I'm a Big Boy - NOW!

Shawn didn’t want diapers / pull-ups today! He made comments like, “I’m going to give all of my diapers to a baby!”  So, I quickly obliged and dressed him underwear…

all

day. 

He went through a few pairs of underwear, but only one pair of pants.  Today was by far the most successful potty training day we’ve had.  We even left the house to go to Open Gym at the Hoffman Estates Community Center and later to pick up a few groceries. (I made sure to bring along a spare set of clothes just in case – but we didn’t need it!) 
 

He still doesn’t like me reminding him or asking if he needs to go, but when he felt his underwear start to get wet, he’d run to the bathroom as fast as he could.  Next step – realize he needs to get to the bathroom before he gets wet at all.

This evening, Shawn pointed out, “I get to go to Pre-School now!”

[whimper]

Shawn’s Mundan

Today was definitely a new experience for me. I've attended similar ceremonies for friends and family, but each one is different and unique, which makes it special. It's always different being an observer than actually participating, too.

We set up an alter in the corner of our living room with plenty of seating for our guests in chairs, on the couches, and on the ground. We learned that it was very important for us to face West during the ceremony. Our pundit was wonderful at explaining the ceremony step by step as he conducted the rituals.

We began with a blessing and prayers to the Hindu Gods. The pundit gave us dots of red powder, Tika, between our eyebrows (Shawn chose not to have one) and tied sacred red threads, called Mauli, around our wrists. (Raj and Shawn wore theirs on their right hands, while I wore mine on my left.) Their significance was warding off evil and attracting good fortune. By placing them around a coconut, we offered water, flowers, and rice to the gods, inviting them to be a part of our special day.

One part that sticks out in my memory is how the pundit described the utmost importance of a child’s parents, holding them higher than all else. He said that parents are a child’s first teachers. Without parents, the child cannot learn properly and therefore does not have knowledge. Without knowledge, the child has no understanding. Without knowledge and understanding, the child cannot know God. Therefore, parents and teachers are the supreme powers in a child’s life.

The second part of the ceremony included actually shaving Shawn’s hair. Before we began, we tied red threads around three sections of his hair, which we then cut with scissors. Then, Kate Yglesias La Casse (who was my hair dresser for years and did my hair for our wedding) did an amazing job wielding her clippers quickly and carefully so that Shawn barely flinched while locks of his hair fell all around. He did a marvelous job while the clippers were buzzing around his head. It helped tremendously that Kate was able to cut his hair pretty quickly. Regardless, he sat very still and didn't fidget. (I was impressed.) We collected his hair along with some of the articles from the puja and were told to save them. When we go to India, we are supposed to offer it to the sacred Ganges River.

While Kate was shaving his head, she uncovered a cut from a fall a few days ago. (Shawn was being silly while in the bathroom and fell off the toilet!) I knew he bumped his head when he fell, but I didn’t realize that it had left such a gash on poor Shawn’s head! Until now, it had been completely covered by hair! At first glance, people thought that the cut was from the Mundan itself, but luckily, it was well into the healing process already.

Then, Shawn had to get cleaned up and changed into fresh clothes. This symbolized starting completely clean. The pundit conducted more prayers and blessings for ‘the new’ Shawn. All the children gathered around a small fire, or Havan, to make more offerings before concluding the Mundan ceremony. We took Prasad, or fruit (apples and bananas) that had been blessed by the Gods, and Raj and I led Shawn to show respect to our loved ones by touching their feet. Afterwards, we served lunch and socialized with our friends and family.

When I showed Shawn a mirror and he saw his bald reflection, he had a big smile – I was relieved that he liked it. The three of us kept joking, "Where'd your hair go?" Luckily, he has a nicely shaped head, so the bald look worked for him! (We also joked that he's more aerodynamic and he'd be lightening fast!) So, Shaggy Shawn is a Q-ball now! He looks like a completely different person!

I was convinced that he was going to look like an over-grown infant with his newly shaven head; in reality, he looks like he's suddenly become a big boy. He looks much older and more mature now than he did with his wispy locks. I already miss his curls, but I know that hair grows back. Besides, now it's fun to rub our hands across his stubbly head!

At the end of the big day, Raj and I gave Shawn a gift to celebrate his milestone. During the ceremony, we had it nearby in case Shawn needed a distraction while his hair was being shaved. Since we didn’t need it then, we were able to share it with him when everyone went home. He opened a LeapPad Explorer and was very excited to have something like our computer and iPad for himself, especially since it had a camera function on it!

I love that Shawn took an active role in his Mundan ritual. He couldn’t have done that when he was younger. He looked like a little prince and took it all very seriously. For many reasons, including the fact that he didn’t have much hair when he was just a year old, I’m glad we waited until now to have his Mundan.

Yet another milestone to remind me that my little baby is growing up...

That's the part I'm having trouble with!

Happy Mundan, son.

We are very proud of you and love you always and forever.

दैव-दैत्यों पुत्र प्रसन्न

हम बहुत गर्व है तो आप और आप हमेशा प्रेम और सदैव

 

From http://www.indianhindunames.com/mundan-chadakarana-first-hair-removal.htm

“The next important ceremony after Annaprasana and Namakarana in a Hindu child’s life is the Mundan or Chadakarana when the baby has his first hair cut. The Mundan ceremony can be done in the 1st year, 3rd year, or 5th year of age, but it is normally done before the completion of three years of age of the boy.

Please note that Mundan as a ceremony is prescribed only for boy babies, but today, with the changing times, it has become a practice to have the ceremony done for girl children, too.

A proper Mundan ceremony involves three rituals of about an hour’s duration – the boy’s parents do a “Ganesh Puja” (worship of the Hindu Go Ganapati or Ganesh); a barber who shaves the child receives some honour; and a “Havan” (a purifying ritual with a fire ceremony) with devotional prayers known as the Ayushya Home mantra and Arati concludes the ceremony. This is followed by a feast and the giving of presents, which form the social aspect of the Mundan as a samskar.

Shaving the head is termed as “Ayushkarma” in Sanskrit. It means enhancing the longevity or the life span of the child. (“Ayuh” in Ayurveda also means this.) This child’s hair at the time of birth is not strong and the Mundan ceremony ensures that hair roots are strengthened and strong hair is formed. The shaved head receives Vitamin D from exposure from the sun and this has its own medicinal benefits...”

From http://www.iloveindia.com/indian-traditions/mundan.html

“There is a significant reason as to why the head is shaved in such an elaborate ritualistic way. According to the Hindu beliefs, the hair present at birth is supposed to represent unwanted traits from the past lives. In order to make sure that the child has no undesirable qualities of the past birth in this life, the hair is shaved off to ensure a new beginning and a fresh start. Medically, it is said that shaving off the hair stimulates the cells and improves blood circulation to the brain. Some also believe that this gives the child a long life.”

The Easter Elephant?!

Happy Easter!

Last night, Shawn went to bed easily... the Easter Bunny wouldn't come to our house if we were still awake and might see him! Before I tucked him in, we read The Night Before Easter by Natasha Wing. It was a fitting story for the occasion.

When Shawn woke this morning, he found a basket with just two Easter eggs in it. The rest of the eggs were scattered around the house, from the hall outside his room, down the stairs, and all over the living room and dining room. It was a lot of fun watching him hunt for hidden eggs and figure out how to get to a few that were out of his reach.

Finally, when all of the eggs had been discovered, Shawn found the last of the Easter Bunny's treasures waiting for him on the kitchen table: his dump truck Easter Basket filled with a bug net, Mr. Potato Bunny, a mini-pot with seeds for planting, a bath-time book, and, of course, a chocolate bunny. He was a pretty excited little boy!

The fun didn't end there! Next, we went to the circus! The George Carden Circus Spectacular was at the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates. Before the show started, Shawn and I rode a camel, While we were waiting in line for him to ride a pony (which stopped giving rides just as we approached the front of the line! Arg!), our friends Veer, Shrenik, and Heena called Raj. It turned out that they were at the circus too and had seen us walk right by their seats! They saved a few extra spaces so we could join them. While we devoured popcorn and over-sugared lemonade, we watched "enchanting elephants, tantalizing tigers, amazing acrobats, motorcycle daredevils, and performers from around the world." During the intermission, we had another chance to ride the pony and Shawn got his first face-painting.

 

Though Raj and I were sure that Shawn was going to fall asleep on the way home from the circus, he was still wide awake when we got back. While I prepared our Easter dinner, Raj and Shawn planted the seeds in the little frog pot. They played tackle-football in the backyard. Shawn got a lot of use out of his new bug net and almost caught the biggest bug I've ever seen!

Got him!

Later, we feasted on ham with pineapples, crescents, rice, and green beans. As usual, there were plenty of leftovers to last us (and the rest of the neighborhood) until the next holiday!

 

It was a successful celebration - I think the Easter Bunny would be proud.

Easter Eve

Today’s swimming class had a substitute for Ms. Brittany. Though we really enjoy class with her, the substitute (I didn't catch her name) was wonderful! She got the students really involved in using swimming skills, moving their arms more, and being more active in the water. Normally, we spend a lot of time practicing on our own - and that's fine, but it was fun to have a different teacher's point of view and have new activities to try.

After swimming, we rushed home to clean ourselves up a bit and then headed out to a local bank to visit the Easter Bunny again.  Shawn recognized that this one looked different from the one we saw in the mall the other day, but we reasoned that the real Easter Bunny was much too busy getting ready for tomorrow, so these were just his friends helping him.  Once he got his picture taken, Shawn asked this rabbit if the Easter Bunny was going to come to everyone's house, because if so, he had a lot of work to do! Before heading home, the bankers offered Shawn a bag of popcorn - and a kiddie savings account. (Who can turn down free popcorn?!)

When Raj got home from work, the three of us got busy decorating Easter eggs. I had some hollowed out eggs saved from last year that we never got around to decorating. So, we decorated those as well as a handful of hard-boiled eggs that I had already prepared.

Shawn had fun dipping the eggs into the different colors of dye. It seemed like the dye took too long to get the color that he liked, so he got impatient. He did like playing with the little sticks that maneuvered the eggs in the bowls, but he had the most fun peeling stickers and piling them on in multi-layers. He also colored on some with crayons. I think he had the most fun adding stickers to them though.

Raj and I worked on the hollowed eggs from last year. We added some really neat designs and had a lot of fun coming up with new and creative ways to make patterns and designs on our eggs. We made a hollowed egg for Abby using her favorite colors - pink and purple. Shawn dyed it, Raj added the lettering, and I added the details. I can’t wait to give it to her. I also made a hollowed egg for Shawn – a blue egg, with his name and the year written in crayon, and silver stars and moons. I’m glad we have a few that we can save year after year.

Afterwards, we went to IKEA to look at some furniture for Raj’s office. He’s thinking about doing a little remodeling and renovating to give it a very comfortable, family feel. We didn't buy anything today, but when we got to the bakery / grocery area, we just couldn't resist a package of cinnamon buns and butterscotch filled chocolate eggs. (Shawn picked the eggs and I picked the cinnamon buns – Raj just couldn’t turn us down!) I think we all left happy.


Finally, we stopped at Gaylord's Indian restaurant to sample a few dishes that we plan to order for Shawn’s Mundin. Though we weren't very hungry when we got there, we still enjoyed the night out for dinner. When the bill came, Shawn was very excited that the waiter gave him the pen - he loves to "pay" for our dinner! (I wonder how long that will last...)


Jennifer sent me a text message today saying that she's on her way to Oma’s house with Jonathan and Elise. This is the first part of their trip before riding an Amtrak train to Chicago. I was able to borrow clothes for both kids so they can pack lightly on their trip. We also picked up diapers for Elise and Shawn was very proud to carry them around the store and then to the car, in honor of her.

I can't wait for them to get here!