Letting Down

Every morning I drop Anirud at his school before proceeding to work. On our way, we will normally find other children and parents walking along towards the school. As the school nears, Anirud will watch out for any of his friends walking along and (probably) wave at them. Sometimes, we'll wait near our car for his friends to catch up and then they'll walk towards the school, although it will only be few yards from where he gets down.

This morning, as usual I parked the car closer to his school. While I got down and ready to walk, Anirud was still sitting inside looking backwards. I didn't see any of his friends on the way and also that we were running a bit late, so I asked him to hurry up and get down fast. He looked up at me and said, 'Appa, don't tell me to go faster now. Then I will badly let down my friends'.

'Huh? Letting down your friends? Why?'

With tears welling up his eyes, 'If I don't wait for my friends, I will be letting them down pa'.

I managed to convince him that there wasn't any one on the way and he wouldn't be letting down anyone after which he went into the school, quite happily.

Initially when I heard this 'let down' word from him, I thought he is just making something up with no meaning. But, he was clear in his words and he meant what he said. I was surprised by the kind of emotion he was holding. Do children of this age think of these stuff? Or is it just word play? Honestly speaking, I am taken aback.

At School

Last Friday, Anirud went to the Whipsnade Zoo along with his classmates as part of the 'school trip'. The place is a bit familiar to him as we have been there before couple of years ago. He had the additional satisfaction of seeing the tiger, which we weren't able to see last time. When I dropped him off at school in the morning with a small backpack containing lunch, the excitement was in the air. When he got back as a tired boy in the evening, he promptly narrated us about the animals he saw and even wrote down their names in the order in which he saw.

As England played against Slovenia in a do or die match in the football world cup yesterday, his school had arranged for the match to be watched at school premises, for those who wish. When the final whistle was blown, those of us waiting outside could hear a thunderous 'Wwwwheeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy' celebrating the English win (1-0). Anirud came out grinning telling me the score and the name of the guy (Defoe) who scored the lone goal. Apparently, he had had a great time watching the game with his friends. No wonder he loves the school so much.

Apart from visiting the zoo and watching footy, I have a rough idea of what he is up to at the school. He probably takes off his shirt, gets that inside out, throws it in the mud and jump over it few times before wearing it again. How else could you explain the white polo that looks anything but? I can understand the dirt and the stains outside, but how does that happen inside? Oh yeah, I am sure he removes his socks and wears it again after filling it with sand, as we see lots of sand good enough to build a house. We only hope that the school doesn't charge us for smuggling the sand home.

Star of the Week

Anirud's excitement about Switzerland continued when the school reopened. Seeing the way he had bragged about the trip, his school asked us for some photographs which I put it up on a Powerpoint presentation. That was then shown to other children with a bit of 'expert comments' from the brat, that fetched him the 'Star of the Week' award. In all fairness, it should have been given to me. hmm.. When do schools start to have 'Star Parent of the Week'?

Look at the way the paper has been handled.

Swiss Trip

Our four day vacation to Switzerland was fabulous to say the least. Anirud enjoyed every bit of the vacation, which was all the more satisfying. More than that, we were very pleased that he was very well behaved all through the trip and was never fussy about the food or the long walks. We got him a fridge magnet of a fluttering Swiss flag - as a souvenir for the trip and we do hope that he'll remember this one for a long time.

Although every day was phenomenal, the highlight of the trip was when we got to sit in the VIP seat (the position where the driver of the train normally sits) of the Golden Pass Panaromic train. Anirud was on his own there and we got to sit few seats behind. That seat gave enviable views from the front and after a while, he started chatting with an old couple from Australia. When the trip was over, the old man said 'your son seems to be a boy of information. Seems to know lot of things'. Not sure if that was a compliment or an euphemism for 'ask him to shut up'.

Well... here is a collage of some photos.

3 is a magic number

'Three is a magic number. Isn't it?', asked Anirud. Thinking that to be another of his rubbish theories coming out of conversation with his school mates, we ignored him for a while. Being a persistent bugger, he kept asserting 'Three is a magic number' several times, punctuating with 'Do you know that?'. As we were in the middle of something, this 'three' thing was easily pushing us to the point of annoyance.

Unlike what we thought, it was a song that is being played in his school. They are preparing a big float (that will be set on a huge truck) for the carnival few weeks away. The theme for that is 'Recycling' and there is a song that goes on like

'Three is a magic number
It really is a magic number
....
Reuse - Reduce - Recyle
....
Three is a magic number.'

That one apart, seems that his school has explained the recycling concept very well to the children, as Anirud explained that to me with practical examples. Whenever such moral concepts are told, he will take a vow only to forget it few minutes later. This occasion was no exception, as he vowed not to waste any food or water. Also, he promised to *help* us in taking things to the recycling centre. Hmmm... that is more than enough for asking about three being a magic number.

Switzerland, Here we come!

Seems that Anirud now has a better idea about the Golden Pass panaromic train in Switzerland than those who operate it. As we are gearing up for our trip to Switzerland, he has played the promotional videos of the said train service available in the internet several times already. Further, he is super excited about the broken chair in Geneva, cable cars in Grindelwald and the Rhine falls at Zurich. On the other hand, what is he NOT excited about? Already, half the people at his school know every detail of our trip. Pity how they would feel after we come back.

Travel

In general, Anirud shows lot of interest in knowing about various countries and their capitals. Where ever he sees a map, he looks for any known places and also tries to pick up some new countries. I think his interest towards countries started while he was watching Olympic Games 2008, when he started noticing various flags.

On the other day, we were in a situation to divert his attention and so asked if we can plan a visit to Singapore. I was expecting his face to lit up and say a big 'Yes' and ask me questions about which flights would fly there, time it will take to get there etc. Pat came the reply and it was an emphatic 'No'. His reasoning - if we have to travel somewhere, he'll have to get the travel vaccination and it will hurt. So, no travelling please.

hmmm... that that man, that that problem.

Wedding Anniversary

It all started in the usual way with Anirud asking, 'Appa, wedding nursery eppo varudhu?'. It wasn't difficult to make out that he meant 'Wedding Anniversary' and I told him the date. Curious about where this will lead to, I enquired him about the reasons behind his question.

'I am thinking of buying a gift for Amma'.

'Wowww.. that so sweet. What are you going to gift her?'

'That is what I am thinking pa. How about some balloons?'

'Balloons? Do you think Mummy is going to play with balloons?'

'Ok. How about a toy?'

Seeing me star at him, he got the message.

'Ok appa. We will go to M & co. shop tomorrow and I will buy the most beautiful dress for amma. But nee choose panna koodadhu. Naan daan choose pannuven. Ok vaa?' (But you shouldn't choose it. I will choose that).

'Ok deal'.

It was so sweet of this brat to think about a gift for our anniversary. Having said that, even when he was 3+ he was telling my wife that he is going to get a 'woolly cap' for my birthday as I didn't have one. It had happened the other way round as well. When he was scolded by his mom for something, he came to me and declared 'I am very cross with amma. I am not going to get any present for her birthday', which was very sweet as well.

After high-fives, after confirming that he got what an anniversary meant, I felt I could embarass him a little and asked 'It is good to gift a dress to mummy. But, have you thought about getting a gift for me?'. Little did I realise that it will lead to something that we'll keep laughing about.

He thought about it for a while and asked 'Appa, when is your wedding anniversary?

'Only few minutes back, I told you the date right?' and told him the date again.

'அப்பா... சூப்பர் அப்பா. உன்னோட wedding anniversary-உம், மம்மியோட wedding anniversary-யும் சேம் டே-ல வருது. நீ யாரப்பா கல்யாணம் பண்ணிண்டே?' (translates to 'Wow... both your anniversaries happen to be on the same day. Whom did you marry?')

Questioning

Right from the time Anirud started to speak, especially since he started questioning, I knew that there will be some questions that I would struggle to answer. The task became a bit more difficult when he started thinking that 'appa' knows everything. As much as possible, I tried to look for the right answers using various resources and invariably that will trigger a fresh set of sub-questions.

What I do not wanted to do is to tell him something that will stop him from questioning or to tell him a wrong answer that will mislead him. Many a times, he has thrown bouncers like 'what do you call Cement in Tamil'. But nothing prepared me for the one he threw at me yesterday. I really didn't know what to tell but at the same time didn't want to make it a taboo subject. So, I did what I could do best. Bought some time and let him mark this one up for questioning when he became a 'big boy'. As for the question, he began with a typical business like manner - 'I have a question for you' and then went on to ask 'காதல்-ன்னா என்னப்பா?' (What is Kadhal (romance / love)?).

I really wished that I had a typical filmy answer starting with 'காதல்ங்கறது...'. He had heard the word getting repeated in many of the film songs and there goes a question. :)

Sachin Tendulkar

Couple of days back, we visited our friend who is an ardent follower of Cricket and big fan of Sachin Tendulkar (well, who is not?). At his home was a poster of Sachin and some related autographed paraphernalia. Anirud saw the picture and was like 'Appa, is he the one who played for Mumbai Indians?'.

'Yes, he is. He is Sachin Tendulkar'

As Anirud has seen Sachin only in the blue-orange Mumbai Indians jersey (btw, IPL is the only thing he has watched in cricket), he wearing a white one in the poster threw up another question.

'He is wearing a white shirt appa. Which team is he playing now?'

'Indian Team'.

'Oh.. apdi oru team irukkaa?' (Oh.. is there one such team?')

Handling Criticisms

Despite the fact that Anirud comes out as a well-mannered, nice boy, there are certain things in him that needs changing. One such thing is his inability to accept criticisms, even if it is something very trivial. On the other day, we asked him to write the numbers 1 to 50 on a piece of paper. After a few minutes, he came back to us showing us the paper with all the numerals. Using the recommended way of giving feedback - we ticked all the numerals, scribbled a 'Very Good' or 'Excellent', praised him lavishly on his effort and then added, '.... but, the number five should have be written in a better way and not like the letter S. I am sure you can write it better. Can you try once and make these numbers perfect? Otherwise, you have done a fantastic job'. This is all we said and I am sure we said that in a very amicable tone.

However, Anirud could not handle this and started crying. As this is not the first time we have seen him react this way, we let him finish his round of crying and pretended to ignore him, which brought him back to us after a while. After 'Amma/Appa says these things for good' lecture followed by 'I will never cry again amma' ritual, it was all peace.

We got to know that the above is very common among toddlers. Every week, his football coach picks up three pupils for training well in that session. As you all know it, it works in the round-robin waythat every kid gets praised at regular intervals. Until the time Anirud got his first 'pat on the back', he used to come home in tears. Speaking to one another parent, I got to know that this was the case with quite a few of the kids. I believe that the kids will grow out of it naturally, as they grow older. In case, if any one has better way of handling this, we are all ears.

Politics

The first thing that Anirud asks upon woken up is 'What day is today?'. Today was no exception. When I told him that it is Thursday, he reacted with shock as if he just missed a flight. 'Appa, innikku election theriyumaa?' (Do you that today is the election day?). He is right. Today is the General Election day in UK. When the local body elections were held about a year ago, Anirud accompanied us to the polling booth. So, we had plans to take him to the booth this time as well and explain him about what was going on.

Beyond the word 'elections', I honestly didn't expect him to know anything more on the topic. We do talk about politics at home to a certain extent, but not all the time. So, expecting him to shrug his shoulders and say 'I dunno', I asked if he knew what elections are about. To my surprise, he said 'We have to select the prime minister of UK' and added 'David Cameron is the best man pa. So, I am (?!) going to vote for him'. He was particularly disappointed when I said that I am going to vote for someone else.

All through the morning, as we got on with our morning duties, it was election talk all the way. He was on the mode to persuade me to vote for David Cameron. The reason - he and his friends at school think that he is the best. I really don't know what these brats discuss at school. However much I was shocked at the discovery of his political knowledge, that came to my rescue as well. 'Anirud, if you don't eat your breakfast in the next 10 minutes, I will go & vote for Gordon Brown'. You should have seen the way the breakfast disappeared. Same for wearing the uniform and shoes. The threat of me voting for Brown was too much for him to take. Though I felt sorry for Brown, I really wish there is an election every day.

As politics is my favourite talking point, I asked him what else he knew about the elections.

'There is a Green Party and some other parties'.

'Okay, good. Do you know which party Gordon Brown belongs to?'

'appa, Gordon Brown is from Labour Party, right?'

'Yes, thats right. How about your favourite David Cameron?'

'George (his classmate) said that he is from Tony party. Apdi oru party irukaa?(Is there one such party?) It looks like a funny name.'

'It is not Tony, but Cameron belongs to TORY party. Do you know Nick Clegg?'

'Yes, I know'

'Which party does he belong?'

Shrugging his shoulders, he was like 'I dunno. May be a Birthday Party'.

Birthday Celebrations

As is the practice in this part of the world, irrespective of the day of the the birthday, it always gets celebrated on the weekend for the sake of convenience. Anirud's 5th Birthday was no exception and it was celebrated yesterday at an indoor soft play area with about a dozen of his friends. The brats had a gala time for about 1.5 hours climbing on the rope bridge, going on the swing and what not. It was a bit difficult to pull them away from the play area for cake cutting.


Long back when we were planning the party, Anirud wanted a 'Mickey Mouse' cake. Not an ordinary Mickey, but the one in a standing position. Bakers whom we talked to found that a bit challenging and he settled in for a pirate ship chocolate cake, which was very nicely made. One should have seen his face glow when the candles were lit up. The cake looked very impressive and he was very proud that he chose that one. He enjoyed catching up with his mates from the nursery that he went to earlier on and absolutely loved all the gifts he got that day.

Sleep Talk

At times, Anirud used to talk during his sleep. Sometimes it will be gibberish, sometimes very long sentences. We have even heard lines from stories and nursery rhymes few times. This morning it got intersting. This is what that came out of him.

Heyyyyyy, Here is IPL. Chennai Super Kings are winners.
Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Chennai Super Kings - IPL Winners.

Needless to say, MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina are his heroes now. Seems that Obama has been forgotten long ago.

Health Update

Anirud is doing better now. Thanks much to all your support, wishes and kind enquiries.

He started suffering from chicken pox from Tuesday last week and he suffered a lot especially on Friday, when he had the strong urge to scratch at the blisters and rashes. We used neem leaves to comfort him on those places where he wanted to scratch. Thanks to the airport closures due to volcanic ash, there weren't any more stock of neem leaves in the Tamil shops and the ones we had were just enough until today. We were giving plenty of fluids all through the week and he being the one fond of butter milk helped a lot. We consulted the doctor once in between, when he had rashes and blisters very close to his eyes. As the scratching temptation was at its peak that time, the doc recommended an anti-viral to be on the safer side.

Today, he had his first bath after the chicken-pox, after which he felt extremely tired and drained out (Thanks to my mom, this was expected and hence we didn't get unduly worried). It is visibly very disturbing, as he had quite a lot of rashes than we had imagined. Being confined to bed most of the time, IPL came to our rescue as he enjoyed most of the matches. As doctors advised very minimal physical contact with him due to the risk of blisters getting open, he couldn't even be given a warm hug when he turned five couple of days back.

The past 40 days has been one hell of a ride for him health-wise. May the ummaachi whom Anirud prays every day, please ensure that this be the last of his troubles.

One of the lighter moments recently...

Me: "Anirud, you are a Vegetarian, right? Then, how did you get chicken-pox? You should have only got Vegetable-pox, isn't it?"

A: "Don't be silly pa. It is not a food. It is a disease."

Happy 5th Birthday Anirud!

You are FIVE today and in your own words a 'medium-big boy' now. As always, we are really proud of you, little bugger.

Now, it is...

Chicken-pox. We do hope that the month long poor health run ends with this.

Music Concert

We went to the Carnatic music concert at Milton Keynes yesterday. As we were a little concerned that Anirud might feel bored during the concert, we went there mentally prepared to make a quick exit, should the situation demand. Thankfully to Anirud's credit, he behaved really well - not only sitting through the concert, but also enjoying it at times.

There was a Violin performance by Dr. Jyotsana Srikanth followed by vocalist Sanjay Subrahmanyam. Anirud probably thought each one is being given a turn to perform on the stage. The previous occasion when he has been to an auditorium was during the Diwali party last year, when he recited couple of nursery rhymes. He turned to me and asked 'Will it be my turn next appa? I am ready with my rhymes now'.

His next bouncer was when the main vocalist let the violinist to play for a while. Anirud went like, 'Why is this man not singing now? Has he forgotten the song?'.

Other than that, it appeared to us that he was happy listening at the concert. Encouraged by this, we have booked for the next one in few week's time.

Illness Month

Seems that the chest infection that Anirud had few weeks ago that led to his hospitalisation hasn't cleared off. He fell ill again - with cold, cough and was prescribed the next course of antibiotics. He responded well, but still having running nose. The past few weeks have been very tough on him and all we could do is to feel sorry for his plight. Thankfully, the school has been closed for two weeks on account of term holidays, so that he didn't have to take any more time off.

Quote

நான் சுறுப்பு சுறுப்பா இருக்க போறேன் (Naan suruppu suruppaa irukka poren) - meaning, I am going to be brisk.

Nothing great about this statement, but for the way Anirud pronounced the word 'சுறுசுறுப்பு' (surusuruppu ~ brisk). Thought that it must be noted down somewhere for a laugh at a future date and here it goes.