Then and now...

I went back to my blog and saw that the last thing i had written abt Aditi was in Oct 2013. She says 'ibi book' for library book.

Cut to Oct 2014...

Today morning, Aditi announces : I am a boy.
Me : Why?
Aditi : Bcoz i changed my mind.
Me : Ok!
:-)) What else can u say...

A long long ago when Aditi was a tiny little girl... whatever i do, Aditi is always with me(this is to keep her away from TV and at three years i am happy to say she watches very little of it). everyday she sits on the kitchen counter with dangling legs when i stand next to her making chappathis and conversation. one day i gave her a small ball of chappathi-maavu. Having seen me roll the ball then press it flat and then roll out the chappathi i assumed she would have learned how to do it by now. She went on to roll the ball, press it flat and shape it nicely and annouce to me - 'see, dolphin!'. i was a bit taken aback and asked her if i heard correctly. she insisted it was a dolphin and needed to go to 'pool'. These were the days when we had visited Seaworld San Diego for the first time(we got a year round pass after that) so dolphins were very popular with Aditi. i learned a very valuable lesson that day that when life gives u chappathi-maavu, u can make even a dolphin out of it and it's completely upto u what u do with it. Also, i learned not to take my daughter for granted...

Also, just before that, the very first time Aditi opened a book and pointed out and said the word 'Dolphin' correctly, Appa took an impromptu decision and took us all to Seaworld the same day so that his daughter could look at real dolphins....

Re-start

A few days back, i came across the draft of a story i started to write on my desktop many many months ago. A couple of paragraphs were written and when i started reading it, even though it was a story i had written myself, i liked it so much that i became eager to know what would happen next. For the life of me i don't remember! it started out so well and i can recollect thinking abt putting it into words, but i did not do it and now i have lost a story. With a jolt i realised this is what is happening in my life too... Aditi has turned 3 and Nidhi is growing up so fast too, everyday is an interesting day(to put it mildly), but unless it's recorded here in this blog things r just slipping thru my mind.

Okay the excuse first - When Nidhi won the 'Student of the Month' Award in 2012 (the very next month after she first started school in America), i had put it up on facebook. the very next day she fractured her wrist. Everyone in my family seemed to believe it was my putting it up on fb that brought the 'evil eye' on my daughter. i defended myself tooth and nail saying it was not the first time i was writing abt her achievements, but being a Mom after all i did not want to do anything that would harm my daughter. Slowly i stopped putting up things on fb. No more pics, no more announcing anything when she wins something. Less than 1% of our what was happening in our lives found its way to fb. The same thing has happened on this blog, as if writing abt it would somehow jinx it. This is very much against what i believe in - that family and friends are well-wishers and there is no such thing as 'buri nazar'. More importantly i am missing out on all the things that Nidhi and Aditi would like to read abt themselves when they grow up and come to my blog.

So, here goes... yet another attempt to revive blogging...

First thing, Nidhi did win 'Student of the Month' in the next year 2013 too. No one knows it except for us and the grandparents. when her teacher called us the second time to tell us Nidhi has been selected, i blightly assumed they must be awarding every child every year and that maybe its an award given in rotation to keep all children and parents happy. Then i asked around and found that i was most certainly wrong. There r many kids who have never received it even once in all their five years of elementary school. also, some have received it even twice in the same year. so it's all abt achievement. needless to say, i was extremely happy for Nidhi for doing her best in everything.

Second thing is Nidhi is growing into a very good dancer. She is flourishing at a rapid pace and loves her dance class. All this might change in the few months coz there is a very real possibility we might move and she will have to start afresh at yet another dance school. But for today, i thank God for being kind enough to give her such a good teacher and such an enriching atmosphere in the dance school that brings out the best in Nidhi.

The most important thing abt Nidhi... i notice i have used the word best twice in the above paragraphs - that's a good thing bcoz its not a word we use many times in real life. Having been a topper all thru my life, i vowed i would never tell my child to come first in class ever in her life. i would never place such an expectation on her shoulder and it was all upto to her what she wants to do and how well she wants to do it. i want her to feel happy for her own achievements and not do something bcoz her parents wanted her to do it or to make them (us) happy. So, when she does well in something i feel all the more proud bcoz she is doing well on her own and not due to any pressure that we have put on her. Also, she derives a lot of pleasure in whatever she does and that is what is most important to me.

Since last month she surprised us all by taking an interest in drawing and has been turning up master piece after master-piece during summer vacation. The bigger surprise was Mr.Appa who has never been known to draw even a straight line all thru his life - he started a fun drawing time with his daughters where all three if them spread out their drawing-ware in the living room, pore over their papers for the best part of an hour and come up with some stunners. i let them in peace coz i am usually cooking dinner in peace myself(rare opportunities - not to cook, but to cook in peace). then i am invited to be the gracious judge and pick out the best. invariably i pick out Santosh coz he turns out to be the best, followed closely by Nidhi. The best pieces go onto my refridgerator-door and now there is almost no place left.

As for Student of the Month this year, for the very first assembly, Nidhi was invited to volunteer in giving out the certificates (The principal announces the award, shakes the hand of the awardee and the child collects the award from the volunteers). She was so excited to be be doing this job with her classmate. Seeing her excitement we went to the assembly to see what exactly she is doing. i must say she and her friend did such a good job (with no confusion abt handing over which certificate to which child, etc). After the assembly one of the other Moms even told me that Nidhi did so well and looked so confident on stage :-) Small joys in life...

Ok, that was a reasonably good attempt to 'restart'.... Now let's c if i can keep up regularly.

No surprise that...

... after 10 years of marriage, one day, Santosh and i came home from the grocery store to find that both of us have picked up the same brand, same color toothbrush for ourselves. Now, mine has a rubber-band arnd itself to look special. :-)

Also, a couple of years ago, i started learning to drive a car. Santosh was the one who taught me. Day 1, Class 1, i have just taken the driver's seat, Santosh right beside me and the two kids in the backseat. i open my mouth to say something and Santosh says "Now Mamma will make a rule. No talking when i am driving. All children must keep quiet and let me concentrate on driving. haa...haa...haa". Needless to say, those were the exact words i was planning to say! Now that i think of it, two years ago we had not even crossed 10 years of married life!

But what i do find surprising is that though we can practically complete each other's words and even thoughts, we still talk to each other all the time all day and life remains interesting... Thank God!

Snatches of Conversations

Driving home after school...
Amma : Nidhi, hows ur new science teacher?
Nidhi : Nice. She talks like our GPS.
:-))

Aditi is playing with Nidhikka's tiara. she places it on her head.
Amma : Are you a princess?
Aditi : No. King!
ha! Attitude... :-)

i sent Nidhi a flavor of pudding-snack which she doesn't like. When she's back home,
Amma : Did u like ur pudding-snack? i told u u will like it.
Nidhi : it was ok. i choked it down!
:-$

At school, Nidhi is taking a test on the computer after school. Aditi and i wait for her just behind her. A big boy from her class(4th-grader) walks up to her and makes a very 'Ewwww, what r u doing?' kinda face and asks her 'Why r u taking the test now?'. Nidhi gives him a look of steel, says 'Because.', turns back to the computer and says 'I want to.' Big boy slinks away with tail between his legs and i silently applaud my daughter.
:-)

In Aditi's words...
'ibi book' is library book.
'it's working, it's working', exclaimed jubilantly everytime the laptop is switched on.
'go there, go there', pointing to the bathtub when she wants to have a bath there.
'ong eck' is long neck, the giraffe has it.
'bushy tail'  is the one the fox has.
'odle doo' is cock-a-doodle-do of the rooster.
'to u' is the happy birthday song.
'gummy girl' is the gummy bear song.
'mandeel' is madila, which means mommy's lap.
'ketchups', 'thannis' - tomato ketchup and water, for some reason they r plural.
'got it!' when she gets something out of her sister's cupboard with great difficulty.
'found it!' when we r looking for something like jacket, shoes, etc.
'no way!' is wherever even a simple No would do.
'Not me!' is when asked are u sleepy/are u hungry/are u anything-nice.

last week, she approached me with 'gimme chips'. The next day her dad was at the ATM and she asks me 'give money'!

If u ask her she'll show you her eyes, ears, nose, tongue, teeth, mouth, chubby cheeks, dimple chin, rosy lips, hair, shoulders, elbow, hands, fingers, nails, legs, toes, knee, thigh, feet, heart, head, brain and thoppai(stomach). She'll also show faces for happy, sad, surprise, angry, thinking and tasting a lemon.

Everyday she asks abt her thatha. She has a song which goes like this 'thatha, chennai, thatha, chennai, thatha chennai'(infinite loop). When thatha talks to her on the phone she gets very excited. And even if u fall at her feet she won't say 'ammumma', she just refuses witha shake of her head and a smile on her face. clearly she enjoys teasing us. Couple of weeks ago, as usual one day morning she asked me 'thatha enge?', i said 'chennai'. Then she said 'Amaaama?'. Ha! At last! For the first time!

she can recite nursery rhymes 'johnny, johnny', 'twinkle, twinkle', 'chubby cheeks', etc. All other rhymes she'll tell u the last word of each line like 'pat a cake', 'wee willie winkie', 'this little pig' and all others. she'll tell u the days of the week starting from sunday. My fav is 'sat-ur-day', pronounced with utmost clarity.  She can tell u the numbers from one to ten, sometimes skipping seven and eight - she doen't like them. And one day i just asked her for fun 'ten' and she surprised me by reciting the number line backwards, 'nine,six,five,four,three,two,one', again skipping seven and eight, clearly not her favs.

i have to stop writing because Aditi is saying 'apple milkshake', each syllable clear and deliberate. How can i not obey!

Lastly, posting my current facebook status:
Halloween is approaching and everybody here's decorating their house with carved lit-up pumpkins. i asked santosh if we plan to celebrate halloween this year. he said, 'y not?' and bought a huge pumpkin and asked me to make sambaar out of it!

This was just after summer vacation...

We got out of the car and started walking towards a mall. We put Aditi in her stroller. It's very difficult to get her to sit in it, but for once she was sitting without complaining. the seat-belt was not strapped on and i noticed that she was trying to buckle it in. i said to santosh "it's a good thing. she'll be occupied with it for sometime and sit quietly for that much time at least." Santosh said "excuse me, please look down." and what do i c - Aditi has managed to strap herself in! :-( when does she even learn these things! that seat belt is just like the one in the car and it takes a bit of effort to buckle up. aparently not for Aditi!

Aditi has learned a lot of words from Nidhi. Only Nidhi says 'thanks', we all say 'thank you'. And now, Aditi says 'thanks' for everything. For past two days she's been saying 'yeah' whenever she means yes. And yesterday, she was in Nidhi's room, i called her out from the drawing-room and she came running to me yelling 'commmmmmmmmming, commmmmmmmmming...' :-)

Aditi and i were going thru a book and we found the picture of a tiny wrist-watch. she gazed at it thoughtfully and i told her it was a watch. she tried it out aloud 'watch' and then ran to the wall pointing up 'clock, clock' :-) similar thing happens when she goes to a store and finds a top which is like mine. she runs abt saying 'amma-du, amma-du' (meaning mom's). i think the first time we noticed that she is making such associations is when we were in India last jan. her cousin-sister had a huge keyboard which she let aditi play with for a few mins. couple of days later she gave aditi a smaller piano from her toy-set. immediately aditi ran to the keyboard (which was covered with a cloth)and started pointing to it excitedly. her athai noticed this and was mighty impressed with her!

The first time i pointed out to aditi from a pic that animals(i think it was a lion) have tails, she turned round and round and tried to spot a tail behind her. she seemed surprised and then disappointed that she didn't have one!

a few days ago my cousin-sister was in chennai at my parents place and we skyped on her son's computer. all of us were very happy to see all of them. and yesterday, aditi starts pointing to the computer and saying 'shaadi, shaadi'. i understood immediately and asked 'shashank?'(my cousin's son). aditi nodded her head vigorously and corrected herself repeating forcefullly 'shashank, thatha, ammama!' it was daytime here and i told her they r all asleep in india. she keeps asking for them very now and then.

And the most important thing this summer is that Nidhi has learned to ride a bicycle. it took her just under a week. first two days i helped her and the next two santosh did. by the fifth day she was riding alone and we were all so happy. she announced happily to her grandparents on skype - 'i can ride a bicycle... *clap, clap, clap from chennai*... without balancing wheels! *willd cheers and applause from chennai*

Good summer, this!
 

Nidhi

After a long day spent playing in a park, as we r going home,
Nidhi : Amma, if i go home and ask for the computer, what will u do?
Amma : i'll give u one on ur bum!
Nidhi : Violence is not the answer to everything!
:-))
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Nidhi, Aditi and i were at home tracking Santosh's plane when he was returning home after a business-trip. Nidhi had reached the end of her patience waiting for him, as is evident from the 'plane announcement' she made,
in a sweet voice : 'pu...pu....pu... (the pinging sound u hear before every announcement being made on a flight) we r happy to inform u your plane has just landed.
harshly : Now, get out of the Exit. RIGHT NOW!!!'
:-))
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After updating a profile pic on fb,
Amma : Yay, i got (xyz) likes in an hour.
Nidhi : wow! now what? u get some reward?

**************************************************************************************
Nidhi : Amma, how old r u?
Amma : *mumbling insignificant number*
Nidhi : Which year you were born?
Amma : y do u want to know?
Nidhi : Did u take part in the Indian Freedom Struggle?
Amma (shaking head) : No.
Nidhi : At least a World War?
Amma (shocked) : No!
Nidhi : You never wanted to join the army?
Amma : No, no. why? u want to join?
Nidhi : No, i don't want to join. i can't join, boz i can't kill people.
And with that, she walks away. Just like that. And that in one line, is my first daughter Nidhi - all of 8 years. Kind, gentle, thoughtful...
 

Saami Rashikaname! (rekshikaname)

Santosh handed over the bell('mani') to Aditi when he was doing his puja. (Generally nidhi is the one who gets to ring it). Aditi immediately ran to the drawing-room, where i was sitting, and started doing puja to the TV! She would ring the bell, fold her hands in a namaste and say 'saami rashikaname' multiple times in whisper. i was puzzled for a second as to why the TV is being worshipped when i understood that it's becoz Vishnu Sahasranamam was playing on the home-theatre. Although the TV was off(no pictures of God being seen on TV), Aditi knew a God's song was being played.

i have noticed this before also that (only audio, no video being played) a bollywood number would make her dance while a devotional song would make her fold her hands and pray. Reminds us that children know/understand more than what we give them credit for!