Yay! I won a book!

Kiran over at thirtysixandcounting has a contest and a book to giveaway!! Check it out here.
She is giving away the book "Chanakya's Chant" by Ashwin Sanghi. Its his 2nd book after The Rozabal Line. Read the review on her blog.
All you have to do is send in your favourite Chanakya quotes and the ones that she likes will win a copy of the book. So hurry guys, there is only a total of 10 copies to be given away!

I have already won my copy. Yay!!

Here are my top 2 Chanakya quotes -
1) “There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth.” – One might say no this ain’t true for all my friends but look at it this way – we like being with our best/good friends 'coz they make us happy and feel good about ourselves! The feel-good factor is a self interest too.
2) "Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions – Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead.” – I for one, need to practise this before I put my hands into anything new.

I am excited and eagerly awaiting my copy :)
Thanks Kiran!

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Artsy-Craftsy-September 2010

The theme for the Artsy-Craftsy-September 2010 hosted by Shruti of Mindful Meanderings is "Celebrations and Decorations".

I happen to have just the perfect entry for it right here.
These are the "star" centerpieces I made for N's 1st birthday party.

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Guilty or not?

It all started with my husband's aunt asking me about my 21 month old son N - "You haven't trained him to go poo poo in the pot yet??"
I started thinking of all possible answers and excuses.

"He isn't ready yet" ~ aka I am not ready to clean up all the messes he shall make.
"He just doesn't do it on the pot" ~ aka I don't have the patience to sing songs and clap and dance to entertain him while he sits on the pot.
"What if he poops on the cream coloured couch or the bed?" ~ aka I cannot watch him continuously for signs of going poo poo.

I felt so guilty of not being the "ideal mom" whose kids are potty trained as soon as they hold their first bottles. It was all my fault!
I should have started taking N to the bathroom every 20 minutes when he was a month old. That would have helped. Or I should have brought one of those poo poo song cds or dvds to motivate him into sitting on the pot for some time. Or maybe I should have rewarded him with candy and let him flush every time he used the pot.

The more I thought about it the more it stressed me out. After deeper introspection (read surfing the net and self assurance) I concluded that every kid has a different pace of doing things (I know we all know that). And so DOES every mom. I don't need to attempt to be a "super-mom" always. 
A couple of years down the line I don't want to remember this phase of life for all the mood swings and power struggles I had with N. I want to remember them for the small joys, the role play games and the cuddling together. And that will happen only if both of us are happy with each other. 

The world shall not come crashing down if he wears diapers for a few more months.
So now if someone asks me Why is my 21 months old son still in his diapers? The answer would be "Because I am not ready!" And I shall not feel guilty about that.


This post is my entry to "The Women's web 'Mommy Guilt' contest". Click on this link to see their article 'Fight that Mommy Guilt'.

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