His second library book from his school.
I managed to reap the benefits from the moral of the story immediately after I was done reading it to him.
He quickly cleared the clutter of the toys that he had made in the living room. What more do I want :D
I've posted many a times the love for tattoos that Anirudh has.
Couple of weekends ago he took out the Fevicryl paints that I had bought to make his school's holiday homework where we did some vegetable painting on a paper sheet and on a handkerchief. He shoved them in my hands along with a brush and asked me to make a tattoo on his hand. And of all the things he asked me to make Ben 10 as the tattoo! When I tried to tell him I don't know how to paint tattoos he would not listen and kept insisting "aapko aata hai" (you know it). I tried by all means ato make him understand that I cannot make a Ben 10 tattoo at all!
He finally agreed but only that I make some other tattoo saying "Aap try to karo" (you try at least). The same reasoning which I give him when I'm trying to get him to do different things. Very smart..nahi? :D
So I told him I can paint a flower, a butterfly, a sun and a tree and he can chose from these. He agreed for the butterfly on one hand but then asked me to make Spiderman on the other! I again tried to tell him I don't know how to make one and again I was given the same response "Aap try to karo". After I was done with the Spiderman it looked anything but a Spiderman. But then who cares as long as your child is happy! :D
So here are my first attempts at painting tattoos.
In Lajpat Nagar there is a small park where there are about 6-7 ducks. And whenever I got to Sabhyata (my one stop shop for 90% of my suits and all) or a store to buy house stuff, he invariably stops to gaze at the ducks.
This time he wanted to touch them and see them up close. But they kept running here and there away from him all the time. Sadly I didn't have any eats that I could give to Betu to lure these ducks. Hopefully next time I will remember to carry some bread crumbs.
Here are some pics of Betu running after the ducks and they running away from him :)
Hello Aryan. Wishing you a very happy birthday. Khoob saari masti karna. Aur papa-mumma ko bolna balloon dilane ko. Aur cake bhi khana.
Mumma ne bola tha mujhe card paint karne ke liye par mera mann nahi ho raha tha. Main thodi der mein banayunga ok?
Take care. Bye
Since I was home today I picked up Betu from school. As expected he was mighty pleased grinning from ear to ear. Thats exactly why I had decided to pick him up..to see that jubilation in his face and eyes.
So after we started to drive back home, I generally asked him what all he did in the school and who all he played with. He started telling the names Yukta, Ananya, Indraveer, Samar and he told me the name of one more boy which I have forgotten. As I went "hmm" he asked me said something which left me stumped. He said "Yukta meri girlfriend hai" After that he went mum and so did I as I was trying to gather myself up after hearing this piece of information! But he continued to leave me even more stumped by asking "Aapko Yukta achhi lagti hai ya fir Ananya?" I kind of figured where he was heading towards and was trying to see if I answer back what he wants to hear. He has always been talking about this friend 'Yukta' ever since he started going to this formal school. When I tired to tell him I've met Yukta but not Ananya how can I say who do I like better. But he kept insisting me to answer. So I replied "Both".
Now it was his turn to be stumped and he asked me further "Par meri ek hi to girlfriend ho sakti hai na. Isliye aap batayo ki Yukta ki Ananya." Since I knew he wanted me to take the name of Yukta I deliberately answered back "Ananya".
How I wish I had the words to describe his face expressions then. It was a mix of disappointment and that of pondering and of confusion. He in a very flat tone said "Achha..to theek hai." And after a silence of few seconds he said "Meri dono girlfriends hain" leaving me grinning. Finally I asked him "Girlfriend kya hoti hai aapkot pata hai?" He proceeded to tell me "Jaise papa aapke girlfriend hain aur aap Papa ki, waise Yukta meri girlfriend hai." I literally felt earth moving beneath my feet wondering who the hell told him this. And when I posed this same question to him he replied back in a matter-of-fact tone "Kisi ne nahi. Mujhe pata hai".
After that we got talking about something different and I was glad about it. Because I didn't know what to talk to him about the subject further. I had drawn a blank thinking how can a 4 year old possibly know about the fundamentals revolving around a 'girlfriend' and a 'boyfriend'. And I'm still wondering with no clue of how this piece of information has reached his teeny weeny brain.
But at the same time its telling me I need to gather up my act and know each and everything that he knows about and talk to him more and more. Coz I should know what all he has stored up there in his head.
Lately Anirudh has been testing our patience every single day! And when I say lately I mean 2-3 weeks. Its not just me, its hubby who also has the same story to tell. We just do not know what has come over him or what has changed and why is he behaving like this!
Morning start with tantrum and wailing and crying and however hard I try to reason with him, it just does not work! And eventually I end up slapping him which results in both of us, betu an me, getting upset as to why I slapped him. I know I need to be more patient but when this same pattern is being repeated day after day, it just gets to me.
And when you pick him up from the daycare, the same thing repeats. Tantrums and wailing and crying ! One day it will be a demand for a toy, another day for a DVD or for not wanting to go home! And on the way back home, after picking him from his daycare, almost every alternate day I stop at the local grocer to buy milk. And that just gives him an opportunity to demand for those cheese balls or his chocolate biscuits! The moment you say no to him, he will start his nautanki right in the shop and won't stop till you buy him what he is demanding. There are days when I just don't listen to him and he will continue crying and hitting me for hours!
Sigh...so many times I've tried to distract him or tell him why I'm not buying but it JUST DOESN'T WORK!! I'm literally pulling my hair at such occasions!
Every evening when he goes to bed he agrees that he won't repeat this behavior again but then tomorrow is another day! All promises are forgotten and a fresh batch of tantrum start off!
I just hope and pray that this is also a phase and that I figure out soon how to handle him at times like these!
Lot of you have been asking as to what we did on the day when Betu asked me to take chhutti as he wanted to be with me.
We did nothing as such but then we did a lot of things!
First he watched some cartoons on TV such as Oswald, Little Einstein. And then we both sat down and painted and painted and painted. Yes! It was like a paint day for us. I have written quite a bit of times that he loves to paint. You can read them here and here and here and here and here in case you missed them before. And it doesn't matter if its his face or a paper :D
I haven't taken pictures of what all we painted but we must have filled up about 20 sheets!
I had made different stamps using potato and he used to paint them as well. Here is one example from his summer homework that we did using these potato stamps!
We had long session of story time where in I completely made up various stories. I must have told him about 10-12 odd stories.
And then of course we snuggled into each other and dozed for good 2 hours as well :)
So a day well spent and thoroughly enjoyed by both of us!
Betu had got some art work to be done as summer holiday homework. Just about 8 activities. Some were mere coloring, some were tearing colored paper and sticking in the defined areas or alternating colors.
So here are 3 of these activities that I really liked :)
This is a handkerchief which we have painted using Fevicryl (fabric paints) from the sliced vegetables. And you can see the name in the bottom which he painted himself. I first wrote the name using a pencil and he painted over it. We used ladyfinger, bitter gourd and a leaf to make the patterns.
This one is supposedly a wiggly worm which he painted using finger painting and ear bud painting.
And this one is a sun, but obviously *wink*. We first painted the sky light blue and then we tore up yellow paper and red paper to give it a look of the sun!
