nausea and puking and having people around who were sympathetic and understanding was simply great.

• Carry some essentials –

If you are a working expecting mom with morning sickness be sure to carry maybe a mouth freshener or mouth wash and even some deodorant or perfume. This worked for me because having a foul taste in my mouth would make me feel more sick or even the smell that would remain in the loo would be too much for me to bear. I used to say I have a dog nose before I got pregnant because I could tell if a rat or something died or some food had gone bad before others and I guess that just got heightened during my pregnancy.

• Try different foods –

This includes fruits, the first few months I could not keep anything down, be it milk, dal, roti, rice anything so I tried fruits and Bingo it worked for me like a wonder. I had a lot of pomegranate and banana, apples and fruit salad. You could also try cold raw vegetables like cucumber or tomatoes.

• Avoid Spicy, Greasy food –

Spicy was a total no no for me considering I don’t like spicy food even otherwise and being hyper acidic it is a complete no no. Greasy food with lot of oil and ghee is said to cause acidity.

• Have smaller and more meals –

Reduce your food portions but have more meals. This doesn’t exactly help with morning sickness but it helps avoid acid formation in your stomach due to constant puking and being empty stomach and thus at least you don’t have nausea because of acidity.