Sunday, March 29, 2009

Grandparents

My parents are here now and Ashwin is one happy puppy. When they arrived in the middle of the night, he was in bed and SO EXCITED to see them his legs were flying and he was kicking the bed! He stayed up for an hour past midnight and then went back to sleep. Woke up at the first rays of the sun and dashed out of the bedroom to check that they were still there!

Everytime we go to the car, he checks with me that his grandparents are coming along, at least one of them. He asked me once in a very concerned voice when Jairamen Thatha and Saathi Paati are going to their house and I assured him that it was not for a long time. I think they are already his preferred playmates over me, and while that is a lot of relief for me at this stage, I feel a twinge of jealousy too.

A couple of years ago in Singapore, when his grandparents were visiting us, he was happy to see them in the lift but grew skeptic when they followed him out of the lift to our house. He desparately tried to will them away by waving BYE to them as they entered the house, but to his dismay, they kept following.

We've come a long way!

Down

After one too many chocolates yesterday (Thanks to his Madhu chitti), when Ashwin wanted one more, I threatened to throw the chocolate in the bin if he took it. He tried to negotiate his way one step at a time and told me that he would just keep it in the kitchen counter and not eat it immediately. I replied that I would still throw it in the bin.

"Then I keep it down. You can't bend down."

He's just three and already more clever than me...

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

At 7:30 this morning



"Amma, look, the sun is setting! It's a bootiful, white??!"

5 weeks to go

and my energy level is at an alltime low.

I was chopping beetroot the other day and I had to go and sit down 5 times in between. I then had to rest for a full half hour before my heartbeat came back to normal. Thankfully though, there are still more good days than bad.

Ashwin is going to make a wonderful big brother. He loves to sit on my lap and cradle my belly in his arms and talk sweetly to the baby (at such times, I don't mind being pregnant forever). Sometimes when I lie down, he puts a teddy bear over my belly for the baby and then wraps the belly in a blanket to keep it cozy.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Unfurling another talent: Ashwin the dancer

Concert group from Seyshelles: Grace Barbe


We went to a reggae concert last evening. It was a free outdoor summer concert organised by Melville City Council and the evening was fine and Ashwin was well rested after a good long nap.

Cotton clouds


We sat together and enjoyed the concert for a while over dinner. Ashwin then decided ht wanted to be closer to the action and went up to the front of the amphitheatre all by himself. He stayed there taking in the music and the scenes and only made a trip back to where we were seated to give me this lovely bouquet of leaves he plucked off the grass. And then went right back to his spot!

See that whirl of energy out there? That's mine!


My bouquet of leaves


Enjoying the concert all alone


My cute kid


Some kids (presumably children of the band members) took to the grass to do some dancing and soon the audience joined them. Guess who was a mandatory part of this dancing crowd??! He danced with wild abandon!

Kids having fun


See my little boy out there?


Soon it was time for the encore and the band invited the dancing kids to the stage for the last song. Guess who was the only boy up there? And the youngest? And the cutest? (OK ok, I may be biased...)

Look who's there??!


In his words, he did dancing "very high up" and the "sing lady" asked him what's his name. He said "Ashwin" and the "Sing lady said Ashwin on the mike and then everyone clapped!"

Everyone in the audience was fixated on him (as during Raghul's poonal when he was reciting mantras!) or looking at me to see the proudest face and the widest grin they would have possibly seen. Loads of people stopped by to tell Raghu and me that he was a good dancer and a good sport while we stood there stupidly beaming like the proudest parents we were. He was even given a complementary CD by the band, autographed no less.

It can never be said that my son does not know to enjoy life! And of that, I'm PROUD.

Grace Barbé

Grace Barbé is a Seychelloise singer/songwriter, whose music reflects and celebrates the diverse cultural influences of her Indian Ocean. The combination of afro-funk, roots and reggae create a mixing pot of danceable styles and powerful vocals.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Spiderman Station

You know of a police station or a fire station.. But have you ever heard of a SPIDERMAN STATION??? In our house, we have just that. Ashwin and I become spidermans at his command and there is a third imaginary spiderman (i-spiderman). We get to choose our colours as per the spiderman bag that Ashwin has, so there will be a red, a blue and a yellow spiderman.

Suddenly, somebody somewhere will remove the seatbelt in a moving car and one of us spidermen has to FLY upto the car and hold the following conversation:

"You removed your seatbelt??! Put it on. Now. RIGHT NOW"

And then fly back to the spiderman station.

Occasionally, we might approach someone who has removed the seatbelt after parking the car, in which case we should apologise graciously before returning to the station.

We play this game for HOURS each day.. FUN.

If we are not playing spiderman station, chances are we are playing shopping. Ashwin is the shop keeper and he will stand between my reclining chair and the foot stool (thereby preventing my access to my favourite seat) and I have to tell him what I want to buy. It could be a ball or paints - mostly any of his toys. He will then leave the "shop" to show me where the item is and then return to the "shop" with a very serious expression. I have to give him my items which he scans (sometimes on the back of our wireless optic mouse) and accept my card for payment which he swipes on the edge of the cushion. I have to enter the pin number and then... he also gives me money for shopping! This game can start even before we brush our teeth and go on throughout the day.

Ashwin's play money


There's never a dull moment around Ashwin!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Cornering me on my words

Ashwin was working on his aeroplane puzzle the other day when he asked me why the aeroplane had wings. I replied that the aeroplane needed wings to fly and so it had wings. He pondered this for a while and then asked me why the aeroplane was not flying. I said that it was not a real aeroplane, just a puzzle aeroplane and so it couldn't fly.

"Pinna yen wings irukku indha aeroplane ku?" (why then does this aeroplane have wings?) he shot back.

Another time we were in the car on Canning highway. There is a petrol station with a carwash attached to it on one side of canning highway and there is another petrol station across the road. We were driving past this second petrol station when:

Ashwin: Inge car wash irukka? (Is there a carwash here?)
Me: Illa. Indha petrol station la carwash illa. (No carwash in this petrol station)
Ashwin: Why?
Me: Because there is a carwash just across the road, there is no need for one here.
Ashwin after musing for a bit: Pinna yen inga petrol station irukku??! ,his voice laced with sarcasm... (Why then is there a petrol station here??!)

Why indeed??!