Kids say the darnest things

Aghoonoosh is a full blown  preschooler! Sometimes she blows me away with her insight. Sometimes she tests my patience with her typical 3 year old tantrums.


Every day , I get ready , brush her teeth comb her hair( since dada finds it very difficult to make kudumis :)) and hand her off to HD for breakfast/shower and drop off at school.
I am usually rushing through my coffee and getting my lunch ready when dada makes her breakfast. Every since day, whether she is in the middle of a game with dada or talking to her thatha or having a tantrum, when I say bye she asks " coffee kudichiya ma?".How does she know that it makes my day?

Yesterday , when I was picking her up from school, one of her friends mom was carrying her friend. She tells me " yella babies mommy yum carry panra.. nee mattum carry panradhey illama". She knows I don't carry her because of my bad back. This of course melted my heart and I carried her for a little bit.Little madam understood that this technique works. She came home and I asked her to drink her milk , she says "yella babies mommy yum cookie thara school lendu home poi.. nee mattum thara matengara" . Smarty pants! She says it with such an earnest look too!

I was trying to get her to finish up her milk ( the bane of my existence!) and I told her-when I was small, I used to come home from school and finish all the milk akka palya ( the akka in our house) used to give me in one big gulp. She asks "yen? where did your mommy go?" . So, I was honest and told her, my mommy was working . She thought for a while and asked me " where did your dada go?" #stumped!


She LOVES her books. The one bribe that will get her to finish her night time milk- if I tell her that I will ready 2 books that day instead of one! I am so happy she has inherited the love of books ( from me ;)). She even sleep with her favorite books next to her. She  pretends to read them to her toys- too funny to watch!

We took her to Tahoe2 weekends ago with our friends and Chitha/chithi. Agnoosh had so much fun in the snow :). She was waiting for penguins to come out though- which of course did not happen :)

This weekend , we are taking her to Disney with ava/achu and chitha/chithi. She is so excited to meet Mickey/Goofy/Minnie and the princesses. She keeps asking - " Amma Disney ku yenna dress podalam? Amma Mickey pesuma yenta? Amma Mickey kadikuma (!!) ? Amma Mickey yennoda book yeduthukuma? Amma, can we take the pincesh ( princess) book to Disney?"

Love you my littlest !

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..."

New year..

* i will not crib about leaving just 4 days time* chant 1000 times.

I wanted to jot down my NY resolutions so I can look back at the end of the year

1) Take time for myself.
2) Do Yoga- regularly
3) Dress up well- everyday and not just for special occasions.
4) Take time to take care of basics- hair cut, eye brows and even facial if possible.
5) Be more patient- especially with Aghoo and HD.
6) Try to worry less.. What ever will be will be ( que sara sara?) :)
7) Accept that people are different- not everyone needs to think the same way I do, especially my immediate family.
8) * Try* to forgive and forget..
9) If I need rest, its ok to slack a bit and also let poor HD slack a bit..Aghoo wont remember 1 less than perfect meal or even take out meal.She WILL remember stressed out fighting parents!
10) Starting the new job- be confident and stop being afraid of saying no.
11) Bug parents to visit us- make it happen some how( this is the toughest one :))

Updates

Aghoo and I have been in India for almost 6 weeks now.We are both having a great time- and getting pampered.

First couple of weeks just flew by in a frenzy- thanks to my sisters wedding and the chaos surrounding wedding. It makes me sad to think that there will be no more weddings in our immediate families for a long time- because both my sister and HD's brother are married now.Yes- there will be cousins weddings in a few years.. but will we be able to make it ? I dont know..

After the wedding, I have been going for regular treatment for my backache- traction, IFT, yoga etc etc.

Aghoo is having a BLAST with her daddy thatha,amma palya, akka palya, selvi akka, obama thatha, Elango thatha, hari thatha and various palyas and mamas.

She speaks quite a bit of tamil now and is very conversant even with strangers!

She wakes up at 6.30 and goes down to amma palya and selvi akka ( when I sleep in ofcourse). She has her milk and breakfast, while watching kakas kuruvis and squirrels. She then plays with her amma palya from 10-12.30. They get all her dolls( Krishna ummachi, Ganesha ummachi,Linda and Hannah) brushed, bathed and send them to school. They then become "(m)iss catherine " and "(m)  iss claudia"[her teachers].

They " teach " them stories ( mythological stories watered down) and sing etc. They then make mummum with choppu toys and feed them. Then it is " thacha time" for all the dolls. Aghoo then has her lunch.

Then she plays with her daddy thatha for an hr or so and then sleeps for a little bit.

Then she wakes up, has an egg dosa or something and milk- and plays with akka palya and selvi akka.

Someone usually visits us ( some relative) and she will play hide and seek with them. She again plays with thatha and palya in the evening. She only comes to me after dinner for her bed time story and sleep:)

I am on a schedule too, with yoga class and 2 sessions of traction/IFT.



Thanks to my back ache(!), we both are enjoying a good break from our routines.

Aghoo loves the attention she is getting in India. More later..

Aghooism

This is so cute that I have to post this before I board the plane..

We are in the care - Aghoo , Dada and I- going to the doctor because Aghoo baby is sick.

I am arguing about something with dada..

Aghoo , all of a sudden says..

Aghoo:-" Amma, yen nee daily daily dada kooda fight panre?"
Me:- illiye da.. naan daily fight pnnaliye..
Aghoo:- yeah.. panra nee.. See. Look at him. he is sooooo cuttttttte

My jaw dropped to the floor on hearing this.

and then she proceeds to say

" See , Dada sad iruka paaru.. paaavam"

There you go- she is definitely shaping up to be a dada's girl..

cantwaitcantwaitcantwait

leaving for HOME tomorrow!! Yes- I said home:)
Although Aghoo calls our home ( fremont one)- Riya's home and Dgl as " daddy thatha home ".

Madam has been down with fever since sunday- sigh! will we ever go to India without fever ? I dont know. Both the previous times, we traveled with a feverish Aghoo.Ah well!

For the first time, she understands enough to be very excited- she holds up 2 fingers and says " 1 2 days school, appram India poren pink (??!!) plane la".

Poor dada isnt joining with us and will join next week :(.. He will be alone for Diwali.

I, on the other hand, will be spending Diwali with parents, sister, cousins, uncles, aunts after 10 YEARS!

cantwaitcantwaitcantwait ( Sorry HD:( !!)

More from the other side of the planer ( literally) :):)