Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Ashwinish Dictionary

I've been wanting to list down the words in Ashwinish for a long time now. I cannot delay any longer as Ashwin's vocabulary is increasing exponentially. Also, he is correcting many of his cute mis-pronounciations, so let me capture the moment NOW.


Aai - Phone
Atha - Ashwin.
Babaash - Ba ba black sheep
Bosh - Blocks
Cai - Throw, it fell down, got hurt
Dedi - Baby
Duddu - Milk
Dum - Jump
Eaeao - Put on music
Fosh - Flush
Indha - give it to me (not the other way round!)
Jeeba - Zebra
Kaa - look at this!
Kash - Money, coin in his pocket (Kaasu)
Kochi - coffee or milk in a coffee mug - used to be kachi, it is now the victim of one of his refinements.
Kosh - Close (kosh the door, opa door)
Mammam - food
Nayee - I do it.
Neaw - Cat
Nutty - Any soft toy (it started with one particular teddy bear, but now it is all of them)
Okkachi - Sit down, ride the toy car, go down and sit in the real car, you get up from this seat so that I can sit down
Ship - Sheep
Tachi - Depending on context - Taxi or sleep
Thee - three or train
Thu - Shoe
Tosh - Socks

Another thing he is into is optimising words. Susu has become Chu. Poopoo is now poo and sometimes okachi becomes kachi - so you don't know if he wants to ride the car or drink milk. Ashwin of course does not understand why we adults have such limited intelligence that we can't decode this correctly, so it results in him squatting on the floor and crying for kachi until we figure it out!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Kaa! (Insert expression of awe and surprise)

Ashwin has learnt to express awe and he does it liberally.
  • Scoop a spoonful of yoghurt - Kaa! (look, there's yoghurt on my spoon! Isn't it awesome?)
  • Deposit this spoonful in the mouth - Kaa! (Look, there's yoghurt in my mouth! How did it get here!!)
  • Deposit another spoonful of yoghurt in the mouth - Kaa! (Look, again! There's yoghurt in the mouth. This must be magic)
  • Deposit another spoonful of yoghurt in the mouth - Kaa! (Just as awesome as the previous two spoonfuls, and the next few will be just as awesome too).
  • An MRT going by - Kaa! Look at that! A Thee (train).
  • Another MRT going by - Kaa! Look! Look! Another train.. And another. And another.
  • A taxi is going by - Kaa! A taxi - can you believe it? I just saw a TAXI!!
  • A loose strand of hair on the floor - Kaa! Never mind that in my house it is actually a surprise not to find hair on the floor!
  • A baby in the vicinity - Kaa!
  • A bird flying - Kaa!
  • A traffic light on red - Kaa!
  • The light changed to green - Kaa!

I just want to look at him and go - Kaa! My son is growing! How awesome can he be!).

What's that in the hair?


Why, it's a clip indeed, to keep those long tresses from getting wet in the shower.

Is it working fine?

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Nayee Nayee

Ashwin wants to do everything by himself. If we do something that he wants to do (like switch on the light), he will scream "nayee nayee" until you return it to the original position and he will then do it by himself.

Things that he wants Nayee (and this list is ever expanding!)
  • Eat mammam (been going on for a long time)
  • Cut the dosai into small pieces (he will pull the full dosai into two pieces and consider if it is small enough to put in his mouth. If it is not, return one piece to plate and repeat with the other piece. Funny, I was taught to do this in class X or XII (successive approximation))
  • Hold the yoghurt cup while he eats
  • Put his kachi in the microwave
  • Start the microwave
  • Open the microwave when it is done
  • Wash his tooth brush
  • Put toothpaste on it - this he just tries, after a while, he lets me do it. He loves eating toothpaste that much!
  • Wash hands
  • Turn on / off the tap
  • Flush the toilet
  • Remove the phone receiver
  • Put a coin into his pocket (you can't imagine how much concentration this takes!)
  • Switch off the TV (he wants me by his side for this, to protect him in case of a loud noise)
  • Take off shoes, socks (thu, tosh)
  • Open and close doors (especially in restaurants)
(I'm sure this is hardly complete, but you get the idea. )

The other day, he wanted to do susu, but wanted to open the door nayee. He tried for a while but he couldn't manage to open it. So he said "chuchu aaaa (can't type that sound)", (no susu, forget it!).

What does he say when he wants you do something? Patting your arm "Nayee"

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Enjoying his first icecream cone


Ashwin is finally introduced to his very first ice cream cone. He had a great time licking it. He did not understand that you have to eat the cone too though. He returned it to me saying "aachii". He still didn't get it when I told him to bite the cone - finally I had to eat his cone a little at a time so that he could continue to lick the ice cream. Oh! The rigours of motherhood!

He did get it in the end, but there was not much cone left. I gave him my cone to bite (chocolate flavoured) for which he wrinkled up his nose and said "nannayee" (not nice!).

Friday, October 26, 2007

Follow The Leader: Round 1

This is a game fully invented by Ashwin.

(Palm to cheek) Aai (Hai). Aai. Aaaiii (repeat until you copy him)
Neaw
Bye (pat cheek with palm twice)
(point forefinger back and forth left to right) ingee ingee ingee
Ingee ingee ingee
Ingee ingee ingeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee


Repeat from start.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Trip back from Perth

Ashwin had a wonderful time in the airport. He saw a boy (about 6 years old) at the checkin counter and gleefully ran through the maze of the barrier tapes with him. The same boy was inside the boarding area and Ashwin went wild running after him and repeating everything he was saying. That boy was climbing on chairs and jumping and Ashwin wanted to jump too. When I went to catch him, he shouted "go go go". Wanted to jump all by himself. He is very quickly becoming a big boy.

He was thrilled by the taxi ride - Tachi okachi. He thought all the street lights were flights and kept saying Woosh all the way home. He was very happy to go home and see thathi paati and chandra. He proudly showed thatha his tosh (socks), grabbed the real Nutty (he had a small replacement tiget-nutty for the trip), ran through the house, jumped on the sofas and then fell asleep in no time at all.

He might have probably thought we were never coming back to Singapore!

Purpose of this blog

Ashwin is going to be two years old in a few weeks. He is growing up in a hurry. Too much is happening too soon and I'm afraid he is leaving his babyness and early toddlerhood behind.

I want to hold on to these moments and share them with family and friends who are spread across the globe.

I will post his snippets for all of us to relish.