Combined Words

Anirud has started to talk a bit more than he did earlier. Now, he is able to speak little sentences by combining upto three words. Though one would have to have an idea of the context to understand what he is saying, it is a lot better now.

Eating

As Anirud was cooed a lot in the recent days in the presence of his grandparents, it went on top of his head that he started to unlearn lot of good habits which we inculcated in him after lot of effort. He stopped eating on his own and even if we fed him, he would keep wandering around and wanted us to follow him.

Odd's Farm

Visited an animal farm named 'Odd's Farm' to distract Anirud from the disturbance caused due to the absence of his grandparents. It was a joy seeing him play with all the farm animals like Rabbits, Goats, Sheeps, Pigs, Donkeys and Cows. He was so excited seeing each one of them and he also fed food to a rabbit and goat. When he took the goat food and stretched his hands, the animal licked his hand in the process of consuming the food. I would remember the happiness in his face for my lifetime.

Thaathaa oookaa?

As his grandparents left for India on an early morning, Anirud realised their absence few minutes after waking up. He was in tears standing at the door expecting them to return back after a short outing. As we explained him that they have returned back to their place (oor) the reality sank in him few hours later. Every few minutes, he kept asking 'Thaathaa oookaa?' (thaathaa oorukka?) meaning 'Has grandpa gone back to his place?'. It took few weeks for him to come back to his normal self.

No Water

After he got introduced to Orange Juice, Anirud had almost stopped taking water. He hardly takes 2 or 3 sips of water from the glass. Sometimes his lips go dry and that time he would take a sip or two, but not anymore. The Health Visitor adviced us that it is a passing phase and his body might be getting the fluid through the regular intake of fruits.

Adamant

Showing signs of a growing up toddler, Anirud is becoming more and more adamant some of the days. Whenever he is taken to the nearby park, he refuses to return back and creates a scene by crying and wailing all the way back home. Some other days, he always wants to stay out in the garden and play. It is perfectly understandable that he is getting bored of being inside the house and wants to have a go, but very often we lose our patience on his adamant postures and that is when the problem begins.

Grandparent's visit

All through April, Anirud's maternal grandparents gave him good company. Right from the moment he met his grandpa at the airport they instantly became mates and both of them had a jolly good time to their heart's content. That we were able to leave him for quite a few hours with his grandparents is a good enough proof of how Anirud got attached to them. Hundreds of pictures of Anirud were taken and printed during this time and he learnt quite a lot of stuff as well.

Toddler Group

Anirud enjoys his time at the Toddler group. Its a shame that it happens only once a week, which is hardly enough for him. In particular, he likes see-saw and it would be tough to drag him away from that. Its a good chance for him to mingle with other children of his age group. We are looking at putting him in other toddler groups in our area should there be a chance.

Never give up sonny!

However far the shore may be, never give up.

Happy Birthday!

Arundha Vaalu

Very often we call Anirud an 'arundha vaalu'. Its literal meaning won't make any sense, but it is meant to convey that he is someone with lot of pranks in his kitty. We were trying for quite sometime to get Anirud a good looking shoulder bag, but we managed to find one just recently. It looks good when it is put up behind his back. It comes along with a harness using which his movement could be controlled. Already he has become the cynosure of many eyes when he walks around sporting that bag.

Trike & Toys

Anirud got a new 'Winnie the Pooh' trike, which he enjoys that like anything. Ever since we got the trike he has been living on it. Though he doesn't know how to pedal that, there is a push handle with which we could push the trike around. We took him around once and ever since he has been pestering for more road trips. Not just a trike, Anirud has got an 'Abacus', a 'Thomas and Friends' train, 'Winnie the Pooh' pillow on account of his birthday next month.

Habits

It takes lot of time, effort and patience to make a kid learn some good practices. We struggled for more than a month to make Anirud sleep in his cot when he was about 6-7 months old. Several months later as he learnt to climb out of the cot, we took him to our bed and that is it. He never goes back to his cot again. Same with the self feeding. After weeks of training, we gave in coz his illness and it is difficult to make him get back to his old ways. More than the cot issue, we are very keen about his self feeding habit.

Potty

Potty training is about to be started and we have got the necessary stuff like potty, trainer pants, trainer toilet seats etc. Next few weeks/months is going to be either interesting or taxing, depending on our moods and how we look at the situation.

Lala

We tried to see if Anirud could identify the miniature soft toy of 'Lala' character (of Teletubbies) at the 'Toys R Us' shop. Within a second of seeing that, he screamed out 'Laa Laa' and made an 'ekkuuv' sound like the character would do it would in the telly. The next day, when that day's episode of Teletubbies ended, Anirud was so very disappointed that he started crying.

Late Riser

Of late, Anirud wakes up at around 9 am or beyond. We are responsible for that as we have been putting him to bed only late. This triggers so many problems that he is unable to nap in the afternoons, so that he ends up being cranky in the evenings. We are trying to change that habit a bit by putting him to bed at 9:15 pm and waking him up by 7 am. This suits every one, but it remains to be seen as how long we manage to follow/enforce this new routine.

Stunt

Upon seeing a stunt scene while watching a Tamil movie in the telly, Anirud mocked the scene by lifting one of his leg, shouted few 'aah.. hooo's and rolled on the floor with false pain.

Harness

We got Anirud a child harness, that lets him walk freely beside us without we having to hold his hand all the time. Anirud enjoys that every bit that he is allowed to wander free in the high street and supermarkets. These days he prefers this harness to the buggy coz of the above.

Cold Again

Anirud has caught cold again. As his nose gets blocked, he is unable to breath properly as a result of which he suffers a lot without being able to sleep during the nights.

Apology

As Anirud was adviced by his mom to take care of his belongings when he inadervently broke the magic eraser board, he made it clear that he didn't like any advice by trying to hit her with his hand. He was asked to apologise, which he didn't. Soon he was made to sit on the table from where he couldn't get down and we made it a point not to talk with him unless he apologised. He tried his best to grab our attention, but when nothing worked he sheepishly said 'soiieee' (Sorry!). He does appear stubborn, but we are hell bent on making him learn the lessons of life that are due at that stage.

Questions - aa?

Anriud repeats almost everything we say. His pronounciation is not clear, but understandable to some extent. Most of the times he picks up the key word, suffix it with 'aa' and make that a question. For example, if we were discussing something on cars, he would turn to us and ask 'car-aa?'.

Vaccum Cleaner

The latest toy that Anirud loves is the hand vaccum cleaner. Whenever he could lay his hands on it, he never lets go the opportunity to use that all over the place though we suspect that he doesn't know what that equipment is doing.

Swimming Lessons - Third Term

Anirud has been enrolled for the third term of his swimming lessons. Most of his batch mates are quite new, which makes this fella a super senior, though he is the youngest among the lot. He hasn't learnt anything about bullying, lest he might resort to those things.

Laptop

When Anirud's mom left open the laptop and moved away to attend an incoming call, he quietly shut down the system, waited for it to turn black, closed the laptop and took it to the table where it is normally kept. For his age, the laptop was quite a bit heavy, but he pushed himself hard and carried it with all care.

Extending his Reach

Look how Anirud is reaching the stuff on the table. A vessel from the kitchen comes in handy (leggy) for him.

P.S.: This is the 100th post on this blog.

Somersault

Anirud is trying to do somersault these days. We are not sure whether he saw anyone doing this on TV or he is trying to do something on his own. But, he has been trying this for the last couple of days on the bed and feels thrilled about it. As long as he tries that on the bed, it is fine.

1 to 10

Onnu, Dendu, Noonu, Naavu... that is how Anirud pronounces the numbers 1 to 10 in Tamil. We are particulary elated that he is able to pronounce that 'zha' in 'Ezhu' properly unlike the comperers in Tamil TV channels. Now a days, he repeats almost what we say and do. This is the time for us to be extra careful in choosing the words we use.

TV Craze

We have made it a point not to let Anirud watch the TV for more than few hours a day. Sometimes he gets more adamant about watching the idiot box, that he hands us the remote egging us to switch it on. So far, we haven't been relenting and have no plans to do so, at least in the near future.

Lolly

Whichever shop we visit, Anirud gets a lollypop. Mostly, he is given one at the restaurants we visit and he strikes an instant friendship with the staff at the shop that they take him along and play with him for a while.

Safe Vault

Anirud has found a safe vault in the house to hide his goodies. Yesterday, when we asked him where he had kept the remote control, he quickly ran towards the dryer and came back with the remote. Upon further observation, we noticed that most of the time he puts some stuff like his toys etc, perhaps with the intention of safekeeping them.

Swimming

Of late, Anirud isn't able to attend his swimming lessons regularly. It so happens that on the recent Saturday mornings, either he is not well or we have something important on hand that makes us to pass this over.

Aiii!!

When Anirud gets excited for certain things, he says "aiiiiiii" with a super bright glow on both his eyes. Another buzzword that has caught him is "hmmmmm". He answers with a prompt "hmmm" whenever he is asked something.

Grasping

In the recent days, Anirud seems to grasp our instructions very clearly. On the other day, when he was asked to do something involving few different actions, he threw us a surprise by doing all that in the right order.

Parts of the Body

Now, Anirud can point out his head, eyes, ears, nose, hands and legs. Only thing is that very often, he mistakes his mom's bindi to be her eyes. Hopefully, one day he will realise that his mom doesn't have any third eye.

Wordsmith

Anirud is speaking more words after the recent round of fever. Not sure what the connection is, but after he recovered from his fever, we are able to understand his words properly despite the 'mazhalai' accent. It feels good that he calls us 'Appa / Amma' properly and also 'Daddy / Mummy', despite the fact that we didn't teach him the later.

Accent

When Anirud repeated "Oh No!" - that was said by someone in the telly, his accent was as British as a Fish and Chips shop. This is not to say that he will be speaking in British accent all the time in the future. Just that he is able to take in the little things from the TV and deliver back in the same style.

Bitter Gourd

Guess what.. Anirud is so fond of bitter gourd. We are taken aback that he has taken a liking to such a bitter tasting veggie.

Lost and Found

Anirud went missing for some time while we were shopping at Debenhams on Boxing Day. After few heart pounding minutes, he was found trying his best pushing a trolley full of clothes. The factor that increased the tension was that the building's exit was very close to the place he was last seen and if this bugger had ventured out, it would have been a very difficult day.

Dance Baby, Dance!

The moment Anirud sees any dance movements in the telly, he starts to tap one of his legs. Although the movement makes one believe that he is trying to stamp on a pile of cowdung, what matters is Anirud does think that he is dancing.

Finger Doll

Anirud is really fond of finger doll. The one, where you draw a face on the thumb and move it appropriately, playing the ventriloquist. He would be all smiles when we do it and he wanted to do the same as well. But, the funniest thing was he was only able to move the index finger around with the drawing on the thumb.

Elephant Game

As soon anyone utters the word 'yaanai' (elephant), Anirud would soon start crawling. If ever, one of us start crawling he would be doubly happy, as he would crawl in front of us, as if he is leading the herd. Perhaps, he has observed elephants moving in herds in the telly that whenever we stop or slow down, he would reverse down and take us along.

Xmas Presents

Anirud has got couple of Xmas gifts already. One of our neighbours presented him with 2 toy cars and the organisers of his Toddler group sent him a card and a lil' story book.

Scream

These days Anirud screams a lot for everything. It is not that he is angry or anything like that. Perhaps, it is his way of expressing his excitement. But the trouble is, he gets excited very often giving out a shrill screaming noise that rattles one's ear. We are pretending to ignore that in the hope that he will give up.

Balamory

Balamory in CBeebies channel seem to be the favourite TV programme for Anirud. Not only that he hardly bats his eyelid while watching that programme, but also hums the programme's title song very often. We were even able to wake him up from sleep saying that Balamory is about to be aired.

Sleep

Gone are the days when we can put Anirud into bed, close the door to find him dose off peacefully. These days, he refuses to sleep unaccompanied, which is bothering us a lot. We are struggling really hard to get him into regular sleeping routine, but that is easier said than done.

Building Set Blocks

Anirud has got a new set of building blocks to play with. He is so happy with that and eagerly builds on various shapes. Most of the time he ends up building a single column structure until it falls off. At times, when he does manage to build something with a good base, he treats the structure as a chair and wants to sit over it.

Operating the ATM

When Anirud was allowed to wander around at the forecourt of a supermarket, he promptly went near the cash point and started operating the ATM. Even after being dragged away from the ATM, he was running towards that as the beep sound coming from the keypads of the ATM sounded very attractive for this little fella.

Make it stronger please

Anirud refuses to take milk these days. No amount of cajoling with Horlicks/Complan/Nesquick works on him. He would consider a sip if only the milk was offered with few drops of dicoction. Thank goodness, he is happy with few drops. Touchwood!

Laptop-Mouse

As soon as Anirud saw me working on a laptop without any peripherals, he ran way to fetch the mouse from a another room. He tried to plug in the mouse and when I directed him to a different socket, he brushed my hands aside and tried on his own to plug the mouse in the right socket. What surprised us more was that he immediately moved the mouse a bit and verified whether it is working fine. All of this from a 1.5 year old.... hmmmm.

Happy Bappy!

'Happy Bappy' is Anirud's version of Happy Birthday. He is talking about 25 single words, which he would utter only if he desires. Apart from Happy Bappy, 'Gud Maaminng' (Good Morning) is the other dual word he speaks.

Duckling Award

Anirud successfully completed Grade 1 of his swimming lessons this week and has been enrolled for Grade 2. During the last session, there was an assessment in which he was made to swim without any help for 3 metres. There were few other drills too, which Anirud did with ease, but he refused to blow bubbles over water, which was one of the requirements. As he was the youngest one in the batch, the examiner just ticked him through.

Charger Mad

These days, Anirud is mad about plugging the charger in to the mobile while speaking. Now that he has learnt how to do that, he is always on the look out for a charger whenever he sees a mobile. The worst bit about that is, even when one of us is talking, he tries to plug in the charger into the mobile.

Adamant

Anirud is very adamant these days. Whenever he is refused something he wants, he rolls on the floor crying. Unless he is not well, his threats are not being heeded to.

Deepavali Savouries

Among the various sweets and savouries prepared for Deepavali, Anirud took a good liking for what we call 'Ribbon Pakoda'. He was so keen over having more than his share of the savoury. Given the fact that he has never had anything of that kind so far, that was a bit amusing.

Leftie

Many a time, Anirud goes easy with his left hand rather than the right. Not always, but quite frequently. We have a feeling that he would be a left hander in many of the things.

Signal Boy

Whenever Anirud is taken out in the buggy, he likes to push the button that would cause the signal to turn green/red in the pedestrian crossing. As soon as he sees a crossing, he gets ready with his index finger out to press the button. However,the buggy will have to be lifted to enable him do that.

Aggressive

Wisdom tooth is coming up for Anirud and that causes lot of pain in his jaws and gums. It hurts to see him hit himself on his jaws or trying to bite something hard. Sometimes, he gets so frustrated with his pain that he throws his hands and legs in turn hurting anyone coming his way. Coming so soon after we thought he is mellowing down, it took a while to figure out what was wrong with him and distract him towards something he likes whenever he turned aggressive.

Pal-lavan

Anirud has got his 11th tooth now. He is a pallavan at the moment. Pal Eleven would be more apt. Wouldn't it?

Down to Earth?

Whenever Anirud hears the knock on the door, he'll rush towards the entrance if he thinks that one of us is getting home. The main door being a stained glass door, he would be able to make out the person on the other side. If it is one of us, we will kneel down and keep our face closer to the door in order for him to see us very clearly. That appears so funny to him that he also kneels down on the other side and presses his face on the door. His already flat nose looks even more flatter when he does that. Its a joy to see him display all his tooth.

Mellowed Down

After last week's brief illness, Anirud is feeling a bit more closer and attached towards us. Whenever he sits on the sofa with one of us, he leans towards us and expect us to put our arm around him. His voice has mellowed down a bit and it looks like, he has turned soft. Not that he was bad earlier, his decibel level is normally high that at times it gave an impression that he is shouting and angry. But, that has changed for the better in the recent days.

Eating

Anirud prefers to eat all by himself these days. Only that when he is offered a bowl of rice, he picks up only a grain or two and puts it into his mouth. Within about five minutes, this gets boring for him (and for everybody), he loses interest in the food and runs away. We are glad that at least he is showing inclination to eat and the hand-eye-mouth coordination is working well.

Unwell

It is that time of the year when Anirud suffers from cold, fever and breathing trouble. Hopefully, he is getting more immune.

Swimming Again

Anirud's second swimming lesson was far better than the first one. He started enjoying right from the word go. The swimming instructor and the parents in the water would sing 'Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall' in chorus. When it comes to 'Humpty Dumpty had a great fall', the children would be pulled into the water. The collective, big 'thud' sound was so thrilling for Anirud and he was all smiles & noise till the end. He dipped his head couple of times inside the water, but was generally okay. He even floated on water for few minutes without being held. More than him, we are looking forward to his Saturdays.

Books

Anirud has got a big load of books gifted by our friends. They have all got stories, pictures, rhymes and what not. Very soon, story telling session needs to be resumed for him.

Seedai

Anirud has taken a liking for 'seedai'. When a friend from Chennai brought us a pack of that savoury, Anirud popped one into his mouth and started demanding more. He sits comfortably with a bowl full of 15-20 seedais, bites, chews them one by one comfortably before returning the bowl. Sounds cool, eh?

Jo Jingles

Anirud has been enrolled in Jo Jingles classes. A group of 20 kids of Anirud's age are gathered at a place, given some little musical toys/instruments, reasonably loud music is played and these blokes are made to dance, lie down and what not. Most of the times, each of these fellas behave in their own way and looks like each one has their own favourite pranks. It is fun and Anirud enjoys that a lot, but he was seen running towards the audio system to turn it off/on. One thing that came to light was that Anirud struggled a bit to comprehend the instructions given in English. Perhaps, he should be spoken to in English as well as in Tamil.

Swimming

Anirud had his first swimming lesson last Saturday. At first, he seemed to enjoy it. Then, as the water splashed on his face he got frightened and he was crying for the next 15 minutes. Later on, he got habituated and started to enjoy it while the class wound up for the day. Anirud is the youngest one in the class, but other children seem to have been in water before as they quickly learnt to float reasonably well. The next 12 weeks should be lot of fun and hopefully Anirud will have some 'water confidence' by the end of it.

Enigma

At present three things remain as enigma for Anirud - Key fob of the car, Kitchen Knife and Iron Box, as all of these are off limits for him. Key fob of the car is not that dangerous like the other two to be kept away from him, but then the reason for his fascination towards that object is the fact that he is able to lock/unlock the car that causes the indicator lights in the car to flash. Not sure when Anirud would be succeeding in his mission of capturing those items.

Nosey

Anirud likes it when we rub our nose on his. Once done, he tries to initiate the process from his end, but funnily enough he brings his mouth to the fore front. As he has a flat nose, whenever he tries to rub his nose on ours, it is his lips that get rubbed off (with all the saliva).

Tipped Toes

For the last few weeks Anirud has been walking on tipped toes. Previously, he used to stand so in order to get a better view of the table. Funniest thing is that he manages to walk so for a reasonable distance and he is quite quick in that.

999

Like many children in UK do, Anirud dialled 999 (emergency number) from our landline last evening and quietly hung up the phone. The Police promptly rang back home to check it out. As a result, phones that could be reached by Anirud have been switched off at home.

Talking beyond Hi

Anirud has started talking a lot over the phone these days. Earlier he used to keep mum and just listen to the person at the other end, but these days he talks a lot, albeit in a language that no one can understand.

A Bad Hair Cut

For some unknown reason Anirud started crying while his hair was being cut. Any amount of cajoling didn't help and the hair dresser had to abort the attempt half way through. This is in total contrast to the previous time when he didn't move an inch that prompted the hair dresser to give a discount in the charge.

Hi!

Hi! - This was the ad slogan for Hutch mobile when they set foot in Chennai about 4 years ago. Now, this is the latest word in Anirud's vocabulary. A friend of Anirud's mom said 'hi' to him over phone and immediately he caught that word and was heard repeating that all evening.

Naughty? Nah...

Naughty is no more an apt word for Anirud. He has gone several steps beyond that in the recent weeks. He puts the vessels in the washing machine, hides the jar of the blender inside the medicine rack, switches off the laptop, pushes the chair nearer to the table so that it is convenient for him to climb on, tries to hop on from his cot to the bigger bed and the list goes on. The hunt is still on for a missing mixie(food blender) lid. Don't know what is in store in the coming days.

Habits

In the recent days, Anirud has started imitating the rest at home. Few of his favourite imitations are

1) If he gets hold of a towel, he would try to dry his hair even when it is already dry.

2) Whenever he finds a key, he immediately goes near the door and puts that into the keyhole trying to see if that fits.

3) On seeing others do the situps (thoppukaranam) before God he does that as well, but without his hands touching his ears.

4) Anirud would place his imaginary phone near his ear, tilt his head, hold the phone(?) with his shoulder and walk away talking.

Perhaps, this is how children develop new habits.

Self Eating

Anirud has been introduced to family dining, where every one would have dinner at the same time at the dining table. Of course, Anirud would be sitting on his high chair. On seeing others eat, he tried to do the same and in the process finished of half a chapathi, which is a decent quantity going by his recent food intake metrics over the last month or so. This appears to be one of the good ways of teaching him the art of self eating.

I hate YELLOW

For some reason, Anirud hates the colour book. He is fine to flip through the pages of any book and see the pictures, but he gets annoyed if the colour book is shown to him. Sometimes, he is sort of okay with the colour book as well, but there is a strict 'no no' for yellow colour. Only he would be able to explain one day as why Yellow became his nemesis all of a sudden.

Kick & You'll Get it Back

Anirud has got this bad habit of kicking people when he is in foul mood. As he hates food these days, he tends to kick the person who tries to give him food. Recently, he kicked the food bowl and the compliment was returned back in kind.

Poor Eater

Of late, Anirud has become a poor eater. It is a big struggle to make him eat any solid food, esp. carbohydrate rich rice and wheat food. For the last month or so, he is living on yoghurt and fruits.

Few more words

In the same lines of 'Yaanai', 'Karadi' (bear) turned 'Kaadi' and 'Vaali' (bucket) turned 'Aali' for Anirud.

Hee-Haw Hee-Haw

No one actually knows what Anirud means by saying this, but he has been chanting 'Hee-Haw Hee-Haw' quite regularly for several weeks now.

Filter Coffee please!

Anirud doesn't want Horlicks / Ovaltine / Complan. He has taken a liking to Filter Coffee. He gulps down more than half a tumbler of the beverage when he is offered one.

Early Learning

Anirud was standing at the window and was generally watching outside. As is common in UK, a young couple who arrived in a car stood outside the block of flats and did something that was more appropriate if it had been done indoors. Anirud saw that and when they moved a little bit away, he craned his neck to ensure that he got a good view of what they were doing. hmm.. that was a bit of early learning indeed.

Naughty

One of the easiest ways to manage Anirud was to leave the front door of the house open. He would stand right at the entrance, watching the passers by and often greeting the visitors of the other flats with a smile or cry, depending on his mood. Every few minutes he would come inside the house, check everything is okay and go back and stand at the door. Wanting to show that he is growing up, these days he has started walking out. Very often, he steps out and walks in to the verendah of the apartment. Since he knocks at our neighbour's doors, of late the front door of the house remains closed.

Cold

After several months, Anirud has caught cold. As it happens when he is not well, he dislikes food, unable to sleep properly and behaves in a cranky way. It would take a good 5-6 days to return to the normal cycle.

Trolley Mad

Anirud is so crazy about pushing the trolleys at the super markets. Whenever he is taken to super market, he insists on getting down from his buggy and wants to push the trolley. He doesn't mind whose trolley he pushes. The only trouble is that the trolleys are more than twice his height. Also, the vast space in the super markets gives him ample freedom to run around, and hoot at will that some one have to act as a steward to run behind him.

Away with the slippers

A lady was trying out new foot wear at the super market. Anirud, who was jay walking around that area found the slippers very attractive. He quickly went near her and ran away with her foot wear - one hand carrying one of her old foot wear and and the other hand carrying one of the new ones she was trying. Poor lady, she couldn't walk anywhere and it took a couple of minutes to rescue her things from him.

Yaayaii

'Yaayaii' is how Anirud pronounces 'yaanai' (elephant). This is the next sensible word he has spoken after 'amma'. The only other word in his vocabulary is 'baba' as in 'Ba ba Black sheep'.

Lo!

Having watched people talk over the phone, Anirud is mad over the phones. Apart from insisting on talking with anyone over the phone, he picks up anything (be it a wire, a toy, computer mouse etc.), gets that near his ear, tilts his head and says '..lo' (to be understood as Hello) assuming that piece of thing is a telephone.

Books Collection

Anirud's first book was the one that the local library gave when he became a member. He loved the colourful, thick paged book with huge pictures of babies doing various things. Now, he has got several books on varied topics like colours, shapes, objects and so on. Every now and then, he picks up one of those books, flips across the pages - something he loves doing, gives a quick look at the pictures and moves on. Anirud is yet to be taught that books shouldn't be stamped upon while walking.

Sixth Tooth

Thanks to the Whole Milk, which has become a part of Anirud's diet in the last few weeks Anirud has got his sixth tooth now. Whey heyyy!!

Climb & Fall

Anirud has learnt to climb up the sofa on his own. Learning to climb the sofa also means that he would stand on the sofa. Standing on the sofa also means that he would stand in the edge. Standing in the edge also means that he would have a free fall. But, a free fall doesn't mean that he has got his lessons right. The climb-stand-fall-cry cycle continues every day.

Talk

Trr.. la la lalala... va va.. mmmm.... prrrrrr prrrrrrrr ulliioiii ulliioiii ulliioiii.... hhhhhmmmmmmmm.. hhhhhmmmmmm.... amma.. ammaa.. baa.. prrrrr.... ulliioiii ulliioiii.. vaaa vaaaaa...

5th one.. the quicker one!

Anirud has now got his 5th tooth. Getting the fifth tooth is a little quick for his age (13 mths). Before that came out, he literally bit anything that was in his reach - be it a table or books or fingers.

Never walks...

Anirud has stopped walking these days. Most of the time he runs, often pushing himself a bit more than he could. When made to walk on the grass, he stumbles but nevertheless balances himself and carries on, which is a treat to watch.

Bat & Ball

Anirud indicated in the best possible way that he needs a bat & ball. When he could get his hands on the spatula, he was treating that as a bat and found an orange for the ball to play with. Very soon, he would be getting a new bat & ball to fiddle around.

Nemesis

A half foot robot that Anirud got as his birthday gift is his current nemesis now. He do likes the robot, but only when it is muted. When it is switched on, the sound scares him a little bit that he keeps away from the path on which the robot walks or better still he pushes that away so that the robot doesn't come anywhere near him. Funny to watch him push the toy & run away from it.

Hide & Seek

Hide & Seek seems to be Anirud's favourite game. Even when he is just about to doze off, one could pull him into the game and he'll enjoy it like anything. This little blighter gets cleverer with each game that these days, he skips all the easy hideouts and checks out the more tougher ones. He even makes a quick check through the door gap before deciding whether or not to enter a particular room.

Ayushomam

Anirud's ayushomam went on well at Mahalakshmi Narayanar Temple in London on Sunday, 7th May. Throughout the homam, Anirud sat quietly without being cranky of any sorts and he is indeed happy with the presents he got that day.

Growing up phase

Anirud has started learning to be adamant these days. When he doesn't get what he wants, he rolls on the floor crying. Though he soon learns that he is not being given into, he continues to do it when he doesn't gets his next thing on his wishlist. Sure sign that he is growing up.