The Mystery Two and The Treasure Case

 Once in a summer, Rohit who was 10 years old was playing with his little brother called Ashwin, who was 8 years old. Their parents planned to go go camping to a mountain. Rohit and Ashwin were excited that they are going to camping. 

"I'm going to take my torch mum" said Rohit.

"Yes, you can dear. Now everyone go to sleep, so that we can hike tomorrow" said Mum. 

So, everyone went to sleep. 

The next day, they woke up at 4.30 am. "Oh.. no, the bus is at 4.45 and we have to get ready fast" Dad said. Everyone got ready and reached the bus stand at 4.46 am.

After sometime they reached the forest called DEVANUR. "Wow, what a nature place" said Dad.

"Yeah, let's start hiking" said Mum. After sometime...

"Look at the butterfly!" said Ashwin. 

"Yes, it is beautiful" said Rohit.

Mum and Dad went ahead. Rohit and Ashwin went behind and lost the route. Ashwin started crying. "Don't cry Ashwin. I am a forest expert" Rohit said.

"Really?" asked Ashwin.

"Yes, we can even stay here" said Rohit.

"Wow... you are super" Ashwin said. 

"So, lets start walking" said Rohit. It became darker and darker in the forest. "It's getting very dark, we have to hurry up" said Rohit. After some time, "Look, there is a cave. We can sleep there" said Ashwin.

"Yeah" said Rohit. The next morning they woke up at 5.30 am and started hiking. Their Mum and Dad realized they are lost. They went to the nearest police station and gave a complaint. 

"We will find them as soon as possible" said the policeman. "What are their names?" he asked.

"Rohit and Ashwin" said Mum. Like that, the policeman asked lots of questions for an hour and they answered them. Meanwhile, Ashwin and Rohit were walking in the woods, where there were thieves, but no animals or birds. The leader of the gang is Ramu and he had 6 assistants, Saram, Zue, Kimi, Edmon, Roly and Boly. Roly and Boly are good people whom Ramu turned into bad.

"Why isn't any birds here?"asked Ashwin. 

"I don't know. I think this is an old forest" said Rohit. Meanwhile -

"Look at the two boys, if you catch them I will give you 1 lakh to each of you" said Ramu.

"Let's sit there, under the tree. I am tired" said Ashwin. 

"Okay. We will read a book together" Rohit said.

In the book, it says "Did you know there is a person, who is a great fighter in real life? He trains kids on Karate and Silambam on Sundays. He lives in the forest and he shifts lots of forests. He also has got a place in a secret den. He is finding some critical thieves."

At a distance, the thieves saw the fighter coming. "Sir, the fighter is coming here" said Saram.

"What!!? We have to set a trap. Saram, Zue, Kimmy go and set the trap and Edmon, Roly, Boly guard me" said Ramu.

So, they went to set a trap. The fighter saw them setting a trap for him and changed the route. Meanwhile - 

"Who are these people?" asked Ashwin.

"I think they are cleaning the forest" said Rohit. 

"Look at the two boys, they think we are cleaning the forest" Saram whispered. 

The fighter saw the two kids were in trouble and went for rescue and saved them. 

"Thanks for saving us" said Rohit. "By the way, who are you?" he asked.

"I am Rajesh, the famous fighter" said Rajesh.

"Are you the fighter? We just read about you in this book" said Ashwin showing the book in his hand.

"Yes, I am the fighter. What are you two doing here in this forest? asked Rajesh. 

The two boys told what happened to them. "What a sad thing, I will help you" said Rajesh. "There is a treasure, which is magical, in my den. That will help you" he said.

"Thank you" said Rohit. So, they went to the fighters' den and took the treasure. The treasure is a Live Map. They asked for where their parents are now. It said "They are in Chengalpet main police station".

"Where are we?" asked Rohit.

"We are in Srilanka" said Rajesh.

"Whaaaattt!!" said Rohit in a shock. 

"Let's see what is here in the Live Map" said Rajesh. Then they found a time machine in the inner part of the treasure cave. 

"I'll read the manual" said Rajesh. He read it and said "We can travel anywhere using this time machine".

"Wow, can we go to Chengalpet main police station using this?" asked Rohit.

"Yes, I'll set it" said Rajesh. After setting it, they went inside it and it took off. In a while, they reached at the backside of the Chengalpet main police station. They went to the entrance. When their Mum and Dad saw them, mom hugged Ashwin and Rohit and asked "How did you find us?"

"With the help of Live Map, the time machine and the great fighter Rajesh" said Rohit and Ashwin.

"Did you say fighter Rajesh? He is the son of my great grand parents" said Mum happily.

"Yes, I am" said Rajesh.

And after that they lived happily.

Too Quiet Moments - Are They Really Suspicious?

At the age of 3, one day the house was too quiet. Wondering what this little one is doing I peeped out of the kitchen and found him applying shampoo from the newly bought bottle all over his body (Later came to know he thought it was a body lotion lol). 

When he was 6, during a summer vacation, on a random morning while I was preparing the breakfast suddenly I felt the house was too quiet again. And this is what he was upto.

At 10, when the interests drift towards mechatronics and has a research station ready in hand

 

Crispy French Fries

 

 

Ingredients

Large Potatoes – 3

Salt

Oil for deep frying

Method

1.      Wash the potatoes, peel the skin and cut into long thin shape(French fries shape)

2.      After cutting keep them in bowl filled with water, to avoid turning brown. Let it be in the water for 15 minutes

3.      After 15 mins, take some hot water in a wide bowl, add some salt and transfer the cut potato wedges in the hot water bowl. This will help the potatoes cook well while frying.

4.      After 10 mins, take out the potatoes from hot water and dry them well using a paper towel or a clean cloth.

5.      Once dried, the potatoes are ready for frying. For crispy French fries, we need to fry them twice.

 

Let’s do the first stage frying:

 

a.      Take oil for frying in a pan, keep the flame in low to medium heat.

b.      Drop the potatoes carefully and fry them for 3 to 4 mins. During the first fry, 

         there will not be any colour change in the potatoes.

c.      Take them out and drain in a paper towel. Allow to cool down completely, may 

         be for 15 mins.

 

 Now, Let’s do the second stage frying:

 

a.      Keep the oil in medium to high flame. Add the potatoes to the hot oil

b.      Fry until the potatoes look crispy. We can see the colour change.

c.      Take them out of the oil, drain in paper towel.

d.      Sprinkle salt and enjoy the tasty French fries with ketchup.

Some Cube Pattern Fun

On a random Sunday morning.

 

The Lovely Rain - Poem

We have been missing the rains for a long time. Many times the dark clouds would gather around, but the rains would disappoint us. Today there was some surprise shower and he wrote this instant short poem.

He is Reading Aloud his poem here, check it out :)

 

 The Lovely Rain

 

The Lovely Rain is coming to the town

The Lovely Rain is coming to the town

Happy to see it pour

Happy to see it pour

Lovely rain, Lovely rain, Lovely rain

Coming to the town.

Lightning McQueen Short Stories

Once upon a time, there lived a race car named Lightning McQueen. He was number 95. The color of Lightning McQueen is red. He always says "Ka-chow" when he gets out of the trailer. 

One day Lightning McQueen was practicing for the world cup race. Suddenly, his tires burst as he was practicing for 15 hours. When Mac saw Lightning McQueen tires were all burst he brought him to the mechanic. The service center owner said, "he can practice 2 hours and change tires". "Ok" said McQueen. So, he is getting into his trailer. Everyone comes and takes photo of him when he gets out of the trailer. "Welcome to the world cup race" they said. "Thank you" replied McQueen. 

When he saw Mater, he said "Hi Buddy, how are you?". 

"I'm fine, how about you?" - Mater 

"I.m also fine Buddy", said McQueen. "I have a little surprise for you. Your friend Cruz had come here for you" said Mater. "Really??" asked McQueen. "Yeah! She's behind you" said Mater. "Hi Mr. McQueen, how are you?" asked Cruz. "I'm fine Cruz" said McQueen. "But how do you know I am in Route 66?" he asked. 

"I was in the trailer in Wedo's room" said Cruz. "Oh, that is why I heard some noise in his room" said McQueen. "Yes.." said Cruz. "I have one question.. Why have you come to Route 66?" - McQueen

"To see the World Cup race", Cruz said. "Thanks.." said McQueen. "You are welcome", said Cruz.

"Today afternoon is the World Cup race" said McQueen. "Ok" she said. "So, are you coming with me?" asked McQueen. "Yes, of course" replied Cruz. When they reached the World Cup race, Lightning McQueen said "You go and wait in the audience place". "Sure" said Cruz. 

"There are three racers; Chick, Dinoco and Lightning McQueen, the famous racer" announced the announcer. Everyone was cheering McQueen... McQueen.. McQueen. Before the race starts Chick is planning to beat McQueen and Dinoco. So, when McQueen and Dinoco were in front of him he hit them.  

Now, McQueen and Dinoco were planning and they went full speed and distracted Chick. Chick got distracted, there was a nail in front of him and tires burst and he was standing in front of the race.So McQueen and Dinoco won and been cheered.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               END                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

A Handmade, Non-Hazardous Game Console

 A Game console, that has zero negative effects. One that helps with your creativity (as you can imagine and play any sort of game), improves hand-eye coordination and doesn't affect eye sight. Now, who is going to tell him not to play with this ;)

 

On A Boring Afternoon!!

We always have a limited screen time. Learning to engage self is an art. That induces creativity, helps to think for himself and everyone around, creates interest in a variety of activities.

On a boring afternoon, when his dad and I were busy with our work, he was silently engaged in cleaning and arranging the cutlery in the kitchen rack. Output was a perfectly clean-o-clean, neatly arranged cutlery and storage boxes.

 

 

 

And prepared some neem extract for next day's bathing. This can help with the Seasonal Transition (change of season)

 

Cycling - No Handed Is Fun!!

"Look, Mom/Dad! No hands!" - kids get amazed, they faces light up when they have achieved something difficult, isn't it?

 Riding a bicycle no handed is a kind of fun drill.  And that involves a lot of learning as well like balance and controlling speed. 

First Short Story Ever

When he moved to Grade 1, one evening he showed me his notebook saying he wrote a story at school that day, when he had a free period. Few days ago we read a story on crow and owls where both are enemies, so he created this version deriving from that :D

Books - The LockDown Rescuers

Rescuers of these lock down days, at times he would come saying that he finished 3 chapter books in a day 🤗 includes Ramayana (narrator was his dad, this time) 😍. Arranged these back in their places only on sunday and the next set of books have started occupying this space now 😀.

 
   

P.S

 
Stories do wonders, they really do. We had a very very tough time until he was 6 (thookathula ezhupi ketaalum me and hubby will kadharify, I can write a seperate chapter book on those 🤪). Things started falling in place only after that. Stories, discipline and strict routine (we are still following this without exception, close to 2 months of lockdown and his TV time has never increased)

He had delays in his language. He suddenly stopped/reduced talking while he was 2. He wouldn't respond when called upon. After few months of wait, the doctors started saying if he doesn't talk in couple of months, we may have to put him in speech therapy. That was the first time we heard that term. Being in a foreign land, we were scared as hell. Until then I had learnt (I learnt anything and everything from this little guy 😀) only to babble with him in his toddler language. I had known to play well, I had known to engage him well, but I didn't know to talk to him. I didn't know what and how to talk. Really!!!

But the fear of speech therapy made me took some earnest efforts with books and stories (even though we had a reading routine from his one and a half year). He slowly developed his language, but still the doctors said he might have Echolalia (keeps repeating what we say). He struggled to express himself, that made him throw a lot of tantrums, which in turn was miserable for us. Whatever it was, I strictly clinged on to books, stories, discipline and routine. Wasn't so easy to get these done 🙃.

After years of effort, we started feeling the "breeze"; we started to breathe a little easy. I started realising how these stories have transformed our lives. That's when I wanted to extend it to other kids, so that they too can enjoy the fruits of life and that's how my journey of story telling started. I wanted to take stories to the extent possible. I get a sense of satisfaction when I see those smiles, when I hear those stories retold by the little ones, when they start understanding the morals and values ❤️. #TryingToSpreadPositiveParenting

Helping with Washing Dishes

Wiki says - Teaching your child to wash dishes has numerous benefits and even helps with the development of life skills. For younger children it promotes the use of fine motor skills, and it encourages learning through play with water and bubbles. For older children it encourages cleanliness, discipline and helps them feel as though they are contributing to the household.
And yeah he does that too :)