of bookies and booker prizes

with a storm being raised thanks to the match-fixing by Pakistani cricket team, the word bookie has again graced the front pages of our newspapers with allegations and denial and counter allegations of course.


But since my blog is all about fluff and the happy Cubby stuff, I am just using these terms to talk about the Books Cub now loves. I still cannot say whether Cub is an avid book lover or no. You can rarely see him poring over his books by himself. But he does love being read to and his appetite for stories is unending and our repertoire far too less to satisfy those hunger pangs. Yet, we read new books and stories and the loved one are oft repeated and reread. So, i thought I should least make some not of the books he likes at this point of time. We are of course hoping that he will eventually become a bookworm!


Cub's love story with books and errr.. stories started with Karadi tales gifted by very cool Vee Taiji (who incidentally believes that the term Taiji itself makes her uncool but we disagree!). Now they are pretty much a staple diet in our life.


I think the CDs eventually become redundant but it is indeed cute to see Cub repeat after Karadi the bear and mouthing lines like "he had a fiery red mane and a deep thunderous roar!" We use these CDs to baby sit him while we go have a bath or something and he quite enjoys them.


Among all the Karadi tales, he loves The Foolish Lion which has Buddhu raj falling into well trying to fight his own reflection and Little Vinayak. I personally LOVE the latter. Its an adorable tale of l'il Vinayak who as his name suggests a small elephant but with a looooong trunk that he keeps tripping and falling over. It tell us how he finally learns to walk without falling with a song that Cub and me sing often. I totally recco this book to one and all with kids young enough to enjoy the elephant's trials at trying to make his trunk short!


Oh and I cannot forget how much he loves the story of Bakasur or rather Bheem as Cub calls it. Art gifted Bakasur and Bhasmasur books to Cub for his birthday and he fell in love with Bakasur story right away. He finds it funny how Bheem is always hungry! He also enjoys The Foolish Crow and we have to sing Saa sing the sunflowers ever so often!


We recently discovered joys of Dr.Seuss as well. The ABC book is often read and laughed over. I still am not sure if Cub laughs because I do or he genuinely gets it. But he enjoys repeating lazy lion licks a lollipop in an endless loop. I love to hear him say Yellow yawning yak. Young Yolanad Yorgensen is yelling on it's back! It's just too cool, i tell ya! :D


We also enjoy One Fish, two Fish, Blue Fish, Red Fish again by Dr.Seuss. The hilarious rhymes are always a great pick me up!


Same and different by Tulika which was gifted by Starry is also something Cub totally enjoys doing. I never thought he could spot the differences. What also amazes me is that how he looks it at it in the most simplistic fashion and finds the correct pair while I look at the more complicated parameters. Of course he still refuses to even try the ones which are not that obvious but I guess he is quite young!


Recently picked up Tulika's "Where is Gola's home?" in which Gola the yak wants a home for himself and how his friend Muri the eagle takes him to different habitats. Starting from sea to rivers, from desert to forest and how he finally find home in the snowy Himlayas. Enjoyable! :)


I also picked Eric Carle's bilingual of The Mixed-up Chameleon at a recent trip to Crossword. I am officially in love with it in couple of readings. So is Cub. We loved the vibrant artwork and the pictorial progression of how the Chameleon wants a l'il bit of something from every animal and after getting it ends up being so mixed up that he can't even hunt for his food. It's then that he realizes he would rather be the Chameleon he is instead of a mish-mash of random animals. I also read the book to Cub in Hindi as well and realised that so many words are never used in our day to day spoken Hindi. So Cub amused me by pointing to horse and monkey on some toy of his and telling me "Yeh jaanvar hai!" - something he learned from the Hindi version of the story. And this is after 2 reads.


We trip on Pratham Books as well. For one the stories are so sweet, simple and short and the art work so gorgeous that Cub gets them right away. I think they are the most value for money books ever possible. Just LOVE them. Tommy and the fly, The Onion's shawl, Annual haircut day, Too many Bananas are just a few that are read often.


He likes looking at his picture books as well. The simple ones that have Birds and Animals, alphabets, numbers etc. Since he now recognizes the alphabet pretty much completely (we have never taught him at home) he now tries to recognize them everywhere he sees a bunch of capital letters put together. He still doesn't understand the concept of how words get built, but likes the whole recognition business a lot.


So that's that from our Library as of now. Am sure there is stuff I have missed out on, but something is better than nothing. And i really need to keep the blog alive! I have been terribly busy at work leaving me with no time to even breathe on a working day.


As per 2B goes, the pregnancy is as smooth as ever - Touchwood! I am I think around 28 weeks through and HUGE! I hardly have any pictures and all that jazz this time round and with Cub to keep our hands full, I wouldn't bother being fussy even if I wanted to frankly! I can feel the movements pretty consistently now and I must say that 2B seems much more active than Cub was in-utero.


Poor 2B has not had any updates on this blog as yet. But don't you worry my love. You are being eagerly waited for. Especially by your big brother. Every time he sees a small baby he says "2B bhi aisa hi hoga naah? Chhotaasa?!".


The other day I got only your Bhaiyaa's breakfast plate outside and guess what he asked me? He questioned me saying "Where is 2B's naashta?!" The concept of his mother eating for herself doesn't exist any more.


He is looking forward to teaching you so many things. Anything he does he will follow it up "Does 2B know how to do this?" and when i say No, he says he will teach you. You are one lucky kid sweets! :)


And since 2B has been till date royally ignored in this space and we have been tripping over Ogden Nash, here is his hilarious take on First Child, Second Child.


Be it a girl, or one of the boys,
It is scarlet all over its avoirdupois,
It is red, it is boiled; could the obstetrician
Have possibly been a lobstertrician?
His degrees and credentials were hunky-dory,
But how's for an infantile inventory?
Here's the prodigy, here's the miracle!
Whether its head is oval or spherical,
You rejoice to find it has only one,
Having dreaded a two-headed daughter or son;
Here's the phenomenon all complete,
It's got two hands, it's got two feet,
Only natural, but pleasing, because
For months you have dreamed of flippers or claws.
Furthermore, it is fully equipped:
Fingers and toes with nails are tipped;
It's even got eyes, and a mouth clear cut;
When the mouth comes open the eyes go shut,
When the eyes go shut, the breath is loosed
And the presence of lungs can be deduced.
Let the rockets flash and the cannon thunder,
This child is a marvel, a matchless wonder.
A staggering child, a child astounding,
Dazzling, diaperless, dumbfounding,
Stupendous, miraculous, unsurpassed,
A child to stagger and flabbergast,
Bright as a button, sharp as a thorn,
And the only perfect one ever born.


SECOND

Arrived this evening at half-past nine.
Everybody is doing fine.
Is it a boy, or quite the reverse?
You can call in the morning and ask the nurse.

when do toys rest and BIDWF!

You know your home sees equal division of labour especially in a kitchen when following conversation ensues with your 3yo;

M who walks in after me from work sees Cub and me chilling (its cold war actually after another scene of terrible behaviour by Cub) in the living room. There is cooker on the gas.


M - cooker mein kya hai? (Whats cooking in the errr.. cooker?!)

Me - Dal

M - sirf dal? Subzi nahi hai? (only Dal? no subzi)

Cub - Nahi Papa, mummy ko subzi banana nahi aata. Woh sirf dal banati hai. Subzi toh aap banaoge.
(No papa, mummy doesn't KNOW how to make subzi. She makes only dal. YOU will make the subzi)

M and me were first very very stunned and then rolling on the floor laughing. It is so true. Everyday (barring exceptions of course) M makes the subzi and me the dal! :)


And if you think kids are salve drivers who don't care enough for their toys just because they treat parents badly? Have a look.

When the Cub goes to sleep...

He sometimes ensures that all his trains and planes and robots go to sleep too!

On a completely unrelated note, I am absolutely NOT a poetry person. I just don't understand most of it. But i recently purchased a collection of Ogden Nash called Candy is Dandy and am loving it! I remembered him being a funny guy with some poem of his studied at school eons ago. He isn't just brilliantly witty and sarcastic, but has such lucid observations which hold true even today! I keep passing on the book to M when i want him to read something especially nice, but then he wants to read next three pages and book comes back to me only after 10mins of constant nagging. :D

Here's some of his lines. I couldn't agree more. This is pretty much my relationship with God considering i rarely go to places of worship and mostly have one on one's at my convenience and obviously expect HIM/ HER to understand! :)


I didn't go to church today,
I trust the Lord to understand.
The surf was swirling blue and white,
The children swirling on the sand.
He knows, He knows how brief my stay,
How brief this spell of summer weather,
He knows when I am said and done
We'll have plenty of time together


What is your relationship with the one Up above? You enjoy the rituals that go hand in hand in with religion? Or stay away from them? Or are pretty much neutral and will participate if you have to and stay away when you can?! Or maybe not believe at all?! :)