Searching for Answers...part 1

Conversation with samyu day before yesterday while putting her to sleep

Amma, i have a question.

Ok, sollu

Amma, what will be there before this world was formed? Before god is born ?

God is always there kanna. He s not born to anyone.hes just there.

No ma. Before you &  me. Before human beings. Even god could not have been there. What was there then ? What did exist ? ( Appo yedhu irundhudhu ? Yenna dhaan irundhudhu?  )

God is always there. There is never a time when he s not there. It is he who creates this world. He s the nature. He manifests himself everywhere.
Tried to explain to her the peacock anology . But obviously, felt it was too much for her. So left it.

No ma. You don't understand.  You see, before all this, before this house, see indha veedu illa, indha place illa, yedhuvum illa. So god yeppidi yenga irupparu ? How's it possible at all ?

Tried explaining about vaikundam but left it after a short while.

Seri samyu. Give me some time. I will think about how best to explain to you in a way that you  will understand.

Ok ma.
___________________________________

After a while, i have another question ma.

Hmmm

Namba thathha, thaathaa ku thaathaa, avaalukku thaathaa , indha maari poinde irukkum la...

Yeees

Appo , andha first man, avaala yaaru padachaa?

Brahma da kannama.

Ok, appo, ippo innoru family irukku la, vera yaaraana family...avaaloda thaathaa ku thaathaa ku thaathaa, andha line la first vandhavaa?

Avaalum brahma dhaan da Samyu

Oh !!! Appo oru family ku orthar maadhiri illa ma ? Brahma niraiya per padachaaa, families vara

Yes da ma

Appo, naama dhaan ninaikirom , namba small family nu. But actually, we are all a part of very very big family illa ma ??

Too surprised to respond for some time...then I said slowly as the new insight that my daughter just now taught me seeped into me " yes kanna. You are absolutely right da kanna ".

Jillu as a sibling...

Jillu is now an elder sis. To her little sister. The younger one was born in December and she has completed 3 months now.
Jillu is a proud sis, doing all that she promised. She is also slightly more possessive, clingy and J which is only natural. She is a sometimes a very mature 4 year old. Suddenly becomes a baby, sometimes a troublesome toddler. Sometimes, a lovely bonding elder sis.
Jillu, we all understand this is new for you as well. You have  got to share everything you thought as yours only -Mom., Dad, thaathaa , paati. And you are doing your best. Just as we are trying our best to manage both of you at the same time. Its new for me as well, your mood swings and your evolving personality.

I want you to know we are all proud of you and love you just as we did before. We love the way you talk to your sis. We love the way you help Amma by bringing nappies for her. We love the way you bring in the dry baby clothes from the clothes hanger. Kutti is only looking at you these days and we love the way you say "she will only look at me and no one else". You are so crazy about watching her bathing every day that we have had a big struggle during your school days all this while. Thank God your school holidays have started and now you can watch daily :). You are so impatient for her to grow up and you keep asking "when will she grow up? when will she play with me?". "When will she become taller?" Now that she has started to smile, baby talk, roll from back to front, you are getting the hang of it and kind of understand the baby milestones. But still, you are a kid and you are impatient for her to grow up and interact with you.

You also have questions like "Why did God make me be born before her?"
"Why not she first and me later ?"
which make me dumbfounded for a split second. You also keep saying that "You will teach her every trick in the book and that you both will trouble us to the core :) "
You go gaagaa and it gives you enormous fun when we say "ahaa! rendu perum sendhu yenna maa paduthureenga ". And initially, you also told us that you made the younger one be born just so that you could both trouble us. Though going by the above question couple of days back, seems like you have given the due credit to God, which is indeed right :). Now, I have 2 wonderful daughters :)

And to top it all, the little one looks exactly like Jillu did when she was a baby (at least to me) and you absolutely love it when I say "She is exactly like you and does everything just like you did".

To me, these months have been a complete recap of Jillu's early months, only with a miniature replica sitting right beside me. I completely love it and the new responsibility of handling 2 kids. It is like walking on a tight rope with extreme care which needs delicate balance. Admittedly, the tilt for attention is more towards Jillu right now, as the younger one is only a baby now. But as time goes on, the angle should keep changing till that balance is reached.

But that is for me and my problem, whereas this post is for you, Jillu.
Jillu, we all LOVE you very much and this post is especially for you to read when you grow up!

And as Jillu is

about to complete 4 years, she is now eagerly waiting for the new arrival in the family.

Jillu is about to become a big Sis very soon.. May be in a month or so !

Needless to say, she is excited and has 1001 questions! Already a proud sis !

Her repeated statements
"I was born first right ? So I am the elder sis "
" Paapaaku akkaava dhaan romba pidikum" ( The baby will love the sis the most !)
" I shall take care of the baby once I am back from school"

and thus the list goes on..

Kaakaa Nari Kadhai

Adaptation....

Jillu : Paati, Paati, Nee romba azhagaa irukkiye! Mahabharatham lerundhu oru kadhai sollen !

(Grandma, you are looking so beautiful ! Pls tell me a story from Mahabharatham na )

And its Official !

Yes ! Its Plugged OFF these days :)

For those of you who do not know whats a plug, its simply thumb sucking :). To know more about it, read this post.

Atlast, Jillu has stopped the habit and I have been waiting to make sure before blogging and making it official :).
Its been a month now since she sucked her thumb. So I guess its pretty safe to say that she has indeed left the habit. We have also got her a couple of gifts (games) to mark the occasion :)

The whole thing started prior to the Pooja holidays. I was planning to apply the bitter nail polish on her thumb during the holidays so that her timings is not affected (she just cannot sleep without it). So from 15 days before the holidays, I kept telling her that "one fine day, when you wake up, your thumb will taste bitter and 20 days from that day, your thumb will go into your stomach and you will lose your thumb".GROSSSS ! I know. But I had to do something ! I knew just applying  would take me nowhere! She laughed it away and went on her way till the holidays. But I kept issuing the warning every day.

And then, 2 days into the holidays, I applied the nail polish on her thumb early in the morning when she was sleeping. I was just relying on the surprise and the secret factor. And it worked ! MY GOD ! Poor thing ! She was confused and also a bit scared when she realized that what Amma said was true and whatever Amma said was indeed happening ! And then the frequency of plug started to reduce day by day as she found her thumb bitter whenever she woke up from sleep. But as days went by, and when Jillu found that the thumb was indeed in tact  and showed no signs of vanishing into the stomach, the fear factor went away and I started to lose the ground I had gained.

And then luck favored me ! I should not say luck really, because Poor Jillu suffered ! But its indeed a blessing in disguise. She had severe mouth ulcers and could not eat anything, let alone, put plug. And thats when the habit really stopped. In the week that she was suffering from mouth ulcer, she did not put the plug even once. And all of us used it to our advantage and told her "See, the boils came because of plug. The moment you start again, its going to come back". Poor Jillu had suffered so much (only curd rice every meal, no variety, no talking which I think she found the most difficult :), and so on) that she didn't want to risk again.

And now its been a month and she has been clean till now. And I hope this continues and is for ever.

But, her drifting off into sleep has taken a major blow and I am finding it very difficult to put her to sleep. Earlier, she would put the plug and would be off to sleep soon. But now, without that, she is struggling to get into a proper position, wriggles this way and that way and takes for ever to sleep even when she is sleepy.

Hopefully this is also just a phase and shall pass soon !

HOPE ! HOPE ! HOPE!

Jillu Talkies -12

After a long gap, read how and what Jillu talks these days :)

She was unusually quiet for a while in the hall and came running to me in the kitchen suddenly. I got suspicious and asked her

Me: yenna pannittu vandhe? (What did you do ?)
Jillu : Onnum illa. Naan paavamaa summaa ukkandhuttu vandhen. (Nothing. I just simply sat like a paavam girl )

*************

Naan periyava aana udane, coffee pottu tharuven, dosai vaapen, naane mehendi vechupen
(After I become bigger, I shall make coffee, dosa etc. I will even keep Mehendi myself)

****************

She saw one half of the beautiful butterfly cup that she had broken last year. I was using it for some other purpose in the kitchen. She looked at it and asked

Jillu : andha cup naan udacha udane nee yenna panne yenna? (What did you do when I broke that cup?)
Me : naan timeout kuduthen ( I gave you time out)
Jillu : yen ? (Why?)
Me : pinna yenna paanuvaalaam? (Then what else should I have done?)
Jillu : inime panna maataanu chumaa vitturukanum! (You should have let me go free assuming I wont repeat again!)

Another small item

that I have been wanting to complete for a very long time got done this week. :) Yet again, a very tiny and simple matter but I kept postponing !

From the time I saw this entry in the hall of fame art blog, I wanted to do the same for Jillu knowing it would do wonders for her if I displayed her work. Did you notice the post date for that entry ? Yeah. It dates back to May of 2010 and I saw the post on the day it was posted :)

But here, it is at last a similar creation hanging in my home for Jillu now :)

And she was really overjoyed :) Now she keeps asking for "good and fresh " white paper every time so that it can go up on the board there :)

A new beginning

And no.. I am not talking about this post which has come after a long time and the redemption of the blog from the slumber that it has got into :).
Instead this post is about something that I have been meaning to do for a long while (read years) and finally got it done. Its not something great and time consuming. Just a very simple task, yet I was just postponing.
And without more ado, here it is,

Yes, a pot plant (Karpooravalli). Living in an apartment, i cant even think of backyards and garden. But still wanted some greenery in my house, so wanted to grow some plants that will grow from my balcony itself. Just a simple thing, na ? but its taken me years to do it.

I bought it couple of months back (July end) and its coming up very nicely :) Jillu has the daily task of watering  this plant. I was so happy that I at last managed to do it, that I wanted to blog and record it immediately. But its taken me more than 2 months to blog about it :)

I donno anything about gardening and growing plants. So wanted to start with something simple. Now that the plant is thriving, I am planning to add a couple more to make it colorful.My balcony does receive some sunlight during the hot days. I was thinking about rose. One red and one yellow. How about it ? Any other suggestions?

P.S : And Jillu does take this task very seriously. "Adhu yenna nambi dhaan vandhurukku". (the plant is dependent on me).

Jillu Talkies - 11

Dinner Time

Jillu had completed her main course. As is the norm, I gave her her habitual cup of curd (which she lovvvess and usually insists on having it herself)

Me : Jillu, eat your curd.

Jillu: Amma, please, you feed me 

Me : No da. Can you please have it yourself? You usually do that, right ? And it is something that you love. Amma has some work. So, please go and have your curd.

Jillu : No, ma, you have to come.

(this goes on for a while and Amaa becomes slightly irritated)

Me : Jillu, Dont make trouble for having curd. If you want, you have it. Otherwise, its OK. you need not eat. OK ?

Jillu Talkies - 10

Dinner time and the little madam has had her share of food and is content.
Next is her Mom's turn and she is having hers amidst various distractions in between (What else but running behind this cute toddler?)


Kutti Madam gets restless  and


Jillu : Amma, nee yenna panre ?(what are you doing ?)
Me : Nee sollu (You tell me)
Jillu : Saapadariyaa ? Amma unakku pasikkudhaa ? (Are you eating ? Are you feeling very hungry?)
Me (ahaa ! OK, she is so understanding! Now I can have my dinner in peace!) : Yes, da chellam
Jillu : Amma, nee saaptadhu porum! Chaapdaadhe ! vaa ma! vandhu vilaiyaadu! (Mom, you have had enough! Dont eat! Come and play withe me!)

Gyaan (III)

Her current obsession for dressing is pants ! Anywhere, everywhere and always, she wants to wear pants ! All the frilly frocks, non frilly frocks, skirts are all sleeping in the cup board safely.
This leaves me to find devious ways (even cahooting with Jillu's close friend's mom - "hey Jillu, your friend "S" is going to wear a frock today and she has asked you to wear a frock as well to school today" ) for making her wear anything other than pants!
Today, I took rest and let her go her way ! So naturally it was pants and tops again!
As usual she rushed away after getting dressed and I called her back !
"Jillu, come here. Bindhi is not yet done. Come on, fast !"


and then came the Gyaan !
"Amma, pant pottundaa pottu vechukka koodaadhu ! Asingamaa irukkum" (Mom, we should not wear bindhi while wearing pants ! It will look horrible!"


THE FASHION GYAAN ! 

Now, we are moving

on to Tattoos. 
She didn't know the word day before yesterday.


And yesterday, she had seen, learnt, pestered me for one and retired to bed at night proudly sporting a mickey mouse tattoo ! 


What's next ? :)

What she has been upto and Why i dont get the time to blog!

Hi Friends !

Its been a long time isn't it ? Hope all of you are doing great !!!

Life has been too hectic chasing this toddler !  

1. She powders her face with so much of talcum powder (behind my back , of course) that she can easily win a place as a clown in any touring circus unit

2. And with that makeup, she liberally pours water in the middle of the hall and is found actively swimming (yes, right there in the hall) ! All this when I am busy just for 2 mins!

3. I find my pair of house slippers down in the car park one day ! Apparently she had thrown it out of the corridor grill!

4. I never knew my soap (bathing soap) could be put to use in so many ways. I found her cleaning the bathroom tiles with my soap one day ! And at other times, she uses the same to wash her panties ! 

( She just cannot be dragged away from the bathroom, water, soap etc etc)

5. Yet another day, in 30 secs flat , when I was not wise enuf of her whereabouts, she had emptied half of some anti allergic cream all over the bed (mind you, just when I had removed the bed spread for a change and was about to put on the fresh one!)

The list is definitely not exhaustive, but indicative for sure :)

Needless to say, most of my time is spent in picking up, err, cleaning up all the mess that she manage to create :) and trying to invent ways to engage her time usefully and productively !

She is a little bundle of energy to be watched all the time :) As there are not many (actually, not even one kid) in the apartments that we stay in, its real boring for her and all that pent up energy does not find a release ! To keep her occupied and to get her in touch with kids of her age, I have enrolled her in a music class ! It is more of a sloka class rather than music ! Its twice a week and thankfully, she loves it !

Next week is a busy week for all of us :). With the weekend and the new year and more importantly for us, Jillu's birthday is around the corner as well :)

She is going to be 3 years and time really flies !

Advance wishes to all for the upcoming festive season and the holidays :)

Enjoy !!!

Jillu Talkies - 9

I Bedtime talk
Jillu : yennoda friend a irukkiyaa?? (Will u be my friend?)
Me : (silent)
Jillu : Ammaa
Me : hmmm?
Jillu : nee yennoda friend a irukkiyaa?? (Will u be my friend?)
Me : sure.. irukken da kannnaa. (After a pause..) Friend na, yeppidi da irukkanum ? yenna pannanum? (sure. What do friends do? what should i do to be your friend?)

Jillu Talkies - 8

Jillu (out of the blue) : I want to...(a pause) cricket
Me : huh? what?
Jillu : I want to.. cricket
Me : yenna venum ?
Jillu: cricket paakanum (want to see cricket)
Butler English has started :)


                   ******************

The downpour

of the Whys, the Whats, and the Where's have started. And the "How" is yet to commence.. siggggghhhh.. and I am already feeling drained (??)
Why is it so bright?
Why does the sun rise ?
Why does the sun set ?
Why are the lights switched on/off?
What does the Dosa batter do inside the vessel?
Why are you making food ?
Why is the baby sleeping?
Why is she (her friend from school) going home ?
Where has the puddle of water from the rain gone?
When will rain come next?

The cute little helper

courtesy schooling !

Beans cut into little pieces

The above is a result of Jillu's hard work while I was busy on the same job as well. She cut around 7-8 individual beans and that with a broken cake knife !

The break

was unexpected, unplanned and proved to be very slow, frustrating and endless. Life was in a limbo for close to 6 weeks. And it was a time for many firsts as well.

For, as a starter, my husband was diagnosed with chicken pox. Life came to a standstill, with Jillu being sent to my mom's place, me taking care of him, shuttling between the houses and balancing Jillu's demands for me being with her. And he got it bad and it took nearly 3 weeks for him to get cured. And Jillu was missing school as well. I couldn't send her as the commute logistics became complex.

Thank you, everyone !!!

for all those who called, mailed and left messages in the blog asking for more JilluYennaPan. It gives a very warm and nice feeling when people check up on you, na ? Thank you, again.

The break was unexpected and unplanned.

I will be back soon. My net connection will go down any time now and will be down for the next couple of days, just when I wanted to write a post :( . So just thought will say a quick hi to all :)

Take care and stay tuned in. Will  be back once the broad band connection is all set properly

And Jillu is doing absolutely fine... leaving you with one of her songs...

Krishna madi methaiyadi (Krishna's lap is like a bed)
Aadi vilaiyaadammaa (play along nicely in the lap)
Aadum vari aadi vittu (Play as long as you want)
Alli vizhi moodammmaa (and then drift off to a peaceful sleep in his lap)
Krishna madi Methaiyadi

Adaptation from an old Tamil song where the original version calls for the child to sleep in her Athai 's (Aunt, Bhuva) lap.

And Jillu does not stop there, she goes on with

"I" madi methaiyadi (remember I ? Her buddy friend?)
"Yasodha" madi methaiyadi (Krishna's mom)
"Arrakan" madi methaiyadi (All the raakshash'a in Krishna)
"Amma" madi methaiyadi (thats me of course)
"Appa" madi methaiyadi

and so on and so forth :)

Wah Re Wah !

"Wooowwwwwwww ! Beeauuuuuuutiful "
was the exclamation on sighting our little beauty dressed up so prettily (even if I say so myself :) )


Occasion : An important Family function
Attire :
Paatu Paavaadai, with pretty blouse
Pearl necklace adorning the small neck
Matching bangles jingling all the way
Matching Matching Pottu on the forehead
And Matching Matching slide to hold the hair back