16 September 2014 - 2 Years Old!

We went to temples today because it's your birthday! You were born on the 15th in the USA, but it was the 16th in India. So we were confused whether to celebrate your birthday on 15th or 16th here in India. We ended up celebrating it on 15th with Kachodu ajja and ajji. And went to temples on the 16th. But we are waiting for your dad to arrive to have a big real celebration.  

None of us can believe that you are two now and I can not update my baby diary with all the small details any more. Even your brother is growing up and you are creating a million stories to enter. So from now on, I have decided to write down a few points that I remember when I update the diary. Here it goes :

They were showing a temple on TV one day and we watched "Abhisheka" of the God. The little head on my lap immediately said "Aww.. Chaami did chi chi" (God urinated!)

When we put clothes for drying, you love to recognize whose clothes they are and you say "ammandu", "ajjidu", "Aadyandu". Few days ago, your granny was putting her white skirt for drying, you said "ajjandu"! You had thought that it was ajja's mundu!

You like one of Aniket's shirts a lot and the minute you see it in the cupboard, you pull it out to play. You wear it as a cap and walk around with a funny smile.

Since your brother has started frog jumping now, you have found a new game by hiding objects in his clothes and send them to me through him and if he does the job right, you tell him "baavaas" (supposedly shabhash) for his achievement! And also you like to name the objects he touches, may be to teach him the names. I see the big sister!

You imitate everything you see or everything you hear, including your grand father's snore! So he loves to pretend asleep now, just to hear his grand daughter's adorable snores.

You like to climb everything - windows, gate, chair, furnitures, top of the car! It is quite scary these days because without our knowledge within a few seconds you reach the top of the car. If it was only so much, I wouldn't have worried much, but you try to roll on top of the car as well!!!

As I had already said, you have made it a habit to hold my "karimani" while sleeping. Later on you wanted it even at night if you woke up and then you wanted it whenever you felt scared or sad. And later on you wanted it even during the day and all the time. On May 29th, you were fighting for it and it got cut! You cried and so did I because it is my "mangalsootra". I decided not to wear it for until you come out of that habit and kept it away.

One day you tried to throw a torch through the window and I stopped you. You got angry, pinched me and I pretended to be crying, I showed my hand to you and said "boo boo". You peeped at me, didn't say a word and climbed the bed, reached the cupboard, pulled out an ointment, gave it to me and said "babbu aaku" and walked away!

You surprise me over and over again with your vocabulary. I have given up the idea of writing down the words. You amaze me when you give back words I had taught a month ago from nowhere in the right context! My cousins get surprised listening to your vocabulary every time they talk to you, though they meet you every other week.

You eat well, but only if you are sitting in front of a video song. So whenever we go out or if we attend some function, that day you fast! The other day, at a pooja, your Divya atthe and I tried to feed you showing you the vehicles and dogs. But the minute I put some food in your mouth, you spit it all over your Divya atthe!

You love video songs so much and though I am sad that you eat only with the songs, you learn a lot from them. Not that you know many songs, but also, the names of the animals, uses of many things, way of living and hundreds of other things. Few days ago we were out on a walk, somebody walked next to us carrying a rice bag on their head. You called them back and said "beke beke tharakaari" thinking that they are selling vegetables! They didn't understand what you said, just smiled at you and went. The video song effect!! Also you never stay calm when you play. You continuously keep singing songs, unfortunately we don't realize which song you are singing. Sometimes, a few words in between sound familiar and we recognize the song. It becomes a problem when you want to watch a particular video song, you try to tell it to me and I don't realize what you are saying. I feel bad for you, I try to observe as keenly as possible at your actions and try to make sense of your words. But sometimes you throw temper tantrums because I don't understand the song you are talking about! But I am much better compared to other family members and usually I do the translation for them of the Aadya language to grown up language. Sometimes when others don't understand what you say, you try to tell them in different ways. For example, when your grand father didn't understand that you wanted your toothbrush, you told him "besh", "allu", "cheem cheem", "thikku" and many such related words with action. Your song "koovaaless theeyooyee" took a long time for me to realize that it is "QRS TUV"!

You trouble your brother sometimes, especially if he takes away your mom or if he grabs things that you are playing with. But when none of these are happening, you love him a lot. Few days ago, when an aunt (Ramya) came home and when she was leaving the house, she was still carrying your brother when she said 'bye' to you. You got really scared that she is going to take away your brother, you literally pushed me towards her and said "amma.. Ani hothu, hogu, thaa" (Ani went, go bring him)! Sometimes your anger is for genuine reason. Like the other day you made your chinky boy (doll) sit on your rocking chair and went to get some food for him. Meanwhile your brother came and pulled chinky boy off the chair. When you came back with food, chinky boy was on the floor, you directly went to your brother and slapped him. Can we blame your brother? He is just 10 months old! Can we blame you? You didn't hit him for no reason!!

You like to apply your video songs with anything familiar to you. When you saw a huge vessel full of Payasa in a function and saw the cook turn the spatula in it, you went to him and told "row row row your boat"!

On June 11th, your head circumference was 19.5 inches, length was 34 inches and weight was 12.5 kg.

Your granny had lifted her saree till her knee for household chores and you saw her skirt and said "Oh! ajji is wearing chaddi today"!

On June 10th you first answered the question "what is your name?" We all clapped when you said "Aadya" like stating a definition. You were so happy that you kept making us ask you for your name.

When you are not supposed to do something, we usually change your attention. You know it quite well and now a days if I try to take something away from you (like soap or breakable objects), you try to divert my attention by showing "see fan!" or "see there, a tree"!

You used to sleep with me since you were born. But just before your brother arrived, we had to make it a habit to sleep with your granny. Because I didn't want you to see me nurse your brother and get bonded with your brother. So you were sleeping with your grand parents and I was always guilty about it. Since June 7th on wards, now you are back with your mom! Both you and your mom are now happy though your grand parents miss you.

After you got a blood test done for the allergy you have with mosquitoes, you got a colorful band aid on the prick mark. You thought that it was a tattoo and said "aahaa haa"

You try to imitate your brother now. Once again there is a crawling Aadya now, who struggles to cross "hosthilu", stays there hitting it. Once again Aadya is back to talking "ba bba bbaa".

When you want to jump on the bed, you do the preparation by yourself - take away the pillows to clear the space. You also love to clean up your toys if someone is there to clap each time. Once all the toys reach the toy box, if the clapping person still stays back, you empty the box again on the floor to start cleaning up all over again.

I usually call your granny if you come inside when I feed your brother. Because I don't want you to feel curious about it. It has become such a routine now that the minute I look at you coming in, you yourself call "ajjiiiiii, Aadyana kakko (karakko)!" (Ajji, take Aadya from here)! You still don't know the usage of me and you. So if you are talking about yourself, you use your name. Like instead of saying "I want banana", you say "Aadya wants banana".

We go for walks every evening at 5.30 pm and you wait for it from 3 pm itself. You meet a few akka when we go for walks, play with them for some time and then I drag you back home when it gets dark.

You can't easily pronounce every word though you them well. You get confused and call 'gida' as 'diga', 'keppate' as 'kettape', 'rikshaw' as 'shikka', 'shree kripa' as 'shee paka', and the list goes on. And there are few words that don't sound like the original one at all. Like 'chakko chaai' is butterfly, 'neelimi' for onion (neerulli), 'toppeti' is laptop. There are similar words in your dictionary as well like 'oLele' and 'koLele', one is 'iruve' and the other 'kudure'. 'fy fy' and 'sy fy', that is flying and spider.

You say 'mashing' for washing machine and few days ago when I was sleeping after dinner, you kept your head on my stomach and you heard my stomach growling. Immediately you lifted your head with surprise and said "there is a mashing in amma's stomach". Then you wanted to hear everyone's stomach and you concluded, including even ajja and ajji, all have mashings in their stomach!

I found some lakme's red nail polish at home and put it on your nails when you were asleep. When you woke up, you were so happy that you showed "banna" to everyone you saw until even the last bit of nail polish disappeared from your nails. So on your birthday, some mehendi and red nail polish was a great success in making you happy.

We went to your mother's school a few days ago with your grand father and you saw the school bell. We had to immediately run back to our vehicle because you started crying as loudly as possible that you wanted to ring that bell. If we had stayed there for little longer, either the students would have got disturbed from your cry or they all would have run home hearing you ring the bell!

Now a days, you are quite aware of the permanence of your brother and you have accepted him as your family. In most of your plays, there is a presence of your brother and the other day when you saw 'bal Ganesh' video song, you called yourself as Ganesh and you said that the mouse is your brother!!

The big sister now keeps watch on her brother and if he starts crawling towards the bathroom, you call me "ammaaaa.. thamma hothuuu, hoguuu"!

You talk to your doddajji for almost an hour every day sitting in her room, the speciality of this conversation is that she can not hear. Its fun to over hear you both and she somehow guesses what you say and talks about her medicines to you. You nod your hear and reply as though you understand her very well.

It's such an entertainment to let you on your own and watch you from far. You do all the actions and pretend plays are awesome with your dolls. You talk to them and talk constantly when you are let alone. All the conversations we had earlier, gets repeated and the new words that you have learnt along with a few laughters here and there. Even a few old conversations we had a few days ago come in between as well!

Your dad has sent a potty trainer seat for you, and it looks so cute. You started using it for the right purpose since you turned two exactly. You call it "Aadya tholet".

Your grand father had bought a tricycle for you 4 months ago and so far we had to push you whenever you wanted a ride. On September 11th you started riding it on your own. We were so happy to see you ride it and though your dad is far away in the USA, he was on a video chat when you rode it and even he saw you ride it for the first time. When we all clapped for you, you wanted to ride it even more. You went in a straight line and we had to turn you around when you reached the end and the entire day we had to do so!

30 July 2014 - Milestones after Milestones!!!

               There are so many things that has happened after I updated my blog last time. You can now sit on your own, roll on your own, crawl on your own and you eat solid food! You laugh as though you got tickled with your loud voice and you love to see attractive colors and play with those toys. We get to see all the emotions in you now - you get angry, you get irritated, throw temper tantrums in your own way and spread joy to all of us as well. You have learnt to communicate well now - you clearly express what you want and what you don't like.

               You now babble constantly, communicate a lot. At time you give that piercing scream and shriek your lungs out! On the other hand, now you can understand our emotions to some extent, you cry when your sister cries and smile back at us. Peek-a-boo is your favorite game to play, makes you laugh. You don't put things in your mouth now and that is a good development. Your sense of humor is getting better day by day and you can easily laugh now. 

              You love to do "aane aane" rocking back and forth and when we reach the end part of falling down, you recognize the tone of our voice and start smiling and you yourself bend to fall down.

               On May 2nd, you sat on your own. On May 6th, you started to crawl in a new way. It is like a frog jump and fun to watch, whether it is a crawl or frog jump, it anyway makes you move further and I can call it a next milestone.

               Whenever you see a toy, the first thing you do is to turn it over. You always want to see what is under it and try to discover it more by poking and putting your finger in if you see a hole under the toy or try to unscrew to take off the battery or slap the toy. More than the toy with its purpose, you are interested to discover more from it by flipping it to see all other sides. Your sister used to play with the tags of every toy when she was of your age.

               Since you have started frog jumping now, your sister has found a new game by hiding objects in you and send them to me through you and if you do the job right, she says "Baavaas" (supposedly shabhash) to you! And also she likes to name the objects you touch, may be to teach you the names.

               After you started frog jumping you are always on the move. Sometimes, the walls don't give you way! It is sadly a lot of fun to watch you sit in front of the wall and cry that it is not getting out of your way!! Your constant struggle to crawl is so strong that at night, in sleep you keep folding your legs to crawl and lift your body with your eyes closed!

               Your sister troubles you sometimes, especially if you take away her mom or if you grab things that she is playing with. But when none of these are happening, she loves you a lot. Few days ago, when an aunt (Ramya) came home and when she was leaving the house, she was still carrying you when she said 'bye' to your sister. She got really scared that she is going to take away her little brother, she literally pushed me towards her and said "amma.. Ani hothu, hogu, thaa" (Ani went, go bring him)! Sometimes her anger is for genuine reason. Like the other day she made her chinky boy (doll) sit on your rocking chair and went to get some food for him.

Meanwhile you came and pulled chinky boy off the chair. When she came back with food, chinky boy was on the floor, she directly went to you and slapped you. Can we blame you? You are just 10 months old! Can we blame her? She didn't hit you for no reason!! Few days ago, your sister was on my lap and when you came there, you instantly got angry, pushed her off my lap and sat there as your private property.

               On June 11th, you started crawling properly. When you completed 9 months, your height was 27 inches and head circumference was 17.5 inches. Your first haircut at a Parlor was done on June 8th at Bekur and your ajja held you for the haircut. You didn't cry much, but gave a confused look when you heard the sound.

               Your first meaningful word was "atthe" on May 29th and your Divya atthe was right there to hear it. I am sure that she was happy. You always love to take bath and the minute we take you towards the bathroom, you start swinging your hands and give big smiles with excitement. If you are left alone, you try to go to bathroom every time. 

               Vehicles are already your favorite and you immediately turn to the sound of it and stare at any vehicle till it disappears. If the person carrying you is blocking your sight, you push us aside to see the vehicles. If you are left with a vehicle, you try to discover its wheels and if you are inside you always want to hold the steering and push the audio buttons.

               Your voice is quite loud and if you are in a good mood, you make people turn to look at the noise maker! You talk to them "tha tha thaaaaa". Wires and ropes are other favorite items, but the first place goes to any electronic items, especially cameras and cell phones. We can't even fool you by giving its covers, you throw them right on our faces!

               Your great grand mother likes to carry you and walk around all the time, she never keeps you down. Even you like it when she takes you around. So even you like her a lot, give her hundreds of smiles every day. But the problem is that you are getting used to it so much that you want to be held all the time, which becomes a problem, when we are at Bekur and your doddajji is not there to carry you around there.

               You give such a funny expression when you taste a new food and the very first bite of each meal bounces back on me. I have got so used to it and now when I feed your first bite, my hand automatically stays back near your mouth to catch the shooting food.

               The problem now is that you don't let me take your photos, the minute you see the camera, you want it.                               

                You can now look at the direction we point at and want to be let alone, you want to be independent. You want to climb the stairs and pulling the nose of those who carry you seems to be your favourite thing to do. You grab my nose, pull it and bend over my cheeks and give a kiss that makes my cheek drip! And then laugh as though you got tickled. Who can resist biting this kind of a baby?

What!?!? A frock on me!!!???