Birthday Bash at BounceU

As against the "never-on-time" reputation we hold, we were 10 minutes early for Jay's party on Saturday (Sep 19, 2009) at Bounce U. After all we were the hosts:) We were shown to a waiting room which was packed with a few candy machines and games. Except for a couple of 2 year olds no one else even eyed the games. They were all eagerly waiting for the bigger fun. When most of our guests had signed in, they played us the video of what to expect. The 5 minute film was mind-blowing. It caught everyone's attention tremendously. Even Jay, who cannot sit through any TV program other than Barney was glued on to his seat without any distractions. I was totally taken aback....but honestly, all that they showed looked possible to me in an outdoor setting until I stepped into the bouncing rooms.

As a first timer at BounceU, I had no clue on what the rooms actually looked like. I was certain that this was yet another what-you-see-is-not-what-you-get thingy. By then the kids had already started hooting and screaming with excitement. I was just keeping my fingers crossed that the kids don’t get disappointed. At 6:10pm sharp the hosts let us inside the first room to bounce. My heart was racing not knowing what was impending. I was dumbstruck with what I encountered. The bouncing paraphernalia and attractions in the room were no different to what they had shown us outside the room.

Jay being the centre of attraction walked into the room first escorted by me. All I remember is we entering together. That’s it. Before I could look down to give him instructions, he was gone. Jay had already squeezed himself through one of the huge blowups and started bouncing. The entire 1 hr and 15 minutes that we were given to bounce I hardly caught a glance of him. He was busy bouncing with his friends, running around from one blow up to another, experimenting the slides with his teachers.

I decided to exploit this golden opportunity to the fullest extent. I am calling this golden because I have never had a birthday party experience without running behind Jay. All I would be entitled with in the birthday parties is "Jay monitoring" when Dad would either conveniently stay home busy with his laptop or settle down in a cozy corner in the party catching up with his friends. Our party was one of the path breakers where every soccer mom had the rarest lucky chance to remain unbothered for a major part of the fun. Of course we were back to square one when it came to dinner but then kids eating/feeding and Moms are a deadly combination. We choose to remain inseparable. I had delegated the photography to Dad and bounced to my hearts content!!

There were four blowups in one large room. There was an obstacle course which most of the older kids loved, a slide, a boxing ring with balls, a couple of basketball hoops and another larger bounce house which turned out to be exclusive for Jay, his school friends and teachers. It was a great workout for all the kids and the moms who joined the bouncing fun. None of the dads even attempted to move their muscles. Some of them were busy baby sitting the younger ones who could only get to the pony blow ups, few of them absconded from the scene playing the perfect chauffer role and the others were busy chatting!!!

We had a full house - 25 kids excluding Jay. After the bouncing, all of us were directed to a party room where Jay blew off the 3 candles on his cake with the Birthday song in chorus in the background and we assisted him in cutting his Elmo Cake. Nearly everyone of the kids wanted to go in for a second round of bouncing but it was time to say good-bye. Jay even tried to crash a party which started an hr later than ours. We had to literally carry him to the car as he was least interested in leaving the venue.

It was a very reviving and relaxing party where I did not have to physically take care of any of the logistics. A 20 minute phone call with the Bounce U coordinators did all the magic. Sunday was Jay's BounceU hangover day - every time we stepped out he assumed it was to Bounce U and when Dad turned the car in a different direction he was whining big time. He had already started planning for his next birthday party - needless to say he wants it at the earliest in BounceU:).

All in all, everyone had a great time. I just learnt that we can organize Play dates also at BounceU - hoping to do one soon for Jay and catch up on some good fun for thy self too!!

Jay, from 2 to 3 - a Birthday Report

Elmo Cake, Candles, Balloons, Pizzas, Games and fun, Friends, Goody Bags...hip hip hurray....Its Jay's Birthday....The climbing, jumping, running, bouncing, ever-on-the-move toddler Jay is now a proud preschooler…not that he has given up any of the above said activities but its fun too see him move to a higher class, 3's as they call it in his day care. Fortunate that Jay falls well within the cut off date and will not be missing a school year...the least of his worries but am way too excited.

Here is a small recap from his last year highlighting his accomplishments, trips, milestones, cherishing moments and some of the key events and happenings from Jay's life.....


Jay Turns 2 -

Jay's second year began with the arrival of his paternal grandparents from India to join us for the celebrations. We had arranged for his "Aayusha homam" and a Pooja on a small scale on his star birthday followed by a cake-cutting party in his day care with his classmates. I wanted to use his school party as a dry run before planning the final event with a bigger audience more from our social circle. As Jay's response was very poor I dropped the idea of a second party - all he was interested was chase balloons and bubbles...He didn’t even show up for the cake cutting - Dad and I ended up cutting the Pooh bear cake.

Jay and his Grandparents -

Jay thoroughly enjoyed the quality time with his grandparents who stayed with us until Thanksgiving. We were still working on his communication though he never found that as an obstacle to articulate or get his things done. He learnt his numbers from his grandma and a lot of our native (Tamil) vocabulary from his grandpa. Jay was flourishing in the company of his grandparents who religiously pampered him day in and day out.

Jay and Halloween –

Even before we realized it was time for the Costume parties, bonfires, carving jack-o-lanterns, pranking people, reading scary stories...Yes Halloween was at our door. After a heavy contemplation he settled down for a Superman. Jay was thrilled about the participation in his school harvest festival, marched through a parade organized with the sole intention of showing off their costumes and came home with a huge bag of goodies. We went trick-or-treating in the nearest mall and his candy bag was overflowing. Thanks to Jay's ignorance on candies. He collected all the candies and promptly trashed them. I just wish he continued to stay as oblivious as he was with his candies.

Jay’s New Year Celebrations –

We stepped into the new year,2009 on a very happy note. It was definitely a refreshing start, celebrating the New Years Eve along with 2 other families in a time sharing resort at Masanutten, Shenandoah Valley. As it was Jay's first long trip as a toddler, I was a little paranoid about the travel and Jay's food habits. He proved me right in every way. As expected he went on a starvation mode but that didn’t do any damage to his spirits. The resort was packed with adventures though we were glued to the water park the entire time we stayed in the resort. With the currents driving us, waterfalls and spray features reaching us from all angles, Jay just freaked out. He was in cloud nine sailing in his tube through the Lazy River.

Jay’s Oratory -

His close association with his acquaintances in Masanutten must have woken up Jay's conscience about his tongue. By then I was fully convinced that we will be able to listen to his yaps only when he turns 3. But to our surprise, soon after the New Year episode he started blasting our ears with his diction. Jay began to focus on his vocabulary big time and within 3 weeks he was in full swing to the extent that he was able to keep a conversation going fine with his fellow buddies. He would miss all the conjunctions/prepositions but would still convey what he had to effortlessly.

Jay and his troublesome infections –

Spring is the sickness season at our residence. Jay had his first ear infection followed by a few other viral attacks which gave him a forced 3 week break from his school. Jay is so used to his schedule that this unexpected vacation was not well received by him. His routine went for a complete toss. He missed his school, teachers, friendly bantering with his friends, Cookie Monster and grass fun very badly.

Jay’s Task List -

As he was growing, the to-do's in his list also kept growing. Jay's weekend calendar is the busiest of all at home and all our plans have to revolve around his availability. For a period of time between April and August all we were doing was attending birthday parties. The only difference in each of the party would be the venue and the child. Still Jay managed to have enormous fun. He would get ready from the Wednesday of the week for the Saturday party and keep reminding us just in case we forget the event. A perfect Virgo!!

Here is what a typical weekend for Jay looks like –

Saturday morning - get ready for the bday party to attend
Saturday afternoon - fun at the bday party, eat pizzas and cakes and drive home for a nap.
Saturday evening - Beach visit. We were one of those few families who marked our attendance at the Bradley beach every Saturday in the few weeks of summer we got to have in NJ.
Sleep on the way back home.

Sunday morning - breakfast and head bath. He used to create a mess before his shower. Jay is allergic to head bathsJ
Sunday afternoon - Rasam rice + spinach followed by a nap
Sunday evening - Durga temple visit though the dinner at the Dosa grill afterwards was what mattered to him the most. When Jay and I visit the Durga temple Dad would be busy at the "Durga Hotel". The food served at the temple was the only motivation for Dad to drive us to the temple. Like Dad like Son!!

Jay’s Alma Mater -

Kindercare is Jay’s second home – after an exhaustive 8 hrs at school anyone would expect the child to retire peacefully. Though Jay follows a strict schedule during the weekdays never has he volunteered to go to bed. He is a spring of energy always in action. He had done quite a bit of learning last year. He even knows to spell his and my names. Jay was very fond of 2 teachers in his daycare. He was extremely attached to them that at times when he is wayward at home and we tried any of the usual control techniques, he would cry for his teachers. Unfortunately both of them left midway which took a very heavy toll on him.

Photogenic Jay -

Jay had his regular share of photo shoots both at home and at the studios which enthrall him. The most memorable image was “Jay as a girl”!!! He shares our admiration on these pictures now but not sure what is in store for us a couple of years down the line.

Jay is absolutely adorable, a great helper, enormously entertaining and notoriously naughty all at the same time. He swam through all his difficult times, profoundly rejoiced his ecstatic bright days and is now entering a new year. This year we look forward to see more of his mischief, chit-chats, constructive action and occasionally some learning too….

Vexatious Vasantham

This is one of the few Sun TV's daily soaps that I follow sincerely and my biggest mistake. A criminal waste of 20 minutes, on a weekday amidst my hectic schedule. I just wish the director took his brains out of his pocket, planted where it has to be and then directed the serial...instead he has conveniently discounted the fact that his audience can be "sensible", can "think", don’t buy in crap, expect a reasonable plot and has tried to sell his hogwash which only drives one spare. Packed with a bunch of goofy clowns, his so-called showpiece is dead as a doornail.

Who on earth taught him his tales could be made interesting only if there are twists. Too much of anything is good for nothing. Vasantham is the most deserving candidate to be quoted for this phrase. The director has included a plethora of twists that are a bit much. If the director had intended any positive agenda with his clumsy turns in the cream, no way can he think about a success - all they have done is effortlessly get your goat. When you are desperately waiting to see the "Shubam" or "The end" card, you see "To be continued", with a new character on screen. Won’t he watch his episodes before they are screened to the public? If only he had taken the pains to sit through one of his adventures he would have realized what folly he is dumping on his audience.

Does he have ideas to get into the Guinness book of records by overtaking any of the other serials, for the maximum number of episodes? If yes, sir, please quit and get yourself some fresh air...The TRP (if any) will only drop for this futile effort of yours.

This is one of the very few serials that had a good star cast. The director had been smart (a rare trait anyways) enough to rope in a couple of yesteryears respectable actors, but that was all in past tense ....after witnessing the way this melodrama is taking brilliant turns everyday, most of the canny ones have chosen to desert the director and his classic. The few unfortunate ones are those who should be the non saleable ones...given the market condition it would do them good if they don’t switch base.

He is clearly out of ideas and a decent script. In such a scenario any sensible person would only look at taking the effort to a pleasant completion - surprisingly this guy is refusing to see the winning line and is choosing the run the race over and over again on the same track.
Fatal illness to a child once a year, the following hospital claptraps, ever-hopeless doctor/nurse conversations, mother losing the child at least once every year, infuriating never-ending tear shedding sequences, adamant refusals to make prudent moves to find the child, heroine's endless wait for things to happen on its own in the name of "Trust in God" are all what he has got to keep his chef d'oeuvre dragging.

Insanity is the name of the game and the code by which he has lived all this while. The lead character is an absolute discredit - She is a dead duck. The only expense for the demigoddess is glycerin - she has been extremely generous there. Newcomers may not be great performers in their first few episodes but in course of time they will/are expected to pick up the nuances and prove themselves. Kudos to this lady for maintaining her amateurish dumb acting record throughout the lifespan of this serial.

I earnestly perish the thought that Rishi doesn’t venture into any more directive stunts and Chandralakshmanan stays away from kollywood.