The Moon Connection

Obviously, this has to start with "Nila Nila Odi vaa, Nillaamal Odi vaa...." (Famous Tamil Poem/Rhyme). Needless to say, she knows this by heart.

When we travel in the car, she stands on the back seat and looks out into the sky in all directions for the moon. When she sees the moon, she says  "Nila, inga vaa " (Come here, Moon) with a beckoning gesture. My MIL will then say, "Jillu, Nila nambaloda namba koodaye varum ". (The moon will come along with us to our home)

MIL "Nilaa ku namma saapida yenna kudukalaam?" (what shall we feed the moon?")

Jillu "Thachi mamam, Paal" (curd rice, milk)

Me : "Nee yenna kai kuduppe?" (which veggie will you give)

Jillu : "Urla kazhang" (potato)

Me: Apram? (what else will you give?)

Jillu: Vendekkai (ladys finger)

We all (excepting the dad who is driving of course) closely watch the moon , follow its direction to see if it is actually following us and Jillu will be alternating between my lap and MIL's lap depending on the moon's orientation.And then after we reach our home, we don't forget to check again to ensure that the moon has indeed followed us to our home. And then we say "Bye Nila, Naalaikku Paakalaam" (Bye Moon, see you tomorrow)

The moon is part of our everyday life now. I have to draw the moon for her in a paper, computer anywhere. She looks out for moon in all her books :). And then we follow the moon daily when I bring her back to our home from my mom's place.

And then on those days when its cloudy and the moon alternates between being seen and partially obscured by the clouds,

Jillu : " Nila Yenga Pochu? Megam Marachuthu" (Where did the moon go? The clouds have made the moon to disappear) and then we (Jillu and me) patiently stand there till the passing clouds go away and we can see the moon again "Adho, nila vandhuduthe.. megam pochu"(See, its back) 
When I take her in bike (only within the 4 streets surrounding my place), she always looks for the moon and keeps talking about it. "Adho Nila","Nila Kaanum","Nila va megam marchurthu","Nila va building marachuthu" and so on and so forth

The last time we saw the moon (1 week back, I think), we were singing "Vennilave Vennilave, Vinnai Thaandi varuvaayaa" song (Famous tamil movie song) to the moon. Now, we are waiting for the weather to improve to catch up with the moon