Monday, December 31, 2007

Ashwin goes to offit.


Step 1: Take amma's talcum powder from the dresser.


Step 2: Appun (open!)


Step 3: Apply liberally to hair, face, body and most importantly, floor.


Step 4: After a few more embellishments, declare "Athin Offit!"

As a bonus, we get a brand new bedside skating rink everyday!

Months of the year (Ashwinish Calendar)

  • January

  • Febury

  • Marsh

  • April

  • June.. May

  • June

  • Augut .. July

  • August

  • September

  • Marsh

  • April

  • June..May

  • June

  • Augut .. July

  • August

  • September

  • Marsh

  • April

  • ...

Must be a gigantic one!

We met a very pregnant lady at a party last night.

Me: Ashwin, do you know what is in this aunty's tummy?
Ashwin: Belly button!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

On Christmas Day

We saw these:

Saw Ducks and Thammi (Water)
More Pretty Birds


Had this:

A little christmas tree surrounded by presents


Fun Unwrapping Presents



And celebrated this:

Happy to you Thatha!



Santa says cheese! Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Trans-colour-ation

Blue, he says picking up a sketch pen. Onege?

Red, I correct him. Red, he will nod in agreement. After scribbling for a while, he will announce, "Green aachi" (Green finished).

Other random colours he will throw in are : eyyo, purple, back, pink, white.

I taught him to draw the outline of a palm placed on paper - he has slightly modified this activity: Place palm on paper and draw ON THE PALM.

Try that, it's good fun!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Random snippets: The omnibus version

Raghu is coming to Singapore this Saturday. I was asking Ashwin what appa was going to bring for him.

"Mammam"
what else is appa going to bring for you?
"Tummore mammam"
how much mammam is appa going to bring?
"Thee"

*************
Remember the uncle who pushes the bus?

Last night I explained to Ashwin that the uncle's name is Clown. And the one that makes the bus go drrrrrrr is driver.

And then I checked. Ashwin, what's this uncle's name (pointing to the clown)? "Gopayan".

After I was done laughing and further revision, I checked again, "what's this uncle's name?" "Civer"

But he finally got it right. The uncle's name is "COWN"

*************
This morning, I bought myself an extra few minutes of sleep by letting Ashwin listen to eieio (the CD). He wanted to sit in the taxi and I told him he can do so once we wake up and would he please listen to eieio now and let me sleep? He complied (somewhat).

When I was finally ready to wake up, he enquired, "Tachi aachi?" and jumped off the bed to the CD player and said "Bye eieio, athin tachi okkachi".

If only everyone was so considerate to the things around us!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Hi Amma's Car... Happy to you!

Last year, yesterday, we took delivery of our car.


I still remember the wet december evening that I went with a friend to the saleshouse to inspect the car. Raghu joined me there. We had no idea what to inspect in the car. I was going to be driving for the very first time without a qualified instructor and a second brake beside me. I was being guided by Raghu, who had no license. It was a classic case of the blind leading the blind.

We managed to take the car home and heaved a HUGE sigh of relief.

Those first few weeks, to go out and drive was a TORTURE. I was a nervous wreck. The very second day, I got in the car, switched the gear to "D", released the hand brake and tried to crank the ignition and the car wouldn’t start. Panic set in. Whom do I call? The instructor? The dealer? Any mechanic nearby? Luckily, a wee bit of common sense prevailed and I decided to try again. This time, I cranked the ignition before switching gears and it worked. Of course, but how was I to know?

I needed a chaperone to drive me to and from work. In Raghu's words, I needed someone to call out "Ooram Poo". I totally depended on this someone to help me with switching lanes. And once they gave me the go ahead, I would give the steering wheel one yank and take a 30 degree angle into the other lane, to the accompaniment of blaring horns from other cars. I was too nervous to shift my gaze from the windscreen to inspect the mirrors. My knuckles were white from clutching the steering wheel. I would spend the whole day at work stressing about the drive in the evening and the whole night stressing about the morning drive.

It did not help at all that I hit a car the very first time I took the car out all by myself. I indicated to change lanes and then ever-so-slowly started moving to the other lane. An all-important driver who couldn't afford to be delayed 20 seconds by this new driver in front of him accelerated to overtake and I hit him. My confidence which was at perhaps 5% was set back by about 100%.


It's been a year since. While I am no formula one driver now, I'm happy to say that I'm alive, as are my passengers, as are the others on the road around me. (Knocking HARD on wood!) I actually enjoy my drive now and I look forward to taking the driver seat. I hear the music that's playing while I drive. I have driven in another country. I have clocked over 14,000 km and I can truthfully say that nearly 14,000 of those have been pleasurable. The car fits me. I can actually look back at those first few days with a detached sense of humour.


Since we are moving to Australia, we will have to sell the car soon. This is our first car and will always have a special place in our memories. If I had to pick any car out there on the road and make it mine, this would be the one. Not this model, this very car.


It's been a great ride.


(Was I so comfortable driving that I managed to snap pictures of the road??!)

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Take a quiz

Translate the following from Ashwinish to English.

Warning: Your getting any of them wrong will result in me joining Ashwin in a screaming fit UNTIL YOU GET IT RIGHT.

1. Thayi
2. Thayi
3. Kai
4. Kai
5. Kai
6. Tachi
7. Tachi
8. Koo
9. Thopash
10. Thepo

(Answers in the comments. Don't cheat)

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Take a monkey

And cross with a parrot.

Infuse with cuteness until saturation. What do you get? That's right. Athin.

He will repeat everything after you. Last night, we had molagu kozhambu for dinner (me, not him). And I told Chandra that it was not spicy. He repeated "Cha, not pichi".

He will recite shlokas after you. When he is tired and lying in bed, he will *try* to sing along to the CD of nursery rhymes. What comes out though is a series of discordant notes. He will repeat months of the year. English language should seriously evolve because the way he pronounces the months is much nicer than the way they are supposed to be pronounced.
He has a toy remote car key with some buttons which makes sounds like the car being locked or opened. He will mimic those sounds. "Wa wa wa". If you sneeze or hickup, he will imitate you. He will mimic the sounds of the crane and the drill (and we have plenty of those now because of the lift upgrading). The sounds of a car reverse sensor? He will mimic that as well.

Anytime I want to make coffee or tea, he wants Bathim Milk. He should turn on the microwave, open it once it is done, mishi mish (mix mix) the bathim milk all on his own. He is into dunking biscuits in his drink now because he saw me do it a few times. He will dip the biscuit (yesterday it was peanut butter cracker) into his bathim milk such that his fingers are all in the milk. When he takes the biscuit (bishit) out, the milk will drip from his fingers all the way to his elbows and shorts. He loves eating biscuit this way.

When we are in the shower, after we are done, he will take the shower head (with the water turned off) and turn on an imaginary valve, shower, press an imaginary button for shampoo and shampoo his head (helmet). When he is done, he will hang up the shower head over the tap. Sometimes in bed, he wants to shampoo my hair. And then my cheek and my thoppah and so on.

At mealtime, after eating a bite of food, I wipe my fingers against the rim of the plate to clean them. He does the exact same thing. Except when he does it, it is sooo cute to watch. When we are done eating, we now wants to carry his own plate to the sink! I hope he doesn't forget this as he grows :)

He will load either a bag full of finger puppets or his pull along duck in the basket of his tricycle and anounce "kool poya". (I'm going to school). He will then pedal across the room and call out "Kool iyya" (No school today). And then he will carefully park the tricycle. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Back to repeat 1. He has never been to school and I have never talked to him about school. I wonder where he learnt this from?!?!

I don't know where I'm going with all this. Just wanted to chronicle the phase when my son replies to the question "Ashwin badam milk venuma?" with a "Athin bathim milk venu ma."

Monday, December 10, 2007

Dream

Climb ev'ry mountain
Search high and low
Follow ev'ry by-way
Every path you know

Climb ev'ry mountain
Ford ev'ry stream
Follow ev'ry rainbow
'Till you find your dream

A dream that will need
All the love you can give
Everyday of your life
For as long as you live

This is a song from my favourite movie - Sound of Music. I remember listening to this song as a teenager and as a young adult. I remember thinking that the song sounds so ... Severe. Definite. Final. I mean, all the love you can give, for as long as you live? Isn't that a bit too much? Is it even possible? People grow and with that their dreams and aspirations change. The lyrics were too idealistic for me. According to me, it was too idealistic for everyone except Julie Andrews perhaps.

Now I know better.

My dream is to be a mom. Mom to Ashwin.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Paati Mangayam

When I went home last evening, Ashwin was in the toilet. I asked him who took him to the toilet and he replied "Paati Mangayam" What?!?!

What is Appa's name?
Agu

What is Amma's name?
Anu

What is Thatha's name?
Agopayan

What is Paati's name?
Mangayam

What's your name?
Athin

What is aunty's name?
Chatha

What is Appa's name?
Growing tired of this game... Aana!

One Too Theeeee!

How old are you Ashwin?
Too. Indicating one index finger while struggling to release another one.

How cute are you?!
Too.

How much fun did you have at Shaun's party?
One.. Tooo.. Theee.. Pour ….

Monday, December 3, 2007

Go to office, don't fool around!


As part of my ritual of saying goodbye to Ashwin before going to work in the morning, I tell him I'm hungry and I want to eat him. (After getting my ration of two kisses from him, that is!) Most of the days, he tells me mammam aana - No, you may not. Some days when he is feeling genourous, he will offer me something. He will let me eat his cheek or thoppah or this leg or that leg - and I go yumyumyumyum as I relish them.

This morning, when I asked for mammam, this was his reply:

Amma offit. Car thasside. (pointing towards the road for good measure).

Thanks for the reminder my son. Some days, I really need it.