Tesco Loyalist

New toys of a Tesco loyalist. :)

Conversation

Anirud: Where does Srilankan airlines fly to?

Me: To Srilanka from many places

A: Has Srilanka got an airport?

Me: Yes, they have one at Colombo.

A: Did they built it only now? Or is it there for a long time?

Me: It is very much around for a long time.

A: Then why did Anjaneyar fly to Srilanka. He could have gone by flight, no?

Getting to know about his day

There was a time when it was very difficult to get any information from Anirud about what happened at school or if he had any fruit or whatever. It is not that we want to probe every minute of what he does, but were generally curious to know what he has been up to. Also, if ever he is upset over something, it will be easy to deal with if we get to have the background story.

Takin
g cue from a TV programme, every day when we sat down for lunch we used to say what we have been doing since morning. That seemed to work like a charm as he started showing interest in bragging what he did, by including every bit of detail he could remember.

Quotes

இந்த ஊர் சர்ச்-ல பிரிட்டிஷ் உம்மாச்சி தான் இருப்பாரு. ஆனா, நம்ம வீட்லயும், கோவில்-லயும் இந்தியன் உம்மாச்சி எல்லாம் இருப்பாரு.

(Only British God live in the churches of this country (UK). But you can find Indian gods in our home and temples).

Never knew that Gods have nationality. ;-)

Nativity Play

Anirud's school is planning for a nativity play on the last day of the term (11th December) and this brat is playing the role of an 'inn keeper'. For the last few days, he has been narrating us about bits of the play and the roles played by his peers. I am looking forward to next Friday as I missed the one last year. 11th December will be Anirud's last day at this wonderful school, as he will be moving to a primary school from the next term onwards.

Riddle Time

These days, Anirud is in a the mood to set riddles.

"Can you guess who it is appa? His name starts with A and ends with 'rrrrrrrr'. He will have a gadhai (mace) in his hand and he is a ummaachi (God). Who is that?".

When we say a wrong answer, his joy doubles and he screams out 'No pa.. that is Anjaneyaaar'. There are more such stuff in his kitty and it is real fun indeed.

Anirud on stage

Every year, we used to celebrate Diwali with a group of 100 other people in the form of a day long event. There will be opportunities to exhibit one's talent and this year, Anirud for the first time got up on stage and 'performed' in front of a sizeable crowd. His performance was nothing but telling couple of Tamil rhymes. The best part of that is his voice was clear, crisp and at the right volume. He had no hesitation while saying those rhymes and for the first performance, we think it came out really well.

These are the two rhymes he said on stage starting with a 'Vanakkam'. :)


சின்ன சின்ன மோட்டார்
சிங்கார மோட்டார்
நாலு சக்கர மோட்டார்
நான் ஏறும் மோட்டார்
'பாம் பாம்' மோட்டார்
பாய்ந்து செல்லும் மோட்டார்

--

ஆனை ஆனை அழகர் ஆனை
அழகரும் சொக்கரும் ஏறும் ஆனை
கட்டுக் கரும்பை முறிக்கும் ஆனை
காவேரி நீரை கலக்கும் ஆனை
எட்டித் தேங்காய் பறிக்கும் ஆனை
குட்டி யானைக்கு கொம்பு முளைச்சுதாம்
பட்டணமெல்லாம் பறந்தோடி போச்சாம்.

Speaking in Tamil

Considering the fact that Anirud has been living in UK since he was 5 month old, his conversations in Tamil are reasonably fine - until now. We are not sure how his language will shape up when he goes full time schooling. However, the way he pronounces some of the words are real funny.

Naana (நானா?) - Naava (நாவா?)

Ammavoda (அம்மாவோட) - Ammanoda (அம்மானோட)

This basically comes up from 'unnoda', 'ennoda' (உன்னோட, என்னோட) kind of words. He simply started applying the last bit to 'appa', 'amma' etc. ;-))

Point and Shoot :)

Perhaps, Anirud will not like to view this as a key milestone in his life. But, in my opinion it is. The biggest development of our recent Indian trip is that he learnt to pee from standing position. ;-))

India Trip

After a gap of two years, we made a three week trip to India in August-September.

Anirud's excitement and questioning began right from the moment we stepped out of home. As always, he took intrest in everything - right from the trolley to passports to the signboards to the logos of various airliners. Inside the flight, as he had an exclusive remote to fiddle with he was very happy switching channels and watching the flight path. Seems that he had attentively listened to every announcement made by the crew, as he was saying days later - 'Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Mumbai'.

At Mumbai, while we were travelling between the terminals, the driver of the bus we were travelling honked. This brat, who had never listened to a horn for that long expressed surprise by asking us if that was indeed the sound of a horn. We expected him to ask that question everytime he heard one, but thankfully he learnt what it is and we were spared.

As we had a wedding and an engagement in the family during this trip, for the first time Anirud met quite a few people and that too all at once. He was very much at ease with many of them although quite expectedly, all through the three week period, his two grandpas were his best mates. Both of them literally danced to his tunes. For the first time, Anirud even stayed in our absence with his maternal grandparents for a few days.

But for the fever he suffered with for couple of days, it was a good trip for everyone. Anirud enjoyed every day of his stay in India and to some extent was able to understand that UK and India are two different countries, far apart and with different ways of life.

Thousands and Thousands

Few months ago, 'two' was the default quantity for Anirud when it came to 'time'. It was always '2 minutes' for everything. He will need '2 more minutes' for getting up from bed, will get ready in 2 minutes and what not. He would even 'become hungry in 2 minutes' (innum 2 minutes-la enakku pasikkum). Not sure when, but two minutes is now gone for good. Instead, it is 'thousands and thousands' now. While 'two minutes' stood for 'few minutes' (konja neram), 'thousands and thousands' stand for 'lot of time' (romba neram). These days, he goes on like 'I want to play for 1000s and 1000s of minutes' ('Naan innum thousands and thousands of minutes velayaadanum'), 'It will take 1000s and 1000s of minutes to go to India' etc.

Richard Branson

After months of Obama-mania, Richard Branson is Anirud's hero of the moment. It all started when I was reading the said man's book with his photo on the cover. Anirud pointed to Branson's photo and queried who he is and what he does. From that point onwards, when ever he saw the Virgin logo, he recalled Richard Branson. To his joy, he could spot the logo literally at hundreds of locations. On the other day, he saw a Virgin train speeding by and Anirud got excited and said that Branson and his friends were travelling in that one. When he spotted the Virgin Atlantic lounge at the airport, he started calling Heathrow as 'Richard Branson Airport'. Best part was when he declared one day: 'When I become a big boy, I will grow beard like Richard Branson'. :)

Ice Age & 3-D Glasses

To kill time during the holidays, Anirud was taken to watch 'Ice Age -3' movie at a cinema (theatre). As it was a 3-D movie, he was given a pair of spectacles, which was much larger than his face. Funniest bit is when he brought that specs home and used that when he was watching other movies on the telly.

London Bridge is falling down

London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down,
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady.

This popular nursery rhyme is one of Anirud's favourite since he was two. When he grew up, he started questioning us about the bridge falling down and we tried to explain him about the Tower Bridge and the way it works. However much we explain, he still had his own doubts and it was then we decided to take him along to the bridge so that he can see it for himself. The bridge opens and closes only at a certain time and we had to run from the train station to make it just on time. Now Anirud is aware of what it means by falling down and he is seen explaining that with his hands to those who care to listen.

Transport Museum

Visited the Transport Museum at London, which I would rate as a hidden gem. At ten pounds, the ticket price is quite steep but for those interested in history and transport, there are quite a lot of things to see and know. The top 2 floors were a little boring for Anirud as we spent quite a bit of time reading through the descriptions. But, when it came to trains and buses and trams, it was all his. Anirud had a field day running on all the buses, sitting on the driver's seat and what not.

Summer Holidays

Summer holidays have already begun. The school term ended with a farewell to the kids who will be moving to the primary school. Anirud has one more term at this school and so is the case with two of his closest friends. On the last day of the term, they also bid farewell to one of the teachers who is leaving the school and Anirud promptly asked me to be photographed along with her. The school is reopening after sixty days and as if that is not enough, he will be missing the first week of the next term because of our holiday plans. It is quite a challenging task to keep him occupied all through the summer, although the last few weeks of our holidays will be spent in India attendig a wedding.

Talking about wedding, it is the first wedding that Anirud will be attending. Thanks to the Tamil movies we see at home, he has got an idea that wedding involves lots of flowers and shiny new clothes. But, I am sure he has no clue about the scale of the event back home. It is going to be an exciting time for him and we are gearing ourselves for the questions he is gonna throw at us.

Safari Fancy Dress Party

As the end of term approached, Anirud's school had Safari Fancy Dress party, for which he dressed up as a camel, although he looked anything but. What counted is that he was more than happy wearing that dress that he didn't want to remove it for a very long time even after the party got over. It was funny to see the kids dressed up like various animals

Quote

St Michaels church ku ponen.
(I went to the St Michael's Church)

Anga, oru man ipdi hand-a vechindu (hands stretched) kann ellam moodindu ninnundu irundaaru.
(A man was standing there like this (hands stretched) and with his eyes closed)

Andha man-oda name daan God.
(That man's name is God)

Scooter

After his cycle, scooter is Anirud's latest toy. We bought him one last year, but that was not so kids-friendly. So, we went in for a new scooter and already Anirud has extracted every penny's worth of that. Best thing about this one is, he could use it indoors and literally everywhere. On the other day, we went shopping at IKEA and this fella was circling the aisles non-stop for several hours on his scooter. More than anything else, it allowed us to shop peacefully without him getting bored.

It is very weird that what we call scooter in UK is not the scooter that we know in India. Same goes with bike as well. When we go to India next month for holidays, we will have to do lot of explaining when Anirud is gonna trumpet his exploits with the scooter.

Legoland

Took Anirud to Legoland, a visit that was long overdue and something that kept getting pushed back due to bad weather, work load and what not.

He had fun every bit of the day and went on as many as fifteen rides. The fact that we chose to go on a week day meant that the queues were much shorter. Anirud spotted a 'Driving School' in the map and wanted to go there. His face was glowing when we approached the place and saw the 'L' sign. However, that attraction was meant to be for 6-13 year olds and Anirud was mighty pissed off - to say the least. They did have another one for 3-5 year olds, but it perhaps appeared as a very poor substitute. Walking all day long in the hot weather and hunger made him throw tantrum at that stage and he just wanted to get out of the park. He relented only when the queue for the Little Kid's Driving School shortened further. He had his fun there and with photographs taken and a 'licence' issued, the brat returned to his normal self. Check the picture for the licence he was seen sporting around.

We came back with quite a couple of souvenirs and it was indeed a great day.

Cycling

All boys love cycling. Don't they? I wonder if Anirud will still cycle away with the same enthusiasm when we remove the stabilisers. :)

Question Time

'Appa, Gordon Brown BJP-aa?'
(Does Gordon Brown belong to BJP?)

Why do we have nails? It has no use. We just cut them out anyway.

Will Manmohan 'Sing'h be singing all the time?

Birthday Present for Daddy

Sometime during last winter, Anirud realised that I haven't got a woolly hat to cover my head. Since then, he was telling that he will be getting a woolly hat for my birthday. We are not sure when he dropped that from his agenda, but very often he will claim that he will get something or other as a 'present'. Few weeks back, after returning from school one day he asked me to close my eyes saying that he will be giving a present. With all my innocence, I closed my eyes and stretched out my hand thinking that he will be handing in a drawing or artwork that he did at school. But this dirty brat, picked his nose and placed it on my palm. What a good display of picking up tricks at school.

That naughtiness apart, when he was told by his mom that my birthday is approaching, he started pestering her to get me some presents. Upon being questioned about what to buy, it was so sweet of him to have dished out various suggestions including 'how about a toy mummy?' Finally, he (well, its my other half) selected a nice looking pair of cufflinks with the letters 'Dad' embossed on it. One should see the glow on his face when I wore it on the other day. He was beaming with pride saying 'appa, naanum mummy-um idhai vaanginom pa' (Mummy and I bought it for you, Daddy). Oh, that was so sweet of you dear.

There was a bit of fun on that as well. My wife added a tie clip to the box and it seems that Anirud didn't realise that. He was like 'Mummy, why have you put a nail cutter in this box'. :)

Brand Consciousness

It is the same - A for Apple, B for Boy stuff. But this bugger has been consistently and consciously replacing the standard examples with the brands that he is aware of.

A for Asda
D for DHL
R for Royal Mail
S for Sainsbury's
T for Tesco

Periyappa

Living far away from our home country, we seldom have any visitors at home in the form of relatives. We can easily count with one hand the number of relatives who have visited us so far. When I told Anirud that his 'periappa' (paternal uncle - elder) will be visiting us and that we will be driving to a nearby town to collect him from the hotel, he didn't show any interest. However, once 'Balaji Periyappa' came in and settled down, he stuck to him like a glue never refusing to leave him even for a moment. It was periyappa all day long for few days. When periyappa bid adieu, Anirud started crying and he didn't want to leave. Weeks later, he is still under the assumption that his periyappa will be returning back after a short stint in India.

After this episode, I strongly feel that this is something that Anirud will miss very badly, as a result of growing up in a foreign land. If we were in India, however busy we were, there will be some opportunity in the form of a wedding or numerous domestic occasions to meet the near and dear. Here in UK, despite our best efforts, he may not even hear about various cousins, let alone meet, hug and play with them. Telephone calls will never quite replace the personal touch and warmth, that the extended family could bring. This, probably might lead to some soul searching.

Fourth Birthday

Anirud's fourth birthday was a semi-low key affair. :) We had two of our closest friends at our place for dinner. A week before, when 'Shanya' (Saranya) aunty offered to prepare a birthday cake for him, Anirud promptly asked for a green one as that is his favourite colour (He has been telling us that he will be changing his favourite colour soon). Apart from the football cake that every one liked, he got some enviable gifts as well. As his school reopened after Easter break, a day after Anirud's birthday - he had another round of celebrations by cutting a 'Thomas - The Tank Engine' cake and sharing it with his peers.

4 Years!

Happy Birthday sweetie pie!

Can't believe that 48 months has whizzed past since that nervous wednesday evening in April 2005. What an incredible ride it has been. May 'ummaachi' grant the best he could possibly grant.

Easter Bonnet

We were not aware of Easter Bonnet until we were asked by Anirud's school to get one ready for today. Today is the last day of the term, before the school breaks for Easter and they wanted every kid to be with a bonnet today. As it is, Easter Bonnet is nothing but a decorated hat, traditionally worn by women during Easter time.

Anirud's mom put up lot of effort in getting the hat decorated, while I contributed to the activity by supervising her. The result of 40 minute work was a nicely decorated, but girlish looking bonnet. As we were quite new to this concept and also since Google Images returned few pictures of boys wearing such bonnets, we excused ourselves for the girlishness bit. What mattered in the end is, Anirud liked it every bit and much to our relief, we saw few other boys at school having such bonnets.

Tennis

We enrolled Anirud for Tennis lessons at a local club. The lessons will be with a group of children of his age and that will be for about 30 minutes every week. It is not our intention to make him a Federer or Nadal (we certainly don't mind if he becomes one eventually ;-)), but our idea is to pull him out of the couch and make him get some exercise. One of the first lessons for this couch potato is to place the ball on the racquet and walk a certain distance balancing the racquet. He did pretty well on that, much to our surprise and that of the coach. So far, he has been there for 2 weeks and he seems to like it. If he continues to like it, we might think about increasing the frequency of lessons and see how he does.

Statue of Liberty

There stands the Statue of Liberty.

It was entirely Anirud's idea. He took few sheets of paper, stood on a stool with his hands raised and claimed himself to be the 'Statue of Liberty'.

Parents Day @ School

Every school term, Anirud's school organises a day where the parents can go in and have a look at what their wards are up to. As it is a school based on montessori way of teaching, on a typical day children are mostly on their own exploring with various stuff in the school (there are loads of things for them to look/feel and learn) while the teachers (directress, as they are called) gently guide them appropriately.

On the day when parents where invited, children were asked to show their parents what they normally do. Although his initial reaction to my presence inside the school was like 'what the heck are you doing at my place', he got over it and took me around to various tables and started to explain things with lot of pride. He struggled hard when trying to get the torch bulb glow by connecting the wires to the battery and eventually succeeded. As he normally likes any role play, he was more than happy to be a vet in the Vet's corner. He was very excited to show me so many things around that the way he moved around the place had an air of 'this is my place and I know what I am doing' kind of attitude.

I also got a chance to have a detailed chat with his key worker away from his earshot and was pleased to hear that he was doing well. She reported that everything is fine with him and also that he is good in 'trying' out things, rather than sit laid back. He seems to come out as a bright kid in generaland it was an interesting observation that he likes activities where he gets to use his hands a lot more (example - playing with a play dough etc). She did mention about the way he adores two other teachers - Miss Fiona and Miss Lucy, whose names we hear a lot when Anirud talks.

One little concern that came out was the way in which Anirud approaches other children. More often than not, when he wants to join other children in some activity, it seems that he just barges in taking them for granted. The other children, who are also 3 or 4 year olds doesn't seem to like that. All he needs to do is to learn the art of 'asking', which I am sure he will pick up gradually.

In all, the visit to the school gave us a feel good factor about what and how Anirud is doing away from home and we also had few action items on us as well.

Theory

Q: Anjaneyar with his tail on fire jumps in to the flowing river. What will happen now?

A: The river will have hot water.

Take a Guess

Before reading any further, take a look at this picture and try to guess what it is.

Anirud 'drew/painted' this and claims this blue-green mess to be an ambulance. Irrespective of whenever or however you ask him, his answer has been consistent. Also, he went over board by proudly displaying his work of art and asking his mom to point at the doors of the ambulance. Unable to bear that annoyance, she put her hand somewhere on the picture and said that this is where the door is. We are not sure if Anirud considers himself as an expert of art or an expert in ambulances, but it was certain that he didn't think of us as any of the above. Pointing at various parts of the supposed picture, he started explaining like 'This is door mummy. See, this is a wheel. This is the siren.....'. Ugh! We gave up. :)

School

Our county council has decided on the school that Anirud will be attending from next year. In UK, unless you opt for private education, it is the local body that decides which school the child will be attending. Although a kid's future depends on his own destiny and the the circumstances, we want to provide a good head start to Anirud for his education. We do wanted to walk that extra mile if that would make a difference in his life. More than a year before we were about to apply for a place for admission, his mom started the ground work. She spent hours poring over Ofsted Inspection reports of various schools in the locality, went through Primary School League tables for the last few years and even checked up schools in the nearby towns to see if it would make sense for us to relocate to that place. Our address falls within the catchment area of a school (A), which is not so good. We didn't want him there at all. It was not even our last choice. After lots of consideration, we shortlisted two schools (B and C)- which were a mile away from our home.

In terms of rankings and performance, both were very good and it was a difficult choice to make. As we have to list three preferences in the application form, we listed School B as our first choice, School C as our second and chose one another school (D) as our third option. When the letter came in, we were praying that it should not be school D or worse, it should not be A (even though that is not our choice). Thankfully, it was school B. We are so glad that he is going there. We can still appeal to the authorities to allot him School B, but there is very little chance of him getting there and we don't have any regrets with the current choice.

This school is set in a very nice environment, surrounded by beautiful countryside and our brat would be walking into the school as a student from Jan 2010 onwards.
Anirud's school on a snowy day in Feb 2009

School Field
Woodland area within the school
Another view of the woodland area within the school

Birthday Bash

We attended a birthday bash recently where Anirud got to meet quite a few children of his age. Parents of the birthday boy had organised few games (as in photo) as well and it was really funny - especially to those adults who were watching, with every child going their own way. As we had to travel more than 120 miles, Anirud was woken up well before his normal time and as a result, he was very moody at the beginning. At some point during the party, he came to life and actively participated in 'kuthaattam', which has become a tradition in the Indian parties that we attend in this part of the world.

Facebook

Last evening, we were just talking about the social networking website 'Facebook' and how addicted people are to it. We did notice Anirud frantically searching the book shelf for something. Couple of minutes later even as we were continuing to discuss about Facebook, Anirud with the below book in his hand declared - 'enakku facebook theriyum. namma adhai vechirukome, paaru' (I know what Facebook is. We have got one, see). Apparently, Facebook for Anirud is a book that has got a picture of someone's face. :)

Idea!

Anirud doesn't like the process of applying hair oil on his head. However softly we do that, he will always ask us to handle it a bit more slowly. Today morning, he caught upon an idea - dip the plastic comb in the hair oil and comb the hair. How does that sound?

Keyboard

Anirud busy playing in his keyboard

Talk Talk

Following are the new set of words / phrases in Anirud's dictionary.

Listen to me
Yes, Please
Don't worry, I can manage
No, Thanks
Stand in the queue please
I am going to sing. Listen now
Don't be silly

Favourtie Man

Guess who is Anirud's man of the moment? In his own words, "Obama daan ennoda favourite man" (Obama is my favourite man), whatever that means. :-) The day after Barack Obama's inaugration as President of USA, we were at a shop gazing at dozens of newspapers - all carrying the pictures from the inaugration. Initially, Anirud was excited at being able to identify Obama and later on he became excited as he recognised the event that he watched the previous day. At that very instant, Obama became his 'favourite man'. :)) As Anirud has been chattering non-stop about the world's powerful man for the last couple of days, I asked him what he knew about Obama for which he replied that his favourite man gives speeches and everyone claps. One question that I am unable to answer him was - "Why didn't Obama become the President of UK?".

Girly Stuff

While picking up Anirud from school, I pointed out to art works that other children had done and asked why he didn't bother to do anything of that sort. His reply was very simple - "Adhellam girls panradhu pa" (Those are girly stuff daddy).

Anirud's Theory on Bones

1. Milk has calcium. If you drink lot of milk, your bones will become strong and won't break. Milk is white in colour. So, bones are also white.

2. If you drink Complan, your bones will turn yellow because Complan (Mango flavour) is yellow in colour.

3. If you drink coffee, bones will be strong because coffee has got milk. (No comments about the colour of the bones, whatsoever)

Show Off

Today morning, when I dropped Anirud at his school - he had a word with his friend P, then came running back to me and started searching my pockets frantically for something. He located my mobile phone and before I could say a word, ran towards his friend and said 'My dad has a Blackberry'. He turned back to me with a satisfied smile after noticing the jaws of his friend drop. That was clearly a show off. Seems that his friend had boasted about something else his dad had got and this fella wanted to do a 'mine too'. Will be interesting to know how his friend retaliates.

Eating Habits

Due to rounds of cold, cough, flu etc affecting everyone in the family over the last few months, it was easier for us to feed Anirud by ourselves. Clearly, we didn't have any bit of energy with us to beseech him to sit properly and have his food or to stand his occasional tantrums if he is not in a mood to eat.
Now that we have got back to normal, we resolved to make this little brat eat on his own. I should say, that it was a sort of shock when we offered him breakfast and asked him to eat. He flatly refused and the bowl was removed after giving him 20 minutes. He was more than happy to go hungry. It continued the same way for lunch and he was demanding us to feed him ('ootti vidu ma'). Not eating for the whole day might be fashionable, but he couldn't withstand it. As chapathis were being prepared for dinner, we could see him grab that in his plate, run away to his table and within a matter of 90 seconds he finished a chapathi and kept asking for more.

Conversation

அப்பா: ஹ்ம்ம்..... என்ன பிள்ளை-டா நீ?

அனிருத்: கருவேப்பில்லை

[Dad: Enna pilla da nee? Anirud: Karuvepilla (curry leaves)]

There is no meaning or anything to what he said. The spontaneity of his reply was very funny.

End of School Term

Anirud's school term came to an end last week. On the last day of the term, there was a nativity play at school and every kid had a part in that. I was unfortunate to miss the event, but could understand when his mom said that it was fun to watch the 3 & 4 year olds who were supposed to do a part - waving at their parents, talking to one another, scratching their head etc. Anirud's role in that 50 minute play was that of an elephant and like many kids, he was also scanning the audience from the stage trying to spot us. It is a shame that our camera didn't work at that time and camcorder was left behind at home.

After the play, there was a small event with Father Santa making an appearance for giving out christmas gifts. Anirud also had the joy of posting two dozen greeting cards for his pals at the special post box put up at school. They also bid farewell to couple of children, who were leaving the nursery to the primary school. In all, it was a happy beginning of three weeks of holidays.

Anirud waiting with the other kids to be called by Santa

Friends

In the recent times, Anirud seem to be quite appreciative of his 'friends' and at times he seem to miss them too. A week into his term break and few days after our visit to our friend's place, he makes regular references to the fellow fellow children at school and other kids whom het met elsewhere. Apart from Varsha-kka & Advika, whom he has been meeting in regular intervals for years now, other names like Parsa, Megan, Priya, Varun, Architha, Aparna find a mention every now and then.

We were shopping at a supermarket some day, when Anirud pointed to a boy model in some advert and claimed that he is his friend from school. He still refuses to believe that a child - whom we think is very close to him at the nursery, will not be around for the next term.

Easel

Anirud scribbling on his new black board.

Vaccination

Anirud had his dose of vaccination this morning. To double his agony, it was two injections this time. The nurse apologised to him before, during and after the ceremony for hurting his soft and tender skin. One drop of tear for two injections was the outcome. It was over and he was more than happy to get out of the place. In the evening, his mom was explaining him what vaccinations are all about, that it will kill germs and what not. After a while she asked 'Ippo sollu, oosi potta enna aagum?' (Now tell me, what will happen after you are given that injection?). Anirud gave her a matter of fact reply - 'Valikkum' (It will hurt). :)

The Big Party

An Indian get-together was held recently that we planned to attend. For some inane reasons, that was being referred to as party. When Anirud was told that we will be attending a party, he assumed that to be a 'birthday party', as that is the only one he is aware of and kept pestering us who the birthday boy / girl is. At last, he did realise what that is when he attended the event and even christened it as 'Big Party', based on the number of people who attended it.

That 'Big Party' did have events for children and Anirud participated in 'dumb charade', which was meant for his age group. As none of the children actually caught the concept of dumb charade, it was amusing to see children blink and show some funny shapes to their team mates. In case of Anirud, he and another child slight elder to him by few years came forwarded to enact their word. The word that was given to them was 'house' and the organisers helped them to show the shape of the roof. Seeing the other kid doing some shapes, Anirud just repeated whatever he did and funnily enough shouted 'It is a triangle'. :) As the time ran out, the show ended. Nevertheless, it was great on the part of the organisers to have put their thinking caps on in organising something of this nature.


Anirud (in blue t-shirt) enacting the word 'house' to his bemused team mates.

Flower Pots

Recently we bought couple of indoor floral plants, one of which is called 'nandhiya vattai' in Tamil. When we bought it, there were quite a lot of buds in the shrub. We pointed all of those to Anirud, teaching him to water the plants and explained that the buds will bloom into flowers later. All through the day, he kept checking the plants every five minutes and when it didn't bloomed as expected, he started demanding explanations. Perhaps, this is what poet Vairamuthu meant by 'Naan nattadhum rojaa indre pookkanum' (நான் நட்டதும் ரோஜா இன்றே பூக்கணும்). :))


A day later 'nandhiya vattai' smiled much to everyone's happiness.

Kadodhgajan

Guess who is Anirud's latest favourite character? It is the mythological 'Kadodhgajan'. Few weeks ago, Anirud watched the classical Tamil movie 'Maya Bazaar' and particularly took a liking to the famous song 'Kalyaana Samayal Saadham..'. Since then, he has watched that song few hundred times already and has now become a die hard fan of 'Kadodhgajan'. He will be all excited upon seeing that character make his appearance on the screen. Perhaps, he thinks it is really possible for the 'real' Kadodhgan to make all the laddus fly into his mouth. On the other day, I showed him a plate filled with some food item and in a flash of a second, replaced it with an empty plate claiming that I ate them all like in that song. One should have seen his face to realise how awe-struck he was. In the end, it took a while to convince him of the truth, though he had a piece of advice for me - 'appa, andha madhiri ellam saapidadhe. appuram, neeyum raakshasana maariduve' (Daddy, don't eat like that. If you do, you will turn into a demon). :P

Pink is for Girls

A shirt that Anirud's grandparents had sent him for Deepavali happened to have shades of pink colour. He immediately refused it saying that it looks girlish to wear that. On the other day, we were at a shop and were looking at a mat that was in pink. Anirud could not even digest the fact that we were looking at something that only girls would use. He doesn't specifically say that pink is for girls, but in general keeps that colour away saying that it is meant for girls. Wonder if someone told him all these or he picked it up through hearsay.

Health Visitor

Anirud's health visitor for the last 3+ years is moving out of our locality and there will be a new person as her replacement. Basically, Health Visitors are qualified nurses with further specialised training and are experienced in child health and health promotion. Here in UK, they will help the parents deal with any of the behavioural issues with the child. I am not sure if other parents consult the health visitor, as frequently as we have been doing. In case of Anirud, she was the one who adviced us on many things including but not limited to - sleep issues, eating habits, attention seeking tantrums etc. Several times in the past, we have called her up with some silly question or other and she would always have some suggestion that would work well on Anirud. Even at times, when she used to tell what we know already - it will be reassuring to hear from the horse's mouth.

She made a home-visit to our place recently and Anirud signed up a 'Thank you' card for her. Thanks Nikki for all you have done.

Deepavali - 2008

Deepavali was celebrated with a reasonable bit of fanfare this year. Last year, we were in India for the occasion and Anirud was not that very happy with the noise of the crackers. But this time around, he was excited on that count and enjoyed lighting quite a few sparklers on his own. With the presence of few other children of his age from our apartment block, Deepavali eve turned out to be a fun night. He even pestered me to let him try the crackers, but that has to wait for few more years.

New School

Since October this year, Anirud has been enrolled at a new school who follow the montessori way of teaching. Seems that he is enjoying it quite a bit there, as sometimes he wants to stay back and refuses to come home. Unlike the nursery he was into before, this is more like a proper school. Hence, he needs to be there at the appointed time, for which he needs to wake up by a certain time, which requires that he should be going to bed at night at a set time. So, his sleeping pattern is all set and that is certainly not the only good thing to happen.

Perhaps, the foremost thing they have taught at school is to stay organised. These days, as soon as he is back home from anywhere, he immediately removes his shoes, places it on the shoe rack, rushes in to the room and changes his clothes - all of these without being prompted. More often than not, he puts away his toys in the right place once he is done. Of course, there are some odd days when he doesn't do any of these, but honestly we don't have any regrets about that, as long as that doesn't become a habit. :)

Three weeks into his school, they had a 'half term' break as well. He enjoyed every moment of that by waking up late (around 9-ish) and staying till late. Thankfully, he got back to his routine fairly quickly as soon as the school reopened.

Typical Brit

Anirud is fast turning out to be a typical Brit. One of the first things he talks about every morning is the weather. "Wow.. What a beautiful sunny day" / "Oh no! It is a windy day", he exclaims/frowns as if the weather means something to him. Well, in a way the weather means a lot to him as that is the one which decides whether or not Anirud will play in the school garden. With him picking up the accents and slangs from school, very soon we are gonna have a tough time following his words.

Undiyal (Piggy Bank)

On the auspicious Vijayadasami day, we got a undiyal (piggy bank) for Anirud. We drew up the rule that he will be rewarded with few coins before going to bed, if he had been behaving well. Any other special accomplishments would also be rewarded. Like it always happens, we promptly forgot the rules that we drew up. One month on, he seldom remembers the piggy bank, but whenever he does never forgets to mention that he is gonna buy a 'blue cycle' with the money he saves.

Art work

Oh yeah... that's a Robot.

"Ben hates me"

One day as I picked Anirud from the nursery, I noticed that he was very upset. His key worker said that he was alright until about 10 minutes back and suddenly became very serious and moody. Upon questioning him, he revealed that his playmate had said 'I hate you' for some reason and that seems to have put him off. With a very sad tone, he mumbled "Ben hates me Appa". While comforting him, I was surprised as how sensitive he is. Some day, he might realise that there are things not worth worrying about and this is one among them.

Mighty Mind

One of our relatives gifted Anirud a game called 'Mighty Mind' and what a wonderful gift that was. It comes with about 30 different shapes (squares, triangles etc) which can be assembled into various different figures (house, animal etc). We taught Anirud the basics of the game and he has learnt it to play by himself with very little help from us. He is sure gonna get the next level of the game - 'Mighty Mind Super Challenger' very soon.

Image Courtesy: Baby Jireh

Overnight Success Story

For the last few weeks, Anirud has been without nappies during the night and gladly, there had been no accidents. Touchwood! Barring the time when we go for long drives, he is nappy free during the day as well - which is one another giant step towards 'big boyhood'. :)) Perhaps, this is not the kind of post that he may want to see in this blog when he grows up big, but this is the kind of news that gives us big relief.

மழலை (Mazhalai)

அது சூடூவா இருக்குமா - அது சூடா இருக்குமா? (Is it hot)

நான் பயமூமுருத்தினேன் - நான் பயமுறுத்தினேன் (I scared him/her)

Laptop Addiction

In the recent few days, Anirud has become addicted towards laptop. As he has learnt to use the mouse very well, he is happy clicking at whatever link that comes his way. That is fine if he does that during his allocated time of 15 minutes a day, when we let him wander around the CBeebies website. Most of the times, he returns the laptop after the allocated 15 minutes - if we show him the clock and say that his time will be up when the big hand of the clock reaches a certain number. But whenever we use the laptop, he sits besides us and tries to click the mouse on something or other. Sometimes, he just grabs our hand to prevent us getting anywhere near the keyboard / mouse and is particularly unhappy if ever we pull him up for doing such stuff. The sooner we address this issue, the better it will be for all three of us.

Vegetable Farm

Vegetable Farm

A week ago, we visited a vegetable farm nearby. What a nice experience it was for Anirud, that he got to pick apples from the trees, dig out carrots & beetroots from the earth with a spade, pick loads of beans from the creepers, rasp/black berries from the plants etc. More importantly, he would have probably learnt that carrots and beans don't get 'created by magic' in plastic covers at Sainbury's or Tesco. It was funny when he said, "En pa dirty carrots ellam vaangare?" (Why are you buying the dirty carrots?).

Cars

Do all the boys like cars? Probably yes. Like most boys, Anirud is crazy about cars and very often takes a vow to drive a car when he becomes a 'big boy'. Once when he was asked 'Which school will you be going to?', he replied 'Driving School'. Funnily enough, ever since he saw someone in our neighbourhood getting into a driving school car, he is pestering us to look for a Kid's Driving School. Well, he is presented with the kid's version of so many things from books to chairs to meals to what not. So, he expects a Driving School for kids as well.

That one apart, his specialisation on logos have diversified into cars as well, as he easily picks out - Nissan, Honda, Volkswagon, Toyota, Ford, Renault, Vauxhall cars by their logo even from a distance.

Flags and Capitals

One interesting bit of learning for Anirud due to the Olympic games was the awareness he gained about various different countries and their flags. These days he instantly recognises the flags of China, India, UK, Switzerland, France, USA and few others. We thought of extending this a bit further and told him about the capital cities of the above countries. He was fine with most of them, but when it came to 'Washington DC' he was a bit intrigued with 'washing', but nevertheless carried on. When we moved on to the next capital, his imagination started to run amok. Before we could tell the name of the next capital, he was like 'Dishwasher DC', 'Fridge-ton DC' - replacing 'washing' with what ever appliance name he could imagine.

Olympics

Thanks to the Beijing Olympics 2008, Anirud now has got a fair idea of what different games are about. His favourites are track cycling, boxing and swimming. Apart from the above, he claims to like 'bulti' (gymnastics), hockey, running (athletics) and diving. Through out the duration of the games, he woke up with thoughts on olympics and watched the telly to his heart's content. We promised to take him to the next Olympics (London 2012), but the problem was in making him understand that he has to wait for 4 years, as he doesn't know to think in terms of time.

Love Film

One fine day, as we were walking past Blockbuster, Anirud asked me to rent the movie 'Shrek'. I said to him that we can get that movie through Lovefilm (an online movie rental service we have subscribed to) and asked him to remind about that when we get home. I expected him to forget about it and rightly so, he didn't bother about Shrek for some time. Few hours later, Anirud went near the laptop that was not only left unlocked, but also had an Internet Explorer window open. He moved the mouse to the address bar and typed some character in random (it happened to be 'L'), pressed the down arrow and hit 'Enter'. To his joy, the website that loaded in front of him was lovefilm.com.

From that point, he started to take control. With the combination of mouse clicks and scroll buttons, he navigated around the site, reached the page where the teaser for 'Shrek' was displayed and just stopped short of reserving / ordering the movie. Leaving aside the initial excitement after he landed on the said website, not for a moment he hesitated while navigating around. Such was his confidence that it appeared that he knew everything about the process like the back of his palm.

Lovefilm.com is a harmless site. At best or worst, he could only reserve a movie. But this is a gentle reminder for us to 'sign out' properly from all the sites, especially the ones like Amazon, which has got features like 'single click ordering'.

Dialogue

(Apologies to those who can't read Thamizh.)

அப்பா: நீ ரொம்ப ஸ்வீட்டா?

அநிருத்: இல்ல, காரம். நான் தான் மிக்ஸர்.. :-))

Small Business Laptop

When we were discussing about the best place to buy our laptop, Anirud turned around and said, "Appa, Small business laptop vaangi paaru. Adhu nanna irukkum" (Dad, get a Small Business Laptop from Dell. That will be good). I vividly remember the day - several weeks ago, when I was telling my wife about the Small Business Laptop available from Dell and Anirud's focus was on his new toy. Seems that he grabbed that bit of info and used it at the right time. Though he doesn't know the meaning of 'business', we were pleasantly shocked at the way he put all of that together at the appropriate time.

Useless

One day Anirud was asking like 'appa, Tesco poy useless vaangalaama?' ('Shall we buy USELESS from Tesco?'). We were utterly confused on what he was talking about that it took a while to figure it out.

Few minutes before this, upon seeing Anirud playing with an used up plastic item, his mom asked me what that was, to which I replied, 'Oh, that is useless. Let him play with it'. He caught on to the word and thought that it is the name of the item.

Scooter

We have got a scooter for Anirud. Scooter is a small two-wheeled vehicle operated by foot and not the one that is commonly referred to in India. The one he has got is a slightly advanced version - that it has got only 2 wheels and at times Anirud finds it a bit difficult to balance. On the otherhand, the scooters owned by few other children in the neighbourhood have an extra wheel in the front for balance. As per Murphy's law, Anirud likes their scooter and the other kids like his'. The next step in this direction will be a 14" bike, which we have planned to get him by Spring 2009.

Whipsnade Zoo

Anirud was taken to Whipsnade Zoo and he enjoyed every bit of his time there. Even when we were few miles to the zoo, he could hardly contain his excitement and was like 'Idhu daan Zoo-aa? Zoo vandhaacha?' (Is that the zoo? have we arrived there?). Apart from seeing the animals that included Lion, Bear, Giraffe, Wolf, Chimpanzee, Rhino, Hippo, Cheetah etc in close quarters, he got to go on a zoo safari in a small steam train. As a fan of trains, he was looking forward to that ever since he heard the hoot of the engine upon entering the zoo. He was visibly pleased when he threw carrots at the bear although one of the bears got hit by the carrot thrown by him. He enjoyed watching the birds and sometimes egged me on to photograph them. An eagle was looking away in its cage and it was cute when he said 'Hey Eagle, look at me, look at me please'. Anirud's only disappointment was that the Asian Tiger never showed up near the viewing enclosure.

Big Boy - Small Boy

Anirud has got a theory that when small becomes big, big will become small. Going by that logic, when he grows up to be a big boy, we (his mom and I) will become small girl/boy, as the case may be. Based on the above theory, his questions are like 'Which school will you be attending when you become a little boy?', 'What kind of toys would you play with?' etc.

Flowers and Wedding

Perhaps taking cue from the movies, Anirud has somehow started relating flowers with wedding. On the other day, as we were walking past the aisle containing flowers at Tesco, he went on like "Appa, inga flowers paaru. Kalyanam section vandhuduthu" (Look at the flowers.. We have come to the wedding section). :)

Drawing

What do you think these are?
First one is supposed to be the Sun and the next one is a smiley.

Quote

"Appa, namma electrical shop-ku poy electricity vaangindu varalaama?" (Shall we go to the Electrical shop and get some electricity?)

Aliases

Mirote - Remote
Om Mano Narayana - Om Namo Narayana

Thamizh Yaanai

Recently, I pointed to a picture of an elephant and asked Anirud if he had seen that animal. I expected him to say yes as he had seen an elephant during our visit to Trichy last year. But this bugger said a firm 'no'. When I reminded him of the place where he had seen the elephant, he was like "adhu thamizh yaanai pa. naan elephant paathadhu illa" (That was a Tamil yaanai(elephant), but I haven't seen the elephant). After observing him for a while, I think he prefixes the word 'Thamizh' to anything related to India, like 'Thamizh letter', 'Thamizh TV' etc.

Formal Wear

I was getting ready for work wearing a jeans and a t-shirt. Anirud was astonished on seeing me going to work in an informal attire. With a stunned look on his face, "Appa, indha dress pottundu pogaadhe. enakku pudikkalai. office dress pottundu po" (Don't go out in this attire. I don't like it. Wear the office dress (formal wear) while going out).

Perhaps, he was taught in nursery about various types of dresses etc that he always makes it a point to wear a different attire when he returns home.

New House

We have moved to a slightly more comfortable, spacious apartment within the same town. Anirud is enjoying well at our new home as it has got plenty of room to run around. As the house is bare without any furnitures, it looks bigger than it is. One concern is that, the house has got woodden floor and if anyone walks hard let alone run, our neighbours might get disturbed. Apart from a good view of a small river, a railway track runs closer to our home, which means Anirud gets to watch the trains on a regular basis along with ducks and swans that are in the river.

Further, the new apartment block has got quite a few kids of Anirud's age. As some of them go to the same nursery as Anirud, it is a good opportunity for him to have friends near the house.

Face Painting

For years we have been asking Anirud if he wants his face to be pained and he normally keeps away from that. This time around, when we had the Carnival at our town over the weekend, he chose himself to be painted as 'Tiger' and that too an 'Orange' one. He enjoyed every bit of the day by getting into all the possible rides, apart from being a tiger.

Later in the day, when we asked him where the tiger had gone, he said that it had gone down the wash basin (where he washed down all the paint).

Concern

For some reason or other, Anirud feels very bad about vomiting. About six months back, when we were at our friend's place Anirud puked out. Although he was cleaned, given a new dress to wear, the place cleared of the mess - he kept feeling bad and uttering 'sorry' innumerable times. We comforted him saying that it is normal for anyone to vomit and it is just a minor accident after all. However, from time to time he will remember that episode and feel very bad. His tone will turn apologetic and he will promise that he wouldn't do it again. Few days ago, Anirud remembered the incident even as we were just passing through the town where our friends live and went on with his usual apologies. He has seen people vomiting out in front of him and on those occasions, we have tried to convey the message as sensitively as we could that this is common among everyone to puke out. Seems that somewhere deep in his mind, he is concerned that he has done something wrong. Perhaps, we should take out a different approach and get that out of his mind.

Cycling

Anirud cycling around the house on his trike.

Lawn Mower

Guess what Anirud thought on seeing the gardener using the lawn mower? That he was cleaning the grass with a vaccum cleaner.
:-)

Day Off at London

Anirud pushing the (empty) buggy at Green Park, London.

Last Saturday could have been a sort of dream day for Anirud in many ways. First, he got to travel in the tube, then he had a field day in Central London - by running around in Green Park, travelling in a bus, watching Big Ben in awe. To top it all, he got to see the London Eye from close quarters and returned home in the tube. In all, a very great day for him.

Car Horn

On the other day, I was telling Anirud about why and how people sound the horn in their cars. When I asked him if he understood what I was saying, he replied with a perplexed face keeping one of his fingers on his head pointing upwards, "naan horn paathirukken pa.. head mela one madhiri irukkume" (I have seen the horn. It will be on the head, like the numeral one). Apparently, he mistook it to be the horn that many animals have on their head. Further, he thought that the radio antenna on top of our car to be its horn.

Back to Nursery

Anirud is back at the nursery since the beginning of this week, after a break of 3 weeks. He is reportedly very happy and talkative. The only thing he is unable to digest is that he is being made to wear shorts (instead of full-length trousers), which according to him, is not an attire to be worn outdoors (not a 'bye-bye' dress, but only an 'aathukku pottukara' dress).

Where are we now?

Normally Anirud makes a mental note of the roads we frequently drive on. Upon entering a particular road, he would normally guess the destination we are headed to. Many a times, he would even tell the locality / town we are driving through. When we were driving through a new locality, Anirud's mom asked him, "where are we now?", with the idea of cornering him. Pat came the reply, "We are on the road".

Wii Board

Wii Fit is the latest toy that we have got for ourselves. The gadget comprises of a console attached to the TV and a Wii Fit Balance Board. As we work out on the board trying to shed those extra pounds, Anirud steps in trying to make use of the board at the same time. Normally, we give him some time to use the board all by himself, but as is the case with most kids of his age, he would want to use the board only when we need it. After a bit of thought, we took out the weighing scale (the one found in a physician's clinic) and told Anirud that it is a Wii Fit Balance Board for Babies. As Anirud is fond of anything that is meant for kids, he is more than happy with the weighing scale and letting us work out in peace. One never know when that bugger will find out the truth.

Aththai Visit

Anirud's aththai is on a two week visit to UK at present. In the days leading to her visit, Anirud was all excited about meeting her and was telling us about visiting the airport to collect her etc. On the day of her arrival, he woke up 1.5 hours before his usual time and was eagerly looked for her arrival. Not disappointing him, aththai brought loads of goodies that included a school bag, black slate, toys etc. After letting her settle down, he is royally driving her nuts by asking her to play with him all the time.

Upon observing us explaining to her about various things she might find new in this country, Anirud thinks that she is one person who doesn't seem to know a thing (sort of 'oor naattaan' in Tamil). It is funny to watch him explain her about all the little things - right from how to eat dosai (dosai-ya pichchu pichchu saapidanum) to how to switch on the telly.

Little Worries

Sometimes, Anirud worries like a grown-up and all of his worries would be on trivial things that actually has nothing to do with him. Couple of days ago, he woke up crying early in the morning. Upon being comforted he said, "Tesco-la vaangina new basmati rice-a use pannadhe" (don't use the new basmati rice bought at Tesco). After being assured that we won't be using it, he went back to sleep peacefully. Probably, he had a bad dream or something that made him worry about the Basmatic rice, of all the things in the world.

Another one of his recent worries is that I might go to work wearing a veshti (dhoti). He calmed down only after seeing me wear formal clothes.

Kadalamuttai Chocolate

What the rest of the world calls 'Snickers', Anirud calls it 'Kadalamuttai Chocolate'.

Lets buy a baby

When we were entering Tesco Superstore, a lady was coming out with her bags of purchase on one hand and with a two month old baby on the other. Upon seeing this, Anirud said without a moment's hesitation: "nammalum Tesco poy, indha maadhiri oru paapa vaangalaam pa" (Lets buy a baby like this from Tesco).

Best Behaviour

During the past week when Anirud's mom was not well and needed complete bed rest, Anirud packed up all his naughtiness and behaved in the best possible way that one could expect of a three year old. As his mom was suffering from conjunctivitis as well, it was important that she was quarantined. When told about that, he left the room quietly closing the door, confined himself to the lounge for most part of the day watching the telly at a low volume and even answered the phone couple of times. Needless to mention that we were mighty pleased with him on the hour of need. This post is to make sure that we not only make note of his crankiness, but also his good behaviour.

Puzzles

Anirud is very fond of jigsaw puzzles. He has crossed the stage of solving 6, 12 and 18 piece puzzles, but certainly not ready for a 500 piece one - which is sure to rob his interest if introduced to him at this stage. I am not sure if it is right or wrong - he doesn't solve the puzzles by looking at the picture. He does it by trial and error by trying to to fit in various pieces of the jigsaw and eventually gets it right. Very soon, we shall increase the challenge level in such a way that his interest level on this remains intact.

Question

Anirud had a poser for his mom today, "mummy, unakku kalyanam aayiduthaa?" (Mummy, have you got married?). Apparently, he had listened to her asking the same question to someone else. :)

Thittaadhe please!

The latest buzzword for Anirud these days seem to be 'enna thittaadhe please' (don't scold me, please). When he does something naughty, he could foresee our reaction and as soon as we open our mouth, he would say the above with a sorry look on his face. This, despite the fact that in the recent days we are extra cautious about not scolding or frightening him for his naughtiness unless he does something that is totally unacceptable.

Make it clear

As a big fan of Tesco, Anirud always has a question or two about the superstore. We were driving past a Tesco Express (smaller version of Tesco) last week, he asked me if that shop has got a parking space. As I was engrossed on something else, I mumbled a weak 'hmmmm'. Obviously annoyed at my answer, Anirud said loudly: 'appa, clear aa sollu. parking space irukaa, illaya. yes or no sollu' (Appa, say it clearly. Is there a parking space or not? Say, yes or no'.