22 February 2015 - Mister Chatter Box!

               On October 26^th, 4 days after your first birthday, there were functions on your behalf at Jogibettu. You were named that day as “Aniket” with the help of the priest and officially we gave you rice. Your Divyatthe held you at the time of receiving blessings as per our traditional customs and you were sleepy and cried your lungs out. By the end of the day we all were so exhausted, but we celebrated

Deepavali together with the relatives. It was a beautiful end to your day. And on 25^th night, there were many close relatives at home helping with veggies for your naming ceremony’s lunch. So we prepared cake and celebrated your first birthday for the second time.

               You can now easily climb stairs up and down not reaching the top most stair nor getting down to the lowest stair. Usually you climb up and down holding something tiny in your hand, you climb up, throw that object down, go down and bring it up and throw it down again and repeat it 15 to 20 times without getting bored.

You also like sand a lot.  Your sister and you can go on playing in the beach for hours together without getting tired.

               On November 11^th, you climbed your cycle on your own without help. You give akka your hand to do "uddaaaaa biddatthu" and you laugh when she tickles. You keep talking the entire day and the only time the house feels quiet is when you are asleep. You repeat everything we say whether you know the meaning or not. Your ajji even tried complicated words to check if you repeat after her. You do try to say them all. If you are asleep and your sister is awake, she talks in a low voice and lets you sleep. But there can't be a time where you are awake and your sister is asleep. The minute you see her sleeping, you call her "akkaaaaaaa" as loud as possible until she wakes up. 

               Your vocabulary is very good compared to other kids of your age. There are 2 more boys of your age, we keep meeting them in functions and their mothers keep asking me what you do to compare with their kids. It’s been the same always that you are one step lagging behind in your motor skills. They already run everywhere and you have not started walking yet. But in vocabulary, you are far too ahead of them. They say only ‘appa’, ‘amma’ and you talk around 100 words already and also make sentences of 2 words.

               Here is a list of words you say now and know the meaning – appa, amma, akka, Aadya, ajja, ajji, doddajji, maama, atthe, baava, anna, thaal(car), peep(jeep), loli(truck), biku(bike), chichya(rickshaw), ele(leaf), mannu(mud), kolu(stick), naayi / bow bow(dog), mem(cat), umbe(cow), akki(bird), kaaka(crow), alli(lizard), chappal, chytthal(cycle), atthi(hatthi-climb), atthide(I climbed), chicchu(switch), faaan(fan), thaith(light), othu(hothu-gone), kantu othu(current is gone), jaayi(milk), jeeji(water), mum mum(food), gaaga(baaga-veggies), enne(oil), thale, kai, kaal, moonu(moogu-nose), nannu(kannu-eye), baai(mouth), allu(teeth), angi(clothes), nanana(banana), chacchakkai(bacchankai-watermelon), jooch(juice), peppa(paper), jojo(cradle), daadi(sleep), alli hopa(lets go there), puppi(kuppi-bottle), poon(spoon), pent(pants),

ganga(manga-monkey), kooka(koocha-let’s sit), kooki-adaa(hide and seek), dooda(donda-bath), dabi dabi(sit inside a tub), fof(phone), booboo(pain), thitthittu(kuttitthu-bang), cheeev(sweets), baby, peepi(flower), thaachi, alli opa(let’s go there), achim(ice cream), choket(chocolate), thaay thaay(thane thane-stand), thai thai(dance), jom(jump), jench(dance), thappa(bottu), dain dain(bells), beg(bag), ajeeee(ujji-hot), key, gaas(glass), etthi(carry me), thattatthe(namasthe), kattuvaaaana(katva-bigiva with action), on, open, kos(close), cheken(shake-hand), baabil(bagilu-door), khaali(empty), ille, battille, pip(clip), thauchi(thochi-throw), deda(beda-no), gaali(air), bale(bangle), bomba(tender coconut) and the list goes on.

               You have become ajja’s pulli. If it is not a time to sleep or feed, then you prefer ging to your grandpa than your mom. Ajja is your favorite and love to hang around with him. Few days ago, we were going somewhere in our car and met ajja on the way. He had come to drop ajji with us and he went back. There was no time to spend with ajja and anyway we were going to ajja’s place in the evening. But you didn’t know that and cried for 15 minutes. None of us could calm you down nor distract you with something else. Finally in the evening when we met him, you were happy. In a way, it is such a good thing to me, because I get some free time, giving you in ajja’s hands. And even he loves spending time with you and gets double energy and double smile on his face.

               You always like to stay outside the house. It doesn’t have to be going for a ride. Even spending time in the yard is fine with you. Hot sun doesn’t come on your way nor the chill in the early mornings. The minute you see the door open, you run outside and refuse to come inside even for food. Even before you started walking, you wanted to wear your sister’s shoes all the time. You used to throw a big temper tantrum if it fell off your tiny feet.

                 On 28^th January 2015, your height was 29.5 inches and you weight is still 8.5 kg.

                 Your sister has a puzzle which she calls ‘pizza’ and when she solves it, we clap for her. You have seen it several times and few days ago you kept a piece of that puzzle in the box and clapped for yourself with a proud smile. We had a good laugh looking at you.

               You pronounce ‘o’ as ‘au’. So thochi is pronounced as thauchi. When someone calls you Ani, you reply ‘au’ which is actually ‘o’ and then laugh. Sometimes you laugh aloud for your own reasons and we laugh looking at your joy and you get excited for no reason. If you see Aadya jump, you hold sofa and start jumping as well. Looking at you, even she imitates you and jumps holding the sofa.

               You are quite innovative. Use things for the purpose you are aware of. You use sticks to comb your hair, bottles to roll chapathi. You saw some hair in the bathroom and called it “meaow” thinking that it is a cat. You were lying down on my lap, remembered breast milk and didn’t know how to ask for it. You called it ‘bomba’(tender coconut).

Strange thing is that you don’t get tickled. People try to tickle you, you smile for them, but don’t get tickled. Your sister does “Uddaa baaninda boochu bitthu” to your hand and tickle you at the end. You laugh with her but, never move away from tickling.

               If ajji asks you, ‘what does the cat say?”, You tell her mewm. Dog is bobow, cow is umbe……, crow is kaakaa, hen is kokoko. You kaap saying ‘abbi pappaaaa’ with a particular tone all the time. One particular day, you kept singing it for more than 50 times and then next day you forgot it. After a week, it started again and after 15 days, we heard it again. 

               If we ask you to sing, you say “aaa aaaa aaa aaa” in a high tune and then we all have a hearty laugh. If we ask you to dance, you try to jump.

You like fried food a lot and also sweets, Chocolates and ice cream are your favorite. You also like those wild tiny berries we get around the house – like keple kayi, choori kayi, ajji budka and such things.

               When you don’t want something, you immediately say ‘deda’(beda). If I continue feeding you even after you said ‘deda’, you repeat it with a tone. And if I still continue, I hear ‘deda’ in a high pitch. Just to hear that funny tone and to watch the angry little baby, I pretend to be a deaf at times. If someone sneezes in front of you, you keep pretend sneezing for the next 10 minutes. 

               Like all other kids, peek-a-boo is one of your favorites. And you say ‘kooooo’ holding your ears instead of eyes. Because you know that if you close your eyes, you can’t see our expression.

               Since you have got your first 6 teeth now, we have started brushing them. You like the brushing time and even before the brush touches your teeth, you want to spit in the sink. You have seen your sister do that and you act as a grown up and try to spit though nothing come out other than the spitting sound ‘thoo thoo’.

               You carefully watch your sister all the time and we get surprised to see you do things after her. Few days ago, Aadya sand ‘a-b-c-d’ song, you said ‘e-g-g’. We laughed thinking that it was a coincidence. Your granny said, “oh! Even Ani know the song! Sing it again”. You immediately said with the right tone – ‘a-b-c-d e-g-g’! Also, a few days later, we heard you sing ‘nony nony yeh papa, nee nee nee na papa’! I wouldn’t be surprised if I hear ‘old mc donald’ a few days later!

                 Your mama and atthe have come from the USA on Feb 8^th, they have brought a lot of goodies for you – chocolates, clothes and toys. You loved them all, but didn’t recognize them. They were so eager to play with you and carry you. After the 3^rd day, you started talking to them and after a week, you became friends with them and started climbing mama’s head as well.

               You are so small compared to how your aged kids are supposed to look. You are 1 year and 4 months old, but still weigh 8.5 kg. So light to carry and your 0 to 3 month clothes still fit you. You are trying to walk these days. From last 2 to 3 weeks, you are constantly trying to walk and on January 25^th, we were at a wedding hall (Ashwin mama’s wedding) and you walked around a lot holding your dad’s fingers. On January 28^th, you walked a few steps without holding anything. And now finally you can walk upto 10 steps without any falls though you walk like a miniature drunk.

22 October 2014 - A Blink of my Eyes and You are ONE!

So, you are one year old!!!

               People should always be there around you and you cry when I leave the room. You also love banging toys and drop those sound making toys over and over again until we get fed up picking it up for you, and you never get bored of it! There are your preferable toys now, not all are your favorite and you don't get bored of those music toys. You loudly protest if someone takes something away from you, especially your sister.

               You are quite playful these days and you clasp your hands together with excitement when you are really happy. You like to play with food, feel its texture. So now a days you purposely spit food on the floor and squeeze it. You drool when you are busy playing and you have started sleeping less during the day. Bumps and falls are the most common thing these days and it happens over 100 times a day. You have also started cruising along the furniture and I am waiting to see you walk independently.

               On July 28th, you pulled yourself up to stand for the first time. And on August 2nd, you pointed at a lizard and said "adaaaa..." You love lizards a lot and the minute we point at the wall and say "halli", you cheer up from your sleepy mood. You can now look at the things we point at and at the direction we show. Especially at the lizards. Within seconds you can find a lizard from any corner of the wall.

               You now make clicking noise in your mouth and give a proud smile of achievement when you hear that sound. You observe our mouth when we talk and try to imitate it to make sounds. On August 20th, you started saying "ta ta" correctly.

               On October first, after the long wait, you got your first tooth. Your Jogibettu ajja started calling you "Ekadantha" for having a single tooth and also because you are Ganapathy's grandson, supposed to get named after him. But on October 6th, you got your 2nd tooth, so got your name is back as Aniket.

               October 15th turned to be my day, because you called me "ammaaa" for the first time, that too you said it holding my hand with your tiny fingers and looking at me. Then you gave me a sloppy kiss and I was on cloud 9.

               On October 2nd, your appa came to India and you saw him after 10 long months. We already knew that you will not recognize him, but we were curious to see your reaction. Though we all wanted you to go to him without crying, you cried aloud seeing him and refused to go to his hands. On 4th you went to his hands without crying for the first time. And your dad constantly kept trying to make friendship with you all through the day. With the excitement of playing with his kids, your dad had completely forgotten his jet-lag. We kept telling your dad that you might voluntarily go to him within a week. After exactly one week after arriving here, your dad said it's been a week and he still cries. Dad was worried that it might continue forever. But finally on October 14th, you went to appa and lifted your hands for him to carry you. Made your dad's day!

               If your head bangs into the wall or sofa while you are scooting, you hit it over and over again to check what happens and then cry. When you cough, your granny pats your head and in her absence, you pat it yourself and laugh. "Di di dikki" is your fun game, you hit people with your forehead and then rub the back of your head pretending that you got hurt. If akka does the same to you, you cry and look at my face to complain wanting me to scold her and comfort you.

               You have started asking for your food clearly saying "mum mum aaaam". But you eat everything dry like plain rice without adding anything to it, plain chapathi, plain dosa. When you are full, you spit the last bite "prrrrr" and play with food. 

               You like playing with doors, open-close it and try to push-pull it and hide behind it. Lock and key are two things yo never get bored of. Spoon and tumbler are another favorite combination. Smallest of small toys, mashing flowers, moving vehicles, drag and push toy vehicles on the floor - these are some more favorites. Your ajji gives you 'theertha' if you go to the pooja room and you call that room 'theetha'. Everytime someone opens the door of pooja room, you hear it immediately from the tiny bells on the door and you run inside for 'theetha'.

               You are skinny compared to your sister except for your cheeks. So your Vijayajji has started giving you dates and milk every day to make you fat, she had read that tip somewhere.

               You are very talkative and your sentences are longer now (though it is an unknown language) and most of them end with a question tone. You had bad cold and fever for a few days and lost your voice. We really missed your continuous talk for some time and then you were back to chattering.

               Yesterday, that is on October 21^st , there were homa-s at home on your sister’s behalf . So we had many guests yesterday and we couldn’t ask them to come home again today for your first birthday. But we had our close ones, like your bavas and atthe-mava along with your grandparents to celebrate your day. We were all so tired from yesterday’s function, but had a relaxed and beautiful family time for your birthday. You received gifts from bavas and started playing immediately with your new toys. We even went to beach in the evening especially for you to enjoy your day!

               So by the time you turned one year old, you had quite a lot of words (way more than kids of your age talk) in your vocabulary.

You say – amma, appa, Aadya, attha (akka), ajji, ajja, atthe, maama, anna, adaa, hopa (let’s go), haathe (butterfly), jeeji (water), jaayi (milk), daadi (sleep), ta ta, aggi (angi).

You also know the vehicles and call their names – peep (jeep), thaal (car), beeku (bike), chichya (rikshaw).

The animals you say and know are – mem (cat), bo bo / naaaai (dog), abbe (umbe), kaaka (crow).

You point at these things when we ask you by names – eyes, nose, head, mouth, teeth, bottu, angi, leg, hand, fan, cycle, tv, chinki (akka’s doll), halli, appa, amma, akka, doddajji, ajji, ajja, Aadya.

               When we ask you to do ‘aane aane’, you rock your body back and forth saying ‘aage aage’, when we say ‘boodi boodi’, you kick the floor in a rhythm, when we say ‘jai jai’, you clap your hands, when we say ‘thaarammayya’, you repeat after us ‘thaa thaa’ and twist your fingers and you say ‘adaaaaa’ when you point at things. You also love hide and seek game and call it ‘kooo’. It is also so cute to see your tiny hand when you show things pointing with your index finger.

               Somewhere it hurts to think that you are not a few days old or a few weeks old or a few months old baby any longer. Along with the extreme joy of seeing you grow, I already miss that one year which is already spent! That day you were born, the joy of holding that tiny newborn, the day when you flipped over, the day you sat on your own, the day you had your first food, the day you started crawling, the day you pulled yourself to stand…..all have turned to be memories with a blink of my eye. And that makes me not want to blink my eyes again, stay this small and cute forever my baby!