Dialogue

(Apologies to those who can't read Thamizh.)

அப்பா: நீ ரொம்ப ஸ்வீட்டா?

அநிருத்: இல்ல, காரம். நான் தான் மிக்ஸர்.. :-))

Small Business Laptop

When we were discussing about the best place to buy our laptop, Anirud turned around and said, "Appa, Small business laptop vaangi paaru. Adhu nanna irukkum" (Dad, get a Small Business Laptop from Dell. That will be good). I vividly remember the day - several weeks ago, when I was telling my wife about the Small Business Laptop available from Dell and Anirud's focus was on his new toy. Seems that he grabbed that bit of info and used it at the right time. Though he doesn't know the meaning of 'business', we were pleasantly shocked at the way he put all of that together at the appropriate time.

Useless

One day Anirud was asking like 'appa, Tesco poy useless vaangalaama?' ('Shall we buy USELESS from Tesco?'). We were utterly confused on what he was talking about that it took a while to figure it out.

Few minutes before this, upon seeing Anirud playing with an used up plastic item, his mom asked me what that was, to which I replied, 'Oh, that is useless. Let him play with it'. He caught on to the word and thought that it is the name of the item.

Scooter

We have got a scooter for Anirud. Scooter is a small two-wheeled vehicle operated by foot and not the one that is commonly referred to in India. The one he has got is a slightly advanced version - that it has got only 2 wheels and at times Anirud finds it a bit difficult to balance. On the otherhand, the scooters owned by few other children in the neighbourhood have an extra wheel in the front for balance. As per Murphy's law, Anirud likes their scooter and the other kids like his'. The next step in this direction will be a 14" bike, which we have planned to get him by Spring 2009.

Whipsnade Zoo

Anirud was taken to Whipsnade Zoo and he enjoyed every bit of his time there. Even when we were few miles to the zoo, he could hardly contain his excitement and was like 'Idhu daan Zoo-aa? Zoo vandhaacha?' (Is that the zoo? have we arrived there?). Apart from seeing the animals that included Lion, Bear, Giraffe, Wolf, Chimpanzee, Rhino, Hippo, Cheetah etc in close quarters, he got to go on a zoo safari in a small steam train. As a fan of trains, he was looking forward to that ever since he heard the hoot of the engine upon entering the zoo. He was visibly pleased when he threw carrots at the bear although one of the bears got hit by the carrot thrown by him. He enjoyed watching the birds and sometimes egged me on to photograph them. An eagle was looking away in its cage and it was cute when he said 'Hey Eagle, look at me, look at me please'. Anirud's only disappointment was that the Asian Tiger never showed up near the viewing enclosure.

Big Boy - Small Boy

Anirud has got a theory that when small becomes big, big will become small. Going by that logic, when he grows up to be a big boy, we (his mom and I) will become small girl/boy, as the case may be. Based on the above theory, his questions are like 'Which school will you be attending when you become a little boy?', 'What kind of toys would you play with?' etc.

Flowers and Wedding

Perhaps taking cue from the movies, Anirud has somehow started relating flowers with wedding. On the other day, as we were walking past the aisle containing flowers at Tesco, he went on like "Appa, inga flowers paaru. Kalyanam section vandhuduthu" (Look at the flowers.. We have come to the wedding section). :)

Drawing

What do you think these are?
First one is supposed to be the Sun and the next one is a smiley.

Quote

"Appa, namma electrical shop-ku poy electricity vaangindu varalaama?" (Shall we go to the Electrical shop and get some electricity?)

Aliases

Mirote - Remote
Om Mano Narayana - Om Namo Narayana

Thamizh Yaanai

Recently, I pointed to a picture of an elephant and asked Anirud if he had seen that animal. I expected him to say yes as he had seen an elephant during our visit to Trichy last year. But this bugger said a firm 'no'. When I reminded him of the place where he had seen the elephant, he was like "adhu thamizh yaanai pa. naan elephant paathadhu illa" (That was a Tamil yaanai(elephant), but I haven't seen the elephant). After observing him for a while, I think he prefixes the word 'Thamizh' to anything related to India, like 'Thamizh letter', 'Thamizh TV' etc.

Formal Wear

I was getting ready for work wearing a jeans and a t-shirt. Anirud was astonished on seeing me going to work in an informal attire. With a stunned look on his face, "Appa, indha dress pottundu pogaadhe. enakku pudikkalai. office dress pottundu po" (Don't go out in this attire. I don't like it. Wear the office dress (formal wear) while going out).

Perhaps, he was taught in nursery about various types of dresses etc that he always makes it a point to wear a different attire when he returns home.

New House

We have moved to a slightly more comfortable, spacious apartment within the same town. Anirud is enjoying well at our new home as it has got plenty of room to run around. As the house is bare without any furnitures, it looks bigger than it is. One concern is that, the house has got woodden floor and if anyone walks hard let alone run, our neighbours might get disturbed. Apart from a good view of a small river, a railway track runs closer to our home, which means Anirud gets to watch the trains on a regular basis along with ducks and swans that are in the river.

Further, the new apartment block has got quite a few kids of Anirud's age. As some of them go to the same nursery as Anirud, it is a good opportunity for him to have friends near the house.

Face Painting

For years we have been asking Anirud if he wants his face to be pained and he normally keeps away from that. This time around, when we had the Carnival at our town over the weekend, he chose himself to be painted as 'Tiger' and that too an 'Orange' one. He enjoyed every bit of the day by getting into all the possible rides, apart from being a tiger.

Later in the day, when we asked him where the tiger had gone, he said that it had gone down the wash basin (where he washed down all the paint).

Concern

For some reason or other, Anirud feels very bad about vomiting. About six months back, when we were at our friend's place Anirud puked out. Although he was cleaned, given a new dress to wear, the place cleared of the mess - he kept feeling bad and uttering 'sorry' innumerable times. We comforted him saying that it is normal for anyone to vomit and it is just a minor accident after all. However, from time to time he will remember that episode and feel very bad. His tone will turn apologetic and he will promise that he wouldn't do it again. Few days ago, Anirud remembered the incident even as we were just passing through the town where our friends live and went on with his usual apologies. He has seen people vomiting out in front of him and on those occasions, we have tried to convey the message as sensitively as we could that this is common among everyone to puke out. Seems that somewhere deep in his mind, he is concerned that he has done something wrong. Perhaps, we should take out a different approach and get that out of his mind.

Cycling

Anirud cycling around the house on his trike.

Lawn Mower

Guess what Anirud thought on seeing the gardener using the lawn mower? That he was cleaning the grass with a vaccum cleaner.
:-)

Day Off at London

Anirud pushing the (empty) buggy at Green Park, London.

Last Saturday could have been a sort of dream day for Anirud in many ways. First, he got to travel in the tube, then he had a field day in Central London - by running around in Green Park, travelling in a bus, watching Big Ben in awe. To top it all, he got to see the London Eye from close quarters and returned home in the tube. In all, a very great day for him.

Car Horn

On the other day, I was telling Anirud about why and how people sound the horn in their cars. When I asked him if he understood what I was saying, he replied with a perplexed face keeping one of his fingers on his head pointing upwards, "naan horn paathirukken pa.. head mela one madhiri irukkume" (I have seen the horn. It will be on the head, like the numeral one). Apparently, he mistook it to be the horn that many animals have on their head. Further, he thought that the radio antenna on top of our car to be its horn.

Back to Nursery

Anirud is back at the nursery since the beginning of this week, after a break of 3 weeks. He is reportedly very happy and talkative. The only thing he is unable to digest is that he is being made to wear shorts (instead of full-length trousers), which according to him, is not an attire to be worn outdoors (not a 'bye-bye' dress, but only an 'aathukku pottukara' dress).