The sun, sand, and sea make a great family vacation!

The three of us spent the last week in Maui to celebrate our 10 wedding anniversary. To leave the gloom of the Portland winter was a welcome respite and Manya just jumped right into the touristy feel of the place. Her whole gait itself changed from normal to a swaying, dance like form. She had smiles and waves for every passer by.

Having only dipped in the cold water of the Oregon beaches, the warm lushness of Hawaiian waves won over her tiny heart many times over. With flowers in her hair and 24/7 beachwear she beat us in the fashion quotient for sure. Quite a trooper with almost all days spent outdoors and odd and long hours of travelling from one end of the island to another, she didn't even once complain. 

Personally I felt, Maui was a great choice - it had everything and February was hardly crowded. We did the gorgeous beaches, Road to Hana, Haleakala at sunset, the submarine tour, whale watching (we saw whales breaching and what a delight!), and the aquarium! A wonderful week! Can't wait to visit the other islands!

We have a beach babe!

Vish and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in the beautiful islan of Maui in Hawaii. There are enough brochures and online sites to give you all the details of this toutist extravganaza. But the biggest takeaway - Manya is in love with tropical sunshine, sea and sand. She had a blast and was the best travel companion ever! Here's a toast to many more beach vacays with our travel savvy babe!

Mean mom! Oh no!

#ParentingFail #EarnedMyFirstMeanMomBadge #MilestoneinParenting

#LongPostAlert

Me (at the brink of insanity): Manya you have not been listening and you have been really acting up, I am sorry but your screen privileges for the rest of the day have been withdrawn.

M (at her cruel best): That is not fair. You are being a mean mom.

Me (trying hard to keep it civil at my end): Well, you do admit that you have been giving me a tough time today. I warned you not to push my buttons.

M (in complete earnestness): You are not even wearing buttons - I never pushed anything. I use my words.

Me (trying hard to keep a straight face): Pushing buttons means annoying or troubling a person till they lose their cool.

M (the devil is back): So are you withdrawing my screen privileges because you lost your cool.

Me (fumbling): errr, umm, errrmmm, no. I am withdrawing them because you were having an unnecessary tantrum. You tell me what should I do when you are not behaving yourself - you don't like me raising my voice, you don't accept timeouts, now you don't want me to take away your privileges.

M (in that absolute adorable face): You can hug me and kiss me.

Me (trying to not get dissuaded by this put on innocence): That is always how I start but you refuse to listen.

M: Then continue hugging and kissing me.

Me (trying not to melt): That's not fair Manya - you know you don't come around easily.

M (the horns are back): Withdrawing privileges is not going to help. Screen time is not even a privilege.

Me: It is. You don't get it, you earn it to deserve it.

M: Okay, I will earn it back. How?

Me (finally beginning to feel back in control of the situation): That's the spirit. Here let me put up a chart for you. Every time you are being exceptional, you'll get a + and when you are being really difficult, you get a -. Get your +'s up.

M (with complete dismissal): This is nonsense.

Me (she did not just say that): Watch your language Manya.

M (in great accusatory tone): Fine. But if I had to withdraw your privileges, I don't even need a chart - you would only get minuses for your bad mommy behaviour.

Me (given up on sanity): I don't see that attitude helping the chart.

M (in utter defiance): I will change it if I need screen time.

This 4 year old is going to ensure I really lose it. While at it, can we also get over with teenage already. Just in case you are still reading, I have not given up, not yet.