Mihir at 2 years and 9 months

- Has learned that adding an 's' to anything is used to identify the plural. He probably picked that up in school and he uses it everywhere, even with Marathi words. His usage '1 kaju, 2 kajus', '1 khurchi, 2 khurchis', '1 pakshi, 2 pakshis' and so on.

- Makes it a point to not miss the 4 Pm cookery show on Zee Marathi hosted by Prashant Damle(Aamhi Saare Khavaiye) everyday. Applies his observations from that show to his play. These days he uses real ingredients like Rajma seeds, Cashew nuts, etc with this play utensils and does 'real' cooking operations on them (like he sees on that show) - including cutting, chopping, refrigerating, soaking etc. He then 'serves' his dishes to us.

- Becomes impatient at birthday parties and asks for cake even before it is cut :) Puts us in a somewhat embarrassing spot but explaining to him that this is not how it is done is yet to yield results.

- Keeps referring to his teacher and school every now and then. Also comes home with bruises and bumps almost everyday but does not tell us how he got them.

- Bath is a big pain everyday. Always associated with high decibel levels.

- Attends my conference calls sometimes (I take most of my calls from home). He says a lot of things on the call, thankfully the phone has a mute button. (On some calls, he is the only one who talks sense).

- 'Listens' to TV soaps while playing, doesn't watch much. Yet that day there was a picture of Smita Talwalkar and her daughter-In-law in some magazine and he correctly told his aaji which soap either acts in. ("Hi na aaji, Abhilaasha madhye aste and ti ahe na, ti Asambhav madhye aste").

another month later....

Check out all this stuff from school!


This yellow duckie was a present from our "Yellow Day" where we all wore Yellow dresses to school.


For Indepedence day, we wore dresses which had the colors from the Indian flag, even got tricolored snacks in our tiffin box, that entire week! I can now sing "Zanda uncha rahe hamaara" and I can also show you the Ashoka Chakra on the flag.

My teacher wrote this in my Communication Book:
The flag was made with the childrens' finger prints and the kite was done with sponge. After the sponge painting had dried, they stuck the blue circles on it.
Mondays is their painting day and they have tried all different forms of painting. They have also done a lot of sticking activity.

School: Day 1

Yesterday was my first day at school. Everyone at home looked more excited than I was, but thats ok, they're still growing up.

My school is called Sapling Nursery and I have been admitted to Playgroup Lambs.

I got up in the morning and got ready. Daddy and Mommy took me to school. My teacher's name is Uma Teacher and she was at the gate to receive me.There was also a bunch of other kids there but I preferred not to talk to any of them. I clung to my mommy (mommy and daddy were both with me in the classroom) most of the time. There were a few kids who were crying like mad, I am not sure what was wrong with them. The others were generally playing. After some time there was this music teacher who played the Keyboard and we all sang songs, said a prayer and went home. Here are my pics on school day, there is also a small video clip here

Mihir learns Hindi

Suddenly last evening, he says "Maa, muzhe bhook lagi hai". We were all stunned as to where he picked it up from and he correctly told us that he got it from the movie Hanuman! I am still not clear about how he managed to connect the words and context together, but he does know when to say it!!

what I do at 2 years

- Tell gramma which saree she should wear to office each morning
- Decide which clothes (including underwear), shoes I wear at a given point in time
- Decide which clothes, shoes daddy or mommy wear when they go out with me
- Identify a few colours, mainly pink, blue, yellow and white
- Have stopped watching the nursery rhyme VCDs altogether, just see Hanuman sometimes
- Am ever willing to travel by autorickshaw
- Bite mommy and daddy when I get a chance
- Want to do everything on my own, especially eat and wear clothes
- No bathing

2 years old!

Who came from Mumbai:
Shaunak, Shilpa Maushi, Anu Maushi, Preety Maushi, Maushi Aaji, Ba, Bombay Ajobi and Bombay Ajoba. Milind kaka was out of action with a fractured leg and could not come.

B day:
I got up in the morning and got ready.Then Athu dada and Preeti Atya came over. Later, Athu dada and I went in our car to the highway junction to escort the car coming from Mumbai. We got them home.

Bombay ajobi had got a cake from Merwans so we cut that. Then all of them did 'aarti' for me and gave me presents :) My Pune aaji gave me 10 gms of Gold!
I played with Shaunak and Athu dada for some time.

After lunch everyone rested for sometime and then Anu Maushi and Preety Maushi went down to the hall to decorate it for the party.They did a fantastic job as you can see in the pictures. Everyone liked the decorations.
Preety maushi is very good at these things.

Then we all dressed up and went down. Daddy went out and got the cake that we had ordered. Slowly the guests started coming in. There were all my friends from the building and their parents. We cut the cake and then there was dinner for everyone. No games as all my friends are very small and dont know how to play in organized groups yet..neither do I for that matter.

dinner menu:
Sweet corn veg soup, mutter paneer, puris (3 types), veg manchurian, veg fried rice and gajar halwa.

Late at night, we all sat and opened the gifts one by one. I got a lot of lovely presents and I enjoyed it.

daddy writes:
Most of Mihir's friends are from the same age group. They are all very possessive about their belongings at this stage and there was a funny incident which we all enjoyed. Little Shravani bought a nice present for Mihir but refused to hand it over to him.Her mommy eventually coaxed her into handing it over. Later when everyone was engrossed elsewhere, she quietly went to the place where all the presents were kept, searched the present she had got and took it with her(until her mommy found out again, of course) :)

The pictures are here for now. Daddy has very very tied up at office lately and will come back to set this post right asap.

2 Years Old

31st Dec 2006:
We got up in the morning and went on a trip to Alandi. It isnt very far from Pune and Bombay ajoba wanted to visit it. So we all went in the Qualis that they had got from mumbai - Ba stayed back home with my pune grandparents.
We visited the temple and came back and had lunch. Then the mumbai gang took off for mumbai immediately after as they wanted to reach mumbai before dark.

beginning of the grind?

Mommy and I went to 'Saplings Nursery' yesterday afternoon to get admissions forms for 'Playgroup'. Though the communicated time was 3- 5 PM, we saw people walking off with the forms when we reached there at 2.45...apparently, people were standing there since noon!

It may be a well-known school but this clearly shows the crazy kind of competition that schools in India run. At the cost of the parents of course.

We will find out whether we get admission or no by Dec 15th...till then just wait and watch!

At 20 months

  
I can sing a variety of songs end-to-end.
English nursery rhymes
-Baa-baa black sheep
-Twinkle twinkle little star

Marathi songs
-Shepti vaalya pranyanchi bharli sabha
-eka makdaani kadhlay dukaan
-mase dada anghol kelis ka
-tai gunaachi maazhi chakuli
-ye re ye re pausa ruslas kay
-chhadi laage chham chham
-tang ting tinga ka tang ting tinga (from moruchi maushi)

Hindi songs
-Main hoon na
-Ru ba roo (daddy: he sings it really cute. he goes 'loo ba loo......loshni...')

I am extremely possessive about all my toys
I do not allow anybody other than those who stay with me to touch any of my toys.
When I go to Athu dada's place or Maitrayee tai's place I take their toys and dont allow them to even touch them.

I can race a bucket all through the house
Top speed must be in miles/hour (daddy says: may not be that fast but he runs around pushing a bucket or anything else that he can and really fast. We feel worried he might fall down but he is unstoppable)

I like to eat maggi noodles and cadbury gems.
I hardly ever get to eat noodles but the gems keep coming in good supply.

I do not like to pose in front of a camera anymore
(which explains the decreasing number of photographs on the blog)

Aaditi is my icon
I try and do everything that Aaditi does. Daddy has promised to buy me a school satchel just like hers.

the toothless wonder....

...is not toothless anymore!!

Two white lines on the front upper line suddenly appeared yesterday afternoon.

At 16 months 

The latest top 10

Daddy has been doing a good job lately and has moved up the ranks pretty quickly. Surprise exits are my blue toothbrush. Read on

1. Mommy
2. Aaji
3. Aaba
4. Jingle Toons Video
5. Daddy
6. Aniket Dada's bicycle
7. Aniket Dada
8. Yellow ball (the one that Karishma maushi sent me)
9. Daddy's laptop computer
10.Crows

Makar Sankranti & Bor Nhaan

Saturday was Makar Sankranti. Like last year, my grammy bought me a black dress.
She also got me new shoes which make a funny noise when I walk. I like to walk when I am wearing them.

On Sunday evening was Bor Nhaan. Preeti Atya and Jyoti Atya specially came to attend that. Athu dada and Maitrayee tai were there too.

For Bor Nhaan, they first dressed me up in the black dress. Grammy had got some jewelry made out of sugar beads - I wore that too. There was writsbands, arm-bands, a garland and even a flute!! There was a crown too, but I dont like anyone touching my head so I just tore it off when they put that on my head (smart guy daddy managed to click a picture before that even then).

Black dress, jewelry and crown 

They had also invited all my friends from the building - there was Priyavrat, Sai, Eisha (2 of them), Arnav, Sailee and Avanti. They all surrounded me and poured a mix of puffed rice, large berries and chocolates on my head. The other kids were expected to collect as many as chocolates/berries as they could. I focussed on the puffed rice, I just love that.

The tiger loves puffed rice 


with everyone 

See how much I have changed since the Makar Sankranti last year.

PS: Karishma maushi wants to be like me. She can borrow my tiger dress for a day if she wants...

ONE year old!!!

I turned one year old on the 30th of Dec.

In the morning, I woke up and quickly had a bath and wore my new clothes after breakfast. Here is a picture.

In the morning, with Aba 

By noon, everyone from Mumbai arrived at our place. There was Ba, Tushar Kaka, Anu Maushi, Aaji, Aajoba and also Vikas Aajoba and Sadhna Aaji. I played with them all day. In the afternoon, daddy went somewhere with Anu maushi and Tushar Kaka (they did not take me ...bad) and came back only by 5.30. By that time we all were dressed to leave.
Apparently, my parents had booked a hotel for a birthday party and daddy was there in the afternoon to make the decorations (cool). Before we left, they did 'aarti' for me with all those diyas and gave me the presents that they all had got for me.

The party was at Hotel Poonam at Deccan. There were about 115 guests. There was also a magic show and two funny cartoons who were dancing around all the time. Some of my friends (Priyavrat, Abha) and even Maitrayee Tai got scared of the cartoons but I'm the brave boy as I always was, so didnt give a damn. All my friends from the building (except Aaditi Tai & her parents, they were away on a trip) attended the party. There were also daddy's friends and mommy's friends and their kids.

The food was good too. There were many options like South Indian, Punjabi, Chaat, Chinese and even Ice Cream!! I got a lot of presents from everyone :)

The party ended by 10 and we returned home by 11. Doctormama (Babu Dada) could not attend the party but made it a point to call exactly at 10.46 PM to wish me (thats when I was born....he knows, he's the first person I have seen from the outer world).

Here are some snaps from the party.

Anu Maushi, Tushar Kaka & Daddy made this 


The Cake 


With Madhavi Maushi, Aaji and Athu Dada 


Ba, Aaji and Sadhna Aaji 


Kanchan Kaku & Prachi Kaku with Ashmit and Riddhi 


With Mommy, Prachi Kaku and Riddhi 


Both cartoons with Mihir 


Titeer enjoying himself 


Ria with Rajmeet Kaka 


Athu Dada and Sejal dancing with the cartoon 


Older kids enjoyed the Magic Show 


Daddy writes:
The party went well. Mihir got a little overwhelmed as he seldom gets to see so many people in one place and then everyone wanted to meet him :) He cried for some time so the cake cutting part had to be hurried up a bit. He later settled down and then was happy to be on his own.

Credits
Video: Nilesh Kaka
Photos: Prasanna Kaka, Anand Kaka & Samir Kaka

Catching up - 11 months old!

Its been a while (Daddy, bad).

Not much happening really...I mean nothing good. First daddy had the flu and then I caught something from him. I had fever upto 102 deg F for a couple of days. I still have a running nose :(
Mommy has been working late in the office almost every day now and when she comes home, she is on the phone(office again). She is even working weekends. And in between all this, yours truly has turned 11 months old!

Today, Savita was down with fever. She was a little down since last evening so Daddy came home by 1 and let her go. I played with daddy from then until 7.

PS: Karishma maushi, you were right. Tigers are rare creatures, they should not be thinking so much. Daddy has removed the 'India Empowered' post.

Mihir at 10.5 months

1. Crawls all over the house all day. Catches available things for support and then walks.

2. He dances. All you need to say is 'Mihir naach karun dakhav' and he starts off. In the absence of music, he evens makes up his own song 'un-aa-un-aa' to go with the dance. Shakes his bottom really well :)

3. He points to his head when you ask him 'Doka kuthay tuzha?'

4. Says 'Ta Ta' when he wants to address Savita, his governess.

5. Is very fussy with food. Stores food in his cheeks for a long time before swallowing it. A meal takes at least an hour.

6. Gramma has taught him to complete the line 'Injinachi ghanta vaje...' and he says 'tan tan tan'.

7. Says 'baba' all the time but does not link it with addressing his daddy.

8. Tried to say 'aaji' yesterday. Said it once but not again. Mommy just corrected me: He says 'aaji' very well now.


brat 

9 months old!!!

I turned 9 months old on the 30th. These are the things I can do now:

1. Stand up on my own when something is available for support
2. Crawl on all fours and roam the entire house
3. Do 'clap clap' and 'bappa jai jai' on demand
4. Make a wide spectrum of noises

We had been to Ria's birthday party yesterday but I suddenly started a running nose and was feeling a little warm so mommy daddy took me back home early :(
I wanted to have fun there...there were all the other babies and there was also Tweety :)

Daddy said we will go to Rajmeet uncle's house again sometime to meet Ria (hopefully Tweety will be there too then).We went shopping for Ria's birthday gift earlier in the evening and bought two dolls - one each for Mihir and Ria. I have already pulled the hair off my doll, I will see if Ria can match that when I visit her plce.

The bump on my head is better now.

8 Months Old!! 

4 months old!

Daddy says I am growing smarter by the day. We did not go out anywhere as daddy wasnt feeling very well that day.


Mihir 

We had been out the following Sunday but, daddy and mommy did not buy anything for me - they did not like what they saw :(
Nobody asks me what I like ....ungyaaanh !

I was very happy at the toy shop.Some day I will get all those toys home. Daddy liked a toy golf set and wanted to buy it for himself but mommy did not allow him to :)
She said we can buy it after I grow up :)

some new sounds

I can now say 'aguuu' and 'agheee' and I say it everytime I feel happy.
Daddy and Mommy keep wondering what it means but they dont know yet.

I started making these sounds quite a few days ago, but now the process is consistent and repeatable and I am working on optimizing it.

Three months old!

Daddy, mommy and I became three months old today!