Words from the mouth of a babe

Scenario 1:-

Aghoo and amma are eating leftover chicken curry and dosai for dinner.

Aghoo is licking her chicken curry and generally liking it ( kala tikka!!) .

Aghoo : " Amma I like your mummum"
Amma: " o thank you kutta.. what do you like"
Aghoo : " Dis Chicken, noonles ( noodles) , uppa( upma). rasa mumum, dosai ,illi ( idli), pasta"

Amma is feeling a bit smug that little baby likes her cooking and can even verbalize it. Feels good .

She continues..
Aghoo :" Water (!!) , canny ( candy), straw berries (!)"

Amma: But baby, I dont make those at home...

Aghoo: I like them amma

Bubble BURST!

Scenario 2:-

Aghoo and I are playing with bubbles in the balcony.I notice that her little inflatable pool is filthy. Since summer is coming anyway, I decide to clean it. I take it upstairs and start to clean it in the bath tub.

I am wearing my hip belt- so that my back ache doesn't flare up.

Aghoo:- " Amma, yen clean panra?"
Amma" -" bcos Aghoo cant swim in a yaya ( dirty) illa kanna"
Aghoo " yen belt potiruke?"
Amma " bcos yenaku muggu ow ( mudhu vali) varumla kanna adhan"

After a little while, she walks over to me   and spontaneously kisses my shoulder and says " thank you  amma".. :) I think these are little bits of heaven that we need to take us through the many years of toddler tantrums..:)

Then a little later she asks me, " amma nee yen lots of work panra? Iya( Aghoo) work panaliye"

Amma :- "bcos you are a little baby kanna. When I was a baby in amma palya/ daddy thathas home, I did not do any work either. I just had to eat, go to school and sleep"

Aghoo:- " Appa naanum big girl aagi lot of work pannanuma?"

Amma :- Sadly " yes kanna.. nee big girl aanapram, when you have your own house and baby, neeyum work pannuve"

Aghoo :- " so babies lam mumum, school, thacha (sleep), pee pee, brush, thu thuppi ( rinsing mouth) and poo poo pannanuma?"

ROTFL at her list of baby chores..

Scenario 3:-

I have a new phone from my company.My old Iphone4 had a yellow cover and the new one has a black cover.

Aghoo:- Amma, yellow phone yennachu?

Amma:- Yellow phone thatha ku thara poren. I have a new black phone now.

Aghoo :- NOO! nee vaichiru.. Iya big girl aagi yellow phone yeduthupen..

Little later..

Aghoo " amma, nee yellow phone thatha ku kudu.Big girl aagi naan unnoda new black phone yeduthukaren"

speech less!

Mother of a 3 year old

Feels very very grown up to me.. But then at 31, almost pushing 32, I am almost middle -aged Aint I?

Miss Aghoo is a full blown preschooler now..

I put up this status on FB in honor of her bday..

"I won't say that I can't believe you are 3..because you are everything that a 3 year old should be-defiant and raring to push boundaries ..but you are also very spontaneous and insightful .. My little baby, I hope your year is filled with lot of laughter ,chocolates, strawberries and rainbows.. Hope you retain this ability to be awed by simple things :) Happy Birthday Princess:)"

I think it pretty much sumps up Aghoo at 3 . When she is sweet, she is the sweetest girl- impromptu hugs and kissies, I love my mommies abound :) I can see streaks of a very strong willed person in her already though- It is VERY VERY tough to distract her form something once she has set her mind on it.She doesn't forget commitments very easily- I think she will make a great manager some day ;) 

She is very intuitive and can already sense moods and undercurrents. She is proving to be my daughter ! She does push my ( and HD's ) limited reserves of patience as much as she can and as often as she can- but she also does want to make sure that we are not angry with her for too long. She cant do anything else, until she makes sure we are back to being cheerful.She keeps asking " angry pocha" until we smile. It doesn't matter if the source of the anger is herself or something else.

She is becoming a complete daddys girl- this is quite a paradigm shift for a baby thats been latched to me since birth. Everything is " dada" now- except sleeping, when she still needs me ( or my thoppai to be exact) ;).

She is such a smart, bright and happy kid- not always cheerful, but hey! 3- year olds have the rights to a few ( or many) tantrums I guess..

My biggest fear and worry is- can I ( and HD ofcourse) do justice to this huge responsibility of bringing up this special little girl up? How can we not corrupt her innate sensitivity ,curiosity and her empathy? How do we make sure she is not influenced by the weariness that we exhibit, because of being adults? For that my only answer is- prayers..

So, my prayer for my little Aghoo is this- Dear God, please bless HD and I with the ability to parent this special little girl with all the wisdom and patience that she deserves.Please help is in preserving her innocence for as long as it is necessary. Please help us in raising her into a happy, cheerful ,empathetic and confident human being. Paraphrasing Kannadasan,

" Yenda kuzhandaiyum nalla kuzhandhai dhan mannil pirakayile.. Adhu Nallavan aavadhum theeyavam aavadhum petror ( annai) valarpinile..."