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.

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.

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!

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??!

Big Boy Bed

We finally bought Ashwin his big boy bed from Ikea and we had to wait another 5 days to get the bed slats before he could finally sleep there.

My little boy in his "big boy bed"

He is one happy camper there

With his "elephant new pothi"

Blissfully asleep!

Raghu and I were apprehensive as to whether he would really sleep there after sleeping in our cozy bed for the last 3 years. He was a darling about it though - extremely proud of his big boy bed and he has been sleeping there for the past 4 days straight. Not once has he asked to come into our bed. Even when I invite him over for a morning cuddle, he holds back because he is a BIG BOY!

One up on me

Ashwin was trying to pump the animal balloons with the balloon pump by himself. He would hold the pump up with the balloon dangling down and when he tries to pump air, the balloon would take off. He asked me why the balloon went "buchkoo" (and not for the first time) when he held the pump this way. If he held the pump facing down he was able to inflate the balloon..

I was tired of giving answers so carelessly I replied that the balloon was down and he was trying to pump air upwards and so the air and balloon were fighting against each other and the balloon got ejected from the pump to make way for the air.

"Naan adhu dhaan nenechen", he replied. (That's what I thought)

Thinking it through

We have decided to move Ashwin to a big boy bed (he is kicking and I want our bed to be a safe zone for the new baby). We have been bed shopping for a few days and I told Ashwin y'day that after he goes to school today, I will go and look for a few more big boy beds for him.

He replied that he is a big boy and so he will go to big school. He will take the car to school so could I please go walkie walkie to buy the bed? After further thought he added, you have no car, so you CATCH the bus.

Reading between lines

Ashwin had his second swimming lesson today. After the lesson, the teacher suggested that I not accompany him in the water and leave him alone with her for the next lesson as he seemed independent enough. Since he is generally into doing things on his own at this stage (Ask Vijay Chittappa about this!), I sensed that he would be okay with this. To my surprise, he seemed apprehensive and shocked at the suggestion I made:

"But I don't know how to come to swimming class... How can I drive the car??! I don't have license!"

Mate, you are a big boy, but not THAT BIG as yet.. Tough luck!

A very belated happy new year!

We are just back from a wonderful holiday in India and that's why this blog went into hiatus once again...

On new year's day in Yelagiri, Madhu chitti asked Ashwin if he knew which year this is.

His reply: This is left ear and this is right ear (indicating the wrong ones anyway)!