The little one is talking and learning a gillion words a day.
She was pointing to the baby animals book and saying Peesh, Peesh , Goflish..
I thought Peesh was fish and Goflish was Goldfish, but Peesh actually turned out to be Sheep in disguise!
She is now talking sentences (not the Deda Nu Cheeesse stuff), but actual three four word sentences.
She has also learnt to "lie"!!!
Yesterday she acted as though she had hurt herself after falling on the carpet, was rubbing her knee and crying. For some reason, the crying was just not genuine enough and then suddenly her crying turned to laughter and she looked at me and said "lie"!
Guess even at 20 months a kid can grasp the concept of deception and lies. I told her not to tell lies again and she goes "Okay"!
Had promised a video of combo #1 earlier..(a special tantrum thrown by baby at random).
This is not that video. This is combo #2.
Let me explain.
The little one did not cooperate with Mommy during her nail cutting attempts.
She(the little one), was smart enough to follow mommy, find out the secret hiding place where the nailclipper was kept, and got them, just as mommy went on to do other things over a busy weekend.
Feeling something along the lines of the crow that stole the Vadai from the old grandma (TOYWAP, this is from the Tamizh equivalent to Aesop's fables!), she was perched on the couch attempting to cut her own knees, fingers, feet or anything that was close enough to her nails, when she spotted "Secret Video Daddy"!
SVD, feeling the same thing a National geographic photographer feels when he is about to videotape a poor Gazelle just when it is being ambushed by a lioness, was in two minds. Do I continue the video? or do I stop and go pull those clippers out of her hands before she injures herself! SVD decided to do both, at the cost of the video not being secret anymore and the possibility of incurring mommy's wrath on being irresponsible and proving it to the world on video! He kept rolling the tape and tried to use
1. sweet talk 2. scolding 3. threats
and when all failed, resorted to calling in the marines, a.k.a. Jr., who has a strange hold on her little sister. Sometimes, Jr. is able to get things out of the little one's hands when the adults have failed. Last week she got daddy's tea glass from the baby, just when she was going to drop it on the concrete in the backyard, looked at the adults and said "see, that was easy. all you have to do is ask nicely!". If you read carefully, I said "sometimes". Today was not Jr.'s day. She pulled out the clippers on the pretext of asking nicely and the little one promptly went on to combo #1...
SVD does not think the world is ready to see Combo #1! That will have to wait.
SVD also thinks he has no chance of controlling these girls by the time they become teenagers. He is wondering if he will be alive to see them reach their teens at this rate!
Pictures of the little one at her mischievous best during an afternoon spent at the local park!
I had just gotten out of a serious headache that afternoon. So I parked my "you know what" at the edge of the slide area and started taking pictures.
Jr., a happy go lucky kid who is always smiling, sat down on the bench for a second between her running around. For a fleeting moment I saw a serious side to her that I have never seen before. Do not know what made her so thoughtful for a few seconds. She was off and running again in no time.
Wishing all Americans a happy 4th of July! Let us hope this year brings better things for the US of A. Oil independence, an end to the war, better politics, and everything else the majority of Americans are said to want in opinion polls but somehow never happen!
Surprisingly, Jr. is being taught in school that 4th of July is America's Birthday(not Independence day!). Maybe they are trying to rewrite the history books and remove the "I" word. Maybe they dont want people to think that Independence implies a dependence at some point prior to the Independence?
Jr. came home and declared that it is America's birthday and we celebrate it with fireworks and no school for tomorrow. I did not want to explain the concept of Independence or dependence to Jr. after a long and tiring day. That can wait for some time later.
Have been busy at work lately. Also the girls are behaving at their worst when I get home! There has not been a lot of time for photography, considering the new camera and lena have been with me for 3 days already.
The indoor pictures (have not taken a lot of them) look great. Here is a picture of the little one, with absolutely no alteration.
The beauty of this camera is that it captures the scene, almost as you see it. Exactly same colors, light hues.
An evening conversation after father's day celebration at the daycare between Jr. and me.
Me: didn't you say you were hungry at the function ? Daddy is going to make some Adai (south Indian crepe made from Lentil flour, red chilis and curry leaves). Do you want some ?
Jr. : Yes daddy.
Me : Here you go (and I give her a piece)
Jr.: This is so voraikkardhu (hot and spicy). I don't want it.
Me : (after tasting it) No, it is not! You have to eat at least one.
Jr.: No, I DONT WANT IT.
At this point I decided that the usual coaxing, cajoling, threatening etc. will not work. So I decided to take the same batter for 1 Adai and made 4-5 little adai's. They looked cute.
Me : I have a surprise for you. Come to the kitchen and see what I have made.
Jr. : (looks at it)You made baby adai's for me !? Give me one.
San who was busy feeding the little one, came back and was very impressed that I managed to get something inside Jr.
That "#1 DAD" medal that Jr. put around my neck at the daycare function.. I think I earned it!
Saturday, August 4, 2007 at 10:38AM 
