Last Wednesday I started school for the very first time! (We don’t really count those three months in day care when Mommy attempted to go back to the firm because I was so young and it was for such a short time). My new school is a Montessori that I will be attending every day for three and a half hours, although last week I only went for a couple of hours each day. Mommy was a lot more worried about me starting school than I was, especially in light of losing my Manju just a few days before. At the risk of touting my own horn, though, I must admit that I did quite well – I only cried for a minute on my first day, but was quickly distracted by the gentle golden retriever in my classroom, and the other children. I even got to draw with a pen (something Mommy rarely lets me do after the time I drew all over my pants in ink).
Thursday and Friday were a bit rougher because, the smart cookie that I am, realized that this school thing is going to be a daily occurrence. But my teachers, Miss Melissa and Miss Nicky, have told Mommy that once I am inside the classroom I have fun dancing to music, painting and doing crafts (in the picture below you can 
see the beaded necklace that I made in school today). There are lots of other fun things, too, like a playground outside, puzzles, books, blocks and little pottery and china just the right size for me. I also have my own plant, (which Mommy and I bought especially for school) that I get to water and take care of.
Even though I do miss Mommy while I am in school, I am having a lot of fun. For one thing, I really enjoy learning even more Spanish - so much so that Mommy worries a bit that I will forget English and Gujarati. Plus, I get to put a family picture of Mommy, Daddy and me on the cork board in the story corner, where all the other children have posted photos of their families, so I can feel like they are always with me.
I am also consoled by the fact that two days per week while I am at Montessori, Mommy is in Spanish class, and the other two days she claims to go to the gym – if that is true, I definitely got the better end of the deal than she did!
Anyone who has ever met me has likely met my blanket Manju as well – because I never go anywhere without it. In fact, Manju is world renowned, as my relatives and friends in the US, India and Mexico know it. While Momm
y had tried for a long time to get me to use one of my many beautiful and soft baby blankets, there is something about rough, flammable material that is inherent to a dollar store blanket that I find comforting. So she gave up that battle a long time ago.
Well, the other day Nani, Mommy and I took a walk to the grocery store and I accidentally knocked it out of my stroller just before leaving (Mommy is sure of this as she recalls specifically handing it to me as we approached the checkout line). A block and a half later, Mommy realized that it was missing and ran back to Superama to find it, to no avail. In the days since, no one has turned it in to the lost and found. It seems that in the seven minutes between us leaving the store and Mommy ret
urning to find it, someone with really bad taste and even worse karma has taken Manju.
In the meantime, I have been in serious mourning. Manju has been my security blanket, my best friend and constant companion for half my life, and I find it difficult to sleep, drink milk, or even sit in my car seat without it. Even Mommy misses Manju, but she has tried to explain to me that Manju has been lost. Still, it breaks Mommy and Daddy’s hearts when I repeat over and over again, “Manju lost, Manju gone,” or wake up crying, “I love Manju.” So they have
tried to find the roughest, cheapest quality blankets to replace Manju, but they are all either too pretty or too soft to be the real thing. After all, as anyone who has ever seen it can attest, there is only one original Manju. 
W
hen I lived in NJ, I used to see my Nani at least a few times a week (not counting the month and a half I lived with her). These were some of my favorite times as we would play games and sing songs and just be silly together. I’m relieved to discover that nothing has changed, even though I haven’t seen her in almost two months. We spent these past few days visiting some fun places together, like the San Angel market, as well as some ordin
ary ones, like the grocery store. My favorite moments, though, were when she would play her version of 
“Ring around the Rosy” with me, and rock me to sleep while singing a lullaby. No matter what we do, though, we always have a blast!
My mom came to visit this past Thursday for what has been a wonderful but too short trip – at least for me. While I realize that this is her vacation, and she probably wants and needs to relax a bit, not to mention spend every waking moment with Asha, she has spent half of her time cooking for me. We have taught Aurora how to make some basic Indian food (I say basic, but most of this proves even too complicated for me), my mom has made chutneys and dals and dough for rotis – enough to freeze and use at a later date – and home cooked some 
of my favorite foods (which amazingly taste just as good as at home, despite the restricted ingredients available to her here) nearly every day.
Around the strict cooking schedule I had devised, we did manage to get in some sight seeing and spend a lot of time with Asha. On Friday we went to Teotihuacan to see the Aztec pyramids – as you can see, the Mexican rainy season was true to for
m, because it began to pour about five minutes after we arrived. That didn’t stop us from climbing as much of the Moon Pyramid as was permitted, and to the top of the Sun Pyramid (the third highest pyramid in the world, according to Lonely Planet). For once I didn’t feel guilty about not going to the gym.
Over the weekend, my mom, Sonny, Asha and I went to the arts market at the Sabado Bazaar in San Angel, a charming district in the city with cobblestone streets and historic buildings. It was a lovely morning and after some shopping we stopped for lunch at a restaurant that had better atmosphere than food. It was worth the mediocre food, however, to sit outdoors on the patio while a mariachi band sere
naded us. The shopping didn’t stop there – earlier today we went to a local market for souvenirs, and then to a toy store, as my mom insisted on buying Asha another toy (because as we all know, she is so deprived). Now that my mom’s visit is coming to an end, I realize just how much I miss her, and all of my family. While it is one thing to talk about what’s new on the phone, it is so much better to talk about “nothing” in person. And of course, this visit has just reinforced how much I rely on my mom – not just for cooking but for everything from decorating my apartment, to parenting issues to just chatting about nothing in particular.
For the past few months Mommy and Daddy have been engaging in negotiations on the scale of world peace on the subject of . . . cutting my hair. I have finally started to look like a girl, in part because my hair is very long and can support adorable little hair pins. Unfortunately, I tend to pull out the hair pins after a few moments
(Mommy looks so happy when I let her put them in my hair that I don’t have the heart to stop her - but they are quite annoying after a while) and ultimately put them in my mouth. This results in Mommy scolding me while I try to look at her through the hair in my eyes.
So last weekend Mommy finally capitulated and agreed to get me a haircut. Daddy compromised and s
aid that it can remain long in the back and on the sides, but must be short enough in the front to not get in my eyes. Somebody should tell these people that only one parent should be in charge of my grooming, because the end result between such a compromise is that I now look like Jim Carey’s character in the movie “Dumb and Dumber.” (All I am missing is the chipped front tooth.)
As if a bad haircut wasn’t enough to be upset about, yesterday I got so excited to see Aurora after being out all afternoon (combined with being overtired at an hour past naptime) that I ran directly into the wall and slammed my face into the door frame. The end result: a lot of weeping and a little bruise. I think I just wasn’t used to being able to see so clearly without any hair in my eyes.
Last Wednesday I started school for the very first time! (We don’t really count those three months in day care when Mommy attempted to go back to the firm because I was so young and it was for such a short time). My new school is a Montessori that I will be attending every day for three and a half hours, although last week I only went for a couple of hours each day. Mommy was a lot more worried about me starting school than I was, especially in light of losing my Manju just a few days before. At the risk of touting my own horn, though, I must admit that I did quite well – I only cried for a minute on my first day, but was quickly distracted by the gentle golden retriever in my classroom, and the other children. I even got to draw with a pen (something Mommy rarely lets me do after the time I drew all over my pants in ink).
see the beaded necklace that I made in school today). There are lots of other fun things, too, like a playground outside, puzzles, books, blocks and little pottery and china just the right size for me. I also have my own plant, (which Mommy and I bought especially for school) that I get to water and take care of.
