Like father, like son!

Sent on my BlackBerry® from Hutch

A tit for tat?

Today evening when Betu was not listening to me at all I tried to emotionally blackmail him by saying "Fir mumma chali jayegi. Aap Mumma ki baat hi nahi sunte." (Mumma will go away then. You just don't listen to Mumma).

Can you imagine what he would have said in response to that? No..no..its not what you are thinking. I'm sure no one can imagine this. He told me with the saddest expression "Fir mujhe aapki yaad aayegi. Fir main udaas ho jayungaa." (I will miss you then. I will get sad then.) :D

This is called emotional blackmail ka jawab with double dose of emotional blackmail! :D

He was so happy!

Today when I went to pick him up form his school, there as a nicely decorated Christmas tree along with a cut out of a Santa Claus. Looking at it, he asked me if we will put one at home too. I smiled but instead of directly telling him 'Yes', I asked him "Aapko chahiye?" (You want one?) He nodded and I could feel a little bit of doubt in his expression as if he was not sure if I will get him one. So I said "OK Hum bhi lagayenge." (We will also put one.) Ohh how I wish I had captured the ecstatic smile on his face then :)

On the way he asked me if we are going to the market to buy one and when I told him no I have got one at home, I could see a confused expression. As if thinking 'Is Mumma fooling me?' :D

Once we got home, the place I had planned to put it up was totally scattered with his toys and needed some dusting too. So I told him it needs to be cleaned up and he didn't need to be prodded again and he was at it. Putting things properly in his cupboard for toys, brought a dust cloth and wiped away the dust and kept saying in between "Main aapki madad kar raha hoon." (I'm helping you.) :D

Once the place was all set, I asked him to close his eyes and then got out the tree and the ornaments. He opened his eyes hearing the sounds of the poly bag. He was so so happy and helped me decorate the ornaments and kept 3 for himself to play with.

I've been getting a upper hand these days by saying that Santa Claus will get him a gift if he behaves good and acts like a good boy by not throwing his toys around and by putting them back once he is done. :D Its working good so far and now I 'm wondering what will I do once the Christmas is over. Hehehe....

I've promised him a big gift and he waves his hands way over his head and asks "Itna bada?" (This big?) :D

The first two pics are of the one at our house and the last one is from his school.



P.S. I just noticed that in this last pic, he himself is looking like a cutout standing just like Santa. BTW, these pics are from my new BlackBerry.

Suppise!!

Today morning as we sat together in the bed with his glass of milk, he asked me hiding his hand behind his back and asked me "Mere paas kya hai?"(What do I have with me?) I tried to guess and said "A ball?". He goes "No!!" and brings his miniature Harley Davidson bike out! So I make the most astonished kinds of expressions and say "Oh!".

He immediately tells me "Aise nahi kahte." "Suppise!!" "Aise kahte hain!" (You don't say like that. Suppise!! (Surprise). You say like this!)

Santa Koss and Chismas Tree

After making a Christmas Tree and painting a Santa Claus at school, he wanted one at home too "Mumma, hum bhi apne ghar mein chismas tree and Santa Koss lagayenge!". We have never celebrated Christmas at home. Not because we feel its not our religion or that we shouldn't. It just never happened. I only remember once decorating the Thuja tree with the ornaments that we had received as gift from somewhere. That was the first and the last time.

But when Anirudh wanted a tree at home too, I didn't say anything. Neither a yes nor a no. I just listened to him asking for it. He also didn't crib or fuss about it and it was all forgotten. But few days ago as I went to the Lajpat Nagar market to do come basic house stuff shopping like napkins, dustbin bags etc., I saw a small (artificial of course) Christmas tree in the same shop. This shop keeps lots of gift items also and party stuff. I saw the trees in different sizes and very pretty looking decorations too. I was reminded of Betu's request and was tempted enough to ask the price. The tree was for Rs. 20 only and decorations varied from Rs 5 a piece to Rs 25 a piece. Then I saw a box of assorted ones at a discounted price of Rs 40 which carried 10 ornaments. I went ahead and bought that too. So now I've a nice little tree with decorations too all for Rs. 60 :D

But I've hidden it from him and will decorate it next weekend at night so that when he gets up in the morning it will be a surprise for him. I'm wondering if I should buy a lil gift too and put underneath the tree as is the custom! I guess I will :)

The way he talks..ufff!!

Incident 1:
The other day I was making juice out of fresh apples using the juicer. And I forgot to put the cup underneath which collects the juice and starting putting in the sliced apples from the top and the juice started to flow everywhere. I didn't notice it but Anirudh who was standing nearby noticed it and tried to push me away from the slab lest my clothes get spoiled. At first I got angry thinking why he is he not letting me make the juice in peace and suddenly I noticed the juice pouring over the slab. I quickly got the cup and collected the juice from the slab in it lest it falls on the floor making more of a mess.

Once I was done, Betu chips in "Dekha na? Maine juice ki jaan bachayee!" (See, I saved the life of the juice!) I tried not to laugh and just said "Good job! Thank you."

Incident 2:
He wants to help me in everything I do. So if I'm doing something he will come over and say "Main aapki madad karoon?" (Shall I help you?) and he will not even wait for me to answer and will start at it. And if I try to stop him, he gets angry and says "Aap gussa kyun kar rahe ho? Main aapki madad hi to kar raha hoon." (Why are you getting angry? I'm only trying to help you.)

Incident 3:
One day he suddenly decided that he has to talk to his Chachi. At first I was not sure if I heard him right so I asked him "Nanmun ki Mumma se baat karni hai? (You want to talk to Nanmun's Mumma?). He goes "Haan..Swati se! (Yes..Swati se) calling his Chachi by the name. Me and Hubby had such a laugh but then had to control ourselves and tried to tell him that he's not supposed to call his elders by name. He got irritated and told us. "Nahi. Mujhe Dadi Dadu ne bataya tha.) (No, Dadi - Dadu told me). He was referring to the day when his Dadi-Dadu were teaching the names of all. So in his logic if you have taught him the names, why can't he use them :)

Incident 4:
Since Sunday (Dec 9, 2007) late evening his Bronchitis started acting up and he was coughing so bad all night and throwing up also that both he and me didn't sleep at all. So obviously I didn't send him to school on Monday. And he loved the time he spent with me yesterday. Playing, talking, coloring, writing alphabet and numbers, reading stories and books etc.

Since he was much better today I was getting him ready to go to school. As I took him to the washbasin to get his teeth brushed, he asked me "Mumma meri tabiyat theek ho gayee?" (Am I alright now?) and I answered "Haan" (Yes). So he very sweetly says "Thank you Mumma. I lub you Mumma." I was so totally floored by his such sweetness. He was saying thank you for taking care of him to get over the illness and making him alright.

These are the moments when I say "Thank you God for giving me such an adorable little child! Thank you so much!"

What an observant little guy he is!

Even hubby doesn't notice such little things! He notices what clip I'm wearing, what dress I'm wearing and even the earrings!!

I keep getting compliments from him about my dresses with "Wow! Aapki bress(dress) kitni achhi hai! Bootiful!" (Wow! Your dress is so nice. Beautiful!). But then he will also tell me when he doesn't particularly like my dress. He will make such a face and say "Yeh bress mujhe pasand nahi hai. Yeh gandi hai! Chee.." (I don't like this dress. Its bad. Yuck). And these are the times when I wonder about this adorable little child and his observations. And then I think that he is so much more observant than hubby dear is. Although I would prefer his observations only when he has something to compliment on...hehehe...

Today I had worn my silver danglers. We were on the way to drop him off to school with me driving and he sitting in the front seat next to me. We are waiting at a traffic light and singing the songs playing on the CD. Suddenly he stops singing, touches my danglers and says "Wow! Aapne yeh kaunse waale pahne hain? Yeh to bahut achhe hain!" (Wow. Which ones are you wearing? These are very nice!). I was so awed by his statement and said "Thank you" and smiled all the rest of the way to school.

Once I said thank you, he was back to singing the songs that were playing on the car stereo.

Did you know mosquito nets are fun?

If you didn't, now you know :)

Anirudh just loves the night times just because of the mosquito net that we put on. He things its game time! In fact he loves it so much that he tells us to put it even in daytime on Saturday/Sunday when we take afternoon naps. We usually avoid putting it in daytime being such lazy bums. But he doesn't let us be and we have to comply to his orders of "Machhar dani to lagayo!!" (Put the mosquito net up!).

And yesterday he was in such fun mood that he WANTED me to click him having fun with the mosquito net. The word to be noted my lord is 'wanted'. He usually completely avoids being clicked and in fact gets angry if we click him without his permission. So this was a big and a good surprise for me! :D

Here are some pics of him having fun in his machhar dani (Mosquito net) -






Did you notice how he's trying to pose different for every shot? What a brat he is!!

Come on! Lets dance to...

..."Dar ge khisko" and "Saamariya"!! :D

Didn't get the first one? Its "Dard-E-Disco" from the movie Om Shanti Om which again is pronounced as Om 'Santi' Om :D

Its still a long way to go before he can say 'sh' properly. Till then please make do with 's' :)

And what more, when any of his songs from Om Shanti Om or Sawariya or Goal are playing we are not allowed to sing along because "Yeh mere favourite songs hain! Aap kyun gaa rahe ho?" (These are my favourite songs. Why are you singing them?) and we are not even allowed to say that they are our favourites too!!

Mujhe akela chhod do!

Already? This early? Did I hear it right? I looked puzzled at hubby and he also had such a bewildered look on his face which left no doubts that what I heard was what he said "Mujhe akela chhod do!" when we were pushing him to switch off his DVD and come for dinner. *rolling my eyes*

I thought kids start demanding their own space in their teens. But hello!! He's not even 4!! Why are these children acting like such grown ups so fast? Why can't they be just tiny tots as they used to in our times, like we were? *rolling my eyes*

I just can't believe he said those words. And where the hell did he pick these words from? *rolling my eyes*

Complaints have started coming..already...*sigh*

Yesterday when I reached his school to pick him up from the daycare, his Daycare supervisor was standing right at the steps and on seeing me she went on and on at how naughty and a brat he's turning into. She herself was so surprised at his change of behaviour since she said he was the best behaved boy amongst the lot when she started working here 4 months ago.

But now he just doesn't want to listen to anyone. One minute he will be playing and the other minute he would whack a child for no reason. He refuses to share things with other playmates, gets angry if his demand is not carried out, will not sing in the music class and the list went on and on.

I just didn't know what to say to the teacher and told her you have the freedom and all rights to discipline him the way you want to. And I've total trust in the Daycare supervisor knowing her for so long now. She is really good with kids and lets the child do what they want to and not stopping them from doing activities just because they will mess up.

I spoke to Anirudh then and there and he nodded his head when I asked him if what the Ma'am said was right. And when I asked him to say sorry, he did say it but after bit of coaxing and cajoling.

On the way home in the car, I spoke to him about participating in the music class and singing with all the children and he told me he will. Later at home when I broached the topic again about him singing with the other children I got a curt reply "Maine haan bola to tha car mein" (I did say yes in the car) referring to our earlier conversation which basically meant why am I repeating things again and again. :P

He leaves me so speechless!

Everyday Betu will do or say something which will leave me totally speechless or awed! But with my aging memory I usually forget such incidents by end of the day to blog about them. But some incidents which I still remember I'm jotting down here -

Incident 1:
Friday evening after I picked him up from school and came back home, we had just entered the house and put down my bag that he comes to me, hugs me and tells me "Aap udaas nahi hona. Main aapko chhod kar nahi jayunga." (Don't get sad. I will not leave you and go.) And starts to smother me with his puchhas (kisses) and hugs all over my face and my shoulder, my hands, my chest and just about anywhere. This went on for about 30 seconds and I hugged him tight after that and told him "Main kabhi udaas nahi hongi. Mujhe pata hai mera meethu mujhe chhod kar kahin nahi jayega!" (I will never get sad. I know my sweetie pie will not leave me and go anywhere.)

***

Incident 2:
On Saturday, Dec 1, 2007, we had gone to his Nanu's place as he had organised "Sundarkand Path" at a nearby temple. And for prashad he had made arrangements for the traditional combination of suji halwa (semolina halwa) and kala chana (black gram). So as the puja was nearing the end I got up and started to serve halwa and chana so that its a easy situation when the time come to give prashad to all. Looking at me putting chana in one dona (leaf bowls) and halwa in another, he said "Main aapki madad karunga (I will help you). I knew the offer was more because it seemed fun to him rather than of helping me as such and I let him. And I was amazed what a good job he was doing with bare minimum spilling around. And that too was over when I told him to hold the dona over the main bowl of chana so that whatever spills, falls inside the bowl itself. By the time we finished giving prashad to all, he had helped us serve about 25 odd donas of chana. Everyone who saw him, went ga-ga saying "What a lovely little child he is!" "See how he is helping!" :D

Here is one pic of him serving up

***

Incident 3:
On this same Saturday i.e Dec 1, 2007, when we were returning back home from his Nanu's house, he saw a small Mandir(temple) on the way. Since he was sitting behind I didn't know that he had folded his hands and bowed when we passed by. And when he was done he glanced in the front (he was sitting in the back seat of the car and I was in the front passenger seat) to see if I had done so too or not. And when he saw I hadn't, he says "Aapne hath nahi jode? Maine to jode the. Fir Bhagwanji ne bola main very good boy hoon" (You didn't not fold hands? I did and God told me I'm a very good boy). I felt so awed and had a lil laugh at how he bestowed on himself the little adjectives from the God! And I simply replied to him "Sorry" and then did pranaam by folding my hands and bowing. And it was then that he was satisfied.

***

Incident 4:
Today i.e Dec 2, 2007, Sunday, we were going out to Ansal Plaza near South Extension, New Delhi and as I was locking the door, I dropped the bottle of water that I was carrying in my hands. Betu, who was standing just a few steps from me immediately piped in "Shabaash!" (Very good!) sarcastically just like the way I use it whenever he blunders something! It was just so hilarious to see him imitating the words we use and in the most appropriate situations! Its amazing how they observe and absorb whatever they see and hear and use them too!

Tell me its a phase and will pass soon

Crying the moment his demand is not given into, throwing tantrums when he is scolded for something wrong, hitting at us or just anyone when he feels upset, not wanting to share his toys with anyone, wanting whatever the other child has! Ohh boy I really don't know how to handle all this.

Me and hubby just try and pacify ourselves that his is just a phase and he would be out of it soon. But I really wonder if it really is. I've seen this drastic change in him in the past 1 month or so.

Throwing tantrums at the drop of a hat has become his second nature now. And when the tantrum mode is on sometimes he will cry, sometimes he will hit anyone who comes to talk to him or pacify him or he will start throwing things around. We usually try and ignore him and tell him that he's not behaving good so none of us are going to talk to him. Sometimes I've even given him punishments of "go stand in the corner" or that he won't get the goodies that we have. And at times we give him a slap too (sometimes on the cheek and sometimes on the back) and he realises we are really angry. Then he will come and snuggle with us still crying and will say sorry and "Main dubara nahi karunga. Aap gussa mat karo" (I will not do it again. Please don't get angry at me). But sooner than later all is forgotten and he's back to square one in his behaviour. I really don't know how to handle this. Any ideas?

And the recent habit which he has started is whenever we are going out, be it for dinner or some basic house needs shopping he would want us to buy him something. I know that partly we are responsible for that. And we are trying hard to get him off this habit by not giving in to him. We succeeded last night when we were passing by India Gate and he wanted the light-ball which lights up when you swing it using the elastic band attached. But we managed that by telling him things such as the seller has gone to bed or to have dinner. And that we will come again etc etc

But I really wonder if this is the right way. We did try to tell him that we buy him things so often and we will not buy every time we step out of the house. But that didn't work and probably won't. I feel he needs to be a little more older to understand that. And the latest fad is whatever advertisement of a DVD or a toy he will see on TV he will say"Mumma/Papa, Mere liye woh le kar aana. OK?" (Buy that for me) while pointing at the item being advertised. I just look at him and say nothing and he assumes we will and gets busy with other things.

Another new behaviour he has started to show is whenever he meets people, he will hide behind us and not say hello. Which is just the opposite of how he used to be. When we go for the parent teacher meetings at his school with him, he will cling to us for his life. He will not even play with his friends or say a single word to his teachers or his classmates or to the nannies. And his teachers and the principal all say that when we are not around he's such a talkative, bossy little guy and so freely playing around and doing things. They also wonder why he behaves like this when we are around. *Sigh* ..we wonder too!

Yeh Anirudh nahi hai!

Looking at the slide show on this blog he asked me who this baby is. When I told him its him only he just shook his head in negative saying "Yeh Anirudh nahi hai!" (This is not Anriudh) And then after a few pics he could recognise its him. So he goes 'Yeh Anirudh hai. Woh betu nahi hai!" (This is Anriudh. That was not Betu - referring to the earlier pics of him as a baby).

He had such conviction in his tone and expressions that I decided its best to leave it at that :D

Longest nap ever!

Anirudh took his longest nap ever this Sunday evening i.e on Nov 25, 2007. He slept at 5:40 PM on Sunday and woke up at 7:30 AM on Monday morning i.e Nov 26, 2007. Can you beat that? A non stop 14 hrs of sleep? And I was so worried because he has never slept this long ever that I would keep going and checking on him just to make sure he's fine. :P

He's never slept for 2 hours at a stretch even when he was an infant when I used to hear babies sleep for 4hrs at a stretch easily. And what worried me was it was soon after his trampoline rendezvous and I kept wondering if that didn't do any harm to his brain or any other internal injury. Funny parents we are..right?

And when he woke up in the morning after his kumbhakaran-nap he drank his milk without even one prodding from me or hubby. On his own, just like that! And once he had gulped down his milk, he himself asked to get his teeth brushed! Me and hubby laughed that something definitely has happened after that trampoline jumping but its for the better! Hehehehe....

But when the everyday fuss ensued over his bath, we both sighed and said "Sab waisa hi hai! No change!" (Everything is the same) and laughed again! :D

Electric trampoline jumping!

I'm sure all of you would have seen these electric trampolines in the malls where they put a kind of a belt around the child and the kids are swinging up and high, to and fro and just having fun.

I used to be quite amused with that and last year when he was about 2.5 yrs young I tried to get him into it but he started crying within seconds. So we took him out immediately. And every time we would go to a mall, he will eye that trampoline and kids jumping interestingly but was never keen to do it himself. He would always say no when we would ask him if he wants to do it.

This Sunday as we went to a mall with his Nanu, he himself told us that he wants to do it and he added "Main nahi darunga" (I will not get scared). I was surprised and happy at the same time. But just to confirm I asked him again 2-3 times if he is sure he wants to di it and every time he would reply back "Sure!". Ok then...we went ahead and he waited anxiously for his turn. And he had such a wonderful time and was so happy. Although when he started to go a bit faster and to quite a height he did get uncomfortable a bit so we asked the operator to slow it down. And then the operator changed the mode from going up and down to the swing motion. And Anirudh loved it even more! I asked him "So who is this flying here? A Spiderman or a Superman?" He immediately answered "Spiderman!" :D

Here are some pics that I clicked from my phone ..ahemm..new phone! :D

Waiting for his turn!

Getting all set!

I'm ready!!

Trying to jump on his own!

Here comes the Spiderman!

Yippee!! Catch me if you can!

And he loved it so much that everyday morning he asks me if we can go 'jumping' again and waving his hands up and down. And I have to tell him that we will go on a holiday or Sunday and he would then insist that today is Sunday! :D

What's the good word?

Whenever Anirudh is excited he says some words in a hurry and as a result jumbles up the end of the word with the middle one. And instead of telling you such examples I'm going to make it a quiz for you to solve :D So guess what's the correct word for each option in your comments and soon I will tell you the answers :)

a) Dilawi
b) Chikap
c) Umpa
d) Carema

Happy guessing!

Funny and amazing at the same time!

His vocabulary and how he talks to others leaves me amazed and laughing all at the same time. He will use words like adults in his sentences that leave you awed with a smile on your face.

He has recently started using the words 'udaas' (sad) and 'yaad' (remembrance) quite often. For e.g when I go to pick him up after school, he will ask me "Aap udaas ho rahe the? Aapko meri yaad aa rahi thi?" (You were feeling sad? You were missing me?) And I just smile and nod.

Then a few days ago he tells me "Hum Nanu ke paas jayenge. Woh udaas hain. Woh betu ko yaad kar rahe hain." (We will go to Nanu. He's sad. He's missing/remembering Betu) :D

And day before yesterday when I was trying to put him to bed and telling him a story, he interrupts me and says "Mujhe Nanmun ki yaad aa rahi hai!" (I'm missing Nanmun) He was referring to his younger cousin who is 1 year 3 months young who went back to Bangalore after Diwali break. I felt so awed at his statement and hugged him and told him that Nanmun had to go to school too and thats why he's gone back. That kind of worked but he still misses him often. And why not as they had lots of fun together. Nanmun would try to kiss Anirudh over and over again. He would be so happy just having Anirudh around and playing together.

And can you imagine a 1 year 3 months young toddler and a 3 year 5 months young boy fighting? It was really so funny looking at them fighting over things and toys. And its not that Anirudh had an upper hand being so much older all the time. He also would take Anirudh by surprise sometimes and that was so hilarious for us to watch.

A cool biker!

Watch our for this cool biker!

Hat Competition!

Anirudh has a hat competition today at his school along with a party on account of Children's Day. The catch was that the hats had to be handmade by parents. They had told us about this about 2 weeks ago. But last week when we were away at Jaipur for Diwali I just forgot about it. Late evening around 6:30 I remembered about it and realised I had nothing to make one out of. Immediately I went to the local market and got some paper, some stickers and a fevicol stick.

At night around 10:30 when the Betu had gone to bed with his Papa, I started at it. And then the mind seemed completely blank! I just couldn't think of what to make. I knew I can't make just a conical regular birthday kinds. It had to be different. A little bit different at least. What turned out wasn't great but I think it was a decent effort and a decent output. What says you guys?

He's sporting his trademark fake or shall I say diplomatic smiles? Its very rare that you can click him in his natural smiles these days! Its another story that you just can't click him easy these days! He will make sure to look other way or make those funny faces!

Although I know the hat isn't something amazing but I am already wondering if he will win anything! Errr...ok ok...I'm thinking more on the lines if I will win anything since I made it :P

His vocabulary amazes me!

It was around 6 PM today. Me and Anirudh walked down to our local market as I had some stuff to be given for dry cleaning. Right next to the dry cleaners shop was this electricians shop who had displayed various styles, shapes and sizes of electric decorative lighting. There were so many since Diwali is just round the corner.

Looking at such colorful flickering decorations he was so excited and wanted me to buy one too. I told him we have one at home and that we will put it on tomorrow. But he kept insisting to buy one and when I finally told him that we will put it on as soon as we reach back the house today itself, he finally calmed down. And as soon as we reached, as promised, I took out the lighting and started to work on putting it in. After nailing down a few nails, and placing the wire across the wall, finally we were all done and the moment I plugged it and switched it on, the lights started to blink in waves. He was ecstatic! He jumped up and down and said "Yay!". After admiring it for a few seconds he goes "Arre waah! Kamaal ka kaam ho gaya!" (Oh wow! What a great job done.)

I was so taken aback by the usage of word 'kamaal' by him. I asked him who taught you this? At first he kept saying kisi ne nahi? Then when I probed further he called out a name of his teacher. I thought ok fine but does he know what it means? So I asked him "Iska kya matlab hota hai?" (What does it mean?) and he said "Achha kaam ho gaya" (Good job done) leaving no doubts that he does know what it meant :)

He's soooo funny!

Just now, 30 seconds ago, I scolded him when I turned around from the comp to see he had emptied his CD case and strewn over all the DVDs over the bed. I was furious. And he got a big scolding from me for doing that. When I scolded him he said "par aapne to bola tha ki main wahan rakh loon" (But you had told me that I can keep them there). And then I remembered that a minute ago he had asked me if he can keep the CD case on the bed and I had said OK for that. So I told him I had said that to keep the case as it is and not take out the DVDs. So I told him sternly again to put the DVDs back in the case. The moment I turned back my head to look at the monitor to carry on what I was doing I hear him say to himself "Kitni Mumma daanti hai!" (Mumma scolds so much). I had to control my laughter lest he gets easy. :D

And just now he came to showing me the case saying he has put all the DVDs back inside. And as I asked him to show it to me by opening he immediately ran away with the case saying "nahi..." (no..) which means he has not put the DVDs back in each slot but has just zipped the case by dumping them inside and now doesn't want me to see that lest to get another big scolding. Oh boy! He's becoming such a brat day by day!

Expecting conversation in return of a conversation!

Today morning as Anirudh and myself walked towards our local market to get milk and some other stuff, he was talking all the way to me. And I don't remember what exactly I was thinking but I know I wasn't listening to him as such and going 'hmm' every time he would say something. After a minute he asks me in a little irritated tone "Aap baar baar hmm kyun kare rahe ho?" (Why are you saying hmm again and again) and aped me by saying it multiple times himself "Hmmm...hmmm....hmm..." :D

It was so funny looking at him doing that. But realised that now he wants full attention whenever he talks to us and he can't be taken for a ride by just saying anything. He realises and understands very well when we are actually listening to him or not. So now it has to be a conversation in return of a conversation always!

And when he talks, you HAVE to listen to him immaterial of how important thing you must be doing. This incident will tell you what I mean. If me and DH or any two people are talking to each other and he's saying something in between, he was told to say "Excuse me" long back. Must have been more than a month since I taught him that. So now if I'm in deep conversation with anybody in person, he will keep repeating "Excuse me" till we actually stop our conversation and listen to him. So just try and imagine a small child going on and on like a stuck record saying "Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me...." Hehehe..funny isn't it?

And that's not it. If he has already said these magic words 4-5 times and we are still not responding to him he gets really angry and on the top of his voice will shout. "Main excuse me bol raha hoon. Aap meri baat kyun nahi sun rahe?" (I'm saying excuse me. Why are you not listening to me?). He definitely is a grown up little boy now!

Somehow all this reminds me of a song in Hindi that went something like this "Chhota bachha jaan kar humko na bahlana re.." hehehe...

Some more of Anirudh talks!

Incident 1:
Today evening me and Anirudh were playing some games together and after a while he decided its enough and told me "Bas! Thoda rest karenge!" (Stop. Lets rest a while). So as we both sat down he came over to me and started to cuddle. As we were cuddling he pulls him away and says "Apna chashma to utaro! Mujhe dardi ho rahi hai!" (Take of your specs. They are hurting me) :D

Incident 2:
An hour ago I had to go to the nearby market to get some documents photocopied. The moment I entered inside the main gate he came running out of the main door of the house and goes "Aap kahan gaye the? Main pareshaan ho raha tha!" (Where did you go? I was getting worried.) I was so awed at this statement and bent down and just hugged him.

Incident 3:
Today morning when DH was going to get milk I was telling him a few more things that need to be brought. Once I was done, Betu immediately piped in saying "Aur ek Munch(chocolate) bhi lana betu ke liye!" (Get one Munch too for Betu). How swiftly he added his item to the list of items to be bought left us laughing and awed.

Incident 4:
Yesterday Betu was insisting continuously to me to buy him a chocolate saying "Mumma please ek Munch(chocolate) khayunga! Only one!" (I will have just one Munch). But since this weather his bronchitis gets aggravated at slightest of things like eating chocolate or toffees or not being warm enough so I was telling him no he can't have it again and again. Finally after asking me for about 4-5 times and seeing that I was not complying, he goes "Main please bol raha hoon na!" (I'm saying please) And the expressions on his face were so innocent and pleading like. How he changes his behaviour as per the situation amazes me. Just like a chameleon!

Anirudh talks!

Incident 1:
Few days ago DH was saying something to me and since my mind was preoccupied with something I didn't respond back. Betu walks up to me and says in a angry inquisitive tone "Papa aapse bol rahe hain. Aap unse baat kyun nahi kar rahe?" (Papa is saying something to you. Why are you not talking to him?) And when I looked at him and said "Sorry beta, maine nahi suna." (Sorry, I didn't hear) he goes' Papa aapse bol rahe hain. Aap unki baat suno" (Papa is saying something to you. You listen to him) And I had no choice but to nod my head like an obedient child.

Incident 2:
Yesterday Betu was busy drawing something on the paper. And as I turned to look at him I felt a sudden urge to hug him and give him nice squeeze. So as I hugged him he irritatedly tells me "Aap mujhe hila kyun rahe h0? Main square bana raha hoon" (Why are you disturbing me. I'm making a square) I had to just plainly tell him 'sorry' and hold back my emotions. Poor me.

Dadu - Dadi and Betu!

Anirudh adores his grandparents completely. I guess any grandchild will do the way they shower their love on him.

And he used to take full advantage of it and twist them around to his whims and fancies and they would agree to whatever he wanted (mostly unless it was really wrong). If Dadu is watching some news channel and Betu comes in saying "Ab mera TV time hai!", Dadu would promptly change the channel to his cartoon channel. If Betu demanded that they play with him, they would. So whatever was the demand of Betu it would be fulfilled. Betu had such a great time in the 9-10 days that his Dadu-Dadi were here.

When it was time for them to go, a day before I started telling him that Dadu-Dadi will go back to Jaipur tomorrow. But he would have nothing of that and will say he will also go with them. The morning they were to leave, again we tried to tell him that they have to go and he can't go. So out comes such an innocent yet so strong a comment from him "Woh chhote bachhe ko chhod kar kaise jayenge!" (How can they go leaving a small child behind?) :D

We all were so dumbstruck at his wittiness. Finally when we were in the car and we had to drop him at his school first, we told him "Dadu Dadi kaam se jaa rahein hain". And that did the trick and he said "Office ja rahe ho?Kaam karke aa jayoge?" Sadly but Dadu-Dadi had to lie and say yes that they will come back.

In the evening, when he didn't find Dadu-Dadi at home, he said in such a matter of factly manner "Dadu-Dadi kaam se gaye hain Jaipur? Hum bhi jayenge thode din mein?" And I just smiled and said yes.

What's in a name!!

The other day I took Anirudh to the park in our residential society. He took along his flying disc. For a whole we both played on together. Soon he spotted 2 little girls watching intently and interestingly at our game.

So I asked them if they would like to join us. At first they both said no feeling a bit shy. So I again asked them to join us saying "Mazaa aayega. Aayo khelo." (It will be fun. Come, join us.) One of them decided to play along and joined us. It took less than one minute for the other one to also come in the group and to start playing together.

After playing for less than 2 minutes I had to say something to one of those girls but since I didn't know their names, I was about to ask them. But before I could, I heard Anirudh calling out 'Dost! Aise nahi karte! Aise karte hain!" (Friend, don't do like this. Do it this way) Basically the girl was not throwing the disc properly and Anirudh was telling her how to.

But I was amazed how he just didn't feel the need to know their names. Calling them 'dost' (pal/friend) was good enough for him. And I just smiled at him.

And then it made me think its us adults who hold a curtain of inhibitions in making friends easily, talking to them, the need to know the names. And that we should learn this trait back from kids. Yes, learn it back. A trait that we lost somewhere, somehow on the road to adulthood.

Having a gala time!

Betu's Dadi-Dadu are here and he's having the most wonderful time he could have ever wanted. With so much pampering going around, we sure are going to have a tough time when they will have to leave. He knows he has got a weapon that has given him powers to use on us-parents and twist us around his fingers even more easily than before. We scold him and a prompt response will come from him "Dadu aapki pitti karenge!" (Granpa will give you a good one).

And sometimes he will even threaten to leave us and leave with Dadu-Dadi to Jaipur :D

Every morning and evenings he goes along with them for the walks. He will take along a bat-ball or a flying disc or a soccer ball and have a good time with them in the park.

When we saw him so having fun with them we thought Alas some us-time for me and DH!" But I guess we said it too soon! When its sleep time, it has to be with Mumma or Papa!

He is a big boy now!

Every now and then something happens or something that I see make me realise that he's a big boy now. And today was such day. When so many things that I saw enforced this thought in me even more.

When I went to pick him up from his daycare early today, they all were having snacks. The daycare supervisor has a 1 yr 10 m young baby girl who she brings along with her to the daycare. The supervisor used to tell me that Radhika, her daughter would want to eat anything from Anirudh's hands. I thought once a while it might have happened. But today she refused to take a bite from anyone else but from Anirudh. So every time her earlier morsel would have finished, she would come to him with her mouth open saying "Bahi" (Bhai / Brother). Since Anirudh was playing with his other friends it sure acted as a pause in his activities but never even once he got irritated or showed that he's not interested in feeding her anymore. And I just sat there and smiled.

Then when all had eaten the snacks they all came outside to play. The boys took out the tricycles which were made in the shape of a scooter and the little girls started to play on the slide. Soon I saw Anirudh calling out to another girl Tia who is soon going to be 2 yrs young. Anirudh had slid up towards the front of the seat and made space behind him like a pillion and was calling Tia to sit behind him. She promptly came running although hopping would be a better word for her spring like walk :D and sat all happy and smiling on the pillion seat! And Anirudh gave her a little ride on her scooter pedaling hard. Hard because I could see he was making a lot of effort to make it move with the weight of both. How I wished there was a camera and I could have clicked this moment. It was such a sweet moment.

I feel so happy to see such a loving and caring child and my heart swelled with pride!

He's such a funny boy!

Incident 1:
Yesterday morning when Anirudh woke up he came to me in the living room where I was sitting and cuddled in my lap. Suddenly he picked up his head and asked "Light nahi aa rahi?" I said "Aa rahi hai!" He goes "Fir light(tube light) se ghooooon ki awaaz kyun aa rahi hai?"
(Since our inverter is not the digital kinds, whenever we switch on tube lights when there is no electricity and they are running on the inverter, they make this humming kind of a sound)

I had such a laugh at his observation!

Incident 2:
At dinner time, Anirudh was busy playing with some of his toys. So when I had served him and still he had not come despite calling him a numerous times, I said "Anirudh, fatafat aa jayo."

He didn't respond, so I raised my voice slightly and again said "Anirudh, fatafat!"

To which he responded "Hanji! Main fata fata aa raha hoon!"

(To those who may probably not be so easy with hindi 'fatafat' means 'to hurry up' and 'fata' means 'torn up' used with paper or cloth mainly)

Time to celebrate..

And to celebrate not one but two things. The first one being that Anirudh won us a meal for two at Machan, Taj Mahal Hotel. Yay!

You may remember that on Oct 6, 2007 he had a fancy dress show at his play school. They had a raffle also along with it. But the draw was to be taken out yesterday i.e Oct 11, 2007. So when I had bought the raffle ticket, I wrote it out in Anirudh's name. And I completely forgot about the draw. But yesterday when I went to pick him up from the daycare, I got this lovely surprise!



As I was telling about this news to his Dadi, she said "Dekho Betu abhi kamata bhi nahi hai aur abhi se 5-Star mein dinner par le ja raha hai!" (Betu doesn't earn yet and he's taking you out for dinner already at a 5-Star!) :D

Although this was the 3rd prize I'm really glad we didn't win the 1st prize! Yes..its true. The first prize was a free stay for 2 nights for a couple at Taj hotel in Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh. And that would mean planning a holiday trip with other expenses involved. For a person who would have been thinking of a trip to go to, it might be the perfect prize but not for us! :D

And the second reason for celebration, but that reason is only for me, because I realised that this is the 100th post on this blog! A 100th! Its a 'Wow!' thing for me!

So double celebrations! Yipee!!

A dose a day...

With each passing day Anirudh is getting bossier and bossier. And we, the parents, meekly hang our heads when he scolds us which has become quite a regular feature now. Its almost come to the frequency of a dose a day from him to us! Usually these doses are sent our way towards the end of the day i.e. the evenings but today we got a good one right in the morning at 7:30 AM. :)

Hubby and I were discussing something and we didn't realise when we moved from talking normally to talking a bit louder. I was in the Kitchen and Hubby was in the lobby adjoining the kitchen. Betu I think was in the living room. Suddenly I hear him shouting "Papa!" gives a tight little pat on DH's arm saying "Naughty boy!". Imagine him saying with a really angry tone. Once done with his Papa, he comes to me and shows me his finger and goes "Mumma! naughty girl!" with the same tone. I tried to tell him Papa-Mumma were not fighting but were just talking loudly. But he just wouldn't listen to anything and said "No shouting!".

Hubby and me looked at each other and smiled. So I said "Sorry Betu! We will not talk like this." Then he looked at hubby waiting for the same response leaving Hubby with no choice. I called him for a hug then. He came running to me, gave me a nice tight hug and also gave one peck on the cheek. Then he went to his Papa and gave one to him too. Since I usually tell him to give me on both my cheeks saying "Doosra gallu (gaal, cheek) royega" when he gives me a kiss on just one cheek, he knew I would say that today also. But before I could do that he goes "Dono ne galat baat kari na, isliye ek hi puchha (kiss) milega!" and went away to the living room to continue doing whatever he was doing.

Me and DH both were so amazed at his statements and had a hearty laugh too! We just love him for these little little antics of his. How he reacts and acts in situations makes us so happy and proud! We love you Betu!

Permanent Kebab mein haddi!

Remember this nickname that was bestowed upon Anirudh by his dear Daddy? So why and what am I writing about this nickname?

About 10 minutes ago, DH came to me and started to cuddle. We were in the bedroom but hadn't closed the door or drawn the door curtains. Betu was sitting in the living room and he could see us. The moment he saw DH cuddling with me, he goes "Papa! Aap mumma ko pareshaan kyun kar rahe ho?"

And we both laughed hard and as usual DH said "Permanent kebab mein haddi!"

Humka, Humki, Humke...

No, these are neither code words nor are they words from some tribal language :) These are the words that Anirudh uses and which are supposed to mean "Humara, Humari, Humare" respectively! :D

I've taught him the right words and he has learnt them as well but Humka, Humki and Humke come to him first. Probably because he learnt these words first. So how he uses them in sentences is -

Yeh humka ghar hai? (Correct - Yeh hamara ghar hai?)
Yeh humki car hai? (Correct - Yeh hamari car hai?)
Woh humke ghar chalega? (Correct - Woh hamare ghar chalega?)

I'm sure you would have gotten the drift now :)

It sure makes us laugh and I wonder where he picked these twisted distorted versions from. But then as a habit I always try and correct him. So whenever he uses these wrong words I just have to say "What??" and he will slowly say it again with the correct usage.

He thinks and talks too much!

The following incidents will tell you what I mean by the title of the post

Incident 1
I was playing with him with a Frisbee today evening. And sometimes it would go towards the either sides of him..a bit far for him to catch it. And he would get so irked up because of this that he would angrily point at the place where the Frisbee fell and ask "Main udhar hoon?" :D

I tried to reason with him saying he has to move from his place depending on where the Frisbee is going and not just keep standing at one place but sorry, none of it worked. For him the reasoning was if he's not standing there why am I throwing it there? :D

***

Incident 2
Although we all usually eat dinner together but today I fed him his dinner early. As we were having ours he was getting bored. So he brought his Rhymes book and pulled a chair on the dining table and sat next to me to sing the rhymes for him. I sang a few and then I started saying "Mujhe nahi aata yeh!" just so that I can have my dinner in peace. So he got up from the chair saying "Papa sunayenge." Since DH was also having dinner, I said "Nahi papa bhi khana kha rahe hain na? Aap apne aap rhymes ga lo." And he didn't even take one second to say "Papa haath se thode hi rhymes sunayenge. Woh to muh se sunayenge." Believe me these were his exact words. I was flabbergasted and speechless!

***

Contuper or a computer?

Whenever Anirudh speaks in a hurry he will always call a computer as "Contuper" :D And the moment he calls it a "Contuper", I say "What?" and he will say the word slowly and correctly as "Com-pu-ter"! So basically he fumbles with the pronunciation when he says it too fast and which happens too often.

But somehow I just can't laughing at this word that he has coined :D

And there are times when he just pretends to not hear what I'm saying. So if I will say anything he will go "Kya?". I will say it again and he will repeat "Kya?" and the third time when I will repeat it, he will cup his hands near his ears and say "Mujhe sunayee nahi de raha! Kya?" and I'm ready to run after him to give a nice little spanking!

First couple of times when he tried to play this trick on me he succeeded well enough. But lately I've figured out when he's playing a trick on me :)

Anirudh as Krrish!

Anirudh was so excited from the day before his Fancy Dress at his play school that he wanted to sleep with the mask next to his pillow.

I had a tough time arranging for his attire and finally had to make everything at home. So first a mask was made at home from a black sheet of paper. Then the search started to what to make as his cloak. So a black Georgette dupatta was searched for and a rope to tie it as a flowing cloak. I couldn't get any black jacket so we carried on with the red t-shirt that I had home.

So even after practicing and showing us the steps that he was supposed to do on the song 'Dil na diya..", he got so excited just being on the stage that he just kept hopping up and down all the time!!

So here are the pics of our very own Krrish!

This is the pic of a girl dressed as a tribal and I think she looked simply adorable!!

All the kids looked so adorable in their attires/dresses. And I didn't see even one repetition of the character in this batch. From Sachin Tendulkar to Hanuman, from Panditji to Spiderman, from Rahul Gandhi to the tricolor flag. Must say the Hanuman looked super cute wearing just a skimpy lungi and carrying the armour. He was a cute little plump boy and he looked just adorable as Hanuman.

And what I really liked was that the school didn't have any competition as such for the fancy dress. They gave a token of appreciation to all the participants. It surely makes sense looking at the age group of children. None of them were older than 4 years. Anirudh got a coloring book and a story book. They had different things depending on the age of the child which again was a neat idea!

His love for dance!

Every now and then Anirudh lets us know how much he loves dancing. I guess he's inherited this love from me. And today again he showed how much he really enjoys it.

As we all sat watching Jhalak Dikhla Jaa on Sony today, he watched it for sometime very keenly along with us. After a while he pulled me from the sofa as he wanted me to dance with him. So we both danced (shall I say hopped together like happy frogs? :D ) And in between he kept trying to imitate the steps the participants were doing. The best and the funniest part was when he wanted me to do the lifts with him just the way the male dancer was doing with his partner.

Since I was not able to do it exactly like them (but of course!) I got scoldings from him, "Aise nahi karte. Unko dekho (pointing at the TV). Theek se karo."

"Badhiya ho gaya na?"

Anirudh has a fancy dress show on Oct 6, 2007 at his school. After thinking for a long time I couldn't think of anything interesting which would be easy too as far as the dress goes. Plus I just didn't want him to walk on the stage and come down without doing anything.

And then the idea of dressing him up as 'Krissh' and dancing for a minute to the 'Dil na diya..' from the same movie. He just loves this song and asks us to play it over and over again when we are in the car. So I felt it would be a good idea.

So I got the cassette and his daycare teacher is teaching him and another boy of his class the same song and they will perform it together on the stage. Its just been 3 days since he started learning the steps and he is enjoying it very much.

So yesterday after I picked him up in the evening from the daycare, I was asking him what steps is he going to do in the song. So he is telling me all the steps saying "Pahle rolly karenge, fir aise karenge(showing me by action), fir aise karenge, fir legs aise karenge.." and he ended the description of the steps with a question "Badhiya ho gaya na?" :D

I was kind of amazed to hear him say the word 'badhiya' as in my conscious memory this was the first time I heard him say it. Somehow it kind if indicates me that he's growing into a big boy day by day! Sigh....

Fun time with cousins!

Anirudh had a simply marvelous time when he got to spend lots of time with his cousins at Dehradun during our recent trip from Sep 29 - Oct 2, 2007.

So during all these 4 days he had a blast. Being the youngest of the lot, he loved the attention he got and left no opportunity to even boss them around. And both his cousins who adore him to bits, did whatever he loved. Giving him whatever he wanted, doing whatever he wanted and letting him do whatever he wanted with their toys.

Although the number of fights that ensued between Anirudh and Pallav (the younger cousin) were no less since the age difference between them is little less than 2 years. They both wanted the same things at the same time, wanted to play with the same toys and just copy whatever the other was doing. So Prakhar being the elder brother would mediate and sort things out and console both of them to the best possible extent he could. It was really fun watching them all together.

Here are some pictures of the three brothers having fun!

What is this image?

What is the first thing that comes to your mind as to what is depicted in this image below?
Write in the comments about your THE VERY FIRST THOUGHT - just put one thing and then I will tell more about it!

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The answer-
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It was really interesting to see the what creative things we thought this article in the image above was. From clothespin to a ladder to an artistic imitation of Eiffel tower! My first thought was it was some kind of a artistic Art Stand. I really loved going through everyones responses! Thinking different...going beyond the regular stuff! Loved it!!

So what is it? Only one of us guessed what it was actually - AN EASEL.

Yes that's what it is..an easel..for painting and coloring ..for kids! :D So Cee Kay aka GettingThereNow, the prize goes to you for guessing it right!!

What did Anirudh say about it?
He said "Yeh to teda meda A hai!" :D

So what does it show or mean? If a 3 year old child and all these adults all find it as an "Alphabet A", I think it could mean we all are little kids by heart which in my opinion is a wonderful thing!

So what do you say guys???

Some tid bits of Anirudh-Talks!

Tidbit 1:
Yesterday night when the cook came to tell me she's done with her work, Betu who was sitting by my side, told her in these exact words "Didi, ab lautna nahi. Kal subah aana!" :D

She was so amused with his response and so were we! So the maid replied back to him "Nahi, main to aaj yahin rahungee." So he tells her "Nahi. Aap apne ghar jayo. Main apne ghar mein hoon na? Aap bhi apne ghar jayo."

Tidbit 2:
Yesterday night when hubby changed into night clothes, he didn't wear the T-shirt over his vest and shorts. As soon as Betu noticed this he goes "Papa T-shirt to pahno. Dekho, maine bhi pahni hai na? Mumma ne bhi pahni hai na? Aap bhi pahno" :D DH had no choice but to say "Ok" and to go and wear it.

The way he applies our style of dealing with him back on us is just amazing!

Tidbit 3:
Today morning while I was dressing up Betu after his bath, the cook asked me if she needs to cook anything for him...you know anything for his breakfast. To which I replied saying "No." Betu immediately looks at me with such a sad face and asks "Aap mere liye kuchh nahi banayoge?"

I was so surprised at his question and told him "Banayenge. Zaroor banayenge. Par Mumma banayegi. Didi nahi banayegi." In response to which he hugged me and said "Thank you Mumma!"

Tidbit 4:
Lately whenever he does something nice whether its painting or coloring or making up puzzles I usually say 'Awesome'. And he surely likes hearing that word. So ever since he realised its a positive word which means the same as 'good job' he wants me to say it every time to him.

Once I didn't notice what he had done as my attention was towards something else. So he comes up to me and says "Mumma! Main awesome ho raha hoon!" :D

Diplomatically manipulative!

Remember I had done a post on how he has become so manipulative some time ago? This one is an addition to his manipulativeness behaviour.

Anirudh was unwell last night throwing up 3 times. So today I didn't send him to school despite the fact that he was hale and hearty in the morning - fit as a fiddle. And he himself asked me "Nahai nahai karte hain fir school jayenge!" (Lets take bath and then we will go to school). So I had to tell him that today Betu will spend time with Mumma at home and he was ecstatic!

So we played a lot of games in the morning. And when I asked him to put everything back he makes such a tired face and in a low voice says, "Mumma meri tabiyat theek nahi hai na. Please aap rakh do!" Give due emphasis on the word 'Please'..ok?!

What would you have done if you were in my place? I'm sure just like how I did..melted down at his request and kept them away! Although I didn't let him puppet me again in the evening when he tried to repeat the act!

Rendezevous with the cricket!

Anirudh got to watch his first cricket match on September 24, 2007 - the finals of the Twnety20 World cup. What better to start with a match between India and Pakistan.

We had the invites for the special screening at Priya Cinema, PVR Group at Vasant Vihar, New Delhi and watching the finals on the big screen was too tempting although we were worried Anirudh might not fuss there but we still went on thinking "Dekha jayega". So all three of us - Anirudh, myself and Hubby went there along with our cousin Bhaiyya-Bhabhi to relish the match on the big screen. Weaving through the after office traffic at 6 PM we managed to reach there just before the Pakistan was to start playing and felt sad that we missed India's batting. What a game it was..not just for us but for Anirudh too!

The PVR people had distributed whistles to all and whenever India would take a wicket the whole theater would be shouting and jumping and blowing the whistles. The first time Anirudh got so scared that he started bawling!! But later I explained to him that everyone is happy like he gets and shouts "main jeet gaya" when we play any games at home. So he understood and could relate it easy with what he does when he wins a game at home. So at the second wicket, when we all cheered and jumped he joined us with full enthu too!! He was jumping up and down, blowing the whistle shouting "Yay! Yay!"

Looking at him we all thought "Here comes another fan of the cricket!" :D And there was no stopping after that! At every wicket or good bowling he would cheer and shout along with us. He was quite amused that he was not being stopped or scolded for doing it. But I guess he was more amused that Mumma-Papa who usually stop him from shouting were doing so themselves!

When once one of the fielders caught a ball and thus getting a wicket, Anirudh immediately said "Good job! Yay! Yay!" copying us exactly as we do when we are playing throw-and-catch with him.

But that was not the end of it. After winning the game, we went to Pizza Hut for dinner and he was shouting there also. But when we stopped him saying you can't shout here he gave us such a bewildered look as if saying "Whats with them? One moment they are shouting and jumping and the next they are stopping me!" Hehehe...

On the drive back home after dinner he tells us "Mumma, crciket dekhne mein bahut mazaa aaya!" He is still in the cricket mood though. Today when I was playing cricket with him, in our living room with his plastic bat and plastic ball, he hit the ball so hard that it hit the ceiling at the other end of the room so I said "Sixer!!" and he in a very ceremonious style waved his bat in the air saying "Main jeet gaya! Yay!" I smiled and just nodded looking at this budding fan of cricket! But then who knows it may just be a short term love for the game and may wear down soon! Or maybe its just the beginning??

Nani-Amma!

That's what Anirudh calls his Parnani (my dadi). Amma - because that's what we call our Dadi and Nani since she's from my side of the family. So thus was the name coined by us for him to refer to his Parnani - Nani-Amma!

I clicked this picture on September 15, 2007 when we had a family get-together. And when I was looking at this pic after downloading it on my PC I was smiling...a real big smile. But then I felt a bit sad that I didn't have any good pic of Anirudh with his Parnana (my Dadaji) when he was still alive. I've a few but somehow in none of the pics both their faces are visible completely. Anyhow, no point in crying over spilt milk.

But I'm so glad that Anirudh is also able to spend time with his Nani-Amma. Reminds me of our times with our set of great grandparents. We have such fond memories of them. And when I hear from my friends most of whom hadn't even seen, forget about spending time, all of their grandparents I feel so very lucky to have not just spent time but have great memories of my Great grandmothers - from both paternal and maternal side of the family. And I'm glad Anirudh will also be able to say the same when he grows up.

But then it also made me wonder about one thing. We, the people from our generation, have started having our babies so late that by the time they are of school-going age, their grandparents are already 60+ if not more. And I've noticed this age difference is growing even more lately. And I wonder, if we will be ever able to see our great grandchildren and probably even our grandchildren? The ages at which we are getting married and at the age when we are having our children I really wonder how much of a possibility will this be.

Handsome kuchh nahi khayega!

About an hour ago at 8:00 AM when I was dressing up Anirudh for school, I thought he was looking really nice in his denims and his new pair of semi formal shoes.

So I hugged him, gave a peck on both cheeks and said "Anirudh is looking so handsome!" He just smiled at me..a very diplomatic smile..which vanished in less than a second.

So once he was seated in his high chair and I had clicked this pic I asked him what he would like to have for breakfast. I gave him couple of options- a pear, an apple, slices of butter toast and even his favourite sweet buns. After thinking for a while he goes "Handsome kuchh nahi khayega!" :D

I was literally speechless for a few seconds hearing his response. I wonder how much he really understood the meaning of what he said. Or is it that I undermine him and his little (or not so little) brain?

But I really get awed by his responses..such witty responses!

Anirudh solving Sudoku

Anirudh observes me solving the Sudoku puzzle every day. And when he sees me writing on the paper he wants to do the same. And he gets really annoyed when I stop him from. I'm sure he must be thinking "She writes herself and doesn't let me write!" :D

Today day I very generally told him that we fill in numbers in the boxes from 1 to 9 in this game. He was so elated hearing it and said "Mujhe numbers aate hain!" I nodded and said yes to him.

So as I'm thinking what to fill in, he just took way the paper and pen from me and started solving it on his own. And his logic for solving the puzzle was that if there is a number 5 written in a box, the next empty box has to be 6. Why? Because what number comes after 5? Number 6!! hahahaha...

But well..his logic was correct in his own way..right? I was so amused that I let him solve it the way he wants to. So look at him solving the Sudoku puzzle - probably the youngest progeny in the world to be solving one!!

Hurting himself goes way back....

In my last post I had written down few incidents that happened in the recent days when Anirudh managed to get hurt and on his own without any need for any interventions from anything or anyone :P

I recently remembered the first incident when he hurt himself and he was just 3 weeks young! Can you believe it? But you better!! I guess you will when you read what happened. Me and MIL, who was here for my delivery and post that to help me taking care of him me being a first time mommy, were sorting out clothes and stuff that we need to carry. In about a few days time we all were to travel to Jaipur where his Dadu was eagerly waiting for him and also the place where we would be doing his namkaran ceremony.

Anyhow, so as we are sorting the stuff we need to carry in one corner of the room and Betu is lying on the bed in the very same room, we hear his shrill cry! Me and Mummy both turn around to see what happened and we just saw him lying there and crying. So I went over to him to see maybe he has peed or pooped as he was a total panditji in that respect. He liked to be cleaned up that very minute the deed is done. But no, it wasn't that. He's wailing and has his arms over his head towards the sides. So as I try to pick him up I notice he was crying because he had caught his own hair in his tightly closed fist and now when he was trying to get his hands down, he was unknowingly pulling his own hair and thus the wails! :D

So you see, hurting himself goes way back in the history.

There's something seriously wrong somehwere!

It has been 10 days since Anirudh has been getting dangerously hurt himself! How he's managing to do it is beyond me!

September 2, 2007 :
We are leaving from Appa's house and he rolls down 8-9 steps. I'm shrieking more than he is looking at him going down the stairs. He has been up and down those stairs at least 100 of times uneventfully (thank God). But it happened..what I had been dreading all the time! Luckily he didn't get hurt except for a few bruises on his right leg. I was more shocked than he was. I needed more calming-down than he did.

September 2, 2007:
We are DH's Mausi-Mausaji's house and Anirudh is playing around having fun with his Yashu Bua. Then he goes to watch a DVD on her laptop and sits down on the chair. We left him for not more than 5 mins and we hear a crashing sound. The chair had toppled over and he had cut his tongue by his own teeth with blood oozing out. WE immediately put sugar and ice there and it stops withing minutes.

September 6, 2007:
Despite us telling Anirudh not to climb our glass top side tables, he just doesn't listen. It was around 9 AM and I've gone to the loo and I hear a crashing, glass breaking sound and wails of Anirudh. I hurriedly run out to see the side table has fallen sideways and the glass is broken and Betu is standing there between those pieces of glass and crying. I was aghast and immediately scooped up Betu and make him sit in a different room and looking at his body to see if he got hurt from the glass breakage while trying to calm him down at the same time. Luckily nothing..not even a scratch! The glass on the table top was 1 CM thick so thankfully it didn't shatter into tiny pieces but just in 4-5 pieces. So that kind of saved him from getting hurt.

September 8, 2007:
I'm in Kitchen, DH was shaving and we hear this clink and then crash. We both run and see Betu is holding remains of what were 2 glasses with glass pieces shattered around his feet. Again we scoop him out and as he is minutely examined for no injuries and when we ask him what happened he said "Main to cheers kar raha tha!" He had noticed us doing cheers and clinking our glasses and he was trying to do the same thing on his own but I guess he used too much force. We just rolled our eyes and calmed him and asked him to not do it again.

September 10, 2007:
Don't remember what me or DH were doing but suddenly we hear Anirudh's wailing sound and we rush to see he was trying to climb or god knows what with the broken side table and he hurt his right eyebrow badly because of that. He got a little bump on the center of his forehead too. Even after putting loads of ice-pack the bump just refused to flatten out.

September 13, 2007 (i.e today):
Myself and Anirudh were having a pillow fight and he suddenly runs toe the living room where his Richie Rich cartoon was showing and suddenly I hear his big shriek! I ran, DH ran and DH scooped him up with blood flowing out from his lower lip as if someone had opened the water tap. I immediately rushed to take out ice and some sugar (sugar supposedly helps in stopping the blood) and we put both there on the injured inside of the lip. But it took about a minute for the blood to stop flowing out and then we noticed it was a 3-4mm gash in the inside lip. We sprinkled Ferrum Phos powder on the gash too. He was again trying to do something with that broken-top side table and hit his face right on it.

Me and DH got so angry...not at him so much as on ourselves. And now we have put away that broken-top side table in the store but it feels so bad that why in the hell did we delay it so much. We should have kept it away then itself when the first incident happened.

So looking at so many accidents in the past 10 days is really scaring me out and I'm thinking like those old aunts on the lines of "his stars are not good these days". And I'm praying no more suchincidents to happen in the near future. Really praying hard!

Pulling my cheeks!

My cheeks are hurting from his "Mumma Cheekoo" antics! He has been pulling them so often and so hard saying "Mumma Cheeko" that even if I touch them from outside they hurt.

And when I try to do the same to him and quite softly, he will start crying. Uff...kya karoon is ladke ka...

But then he's such a cutie too. When he comes home in the evenings, I can hear him calling out to me "Mumma! Mumma!" when he's still not entered our house gate and he comes running over to me and I get smothered with his sloppy wet kisses and cuddly hugs! By the time its my turn to do give my share of kisses to him, he's already trying to wriggle out of my arms to do his own things!

So basically he decides when he has to kiss/hug/cuddle with me and ALSO when I can do the same to him. Uff...kya karoon is ladke ka....

Proud to show off his assessment sheet!

Yes! I'm a proud Mommy! Very proud! We had a PTM (Parent Teacher Meeting) on September 8, 2007 and we were shown his assessment sheet for the month of August! My little boy has fared amazingly well. The sheet boasts of 'A' and 'A+' completely except for English Conversation where he was graded as 'B+'. Since in their grades chart even 'B' stands for 'Adequate', so no concerns on that part too!! Its not his fault as such. I mostly talk to him in Hindi and even if I speak with him English and he replies to me in Hindi, I never tried to make him say it in English. But he surely likes to use English when he gets angry. He repeats what I say when I'm angry such as "No talking to you!", "Stand in the corner!", "No toffee, no chocolate for Mumma!" etc etc. :D

Anyhow, seeing his grades in the sheet made me so happy! Although for a moment I thought "Come on..he's not even in class I. This is just a preschool assessment" But I just waived off this thought and said "So what!" Him doing so well in any level is as good as it can be and every parent should be proud of their child's achievement however big or small it may be!

Frankly I was not really knowing he would fare this well because whenever I would do alphabets with him, he would just jumble them all up and not say them all correctly. But his teacher told us that he never falters there in the class leaving me " o.....k......a.......y" and wondering if at home its me taking his test or is the other way round?

So here's the Mumma proudly showing off the pic of her son's assessment sheet displayed for all to see and applaud!

Wow! Its so beautifooool!

Whenever Anirudh finds something nice appearance wise whether its food or a picture or just about anything, this is how he describes it "Beautifooool!" And its so funny hearing him say it. Its obvious that he's picked it from me because I know I use this word quite often. I've tried to correct him to say it in the right way but no luck as yet. But I also know that he will learn soon. Its just the matter of practicing with him.

I've had to work on his pronunciations quite a bit as far as talking in English goes. Especially the alphabet 'S' when used with 'T' or 'K' or 'C'. For e.g he used to pronounce 'Star' as 'tar', 'Stick' as 'tick', 'Scooter' as 'cooter'.

So I had to first make him say 'Ssssssss" and slowly he started to say it almost right. So now 'Star' is "Ssstar' and 'Scooter' is 'Ssscooter' :D

Now the other problem area is saying 'Sh' and 'Z'. He pronounces 'Sh' as 'Ss' and 'Z' as 'Jed'. Therefore 'Shape' is 'Ssape' and 'Zebra' is 'Jebra'

I'm sure with a bit of practice he can say it right. But it is so funny seeing him the way he pronounces things right now :)

Anirudh's favourite corner!

Anirudh has found his favourite corner in the house. Of all the places it is the space under the clothes hanger that we use to hang clothes inside the house. He will just put a cushion there underneath, lie down with a book or two and just talk to himself or pretend to read a story. Why I say pretend is because he mostly makes his own stories using the articles and people and things that he sees around himself. It sure is quite funny hearing his self made stories.

So here I leave you with some pictures of his favourite spot in the house!