The end of teens, eh?!

So today Cubby turns 19months. Somehow the whole two's and schooling bit doesn't seem so distant anymore. Seeing his antics, I keep wondering "What next?!"

So my darling son, the stage is all yours! Like every month around this time. (Oh well! You know it is few days here n there, every now and then!) This time I really don't know where to start. I mean obvious milestones like walking, talking, dancing, teething and such are done. Now there is a marked improvement in these things and so many intangibles that I am clueless about putting in words. But I can always try, can't I?

You now RUN all over the house. Be it to run away from clothes or the oil massage before your bath or the cream post it. You just raise your hands and make a dash away from whatever it is you don't want. More often than not this is accompanied by naughty laughter which we get to hear ever so often these days! :)

You catch on the games pretty quickly and want to repeat them as often as it pleases you. Be it running between your Dadu's legs when he is trying to block you or the silly Dhoom game mummy plays. It just involves holding my hand and running and touching the main door saying "Dhoom!" and then running back to the other corner and touching the table!

You love physical masti now. Be it throwing yourself without a worry on the bean bag or being made to hang ulta holding your legs. You could be standing on the bolster on the bed and you just let youself fall without knowing what fear means. A happy laughter rings through the house when you do these things. It belongs to everyone present in the house at that time. You will stand at the edge of the bed or on the chair and extend your hands for me to hold them as you mouth the word JUMP! A word that sounds like Un mma but means Once More follows in quick succession! :)

You are quite a stickler for routine. Anything that is done once in a certain order, you demand it be done same way. When i tell you lets go have bath, you go and sit on the stool. I take off your clothes. You say "Stan up" and then point to your nappy saying "Naapee! Take it off!". You then ask for soap and it's a daily fight since you want to hold the soap the entire duration. Between a tussle here and there we manage to get done. I end the bath saying we will Bucket Boodoosha which means pouring the remaining water direct from bucket onto you. So then I hear a little voice teling me Buckette Booaassha! That done, you ask for "Tauiya" meaning taulia (towel). It always amazes and amuses me how you remember every l'il detail. You say "Chottu Munni" as soon as I wrap you in the towel and pick you up 'coz I call you Chottu Baby as I hold the freshly bathed warm close to me!

Yeah! What's with the chhotu munni anyway? When did you hear this word. Its really funny. I say Goonda Baby, you repeat it. I say gandoo baby, you repeat that. I say naughty baby, you do. You get the drift. But the moment is say Chhotu Baby, you say Chhotu Munni! And then laugh! You are such a weirdo, I tell ya! :)

And it doesn't end with this. You have now learnt to point to shoulders and chest. So when we ask you where is your shoulder, you show it correctly. But when we point to your shoulder and ask you "What is this?", you say "Ion" (lion) and the other shoulder is "Diger" (tiger). Sometimes both are Ion! What gives dude?! :p

That reminds me, you can now repeat What is this as What this is and I am guessing using it as an actual question is going to start soon! Sigh!

You say Good Night so adorably! It started just like that one day and for a few days only the toys and things in room got the wishes. Goonight! Sea Otta! GooNight! Payintin(painting)! GooNight Oneybee! and so on and so forth. Now we hear GooNight papa! GooNight Mummy! GooNight Daadu with a cute style that so uniquely yours. Goodmorning has just about started! :)

You love counting. Un, two, thee, four you know. Rest of it pretty much garble. You love saying do-do, dono, otha to indicate multiple number.

You also like pretending that you KNOW your abcd! Usually it gies A,B, C, D, M, N and then some baby talk I dont understand. A is sometime for apple, sometimes ball and mostly goat. Then sometimes, like today, you go ahead and shock me. I just randomly said as distraction for giving you milk, Q for and you said Cooween (Queen)! I am thinking it's just a totally lucky guess! :)

The tantrums keep getting worse. Now you raise hell for every little thing that is denied to you. It could be just about any random thing. If you are refused, a big crying session happens! I find it difficult to be patient and/or firm at such times. But thankfully you also get distracted pretty soon till the next thing catches your fancy. You can throw tantrum for something as silly as getting your nappy changed or wearing your nightsuit or demanding the spoon with which we are eating! Grrrrrr!

If there are tantrums, there are hugs and kisses too. You have finally started offering hugs on your own. You will come and just keep your head on my lap or put your arms around our neck and say "Uggie" and the tenderness just makes me go all mushy inside! :) Keep em coming my darling son! :) Soft toys are also offered Uggies every now and then especially when i scold them for not eating their food! :p

We are wroking on the potty training now. You understood the big job funda within 10 odd days and now tell us 95 outta 100 times scrunching up your face and saying "Paatie!". Uuderstanding the su-su funda seems quite some time away. There are times when you do tell, but mostly it's AFTER you are done. And yes, you demand a book when on the potty! ;) Ho jaayega! :)

You now take a little more time to adjust to new places and people. Not the free for all baby you used to be which in a way is a good thing. That in no way means you are anti-social. You still love meeting people, especially other kids! :)

You insist on reading same two books everytime. Looking at is more like it. You just don't have the patience to listen to a whole story. You prefer to point at things you know. Sometimes, you will insist on not even turning the page showing the same things as if caught in some kinda infinite loop. Gah! I mean we KNOW you know an elephant by now! :p

You have started with small phrases already. Be it give me (in tones of rsisng intensity!), keep it, nightsuit pehnenge and god knows how many more things!

You love playing in the kitchen. If you are in a happy mood and not insisting on Godi when we are cooking you play by yourself with dabbas and bowls. Occassionally I hear you say Patia (patila), Katoi (katori/bowl) and some such. You remove all the alu (potatoes) in the basket and spread them across the kitchen. You later help clear em up also.

Another thing you can do now is to open the microwave door. We have no option of taking it out of your reach. Saying no was obviously strengthning your resolve to do it. So as a midway, we have explained to you that you can open the door ONLY when it does Tee!Tee! which means, only after the buzzer goes off saying job done. You can be in any corner of the house but you RUN to microwave when you hear Tee!Tee! as if your life depended on it! Now am teaching you to not try and close the door on Mommy's hand. We are doing good!

Eating is still a pain. You eating normal khaana with us seems like a verry distant dream. You LOVE bananas and can love on them. Ask you anytime, you will say Banama (improvement from earlier Bawawa) and get it from the fruit bowl by stretching on your tiny toes and give it to us. We peel it and give it in your hand and you eat happily! You also like cheese evey now and then and can polish off a slice within no time. You like the taste of butter too. As you see, nothing that can count as a meal shows up here. (Sorry to all mums I must have judged!)

How can I forget? From touching the chappals to trying to lick em (with some successes I am sure!), you have finally moved to wearing them. Only hitch is they are ours and about 5 sizes too big! But when did that stop you, anyway?! So, you are often seen trying our chappals and shoes and we often find a pair cruelly seperated a room away!

You also know who lives where. Daadi and Daadu, Puna mein and Aaji Ajoba hai Baambay! Mama is in Meica (America). And yeah, what do we do with the "Amma" accent you have picked up ?! Dog is Daag, Potty is paatie and bombay is baambay. You add oo and ee to everything. Egg is eggu, soap is soappu and bread is bedde! I am praying you grow out of it eventually! Brrrrr!

Drat! Yet again I have to chew my words when I said I wont have much to say! You are such a complete joy to be with. Ofcos there were times in last month when we wondered whre out smiling kid had dsiappeared. I almost used the banned word "cranky" to describe you. Your Papa has gone out of town for about a month. When he left he told you that you are the man of the house aned need to take care of your mummy. It's almost like you understood what he told you! :) Your clear laughter (sometimes asli, other times fake) makes us laugh too.

And today when I kept my head on your lap as we woke up (just to tease ya), I was surprised you just let me be and even offered an Uggie!

What more can a woman ask for, eh?! :)

happy 19th my love! God Bless! :)