Daniel Tiger made me a better parent

Despite my earlier (pre-baby) insistence that screen time would be non-existent in my household, we’ve watched plenty of the ol’ tube. While don’t have cable or television service, we do have Amazon Prime hooked up to our Roku.

Roku realizes my childhood fantasy that I could have all my favorite show seasons on VHS and show them to my own kid per my own schedule and without them seeing any of the shows I deemed “stupid” (e.g. ‘Ren and Stimpy’) + no commercials. We’re living in a golden age. Also… was I an odd 4th grader for thinking like this?

Top Five Gadgets for 0-3 Months

Every baby is a little different, some like this, some like that, some hate the world. The biggest question we asked in the 0-3 month range was, “what stops the crying?” seriously.

We bought *a lot* of items trying to answer this question. Not really in desperation, per se, but definitely in confusion at what would work. Let’s just say we had five different places for our son to sleep.

However, it became apparent that of all the gadgets we bought–several were of high importance for those first 3 months. Let me know! What were yours?

If I had to do it all over, here are the ones we would buy again:

Diapers Needed for 0-7 months

For baby shower gifts to family (and myself) I buy 7 months worth of diapers, after feedback–I’d say I have a fairly reliable system down.

Postpartum Toolkit

Sorry, environment.

Warning: If you’re a sensitive person who can’t handle reality–tread carefully.

As you can imagine, the aftermath of passing an entire human out of your body is quite intense. My own labor and delivery lasted a mere 5 hours, so postpartum was the vast majority of my entry into motherhood. I was very concerned with physical aspects of postpartum, and had purchased all sorts of things in preparation for it.

I spent a solid week recovering from my delivery–which is really very quick. However, I had made sure I had all the goodies and walked away from labor with just three stiches.

What things helped you? What did your hospital provide?

Below is one week worth of supplies (double as necessary):

Diwali DIY: How to make a Kolam (Rangoli) design

Yesterday was Diwali (Deepavali), the festival of lights. It’s a holiday that symbolizes the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, hope over despair. One of my favorite Diwali activities is to make a Kolam (or Rangoli) design with dyed rice.

Kolam (Rangoli) I made this year, 2014

Kolam designs can be made with dyed rice (as I do), flower petals, or colored sand (similar to mandalas). They seem complex, but are really a simple and fun craft to make, and would be a good craft for kids as well (with a simpler pattern such as a flower). This tutorial will teach you how to make your own!

Valaikappu Bangle Ceremony (Indian Baby Shower)

Around the world there are pregnant women being celebrated and blessed to ensure a happy and safe entrance into motherhood. In Tamil Nadu, India this ceremony is called Valaikappu.

Hindu Housewarming Ceremony: Griha Pravesh

We bought a new house! Hooray. And we happily moved in before my third trimester, and I didn’t even have to lift a box. I’m so happy!

One of the main things people do around the world after they get a new place is to throw a housewarming party! I’m still making the invites for a good ol’ American housewarming. However, there is also a special housewarming ceremony in India too.

Hinduism is rich with ceremonial activities. There is a ceremony for basically anything you might do in life. There are also auspicious dates and times (e.g. super early in the morning) with which to perform these activities, all coordinated around a very-detailed calendar.

The housewarming ceremony is called “Griha Pravesh,” and the most basic version is to boil milk in a new pot so that it flows over (so that the home may overflow with wealth), to burn incense around the house (to purify it) and to perform a Ganesh puja (Ganesh, the elephant-headed god, is the remover of obstacles). The most complicated ceremonies can get quite intense, including walking a cow around your house. We opted for the more basic one.

Moo.

My husband was not as concerned with all of this detail, but I still found it interesting. His amma (mom) told us we should not cook in our home prior to doing the Griha Pravesh ceremony. Some sources even said that you should perform the housewarming prior to moving in, or spending the first night, or only after construction, etc. etc.– but it seemed to be highly variable. Superstitious, but flexible… no problem.

We woke up early and took our showers. I wrestled with a saree (and broke a sweat for the effort) and then wandered to the kitchen to setup. I plucked some flowers from our garden and situated Ganesh facing east. We gave him a little miniature garland and applied some kumkum powder to his head.