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.