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When Life Gives You A Lockdown, Celebrate Your Birthday Indoor

Often the biggest learnings in life come from the stories and rhymes meant for the little ones. As I watched my boys sing and dance with “Pete the Cat” no matter what color his white shoes turned, I got reminded that happiness is more a matter of choice and gratification for what we have.

We have kept ourselves indoors for the last four months now, following the social distancing, and I am so proud of my boys, the way they have understood, learned, accepted, and enjoyed this lockdown and the new norm of life it brings. The past few months have been an amazing learning experience for us as a family. We have spent so much of time together, spent numerous evenings sitting by the window marveling at the skyline, watching the sunset across the corniche, clocked hundreds of hours of homeschooling, grown our kitchen garden, and enjoyed the tiny everyday moments of life. It was an unequal joy this morning to see my elder one all so excited and brimming with pride while harvesting his first-ever own grown food—spring onions for a green omelet. I am sure now he has a newfound respect for food.

With no domestic help around in lockdown, all the household chores have been DIYs and kids have actively involved themselves, chipping-in in their own cute little ways with tidying up their play area, watering the plants, coloring their homemade toys and yes their most favorite, shaping gingerbread man cookies and spreading peanut butter and honey over the breakfast pancakes.

To all the mommies who have reached out to me; I want to say that as Super Moms we have all been doing some tremendous work for our family and loved ones. So don’t be hard on yourself mulling on what could have been better, instead relish what we have on hand and make the most out of it. Stay strong and we will emerge Triumphantly. And for sure, this too shall pass!

Last week it was my elder boy’s fifth birthday and we put in a lot of hard work to make it a memorable one. A lockdown special birthday, within the very confines of home. And we did it all ourselves, right from the decorations, the gifts, to the lovely breakfast buffet, it was all every bit DO-IT-YOURSELF!