Kichna Yenna Pan?

After Jillu, Amma, Appa, thaathaa, paati, now its "Kichna yenna pan?"

Jillu : Amma, Amma.. Amma,
me : Yennadaa Kannammaa?

Jillu : Kichna yenna pannaa?
me : nee sollu, krishna yenna pannaar?
Jillu : venna chaaptaa
me : Vennai saaptaaraa? apram yenna pannaar, krishna?

Jillu : kaila vechundaa (showing her right palm upwards)
me : Krishna kalia yenna vechindu irundhaar?
Jillu : mmm..m.....Nila
me : Nila Vechindu irundhaara? apram nila va yenna pannar?
Jillu: Melendhu vandhu..
me : Nila melendhu vandhudhaa? ok...Krishna nila va yenna pannar?
Jillu : Dhoppu pottaa.....
me : Krishna nila va yenge vittar?
Jillu: <<silence...no answer>>
me: Kirshna nila va thamarai thannila vittaar
Jillu : thamar thannila
me: ammam...apram nila mele poyiduthu...
Jillu : mele pochu...

Jillu : Amma, Amma, Kichna yenna panna?
me : nee sollu, krishna yenna pannar?

here we go again.....


Dialogue of the day the whole of yesterday and this morning too.....repeated the same way word by word every time....

After watching the Krishna serial telecast in Vijay tv yesterday..

Peeping Tom? Not Really..

I will have to do a better job of teaching Jillu of what is meant by Peeping Tom or rather "Yetti Paakardhu"

We, Jillu & I love sitting in our balcony. When I was searching for inspiration for novel ideas for making Jillu sit in her potty, the balcony came to my aid.

Balcony is the place from where

• -We watch squirrels running up & down the trees, walls of the opposite flat (It is to be noted that their terrace overlooks our balcony and anyone standing there cannot help but look in our direction)
• -We watch the moon at night and sing "Nila Nila Odi Vaa"
• -We enjoy a good breeze and say "Jammunu Kaathu Varudhu"
• -Amma makes aero planes out of clips and simulates landing and take-offs

So what better place did I need to potty train her? And hence, thus it is that Jillu is 60% potty trained as of today.

Now that the background is set, getting back to the topic: Jillu has this uncanny habit of listening to us speak, pick up the words and use it in appropriate circumstances on her own. Till now, this has been fine with us :) and we did not have any problems. Until this happened...

Some days back, when we were going about our business in the balcony, Jillu suddenly pointed to the terrace of the opposite flat and said "Yetti Paakaraa"
No doubt, I was taken aback because
1) I didn't expect Jillu to know such words, let alone understand and use them
2) To my knowledge, that portion of the terrace was not much used and I had not seen anyone in the terrace till date (which is precisely why I did not mind spending so much time there)

However, when I followed her direction, I saw a young lady watering some plants in the terrace. In the moment that she had glanced in our direction, our chutti ponnu says "Yetti Paakaraa". Fortunately, I don’t think she heard what Jillu said. However, I had to shush Jillu and explain to her that this was not indeed "Yetti Paakardhu".

We play hide & seek with her and sometimes when she peeps out from behind a chair or a door, we used to say "Yetti paakaraa daa ivo". I think she has caught the term from there and used it here.

The incident happened again one more time (but this time, no one even glanced at Jillu), however with the same results :)

Not sure if my explanation has got through to her. Only time will tell!

சாத்துக்குடி / Saathukudi

is hence forth referred to as

ஜூஸ்-குடி /Juice-kudi


Origin : சாத்துக்குடி ஜூஸ் குடிக்கணும்
(Saathkudi Juice Kudikkanum / I want Mosambi Juice)

Reading my mind

Some time back, when her dad was busy, Jillu wanted to go to her dad. I told her that dad was busy and that she should not be disturbing him.

A couple of days later, when my mom was here, she was applying some cream and ointments onto her hand. Jillu was sitting in my lap and avidly watching the process! After a couple of minutes, she tried to move away from me and reach out to my mom.

I started saying "Patti yah..." and Jillu looked at me and completed the sentence

"Disturb panna koodadh" !!!

I didn't know which to marvel at more :

The fact that she remembered the word "disturb" and applied it in this context correctly
(or)
That she read my mind and completed the sentence in the exact way I was planning to say it.

Multi-tasking

Multi-tasking does not seem to be exclusive to parents. Kids seem capable of doing that as well, as proved by my 1.5 yrs old daughter yesterday

She had a small yellow ball in one hand and was holding her sipper in the other hand. When she came into the room , I asked her to close the door as I had the AC on. Initially I did not notice that both her hands were busy.

I was just about to offer to take one of those from her when she turned away to close the door. I, then, decided to see how she planned to manage and remained quiet.

She retained the ball in the same hand, held the sipper between her teeth (the sipper has a straw and she held the straw between her teeth) , left the hold on the sipper, used the free hand to close the door and then grasped the sipper with her hand again.

My My ! Kids these days!!!

Trip to Crossword

Day before yesterday, Jillu & I had a whale of a time. It was her first time to a shopping complex (though this was not the stereo typed big complex).

We had been to Crossword in Venkat Narayana road, Chennai

Idhu paakalaamaa?

My dad dropped us and went on some errands. I took her to Crossword and guided her her to the Toddlers books section. She was so exited to see so many books there. I took one and started pointing out pictures to her and she quickly and correctly named all the objects/animals/all that she knew. She took each book from the shelf saying "Idhu paakalaamaa?” (Can we see this?) , then the next book saying “Idhu paakalaamaa?” again and it continued :)

Teddy,Teddy

She found a book made of cloth which had a small teddy hanging by the corner. She loved it and kept repeating "teddy", "teddy". Of course, all who had come to the store had to be informed that it was a teddy. It was so cute, she showing the teddy to any one who passed and telling them “teddy, teddy"

Inga ukkachiko

Once she had got hold of the teddy, it was difficult to divert her attention to anything else. Then, my dad arrived and he also joined the fun! She wanted my dad to sit only in one particular sofa amongst many that lay there. I kept hearing "Inga ukkachiko " (Sit here) , "Inga ukkachiko" while I was choosing a couple of books for her

Naan pannanum

Then it was time to leave and we had to climb the stairs down (crosswords is in 1st floor). My dad was carrying her and when we reached the steps, she immediately said "Naan pannanum, naan, nee, naan,nee,nee, naan". (She wanted to climb down herself. She is confused between nee/naan right now)

Pudhu dress venumaa

Once you go down, you have to pass through Mother's Care outlet for the exit. Of course, she was fascinated by all the stuff in there and we had to take a diversion for window shopping inside. She looked at the rows and rows of baby clothes hanging there. She went to dress section, touched the delicate and soft tops and said "Pudhu dress venumaa " (she says venumaa for venum). This was repeated for each section. I told her, "இந்த ரேட் ல போனா நான் போண்டி தான் ஆகணும் " (“I would be bankrupt if you continue in the same vain")

Vaatis, Vaatis

Next came the dolls section. She pointed to something and said "vaatis, vaatis". She was pointing to dolls made out of cloth, but I still could not understand what she was saying. She kept repeating it and then after a while I understood. She was asking in english "What is ?" (ie what is this ?). To say, I was really amazed is an understatement

And then every doll and toy had to be explained. For each section "idhu yenna? ", then "idhu?”, then "idhu?" and so on and so forth.

She was running from one end to the other, exploring everything totally amazed by all. It was such fun watching her yesterday that I want to repeat the whole thing again

Tracking costumes - II

She is not only tracking her costumes, but mine as well !

Yesterday, when I changed into a new dress and came out of my room,

immediately my cutie noticed and said


"Amma pudhu dress potrukaa "

Story of an umbrella

Story of an Umbrella being Used & Abused

Scene 1:

Jillu is holding an umbrella in her hand by the handle -similar to the way batsmen hold their bat before facing a ball and sweeping the other side onto the floor this way & that way

And says "Thodachu Thodachu...." (ie scrubbing the floor)

another use of umbrella discovered! Now, i know why she took it out of the cupboard!

Scene 2:

The poor umbrella after being used as a scrubber is now being abused under Jillu's feet

Jillu : kudai, kudai..(Umbrella)

Me : Nee yenna panre kudaiya ? (what are you doing with the umbrella?)

Jillu : Medhikaren...(am stamping it) and reinforces it by doing it again

Me : Medhikkalaamaa kudaiya? (are you supposed to stamp it?)

Jillu : medhikka koodadhu (not supposed to stamp it)

Following that she removes her foot from the umbrella

Me : Good girl !
and I turn away feeling thrilled "Good Progress! She listens to reason and realizes the do 's and the don't s".

The very next second, I hear her dad laughing, and

I turn back to see the umbrella being abused again.

Running Commentary

Scene: When some one is eating food
Commentary : amma mammam (or) appa mammam (or) paati mammam as the case may be

Scene: When we reach home from office
Commentary : amma vandaach (or) appa vandaach (or) thaathaa vandaach as the case may be
Yesterday, there was an addition to this. "Vaa thaathaa vaa" Specially for thaathaa. She had not seen him for 2 days now

Scene: When her sipper is being washed before giving her something to drink
Commentary : ambi ambi ambbbiiiii..(Alambi, Alambi , Alambi)

Scene: When her milk is too hot and I try to cool it
Commentary : pal aaathi, pal aathi, pal aathi

Scene: When she plucks my dad's spectacles from his nose
Commentary : haaaaaiiiiiii, jillu yethutaale..( My dad said hey, jillu yeduthutaale, the first time she did it..and from then on it has been repeated countless times and for taking other stuff as well like bottle, pen etc etc and not just spectacles)

Scene: When her dad goes into the bathroom with clothes in hand
Commentary : appa Jo.

Scene: When her dad is driving the car
Commentary : appa car oootti.

Scene: When I comb my hair
Commentary : amma thala vaaari

Scene: When I accidentally drop something
Commentary : dhoppu pottaa , ammaa

Scene: When she is in a precarious state and the chances of her falling is high
Commentary : dhop uzha poren....

Scene: When someone eats a cake (or if we are just bored and donno want to do!)
Commentary : sing "Haapppy birthday to you Ishu" (Isha being her close friend right now)

Murphy's law for kids

Inspired by Satish's post on Murphy's law for IT , here is Murphy's law for kids.

The below are from my own experience

1) The susu will happen immediately after donning fresh under wear

2) Only stuff which ought not to will end up in the baby's mouth

3) The baby will start crying just as soon as you sit down to have your food

4) Invariably, they wake up early on weekends depriving you of your extra few hours of sleep, while sleep on & on on weekdays making you/them late for work/school

5) They will need diaper change / want to go potty only when you are traveling

6) They will be hale & healthy all through and will fall sick only when we have some important meeting or an otherwise important engagement

7) The toy which till now lay neglected suddenly gains all importance when some other kid tries to touch it

8) They will always end up doing the very opposite thing that you want them to do

9) The more time you spend on preparing delicious food, the less they like it

10) Kids don't misquote us. They repeat word by word that we should not have uttered in the first place.

Do you have more to add? Please proceed.. :)

Huggiee

Huggieeee

Yes, Huggiee is a new word in all our dictionary now. Thanks to my very dear friend Mathangi :)

So, what do you do when she says Hugggiieeeee

You pick her up in your arms
She loops her arms around your neck
She leans her head close to your face
You rub your cheeks against hers
You hold her tight
You rock back and forth and say


Huggggiieeeeeeeeee

Chone Surprise!!!

I am busy @work and suddenly I receive a call from my mom.

I call her back and what a wonderful surprsie! My little girl wants to talk to me and tell me something ! Her very first call to me :).

After prompting from my mom, the sweet மழலை voice said

"Ilanir saaptaachu"
"Mammam saaptaachu"

When i spoke to Mom, I learned the details. She had told my mom when she was eating that she wanted to call me. My mom had told her that we (they ) can call mom (me) after she finishes her meal. And I believe she said "Chone , Chone" (phone btw) promptly after completing her meal and pronto they called :)

For a toddler who does not wish to speak on the chone , this was indeed a big step and I consider it a previlege or a reward :). The only thing left now is for her to dial the number herself :) but I will have to wait for some more time for that to happen.

New Sipper Stand

Background: I was engaged in the kitchen this evening while my daughter was playing behind me! After a while she asked me for some water. I gave it to her and went about my business.

She suddenly said something which made me turn and see this





She had said " Ukkaachundu irukke ....... Theethaaa" (ie Water is sitting).

She has placed the sipper perfectly on top of the water can!!!

And then she did this