He said a sentence! Or two?

Varun is saying a few words and I thought this must be the right time to get his tongue roll well. Initiating a string of simple words seemed a bright idea and so I got him to look at me and said this very simple sentence for him to repeat:

“Betty bought some butter, the butter was so bitter. So she bought better butter to make the bitter butter better”.

He looked at me for a second longer and beautifully reproduced it like this:

” dhad dhad dhad dhad dhurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrdddddddddd”

Howww eeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzz eett?

My Spacewalker

The two tiny arms hold an imaginary steering and drive away the car that is not there. I can never tire of calling Time as the greatest Trickster ever!

Varun is a big boy, now that he walks on two instead of four! The cute little Robot started by taking just a single route – from the hall to grandpa’s room and back. The whole day!

It is amazing how a child abandons the act of pulling itself on the tummy the moment it learns to crawl and then abandons crawling once it learns to walk! Its been a joy to see his careful spacewalk the last 4 days! He carefully avoids things that he himself has strewn on the path and takes hurried baby steps. Both his hands are held a little away from his body- like holding a steering wheel and with a swaying gait maneuvers his way. When he stumbles and falls, he crawls fast to the nearest wall for support to stand and resumes his spacewalk.

In a few weeks, he will outgrow this need too and walk more freely and even run, reducing his dependency on the adults in the household. But the mom in me is already missing the loooovely crawl accompanied by the sound of the anklets he wears. Like the rhythmic music from the bells around a bullock’s neck! A weird comparison I know, but I like it. You’ll understand if you’ve heard the sound in ‘Unna vida..‘ song in Virumaandi. That by the way is one of my favorites!

To be or not to be!

Crows, squirrels and pigeons mark their attendance on our window sill and the neighbor’s terrace every morning. Varun engages in an animated babble with these friends. While he is still busy at it, something tells him that his mom has tip-toed to the kitchen. He swiftly turns around to confirm, and he is right. As he shows slight signs of protest, the attention shifts on hearing his thatha clear his throat and the little eyes seek him out. He smiles that sweet smile seeing thatha clad in a shirt and is ready for the morning walk. The mommy in me though relieved, is also a little sad! He leaps from his dad’s arms to the grandpa’s and fixes his gaze on the door. When grandpa does not show any signs of moving, he loses his cool and gives a ‘Come on! Time to go’ look at him.

Back from the walk, he eyes his toys with contempt. Like a hungry lion refusing to eat dead meat! Ambles straight to the kitchen where amma is busy getting the breakfast and lunch ready. His lovely eyes, and the cutie smile beckons leaving mommy no choice than to lift him up and squeeze him in a tight hug! He looks on while the mommy pours the dosa batter on the tava. Thinking of ways to distract, I give him a washed tomato and make him sit on the floor. And some assortment of utensils and onions too line up. The tomato suffers some bites and squeezes and 10 minutes later makes its way into the rasam. And I reason that the rasam tastes extra nice because of that tomato.

It is a while before the little one receives the undivided attention. But then, it is time to bathe him and feed him his breakfast. And when that is done, I guess he understands its time for amma and appa to leave, for he clings onto me and refuses to let go! Then we invent more ways to distract him and then bid good-bye. He seems to understand and looks on. It hurts. And at such times, I wish time ticks at extra speed and its already evening. Or better still, its already 4 years past and he does not feel bad any longer about amma having to leave home only to return at dusk.

Trysts with ants and random things..

A baby is just an extension of the mommy till it learns to turn over. Life is fairly a simple affair the first few months where all the baby needs to do is let out a small cry. The mommy knows if its a hunger call, a tummy pain, sleep, or well, a wet diaper! How do the babies grow so fast?!!

Time never ceases to amaze me! It seems like it was just a few days back that he attempted to turn on his tummy and failed! And like Ghazni, succeeded after several attempts! He is turning 9 months old next week and is all set to take on the world, which by the way is a small one for now. His world now comprises of his doting brother, mom, dad, grandpa, grandma, the maid, the telephone, anna’s small chair, grandpa’s spectacles, and big black ants among other things!

Doors and door-stoppers fascinate Varun. He drags himself on his tummy at a lightning speed, turns around to see if anyone is catching him in action, and makes one big dive at the stopper and thrusts it into his mouth. We dare not rush up to him to stop because he still has an eye on us and moves even faster and bangs himself on the door. We device a strategy not to notice him and casually walk-up to him and pick him up! This goes on in a loop until we are tired of distracting. But he seems to have his goals clear!

The phone rings, and you see him making an about turn with the eyes lit like a 1000 watts bulb!. And makes a dash at the person picking the receiver! And insists on holding the receiver and licking it, or holding it at his ears and smiling at no one in particular! The person most affected here is the grandpa, who is a person on a trapeze balancing Varun on one side, the receiver on the other while also trying to save his dear spectacles. His spectacles make a crash-land at least 2 dozen times a day. He is seriously considering switching to contact lenses!

The yellow-colored Winnie-the-Phooh on the red wooden chair is his dear friend. He’s still not got his acts of sitting right, but crawls up to the chair and manages to hold and stand. While he manages to get on his feet with other support systems like us, or other furniture etc, this chair is special. He can be at it for an hour at a stretch or maybe more, trying to lift his feet off the ground, going around it, pulling it down, falling on it, tapping Winnie et all!

But the game he best enjoys is chasing the big black ants, which for some reason seem to be breeding too fast this season! Like a cheetah on a prowl, he spots the ants going about their business, and makes a dash at the one nearest. His anna is going mad with his little brother’s trysts with these giant ants because he has taken it upon himself to chase like crazy and smash the ants, lest it gets to taste his baby brother. The other day, tired of hunting down the ants, Vyas desperately tried driving sense into the 9-month old head, telling him how dangerous the ants are, only to find his cheeky brother holding 2 ants in his hand! Enjoy baby. You will soon know what it is to be ‘licked’ by an ant that size. If you are lucky, the season will pass through and the ants will mysteriously disappear. So what’s the next on agenda?!!