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.