Holiday plans

I am planning my summer vacation already. Boss has approved a 15-day leave in May, when I hope to go to Kerala to escape the worst of Chennai summer as well as to attend our church perunnal. Although, it all depends on V's leg getting alright. Or else I will have to cancel plans or just send the kids with their nanny. Maybe I can let them stay on for a month till the weather gets a bit fine here or before my parents head for London in mid-June.
As for the nanny, there is a sea change in her attitude to Ash. I dunno if she is putting on an act of liking him but anyway Ash has sensed that she doesnt dislike him and has warmed up to her this time round. She generally drops and picks him up from the playschool and buys him a candy on the way back. I have instructed her not to do that on a daily basis. Tantrum Ash's latest strategy involves lying flat on the floor if he doesnt get what he wants, something he has learnt from Mira!
Miriam has become increasinlgy sullen and unsmiling after she fell sick - but the fact that she looks pretty when she scowls doesnt make it so bad.
Baby names
On hindsight I guess I should have named Ash Moses or Moshe. In the Bible Miriam is Moses' (older) sister. Tehre is an increasing fascination for Biblical/Hebrew names among the Christians in Kerala.
I was born in an era when harmless Hindu/Indian names (which had no religious connotations) were popular among Kerala Xians. Of course there were others who coined names like Licey, Rinsy and Bossy for their daughters and Glandy and Pleasy for their sons. My mom's school answersheets was a treasurehouse of such fancy names. Three siblings in her school were called A-mol, B-mol and C-mol. I think people still invent such names but north Indian names are more in vogue now. So we have a Nayana, Sreya or Akash in the family.
I have done the politically correct thing by giving an Indian name to my first child and a Xian name to the second - an effort at communal harmony (though it was actually a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth). Ashwin, proposed by Vinney, was a consensus choice among both families (save V, who wanted to call him Paul) especially as his star is Aswini/Aswati. Miriam was chosen by me and V after a 3-day debate, not realising that we hadnt made it a family event. The consensus earlier was on Anna but had to be abandoned for fear of being called something else in Tamil. Vinney proposed Neha (but V had a colleague by that name), I proposed Anamika (V said it was too anaemic) and V suggested Angela (but the name was already in the family). We thought we will call her Ria for short but later changed it to Mira - until Mil said she didnt like the name and that she be called Kripa at home. But I still havent effected that change in my blog.
We now sometimes call her kochundappi (the lil short one), courtesy the Mammooty film Kazcha. The maid calls her Malooti and Ash calls her Vaava.