Anuradha Sridharan

5 days have already passed by in this new year. In a blink, we might find ourselves in the end of January. Days fly past so quickly that we sometimes wonder what we did in the last one month (and eventually, the last one year). I have been in such situations quite often and so I decided to start a tiny habit which I have named as " Small wins ". In my brand new 2014 diary, I have started a separate section where I'm writing down my small achievements everyday that has made some difference to either me or my family. For example, - when I went to an ice-cream parlor and didn't have a scoop of ice-cream (a spoon to taste doesn't count though ;-) ). - when I did 1 mile Leslie Sansone walk (I know people who walk 4-5 miles, but for someone like me, 1 mile is a victory) I'm hoping that these small, tiny wins would make a big difference at the end of the year. And it would also be fun to read them later and have a laugh with loved ones. If you would also like to s...

As an evening snack, I prepared a bowl of salad yesterday for my 2 year old daughter. She loves steamed sweet corn and tomatoes. Along with these two core ingredients, I also added steamed green gram sprouts, cucumber and carrots, with a dash of salt, pepper, lemon juice and chaat masala. She loved the way I shake the bowl to mix all the ingredients together. I let her eat on her own, using a spoon. As she was carefully picking out sweet corn and tomatoes, I also showed her the other veggies. I started a conversation with her, asking her the colors of the vegetables and she answered them right. She then started picking sprouts and cucumber on her own and ate a few spoons. She isn't a big fan of raw carrots but I added it anyway, just to ensure she takes a couple of bites at least. To my surprise, she did pick a few of the pieces and chewed them, without spitting it out. I wanted to share what worked for me and my child, in this whole experience: - I engaged her during the salad pr...

Although my blogging frequency has been quite low, I definitely would like to keep up the tradition of reviewing the concluded year. It feels nice to know that I can go back to get a glimpse of how the past 8 years were. I read this interesting quote somewhere - " We overestimate how much we can achieve in a day and underestimate how much we can achieve in a year ". 2013 was a productive and most importantly, an emotionally peaceful year. It started off with completing the long pending tasks (ones that are important but not urgent) such as dental treatments, health checkups, passport renewal and getting a new passport for D. D has grown quite fast, from crawling to walking to running. She speaks so much and sings a lot of nursery rhymes. She is no longer a small baby but an individual with her own interests and wishes that "must" be fulfilled at any cost. She is in that phase where if she doesn't get what she wants, she will throw a big tantrum. At the sam...