Sick again and San's only wish-item this Xmas

Watching your kid struggle with cold is a torture, especially, when cold is accompanied by its buddy, fever. Loss of appetite is understandable, but what do you do when these little ones refuse to have the medicine? It doesn't matter what flavor you give them or what flavor they like. They just refuse to. Even if they used to like it earlier and lick its last drop off the dispenser. It's the toughest test of patience!

This time, for San's cold, we tried all ways, all medicine dispensers, all kinds of bribes, to make her have the medicine, but nothing worked. :-( She spits most of it out and half of it is soaked by her clothes. Everything smells of her medicine. She herself does.

Nights are harder. She is unable to sleep because of her blocked nose. The humidifier and the Vicks vapors don't seem to help. And still, she keeps singing her favorite rhymes in her croaky voice, wiping her cherry red nose every now and then. She plays with the same enthusiasm (less energy though) and watches Curious George with the same smile on her face. It seems like she doesn't know that she's unwell. She pretends to talk to her friends on phone cuz' she hasn't been able to see them since two days. She thinks she's going to meet Sophia tomorrow, but she's gonna be stuck at home.

Common cold in kids is quite common, but then the experience with it always raises your patience level and teaches you a lesson.

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On a different note, guess what San wants from Santa this Christmas? A Lollipop! :-) We've kept her away from candies, chocolates, and lollipops so far, but then, Santa will surely gift her one I guess! ;-)

Happy at school and Happy with George

Finally, I see a smile on her face and no hurry to go home when I pick San up from school... phew! :-) She talks about Sophia (I guess she likes the name), a kid in her class, and has started to tell me more about her day at school... although, she ain't yet eating in school, even if I give her her most favorite stuff. :-s

The bad part is that she imitates her teacher and tell the other kids (and us) to shush! :-p

Yesterday, she was singing Jingle Bells after coming back home. She also talks about Santa Claus now... good that we've put up a Christmas Tree this time. :)

More sentences, more words... and an interest in coloring (all she wants to do is play with the crayons and put a mark or two on the sheet). She's also started praising and complimenting us the way we do. So, the other day, when I put on my new night suit, she said, "Wow Mommy! Good job Mommy! Mommy cuta pie"... I looooooooove  it when she compliments me, cuz' it's the truest and the most honest one. :-) She also tells the butterflies and the fish that they look pretty! I'm sure they must be glad to hear that. :D

She can open the refrigerator now... uh oh!

BTW, San (and her Mom and Dad) are hooked onto Curious George now. He's such an adorable little monkey. It's a treat to watch him. :)

Image credits: pbskids.org

Of Spanish and School

And one fine day, San, while playing with her bean bag, started 'chanting' Uno, Dos, Tres, Cuatro, Cinco. I thought that I mis-heard her, so I asked her to repeat what she was saying. And she repeated the series. Phew! So, thank you Dora and Diego! :-D

Pssst... Papa dear doesn't kinda like it when San breaks into the little Spanish she knows... especially, when she calls him 'Papi'! :-D

School days are not very smooth though. I was quite confident that she'll adjust fast... I expected a lot from her, I guess. <sigh> I keep telling myself that she'd be fine and the day will soon come when she'd WANT to go to school, eat all the food that I give her, and will come back happy.

We attended the Thanksgiving Day Feast at her school last Friday. San kept running away (literally) from her teachers all along. And when it was time to leave, she happily said Bye to them and hugged them all!

At least, she was happy to show off her 'artwork' (the hand-prints on that picture). :-)

Second day at school and more

San's second day at school was better than we expected. She ate two bites of her lunch (big progress!), napped for 45 minutes (wow!), and let the teacher paint her hands and take the prints. :-)

Me: So, what did you do today?
San: Roi-Roi (Cried).
Me: What else?
San: Soi-Soi (Slept)
Me: What more?
San: Books read.
Me: And?
San: Cycle.
Me: What did the teacher do?
San: Diaper change.
Me: Hmm, what else?
San: Shush!

:-D

I wonder how much time she'd take to get comfortable with the school cuz' she goes only two days a week. She'd at least know that it's a part of the routine. :-)

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School stuff aside, she's getting better at the pretend play. She now feeds me a variety of stuff (all imaginary) and makes sure that I chew it! She loves to take her baby doll for a ride in the stroller, feed her, and change her diaper (complete with a changing pad and wipes).

And she still loves to clean up, trash stuff, and make sure that the trash can is locked at all times. :D

Now that she's started greeting her Papa dear with 'Ola!' instead of 'Hello', he wants her to stop watching Dora and switch back to Elmo and Barney. :-D

First day at school

And today was it - San's first day at school! Preschool, to be precise. :)

Choosing a school for her wasn't tough, and neither was the task of preparing her for school. Cuz', thanks to Dora, she loves to carry a backpack, and likes everything that has a princess or a fairy on it. 

When we took a tour of the school, she loved the class, the kids, the zebra toy, the slide... but the first day at school always brings a different story! We were told to drop her off in the class and disappear! And we did. Our disappearance act wasn't tough cuz' she didn't cry at that time. We left her with a surprised (read shocked) look on her face. She looked okay, sipping from her bottle, when we finally left school.

Five hours without her at home felt like ten. Time crawled. The silence was scary! And then, we were back to school at 2. I peeped in to the class and found her sitting quietly with others and listening to their teacher. She happened to look at me and that was it - she burst into tears... aww! We hugged, and then she happily told me that the teacher changed her diaper. :) I was glad that she told me something! Yup, she did cry off and on while in school, didn't eat at all, and didn't sleep. But she'll be okay.... soon! Phew! :-)

Little hands at work

San's suddenly all grown up and she never ceases to surprise us!

So yesterday, while I was on phone with a friend, I happened to notice that she's taking the clothes out of the dryer and taking them to the bedroom. With little heaps of clothes in her little hands, she made at least five trips to the bedroom and finally emptied the dryer. The surprise part is that she'd neatly piled up the clothes on the bed for me to fold. Aww! More surprise - she cleaned all the lint from the filter of the dryer and put it back nicely. More aww! I always get amazed at how kids learn by observation, and don't miss any detail when they replicate our actions.

Wanna hear more? This morning, I found the kitchen's trash can neatly lined up with four big trash bags! :-)

San can almost say the complete rhymes now and count till fifteen (thanks to Sesame Street and Papa dear!) :-)

The beginning of Two

And finally, San is a two-year old baby! :-) So why do they call it the Terrible Twos? I'm kinda starting to know why, but I still wonder... were we terrible when we were two? What I see is more tantrums, more ROTFS, more dramas, more words, and a lot of pretend play! And not to forget, a big NO for everything! :)

San enjoyed her b'day party this time. In fact, she'd started happy birthday pretend play a couple of days before her birthday. She's say "Happy Birthday!', pretend to blow the candles, and then pretend to eat the cake. :)

I'm enjoying these pretend play days. She still pretends to feed me, now with an imaginary bowl and a glass... and at times, the food is hot, so she blows into it and then feeds me... I wish I could record that! :-)

She's scribbling more these days, can almost draw a circle, and loves to draw babies! So here's one that she drew. After she was done with the circle, I asked her to draw his eyes, nose, teeth, neck, shoes, etc. And she didn't forget the hair!

Pretend Play and Jumpy Tales

and one fine day
she tells me she wants to play
grabs her spoon and feeds me air
"pretend play, already?", I say

and it's not just that
I'm supposed to do a 'slurp'
like it's the most delicious stuff I've had
guess I might also have to burp

there's more to pretend play
she tells me I have a boo-boo
then grabs her imaginary ointment
rubs it on and kisses the boo-boo too

so another fine day
when Dora asked her to say Map
she sang the Dora song
and finished it off with 'Gab yo bappap'!

almost there with 'Ba Ba black sheep'
and 'Twinkle Twinkle little star'
when I wonder how she does it
she sings them and raises the bar

and after days of effort
at one spot, she's able to jump
at times, it looks perfect
at times, she lands with a thump

New Favs, New Words, and a Lot of Sense

San asked me to 'Get up'! It sounded more like 'Dappup' and I took a while to figure out what she really meant. Wow, I sure am amazed and can't stop smiling. :) :)

Now she talks and makes sense too. It sounds sensible even if it doesn't make sense. It's up to us to understand. 'No' is her answer to almost everything. Here's a particular type of conversation that we daily have...

Me: You wanna have milk now?
San: No!
Me: What will San have now?
San: Milk!

Oh yes! Finally, someone beat Elmo! Who? It's the Wonder Pets. :-) Ask her what's gonna work, and she'd say Teamwork (a new word that she's learned without knowing its meaning)! :-) She still loves the Elmo song though, and asks me to sing it in the midst of her nighttime conversations with me.

Suddenly, San has started using a lot of words, all in the right context, and I'm amazed at all the learning that's going on. It seems like magic at times! :-)

We finally took San to the Zoo last Sunday, and she got to see Giraffes, Elephants, Owls, Pandas, Crocodiles, and Snakes live. And she learned about a new animal - Cheetah! Although, we missed the Zebra and couldn't find out how it sounds! :-p

BTW, we now know what it is like when kids ROTFS. What's that? Rolling On The Floor Screaming.

Choices!

Me: Do you want cherries or do you want an apple?
San: Apple!
Me: Do you want an apple or do you want cherries?
San: Cherries!
Me: Okay, Mumma is getting an apple for you.
San: Mummy, cherries!
Me: Okay, Mumma is getting cherries.
San: Mummy, apple!
Me: Choose one!
San: Mummy, bananaa!

And that's the first good conversation we had today. :-)

New words? You just heard it... err, read it! Banana! She started with a banananana though. :D The 'nanas' always used to confused her but now she has conquered them! :-) 'Sink' is the other new word in her kitty. She likes to put (toss) the used dishes (and her bottle) in the sink.

She likes going on walks cuz' she gets to look at the birds, the planes, and cats! At times, she stops to observe some busy ants without disturbing them. How thoughtful of her! :-)

Elmo still scores over everyone else, but Dora is catching up fast. How did Dora enter her fav list? Since the time she got a Dora t-shirt and came to know that it's Dora, she started liking the name Dora, and now she loves watching Dora, without forgetting Elmo. :-D I'm now in love with Elmo though!

Aaaaaaand she's gonna turn two after exactly one month... Gosh!

BTW, San's been asking me how a Zebra sounds... do you know? :-)

I can

I can hug you

like I want to hug forever

I can kiss you

like it is my best one ever

I can hold you

like I'd never let you go

I can talk to you

like I want to say everything I know

I can be what I am

like I don't know how to pretend

I can give my time to you

like to the time, there is no end

About the nighttime Moos and shoes

San's fast approaching two and my mind is already full of questions, worries, anxieties, fears, and a lot of other stuff! How am I gonna potty-train her? How am I gonna wean her from her beloved bottle? Will she be a shy child? How will she adapt to school? How will her friends be like? How will she handle bullies? Sigh! Yup, everything's gonna happen gradually and things will fall in place, and all will be well... but I can't stop thinking about it!

As usual, Elmo's her fav and she loves to sing the Elmo song. Her nighttime routine is set - after she finishes her milk, she asks me to sing the 'Old McDonald' rhyme by saying "Eeeyaa Eeyaa". She also tries to sing the first line - "O McNana....." :) :). Cow is her fav animal in that rhyme and she loves to see me do 'Moo Moo'! Oh btw, she calls me MOOmy at times! Wonder if Old McDonald's cow inspired that! :D And after this rhyme, she asks me to sing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', so that she can stand up and do the 'Up above the world so high' hand motion. Then she says Sorry (I don't know why, but it's cute!), talks about her friends, Papa, and a lot of other people and things. Finally, she gives me a hug, a good-night kiss, says Nay Nay, and tries to sleep... and finally sleeps. :)

What else? Now that she is able to open our shoe closet, she loves to try out our footwear. She even knows what I would wear when I have to go out, and offers to take that pair out for me... aww! :)

More? She wants all of Papa dear's time, love, and attention... and doesn't want him to share any of those with me. :( :)

Anything else? She absolutely loves picking up trash and trashing it... should I blame Elmo's friend Oscar for it? ELMoo!

Elmo tales and more

And now, we have some Elmo tales along with the Dolly tales. :D So Elmo has managed to beat everyone else and is happily sitting at the first place on San's list of favs. It's all about Elmo the whole day. She's even learned to sing half of the Elmo song... it goes like this: "ya ya ya yaaa... Emmo sooooooooooong" (accompanied with a major head shake). All she needs now is a Guitar and it'll fit perfectly in the whole Emmo song scene. :-)

So she loves Elmo, loves the Elmo song, and gets to watch Sesame Street while having her meal... what's the problem here? The director of Sesame Street has assigned a limited space to Elmo in the episodes cuz' he has to fit in Elmo's friends too! So as soon as Elmo disappears from the scene, San stops eating, and starts looking for Elmo. <sigh> And then, I've to make up stories to make her eat. "Take one bite and Elmo will reappear." "Elmo wants you to eat! How does Elmo eat?" "Look look, Elmo's here, and now eat!" "Oh look, Dorothy is here!" (she's Elmo's pet after all... works as good as Elmo!) Oh and Mommy just ran out of stories... and patience too. Phew!

Mealtime is struggle time. If Elmo isn't there, she doesn't wanna eat. If Elmo is there, she forgets to eat. So, we've to find ways to make her open her mouth and put the food in. And that, my friends, is the toughest task of the day!

What's new? If you ask her what her name is, she'd say 'Shaammi" (that's her version of Saanvi). Ask her what is Papa's name, and she'd say Micky. Ask her what is Mommy's name, and she might say Divu or just gibberish. :D

What else? Whenever she senses trouble (like when she's about to get a scolding or Mommy's in a bad mood), she starts off with her sugary Sorrys and ends it with a big hug. She breaks into the Sorry act at the slightest hint of a would-be-trouble. Now that's what being proactive means! :)

New words, some drawing, and more dolly tales

New words... hmm... Papa dear has taught her how and when to say Please. So now, she manages to get almost everything with the help of her sugary Please that she backs up with a cute head-tilt! Who would have a heart to refuse after hearing this version of Please! :-) The next word is Shower - courtesy Papa dear. San used to be afraid of getting into the shower earlier, and used to stick to the cozy bath tub with her Pooh bear toys and a green mug. And suddenly, all she wants now is stand in the shower. She enjoys it on her back, then turns around and takes it on her face, then hair... and I've to operate the shower till she's done with it (which never happens cuz' I've to pull her out of it). San's version of Shower - Shovo!

New girly stuff? She wants to choose her footwear now. Gone are the days when I used to choose her shoes. Yesterday, she surprisingly matched her pink dress with pink sandals. I wanted her to wear something else cuz' the pink ones are not her size anymore. But she insisted (fought and screamed) and didn't let the pink ones go. So finally, she walked out with the pink ones on, although, they gave her a hard time at the end of the day. :-)

Dolly tales are on - she now makes me change dolly's diaper, tells me to shower her, and brush her teeth as well! Oh and I forgot to mention the Giraffe baby that sleeps in her crib. He doesn't get much of San's time, but gets loads of kisses and hugs, and a sugar-coated Nay Nay (San's version of Night Night). :-)

Elmo is her new favorite now! Barney has slipped to position 2, Pocoyo keeps slipping in and out of the queue, and Pooh gets lucky at times.

Here's her latest scribble... drawing, I mean! :) she doesn't draw quite often cuz' that's our job. So here it is... a fish, a bird, and a baby... that's what she told me it is!

What else? Just a phew! :-)

Dolly tales

San never used to play with the loads of soft toys that we used to buy for her. The only doll that she had was always sad, cuz' San always ignored her. And I used to think, here's my tomboy who loves her cars more than the dolls!

But then, girls will always be girls. The doll is a happy toy now cuz' suddenly she's getting all the attention and care from San! San hugs her tight, kisses her everywhere, feeds her whatever she eats (and doesn't forget to put a bib on her before she eats), talks to her, and puts her to sleep. She even started changing her diaper since yesterday! Woohoo! :D We watch her in awe, like we've never seen or done this before, like she's the only kid who does it, like the doll is the luckiest creature on this earth! :)

Cute things! But then, her girly tantrums are developing too. She plays with the food more than she eats, throws a fit when we try to be firm with her, screams in her highest pitch, and throws stuff around when she's angry... phew!

What's new? She can say her ABCs and count from 1 through 10... yay! :)

San speaks

a flower sounds like a 'faawer'
better, but not cuter, than 'baaboo'
a cockroach's 'r' is missing
but that is okay too.

peacock is sometimes a 'keapop'
one is 'mon' and two is a two
A-Z, she easily says
and wonders what is a 'W'.

butterfly is still a 'butta'
she's clear about it too
even when butter is also 'butta'
and a button is a 'butta' too.

'elle' is her favorite
about a kangaroo, she has no clue
a tortoise is a 'toto'
she knows an owl and a parrot too

'solly' doesn't come that easy
and so does a thank you
but when you sneeze, you'd surely
hear a cute 'besh you'

Says Sorry and Makes Merry

Yesterday, San was, as usual, jumping around Papa dear, and not letting him work. And then, she did it again... closed his laptop with a bang. The left-hand corner of the laptop immediately looked disfigured. As Papa dear looked helplessly at the laptop's broken neck, he heard the sugary voice of San saying "Soollly". "Papa, soolly!", she said again, closing her ears with her fingers (she's yet to learn that she needs to hold her ears while saying sorry, and not close them :-p). Papa dear couldn't help his smile and I wondered how she knew that it's time to say sorry. I hope that we'll not have to beg her for a sorry anymore! :-D

This and other such things that she does are adorable! I love it when she imitates what we say and do, tries to sing barney's butterfly song, uses her toy medical kit to treat her 'chotoos' (her word for boo-boos), gives us unexpected kisses, hugs us tight and stays there for a while,  shakes her bum on any hint of music, walks behind me while holding my pajamas and pretends that we are a train by doing 'toot-toot', chases us everywhere with her doodle and wants us to write ABCD for her, says No in pocoyo style for everything, says 'baai, three, two' and jumps on the bed, and a lot more.

And here's the best one- she calls me 'Divu', just like her Papa dear. :-))

Meals and Deals

mealtimes are messy
she can't help being fussy
whether it's rice or just prunes
she refuses to eat without a 'poon'

although it's the same sponge cake i bake
a new face every time, she manages to make
give her noodles anytime
and she can have them for a lifetime

her favs in veggies are carrots and peas
in every fruit, an 'appul' she sees
potatoes she loves, just like her mommy
but they're never yummy in papa's 'tommy'

her meal can never be complete
without either barney's or pocoyo's treat
food spills do happen, here and there
but she never forgets to feed her hair

done that cuz' we've been there
why, about the mess, we need to care
from trying anything, she never shies
and watching her eat is a feast for our eyes

Sleep-talk and Hard-work

I'd heard that toddlers sleep-talk and was curious to know if San would do it too. She sensed my curiosity, I guess, and did it last week. Her first sleepy words were: "Mommy? Baby!" Did she see a baby in her dreams or is something else that triggers this cute sleep-talk? I wonder. :-)

Girly tantrums, ah! I didn't know that they start so early! Fluttering their eyelashes like the old Bollywood heroines, giving the cutest smile ever, saying the sweetest 'Mommy' and 'Papa' ever, and even ignoring us are some tricks they use to divert our attention when we scold them. God know where they learn it all from!

But at the same time, they are hard-workers! At least at this age, when they've freshly learned how to cleanup. :-) As soon as San hears the word 'clean', she goes running into the kitchen and comes back with the broom and the dustpan, and then goes on a cleaning spree! That's the 'awwww' moment for me. :-) And the best part is to see the sense of achievement reflecting on her face, when we compliment her for her work. These things make my day, just everyday!

Mommy fears

The other day, we took San to a play-place in a mall. San was, I guess, the youngest one there, and I felt quite concerned. Why? Cuz' San looked like very tiny tot amongst those 'big' kids and I was wondering if she'd get pushed or bullied! I know I went too far with my thoughts, but then, I couldn't help it.

Little San was trying to climb up a slide, but she had to give way to the other kids first. She was smiling cutely at everyone, letting everyone go first, and giving away her seat to other kids. At one point, I desperately wanted her to push her way through the swarm of kids, and kick anyone who comes in her way or tries to take her seat. Sick! Am I an over-concerned Mommy? :-(

Maybe, I was very negative with my thoughts. I should have concentrated on playing with San and helped her mingle with other kids. Sigh! I need to think better and do better the next time.

Innocent food and Curious Minds

I learned some lessons after experiencing some of San's 'throwing-up' sessions on some of our not-so-short drives. I learned that we must keep her cool all the time in the car (no sunshine for my sunshine), NOT give her any fluid other than water (no milk definitely), feed her the most innocent and the lightest stuff on long drives, ALWAYS keep a sickness bag ready, and ALWAYS keep a change of clothes handy.

So, on our latest trip to Austin this long weekend, I made sure that San stays fine all along that 3 hr long drive. After she woke up from an hour-long nap, I decided to give her an innocent apple. Healthy food! San happily ate her 'appoo' slices and I beamed with pride and happiness (too many emotions!). My sunshine looked happy until we hit Austin. Suddenly, the poor appoo pieces came flying out of her mouth in three bursts. She'd done IT again. The half-chewed appoo pieces were all over San's dress, wondering what went wrong. San made a puppy face and said, "Mommy!", pointing at the mess Thankfully, the mess wasn't very smelly and ewwwey! All I can do now is dread the next long drive and find the MOST innocent snack for her!

Anyway, here's San's latest antic! I took her to a public restroom for a diaper-change today. While I was busy disposing her diaper, she, behind my back,  was bending down and trying to doing a peek-a-boo act with the people who were peacefully doing their 'stuff' in the loos. I couldn't help my embarrassment-and-fun-induced giggles while telling her NOT to do that (as if she understands what 'NO' means). I'd die of shock if someone else's kid tries to do THAT with me in the restroom! Talk about curious minds!

All's well that ends well. No fever and no constipation as of now. And her curiosity hasn't killed anyone yet! :D

Poopy blues

San was down with fever since a couple of days and, I guess, the alternating Tylenol and Ibubrufen doses took a toll on her stomach. Her appetite is still no-so-good. And that's obvious, cuz' the stubborn old food isn't letting more food come in. :-|

Spent 30 good minutes entertaining her as she sat on her little pink potty, screaming, pushing, crying, and kicking me. The whole exercise went in vain and she's soundly sleeping, still constipated.

Prunes, prune juice, water, flax seeds... everything has failed. Gearing up for another session with San. Waiting for Daddy to come home.

Mum-dum-dee-dum

My bittersweet experiences with Saanvi have always pushed me to write about them, but I was too lazy to! I feel it's high time that I spend some time with my other love, blogging. ;-) And what's better than writing about my current love, San!

San's a 20 months old toddler now, and always amazes me. It's a gift to be able to watch a child grow, and grow with them..

And why Facebook it when you can blog it? ;-)