RoshAmmi

Missed opportunities

2011-11-13T21:41:00.000-08:00

As a parent there are many things that you never get around to. For me, one was making a baby book. I still have her foot prints from the hospital and my own thoughts on being pregnant, loosely lying in manila folders. Another was to sew play food like this. Now Anjali is barely interested in playing in her kitchen.

Tonight she was writing about slavery in her journal. She asked me why slaves didn't know their birthdays; And I didn't know the answer (we googled it).

How do they grow up so fast and where does the time go?

Read-o-rama

2011-08-29T21:59:00.000-07:00

A miracle of childhood is how kids learn to read seemingly overnight. Anjali started kindergarden reading words such as ‘cat’ ‘hat’ and ‘pot’. By the end of the school year she is reading at the 3^rd grade level. I always wondered how the letters transform in their brains and make the sounds. Its still an amazing mystery to me. The books that have taken us by storm are the Mary Pope Osbornes’ “Magic Tree House” mystery series. These are delightful in their weave of mystery, fact, and fiction. She is on book 31 of the series! She reads so much that we’ve had to set limits. (Here she is reading while we are having a picnic).

I love to read out loud and a little sad that I dont get to do it as much now. Our present designated read-together book is the original Charlotte’s web. What a masterpiece!

Hiking

2011-05-31T21:15:00.000-07:00

I love to hike (or even walk). And this photo of Anjali and me captures why.
When I was pregnant with Anjali I made a vow to myself to show her the beauty of the world as I see it (before she realized that it is not all so). Its a simple concept that your feet can take you to extraordinary places. And when you are in that place everything you know looks different, better. And you realize you are part of something much bigger. And its no small feat that she climbed 1200 feet in almost 4 miles!

On becoming a ballerina

2011-04-01T21:36:00.000-07:00

Anjali debuted her solo ballet performance at the school talent show. As parents we were blown away by her grace and confidence on stage and leading up to the performance. She put a lot of thought into her routine and her personality was not lost on her choreography notes where she made notes in two columns, left in green (things a ballerina should do) and the right in red (the things she must not). We loved it!
She also got tons of praise from the older kids (huge deal), the principal, and her class teacher. I am so grateful that her (public) school provides kids this opportunity. This is a picture from her classmate.

Yuletide

2010-12-12T18:57:00.000-08:00

The tree has been trimmed, stockings have been hung, and gingerbread houses have been made. Its Christmas time! Our friends have a great tradition of getting the kids together to make these fabulous gingerbread houses (all from scratch)!. I think it really sums up the season. There is sharing, friendship and lots of sugar. Its hard being a minority in a majority culture, so we embrace it with some exceptions: there is no Santa (so no lists get made) and this year we focused on giving (instead of getting). Deep in my heart I feel like the holidays exist to make the winter bearable and festive. P.S. I got crafty with the stocking.

Slug Bug

2010-11-20T21:20:00.000-08:00

There is no escaping a game of "slug bug" when we are in the car these days. This started sometime around the end of summer. At first I had no idea what Anjali was talking about (a sign of things to come) as she was yelling out "slug bug" as we were running errands in the car. Then Ranjeewa brought me up to speed that inhabitants in our car need to call out slug bugs (VW beetle cars) as we see them and accumulate points, of course the one with the most points wins. My observations skills are pathetic, I wont notice if an elephant is sitting on my lap. Anjali and her father, on the other hand are sharp... I mean really. This whole game has gotten so out of hand we cant have a conversation in the car anymore. There are extra points for 'old fashioned' slug bugs, and now includes PT cruisers, smart cars, MDXs and Mini coopers. Anjali can spot any of these cars blocks away and sometime as far away as 10 cars deep on the opposite lane. To add insult to injury the winner sings "I am the champion" (adapted by Freddy Mercury) to the loser. Having felt pity on me for my lack of observation skills, they now 'give away' points to me!

Ain't no picnic

2010-10-07T20:39:00.000-07:00

We are parents of a big kid in a real school... or so I am reminded every day. Public school is just overwhelming as a first timer. And the parent involvement is no joke. This is a snap shot of what it entails:

- every first wed of the month is PTA
- There are fundraisers for EVERYTHING. This month its selling wrapping paper, candy and fall bulbs
- There is a committee for the school auction, the school carnival, the school garden, and well just about everything
- there are field trips you could chaperone kids to
- there are clubs and gathering on how to raise your kids
- there is even an inter-generational cross country track meet next week (yes your whole family can run!)

Phew... quite honestly its all a bit too overwhelming. And I have decided to sit back and observe this year since I am a very inexperienced public school parent.

So what did I volunteer to do? Well I am managing the scholastic book club for our class (kids and parents order books and the class gets bonus points to get free books and educational products), I volunteered to organize the sewing of a quilt for the class auction(mmm...hm!), and I am attending a discussion group on “raising our daughters and sons takes a village” moderated by Dr. Kathy Maserie. The rest of the time I try not to get noticed.

First Day of school week!

2010-09-07T17:53:00.000-07:00

... How did it happen so fast? Since this is the last week at home I am feeling a little anxious about Anjali leaving to go to 'big kid' school. We just got back from a week of vacationing in Florida, and it suddenly hit me that I need to make school lunches... EVERY DAY!
That send me spiraling off thinking about lunch boxes, and healthy lunches. In keeping with the greening efforts around our home I settled on a Lunch Bot. And of course I had to get my sewing machine involved! So I decided to make some custom napkins. Don't you love? I think I am going to make one for every day of the week.

Summer=Water

2010-08-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

We are having a relatively cool August (70-80), which makes me yearn for some hot days just so we can splash in the water. Like me Anjali loves water. We have enjoyed quite a few rivers and lakes this summer and it just amazes me how kids can entertain themselves in the water. I just loved this late afternoon trip to the Deschutes river in central OR. She filled this plastic bag with river water, carried it up to where we were sitting, and dumped it on her Achchi :-)

5 years and counting

2010-07-26T21:16:00.000-07:00

Anjali turned 5 this week... and like I wrote on her card, I cant imagine a day without her. I feel like its a major milestone. Luckily her birthday fell on a Monday which means we got to have a family birthday celebration (including Achchi) and a big celebration with her preschool friends the following Sunday. We ended up doing ice cream instead of cake for our family celebration. She wanted mint with chocolate chips and candles on top, of course. Then we went to our favorite water fountain at Jamison park for some frolicking, followed by her favorite dinner... home cooked Ravioli. She even shelled some peas that she grew in the garden for dinner. I broke some rules and got her a Barbie... her first, a gorgeous Indian Barbie. Thaththi got her a more practical scooter which grandma took for a spin. All in all it was a perfect birthday for a near perfect girl. The party with her friends was a lot more rambunctious.

Nesting

2010-05-07T14:54:00.001-07:00

There is nothing as sexy as a man in a sarong, right?
Well Anjali loves to pretend that the sarong is a nest. She loves to sit on it and hide, and chases her father around asking to play nest. I found this old photo showing that she always enjoyed it (here with her uncle, 'CD mama')

Chores

2010-04-27T21:07:00.000-07:00

A cleaning her shoes

After having read this article (p.24) in our fabulous FREE Portland Metro Parent magazine, I decided its time to give Anjali some responsibilities. We started off with setting the table, clearing the table after dinner, making the bed and miscellaneous clean up (when Ammi remembers!).
So far its going well. She knows what is expected of her, though she needs some reminding sometimes. At other times she sighs saying "why do I have to do everything".

It really bothers me that "entitle-mania" is rampant in this kid-culture. And its not quite their fault or even a parents because its the passive option. There are a zillion choices of food (mostly with empty calories), toys, gadgets, entertainment, you name it. Its tough as a parent to walk the talk.
The other night after dinner Anjali asked for dessert. Having had dessert two nights in a row during the weekend (with friends) she assumed she was entitled to some on a Monday night. I said no we dont have dessert every night; its an occasional treat. To drive it in further I reminded her that half the kids in the world probably went to bed hungry, let alone with dessert. She got the point.

Sourcing Food Locally

2010-03-23T21:04:00.001-07:00

I'd blogged before about how Anjali is a rice and curry girl. She especially loves her 'mas curry', so we finally paid a visit to the farm where we get our meat from. It was a truly amazing experience for our family. First, I never realized how much work it is to farm (Deck is a family farm and the entire family works EVERYDAY rain or shine, kids included). Second, our food comes to us at a great cost to the environment, and the industry is corrupt with farm subsidies and big industry. Third, animals are cute! Its hard not to have a relationship with your food when you really know where its coming from (at the end of our visit I was in love with a dairy cow named Seamus).
Christine the owner is fabulously smart and a great advocate for 'food as it should be'. And she has a no-nonsense attitude that I loved. After watching the sow breast feed the piglets and goats jumping over the barn fence, petting the horse, herding the cows to the milking pen, Anjali was put to task cleaning Duck eggs. At $0.75 an egg I was incredibly nervous about her handling them (after all she is an urban gal!). But she loved it, and most importantly brought home the message that putting food on the table is no easy task, and that everyone even kids have chores they can do. The duck eggs were yummy!

Solitude

2010-03-09T15:38:00.001-08:00

This note greeted me when I arrived back home last week. Since I rarely travel for work it brought tears to my eyes that I had not seen my daughter in two days. It’s hard to remove myself from the role as Ammi who makes sure her clothes are laid out the night before; breakfast is ready, teeth brushed, etc, etc. When you are traveling alone (through airports especially) you find yourself with more time to ponder what its like to be an individual. I have been engrossed in reading this book by Adele Barker: Not Quite Paradise: An American Sojourn in Sri Lanka which led me to think about the importance of simplifying life (she has a whole chapter on how she learned to live with ants). This wiki how was a catalyst to my thoughts. I like #3 Do less each day, and #9 Create solitude. #4 is my favorite, Leave space between tasks and appointments. As a mother you don’t get much solitude, but the opportunity to live in the moment, for every hug, smile and the “I love you more than hot lava coming out of a volcano.”

Memories

2010-02-25T12:08:00.000-08:00

Anjali (and kids in general) have amazing memories. I think its because our brains are so cluttered and stressed and theirs just aren’t. Her recollection of things I wore two years ago or what we saw scares me sometimes, because I feel like there is some video camera in her brain that records all these details that I don’t!

This morning as I was standing in front of the refrigerator looking at our calendar,

I said: Gosh its almost March already

A: That’s right and the Cats are coming in March

Me: what cats?

A: Cats the musical

Me: huh! That’s right

I had told her about Cats a few months ago and showed her a Youtube of the song Memories.

Immediately she wanted to go see it, and I found out that they are coming to Portland in March, but at $125 a ticket I thought it was too much and forgot about it. But she did not.

Artist in making

2010-02-21T17:05:00.000-08:00

Until very recently Anjali was just scribbling for art. But almost overnight her skills have evolved into something more. This seems to be the case with her. She likes to process and ponder things before she actually executes them. A favorite feature of mine are the eyelashes that she draws. Just the other day she drew this 'Mickey Mouse' on the sidewalk, and of course the eyelashes were disproportionately awesome!

Another quilt

2010-01-22T17:01:00.000-08:00

I've been bad at keeping up! But hey its been a busy winter and now almost spring! Yesterday it was 60 and sunny here in PDX. Never mind its raining and 50 now. Spring is certainly in the air because my garden is waking up with spring bulbs!

I digress... I wanted to show this quilt I made for our nephew Vihaan. Combination of vintage Micheal Miller transportation pieces. I love Micheal Miller.
My sewing machine has been threaded for weeks... my other projects will debut here soon...

The Travel Bug

2009-12-24T11:53:00.000-08:00

We LOVE to travel, and the wanderlust did not skip Anjali!
Our trips usually involve long flights and I like to make sure she is occupied.
Last year my SIL got her this fabulous Posh International roll-on bag that is small enough for little kids while making them feel like adults. In it are her favorite small toys: Manike, her globe trotting doll baby, a doll blanket, washable markers, a kids activity book (coloring, writing), a small reading book, a cell phone ('cause you have to make a call when you land!), and always a little surprise. This time it was a little (Barbie) Kelly doll with her own clothes and shoes! These kept her occupied for hours much to the flight staff's surprise.

New Cousin

2009-11-30T15:55:00.000-08:00

A new cousin entered Anjali's world on November 17th. Vihaan Akshay Prakash. We are very excited for my SIL and husband. And for us, of course. I love how the families are slowly getting bigger. I envision fun family gatherings with kids running around. Anjali continues her reign as the queen of the brood! We cant wait to meet the new cousin and parents soon.

Flu-ey

2009-11-06T07:07:00.000-08:00

Halloween was fun, but then came the sore throat and the fever (104 to be exact)!
A midnight call to the Dr. on-call confirmed that it might be H1N1 (as most all flu at this time is), and to take it cool. She was very calming and informative on the phone, I needed that.
Its been an abysmal week; Anjali has not been out of the house and the most nagging thing is "Ammi I am bored, tell me what to do".
Sometimes I feel like she is always sick, but then I came across this article by Dr. Green who says kids can't develop an immunity without being sick. He says 8-12 times in the first year and 10-12 in the second and so on... On those accounts I feel better, she's been sick about 5 times this year. But kids sicknesses takes everything out of us parents. Its hard to watch their little bodies try to cope. I dont like to give OTC medications but sometimes we have to. This time I tried a new tea that seems to work well. Its one of my favorite cold symptom relieving brands. While we are sipping the tea, we will dream of warm weather in virus-free beaches.

A Happy Halloween

2009-11-01T11:31:00.000-08:00

Another Halloween with its ghoulish allure has come and gone.
The busy week started off with Anjali's schools' annual lantern walk.
As kids walk on an illuminated path at night among trees, teachers passed out hand-made/gathered natural treats. This year the walk ended with a show by awesome fire dancers.
Of-course I made the Dorothy dress from a vintage simplicity pattern. I loved making it and my favorite feature are the satin sleeves. More photos here.
Halloween day was a eventful with a 4 years-old and later a 40 year-old birthday party! Phew... and now its November already.

The Quilt - Its finally done

2009-10-14T20:44:00.000-07:00

Its finally done after mother and grandmothers spent hours on it. Its our Apple Blossom Fairy Quilt. As with many inspirations in our household this one started with a book by Cicely Mary Barker, who will always be the queen of flower fairies. The book was a gift from our lovely friend and doula, so it has special significance. The songs (or poems) are beautiful and very English (British). For example the Wild Rose Fairy song goes:

I am the queen whom everybody knows,
I am the English Rose;
As light and free as any Jenny Wren,
As dear to Englishmen;
As joyous as a Robin Redbreast’s tune,
I scent the air of June;
My buds are rosy as a baby’s cheek;
I have one word to speak,
One word which is my secret and my song,
‘Tis “England, England, England” all day long.
It so happened that one of my favorite fabric designers Micheal Miller produced a series with Cicely Mary Barker's illustrations. I couldn't help but launch on a quilt project for Anjali. Thanks to my mother-in-law for helping me finish it . Its just gorgeous!

Bilingual Child

2009-10-09T07:49:00.001-07:00

Our efforts to teach Anjali Sinhala was kicked into a higher gear after we picked up this book at Powells (the coolest bookstore in the 48). I learned some new things about teaching another language such as OPOL (One Parent One Language) and to not translate words into English if she cant understand them. The results have been amazing! Its totally rewarding when she says "Ammi harii lassanai..." followed by "Thaththi chuttak lassanai". We are hoping she's got her fathers aptitude for language acquisition. Now we have to keep at it. Its harder for us to remember to speak, than it is for her to learn.

Cousins

2009-09-21T14:36:00.001-07:00

I just love this photo of Ranesh and Anjali on July 4th, we keep joking that either one of them can be the POTUS. How cute to watch them grow.

Gentle Giants

2009-09-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

Anjali seems to have a green thumb. Here she is with the giant sunflower seeds she sowed. And then they got huge. It was quite something to see these grow; some of the flower centers are over a foot in diameter. I think this is going to be an annual hallmark of summer.

Idyllic Summer Day

2009-08-15T20:34:00.000-07:00

Last week we went berry picking on Sauvie Island. It was a fantastic day; we took a tractor ride to the blue and raspberry patch. There is something very satisfying about gathering your own food. Anjali and her friend gorged on as many berries as they could. Then trooped on a 2 mile hike around a lake. I love the combination of kids and the outdoors. Achchi rewarded the kids with a wildflower bouquet at the end of the hike. Yay for summer days!

Human World

2009-07-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

Last night we went upto Larch Mountain at about 4600 feet to escape the 105 degrees heat wave in P0rtland. It was a cool 80 degrees at the summit with no one in sight and unobstructed views of Mt. Hood. Anjali said she was very happy to be on top of the 'Human World'. On our way back the sun was setting a brilliant orange-red and Anjali was in a pensive mood. We asked her what she was thinking about and she said "I am so happy that the human world is so beautiful, I dont have words to describe all the colors."

When I was 4 months pregnant we hiked to beautiful Elowah falls in the Columbia River Gorge. At that time my wish for my fetus was for her to realize how beautiful the world was despite all its ugliness. And here I am 4 years later and my wish has come true.

Summer with Grandmas'

2009-07-26T17:59:00.001-07:00

Anjali has been very lucky this summer to have extended amounts of time with Aththamma (my mother) and Achchi (Ranjeewa's mother). She invented her own little games and plays with each of them and its great for us to get out at night for a drink (or two) at dreamy places such as a the Urban Farmer.
I have a lot to blogabout after a long summer hiatus. Currently its about 85 degrees here in my basement as opposed to the 105 degrees outside.

36, but whose counting?

2009-05-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

You know what they say, 'older and wiser'... this year I really feel wiser, and thankful for everything I have in life. So my trusted sidekick made me some cupcakes (with some assistance of course). And I tried out my new pastry bag for the first time and I am certainly still a domestic apprentice when it comes to the frosting, but I have till July to perfect.

Talk with your kids

2009-05-27T21:28:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this site http://www.talkingwithkids.org/ because it sends a very simple and powerful message: talk with your kids before everyone else does!
I had one of those conversations this morning as I was helping Anjali into the car. She said " I wish I was the same color as all my friends." I totally knew what she meant but pretended not to and asked her what color she meant and she pointed me to the Cheerios and said "that color". I got the message clear! I asked her what was wrong with her color and she said 'nothing'. And I talked to her about how beautiful she was just as she is. Quite honestly, I was not prepared for her to ask 'that' question. But Portland is such a fair skinned city that I can understand why she feels left out, especially when the whole class slaps on sunscreen. Even the smattering of non white kids we know are mixed-race. I might have to launch a more aggressive everyone can be/look different yet beautiful campaign.

Have I told you about the Wiz?

2009-05-25T21:39:00.000-07:00

You know how it is when you have a kid one thing leads into another and before you know it your life gets consumed by it? Well... that's what happened to us with the Wiz. It all started with the post-Nutcracker doldrums. While flipping channels during football season Anjali caught about 5 minutes of the Wizard of Oz, and was riveted, asking lots of questions. A few weeks later a local high school was doing a production of the Wiz (a musical based on the Baum story), and I got us tickets. We sat in the front row and the rest is history as they say! I have to admit the story and the music swept me away as well. I got her the Wiz sound track and she now knows all the songs and listens to the ENTIRE CD EVERYDAY. Not having been an Oz fan I had to quickly get hip to the Oz phenomenon. The Wiz was a 70's braodway hit with an all-black cast with Diana Ross as Dorothy and Micheal Jackson as the scarecrow. Everyone my age who grew up here know all the songs. And so now that circle of the awe-inspiring land of Oz prevails in our house. Everything is about Dorothy, as it must have been in many American households since 1900 when the books were first published. I've got my mind on Oz themed birthday cupcakes...mmm.

End of an Era

2009-05-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

For those of us my age who grew up in Sri Lanka, the conflict with the LTTE defined our lives. By all accounts as of May 17, 2009 the quarter century old struggle has the signs of having ended. I personally feel conflicted as I always have with this struggle. Being a Sinhalese I never bought into the Sinhala Buddhist majority having their overruling authority over the country. But now we are at a point where there really can be an opportunity for peace, prosperity, economic growth, and better quality of life for all segments of Sri Lankan society, or...not.

The WSJ had this opinion that reflects upon how we got here and where we need to go as a nation. Reading this made me reflect on my own experience of the conflict and dug out this poem I wrote 13 years ago that got published in a student newspaper in Cambridge, MA on April 23, 1997. Reading it makes me smile because my style seems naive and juvenile (and I rarely write poetry anymore). But then again all those words still hold true; except the number of sons, daughters, mothers and fathers killed are about 70,000. I hope we as a community of Sri Lankans have learned our lesson.

Happy Mothers Day!

2009-05-11T07:22:00.000-07:00

...to all you fabulous moms out there! We enjoyed the day with our favorite weekend activity...a hike. We hiked up Catherine Creek in the Columbia river gorge and the views were breathtaking. And Anjali was really impressive scrambling over rocks and avoiding poison oak (despite being tired from a preschool party the day before). She even made a song to get by the poison oak "over the hills we go, over the hills we go, don't touch the poison oak, over the hills we go".
Being her Ammi is the best thing that ever happened to me :-)

Trip to Yachats

2009-04-25T07:42:00.000-07:00

The Oregon coast is truly, truly beautiful... 'Lord of the rings' beautiful. Last weekend we went to Yachats in the central/southern coast. Its a really small yet cool town with 700 inhabitants; but good espresso, wine, a bookshop and even two boutiques (important for any town). We stayed in a cottage behind the Little Log Church. Which was the smallest church I'd ever seen... 4 pews. We hiked Cape Perpetua a rugged stretch of the coastline and found an amazing sunbeam.
While walking through these wetlands, we were adopted by a retriever. We named her Lucy Weerasinghe, and she refused to leave our side. I would have really taken her home in a second, except her nice owner emerged from the woods! I realized how much we'd love a dog.

On Sunday we went to one of our favorite spots with great tidepools and greeted the urchins, mussels and starfish. We loved walking barefoot jumping over puddled and the incoming tide. It was a perfect weekend.

Happy Earth Day

2009-04-22T15:14:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day

I wish I were doing more for Mother Earth. Fortunately, its easy being green in this emerald city. So here is what we are doing that is good and the can do better department.

Good

We have one car, seven years and counting; it’s our biggest achievement. We combine trips and pick each other up which makes us spend more time as a couple/family. And we all use the abundant public transportation in Portland.
I am proud to say that 90% of Anjali’s clothes, shoes and toys are reused/hand me downs. And some of mine too!
Almost never use disposable plastic water bottles, except the gallon ones when camping (need to find a replacement for that).
All my grocery bags are now the reusable kind. I have been really good at this
I reuse one sided paper from work at home for Anjali’s art projects. It’s kind of funny to see colored paper with Strawberry shortcake stickers with an article on Melanoma survival in the back!
I don’t shower! Actually I try to just shower in the gym! I do like long hot showers though!
We compost all our fruit, vege and garden scraps and recycle about 95% of our waste with the city.

Can do better

I do like to water my flowers and vegetables! A rain barrel might help this
I hate when I have just come home from the store and forgot ONE key ingredient for a recipe!
We tend to accumulate stuff whether we like it or not (gifts from my mother might top this category)
I hate to run the dryer but clothes need to be dried. I cant imagine trying to hang them outside
Love the dishwasher too… but try to run it full
Unfortunately, we are not commuter bikers. I just dont get the 'Share the Road' thing.

There are probably dozen more areas where I can improve, but the most important part is to be conscious of our use of resources and keep trying to do better.

Spring Spring!

2009-04-06T14:25:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, we are having 70 degree weather for the first time this year. And people here go crazy when its like this. We headed out to Washington Park for some fun and a picnic at the Rose Garden. It was just bliss.

Princess Playdate

2009-04-06T14:18:00.000-07:00

Anjali had two of her friends over for brunch and they all decided to put on a performance with as many costumes on! They made tickets and posters; Anjali announced the show by saying "ladies and gentlemen, please turn off your cell phones and computers" (you know what is more disruptive at our house). Then they danced to the Om Shanti soundtrack. They even took the show to the sidewalk shouting "money, tickets". Girls, they know how to have fun!

Spring has sprung

2009-03-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

Spring gets me flowing with creative juices. Its the coming of newness after a long Northwest winter. So what have we been up to? One fun project was to turn the box from our new TV into a puppet theater. It came out well and Anjali is having fun playing at, on and under it.

And I made another layered twirl skirt with some fun fabric that A and I picked out. I am so excited that she seems to love fabric as much as I do, maybe not as much as my mother does!
We are blessed to have Fabric Depot in our backyard (one of the largest fabric stores in the country).

The Compliment

2009-03-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

I have been a slacker more than a blogger recently. No real excuse other than being busy with work. I wanted to share a great mother-daughter moment from last month... Anjali and I were intently watching the Obama address to congress when Michelle Obama walked out (Anjali is a big fan). She got very excited and told me how pretty Michelle looked and then said "Ammi, look at her earrings! They are beautiful". A moment later she says... "they would look so pretty on you". My heart melted.

Shoes...a girls best friend

2009-03-08T22:23:00.000-07:00

I HEART shoes... especially on Anjali and especially European ones. I am currently obsessed with this shoe but cant find it in her size. These are the two sites I ogle at for cute shoes: endless and 6pm.

Happy Valentines Day

2009-02-14T15:26:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of this week I was dreading Valentines day as most of Anjali's pre-school friends (their moms really!) went overboard with gifts and cookies. I hate feeling like I am obliged to do something. But this morning I was feeling a bit sunnier and decided to bake some yummy molasses cookies, which Anjali decorated with little chocolate kisses. She also "wrote" these Valentines for her neighborhood friends, which was so sweet. For some reason she continues to write letters upside down, I hope she is not as dyslexic as I am.

Mexico - Playa del Carmen

2009-02-09T15:23:00.001-08:00

We spend the last few days of our trip in Playa del Carmen. This is a touristic town (less so than Cancun) with many mega resorts lining the coastal highway. There are three Starbucks in town, which says a lot. We stayed at a small hotel which was nice, but was full of American tourists! The main drag in town was lined with locals hawking everykind of souvenier you didn't need. As you walked by they said things like "Its cheaper than Walmart" which really annoyed me. But I am glad we had an opportunity to experience a different feel for the Mayan Riviera. I feel that we are a family who like to travel off the beaten path. I keep dreaming about what it would be like to actually backpack with Anjali and slum in a hostel.

Mexico- Chichen Itza

2009-02-09T15:10:00.000-08:00

The second part of our trip was spent on a 400km day trip to the famous Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza. Archeologically, this was an interesting place; with ruins, stone images of Gods, a ball court, pool and many more structures of an entire city. For us, it was similar to Anuradhapura or Pollonnaruwa. What was interesting to me was how the Mayans ruled. There were many bas reliefs of beheadings and even a platform with stone reliefs of people who were beheaded. This one shows a soldier from a losing sports team being beheaded; his blood spurting out as snakes!

The sacrifice of virgins, young children, and young men were also common place. So imagining what it must have really been like when the Mayans governed is pretty terrifying.

Mmm..mmm Mexico - Tulum

2009-02-08T16:03:00.000-08:00

We are still having those post-vacation blues. Mexico was supremely relaxing. We started off in Tulum which is a lovely stretch of beach and we stayed at a wonderful cabana and ate really good food. We didn't do much except read and hangout on the beach. It was fantastic to be able to watch Anjali stroll all over the property and the beach from the porch of our cabana or the shade of a palapa.We were reminded of the simple beauty of nature when its not developed by humans. Tulum has no electricity and no water supply. So everything runs on solar and wind energy. At night the sky was amazingly black and REALLY... we could see a million stars. Every constellation I could think of, I saw; and even witnessed a shooting star. The next day we saw this beautiful rainbow after a brief shower. That just did it for me.On the last day of our stay in Mexico we went to visit the Tulum Mayan ruins which was really a Mayan trading post. It must have been a beautiful place in its heyday. Unfortunately like every other place on earth that has been discovered, its days of simplicity are numbered, and likely to soon be 'wired' and replaced by mega resorts. But we certainly enjoyed a bit of paradise.

Off we go to Mexico!

2009-01-26T21:40:00.001-08:00

We leave for the Yucantan peninsula in Mexico tomorrow morning and our family is VERY excited about it.
A much awaited break on a warm sunny beach awaits.
We are staying here and here. One is a cabana on the beach and the other a step above with a pool. In anticipation, Anjali and I did what most girls do... we painted our toes so we can dig them in the warm sand. Cant wait to report on our adventure...

Milestone

2009-01-24T14:54:00.000-08:00

I have been very bad at keeping a "baby book" for Anjali. But have thousands of photos instead. So this is a note to myself.

Anjali is:
3.5 and 5 days old
asks for "lots of kisses ammi"
still has meltdowns when tired, hungry, overwhelmed
went to the Chinese New Year celebration today (year of the ox)
always wants to be on the stage
refers to herself as the 'brother' sometimes (me think...lack of sibling envy)
plays with "my kids"
breast feeding ...her dolls
excited about her trip to Mexico next week
loves playing with phonetics (like anjali-banjali, pooja-kooja)
sends thaththi to 'jail' when he misbehaves

She will be 18 before I know it... and 13 before that!

The dress-up princess at work

2009-01-19T15:01:00.000-08:00

I love this photo. Anjali is all into dress up these days in all kinds of outfits and scraps of cloth, blankets, etc. The costume changes are a little annoying. I dress her up by 8:30 am and at 8:40 she has picked some costume and wants my help putting it on.
Here she noticed me cooking beans and rushed to take over the cooking. She really seems to enjoy it. And the best part is she is more likely to eat any vegetable that SHE cooks.

Koththu Roti

2009-01-14T20:52:00.000-08:00

Last night I made Koththu Roti. This is one of those very traditional Sri Lankan dishes we crave for along with hoppers. It came out really good. And here's what I found about Sri Lankans' creativity (or lack there of!) when it comes to this dish.

Christmas Story-Part 3

2009-01-04T18:01:00.000-08:00

After months of reading the Nutcracker story, I was planning to surprise Anjali by taking her to the OBT presentation of the ballet. But, we had tickets for December 21 and were unable to leave the house because of the snow and ice. I was VERY disappointed. After quite an ordeal we were able to change our tickets to the 23rd, and ended up getting better seats than I had originally purchased. This was Anjali's first trip to the theater. She was so excited to see the Nutcracker she sat on the edge of her seat for the entire first act! Her favorite was ofcourse the Sugar plum fairy and I got suckered into paying $15 for this photo, or else we were not going home! The Nutcracker story is currently the center of her little life. I will post about her favorite books soon.

White Christmas

2008-12-24T22:41:00.000-08:00

We have a very white Christmas ( 2 feet of white!)
Its been beautiful, fun, and frustrating at the same time. But I am ready for the big thaw and some good ol' rain. The confinement really forces you to take things slow.

Christmas Story - Part 2

2008-12-17T17:49:00.000-08:00

I have to keep reminding myself that we are non-practicing Buddhists!
Nevertheless, we have a Christmas tree. We shelved our environmental philosophy on this one...
I really wanted to go out and cut a tree from a farm in the woods but the process was producing more frustration than fun, so I compromised on driving to a tree lot 10 minutes down the road and finding a pretty perfect Noble Fir (these are the best, not a needle has fallen!). The excitement and look on Anjali's face was worth it! She was so glad she kept kissing and hugging the tree! I think I am going to start a tradition of getting her a favorite ornament too. This year I got her a Nutcracker (more about that later).Thankfully, she has not associated that Santa + Christmas Tree = Gifts. But, we are making a list and updating her stash of games/toys. We haven't quite decided on how to present them to her.

Christmas Story - Part 1

2008-12-17T17:26:00.000-08:00

After a lot of back and forth, we finally decided to give in to the Christmas holiday this year. After all, Anjali is three, and it’s a very impressionable holiday (why don’t we have Christmas lights? can Santa come and stay with us for a month?).

It all started with a friends Gingerbread house party. Quite honestly, I was equally excited as it was something I had never experienced. It was at her friend’s grandma’s house and she has been making gingerbread houses for a good 30 years. We all had so much fun and only a minimum amount of candy went in the kid’s mouth (more ended up in my mouth)! The whole party ended with the kids bouncing on a trampoline.

The Cinderella introduction

2008-11-17T15:42:00.000-08:00

After making up oral versions of the Cinderella story, I decided to introduce her to some written versions. Since I am anti-Disney (but I am secretly planning a 'some day' Disney trip!), I decided to go a more traditional route and asked our children's librarian for help. Unbeknown to me there are many cultural iterations of Cinderella. So I picked these three for starts. My favorite was the Native American Algonquin Rough faced girl. Its a little dark but comes through strongly conveying good vs. evil. We also loved Cendillon a Caribbean Cinderella story for its fun French creole words which we now use in our everyday conversations. Its close to a Disney though. The Indonesian version The Gift of the Crocodile was my least favorite. I don't like violent depictions of any kind in kids books; And in this case the Crocodile eats up the evil step-mother.

Curry and Rice Girl

2008-11-12T15:52:00.000-08:00

Anjali calls herself the curry and rice girl at the dinner table. The child loves curry, spices and all. Her consumption had me concerned about growth hormones and antibiotics given to animals. So this fall we got a CSA (community supported agriculture) membership with the Deck Family Farm in Eugene, OR. We order the meat online and they bring it to our Farmers Market every Saturday, and during the winter, will even ship it. You can also go to their farm and pick up the meat. Albeit, its expensive, but you can taste the quality of the meat and feel really good about how the animals are raised (and slaughtered) and the environmental impact. The meat and the lamb are amazingly tasty and much better for you than mass processed ones. The chicken comes as a whole bird, and the farm sent this urban gal a YouTube video on how to cut a chicken (never done it)!

Check out Eat Wild for information on local grass feeding farms and why it’s good for your body. What started the change was Michael Pollans’ eye opening book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”. The catalyst was the melamine contamination in China (aghast).

Obama's Time

2008-11-08T15:08:00.000-08:00

The Oregonian had a great cover on Nov 5th. We have been celebrating all week! I had too much wine and chocolate cake on election night. It was awesome!

Halloween

2008-11-08T14:55:00.000-08:00

We had such a fun Halloween complete with a home made costume, a carved spooky pumpkin and trick o' treating! This is my favorite US holiday and its not quite Hallmark'ish (yet!). Some folks in our neighborhood went all out... with buried coffins in the yard and wandering grim reapers on the street. It was spooky! My least favorite part was all the candy we got. Especially those with things like high fructose corn syrup and red # 40. I asked Anjali to pick 5 pieces of candy and said she could eat them over 5 days. On the first day she picked a cherry sucker (with red #40 no doubt) and on the second day she forgot all about the candy!

Vote!

2008-11-04T15:17:00.001-08:00

No one undecided here... wow and what a turnout across the nation, and fabulous job by the Obama campaign in bringing the vote out. Nail biting till tomorrow...

First Time!

2008-11-01T16:38:00.000-07:00

I took a photo of my ballot, just so I have proof that I did it, for the first time. Boy I tell you... voting is complicated and it took me about half an hour to read about all the (other) candidates running for local and state offices not to mention all the local measures... phew (I voted no on expanding the elephant space at the zoo, and yes to linking teacher pay to performance, and no to having English as a second language in schools for more than two years). You get the drift.
Oregon is the ONLY state that does ALL the voting by mail, and its a very cool process. We dropped our ballots at the local library and even witnessed the election officials haul off the box with my ballot inside. So I am pretty confident about my vote. I doubt I'd be getting any sleep between now and Wednesday, though.

Urban momma on a hay ride

2008-10-24T15:20:00.001-07:00

You know the days when you feel like the best part of being a mom is, being a kids again? This was one of those days. Beautiful fall weather. Anjali and I set out to Sauvie Island Farm's pumpkin patch. I laid out on the hay during the hay ride and almost took a nap. She had so much fun running through the corn maze and climbing the hay pyramid. And all the way out and back we sang along with this awesome Ladybug One CD.

Our kitchen is FINALLY done

2008-10-13T15:08:00.000-07:00

And it is so yummy! We were fortunate to have a relatively smooth remodeling experience and were happy with our contractor and learned so much along the way like what is a linear and that nothing you want is ever in stock! More photos here

Citizen...at last!

2008-10-08T21:31:00.000-07:00

Sixteen years and nine month later... on September 17th I was sworn is as a US citizen. Quite frankly it was such a long time coming, I didn't make much of a big deal of the whole thing. Years of lawyers fees, begging for European visas, dealing with the Sri Lankan embassy and govt bureaucracy is over!

There were 70 new citizens from 35 countries and that was quite something to witness. Everyone from Iran to New Zealand. We celebrated with a dinner by the Willamette river waterfront. Now I can fully exercise my rights of citizenship except for running for president!

Ballerina-Princess-Fairy-Butterfly

2008-10-06T15:13:00.000-07:00

Need I say more?

In our saris

2008-09-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

Anjali was so excited that we were all wearing our saris' and that we all matched too! As far as she was concerned we were all going to her wedding...

Summers come... and go...

2008-09-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

I believe the 2008 summer is over. Here in the NW we never really even put away our sweaters this summer. It was certainly a busy summer with lots of hiking, camping, a visit to Kentucky to see my family, and even a kitchen remodel squeezed in there! I captured the essence of it all here.
Summers just always zoom by... always tell myself that I am going to do a whole laundry list of things, but end up doing something totally different.

Why we love Portland - 17

2008-09-05T14:21:00.001-07:00

The predictable views of Mt. Hood is one of the reasons people move to Portland. Its just awesome. This was the best view I'd ever seen... from a hike to Mc Neil point. We actually turned back on this hike since the snow pack was still about 3 feet high on the trail (in July). But as we were coming back we met a hiking group led by a guide from Maryland (go figure!) who invited us to join them. At the end of the day we were so glad we did!

The grandparents

2008-08-15T14:20:00.002-07:00

This July in Louisville Anjali got really emotionally close to my parents (her Aththamma and Aththa). And it was really sad for all of them when we left. I also realized that the grandparent bond begins to get really strong around this age when they realize the value of extended family. For now we have photos with Anjali and Ranesh with the gramps.

Three and then some...

2008-08-01T12:35:00.000-07:00

Anjali turned 3 on July 19th and we had the best kind of party ever (not too much sugar, not too hyper, but lots of love). It was a very relaxing pool-side BBQ and cake with grandparents and my brothers family in Kentucky. It was great. My polar bear cupcakes were a big success, and she just loved the polar bears. She is so mature for a three year old... sometimes I feel like she is already a teenager, imagine when she really is one! She tell adults to get to the side of the road because cars are coming...

Random photos

2008-07-06T22:32:00.000-07:00

I love these two photos.
Here's Anjali and her friend Evie.

And on the swing

Beautiful AND Smart

2008-07-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

Ok I HAD to say that (I am the mom after all).
But here's Anjali having completed this 24 piece puzzle all by herself!
We love this world puzzle and its a great first introduction to the globe. She already knows the location of about a dozen countries by association with the pictures; she will learn associations with the shapes of countries and its relative location with other countries she knows next. I love guiding the whole child development process, its so fun to raise this kid!

Officer on Deck

2008-06-25T22:39:00.001-07:00

Over Rose Festival Week we went to visit the naval ships that dock in Portland.
And I was as excited as Anjali to visit the USS Lake Champlain, a HUGE aircraft carrier. What's not exciting about Naval officers in crisp white uniforms talking about missile destroyers, nautical miles, torpedos, and deployments?! We certainly learned a lot, and I got addressed to as ma'am... now that was a bit much.

Gorge Camping and Hiking

2008-06-25T22:18:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went hiking and camping near Hood River. It was Anjali's first true camping experience. Although she enjoyed it, the wind at Memaloose State Park was so strong that we thought our tent might end up in Kansas. I realized why the gorge is so popular for wind surfing! We hiked at Temanewas falls on Saturday and at the Tom McCall Preserve on Sunday with a stop in lazy Mosier, where there is one coffee shop and one restaurants, but a whole bunch of condos for $300K! So we popped in to take a look, but decided we love Hood River a lot more. We continue to dream of owning a Pear orchard and telecommuting to our jobs untill we can retire (in case we lose our crop in a bad year, like this one)!

Being a parent

2008-06-17T14:24:00.001-07:00

This is what happens when you are the parent... your kid comes and kicks you out of bed at 5:30 am and proceeds to sleep like that! And this happens on the weekend too!

35 and counting...

2008-06-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

I turned 35 on Friday. Can't believe I am trudging up that hill!
The three of us had a gourmet picnic at the Portland Rose Garden.
Ranjeewa surprised me with some beautiful flowers.
Better yet, my birthday present was a new cycle: a Gary Fisher Wingra. We all went for a ride yesterday and it is great to be back on a bike again. I bought my last bike in college from Toys'r'us (it was pink, too). I think that says a lot!

May Roadtrip - California Redwoods and Southen Oregon Coast

2008-05-30T15:28:00.000-07:00

We did a four night road trip over memorial day and it was a relaxing and fun family trip.
Realized that Anjali has inherited the traveling bug from Ranjeewa and I. She happily sat in the car singing, chatting to her self, and napping.

Day 1 - we drove from Portland to Grants Pass and stayed at a quaint motel by the Rogue river.
Day 2 - we hung out in Grants Pass and stumbled upon a small town memorial day parade and discovered their local farmers market (always a treat). Later we drove to the Jedadiah Smith State Park and toured the mighty big redwoods and picnicked by the beautiful Smith River, spending the night in Crescent City, California.Day 3 - We drove up the southern Oregon coast to Florence. I realized the southern coast rivals the familiar beauty of the northern coast. We stopped at Whales Head Beach for some digging in the sand.

Day 4 - We spent the day in Florence hiking and exploring the Oregon Sand Dunes. These are amazing windswept dunes almost 500 feet tall. Lots of fun to climb up and slide down. I really wanted to dune board... but saving that for another trip. We returned to Portland on Tuesday and I have now visited the entire Oregon coast and it's incredibly beautiful!

Why we love Portland - 18: The Portland Garden in May

2008-05-18T22:13:00.001-07:00

This is my favorite month in the garden. All the rain we get in the winter makes the garden sparkle like an emerald in the spring. On a sunny day with blue skies Portland is just magical. Clockwise from top left: Clematis, Iris, Allium, Day lily, Clematis, Weigela, Lilac, Lavender, Cone flower. LOVE my garden.

Obama Mama Part IV

2008-05-18T16:01:00.000-07:00

Sen. Obama is in Oregon today and finished a rally at the waterfront park. LARGEST EVER (75,000 people) for his campaign. Hopefully Obama will ROCK on Tuesday's primary. (No we didn't go - it was nap time...! yeah.. yeah... I know, they say nap time is the new happy hour for moms right?)

Time for tea

2008-05-17T14:24:00.000-07:00

Since I hardly buy new toys, I do a lot of research online before actually purchasing anything.
And this tin tea set proved to be a winner. It was wonderful to see Anjali playing with it the minute we opened it, and continues to do so. The first 'meal' was a salad with cookies and salad dressing poured from the tea pot! Its so nice to be served to :-)

Our Picasso

2008-05-17T14:17:00.001-07:00

Anjali's schools' art focus has certainly rubbed off on her. Thank goodness for these IKEA bibs. I can clean up without losing my mind.

Cinco De Mayo Celebration

2008-05-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

Cinco de Mayo in Portland has a 24 year tradition and this year I finally made it, and was so glad I did. The festivities reminded me of the school fairs we used to have in Sri Lanka, complete with a horror house! We went because of Anjali's excitement about Mariachi and it was great for her to see so many in person. This might become an annual tradition. She went on her first thrill ride as well!

Conditioning Hike

2008-05-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

I love how that sounds... as if we are really gearing for some super challenging adventure hike!
But really this was a big one so far for the year - 5.5 miles with 1700 feet elevation gain (with Anjali on Ranjeewa's back), that is quite something. We hiked from Multnomah falls to Wahkeena falls passing about 6 more waterfalls along the way. Everything was so lusciously green. My legs are still recovering... almost all up hill and then almost all down hill. It was just a perfect weekend. Don't you love my new found collage skills ?

Spring is Here!

2008-04-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

Spring in Portland is extremely fleeting. It can fluctuate from 50-70F from day to day. But yesterday was one of those perfect days and we went out to Virginia Lake on Sauvie Island. Its an idyllic wildlife refuge. We saw snakes, birds, tree flogs, dead mice (but no bald eagles). We let Anjali walk the 2.5 miles, and she did quite well. Watching the boats on the channel between the Willamet and Colombia rivers was equally pleasant. Really excited about the oncoming outdoor season.

Why we love Portland - 19

2008-04-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

You see a lot of bumper stickers that say "Keep Portland Weird", but I feel like it should be "Keep Portland Unique" instead. Here's an example:

Back in the 1920s and later, folks in Portland would tie their horses to these curbstone rings. And now Portlanders are keeping the tradition by tying these plastic toy horses. You see them everywhere, even in our neighborhood where it had been a horse racing track long time ago. Its amusing to see some horses with heads chopped off (especially with people like me trying to parallel park) next to the curb. And neighbors faithfully replace these horses.

Obama Mama Part III

2008-04-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

This past week I was (sadly) getting a little lukewarm about Barack!
Especially with the bitterness comment. But a dose of the Colbert Report and this has helped me recover!!!

We stumbled upon this as Anjali has been asking about Mariachi music. She loves it! Its by an independent group named "Amigos de Obama" (Friends of Obama).

Why we love Portland - 20

2008-04-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

I LOVE Portland, Oregon. I may be even bold enough to say its the best city in America.
So I am posting 20 things I love about Portland (these are not in order of how much I love them!)

20. Japanese Garden

Raising an environmentally responsible child

2008-04-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

That title is loaded! Well... two years ago (I cant believe that Anjali is going to be 3 this year) a bunch of us in the neighborhood did a book study group called "Healthy Planet, Healthy Child" about raising kids to be environmentally responsible and become stewards of the earth. It was a great experience on many levels: we got to KNOW our neighbors, we realized that most of us had more or less the same philosophy about raising kids (most about the same age), and we were all able to openly discuss our challenges as individuals and parents. The topics in discussion were everything from too much TV, Computer, video games to sustainable food, and family/holiday rituals. The companion book they have is wonderful with great discussion topics. Personally, this experience made me more aware of my influence on the environment as I strive to have a smaller footprint on the world.
I do talk to Anjali about the environment, water conservation and electricity among other topics, but plants have been the easiest since you can see, touch, feel and smell them. So we planted some seeds a few weeks ago and she has been watching them grow with amazement. And I really hope to instill a sense of wonder about the world so she will grow up knowing that its her role to protect her 'other mother'.
P.S: Toilet paper cores make great seed pots, and you can plant them right in the soil since they are biodegradable.

Love in the mail

2008-04-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

The most challenging part of living in the US is the distance from family in Sri Lanka. This year Anjali and I started a new tradition of making hand-made birthday cards for her grandparents. Since becoming a mom I have realized how many cool art supplies exist now a days. Its not like when I was a child when we had BAD crayons, color pencils, and water colors, and that was it. Here is the most recent card she made for Achchi with finger paints and glitter glue. Oh and I specifically wrote on the envelope DO NOT BEND, and Achchi called last night to say that it was stuffed into her mailbox folded in four (next time I'll write it in Sinhalese). She delightfully straightened it out to much joy.

Obama Mama Part II

2008-03-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

I hope there are going to be many parts to this story! Last week (March 21), Barak Obama visited Oregon. Luckily, we were aware of this event in advance to register for a free ticket; the tickets 'sold out' within 24 hours. I really wanted to go... and after debating in my head whether or not I could swing it on a cold Friday morning, I decided this is a rare opportunity. Ranjeewa (love him!) said he'd stay home with Anjali while I set out to see the Man. I left the house at 6:55 am (really early for me) and caught a bus and the light rail to the Memorial Coliseum. The gates opened at 7:30 and Obama was not even supposed to be in the building till 9:30 am. At 7:20 I was in line along with thousands of people sandwiched between retired grandparents and 20 something youngsters from South Bend, IN. Then I got close to the gate and stood next to a woman and infant from Vancouver, WA. After chatting with her for a while, I noticed she was wearing dog tags, and I just blurted "was your husband in the military?" And she said yes, turned her lips down, sighed and said "and he never came back". She had a SIX month old son in her arms. I fought hard to hold back tears.... I hadn't seen Anjali that morning.
Once inside I settled on a mezzanine seat and was amazed at the 13,000 other people who also made it that morning. There were some pumped up introductions, people did the wave and chanted "yes, we can", "O-bama" just like it were a Springsteen concert. Bill Richardson and Obama came out together and the crowd went WILD. Bill gave a nice introduction, and endorsement, before Obama began to speak. I'd heard him speak before on TV and the internet, so nothing was a surprise... I was there for the crowd effect. And it was great. During a pause in his speech a woman shouted "I love you!" and he paused and said "I love you back", the crowd went wild, again. It was just amazing to see so many people of all walks of life, ethnicities etc. I met a former retired, black, cancer surviver, co-worker of mine, parents who kept their kids from going to school and took the day off to come see him, and even Anjali's pediatrician and her partner. It was really moving and I get why they call it the 'Obama effect' and I couldn't help thinking "wow... if he doesn't get the Dem. nomination what a waste of opportunity". Hope, yes we can. I do believe this guy can really make a change. He comes across as sincere and so many people feel that way. We need an outsider, not an insider. Go, Obama!
How cute is this? Ranjeewa wont let me do this to his hair!

Ikea Love

2008-03-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

The other week I went to the new Ikea store in Portland for the FIRST time, and Oh, my! I was BLOWN away. I know its considered the WalMart of Europe (and yes everything seems to be made in China), but I was really impressed with the concept and all the cool and affordable stuff. One of the neat things we picked up was a red piggy bank for Anjali. I thought this would be a nice way to introduce her to some fiscal responsibility. But her relationship with the piggy bank was something I didn't expect. She started to baby the piggy bank to the point she lost complete interest in her favorite doll 'manike'. Here she is feeding piggy bank through its nostrils.
And the other day I hear her saying "dont cry, piggy bank; you have to be smart and beautiful and kind". She does get two coins every night from both Ranjeewa and I. Its amusing to see the gleeful expression on her face, and if one of us gives her a coin she makes sure to come and announce it to the other parent before carefully depositing it.

Polar bear, Polar bear what do you see?

2008-03-09T13:52:00.000-07:00

I see fishes swimming beneath this ice berg. Don't you?
Baby polar bear and Thaththi polar bear are fishing here. And yeah... sometimes our bed is a giant ice berg. No global warming here!

I loved this.... This beginning stage of pretend play is so much fun. And its great to see her imagination at work. Anjali has been on a Polar bear binge, and I don't know where it all started. But last week we went to the zoo on an otherwise dreary day, and oh my the Polar bears were a treat. The two 1000lb mammoths were rolling around in the water like little cats, and we spent a good half an hour watching, squealing and giggling at their antics. Even I felt like a kid again.

SOAPBOX: No TV = more imagination?

Obama Mama Fever

2008-02-28T15:40:00.000-08:00

Ok so just like half the population of the country, I am bitten by the Obama bug...! I have been hooked onto CNN, especially Anderson Cooper after Anjali goes to sleep. Poor Ranjeewa must think we've switched roles cause he's usually the one watching Law & Order.

I've been wanting to show my support by getting myself and Anjali Obama T-shirts from his campaign, but everything in our sizes are sold-out! Now that reflects why he raises a MILLION dollars a day... and mostly public support, mind you. So I have been thinking about making our own t-shirts, but haven't quite gotten enough 'get off the couch' enthusiasm with that, besides I might wait till he actually gets the Democratic nomination, so we can proudly wear it till inauguration :-)

The other day I saw this on ebay that says 'Bush makes me cry' ooohhh how cute. Now I want it to say 'Bush makes me cry' and in the back 'Obama makes me smile'. It would be supercute on my Anjali.

Edwina the Emu

2008-02-16T15:10:00.002-08:00

This is one of our favorite books with a funny story about a 'shoulda stayed at home Emu mom' (we all know that story huh?)
While we were in Tampa this week we stopped by the Lowry zoo, which was supposed to be the top rated zoo for children; and it really was very child friendly and fun. We made our way to the Wallaroo station with all animals from Australia and Anjali was delighted to see a pair of Emus. She immediately recognized them and called them Edwina and Edward (like in the book). She went close to the fence and shouted "come HERE Edwina" and was yelling "yeek" (the sound they make in the wild I guess) to no response from the birds. They are great big birds who cant fly and apparently cant walk backwards.

Nostalgia

2008-01-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

Yes we are back and all over with jet lag. I should be blogging about our traveling experiences (and I will get to that), but I am still trying to get my head around all of it. It was too much for words. And many changes and transitions have happened since then. One of them being that as of today Anjali is FOUR days into weaning from the boo boos (yes, my breasts!) I know... she will turn 2.5 years tomorrow and we decided it was time! Also, everyone in Sri Lanka found it very strange that I was STILL breast feeding her. So I was bracing myself for a long transition especially at sleep time. But surprisingly, a good chat with her about how she is now a big girl was all it took. She still asks for it when we cuddle and I offer her cows milk, juice or food instead.
She took to sleeping with some familiar songs (Doi, doi; hush little baby and Kumbaya). But I felt like I needed to expand my repertoire and sought some Sinhala songs that our parents might have sung.
The most familiar to me was 'Handa pane' although I was fumbling for words after the first verse. The logical next step was to google it. I found you can download the ring tone for it! But I like my ring tone as everyone with T-mobile has it too, if I don't feel like answering I can easily pretend its not my phone! Then I remembered this site where I go when I feel homesick or in need of a baila fix - http://www.sinhalajukebox.org
Turns out they also have lyrics for famous songs though I didn't find the ones to 'Handa pane', sung by Sunil Santha. I am trying to do my best to transcribe it. Anjali has grown fond of these too, and I am teaching her the meaning of them. I love it when she says 'Amma can you sing a Sri Lanka song?' When I was a child and visiting my grandparents, my Athatha would ask Aththamma or Ammi to sit at the piano and play 'Olu pippila', turns out this is also a Sunil Santha song. I hope Anjali will take at least one Sinhalese song through the rest of her life.

Back to the sewing machine

2007-12-16T21:03:00.001-08:00

I LOVE to sew! But dont get as much time to do it as I'd like. But since the arrival of baby Ranesh I've found some excuses to go to the fabulous Fabric Depot (the largest store on the west coast) and ooh and aah at the fabrics. I rekindled my love with a project to sew a rather simple blanket for Ranesh, but while I was there I found more cool fabric and walked away with a bunch of patterns and fabrics to sew for Anjali.

Ranesh's blanket is really cute. I found this fabric called 'Rescue me' with fire engines and police cars, and the the softest micro fleece... I love the luxurious micro fleece available now. The combination looks so great and warm. I also sew them big as the standard crib blanket is really small when kids are beyond about 6 months.I also grabbed some corduroy fabrics to make a skirt for Anjali. I decided to do a three tier with solid red and red cherry print. This was really fun and quite easy. And here it is on my busy model!

Morning routine

2007-12-16T20:54:00.000-08:00

We have a pretty standard morning routine. Ranjeewa wakes up first and makes coffee (he and Anjali grind the coffee the night before). I don't wake up till I hear the five beeps of the coffee maker encouraging me to get out of bed. Usually this also wakes up Anjali. We take our coffee and Anjali her milk downstairs. Ranjeewa and I settle down in front of our side by side computers for our routine of reading email, news, weather, horoscope, etc. Anjali has a little play kitchen next to our work areas and lately she's been saying "hey, you guys, do you want some coffee-Chocolate-ice cream?" We think this is a breakfast food because she usually offers this to us in the morning. We have also been saying "we are not "you guys""; we are parents... so she has been saying "hey you guys parents"....! Can't win, but endlessly entertaining :-)

A first cousin

2007-12-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

At 1:35 pm on December 4th Anjali was blessed with her very first cousin. We were excitedly waiting for the arrival of Ranesh Wickramatillake. Of course Anjali has no idea of what a 'cousin' is but she figured we were pretty excited about it, and realized that CD mami and Aseni nandi now have a little baby, when two weeks ago they didn't. I also realized that she took it to mean something special... when she started pulling things I had bought for Ranesh, I said 'dont pull, that its for your cousin' and she quickly put it away... so I abused the "its for your cousin" slogan a bit (anything for my toddler defense arsenal). Of course this has given me an excuse to buy boy stuff...Now she is waiting to see cousin 'wanesh' (she still does not say the R right!). CD and Aseni congrats...! We can't wait to see him...

As traditional as my brother is he called Sri Lanka with the time of birth for the 'akuru' for an auspicious name. When I spoke to my mother she asked me to write down the letters, I figured its just two and thought I'd keep it in my head, but as Amma rattled past the fourth letter I thought to myself 'wait this is half the alphabet'! Apparently if you live abroad you get more letters and 'better' letters so you can make more worldly names... another one of those Sri Lankan idiosyncrasies. But we love Ranesh... I told CD it sounds like a fast bowler... cant you hear it?

Thanksgiving

2007-11-26T22:28:00.000-08:00

We are back from a well deserved family break in Newport, OR (if there is such a thing as a break from a toddler!) For the last few years we have been looking forward to getting away on this long weekend, and escaping the obligatory invitations to join family dinners. Really, whose idea was it to serve Turkey of all meats as a centerpiece at this rare American family gathering?

So we head off and our first 'you gotta be kidding' encounter was at a little state park campsite called Ellmaker, where we stopped for lunch and the needed potty break. An old couple on their way to TG dinner stop by, and the gentleman asks us where we are from, we say Sri Lanka, and he says with confidence 'subha udaasanak wewa' and as astonished as we were, we were able to mutter a 'esema wewa'. Turns out this older gentleman was stationed in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf war and the compound had a lot of Sri Lankan laborers employed (who knew!). We all agreed that it was INDEED a small world.

We spent the weekend walking on the beach and checking out the various tide pools and watching the waves. For anyone who has not seen the Oregon coast, it is just out of this world amazingly beautiful in a haunting way. Its not the 'lay on the beach with a margarita' kind of coast but a harsher, commanding coastline with two low and high tides each day. Anjali loved the water and the tide pools, and I realized that like some others in our family she is drawn to the ocean. Once, she just marched right up to the crashing waves and a few minutes later fell down in the freezing water as the waves dragged back to the ocean. The girl still didn't want to budge from her perch.
We topped off her beach experience with a visit to the Oregon coast aquarium supposedly one of the top 10 in the country. Its just amazing to watch Anjali absorb all the information in her little brain as she observed all sorts of weird sea creatures like moon jelly fish, sharks and Japanese crabs. I keep thinking that I had no idea what an anemone was until I was about 17 and here she is just 2 and probably can identify a dozen or more sea creatures. Its all about providing that experience.
Other highlights from our trip were a visit to the Rougue brewery for amazing beer, fish and chips, and chowder, Yaquina Head lighthouse, and the Zia restaurant in Corvallis for some yummy carne adovada (haven't tasted anything this yummy since being in New Mexico).

A first...

2007-11-11T14:30:00.000-08:00

After just recently getting hooked on some cool momma blogs, here I am on my inaugural launch of RoshAmmi. For someone who loves family, friends and all things beautiful and unique I thought what better way to capture the seemingly mundane and the extraordinary. I tried to think of some sort of theme since there are thousands of momma blogs out there, and yes everyone thinks their kid is the best (and you should!); so I have decided to primarily chronicle my role as an Ammi through its many bi-cultural intersections. This will also allow friends and loved ones to be a little closer to our lives, and afford me an opportunity to tell a story as opposed to just sharing photographs. And of course the coolest thing is that I will have documented the nature and nurture of Anjali beyond the three pages I managed to create in her baby book and journal. I am hoping this is going to be a fun journey and welcome your comments.

Anticipation

2007-11-11T13:43:00.000-08:00

For the past few months (and definitely till December), Anjali has been engrossed in the idea of going to Sri Lanka and India and especially to attend "Nandi's wedding". She went to my friend Dana's wedding on October 14th and thought this was a superb party that happens all the time. For example she will be having lunch and say "can we go to Aunty Dana's wedding?". I tried to explain at best that this is an event that we all wish would only happen once! So now the focus has been on Nandi's wedding. So I have been trying to prepare her for all that she is going to be experiencing on this trip, since the last time we went to Sri Lanka she was only 8 months old.

I am dreading the two 10.5 hour trips to Japan and Colombo, and scared to death about the types of germs she might encounter in India, although really its not too different from Sri Lanka. So I will probably arm myself with all sorts of prophylaxis for her. We have been talking a lot about planes, airports and trains as she will be using all these. She is really into the whole airport/airplane concept. I think she got infected with that this summer when grandparents and relatives came to visit 'through' the airport. She has memorized every line of Byron Barton's Airport book. And we have found some cool European train on pbase that we show her on the rare chance we are online (he..he)! This is an awesome site for any cameraphile like Ranjeewa.

I am also trying to get her psyched about the wedding ceremonies in all its glory. So I found this book about Saris. I thought she might be into it since this summer her Achchi wrapped one of my remnant pieces of long flannel around her to make a Sari and she was highly excited by it. She would walk behind her grandma begging her to dress her up again and again saying "Achchi can we wear sali (she still has the hardest time with her R's). This book is very colorful and reminds me of my childhood wearing my Achchi's sari's and Amma's high heels and pretending to teach all my dolls and stuffed animals. I am sure Amma remembers this! The reading level of the book is a bit advanced for Anjali but I love how she draws parallels and asks questions about what is a bindhi, etc.

The other preparation is getting her ready for all the dancing at the festivities. This has been a hilariously fun experiment! Ranjeewa got these Bhangra workout DVDs from the library as he thought I might enjoy them, and so would Anjali. Now we have a moratorium on Anjali watching TV (more on that soap box issue later) so this was a big treat for her, but the amazing thing was how much she got into what she called the "aunties dancing" she kept watching the moves and following them but only about two steps behind. It was so funny watching her that Ranjeewa and I snuck in a camera and video behind her.