Thanks Dear Anirudh !

Hi Everyone, I am Anirudh's chachi and Aryan's (of Times of Aryan frame) mother.

I am here to thank dear Anirudh for all the parenting lessons that he has given me to help me raise Aryan into a good boy. NO , I am not here to thank ~nm. I am here to thank Anirudh.

He told me that , I should teach Aryan to pee in bathroom and not in diaper. He taught me that I should make Aryan wear sweater ,when its cold. He taught me that I should not let Aryan walk bare foot. And I even got scoldings (with frown and lines on forehead) for letting Aryan do his Big Job in diaper once. Where do I get just advices from a little wishful thinker.

I would also like to thank Anirudh for being a responsible big brother that he is to Aryan. Witness this :

Scene : Aryan gets extremely angry and starts hitting me in fit of anger at a public gathering. All the other cousins of his left from the sight like I told them to (till Aryan becomes calm), since I did not want them to be the victim of Aryan's anger. But Anirudh being Anirudh stays and goes like this , with finger up and a frown on his face and lines on forehead :

"Aryan !!!! Aaapne Mumma ko kyo maara ???? Aaapko pata hai na , ache bache Mumma ko nahi marte??? Gandi baat."
The !!!! , ???? in the above sentence denote the stress on the words.

He looked so cute that I felt like leaving Aryan to hug him. All the irritation that I was feeling that moment because of Aryan's behaviour just flew away.

And another one :

Scene : We are at ~nm's place. Anirudh just started his dinner , having dal roti and subzi. Aryan attempts to get hold of the spoon in Anirudh's bowl to have a spoonful of daal. At this Anirudh reacts :

"Aryan !!! Yeh Bhaiya ki daal hai !!! Isme bahut mirchi hai !!!"
The !!!! in the above sentence denote the stress on the words.

His tone was a mix of anger and shock , it was like a mom would react if the kid is about to touch a hot vessel. He looked so very adorable.

But the funny part was that Anirudh does NOT eats mirchi and his dal had NO trace of mirchi. He was just behaving like a grwon up big brother.

So here I am thanking dear Anirudh , for being such adorable teacher and guide to me and such a responsible bro.

Love you Sweetheart !


Big Brother feeding the younger one with ice cream!

All this just for not wanting to go to school

Yesterday morning Betu didn't want to go to school. He was cribbing and fussing about getting ready. When I made him stand at the basin to brush his teeth, he finally said, "Main ghar chhod kar chala jayunga. Fir aapko meri yaad aayegi, main fir bhi nahi aayunga."

So you see these threats start so early in this generation. Sigh. Anyways, hubby got angry hearing him say all this but I talked to him very calmly about it

Me: Ok. Par aap kahan jayoge?
Betu: Kahin bhi. Aur aap udaas hoge, par main fir bhi nahi aayunga.

Me: Its ok. Aapko jane ka mann hai to chale jayo. Par aap jayoge kahan?
Betu: Main prithvi ke ghar chala jayunga.

Me: Ok. Par Prithvi ki mumma to usko pyaree karengi. Uske saath cuddly karengi. Aap kya karoge?
Betu: Nahi uski Mumma sab bachhon ko pyar karti hain.

Me: Haan. Woh sabko pyaar karti hain. Par raat ko to woh apne papa mummy ke saath soyega aur aapko aapi aapi sona padega. Fir kya karoge?
Betu: *ponders for a minute* chalo achha..main yahin rahunga. Aap udaas ho jayoge na isliye nahi jayunga.

Me: Nahi. Aapka mann hai to chale jayo. Mujhe koi problem nahi hai.
Betu: nahi par aap udaas hote ho to mujhe achha nahi lagega.

And the topic got closed as he went for his bath. But did you see how he very cleverly I was made to be the reason he was not going :D

Aajkal ke bachhe, baba re baba...

Aap meri step mom ho?

This is the question I was asked couple of days ago by my dear little son Anirudh. Surprised? Even I was. So I asked him why do you ask this? He had a very simple answer to it "Kyunki aap mere se itna kaam karati ho. Aur step moms bachhon se bahut kaam karwati hain."

I was initially a little aghast at this statement but the moment I realized why he asked me this question I was really laughing away. It so happened that I was making him clear the mess of his toys when he made this statement in full seriousness.

But I didn't leave it there (but obvious..isn't it? :D) and I asked him who told him about step moms.

It seems in the school that day the story of Cinderella was narrated to them. And that story has a step mom who is very cruel to Cinderella and makes her work really really hard. And because of THAT story, I was asked THIS question.

Sigh..what do you say to this question and more so to this logic!!!!

Capturing Mumma-Papa's room

He captured our room by putting his toon stickers on the bedroom door. So now he says, its his room now and he is being nice to us by 'sharing' the room with us.

What can we say about losing the battle when we were not even given a chance to fight the battle. *sigh*

It begins early...

A recent conversation with Betu after I picked him from Daycare:

Me: Aapne kya kya kiya school mein aur daycare mein?
Betu: Kuchh Nahi (in quite a low/sad tone)

Me: Kyun? Kuchh to kiya hoga. masti kari hogi. Aapko mazaa aaya?
Betu: Nahi

Me: Kyun?
Betu: Mujhe Vrinda ne maara! (Vrinda is a 6 year old girl in his daycare)

Me: Aapne usko pareshaan kara kya?
Betu: Nahi. Main to usko bas kiss kar raha tha.

(His kisses are limited to cheek ones so far *wink*)

I had to really really control myself from laughing out hard. But I did laugh even though it was a suppressed laughter. And I was glad that Betu sits at the back seat and couldn't see me laughing else it would have hurt him more.

And at the same time I felt such a twinge of pain seeing how hurt he felt. There was this innocence and genuineness in his statement.

I gathered myself and told him that he should ask his friends if he can kiss them before doing so. I just didn't know what to tell him I definitely didn't want to tell him not to kiss because it would have meant its a bad thing which its not.

So again everybody. Any ideas on how to tackle this?

One of my "What-the-hell?!" moments

Yup..it was one of those moments. You get busy in the kitchen for 15 min and suddenly you realise you have not heard him in a long while, so you just come out of the kitchen just to check and this is the sight that hits me right on the face! I almost shriek; totally confused if this is the place which was completely in order just 15 mins ago; I pray that this may just be a dream and that someone comes soon and pinches me hard so that I wake up from this horrid horrid dream!!

But alas..it wasn't a dream after all! I just sat down with my both hands on my head and no clue what to say, what to do or where to start from. And then as if understanding my pain and seeing the horror in my eyes he comes to me, pats me on the shoulder and says "Mumma..koi baat nahi. Main aapki help karunga!"

My Sweet Little Don!

This incident dates to 2 weeks ago. On Nov 29th, was the wedding of Hubby's cousin and we were out shopping for an outfit for Betu. We saw many suits and after making him try 3-4 we finalised on one. So as we were trying someone in the shop said "Aisa suit to Shahrukh Khan ne Don mein pahna tha." Betu heard that and looked at himself agian in the mirror and asked "Main Shahrukh Khan jaisa lag raha hoon?" and everyone around had a good laugh at his question.

So when he wore it on the wedding, he was telling his cousins "Yeh Shahrukh Khan wala suit hai!"

The Sharukh Khan mania had come over him after we saw Om Shanti Om last year and it still continues. The cousin who was getting married shall be moving to Mumbai. So once he came to know that Shahrukh Khan also lives in the same city, he instructed me to pack 5 of his dresses and send him with his Bua (Hubby's cousin sister).

So here is my Lil Don aka Sharukh Khan eating aloo stuffed golgappas!

And the moment we entered the marriage venue, right at the entrance was the paan stall. And he straight away went to the paan-wala and ate his gulkand wala paan! And if I remember correctly in the movie Don, even Shahrukh Khan ate pan and did the jig on "Khayike paan banaras wala..". Betu has not seen the movie Don so it surely was quite an interesting coincidence.

We even managed to find good comfortable long toed formal black shoes for him to with his shoes. I so wanted to take a nice good pic of him alone which I could have printed and framed but it was just impossible to make him stand still!! This picture is the best one I could manage of him.

What do you say to that?

Today morning Betu was asking hubby about something again and again. Hubby as usual snapped at him. He came to me with a sullen face and told me "Hum doosre papa layenge. Yeh papa gande hain. Hamesha daante rahte hain." (We will get another papa. He is bad. He scolds all the time) But obviously I burst out into laughter and then added "Kaash itna easy hota Betu."(How I wish it was that easy.) loud enough for hubby to hear that who was sitting nearby.

Betu took that statement of mine quite seriously and in quite a heart broken voice said "Hum market jayenge. Mall mein. Wahan se layenge." (We will go to the market. In the mall. We will get from there). I just laughed a little more and hugged him.

But seriously what do you say to that? And where do they get all this in their heads? :D

Its time to update your dictionary

As me and Betu were sitting at Barista at GK2 with Betu gorging on the chocolate excess, he saw a lady ordering the same. He turned to me and said "woh mere jaise wale cake ke peeche kyun padi hai?".

I looked around embarrassingly wondering if anyone had heard him. Thankfully no one had. I told him that he is not supposed to talk like that about anyone in the restaurants and that too so loudly. And especially about the people we do not know.

He came closer to me and whispered "hum jinko nahi jaante unko him 'aliens' bolte hain na?". I tried hard but couldn't control my laughter when he said that. :D

Later I told him that those are called 'strangers' and not aliens. He continued his barrage of questions as to who aliens are and we talked on. And later he surmised "Par hum aliens ko bhi to nahi jaante?" I just nodded and we got back to eating our chocolate excess!


~~ Keep Smiling! ~~

Sent on my BlackBerry®.

Beauty conscious

I can already imagine what trouble we are going to face when he is in teens looking at him being so beauty conscious at this age of 4!

Other day we went to Spencer's mart to pick up some general grocery stuff. As we were browsing through some soaps, he picks up a Nivea vitamin creme soap and says "Yeh 'silk skin' wala le lo mere liye". In the begiinning I was not able to get it right and only after I kept putting away the one he was handing me over, that he got angry adn said "Aap mera 'silk skin' wala soap kyun nahi le rahe ho?" that I understood the words 'silk skin'.

Me and hubby both had such a laugh and so did the other customers who were standing nearby.

On another day he combed his hair in a certain style using his hand only and turns to me and asks "Yeh style kaisa lag raha hai?"

Although I find all this very cute right now there are days when his such style/beauty consciousness scares me. Abhi se yeh haal hai to bade ho kar kya hoga?

Authoritative Love

Since the past week Betu's Dadi-Dadu are here to take care of him since he had a viral relapse. And he has heen happy as a hare (is that a phrase?) ever since their arrival. I say a hare becuase he keeps jumping and hopping here and there. Not resting at all. And during their visit the three of them had made a pact that Betu will also go with them when they return to Jaipur. Although he was a little confused earlier when they told him papa-mumma won't come with them but sooner than later he was convinced he would go minus papa-mumma.

When he woke up yesterday evening and went to their bedroom, he only found his Dadi resting there. So he came back to me and asked about Dadu's whereabouts. When I told him Dadu has left for Jaipur, he looked at me a little surprised and a little shocked. After a few seconds he asked me "Fir kya main Dadi ke saath Jaipur jayunga?" I knew I was lying but nodded in affirmation. He was fine after that.

Today morning as I was in the kitchen, preparing breakfast, he came to me almost in tears asking "Dadi kahan hain?". I told him she has gone for her morning walk. But looking at his heartbroken and shattered face one could make out what he was thinking. He had thought Dadi has left to Jaipur too without him. :)

After his Dadi came back from her walk, he didn't even go to her to say good morning or give her a morning hug which he usually gives. As we were all sitting in the living room and I narrated the incident in the morning when he thought his Dadi has left to his Dadi she asked Betu "Tum mujhe yaad kar rahe the, par ab main bula rahi hoon to mere paas aa bhi nahi raha."

Without even looking towards her, in a very sarcastic tone he responded saying "Aapko walk zyaada achhi lagti hai na" and continued watching his Little Einstein.

Me and my MIL (his Dadi) had such a laugh and didn't know what to say after that :)

He expected them to be around when he wakes up and got angry when he didn't find them. It shows how much authority he feels he has on his grandparents and it also shows how much he adores them.

Touch wood for such bonding between Betu and his Dadi-Dadu!

Some incidents from yesterday:

Anirudh has been down with viral (3rd time in the past fortnight :( ) and was home with his grandparents yesterday. Here are some incidents that happened yesterday which I found quite funny. Funny enough to record them here.

Incident 1:
After I reached back home from work, Betu was running here and there and busy playing with things. Slowly his fever started to rise. So I told him. "Aap rest nahi kar rahe ho. Dekho ab aapka fever badh gaya." I guess I should have been accustomed to 'expect a whack' by now but the truth is I haven't. He retorts back "To aapko mujhe bolna chaihiye tha na ki Anirudh rest karo. Badmashi mat karo. Isme aapki galti huyee na!"

Yes my child..its always Mumma's faults! *rolling my eyes*

Incident 2:
Betu's Dadi was giving him milk in the morning. She gave him plain milk unawares that he takes it with bournvita. So when she extended the glass to him he frowned at the glass and looked at his Dadi and said "Yeh doodh achha nahi hai. Aapko doodh banana nahi aata!" My MIL was so shocked at his response and told me later in the evening that she couldn't help laughing at his statement and his expressions.

When he added later than "Main bournvita wala doodh peeta hoon", she went looking for the bottle but couldn't find it in the kitchen. So after few minutes he trots off to the kitchen and tells her where the bottle is but only after adding "Aapko kuchh nahi pata!"

Although my MIL was having a good laugh telling me this incident but I knew that I had to tell Betu that he has to be more courteous talking to elders. When I expressed this concern to my MIL, she just waved it off saying that he feels close to us and that's why he talks to us with such authority. And I felt this is what is called "Blind love of grandparents!" :D

Dancing a la Shahrukh Khan style!

Yesterday night when I was getting Betu changed into his night dress, I asked him to take his shirt off. After opening the buttons, he stood still for a few seconds and was eying me in a very naughty expression. I was wondering why and before I could think too much or ask him anything he broke into the "Dard-E-Disco" dance (from the movie Om Shanti Om) opening his shirt wide and shaking his body just like Shahrukh Khan does in that song.


I couldn't help laughing at this sudden act of his. He also started to laugh with me and kept at it for another minute. Later he asked me "Aap has kyun rahe the? Main to Sahrukh Khan jaise Om Santi Om wala dance kar raha tha" (He cannot pronounce 'Sh' as yet unless I made him say it slowly) I had no answer and just smiled but he wanted an answer and kept asking me so I simply told him "Mujhe mazaa aa raha tha aapko dekh kar" :D

He is such an adorable child!

After picking him from his daycare, as we were driving back, the car was stopping abruptly. And it happened 3-4 times. Since it was rush hour, the vehicles behind me would honk on continuously.

He asked me each time the car stopped as to what happened. I would just tell him "Car kharab ho gayee hai". After a few minutes of silence, as we are waiting at a traffic signal, he says in a very compassionate tone "Maine socha ki jab main bada ho jayunga na, tab main aapko new car dilayunga!". I can't describe what I felt at that moment. If I had not been driving I would have just scooped him up in my arms and smothered him with kisses and cuddles! So I just managed to give him a peck on his head as the signal just then turned green. I'm sure with envy :D

I can't thank GOD enough for giving me such an adorable loving child! I love you my baby!

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 :)

Meet his kids

Yes you read that right. He called me to the bedroom where he was playing with these toys and said "aap mere ko pyaree karte ho na, isliye mere bachhon ko bhi karo" :D

And then I heard him telling them to be good children and to not go on the road without him.

Then he pretended that one kid went on the road alone and asked me to scold him. And when I did he shouted at me saying "aapne mere bachhe ko kyun daanta?" *rolling my eyes*



~~ Keep Smiling! ~~

Sent on my BlackBerry®.

He gets kind of sad...

..when he finds mail in the mailbox and on asking if its for him I reply a "no". Ever since he got a birthday card in the mail, he asks me every time if there is a mail for him. It breaks my heart to see him getting so sad.

I remember how excited we used to be when we would come to know that there is a mail especially for us. And in this e-world today, he sure is going to miss out on that fun.

Do you think I should start mailing him stuff just to keep him happy? Some cards, some drawings that he can color up, just tidbits to make him happy and excited?

I think I will try doing that and see his reaction :)

This clever little boy..

...he knows which door to know in what situation. As I was talking a to a friend I remembered an incident from the trip to Jaipur that we recently took to meet his grandparents.

We had booked tickets for a 6 AM Volvo on Saturday, May 24. And we had a dinner to go to on Friday night. I was trying to pack up quickly after coming back from dinner as I wanted to sleep early as I had to wake up at 4 AM. Anirudh was so excited about the trip that he just wouldn't sleep. He, by his own words, was trying to help me but was as such being more of a pain than any help. So I kept shouting at him to go to bed and so did Hubby.

So when we reached Jaipur, Betu's Dadu was waiting at the bus stop to pick us up. When I told Hubby tell to papa that there is no need to come to pick us up and we will come by auto, hubby said "Woh humein thode hi lene aatey hain. Woh to apne pote ke liye aate hain"(He doesn't come to pick us up. But to pick his grandchild) :D

Coming back to the incident, the moment Betu saw his Dadu, he ran towards him and was promptly picked up by his dadu and given tight hugs. Once through with the hugs and all, Betu poured out all his woes that how he got scolded yesterday night by Papa-Mumma and that he (Dadu) should scold us back! :)

Now what do you call this little imp of a boy!!??

He is soooooooo clever...

Today morning while I was, as usual, wiping him off after his bath and getting him dressed, he was troubling me a lot. He would run here and there and was throwing his clothes in the air and would shriek when they would fall on his head! Yeah ..that crazy he was being!

And as usual I was getting mad at him and when I reached my saturation point I started to shout angrily. And can you imagine what he did?

Well, you will not be able to guess anywhere near so let me tell you. He came running to me and gave a hard and long peck on my lips to shut me up! *rolling my eyes*

He really knows where and how to pull the strings...sigh..क्या करूँ इस लड़के का! उफ़!

He wants a moustache!

Today morning after Betu came out of his bath and I was wiping him, Hubby came and gave him puchhas. Betu started to squirm a bit and on asking why he said "Aapki mooch chubh rahi hai" (Your moustache is hurting me). When Hubby walked away after giving him a few more puchhas, Betu said to me "Main bhi boy hoon na. Fir mere kyun nahi hai?" while pointing his finger to his upper lip (I'm also a boy then why don't I have it?). I just couldn't help laughing and called up hubby to tell him this.

When Hubby came to the room, Betu repeated "Mujhe bhi aapke jaise chahiye" (I also want like you have).

On being told that he is small and needs to grow up to be a big boy, he replied back in a kind of flustered tone "Main bada to ho gaya hoon na!"

I guess these days he gets to hear a lot of responses of "When you are a big boy" when he demands to do certain things that he has started to get a little flustered.

But Betu, you REALLY have to be a big boy to have your own moustache! :)