Nephy @ Playskool

Nephy @ Playskool

Nephy's short stint at playskool lasted for about 2 weeks. The first day, mommy & daughter (Yeah, daddy & grandma too) set off to school. It started out well with Nephy playing with all the wonderful puzzles & blocks & toys there. Finally, her teacher came and then all the kids cheered. Hmm, never had I seen anyone ever receive such cheer & smiles announcing their arrival. So, it was Teacher Sapea.

Followed roll call, some kids said a YES, while a few others answered a YES for all. Teacher Sapea broke into a song and a dance and the kids joined in. Nephy sat with her toys next to me, and refused to join. I went and sat among the kids and she still refused to join me, happy with her own play things. There were 2 more teachers in the room, who tried to get Nephy to come over, but none of them forced her to.

Then Teacher Sapea came up with these 2 water bottles, one with hot water and the other with cold water, the children sat around her enthralled in what they were hearing. She called up each of the kids to come up and touch the bottle and asked them to say 'Hot' and 'cold'. Finally, it was nephy's turn. The lil one went up to the teacher, touched the 2 water bottles, and wrestled the 2 bottles out of the teacher, and brought it with her.Did I tell you,'with a winning smile'? I tried to pry it out of her hands and hand it back to the teacher, but the teacher said it was alright for her to play with it. I thanked her.
Time to drink water, so all the kids took out their straw-bottles and sipped water, while teacher Sapea took out Smiley stickers and stuck it on to the kid's bottles, appreciating their good work of drinking water(wish my manager was half as appreciative as her..Nah, not with stickers, but a little bonus wouldn't hurt). Nephy demanded that she be given more stickers(That Brat!)  and surprisingly the teacher obliged.

Next lesson, happened to be learning what is smooth and what is rough. She held up 2 plates one rough, and the other smooth. Each of the kids, went to the reacher and found out whats rough and smooth. Finally, Nephy's turn. This time, the teacher was wise enough not to repeat her mistake. She made Nephy touch them but didn't give it to her. Until the end of the class, Nephy refused to part with her bottles though.

Then, it was time for lunch. Since its a day care, even those half-day ones like Nephy would be provided lunch. Nephy took the spoon, and protested to me or the teacher helping her to eat. She took one lil mouthful, and almost gagged. That lil dear who is so used to poricha meen & pepper chicken, couldn't eat the bland kids food. Well, when it comes to trying to make her eat, I would even climb the everest with relative ease. She went on to play with another class, who were colouring. Her age kids continued to eat bowl after bowl and I was very much in awe. Think, those kid's parents are blessed.
After lunch, it was time for chinese class. The teacher tried to teach them Gong Xi song and a few other things I didn't follow. Class finished.

Oh boy, wat a lovely day.
Just one little rogue kid, hurting my baby. Plump little fellow, with sharp nails keeps pinching my baby.....
...(To Be continued)

~~ 26 years old ~~

After 26 years, a marriage, a baby, I definitely have to ask myself a few questions. 'What have I done worth-while until now' 'Have my dreams come true' 'Has life turned out to be the way I wanted it to be'. Ha ha . No, no such questions would pop up even if it were my last day on earth. The question thats goes in circles in my mind, before my birthday 'How do I trick my husband into buying me a gift' and the aftermath question varies based on gift or no-gift.

If I've ever said anything mean about Anto, I take it all back, I take it ALL back. He proclaimed himself as 'The Sweetest husband' the other day, the day after he bought me an iPhone(Did u hear me say, for-almost-nothing). He was very pleased with himself, 'Betsy, Am I not the sweetest husband, I bought you a gift even before your birthday'. I agreed.

*Evil Grin* I vowed to myself that 'You aren't gonna look anywhere near so-pleased-with-yourself when I claim my real gift'

The weekend before my birthday, he casually, asked 'Do you wanna buy something?' I gave him enough hints the week before by looking through every jewellery store window near home. Finally, shopping. Anto chose this lovely solitaire and I knew it would blow his budget beyond reach, but he was still smiling. Tats when the sales girl revealed the details, carefully placed tiny diamonds, to look like a solitaire. No, thanks a lot.

Then I chose a lovely earring and Anto was in smiles too. For one second, I thought I would choose another. I mean, he shouldn't be happy about it, he should have that look,'OMG, how the hell will I ever pay for this'. I was too tired to look for another. So, deal done. After deal-done, I found something really big and really expensive, and then the sales girl kindly offered to cancel the previous order and bill this one. Then for one glorious moment, I saw that lovely look on his face. Well, maybe another time *wink*

He is still happy about it which kinda makes me want to run back and change. Well,

all said and done, Its time to say, 'Thanks Anto! I'll agree with you this once! U r the sweetest husband!'

A lil visitor

A lil visitor

A blog of my cousin's musings : Baby pigeons, got me thinking on the same lines. I was in school, 7th standard(am only guessing). We lived in a 2nd floor apartment then. My brother and I shared the same room, then there was my cousin sis, Val with us. It was at this time that a small lil birdie came to our home. A baby bird. We had all gone shopping and when we got back, this little fellow was there inside the house. As is the norm, you always switch on the fan when you enter in Chennai's heat. Out of nowhere, this fellow flew up to the fan, got hit, got hurt and fell down. We three went,sorry ran to the rescue.

The biggest of the three, my sis Val carried it delicately, put the birdie on the table, fed it water, and the expert that she is , put dettol on the wounds. A large lunch bag , if you know the kind that kids carry to school, was to be the birdie's home. Went in a few old newspapers, a small cup and a few old clothes. She fed it water and bread. It stayed with us that night.

I can still remember the tiny thing, and its beautifully colored feathers. Everything was done only after consulting the expert, Val. The next day, one of us disobeyed. That bugger of my brother, opened up the lunch bag inspite of the lil me protesting. He wanted to change the newspapers as the bird had dirtied it. Well, the bird flew to the window the next second. He leapt to capture the bird, but the lil fellow did show him its bum and flew away into the skies.

That was the only animal that we have had in the house. My mom vehemently protested against any pets. Her argument was.... She already had 2.... y more?

Nephy is 22 months old!

Nephy is 22 months old!

Nephy is fast reaching the 2 year mark. Wonder why is it called terrible twos. If I tell you that I don't know then, its a lie for sure. Its unbeleivable, how she can go from a happy smiling kid to a kid with extraordinary screaming powers in a nanosecond. Some look at me and the dad with a sympathetic look, some others with a look tat says , Inept parents with absolutely no sense of discipline. If you've had a kid, you would belong to the former and if you hadn't, the latter(I wish and sincerely pray for you to have an absolute brat for a child!).

The lil monkey is an expert climber. Her reach until now has been only the sofa and the bed. Quite recently, the dining table and the other day, she almost made it on top of the kitchen counter. Well, until now I never knew it is humanly possible to do any of this in a wink of an eye. Am I not right in calling her a lil monkey.

The 'NO-No' for anything and everything syndrome hasn't left her as yet. She still tries to put a fight before taking a bath. Slaps me, hits me , pushes me...poor me. To make up for it, she would smother me with kisses. Worth it, I tell you. She still loves to get tickled and I still love to tickle her. She still can't sleep through the night, and no, am not complaining. As long as nobody lifts up their head, she would go back to sleep with her milk bottle. If, incase, any one of us happen to lift up our head, she would drag us all out of bed and insist that we start playing right away. Eat- sleep- play still is the dominant routine, add-ins are Rhymes-books-Toys-Vijay's Dance

Her new found love is her Dad. Looks like they have this game of hide under the blankets. She made me play it with her, and but was disappointed in me, as I wasn't as good as her dad. She still creates a big protest everytime I lock myself in the bathroom. The same has been extended to dad's bathroom visits. Her potty business now needs dad to sit by her. Ha ha.. nice job. She cries for a good hour if she leaves her at home and goes out.

Its been about 3 months since my mom came to help me out, and I still haven't found a maid. Nephy is all the time on and on calling out to her 'Aasaa'. Started off with Ammachi, then we tried to teach her Aachi , and finally it has come out as 'Aasaa'. Now, its always Amma-appa-Aasaa. Sometimes, its Aasaa who has to do things for her, Aamma comes second :(

Finally.....22 months! 22months or 22 years... u'll still be my dear little baby. Wonder if you will smother me with kisses then! High chances of the answer being No!

A Chinese magic.....

A Chinese magic.....

I've been suffering from this unbearable leg pain for the past two weeks. The last 5 days have been completely unbearabe. The one thing that made me literally cry is my first step in the morning out of the bed. Thats when the pain hurts the most. For those mind voices saying 'Unakku venum dee', Screw ya(Grrrrrrr)

Anto's friend suggested that we try out a chinese traditional remedy massage. He was kind enough to even take us there. An old man, should be in his 60s. This fellow started off his massage on my legs. In minutes, I was screaming to myself to get up and just run. Tats when I realised, I can't even walk without help, much less run. It wasn't a massage at all,he was plainly trying to kill me painfully and slowly. And Anto went on saying, its just fine. Fine? (Some very fine bad words were dying to jump outta my mouth). Had it been my home-town, the old man would be dead meat by now. The whole thing lasted about 40 minutes and reminded me so much of my labor pains.

Strange, surprisingly, after the so-called massage, I was able to walk. Walk without limping. I was able to walk carrying Nephy as well. What kinda magic is that? The old man wasn't lying when he had 'See results immediately' written on the door. I thanked him a lot.

I have to go back for a few more sessions to wipe out the pain completely but I dare not go again. Only I know how hard I prayed and how much it hurt during the massage and I never knew I had so much colorful vocabulary in me! Self discovery!

Natalie Rose - the highlight of my vacation

Natalie Rose - the highlight of my vacation

Natalie Rose is the highlight of my vacation. She is my brother 's baby, just turned one. It was very nice to watch the two of them together. Natalie has a nice vocabulary. She greets everyone with a 'Hi', rather a 'Aaaaiiii'.

Once her mother went for a bath, leaving her with me. Quality time with my neice. Her mother would have been gone only for 2 mins, and Natalie started crying for her mom. I said, let amma come, 'adi kudukkalaam'. Then I tried asking her, 'Amma-ku..' and she answered 'Adi'. Bingo!! I kept repeating it, and she caught on. Then, I tried to teach her,'Daddy-ku' 'Poya!'. Bingo again! I coached her well and she went on all day saying 'amma-ku... Adi' and 'Daddy-ku... Poya'. I also tried teaching her 'athai-ku... Ummaa', but she kept saying, 'Adi', how mean! I guess her mother would never leave her with me again :)

Her vocab also includes a 'Tha-Thu', translated its Thank-you. A Tha-thu for this, a tha-thu for that, a tha-thu for almost everything. The other day, my mother washed her butt after you-know-what. The lil one promptly said 'Tha-thu'... hehehe, a Thanks for washing her butt! FUnny lil creature!

Everytime, Nephy cries, she would imitate her with a 'amma..amma'! That brat!

Its fun to watch the two of them play. Nephy is always after whatever Natalie picks up. The two would always want to wear the other one's shoes. They would also umma each other. Later on, Nephy picked up this horrible habit of pushing Natalie. Whenever Nephy gets a chance to get near Natalie, she wud shove her with her hands,and the lil one would fall down. Poor being, Natalie actually thought it was some kinda game and would giggle... my poor lil sweetie.

Then Nephy fell sick and would always lie on my lap with no energy to do nothing. Natalie would try and poke her in her eyes , her nose, wud hit her head. 'An eye for an eye'

It was altogether just great to have the two of them together. Such lovely moments!