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.