Anaya is now at the age where she absorbs any new information like a sponge, so it is our endeavor to facilitate new experiences for her.
Recently the Cricket World Cup took place in India and the Pakistan vs England match was to be played in Kolkata. We thought, what better experience than watching a live match at the Eden Gardens. Anaya was surprisingly enthusiastic about the entire thing although I am pretty sure she only follows cricket because of my love for the game.
Anyways, moving ahead, the match was itself an inconsequential match as both teams had already been knocked out of the tournament. But the energy of Eden Gardens was electrifying and Anaya had a ball of a time. Right from getting all the junk food she wanted and getting her face painted (albeit with an Indian flag), she ensured she soaked in the entire experience. The highlight of the evening was however when she and Ridhi came on TV. We were intimated a few overs ahead that they will be shown on screen and will have to airplay a sitar.
All in all it was a wonderful experience, so much so, Anaya wanted to go for the Semi Finals at Kolkata as well.
Feeding a pre schooler is a daunting task. Feeding a child can be a joyous experience, but at the same time it can also be incredibly frustrating when your little one becomes a fussy eater.
All parenting articles suggest that this phase is typically temporary and can be managed with patience and understanding. However, this is easier said that done!!!
Some of the tricks we use with Anaya are:
Eating with cousins/friends: Kids can be very competitive. Tapping into their inherent urge to win can help you to get them to eat stuff which they usually would not.
Hype up the food item pre meal: This works quite well with Anaya. Hyping up food items before she has had them seems to affect her taste buds in a positive way. This might have to do with the fact that children often imitate their parents’ behaviors. Demonstrating healthy eating habits by enjoying a diverse and nutritious diet ourselves, we often get Anaya to eat what we want her to eat.
Positive Reinforcement: Bribing children with a promise of an activity, gift or any other item which appeals to them if they finish their meal. However, needs to be used in caution as we do not want them to think that everytime they eat according to us, they get something.
Screen time: Although not the most preferred option, it is good to have this option. On the flip side once used to this, it is extremely hard to get them to eat without any screen time. P.S. having meals together as a family helps in case your child is addicted to screen time while eating.
Negative Reinforcement: When nothing else works, the threat of giving them a time out might. However, I only use this as the absolute last resort when nothing else seems to work.
In Kolkata, the biggest challenge for new parents is getting their children admitted to a school of their choice.
For some choosing the school is a matter of prestige, for others its the quality of education and for some its just a matter of convenience.
Recently Anaya graduated from Montessori/Play school and got admission at The Heritage School, Kolkata.
Last day at Young Learners (Montessori)
Heritage was our first choice for Anaya. The reason for us choosing Heritage was Heritage’s Holistic approach to the child’s development, it being a co-ed and a day boarding school. We were ecstatic when we came to know she got through. The icing on the cake was the fact we got this news on her 4th birthday.
First Day at Heritage
Heritage is a day boarding (not at Anaya’s level, but at higher levels) and focus more on holistic education including dining room etiquettes, development of interpersonal relationships etc. etc.
Being at a new school, taking a school bus, having meals without parents/grandparents around, I have a lot of questions for Anaya. However, asking her will only elicit the following responses:
“School is good”
“Bus ride is ok”
“Got this this this for my meal”
However, I have come up with a solution where beating around the bush actually helps.
So instead of asking her how was school, I usually break it down into the following questions:
What did you learn today?
Did you have fun at school today?
What games did you play today?
What activity did you do today?
Did you make any new friends today?
Follow up question: Are they in your bus or are they in your class?
Usually once I ask these questions, follow up questions automatically crop up and I get a much better understanding of what is going on with her.
In my experience asking specific questions to kids helps them to answer you succinctly and to the point. But the bottom line still remains all children are different and it takes a lot of patience at the parents end to understand what works for each child.
Let me know your experience with your kids in the comments box.
The final day and on the cards today was the activity that Anaya was most looking forward to, The Mermaids of Arabia. Her cousin had been to Dubai a few months back and told Anaya about it and Anaya was super excited about it.
So as I said, the accommodation I had chosen was opposite Dubai Mall but Anaya requested me to take a cab. Booked an Uber and to my surprise, our ride was a Lexus ES 350. I wish I had chosen a longer distance ride!!!
Reached Dubai Mall, had to transverse the length of the mall to reach the Mermaids of Arabia Area.
Pro Tip: If you are doing Mermaids of Arabia, you can skip the Dubai Aquarium as you get to see a large proportion of the creatures from the Mermaids of Arabia area.
These are some of our pics from the experience.
My Little Mermaid!!!
After the Mermaids of Arabia experience, we had lunch at Pizza Hut and then walked back to the Hotel, finished packing and then left for the airport.
At the Airport
Thank God for the strollers at the Dubai airport!!!
That concluded our trip to Dubai. A memorable and challenging trip in multiple ways. Took me way out of my comfort zone and I can honestly say that the opportunity it gave for Anaya and me to bond is priceless.
After breakfast, Anaya wanted to buy some chocolates and grape juice so we went for a walk to the nearest supermarket.
Initially, this was a free day for us but we had preponed our tickets and decided to do the Dessert Safari. Anaya was extremely excited about the Dessert Safari, being able to play with sand and finally seeing a camel in real life.
Coming back from the walk, she wanted to visit the pool area and explore the Hotel.
I did not allow her to swim as she has contracted a persistent dry cough since she swam at Abu Dhabi, so just clicked a few pics around the Hotel and moved back to the room for resting a bit before the Safari.
The drive to the dessert safari area was a good hour long. We reached the parking lot where the driver deflated the tyres before we entered the sand area. This gave us a chance to click some pics and get the traditional Emirati headscarf tied.
Tyres deflated, head scarf in place, we were off for the Safari.
The actual Safari was super fun. I have not done any off roading so it was a first for me as well. Anaya thoroughly enjoyed the drive. Soon it was time to take a break so that the drivers could inflate the tyres. This gave Anaya an opportunity to play in the sand.
Anaya loves playing with sand and this was heaven for her. It was amazing to see her energy running up and down the sand dunes. She did not want to leave. However, I changed her mind by promising her a camel ride next.
Our next stop was the Dessert Safari Show. This package included a camel ride, dinner, a light show, a fire dance and a belly dance. Anaya loved the shows specially the fire show and the belly dance.
Watching a belly dance live for the first time ever.
End of a long and eventful day.
As we had preponed our tickets, we would be leaving the next day. So I needed to finish packing as she wanted to do Mermaids of Arabia and I reckoned it will take me the entire first half of the next day to get her to do that.
I would like to give out a big shout out to our travel agents Victoria Travels. All the tickets preponement and changing the itinerary was a breeze with their team available for us 24×7. They coordinated with their partner travel agent in Dubai to ensure we did not have the hassle to coordinate with the drivers, airport transfers etc.
Day 4 started as usual, Anaya woke up early excited for the Hilton breakfast. Had a hearty breakfast and then got ready to check out and move to Dubai.
On the way to Dubai we covered the The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and the Emirates Palace.
Pro Tip: There is a lot of walking involved with the Mosque Tour. So if you are travelling with a kid, be prepared to carry them for long periods!!!
After the Mosque tour, I had to bribe Anaya with Chocolate Shopping at the Supermarket in the Mosque compound for continuing rest of the day tour.
Then we moved on to the Abu Dhabi Palace which is now called the Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental, Abu Dhabi. The grandeur of the building was unlike anything else I have seen. Highly recommend to visit once atleast.
Us at the Hotel Lobby
After the tour we resumed our journey to Dubai.
Pro Tip: Vegetarian food options on the drive between Abu Dhabi and Dubai are extremely limited. So carry adequate food in case you are a vegetarian.
Anaya was exhausted by the time we reached Dubai. Upon checking into the Hotel, Swissotel Al Murooj Dubai, I showed Anaya the Dubai Fountain pics and told her we can do that at the time. She immediately agreed. Although I had chosen the Hotel because on Google maps it seemed bang opposite the Dubai Mall, it was actually quite a long walk.
In front of the Dubai Fountain.
Walked back to the hotel, ordered in room service and put Anaya to bed.
Day 3 started similar to Day 2 with an amazing breakfast at the Hilton.
After WB, Anaya was extremely excited to visit Ferrari World (or Safari World in her words).
To make things a little bit exciting, we decided to dress in Ferrari Colours.
Being the punctual punks we are, we reached the venue before the Park even opened up. This gave us time to click some selfies/pics.
I was amazed to see that a Theme Park can be made inside a Shopping Mall!!!
The first ride we took was a mini Roller Coaster, “Formula Rossa Junior”. Only Anaya could have forced me to get on a roller coaster!!! She loved the ride and then we moved on to “The Turbo Tower”. We had done a similar ride at WB and thought that was slightly better than the one at Ferrari World. We then wanted to do the Tyre Twist ride but Anaya did not meet the height requirements. She had really wanted to do this ride as she had done a similar ride at Nicco Park, Kolkata. We did a bunch of other rides, but were done within a couple of hours.
Coming back to the Hotel, we took a quick dip at the pool and then went for a walk along Yas Waterfront.
Came back to the Hotel, ordered in some room service and called it a day.
Day 2 started with a scrumptious breakfast at the Hilton. This according to Anaya was the best part of the trip. Primary reason for this was me trying to play cool and letting her binge on whatever she wants to have. So her breakfast menu on Day 1 was Croissants (both plain and chocolate), fruit loops, chocolate milk and hash brown.
Pro Tip: Whenever you are travelling with a kid, pack fruits and dry fruits for later as healthy snack options.
Breakfast done, got ready and we were off to Warner Brothers.
Yas Island has a complimentary shuttle bus service for the various touristy places and Anaya was extremely excited for her first ride on a bus (her favourite rhyme growing up was “The wheels on the bus”, but somehow she never experienced a bus ride before).
Now Warner Brothers is the first indoor theme park either of us had visited. Once the entry formalities were done, the first thing I did was to check out kid friendly activities that can be done with Anaya.
Because the two of us were travelling alone, we could not do majority of the activities/rides. However, Anaya had a blast with the ones we did do.
Anaya and me on one of the rides
The one ride we absolutely enjoyed was a Flintstones themed ride. I do not remember the name of the ride but would highly recommend it to everyone visiting WB.
We also met quite a few Celebrities:
Anaya did not know who Scooby Doo was. Made me feel really old!!!
I on the other hand am a big fan!!!
Us with the Road Runner (I think!!!)
Up until then Superman was the only person except me who she spoke with on the trip. Gotta say she’s got a good taste in men!!!
Anaya – “My two favourite Super Heroes”
Us with Bugs Bunny
I really wanted a pic with Super Woman as well but Anaya did not. So we didn’t get clicked with her!!!
So after all the rides and the celebrity pictures, we decided to rest and take an ice-cream break.
WB is not a day long activity but in our case it worked out well as Anaya got adequate time to rest in the evening.
Posing at the Bus Stand. She might not show it but she was tired from all the walking around!!!
She slept on the bus ride back to the Hotel and I had to carry her all the way to the room. As soon as we reached the room, she woke up which meant no rest for me. Brrr!!!!.
After some snacks, we went down to the pool for a dip. Chilled at the pool for around half an hour. After the dip, we went out to explore the areas around the Hotel. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of restaurants just walking distance from our Hotel. We decided to explore these the next day.
Came back to the room and immediately Anaya fell asleep after a hectic day. My watch showed I had walked 15k steps that day and I am sure Anaya would have walked atleast 8-10k steps herself.
So for our 10th Anniversary we planned a trip to Abu Dhabi/Dubai.
On the day of the travel, Ridhi fell sick and on her insistence, it was decided Anaya and me would continue with the trip and she would join us later once she feels better.
Our flight was at 9AM and this decision was taken at 5AM in the morning. The bags were unpacked and repacked. Surprisingly, Anaya readily agreed and even helped with the unpacking/repacking.
Finally, we left for the airport. Now being the inquisitive child that Anaya is, I had to explain everything to her. Right from the flight check-in to the security check to the Immigration process. She needed to know everything.
Us at CCU International Airport
The flight itself was a huge revelation for her. “Papa seat main TV hai (Papa there’s a TV on the seat”), there are blankets and pillows for me etc. She loved the wider seats and the fact that she got a window seat and an empty middle seat so that she could lie down.
The flight
Upon landing at Dubai, we had to cross the entire length of the airport to get our luggage. Luckily for me, they have strollers at the airport which you can pick up and drop at various spots.
Immigration done, we met the cab driver who drove us to our first hotel, Hilton Abu Dhabi. Now this was the first time Anaya was actually meeting people from other Nationalities and this made her a bit nervous. Everyone we met was amazed she agreed to travel without her Mumma.
The drive to Abu Dhabi
The car ride to Abu Dhabi was amazing and she enjoyed the architecture that Dubai had to offer.
Upon checking in to our room, Anaya was overjoyed to see the size of the bath tub and the private terrace we had. Now came the part of travelling alone which I was most concerned about. Getting her ready and setting her hair. Luckily, she chose her own clothes and I was able to do a fairly decent job with her hair.
My munchkin
Enjoying the brilliant Abu Dhabi weather and the massive as Private Terrace.
For dinner, she wanted to have Pizza so we went down to the pool side restaurant for the first Dinner date of the trip.
The First Dinner Date
We then walked around the Hotel for a little bit and she was absolutely beat post that. The 1.5 hour jet lag also took its toll on her and she conked off by 8PM.
Now I had to get her clothes ready for Warner Brothers the next day.
So now Anaya is in the stage where she is curious and inquisitive about everything. All this usually leads to one simple question “Why?”.
While she was away at her maternal grandma’s house for a couple of months on vacation, I really enjoyed this phase of hers as for the first time ever I could converse with her. However, once I met her, I realised I needed to pull up my socks and be prepared. So I turned to my parenting guidebook – Google. So these are the points which were universally mentioned for such cases:
Be Patient: Day-to-day things which adults take for granted might be new for kids. This is a massive learning curve for them and an amazing opportunity for seniors in the house be it parents or grand parents to impart good values to the toddlers. However, a lot of times it easier said than done. Remember, many things we take for granted are being seen for the first time by our children.
Repeat, repeat, repeat: This might sound tedious but hey practice makes you perfect.
Find age appropriate responses for their questions.
Admit if you do not know answer to a particular question: but do make it a point to look it up and revert
Additionally, some pointers which I personally feel we as parents should keep note of:
Be careful what you say in front of the munchkins: A slang or an exasperated quote might be stuck with them and might be used in a social gathering. I have been guilty of the same and now am very careful what I say in front of Anaya.
Try and give a positive response rather than a negative one: For example, if you do not know the answer to something rather than saying”I do not know the answer” somethings on the lines of “Let me look it up for you” is a much better option.
Try and steer conversations to topic you’re comfortable in.
Actions speak louder than words. As parents we should ensure our body language makes us seem approachable and open to answering their queries. While kids verbal skills might not be completely developed at this stage, I feel their empathy skills are to the point (atleast for their parents).
To wrap up, start by paying attention to what your children are asking. actively listen and try to understand what is going on in their heads. After you have, answer their questions and ask follow-ups. You can encourage comprehension by having them repeat the answers and explain the answers in their own words. That’s it—simple.
My Little Munchkin 