Celebrating Ayaan 7.0
Happy 7th, dear son!
We’ve seen you grow into your own person this year and it’s been most surreal. You’re leaner and taller, it makes me miss your baby days; in fact you spare no second to remind me that you no longer are a “baby” anymore and that you are a “boy”.
We continue to be amazed at how fast time seems to fly and as someone reminded, we now have, only 11 more summers with little you, before you become an adult & fly away to explore other shores. And thus, we wish to savour these precious times.
In the usual A-Z style, here goes:
A: Ayaan cuddles — We have our regular morning wake-up cuddle session and in fact it’s my most favourite activity of the day! We snooze the alarm, cuddle for few minutes, ooze warmth and well, thus begin our day with an oxytocin boost. My next fave is our 5pm, post school and work, hug and ‘chai-doodh’ time together. Just catching up on our respective days and sipping our cups of hot beverage, is most ‘hyggelig’.
B: Balloon ride at Cappadocia — You were the youngest person, riding the New Year’s Day hot air balloon at dreamy Cappadocia. It was a peaceful start to the year and well, you had your own private window to witness the landscape below. “Oh! The places you’ll go…”
C: Concerts — This year, you were in luck and you got to attend some outstanding concerts, right from Anoushka Shankar’s classical one at Esplanade, to the amazing A.R.Rahman one at the KL National Stadium. You also enjoyed the “Frozen” musical and your favourite, is still ‘Olaf’ the snowman. In addition, you also attended your first art exhibition i.e. Van Gogh’s immersive experience.
D: Disneyland — Visiting Disneyland is any child’s dream come true. You were absolutely thrilled to sit on the various rides, gawk at Buzz Lightyear, wave at Captain Hook, click a pic with the iconic Mickey Mouse, go on an adventure with Indiana Jones and what not, so much so we didn’t call it a day, until nightfall!
E: Enid Blyton — These mystery books soon became your favourite, be it at bedtime or as a travel companion, you found joy in these page-turner titles. It should be no surprise then that the theme for your birthday celebration this year is “Secret Seven”, with detective-themed cakes and activities with your friends, a treasure hunt at home, and even invisible-ink pens and mystery books as return gifts.
F: Frustration — You did have moments of frustration, that you’d express with contorted facial expressions, some tears or foul behaviour. It was indeed a challenge for us, as your parents, to teach you, while modelling better ways of managing one’s negative emotions.
G: Games — Whilst cricket remained your go-to sport, you also liked other games such as golf (you surprised us at your maiden attempt at TopGolf), badminton and table tennis. We have picked a fun golf session as one of your experience gifts this year. You also enjoyed NYT games such as Wordle, Vertex and Mini Crossword (which we’d do together); additionally, you took to BeatStar, CandyCrush and FruitNinja which you’d religiously play (you would actually set 15 mins on the stopwatch and abide by it!) on the dedicated day i.e. Tuesdays.
H: Hindi language — This year, you switched your second language from Mandarin to Hindi. It was incredible to see the pace at which you picked up the script, learnt to read and write and slowly even managed to speak albeit in broken sentences, in a whole new language. Your internal push to learn something completely new and to see you rise up to the challenge, made us very proud indeed.
I: India surprise visit — I had visited home and surprised parents in February and hence, you made it known that you’d like to surprise your grandparents too. And so, at the start of your summer holidays, we dropped by at each of your grandparents’ and rang the bell! Boy, oh boy! They were taken by surprise indeed.
J: Jumping in — You are a water baby through and through. We celebrated your half-birthday at the Water Park at Desaru, Malaysia, and you had a great time getting onto the water slides. For your father’s XL celebration, we headed to Mexico, and you made yet another core memory by diving excitedly, multiple times into the natural sinkholes aka cenotes and then floating in bliss, in the clear water.
K: Kolkata and Kerala visits — We took you on a ‘discover your roots’ kind of journey, during our India sojourn. You could partake in the ‘Durga Puja’ festivities in Kolkata, your father’s birthplace and later, explore the Alleppey backwaters and witness the Kathakali dance and Kalaripayattu martial arts show, in Kerala, your mother’s birthplace.
L: London — We were fortunate to visit London, this time for the World Test Championship final match between India and Australia. Though the outcome was certainly not what we had hoped for, the experience (right from singing the National anthem on British soil, general crowd cheering, the hospitality experience, and the most special opportunity to get to meet cricket greats such as Roger Binny, Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly) will definitely be etched in our memories for a very long time.
M: Maamu Maayi — You were showered with loads of love, hugs and gifts too from your favourites Maamu Maayi. They visited us in Singapore, stayed with us for a fortnight and we all had such a fabulous time together indeed.
N: Nectar — So this year, you added yet another letter to the daily RRTBW family ritual. So after sharing our roses (positive incidents), thorn (any negative occurrence), bud (something we looked forward to), watering (any kind act) we also share “Nectar” meaning what we intended to improve on. This encouraged us to introspect and commit to self-improvement.
O: Over the moon and off — You found yourself ‘over the moon’ when you finished at the podium as the “Best Bowler/Batsman/Fielder” at your cricket matches; but you also had your “off days” when you’re bowling wouldn’t convert to wickets, your team would lose, you wouldn’t get selected for some competition and such; these were equally important we’d say as these humbling experiences build character on the long run, teach one to be gracious in defeat or victory and maintain one’s poise nonetheless.
P: Primary school — You bid farewell to Kindergarten and kickstarted your primary school journey at GIIS this year. You’re a punctual boy, and are always ready 5 mins prior to your school van is due to pick you up. You look sharp in your uniform, lugging a big school bag, including an iPad and a lunch bag as well. You thoroughly enjoy the IB PYP learning experience, have made new friends and are your teachers’ pet, given your responsible and obedient behaviour; soon enough, you were made the class leader too, a role which you fulfil with all your heart.
Q: Queer — You asked me what “gay” meant, and thus began our surface level discussions on LGBTQ, appropriate for your age. Whilst we would have thought that these discussions could have waited until you were slightly older, we reckoned that it was never too early to teach a child to not judge and that “Love is love”.
R: Root canal — Your first visit to the dentist owing to a chipped off molar tooth, uncovered superficial decay of few teeth, but also a cavity that went deeper than it first appeared, which essentially warranted a root canal of sorts, culminating with a crown placement as well. You were so very brave and cooperative through it all, earning much deserved praise from the paediatric dentist.
S:Spirituality — You are a wise person, much beyond your age. I often remark that you are an old soul. What with throwing ‘gyaan’ like “It’s okay! It happens”, “Live in the Now!”, “Everyone’s a child” and such, you do baffle us adults too and remind us to “Just chill”.
T: Turbulence anxiety — The second half of the year, you developed some fear during flying; even the mildest of turbulence would get you all anxious and worked up, sometimes even puking. Whilst my reaction time (to fetch a vomit bag) has considerably improved (seriously!), we have been experimenting with various techniques to help you deal with the fear. We certainly do hope, you outgrow the fear or are soon, able to manage it better. We are by your side, either ways.
U: Universal Studios — You visited not one, but two Universal Studios this year — Sentosa, Singapore and Hollywood, Los Angeles. You thoroughly enjoyed the various theme parks and rides. I for one, was so excited to introduce you to the Harry Potter universe! In addition, you also visited the Legoland at San Diego and had a blast, admiring the various million-piece Lego creations, getting your Lego-fix at the various work stations as well trying out the roller coaster rides!
V: Valedictorian at graduation — You took us by surprise by presenting the Valedictorian speech at your Kindergarten graduation. You were calm, clear and confident, smiling at the audience whilst we were wiping happy tears off our faces. You also did a wonderful job as the narrator of your class annual play ‘Aladdin’.
W: Wedding shenanigans — You were my adorable plus one at a friend’s tropical wedding at Hua Hin; you also attended an aunt’s wedding in Sacramento, USA, where you sang ‘Pehla Nasha’ and wow-ed the reception guests.
X: eXtra love for animals and the planet — You are an animal lover and it shone through many of the animal encounters you had this year. You learnt about endangered species at school and a lot about animal conservation at the San Diego Zoo. You were thrilled to discover exotic creatures like the axolotl and brave to caress the Bearded dragon, at the Reptile park, along Xochimilco canals in Mexico; and feed and pet animals and birds at Prani, the Pet Sanctuary in Bengaluru, India. We also loved watching the documentary series ‘Our Planet’ in David Attenborough’s voice. Your Netflix Kids watch list also included many animal series this year such as Llama Llama, Archibald’s Next Big Thing, Shaun the Sheep, Creature Cases, Angry Birds, and All Hail King Julien!
Y: Yummy — You are an absolute foodie and one that can even feedback that ‘salt is less’ at such a tender age! You like watching food recipe videos on Instagram, by ‘PastaQueen’ and very cutely imitate her “So gorgeous…just like you are!” and have even created your own recipe of “PPP — Palak Pudina Pulav” which you are uber proud of. You love to help in the kitchen be it fetching ingredients or washing dishes with Monica aunty; and as a parent, I am glad that we are raising you to be an independent, whole person, beyond conventional gender roles.
Z: Zinc and others — You have taken a keen interest in nutrition and sure do like to share some pearls that you would come across; you urge that too much coffee can affect zinc absorption, you check the ingredient list on packaged food for emulsifiers and if present, tend to avoid it!
We are excited to see how you are going to surprise us, this year! May you continue to grow into a wonderful human, with so much love and kindness in your heart ❤ We love you sweetheart, and we always will.
