This & That about Ashu & Antu.

Apart from going mine,mine,mine, Ashu really loves to play with Antu. But she has rules. The trouble is Antu does nt follow rules!

Everyday Ashu waves good bye to Antu before leaving for school. And I should wave Antus hand in return. Its a ritual now.

Sometimes Ashu says "Enna daa? Kutti payale" to Antu and its utterly cute. Translation: Whats up, Little Dude? (And the drawl she uses to say it is exactly like M R Radha!)

Ashu has started to pick up Antu off the floor and is giving me a heart attack. Though I want to scream every time she does that, I calmly tell Ashu never to do that again. But she does.

One day Ashu told me, "Amma I love Antu very much but I dont like her a little bit". Fair enough.

I would like to say Antu saves her best smiles for Ashu and her face lights up when she sees her big sis and she likes to spend time with her. But then I would be lying. Antu is a soul whose main motto in life is "Soru kanda idame sorgam". (Heaven is where the food is!) So she saves all things best only for two things er... for me! And to a certain extent, her dad because he carries her all the time. I think Antus wondering what the purpose of a big sis is. If shes anything like me, she ll know in about a decade or so when Ashu helps with her Physics record note book!

Ashu has a special language for Antu. It goes something like this, "lakkalokkadaaka? Kakkichikkimunni! Eemalaama?" Im scared Antu will pick it up too. When asked, Ashu says "Its Hindi". I did nt even know that she knew there is a language called Hindi. I suspect its her best friends influence. The said friend speaks Jewish Hebrew at home.

Antu loves to be in Ashus room. They both sit in two corners and do their own things for a long while. But whatever Ashu is doing, she always keeps an eye out for Antu. "Oh, Amma. She has reached for the paper. Take it away from her", "Is this toy too small for her amma? Can she play with this?",... The ever concerned sister!

I love the car rides with both of them in the back. Ashu gives me a running commentary of what Antu is doing. "Shes yawning, smiling, sleeping, staring, ..."

When we go to the play area in the evening, Antu loves to watch Ashu coming down the slide.

The other day I asked Ashu,
why do you love me?
Because you love me Amma.
Why do you love Antu?
She loves me too.
How do you know she loves you? She cant talk yet.
Because when I do something funny, she laughs. So I love her.

Oh Ashu! I just hope you love Antu even when she laughs at you when you are not being funny!

ps.
Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!

Love is...

I was busy as always with my laptop and Antu tried to touch the keypad and I was swatting her hand away. After a few minutes, I turned to see this. Ashu looked at me and said, "I will share my laptop, Amma". Don't know why my eyes brimmed over that very instant.

I take back my "Mine! Mine! Mine!" post, folks! :) Spread the love and have a super duper Valentines Day!

Take a view from our window.

Ashu has gone to school in this! I would nt even go to school when it rained in my times. I even gave her an option of staying home. Kids these days! Father and daughter are out to battle the bad world while Mother and daughter are cosily sitting on the couch and looking out of the window. Take your time, Antu. No hurry to grow up. Huh, who am I kidding!

Musical Bed.

Since we now live in a bigger place, we moved Antus crib to another room. So she has her own room now. So does Ashu. And to think I have never had my own room all my life. We have always lived in teeny tiny places and even my parents did nt have any privacy let alone us daughters. In college, shared room with as much as ten girls at one point of time. And of course once we women get married, we share our rooms with the resident gorillas! The end.

Anyway, this one room for each is nt working out too well in our current situation. Take last night. Ashu and Antu were sleeping in their respective rooms. Around midnight, Hd got up to take Ashu to the loo. Then she would nt let go of him, so he slept on a mattress on the floor in her room. A while later, Antu got up. Hd woke up, picked her up and put her near me and I fed her and went back to sleep. Hd also went to sleep in our bed. Around 3 am, Hd got up and took Ashu to the loo. I got up and put Antu back in her crib in her room. I came back to our room. He slept in Ashus room. Then at 6 am, Ashu came and lied down next to me. Antu got up and I brought her to me. Then Ashu went and switched on the light in her room and an annoyed Hd came to our room to sleep longer since it was a Sunday. But Antu began to cry. I changed Antus diaper and put her in the crib in her room with some toys. Ashu was shuttling between her room and Antus and playing. Hd and I caught some 15 mins of sleep before we had to get up. Phew.

I so want to spread a Bhavani Jamakkalam* in the hall and go to sleep with all of us close together. It ll solve so many issues. Ashu can wet the jamakkalam by all means. A jamakkalam is nt a jamakkalam if it has nt been slept on by bed wetting kids. There's no danger of Antu rolling over and falling down. Hd does nt have to get up to take Ashu to the bathroom. Antu sleeps through the night when she co sleeps with us so I don't have to get up either. A win-win on all accounts. Our grand parents were nt exactly the dumb sorts now, were they? And here I am reading Ferber and buying Ikea kiddie furniture. Sorry Thatha. Thappu dhaan.

*a popular brand of bed sheet in Tamil Nadu

Mine! Mine! Mine!

So here we are. The much dreaded phase(which will last all my lifetime) is already here. Antu crawling and showing interest in Ashus toys and Ashu screaming "Shes touching my stuff, MOM"!! Sigh! Ignoring all the rattles, board books and noisy toys, Antu goes for the very ones Ashu is playing with, the little devil. "Share Ashu" is answered with "But shes chewing on them Amma and making them dirty. Its yuck! She can chew only her rattles. Not my stuff". Now how can I argue with that? And yesterday I caught her lecturing Antu. "Look baby. You can chew the rattles. But not this elephant toy. Because it has wheels and it runs on the floor and if you chew on it, the dirt from the wheels will get into your tummy and it will hurt"! I swear she said all that. Today Ashu and I were playing Snakes and Ladders in her room. Antu was on the floor nearby and there were only a million things near her. But she came to us, plonked right in the middle of the board and tried to take the dice away. Ashu who was already pretty pissed off that I was ahead of her in the game chose the moment to move her coin a few places ahead when we rearranged the board! Not one dull moment in this house, I tell ya.