Very first mother daughter shopping trip

Yesterday, I was on a shopping trip with Tee. We had no particular agenda for shopping, it was pretty much anything which caught our eyes. I had decided that I will not be carrying her about as usual, but rather let her walk about, while I look about and check out some stuff to try.

Tee was thrilled with her freedom to walk about, and since I was in the clothing section, there was nothing breakable which I had to worry about. She walked about looking at the different tags, pushing about the clothes on their hangers and trying to pull the tags of clothes which I was carrying to be tried on.

She did love the trial rooms with their mirrors all round, and I am pretty sure everyone there would have heard her Baby... Baby chant all through looking at herself in the mirror.

Shopping for herself is something she doesn't seem to enjoy. I needed to pick up 2 footwear for her and she hated those 15 - 20 mins the most of the entire shopping experience. Another thing which she loves is the shopping cart ride... and obviously pulling out things from the various accessible points. But she still enjoys the ride the most, and is really happy to sit in it unless she is hungry.

Overall, the experience was nice... I learnt that I need to let her walk about on her own to ensure that she is happy and so that I can shop. I need to keep a lookout for her as she wanders about, and while I shop too. I see this to be start of many such trips, mostly because I need to get out and shop, and its a new place for her.

Image Source: http://www.knickledger.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/mother-daughter-shopping.jpg

Attempts

Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls

Chocolate Swirl Cake aka Marble Cake

Chocolate Swirl Cake aka Marble Cake

Vanilla butterscotch chip cupcakes

I had some butterscotch chips which my mom got for me, and I did not know what to do with them.Cupcakes were the first thing which came to my mind, and I did try a batch earlier, but then I got this idea to do a Vanilla butterscotch chip cupcake with some chocolate ganache on it! It looked real good in the image that it formed in my head... but I wanted to see how it would come out.

What do you think? These were the last three remaining from a batch of 12! They vanished!

A parent of today - 2

I had posted earlier about this incident at a apartment complex where our friends stay. Now there seems to be an update.

The guard who picked up the girl was taking her towards the lobby of the building, and the girl thought she was being carried towards the basement. But, he did pick her up. And why did he pick her up? Because she was standing there and picking on the flowers.

The father beat up the guard pretty bad... with bruises and also injury to his groins. There is a great deal of noise from the other residents on his behaviour and they are demanding that he re-think what he has done and if he thinks this was not the right behaviour, he should go and meet the guard and talk to him to put things in perspective.  There is a lot of question about how folks ill-treat those from a lower income background and they expect them to be fine with the ill-treatment as they need the money.

The guard is said to be traumatized, and shocked that he was not even allowed to speak what happened before he was humiliated in front of children, colleagues and all. He feels he can never work as a security and now will have to go back to his hometown. He is the sole bread winner for his family, so every penny counts and he is already thinking on what are his other options. He just wishes to leave Bangalore as soon as he can be discharged.

Was this father's behaviour rational? Was it in any way right? Was he just acting as a worried, shocked father of a daughter?

A parent of today

Recently there was an incident at a apartment complex where our friends stay ( and where we ourselves stayed for over 2 years) regarding a security guard misbehaving with 2 kids, a girl and a boy.

The girl (8 year old) was playing with her friends, and when her friends ran towards one direction, a guard who was on duty started asking her questions about which apartment she stays in and so on. Once her friends were out of sight, he tried to pick her up and carry her towards the basement car park.She started to scream and asked to be put down, on hearing which her friends came running back. The guard put her down and walked off. The girl went and told her parents, the guards were rounded up, and the culprit was identified by not only the girl, but her friends too. He was given a thrashing by the dad and handed over to the police and an FIR filed.

The boy (6 year old) was playing near the visitors parking, where he was trying to climb onto a parked motorcycle. The guard on duty, scolded him and not to repeat it. The boy repeated it, and the guard asked him to go and stand facing the main door of an empty apartment on the ground floor of a block. The boy went to his mother and told her that the guard took him into the empty apartment on the ground floor and he felt like he was being kidnapped. The father was promptly called back from work and he came and quizzed the boy more about how the guard got the key and what was he doing when the guard took him into the apartment etc. When the boy felt cornered, he told them the truth.

Now, there are folks questioning whether what the girl told them is true, and what if that is also a fabricated story?

I thought that was really sad... I agree kids might lie or more like twist the truth a bit, but then a girl who came home crying and scared should not be questioned whether she what she is saying is true.

But, I also feel maybe what the father did was also not right. Why did he beat up the guard? As B says... there is always that chance that his intention was not to hurt her, there might be a different explanation... right?

Review: Samsung Galaxy Pocket

My trusted Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro had some issues following continuous assault by Tee. It had to visit the doc and in replacement for a short duration I took up the Samsung Galaxy Pocket. The Xperia returned but today I decided to move back to it. I wanted to do a short review based on the short period of use I had of the Galaxy Pocket.

Firstly what I liked about the Pocket was that it was thin and light. Xperia was slightly more heavy and definitely more bulky. But, I like my phones to be such that I know I am holding onto something solid, not something too delicate. I tend to drop my phone and maybe jab it at corners too.

Secondly, I liked that the touch keys on the top panel were very receptive and one need not have to repeatedly touch to achieve a task. But, I must also add that as the RAM seems to be a little less, the response of the OS is slightly slow, and especially if you have more than 2 apps running simultaneously.

One of my main quirks with the Pocket was the time it took to get the screen active from idle mode. One can either press the home key on the top panel, or the side button which is also used to lock the screen. There have been times when I have had to press one , then the other and then the first one, all in vain, as I desperately try to make a call quickly. I do not know whether there is something wrong in the way I was going about it, I doubt that, but nevertheless, it was a PAIN.

Another one was the touchscreen. I am not a touchscreen fan, on phones. I love the iPad and can type out an entire mail there, but I need the space for the keyboard to allow me to do so, which clearly a touchscreen phone does not manage to do so. I would be totally frustrated with the typing of messages and mails. If its a smartphone where I can check mails, then I do expect to be able to reply to them too. This was one of the main reasons I wanted the Xperia Mini pro, which had the qwerty keyboard in place when required.

So, all in all, I think the Pocket is a great option if you just wish to browse the web, read some messages and make calls, but this is not the option I would use if I want to use it to the full ability of the Smartphone.