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'.

Health

Anirud's health has been a cause of concern for us now. Since the dawn of 2008, he has been having some issue or other. First, it was the cold and cough that went on for more than 3 months. Now, he is suffering from fever for the last three days. We are aware that these are very much part of the growing-up phase for kids, but it hurts a lot to see an active kid confining himself to bed. His weight is also not satisfactory. Once he gets out of this feverishness, we will focus on his health a lot more than we do now and do whatever we can to make him a healthier kid. When he is down with fever, he will be confined to the sofa/bed. However, even if his battery gets charged a little bit, he is back to his own active naughty self grilling us with loads of questions, which is good.

Growing Big

Today morning, Anirud wore my shoes and proudly declared "Appa, naan big boy aayitten" (I have become a big boy!). hmmmm... that seems to be his idea of being a big boy.

Kids' Tree

Anirud likes the things that has got a 'kids' tag attached to it. Kids' Pizza, Kids' Dosa, Kids Bed, Kids' Cycle etc are his favourites. He is of the view (and rightly so) that they are being prepared with brats like him in mind and so, they are very special for him. Needless to say, whenever possible we do make use of this to push down our agenda. When he is in a playful mood and doesn't want to take food, any mention of 'Kids Meals' or 'Kids Dosa' will automatically bring him to the dining table. Apart from the above, sometimes he does assume that anything smaller in size are meant for kids. On the other day we were shopping at IKEA, Anirud suddenly pointed out to something and said 'Indha shop la kids tree irukku pa. Enakku onnu vaangi thariya?' (This shop sells Kids' Trees. Will you get one for me?). The thing that he was referring to was a Plant. :)

Bits and Pieces

Anirud seems to be getting better in playing back the happenings at his nursery. In the last few days, he has been telling us - how he played a monster inside the little house at the garden, how he frightened the little girl who happened to be his class mate, how he was made to sit alone as he did something naughty etc. In the recent weeks, we could very well see that Anirud's command over the language has improved a lot. He is responding nicely with a heavily accented 'yeah' or 'no' when thrown some questions. Most of the time, he is singing one nursery rhyme or other.

At the same time, he has become a bit moody of late. He feels shy when we have someone at home or meet them elsewhere. It takes a bit of time for him to warm up and start mumbling few words. He wasn't like that before. Hopefully, he will wither away this newly acquired trait.

We got a trike for Anirud last year. However, we are guilty of not giving him enough opportunity to practice it properly so that he could pedal all by himself. Perhaps, we should spend more time outdoors and let him pedal around with confidence. It is already time to get him a 12" bike.

Three Years

Anirud turns three today.
In the last few months, he has learnt to:

- Pronounce his name (including the surname) very clearly
- Initiate and continue multiple-sentence conversations
- Identify his and his mom's name where ever they are written (through pattern matching)
- Jump up and down
- Memorise quite a lot of nursery rhymes
- Identify few countries in the World Map
- Wear his costumes without any help
- Hold the pen / pencil properly
- Draw a circle, line etc
- Apologise when he does something wrong
- Use the pull-ups without that many accidents
- Converse with his teachers and mates in English

... and a lot more.

Many more happy returns of the day, love.

Unlike last year, Anirud's third birthday was a low key affair this time. We took him to the temple on Saturday and that was that.

In the bed, with the shoes :-)

Anirud is being read a moral / behavioural story every evening. There is one story where a little boy called 'Pepper' will come home from a party and refuse to change his costume or remove his shoes. He would want to sleep in the bed with his shoes. After a while and loads of advice from his mom, Pepper would turn a new leaf. The story end with Pepper's mom telling him that special costumes are meant only for special occasions and are not meant to be used at home, just like how one would not use tooth paste for polishing the shoes.

Whenever Anirud is in a mood to test our nerves, he will announce with a wink that he will be going to bed with his shoes on. Whenever he wears a party wear, he will say that he will be sleeping in that costume and look at our face for any reaction. The wicked smile on his face at that time will give away that he is kidding and the key here is to ignore him or smile away staying cool. If ever he thinks that we might admonish him, I guess he will try to test the limits by actually doing what he says.

Items on the Menu

Looking at a menu card from an Italian restaurant, Anirud appeared to be reading out something. When asked for what he was saying, he ran down the fingers over the individual items and went on like

Rasam Saadham
Thachchi mamm
Poondu podi saadham
Naarthangaai
..
..

Imitation

As Anirud's mom was lying on the bed immersed in a novel, this brat climbed on there lay next to her, picked up another novel and supposedly started 'reading 'it. :-)) It is a fact that Anirud loves books. Not a day passes without his time on books, but Jeffrey Archer does sound like a lot for his age. Don't you agree?

Favourite Underpants

One can expect to have a favourite dress, favourite food, favourite toy, favourite place.. but how about favourite underpants? Seems that Anirud has got one such. One day he was like 'ennoda favourite jetti nananju pochu pa' meaning 'my favourite underpants has got wet'. :)) Having said that, he is in the process of being toilet trained. He had had few successful accident-free days at the nursery (touchwood!) and we are hoping that the run will continue. At home as well, he is having nappy-free hours which are being gradually increased.

London Underground

While taking Anirud for a walk, I took him towards our local train station. Thanks to the 'Underground Ernie' programme in the telly, he is very familiar with London Underground's logo. Though my idea was to let him have a glimpse of the train from outside, the station staff was kind enough to let us inside the platform even though we were not travelling. As a train approached the platform, one could see a 1000-watt bulb glowing on Anirud's face. Thanks to the fact that the station being the last one on the network, Anirud got more time to watch the train in awe. As if that is not enough, the train driver let him inside his cabin for a couple of minutes and even let him make the train whistle. Wasn't that enough to make his day?

It is not Anirud's first train ride or anything like that. The last time we travelled in a tube, he wasn't even two. These days, he is able to appreciate things better and is able to relate to what he sees elsewhere. Someday, we are planning to take him to the train museum nearby, that has got lot of joy train rides.

Fun Fair

Anirud had some good fun in the rain marred fun fair that was held in our town. As that place is so close to his nursery, for more than a week he had been watching the place getting ready with equipment for various rides being set up on the location. The day before the fair started, they were doing the test rides and if he had had his way, he would have gatecrashed in to one of the rides. He especially like the ride on a lil' fire engine that had a 'ding dong bell' (that was exactly what he told).

Isn't it wrong?

One evening last week, Anirud stopped me and said in an authoritative voice: "Appa, ammava yen push panre? Adhu thapilla?" (Dad, why are you pushing mom? Isn't it wrong?). The sheer tone of his voice while saying this was something we enjoyed though we are not sure if he was trying to be extra smart in covering up what he did by pointing the blame on me or if he really observed me pushing his mom.

We used to pull up Anirud if he does something wrong and the above is the way that we normally talk. Seems that this brat has observed that a lot and used it at a right time. One another reminder about the choice of words that we should be using.

Letter Recognition

On the other day, we were at a restaurant when Anirud grabbed the menu card and went on like 'D potrukku, O potrukku, S potrukku, A potrukku' meaning 'Here is D - O - S - A'. We were in for a shock as we never expected him to recognise alphabets, that too from a word printed with a combination of upper and lower cases. On further prodding, we realised that he could recognise as many as a dozen different alphabets.

Craft work

Easter Greeting card done by Anirud.

Writing

In the recent times, Anirud's way of holding the pen has improved. Previously, he used to hold the pen in a clinched fist. These days he is trying to hold the pen using his three fingers (Thumb, Pointer and the Middle), although his grip needs to improve. We have got him quite a lot of books for writing practice and hoping that very soon, he will take to writing properly.

Mask

When we visited Frankie & Benny's restaurant, Anirud was given a paper mask of that of a tiger. He got so excited with the mask that all through the evening, he was wearing it and trying to 'frighten' us with tiger's roar. :-))

Tissue Boy

We wouldn't be surprised if Anirud ends up working for Kleenex. These days, he can even live without food or water, but can't do without a pack of tissues. Be it to wipe off the running nose or to get rid of the grain of rice that fell on his body while consuming food, he needs tissues. To differentiate the kitchen tissues and the facial tissues, he refers to the latter as 'tissue pack' and carries one most of the time, whether he needs it or not.

Habits & Timeout

Thanks to Anirud's time at school and nursery, he has picked up lots of habits - both good and bad in equal measure. Good ones include taking his food only at the table, wearing his jacket on his own without any help and few more. On the other hand, he is annoyingly seen spitting and at times kicks/beats us. Over the last few weeks, we have managed to contain (touchwood!) his spitting habit, thanks to the timeout technique. When one of our friend told us about the timeout technique, we were initially apprehensive. But it works amazingly well with Anirud. Hope the effectiveness continues.

Illness

We were a lot worried about the recent bout of Anirud's illness. We heaved a big sigh of relief when the doctor ruled out tuberclosis (TB) after analysing his blood tests. Upon meticulous observation of his coughing pattern for the past 10 days, we find that he coughs only when his nose is blocked due to cold. Further, there is cold on his chest. Earlier on, his vigorous coughing for few days led us to think that he might have some other complications. But that doesn't seem to be the case now. It is nothing but a regular cold and cough that dragged on for a bit too long.

Naked Pooh

While playing with 'Winnie the Pooh' soft toy, Anirud took out Winnie's red shirt. While he was proudly proclaiming his achievement, I mentioned that Winnie will take away his dresses just as he did when he was fast asleep. This happened in the evening and we all forgot about it. At night, in the bed, Anirud was seen taking away his duvet to check if his dresses are in place. He was telling us that Winnie might make him a 'Shame Shame Puppy Shame' boy by taking away his dresses. ;-))

Blood Test

Blood test turned out to be an anti-climax. There were two nurses at the hospital who went about the task of taking the blood sample, while the other - designated as 'Play Specialist' kept him busy with 'Thomas and Friends' engine. While coming out of the hospital, Anirud was asking why they hadn't given him injection implying that he didn't even realise that the blood was taken.

Photo Shoot

We booked up a photo shoot for Anirud over the weekend. A professional photographer clicked about 150 photographs in various outfits and backgrounds. We are yet to see the edited / touched upon output yet, but I guess it will happen soon where we need to choose one to be printed in big size. Anirud was cooperating well for a long time when he exactly did as the photographer wanted him to, but towards the end, it became a bit boring for him and he started running around. But the best part was that those photographs that were clicked when he was doing things on his own had come out really well.

Cough

Anirud has been coughing vigorously for the last few days. He has been suffering from cold and cough for the last few weeks and the doctors have been saying that it is some virus that will go away on its own. But this time around, our doc has asked him to go for a blood test next week. I guess that is going to be the next challenging task in front of us. Keeping our fingers crossed about the scene he is going to create while the blood is drawn.

Works of Art

Some painting and craft work done by Anirud at his playgroup.


On the day he came back from school with this painting, there was more paint on his dress than on the chart. :-)


This is supposedly some work of art meant to be done with a bit of colour on the fingers.


Oh yeah... It is very much a Valentine's Day card. Not sure if he knows what it is.


Assume this to be a monkey and you'll get it right. Made with paper plate and pieces of brown paper.

How about a cuppa?

While passing by a Starbucks Coffee shop, Anirud tapped on my shoulders and said: 'appa, oru coffee saapttu polama?' (How about a cup of coffee beforwe we proceed?). Wonder where from these buggers catch all this.

Digger & Fire Engine

On the way to Anirud's school, there is a shop that rents out industrial tools. That shop has prominently puts up their digger and other earth moving equipment on display at their forecourt. This coupled with the usage of digger in the nearby construction site has triggered Anirud's interest in that equipment that he watches it in awe whenever it is being operated somewhere. One fine day, he asked us whether he could buy one of those huge machines for ourselves. Apart from that, he would only want a Fire Engine (real one). :)

First Hit?

Seems that Anirud has got hit by his classmate at school. As he hasn't yet got the concept of a teacher who will be 'controlling' the class, he mentioned about that at home later on. He was very clear about what happened as he consistently demonstrated the incident several times along with the name of the boy who did that. Anirud was taught how to issue a stern warning and take it further if that happens again. Let us see how this turns out.

Viral Infection

Three weeks ago, Anirud caught the all common cold while at school. The doc said that it is a sort of viral infection and would only go away on its own. Unfortunately, that still continues and he has been finding it difficult to breathe during the night. In the recent days, he has been coughing vigorously as well. More than two different doctors have confirmed that all is well with him and there is nothing to worry. Just that it pains a bit when he suffers. Hopefully, this should build up his immune system well.

Online Ordering

Out of the blue, Anirud was asking us to buy him some sweets from the shop. On being told that it is Sunday and the shops will be closed, he threw us a bouncer with his response - "laptop-la order pannu pa" (Order it from the laptop). When we quizzed him further on what he meant by that, he had got the basics right. He was saying if we order the sweets from the laptop, the postman will cook and bring home some sweets. That funny bit apart, a 2.5 year old talking about online ordering was indeed a bit surprising. Think this generation's kids are way ahead than we could possibly assume. Guess we can't take things for granted any more.

Anjaneyar Effect

Ever since we started telling stories about Anjaneyar (Lord Hanuman), Anirud's naughtiness has increased manifold. He is mischievously climbing on to the table, trying to reach the top of the fridge with a stool and gives us a trying time. He has become a big time 'vaalu' and that is where we see a connection between him and Anjaneyar. :-)

Early to Bed - Early to Rise

Due to his nursery timings, Anirud's sleep timings have changed a bit. He is being put to bed at around 8:30 ~ 9:00 pm and wakes up around 7:00 am, which suits us really well. He doesn't sleep in the afternoons these days.

Lunch Club at School

Anirud has joined the lunch club at school, which means that he will stay at school for an extra hour or two sharing the table with fellow brats. He is very excited about getting his lunch packed and carrying that to school, that he starts pestering us to pack the lunch box since dawn.

Nursery

Due to the fact that Anirud has nothing else to do on those days he doesn't go to school (He will be attending school only for couple of days a week at this stage. Full time schooling will start only at the age of five), he was sent to a nursery (creche) so that he could get to meet few more kids of his age. He had few settling-in sessions during which he was very happy and enthusiastic. After three such sessions, it was decided to start the full time sessions. The first day went off really well, with him feeling a bit upset when he woke up in an unfamiliar environment after a short nap. The second day was the worst of all. He had cried and cried and cried for the whole day that he got worn out of crying and slept. We felt sorry for him, but from the third day onwards he took things relatively easily, even promising to 'be a good boy and not to cry' and he did. Thank god for that! :) Few more sessions later, he has started liking the place and looks forward to go there.

Anirud starts schooling

Anirud started his academic life by stepping into school for the first time today. Strictly speaking, this is not the beginning of school education as it is only a play group. Yet this is a beginning and formal schooling would happen in due course. From today there would be some sort of structured routine for the next 20 odd years. Wish him well.

Mottai boss with some hair

40 days after the 'mottai', hair is growing thick and fast. These days, he could be heard proclaiming "mottai mandaila mutti (mudi)" (hair on the shaven head). :)

Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk

After returning from India, Anirud's chatter has increased manifold. He constantly comments, questions, announce something or other. His incessant chatter drives us nuts and quite literally so when he does that while driving the car. There was a time when we were eagerly waiting for him to utter a word or two. Now we wish he could keep quiet at least for few minutes.

Snippets from India Trip

Cow Farm - On the day we arrived at our home in Chennai, there were quite a few cows sitting on our street. Immediately, Anirud declared the place as 'cow farm' and continues to refer it that way.

Crackers - It was the first Deepavali in India for Anirud. Though there weren't that many crackers in the neighbourhood as was the case few years ago, whatever noise that came out was a bit too much for him. At first, he was shocked at the sound but later on he got along with that and even showed interest in handling the sparklers. Whenever a cracker went off on the street, he referred to that as 'vedi saththam'.

Motorbike - For the first time ever, Anirud travelled in a motor bike. He was seated on the tank while driving, but the trouble is he was getting bored that he started turning sideways. So, we gave him the job of honking whenever we needed to and he did that job to perfection. However, as an extra service he switched on the lights and indicators very often.

Appa College - For days before our trip to India, we have been telling Anirud that we would be visiting the college where his dad studied and we did. It was for a college re-union and as it happened to be a holiday, he was happily running around the place saying 'appa college'. Being a kid, quite naturally he was the toast of the gathering and some guys were using him to pull each other's legs. Some of his dad's mates made Anirud call a guy named 'swamy' as 'poli swamy'.

Thaathaa - Both of Anirud's thaathaas (grandpas) turned out to be his world during our three week stay in India, for they were the ones who tried every bit to bring the world towards him. Both of them walked, ate, slept and breathed with Anirud that no wonder he chose to ignore everyone else. If Anirud is asked to name someone he misses from India, he would name both his thaathaas without a moment of hesitation.

Trains - Anirud had his heart's fill with trains. Apart from travelling in super fast Pallavan Express to Trichy, his grandpa ensured that he was taken in local trains as well, just for the sake of travelling. He was taken upto Mambalam Railway station, made to wait for an hour or so seeing all the trains that went past and got into one and travelled back home. Weeks after we returned back to UK, all of a sudden he was saying that he wants to visit 'Tambaram Railway Station'. :)

Cuckoo Clock - A non-functional Cuckoo clock in our home at Chennai turned out to be one of Anirud's favourite toys. His grandpa would make the cuckoo come out of its nest by pressing a button and that seemed to fascinate Anirud. He would have called out the cuckoo not less than 300 times during our stay.

Elephant - For the first time in his life, Anirud saw an elephant. He was really awed by its sheer size and majesty. He was taken to the Rockfort temple at Trichy and shown the elephant there. The animal touched Anirud's head with its tusk and he was quite thrilled at that. Back home, he is using his hand to touch everyone's head to explain the above and proudly says that he went to 'mallaikottai' (Rockfort) to see the elephant. While saying the word 'mallaikottai', he would say it in such a way that the words would crumble along.

Silver Colour Gun Shop - I think Anirud loves specialisation. According to him, each item in the world will have an exclusive shop for itself. Like he would go to 'kadalamuttai shop' (peanut candy shop) to buy 'kadalamuttai', a day before Diwali he went to 'silver colour gun shop' to buy a 'Silver colour gun'.

Mottai Boss

Anirud is now a 'mottai boss', having got his head tonsured at our family deity's temple near Sirkazhi. While we expected him to make a big scene while getting his hair shaved off, he didn't even make a whimper. He was happily juggling with a mobile phone and was talking to the barber who went about doing the job with utmost ease. From that day on, he proudly shows off his head as 'mottai mandai' and sometimes he wants us to call him 'mottai boss'.

Royally Pampered

We went to India on a three week trip and Anirud has returned back royally pampered. He was treated as a royal at both his grand parent's house that reality is a bit tough for him to take after returning to UK. If his maternal grand parents in Trichy appeased by feeding him by getting him seated on a motor bike, at Chennai his paternal grandpa took pampering to new levels. Anirud had his own, small chair to sit. Where ever he went, his grandpa not only followed him with a chair, but also a little stool to rest his feet. No wonder children and grand parents are great allies.

Vijayadasami

On the auspicious Vijayadasami Day, at an auspicious time, Anirud prayed to God and with the help of his mom wrote 'OM' and few other Tamil alphabets on the rice spread out on a plate. Though he has been scribbling a lot on the walls already, this is meant to be the beginning of his education and traditionally it would be done with a little ceremony where the child would write few letters on the paddy amidst reciting of slokams. Being in UK, we neither had paddy, nor were we aware of the exact traditional way of doing things. So, we had to settle for 'whatever possible here' approach.

Thengaai Saadham

'Thengaai Saadham' (Coconut Rice) is the flavour of the current season for Anirud. He wants that prepared very often claiming that he likes it very much ('romba romba pudikkum'). On the other day, we were at our friend's place when someone asked Anirud 'What do you like to eat?'. Before they could finish the question, pat came his reply - "enakku thengaai saadham romba romba pudikkum" (I like Coconut Rice very much).

For the moment, 'kadalamuttai' (peanut candy) has taken the back seat.

Chennai Dosa

After taking Anirud to Chennai Dosa restaurant at Wembley quite a few times in the recent months, he seems to have become a fan of that place. All of a sudden, he would ask 'Chennai toosa polaam' (Lets go to Chennai Dosa) and when taken to, he knows what exactly he wants - a plain dosai. He would happily take out pieces of dosa from the plate, put them in his mouth after dipping them in 'geen colour chutney' (Green), 'ettu colour chutney' (Red coloured chutney) and 'sambhar' in such a way that he would not even be able to have a remote sense of taste of those chutneys.

Introduction

Most of the time Anirud sees a kid of his age, he stretches out his hand and mutters, "hello paapa. my name is aninudh". However much we try to cut out the 'paapa' (baby) in the monologue, he mentions that without fail. He is very amused and disappointed when the other kid doesn't respond and runs away.

Thillumullu

Rajini (referred as 'Ashini') is Anirud's favourite hero at the moment. He has watched the movie 'Thillumullu' to his heart's content, but would still want to watch it more often. :)

Get-together

Anirud had a good time at the Deepavali get-together we had organised recently. He never bothered us and so did we, though we kept an eye on him. At one stage, he went missing for few minutes before emerging from behind the curtains. As there were couple of push doors at the venue leading to the exit, that caused some anxious moments before we spotted him.

After the get-together, we came to know from one of our friends that Anirud and one another boy of same age were naughtily trying to climb up the chair and access something kept at a height.

Whining

Of late, Anirud is whining for everything. The moment we say something to correct him, however softer the tone is, tears start to roll down his cheeks and he starts to protest. Basically, he has entered the phase where he doesn't like to be told that he needs to mend his ways. This is a solvable issue and we are not unduly bothered. We are travelling to India in the next 10 days and we expect him to pick up few more bad habits as a result of being coochie-cooed by all and sundry. Once we return to our base, we must start 'Operation Anirud' to set things straight.

Timidity

Whenever he meets any strangers (adults) these days, Anirud puts his head down and hardly looks up. This is a total contrast to the scene few months ago when he was relatively ease in mixing with people. Even now, he is comfortable after about 15 minutes or so and in case there is a child around, he doesn't feel timid.

Bed Time

Anirud has got his own bed now. He calls it fish bed as the quilt and pillow cover has got colourful fishes in them. He has also got a companion in 'Noddy' that most of the days (whenever Anirud remembers) Noddy is made to sleep first at the bed time. The only trouble we have at the moment is Anirud doesn't go to bed on his own. He would like us to put off the lights and sleep as well.

Bank Shop

According to Anirud, every building in the High Street is a shop. So, it means that we have a 'Bank Shop' in our town.

Tesco's Brand Ambassador

Anirud is well suited to be called as the Brand Ambassador for Tesco. He has taken an immense liking for the supermarket (probably coz he is able to say that name properly) that whenever we mention a thing about shopping, he brings in Tesco's name. Also, he is able to recognise Tesco's logo painted anywhere - be it a carry bag, vans, petrol stations, catalogue, buildings etc from any distance and whenever he spots one his face lits up.

Chatter

Anirud is constantly chattering these days. Day by day, his words are becoming clearer and he keeps on talking, especially if we are travelling in a car. Sometimes it becomes a bit difficult to concentrate on the road that we ask him to shut up and feel sorry about that.

List

Whenever we speak to our folks in India, Anirud gives out a list of shops that he wants him to be taken to. It goes on like 'kadalamuttaaai shop, mixture shop, vedi shop, dress shop, toy shop' in that order.

School Visit

As Anirud is fast approaching school age, we made a visit to two of the schools nearby. As is the practice here, one of the senior members of the staff took us around the school and watch the activities for ourselves. In one of the schools, we spent more than 1.5 hours and Anirud started playing with the children over there. He would be starting with 'playgroup' in Jan next year and would move to Nursery only in September 2008.

Play Area

Anirud was taken to the soft play area in the nearby town. He loved it so much that he played there like mad for 2 hours. Back home, he was damn tired and had severe leg aches that he woke up so many times in the night crying with pain.

Tamil Rhymes

After watching the CD containing Tamil Rhymes with animated characters, Anirud is able to recite quite a few of them now.

Fun Day

Over the weekend, Anirud was taken to Fun Day organised by the company I work for. He had a roll of a time there taking part in all of the activities and games. The one he liked most is Robbie - the land train that he travelled in that about half a dozen times. Also, he chased down the tortoise and busybee clad men to give/get a warm hug. He got a chance to explore the fire engine, activate its siren, use the water hose to good effect, pedal a cycle, jump on the bouncy castle, run through the mazes etc.

Few photos taken during the day.

Where did Lord Muruga sit?

Anirud was told a short mythical story, which went on like below. Lord Muruga and Lord Vinayaka wanted to lay their claim on a holy fruit (Mango) brought over by Naradar. As they were told that the fastest one to return after going around the world once would get the fruit, Lord Muruga set out on his peacock and came back in no time. In the mean time, Lord Vinayaka felt that his parents were his world, went around them once and got the fruit himself. Enraged at the injustice meted out to him, Lord Muruga came to the earth, climbed up the hill and sat there.

At somepoint while the story was being told, it seems that Anirud's attention drifted away. When he was asked 'Where did Lord Muruga go and sit?', he thought for a minute and said, 'In the sofa'.

Rain Rain Go Away shop

At the local High Street..

Dad: What shop is that?
Anirud: Toy shop

Dad: What is that?
Anirud: Dress shop

Dad: What is that?
Anirud: suu shop (Shoe shop)

Dad: What shop is that?
Anirud: ikeem shop (Icecream shop)

Dad: What is that?
Anirud: Ain ain go away shop (Rain rain go away shop)

Dad: What shop is that?
Anirud (pointing to the umbrellas in the display) - Ain ain go away shop!

Turn on this side

Whenever Anirud wants his mom to turn towards him, he used to say 'Mummy, Turn on this side'. We have no clue as to where he got this phrase from and it took a while for us to understand what he was trying to say. Irrespective of whether or not this is a right usage, this is probably the longest sentence spoken by him so far. On the other day we were walking on the road when the sun was shining directly on Anirud who was seated on the buggy. He shrunk his eyes for a few minutes and suddenly cried out, 'Sun, Turn on this side'.

Fire Station visit

Our local fire station had an 'Open Day' recently. The siren of the 'Fire Engine' being a familiar one for Anirud, we ensured that he was there for the event. As the firemen were demonstrating a simulated rescue attempt from a car that met with an accident, it was not all that attractive for Anirud. He was more attracted towards the Bouncy Castle that was set up there and more towards the fire engines with ladders and all sort of stuff. His joy knew no bounds when they let him use the hose from one of the engines and splash water on some stationary object. Although he had to be helped to hold the hose as it was so heavy for him, he enjoyed every bit of the activity.

At 28 months

Anirud is able to:

- say 'Ayithudh' when asked for his name
- say 'shakka' when asked for his dad's name
- say 'shaauu' when asked for his mom's name
- call mom and dad by name suffixed with 'ma' and 'pa' respectively
- identify Rajinikanth whenever he appears on the telly
- identify certain film songs where ever they are played
- differentiate all the basic colours
- identify most of the vehicles, fruits, vegetables, domestic and wild animals
- mimic many of the animals
- pattern match logos of certain shops/brands
- pick out the book of his choice from a pile and ask for the story
- say that he wants to go to library to get a new set of books
- say quite a few nursery rhymes
- say NO to things he doesn't want
- drop litter in the bin whenever asked to
- demand that he be taken to the park to play
- tidy up the house to a certain extent
- follow instructions when he is in a mood to listen
- stand before God, keep his hands folded and pretend to pray
- gauge our mood before he smile/look serious
- communicate to a certain extent in Tamil and English
- get the instructions in Tamil and reply back in English (and viceversa)
- use fork to eat fruits
- say 'zha' as in 'pazham'
- demand for the right food item he wants (especially fruits)
- count up to 10 in Tamil and English
- identify lot of animation characters (Spiderman, Bob the Builder etc)
- pick out a particular dress to wear for the evening
- irritate us deliberately by shouting at the top of his voice
- announce that he has had an accident
- announce that he wants to wee-wee when he wants to
- scribble around with crayons

In the coming months, we expect him to:

- pedal his tricycle
- jump up and down
- pronounce 'r', 'ra', 'ri' (although we would be sorry to let go of that mazhalai)
- get potty trained
- learn the alphabets
- hold the pencil properly and draw a circle
- throw and catch a ball

Spider-o-phobia

When Anirud's mom spotted a reasonably big sized spider last week, she let out a huge scream that left Anirud both curious and frightened. Probably that was the first time he saw a spider or for that matter any insect of that size, he was somewhat convinced that they are really something to be scared about. Since then, it is the spider that would catch him if he doesn't wash his hands properly after eating, if he hides behind the closet, if he doesn't cooperate for cutting his nails etc. Thank goodness, he has not related the insect with the friendly Spiderman in his paraphernalia (He loves his Spiderman spoon. He would eat only with that). Until the time he makes out the connection, we hope to have an easy ride.

'Poochaandi' Lorry

As Anirud was getting ready to give a tough time by trying to jump out of bed during his nap time, the refuse collection truck drove into our apartment compound. The noise of the truck is much different to the other trucks and coz of that, Anirud didn't think it to be the regular truck. He was told that it is a lorry driven by a 'poochaandi' (scary man) to take away the children who don't sleep. The moment he was told, he went to bed, closed his eyes tight and fell asleep. Thanks to the invisible 'poochaandi', we have managed to structure his sleep pattern properly by putting him to bed by 9:30~10:00 pm and wake him up by 7:30 am with 1 hour nap in the afternoons.

Logos

To our surprise, Anirud has learnt to identify the logos of few brands. As soon as he spots the 'HP' logo anywhere, he immediately declares it as 'Laptop name'. We have no clue as where he could have learnt this, as we only have a DELL laptop at home. The few other logos he identifies quite easily are 'Tesco' (supermarket) and 'Shana' (food products).

Fussy Eating

As Anirud is into terrible-twos, he has developed the fussy eating behaviour. Today he listed 5-6 food items and said that he doesn't want them at all. 'Oats, cornflakes, chapathi, cheerios, dosai, noodles menaam' (vendaam, meaning don't want). Some days, he would demand for some food item, but when offered he would refuse that and ask for something else. While we are open to changing the menu, we are determined not to give into his demands all the time. One of the ideas suggested by the health visitor is to encourage him to eat at the dining table, ignore bad behaviour and encourage any good eating practices. So, new items are being prepared for him and if he doesn't consume them, it is being removed without any comment. Alternatives are not offered at all and we let him starve until the next meal time. Sometimes, that serves him right and he looks forward to the next meal hour and gobbles up what is offered. At times, it back fires as the egoistic bugger doesn't budge. The next few weeks / months would tell us who ended up victorious in this war.

Peter Pointer

Anirud has learnt almost all of the nursery rhymes by heart. If he is in the mood to sing, he would recite all the rhymes in a high tone unmindful of the location or the audience. His favourite rhymes is the one that goes on like,

Peter Pointer,
Peter Pointer,
Where are you?

Here I am,
Here I am
How do you do?

While he would say 'Peter Pointer... where are you' in a near-perfect manner, it would be funny to hear him pronounce 'Here I am'. He would say it like

Yum yum yum
yum yum yum
How do you do?

:-))

Kadala Muttaai Menum

Even when Anirud was about 9 months old, he would clearly refuse things by nodding his head sideways. Now that he is 2.4, he spells out 'Vendaam' (don't want) and 'Venum'(want) very clearly, only that he would pronounce it as 'Mendaam' and 'Menum' respectively. As he has taken a great liking for Peanut candy, whenever he thinks about it we hear him say 'Kadala Muttaai Maeenum' (I want peanut candy).

Flag

As the Indian tricolour was put up in the wall inside our home on account of Independence day, Anirud was delighted to see the flag. Only on the previous day, he was told about the flag. As the flag was shown on the TV several times that day, he kept mentioning that word throughout the day.

Slide in the park

Probably Anirud thinks that he is growing up fast. He doesn't like the slide and playing equipment in the park meant for kids of his age. He likes to play on the equipment meant for children around the age of 6-10. He has got a 'like hell I care' attitude when he is on that and doesn't bother one bit when one of the hanging bridge sways around. Sometimes his fearless attitude worries us a lot.

Faces in the Balloon

When we visited T.G.I.Friday's restaurant recently, they gave Anirud a balloon and a set of stickers (of various parts of the face) for him to stick on the balloon and make a face. As Anirud is very fond of balloons, we thought he would just love putting the stickers on. However, for some strange reason, Anirud got scared of those funny looking stickers and ran away from them whenever we took them out. It is more stranger than it sounds for Anirud is normally not scared of things that children of his age would.

Police / Fire Engine

Whenever Anirud sees someone with a cap and some sort of uniform, he immediately cries 'Policeman.. Policeman'. Same goes for the vehicles with siren and flashing light on top. However, he is clearly able to distinguish between the vehicles belonging to Police, Fire service and Ambulance. Whether this is by chance or otherwise remains to be seen. As the fire station is located closer to our home, he sees the fire engine more often and that is his favourite among the three.

Softplay

Anirud was taken to a soft play area in Beaconsfield over the weekend. He enjoyed the place to the core in the company of Varsha and Advika. There was a dark tunnel in there that would run about 50 metres or so from a height of 30 feet, which was a bit frightening when one looks at the dark mouth of the tunnel. The kids did not have an iota of fear and jumped into the tunnel so many times with ease. Good for them as they had a ball of a time.

Sausages

Seems that Anirud has got bored of the food items that are made available to him regularly. He refuses to have cereals for breakfast, flavoured yoghurt in the evenings these days. He would like to have new food items on his menu and his latest favourite is Veg Sausages.

Sickness

For about 3 weeks, Anirud suffered from cold, cough and fever. This was followed by the usual round of food refusal and all the bad habits. Surprisingly, the food refusal phase got extended by several days and left us worried. Good thing was that Anirud was at his active best during this period. When consulted, the Doc said that it is a kind of virus that would not make him feel hungry. Eventually, Anirud started eating on his own after 2 weeks of near-complete hunger strike.

Characters

Anirud has got a set of characters that he is able to identify and relate to - Noddy, Bob the Builder, Fireman Sam, Winnie the Pooh, Thomas & Friends (trains) to name a few. He recognizes those characters where ever he sees them, be it on TV or elsewhere.

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.

Grandparent's visit

All through April, Anirud's maternal grandparents gave him good company. Right from the moment he met his grandpa at the airport they instantly became mates and both of them had a jolly good time to their heart's content. That we were able to leave him for quite a few hours with his grandparents is a good enough proof of how Anirud got attached to them. Hundreds of pictures of Anirud were taken and printed during this time and he learnt quite a lot of stuff as well.

Toddler Group

Anirud enjoys his time at the Toddler group. Its a shame that it happens only once a week, which is hardly enough for him. In particular, he likes see-saw and it would be tough to drag him away from that. Its a good chance for him to mingle with other children of his age group. We are looking at putting him in other toddler groups in our area should there be a chance.

Never give up sonny!

However far the shore may be, never give up.

Happy Birthday!