Thomas and Friends

When a relative of ours got Anirud a small toy Train from Thomas & Friends, his joy knew no bounds. He loves the train like anything and the story book that accompanied the toy is his current favourite. We bought him a 'Thomas & Friends' dress and every day Anirud insists on wearing that dress.

Beach

When Anirud was taken to Bournemouth beach couple of weeks ago, he fell in love with the water instantaneously. He never wanted to come back from the water and we had to forcibly pull him away. He used the slightest of the chances to escape from our clutches and run towards water though we managed to pull him back to safety. Wish we lived at a coastal town now.

Climbing

These days Anirud uses both the washing machine and the dryer to good effect to get on top of the kitchen table. We are shit scared that he might fall down someday and strongly discourage him from going anywhere near the washing machine.

First Movie

Anirud watched Superstar Rajnikanth's 'Sivaji - The Boss' yesterday at Safari Cinema in Harrow. It so happens that the very first movie for Anirud happens to be the first day, first show of the most expected movie of the year. At the theatre, once he got adapted to the environment he jumped out of his seat and started to wander. As he was about to do that, the lights went off and the movie started amidst lot of whistling and cat calls. Taken aback, this little fella rushed to his mom and remained seated on her lap till the end. He watched the movie in awe and slept towards the end. While we were returning, he was saying 'rayyinni' (Rajini) and 'ballikka' (Balleilikka song). Today he was asking us to play 'pookkal pookkal' song (Sahaana... Pookkal Pooththadho!). He is able to recognise Rajinikanth in the adverts. Well.. another young fan for the Super Star.

Kuttikaranam

After trying several times, Anirud has learnt to do a near-perfect somersault. The only bit where he fails is he falls from the side rather than forward. As long as he tries in the carpeted floor, it is fine. Hope he wouldn't learn it the hard way by trying the same on a concrete floor.

Mad about books

Mad about books
Anirud is mad about books these days. Every week we borrow about 7-10 kid's books from the local library and he makes sures that we explain him the contents of the same. One particular book - a story of a bear named Andrew is his favourite that he always prefer that for bedtime story reading. Also, in the library there is a headphone which on putting over one's ear would play nursery rhymes. That has caught the fancy of every little kid including Anirud.

Apart from that, he insists on visiting the library whenever we step out of the house. Library, which is literally a stone's throw from our house is a place that we had to pass through for almost everything, has become a new chill out location for Anirud.

Fruity Boy

Anirud is able to identify most of the fruits now and as always he is a big fan of fruits. We have to literally hide the fruits from his view before the mealtime as otherwise he would insist on taking the fruits rather than any other food. Strawberry continues to be his favourite and he like Banana, Pineapple, Melon, Raspberries, Orange, Grapes, Apple and Mango. He would never accept a peeled Banana but would like to peel it himself though he doesn't know how to do that properly.

Mimicking the Animals

After having visited Odd's Farm last month, Anirud does well in tyring to mimic the animals. Also, whenever he sees a cow at a far away farm, he would start shouting "Moo.. Moo!"

Blue Car

On the day when there were quite a few guests at home, our car was parked in a garage away from the usual parking slot. Anirud sensed that the car was missing and he kept looking for the car often saying 'boo car' (Blue Car). Whenever other blue cars were pointed to, he dismissed them as he realised that they were not ours.

Sleeplessness

If Anirud doesn't sleep for at least an hour during the day, he will be at his crankiest best in the evenings until he goes to bed. He would not sleep during the day if he had not taken his food well. He would not take his food properly, if he was suffering from fever/cold/cough. So if at all he catches cold, we know where it would lead to and start to get anxious.
Best part in this is one fine day he didn't sleep in the afternoon and we were getting ready to go out in the evening. Anirud was standing near the sofa, felt tired and started to sleep in the standing position with his head resting on the sofa.

Ironing Board

As soon as one of us sets up the ironing board, Anirud would drop whatever he is doing and bring the iron box in a minute. No one taught him to do that and we never expected him to do it that way.

Sorry to me!

These days Anirud is ready to apologise if he hurts anyone physically. As soon as someone cries with pain, he immediately says 'Soyeee' and smooths the part that got hurt. It was a steep climbdown from his previous position when he had ego about the size of a mountain to apologise. What we are keen that he should understand is that he shouldn't hurt anyone in the first place.
On the other day, he hurt himself accidentally. Realising his folly immediately, he uttered a 'Sorry' and rubbed the part where he had hit. In effect, he was apologising to himself.

Rasam

On the otherday when we were working at the kitchen, Anirud pointed to a vessel with yellowish liquid and asked 'Sambaaraa?' (Is that Sambhar?). As I know that he relates most of the liquid food items of that colour with 'Sambhar', I said YES and brought him closer to the vessel. Having had a look for a few seconds, he immediately said 'Rasam' and walked away. Oh boy.. how correct he was.

Colours

Now, Anirud is able to recognise a good number of colours (Red, Green, Blue, White, Black, Yellow etc). He doesn't need to be asked about the colours anymore. As soon as he recognises any object of that colour, he instantly blurts out the name of the object with the colour.

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.