Stepping in Mumma's foot steps!

Betu, its a little too early! Don't you wanna wait a little longer? :D
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Height of excitement!

Sunday afternoon while Betu slept off at Nanu's house, me, hubby and my chachu went to buy a bicycle for him leaving him with Nanu. We went to the cycle market at Jhandewalan to get access to larger variety. There must be about 20 odd shops there selling variety of cycles. Can you imagine that?

After looking around in about 6-7 shops, and looking at various known and unknown brands we finalised on Hero Swirl. We saw BSA, Hero, Tobu, Avon and some local names that I don't remember now. And it was not just the brands that confused us. You had to choose between a tubeless or tire tube ones. We had to choose from the back support or the backless ones. We had to choose between different height ones. Since Betu was not with us, we were quite confused which would be the best height for him. Finally using our gut feel for the height, and a tubeless tire one from low maintenance aspect 2 things were concluded. Now was the question of which brand.

We found the BSA one quite good but since he didn't have a fresh piece of it and was trying sell us the one on the display, that was ruled out. And then we saw this Hero Swirl model and liked it too. So decision made and cycle was ordered. The guy took out the red colored one from the box and started to assemble it. Just then I got a call from Appa saying Betu had woken up and was crying. I spoke to him and in little cries he said "Mumma.." But when I told him we are getting a bicycle for him he did get consoled a bit. I called up again in about 5 mins to check if he has settled down and he had. But Appa said he doesn't want to speak to me and is snuggling with him. I took that as a good sign :D

So somehow we managed to squeeze in the cycle at the back seat of the car and started off to my Dad's place. I called Appa to bring him down (they live on the first floor and my chachaji on the ground floor) as we were nearing the house. When he saw the cycle he was getting so excited but shying away a bit and hiding behind his Nanu. First he said "Yeh to chhoti hai!" (This is a small one) and then when he tried to climb it he said "Yeh to badi hai. Main kaise baithoon is par" (This is big. How do I sit on it?) And we all laughed and told him to first decide if its small or big!

He refuses to call it a bicycle. He will say "Yeh to bike hai!" :D This is the pic of him trying to sit on the 'bike' for the first time.


Soon after he managed to pedal it properly but he kept looking down at the pedals instead of looking in the front.
Slowly and slowly his confidence built up. And he started to actually enjoy it.

A little while later he tells me "Bhagwan ji to pranam karke aate hain mandir mein" (Lets go to the temple). I was taken aback. So I and my Chachiji took him to the little Shivji temple and he went and did "pranam" while I waited near his cycle. He came out after a while and said "Hum laddoo to laye nahi" (We didn't get any sweets). I was taken by surprise yet again that he wanted us to offer sweets to Bhagwan ji. After that we came back home but kept saying he wants to go to the big mandir.

So once we were back at home he kept asking his Nanu to take him there and so off we went to the big temple where the Panditji did puja for his cycle and tied the kalava (auspicious cotton thread) to his cycle and on his hand as well. It was now that he was finally happy and satisfied. :D





His excitement kept growing and he wanted to be with his cycle all the time. Once we came back home, we kept riding it inside the house. If he could have managed, he would have actually kept it next to him on the bed when he went to sleep :D

In the morning, the regular routine of cuddling with Mumma went out for a toss and he straight away went to his cycle. When we asked him to come for brushing his teeth, he came riding on his bike. When I asked him to come for bath, he came riding on his bike! :D

And after getting ready for school, he was on his bike again!

So the highlight of the days and nights is the bike these days. I wonder how long this 'bike' fever will last!

The alphabet soup!

Anirudh got this lovely packet of alphabet noodles from his Mausi when she came down in March this year. I can put them any soup and he will just lap it away. Not because he loves the soup but because I blackmail him by putting these alphabet noodles which he just cannot resist. :D I hope you can make out those alphabet noodles in the picture.

Yeah yeah! I know I am being a "meanie mommy" but I don't care!

Betu clicked this picture himself. He just wouldn't let me click saying I won't be able to click it good enough. Sigh...what trust the kids have in their parents!

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His hindi

I just love the way he talks in Hindi sometimes. The words he uses and how it puts it across. He speaks in quite a style..probably "Adab" would be the more appropriate word but sorry don't know the English word for it. At least can't think of it as of now. For example if he wants something he will say "Main coloring karna chahunga", "Main xxx khana chahunga". He doesn't say "Mujhe woh chahiye" or "Mujhe woh khana hai". I find it really sweet.

Another thing that I have to learn from him is how he tells us if we do something wrong. He will not say "Aapne galat kara". He says "Koi aise karta hai?" or "Yeh koi achhi baat hoti hai?". I somehow find the tone that makes you look at it positively. That makes you stop right on the tracks without getting angry. It kind of makes you answer to yourself that you have done wrong.

I really have to learn this from him.

He wants a pet!

I'm getting so amused by Betu's requests. One day he wants to drive a car, the other day he demands to have a dog in the house and today it was a cat that he wanted us to keep.

Yesterday I met a friend from the neighbourhood who was taking a stroll with her Pomeranian. At first he was getting scared of the dog but after I patted and stroked it couple of times, he wanted to touch but was still very scared.

Somehow, half willingly he touched the dog with one finger :D And a while later he wanted to take the dog home but still wouldn't touch it. When we came without the dog, there was lot of fussing and tantrum throwing. It went on till he went to bed. But by the morning when he woke up, he had all forgotten it.

Today in the evening, he saw a cartoon where a boy had a pet cat. And suddenly he started to demand to keep a cat at home.

All this while, since yesterday, I have been telling him why we can't keep a pet at home but he has answers to each reason of mine. When I said since papa mummy go to work and he goes to school and daycare, there would be no one to take care of the pet at home, to give food he promptly said "Main usko apne saath le jayunga" (I'll take it with me) :D

Treasures from the pocket!

Bits and pieces of clay and thick cloth flat string. :D

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His latest obsession...

...is to drive a car.

Every now and then, at least 4-5 times a day he will tell me that he wants to drive a car. Not the toy ones but the real ones "Mumma jaise mujhe bhi car chalani hai!" I had told him that he can drive when he turns 18 years old when he asked me the first time. So whenever I will say "Nahi. Aap abhi nahi chala sakte" he will repeat it "Jab main 18 ka ho jayunga tab chalayunga?"

But there are times when he will continue to insist by adding "Nahi main 18 ka hoon!" I will laugh and ask him "Who turned 4 not so long ago? And who got this gift on his birthday?" by pointing at few of the gifts he had received on his birthday. He will laugh and say "Main!"

And what makes me go on cloud 9 is when he will insist that Mumma will drive the car and not Papa! Then Hubby will joke "Teri Ma se pahle chala raha hoon main!" :D

Main kahan hoon?

Yesterday evening I took out old albums and started to sift through them since. Betu was sitting right next to me. It just so happened that the first album I opened was from our wedding. He got curious and started to point and name the people who he could recognise. After a pic or two he started to ask me where was he? When I told him that you were not there, he got mighty upset. He said "Aap mujhe akele chhod kar gaye the?". However much I tried to explain to him that he was not born that time, it didn't make a difference. He was not able to understand the funda of being born. He kept saying "Yeh sab gandi photo hain" and kept shoving the albums away and asked me to stop looking at them. So I took out the lone album that I have of him when he was barely a month young and told him that the little baby in the pictures is him when he was so little..a small baby! He was amused...quite amused. He kept asking "Main itnaa chhota tha?" Main tab diaper pahnta tha?"

Looking at pics of his Dadi-Dadu and Nanu playing and loving the little baby he asked "Sab mujhe bahut pyar karte the?"

Then I found an album from our trip to Pithoragarh(Uttarnchal) and told him that he was in Mumma's tummy that time. He had such a big questioning look on his face and said "Tummy mein? Main wahan kaise pahuncha?" I tried to tell him that "jab papa mummy did pyaree, you came in their tummy." I couldn't think of a better explanation and he also didn't buy the one I gave. He continued to be angry that we didn't take him along and left him behind.

And then he just wouldn't let me even touch an album. Just because he was not in them. And he kept clinging and hugging the album which had pics of him as a baby and said "Yeh meri hai. Baaki sab gandi hain":)

Quite vocal about his likes and dislikes

Anirudh has always been quite vocal about his likes and dislikes ever since I can remember. When he hadn't learned to speak, he would make sounds or shrieks to let us know. And once he had gathered enough vocabulary, he uses it to let us know.

What I really like is he would say so outrightly if he appreciated something. And that gives such a ego boost to the self when he says something nice about what you have cooked or about your dress...just anything.

If he likes the dress which he is wearing or anybody else is wearing he will promptly say "Yeh to bahut achha lag raha hai!" And if he doesn't he wil lsay "Yeh mujhe pasand nahi lagta". In fact on his brithday I wore a crepe top with Katha work on it and the moment I wore it he asked me to change it as he didn't like it :P

And when it comes to food, his eyes will dance and nod his head and say "Mmm...achha hai!" And if he doesn't it will be a screwed up face with a tongue sticking out "Ah..yeh achha nahi hai!". There are times when he also gets diplomatic about his comments. He will still have a morsel and do the regular nodding of head and dancing eyes after a morsel but will say "Bas. Aur bhookh nahi hai!"

Day before yesterday we all had gotten ready to go for a wedding. After I emerged from the bedroom wearing a Georgette sequined sari, adorning my gold choker set and matching bangles, he looked at me and said "Wow! Mumma aap to bahut achhe lag rahe ho!"

On the way to the wedding he was talking to his Dadi-Dadu on the phone. And they were talking about his school and later the conversation moved to the wedding. So they asked him what he was wearing, what mumma was wearing and what papa was wearing. He told about his Kurta pyajama. Then told about my saree and when prodded on the color, he told it correctly as 'purple'. And when it was time to tell about what Papa was wearing he got into being a tease mood. He said t-shirt and pyajama. and started to giggle. Thats how he is these days. He knows when he can be a tease and have fun.

Then his Dadi asked him who's is looking good so like a sweet little child he says "Betu, Mumma aur papa!" . So she prodded him further "Sab achhe lag rahe hain?" and he replied saying "Haan!". So she prodded again saying "Par sabse achha kaun lag raha hai?". And to answer that he didn't even need to think for a second. He immediately said "Main!"

Main busy hoon!

Its 8:05 PM right now. I had a client call to US today evening and it got over a few minutes ago. So I called up home to tell them I would be starting in 5 minutes. After a lot of rings the phone was finally answered by none other than his highness Anirudh. This is how our conversation went:

Betu: Hello?

Me: Betu kya kar raha hai?

Betu: Yeh to Mumma hain.

Me: Aap kya kar rahe ho?

Betu: Main to bas game khel raha hoon? Main aapse thodi der mein baat karunga. Main abhi busy hoon. Ok bye.

He didn't even give me a chance to say another word and was about to put the phone down when I could hear hubby telling to give the phone.

Yes Betu, You are a big busy guy already! But please do take out time for old haggard Mumma too!

Guess who/what is this

Any idea? Think.

Come on! Make a guess!

The Revelation (Apr 16'08):
It indeed is Thomas the tank Engine. Since many of you thought so too I guess he didn't do that bad a job ehh? :D

The supposedly looking pigtail is the chimney where the smoke comes from. The big semicircular thing is the 'hook' to which the 'trucks' (the train coaches as they are called in the series) will be hooked onto. :D


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Matlabi!

As I was lying in the bedroom he comes to me saying "Mumma, main bas aa gaya aapko pyar karne. Bas aa gaya." Exactly how I talk to him when he is not well. My heart was swelling up with happiness and pride but soon it burst like a balloon that has come to contact with a pin as I realised he had come for my hairclip. The hairclip which he uses to hold on the cassette of a video game into its slot ever since he broke it long ago.

After a while when he had left the videogame lying around, I took it to see the game. He immediately came to me saying "No. Aapki tabiyat theek nahi hai na. Aap usko touch mat karo." I pretended to get upset and he goes "Main aapko pyar karta hoon na? Aise gussa nahi hote."

Ok boss! As you say!

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Feeling upset coz Mumma is not well

I have been having bad cold and cough and feeling slight feverish since yesterday. Moreover hubby is also not in town. So I have been asking him to play on his own and not cuddle with me much lest he catches the virus from me. But Betu just doesn't like it. He is walking around with such a sad face and wants me to play with him or watch TV or his DVDs with him. Every once in a while he will come and hug me, caress my head and ask "Aapki tabiyat theek ho gayee?" and when I will answer in negative he will ask "Aapki tabiyat kaise kharab ho gayee? Aapne thanda paani piya tha?" :)

I have been getting lectures on how to take care of my health every now and then from him. Just because he is not liking me being sick at all! He is such a sweetheart!

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What's that?

Mausi gave me this little thing wrapped in gold foil with a red ribbon and there was a little tinker bell too!

I quickly undid the ribbon, tore away the golden wrapper and look whatit was! A Chocolate bunny! That's so WOW!

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Maalish...Tel Maalish!

Sir jo tera chakraye, ya dil dooba jaaye,

Aaja pyare, paas hamare, kahe ghabraye...kahe ghabraye!

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Who's teaching whom?

Almost everyday when me and Betu are on the way to his School, we sing songs, or go over the days in a week and sometimes I ask him to tell time by asking him if "big hand is on # and small hand is on #, so what time is it?". And there are times when I ask him to tell me his papa's mobile number which I had made him learn about a month ago. But I keep asking him to say it again once in a while just so that he doesn't forget it.

Today morning, I asked him to tell me what his papa's mobile number was. And as always when he said it correctly I said "Good job! Awesome!" and he was quite pleased with himself.

Now that I felt he remembers it very well, its time I make him learn mine as well. So I said "Betu , ab Mumma ka mobile number botle hain. OK?". He nodded and said "Aap batayo aapka kya number hai?" I slowly told him my number and the moment I finished he goes "Good Job! Awesome!" in a loud voice.

I looked at him utterly surprised and he started to giggle. It clearly meant he was just doing it for fun! An attempt to tease his Mumma in which he completely succeeded! :D

He and his talks...

I realised I had not been posting a lot of things, the funny things, that Anirudh keeps saying off and on. And so many times I literally have to hold my laughter in front of him and there are times when I just can't. And the worst part? I don't remember much of them now :P

Few of his talks that I DO remember are:

Incident 1:
On Sunday he was playing with his Dino that he got from his Shravan Mama on his birthday, which growls and roars like the dinosaurs while swaying its tail and head while walking forwards, and he let it run over the set of my wooden coasters lying on top of the table and thereby knocking them all off to the ground. They fell with such an impact that one of them chipped off. I got angry at him and when I showed him what damage he has done, instead of feeling sorry he tells me "Aap aisee cheez kyun laatey ho main tod deta hoon?" (Why do you get things that I can break?) I had nothing to say after hearing this because as you all know he never faults!

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Incident 2:
We both were playing together making various kinds of animal noises. From a pig to a horse to a dog to a cat to a bird to a snake. You name it and were doing it irrespective of the fact that for quite a few animals we were not even near to their actual sounds. Soon after I became a lion, I roared and said "Main tumhe kha jayunga!". He immediately makes such an innocent face and tells me "Arre yeh to main hoon..aapka chhonu!" :D

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Incident 3:
He has this very funny habit of trying to smell the aromas (and the not so good ones too) and goes sniffing the air with his nose twitching. Depending on how he likes it or not, he will say "Yeh to gandi khushboo hai!" or "Yeh to achhi Khushboo hai!" We always have such a laugh when he will say "Gandi khusboo". We have tried to tell him so many times that its "budboo" and not "khushboo" but to no avail. We have stopped trying now.

Its so amusing to see him go sniffing into the kitchen when he can smell something nice cooking in there and he will try to guess the dish by its aroma. One day he will say "mujhe rajma ki khusbo aa rahi hai!" or "Mujhe pasta ki khusboo aa rahi hai!". But the funniest part is when he smells something bad, he will keep sniffing it, screwing his nose and say "Ay chhi!"

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Incident 4:
Today morning hubby was brushing up his teeth and he was being fidgety. I was in the kitchen and they were out of my purview but I could make out from their conversations that he was not being easy. A while later I could hear him going 'ouch' a couple of times and then he says "Main 'ouch-ouch' kar raha hoon aur aap fir bhi karte ja rahe ho. Aap ruko aur mujhse poocho to ki kya hua?"

Aspirations?

Just read a post on Sundar's blog where he wrote about his conversation between his daughter on what she wants to be when she grows up. (Sundar, I hope you will not sue me for plagiarising as I'm copying the title right off from your post title :D )

Reading his post reminded me of my conversation with my Anirudh on Saturday night (Apr 5, 2008) around 11:00 PM while we were driving by "Air Force" club near India gate. He saw the fighter plane models displayed near the entrance and that triggered a little conversation between me and him:

Betu: "Mumma look..aeroplane! Mujhe usme jaana hai"
Me: "Betu, thats not an aeroplane. Thats a fighter plane. Usme sirf pilot baithta hai..ek fighter pilot."

Betu: *looking confused and not buying my statement*
Me: "Jab 2 countries ke beech mein war hota hai to fighter pilot usme baith kar fighting karne jaata hai."

Betu: "Fighting karta hai??" (Looking even more confused now)
Me: "Aur aeroplane mein pilot baithta hai aur logon ko ek jagah se doosri jagah le jaata hai"

Betu: "Main pilot banunga"

I didn't ask him anything else neither he said a word further. This is the first time he has talked about what he wants to be. We have never talked to him about what he wants to be when he grows up so that kind of left me a little amused. And at the back of the mind, I had already started calculating how much money should we start saving in case he actually wants to go for commercial pilot training :P

Budding photographer?

Anirudh has been fond of clicking since very long but because of his age and our tiny pockets we didn't even dare let him use it unless we made sure he cannot drop it and that we are around. But couple of days ago when I hooked the camera to download some pictures I saw so many pics that he had taken which I was not aware about. And some of them are quite funny. Have a look:












Can you guess what these pics are? The lower ones? Well..they are closeups of his own face.. :D

Little Einstein comes to the rescue!!

Almost everyday is a big tussle to get Betu to get ready for school as he would want to keep saying "5 minutes" every time I would ask him to brush his teeth or come for bath. I even wonder if he knows "5-minutes" as such. He must have heard us using it and now its become his favorite way of saying no when we ask him to do something. His 5 minutes keep getting extended.

Anyhow, so talking about Little Einstein, I recently discovered it is aired on Disney Channel at 7:30 AM every weekday. Since he loves to watch it, it has come to my rescue very well. I wake him around 6:45 or 7:00 AM and then coax him to get ready fast saying "Jaldi karo nahin to Little Einstein finish ho jayega!" (Be quick else the program will get over) and it works! Touch wood!

I've him ready mostly by 7:30 AM these days, give him something to eat before I head for my bath or do some little errands and we are all set to leave by 8:10 AM.

What tricks we parents have to use to make our children do what we want! But thankfully they work!! :D

End of day 3 and starting the day 4 at new school

Day 3 ended quite well. Much better than how I had expected it. I reached his school early yesterday afternoon and sneaked inside the reception just next to the area where the kids assembled before being dispersed to their respective school vans/buses or handed over to parents. And I was peeping through half open blinds to see how he is faring. They stopped letting the parents in soon after I had got in. Thank God for that!

I saw him walk along with his classmates and teacher who made them sit in a line on the steps just outside the reception area. I kept looking at him all the time. He was smiling and looking here and there and then he looked at the window. And he locked his gaze there. And then he smiled and just wouldn't look away. It was obvious that he had seen me. And I was like..this boy is so amazing..how the hell did he see me through those tinted windows and half closed blinds??

I smiled back at him and stayed inside because my purpose was to do a sneak check on the driver. But after a minute I just came out because he just wouldn't look away..he kept looking in my direction and kept smiling..all the time!

The moment I reached him, and bent down I got a nice hug from him and then he started to sing the new ladybird poem they were taught. Told me he had Kadhi-Chawal for snacks and that he had lots of fun. He told me that today only one kids was crying. When I asked him if he tried to pacify that kid he told me "Woh to Ma'm kara rahi thi na" :D

Things were much better handled and organised yesterday. It was not as chaotic as it was on the 2nd day. Kids were not crying, there were no parents inside to trample on the kids. It was so very peaceful. So after his driver collected all the kids, he sat in the van and went away to his daycare.

Today i.e on Day 4, he has gone in his school uniform. The school had given the leeway to send the kids in home clothes for the first week. Yesterday we bought his white school shoes and a water bottle which made his uniform complete and thus decided to send him in his uniform itself. Since he was excited about wearing the uniform too, I thought why not!

There was a slight difference in his behavior when I dropped him at school yesterday and today. Yesterday he didn't even turn back once to look at me but today he turned back at least 5-6 times. He did not seem as happy as he seemed yesterday. He wasn't smiling today. But I'm not worried. We all used to have days when we didn't want to go to school.

its 1 PM right now and I called up his daycare. They told me he reached there 5 min ago and was having his lunch. I am so eager to know how his day went today when I meet him in the evening :D

Day 2 & Day 3 at the school

Day 2 wasn't as great in the morning when we dropped him as I've already written in my blog. He cried so much that I couldn't hold myself and cried when I came out of the school.

He was getting so scared at the kids crying so loudly and shrieking for their mothers to come back. I can't describe the feeling with which I walked out of the school in the morning. It felt like a terribly wrong decision. And I felt so horrible to have turned my back and walk away from him when he was calling for me.

But it was an altogether a different story when we went to pick him up at 12:30 PM. He was happy and smiling. When I asked him if he had a good time, he just nodded with the a grin pasted on his face all the time. By using hand actions told me that they sang a ladybird poem. On asking what he ate, he said "Daal, Roti..Parantha". When we told him he has to go with Monu bhaiyya in the van to his daycare Oxford Kids, he was happy although wanted me to accompany him in the van. But when I showed him other kids who are going to be with him in the van, he didn't insist.

I spoke to his daycare supervisor in the afternoon around 2:30 PM to ask her how is he doing. She told us he is so excited and very happy. He filled her up with all the details on his own . However he told her that "Mujhe bahut bhookh lagi hai. Mumma ne aaj tiffin nahi rakha" so she asked me if I had forgotten to pack his morning snacks. I was surprised since he had told me that he had daal and roti when I met him up at the school. And I told her the same and that the school is going to provide the morning snacks. We both felt that probably he was very hungry with all the excitement and was trying to win sympathy points from her. But I decided to check with the teacher when I meet her next.

Day 3 i.e. today, he was eager go to his new school. I was worried that he might not want to go there today looking back at yesterday mornings incident. But am I glad I was wrong? :)

Today parents were not allowed to go beyond the gate. There was a teacher standing there to collect the kids and take them to their respective classes. I stood there with bated breath watching him trot off. He walked past the teacher, up to the stairs and then disappeared in the gallery. I got a little worried if he has gone to the correct class and asked the teacher if I can just go and check. Initially she kept saying no and told us that there would be teachers who would guide him. But I insisted just for today to go and see and she let me. I ran and saw him walk to the correct class on his own. I made sure he doesn't see me lest he gets clingy. I saw him walking into the correct class and at the same table where he has been sitting for the past 2 days, with his hands on his lap looking around at other kids.

The kids were also in much better shape today. Not a single kid was crying today! I was quite surprised with this sudden change between yesterday morning and today. That relieved me quite a bit and then I quietly turned back and came out, all satisfied. On the way back I asked the teacher if he was given snacks at the school or not yesterday since there was a confusion. But she said they all were given snacks. She had served them up and told us they had Daal Makhni and parantha yesterday. So that confirmed what Anirudh had told me when I went to meet him after school yesterday. I guess he was famished due to the change in environment and being just excited.

I will go today as well in the afternoon to see him and also to do a sneak check on the van driver to see how he is going to take the children. But definitely I'm quite satisfied on the whole and not tense at all like I was yesterday at this time :)